This is another prompt piece. This prompt: Sellsword.
The first one to die is Emma. The Curse-Breaker, the thorn in Regina's side.
He does it with a baleful smile. "Sorry, dearie. It's nothing personal." And then a single bullet carves into her chest, stops her heart. Twenty-eight years he spent waiting for her to arrive, and he barely had the chance to play with his new toy before she crumples on the floor, her eyes like cloudy marbles.
The next is the conscience-cricket, Archie Hopper, too brave for his own good. He stood up to his Queen, threatened her, and that won't do at all. But Gold has to give credit where it's due: the little cricket doesn't cower at the end, doesn't cry or beg. The only outward sign of fear is the whiteness of his knuckles as he clutches the umbrella, before the half-renovated city hall collapses on top of him.
Archie Hopper, crushed like a bug.
Regina was very specific about that. She seems to think it's funny.
The next assignment is very specific, and he swears she made it specifically to foul with his bad leg. It protests against the rungs of every ladder he climbs as he snips through the cable and phone wires, one by one. The town's cell tower is a simpler matter—he can reach it by car, and explosives don't require long periods on his feet.
By morning, Storybrooke is cut off entirely from the outside world.
Dear Prince Charming is executed in the town square, and shortly after, Miss Blanchard joins them. Their end is painful, drawn-out and public, and their bodies are left to rot in the town square. Gold isn't the one to do the deed this time, but he's still left standing in the pool of blood, while Regina steps away to keep it from staining her stilettos.
He stands alone over the bodies, bound by his oath and mute as death. There are no explanations to be made. Nothing they would understand.
Above them, a murder of crows joins the gathering clouds in turning the sky black as coal.