Once Upon a Time

Dagian was first aware of someone slamming their way into her room before she even remembered that she'd just narrowly avoided a cannonball in her room.

Someone grabbed the shoulder of her coat and tried to pull her into a sitting position. As she struggled to let her vision adjust to the brightness around her…oh her head was screaming and it hurt to open her eyes.

But the person that handled her was clumsy…and her memories came flooding back. They were in battle…someone that worried even Killian had pursued them. If this was one of Killian's men then they would certainly be treating her better than being dragged around.

She put the ground under her feet and lunged. The man stumbled and she used the momentum to push him over. It was a younger man, covered in tattoos and more piercings in his face than she'd ever seen. He punched her and her vision went blurry.

He reached for his sword. Dagian grabbed the knife hidden in her boot. A gift from the captain and she shoved it into his chest. He screamed and slammed her face against the wall.

The next thing she remembered, she was laying on her back in the middle of her room. She sensed that there were people around her…but she didn't want to open her eyes to see…

"Wake up. Wake up. Come on sweetheart, wake up."

Someone was touching her face; instinctively she shoved it away and forced her eyes open. IT was darker outside…she could see the stars from the large hold in the wall that some of the men were struggling to repair…

And she was soaking wet…probably from the waves.

The captain was kneeling over her. She felt the back of his hand against her face again. Concern was on his face and it melted into relief when he saw her open her eyes, "That's a good girl."

She wanted to ask what happened, but her head was pounding and once again…she slipped into darkness.

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Dagian winced at the throbbing in her forehead and rested her fingertips against the large bump that felt like it was the size of an egg.

The bed felt a lot more comfortable than the flat mattress that she'd just spent two months on…

…She didn't recall having a comforter either…

Her eyes shot open when she realized that she wasn't in her closet of a room. She tried not to move until she got her bearings….

The ship had been attacked…she'd been injured…

She'd murdered someone.

Dagian exhaled and put her hands over her face. It was self-defense. She was protecting herself, just like she'd been taught. There had been no other way…

She removed her hands after a few seconds and looked around. She was lying in the captain's bed. Dagian felt the familiar leather of the pants he gave her to rubbing against her skin. But the shirt was a warmer dry unfamiliar one which worried her. She didn't like the idea of being stripped by any of these men. She pulled the covers back and gave a sigh of relief when she saw that the laces of her pants were tied with the complicated knot that she'd learned as a child. That was one less thing to worry about.

She looked over to her right and saw the shirtless captain snoring next to her. She cautiously lifted the blanket and looked underneath to make sure he was wearing pants. Thank gods, he was. She wondered if he did that because it was cooler or because he was hoping to startle her. It really didn't. She lived in small villages; she'd worked in the fields growing up. She'd seen shirtless men before…she'd seen naked men before. She wasn't a sheltered naïve little royal who would blush if a man looked at her. That had stopped when she was fourteen.

Dagian lifted her head to the door but knew it was locked. He often kept it that way to avoid…visitors.

Now would be a perfect time to try and escape. It was night; they would have to light torches before they lowered a boat to go find her. The ship was damaged and there was land nearby if her navigating was correct. She knew how to swim at night. It was something she'd learned as a child.

She pulled herself into a sitting position slowly. He kept the key to her room and his on a small pouch on his belt which hung on the headboard next to his sword. She was surprised he didn't sleep with his arms wrapped around that thing with the way he loved it.

She reached over his sleeping body and her fingers brushed against the belt.

"I awakened to worse things."

Dagian's eyes grew when she felt his hand grab her hip. She lost her balance and her knee landed on the other side of his hip much to his amusement. Quick as a flash, she drew out her blade and pressed it against her throat just as he pressed his own dagger against hers.

"I'm getting mixed messages from you, my dear." He smirked, "Could that icy façade be melting after all?"

He gave her thigh a squeeze and she nearly nicked him with her knife….accidently.

"What are you doing, dear?" he asked.

She felt the blade gently run up her jaw and brush her cheek. She kept her face emotionless because she knew he was searching for fear.

"I got thirsty," she said simply, "I thought you had a cup over here."

"Now, I don't think that's the truth, do you?"

She shrugged and he seemed even more amused.

"Why am I in here?" she demanded.

"You hit your head. The crew thought that you were mine and so they brought you to our bed. I would've taken you to your room but well…you sort of have a window now until it can be repaired. I really didn't see the need to bother…you weren't trying to get my key by any chance?"

"Your key is in your belt? I didn't know that."

"You're a horrible liar," he teased, enjoying this far more than he should have. He massaged her hip a bit, "You're so tense, dear. I think this could be much more fun if we just relaxed and let what's going to happen happen…"

The idea sickened her and she realized that the sheets under him had taken a red tint, "You're bleeding."

"Which is the only reason you're on me instead of vice versa, love."

She practically leapt off him; he sat up with an amused look on his face and moved a bit so that she could see the large gash that ran from his side to his back. The stitches were a bit crude but they held together for the most part. He would need to get them redone if he was jarred anymore, "Battles leave such a mess."

She drew in a breath, "So I guess we won?"

"Heavy price to pay though," he muttered, "Four of my men are dead and the ship is in dire need of repairs. We'll make it to port but you and I are going to have to work out something to make sure you don't get discovered."

"Yeah," Dagian muttered, "Because that would be horrifying."

"It would in this tow, sweetheart. You don't want to be alone in those streets; murdering one man doesn't make you fit for this side of the world."

Dagian averted her gaze and drew in a breath. Killian watched her carefully, "Sorry love. First death is always the hardest but one day you'll forgive yourself."

The flippant way he said that made her blood run cold and she prayed to whatever gods still listened that she never became that flippant about someone's life.

He smiled and patted the side of the bed next to him, "Now why don't you come over here and we'll talk about it."

She wrapped her arms around herself. She was not getting in that bed with him. She was not putting herself in that temptation, there was a bunk for her down below and she was going down there with the crew because she had a feeling that she'd be safer there than she would be here.

Someone pounded on the door. Three expletives left Killian's mouth and he went to unlock the door, Dagian moved in behind him to see that it was James, "What is it?"

The Quartermaster saw them in the doorway together and cleared his throat, "Kingsmen are catching up to us."

Killian frowned, "How far?"

"They'll be caught up with us in twenty minutes."

He cursed and moved around the quartermaster, "Make sure she doesn't follow us out."

Dagian put 2 and 2 together…if the kingsmen were catching up then she could escape and reach them. She tried to race around the quartermaster; he wrapped an arm around her waist and shoved her back into the room, slammed the door and locked it.

She struggled with the doorknob but it wouldn't give. There was no point in really struggling because the Kingsmen were going to search the ship and they were going to find her.

But if they could get her off the ship, now that would be the trick.

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Present Day

Charming wasn't waking up.

It wasn't to be unexpected. Rumpelstiltskin knew that there was a very unlikely chance that it would actually work. HE knew this because he knew Charming and how often his plans actually worked without luck and other people to guide him along. He also knew it would fail because magic was never that easy and they were dreaming. It didn't work unless actual physical contact was applied.

But it was a sacrifice that had to be made. They needed to bring the savior and her mother home at any cost. It was sad to make Charming pay the price for that, especially if they failed. Personally, he'd been a fan of holding Regina down and forcing her to take the sleeping curse and deliver the message herself but Charming was in the room and he would've stopped him.

And so now the man…the only force of good besides Red Riding Hood that cared about stopping him and Regina was currently dead and while the cat was away, the mice would play.

He heard the bell to the front door jingle and Regina looked up sharply, "I thought you locked that."

"Well, I'm not the only one that has a key," he looked out the curtain to see that Dagian placed the baby carrier on the display case and looked around.

Regina scowled, "Get rid of her."

"Oh Regina," he sighed quietly so that Henry couldn't hear him, "Do shut up."

He slipped through the curtain and smiled at his wife…ex-wife according to the laws here that he liked to ignore when he suited him, "Hello sweetheart, coming in for a surprise visit?"

She looked at him apologetically, "I know this is last minute and I tried to call you but your phone was off."

"What's this?"

"You said that if I needed to go to therapy, you'd watch Lily…and I sort of need it now and Archie's available so…"

He gripped the cane tightly, "I thought you were doing better."

"I am," she said quickly. She looked him full in the eyes so it wasn't a lie. He wondered what the Hatter had done. He hoped it wasn't his fault; they'd seemed to be so happy earlier today, "Some ways."

He looked up at her pale face, something was wrong, "What do you remember?"

She drew in a sigh and lowered her eyes, "I…killed a man. It was in self-defense but…there was a battle on the ship and he grabbed me and I killed him…

400 years as the dark one had numbed him to taking lives but Dagian was still very much human. She'd fought before, she's hurt people to defend herself before but he wasn't sure if she'd ever taken a life.

And then he remembered that while he was numb, he had a lot of experience in the area and she was distressed about it so he figured that he could at least offer the invitation to comfort her, "Would you like to talk about it?"

"No," she whispered and wiped a tear from her eye, "No, Archie's expecting me. I should-."

"Mrs. Gold?"

Dagian visibly flinched at her former surname but said nothing when she saw Henry watching them from the curtain.

"Hello Henry," she greeted, "What are you doing here?"

Rumpelstiltskin prayed that Henry would not bring up her past as someone under the sleeping curse who could've relayed the message. Dagian had spent almost 400 years in that nightmare. He didn't want to force her hand into seeing that place again. Not when she clearly was making some progress in therapy. Putting her in that burning room would undo all of that and he'd gladly sacrifice Regina and Charming before forcing the mother of his children to confront that place again.

Regina appeared from behind the curtain and put a possessive hand on her son's shoulders and glared at Dagian.

And the game was had.

Dagian's eyes immediately darkened. She'd spent most of her awakening being on her guard and hiding the pregnancy because they worried about what Regina would do. Dagian didn't like or trust her, her Dawn personality absolutely despised her.

Dagian looked at him, "What's going on?"

"Go to therapy," he warned her.

Her voice dropped so that only he could hear it, "I am not leaving our baby here with that woman when I spent most of my pregnancy thinking that she would hurt our daughter. What are you doing?"

He grabbed her arm and guided her away, "I'm trying to take measures to find our son."

"By enlisting her help?" Dagian asked, "And what's that poor boy doing here with her? If I remember correctly, she stormed town hall and threw everyone around so that she could emotionally blackmail him into coming back with her. Where is Charming?"

"That's quite complicated."

Dagian gave another concerned look for the boy. She'd always had a soft spot for Henry, as he did.

"Well, you're going to find out eventually," He muttered and turned to look at Regina and Henry, "Give us a few minutes."