A/N - Tried a little something different in the first part as a writing experiment. Hope it works! Enjoy the second part of Nightfall. Please let us know what you think :)
The pungent aroma of incense permeated the thatched hut as Merlin paced his domicile, hands clasped behind his back. His robes grazed the dirt-packed floor. His expression was far away and pensive, listening to a voice that - truly - only Merlin could hear. For now.
"Free you from where you are?" he mused. "Why, a lovely idea, of course… but impossible. Clearly impossible."
Merlin smirked as he listened to her reply and offered a loose shrug of his shoulders.
"That there is, but it is not mine to do. Tell me, do you remember how you came to be where you are?"
He sighed, listening, and continued his meditative circular paths as he walked the hut. She was agitated. Understandably, but Merlin knew it was what she needed.
"It is always dizzying, dealing with such darkness. So disconcerting, so disconcerting…"
Merlin glanced up toward the baubled ceiling, tilted his head, then resumed his steps as he listened.
"Safety is always something to be mindful of… how safe any one place is depends on the fears and abilities of the one who is trapped. Your reputation precedes you, of course…"
Again, he paused, listening.
"Oh, you do know that much… who you are… that's good, that's good," he mused. The ethereal voice carried on a bit more about knowing what happened before he said, "Dark vortex… my, my, so dramatic…" Merlin chuckled. "Just wait. You've but sampled darkness… or has it sampled you?"
He seemed to think that had been said before, by some other Dark One. Merlin cocked his head, pondering that. He shrugged and continued to move in a pattern only he understood.
He chuckled at his guest's reply. Her natural ferocity would serve her well, he thought, for the battle to come. Merlin glanced at his crystal ball, giving it a scrutinizing look.
"How do you feel?"
There was a long pause, then Merlin chuckled at that reference to her attire. Women. No matter which land they're from, he thought.
"It's good that you are adjusting well. That will make things easier. Embrace your restlessness and keep the energy flowing. I think you saw how the previous Dark One was when put on a leash. Don't restrain yourself."
She complained about control issues with her powers and questioned his judgement.
"You're still contained right now, where you're located," Merlin pointed out. "And if nothing else… think of the magical flares you'd put off as being just that: a way for your savior to find you."
Her puzzlement was clear. Merlin chuckled and finally settled down on his bedroll.
"Alas, I've already said too much. Just work on being yourself, whatever that means now."
He laid back and stretched out, staring up at the baubles. From this vantage, it almost looked like a solar system overheard. The various sized globes scintillated in the firelight. Merlin did wonder what she could see, where she was.
"Perhaps... But, given your determined nature, all will become clear."
Merlin chuckled again, listening to her coarse reply.
"Tsk, tsk. Language dear. I am reluctantly here to help, not goad you."
He listened to her quietly, without interruption, gaze riveted to the baubles above.
"Ah, I didn't introduce myself? I am called Merlin, child. And you are quite the interesting hero… one who takes chances without knowing what will happen, all to do the right thing. Why is that?"
Merlin listened, then chuckled at her surprise. After all that Emma Swan had endured, how was she still surprised?
"The hopefully one and only," he confirmed.
Merlin smirked as she rattled off the names of legend, nodding to himself as, clearly, she was unable to see his reaction.
"Yes, that Merlin… though things are a bit different now. Of course, you'd already met the younger Lancelot, I believe, in your travels."
Merlin listened for a moment, then nodded. He had existed, but was apparently dead by the time Emma had gone to the Enchanted Forest. He'd not known that.
"Ah… well, the version you more commonly know was a long time ago. Camelot remains, and so do I… and some others of magical nature. But, this foray into my identity does not answer my question."
Merlin arched a brow, listening. That she felt she had to save the former Evil Queen was interesting to him, considering all of the history involved. He wondered how that would play out as the future unfolded.
"Even at the expense of your own life and happiness, it would appear," he commented.
Merlin smiled at her reply. He wondered what magic was really afoot here, considering the issue Emma seemed to have with the Evil Queen's soulmate.
"And what of the one you left behind?" he queried.
He found Emma's reply to be both vague and specific, and puzzled over it. It was as mysterious of speak as she'd earlier accused him of engaging in!
"Interesting… well. Test out your powers. Take time to explore your environs. But, do be careful there…" Merlin cautioned.
He nodded, considering her question. Time would really tell how frequently they'd be able to speak, but Merlin hoped it was more often than not. For Emma's sake. He felt she'd need a link to reality, even if it was his.
"We shall see… I will endeavor to keep the lines of communication open to your… realm," he said.
Merlin made a face and repositioned himself on the bedroll. Her location was important to her, but he didn't know how to explain it to the novice Dark One.
"I know a good many things about a good many places," he replied. "It's just that… you're in that nether realm where a Dark One must go if she is taken by the power of the dagger as you were. It's a most unusual and rare case to end up with the source of that magic."
He knew she'd ask that. Of course Emma would want to know who the previous inhabitant - who she needed to fear, in truth - was. Merlin sighed. Divulging that would likely sever their connection because it was being allowed by the original Dark One, of course. All of this was being controlled by her.
"The original, Emma Swan. Morgan le Fay."
And, as he'd expected, the communication line snapped, leaving him to the quiet of his hut.
Dagger tucked safely in her jacket, Regina bit her lip and walked up the steps into the diner, alone. She was relieved that Robin had respected her wishes and let her be, even though she knew well that he was disappointed by that. With a sigh, Regina opened the door, winced at the brightness of the lighting, and zeroed her gaze in on Henry alone. He was sitting at the counter now as Ruby was ringing up a patron's order, sipping on his cocoa with whipped cream and cinnamon, both story books stacked next to him unopened.
"Henry… it's time to head home. We need to talk," Regina said.
Her tone was one of acute weariness. Too much had happened too fast. Again.
"Mom?" Keenly aware something major happened, Henry pushed aside his cup, grabbed the books and went up to his mother quickly. The lack of anyone else with her, especially Robin, was telling enough. They had just gone on a walk together. "Can't we talk now?"
Regina looked around. This felt too exposed. She felt too vulnerable and shook her head. "No. I… Henry, it's very serious. We should go home for this conversation. Let me just pay for your-"
"Oh the house, Regina," Ruby said quickly, seeing the state that she was in, even if she did not yet know why.
Regina blinked in confusion, then gave a distracted nod. "Thank you. Henry, let's go."
"Thanks, Ruby," he said politely before tightly gripping his mother's arm and moved out of the diner in a hurry. His mother's presence, how fragile she was in walking them towards the car, was worrying him. "Mom? You're really scaring me."
"I'm sorry, Henry."
They went down the steps and she had to pause, trying to remember where in the hell her car was. After locating it, Regina rehearsed this again and again silently, still trying to wrap her mind around the sacrifice that idiot, Emma, had made for her. It wasn't until she and Henry were both seated at the dining room table that she found her voice. The car ride home had been filled with quiet tension.
"Henry… something's happened to Emma. She…" Regina blinked, finding it hard to say again. "She sacrificed herself for me when the darkness from Gold's dagger got loose."
In all fairness, with how his mother had been acting since Robin Hood came into her life, Henry expected Regina's behavior to be tied to him. Yes, he wanted his mother happy, both of them, but he also wasn't blind to how nearsighted Regina became when Robin was with her, or how problematically mopey when he wasn't. He had to switch gears, trying to wrap his mind around that Emma had been attacked by the Dark One's power.
"What… what do you mean she sacrificed herself for you?" he asked, anguished. "Did she … she didn't …" He couldn't dare speak the words and the Apprentice's warning haunted him. If his mom died here, there was no way to bring her back!
Regina grimaced, though it was anger that laced her tone. "The darkness was encircling me, ready to take me as its new host. Emma, damn her, took the dagger and insisted on sacrificing her life for mine. She didn't want me to fall to darkness again, so she did so herself."
He was barely holding it together, working through what Regina was telling him as he gripped the edge of the table, scratching his thumbnail under it nervously. "Fall to the darkness? Does that mean… is she…?"
Dead or the new Dark One? he wondered angrily.
"Henry… truly, I don't know." Regina sighed heavily and looked down at her lap, trying to keep herself calm. "Killian… Hook… immediately tried to summon her after she vanished. Knowing how the dagger worked with Rumpelstiltskin, he… we… expected that would bring her back. Nothing happened."
His eyes widened in hope that at least everyone believed Emma to be alive and was the new Dark One. But, she was also the savior! Things might work differently, as apparent with Hook's failure to summon Emma.
As excited about his mother's chances for survival, his heart also sank with dread as he asked his next question. "Who has the dagger now?"
Regina looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "I do, of course. I wasn't about to trust that fool with it. I know you're fond of Hook for teaching you to sail, but I've known him far too long to trust him. Even if Emma has fallen for him."
"Mom… you're joking, right?" Henry blinked in aggravation. "I'm not fond of Hook. I tolerate Hook because he makes mom happy. And I don't know where you got that teaching me to sail stuff," he said, but then paused, remembering the events of Isaac's book. "Unless you mean in that other land? I only said that so Hook would trust me. But, I'm glad you have the dagger. I was worried that he did still."
"Well, I just know Emma was foisting you off on him throughout Zelena's reign of terror… when you didn't remember me," Regina said. "But yes, I was not about to allow Hook to hold the Dark One's dagger, considering its power or his careless use of it."
"Alright. Good." He loosened his grip on the table and leaned forward, hands atop the finely polished wood, ready to solve this mystery with his mother. "If he tried to summon her, that means the dagger has mom's name on it. We know that it should've worked, but for some reason it didn't. Which means she's alive, somewhere, but doesn't want to appear. Or … or maybe she can't."
Despite the gravity of it all, Regina smiled proudly at her son. Leave it to Henry to be able to be clear-headed and able to think this through.
"You're right. Perhaps she can't. Who knows how this is impacted by her light magic." Regina rose and paced the dining room, finding new purpose. "We need Gold. Who else would know enough about that dagger?"
"But Belle says he's in really bad shape. She said … " He paused, knowing that Gold's darkened heart and Emma's disappearance had to be connected. "With Emma being the new Dark One, we don't know what condition Gold is in. We'll have to find out."
Regina scowled, then sighed with annoyance. "What do you mean 'what condition' he's in?"
"He was bad off before he was saved, and who knows what the price was in doing that." He frowned in all seriousness. "Magic always comes with a price. Mom paid it. He might've too."
Regina stared at him, then shook her head. Of course. Of course he'd be out of commission when we need him desperately. Just. Perfect.
She poured herself a glass of cider, hand trembling.
"When Belle and Ne… your father brought him back when we were sent back to the Enchanted Forest, there was a Vault of the Dark One or some such magical construct in the middle of the forest. That's where Zelena corrupted him into her service. Could Emma have been sent there?" Regina mused before downing the drink.
Henry felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he digested the implications of what his mother was suggesting. "Zelena manipulated them into freeing Gold. At the expense of my father's life. I … I really hope mom's not there because I know she wouldn't want us to hurt anyone in getting her back. Forget about trying to find a way to get to the Enchanted Forest..."
She sighed. "I know. So, what do we do, Henry?"
"I don't know, Mom…" he answered meekly, finding it hard to admit he wasn't sure where to start. "But there has to be a way to find her."
Regina set the glass down and went back to sit with her son. She worried that if she stayed at the decanter, she'd end up drunk. Looking grimly at Henry, she thought about those final moments as the darkness swirled around Emma.
"Henry… why would Emma do this? Why sacrifice herself for me? I… I can't understand it, no matter that she said it was because of how far I'd come. So had she."
The answer was not as simple as merely saying that the savior made a promise to bring all the happy endings back, including that of the Evil Queen's. Henry was a quiet observer of the people he loved, even jotting down his thoughts about his family every night, when not being kidnapped by the latest villain plot of course, of their latest adventures his family had to go through to protect the people of Storybrooke and those that they loved. Having the storybook given to him by Mary Margaret had expanded his already vibrant imagination and had turned reading about stories into writing them. It was not a surprise that he had become the next Author.
There was a constant theme in his writing and thoughts, a focus on his mothers. Their happiness was important to him even when he didn't approve of who Emma was seeing. He did not like Hook, and the pirate knew it. Emma did too, but Henry often wondered if pushing her happiness so hard onto Hook had overshadowed his obvious concern about the entire relationship. But there was something else that he was painfully aware of too.
"Emma cares about you. A lot. She doesn't say it because … well, we all know how she's like with expressing herself." He smiled ruefully. Emma tripped over her words as much as her feet when she was emotionally flustered. "Your opinion of her matters so much. Why do you think she was stalking you so much after bringing Marian back? How you were the key of breaking the spell on her and Elsa that the Snow Queen placed on them. Or… or even how worried she was when you were going undercover to figure out what Gold and everyone was up to. Your feelings matter to her. You matter to her."
Regina listened intently to Henry, an elbow on the table, face propped in the curve of her palm. It seemed inconceivable that Emma could care so much about her opinion and feelings to make such an insane sacrifice! Yes, they'd proven capable as co-parents to their son, and it was true that she did care about Emma; the fact that she'd given them happy memories together when Pan's curse had swept her away proved that.
But to sacrifice her own life and happiness for me? I don't understand…
After all, Regina had never had anyone care about her that deeply. Truly, while Robin was very fond of her, Regina didn't think even he would make such a life-altering sacrifice. In fact, clearly not considering how quickly he'd forgotten about her when leaving for New York with Marian! And that troubled her nearly as much as it bothered her what Emma had done.
"Emma… matters to me too, Henry. But, this…" She sighed. "Well, we have to save the savior, it seems. We just need to figure out how to."
Henry fell silent, working through everything that he knew so far of what happened and that of the Dark One. Anyone could control the Dark One as long as they had the dagger. The dagger could be used as a tool for good or for manipulation, depending on the goals of the person wielding the object of power.
"Was Hook the only one that tried to summon her?" he asked finally.
She nodded. "Yes. Your grandfather wanted to… but thought that perhaps Emma didn't want to come back. Snow seemed too distraught. And I… I just felt that acting rashly, trying to summon her immediately after what happened was too reckless."
Relieved with answer, Henry nodded towards his mother sadly. His family was showing that it could do what was right under pressure once again. "Then maybe we need to talk to Belle and see how Gold is before we do anything else."
Regina pursed her lips and nodded again. "Yes. I think he's our logical next step. And from there… we'll figure it out We always do, right?"
A/N - And now you have an idea what we are doing here. Morgan le Fey is the original Dark One, Camelot that we know from stories and what is being shown as canon OUAT is our past in our story. We'll delve into Emma's surroundings and her perspective for sure. Not having Emma speaking or showing up physically in the chapter gives it a true sense that she was gone to the characters we focused on - Henry and Regina.