A/N: Hi :D This is a pretty short chapter. Important though. Writing it helped me through the Onceless Sunday. Hope you'll enjoy it! :)
The dungeon was cold and damp, and it's floor was covered with straw. As Emma's eyes got used to the dark, she noticed the stains of blood on the walls.
Fantastic, she thought.
Her instincts drove her to explore the cell, tapping every brick in every wall to find a loose one.
"There's no use," Said a voice from the other side of the wall. "He comes here once a day to fix everything with magic. I'm afraid we're stuck."
"Who are you?" Asked Emma, leaning against the wall that their cells probrbly shared.
"I dare not speak my name here." Said the man behind the wall. "I'd rather believe he does not know my name yet."
"How long have you been locked up down here?" She asked.
"I don't know. Days. Maybe weeks. I lost count." He answered. The deep despair in his voice made her heart ache for him.
"It's autunm, outside." She informed him, hoping to help him somehow.
"Months, then. I got caught when it was still winter."
"Why are you here?"
"You really do have an awful lot of questions, don't you?"
"Yes, I suppose I do. Why, then?"
The man behind the wall chuckled weakly. "I stole from him, and he wants to know where did I hide it, and-" He stopped abruptly.
"Are you there?" She whispered, suddenly worried.
"Don't waste your time talking to him, dearie." Said Rumpelstiltskin, who seemed to appear in her cell.
"What did you do to him?" Emma demanded, suddenly furious.
"Nothing, dearie, nothing at all, I just put him to sleep so that we can have a little… Chat." He grinned, exposing a set of rotten, disgusting teeth.
Emma swallowed her fear. "What would you like to talk about, Dark One?" She asked.
"Oh, the terms of your release, of course!" He cheered, then giggled. "You didn't really think I'd keep the daughter of Snow White and her Charming prince locked in my dungeon forever, did you?"
"Please, forgive me for doubting it." She sneered bravely.
"Oh, and a brave princess as well! Well, that makes things a lot more interesting, doesn't it? Not that I ever doubted that, considering your bloodline."
"What do you want?" She demanded.
"Oh, many, many things. But I do believe I have alrady told you."
"If all you want is to set me free, why catching me in the first place?" She asked, fear now leaking through the cracks in her mask of bravado. He was playing games with her, and she didn't like it.
"Oh, I said that I am willing to tell you the terms of your release, not that all I wanted was to let you go. You are way too valuable for me to do that, princess." He cleared his throat. "I will be willing to let you go, if," He looked right into her eyes. "You'll defeat me in a duel."
Emma was silent for a moment. "So let me get this straight- If I, right now, will fight you and win- you'll just let me go?"
Rumpelstiltskin nodded, smiling. "And if you lose, you're allowed to call for a rematch whenever it suits you, and as many times as you might need."
"Well, if that's so, let's do this now, shall we? May I have my sword?" he smiled and with a flick of his fingers her sword appeared in her hand. He pulled his own sword out and giggled, a sound she was quickly growing to loathe.
"Begin," She breathed and threw herself towards him, pointing her sword forward, aiming for his heart, if he even had one. Her sword was supposed to slash right through the imp's heart but he disappeared, reappearing not even a moment later right behind her with his blade pressed to her throat.
"Drop your sword, dearie, I believe you've been beaten." He murmured in her ear. She shivered with disgust and did as he commanded.
"I can't win when you're cheating." She huffed, willing him silently to keep his distance, knowing that he would kill her if she'll say anything.
"Magic isn't cheating, dearie. It's the very meaning of our little game. Our deal remains- I'll let you go once I'll be beaten by you in a duel. Until then-" A cloud of swirling, dark red smoke enveloped her and the next thing she saw were the ominous walls of her cell.
"What does he even want from you?" Asked the man frombehind the wall.
"I don't know." She whispered, feeling as if despair was running through her veins.
He was silent for a second. "What are you going to do, then?" He chose to ask eventually.
She looked down on her stomach, wishing with all she had that nothing would happen to the baby inside of it. "I don't know." She whispered again.
-xxx-
Once again, Killian couldn't find Emma when he got to the cabbin in the following day.
"Emma?" He called, assuming she was somewhere in it. He checked the garden, the kitchen, the bedroom. She wasn't there.
"Oh, I really didn't expect you to leave such a pretty princess alone in the woods, dearie." Giggled an all too familiar voice from behind him.
"Crocodile." Hissed the prince, fear attacking him violently. "What have you done?"
"Hello to you too, your Highness," Said the imp, mock insulted. "Ah, yes, the princess. You seem to be quite fond of this nice little decor I recently found. Too bad she's useful. I would have enjoyed slitting this pretty throat of hers in front of you. Slowly. And yet- who knows. Maybe some day."
"I'll haunt you for the rest of your days if you'll even think of doing as much as laying a finger on her." Killian growled, pain and rage he most certainly did not want to show creeping into his glare.
"This is a very long time you're talking about, dearie," Rumpelstiltskin smirked with malice.
"Not if I find a way to kill you." He said through gritted teeth. His old foe's smirk widened.
"Ooh, quite intense, your Majesty. You managed to get over Milah after all, I see."
With eyes full of tears and a frustrated, pained yell the prince pinned the imp against the wall of the cabbin. "You've taken one love from me, already, Crocodile. I won't let-"
"Oh, so you love her!" Cheered the imp. "I thought this might be the case, she called for you in her sleep, once. This is simply fantastic!"
Killian's heart ached as he actually imagined Emma in the dark castle for the first time. "Let her go, Dark One." He urged, almost begged. "She didn't do anything."
"Oh, worried about your baby?" He smiled. "Yes, I have noticed your little offspring growing within her."
"'S not mine." Killian snarled, jealosuy now washing over him as well. He knew it was stupid, being jealous of a dead man, but he couldn't help it. Emma seemed to love him very much, still. On the other hand, it wasn't completely fair of him to act this way, considering his reaction to the mere metion of Milah's name.
"Oh." Rumpelstiltskin frowned. "Well, this is indeed very interesting."
And with these last words, he was gone, probably back in his castle, with Emma. A very scared, shaken Killian, whose legs refused to carry him any longer, fell to the floor.
Her name was all he could think about.
Emma. Emma. Emma.
-xxx-
Emma woke up at once, to find her captor staring at her from the other side of the cell. It was her third day there, and she had not once, not twice, but five times tried to invite him to a rematch, knowing clearly that she'll lose. "What do you want?" She asked.
"Oh, how impolite of you, dearie, I only came here to visit you." He smirked.
"I don't believe you." She quietly declared.
"I knew you wouldn't." He giggled. She hated the sound. "I came here to offer you a way to get out of here."
"Another way?" She asked, utterly surprised. "Would you allow it?"
"No, no no no, of course not. You'll still have to beat me to get yourself out of here."
"What are you offering, then?" She ignored the slight disappointment she felt, because what was she even expecting anyway.
"Well, dearie, your parents… They happen to have one of the most unique love stories I have ever witnessed. What they had- it's called True Love. Which makes you a product of True Love. And as a product of True Love, you have certain… Abilities. Special… Abilities."
"Get to it, imp." She growled at him, getting angrier by the second. "What are you offering?"
"Magic, dearie." He grinned. "I'm offering you to no loger waste your potential and time and use your magic to get yourself out of here."
Okay... Explanations will be given. In the next chapter. Meanwhile... Review? :3