A/N: Longest chapter yet! Whoop Whoop! I hope you'll like it :D

When she appeared in the dark castle her face was damp and her eyes were swollen, and he took evil pleasure from the pain he must have inflicted. His enemy must be drowning in it. "Well, have you told your prince not to come for you?"

She looked at him with such hatred he almost flinched. "You know I did." She gulped and wiped away her tears. "Why do you hate him so much?"

"What makes you believe I do?"

"You sent me. You knew how would he react and you sent me anyway. You could have just gone yourself. And you seem sickeningly joyous every time you say something about hurting him."

The Dark One sighed and sat on the dining table. "Let me tell you a little tale, dearie."

"Once upon a time," He began, earning an annoyed huff from the princess. "There was an immortal man. The man was blessed with a beautiful flower that grew in his garden. He found so much meaning in the flower, that he never wanted to live without it. So every night, at midnight precisely, he would approach the flower when it was deep in it's slumber, and repair every damage the cruel time has caused it over the day. And just like that, the flower had kept the man happy for centuries." Emma's brow was frowned. "Until one day, another man, a greedy man, plucked the flower out of the garden to which it belonged, and just like that, all the years it was protected from so carefully landed on it, crashing it, corrupting it's beauty, taking it's life away. And the man was left alone, in the dark."

Emma nodded, biting her lip. "What was her name?" She asked without looking at him.

"Milah." He answered without hesitation. "Her name was Milah."

It was sick. It was utterly sick. Emma couldn't feel anything but sorry for the woman, the flower, whose wishes and choices weren't even mentioned in the twisted tale she has just been told. Who would want to live forever? Life is short and you only get to live once, but that's what makes them so beautiful, so precious. That's what makes love so meaningful. And whatever he had with this woman, this Milah, it wasn't love. Not if he speaks of her, even after her death, as if she was his property. His flower.

"There is something new I'd like to teach you, princess." He said after a long silence.

"Is it something that is going to help me get out of here?"

"It could, princess." He was excited. She could see that. "I want to teach you how to pull out a heart."

His words hit her like a fist. "Like-" She attempted asking, only to be stopped by her suddenly dry throat. She gulped and cleard it. "Like the… like Evil Queen did- Like she did to Graham?" She was shaken anyway, she didn't need this- but he nodded.

"Yes, dearie."

"I'll never do that. To anyone." She stated, repulsed and terrified.

"Not even to her? Not even to the Evil Queen? To the one who took your love away?" He was taunting her, she could tell. She shook her hear firmly.

"Never."

Rumpelstiltskin huffed. He had been waiting for this for too long. He thought that seeing her love was going to give her the final push. To make her enough desperate to get out. But he was probably wrong. And he was done waiting for her. With one quick movement of his hand he launched himself to the large chandelier and sat on it, then summoned a black unicorn to stand right in front of her. "It is crucial that you do what I say now, dearie." He shouted from above her. "Your baby's life is at stake."

She looked up to him in disbelief and undeniable hatred. "You are a monster!" She exclaimed, fear rushing through her veins, cold and energizing.

"Send your hand into it's chest. Will it to plunge into it. Concentrate." He instructed her.

"You're mad!" She yelled, the adrenaline in her blood making everything around her even more insane.

"Do it!" He ordered harshly. "I can and will hurt this baby of yours."

She braced herself and apologized silently before shooting her hand into the unicorn's body. Horror washed over her as she did.

"Wrap your fingers around the heart and pull it out."

She obeyed, pulling the heart from it's place. The beast grunted in pain and she immediately let go of it, backing off from it and looking down. "I can't do this."

"Yes, you can!" He yelled, abruptly appearing next to her.

She sobbed as she pulled the heart out. She looked at it as if she couldn't believe it was there.

"It's now yours. Command it to bow down. Wish it to."

With her thoughts alone, she forced the magnificent creature down. Her heart broke as it closed it's big eyes, defeated. Just as she was.

"Now crush it."

"What?"

"Crush it. Kill it. Finish it."

"I can't," She protested weakly, knowing that eventually she will and trying to delay the inevitable.

"Yes, you can." He said, placing his hand on her stomach. She flinched but he held her still and suddenly an unfamiliar, unpleasent feeling spread within her.

"No, please, stop," She begged him.

"Do it!"

Her sobs grew louder as she tightened her grip on the heart and the unicorn begged for mercy in his animalistic way. After a few seconds it was all over. The lifeless beast was lying on the floor and a satisfied imp was grinning at her. "I think that's enough for today." He said, waving his hand to send her back to the dungeon.

"What happened up there?" Asked the man from the other side of the wall. At her silence, he asked again, his tone urgent. "Emma, what happened?" She had told him her name on the second day of her stay there. He had become her one spot of sanity in the entire mad situation, and she was the same for him, after an awfully long time of talking to no one. He knew about her pregnancy, about the magic the Dark One was making her perform.

"H-he told me to rip a u-unicorn's heart out. He threatened my baby." Her voice shook and she sobbed.

"He's a monster." Whispered the man, sounding deeply horrified. He has a child, observed Emma. She didn't say anything, Knowing that revealing any detail of his life could be dangerous for him and for his loved ones, but powerful sadness took over her at the thought. He hasn't seen his child in almost a year. "Is it- Are you alright?" He asked carefully.

She nodded before remembering he couldn't see her. "I think so," She whispered. "I wish he was here."

The man behind the wall sighed with sympathy without even knowing who was she talking about. Frankly, she didn't know exacty as well. Her father? Graham? August? Killian? She needed to feel safe, This was what she truly meant. "I can understand that, lass."

"Rumpelstiltskin forced me to make him promise not to come for me." She confessed, the truth now hitting her with it's full weight.

"He will, Emma."

"He can't. He'll die, and I'll never forgive him for it."

The man behind the wall chuckled a bit. "Sounds like you really love him."

"I do." She whispered. What a fantastic timing for such acknowledgment, she thought.

She didn't tell him about the deal she made with the Dark One to set him free first, only because she knew he'll object. And as much as she missed the outside, her little garden, Thomas, Killian, everything, knowing that he had a child made her even more certain. He was a good man. He needed to be reunited with whoever was waiting for him. She didn't regret it for a moment.

-xxx-

Two days have passed before Emma invited Rumpelstiltskin to another duel, the first one since he had started to teach her.

"I hope it'll be more intersting this time, dearie." He proclaimed as he dropped her sword in front of her.

She said nothing at that.

"Begin." He giggled and disappeared. She spun around, predicting his actions, and her sword met his in a loud clash. When he lifted his sword she knew it was her only chance. When he swung it at her she held out her hand to stop the movement. Pain flashed through her as she felt the blade cut deep into her palm, but she couldn't afford to lose it, not now, in the precious moments when he's completely confused by her actions. She did as he taught her, summoning a ball of fire in her injured hand that still held his sword, but instead of letting it spread she focused on the blade, quickly heating it. He hissed in pain and dropped his treacherous weapon, but until he regained control, her sword was already resting on his throat.

"I won." She breathed.

"I believe you did." He said.

She pressed her bleeding, hurting palm to her side, staining her clothes with her blood, and tried as hard as she could to ignore it as her captor waved his hand and the man behind the wall appeared. He had a light brown hair, a beard that must have grown during the time he had spent locked up in the dungeon. "Emma?" He asked. She nodded in response, smiling weakly at him.

"I'm afraid you are free to go now," Said the Dark One.

Emma could see questions swirling in his eyes. "What?" He chose to ask eventually.

"This young lady had made a deal with me to insure your safety and freedom. She had to beat me once to set you free and twice to do so for herself."

"What?" He whispered again. He turned to look at her in disbelief. "Emma, what have you done? What about your baby?" He desperately inquired.

She shook her head. "You were here longer than me. It was the right thing to do."

He rushed towards her. "Emma… I owe you my life now." With tears in his eyes he took her hands in his, only to drop the hurt one as she flinched violently at his touch. "You're hurt."

"Don't worry about it."

"Oh, I see you two have become friends. How sickeningly nice." Commented Rumpelstiltskin. "Will you please just say your farewells so that I could send him away?"

"My name is Robin, Emma." He said. "Robin of locksley. Mostly known by Robin Hood. If you'll ever need anything, I'll be glad to be at your service."

She nodded. "I'll remember that." She promised, then hugged him tight, not wanting to think of the unknown amount of time she was going to spend without anyone to talk to but the awful imp that was now tapping on his thigh with his long fingers impatiently.

"You can't ever hurt him any of his loved ones," Emma clarified.

"Yes, yes, dearie, you made that quite clear already." He said, annoyed. "Farewell, theif." He said and snapped his fingers, making Robin disappear in a cloud of red smoke.

"Show me that he's okay." Emma demanded.

"You do realize what you just did." He said, looking at her in slight disbelief. "You could have been in your prince's arms right now."

"Yes." She snapped, not wanting to linger on the thought. "Now prove that he's alright."

He muttered something about an insufferable princess before summoning a crystal ball and making a clear image of Robin holding a young boy tight to his chest and crying appear in it. "Are you content, princess?"

She smiled at the blissful reunion. "Yes." She declared. She looked at her injured hand, that was still throbbing with pain, and ran her other hand over it, having every intention of healing it. It wasn't such a surprise when it did. Not for her, anyway.

"How did you do it?" Rumpelstiltskin asked. "I didn't teach you that."

"Maybe you underestimated me." She suggested, relieved, now that the oppressive pain was gone.

-xxx-

Robin Hood was strolling through the forest with his son, something that he thought he would never get to do again. Suddenly a loud sound of surprise was heard. "Robin of Locksley." Called prince Killian, one of his oldest mates.

"Your Highness." He smiled as the astonished prince rushed to hug him and clap fondly on his back.

"I thought you were gone!"

"I was captured by the Dark One." Robin lowered his voice so that his son won't be able to hear him. "Almost a year ago."

An unwanted trace of hope falshed in Killian's heart. He wanted to ask how did he manage to get himself out of there, but another question was more urgent. "You were imprisoned by the dark one?"

Robin nodded. "Aye."

Killian gulped. "Did you happen to meet a blonde woman there?"

Robin's eyes widened. "Emma?"

"Yes!" Killian's eyes filled with tears. "Did you see her? How is she?"

"She's the reason I'm free," Said Robin quietly. "I owe her everything."

"I must get to her. I must get her out of there." The prince was running his hands through his hair in anxiety. "I can't-"

"She told me she will never forgive you if you'll come for her." Said Robin. "She fears you'll die." He observed his friend carefully. "She loves you truly. She'll do whatever she can to free herself. As far as I know, she made a deal with the Dark One. If she beats him in a duel once, he frees me, and if she wins a second time, she gets free."

Rage and despair suddenly filled Killian's heart. "How could you let her do this?" He breathed. "How could you let a pregnant woman give up her freedom for the sake of yours?"

"I didn't know!" Robin protested. "I would have never allowed it to happen if I did. But you are missing the point. She defeated the bloody Dark One in a duel. If she can manage that, she can manage just about everything. She will get back to you, I'd bet my life on it."

All the anger washed away. "I'm sorry, mate. I should have known you'd have never let anything like that happen."

"It's alright, truly."

"Was she really alright, when you saw her?" Asked the prince, looking for some comfort in his friend's knowledge of her.

"She's a tough lass." Replied Robin with a grin. "Wouldn't go up against her by choice, that's for sure."

Killian laughed. Of course she'll get back to him, she defeated the sodding undefeatable on her own. Hope was now settling in his heart, and for the first time in a long time, he had let it.

Okay. Okay. What do you think?
Review..? :3