ᴘᴇʀꜱᴇᴘʜᴏɴᴇ | once upon a time [ EDITING ]

- ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ.

— ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ.

It was as if months had gone by, yet no matter what the heroes tried.. there was no trace of Presley. After the fight that had errupted in Granny's diner over the girl's lies she had vanished into thin air. Grumpy had once even suggested she might be dead,  for which he received a glare from his dwarf brothers for even thinking of it.

Presley's disappearance had left a hole in the heart of many people. Emma felt incredible guilt over going off on the girl like that. Henry had not got much time with his sort-of sister. She had misled him in Neverland, yes, but she was also lied to and he had long forgiven her for everything. And Wendy.. well, she was destroyed. Losing her first love had caused her to feel hurt, but she didn't blame her girlfriend at all.

Though they had not known each other for long, Presley had never shared so much of herself with anyone as she did with Wendy. The Darling girl had stood by her side as Presley experienced trauma after trauma. She was there when time and time again people thought badly of her or her actions, slowly tearing the girl apart.

And so, even though it hurt, she waited patiently for her true love to come back to her. Killian hated it that Presley had hurt one of his current best friends like that. But then, just like Wendy he could also understand her reasonings for leaving.

Between the search for the missing Swan girl they had other problems to solve that disrupted the peace in Storybrooke. The Ice Queen was no longer a problem and the villains who came into town afterwards were dealt with. Even the bad Author Isaac Heller, who had changed their lives into an alternate universe where villains were heroes and reversed, was now defeated. Henry was now the new Author, a heavy responsibility for such a young boy.

Oh yes, there was more. Zelena is pregnant with the child of Robin Hood, Rumplestiltskin is on the verge of dying and a cloud of Dark One-ness was flying through town. Just another casual day in Storybrooke, so it seemed.

It was exactly the right moment for her return. From a distance she watches Emma, Snow White, Prince Charming, Regina, Robin Hood, Captain Hook and Henry come together in the town's square. They seemed in a panic from what she could tell. No one had an eye for their surroundings after the black mass appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Therefore no one noticed how Presley Swan was lingering in the shadows just besides a street lantern, a front row viewer for the catastrophe that was about to happen. Her blonde hair was softly lulling in the gentle wind that was coursing through town. The leather fabric of her jacket crackles as she crosses her arms in front of her chest.

The darkness was trying to corrupt Regina, but Emma was not going to let the darkness win in her again and make the Queen lose her happy ending. She was holding the Dark One dagger in her right hand and struts towards the tornado of evil. Her family tried to stop her from doing what she was going to do. However, Emma was not going to let them convince her otherwise. She says a final goodbye to Hook before pushing him away, turning around and stabbing the black mass.

The powers of the Dark One crawled its way up on her arm. It forms a dark tornado that encapsulates her entirely. They hear Emma scream at first, but soon after it was eerily silent. Then the tornado rose into the air and exploded. Emma was gone, but a shiny object hit the road with a clang.

The Dark One dagger which now carried the name of Emma Swan. The new Dark One.

This was not how Presley had imagined her return to Storybrooke to play out, but she really shouldn't be surprised any longer. Everywhere she went there was always some kind of struggle or torment going on. I might better get used to it by now, she thinks to herself.

She thought to herself that this was not the right time. Maybe tomorrow.. or next week.. or forget about coming back at all. The girl takes a step back, but someone from the group had heard the sound of her boots on the concrete. It was Captain Hook who noticed her and ripped his gaze away from the lonely dagger. Unfortunately, Presley had stepped straight into the light of the street lantern besides her, causing her to be in full in the spotlights. Literally.

The others quickly notice how Hook's attention was diverted and follow his glance. "Presley!" It was Regina who vocally exclaimed her shock, but everyone was quite honestly stunned by her appearance. No one had expected her to show up after she had been gone for so long. And no one had expected how much she would have changed over that time.

Nothing much seemed to be changed about the girl's wardrobe. She was wearing tight black jeans with rips on her knees, a cropped top in the darkish pink of a pomegranate, a black leather jacket and dark boots with a broad and flat heel. But her demeanor seemed to have changed. There was something ominous about the way how she was standing in that one beacon of light, surrounded by total darkness while casting a giant shadow on the ground. Almost as if something was looming around her. 

And then there was her hair. Formerly is had been just a blonde colour, but now something had seriously changed. She had highlights in red, brown and black that give them a stereotypical bad girl, biker chick feeling. 

Presley remains totally still while the others were still staring at her with mouths wide open. "Bu.. but how? How did you get here," Charming asks breathlessly. He was holding his wife in his arms, who launched another question at her. "And where have you been all this time," Snow adds. They were all totally flabbergasted.

The girl slowly approaches them. Her arms were still crossed and physically she had not changed much, but there was something dark and powerful about her. It only gave them more reason to worry about what had happened to her in the time she was gone.

"I believe I am not the problem at the moment. We got to find Emma before she does something stupid.. other than stabbing a black mass she knows nothing about," the girl remarks with a sarcastic undertone. Charming grits his teeth as a response. "She did it to save Regina," Snow counters. She didn't like the accusatory tone that Presley was using while talking about the recent events.

The blonde's blue eyes pierce into Snow's soul and the latter gulps. The teen rolls her eyes and sighs. "Well, spoiler alert, it was dumb. But what is done is done and can not be reversed. Instead you need to look at solutions and it appears I've arrived just in time."

She signal with her head behind her, a silent sign for them to follow her. They were too confused to object and trail after her like tame sheep follow their shepherd. She leads them to Rumplestiltskin's shop. When seeing the Apprentice laying on a makeshift bed in the back of the shop she didn't seem surprised. It was making everyone wonder what she knew already of what happened during the time she was gone.

The Apprentice gave them the Apprentice's Wand in order to go and find Emma. But to use this light magic it must be combined with dark magic. When he said that nobody noticed how he was directly staring at a particular person in their group and how that person had their eyes casted down. 

So, while the answer to their troubles was, unknowingly, right under their noses they found a more difficult solution. A wicked one.

Zelena.