{ enchanted forest }

09. { queen of hearts }

Emma, Snow, Mulan and Aurora went on their way to Rumplestiltskin's cell. The trek was long but they all sit it out without complaining. Faster than expected did they reach the cave in which his cell was made. Mulan lights a wall torch with the fire of the one she was carrying and ventures into the opened cell, Aurora by her side.

Snow White and Emma glance at the cell from a short distance. "Rumplestiltskin's cell. I haven't been here since before Regina's curse," Snow says, her voice soft as memories from a distant time come back. Her being heavily pregnant with the young woman now standing besides her.

"This is where he told us you were going to be the Savior," she remarks. Emma snaps her head sideways to glance at her mother. "He knew?" Emma never realized that Mr. Gold was the one who told her parents who she would be. Knowing the man's character, this put a lot of questions and doubt in her mind.

Snow nods her head. "Oh, it was prophesized." The princess continues staring ahead and beckons her daughter to follow her. Aurora looks up when the two joins them and says that the squid ink is not there.

Snow White couldn't believe it. If Gold said that it was there, it must be there. Mulan asks if there was anyone else with him that could have stolen the ink, but Snow denies that possibility. She explains it was too dangerous to allow him any human contact, so they didn't.

Emma eyes her mother. She had been locked up herself, but at least she had daily contact with fellow inmates or the wardens. To be there for such a long time with no one to speak to.. that could be maddening.

"How did he keep from going crazy?"

Mulan and Snow White had no answer for her, but while they had been talking Aurora had continued her search and found an old piece of parchment hidden in one of the cracks of the cave walls. Seeing what he wrote on the parchment makes her seriously doubt the Dark One's sanity.

She shows them what she was holding in her hands. Snow asks if there was a message, to which Aurora replies that she thinks it is and hands it to Emma.

On the parchment was her name, written numerous times.

Emma had to take a moment. She sits down on the ground and continues to read her own name, over and over again. In the meantime Snow White was frantically searching through the entire cell to find any of the squid ink. 

Aurora raises, her eyes flickering over the compass without wanting to. Unfortunately, it was Cora controlling her heart that made her search for any opportunity to snatch the thing from Emma. She tries to resist and turns to Snow White, claiming there is no ink in there with them.

However, Snow remains hopeful. If Rumplestiltskin said there was squid ink, if he made David tell them that, it must be true. Emma suggests there may have been some miscommunication in the netherworld, but Mulan wasn't too sure. She had just found an empty ink pot in a crevice of the stone wall.

Snow rushes to her, sounding hopeful when asking if she found it. "In a manner of speaking. There was ink in this cell." Mulan holds up the empty pot when Aurora feels a tug in the place where her heart used to reside. Cora was using her strings..

Despite not wanting to, Aurora was forced to pick up a rock and throws it against the wheel that keeps the gates opened, locking them up in Rumplestiltskin's cell.

"Aurora, what are you doing? No!" Emma rushes to get out, but the gates closed quicker than she could get out. When she looks up, she suddenly sees Cora standing behind the bars. Not surprisingly Hook was there also, posing against the wall.

Cora smiles as she approaches them. "Helping me," she responds to Emma's earlier remark of disbelief. She flicks her wrist, taking the compass from Emma and making it appear in her own hand.