Once Upon A Happy Beginning

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Dark One, I Command Thee

Emma

Furious whispers lick at my eardrums; an evil mess of Darkness. Emma Swan, you are one of us. Join us Emma Swan. You are part of the Darkness Emma Swan. You are the Dark One. 

I focus on one word in that. 

Swan. 

It's been eleven months since I was her. 

I focus on the metal that encircles my fourth finger; I am not Emma Swan. I am Emma Swan-Jones. I have a gorgeous husband, who I need to be strong for - his past makes him more susceptible to the Darkness than I am. I have Henry and I have Elizabeth, my two children - with me and without me, I need to be there for them. I have Mom and Dad, who watched me fight the Darkness the first time - they don't need to be there to watch it happen over again. 

But then I think about the man whose name is carved onto that dagger. Rumplestiltskin. He is the reason my daughter is not in my arms. He is the reason that at three weeks old, she is somewhere in the world without me. I think about my daughter, and how she was born in the same castle I was born in, and then just like my childhood, she was left alone by her parents. I need my daughter not to have the childhood I had. Not to have the childhood I forced upon Henry. I didn't do right by my son, I need to do right by my daughter. 

I look at my husband and tell him the words that are steaming in my head. Burning against the voices of the dagger. A war between the pain of my past and the pain of my present. Hope for my future wins. 

Killian's eyes meet mine. I can see the same struggle in him. He has to fight the whispers too. "For our daughter."

"For our family." 

There's nobody else in the room. I know they're there. But they aren't. It's me. It's Killian. It's the voices. 

Emma Swan, you are one of us. Join us Emma Swan. You are part of the Darkness Emma Swan. You are the Dark One.

No, I am not. 

I am Emma Swan-Jones. I am a daughter. A wife. A mother. A Saviour. 

The Darkness is nothing in comparison to me. 

I grab the dagger from Regina and hold it firmly in my hand. I take Killian's hook in my other and teleport us home. Looking at my husband, I raise the dagger in front of me. "Dark One, I command thee to appear."

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Saviour. I believe you have something of mine, Mrs Swan-Jones."

"And I believe you have something of ours." Killian says, stepping around Mr. Gold to stand next to me. 

"And what if I do?" He says, taunting us with his twinkling eyes. "You cut me a deal pirate. An eye for an eye. Your wife for your child. You signed the contract, savvy?"

"Savvy." I say, dagger still glinting in front of me. "In fact, you said if the contract was signed, you'd think about letting us see Elizabeth again. We didn't sign her away. We signed to see her. So, Rumplestiltskin, I command thee to tell me where my daughter is."

"I do not know."

Killian bares his hook. "I should have killed you centuries ago. WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?" Gold has the audacity to laugh. "You do not have the upper hand here, Crocodile. We have your dagger, so before Emma makes you... in the Enchanted Forest, you took my daughter. Where did you take her?"

"Now, that, I can answer. Should your wife want me to?"

"Of course, I want you to. " My words come out as a snarl above the torturous whispers of the blade and the magic it possesses. "Where did you take my daughter to, back in the Enchanted Forest?"

"Why, I took her to where every child should go. To her family."

"WELL SHE'S NOT BLOODY HERE, IS SHE!?" My husband roars. I instinctively step closer to him and clutch his hand behind his back. I know he does not want to display weakness in front of his enemy, but I also know that the voices of the Darkness are trying to persuade him to be the man he once was. "If she's with her family, and she's not here, then WHERE THE BLAZES IS SHE?!"

"Pirate, I believe I said, I took her to her family. I never specified what part of her family."

"Then specify. I command thee to specify."

"I took her to her father, of course." 

"No, you bloody didn't." Killian growls, moving to press the tip of his hook into Gold's neck. "I don't want to send you to your wife covered in cuts, but I might have to if you don't stop lying."

"I'm not lying. Your wife has the dagger; I cannot lie right now."

"Unless you're about to suggest that my memory has been wiped of a secret affair I've had with the ninth dwarf or something, I think you should be a bit clearer. Elizabeth's father is currently holding a weapon to your throat, and he wouldn't be doing that if his daughter was with him. So, I'll say it again. I command thee, Dark One, to tell me exactly where you took our daughter after you stole her in the Enchanted Forest."

"I told you, Miss Sw-Mrs Swan-Jones. I took her to her father. Time portals are wonderful things aren't they, you can go to any time. And, as the Dark One, you can go to any place. There's a wonderful island that for children that are all on their own. And it just happens that Elizabeth's own father hung around their an awful lot."

Killian digs his hook into Gold's throat, and I'm scared that any more pressure will pierce his skin. "You took my daughter to Neverland? Crocodile... if this is true..."

"Killian, babe, breathe." I step forward to wrap my left arm around his waist, pulling him into my side. My eyes still stay trained on Gold and keep the dagger in front of him. "Killian, take the dagger. I need to make a phone call." 

My husband takes the handle, holding it firmly before Gold. I hear him talking in a cruel low voice in the living room as I step towards the stairs to phone my mother. No sooner have I hung up has Regina teleported our family into the house. She quickly tells me that her sister is looking after the three children, and that everyone is ready. 

I grab the his and hers swords (Leroy's wedding present) that are hanging by the front door - as a proud display that Killian and I are ready to take on anything that threatens our family - and follow Henry into the living room. Killian looks up at us; when he meets mine, his love and devotion to our marriage is clear in his eyes behind the animosity he holds towards his Crocodile (who seems determined to become our Crocodile). 

"What's the plan, Mom?" Henry asks, looking up at me. 

"We're doing what this family does best. We find people the people we love. So, Henry, we're finding your sister. Babe, give me the dagger." Killian looks unimpressed when he drags his metallic limb from Gold's throat, but he hands me the dagger. Hook seems keen to take his place though, and that might be why he does step away from the man that robbed us of our child. "Dark One, I command thee to take all of us to the exact time and place that you took Elizabeth Emma Swan-Jones."