Ouat season 5

Darkness 101

"Have you ever heard the story of King Arthur of Camelot?" the Darkness asked as Emma was standing in front of a mirror in Rumpelstiltskin's old honeymoon house. She was dressed in dark black leather pants with a matching jacket, "yeah of course" she replied, putting on the last part of her new ensemble: a cape. "Good...then let me show you our beginning."

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[Flash-back to olden Camelot]

"haha...shhh...sshh...Lancelot we'll get caught. Stop it" Guinevere laughed as Lancelot chased her playfully around the kitchen.

"Aww come on Guin, we've never been caught before" Lancelot scoffed, but stopped chasing her nonetheless, "Anyway I need to go, Arthur has called me. Apparently there has been word of Morgana in the South woods."

"All right be safe, both of you"

~~~

"Lancelot, brother what took you so long?" Arthur asked as he rode out through the gates with Lancelot at his side.

"I'm sorry Arthur, I was gathering some extra supplies for our trip"

"Don't you ever listen to me when I tell you to pack early?" Arthur shook his head at his hopeless friend. They rode on in silence for the rest of the day. They had stopped for the night amidst a small copse of trees and already a small but sufficiently warm fire was crackling in the middle of their makeshift camp.

"Hey Lance, you remember how a few months ago we were talking about marriage...?" Arthur hesitantly asked,

"Yeah of course. Good lord Arthur you've decided on a bride?" Lancelot asked in surprise. Arthur nodded, "Well don't keep me in suspense, who's the lucky girl?"

"Guinevere"

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Suddenly the vision was interrupted as Emma felt a tug on her soul, to which she had no choice but to answer to. She disappeared, but not before placing a spell over the house which would allow no one but her to enter it again.

~~~

[A few hours earlier]

"I don't remember much about how the darkness was created, that information was unfortunately lost to me the moment it was removed." Rumpelstiltskin paused, "But what I can tell you is that the darkness originated from a realm long lost to us, in a Kingdom called Camelot."

"We already know that" Henry interrupted, "The apprentice told us that we had to find Merlin in order to save my mom. What do you know about Merlin?"

"You wouldn't happen to know where he is would you?" Regina asked. Rumpelstiltskin shook his head, looking sincerely sorry for once,"But the longer Emma is the dark one, the harder it is going to be for miss Swan to resist the urges...and they will manifest in a very different way from me." Regina sighed, "Alright let's go to the library to see what we can dig up on Merlin."

"You all go on to the library, I have something to check out first" Killian said as he headed towards the forest.

"Argh... it has been hours and we haven't found a single text on Merlin. All we have in here are texts with conflicting stories about King Arthur and the round table." David sighed in frustration as he snapped shut the book he was looking at. Mary Margaret and Henry were looking equally tired.

"Well...I wager that Emma would know what we need" Regina said as she pulled out the dagger.

"You want to summon Emma?" Robin asked. "Well what choice do we have? you heard what Gold said, the more time we waste the harder it will be to bring Emma back." Regina turned to the Charmings, "Go home and bring Henry with you, I don't want anyone around when Emma is here, including you Robin." Regina said before she disappeared.

Regina reappeared in the forest. She held the dagger out and called out "Dark one I summon thee!" The effect was immediate and Emma appeared before her in a puff of red smoke, "Hello Regina" she said coldly," You called?"

Regina gulped, taking in Emma's new menacing look, "Well you look different Swan".

"Well I figured if I'm going to be the new dark one I might as well look the part" she said with indifference, "So I ask again Regina, what did you call me here for?"

"Tell me what you know about Merlin" Regina commanded. Emma's eyes narrowed at her, " You're braver than most people give you credit for Regina, you're lucky you hold my dagger now. Otherwise I would have put an end to you already. Alright then, Merlin was a very powerful wizard who lived in Camelot many centuries ago. The stories say that he was the one who put Arthur on the throne, although most people believed that it was by divine choice that Arthur was able to pull the sword out of the stone. Merlin had actually enchanted the stone to respond only to Arthur. With Arthur on the throne Merlin helped to ensure peace throughout the land but then he disappeared... and he has been lost ever since. A less known fact however is that Merlin was partly responsible for king Uther's death..." Regina was so caught up in Emma's explanation that she didn't notice her circling around and in one swift movement, Emma grabbed the dagger.

"Hahahaha, oh Regina, how could you be so careless?" Emma chuckled darkly, "Now you're going to pay for thinking you could command me" Emma allowed a fireball to form in her hands, "By the way, where is Henry?"

"What do you want with him?" Regina asked, ready to take Emma on in order to protect Henry. As if Emma could read her mind she relied," Oh don't worry I'm not going to hurt him - "

"Swan?" Suddenly Killian was behind Emma. She turned around and her eyes softened, "Killian, what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you love" Hook lied. He had in fact been searching for a book that he had hidden that might have the information everyone was looking for.