Once Upon The Underworld (Once Upon A Time)

Chapter 2: The Journey Begins

Emma's POV:

"No!" I said, frantically trying to keep up with him. For a 300-some year old dude with a cane, he's pretty fast. "No twists! Tell me what's going on right now!" Gold kept walking, but I could tell from his aggravated sigh that he wasn't up to tell his contained knowledge. "This is your new reality," he explained. "The town of Storybrooke will soon be no more. In time it will become the underworld. A fully functioning underworld." My jaw dropped down the the very pavement I walked on. "What?!" "Emma, calm," Mary Margaret repeated. Sorry, Mom. I thought to myself. No time to listen right now. "Did you know about this?" Regina questioned Rumple. He didn't dare turn around and face our fury, but he did nod. "Well yes of course, dearie. I think you underestimate me sometimes. If there's any catch to finding Miss Swan's precious pirate, I'll know it." The old crocodile was really working my nerves. "And?" I demanded angrily. "Is there?" Gold whipped around, holding his cane by both hands. "Miss Swan, in case you have forgotten, you're no longer the once in charge. You're not the one with all the strength and knowledge." He held up the dagger, now with his name engraved in it, right where it shouldn't be. "I am. So it is in your best interest that you let me handle things around here, considering I've been here before. Do you think you can do that?" I had to bite my tongue from going off on him and making a scene in front of Henry and my family. "Yeah, whatever," I mumbled. "Let's just go."

Regina's POV:

I would never say it in front of Emma, but I think there's little to no chance of us ever finding Captain Dark One here. I mean, there's something that little weasel Gold's not telling us. One second we're death bound, next we're back at home, which apparently will be our death now. And we wonder why our lives are never normal. Robin took my hand and grinned at me. "Maybe I'll finally get to meet your mother," he grinned. I smiled back, but the words were trigger. "Gold!" I called up ahead past the Charming's and Emma. "Yes, your Highness?" he asked sarcastically. We walked past a group of people who looked lost. Likely from Storybrooke. "Everyone that's ever died. They won't be here right?" Rumple scoffed as if it was the stupidest remark he'd ever heard. "It might be in your best interest to lay off the magic, Madame Mayor," he chuckled. "I think it's going to your head." I saw Snow's face morph. "Wait, that's true?" she seconded. "Everyone that we've ever known that's passed on is here now?" We stopped on a street corner and all listened to Gold talk. "Yes, it is true. Considering our lives revolve around death most of the time, seems to me you all have many reunions to get to." Emma shook her head. "No way. I'm finding Hook. I don't care about anyone else." I gulped and took hold of Henry's hand. "You might want to watch out," Rumple whispered to me. "You're weren't exactly a saint in your former days." I frowned. "Yeah, well neither were you. You were much worse than I." Gold waved his hand in the air. "Nows not the time to be assigning blame dearie. Fact is, probably half the people here were put here by one of us. And judging by Miss Swan's persistence to find her significant other, we need to be alive to help her." I nodded, continuing walking. "Yes well Emma has a reason to want to find her true love. Who wouldn't?" Gold flashed me a sheepish grin and cocked an eyebrow. "Speaking of true love, what was the fellow's name who's life was taken by your mother? Daniel, I believe it was." I could feel my eyes widen and my face redden. Looking ahead I made sure Robin was with the others and not listening to our conversation. "That was in the past!" I hissed. "As far as I'm concerned, Daniel's gone either way!" Gold wasn't convinced. "If you say so. That doesn't change the fact that just hearing his name riles you up." I was done with his mind games. "Oh yeah, and what about you, huh?" He looked back at me briefly. "What about me?" "One word," I said. "Milah." I saw his eyes divert so that we weren't making contact anymore. I thought if I looked hard enough there might be tears brimming in them. Oh, who am I kidding? It's Rumplestiltskin we're talking about. "Ah ha," I mused to myself. "Gotcha." Gold regained his coolness and cockiness and held up his hand. "In case you haven't noticed," he snarled. "I'm married." Yes, I thought. Married to an aggravating woman who pushed you over the town line. As if he could read my thoughts, Rumple went on, "We could sit here all day talking of past flames," he pointed up ahead to the others, nearly half a mile ahead, "or we could catch up with the others and help Miss Swan." "Sure," I muttered, quickening my pace to catch up with the crew. But I had a feeling our "past flames" would impact us more than we knew...more than we wanted.