Under the Town

Chapter 3: Much, Much Darker

Emma stands perfectly still, facing the door she was about to exit. 

It would be a shame to go through all this trouble for nothing.

Everyone was looking at Emma, waiting for her to snap. Waiting for her to yell and maybe even breakdown. Instead, she spoke, just barely above a whisper.

"It will never be for nothing," She said before opening the door and leaving. Regina said goodbye to her mother and the rest of the group filed out of the office. Regina turned around to see Robin Hood waiting for her with a small smile on his face. She returned the smile and reached for his hand. The couple walked out of Cora's office, leaving her with Rumplestiltskin.

"Hello, Rumple. Unfortunately I'm not in the place to make deals with you right now," 

Rumple didn't hesitate. "I don't need to make any deals, at the moment."

Cora smiled at this, "What's the occasion?"

 "My interference is not needed. Some pasts just can't be forgotten, or forgiven." At this Cora glared at him.

"I'm going to be honest," she replied, "I didn't expect to see you working with the heroes."

Rumple slowly walked closer to Cora sitting down at her desk. "Who said anything about working with them?" Cora chuckled.

"We both know you don't have it in you anymore," Cora said with a bit of mischief. 

"Oh, don't I?" 

"You've forgotten Rumple, I'm not from your world. My powers are much less limited. I know what really happened up there," Cora implied.

"I have no idea, what it is you're talking about," Rumple grimaced.

"Oh please," Cora said, amused. "We both know the death of Hook, or anyone for that matter, wasn't a part of your plan."

At this Rumple looked away, trying to think of any way to get leverage over Cora, trying to keep his secrets from revealing themselves. However; it was too late.

"I know, Rumple. Excalibur wouldn't have killed the savior, you are aware of that?" She said, as if more a statement than a question.

"What makes you so sure?" Rumple said

"The savior is part of a prophecy. One that has been prophesied for centuries now. I wouldn't be relying so much on her past to destroy her, if I were you." Cora stated, making Rumple clearly mad. 

"If there's one thing I know about this world, is that I can still kill you," Rumple said, anger clearly rising. At this Cora smirked.

"But we both know you can't. You won't do it. There's a reason I'm here Rumple, and it's not just because of Regina."

Rumple whipped his hand out, and held it as Cora lost her breath, unable to breathe. 

"Oh I think you've forgotten deary!" Rumple said in an aggressive growl, "I am all Dark One's combined! And now, I'm much, much darker." He said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke, leaving Cora there to catch her lost breath.

~~~

Emma was forcefully walking, leading the group when David stopped her.

"Emma, we need a plan. We need to think this through before we do anything we may regret."

Emma looked between Mary Margaret and David. "This is the plan. We are going to find Killian's gravestone, make sure he is here." 

"And what if he's not?" David said. This caught the attention of everyone in the group. Mary Margaret watched as Emma's eyes started to tear up before she caught herself and brushed them off. At this point, Henry had walked up by Emma's side.

"He's here. Don't worry mom, we will find him." Henry looked up at his mom and gave her an assuring smile, which was just what Emma needed. Emma wrapped her arms around Henry and rested her head above his. 

"I know kid," She said weakly.

Mary Margaret spoke up. "Look, everyone is tired, why don't we all just rest, and process everything Cora told us. Why don't we go to Granny's and figure this all out? Come on Emma when was the last time you slept?"

Knowing that the last time she slept was before she became the Dark One, she thought about stopping. But as soon as her mind had calmed down, it made room for the painful thoughts of Killian to come rushing back. Tears formed yet again but she held them back. 

"We can't stop now. Please," Emma pleaded. "Once we find the gravestone, then we can come up with a plan for finding him, but right now I need to make sure he is here."

With that, Mary Margaret and David slightly nodded their heads in sympathy. Regina, walking hand-in-hand with Robin Hood, suddenly realized that Rumplestiltskin was no where to be found. She left it alone for now, knowing it would only aggravate Emma more. She went up to talk to Emma and quickly released her grip from Robin's hand. She walked up to her quietly.

"Come on, the graveyard isn't too far from here," She said, silently offering to take the lead. Emma allowed her to walk on as she wrapped her arm around Henry and they followed Regina, continuing what was only the beginning of a long, long journey.

~~~

Rumplestiltskin appeared in his shop. He walked in, looking around for anything out of place. He walked around behind his desk, viewing everything in his shop. He slowly turned around, getting the feeling that something was off. He turned around the place his thumb on the blood-locked safe, but just as he was about to touch his thumb to the cold metal, he felt a presence. He stopped dead in his tracks and waiting for a voice. 

"Hello, Rumple."

~~~~~~

Thank you for reading Chapter 3! This chapter is kinda where everything is starting to get kicked off, the search for Killian is in motion, and Rumple seems to have already ran into a part of his past... or two... Leave comments on what you thought of this chapter! Who was the mysterious person in Rumple's shop? What's this prophecy about the savior? 

The next chapter will be about a new person, the villain of the story. It will be centered around that person and then maybe I'll add a little bit towards Hook's whereabouts, and I'll continue the story line with Rumplestiltskin.

Let me know what you think of the book so far!