Daughter of Darkness || Once Upon a Time

Chapter Twenty-Six | Little White Lie

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|The Labyrinth|
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Belle rushed over to Gold and threw her arms around his neck. "We found you!"

"Why would you come down here?" Gold asked.

"Because," Belle pulled away from the hug, "I need to tell you something."

Gold nodded. "Okay, but first, there's something I need to tell you."

Gold led Belle out of the room. The tension inside was growing by the moment because of the glaring contest between Dorothy and Zelena, and Belle was glad to leave the room. She was about to burst and just tell Gold the news, but she allowed him to speak first.

"Belle, I need to you to listen, okay?" Belle nodded at Gold's request and he continued talking, "When I told you to leave town, I thought you were gone forever. I thought my chances with you were over, and I... I made a bad decision. I wish I could undo it, but I can't." Gold pulled the Dark One dagger out and placed the hilt in Belle's hand. "I want you to keep the dagger - the real one - so I don't fall back to the dark place I went after my son's death."

Belle felt tears stinging her eyes and threatening to fall. "Why-why would you do this?"

"Because I was weak and stupid and I had lost hope of you ever being able to love me again."

"I do love you," Belle pressed a kiss to Gold's lips. She tightened her grip on the dagger. She should tell him the news now, but she wasn't sure she trusted him yet.

"Now, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

"I," Belle stuttered, unsure if she should tell him the truth or not, "I, uh, was worried. You had been down here for so long... I was afraid something bad happened." It wasn't the complete truth, but it wasn't a lie either. She would tell Gold the real reason she traveled to the Underworld later, once she knew he could still be trusted.

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Dorothy and Zelena hadn't said a single word to each other and not even Killian dared try and break up the glaring contest the two were engaged in. The only one who was brave enough to end it was Belle, who drug Dorothy out of the room and told Gold to watch her. She entered the room and turned to Killian.

"Would you like to come with us?"

Killian shook his head, "I can't. Emma, Mary Margaret, and my brother already passed through here and I told them the same thing."

"They're here in too?"

"Yes. They had a thread of some sort that they seemed to be using to leave a trail of where they went. If you follow it from here, you should be able to find them."

"We've been following it," Belle explained. "I'm sure we'll find a way to get you out of here."

"I know Emma won't stop until she finds one. But don't let her get reckless."

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It was nearly an hour after Belle, Gold and Dorothy left when Arthur swaggered into the room.

"What are you doing here?!" Zelena exclaimed.

"Causing a ruckus, want to help?"

Zelena's expression quickly changed from horrified to a wicked grin and a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Of course. We just have to find a way to break Hades' spell first."

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Emma was so exhausted from fighting against Liam that she fell asleep and the three had to stop moving while she rested. Mary Margaret and Liam took turns keeping watch, but neither dared trust Emma to keep watch, so they simply let her sleep.

Liam was on guard duty when three people he didn't recognized stumbled into the room. One held a sword in her hand and one looked like she was either about to throw up or had just recently thrown up.

"Who are you?" He asked, ready to fight them if need be even though he had no weapons.

"I'm Dorothy," the woman with the sword answered, "and this is Belle and Rumplestiltskin. I've heard they're familiar with Mary Margaret and Emma."

Mary Margaret wasn't sleeping very heavily and woke up when she heard people speaking. She jumped up and placed herself between Liam and Belle, Gold, and Dorothy. "They're friends," she assured Liam. "Well, Belle is a friend and I'm going to trust her decision in bringing Gold and... the other one along."

"My name is Dorothy."

"In bringing Gold and Dorothy along," Mary Margaret corrected.

Belle nodded. "Dorothy came to Storybrooke after you all left. And I think you can guess my reasons for bringing Rumple along."

"Okay, see, we're all friends here," Mary Margaret lowered her voice. "But Emma is sleeping, and--"

"No I'm not," Emma's voice came from where she was laying on the floor, messing with Killian's ring that was still on a string around her neck.

Mary Margaret and Liam both glanced back at the blonde. Mary Margaret rushed over to her daughter while Liam stayed standing across from Belle, Gold, and Dorothy.

"Sorry. Uh... Belle, right?" Belle nodded and Liam continued, "Are you feeling alright?"

Belle nodded again. "Yeah. I think I just caught a stomach bug or something," she lied. Dorothy pressed her lips together and forced herself to not comment about how Belle shouldn't have gone to the Underworld while pregnant.

Gold helped Belle sit down because it was obvious they wouldn't be moving for a while since Emma wasn't making any move to sit up. Dorothy sat down next her her and they began a conversation in harsh whispers that abruptly ended when Dorothy hissed something and Belle simply crossed her arms and turned the other way.

Mary Margaret had given up on trying to get through to Emma, so Liam walked over and sat down next to her. "How are you doing?"

"Don't know."

"I know you want to go after him."

"Let me guess, you're going to stop me?"

"No. I'm going to help you."

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|Tartarus|
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Regina was about ready to pass out from walking so much when they reached a metal gate with words in some language Regina didn't recognize on it.

"The exit," Robin said. "It says something about the exit."

Regina managed to nod, but didn't say anything. Robin was both holding the scythe and most of Regina's weight, so it was a battle to even make it to the gate. As Regina was fumbling with the lock, she heard loud footsteps behind her and Robin. Both of them turned around to see an army of cyclopes marching towards them.

Robin grabbed the sword from Regina and held it out in front of him. "Keep working on the lock," he ordered.

Regina nodded. Her vision was blurry - it hadn't really been not blurry since the incident with Kronos - but the lock was some sort of magic. There was no key or combination, it was simply logic. And Regina was losing her sense of that as the poison from the Hydra wound rushed through her blood.

Robin swung the sword, but he knew there was no way one lousy sword could take on an entire army of cyclopes. The only hope was for Regina to figure out the lock before Robin died and didn't come back fast enough to keep her safe.