Once on Instagram III

Murder Most Foul

October 5, 2017

Hook and Gold both woke up around the same time, both incredibly confused about why they were in the hospital. When Gold awoke, Belle was by his side. When Hook awoke, he was alone.

Meanwhile, Emma was trying (and failing) to get a hold of Milah and Neal was on the phone with Nimue, who was not being very cooperative, while also holding Rose. Robin and Regina had both fallen asleep while waiting, and Hope was in Regina's arms.

Finally, Neal hung up with Nimue and sighed. "Well, I think she's on her way."

"That's more than what I know of Milah." Emma groaned as she hung up on the fifth redirect to voicemail. "I don't know how else to contact her!"

The room darkened and smoke that was a dark shade of grey filled the room. When it was gone, Nimue was standing in its place. "What's going on?"

"What's going on is we need you to help us tether the Darkness to the dagger," Emma said. "We don't have much time before Gold's heart goes completely dark again and if that happens, we lose both Gold and any hope of trying to control the Darkness."

Nimue glared at Emma for longer than she should have, given they were on a time constraint before her gaze slowly shifted to Neal and Rose. "You really don't know anything about the Darkness, do you?"

Emma glanced over at Neal, who shrugged. Clearly neither of them knew what Nimue was trying to say.

Nimue sighed. "People have tried to tie the Darkness to the dagger itself for years, and it has yet to be successful. And with what little time we have, there is no way we can do it."

"No, you don't get it. It's like when Zelena was creating a time portal. No one before her had been successful because they were missing one key piece: A child of true love. No one has been successful in tethering the Darkness to the dagger because none of the Dark Ones have had a child while they were the Dark One. Until now. We can do this, but we need your help."

"More than that you need time," Nimue argued. "Even with Rose, it will take at least two weeks. You barely have two hours. In order to succeed in this, we need to freeze time."

Emma shook her head, "There's no way... Is there?"

Nimue pursed her lips. "There is one way - besides Neverland - but I only ever do it in absolute emergencies. I would say this qualifies. The only problem is with so many people, I'm going to need help." Nimue glanced over at Regina, "I'm going to need her."

--

While Nimue was explaining what, exactly, would be happening to Regina, the doctors had moved Gold and Hook into the same room which was where everyone would eventually meet up. It wasn't exactly the best of plans, but it was the only one they had with their limited time. Belle and Emma had gone to the library to get the books Belle would need and were now stacking them in the corner of Hook and Gold's room.

It wasn't long before everyone was in the room and the door was locked. Milah had managed to make it to the hospital in time and she was now next to Hook. Belle was next to Gold, holding Rose. Emma, Robin, and Neal were all seated on the floor and Hope was in Robin's arms. Nimue and Regina were standing.

"So, in order to prevent the Darkness from completely taking over Rumplestiltskin's heart, we need to tether the Darkness to the dagger itself instead of a living soul. This has been attempted many times in the past, but it has not succeeded because no one had the key. But we do. Unfortunately, what we don't have is enough time. So what Regina and I are going to do it move this room to an alternate plane of reality. As long as the door stays shut, we will have approximately three weeks where time is not moving for us, but the world around us will continue on, almost as if we were in Neverland. The Darkness will not be able to take over the Dark One completely because it will not be able to grow, as it needs time to do that."