Dark Hearts | Once Upon A Time

XXViii. First Taste of Darkness

Enchanted Forest. Then

THE CLOAK THAT Jaclyn was wearing shielded her dark brown eyes as she walked up the stairs, a bucket of gruel in her hands, as she crept up the stairs with Killian following right behind, when a guard saw them at the top of the stairs he stood in front of their path and commanded "Halt"

"Food for the prisoner" Jaclyn stated, trying to keep her voice as deep as possible 

"It isn't mealtime," The guard says in a monotone voice "Identity yourself slaves"

In a split second Jaclyn's fist and sunk into the man's stomach so hard that it knocked him on the ground and just for extra satisfaction she slammed hard on the man's head and smirked as she watched the man's body go limp before dropping her hood and watching as Killian knocked out the other guard before the two hurried into a room using a set of keys that they had picked off one of the unconscious guards

"Hi. You must be Belle" Killian says gently once they entered the room

The woman immediately straightened up her dark hair falling over her face but she pushed it out of the way before answering "The Queen sent you, didn't she? She wants to kill me and she wants you both to do it"

Jaclyn shook her head "Oh we're aren't here to kill you, sweetheart, we're going to free you"

"Who are you?" Belle asked

"A friend" Killian replied "But we must hurry, we haven't got much time"

"What's going on?" Belle asked suddenly nervous as Killian hacked through the chains that were bounding Belle in place "Why are you two freeing me?"

"Because your father's life hangs in the balance he was attacked by the same man who took you away from your family all these years ago," Jaclyn told her, her own voice mirroring the urgency of her words as her face pinched into an expression of worry

The woman chuckles in shock "What Rumplestilkskin?"

"The Dark One -- he must be stopped" Killian continues matching Jaclyn's expressions as he stood up and tried to convince the English accented Princess"You know him better than anyone. There is a rumour of a magic that has the power to kill him --"

"No, no, no, no" Bells ranted "Let me talk to him"

"We don't have time" Jaclyn argued "Your father's life hangs in the balance we need to know what the weapon is and where to find it"

"I have no idea what you are talking about and I certainly don't know how to kill Rumplestilkskin" Belle explains worry evident in her tone and face as she panics about this 'secret weapon'

"You don't?" Killian asks raising an eyebrow before striking her across the face 

"So pretty" The woman smirked "Yet so useless"

* * * * *

Enchanted Forest. Present-day

Erica and Emma stood with their mother in a cave and facing a cell and Mary Margret smiles slightly, Erica could see this due to the torch she was carrying  "Rumplestilskin's cell -- I haven't been here since before the curse -- you know this is the place where he told us you were both going to be saviours and defeat the darkness"

Upon their mother's words, Erica could feel her skin heat up and her blood boil with the darkness she has tried to control since finding out who she was and what she was meant to do and she could see her sister and Keira both look at her in concern but she brushed it aside and turned to face her mother "The thing is mom -- is that we both aren't saviours I'm the darkness that the saviour, Emma, has to defeat"