Dark One's Daughter *Book Two*

Queen of Hearts

A/N

As promised, here is the next chapter.

For the second time since we had returned to the Enchanted Forest, we went back to Snow and Charming's castle. Little did Mary Margaret know that this wasn't the first time I had been down to my Father's cell.

"Tasha, you don't have to come in here if you don't want to," Mary Margaret assured me.

"Oh, I'll be fine," I told her.

"You know, it's just because it is where your Father stayed for a while," Mary Margaret muttered.

"I know and I'll be fine," I repeated.

We walked down into the dungeon and I was surprised to see it looked exactly the same as last time I was here. I lit a flame for us and passed it over to Mulan.

"Huh. Rumplestiltskin's cell," Mary Margaret sighed, as we went deeper into it. "I haven't been here since before Regina's curse. This is where he told us you were going to be the saviour."

"He knew?" Emma asked.

"Of course he knew. It was prophesised," I said.

"Come on," Mary Margaret replied, leading us ahead.

"The squid ink--it's not here," Aurora called through to us, as we entered the main part of his cell.

"It's in here somewhere, trust me," I assured them. I remembered my Father telling me about it once, but I can't remember the specifics. Some of my memories were still a bit hazy.

"Gold said we would find it," Mary Margaret said.

"Was there anyone else in here with him? Could they have taken the ink?" Mulan asked.

"No, he was kept alone. Visitors were forbidden. He was too dangerous to allow any human contact," Mary Margaret explained before pausing. "Tasha... did you ever visit him?"

"What?" I asked sheepishly, becoming suddenly interested in a crack in the wall.

"Did you ever visit your Father while he was in here?" Mary Margaret repeated.

"Would you be mad if I told you I did, a lot?" I asked.

"How?" Mary Margaret asked shocked. "We had guards stationed outside every second of every day."

"Like this..." I trailed off, before making myself appear in another place of the cell. "Every week I would visit him at least three times. If I didn't he would have surely gone insane."

"How come we never caught you?" Mary Margaret asked.

"I was careful," I replied bluntly.

"I don't think it kept him from going crazy, though," Aurora announced, holding up a scroll.

"What is it? Is it a message?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Yes. And I think it's for you," Aurora replied, handing Emma the scroll.

"Why would you think..." Emma began, but trailed off when she saw what was on it.

My Father had written Emma's name out over and over again on the scroll. Now I did not know about that.

"What does this even mean?" Emma asked.

"He was obsessed with you, Emma. You were the key to breaking the curse," Mary Margaret explained.

"I think obsessed is a bit of an exaggeration," I replied.

"Tasha..." Mulan began.

"I know, I know. That scroll says otherwise but I think he was just trying to make it stick?" I suggested.