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The dungeons of Camelot. What a cold, cruel place it was.
Emma stared at the walls that imprisoned her. The cell was three walls of concrete and a fourth of steel bars that separated her from the outside world. Seal her up! she heard Arthur's voice in her head. She's a danger to us all! The ever-growing darkness inside her whispered over Arthur’s voice. You have to get out, the chorus of anonymous voices told her. What kind of door can hold you? Feeling the darkness fuel her, she shot a ball of magic at the door. Instead of blasting it open, it was absorbed by a thin veil. A spell. Of course. Emma realised what she had done—why had she given in to dark temptations when she’d promised herself she wouldn’t?—and pulled the rags she was wearing tighter around her shoulders.
She thought about how she had arrived in this godforsaken place. It’s our daughter! she could hear Mary Margaret scream. She’s the Dark One! She remembered David handing her dagger over to Arthur without hesitation as the others watched on, felt her feet being dragged along the dungeon’s dirt floor and she got tossed into her cell. A tear slid down her cheek. Why had her parents betrayed her?
No more of this , she scolded herself. Her thoughts turned, instead, to brighter things. Henry's crush on that girl, Violet. The kiss she shared with Hook in the field of roses. The look on Regina's face as she was announced "the Saviour!" at their welcoming ball. Henry, Hook and Regina, the only people in Camelot she felt that she could actually trust. She smiled at the thought. Were they working together now, trying to find her? Trying to save her?
"Look at you," someone snarled. "You call yourself the Dark One? You're pathetic."
“Who’s there?” Emma called.
“Oh, relax. I’m just the voice in your head.” Suddenly, a figure materialised before her. The girl who appeared was in her late teens, but her short, choppy hair was already a fine silver that seemed to subtly change shades under the only source of light. It was a sharp contrast to her olive skin. She wore a flowing dress of glittering fabric that sparkled in Emma’s eyes.
In the place of her left eye, a giant, grotesque scar slashed across her face.
Emma took in the girl’s appearance, shocked into silence. This was a girl you wouldn’t want to mess with, because she looked as if she could easily tear you apart. Finally, Emma found the courage to stammer, “Y-you’re not Gold.”
“Rumplestiltskin was a fool,” the girl said. “My name was Adelina Amouteru. I was the first Dark One.”
The first Dark One . It was only reasonable, then, to believe that she was the darkest of the Dark Ones. Indeed, the look on her face was one of a tremendous loss and the dark thoughts that come from it. Emma idly wondered what could make a girl so young turn so dark.
"Once upon a time," Adelina told her, "a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, so she destroyed them all." She glanced coolly at Emma. "That's what happened."
"How did you—"
"I'm inside your head. I know exactly what you're thinking, when you're thinking it."
"But if you're just in my head, how do I know this?"
"Every Dark One has access to the memories of the Dark Ones before them. That's how we pass on our knowledge."
Emma had a million questions that Rumplestiltskin had failed to answer, starting with: how did this whole Dark One thing work anyway?
“You and I,” Adelina said, pacing around the room, “as well as the Dark Ones before you, we align with fear. Do you know what that means?” Emma, starting to feel fearful herself of the way Adelina was watching her, shook her head. “It means that in fear, we find strength. When there is fear to be felt, there is power to draw from and today, fledgling Dark One, I’m going to teach you what that image of Rumplestiltskin has so far failed to do.”
She leaned close to Emma’s ear and whispered, “I’ll teach you to harness that fear.”
Emma was frozen with fright. With Rumplestiltskin, it was almost child’s play to ignore him in comparison to the girl beside her. She let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding as Adelina stepped away.
"You feel scared; that's good. Let's make you even more so, shall we?" Before Emma could protest, Adelina threw her arms up and dark shapes rose from the ground. The silhouettes morphed into dark-cloaked figures with crimson eyes and blood dripping down their fangs. They reached out with bony hands and Emma felt her pulse quicken.
"Please stop," she whispered.
Adelina let out a maniacal giggle, so much like the one Rumplestiltskin's image would always use to taunt her with. "This isn't my doing; it's yours."
Emma stared down at her trembling hands outstretched towards the silhouettes, manipulating them. She quickly balled them into fists, and the illusions sank back into the ground. "Didn't that feel good?" Adelina smirked.
"No," Emma answered immediately, but a small part of herself was full of pride. She could do that. No. "I am the product of true love. I brought back happy endings. I am the Saviour ."
"Say that all you want, if it makes you feel any better, but just remember that the dark will always snuff out the light."
“No,” she insisted. “I’m a hero. I won’t become like you. I won’t turn dark. I’m different from you.”
Adelina sighed and settled herself on the floor across from Emma. "Let me tell you something. I grew up like you. People were always using me, hurting me. I was afraid of my powers, afraid of the darkness inside me. Then, one day, I decided I had had enough. I told myself, 'I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.' I was sick of being scared. Don't you think it's your turn to use? Your turn to hurt?"
Emma tried to push Adelina out of her head and struggled to hold on to the good in her. "But what about Henry, and Hook, and Regina and—"
"Who cares about them!" Adelina's voice rattled around her skull. "Love is a weakness ! Why be loved when you can be feared? What is so great about being good? Embrace your powers. Let them fear you."
“I will never embrace the darkness,” Emma said forcefully. "I won't hurt the people I care about."
“Are you sure? Because a part of you knows that I am right. I can feel you giving in little by little, every day. Your heart is becoming tainted with darkness.”
As much as she hated to admit it, the darkness was tempting. She thought about what Rumplestiltskin had said her first day as the Dark One. Everyone who sips from this well enjoys the taste too much. It didn't help that Adelina was watching her like a hawk, filling her head with dark thoughts, visions of what her darkness could achieve. "You're on a tipping point here," Adelina continued. "All the dark magic you've been using is building up. You can feel it, can't you?"
Emma gritted her teeth. I am the Saviour , she reminded herself. I am good. I am a hero.
She gasped as a new flood of darkness washed over her. It was like a tsunami: imposing and overwhelming. She felt short of breath all of a sudden, like the darkness was having a physical impact on her. “Why don’t you just give in?” Adelina asked conversationally, cocking her head in Emma’s direction.
Why didn’t she? It would be so easy, to give in to the darkness infecting her soul. It was worse than when she stepped into the swirling tornado of darkness to save Regina, because now all that darkness was swirling inside . She struggled to recall all the good, but the darkness clouded her thoughts.
In the blink of an eye, Adelina’s face was just inches from her own. “You’re losing, Saviour,” she mocked.
She gave the darkness one final push, and everything fell to chaos.
The candles in the hallway flickered, some of them snuffing out all together, and the sound of wind howled in Emma’s ears. Inside, she felt herself being torn apart and put back together. The darkness spread to every part of her body, powerful and deadly. Somewhere in the distance, she heard Adelina’s satisfied laughter.
Emma had no idea how long the storm lasted, but as it stilled, so did she. How do you feel? Adelina whispered to her. The girl's figure was gone; only her voice echoed in Emma's mind.
"I feel…better. Like I'm not afraid anymore."
And why is that?
A small smile crept on her face. “Because I’ve accepted the darkness.”
Very good . Now rise,
Dark Swan.