Maelstorm

Emma fought against the magical restraints, the invisible ropes leaving red indentations on her wrists. Regina's coat helped a little to have a barrier between them and her own body but the constrictiveness of the magic made too difficult for her to breathe properly. Gasping, she glanced around. The room she had briefly seen when she had appeared on the room minutes before was even worse lighted than earlier; thick curtains blocked the little light that illuminated the reign as the flickering flames of the candles looked about to die.

Rumplestiskin had disappeared as soon as he had positioned her in the middle of the circle he had created, magic seeming to touch her in the process.

"What do you want to do?" She barked down when the door of the room opened again, showing the silhouette of the dark one as he entered in the room, a book on his hands.

The imp moved forward, his reptilian eyes shrinking as the poor light of the room touched him.

"I'm known for always honouring the contracts I create" He started, a smirk on his lips, his pointy teeth opening wounds on his gums. "But stories, dearie, as you probably have realized, aren't always as truthful as we think they are"

Emma didn't answer to that, unable to say anything else except whimper as the ropes kept tightening around her.

"I've been waiting for years to being able to open a path to a world without magic" Rumplestiskin continued "I should have been able to do it years ago, with our mutual friend's help but Regina decided to change her destiny and" He said "Consequently yours too"

Emma blinked at that, trying to understand what the dark one was saying.

"When Regina refused to take my deal" The man started, opening the book he had on his hands and searching for a page "She became free of the destiny that fate had prewritten for her and so she didn't make necessary your existence, your fate then was vaporized"

"But" The man looked at her condescendingly "You are still a very powerful source of white magic, probably the most powerful the enchanted forest has ever encountered and when your mother retreated from the deal we were making I realized that I needed to wait in order to be close enough of you to use your magic. So I waited"

"Of course it wasn't exactly easy" The imp added, the candles that had been dying slowly growing stronger under his commands. "But I expected you, and when you finally entered on my waters I thought the waiting was over… until Regina intervened of course. And after that your combined powers were strong enough to make me unable to summon her or you. I needed you to come to me"

"And that's why you made Hook attack us" Emma managed to said, her eyes searching for anything she could use against the man. Her sword was too far away from her but the at her right, in the long polished table the man had been using as a place where he could mix his potions and strange objects in order to create the spell he was trying to, a dagger shimmered under the lights of the candles. The blade was made in zigzag, a strange gleam on the handle and for a second Emma believed that was almost calling for her.

"You wanted to make us think in him and in the attack to be able to summon Regina" She continued, trying to make the man in front of her distracted enough to be able to try to reach the table. The ropes were tight but she tried nonetheless, pushing and biting the interior of her cheek as she strained her muscles.

"Exactly" The dark one provided "But I still needed you want to see me in order to be able to call you, I knew that Regina would have never given you to me so I forced the situation"

Chuckling a little the man tilted his head at one side, his digits entwined in front of him in a fake expression of utter delight as the book floated in front of him. "It's quite interesting to see the future" He confided "And the futures that could have been real. What Regina would never know is that she actually managed to free herself for a future, that's the main problem of you two"

Emma frowned again, the information she was receiving making her dizzy "What… what do you mean?" She asked.

"Well" The imp said as if it was obvious "You keep fighting against fate, no matter the reality you are in, it's quite interesting to witness it"

"And Regina?" Emma asked, the muscles on her neck straining against her skin as she turned her neck, trying to follow the man when he circled her.

"Regina would probably die since she doesn't have with her the sword that guarantees her immortality" The man informed her off-handily "As I said I don't need her anymore, your inherent magic would open the portal long enough for me to jump at the other side"

Regina looked at both August and Graham, Marco still being in the main entrance of the castle, keeping an eye on the gates.

As predicted entering the castle had been quite easy and although a few traps had been waiting for them without the dark one actively searching for them it had been quite easy to sneak past those. August was holding his broken arm though as Regina swallowed, focusing on the closed door of the throne room. Behind the closed doors she could distinguish the shimmering lights of the candles and something that made Graham growl when he perceived it. Magic.

"Wait for us here" She instructed "Don't enter"

The two men nodded and walked away to the two ends of the corridor, guarding them just in case the imp had some kind of trap already waiting for them. Regina took a deep breath and opened the door as slowly as possible.

The large room was dimly lighted except the far end of it where all the flames of the candles danced merrily under Rumplestiskin's voice. The man was chanting something as Emma, firmly tied up magically on the centre of the circle he had created, stood there, unable to say something. Their eyes meet though and Emma barely nodded at her, happiness lighting her pupils after that when she saw Regina completely unmarred.

The pirate smiled at her, rising the sword August had given her, carefully walking towards the back of the imp who kept chanting, the words strange to both women. Regina could understand the idiom though, remembering the time she had spent trying to understand as best as she could the limits of the contract Rumplestiskin had made her sign and the amount of magic the man could inflict on her. The words,even if she could understand the cadence, were elvish, a forgotten idiom that she couldn't understand so she merely elevated her arms, trying to angle her whole body as best as she could while Emma kept looking at her, fear evident on her eyes.

The scream that pierced the room when Regina's sword descended was enough for both Regina and Emma to jump- at least the former one- and as the dark one turned, the wound already healing on his neck, the magic that had been sustaining Emma disappeared, her body falling to the floor as she tried to regain her breath while the imp looked viciously at the brunette pirate, pure rage glowing on his eyes.

"I thought" He started "That I had made my intentions clear dearie"

Regina stood and attacked for a second time, trying to reach the dark one. The sword grazed the vest of the man but the dark one was faster and as he slowly regained control of his powers he lunched forward, snatching the sword from the brunette's grasp and raising it over his head, rage still coming out of him like a river.

As the glimpse of the sword began its descend Emma stood, looking around her, trying to see any way she could help Regina, seeing the dagger on the table she grabbed it, throwing herself forward and stabbing the man blindly on his back, dark blood starting to spill as soon as she did it, staining her hands and Regina's coat.

The dark one fell to his knees, his face contorted as he tried to remain awake, the sword falling to his lap when his arms gave away. Regina looked at Emma in that moment as the magic coating the place started to grow thinner, a vortex of wind and sparks illuminating their faces.

"You don't know what you have done" The imp, whose skin seemed to be turning paler with every second that passed, said, a blood-stained smirk appearing on his face.

And so, the name of the dagger changed, a gasp escaping Regina's lips when she saw the name of Emma written on the blade as Rumplestiskin finally closed his eyes, magic finally leaving her body and letting him rest.

The author looked horrified at the fire that fell silent, the cave suddenly feeling extremely cold as the last bits of the story disappeared, words and images dissolving under the man's eyes.

"This means that the saviour keeps turning the dark one" He stated "No matter how many times I interfered on the story"

The fire grew stronger; the last image of the dagger glowing between the hands of a teary eyed Emma still visible.

"This means that they will defeat fate no matter how many times you try to make them act like you want. This means, former author, that it doesn't matter how many times you try to make them do the things you want. Story will always return to its course and they" It added, almost on an afterthought "Will always keep trying and doing what they need to do in order to keep each other's safe"

With those last words the cave's lights disappeared, only Merlin's fire the thing that kept illuminating the place.

"Goodbye Author"

And, with those finals words the scrawny man found himself alone in a total darkness, the distant voice of someone calling his name.

He had finally understood it though; the dagger, Emma's name on it, the prize that she seemed to always been ready to pay. There were threads that couldn't be sunk, only submerged until they resurfaced away.

Merlin smiled from inside of the magical fire, knowing that another chapter was already beginning somewhere else, Camelot expecting his magic. It was only a question of time when the rest of the threads would appear again. Or the rest of the story was written.

And… the end! Thank you so much for reading, as you probably have imagined the story can have a sequel so maybe I start writing one alongside with my other stories (and a few backstories I didn't manage to fit in the final edition of the story about other characters) so I hope to see you all soon!