Ch.3: A Life For A Life

        Elijah still stood in the street with the fairytale characters. Regina, Robin Hood, Hook, Charming, and Snow White. His love of 500 years had just disappeared after putting the darkness inside of herself to save a friend of hers.

        "How could she be so stupid!?" Regina commented, annoyed, knowing full well the capabilities of darkness.

        "Regina!" Charming yelled at her. 

        "Well, there had to be another way!"

        "There wasn't. That thing was going to kill you. She saved your life," Snow White told her. 

        "You think I don't know that?" Regina replied. She then added, "Now, she's a problem for all of us. She got sucked up by a vortex of evil." 

        "Where is she?" Robin Hood inquired of Regina. "Where's she gone?" 

        "It doesn't bloody matter," Hook commented. 

        "Well, it matters to me," Elijah reminded him. 

        "Good luck finding her. There isn't even a dagger like there's supposed to be," Hook replied. 

        "Which must mean that she's not The Dark One," Regina assumed. "She probably still has the powers of one, though."

        "If I have this right from everything Katerina's told me, you're well acquainted with this kind of darkness," Elijah told Regina. "What do you suggest? The sooner I find Katerina, the better."

        "If she's not the Dark One, then she's either somewhere here, or she's elsewhere. Either in our world or somewhere else in this world. She could be anywhere," Regina replied. 

        "I'll see if I can find Katerina. If I don't, then you can do a locator spell. Either way, I need to find Katerina. I won't make the same mistake twice," he instructed and replied. 

        "What do you mean by mistake?" she inquired. 

        "My brother and I killed ourselves because of something that was pure evil. I won't lose Katerina to evil, too. And I won't abandon Katerina again," he shared. 

        Kat found herself in what looked to be the Storybrooke tunnels. She wasn't sure what she was doing here. All she knew was one moment she'd been in the street, getting the darkness inside of her. The next moment, she'd disappeared. Now, this was where she was. 

        She turned around to look fully at where she was, which was when she saw an image of the Enchanted Forest version of Rumple. She knew he couldn't be the Rumple she knew, so she could only assume that she was seeing things. It wasn't like she was a Dark One, despite the darkness inside of her. 

        "I'm the voice inside your head," the figment of Rumple told her, as if he knew exactly what she'd been thinking. Or was thinking. "The Dark One's powers inside you. Rumplestiltskin is but one of many Dark Ones. Now, are you ready to begin?" 

        "Begin what?" she inquired. She'd assumed all this time that Rumple had been the one and only Dark One. She hadn't known there were others. She also didn't know about the powers of the Dark One, apart from what she'd seen from Rumple. 

        "Well, learning your powers, of course," he replied. "Think of me as your guide. But only until you've learned to embrace your powers."

        "I'm not planning on embracing the darkness. I only took it inside of me to save her," Kat replied. 

        "They all say that, but they enjoy the taste too much. The only way to stop, is to be stopped."

        "I'm different. I can control it without embracing the darkness," she replied. 

        "Well, good luck with that, dearie," the figment of Rumple commented back.

        It had taken a while, but he finally found her. She was in the underground tunnels for some reason. He liked to think that he was familiar with darkness and all kinds of evil, but he wasn’t very familiar with Dark Ones or this kind of evil. He had a duty to help her, he felt, just as always, but he had to be cautious. He didn’t exactly know the powers of the Dark One. All he knew was that that darkness was pure evil, and that he needed to help and save his Katerina. Despite her different changes in 500 years and this century, in his eyes, she’d always be his Katerina. 

        “Katerina,” he stated, making her turn around to see him half a distance away, distracting her from whatever she was seeing. It wasn’t the same, but it reminded him of when The Hollow had made Klaus see things. 

        “Elijah,” she replied, and rushed over to him, where they hugged. 

        After a few minutes, they pulled away. He then rested a hand on the side of her face.

        ”What did you see?”

        ”Apparently, I have this thing I can see. He said he’s my guide, here to teach me my powers. How to use them and control them. He looks like the Rumple from the Enchanted Forest, but I know he has to be something else,” she informed him. She wasn’t big into lying as a human, and she knew if she wanted to get through this, she needed to be truthful. Right now, the strongest connection she had that was in town was Elijah. 

        “Listen to me. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known. You’ll get through this. We’ll get through this together. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere,” he encouraged and promised.

        Maybe if this had been years ago, she probably would have doubted his promise, as he'd abandoned her, despite his promise centuries ago, but now? Now, she couldn't help but to believe him. She had nobody else to believe in here, since Elijah was the only love of hers that was in town. And she wasn't sure she believed in her own self control anymore. She could actually feel the darkness, and she knew how dark the dark parts of herself were. Because of her dark parts and actions, she'd caused him to leave in the first place. Maybe her doppelganger had a hand or part in it, but she'd been the one to lie to him in the first place. He'd lost faith in her, but no matter what had happened between them, she knew he'd always save her life when he knew she needed it. No matter how many years or centuries, they always found their way back to each other, eventually. It was like her and Damon had always been, but without all that hate that he had for her. Elijah, she knew, could never find it in his heart to hate her. Just disappointment. But now, she had the chance to fix that. They both had a chance now to repair what they'd lost years ago, and she was willing to do it. He was her epic love, after all. In fairytale terms, he was her true love. The only question was whether or not the darkness would get between them. They'd both seen and experienced more than most others, and they were still standing. Still willing to fight if they needed to. But was it enough? Could they win this battle like they'd done with other obstacles? Taking down enemies to protect and save each other was much different than darkness from a Dark One. Or, as she now knew, darkness that had come from all Dark Ones since the beginning. And that was a lot for her to handle and control. Especially, when she'd always been so close to the darkest parts of herself. But she'd done this to herself to be selfless. To, for once in a long time, save a friend.

        "You saw how much darkness came out of there and came after Regina. I can feel it inside me. Usually, control is my strong suit, but I don't know how I'm going to keep this thing in control," she reminded and admitted to him.

        "We'll figure this out. Together," he assured her.

        After a lot of time had passed, she'd decided instead of accepting to be taught my the darkness, that the Rumple she knew and cared for would, instead. And so, she learned her powers and control over her powers, overtime. However, the darkness was still inside of her, even if she wasn't the Dark One. And while she'd been trying to figure out with Elijah how she'd deal with it, other things had been happening elsewhere in town. And when she found that out, she was quick to want to help. 

        Kat was in Rumple's shop with Regina and Belle. A furry was after Robin Hood for magic that hadn't been paid. A soul sucker pretty much. Its job was to take his soul to the underworld.

        "The portal only opens when the moon reaches the zenith," Belle informed Regina. 

        "Then there's still some time to stop it," Regina replied. 

        "It's not that simple," Belle informed her. "I'm afraid there's only one way to save Robin Hood. Someone has to give their life in his place."

        "Then I think we know who in this town should pay that price. Even if it's not my price to pay," Kat interceded. 

        "Absolutely not. You've already done more than enough," Regina reminded her. 

        "Look, I've never been to the underworld, but I've been to hell before. I was its queen after some selective people had to kill the head of it. The underworld can't be any worst than hell. Besides, I'd like to think you'd do the same thing for me, and it's what friends do for each other. They risk their lives, even if it means dying in the process. I didn't go through all of this for you to lose your true love. Or for you to die." 

        After a moment, the Traveler descendant disappeared, reappearing by the water, which was where she saw it. She saw Robin on the ground. She also saw that the portal was going to be opening soon. 

        "Hey!" she yelled at it, making it turn and look at her. "You want a life? I'm here and ready for you. Go ahead." 

        After a moment, the furry used its power on her, starting to suck her soul. However, semi-unexpectedly, a few of the others in town did the same, and it overpowered it, forcing it to go back to the underworld without him. And so, Robin was just fine.