Ch.72: Operation Mongoose Part 1 and Part 2/The New Dark One
After the author put his touches on the new book, everyone except for Henry ended up inside the book, but then Henry found a way to get inside the book. Because he did, the author went in after him, not wanting Henry to change anything. He wanted to keep things how they were, which was villains having a happy ending and heroes not having happy endings.
Later, Henry went in search of Regina, in which he soon found in the heart of the woods, living as Snow White had once been living. He told her he was her son and told her about the book they were all trapped in, but she didn’t believe him.
When the author went looking for where Henry had gone to, he got captured and taken to the queen whom wasn’t Snow White in this reality. He was spared though, when he told her that he knew exactly where Regina was and wanted her to kill both Regina and Henry.
When the Queen found Regina, she was about to kill her, but was stopped when Robin Hood came by on horseback.
As he rode the horse, her behind him, she told him though, “I had the situation under control.”
“A simple thank you would suffice,” he replied.
She and Robin walked into the cavern, as she said, “I told you. I didn’t need rescuing.”
“Believe me, I’m already questioning helping the competition.”
She laughed.
“Competition?” Then she recognized him, as he went over to a table. “Robin Hood?”
“Well, I’m not Friar Tuck,” he replied, grabbing a cloth. “Now. Hold still please, m’lady.”
“Why?”
“Because this may sting a little.”
He poured a little bit of a cup of whiskey onto her hand that had a cut on it.
“Now, sit down before you pass out,” he instructed, grabbing a cloth and tying it around her hand.
“I’m fine. It’s just a scratch,” she replied.
They gave each other a look, before they both sat down at the table.
She set down a gold coin in front of him.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Your cut.”
“You still can’t say thank you. Can you?”
After a moment, she said, “Thank you.”
“And thank you.” He raised a mug with a drink in it. “So, to new friends and old rivals.”
They clanked their mugs together and he gave a smile at her. Then they both took a drink from their mugs. He then noticed her look.
“What is it?” he wanted to know.
“Just thought you’d be dirtier,” she replied.
“Well, thank you. I choose to take that as a compliment. Regina, while we may have never met, I always admired your skills. I’m getting out of this game and I have a proposition for you. I’m in search of someone to take my place as leader of the Merry Men.”
“Oh…I’m flattered, but can’t accept. This forest isn’t a place for me anymore.”
“Well, that’s a shame.”
“So, what’s driving you out of the business?” she wanted to know.
“Have you ever met someone that you would change your entire world for? Someone’s eyes you just knew you were born to gaze into? I have. And that’s why I can’t be a thief anymore. It wouldn’t be fair to my new bride.”
“Bride?” she inquired.
“Well, we will be married later today.”
Robin’s bride walked in whom just so happened to be Zelena and they shared a kiss.
Regina looked away from them.
When Regina left the cavern, Henry found her and when he found out that Robin and Zelena were getting married later, he told her they had to stop the wedding. Regina didn’t want any part of it though, because she believed now that she’d never find true love and that it was hopeless. Then they began to talk about Katherine whom Regina said that Snow White locked away years ago. That’s when Henry left her to go find Hook so they could find her.
Meanwhile, the author had come to Rumple and informed him of Henry whom was going to try and turn everything around. He figured that Rumple would make the right choice.
Soon enough, Hook and Henry found where Katherine was being held and Henry got her out of the room and unchained.
On the way down, once they went down all the stairs, Hook appeared and she and Hook ran into each other. Though she remembered everything, nobody but Henry did, so Henry did a short introduction. Then they got out of there and back to the ship and took down Lily, Maleficent’s daughter.
As the ship sailed, Hook was curious about something.
“Let me ask you something. You trusted me with your life just now. Why?”
“It’s complicated,” she answered him, knowing he didn’t remember what she remembered. “Might take a while.”
“My schedule’s pretty clear,” he replied.
“Okay. Let’s first work on your fighting skills. Then we have to help Regina stop that wedding.”
Soon enough, they were back on land and she had informed him of everything.
“You’re telling me that in this other reality, that I’m an expert on such a weapon.”
“You’re a regular Jack Sparrow,” she replied. “Let me show you how to use it.”
After she showed him, he told her, “Tell me more about this reality you want to return to. Us. For example, I sense that we may be close.”
“Very,” she replied.
“Really? Well, I’m starting to get jealous of the other me.”
“Let’s see what food Henry has discovered. I’m starving,” she replied.
She was about to walk away with Hook, when Lily showed up with Snow White and Prince Charming and a few of their knights.
When the Queen made a comment about almost not recognizing her, Katherine had to say back, “At the moment, it’s hard to recognize either of you. This isn’t who you are.”
“Tell me, who are we?” the queen wanted to know.
“You’re Snow White and Prince Charming. You taught me how to be a hero and believe in hope. And now I need you to believe in it, too.”
The queen didn’t do as she said and instead wanted to get rid of hope, because of hope being a powerful thing.
At that moment, Henry appeared.
“Save your boy,” Hook told Katherine.
Katherine disagreed with him, not wanting anything to happen to him, but when he told her that whatever happens to him won’t matter because of this not being the real reality, she agreed with that partly and went over to where Henry was.
Hook began to fight against them, even though Katherine knew this version of him wouldn’t be able to win against them. And she was right, because before she and Henry left, Katherine witnessed him lose.
“Katherine,” Henry said, trying to get her to go with him. “We have to get out of here. Katherine.”
When the queen through a fireball at them, that’s when she ran off with Henry.
Regina was packing up, when Henry found her again.
“I don’t have time for stories. I have to hit the road before the evil queen gets on my tail,” Regina told him.
“Wait. I have someone else with me this time.”
Katherine walked inside.
“Regina,” she greeted.
“Let me guess. You’re Katherine. I have to give him credit. Breaking you out of that tower couldn’t have been easy.”
“Henry, can you give us a minute?” Katherine asked him.
“Sure,” he said, and went outside.
“Regina, what he said about this reality. It’s all true.”
“I doubt that,” she replied to Katherine. “I’m wasting my time with a mad woman who calls herself the Savior.”
“I can help,” Katherine told her. “Your happiness is still a possibility. Your next step is going after the man you love.”
“My happy ending isn’t a man,” Regina denied.
“Of course not. But love is a part of all happiness. And you have to be open to that. Go to Robin Hood. All you have to do is tell him how you feel.”
“Oh. Is that all? Did you forget to mention the part where I have to crash his wedding?”
“What does your heart tell you?”
“I know what my heart says, but what if his doesn’t say the same thing?”
“Isn’t that a risk you’re willing to take? I just watched the man I love die.”
“Katherine, I’m sorry. That’s horrible,” was all Regina could say to that.
“The worst part is that I never told him that I loved him. Not once. I was too scared. Too scared that somehow saying it would make it real and change everything. But now I’ll never have a chance to take that next step with him, because he’s gone. Don’t make the same mistake I did.”
After Katherine’s speech to her, Regina decided to do as Katherine asked.
They were outside the place where the marriage was about to happen, Regina deciding on how to do it, when Rumple arrived to try and stop them from crashing the wedding. Because of Rumple and because Regina didn’t crash the wedding, it wasn’t crashed, but when the wedding was over with and they came out and Robin saw Regina injured, he broke from the crowd to help her.
When Henry found out that he was the next author, he undid everything and everyone was sent back to where they had been before the alternate reality.
When Regina woke up, she was no longer injured and Henry was there. They hugged and then Katherine woke up and she and Henry hugged. Then Katherine raced to the apartment to find Hook, knowing that’s where Hook had been before the alternate reality.
Once she made it to the apartment, she burst inside.
“Where is he? Where’s Hook?” she asked Snow White and Prince Charming whom were hugging.
Charming pointed to the floor where the book was at.
“He was there right before we got dragged away.”
“Everyone reappeared where they were before this whole mess started.” Thinking that he wasn’t coming back, she said, “No.”
Hook said from where he stood on the stairs, “Sorry about the mess. I really needed to find that book. I’m usually a bit more tidier.” He gave a smile.
They all looked up when he spoke and when he was done speaking, she rushed up the stairs, happy to see him alive.
Once in the loft where he was, she hugged him.
“Killian.”
He lost his balance when they were hugging and fell on the bed.
She looked down at him and he gave a smile.
“How many time do I have to tell you, luv? I’m a survivor. Look, I didn’t mean to cause any panic. I woke moments before they did and came up here looking for the boy.”
“He’s fine. Henry’s fine,” she assured him. “I’m just glad you are, too.” She gave a sigh.
“What is it?” he asked.
She sat up in bed as did he.
“When I watched you die, I was afraid that I was never going to get a chance to tell you something.”
“Tell me what?” he asked, assuming where this was going.
“I love you,” she told him.
Belle rushed inside the shop, as Isaac, the former author, left with some keys, telling Belle, “He’s all yours, lady.”
“Belle, you came back for me,” Rumple assumed, leaning against a glass counter.
“I came back to make sure you weren’t going to try and hurt anyone else,” Belle informed him, clearly angry.
“No. You don’t understand,” he began. He tried to use the glass counter to stay on his feet, but he fell to the floor.
“Rumple,” Belle said and was instantly at his side.
Isaac was driving, on his way out of town, but stopped when the sheriff’s car blocked his car. Then he saw Charming and Snow get out of the car and he knew that he was defeated.
Charming came over and got him out of the car, bringing him over to the sheriff’s car.
Henry was at the table at his mother’s office, both the original book and Isaac’s book in front of him, quill in hand, when the apprentice arrived and walked over to him.
“It is tempting, isn’t it? The quill?”
“I just keep thinking. Maybe I could use it just one more time?” Henry replied. “To bring back my dad?”
The apprentice sat next to him.
“Henry, not even an author can bring back the dead. No matter how much they might wish it.”
“But Hook was dead and it brought him back to life,” Henry replied.
“Hook’s death was never real. It was fiction. Undid by Isaac thanks to you. It’s been erased.” He opened up Isaac’s book. “See? All gone. Your father, Baelfire, died in the real world, and that sadly, can never be undone. The best way to show your love for those that are gone is to tell their stories.” He opened up the original book. “These stories can never be erased, because they are the truth, and the truth is what you must write. I hope that you can resist the temptation. The quill. The power to change reality.”
Henry broke the quill.
“No one should have that much power.”
“It would seem this time that we have found the right person for the job.”
At the shop, Rumple had finally woken up and Belle was helping him sit up.
“Hey, what’s happening?” she asked him.
“It’s my heart. The last flicker of red is disappearing.”
“Your ability to love,” Belle realized.
“At least, in the end, I got one last taste. We were happy in there. We were in love.”
“I was already in love,” Belle assured him. “Everything we had in the book, you could’ve had here. You could’ve been a good man with a good marriage for real. Why wasn’t it good enough?”
“Because I didn’t believe it,” he confessed. “How could you love me?”
“I knew what I was getting, Rumple. I wasn’t going to come back.”
“But I made you do just that. There’s a whole world out there, Belle, for you. Go with Will.”
“I don’t love Will, and I’m not letting you die alone.”
“Go far away. When the man is gone, only The Dark One remains,” he said, before collapsing again.
“Rumple. Rumple!” she said, and rested hands on either side of his face.
Everyone was at Granny’s Diner celebrating.
Robin came over to where Regina sat at a booth with Henry.
“Hello,” he greeted.
She and Robin kissed and then Robin sat in front of her.
“Not to puncture the party, but did you check on Zelena?”
“She’s still locked up,” she confirmed. “Still pregnant. But that’s something we’ll be able to deal with.”
“Together,” Robin added.
After Robin asked Regina out to a walk in the moonlight and Regina accepted, they left.
After Charming and Snow apologized to Hook for killing him, Belle rushed inside and over to them.
“Rumple. His heart. He says it’s almost gone. And, uh, he’s in great danger.”
The apprentice tried to take the darkness out of his heart and put it inside the hat, hoping it would work. The darkness left his heart and went into the hat, but it was too much for the hat to handle and the darkness leaked out of the hat shortly after the apprentice put Rumple under a preservation spell. It tried to go into the apprentice to turned him into the Dark One, but Katherine got it out of him.
Once they got the apprentice in bed in the back of the shop and Katherine asked him what that was, the apprentice said that Merlin could stop it because he was the one that had made The Dark One to control the darkness.
Charming, Snow, Robin, Regina, and Hook went outside to search for the darkness. They couldn’t see it, but Katherine could sense that it was still there, surrounding them.
A moment after she told them that, the darkness began to surround Regina.
“Regina!” Robin yelled. Robin looked to Katherine. “What’s it doing?!” he asked over the sound of the whirlwind the darkness was making, as it surrounded Regina.
“What darkness does best. Snuffing out the light.”
Robin ran towards the darkness, trying to stop it, but he got thrown back.
“That’s not going to work on this thing!” she told him over the noise. “We have to do what the sorcerer did! We have to tether it to a person and contain it!”
Regina realized what Katherine was going to do and said, “No! There has to be another way.”
“There isn’t,” Katherine replied. “You worked too hard to have your happiness destroyed.”
“No!” Charming yelled at Katherine.
Katherine looked at them.
“You’ll figure out a way to get the darkness out of me,” she told them, believing they could find a way. “You’re heroes.”
Hook ran over to her.
“Katherine! Katherine, please! Don’t do this.”
“I love you,” she said. They rested their foreheads against one another and then she pushed him back a little and made the darkness tether itself to her, instead.
After a few moments, she had disappeared and now the dagger was on the ground with her name on it.
Regina was yelling about Katherine being stupid when she had done that, while Hook picked up the dagger and tried commanding her back, but it didn’t work. He didn’t understand why it wasn’t working, so Regina had to inform him that she wasn’t in this world anymore. She was in a different land.
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