— ᴄᴀᴍᴇʟᴏᴛ.
Presley was standing side by side with the others as they confronted Zelena, who held Robin Hood captive. "You lay another finger on him-" Regina threatens, but she was interrupted by her sister. She claims not to want to hurt him but make a trade. His life for the Apprentice's wand.
"What the Hell do you want with this," the black haired woman questions and Zelena explains her plan of returning to Oz, where she could live with her unborn child with only her to love.
They could clearly see hesitation on Regina's face. Killian tells her to not even think about it, but it didn't seem to convince the Queen entirely. Seeing Robin choke in the grasp of Zelena's magic made her realise she had no choice. The moment she exchanged the wand for Robin was the moment that Presley took a step forward and pushed Henry behind her. Whatever Zelena would do, she would not let her get close to him.
Zelena used a pendant to create a Portal to Oz in the form of a green, swirling tornado that started to form at the horizon. Presley feels a hand clutch her leather jacket. She turns her head to look back over her shoulder. Henry had reached out to grab her jacket. He had reached out to her for security.
What Presley hadn't expected was for Regina to calculate the fact that the magic would weaken Zelena in to her plan. Charming was restraining the redhaired witch while Regina ensured that the Portal's direction would change its course. She directed it from Oz to wherever Emma was now by using the knitted baby blanket.
The Portal sucked in the entire building of Granny's Diner, bringing along far more people than Presley had expected at first. They landed in a foresty area and exactly on time. Not far away from them they heared someone groan and they went to check it out. There they saw Emma holding a glowing, beating red heart in her hand and standing right in front of a young woman with red hair.
Killian stopped her by calling out her name. Emma was confused at first as to how they even got there, but didn't seem to notice the presence of her foster kid. When the newest Dark One didn't want to put the heart back Snow White wanted to use the dagger, but Hook convinced her otherwise. He managed to keep Emma from crushing the woman's heart and let her put it back.
It was clear as day that all that had transpired had tired Emma. She clings onto Hook for dear life, who comforts her by keeping her close to him.
After saying goodbye to the red haired woman, whose name was apparently Merida, Emma was properly reunited with her family. Her parents hugged her and wanted to give her the Dark One dagger, but Emma didn't think it was a good choice. Instead she gives the dagger to Regina, knowing she would do what was necessary if it ever came to it.
Then Emma approached the girl she had thought she had lost forever. "Lee.. I-I thought.." Presley takes a step forward. She shows a little smile, but it did not quite reach her eyes. "It is difficult to get rid of me, in case you didn't notice." Emma huffs jokingly and wraps her arms around the girl. She asks where she has been, but Presley didn't give a clear answer to it. She also couldn't inquire further as they then headed back to the diner.
The moment they returned to the diner the people who had stayed behind, like Leroy and Granny, came rushing out to greet Emma. Presley watches everyone reunite and remains on the side. She didn't want to intrude on everyone's happy reunion. Not being distracted by conversation also made her one of the first to notice that something was approaching them.
Shortly after their arrival they heard horses neighing and hooves coming nearer. On top of the horses were a group of knights, dressed in armor and red capes. Presley feels a power surge inside of her and boil up underneath her skin. It was ready to unleash at the girl's slightest command. She balled her first in an effort to keep herself from using that simmering power.
One of the knights introduced himself as King Arthur of Camelot. He explained they had come to find them, claiming they had known of their arrival since Merlin had prophesized it. The others were all more than eager to accept his warm invitation to his castle, but something inside of Presley told her not to trust a word this king said. Perhaps it was a sense of intuition or perhaps a distaste for strangers, but either way this all felt wrong.
However, she wouldn't stay behind all by herself. So, when Arthur brought everyone to Camelot she followed along and let herself be welcomed into the castle by the King and his wife, Queen Guinevere. They arranged for private quarters in their castle for them to stay in. Since she was a part of the group of guests she was also welcomed to the ball that they had organized in their honour.
Emma had to admit she worried when Presley had locked herself away the entire day leading up to the ball. Her mother tried to calm her down by telling her she was certain that the girl would show up at the ball. How she could be that certain was a mystery to the new Dark One, but she hoped her mother was right.
In the privacy of her own bedchamber Presley found herself preparing for the ball. During her time in the Enchanted Forest after Pan's Dark Curse was prevented, she had been taught in magic by Loki, the God of Mischief. Apparently she had followed his lessons earlier, but due to the First Dark Curse she forgot about them. Simultaneously she also forgot about the first time he betrayed her, causing him to do that yet again with her with this time much more at stake.
In exchange for the promise of information, which she later learned he couldn't give her, she had freed the god from his chains. Just after that event the two of them were swept away by the curse that Snow White and Prince Charming had enacted, tampered with by Zelena so they would all forget the year again. Except for Presley, who could remember everything for reasons unknown to her.
She had tried to keep Loki from doing irrational things by locking him up in a cave in the woods, hoping no one would discover him. Presley had tried everything she could so people wouldn't find out about her secrets, but eventually they came out. Emma had confronted her, causing Presley to become upset and leave.
But before she left the town behind, she made a quick detour to the woods. Presley had freed Loki from his cave imprisonment. That action honestly surprised the god, considering she put him in there in the first place. "Why release me now, my favourite student," he had asked her. The blonde had crossed her arms then. A cold and disinterested look spread on her face. "Because I realized that I can never be the good guy. Good guys care about what happens to other people. They care about the consequences of their actions."
Presley had chuckled humorlessly. "I don't care what will happen if I let you run loose. I am not going to waste a minute of sleep over thinking about the rampage and destruction you could bring if I sent you back to Snow and Charming's kingdom. I didn't belong there and I never will, so why would I waste precious minutes of my time worrying about that?"
Loki had grinned at her response. "I have more self-control than you think, darling." The girl shook her head. The corner of her lip tilted up in an amused smirk. "Don't fool anyone, we both know you have none." The god had laughed. His eyes gleamed with a mischievious kind of joy as she released him from the cave.
He was also impressed by how far his student had come. Creating a Portal was a difficult thing to do. You needed powerful magic that not many could master to perform the spell. It also needed to be done correctly, otherwise you could cause catastrophes such as time loops and worm holes. Not even the Dark One was capable of creating entrances to other worlds.
But Loki noticed quite easily the anger that was behind her eyes. Perhaps her rage was a driving force behind her powers, he thought. However, he didn't mind it when she sent him back to the Enchanted Forest. For the first time in centuries he was absolutely free.
Knowing she wasn't being watched, Presley used her magic freely in her chamber. She had created a dress for the ball and was busy slipping it on. Most people would probably imagine her wearing something black and fitted, but that was not true at all. Instead she had designed a dress herself.
The dress was fitted on the top, leaving her shoulders bare with bat-shaped sleeves. On the lower half she had a long A-line skirt. Her skirt and sleeves had a sheer layer on top, covered in sparkles. The entire dress was made of dusty pink fabric that somehow didn't clash with her multicoloured hair.
She had pulled two small braids to the back of her head and secured them with a clip. The clips were all silvery and glittering, resembling stars and moons. The girl sat down in front of a vanity table and used a soft brush to comb her hair. The gesture was soothing. It brought back a memory of barely a year ago. Her Tenth Labor.
Loki had sent her of to collect a strand of hair. Might seem simple at first, but it was not that easy. The God had explained to her that he wanted a hair from the Goddess Sif. To get that hair she would first need to sneak into a whole new dimension, one of their Nine Worlds called Asgard. Then she would have to sneak into the heavily guarded castle, find the woman's bedroom and cut her hair of. After that she would just need to get out and stay alive, which seems hard enough of a task on its own.
The God had stolen hair from her before. Apparently it had magical properties that he liked, but last time did not go so well. Sif had found out about what he did and flew into a rage. Loki was punished for his deeds and now, years later, he wanted her to do the same. Loki may have been punished, but her penalty would surely be death.
Presley stares at the brush in her hand, quite lost in thought. The brush looked similar to the one that Sif had. Presley had somehow managed to sneak into Asgard and the goddess' bedroom without much difficulty. Once she got inside she sucked in a breath and refused to move.
Really, her hope was that Sif wasn't there so she could just steal a hair out if her brush. But she never had much luck, now did she? No, of course the goddess had to be brushing her hair as she was sitting in front of her vanity table.
Presley tried to cause distractions and sneak past to get a strand of hair from the brush, but the goddess was not bothered by the chaos she caused in the background. After even an explosion refused to draw the attention of Sif she gave up. She had never thought that after the nine labours that Loki had put her through before a petty theft would do her in.
She sneaked back out of the room and put her back against the wall. The defeated girl slid down the wall and sat down. Her thoughts were running with different worries. Presley was aware that she could not return without the hair. All would be for nothing if she did that.
Therefore she waited until Sif would leave the room, giving her a clear path to the dresser so she could steal the hair. Her fingers were trying to pull the soft, glowing hair from the brush when a door slammed shut behind her, trapping her into the room with Sif.
However, Sif had not been as angry as she had expected. After explaining her situation frantically Sif felt compassion for the answerless girl. She explains that she could see something powerful and ancient residing in her and that she knows her intentions are pure. The goddess grabbed a pair of scissors from a drawer in her room and cut a lock off, handing it to the stunned young girl.
"You need it more than I ever will, sweetheart. You are worth the happiness you are seeking by humoring him, but I do wish to warn you. Loki is a mischievious and devious sort of god. He is not to be trusted on his word." Presley nods solemnly and responds in a quiet tone. "I know that, my Lady. But I have come so far that I can not go back on my path."
Sif sighs. "Then at least I hope you know what you are doing."
The two said goodbye and that had been the last time she had seen Sif again. Presley delivered the lock of hair to Loki as she promised and the god had given her her Eleventh Task, facing Cerberus. Presley's mind flashes to her encounter with Cerberus for a bit when someone called for her from the other side of the door. It was Snow White.
"Presley, are you ready? The ball is starting."
The blonde looks up and watches herself in the mirror. Without another thought she stood up and joined the others for King Arthur's ball.