— ɴɪᴍᴜᴇ'ꜱ ɢᴀᴍᴇ.
Presley was seated on top of a table once more with view to the forest outside. Her head turns to look outside every few moments, anxiously waiting for Emma and Merlin to return from their quest.
There were not many people in the diner, just Henry, Granny and her. The rest were going to Arthur's castle to get his part of Excalibur. Henry was sitting by the bar with Granny, sometimes looking outside and other times at Presley. Every few minutes he could spot a spark of red electricity in her hand, like she set a match on fire.
He wonders if she could control it. Did she mean to let that spark flare up each time or did it slip from her fingers? Was she only in control occasionally? Who knows what she could have learned all that time that they were apart..
When Henry catches sight of Presley moving her head he turns away, afraid of getting caught staring. Instead he focuses on some newspaper that was horribly outdated by now.
That was how Emma found them as she entered the diner, holding a small box in her hands. She hugs Henry and states out loud that they have the spark and is ready to unite the two blades. Emma asks where it is. Henry then reveals no one has returned yet. It was quite worrisome, considering they had to be back hours ago if all went according to plan.
Emma feels deep down they are not safe anymore and asks Granny to close the shop. The elderly woman was already on it and tosses Henry the key to close the front door. However, she suddenly freezes and so does the key.
Merlin reveals himself and explains what Arthur had done: tethering him to the broken Excalibur and forcing his hand in keeping Emma's family prisoner in exchange for the dagger and the flame so he can forge the blades together. Emma refuses to give up so easily, but Merlin warns her not to seek vengeance and make the same mistakes as Nimue.
Presley frowns at Merlin's words. Nimue.. now who is Nimue and what were her mistakes?
She feels the surge of power beneath her skin. Her magic wanted to boil up, coil around her being and wrap around Merlin's neck. It wanted to be malicious and force the answers out of him. Another time she might have actually done it, but not now. Not this version of her, who has much to lose if she ever gave in to her magic's desire for destruction.
After Merlin disappeared Emma went on her way to save her family. Presley wanted to come along, but the Dark One told her that she had to stay with Henry and Granny. She was, after all, the only one with magic. If anyone came to the diner she could protect them.
She reluctantly agreed and stayed put. While Emma was being a hero and saving everyone, she was on babysitting duty and laying around doing nothing. She couldn't take it anymore and went outside to practice her magic (and unleash some anger) on the nearby trees.
°
Presley glances at each and every one with leering eyes. "So you told Emma, who has been an emotional mess dangling at the edge of her sanity for the entire time we've been in Camelot, to give up the one person she loves and expect her to be okay with it? Just so there is no mistaking here, that is the absolute stupidest thing I've ever heard. And I've been to high school, where stupidity basically reigns as a sovereign monarch." She shakes her head and runs a hand through her hair.
"Well, we couldn't lie to her," Snow tries to argue, but Presley shuts her up with a simple flick of her hand. "Yes, actually you could. At least it would have been less idiotic than this."
Merlin steps into the conversation and lays a hand on Presley's shoulder. She looks up at him with disdain and tries to shrug it off, but the sorcerer had a rather firm grip for someone that old.
"There is nothing we could do now. What is done is done. Let us wait for them to return and see what the damage is." But the dark look on his face didn't promise much good. Merlin proclaimed he needed to do something and asks for privacy. The others head outside and wait for any sign of Emma or Hook.
When they returned Hook suggested to get on with it and heads inside to find Merlin making his emergency message. The newly formed Dark One takes the sorcerer's heart and explains he needs to crush it to cast the Dark Curse and head home to Storybrooke for his revenge plot. But since he didn't love Merlin, nor did the voice of Rumplestiltskin, they needed someone else.
And that someone else was Nimue. The first ever Dark One, the one who was inside every following Dark One.
Emma found it took too long and excused herself. She headed inside, but something in Presley's gut didn't sit well. Not much time later she headed inside as well to find Emma and Hook standing close together. Hook was holding a beating heart and considering the constipated look on Merlin's face she guessed it was his.
But there was also an unfamiliar woman standing by the window, dressed in a dark cloak. Her skin was green and her eyes like a reptile's.
"Emma, Hook.. what are you doing?What is taking so long?"
She turns her head slowly to the unfamiliar woman. "And.. who are you?"
Nimue tilts her head slightly to the side, but a malicious smirk makes its way onto her reptile like features. "Persephone.. my, it has been centuries. Last I saw you, you were a wailing toddler."
Presley takes a step back. Her back hits the door, causing the bell to tingle. She frowns at the woman. Centuries ago she was a toddler? How was that possible?
"I'll ask again.. who are you?"
Red electricity leaves her fingertips. It slowly gathers around her hands, joined in by red mist to give it a mystical look. Presley's blue eyes harden on the reptile woman, showing she means business.
"If that is what you wish for.. I shall tell you." She struts forward confidently and stops only two steps away from her. The woman continues to smile while observing her every feature. It made Presley uncomfortable and she gulps.
"I am Nimue."
She chuckles, as if there was something funny to the story.
"But consider me sort of your mother. After all, I am the one who created you."
°
He was seated on an elegant chair that functions as his throne. From afar he seemed composed, but there were cracks in that mask of calmth and elegance. His skin was turning white where he was clutching his armchair tightly. His eyes seemed to be ablaze with emotion. His red hair was starting to turn misty.
A man in armour was kneeling before his feet, one man and one woman standing by his side. Both were equipped with a spear, but looked pretty ordinairy in their jeans, sweaters and coats. Just some lost souls hoping to gain some control of their miserable afterlife by serving him.
The kneeling man was dressed as a knight, wearing a deep red cloak over his shoulder. He recognized the sign on the cloak. It stemmed from the kingdom of Camelot, where King Arthur reigned.
"Are you certain you saw her," the red haired man asks calmly, but he was far from calm. He was on the edge of his seat and impatient. For so many years he had been waiting for this moment and now it was almost near and his patience was running thin.
The knight remained silent, but the female guard cleared her throat. "We overheard him at that witch's diner, telling the story about invaders in Camelot. When others heard his descriptions of the people, some recognized one of the women shared similarities. They came to us and we immediately apprehended the knight and reported to you, my Lord."
The redhaired man clenches his fists. "I want an answer from you, Sir Grif. Have you seen her?"
The man looks up, his jaw cocked forward as he tries to look confident. "I answer to no one but my Lord. His Majesty, King Arthur."
But the man has dealt with the types like him before. At first they were all tough, but soon after their arrival everyone yielded to him.
"Down here I am the one and only lord, boy."
He stands up from his throne, his hair now fully aflame. Blue fire raises from his scalp, casting a ghostly light over his face. He was absolutely frightening and Grif swallowed a lump away. The man cracks his knuckles and takes slow steps in his designer shoes towards the filthy, beaten-up knight before his feet.
"I am Hades, Lord of the Underworld. And the woman you refuse to admit you saw is very dear to me. Now, you tell me exactly where she is or else I can make your afterlife even more short-lived than your actual life.."