— ᴅᴇꜱᴄᴇɴᴅ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇʟʟ.
Her mind was unwilling, but her body was forced to obey the will of Nimue. The Dark One made her stroll through the woods.
"Where are we going," Presley asked.
Nimue chuckles while keeping up her quick pace. "It is of no matter for you, Persephone. All you need to do is obey my orders."
The blonde scoffs. "I've never been good at following orders. You should know that. Besides, that is not my name," she growls in response. "It is to me. Your only name. Presley Swan is a lie created by the Dark Curse. She didn't exist and never will. All that there is is Persephone."
Presley opened her mouth to backfire, but Nimue raised her hand to silence her. They walked onto an open part of the woods. A circle of Dark Ones was already waiting for them, their faces covered by the shadows that their hoods casted on their faces.
Seconds later they were joined by the Charmings, Regina, Robin and Rumplestiltskin. While Snow and Charming were fretting over their baby son back at the diner the others were scanning their surroundings.
"Presley?"
It was Regina who spoke, her words full of questioning. Her tone almost sounded accusatory. Presley couldn't blame her because this really did look bad and nobody knew about what transpired in the diner when Nimue showed up and Merlin was killed.
Presley opens her mouth to speak, but Nimue raises her hand and balls her fist tightly. The blonde teen gasps, feeling her vocal cords contract. It was clear that the Dark One did not want her speaking.
But her movement also made it clear to the others that she wasn't with them on her free will.
"So, this is really it," Henry mutters now that they were face to face with the horde of Dark Ones that were going to replace them in Storybrooke. His lip trembled a little in fear.
"I'm afraid it is, lad."
Hook walked onto the field with a smug grin. He made a remark about the boat that was slowly gliding over the water of the lake behind them, hidden by mist.
But before the boat could reach the shore Emma approached the field. She rushed to her family to hug them and cries out that she tried. Her family tries comforting her while Regina makes one last attempt to reason with Hook. She mentions a situation that both had sworn never to speak of again. It made Presley seriously curious, but she didn't mind silently watching this unravel nearly as much as she thought she would.
Honestly, she didn't care as long as Nimue would lose.
But it seemed that Regina's words about him choosing to be the man he wanted to be unlocked something in Hook. He was deep in thought when Nimue broke free from Presley's side and approaches them, calling out that it was time.
Emma tried to stop her, but Nimue used her typical magical suffocating spell to stop her from interfering. It was then that Hook had broken free from the darkness that held his mind. Seeing the woman he loved be hurt like that made him turn around. Nimue warns him he could not stop it, but the pirate proved her wrong.
He used Excalibur to absorb the darkness and therefore all the Dark Ones. Presley felt the lock on her vocal cords slip away. She releases a loud gasp when she was freed.
But the darkness couldn't stay trapped in the sword for long and in order for it to be destroyed it had to be put into a person who then had to be killed. They both didn't want to, but there was no other choice.
Emma grabbed the hilt of the sword and stabbed him, but not before sharing a loving kiss and bidding each other their own tearful goodbye.
Excalibur crumbled and the wound on Hook's neck reappeared. He fell to the ground, dead.
While Emma bid him goodbye as he was carried away on a stretcher, Presley had joined the background with Regina and Robin. They had been watching the family say goodbye to Killian and consoling each other and didn't notice a person running towards them.
"Wait.. what happened," a soft, timid voice questions.
Presley whips around to face her girlfriend, Wendy Darling. She was floored to see her, not having seen her for so long. But, of course.. the spell that put her to sleep broke when Nimue was absorbed into the sword. The frizzy haired girl's gaze shifts between Presley and the dead body laying on the stretcher.
She covers her mouth in shock, a soft 'no' escaping her throat. Her legs were wobbly as she approaches Killian, the man who she considered to be her best friend. Presley didn't want for her to do this alone and followed her. Their own issues were not the greatest problem now, she gathered. Wendy would need all the support she could get.
Wendy takes the cold hand covered in rings into her own. "Killian.. this wasn't supposed to happen," she whispers. Her hand reaches out to touch his cheek, wishing it was all a lie and that he was not cold as stone. That his heart was still pumping and that this was just another excentric act under the influence of the rum he frequently disgested.
But this was, unfortunately, not a lie. Killian Jones was actually dead. And when that realization hit, Wendy fell to her knees on the grass. Tears welled up in her brown eyes that no longer sparkled. Presley follows her onto her knees and hugs her from behind, seeking comfort in each other.
Though there was none to be found when someone you loved had just passed, even if it was for the greater good.
°
Presley holds her arms crossed before her abdomen, her eyes pensively staring at the water of the Storybrooke Lake. A memory of her spending her first date with Wendy here was trying to break through, but her solemn mood wouldn't allow it.
Wendy had her hand resting on her girlfriend's bicep and the other on top of her crossed arms. She follows the blonde's look at the water, swallowing a lump away that had formed into her throat. Just a few hours ago her friend had died here and now they were all gathering to save him from the Underworld.
It seemed quite bizarre, really, but Wendy had spent more than a century on Neverland, a place that thrived on imagination and strange occurances.
The problem with these constant escapades was that there was no time to take a breather and talk about important things, such as her girlfriend's disappearance.
Wendy tightened her hold on Presley's bicep for a moment to catch her attention. The blue eyed girl tears her eyes away from the water and looks at her girlfriend, who stares back at her. She raises an eyebrow, asking what was wrong without speaking a word.
"We still need to talk about.. all that happened."
Presley nods her head. She wasn't really ready for that conversation. There was nothing she could say to justify what she had done and there was still so much that Wendy didn't know. She didn't want to have her see her as a monster.
But her girlfriend was rather observant. She gently pushed against her with her hip. "Whatever it is, you can talk to me. I love you.."
Presley turns to her girlfriend and unfolds her arms. She rests one of her hands on her cheek, blue meeting brown as their eyes connect. "I love you too. So damn much, you have no idea. Which is why I don't want to talk about it."
Wendy frowns. She stares deeper into her eyes, hoping to get a glimpse of the truth that she was hiding. She knew Presley found it difficult to tell people how she was feeling about things. But Wendy had always been able to read her current thoughts and emotions from her eyes.
And she did just that.
"Because.. you are afraid that I won't love you anymore? Is that it?"
The teen didn't respond, which proved her theory right. She takes a hold of both her hands, squeezing them gently. "Presley, when are you going to get it through your thick skull that I'm here to stay? I know what I was getting into when we started us and I am not letting you down when you need me the most."
The blue eyed girl swallows a lump away. "What have I ever done to deserve someone like you," she whispers hoarsely. Wendy chuckles and squeezes their joined hands once more.
"Being yourself." The frizzy haired girl stands on her tiptoes to press a kiss against the other girl's lips. Presley wanted to deepen their kiss, but Snow White cut them off by awkwardly scraping her throat and nodding towards the lake. Apparently Rumplestiltskin had already summoned the ferry that was going to bring them to the Underworld and the lake was slowly covered in mist.
"I guess it is time," Presley whispers. Wendy nods in agreement. She swallows the lump in her throat away at her sudden realization.
"And time for you to come home."