STORYBROOKE - PRESENT - JACKIE'S HOUSE
"Get on with it, Captain," Zelena said. "That squid ink's going to wear off soon."
"Killian, please. What are you doing?" Jackie asked.
"You took my memories, Sparrow," Hook told her. "You tried to stop me from knowing the truth. And now I'm going to return the favor."
Zelena laughed. "By the look on your face, it would appear someone needs restraining." She put the magic blocking cuff on Jackie. "There. No more magic for you. Now, I assume, given my helpfulness, you'll allow me to go about my business undeterred."
"As long as you don't get in my way, I won't get in yours."
"Ah. I like this new you. Tell me, how does it feel to be a Dark One?"
"It feels like I've been reborn."
CAMELOT - THREE WEEKS AGO - DARK ONE VAULT
Hook screamed.
The Darkness made Hook relive his worst memories. On Jolly Roger, watching Milah's heart being crushed. "Milah!" Hook cried. Rumplestiltskin cutting off Hook's hand. "You're no less a coward."
"I want you to suffer," Rumpelstiltskin said.
Mr. Gold, taking Hook's heart while he was bound to the gate of the mansion, unable to save Jackie, who unwittingly may get sucked into the sorcerer's hat.
"Just do it." Mr. Gold, beginning to crush Hook's heart in order to use the sorcerer's hat.
"I promised you we'd have some fun first."
Jackie, choosing to sacrifice herself to the Darkness in order to save Regina and Emma. "Jackie, please!"
Hook emerged from the vault.
"Hi," the darkness greeted.
"Bloody Crocodile," Hook muttered.
"Not exactly, but I understand the confusion." Hook yelled as he lunged at the darkness. "That's not gonna work. I'm not out here. I'm in there. I am your guide... the voice in your head."
"Save your speech. I know who you are. All the Dark Ones in my head. But it doesn't matter I won't listen to you."
"What if I told you that together, I could get you the one thing you've wanted for hundreds of years? Your revenge. He giggled. "That's right. I saw what you saw, dearie. I saw your pain. And I can ease it. Stick with me and you will finally do what you never could before."
"And what's that?"
"Why, kill me, of course."
STORYBROOKE - PRESENT - JACKIE'S HOUSE
"Jackie!" Regina and Emma called.
"I'll check the basement," David said.
"I'll get the upstairs," Regina said.
Emma nodded. "I will too."
"Jackie! Jackie!" Mary Margaret and Matthew yelled, seeing Jackie lying down on the couch with the magic-blocking cuff on. "Jackie. Hey. What happened?"
"You turned Hook into a Dark One?" Regina asked.
"It was the only way to save him," Jackie replied.
"And you didn't think of the consequences to everyone else?"
"I couldn't just let him die. You can understand that."
"Well, yes, but..." She sighed. "Now we have a bigger problem."
"I know. I didn't think any of this would happen. I was trying to get rid of the darkness for good. You can't tell me, after all Zelena's done to you, your life wouldn't be easier if she were gone. I was doing you a favor."
"Come on. This is premeditated murder, Jackie," Mary Margaret told her. "There had to be another way. You should have come to us."
"And risk losing someone else? I thought the best way to control the darkness was to isolate myself. But when I did that, there was no one around to give me hope or tell me when I was being stupid!"
Regina pursed her lips. "Fine. You're being stupid. So stop it. Right now, we have to clean up this mess."
"No," Mary Margaret argued. "We don't. Give us back our memories. Your dreamcatchers... Regina can access them, can't she? We can piece together Hook's plan and stop him."
"I'm afraid not. Dreamcatchers you said were in the shed... They're gone, " David informed.
"What the hell is Captain Dark One up to?" Regina wondered.
Matthew pursed his lips. "I don't know, but we'll certainly find out."
MR. GOLD'S SHOP
"Jackie turned you into a Dark One?" Belle asked.
"And now you've come for your revenge," Mr. Gold said.
"The thought had crossed my mind," Hook replied. "For this lovely piece of hardware, I think I'll take your hand. For Milah, your heart. For filling Jacqueline with the darkness... hmm, I think your head will do quite nicely."
"So what are you waiting for? Get on with it."
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. I've been waiting centuries for this moment. And I really want to..." he breathed deeply, "savor it." He took a sword off a shelf and slid it across the floor to Mr. Gold. "Get your affairs in order, dearie, for we duel at noon on my ship. Where it all began."
"How poetic. But we both know this weapon cannot kill you."
"Ah, true. That sword can't kill me. But this one... can." He held up Excalibur.
"Excalibur."
"You have it," Belle said.
"Aye," Hook confirmed. "Well, now that it's whole, it can no longer control me. But it can... oh, oh, oh!... kill me. All you have to do is take it from me. So, what say you, Crocodile? Shall we finish what we started?"
"Indeed," Mr. Gold agreed.
REGINA'S HOUSE
"Once a pirate, always a pirate," Regina said.
"As a man, Hook spent centuries trying to kill me," Mr. Gold told them. "It makes sense that revenge would be on his mind."
"Why wipe my memory if he was going to announce his plan anyway?" Jackie questioned. "There must be more to it."
"Yeah, well, even if there is, we only have until noon to stop him," Belle reminded them. And to save you." She grabbed Mr. Gold's hand.
"What about Merlin's message?" David asked. "He said this "Nimue" is the key to stopping the Dark One."
"Nimue was Merlin's true love," Jackie explained.
"And she was also the first Dark One," Mr. Gold added.
"I know. How do we find out more about her?"
"Start your search with the Dark One chronicles. There are many texts that can help us."
"As much as I appreciate devotion to scholarship, there is an easier way. I am still a Dark One. I can protect you, Gold. You just have to take off the cuff."
Mr. Gold chuckled. "You don't trust me." She looked at Mary Margaret, David, Emma, Matthew and Regina in turn.
"Well, if the situations were reversed, would you trust me?"
"So it's true. You're here," Henry said.
"Henry," Jackie called. "I need you two to tell them it's okay to take off this cuff. It's the only way to figure it all out."
"No."
"What?"
"You lied to me... about Hook, about everything. Why should I trust you now?"
"Henry, I'm your friend."
"Are you? Because the friend I knew wouldn't keep things from me. She wouldn't have ripped out the heart of an innocent kid!"
"I thought you were the one person who would understand."
"I thought you were the one person I could trust."
"So you can forgive Regina and Gold for everything they've done, but not me?"
"They've changed. They showed me they changed."
"So did I."
"When we first met, yeah. But the minute things got tough, you didn't come to anybody. You decided that you would figure it out on your own. We were a team."
"Operation Cobra. I remember."
"But now you just want your dark magic back so you can do it alone. And I've seen what you do with dark magic." Henry ran upstairs.
"He needs time, Jackie," Regina told her.
"We should really get to the library," Belle said. "We've got a lot to do."
"I have a stop to make first. I'll meet you there."
"Let me guess... I'm not invited," Jackie stated bluntly.
"Jackie. We love you," Mary Margaret told her.
"You don't trust me."
"We don't trust the darkness," David corrected. "Stay here and let us save you. It's for the best."
"Matthew? Emma?"
Emma looked at her friend. "They're right. We'll figure this out, Jackie."
CAMELOT - THREE WEEKS AGO - DARK ONE VAULT
"There's nothing we can do," Merlin said. "It's too late. The vault has already forged Hook as its new Dark One."
"He went this way," Mary Margaret informed. "This way! And then the tracks disappear."
"We should split up, search the woods," David suggested.
"He's a Dark One," Regina reminded him. "He can transport himself anywhere. So can Jackie."
"We've got to start looking somewhere," Matthew protested.
"There's no time," Merlin said. "Of all the paths I foresaw for your daughter, I'm afraid that this was the darkest. We should return to Granny's. Even without my magic, I still have enough ingredients to make preparations."
"I don't care how bad things got... Jackie wouldn't hurt us."
"Maybe. But this new Dark One, we need as many allies as we can get."
"Lancelot, your mother's the Lady of the Lake. Could she help us?" Mary Margaret asked.
"Perhaps," Lancelot replied.
"Perhaps?" David repeated with a sigh.
"Lancelot, you should go," Merlin told him. "She does have great power. The lake is but a two-day journey from here. It's worth a try."
"And if I don't make it in time?" Lancelot inquired.
"Well, then you get to spend your last moments with your mother."
"We were so close, Mary Margaret," David said. "Jackie was seconds away from destroying the darkness and ending this."
"And Hook would have been dead," Mary Margaret stated. "She chose love, David. And we would have done the same thing. We'd share one heart because we took the same kind of risk that Jackie took. We save each other. That is what our family and friends do. So have some faith in her."
"I do. I just hope her faith in Hook is justified."
Matthew glanced at Emma, then back to David. "I think it is."
WOODS
"What the devil am I wearing?" Hook wondered. "Why must Dark Ones dress like monks?" He changed into leather with magic.
"Yes, much better," the darkness said. "I went leather as well."
"Get out of here."
"Try to ignore me. Bet you can't."
"Talk all you want, spirit. I know you're lying. There's no way that I can get my revenge when Gold's in Storybrooke and I'm trapped here in Camelot."
"Well, that's where we come in, dearie. Might I suggest a dark curse?"
"And crush the heart of the one I love most to enact it? No, no, no. I won't kill Jacqueline."
"Yeah, but there's always a loophole."
"Killian!" Jackie cried. "It worked! You're alive!"
"Aye," Hook said. "It did. After spending centuries quelling my bloodlust, you threw me right back into that darkness! Job well-done, Jacqueline!"
"Binding you to Excalibur was the only way to save you."
"Right, Excalibur. And where is my shiny new tether?"
"I don't know. It disappeared right after you did."
"Ah. Isn't that convenient?" the darkness commented.
"How long has he been with you?"
"You can still see him?" Hook asked.
"Sadly, yes," the darkness replied. "I mean, she's still a Dark One. No matter how ineffectual she may be."
"Don't listen to him," Jackie said. "He's not real. But I am. I'm right here. Look at me. That future you told me not to be afraid of... We can have it. The house in Storybrooke. I'm not afraid anymore. I want it. With you. It's ours. You just have to want it, too."
"Aye, love, I do," Hook answered. "More than anything."
"Killian... look."
Hook gasped. "The demon's gone."
"We can do this. We can get the darkness out of both of us for good."
"How?"
"By doing what I just did with you. By going to those we love."
STORYBROOKE - PRESENT - REGINA'S HOUSE
"Rumple? What's wrong? Aren't you coming?" Belle asked.
"I'm afraid my preparations for this battle can't be found in a book," Mr. Gold told her.
"Well, but this was your idea."
"For you and the others, there might be some way to protect yourself. For me... I've spent an entire life running away from battles. Time to stop."
"You don't have anything to prove anymore. You saved me from Merida. You're a hero now."
"But that doesn't erase a lifetime of cowardice... nothing can. Belle... I know that I've hurt you in unforgivable ways. But I also know that not wanting me to die isn't the same as wanting to be with me. So if I survive this, I want to do better by you. I want to love you in a way I never could before. With honesty and courage. Let me be the man you deserve. The man I swore on my son's grave that I would be."
"I... I don't know what to say."
"Don't say anything. If I win... if I win, I go to the well where we were married. And if you meet me there, I'll know how you feel."
HOSPITAL
"You!" the severe nurse said. "The mayor told me explicitly not to let you through."
"Well, then, you're just doing your job," Zelena replied as a whoosh sounded. "Poorly, but you're doing it. Kudos to you."
"Not so fast, sis," Regina told her.
"Sister, dear. Thank you so much for looking after my bundle of joy while I was off being kidnapped. But I've come to take her back now. Bye."
"Good luck with that."
Zelena looked in the window and saw an empty bin marked Baby Hood. "Where's my daughter?!"
Regina chuckled. "Did you really think, after everything you've done, we wouldn't protect that child from you?"
"She is my child!"
"She's also Robin's. And you will never take her away from him."
"You just can't stand, that after a lifetime of you getting everything, it's finally my turn!"
"The only reason you have that baby is because you killed Marian and you deceived Robin in the most vile way imaginable."
Zelena scoffed. "Is that a compliment?"
"This insanity has to stop."
"Agreed. But I don't think it can."
"Actually, I think maybe it can."
JACKIE'S HOUSE
"You know, when Regina asked me to guard you, the last thing I wanted to do was be in the same room as you," Merida said, holding her bow and arrow at Jackie. "Now that we're here, this isn't so bad."
"Put it down, Merida," Jackie told her. "We both know you're not going to shoot me."
"Oh, won't I? After everything you've done to me. Fine. I'd say an arrow to the knee would do you right good. Maybe me too."
"Don't worry, love," Hook said as a whoosh sounded. Merida fired an arrow at Hook, he caught it and threw it away. He stunned Merida. "A broken knee is nothing on a broken heart. Isn't that right, Sparrow? What is this? I expected to find you and the heroes huddled over a mountain of books, trying to figure out my terrible plan."
"That's not why you're here," Jackie said. "You're here because you still have feelings for me."
"Oh, Sparrow. Of course I still have feelings for you... Anger. Hatred. Disappointment."
"You don't mean that."
"When you tethered me to Excalibur, you opened my eyes. And I now see you for what you really are... an anchor. Ha! And I see clearly now that you were nothing more than a pretty blonde distraction. But guess what, Sparrow? I am a free man now. And you will never hold me back from getting what I want again."
"Hook... Killian... Whatever deal you made to get your revenge on Gold, it's not worth it. The darkness is using you. It doesn't care what you want. It only cares what it wants."
"Well, you're only a pawn if you don't know you're being used. As long as I get what I want, I don't give a damn about the rest. And you of all people should understand that."
"Everything I did, I did for you."
"Well, you see, that's your problem, Sparrow. You're so afraid of losing the people that you love that you push them away. And that's why you'll always be an orphan. You don't need some villain swooping in to destroy your happiness. You do that quite well all on your own."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because... I want to hurt you... like you hurt me."
CAMELOT - THREE WEEKS AGO - WOODS
Crickets chirped. Hook and Jackie were passionately kissing.
"Mmm," Hook hummed.
Jackie laughed. "All right, enough distractions. I am going to go scout our path."
"I'll go replenish our water supply." An eerie whispering sounded. "Oh, what the devil is that noise?"
"That's the sound of the dagger singing to the sword," the darkness said. "And if you can hear it, that means Excalibur is quite close."
"No, it's impossible. Jacqueline said it disappeared."
"Wake up, dearie! Your lover's lying. She has the sword."
"Why would she lie to me?"
"So she can control you. Not that she needs Excalibur. She's quite good at doing that all on her own."
"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You! Get out of here!" Jackie ordered.
"Oh, we were just talking about you," the darkness said. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"
"Ask me what? Hook, what the bloody hell's going on?"
"Jacqueline, do you know where Excalibur is?" Hook questioned as the eerie whispering continued.
"Killian... Rumple is manipulating you. That's what he does."
Hook panted. "Are you lying to me? I can hear it calling to the dagger, Jacqueline. Do you have Excalibur?"
"Yes."
"Did you use it on me?"
"What? No, of course not. I was never..."
"Then why not tell me the truth? Are you afraid I was gonna ask you for it? You never planned on giving it to me, did you?"
"I did it to protect you. You told me yourself you were not strong enough to resist the darkness."
"Which is why I begged you not to turn me into the bloody Dark One in the first place! But you went and did it anyway."
Jackie's voice broke. "You were dying."
"You know the worst part, Sparrow? When your own mother wanted to use the dagger to stop you from crushing Merida's heart, I'm the one that convinced her that you needed to make that decision yourself. There's never been a moment where I didn't believe in you, where I didn't trust you. But you clearly don't believe in me anymore, so how am I supposed to fight this?"
"Killian..."
"Don't."
The sword clanged.
STORYBROOKE - PRESENT - MR. GOLD'S SHOP
The door opened and a bell jingled.
"Hello, Dark One," Mr. Gold greeted. "Sorry the, uh, shop's in a bit of a mess since you sent Merida here to kill Belle. Forgive me if I don't offer you tea. What can I do for you today? Because I assume this isn't just a social visit."
"I need help," Jackie said. "To stop Hook, I need to get everyone's memories back, including my own."
"And how do you plan on doing that?"
"Zelena and Hook used squid ink to immobilize me. There's still some left."
"And you want me to use this on him during our duel."
"All I ask is that you last long enough to occupy him while I steal back the dreamcatchers."
"Ah, yes. But for that... I don't need this. This... is where that magic belongs."
"What are you doing? You can't beat Hook without it."
"Well, my feud with the captain predates you by what feels like. And if I am gonna beat him, I'm gonna do it with honor. And I will."
"You're on a suicide mission."
Mr. Gold scoffed. "Oh, we'll see. But my stakes... are me. Yours are far greater. Do you really think you can win on your own?"
"I know I can."
Mr. Gold laughed. "Here's the thing about confidence, Miss Swan... It's great at starting a fight, not so great at finishing one. Good luck." The bell jingled as the door closed.
OUTSIDE MARY MARGARET'S APARTMENT
"Before we go in, let me remind you that you may have your powers back, but I've also got mine," Regina said.
"What are we doing here?" Zelena asked. "Because if it's more lectures about hope, decency, and redemption, I can save you the trouble I've heard it all."
Regina opened the door and a baby cooed.
"Zelena," Robin Hood said.
"Did you miss me? Told you. Once you go green, you'll never go queen."
Regina turned around, ready to cast a fireball at Zelena, and grabbed her own hand to stop herself.
"Regina..." Robin Hood called as Regina exhaled sharply. "We talked about this."
"Oh, couples therapy? I should imagine you two need that now."
"Let me remind you of something," Regina said. "As wicked as you may think you are, you're not even in my league. I've spent so many years doing terrible... Terrible things beyond your imagination. But you know how I turned it around? Henry and Aubree. It took having a child, two made it all the more special... that unconditional love... it made me my best self." Zelena scoffed. "And I'm hoping that kind of love will do the same for you."
"Make no mistake, Zelena, we are never gonna be a family, the three of us," Robin Hood told her and Zelena scoffed again. "But Regina and I have agreed you are her mother. So against our best instincts, we still have hope for you. So... You can visit with our child as long as one of us are present."
Robin Hood handed Zelena the baby. The baby began crying and Zelena said, "There, there, my little green bean. There, there." She gasped. I'm a mommy." She cried and the baby cooed. Zelena sighed.
LIBRARY
"Henry!" Jackie called.
"Jackie. You escaped?" Henry asked.
"And for good reason. I know how to figure this all out. I need your help. I need you to trust me."
"I told you..."
"I know, I know, and I heard you. I really heard you. I am not asking you to remove my cuff."
"Then how are you gonna do it without magic?"
"I'm gonna do it with help. With you. With Emma and Matthew. Hook stole the dreamcatchers. He took my memories, too, which means I must know something. If we can get it back, I can help everyone. And, lad... no one was ever better at figuring out how to break a spell than you. Operation Cobra, remember?"
"A locator spell. There's one at Grandpa's shop. All I need is the stuff you used to make the dreamcatchers. It will take us to the others."
"So you will help me?"
"We just need one more thing."
"What's that?"
"A name."
Jackie thought for a moment. "Operation Cobra, part II?"
"That'll do."
Matthew and Emma walked up as the former said, "Consider us in."
CAMELOT - THREE WEEKS AGO - MIDDLEMIST FIELD
"Killian?" Jackie called. "Killian?" She summoned Excalibur. She struggled with the decision to use it. Jackie sighed as crickets chirped. She sighed again. "Dark One, I summon thee." A whoosh sounded and Hook appeared. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how else to get you here."
"You could have given me a choice," Hook told her.
"We need to talk about this."
"Do you have any idea how it feels to not be in control of yourself? The last time a Dark One controlled me, I had to watch as Rumplestiltskin almost killed you. I had to kneel, powerless, while he almost crushed my heart!"
"I know exactly how it feels! All my life, everyone I loved abandoned me!"
"I didn't abandon you."
"I know. But I was about to lose you to the darkness. When I'm scared, that's when my walls go up. That's when I stop trusting the people around me. You know this."
"It doesn't make it fair, Sparrow."
"Killian, wait!" Hook paused, required to do so because Jackie was holding Excalibur. "Ugh! I didn't mean to do that!"
"Aye, but you did... and that's my point!"
"That's not why I called you here! I called you here because I do believe in you! I do trust you to control your own fate! It's yours if you want it." She panted. "We are going to get the darkness out of both of us. We are going to do it together." She continued panting. "I promise you, I will never try to control you again. I love you." Hook was silent. "What?"
"It's just I'm usually the one that has to say that first."
"Yeah, well..."
"I love you, too."
STORYBROOKE - PRESENT - THE JOLLY ROGER
"I wasn't sure you'd show," Hook said.
"And miss my chance to take your other hand?" Mr. Gold shot back.
"No, this won't do. This has to be a fair fight. I can't have your surviving family members blame this loss on your limp." A whoosh sounded.
"It's been centuries since I stood here a mortal."
"Oh, you mean when I took Milah? I remember thinking that day, what type of sad little man is too afraid to fight for his own wife?"
"Yeah, well, I'm not afraid anymore. I know I have to fight for the people I love."
"Don't you mean die for the people you love?"
"We shall see."
Metal clashed.
CAMELOT - THREE WEEKS AGO - GRANNY'S DINER
"There you are!" Regina cried. "We've looked everywhere for you."
"Jackie. What happened to you? Are you okay?" Mary Margaret asked.
"For now," Jackie replied. "It looks worse than it is."
"Are you sure?" Regina and Emma questioned.
"Aye," Hook confirmed. "We're ready to get the sickness out of us. Where's Merlin?"
"He's inside," David answered.
"Well, let's get on with it, then. I'll go get him. Wait here."
"If you're receiving this message, then things are worse than I feared," Merlin warned. "There is only one person who can help you defeat the Dark One now. Her name is Nimue. If you want to destroy the darkness, then you must..." The bell jingled and Merlin sighed. "The Dark One's found me already." The lock clicked.
"Heard you preparing for the worst-case scenario," Hook said. "I'm sorry, mate. It's already here." He took Merlin's heart.
Merlin gasped and the darkness said, "Careful, dearie. That's the oldest heart in all the realms. Let's cut it open and count the rings."
"You're too late," Merlin told him. "I've already left a message for the others."
"Well, they can't do anything to stop me," Hook said. "Not while I have this." He gestured to the sword.
"Excalibur. What do you want?"
"My revenge. And for that, I need to get back to Storybrooke."
"Do you want to cast a curse? It's not possible. Not without crushing the heart of the thing you love most."
"Which is why I am not going to crush it," the darkness replied. "But someone else will... someone who might actually have feelings for you, dearie. And that's not me."
"But it is me," Nimue said.
"Nimue," Merlin stated.
"Remember? I am all Dark Ones. It's romantic, isn't it? After all that's happened between us, you're still the thing I love most. And I do love you. I always have."
"But you're not really here."
"Aye, mate. But she is," Hook told him. "She lives in all Dark Ones. So when I crush your heart, so will she."
STORYBROOKE - PRESENT - JOLLY ROGER
Groaning and grunting sounded as Hook and Mr. Gold fought aboard the Jolly Roger. Mr. Gold eventually ran Hook through with his sword.
"Oh!" Hook said with a chuckle. "We can do this all day. But until you have Excalibur, it won't make a lick of difference." He used his hook to cut into Mr. Gold as he pushed him away. "They say the first cut is the deepest. Well, they lied."
CLOCK TOWER
"This is it," Henry said. "He put them here."
"Makes no sense. Why would Hook keep the dreamcatchers where we could so easily get to them?" Emma wondered.
"Because we can't get to them," Henry stated as Jackie tried and failed to reach for them.
"He knew I wouldn't have magic," Jackie said. "He's toying with me, tormenting me. Emma, can you?"
Emma tried and failed. "I guess he prevented us both."
"Good thing the locator spell wasn't the only thing I took from Gold's shop. Call me an optimist, but I was hoping we'd have to use it." He showed the bottle of squid ink.
"Henry, are you sure?" Jackie asked.
Henry nodded. "You didn't have to include me, Emma or Matthew in this operation, but you did. You didn't try and do it alone. If you're willing to take that first step back, so are we." He poured it on the cuff and took it off.
"I will make it up to you."
Matthew smirked lightly and asked, "You want to start by saving the day?"
CAMELOT - THREE WEEK AGO - GRANNY'S DINER
The bell jingled.
"You were playing me the whole time," Jackie said.
"Once you lied about Excalibur, all bets were off," Hook told her. "I knew it was just a matter of time before you tried controlling me. And now no one will ever control me again." He looked down at Excalibur. "Go back from whence you came. Back to stone."
Jackie walked towards Nimue. "I don't understand. Why are you helping him get his revenge?"
"Don't be naive, Jackie," Nimue said. "Dark Ones never do anything without getting something in return."
"What do you want?"
"You're a Dark One. You know what we want. You want it too."
"No. You can't."
"Yes, we can. And we will."
"Killian... Your revenge is not your happy ending. I am. You told me that. If you destroy this heart, you will destroy your happy ending along with it."
"No, Killian Jones told you that," Hook said. "Your lovesick puppy dog. But that man died the moment you turned him into a Dark One. Ooh." He crushed Merlin's heart and poured the ashes into the cauldron Merlin prepared.
STORYBROOKE - PRESENT - JOLLY ROGER
"Well, I have to hand it to you, Crocodile. You lasted a lot longer than I expected," Hook complimented. "If you'd fought me with such vigor back in the day, I might have given you your wife back. Soiled, but returned."
"What are you waiting for, pirate?" the darkness asked. "Finish him."
Mr. Gold used Hook being distracted to let loose a sandbag, which hit Hook from above. Mr. Gold grabbed Excalibur and stood over Hook.
"Well, get on with it, Crocodile," Hook challenged.
"There's nothing I'd like better than to run you through," Mr. Gold said. "But I think... I think I'd rather let you live, knowing for the rest of your life that I bested you."
"Today." Hook disappeared in a red puff of smoke and the sword clanged.
WISHING WELL
Birds chirped.
"You... you did it!" Belle exclaimed as Mr. Gold walked toward her. "You won."
"And you came," Mr. Gold replied. "Oh, Belle, I'm so glad you're here. I'm ready to do this right, put the past behind us."
"Rumple..." She exhaled sharply. "This isn't easy for me. I love you. And some part of me will always love you. But you've broken my heart too many times. There's just too much broken trust."
"But I've changed. My heart is pure now."
"Yeah, you... you have, and it is. You're... you're the man that I always hoped you would be."
"Then why are you doing this now? Now we have a chance to make this work."
"I don't know that I want to make it work. But I do know that if I'm gonna try and figure that out, I need to do that on my own. I can't... I have spent too many years trying to mend your heart. Now I-I need to protect mine."
"Belle, please." A whoosh sounded.
CAMELOT - THREE WEEKS AGO - GRANNY'S DINER
"Oh, don't take it too bad," the darkness said. "I mean, he died for a good cause."
"I'm sorry," Jackie apologized. "Rest in peace."
"It's over, Jacqueline," Hook told her.
"I told you I would never abandon you. I'm not going to start now."
"I'm sorry, love. Once a curse has been enacted, you can't stop it."
"Yes. I might not be able to stop it... but I can make you forget why you cast it." A whoosh sounded. "And that you were ever the Dark One in the first place." Another whoosh sounded.
"Clever, dearie," the darkness commented.
Jackie used a dreamcatcher on Hook to capture his memories. "When you wake up, you'll be the man you were. The man I love. The man who loves me."
"Ah, you'll have to do more than that if you want him to forget he was ever a Dark One."
"I know. I need to erase the memories of everyone who knew... that I turned Hook... into a Dark One." Jackie summoned her friends and brother on the floor and knocked them out. She used the dreamcatcher on them.
"Right. Because no one could possibly understand. Why trust your family to help when you can do it all yourself?"
"This was my fault. I'm the one who's going to fix this."
"By using dark magic to add a memory wipe to the curse. But you won't like where it leads. Or worse... you will." Thunder rumbled and crashed.
---
Merida was caught in the curse. A horse whinnied.
KING ARTHUR'S CASTLE
"How did this get back here?" King Arthur asked as he stared at Excalibur in the stone.
"Arthur," Queen Guinevere called. "What is that?"
King Arthur turned to where his wife was looking. "Dark magic. Extremely dark magic."
STORYBROOKE - PRESENT - MAYOR'S OFFICE
"And we're meant to believe you're gonna give back our memories, just like that?" Merida asked.
"We can trust her," Henry and Emma said as Matthew nodded.
"Can we?" Regina questioned.
"Yes," Jackie replied.
"Okay." They held up their dreamcatchers and their memories flow back into their heads.
"Jackie, what's wrong?" David asked.
"I remember," Jackie answered. "I know what he's doing. I know what they are doing."
UPPER LAKE AT BURNABY PARK
"Congratulations," the darkness said. "You didn't completely fail. You returned from your duel with exactly the right ingredients for our plan. The blood of a man who'd been to hell and back. Rumplestiltskin has done what few can claim. He died, and then he returned. This pond holds a portal to the underworld itself."
"This is where the fury tried to drag Robin Hood to Hell," Hook remembered. "I thought the portal only appeared when the moon reaches its zenith."
"Yes, for a fury. But it's always existed, dearie. You just have to know how to open it."
"Bloody hell."
"That's exactly where that came from."
A boat came towards them from the portal.
"Nimue," Hook said.
"We're here," Nimu told him. "All of us, as promised, in the flesh. And now it's time to get to work, to do what Dark Ones do best... snuff out the light."
"Welcome to Storybrooke, love."