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CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
THE PRICE, PT. 1
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CAMELOT WAS AMAZING. The entire castle seemed to be decorated with pieces of gold, and there were even more red banners inside then there was outside. It was like someone would forget Camelot's sigil in it weren't everywhere you could see it.
There were horns being blown by men, as King Arthur and some of his most important Knights descended a large flight of stairs to meet them.
"Wow," Henry said, awestruck.
"Wow is right," David said.
"I am so not dressed for this," Snow muttered.
Teresa snorted. "You look fine, Snow."
"Am not, I have no dress."
Teresa rolled her eyes. "You don't need a dress to look good."
"His Royal Highness, King Arthur," said one of the Knights of Camelot.
King Arthur smiled. "And now allow me to introduce the loveliest creature in all of Camelot...my Queen, Guinevere." He gestured his hands to the stairs as a beautiful brunette woman in a maroon dressed walked down to meet them.
All of them bowed as soon as Queen Quinevere reached the bottom step. "Your Majesty," Snow beamed.
"The pleasure is ours," Guinevere said with a smile as she held her husbands hand. "We have been awaiting your arrival from the moment we heard Merlin's prophecy."
"Well, we hope you haven't been waiting too long," David said.
"Only a decade or so."
Teresa's eyebrows shot up; David chuckled. "Ah, sorry."
"I'll wager it's been worth the wait. And as a bonus, it's given us more than enough time to prepare a ball in your honor tonight."
Teresa inwardly groaned. She hated having to dress up and attend a ball.
"Oh, see, told you we should come," Leroy said giddily. "Look what we've been missing out on."
"I like any party I don't have to cater," Granny muttered.
"So do we," Leroy agreed.
"Is this really necessary?" Zelena groaned, her voice low as she spoke to Regina. But due to Teresa being right beside her, she heard, along with a few only also near Zelena and Regina.
"You're lucky you're not locked in Granny's freezer," Regina said.
"Take it off." Zelena glared at her sister. "Or I tell Arthur he just welcomed the Dark One into his..."
With a wave of her hand, Zelena suddenly couldn't talk. Regina smirked and pressed her finger to her ear. "What's that, sis? I can't hear you. No here knows who we are, and it's gonna stay that way. So you can either behave and pretend to be my mute handmaiden or go back to Granny's where you can rely on Doc for prenatal care."
"Your Majesty!" Hook suddenly said, stepping away from Emma and toward King Arthur. "When are we gonna start our quest to find Merlin?"
King Arthur looked confused. "Wh...find him? We don't need to find him. We know exactly where he is."
"Then why the hell didn't he bring us there?" Teresa muttered, leaning toward Snow, who gave a shrug.
➳
"So, the most powerful sorcerer in all the realms is stuck inside a tree?" Teresa said from where she stood next to David, her arms crossed over her chest.
"I said the same exact thing the first time I stood there."
"And you think we can get him out?" Emma asked, just to clarify.
"Oh, we don't think...we know. Merlin's prophecies are never wrong. Look at the two young ones." Teresa sighed, her eyes briefly closing. To her, it feels like everyone is making sure they remind her and Henry about who they are. "You've completed one prophecy, you can complete another."
"Why are you so eager to free him?" asked one of King Arhtur's knights.
"Our home is being threatened by..." David hesitated, pondering his next words. "It's called the Dark One."
King Arthur's face lit up in shock. "The Dark One. Yes, we're well aware of that demon." Teresa side-glanced over at Emma, who was shifting her in her spot next to Hook. "That is bad. Well, I pray Merlin can help. But, first, we must free him from his prison. It is said one of you is the Savior. So which of you is it?"
"I..."
Before Emma could say anything else, Regina stepped forward. "I am the Savior. I'm the one who's going to free Merlin from that tree, and then we can take care of the Dark One. And all go home."
➳
PRESENT DAY
STORYBROOKE
On the docks of Storybrooke, Maine, Henry stood with saddened eyes as he summoned his mother, the Dark One. He needed to know what happened, why another curse was made for them to forget, and why he felt like someone both good and bad happened to him.
"Emma Swan, Emma Swan, Emma Swan."
She appeared instantly, her face still the same as last: expressionless and as pale as snow. "Henry."
"Mom?"
Emma reached forward to take her son's hand, but Henry recoiled his. "You don't have to be scared of me."
Henry refused to trust her. "What happened? Why are you like this now?"
"It's complicated."
"I'm sorry, Mom. Whatever happened in Camelot, I'm sorry we failed you."
"I know what I said last night, but, Henry, you didn't fail me. Everyone else did."
"Get away from my son," Regina said, walking up the docks to stand next to her son.
Emma all but smirked as she watched Regina step up protect their son. "What's the matter, Regina? Are you afraid Henry will learn the truth about what happened in Camelot?"
"If the truth is so important to you, why did you erase our memories?" Regina retorted.
"It's a curse, Regina."
"I know, but what I can't figure out is why."
"If I wanted you to know, I wouldn't have erased your memories," Emma said.
"You know we won't stop until we get them back."
"It's not going to happen, Regina, because I did learn from you, and I built this curse without the one thing you need to break it...a savior."
Regina hummed, her lips pulled back into a smile. "Well, we'll find a way. We always have."
"Yes, with me. Now you're on your own."
Henry turned to Regina and placed a gentle hand on his mothers shoulder. "You can do it, Mom. You can be the Savior."
"It's not going to happen."
"You don't think I have it in me?" Regina said.
"I know you don't."
"Well, you're wrong. I can protect this town."
"We'll see about that, because there's a problem headed to Storybrooke that only a savior can solve. It's too bad there isn't one." With that, Emma waved her hand teleported away in a cloud or black smoke, leaving Henry to watch the spot where she once stood in sadness.
Will she ever be the same?
➳
There was a wind that blew through the streets of Storybrooke, it was making Teresa's blonde locks whip around. Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore, and used an item called a scrunchie to pull her hair out of her face and secure it behind her head. She then tucked the remaining loose strands behind her ear. Just as she did, the sounds of hooves against concrete met her ears.
Teresa turned around just as the three horses came to a stop near her. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she seen who the men were. "King Arthur?"
"You're one of them. Teresa, if I remember correctly?"
She nodded. "That's right."
"Tell me, where am I and how the hell did I get here?"
➳
"A curse?" King Arthur eyebrows were raised as he stared at Regina, Teresa having brought him and his two Knights to her office.
Regina nodded. "That brought you to our realm and wiped the last six weeks from your memory."
"Who would do that?"
David shifted. "We weren't completely honest with you on the way to Camelot."
"Our daughter, Emma, was...is the Dark One. She cast the curse."
"You lied to me?" He was livid, you could see it in his eyes. "You let me lead the darkest of souls into the heart of my kingdom?"
"Oh boy," Teresa murmured.
"We thought Merlin would be able to destroy the darkness inside her."
"Well, obviously that didn't work out," King Arthur snapped. "Where's the Dark One now?"
"Emma," Snow corrected him. "And she's here in Storybrooke."
"Well, then there's only one way to defeat her...the Dark One dagger."
"Over my dead body." Teresa took a threatening step toward him. "Defeat isn't what we plan to do."
"She's our daughter, and...well, she has the dagger."
"I'm afraid you and your knights aren't the only ones that Emma dragged here from Camelot," Robin said from near Regina. "Little John said he ran into some of your subjects in the forest."
King Arthur perked up, now worried for his people. "Are they alright?"
"They're a little shaken up, but there may still be some of them out there. I'm gonna round up the Merry Men and search the East Woods."
"I'll take the Teri," David said, glancing over at the teenager, who nodded. "We'll start in the West. Arthur, you're with us."
➳
Robin lifted a case of water from the back of David's truck and placed in the arms of Teresa, who then turned and walked it over to the table. A campsit had been set up for King Arthur and his Camelot crew in the park. Water was given to them, along with some food and other needed supplies. All of which that were taken from the emergency supplies at the station.
"We covered the forest. I think we found everyone who came over," Robin said to Regina, who looked deep in thought and kept walking, completely ignoring Robin.
Robin looked to Teresa, silently asking her if she could handle the rest of the water. She nodded, and Robin took off after Regina.
"So one of the dwarves really turned into a tree?" Teresa said, as she walked with David back to the truck to get another case of water.
"Yea, this new curse is definitely something," David replied.
"Arthur!"
Both Teresa and David turned their heads toward the voice, and watched as Queen Guinevere ran toward her husband, a look of relief plastered on her face.
"Guinevere!" He met her halfway in a hug.
"Oh, thank God you're alright. I feared the worst," Arthur said.
Quinevere smiled before her hands wandered down to his waist. Her eyes widened when she she realised her husbands sword was gone. "Where is it? Where is Excalibur?"
"I'm afraid it was missing when I arrived here."
"Don't worry," David said, drawing their attention to him. "If your sword's here, we'll find it."
"You know of Excalibur. How?"
David chuckled. "In this realm, you're kind of a legend."
Suddenly, there was a loud shout from across the camp, that Teresa knew could only belong to little Roland Hood. "Daddy!"
His scream of terror was soon followed by shouting of Robin Hood himself. "Regina! Help!"
With one glance at each other, the four of them began to head forward the clearing that which Regina and Snow stood at with Roland, who was hugging Regina's waist. Teresa's eyes widened as she watched a flying black creature fly off with Robin, leaving behind a terrified and alone Roland.
➳
"This way!" Teresa shouted, from where she ran at the front of the group.
"There it is!" King Arthur shouted, pointing at the shrieking creature that suddenly flew by them with Robin.
Regina teleported away, leaving them standing alone. "Regina!"
"Come one, this way!" Teresa took off to the left, following the sounds of the creatures shrieks.
It didn't take them long to find Regina. She was on the ground, staring up at the sky where the creature was now gone. They wouldn't be able to get him. Teresa sighed.
"Regina! You okay?" Snow knelt down beside her and placed a gentle hand on the former Evil Queen's'a arm.
"I'm alive, if that's what you mean."
Snow frowned at the sight of blood that was leaking from a cut on Regina's temple and from her nostril. "She needs help."
"Leroy, get her to the hospital."
"No, no, I have to go after...I have to go after that thing...Robin."
"You have to get checked out," Snow said.
Regina stared at her in disbelief. "You don't believe I can do this. That's what this is."
"We won't let anything happen to him, but you need to let someone look at you."
Regina let out a heavy sigh. "Go."