V IS FOR VENDETTA

A Lover Lost

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but how the hell did you get here?"

Just as she was about to wake Melaena, Emma hears bustling and is shocked to see Aurora come tumbling into the clearing.

"Were you followed?" Mulan checks, quickly studying her for any sign of injury.

"No, I- I don't think so. Cora may know I'm gone, but she didn't see me escape. It was Hook. He let me go. He said he wanted to prove to you that you should've trusted him. That if you had, we could've defeated Cora together. He only wants to help Melaena. I... I think he may still care for her. Did you find a way to stop Cora?

"Yes." Emma says quietly, glancing briefly at a soundly sleeping Lena. "Let's keep Hook out of this for now. If she finds out he's still alive..."

"She may betray us." Mulan agrees "we need to leave."

Aurora frowns. "Where are we going?"

"Rumpelstiltskin's cell." A still slightly drowsy Snow tells her. "There's something there that can help us."

"Okay, let me get Lena-"

"Shouldn't we just leave her?" Mulan suggests, but Aurora nudges her harshly.

"No." Emma snaps, brow furrowing in anger. Or was it guilt? "... I promised my son I'd help her. Lena. Lena!"

"No." The brunette groans sleepily and shrugs away from the saviour. "Leave me alone..."

"Lena, we have to go. Now. We have a way to defeat Cora."

"Just... five more min- Oh, my god!" Mulan quickly takes it upon herself to throw water from her canteen over the other woman, an unimpressed look on her face. "You bitch!"

"We don't have time to argue!" Snow interrupts sternly "let's go!"

Lena shakes the water dripping from her sleeves and works her jaw, ignoring Emma's sympathetic look. The blonde couldn't stand how quiet she'd been since Hook's 'death', and her silence makes the trek back to Snow's palace that much more painful. They head straight through the underground tunnels this time, rats watching them with beady eyes as their torch lights the way.

"Rumpelstiltskin's cell." Snow announces finally, surprised to see the jagged bars raised. "I haven't been here since before Regina's curse. This is where he told us you were going to be the saviour."

"Enough reminiscing. Let's find this squid ink." Lena huffs before she snatches the torch off Snow to check the crevices of the crumbling rock ceiling overhead."if Rumple said it's here, it's here."

"Well, was there anyone else in here with him? Could they have taken the ink?" Mulan tries.

"No, he was kept alone. Visitors were forbidden." Lena smirks, remembering the amount of times she'd trespassed through these tunnels to deal with the Dark One. "He was too dangerous to allow any human contact."

"How'd he keep from going crazy?" Emma frowns, but then Aurora gasps.

"He didn't." She retrieves a scroll from within the wall and unravels it, revealing a long winding list of the Saviours name, scribbled over and over again until he appears to have run out of ink.

Emma's brow furrows. "What does this even mean?"

To Snow, the answer is obvious. "He was obsessed with you, Emma. You were the key to breaking the curse."

"We've looked everywhere. There's no ink in this cell." Aurora sighs, but Lena snatches the scroll from the Saviour.

"This is the ink, you fool. But without my magic, there's no way to lift the spell..."