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Astrid watched the light magic dance across her fingers as she sat inside of her cell in Arthur's dungeon, glancing at the cell across from her. "...And then you turned into Cora who was after the magical wardrobe." She finished telling Lancelot of their adventure of finding a way back to Storybrooke the first time.

Lancelot nodded slowly, saying, "And you looked to me as a great friend?"

"Yup... But it turned out to be Cora the whole time, which sucks that I was betrayed there." Astrid replied with a light shrug, "Though, to be honest, I really should have known since I am well aware of how she is."

Merida suddenly spoke up in her cell next to the girl's, "You really have had a lot of adventures, Astrid. Quite different from you fighting alongside me and my father to ensure peace for my kingdom."

Wisps of light magic continued to circle around Astrid's fingers as she continued trying to break down the enchanted cell doors, saying, "You have no idea."

That's when Hook, Peter, Belle, and David ran down the hall and approached the cells as they noticed the girl who also noticed them, letting out, "Dad? Peter? And Dad?"

"Charming?" Lancelot also voices his suspicion.

"It's okay. Mary Margaret and I are no longer under Arthur's control." David assured.

"How did you break his thrall over you?" Lancelot asked.

Astrid suddenly felt a strong sense of magic coming from someone just as Peter commented, "They didn't."

"I did." Merlin spoke up as he stepped out from behind the corner while glancing over at the cell Astrid was in.

"Merlin." Both Lancelot and Astrid murmured with small smiles on their faces but she also added, "But how?"

"What about me, now? You here to free me, too?" Merida questioned the sorcerer.

"Merida?" "How did you end up in there?" Both Hook and David answered with another question while facing the redhead.

"Long story. But after what your daughter did to me, letting me out is the least you can do." Merida replied.

"Aye. It's what Emma would want." Astrid pointed out in agreement.

"Indeed, but much has changed in the past millennia." Merlin replied, "These bars are enchanted with magic that I've never encountered before."

"I could've told you that." Both Peter and Astrid remarked simultaneously while Astrid leaned against her bars and Peter stood closest to her.

Belle flipped open her large book and spoke up, "Here. Try this." Merlin glanced down at the page and looked at her and replied, "Huh. Well, aren't you the clever one?"

"Glad noticed." Belle grinned and closed the book.

Merlin glanced at the three behind the cells who stepped back some while he held up his hands, suddenly making the bars disappear in a blinding light.

Astrid hugged Peter who now held her hand in his once the two parted from the hug. The group then heard some knights in the near distance.

"We best get going." Hook spoke up as he led the group down hall while Merida argued, "No, wait! Wait, I can't leave! Arthur took my wisps! They're the only way I can find my brothers."

"Right now those wisps will only lead you to one thing-- your death." Merlin replied, "I assure you, we will find another way to rescue your brothers."

Astrid nodded at the man's words and added, "If they're anything like their sister, they're brave."

The four of them caught up David, Hook, and Belle then and left out of the dungeon.

"We found Merlin back in Camelot?" Snow spoke up in somewhat surprise.

"Emma let it slip last night when she tried to visit Henry." Regina replied.

"If we found that sorcerer, why the bloody hell didn't he destroy the darkness in Emma?" Hook asked the question on everyone's minds.

"You're asking the wrong person." Regina remarked.

"Well, we can't very well ask him." Hook replied.

Regina held up the toadstool and answered, "That's exactly what we're going to do."

"A crimson crown." David let out. "You figured out how to make the communication spell work."

"Let's just say seeing Emma take Astrid for whatever purpose she has for her gave me all the motivation I need." Peter spoke up, his arms folded across his chest.

"How does this thing work? Do we simply speak to it?" Hook questioned curiously whilst holding the red toadstool in his hand.

"It's not that easy. Not just anyone can summon Merlin." Regina spoke up, taking the object back, "He'll only appear to someone who's been chosen by him."

"Arthur. Merlin delivered all the prophecies to him-" David began until Peter cut him off, saying, "We can't trust him."

"What?" They spoke towards the green eyed boy who elaborated on what he meant, "Astrid and I feel that he's not being completely truthful and that his intentions are not... good."

"Well, he's our only shot at the moment." Regina sighed, "What do you say, Sheriff?"

"Already on my way." David nodded and was fixing to leave out of the room until Belle stopped them and spoke up, "Wait, wait. Why are we wasting our time with Merlin when there's someone here who can help us?"

"Who?" Snow began.

"Rumple." Belle simply replied, glancing over at Peter, "Come on. He's your brother."

"If he hadn't brought the darkness back to Storybrooke, we wouldn't even be standing here right now." Regina pointed out.

"Rumple may be to blame for the situation we're in, but so is Emma." Belle also pointed out, "She was seduced by darkness just like he was, so how does that make Rumple any different?"

"Sorry, love. Crocodile had more chances than anyone." Hook replied, making Peter glance down at the floor, his brow furrowed.

"And right now we need to give Emma her best chance, which means contacting Merlin." David added, noticing Peter's look on his face while glancing back at Belle.

"And something bad happens to Rumple..." Bella started as Regina finished, "It's a risk we'll have to take."

"Mm, well, maybe you're willing to. I'm not." Belle said, now walking out of the office upset.

Peter cleared his throat some, saying, "Shall we go contact Merlin now? You know, before Astrid does something heroic like sacrificing herself for her sister... because she bloody will."

He then turned and left out of the office with everyone else in tow behind him.

***

Astrid struggled to move against the wall behind her, herself pinned by magic. "Emma!" She continued to struggle and let out, "Show your bloody self!"

Emma suddenly appeared through a cloud of gray smoke and smirked, saying, "What? The famous Creator can't escape my magical hold on her?"

Astrid then gave her own signature smirk and dropped to her feet on the floor. "Aye, I can. It's not that hard. Just wanted you to show up." She withdrew one of her swords strapped on her hips and twirled it once in her hand. "So, you ready to tell me what you need from me?"

Emma kept her smirk and shrugged, "In time." She made a sword of her own appear in her hand, the two now clashing their weapons against each other's with a loud clang of metal.

***

"What the bloody hell is taking so long?" Hook questioned as they noticed the smoke emerge from the cauldron in front of them once Regina had started the spell.

Regina glanced down at the toadstool in her hands and then at the people around her, saying, "Patience, pirate. If these spellbooks are correct, as soon as Arthur adds the Crimson Crown to the cauldron, he should be able to make contact with Merlin."

"Then we'll be speaking with him before you know it." Arthur suddenly spoke up as he stepped into the room with David and Guinevere following behind him, "David told us everything."

"And you're willing to help?" Peter suspiciously inquired towards the King, his arms folded across his chest as he lifted an eyebrow his way.

"After everything you've done for us, it's the least I can do." Arthur nodded.

Regina handed the toadstool over to the King who held it for a few seconds before she asked, "What are you waiting for?"

"Perhaps it's best if I do this alone." Arthur began, "Back in Camelot, Merlin delivered his prophecies to me from inside a tree. But I'm afraid he only delivered them when I was alone."

"This is too important to risk," David agreed, "Come on. Let's leave him to it." The others left out of the room with David nodding slightly at the King and then followed after his family.

Peter stood outside now as he shook his head slightly in disagreement. "I don't bloody like this."

Hook nodded in agreement with the green eyed twenty year old next to him, saying, "I agree with you."

A few more minutes passed and Arthur stepped out of the crypt with an indescribable look on his face. "Did it work?" David asked with Arthur answering him, "Afraid not. I thought the spell was gonna make contact, and then it... just fizzled out."

Everyone shared a look while Peter remained suspicious of this king in front of them.

***

Astrid staggered backwards against the wall, breathlessly, as she tightened her hand around her sword even more.

"You really think you can defeat the Dark One, dear sister?" Emma spoke up, "Because you can certainly try, but in the end, you will only fail."

Astrid straightened up and stepped back over to Emma and spun her sword in her hand once before readying herself again. "You should know by now. I never give up."

Astrid threw a sideways glance towards Excalibur inside of the stone and quickly bolted towards it, grabbing a hold of the handle tightly.

"What're you doing?" Emma questioned.

Astrid suddenly pulled the sword out of the stone and now held it in her hand, facing her sister once more. "You want this, right? Well, I want my twin back."

Emma warily watched the broken sword in her sister's hand just as Astrid threw it aside, it clanging on the ground a few feet away from them.

Astrid then grabbed Emma's hands in hers, light magic now glowing around them just as darkness began to circle around the two as well.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Emma questioned in shock.

"Ridding the bloody darkness once and for all," Astrid simply told her as the two began to levitate in the air with darkness and light engulfing around the two.

Merida, Gold, and Belle suddenly raced inside of the cave-like basement where the two sisters were as Belle spoke up, "What's happening!?"

"Looks like our Astrid is destroying the darkness inside of Emma..." Gold explained, "But if she can't... then it'll be inside of her instead of Emma."

They watched the sisters' light magic and dark magic entangle themselves with each other's.

***

"You've checked over that spell a dozen times, Regina." Snow spoke up about the raven haired woman's continuous searching through her book.

"Well, I did everything right." Regina replied, "Arthur should have been able to communicate with Merlin.

Peter knelt beside the cauldron and looked underneath it at the spot where the fire was and pulled out a charred toadstool, saying, "Unless he didn't want to."

"The Crimson Crown," Hook murmured as David also let out, "Arthur threw it in the fire. He sabotaged the spell. He lied to us."

"I guess he didn't realize magical toadstools don't burn." Regina commented, folding her arms across her chest.

"But why wouldn't he want us to contact Merlin?" David asked.

Snow sighed, "We need to talk to Merlin now more than ever."

"Unfortunately, we need someone he's chosen." Hook replied, "The Apprentice is dead. We're out of options, love."

"Perhaps not." Peter spoke up, "There is one other person in Storybrooke who was chosen by Merlin-- the Author."

Regina nodded in agreement and called her son from the other room while the others waited.

Peter suddenly got a bad feeling as he ran a hand across his face and shook his head somewhat. "We have to hurry. My wife is making a sacrifice play."

"What kind of sacrifice?" Hook questioned him in concern while David and Snow also looked over at their son-in law in worry.

"She's battling Emma's darkness right now, and if she doesn't win, then the darkness will be in Astrid and no longer inside of Emma..." Peter sighed, moving his hands over his hips.

"We have to hurry and go find her." Snow quickly replied in agreement.

Henry then stepped into the room as Regina asked him, "Are you sure you're up for this?"

The boy nodded and answered, "I'm fine, Mom."

"It's just I-I know you've been through a lot." Regina began as Henry told her, "The person who ripped out Violet's heart isn't my mother. But Emma is still in there somewhere, and I'll do anything it takes to get her back."

"You can do this, lad," Hook assured and handed the toadstool over to Henry who then placed it inside of the cauldron.

The smoke from the cauldron began to spark and then pulled up a hologram of Merlin as Henry began, "Merlin?"

"If you're receiving this message, then things are worse than I feared-" Merlin also began.

"I don't believe this," Regina let out in somewhat confusion, "We're getting Merlin's voicemail?"

"There are only two people who can help you defeat the Dark One now. Their names are Nimue and Astrid."

David furrowed his eyebrows and asked, "Who's Nimue?"

"Find the Creator... If you want to destroy the darkness, then you must-" Merlin started but was cut off by the sounds of banging in the background. "No. The Dark One's found me already." His image suddenly disappeared, leaving the group in shock.

"What the hell did Emma do to him?" Hook was the first one to speak the question aloud.

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