Real or Not Real?

Gold sighed and closed the book, "I will do what I can as I promised, but it is speculation." Seeing that everyone was looking at him, he sighed once more knowing this was not going to make anyone feel better.

Locking eyes with everyone, he rubbed his hands together, "My theory is that the Darkness plans on killing Emma's soul by torturing her with her worst memories-"

"The Darkness wants to kill Emma?" Snow stated cutting Gold off, "But-"

"No, dearie." Gold stated holding a hand up, "The Darkness wants to kill Emma's soul. See the soul is the essence or embodiment of a specified quality. We all have one regardless if we are heroes," he motioned to David, Henry, Snow, Robin, and Belle, "or former villains;" he motioned to himself, Regina, and upstairs where Killian still resided in the bedroom upstairs keeping vigil over the Savior.

"Emma however is a special individual. Seeing as you two found it necessary to keep your unborn child from becoming evil," Snow and David looked extremely guilty at this as Gold continued his explanation with his eyebrow raised at them, "by infusing Emma's potential for darkness into another vessel, you made it so that her potential for goodness filled her soul. However a soul is not meant to be filled with goodness or darkness. It is meant to have both." He clasped his hands together as a demonstration of this effect.

"Which is why you were dying when your heart was turning fully black." Regina commented as she was following along, despite the slight confusion on the others' faces.

Gold nodded, "Well that and I was under the Dark One's influence for three hundred some odd years." Mentally shaking himself from the memories of that incident he turned back to the topic at hand, Emma, "But something else is taking factors here. Emma, with everything she has gone through, does have darkness in her that is not triggered by being the Dark One or finding out that you two were deceitful in your error in judgement. It was your job to keep her on the path of good, however being the way it was you did not do that; and as we saw there multiple cases of Emma falling into her own darkness that had formed due to her rather…unfortunate…upbringing."

"But Emma was not evil in those instances." David mentioned trying to not sound so defensive, "Nor did she react in evil intent."

"Darkness can come in all forms." Regina said to Gold's defense, "It does not have to be evil or vengeful." Looking at Gold, "Is that what you were driving at?"

Gold again nodded, "Yes that is exactly my point. I did not mean any disrespect," seeing a few raised eyebrows he sighed, "I really didn't. The point is that Emma has had time to heal. Yes she became guarded, untrusting, and somewhat surely; but she had time to process heal to the best of her ability. This time there is no grace period as it were. She is reliving these memories with no time to process and cope. So it is as if they are all fresh and raw."

Gold let this statement hang around them for a bit. Everyone not meeting each other's gazes or speaking. After a few moments Archie coughed and had everyone's attention on him, "So with all this constant back and forth through all these dark times in her life, that is how the Darkness is going to destroy her soul? Through her grief and personal pain?"

"Well there is that, but with all her memories distorted it will eventually start to feed off her anger. Snow and David, as we saw, are attached to memories associated with her foster families. The bad ones as we were shown." Snow and David shivered as they recalled Emma's reaction towards them. Gold then motioned to Henry, "Seeing that Henry is the son of my son, and resembles Baelfire a bit; he is associated with the abandonment Emma felt by him." Henry bit his lip and Robin placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

Looking at Regina he continued as if there was no pause, "We do not have to see what Regina is associated with. No offense dearie."

Regina raised her hand, "For once none taken."

Then he looks at Archie, "You are most likely probably now associated with the social workers Emma had, and probably some of the therapists perhaps." Then looking at Belle he says, "You were probably associated with another authority figure in her life. Like the cop that stopped her from jumping, but there could be more."

"And me? So far there is nothing I have done to trigger anything." Robin said slowly as he offered some comfort to Regina as well.

Gold sighed deeply, "That still remains to be seen. And Killian of course tried to kill all of us, so we have a fair idea what that memory entails."

There was silence again for a few moments, "So because of these associations, and no time for her to process anything to actually disassociate herself and us…that is how the Darkness plans on using her to destroy us?" Belle asked him slowly, "Turning her against us?"

"I am afraid so. With her being so vulnerable there is no telling how far she will succumb."

No one spoke again and the food was left untouched. Regina still looked at her former mentor for a brief instant and she asked, "Did you see this?"

"Excuse me?"

"This." Regina motioned to the ceiling and then around the table, "When you had the Sight, did you see this?"

Gold sighed once more and saw that everyone was waiting for a response, "I saw a lot of things." He got up from the chair and turned away from the group, losing himself in the memories of a different lifetime, "Nothing could have stopped the curse; except, of course, your unborn child," He looked at Snow and David. The penetrating look they were given made them shiver as they started to feel as if they were back in his cell.

Then he looked at the Queen, "No matter how powerful, all curses can be broken. Their child was the key." Regina, much like Snow and David saw herself back in his imprisonment as she too listened. Robin moved away from Henry and slid next to her side, but she did not even notice as Gold continued his hypnotic like voice as the chilling scenes he once saw entered his mind, "The curse involved all of us being sent into a prison much like mine was...only worse. The prison was time."

Henry shivered as he looked into Gold's haunted gaze as his paternal grandfather looked at him. Henry reflected how his mother had started to have that look every time she heard the Dark Ones' voices and (unfortunately) even now as she was being tormented with memories that she could only see. Now being pulled back into the current situation he heard the words from the very mouth that was spoken from as he had read them in the book, "Time would stop, and we would be trapped. Someplace horrible, where everything we hold dear, everything we love, would be ripped from us while we suffer for all eternity. No more happy endings."

No one spoke for a good minute or two. Belle heaved a sigh finally and said, "But what does this-?"

"It has to do with everything. I foretold the coming of the curse. I made it after all. I made it so that I could get back to my son. However I needed someone to cast it, someone who would do anything." Looking a Regina he said, "Someone who was willing to as far as it takes."

Thinking this over Snow said slowly on her step-mother's behalf, "You took advantage of Regina's pain."

"And you played Cora as well." David said as he thought about the Mills family in general.

Gold nodded, "Yes. I foresaw that. I knew how I could use it to my own advantage."

Regina could not bring herself to be furious. Later she was sure that she would skin Gold for Captain Guyliner, but what mattered now was Emma and her role that she wanted to know about, "And I suppose you played with these two," Regina said motioning to Snow and David, "all of this because you knew that they would have the most powerful true love anyone else's love."

"It is true again, yes." Gold said not even bothering to deny it, "I made it so that Emma was the Savior. I knew her magic was going to be strong enough to break the curse." He shook his head, "I did not factor though the town line, but I knew she could lead me to my son."

Henry had been silent as he thought back to that one day. The day he realized exactly what Emma had unknowingly admitted to him, "You knew she would make that deal with you by helping Ella with Alexandra. You saw what happened once she had given me up. You knew that she would never want anyone to go through what she went through."

Before Gold could even form a response there was a piercing shriek and the lights flickering wildly in the house. Everyone was momentarily frozen in shock at the display and Killian came pounding down the stairs, eyes wild and frantic, "Help! Come quick!" He panted as he bolted back upstairs with the group on his heels.

When the group reached the bedroom…it was not the way they had left it after dropping Emma off, "This is not how I left it…" Killian yelled over Emma's heart-wrenching screams.

The room had completely transformed into a hospital room, queen sized bed had been transformed into a hospital gurney, her wrists were cuffed to the bedrails, and all around were phantoms of police guards and nurses trying to restrain Emma has she tried to pull herself away from the multiple hands that tried to restrain her.

David and Killian took action in trying to pull the men and women away from the blonde, however their hands went right through them, "What-?"

"Her magic is getting out of control." Gold yelled over the screams, "It seems she is projecting the memory."

"How do we get her to calm down? And what memory?!" Robin's voice echoed in the room.

However as soon as he spoke, Emma stopped screaming and trying to desperately to escape. Her eyes darted right over to him, "Doc! Doc! Get off of me!" Emma yelled as she pulled her arms back away from the phantom people. They immediately disappeared in a brief flash, except for one nurse who went over to Robin.

His hair stood up on the back of his neck as the nurse guided him over to Emma. His stomach dropped as Emma's panicked eyes met his and she said quickly, "Please, please I changed my mind! Please!"

"What-?" Robin was about to ask as a foreboding feeling came to him and he glanced behind him to try and meet Regina's gaze. However her gaze was pained and she placed her hands on Henry's shoulders. Then another nurse materialized by his side and he heard a faint whisper in his ear that sent haunted shivers up his spine, "It's too late-"

"The baby was taken by DCF." Robin finished the nurse's sentence out loud on his own accord. His body went numb and his mind was silenced of all coherent thought, leaving only faint like memories in which he acted on to the young woman strapped in the bed before him.

Henry's blood ran cold as he watched his mother's face twist in agony. He wanted to run over there and hold her, but Regina and Killian held on to his shoulder's, "What?! NO!" She pulled hard on the bedrails and more phantom guards appeared to pull her down, "How could you let a day old baby leave with a complete stranger! I am his mother! I want to be his mother!"

Snow and David looked at each other with shared looks of pain. Why did it have to be their daughter that suffered? Haven't she paid enough prices on their behalf? They wanted to go over and push Robin away from their daughter and comfort her, tell her that everything worked out; but knew that was not possible.

Archie was just observing. Of course this was very painful and devastating; but right now he needed to be objective and clearly, as Gold explained earlier, Robin is acting as the doctor in this memory, but why?

Belle looked at Gold this time and saw that his face was turned. She hesitantly reached out and touched his arm in support. He looked at her and nodded showing that he was ok, but in reality he was far from it. He had started to explain how the Darkness was going to defeat all of them, how he saw certain events take hold, and rather unfortunately what he had not explained was that among the things he had seen…he had seen flashes of this happening. He saw Emma take on the mantel…and he had been trying to prevent that (reasons that were more or less through selfishness rather than selflessness). He had also seen the endgame if they should fail. He caught Belle's eyes once more and they took on a questioning gleam, and he knew what she was asking. With a slight tilt of his head in confirmation, he watched as her face paled.

Killian caught this exchange and while he had been busy keeping vigil over Emma, he heard everything that was being said downstairs, including the last little bit when Emma started to shout and react to a memory. A dark thought snuck up on him in this moment, "The bloody crocodile knew."

"I am sorry Ms. Swan," Robin said as his voice remained stoic, "but I gave you a chance."

"No! You get him back! Now!"

"I can't!" Robin yelled which surprised all occupants in the room.

"Robin-" Regina stated as she tried to go over to him. She was not paying attention to anyone, but Henry. However Robin's actions were starting to scare her as he approached closer to Emma's bedside.

"No." Gold said holding her back, "That is not Robin Loxley. Emma's magic is projecting the memory and it would seem the memory found Robin suited to be the doctor that delivered Henry."

"How can she do this?" Belle asked.

Gold sighed as Regina shook her head, "I do not know. The Darkness must be getting desperate."

"You signed away your parental rights. That baby is no longer your son, and you are no longer his mother." He said harshly.

Emma's face paled and the heart monitor in the room was beeping loudly and rapidly, "I couldn't look at him…I couldn't…no, no, no! What have I done? What have I done? What the hell have I done?!"

They watched as Emma started crying, "I gave him up…please," she pleaded now, "please get him back for me. Tell them that you filed the papers wrong and that was the wrong kid."

"We cannot do that Ms. Swan." Robin stated, "He is-"

"THEN YOU WILL SENTENCE HIM TO A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH!"

"Ms. Swa-"

"NO! LOOK AT ME!" She pulled up on the cuffs and the bedsides jerked, "This is what the almighty system has come to! It failed me and it will fail him too! Please…I made a mistake. I want my son!"

"There is nothing I can do."

"Bullshit! You took an oath! An oath to protect and service in the wellbeing of a human!"

Turning to the phantom nurse Robin said, "Sedate her."

The nurse nodded as Emma started another round of yelling and cursing. The guards held her down as the nurse stuck Emma with a needle. It was then that the scene shimmered before them and the room went back to the way it was as if nothing happened. Robin shook his head and stumbled backwards, David caught him before he collapsed on the floor, "I am ok." Robin said as he tried to shake his head to ward off the dizziness, "What happened though?"

"I think we better go downstairs." Gold answered as they looked back at Emma's unconscious form in the bed, her face still a ghostly pale color.