"My struggle is tough but I am tougher."

~ the words you need to tell yourself every single day (via dryyoureyes-startbelieving)

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Third P.O.V

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    "Did you see where Alice and her friends went?" Mary Margaret asks.
    "Last I heard from them they were looking for their friend, Will," Henry replies. "Apparently he's gone missing, too."
    Regina shakes her head. "We don't have time to worry about her."
    "Mom, where are you going?" Henry ask when she opens the door.
    "To find the first person we should've gone to when Emma first disappeared," Regina says.

    "Mother superior just texted me to tell me that he's awake."
    "And who would that person be?" Hook asks.
    "The Apprentice," she replies.

****

    Hook hastily opens the pawn shop's door and rushes towards the back room. He pushes the red curtain aside and barges into the room.
    "Apprentice. That monstrosity took Emma. Where did they go?" Hook asks.
    The Apprentice opens his eyes at the sound of Hook's voice.
    "She is now where all darkness is born," he replies. "In your realm."

    "Then take us there," Hook pleads.
    "I am too weak now," he replies shakily.
    "But this-" He waves his hand in the air, causing a dark green wand to appear in his hand. "-will help."
    "It is a gift from the sorcerer, from Merlin on the day I became his apprentice," he tells us. "In it is all the light magic."
    "It can take us to our daughter?" Mary Margaret asks, hopeful.

    "Not on its own," The Apprentice replies. "In order to cross realms, it must be welded as it was forged, with both sides of the coin. L-Light, and t-he dark."
    The Apprentice loses consciousness as soon as he utters those words and the wand falls out of his limp hand. Mother superior places her hand on his shoulder, looking at him with concern.

    "I guess that's my cue," Regina says, bending down to pick up the fallen wand.
    She gets to her feet then points the wand in the air and waves it three times, keeping the wand pointed at the ceiling after the third wave. The group stares at the ceiling in suspense, waiting for a portal of some kind to appear. But, nothing happens. Regina furrows her eyebrows, pointing the wand at the ceiling again.

    Hook turns to face Regina, raising an eyebrow at her when she tries again.
    "Enough!" He exclaims, raising his hand. "You're going to embarrass yourself, and waste our time."
    "Watch it," Regina snaps. "I know what I'm doing."
    "Well, that's not enough. You heard the man, it needs darkness. You've gone soft."

    "You wanna see soft?" Regina lowers the wand, turning to face him. "Why don't I use that hook to show you your intestines?"
    "Oh, you've got the fire, love. But not the blackness. Not anymore," Hook replies, his voice low. "How's this for irony? You've done too much good."
    Regina turns away, biting her bottom lip.

    "Now, we need someone wicked."
    Regina's eyes widen when she realizes who Hook is taking about. "No. No. No. Not my sister!"
    "That witch is more than wicked, she's deranged," Regina says, proceeding to try her luck at summoning a portal again.
    "For Emma it's worth the risk," Hook argues. "She scarified herself for you, Your Majesty, because she believed that an evil queen could be good."

    "Don't you think you owe it to her to repay the favour?"
    Regina glares at him for a second before coming to a decision.

****

    Regina unlocks the lock to Zelena's cell, swinging the door open with a loud creak. She looks over at her older sister who's seated on the cot with her legs crossed. Zelena takes one look at Regina and rolls her eyes, closing them when her sister approaches her.
    "Regina, dear, I'm trying to meditate. It's good for the baby," Zelena says. "Please go, you're ruining my Chi."

    "We need your help," Hook tells her.
    Zelena laughs then jumps off the bed.
    "Wow. You must be really desperate," she says, walking towards them.
    "Unless, of course, someone was just looking for an excuse to come see me?" She says, reaching out to touch Robin's face.

    Regina grabs her sisters hand before it comes into contact with his cheek. "Careful."
    Zelena snatches her hand back, stepping away from the group. "What is it then?"
    "Something's happened to Emma," Robin tells her.
    "And what exactly happened to her?"
    The three of them collectively take a deep breath before summarising the events that occurred in the past week.

    "Well that is quite a mess," Zelena replies once they're finished.
    "Help us," Robin begs. "We can rid the world of this darkness once and for all."
    Regina casts her boyfriend a pointed look, but doesn't comment on what he says.
    "Don't you want that for our child?"
    "My child," Zelena corrects him. "And mine alone. I'm doing all the work."

    Hook rolls his eyes, looking away as she continues talking.
    "You were just an unwilling pawn in its creation."
    "Quite unwilling," Robin repeats, annoyed at the fact she brought it up.
    "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't enjoy it." Zelena turns to face her sister as robin proceeds to walk away from her. "You know, I'm mot sure what you see in him."

    Regina takes a step forward. "You know, you can still deliver a baby without a tongue."
    "Enough family squabbling." He looks at face Zelena. "You going to help is find Emma or not?"
    "Of course," Zelena replies, surprising everyone, especially her sister.
    Regina blinks. "What?"

    "Pregnancy's changed me, dear. I'm going to do whatever I can to free Emma of the darkness." She smiles. "Just let me see that wand."
    Regina tilts her head to the side, giving her sister a sceptical look.
    "Don't worry. This little love bracelet you put on me neutralises my magic." She stretches her arms out dramatically. "I am powerless."

    Hook's gaze darts from Zelena to Regina as the dark-haired woman passes her the wand.

    Zelena happily takes her wand from her, holding it up to look at it. She sighs, smiling as she spins the wand in her hand. "Oh yes, so simple."
    "You simply need an object that guides the portal to its destination," Zelena explains. "Something that belonged to Emma. Something meaningful to her."
    "Fine." Regina snatches the wand back. "That we can do."

    "No you can't," Zelena counters, causing Regina to stop in her tracks.
    Zelena waits for her sister to turn around before continuing. "Your magic isn't powerful enough."
    "Can you make it work?" Hook asks, not in the mood for any more of their petty arguments.
    "I believe so. There's just a teeny something standing in my way." She raises her arm, making a point to show them her bracelet.

    Regina chuckles. "Never."
    She then leaves the room, Robin following after her.
    Hook sighs. "Well-"
    "She really holds a grudge, doesn't she?" Zelena asks, looking at the one-handed pirate. "You know, you should talk to her."
    "Because I may be your only way to find Emma," She points out with a smirk on her face.

****

    Hook enters Granny's Diner, looking around the booths for a specific brunette. It takes him less than a second to find the boy and he approaches him. "Henry."

    The said teenager looks up from his book at the sound of his name.
    "You can fix this," Hook says, placing his hand on Henry's forearm. "You're the author now. Use that pen, and write the darkness out of Emma. Bring her back."

    "I broke it."
    Hook's gives the teenager a deadpanned look. "You what?"

    "It's too much power. That's how the last Author got in trouble-" Hook lets out an exasperated sigh and rubs his temples with his hand as Henry continues explaining why he broke the pen. "-He stopped recording history and started using magic to change it. My mom wouldn't want me to. She'd want me to be good."

    "Ah, honour. She wouldn't want you to break any rules, then?" Hook asks, casting Henry a sly look.
    The brunette tilts his head to the side, intrigued.
    "What if there was a way, a dangerous way, to help your mother?" The one-handed pirate suggests. "Something your other mother wouldn't like?"

    "I don't need her permission. I'm not a little kid anymore," Henry replies.
    The pirate nods. "Good, because our best bet is the person Regina hates the most."
    Realisation washes over him as the words Hook just said slowly sink in. "Zelena."
    "That's right," Hook says, giving Henry a grin that mirrors his own.

    "We're going to break out the wicked witch."

****

  The door to the hospital's basement lets out a low buzz as it swings open, granting the duo access to the area that's supposedly "out of bounds".
    "Well done, lad," Hook compliments, stepping into the basement after Henry. "How'd you know the code?"
    "My mom's good with magic, not so much with passwords," Henry explains as they make their way down the concrete stairs.

    "She uses my birthday for everything," he continues as they near the bottom of the stairs. "You'd think she'd change it after a bank statement or two."
    Hook stops walking just before they enter the ward where Zelena is imprisoned. "So what's the plan? How do we get to her? The old Wookie prisoner gag?"

    "Nah. I never use the same trick twice, I don't want people to start to notice a pattern. I've got another idea," The teenager says, grinning.
    Hook gives Henry a look, gesturing for him to explain what he meant.
    "Just watch and learn," Henry simply replies, pushing the brown door that separates the basement from the cells open with his free hand.

    "Hey, Miss Gertrud, is my mom here?" Henry asks.

    The dark-haired woman in a nurse's uniform looks up from the pile of important-looking documents at the sound of someone calling her name. She begins to answer the teenager but cries out as he spills his drink all over her. "Henry!"
 

"Oh, um-"

    The nurse fights the urge to chide the teenager as she points at the janitor with unkempt, dark hair. "You! With the mop! A little help?"
    "I'm- I'm- I'm so sorry," Henry apologies as the man approaches them.
    Hook takes that as his cue to walk inside. He steps into the ward, impressed at how simple Henry make it look easy to distract the nurse.

    The one-handed man winks at the janitor when he notices him enter the room. He quickly uses his hook to grab the keys for the cells as Henry continues to distract the nurse. He then makes his way to Zelena's cell once the keys are with him. It only takes the pirate a few seconds to unlock the door to the wicked witch's cell and enter it without the nurse noticing.

    Zelena sighs in annoyance, rolling her eyes when she sees the one-handed man. "What do you want?"
    "I want your help with the wand," Hook replies, closing the cell door behind him.
    "Ah, so this is a rogue mission. I like it-" The wicked witch smiles, extending her hand towards him. "-Go on then. Take it off."
    "Well, I'm going to need some assurances first, that you're not going to do anything... Unexpected."

    Zelena sighs before placing her hands over her baby bump. "On my unborn child's life."
    "Afraid I'm gonna need some real assurances," Hook says, taking out a potion bottle from his leather jacket.
    "What's that?" Zelena asks warily, eyeing the bottle in the pirate's hand.
    "It's a potion your sister gave me a long time ago," Hook replies as he takes a step closer to her.

    "To do what?" She asks, her eyes darting from the potion bottle to Hook's face.
    The pirate pours the potion over his hook before answering. "To rip out a heart."
    "Why would she give you that?"
    "Because she wanted me to take your mother's heart-" Zelena glares at him as he says that. "-You can't be surprised your family's troubled."

    "Now then, this is probably going to sting," Hook tells her before reaching out to rip her heart out from her chest. His hook barely grazes her chest when a magical force pushes him back, causing him to knock into the padded wall. "Ah!"
    Zelena laughs at his failed attempt to take her heart. "My family may be troubled, dearie, but we all know that a heart is a precious thing, and I cast a protection spell on mine aeons ago."

    "So you're going to have to do better than that." Zelena casts him a smug look as he slowly get gets to his feet. "Oh, it appears you were right. It did sting."
    She then reaches into the pirate's jacket and pulls out a sharp dagger.
    "Now then, do you want to see something really painful?" Zelena asks, raising the dagger up to his face.

    Hook looks up at her in fear, but Zelena surprises him by using the knife to cut her hand off instead of killing him. Hook's eyes widen when he sees her bloody hand on the floor. "What the hell?"
    Zelena says nothing as she picks up her severed hand, causing the bracelet to fall off. She then uses her magic to attach it back again.
    "There. Much better," she says, wiggling her fingers.

    Zelena looks at Hook with a smug look on her face. "You should have listened to my sister," she taunts as Hook reaches out to grab her.
    His hand goes right through the spot she once was as Zelena disappears in a cloud of green smoke.  The smoke clears just as Henry enters the room and both males are left alone in the dingy cell. Alone and in deep trouble.

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Hey guys, remember that announcement I made a few days ago? Well, I was re-watching the first few episodes of season 5 of OUAT and I just realized that I didn't add in the part where Hook and the others went to see The Apprentice after Emma turned into The Dark One so the next few chapters are basically going to be me trying to fix the plot. Ugh, I still can't believe I forgot about that -_-

Oh well, at least that gave me time to write about the drama that occurred in the past few chapters. I'm not sure what I think about writing in third person's POV though, I'm kinda rusty considering that I've only ever written in third person's POV once or twice in this entire trilogy so far. Anyways, the good news about me forgetting that I left out that part means that I'll be able to update more often.

I'm going to try experimenting by writing in my other characters' POV so we'll see how that goes. Well, that's all for this A/N bye guys

~ Alice xx

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Which POV do you prefer me to write? First person to third person?

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Here's an edit that didn't make it in my theme on Instagram

And here's a gif I've been working on

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Vote, comment, rate, do whatever you want <3

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