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The more we look around the rocky cavern that was once Rumpelstiltskin's cell, the more I'm beginning to think the ink doesn't even exist

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The more we look around the rocky cavern that was once Rumpelstiltskin's cell, the more I'm beginning to think the ink doesn't even exist. How is squid ink supposed to help us defeat her to begin with? I shake my head, sticking my hand in another crevice. This had better work.

"The squid ink, it's not here." I say, irritated. I look over to Snow and Emma who approach with confused looks on their faces.

"Gold said we would find it." Snow's voice is filled with worry as she swings her head from left to right.

"He hasn't exactly proved to be the most forthcoming person." I say with a heavy sigh. I swear, if Gold has led us on another wild goose chase, I'm going to personally ring his neck.

"Well, was there anyone else in here with him? Could they have taken the ink?" Mulan asks, holding the torch up to the stone walls to see better.

"No. He was kept alone. Visitors were forbidden. He was too dangerous to allow any human contact." Snow shakes her head vehemently.

"How'd he keep from going crazy." Emma mutters to herself.

"I did." I answer without thinking. Emma shoots me a sympathetic look. "Sort of." I correct, looking down at the twenty eight scars carved into my forearm. "Well..."

"He didn't." Aurora chimes in, ignoring my musings. I look over at her and see she's holding a scroll of some sort. The paper looks warn but is surprisingly well preserved for something that old.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Is it a message?" Emma walks over to Aurora and holds out her hand.

"Yes. And I think it's for you." Aurora hands the scroll to Emma.

"Why would you think...that?" Emma says as she slowly unfurls the scroll. I can hear the fear in her voice and it doesn't take even a second to figure out why. On the scroll is Emma's name. Written repeatedly.

"Oh." I say. Emma walks over to a rock and sits, staring down at the scroll in disbelief while the rest of us continue to look for the ink. Why would Gold use up so much ink to write one name? I mean, I know Emma is the savior, destined to break the curse but what good does that do? I guess it's no use trying to decipher the motivations of a mad man.

"What does this even mean?" Emma asks, perplexed.

"He was obsessed with you, Emma. You were the key to breaking the curse." Snow reaches up to check a crevice that's too hard to see from the ground.

"We've looked everywhere. There's no ink in this cell." I say once she comes up empty handed.

"No, there has to be. He told David." Snow's voice becomes more panicked and I can't really blame her. Her husband is stuck in an eternal sleep until she kisses him.

"Need I remind you that 'he'  is Gold? In the little time I've known him, he's done nothing but lie." I point out, throwing my hands up in the air in exasperation.

Down the Rabbit Hole ⚝ Killian JonesWhere stories live. Discover now