Dark One's Daughter *Book Four*

Rocky Road {1}

For the rest of the evening we all hung out at Mary Margaret's into the early hours of the morning when she finally decided to call it a night. After making sure that Emma was warm and feeling alright, Killian, Bae and I returned to my own apartment. And I knew that Bae was still looking into buying a new house for himself and possibly Emma, but I was kind of hoping he wouldn't. It was nice having him around and I was worried that if he moved out we would rarely see one another.

Once back at the apartment, Bae gave Killian and me the usual talk of leaving the door open. I mean, seriously?! How old were we? Five? Ignoring his comment we split off to our own rooms and actually went to sleep.

With the rising sun came yet another concern for us... finding Anna. And though everyone now knew that I had come across Anna in the Enchanted Forest, I also knew that I was going to have to protect my father a little bit, even from Bae. As we would be going to see Papa this morning to ask him about Elsa and Anna, I had a hunch that he would lie and tell everyone he never knew an Anna so I had made sure to make it clear that it was only I who had had dealings with her. Not to mention how we knew Elsa. Though she wouldn't remember us, we remembered her and how she ended up in the vault of darkness under our mansion, trapped in an urn. Which by the way, was not my decision and I was forbidden from doing anything about it.

My hunch about my father's denial was proven right as we stood across from the man himself in his shop.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I've never seen her before in my life," Papa lied.

"So how'd she end up inside your urn? Inside your secret vault of terror?" Emma asked. "Tasha said she didn't know. Is that the same for you?"

"Look, if you really wanna know how she wound up there, she's standing right beside you, Miss Swan," Papa commented, gesturing over to Elsa who was stood between Emma, who was to the right of Bae, and Killian. I, on the other hand, was resting up against the glass counter that ran along the side of the shop, containing a variety of magical and non-magical objects. "Why don't you simply ask her?"

"She did. But I can't remember. Something happened to my memories," Elsa admitted.

"Well, an all-too-common affliction around these parts," Papa said. "Pity. But as you can see, many objects fall into my possession. Urns, necklaces, all manner of things. I can't be expected to know the history behind all of them."

"Only if there's something in it for you. Right, mate?" Killian responded with a little grin.

"Yeah, well, that may have been true once. But recently my life has been turned upside down," Papa said. "I've got my two children back together, finally." Bae and I shared a small smile with each other. "I've gained a wife." Belle looked down at her feet, her cheeks turning a rosy shade of pink. "So you might say I've decided to turn over a new leaf."

"Don't forget about my superpower. I'll be able to tell if you're lying," Emma reminded him.

"How about I do you one better? Let's simply have Belle use the dagger on me," Papa suggested.

"No. No, Rumple, you don't have to do that," Belle assured him, placing a hand on his arm.

"No, no, no, Miss Swan wants proof. And I'm happy to cooperate," Papa insisted.

"Fine," Belle muttered.

She walked over to her bag and took the dagger out of it. At first I started to become worried. If Papa was forced to tell the truth about knowing Anna or Elsa, then I would also be implicated. But as I thought about it, as though he were reading my mind, Papa subtly looked over at me with a look that gave me all the answers I needed. That wasn't the real dagger.