❃
|The Enchanted Forest, Long Ago|
❃

Rumplestiltskin was spinning straw when Belle appeared in the doorway, holding a basket full of his now clean clothes. "I'm done with the washing."

"Just put it on the table," Rumple absentmindedly waved his hand. "And the go...read a book or something.

Belle decided it best not to ask any questions, so she set the basket of laundry on the table and left to go to the library. Rumplestiltskin stopped spinning after he was gone and turned to look at someone no one else could see. "I know what you're thinking, Nimue."

Nimue materialized next to the Dark One. "I advise you to be careful, Rumplestilskin. I know your mind better than you may think."

"I highly doubt that." Rumple went back to spinning.

"I know how you feel. I've told you about what happened with Merlin and I. He's the reason you can be controlled in the first place. Dark Ones can never keep their loved ones close."

"You think I don't know that?!" Rumplestiltskin snapped. "I lost my son, the only person who has ever mattered to me, because of that stupid dagger! I don't want to be the Dark One!"

"You will learn to," Nimue replied calmly. After that, she vanished again, going back into the Dark One's mind.

❃
|Storybrooke, Present Day|
❃

Gold pulled out a book that had several loose papers crammed in between the pages and plopped it down on the counter. He opened it up before looking up at Nimue. "These are most of the contracts from deals I've made." He pulled one out and unfolded it. "Oh, this old thing." He ripped it in half and let the pieces fall to the floor. "Emma intervened with that one. I should really go through these more often."

Nimue pulled out another contract from the middle of the book and read over it. "Well now look what I've found." She turned the contract around so Gold could read it. "The deal that got you your wife."

Gold snatched the paper away from Nimue and dropped it next to the other contract he had ripped up. But Nimue was already onto the next deal. "And this is from when you made Snow White a potion that would allow her to forget about her precious Prince Charming."

"That won't help us stop Hades," Gold muttered. He pulled out another piece of paper and skimmed over it. "An elixir in exchange for some gold...oh, this was from when Regina's thief betrayed me."

"That won't help us stop Hades," Nimue mimicked.

Gold rolled his eyes. "This is hopeless."

❃
|The Enchanted Forest, Long Ago|
❃

"Nimue!" Rumplestiltskin shouted. The ex-Dark One appeared in front of him.

"Yes?"

"I need that hat."

"The one you failed to get so long ago?" Nimue asked. "Why are you suddenly interested again?"

"Regina's curse will be coming soon," Rumplestiltskin answered. "I would like to be able to use my magic to help me leave whatever wretched town she'll send us to. That way I can find my son and--"

"And live happily ever after with him and Belle?"

Rumple didn't answer.

"You need more leverage over the Snow Queen," Nimue advised. "Obviously her niece wasn't enough."

Rumple nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. But she's frozen the entire kingdom of Arendelle, what more would matter to her?"

Nimue leaned in so she could whisper in the Dark One's ear, "The ribbons." She summoned the box of three ribbons that Ingrid and her sisters had traded to him for the urn. "Offer her these and Elsa. That is an offer she cannot possibly turn down."

❃
|Storybrooke, Present Day|
❃

After searching through the entire book of contracts, Nimue and Gold still had nothing to stop Hades.

"What about the rest of your contracts?" Nimue suggested. "You said that most were in this book."

"And the rest are in the Enchanted Forest," Gold finished. "I could summon one, if there are any we can think of, but we only have one shot."

Nimue shook her head. "You made too many deals for me to remember all of them. You were right; this is hopeless."

❃
|The Enchanted Forest, Long Ago|
❃

Arendelle was entirely frozen, just as Ingrid had left it. But that was the thing; Ingrid had left it. She had made a deal with the Apprentice and was now in the same realm as Rumplestiltskin's son. The Land Without Magic.

"So I have to sneak past the Apprentice again," the Dark One grumbled as he spun his straw. "Stupid Snow Queen abandoned her niece and the entire kingdom."

"You can do it," Nimue encouraged. "You know where you went wrong last time, now just fix your mistakes."

"I didn't go wrong last time!" Rumplestiltskin exclaimed, "That's the problem! Maybe this is fate telling me I don't need magic to find my son."

"Nonsense!" Nimue argued. "Magic is the essence of everything."

"Well Baelfire hated it."

"He doesn't have to!"

"I can't change what he thinks!"

"You can with a little magic."

"That is exactly what he was against!" Rumple stood up angrily and walked straight through Nimue, causing her to relocate so she was standing next to a basket of straw. "Go away, Nimue!"

Nimue sighed, but vanished. Rumplestiltskin sat back down at his spinning wheel and continued his spinning.

❃
|Storybrooke, Present Day|
❃

Regina sighed. "We're too late."

"What does that mean?" Zelena asked, her voice growing frantic. "We need to find Arthur so he doesn't get hurt!"

"I think I know what Hades has done," Regina said, her tone of voice more irritated than worried. "He put Arthur under a curse - a sleeping curse, probably - that requires a true love's kiss to break. He wants to prove Arthur isn't your true love and somehow you might still be his."

"We need to find him!"

Regina pursed her lips. "There might be someone else on Hades' side who we can ask for help."

"Who?!"

"Our mother."