The husband and wife remain in the hallway.

Scarlett keeps the babies in her arms and brings her focus back to them. She rocks them in her arms as they slowly fall asleep, but she has no intentions of leaving her spot.

With a simple blink of his eyes, Killian finds himself no longer in the hallway, but rather back downstairs in the dining room. He looks around confused with eyebrows furrowed. He glances over to Hook who tilts his little head. From his back pocket, Killian retrieves his phone. He goes to his contacts to dial a number, but before he can press the button to call, the phone dissipates into ash and covers his hands in charcoal black.

" Where's the bloody crocodile when you need him?" Killian mumbles to himself.

He readies himself to walk up the stairs and ignores the pain, but as he reaches the top step, he's back down in the dining room.

So, he tries again. Goes to the stairs, walks up, and then ends up in the dining room.

And he tries again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Until his body physically cannot handle the pain flowing through his body and collapses on the floor. His knees sink into the hard wood floor as his body tenses and his skin flushes.

" Scarlett!" He screams.

And with a blink of an eye, Scarlett appears in front of him with the babies in her arms, the same neutral, blank expression across her face and eyes still turning black.

" Are you doing this?" He asks, but hopes for the opposite.

" Doing what?" Scarlett asks.

" Whatever the hell this is," Killian grunts, " Why has all of Storybrooke disappeared?"

His words seem to have gotten to Scarlett, but only slightly. She tilts her head, her expression still the same.

" Why can't I reach the top of the stairs?" He exclaims, " And why the hell does it look like you're under a bloody spell?"

Scarlett eyes blink rapidly as her mind reaches a moment of singular clarity. She manages to find some control, the slightest bit. She's able to look at her husband, and for the first time in a long time as Killian looks into her eyes, he sees his wife behind them as the black fades away.

" I have no idea," She says, her voice barely above a whisper, " I-I don't know what's happening," her eyes begin to water, " The voices... they're so loud..."

Killian finds the pain fading away and builds up the strength to stand up in front of her.

" What voices, love?"

Scarlett's jaw trembles as her mind searches for an answer. Her eyes rapidly flicker as the tears fall out.

" Mine," She says blankly, " It's my voice but... but it's not my words."

Truth be told, Scarlett has been living with these voices for a long time. About as long as she could remember, although they've merely been whispers. Up until now. Now the voices have seemed to adopt personalities of their own and grown louder in volume. It's as though multiple people live inside one mind, with only one person in control of the body as the others desperately attempt to take over.

Killian wants nothing more than to help his wife, but he has absolutely no idea how. He's no stranger to magic, but he has no idea what dark sorcery lives inside the product of great darkness, and it terrifies him to his very soul. The scariest monster from the deepest pit in the ocean seems like a walk through the park in comparison to her darkness.

Her very purpose in life is to be a harbinger of chaos. The human embodiment of darkness... but nobody ever stopped to think if the very person who's destined to be all these things wants no part in it? To not embrace the darkness, but to live a normal life.

Alas, that is the very dilemma Scarlett Jones has been and is faced with. Her dark side has been in control for so long that she's become desperate for release. Everything she's done from her entire life has been because of her dark side. Every person she's killed. Every spell she's cast. Every village she's burned to the ground. All of it has been to submit to darkness, and it's left a mark on her soul. Her soul that has been split in two.

Her darkness, as powerful as it is, has not been able to fully corrupt her soul. There's something else. A small glimmer of hope. The potential for good. A chance. And that, in of itself, has manifested itself into her children, and Scarlett takes all the blame. She feels like she's already failed as a mother just by the possibility of one of her children being evil.

As a tear falls down her cheek, Scarlett takes a step forward and passes the babies onto her husband who gladly takes them in his arms, but his concern is still on high alert. She looks at him and smiles. A supposedly comforting gesture only makes Killian panic.

" Scarlett..."

" It's alright, dear... Everything will be alright... I promise."

With a wave of her hands, Killian and the babies are whisked away in a plume of black smoke. As Killian observes his new surroundings, he finds himself in the exact spot he was. In his home at the bottom of the stairs, but something his different. He turns around to find some of the people of Storybrooke looking equally concerned. All they see is a man who came back from the dead with his children... but Scarlett is nowhere to be found.

Little do they know, but Scarlett can see them. She peers at them through a veil, where they're visible to her, but she's invisible to them.

Deep from the back of her mind, Scarlett hears a chuckle that makes the hair on the back of her neck to stand up. She makes the veil disappear and walks towards the nearest mirror located by the front door, but her reflection doesn't show her, but rather another version of herself.

The dark version of herself.

" I always knew you were weak... but I had no idea you were so damn pathetic."

The voice speaks within her head but is able to show itself through the mirror. The Scarlett in the mirror seems to be laced with black. It wraps around her body like scars, her eyes a menacing black as her hair seems to be floating as if gravity does not apply to it.

This is the first time Scarlett has actually seen this version of herself. It has been but a voice in her head for so long.

" This ends now," She says, " You're not going to control me anymore... I-I'm done being a pawn to the darkness... I'm done."

The Scarlett inside the mirror simply chuckles as a sickening smirk plasters across her face.

" You don't want to do that... you're too powerful. Look at what you've done," she points at the world around her from the mirror, " You created a dimension separate from the reality others inhabit. You created a perfect little world for your husband... for your children. And you did this... because of the darkness. The darkness can give you so much... all that your heart desires... you just have to give in. Completely surrender control."

Scarlett's mind is tempted by these thoughts. She's been living with it for so long, it really would be easier if she just gave up and surrendered. Maybe her life really would be easier that way instead of constantly being in a mental battle with herself.

However, Scarlett takes a deep breath and looks at her other half dead in the eyes.

" No."

Scarlett forms a fireball and hurdles it towards the mirror and breaks it before the other half can get out but one word. She turns around and goes to plunge her hand into her chest, but finds herself being flung across the room and knocked against the wall.

" No!" The voice shouts, " I won't let you do this to us."

As Scarlett struggles to stand up, she finds her other half peering at her from yet another mirror. The Scarlett from within the mirror brings her fist up, causing Scarlett to be drawn towards the mirror until she's inches away from it. She stares at her other half in the eyes once more, but the other half uses but 3 fingers to choke Scarlett and lift her up off the ground, leaving her struggling and gasping for a breath.

" You... are nothing without me."

Scarlett gasps and coughs as the invisible force wraps tightly around her neck, but the small glimmer never fades.

" Last time I checked, you're the one who needs me... not the other way around."

Without a single ounce of hesitation in her body, Scarlett plunges her heart deep within her chest and rips out her heart with ease. As she begins to squeeze, the other half looses control and the force around her neck disappears. Scarlett squeezes harder... and harder until she's done on her knees. Her fist clenches tightly around her heart as tears freely fall down her face. Her mind makes her think of everything she'll be leaving behind.

Her mother.

Her father.

Her little brother.

Her husband... and her children.

While it quite literally breaks her heart to be leaving her family... shes' doing what has to be done.

And so, Scarlett closes her eyes, and let's out a deep breath as she gives herself a moment of peace.

" I'm sorry."

And with those final words escaping her lips, Scarlett completely closes her fist around her heart as the other half lets out a deep, distorted scream as if it came from the depths of hell. The moment her heart is crushed, a strong, dark blast escapes her body and explodes outwards. Not only does it completely destroy her little pocket reality, but it rumbles throughout the entirety of Storybrooke. All of the townspeople feel it and are pushed back a bit, but those inside the Jones residence see a body appear on the floor, as if from nowhere.

At first, they're confused, but the soon realize who's body it is. Killian's eyes widen as his heart drops down to his stomach. He quickly passes the babies to Emma and instantly drops down on the floor next to Scarlett. He picks up her head, but it falls limp in his hand. Her eyes permanently closed as not a single breath enters or escapes her lungs. Killian can't believe it, he doesn't want to believe it. A cry leaves his mouth as he feels the pain of a broken heart. He picks up her body and hugs it close to his as he cries into her shoulder.

All the others watch in sorrow with tear stained eyes.

Emma holds the babies tightly in her arms as Grant pulls her into a hug.

David does the same with Mary Margaret.

Regina completely breaks down. She falls to the ground and cries from the bottom of her heart as Zelena is right there with her.

But then, the youngest of them walks in the front door.

Henry's eyes go down to the body in front of him. He feels his heart stop and his breath hitch. Tears form in his eyes as he feels the loss of his sister, but Henry being Henry, he refuses to give up.

" N-No... it can't be... We can fix this," He pleads.

" Henry... I'm sorry... but she's gone," Emma says as she walks up to her son with the babies still in her arms.

" No!" Henry exclaims, " There has to be something we can do," his mind desperately searches for an answer, " We can't give up."

Nobody has the heart to tell him otherwise.

" Her name is Scarlett Hope Mills... we have to have hope! We have to..." He trails as the tears begin the fall.

David walks over to hug his grandson as a light bulb goes off above Killian's head.

" Hope..." He whispers.

He lifts his head from Scarlett's body and turns to Emma, who can practically see his thoughts through his eyes.

" Hook..." She warns.

" She was going to do it for me," Killian says, " The least I could do is try it for her."

Emma listens to his words. She carefully hands the babies to Henry as she walks over to Killian and kneels on the ground next to him.

" Are you sure about this?"
He nods.

Emma sighs. She's hesitant at first, but ends up plunging her hand into Killian's chest. He winces in pain as she pulls his heart out, but there's no going back now. She tightly grips the heart and she pulls it a part and into two. She returns half of the heart back to Killian, and with another sigh, carefully inserts the heart into Scarlett's chest.

Killian looks at his wife's body intently, his eyes never blinking, not even once. He remains hopeful and waits.

And it pays off.

For moments later Scarlett gasps awake, as if she simply had a bad dream.

Sighs of relief are echoed across the room and Killian instantly brings Scarlett into his embrace. It takes her a moment, but she too wraps her arms around him. They slightly pull back and finally look each other in the eyes.

" Hey, sailor," She whispers.

" Hey, beautiful," He whispers back.

Smiles form on both of their faces as they lean in and bring their lips together once more. The feeling of complete happiness takes over, and it's only going to be amplified.

" Guys... look!" Henry exclaims.

All the attention in the room is turned to the newborn babies who begin to glow. A white aura surrounds them as Henry brings them to their parents. Scarlett and Killian each hold one child in their arms and look down at the beings they created.

" What's happening?" Killian asks.

" Their curse... it's gone," Scarlett says with a smile on her face.

" How is that possible?" He asks.

" The same way you just brought me back... Hope."