"I told you sleep won't come easy," the consciousness of the Dark One, in Rumpelstiltskin form, followed Emma as she paced the halls of King Arthur's castle.
The others- her family, friends- had arrived with their big dreams of freeing her of this curse. King Arthur had welcomed them, they were all after the same thing, Merlin. There had been a feast with entertainers and stories of battles past.
Emma found the whole thing stupid. But then again, they wouldn't hear the voices that whispered constantly in her ear.
"Shut up," she snapped, but as the hours went on, her resistance was fading fast, "I'm just going to walk around a bit, tire myself out, then I'm going to bed! And I'm going to go to sleep because you can't stop me!"
"Dearie, deaire, dear! Getting a little testy, aren't we Dark One?" the imp prodded.
"I said shut up!" Emma spun, shouting. A near by vase shattered.
"Emma? Are you alright?" a quiet voice asked, "Well, I know you're not alright, but..."
Belle was standing in the doorway, holding a tea tray. Her hair loose now, wafting around her shoulders, intertwining with the steam from the tea pot.
Emma felt warm all of a sudden, was there a fire place in this room? She dropped onto a couch.
"You should go, I'm dangerous," she said, wearily.
"You won't hurt me," Belle's words were confident as she set the tray down and begun preparing the drink.
"She's a plucky one, isn't she?" the Dark One asked, licking his lips, "I like it. Let's keep her, kill the rest though."
"And I'm not afraid, I married a dark one after all. Now, you're grumpy because you're tired and your mind is going a million miles a minute and you just want to forget about the world and die, right?"
"How do you-?" Emma begun, but as Belle put a hand on her knee, she stilled.
"I'm not going to pretend like I understand what this is like for you, but I do know that you need to sleep. The Dark One can stay awake as long as they like, but it's not good for you, okay?" the brunette gave Emma a little smile.
The blonde nodded, stunned. She'd never realized how beautiful Belle was, how soft looking.
The imp consciousness reached out, taking a piece of Belle's hair and letting it run between his fingertips, "Lovely. There are a great many benefits it having a young host, such as yourself, but I will miss having my way with this one."
"Get away from her," Emma snarled, moving closer to where Belle sat beside her on the couch.
"What?" Belle looked around, "Emma, who are you talking to?"
"She was mine first, dearie!" he laughed, disappearing.
"Emma," Belle pressed a cup of tea into the Dark One's hands, "Drink this, it'll help you sleep."
"The voices," Emma mumbled, "They don't stop."
Belle put an arm around Emma's shoulders and Emma laid her head on the brunette's shoulder, snuggling in.
"It's going to be alright," Belle murmured, "All these people came to help you, and they aren't going to stop until you're better."
"Don't go," Emma whispered.
"I'm not going anywhere," she promised, as the Dark One drifted to sleep.