Sadly, one upon a time doesn't belong to me.
He wanted it to go away, the pain had to stop, he couldn't handle it. The dark one had once again succeeded in taking away the woman he loved and at this point he wasn't even sure anymore who or what the dark one truly was.
Was it Rumpelstiltskin? Emma? An entity in itself?
His mind never dwelled on that question for too long, not wanting to know the right answer to it. Sure, Emma wasn't dead or gone. She had just changed a bit, having an exceedingly high hunger for power and blood and pain, preferably all together at the same time. While he was sitting here in the rabbit's hole on what might have been his fifth drink, he knew the 'heroes' of Storybrooke were busy dealing with that little crisis.
He wasn't a 'hero', he was a pirate who fell in love with one. Who fell in love so hard that he helped her gladly in whatever endeavour she had herself involved with. Which happened to be every single problem that befell this town.
He should've known something might happen to her, no matter how much he had tried to protect her, had tried to shield her, in the end, heroes sacrifice themselves for the greater good. That's why it was always better to be a pirate, sail the seas, and never steer too far away from the usual tavern wench.
"Keep them coming." He shouted at the bartender as he emptied the glass in his hand in one big swig, not even noticing the new visitor until she sat herself down beside him.
"You know booze is only a temporary solution to your problems?"
"I don't know lassie, I've proven in the past that I can be really… really good on being really drunk all the time."
He sat the glass down and turned serious, turning on his seat, now fully facing the woman sitting beside him.
"Why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be off celebrating your happy ending with the man you love? Your own happy ending? Dear old Rumpelstiltskin finally freed from the dark one?"
Belle gestured the bartender to give her a drink as well, it wasn't her habit but she felt that tonight was one of those nights where you just had to have one.
"It's not that simple and I think you of all people should understand that."
He nodded his head "You're unsure just how much of his betrayal to you was the dark one and just how much of it was Rumpelstiltskin?"
She nodded her head as she accepted the drink "That and other things... He may have betrayed me and I know that most of it was the dark one, I'm not unsure or naïve about that. I was always capable of seeing the man behind the curse, of seeing the true him and yet I didn't show the slightest bit of understanding when I betrayed his trust in me, sending him over the town line with only the clothes on his back."
"Belle… you didn't have a choice. He was killing people, he was out of control."
Giving him a piercing look. "So that's why you're here? You don't have a choice as well? Emma's out of control and that's that?"
He sighed and turned to his glass, avoiding her look.
"Belle… my problems are not the same."
"I'd say they're exactly the same… The difference is that I made the choice, the wrong one, and you still have to make it. Will you pretend like I did that you really don't have a choice, that the person you love is beyond your help and lost to you because you're simply too exhausted to deal with it, because you can't handle it, because it's beyond your comfort zone, or do you stand beside her, take her hand and tell her it's okay. That you're there for her and that you're going to help her get through it. Rumpelstiltskin was still capable of loving me and I didn't believe that he did. Your Emma's still capable of love and she sure as hell loves you. In fact…"
"She's not my Emma anymore!" Hook interrupted her, lifting his voice "She became something else."
"A darkness took a hold of her but she's still her, inside of her she's still Emma Swan and she's scared and lonely and lashes out because she thinks that once again she's alone on this world, that once again nobody can love her…"
"Well, good thing the Charming's are there to save the day."
Belle laughed at that, a loud amused laugh that made him look up.
"The Charmings? Oh they try to, with all their good deeds and family-mantra's but it's all in the eyes. Except for Snow's small brush with it they don't know the first thing about the darkness, you do. They tell her it's okay and then look at her with fear in their eyes. You understand it, you lived it."
Belle got up from her seat and took her coat.
"Take my advice pirate and don't waste it, you got something pure here, don't let the darkness affect it, fight for it. I learned a long time ago that when you find something that's worth fighting for you never give up, and I did just that. Don't burn the bridges I've burned because they're a bitch to build again, strengthen the ones you already have. Rumpelstiltskin never truly was the dark one just like Zoso wasn't and just like Emma isn't… Focus on Emma and save her."
And with that she handed the bartender her money and was out of the door before he could even come up with a good reply.
He finally looked up at the bartender.
"Pour me another, it seems I have a meeting tonight and I'm not doing it sober."
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