"Come with me."
Ruby smiled faintly, not taking her eyes off the grey-blue horizon. "No," she said, watching the waves gently wash against the shore, the foam mingling with the sand as the tide rushed in. A ship would glide peacefully on those calm waters.
Too peacefully, she thought, for the pirate beside her. He lived for danger; for tempting Fate and risking his life; chasing adventures and monsters and legends, never lingering in one place long enough to call it "home". He would never last in a place like Storybrooke, and she could never leave it behind.
"I'll stay." He stepped closer and touched her arm, his voice barely more than a whisper in her ear. "For you, I'll stay."
"You can't," she said softly. "You don't belong here."
"Neither do you."
"Yes. I do." She kept her eyes forward, determined not to look at him: no matter how many times she'd gone over it in her head, convinced herself it was the right thing to do…all it took was one look into those sad blue eyes, and she was lost.
"If I leave now, you'll never see me again." Killian's voice shook as he fought to control it, every word trembling. "I don't have a way back, there are no more portals. Either we both go, or we both stay, but I can't—"
"Killian, stop," she muttered.
"I can't lose you." With a flick of his wrist, he caught his hook under her elbow, turning her to face him. "I can't," he whispered, eyes full of desperation. "Ruby, please…"
She looked at him for a long time, steeling herself. What did she say? "Goodbye"? "I'm sorry"? For what? Empty words that were but formalities, said only to fill the silence. In truth, the silence said more than she was capable of: it was unfathomable, cold, still… everything she wanted to be, faced with a man who'd done unspeakable things, who shouldn't be loved. He didn't deserve the guilt and the heartbreak and the overwhelming sense of loss that weighed on her shoulders now.
Keeping her eyes on him, she reached inside his jacket, her fingers dipping into the pocket to find catalyzed magic bean. It pulsed with magic beneath her fingertips, heavy with the power to split universes apart, waiting to used.
"I want you to leave," she said quietly. "You hurt people…you destroy lives…And you don't want to be a better man, you just—you don't even care." Ruby knit her brow, shaking her head slightly. "How can you live with that?"
"I can be different," Killian said immediately. "I can be a better man." He nodded, as if in silent affirmation. "I can change for you."
"I don't want you to change for me," Ruby said. "I don't want to be your moral compass—I don't want to be the only thing standing between you and this town." She took his hand, opening it and placing the bean in the center of his palm. "If you really want to do something good, open the portal and go."
She dropped his hand, stepping away from him the same motion. As she walked down the dock, the weathered wood creaking beneath her feet with every step, she almost expected him to run after her—to call her name, to beg her one last time.
He didn't. He watched her walk away from him in complete, utter silence.
He let her go.