"Help me make the most of freedom and of pleasure,

nothing ever lasts forever.

Everybody wants to rule the world."

Rumpelstiltskin stood in front of the woman who killed his little boy. He stood right there without saying a word. His eyes met her icy blue ones that once were full of mischief. Full of pure happiness while watching others suffer. While watching him suffer in silence over the loss of the one who was, has and always will be, the most important person in his life. But right now? In this moment, her eyes were void of any emotion, except of fear.

High pitched laughter tumbled out of his lips that curled into a malicious grin.

"Well, well, dearie. Look how the tables have turned. It´s a pleasure to be the one standing outside the cage just this once."

She glared at him, her fighting spirit crawling back to the surface. Of course, Zelena wasn´t done being her charming self yet. "Oh dear Rumple. Do both of us a favor and drop the ridiculous bad boy act. I know you´re still weeping in your sleep over your son´s death. That I caused, as you might remember."

"Oh, I do remember. And I intent to make you pay for that."

Zelena laughed at that, her eyes dropping towards the dagger that peeked out of his jacket. "With that thing? I´d love to see you try."

His hand reached out, fingers curving around the hilt of the dagger. For a tiny second he hesitated. His mind went to Baelfire, his beloved son, who had tried anything to make his sodden papa a better person. Probably one of the rare ones in the world to believe, that people could change. That thought brought him right back to Belle. The beautiful woman that somehow was able to love him. To see in the good in him, even if he himself wouldn´t believe in it.

Both of them thought that he could be different, better. And he had to admit, that he was actually willing to try. For them.

Noticing his hesitation, Zelena stepped forward with a throaty giggle. "Oh, how soft you´ve become, Rumple. Here I am, the woman who has your boy´s blood on her hands. The woman, who watched as the light faded from his pretty little eyes, while his father was too far away to safe him. You won´t do a thing about this? Well, maybe what they say is right. You are a coward."

The loving spark that has been in his eyes just a second earlier was gone. He came closer, dragging the dagger out of its confines and running his fingertips over the curved edge. Another laugh left her lips. Pure, maniac ecstasy was written her eyes, because she realized just how easily she could manipulate him. As its seemed, she didn´t need his dagger to get him to do what she wants. He just needed a little push.

"Oh, my darling Zelena. I´m going to show you soft", he drawled, blood-lust in his eyes. He raised his dagger above his head, a satisfied smirk appearing on his face, as she turned to stone. He took a few moments to examine her unmoving features, her mouth still curled into a grin. Lifeless eyes stared back at him. With a flick of the dagger, her figure shattered into a million pieces, crumbling down into a mess on the floor.

Meanwhile the rest of Storybrooke was busy celebrating. Granny´s Diner was crowded with half of the town´s inhabitants, all sharing stories and adventures of the past few weeks. And through the laughter and chattering, two blue eyes searched the crowd. Frown imminent on his face, Killian Jones sat in a corner on his own, watching over the various happy people with mixed feelings. He was ecstatic - for the obvious reason of their victory. Still there was a bitter taste in his heart that he could easily connect to the Swan girl. He knew that now, as the threat was gone, Emma wouldn´t have a reason to stay. Her excuses to go would overgrow his and her family´s arguments to make her stay. The blasted woman was stubborn enough to leave and he couldn´t -wouldn´t let let happen.

He had to make sure that she would stay. But if only he was able to figure out how.

"My mom isn´t here", Henry said, coming out of nowhere. He sat down next to the pirate, taking in the man´s sulking expression and those blue eyes he had never seen so sad before.

"Hello, lad", Hook said, taking a sip of his beer and mustering up his best careless smile. A smile that has fooled so many in his three hundred years of life. But not the boy in front of him. Of course not.

"I know you worry about her. But you don´t need to. I won´t leave and neither won´t she."

Hook raised an eyebrow, impressed with the boy´s perceptiveness. He shouldn´t have expected anything less from Swan´s son. Like his mother, he had the skill of looking right through his mask.

"I hope you´re right, my boy," he said, raising his glass in salute.

"Do you know where she is?" he asked after a few moments of silence. Henry answered him with a smile, leaning forward and whispering: "Try the docks."

Rumpelstiltskin managed to leave the Sheriff´s station without anyone noticing. He wasn´t surprise to notice the absence of people on the streets, knowing that the citizens would use this opportunity to bond over their victory, being rather careless just this once. He wasn´t complaining, because it did help him with his plan. No one being here to see him, meant that there was no one to witness his murder. No one would ever know.

Now, that the threat was gone and the woman who killed his boy was dead, he could finally settle down for a while himself. A feeling of euphoria filled him as he thought about Belle, who was waiting for him in his shop. His feet started walking just a bit faster than usual, wanting to be near her as soon as possible. Striding around the corner, he saw it. Bright orange light cut through far trees, coming from the barn that he knew was situated in the middle of the forest. Bright light coming from where Zelena planned on opening a time portal.

"Oh dearie, you do know how to make my life difficult", he muttered under his breath. With a flick of his hand, he was gone from the street and appeared only meters away from the strange setting.

The wheels in his head began turning. Somehow, Zelena´s death triggered the portal. He didn´t know how to close it. This was bad. If some stupid dwarf or anyone else stumbled into it, he could ruin everything, without ever getting a chance of repairing the mistake. Alas... if done correctly, this would be a weapon. A way to change fate, to change his own miserable life, to make sure that he would get his happy ending. With Belle and his son.

Once upon a time, Rumpelstiltskin got a chance of jumping into a portal and missed it. Today, he didn´t.

Hook´s feet felt heavy as he walked towards the docks, spotting his Swan´s blonde hair from that distance with ease. He admired her slender form standing near the water, where she was staring out, obviously thinking. He didn´t need to see her face to know that her face showed a deep frown, her forehead crinkled up with worry lines. He sighed. Oh how much he wanted to be the one to smooth those lines out, to brush away her misery and all of her doubts. To be the one for her to rely on.

And one day, he swore silently, he would be just that. And more of course. When he succeeded and finally had her, he would never let her go, for sure.

She must have heard his footsteps coming closer, because he made sure to make some kind of a noise so she could prepare herself for having to answer him. But she didn´t acknowledge him, not even when he came to stop right next to her. Instead, she continued staring with a distant look, like she wasn´t here at all. Hook ripped his gaze away from her, staring at the same spot, she was eyeing with interest. The dying sun was still pretty high on the sky, illuminating the ocean with an orange light, making it appear almost turquoise. It was the first nice day in weeks.

"I have to leave, so you can stop trying to make me stay," she murmured then, still not looking at him.

Hook merely raised an eyebrow. "I didn´t say anything, love."

"Yeah, but I know why you´re here."

"What´s so wrong about staying? You have a family here, Emma. You don´t need to run from anything." Especially not from me, he added in his mind.

She didn´t answer, didn´t look at him and Hook let out a laugh. Her head whipped around to stare at him like he was out of his mind.

"What´s so funny?" she asked, clearly annoyed at him.

He turned his body fully around to face her, his back facing the ocean, blue eyes fixed on Emma. "I just think, it´s pretty hard to believe that after everything that happened, everything that we´ve faced together, you´d be happy to leave all of this behind."

"Everything we´ve faced? As in you and me?"

Yes. "Your family, Swan. They need you and they love you. How can you leave that behind?"

"I need to do what´s best for Henry, what he needs is all that matters."

He shook his head. "Stop telling yourself this bullshit, love. You and I both know, that you´re afraid. Afraid of the fact, that you like it here and that you want to stay."

"And that´s where you´re wrong, I don´t want to stay!" she screamed at him, rendering him speechless for a moment. But she didn´t give him a chance to catch up to her words, to prove her wrong, and instead continued to ramble. "I want to be a normal person with a normal life and this... this is just a very bad dream full of prines and curses and a whole town that thinks I´m a Savior. That´s not normal. That´s not me."

"Love, you are anything but ordinary. And running away from this town won´t change that. Magic is a part of you, this whole town is a part of you and you can´t erase it."

She scoffed, an unbelieving expression of her face. "You don´t even know what you´re talking about."

Killian licked his lips, his body swaying towards hers, invading her personal space without shame. "Believe me, love. I spent the past year trying to forget this town, trying to forget you and to resume my life the way it was. It didn´t bloody work."

"It didn´t?" she asked, voice suddenly soft, eyes filled with surprise.

"No."

Then they stood in silence, blue eyes meeting green ones. No one dared to say a word, to break the blissful silence that wrapped itself around them, while the sun slowly disappeared underneath the horizon.

This night, Emma lay in her bed, unable to sleep, Hook´s words still echoing inside her head. She tried to make her choice. Would she stay or would she leave? A part of her wanted to flee quite desperately, her instincts pushing her to leave this town behind, before it had the chance to hurt her. Another part however, felt a sour taste of despair filling her insides at the thought of being without any of those citizens that she has come to love. Her parents, Ruby, Archie, Hook. And of course everyone else that she cared about. So she lay there in silence, seconds turning to minutes and minutes turning to hours, as she thought about her possibilities. Unknowing that her choice didn´t matter at all, because this would be her last night in Storybrooke.

When she woke up the next day, nothing was like it once were.