Aurora didn't dream, and she hadn't in a long time. That luxury had left her along with Phillip all those months ago in the Enchanted Forest. Now, whenever she closed her eyes to sleep she was forced to relive every second of that last day with her Prince. And every time she found something she could have done better, something she could have done to save him. This endless torment led Aurora to start taking late night walks around the streets of Storybrooke.
Hook had been haunted for as long as he could remember. Not by men he had killed, or people that he had double crossed, but by her. Milah. Every night her screams rang out in his subconscious, and every night no matter what he did, the crocodile won. And since so far no amount of rum could stop his ghosts from visiting him as he slumbered, Hook took to having late night strolls around his new home of Storybrooke.
Aurora breathed in the brisk night air as she walked and wrapped her arms closer around her body in an effort to stay warm. She wasn't used to cold like this, having spent almost the entirety of her life in a desert kingdom. Soon it would be too cold for her to go on her late night walks, and after that she didn't know what she'd do. Then she would be trapped inside with her nightmares, nowhere to run.
She shook the foreboding thought from her mind and decided to focus on her surroundings instead. The sky full of stars above glittered like fairy dust, and the sidewalk was blanketed with that funny stuff called snow. It was a beautiful night, and Aurora decided it was a shame that she was the only one who was around to enjoy it.
"What's a princess like you doing out on a night like this?" A low voice drawled from behind, breaking her train of thought. She could recognize that voice anywhere, she'd only been spending the last few weeks trying to avoid the man it belonged it. The man she once thought was trustworthy.
"Killian," she gasped, spinning around to face him, letting out a shriek when her feet lost traction and she slipped forward. A pair of leather clad arms instinctively reached forward to steady her before she fell, and Aurora found herself staring into a pair of sharp ocean blue eyes set in a devilishly handsome face.
"Falling for me already, eh?" Hook remarked with a raffish grin and a glint in his eyes. When he had first noticed Aurora standing alone on the sidewalk he thought his mind was playing tricks on him. He had been going on walks around this town for weeks and hadn't bumped into a single soul, and then suddenly one night, the person he dreaded seeing most, appeared. The girl he owed an apology to.
Aurora felt her cheeks heating up at his flirtatious comment and quickly disengaged herself from him. "I am not-I slipped, and it was your fault for startling me," she said, trying to maintain what was left of her dignity after her less than graceful landing into the pirate's arms.
"My apologies, your majesty, but you startled me first, it isn't often you go for a walk at two in the morning and find a princess," he said, giving her inadequate winter attire of a dress and boots a once over and his most charming grin to cover up his scrutiny.
"It's Aurora," she corrected curtly without thinking. She didn't deserve the title of a princess; she had neither a kingdom nor subjects. "And I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd go for a walk," she said halfheartedly, it wasn't a lie; it just wasn't the whole truth.
"Let me guess, there was a pea underneath your mattress?" Hook quipped in a teasing manner, in an effort to make the princess smile. As soon as the words left his mouth he realized he must had said the wrong thing, because her face went from mildly annoyed to something bordering indignation.
Aurora didn't find the humor in his comment at all. Every since coming through the portal to Storybrooke with Mulan she'd been hearing comments just like that. And for some reason this one made her finally snap. Did all people see when they looked at her was spoiled little princess who didn't know how to take care of herself? They had no idea what she went through every time she saw a happy couple or the terrors that awaited her when she closed her eyes.
An angry flush heated up her chilled face and Aurora gave Killian her most fearsome glare. "I can't sleep because every time I do, Phillip dies. Over and over again, the wraith attacks, and all I can do is watch. I have to watch my true love die, and walk around with the burden of knowing that it was all my fault. So that Captain is why I take these walks in the freezing cold. Just so I can escape my past for a few more hours."
Aurora's voice had lost its vehemence by the end of her unexpected confession, and she turned her face so Killian couldn't see that tears had also begun to stream down her face. A princess never cried, especially in front of a pirate.
A warm, somewhat tentative hand on her shoulder caused her to look back at the pirate and she noticed in surprise that his face was clear of the smug confidence that usually graced it.
"'Rora," he said, his eyes softening at the sight of those silent tears rolling down her face. You think that after years of being a fearsome pirate that the sight of a woman's tears would no longer have an effect on him, but this fragile beauty's tears caused a pang of feeling in his cold heart. And besides, if anyone knew anything about running away from the past, it was him.
"I know that to you I'm just a bloody scoundrel, and believe me I know I earned the title, but I know what it is like to be haunted, and you love, do not deserve to be." Hook said in a low voice, a voice that was much too gentle for his liking. This damn town and all its cheery inhabitants must be making him sentimental.
"What do you mean? Without me Phillip would still be alive, I should have to suffer for it," Aurora protested, trying to dry her blue eyes before lifting them to his. That was the one thing she knew nobody would ever understand, her remorse. They all acted like it wasn't her fault Phillip died, but it was.
"I don't know if anyone ever told you, but once upon a time, I, the dreaded Captain Hook was in love. She was a beautiful lass, not afraid of anything, and I, like you and your prince, watched her die. A crocodile tore her heart out, crushed it, and I watched the light leave her eyes as she died in my arms. And every night since, I have relived that day, and I will continue to do so until I avenge her death."
Hook felt the decades old feelings of anger and grief rising back from where he had hidden them for so long and struggled to keep his good hand from balling into a fist. His jaw tightened and he stared through Aurora, anger distorting his vision. The crocodile didn't deserve to be treated with such honor in this town, he was a murderous monster, but the people here seemed to have forgotten that.
"Oh Killian, I never knew-" Aurora began to say, before being silenced with a condescending look from Hook.
"I didn't tell you that tell you that story for sympathy, so spare me the pitiful doe eyes, love," Hook interrupted scornfully. He was used to being stared in fear, in lust, and especially in annoyance, but not in pity. He wasn't going to have it become a habit now.
"Then why?" Aurora questioned sharply in retaliation of his disdainful tone. "Pirates' aren't exactly known for their honesty, so why tell me?"
"It seemed the thing to do, and besides it got you to stop crying, didn't it sweetheart?" Hook said with a mirthless smirk, reaching out to gently touch her face with the smooth side of his hook. He felt her brief shudder as the cold metal made contact with her skin, and he quickly pulled it away.
"Now, if you'll excuse me I have a hammock and a bottle of rum to be getting back to, so goodnight Princess." Hook was struck with the need to get away before the stars glittering overhead and the pale, mournful face of the beauty staring at him made him do something he'd regret.
"Killian wait, maybe you could accompany me home?" Aurora asked hesitantly, before he could turn and leave her standing on the sidewalk alone. "I mean- we're both up, and maybe we could help each other, with our nightmares, you don't have to of course," she finished hurriedly. She wasn't even sure where the thought had come from, but maybe the two of them could face their nightmares together.
"You haven't forgotten that I'm a pirate have you?" Hook said with a wide smile beginning to spread across his face as he slowly stepped towards Aurora. His need had vanished with the princess' sudden question.
"The worst one that ever lived," Aurora said returning his smile with a small one of her own. Asking Killian to come home with her might not be the smartest thing she had ever done, but right now all she wanted was to be comforted and held, even if it was by a man that she had every reason hate.
"You don't have to sweet talk me love, I wouldn't refuse an invitation like that for the world," Hook purred, staring into Aurora's innocent blue eyes. He wondered what inspired her to invite a crook like him to spend the night with her, even in the most chaste sense, but right now he didn't give a damn.
"Don't make me rethink this," Aurora warned with a cautious smile as reached down and took Killian's good hand. With their fingers wound together, the princess and the pirate, made their way to Aurora's apartment, and maybe just maybe, away from the ghosts that had been chasing them for so long.
Aurora was dreaming, for the first time since before the curse took place. She was dreaming that she was flying, and there was a hand in hers, a hand belonging to a certain dark haired pirate with a roguish grin and a past just as twisted as her own. And while the two of them soared through the skies of her mind a smile came over her sleeping face, and she buried herself further in the warmth of Killian's embrace.
Hook was sleeping, and for the first time in decades, Milah wasn't there to haunt him, neither was the crocodile. He was left to sleep in peace, and before long found himself dreaming of once more navigating the seven seas on his beloved Jolly Roger. And beside him was a most enchanting creature, with huge blue eyes and a lilac dress that fluttered in the wind. As this went on in Hook's mind, he unconsciously drew the princess slumbering next to him closer and clutched her to his chest with a smile.