A/N: I don't know where this came from... Actually, yes I do. Anyone noticed how quickly Emma went from denial, to 'I'm only learning it to get rid of Zelena and go back to my life' and then to 'boom!' and 'that's so cool' about her magic? So I started toying with the idea that this evolution might lead her down a dark path and that Killian's kiss being cursed might be a good thing after all. This is what happened. So yes, this is yet another OS about this damn curse, but I don't think this twist has been done before, has it?
Please review!
Disclaimer: don't own them.
He tells Regina, hoping she can help.
She promises not to tell anyone. She also promises to look for a counter-curse, prompting a cheeky comment about Robin's positive influence that has her rolling her eyes at him.
For the briefest of moment, everything looks right in the world.
He should have known better.
They defeat Zelena.
Everyone is okay. Physically at least.
Henry thinks he's going crazy. He still doesn't have his memory back, and despite everyone's best efforts, he witnessed the final showdown. Magic and witches and curses are hard to process when you don't remember you're Snow White and Prince Charming's grandson.
But it's Emma Killian's really worried about – shocking, he knows.
To no one's surprise, she was the one who managed to take down the Wicked Witched.
To everyone's surprise, she doesn't seem to be handling it all that well.
She killed someone. She had too, no one doubts that, but the fact that she used her magic for something like this is bothering her more than she's letting on.
He wants to be the one to comfort her.
It seems she wants the same thing, because one night he finds her in his room, curled up on his bed, asleep, her tears-streaked face making his heart clench painfully in his chest.
What he wouldn't give to be able to hold her in this instant.
He can't.
Regina hasn't been able to remove his curse, confessing with an apologetic smile that only the witch who cast it had that power.
But the witch is dead.
He needs to stay away from Emma.
Yet something keeps pulling him back to her.
It's not just his love for her or his selfishness or the need to make sure she's okay.
Something is not quite right. He can sense it. And until he gets to the bottom of this, figures out why the thought of telling her the truth awakens an odd, uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, unlike anything he's ever felt before, he'll stay by her side.
He figures it out – or part of it – two months later, when Storybrooke faces yet another threat and, instead of looking for a sensible solution, Emma snaps.
Her magic is stronger than even Regina ever suspected, and in a rush of fear and anger and desperation, the Savior creates a giant portal that transports them all back to the Enchanted Forest without giving them much of a choice, or a chance to fight the regular way.
No one knows how she did it.
The uneasy feeling only grows. He could see it in her eyes, how she had no idea what she was doing, how scared she was of the power that took control of her body for a few minutes.
He stays by her side, watching, thinking, dreading.
She manages to use her magic to restore Henry's memory.
It's the last good, untainted thing she does with it.
When the ogres attack and one of them goes after Henry, the burst of magic she unwillingly releases does more bad than good. Entire villages are burnt down, people get hurt, and the ogres are nowhere near defeated.
He overhears a conversation between her parents. They're worried, but they don't know what to do about it.
He doesn't either.
But something keeps telling him to bide his time. A gut feeling, a conviction stronger than anything he's ever felt before – apart from his love for her.
And so he does.
Regina is still the only one who knows about his curse.
Henry seeks him out. Asks him to talk to her.
He does. Only to be shot down. Not like he wasn't expecting it. She's scared and confused and mad at herself and falling, falling, falling. Not a great combination.
He leaves her alone.
Regina seeks him out. Asks him to watch her.
Like he's not doing that anyway.
David seeks him out. Asks him if he has any idea how to help her.
He doesn't. The only thing he does know is that something has been pulling at him for the past few weeks, something dark and dangerous and powerful. Something that is begging him to go back to his Hook persona. Something he's desperately trying not to listen to, remembering all too well what happened the last time he gave in, but it's getting harder and harder to resist.
And then one day, the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Her and Henry are taking a stroll in the village near the castle when a man on horseback nearly knocks Henry down by accident. Emma reacts just in time, casting a protection spell on her son, only to have it grow and turn into something else, something furious and revengeful.
Henry begs her to stop, grips her arm, tries to pull her back, but her eyes are black and her heart is closed.
In a heartbeat, both horse and rider disappear.
No one ever finds them.
She doesn't show remorse.
He's been around magic enough to know that there is no going back from this, not without a painful, long, destructive process that he doesn't want her to have to go through.
She pulls back from her parents. Pulls back from Henry.
Gods, it hurts seeing the lad so desperate to help his mother but unable to do anything to bring her back.
She leaves the castle, finds an old, empty cabin in the middle of the forest and shoots dark balls of energy at everyone who tries to approach.
It's all starting to make sense, this feeling of dread, this urge to turn back to Hook. He doesn't want to, but he gets it now, and he understands it's the only way.
So he stops resisting.
She's turned down everyone who's tried to make her see the good, who's tried to make her see she's going too far, who's tried to talk some sense into her, including Killian Jones.
But Hook doesn't care whether she's good or bad.
He doesn't care that she's hurting people, both physically and emotionally.
He just thinks that she's the most magnificent thing he's ever seen in his three centuries of life. And that darkness... It's compelling him, daring him to get closer, to explore it, to bask in it.
He tells her so.
It's her first smile in months, and it's one of the scariest things he's ever seen. Twisted and cruel and not an ounce of real happiness behind it.
But she lets him in.
He knows he has to be smart about this. Has to be patient.
But with every new life she takes, every new plot to get rid of those she now sees as her enemies, it gets harder to pretend that he's really Hook, that there's nothing of Killian Jones left in him, that it doesn't break his heart to see her like this, that he's not affected by the very real possibility that she may never come back from this.
Still, he waits.
She's powerful and clever and paranoid. As much as he wants to, he can't just lay one on her and cross his fingers. She'll see him coming from miles away.
And so he settles for innuendos and a slow and frustrating seduction, not unlike the one he started back on that beanstalk ages ago.
Only the stakes are higher now, and it's much less fun.
It's almost four months after she first invited him in that he sees an opening.
They're hunched over a map of the Enchanted Forest, trying to figure out where to find a magical device that she apparently needs for her next evil plan, when her hand brushes over his and she doesn't pull back, the touch shooting sparks all the way up his arm, the anticipation making his breath catch in his throat.
When he dares look up, she's staring at him with a hungry expression he's seen more than his fair share of.
Still he doesn't move. This has to come from her.
He just issues an invitation, licking his lips and letting his gaze drop down to her mouth for a fraction of a second.
She takes it.
The instant their lips meet, she's thrown back by a powerful wave of magic, her back hitting the wall hard before she slumps down to the ground, unconscious.
And amidst his fear for her life, hope.
It has to have worked.
Months of dread, of plotting, of despair, of deception, of holding back, of wishing... All worth it if it really did work.
He rushes to her side, fingers reaching for her pulse point.
Her hand shoots out to grab his wrist before he can find it, wide eyes meeting his in confusion and relief.
"Killian?"
"Aye, love."
A sigh. A barely there smile. And then the murmur that makes it all worth it.
"Thank you."
When he carries her into the castle, her limp body has the guards panicking and calling Snow and David before he can explain that everything is fine. At long last.
The whirlwind of questions thrown his way as soon as he's ushered into the throne room is too much, he doesn't know where to start except to say that she's fine, she's fine, she's fine, over and over again, until they believe him.
When David takes Emma from him to take her to her room, he reluctantly lets her go. He catches Regina's eyes over the prince's shoulder and sees realization quickly dawning on her as her gaze darts back and forth between his lips and the Savior's unconscious form.
"Well done, pirate. You had us worried there for a moment."
He gives a mocking bow, his eyes never staying away from Emma for too long.
"At your service, your Majesty."
Regina scoffs.
"You mean at her service."
He smiles.
"Aye. Always."
Fin
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