Choice: A Past Rewritten...
AN/ I don't own any of this but the idea...it's something that I've been thinking about for awhile and that I really wanted to get down. It's a bit AU although the beginning takes place in future Storybrooke. I hope you enjoy!
Part I: The Aftermath: You can't bring back the dead.
The town was dissolute and eerily silent. He stood there seemingly alone, the town and his body having been ravaged by the battle, the battle that nobody saw coming and left nothing but death in its wake. In his arms was her limp, lifeless form. The bright light that had shined so bright, that had brought him back to the living, brutally extinguished and those eyes as green as the sea, closed forever. He carried her aimlessly through the town, unsure of where he was going and barely noticing the streets littered with corpses.
If he had been aware at all he would have noticed their friends and families bodies bent and broken, but all he could do was continue to walk. He walked on as if in a trace until he realized that his wondering had led him to their tree. The tree where upon their return from Neverland he had half jokingly carved their initials and a heart in with his hook, where after all the mess with Neal's return she made him whole again with her admission that it was him, them, she was picking and then returned his left hand. It was also where he broke his pirate code and bent down on one knee and asked her to be his forever, they sealed the deal then with true loves kiss... a kiss so powerful that Emma's magic had spilled over and surged out of her from joy. His eyes began watering again at the thought of what had occurred just a few short weeks ago.
"Love?" "Where are we headed?" "Not that I mind this kinky blindfold" his voice chuckled as he tried in vain to pull her to him
"Stupid Pirate" he heard could almost hear the grin she was suppressing "Just hang on!"
It was then she stopped suddenly pulling off his blindfold, he realized then that they were at their tree.
"Did I forget our anniversary?" his face paled "Or did you just want to play with one of my other attachments you little minx." He questioned eyebrow cocked at the ready. She slapped playfully on the shoulder then.
"You wish mister...but it is that other attachments fault we're here." She was trying hard to suppress a grin that appeared to be tugging at the corners of her mouth "Do you notice anything different?"
He glanced around then and noticed a small sapling planted near a slightly larger but not nearly mature tree to the right.
"Did you decide to take up horticultural?"
She laughed heartily at him and it was the most beautiful sound his ears had ever heard, it sounded of new beginnings and joy.
"Well the slightly larger tree is an American Elm for Henry, he picked it because he said he's American and the smaller sapling is a Blue Oak, he picked that one too."
He looked at her in utter confusion then "A tree? Lass why would the boy be planting trees? "And why a Blue Oak?" "Have I missed some strange custom here?"
He caught her eyes then and his breath hitched in his throat, he was sure he'd never seen them look so bright "Well we, that is Henry and I, thought it would be nice if all of us were represented by the trees, the big one is ours and Henry has the Elm and he picked the Blue Oak because he's sure it's going to be a sister and that she'll have your impossibly blue eyes. It's corny I know, I swear it was Henry's idea..."
Realization of what she was telling him set in ...
He was brought back to the ugly reality then, and he prayed to whatever Gods were listening to take him too. To end his suffering, because a life alone, without Emma, Henry and their unborn baby was not a life he wanted to live. He should have known the day she told him of the baby that something bad would happen, that his life had grown too perfect, that he didn't deserve this sort of happiness.
Hours passed as he sat with his back against the tree. He kissed her still silent face over and over and over as if willing her back to life. Running his hands through her mane of gold, his tears falling gently on her face and rolling down, the effect made it almost appear as if she was crying herself, in her sleep.
As time slipped by he must have dozed off because the next thing he knew he was awoken by gentle nudges and a broken voice calling his name.
"Killian...Killian...I don't have much time..You must wake-up..please...you're our last hope!"
His dull eyes opened to see the head nun before him, barely alive and gasping for breath.
"You...you... must... listen." Her broken voice came in spurts. "I don't have much magic left, and everyone is gone, there is a reason you survived...Emma's magic protected you...she protected you...and now you have a chance to fix all this...you and this tree ...you're both full of her magic and it might just be enough for me to send you back, back in time, to stop this from occurring."
She had his full attention then as he used what strength he had left to lift himself and Emma off the ground..."BACK?" "Can I save everyone?" "Will I remember?" "Where will I go back to?" "Can I save Emma?" A million questions raced through his mind.
"Snow's ring, she gave it to me before she died for Emma and I enchanted it, it's said this ring will led one to true love and now it will also hold all your memories. As long as you have it near you, you will never forget the events that have unfolded or Emma and hopefully you can stop them, you can save us all." Her voice seemed to increase slightly in strength then "We've not much time, I can create a portal using the tree and the magic in you but I must warn you that I have no idea where in time you'll go, you will go back...and you will be the only you but where you'll be I cannot say, hopefully I will be there to guide you but I make no promises."
"I don't care...I'll do whatever it takes to save her." His voice was panicked but assured, as he took the ring in his hand the cold metal warming his hand as it glowed softly over Emma's still body. "This can't be it, her life can't be over."
"Very well Killian, but just remember...all magic comes with a price."
There was a blinding flash then and he closed his eyes for the briefest of moments...only to open them again the ring still in his hand but the remains of Storybrooke and Emma completely gone. He stood in a small seaport village outside a tavern. A tavern that he recognised right away, a tavern from his past, the tavern that he had first met Milah...