You Make it Right

Emma had been pacing ever since she returned to her room from Merlin's tower. They were making progress in their search to free the wizard from the tree, but it wasn't progressing fast enough. Her mind has been a maelstrom of conflicting thoughts and emotions over her decision to save Robin. She didn't regret saving him, not even a little. She was still the same person she was before she took on the darkness. She still found human life to be precious. But she had used dark magic to do it, and that was where the conflict arose.

She hated how much she loved the feeling. She had felt powerful, like she was truly in control for the first time in her life. But it brought her closer to accepting the darkness and that was something she still didn't want to do. She had her family to think about. Her parents, Henry, even Regina, in her own way. And Killian.

The knock on her door didn't surprise her, and she knew before she stood to answer it that Killian would be standing on the other side. She had passed him earlier, hoping that a soft smile and the quiet request of her hand on his shoulder would be enough for him to understand her request to come find her. Not that he ever needed much encouragement to follow her.

Has anything ever stopped me before?

She crossed the room to answer, not surprised to find Rumpelstiltskin sitting in the chair she herself had sat in while getting ready for the ball with her mother. He didn't say anything, but the smug grin he wore whenever he turned up was plastered on his face.

She opened the door to find Killian leaning against the frame. His jaw was set with worry and there was a small crease between his eyes, but when her eyes met the endless blue of his, she could still see the love for her he had yet to voice shining through everything else.

"Hey," she said, with a small smile before stepping back to let him in.

"I do hope I'm not intruding, love, I just wanted to check that you were doing alright," he said.

"I'm fine, thank you," she said with a small smile.

Rumpelstiltskin scoffed. "Sure, that's the only reason he came. He just wanted to make sure you hadn't turned into the monster he's always hated."

Emma's demeanor darkened instantly. She knew, deep down, Killian would never think of her as a monster, but that didn't make the words sting any less.

"Do you really think he only has your interests on his mind? He is a selfish pirate after all," the evil voice of the Dark One spoke up from his place across the room.

"Go away," Emma muttered, shooting a glare at the Dark One while still facing Killian.

"Sorry love, I didn't quite catch that," he tries to meet her eyes

"He spent hundreds of years trying to kill the Dark One, do you think he would give up that quest so easily? That he holds no animosity towards you at all?" Rumpelstiltskin pushes further.

"I said go away," she says more firmly

Killian looks taken aback, confused, and a little hurt by the sudden change in her, but turned to leave nonetheless. "If that's what you want, Swan. If you change your mind…"

"No. Please don't go," she says, reaching towards him. "I didn't mean you."

His brow furrows in confusion, but he turns to face her again. "Emma, I know you're struggling with this, and if there is anything at all I can do to help you then tell me and it's done," he says, taking her hand.

Her eyes widen and she looks around the room, only to find the entity of the Dark One has vanished. She lets out a long sigh. "That," she says, raising their hands between them. "I needed that."

Killian tilts his head, smiling at the thought that he was able to help her. She leads him over to sit down next to her on the bed she has no use for and he follows. Now seems as good a time as any to explain the way she's been acting. "I see Gold. Rumpelstiltskin, actually," she muttered, not meeting his eyes

"I'm not sure I follow. Gold is still back in Storybrooke," he said, his thumb still tracing circles over her hand.

"Well it's not actually him. It's the entity of the Dark One itself, only he just appears to me as Gold. He was the one that I was talking to before I healed Robin, and he was the one that was telling me to kill Merida. He shows up and starts saying things to me, putting doubts in my head and sometimes…sometimes I want to just give in just to make him leave me alone. But I also want to be rid of this," she says, stopping herself when realizes she's rambling, and looking at him with pleading eyes, begging him to understand and see the real her.

His eyes tell her he does. She's always been that open book to him. "What is he trying to make you doubt?" he asks softly, trying to get her to talk.

"My parents, myself…" she trails off, tearing her eyes away from the blue that begs to know every part of her.

"Me?" he asks. When she nods, he puts his arm around her, their fingers still laced together, the way he did in the sheriff's station all those weeks ago. "Love, is it possible that he's trying to put doubt in your mind because he wants you to doubt me? Because he wants to make it seem possible that I would ever give up fighting for you? Is it possible that he sees me as a threat?"

It's the first time he acknowledges her confession that she loves him. He hasn't brought it up, for which she is grateful, but she has noticed the slightly different way he looks at her. He still looks at her like she is the answer to every question, like she is the beginning and end of his world. Like he loves her. But he also looks at her like he can't believe that she loves him too, as if it's impossible that he could possibly be all those things for her, and it cuts her a little that he would ever feel that way.

"You are definitely a threat to him. You make him go away," she whispers into his chest.

He pulls her tighter to him and presses a kiss into her hair. "How would you feel about getting out of this castle for a bit? A bit of fresh air, change of scenery, just you and me."

She pulls away to meet his eyes, the first genuine smile she's had since the night she saved Robin on her lips. "I'd like that a lot," she whispers.

It might not drive the darkness out completely, being with him. But it makes her forget, just for a short while, that there is a war being waged within her, and he is able to make everything feel right again.