So I've been toying with this idea for quite some time. I hope you like it! Don't forget to tell me what you think. The good, the bad, all is welcome.
The Dark One Lies
Emma moved twisted tree branches aside as she stepped through the forest.
It was sometime around seven o'clock, but it felt like eleven. Darkness covered the forest floor like a blanket. The moon above her, full and grey, provided little light. Back in her sheriff days, she would have brought a torch, but when she became the Dark One, her senses heightened and she didn't need it anymore. She could see everything as clear as day.
The smell of wood, fresh from the rain, was all around her. It filled her nose with a deliciously natural scent, something she used to love. Now, she didn't care for little pleasures such as that anymore. She didn't have time.
Wet grass brushed against her leather boots, leaving glistening stripes, as she stepped into the clearing. Ten minutes ago she'd returned to a post-it note on her front door, telling her where to go. The clearing was where /he/ would meet her.
For a moment, she'd thought about not going. He couldn't make her go. And a large part of her didn't want to see him, especially after what he'd said to her. He'd picked her fears, as easy as plucking a flower, and laid them out on the table one by one. Even as he watched the tears fall from her eyes, he did not waver. If anything, his face only grew darker, more bitter. Emma had been under the impression that nothing could scare her anymore, not after losing him the first time but /this/ was something else. It chilled her to the bone.
It was cruel, and selfish, and so very hard to hear. Perhaps it was her price. She brought him back, turned a blind eye to his wishes, and now she was paying for it. But just because she was paying the price, it didn't mean she had to make things harder for herself.
But she told him she wasn't going to give up on him. She'd learned from her mother that love meant never giving up. And if you were ever lucky to find true love, you fought for it, whatever the cost.
So she knew she must be brave. She had to swallow her fears and face him, head on, even if he were to toy with her again and strum her heart strings like a guitar.
"Hook," Emma called out into the night air. She waited, casting her eyes around the clearing. Nothing. Was he going to bring her all the way out here just to not show up? She inhaled and tried again. "Hook, you said you wanted to see me." Her breath showed white against the darkness, but she didn't feel the cold.
"That I did." Came his voice from behind her. She turned around and saw him leaning against a tree in the most casual of ways, arms folded.
He was dressed in his usual attire of black, a shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest. His thick black hair was unkempt. As was the scruff decorating his jaw. His face was expressionless. A bottomless feeling settled itself in her heart. Gone was the warmth she'd come to know, and gone was that light in his eyes she used to spend hours gazing into.
"What do you want?" she asked. Her face, too, was stripped of any emotion. She prided herself on that. One thing she learned as the Dark One was how to appear composed and cool, even if she was screaming on the inside.
"I don't know just yet." He unfolded his arms and took a predatory step towards her. "Perhaps, Swan, I'm just trying to find more ways to make you suffer."
She remained rooted to the spot. "By asking me to see you?"
"Exactly."
"You think seeing you will make me suffer?" She watched, unblinking, as he circled once around her, his slow steps making soft squeaks against the grass.
"Aye. But that depends." His lips were at her ear. She froze. Despite her best efforts, her eyes fell closed, and she remembered all the times before she'd felt his breath, just under her ear, at the corner of her jaw. Usually, it was to whisper 'I love you'. Memories slipped into her mind; memories of love and joy. Memories of those quiet moments. Memories that were just memories now.
Emma's eyes flew open as she came to her senses. "On what?" she demanded through gritted teeth. He began circling again. The feel of his fingertips gently brushing over her neck made her skin crawl. In any other circumstance, it would have sent shivers down her spine.
"On whether you still love me," he murmured, coming to a stop in front of her. She looked up into those lost, dark eyes. "Do you love me?"
"Yes, I still love you," she said without any hesitation. She knew from past experience that love didn't go away that quickly. "And I told you, I'm not going to give up on you. You don't give up on the people that you love."
Something swept across his face. Was it anger? No. Hurt? Grief? Sadness? She took that as an opening. "Killian," she said, placing a hand on his arm. "Tell me what you're planning. Tell me and we can beat the darkness. Together."
He snatched himself away from her clutches and she knew that his walls had gone back up. "It's too late for that now." Backing away from her, he opened his arms out wide. "And it's only just the beginning, Swan."
Hairs prickled down the length of her arms. She felt as if someone had just thrown a bucket of cold water over her head. Ice washed down her body and settled in the pit of her stomach. How could she watch the man she loved destroy himself? Destroy everyone else?
No, Emma, a voice from inside her head said. Rumplestiltskin? No, it was the voice of reason. That's not the man you love.
Yes, that was right. But she'd kick herself if she didn't give one last try… "Do you love me?" Her voice raised. "Love doesn't vanish when you become the Dark One. I know. Look at Belle and Rumplestiltskin. Look at me. Everything I did was for love."
Darkness fell over his face. Those eyebrows, once so full of expression, furrowed as his eyes became slits. "I don't have time for this." He waved a dismissive hand, and turned away from her. Before she knew it, he was striding out the forest.
Emma didn't move. She felt as if her feet were glued to the grass. "Answer the question," she shouted. "You owe me that."
He stopped at the edge of the clearing, but did not turn around. His one hand clenched into a fist by his side, nails digging into palms. He stood, shoulders tensed. "After what you did, I owe you nothing, Swan."
She knew she was treading on dangerous ground, and yet she persisted. "Do. You. Love. Me."
"YES," he shouted back. Black leather floated as he spun back around, and caught her directly in the eyes from across the clearing. "Of course I bloody well love you."
Blue eyes widened, and her heart pounded in her chest. That's what she needed to hear. When she spoke, she was surprised at how steady her voice was. "Then /why/…"
Suddenly he was inches away from her. Nose to nose. "Because, Swan, love is weakness. My love for you is what will bring me down."
His eyes were no longer narrowed, but wide, and laced with an underlying sadness. She saw Killian in there - /her/ Killian - in those eyes, as if he were silently begging her to save him. She longed to reach for Killian, to pull him out of the darkness. To pull him away from Hook. And she would.
She gripped his arms, looking up into his face. "When I made you forget that you were the Dark One, the darkness didn't take control of you. Killian, you lived with the darkness. You were fighting it without even knowing. Why can't you fight it now?"
"Swan, I…" He battled against the evil within him. Emma could see it on his face. She had fought that same war many times, always telling herself she'd embraced the darkness for the right reasons.
She could feel him. Killian. She could feel his struggle. A tear left his eye and made a slow path down his cheek. Emma reached up to catch it with a gentle fingertip. He closed his eyes at her touch.
"Killian, come back to me."
When his eyes opened, his face had settled. Hesitantly, he moved his hand up to stroke her face. Unable to help herself, she smiled up at him. His fingers traced over the cheek with the softest of touches. She closed her eyes, basking in the feeling. It'd been a long time.
"Emma, I love you," he said, without a hint of irony or sarcasm. He leaned down to kiss her lips softly. She remembered the feeling of his lips on hers, and how warm his body was when he held her.
She was still smiling when she murmured, "I love you too." against his lips.
"I wanted a life with you. That house. A future." A hand stroked down her neck. This time, shivers ran down her spine.
Slowly, she pulled back. "We can still have that."
"Oh Emma," he said. His smile mirrored hers. His hand had settled against her neck, the feeling of warmth all too familiar. Gradually, his face sobered and the darkness returned to his eyes. Emma was sensing something was already wrong when he said: "But I want my revenge more."
Her eyes widened in horror. "No…"
"Emma. I wish you didn't have to forget this. But you do." Suddenly, he snatched his hand away from her neck, and waved it in mid air. A dreamcatcher replaced red smoke.
Once again, her hands were gripping his arms, shaking him. "The light was /winning/, Killian. It was winning."
She was shouting in his face, but he didn't hear her. "I'm sorry, love. Perhaps, when this is all over, I'll come back for you. We can have that house." He held the dreamcatcher up to her face.
She tried to run, only to find she couldn't. Had he somehow stuck her to the floor? "Killian /please/. Take my memories again and I'll never forgive you."
He was smiling. "That's the thing, love. You won't remember anyway."
She felt a pressure on her forehead as the memories were extracted from her mind. It didn't hurt, but she felt an odd tugging sensation.
The last thing she saw was Killian's face, brows furrowed, face torn, as he realised what he was doing. But when it was over, she couldn't remember his face that had been there moments before. She couldn't remember anything.
All she knew was that Hook had to be brought down.