Emma was never one for tattoos, but she was slightly jealous of all the inhabitants of Storybrooke.
In the Enchanted Forest, everyone is born with the faint outline of a mark. It was a symbol of their true love located on various parts of the body. Once someone meets their true love, the tattoo darkens and gets colored in.
Mary Margaret had the faint outline of a sheep on the back of her neck until she was twenty-two. That morning, when she interrupted "James" and Abigail's carriage ride, the sheep colored itself in. She didn't realize it at first – the burning feeling wasn't the most pressing matter of the moment, and it wasn't until David showed Snow White the deep red heart with a tiara surrounding it that they realized they were true loves.
Regina and Robin also had the mark, but their story took an odd turn. Regina, who had the outline of a bow and arrow on her inner arm above her palm, felt her tattoo shade in as she looked inside of the tavern one evening. Tinkerbelle had brought her there, and it was another sign that she was staring at her true love through the window. However, she left without a second glance, putting make up over it to hide it from her husband.
Robin had felt the burning of his own tattoo, and looked down to be pleasantly surprised that his faded outline had turned into a dark red apple. He looked around the bar and found the only woman in the room, going up to her and asking about her tattoo. Coincidentally, the woman also had her marking filled in that very evening, and they thought they were soul mates.
They got along fine, but it wasn't until Regina and Robin met in person that Regina realized how naive she had been to leave, and how foolish Robin had been to think Marian was his soul mate.
Even Belle and Rumpelstiltskin had tattoos of each other. Mr. Gold had the outline of a single rose in a glass case, and it colored itself in the day he saved Sir Maurice from the Ogre Wars. Belle, on the other hand, had a dagger on her hip, and it was only after she had agreed to come live with the dark one and was given a new set of clothes that she realized it had been colored in.
(They ignored their tattoos for a very long time. How could she ever fall in love with a beast? What would people say?)
Growing up in the real world, she always thought she had some weird birthmark. It was only after coming to Storybrooke and her parents retelling their story (again) that she realized the small marking (that looked strangely like a hook) on the outside of her ankle was not a mole, but the outline of who her true love could be.
Of course she disregarded it. There was no way she was going to believe that a silly tattoo is what defined who the person could be with.
When Emma and Mary Margaret were taken through the portal, they landed in a dystopian Enchanted Forest. She met fairytale characters she had grown up knowing, like Mulan and Aurora and Sir Lancelot.
And Captain Hook.
Emma had assumed the itching on her ankle was merely some sort of bug that pranced around in the Enchanted Forest. She would scratch it through her jeans, not even thinking about the outline that was hovering on her leg.
The two went up the beanstalk, and Emma got cut in the process. Captain Hook, the "gentleman" he was, was cleaning it and wrapping it for her. With only one hand, he had to use his mouth, which is when Emma noticed something on his chest. As he leaned down, his shirt fell slightly (and she couldn't help but look at what was beyond his shirt), and she saw a marking above his heart. As he stood up, finishing his work, she grabbed his shirt and ripped it away from his chest (rolling her eyes at the vast array of innuendos that were spilling out of his mouth).
Her eyes widened as she saw a beautiful swan, flying right above his heart. It had a red outline – clearly it had just been colored in. It was only then that she took off her boot and rolled up her pants to see that her birthmark looked different. It was darker, it was colored it.
It represented who her true love was.
She refused to believe it, pushing it out of her mind as she fought the giant with him. Once they got what the compass, Emma chained Hook up, claiming that she couldn't trust that she was wrong about him.
"How can you be wrong about your true love, Swan?"
Emma's eyes watered as she backed away from the man with the swan tattoo, refusing to turn around, wanting to look at him as long as possible.
Then she left him.
She didn't tell anyone about her marking, and as more and more citizen's tattoos colored in (Ruby had a test tube, Dr. Whale had a wolf… Thomas had a broom, Ashley had a crown…), Emma's chest hurt more and more. She began to think often of her true love, her once chance of romantic happiness, that she had left above a beanstalk, in a different world, and she would probably never see him again.
It was only one morning when her hook tattoo began to burn that she confessed to her mother her suspicions. Mary Margaret pursed her lips. She hated the idea that her daughter's soul mate was a measly pirate, but she was the staple of true love. Who was she to deny what it meant when her daughter's tattoo was shaded in after meeting Captain Hook?
Emma talked through it with her mother, and she began to feel better about the situation. In fact, for a couple of years, she completely forgot about the pirate. She had other duties she had to perform not only as a savior, but also now as a mother.
It wasn't until her sixteen-year-old son, Henry, shared excitedly that his marking, a rabbit in a teacup located on his bicep, had been shaded in that she thought of Hook again. He was buzzing about how Grace Jefferson had a tattoo of a storybook behind her ear, and how happy he was that he found his true love so early in life.
(Both Regina and Emma had to talk to him about rushing into things too quickly, since he was very eager to go on dates and kiss his new girl friend).
That night, as she was lying in bed, she looked at the cold, empty space next her. Her mind kept drifting to what her life could have been like if she had accepted the pirate all those years ago. Would she be married? Would she have toddlers running around?
Would she feel fulfilled?
Her heart ached more and more as Henry's relationship with Grace started to blossom. She was so happy to see her son in such a loving place in his life, and she genuinely liked Grace as a girl. She even liked her father (when she ignored the fact that he had kidnapped her six years ago).
She dated a few men here and there, hoping it would dull the thought at the back of her mind that she gave up her true love out of cowardice. Nothing stuck, though. Nothing ever stuck.
One day, she noticed her hook tattoo was starting to fade. She went to her father to ask what his tattoo looked like, and it was as bright as ever, the shading of the heart and tiara accenting his skin perfectly.
That's when she knew she had lost his love forever.
Killian got off the beanstalk and went back to his life of pirating, parting ways with Cora and creating one swashbuckling tale after another. He never felt complete, though.
Every morning, as he dressed, he would look in the mirror at the large swan displayed across his chest. He thought of the angel with golden hair that left him atop the beanstalk. In most circumstances, he would have found a way to avenge on the woman, leaving him alone with a bloody giant. But not her, not his true love.
As his tattoo began to fade, so did the memory of her. He didn't remember what Emma's face looked like, didn't remember the sound of her voice, how tall she was, what she was like. Yet, she was still the thing on his mind most, and he knew he had to find a way to her.
Taking a leap of faith, he traded his precious jewel, The Jolly Roger, for a magic bean. Throwing it and watching the earth swirl around it, he took a deep breath and started to think of the woman who has changed his life. He jumped in and fell through the portal to an odd town.
Storybrooke.
He went around town, knocking on doors and running through the streets, but couldn't find Emma. He eventually gave up, retreating to the docks and watching the water. He already missed it, thinking about how he was never going to see The Jolly again, or how he wasn't going to sail the open seas.
His heart began to pulse, it started to burn. He quickly placed his hand above his chest, trying to push down the pain it was causing. He let out a whimper, falling down off the chair until he was lying on the wooden ledge.
A woman started shouting, and even with his eyes closed, he could hear running over to him and crouching down above him. Her words were unintelligible, but he clung on to whoever it was, anyway. Once the woman touched him, the pain went away, and an ice-cold sensation throbbed through his body. He shifted his head and looked up at his savior.
The Savior.
When their eyes met, and Emma nearly dropped Killian back onto the floor, stopping herself only because his eyes were pleading with her.
"Hi…" he said.
"Hey…" she replied.
"Are you ready to give this a try now, Love?" Killian jumped right to the point. He was done stepping over toes, done ignoring his feelings. Done looking for the woman who was holding him, the one who his own tattoo designated as his true love. Emma stared into Killian's face, and as well as he could read her, he didn't quite know what she was thinking.
It was only after she leaned down and brushed her lips upon the pirate's did he know he made the right choice.