Just another little oneshot that I thought of after seeing the spoiler picture of Jennifer walking down the dark streets of Storybrooke dressed in her Dark Swan outfit.
Emma is gone and no one knows where, until one night the new Dark One is spotted walking the streets. Or was she? Killian is determined to find out.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, including the spoiler picture!
It had been almost a week now since Emma had reappeared in Storybrooke. Her first sighting had been only a few days after she had disappeared in that black vortex.
It was late at night when she appeared, walking down the main street, Belle had been the one to spot her because she was late leaving the library after spending the day buried in books. She was pulling double duty, trying to find a solution to Rumples comatose state and find some clue towards Merlin and saving Emma. But when Belle saw Emma she had immediately ran to the docks and aboard the Jolly Roger, never second-guessing that Killian should be the first to know Emma was back.
The pair had raced back to the town center where Emma had disappeared that night and where Belle had just saw her minutes earlier, but there was no sign of her anywhere. Belle felt terrible and was so distraught that she thought she might've not seen Emma at all. She kept apologizing that she had gotten Killian's hopes up, just to let him down again.
"It's alright lass." Killian assured Belle again, stopping in the town center and taking a slower turn around, his eyes scanning every shadow. "I'm sure it was Emma that you saw."
"How?" Belle asks, holding her hands tightly in front of her and staring at him intently. "When I cannot be and I'm the one that thinks she saw her?"
"Because." Killian suppresses a sigh and turns to look at Belle. "It is only a matter of time before Emma was going to return. Dark One or not, this town is her home and everyone she cares about is here. She wouldn't be able to stay away for too long."
"You seem so sure."
"Aye." Killian nods his head and turns suddenly when he hears footsteps, but it's only the dwarf, Grumpy walking to his truck and Killian turns back to Belle. "Almost from the start I've been able to read Emma like one of your precious books. Our time together and growing closer has only improved my ability to understand her. In fact she's only taken me by complete surprise just once since our meeting. It was that night."
"When she sacrificed herself." Belle says sagely, nodding her head and offering a sympathetic smile.
"No…sacrificing herself wasn't the surprise" Killian shakes his head and earns a confused look from Belle. "I knew that night she sacrificed herself for the town that there was nothing I could say to stop her, but it didn't stop me from asking her to reconsider."
"Than what…" Belle stops herself before she can finish the question, thinking perhaps it was too private.
"What was the surprise?" Killian asks for her.
"Well yes." Belle nods, eager to hear, if he was willing to share.
Killian turns then and looks up to the sky, staring where Emma and the vortex had disappeared that night and sighs. "She told me she loved me."
He says the words with such wonder and reverence that Belle feels bad for bringing it up and tries quickly to be cheerful. "Well surely that couldn't have been too big of a surprise. I mean the way you two have been carrying on…we all could see it on your faces."
"Aye." Killian says lowering his gaze slowly back down to the ground and then back to Belle's. "I'm sure my feelings were very apparent for all to see, I made no secret towards my intentions. But Emma…she liked to keep things to herself…so much so that I think even she sometimes doesn't know what she's feeling."
"But you knew of course…
"I knew." Killian agreed looking away again. "Because, as I said before, I knew Emma…better than she knew herself sometimes…I knew that she had feelings for me that she couldn't name and didn't want to consider."
"Must have made it harder on you, when you were so open in return." Belle says in understanding, she faced similar struggles in her own relationship with Rumple.
"No, I understood Emma had walls that would take time to come down. The fact she was trying at all was more than I had expected at times." And then careful not to betray confidences, but wanting Belle to understand he lifts his gaze to hers again. "Emma had been let down many times in her past and having similar misfortunes in my own past I took every day as a gift. And treated her like the treasure I thought she was."
"So if you knew her so well, why were you surprised she told you how she felt that night?"
Killian hesitates now, unsure of how much he wants to share of their private moment. "When we returned from the Authors alternate world, for a moment, Emma thought I might've actually been dead at the hand of her parents." Killian says, still feeling a twinge remembering how the blade had felt being shoved into his back. "When she realized that I wasn't harmed, she was happy, more than happy. And…there was a moment…" Again Killian pauses to consider before speaking. "I had thought that she was going to tell me then how she felt, but she didn't."
"She hurt you." Belle says just above a whisper when Killian pauses again.
"Aye." Killian says, admitting for the first time, even to himself, that he had been hurt. "But it was only for a moment, before I understood. She had just witnessed me die in front of her eyes and to give such a piece of yourself over after something like that is hard for anyone. But for someone like Emma or I, who have already lost so much in our lives…well lets just say I understood and was prepared to wait much longer to hear the words."
"So what makes you think she said them that night after all?" Belle can't help but ask, surprised that Killian had given even this bit of insight into something they all could only wonder on before.
Both he and Emma were so private about what they shared. Not that they were together, because that was obvious to everyone. But why they were and what it meant to them…that was something that Belle would wonder on and knew others in town did as well. What could the Savior see in an old, reformed pirate? And why, after so many years, would he change so much of himself for her?
"I can only assume." Killian starts to respond, pulling Belle back from her thoughts. "She didn't want to leave this world with something so important left unsaid. At least that's what it was for me in the alternate world. I know I regretted it the moment I felt that sword in my back. I didn't have my memories, but even in that short time I had spent with Emma I knew I loved her. And to not tell her was almost more painful than death itself."
"Does it make it easier now? Knowing how she feels?"
Laughing without any humor Killian runs his fingers through his hair. "It was one of the most bittersweet moments of my life. Hearing the words I had been waiting to hear, but knowing that they were laced with goodbye. I don't think I ever felt so high and so low at the same time."
The two settle into a uncomfortable silence after that as they walk together down another side street, Belle being the first to break it.
"I'm sorry for bring all this up. It can't be easy…"
"Aye." Killian agrees. "But than not talking about it isn't any easier."
They fall into another silence, this one not as uncomfortable as the first. They finish walking through the center of town and all the side streets and come back to stand at the center again. "What do we do now?" Belle asks looking at Killian.
"Now we go to her parents and tell them what you saw."
"I didn't really see anything." Belle says shaking her head. "At least not that I can be sure of."
"Be that as it may, they still should know there is a chance that Emma is back." Killian says, unwilling to let Belle think she had been mistaken. He turns then and starts leading the way to the loft, he waits until Belle falls into step beside him to speak. "I want to thank you lass for letting me speak of Emma. It's been hard this past week and I never know quite what to say to the Lad or her parents."
"I understand." Belle says and patting Killian lightly on the arm. "And just know that if you ever want to talk about Emma in the future I'm always willing to listen. I would like to think of us as friends, which I considering how we started out is quite strange, but you are surprisingly good a research."
Killian laughs again with humor this time and then gently scratches the back of his neck with his hook. A sign that he clearly is uncomfortable. "And know lass…if you ever need to talk about you and…well you know you and…"
Understanding what he was trying to say Belle quickly shakes her head. "Oh no, that won't be necessary!" She assures Killian. "I think even that would be too strange."
"Alright." Killian says, clearly relieved. They have reached the apartment building by now and Killian holds the door open for Belle to go through, he looks down at her when she pauses in the door way, and lifts one eyebrow in a silent question.
"We're going to figure this all out and get Emma back Killian." Belle says, wanting to assure him after hearing everything he had shared. "I don't pretend to know her or you very well, but I think you're missing another reason Emma told you she loved you before it was too late."
"And what's that?"
"She didn't want you to give up and lose hope…this way you have something to hold on to."
"Aye…" Killian says with a small nod. "Thank you for reminding me of that lass."
"You're welcome." Belle says and quickly enters the building and leads Killian up the stairs.
Once again leaving the streets of Storybrooke empty. Emma waits in the shadows an extra moment to be sure that they weren't going to return right away. It was late after all and her parents might not answer, but no, from the street below she watches as the lights in their apartment turn on and soon the window is bright. Stepping out of the shadow Emma reaches out towards the light but winces and pulls her hand back when she sees the way it reflects the streetlight. With her skin that was so translucent she was barely human, she was a monster. It would be better if she remembered that and it was well past time that she reminded all of them.
Stepping out of the shadows now, avoiding the streetlights, Emma pops her collar up and walks the sidewalk. No longer would she cower and wait for them to save her. She didn't need saving. She was the Dark One after all.
She would be just fine.