A small drabble I wrote today, based on the 5x13 sneak peak. Possible spoilers, obviously.


She's walking down Main Street when she sees her.

It's been twelve hours since she saw Killian. Twelve long hours since she saw the battered version of her love, the broken man he had become in his short time down in hell. And it's her fault. All her fault.

(If she hadn't been so selfish. If she had only listened the first time and let him go. If she had let her family help her sooner. If she hadn't taken that dagger and tried to be a hero…

If.)

The flashing image of him is seared in her memory, haunting her whenever she closes her eyes, overwhelming her whenever she stops. She just can't get it out of her head, and it makes her feel ill. She can't think about it, she can't, she can't. She needs to keep moving, even if that means leaving her family in Granny's to walk around this messed-up version of Storybrooke.

"Help! Someone please help!"

Emma spins and sees the girl, racing away from the library at top speed. She's dressed in tattered cloth, her hair in a disarray and a wide-eyed, terrified look on her young face. It's a stark contrast to the blank look almost every other inhabitant of this town wears.

"Please help!" The girl is looking straight at her now, a deer in the headlights. She races closer. "Please – I need to find Emma Swan."

Several thoughts race through her head – how does she know her name, what's going on? – before Emma replies. "I'm Emma Swan."

The girl sighs, shoulders sagging. Emma can now see the exhaustion, in the dark circles and the gauntness of her face. But those details make little impression on her. It's the words that fall from the girl's lips that catch her attention. "Please, Emma – I was sent to find you. He needs your help."

A little spark of hope creeps into Emma's heart. "Who?"

"Captain Killian Jones – Captain Hook. He needs you. He needs you to find him."

Once, she would have convinced herself that this was a trap – that she would never find him, that she would end up dead before she could try. But she knows now. She knows she can do it. She knows that she can find him. She will find him. She will save him. Always.

And at last, Emma Swan allows herself to believe.