Inspired by the song "Far Longer Than Forever" from The Swan Princess.

"How'd you end up with like this?" Merida asked curiously as they were sitting by the bonfire, which Emma had created with her magic. It was dark and they had agreed to make camp for the night and continue their journey in the morning. The poor girl couldn't have gotten much sleep in the last couple of days judging by the dark circles under her eyes.

"How'd I end up as the Dark One?" Emma asked. "You really want to know about that?"

"I reckon that since you want to get rid of it you didn't take on the role willingly," Merida said.

"Actually I did," Emma admitted. "I had no choice, the darkness had to be tethered to a person and I wasn't about to let anyone else take it on. I did it to save my family. And now I have to find Merlin so he can help me destroy the darkness once and for all."

"That was very brave of you," Merida said. "What's your family like?"

Emma looked up at the stars with longing, hoping that they were alright. "Well," she said. "There's my parents, they're very overprotective but they mean well. Then there's my brother Neal who's only a baby and Henry, my son, I can't believe he's thirteen already, it won't be long now before he'll be chasing girls and he's just growing up so fast. And then there's my -" she fell silent, not knowing what to call him, she was thirty years old, the word boyfriend didn't seem to fit. "Well Killian, he's my - well we're-"

"Lovers?" Merida offered, causing Emma to blush. They hadn't even gone that far yet, she'd seen Killian shirtless a couple of times but that was as much as she had seen. It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to or that he hadn't wanted to, she was no virgin and although he hadn't told her much about his past experiences she reckoned he'd had plenty of experience in the three centuries he'd been alive. She wished that they hadn't waited as long, she didn't know if she was ever going to see him again or anyone else in her family. She'd have liked to have a memory like that to hold onto.

"I guess you could call it that, it's pretty complicated," Emma said.

"So you left them to go search for this - Merlin?" Merida guessed.

"Yeah, you could say that," Emma answered. "I don't want to endanger them, it's best they don't find me until all this is over."

"You think they'll come looking for you?"

"Probably, my family has a saying that we always find each other, I´m sure they'll try but they're very far away and this time I don't think they will."

.

Killian stood at the helm aboard the Jolly Roger, looking at the calm sea in front of him, clutching the Dark One's dagger in his hand. It was so dark out tonight that it was hard to see where the sky began and the water ended. He looked up at the stars, still not quite used to this realm's new constellations. He wondered if Emma was able to see the stars where ever she was now.

Where ever she was he would find her and get her back. Nothing had stopped him from finding her in the past and nothing was going to stop him this time either.

He closed his eyes, trying to imagine what Emma might be doing, hoping that she was alright. His Swan was a tough lass, she'd be able to fend off whichever monster that was unfortunate enough to cross her path. He had no doubt about that.

But gods, he missed her. The fake memories planted inside his head by the author made it seem like they had been separated for a lifetime. They didn't get more than a few hours together before she was taken from him again.

He looked down at the dagger in his hand, the one he'd wanted to get his hands - well hand - on for centuries. Now the mere sight of it filled him with disgust and he wanted nothing more than to throw it away, out of his sight. This cursed blade that used to bear the name of his worst enemy now had the name of the woman he loved written across it. The letters seemed to be staring up at him, taunting him, reminding him of how he not only failed to kill the crocodile but also to protect the heart of the woman he loved more than anything else in all the realms. She was gone, somewhere far away, completely alone, with the darkness inside her. He had to find her before it was too late.

"I'll find you Emma," he said to the dagger in his hand. "I swear to it!"