A Light Worth Living For

by HollyeLeigh

When Hook first became the Dark One, villagers would show up at all hours to plead their case of woe to him. Tired of inconvenient interruptions, he arranged three days each season when peasants could come to throw themselves on his mercy, though they had to know he possessed no such virtue. It was all about the deal.

4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Afternoon light infused the hallway leading towards the great hall, particles swirling whimsically in the soft beams, pulling a sardonic smile from Emma as she quietly padded along the corridor. She doubted very much that anything as fanciful as the way the dust danced in the air awaited her. Certain as she was that the scenes playing out in the gallery where Hook was engaging with his subjects would make her wish she had never left the confines of the room, after almost two full days, Emma had been unable to endure another moment of being trapped within those four walls.

That is not to say she had been imprisoned, Hook had made it clear, via the servant who had delivered her breakfast tray the morning before, that she was permitted to wander the castle and interact with the people as she saw fit. However, she'd had not the desire to do much of anything other than pack her bag and fortify her resolve, positive she'd need those reinforcements when Hook returned at the end of the day, enticing her body and her magic with his mere presence, as she did not doubt for a moment he was fully aware of the effect he had on both.

He never came, though. In fact, she had not seen him since he left their room the day before. A second missive had accompanied her morning meal, a reminder that she was free to leave the room at any time, as well as an update that he had sent out letters on her behalf and hoped to begin hearing back from his acquaintances soon. Nerves had begun to churn in her stomach at the prospect of putting herself in the hands of another magic wielder, concerns as to whether they would find her as poor a student as Hook seemed to, in addition to her instinct to return to that which was familiar and safe, even if going back to Neal was a worse decision than remaining where she was, had consumed her thoughts throughout the day. Deciding a distraction was in order, as well as a reminder as to why leaving the Dark One's tutelage was best, Emma now found herself tucked away in the shadows of the upper gallery, looking down on the proceedings occurring within the great hall.

"Only one delinquent account today, my Lord," the Dark One's Steward announced, leading a group of peasants before the dais.

"If it pleases the Dark One," one of the men began, cutting off the Steward as he began identifying those who had fallen behind on their taxes. "I am not at fault here. You see, these people," he flippantly gestured to the group beside him, his lip curling with a disgusted snarl, "are the ones who are delinquent, not I. They owe me a considerable sum in back rent, and until they settle their debt with me, I cannot possibly pay you the taxes owed."

Hook lifted his gaze from where it had been focused on the tip of his hook, idly running beneath the edge of his fingernails, and turned to the huddled assembly of renters, quivering in fear. "Have you a valid reason for not paying your rent in a timely fashion?"

"A-Actually, my Lord," one of the peasants spoke up with a tremor vibrating along his words that Emma could practically feel from her perch. "We… we have not paid our rent because the boarding house we were all living in caught fire more than a month ago, and our landlord has not made the necessary repairs."

"Not that it was fit for man or beast to live in before it went up in flames," a boy of about fourteen muttered, not quite beneath his breath and earning him a nervous elbow in his side from what appeared to be a sibling.

Hook's brow rose up his forehead as he cocked his head in the landlord's direction. "Is that so? Have you been derelict in your responsibility to your tenants?"

The man puffed out his chest and raised his chin. "I am not convinced the fire wasn't the result of carelessness on their part," he argued. "Their contracts are clear in regards to matters of destruction of property, and if the blaze occurred because of a neglected candle or lantern-"

"We ain't had no money for lantern oil in ages!" the young man protested. "And candles are a luxury we can't afford to squander. The fire wasn't our doing, it was the weather!"

Several others jumped in to back the lad up, citing the strange phenomenon that had occurred the evening in question when the house had inexplicably caught fire prior to an unexpected downpour. They all deduced the damage had been caused by lightning, a provision within their contracts that clearly fell to the proprietor to remedy, but Emma had a sinking suspicion she knew exactly who had been at fault.

Though his expression remained passive, Emma could detect tells within Hook's demeanor that gave away his guilt. Not that he would have felt any sort of remorse over his actions that night, conjuring up a fireball within the palm of his hand and casting it towards the thatch roof that had gone up like kindling just so she could draw on the necessary power it took to manifest the storm. She remembered arguing with him once the fire had been doused, her desire to repair the structure gruffly shot down as he whisked them away before anyone was the wiser to their presence.

"Enough!" Hook bellowed, causing all those within earshot, including Emma, to flinch. "Perhaps you would be good enough to allow me a look at their contracts?"

It wasn't a request, made evident by the lowering of his brows, the ticking in his jaw, and the expectant hand he had held out towards the landlord. The air thickened with tension, and for a moment Emma thought the man might be foolish enough to refuse Hook's request. After the contract was deposited in his hand, Hook flicked his palm and the scroll unfurled in the air, magically suspended as keen, blue eyes scrutinized the page.

"Deals are a tenet of my magic," Hook confided while he continued to peruse the parchment. "The Darkness is most astute when making deals. It knows every loophole, every advantage so it, or its esteemed host-" he bowed his head before them, a mocking smirk pulling taut on his lips "-always has the upper hand. As such," the scroll snapped, tightly wound and once more in Hook's grip, "we can perceive when a deal, any deal, has not been met in good faith, and it is clear to me, according to article two, paragraph six, that it is not your tenants who owe either you or I, but you who owe them."

Sputtering, the landlord attempted to refute such a judgement, but was silenced by a wave of Hook's hand.

"I find that not only are your tenants free from the terms of their contracts, but that each should receive compensation for the poor excuse of lodging you provided them for an exorbitant price." Again, the man opened his mouth, but quickly discovered he no longer had a voice with which to argue. "My Steward will work out the necessary details and see to it recompense is given promptly, lest you find yourself in the role of tenant within the less than luxuriant accommodations of my dungeon." Taking in the group with a bored look, Hook commented, "I trust this satisfactorily concludes the matter?"

The stunned villagers offered their gratitude as they were ushered out of the hall, while the landlord continued to try, and failed, to locate his voice, having to be bodily removed from the room by two guards. Emma, too, was astounded by the turn of events. Had he known all along the boarding house proprietor was cheating his tenants? If so, why the fire? Why not simply take the man to task another way? Was it because doing so would have offered no benefit to either him or the Darkness? What benefit did they receive by the verdict that had been issued?

The Dark One was pinching the bridge of his nose when the solid doors of the great hall creaked open. Chewing her lip, Emma watched as the young man who had been the most vocal against his landlord made his way into the room.

"Lad," Hook greeted, stepping down from the dais. "You've come to uphold your end of our bargain, I presume?"

Emma's heart constricted painfully in her chest. What had the boy done, and what price was he about to pay?

"Yes. Though I was starting to wonder whether you would make good on the deal."

Rocking back onto his heels, Hook tucked his thumb in his belt and hummed pensively. "I admit, it took me longer than I'd planned, but everything seems to have worked out in the end." Looking over the boy's shoulder to the doorway and the corridor beyond, he pondered, "Do your parents, or the others, know you sought out my help during the last tax collection? Do they know of our deal?"

"No," the boy answered sadly. "I just hope, whatever the price, you'll allow me the opportunity to explain and say my goodbyes first."

Tears pooled in Emma's eyes and her throat tightened in response to the choked tone in the lad's words. What horror awaited him? What was the price for freeing his family from their lease and having the landlord literally pay for his crimes?

Hook rested a hand on the boy's shoulder, and an expression of warmth she had rarely witnessed from him shone from his features. "I think I can arrange that," Hook murmured. "When you come clean, you can inform them that yesterday a blacksmith was brought before me, delinquent in his taxes because he had suffered a grave injury and found himself unable to work at the pace he once could. I agreed to give him an extension so he could find and hire an apprentice that might help take up the slack. I think you would serve him well, lad, and leaving your family in order to assist the blacksmith as his apprentice is the price I am insisting upon."

"M-Me? An apprentice to a blacksmith? A real apprentice?"

"Aye. You'll be given lodging and meals while learning the trade, as well as a fair stipend. I'll see to that."

The boy launched himself at Hook, nearly knocking him over with the force of his embrace. The Dark One stiffened, clearly caught off guard by the lad's response, then slowly wrapped his arms around his small frame, returning the gesture briefly before stepping back.

"Yes, well," Hook cleared his throat and his hand pawed at a patch of skin behind his ear. "See my Steward before you leave and he'll make all the arrangements." Tendrils of crimson smoke began to billow around the Dark One's feet, then quickly encapsulated him, transporting him from the emotionally fraught scene before the boy could utter another word.

Emma departed the hall as well, though through more conventional means, utilizing the time it took to stroll back to her room to try and come to terms with what she had witnessed that afternoon.

~/~

Morning was not a welcomed sight when the soft glow of dawn crept through the window. Having stayed up most of the night contemplating the quandary of a man who vexed her at every turn, Emma finally came to the conclusion in the wee hours of the morning that none of the new insights she'd gleaned the evening before made any difference to her decision to leave. One good deed hardly negated the despicable acts he had instigated during their time together, making her his accomplice under the guise of instruction. Besides, Hook had said it himself, the Dark One does not make deals unless he can benefit from them in some way, so who was to say he would not profit from his deal with the boy at the lad's expense at some point in the future?

Of course, it was a difficult reminder to bear when Emma thought back to the tender way Hook had engaged with the young man. Almost as if he did care about the lad's future and the injustice his family and the others at the boarding house had endured. As though he wanted to see to it the landlord got what was coming to him. Which brought her back to her previous questions. Why the deal? Why not simply intervene on his own? Questions that would have to remain unanswered, seeing as she was leaving today. Much to her magic's despair.

A pit had begun to form in her stomach as the hours passed overnight. A hollow ache formed even deeper, right in the very center of her, mourning and melancholy eating away at her conviction. Still, Emma could not afford to be wrong about him. Regardless of the new evidence that might contradict her earlier summations, she would not risk staying and being seduced down a path towards corruption, no matter how much her own magic might protest their separation.

The gnawing dread lingered throughout the day, deepening at the arrival of Hook's now routine note, then again when she watched the mass exodus of peasants leaving the castle now that the tax collection was at an end and all that remained was to settle the final day's delinquent accounts. All too soon, he would arrive in their room with her choices of where to go next. All too soon, she would be standing with him in this room, fending off the allure of his person and power while subjugating her own. All too soon, her deal with the Dark One would be a memory filled with regret, though she knew not yet whether that regret would stem from her choice to leave their bargain unfulfilled, or from having spent time here at all.

A knock at the door made Emma jump, she hadn't expected Hook to knock, it was his room after all, and she'd never known him to announce his presence before. A second rap prompted her to open the door where she found the Steward standing at attention.

"His Lordship has requested the honor of your presence in the great hall, Mrs. Cassidy. Would you be good enough to come with me?"

Emma gestured for him to lead the way, worrying her lip as she padded after him. "What has he summoned me for?"

"It is not my place to say," the Steward answered, dutifully. "Rest assured, all will be revealed once we've arrived."

Perhaps he wanted to discuss the replies he'd received in a more formal setting? Emma stumbled slightly as she considered whether he was summoning her to the great hall because those replies had come in person. Surely, none of those he'd contacted would have come here? Were there other sorcerers and witches awaiting her at this very moment? Were they expecting a demonstration? Or worse yet - would it be worse? - had they all sent back a reply that they were not interested in taking on a new pupil? What if he had brought Neal or August to the castle to come and collect her since she had no other options?

Of all the possibilities swirling through her mind and churning in her gut, none could have caught her off guard like the presence of the woman standing before the dais as Emma entered the cavernous room.

"There you are!" the woman exclaimed, rushing towards Emma.

Despite all the arguments she'd been giving herself about Hook's black character, she could not believe he would be so cruel as to make her face the woman she had widowed when she'd chosen to save her from the wraith rather than her husband; a woman whose approach made Emma flinch in anticipation of her grief-fueled and possibly volatile response.

However, volatile was not how Emma would end up describing the exchange. Grief-fueled, yes. Evident by the tears streaking down the woman's cheeks and the way she sobbed into Emma's shoulders after throwing her arms around her, but nothing more explosive than an outpouring of emotion and gratitude.

"Bless you," the woman wept. "Bless you for what you did. We were both prepared to be the one to… but you made it so we wouldn't have to live with that guilt. I can never thank you enough for what you've done."

Stunned into silence, it took Emma several moments to process the woman's confounding words. "I… I don't understand. You're thanking me for damning your husband to-"

"No, no. You freed us!" the woman replied. "Freed us from a terrible curse with an even more terrible price to be rid of it. Because of you, I can… I can finally grow old and die."

Emma balked. "Die? What...?"

The woman glanced back to where Hook was standing, stoic and brooding with his eyes fixed on Emma. "You did not tell her?" the woman asked over her shoulder before turning back to Emma. "My husband and I were cursed with immortality many years ago. You can not imagine the pain of watching those you love, your very children even, grow old and die, leaving you alone to suffer their loss."

"Your children? But I thought…"

"The children you saw the other night are actually my great-grandchildren. My husband and I lost our only grandchild and her husband to influenza last year, so we've been looking after them, but…"

"But what?"

Fresh tears crested the woman's lashes and she choked back a sob. "We could not bear the thought of having to lose another generation of our family, so we sought out the Dark One for help in freeing us of our curse. For who else besides one with such dark magic could possibly remove one's soul?"

"Remove your soul?" Emma gasped. "That's what was required to break your curse?"

Nodding, the woman said, "We came to the Dark One on our knees, begging for his help, each of us willing to be the one to sacrifice our soul so the other could be free, and he agreed. The deal was for him to find a way to remove one of our souls and in exchange we agreed to pay whatever price he would demand of us at the time of completion."

Emma's eyes flicked toward Hook. "And what price did you demand?"

His chest labored, releasing a heavy sigh before replying, "I'll show you after you've finished conversing."

"Oh! I won't keep you any longer," the woman said, embracing Emma once more. "I know it must have been hard for you to choose, but I want you to know I do not blame you for your choice. As I said, we were both willing to be the one sacrificed, and I know my husband would have preferred it this way. I miss him terribly, but the Dark One assures me he did not suffer, so I take comfort in that."

Brushing away her tears, the woman left an affectionate kiss upon Emma's cheek and took both her hands. "Take care of yourself, my dear. You have a rare and powerful gift. Treat it well."

"I will."

Saying her good-byes to Hook, the woman made her way out of the great hall, her countenance a mystifying mixture of unburdened relief tinged with heartache. Meanwhile, Emma could not tame the torments afflicting her thoughts and emotions, attempting to bring order to the chaos the woman had wrought on her previously assured assumptions.

"Shall we?" Hook said, startling her with his proximity as he must have walked over to her while she was deep in her contemplations.

"Shall we what?"

An amused huff fell from his lips and he cocked an eyebrow at her. "You wanted to know the price they paid, remember?"

~/~

When the ox-blood wisps of his magic dissipated, Hook stepped back and allowed Swan to take in his workshop. The Darkness hissed in protest beneath his skin, chafing at the intrusion of her presence within the one place Hook considered his sanctuary, but he paid it no heed. He wanted her here, wanted her to understand, to see this side of him and perhaps leave without thinking him a monster.

Swan slowly perused her surroundings, pausing briefly here and there to study an object of interest or attempt to make sense of a curiosity. Her exquisite face reflected every pondering, every sense of awe and wonder, as it twitched and wrinkled across her brow, pulled at the tender flesh of her lip, and sparkled in the well of her viridian gaze. Running his thumb over the pads of his fingers, Hook tried to quell the itch that had begun to form there - the compulsion to reach out for her both physically and with his magic tingling behind his nail beds. The response of her own magic was not helping matters, examining the enchantment that surrounded her with its own explorations, seeking to understand and connect with the power that inhabited not just the room, but many of the items and experiments within.

Struggling to maintain a tight rein on his magic, and other instincts that might distract them from the purpose for which he'd brought her to his workshop, Hook mustered all the patience he could manage as Swan continued her inspection, a startled gasp falling from her lips when she at last caught sight of the price he'd collected.

"Is… is that?"

"Aye," he responded, watching as she approached the man's body, her hand hovering over the glimmer of enchantment encasing him.

"A preservation spell?" she inquired, snapping her gaze up to his. "Why would you-"

"To protect his body whilst I seek out a remedy."

"A remedy?" Her eyes grew wide and her lips parted. "You hope to restore his soul? How? How would that even be possible?"

"It wouldn't have been if I had given in to the Darkness' wishes when the couple first requested my help."

"What do you mean, the Darkness' wishes?"

"The Darkness wanted me to remove one of their souls then and there, but doing so would have destroyed it," he explained. "Of course, its destruction would have been payment enough to satisfy the price such magic would require, but I was loath to do it. My pesky humanity getting in the way, I suppose."

Swan shook her head in perplexity. "You're not making sense. You speak of the Darkness as though it were a separate entity. You are the Dark One, the embodiment of the Darkness, how can you have desires contrary to yourself?"

Hook arched a brow and cocked his head. "Have you never been at war with yourself, love? Surely, now that you have become so intimately acquainted and entwined with your magic you have experienced the struggle of it wishing to react in a way opposite to your better judgments?"

A warm wash of pink tinted her cheeks and her eyes fell to the side, avoiding his knowing expression.

"While my situation might be more complicated, I know that, though not entirely sentient, one's magic can seem as though it has its own identity, unique to that of its wielder and yet completely integrated into one's self."

Glancing up at him once more, her eyes narrowed. "You said your situation was more complicated." Although her eyes remained piercing and expectant, her expression reflected nothing more than her curiosity and longing to understand. "Uncomplicate it for me."

Running his hand through his hair, Hook released a heavy sigh while hushing the voices demanding he hold his tongue.

"I was once just a man, born without any magical ability, and though I was a pirate, I did have some semblance of humanity within me. A sense of good form and a certain code I tried to maintain. When I became the Dark One, that man surrendered to the worst parts of himself while his heart became infused with a magic fuelled by those darker impulses. Etched upon that magic is the collective imprint of all the previous Dark Ones. Their combined presence is the Darkness. They are the ones who incite mutiny within me, causing my humanity to do battle with my rage and thirst for vengeance, which are the grounding emotions my magic is tethered to. They are the ones who have bound my magic with tenets that require deals, the reason my magic always comes with a price. For centuries I have not bothered to battle against it, content to simply let it lure desperate souls in need of aid to enter into bargains they did not fully understand," he hesitated a moment before continuing, "but then…"

No! No, you fool! She need not know the influence she has over you. Why give her such power?

There is a reason you have not confided your plan to her. You know you cannot truly give someone such control over you, over us. Do not deceive yourself into thinking you can trust her. That she'll ever see you as anything other than what you are.

She wants to leave, so let her leave! Nothing you say now will change her mind. Why waste your breath with this pointless explanation?

"Then… what?"

Shutting out the chorus of tormentors, Hook flicked his gaze to capture hers and confessed, "I met you."

He hoped her sharp intake of breath was due to the revelation and not the snarling tone, intended for his incessant companions, he'd accidentally applied to it.

"Me? What was so-"

"You reminded me of her," he said, pushing past the protests and allowing the long-held words to trip off his tongue with abandon. "My Milah. The way she, too, had been trapped in a marriage with a man who did not value her. Could not see the true worth of the treasure he had right in front of him, squandering her gifts and talents because they might disrupt the mediocrity he was willing to settle for." Running his tongue along his bottom lip, Hook surrendered to the flood of memories he'd buried with his love centuries ago. "I did not steal her from Rumplestiltskin. I offered her an escape; one she chose to take, finally claiming command over her own destiny. But her husband could not bear the slight. Oh, he was too much of a coward to do anything at first, but once he became the Dark One, he hunted us."

Hook could barely get the words out. How Rumplestiltskin had tracked them down to that port, how Hook had lied and told him Milah was dead, how they had dueled and he'd nearly lost his life until Milah arrived against his orders, saving him only to lose her life by the Dark One's hand.

"He crushed her heart," he exhaled in a pained breath. "Right in front of me. Mocked me as I held her lifeless body, telling me he was going to let me live so I would suffer as he had. Then he cut off my hand for good measure. As a reminder, he'd said. As though I could ever forget." He was far away now, back on the deck of his ship, agony searing in his left wrist and twisting his own heart, hoping the anguish might be enough to grind it to ash alongside hers. "He was crouched down before me, sneering and tittering his triumph, and I caught a glimmer of something shining from his waist. Marshalling all my rage and the last of my strength, I-"

The brush of a hand against his cheek and the infusion of solace magically permeating his innermost being from the source of her touch jarred him back to his tower workshop and the woman to whom he was supposed to be giving an account of his recent actions. Swan's eyes were filled with worry as they flickered between his, and it took more resolve than he'd care to admit to not take advantage of her concern with a press of his lips and suggestions of other ways she might offer him comfort. Reluctantly, he stepped back, away from her touch and the caress of her magic, his own power - the parts unhindered by the Darkness' sway - rebelling against his resignation.

Clearing his throat, Hook wandered to the other side of the tower, putting the expanse of his workshop between them as he got back to the matter at hand. "As I said, you reminded me of her. That remembrance, combined with the effects of your magic, untainted and pure, awakened something unexpected within me."

"What was that?" Swan asked from across the room, arms crossed protectively over her chest and her expression giving away nothing as to how his withdrawal might have affected her.

"My humanity," he sighed. "After I became the Dark One, I didn't even attempt to fight the Darkness' bid to control me. My hand and my heart - for I truly felt as though it had been crushed alongside hers - were gone, and I did not much care about anyone or anything after that. I fell straight into the darkness, forgoing the man I used to be and embracing the moniker I have come to be known as - Hook. The Dark One."

"I suppose that's understandable," she said, though there was a wariness in her understanding. "But you must have had moments of compassion over the centuries. I… my magic alone could not have been the only catalyst prompting you towards good in all this time, and even it was… I'm still not sure I would categorize your recent actions as honorable."

A smirk lifted wryly at the corner of his lip. "Perhaps not, but it is the best I've been able to do given my limitations."

"Limitations I still do not fully understand," she quipped, her impatience with his cryptic and coy nature clipping at the end of her words.

Hook ground his teeth together, tempering the increasing irritation cresting within him from the relentless admonishments and reprimands droning on in the back of his head. Fending off the Darkness' influence on his own was something he'd only begun a few months ago and there were times when he could not gather the necessary stamina to keep it at bay. Vowing this would not be one of those times, that he would find some sort of outlet for the Darkness to unleash its vitriol and cruelty on later, once Swan was out of its crosshairs, Hook fortified his resolve and pressed on.

"My magic is restricted by the deals I am required to make in order to wield it for any sort of benefit to others."

"I know," Swan replied with a small shrug of her shoulders. "You told that to the group of renters yesterday."

Hook hummed and lifted his brows. "I thought I sensed you… your magic. You didn't have to hide, you know."

"I wasn't hiding. I just... didn't want to… intrude," she protested, though her tone and the way she became overly interested in one of the quills on his desk, casually running her fingers over the feather and refusing to meet his gaze told him otherwise.

Perhaps sensing his dubious expression, she huffed, recrossed her arms, and accused, "You're avoiding the issue again."

Hook held up his hand in supplication, schooling his features into a more contrite countenance. "My apologies, love. Let's start with that group of renters then, shall we? It was, after all, when the boy returned to make a deal with me after the last tax collection concluded that I realized something was different."

"How so?"

Hook took them back to that day. He'd just made the deal with Swan, had left her to settle in while he cleared his head and curbed his magic's (and other parts of himself) response to hers, when his Steward had announced the return of one of his subjects. He'd half expected Cassidy - though he should have known the man would have been too much of a coward to actually come back and fight for his wife - and was therefore surprised when a lad of fourteen made his way into the hall with a request for the Dark One's help.

"The more the lad told me, the angrier I got," Hook told her, balling his fist and clenching his jaw at the memory. "But not my usual rage, not the volatile temper tied to the Darkness' bidding. This was a righteous anger. I wanted to help the boy, not because it might benefit me, or because swindling him in some way might entertain the Darkness and satisfy its cruel cravings, but because… it was the right thing to do."

"Then why not confront the landlord right then?"

"How would that benefit me?" His eyes snapped shut and he pursed his lips, cringing at the words that had become a reflex response during his tenure as the Dark One. "I mean… the terms of my magic, bound by the Darkness, requires an advantageous outcome for us if performed for the intended benefit of another. A deal is required in order for me to use my magic to help others." Swallowing past the guilt and self-chastisement his humanity stirred within him, he embittered, "But once a deal is met, either myself or the Darkness are typically the only ones who have profited from it."

Swan nodded and wet her lips. "So, the only way to help the boy was to make a deal, but making a deal could have ultimately made matters worse."

"Aye," he exhaled, relieved she was starting to understand. "I kept my deal with him vague, agreeing to try and give his family and the others justice while leaving his price open ended, hoping to find a loophole that would allow me to assist them without a crippling cost. I did the same with the cursed man and his wife who came to me a few weeks later."

Balking, Swan's brows furrowed. "They came to you without an appointment? After the open audience you provide during tax collection?"

Everyone knew you did not incur the wrath of the Dark One by seeking him out between seasons. At best he would refuse their audience and send them away; at worst, his subjects would find themselves in the dungeons, ignored and forgotten until such a time his hall was open for receiving once more.

"I almost turned them away, until they told me of their affliction," he admitted. Reaching up, he scratched behind his ear, the prickling sensation of resistance creeping up his neck as he took in a deep breath, quieting the voices once more before adding, "I could relate to their plight, you see. Immortality is a burden I also bear and know all too well the loneliness and despair it can carry with it."

"So, you agreed to help them."

Her voice was closer now. Focusing his gaze onto her, he noted she'd taken a few steps forward, hovering just a few feet away and captivating his magic with the warm appeal of her own. Without thought, he closed the gap a bit more, drawn to her as he always was and unable to fight so many battles on so numerous of fronts.

"Our agreement was that if I could find a suitable way to remove one of their souls and break the curse, then they would owe me an unknown boon at the time of their release. I had heard tales of a creature that was capable of removing a soul intact, and there had even been cases of those souls being returned to their rightful owners. My only problem, in both the lad's and the couple's cases, was how to keep my end of the bargain without demanding a price more horrific than the circumstance they wished to be freed from."

"Until you realized," she began thoughtfully, skimming her fingers over the top of his desk as she moved even closer, vocalizing the culmination of all she'd been able to learn and deduce from his tale, "that using our deal, and the lessons necessary to achieve the results you needed in order for me to perform the task we agreed upon, meant you were already benefiting from those acts that completed the other deals, and thereby could demand a lesser price from them."

A wide grin broke out across Hook's face. "Indeed," he replied, shaking his head in awe. "Such a marvel you are, Swan."

His comment seemed to surprise her, evident by the way her cheeks flamed and she fought to keep her own grin, twitching at the corners of her mouth, from fully forming. She tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, her eyes bouncing to various points around them before flicking up furtively beneath her lashes.

Swallowing past the reaction such an endearing display had prompted, he dug the tip of his hook into the side of his thigh and persisted to conclude the discussion, reminding himself that once done, they would have to acknowledge the reality of her leaving and the choices before her.

"The Darkness was satisfied with the destruction in which we left the boarding house, as well as the suffering of the landlord, which meant I could arrange a favorable outcome for the boy. An outcome that still benefits me, seeing as how his apprenticeship will allow the blacksmith to settle his debt in a more timely fashion."

The atmosphere crackled as he brushed past her, their magic reacting to the others as he made his way towards the man lying prone against one of the walls of his workshop. He rolled his neck, his head tilting to one side as a shudder ran down his spine. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep himself in check, needs and desires of a conflicting nature bombarding him at every turn.

"The couple was not as complicated. The removal of a soul and the sacrifice one would have to make in order to achieve their freedom from the curse was a high enough price. Your involvement, though admittedly difficult and one I wish I could have spared you from, was necessary in order for you to complete your final lesson, but also allowed whomever survived the wraith to be free from the guilt of having to make the choice themselves."

The muscle above his jaw pulsed and his spine straightened as she stepped up beside him, her gaze focused on the man. "What will happen now?" she asked, softly. "How will you be able to justify keeping him here, ultimately restoring his soul, without a deal or any practical benefit to yourself?"

"The Darkness craves power," he choked out. "The knowledge it can glean from studying the couple's curse, as well as the wraith's methods of extracting his soul, is enough of a boon to satisfy the terms of the magic I've used to keep him preserved." He opened his mouth then closed it, repeating the action a few more times before the reluctant words finally slipped off his tongue. "I had hoped, that in addition to the task I had planned for you to perform, you might have agreed to help me find the cure, and…"

He felt her eyes trail over to him and was powerless to keep from meeting her gaze. "And when the time came that we found it, you would be the one to perform the necessary magic. You would be the one to save him without a price having to be paid." Her lips parted with a quick inhale, but before she could respond, not wishing to apply any undue pressure or guilt upon her, he assured, "Not to worry, though Swan. My relationship with the fairies has always been a tenuous one, but seeing as how they have been most agreeable to taking you on as pupil, I imagine one of them could be persuaded to assist me once the solution to his malady has been discovered."

"The fairies?" Swan practically shrieked, her face paling and nearly causing him to wrap her in a soothing embrace. As much as he would love nothing more than to hold her in his arms again, he had to maintain the boundaries he'd set for himself when she announced her intention to leave, lest his magic and darker nature get the better of him and force her to stay.

"Aye," he strained out. "The Blue Fairy and I have a… history with one another." Remembering the circumstances of when and why that association began, Hook rushed to add, "But that is a tale for another time and not relevant to the matter at hand."

Knowing it was probably time to stop putting off the inevitable, Hook turned towards his desk with the intention of collecting the invitations he'd received for Swan to train with the other magic wielders he'd reached out to. Before he could bring up the topic and show her the letters, she asked, "Why?"

Glancing over his shoulder, Hook took in her expression, the fear-laced longing in her eyes, the way she swallowed in anticipation, the breath she held after uttering the question he knew she probably felt unready to hear the answer for all displayed with a beautiful vulnerability upon her face.

"Why what?" he murmured softly, wanting there to be no mistake, no misconstrued notion of what she was asking.

"Why have you worked so hard to find these loopholes when I get the impression my presence and my magic weren't the first time you've been reminded of your humanity? Why now?"

The words hovered at the back of his throat, strangled by the Darkness and even that part of himself that wasn't quite sure he was ready to admit them.

Because I wanted to be a better man. For you and for myself before I…

"Pardon the intrusion, my Lord," his Steward's voice echoed through the room, magically conveyed through the conch shell positioned on his desk. "But you asked to know the moment he was located and brought to the castle."

A bubble of satisfaction swelled within him. This timely arrival meant he could prolong Swan's stay, forgoing the invitations until after he'd dealt with this pressing matter; a matter which would permit him the opportunity to freely surrender to the Darkness's bidding and conserve his strength for when he might need to rein it in again. For in this instance, the Dark One and the Darkness were in complete agreement on how to handle their… guest.

"I am afraid I must see to this," Hook said with a measure of apology in his tone. "Would you be good enough to wait here, love? When I get back we can discuss the letters I received and begin making plans for your departure."

He did not wait for her acquiescence, too much in need of this outlet on which the Darkness could inflict its aggressions upon while giving him respite from their targeting.

Appearing in the great hall through a swirl of crimson smoke, Hook delighted in seeing the man dragged before him then shoved down to his knees.

"Good Evening, Mr. Cassidy," the Dark One greeted with sickly sweet cordiality. "How nice of you to come."