First
The Dark One used his magic to appear in the clock tower above the town's library. He placed the dreamcatchers all around and put a magic barrier around them. He had a feeling that her family might eventually remove the cuff he'd placed on Emma. But she had a lot of trust to gain back before that happened.
If it was even possible for her to become trustworthy to someone again, he thought to himself. He tried that after she first made him the bloody Dark One. And so many times when they'd come back to Storybrooke. He would not be making that mistake again. Her tongue was a tongue of lies. Excalibur was the only thing that could hurt him now. But each lie, even the unspoken ones, like saving his life to keep him from the truth, cut through to his heart. He loved her and had given her his heart. He trusted her to protect it just as he wanted to protect hers. Instead, his heart felt like it was being squeezed for every single lie since the moment she found him in the woods in Camelot.
He was about to magic himself away as quickly as he came, realizing he was wasting time on such thoughts, but when he turned, someone was behind him. Bloody hell, how was she here already? He took her memory of his plan. Even if she convinced someone in her family to take off the cuff, there's no ways she could know he was here. Once his surprise and momentary worry were cleared however, he realized the woman in front of him was Emma, but not Emma Swan the Dark One.
"That stunt didn't work on the Jolly Roger, Swan. It won't work this time either." He told her in a bored tone. Last time he was almost taken in by her normal appearance. Now, he didn't care what she looked like; she was still a thorn in his side.
"One point for realizing that I'm different. You also lose that point because you still think I'm the Dark One with a trick." She said and casually cocked her head to one side then the other, as if everything in the last few hours never happened. More than that actually, it was as if she never went to Camelot. Had she gone bloody insane?
"If you expect me to believe that suddenly you're no longer the Dark One then you must think me a fool. But I am no fool, not anymore. My eyes are open, and I see the truth." He stated in a low and dangerous tone. First, she tried to pull the wool over his eyes, and now this? He was getting angrier by the second.
"I don't think you're a fool." She shook her head. She looked sad, but also calm. She wasn't desperate and clinging to straws like the Emma he left behind without magic or certain memories. "Right now, Emma is still a dark one, but I'm not because I'm not really here."
"First the Crocodile and then Nimue are in my head. Now I'm seeing you again. Bloody hell!" He yelled and slammed his hook against the wall. The loud clang of metal against metal covered up another yell and a curse. He needed to hit something to get his anger out as it dawned on him who stood before him. "I thought you had bad timing before, but this is when I need you the least."
"No, this is when you need me the most!" She insisted and stepped forward.
"Because I'm the Dark One about to go on a rampage of darkness?" He turned and asked her with sarcasm and anger. "This is what you made me!"
"I'm not here because of that. I've told you before I can't change what you do or what's going on around you. I'm here because you're hurting." She continued to speak with an insistence and a passion, but not losing her cool.
"Do you really think I want you to help me? You're the one that's bloody caused it this time! Has it been you the whole time? Why didn't I recognize you as the one that appeared in my past when we met? What other memories have you taken from me?" He questioned with his voice growing louder with each one. If he had a sword, it would have been raised by now. Not that he needed it with his newly rediscovered magic. But would it even do anything since she wasn't really here as she claimed.
"It's part of the magic that allows me to be here. When I disappear from your sight, and you leave this tower, all you'll recall is colors instead of a face, yellow for my hair and maybe red for the jacket. As for our conversations, those are vague, and you only really remember the main points I was trying to get across to you as a messenger to give you hope."
What she said sounded pretty, but he wasn't in the mood for her ridiculous attempt at encouragement. He was growing more and more tired of this encounter, and the darkness reminded him that he didn't need to waste his time with her and her false show of care for him.
"I don't want or need hope, Emma. I'm about to get what I've always wanted. You once said, 'the only one who saves me is me'. You broke out of Regina's dungeon, and I'm breaking out of a dungeon of my own making by trying to be a good man. That has only led to weakness and betrayal. I'm finally going to get my revenge. I don't need anyone to do it for me, and no is going to stop me."
He felt empowered as he spoke. He had a goal, and he would reach it.
"I'm a different Emma, remember? I'm not trying to stop you, Killian." She shook her head and sighed. "I honestly don't know what I'm supposed to say here. You don't want to listen to me right now because of what I've done, and I don't blame you. You've also got the darkness telling you things, and Rumpelstiltskin is aggravating, I know."
Killian watched as she ran her fingers through her hair, almost ready to pull it out it seemed. She was finally silent, but she was clearly thinking, and whatever she would say to him next would pack a punch. As much as he wanted to ignore all that she was saying, and not show any emotion other than anger, and even with the darkness urging him to leave, he couldn't help but be curious.
"Maybe there's nothing I can say because you already said it. You are the one to do this, and nothing can stop you. Whether that means, getting your revenge and following the darkness in order to destroy the light, or deciding to have strength over the darkness and destroy it instead."
Her words seemed simple, but they carried a truth and an ultimatum. He had options, but his choice had already been made for him the moment he became the Dark One. He wasn't strong like Emma was.
"You're going to leave the Dark One to his own deeds? That sounds like a bad idea. Then again, so does turning me into the Dark One in the first place." He reminded her with anger. She had gone against his last wish. She had stolen his memories. She kept secrets for weeks in order to fix her mistake. She was trying to help a man who no longer existed.
In truth, his anger wasn't at her anymore. He was angry that he wasn't angry at her anymore. And he was angry with himself for getting into this situation in the first place. For a moment he almost had hope that he could be strong. But they didn't want the same things anymore. The darkness was a better deal. His revenge was within his grasp, and with his new-found power he wouldn't fail. This was nothing but a distraction and a waste of time, like an anchor holding him back. So, he decided to strike back instead of listening to her failed attempts to help all night.
"You said you were here, not to stop me, but because I'm hurting. Yet you haven't said a word about it since. Are you pretending as if it never happened because you feel that guilty, or because you simply never cared at all?" He shouted in accusation.
"Shut up, Hook! I messed up, and I'll take the heat for it, but don't accuse me of that!" She yelled back and kicked the wall. "The Dark One is cruel, but don't be stupid!"
She had finally lost her temper and patience with him. The top had blown clear off her boiling kettle. Honestly, he was surprised she hadn't hit him instead of the wall. He would have deserved it, but if it made her leave him alone, then it would have been worth it.
"I am sorry, Killian." She apologized after calming down. "I shouldn't have, but I did what I had to do. Soon you and Emma will both do what you have to. You'll understand then. You'll be ready for help, and Emma will be there."
"My Emma and not yourself? And where will you be? You've appeared to me all these times, but you won't be there to swoop in and convince me to be a hero again?" He said for no other reason than curiosity, or at least that's what he told himself.
"No one's going to convince you of that, like we've already said, it's up to you. As for me, I don't know for sure what's going to happen next." She shrugged but there was also a smile clear on her face. "But I think my work is finished, and I think I'll go home, and I think everything is going to be more than okay."
There were tears in her eyes now, but for some reason they didn't appear to be sad ones as he would expect. What the bloody hell was she talking about? He was torn between the urge to step forward and brush the tears away, or to turn a cold shoulder and ridicule this nonsense she believed. Before he could settle the war within him however, she disappeared like all the other times. And like before, by the time he left the tower and arrived at his ship, he didn't remember having a conversation with Emma or even seeing her at all. But when sunrise came, the colors seemed more vivid than usual, especially the reds and yellows.
Second
Killian returned home from his first night out with the guys since his recovery. It was dark in the house and very quiet. At first, he assumed Emma to be upstairs and most likely asleep. Then he noticed the TV was on and paused. She was likely in Hope's room then. He made his way up the stairs without making any noise, and sure enough, he heard her voice.
"So, one story isn't enough for you tonight, huh? I bet your dad had been spoiling you and telling more than one story at bedtime. He did miss several nights though, so I guess it's okay."
It went quiet for a moment, and Killian thought perhaps their little girl was asleep after all. Then he heard Emma sigh.
"Okay, how about instead of another story, I tell you a secret? I trust you not to tell anyone, and I'm not telling anyone else's because it's one of my own." She paused again and then began. "Your dad is wonderful, and I know he's the one for me. We're each better for knowing and loving each other. Sometimes though, it's still hard to talk about my feelings, what I'm thinking, and to get the words out.
"All that to say this, if there was one thing I had to choose to tell about your daddy, and for others to remember him by, I would tell…I'd tell them about the day we met. It sure wasn't love at first sight, and we didn't fall in love in a matter of days or weeks, like movies make it seem. Without that first day though, we wouldn't have had all the other days and years to follow. I know it sounds a little cliché, and it's not something that people maybe wouldn't have known before about him, but I'm best being blunt and honest when saying things.
"The life of a pirate is never dull, and neither is life here in Storybrooke. It would take two hundred years to tell all his stories. For me, one of the best stories is the first. Even when we weren't always on the same side, he still saw me for exactly who I was, and honestly, I didn't like that most of the time. Both of us had a little bit of our own journeys to finish before starting a new one together. Now, here we are, and all because I bested Captain Hook and tied him to a tree."
Killian silently went back downstairs, and Emma joined him just a couple minutes later. She had no idea that she'd been overheard, and they finished watching an episode of "Boy Meets World". When they were getting ready for bed, Killian decided to let her know that he'd heard her earlier.
"So, love, you finally answered my question, but not to my face." He commented casually to get the ball rolling.
"What question?" She asked, facing away from him and doing her own thing.
"About what story you'd tell of me if I was truly gone."
"What are you talking…" She stopped and turned around so fast it was almost comical. "You were already home and listening? Who does that?"
"I wanted to listen to you tell out daughter a sweet bedtime story. I had no idea you would make such a confession.'
She turned her head, but he still saw her blush.
"I must say, I was touched, really. You're very insightful, Swan." He continued and hugged her from behind. He could feel that she was a little tense. So, he threw in some teasing to get them to a more comfortable zone. "You just had to get one more over on me though, didn't you? Concluding with your victory when it was supposed to be about my memory."
"It's the truth, and you admitted it yourself, Hook. That's the way it happened, and if you don't like it, oh well" She stepped just out of his embrace and stated with a satisfied smirk. Oh, how he loved her.
"I suppose you're right." He sighed with dramatic effect. "I guess I just have to spend the rest of my life being more interesting than that moment. I had no idea then that you'd still be in my life and telling of your success, that you'd be my wife, and that we would have a family."
"Me neither. If you had said something like that, I probably would have left you there." She laughed, but he didn't doubt that it would have been true.
"We think we know what we want, and we fight so hard against what's truly best for us." He stated as he took her hand and brought it to his lips.
"Isn't that the truth. But I'm shocked there was no sea analogy. Losing your touch?"
"I'll always be a pirate, but there's more to me than that, Swan. Surely you know that by now." He pointed out with his eyebrow raised. There's more than one side to every coin.
"I do." She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He liked the sound of those words. No matter then context, his mind briefly flashed back to their wedding day.
"I love you, Killian Jones, pirate and all that you are."
Swan wasn't often lovey-dovey with her words, and she chose to use them sparingly, but they held all the greater meaning for it. He would never stop being amazed by her, that she loved him and deemed him worthy of her. He was grateful for it every day.
"And I love all that you are, Emma." He replied, and they shared a kiss. "And I forgive you for tying me to that tree." He whispered in her ear.
"Killian!" She jumped in surprise, not expecting him to say that, and he couldn't help but laugh.
She swatted his arm, which only made him laugh more, and soon she joined him in laughing as well. When their laughter subsided, he kissed her again. This time he whispered in her ear, "I really do love you, Swan."