AN: I do not own OUAT
I would like to say thank you to Dancingmylifeaway for the helpful review, and the idea and I would like to say that I was thinking the same thing for the sleeping curse. Also, a thank you to A True Oncer and Oncer4life11 for staying with me since the very beginning and reviewing every chapter. All of you guys mean a lot to me and your reviews help with writing new chapters and getting new ideas.
Back to the story.
Chapter 16: Forgive And Believe
As the sun approached over the horizon and the town was getting back to its everyday routine, August slept away in his room at Granny's Bed And Breakfast. He had done his part on leaving Emma alone ever since he got punched by Killian, but he was still going around and talking to Henry. He knew that if anybody were to make Emma believe, it would be him.
It had been a couple of months since August had suggested looking inside the book for proof of belief to Henry, and yet he hadn't heard of anything yet from the boy, which was a little disappointing but he was trying to be patient.
Suddenly August shot up from his peaceful sleep, letting out a painful grunt as he fell to the floor. He felt as something wasn't right, he knew something wasn't right. He was turning back to wood, it had been happening while he was in Hawaii and he woke up at eight fifteen in the morning to a shooting pain. When he looked he had a wooden leg. Now the pain had increased and spread, everything was wood except for above his neck.
He had to act fast and think about a way to make Emma believe, but how? There was no way he could bring her out of the town and there wasn't much here to show her to believe. He only knew he had to do something before his time was exterminated.
It had been a long couple of days at the station for Emma. She now had Jefferson in a cell and he would either make annoying and obnoxious sounds to literally piss her off, but Killian would be the one to take care of that. That was another thing that she didn't like, she was stuck inside all day with a man she didn't want to be around, but yet she did. She was now confused on her feelings, she really loved him, but she was confused why.
She had tried her best to ignore the man. When they were at the station they didn't talk to each other at all and they would no longer get things for each other at Granny's if they wanted something they had to get it. The awkwardness would last all day since David was taking time off to spend with Mary-margaret and his son. Sometimes they would even bump into each other but pretended like it never even happened to save themselves from the awkward apologies.
Luckily Henry came in with a box of donuts, he even remembered to get Emma her bear claws. "Hey Jefferson, want one?" Henry asked approaching the cell with the box open after giving his father and Emma theirs.
"Sure kid." Jefferson gladly took a double chocolate dip donut from the box and slid his hand back into his cell. "At least somebody gives me food!" He said loud enough for the sheriff and deputy to roll their eyes at him.
"Well, Jefferson, if you hadn't of kidnapped my..." Killian had to stop himself before he said another word that would get him in trouble, "Emma and Mary-margaret then maybe we would be feeding you good food."
Jefferson started to argue back and they kept going at it until Killian had to jump him from his desk and they continued on having their voiced arguments face to face.
Henry walked back over to Emma who was still rolling her eyes at the men, sometimes she wondered if Killian was really his age that he claimed to be. "So, Henry, what you been up to today?" She asked ignoring the men that were being childish
"This morning I went to the ice cream shop with Ava and Nicholas, for some reason the lady who worked there kept on asking about you," Henry told with a tone that meant he was a little confused.
Narrowing he eyebrows Emma looked at him, "Really? Why?" Henry only shrugged, "Strange, I don't even really talk to her." It was very strange why some ice cream maker would just ask questioned about her when they weren't even friends or even talk. Then she heard what sounded like heels scratching against the tiled floors, which only meant one thing.
"Sheriff Swan, Sidney here has something he would like to tell you" Regina spoke as she walked into the room with a confident sneer on her face that stretched from ear to ear.
Emma rolled her eyes, she was just trying to have a good conversation with Henry and try to drown out her stress. Even though things were slightly confusing between her and Killian at the moment, she still wanted to spend some time with Henry. "Madame Mayor, I don't have time to listen to Sidney right now, I don't need anything more to think about, I still need to find out who kidnapped Kathryn, and plus I have to listen to those two all day," She said pointing to Killian and Jefferson.
"Trust me, Ms. Swan, you'd want to hear this. Come on, go a head, Sidney."
By this time Killian had finished having his argument with Jefferson and turned around to see what was going on. Henry was now sitting behind Emma's desk while Emma, Regina, and Sidney were all huddled in a circle. He softly walked up to them, "What's going on?"
Sidney swallowed hard and looked over to Regina, she nodded for him to continue. "It was me. I confess. I abducted Kathryn and held her in the basement of an abandoned summer home by the lake. I bribed a lab tech to get me the heart from the hospital, and I used that same person to doctor the lab results."
"Is that it?" Killian asked raising an eyebrow as he looked over to Regina and then back to Sidney.
"I borrowed some skeleton keys from Regina and...planted the knife in Mary-margaret's air vent" Sidney enlightened the deputy, finishing up his story.
Looking over at Regina, Emma noticed that she was smiling. "Now why should I believe this now?"
"It has been a little odd that you, Regina, had been so involved in this case since the very beginning, if I had to pick a suspect it would be you, love," Killian said giving a dirty look over to the Queen. They hadn't talked much since the mines collapsed and she confronted him about being here and destroying the curse.
"It wasn't Regina! I was going to find her after the conviction, I was going to be a hero, then get the inside track on the biggest story to ever hit this town. I'd get my job back, plus a novel maybe a movie and I don't know, it all sounds stupid now."
"You got that right" Killian muttered under his breath low enough only he and Emma could hear it as he scratched behind his ear.
"Sidney has obviously been through a mental break down for a while now," Regina said stepped closer to the sheriff.
Henry was just sitting behind everybody else, listening closely. He knew that it was really Regina and she was forcing Sidney to take the blame for her because he would do whatever it is that she asked. Everybody must've forgotten he was there because usually, they wouldn't talk about something like this in front of him, they would tell him to go to the other room.
"Aye, his words are almost like they're not his at all," Killian said with a dark look on his face as his arms were crossed in front of his chest. He stared straight at Regina as Emma stared at Sidney. He was trying not to get Emma in his vision because he knew if he did, she would distract him.
"Wow, you are so full of your own judgment you can't even see the truth anymore" Regina snickered at the pirate.
That pissed off Killian even more, this woman had the nerve to talk about judgment, that's all she did, was use her own judgment. "Madame Mayor, may I talk to you in the hallway now, please. While Emma handles with Sidney!"
Henry watched his father leave with Regina, he could tell his father's anger was getting boiled up and would be brought to the surface at any moment. He had never seen his father temper as bad as it's been in the last couple of days since the fight started, it was like Emma controlled him.
Regina followed Killian out into the hallway. She had an evil grin on her face when he spun around to talk to her. "So? What is it Captain Guyliner?"
Killian scuffed at the name, of course, she would say that. "I know you were behind this, Emma does also! You are a sociopath lady."
"And what did I supposedly do?" Regina asked pretending like she had no clue in mine.
"You were the one that framed Mary-margaret and kidnapped Kathryn! How could you!" He knew that Regina had a dark history and literally did whatever she pleased, but even this was a bit hard.
"Really? Where's the proof? You're nothing more than a pirate, you can't even make your own wife fall in love with you again" Regina snapped in his face, watching as his face stayed strong but his eyes became watery.
"And yet, I wouldn't need to make her fall in love with me if you didn't cast a curse to get revenge on Snow White because she told a secret when she was ten" Killian snapped back
Regina's face fell and she immediately got fed up. She marched out of the station, she had better things to do, like find a way to kill Emma Swan.
After Emma had finished up with Sidney, she went and took Henry out for supper at Granny's. Henry was enjoying a cup of chocolate milk with a big plate with lasagne and Emma was enjoying a grilled cheese and curly fries with some hot cocoa. She wanted to spend time with him, he still felt like a son to her, even if Killian and she were no longer together.
"Emma, look, I found something in my book last night," Henry said as he took out the book from under the table and opened it up to a story. He heard Emma sigh, she still wasn't believing, unfortunately. "It's a new story, Pinnochio, I've looked through this book multiple times and never have I come across this story, and look, it's not even finished, which is strange since everybody knows how that story ends."
"Henry, maybe you just skipped past the story," Emma said not really thinking that a story was added because the curse wanted her to believe, she had to laugh at that.
Henry gave her a serious look for a second before answering her. "I've looked through this book multiple times, never had I skipped any pages, and look, the pages are thicker than the rest of them."
Emma looked at Henry before reaching out to feel the pages, he was right, they were thicker. "Alright, so somebody must've added it, it was missing for quite a while before we found it."
"But why wouldn't they finish the story? And who would it be?" He was now confused.
August had to get out of that room, the more he stayed in there, the more pain that shot through his body, he had to move. So now he was walking along the main street, trying to find something to occupy him. Usually, he would take his bike but it was getting too painful to ride, he could barely even get the strength to walk just a block.
There was something he was searching for, more like some one. He had been on his mind for the last ten years, his papa. He had heard around town about the carpenter, Marco, and he assumed that was his papa since everybody in this town had a little piece of them still left inside.
"Looking for something?"
Turning around he noticed Mr. Gold standing behind him with a snicker. Where had he come from, he didn't even notice him. "Oh, um."
"Looking for dear old dad?" Gold asked. He didn't get a reply. He hadn't talked to this man yet, not since he arrived in the town anyway. He saw how the man gulped, he still knew him as Rumplestiltskin, The Dark One, the one who made twisted deals. "If I'm not mistaken, that's him right there." Gold pointed behind August, making him turn around.
August turned around and saw an old man walking towards him, it was his papa. He didn't want to believe it was him at first, but it was. He wanted to run away, he never wanted his father to see him, he just wanted to watch him from a distance, that was all.
"Hello," Marco said with a warm smile as he walked past August with a friendly smile.
"Good afternoon" August replied back softly under his breath, he didn't expect to see him, he was still pretty taken for words. He watched as Marco nodded to Mr. Gold and he returned it as he walked passed him, that's when he turned back to the man with the smug grin once again on his face.
"First time seeing dear dad since the curse?" Gold knew this man knew about the curse, in fact, he was never even cursed, "Shame if anything ever happened to him."
August face fell, he knew who this man was and what he was capable of doing. "What do you want!" He was ready to do whatever it took to make sure this demon never brought any harm towards the one man he loved.
"Ah, so you'd make a deal with me then, boy?"
"Only if it means you won't hurt my father"August spoke with his voice be coming more shaky by the more pain that ran through his body. "Now, what do you want!"
Gold walked up to the man and stopped to wear he was near inches away from his face. "I want you to make her believe and I will take away that pain you feel through your body and make you from turning back into the boy you use to be."
Killian had to get out of the house for a bit, it felt like felt the longer he stayed in that house, the more it just became a trap to his thoughts. All the happy times he and Emma had there, starting with when they first looked it and they shared that kiss, their first time, and all the family moments they shared theirs with Henry. He was glad that Henry and Emma were still spending time together, he only wished he could join them and be happy again.
That's how he found himself standing in front of her apartment door with a bouquet of pink roses behind his back. He swallowed hard and he could feel his palms were sweaty. Alright, Killian, you are Captain Hook, you can do this he told himself. Knocking once he was surprised that Emma answered her door almost immediately after his first knocked.
"S-Swan..." He thought seeing her he would be happy, but really he was nervous and choked on his words. Everything he wanted to say to her just slipped his mind as he looked at her eyes, the eyes he had missed dearly in the last few days.
The moment she opened the door and seen Killian there her smile faded. She didn't expect for him to show up at her door, Henry had left hours ago to go back home, maybe something happened to him. "Killian..."
An Awkward silence had taken over for a couple of seconds as both didn't know anything to say to one another. Emma just felt like shutting the door and forgetting he had ever shown up but she couldn't move, something was preventing that. "So, why um, why are you here?"
"Love, I just wanted to say," He tried to reach out to her but she dodged out of the way.
"Don't call me that!" She snapped, she didn't want to hear the word love or darling come out of his mouth.
He was shocked at how angry she become from the simple nickname, but he would always do as she pleased. "Emma...I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what I said, I was immature and thought I was doing the right thing..."
"You thought you were doing the right thing by putting everybody's lives in the palm of my hand and putting all this pressure on me?" She was direct with him, she didn't understand him right now.
"I know that was wrong, I shouldn't have done that, but...I wanted you to just believe, for me, for Henry...for your parents." He saw how she ended up looking at the floor now, she felt uncomfortable by what he said. "Look, I'm not asking for you to be mine again, I'm not asking for your belief, I'm just asking for your forgiveness."
Taking a deep breath, she thought about this for a couple of seconds. Would she be able to forgive him? She didn't know herself. "I-I need some time Killian, I need to think about it." He nodded in agreement, he wasn't trying to fight back, thank god. But gave him a small smile before turning and slowly shutting the door, leaving him alone once again.
As soon as that door closed he felt all the anger boil up inside him. He tried but she still couldn't forgive him. He ended up throwing the bouquet at the wall before he ran down the stairs and sped off in his truck, making the tires squeal.
Emma heard everything as she had her back flat against the door. she had tears pouring from her eyes, she wanted to forgive him right there and then, but then he wouldn't have learned his lesson. Once she heard the tires squeal outside she slowly opened the door once again and look down at the floor. Pink roses were scattered everywhere. She quickly started to pick them up, making sure to stay away from the thorn. When she picked up the last rose she noticed a folded up piece of paper, taking it, she carefully opened it. The paper felt thin and old.
As she opened it up, it was an ink drawing of her and Killian, but they were dressed up. She was wearing a ball gown with a vial over her head and Killian was dressed in a Captains uniform. Each one of their hands were planted on each other's cheeks and their hands at rings...wedding rings. Turning the drawing over she saw writing at the back.
Princess Emma and Captain Killian Jones bonding their souls together for eternity. They really are two true loves.
Her eyebrows narrowed, had Killian drawn this and pretended it was some old drawing of them from the Enchanted forest or whatever he called it. The page was old and the writing was in calligraphy which wasn't very modern nowadays. She decided to just ignore it and not whelm herself with a bunch of questions. Instead, she placed the roses that were now in a vase of water by her window. A knock was then heard on her apartment door.
"Killian, I told you-" It wasn't Killian there at all.
By the time he got back home most of his anger had disappeared into sadness. He really wished they could've made up and forgotten all about it but this wasn't the Enchanted Forest where you could fix everything with a little bit of magic, no, this was the real world.
When he stepped inside of the small house, Henry was at the kitchen table studying his book. "Lad, what are you still doing awake? Tomorrow's the last day of school, you should get some sleep."
"I'm trying to figure out how this story got added to my book, the pages are thicker than the rest, the stories not finished and I've never seen it before " Henry explained, not taking his eyes off the page with a magnifying glass in his hand.
Killian raised an eyebrow and walked over to his son. It was the story of Pinnochio. August? Had he put it in there? "Do you know who Pinnochio is?"
Henry shook his head, he thought he would have found him in Gold's shop back as a wooden puppet, but unfortunately, he didn't have anything, he even asked Mr. Gold. He just hoped he could figure out who it was because that would mean they knew about the curse but the only person he could think of was...August.
Emma stared at the man in front of her, she was surprised to see him here. "August, hi! I haven't seen you in a while, where have you been?"
August let you a smile, he was doing what The Dark One wanted, he was going to make her believe. He didn't want anything bad to happen to his father. He was just worried that Killian would find out and would punch him once again. "Emma, I was just wondering if you'd want to go on a ride with me?"
Looking outside she noticed it was well past sunset, the air was probably chilly and the stars and moon would be the only thing that lit the night sky. "Now? It's kind of late out, don't you think?"
"Which just makes it all that better, come on. I have something to show you." He grabbed a hold of Emma's wrist and dragged her out of the apartment and down stairs where his motorcycle sat, waiting for their return. Emma didn't try to hold back, she just got on the back and flung her arms around her body. Hopefully, by the end of the night, Emma Swan would believe.
By the time they stopped, they were now on a dirt road and were surrounded by trees. It didn't seem like the safest place to be at night. "Alright, so what's so important you had to drag me out of my apartment this late at night when I should be sleeping?"
"Come, follow me, it's just in here." He started walking into the trees which made Emma feel a little unsafe.
"Oh great, you brought me out here, in the middle of the forest and now you're taking me into the trees. Yup, nothing sketchy about that" Emma said under her breath, but loud enough for Agust to hear and lightly chuckle to her words.
"Alright, we're here." He stopped in front of what looked like a chest, a chest that a pirate would use to bury his treasure.
Emma looked behind him and raised her eyebrow, "That's what you wanted me to see? A chest?"
"Not just the chest, but what's inside it," August said as popped open the lid, having Emma walk around to his side so she could see.
When she looked inside she didn't see anything that she would thought was worth anything. There was a hook that was attached to some contraption, a teddy bear that had an eyepatch, a curved sword, and some crown. "That's it? Just a pile of old junk?"
August face fell, "No, Gold said these were all things that would relight the spark inside of you and make you believe."
"What? Gold? believe? Beleive in what?" She asked she was so confused by what was happening, and then her face went all serious, "Not you too, you believe in this curse? August, I thought you were different...normal even."
"Emma, I came into this world the same way Hook and Henry did, through that tree, I was there. You could've come along with them but father made me go through, he didn't want something bad to happen to me" August tried to explain it to her.
She stared at him for a couple of moments, totally blank and speechless. "Hook? You want me to believe that you are a fairy tale character as well as Killian?"
"I'm Pinnochio," August said with a smile.
She had to laugh at herself on the inside, "Right, Pinnochio." She remembered what Henry had shown her earlier that day at Granny's, "Wait, you're the one that added that story to Henry's book...why didn't you end it?"
"Because we are writing it right now, this is the ending," August said.
"And how does this story end?" She couldn't believe she was even still here, listening to this crazy story. All she wanted to do was run off, go home, and then leave and never come back.
He smiled at her, this was it. "With you believing."
"Not gonna happen." She slowly turned around making sure to have eye contact with him before she started walking away, she was leaving, she couldn't deal with this nonsense anymore.
August face fell, he couldn't let her get away, Gold would do something horrible to his father if he didn't succeed. He quickly ran after her, running through the bushes. "Emma! Emma wait!" Suddenly a pain shot through his leg. He knew The Dark One knew he was failing, and he was sending a painful reminder of what was going to happen to him. He fell down grunting and groaning in pain.
Emma turned around and seen the man laying there on the forest floor, what was he doing? "What. is wrong. now?"
"It doesn't matter anymore, I failed. You don't believe" He said pushing himself up with a dark chuckle.
"If you think, by showing me a bunch of old junk that you probably got from Gold's shop is going to make me believe in anything, you're wrong!" She said sternly as she spun around and started marching back over to the man.
He got up, his attitude was changing, he knew this would be hard, but he didn't think it would be this hard. "Princess, I am not screwing around here! Whatever you believe, or don't, this is real, Emma"
"Don't call me that! I am far from a princess! You, Killian and Henry, are all trying to make me believe in some stupid curse! You all sound crazy, I am sick of this, sick of being pushed into corners where you're forcing me to believe something that is impossible!" She shouted at him.
"Have you ever been to Hawaii? It's beautiful there, amazing island. Full of pleasures, the perfect place to lose oneself. That's where I was when that clock tower started to tick away, sending me a painful reminder at eight fifteen in the morning, which is eight fifteen at night here, telling me that I wasn't where I was supposed to be. Here! with everything else, waiting for the curse to be broken!" He explained everything to her.
Eight fifteen? That was the time the clock had read for as long as she could remember until it started to move again one night. When she and Killian shared their first kiss.
"If those artifacts that belonged to you once before won't make you believe, then maybe this will." He pulled up his pant leg, to him it looked like it was all wood, but to Emma, it just looked like a regular hairy man leg.
She looked at him confused as she cocked her to one side, "How is that suppose to make me believe?"
He shook his head, "Unbelievable, your inability to believe is preventing you from seeing the truth." He was starting to freak out, there was no way for Emma to believe, he did everything he could, Killian did everything he could and Henry did everything he could. This was impossible, the Evil Queen must have done something for her to not to ever believe.
"Okay, one of us is losing our minds here, and it's not me" She tried speaking, she was starting to believe that everybody except her were losing their minds in this town, that's why she had to get out of here, as soon as possible.
"You don't want to believe. After everything, you've seen, and everything we've tried to tell you, why can't you just do it! Believe Emma!" August snapped this time.
"Why is it so important to everybody that I do?!"
"You should know already! We've been trying to tell you for months now! Because I, Everybody, the town, we need you!" He shouted, he was getting aggravated at how hard he was trying and he couldn't get a single crack out of her.
"I don't want them to need me!" The tears were coming, she could feel them stinging in her eyes.
"Well, that's too bad, because we all need you, and there's no way to prevent it!" August told her once again.
This argument was starting to remind her of the one her and Killian had at the station, the whole reason she was no longer talking to him anymore. "You all are saying that I am responsible for everybody's happiness! That is a load of shit! I didn't ask for that! I don't want it!"
"Right now! A little while ago Killian and Henry came to you! They came here to save you! You didn't want to even get close to them and now, you feel like Henry is a son to you! You have an amazing relationship with Killian!"
"Not anymore I don't! Wanna know why? Becuase Killian was doing that exact same thing to me that you're doing right now! Telling me that I am responsible for saving everyone! I don't want any of it!" She was now crying, her eyes were stinging and she was once again feeling her anxiety and stress level rising to the top.
August was nodding, listening to her. "Well, that's too bad, Emma, because that doesn't change the truth." He got up and walked so he was directly in front of her face, he could see the salt in her tears and the redness that was forming around her eyes. "You are our only hope."
"Then you're all screwed," She said, exactly what she told Killian as she stared into his eyes for one more second before she turned around and started walking back. She didn't care how long it took for her to get back home, she was done, she was leaving and there was nothing that could stop her.
August knew he had failed and it was only a matter of time until The Dark One did what he swore to him on. "Make Emma believe, or your father gets it!" He had to now see his father, it would all be his fault. He had discovered where he lived and worked and August thought it would be a good idea to go and see him, spend time with him.
Arriving at the small house, the garage door was open, revealing the older man working on an old wooden clock. He smiled, he was glad his father still did what he loved. Getting off his bike he walked up to the man softly, not wanting to startle him or anything.
"My boy, is there something I can help you with?" Marco said as he seen the man approaching him.
"Actually, um...yes, I'm new in this town and I was just looking around for something to do, that could keep me busy and then I came across this place" August explained. He wasn't fully a lie, he just wanted to spend more time with his father, make up for lost time.
Marco listened carefully, he was getting old and it was hard for him to hear, but he was sure he heard the young boy clearly. "Like a job?"
"Something like that" August said stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"I can't pay you," Marco said.
"Consider your kindness and company, payment enough."
By the time Emma got home she packed up everything she could in a large garbage bag, she never traveled so she never had any suit case. She throws as many clothes and feminine products in the bag as she could. When she was done she wrote a letter and left it pinned to her door for somebody to find, it explained where she was and why she was leaving.
She threw everything in the back seat of her bug and started the engine, taking one last glance at the now dark apartment. She would miss this place, but she had to get away, she couldn't have one more person tell her she had to save the entire town and everybody in it. So she was doing what she thought was best, she was running away.
The town line was just a couple of meters in front of her, she could clearly read it. 'Now leaving Storybrook.' She couldn't believe she was finally doing this, leaving.
Dun, dun, dun! Emma's leaving Storybrooke, oh no! What do you guys think will happen next? Let me know in the Reviews. Also, don't forget to tell me what you think would make the story better and to give any kind of ideas you may have.
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Next time: Chapter 17: An Apple A Day, Keeps The Poison Away