A/N: I had a really long day and needed to unwind with some writing. This is angsty to start and is a bit of speculation on my part based on various filming spoilers for 4X16 and next week's promo. So yeah…spoiler alert.
There's a depressing irony to this moment. Before she stepped foot in this town she was alone and now, after years of trying and hoping and finally accepting she wasn't alone anymore, she found herself here. Completely and totally….alone. Her parents, thought to be carved out of heroic stone had proved to be made of lye, crumbling under her fingertips like poison underneath the smooth, white surface. Henry, he doesn't need her anymore, not really. She barely sees him and when she does, he's got his head in that damn book, searching for someone else's happy ending. And him, he was the worst of all. He'd come back for her so many times, led her to believe that no matter what he would always be there. But where was he now? Nowhere. He was gone. He wasn't different. Everyone always leaves.
The town feels deserted, just like her heart, cold like the bench underneath her legs. It's late, far past the witching hour. Witch. Is that what she is, what she should be? It would be easier. Darken the edges of her magic and she could slide into the night, without a care, no one expecting her to save the day. The tingle in her palm at that thought is powerful, addictive. Every other villain in this town gets to use the excuse of a broken heart for their badness, so why couldn't she. Her heart was more than broken. She'd never felt like this before, this emptiness, this anger. How could she give someone so much power over her? Fucking pirate. He promised he would win her heart, and he did, that bastard. But he didn't protect it. He didn't protect himself. His need to make amends had cost him his life, his survivor status not meaning much in the end. His death only further proving that being good is a wasted endeavor, one for the foolish and naive.
The ghostly sounds of footsteps on the pier are torturous; knowing that no one is there, no one will be there again. It's not until the cadence stops that she looks up. Her eyes are wild as she takes him in, fearful that he is a specter, here to taunt her further into the depths of despair. But then he speaks.
"Swan?"
She stands slowly. She thinks to herself that if he is a phantom, she may not care, as long as he is here for her, to take her away. He steps forward, his hand reaching towards her, and she is unwilling to hope but needs to know. The very real feel of his fingertips grasping hers snaps her like a sail in a strong gust of wind, surging her forward until she is collapsing into him. He's here. He's alive. Her arms tighten around his back like a vice, afraid if she lets go he will disappear, that the darkness will continue to descend and take her with it.
She's crying now, her tears collecting in the space where her cheek presses against his neck. She whispers to him, her voice wrecked by her sobs, hoping he can hear her, know her.
"How?"
She feels his lips press lightly to her shoulder as he pulls her tighter, a shudder wracking his body as he tries to find his own composure.
"Ariel. She saved me."
She lifts her head from his neck at his response, her eyes searching the depth of his gaze for a moment before pressing her forehead against his. She feels the calm that his presence always brings to her begin to take hold, taking a few deep breaths to let the emptiness in her heart fill back up with him.
"Killian, I think she may have saved us both."