Choice: A Past Rewritten...
AN/ Thanks to everyone who's reading this...the reviews, private messages and follows really mean a lot...I have the whole story mapped out but really struggled with this chapter...I've sat down to write it 4 times and each time I just couldn't...even though I knew where I wanted to go with this, this chapter is was/is all about the choices we make and the reasoning behind them ... I guess in a way you can say like Killian I real struggled with what decision to make here too. The other chapters pretty much wrote themselves...I wish this one had.
Part III: New Beginnings or Old Mistakes.
Not once had he thought what his decision would mean for Henry and his existence. ...
His eyes skimmed the small boys frame before again meet his eyes to Baelfire's
"Aye Boy that I be, what was it that gave me away?" He struggled to keep his eyes connected to the boy, his eyes too much like Henry's and the wound of Henry's death still too fresh. Emma's screams as she watched her... no their... boy's soul being ripped from his body still rang in his ears. If only they had realized sooner that Peter Pan had merely been a puppet and that the man behind him was the greatest danger of all. A man that they had thought that they'd rescued from Pan's clutches...a man that had returned to Storybrooke with them...and had simply bided his time...oh how foolish they'd been.
There wasn't much time now, the Crocodile would be in trying to get Milah to leave. Although he supposed she'd be back tomorrow night and the night after that. No, he had to decide now. He can't help but wonder if his Emma would ever forgive him if he chooses what he had first planned on. He'll be striping her of a lot...Neal...Henry... their unborn child...him. But on the flip side of that he's also sparing her a life without her parents, her childhood, being betrayed by Neal, giving up Henry, watching Graham die, and all the heartache of losing Henry. Her life will be completely rewritten now and while there are no ways to ensure sadness won't still touch her life, she'll have her parents love. And there is no guarantee that if he follows the same path they'll be able to defeat the hardships to come. The future is tricky and manipulating it even more so.
If he makes this choice, if he doesn't run away with Milah then his stubborn beautiful lass will never actually exist. Is he robbing her of who she is then? There are so many questions that he just can't answer. Emma is strong it's the core of who she is and maybe changing her past won't change who she is in her very soul? This all seems unfair to him, this choice, this responsibility, he never asked to play the role of the Gods, and yet it's his burden, his price for using magic.
A heavy sigh escapes his mouth. There will never be a right choice, and nothing and everything seems to be right about the one he's about to make.
She'll be the same but so very different. He wants her to have that, to grow-up loved. She deserved that. She deserved everything. He tries hard to imagine her in ball gowns, toddling around in a palace, falling in love without her walls, being open to it, getting married and getting to keep her children. It's all he wants for her and more. This Emma, this one that will never be his, this one that his imagination is creating, while he stands still taking a long hard look at Baelfire.
Baelfire's life will be different too; hopefully he'll never be abandoned by either of his parents. And perhaps there is some way to insure that he and his family leave this village and seek the adventure he knows that Milah is craving. Perhaps with a new start she could love her husband once more? He shoots the boy his most menacing of stares, a plan brewing in his mind as he unsheathes his sword and aims it at the boy's neck.
"uhm...you ...you look like a pirate ...I'm...I'm sorry ..I didn't mean any harm."
"Ye best reckon twice before starin' at a pirate lad, ye'd be smart t' high-tale it out o' this town wit' your family, beg that father of yours to relocate. Once Pirates come to town ...no one is safe." The evil intentions that lace his voice and are enough to make the poor lad's knees quake in fear, but that's the point after all.
As he draws his sword back he watches as the young Baelfire quickly runs from him and into the waiting arms of his concerned looking Pappa, tears are running down his face. He hates himself for having to scary the boy but it's a small price to be paid. Rumplestiltskin looks in his direction but he's shrouded by the darkness and cannot be seen. His eyes catch Milah as she takes Bae from his father's arms, hugging the boy close to her chest. He hears her whisper words of reassurance as the boy recounts their exchange and he knows in his heart that this is the right choice, the right choice for everyone. Right choices aren't always the easiest, and he feels as though his Emma would be disappointed in him for not fighting, but he can't dwell on that...right now he needs to insure that Bae and his family leave town.
Entering the tavern he goes to his men, who are all relishing in ale and women. His plan now fully formed in his head to scare Rumplestiltskin and his family enough that he takes his family and flees this village. The risk of losing them and of the dangers will hopefully be enough to entice him to leave and he lays out his plan to his most trusted sailors.
By the time he has sent his men on their way to Milah's dwelling the sun is starting to spark the sky.
"You just given-up a lot Killian Jones, it takes a brave man to sacrifice two loves for the hope of a better life without it!" "Are you sure that they will be better, a life without True Love isn't much of a life at all?" The Blue Fairy whispers from behind him.
"Milah will have the love of family, and maybe she can learn to love her husband again... and Emma will find a new love, one that isn't as damaged and dark as I, I've been selfish for far too long." He hears his voice waver for a moment at the thought of his Emma in the arms of another, but as quickly as the thought came he tired to shake it. "Here's the ring, please just insure that it makes its way into the proper hands."
"Your selflessness touches me Jones, perhaps there is a way for you to hang onto your memories, and it seems unfair that no one will remember the great loves you've shared."
Killian watches as the Fairy levitates the ring from his hand as she starts to weave her magic and he can feel himself being mesmerized by the tiny sparks emanating from her wand. He's so mesmerized that he fails to see the magic as it works its way onto the ring, causing it to glow and replicate until two identical rings fall into his palm.
"What...I..."
"Your sacrifice has been great, and Emma and Henry deserve to be remembered as they were."
"..and what of Milah and Bae...what will become of them?" He feels his heart speeding up
"Oh I know not their fate...well except the boys ...he will die at 14 in the ogre wars, unless of course someone ends them first." She turns to leave with a wink and he sees her arm move fast as she tosses something in his direction...