Hello all, sorry for the delay, I spent a week reading rather than writing (The Lunar Chronicles, for anyone that isn't familiar, is a really fun read! The last book got kinda long, but anything semi-fairytale related makes me happy). Anywho, this was the request I got: Can you also make when Emma comes in the diner in Camelot where Hook has Merlin's heart and instead of Emma saying 'Don't crush it!', can she say 'Crush it.' I've never really given the darkness much attention - as I know I've mentioned, I'm more the fluffy bunnies and unicorns farting rainbows type - but I thought I'd give it a go. Let me know what you think!

36. Dark

The only thing that moved in the entire diner was the bell that chimed when Emma opened the door. After it stopped, silence.

Her eyes first found the one figure she had not expected to be there: Nimue. The woman turned to Emma, a smug expression on her face, a smirk on her lips. She knew how this was going to end.

Emma's gaze then met Merlin's. Even his silence could not hide that he was frantic, desperately attempting to think of some solution that did not end in his death, and in turn, the eventual victory of the darkness.

But, considering who else was in the room, that solution would likely never come to pass.

Finally, her eyes fell on Killian. He smiled at her arrival, a small, thin-lipped, emotionless smile that did not meet his eyes; a smile he had never given her before, not even when she had tied him to a tree and threatened to leave him for the ogres; a smile that spoke volumes of hatred.

She was certain his intention was to make her feel as if she had been slapped in the face, to make her feel useless, cold, empty, alone.

Dark.

And he succeeded.

No matter what she did.

Resistance was futile.

So she surrendered.

"Crush it."

A black fog tinted the edges of her vision, and when it cleared, she took in the shock and horror etched on Merlin's face. "Emma, no," he whispered, shaking his head in hopelessness.

She knew he wasn't talking about his heart. He was talking about something far more, far worse.

"Hmmm, just a smidge late for that, Deary," a sing-song voice trilled, echoing what they were all thinking. Rumplestiltskin winked at Emma when she turned to him. "Thanks for finally joining the party. Took you long enough."

"Indeed, it did," Hook muttered, looking at Emma in a different light.

Or, rather, darkness.

His smirk this time was genuine. His eyes held love. It was a tentative, twisted kind of love, but love nonetheless. A love that perhaps was not what she had originally wanted, but now that it was there in front of her, was what she never knew she needed.

Something clenched in the pit of her stomach, something clenched around her chest, a visceral reaction that forced her to close the distance between her and Killian. One hand slid behind his neck as she crushed her lips against his and felt him respond with the same intensity, the same ferocity, leaving not an inch of space between their bodies and making her now wonder why she had waited so long.

"This is all very touching," Nimue's bored voice interrupted, "but the clock is ticking."

After one last kiss, her forehead resting against his, she turned an annoyed eye on Nimue before returning her attention to Killian. She sensed his heartbeat, pumping rapidly in his chest, in time with hers. She trailed her hand from his stomach, over his chest and shoulder, down his arm to meet his hand. Her hand around his, his hand around Merlin's heart.

Still catching her breath, she looked into his eyes. She noticed the black circle that framed his irises before catching sight of her reflection in his eyes. Whether or not that was what made her image seem darker, she cared little. All she knew was that she liked it.

"Crush it," she repeated, breathless and still panting slightly.

Eyes still on his, a smile on her lips, she applied light pressure to his hand.

And beneath her hand, felt him do the same.

I'd also like to take a moment and thank all of you who are reading these. I just noticed that it's officially been a year since I first published this collection of drabbles. So to all you favoriters and followers and reviewers and readers, both those that have been here from the beginning and anyone who joined the party along the way, thanks so much for favoriting and following and reviewing and reading.

Also, we're less than 50 days (I think 42 or 43) away from embarking on the journey to the Underworld TO SAVE HOOK!