Here be another goodie for you, loves.

Songs: This Is War by 30 Seconds to Mars, Fix You by Mysha Didi

Zelena walked through the empty town. Her joints ached from extended cold exposure, but she dared not stop. Belle depended on her return for warmth and replenishment of food within her barrier. She was annoyed that she cared when she felt nothing toward the librarian. Belle French meant nothing to her, not even a target of anger for Rumpel's abandonment. She cared because Emma cared about Belle's safety, and Zelena cared for the broken savior. Across her shoulders, she redistributed the weight of the heavy backpack she'd stolen from the library. It hadn't been necessary to take books to the cave, a ludicrous idea, really, but they might keep Belle from constantly chattering at her while they plotted and schemed. Emma's powers grew stronger each time they saw one another, and for the first time, she felt hope in their victory against Rumpelstilskin.

The wind off the sea stuck to the side of her face in a frozen sheen, and she pulled the scarf higher around her cheeks. Moving straight down the main street would have been faster than the detour by the wharf, but her load slowed her down more than she felt comfortable. This time of year, no one wandered around the docks this late at night, except her but she accepted her insanity as such and plodded forward. A figure stepped around the one-room office building, jarring her from the theory of no one skulking about in the frozen air. Her body jolted back, hands on the backpack straps, ready to drop it and flee.

"Hello, lass," a lilted accented voice called from the darkness. He didn't seem surprised to see her.

"Evening, Captain," she called back, holding her position steady.

He ambled forward a few steps into the light mounted at the corner of the building where she stood. "Helluva a night for walk," he said casually, squinting up at the crystalline flakes falling around them, but something in his tone scraped her fight or flight response.

"I loathe small talk," she answered like it explained everything. He took a swig from the flask in his hand and held it out to her. With a shrug, she slipped the backpack from her shoulders, letting it drop to the ground behind her. "May as well take a load off."

She took a drink from the flask, wincing into the spicy burn of rum. It warmed her instantly from the inside out, a fake warmth but one that eased her aching joints and muscles. He took it back and wandered toward the railing at the edge of the walkway, leaning both elbows on it heavily. "You shouldn't have come here, lass," he said, sloshed back a long swig.

"Why aren't you afraid of me? Or at the very least sounding the alarms?" Zelena asked. Maybe Emma had filled him in on their plan. She trusted Hook but obviously didn't worry for his safety like the rest of the people in her life.

"I'm beyond fear, love," he said, not quite slurring. He sounded defeated, tortured and out of touch with reality.

"Are you alright?" Zelena asked. She took a step toward the former pirate, then another when he stayed bent over the icy railing.

"I thought I'd have more time," he said, voice muffled in his arms. He growled, staining his back into an arch like he was in pain.

Zelena reached out to touch him, hovered just above his shoulder. He wasn't hers to comfort, but he meant something to Emma. "More time for what?" She didn't have time for this.

"I can't fight his will, love. Apologies," Hook said as he straightened up. Even in the darkness, Zelena saw the agony in his eyes.

She knew that look. "How long has he possessed you heart?" He stumbled forward, and she caught his shoulders, holding him upright. "How much has Emma told you?" He grabbed her shoulders, hook glinting in the blue glow of the light. Zelena looked at the flecks of dark red sticking to the metal. "You poisoned Regina."

He ducked his head, groaning. His fingertips dug into her shoulder, shooting an ache all the way to her fingertips. Zelena jerked back, but his superior physical strength held her close to him, hook piercing the back of her shoulder. She felt blood trickle across her shoulder blade and soak into her bra and Belle's shirt. She threw the heel of her hand upward, catching beneath his nose. Cartilage crunched beneath her hand, but he held his ground, pulling her closer. A sound of pain tore from her throat. His hook dug deeper into her skin. She lifted her knee, finding his crotch in the close proximity. He yelled and stumbled backwards but didn't fall.

"Captain, you don't have to do this," Zelena said, hands up in a defensive position.

She didn't have time to run. He charged her wildly. Blood covered his mouth and the scruff on his chin. Zelena rolled out of the way, skidding in the snow, scrambling for balance. She looked up to find the pirate with his hand and hook pressing into his temples. She stood up, backing away for safety.

"I know you're working with her. I've been following you all night," Hook said.

"Does he know?" she asked.

Hook shook his head. "Not yet, lass. I was ordered to kill you if I discovered you betrayed Crocodile."

"Let me go. Let me help you. I can make an elixir to sedate you until we can recover your heart," Zelena bargained. Her little cave would be full by the time this ended.

"It was a smart move, Swan, suppressing the wolf and abducting her librarian. The only person everyone else would rally around. She knew Ruby would go where she felt least vulnerable, to her grandmother, and everyone else followed," Hook said, talking more to himself than to her.

"The elixir is an herbal supplement I concocted. Mostly muscles relaxants mixed with Emma's magic to make it linger in the system. It will work its way out in a few days. We can help you, too," Zelena said, hoping her voice grounded him, that the proof of her and Emma's combined power helped him hold onto his sanity.

He turned his bent head, peering at her around his shoulder. "No one can help me, witch."

Zelena dove for the snow again, hating the restrictive coat, narrowly missing the hook swinging at her head. Snow and slush burned her bare legs and ass, and there was no way anyone would ever wear the leggings again. The boots, however, were solid-soled but pliable. She felt sure of her footing when Hook came at her again, but she wasn't trained in hand-to-hand combat. She was scrappy, sure, but most of her fighting had been done through magic. Fear kept her moving, electrified her body with adrenaline and stubbornness.

Zelena ducked another swing and threw her fist into Hook's ribs, dashing by him before he recovered his balance. She felt him move with her. A fist in her hair jerked her backwards, and she tipped off balance to the edge of Belle's boot heel before flying forward again. Zelena barely covered her head with her arms before the railing collided with her body. Her grunt echoed over the frozen water. She slumped to the ground, vision wobbling at the edges.

A hand pulled her shoulder to the ground, and Hook's weight pinned her at the hips. Zelena grabbed his wrist with both hands, holding the metal protruding from his arm above her face.

"Fight this!" she yelled, uncaring if anyone heard her. "You cannot allow him to win."

Her arms shook with the effort. The point of metal came closer with each breath. He leaned forward, putting his weight on the arm, and she pushed back, screaming. He wrapped a hand around her throat, pressing his thumb into her trachea, cutting off the sound slamming against the pressure. She tried to breath, but a gasping, choking sound omitted from her throat. Heat rushed to her head. Her legs flailed. Bracing her left elbow against the ground, she let the hook come mere centimeters from her jaw. Her eyelids fluttered against the black spots forming in her vision. She reached around his thigh, grabbed the knife tucked into the garter.

He shook her neck, and her arm went limp from lack of oxygen. Numb and tingling, she thrust the appendage upward at his chest. Instinct and survival ruled her actions. The blade met resistance, and she kept pushing until the fingers around her throat loosened. Warm liquid gushed over her hand and wrist, soaking through her coat. She coughed, sucked air, cough again.

"Hook," she gasped. Her voice was thick and rough, and she knew she'd be talking with a raspy voice until the damage in her throat healed.

The pirate fell onto his side, one leg still over hers. She scrambled backward, digging heels and hands into the snow in a crab crawl. Footsteps echoed down the dock in the now silent night air. Zelena surged forward and rolled the man onto his back. He gasped a few times. Her head pounded, regaining equilibrium, and she blinked away the dizziness and covered the wound with both hands. She sucked in freezing air, ignoring the scent and taste of blood.

"No. No, no, no. Don't die. Please don't die," she begged.

He pulled in a breath, and a wet gurgling sound accompanied the involuntary action. His mouth moved like he tried to speak, but only choked, drowning crackling came out. She'd definitely punctured a lung, probably severed a major artery if the amount of blood gushing from his mouth and wound indicated anything. She glanced over her shoulder and saw three men coming down the wharf, a fourth flipped on the light in the cabin of his ship and stepped outside. It was too late for Hook. There was nothing she could do for him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Zelena grabbed the backpack, slung it over her shoulders and took off down the walkway toward the woods. Hopefully Hook distracted the men long enough for her to escape. Cutting up toward town, she mingled with the tracks covering the sidewalk by the cannery and followed it along the main stretch of town before turning up beside the diner, lit up and glowing upstairs and down. They'd never be able to follow her tracks, but she sprinted until she reached the woods. Shaking from the adrenaline and the cold, she stopped long enough to slip into the buckskin pants she'd left buried in a bundle beside a large fir tree. They made moving through the deep snow much less excruciating, protecting her from the cold.

She shouldn't have wandered off alone. She should have let Emma bring her back. Why had they split up? Because The Savior played out her own agenda with a set of rules she hadn't shared, Zelena answered in her head.

By the time she reached the steep incline, she barely had enough muscle control to pull herself up the side of the hill with the rope. The half-moon was low in the sky, signaling the coming of morning in a few short hours. She dropped the backpack in the snow outside the cave, tucked the rest of her clothes tighter against her armpit, and slid into the entrance, dragging the pack behind her. She should have called Emma and told her about Hook. She didn't know what to say. Everything ached, and the arch of her back required to pass the last portion of the tunnel made her ribs and hips cramp. Belle perked up, barely visible in the dying light of the fire. Zelena released her load and grabbed wood from the stack along the wall and brought two pieces to the fire ring.

"What happened?" Belle asked, standing at the edge of her barrier, a blanket wrapped around her from the waist down where she was naked save her panties. "How is Regina?"

Zelena stoked the fire, added the fresh blocks. She dragged the backpack to the barrier and tossed it over the edge. Belle looked at it but remained standing near the edge. Crossing her arms, the librarian leveled a gaze at Zelena, a no-nonsense glare that made Zelena look away. She unbuttoned the coat and let it slide off her shoulders onto the floor.

"Is that blood?" Belle blurted. She grabbed the LED lantern she'd been conserving until the fire went out completely and turned it on the highest setting. "Zelena, what happened?"

"I was attacked," she said simply.

"By whom?" Belle demanded, pressing dangerously close to the static charge of the barrier.

A dark bruise bloomed across Zelena's neck. A wound in her shoulder wept blood that soaked half of her back. Her skin glowed red from the cold when she removed the shirt, jerking the front flaps and sending buttons plinking over the cave floor. Some splotches were darker, and Belle wandered if those were the starts of bruises, too.

"Zelena, what happened?" Belle demanded, voice pitching upward with panic.

Zelena poured a bottle of water onto the fabric and over her hands, scrubbing them frenetically with the ruined shirt. Tiny high-pitched sounds flowed from her mouth as she cleaned her skin, fervent in the task long after the blood had visibly disappeared from her flesh. When she noticed some of the dried liquid on her belly, she began the process anew, desperate sounds growing in strength.

"Zelena?" Belle yelled and slapped the barrier.

"Do you ever shut up?" Zelena screamed. The sound of her scratchy voice echoed around the cave.

They stared at each other, accompanied by the crack pop of the fire coming back to life. After a moment, Zelena returned to the task of cleaning blood off her stomach and hips. Belle watched, waited. The witch scratched at her stomach, turning it red from the abuse, then stopped abruptly. She covered her face with one hand, shoulders drooping forward.

"Damn it," she whispered. Her body shook, trying to cry, but her eyes refusing the request. "Damn it!" she yelled, throwing the shirt at the edge of the cliff. It landed a few feet from her, crumpled and stained.

"Zelena?" Belle asked, quiet, afraid to intrude but compelled to help.

"I killed him," Zelena said. Her hands dropped to her sides, back stooping with the weight of her actions.

"Who?"

Zelena turned to look at the other woman, shirtless and bleeding and undone. Her stomach muscles shivered in the cold, gooseflesh pricking her nerve endings. "Rumpel has possessed Captain Hook's heart, it seems."

"You killed Hook?"

"It was an accident," Zelena defended, but there was no fight in her tone. "He attacked me."

Belle opened her mouth, closed it. It went unsaid that Emma was going to be devastated, but not unheard. "You're bleeding. Come here and I'll tend to your wound."

Zelena was too numb to argue. She found the emergency first aid kit she'd put together, grabbed a bottle of water, and towel. Taking a moment to decide, she plucked up her knapsack and brought it with her. She crossed the barrier and dropped cross-legged onto the bedroll.

"I brought you clothes," Zelena said.

Belle looked down at the forgotten backpack, then knelt, pulling out a pair of jeans she rarely wore and some thick wool socks. She slipped into them and sighed. Zelena didn't look up when she collected the items from her lap and sat behind her on the flat mattress that looked like an old futon couch someone had thrown out. Zelena opened the draw-stringed bag and felt around for what she wanted. Her fingertips grazed the rough metal of the baby rattle she'd stolen from a marketplace in Oz. Belle dabbed at her skin with a gentleness she felt she didn't deserve, and she held the rattle to her chest.

"What's that?" Belle asked, sounding disinterested, and Zelena recognized the distraction tactic but felt gratitude that the younger woman had tried.

"A trinket from OZ," she answered, surprised by her own willingness to talk.

"Do you miss it?" Belle asked.

"Parts," Zelena said, and it was the truth. "I think I miss coosaberries the most."

"Giant sweet cherries," Belle said. Zelena looked over her shoulder. Belle shrugged, folded a piece of gauze, and swiped at the blood around the wound. "At the grocery store during summer when they're in season, they sell large cherries that are nearly identical in texture and sweetness. Careful, they have large seeds, though."

Zelena snorted and looked down at the rusted rattle cradled in both hands in her lap. "Some things cannot be found in this world."

"Is that why you needed the portal?" Belle asked, seemingly beyond caring if she pushed too much as far as Zelena could tell. Emma was right. Belle had a certain touch, a capacity for forgiveness and understanding that allowed her to love enough to care for Rumpelstiltskin, though that love faded in absolution as time passed.

When she remained quiet, Belle didn't push her. The librarian asked, "This?" and held a small glass jar of antiseptic poultice she'd made. Zelena nodded. "Did you bind this with honey?" came the next question, and Zelena actually smiled. Belle's mind fascinated her, questioning everything, soaking up knowledge for the sake of possessing it. She'd only spent a day with the younger woman, but she saw her already, felt comfortable in her curious presence.

"I'm sorry," Zelena said, not even knowing herself that the words needed to be said. She glanced over her shoulder. "For yelling at you."

"I've endured worse," Belle joked. "Apology accepted." She wrapped gauze over the bandage, tucking it uncomfortably in her armpit, but it couldn't be avoided. "Now, if you'll convince Emma to let me leave this circle, I'd forgive both of you for traumatizing me unnecessarily."

Zelena chuckled and stood, shoving the rattle back into her bag. She collected the supplies and stepped back over the barrier, leaving them on the floor of the other side. There was work left to do before she could sleep. The elixir that kept Regina alive waited in the big pot on the stone ring around the fire. It probably hadn't heated long enough to be effective, so she stoked the fire and gave it a stir. Belle unpacked the books from her bag and settled onto the bedroll, satisfied for the moment. Everything hurt, her body and her soul, and Zelena wanted to take something that made her sleep all night.

"Regina is stable for the moment," she finally answered Belle's question.

The librarian looked up, nodded with a forced smile, and went back to the book in her hands. Zelena stirred and waited. With her back to Belle, she stared into the fire, unblinking. The dancing flames blurred, and she closed her eyes. A tear tipped over the rim of her eye and slid down her cheek, silent and unnoticed save the itchy trek it left upon her skin. She was too afraid of the nightmares in her mind to sleep anyway.