Hi! This is my first time writing for OUAT, so I hope you Oncers like it. This was written as part of a prompt on my role-playing blog onTumblr (thedifficultmantolove).

For Jennifer (piratequeenmilah). You're a real queen, and have withstood my storms. Thank you.

For months, the Dark One had been playing the intimidation game, gaining enough power and wealth to amply care for Baelfire. Since losing Milah to that despicable Killian Jones, Bae had been the sole light in his life. He would keep him safe and happy.

That was when the rumour started. It spread to even the village where the Dark One and his son lived. Of course, he knew all that the villagers whispered under the cover of night. That was how he ruled: by fear. The murmurs crooned in the incomprehensible hours of darkness soon fell to his acute ears:

"Did you hear? That fearsome pirate fellow, the one who came all those years ago -"

"Yes, what about him?

"A woman he took from here, she's been on the ship all this time -"

"Scandalous!"

"Naturally, she's on her death bed. Nothing they try will heal her -"

"Nothing?"

"Nothing at all. A shame, too. She was a pretty lass -"

"The one with long, dark hair and haunting eyes?"

"The whore? Yes. Pity how she ended."

"At least she won't be playing whore for those pirates anymore."

A pang of deep-buried love and regret caused his chest to ache. He would do something right. He would help her, help her more than his former weak self had every done before. He would save her life. The Dark One would help the coward's wife.

The next night, he tucked in Bae with a fond smile. Leaving the room, he was careful to shut the door completely. Concentrating, he wove a spell to keep Bae asleep all through the night, as well as a protection spell to keep anyone from entering the house, even their new, mute maid. Stepping out into the cool night air, he gave a quick shudder, then was off into the night, transporting, by means of magic, to the port that now served the infamous Jolly Roger.

Cloaking himself with an invisibility enchantment, so as to keep from being noticed by the guards, he sneaked aboard the ship. Agilely, he crossed from plank to plank. With uncommon stealth, he stole away to the place where he could hear her heart, a heart he knew so well, beating unsteadily. He bent to her bed, watching her in her uneasy reset. Her breathing ragged and her skin yellowing and devoid of rosiness, she looked only a shadow of her once-lively self. He looked down at her, determining her ills. Her liver was failing, a common sign of heavy drinking. Sighing inwardly, he set to correcting the damage.

Slowly, the unnatural hue faded and the pink colour returned to her cheeks, and her breathing began regular. Bending his head, he kissed her forehead. How tired he was. This was the first time he had performed such magic before, and mending humans was much harder than mending objects.

Seeing the first rays of dawn, he hastily beat his retreat, disappearing into the night from whence he came. He would give her peace for the moment; he had kept her safe, and there was little more he could do for the wife who had abandoned him and the mother who had abandoned Bae, however much Rumplestiltskin, beneath the Dark One's sinister demeanour, still loved her.

As she woke, her eyelids fluttered, and she thought she caught a glimpse of her husband leaving her. They soon shut, and she thought no more as she sunk into a rest of recovery.

When she was well again, she would say that a spirit had come to her, with the appearance of evil and the intent of good. The crew would tease her about it, but she would always remember her Sea Angel.

What did you think? Please drop a review, and I'll love you for just about forever.