Beneath the Hat

WHOOSH! Words churned, whirled, dashed between the stars, into his ears, around in his head, out of his ears and back up to the dome.

"Hey! Rumplestiltzkin's toady!" WHOOSH! "Not for yourself, Hook, or treasure! For Emma!" WHOOSH! "No Dark One should have either hat or dagger, let alone BOTH!" WHOOSH! "Ye' got bilge for brains?!" WHOOSH! "Captain Jones, please! All is forgiven!" WHOOSH! "Why isn't he moving?!" WHOOSH! "Addlepat! What was the LAST thing I ever told ye?!"

Pain grappled with confusion to break Killian; drive him into madness.

"Why can't I crush his heart?"

"Because I commanded you not to."

Then the pain stopped. The words still looped through him.

"Praise be! She took the dagger!" WHOOSH! "Hooray Belle!" WHOOSH! "The last thing I told ye'- Never WHAT?"

"Drop the heart!"

Somehow, the heart tumbled into Killian's hand.

WHOOSH! "That's twice now! Don't forget again, ye halfwit! Ye won't survive a third!" WHOOSH!

Then the stars collapsed and the words stopped. The Golds disappeared. Relief fell.

"Killian, are you okay?"

"SWAN! GET BACK!" He held his hook out to prevent her advance. His good hand clutched the heart.

She gripped his shoulder and turned him to face her. A whimper escaped the back of his throat. His eyes darted from Emma to the table to the dome to Mary Margaret.

"Wow! Gold really messed you up! What'd he do?"

"Emma!" Her mother gasped. "Isn't it obvious?"

"No, Killian has enough experience with the heart thing... Milah...Aurora...Cora... It's something else."

She touched his face.

"What is it?"

He trembled.

"That!" He pointed to the disc on the table.

"The light show projector?"

"It's no show, Swan. It's magic."

"I got that already. What is it?"

"A hat that absorbs any magical being and caches their magic."

"Is that what happened to the fairies?"

He nodded with eyes downcast. Then she understood.

"Gold made you kill them, didn't he?"

"Yes ...I sucked them into the hat ... I thought I had killed them until now...Could you hear them calling?"

Emma exchanged looks with Mary Margaret.

"No, but we weren't inside it like you... voices, imprisoned in the hat, called to you?"

"Yes... I understand why I heard the old man - the crocodile took him to cow me... and Tink... and Mother Superior... but HIM?"

"What kind of being is 'him'?

Killian scowled. "The kind of being who abandons a sleeping boy in the middle of the docks."

"Your father! He had magic?"

"He never had luck let alone magic."

"Then why is he in there?"

"I-I don't know."

"What did he say?"

"He reminded me of his last words."

"Which were?"

"...Never give your heart to anyone."

Their eyes locked overlong...

"Lying sot and his useless advice!" He handed her the heart. "Ask Regina how to put this back but only YOU may touch it!"

They walked to Granny's entwined.

THE END

Author's Note: This story is my first attempt with the highly compressed short story known as Flash Fiction. Thanks for reading! Please review if you have time.