Just a little tid bit set a few hours after the sneak peek we got at comic con – the one with Emma in the Dark One's cell. The assumption I'm making is that Emma isn't the only one in the Enchanted Forest and that she has been put in the cell by her loved ones.

Angst lies ahead. I'm sorry. But it's hopeful angst…

…

The Little Things Give You Away

…

It's hours before she hears the door to her cell open again and she vaguely wonders if they're missing the man she had killed or if they're here to check on her. Either way, she turns away from the light and ignores the heavy booted footsteps that echo around the cave. That is, until he speaks.

"Swan?"

And oh how she misses him. She stays facing the wall, her hands reaching out to grip the stone before her to stop herself from satisfying the dark itch that has her wanting to plunge her fingertips through his chest.

"Oh Emma," he says with sorrow in his voice and she knows he's found the body of her servant. It tugs at something in her heart that he sounds so sad. It makes her feel sad. And the darkness feeds off that so easily.

"Don't," she says, her voice bouncing off the wall and travelling to him, "don't pity me."

"I want to help."

"No."

"Emma-"

But, with her temper on such a short fuse, she has had enough; the darkness rises up in her and she can stay grounded no longer, spinning and grabbing a hold of the bars of her cell instead, "Stop saying my name, don't you know what power it has?"

She has pleaded with him night after night to stop it, so she knows that he understands and, yet, he keeps pushing, keeps trying to get to her. It has to stop.

"Of course I do. But you told me to fight for you to find your light magic again and I intend to do that." She opens her mouth to argue against him again, but he holds up his hand, covering hers around the jagged bar of her cell, "No matter what it takes."

Her eyes soften at his touch. It has been so long. Too long.

But her dark companion won't let her have this moment, choosing now to remind her of her dreams, her nightmares. She rips her hand from under his and cries out, "No!" against the shadows of the cavern. "No you can't. You have to let me go. You can't stop it."

"I won't stop fighting, Emma."

Her names rings in her own ears, memories sharpening in her mind, images playing out before her eyes. Her Killian murdered by his own hook, her fingers gripping the other end of it as he slides to the ground, his hand still outstretched and wanting her. As she kills him, he still begs her to remember their life together, remember their love.

"You're fighting for someone you already lost. I've seen too much, Killian. I have felt too much." She moves towards the bars again, her hand gripping his once more, but it's tight and rough, her sharp nails digging into his skin, "Part of each Dark One lives in me now and I have felt Rumplestiltskin's anger, I have seen it and part of me likes how much he hates you." She can feel her fingertips piercing his skin, feel the blood as it gathers under her nails. His eyes remain trained on hers, but she can see the fear in them, "Part of me wants to kill you." She tilts her head, twisting her fingers and biting her lip when he groans in pain, "I could do it right now."

He swallows against his panting breath and rips his hand away, blood dripping off the ends of his fingers as her fingernails leave deep gouges, "You wouldn't."

Her eyes are dangerous, "How do you know?"

He's still breathing heavily and his hand is shaking but he takes a determined step back towards her, reaching through the bars and grabbing her around her waist, "Because of this."

He pulls her against the bars and presses his lips against hers, sighing in familiar relief when she responds. It's always brief, these perfect moments when her magic is light again and he can feel it humming beneath his own skin. But this isn't a curse that she's under and it can't be broken no matter how much love they have for each other. He breaks away and steps out of her grip immediately, his bruised ribs still a reminder of what she is capable of after these short dalliances. It breaks his heart to see her like this, to see the way her face recognises him and loves him, then to see it fall as the darkness consumes her again.

But it gives him hope, every night it gives him a reason to see her, to keep her light magic near the surface of her being. The darkness rules her now, a selfishness he has never known her to possess but, for a few seconds each night, the light reigns.

He has to leave before she crumbles, offering a bow and a promise, "Until tomorrow, my love."

Emma watches him go and, just like every night before, she reminds herself that, although the darkness is tethered to her, she is still tethered to something so much stronger.

…

Thoughts?