Once Upon a Time in Storybrooke - OUAT DR

Chapter 7 - Shadow Captures Shadow

I sighed but followed Emma, our woman on a mission, and Neal, who took the time to tell us some entertaining stories as we ventured deeper into the jungle which caused Killian to follow up with stories of his own. It felt as if Hook and Neal were battling over who could tell the better story and it was entertaining, to say the least. 

 As we walked through the jungle Hook stopped me, saying we needed to talk about the secret he'd revealed in the Caves.

Shit.

He asked why I had told Emma and my mom of our shared moment together, and I told him I hadn't meant to, it had just slipped out. When I asked him why it mattered that I had told them, he responded that he had hoped the kiss had meant something to me, as it clearly had for him. 

I, admittedly, panicked and fell back on teasing, something I was comfortable with, and told him I was surprised he was worried about such things; he was a pirate, after all. 

Killian took a step closer - he always had to take that extra step forward and be my undoing. He whispered that he was a pirate indeed, but he also believed in good form, so when he won my heart, and said my name - my actual name - not Swan, not Lady, but Hannah - and he would win it, it wouldn't be because of any trickery, it would be because I wanted him. It would be as it always had been between us - my choice.

My breath caught and I thought I might faint, (or throw up, or just run as fast as I could) I wasn't quite sure. His words broke something inside me and I felt pieces begin to fall, as if he'd thrown a rock at a glass castle that I had built up to keep the feelings inside and it was now shattering into a million little shards, falling around me - the emotions cascading with every piece of rainbow glass. 

He left me to process his words but Emma came and grabbed me and asked what happened, she felt something weird through the twin bond we seemed to share. I shook my head, told her it was nothing, and followed the path Neal had cut for us with the cutlass Emma had given him - his cutlass, the one Hook had given her when we'd first arrived in Neverland. She pressed me, and asked what Hook had said that had gotten me so riled up and I told her he was just being himself, well, more himself. She asked for details about things between us and I countered that now might not be the best time for such talks. She stopped me and looked me in the eye and asked if he made me happy, and I told her yes, and she let me go and continued walking, back to her previous less-serious attitude. I quickly caught up with her, growing tired of everyone rendering me speechless today (I always had something to say, after all) and asked her what that was all about and she just told me to have fun, not think about it too much - if he made me happy I should go with that and see where it leads.

Where the fuck did that piece of wisdom about love come from, Emma??? Miss "I never go past the first date" with walls higher than the beanstalk I'd climbed.

She walked off without another word and I followed after them all, not able to think of a thing to say. Once we got to the darkest part of the forest it was insanely creepy (and I hated it). The light was red here, the wind was strong, and it was colder in the Dark Hollow, as if the sun never fully shined here. It was a place where all the Shadows Pan stole came to live, eternally. 

Super, super creepy vibes.

Hook must have noticed me shivering from the wind and offered me his coat while Neal explained the plan: You light the candle in the coconut, and the shadow is drawn to it, once it got close enough the flame would suck it in, then you put the lid on it and the shadow would be trapped inside. I took the leather coat from Killian, grateful for the warmth, and tried not to get distracted by the fact it smelled like him. - Fuck, I think I might be down bad. (Uh, you think?) - 

Emma and Neal struggled to light the candle with the lighter Neal had on him; with the wind, the lighter wasn't keeping lit. As I looked up and away from the two of them I saw the shadows coming, the candle still not lit, when no one else seemed to. I decided it was enough of this nonsense with the lighter, if I didn't act things would get really bad, really fast. I yanked the candle away from Emma and Neal and lit it with magic, trapping the shadows before they could do any harm to anyone. I handed the coconut to Emma once all the shadows were safely locked inside, happy to have trapped them but not willing to be on Shadow Watch Duty. 

Emma and Neal were both standing there, looking surprised, but Killian was grinning like a fool. "See Swan, if you hadn't been born, we all would have been shadowbait," the pirate said to me with that devilish smirk still on his face. 

Emma asked how long I'd been able to use my magic like that followed by why I'd let her struggle so hard with Regina earlier but I told her I was trying to let her do things her way, and didn't want to interject. She pushed my shoulder and told me if it would make it easier on her, I should tell her, and I gave her a long look before smiling and telling her I would try and remember that moving forward, assuming she'd listen which got a chuckle and smile from both of us. I told her if she thought the fire was cool, she should see the teleporting and gave her a wicked grin in response to her widening eyes. Emma handed Neal the coconut with the shadows inside and he wrapped it up to secure it, making sure they wouldn't escape.

Once we left the dark woods and were back in the jungle on the way to Tink's I gave Hook back his coat, thanking him, realizing I hadn't done so before. He told me it was mine any time I desired and flashed me a devilish smirk before swaggering off, leaving me to follow after him, for the second time now.

Bastard. He knew what he was doing. He knew he was driving me wild. Bastard. Bastard. Bastard. 

We got back to Tinker Bell's little tree house and found Snow and David there already, seeming to have made up while we were gone. Good, I hated to see them fight, it was like seeing the sky green - it just wasn't natural. We told them we had been successful and trapped the shadow. 

Thanks to me and my magic, we had our escape plan, and Tinker Bell agreed to help us, impressed by our inventiveness.