Hooked

She was there when the car hit him. Ariel had witnessed everything even if no one knew it. She was frozen by fear and shock, watching the confrontation between Hook and Gold… and poor Belle. Ariel couldn’t help but wonder what it felt like to have all of those memories gone, to have no idea who anyone was or where you were.

She wished she could have helped in some way. Belle must have been terrified, having just been shot and being surrounded by people she now saw as strangers.

And then the car seemed to appear out of nowhere, Hook flew through the air before landing in a heap on the ground.

---

Hook spotted her almost immediately. He knew she was attempting to hide, but he saw her. The red hair that haunted his thoughts had become easier for him to spot. He turned away from her and went after his target, anger overtaking his senses.

He succeeded in getting the girl over the town line, making her forget Rumpelstiltskin. And then he was suddenly on the ground in pain. Suddenly Emma was in his line of sight.

“Hey beautiful,” he choked out. “Here I didn’t think you noticed—”

He let out a cry of pain as Emma place pressure on his ribs.

“Your ribs are broken,” she said.

“W-Well that must be why it hurts when I laugh,” he gasped. “Did you see his face? His one true love gone in an instant, just like me and the crocodile...when you took her from me.”

He was attempting to get up now, Rumpelstiltskin approaching him. This wasn’t over yet.

“But you took her first,” Rumpelstiltskin said before kicking Hook in the face.

---

Ariel could watch no longer, backing further into the woods before hurrying back in the direction of town. Whatever it was that Hook had against Gold…whatever Gold seemed to hold against Hook… It all seemed to go deeper than she wanted to explore. There were just some things you shouldn’t know—shouldn’t want to know.

It seemed everyone had lost someone they had loved dearly. It was hard to imagine having something like that in common with someone like Hook.

Instead of heading to her apartment, Ariel headed in the direction of the dock. She knew she could go there without being bothered. Hook definitely wouldn’t be returning here any time soon.

As she walked down the dock she found herself slowing, before coming to a complete stop just about where she had seen Hook disappear that first day she had met him. She looked around her quickly, making sure there was no one around before hesitantly making her way to the edge of the dock.

She stuck her foot out, moving it around in the empty air. There just couldn’t possibly be anything there.

And then her foot made contact with something solid and she gasped in surprise. She placed her foot onto what felt like a stair, and pushed down. It didn’t move. Reaching out a hand, she felt around feeling the wood of a step. It was definitely there, she just couldn’t see it.

She backed away from the step and looked at the seemingly empty space in front of her. But she knew now, without a doubt that there was a ship there.

---

She wasn’t sure why she had returned, why she was feeling around for the step. And in the middle of the day too! This really wasn’t a smart idea. What if someone found her? What if Hook managed to make his way back?

She took a deep breath before stepping fully onto the step and carefully moved forward. Before her eyes, the ship appeared to her and she looked around in awe. It was hard to believe that this ship had been here the whole time.

Carefully, she walked around the ship, touching the many ropes and sails. She found a door leading down into the ship and she opened it, listening carefully to make sure there wasn’t anyone lurking down below. When she heard nothing, she went down, finding herself in a room that looked like a makeshift bedroom. There was a bed and a desk, several locked trunks.

She headed for the desk first, noticing papers scattered across it. She had just pulled a map closer to get a better look at it when she heard voices above her. Panicking, she set the map back on the desk, not noticing that it ended up fluttering to the floor. She found a closet which had just enough room for her to squeeze into. She closed the door and crouched down into the corner.

She couldn’t really hear what was going on up on the deck, but all she knew was that she didn’t want to be found. She knew she shouldn’t be here and she was cursing herself now for her curiosity. Why did she have this need to explore places that she should just leave alone?

Suddenly, she realized that it had gotten quiet above. A moment later she heard the door she had went through to get below deck open, followed by footsteps. Ariel tried to push herself deeper into the corner of the closet, knowing that it was pointless to try. If whoever was there were to open the door, they would see her immediately. There was nothing for her to hide behind; this closet wasn’t very big to begin with.

She heard a rustling of papers and she shut her eyes when she heard footsteps approaching the closet. She knew it was going to happen, but she was still scared out of her wits, her heart pounding as the door opened. She could almost hear the smirk in his voice as he spoke to her.

“Just can’t stay away, can you lass?”