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The Trade Off	By : LotornoMiko Category: M through R > Once Upon A Time Views: 5409 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Once Upon A Time fandom. Nor do I make any money off of it or this story.

Chapter List
- 1-The Trade Off
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 6-Six
- 7-Seven
- 8-Eight
- 9-Nine
- 10-Ten
- 11-Trade 11
- 12-Twelve
- 13-Thirteen
- 14-Fourteen
- 15-Fifteen
- 16-Sixteen
- 17-Seventeen
- 18-Eighteen
- 19-Nineteen
- 20-Twenty
- 21-Twenty One
- 22-Twenty Two
- 23-Twenty Three
- 24-Twenty Four
- 25-Twenty Five
- 26-Twenty Six
- 20
- 21
- 22
It had all the makings of a beautiful day what with the sky free of all but the fluffiest of white clouds. It offered up a near uninterrupted view of it's brilliant baby blue color, the sky merging with the darker shades of the water below it. There was the sun out in all it's spring force and glory, it's rays on the water offering a dazzling display of it's light. The light shimmered and fluctuated with the gentle movements of the harbor's waters, the Jolly Roger doing only the slightest of groaning and rocking because of it. A seasoned pro of the sea like Hook barely felt the movements, and even the most green of sailors would have had an easy time keeping steady footing on these waters.
The waters were that of Storybrooke's harbor, which stretched on further that the eye could see, leaving one to wonder what adventures awaited out there. The lure of it was seductive, especially to a pirate, the sea in his blood calling to him. But for once Hook ignored it, actually having little desire to set sail on these unknown waters. Maybe someday it would be different. Maybe someday he would grow curious about what lay past the borders of this town. If that time came, Hook might just brave the curse itself, if only to see what else there was to this realm.
Once it wouldn't have taken much courage to risk the oblivion the town's curse offered. Once Hook would have not only welcomed the relief it could grant, but would have embraced it whole heartedly. He had after all once felt as Belle now did, so lost and in pain, that almost anything had seemed a better alternative then dealing with the hurt that had swallowed up everything else, leaving Hook empty save for his need for revenge.
Funny how a few days could change everything, how one person could change everything. How so simple a bargain agreed upon could so effectively alter the course of not one, not two, but several lives. Belle had been the game changer, her unexpected, unasked for arrival on his ship, changing, actually even saving lives. Handing Hook his revenge, and giving him a reason to hang on, to actually live for once rather than exist as a mere shadow of his true self. Hook was coming alive, living for something other than to achieve revenge and the death he had been sure would follow. A death he had thought to welcome gladly, and the relief it would have surely offered Hook from his pain.
His pain was still there, but somehow it felt muted. As though wrapped in gauze and bandages and smothered by smug victory, by the illicit thrills he got thinking of Rumplestiltskin's continuing torment. Most of all, it was drowning on a wave of sheer lust, Hook cutting loose in a way that bordered on obscene and self indulgent. Belle didn't put an end to the pain he had suffered with for roughly three hundred years, but she was very much the reason it was soothed somewhat. And all because she represented so many things, revenge, his second chance at life, Rumplestiltskin's continuing misery. Fixated on her, on what she brought to him, it was no wonder Hook craved her like an addict with a new drug.
And like an addict, Hook didn't enjoy being denied what he wanted. The past three days had been a torment of a different kind, Hook unable to satisfy one of his most strongest desires. It hadn't been for a lack of trying, Hook doing everything short of throwing Belle down and raping her. But it wasn't his way to so thoroughly force himself on a woman, surrender sweeter when it was willingly given. It didn't mean he wasn't being driven out of his mind, distracted from his centuries long grief by the fact that Belle wouldn't let him do much of anything to her.
It left every kiss stolen, every touch a small victory she might allow. Hook put his heart and soul into the effort of seducing a yes from Belle's sweet lips, and always, always she managed to stop him. Even as he left her panting, his name a gasp on her lips, Belle always ultimately told him no. It was driving him mad, his desire ratcheted up so high, Hook thought he might explode. And in some ways he already had, many a messy finish staining the front of one too many pairs of pants.
Existing as a maelstrom of sexual lust, tension and desires, Hook thought it would do them both good to get off his ship for a few hours. He hadn't failed to notice how depressed Belle was behaving, how locked into her sadness she was. She was mourning her relationship, the end of her life with Rumplestiltskin. Finding it hard to accept the truth of who that monster had really been, Belle was unable to see what Hook had done to facilitate the changes in her life as something good. She was simply too broken hearted, too grief stricken and hurting. She might never forgive Hook for the role he had played in ruining her life with Rumplestiltskin, but he was fine with that. It wasn't forgiveness he was wanting from her, content to settle for her loyalty, and her passion. Thinking it would be enough, that it would give him a purpose in a life that was otherwise aimless without his revenge.
Having no real ties left to him, in this world, or any of the others, Hook needed something, someone to ground him. To give him a reason for living. Belle and everything she represented to Hook, was becoming that reason, the pirate thinking no finer excuse for living then the snub it offered his enemy.
Aimless, with no real knowledge of how to live in Storybrooke, and with no friends or family to truly call upon, Belle was the lifeline Hook hadn't realized he had been searching for. Hadn't even known he had wanted, Hook making a grab for it, for her, all the same. Because, even with all his pain and private torment, Hook simply wasn't the type of man to just lay down and die. Not even at his most reckless and foolish, Hook a man who had once enjoyed living and all that life had had to offer him.
Once he had been on top of the world, the possibilities seeming endless with Mila at his side, and his crew at his back. They had been able to go anywhere, do just about anything, and Hook had never been happier. That time had been too brief, a mere instant in a life that had been unnaturally extended. And through that long, unnatural life span, Hook had never thought to come close to such happiness again. Hook supposed he still didn't, might even think it impossible without his Mila alive and well. But there were other joys to be found, other kinds of happiness to chase after. Like a revenge well accomplished, or a woman in his bed. A woman that was devastatingly sexy, a woman Hook was enjoying the pursuit of, even if the chase often left him more frustrated than satisfied.
That frustration was part of the reason Hook had decided that he and Belle both needed off his ship. They both need a break, a breather from Hook's attempts at sexual conquest. It might have been different if Hook had thought Belle was close to giving in, but the unfortunate fact was that she was not. And Hook had enough sense to realize that. It was a reprieve to them both he was granting, a small concession to the realization that to continue as they had, would merely end in madness.
It might even be a bit of empathy on Hook's part, the pirate aware of Belle's pain, and the way she allowed it and grief to consume her. The woman was thoroughly depressed, and moping. Hook found himself sympathizing, actually giving himself over to something other than the lusts that fueled him, the revenge that had ruthlessly driven him for so long. He felt bad for Belle, for the pain she was in. But it was only to a point, Hook not about to let her go, nor facilitate a way for her to reunite with her former lover, Rumplestiltskin.
Instead he thought to distract her. With sex firmly shelved for the time being, Hook had to put both their energies to a new pursuit. Exploring Storybrooke and some of it's many marvels, seemed an ideal outlet for an otherwise restless pirate and his reluctant paramour.
Reluctant in more ways than one, for Belle was taking her sweet time in joining him on deck. Just as Hook thought he would have to go down and fetch her, the beautiful woman appeared. Hook immediately straightened from the slouched over lean he had been doing against the ship's railing, a grin curling at his mouth's corners at the sight of Belle. She hadn't sighted him just yet, a hand lifted to shade her eyes from the bright sun.
She'd actually jump at the sound of his voice, Hook greeting her with a jovial smirk. Her own expression was close to sullen, Belle's eyes looking resentful over the outing. Hook could understand why, knowing she neither wanted to be seen in public with him, nor did Belle welcome an interruption to her moping. Hook understood about both reasons, Belle not ready for their situation to be made public. Hook also remembered a time when he had wallowed so deep in his misery, that the pirate had been ready to kill anyone who tried to draw him out of it. Fortunately for him, Belle wasn't anywhere as bloodthirsty. She merely did the slightest of flinching recoil when he took hold of her wrist, rather than lash out or slap him instead.
Belle held herself still for the brushing of his lips across the back of her hand, the woman then nearly stumbling when Hook tugged her to walk besides him. He didn't immediately let go of her hand, excited for once for something other than sex. Belle was wary, actually sighing as they walked down the stairs that led off the Jolly Roger.
The second both their feet touched down on the pier, the ship vanished from their sight. There wasn't so much as sound to betray it's location, Cora's spell working it's magic. It was a bit unsettling to just have the ship disappear like that, and Hook wondered how long Cora's spell would truly last. It's purpose had been served, the Jolly Roger hidden long enough for both Cora and Hook to get closer to their goals. Cora might not yet be wreaking havoc in Storybrooke, but the pirate was sure she would soon. The sorceress might want her daughter, but Hook didn't believe for one second that helping Regina to pick up the pieces of her life would go off as a peaceful endeavor. Regina would want a revenge of her own, and her mother would be all too quick to give it to her.
Hook wasn't overly concerned with what would happen then. His partnership with Cora was technically at an end, the two having parted ways not long after arriving in Storybrooke. Except for a few gifts, and an invaluable assistance that had saved Hook's life the very first night of their arrival in this realm, Cora was basically gone from his life. And he preferred it that way. For as much as they had worked together, they had also spent a fair amount of time turning against each other. Hook had betrayed Cora more than once, the pirate ruthless and quick to fall into the camp of whoever could get him to Storybrooke first. And the back and forth between Cora and the Savior, had been such, that Hook hadn't known who would be the sure bet. In the end it had been both, albeit through different routes.
Hook hadn't been an idle player in all this. He had helped Cora just as much as she had him, the pirate actually giving her hope in her most despairing of hours. After the portal had closed behind the Savior and her mother, Cora's shoulders had actually sagged in defeat until Hook had showed her the shriveled up bean he had procured. Of course the bean would have done him no good on his own. It had needed the sorceress to draw forth the healing waters of the dried up lake. Together, they had made their own path, and because of this they didn't truly owe one another a thing.
Not even the spell on his ship tilted a debt in Cora's favor. Hiding the Jolly Roger was helping the sorceress as much as the pirate, and he told Belle exactly that. He watched her as she tore he gaze from the spot the invisible ship occupied, her brow wrinkling with her frown. But she wasn't stumped for long, Belle slowly nodding.
"Cora didn't want anyone to know she was here."
"No doubt about that." Hook said. "As many fine ships as there are in this harbor, none are quite like my Roger, and that's before you take into account her special properties."
"Special properties? Such as?"
"She's made entirely of enchanted wood." Hook explained.
"Enchanted wood, but that's..." Belle suddenly shook her head no. "No wait...it is possible. You come from a time before the woods itself were depleted."
"A lot changes over time." Hook told her. "Even a minute, a second, can make a difference. Let alone the years that I've lived."
"It must have been unsettling." Belle said to his surprise. "To come back home, and find the Enchanted Realm had changed so much."
"The Roger has been the only home I've ever needed." Hook told her, but nodded all the same. "But the changes to the realm, the progress that had been made, was shocking to say the least."
"Changes for the better?" Belle asked, then frowned when Hook told her no.
"Don't get me wrong. Most of the improvements were welcome. But some of the things lost...it was a damn shame to see so much of magic just gone."
"Magic?" Her brows lifted up. "I would think you of all people would despise magic."
"I don't despise it, just those who misuse it." Hook corrected her, and took hold of her hand.
"Like Rumplestiltskin? Or...Cora...?" Belle shook her head. "How could you align yourself with that....that witch?"
"Desperate times, love." Hook answered, as he led her off the pier. "And Cora's no worse than Rumplestiltskin."
"That's not..." But then Belle was biting at her bottom lip, stopping herself from protesting any further. Hook smiled in approval, taking that as a sign she was one step closer to accepting the truth, albeit grudgingly.
"Don't get me wrong....I'm sure given a chance, Cora COULD become worse than him." Belle reacted in surprise. Hook supposed his words did surprise her, as if she hadn't expected him to make a case for even the chance of someone being worse than Rumplestiltskin. "But really who has that kind of time?"
She seem to deflate for one second, before a fierce flame sparked in her blue gaze. "You for one."
"Me?"
"You found a way to live just as long as Rumplestiltskin has." Belle pointed out. "Why couldn't Cora?"
"She'd hardly be happy in Neverland." Hook said with a snort of amusement. And it was comical, trying to imagine Cora taming the wilderness of Neverland with her magic. Never mind the magic that cultivated Neverland to be a wild paradise,was a boys to master. All the people Cora needed to surround herself with, to enslave and torture, simply didn't exist in Neverland. After all, what good was being a queen, if there was no one around to admire and fear you?
"Neverland..." Belle murmured, some of her fire dying, replaced with the oddest of looks instead.
"You've heard of it?" Hook asked, surprised for one moment. "Ah but you were the Dark One's slave. I suppose he's had reason to mention it?"
"It wasn't from Rumplestiltskin that I learned the name." Belle corrected him. "Neverland wasn't a place often talked about in the enchanted kingdom, if at all."
"Then where?"
"There's truly a lot you don't know about when it comes to this realm." Belle said it as though she was just truly accepting of that.
"I mean to change that." Hook told her. "Knowledge is power after all, and I'm intrigued at the idea that a world like this one would know about Neverland when few had that knowledge in our own homeland."
They were walking through the docks as they talked, with only a few people around to give Hook and Belle curious stares. Hook truly looked around, though the goings on of the harbor's docks was something he had already had plenty of chance to study. Nothing stood out as particularly unusual, or magical, to the point Hook couldn't imagine Neverland being common knowledge in this realm.
"Oh it is known..." Belle said, and her words only intrigued him more. "Kind of."
"Kind of?" Hook asked with a lift of his brow. "And that means?"
"Neverland, along with many of the people of our home land, all exists as stories to the people of this realm." Belle finally explained. "Our lives, our world's history, nothing more than children's tales."
Hook was stunned, and even more so at what Belle next said. "Even you pirate, haven't escaped this. I don't know how, or why....or even if this all serves as some greater purpose. But it's all there, handed down through the ages, although with some....changes to it."
"Even me..." Hook breathed out, very curious as to what could have been said. "That's a story I would very much like to see."
"I wouldn't bother." Belle grumbled. "It's not a particularly flattering story, but then what pirate story is?"
"Something the realms have in common then." Hook muttered. But he still wanted to see, a part of him thrilling at the thought of his and Mila's love being immortalized in a book somewhere. And then the rest of what Belle had said registered, Hook frowning. "Changes? What changes?"
"Some of the details aren't always right." Is all Belle answered with.
"But most of it is?" Hook asked sharply. Belle just shrugged, which made Hook frown harder. "If they recorded our history..." He began slowly. "Made it the stuff of their children's tales...I suppose it had to be changed enough to hide the evils certain people have done."
"Rumplestiltskin's a villain in at least one of his tales." Belle voice had a snap to it, like she was getting increasingly angry with this topic.
"One of his tales? How many are there?"
"A few..." Belle muttered.
"No doubt you've read them." Hook guessed. "And no doubt they were changed enough for you to not realize the truth about him." He knew he was on the mark by the angry color of her face, Belle turning red from her heightened emotion.
"I don't know why this world has our history as their stories. Or why they've been changed enough to blur the truth of some of what happened." Belle explained with clenching teeth. "But I certainly don't believe it was all an elaborate trick concocted by Rumplestiltskin to keep the wool pulled over my eyes. The man did think I was dead for most of the twenty eight years we've existed in this realm!"
That surprised him enough that Hook momentarily lost interest in the stories. "Dead? Because of the queen?"
"The EVIL queen." Belle snapped. "She made sure to keep me locked up even here."
"Then however did you escape her?" Hook was genuinely curious.
"I didn't....not without help."
"Rumplestiltskin?" guessed Hook, further surprised when Belle shook her head no.
"No, it was someone else. He wouldn't give me his name, just told me where to go to find Rumplestiltskin. Shortly after, the savior broke the curse on us all."
"And magic then came to Storybrooke?"
"What makes you think magic wasn't already here?" Belle asked.
"Something Cora said." Hook told her. "We were not expecting magic to be here. I thought I'd finally be able to face Rumplestiltskin on equal grounds." He didn't imagine the shiver Belle did then or the disturbed look that came to her eyes. "Cora saved my life that first night....warning me about the presence of magic. If she hadn't..."
"Rumplestiltskin would have most likely killed you." Belle finished with a quiet tone of voice.
Hook nodded, absolutely serious. "Yes. For all that we've done to each other, all the hurt and betrayals and backstabbing....we've also helped each other quite a bit. "
"So you owe her then?"
"No, not at all. I'd say we're even." Hook retorted. "After everything that's happened, and the fact it took both of us to find a way and use it, to get to Storybrooke, neither one of us owes the other any amount of debt."
"For your sake I hope Cora thinks that way too." Belle said it sincere enough, but Hook couldn't resist teasing her.
"Oh my, is that honest concern for my well being you've just expressed?"
Still a bit red from her earlier upset, Belle still managed to blush in addition to stammering out a protest. "I..I am not concerned for you! Not in the slightest!"
Before Hook could truly say anything else, Belle all but stomped on ahead of him. Her injury from the other day, had had enough time to heal, to the point she could take such forceful, angry steps without so much as a flinch or cry of pain. Hook was left staring at her back, trying his best not to openly laugh. To him, Belle's reaction was a fine example of the lady protesting just a little too much. Hook didn't fool himself into thinking Belle liked him, but he did think that maybe, just maybe she was starting to warm up to him. Which didn't seem all that impossible, Hook considering himself a handsome pirate that was irresistible to most sensible thinking women. His thinking included Belle in that, and his ego would have suffered quite a tremendous blow if he had even suspected the truth behind Belle's concerns....
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To Be Continued.....
So..it's been four weeks since I updated this. it has not been a good time for me emotions wise. This chapter is the only writing I've managed to FINALLY complete in the four weeks that have passed. Its been a bad time, I've been majorly depressed and scared. Mainly it's medical stuff....the night after the night I posted twenty of The Trade Off, I started experiencing numbness in my left pinky finger. Long story short, now TWO fingers are numb, and changing day to day, cause sometimes the numbness extends to my wrist area on the side with the numb fingers. It has made me scared, and then put me in an awful depression, and I found it incredibly hard to write anything that isn't like uber dark and depressing. I keep telling myself I would write something dark and super depressing once I got this chapter of Trade Off finished...but we shall see. As for my numb situation, my doctor is sending me for some kind of EMG test but not until the middle of January. I'm very upset by this wait...
I also feel very disappointed in myself, because of not being able to be productive writing wise. I hate that I didn't get any chapters written for any of my fics. =/
I want to thank Zerousy for looking at the original conversation I had written....even though I ended up trashing it, cause I really felt it was boring or sucked. I am much happier with the conversation, with the whole thing then what I showed her. One thing that got side tracked but will hopefully get used in a future chapter, is when Hook was learning they're all stories in our world, I wanted him to ask Belle what story she and Rumple were a part of. So I really hope to get that moment in at some point in this fic's future. :)
Most of the conversation was finally written this morning. Before that, Hooks thoughts, a lot of it, I would just write a paragraph here and there...then give in to my depression and stop writing. Hope the part where I kept stopping to break and wallow, doesn't suck because of that.
I also thought they'd be further along into the shopping/exploring Storybrooke part of it....but alas they just barely got through the docks. I'm actually thinking next chapter will be a Belle POV, when i get around to it. To me it just seems like the excursion could be a lot of fun, but I don't know if it's wise to try and force it out of me at this time. But we'll see...I feel bad, I've lost like four weeks I could have written updates for this and other stories of mine. I know, I know...I'm beating myself up too much.....sorry....
I do hope you all enjoy this chapter, and aren't too bothered by such a long wait. *sheepish look* One more thing. I haven't fogotten that Hook, Cora, and Regina can cross the boundary and not lose their memories, their real selves. But Hook doesn't know that in this story.
----Michelle
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The Trade Off