(I was cleaning out my fic folder and found this little ficlet written during 5B. Not sure what it really is other than I had a lot of feelings about Killian being in the Underworld alone.)
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The devil is in the details.
The sun shines here, but there is no warmth in its light.
The beams crisscross the worn boards of the Jolly, but a coldness seeps into
his bones – deep and aching – leaving him shivering even as the world looks bright and normal.
The devil is in the details.
He lies in his bunk at night, the moonlight filtering
through the carved panes of his window, but everything is still. Too still. The
ocean does not rock the ship, its comforting cadence gone quiet. No gentle
sound of the waves against weathered wood – the creaks and moans of his home are no more. Only the sounds of his breathing filling the darkness remain.
The devil is in the details.
Her hand cups his cheek, her thumb lightly tracing the small
scar there as she’s done thousands of times before. Her smile fills his heart,
warms him like the sun here cannot, but as he look at her, something is off. The
color of her eyes, what is it? Blue? Green, maybe. He can’t tell. The light is
missing within their depths, in its place a strange, foreign flatness. And when
she murmurs that she loves him, it sounds wrong. Like a song being sung
out of tune, the words are right but the sound is just wrong.
The devil is in the details.
Finally, the false veil lifts and his reality is revealed.
The illusion of his old life is turned to ash by the fires that ring him, and
acceptance settles heavy on his bruised and bloodied shoulders. This is the fate he has earned, the due
that he owes. This is where he
belongs. He is Icarus and Emma his sun, he’s lucky to have flown so close for so long. His love fueled such folly even as his wings melted around him, but
he knows he would do it all again if given a chance. As angry, impotent tears
begin to burn behind his eyes, a soft chuckle echoes around him, and he suddenly
realizes he’s not alone in this hell.
It All Starts With a Dance 