Break the vicious circle.

Part 6 : Failure.

This is not a good idea.

It was the only thing that the pirate was able to think, as he was walking into the town.

Well, walking without knowing where he was going would have been more precise.

He didn't want to see Neal. Not by knowing that this one could see him.

Not by knowing that he must hate him. Succeed to get a contact with Neal had already been enough difficult at the time where Zelena was there, so it would be more difficult now.

Because he didn't remember what happened in Neverland, when they all tried to save Henry, and he didn't know that the pirate changed.

(And that this pirate had been with his former girlfriend.

And that they weren't together any more.

And that this last one was now in love with the former enemy of her parents, who forgave her.

This situation didn't make any sense.)

Baelfire wouldn't want to see him, it was more than obvious.

He wanted to, that was true, but he wasn't ready to take this story from where him and Neal buried it.

It was better not to talk about it, and forget all of it.

It was better for him that Neal never saw him again.

Then, he rapidly took his decision, knowing that even though by trying to convince Neal, it would change nothing.

It didn't mean that he liked it.

But this try was a complete failure.

The cause ?

Misfortune.

And the fact that Hook felt more and more like he was turning into a "stalker', not stopping from following Neal, trying not be seen by him.

Until the day it wasn't the case, of course. This last one had the constant and strange impression that someone was following since some days. Maybe it was the woman who talked with him before/

Neal couldn't completely understand this situation, and for now, he was still persuaded that what they were telling him wasn't true. Maybe that the cruse stopped him from doubting, to believe that, maybe, what he was seeing wasn't entirely true.

He didn't know how all of it would end, but it wouldn't end in a good way.

What he knew, in fact, is that he wasn't crazy. The fact is that, when he again heard someone breathing just behind him, and maybe, walking behind him, he used the fact that he was alone and not far from the woods, and he turned back, and looked at who was there.

He really, really didn't expect to what he saw. Just as Hook, in fact, who didn't even think about disappearing.

(Maybe that unconsciously, that was what he wanted.)

A really, really long silence, also really awkward, settled between them, Neal being shocked, and Killian... not knowing what to say.

He thought about fleeing, for a moment, but he rejected this idea.

He wouldn't do it. He wasn't a coward.

At his surprise, Neal was the one who began to run...

But when you thought about it, it wasn't strange.

He couldn't blame him, by the way.

What else could have he expected ?

§§§§

He was crazy.

It was the only normal explanation he found. How could he explain differently the fact that the man who betrayed him before and was surely in Neverland now was just in front of him ?

After he was far from him, he stopped, breathed again and forced himself to think. And to focus on a detail he barely remarked, as he was taken by his surprise and his panic to face Killian Jones, the famous captain Hook.

He strangely looked like the woman he met before. Which meant that he was a ghost.

So, it meant that Killian Jones was dead.

(Or that he was having hallucinations)

This new means nothing to him right now, in the sense where he is not happy by it, and he is not sad either. It surprises him, in fact, as he was certain in a sense that this damn pirate couldn't die.

But after all, everyone dies one day...

Lost in his thoughts, he realized after a long time that he wasn't alone.

"You know, said a voice that he knew too well, it was useless to run. No matter what happens, I will find you."

Yeah, said in that way, it just too looked like Emma' parents devise, and Hook grimaced by understanding his sentence could be interpreted strangely. It was something Neal didn't remark, obsessed by the fact that his former... friend (?) was there, facing him, being a ghost.

Killian Jones is dead.

"Can I know why you're here ?" Neal asked with a sharp tone.

He wasn't pleased by this situation, he definitely didn't like it.

Really not.

And the other seemed to expect his reaction, as the pirate took his time to choose his words.

"You don't ask me how I can be there, nor what happened to me ?

- I don't really want to know it."

The communication between them was worst than bad, the pirate realized. The simple fact to talk risked to be long to settle.

How do you want me to make him believe ?

All of this wouldn't work, he had the certitude of it.

Maybe that it was their punishment, trying without hope to destroy a curse.

It was surely that, their personal hell.

"In fact, you don't care.

- Yes, that's true."

Every time Neal talked, Hook had the impression to receive a hit in the face. And that hurt. Knowing that he hated him and have the proof of it in reality wasn't the same thing.

He cursed Snow for having such a bad idea.

He gave up, at least for this day.

After that, Neal was sure that it was just a dream.