At first, she falls slowly,

Her heart not opening with ease

But soon, she's falling full-force

So fast, she's weak in the knees.

If loving him feels like she's floating,

Then now, she's under the sea

The sea that he sailed for decades,

The ocean, strong, blue and free.

But underneath it all,

A darkness unseen from above

This darkness, it snuffs out all light,

Even the strong force of love.

All the pain she'd carried,

Bad choices she'd made,

The darkness knew where to find them

It reminded her no one stayed.

So when she saw his face again, when she saw him grin,

In place of the love and joy from before,

All she saw were his sins.

She forgot about the promises,

She forgot feeling safe in his arms.

He would only leave in the end,

There'd been so many alarms.

She thought for a second, when she turned her back,

Maybe he really did care.

But the darkness took hold again soon enough,

And she fell into its stone cold stare.

It was watching her, following her, always close by,

It controlled every move, what use was it to try?

Now she sits silent, below deck on his ship,

Memories, moments, soft, desperate lips.

The darkness tells her it wasn't real

What she thought she knew, she didn't feel.

She tries to fight back,

She knows it's not true.

But sometimes, there's no point in getting through.

She leaves him a note,

A hint from above,

The key to bring her back?

True Love.

The letter:

"Killian,

I wish I could tell you everything will be okay. I wish I knew what the future held, but I don't. I can't.

I can't stand to see you hurt every time the darkness makes me say something I don't mean. Fighting the darkness isn't getting any easier, but I'm still here. Even if you don't see me -the real me- when I come to you, please know that I'm there, trying to get through, trying so say the words I couldn't before.

Killian, I love you. I love you with all my heart, more than I thought humanly possible just two years ago. The darkness knows this and is strongest when I'm near you. It's nearly impossible to fight it when you're close because you make me happy and the darkness doesn't want that. Whatever that twisted version of me has said, don't believe a thing.

Don't, for a second, believe I didn't tell you I love you until I did because it wasn't true. The reason I waited wasn't because I don't love you enough, it was because I love you too much. (That feels so good to write. I'm glad you know now. I'm glad I can tell you.) I was afraid telling you would change what we have and I couldn't lose something that was so important to me. Not again.

The darkness is getting stronger, but I haven't lost hope. In my time in Camelot, I was able to discover a possible solution to this mess. There is a way to capture the darkness. All I know is that True Love's Kiss will release the darkness once more. It can be captured and contained. Talk to Belle, she may know more. Once you find out how to save me, find me and kiss me. It will work. It has to work...

(Im surprised I've been able to stay myself and fight the darkness long enough to to write this. I likely don't have much longer until I throw this letter into a fire. I can only hope you get this...)

Tell Henry, my parents, and my brother I love and miss them. Tell Belle I'm sorry about Rumple and that even after what I said, the real me doesn't want him dead. Tell Regina to stop being an ass to you. You have enough to deal with.

But above all else, please tell yourself that I love you. Every morning when you wake up, I want you to remind yourself that I love you. Everyone else has someone, but I know you feel that you don't. Remind yourself you do. You have my parents and Henry. They care for you. You have me too. Even if I can't be there right now, please know that I'm still here somewhere and I still love you.

Hang on a little longer, Killian. Help my family save me, and then we'll never be separated again. Don't do anything stupid, okay?

I love you. Please remember that. It won't change, no matter what the Dark One says.

With love,

Your Swan."