The days that followed were some of the loneliest Nathan had ever endured.
Emma was still there but barely most couple of minutes before a call or text came through. She still checked on him, still made sure he had food, still slipped into their booth at the diner now and then.
With Neal, she dreamed out loud. She spoke of running away of a clean slates and new beginnings. With Nathan she still cared always but her eyes drifted more often, her thoughts tugged elsewhere.
It felt like she was already walking toward a door, one Nathan couldn't follow her through.
It began with whispers.
Nathan caught fragments of their conversations when he lingered close by. Plans of one last score. Neal's smooth promises of safety and freedom. Emma's hesitant laughter, her voice trembling with hope.
"Just one more job, Em." Neal said one night as they leaned against his car, steam rising in the chill air. "After this, we're gone. No more motels, no more looking over our shoulders. Just us."
Emma hugged her jacket tighter. "…You really think it'll work?"
"I know it will." Neal said, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Trust me."
Nathan stood in the shadows, his fists clenched so tight his nails dug into his palms. He wanted to scream at her not to listen, to tell her she was walking into a trap but he couldn't. He was just a boy in the dark, unseen, unheard. Plus she wouldn't listen to him, she's too far in love now.
And the story was already being written.
What Nathan didn't hear was the conversation that sealed it.
August Booth, leather jacket damp from rain, cornered Neal in a back alley two nights later. His voice was calm, low and persuasive.
"You're holding her back." August said. "You don't understand who she is, what she's meant to be. She's the Savior. She has a destiny bigger than you, bigger than this petty life you're building together."
Neal frowned, defensive. "She's not some… prophecy. She's Emma. She's mine."
"She's not yours." August replied firmly. "And if you love her like really love her you'll let her go. You'll help me put her on the path she needs. That means turning her in. Getting her arrested. She'll hate you but it's the only way she'll become who she has to be."
Neal's jaw clenched, conflict warring in his eyes but August's words dug deep, poisoning him with doubt and fear. Slowly, reluctantly, Neal agreed.
Emma never saw it coming.
Two nights later, Neal brought Emma to the car.
"This is it," he said, flashing her a grin. "The last job. The car's loaded. We get in, drive it off, and we're free."
Emma's eyes flickered with nerves, but also with trust. "You're sure about this?"
"Positive," Neal said smoothly. " I just need to handle something's before hand. You pop in get the car started i'll be there soon."
Nathan spotted them from across the street. His heart plummeted. Something about the scene the forced ease in Neal's tone, the restless way his eyes darted screamed wrong. He remembered watching this how Emma was hurt and devastated.
"Emma!" Nathan ran forward, panic twisting in his chest.
She looked back startled but before he could reach her Neal stepped between them.
"Not your business, kid." Neal said sharply, gripping Nathan's shoulder and shoving him back. "Go home."
Nathan's golden eyes glowed faintly violet in the streetlights. Falling back "Don't do this!" he hissed, his voice breaking with desperation.
But Neal only turned away.
Emma was already sliding into the driver's seat, trying to steady her trembling hands. She trusted him. She had already believe him. Nothing would stop her now. She started the car....
And then the sirens wailed.
Red and blue lights flared across the windshield. Officers swarmed, their shouts slicing through the night. Telling Emma to exit the vehicle. They then popped open the trunk and inside glittering from the lights lay the stolen watches.
Emma's face went pale. "This-this is not what it looks like officer, I and my boyfriend..."
"Emma Swan," an officer barked, "you're under arrest. Of the possession of these stolen watches. You have the right to remain slient....."
She barely resisted as her hands were pulled behind her back, cold metal biting into her wrists. Not believing what's happening everything slowing down for her. Her wide eyes darted frantically around the street searching for Neal until they found Nathan still there from earlier, on the ground frozen in the rain.
"Nathan...!" she cried, her voice breaking.
He stumbled forward, but Neal's hand shot out from the dark, holding him back with a grip like iron. For a second their eyes met Nathan's blazing with fury and betrayal, Neal's shadowed with guilt but unyielding. Nathan regretting not bringing his pocket knife this one time.
And then Emma was shoved into the back of the squad car, the door slamming shut between them.
Neal then let go of Nathan shoving him and slipping away.
The sirens faded into the distance, leaving only silence and the rain.
Nathan stood there, after stabilizing himself after the push soaked to the bone, staring at the empty street. Rain running down his face not if its tears or the rain. His chest felt hollow, like someone had carved the world out of him.
Emma was gone. Neal had betrayed her. August had orchestrated it all.
And Nathan, for all his knowledge, for all his will, had been powerless to stop it.
The System stirred coldly in his mind:
[Critical Narrative Event: Emma Swan Arrested.]
[Quest Update: Survive. Get To Storybrooke.]
[Warning: Isolation Imminent.]
Nathan clenched his fists so tight the bracelet bit into his skin. His throat burned but no tears came. Only a vow.
"When I find Neal and august later once they are in Storybrooke." he whispered to the night, eyes burning the gold and purple rings lighting up for a moment "I will make sure they will get what's coming to them even tho it needed to happen."
The rain swallowed his words, but the ache in his chest made them eternal.