Killian sighed, feeling the breeze of the sea against his face. After he got the Jolly Roger back, he found out that Emma, Henry and him were the only people who could leave town and still come back, with no need of the magic parchment. Afterwards he was sailing once a week (or at least outside the limit of Storybrooke)

And this was one of this days.

He spend some time in his cabin, trying to search for a plan to defeat the queens of the darkness (… and the crocodile) but he found nothing.

He was staring at the sea, trying to come out with a plan to get rid of the witches, when he got a call on his talking phone from Emma.

"Ahoy, Swan" Killian answered with a grin

"Killian! Thank god you answered, where are you?" Emma asked; Killian could hear some noises on the back.

"Sailing, why, love, what´s wrong?" Killian asked worried

"Outside the limit?" the savior asked and Killian lifted an eyebrow, confused.

"Aye, why? I can go back if you want-"

"No! Um, I mean, I need you to stay there for at least half an hour" Emma said

"Why?"

"I- it´s hard to explain-"

"-Swan"

"um, okay, there´s a cloud of smoke in the sky" Emma explained "again" she continued, and the pirate wided his eyes.

"A course?" Killian guessed and Emma snorted.

"That´s exactly what I said! Anyway, yes, it´s a curse, but Regina said it´s not very severe and she´s sure that it won´t send us anywhere, so we´ll be fine"

"But perhaps I could go back there and-"

"No, I´m sorry, Killian, but it´s already too late, we need you to stay there, I need you to stay there"

"But why? Emma, what aren´t you telling me?"

"I´m telling you everything they told me, it´s just-"

"Just what?"

"I have… hope" Emma sighed and continued "Hope that you´ll outrun this curse again"

"Of course, love, I´m a hell of a pirate"

"Okay, then, I guess I´ll hang and-"

"Swan, wait"

"Why, what is it?"

"I- I love you" Killian smiled

"I know" Emma giggled "And I-" The call cut, making Killian wide his eyes

"Emma? EMMA?!"

As Emma told him, he stayed 30 minutes before setting sail straight to Storybrooke.

The docks were empty.

What the bloody hell happened?

He ran through the docks, without finding anyone, not even on the main street.

He headed to Granny´s but…

...Nothing.

It was quite weird.

Maybe they…

...No, he couldn´t think like that.

Not now.

He needed to find Emma.

Killian ran to the loft and knocked, but the door opened itself.

"Hello? Anyone there?" the pirate asked, still standing at the entrance, again, no one responded, and Killian took this as a cue to enter the loft.

When he entered, he heard some noise from upstairs.

From Henry´s room.

´Maybe the lad´s still here´ he thought, lifting both eyebrows and heading to the said room.

"Henry?" Killian asked and opened the door.

"Lad?" the pirate asked and peeked his head through the dark room.

There were tons of open books on the floor, a very messy bed and some destroyed objects; Killian lifted an eyebrow before entering.

Suddenly, he felt a ball of fur jumping towards his chest, and tackling him to the floor.

"Bloody hell!" He exclaimed and lifted his head to see the origin of his reunion with the floor.

It was a puppy.

A brown fur and big brown eyes puppy wiggling his tail happily.

"Hello there" Killian greeted confused "What brought you here, mate?"

At this, the puppy jumped off him and ran towards Henry´s bed, sitting on an object resting on the bed.

A book, and not just a book.

It was Henry´s storybook,

Killian lifted the book (after the pup moved, of course) and opened it, but he didn´t find something different, just the same fairy tales.

Maybe he needed Belle´s help once again (as far as Killian knew, she knew everything about books)

And he couldn´t leave the puppy there.

"Well, let´s go, mate" Killian said and lifted the puppy with his hand and the book with his hook.

They stayed quiet during the, quiet as well, walk towards the library (sometimes the pup glanced towards the pirate or he just accommodated on Killian´s arm, but besides that, everything was normal)

They finally reached the library and entered.

...

It was a mess

Good thing that Belle wasn´t there, because if she did, she could have a heart attack.

There were lots of books laying on the floor. most of them ripped and dirty (like I said, heart attack)

It was a mess, indeed.

But still… No signs of belle.

"Let´s go, lad" Killian murmured to the puppy, and they exited the Library.

But what they didn´t saw was another large dog hiding under one of the ripped books.

"Where could she be?" Killian wondered "Any ideas, lad?" he asked to the puppy, but Killian saw how he just stared at the crocodile´s pawn shop. Hmm… maybe the lass was there, she was taking care of the shop since she banished the Dark One after all.

This pup was very clever.