Deeply Loved

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." – Lao Tsu

"This isn't over yet."

They strode through the open door of the barn – the prince, the witch, the thief, the savior and pirate. Five disparate people united in one goal.

"And who is going to stop me?"

Zelena's lips curled in a feral smile as she cast her gaze over her sister and her companions.

"Certainly not the savior."

Emma's eyes narrowed and she took a step forward.

"Next time you try to take my power, why don't you try enchanting the lips of someone I'll actually kiss," she sneered, bravado masking the fear churning in the pit of her stomach.

Enjoying the repartee, Zelena let out a low chuckle.

"See Emma, you've got a decision to make." Her voice oozed with false sympathy. "You can keep your magic which makes you oh, so sad or you can save the man that you can't wait to run away from."

She gave the dagger in her hand a barely perceptible flick.

"Rumple?"

The Dark One waved a hand and Killian flew through the air, sprawling at the feet of the fiery-haired witch.

"Come now, my dear."

A crook of her fingers had the pirate shooting upright, the cutlass in his hand clattering to the floor at his feet.

Zelena sidled alongside him, one hand burying itself in his thick hair. She yanked hard, pressing the blade of the dagger against his exposed throat.

"Such pretty lips," she sighed. "And so wasted. Tell me, Captain. Why haven't you used those luscious lips and kissed Emma?"

"Well, a fellow likes to be courted," Killian snarled with mocking insolence.

Entertained, Zelena arched an amused brow while the fingers snarled in his hair tightened in a painful warning.

"I gave you one task," she purred near his ear. "And you failed me."

Her smile grew cagey as she returned her gaze to the others.

"Of course, he must be punished," she said in a tone frightening in its reasonableness. "But how?" She tapped the flat of the blade against his chest as she considered her options.

"Perhaps," she mused, "I should allow Rumple to finish the job he started all those years ago by allowing him to remove your other hand. Hmmm? Then we could ship you off to a faraway realm where you, the once proud pirate captain, would be reduced to begging for a crust of bread or for someone to show mercy and put you out of your misery."

Delighted at the image, she giggled.

"Then again…"

She switched the dagger to her other hand and spread her fingers over his chest.

"He is rather pretty."

Zelena stared directly at Emma as she spoke. "Perhaps I should make him my pet."

Her red-lacquered nails glittered like droplets of blood as she combed her fingers through the dark hair sprinkled over his chest. Casting a suggestive smile toward Emma, she scraped her teeth over the corded tendon standing out in stark relief along the side of Hook's arched throat reveling in the shudder that rippled through his frame as her tongue retraced the path. She sucked the tip of his ear into her mouth, releasing it with an audible pop and a leering smile.

"Or maybe I should just rip out his heart and crush it."

Killian let out a pained gasp as she pressed her fingertips hard into his flesh.

"Stop!"

Emma took a panicked step forward.

"Just let him go."

Zelena's pleased sigh wafted hotly against Killian's cheek.

"Emma," he gritted painfully. "Don't. You can't!"

"One little kiss," Zelena sing-songed as she urged the blonde nearer.

"Emma."

Emma turned toward the sound of her father's voice.

"David, I can't let her –"

"She'll kill him anyway," Regina said in low-voiced warning. "She'll kill us all if we don't stop her now."

"So we'll find another way," Emma said desperately.

A choked cry of pain escaped Killian and Emma's head whipped toward him again to see the witch's fingers pierce through the skin of his chest.

"Killian!"

Her panicked cry echoed off the walls of the barn.

Killian saw the look on her face as she took another step toward him and he knew he could not allow her to sacrifice her gift for him. That path led to her death and he would not tolerate another woman he loved dying because of him. Turning his head slightly toward his captor, he saw that her attention was focused raptly on Emma.

Summoning all of his strength and courage, he raised his hooked hand and snarled it in the red locks tumbling onto Zelena's shoulders. Startled, she turned her face toward his and before she could react, he sprang forward pressing his mouth hard against the witch's in a macabre mockery of a kiss.

Heat pulsed between them, burning his lips and still he held on determinedly. Zelena gasped against his mouth, struggling to free herself, her fingers clawing deeper into his chest. The pain was agonizing and he felt consciousness slipping away as the heat between their lips flared, burning hotter and hotter until he thought surely it would incinerate them both.

A sudden explosion of green light tore them apart. Killian flew through the air, his body slamming into a support beam with a sickening thud before tumbling to the floor in a boneless heap.

Zelena stumbled back, blinking dazedly. The pirate's cursed kiss had weakened her and Emma pounced.

Closing her eyes, Emma stretched out her hands, willing her power to her fingertips. She labored to channel her magic but her focus was split as part of it rested on Hook's crumpled and frighteningly still form.

Zelena shook her head to clear it and painfully drew herself erect.

"Beautiful ones," she gasped, and two of the winged monkeys flew down from the rafters to engage the others.

"Rumplestiltskin," she ordered and the Dark One stepped forward, reluctantly adding his power to hers.

"Get the dagger," he gritted between clenched teeth, "and the Dark One will be on your side."

"Easier said than done," Emma muttered. She could feel her power wavering under the twin onslaughts of their dark magic.

"Regina…" Emma's eyes widened as a wild solution popped into her head. "Help me."

"I – I can't," Regina's frustration was evident. "I don't know how."

"She's right." Zelena laughed triumphantly as she felt the weakness diminish and her power surge back to full strength. "Only light magic can defeat me and my dear sister is as dark as they come."

Emma's entire body trembled as she fought to repel the dark magic streaming from the witch's fingertips.

"Regina," she whispered. "Please. When you kissed Henry and broke the curse… that was light magic. You have it within you."

Robin stealthily angled around the combatants and lowered himself into a crouch. Standing, he moved into Regina's line of sight.

"Emma is right." He held up the glowing red heart now cradled in his hand. "Light magic is borne of love. I know you can do this." His voice rang with his confidence in her and the promise of a future together if they made it out of this place alive.

Pressing a fist against her churning stomach, Regina shouldered up next to Emma. Closing her eyes, she called up the image of Henry flinging himself into her arms at the moment of their joyful reunion and allowed herself to recall the feel of Robin's lips pressed to hers.

Reaching out with one hand, she groped for Emma's and twined their fingers together.

Powerful light magic arced out to meet dark and the walls trembled as a terrible war was waged. A howling wind swirled through the barn causing the others to stumble and stagger as they struggled to stay on their feet but the four combatants barely moved.

Emma and Regina reached deep within themselves, dredging up memories of the greatest loves they had known in their lives; allowing the joy of those memories to overwhelm all of the dark and terrible moments of their pasts. In a moment of blinding clarity, they moved as if sharing one mind and flung their joined hands toward their enemy.

A howling, piercing scream tore from Zelena's throat as light magic engulfed her, detonating around her like a silent bomb. Tossed to the ground in a humiliating heap, the dagger tumbled from her hand and Regina sprang forward to snatch the jewel from around the other woman's neck.

Pushing her face into her older sister's Regina lowered her voice.

"You failed, Zelena. You're not going back in time. You're going nowhere."

David leaped toward the basket on the floor and carefully lifted his newborn son from its depths.

"David?" Emma gasped. "The baby. Is he okay?"

Rising to his feet, her father nodded and sent her a grateful smile.

Emma scrubbed trembling hands over her face and then whirled, racing across the floor to where Hook lay.

"Hook!" she cried as she dropped to her knees. "Hook, wake up!" She laid a hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle shake. "Killian. Killian, come back to me."

She sensed the others gathering about them but her attention was fixated squarely on Killian's unmoving form. Bending over him, she called out to him again.

"Please, Killian," she murmured brokenly. "Come back to me."

Robin hunkered down beside her and pressed the tips of his fingers against the pulse point in the pirate's neck. Lifting his gaze to the others, he gave a mournful shake of his head.

"Nooo," Emma keened and rocking forward, she pressed her ear over the finger-shaped bruises covering Hook's bare chest, frantically listening for the reassuring sound of his heartbeat.

"You promised never to give up," she moaned softly when only a painful silence greeted her.

Tears welling in her eyes, she lifted her head from his still chest. Reaching out with a trembling hand, she pushed a tumbled lock of hair away from his forehead, wincing as her fingers encountered sticky blood matting his dark hair.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Staring into his peaceful and quiet face through a veil of tears, she pressed her mouth to his blistered lips in a lingering farewell.

"Emma."

She turned blindly toward the sound of David's voice and found him kneeling beside her. Burying her hot, tear-streaked face against her father's shoulder, she struggled to block out all the other sounds around her as she focused on David's murmured reassurances and the soothing gurgles of her newborn brother.

Wilting into her father's protective embrace, she drifted in a fog of exhaustion, oblivious to the sudden stiffening of his arms and his sharp inhalation of breath.

"Emma. Emma!"

Her father's insistent calling of her name pierced through the veil of fatigue and she reluctantly lifted her head from his shoulder.

"Emma," he whispered, and touching two fingers to her chin, he gently forced her to turn her head toward the place where Hook lay.

A fearsome trembling overtook her as she saw Killian's fingers twitch and then a pained grimace furrowed his brow.

A chill raced down her spine.

"How… I don't – Magic?" she asked through chattering teeth.

"There's only one type of magic I know of that can bring someone back from death," Regina murmured in voice rife with disbelief.

"I don't understand." Emma twisted her fingers into her father's shirt.

David tenderly pushed tangled strands of hair away from her tear-stained face.

"It was your kiss, Emma." A gentle smile tipped up the corners of his mouth.

She shook her head back and forth in vehement repudiation of the knowing expression on the prince's face.

"No," she breathed as panic welled up within her. "No. No."

A soft groan broke through her building anxiety and she scrambled to the pirate's side.

Leaning close, she dragged her fingers through her hair, shoving it behind her ears.

"Hook," she whispered. "Killian."

Suddenly he gasped, his back arching as a return to consciousness and pain roared through his body. His lungs went into spasm from the sudden influx of air. He coughed violently, tears of pain leaking from the corners of his eyes.

At last the spasm passed and he sank back down. Exhausted, he flung an arm over his brow as a parade of images flashed across his mind's eye – the witch's taunts, the terror in Emma's eyes, the burning pain of Zelena's lips against his own and the searing, blistering agony which had coursed through his body.

Dragging his eyes open, the only thing he saw was Emma. Her cheeks were stained with tear tracks, her expression filled with anguish and fear. A horrible dread rose within him as he watched her press trembling fingers to her mouth.

"Swan," he panted. "What did you do?"

Wild-eyed, his gaze darted from the stunned expressions on the others' faces and then back to the dazed look on hers.

"What did you do?" he demanded. Arching off the floor, he curled his fingers into the lapel of her coat. Agonizing pain lanced through him at the suddenness of his movements and he cried out, rolling onto his side and curling in on himself.

"Emma, my god. What did you do?" he asked fearfully before slipping back into the welcoming embrace of unconsciousness.

TBC