Summary: Moments before the Evil Queen's Dark Curse whisks our beloved fairytale characters to Storybrooke, Captain Hook finally gets his revenge on the Crocodile.

Written for and dedicated to kmomof4 in celebration of her birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Collaboration by: HollyeLeigh (hollyethecurious) and winterbaby89; Beta'd by: ilovemesomekillianjones; Amazing Artwork by: xhookswenchx (go check it out on Tumblr)

Prologue

Twenty-Eight years ago in the Enchanted Forest on the day of Regina's curse...

The dank decay of the dungeon permeated all of Hook's senses, but he paid it no heed for fortune was surely smiling upon him this day.

Cora had been correct. The dagger was exactly where she said it would be. Another useful piece of information he'd been able to charm from her before he'd completed the mission Regina had sent him to Wonderland for in the first place.

Hook sneered with slight amusement at the memory of Regina's face when he'd told her that even though he had dispatched Cora at her behest, he no longer had need of her curse to enact his revenge. Cora had told him the curse wouldn't truly give him what he wanted anyway, and he was tired of waiting.

Revenge would be his, and since the moment he'd stepped foot on the castle grounds it seemed that fate agreed with him. He'd met little resistance from the Prince and Princess' guards. It seemed there were other matters of concern facing the castle. From his vantages in dark corners and shadows it was clear that the entire household had been turned on end with the news of the Princess' labor and the impending arrival of not only a new little royal, but the Evil Queen as well.

All those lovely distractions had made it too easy for him to retrieve the dagger from its hidden place within the vaults, and make his way down to the cells under the castle proper. Now all that remained between him and his quarry were two guards, but as it had been all that day, luck continued to be on his side. The sound of the alarm bell rang out causing the knights to abandon their post, leaving just Hook and the old crocodile to face each other one final time.

Hook weighed the dagger in his hand, his gaze resting on his forearm at the memorial he'd inked into his skin for his beloved Milah. "We've done it, my love," Hook murmured. "The vile imp is about to meet his fate, and you will be avenged at last."

Hook closed his eyes and tamped down his heartache, allowing the hate and rage to boil up within him once more, he fortified the emotions that would see his quest through to the end. With one last bracing breath, Hook slipped a sinister smirk on his face and emerged from the shadows.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here. A toothless crocodile in a cage," Hook taunted as he sauntered up to the bars. "How does it feel, Dark One? To once again be utterly powerless? To once again be at my mercy?"

"Well, Dearie," The Dark One sang as he approached the bars to face his foe. "I might be caged, but I'm hardly at your mercy," the depraved demon giggled as he began to turn away from the bars.

The final remnants of Hook's control snapped as he plunged his hook into the back of the Dark One's shoulder and pulled him forward, pinning him against the bars. "I wouldn't be too sure of that," Hook growled through his teeth as he plunged the dagger deep into the scourge's gut.

He delighted at the sound of the crocodile's shocked inhale and guttural rasps that gave evidence to the severity of the wound, and thought there was, perhaps, no more satisfying a sight he could ever behold than that of the life slipping from The Dark One's eyes. Hook expected begging. Expected pleading and groveling from the cowardly creature, but was instead met with one last barb.

"You think you've seen the last of me?" he wheezed. The curse vanished from his visage as the man Hook once taunted on the deck of his ship became more prevalent in his last moments. "You can't get rid of me that easily, Dearie."

"What do you mean?" Hook demanded, his hand still gripping the blade that was buried within Rumplestiltskin.

"You'll see," Rumple replied with his last breaths. "Magic… always comes… with a price… and now… it's yours to pay."

As the man's life gave way, his body became dead weight against the pirate's hook and the dagger. Releasing him to collapse against the dungeon floor Hook felt a tingling sensation creep up his right hand. "What the devil?" Hook gasped as he saw the shimmering glint of magic encompass his hand. Swirling blackness suddenly knocked him off kilter, but just before it claimed him fully Hook balked and swallowed back the rising bile at the name he now saw gleaming from the dagger within his hand.

His own.

Pain. Torment. Anguish. Rage. An unrelenting assault cascaded over him as the darkness ravaged every fiber of his being. Just when he thought he could endure it no longer, the viscous mire receded leaving a bewildered Hook alone in a quiet clearing.

"What the bloody hell is happening?!" Hook shouted at the trees. Panic set in as his mind tried to comprehend, and simultaneously deny what had occurred.

"Well isn't it obvious?" a voice asked. An all too familiar voice. An impossible voice… "You're the new Dark One, Dearie."

"No," Hook exhaled on a desperate breath as he turned toward the voice only to see the crocodile standing before him. "No!"

"Oh, yes," the imp smiled with glee. "See for yourself," and he gestured to the dagger still resting in Hook's grip.

With a trembling hand, Hook brought the blade up to meet his reluctant gaze. He'd already seen it, knew what would be etched upon its surface, but the knowledge did not prepare him for the despair that overtook him as he gazed upon the name scrolled along the odious metal.

Killian Jones.

Despair gave way to distraction as a low rumbling caught Hook's attention. The ground began to shake under his feet as the rumbling became a cacophony within his ears, and just over the treetops Hook watched as a dark purple cloud came barreling towards him.

"What the blazes is that?!" Hook exclaimed.

"Oh, that," the crocodile quipped, "would be the Dark Curse."

Hook paled at the realization that there was no escaping the onslaught.

"Lucky you," the imp muttered as the purple smoke began to descend and swirl around them. "Twice cursed in one day."

For the second time, Hook succumbed to an unknown darkness as the Evil Queen's Dark Curse enveloped him.