Chapter 1: Tear

Emma Swan's life was turned upside down on her 28th birthday when a 10-year-old boy showed up at her door claiming to be her son. That was the day her life changed for the better.

This is the day her life changes again…

-xoxo-

Mary Margaret held on tight to her husband as they followed their daughter through the pond to the portal to the underworld. Regina and Henry followed closely behind them with Robin and Gold at their heels.

The boat slowly drifted into view with its dark passenger on board. A thick fog began to devour the heroes and villains as they made their way ever closer to the boat.

Emma, with a broken heart and fresh memories of her mistakes, stopped to watch the boat creep towards her and her family. As the realization of what she was actually about to do sank in, she opened her mouth. "Hook, I will find you. I will always find you."

After everybody had safely climbed aboard, the thick fog began to retreat as the boat followed suit.

With a brave face, Emma stood unwavering as the boat suddenly began to sway violently causing the passengers to be jerked around. Emma immediately reached out for Henry to protect him, something she couldn't do for Hook, but he was knocked out of her reach. Instead she grabbed onto her parents who reciprocated her embrace. Robin had his arms wrapped around Regina who in turn held onto Henry while Gold crouched in the corner of the boat.

A violent wind began roaring around the boat's passengers. The darkness of the sky was replaced by the darkness of a vortex which began to suck the boat through. The thick air was chocking and the fog was becoming ever thicker as the boat fell farther through the portal.

"Hold on!" David yelled. He secured one hand around his wife and the other around his daughter. They buried their faces in his chest to shield themselves from the violent wind. David quickly shoved his face against Mary Margaret's in an attempt to get some relief from the wind.

Then as soon as it began, it was over. The boat was still. Everybody began to regain their balance. They slowly unwound themselves from each other and took in their new, familiar surroundings. It appeared as if the boat had landed in the same pond from where they began.

"It didn't work," Henry stated, his voice full of disappointment. He recognized everything his eyes took in.

"No," Gold corrected, "Look around you."

At second glance, the familiarity of Storybrooke disappeared. While everything appeared the same, the air was thick with danger and disorder. Instead of stars, the sky was replaced by an amber colored mist. It didn't appear that there was a sky, just a vast pit of haze that was dotted with what looked like black clouds. There was an eerie silence here that none of them have every experienced before.

"Welcome to the Underworld," Gold announced. He held out his hand gesturing for everybody to depart the boat. "Shall we?"

Emma led the way through the pond back to dry land. As she moved along, her eyes scanned the familiar yet distant land around her. Everything that was familiar in Storybrooke was familiar here but there was an unfamiliar twist to it that she couldn't place. It was safe to say that this wasn't home.

"What now?" Henry asked.

"I don't know," Emma answered. "Let's just get to town and go from there." She continued to scan her surroundings.

"Things are different here, Dearie," Gold warned. "We must be careful."

Emma headed Gold's warning, but the fact was that she didn't care. When she told everybody her plan to come to the Underworld, she didn't expect everybody to come along. "Regina, I want you to watch out for Henry. I am going to find Hook and I don't know what's in store. I want him to be with you so that you can protect him."

Regina couldn't argue with that. She grabbed ahold of Robin's hand as they began to make their way into town. She wrapped her remaining hand around Henry.

"What do you mean?" Mary Margaret questioned. She knew her daughter. She was stubborn and strong-willed. She was also gentle and caring and with the guilt Emma felt for her mistakes, she knew Emma might do anything to get her love back, including something dangerous.

Emma scoffed. "I just want to keep Henry safe."

Once the group had made it to town, Emma figured out what the unfamiliar twist was. Everything that looked so familiar had a sense of darkness in it, a sense of danger. The clock tower above the library looked as it always did, but there was a cruel aura that emanated from it. It was quite unsettling even to her. But the aura that radiated off everything wasn't what made the Underworld so unnerving. It was the stillness and calmness.

"It's so quiet," Emma said. Her eyes scanned down this Storybrooke's main street.

"The spirits here," Gold began, "go about their business with no sense of purpose. But now that we are here, I'm afraid we disrupted things. We disrupted their existence and they know something is different. It's only a matter of time before they figure out that our souls are attached to our bodies and there's no telling what could happen."

"Well," David asked, "where do we begin?"

"Do objects from our Storybrooke appear here?" Regina asked in response to David's question.

"Depends on the object," Gold answered. He raised his eyebrow at Regina.

"Do you have a plan?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Maybe," Regina answered. She stopped for a moment to gather her thoughts. "If my potions are here, then I can make a tracker potion."

"Could work," David nodded.

"What would we use as a personal item?"

"The Jolly Roger," Emma answered, rather quickly. "The thing he loves the most."

"You're forgetting one thing," Robin chimed in. "We don't know if the Jolly Roger is here."

"Only one way to find out," Emma said. She glanced towards the docks as if she could spot it from where she stood. "Gold and I will go to the docks to try to find the Jolly Roger. Regina, you, Robin, and Henry go try to find that potion. Mom, Dad, you guys come with us."

"Excuse me but don't I get a say in where I go?" Gold quipped.

"No," Emma said flatly. "I want you in my sight at all times. I don't trust you. Let's go."

-xoxo-

Gold, Mary Margaret, David, and Emma stood in awe at the edge of the docks. However instead of the ocean they were expecting, they saw a vast dark meadow lined with neat rows of concrete slabs for as far as the eye could see. The sky above the meadow wasn't the amber color but a dark crimson. There was an eerie silence that settled over the concrete slabs. Not even the wind blew.

It wasn't until Emma took a few more steps towards the graveyard that she saw the words "KILLIAN JONES" etched onto one of the concrete slabs at the front of one of the rows "His tombstone," Emma whispered under her breathe. She turned around to face Gold. "What is this?" she demanded.

"This, Dearie, is the Isles of Lost Souls. It's what Hook's soul is tethered to to keep him safely in the Underworld."

Emma's heart began to slow as the realization of Hook's fate dawned on her. "Where are you?" she whispered as tears began to sting the back of her eyes and made their way silently down her face. She made her way to the graveyard.

"Emma, be careful," David called. He took a step towards Emma but Mary Margaret stopped him.

"She needs this, David."

As soon as Emma stepped foot on the grass in the graveyard, she felt a cold chill rush over her. She immediately wrapped her arms around herself to preserve heat. She kept going. She slowly kneeled in front of Hook's tombstone. The grass felt wet, but she barely noticed it. The chill she felt at first was gone. All her attention was focused on Hook. She rested her butt on her heels and silently studied the words on the tombstone. With each second her heart ached more and more.

Mary Margaret's own eyes began to well up as she watched her daughter weep for the love of her life. She was so worried when Emma became the Dark One. But now as she watched her daughter, that concern was nothing compared to the worry she felt for Emma at this moment. As the Dark One, Emma wasn't in any pain. But as Emma's walls came down and she began to accept the real possibility of a future with who is undoubtedly her true love, the pain and anguish was more real than anything she might have experienced as the Dark One.

David quickly sensed Mary Margaret's distress. He wrapped a reassuring arm around her shoulder and gave a tight squeeze. He knew exactly what his wife was feeling. He was feeling it too. He couldn't ever imagine the pain with losing Mary Margaret and thankfully he does not have to feel it. But he wished Emma didn't have to either. "We'll get him back," David whispered to his wife.

Mary Margaret flashed David a sad smile. "I know," she whispered back. "I just don't know if Emma really believes that or not. I'm worried what will happen if she can't save him."

By now, Emma's weeping had grown stronger. The tears rolled down her face like a raging river. She raised a shaky hand and placed it hand on Hook's tombstone as if she was touching him.

"I wouldn't touch that," Gold warned. "You don't know what might happen."

This time Emma ignored Gold's warning. Touching Hook's tombstone gave her the strength to find him that she felt she lacked before. She pulled her hand away from the tombstone so that she could wrap her arms around herself. She quickly began to gather herself but not before a tear escaped her cheek and landed on Hook's tombstone.

At that moment a voice said, "What are you doing here?"

Emma jumped. At first she froze; she recognized that voice. Her head snapped to her right towards the source of the voice. Her heart skipped a beat. She unconsciously held her breath as she slowly stood, never taking her eyes off the source of the voice. "Hook!" she gasped, her voice almost failing her. He was standing just about ten feet away from her, on the docks.

"What are you doing here, Love? It's not safe," Hook cautioned, his worry for Emma stronger than his desire to embrace her. His voice was firm and full of concern.