By Love Undone

Disclaimer: This chapter is going to hurt. I don't mean "oh, that's kind of poignant!" hurt. I mean killer-paper-cut-dipped-in-salt-water hurt. Like magic, all fanfiction comes with a price. I've been churning out nothing but the fluffiest of fluff lately, and, well, all the angst and evil was bound to spill out somewhere. So, yeah, this chapter may be the darkest I've gone yet. But let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid! This is, in fact a 2-shot, so all is not yet lost. This is after all an OUAT fanfic dealing with heroes (and heroes who have temporarily lost their way), and if there's anything we've learned from those hero types, it's that there's always hope. If you stick with me through the pain, I promise I'll make it up to you in the end! (and somehow I managed to quote Rumple (sort of), the Bible and Killian all in the course of that one little disclaimer, lol!)

How had it come to this?

The despair rose up and threatened to choke him as he struggled to hold on just a little longer. They'd come so close, so bloody close. Surely it wasn't too late; surely it wasn't all in vain. Not now, not when they'd finally found the solution. This couldn't be it.

Killian chuckled humorlessly as he felt himself slipping ever farther away. He always knew his end would come like this, that the Dark One would have a hand in it. For three hundred years he'd accepted that, understood it was the price of his vengeance. After all, once he'd destroyed the Dark One and the craven coward who'd been its host, what more was there to live for?

Now circumstances had changed. Oh, aye, he still hated the Dark One; still loathed it with all of his being, but now the demon had attached itself to a new host. His dearest love, his home, his happy ending. Come what may, he loved Emma Swan. Gods how he loved her! For the rest of eternity he would love her. Killian little knew what followed death. Was there an afterlife, or did one simply fade from existence?

It didn't matter. A love as strong as his could never die. He only hoped it had been enough to get through to her; enough to stop her from the plot she was contemplating. If his desperate act had saved her, it would be worth every moment of the pain. If not...well, he could only hope one of her family members would succeed. If they couldn't cling to hope, all was really and truly lost.

~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~

It had been one month ago that Emma sacrificed herself. One month since the greatest hero had taken on the greatest darkness. One month since Killian's world had crumbled when the love of his life vanished, leaving behind nothing but the Dark One dagger bearing her name.

For a moment, no one had moved; shock settling in. When he'd finally been able to move, Killian rushed to the dagger, brushing off Robin Hood's attempt to stay him, Regina's insistence he was being a fool.

All that mattered was Emma. Getting her back, saving her from the darkness, that was all. Nothing else mattered.

He'd called for her, summoned the Dark One until he was hoarse, but to no avail. Perhaps she'd moved beyond the dagger's purview. Perhaps her sacrifice rendered the dagger useless. Whatever the case, he'd followed the Charming's back to their flat that night, collapsed in his true love's bed, surrounded by her soft scent, trying desperately to hold on to the memory of the last time he was here, the moment she almost confessed her love to him.

None of it worked. There was no relief, no easing of the torment that night. He suspected even the rum couldn't have dulled this ache, not that he'd turned to it. No. He needed to be clear-headed for what lay ahead. If he was to get to his sweet love, find a way to free her, he must have all his wits about him.

~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~

Given the information at their disposal it had been a simple thing to determine their next move. The Apprentice had insisted Merlin held the key to the destruction of the darkness, and so to Merlin they must go.

Killian ruthlessly pushed aside memories of Camelot, memories of a ruthless king who'd sent his two best naval officers on a quest for a weapon of mass destruction, memories of Liam lying cold and dead within his arms as he wept in torment.

If going to Camelot was the only way to save Emma, to Camelot he would go.

It had been far easier to get to the famed land than any of them had anticipated. It was David who had remembered Zelena's story, who'd remembered that the wicked witch had the power to travel by cyclone.

Robin and Regina had been reluctant to put their fate in the hands of a woman who had lately been such a formidable adversary, and no wonder. No sooner was she freed from her prison than she attempted to throttle the outlaw in exchange for the black fairy's wand. In the end, however, the Wicked Witch was once more subdued and subsequently convinced to provide them the transport they so desperately needed.

~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~

Finding Emma upon their arrival on the outskirts of King Arthur's court had been an unexpected boon. She was altered, of course, the hint of darkness flickering behind her eyes, her temper quicker, her patience shorter, but she was still Emma. Still the woman he loved.

And she was fighting the darkness with every fiber of her being.

Sometimes the effort to hold the darkness at bay was so great within her that she'd collapse under the strain. It broke him, seeing her suffer so much.

"How can I help you love?" he'd asked, hovering over her like a mother hen. "What can I do to make this easier? Tell me; I'll do anything for you!"

For a brief moment Emma, his Emma, pure and uncorrupted, had shown forth. With tears in her eyes, she'd caressed his face, brushed her lips gently against his. And then the demon had once more fought for dominance.

"You can't help me Killian," she'd insisted in a cold voice. "No one can."

~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~

Merlin had confirmed that this was indeed the truth.

"Tethering the darkness to a single human soul," he'd said sorrowfully, "that was the only choice I had; the only way to ensure the darkness did not run rampant, destroying everything in all the known realms."

"So," Emma said in a voice utterly devoid of emotion, "even if we found some way to get this out of me, it wouldn't change anything? We'd be right back where we started from with the darkness consuming everyone?"

Merlin nodded solemnly. "I'm afraid that is so."

"Okay," Emma said, turning toward her parents, toward Killian. "So lock me up; put me in Rumple's old cell, something. It's getting harder to push away the darkness with each passing day, and I'll be damned before I let it force me into hurting someone…especially one of you, one of the people I love."

"No!" Killian shouted, turning back to the sorcerer. "That's not all; that cannot be all! There is another way; with you, Merlin, there is always another way! What are you withholding from us?"

Merlin eyed him assessingly for long moments, and then nodded. "You remember much from your youth, Killian. Aye, there is one last possibility, but it's speculative at best."

"Please," Snow begged, clasping her hands in supplication. "This is my daughter! Please, tell us; we'll do anything!"

"Your majesty," Merlin intoned, "it is not you who can do what needs to be done; only the Dark One, herself. There is an old saying: By the Dark One possessed, by the Dark One undone. By love the Dark One possessed, by love the Dark One undone."

"What the bloody hell does that mean?" Killian asked, having no patience for riddles.

"Simply this," Merlin said. "From the story you've told me, Emma Swan is a Dark One utterly different from all the other Dark Ones there have ever been. She chose to tether herself to the darkness out of heroism not out of greed, not out of ambition, not out of an act of evil. Legend says that it will be a Dark One who destroys the darkness for good. Not just any Dark One; only a Dark One who's heart is true; a Dark One who choses love above all else."

"How?" David asked.

"There is a crystal," Merlin answered. "A magic crystal that burns blue as the cloudless sky when held by the valiant. In order to defeat the darkness for all time, the Dark One must transfer the darkness into the crystal and then destroy it."

"What will happen to her when she does this?" Henry asked. "Will she be hurt?"

"There's no way to know," Merlin answered. "It is a dangerous task, made more so the stronger a foothold the darkness has taken. Suffice it to say, destroying the darkness within will not leave the host unscarred."

"Well," Emma said, striding toward the door. "Whatever it does, it's bound to be better than just letting the darkness take over. What are we waiting for? Let's find the crystal and get this over with."

"A moment," Merlin said, extending a hand. "The darkness absorbs the evil of each successive Dark One, and thus, it becomes stronger, more powerful, and infinitely more evil with each passing host. You, my lady, are descending far more slowly into the darkness than most; your innate goodness, your heroism is protecting you, but it won't do so forever. The darkness will grow stronger with every passing day, and one day it will consume you. If this happens…you will find it neither desirable, nor possible to rid yourself of it."

"All the more reason to get out there and find this thing. Now."

~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~

But finding the crystal had proven easier said than done. Try as they might, they had no success.

And with each passing day, Emma lost a little more of herself to the darkness. She never harmed her family, never harmed Killian, but everyone else….everyone else was at risk when her temper grew erratic.

And so most had come to avoid her, to fear her much as they'd feared the Crocodile.

But Killian would never leave her, could never leave her. Come what may he would be at her side. He would never stop fighting for her.

Eventually they'd returned to Storybrooke, discouraged with their lack of success in Camelot. Perhaps they'd have success in more familiar surroundings. If not, at least they'd be home.

~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~c~s~

It was only this morning, after a month of searching that they'd had the breakthrough they'd spent so long wishing for.

They'd located the magic crystal.

Now the only question was whether or not there was still enough of Emma left to fight against the dark impulses; enough of Emma left to destroy the darkness.

Killian waited before the pawn shop, his eyes falling to Emma's yellow vessel. Abruptly the pain hit.

He missed her. He missed her so bloody much. He saw her each and every day, but she was no longer his Emma, this cruel, taunting woman who wore her face. Having her with him but not having her with him was the worst kind of torture imaginable.

Killian laid his one hand against the hood of her car, bowing his head, letting the memories flow over him. He thought back to those blessed weeks of peace, that short idyll between the time Rumplestiltskin was banished and the time the Queens of Darkness arrived.

They had been the best weeks of his life. Moonlight walks, romantic dates, hours upon hours doing nothing but basking in each other's presence. Her sweet kisses, gentle caresses.

Gone. All of it gone. Snuffed out as though it had never existed.

The fates were cruel beyond measure. It would have been bad enough to never find his happy ending, but to find her, to bask in perfect, exquisite happiness with her, and then have it all ripped away? He'd be loath to wish that fate even on the Crocodile.

"I oughta just toss that thing into the harbor."

Killian looked up, steeling himself against the sight of the woman who was, yet wasn't his Swan. His heart leapt in spite of himself at the sight of her. Long black trench coat, sky-high stiletto heels, hair frosted white and pulled back in a severe bun. She looked dangerous, deadly.

And he still longed for her. With everything in him.

"It would be a shame to do so, love," he said through a tightly closed throat.

Emma, the Dark Swan, as the townsfolk had taken to calling her, shrugged. "Don't need it any more. Much easier to just poof myself wherever I need to go."

She sauntered his way, her hips swaying seductively. "There is, however one thing I do need."

"What's that, love?"

She took the last two steps until she was so close he felt her body heat against him. "You."

With that she yanked him forward, taking his mouth with a ferocity and possessiveness he'd never experienced before. It was heady, intoxicating, and when she nipped roughly at his bottom lip, he groaned and heeded her silent command, opening for her.

For one blessed moment of oblivion Killian gave in, simply allowed the woman he loved to take, giving everything he had in return. The darkness clawed at him, whispered seductively, begged him to let it back in.

It would be so easy. He'd been a pirate, a villain for so long; it was like a second skin for him. He was so tired of fighting; so tired of striving to do the heroic thing; so tired of being at odds with this woman he loved desperately. Why not give in? Why not take the happiness she was offering him?

Emma finally pulled away, moving slightly to take his ear lobe into her mouth, letting her wicked tongue curl around his earring. Killian groaned deep in his throat.

"I've grown tired of waiting," she whispered in his ear. "I've wanted you for months; and its time I had you. Let me poof us somewhere a little more…comfortable."

It was as though icy water crashed over Killian. This wasn't his Emma; this wasn't the woman he loved.

"Emma, we can't do this," he said, his voice tight and breathy. He was dizzy with desire for her, but there were more important things than desire. "I will not take advantage of you like this."

Emma stepped back, one eyebrow raised in derision. "Take advantage of me?" She laughed long and hard, the sound cruel. "You don't have enough power to do anything to me—at least not anything I don't specifically command you to do. You know what's good about the darkness? It lets me have anything I want to have, and right now, I want you."

"Not like this!" he insisted, taking a further step back, his legs crashing against her yellow bug. "Not when you're not you. Emma when we finally make love, it won't be meaningless sex fueled by nothing but lust and animal passion. It will be the joining of the two of us, body and soul, nothing held back, nothing short of the physical consummation of the all-encompassing love we bear for each other."

For a moment Killian saw the tiniest flicker of his Emma in her eyes. "You never said it. Never said you love me before."

"I do," he insisted earnestly, stepping forward to take her hand in his. "I love you with everything in me, Emma. Surely you must know that!"

The flicker of her true self faded away and once again only darkness shown from her eyes. "If you love me, Killian, you'll give me what I want, what I need."

"It's because I do love you that I can't do what you want, love."

She took a step back, an ugly sneer covering her face. "You really have become a hopeless puppy, haven't you Killian? Nothing but a lapdog for my parents and all the other hypocritical heroes in this town"

The words stung, Killian couldn't deny it, but this wasn't her. This wasn't his Emma. All he needed to do was endure the Dark One's taunts long enough to free his love, and then this whole nightmare would be over.

And now that they had the crystal, it would only be a matter of time.

"Be that as it may," Killian finally answered, "I'm determined to resist your wiles until your true self has returned, a circumstance that may come sooner rather than later. We've found the crystal, love! We've found the way to free you. All you need do is take it!"

There was a puff of smoke and when it cleared, Killian saw that they were no longer in Storybrooke. Emma had moved them to the bluffs just outside of town.

"Yeah," she said, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "That's not going to happen."

A chill came over Killian, as though a bucket of icy water had been dumped over him. "What do you mean, love?"

"I mean, Killian, that I have no intention of getting rid of the darkness."

The chill deepened, paralyzing him, frightening him beyond anything he'd experienced in years.

"Swan, think!" he pleaded. "Fight against this! This is not you! This darkness is not you! You must resist it!"

Slowly, deliberately she shook her head, a taunting smile covering her face. "Nope. Not gonna happen. Don't you see, Killian? We've been wrong about this all along!"

"Wrong about what, love?"

"The darkness," she said, looking at him earnestly. "It's not some 'curse' or some sort of, I don't know, prison. It's freedom! Killian, I can do anything I want to. Everything is literally right at my fingertips! I've finally figured it out. It's not either the Savior or the Dark One! I can be both! I am both! And you know what? This darkness can even make me a better savior than I was before!"

"Emma…" Killian said carefully, "what are you saying? What are you planning?"

"Ever since I came to this damn town, Killian," she said, pacing slowly back and forth, "we've been playing defense. Villains attack, we try to stop them. Well, I'm done; finished. It's time we start fighting smarter."

She stopped in front of him and looked him straight in the eyes. "From now on, we take out the bastards before they have a chance to touch us. And the first step on that journey is to get vengeance on those who have tried to screw us over in the past."

"Now Emma, think about this…"

"I have thought about this," she said in a hard voice. "I've thought long and hard about this. People like Zelena? Rumple? Hell, even Regina; she's the one that cast the curse, made me an orphan for twenty-eight damn years. They need to pay for what they did to us! We need to show all the would-be bad guys what happens when you screw with the Dark One and the people she loves. It's time I take them out; kill them slowly."

"Swan!" Killian yelped, "you can't be serious! You can't truly mean to resort to cold-blooded murder! We've talked about this; we've talked about how empty and futile vengeance is. Please, don't do this!"

The Dark Swan growled deep in her throat, ignoring him completely. Without warning, she launched a fireball at a sapling three feet to Killian's left. "Yes, that should do nicely. Very effective without being too quick. We want our targets to feel their punishment, after all."

Emma started to walk forward, determination in her darkened eyes, but Killian stepped into her way, his single hand outstretched. "I can't let you do this, Swan. I can't!"

Her eyes narrowed. "I was counting on you, Killian. You were to be my enforcer, my right-hand man."

Killian shook his head. "You, the real you, don't want to do this! What you contemplate is murder, unvarnished evil, Swan," he pleaded, desperate to get through to her. "You've yet to cross that line. Nothing you've done can't be reversed, but if you take this step, there will be no coming back."

"I don't intend to 'come back'," Emma said, arms crossed, foot tapping in impatience. "Either join me or get out of my way. Whose side are you on mine or the villains who have made our lives a living hell for the past three years?"

"Yours, love," he said, his voice shaking with emotion. "Always yours! That's why I can't let you destroy yourself."

He stood his ground, hand and hook outstretched, ready to physically restrain her if need be. He knew it was useless; knew he was no match for the Dark One and all of it's magic, but it didn't matter. There was nothing he wouldn't do for Emma Swan, and that included trying to stop the dark force inside her from making her do something she'd regret for the rest of her life.

"You insist on standing in my way?" Emma asked in a voice so cold and calm it could freeze the very marrow within the bones. "So be it. I don't need you. Looks like I'll have to move you myself."

Without warning she struck, blasted him back with a wave of magic so strong it nearly stole the breath from his lungs. He hurtled through the air and over the side of the cliff. Desperately searching for purchase, his hook dug into the loose ground along the edge, his hand found a quickly loosening vine.

"I love you, Emma," he called to her steadily retreating form as the crumbling ground began to steadily give under his hook. "With all of my heart, I love you. No matter what happens I love you. Never forget that."

She continued walking, never looking back even as the man she loved clung to the bluff for dear life.

Notes:

-Well, I did warn you. I did tell you this chapter was going to be bad.

-Obviously a lot of this chapter was based on filming pictures and spoilers we've been getting lately.

-This chapter also exists because TutorGirlml and I had a conversation about cliff-hangers a few months ago. I observed that cliff hangers almost never involve people actually hanging from cliffs, which is kind of a shame. I went on to promise her that one day I would write just that—a cliff hanger involving, well, a cliff. So here you go TutorGirlml. Here's your literal cliff hanger. (Somehow I always kind of thought it would be more of a humorous scene in the middle of a fluffy story, but what can I say? The muse insists on what it insists on.) :)

-Up next: Hard to say much without spoiling anything, but let's just say that True Love conquers all. :) I promise to get the next chapter up in a timely fashion. It would be rather bad form to leave Killian hanging (literally) for too long.