Just a quick note before I begin this chaptered story. I've been rolling this idea around in my mind for a while now, trying to figure out how to work it, but I've finally decided just to go with it before the show returns for the second half of the season (It's finally almost time!) and makes it all completely implausible anyway. I'm totally guessing at much of the Wicked Witch's personality and behavior, of course, and this will be a little darker than I usually go before it's done. I hope it's okay and that I've rated it correctly. Please let me know what you think of this and if it's worth continuing.

I don't own the characters or the show, as always.

Enjoy!

"Villain's Happy Ending"

Prologue

He had never imagined that dying would hurt so much.

After the agony of the Dark One slicing off his hand as cleanly as a knife would slip through butter, after watching Milah's heart crushed into powder in that same demon's hand, after the tearing loss of Liam and the guilt he had carried ever since for failing his older brother, Killian Jones had been certain he understood pain and suffering. The years he had spent alone, aimless, burning with hatred and vengeance in his blood had convinced the pirate captain that when his life's voyage reached its end, he would not even flinch. Rather than aching for more time or another chance, Killian had believed that he would welcome the ability to rest at last, to be free of all that had plagued him.

He had considered the possibilities for himself quite often since his conversation with the Queen onboard the Jolly Roger in Neverland. Finally being allowed to close his eyes and lay his burdens down might be the happiest ending possible for a villain like him. There had been many times throughout his unnaturally long life when Killian would have welcomed Death's respite.

All that had changed, however, when he met his Swan.

He knew he had no right to call the Enchanted Forest's lost princess "his", but in his heart, she was his all the same. Emma Swan had stirred the hopeful, naïve young man within him: Lieutenant Jones, who had once dreamed of being a hero.

With something – someone – to fight for, he did not want to be finished yet. He had been given a way and an opportunity to gain absolution, to redeem himself. He could not leave that quest unfinished. After centuries lost as the dastardly, twisted Hook, he wanted himself back. He would still be willing to die fighting for Emma, at her side, but he could not bear to go out until he knew she was safe, that she would be alright.

That must have been where this pain was coming from. The Wicked Witch's screamed curse had struck him squarely in the chest as he dove in front of Emma's boy amidst the battle, and he was instantaneously writhing in the agony it brought. His limbs contorted, jerking wildly and without his control, feeling as if the muscles were being stretched and pulled beyond their limits. Fire burned throughout his body, under his skin, and it was only with sheer, hardened will that he kept from crying out.

Distracted by the torment, Killian did not realize at first that he was no longer standing on solid ground. He was flying through the air, carried somewhere beyond his control, and he could not see what was happening or where Emma or anyone else was. He was being taken from the battle, taken somewhere against his will, and as the pulling and tearing continued, he could feel the fight within him weakening. He did not want to desert them, but it was no longer his choice.

For a single moment, he let his eyes drift closed, the hurt easing a fraction, but he was still stunned by the intensity of both the pain and the emotion pulsing through him. Perhaps he was not ready to say goodbye after all, he realized, but blackness closed over him all the same.