So this is the start of a new fic and I'm sticking a bit more to canon than usual. The whole thing is written, although I'm still editing, so this should get updated pretty frequently. If you're on tumblr and want to get posts from me as I update, you can follow me - I'm also AthenaScarlet there. Hope you guys enjoy this journey!
Acheron [ak-uh-ron] - A river in the Underworld over which Charon ferries the souls of the dead
"No, there has to be another way."
"Didn't you hear Belle, mate? There is no other way."
David turned to stare at Killian as an uncomfortable silence filled the tiny loft space. At least he was looking at Killian. Regina and Mary Margaret were trying their hardest to look at anything but the pirate. Belle, meanwhile, was on the sofa by the window, her arm around Henry's shoulder to comfort him.
The book sat open in her lap, and Killian felt the impulsive need to walk over and grab it from her. "It says so right here. We need Excalibur and we need a life. The darkness can be tethered to the Underworld, but only if the price is paid to tether it there." Killian tossed the book on the kitchen table with a loud bang that made everyone in the room jump. "Our choice is to pay the price and save Emma or let the Dark One consume her. And frankly, we all know that won't take much more."
David rubbed his hand over his weary eyes. "You're right about that," he said. "I think she's getting close to the point where she won't be able to turn back."
"We can always save her!" Mary Margaret said vehemently.
"Can we?" Regina asked. "She's turning dwarves into potted plants and almost roasted the sheriff's station yesterday with people in the holding cells. And let's not forget what she did to Gold."
Belle's face turned towards the mayor. "But he will be OK now that you made that potion for him."
"But I only have so many ingredients for potions and concoctions to combat this dark magic before I run out," Regina explained.
Mary Margaret shook her head. "The price is too high. There has to be another way."
"I think this is our last option," Regina said quietly
All eyes finally moved towards Killian as the loft fell silent. This was going to be hard for all of them.
Henry got up from his seat and threw himself around Killian. "You can't leave us after everything we've done together."
Killian could hear that extra bit that Henry didn't say out loud. You can't leave me. But the pirate had already spilled his heart out for Emma, had already given all he could give, and he gave it all to her. Despite that, Henry's plea struck him square in the chest and he could feel his throat tightening as he wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulder. "Henry, she's going to need you to be strong," he explained soothingly. "You're the one person she loves more than any other."
"She loves you, too," he replied, his voice muffled by Killian's leather coat.
His arms slid from Henry's back as he pushed back a bit to look Henry in the eye. "Aye, she did. But she doesn't now and she won't ever again."
"You don't know that," Mary Margaret said.
"Then I'll just have to keep telling myself that until I do know it." He gave her a sad smile. "It's alright. I have all of eternity to work on it."
Mary Margaret walked over and squeezed her way between Henry and Killian to give the pirate a strong hug. "Once you get Emma back, we'll find a way to get you back too."
"There's no need for that," he said quietly. "You have to be here for Emma."
"You know this is going to break her heart."
"Which is why you have to be here for her." Killian gently pushed Mary Margaret away and headed for the door. "It's time to go, mayor."
Regina nodded once in understanding and started to follow the pirate.
"I'm coming too," David said, quickly grabbing his coat. "You don't get to have all the fun."
Killian gave him a weak smile and slowly trudged down the stairs and out the door. It was already dark out and the wind had picked up a bit. He had become so used to numbing the pain of Emma not being with him that he hadn't paid much attention to the temperature outside. It was only now that he realized that the warm summer air in Maine had begun to be replaced by the chill of the fall.
"We can take my truck," David offered as he unlocked the front door.
Killian opened the passenger side and helped Regina in. "I'm assuming this is part of a plan."
"So far."
Killian slammed the car door closed behind him. "So where are we going, mate?"
"Emma's place."
As they drove through Storybrooke, a nervous silence filled the truck. Regina's leg was thumping up and down while David's fingers danced over the steering wheel. Killian, on the other hand, was still and stoic. It hadn't taken him long to accept that this is what he had to do for Emma. It was the only way she could be herself again. She would just have to be herself without him.
"Wait. Stop here," Regina said from beside him.
David pulled the truck over near the cemetery and shifted into park. "What's going on?"
"We need to have a way to get the fury to find us," she explained. "I think I have something for that in my crypt." She motioned for Killian to get out and he did, offering her a hand as she stepped out of the truck's cab with her high-heeled shoes.
"So what's our next move, your majesty?"
Regina gave him a quick look of indignation for addressing her like that. He was going to miss those. "We'll meet in the park - the bench down by the river - in an hour. That should give all of us enough time."
Killian nodded and pulled himself back into the truck, closing the door behind him. "An hour," he told David quietly.
David pulled away slowly and sighed in the driver's seat. "Next stop is Emma's place."
xxx xxx xxx
"I don't understand," Emma said as she stared at Killian and her father. "I don't want to get rid of this gift. It's who I am now. Why can't any of you accept this?"
"Because you made us promise that we would find a way to get rid of your darkness."
"That was before I realized how it could be used."
Killian was starting to wonder if he was too late, if the darkness had gripped her heart so much that there was no going back. He walked over to Emma, his eyes staring into the blackness of her own. "We need to give this a try."
Her hands reached out and began to stroke the leather lapels of his jacket. "But you just said that if this works, I'll never see you again."
Killian clenched his jaw, trying to relieve the tension brewing in his bones. "You family needs their Emma back."
She cocked her head, trying to figure him out. "But what about you? Don't you need me now?"
He stepped back slowly, watching Emma's hands slip from his coat. "I could live an eternity knowing you're here without me and without the darkness than live one more day with you possessed by this evil." He gave her a bitter smile. "And if this plan works, that's exactly what's going to happen."
Emma sighed in defeat. "Fine. Let me get some things."
She headed for her bedroom, leaving the men alone downstairs.
"We can find another way," David said quietly. "You still have time to back out of this."
"Didn't you listen to what she said, mate? Her heart is only getting darker by the moment. You know we have to do this now."
David stared at Killian before reluctantly nodding silently. They didn't need to say anything to know that there was an unspoken understanding between them. This is how it had to be.
"Is this what you need?"
The men turned to see Emma standing behind them in a long black leather coat that reminded Killian of his pirating days. It was one he had never seen on her before, and he wondered why she had chosen that particular style of coat, if it had anything to do with him. In her hand was the sword - the one he would take with him to the Underworld.
"Let me help you with this," she murmured, wrapping her arms seductively around his waist to buckle the scabbard around him.
He could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up straight, both for the way her body was so warm next to him and the way her voice was so cold. Killian waited until she was finished, then purposely stepped away from her to stare into her dark eyes.
"Let's go."
xxx xxx xxx
Even with his new leather coat on, Killian felt chilled to the bone. If he had more time, he could've grabbed his long duster from his ship. Instead, he would just have to accept that he would be cold for a long, long time. Of course, it probably didn't help that he was standing on the edge of the river between a very dark Emma Swan and a black fury.
"You'll be back, you know," Emma said coldly. "I'm not here to say my final goodbye."
"We'll see, Dark One."
Emma's hand pulled his away from the hilt of Excalibur at his side, and he turned to look at her. Her hair was still white and pulled tightly into a bun, her lips uninviting, her eyes vacant. They looked the same as they had any time he had seen her in Storybrooke since their return from Camelot. Even aboard his ship with Emma in her pink dress, he knew the darkness still firmly held on to her. He could tell from her eyes. They were still green, but somehow the darkness had snuffed out the gold flecks that Killian could see when he was close to her. Tonight, he could also see a hint of confusion creeping in.
"Why are you even doing this?"
"Because your family needs you back, Emma. The real you."
Her head tilted slightly. "But you know this is the real me."
His jaw clenched at her words. "I'm going to prove to you that that's not true, even if it means I will never see you again."
"You don't have to do this," she said. "There's no reason to do this. I like being who I am."
"But you see, Emma, I know the truth. I know this isn't who you are."
She stared blankly at him before they were both pulled out of the moment by the high-pitched wailing of the fury beside them. Killian turned to see a small boat captained by a dark hooded figure.
"If you loved me, you wouldn't try to change me," Emma said from her spot next to him.
"If I loved you?" He scoffed and turned to look at her. "Let me very clear: I love Emma Swan with all my heart. But what you still don't seem to understand is that you aren't Emma Swan."
"I'm still Emma."
He shook his head and leaned in closer to her. "I would never do what I'm about to do for you. I'm doing this for Emma."
"But if you succeed, you'll never see me again, or Emma, or whoever you think I am."
He took a deep breath. "You're right. I'll never see you again, Dark One. And I'll never see Emma again either. But at least I'll spend the rest of eternity knowing that I fulfilled my promise to her."
"And what promise is that?"
Killian gave her a smug smile. "I found a way to get rid of the darkness."
The hooded pilot pulled the boat alongside the edge of the river, and Killian could feel the fury's ghostly hand push against his back, forcing him towards the vessel. He stepped on, surprised by its stillness on the water even with his boots and the heavy Excalibur strapped to his side.
The ship's captain took his oar and pushed off the bank of the river, steering it back towards where it had come from. The boat moved through the still water with relative ease, as if being pushed by an invisible force. Or perhaps it was just gently being pulled home.
Killian took a quick look back at the shoreline of Storybrooke. Even in the darkness, he could see Regina standing there with David next to her, his hands on his hips as he stared at the boat drifting away from them. And in front of them was the dark version of Emma, a blank look on her face as she watched him drift away.
This was going to be Hell for sure, but Killian would enjoy finally defeating the Dark One.