Killian's Inferno
Chapter One
Killian awoke when he suddenly gasped in agony as his pain from Excalibur's blade being thrust through his chest and from the large gash it left along his neck came flooding back, causing him to roll over onto his side and curl within himself, making himself as small as possible in effort to try to lessen his agony.
Though the pain didn't dissipate any, the ship captain was finally able to get it more under control as he struggled to sit up to try to look at his surroundings, finding that he no longer had his hook upon what he saw now was nothing more than his stubbed arm, and being unable to see anything at all in the darkness until a white light shined down from above wherever he was being held, though not directly over him, but illuminating a lone, dark woman with no eyes inside of the hollows where her eyes should be as she slowly walked toward him until she stopped and towered over him and began to speak with an eerie voice that chilled Killian to his core.
"Fair is foul and foul is fair," she said almost softly until another light reigned down before a second woman, also without eyes, entered.
"It seems a pirate has come into our realm," the second woman continued as she too towered over him while he tried to look at them without appearing as afraid as he felt.
A third light immediately shone down as one final woman, the same as the others, appeared and spoke as well saying, "A pirate, who twice was a villain and twice was a hero."
Hook tried to intervene until the first being cut him off as she added mockingly, "And who actually believes himself to be a hero in the end."
"Yes, but which one is he really, or can he be both?" the second woman asked coldly while she bent down to become face level with him as she roughly grabbed his chin to get him to look at her and in that moment he knew that these women were either witches or demons, who didn't need their eyes to see his fear and the agony he felt.
"Hades will reveal the truth and send him to where he belongs this night," the third said again with a cruel smile.
Killian roughly yanked the cold, undead hand away from him as he glared between his tormentors as he struggled to rise despite his pain as he shouted angrily, "Enough witches! I don't know or care who you are. And I don't pretend to be ignorant of my sins that have brought me here into the Underworld. If Hades is the ruler of this dark place, then let him come before me to continue to inflict whatever torment he has in store for me. It is certainly no less than I deserve."
The first witch pulled something from beneath the sleeve of the cloak she wore, revealing it to be a single eyeball as it rose from her hand and hovered in the air before her, then she answered, "It is indeed no less than you deserve, pirate. I see all of your deeds in life."
"The good and the bad ever since you were born into that world above," the second witch replied as she swiftly snatched the eye from the other woman and seemed to stare into it as it too hovered in front of her like before.
"We've seen your past, present, and your future, or that is until you died and came here to us," the third responded after taking the eye from both of her fellow witches.
Killian collapsed back down to the ground beneath him as his pain increased deeply, then reopened his eyes, being unable to see anything more than the monsters before him as his eyes softened and he spoke again as if pleading, "Do whatever you will with me. I know why I'm here. It is a price I am more than happy to pay to assure that the woman I love and her family and friends can all live their happy endings, and so that the darkness could finally be destroyed forever."
It was then that another being finally stepped forward between the witches, appearing as an ordinary man illuminated by blue flames surrounding his entire body, then slowly knelt down before Killian in order to become eye level with him as he said with a cruel smile, "And that is why I have come to your prison personally to meet you, Killian Jones; pirate captain of the Jolly Roger, both villain and hero to all of those whom you so nobly sacrificed your life to save. I have looked forward to getting to know you for a very long time."
In Storybrooke…
Emma, Henry, both of her parents, Regina, and Robin all surrounded Hook's body now lying within a crypt inside of Regina's vault before they once again left their home, quite possibly for the last time, to enter into the Underworld on a rescue mission to bring the man their Savior loved back from the dead.
"This is a good idea, Emma, but I think that this spell will work better coming from you now that you are no longer the Dark One," the once Evil Queen stated somberly as Emma stared down at Killian's body and reached down to take his only hand tightly within her own, tears silently falling from her eyes as she did so. "Your light magic, along with your love for him, is far stronger than mine could ever be."
"What spell are you casting?" Mary Margaret asked, her and David having gone back to their home to take care of their youngest, Neal, when Emma had discussed this part of their plan with Regina before heading to the Charming's house a few minutes later.
"I'm going to cast a preservation spell over Killian to keep his body from decaying while we're down there, for however long that we may be," the Savior answered almost emotionlessly as she gently began to stroke Hook's face with her free hand, then run her fingers through his dark hair. "Then Regina's going to cast a containment spell around her vault again in order to keep anyone from getting in, especially Gold or anyone working with him, who might try to keep me from saving Hook by trying to destroy his body."
David nodded in agreement as he replied, "I certainly wouldn't put it past Rumpelstiltskin to try to keep you from bringing him back after their duel aboard Hook's ship earlier today, not to mention after their dark history together."
Emma's mother quickly added, "Gold betrayed us all tonight and I don't doubt that he will do something to keep Killian down in the Underworld to make both of you pay. However, I do believe that it's safer that he come with us, rather than leave him here in Storybrooke to wreak havoc on those we're leaving behind."
"I agree with your parents," Regina responded, then she took her own true love's hand and looked into his eyes. "At least this way, he won't be able to use his newfound powers to break in here. Before, Gold wasn't strong enough to break inside my vault with a containment spell in place, but now, now that he has the power of every Dark One who ever lived inside of him, I believe he could and would. Bringing him with us is the better option, although I'm worried what he'll do once we're all down there. Henry, you need to stay behind here and help the fairies and dwarves take care of the town."
"No way!" the son of both the Savior and Queen objected firmly. "I mean, I know how dangerous this journey is going to be and I know that there's a good chance that we might not make it, but after everything Killian did for us, even despite his brief turn against us, after everything's he's ever done for me and Mom, our family and even you too, Mom, I have every bit as much right to fight to save him as the rest of you do. Besides, I'm no longer a child anymore and I'm not completely powerless. I am the Author after all, remember?"
Regina was about to object again until Robin interrupted her by saying, "Henry has a point. And he is much stronger and braver than even we are at times. He deserves to help us rescue Hook, Regina, and Emma."
Emma looked lovingly at her son and played with his hair, then answered, "All right. You made your case, kid. Nice job, to you as well, Robin."
"Fine, but you are to stick close to me and whatever you do, do not ever try to wander off on your own or try to be a hero once we're down there, aside from what we all have to do to go in, find Captain Guyliner, then get the hell back out and home again," the Queen finally relented, even though she still didn't believe it was a good idea to have him come along with them. "Is that understood, Henry?"
"Yes Mom," he replied smugly.
Finally, Emma took her true love's face in her hands once again as she leaned down and kissed Killian's lips tenderly, then she stood up straight and used her magic to cast the preservation spell over the body of the man she loved. After they all left the vault, Regina immediately cast her own spell.
It was then that Grumpy and Doc, as well as a few of the other dwarfs appeared after walking over from downtown, then Grumpy looked directly at Emma as he said gruffly, but sincerely, "I think that what you guys are all about to do is crazy, but if you need someone here to make sure that no one tries to break into this place to steal or set fire to Hook's body, then we're here for you, sister. Spell or no spell, we'll all stand guard."
Emma smiled sadly and patted his shoulder, then turned back to her family and friends as she looked between everyone and asked, "Are you sure you all want to come with me? I can go alone. I wouldn't think any less of you if you remained here where you'll be safe. I can't ask you all to risk your lives so soon, especially after my mistake that nearly forced you all down into the Underworld."
"Not a chance," Charming immediately responded. "I don't mean to sound as though I don't trust you, Emma. Because I do. We all do, but we finally just got you back and Henry's right. We all owe Hook for a lot. That pirate saved us all more than once, not just tonight. It's about time we all did something to repay him. After all, he was the reason why you were able to resist the darkness for so long. And he makes you happier than you've ever been, even when you were with Neal. I'll risk everything to bring that back to my daughter."
"Your father's right," Mary Margaret added. "We're in this together. It's what we Charmings and now Regina and Robin Hood do. We save the ones we love."
Emma fought back the tears as she answered, "All right, let's collect the Dark One and go find Killian."
They began walking back toward town as Henry looked over at his mother and asked, "What did you bribe Gold into helping us with?"
"Despite his vile lust for power, I believe he still really does love Belle," Emma replied sadly. "I told him that I would tell her the truth about his betrayal if he didn't help me get Killian back. The problem is, I know that I'm going to have to tell her anyway once we return and he'll fight even harder to destroy us all when I do. It would be wrong to keep her in the dark. She deserves better."
"We'll deal with one problem at a time," David responded solemnly. "Come on, the sooner we leave, the sooner we'll be able to return home, all of us."
