Everything was a blur, her vision, her thoughts, everything. She jerked, trying to sit upright, but she was met with the resistance of something around her waist, her wrists, and her head. She opened her mouth to speak, but everything felt wrong. Her lips felt too large, her teeth too big for her mouth. It didn't feel like her mouth.
Emma turned her head, just a fraction of an inch, eyes searching around the dingy… warehouse? Was she in a warehouse? The musky, damp air filled her senses and she tried to place herself. There weren't really any warehouses in town – but down by the docks there were plenty of fishing warehouses. But why? How?
The last thing that she clearly remembered was… It was a complete blank. The last few hours felt as if they hadn't happened. She couldn't even remember clearly what had happened in the morning. The last clear thought she had was eating ice cream with Henry, talking about Operation Preying Mantis and then nothing.
She closed her eyes, trying rack her brain for some sort of answer, some sort of logical explanations for all of this, but there was nothing that made sense. Until she heard the tones of a familiar voice – two familiar voices.
"I've done my job, I've brought you the Queen. Now, are you going to uphold your side of this bargain? Are you going to help me kill the Crocodile?"
"H-." She started, but she couldn't get the words out, her mouth felt parched, her words strained and inaudible. Was she trying to say Hook or help?
"Ah, it looks like our guest is awake." Emma blinked up at the man as he loomed above her. Greg – from the accident.
She jerked harder then, trying to pull herself from the bindings. "Let me go." She managed, but the pain that came with speaking was nowhere near as bad as the shock that came with the voice that came from her lips.
"Well, you see, you don't get to go until you tell me where my father is."
"I don't know where your father is." Emma retorted, eyes widening as Hook came into focus, looming near the doorway out of the room. His eyes were cast down, his hair unkempt and his whole demeanor striking her as the unwilling henchmen to whatever this was.
She thought too much about him. Observed too many details of him. Even now. Even in this situation.
"Well, if you're not going to comply," Greg narrowed his eyes at her, before moving around the cot, fumbling with wires before coming back. "I hope you're not allergic to adhesive." He warned callously, before pressing the sticky circles against her temples and the inside of her wrists.
"I wish I could stick around, but my services are no longer needed, mate." Killian headed for the door then, regarding the scene once more before wrenching the door open.
"Hook! Wait!" Emma shouted, finally finding her voice – but it wasn't exactly hers. It was most definitely the voice of Regina coming from her lips. "Hook, please."
The pirate laughed harshly, "After that little stunt you pulled with Maleficent. I think not."
"I'm not Regina!" Emma stressed, struggling again to no avail. Greg had moved away from the bedside and now stood by some sort of machine; a machine that she could only imagine would do to her. "Please, you have to believe me. I'm Emma."
"Nice try, your majesty." Greg shot Hook a cold glare, "Come back this evening, we'll plan your revenge."
Killian glowered at the scene before he slipped from the room without another word. Leaving Greg to his work.
"Please, I don't know what you want with Regina. But I'm not her!" Emma could feel the sting of tears in her eyes, threatening to escape at any moment. The fear of what was to come, overwhelming. "Whatever you want from her, I don't know."
"Of course," He nodded, feigning belief before he suddenly turned the dial on the machine. There was a crack, a hum, and then the sudden onslaught of pain as the electricity ripped through her veins beneath her skin. Her body arched, a cry escaping her lips. If everything hadn't been completely blurry before, it was certainly was now. Her vision was tinged with blue and white streaks, every last inch of her body flooded with pain.
And then there was nothing. Whatever had happened to her prior to waking up. The switch from Emma, to Regina, and the combination of the electricity had been enough to make her slip out of consciousness. Falling into a world void of colors except for blue and white.
He was tired of it all. The revenge, the worn out resources, and the distasteful tasks he was always made to perform. Without the payout he was always promised. He had tried to destroy the Crocodile's happiness, as he had done when Milah had been taken from him. But, even the attempt to take his love and his life had been undone. He still had everything.
And Killian Jones had nothing.
He had a ship, a hook, and a world of darkness. Where he once saw the light, the colors of a cerulean sea and a sky of white and blue, he now saw a void. There was no light in his life. There was no satisfaction.
There had been one day where he saw the light for the first time in the past three hundred years, one day where he had hope and the chance at a future. But that had been taken from him too. Emma Swan had given him something that he didn't realize he was missing, until it was already gone.
And how it was that the Queen knew to use her against him - he didn't know. That didn't make sense to him. How would she know his…
No, Swan wasn't his weakness. He didn't have a weakness. His weakness was unfulfilled revenge.
And Emma.
The whole scenario back at the warehouse was nagging him. Something felt off about the Queen's desperate pleas. She didn't plead. She demanded.
Hook! Wait!
Killian shook his head, blinking as her voice echoed in his mind. A memory from not so long ago, that felt like the far distant past now. But the tone, the way the words hit his ears felt… familiar. It was impossible to even imagine that the woman that they'd taken in the library could be anything but the same woman that lay on the cot in the warehouse. There was no chance that Regina had somehow switched bodies with Emma.
Was there?
Magic was a curious game to play. At times, a deadly game to play. Especially deadly when it came to any attack Regina concocted against Emma Swan. Especially in this case. She'd exhausted the last of resources she had had for her spell. She knew that Hook was double crossing her; she knew that the pirate couldn't be trusted. But she also knew what her mother had told her, about Hook's weakness. Emma. Of course.
Henry was the key to the whole process. Just like the spell that Rumplestiltskin had used on her once upon a time, with a slight tweak to the process, the two would switch bodies just at the right time. When she muttered the right words, even with the hindrance of the cuff.
However, Regina was not expecting the effect that science would have against magic. She would be fine, while Emma… Well.
"What is this?" Killian snarled as he pushed open the door of the warehouse. The first thing that his eyes fell on was blond hair.
Greg looked utterly bewildered as he quickly moved to turn of the machine, the humming static that filled the air coming to an end. "She was Regina and then suddenly she was-"
"Emma!" Killian used his hook to rip the bindings from her wrists and his fingers curling around the wires and tugging them from her skin. His eyes focused in on her face, "What did you do to her?"
Greg fumbled for words, turning to look at Tamara as she slipped into the room. "This is why magic is unholy." She stated, eyes narrowing at the scene playing out before her.
Killian scooped Emma into his arms, brows furrowing together at how limp and lifeless she felt in his hold. He'd felt this before. With Milah. The void of life in his arms. "Emma." He whispered, hoping that it would draw her back to him. "What can you do?" He growled as he looked at the duo, "You did this. You fix this."
"This isn't science."
Words died on his lips, a number of witty remarks, sharp blows, all things that he would say if he could fully gather his senses. If these people couldn't do anything, he would take matters into his own hands. Or rather, hand. Without another word, he held Emma closer to him as he headed towards the door, with a hope that just maybe, he could save her.
He hadn't been able to save Milah, but he was going to save Emma. He couldn't let this happen again. He couldn't lose someone that saw that there was so much more to him than met the eye. Maybe Emma didn't say it, but he knew that she saw it there, the abandonment, the loss, the boyish glimmer in his gaze.
And he couldn't lose the only bright spot that he had encountered in the past three hundred years.
"Emma… Emma please wake up." Killian's voice cracked as he brought her to rest against the deck of his ship. Unable to go any further without trying to rouse her from this state. He brought his cheek close to her lips, feeling the faintest brush of breath against his skin. She lived, if just barely.
"Emma, come on lass, you've got to come to… I need you." He tried, fingers curling around her limp hand, squeezing it tightly. "Come on love."
His gaze fell to her lips. Would that work? Would a kiss breathe life back into her? How could he even begin to imagine that Emma was his True Love? He had had love, of some kind and it had died. Who was he assume, expect, deserve that he would then be given someone like Emma?
But of all the people he had ever encountered, over the past three hundred years, she was the only one to act as if she truly cared. Everyone else, everyone he had worked with had only feigned care long enough to use him and leave him. But, she was different. She had been sorry. She had cared. Even after everything he had done.
And now all he had to do was believe.
Killian bowed his head, brushing her hair from her cheeks, laughing at the incredulous situation as he steadied himself. His lips hovered above hers, taking a quick breath before he pressed them to hers. He hadn't been wrong.
With lip against lip he felt a pulse of energy pass between them and a surge of life beneath the gentle cup of his hand against her cheek. Her lashes fluttered, her eyes opening to look up at the man above her.
"Hook?"
He sat back against the deck, relief flooding him as he stared at her. "Emma."
Her fingers ghosted over her lips, blinking her eyes rapidly, trying to force away the confusion that still clouded her thoughts. "You… You kissed me?"
A slight grin formed on his lips, nowhere near as smug as he could have been, "Aye lass." He arched a brow then, "You are actually Emma right?"
She gave a strained laugh, "I am…" Her heart was hammering in her chest, her senses flooding her with so many details of the moment. Sky was bright blue, the sea cerulean as it lapped at the sides of the deck – like his eyes. "In Rumplestiltskin's cell, you said you were done with me."
"Clearly I wasn't." He retorted, his gaze falling to her lips again. "Do you remember what happened?"
Emma swallowed shakily, "It's all a blur… I remember the pain from that damned machine he was using." Her eyes widened, "And Tamara!" She shook her head then, "If only they had believed me."
"Who?"
"Everyone."
He arched a brow, "I believe you." And with such simple words coming from his lips, he realized that for the first time, revenge meant nothing to him. He had realized the night that he saw The Crocodile with his woman that ruining his happiness was nigh close to impossible. He'd keep surviving and loving and Killian, well, he'd be left with nothing.
Until now.
"Come here," Emma said softly, the exhaustion from the whole ordeal apparent in her voice as she held her hand out for him.
Killian obeyed, moving to sit beside her, pulling her into his arms. His fingers stroked through her hair, tucking her beneath his chin. "I almost lost you there. Before I ever had you."
She was still processing it all. Every never ending ached, every fiber of her being pained from the electrical shock and the switch from Regina's body to hers and everything that had happened. "But, now you have me." Emma whispered, leaning into him for support. "You're working for them…" She muttered, realizing that he had been the one who delivered Regina to them.
"Yes…No." Killian shook his head, "They promised to help me, but that's not going to happen."
"Did they betray you too?"
"No." He retorted bluntly, "I'm not going through with it… With my revenge."
Emma pulled away from him then, looking up at him, "Your revenge?"
Killian sighed heavily, nodding his head then, his eyes fixed somewhere across the ship. A spot on the floor that meant nothing to Emma, but the world to him. Or did. "If the Crocodile can be happy…No matter what I try to do to deter it, then…Maybe I deserve that too."
"You do deserve that…Killian." Emma flustered then, a smile spreading across her lips. "Maybe this whole ordeal was meant to show us that." She reached up and stroked his cheek, turning it back to face her. "I never believed in any of this before you showed up. Then fate and love and my magic felt like it could come so naturally to me. It's all because of you."
Killian grinned at her, leaning in to press his lips against hers again, unable to resist stealing just one more kiss from her. "A second chance." He glanced up then, watching as a seagull flew over above them, casting a shadow on the deck. "Well… isn't that a wonder."
"What?" Emma questioned, looking up and following his gaze.
Killian laughed then, shaking his head, "It's daft, truly… But it's been a long time since I saw the sky look like this."
Emma looked up at him confusedly, "Like what?"
"Blue and white."