So I changed my mind and decided to turn this into a little series. Granted each story can be read alone, but what's the fun in only reading one?! Since I have no idea where the writers are going with this story line and some of what I wrote before has already been proven false, I'm just going to keep going in the direction I started in and ignore some of the new information we've gotten from the spoilers. Hopefully you all enjoy!

Description: Killian has just sacrificed himself to save Emma from the Darkness. He has accepted his fate, but wishes he had a better travel companion on his trek to the Underworld. He also has no use for stories of destiny. What he did was for love, destiny be damned.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Killian followed silently behind Regina, trying hard to ignore the sound of Emma crying that followed them. Even after they should've been out of earshot Killian swore he could still hear her labored breaths, each one a pierce to his heart. It was back with Emma is where Killian's thoughts were, and not on the fact he was walking towards his execution.

Killian had given the end of his life a lot of thought. Being a pirate that had lived over 300 years, he found that his mind would wander to some morbid things. Especially when you're a pirate set on vengeance against the Dark One and found yourself with consistently teamed with villains who were much worse than you can ever dream to be. Killian was never quite sure how he had lived all these years, but he had given the end quite a bit of thought. He always imagined it would be in a blaze of vengeful glory, more than likely from a mortal wound he earned defeating the Dark One once and for all. And then, after he had given up his revenge, he figured it would be a heroes end against one of the many villains they have had the misfortune of encountering.

Never, in any of his thoughts, did Killian see himself willingly turning his life over so calmly, as if he were going on an evening stroll. Perhaps that is why he didn't really feel like this was the end, where was the pomp and circumstance? Surely Killian Jones had earned as least that? But then that wasn't what he gave his life for. He knew the price he would have to pay to save Emma. He would do it all over again if he had the choice. But there had never been a choice. Not to him.

For Emma there was no price Killian wouldn't pay… even his own life.

They were coming near the waters edge now, the smoke billowing above the ground was becoming thicker. Killian noticed Regina had slowed, confused he turns to face her with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't have to tell you what you've done is very stupid." Regina says, the only trace of her previous tears is the tracks they left on her cheeks. "If you had just included me in on your little plan we could've found another way. Something other than….this!" Regina says the last word as she throws her hands in the air.

"Careful you're majesty or I might think you actually cared about me." Killian says forcing humor back into his voice.

"Oh shut up Killian!" Regina says using his real name for what must have been the first time. Shocking the both of them. "Of course I care! I care about what happens to Emma and to Henry! You're actions effect both of them!"

"And that's all that you're concerned about."

"And…I will miss you a little bit as well I suppose." Regina says a bit reluctantly. "I have gotten quite used to you being around, sharing insults with. No one else is quite as creative as you are."

"I enjoyed our little verbal quarrels as well." Killian offers her an understanding smile.

"Killian why didn't you tell me what you were planning to do?" Regina asks, the levity gone instantly. "Or David and Mary Margaret?"

"Because you all would've tried to stop me." Killian says looking down, but forcing his gaze up to hers again. "And I couldn't chance you succeeding."

"But you knew what was going to happen…" Regina shakes her head in disbelief.

"Aye. I knew what Emma had planned and what would happen if I were to thwart her. I didn't have much time to act and didn't have time convince you this was the only way."

"I don't believe that this was the only way. There is always a choice!"

"There wasn't any other choice that I could make." Killian shakes his head. "Don't you see, I took the sword so Emma couldn't force Gold to. By making the decision myself I took on the consequences…I willingly pay the price. Had I waited and Emma had succeeded in her plan, Gold would be her unwilling victim and Emma would have taken his life. Thus losing herself to the Darkness forever." Killian shakes his head again and steps forward until he's broken through the remaining woods and has a clear view of the waterfront…and the boat that was coming nearer. "I couldn't allow that to happen. Henry would've lost his mother forever. David and Mary Margaret their daughter."

"Killian…" Regina says reaching out to him, but pulls it back startled when he whirls around to face her.

"No! I promised Emma long ago that I would do anything to protect her and her heart. And that is what I did. Had I not sacrificed myself, Emma would have lost herself and I could never let that happen. I promised her I would never let that happen."

"But what about what you lost?" Regina asks with new tears filling her eyes.

"I lost nothing if I know that she is safe. That she will never be held captive by the temptation of the Darkness or the threat of the Dark One again." Killian says turning again to look at the boat that was beginning to slow. "What I have given up means nothing to me in comparison to all that."

"You know she isn't going to just let you go." Regina shakes her head and wipes away the tears that broke free.

"I know." Killian agrees with a sad smile and a shrug. "And perhaps she is right and this isn't really the end. Whatever the case may be, please don't let her go it alone. She is going to want it to be that way, stubborn as she is, but she gets strength from others. You with your pushing her to embrace her powers, her parents unfailing hope, and Henry's unwavering belief."

"You really love her."

"Every part." Killian nods once and turns back to face the boat, which has now stopped at the waters edge, and the cloaked figure has started to depart. "I must go now, I don't want him to come any closer." He says and starts to leave Regina standing at the woods edge.

"Killian!" Regina calls out and waits for him to turn to look at her. "Take care of yourself, if I come looking for you and find that it's all for nothing because you went rogue I'm going to be very upset."

"Take care of Emma for me." Killian says in return and turns without waiting for a response. He walks quicker to the waters edge, being serious when he said didn't want this creature anywhere near the town and people he cared about. "I'm here, no need to come any farther." Killian waves his hook in front of him to stop any forward progress.

"It's really a pity." Comes a familiar voice, that causes chills to run up Killian's spine and the hair to raise on the back of his neck. "And here I was hoping for more of a struggle." And as the familiar voice speaks the cloaked figure raises its hands and drops the hood from their face.

"Pan!" Killian seethes, forcing himself to stand his ground even though every part of him wants to put distance between himself and this vile man-child. He spares one quick glance behind him to be sure that Regina had left.

"Surprised to see me?" Pan smirks.

"Aye, to say the least." Killian mutters scowling back at him. "What are you bloody doing here?"

"It would appear that I have been destined to charter the boat between the World of the Living and the Underworld from now until eternity. My penance for the way I lived my life."

"How fitting." Killian mutters brushing past Pan to make his way to the boat. "What are we waiting for?" Killian calls over his shoulder when he notices Pan isn't following behind him.

"Surely that can't be it." Pan calls after Killian, following at a slower pace, stopping to look over his shoulder. "Where is the brigade of heroes coming in to save the day and rescue their pirate-turned-hero from the cusp of death?"

"They won't be coming so don't bother getting your hopes up for a fight." Killian says coolly, turning to give Pan a hard look.

"Did you screw up already Hook?" Pan asks with a smirk. "I mean I knew you never had it in you to play the straight and narrow for long, but I figured you would at least play this hero thing out for a few years before Emma got tired of having to defend you."

"Listen here Pan!" Hook seethes, stepping forward and lowering his voice. "You know nothing of my life since the Crocodile, your son, sent you to hell. You don't know me. You don't know Emma. So how about we stop with this idle chit-chat and you do what you've been imprisoned to do until the end of time." It is Killian's turn to smirk when Pan's only response is to scowl. "Otherwise I will see myself to your ship, as pitiful as it is, and when I get to the Underworld I will explain how you have failed to do your job. I'm sure Hades will love to hear that. It's my understanding he is a very understanding man."

Instead of a response Pan just lifts the hood of his cloak up and covers his head. He purposefully shoves past Killian, causing the pirate to smirk again, and boards the ship first. The magical boat barely moves upon the two men boarding it, not even a ripple can be seen in the water. Pan doesn't wait for Killian to get settled before pushing away from shore and then they are moving without the use of sail or paddle. Killian, accustomed to this mode of transportation just sits and stares off into the distance, purposefully keeping his back to the shore.

In his experience he knew it was better to never look back, it only brought upon regrets and second-guessing. Something Killian didn't have the luxury of and knew even if he did he wouldn't change a thing. Killian didn't look back now out of fear of regret, but knowing that looking at the shore and catching sight of Storybrooke in the distance would only cause him more pain. He didn't need that last reminder of what he was leaving …of who he was leaving behind.

The silence doesn't last, much to Killian's displeasure, he would've been fine travelling with Pan all the way to the underworld without another word. But of course he wouldn't be that lucky.

"You're wrong you know." Pan says to Killian leaving his post at the front of the boat and coming to stand near Killian. The ship obviously not needing anyone to direct it.

Killian attempts to ignore Pan and let his words just hang there between them, but his curiosity gets the better of him. "About what, pray tell?"

"Just because I've been spending my time in Hell, as you so eloquently put it, doesn't mean that I'm not aware of what has been going on in your world." Pan says with a smirk when Killian is unable to control his surprised response. "In fact I would say with my new post as the ferryman between the two worlds I get some of the most pertinent information."

"Such as…" Killian can't help but ask, despising the fact Pan had gotten to him.

"Well I know from a striking beauty named Cruella that your precious Emma committed an act most unfitting for you hero types."

"That wretched woman deserved what she got!" Killian says clenching his fist in anger just thinking about it. "She took Henry hostage."

"Ah yes, but as we all know she was never going to hurt the boy." Pan smirks.

"Emma didn't know that at the time!" Killian comes to her defense instantly.

"It's a pity that doesn't really seem to matter in the grand scheme of things, isn't it? Because once you've allowed darkness in, as we both well know, it is hard to keep it from spreading.

"So that is all that you have then. The lies and manipulations from someone as warped as Cruella Deville to go off of. I'm happy to report that your information is skewed and is of little consequence to me and the people I care about."

"No I should say that is not all that I have, but I don't know if I really feel like telling you the rest. Not when you are so ungrateful. And to the man who once considered you a friend and ally."

"We were never friends!" Hook rages turning and gripping Pan's cloak with his hand. "And I was your ally only out of convenience. Don't mistake that for anything more than a vengeful pirate using whatever means he had at his disposal to stay alive another day."

"Touchy touchy." Pan says pulling his cloak from Hooks grasp and smiling wider. "Perhaps I will share the other information that I have, I'm interested to see how you react."

"What other information could possibly have that I would want to hear?" Killian asks wishing the boat was bigger so he could put more distance between him and Pan.

"Well you see more recently I had the privilege of welcoming an old man onto my ship. One wiser than any ever before. I believe you are familiar with him, he called himself the Apprentice."

"You're lying!" Killian yells shaking his head. "What reason would the Apprentice have to ride this ferry to the Underworld? He was a good, honorable man."

"You see I can understand your confusion, what with everyone assuming that there is a heaven and a hell. Where when we die we are separated based off arbitrary rules we have set out for ourselves. But you see that is all wrong. When we die we all go to the same place. It's just the way we run our lives that decides how well will live out the rest of eternity. Take me for example…" Pan says sitting down on the bench meant for Killian. "This is my penance for the life I lived. Our mutual acquaintance Cruella didn't fair much better. But your friend, this Apprentice, he went on to spend the rest of his eternity at peace, because that is the afterlife he deserves."

"So that's the information you have. What I have to look forward to from now until eternity."

"Well that is where things get muddled." Pan says still smiling. "Your Apprentice had a lot to say about you, and if I were to be honest I made his trip longer than most just to get it all in."

"Just get out with it." Killian sighs, knowing that as he grew tired of Pan's voice, the man himself never did. "What sort of hell dimension has Hades concocted for me down here?"

"Well it would appear, Hook, that you might have done just enough heroes work to avoid some of Hades more hellish dimensions. Not that I think it is quite fair considering you didn't really have much choice in the matter."

"What do you mean, I didn't have much choice?" Killian asks, feeling a mixture of confusion and anger. "I was the one who made the decision to turn around that day long ago to help Emma and her family rescue Henry from your clutches. I followed Emma to the past. I gave my life to save hers. I chose my path and bore the consequences of those choices every day, even when taking the villains way out, the cowards way, would have been easier."

"Yes, yes you have sure come a long way from that bastard pirate I knew, I hardly recognize you." Pan mutters rolling his eyes. "But what I'm saying is you didn't have as much choice in the matter as you seem to think you do."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that the Savior, your Emma, wasn't the only one with a destiny to fulfill."

It takes Killian a moment before he comprehends what Pan is trying to say and then another before he reacts. "You can't bloody well mean me!" Killian says laughing out loud and shaking his head. "I don't think the fates ever took any care with me, let alone mapped out a great destiny that I had to fulfill. And if they did, surely I had failed it miserable. Considering the one goal I had set my life on was to end the Dark One and I never quite accomplished that."

"Didn't you though?" Pan asks smirking. "I mean you sacrificed yourself to save the Savior from the Darkness, ridding the world of the Dark One once and for all." Pan waits a moment to let that sink in before speaking again. "So maybe the Dark One had a different face than that of my son, but it was the same Darkness that you have been after all these years. You succeeded Hook."

"So what if I did." Killian says, feeling some actual pride in Pan's words, but not showing it. "But that wasn't my destiny, that was revenge that waited over 300 years to be served."

It was Pan's turn to laugh and he did loudly. "Do you even know how destiny works Hook? Do you think that it was a coincidence that of all the bars you visited and all the bar wenches you took back to your ship, that you just happened to pick the one woman who was the wife of the next Dark One?"

"You're saying this has to do with Milah?" Killian asks feeling a familiar pang in his chest, but not as painful as it used to be.

"I'm saying every thing has to do with this. Every decision you made has led you to this point." Pan says standing up and turning to face Killian. "Now I don't understand all the specifics of destiny's and why some have them and some don't, but it is my understanding that you and your Emma both were born with one."

"Emma was born to be the Savior and bring back all the happy endings, she's already done that. More than once."

"Emma was destined to be the Savior, but bringing back the happy endings was only part of what she was meant to do. An even bigger part was to rid the world of the Darkness."

"But I thought that was my destiny Pan, you're getting your stories crossed." Killian interjects.

"It was both of yours apparently." Pan says, obviously annoyed with the interruptions. "You didn't meet Milah by chance and you didn't meet Emma by chance either. Both of them were brought into your life to help serve a purpose."

"And what purpose could there have been for the Crocodile to murder his wife that way?" Killian fumes.

"To give you a reason to live 300 years. Do you think it was just by luck that you have been able to survive this long? Living the life that you lived and the company you kept. You couldn't die Hook, not until you met Emma and the two of you vanquished the Dark One."

"You're telling me that Milah dying, me going to Neverland, and meeting Emma was all part of my destiny. All so Emma and I could defeat the Dark One. That none of it was my choice?"

"Exactly."

"And sacrificing myself to save Emma was all part of some destiny set in course for the two of us before we were ever born?"

"Precisely."

"What was the bloody point of all this!" Killian shouts throwing his arms into the air. "Do you think I care about some ridiculous destiny that I knew nothing about? It changes nothing for me. I may have not had a choice about meeting Emma, but destiny can't take the credit for how much I love her. It can't account for the moments of peace we shared or how far we would go for each other."

"It can."

"I'm telling you it can't! This whole business of Saviors and destinies is meaningless to me. I love Emma Swan. I gave my life to save her from the Darkness and the people we both care about from losing her. I don't care if it was destiny or not, I did it for her. And I would do it again. I didn't do it to get some extra points in the hero column before facing my fate in the after life. If you or Hades think it unfair and I'm undeserving of whatever hero's welcome I had earned, then so be it. I will even be the Captain of this wretched boat if you so wish to move on." Killian carefully makes his way towards Pan, until they're standing chest to chest. "I don't care what you or anyone else down here in this hell dimension thinks of me and what I've done. I didn't do it for any of you. I did it for Emma."

Pan simply rolls his eyes and brushes past Killian to get to the front of the boat. "Well it's a good thing you feel that way, because Hades agrees. Which is why you'll be spending the rest of eternity here."

Startled that they were already there, Killian turns around quickly and is confused at first. "We haven't gone anywhere." He says eyeing the dock and the tree line where he had left Regina. "This is Storybrooke."

"Look a little closer." Pan says, you can hear the smile in his voice.

Stepping up behind him Killian lifts his eyes over the tree line where you used to be able to see the top of the clock tower. But it's gone. Looking at the trees he can see that the forest isn't nearly as green and full either. There are also various clouds of smoke billowing up in the air from different areas of the town. "Bloody hell." Killian says and has to hold his arms out to keep his balance when the boat comes to a sudden stop.

"Not quite the Storybrooke you left behind, is it?"

"What has Hades done to it?"

"Don't you worry Hook." Pan says offering him a pat on the shoulder. "Your precious town and all those people you care about are just fine. Hades didn't touch them. He just took the town you had found a home in and he's turned it into your own personal hell."

"It's just buildings and possessions." Killian shrugs, stepping off of the boat and stopping.

"It's my pleasure to inform you it is more than that." Pan smirks. "Hades thought you might enjoy some company. Invited some of your past acquaintances." And as if that was their cue, walking out of the tree line comes Cruella. With a silent curse Killian shakes his head, hoping it was just a mirage, but it wasn't. And she wasn't alone. Cora walks out behind her, and then a few of Pan's lost boys that Killian had the displeasure of crossing during his time in Neverland.

"It doesn't matter." Killian says shrugging his shoulders again, but feeling less calm than he was a moment ago.

"Keep telling yourself that." Pan says on a laugh. "I just wish I could stay to help you get acquainted to your new home, but duty calls."

"You think you've won." Killian says turning back to glare at Pan. "You and Hades."

"Oh I don't think it." Pan sneers. "I know it."

"And if my destiny is to be a hero like you said, I don't imagine this is quite the ending fates had in mind for me." Killian can't help but say, for himself as much as for Pan.

"I thought you didn't believe or care about destiny."

"I don't, but the people I left behind do. And if it gives them a little bit of hope I'll be glad for it."

"How sweet. Still thinking about those you left behind."

"Well there is that, but also…If I know Emma, and I do, she isn't going to let me go without a fight."

"I look forward to welcoming her aboard my ship when that time comes." Pan simply says before climbing back into the boat and he starts moving away from shore. "Hopefully she doesn't take too long, before you go mad and start begging for Hades to take your soul and make it all stop."

"It won't come to that." Killian says quietly to himself, before turning back to face the group of people who apparently were there to make his after life a living hell. "I won't let Emma down now."

So there will more than likely be a part three for this short series. When I don't know because I have quite a bit of school work, plus we are hitting the busiest time of year for me at work. My hope/goal is to have it posted before the mid series finale…we shall see!