Emma battled with the current surrounding her to stay afloat. She'd lost track of Hook and couldn't navigate the underground river she'd fallen into. Sputtering she called out again for him before she was roughly knocked into the wall of the channel, her teeth clacking together, a sharp pain pulsing from the side of her head. All was dark with only the sound of rushing water around her.

Time seemed to stretch out before her like a thin line as she paddled haphazardly with her arms, occasionally bumping up against the walls, her injured leg all but useless. Now would have been a perfect time to use her magic, even if just for a light to see by but when she tried to concentrate she felt a sharp pinch in her skull. She gasped in pain, the shock pulling her under the cold water as her arms tensed up. It was only fear of drowning that pulled her to the surface where she coughed up what little she had swallowed. For a brief moment up felt like down and the threat of nausea burbled in the back of her throat.

Okay bad idea.

Dizziness aside, Emma didn't have time to panic. She could feel the channel dipping every so often, pulling her further down into the mountain, sometimes at a rather steep angle. So instead she only concentrated on keeping her head above water. There was no evidence of a ceiling, but it wouldn't have mattered if it was ten inches or ten meters above her. It was too dark to even see her hand in front of her face and she wasn't about to risk injury trying to reach up and feel how close her head was to solid rock. What mattered was breathing because everything else was an unknown. She couldn't see, she was injured, lost, alone and the water was like ice. If she didn't get out of the water soon hypothermia was a distinct possibility and it was also likely that she had a concussion. But since there wasn't anything to be done about it, she just breathed and paddled and waited. Occasionally she would call out Hook's name and listen to the echo, hearing nothing in response. A small part in the back of her mind was alarmed at this but she forced herself to focus on facing downstream. Even if she couldn't see what was ahead, she'd rather face it head on than backwards.

And then after a long while of nothing but the gurgle and slap and rush of water, somewhere ahead she thought she saw a faint glow for a moment. It disappeared as she plunged over another dip in the channel, knocking her into the wall again, jarring her bad leg which felt more numb than hurt. She muttered a curse under her breath as the impact brought forth pain like a sharp bite. And the glow appeared again, further ahead of her. It was white and coming from the ceiling which she could now see was several feet above her head. As she floated past she saw the glow belonged to a strange plant attached to the ceiling with long tendrils that dipped into the water. More appeared in the distance, small and bright against the strata of the rock. She did her best to avoid the tendrils, wary of the strange plant, ducking and twisting, trying to hug the wall as she drifted past, the current having slowed significantly. As she drifted past the light bathed her skin in an eerie glow, revealing a myriad of small cuts and lacerations from being buffeted about. The river itself was a black void, cold and seemingly bottomless. If she hadn't been in danger she would have found the whole thing somewhat pretty. Stark but pretty.

As she stared at the strange plants that had likely never seen sunlight she looked ahead, only to panic when she saw the ceiling rapidly descending towards the water line ahead of her. Her breathing space was disappearing and there was no telling where the river went. So she scrabbled against the walls, trying to find a handhold, scraping her fingers along the sharp stone, her efforts growing ever more vigorous the closer she got to the ceiling. Soon enough everything began to get very close even with the lazy current. But the walls wept water, too slick to gain any purchase on. She cursed in frustration and only had time to take one large gulp of oxygen before she was sucked down beneath the water, not knowing when or if she would surface again. Again she was surrounded in darkness and was all but numb to the cold at this point, her leg having taken on an ache that was now bone deep. Her head pounded as she held her breath, arms pinioning forwards, fighting for every inch, hoping an air bubble would appear at any moment. Her lungs protested, her limbs heavy and stiff, she felt herself slowing down, giving in to the nothing that awaited her. In the moment when her throat started to burn like fire, the river gave way to a cavern, spitting her out into the space. Taking in deep lungful's of air she gazed around her, noting the area was lit by a hole in the ceiling, yielding bright daylight on a patch of water.

Another wave of dizziness took hold of her before she moved to float on her back. Her eyes stung from the water, her shoulders ached from all the swimming, her leg…She didn't want to think about her leg. She wasn't even sure if she could walk on it. Lost in thought at her next move she heard a voice shouting at her, breaking through her worried contemplation.

"Swan!"

Somewhere ahead of her she heard him, faint and echoing in the large chamber. Sluggishly she turned in the direction of the voice.

Hook?

"I'm over here!" She hoarsely cried, trying to swim towards where she thought he was, though her arms weren't much interested in responding. Instead she merely drifted, finally making out a dark silhouette on a tiny rock outcropping next to a wall. He splashed into the water towards her but his movements looked awkward.

"I was wondering when you were going to appear!" He swam up beside her, his words saying one thing, his tone another. His voice sounded shaky as if he was trying to convince himself.

"Turns out I was right behind you." She tried to smile and only managed a grimace. The pounding in her head was getting worse.

They slowly made their way to the outcropping and it was only when he awkwardly clambered up onto the rock did she notice that he'd dislocated his right arm. He turned and offered his hand as if nothing was wrong. Emma blatantly ignored the gesture, having dislocated her shoulder years ago. She knew better. So instead she clambered up after him, limbs stiff and slow to respond, a sure sign that hypothermia wasn't far behind.

He was pale, hair spiked up with water, eyes bright in the gloom. He made to brush his hand against the cut at her temple but winced before he could raise his arm any higher.

"Are you alright?"

"I've had worse," she tried grinning, only to find the taste of bile hanging at the back of her throat. She held her breath, closed her eyes and held a hand to the rock, steadying herself.

"Swan." He gave her a knowing look. There was no fooling him. He'd seen his fair share of injuries and Emma's while not severe, were of concern. She had a head wound and he pointedly looked down at the gash on her leg that was bleeding all over their resting place.

"I'm fine. You look terrible though."

He watched the water drip off her nose as she shivered slightly, trying to make light of their situation.

"We need to bind that." He pointed towards her leg. Emma didn't dare to look at it, having a fair idea of what it looked like. The good news was she didn't appear to have hit an artery and the cold water would have kept down any inflammation and slowed the bleeding. The bad news was it felt like dead weight. In fact her whole body felt like dead weight.

"With what?" It wasn't as if they'd been swept away with medical supplies.

Hook pulled his shirt out from his pants. With one side held between his teeth and the other in his hand, he made to rip off a strip. But when he pulled he let out a tight groan, his hand letting go of the fabric.

"Let me."

Emma took his shirt into her hands but her fingers wouldn't cooperate. She couldn't tighten her grip no matter how hard she tried. Huffing in frustration she tried again, her fingers slow and stiff. Hook laid a hand atop hers halting her fruitless efforts. Together they managed to rip off two strips of fabric but not without eliciting a cry of pain from him. He was panting when they were finished, eyes closed, head leaning back against the cavern wall.

Together they managed to tie a strip around her leg wound with Hook tying the knot tight to keep it from slipping and to staunch the blood flow. Bu when he made to tie the second strip on she shook her head.

"That's for your sling."

"Swan your injury is graver than mine."

Emma rolled her eyes. Without the use of his arm and hand he was vulnerable. She wasn't going to risk exacerbating the injury. So instead she took the fabric strip from him and leaned over, tying it around his neck before gingerly easing his arm into it. He frowned in frustration at her stubbornness. They both leaned against the cavern wall, wet, cold and starting to shiver.

"So what now?" She looked over at Hook.

"I don't know. The only exit I see out of here is that." He pointed towards the hole in the ceiling. Emma sighed. They were trapped.