Emma starts to sob, mixed with an almost hysterical laughter.

"Emma, Sweetheart?" he mother asks, stepping into Emma's room in the loft, over the piles of rejected clothes. Emma couldn't bring herself to stay in the too big, too empty house, haunted by too many memories and promises unfulfilled. She needs the busyness and familiarity of the loft. And there are other places better than the house if she wants to be alone.

"I don't have anything black. I was the Dark One a few days ago. I mean, obviously I can't wear that, but I have nothing else black, nothing that works anyway. It's ridiculous, isn't it?" And it is. She has never put this much effort or worry into what to wear in her life. Well, maybe the pink dress for her first date with Killian. But she had screwed that up too as the Dark One.

"You've got this," Mary Margret says, holding out a black coat.

Emma snatches it and holds it up for a moment's inspection before tossing it on the heap of rejected clothing. "The collar is too high," she says. "It's too much like my Dark One coat."

"What about this sweater? It's black and has no high collar."

"Of course not. It's too low cut," Emma says reasonably, tossing it back onto the rejected pile. She almost breaks down laughing and sobbing again because she knows Killian would hardly object.

"It's not about the shirt, is it?" Mary Margret asks.

"Of course it's not about the shirt," Emma says. "But it is, it's about all of them." She waves to the heap of rejected clothing. "Every time I get close to settling on something to wear I keep thinking that Killian wouldn't want me dressing like the Dark One again. That he gave up too much for me to go back to wearing black. But it's disrespectful not to wear black to a funeral." She takes a shuddering breath. "And it doesn't even matter because he's not here. And he's not going to be here. And he was supposed to be the one who wouldn't leave."

"I'm sorry," Mary Margret says quietly, kneeling beside Emma.

"For what? You weren't the Dark One. If I had been ready to give up the magic soon enough True Love's Kiss would have worked before it was too late. Killian knew the cost and it still worked when he had the darkness. And I would rather fight with clothes that don't matter than deal with that." Emma stares despondently at the mound of clothing beside her.

"Oh, Emma," he mother whispers. "You can't put all of that on yourself."

"Who else can I put it on? I was the Dark One. I was the only reason we were in Camelot in the first place."

"It's on us too," Mary Margret says. "You said we failed you and you were right. We thought things would work themselves out because they always have for us so we just let things play out. And we didn't see how important Killian was to you," she admits.

"I only said that because I was the Dark One," Emma says.

"I know. That doesn't make it untrue."

"It does," Emma says. She snatches up a white sweater to cut off the conversation. "I can't go back to dressing like the Dark One."

"We'll be downstairs, Sweetheart," Mary Margret says, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Emma stares at herself in the mirror for a long time, still not satisfied. She waves a hand, materializing on the deck of the Jolly Roger. She grabs one of Killian's long black coats and pulls it on. It must have been made specifically for him because the left sleeve is a little roomier than the right to accommodate the brace for his hook. It's too large on her, but that doesn't matter. It smells a little like rum, like the salt spray of the ocean, like him, like home.

She wraps the coat tightly around herself, against the chill of the late March morning and waves her hand again, returning herself instantly to the loft.


The entire town is at the funeral. Literally. Granny's is even closed, black drapes pulled over the windows. Some are there because they cared about Killian personally, probably more than he would have expected, and a great deal more are there to show their respects to the man who defeated the Dark One curse once and for all.

"You alright, Mom?" Henry asks.

"I'm fine," she says, more trying to convince herself of it than Henry. "Are you?"

"You have a terrible dictionary," Henry says, managing a watery smile. "But by your definition, so am I."

She nods. It's true; everyone is working from the same terrible dictionary as they ask if she is alright or promise that everything will be, and she can hear Killian whispering It's alright, Emma, it's alright. She wants to scream at all of them that no, I'm not alright, it's not alright, nothing about this is alright. She suspects if she were a little less in shock she might actually do that to the next person who tried.

There was no body. That still bothers Emma. He deserves a proper burial at sea. Still, a monument at the docks is the best they can do. They are in sight of the Jolly Roger and she can see that someone, she suspects Henry, has struck the sails and is flying its namesake flag at half mast.

Emma holds on to the ring he gave her, the ring that was supposed to keep him alive, and wraps his coat around herself more tightly as David and Henry remove the cover from the stone monument.

Captain Killian "Hook" Jones

Pirate, Hero, Friend

Greater Love Has No Man Than This

David takes her arm and leads the way to their seats along the front. He doesn't ask if she is alright, and doesn't promise that it will be. She glances over at him and sees that his eyes are nearly as red as hers must be.

People get up to say things. Emma is only half listening. Now everyone comes together to support Killian, when it's too late to do any good. Regina gets up to speak and says something about the price of magic and Killian paying it so no one else would have to and being a hero and it's all true, and all right, and all too little, and all too late.

Other people stand to speak as well. A slightly drunk Smee recites "O Captain My Captain." How he knew a Walt Whitman poem is anyone's guess. Belle says something about how far he came from the villain he was to the hero he became.

David gets up finally. "I didn't always see eye to eye with Killian," he says, "a fact that I made abundantly clear to him on more than one occasion. To be completely fair, he was a villain when I first met him, something he never denied. And I had…" he pauses, running a hand roughly across his face, "I had the privilege of watching him fight to be a better man. When he helped bring Henry home from Neverland, I told him that he was doing it for Emma. And I was right, but I was wrong in thinking that was a problem. Everything I do is for my family and everything Killian does… did," he corrects himself, "is for my family too. And people can talk about Killian, the hero who saved the town, and that's all true, but that's… that's not the most important thing, not to me. The most important to me is Killian, my friend…" he takes a steadying breath and tears blur Emma's vision, "my friend who brought my little girl home to me." He presses a hand to the monument before returning slowly to his seat.

Emma doesn't say anything at all. She was never very good with words even in the best of times, and now she doesn't trust herself to speak without her voice breaking. People get up to lay flowers on the monument and she stands just to one side, tears streaking her face, not ready to say goodbye.

"You know I was cool with you and Mom," Henry whispers, too quietly for most of the gathered mourners to hear. "You were supposed to be part of the family." And Emma hadn't realized a broken heart could break even more. If it can be broken, that means it still works. If that's true she's not sure she wants hers to work.

She sets the middlemist flower he gave her in that beautiful, terrible field on the monument and runs. Even after everything she half expects him to follow her. She doesn't break down until she reaches the bench by the lake where he found her before.

"You promised!" she screams. "You promised you were a survivor and I believed you! So where are you?! Come back to me," she plead, her voice breaking. "Please," she whispers, "Killian, come back to me."


Emma waits by the bench for as long as she can stand, until she is sure the funeral is over and no one has come to find her. She know she should go back, be there for Henry. She doesn't want to, but no one is coming to bring her home. She has to do that for herself now.

She would rather keep running, but she returns anyway, standing in the hall just outside of the loft. She can hear voices inside, David and Mary Margret talking quietly. She stops to listen, too used to being on the outside.

"Should we go find her?" David asks. "It'll be dark soon."

"I don't think we can push this," Mary Margret replies quietly. "I don't think she is going to be okay on our schedule."

"I guess not. I just…" he sighs. "I've had this horrible thought circling in my mind all day. I keep thinking how I could have been too late, or you could have not woken up. I keep remembering seeing you in that glass coffin, and I keep thinking what if that was the end? What would have happened to me?"

"That's not the same," Mary Margret says softly, her tone reassuring.

"Isn't it?" David asks. "Emma said he didn't have the curse, that he wasn't the Dark One when… at the end. How do you think that happened?"

"True Love's Kiss?" Mary Margret asks. She sounds surprised. Emma takes a shuddering breath that might have become a sob if she weren't trying to remain quiet.

"Of course," David says. "I've never seen anyone able to make Emma as happy as Killian." She can hear the sorrow in his voice, grieving for his own loss and for hers. She knows the feeling, knowing how close Henry had become to Killian.

"It's just… they've both loved before…" Mary Margret says hesitantly.

"And I would have loved you no less if I had loved and lost before."

"Of course not," Mary Margret agrees. There is a long silence and Emma tries to make up her mind between going in and leaving. "I almost lost you too," Mary Margret whispers finally, nearly too quiet for Emma to hear. "When I cast the curse to stop Zelena. I've been remembering that all day too."

Emma leaves during the silence that follows. She doesn't feel like joining them in their grief. She has enough of her own.

She heads to Regina's next to check on Henry. She can see him from the front walk, sitting at the table with books sprawled in front of him. She can't see them very well, but she suspects one of them is Henry's storybook, likely open to the pages with her adventure in the past with Killian. She knows that is where she would look. Robin is seated beside him, holding the newest member of his family in his arms. Regina has Roland on her lap and is clearly trying to get the other two to put away the books to eat dinner. And they all look… happy is very much the wrong word, but like they have each other and that might be enough. She meant to go in, to talk to Henry, to apologize for running off at the funeral, but she can't. The scene before her looks too much like the life that her too big, too empty house was meant to represent.

She waves a hand, escaping back to the deck of the Jolly Roger. No one will come here and she can watch the ocean. "It's not a full moon, Killian," she whispers aloud to the empty ocean. "But I guess it will have to do."

She heads below when the clouds drift to cover the moon. She means to return Killian's coat before heading back to the loft, but ends up sitting on the bunk, knees pulled up to her chest, the too big coat wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

"You were wrong," she says tearfully. "It's not okay."


Emma returns to the loft early the next morning. She is out of practice sleeping so she only does it in fits and starts since Killian got rid of the Darkness.

"Emma," Mary Margret says, with a smile that is only a touch forced. "Do you want eggs?"

"Oh, um, yes," Emma says, a little taken aback. She didn't have anyone wanting to cook for her as the Dark One, which is why she spent so much time eating takeout from Granny's. She could always magically cook her food, but it never seemed to turn out quite right. But right now she needs to pretend everything is normal every bit as much as her mother does.

Mary Margret is reaching for plates over the sink when she frowns. "Why would Henry put his book up here?" she asks, pulling out the Storybook and setting it on the counter.

Emma shrugs.

"Are you coming back to the Sheriff's station?" David asks. Emma catches the glance between her parents and suspects they decided on this last night.

"I don't know. I guess." Something is nagging in the back of her mind. "I don't know if I can just go back to normal after everything. I don't know how to do that. Did Henry come back here last night?"

"He went with Regina," Mary Margret says, clearly a little confused by the non-sequitur.

Emma reaches over and snatches up the book, trying to push down the hope beginning to grow. "I know. I swung by to check on him. He had his book." She opens it and looks down at the unfamiliar stories inside. "This isn't his book. This is a new book. This is…" She drops the book on the counter and pulls out her phone and calls Henry.

"Mm?" he mumbles. She had forgotten how early it still is and how people who have not recently been the Dark One, or morning people, who are far creepier, might still be in bed.

"Henry, how would you like to skip school today?"

"'s six in the morning. And school is closed today." He pauses, his sleep muddled brain catching up. "Why are you eagerly asking me to skip school?" She can't tell if he is more confused by the 'eagerly' or the 'skip school' part?

"Because your grandmother found another book."

"I'll be right over," Henry says, suddenly not sounding tired anymore.


By the time Henry arrives with Regina half an hour later, panic has had a chance to set in, and what ifs have a chance to start running through her mind. First of all magic cannot bring back the dead. That is the one solid rule, well that and all magic comes at a price, and Killian is dead and also the price of her magic. Doing anything about it is impossible. And to get her hopes up for anything better is just giving herself a chance to lose him all over again without ever having him back.

And he wanted her to let him go. That thought keeps returning too. She was supposed to let him go and failed once. She can't…

"Whose book?" Regina asks as soon as she arrives.

"I don't know. It just turned up in the kitchen cabinet."

"She means whose stories," Henry says.

"And what was a book doing in the kitchen cabinet?" Regina asks.

"I don't know," Mary Margret says. "I found the first Storybook in the back of my closet. And it appears to be Greek Mythology, although I'm guessing it isn't the version we know."

"We certainly aren't the versions people think they know," the Evil Queen points out, pulling up a chair at Snow White's kitchen island.

"Greek Mythology? That's great!" Henry says, spinning the book toward him.

"What does this mean?" Regina asks, looking over Henry;s shoulder at the new book.

"The same thing as the first book," David says.

"It means hope," Mary Margret says.

"It means you have another book for your collection," Emma says cautiously.

"It means we can bring back the happy endings," Henry says. "That's these books are for. Well, it's what they are supposed to be for," he admits, wrinkling his nose, perhaps remembering a less than happily ending version written by Isaac. "I started trying to write Killian's story yesterday, but the ending wasn't working and this is why. That's not the ending."

"Henry," Emma says. "It is. I hate it but it is. Magic can't bring back the dead."

"As someone who was declared dead that one time, I'd like to argue the point," Henry says.

"As someone who had their heart crushed once, I'd like to agree with him," David says with a smile.

"That was a sleeping curse and… yours was… it was a fluke. It wasn't like either of you were… gone."

"True love isn't a fluke. It's something you fight for," David says.

"I did fight for it!" Emma says. "And I lost him three times because of it."

"I know that hurts, and it's a risk to open yourself up because you could lose him again…" Snow begins.

"You think that's what this is about? I would fight to the ends of this or any other realm to have one more day with Killian.

"Then what's the problem?" David asks.

"Because I can't! I screwed up. I didn't listen to him. I tried to make him a monster because I couldn't lose him. He told me to let him go and I didn't listen the first time."

"Of course he said to let him go," David says.

"Do you have any idea how often Charming has told me that I have to let him go?" Mary Margret points out. "It's getting ridiculous."

"Exactly. If I could have talked Snow out of splitting her heart I would have."

"You were a little busy being dead," Regina points out archly.

"True," David admits. "But it was too big of a risk. I would have told her not to do it. Not because I don't want to come back, but because I wouldn't have wanted her to risk her life like that."

"I told him I didn't love him for the same reason," Mary Margret agrees.

"That method wouldn't have worked with the heart splitting. I think we were past the point of believing that."

"But that's you," Emma says. "How do you know Killian would…?"

"He will," David says.

"How would you know?"

"Because he is ridiculously in love with you," he says matter of factly.

"I don't think you are allowed to make fun of how ridiculous other people are in love, Prince Charming," she says, but manages a smile.

"You could ask him," Henry suggests. Emma stares at him. It is the most practical, impossible suggestion she has ever heard.

"We aren't doing another séance," Regina says with finality.

"Of course not, but Merida owes him her life."

"He did talk me out of killing her," Emma agrees. "But I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"Once you returned everyone's memories, people remembered what happened in Camelot. I kinda wanted to do something useful so I started doing the Author thing and getting an idea of what happened to different people in Camelot so I could write it. Merida told me that she has this mead that lets a person talk to people in the Underworld."

"You weren't going to mention this before?" Emma asks.

"I was gonna play it by ear," Henry says, wrinkling his nose. "I didn't want to waste it on saying goodbye if we could use it for something more useful."

"You did not know there was a chance," Emma says. She realizes she just admitted that there is a chance and it feels good. "You were grieving yesterday too."

"Yeah, but I come from an optimistic family. I didn't think there was anything we could do, but I wasn't ready to rule it out entirely."

"Okay. Let's ask Killian if he wants to come home. Maybe you should talk to Merida," she suggests to Henry. "Between trying to kill her and using her as a puppet, I doubt she wants to talk to me."

Henry shrugs. "She's not gonna give you any trouble about it. She's been cursed too. And she seemed to believe you are free of the curse. I can talk to her if you want, but I need some time to study the book. Because it's great to know he wants to come home and everything, but none of the rest of us need a magical potion to tell us he wants to be with you. Trust an Author to know a thing or two about happy endings."

"An Author had Dad stab Killian," Emma objects.

"Well, he wasn't a very good Author," Henry says with a grin. "I tried to make that ending work and it just doesn't. But like I was saying, you knowing what the rest of us can figure out without having a drink is nice, but what we really need is a plan. And I know a thing or two about operations to bring back happy endings. Operation Light Captain Swan is back on."

"I thought it was Light Swan, and I thought that was about the house."

"It was. I changed the name when Killian had the Darkness. He needed to know it was about him too. I mean, it was about getting your happy ending so it was always about him too, but I think he needed the reminder. And the house was just one part of it. This is totally the same operation."

"Alright," Regina says. "If Emma goes to get this magical potion or whatever from Merida, and you are studying the new book, what are the rest of us doing?"

"So Henry just says the Operation is on and that's enough? You're in?" Emma asks.

"You were in for Mongoose," Regina points out. "And I haven't forgotten how much that ended up costing you. Eventually, we are both going to have our happy endings at the same time."

"You're all just in?" Emma asks again.

"Of course we are," Mary Margret says. "You've made sure the rest of us have out happy ending. We should have been fighting for yours from the beginning."

Henry nods. "Cool. But right now I need a general idea," he says, waving the book. "We can reconvene once I'm done reading to come up with an actual plan."


"I dinnae expect ye here," Merida says when Emma arrives at the Camelot camp where, according to Henry, she is solidifying a new alliance with Camelot's queen by helping get everything organized in the absence of their arrested king. According to David, Guinevere had informed him that he was welcome to keep 'the former king', her description, not David's, locked away as long as he wanted. Merida sounds surprisingly unconcerned by Emma's presence.

The young warrior by her side, wearing honest to goodness Highlander style blue paint in lieu of a shirt, watches Emma suspiciously and whispers a few words in Merida's ear.

"She taught me the value o' mercy once, a fact that did ye a world o' good Cameron Macintosh," she replies aloud with a smile. "And I know a thing or two about curses and she'll be of no threat to us. Today or any other if I'm any judge."

"Merida, I…"

"Show some respect for the queen," Macintosh says warningly.

"Would 'ave saved us all a wee bit o' trouble if ye'd have had that attitude a bit sooner Macintosh," she says with a smile. "And as I understand, people show respect differently in Storybrooke than in the Highlands."

"Look, I'm sorry, about… well… everything," Emma says.

"Ach. Like I said, I know a thing or two about curses. But that is nae why ye're here, is it? I see that look in yer eye. That's the look of a woman fightin' for her family."

"You're right," Emma says. "Or I hope so. I need to talk to Killian and hear you might have a way."

"The man who saved my life from… well, from ye, and whose funeral I attended yesterday?"

"Yes, but Henry tells me that won't be as much of a problem as it looks."

"I do have somethin' that might help ye, but I donnae have much left so use it wisely. But if ye don' mind me sayin' you donnae look like a woman lookin' to say goodbye."

"I'm hoping I won't have to."

"Well, best of luck to ye." Merida pulls a small pouch of liquid out of her sack. "Sprinkle it… on the headstone is what I was told, but as he is nea buried… I guess the monument is as good as anywhere. Your loved one will nea be back for long so make the most of the time. I hope ye find what ye're lookin' for."

"Um, thank you," Emma says, once again mystified at how everyone appears to be taking her stint as the Dark One in stride.


Emma doesn't go to the monument. If Killian is going to come back to one place here, it would be the Jolly Roger, and seeing as he died there, it has the added connection.

She pours the mead out on the deck of the ship.

"The Dark One doesn't get visitors I'm afraid," a cool voice says.

Emma wheels around to face a man in a perfectly tailored suit leaning calmly against the railing of the Jolly Roger.

"I wasn't summoning the Dark One," Emma says fiercely.

"Details," the man says with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I am the guardian of all of the dead who became the price of magic. I find fitting rewards or punishments, depending on their lives. The Dark Ones do not typically end up in my domain. They have some sort of vault, or live in the heads of future Dark Ones, I was never quite clear on which. However, even I cannot count the number of dead who are in my domain because of them. Captain Hook is the first one to reach my domain and he must pay the price as the Dark One."

"Who even are you?"

"Forgive me. Hades, at your service," he says with a small stiff bow.

"Well, Hades, Killian is not the Dark One," Emma insists. "He gave that up."

"I'm sorry. There are rules that I must obey, and justice must be done."

"At least let me speak to him," Emma says.

"As I said, I am sorry. But this is part of his punishment."

"Part?" Emma asks, afraid of the answer.

"I don't think that one intercepted call counts as suitable punishment for the Dark One," he says.

"But he isn't the Dark One," she say again, almost pleading, almost angry. "He's not. He gave that up, for me. He died to make sure he wasn't the Dark One. So at least stop calling him that."

"Very well, Killian Jones then. Now as much as I would love to stay and argue about names with you, I have a realm to run."

By the time Hades fades away, Emma isn't grieving anymore. She is angry, furious at this man, at anyone who would try to take Killian away from her, at anyone who would dare to act like he is or ever should be the Dark One, at herself for having tried to turn him into a Dark one in the first place. But more than anything, at Hades.

She sweeps back into the loft with a wave of her hand. "We're getting him back," she says, with a certainty she hasn't felt in a very long time. "Come hell or high water, we are getting him back."