A/N: Finally. Sorry this is kind of late. I've been super busy with college. I apologize for any grammatical/spelling errors, I didn't use a beta.

As usual I don't own any of these wonderful worlds or the character in them.

Update: revised 12/14/14: A chunk of this story got deleted from going through several drafts before I posted this, I've re-wrote that section and changed a few other details so that the third part of the story makes sense. Part 3 will be up a little later tonight/early tomorrow morning depending on your time zone.

Killian jerked awake, his whole body ached. He was filled with a pang of remorse as the memories of the fight came flooding back to him. As he realized his defeat he was struck by an overwhelming feeling of failure. He had let her down, again. He had failed to protect her years ago when the Evil Queen had attacked the castle, when she needed him most, and now he had failed her again with his inability to avenge her death.

He stood up, shaking his head, pushing the guilt from his mind, he needed to focus. He had to find the woman in black. He stretched his sore muscles as his eyes searched the area for his blade. He saw no trace of it, yet as he scanned the rocky terrain, his eyes fell across a trail of small, dainty footprints that led off, away from the cliff face.

Something about her face haunted him. Her brilliant green eyes had pierced his heart. They were just like her's. He remembered moonlit nights on the beach near her parent's castle as she taught him how to fence. He recalled how her eyes had narrowed at him as they dueled, the way a grin spread across her face after he had complimented her form, their easy banter. God, it was so obvious now, she was the one who had taught him to begin a fight with his left hand after all.

Maybe avenging Emma's death wouldn't be necessary after all. He ran off in the direction of the footprints.

Emma panted as she stopped to catch her breath on the edge of the ravine. How could he be here? How had he found her? As much as she feared for him, she couldn't deny the happiness that rose within her. Something she hadn't felt in too long. Her stomach had clenched at the resolve in his eyes as he had challenged her to a duel to avenge his love. She hadn't truly realized it was him, until he had begun the fight with his left hand. A trick that her father had taught her, and one that she had shared with Killian during one of their moonlight spars.

"So we meet again, lass," Emma froze. She had been lost in thought, had stopped for too long. She hadn't anticipated him catching up to her. As she turned to face him, she noted the change in his demeanor.

He knew.

She had been foolish to think that he wouldn't recognize her.

"So it would seem, back for another round, Captain," she grinned cheekily at him. But he saw it now, the way her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. The effort it took for her to keep up her façade, the strength drained from her as she held up her walls.

He stepped towards her and she reached for her sword. But, before she could draw it, he closed the distance between them, his hand covering hers on the sword hilt, preventing her from drawing her weapon. Emma felt familiar sparks as his skin brushed hers.

"I'm pretty good at knowing when someone is lying to me," he said. "Just who are you, lass?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she breathed. She avoided his gaze desperately searching for something, anything to look at other than his brilliant blue eyes. Until he touched her face, his hand guiding her chin up, forcing her to lift her eyes to meet his.

"Perhaps I would," he replied softly.

She held his gaze carefully. He raised his hands and cautiously reached behind her head and pulled the ties of her mask free. Her golden hair tumbling over her shoulders as he pulled the thin black material away.

"Emma," he whispered, his voice soft, he brushed his hand across her cheek, softly, as if she were made of glass and might shatter. He shook his head, willing this not to be a dream. As happy as he was to see her anger pooled in his stomach as he thought of all the time they had lost. His eyes grew dark and he found his voice. "Why would you do this? Why would you let me believe that you were dead?"

"I didn't have a choice! Regina took everything from me, she killed everyone I loved! I had to disappear. I had to find a way to learn to control my magic to make her pay."

"She didn't take everyone who loved you, Emma," he said, his voice softening slightly.

"She may as well have," Emma replied as her tone softened to match his. "I knew you'd come after me. I couldn't live knowing that you would be in danger because of me. You were safer without me," she ended in a whisper.

"You wanted me to believe that you were dead," he said incredulously. "Emma do you have any idea what it did to me when I heard that you were killed. When I found out it was like the light left my life. I swore to avenge your death only to final track down the person I believed to have taken your life and to find you alive and well. Did you even care what it would do to me?"

"Of course I cared," Emma assured him moving forward and reaching for him. She found his hand and pulled him towards her. "I disappeared because I cared about you, I knew you would never be safe if Regina was after me. After Regina burnt the castle, after my parents," she trailed off, Killian's face softened "I stowed away on a ship that was docked nearby. It turned out to be the Revenge. They found me a few days after we set sail, and when they found me I knew that they would likely kill me. The Dread Pirate Roberts never takes prisoners."

"Then how did you survive?"

"I said 'please, please I need to live' he asked me why and I told him that I had to find someone to help me learn to control my magic so that I could go after Regina. He was intrigued that I had magic and I think he liked the idea of someone finally getting revenge on Regina, he let me live. His crew spread the word that they had killed me. I'm sorry that I left, but I did believe that I was doing the best thing for you."

"I told you once that I would follow you to the end of the world, and I meant it."

"Killian, I'm not the same person that I was. You don't know me anymore, I'm nothing but a pirate."

"Emma, I know you better than you know yourself," he said, moving back into her space. "It doesn't matter to me if you're a princess or a pirate. I'm tired of living in the past. I'm tired of wasting away, chasing revenge."

"Killian," she whispered "It's not that easy for me, I have to find her to make her pay for what she's done. You can't come with me it's too dangerous. Please, I can't lose you too."

"Swan," he breathed. "I had a lot of time to think on my ship, a lot of drunken nights, wishing that we'd never met, that you'd never broken my heart. I wondered what my life would have been had we never met. Yet every time I thought about it, I came to the same conclusion. I'd pick you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd pick you." He searched her eyes, for some indication, any indication that his feelings were reciprocated. And then her eyes twinkled.

"Good," she whispered.

Blackbeard lined his boots up with the footprints on the dusty ground. "There was," he said shuffling his feet, as if dueling an invisible foe, "a mighty duel. It ranged all over," he gestured around the ruins. "They were both masters."
"Who won? How did it end?" His first mate enquired.
"The winner," he pointed towards a trail of footprints, "went that way, towards Guilder. They were followed, presumably by the loser."

"Captain, could this be a trap? Rumplestiltskin has been seen in Guilder."
"It matters not, the lass stole what was rightfully mine. I will have my revenge, whatever the cost," he growled, dark eyes fixed on the trail.