Chapter 3

Broken Spell

"Mom!" I barely had time to register the exclamation before Henry barreled into my arms, causing me to drop to my knees in the warm sand.

"Hey Kid, I missed you," I said as I kissed the side of his head. I offered a tight smile to the three people standing behind him, their rescue efforts and my failure left unsaid. "Thanks." With the slightest nod of his head, Neal turned to gaze out over the ocean, the look on his face somewhat indiscernible, but definitely cautious.

My arms tightened around Henry as I snuggled my face into the crook of his neck. "You had me worried," I whispered to him.

"Tell me about it," he laughed, his perpetual upbeat nature still fairly intact despite his most recent adventure. "I can't believe we're in Neverland!"

"Yes, well only for a little while longer. Wouldn't want to wear out our welcome," Gold commented dryly as he interrupted us. "Miss Swan, forgive me for rushing your reunion, but if I may say so, our unfortunate Captain is not looking his best. Perhaps it's time to board?" With a wave of his hand, the Jolly Roger shimmered into recognition, the cloaking spell Gold had renewed once we docked melting away.

"Wow!" Henry exclaimed. I'd forgotten that he'd never really had the chance to see the ship, what with Greg and Tamara kidnapping him. As he slipped from my embrace to join Regina and Neal, I stood slowly to face Gold.

"You owe me some answers."

"I owe you nothing, Miss Swan. Remember who you are speaking to."

I ignored his attempt at playing Let's Make a Deal and honed in on his far too gleeful expression. "You know what's going on between us," I looked to Hook still slumped over David's shoulder. "You warned me not to leave his side."

"And yet you did just that, didn't you, Dearie?" His head cocked to the side as if appraising me.

I thought back to the clearing, to the yanking sensation which had literally pulled me back from trying to leave Hook's vicinity. I opened my mouth to speak, but was stopped by Gold's hand.

"Not now, Dearie. I am quite certain this conversation is better suited for our ears alone."

With a long hard stare, I stepped away from Gold to follow the others aboard the deck. "Where should I put him?" David inquired, his voice starting to belie his exhaustion.

"Um, I guess in his cabin?" I looked around, spotting the door which led below deck. "Gold's going to take a look at him and see if we can figure out what's wrong." I improvised, letting my eyes indicate to the sorcerer that he'd better comply. Turning back to Henry, I let my face fill with lightness. "Hey, I need to you stay up here with the others. Hook's pretty sick and until we can make him better, we'll have a tough time getting out of here."

"I do know how to steer the ship, Em," Neal chimed in, a hint of annoyance in his words.

"It doesn't matter," Regina started, "It's an enchanted ship and will only answer to its captain. You could steer the ship once we've left port, but until then, we're not going anywhere. Unless he dies, of course."

"That's not going to happen," I spoke through clenched teeth. She shrugged, once again oblivious to her callous words.

"Tick tock, time's a wasting." Gold directed David to carry Hook below deck. I hesitated, feeling like I needed to say something more to Neal, but unsure of what. He was refusing to meet my eyes, and I wondered what Regina and Gold had been telling him while we were parted. Not to mention what he was thinking on his own after the events of the Dark Hollow.

"Neal," I began, and he glanced at me in reaction. Whatever parting words I planned were forgotten as the yanking sensation on my shoulders returned. This time, just a gentle tug, but enough to force me to step backwards. I shook my head in silent apology and turned to follow after Gold and David.

I'd been in Hook's quarters once before to help him gather some maps, so there was no grand revelation. Aside from a table and chair, a sidebar covered with charts, scrolls and empty bottles, and the obvious bed – albeit a bit grander than the crew's quarters – the room was fairly Spartan. The sole luxury seemed to be the leaded glass window spanning nearly half of the wall across from the bed. The first time I'd paid little attention to it, but upon second glance I couldn't help imagining the view at night with the stars glittering over the surface of dark waters.

"Lay him here," Gold commanded, directing David to deposit Hook across his bed while he produced an assortment of vials from thin air.

"What are those for?" I asked nervously, suddenly very aware of who it was I'd let into Hook's personal space.

"Well, Dearie, am I to save him or not?" He turned his gaze on David, "That will be all, Your Majesty, I do believe the fewer present, the better."

David started for the door before seeming to realize that I wasn't following him. "Emma?"

"Yeah, I don't think we should leave him alone with Hook. History and all?" I mumbled.

"Fine. Then I'll stay and make sure he doesn't cause any further harm. Why don't you return above deck with Snow," his eyes moved from me and trained on Gold's face.

"Because she's the one with magic, no offense. And before you try to suggest sending our lovely queen to help, I'll save you the trouble. This particular healing will require the assistance of magic that actually likes the person in question, not to mention, I highly doubt Miss Swan counts Regina as an improvement to me."

"He's right," I acknowledged before stepping over to David. "I'll be fine; don't worry. We'll fix Hook and then we can all get out of here."

Speaking softly, he replied, "We're just above deck. Yell and we'll hear you." I lifted my lips in the resemblance of smile and nodded.

As soon as he left, I spun quickly to face Gold. "Okay, we're alone. Now tell me what the hell is going on? What's with the potions?"

With another wave of his hand, the bottles vanished. "Just an illusion meant as a false trail for Prince Charming. Can't have him know what really needs to be done. Not just yet."

"Oh? And how about me? Can you let me in on the secret yet?"

He stepped nearer to Hook and that same stab of fear I'd felt in the clearing when Regina had gotten too close sprung back into my chest. Naturally, Gold seemed to notice. "What's the matter, Dearie? Feeling…protective again?" I chose not to respond, but that didn't keep me from stepping between him and Hook. "Take his hand, Miss Swan. Tell me what you feel."

I sat down on the edge of the bed assessing Hook's appearance. His condition had been progressively declining since we'd left the clearing. It was obvious he would not pull through this on his own merit. I picked up his hand and cradled it gently in my palm. A low humming vibrated where our skin touched. "It feels like a weak current, or something."

"Now let his hand go," Gold urged far too eagerly.

I tried to drop his hand, but was met with some sort of resistance, like peeling apart two pancakes covered in syrup, only completely dry. Standing quickly, my breath catching, the pieces started shoving themselves together in my brain. "What would happen if I tried to leave this cabin?" I asked, stepping away from the bed.

"Nothing. That is, unless you tried to keep going." Gold was calm. Too calm.

"So that's it, then. I wasn't attacked earlier, he pulled me back?"

"Look at the man, Dearie, I don't think he's capable of lifting his fearsome hook let alone leap to his feet to yank you back. No, it's something much more magical than that."

"We don't have time for this. You know something, just tell me! At the clearing, you mentioned he wasn't cursed. You said he was partly dead?"

"Half alive, actually. Not even close to the same thing as partly dead. Tell me, what exactly did you do in that hollow? Now is the time for you to be completely truthful."

"I gave him CPR, you know, it's a means of artificially supporting someone's respiration and circulation until help can arrive."

"You did more than that. You both reek of white magic," he accused.

"My hands started to glow. I have no idea what I did!" I started pacing the cabin as acidic anxiety started pooling in my veins.

"Very interesting, indeed." He paused, appearing to be in deep thought, though I suspected it was more for show. "You apparently bound the unsuspecting pirate to you. That's why you couldn't leave the clearing. When the shadows tried to detach his aura, they partially succeeded. He would have died, had you not intervened. He may still."

"Then DO something," I exclaimed, my pulse starting to race once more.

"It's not in my power, but it is in yours. You started this, you must finish it."

I nearly growled. "Tell me what to do, Gold. So help me…"

"He is partially bound to you, meaning he is sharing your life force. In order to heal him and awaken him, you will have to fully bind him to you. That is the only way that his aura will stay within his body. Are you willing to make that commitment?"

I looked back and forth between Hook and Gold several times. "What does it mean, exactly?"

"Think of it as a marriage of the souls. I've never actually seen it done before, but as I understand it, you may experience each other's feelings and you'll have a strong desire to stay close to each other."

My eyes narrowed. "How close? I can barely walk thirty feet away from him now."

"It will be different." He paused, perhaps searching for an explanation. "As it is now, he is entirely dependent upon your life force. Leaving his side is like disconnecting his battery. You need to give him a permanent boost. You'll still feel…attracted to one another, but you should be able to lead fairly normal lives."

"Should?" I questioned. He shrugged inelegantly. He had already said he'd never actually seen it done. "So it's a theory…" My voice trailed off.

I stared at Hook, no Killian, for this he would be Killian, and thought about my future being tied to his. Could I live with it? Would he even want it, for that matter? He was a pirate, a wanderer, how would he feel knowing he was magically bound to someone? But I couldn't just let him go. He had risked everything to help us find Henry simply because I asked him to. None of this was his fault, and I knew I owed it to him to save him if I could. And I did care for him. I may not have ever gotten around to admitting it to anyone, or maybe I would have, but I did.

Gold's voice interrupted just as I made my decision. "And one other thing; if one of you dies, so will the other. That's the way of shared life forces."

I don't want to live without him. A voice mourned in my thoughts.

I turned to face him – the Dark One – and let him see the certainty in my mind. "I'll do it."

An odd grin appeared on his face. "You will need to fill his being with the same white magic you used before, and hold it there until you feel it spill back into you."

I moved to place my hands on his chest as I had in the clearing, but the clicking sound of Gold's disapproval stopped me. "What?"

"It has to flow through both of you, Dearie. Something more…intimate…is required."

"No way in hell, Gold."

"A kiss, Miss Swan. Isn't that always the way of true love? And you'll have to mean it. There's no going back."

True love. Would Killian have turned out to be my true love if we'd had the chance to let things develop naturally? Or was I robbing him of that, too? Tracing my fingertips across his brow I whispered, "Please forgive me."

I dragged every happy memory I'd ever formed about this man to the front of my mind and let them pool into the core part of me where my magical energy – the little that I'd experienced –always seemed to form. I thought about when he first introduced himself, and how pleased he was that I'd heard of him. About our long climb on the beanstalk when he'd first tried to get me to open up, followed by the flash of heat he'd unexpectedly fanned when he bandaged my hand with his teeth. Even his innuendos at Lake Nostos had a place in our happy memories; his flirtations seemingly spoke to something inside of me. But most of our happy moments were here in Neverland, where he continued to prove to me that he was on our side. As I pictured our only kiss, and then his whispered confession in the Echo Cave, I bent my head and pressed my lips firmly to his, willing whatever power I possessed to flow into him.

As it had happened in the Dark Hollow, a white light glowed from where we touched, this time accompanied by a burst of heat. I hated that Gold was witnessing this, but I fought to keep my focus on Killian. I could feel the light seep into him, filling some kind of hole. His heartbeat strengthened, pounding against my own where our chests were aligned. Then, suddenly, his lips moved and he was kissing me back. The warmth from my magic seemed to pour from his kiss into me, sending the current I'd felt earlier back through my entire body. We gasped simultaneously as the low thrumming begin to burn before concentrating in my heart. I could only liken it to the sting of a tattoo needle and from the tension in his frame I suspected he felt it as well.

Almost as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. My heart felt almost too full, as though weighed by an invisible anchor, yet it was strangely comforting. I lay panting half across his body, my lips still inches from his. Mine, that voice whispered again. His incredible blue eyes opened slowly before his mouth curved into my favorite smile. "Hello, love."


A/N: He's awake! Thank you to all who have been reading and reviewing. I find Emma to be a bit more challenging to write than other heroines because I imagine her to be somewhat closed off even in her own mind. She says she doesn't trust others, but I don't think she trusts herself, either.

At any rate, I'm excited to have Killian back with us to heat things up. Please review :)