Chapter 3

Emma sighed as she listened to Leroy and Granny arguing once again over something that meant nothing. There was a crash and the ground rumbled making the three run outside to see what was going on. Emma furrowed her brow when she caught sight of a figure making her way down the streets, blowing up storefronts as she walked. Leroy began screaming that Regina had lost it and was going to kill them all while Granny went inside for her weapons. Emma drew her gun and pointed it at the evil Queen as she smirked, making her way closer. "Oh please, you know that thing won't work on me." She said waving her hand making the gun fly into the street. Emma looked at the woman as she stalked closer when Granny returned with her crossbow, firing an arrow at her neck. The evil queen caught it quickly before tossing it to the side with a laugh. She flung her hand, throwing Granny into the asphalt of the street. Emma raised her hands to battle the evil queen with her magic but was easily over come and held tight to the cement wall. "Regina let me out to play and play I shall. Starting with you." She smirked. "You look stressed. Perhaps a bit of sleep will make you more relaxed." She smirked and held out a pin. "And look what I found just laying around in that dusty old shop."

"You can knock me out but I won't stay like that for long. All it takes is true loves kiss." Emma shot at her.

"Oh yes I know. That's why you'll be locked away and hidden." She smirked as Emma's eyes went wide seconds before she felt a prick on her finger and then nothing. "One down, a town to go." She laughed before disappearing in a poof of smoke with Emma but she left the little needle as a tease of what was to come of Emma.

"Granny." David said as he ran up to her with Snow, Leroy and Killian at his side. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"The evil queen, she attacked Emma." She said as she looked around.

"Where is she?" Snow asked as she looked for her daughter. Killian stood and started looking around as David and Snow spoke with Granny as they helped her back to her feet. "What happened to her?" Snow said as Killian bent to pick something up.

"I think I know." He said turning to show Snow and David the needle. "That bloody witch put her under the sleeping curse and took Emma." He said angrily as Snow took the needle. David grabbed Killian's arm to stop him from storming off. "Let go of me."

"You running off angry won't help Emma." David told him, as he looked at the pirate, a man he had come to see as a good friend and now son in law for the last month and a half. He watched at Killian's face shifted and his look darkened a face he had not seen before. Killian yanked his arm from David's grasp and he was gone down the street.

"David." Snow said watching her son in law leave. "What's he going to do?"

"I don't know but it can't be good." David said worried. "We need to find out what the Evil Queen is up to and where she could be hiding."

"We better find Regina, and fast. I have a feeling that's where he's heading and he's in no frame of mind to talk with her." Snow said as she and David started to look for Regina, finding her in her office. "Regina."

"What?" She asked as they ran in.

"The evil Queen… she's back." Snow said quickly.

"What? That impossible, I took her heart and crushed it." Regina said standing up.

"Where would she go?" They heard from the doorway. Turning they found Killian standing there looking at them with that dark look. Regina paused looking at him. It was a look she had only glimpsed before one that was darker than what she remembered from years ago. "She put Emma under a sleeping curse and took her somewhere."

"Oh boo." They all looked over to where the evil queen stood with a grin. "You figured it out already?"

"Where did you take her?" He asked as he moved forward, standing tall in the face of the evil queen, something very few people ever did in her lifetime. "Where is Emma?" He demanded.

"That's no way to ask for a toy back." She teased making him lunge at her only for her to disappear and reappear on the other side of the room. "Well you see with the savior out of the way and safely tucked away…" She trailed off as an image of Emma tossed on a stone floor came to the mirror. "I can now take over and punish each and every one of you lowly little bugs. I will take you out one by one, making the others watch. You will be left to suffer never knowing where your love lays in an eternal slumber and you Regina, my dear; oh do I have sweet plans for you." She laughed before disappearing into smoke once again. Snow looked worried as the image or Emma faded. She knew what it was like in that eternal slumber, she knew what her daughter was feeling and going through.

"We have to do something." Snow said looking at David and Regina. When her eyes fell to Regina she watched the woman cross her arms, watching Killian standing off to the side with his back to them.

After a moment, she took a breath, "Not going to go berserk and start showing off that temper you held all those years ago?" She said as if taunting Killian.

"Regina." Snow half scolded before looking at the man. "Hook-."

"What? No cut throat captain Hook?" Regina continued. "You really think charging around waving that little thing on your arm is going to scare her or get you anything you want? You think running around almost getting yourself killed is going to help anything?" Killian spun with an even darker look in his eyes as he stalked over to her. Regina looked him in the eye as Snow and David stood, stunned. "You really think Captain Hook, the cut throat Pirate who did as he pleased, taking men's wives and killing all in his way will be any help in saving her? You really think this is what she'll want to wake up to? You think the first thing she sees is the wild and crazy Pirate, bent on dark revenge once again? How is this going to help Emma? Stop being so damn selfish and think about your wife." Killian stopped and stared at her. Regina gave a small smile. "Good, now you're thinking." Killian just looked at her a moment longer before he turned and was gone.

"What was that all about?" Snow asked. "You know he's hurting. You know-."

"I've known him longer than you have. I knew him back in his pirate days, back when he was that cut throat captain. He's hurting yes, and that curse the evil queen put on Emma took away that light that was holding him in better standing. It's similar to what I believe happened to you when Snow ate the apple." Regina said looking at David as he furrowed his brow and Snow looked at him confused.

"It felt like my heart had been shredded. Like I had no breath and the world suddenly became grey." David said softly.

"And that's with you being a hero." Regina glanced at the door. "He, like I was, was consumed by the darkness, it's so easy to slip right back, you saw that when he became the dark one." The two nodded and looked worried. "Don't worry; he's not going to revert, not any more than he already has at least."

"We should talk to him-." Snow said but Regina cut her off.

"No. Leave him be. Remember what I said, he was a villain, consumed with darkness. You trying to be all nice and good won't do anything but aggravate him." She sighed. "I'll speak to him. Maybe I'll be able to talk a little more sense into him and we can figure this all out. For now, just…. Do whatever you… do." She left the two alone and went to the docks where she knew she would find him hiding out.

"I don't want to deal with you right now." He said as she came closer.

"Why? Because I make you think about what you're doing?" She shot back. She stood in her place watching him as he refused to turn to face her. "I'm not going to coddle you. You know what the darkness feels like; you know what that power tastes like. You also know that once you touch it, there's no coming back, at least not without Emma and with her missing…" She trailed off.

"Go away, Regina." He said sternly, but she could hear something in his voice that had not been there when he had marched into her office demanding things.

"You feel it." She said and she saw his shoulders tense. "You feel the pain; you feel your heart being ripped out and shredded to nothingness. You feel her slipping away and the light fading."

Killian spun on his heels and had her slammed up against the light pole, choking her. "What the hell do you know? You're the one who causes this, you're not the one forced to endure any of it. What do you care if I rush off after that witch? What's it matter to you?" He demanded.

Regina looked at him a moment just now realizing what the hitch in his voice earlier was, it was tears. He had been crying. It was evident when she looked into his glassy blood shot blue eyes that still held a few tears. "You're right." She said softly. "I don't know what this feels like, but I know what it feels like to have a loved one ripped away, killed right in front of your eyes. You know that pain but you do not know the pain of a true love being taken from you. I've felt that and watched it happen right in front of me, twice." Killian stepped back, turning away again. She gave a soft sigh. "I've known you a long time, Hook. Even when Milah was taken from you, you never went this dark. You're delving deeper than you've ever gone before and if you do this you will lose yourself. You will lose Emma and I guarantee she will lose her life because you were too focused on the darkness."

Killian stood silent a moment before he glanced over his shoulder at her but did not turn around. "Then what do you suggest. Your majesty?"

"What would Emma do? What would she want you to do?" She heard him heave a heavy sigh before he turned around.

He gave a small smirk. "She'd be a bloody hero." Regina gave a small smile as she nodded. "Emma would make sure the others were safe first, she would want to make sure no one else could get hurt while others looked for her."

"Good, now you're where you need to be." She stepped closer. "Emma and I may not have seen eye to eye and most of the time we still don't but she is important to Henry and she's grown on me a bit." She smirked. "I won't let anything happen to her. We will find her and bring her home, safe and sound, curse broken and all." She looked into his blue eyes. "You're going to continue to feel that pain and suffering until she's awakened. In the mean time, every single choice, thought or diction you make or speak, run it passed the filter. What does Emma want you to do? She loves you, I don't know why but she does, and she loves you for the man you are, not the man you used to be. Show her how much you love her by fighting to stay that man for her."

Killian looked at her and gave a nod. Regina turned to leave. "Thank you." He said making her stop and look at him.

"We all have horrors in our pasts that we are trying so hard to be better for. The only way I was able to be a better person, to be a hero is because I loved Henry, and I wanted to show him I could be good. I've seen the same in you. Not only with Emma, but with Henry as well. Don't think I can't see through that look you try to put up when others are around. You're almost as bad as Emma hiding behind her walls." Regina gave a small smile. "I've seen you tear each one down and I've watched as she pulled you apart. Don't let all of your hard work together be for nothing." Killian just nodded. "Meet at Mary Margret and David's in an hour. Until then, just think of Emma and what she would be saying to you." With that, she left the pirate alone on the docks, looking out at the horizon. The group had once been trying to kill each other and tried their hardest to hurt one another but somehow, somewhere along the way they had become a little family. Killian took a breath, he and Regina had once been villains, had once done horrible things but here they were because of Emma standing in the light and doing good.

He pulled himself together, the others were right; rushing around angry or becoming wild was not going to help Emma one bit. They needed to work through this and together if they were going to make it anywhere. He turned and started for the loft.

When he walked in everyone looked at him. Regina gave him a nod and Snow smiled at him and invited him to sit at the table as they began working on a plan of how to help keep everyone safe while they looked for Emma. "Why don't Hook and I go look for mom? That way all you have to worry about is keeping the town safe and keeping the evil queen busy."

"She's going to go after you. You're one of the main causes she was locked away; she knows she'll be able to win if she did something to you." Regina said shaking her head.

"The lad has a point." Killian spoke up. "If you can keep her busy looking for people in the town to hurt and busy trying to get around you she won't have time to focus on us. Henry will be away from where she is and safe and the two of us can search for where she hid Emma."

Regina thought a moment while the others looked at each other as if they thought it might be possible. "She used magic; she would have to be in Storybrook somewhere."

"How else would he be safe? You can't very well lock him up in your vault until you find some way to deal with her." David said in agreement with Killian. Regina sighed.

"He doesn't leave your site." She said giving Killian a hard look.

"Mom, I'm not a little kid." Henry said as he stood up. "I'll grab my stuff and then we can figure out where to start." Killian nodded as Henry ran up the stairs for some things. Regina walked over to Killian who leveled his blue eyes with her dark brown ones while the others began trying to hash out some way to protect the town.

"I mean it." She said.

Killian gave a nod. "Nothing will happen to the boy." He said earnestly. "He shall never be put near danger. That's why I said it was a good idea. If the two of us focus on Emma, we can find her and save her but it also stops him from jumping in to your plans to fight. You think I wouldn't know him after years of watching him try to jump in and help, putting himself in danger?"

"Thank you." She said softly.

"You forget he's my step son now. Even before Emma and I got married, I would have done everything I could to keep him from danger. But if you think I'm going to let my lad run face first into death you've got another thing coming, your majesty." He gave a little smirk making her smile and shake her head. "I shall protect him with my life as if he truly were my own blood." Regina gave a nod of appreciation as Henry ran back down the stairs.

"Okay, let's go. We need to find a base and start planning how to start looking for her." He told Killian. "Let us know if anything happens." He said before Regina gave him a hug.

"Be careful." She told him.

"I will, mom." He smiled. "You too." Killian gave her a nod as he followed the teen from the loft. "We could use the Jolly Roger as our base, that way if we need to travel we can just go." Henry said as he walked beside Killian towards the docks.

"Aye, you have a point. It would be easier. We can set up out at sea and make our plans and only come to shore when we have somewhere to look. That will cut down the chances of the evil queen running into us." Killian agreed. "Any bright ideas so far?"

"Well she would want to keep mom as hidden as possible, the harder it is to finder her the more we're going to worry and she's hoping that will make us make mistakes." Henry explained. "The snow queen had a cave she hid in. Maybe she's got something like that? There's still a lot of the woods that aren't really explored because it gets pretty dense."

"Then that's where we shall start." Killian smirked. "As calm and collected as your mother in the face of danger." Henry grinned happily, as they made it to the ship, quickly casting off to sail as far as they dared go.

"So I brought a couple maps that might help us." He said unrolling a large map across the table in the captain's quarters. Killian skillfully set the map up and began surveying what he was looking at. "This one is the map of the city line and the forest. Well what we know of the forest so far anyway. I figured we should probably start there since we couldn't even find the snow queen and she was in a cave out there. It's probably our best shot."

"Good idea." Killian agreed. "So where do you suggest we begin our search?" He asked letting Henry be as much a part of this as possible, knowing that the teen was extremely smart and took after his mother but that it would also keep him occupied and away from danger.

"Well this is where we found the snow queen's hideout." He said pointing to the spot on the map. "We could start there. The evil queen might be using the snow queens set up. It would make sense."

"Right, so snow queen layer it is." Killian said as he turned around, grabbing his sword and gun. "Shall we?" Henry nodded as he pulled his bag over his shoulder. When he turned to look back at the map and saw Killian bending down to look into the cabinet.

"What are you looking for?" Henry asked as Killian glanced at him with a smirk before he stood up.

"This." He handed the sword out. "Back when you got yourself into that mess with Pan, when we got back to the town your father forgot this onboard. I know your grandfather has been teaching you swordplay. If it comes to it, you should be armed to protect yourself."

Henry looked at it before taking it slowly and a small smile coming to his face. "Thanks." He said as he pulled it closer. "You think he's watching over us? Violet said she thinks her mom watches over her and her dad to keep them safe and all. Do you think my dad is watching out for you, me and my mom?"

Killian thought a moment, after his visit to the underworld he didn't doubt much of the afterlife. "If anyone were to keep you two safe it would be Baelfire."

"What about you?" Henry asked making Killian smirk. "He would take care of you too."

"Aye, I suppose he would." Killian nodded, in a small way hoping the teen was right. "We should head out, I'm sure your grandparents and mother have started working on some way to keep everyone safe and to distract the evil queen by now." Killian explained as he led the way above deck and started on their way back to the shore as the sun sank in the sky.

"We'll find her." Henry said as they walked into the forest. Killian glanced at him. "My mom. I know you're thinking about it. It's written all over your face. You're worried, but you don't have to be. You know my mom probably better than anyone; you know she'll be fine."

"Aye, lad. You're mother is the strongest woman I have ever known. I just…"

"You worry because you love her." Henry smirked. "You worry about the ones you love. And mom does get into a lot of trouble." Killian chuckled in agreement. "We'll find her, and you can wake her with true loves kiss. And then we can get back to the others and finally defeat the evil queen."