Killian awoke to to the sounds of chains rattling. There was was an intense ringing in his ears. He felt disoriented but at least he remembered what the fuck was going on this time. He was laying with his face in stone gravel, dust particles filled the air. He sat up slowly, pain delaying his movements, realizing his abdomen was cut and bleeding. The wound Emma left when she stabbed him with Excalibur. Looking around, he found the surrounding cave walls he was chained to familiar. Emma had chained him here to keep him from stopping her plan to murder Zelena in cold blood.

"Oh, good! You're awake." The voice startled Killian, he turned towards the end of the cave that lead to the ground floor of their house and what he saw was worse than he could have imagined. The Dark Swan with white hair pulled into a knot at the back of her head, was on the stairs in her black skirt, long flowing cape and high heels. Her face leaning against the palm of her left hand, she twirled the dagger lazily in her other hand, looking throughly bored. Killian thought that he had saved Emma with his sacrifice. This couldn't be true. He had seen her transform back to her normal, red-leather-jacket-clad self before he died.

Killian willed himself to stand, ignoring the pain; pushing his chains to their limits he stood and turned to face her.

"No need to stand on my account." She was suddenly directly in front of him. She slowly ran the edge the dagger across his left cheek and down his throat. She held the dagger there and used her other hand to brush back his unkempt hair and cup his left cheek lovingly. Killian shivered, but not from pleasure.

"Well I am always a gentleman, love." Except Killian knew this wasn't his love. Killian looked into the green eyes of the woman in front of him and he knew. The spark that should have danced there, the fire of his Emma's deep green eyes, was missing. Killian didn't know what demon Hades had conjured to wear the face of the woman he loved, he just knew in his heart that this wasn't her. He was here to spare her from this and as long as he held that thought in his mind, more importantly his heart, Hades' torture would fail.

"You are not Emma. You may look like her, but you're not, Demon," he spat the words at her.

"Smart. You must truly love her. Most men just take what they see at face value and it's much easier to make them believe I am the wife or lover they left behind." She said as she traced the dagger back to his forehead. She used the dagger to tear into the flesh above his eyes. Killian ignored the warm, sticky flow of blood down his face and tried to maintain his composure. She stood back as she waited for him to react, Killian was focused and unwavering. Thoughts of the real Emma filled his mind. How she laughed, how she loved sailing on the Jolly almost as much as he did, how she always smelled slightly of cinnamon and how her soft lips felt against his each time he claimed them in a kiss.

"Well, that won't do," the demon pouted. Killian felt as she pressed the dagger into the open would left by Excalibur. She retracted the dagger a little and twisted it a few times back and forth in his stomach.

Killian howled in pain and fell to one knee, unable to manage the pain any longer. The demon grabbed at his throat and hauled him back to his feet. She slammed his whole body into the cave wall and then dropped him to the gravel, he hit his head hard as he made contact with the ground. She knelt next to him, but the blood flowing from the cut on his forehead and his left eye swelling shut from the blows made it difficult for him to see her clearly.

"Why do you maintain this ruse then? I know you're not her." Curiosity was probably not the best thing to indulge in at the moment, but Killian couldn't resist asking.

"The woman you love, the one you died for - at some point you'll realize that she didn't love you as much as you loved her. She's the reason you're here; she sent you here to suffer for her actions. Eventually I'll be the image that replaces her in your mind; the physical pain I cause will damage your perception of her. I will poison your love and then my work is done."

Killian slowly pulled himself up and stood defiantly, tamping down the pain he felt simply standing up. The demon waved her hands and suddenly his chains were gone. He was ready for whatever might come next. He was about to move to fight her when an image appeared before him.

Emma was standing in front of him, wearing her red leather jacket. Her eyes were bright and alive, filled with joy at the sight of him. Just as he remembered her.

"Killian? We're here to help you. We just can't find you. Where are you?" He heard the pleading in her voice but he couldn't answer her. She was fading in and out, surely a specter of his imagination.

"Just tell us where you are," she begged.

Her expression changed and he saw despair in her eyes. He knew she could see the sorry state the demon had left him in. He wished he could spare her any pain, but he saw nothing except pain and sorrow etched in her features.

"Talk to us. Talk to me." She whispered, her voice breaking. Killian wanted nothing more than to talk to her but he couldn't open his mouth, couldn't voice the thoughts in his head. Just as suddenly as she had appeared she as gone.

"Damn it," the demon cursed. "That was not a part of the plan."

Killian was reeling, the demon had seen her too. It was real, he just knew it. She had come for him. He wasn't pleased she had risked her safety to come after him. After their trip to the past, Emma had explained that her parents always found each other. That it had become her family's motto, it was just what they all did. He had told David, though he didn't know it at that time, that he would go to the end of the world or time for his daughter and hadn't been certain then if she would do the same. In the time since that adventure, Emma had proven she loved him as truly as he loved her. And now she had come to hell to save him.

"Time to end this. Got my orders to put you somewhere that you cannot get out of. That little magic trick shouldn't give you hope. It was just a message from my master." She said dismissively. She snapped her fingers and Killian fell to the ground, everything going black.

Killian awoke to the sounds of blood curdling wailing. He was lying on cold pavement. He hauled himself to his feet, taking in his surroundings. A new prison.

"Is this a bloody trick?" He shouted to no one in particular. There were no bars, nothing to stop an escape.

"That's exactly what this is. A trick. He wants you to think you can escape, but you can't." A feminine voice said from the cell across from him.

He looked at the girl, disheveled brown hair framing her face, she looked no more than 18 years old. Just a child. Her clothing was dirty and torn and she wrapped herself in her ragged cloak as though it offered her some protection from Hades' torments.

"Don't. He'll hunt you down."

Killian had been poised to exit the cell but her plea stopped him.

"Hades has already done his worst to me." Thinking of the torture he had endured, the false Emma Hades had sent to him and the haunting visions in their house before that. And now Hades was most assuredly keeping Emma from him.

"I don't mean Hades," she whispered.

"Well who then?"

She shook her head, refusing to answer him.

"Someone has come down to save me and I need to make her job easier." Killian was certain that Emma had come to save him. She was the savior, after all. Nothing could stop her once she made up her mind, damn stubborn woman. She always accomplished what she set out to do.

"How do you she's here?" The girl was skeptical.

"She got me a message." Killian's response didn't satisfy the girl's query.

"How do you know that it wasn't just Hades taunting you?" A jaded look crossed the young woman's face.

"Because I know! When you love someone, you know," he shouted. He hadn't meant to shout at the poor girl. Gods only knew the torment she had endured here, he didn't want to cause further harm.

Killian looked around, he could not let his fear stop him. He knew that Hades wouldn't permit him to escape so easily, while the girl on the other hand had a good chance of getting a message to Emma.

Killian breathed in and stepped out of his cell, movement was quite difficult given his injuries but he pushed the pain from his mind, and walked over to the young woman's cell. When nothing attacked as he neared her, he let out the breathe he had been holding. Killian extended his hand to her.

"Are you mad?"

"Aye, likely. But I am your best hope of getting out of here." Killian silently willed her to take his hand. After a few more moments of hesitation she grasped his hand and he assisted her to her feet.

"Okay, now we must go. Run!" He urged her toward and they ran through the maze of tunnels. He heard sounds of howling and knew now the creature she refused to name hunted them. The girl began to panic and in her panic tripped over her skirts. Killian helped her to her feet.

"We will never make it out of here," she cried.

"We won't but you will. I need you to find someone and give her a message. Her name is Emma Swan. I'm Captain Killian Jones... Captain Hook. Tell her to find me," he begged.

The girl was hesitating again, her fear of this place no doubt weighing on her mind.

"RUN! I'll draw the hell beasts away!" He nudged the girl forward and she ran without looking back.

He turned and ran down another tunnel leading the creature away from the girl. Killian could hear the beast as it got closer and closer. Killian kept moving and managed to avoid the beast for several hours but he was nearing exhaustion. At the pace Killian was moving now, the creature would overtake him very soon based on how close the sounds of howling was.

Killian felt its claws tear into his back as it caught up to him, knocking him over. One of the beast's heads bit into the flesh of his neck and dragged him to the feet of two men. The men, one dark skinned the other pale, both clad in black suits and a perpetual scowl, each threw the beast some sort of food and it trod off to enjoy its reward. The men dragged him through tunnels that reminded Killian of the mines under Storybrooke. After a few minutes they tossed him onto a hard marble floor against a grandfather clock, Killian could hear a violin playing from somewhere and Killian realized where he must be: Hades' lair.

"The prisoner you aided in escape, she's moved on from this realm," Hades snarled.

"Good for her," Killian taunted.

Killian heard the sound of metal being unsheathed, seeing Hades draw what appeared to be a dagger from his cloak.

"Well get on with it then," Killian dared, bracing himself to be stabbed. Again. Centuries as a pirate and in just the last few months, he'd been stabbed more time than he'd care to count. He laughed to himself, hell of a pirate he was these days.

As Hades approached, Killian could see the flat end that identified it as a chisel.

"Oh no, this?" He said, bending down to where Killian lay, forcing Killian to take it in his hand. "This is for your friends."

"What the bloody hell am I supposed to do with this?"

"Simple accounting really. At first, I wanted your friends to leave. I really had such a smooth-running operation going here before they arrived, but now I've decided that they've caused too much damage, so my vindictive side - did you know I have one? - it wants to punish them." Hades stood and walked a few feet away to the center of the chamber and conjured three headstones. "So, from now on, for every soul your friends free, one of them is going to have to stay. And Captain, you get to decided who."

After countless minutes, Hades seemed to have lost what little patience he possessed. He sighed in exasperation. "Oh, come on, Captain!"

"All you have to do is choose three of your friends to say here. Carve their name. What's the problem? Is it the chisel? So unwieldy for the one-handed. Or writer's block?" Hades said, pacing the room.

Killian tossed the chisel away, refusing to carve a single name. "I'm not doing it."

Anger played across Hades' face as he came over, grabbing Killian by the hair and hauling him to his feet.

"I'm not angry. I'm disappointed. And on second thought, I'm angry," Hades whispered. "I guess it's off to solitary."

He lead Killian to one of the rivers leading out of the room. It was green and there were forms swimming below the surface that were hard to make out.

"This is the River of Lost Souls. One touch to its waters and you become... lost. Reducing you to a mindless, tormented husk." Hades forced him aboard the boat, which then started to drift down river through an archway bearing the words: ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE. They came to a stop and Hades drug him out of the boat onto the dock. They walked for a few moments through a tunnel and Killian saw a metal platform over the river. Suddenly Killian found himself hanging by his hands from chains above an opening in the platform.

"Now, Captain, I want you to think about why you are here. You tried to escape. You freed another prisoner. You refuse to do as I ask. And do you know the most important reason?"

"I couldn't begin to guess." Killian was more concerned with struggling against the chains holding him up.

"You and your friends brought contraband, hope, into my world, and that is strictly forbidden. And despite some creative beatings, I still see hope in your eyes. Now I would like that to be gone by the time you reach the water. You have interfered with my carefully cultivated existence, so I am going to hurt you. Then I'm going to collect your friends and hurt them. So there's going to be no one left to save you. Feel free.. to go mad," Hades laughed, disappearing in a cloud of blue flames