A/N: I'm baaaack! Sorry for the delay guys, but handling five fanfics plus one original story all at once, it's a bit messy. I think I can handle updating twice a month though. I know it's not a lot, and I'll try faster updates when I can, but hey...life and all. ;)
PS: Just so you know, this chapter is my fav to date. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Once upon a time nor any of its characters. I only own the plot in this story as well as a major OC.
8. Her Saviour
Emma
"Dark One, I summon thee."
She felt the pull as strongly as if a car had been tied to her waist and carrying her wherever it wanted. It started at her chest, although not anywhere near her heart, and started growing in intensity until she could not do anything than obey its will.
So this is what it felt like, when summoned by a dagger.
She hated it.
For a moment, she tried to fight it, because she did not want to show whoever had summoned her what she had become; but the pain was almost unbearable, and she had no other choice.
Eyeing the library she had roughly scouted one last time, she opened her arms wide, and disappeared in a grey mist.
Killian
He regretted it the moment the words escaped his lips. It knew it had been a bad idea to summon her on the Jolly, which is why he had always refused to do it up to that point. What if she was truly changed? What if she, like Gold, hated him so much she'd try to kill him? He did not want to stain her soul by "forcing" her to kill him.
And yet, as a cloud of grey smoke filled the crew's cabin, he knew it was too late to take it back.
The cloud dissipated, and Killian stood, the dagger still firmly held in his hand as a lone form appeared in front of him.
It was her.
It was her.
She held her head downwards, evading his sight, but it was her. She was wearing the same clothes she had been on that fateful night, except perhaps a black glove on her left hand, hand that she held tight in a fist as if she was in pain.
"Swan?" he whispered helplessly.
"Don't." came her answer. He started a little, because the voice was unmistakeably hers and yet so very different; but it did not deter him. Placing the dagger on the bed behind him, he took a tentative step forward, holding out his hand as if wishing her to take it.
"I'm not going to hurt you, love."
There was a twitch in her crouching posture, as if she had wished to do something, like look at him, but had thought against it at the last moment. "I will hurt you, Hook. I know I will. Don't touch me."
Hook. Not Killian. He had expected it, but it didn't hurt any less.
Without meaning it, he hissed, and she twitched again. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed. "I don't want you to see me like this. Why have you summoned me?"
He did not answer right away. Why had he summoned her? He did not really know. Was it because of how Selene had looked at him? Was it because he could not bare having her so far from him again? Or was it perhaps a mix of the two?
"There is a girl here," he chose to say, "a girl whom you've created."
At that Emma Swan looked up, and Killian forgot everything he had willed to say, his blue eyes locking on her appearance, mouth agape and a slight frown waving over him as he took her in. She froze too, possibly realising that he know could see her fully, and her lips set in a hard line. But she could not escape.
He had been around the Crocodile enough to recognize the affliction. Half of Emma's face was scorched with the scale-like skin that Gold had adorned so long ago. It began at her left temple, stretching onto her cheek and going down on her whole chin to lose itself in her shirt. One of her eyes had lost its green colour in favour or a golden hue circled with red. It was hideous. Hideous and yet, it was still her.
Killian Jones could never say he'd stop loving Emma Swan because she was scarred. It would be the least characteristic thing he'd ever say.
So instead, he reached for her and grasped her left hand in his, gripping harder when she tried to pull away. "What has happened?"
She huffed, an angry sound that was reminding him of when they had first met. "What do you think happened? The Darkness. Half of me belongs to it."
"But half of you doesn't." He tried to soothe her by running his thumb along her knuckles, but she pulled herself free and moved as far from him as she could.
It was like watching a wild animal you were trying to tame. "What did you mean about the girl I created?"
He sighed and scratched his ear. "It appears that, when trapped in the book, you created someone to save you from the tower. A mix between you, Henry, and I."
Emma's eyes widened, and for a fleeting second, he saw his beloved reflected back in the surprise he saw there. It was gone in a blink. "My Saviour."
"Your what?"
"My Saviour. I wished for a saviour for my own. I wished it so strongly that my magic flew out of me and I spent it whole." He remembered that she had been magicless in the book, but right then it hadn't bothered him. He had died for her, after all, and it wouldn't have been possible if she had had the means to counter her mother's powers. "She is here?"
"She is on this ship." He decided not to tell her that Selene could see inside her head. Not when she was like this. "She wanted to come."
Emma hissed. "She should not exist. All magic comes with a price..." She let out a snarl and he started again, the sound being so close to the Crocodile's that he thought he had appeared in the room. "You should not let this out of your grasp." She pointed at the bed, and he turned around, eyes widening when he saw the dagger lying there. How stupid of him.
He reached for it at the same time as her, and reached it before she did, but in the momentum, they became entangled in front of the bed, and their faces were so close he ached to kiss her, scars or not.
She saw it in his eyes and moved away as if burnt.
"I should leave. I cannot retain the Darkness for too long." She raised a hand but he lifted the dagger and it stopped her.
"Swan!" He paused. "I love you." It was a simple phrase, simple enough. Just a reminder. To let her know that hadn't changed.
But instead of making her relax, it made her tense, and begin to shake with uncontrolled tremors. She winced and moaned in pain, as if his quiet confession had wounded her deeply, and she doubled over, closing her eyes. She tried to croak a "Run" but before he could process what she had said, a wave of grey magic shot from her and hit him so hard that he flew back and landed square on the wall.
He hit his head so hard that a crack could be heard, and she disappeared in a whirl of grey, leaving him in silence, the dagger clutched in his hand as a pool of blood stretched under him...
Snow
"What was that?" She shouted at David as a deafening crack echoed through the whole ship. Her husband looked at her with those wide eyes filled with determination, and they hurried below deck, where they had left Hook and Selene earlier.
When they reached the Captain's cabin, the girl erupted from it like a fury, eyes wide with worry. "What happened?"
Snow shook her head. "It wasn't you?"
"No. But Killian was not with me." She bit her lip in worry, and Snow's eyes narrowed on the gesture. It was at times like these that she questioned Selene's true motives concerning the pirate. She seemed to care too much for him, it was starting to make her tense.
"Over here!" shouted Robin nearby, and they all ran down the corridor to one of the crew's cabin, the one Snow and David shared.
They all gasped upon seeing Hook lying on the floor, dagger in hand and blood pouring under him. He was as white as sheet, but Regina was already waving her hands over him to find the wound and treat him.
When his head had glowed a peaceful purple hue, the Queen straightened, blood smearing her hands, and she turned to Snow and David, the former tensing under the intensity of the Queen's gaze. "She was here. Emma."
Snow gulped, and reached for David's hand. "How do you know?"
"I can feel the magic that flew through here. She cannot control it. My guess is that she burst out and hurt Hook without meaning to. Otherwise she'd have taken the dagger with her."
"And how can we be sure that it's the real dagger?" David asked.
Regina smirked. "He wouldn't be gripping it so tight if it had been replaced, believe me." She looked at Robin at her side. "He should move him to his cabin."
David moved away from Snow and helped the archer scoop up the pirate to carry him away. Snow caught Regina's eye and she silently questioned the look in there, her step-mother tilting her head to the side as if things were far worse than expected.
"If he really summoned her here...we can only hope he didn't say too much."
Snow nodded gravely, her eyes going to Selene again, who was standing in the doorway, her blue eyes following Hook's departure.
Yes, let's hope he didn't say too much...
Selene
It was horrible, seeing him in that state after what she had done.
She had remained in the cabin for long minutes after he had left, crying her eyes out at her own stupidity. Nothing would ever be the same now he had seen the longing in her eyes. She knew it and she hated it.
And now, seeing how he had been hurt, she could only feel guilty knowing that he probably wouldn't have summoned Emma if she had reined in her hormones. Stupid girl.
She was up on deck before any of her companions had returned, and thought about jumping off board for a second. She would be out of their air and not putting them in danger this way; and it didn't matter if she lived or die because either way, she was not meant to be.
"-have another problem, though..." came Regina's voice as she and Snow exited the staircase leading up on deck.
"What is it?"
The Queen gestured aimlessly to the wheel. "No one can steer that thing apart from Hook."
Snow nodded, jaw set gravely and a look of acceptance making its way on her face. She was accepting the eventuality that she would never see her daughter again.
And that Selene could not fathom.
"I can sail it."
Both women snapped their eyes at her in surprise. "You can?" asked Snow.
She nodded. "Apparently I have enough Jones blood in my false veins to know how to sail the Jolly." She almost froze at the frown she saw creep on Snow's features, but thought against it. It probably was nothing. She whirled around and moved to the helm, taking the wheel in a gentle caress. She felt the wood almost hum to her in response, and she smirked a true pirate-like smirk. "Let's go, my darling."
