Lieutenant Hawkins and the Angel of Death

Chapter Ten

Back in the Kingdom of Longbourn…

At last, Captain Humphreys believed he had managed to overpower the naval Lieutenant turned pirate a number of times while their battle raged on as their swords continued to clash together. However, much to his surprise, Killian finally outwitted the older man when Humphreys forced him onto his back against the floor beneath them and attempted to kill the pirate, until the new Captain released one of his hands' hold on the man's sword about to kill him, struggling with the other in order to keep the sharpened blade from entering his chest, then shakily reached down to his belt to pull up a small dagger, which he suddenly thrust upward deep into Humphreys' stomach to end his life. King Driscoll, who remained standing against the wall behind him, could only stare down upon his friend now lying dead in front of him, and the man who murdered him in shock.

Once the naval officer fell on top of the pirate upon his body falling lifeless, Killian shoved Humphreys off of him, then sat up again while he glared up at the King, who quickly ran forward and bent down to pick up his Captain's fallen sword so he could try to defend himself when the pirate moved against him. Driscoll thought about trying to run, but he knew his castle was being overrun with the rest of Jones' band of pirates who were killing off the rest of the soldiers within his Guard, and that he would never get through alive. So, he stayed figuring it would be better to take his chances against one man instead of dozens.

"I think we both know you don't have it in you to fight me," Killian finally said to him darkly, continuing to look into the cruel man's eyes while he rose back to his feet and stood in front of Driscoll. "You're nothing but a coward who remains here in your bloody castle, safe upon your throne, while you allow all the rest of your men do your dirty work for you. Just like you required of my brother and me. Tell me, Your Majesty… when did you come to be so corrupt and immoral? Why did you have to choose my brother for your mission to that cursed land?! All for deadly poison!"

"I did it for the good of my Kingdom," Driscoll coldly answered, keeping the sword now in his hands raised before him. "But you wouldn't know anything about protecting that which you love. Or who. You didn't protect your Captain, did you?"

All of a sudden, the King swung his sword high against the pirate captain before Killian could completely avoid being struck by it, as the blade sliced open a deep gash along his right cheek which would eventually become a permanent scar. However, Killian dodged it before his enemy could cause him anymore harm, then swiftly ripped the weapon from the King's hands as he knocked it to the floor and immediately plunged his own cutlass straight through Driscoll's heart, causing the weaker man to gasp in anguish while he stared at the Captain in shock until he too fell to the floor dead.

Killian stared down into his lifeless eyes with darkness in his own while he spoke cruelly saying, "You stole the only person I had left in this world. Now I've taken your life and destroyed your Kingdom. You ought to be grateful your daughter's not here too. But if I should see her, she'll be joining you soon enough, you bastard!"

With that said, the pirate turned and walked away, leaving his body and the naval Captain's body behind to rot away or to burn to ash and ruin like what little remained of Longbourn Castle. Killian then ordered his men to raid the King's treasure vault and to take everything precious or of any worth, while he searched for the Eye of the Storm that had been the cost paid to the King for his freedom from slavery. Unfortunately, he never found it and wouldn't see it again until two hundred years later.

Present day, in Storybrooke once again…

When they left the Jolly Roger and the harbor upon splitting up from the Savior's parents so they could begin their own search in the woods for the new threats to their town, Emma walked alongside her husband holding his hook in her hand while Killian talked with her more about the terrible deeds he committed that led up to his enemies coming there now seeking revenge because she asked him to, though it pained him to do so. Not just because he was ashamed, which he most certainly was, but because there was always a small part of him which feared one day there would be an act of cruelty from his past that the woman he loved so deeply wouldn't ever be able to forgive him for. And he feared that what he spoke of to her now might be too much.

Once he nearly finished telling Emma of how he had killed the Angel's father and his former King, he stopped walking for a moment, then whispered shamefully, "…And then, I killed him, Emma. I ran my cutlass deep into his chest and I felt nothing. No pity for the father whom I had just murdered out of my own grief and anger, yet no sense of satisfaction or relief either. Killing King Driscoll didn't bring Liam back, nor did it help to ease my pain from losing him. I hated myself for becoming that villain and yet… And yet it was already too late for me. I couldn't turn back. So, I remained a pirate. Remained a villain and I only became worse over time. I cannot ever erase all I've done."

"We've been through this before," Emma gently replied, as she turned around to face him and lovingly wrapped her arms around him to hold her true love so she could try to offer him some small comfort. "You can't erase your past, Killian, but you have done the hardest thing any person can do. Especially for a villain like the man you used to be before I met you. You changed."

"It's funny…" Killian then stated after he released a soft chortle. "Your father said the very same thing to me the night that I asked him for your hand in marriage."

She smiled up at him as she responded, "He told me you were old fashioned for asking him, but he was also quite impressed with you and the things you said to him that night. He was impressed with everything you did that day. And very proud of you. He couldn't deny that you're not the man you were any longer, Killian. And if my father sees that… well then, you know you've definitely become a man who is so much better than you have ever been able to believe about yourself. And I truly love you. Not just because you've changed, but for so many things and nothing you've done in your past will ever change that. I promise you. And for one night… if it will help you at all, I will spend all night telling you everything about you that I love. I mean it. I will."

Killian looked down at her while he smiled as well, then he leaned in close in order to kiss her before he pulled back again and answered lovingly, "I became the luckiest man in the world the moment I met you that day, Swan. Thank you for saving me from that man I was for so long. Thank you for seeing past my evils and loving me despite being that man."

"This naïve woman may see past your evils, Leftenant Jones… But we don't and we never will," the Angel of Death retorted cruelly, as she and Lieutenant Hawkins suddenly stepped out into the open after having heard a little of their conversation to make themselves known. "Does she truly know who you really are?"

"Angelica… Leftenant Hawkins…" Killian uttered in worry upon seeing his enemies from so long ago appear before him, while he instinctively attempted to pull his wife protectively behind him even though Emma fought against his efforts to protect her, as she stayed right by her husband's side in order to be able to protect him as well.

The Savior kept her eyes resolutely on the strangers before them as she called out, "I know exactly who Killian is. Both the man I fell in love with and married, and the man he used to be long ago. The villain who I'm guessing haunts your dreams after all he did to you. What he did to you both. Believe me, I know how that feels and I'm so sorry for what happened. But my husband isn't that villain anymore. He is a good man and a hero to everyone in this town. So if you try to hurt him, you won't just have to deal with me, lady… You'll have to deal with this entire town and there are a lot of people here with powerful magic. I promise you… we can make you regret thinking you can come here seeking revenge against the man I love."

Lieutenant Hawkins chortled cruelly and then he replied, "You and the people in this strange world aren't the only ones with powerful magic on your side. We have possession of some of our own. And we've stayed alive this long because of it despite all our enemies have ever done to try to kill us while we've been looking for Leftenant Jones… who later became Captain Jones, then finally Captain Hook after a run in with the Dark One who cut off his hand and murdered the last woman he loved."

"Yes, Jones…" Angel continued for her own husband cruelly, as she turned her attention back to the man who murdered her father. "We've been looking for you for a very long time, all while we have learned everything thing we could about the monster you've become in your own right. So that we would be prepared to kill you when the time came. You destroyed our Kingdom. You murdered my father! I don't care about what kind of man you think you've become. You're still the slave you were when you first knew my Jim."

"You only became a Leftenant in the Royal Navy because of your brother's merits and because you were under his protection," Hawkins said again just as cruelly in order to hurt Killian as much as he and the Angel possibly could, before they made any kind of move against him to strike him down. "But eventually he too was killed because of you. Wasn't he?"

Killian's eyes darkened and he clenched his jaw while the villains still before him and his wife spoke, then at last he shamefully responded, "Aye. You're right. I've never denied Liam died because of me. I've never denied the villain I myself became. But I wasn't the only one who got Liam killed, or forced either of you to become no better than I. I did kill King Driscoll. And Captain Silver died because I convinced his crew to join with Liam and me under the false belief we could all sail into that tempest and come out again unscathed. I didn't know of the deal Liam made with a God for their souls or for the Eye of the Storm."

Jim suddenly looked at the pirate again in confusion upon him mentioning Liam's deal with the God who made it possible for them to become the villains they too became for the revenge they were so close to gaining after so many years, then questioned, "What deal? You know Hades?"

"We knew him," Emma answered when she finally spoke again upon seeing from the surprise on the Lieutenant's face that he and Angelica had no idea Hades was now dead. "Until he was killed just like any other villain we've been forced to kill to protect those we love. He's dead. From the look on your faces, you clearly knew Hades too. And I'm guessing he never told you it was really because of him Silver was killed. Killian and Liam could have sailed them out of that storm that night. They could have saved them. But Hades appeared to Liam and made a deal too good for Liam to resist."

"Emma…" Killian pleaded sternly when he interrupted her before she could continue to talk about his brother's greatest sin in life, in an effort to keep the blame pointed upon himself.

The woman who loved him looked over at him in remorse, then she turned back to the strangers and enemies and continued, "It wasn't a guarantee they would have all lived through that storm. Liam was afraid for his brother. So when Hades offered him a deal that did guarantee Killian's survival as well as his own, he took it. Even at the cost of everyone else's lives. And the Eye secured their freedom from slavery. It was wrong and Liam knew that. He regretted it, even after he died and remained trapped down in the Underworld for centuries because of that decision. But Hades was the one who really killed them. Including this Captain Silver you're so fond of, Lieutenant. Your heroes were no less the monsters than you two have become. Killian isn't solely responsible for any of it! And I'll be damned before I allow either of you to hurt him anymore than he's already been hurt because of you, or these so called heroes of yours. We're done talking. If you really want this fight, then bring it."

Angelica smiled darkly while she pulled her sword she wore at her side so she could fight, eager to begin the duel she's been longing for ever since the night she found her father's cold dead body upon coming home from her honeymoon, then she haughtily replied, "I couldn't agree with you more. Come on, pirate… pull your blade. Kill us if you can. Just like you murdered my father and the Captain of his Guard."

"Not now, Angelica," Jim suddenly said however, before Killian could pull his sword, or before Emma could summon her own sword Killian had recently given to her into her hands as well, then the Lieutenant and former cabin boy swiftly grabbed his wife's arm.

"What are you doing?!" she cried out angrily. "We finally have our chance to…"

Hawkins curtly interrupted her as he glared into her eyes after they turned their backs to Emma and Killian saying, "Not now! We have to talk."

The Angel of Death glared back at Killian once more, before she just nodded at her husband reluctantly, then she retorted, "Fine. Let's talk."

"What was that about?" Emma asked once she and Killian watched the two villains run off deeper into the woods without a fight that the Angel was so clearly yearning for far more than Hawkins was. "Do you think we got through to him?"

"I think he was taken aback by the information Hades failed to disclose to them however long ago they met," Killian responded worryingly, then turned to the woman he loved and pulled her into his arms to hold her seeking comfort, as the Savior worryingly could feel his body trembling against her. "But they will be back. And better prepared for a fight. I've no doubt of that."