Ghosts of a Chance

Chapter Ten

Once again inside Killian's mind…

When Killian finally awoke again as he weakly struggled to come to, it wasn't long afterwards that he found his wrists and ankles were bound, his arms were tightly stretched out high above his head by the ropes from the riggings, and his body was bound tightly against the main mast aboard his ship while he remained standing upright. His head was pounding and his face hurt where Pan had struck him over his left cheekbone with his own flask however long ago it was that he had done so. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to regain his composure before the demon child appeared in front of him once again, along with the others who were also forced into the River of Lost Souls like he nearly had been as well.

"Welcome back, Killian," Pan said to him callously, then raised the pirate's flask up in front of his face like before. "Would you care for another drink? I haven't forgotten how much you like your rum. And I know you're still nothing more than a one handed pirate with a drinking problem. Aren't you? I doubt even Emma was able to cure you of that."

"He certainly loved the drink when we were together," Milah's ghost responded with a cruel grin on her face as she walked around from behind their captive so she was facing him.

Despite the pain in his head making it difficult for him to really focus on them as well as he would have liked, Killian raised his head to try while he spoke quietly saying, "You may have me… at a disadvantage. You're holding me captive aboard a false memory of my own… my own ship, within my mind, and I'm clearly tied up for the time be… being, surrounded by four ghosts forced into doing the Evil Queen's bidding on account of you no longer having minds of your own thanks to a dead God and a green river. What is she after? How does she plan to hurt Emma?"

James scoffed as he began to pace slowly in front of him and then he replied, "You really do love this self proclaimed Savior. Don't you? It's sad. That the once dreaded pirate, Captain Hook could fall so low. But do you really care so little for yourself… that you would sacrifice everything just to protect her?"

"I've spent the last few years of my life doing just that," Killian answered him while he lowered his head to his chest as his headache slowly worsened. "And I will continue to do so until… until I breathe my last breath once again. You know nothing… of love. So you couldn't possibly understand."

"This prince might not know anything of love… but I do," Milah whispered into Killian's ear as she came around from behind him once more, then reached up to caress the left side of his face until he pulled away from her and raised his head to look sadly into her eyes. "I did love you once, Killian. I was foolish… to give up my son for the likes of you. But you seduced me with your charm, your stories about your grand adventures across the high seas and in the many realms you've travelled…"

She leaned in again so she could kiss him, until he once again pulled away from her and responded, "You may be wearing her face, but you're not her anymore. I am so sorry that I couldn't save you too, Milah. That Emma couldn't…"

Milah then took a few steps back as her eyes grew dark and cold when she angrily retorted, "Don't you speak that other woman's name to me. She's ruined you! And it's because of her that I'm here now. A lost soul. Not just Hades… nor Rumple either. I should have refused to try to save you when she and my husband came to me for help for your Savior. But in my own moment of weakness I saw her love for you and I remembered my own. I couldn't say no. You'll pay for giving up your vengeance against your crocodile. All for the pretty face you replaced me with. You'll suffer."

"It's about time," Gaston smugly replied and then laughed.

Milah reached out to lay her hand over his chest again, and Killian's fear suddenly intensified when the woman he once loved began to transform back into her true form of the true ghost she had now become, as did the other souls still before him as well. Ghosts like the ones he remembered fighting while down in the Underworld with King Arthur when they worked together to restore the pages to the storybook for Emma so she could defeat Hades. And before he could even begin to attempt to pull away from her despite being unable to move on account of being bound against his mast, Killian began to scream out in pain when her finger nails grew long, then she suddenly embedded them deep within his chest until she slashed his skin over and over down into his stomach as well, causing his blood to seep out from his body.

Killian was trapped within his mind and therefore nothing around him was real aside from the four tormented souls that he somehow knew were also trapped along with him, yet he was and so was his pain until finally Milah's attack on him ended when she finally flew back with a howling screech. His anguished cries stopped as well, but Killian continued to gasp painfully as he struggled to hold onto consciousness, while the lost souls continued to float above him.

He struggled to think of anything in order to try to pull his mind away from his pain, as the Captain's thoughts brought him back to his and Arthur's battle against those they fought in their quest for Killian's own holy grail and finally he saw himself sitting in a boat with the King while they rowed across the River of Lost Souls.

"We're almost there," he heard himself saying to Arthur softly. "The book should be just up ahead."

While the souls within the waters beneath them wailed in despair as they floated all around them, Arthur looked towards the pirate sitting in front of him with his back to him and questioned, "What are these things?"

Killian also looked down at them as well, then he answered, "They're lost souls."

"Careful!" he swiftly stated again upon looking back just in time to stop the King from reaching down into the green waters. "Touch the water, you become one of them."

"There's the book," he continued again upon seeing what they had come for in a stone gargoyle's hands once they finally reached the doorway to the cave where Killian himself nearly had become one of them while the wailing grew louder. "That two tone witch was telling the truth. I'll go."

Killian turned around to face Arthur as he handed him the ropes tied to the boat and then added, "You just make sure the boat's here when I return."

When he turned again and began to climb the stairs to the upper level of rock ledges in front of them, water sloshed from behind Arthur who stood with his back to the river, until all of a sudden, one of the mindless souls rose from within it and swiftly attacked by grabbing the King's leg, forcing him to the ground as it attempted to pull him into the river while Arthur cried out, "Release me, demon!"

"Arthur!" Killian called out to him worryingly upon seeing he was in trouble once he turned around at the sound of Arthur's cry, then started back towards him so he could try to help him.

"No!" Arthur shouted when he saw Killian's effort to help as he continued to struggle against the ghost fighting with him. "Go for the book! Go!"

Killian looked towards the book, as he considered listening to the King, until he knew he couldn't abandon him to become fated as one of the souls hissing and screeching loudly all around them. So, the Captain swiftly ran back down the stairs and grabbed hold of one of the burning torches lighting the vast open cavern, then immediately began to swing the torch at the being to force it away from the King until Killian rammed its fire through it causing the mindless soul to disperse with a howling scream.

After Killian reached down with his hook to help Arthur stand while he breathed heavily in trying to get his breathing back under control, the King looked at the pirate in relief and then in gratitude, he said, "Thank you."

Hook simply mumbled, "Uh-huh."

"Now get the book," Arthur responded sternly, then watched as Hook climbed back up to do so, until another of the ghosts screeched out upon flying out again to grab the book from the gargoyle's hands before the creature attempted to return within the Green River. "Hook! The torch!"

"Aah!" the King screamed angrily after Killian immediately threw the torch down to him as Arthur grasped it and swung it through the ghost causing it to screech out in pain until it erupted like the first did as well.

Unfortunately, as it did so, the storybook fell from its hands and was about to wind up within the River of Lost Souls as well, until Killian immediately ran down from the top of the stairs again and charged forward to catch the book in his only hand, succeeding in doing so just in time to save it.

While he struggled to get up from the ground, Arthur looked down at him as he spoke crossly saying, "You didn't tell me those things could attack us."

Hook grunted when he sat up and finally rose back to his feet again, then he replied, "I didn't know they could. Perhaps things are changing down here now that Hades is gone."

"You sure this book can still work?" the King asked again while they both looked down at the book again in Hook's hand.

"I'm not certain of anything down here, but this book is special," Killian answered him and placed it into Arthur's hands so he could hold it for him while he worked to replace the missing pages his brother had ripped out of it days ago. "These pages have crossed realms when people needed hope the most."

As he did so, Arthur questioned, "Out of professional curiosity, how does one kill the God of Death?"

Killian kept his eyes on the pages once he found where the ripped out ones came from as he responded, "With something called an Olympian crystal. Once activated, the raw power inside can obliterate anything, even a God."

"You really think Emma can find this crystal and use it?" the King continued to ask while he watched Hook lay the pages inside and then carefully close the book believing they would appear within Henry's storybook in the world above. "You have a healthy dose of faith."

"It's more like hope," Killian whispered once he finished. "All right, Swan. Now it's your turn."

When his first memory ended, another swiftly took its place as Killian remembered back to walking out weakly from the tunnel with Emma's help while she held him firmly within his arms upon rescuing him from his prison, then heard Gold shout Hades' name in anger after he forced Milah back into the Green River. Only back then, Killian nor Emma knew it was Gold who had on account of the Dark One lying to them to hide the truth.

Before turning around to face Emma and Hook while faking he had been hurt in an attack against the God as they appeared behind him, Gold screamed, "Hades! I tried to stop him. He blew my magic right back at me. Milah… I couldn't stop it. She's gone."

The Savior sadly whispered, "Milah."

"Milah was here?" Killian asked in disbelief and fear while he stared at the woman he loved now in disbelief. "Milah?"

"She helped us get to you," Emma replied in remorse as she reached out to take Killian into her arms again to offer him comfort upon seeing him look down in despair.

The pirate captain stared ahead of him while he answered sadly, "Hades has much to answer for."

Gold looked ahead as well as he uttered darkly, "Indeed he does."

"Try to think of happy thoughts all you want, Killian," Pan's dark soul said to their captive cruelly, his voice echoing within his ghost like form as the demon floated beside him. "If you can. It won't help you for long."

"Nothing can help you," James smugly added. "Not even Emma. We've only just begun."