A/N: Hi Everyone! I hope you're all doing well. It's here! The CaptainSwan chapter! It's quite honestly my favorite and I hope you like it. Please excuse any grammar errors. I want to quickly thank everyone who responded to my last chapter. Reviews, comments, and critique are always appreciated and welcomed. Don't forget to favorite and/or follow this story to be notified when this story updates! Now, the moment we've all been waiting for! Chapter Ten!
Disclaimer: If I owned anything from OUAT, Killian would bring me roses every evening. ;-)
Chapter 10
The tempo of the orchestra's music speeds up as Emma's heart begins to pump out of her chest. In a matter of minutes, her world comes crashing down. With Hook awake, there is no telling what the darkness does to him. Racing back into the ballroom of twirling skirts and smiling faces, Emma secretly knows that everyone is in grave danger.
As she approaches the banquet table piled with stacks of scrumptious desserts, Emma spies Lily in the corner, enjoying some lighthearted banter with Sir Percival and another gentleman. Trying to calm herself, she takes a deep breath and flashes her biggest smile.
"Lily, can I talk to you? In private?"
"Emma, did you know that Sir Percival is afraid of dragons?" she laughs.
"I am not!" the knight rebuffs.
"Really? Well Bartholomew, here, disagrees."
When she receives a genuine smile from her new friend, Lily's laughter grows. Emma, however, no longer smiles.
"It's urgent, Lily."
The sound of laughter ends when Lily detects the desperation in Emma's eyes. Her bright smile sinks into a frown. Excusing herself, Lily promptly follows her oldest friend into a nearby corridor.
"Just so you know, you just crashed the best date I've had in three years."
Emma's emerald pupils roll into the back of her head when she reaches the corridor as the fear in her heart swells. "Lily, Hook is missing."
Suddenly, the anger in Maleficent's daughter transforms into shock. "What? When?"
"I don't know," Emma says, shaking her head. "The servant said they've searched every corner of the castle, but can't find him."
"Then where the heck could he be?"
If Hook is nowhere to be found on the palace grounds, Emma realizes that there is only one place he could be.
"The tree," she whispers to herself, before turning to Lily. "He's going to the tree."
"Well you have the dagger. Just call him back."
"No, we can't."
"Why not?"
"Because if we do, we'll expose everything," Emma explains. "If they find out who he is or what we've done, Hook could kill everyone and we'll never get a chance defeat the darkness. I have to go find him."
"Everything alright, ladies?"
Sir Kay ambles down the hallway towards them and interrupts Emma and Lily's conversation. Desperate to conceal their alarm, Emma nods. "Yes, we're—well—"
"Neal is missing," Lily interjects, earning Emma's scowl.
"How can that be?" Kay questions.
"We don't know," she answers, lying so well that she deserves an Oscar. "The servants can't find him anywhere and said they've searched the entire palace. We need help."
"Of course, I'll go alert the King," Kay responds.
"No, wait!" Lily says, grabbing his shoulder. "That won't be necessary. I mean, he couldn't have wondered off far."
"What do you mean?" the knight asks.
"We crash landed in Camelot, yesterday. He's been so sick, he's probably delirious, unsure of his surroundings. Besides, sending out the cavalry would just scare him and make him harder to find."
"We just need some horses, and we'll go find him ourselves," Emma says. "We don't want to distract you from the Queen's celebration."
Though it seems the knight does not agree with their strategy, he hesitantly agrees. "Nonsense, I'm coming with you. Let me go and get Percival."
"We'll meet you at the stables," Lily calls out, watching Kay head back into the ballroom. When his shadow disappears from the corner, she quickly pushes the Savior against the wall. "Go Emma."
"What?"
"I'll stay behind and distract Kay. Go and stop Hook."
"But we don't even know where the tree is. I have no idea where to look."
"Yes you do," Lily reassures her. "Trust your gut. You have the dagger?"
With her anxiety building, Emma nods, "It's in my pocket."
"Good, now run."
Within seconds, Emma understands that the fate of the realms rests on her shoulders. She must stop Hook, no matter what it takes. If he overpowers her and kills Merlin, darkness will destroy all of the realms. Everyone she loves will be destroyed by its power. Hearing the music from inside the ballroom draw to an end, Emma leaves her friend and races down the corridor towards the stables. Her head spins as it plays every scenario through her mind. More than ever, she hopes that she isn't too late.
As the sparkling lights of the celebration fade and fireworks of brilliant hues explode in the sky, Emma speeds through the forest. Guessing that the tree must be near the Apprentice's house, she charges the horse in that direction. It is her first time riding on a steed, and her inexperience shows.
Her thighs burn like fire and the saddle throws her torso in all directions. The frosty air slices across her features. Tiny, fragmented curls whip across her face as the horse leaps over fallen trees and plunges forward into the night. Where she travels, Emma does not know. She just has to find him. She can't let him hurt anyone else.
When she reaches a crossroads, Emma pulls the reigns of her horse to a stop. The escalating pressure scorches her insides. Trembling, she stops to determine which direction to take. The wrong choice results in the loss of her pirate and everyone she loves. She wishes that one of Gold's locator spells would save the day.
Silently, she her heart threatens to come apart at the seams. But she refuses to let the darkness tear her to pieces. With guards patrolling the forest, she knows that one use of the dagger spells disaster for Killian and even herself. Emma is the only one who can find him. But with no one to help her, her faith in her abilities fades.
"Oh Killian, where are you?"
Suddenly, a faint noise pierces the night. The darkness hides as a tiny blue light, resembling a cloudlike creature, sails through the air. It stops and calls out to her, whispering in a language that Emma cannot understand. Though it is strange, the light intrigues the Savior, prompting her to reach out and touch it.
But when her finger slips through its brilliant light, the creature flies over to one side of the crossroad. When its voice grows sharper and it heads into the night, Emma decides to follow it. With nothing else to go on, she prays that the creature leads her on a path to her captain.
The blue light zooms quickly through the overgrown brush and mighty oaks, but Emma refuses to lose sight of it. Its beacon of light is her only hope of finding Hook before he frees and kills the Sorcerer. Just as the creature vanishes into thin air, Emma breaks through the brush to find herself at the edge of a large field of middlemist flowers.
The darkness covers the area in a smothering shadow, but it cannot conceal the brilliant shine of the golden leaves of the tree in the center of the field. The knots in her stomach loosen as she stumbles upon Merlin's location. Dismounting her horse, she discerns one figure standing near the trunk, and the guards surrounding the tree laying on the ground.
Fearing what the Dark One's wrath did to them, she races towards the knights. Bending down and feeling for the nearest guard's pulse, Emma jumps at the sound of his voice.
"They're not dead, love; just unconscious."
Given her interactions with Gold, she knows the Dark One's words hide a deeper meaning.
"And how many of them have their heart inside their body?" she sarcastically questions, standing up and marching toward him.
"All but one," Hook hisses, revealing a glowing red heart beating in his hand. "I picked him specifically, because just before I cursed them, he was going on and on about his family."
His narrow eyes and smirk on his features rattle Emma's cage. The man before her is not the Killian who stood by her side to offer hope and encouragement. It doesn't take the Savior long to recognize the fact that she stares straight at the entity of darkness itself.
"Did you know he has a wife? He's even got a son that I think is about the age of your boy."
"You don't want to do this, Killian," she responds, earning the pirate's rage.
"No! Stop calling me that wretched name! It belonged to a coward, a failure."
Clinging to her resolve, Emma declares, "That name belongs to a hero."
She sees the Dark One clinching the heart in the palm of his hand tighter, shaking his head. "That man never did anything right in his life. He died the moment he failed to stop Rumplestiltskin. Your captain, your Killian, no longer exists. "
The pain from the pirate squeezing the heart pulses through the Savior's frame. Her features fight to keep their composure, unwilling to let the pirate relish in her pain. She can't be weak, not now.
But the hate from his eyes coils around her throat. Anger seethes from his lips as his words crush the Savior's spirit. Shaking her head, she refuses to believe that Killian is dead.
"He's not gone," she replies. "He is still in there. Look inside of yourself. Deep down, you know that this—this is not who you are."
The Dark One ignores Emma. "Give me my dagger! Or I will crush this heart!"
"No, please!"
"It's your choice–Witch. Do you want to be the one to tell his family why he'll never wake up?"
Desperate to stop him, Emma reveals the dagger. Tears threaten to crack the mirrors in her eyes. "Please don't make me use this."
"Ha! You don't even trust me! You say that you care about me. But when the seawinds change, you dangle that weapon in my face!"
Emma's heart plummets to the pit of her stomach. His words drip with hate, squirming their way into her head. It is the first time she realizes how far the Dark One falls. The beast roars in her ears, and the man behind him hides in the shadows, nowhere to be found.
"You have to stop hurting people," she says. "This is just what the darkness wants! What good is it to wreak havoc but destroy your soul in the process? It doesn't care about you."
"No one cares about me, Witch!" he screams, causing the hairs on Emma's back to jump.
"I do."
The pirate's head jerks up from the ground. The words are so clear, he wonders if she actually means them. But his anger from her past actions boils up inside his chest. Rage nurses his wounds and fuels his desire for revenge. The darkness only allows lies to flood the pirate's senses.
"No," he answers. "You don't, because you chained me up at the top of that beanstalk and left me to die!"
"I never left you to die."
"Yes you did!" Hook shouts. "And now you're doing it again! Trying to chain me to Killian Jones with a ridiculous story about a first date that never happened. You're just like everyone else! You try to stop me from getting the power I deserve, but it won't work!"
The Dark One's words spark the Savior's memory, recalling a fact given to her by Belle. "His lust for power is his deepest cry, the cry of a desperate man, begging to be loved and accepted." Though Emma wants to believe the quiet bookworm, Hook rips the floor out from under her.
Every moment, he inches closer toward his goal and further away from redemption. If she stops him, it comes with a heavy price. Whether the knights of Camelot catch her or not, Emma knows one more use of the dagger destroys any chance of reaching Killian. He knows she doesn't trust him, and commanding him only nourishes his hate and hostility towards her.
"Go ahead. Use it."
He taunts her. The sorrow flooding her eyes rewards his black heart like coins for his treasure chest. The pleasure embroidering his features unnerves her.
"I can't," she finally replies, glaring at the Dark One. "I won't."
"Oh you are such an open book, darling. You may not want to, but you will."
"I wouldn't count on it."
The pirate slowly skirts around the Savior. Whispering into her ear, he chuckles, "Oh, I know you will. You can't help yourself. You're a savior. Saviors like you always do what's best for everyone. You're suppose to save lives. Everyone counts on you. We both know the longer I'm alive, the more people I will hurt."
"No," she says, her skin crawling. "I'll stop you."
"With the dagger? You won't have it forever, love."
"With my magic," Emma retorts. Her response only earns the Dark One's malicious laughter.
"You think you can stop me? Ha! You and I both know that your pitiful magic has limits. Sooner than later, it will run out. And when I get back that weapon, I'll make you stand by and watch as I crush the heart of every single person you love."
Darkness rears its ugly head and basks in the Savior's agony. It leaves her wondering if it truly snuffs out all of the light in Hook's heart. The smirk on his face beckons her to give in and use the dagger. Just one command and Emma will smash her future to pieces.
The darkness encircles the Savior, trapping her. She drowns within its grasp, just like her pirate. The flicker of hope in Emma's heart dwindles as she studies the name, Killian Jones, on the dagger. If there is any possibility of that man still being inside of him, the time is now. She must rescue the man behind the beast, but she knows that she can't do it holding his weapon. Staring at the pirate, she turns and throws the dagger far out of their reach.
"No, I won't use it."
"Such a foolish witch" he sneers. Holding the heart in his hand, Hook squeezes it as hard as possible without turning it to dust. Emma crashes to the ground, gritting her teeth as the pain radiates through her body.
The pirate prances towards the glowing tree, but Emma still hears him. "I was wondering when it would overcome you!" he bellows. "Enjoy your front row seat, as I run the Sorcerer through with my hook."
Crippled on the ground, Emma feels too weak to use her magic and hinder the Dark One. She helplessly spies through her blurred eyes him marching toward the tree. The darkness stings like a thousand knives sinking into her chest. It establishes its victory as Emma's greatest failure.
With the darkness about to annihilate the last trace of Killian Jones, Emma stumbles on her regrets, her list mounting. Suddenly, she realizes that since landing in Camelot, there is one thing she never directly said to him. Gazing at the pirate, Emma gathers an ounce of courage and her last glimmer of hope, before finally letting the words escape her lips.
"I love you."
Her words catch the Dark One's attention. "I love you, and I know that Killian is somewhere inside of you, and he loves me too. I—I never told him that, and that was my mistake."
The pirate's boots dig into the dirt as he stops. The huge crackle on his features boils over into anger. "How dare you say that!" he clamors, turning around and squeezing the heart to punish her. "The only woman I ever loved died at the hands of the Crocodile, because I was too weak to stop him."
"No," Emma pants, shaking her head and fighting the pain. "You loved again. You love me."
Just as the pirate readies to scream at the woman and crush the heart in his hands, a voice in his head stops him. It is one not heard in by his ears in hundreds of years. The voice of his precious Milah haunts him, taking him back to that fateful night before her death.
"If something ever happens and I die, promise me that you will love again. I can't bear the thought of you living your life alone."
"Alright love—I promise."
"No—I couldn't," he murmurs to himself. "And no one could ever love me."
"But I do."
Emma shakes him from his thoughts, causing him to stare at the woman finding the strength to get up.
"How?"
For the next few moments, the crickets' song is the only sound heard in the night. The pirate's question is one that Emma fights to answer. Her heart shatters as she starts to see the layers of hate melt away and reveal the Dark One's vulnerability. The darkness tries to desperately annihilate her Captain, but all is not lost. His reaction and pressing question prove that Killian is in there somewhere, hoping to get back to her.
Despite the pain that sears her flesh, the Savior focuses on helping the Dark One remember the loving and selfless hero he forgets. Unsure of how to convey the truth and her feelings in a way that he understands, Emma starts at the beginning.
"Your name is Killian Jones. Almost two years ago, I found you under a piece of wood, pretending to hide from an attack by Cora. You helped me find the compass and get back to my son, but I chained you up—"
"To be killed by the giant," Hook interjects, looking up from the heart he holds. "I already know that."
"No! I did it to give me a head start so I could get back to my son," she explains. "I thought you were going to betray me, but I was wrong. You managed to make your way to Storybrooke and eventually, you proved yourself to be a hero when you guided me and my family to Neverland to help save Henry. That's where you and I had our first kiss. Then we were separated by Pan's curse. One year later, you came and found me, and brought me back to Storybrooke and my family. Time and time again, you were by my side, helping me save everyone, all while we fell in love. But three nights ago, you saved me when you chose to absorb the darkness. You're not a failure or a coward. You are not weak, You are strong."
"That can't be true!" he screams, the darkness within him fighting to overpower her striking blow. "You're lying!"
"The darkness within you is lying!" she responds, a tear breaking through and streaming down her face. "You're stronger than the darkness, Killian. I know you are. So prove it to me."
It is a gut instinct, but Emma knows it must be done. Sauntering back towards her horse that grazes in the field, she withdraws her sword from her saddle. When she returns, her emerald orbs shoot towards the Dark One before she rotates the sword toward her chest and extends it in his direction.
"The choice is yours," she tells him. "Let the man live, and kill me instead. When I'm dead, no one will stop you and the dagger will be yours. But Killian, if you're in there, please don't do this. Come back to me! I love you."
Emma knows she acts absolutely insane. But it is her best chance, her last chance to reach Killian. Somehow, she must get through to him. Though Killian let the darkness take everything from him, will he let it take her too?
The beating heart tumbles to the ground as the Dark One's hand twists around the handle of her blade. It feels sharp, and with his experience, he knows that such a fine weapon will slice the woman from nose to navel in seconds. Her death would be swift, just like the others. But her words shake him to the core, leaving him confused.
Emma's heart beats out of her chest. Every second the gleam in the Dark One's pair of cobalts turns darker. There is no sign of her hero inside anywhere.
"Don't listen to her, Captain," the demon commands, appearing behind him. "She's just trying to distract you. Run her through."
"Would you just shut up!" he yells, before finding a pain swells in chest. "Aaah!"
"The pain is temporary. It will end when that sword protrudes through her back."
The voices in his head scream, and Hook struggles to tune them out. He fights the urge to slice the sword through her throat. Is everything she told him actually true? Does someone else besides his brother and Milah love him as Killian Jones? More than that, did he truly let go of Milah and love again?
"We're waiting Captain!" the demon bellows.
Hook's hand shakes as tremors pulse through his veins. The pain skyrockets to a level unlike anything imaginable. The tip of his weapon strokes Emma's skin, and every fiber in his body pressures him to plunge it into her sternum.
"Just do it!"
The Savior trembles in fear, but refuses to intervene. This must be the Dark One's choice. The seconds tick by, but the pirate doesn't move.
"Do this and you can have everything! Your happy ending!"
When drops of blood trickle down Emma's chest, she grits her teeth and shuts her eyes. The blade slashes the surface of her skin, but goes no further. The demon looks on furious as the pain coils around Hook's torso.
"You really are a coward who is throwing it all away!"
Tears splash down the Emma's face, as she prepares herself for what comes next. Tasting their salt and rust on her lips, she silently prays that her faithful swashbuckler will come. He is the only one who can save her now.
Meanwhile, the taunting and the torture in Hook's mind escalates. The voices beg him to obey, pointing out everything he will lose.
"You'll never see Milah again!"
Emma's solid poise shatters. She knows it is the end. She fails everyone. Her faith shrivels, with only the Dark One's hesitation quelling her despair.
The Dark One must choose. On one hand, he could kill the Savior and eventually use his dark powers to bring back Milah, giving him everything his heart desires. Or he can save her, someone he barely remembers, but who also seems so familiar. One he will save and the other he will lose forever. Who will he let go of? Who can he not live without? The torturing voices yell in his ear to the point that Hook cannot take it anymore.
"Kill her!" the demon shrieks.
"No!" Killian screams.
Seconds later, Emma finds that the sensation of cold steel on her chest vanishes. Her eyes flutter open, finding the sword at her feet and the Dark One collapsed on the ground. She turns and spies the soldier's heart nestled in middlemist flowers. Trying to collect her bearings, she quickly returns the beating object to its rightful owner. When the heart disappears, Emma scrambles over to her captain, hearing him moan.
"Killian."
"I—I couldn't do it," he pants, the pain stealing his breaths. "I couldn't kill you."
"I know," she mumbles, unable to curb the waterfalls slipping down her countenance. "I know."
The pang in Emma's body and the knots in her stomach weaken as she swallows large gulps of air. The Dark One made his choice, and for the second time, Killian saves her life. She cradles his countenance in her lap, wishing his lingering pain would go away.
"Why—why couldn't I do it?"
At last, a sad smile dresses Emma features as her eyes sparkle from tears. The answer that escaped them both finally crosses her mind. Caressing his cheek, Emma knows the answer.
"Because you love me too."
A burst of glowing colors sweeps through the forest and across Camelot as the Savior leans down and kisses the pirate. Her lips conform to his, finding their home. As they dance against together, Emma pours in all of her fears and emotions from the past couple of days. To her relief and joy, Killian kisses back. When they break apart, Emma stares into the soul of her lover, finally hearing the voice she sorely missed.
"Swan."
A/N: Hooray! CaptainSwan is reunited! And Emma finally told him she loved him. But they aren't out of the woods yet. Just to clarify, Killian is still the Dark One. The kiss only broke the memory curse. I really loved writing this chapter and hope you enjoyed reading it. As always, reviews and comments are appreciated and welcomed. The next chapter should be up sometime next week, possibly Sunday, but I'll have to see. Thank you for all of your support! Until next time!
-C.M. Singer:)