CHAPTER TEN – Welcome to the Underworld – Part I: The Pirate's Arrival

GRANNY'S, CAMELOT - THREE WEEKS AGO

KILLIAN'S POV

Killian watched as Emma prepared to unite Excalibur and the Dark One's dagger. She looked up at him, as if a bit apprehensive, and Killian used the chance to give her a reassuring nod. I love you, he said in his head, hoping she'd hear it in her own. He felt a strange sensation at his neck, but brushed it off quickly.

Emma used her magic to draw a ball of fire from the Promethean Flame and hold it in the air as she picked up the two blades and held them up to the flame. Killian was pulled from his thoughts from another sensation at his neck, this time a piercing pain.

"Bloody hell," Killian couldn't help but say as he reached up to his neck, feeling his own blood pour out onto his hand.

"Hook, what's wrong?" David asked, pulling his attention from Emma.

"He's bleeding!" Mary Margaret exclaimed, also looking over to him.

Killian felt his strength leaving him as he fell to the floor. He noticed Emma turn her head and stop what she was doing to try to catch him.

"Killian?" she asked worriedly. Her hand reached up to where he was holding his neck. Killian was finding it hard to breathe. "No…"

"When did that happen?" Regina asked, now standing over Emma.

"It was Excalibur," Emma answered. "I—It was just a small cut. I healed it."

"I'm afraid it only seemed that way," Merlin added. Killian could barely make out what he was saying. "Excalibur was forged to cut immortal ties. A wound from it cannot be healed."

"What?" came Mary Margaret's worried question. "There has to be something you can do—that SHE can do!"

"Even Emma's power isn't strong enough, nor is my own."

"Killian," she said, the pain in her voice hurting him. "You have to hold on. I can't lose you."

"It's alright," he managed to say. It hurt him that she would have to lose him, after losing so many of those close to her, after he had promised that he would survive for her. "Emma, it's alright."

"Please, no... Don't leave me. You have to stay. You have to stay, Killian. What about our future together?"

"Our future is now," he said, trying to reassure her. "Reunite the blades so I can see them before I go."

He noticed a sudden wave of realization wash over Emma's face. "No."

"No?" he heard Regina repeat as a question.

"I'm not going to let him die when there's a way to save him." What the bloody hell was she talking about?

"Emma," Regina said calmly. "Merlin already said it. There's nothing you can do."

"That's what he said, but it's not true, is it?" Emma said as she turned to face the great wizard. "You told me how powerful I am. Let's use that power. I-I can use the Promethean Flame to release you from Excalibur and then I can use it to tether Hook's life to it instead. It could save him."

"Emma, you know what that could do?" he asked her.

"Create another Dark One," Killian heard Regina answer for Emma.

"It would multiply the darkness so that it cannot be destroyed," Merlin said. The rest of his words began to get muffled as Killian realized he was slipping.

"I don't care what happens to me," Emma said, as she turned to stare at Killian.

Killian closed his eyes as he heard the cries of Emma's concerned parents next to them. Regina also said something, at least he thought it was Regina. He noticed Emma's expression turn from worry to anger as she turned her head toward Regina.

"If you could have saved Daniel… or Robin, look at how far you were willing to go, how far you pushed me to save him. I'm not going to lose Killian." She shook the lapels of his leather jacket violently. "I won't let anyone stop me."

Killian felt the hard floor of Granny's turn soft and grassy. The smell of nature filled his nose as he opened his eyes once again to see Emma sitting over him, her face full of worry.

"Emma," he managed groaned weakly.

"Killian," Emma said with a small smile. "You're going to be okay."

"No, please," Killian whispered. He couldn't let her give into the darkness for him. She had worked too hard to resist it. He knew he wouldn't be able to. He knew he might end up hurting her. "You have to let me go."

"Wh-what?" Emma asked in disbelief.

"I don't want to pay this price," he muttered. "I don't want to become that."

"You won't," Emma's reassuring voice came. "You can fight the darkness; I can help you. We can do it together.

"I'm not as strong as you are, or Merlin, I'm weak," he continued. "The things I-I've done… I've succumbed to darkness before in my life, and it took centuries to push it away. I don't know if I can do it again."

Killian squeezed her hand tightly. He knew it would be the last time he'd get the chance to.

"But our future—"

"Emma, please. You have your family, your friends. You don't need me, not like you need them," he said, cutting her off, not being able to help his eyes closing slowly. "Besides... who knows what I'll do—who I'll hurt—if I can't resist it."

"Killian, of course I need—"

"Please Emma," he interrupted again. He couldn't allow her to go through with this. "You need to let me go. Please just tell me you won't do this, that you'll destroy the darkness, even if I won't be here to see it. I-I don't want you to give into your darkness for me. I want you to go on. You've got enough people left to live for. Just promise me one thing… Promise me you'll be happy, that you won't put that armor of yours back on."

"I…" Emma began. He noticed her stop. She was considering it. "I promise."

Killian was reassured with her promise. I love you. Suddenly, he began to hate himself. He'd never told her those words. He was sure she had figured it out, but how could she be sure. He had to tell her now before it was too late, before he'd never get the chance to hold her again. He closed his eyes fully and opened his mouth to say the words. His breath caught in his throat. No. No. No. Not now. Emma, I love you. He kept repeating the words in his head, commanding himself to say it, but his body wouldn't obey. Instead, the little bit of light that he could see faded away, as complete darkness was left in its place.

THE UNDERWORLD - THREE WEEKS AGO

KILLIAN'S POV

Killian felt the soft earth of the Middlemist Meadow turn cold and hard as he opened his eyes, expecting to see Emma, but didn't.

What the bloody hell is happening? he thought to himself.

He reached up to his neck, which was still cut. He stared at his bloody hand for a moment. He surveyed his surroundings.

He was lying on his back, just as he was in Camelot moments ago, except now he was in a stone alcove of a circular room. He stood up, needing to lean against the wall for support, and saw a torch burning in the center of the room. It was then that he felt it; the heat. It was boiling down here. He didn't care to look around any longer.

"Is this a bloody trick?!" he found himself yelling.

He went to take a step out of the alcove just as a voice came from another alcove.

"Stop," the voice came. It belonged to a young girl with long brown hair. She was wrapped in a tattered cloth. "That's exactly what it is; a trick. You'll never make it out of here."

"Where the bloody hell is here?" Killian asked her, growing frustrated.

She gave him an odd luck. "Uh, this is the Underworld."

Killian stared at her for a moment. He had only ever heard of the Underworld through legends as the place where dead souls with unfinished business pass through.

"Why the hell am I here?" he asked impatiently.

"Well, clearly you've got some sort of unfinished business," she commented.

"That's not what I meant," Killian said, though he did not know what his unfinished business was. "I meant why are we in this dungeon?"

"These dungeons are usually held for special prisoners, prisoners that the boss thinks he can use."

"The boss?" Killian asked with confusion. "Who's your boss?"

"Oh no," she said quickly. "He's not my boss. He just likes to think he's in charge around here. His name—"

She was cut off by a loud roar that came from the hallway to her right. Killian tensed up.

"What the bloody hell was that?"

"That," the girl answered. "Is the boss' pet. He guards the prisoners down here. I've been looking for prisoners to join me in an effort to escape, but no one has shown up here in a long while. I wonder why you're so special…"

"I don't have time to wait for reinforcements," Killian said, ignoring her warnings and stepping out of his alcove. "I need to get out of here."

Killian approached the girl and held out his hand. "You honestly believe me can make it?" she asked, staring at him with piercing blue eyes full of disbelief.

"Well, love," Killian replied. "I've been hanging around with a hopeful bunch as of late. Now, shall we get out of here?"

The girl smiled as she stood up and took his hand, stepping out of her on cue, the beast let out another roar.

"We have to go NOW," she said to Killian.

They ran out through an archway in the room and into a long corridor that stretched out for what looked like forever in both directions. They made the split-second decision to turn left, only to hear another loud roar behind them, forcing them to pick up the pace, despite the both of them being badly injured. The roaring got even louder, and neither of them could run any longer, so they turned to it, and Killian almost took a step backward in fear. Almost.

Simply put, it was a dog. Except, it was a huge dog. With three heads. And burning red eyes. And sharpened incisors. Both Killian and the girl shared a look before starting to run again. He didn't notice her glance down at his hand, but when she did, she grabbed his arm to stop them. She detached his hook from his brace before he could do anything to stop her, and hurled it like a—what had Henry called it?—ninja-throwing star through the air. It hit the hellbeast's central head and knocked it over, giving Killian and the girl enough time to run away from it, but not before Killian exclaimed, "My hook!" like a petulant child.

Killian had finally lit the fire. He sat on a log next to the girl, who was staring at the cut on his neck.

"That looks pretty nasty," she said, wincing a bit. "I assume that's how you died?"

"Aye," Killian responded. "How did you die?"

She looked at him with squinting eyes, as if she was looking for a reason not to trust him.

"Well," she said, lifting up her bloodied top to reveal her hip—or, rather, where her hip should be. It had been bitten clean off. "Let's just say that that hellbeast wasn't always down here."

"That looks pretty… horrible," Killian said, wincing a little at the thought of that three-headed beast biting a chunk out of a young girl.

"Ah, it's not so bad," she said, obviously masking her pain. "Well, now that we've shared scars, perhaps we can share names." She held her hand out to him. "I'm Megara. My friends call me Meg."

Killian humbly took her hand in his own good one and lifted it to his mouth to kiss it. "Captain Killian Jones. My friends call me—"

"Jones?" she asked in disbelief.

"Aye…" Killian said slowly, not catching on to why she was in shock.

"As in Liam Jones' baby brother?"

Killian's breath caught in his throat. (If he wasn't so shocked at what she had just said, he would have questioned why it was that he still needed to breathe; he was, after all, dead.)

"Younger brother. And yes, I am. Did you know him back when he was still alive?"

"No," Meg said. "I know him because he's my commander down here."

Killian froze. "What? Liam's here?"

"Yeah," Meg went on. "He runs a small group of us called the Resistance. We oppose Hades' rule here."

"Hades?" Killian asked, catching on. "He's that beast's master?"

"Indeed," Meg answered. "We all work to oppose his rule here in the Underworld."

"How many of you are there?"

"Well, as you can probably guess, Hades tends to strike fear into a lot of us, so we've only got a small few. It was sixteen last time I counted, excluding me, the commander, and his wife."

Killian stared at her in disbelief before letting out a little chuckle. "My brother's married? Who's the unlucky lass?"

Meg shrugged, though Killian noticed she was obviously holding back a smile. "Some woman named Milah."

A/N – Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. This was a lot of fun to write. As you can see, I completely changed Megara's character from the way she was originally written. I hated how she was written as a damsel-in-distress type of character, especially because she was such a great character in the original Hercules movie. Anyway, we'll be seeing Liam and Milah in the next chapter, as well as finding out more about Killian's return to Storybrooke in the next few chapters, which I hope you're all looking forward to. Make sure to leave a review below! Chapter eleven should be up soon.