Recap

KJ (8:46 PM): No time, going in. you'll not be far behind if you drive. Phone on silent just in case

Swan (8:46 PM): Killian? What are you going after?

Swan (8:46 PM): Killian?

"BAELFIRE?!" his voice echoed through the woods and though his throat was beginning to tire he'd heard no answering call. He heard nothing at all actually. No owls hooting, no animals... even the insects chirping had gone strangely quiet. The moon was full and the stars bright; a stroke of luck as he had no other way to light his path then the silvery starlight filtering through the trees.

"BAE, Give me a clue, mate? Anything? Snap a bloody twig or something!?"

The darkness gave him more than that, but it wasn't Neal that became suddenly visible through the trees.

"Shut up!" a voice cried.

"Crocodile?" Killian called back, his hand immediately reached for his cutlass, instantly glad he had found it in his room at Granny's. It could use a good oiling, but otherwise was no worse for lack of use. His hook however, still eluded him, perhaps because he'd not yet had the opportunity to seek out the Jolly. The blade slid neatly from the sheath and the metal sang in the quiet woods.

"Can't you be quiet and let a man think?"

"Where's Neal?"

"He's here and I'm here... and she ... she's here. We're all here!" The dark one giggled and Killian raised his blade.

"What are you playing at, Dark One? Where is your son? Where is Baelfire? Is he alive? Is he hurt?"

"Hurts. Alive, Alive, Alive... too... DON'T YOU KNOW IT'S RUDE TO INTERRUPT!" The dark one turned his back on Killian abruptly to cry into the darkness, "NOT YOU TOO! Too crowded already." The Dark One waved his hand as though to wave off a particularly persistent insect, "Fine... fine no need to yell." And with that he vanished in a plume of smoke.

Killian stepped forward and was about to call for Neal again when an inhuman shriek cut through the woods and a shape came hurtling towards him in the darkness. He pulled his cutlass up to block the incoming attack but even so a dart of pain slashed across his cheekbone as the attacker flew past.

"Oh, bloody hell," he cursed. "You've got a problem, you bloody beastie," he called, "my cutlass has something of a better range than your talons."

As if in answer another shriek echoed through the trees, then another and glowing eyes peered down at him from all directions. "Ah, you brought your mates... of course you brought your mates."

He heard a flap of a wing and spun, getting his blade up in time to slash a gash in a charging ...monkey? He'd only a moment to register his surprise before the creature screamed and grasped at his blade with its talons. With several beats of its wings it attempted to carry off the weapon. Killian wrenched it loose but not before another jolt of pain shot across his torso from an attacker taking advantage of the opening.

He glanced around him, looking for a more defensible position... there, an old tree large enough to prevent anything from coming at him from behind. He maneuvered towards it, still warily watching the eyes in the trees. His back was guarded now but he realized he'd exchanged one front for another when he glanced up and saw two more sets of eyes from the top of the tree. Two more forms flew at him from the surrounding trees, he raised his blade to block, tensing for the slash that he knew was about to sting his forearm from the other side... suddenly there was a loud bang and one of the dark forms fell.

"Hook?" A voice called.

"Emma, eyes up love, they're all over the bloody place."

"Apparently they weren't used to gunfire though, because the dark forms began to retreat; vanishing into the darkness with raucous cries as they went.

"You all right?" Killian asked as Emma approached, David not far behind.

"Me? You're the one that just got ambushed by a bunch of evil monkeys."

"There's no place like home?" he replied with a bright grin.

"Look at you, whipping out the pop culture references."

"Indeed, love, I'm quite the man of the world now. I must say... I always thought that flying monkeys were a bit of a stretch when it came to evil henchmen."

"A stretch?"

"Sure, I mean why monkeys? You know what would be really bloody terrifying? Flying leopards. Or Giants ... or Crocodiles."

"It's symbolic. Anthropomorphized human like figures that have no will of their own. Manipulated by a will stronger than theirs... also they creeped the hell out of me as a kid."

"Symbolic? You know sometimes-"

"Umm guys?" Charming broke in, "as fascinating as this is, is anyone going to bring up the fact that these guys are here... in Storybrooke ...trying to kill us?"

The moon came out from behind a cloud and in the silvery light Emma lifted her hand to Killian's cheekbone. He waved her concern away with a smile pulling his jacket in tighter around him. "Just a scratch, and don't change the subject, mate, you know I'm right."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's get out of here before they realize there's more of them then there are bullets in my weapon."

It wasn't until they got to the car that Emma realized that Killian's cheek abrasion was not the extent of the damage. In the light of the trucks headlights she finally noticed the trail of dark red footprints he was leaving behind him. She grabbed his wrist and turned him toward her in the light of the headlights. His coat fell open and she saw his tunic and the skin beneath had been shredded in 5 long gashes.

"Killian, you're hurt."

"Shallow wounds, I assure you. Looks worse than it is."

"Ah, hell no," Charming grumbled, "come on, I just cleaned the truck."

Emma raised her eyebrows and Charming sighed. "Fine, get in pirate. Bleed on my newly detailed truck," he continued muttering as he walked around to the driver's side... something about not being able to have nice things. Emma slipped into the passenger side first. (Nothing awkward about squeezing into a tight pickup truck between her newly discovered father and her bleeding almost-boyfriend, nothing at all.) Suddenly Killian leaned into her ear,

"I've got it."

"What?"

"Flying cephalopods. Now that would be a creature of legends. A kraken that could follow a sailor on his shore leave..." he shuddered and Emma bit back a laugh. "I'm telling you, lass, I've missed my calling."

"You should probably keep your thoughts on the subject to yourself in this town. Stories have a tendency to come to life around here."

"Indeed..." he paused for a moment. "Perhaps I should take another shot at the ... dalliance of the lovely Esma and her pirate captain then?"

"You know I'm right here, right?" Charming grumbled, "The fact that you are already bleeding on my upholstery is not going to protect you."

"No need to get terse mate, perhaps you misheard? I said Esma. She's a fiery young thing, gets rescued from a shipwreck by a ruthless pirate captain... I'd like to say it's not what you expect but... well..." Emma turns to smack Killian in the shoulder but before she got the chance Charming tapped the brakes, sending Killian forward, the seatbelt pressing briefly against his wound. Killian let out a hiss of pain and Charming smirked.

"Oops."

"Runs in the bloody family, doesn't it?" Killian groaned.

Emma glared at Charming. "Can you two act like adults for... just a few minutes?"

"Probably not," Charming muttered at the same time as Killian said "unlikely."

"Nice to know you agree on something," Emma muttered.

Somehow they managed to get back to town without Charming causing any further damage to Killian and as Emma filled in Snow, Killian slipped off to his room to get cleaned up. Making his way into the bathroom he turned on the shower. Shedding everything except the tunic was easy enough but he determined it was easier just to cut off the tattered tunic rather than try to lift it over his head.

The fresh water soothed and burned and the water turned red as it rinsed away dried blood. The swirling red made him think of the globe again. What did it mean? Was Baelfire alive... and why wasn't he where the spell thought he would be. He cleaned the cuts quickly (soap was certainly a much more pleasant alternative to rum and saltwater) and shut off the water. It was strange how at ease he felt here now. The past year... false memories of an entire lifetime in this modern world made him feel quite split in two. Had the monkeys cut deeper would they have been able to pull him apart, separate the vengeful pirate from the broken author? He shook his head at the absurd train of thought before quickly drying and getting dressed. The tunic was the hardest part and as he lifted it over his head a couple stray droplets of blood beaded at the edges of the cut. He ignored it, swinging open the door to return to the diner. He stopped abruptly as the door opened revealing Emma her hand raised as though to knock.

"Emma, I was just ... You alright lass?"

She nodded, not quite making eye contact with him. Instead her eyes were drawn to the v of his tunic where the newly cleaned cuts were still visible. He hastily raised a hand to button the shirt higher and the motion snapped her out of her reverie.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?"

"Just getting cleaned up. I've become quite accustomed to the shower, love."

She shook her head. "I mean going out there alone, you should have waited. Do you have a death wish?"

"In fact, I'm quite attached to my life," he muttered and she flushed red with anger.

"I was just trying to have a few minutes of peace with my kid whom I've not seen in a year and then I start getting bizarre texts from you about some madness in the woods and Regina shows up and tells me you've gone off on your own. You could have been hurt ... you could have been killed-" With a frustrated huff Emma dove forward hugging him close and burying her face in his neck. His arms slipped around her but then, just as suddenly she pulled away, still glaring venomously at him.

"If that is my punishment you may want to rethink your incentive structure," he teased.

"Why did you go alone?"

"Because there was no time!"

"What, really, you couldn't wait 5 minutes to get some backup? I want to find him too, did you think of that?"

"We used the globe to find Baelfire... it couldn't find him and then it did but only for a fraction of a second. Regina thought he might have been injured perhaps even dying! I couldn't wait."

Emma's jaw dropped momentarily but she quickly recovered. "He's really here?"

"I don't know, Emma."

"You risked your life for Neal?"

"To be fair I'd no idea there were going to be flying simians!" When Emma didn't smile his own smile faltered. "I've failed him once, Swan. I won't do so again."

Is anyone missing the Baby Neal storyline yet. *cough* me neither. Sorry, that was so awkward... I know they had to do it because Ginny was pregnant but... yeah, I kinda don't think the story was ready to go there yet, (and we're not even gunna talk about the name. At first I was like Awwww...and then I was like...eeeeeh... now I'm like eeew.)

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate the suggestions and Water-please I totally agree... I kinda miss their AU personalities too, but I think that's going to come up again. Their cursed selves are a part of them now and they're going to have to deal with trying to parse out who they are when they remember two different lives!