Killian's Inferno

Chapter Twenty-One

Back inside the Sheriff's station in Storybrooke…

Not more than a few hours after Leroy and a few more of the dwarfs brought Hook's first mate, Smee in and placed him inside the empty cell beside the one already occupied by the treacherous King from another land, Granny walked in with a few bags containing the prisoners' meals for the evening. She handed the bags off to August, who was taking his turn keeping an eye on Arthur while the sheriffs were both off on their dangerous rescue mission, along with the rest of the most powerful people of their town, then she patted the young man on the shoulder when she could see that he appeared worried.

"Talk to me, kid," she said kindly. "What's eating you?"

"It's nothing really," he responded quietly as he took a quick glance at both Arthur and Smee to see if they were listening at all, and even though the King was trying, August turned back to look up at the old woman standing over him while he remained sitting in the chair at the desk. "I mean, it's just that I should be down there with them, helping them save Hook. Emma didn't even ask me."

Granny sat down on the corner of the desk as she answered, "I don't think she didn't ask you because she didn't want you to join them. I think that she's still just worried about you, that's all."

The man who was once a wooden boy scoffed and replied, "But that's ridiculous. I'm fully healed now and she knows that. I mean, I may have no powers, but after all she did to help me when I was in trouble, I should be there for her."

"You have to understand, August," she responded calmly. "Emma just got back from being the Dark One and lost the love of her life. She's hurting terribly. I am certain that it didn't even cross her mind to ask you if you would be willing to risk your life all over again to go down into the Underworld to try to bring Hook back."

"Did you just say that that bastard of a pirate is dead?" Arthur asked cruelly as he stood up from the bed on which he had been laying on, then began to laugh. "Good. It's the least that so called Savior of yours deserves."

August immediately stood and reached through the bars of the King's cell as he swiftly grabbed hold of Arthur, then pulled him roughly up against them and said coldly, "You won't talk about Emma that way, or Hook either. They both sacrificed everything they had to save us all, including you from your own trip to Hell. That pirate, has more honor than you ever had or ever will."

Granny moved closer to the cells herself as she stated in agreement, "That's right! You may be the King of Camelot, but Camelot is far away from here. Here in Storybrooke, you're nothing, but a peasant. A peasant and a murderer."

"Maybe so, but eventually you all are going to have to send me back to my world and once I return, I will be King again," Arthur answered smugly as he pulled free from the man's grasp, then moved away from the bars to sit back down on the bed. "At least I get to go home with the satisfaction of knowing that something good did come out of all this after all."

"You obviously didn't hear the last part of our conversation," August responded as he glared at the prisoner, then gave a small smile. "They've gone down to the Underworld to bring Hook back. You've seen the kind of magic we're all capable of here and you know of the kind of magic that exists in the world around us. Do you really believe that they'll fail?"

The prisoner scowled and then finally spoke again saying, "Emma Swan lost herself to the darkness right here in your very own world, then became worse the longer it remained inside of her, and she was your Savior. She may have been saved, but now she's going down into Hell itself to try to save a man, whom it's obvious she got killed. Merlin once told me a long time ago that to bring someone back from the dead is nearly impossible and if one does succeed, that person will be changed. Do you really believe he'll be the same man, that she'll be the same woman when she discovers he's no longer the man she loves?"

Granny grabbed the keys from the desk drawer and unlocked the small opening in the cell doors, then pushed a bag inside for both the King and the pirate, who was now fully awake and intrigued by the conversation taking place around him. Once the food was dispensed, she locked the latches again, then handed the keys back to August and looked at him with softness in her eyes.

Before she left the station, the older woman stated once more, "Don't you listen to anything either one of these good for nothing murderers say. Everything's going to be okay, honey. You'll see. Now, there's some dinner here for you too, much better than what I've brought for them two. Eat up. You're getting far too skinny."

"Thank you, Granny," the young man answered, then watched her start to walk away as he called out to her before she could leave for good. "If you see Leroy or any of the other dwarfs out there somewhere, ask them to bring a couple of gags! I don't want to have to listen to his royal highness any longer."

Ignoring the jibe, Arthur turned to look at the man in cell beside his and asked curtly, "So what are you in here for? They said something about you trying to kill someone. Who?"

Smee glared at the man as he asked, "What's it matter to you, who I killed or didn't kill?"

"It doesn't matter," Arthur replied as he stood and moved to stand as close to his inmate as he could, then continued quietly so that Smee was the only one who could hear him. "It's just… if you really have no problem with killing anyone, then perhaps the two of us could find a way out of here. And when we get back to Camelot, your life will be far better off than it would be if you were to remain here. What do you think?"

"I'd say that I assure you I've killed plenty in my life," the first mate said coldly. "But I'm in here now, because I tried to destroy this town's heroes only chance to save the life of the very man you two were just talking about, my own Captain. I tried to light his body on fire. I might have failed, but I think you and I could be great allies."

Inside Regina's vault…

Ever since Smee had been arrested, Mother Superior and Tinker Bell remained behind with their friend's crypt in hope of finding answers that would explain how whatever was happening to Hook's soul down in the Underworld was also happening to his body within their own realm. The burn on his arm was no longer the only wound that magically appeared. It wasn't much later when dark striations much like the kind Tinker Bell knew came from the dreamshade plants in Neverland began to grow along his other arm after a deep gash appeared as well.

Blue gently lifted his arm to observe strange markings more closely as she spoke up saying, "You know about the effects of dreamshade better than anyone here, Tink. What can you tell me about it?"

The Green Fairy removed a strand of hair from over the Captain's eye as she stared down at his lifeless body and responded sadly, "Actually, he's the one who understands the plant's effects better than anyone, other than Pan of course. Dreamshade is the very poison that killed his brother. He let that little fact slip one night in a drunken stupor I found him in. He never knew that I knew. But from what I do know about it, dreamshade is slow acting, extremely painful, and incurable, unless one drinks from the waters that come from a magical spring that gives all of Neverland life."

"It's truly a powerful weapon, should it fall into the wrong hands," Mother Superior answered. "Thank goodness it's only a plant that grows in another realm."

"What I don't understand is, why would someone down in the Underworld, use a plant from our world to torture someone with?" Green asked in frustration. "I mean, Hook is already dead and poison is meant to kill, so how can it actually work on a person's soul? Never mind for now how the wounds he's sustaining down there are being transferred to his body."

The Blue Fairy placed her hand over the jagged cut the poison was spreading from, then concentrated hard to see if she could heal it, but when she failed to be able to do so, she replied worryingly, "I'm afraid I have no answers for either of those questions. I just tried my most powerful healing spell and I've so far been unable to heal either of his wounds, nor can I heal the wounds he sustained from Excalibur while in Camelot."

However, it was then that the striations slowly began to fade as another wound made by a dagger appeared on his chest, which was uncovered while the fairies examined him, as Tinker Bell immediately spoke up saying, "They're gone. I'm worried, Blue. Emma cast a preservation spell over his body to keep it from decaying or from being damaged, but that obviously doesn't apply to the torment he's suffering from while down there. What if the damage becomes too much? What if, when they return with his soul, there won't be a body for him to return to?"

"We can't give up," the wiser of all the fairies said with confidence. "There's always a way."

"I hope so," Tink stated.