Hook… I Will Always Find You
Chapter Thirty-Four
Emma slowly awoke some time later, though she had no idea how much time had actually passed since she allowed herself to drift off to sleep, which was attributable to utter exhaustion and not because she wanted to sleep. Lila and Alice had encouraged her to get some rest for what was ahead, yet the Savior had truthfully been frightened to do so. However, despite their current troubles with being trapped in the Underworld and Killian's poor state, somehow lying next to the man she loved so deeply offered Emma the comfort she needed to be able to.
She turned her head to look over at Killian still lying unconscious beside her, then struggled to sit up while she reached out to lay her hand over his forehead to feel the heat of his fever still holding its grip over him. Emma glanced out the window behind her and saw that the red sun had risen while she was asleep, then turned around again when her father and Regina entered the room upon seeing she was finally awake.
"How are you feeling?" David asked softly while he took a seat in the chair closest to her.
"Better… believe it or not," the Savior replied, then she pulled down the blankets she had laid over Killian before falling asleep to check on his wounds and was grateful to see that none of them appeared to worsen through the night. "How long was I asleep?"
Regina looked between her friends in front of her while she responded, "Surprisingly, for about six hours. More than we all expected you to be, but it's still not enough after all you've been through."
Emma released a sigh of frustration and looked down on Killian again, then she answered, "Maybe not, but it's going to have to do. I was lucky to have gotten that much. I need to help him. It's time to use the dream root."
"Are you sure you really want to do this?" David quietly asked his daughter out of concern. "You heard Lila's warning. You won't wake up again if you can't convince Hook you're real and that you've come down here to save him. He was barely lucid when he woke up before, but you heard how broken he is."
"Yes… I heard her warning and I know how broken Killian is, but I don't care," she despondently replied, then looked down at Killian's face and took his hand into her own once again until Lila walked in to join the three of them as well. "If this is the only way I can get through to him, I'm doing it. I trust our love is strong enough to break through to him. I won't leave him like this, any more than I could leave him down here in Hell."
The witch standing at the end of the bed spoke up gently saying, "Your friend is very fortunate to have someone love him as you do."
The Savior looked up at her while she responded, "Believe me, I'm the fortunate one to have him love me. I'm ready to do this. What do I have to do?"
"I made the potion while you were sleeping," Lila answered as she summoned the vile containing her concoction made from the dream root Alice had given Emma and handed it down to Emma, then took Regina's place in the chair across from her. "All we need is a little of his blood."
"Unfortunately, we have plenty of that," Regina replied when she picked up one of the wet discarded rags still lying within the basin set aside on the dresser beside the bed and used her magic to separate Killian's blood from soaked cloth until the red substance became nothing more than two single drops of blood, which the Queen then magicked into the vial Emma held out for her. "Good luck, Emma. And be careful."
Emma smiled at her and laid down again beside Killian before she glanced up at her father who reached down to take her hand, then she turned to Lila once more as the witch nodded when she saw the Savior was ready. Emma took a moment to breathe in and out, then at last she lifted the vial to her mouth and drank the potion until it was gone. Only a few seconds passed before the magic began to work and Emma's eyes closed as she drifted off into the unconsciousness that was tightly holding onto the man she loved.
The sunlight shining in through the window behind the bed where she and Killian lay vanished and nothing but darkness surrounded Emma as she entered his dreams, having no idea what was to come. She expected and feared she was soon going to find herself inside one of Hades' prisons where he had been tortured, or once again in the cavern where he had been hung up over the River of Lost Souls. However, much to her surprise, she found herself aboard the Jolly Roger as she was standing upon the upper deck in front of the ship's wheel.
She looked around her while she stepped away from the helm and walked down the steps to the lower deck until she finally saw Killian before her, dressed once more in his pirate apparel he had worn until the evening of their first date, as he was leaning over the starboard side of his ship staring out over the ocean in the dark of night with only the moon dimly shining down on them through the dark clouds surrounding them. It appeared there was a dreaded storm brewing in the distance and there were no stars visible within the sky for him to navigate with.
"Killian… Can you hear me?" Emma questioned softly as she stood behind him, afraid to approach him or to reach out to touch him despite her longing to do so. "It's me… again. We're in your dream, but I promise you I am real."
"Neverland should be straight ahead, but… but it isn't," Killian somberly responded without looking back at her, as though he hadn't heard a word she said. "It's strange… It would appear I'm… truly lost. It's not like me to get lost. I've always known where I am. Not always where I was going, but there were always stars to guide me. Just not… not tonight."
He finally turned his head to face her when she walked up beside him, then he darkly continued, "I wouldn't keep trying to manipulate me. I know what you are. You're nothing but the bloody demon inside my head. And I'm tired of listening to you. Just go away and leave me be."
Killian turned again, then started to walk away from her until he suddenly doubled over in pain and Emma immediately reached out to catch him until he swiftly backed away from her in order to avoid her touch, then she tried to get him to look at her again as she fearfully whispered, "You're hurt. I know you're in a lot of pain right now."
"What do you know about pain?" Hook retorted curtly as he glared at the woman behind him.
"Killian, please…" she pleaded with him sadly. "It's really me. Emma… the woman who loves you. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere without you. I need you to believe me. I know you're lost and afraid. I can't imagine…"
He angrily stated, "Lies. No one loves me. I'm Captain Hook, the most dreaded pirate upon these waters. Or at least… I used to be. But now I don't know who… or what I am. There was someone… once. Or at least I thought there was. Someone I believed who might have loved me, but what a fool I was. Because she turned out to be just a… another delusion… like you are too. You made a mistake taking her form. I can see right through you, demon."
Killian turned away from her again to hide the tears in his eyes as they threatened to fall before he could wipe them away, but Emma could see the pain on his face that didn't come from the physical torture he suffered from anyways. Then, while Killian weakly continued to walk back towards the upper deck, the setting within his dream strangely changed much to Emma's surprise and they suddenly became surrounded by pirates, some of whom she recognized from being captured by them and Hades. Only it didn't appear to faze Killian in the slightest.
When she looked at him again, his appearance had also changed and it was clear that the memory they found themselves in now were from when Killian had been a slave. His clothes were rags like what he's been wearing since she first found him and rescued him from Hades' eternal punishment as one of the God's most tormented souls. Killian once again had two hands and his wrists and ankles were bound in chained shackles. Also, his hair was longer and pulled back tightly behind his head. His face was the same, yet somehow, he appeared younger… as he was two centuries ago. However, the darkness and despair within his eyes was the same, just as she's seen in them since she first met Killian in the Enchanted Forest. And with all this, he didn't appear to notice anything was different from how things were a minute ago.
He walked over to the bottom of the stairs leading to the upper deck and bent down to pick up two buckets filled with what Emma knew was the crew's waste without having to look inside to verify it as such, then watched him as he carried them over to the ship's side to dump them out into the ocean.
She finally spoke again to him in confusion as she asked, "What is this? How'd we end up here?"
"I'm not sure… what you're talking about," Killian answered while he bent down to pick up and dump the second bucket. "We haven't gone anywhere, whoever or whatever you are. But you should know… You are after all a figment of my imagination."
Emma let out a sigh of frustration when she realized she hadn't gotten through to him in the slightest, and that he didn't seem to be aware of having been aboard the Jolly Roger moments ago, then she uttered, "Killian, I…"
"What did you just call me?" he briskly questioned as he interrupted her when he turned his head to face her again.
"Killian," she replied in concern when she looked into his eyes which grew cold again as he glared back at her. "That is your name?"
His eyes softened until he turned away from her once more and yet she understood that somehow the mention of his name hurt him when he sadly responded, "Not anymore, it isn't. My brother's the only one who calls me that. You're not real. So you can call me anything else, just like everyone else here."
All of a sudden, Silver appeared behind Killian and tightly grabbed him by his throat as the drunken Captain shoved his slave back against the ship's side, then cruelly uttered, "You little bastard…"
"Hey… get away from him!" Emma shouted at the villain threatening Killian while she attempted to fight against Silver, until her hands strangely fazed right through him and the man she loved like she was nothing more than a ghost and silent observer, as the Captain didn't acknowledge her even being there because he couldn't see or hear her. "Stop!"
"Did you really think you could steal from me without my knowledge?" Silver angrily continued as Killian struggled against the man choking him, until he finally released him and then punched Killian hard across his cheek to force him down onto the deck at his feet. "Your wages once again belong to me because you lost it foolishly betting against me and my men last night when you got yourself drunk. Where is it?"
Killian remained on the ship's floor and kept his head down as he answered weakly, "I did… didn't steal it. I swear."
The Savior knelt down in front of her pirate who refused to look at her, while Silver tossed down an empty coin purse which belonged to the Captain in front of him and then he replied, "Then you're a liar as well as a thief. I found my pouch under the mattress within yours and your brother's quarters."
"If that's true, it was planted to frame him," Emma curtly retorted while she glared up at the villain, not caring if he could actually hear her or not, then she focused on Killian again as he struggled to rise. "Don't listen to him, Killian. He's the only bastard in this dream you and I are both trapped in right now. Please… I need you to listen to me. This isn't real. All of this is in your mind."
"But I am real… not this," she added worryingly as she reached out and laid her hand over his to show him how she only fazed through him. "Or at least I'm real outside of your dream, as you are too. In reality, you and I are lying together on a bed inside a cottage where we're safe, while we're both unconscious. How else do you explain why my hands faze right through you, when Silver's don't? Why is it he can physically hurt you, and yet I can't comfort you with even the slightest touch… as much as I wish I could? Please, Killian… I know that some small part of you can sense what I'm saying is true."
Killian finally raised his head weakly in order to look into her eyes, seeming to have forgotten Captain Silver was still standing over them as he looked down on them with a scowl on his face, while he struggled to understand the strangeness surrounding him. And then the scene around them suddenly changed again like it had done before, as he and Emma found themselves within Hades' lair. Just like they had been in reality before Hook had been thrown into the pit where he was emotionally tortured by his delusions of those he loved most, his arms were stretched out again at his sides by the chains which bound him firmly as he was being whipped by Pan and Felix, the demon child's most loyal friend until Pan had killed him.
However, Killian continued to struggle to ignore his pain as he kept his eyes on the beautiful woman still with him and then he asked fearfully, "What's happening? You… You can't really be real. Emma's safe. In Camelot, or… or maybe Storybrooke by now, but she isn't… she isn't… here. She can't be. She wouldn't… not for me."
The Savior sadly, yet unwaveringly responded, "I am here. I promise. It's really me. I came down into the Underworld to save you. I couldn't lose you, because I love you. Because you loved me. You love me more than I ever believed was possible. So please… believe in me now."
"I always have… believed in her," Hook answered in both confusion and fear. "She's the strongest woman… Emma? You're really here?"
"Yes!" Emma exclaimed happily as she laughed despite her tears which were more of joy than sorrow, then she reached out to pull him into her arms again, surprised to find she could do so, and she continued to embrace him while the two Lost Boys faded away until they found themselves within a dark void of nothingness. "Yes, I'm here. I'm really here and you're safe now. We saved you from Hades' prison."
Despite the darkness surrounding them, Killian could still make Emma out while he pulled back enough so he could look at her face and then asked, "How is it that I can feel your touch now… when I couldn't before?"
She smiled at him sadly as she whispered, "I'm not sure, but I suppose it could be because you do believe in me when you couldn't before. Eventually, you've always been able to believe in me even when I've given you good reason not to. You believed in me again even after I left you up in the Giants' castle after we climbed that damn beanstalk. You did after I told you that you could be a part of something with us in Storybrooke, which brought you back to offer your ship and services to help us save Henry from Pan. And you've believed in me ever since without a doubt in your mind that I was a Savior despite my own disbelief in myself."
"You are the strong… strongest woman I've ever known," Killian replied quietly, then he allowed for Emma to help him stand despite the physical pain he still felt, as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Mostly because of you," she said in sincerity. "I never would have come to be who I am without you and your stubborn determination to persuade me not to run away from those I love and the person you could always see in me more than anyone else could. Even my family. But we can talk about this later. Right now, I need to help you find your own fight. It's time to wake up. We'll do this together. Are you ready?"
He nodded sadly, then responded, "I suppose I am."
She answered, "Good. Come on."