Beta'd by Angelfan984 - Thanks so much!
Chapter 35
Logan stared down at his captain before barking out orders to bring him below deck to be tended. Panic started to fill him and he pushed it back down. He had to have a level head in this.
Nolan and Emma would kill him if Hook didn't make it back. Panic filled his stomach and hastened his movements. He could do this. He had the medical training to do this. They were less than a day from land if they flew all the sails they could use the wind to get them their faster.
He followed the men below deck and walked over to where they laid the Captain down on his bunk. A light sheen of sweat coated the man's handsome face. The normal tan of his skin was ashen white with the loss of blood. Logan pulled away the ripped leather from Hook's arm, sticky blood coating his hand. He grimaced as he spotted the 'flesh' wound as Hook had called it. Flesh wound his ass. It was deep; he could see muscle torn and a well of blood still flowing. A spreading of black veins started from the wound and disappeared below the rest of his clothing.
What in the hell was that? Poison? He applied pressure to the wound trying to stem the bleeding. Stomach churning he kept his eyes on the Captain. "Get someone to 'question' Blackbeard." Logan commanded his voice steely even in his fear. "It looks like the Captain has been poisoned with something." A man behind him audibly drew in his breath when he caught sight of the wound.
"Dreamshade." He whispered his voice filled with dread, his face going pale with fear.
"You know what this is?" Logan asked looking back at the man he now recognized as Mr. Smee.
"Ye—s, I do. It is a poison from Neverland. There is no cure but the waters on the island."
"No cure?" Logan blanched.
"None that we can reach." He tugged off his red cap and wrung it in his hands. Tears filled the grown man's eyes.
Emma shot up in her bed terror filled her. A nightmare had woken her. She had felt like something had happened to Killian. The feeling was so real. Her breaths came in gasps as she tried to calm herself. White knuckles clutched at her covers. She pushed the bedspread back and got to her feet. The cool stone beneath her feet sent a shock of awareness through her and brought her out of her dream fully.
Slowing her breathing, she went out on the balcony and inhaled deeply letting the cool night air fill her lungs. Her gaze took in the dark water with the little lights spread around bobbing with time to the waves. Then she looked up towards the horizon, the light of the sun was barely starting to lighten the sky.
Everything was fine. It was only a nightmare nothing more. Taking one last deep breath, she started to turn to go when she saw it. The Jolly Roger, it was on the horizon and moving in quickly. Her heart picked up it's beat and she grabbed onto the stone railing as she watched it move incredibly fast, growing larger with each passing second.
Something was wrong, very, very wrong.
With the terror filling her once again she ran back to her room and pulled on the first clothing her hands touched. The ship would be here in less than a half hour at the speed it was moving and she needed to be at the docks.
She ran through the darkened halls of the castle her bare feet on the stone not making even a whisper of sound as she went. As she flew around the corner into the foyer she stopped dead in her tracks. "What are you doing here?" She gasped out in shock as she almost tripped over her own halting feet.
"My dear, you are going to need this." Rumple held up a vial of a clear liquid. A resigned look on his old face, as if life had sent him in a direction he didn't want to go.
"What are you talking about?" Emma asked confused, her hand came up to brush her hair back behind her ear. She searched his face for an indication of what it was.
"Hook." Rumple bit out. "He'll need this. I've seen the visions and it is what I need to do to. He can bring me back what I have thought lost to me. But not if he is dead."
"Killian? What do you know? What happened?" She grabbed onto his sleeves wanting to shake the information out of him.
"You don't have much time. Meet the ship when it arrives and he will live, a moment longer and he will be dead." He responded his voice flat. Emma wanted to scream as she looked at him shocked. "Go." He pushed her in the direction of the doors. She took one last look at his serious face before her feet carried her out into the courtyard and towards the stables that housed her horse.
A pain filled groan came from Killian as he felt himself surfacing from the blackness that had dragged him down. "Gods what is wrong with me?" He croaked out. He could feel a painful throbbing coming from his arm and went to raise it for inspection when he felt the hands holding him still.
"Don't move." A soft voice instructed him. "You're hurt. But I have something that can help you." She added, his angel, his swan, his everything. He must be dreaming because Emma was not on his ship, she couldn't help sooth him in any way. Dragging in a deep breath he tried to move again, his eyes still refused to open fully and the room was blurry. He succeeded in moving slightly and a fire lite up his veins, a fire like vicious poison snaking through him. A louder moan left him unbidden.
"Listen to her." He heard Smee say in the background. "Don't move." He cracked his eyes open again and could see the blur of Smee's red hat behind his angel. Not a dream then?
"Here, lift your head a bit so you can drink this." Emma told him, her cool hand on the back of his neck. His eyes slid towards her and he felt a small smile turn up his lips.
"Swann—My swan princess. I'm supposed to save you, not the other way around." He whispered, his voice rough with pain.
"And you have, now shut up and drink this." Killian felt the cool vile against his lips and he parted them slightly for her. Anything for her.
In the moments it took the sweet liquid to slide down his throat the fire in his veins started to recede. The throbbing in his arm felt less like someone was beating on it. His eyes started to clear and he could see that the room held three people beside him. Logan, Smee, and his own princess stood watching him, their eyes full of apprehension.
"Did it work?" He heard Logan ask quietly. "Mr. Smee said it wasn't curable."
"What wasn't curable?" Killian asked his voice cracking. His gaze went to Emma. She tried to smile for him, but it didn't fully reach her eyes.
"You were poisoned with Dreamshade." Smee said. His answer filled him with horror. Killian had seen some of his best men die after being even scratched by the plant. He had held his brother in his arms as he died after supposedly being cured.
Swallowing hard he dragged his eyes back to Emma. "Love, what did you give me?"
"I—I don't know. Rumple gave it to me. He said it would make you live."
Killian pushed himself up at her words, the pain in his arm almost making him lose consciousness again. "You what?" He asked, keeping his voice calm.
"I—"
"No, I heard you. What deal did you make?" He demanded cutting her off, his hand clenched he wanted to shake her for being so foolish. The dark one, even if he was no longer the dark one could not be trusted.
"I didn't make a deal." She crossed her arms in front of her defensively, and he realized she was in her nightgown, her feet bare. "He gave it to me."
"But what does he want for doing this?" Killian asked, clearly agitated.
"He said he needed you alive to find what he thought was lost." She told him, her voice quiet.
"I will not be the Dark One's tool." Killian promised, his voice weak. Maybe sitting up was a bad idea; he was starting to feel dizzy. The room dimmed, spots filled his vision as though he was going blind.
"You need to lay back down, you are swaying." Emma told him stepping forward, her defensiveness evaporating in her concern for him. "We will deal with Rumple when you are better."
"I will not do his deeds." He spoke again as she laid him back on the bed.
"Just rest." She ignored his words and he couldn't respond because for the second time his world went black.
"You know he won't do what ever it is the Dark One wants of him. Don't you princess?" Smee asked her after it was evident that Killian had passed out cold again.
"Rumpelstiltskin is not the Dark One any more. He is a good man." Emma insisted. Worry gnawing at her insides. The potion had to work; she couldn't imagine a life without Killian in it.
"To Hook, he will always be the Dark One. The devil that took his hand and his love all in one fell swoop." Smee told her.
"It was the only thing that could be done." She told him turning back to Killian. His wound had been cleaned and he was bare from the waist up. She watched as his chest rose and fell in calm breaths, so unlike how he had been when she had arrived. The poison had traveled quickly and the lines spreading from his arm had almost reached his heart. She had almost been too late. If she hadn't woken and felt that something was wrong—No, she couldn't think about it. Tears filled her eyes at the near miss. She heard the men quietly leave the room behind her as she stepped closer to the bed.
"Oh Killian, why did you have to leave and try to prove yourself?" She breathed, her hand tracing his jawline and skating lightly over his lips before she climbed gently into the bed with him and lay down on his unhurt side. Her hand resting on his stomach as she fell into an exhausted sleep.
A/N - Hello lovely readers! I have finally broken through that horrible writers block, so hopefully I will be able to update all of my stories soon. Thank you for sticking with me. Love you all!