Thank you for stopping by! I will update as I can…currently working on my novel I'm publishing in less than 2 months, but I needed a break from all this editing to delve back into my creative side. Bless fanfiction for existing!

Killian flinched against the bright morning light streaming through the porthole near his bed. He growled low in his throat and rubbed a hand across his weary face.

Memories flooded through his mind, quick and striking. The stabbing pain in his chest returned, as it did every morning, reminding him of what he had lost. Even months after she had left, the gaping hole in his heart wouldn't heal.

It was still difficult to believe that Emma Swan was gone. The moment she had saved Storybrooke from the latest curse, she'd announced that she was taking Henry and moving back to New York City. After all that had happened and all the danger they'd faced, Emma said she was ready for a normal, stable, and safe life for her and her son. But what had shattered Killian's heart wasn't the fact Emma had chosen to leave…it was the fact she had also chosen Neal. The image of her standing there, in Granny's Diner, smiling with her hand on Neal's chest wouldn't leave Killian's mind. He remembered seeing the flash of a diamond on her hand…and Emma announcing their engagement. That was the exact moment Killian felt himself lose whatever grip on the light that he had left.

Since that day, he'd been altering between days full of empty nothingness and days of anguish and grief since she had gone. Her tearful goodbye to him had only infuriated the stricken pirate. He closed his eyes as he remembered pushing away from her and leaving the diner, blinded by shock and despair after listening to the love of his life profess her devotion to another. Death had taken his first love, and another had stolen his true love. Captain Hook was a man undone.

Mary Margaret and David had followed him outside and tried to convince him to stay. He remembered Mary Margaret's please and the desperation and fear in David's eyes as he looked at him. Killian knew what David had seen that caused him to express fear: Killian was giving in to the darkness again. Emma had killed whatever good existed inside his soul the moment she chose Neal. All of the effort he had made to fight his inner demons was useless. Being one of the heroes had gotten him nowhere. Killian grimaced as he remembered pulling his arm out of David's grasp and announcing his return to the life of a pirate. He'd stormed away from them, letting the distance drown out Mary Margaret's pleas and the sound of Emma's sobs.

Returning to the Enchanted Forest had been rather easy. With the final curse destroyed, the people of Storybrooke could now travel between the two worlds with the right amount of magic. Luckily for Killian, the other inhabitants of Storybrooke loved their new lives so much that they had no desire to return to their former home. But for the aggrieved pirate captain, without Emma there was nothing left in the little town for him. Sailing the seven seas, raiding, pillaging, and drowning himself in rum would be the only things that would keep him afloat.

With a sigh, Killian reached for his flask on the nightstand and took a long drink, pondering exactly why he even bothered trying to find a purpose in this life anymore. He picked up his hook and attached it to his arm. Standing slowly and stretching out the soreness from his muscles, the lean pirate sauntered out onto the main deck of the Jolly Roger, his face a mask of anger and pain.

The lithe young woman jumped down the last few steps of the fire escape and brushed her long brown hair out of her face, pulling it back into a neat ponytail. She frowned in concentration as she moved silently down the dark alley, sticking closely to the shadows.

She flinched a little as she had a quick flashback to the last time she had been down this very alley…with Simon. The name alone made her heart clench. His loss cut like a knife straight through her chest, biting and cold. It was still impossible to even believe he was dead. He had been so full of life, danger, and love. And it had all stopped so suddenly. There had been no warning, nothing she could do.

She and Simon had been hired to kill a high-ranking employee of a cooperation that operated in the heart of Washington D.C., and the center of their hunting grounds. The assignment was rather simple for the two experienced assassins and the pay-out would be enough to cover the rent of their shabby little apartment for at least two months. It was a deal neither of them could afford to pass up.

They spent the next few weeks studying their target's home, workplace, and routine. Once they had developed his pattern, they began to sketch out their plan. That night they suited up as they always had before and slipped into the night like a pair of shadows.

What happened next remained unclear to Lindsey, even after all these months.

A brilliant light shot out of the floor of the building they had just broken into. The force of the blast knocked them both off their feet. All Lindsey could remember was hitting the wall and blacking out. When she'd opened her eyes, her vision blurry, she had seen the outline of a man, dressed like a pirate, run a sword right through Simon's chest. Her world went upside down as she watched Simon slump to the floor. The strange-looking man picked up a large, heavy sack and stepped back into the stream of light and disappeared.

Lindsey had screamed and crawled over to Simon, knowing in her heart he was dying. She'd cradled his head in her lap and ran her hands through his blonde curls as he died, his blue eyes closing for the last time.

She had never found who the pirate-man was who had destroyed her life that day, or where the bizarre beam of light had come from. Left completely alone, Lindsey had fled back to their dingy apartment and packed what little she had. She fled to the outskirts of the city and moved into an even smaller apartment with an even shadier landlord who didn't ask questions. Making the rent and maintaining her cover was even more difficult now without Simon. She had been forced to take smaller assignments and spent her days hiding in the disgusting little apartment, fearful of showing her face to the world. Without Simon she felt vulnerable. Without Simon…she began to stop feeling all together.

Shaking away these dark thoughts, Lindsey forced herself to continue down the alleyway, eager to find her target and collect her payment. This mark was in the building next to the one Simon had died in. She avoided looking at the massive structure and focused her attention on the back gate of the facility she'd been staking out the past several weeks. Just as she'd noted, the back gate had been left unlocked after the final delivery of the evening. The lapse in security had been a consistent one. Every time the fat gate guard worked, he neglected to lock up this particular gate. Lindsey smirked. It was almost too easy.

But, as Lindsey quietly approached the unlatched gate, a loud grating sound filled her ears. Her green eyes widened in shock as the ground around her shook and her mind raced back to that horrible day several months ago. This was the very same sound that had erupted moments before the beam of light came up out of the ground.

Sure enough, a pillar of light shot out of the earth right in front of the gate, throwing Lindsey hard onto the asphalt. She grunted in pain and rolled over onto her back, eyes wide as she watched the figure emerge from the beam, his sword drawn and a malevolent grin creasing his features.

Lindsey felt the rush of fury as the edges of her vision went red. It was happening all over again. The man on the other side of this column of light was the very same man who had killed Simon. She could never forget that face. With a snarl, Lindsey drew her favorite jagged knife from her belt and lunged forward, eager to make this stranger pay for all he had done to her. But as she charged passed the beam of light, she felt it grab her, yanking her from her feat once again.

She cried out as the force of the light pulled her toward the roaring column. Clawing desperately at the ground, Lindsey unleashed a blood-curdling scream of panic, but her cries were cut short as the pillar of light consumed her and disappeared.