Nadri had met Hercules for the first time down by the river bank, she had enquired about Nathaniel's location under the pretence of being Nathaniel's long-lost wife and Hercules admitted he came to the docks in the late afternoon to help him around the boats. In the time that they had spent in the Underworld, he had not been able to move on yet.
Nadri was asked to meet Hades at the Pit when the guards had dragged Nathaniel within the underground ruins, shouting and hollering as he was pulled along by his arms to the cliff. Nadri stood at the cliff top with an eager impatience, the furious flames of orange and yellow spitting up at the souls that were awaiting above. Nathaniel was thrown in front of them, holding his side as he looked up at the Lord of the Underworld and the decorated woman beside him. Nathaniel shook his head, laughing.
"I see you've managed to make yourself useful to another man." Nathaniel chuckled, gathering his bearings and bringing himself up from the ground. "Are you still angry?" Nadri went to push him first but Hades raised his cane to stop her from moving closer to him. Nathaniel was proud of himself, Nadri could see it in his eyes.
"Aren't you? You didn't read the terms and conditions of your contract, did you Nathaniel?" Hades spoke for Nadri as her hands balled up into fists, wanting to beat Nathaniel to death or at least could be classed as death in this realm. "You enslaved this poor woman and you stabbed her to death!"
"For the power it brought me she deserved every moment of it." Nathaniel smirked, facing with Nadri. "If you had this fire before you died, you might not be a lost soul right now." Nadri approached him, grabbing him by his shirt and forcefully pushing him further against the cliff edge, only a few steps to entirely losing his soul to the fire.
"Your death did not break the deal." Nathaniel couldn't help but burst out laughing, regardless if Nadri was holding him over the cliff face or not. "What is so funny, joor?"
"That's because the deal isn't broken. Clearly you were claimed before my soul settled in this realm." He was still laughing wildly in her face, the fury flooding her entirely. What was he talking about? How couldn't the deal be broken? Nathaniel had died, surely that would cease the contract? "You foolish bitch." He spat foully.
"Nadri, this is what you wanted. We're here for him." Hades spoke with a reassuring voice from behind her, coming closer to become the devil on her shoulder. "Don't endure your suffering."
"How is that even possible?"
"Just do it, Nadri."
"I'm still bound to this body, how is that even possible?" Nadri cried, looking up at Hades with tears brimming her eyes. She could see he was becoming frustrated with her taking so long and she looked back at Nathaniel who still held the smirk plastered to his face. With one last, massive shove Nathaniel tripped backwards, an agonising scream as his soul was burned alive in the Pit. Nadri looked down after him, the screams ceasing within seconds and she let out a shaky breath she didn't realise she was holding. She looked back over her shoulder, Hades began to slowly clap for her.
"Oh you did so good, I'm proud of you my dear." Hades approached her as she still stood so close to the edge of the cliff. There was something wrong, the eagerness and overly pleased tone that Hades was talking with gave Nadri a cold feeling shaking through her. She knew that voice, she knew the cruel, vindictive and manipulating voice of Nathaniel too well to know when someone had ulterior motives.
"It was you wasn't it?" Nadri continued to watch him, tears dripping from her eyes as the roller-coaster of emotions continued to steam through her. She had dissolved one abuser and in return, received another. "That's why you've been helping me…"
"Oh, my dear." Hades hand reached out towards Nadri's face, his thumb wiping away the tears that had escaped her eyes. "You didn't truly think I was that good did you?" Nadri stifled a gasp, feeling flood of betrayal hitting her like a train all over again. "I'm Hades, sweetheart. I just needed you to make it easier for me to take on your contract."
Killian was being lowered from the metal crane, his body wrapped so tightly with steel chains that he could barely inhale a breath. He was being lowered further and further down towards the River of Lost Souls that was ready to welcome him into the pool with forceful arms. His head was drooped down, blood dripping off his forehead as he barely panted. He could barely remember being dragged into the rowing boat and placed up on the contraption by Hades, his thoughts were consumed with the dragon woman he had come to be concerned for.
Nadri was alone, screaming and crying his name without getting to say goodbye before he had been dragged out of the room. The last vision he would see of her was going to be her begging Hades not to take him away, tears running down her wounded face as pleaded with the devil. Killian promised her he would free her.
All he could think about was finding her again.
He had to think back, think back to when he had kissed her. Saying her name and forgetting the words that were going to come out of his mouth that were instead replaced with the kiss that he would cherish until he was lost to these waters.
'Killian.'
He desired her warmth, her body in his arms. Killian didn't even get to see her face without the wounds that accompanied it. He didn't get to see her to be a free spirit.
He didn't get to be with her.
'Killy.' Killian could hear her voice, her delicate tones filling his ears where for a moment it was almost as if she was in the room with him. He focused on remembering her voice as he was lowered into the void. 'Killian…' Killian could barely open his eyes, the waters coming closer every second.
He let her down.
He let his friends down.
He didn't deserve to be saved.
"Killian!"
It wasn't a soft tone, it was a loud screech that echoed and bounced throughout the cave walls. He tried to open his eyes woozily but he couldn't focus, all he could hear was a woman's voice. "Killian! I'm coming for you, Ruveyzun." He knew that voice, he knew how much he liked hearing her foreign tongue. It was the voice he had been so determined to remember. Nadri had come for him.
"No…don't…" He was so weak he could barely keep himself awake to talk. "It's a trick." He convinced himself, there was no way that Nadri could have come to save him. She was confined to Hades' domain, trapped within her bonds. He couldn't see where she was, all he could hear was clanging and movement around him as he heard footsteps along the steel beam.
He prepared himself as he was about to be lowered in the pool one more time, looking down in the hole with the swirling, mysterious water ready to engulf his soul and wash over him. Killian was suddenly pulled to side as he took a breath for the dive, Nadri struggling to pull him over to the safety of the metal crate that was covering the top of the river where Hades had previously stood. Nadri managed to get the chains free from his body, Killian almost falling on top of Nadri's small height. If he'd have landed Killian coughing and spluttering as he felt the room to be able to take a large breath again.
"I've got you, Killy." She pulled him close to her, rubbing his arm comfortingly. "I'm here, Ruveyzun."
Killian looked up at the woman had cradled him into her arms, his head rested comfortably against her chest as she held him. Her smile was tearful.
"You're not real…" Killian exhaled. "You can't be." He shook his head as Nadri clasped his hand, bringing it up to her face to rest it against her cheek. Killian couldn't believe it was Nadri. It couldn't have been. The bruises and cuts that were prominent within her face were now gone, leaving her with a smooth, milky white complexion that Killian had not seen fully. Her hair was no longer bloody but clean and smooth, her curls almost tickling Killian's face as she felt over him. He could feel how gentle her skin was, no longer sticky and thick with blood.
She looked like an angel.
Maybe he was already dead.
His eyes glanced to her chest, seeing that her clothes were now longer torn, ripped and scratched but almost as if they were brand-new on her body. The scales of her armor shimmered with strength. She brought her head down and pressed her lips against his passionately, Killian could feel the plumpness of her lips and the taste of her that he had savored from their previous kiss. Nadri's tears were wet against his face but he embraced and savored every single second of it.
He could feel it, he could feel her. It was real.
"I'm not real, how did I do that?" Nadri grinned, a real, genuine smile that spread across her cheeks and deepened her dimples.
"Bloody hell, love." Killian's whisper was feint. "How did you get out?" Killian looked up at her wrist as she held his hand against her face, Killian now stroking her face with his fingers lovingly. His eyebrows knitted together, his dizziness becoming more focused as he realized that the bracelets keeping her under Hades will were now missing to reveal only bare skin. His eyes then travelled to her neck, her necklace still missing its prized possession. "You're free..."
"I'll tell you everything but we need to go, Killy." Nadri helped Killian up from the grated platform, he took a sharp breath as she helped him put his arm around her shoulder to keep him upright. Killian was hunched over Nadri, a dramatic difference of height was between them but at least it kept Killian somewhat supported. She helped him down towards on the platform of the ruins, making sure he was helped every step of the way.
"How did you get them off?" Killian brought up as they stepped down the uneven steps of the narrow hallway of the ruins, Nadri leading the way and following the river back out where she knew Emma, Milah and Rumpelstiltskin was waiting for her in the rowing boat. He looked down at her as she struggled to keep him up right and he began to slow down when she kept looking ahead, not acknowledging his question. "Nadri. How did you get them off? You're cursed."
"I was – am." She corrected dismissively and Killian deliberately stopped walking, almost pulling Nadri over as she continued to keep going. "We need to go, Killian. Hades will be back. Emma and Rumpelstiltskin are waiting for us." Nadri frowned at him, putting her arm back out to help him along but Killian pushed it away
"The Dark One? What's he doing here?" Killian soon enough recognized the possibility the Emma or the Dark One could have had a hand in the magic that had released Nadri from enslavement.
"I wasn't really paying much to the Savior's conversation. Are we going to keep going, Ruveyzun?" Killian had known Nadri long enough to realize she was a terrible liar. She fumbles over her words, she avoids all eye contact and even pretends she didn't hear the conversation to begin with. As much as he appreciated that she had not lied to him about anything up until now, he did not appreciate her deciding right now was the time to go against him.
He felt hurt, after everything that they had witnessed of each other was now really the time to start hiding things?
"Not until you tell me the truth, love. What kind of magic…did you have to do to be released from your bonds?" Nadri turned around to him, looking up with her bright purple, sparkling eyes that were full of a guilt that she hadn't even processed yet. Killian put his hand to her cheek. "Please don't tell me you made a deal to come and get me." Her eyes looked away from his again, Killian picking up on her remorse.
"Would it make you feel better if I told you, Killy? If we are caught by guards or worse then there is no telling what Hades would do next. Do you want this to be the first thing we do now we're here together, free?" Nadri questioned him and Killian exhaled deeply. He didn't want her to sacrifice anything to come and save him, all he wanted was for her to be a free soul again and not to owe a single thing to anyone. Killian could tell that Nadri was about to burst with guilt if she had sat on it any longer. "I made a krolurend…a deal." She sighed and Killian's good eye widened with astonishment.
"You did what?" Killian feared for her, he knew the crocodile all too well and knew what he was capable of if her end of the deal fell through. Killian felt like he wasn't worth another lifetime of enslavement, not after all the promises he had made to Nadri. "Why would you do that?"
"Killian, my Ruveyzun, I promise you when we get somewhere safe I will tell you everything. Please." Nadri kept her arm out and Killian gingerly took it, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she led him out.
They continued walking further down the path, Killian occasionally glancing down at the woman that had come all the way to save him. His heart would have warmed at the thought of finally being with Nadri again, being able to use her own free will to decide for herself. But the pit of his stomach felt sickly at imagining the crocodile using her for his own deeds, especially now that he had been within the darkness itself and previously had the all mighty control of it. Killian couldn't bear the thought of leaving her now, even if he had to be stuck to her like glue then so be it.
He winced, every step he took jarring his broken ribs.
"We're almost there, Killy." Nadri reassured sweetly, rubbing his back as they come closer and closer to the peering light that peeked around the doorway. They got closer and closer, Rumpelstiltskin and Emma coming into focus as they came out of the doorway and Emma looked bewildered as Rumpelstiltskin stood there with a fearful expression and his hand severely wounded. "What in the Gods happened?" Nadri exclaimed, the boat was gone from the water.
"Hades came here." Rumpelstiltskin told them. "I tried to stop him. He blew my magic right back at me."
"I was looking out at the boat when it happened. Hades froze all of us. Milah is gone, Hades got her." Emma looked grievously to both Rumpelstiltskin and Killian.
"He didn't…?" Nadri shook her head and Rumpelstiltskin nodded miserably. She looked down, stifling the feeling to wanting to scream and shout at Hades to stop the madness that he was leaving in his wake.
"Milah…was here?" Killian looked devastated. He couldn't believe Milah had been here all this time and he didn't get the chance to at least speak to her to say goodbye properly. Since Milah all he did was seek out vengeance in his worst enemy that took her from him, it was vengeance that lured him down the rabbit hole of becoming the Dark One.
"She helped us get to you, Hook." He looked to his best friend with a troubled expression.
"Hades has much to answer for."
"Indeed he does." Rumpelstiltskin agreed with Killian as he held onto Nadri for support. "Now, we need to get going."