Hook caught himself on another tree, his eyes shutting tight, so dizzy he felt sick.

They'd been walking nearly an hour, though the blur in his vision made it hard to read the stars. Hook's legs felt numb, and the poison burned, inching closer and closer to his heart. He was badly out of breath, and weaker than he's ever felt in his life.

Needless to say, Dreamshade felt just as terrible as he'd always feared it would.

"Hook…?"

Hook opened his eyes at David's voice behind him. With a heavy breath, he pushed himself off the tree, his balance more than unsteady. Bloody hell, he won't be able to walk much longer.

"Just… ahead," he managed, forcing himself ahead.

They both approached the foot of Dead Man's Peak. Hook stopped once they'd made it, and he dug his hook into the trunk of another tree, trying to keep himself on his feet. He canted his head back, and David did the same.

"Can you… climb that?" asked David.

"Are you asking…" said Hook, out of breath, "because of the one hand, or my condition?"

"Both, I guess."

Hook sighed. On a normal day, he'd have been able to climb it fine; there were plenty of handholds where his hook would have sufficed. But with diluted strength and a badly warped sense of balance? "Afraid I might need assistance," he admitted, shutting his eyes.

"I'll get some vine," said David. "I can climb to the top, and throw you down the rope."

Hook nodded tiredly, leaning his weight against the tree. He wanted so badly to sit, but he wasn't sure if he could get himself back up at this point.

"Stay conscious," came David's voice, startling Hook. He blinked his eyes open to see David standing in front of him, as apparently minutes had passed, for he had vine coiled around his shoulder, and he had a strange concerned look in his eyes.

"Aye," whispered Hook.

David lingered for half a second longer, then started climbing.

And Hook waited, feeling himself sway, his eyes closing of their own accord every few seconds, before he was startled by the light sound of a vine slapping against the rocks a few yards away from him.

Wincing up, Hook could see David leaning over the edge at the top, and through the blur in his vision, he could just make out the relief in the Prince's expression at seeing Hook awake.

Hook didn't want to admit to himself just how much of an effort it was to simply walk to the vine and tie it around his waist. But afterward, he hesitated, and let out an exhausted breath, closing his eyes briefly as the world spun.

But they quite literally didn't have time to waste, so he opened his eyes, and with an apprehensive look to the Prince who was still leaning over the edge, vine in his hands as well, Hook began to climb.

Every step up was another jolt to his vision. Hook had wondered if he really needed to accept help, but now that he was doing it, he knew for certain that he wouldn't have been able to do this on his own. More than once, his body's tremble had compromised his hook's grip on the handholds, and without the Prince catching his weight, he would have fallen ages ago.

But, finally, Hook was approaching the edge, burying his hook in the dirt of the new ground, so dizzy his eyes screwed shut.

But he felt his hook slipping, his eyes shooting open—

—just to feel two hands grab him under his shoulders, helping pull him up before he fell.

It took both of them to get him over the edge.

When they did, Hook nearly collapsed, falling to his hand, hook and knees, breathing hard, face screwed up in a horribly pained grimace. He could hear David just as out of breath next to him.

Hook's whole body was shaking harder, he was even weaker, the energy he'd exerted only making the poison spread faster. He could practically feel it inching closer and closer to his heart. It was taking all of his strength just to keep himself from collapsing to the dirt.

"You… okay?" panted David.

Hook had Aye on the tip of his tongue, but his voice wouldn't work. Instead, to prove his point, he moved to stand.

He made it almost halfway to his feet before he stumbled with weakness, and braced for the impact to the ground…

…that never came.

David grabbed him before he could hit the ground, holding him firmly around the back. "Woah," he breathed, steadying Hook enough for Hook to get his feet under him. David tentatively moved to let him go, but the moment he did, Hook nearly fell again.

"Bloody," breathed Hook, shutting his eyes, the world spinning.

"Hook?" asked David, tightening his grip, that genuine concern in his voice.

Hook managed to get his eyes back open, and he found David still holding tightly to him, keeping him upright, rare fear in his eyes. Fear that Hook had only ever seen directed at Emma or the Queen.

Opting for the truth, Hook said breathlessly, "I'm…" His eyes shut, and he listed to the side, making David adjust his grip. At this point, Hook was only upright due to David's hold. "Mate," he breathed, "I'm not sure… how much more I can—"

"Hey—" David cut him off. "Aren't you the one bragging about being a survivor or whatever? So, just, y'know, survive for a little longer."

Hook didn't exactly miss the slight panic in the prince's voice.

Hook blinked tiredly at him, trying to catch his breath. "The top is an hour's walk, mate." Hook briefly shut his eyes, fighting the overwhelming urge to sleep.

"Then let's go."

David jerked on him, still holding more than half of Hook's weight, nearly making Hook lose his footing again. But Hook used what little strength he had to stay put. "David," he said firmly, making the Prince look at him impatiently. "Leave me. Save your grandson," he whispered, shutting his eyes.

I'm not worth it slid through his mind, but didn't make it past his lips.

David stared at him for a long moment, like he couldn't understand what Hook was suggesting.

But then, without a word, David was adjusting his grip around Hook's back, and he was yanking him forward again.

"Mate—" breathed Hook with surprise.

"Walk," snapped David, voice hard, but this time, it was out of fear, not hatred. "Or I'll knock you out and drag you."

Hook's brows rose with exhausted surprise.

The Queen was not the only one who gave Emma her gumption.

But it was making Hook pause, shaking the littlest bit of sobriety into him.

Because unless he was truly losing it, which was certainly possible, it looked like the prince was actually afraid for him. It was past what David had felt he owed Hook for saving Emma's life, past his hero complex. Saving Hook was no longer about the moral obligation.

It was actually about David saving him.

"I'm winning you over, I can feel it."

The words he'd spoken to David the other day.

He'd said so sarcastically.

He'd never, ever believe that he actually would.

But the look in David's eyes now, that fear, solely for him…

He was winning him over, somehow.

He could feel it.

And Hook was surprised by how much he suddenly wanted to.

So, tiredly, Hook nodded.

And he, with David's help, walked.

"Hook. Hook."

The second speaking of his name caught at least part of Hook's attention.

He was getting worse.

David adjusted his grip on him, squinting at the shadowy top of the mountain that looked at least thirty minutes of walking away.

But he'd lied earlier; dragging the pirate would be impossible, and David was getting increasingly worried that it would come to that. Because Hook's steps were even more unsteady than they were before, and David was carrying even more of the man's weight. Hook was out of breath, and David could see just how hard he was trying to keep his eyes open.

He needed to keep Hook awake.

And David suddenly found himself needing to do something he'd been trying to stop for the past two weeks; he needed to find a way to keep the pirate talking.

When Hook listed to the side again, making David nearly drop him, David said his name, firmer, until Hook blinked fast, seeming to focus a little more.

But saying his name made David realize that for as long as he's been Hook, that couldn't be his actual name.

Well, it was as good a conversation starter as any.

"What's your name?"

The question did its job. Hook, out of breath, weakly looked at him, raising a brow in utter confusion. "What?"

"What's your name?" repeated David, catching more of Hook's weight when he tripped. "Unless you grew into a destiny, your name isn't Hook."

At the clarification, Hook's confusion turned to sharp surprise.

And David fought not to grin, because he looked more sober now than he has in the entire past hour.

Hook's surprise turned into a long silence of the two of them making their way up the mountain, and after a while David wondered if Hook either forgot the question or refused to answer it.

David opened his mouth to ask it again, when Hook spoke quietly.

"Why do you want to know?"

The words were so hollow they made David pause.

Like Hook had never been asked a personal question with a genuine interest in his answer.

The initial truth of it was that David wanted to keep him talking.

But only now was David realizing that he really did want to know.

"I'd like to know the name of the man who saved my daughter's life," said David honestly, making Hook freeze a little in his grip, with what felt like stunned surprise.

And again, Hook descended into a silence as they walked, a silence that went on long enough that David assumed he wouldn't be getting an answer.

"Killian."

It was David's turn to nearly stop in surprise.

The way Hook spoke his name was so quiet David barely caught it.

David looked at the pirate, who wasn't looking at him.

Killian.

It was strange, associating a true name with Hook. It softened him somehow, and it fit not the man they'd met, but the man he's shown himself to be.

The man who'd saved Emma.

And it wasn't Hook David wanted to—was going to—save.

It was Killian.

At seeing Hook's eyes fall shut again, David's mind raced for something to keep him alert. Finding something, even less sure he'd be getting a response, David said tentatively, "Your brother. He was a pirate, too?"

David felt Hook flinch in his grip, his eyes snapping open at the mention of his brother.

And again, David could practically feel the pain that Hook had gone through losing his sibling.

More and more and more, David was realizing how little he actually knew about the man beside him.

Hook blinked tiredly again, grunting when he stumbled and David caught him from falling. But he must have been just as aware of how quickly he was losing it, because he didn't hesitate long before responding with, "No."

"No?" asked David with his own grunt, as he avoided getting hit by a low-hanging branch.

"He passed before I became…" Hook's voice trailed off, something dark in his eyes. "No," he repeated, like his sluggish mind had answered with a truth he didn't mean to give so easily.

David's brows kneaded; before he became a pirate?

David had been under the impression that Hook had always been a pirate; one of those who'd grown up on a pirate ship and simply taken after their selfish ways.

And due to the look in Hook's eyes now, there was definitely a story there.

And something that David couldn't fathom, was that he wanted to know what it was.

But it didn't look like it was a good story, not by the haunted look in his gaze.

And David, surprisingly, realized he'd seen that look before.

In Emma.

It was that haunted, lost look he's seen in Emma more than once.

A look he knew that he and Snow were responsible for, a look he desperately wanted to erase from her altogether, and would spend the rest of his life trying to.

Seeing it in Hook…

David's brows kneaded.

Hook didn't look eager to give anything else away. So, David sighed, and tried a different tactic.

"I had a brother, too, you know."

Hook's eyes had been shut, but he opened one to look at David, with utter confusion.

Like he didn't know why David would bother to share something like that with him.

"His name was James," said David, filling Hook's silence, stirring up old emotional wounds, the brother who deserved a better chance, even if his opinion on his brother still wasn't great. "He was my twin, actually."

But Hook finally seemed to catch onto all the past tense, and suddenly both his eyes were open. He didn't inquire, but somehow David knew he had his attention.

"Well, it's a long story," David went on, wincing at the strain of Hook's weight on his shoulders as the terrain grew steeper. "But he ended up being a prince. I didn't really know him; we were separated as kids. He grew up in the castle; I grew up on a farm."

Hook's eyes snapped to his. Alertness sparked in his eyes. "You what?"

David felt a chuckle escape him at the almost comical confusion in the pirate's face. Dredging up his own tainted nostalgia, David reached for the history he didn't exactly like remembering was his. "My brother… passed away," said David unevenly, "and I assumed his place. Pretty reluctantly, actually." he added, expression falling a little with just how reluctant he'd been.

Hook stared at him suddenly, like something in David's words struck something in him.

Like he knew exactly what that felt like.

"I'd always wondered what it would have been like, though," said David, quieter, feeling strangely compelled to say the words. "To actually have grown up with my brother, to have… had one." His own brows narrowed, remembering just how often in his life he's wondered.

And in Hook's eyes was an emotion that was so raw.

Like he knew what that felt like, too.

And though David had lived his life not knowing what he'd been missing without a brother…

Hook had lived his whole life knowing exactly what he was missing.

And it suddenly made David realize that Hook hadn't just lost one person he loved.

He'd lost two—the woman he'd spent two hundred years seeking vengeance for, as well.

Without even imagining it, David knew if anyone hurt—gods forbid, killed—Mary Margaret or Emma?

He wouldn't stop until he found the person responsible.

Perhaps…

Perhaps he and Hook weren't quite as different as he'd once thought.

David found himself looking at Hook, whose eyes were shut again, as he was trying his best to simply survive.

Seemed like he's been doing that for longer than just the past two days.

David was just learning now that Hook didn't call himself a survivor because he was good at it.

He called himself a survivor because it was all he did.

And David knew, surviving and living were two very different things.

Something painful stirred in David's chest.

He picked up his pace.

He was going to save Hook's—Killian's life.

In every context of the word.

a/n: I think two more chapters to go! Thanks for reading and I hope to have the next one out for you tomorrow if not the next day! :)

~cosette141