Emma and Killian's heads whipped toward the sound of the voice. There, to their horror, standing on the deck leaning against the mast was Pan.

"My isn't this cozy" The imp mocked.

Killian sprang to his feet, put himself in front of Emma, and brandished his sword at Pan. "You're not welcome on my ship, demon."

Pan pushed himself off the mast and slowly began walking towards them. "Well you see Captain, this is my island and everything on it belongs to me. So I will go wherever I want," he said menacingly.

Killian's eyes flickered to Emma who had been strangely quiet, only to see her sitting there stock still with eyes wide and fear written all over her face at the appearance of the fiend who had been hell bent on killing her. "It'll be okay love," he whispered to her.

"Now let's not lie to the lady," Pan said as he stopped in front of them. "You know, I'm disappointed in you Hook. I thought that you were willing to do anything to leave this place. I thought you were so eager to exact your revenge, to avenge… Milah," he sneered.

Killian's hand tightened around the handle of his sword and he seethed, "Don't you dare speak her name!"

Pan smirked, delighted that he struck a nerve. "Look at you, forgetting all about your mission, because of a pair of pretty green eyes. What would your love think if she could see you now."

Feeling his anger grow, Killian almost made the grave mistake of thrusting his blade into the demon child. What stayed his hand was a soft touch from the woman behind him. "Killian don't," she warned softly.

Killian turned his head to see Emma's worried gaze upon him. Her eyes pleading with him not to be baited by the imp. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he turned back to Pan. "Milah wouldn't want me to kill an innocent woman, even if it meant not ever getting off this forsaken island."

Pan's smirk fell from his face when he realized that the pirate wasn't going to strike. "How honorable," he sneered. "But I'm afraid all that honor isn't going to do you any good now."

Lost Boys suddenly swarmed the ship. A few surrounded Killian with their swords drawn and pointed at his throat while others grabbed Emma and tossed her roughly to the deck.

"Don't touch her!" Killian yelled, surging forward despite the swords at his throat only to be struck across the face and pushed to his knees.

"No!" Emma cried out softly but she was unable to do anything except watch as The Lost Boys manhandled him. One boy in particular seemed to delight in Killian's plight. He was tall with shaggy blonde hair and a wicked scar across his cheek. She had seen him of course, he had been sent on many missions for Pan to try and apprehend her.

Emma looked on as the boy pulled Killian's head back by his hair and ran a short serrated knife down his face. He bent down to whisper something in Killian's ear that made the pirate start to thrash.

"Felix! That's enough," Pan said, calling back his right hand. He made his way over to Emma and crouched down in front of her. "I have to hand it to you Emma, I'm quite impressed that you've managed to evade me for so long. How is that?"

"I don't know, just luck I guess," Emma shrugged. "Or maybe you just have incompetent people doing your bidding for you," she said with a smirk.

Pan's expression grew murderous as he stood back up. "Well, looks like your time is up. It's nothing personal Emma, I just need that stone and if the only way to have it is to kill you then so be it." He made a motion with his head and more Lost Boys came forward, grabbing her tightly by the shoulder. "The tail too, lads. Wouldn't want to be hit with that."

Emma struggled against the hands that held as she watched one of Pan's minions hand him a sword. Her eyes darted wildly around, looking for any way out of this, but when she saw there was none her eyes found Killian's. Emma tried to convey everything she couldn't say; thank you for trying, thank you for trying to help, thank you for everything. He in turn tried to convey how sorry he was that he couldn't do anything to stop what was about to happen. Their connection was broken when Pan stepped in between them.

"Don't worry. This will be quick," Pan said gleefully as he raised the sword.

Emma closed her eyes, and as she waited for the end countless memories went through her mind. She remembered how her mother and father used to take her horse back riding through the kingdom, and how much she loved time spent with just the three of them. She remembered Granny trying to teach her to knit a blanket one time and how awful she was at it. She remembered so many moments from her life that led her here and how she wished more than anything that she could go back and do things differently. Only then she wouldn't have met Killian, who without even knowing anything about her was willing to risk his life to try and protect her.

All of a sudden, startled cries rang out, causing Emma's eyes to snap open. What she saw shocked her. There was a green glow emitting from the stone and covering the choker. She looked up to see Pan, still with his sword raised looking down at her with rage.

"How are you doing this?" Pan demanded with pure anger on his face. "You shouldn't be able to do this."

"Do what? What are you talking about?" Emma asked in confusion.

"I've waited a long time for this and you're not going to deny me any longer," Pan said half deranged, and swung the sword forward towards her neck.

Emma flinched, waiting for the strike except it never came, but what did happen was unlike anything she had ever seen. The moment that the sword touched the choker a huge pulse of green light sent Pan flying backwards onto the deck. When the light dissipated, she saw that the blast had also knocked out almost all of The Lost Boys, including Felix, while the ones that were still standing looked on in disbelief.

It was enough of a distraction for Killian to shake loose his captors. "Emma!" he called out as he hurried over to her. "Are you alright, love?" he asked, cupping her cheek in his hand.

"Yes. I'm fine," she reassured him, bringing her hand up to cover his.

"Emma, what happened?" Killian asked as he looked at all the unconscious figures on the deck.

Emma shook her head. "I don't know." Movement off to the side caught her eye and she saw Pan was starting to come to. "Killian, we have to get out of here."

Killian followed her gaze. Moving quickly, he gathered her in his arms and made his way over to the side of the ship. "Where are we going to go, love?"

Emma looked over his shoulder to see Pan and The Lost boys already back up on their feet. "We'll discuss that later. Go! Now!" she said urgently.

"As you wish, milady," Killian said as he climbed up onto the railing of the Jolly. He chanced one more glance behind him and saw Pan making his way toward them with fury on his face, he then turned and, holding onto Emma tightly, jumped into the water below.

XXX

They surfaced behind a rock outcropping not far from the Jolly. They could hear the furious shouts of Pan yelling orders at The Lost Boys to fan out and look for them.

Emma grabbed Killian by the arm. "This way!" she said, tugging him through the water towards a huge rock face. "How long can you hold your breath for?" she asked hurriedly.

"What?" Killian asked perplexed, slightly taken aback by the question.

Emma turned to face him. "We have to go through an underwater passage and it's a good distance. I need to know that you'll be okay," she explained.

"I can make it, love," Killian reassured her.

Emma nodded her head. "Good. Follow me," she instructed, then disappeared beneath the water.

Killian took a deep breath then dove in after her. The water was dark, and Killian could barely make out Emma's tail in front of him as they made their way through the passage. Emma hadn't been exaggerating when she said the swim was far. He could feel himself begin to struggle, and just when he thought he could go no further he saw Emma swim upwards through an opening.

Killian surfaced with a gasp and started to frantically suck air back into his lungs. "Bloody hell, Emma, you weren't kidding," he croaked out.

Emma winced, realizing that the swim was almost too long for him to handle. "Sorry. This was the first place that I thought of that was almost impossible to get to other than the swim we just took, and we needed to get away quickly," she apologized, helping him over to a shelf along the rock wall.

Killian lifted himself up with what little strength he had and leaned back against the wall. "And where exactly are we, love?"

"Another cave system I found while hiding from Pan, the island is littered with them," she explained as she hoisted herself up next to him, gently slapping her tail against the water while she waited for him to catch his breath.

When Killian could breathe normally again he turned to Emma and they both just stared at each other until he saw Emma's eyes start to well with tears. "Oh, love. Come here," he said gently, gathering her into his arms.

Emma held onto Killian tightly as she tried to process the events of the night and how closely she came to death. She didn't know what had caused the stone around her neck to begin to glow, only that it had saved her life. Killian held on just as tightly, thanking whatever powers-that-be or divine intervention that caused the stone to protect its wearer.

When they eventually pulled back, Killian was the first to speak. "Emma, I don't understand what happened back there. I thought you said you had your magic taken away from you?" he asked bewildered.

"I did. I honestly don't know what that was. I thought that the stone's only purpose was to keep me in this form," she said in frustration as she gestured towards her tail.

They sat there in silence for what seemed like forever until Killian finally spoke. "I'm sorry," he said.

Emma frowned as she turned to face him. "For what?"

"For not doing a better job at keeping Pan away from you," he said regretfully.

Emma reached out and rested her hand on his hook. "Kilian. It wasn't your fault. I think we were both a bit naive to believe that Pan wouldn't have found out about us meeting," she said softly. "I am so incredibly grateful that you were so willing to help me." She paused, eyes turning downward as she remembered what Pan had said. "Even if it meant not earning your way off this island."

Killian sighed. "Emma. I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of over the years," he stopped and took in a deep breath before continuing. "I didn't care who I hurt as long as it got me to my goal of being able to leave this wretched place." He paused again, contemplating his next words. "But when I met you, I realized that there were some things I wasn't willing to do. No matter what it cost me."

Emma stared at him, wondering how she could feel such a strong connection to him after only knowing him for such a short time. That had been why she'd decided to tell him about her past and what had happened to her, because she knew deep down, to her very core, that he wasn't like Nea… Baelfire. He wasn't going to turn her over to Pan. "Killian, I..."

'What is it, Emma?" Killian inquired at her hesitation.

Emma realized in that moment, as crazy as it sounded, that she might be falling for this pirate, and that absolutely terrified her. Especially since he was trying to avenge his dead lover. She just couldn't handle the heartbreak that would eventually happen.

"I think we need to figure out what we are going to do next," she said, motioning to the cave.

Killian could tell that wasn't what she was going to say, but he knew that pushing her wouldn't work. When the time came that she felt comfortable telling me, he would be there to listen.

"Oh. I don't know, love. I think this place is awfully cozy. We could build a lovely summer home here," he said in jest, trying to lighten the mood.

Emma let out a giggle. She knew they were in a tight spot right now, but she was glad they were in it together. "As much as that idea sounds wonderful, we really do need to come up with a plan. I mean, if you haven't noticed, I'm a little limited to where I can go," she said, swishing her tail back and forth through the water in emphasis.

Killian let out a heavy sigh. "Aye. That is a dilemma. I can't very well carry you through the jungle."

Emma snorted. "Yeah. That might be a little suspicious."

Killian pondered silently before finally speaking. "There might actually be someone on this island who may be able to help us."

"Who?" Emma asked curiously.

Killian didn't get the chance to tell her, because Emma was suddenly grabbed by her tail and pulled under the water.

"Emma!" he cried out in panic, rising to his knees and diving in after her.

Beneath the waterline, Emma was clashing with a dark haired mermaid. Killian could see that she was trying to hold her own, but her opponent had a tight grip on her. He began to swim faster, and just as he was about to reach them, the dark haired mermaid pulled Emma towards her and pressed her lips to Emma's. Killian grabbed the other mermaid in fury and sunk his hook into her neck. She reared back and tried to dislodge his hook, but he held fast until she eventually stopped moving and life left her eyes. He quickly clutched Emma to him and made his way back to the top.

When Killian surfaced, Emma was limp in his arms. He swiftly placed her on the rock shelf, then pushed himself out of the water and knelt next to her. Killian began frantically checking her over and, to his horror, found that she wasn't breathing. He had heard stories about the kiss of a vengeful mermaid, and how it could steal the breath of a person and drown them.

"Emma? Emma, come on love, don't do this to me," he croaked out, at a complete loss about what to do. Then, he recalled something he had once seen on his travels.

The Jolly had been docked in a trading post, and he had been haggling with the harbormaster over the docking fees when he had heard a commotion coming from from the other side of the docks. When Killian had come upon the scene, two people were pulling a young boy from the water. The child had been still and Killian could tell that he had been in the water too long. Thinking that there was nothing to be done for the boy, he had turned to head back to his ship when he witnessed it.

One of the onlookers had rushed forward and knelt beside the boy, looked over him quickly then bent forward and sealed their lips over the child's. Finding it strange, Killian watched as they lifted back up to check the boy again and repeated the process until all of a sudden the boy began coughing and spitting up water. He realized that they had been blowing air into the child's lungs to save his life.

Killian reached down, tilted Emma's head back, bent down to seal lips over hers and blew his breath into her body. He did it until he began to grow dizzy but nothing happened, no coughing, no sputtering just nothing. Killian let out a howl of despair.

"No! Emma, please! Please come back!" he leaned down for one more desperate attempt. "Emma, come back to me," he whispered.

When his lips touched hers something astonishing happened. The stone around Emma's neck began to glow. Killian sat back and watched as it engulfed her entire body. The light grew brighter and brighter around Emma until it was almost blinding, then just like back on the Jolly the light pulsed out across the cave.

When the light vanished Emma's eyes flew open and began darting wildly around. "Killian!"

Killian quickly went back to her side. "Shh! It's okay, love, I'm here," he said soothingly.

"Where is she?!" Emma asked panically, trying to sit up.

"She's dead, Emma," Killian said gently. "Lie back. You've been through alot. Don't overexert yourself."

Emma looked up at him with wide eyes. "Killian, she gave me the kiss! I should be dead. How am I not dead?" she asked hysterically.

Killian's eyes flickered downward then back up to meet hers. "You were,love," he reluctantly told her.

"What?" she whispered in disbelief.

Killian sighed. "You weren't breathing, Emma. I tried to save you, but it didn't work," he lamented.

"What happened?" she asked, not really sure she was ready to know.

Killain pointed to her neck. "The stone. It started to glow, and then the light surrounded you, it was almost blinding, then it shot out away from you just like on the ship." He paused, not sure how to tell her what happened next.

"Killian. What is it?" she asked when she noticed his hesitation.

"The stone brought you back. I know that sounds crazy, but it did. But that's not all it did," he said cryptically.

"What do you mean?"

"I think it's probably better just to show you love." Killian reached down to gently lift Emma up into a sitting position. He had no bloody idea how it had happened, but somehow, someway, the stone had given Emma back her legs.