A/N: It just hit me. I was writing this when I was posting chapter 46, when I promised a fight scene in the future - well, here it is.. Anyway. Just to over communicate, this chapter is chronologically before the last one.


~Dawn~

Killian had woken to an unfamiliar presence. It was just before dawn, and the centicore was making sounds he could only describe as a growl. He sees something.

Killian carefully looked around, as he moved the knapsack off, over his shoulder and set it down so he could climb, jump, or move in any way necessary. Whoever was near, wasn't near enough that the beast was charging. He'd seen that before. No matter how well hidden, or how well prepared a person thought he was to battle this kind of beast, the centicore was smarter, stronger, and more prepared. He had lost more than one friend to a creature such as this.

Killian looked up toward the sky. It would rain before the morning was over, he was sure of it.

He looked over to Emma, sleeping peacefully in her net, her golden curls falling between the cracks in the netting. Such beauty, as she lay dreaming, a smile at the corners of her lips. Never had she been more peaceful than in her dreams. He burned her image into his mind, never wanting to forget.

He could reach her, he knew. But what then? He knew they couldn't run, not this time. For one, the enemy was already upon them if he could feel their presence. Trying to get away would only put a target on them sooner.

The other thing, was his pride. He knew they had been close to finding the treasure the day before. They almost had it. It wouldn't take much longer to find the treasure they were after, and be able to end the attacks on them. But was it smart to wait them out?

Yar had already warned them once of these soldiers. Killian knew the beast would attack, and kill many, either scaring off the rest or getting himself killed. As silly as it sounded to the pirate, the Centicore had become like a friend and comrade to him. And his comrade was going into battle, whether he liked it or not.

Her best bet was to stay hidden, and she wouldn't do that if she were awake. He'd give in to her demands just to keep her quiet. He couldn't wake her up until the threat had passed.

He had to move from this spot. As much as he would love to use the tree's height to his advantage, he had to keep their attention on the ground level, away from what they were really after.

Upon hitting the ground, Yar eyed him for a moment, then continued his prowel.

Killian knew no matter what he did, he was in for a fight this day. He'd have to make it count for something. He went further into the foliage. If luck had any part in this, he could use the shadows to his advantage, while it was still dark anyway.

He went into his mental box of nothing, the awareness of his surroundings heightening. In that state, he couldn't say how long he sat like that. He stayed in his nothing box until Yar started to zero in on a section of the forest, dragging his hoofs into the ground before charging into the woods.

The battle had begun.

Yelps of surprise, and blood curdling screams could be heard.

Killian ignored it while silently making his way through the brush, from one cover to the next, until he came across a soldier crouched down behind a bush like he had been just moments before. The soldier was focused on the noise from the centicore and his victims, never seeing the pirate coming.

Killian moved around, and gave the soldier the sleeper choke. As soon as the man was out, he took the golden uniform and changed into it quickly and silently. He then slit the soldiers throat and hid the man in one bush and his normal clothing in another.

He continued forward, standing, hiding in plain sight. Whenever he came across a soldier, he repeated the process. Choke, sleep, slice, hide, until he lost count of the men he'd slain.

From the sound of it, Yar was keeping a good many of them occupied. He'd have to thank the beast with some kind of treat when this was all over.

Killian was in the middle of hiding a body, when he was spotted. His cover was blown. But these men were not accustomed to fighting. Green, the lot of them.

One slash with his hook.

One swipe of his sword.

Two down, one swift move from the pirate.

Half a dozen men, all stood stock still, staring with slack jaws.

"Defect, now, and I won't kill you." He grinned darkly at the sight of them, raising an eyebrow.

One man, slightly older than the rest, seemed to gain courage by this. He squared his shoulders, and rushed at him.

Killian stepped aside, letting the man rush past him, and stabbed him in the back. He knew it was a kidney shot. Poor bloke would suffer. Killian stabbed the man in the back of the neck - instant. Painless. Dead.

He looked up at the rest of the men, and grinned. "C'mon, now, don't be shy. Next victim, please, step forward."

They looked at each other, back and forth.

"C'mon blokes, I don't have all day."

They defected then and there, ripping the patches from their jackets. They were no longer a threat. He knew they'd have to leave, or face worse punishment than him if they tried to rejoin their leaders with that broken patch.

Hook nodded, continued on his way until he heard a wretched sound that could have only come from Yar. The beast was in trouble, bloody hell.

He made his way quickly, only running into one more soldier who received a slit throat, before he reached the edge of the forest, where he could clearly see the clearing. Yar was being held down by something, magick perhaps. Hook looked around, spotting the sorceress, then back to Yar who was in the middle of dozens of corpses and buckets of blood. He'd more than made a dent in their forces.

Dozens of soldiers stood as far back as they dared be, shock and fear playing across their faces. They formed a wide circle around the beast. It was almost like a show to them. Most, likely, had never seen real magick before.

The sorceress was unknown to him. She was sitting on the back of a beautiful white horse, waving her hands and concentrating on her task. She was only a few dozen meters to his left. If he could circle around the soldiers, get closer...

Hook scanned the crowd. The only other person of note was the man he dubbed the leader from the first night they'd spotted the soldiers. The leader was only a few feet from the sorceress' horse. Hook would need to be careful around him.

He checked his stolen uniform for blood, rips, or anything else out of place before moving out of the wood toward the clearing. He made a mental note of the symbol on the sleeve. He could hide in plain sight on this side of the wood, if he were careful. Slipping his hook into the pocket of the uniform, he blended in quite nicely.

As Hook moved around to get closer to the sorceress, he kept an eye on everything. Yar was motionless under her spell, as one soldier stepped forward to try and maim him. Then another. Then another.

Hook smirked. Sword after sword, a mallet, lance, arrows, even a magick wand. They didn't know just how thick his hyde was. The blows simply bounced off the beast.

Hook moved closer to the woman, quietly, normally, as the sorceress created chains that wrapped around the creature and staked into the ground. Fuck! He had to move much faster now.

She looked victorious, lowering her hands, glowing at the applause the remaining soldiers were giving her. She was looking away from him, and not paying close attention to her surroundings.

Quick as a whip, the throwing knife was out of Hook's hand and into the sorceress' neck before anyone knew it had been thrown. She went down, startling the horse enough for it to run away aimlessly. With any luck, she was much less prepared than other witches he'd known, and this would be the end of her.

"Willis!"

He was surrounded by gold uniforms. For a while, no one noticed him as he moved around the throng of soldiers in the chaos following the fallen sorceress. Quietly. Carefully. Paying attention to their accents if they spoke. Similar to the Charming's, but not quite.

He just had to get their attention away from this area.

He prepared himself to feign their accent. "I saw the princess! That way!" He pointed in a random direction, and over half the remaining men stopped what they were doing to chase a ghost. Some had even proclaimed that they had seen her too.

He moved toward Yar, feigning interest in the beast as well as timidity, watching as several men went to remove their fallen soldiers from around the beast.

One man hadn't immediately fallen for his ruse. The leader, who was moving close to him.

"Name and rank, soldier." The man called to him.

Jones cocked a grin, a bad feeling in his gut. "Private Jones, sir."

"Hmm." The man eyed the rank patch on his stolen uniform. "Says Corporal here."

Either they didn't use the traditional correlation between symbol and rank, or this man was testing him. "Apologies, sir, but it's Private Jones."

The man wasn't phased in the slightest.

"Why aren't you running after the princess with the rest of them?"

"I've been injured." He patted his hidden hook arm.

"Who is your king?"

Blasted arse! He had to think, and fast. Midas? No, he was dead. "Savas, of course." He knew memorizing that guest list would come in handy.

"And what is my name, Private Jones?"

"Sir, if I may, why are you asking me this?"

He chuckled mirthlessly at that. "Because you are not one of my men, Hook."

Damn. Oh well, this would be fun.

He removed his hook from the pocket, shrugging and grinning wildly, noticing out of the corner of his eye that the exchange had garnered the attention of a few of the other soldiers, and Hook found himself in battle with four men instantly.

Two men came at him.

He ducked out of the way, blocked a third man with his sword, parried the fourth with his Hook.

The first two had impaled each other.

He grinned. "Fan-bloody-tastic."

More men were coming at him.

In one fluid motion, Hook pushed his sword back making that man stumble while he impaled the fourth man.

He needed to get to Yar.

He kicked the stumbling man to the ground, and ran the rest of the way to the beast.

He managed to pull one chain loose from the ground before a new group of soldiers were too close.

He grabbed another chain and leaped over the creature, breaking it loose while putting distance between himself, and them.

He feigned a double take, looking to the tree line, "No, Emma, run." He gritted through clenched teeth.

It was enough of a lie to distract the coming soldiers.

In the span of three seconds, Hook threw two more knives, hooked one man in the jugular, and nearly impaled the third while simultaneously noticing that Yar was fighting to get up, but still had too many chains on him.

Three more men were down, one severely injured.

And three more men were standing, and he was out of throwing knives.

As they were distracted by their fallen men, he thrust his sword into the closet man, grabbed another spike, and rolled over Yar again, the force of his movement pulling it out of the ground as he went.

Yar was close to freedom.

But now, he had a knife at his throat, and it was held tightly against his skin. What the hell had he missed?

It didn't matter. It was over. The whole thing lasted about a minute. He was mildly curious if he should have woken her. She could have held her own, if she got over killing a man… which wasn't bloody likely.

"Where's the girl?" The gruff voice asked from behind. More men came, holding shaking swords toward the pirate.

"Which girl? I know of many who could keep your bed warm."

They moved him, roughly, to the treeline, sat him down, and tied him there. They took his sword, and detached his hook.

"Where's the princess? Emma Swan!"

"Oh, that girl. I've no idea. I told her to run."

"Wrong answer." The leader raised Killian's hook, thrust down, and impaled the pirate in the leg with his own hook, making him suck in air sharply. "Try again."

"Under another uniform, like mine. She ran off with the group into the forest. I really had seen her." He grinned past the pain.

The man nodded at a unit of men, who ran off in the direction their comrades had gone before them.

The leader leaned into the hook, pushing it in deeper. "Tell me the truth."

"I told you, bastards, she's already gone. I can't tell you a damn thing!"

"Tell me where she is, and I'll let you go."

"Look mate, I'm a survivor. If I knew where she was, I'd tell you just so I could be on my way. Blasted princess is a nightmare to be around, anyway."

He half-laughed. "Then why did you fight us?" The leader leaned into the hook.

"Because you lot were attacking me! It seemed reasonable at the time!"

The man shook his head, picked up a rock, and smashed it into the side of Killian's head.

He was fading when he heard a small squeak in the trees

She's awake.


Thank you for reading!