Darkness is a Funny Thing… It Creeps Up in You
Chapter Twenty
Meanwhile…
After he left the pawnshop, Killian continued walking down the street as he warily made his way towards the harbor. All he needed was to be alone for awhile so he could clear his head and try to let go of the anger he was feeling towards Gold, as well as Ursula too. The anger he felt wasn't doing him any good, and he knew that if he didn't do something to alleviate it, then it would eventually come to make him do something more he would regret. And he certainly didn't need one more thing on his conscience to feel guilty about.
Unfortunately, before he could get away from the main square, Archie suddenly called out to the pirate Captain from behind him. Killian turned around while the psychiatrist and his dog, Pongo came running towards him. He had barely passed Granny's Diner when Archie reached him.
"Killian… thank goodness I've found you," the cricket finally spoke once he was able to get his breathing under control from having to run over to catch up to his friend. "I've been looking for anyone who could help. Geppetto and Pinocchio… I think they're in trouble."
"What sort of trouble?" Hook suspiciously asked him.
Archie glanced down at his dalmatian when Pongo growled as if to heighten his owner's concern for their friends, then he looked at Killian again and responded worryingly, "They were supposed to meet me at my office for an appointment before we go out for lunch. But when they didn't show up, I got concerned. So I went over to their house and looked around Geppetto's garage as well, but neither of them are there. Geppetto would never miss an appointment with me without calling first. And I've known him for a very long time. This isn't like him. Something's wrong."
Killian immediately felt a knot rise up in his gut, telling him that if their friends were truly missing, it was because Gold and the other villains were responsible for their disappearances. He didn't know the old man or his son very well at all, but he did know them enough to know that they never would just leave Storybrooke without telling anyone. Especially with the Snow Queen's magic still in place protecting the town from the outside world and preventing anyone from getting back into Storybrooke.
As he considered his options, the Captain let out a quiet sigh and then he finally answered definitively, "Listen… go and find Emma, her parents, Belle, and Robin to let them know you fear your friends are in danger. They should all still be in Gold's shop. If not, then they may have left to talk with Regina inside her vault. They were talking about Regina possibly being able to come up with a few ideas to help us against these villains. They can help."
"What are you going to do?" the doctor asked his friend out of concern upon recognizing that Killian wasn't planning to go with him to find the others.
"Something that I should have done when I first learned Ursula arrived here in Storybrooke," Killian somberly replied to the man of conscience. "I'm going to try to right a wrong."
With that being said, Killian turned away from Archie and started running back to Granny's to return to his room so he could collect something he would need to do what he had planned. The doctor watched him run off with worry for him until Hook disappeared when he entered the diner, then with Pongo in tow, he finally started walking himself as he made his way to Gold's shop like Killian suggested he do to find the other heroes.
Killian walked through the diner as he ignored all those inside the dining room and rushed up the stairs to his room, unlocked his door, then quickly made his way over to where one of his sea chests resting on the floor at the foot of his bed. He knelt down in front of it while he unlatched his hook from its brace, then used the key carved into the end and inserted it into the chest's lock, identical to the lock within his safe inside the Captain's quarters aboard the Jolly Roger.
Once the lock clicked to indicate it was unlocked, he set his hook on the floor next to him and opened the chest, then began to shuffle through the maps, papers, and multitude of trinkets secured inside, until he finally found exactly what he was looking for. An enchanted seashell he had collected long ago during his travels through the realms back when he still sailed the seas aboard the cherished ship that was no longer his. He pulled out the shell and carefully set it in his lap, then closed the chest's lid and picked up his hook again to relock it, before finally latching his hook back in its rightful place within his brace.
When he finished, Killian finally stood again with the seashell in hand, then rushed from the room so he could make his way out into the woods where he suspected the villains were hiding out. Emma and his friends all hoped to figure out a way to separate one of their enemies from the others to try to stop them once and for all. He knew just how to do it, yet he couldn't tell Emma so because he knew Ursula would never agree to the deal he hoped to propose to her if she suspected that there was the slightest chance of the heroes betraying her. And if his plan worked, he wouldn't have to. The Sea Witch would have her happy ending that he had stolen from her, and she would willingly tell him exactly what Gold was planning. So Killian uneasily went against the promise he had made to Emma to not go anywhere near the villainess he wronged so long ago on his own, in spite of the danger awaiting for him should he fail.