The Dark Backward

Chapter Nine

Meanwhile…

Emma slowly awakened once again within the middle of the woods, but despite her headache which returned like always, she fought against it as she swiftly sat up, then stood on her feet and began to run as fast as she could towards town before her parents could find her. All she wanted was to find Killian before they or anyone else could delay her so she could do whatever it took to protect him from dying again. Once she finally made it back, Emma stopped only for a minute so she could catch her breath, then she quickly continued on as she ran from Main Street down to the harbor where she knew Killian always awoke aboard the Jolly Roger like he told her each time they've been through the time loop now.

Just like she hoped, Emma found him as he stepped down on land from the ship's gangplank, then stopped upon seeing the woman he loved appear before him, and he stared at her until she ran into his arms to embrace him like she believed something had happened to him that he couldn't remember, though he sensed something was wrong from the moment he awoke.

She just continued to hold him tightly against her without saying a word, so after a few minutes, Killian finally spoke softly as he asked, "Emma… what's happened, love? You're acting like I've disappeared, or…"

The Captain who loved her cut himself off before he finished when Emma looked up into his eyes and immediately understood what happened to him was somehow the word he couldn't bring himself to say upon seeing her tears, then she swiftly began to pull him along with her by grasping his hand in her own as they left the docks while she answered, "Not here. I'll explain once we find someplace away from here. Somewhere… we can be alone."

The Savior kept pulling him behind her until they made their way to where her yellow bug was parked outside of her parents' loft and Killian didn't object when Emma asked him to get in. He gave her the silence that had fallen between them in the belief she needed it to help her come to terms and to think of how to share with him what happened to them. However, when they were about the cross the town line to leave Storybrooke, he swiftly asked her to stop and she immediately slammed on the brakes simply by the mere sound of his voice.

"Swan?" he gently whispered out of worry when he looked over at her as Emma kept staring at the road ahead and kept her hands on the steering wheel, until he tenderly reached out to take one of her hands into his own while he turned his upper body to face her. "Whatever's happened… you can tell me. I may not remember, but I'll believe you. And if you're thinking leaving Storybrooke is the only way to escape our troubles, whether it's because of what happened to me, or because of your parents…"

"I can't deny my wanting to leave here is because of both those reasons," Emma despondently replied before he could continue, when she finally looked over at him again. "I lost you tonight, Killian. And not just once. I've watched you die three times now. The first time because you protected me against Maleficent's power when she threatened me. The other two times because we've somehow become trapped inside some twisted time loop, that always restarts after you're killed. I told you yesterday you wouldn't have to worry about me because I wasn't going to let Gold, or anyone decide who I am by turning me dark. I thought I was strong enough to resist their taunts and their attacks, but I was wrong. I failed you. I felt you die and I lost myself. That's why we're in this trouble now. I lashed out against Maleficent first and now we're trapped here."

She stopped talking when she turned away from him again as she opened her door to get out of the car while Killian did the same, then he walked around her car so he could stand beside her and after she wrapped her arms around him again seeking his comfort, he questioned, "And your parents?"

The Savior laid her head against his chest between his shoulders and his neck, then she sadly continued, "My anger towards them was the beginning of me losing my temper. I thought I was in control, but then you died and… and I lost that control. Maleficent tried to hurt me and killed you first, but then I attacked her in revenge. She was only defending herself against me and I think our powers clashing together was what pulled us into this time loop somehow. It's the only plausible conception I have that might explain how all this has happened. And I am angry with them, Killian. I just don't know how to let it go. I'm not ready to let it go."

"Believe me, Emma… I do understand your anger towards your parents far better than you think I do," Killian responded sincerely while he continued to hold her. "I told you my father abandoned me too… long, long ago. And my hate for him made me do something unspeakable that I will never be able to forgive myself for. But my point is… if you can't find a way to forgive your parents, it will slowly consume you and Gold, and Maleficent, and Cruella… they will get exactly what they want from you. If I have done anything to help you know you deserve to be loved, then please heed my plea and believe that you need them. Now more than ever. You know that I will go to the end of the world for you. You're my home and I love you, so if you decide to leave Storybrooke when this is all said and done, I will come with you. But not until we get out of this time loop and I plead with you to think this decision through. Not only are you an amazing woman, but you are also the Savior. However, you can't be that anymore, except for me, if we live where there's no one to save."

"Being only your Savior would be enough for me," she answered in jest before he could go on once she finally pulled back enough so she could look into his eyes as she smiled up at him.

Killian smiled down at her as well and then he gently replied, "A part of me wishes protecting me was your only burden to bear, since you allowed yourself to accept me into your heart. Not that I wish to be a burden to you, but… Can you really condemn your family and our friends to a world of darkness like these villains want? Because this is what will happen if we leave right here and now."

The Captain raised his hand to Emma's face and tenderly caressed her cheek when tears began to slip from her eyes as she continued to look at him, then she whispered, "I hear you. And you're right. I do want to forgive them, Killian. It's just going to take me some time."

"Aye, love," the man who loved her responded to her in understanding and then embraced her once more. "And I'll be right here by your side to help you. Whenever you're ready."

"I wish that were true, but I'm afraid you won't be," a sympathetic voice suddenly spoke out from behind them, as Emma and Killian quickly turned and were surprised to see Ursula now standing before them.

Killian looked at her in confusion while he asked, "Ursula… I thought you left town with your father?"

She looked at him as well, as she answered, "You should have struck around the harbor until we were gone, instead of walking off to brood over the Dark One's plans for your girlfriend here. Perhaps if you had, Gold never would have surprised me when he appeared and ripped out my heart before we could escape this town. He stole my heart and ordered that I help him to imprison my father. He's now Rumplestiltskin's prisoner and I'm completely under his control."

"Your father is an all-powerful God," Emma replied worryingly, as she moved in closer to Killian protectively while they continued to face the Sea Witch.

"He was, until I stole most of his power away from him years ago when I took his trident and became the Sea Witch that I am," she retorted curtly, but then she breathed out again to try to calm down. "I became more powerful than even the God of the Seas when I rid myself of my tail and traded it in for my tentacles. And I regret it more than I regret anything else. Except maybe for what I'm about to do now."

While Emma talked with her, Killian thought back to what he believed would be his last conversation with Ursula while he struggled to remember if he had stayed with her, or walked away to brood over what he had learned like she told them he'd done, and saw himself as he walked the docks alongside her and her father, then stopped and looked at the villain he had wronged speaking quietly saying, "I suppose this is farewell."

She nodded, looking between the pirate as well as her father while he walked on ahead of them, then she responded sincerely, "It is, but first, I have to hold up my end of the deal. Gold's plan… I'm afraid it involves Emma. She's the only way he can secure happy endings for the villains."

"Well, I thought he was gonna get the Author to rewrite everyone's stories?" Killian asked in confusion.

"It's not that simple," she answered while she continued to look at the man still standing before her. "The Author can't just change things in this world because he didn't give everyone their happy endings here."

Hook looked away from her as he replied with concern, "Emma did."

He sighed as Ursula continued, "She's the Savior. And as long as there's a Savior, the Author can't give the villains what they really want. And the Dark One knows this."

"The Dark One's gonna try to kill Emma?" he said fearfully.

"Worse… he plans to fill her heart with darkness forever," the woman responded remorsefully, as his fear for the woman he loved grew deeper, as did his anger for the demon who's haunted him for most of the two hundred years of his life.

Killian broke out of his memory when Ursula then threatened, "I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt either of you, but Gold has given me no choice. I have to do as he ordered me to."

Emma shook her head when the Sea Witch let out her tentacles and she immediately raised her hands in order to use her power against the woman being forced against her will to hurt them. However, this time, the Savior hesitated to release her power out of fear from what happened the last time she had done so against one of the Queens of Darkness. Sadly, it was because of her hesitation that cost Killian his life within this round of the loop they continued to remain trapped in.

When Ursula suddenly wrapped one of her limbs tightly around her, Killian raced towards her to try to help her while he shouted, "Emma!"

"Killian… no!" the woman he loved cried out as the Sea Witch struck him with another of her arms and forced him back through the air until he landed roughly through the windshield of Emma's car. "No! Ursula, please… you can fight Gold. You're the daughter of a God and more powerful than Poseidon. That makes you more powerful than Gold too. Please let me go so I can save Killian. I can't let him die again."

"I'm so sorry," Ursula whispered regretfully, as she struggled against the Dark One's hold over her while she began to squeeze her tentacle more tightly around her, until she finally found the strength to resist his demand and then finally released the Savior so she could run to Hook.

Emma gasped when she could breathe again after she collapsed to her knees on the ground once she was freed, then she quickly stumbled over to her bug and ripped open the driver's side door where she found Killian lying still within the seats covered in glass and even worse… his blood. He was bleeding out from multiple cuts, including a deep wound within the small of his back where a large shard of the glass had become embedded. Emma reached out her hand to lay it down over his own as she leaned down to kiss his forehead upon seeing he was already gone, then held him the best she could while she silently cried, waiting for the light and the darkness that always followed to consume them once more.