The Dark Backward

Chapter Twelve

Killian weakly awakened once more, finding himself within the harbor aboard the Jolly Roger. Yet unlike Emma and Maleficent, he also found he couldn't remember anything from his multiple times through the time loop before now, or that he was even trapped in one along with them, nor why he was laying on his ship's deck within the middle of the night and not in his bed within his quarters. All he knew was the intense headache he suddenly felt upon awakening and wondered if it could have been the cause of him passing out in the middle of his deck.

The Captain struggled to stand again, but after using his hook and the riggings tied to the main mast beside him to help him from the floor of the ship, he was finally back on his feet and he turned to retie the ropes around the mast in order to keep the riggings and the sail securely fastened before he did anything else.

He was just about finished, when Maleficent suddenly appeared behind him and Hook swiftly pulled his cutlass from its scabbard to protect himself against the sorceress. However, to his surprise, she didn't attack him. Instead, she just stood before him and waved her hand in order to knock the sword from his grasp as the blade was flung across the deck.

"What do you want?" Hook questioned her sternly while he kept his eyes trained on the villainess. "If you hope to use me in order to get to Emma…"

"Just relax, pirate," the sorceress retorted in frustration when he questioned her motives for being there like he had the last time through the loop, and knew she didn't really have the patience to answer any of his questions like before. "I'm not here to hurt you or your beloved Savior. If I was, you'd know it. But I don't have to answer anymore of your questions either. At least not now. So…"

All of a sudden, she emitted her power from the crystal in her staff towards the Captain as he was rendered unconscious like she had done before, just to keep him from talking to her or from trying to attack her as well for his own protection until Emma finally arrived to take over answering whatever his questions were for her so she wouldn't have to.

However, Maleficent had no idea how long it would take her to arrive this time, so she conjured an image within her crystal in hope she could discover where the Savior might be since she had never gotten the chance to ask her where she always awoke during their last time through the loop like she told Hook she would. Unfortunately, all she could tell from the other woman's surroundings was that she was somewhere within the middle of the woods. She could have been anywhere. At least until the sorceress saw Emma and her parents running past the well that she knew from a number of times she and the other Queens of Darkness had spoken with Gold somewhere more private upon their returns.

So, Maleficent raised her hand and teleported herself and the Savior's pirate to the heroes before they could run any further from the well, startling Emma enough to cause her to fall back against the ground until David and Mary Margaret rushed up behind her to help her when the villainess suddenly appeared directly in front of them.

David stood tall when he started to pull his service weapon from its holster while he glared at the sorceress and asked, "What are you doing here? If Gold's sent you to find the Author for him…"

Maleficent interrupted, "I didn't come for the Author. I came here to deliver the pirate to Emma for her."

"Killian," the Savior whispered fearfully when the villainess swiftly magicked him back on the ground at Emma's feet, as she swiftly bent down to help him sit up again once he slowly began to come to once more. "It's all right. I'm right here."

"Emma?" he questioned in confusion when he weakly turned his head and looked into her eyes. "What's happened? Maleficent…"

Before he could say anything more, Emma quickly answered, "Maleficent was only protecting you. Surprisingly. It's a long story. And I'll try to explain the best I can, but…"

She then looked up at the sorceress again and then whispered, "Thank you. For bringing him to me before anything could happen to him again. But how do we stop this? No matter what we've done…"

"Each loop always ends with your pirate's death no matter what we've done to try to prevent it," Maleficent finished for her when she knew what Emma was asking. "Honestly, I don't know how to stop it. We just have to keep trying and hopefully the longer we can keep him alive, the more our questions will be answered."

"There has to be answers in here… wherever we are… somewhere," the Savior continued again, then helped Killian to stand again, with both of her parents' help as they too were as confused by the conversation happening between their daughter and the villainess as he was.

Once he was on his feet again, Killian looked worryingly between the woman he loved and the villainess while he asked, "Emma… what's happening? What did she mean when she spoke of these time loops ending with my death?"

She looked at him again with concern as well and then responded, "I'm not really sure how to explain it anymore. You've always believed me and trusted me, but… There's a lot to explain."

"You can tell me anything," he softly replied. "Whatever's happening, of course I will believe you, Swan. You've seen me die then?"

"Yes," Emma stated sadly when she lowered her head and reached down to take his hand again into her own.

Killian nodded as he worked through what little he could piece together from the conversation moments ago between her and Maleficent, then asked again, "More than once I take it?"

She simply nodded the second time, then laid her head against his chest once he wrapped his free arm around her to comfort her while Killian turned his head to look over at David and Mary Margaret, as the Princess spoke up worryingly saying, "I'm not sure I understand what's going on here. We're all caught in some kind of time loop, which keeps repeating itself every time something terrible happens to Hook? But why him? And is it always the same?"

"Only Emma, Hook, and me are trapped here in this twisted realm," Maleficent curtly answered her. "We fell through a new kind of portal that somehow opened up when we attacked each other. And from what little we've been able to piece together ourselves, the rest of you aren't actually real. You're only shadows of this world. That's why you don't ever remember anything."

"Neither does Hook and yet you're saying he's trapped here too," David retorted. "We're as real as you."

The villainess raised her hand as she was about to lash out at him in frustration using her magic, until Emma saw this when she opened her eyes again and immediately pulled away from Killian while she shouted, "Enough! I don't know what all is happening here, or whether any of you aside from the three of us are real or not. I only know that we should work together if we're going to have any kind of chance of escaping this loop and getting back to what I know is real. I don't know how long I can keep watching Killian die before I can't take it any longer and completely break. I've already had enough, but I haven't given up just yet. So… no more fighting amongst ourselves. Maleficent is still a villain, yes… But she wants out of here as much as Killian and I do. And she's been helping us so far. So, Mom and Dad… you have to deal with it. If you can't, just go home."

Finally, Emma and Killian began to walk hand in hand in the direction of town again without another word to the others, while Maleficent and finally David and Mary Margaret followed after them. It took awhile for them to make it back, but once they did, Emma suddenly saw the same stranger she had seen once before inside Granny's Diner their first time through the loop when Killian had been shot, as he was standing in front of the library's doors watching them upon their arrival.

Emma immediately started running towards him upon getting a strange sense like before that this stranger wasn't a part of this world like everyone else here were and that he was quite possibly someone who was just as trapped as she, Killian, and Maleficent were too. But as soon as she started towards him, the stranger swiftly ran inside the library so he could make his way up to the clock tower.

However, the Savior, pirate, and sorceress didn't get much further, when their path towards the clock tower was barred by Gold as the Dark One appeared before them again to keep them back. Emma was about to question him about what he wanted, until he strangely vanished from before them, but then suddenly reappeared again behind Killian and used his power to begin to choke his enemy.

Emma raised her hands to try to defend Killian while she cried out, "Gold… stop! What the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm taking myself a little leverage so I can use him against you heroes and traitors should you attempt to keep me from getting everything that I want from the Author," he responded coldly, then forced the Savior's parents off their feet as he flung them back through the air behind them, and did the same to Maleficent so he could face off against Emma alone.

"Please… just let him go," she pleaded with him in fear for Killian's life once more as Gold continued to squeeze while the pirate struggled to keep himself from blacking out against the strain around his throat. "You're killing him. You don't need leverage against us to help you get what you want. You already have the Author and you plan to use him to rewrite happy endings for yourself and the other villains here. Which means you probably plan to write new unhappy endings for the rest of us. You have all the leverage you need. Just let Hook go."

The Dark One smiled darkly, then loosened his grasp around Killian's neck while he replied, "I may have the Author, Savior… But we both know you won't give up trying to stop me from getting everything I want unless I force your hand. And Hook here… he's the best choice among you heroes there is. On the night I stole his heart, back when he tried to protect you from me trapping you inside the Sorcerer's hat, he asked me how I could harm the mother of my own grandson. I didn't care about you, but Henry… He would never trust me if I killed his mother. Then a few days later, he told me I would be condemning Henry too if I helped the Snow Queen go through with her Curse of Shattered Sight, to which I had ordered him to kidnap him so I could take him and Belle with me away from Storybrooke once I finished crushing his heart. Oddly, I do somewhat care about Henry more than I care to admit, so you and Henry are not particularly the best of choices. You appear to be angry with your parents at the moment, so I doubt they're of much worth. And Maleficent is a villain. Besides… if what I've heard you say about this world not being real except for the three of you, it's clear he's the one person you care about most. Is this not true?"

No one except for Emma noticed as Killian carefully pulled a dagger from off of his belt until he lowered it in front of him while he kept his eyes on the woman he loved and despondently said to her, "Emma… you can find me again… Avoid this mom… moment after this loop re… restarts. I trust you. And… I'm sorry."

All of a sudden, Killian plunged the dagger into his own chest in order to break free from his oldest enemy's grasp once and for all upon seeing no other choice except to become the Dark One's prisoner, as Emma screamed. She immediately rushed to him once he fell against the ground when Gold stepped back with a look of surprise by what Hook had just done on his face.

Like before, Emma attempted to heal him, though she was always too late. Just like she was this time as well. Everyone had forgotten about the stranger once this showdown began and therefore no one saw him looking down on them from above inside the clock tower as the pirate captain died once again within his love's arms while she wept over his body, until the bright white light overwhelmed them all to restart the time loop once more.