Many, many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed or took time to leave me a review at this story, so far. This chapter marks the beginning of the real action of the story. The following nine chapters are something I really enjoyed writing and I am telling you, there is a lot of angst coming and a lot of Captain Swan! No more Milah for a few chapters, just Emma and Killian! Please don't refrain from starting to yell at me because I know you are going to want to yell at me. I encourage you to start yelling at me!

This being said, enjoy a full chapter of Captain Swan in Neverland!

Neverland

Hook dropped his head down again as soon as he said the words. Emma was at a loss for words hearing his statement. It couldn't be true. He must be playing with her, trying to make her smile. Something, anything, because that was what he did ever since the first time they met. Hook must be trying to make her not think about what happened earlier in the day; about their latest failure or he could be trying to distract her from talking about the fact that he jumped between an arrow and her. It couldn't be true. She refused to believe him. He was not dying.

"You're kidding, right?" Emma asked, still half stunned by Hook's admission and half shocked.

"Why would I be?" Hook asked, looking at her.

This time, she took a better look at him. He was pale, drops of sweat were on his forehead and he was still keeping a hand to his wound. Seeing him like this, Emma realized that he wasn't kidding one bit. He was actually being very honest with her.

"There must be a way to stop it!" Emma yelled, standing up from the tree trunk.

"Emma," he tried to stop her, but she didn't let him.

"No, Hook. You are not dying here," Emma said with determination in her eyes.

"Emma, please."

"I won't let you!" She yelled at him.

"Emma!" Killian said again, rising from his place and coming to stand in front of her.

"Killian you can't," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders. "There must be a way to stop this."

"There isn't, love," Hook told her, trying to remove her hands from his shoulders.

"How do you know that?" she asked, finally letting her hands fall to her sides.

"I spent years here, Emma!" Hook snapped at her.

"Maybe you missed something!" She snapped back.

"This is the poison I used back in your world to kill Rumplestiltskin."

She remembered that, remembered how bad Gold was after Hook stabbed him and how hard it was to save him. What Mary Margaret had to do to save him. But Gold has been stabbed with the poison, Hook's wound was just a scratch. This poison couldn't have been so… fatal. Right?

"But he's alive now," Emma told Hook.

"At what cost?"

"Then we find another way!"

"This is the poison that killed my brother," he said in a defeated tone, taking a step back and sitting down on the tree trunk.

Emma looked at him and he was paler than before, if that was even possible. He definitely looked weaker too. She took two paces and then sat down on the ground in front of him.

"Your brother?" Emma asked, surprised by his remark.

"Yes. His name was Liam Jones and he was the most honorable man in the world. He was my captain, my brother, my anchor, my everything. It was just me and him after our father left us to be slaves on a ship and he took care of me. We went into the navy because we wanted to get away from the life we had and he became a Captain. I was his Lieutenant for a few years. Our king, I don't even remember his name, sent us here to find a plant. He told Liam that it was a healing plant that could have helped our navy, but it was actually dreamshade the king wanted to use in war."

Hook looked at her and she nodded so he could continue his story.

"Liam was much like your father; brave, determined, and always wishing to do the right thing. We met Pan the first time we stepped on the island and Liam asked him about the plant. Pan told us that it was actually a weapon, not a healing plant, but Liam didn't want to listen to him. Pan showed us the way to the plant and when we got there, I wanted to stop Liam. When we got there and saw the plant I knew that something wasn't good about it. I knew something was wrong and I thought about what Pan had said on the beach. I told Liam that maybe Pan was right, that maybe it wasn't actually a healing plant but he didn't want to listen. He said that our king would never do that, that he was an honorable king, so he wanted to prove to me that Pan wasn't right. He cut off a branch and scratched himself with it. The poison was in his blood instantly and the next thing I saw was my brother on the ground."

"He died," Emma said, softly.

"He did. But that's not the whole story," Hook said with regret in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I was scared and desperate. I wanted my brother back so I started to scream after Pan, hoping that he could hear me. Pan was there after a few minutes and told me that he was right and we should have listened to him. I didn't care about that part, all I cared about was my brother who was in my arms, dead. Then Pan told me about a water that could counteract the poison from Liam's blood but that there was a price. I didn't care about the price at that moment, all I cared about was Liam. So I took the water, gave it to Liam and he was back alive in a few moments."

"That's great, isn't it?" Emma stopped his story. "We have to find the water, give it to you and you will be fine, right?"

"It's not that simple."

"It sounds pretty simple to me, actually. In fact, it sounds more like you don't want to do it, not that you can't do it."

"That's because I don't want to do it!" he yelled at her.

"So you want to die? After all this time, you suddenly want to die? After you said that you want to be a part of something? That's it? Are you finally giving up, Hook?" Emma said getting angry at him.

"You didn't let me finish my story."

"I think I got it anyway. Liam has been poisoned, you gave him the water, and Liam came back to life. If you drink the water now, you won't even die! You will be fine!"

"Do you see Liam running around? Do you see him here right now? Do you think he's alive, Emma? Let me finish my damn story. Let me tell you that Liam died shortly after we left this damned island. The price of the water was for him to spend the rest of his life on this damned island, but of course we didn't know that because Pan never told us. Liam died when we got back to the Enchanted Forest, Emma."

Emma was at a loss for words. She didn't see that coming and she didn't know what to say so when Hook saw that she wasn't going to say anything, he continued.

"You are right, I don't want to drink that water. You know why? Because I don't want to spend the rest of my life here. I was here for 300 years. I don't want to spend any more time than necessary here. I want to help you find your son and then get you all the hell out of here. I will either die here or I will drink the water and leave this place and die when we get back to Storybrooke. There is no other option for me. I don't even want to think about drinking that water and staying here for the rest of my life, hunted by Pan and his demons like an animal."

Emma was stunned by Hook's confession. She didn't expect that, the whole story to come out about his brother and a bit of his beginnings. She knew that under the whole Hook charade there was a sad story, because everyone has a story they mask in the eyes of others. But he actually let her find out that story. She looked in his eyes and right in that moment Emma Swan saw Killian Jones, the real Killian Jones, not Captain Hook. His eyes were darker and she could see the storm that was there. Looking into his eyes, Emma could finally understand why people say that eyes are the mirror to the soul because she could feel that inside his heart, there was a very powerful storm raging.

"I'm sorry," Emma murmured.

"Why? Because I'm dying?" She could see what he was trying to do, put back his mask, make Captain Hook appear again and she didn't want that. She preferred Killian Jones right now.

"Because I made you relive all that, because I kind of forced you to do it. I am sorry because I yelled at you." She cast her eyes down and then said with a whisper "I am sorry you are dying because of me."

"Emma" he started to speak, while putting his hand on her cheek and his hook under her chin, lifting her eyes to his level. "Swan, it's not your fault."

"But it is. I wasn't paying attention to the Lost Boys and their attack, but you were. You decided to jump in front of me, for me," she explained to him.

"It sounds like it's more my fault than yours."

"It's mine. I should have been more careful."

"You were looking for your boy. You were doing what you came here for," he explained.

His words made her think about something; something she hadn't realized she needed to know until now.

"You knew, didn't you?" Emma asked him.

"What?"

"You knew that the arrow had poison on it," she explained

Hearing her statement instead of answering, Hook just let his head drop and closed his eyes. It was enough for Emma to understand, to know that indeed, he knew the arrow was poisoned and he knew what was going to happen.

"I owe you my life. I owe you more than this," Emma said with a trembling voice.

"You owe me nothing, Emma. I would do it again," Hook said without any trace of regret in his eyes or in his voice.

"Killian-" she started but she was stopped by him.

"I'm serious Emma."

She was looking at him again, really looking at him. She then looked again at the wound that was still visible.

"This is really happening," Emma said moving her eyes from the wound and then again at his face.

"It is."

"What are we going to do?"

"We are going to find your son, Emma. We are going to find Henry and then we are going to get you both out of Neverland."

"But what about you?"

"I'm a survivor," Hook said with a grin.

"I think you just admitted that you are dying," Emma said with a small smile at the corner of her mouth.

"I'm going to survive until the day we are going to find your son, Emma. I swear that to you. I said I was going to help you find him and I will. I will make sure that I won't die before that day."

"What about the others? They will start seeing that there is something wrong with you," Emma asked, worried that they wouldn't be able to keep something like this from the others. Especially from Regina or David.

"We will figure out something to tell them."

"You don't want to tell them the truth?"

"I don't. I don't want them to think about what they are going to do with me when they have to find your son," he said seriously. "That is, if you want to keep it a secret."

"I will. I will keep it a secret," Emma answered truthfully, looking into his eyes. This time she saw sadness there instead of the storm.

It hit her then, really hit her that he was dying and if she was honest with herself, she didn't want him to. She didn't want him to die and she would do anything to help him.

The thought of him dying scared her, yes. But what scared her even more were the feelings that were already there, hidden in a secret place in her heart. And those feelings started to appear their very first day here.

She felt her face falling in the moment she realized what was going on and he probably saw it too.

"What is it, Emma?" he asked her.

"It just hit me…" but she stopped. A part of her didn't want to tell him the truth because that would mean that she cared more than she was willing to admit out loud. And she was already too scared to admit anything more to him.

"What?"

"Nothing. It doesn't matter. Not right now." She felt the exact moment her walls were back and the moment he hid behind his mask.

"Maybe you should go get some rest."

"I'm really not that tired," she objected.

"You are, actually. After everything that happened today and tonight, I can see that." He stopped and took a look in the direction of the camp then talked again. "Besides, I should wake your father soon for his next watch."

"Yeah, you might be right. David wouldn't like seeing me awake right now," she answered and rose from the ground.

"Promise me one thing?" she said before she left.

"Aye?"

"If you are not feeling well, tell me."

"Emma, I don't-" He didn't finish his sentence because she stopped him.

"Don't even say it," she started. "Right now, I am the only one who knows about this and I am not going to pretend like it isn't happening right under my nose."

"I am fine."

"You are in pain."

"It's really not that hard."

"Oh, it isn't?" she said coming closer to him. "And if, right now, I happen to touch your wound, that won't hurt?" she asked, trying to touch him where he was hurt.

"Don't," he stopped her.

"See. It hurts."

"Okay, fine. I will tell you if there is something wrong with me."

"Good." And without even thinking, she kissed him on the cheek. "Try to get some sleep when David wakes up."

"Okay," he said softly.

She left him there as she walked back to the camp to try and get some sleep before everyone woke up for the day.

PS: I finally finished writing the story of how Milah is alive! I am curious if you have ant theories, so please, let me know!