X Marks the Spot

Chapter Eighteen

At the hospital…

Nearly two hours passed by since Black Beard was brought in by David and the others after he had fallen ill while still in the jail, and Emma appeared by magic with Killian in her arms as he was also very ill. August had accompanied them, then took a seat within the waiting room beside David, Ariel, and Leroy, along with Henry and Regina who had also heard about the pirates being brought in thanks to a brief text message from David once he was able to get a hold of them.

Emma on the other hand remained standing outside of the room where Killian was brought into so that she could keep her eyes on Killian and the doctor as he tried to do all he could for the man she loved. It was the same room where David once laid in a bed while in a coma for twenty-eight years. But Emma eventually became impatient as she started to pace back and forth while she kept close to the glass doors when anger and her fear for Killian began to swell up inside of her. Everyone knew better than to encourage the Savior to do otherwise.

"Belle!" Emma called out anxiously when she noticed her friend walking in, then rushed over to talk to her. "Did Gold have anything that can help Killian? Did he have ideas what might be happening to him?"

"I'm afraid not," the beauty answered with frustration, having no memory of discovering her husband's involvement in Killian's rapid deterioration. "He says he's never heard of a spell or curse that has the power to cause whatever it is affecting Killian now, or Black Beard. I tried to explain what's been happening to him. And as you might imagine, Rumple isn't willing to come here to see their conditions for himself. He refused to help us at all. I thought that maybe by me pleading with him, it would soften his anger towards you and Killian, but…. I should have known. I'm so sorry, Emma."

The Savior rubbed her forehead wearily, then despondently she responded, "I'm sure you did all you could have done. I shouldn't have bothered to ask you to go talk to that coward after all you've been through with him yourself. I'm sorry."

Finally Whale walked out from Killian's room and Emma immediately turned to face him, as her father, son, and their friends all walked over to stand with her while she questioned the doctor eagerly, "How's Hook? Do you have any idea what might be wrong with him?"

"I've never seen anything like this before," he replied sternly. "Hook is definitely very sick and his fever's dangerously high. But there's nothing like an infected wound or a normal illness that's causing it, so I don't have any idea how to treat something I can't see. As for how he's being plagued by the other pirate's memories and how I might stop it, I can't even begin to explain how it's possible. Because it's some kind of dark magic that's inflicting him, there's nothing I can really do for him I'm afraid. All I can do now is make him as comfortable as I can and try to bring his fever down using whatever traditional drugs and treatments I have, which I'll do of course. Unfortunately, Hook's only chance at recovery is going to depend solely on you heroes."

"What about Black Beard?" David asked when his daughter stepped away from them without another word and entered Killian's room to be with him. "Is he suffering from the same effects as Hook?"

Dr. Whale shook his head as he answered, "Not exactly. I mean… in a way their effects are similar, in the sense that Black Beard is sick with a fever as well. However, the same drugs I tried giving to Captain Hook appear to be working just fine. It's as though whatever is causing all this, is nothing more than a side effect in Black Beard. His fever wasn't as high and it's going down just fine. I can't explain it. If there are anymore surprises, you'll have to wait until he wakes up before we know of anything. I'm sorry that there's nothing more I can do, at least not for Hook."

David nodded worryingly, then he looked back at him as he responded, "I know that you've done all you can. Thank you."

"We're about as helpless as Whale is," August said quietly in frustration as the doctor walked away to finish gathering the supplies and medicines he would need to continue to help his patients. "Until we figure out who's responsible for doing this…"

"Unfortunately, the Evil Queen and my sister were of no help," Regina replied when August failed to finish his train of thought. "All we really managed to do was get into another fight like we usually do. She knew I was there to accuse her of something. And I did get the sense that she knows damn well what's happened to Hook, but I don't think she is the one behind this. She only wishes she had been. She did however make all kinds of suggestions as to who might have done it. She even mentioned it could have been Zelena for all she knew."

Henry looked at his mother curiously as he asked, "Who else did she suggest?"

The dark haired woman began listing off names as she stated, "Well… Gold of course, a possible old friend of Hyde's or even Dr. Jekyll in case they wanted revenge on Hook for killing them, the Dragon in case the monk might believe killing Hook might be for the greater good for some reason, and of course an infinite number of other possibilities. Like we thought, she suggested that some unknown villain might have come over from the Land of Untold Stories with Black Beard too. Hook has made many enemies in two hundred years and any one of them could have done all of this. The Queen volunteered to help us find whoever it is, but I told her not a chance in hell and then poofed myself out of there. She's not to be trusted. Even if she was telling the truth and was honestly willing to help, she would want something in return and it would be a price that none of us would be willing to pay, or that we can pay. We just can't risk it."

"You were right not to trust her," Charming answered as he nodded in agreement.

"We could try talking to the fairies to see if they might know something that could help Killian," Leroy responded with another suggestion. "Obviously Blue isn't here, but the others are. They might at least be able to slow down the curse's effects. To buy us some more time to save Hook."

It was then that Dr. Whale walked back out as he spoke up saying, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt. And I don't usually suggest this lightly, but it might help to give you guys the time you need. If it works, which I'm not really sure that it will because of the curse he's trapped under. But I could try to placing Hook into an induced coma. If anything, it could spare him some pain."

David looked between everyone surrounding him and then he turned back to the little mermaid as he replied, "Any help that you can bring for Hook, we're more than willing to accept. Thank you, Whale. It's a good suggestion. But you're going to have to talk with Emma about this first. Anything we do medically to help Hook all needs to go through her, since he's not awake himself to make the decisions for himself."