X Marks the Spot

Chapter Twenty

Late into the night, Snow finally arrived at the hospital carrying her son in her arms and was surprised to find August sitting in a chair outside of the room where Killian was lying ill and unconscious, while Emma was sitting inside with him to remain by his side. Everyone else who had been with them throughout the day had left some time ago. She could tell that August was exhausted from the weariness on the younger man's face, but he was still awake and had his eyes on his childhood friend and the man she loved by way of watching over the both of them.

"August, what are you still doing here?" she asked quietly so as to not startle him, or disturb her daughter. "It's getting pretty late. You should be at home and in bed."

"I did leave for a bit," the wooden man child as Killian had once called him replied as he turned around to face his friend's mother as she walked over with another chair from the waiting room and took a seat in front of him. "I went with some of the others to talk with the fairies about trying to find a way to help Hook, at least to help slow down the process of whatever the curse is doing to him. Unfortunately without Blue being here, they didn't know of anything that could help him. When we left, they went separate ways while I came back here. I wanted to stay here with Emma and Hook in case they needed me for anything. I knew that David had gone home to get you so you could be here with her, but…"

Snow finished for him as she stated, "But it took him a little longer than expected. That's because he had to go pick up our son and then he apparently had some kind conversation with Zelena of all people. I wish I knew what it was about. But he only mentioned in his message that Emma was here with Killian and that she needed me. I really appreciate you being here for them, August. And I know that Emma and Killian do too. But go home. It's late. Try to get some sleep. Sadly, all of this will still be happening tomorrow too. Goodnight."

August nodded and then turned to leave as he called back, "Goodnight."

Once he was gone, Snow looked back into the hospital room, then moved closer to the glass doorway and wall in front of her in order observe her daughter while Emma sat beside Killian and rested her upper body over his as she lovingly caressed his face and chest in an effort to comfort him as well as herself the best that she could, even though her true love remained lifeless upon the bed where he lay. Hospital equipment and machines had been brought in to monitor Hook's vitals and to help him to breathe easier, as a plastic tube ran under his nose as doctors did for all comatose patients, while more tubes hung from both of his arms. As she looked at the man her daughter loved from where she remained in the hallway in silence, Snow's thoughts fell back to before the dark curse had been broken, when she used to sit with David while he too was as Hook was now.

"I don't know what it was you saw in me, Killian," Snow could hear her daughter whisper to him as she was about to enter the room until she stopped to wait a little longer for Emma to finish talking to him. "But ever since we first met, when I caught you in the lie that forced you to reveal your true… I mean your old self as I held my dagger to your throat, you've been trying to get me to fall in love with you. I never thought that someone could love me as much as you do, not after being alone for so long. And it was because of you that I was able to let go of all of my walls I held in place to keep myself from getting hurt one more time. But then you understood how I felt better than anyone ever has and ever could because you were even lonelier than I was."

"I certainly never imagined the man I would one day fall in love with would turn out to be Captain Hook," she continued after taking a few moments to collect her thoughts when her fear for him began to rise again to the surface as tears began to fall from the corners of her eyes. "A fictional storybook character whom I only ever saw in movies wearing a big red coat, a fancy hat, and a long ugly wig in order to cover up his balding head. Much like Black Beard as a matter of fact, except that he isn't balding."

Snow slowly entered the room when Emma's emotions began to overwhelm her while she kept on talking saying, "I need you to fight whatever's going on inside your head, Killian. Fight whatever's hurting you. I need you to come back to me. I promise that we will figure this out and stop whoever is helping Black Beard, but you have to stay with me because I can't lose you again. Besides, you've always been in my visions too, so you better not change my future by dying on me. Please… give me some kind of sign to let me know that you're listening."

When Killian didn't move at all and couldn't give the Savior what she was hoping for, Snow gently laid Neal down on the bed between Killian's legs, then pulled her daughter into her arms and held her tightly as Emma broke down, sobbing against her mother's chest, while Snow stated, "Shhh… It's all right, baby. Everything's going to be all right. We're not going to give up and neither will Killian. We're going to save him just as you told him we would."

"I want to believe you," Emma finally whispered after she continued to cry for a few more minutes until she finally regained her control and sat up again, then looked between her and the man she loved. "I mean I do. It's just that… I already almost lost him once this morning and I've watched him die three times before today. Four really, if you count him nearly drowning because of Zelena and Gold the day Neal was born and Zelena was defeated. Both you and Dad have had to deal with losing one another so many times in your life. How do you do it? How do I keep doing it if this is what our fates are destined to be? I have a death sentence hanging over my head and now Killian's dying again because I failed to protect him from one of his enemies? It's not fair!"

"You're absolutely right," her mother responded firmly. "It isn't fair. Do you want to know what your father said to me when I once asked him the same thing? He told me that we needed to have faith in us. That's exactly what you and Killian need too. You need to have faith in each other and one day, all of this will be over and the two of you will finally be able to live your happily ever after you deserve. I believe that with all of my heart. Do you, Emma?"

She wiped the tears from her eyes as she smiled at the other woman and then answered, "I do. I just needed to be reminded."

Snow nodded, then she replied, "Good. Now, your father has filled me in on all that's happened as best as he could within a video message on my phone. He hated to wake me up to all of this. But he knew that you needed me more. There was something else he said too, something that Zelena told him."

"Zelena?" Emma scoffed. "What does she have to do with any of this? Is she…?"

"No, she isn't the one helping Black Beard," she quickly interrupted when she knew what her daughter was thinking. "But apparently she came by to talk to him tonight looking for some advice. I'm not so sure about what, but my point is, that she actually gave your father some good advice when she told him that we should try looking inside another person's mind for answers. I didn't really understand at first what she meant until I realized that Regina only tried reading Black Beard's mind. What if you were to try to read Killian's?"

Emma sat up straighter as she looked back down at Killian again and responded, "Killian doesn't know who was helping Black Beard, but because their minds are somehow linked it's possible that somewhere in his subconscious there might be an answer. Oh God, Mom. Why didn't I think of this sooner?"

The Savior immediately moved closer to him and gently laid her hands over Killian's face, one hand on his forehead and the other over one of his temples, then concentrated as she struggled to break into his mind. After seeing nothing, but darkness for nearly a minute, Emma began to catch glimpses of the memories Killian has been and was still being tormented by from Black Beard's mind. But in the middle of it all, she also saw a flash of something else her instinct was telling her was not a part of one of the memories, that it was exactly what she was looking for.

"Emma, are you alright?" Snow asked worryingly when her daughter suddenly gasped in shock upon awakening as she pulled her hands away from Killian, then immediately grabbed hold of his hand in search of something that maybe only Emma could see. "What is it? Did you see something that can help him?"

"Son of a bitch," she said curtly after she struggled to make full sense of what she saw and then knew in her heart and mind that what she was afraid of, was true. "It was Gold. I saw glimpses of Black Beard's memories Killian's been seeing, but I also saw a flash of his hand. But it looked strange somehow. There were no rings on his fingers and there was a scar, a long scar running on the back of his hand from his thumb to his pinky."

Snow looked at Emma strangely and spoke again in confusion saying, "I don't understand. I don't see any scars on his hand."

Her daughter stood up as she answered, "No, but it's possible that the scar I saw is on his other hand."

"Which Gold is in possession of," her mother then replied upon realizing what Emma was trying to tell her. "Oh God, Emma. Listen, we need to wait until morning and talk about this with the others and then we can…"

"No!" the Savior responded angrily, then leaned down over Killian as she took his face in her hands and tenderly kissed his lips. "Killian's already suffered long enough. He's dying. And even if I were to agree to letting Dr. Whale put him into an induced coma, it isn't going to delay this curse's affects forever. I have to confront Gold now so that he can reverse whatever the hell he's done to him as soon as possible. I don't care what time of day it is or if he isn't willing to be of any help. And I don't care if I have to fight him. I will make him help Killian if I have to. Please, stay here with Killian. I don't want him to be left alone, especially now that I know who's really responsible. I can't risk anything else happening to him."

Snow looked into her daughter's eyes fearfully as she stated, "Of course. But Emma, please be careful."

Emma nodded as she turned to leave and then she answered, "I will. I promise. And Mom… thank you."