X Marks the Spot

Chapter Twenty-Four

"You are such a bloody bastard!" Killian castigated his enemy angrily through his agony while he struggled to get back to his feet again using the wall of the corridor they found themselves in to help.

"I told you that you wouldn't want to know what I was about to do," Black Beard sneered as he too struggled to stand again through the dizziness he felt from the change of the memories they were trapped within, though like before his pain didn't last long and he was able to get back to his feet much easier than Hook was able to. "That wench would have given me the pleasurable experience I sought from her, had I not been foolish enough to let her close enough while I was still fully dressed to steal my dagger. She deserved what she got for trying to kill me."

Hook growled in frustration and finally managed to stand as he clung to the wall for support in order to remain on his feet, then answered, "A shot to her heart. You really believe that's what she deserved when you tried to force yourself on her against her will?"

Black Beard glared at his enemy as he responded cruelly, "That wench was nothing more than a bloody whore who tried to kill Captain Black Beard. She had no will of her own. Those women did whatever I demanded of them, or my men. So yes, Hook. A shot to her heart was exactly what she deserved because I said so. Now, where are we now? And why do whatever memories that arise keep coming on faster and faster?"

"It appears that we're back in the Land of Untold Stories," the heroic pirate replied weakly as he continued to look around them in trying to determine what memory he was about to be reminded of. "This appears to be the large mansion that belonged to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde while they were still here. I'm guessing that you were never imprisoned by Hyde while you were here? Because I was, along with Emma's parents and the Wicked Witch. Shortly after Hyde tried to take over Storybrooke, I killed him. Or rather I killed Jekyll, which coincidentally killed Hyde as well when the good doctor attacked one of our friends. I hoped I would never find myself back here again."

"And the memories?" Black Beard stated again.

Killian shook his head in trying to relieve his pain if only a little and then he answered, "I told you… I don't know any more about what's happening to us than you do. But if I had to wager a guess, I would say it's… because the curse I'm under is getting closer… to reaching its end. I suggest you pray you can get out before that happens."

The villain scoffed and looked around them as well and then he responded, "Well I don't recall ever being in a mansion or wherever the hell we are. Only within the strange provenance out there I suppose. So are we trapped in one of your memories again?"

"Aye," he replied nervously upon seeing Hyde appear in the corridor before them, then followed after him as they entered the very room where the first doppelganger had once held him and his friends' prisoners within the cage that inhibited Zelena's magic while they were here before. "Hyde very nearly killed me in this moment. Had it not been for David and Snow preventing Hyde from… Prepare yourself for more pain."

"There you are," Hyde suddenly spoke as he within the darkness of the room, while Killian and Black Beard remained quiet once Hook's memory here began to play out. "The prisoners who attacked my groundsman."

David tried to defend himself, his wife, and friends standing beside him inside as he retorted, "No, no, no. We didn't attack anyone. This is just a big misunderstanding. We just want to know where we are."

Hyde slowly began to walk towards them as he answered coldly, "All you need to know is that you don't want to be here, and that you're the ones who are going to be answering my questions. Like why are you really here?"

"We just want to go home," Snow responded.

"You must think me so naïve," he continued as he stepped forward again and took the steps up to the cage. "I know you're lying. I know who really sent you. So tell me... what does the Dark One want?"

Killian watched himself step out from the others, then stand directly in front of the villain as he asked darkly, "You know the bloody Crocodile? Who are you? What do you really want?"

The sinister man suddenly grabbed the form of Hook within the memory the real hero and villain were trapped in by his throat and began to squeeze tightly in order to strangle him as David immediately fought to help Killian within the cage by pulling against Hyde's arm, while Hyde retorted again, "Don't lie to me."

"He's too strong," David uttered sternly and continued to try to pull Hyde off of his friend when both forms of Killian and Black Beard all gasped for air as they struggled to breathe through the pain.

"Look, we get it," Snow said curtly as she moved a few feet closer as if to intimidate the monster. "You're powerful. But killing him isn't gonna change the truth, which is that we don't work for Rumpelstiltskin. He's our enemy. He's the whole reason we're here. He tried to steal magic from our town to…"

Before the memory was finished, Killian suddenly collapsed to the ground in pain like many times before as his surroundings faded into darkness and the strong grip over his throat disappeared. He found that he was finally able to breathe again, although it was a struggle for him to do so. And when he turned his head in search of Black Beard, who had been struggling beside him moments ago, the other pirate appeared to have vanished as well and Killian was left all alone within the darkness as he felt himself slowly beginning to lose consciousness.

Meanwhile...

Black Beard gasped awake and immediately began to struggle to get air back into his lungs while in the distance he could hear someone calling out to him as they were telling him to breathe and to try to focus on their voice. Everything was blurry so he couldn't see those that surrounded him and his entire body was stiff making it impossible for him to move.

Finally, the pirate was able to distinguish one voice from the rest of the noise surrounding him, then turned towards it and was able to see a blond haired man wearing a white lab coat standing above him while he spoke up saying, "It's going to be all right, Captain. You're finally back with us again. You're still going to be ill for a few days, but you're going to recover just fine. My name is Dr. Whale and you're currently being treated in a hospital in Storybrooke. Do you remember where you are?"

It was then with fear in her voice that Emma asked, "What happened to you? What's happening to Killian?"

"Miss. Swan, I need you to try to have patience," Whale sternly replied as he glanced over at her, then turned back to the villain still struggling to awaken from the haze that clouded his mind and vision. "Can you see me, Captain Black Beard? Do you understand that you're going to be alright, that you're safe here?"

"Hoo… Hook?" he stuttered weakly while he turned his head to look all around him in search of something or someone who wasn't there. "Where's… Where am… I?"

Snow stepped forward into his line of sight and then she answered, "You're in Storybrooke. And while the doctor here says you're going to be fine in a few days, you're also going to be in a new prison cell. You won't be getting away with the harm you've caused our friend and the man my daughter loves."

Still inside Killian' mind…

Killian slowly began to come to as his anguish throughout his body and the recollections of all he's been through since Black Beard appeared before him onboard the Jolly Roger, all came flooding back to him. As he struggled to clear his mind and fight off the ache still pounding in his head, someone's face suddenly appeared over him.

Through his haze, Killian couldn't make out who she was, only that the face belonged to a woman as he could hear a female's voice calling out to him. All he could really see was her long red hair. That is until he heard her call out his name, only she spoke a name that wasn't his own.

"Captain Black Beard?" she whispered worryingly. "Captain, are you feeling alright?"

"You're… Captain Hook's wench," Killian thought he heard himself mutter with confusion, then realized he was trapped within another one of his enemy's memories when he looked down at the two hands holding his upper body after he struggled to sit up, as well as the red coat, and saw it was really Black Beard who awoke to find Ariel kneeling over him with concern, but that he was again seeing the villain's memory play out through his own eyes. "The one searching for her Prince? You're a mermaid?"

Ariel ignored the pirate's jibe as she immediately forced a blade to his throat and then responded, "That's right. And I just saved your life. Not because I care that Captain Hook just tried to kill you, but because I need you alive so you can tell me where my husband is. You owe me your life. So talk, pirate. Where is Prince Eric?"

Hook heard himself speak in Black Beard's voice as he replied, "Perhaps we can come to an arrangement after all."