At the Beginning With You

Chapter Four

After running for as long as they were able, Emma finally stopped to catch her breath, while Hook did the same as he looked back at her and stated, "We can't stop now, love. We need to try to get as far away from those pirates as possible."

Emma turned toward him and noticed his blood seeping through his fingers he held over the gash in his arm as she asked, "How is it that you're in worse shape than I'm in and you can still find it in yourself to keep on running? Let me take a look at that."

"We don't have time to waste," Killian answered curtly as he attempted to pull away from her, then pulled her along until she stopped again while holding firmly on his good arm. "Please, Swan. I may have bested Blackbeard, before his newfound magic, but he's ruthless and I have no idea what he has planned should he catch us."

"And I need to heal your arm before you pass out or lose too much blood," his wife immediately replied as she put her hand over the wound and allowed her magic to flow through her, into him. "There, you'll be fine. At least that's one wound of yours I can heal."

He smiled, then responded with composure, "I have had many wounds in my days as both villain and hero. I wear plenty of scars, and yet I'm still here."

She looked away as she answered sadly, "It was thanks to me you nearly weren't."

"I thought we made it clear that we were both to work on forgiving ourselves as we have forgiven each other," Hook replied with a smile as he reached out to pull a strand of hair away from her face with his hook. "Come, love. We need to keep going, or they'll find us for…"

All of a sudden, the ground shook wildly when a crevasse opened up beneath their feet as a wave of power travelled from the distance the heroes had just travelled, causing both Emma and Hook to fall into it and lose consciousness as the rock and dust settled over them, nearly burying them completely. It wasn't long before Blackbeard and the rest of the pirates came upon them, as the Captain ordered his men to pull their new prisoners free and bring them back to the Jolly Roger.

"I warned you, Hook," the man said cruelly as two of his men carried his rival past him. "I warned you that you wouldn't be able to escape from me this time. Place his woman down in the brig. I have something different in mind for him."

Hours later…

When Emma slowly awoke, she struggled to take in her surroundings and found that she was inside the holding cell of her husband's ship, with a shackle chained around her ankle, then immediately looked around for any sign of Killian, but when she didn't see him, she raised her hands to attempt to use her magic to free herself until Blackbeard walked down to stand in front of her cell as he spoke up saying, "You really don't want to do that, milady. Any attempt to escape, and only your pirate husband will suffer for your resistance."

The Savior glared at their captor before her as she responded, "Where is he? What have you done with him?"

"Don't worry, he's perfectly safe for now," the Captain answered with a smile on his face as he pulled Killian's hook out from a pocket within his red coat and held it up for her to see. "He's chained up the same as you, just in a different place onboard my ship, so that the two of you cannot cavort against me."

"This ship doesn't belong to you," Emma replied sternly as she continued to stare ahead at the villain. "When we break free, and we will, I will see to it that the Jolly Roger is put back in the hands of the captain she really belongs to."

He ran one hand along the curve of the hook while holding it within his other hand, then laughed as he responded, "Don't you mean, into the hand… the ship belongs to? Without this, Killian Jones isn't much of a pirate anymore. In fact, he's barely even a man. Hook is nothing, but a monstrosity with nothing, but a stub where his hand should be, a man who has been brought back from the dead and has the scars across his body to prove it."

She grabbed the bars between her and Blackbeard out of anger, then stated in frustration, "The only monster aboard this vessel is you, and maybe some of your men. Whatever it is you think you know, you don't."

"I know the truth, Miss. Swan," the pirate answered smugly as Smee walked down into the hold with a tray of food as well as a goblet of rum for her to drink.

"The Captain… Hook, told me some time ago that you had developed a fond taste for rum, Miss. Swan," the man in the red knit cap said nervously as he pushed the tray through a small opening within the bars, then quickly stepped away, afraid that she might retaliate against him for betraying the man she loved. "I mean that in the best sense, of course."

Emma glared at him as she replied, "Killian always knew you were a rat and yet he defended you, always protected you, and you still betrayed him. Why would you align yourself with him?"

Mr. Smee looked between his new captain and the wife of his former captain as he responded, "He can help me get what I want, better than Hook ever could. He betrayed me first."

"And now as for the reason why we're here," Blackbeard continued as he began to pace back and forth in front of the cell. "You see, I was hired to work for a powerful woman who calls herself the Enchantress. I don't know any more about her, except for what she needs me to procure for her and that, beautiful, is where your beloved husband comes in."

"Why would this witch, whoever she is, want Killian?" Emma asked coldly, fearing she already knew why.

He smiled again, then answered, "Rumors spread of a man, a pirate captain, who died and found himself down in the Underworld for his many evil deeds throughout his long life, then had been returned to the land of the living. I of course heard the rumors myself, but I never imagined that they were about my most bitter rival. It wasn't until the rumors reached the Enchantress' ears, that she found herself someone who could cross worlds to find this man for her and that I learned it was Hook I was seeking. Thanks to Smee here, I was finally able to find him at last."

She quickly asked again angrily, "Why do rumors matter to her? Why does she need Hook? Answer me!"

"I don't fully know the reason for why she wants your husband, other than the fact that she is going to use him to enter into the Underworld to bring back someone who was taken from her a long time ago," Blackbeard replied with a grin. "And I'm guessing you know that in order to do that, one needs the blood of someone who's died and been there, then has been resurrected, as well as a living soul to trade for the dead."

"Not to mention a portal to get you there," Emma responded curtly. "And neither of us will tell you where it is."

Smee spoke again saying, "I'm afraid there's more than just the one in Storybrooke. In fact, there's a portal down into the Underworld in every magical world."

Blackbeard added, "And the one that we happen to be headed toward right now, is one this Enchantress has discovered in a kingdom of which I am very well versed with; Arendelle. We're about to pass through the portal any moment now thanks to help from a magic bean."

"Arendelle, the kingdom ruled over by Elsa who has magical powers herself?" Emma stated to herself, though her words were spoken out loud.

"You've heard of the ice witch?" Smee asked in surprise. "Wait a minute, that's right. She was in Storybrooke for a time, as was her sister Anna and her husband. If it makes you feel any better, the Queen isn't this Enchantress we're help…"

The Captain interrupted, "Smee! Go back up on deck and see to our other guest's needs. He should be waking again soon himself."

Emma tried to reach for Blackbeard through the bars to hurt him, but failed as he started up the stairs toward the ship's deck after the rat, then she called out after him angrily, "I won't let you do this, I will stop you!"

As soon as the captors left the brig, Emma immediately looked around for any possible way of escape. If she had been Blackbeard's only prisoner, escape would have easy, as all she would have to do would be to blast her way out and knock all of the pirates off the ship and into the ocean. However, because Killian was a prisoner too and she had no idea where he was being held or what kind of magic these men were using for power in order to keep them both detained, Emma knew she couldn't risk it, nor would she leave the man she loved behind.

Suddenly, the Savior spotted an old handkerchief lying on the floor a few feet away, appearing to have fallen from one of the Captain's pockets, as she immediately summoned the cloth to her, used a small lock pick she had concealed upon her person to break the skin of her finger, wrote a brief message in her own blood, then finally folded the cloth into a flying crane and sent it to her parents back home with her magic, hoping to set it free before they passed through the portal to Arendelle.