At the Beginning With You
Chapter Six
When the Jolly Roger finally became docked at one of Arendelle's ports at the farthest corner of the kingdom, two pirates led Emma, whose wrists were locked together in shackles behind her back, up to the deck of the ship where Blackbeard and the rest of his men were waiting for them.
"Where is he?" Emma asked firmly as she glared at the Captain standing before her with a smug look on his face.
"It's all right, love," Hook responded as two more men led him out from the Captain's quarters, both of his arms tied down tightly and stretched out across a staff that ran along behind his head. "I'm right here."
When Killian stumbled and the men made no effort to help him, Emma rushed forward to steady him against herself while the pirates surrounding them simply watched with pleasure at the sight of their prisoners, then Blackbeard said cruelly, "You will have to forgive the rod you're attached to, Hook, but seeing as you have no left hand, I can't very well put you in shackles to secure you as I did your girlfriend, can I?"
Killian clenched his jaw as he did whenever he was stressed or angry and looked at his enemy with hardly any emotion in his eyes at all while Emma remained against his chest, then he answered, "I told you, I don't care what you do with me, but you have me now and we both know that I cannot fight you like this, so let my wife go, please."
"We both know that I can't do that," the dreaded pirate replied as he stepped forward and pulled Emma away from the man she loved and held onto her tightly while she struggled within his grasp. "Because she'll use her magic to try to free you the moment that I do. Don't you worry about her, old friend. I assure you that Miss. Swan will remain alive so long as she cooperates and stays within mine and my men's company. And when they've had their fill of entertainment thanks to her, I will then set her free. By that point, you will long be dead as you should have remained."
"If you so much as touch her…!" Hook began to shout angrily until he was suddenly thrust back roughly against the mast behind him by an invisible force, causing him to cry out as well as Emma, who attempted to rush to him until she was pulled back. "Aah!"
Emma was pulled back again as she cried out, "Stop! Let him go!"
Blackbeard held up a pendant he wore from around his neck, the pendant appearing to be the source of his magic as it was glowing, then the man laughed and responded, "It's quite beautiful, is it not? The power to do whatever I want to do, right here within my hands. It's because of this gift that I work for the Enchantress. Whatever power you might possess, Miss. Swan, I assure you I can match it. So don't think that you can fight against me to try to protect this man. We will be bringing him before the Enchantress, who will then return him to the Underworld where he belongs. And if you try to help him again…"
"You will what?" the Savior stated coldly. "You and I both know that you can't kill him before you arrive at the portal."
"You're right, but I can hurt him," the pirate captain answered smugly as he increased the pressure forced against Hook and caused him to cry out once again. "Perhaps you would like me to remove his other hand?"
Tears came to her eyes as she looked over at her husband, whose head hung down low over his chest, then back to Blackbeard and replied, "No! Please just leave him alone. I won't fight you."
Finally, the force disappeared completely as Killian collapsed against floor of the deck, then upon orders, two of the men stepped forward to pull Hook back up to his feet and ushered him off the ship, while Smee stepped in to pull his former captain's wife forward as well. The rat looked nervous and almost as if he regretted what was going on, but Emma knew better. Smee did whatever was best for him, no matter the cost to others, including those that he might have cared about once.
The pirates led their prisoners through the hills and forest surrounding Arendelle, Blackbeard using the pendant to push away any obstacles such as boulders, trees, and bushes within their path, and when they came upon a small clearing, the ruthless Captain ordered his men to stop and set up camp for the night.
After the men placed Hook, who had not said a word since leaving his ship, down upon the ground carelessly with his back up against a larger boulder behind him for support, Emma turned to the man in charge after she had also been set down on the ground and pleaded, "Let me go to him. I just want to make sure that he's alright. You have your magic. I can't strike against you and you know that I would never do anything to risk the life of the man I love."
"Why is it that you love him?" Blackbeard asked curiously. "How is it that the Savior fell in love with a pirate, who used to be more ruthless than even I?"
"You would never understand," she responded coolly. "You were right about one thing, Killian isn't that man any longer, but in a fair fight, he would still be able to stop you."
The Captain laughed again, then untied her hands as he motioned for his men to let her pass so she could go to Hook's side, then he stated, "Looking at him now, I highly doubt it. Take care of him, Miss. Swan. I would prefer him to be more presentable for when I present him to her, not the weak coward I see before me."
Emma rushed to Hook's side and knelt down before him as she swiftly undid the ropes that bound his arms to the staff, then pulled him close as she kissed him and wrapped her arms around him. As she did so, he simply whispered her name while he hugged her tightly. They remained close for several minutes. However, upon feeling the increase of speed and fear grip her heart, she realized that something was wrong with him as she leaned back and looked into his eyes, which she discovered had become fixated on the flames of the fire set by the men surrounding them, his face showing that of terror, and Emma knew that his mind had become lost within the memories of his time within the Underworld once more.
She immediately placed her hands on the sides of his face as she spoke again saying softly, "Killian? It's all right. I'm right here and you're still safe. Just focus on the sound of my voice."
"I'm sorry, love," he said weakly, tears escaping the corners of his eyes as he lowered his head again, being unable to look into her own. "I didn't mean…"
"Don't apologize," Emma whispered as she pressed her forehead up against his, then gently lifted his head to try to get him to look at her and ran her hand over his face and through his hair. "Please don't shut me out right now. You know that you can talk to me, about anything."
Turning his eyes away again, Killian finally answered quietly, "Before you found me… I was forced to see and feel every horror I inflicted upon all those people I ever hurt, all those I killed. Every evil I ever committed and I could feel their terror, their pain… I felt their final moments as the light went out of their eyes and their souls left their bodies as they died, all because of what I did to them. I felt your family's pain, your pain… Emma, I'm so sorry."
His wife leaned in to kiss him again and began to cry herself as she replied, "This is what you've been keeping from me? God, Killian, I can't… I'm the one who's sorry. I should have found you sooner. Everything that you did before you found your good heart, that is not who you are. You made amends and for those you couldn't do so for, you've fought alongside us against all of the evils within both our worlds. You became a good and selfless man, my hero. Please, do not let your hate for yourself destroy the man I love with my whole heart, including the half that is inside of you. If you do, they win. These villains will win. I promise you, I will not allow these pirates or this Enchantress to bring you back there. Do you think you can run?"
"If you see a chance to break free…" he stated as he finally turned to look at her until she immediately cut him off upon knowing what he was going to say.
"I told you, I won't leave you behind," she interrupted sternly as she turned toward Blackbeard and focused on the image of the pendant around his neck inside her mind as she raised her hand to summon it to her. "We're getting out of here, together."
Within moments, the talisman appeared in the Savior's hands, unknown to the man formerly wearing it, and without another though, Emma shot power from her hands at the pirates, shooting them all through the air and into the trees around them to knock as many of them out as she could.
Emma immediately grabbed Hook to help him back to his feet and together they ran as fast as they could through the forest for as long as they could to put their enemies as far behind them as possible, hearing as Blackbeard shouted out at his men to get up and get after their captives. Unfortunately, their freedom was short lived when they suddenly came upon a cliff overlooking a tall waterfall. If it wasn't for Emma pulling him back in time, Killian would have gone over.
He quickly spoke up saying, "You're going to have to jump, Swan. They'll be on us any minute and I can't swim with only one hand."
She shook her head as she responded, "No, we'll just run back the way we came and head in another direction."
Killian was about to object when he turned his head just in time to see one of Blackbeard's men come out into the opening with his pistol raised and aimed toward Emma, then swiftly jumped in front of musket ball as the pirate fired while he pushed her back, causing her to fall over the cliff into the rushing water below, the ball striking Hook in his lower abdomen as it caused him to fall back hard to the ground on the cliff's edge. He managed to remain conscious, but barely as he faintly watched Blackbeard run his cutlass through his man's chest to kill him.
"It looks like the woman you love paid for her mistake, thinking she could actually get away with crossing me," the villain said cruelly as Killian turned away from him to look out over the waterfall for any sign of Emma surviving her fall.
"Sir, shouldn't we go after her, in case she survived that is?" Smee asked nervously. "I mean, what about the pendant? She took it from you. Without it, you're just Captain Blackbeard again."
Blackbeard smiled down at Hook, then turned to the first mate as he answered, "No, we've still got what we came for. The pendant may be lost, but that doesn't mean we won't still be rewarded when we arrive back at the Enchantresses palace. I want Hook taken care of. He's certainly no good to us dead."
Smee nodded as he watched as a few of the other men pull his former captain off of the ground, then he looked out over the falls once more and replied to himself, "I think that talisman would be a great treasure."