Hello All! Sorry that I kept you waiting a bit longer for this chapter, but I'm back to my computer now, so here is the next installment. The cliffhanger from the last chapter is resolved, but I'm afraid you may find this chapter's ending even more intense. All I'm gonna say is: it isn't over yet, so don't be angry with me until the end. Sorry in advance, but cliffhangers are also what keep us coming back for more, right?

Anyway, keep letting me know what you think. I won't keep you waiting long…I hope to have this story completed before "Once" returns on Sunday.

Villain's Happy Ending

Chapter Three: Resolve

Emma blinked and tried to focus, stunned as the purple cloud that had surrounded her and swept her up dropped her down again and cleared away. She had only a moment to steady herself and wonder what had happened, while she reached up to touch the tear tracks still fresh on her cheeks. Her mind was still with Hook lying broken on the floor of the prison she had been pulled from, and her heart plummeted, knowing that their enemy would take her disappearance out on him as well. Horrified that, even if it was against her will, she had left him alone to his fate, she glanced around quickly, ready to question whoever had transported her here.

She had no more time to dwell on that thought before her name was being called by several voices at once, and she was engulfed in several pairs of eager arms. Henry burrowed his face into her side, his arms around her middle, holding on tightly. Mary Margaret was there too, simply reaching around Henry to hold them both. David was behind her; Emma felt his hand rubbing her back comfortingly and felt him place a light, paternal kiss to her hair. Regina stood back a bit, but her eyes sought Emma's, full of her own questions as soon as her family's exclamations settled down.

However, Mary Margaret picked that moment to pull back and cup her daughter's face in her hands, causing Emma to wince in pain and flinch away from the painful contact with her burnt skin.

"What is it?" her mother asked, concerned, then hissed in sympathy as she really looked at Emma's face.

"She burned me," Emma stated simply, trying to hide the way her eyes watered at the mere brush of fingers against the welted skin, and she tried to evade them focusing on her injury. They needed to find where the Witch was and stop her before it was too late. "I'll live. We have to get back there and stop her! She still has Hook, and she'll kill him!"

Regina stepped forward then, easily waving a calm hand in front of Emma's face, emitting a glow that soon washed over Emma's skin and gradually eased the pain of the burn. When Regina dropped her hand again, Emma could tell from the look of relief on her mother's face that probably even the marks from the burns were gone.

"Thanks," she nodded to Regina, genuinely grateful, even through her near-frantic impatience. Forcing a deep breath, she squared her shoulders before pushing forward with her questions. "How did you find me anyway? Can you get to Hook too? Or can we get back there and finish her off?"

The former Evil Queen shook her head, looking regretful, but she answered Emma's questions directly and without hesitation. "We don't know where you were. We used a tracking spell of sorts to zero in on you, and it pulled you to us when you were located. We used a drop of both your parents' blood to seek you specifically. It won't work on Hook; we don't have anyone who shares his genes to cast something similar."

"Then we need another way to figure out where she was holding us, and we need to get there fast and end this!"

"I quite agree, Miss Swan," Regina said, still managing to seem incredibly placid. Since Regina had actually begun to work more with them instead of against them, Emma had gotten to know the other woman well enough to pick up on her tells though. They were small enough to often be missed, but Regina was not as cold and emotionless as she often came across. A furrow creased her brow, and she drew a deep breath. "Then you're going to have to tell me all you can remember about where you were held, and hope that we can figure it out."

"Alright…" Emma paused, quickly trying to organize her thoughts and not leave out any details they might need. "It was dark, cool, the floor and walls were stone. It almost seemed as if we were underground. I couldn't tell you much else about it. It was an open, empty space... and I was focused on her…and what she was doing to him…" she trailed off, having to gulp in a breath before her voice broke. She would not cry. They didn't have time for that now. She didn't break this way – she took action. She needed to get back there; that was all there was to it.

It could be somewhere under the library," Regina mused, "but I don't think she would want to deal with, or have to work around, Maleficent."

Emma nodded, that possibility having already entered her mind and been discarded for much the same reason. She tried to force her mind to produce another option, but nothing came.

"It could be somewhere in the mines," David broke in hopefully. "Most of it is just a maze of tunnels, but Grumpy mentioned a few bigger areas, almost like rooms, at strategic spots to allow extra air flow and such. It could be that she discovered one of those and made it into a secluded hideout, since so few know of their existence."

"That actually sounds like an excellent theory," Regina acknowledged, granting the prince a tight half-smile. "We should certainly search it anyway."

"One more thing," Emma said, quickly grabbing Regina's elbow to stop her movement, "she had something to block my magic. I couldn't move or do anything against her. You may know a way around that, but I didn't."

"I did anticipate that," Regina purrs, her eyes alight with what almost seems an eager glow. Emma knew that the Queen had been curbing her urges toward vengeance and dark magic for Henry's sake, but watching the raven-haired woman almost lick her lips in anticipation showed Emma that Regina was anxious to really unleash her full powers without breaking her vow to stay on the side of good. "That's why we're going to draw her here instead. We don't have the time to run around trying different locations. Together, we can defeat her if we draw her out in the open. My guess is that she has charmed the space to repel magic other than her own, not that she can actually steal our power."

"Okay then," Emma whispered, soft, but in a voice still hard and determined as steel. "I'll follow your lead, Regina."

"Get Henry out of here first," Regina prompted, looking to Snow and Charming with genuine trust and nearly bowling Emma over with the weight of it. "Emma and I can do this if we combine our skill, but not if we're worrying for our son – or either of you – with half our energy."

"You know we'll protect him with our lives," Mary Margaret vowed and gave a curt, determined nod before she took Henry's hand, heading for David's truck as David followed, ushering his wife and grandson to safety.

Emma turned to Regina then, eyebrows raised curiously. "Tell me what you need from me," she invited, itching to get the Witch on their turf, and more importantly, away from Hook. She needed to finish this once and for all. "Let's do this."

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Flawless memory was something Killian Jones had worked for and painstakingly developed over his many long years of life. Holding the past before his eyes had allowed him to stay focused on his vengeance through centuries of disappointment. In this hell of torment and despair though, he was coming to regret the perfect recall he had once so desired. He could feel every strike the Witch had made against him; every rip in his flesh, and the mental wound that went with each one, reasserted itself unendingly. The enchantress had left him to his misery for the moment, but Killian almost certain it no longer mattered.

Beyond his own suffering, his mind's eye kept recreating the helplessness in Emma's eyes as the villainess had pinned her to the wall unable to move, along with the panic and sense of failure that had engulfed him at the sight of her being hurt while there was nothing he could do to stop it. His only comfort was that she was gone. Emma was no longer there in the line of fire where he would have to watch their foe hurt her. His pain and dread for how this would all end for him was made the tiniest bit better by at least knowing she would not see him any weaker than she already had. Suffering silently in an attempt to still show strength for her had become nearly impossible, and he had not wanted Emma to see his resolve falter as he finally broke.

He could only pray that she was somewhere safe – that her startling disappearance had been due to the others finding a way to magically summon her to them. The Witch had seemed as stunned as he, so Killian was pretty sure she had not been the cause. Emma's escape had cost him even more dearly than stepping into the line of fire for her had, but he could not bring himself to regret it. She was free, and she would live. He'd had some small part in that – truly found his 'good form' again – even if he had given his life to enact it. Lying alone in the dark, bound, broken, and sure he would not see the outside of the cold, unforgiving, stone walls again, he still felt some sense of calm.

When his Swan had vanished from the Witch's grasp, then the torture had grown frenzied. The fiendish enchantress had only paused in her burning, gouging, strangling, and suffocating long enough to question him over and over: How had it been done? How had the Princess managed her disappearance? Where was she now? Then, she would attack his mangled form again. Killian was truly glad he did not know anything; she would never get anything from him, even if he had given in, which he would never do.

He shifted tentatively, seeking some comfort, only to groan weakly as every fiber of his abused being protested. Killian couldn't see himself, was almost too far gone to even attempt taking stock of his injuries, but he felt that he was finally done for. It was just a matter of time before his body gave up the fight.

It seemed as if he might simply drift away and leave the world behind at last. It certainly was not the happily ever after that Emma had made him wish for once again, but he did feel at peace. He knew that he had sacrificed his life for good – for Emma - and after more than 300 years, he felt that he would finally be able to lay his lost and wandering soul to rest.

Killian wished almost absently that he could have said goodbyes to Charming, Snow, Henry, Tink, and the rest of his new allies. He fervently desired one last kiss form Emma's lips to send him on his way. More than anything, he wished that he could know for certain that they would triumph, that right would prevail, and that Emma would be alright. She needed to find the life she had always wanted and the joy she deserved. He realized he would have to leave the world regardless, but his fading breaths prayed for a sign.

As if in answer to his fervent plea, at that moment, Killian felt a tremor run through the ground under him, a shiver in the surrounding air. He felt change burst both deep within him, as a huge, powerful pulse swept up and shook everything, the very atmosphere itself. He let himself feel that energy; his nerves reacting, his hope restored. Somehow she had done it; he knew in that instant that the Wicked Witch was dead and they had won.

Whatever happened to him now, whatever time remained to him, he was grateful for that knowledge. His heart was that much lighter. The pain and sadness faded as Killian Jones finally closed his eyes and slipped away…