When she hears that King Hans is here, with a Jabberwocky no less, Emma knows she has to react fast or Killian would face some seriously dark magic.

Jabberwockies weren't like her, they weren't users of dark magic, they were made of dark magic. They fed on fear and thrived on breaking someone. Just being around one would makes you feel hopeless. Having one latch onto you would put you back in the worst moment of your life and makes you relive it over and over again. It's a torture she doesn't wish on her worst enemy.

"I thought they said you were a monster," says the guard as she finishes seeing his memories.

She holds the guard's heart in her hands, cupping it gently. Emma can feel the sick enjoyment the man gets from the thought of the Jabberwocky torturing the pirate.

Arrogant self-centered prick.

And so she squeezes the heart, tightening her fingers as she hears the man's last gasp, watching as he falls to his knees.

"Only on the inside." The heart turns to hundreds of tiny crystals in her hands, falling from her fingers. It is beautiful, beautiful and deadly.

With another snap of her fingers, the prison cell gates fly open. They don't make enchanted cuffs like they used to. Emma steps over the dead guard.

She has a pirate to save.

However, things don't exactly go as planned. Again. She thinks she can prevent herself from getting caught long enough to blast the Jabberwocky with dark magic. It's the creature's weakness, after all. Light magic can't touch her, but that isn't a problem for Emma.

But she doesn't expect the Jabberwocky to grab Killian in that moment. It made him scream. He looks terrified, more miserable than when Elsa took his heart. He looks entirely broken. Whatever the woman is showing him, he can't handle it.

Emma has to make the torture stop. He is too…kind to be broken, too special. Yes, she might as well admit it. The bird can't hurt her with the truth if she admits it to herself.

The damn sailor is special.

The Jabberywocky speaks, calling him out for what he is.

Killian Jones is not a pirate, not a captain, not anything.

Emma has grown to fancy a simple deckhand. She would laugh if the situation were different. Instead she roars in fury, because when she looks at Killian, he looks away. He is ashamed.

Darkness flares in her chest. She won't have him belittled, won't have whatever confidence she has managed to instill in him be crushed by cruelty. So she unleashes her anger, spelling out exactly what she thinks of the power-hungry King and his twisted pet, what she thinks of the deckhand brave enough to rescue a monster like herself.

He deserves it. He deserves better than this.

Emma wishes she saw the creature grab her, sink telepathic magic into her skin, into her very soul.

Here, where magic isn't so readily available, they need physical contact with their victims. With her claws in Emma, Hans' Jabberwocky has everything she needs to troll Emma's subconscious and paralyze the Dark One with her own frail human pain. It was a dark and terrible place.

Emma screams.

"Emma, my perfect child, you will be my ticket to destroying all my enemies."

It's her mother weighing down a little princess with heavy expectations. But things aren't always so bad. She has her nanny, her sweet nanny who could never hurt a fly.

"I love you darling," the woman says between puffs of her cigar. "Don't be scared of magic, darling. It's a part of you."

She loves her. She wishes Cruella could be her mother instead of Snow. She wishes she could play with the puppies all day, laughing, smiling.

"Emma, my love, do you see this dagger? The one with your name on it? When you misbehave, I have to punish you, baby," Snow croons. It's the first time Emma ever lays eyes on the weapon.

"Now kill her," Snow orders. And Emma does. She pushes the only person she's ever loved off a cliff, stands there and watches her fall.

It was her first kill, but far from her last.

"You're a monster," the creature purrs in her ear. "You push away or kill everyone you love."

Emma shakes her head. "No! Stop it No!" That can't be true. Ingrid promised her she'd find happiness one day.

And Ingrid was right. Emma found Lily and her family. That had been good, sweet, perfect.

"Get out of here, Emma! Don't you see what you did? You killed my father! I hate you!"

She didn't mean to. It was an accident, a mistake. She loves Lily, she loves her so much. She always wanted a sister, and now Lily is gone.

Tears run down her face like symbols of weakness. Signs that she is breaking. No. No. She can't break, she can't –

"I'll stop my digging, Emma, when you tell me where you hid that pretty little dagger," the Jabberwocky whispers.

Emma's eyes snap open. No. She won't. She has to fight. She has to.

"Emma, come sit at the table. Come practice piano. Come practice your magic." She was ordered to perform endless tasks under the power of that terrible weapon. For 18 years, she was on puppet strings, forced to smile, to go along with Mother. She hated it. It fed the darkness, fed it so much.

Was it any surprise she sold away her immortality for some freedom?

"I won't let you find it," she pleads. "I won't go back." She feels the creature digging, digging through her thoughts for her most closely kept secret. She can't let her know, can't let her find –

"Home is a place that once you leave, you just miss it."

Emma's eyes widen. Too bad her deepest secret isn't the location of the dagger.

"Oh Emma, trying to keep your first love a secret from me? Naughty, naughty," the creature scolds.

"No! Stop it! It's a lie," Emma begs, her body convulsing as she tries to free herself.

No one can know. Especially the King who hates magic. He can't find out they don't need a silly dagger if they find –

"Do you want to see him?" She does, she really does. She holds him in her arms, holds him as close as she can.

"Hey kid," she greets. "Took you long enough to get here."

She feel's the Jabberwocky's satisfaction.

"I'll look after you. After all, I'm your mom."

She can't tell him! The woman has to keep Emma's secret.

"Please! He can't know! No one can know. I won't let them."

She feels weak as the creature searches through her mind to find the little tiny thing Emma had held all those years ago. She feels helpless, knows it's only a matter of time before –

"Get out of my head!" she screeches.

The first thing Emma is aware of outside of the battle in her own head is a gasp, then the unmistakable sound of a sword entering soft tissue. (She heard the sound enough times growing up that she can pinpoint it in her sleep.)

The Jabberwocky still has a grip on her, trying one more time to find the location of Emma's son.

"Please, please, take him. I need to know he has a family. Take my son and raise him. I don't have anyone else to turn to."

"Get your bloody hands off her!" Killian shouts, and the Jabberwocky releases Emma from her dark grip. , All at once, she can see, she can breathe. She stands on shaky legs. Emma is about to slay the beast, Killian's mercy be damned.

"Oh Captain, never thought you'd commit cold-blooded murder," the Jabberwocky sneers. "Wasn't that your brother's job?"

Emma looks over to him, shocked by the blood tie-dying his shirt. She glances at the dead king and back to Killian.

His eyes are like fire. She's never seen him so angry.

"Shut up," he growls.

Looking at him, it's easy to forget the soft-spoken deckhand who values forgiveness and compassion.

"Now answer me. Did you put these things in my head? These lies?" he seethes. "Because he didn't say them. Tell me right now!"

Emma doesn't know whom he heard in his head, what unnerved him this much, but she wants to know, wants to understand him.

"Everything I showed you was locked in that pretty head of yours," the Jabberwocky assures him. "Perhaps you don't know your own mind as well as you think."

Seeing the murderous look in his eyes, Emma swears he is about to kill the woman. If he tries, Emma is prepared to stop him, to take his blade from him. She doesn't want to see his heart and mind darkened any further. He won't be able to handle it.

But it doesn't come to that, as the fire in his eyes dies and is replaced with dawning horror.

He looks down at his hands, mumbling incoherently. Racked by a violent tremble, he lets his sword fall to the ground. No longer furious, he looks lost. His knees buckle, and Emma is by his side in an instant, catching him as he falls.

"Please…don't let it be true," he begs, eyes unfocused. Now he's hyperventilating, on the verge of a full-blown panic attack.

Emma eases him onto the ground, keeping a tight hold on him, rocking back and forth, back and forth.

"Killian, Killian, shhh…" she murmurs. "Hey, come back. Come back to me."

His head falls to her shoulder, and her hands find their way to his hair, running through it gently, slowly calming him.

"It's ok," she croons. "Hey, it's ok."

"What's happened, Swan?" he gasps. "I didn't mean to kill him. I didn't want to, but I-I feel…"

Scared, angry, confused, hurt, broken, betrayed.

At least, that's how she feels for him.

"I know, Killian," she whispers. "I know."

She runs her hands over his face, whispering a sleeping spell into his ear. He needs it right now. He needs some peace, some dreamless rest. Emma watches his face lose its tension, eyes fluttering shut.

"You have it bad, Dark One," the Jabberwocky sneers. "Too bad he doesn't feel the same way."

Emma puts her arms around him protectively, daring the creature to try something again.

"Stay away," she warns. "Or I will kill you."

The Jabberwocky laughs. "I don't need to. I've seen inside that head of his, and let me tell you, it's a mess in there."

Emma feels him stir in his sleep, weakly kicking his foot, clenching his hand into a fist. She runs her hand up and down his arm, and he relaxes.

"He's still in love with her, his first love," the creature continues. "He'll never love you."

Milah.

Emma lifts him off her, pulling off her cloak to rest under his head.

"What do you know about love?" she challenges. Emma doesn't love Killian. But she does care about him. It took hearing him in pain, seeing him look so lost and alone for her to realize. Perhaps she can learn to let go of her first love. Perhaps she can remember what it was like before…

"It's weakness, a weakness I exploit," hisses the clairvoyant. "And you will lose him. You will lose him the second you think that you're anything but what you are." The Jabberwocky picks up the Vorpal Blade from the ground and slips it into her coat pocket. "A villain."

And then she is gone.

Emma looks down at the sleeping sailor. "When we get to the port, I'll tell you, ok? I'll tell you I don't want to part ways. We understand each other, you and I." She runs her hands soothingly through his hair. "Right now you're scared and alone. Right now whatever that creature showed you is going to hurt, and hurt like hell. My magic heals my mind faster, but you, you're going to need time to heal."

He stirs again, grasping for her hand. She lets him hold onto her for a moment, liking the feeling of being needed, of being capable of providing comfort.

"Let me protect you, ok? Just sleep, sailor. Everything is going to be ok." She waves her hand over Killian, vanishing him in a puff of black smoke.

She stands, glancing at the dead body of the King, Killian's sword still in his chest. She smiles. He put it in the perfect place – any lower and the damn King may have had a chance. Emma pulls the blade out of the corpse and runs two fingers down its sticky surface. She approaches the richly paneled wall. It's a shame to ruin such a beautiful room

"The Dark Swan was here," she paints in royal blood.

They can't kill her after all. They can't even catch her. The worst that will happen is an international incident for her dear mummy.

Oops.

Emma turns down the long hall of the dungeon, strolling past the guard she killed Elsa is somewhere in this cursed castle. She just has to find her, simple as that.

It isn't long before she hears the Ice Queen herself, yelling loudly as usual. Elsa has two modes: quiet and deadly or loud and annoying.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know, I didn't know," Elsa is wailing.

Emma tenses. Elsa never cries. Emma is convinced the Queen's heart had completely frozen over. Emma stays hidden, wondering of there is another Jabberwocky on the loose. That's just what she needs right now.

"Please forgive me, Anna. I didn't know. If I did, I would have come back. I would have saved you!"

Emma steps forward, hands at the ready to combat whatever foe she's about to meet. Instead, she comes face-to-face with a very unsettling sight, but not a dangerous one.

Ingrid stands over Elsa, rubbing a hand over her back, trying to sooth her. The Ice Queen is sobbing helplessly with her arms around an ice statue. "Anna."

Emma swallows. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's happened. Elsa found her sister, whom she had sworn vengeance on for years. Elsa had been hurt and angry that Anna never came after her, assuming that Anna stopped caring because she saw her as a monster. Elsa had been outraged by the very thought of her own sister implementing anti-magic policies as her husband's side.

But Anna is gone, innocent of everything that Elsa imagined.

"Elsa?" Emma whispers. "Are you and Ingrid alright?"

Elsa stops sobbing for a moment. "No. No, I'm not. My sister is dead. I killed her! I killed her all those years ago, and I didn't even know it."

Emma unseals the prison cell and steps inside. She approaches the statue of Anna, gently placing her hand on her cold surface.

"No! Please Emma, please! Don't hurt her! She's my sister," Elsa begs, tears rolling down her face.

Ingrid places a hand on Elsa's shoulder, keeping her from grabbing Emma's hand.

"Let Emma try. Her magic is different from ours. Maybe she has a chance?" Ingrid said with pleading eyes. "Will you help us?"

Emma takes a deep breath. "I don't owe you anything." she decides. "But no one deserves to lose a sister or brother. The bond between siblings is important." She lets her dark magic sink into the ice spell, feeling for exactly how deep the ice goes. "It's special."

A spark! She finds a single spark of life, deep underneath the cold.

"She's alive, Elsa," Emma announces, shocked. "But we don't have much time. Let's take her with us and see what we can do about reviving her, alright?"

Elsa nods, hand touching Anna's frozen face. "You hear that, Anna? I'm going to help you. You'll be alright. I'll never shut you out again."

Emma hopes Elsa and Ingrid will follow along and not ask about the rush. She isn't sure what the deposed royals would think about leaving their country without a ruler.

Unfortunately, Ingrid can always see through Emma's avoidance tactics. "Emma, what aren't you telling us? Why is there a rush? Surely your plan worked."

The comment draws Elsa's attention from her sister's form. Her blue eyes narrow. "Where's the sailor?"

Emma clenches her fists involuntarily.

"What's happening, Swan? I didn't mean to kill him, I didn't want to, but I –"

Emma releases the tension in her body, regains her nonchalance. "He's back on the ship," she says simply. "We had a little change in plans." She can see Ingrid eyeing her. The woman might not know the whole story, but she can tell that something had shaken her former protégé. Emma has always hated Ingrid's ability to see right through her.

Thankfully Ingrid doesn't press her. A simple shrinking spell gets Anna down to hand-held size, much easier to sneak out of the place. Elsa cups her in her hand, gently cradling her like an icy egg.

Emma doesn't tell them as they hear yells from the guards, nor as they easily dispatch the lot. She waits until they are safely back on the ship to let them in on the real reason the guards were attacking without mercy, the reason they were fighting not to capture, but to kill.

"You WHAT?"

"Emma…"

Emma just shrugs. "He was in the way, so I killed him," she says as if it's a perfectly logical explanation. At least she's telling them the important part. The fewer people who know what really happened, the better. Especially given their reactions.

"Do you know what you've done? Hans was a terrible king, but at least he was keeping the neighboring kingdoms in check. With him gone and no heirs, Arendelle will be left without a king. This means war and anarchy for my kingdom!" Elsa shouts. In case Emma isn't getting the message, Elsa shoots a bolt of ice at her head.

Emma dodges it and sends a wave of dark magic right back. "He was trying to see inside my head! He was trying to find the dagger!" she shouts back. "That damn Jabberwocky knows too much as it is. I couldn't let him know about –"

Emma glances at Ingrid. "It doesn't matter why I did it. It's done. There's no turning back now. Besides, you've wanted him dead for years."

"But I never did it!" Elsa counters. "Because even though I hate him, hate what he's done to my kingdom, I care more about my home than my hate."

Ingrid smiles putting a hand on her niece's shoulder. "You've come a long way, Elsa."

Emma crosses her arms, turning away as Elsa rests her hand on top of her aunt's. Mushy family scenes make Emma sick.

"I knew you could let go of your hate," Ingrid says. "I believe that's the first step to curing Anna."

Emma looks at Ingrid, really looks at her for the first time in years. Her ashy blonde hair is long, identical to Elsa's. Her gown is silver and reflective like ice. She hasn't aged noticeably since Emma was a teenager, one of the side effects of Ingrid's light magic.

"Emma, you've changed too," Ingrid adds. "Elsa tells me you befriended the owner of this ship?"

Emma flinches as she remembers said "owner" of the ship. "Oh no! I forgot all about him!" She rushes to the captain's quarters where she poofed him to sleep. She enters quietly and closes the door behind her. She sits on the edge of the bed, taking in his still form.

"Hey beautiful," Killian rasps. "Come to check on me, Swan?"

So he is awake. She can't help but chuckle at his flirting. "Yeah, it's me. How are you feeling, Killian?" she askes.

He pulls himself up to lean against the hull. "I've been better. My head is killing me. I can hardly remember, did we – did we rescue Elsa and her aunt?"

Emma hesitates, wondering how much she should tell him.

"Yes, we saved them. You…uh, took a nasty hit to the head," she lies. "I figured it would be best to let you sleep it off."

Killian grins. "For all your dark magic, has anyone ever told you that you're a terrible liar? For one thing, that's a terrible way to deal with a head injury."

She chuckles. "Yup, all the time." Emma reaches out to take his hand. "But you were injured, that's not a lie. I'd prefer we not talk about the rest of it. Trust me, ok? I know that may be hard, considering I'm not exactly the most trustworthy person, but –"

"I trust you Swan," he interrupts. "Especially since I'm…starting to remember." He grips his head with his free hand, letting out a gasp.

"Hey, Killian, hey, it's ok." The last thing she needs is for him to start panicking again.

"I killed him, Swan," he mutters between shivers. "He wasn't even armed."

She shakes her head. "He was commanding the Jabberwocky. He was hurting me! You did what you had to do." She slides next to him on the bed, pulling him close.

"Why? Why did I have to? Why could I kill him and not – Why could I fight him and not –"

He's talking nonsense, shaking his head, waving his hands.

"Emma, the creature said there was magic…in my head. What does that mean?"

She focuses her magic, seeing if she can sense anything, but she can't. She's never detected any sort of magic from Killian.

"It showed me things that aren't true, things that can't be true," he continues. "It drove me to…do what I did. It was just too much…"

She places her hand on his face. "What was it, Killian? You can tell me. Perhaps talking about it will help?"

He seems reluctant, so she goes first.

"I saw the first time I killed someone," she admits slowly. "My nanny, her name was Cruella, she was so kind and loving to me."

He meets her gaze.

"I told you about the dagger that controls me, right? Well, when I was five, maybe six, I said something I shouldn't have to my mother. She took out the dagger and made me…push Cruella over the cliff we were playing on. She made me watch as she fell. That's when I realized how much I hated my mother, when I realized that she didn't care about me, that she wanted to make my heart as dark as hers."

Killian swallows thickly. "I'm sorry, Swan. I'm sorry you've been through so much." He takes a deep breath, keeping his eyes tightly closed.

"It's Emma," she whispers. "My name is Emma."

Her name is something of a prize, only given to those who earn it, who earn her trust. No one has gotten her name in a very long time. Not even the hunter whose leather cord she refused to part with knew her true name.

"Emma," he breathes.

She likes how it sounds when he says it.

"Emma Swan. Thank you, I know what this means to you." He pauses, preparing himself to share something equally important.

"When I was small, my father died, killed by royal guards for standing against them. They were hurting an innocent woman, and he stopped them, so they killed him," he tells her. "My mother had long since abandoned our family. I was alone after my father's death, but my brother, Liam, found me and took me aboard his ship, the Jolly Roger. He took care of me, promised that one day I could be the captain of my own pirate ship, this ship to be exact."

Killian is smiling. She can see how much he love his brother.

"That creature showed me scenes that…that are impossible. It showed me terrible lies." He breathed. "But I need to know if they're true. That's my request, Swan."

Emma chuckles that he still remembers her promise. "To find out if your brother lied to you? If he's as dead as you said, I don't see how my magic will help you."

That makes Killian smirk. "Liam is gone, but not dead. I want you to help me find him."

9/20/17: Now Betad by the generous notoriouscs

Yup, Liam Jones is alive, out there somewhere. Any guesses as to where he's been hiding?

I was debating what I wanted to do about Anna for a while but found this to be the best way to deal with her. As far as Ingrid goes, I had a lot of trouble with her character. Hopefully this makes sense.

I just want to warn you that updates may slow down due to this month being NanoWrimo and I'm actually participating this year. Even though this story is finished, I'm not done with this universe, I like it too much, so it's either slow updates or a long hiatus in the middle, especially since it took like 3-4 months to write this one.

Alright Spoiler warnings, time to vent.

Alright I'll be honest, I'm not a big Rumbelle fan. But I liked this episode, Merida was really good, I wonder how her story is going to continue because I really doubt we're done with her. Plus Rumple as a hero trying to take down Emma is definitely going to be interesting, especially since he doesn't care about getting her back. And they FINALLY know what a terrible guy Arthur is! Yay! Get the angry mob! Plus a Camelot vs. Misthaven royal battle seems like an awesome scene. (And if we get to see Regina go all Evil on them, well, it'll just make my day!)

They say there is going to be a two part episode this month, does anyone know when that is?

~Luna