Part 8

"Were they real?" questions Killian, his face pale from his recent encounter at the edge of Tartarus that he had run from and then ended up being bodily dragged by Hades back to the god's home.

"Yes. The opening of Tartarus holds a special magic. The white-blue effervescent light you saw is a curse placed upon the entrance to beguile any mortal that passes by it. The souls within the pit linked to the mortal are pulled from it and given form. For you they retained their ghostly appearance; for other mortals that have sought entrance to my domain, the souls once more take their previous live form," explains Hades patiently.

"You call it a curse, because of the pain it brings to see your loved ones as such?"

Hades' lips twist into a cruel smile. "Hardly. It is a curse because if you linger with the souls of your dead you'll begin to feel a pull that makes you step forward. Many a mortal have we watched walk into Tartarus and be lost to the pit and all it entails forever without them ever knowing or realising they were tricked into it, led to their deaths by those they held dear."

"Like bloody sirens," comments Killian bitterly, making Hades laugh in agreement at the comparison. "What of...my brother, Liam didn't appear," Killian states, clenching his jaw and his hand at the memory of his brother.

""Because his was a light soul. He held no hatred, or anger, or darkness within him when he passed too soon. He had regrets but such an emotion is acceptable, especially in one taken before his time. Your brother rests eternally in Elysium."

"But then why is Milah in Tartarus? Surely she too should reside in Elysium. And Baelfire, or rather Neal?"

"Neal cared naught for the consequences resurrecting his 'Papa' would wrought. The payment for such magic was not simply his life, but also his very soul. It would not matter even if prior to his death he'd committed an act of true bravery or heroism. He was marked by the doorway, scarred both physically and spiritually. As for Milah, she had darkness in her heart. She hated her husband. The darkness of her anger and disgust with Rumplestiltskin was to such a degree that she willingly fled with you, leaving her son alone and motherless. Her actions are what led to so many events taking place throughout these last few centuries in your realm. Without her abandonment of her son, Rumplestiltskin may never have become the Dark One. At the least Baelfire would not have been alone for so many years. You would not have but one hand. The curse may never have happened as Regina may never have turned into the Evil Queen. As a result your Miss Swan would have grown up as a Princess and with two loving parents."

"No!" growls Killian, his blue eyes flashing angrily at Hades. "I won't sit here and have you place all that blame on Milah's shoulders. We were in love!" he spits at the god.

"Not when she first ran from her husband. She simply craved adventure and you gave it to her. Love came after. But you mistake me, Hook," Hades tells him darkly, his entire face turning emotionless. "I place no blame on her shoulders. I'm merely pointing out that the darkness in her heart resulted in her not only spending an eternity in Tartarus, but also so many other things may not have occurred without that darkness. Without it you would not have even ever met the delightful 'Saviour'."

Killian frowns at the god's words and begins to pace, thinking it all over. Hades, meanwhile, leaves the ghostly form of the pirate to his wonderings and makes his way outside. With the arrival of Killian's soul the god hasn't spent as much time as he normally would on his duties as Lord of the Underworld. Feeling like the Captain needs his privacy to think, and won't do anything more idiotic than earlier, Hades straightens himself up and pulls on his more well known persona, the one that strikes fear into his guards and terror into all the souls gathered in the swirling pit. He avoids the main pit and makes his way to the less known area of the Underworld, the one where only the darkest and most dangerous of souls are locked away. He needs to let loose the anger building inside of him, and they are the perfect objects to unleash his fury upon.

What in all the gods' names was the blasted imbecile of a Captain thinking about by wandering right over to the damn pit?! Thé would see him disembowelled over and over again if he was to lose the man's soul now, rages Hades, his nostrils flaring being the only outward sign of his anger. The simple sight makes the towering chimeras - guarding the doorway of his favourite pets to play with (at least when he's in such a mood) - tremble with fear. The fur on the backs of their necks rise up as he passes between them; the air around him shimmering from the heat blazing around him, even though he keeps the flames that sometimes engulf him buried beneath his skin.

"Time to play," he grins darkly as the heavy stone doors close behind him, blocking all sound of screams and cries of pain and anguish and fear.

Left alone once more Killian begins to pace. Up and down, back and forth he goes. His footsteps soon form a path in the soft silt covering the ground, but the pirate continues on uncaring. He feels far too enclosed in this cave-like structure. Even outside of the god and goddess of the Underworld's home he doesn't feel that freedom he longs for, that his heart once beat for. The rough hewn stone walls feel almost like a cage built from the earth.

He longs for the freedom of the ocean, the tranquility of his ship. Simply stepping upon her well-scrubbed deck and feeling the slight to-ing and fro-ing of the docked ship could always bring him to such peace. Yes there were awful memories upon his dearly beloved Jolly; memories that tore at his heart, choked up his throat and brought tears to his piercing blue eyes. But she'd always been there for him, and all that they'd been through together helped him to relax and feel truly at home on the bobbing vessel. Though after being without The Jolly Roger for so long, he'd gotten used to living in a house; albeit he'd only taken a single room at Granny's but the bed and shower were quite divine, though he'd never dare tell his ship that! He'd been ready to put down some proper concrete roots in Storybrooke. All because of the other thing he missed. Emma.

He missed her to the very depths of his soul, and the longing he felt to see her face as well as the remembrance of all the things she used to do and had done with him had him dropping into the nearest chair: a straight-backed leather monstrosity that was hard beneath him, though he'd definitely sat on his fair share of far worse furniture over his many years. As he sits he ponders over everything about Emma, causing his hand to clench as he prays fervently that he gets back to her soon.

He misses how her eyes would crinkle ever so slightly at the corners when she really smiled. He reminisces on the love she had for her boy and their shared fondness for hot chocolate with cinnamon. He yearns to hear her laugh once more, to see her cheeky grin. He misses her humour, her strength, bravery and courage. Definitely one of the strongest lasses he's ever had the pleasure of meeting. Killian feels a deep-seeded need to hear the sound of his name - his real name - on her lips, just once more. He longs to see the smile she'd have when she quoted something; or the crooked twist of her lips when he said something she liked; or how she'd gaze at him, eyes soft and filled with warmth. He yearns to once more hear her attempts at speaking with his accent and the quiet joy she'd get from teasing him that way.

He remembers the feel of her in his arms and how she'd looked so much at home in the Enchanted Forest when the two of them had ended up back in time. The jealousy that had spiked through him when she'd prepared to 'distract' his past self had confirmed what he'd already known for quite some time: he irrevocably loved Emma Swan. And then to see her as she should have been, as a princess at a beautiful ball he'd felt slightly unworthy of her. It'd taken some time before he could accept that she found him worthy of a chance, though he'd hidden behind bravado and pestered her some regarding it all. The way she slowly opened her heart to him and trusted him with it and it's safekeeping had brought him such tremendous joy. But nothing was quite like hearing her tell him "I love you", though the first time was much too heartbreaking to think on. It was all too close and much too soon after her sacrifice in order to save Regina. He remembers the bitterness when he thought she couldn't see a future with him, but every now and again his Swan surprised him and boy had he been stunned when she'd told him that she could see one.

Killian misses the heated gaze of her hooded eyes when they flirted, the feel of her hand in his, and how she felt in his arms. As he thinks of holding her, Killian reminisces about their many kisses. The soft sweet pecks; the leisurely kissing along with some mild groping; and the ones that left them panting, their breath intermingling. He swiftly brings his thoughts to a halt on what her lips pressed against his felt like; their tongues dancing a heady tune, the passion and lust and love that had roared to life between them and sometimes resulted in coitus. Sitting in Hades' lair - in his living room of all places - was neither the time nor the place to reminisce on their couplings and how their kisses imitated the lover's dance. His tongue darts out to run across his lower lip as he remembers how she looks in leather. He enjoys seeing her red leather jacket; an item as much a part of her as her soft silky blonde hair and mesmerising blue green eyes. But he also remembers how she'd looked wearing his newly purchased leather jacket after their First Date. To see her draped in his clothes had been surprisingly enticing; though at the time he'd blamed such thoughts on his left hand.

Killian turns his thoughts to what it had felt like when she'd seen through his nonchalance of telling her he traded the Jolly. How it had felt when she clearly understood what it meant for him to give her his brother's ring. Just like she was an open book to him, she could read him just as easily. , her ability to see through him and how she bested him so many times,

He remembers her childlike excitement when she was first learning about how to work her magic, though at the time he was in a frightful mood and couldn't enjoy her glee in that moment. After being the Dark One he doubts she'll ever show such emotion again when performing her magic. The knowledge and magic they held had made all the magic she'd learnt and done up until then seem like simple tricks or sleight of hand.

The faith she had in him, from so early on in his 'transformation' from villian to hero, continues to astound him. The woman - who had once had such difficulties believing in magic in order to break the curse the Evil Queen had set upon the Enchanted Forest - was able to fill her heart with faith that he would do the right thing. She had trusted him.

Had.

The memory of her lack of trust once she'd tethered Killian to Excalibur sends spikes of anguishing pain through him. She'd continued not to trust him, up until that last moment by the lake in Storybrooke when it was all too late. The thought that if she didn't truly trust him, how could he be sure she truly loved him flits around inside Killian's head. He jumps to his feet, intent on exerting his rage on the inanimate objects surrounding him. It continues to build until it feels like it has it's own pulse throbbing away inside of him. He launches the coffee table away, the mahogany wood smashing to smithereens as it slams into the rough cave walls. He raises his hook, ready to shatter the large vase from the Orient but is thrown unseeingly into the wall behind him. Killian cries out in pain as the jagged rock jags into him, though thankfully doesn't pierce through his leather jacket or draw blood.

Hades roars in his face, flames igniting and surrounding the incensed and wrathful deity. The god's eyes swirl much more than usual, making Killian feel seasick - something he hasn't felt since he was but a lad - and forcing the pirate to avert his gaze from the man fuming at the destruction to his property. It takes a while but Hades finally calms himself when Meli approaches and presses a single dark blue tulip into his hand.

Hades waits until his beautiful blonde wife takes their daughter into her room (one of only three rooms in the house with a door; the other two being their own bedroom and the bathroom) before finally (calmly) telling the dark-haired pirate, "She does love you. And you love her. That's what's important. All the rest can be helped with some hard work, if you're willing. The two of you can pull through this. Trust me, I know."

"You mean you've seen it?"

"No, I've lived it with Persephone," he mutters before taking a seat and gesturing for the pirate to do the same. "I loved her from afar but I never thought she'd see me. I didn't even think she noticed me beyond being 'Zeus' other brother that was the freak that tended to the evil souls'. Not something you want a woman you're besotted with to really think about you. And I was much older than her, though for us gods and goddesses such a detail matters little. My own self-loathing and lack of confidence in who I was led to me kidnapping her and holding her captive in Tartarus."

"Tartarus?" asks Killian, his eyes widening.

"It meant we'd be alone and her busybody of a mother couldn't easily get her back. Time passed and we returned to up here. I could not stand what the evil of some of those beasts in the pit were doing to her, and so I began building this home for her out of the rock. But during that time her betrothed rescued her on Demeter's orders.

"She told me then that she loved me and that it was me she wanted to take as her husband, her lover, her best friend. But I didn't believe her. I blamed it on Stockholm Syndrome and so let her slip through my fingers and so Hermes took her from her and returned her to Olympus with the intention of marrying her. It took months for me to pull myself out of my depression and pity. Constantly I awaited with bated breath for news that she'd married, but word never came. As a result, nearly a year later, I journeyed to Olympus and made public advances towards her, wooing her. But she told me to forget it all and to simply take her home, after we married.

"Why do you think only now have we had a child? Love can be easy sometimes yes, but to keep a relationship working well is just like steering a ship across the sea. Every now and again you need to make a course correction. You have to work for it in order to get to your destination. Don't forget that she truly loves you, pirate. She loves all that you are, and accepts all that you once were. There's not many women in any of the realms willing to overlook a man's dark past. I have my own light, my own Saviour as you will," says Hades with a twist of his lips. "Seph saved me from the dark. Emma saved you. Don't let your mistakes tear her from you and you from her; both you and Emma have made some heady ones and you just need to find a way to work through them and repair what was hurt and broken."

Killian nods, staring unseeingly at the cave walls surrounding them.

"Now that I've played my part as marriage counsellor, I'm off to check in with my lovely wife and daughter. Meli's been bugging Seph to take her to see the tulips in Amsterdam in Emma's realm for a while now. I can trust you not to have any further hissy fits or acts of stupidity, right?"

Killian merely glares in reply.

A/N: Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had a good Christmas and enjoyed celebrating New Year (I slept through the latter as my sleep is well and truly fucked up right now, hence the wait for this chapter). Again this chapter ended up going much longer than planned so I'm splitting it in two but will post both chapters today.

In regards to the three film series I referenced/quoted in the last chapter (which no one managed to get all three) they were: Pirates of the Caribbean (I got a lot of the commands Davy gave his crew from PotC); Harry Potter (Basilisk); Avengers Assemble (probably the hardest of the bunch to find: "The Captain here made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision" is my referencing Director Fury's fantastic quote: "I recognise the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it.")

Would you like to give me a gift of a review? Can also be a belated birthday/Christmas present. Yes, I know, I'm shameless. Thanks for reading!

Due to my illness I do sometimes have issues being able to write on a regular basis. I don't know when I'll get this next updated but I just ask for your patience. Many thanks!

~Anna-Margaret

xx