"Emma!" I called out, as loudly as I could. She glanced back over her shoulder, her luscious, long hair fluttering in the breeze temptingly, giggling as she gestured for me to follow her through the garden. "Swan, wait! Wait for me!" I cried out desperately as I hobbled forward. I winced and fell to the ground, the pain in my leg excruciating.

"Come on Killian! Catch up! Come find me!" My beautiful siren Swan ducked behind a hedge and I became dizzy, the pain taking over as I forced myself to walk towards her. It took my forever, the pain became crippling and I had to drag my body along with my hook as I lay on the ground. But when I got to the hedge she wasn't alone. A mysterious dark stranger stood there, kissing my Swan, holding my love in his arms. "Emma?" I asked, my heart breaking into a million pieces.
"You took too long!" She insisted angrily. "You took too long so I married this one instead." They started running, hand in hand but the pain was too intense for me to follow them.

"Swan!" I yelled, tears streaming down my face. "Emma!" but she didn't look back. The pain began increasing exponentially. It was horrific. The world was blackening and I had to scream to let off some of the pain. Someone was shaking my shoulder but the pain was blinding. When I finally was able to open my eyes the garden had disappeared. I was in a small wooden room, lying on the floor. A girl sat beside me and though I couldn't make out her face I knew it wasn't my Swan. She had red hair and her touch was not at all like Emma's.

"Hook." The woman said. Her voice was nothing like my Swan's either. "Hook, come on. Wake up. You've got to wake up."

"Who are you?" I mumbled breathlessly as I panted in pain.

"Come on you stupid pirate. Wake up!"

"Who. Are. You?" I breathed.

"It's me you idiot. Come on, I need you to wake up and prove to these idiots that I'm not transporting a dead body. You do want to get home to Emma right?" At Emma's name my eyes flew open and I focused hard on the girl's face.

"Ariel?" I asked, confused. "You're a mess." She turned to face someone and narrowed her eyes angrily.

"See? He's speaking. He is clearly not dead which means I clearly didn't kill him! I'm getting him back to his true love who happens to be a purveyor of magic. She can fix up his leg and he'll be fine. Will you please let us go now?" I tried to listen for the response but I found myself drifting back to sleep. I dreamed of the incident. Of the idiot who shot at the mermaids. What kind of sailor was that? You never shot at a mermaid! The ship was falling to pieces around me, my beloved Jolly being torn apart. I yelled at Robin and his men to get into a life boat and they did but by the time I got around to getting in one myself the remaining vessels had been smashed by the sea women. Their cackling laughs filled the air and a great sea beast rose up from the depths and wrapped its slimy tentacle around my right leg. I tried to stab it with my hook but it just grew angry and squeezed. The beast nearly crushed my leg by the time it dragged me under the water's surface. The last thing I heard was Robin screaming my name. By God I hoped he had the good sense to keep moving away from the wreck, back to Regina. I knew he'd take care of my Swan until I got back. As I dreamed the truth came back to me and I remembered what happened next. The beast loosened its grip and a great merman with a golden spear of sorts shots some magic-y stuff at it. The beast sunk back down to the depths and Ariel appeared beside the man. She pulled me to the surface and I nearly passed out from lack of oxygen but I took a deep breath when I reached the sweet, sweet air. The Jolly was spreading in pieces around me and I knew there was no hope for it. That was okay. I didn't need her anymore, not when I had my Swan. Ariel would have gladly taken me back to Emma at that moment but the water began to swirl around us. I glanced down and noticed that she was wearing a portal bean. It had hit the water in such a way that it had activated a portal. I thought of Emma and hoped desperately it would take us back to her side but she had been thinking of Eric and the bean got a bit confused. Neither of us knew exactly where we were and her head was so dizzy she wasn't able to turn back into a mermaid, let alone swim between realms. My leg was crushed and I couldn't walk. She had paid an old woman in this realm to fix me up and although I was certain it was healing it hurt like hell. We made our way slowly to the castle of an old man who allegedly could create portals. I needed to get back to my Swan. I needed to find her. Preferably before she got sick of waiting and moved on.

As it turned out the man was a hoax. All he had were stale beans. Normal, regular, average beans. The kind you can eat. Not the kind of bean that could take me back to my lovely Swan. For the first time since Emma saved me from the dark and miserable place I had been in after Milah's death I seriously considered tearing the man limb from limb with my hook and teaching him a lesson about lying. However since I could barely walk Ariel was able to pull me away fairly easily.

I dreamed the dream again.

And again the next night.

And the night after that. I would continue to live this nightmare every single time I closed my eyes until I reached her and found her waiting for me.