Chapter 9: Battle Scars

"Miss Anna," Cassily called from the tree. "Miss Anna, did you hear me?"

"Uh…" Anna took a shaky breath and continued. "Yes, Cassily. I heard you."

"Do you think it was one of your friends that the beast hurt?" the girl asked softly. Anna's mind was reeling; although there was no way to identify who the scream belonged to, she was fearful for the lives of everyone who had gone on the search for young Cassily. John was right when he said that the crew cared for each other like family; she hadn't been aboard the Jolly Roger for longer than a few days and she was drowning in worry. But she had to say strong; in the event that everyone did escape the forest, and this…beast, unscathed, they had to bring Cassily home. She had to bring Cassily home.

"I suppose. Unless there was someone else in the forest," Anna added optimistically. She held her arms up and out. "Come on. Jump. I'll catch you."

"But the trees are safer," Cassily frowned, suddenly sounding a bit frightened. "The beast doesn't know how to climb the trees. In fact, you should be up here too."

"I'll do no such thing," Anna replied.

"Why?" Cassily questioned. "I'm sure that there's plenty of room for the both of us."

"My friends and I promised to get you home. The quicker we find my friends, the quicker we can get out of this forest and to safety," Anna explained.

"Well…I'm not coming down. I'm scared."

"Are you a proper young lady, Cassily?" Anna asked, hands now on her hips.

"Yes," the girl answered softly.

"Then how can you possibly be scared? Didn't you know that proper young ladies aren't afraid of anything; they hold their head up high and face whatever stands in their way."

"Really?"

"Yes."Cassily eyed Anna with distrust, but eventually, and reluctantly, climbed down from the tree. "See, was that so bad? You're one step closer to getting home." Cassily's eyes darted nervously around the dark forest.

"Let's go then," she ushered, grabbing the hand that Anna offered tightly. Anna gave her a small, forced, but hopefully reassuring, smile and then led her in the direction that she came in.

Or was it the other way? Anna thought. And when did it get so dark?

"Arm yourselves!"

"Has it gone?!"

"Who did it get?"

"Quiet! And put those bloody torches out," Killian shouted to his crew. It was chaos, and rightly so. They had been searching the forest for the Governor's daughter, and, so far, it had gone well. She was easy to track—normally, no one dared set foot in the forest, so her prints were easy to find to follow. Actually finding her had been the problem for the crew of the Jolly Roger. Her footsteps kept leading in circles, which was why they were caught unprepared when the creature—whatever it was—attacked.

The ground had shaken beneath their boots, there was a roar…and then the sound of screams and the scent of blood saturated the air. It had happened so fast, Killian hadn't even witnessed it with his own eyes, and he doubted any of the other men did either. He did know, though, that it had been Howell—poor, young Howell, who could barely speak to a tavern wench without stuttering, he was so timid—who the creature had attacked and dragged away into the darkness that surrounded them, leaving a puddle of blood where he once had been standing.

Killian was now trying to restore order to his crew, as well as prevent another possible attack, but his mind was racing.

The stories were true, he thought frantically. Perhaps I should get my men out of the forest to spare them from such a vicious death, and instead suffer the consequences of breaking the blood contract with Percy as penance for Howell's death. Yes, that's it. John is smart enough to captain the Roger and take care of the crew, while I face my fate. Suppose I do deserve it, for all of the terrible things I've ever done. They outweigh the good…and Howell is the tipping point.

Another set of screams ripped through the air, and all went silent. Killian was about to scold his men for their fears when he realized that those were not his mens' screams, but rather, belonging to women. Specifically, a woman and a young girl. And dread filled him immediately.

Anna's out there, he realized. How can you be such a coward and decide to get your men to safety, only to leave her in this bloody forest to die? You promised that she would be safe if she agreed to travel with you. How could you just leave her out there?

The answer? He wouldn't.

"John," Killian barked, unsheathed his sword with a renewed determination.

"Yes Captain?" his first mate answered immediately.

"Find a way out of this hellish place and get the men back to the ship. And under no circumstances are you to follow me," he ordered, immediately turned on his heel, beginning to walk away.

"Where are you going, Captain?" John called after him.

"To save the girl," he replied simply and disappeared into the darkness.

"Do you know where you're going?"

"Yes."

"Because I think we've passed that tree twice."

"How do you know?" Anna asked, looking at Cassily with a teasing smile.

"I had torn my dress in it the other day, when I was climbing. See, there's a piece of my skirt," the little girl pointed out. A worried look then appeared on her face. "Are we lost?" Anna stopped them immediately and knelt down so they were eye-to-eye.

"I'll tell you the truth, Cassily," she began. "We aren't lost, but I am having trouble finding the way I came. Where I come from, there's a road that goes through the forest; I am unfamiliar being completely surrounded by trees. But, please believe that I am trying."

"I know you are," Cassily nodded.

"Good," Anna smiled and rubbed her hands over her arms in reassurance. "We'll be on our way then, yeah?"

She jumped slightly at the feeling of something warm and wet dripping onto her face. Cassily shrieked a little as the droplets hit her as well. Thinking that rain was the cause, the two girls looked up, wondering why the canopy of trees wasn't protecting them…only to scream in utter horror when they found a horribly mangled body dangling from the branches above them, blood from multiple wounds cascading around and onto them in a gruesome shower.

At the nearby sound of a roar—a hungry-sounding roar, at that—Cassily immediately threw her arms around Anna's neck and buried her face in her shoulder, unable to hide her fear. Anna reacted and picked the girl up, throwing all caution to the wind as she began running in any which direction. She didn't know, she didn't care. All she knew was that she needed to get away; away from the danger and away from the blood, even though she and Cassily were both thoroughly coated in it.

An almost impercievably quick blur of motion crossed the path ahead, and Anna skidded into a turn, careful not to drop Cassily as she did. She continued to run, dodging through the trees before her, unsure of whether the frantic repetitive beating sound in her ears was from her heart or the footsteps of someone, or something, chasing her.

"It's getting closer," Cassily whispered fearfully as she dared to steal a peak over Anna's shoulder. There wasn't much to see in the darkness, but after spending days, weeks, in the forest, she knew what to look for. The rustle of leaves, the quick flashes of pale flesh in the darkness…the faint scent of blood and decay.

Anna, though trying to pay attention on running, was quickly forming a plan in her head. A good plan…hopefully. Something that would get Cassily home, safe and with her family once again. It wasn't so uplifting for herself, though. But she needed to try.

"Cassily," Anna began. "I'm going to do something soon, something potentially dangerous and stupid, and when I do, you need to follow my directions, exactly as I tell them to you. No hesitating, no asking questions. Can you do that?"

"Yeah," the little girl hiccupped.

"You sure?"

"Uh huh." Anna suddenly stopped in her tracks and set Cassily down on her feet. She drew one of her throwing knives from her boot and turned towards the direction they just had been running from.

"What are you doing?"

"You need to run, Cassily. Run as fast as your legs can carry you. And you can never ever look back; just keep looking ahead, and keep running. Until you find someone who can help you get home. Alright?"

"What about you? Where will you be?"

"What did I say about questions?" Anna snapped. "I'm buying you time; go!"

"But—" the little girl's tears dripped down her cheeks.

"Please. Just go; I'll be fine. I can protect myself."

Cassily nodded and hesitantly jumped through the nearby trees. Now alone and relatively still, she could hear the approach of the beast, and searched her thoughts for some idea that would draw its attention to her so Cassily could get away. She hoped that it would rather go for an easy hunt, rather than the thrill of the chase, but what could draw it to her?

She said it hunts blood and gold. Anna recalled. I don't have any gold on me…but I have plenty of blood.

And with that, she enclosed her free hand around the blade of her knife and pulled, crying out as the sharpened metal cut easily through her skin. She squeezed her hand, letting droplets of her blood hit the ground before she opened her palm, and the coppery scent hit the air.

"Here I am! Come and get me!" Anna called out.

She dropped her knife in fear as she saw something emerge from the foliage out of the corner of her eye just a few seconds later. She gasped and turned to face it fully, utterly afraid and disgusted, but at the same time, unable to draw her gaze away from it. From the beast.

And what a terribly beastly beast it was.

The first thing Anna noticed was his size. Standing upright, the beast would've been tall, more than twice her size, but instead it was hunched over, its bony, razor-sharp, claw-like hands dragging against the forest floor. What it had in height, though, it lacked in width, for it was rail-like and had a starved, sickly look about it. She could make out it's bones, straining to rip through its rotting, paper-thin skin, which was mottled a deathly pale and somewhat blue, in some places, but stained a dark, dark red, from blood, in others. Then her eyes travelled up to its face, and for a split second, she considered it rather human-looking, but then changed her mind as she noticed the obvious differences. First was its huge, sunken in eyes that practically glowed on their own in the darkness of the forest. Its mouth was immense, hanging open so wide Anna wondered if its jaw was unhinged, and filled with rows of razor sharp teeth that still had bits of flesh stuck between them. There were no ears, no nose—unless one considered the two small holes beneath its eyes nostrils—and no hair or fur. Just bone and blood and rotten, rotten skin.

Its shoulders began bobbing slightly, as if it were laughing, and then a deafening roar erupted from the beast, the sheer force of which made Anna stumble backwards a few steps and widen her eyes in fear.

The beast lunged for her then, it's arm extending and slashing at Anna, who jumped away just seconds too late. She cried out in pain as the beast's claws cut through her jacket and shirt, and ripped across her chest. It tried to do the same again, but Anna reacted instinctively, quickly drew another knife from her belt, and plunged it into the beast's arm, to the hilt, shocked as the blade reappeared on the other side.

How is it so strong? Anna thought in surprise. How can it kill so many so quickly if it can be so easily wounded? My knife cut through its flesh and bone so easily.

That surprise, though, led her to become distracted. The beast grabbed her with its uninjured hand, claws cutting through her jacket and her shoulder, and tossed her away, easily, as if she were a rag doll. As she hit the ground, all the air rushing from her lungs, Anna watched as the beast cradled its wounded appendage, all the while howling in anguish. It moved so quickly, running frantically around and thrashing to remove the knife from itself, that Anna could barely see it.

But it saw Anna, and it remembered that she was the one who did this, the one who caused it pain, who caused it to bleed. And it wanted her blood, now more than before. It stalked towards her once again, as she painfully scrambled backwards, trying to get away. The beast was too quick for her, though, and it grabbed her, claws cutting into her leg as it dragged her back across the forest floor so it could get it's revenge.

No, the beast was not some simple creature that merely did what it instinctively knew to do. It could think, it could feel, it could thirst and hunger and what it thirsted and hungered for was simple. It liked gold and silver; it hoarded them, because they glowed like the sun, but were cool and soothing like water, neither of which it could touch. It liked blood, because it was hot and red and wet and made him stronger and stronger. It the way screams felt on the air around it, for it could not hear, and the way the ground felt when its prey ran from him. And now, it like revenge, because no one had bested him before...until this small little thing appeared in his forest…and it would never allow something to be stronger than him.

Anna was frozen in fear as the beast roared; his gaping maw so close to her face that she could feel spittle hit her and she gagged at the smell of decaying flesh and metallic blood. But amidst her fear, she noticed it…the slight vibration beneath the paper-thin skin on the beast's chest, the one place where she couldn't make out any bones struggling against the barrier. It was repetitive and steady…a heartbeat.

Perhaps there aren't any bones there? She wondered. Perhaps…its heart lies unprotected?

And then she felt, on the ground beside her, right beneath her fingers, something cold and metallic. It was the knife she had dropped when she first encountered the beast, what felt like hours ago, but was truly only minutes. In a last effort, before the creature could notice, she wrapped her fingers around the handle, pushed herself up and drove the knife into its chest, tearing through the skin, and releasing a slow oozing of blood. The beast looked shocked and, momentarily, in pain as it noticed the foreign object sticking out of the right side of him, but was relatively unphased as he reared to attack once more.

Anna closed her eyes, ready to accept her fate…but nothing came. No pain, no sounds…nothing.

It must be taking it's time… she figured, and waited just a few seconds more, readying herself for whatever was to come.

Nothing.

She cracked open one eye, but the other opened in shock when she found, looming over her, was the still form of the beast, arm raised above its head, ready to kill her…except…it didn't have a head anymore.

The body keeled over to the side and revealed one Killian Jones, Captain of the Jolly Roger, bloodied sword in hand, staring smugly at the ground, specifically, at the disembodied head that rested at his feet.

"Not so scary now, are you?" he asked with a smirk. He sheathed his sword and looked up at Anna, who was staring at him, utterly speechless. "Didn't think that would work, actually. Beast of lore, and all. Glad it did." His gaze then softened. "You alright?"

"I'm dead, aren't I?" she eventually muttered in disbelief. "I'm dead and…I'm in hell. I mean…you're here."

"Thanks," Killian deadpanned and went to help her to her feet.

"How did you find me?" she asked him.

"You're quite the screamer, love," he smirked, earning a pointed glare. "And I came across the little girl, Percy's daughter; she pointed the way."

"Cassily!" Anna exclaimed. "Is she alright?"

"Told her to how to find the rest of the crew; she should be safe and sound. Possibly even at home, if John is as competent with a compass as he looks." That got a slight laugh out of Anna, right before her world turned fuzzy and tipped sideways, and she began falling. Killian managed to grab her before she could hit the ground, and held her upright, against him. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Everything's…strange. Cold," she answered, somewhat breathlessly. She cried out in excruciating pain as he touched her shoulder, and black spots swam into her vision.

"Anna? Anna!" Killian's frantic voice became distorted as she lost the strength to stand again. He carefully lowered her to the ground, noticing the shredded fabric of her clothes, and the blood that kept pouring from her wounds. "How did this happen? You should've told me that you were hurt. I have to stop the bleeding."

But his words fell on deaf ears as the darkness took Anna to a land far, far away. A land with roads made of golden bricks...and great, good fairies…and pirates with ships that sailed through the air…

Eventually, though, Anna's dreams subsided, and she returned to the land of the living. When she did regain consciousness, she woke slowly, her eyelids feeling impossibly heavy as she tried to open them; she winced as an intense, throbbing pain shot through her entire body, effectively waking her. Everything still felt fuzzy and distant, though, as she tried pushing herself into a seated position.

"Don't try to get up." Killian's voice overwhelmed her senses and Anna lost her grip, falling back onto the bed abruptly. She looked around as her vision cleared and found that she was in her bed, back in her cabin on the Jolly Roger. Everything was the same, except for the chair that now rested beside the bed, one that Killian was sitting in.

"What happened?" Anna asked, her voice hoarse from disuse. Killian reached down and picked a flask from the floor to give to her. Anna eyed it warily for a moment, but then pulled the stopper out and took a sip. Water, thankfully, and not rum.

"You've been out for days," he explained. "Blood loss. I got you out of the forest as quickly as I could, brought you here. Old Gibbs did what he could to patch you up, and a local healer in town…Mirabelle, I believe; reckon they did a good job, seeing as you aren't dead. Had everyone worried, though. And you'll have a good number of battle scars on you." His eyes went from caring to angry. "I thought I told you to stay on the ship."

"Technically John told me," Anna replied cheekily.

"You could've been killed. You would have been, if I hadn't gotten there when I did," he snapped.

"Maybe I wouldn't have been in danger if you'd have let me go with you in the first place," Anna defended, finally finding enough strength to sit upright. "Not to mention, I was the one to find the Governor's daughter. I doubt that you would've; she said that she was scared when she saw you looking for her."

"You're a part of this crew, Anna," Killian began, his voice calm but full of authority. "And that means you will follow the orders given to you, or face the consequences."

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "I'll listen next time…I could've gotten more people hurt than just myself."

Rather than the fiery backtalk he was expecting from her, he was surprised to see her look down at her hands in shame. This shocked him more than he showed. Where was the spunky girl that he was used to; the one who had finagled her way into his crew, and their hearts…and his own? This, truly, couldn't be her.

Killian hesitantly lifted a hand and cupped her chin, gently easing her head back so that she was looking him in the eye once more.

"Everyone's entitled to break the rules sometimes," he told her softly. "We're pirates; that's what we do. You'll get off with a warning this time, how does that sound?"

"Sounds good," she smiled.

"Besides, because of you, we got the girl home safely, and we killed the Beast of Montem. Good ol' Percy was very generous in his reward; more than we had originally agreed," Killian smirked. "They've reverted back to traditional forms of currency too, now that there's no beast to hide their valuables from. We have enough gold to keep us in rum for years. Couldn't punish you for that, could I?"

"Pirates and their rum," Anna rolled her eyes at him.

"Hey, I thought you liked rum," Killian questioned, a single eyebrow raised.

"I am a pirate now, aren't I?" Anna asked. "Getting into trouble, finding treasure, battle scars?" Killian chuckled and patted her cheek affectionately.

A girl after my own heart.

"I should probably go now, let the others know that you're awake and will be back to normal in a few days," he said, getting to his feet. "Don't know how they ever survived before you came aboard the ship; there's been nothing but complaints about ripped shirts and George's cooking for days. They act like the world's about to end."

"Good to know I'm wanted," Anna smiled warmly.

"Get well, then, Miss Anna," Killian said as he left her cabin.

"Thank you, Captain."

Author's Note:

PrincessOfSilence: And I'm back again after another long absence. Haha. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. Thanks for reading!

SemiraBlake: I'm glad you like it so far, and I hope you liked this chapter as well. Sorry for the long wait.

Guest: I'm glad you like it so far. I've been a tad busy, but I will not abandon this story. I promise. Thanks for reviewing!

Reka Leaf: Hi! Your review made my eyes water a little, but I guess that's 'cause I'm a tad emotional already. This story is pre-Milah; I believe I mentioned that somewhere previously...I don't remember where. There might be some Storybrooke eventually. I haven't really written that far, yet. I've actually seen a lot of Killian stories of the same name; I don't mind in the least.

I'll have to read your story some time when I have the chance. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far, and Anna. More to come soon. Thanks for reviewing.

Rebecca: Aww, I'm glad you like the story. I'll try to update again soon[er]!

Laurafxox: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I've been literally swamped since before and after school ended, and now I'm in college and have a job, so I've been busy. The creative juices have been flowing, though, but aside from little snippets of scenes being written in my notebook, I haven't gotten the chance to actually sit down and write an entire chapter. But last night I did, so here's Chapter 9! Hope you enjoy it, and I promise the next update will come much faster. Hopefully.

WHOO! An update has finally arrived. And I'm really, really, genuinely sorry about the wait. It has been a long few months of…ugh! I have started school again—yay college!—but I still plan to write on my off time. The next update won't take as long as this one has, but it might be a few weeks before I get the chance to post again. (Meanwhile, there's a new season of OUAT for you to enjoy on TV, and OUAT in Wonderland too!)

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorited and added this story to their alerts, even though an update looked hopeless. I'm going to really try to write more now.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, despite the wait and the kind of crappy monster scene. Thanks for reading!