Killian's Inferno

Chapter Twenty-Four

While Emma and the others pushed onward, Emma pulled out Killian's hook and held it close to her chest in hope that it would guide her faster than if she left it tucked inside her red leather coat. The longer that their search for the man they had come to save continued, the more troubled the woman who loved him became. The others didn't show their frustration openly like Emma, but they all felt it too. Everyone was anxious to find Hook and then return home to Storybrooke again.

After continuing to walk on the brimstone paths alongside the river of fire, among the souls trapped within the walls, for what the heroes knew was only a few hours since they awoke from their nightmares, the Savior suddenly stopped upon feeling that they were finally close to him, close to wherever it was he was being held prisoner among their enemies. Emma stared attentively at the hook for several minutes while the others worried for her, until the blonde woman slowly reached out to touch the wall beside her, causing the rock wall before them to open up and reveal another hidden passageway beyond it.

As David and Robin pulled a couple of torches down from the walls as they entered first, Regina spoke again saying, "Well I'll be damned. I have to hand it to you, Miss. Swan. Your power is most definitely growing stronger now that you're back to your old self again."

Emma looked back at her friend as she responded quietly, "I just hope that it's strong enough. Come on, we're almost there. I can feel it."

Their paces quickened the further down through the passageway the heroes travelled. The deeper they went, the darker the caves became and by now, everyone was carrying their own torches to light their path, except for Regina, who was using a flame she summoned into the palm of her hand. When it ended, they came upon another cavern and above the doorway, the words, 'Abandon hope all ye who enter here,' were carved into the stone arch.

"You've got to be kidding me," Emma stated as she stared at the saying before her. "I thought these words were only from a book called Dante's Inferno?"

"When will things like this ever stop surprising you?" David asked as turned to look at his daughter.

Emma took a second, then replied, "I guess, never. Did this Dante guy actually come down here and find his way back?"

Robin read the words again as he answered, "If he did, then he must have made a deal with the devil himself to get out of the Underworld and if not, if his book is actually just fiction, then perhaps Hades carved these words here for cruel pleasure in order to terrify the souls who pass through."

"Hook's in there," Emma said sternly. "I won't turn back. I don't care what the warning says."

"We're with you," her mother answered in agreement. "Are you ready?"

The Savior muttered, "As I'll ever be."

Having no idea what to expect once they were inside, the heroes cautiously entered and upon doing so, the fires from their torches suddenly went out, leaving them standing close together in pitch blackness. Both the Queen and the Savior closed their eyes and with their magic, they were able to relight the room by setting fire to each of the torches surrounding them, then upon doing so, Emma immediately recognized the room to be the very room from her vision.

Her eyes immediately darted to the spot where she had seen Killian before and like in her vision, she found the man she loved upon his knees, strung up by his arms by golden shackles and his head hanging down against his chest in unconsciousness, then without warning, Emma ran to him as she shouted, "Killian! Hook, we're here!"

"These chains are wielded with magic," Regina said as she and the others quickly joined the desperate woman and worked to try to free the pirate using their own powers and weapons, while Emma knelt down in front of him and nervously reached out to touch his face as tears poured down from her eyes, afraid that the magic she had cast upon his hook wouldn't allow her to touch him. "We're not going to be able to break him free by any of our conventional means."

"My God, what did they do to him?" Mary Margaret asked in repulsion upon seeing the torment cast upon his body, or soul as it was, as she knelt beside her daughter, who when she found that she could feel him, Emma immediately leaned in close to kiss him and wrapped her arms around him, while everyone else as they touched him phased right through.

It was then that someone else appeared from behind them as she responded Snow's question with cruelty, "I'm afraid exactly what Hades does to all of his special souls who come his way. I'm afraid you've come a little too late, Savior. He's finally been broken. What's only been two days stuck down here in this hell for each of you, has been years for him and in all that time, he's suffered the worst agony any man can possibly suffer."

Emma remained protectively in front of Hook as she turned her head to look at the woman standing before them across the room and asked angrily, "What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?"

"Surely our pirate has spoken of me, or did he actually forget about me the moment that you walked into his life?" the newcomer replied in disdain.

"You're Milah?" Emma stated in shock as she stood and turned to face her head on. But how... Killian loved you, so much so that he spent centuries trying to avenge your death by going after Rumpelstiltskin. And this is how you repay him? By helping this God of the Underworld torture him?"

Milah glared coldly at the Savior as she answered, "Don't pretend to know anything about me or about the love I had for him. Killian betrayed me, just as my coward of a husband did. I left my son for him and he repaid me, by falling in love with you after I was dead."

Mary Margaret cut in as she responded, "Yeah, hundreds of years after you were dead."

"I wasn't speaking to you," Rumple's wife replied curtly as she glared at the Savior's mother, then turned back to Emma. "As I've told you, Miss. Swan, you've come too late to save him now. If you do manage to get him back up to the living realm, and if he does actually awaken after all his torment, he'll either despise and fear you because he won't believe that you actually care enough to come for him, or his torment will have simply been too much for him to take and he'll live the rest of his life, however long it might be, as if he is no more than a statue."

"You're wrong," Emma answered resolutely as she stepped closer to the woman with his hands raised, prepared to strike the woman down before she could hurt the man she loved anymore. "Killian is far stronger than he ever believed himself to be. He's a survivor and I won't ever stop trying to bring him back to me, no matter what you've done or continue to try to do."

All of a sudden, Hades himself appeared before them as he called out, "That may be all well and good, Miss. Swan, but if you think that all of you can come down here into my domain and take something that belongs to me, you're sorely mistaken. And your boyfriend's soul, belongs to me."

The Savior stared at the villain she knew was Hades from the moment he entered the cavern with worry, though she didn't show it as she responded, "Not anymore it doesn't. He gave his life to save us all from some of your souls. They're the ones who belong to you, not Hook."

"Doesn't matter," the God spoke again quickly as the blue flames illuminating him burned hotter. "It's as I told him, one noble act after three hundred years of evil deeds, doesn't make up for everything."

"Hook's done more than one good deed in his life," David replied firmly as he stepped forward to stand beside his daughter with his sword raised high. "He's saved us again and again and has been there to fight alongside us all ever since we first asked for his help."

Mary Margaret added, "It was Killian who saved our daughter from the darkness when all the rest of us failed to do so. What he and Emma share is true love and even you can't stand in the way of that."

Hades glared at the Prince and Princess as he answered, "Do you really think I care about the rules of your magical world, or about any of the good that was supposedly inside your precious pirate captain? Because I don't. You're all forgetting the most important thing here. If you really want to have him back, there are only two ways you can make that happen; either make a deal with me that I can't refuse, or trade one of your own souls in exchange for his. I warn you, this soul must be of equal or greater value than his own and I think that the soul of a Savior would do quite nicely."

Emma smiled at the immortal coolly as she responded, "I would give my life for Killian in a heartbeat, but then that would defeat the purpose in my coming here. I plan to live the rest of my life with him and we both will have our happy endings. I won't ever give that up."

"Which means that a deal must be struck then," he replied with pride. "You see, if I were to simply let you all just waltz down here, take one of my souls away from me without paying a price for it, and then waltz right back out again, you would clear the way for anyone wanting to come down to try to rescue their loved ones. I'm afraid I cannot let that be."

"You have no power over us," Regina answered in frustration. "We're all still alive and you have no dominion of the living. You can't actually hurt us yourself, which is why you've sent your pets to try to kill us."

Hades sneered, "The only way for you living souls to get out, is to get back to the ferryman and if you think that you'll be able to do that, especially with Captain Hook in tow, you are all fools. I've got plenty of beasts and souls who willingly, and even unwillingly, follow my every command."

The Savior glared at the God once more, then responded, "Yeah, we'll see about that."

Without hesitation, Emma swiftly raised her hands again as she blasted Hades back against the stone wall behind him, while another form of magic came from out of nowhere as new chains that could contain their enemy long enough to buy them time to free Hook from his own shackles formed and held the God in place. Emma and the others looked around for the source of the magic, but found no one else around them, so they ignored it and took it for what it was as they continued going about their goal. It was a long shot to try to fight against a God, but as heroes, it was the same kind of evil they fought against every day. Hades screamed at the invaders for their audacity to think that they could get away with trying to get the pirate's soul back without paying a price, while Milah only stood there in surprise, shocked that someone had the power to imprison the immortal, no matter how temporary.

"How are we going to break these things?" Robin asked quickly as he, Charming, Snow, and Regina worked to do all they could to destroy the bonds, while Emma gently placed one hand on the side of Killian's face as she held his head up, and the other over his chest to try to rouse him, but to no avail.

"Regina, what if our magic combined is strong enough?" Emma said upon getting the idea. "Both light and dark magic?"

The Queen nodded and together they summoned their powers with as much strength as they could gather and finally the chains gave way as Killian collapsed into Emma's arms. Upon doing so, he suddenly began to stir as his hand gripped her arm weakly and struggled to open his eyes while Emma gently held his head close. When he finally succeeded to wake, she smiled down at him sadly, but there was no recognition in them as he looked up at the woman he loved, or if there was, it was like Milah had said. He didn't believe it could actually be her coming to save him.

David and Mary Margaret saw this too, but instead of trying to reassure their daughter that what she was thinking might be wrong, Charming quickly put his hand on Emma's shoulder as he stated, "Come on, we have to get out of here while we still can. Do you have him?"

"Don't worry, she's not alone!" another man called out as he immediately appeared at Emma's side and swiftly worked to help her lift Hook between them, the man Emma recognized to be Killian's brother Liam, who looked over at the Savior and saw the recognition in her eyes. "You know who I am?"

"Only if it's the real you?" she replied skeptically, allowing him to help her, despite not knowing for sure if it really was his brother, or Nimue again.

Liam smiled as he answered, "I promise you, I am who I appear to be. And I didn't come alone either."

It was as Milah suddenly charged at Emma with a dagger forged by the God, when two more souls appeared as one swiftly disarmed her, while the other struggled to strap her into the very chains that were holding Hook until he was finally successful. The heroes watched as Neal and Graham stepped forward, the two men the Savior had once been with looking sadly between Emma and the pirate she had risked her life to come into the Underworld for.

"Dad!" Henry shouted excitedly upon seeing the man he never got to say goodbye to before he died as he raced to him to hug him, only to fall right through him. "Dad?"

"Sorry kiddo," Neal responded as he looked at his son worryingly. "It's me, but not exactly the whole me any longer."

Emma stared at him as he turned to her, then continued, "We don't have time for this stare down. We need to go before Hades breaks free and more trouble comes."

Hades called out again angrily, "Trouble's already coming. You won't get out of here alive! None of you!"

"Yeah, you're right," Emma replied to Neal, then gently carried Hook over her shoulders with Liam's help as they made their way out of the room. "We're going home, Killian. It won't be long now, I promise."

"Not that we're not happy to see you guys, but how are…?" David began to ask until Graham interrupted him.

He quickly answered, "How are we here? We received word that you all were crazy enough to come down here to rescue someone, also that you were woefully outnumbered. We thought you could use some help that can actually do something against Hades' friends that are on their way to try to kill you."

While they made it back out among the fire and brimstone and continued their journey back toward the boatman as fast as they could, Regina spoke again saying, "No offense huntsman, but we can handle any of that God's beasts just fine."

"That isn't exactly what we mean," Neal responded curtly. "The beasts aren't alive, but they're not exactly dead either, which is why you can actually hurt them, but the souls he has command over, in case you haven't noticed, you can't touch them. They however, have no problem being able to hurt you. That's where we come in and luckily for you, we brought a few gifts."

"It is good to see you both again," Emma replied sadly as she looked between the two men lost to her a long time ago, who tossed to David, Robin, and Mary Margaret each one of the weapons the villains had used to hurt Hook, when their conversation was cut off as Cora, two unknown men, and Peter Pan appeared before them, while Cruella and the men the Savior recognized to be Killian's father and brother came up on them from behind. "Uh… guys?"

Liam pulled his brother's arm off from around his own shoulder and helped Emma set him down upon the ground as she knelt down beside him and pulled him close, then he quickly stated, "Stay with him. I'm going to help your family."

Mary Margaret glared at their enemies standing around them as she asked nervously, "So, these weapons are supposed to hurt them?"

"They should," Neal answered in frustration.

"What do you mean should?" Regina asked again as she immediately fired a burst of fire from the palm of her hand at her mother before the still Evil Queen could attack them first. "Don't you know?"

After one of the men they didn't recognize charged Neal angrily, whom he was easily able to fight off, Graham quickly pulled up his own weapon and responded, "These sticks were forged by lightning from another God and I've seen them used on other souls. I've been trapped here in this part of the Underworld a long time. The strange lashes on your boyfriend's back, Emma, those come from these."

Cora reappeared in another puff of smoke after being struck by her daughter's magic, then blasted her own powers as she forced Regina and Robin both back roughly against the wall beside them, then was about to throw a fireball herself at Mary Margaret until David struck her across her back with his whip to defend his wife. She screamed and swiftly turned on the Prince to force him back as well, then raised him high into the air while choking him as she had done earlier to Regina and Snow, who were fighting against Cruella and the other men. Emma was about to stand to help her father until Henry stepped between them and threw a larger handful of salt at the ghost, succeeding in breaking Charming free of her grasp as Cora screamed in pain, but didn't vanish in flame as she had done before.

She turned on the young man as she forced Henry up against the wall behind him while she sneered, "What business does a small minded child like you have down here? You should have remained in your own world with your toys and books."

"And you shouldn't underestimate my son!" Emma cried out angrily, standing to defend Henry when Robin swiftly tossed her his defense against the evil souls as she wrapped the whip around the Queen's throat and pulled her down to the ground, causing Cora to gasp and cry out, then the Savior immediately turned to Pan as he suddenly appeared beside Killian, but before she could stop the boy, he grinned cruelly as he grabbed hold of Hook and shimmered out with him.

"Hook!" she shouted in fear upon failing to protect him so soon after she had just gotten him back.

The younger Liam rushed his namesake and struggled to fight the older man, while Brennan stepped up to Emma as he said sadly, "I'm afraid there's nothing you can do to bring my son back. Hades is far too powerful. When he wants something, there's no one who can stop him. Not even you."

Emma glared at him and replied, "Your God doesn't know me. I'm not leaving here without him."

"It's as I've told you, Savior, I will not let you have him," Hades answered cruelly when he finally made a reappearance, bursting before the heroes in a cloud of fire, with Killian, who was barely conscious, in his grasp as the God, larger in stature than he was before, held the man Emma loved tightly by his throat. "And soon all of you will belong to me as well."

"No," Mary Margaret stated nervously when the heroes suddenly became surrounded as she ran to stand with her husband.

The expedition from the living world, stood huddled together with Neal, Graham, and Liam in between a circle of villains, all of the Dark Ones including Nimue, as well as several more furies that flew down upon Hades' summons. Hades smiled as his hand around Killian's throat tightened, causing him to gasp and raise his hands weakly to clench at the man's hold, making Emma tense and attempt to step forward to help him until her parents held her back.

Seeing that his minions were all waiting for a signal of attack, Emma kept her eyes on Hades and Killian as she took another step forward and spoke up saying, "Hook isn't yours to keep and I don't have to trade anyone's soul to get him back. If there's one thing I've learned since arriving in Storybrooke, is that there's always a loophole. When I get him back from you, and I will, I'm giving Killian half of my heart. We will be connected, heart and soul."

The immortal laughed, then responded, "I love your initiative, but I'm afraid that would only work if you were actually in your own world, sweetheart. You may be able to physically touch him and hold onto him so long as you have his enchanted hook on you, but he's nothing more than a spirit, who can't feel a thing except for the pain I inflict upon him. Only a corporeal body needs a heart, and the Captain no longer has one."

"Not down here he doesn't," Emma replied smugly. "But when we leave here, he will."

"And we're back to the same old question, how do you plan to get out?" he asked in anger of this woman's arrogance.

The Savior answered, "I will make a deal with you after all. I will fight you, for Killian's soul. One on one, just the two of us with no interference from either side. If I win, I get to take him free and clear and the rest of us are free to leave as well."

Hades looked between the three souls fighting alongside the heroes, then turned back to Emma as he said quickly, "You can't have these traitors too."

"Our fates have been sealed for a long time," Neal interrupted quickly, while Liam and Graham both nodded in agreement. "We're only here to try to make this fight a little more even."

"And what if I win?" the God asked as he looked between Emma and the man she loved within his hold. "What exactly is my prize?"

She responded coldly, "If you win, then my soul is yours as well. I may as well give it to you if I can't have him back. At least this way I'll be trapped here in Hell with him. But my family and friends still get to go free."

Prince Charming stepped forward to stand with the Savior and added, "No, mine and Snow's souls are yours to keep as well if Emma can't defeat you. But we have faith that she will."

"No!" Emma retorted. "Dad, Mom… you can't!"

"We know you," Mary Margaret stated as she stood with her husband and looked at their daughter as he was. "We know that you can beat Hades even if he is a God."

Hades looked at all three as he replied rhetorically, "Huh… three new souls, including that of the Savior's. Is there a down side to this?"

Regina cut in saying, "It sounds like a pretty good deal to me. I probably would have made it, if I was still the Evil Queen my mother is, if a deal like this was ever offered to me."

"Fine, we have ourselves a deal, Miss. Swan," the immortal answered haughtily as he immediately ordered his friends and beasts still surrounding the heroes to back away, while he stepped between them with Hook still held tightly in front of him. "But I assure you, you won't be able to defeat me and save your pirate at the same time."

"Killian!" Emma cried out in fear as Hades shoved her true love onto the ground before them as the brimstone beneath him caught fire, causing Hook to scream while everyone was forced to watch in horror as he writhed within the flames. "No, we made a deal! This wasn't a part of it!"

He laughed again as he responded smugly, "You're right, but you never said I couldn't bend the deal a little. Come on, Savior. Save your true love from his agony."

Without hesitation, Emma swiftly shot several bursts of magic from her hands at the immortal, each time the God being able to block her power with his own. David attempted to call out to her until Hades cut him off by having Peter put a cutlass to his chest and Milah a dagger to Mary Margaret's throat, reminding Emma that there can be no interference from her side. When her first attempts to defeat the immortal failed, Emma finally took a moment to think. As she breathed in deeply, she summoned as much power as she hoped was inside of her, thinking only of her love for Killian, then raised the flames that were engulfing him away from him, allowing Hook to collapse to the ground again in relief, and with as much strength as she could gather, Emma plunged the flames directly at Hades to make him pay for all he's done.

The fires consumed the God as he screamed out, but not in agony as Hook had done, only in rage upon being beaten by a mortal, even one as powerful as the Savior from Storybrooke. Emma raced to Killian's side and before the new flames could be put out, she propelled the immortal swiftly into the lava while the villains stood down in shock upon seeing the woman's power. The furies screeched as they flew off, the Dark Ones shimmered out, and the villains simply vanished upon seeing they were outnumbered and powerless once again until Hades returned.

Emma pulled Killian close as she held him tightly within her arms while her parents rushed to her side, then David kissed her head and turned his eyes down on the soul of the man in severe pain from the wounds forced upon him and exclaimed, "I knew you could do it. You saved him."

"I hate to spoil the victory, but we're not free yet," Regina replied curtly, seeing the tears pour down her friend's face as she gently caressed Hook's face even though Emma knew he couldn't feel her touch. "We need to get moving, before Hades or any of the rest of them come back."

"Don't worry," Liam stated sadly, seeing his brother suffer so greatly and being unable to do much to help him. "We have one more ally to help us with that."

It was then that everyone turned to the sound of a boat rowing down the river of fire, the very boat they had entered the Underworld upon, and saw Charon at the front with an oar in his hands. Robin tethered an arrow at the boatman's approach in case of attack until they were reassured by Graham that this was the help they spoke of, and their way home. However, as he approached them, another soul dispossessed the dark creature, but kept his hold to keep him from leaving them, the soul of a man Regina never believed she would ever see again.

The Queen gasped in surprise upon seeing him as she whispered, "Daniel?"

He smiled at her as he answered, "Hello again, Regina. It's good to see you."

"But how…?" she tried to ask until she couldn't find the words.

"I came when I heard that you and your friends have come to save another trapped soul," he continued. "We don't have a lot of time, but I wanted you to know how proud I am of you and how happy I am that you found true love again."

Tears came to Regina's eyes and she smiled, while Robin wrapped his arm around her, then Henry walked over to Neal in order to say his own goodbyes as Neal spoke up first saying, "It's as I said, kiddo. I belong here now. Don't worry about me. I was granted passage into the Elysian Fields right from the start. I'm happy here. My only regret, regrets, is that I didn't get to say goodbye to you before I died, and that I died to save my father, who it turns out hasn't changed at all."

Snow looked around them as she asked, "Speaking of Gold, where is he? We can't leave without him."

"He isn't here," Emma responded coldly upon the mention of the man responsible for Hook being sent here in the first place, even though in her heart she knew the real reason was because of her. "I say that we leave him here."

"I hate to say it, but Mom's right," Henry replied in frustration. "He isn't here and we have no idea where he is. We can't take the time to look for him."

Killian slowly fell into full unconsciousness as Emma called out, "Please, we need to get home, now!"

Neal looked down at the woman he had once loved sadly, as well as the pirate he did consider a friend long ago, then knelt down in front of Emma as he said, "Getting Hook past the barrier preventing souls from passing through the portal into your world will be you final roadblock and as you know, his pass into your world will only be temporary unless you can get him back to his body right away. I suggest you tether his soul to something of his of value, if you have something. It will help to buy you time."

"I have his hook, and I also have… his brother's ring," Emma answered as she turned to look up at Liam and pulled the ring she wore around her neck up to show it to him. "He loves you, you know. He carried this ever since he lost you, until he gave it to me to help me to survive my fight against the darkness. He told me that it helped him to survive all the centuries he lived and wanted the same for me. I can use it to help him now."

"Then do it," the older Jones brother responded as he took Killian's hand in his own, then watched as Emma used her magic to beckon the pirate's soul inside the stone within the center of the metal. "Are you going to be all right down here?"

Liam smiled as he stood and replied, "Like Neal, I'm living eternity in paradise. And knowing that Killian found peace himself at last… You have no idea how grateful I am to you for helping him, Emma. Both now and ever since you met. He became the man I always knew him to be despite all of the hate that tore him down all those years. Thank you, and take care of him for me."

She smiled at him, then turned to Graham as the huntsman nodded and began to fade away as he stated, "It looks like I've finally been granted passage to the Elysian Fields as well. I've been redeemed of my sins. I'll see you again one day."

"I guess that's my queue," Neal spoke up again as Liam and Graham both disappeared, then Rumpelstiltskin's son looked between Emma and Henry for the last time. "One day, we'll be together again. I just hope that it isn't for a long time. I'm happy that you both will be happy again, even if it is with Hook. I don't know what he did, but if you came down here into the Underworld, and your family and friends willingly followed you, risking their lives to bring him back, then it must have been a hell of a gesture."

"You have no idea," Emma answered sadly as her parents helped her to stand again.

Baelfire nodded and responded, "Good, then get home and bring him back. Oh and Emma, I received a message from my father while I was still within the Elysian Fields. It's how I knew that you had all come down here. From the way you spoke of him earlier, it's clear he messed up again and you're angry with him."

Emma angrily replied, "Yeah, he was finally free of the darkness because I took it upon myself to save him, then he tricked Hook into giving his life to destroy it once and for all. Only… when he did, your father only transferred the darkness back into himself and now he's even more powerful than before. I know that he's your father, Neal, but he is evil through and through. One day, I will stop him for good."

"I hope you do," he answered sincerely. "Just be careful while you go about crossing him. Take care of each other."

"I love you, Dad!" Henry called out to him as he too finally vanished. "Come on, Mom. Let's get out of here. I am really craving a cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon right now."

The Savior smiled and responded, "Yeah, that sounds great, and so does Granny's grilled cheese sandwich and onion rings."

Daniel motioned for them all to enter into the boat as he said, "I'll guide us back to the portal to the living realm while possessing Charon here. He won't take you otherwise. He's still only loyal to Hades after all. Then, we'll part ways. I'll always love you, Regina."

"And I'll always love you," the Queen replied as she took Robin's hand within her own, while saying goodbye to her first love for the last time.

"Thank you," Robin added as he nodded at the stable boy who once held Regina's heart, holding no disdain for him.

While they slowly travelled back through the depths of the Underworld the way they had come, Emma's thoughts were on Killian once more as she took his ring now holding his soul from off of the chain she used to wear it around her neck as he had, then carefully placed it over her ring finger on her left hand. As she did so, she thought back to the moment in Camelot when he had given it to her as tears slowly began to trickle down from her eyes.

Hook walked over to her to say his goodbyes as he asked, "You'll return by nightfall, right?"

Emma smiled sweetly at him as he stood in front of her and answered, "Yes. We go get this spark thing, and then I'm working my way back to you, babe."

"I know when you're quoting something," he responded teasingly.

"And I love that you never know what it is," she replied as she pulled him close to her while he smiled back at the woman he loved, the woman he was fighting so desperately to save, then she immediately became serious. "Anyway, with a bit of luck, we can put Excalibur together tomorrow, and then... bam... No more darkness."

Killian took her hand in his while he leaned in to kiss her, then pulled the necklace with his brother's ring from around his neck and handed it over to Emma as he answered, "Be careful, Emma."

She became nervous as he handed it over to her muttering the words, "Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa."

"Calm down, Swan," he quickly retorted as he continued to look at her, then gently placed it into the palm of her hand as she looked up into his eyes while he spoke. "I'm not proposing. You know I'm a survivor. This ring is why. I've had it for many years. It's the reason I'm alive. Or it could be. Who knows?"

"You know I can't die today," she responded smugly. "I'm immortal now."

Hook became serious himself as he replied sadly, "The dark one is immortal. Emma isn't. Bring her home to me."

Then, Killian went on to do one of the things she loved most about him as she laughed when he added gallantly, "At the very least, it's a reminder that you've got a piercing-eyed, smoldering pirate here who loves you."

"Thank you," she answered softly after she pulled his head close to hers so she could kiss him. "I love you, too."

"It's time," Merlin said calmly when Emma placed the ring around her own neck as she turned to face him again after Killian walked away from her so that she could go about her task to bring back the spark.