Hook… I Will Always Find You

Chapter Twenty-Two

Meanwhile, in Storybrooke…

It was the middle of the night and most everyone within the small and quiet town were fast asleep. However, for some sleep didn't come as easily as it did for most, as the few of those most effected by the events which took place within Camelot days ago struggled to allow the peace that usually came with sleep to fall over them. Henry was one of them, as the thirteen year old managed to drift off to sleep, until what started out as one of his precious memories between him and Killian which he clung dearly to, suddenly became a dreaded nightmare.

Just over a year ago, on the beach after night had fallen…

"I think I've tied every knot in here," Henry called out to the pirate captain standing a few feet away from where he sat on a log, back when the boy had no memory of who he really was, or who anyone else within Storybrooke was either, then he put aside the rope and book he held in his hands to turn his attention to Hook. "When do we get to the part about my dad?"

"Just a few moments longer," Killian replied somberly while he looked up into the sky while he waited patiently for the stars to rise, then swiftly pointed out to the one he was searching for. "There. Come here."

Hook quickly waved Henry over to him and handed him his sextant while the teenager asked, "What's this?"

The Captain looked between him and the precious instrument now in the boy's hands while he responded, "That, my boy, is a sextant. It's a tool used by sailors to navigate."

"Like a GPS?" the twelve year old asked as he looked up at his mother's friend in curiosity.

"Aye," Killian stated strangely, having no idea what a GPS actually was, yet assuming it probably was if the boy thought so, then smiled up at the stars as he was happy to have this time to teach Henry about them as he had taught his father too, so many years ago. "It measures our position using the stars."

Henry looked back at the pirate again when he realized Killian didn't know what he had meant after all, while he answered, "Not sure that's what a GPS does, but what does this have to do with my dad?"

Hook looked down between him and the sextant again while he replied, "Well, I taught him to navigate with one. Just like I'm gonna teach you."

"Were you both in the Navy or something?" the teenager questioned him again, growing more curious by this man's past the more they spoke.

"No, Bae… Neal was just a boy when I taught him," Killian responded sadly.

The thirteen year old suddenly became confused by the Captain's strange answer and he uttered sternly, "Wait. Aren't you the same age? It seems like the more you guys tell me about my dad, the less things make sense."

The pirate captain looked down at him worryingly while Henry continued, "I don't want to learn how to navigate. I… I just want to hear something about him that doesn't make it sound like it's made up so I'll like the guy."

"Your mother isn't keeping things from you because she doesn't want you to know the truth," Hook quietly answered.

"I know she's doing it to protect me," Henry replied curtly. "But how am I supposed to feel anything about him being gone if I don't know what he was like when he was here?"

Killian looked down at him and nodded while he sympathetically responded, "Fair enough, mate. What I haven't told you is why I taught your father to sail. Because he'd just lost his father. I thought the sea would help ease his sorrow."

The boy cut in again as he stated, "Wait. He lost his dad, too?"

"Aye," the Captain answered. "To something dark and evil. When he wasn't much older than you."

"Really?" Henry questioned him again.

Hook nodded and then replied, "Indeed. You see, you might not think you know much about your father, but you have more in common with him than you realize."

Henry seemed to finally accept Killian's words as the truth then and at last he smiled up at the Captain in gratitude for his kindness despite seeing the sadness in his friend's eyes while the older man continued looking down at him as well, until he turned away to stare up at the stars, failing to see Killian's sadness only deepen.

Silence fell over them, until they were both suddenly startled by a voice which matched Killian's own and they turned around only to come face to face with a monster who wore the Captain's face, though his appearance was frighteningly different despite them wearing the same attire, as the imposter's skin sparkled translucently gold, his eyes had become completely black except for the golden rings that shined around his pupils, and his black hair was even more disheveled while his bangs hung down low over his right eye.

Henry backed up against his friend, while the true Captain quickly pulled the boy behind him without taking his eyes off of the villain standing before them, fearfully recognizing him to be in the form of the Dark One despite having no memory of becoming the very monster he feared and hated so deeply.

The thirteen year old worryingly cried out, "Killian… who is that? Why does he look like you?"

"I don't know, but Henry… you need to run," Hook quickly responded while he pulled his cutlass from its scabbard he wore at his side, then used his hook to grab the teenager's arm in urgency to push him away from him. "Get back to you mother and warn her a danger has arisen other than Zelena."

"I don't understand," he uttered in confusion, not moving from where he stood frozen staring between his friend and the pirate's doppelganger. "What's going on?"

Hook brusquely shouted at him, "Just go! Now!"

However, Henry found he couldn't move as he found he was somehow frozen where he stood, and it was then that the villain before them spoke darkly saying, "Don't worry about the boy, Killian. He isn't who I've come for. I've come for you."

"I know what you are, but whatever you want of me… you won't get it," Killian answered him with the same tone in his voice and all of a sudden, the two of them began to fight as their swords clashed together in battle.

Henry watched on in fear while they fought like pirates as though he had become magically transported into one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies he'd gone with his mom to see in the theaters while they lived in New York. It was impossible, as was what he was seeing before his very eyes, but he couldn't deny he knew this was somehow very real and not a movie.

The sword fight between Killian and the monster who looked like him raged on and neither man faltered, until the darker of them suddenly forced Killian off his feet when he used his hook to pull one of his legs out from under him. In doing so, the Captain fell back into the fire burning behind him, causing him to scream out in pain. Killian was able to roll off before the flames could hurt him too badly, but he'd laid there long enough for the fire to severely burn his hand, enough so he could barely hold onto his blade any longer.

Henry cried out Killian's name once again as the Dark One forced Killian to remain on his back against the ground despite his friend's struggle to rise again, then the monster knocked the cutlass from his hand and forced the tip his own to Killian's throat. The villain grinned cruelly at himself while he slowly knelt down over him, then magically transformed his hook he wore in place of his left hand into one made of flesh, instead of the fake wooden hand which Henry could see Killian wore, and finally pulled a large jagged dagger with intricate designs engraved within its blade from his duster's right inside pocket.

And then, he could do nothing for Killian as he watched in horror when the monster suddenly plunged the dagger deep into Killian's abdomen and Henry cried out in fear and anger as the Dark One did so. Once Hook stilled as he slowly died, his blood spilling from the fatal wound in his stomach, the villain finally pulled the dagger out, then he raised his head to face Henry as a smug grin continued to adorn his face until he disappeared within a cloud of red smoke, leaving Killian's body behind to lie dead within the cold sand beneath him.

Back in the present…

Henry suddenly gasped awake with a scream, just like he had the many times he used to dream of the room on fire after he had been awakened from the Evil Queen's sleeping curse meant for Emma instead of him, and immediately sat up while he struggled to get his breathing back under control. Within a matter of seconds, Mary Margaret swiftly appeared before her grandson after she ran upstairs to the loft upon hearing his scream and she laid her hand gently over the side of his face in order to try to comfort him.

"Shhh… it's okay, Henry," she whispered soothingly while she continued to caress his cheek. "It was only a dream. Whatever you saw… it wasn't real."

However, he looked fearfully into her eyes as he replied, "Yes it was. Not… not like how I just dreamt it, but it still happened. Killian died because he became the Dark One. He was protecting me, like he protected us all and he's suffering for it. Please… don't make me try to go back to sleep. I can't see that again."

Snow pulled him into a hug and held him while she responded sadly, "I won't, Henry. I won't."