Hook… I Will Always Find You
Chapter Thirty-Two
A few hours passed by and Emma had finally finished her ministrations on Killian the best she was able, then finally just sat beside him as she leaned over him, while she caressed his face and ran her fingers once again through his hair, staring down at him almost too afraid to look away for fear that he would suddenly vanish. While she knew her being there in the Underworld and finding Killian as she had was real, right now the exhaustion she was feeling and her despair made her feel like she was trapped in a nightmare. And it terrified her.
When Emma looked back upon his face, as she traced her fingers over the scar across his right cheek, her memories between her and the man she loved began to spin around in her mind like wildfire. Some of them bad, but most of them good as her conscience struggled to help her feel comfort in the truth she had found him and that he was safe with her once again.
At last, despite the dark circumstances which had been forced upon each of the heroes the very day the darkness destroyed hers and Killian's life, a treasured memory she shared with him stood out as her thoughts froze within that moment and began to play out like a home movie she almost didn't ever want to see end, until it became sullied by the next assault that nearly had taken him away from her even sooner.
Emma found herself on a familiar street in the middle of a marketplace within the Enchanted Forest as Hook stood before her while he roamed his hand over his holstered sword and looked at her as he asked with disbelief, "You're telling me that... in this other reality, I'm an expert with such a weapon?"
She smiled at him as she answered, "You're a regular Jack sparrow."
"Is that good?" he asked in confusion, not understanding that she was comparing him to a movie character.
"Here," she stated as she walked around him, then Killian became flustered when she drew herself close to him and laid her hand over his own.
When they pulled the blade from his scabbard together and raised it into the air, Emma then guided his hand to show him the very movements he had once taught her while she continued calmly, "Let me show you how to use it. They say once you become an expert, your subconscious takes over. Back in my world, that's what we call muscle memory."
"Tell me more about this reality you want to return to," he whispered as he looked back at her into her eyes and she into his after they re-sheathed his sword. "Us, for example. I sense that we, uh... We may be close."
The Savior smiled at him as she responded, "Very."
With surprise, Hook suddenly asked, "Really? Well, I'm starting to get jealous of the other me."
"Let's see what food Henry's discovered, I'm starving," Emma replied as she started to walk away from him, while he began to follow after her until they were both interrupted when Lily, her parents, Grumpy, and more of the Evil Queen's guards from the Author's reality he created for all of them stepped out into the open to attack them.
"There they are," Lily spoke up saying anxiously as she started walking after them until she stopped to wait for orders, as Hook immediately drew his sword once again. "It's as I told you, My Queen. The one-handed pirate was helping them. And the boy was with them, as well."
Emma just stared at her parents upon seeing them as the Evil Queen and the leader of her knights until she was pulled out her shock when Grumpy suddenly charged Killian with his own sword raised and knocked it from his hand, while Hook backed away in fear as the dwarf called out coldly, "Tell us where the child is hiding!"
The Savior immediately stepped in to defend Killian as she shoved Grumpy back and to the ground while she shouted angrily, "Hey! Back off, dwarf! Or they'll change your name to Stumpy!"
"I know you," Snow White said callously to her daughter, not recognizing Emma as her daughter. "You're... Emma. The mad hag who was locked in the tower. I almost didn't recognize you out of your chains."
"You're the one that's hard to recognize," Emma answered. "Both of you. This isn't who you are."
The Queen looked at the blonde as she responded strangely, "Tell me... Who are we?"
She replied steadfastly, "You're my parents. I'm the product of your true love. You taught me how to be a hero. You taught me how to believe in hope. And I do. And now I need you to believe in it too."
"You're right," her mother answered worryingly, acting as though she was ashamed of her actions, while Hook reached down to pick up his fallen sword again and walked up to stand with the Savior. "Emma. Hope is a very powerful thing. Which is why I'm going to have to snuff it out of you and that awful son of yours."
"Kill them," she ordered as she turned back to her soldiers again.
However, David suddenly cut them off when Henry walked into the open several feet away from them with a bag of food in his arms as the Black Knight pointed toward the boy and spoke up saying, "Wait! There he is."
Emma and Hook both looked back behind them upon her father's announcement as Snow White responded cruelly, "My, my. I am going to enjoy watching him die in front of his mother."
"Save Henry," Killian whispered to the woman beside him as he closed his eyes to try to muster up every ounce of bravery he could find within him.
"Killian, you can't beat them," she replied fearfully, looking between him and her parents.
Hook looked at her as he stood tall, while he answered with more confidence, "If I can help return things to how they were meant to be, then what happens to me here won't matter, will it? Now go. Save your boy."
Emma fearfully looked at him for a moment and quickly did like he told her to do, but when she reached her son, they both turned back to Killian while he swiftly kicked out one of the posts of the balcony holding up the bundles of feed and grains above the Queen's soldiers to knock them all out, including Grumpy and Lily, then David advanced on him again as he asked smugly, "Is she worth your life, pirate?"
"I'm willing to find out," the deckhand responded nervously, then the leader of the Black Knights struck Hook's sword almost playfully as he believed Hook was going to be easy to defeat, while Killian whimpered in fear when David kept charging him, faster and harder.
"What do you know?" Hook asked with surprise at himself, when despite the soldier's stronger advances, he somehow managed to finally knock David down to the ground after he struck him in his face with his elbow. "I'm a natural."
However, Killian immediately raised his sword again as Snow White approached him while he said sternly, "Hey! What about you, Your Majesty? Shall I make quick work...?"
All of a sudden David came up behind Killian and stabbed him in his back with a dagger to cut him off while he gasped in pain, causing him to drop his sword as Emma fearfully cried out, "No!"
"I never did like pirates," the villain stated cruelly in Hook's ear as he struggled to breathe through his agony.
"Mom!" Henry called out to her as Emma attempted to go to Killian's aid, while her father held him by his shoulder and twisted the blade in deeper to hurt him even more than he already had. "We have to get out of here! Mom!"
Emma whimpered in fear when David finally released the man she loved and was forced to watch while Killian finally collapsed to the ground as he died. David wiped the blood off his blade on the sleeve of his shirt while Snow White conjured a fire ball in the palm of her hand and cast it at Emma and Henry.
Her memory finally did come to an end when Emma suddenly gasped awake from her thoughts as she swiftly sat up from where she lay, not realizing until then that she had allowed herself to rest her head against Killian's shoulder after she had unknowingly laid down beside him within the bed.
The Savior looked out across from her into the next room where her father and their friends were resting, except for Liam who remained standing against the wall of the room's entryway so he could keep watch over his brother, and found no one had been disturbed by her startled awakening.
She then raised her hand to her face and rubbed her eyes to try to push aside the weariness she felt. Yet when she lowered it and looked down at Killian again, she stifled another gasp once more upon seeing his one good eye was open while he struggled to see around him through the haze which undoubtedly clouded his vision from all he had suffered through.
Emma tenderly laid her hand again against his cheek and gently turned his head towards her so her own face fell into his line of sight, then she gripped his hand while she whispered fearfully, "Killian? Can you… I'm… I'm here. You're going to be… alright. You will be. I promise."
Killian weakly pulled his hand out from under hers as he turned away, and in a voice so quiet she could barely him, he stammered, "She's not… You're… You're not her. Please… Why can't you just le… leave me be?"
"It is me," she despondently replied when she saw that the man she loved couldn't believe she had come for him because of the mind games Hades must have used to torment him further, as a tear trickled slowly down her cheek while she laid her hand over his once more and the other over his chest above his heart, or where his heart would be if it were still beating. "It really is. Please, Killian…"
Liam was the first one to notice Killian was awake and cautiously walked over to stand at the end of the bed, not wanting to frighten his brother or to disturb Emma from trying to break through to him. Instead, he simply stood back and listened to the few words exchanged between them.
"I'm we… weak," Killian struggled to answer again while he kept his eye closed and his head turned away in order to avoid seeing what he believed would be nothing but shame and disappointment on Emma's face that showed how she truly felt about him. "Pathetic… Her father… he was ri… right… about me. I… I know…"
Her tears continued to fall as she listened to his jumbled words until he trailed off, and Emma finally had to pull one of her hands away from him so she could cover her mouth in order to keep from letting out the sobs threatening to escape her lips. While she didn't really understand what he might be referring to regarding what her father had said to him once, or why he was mentioning something David might have said, his other words led her to believe Killian was remembering back to when David had told him he would never be anything more than a pirate who wasn't good enough for her. Emma had known how much those words hurt him, even way back then. And she hated Hades that much more for using them to hurt the man she loved.
Finally, Emma spoke again after she had to take a few moments so she could breathe in and out to compose herself, then began to caress his face and play with his hair while she whispered sadly, "No matter... how long it takes to get you through this, Killian… I promise you I will. I promise to prove to you how much you are loved and just how much I love you. You aren't weak and pathetic. No matter what Hades said, or any of his hallucinations he might have conjured up to trick you. You are a good man. A strong man whom I love so much more than you know. I will always love you. Which is why… I need you to come back to me. I don't want to live the rest of my life without you. I can't. Not when I only just found you a few short years ago. That's not enough for me."
Emma finished talking when it became evident Killian had lost his fight with consciousness once again, then she raised her head and looked up in surprise when Alice silently took her oldest son's place beside the Savior with something concealed in a handkerchief within her hands, then she stated quietly, "I heard most of what you spoke to my son just now. Please forgive me for eavesdropping. It's just… I should have realized sooner that Killian might not understand any of us are real because of what's been done to him. Not even you. So I brought you something."
"What is it?" the Savior asked the older woman in confusion when Alice handed what was in her hands over to her, then Emma unwrapped the cloth from what was inside and found what appeared to be a strange piece of tree root.
"It's known as dream root," Alice responded somberly. "It allows for someone to enter another's mind through their dreams. Not alone, but when mixed with the other's blood or even their tears. It could help you to get through to him, if you're willing. You're the closest to him and you know my youngest far better than anyone. If anyone can break through to him, it'll be you, Miss. Swan."
The Savior looked up at her again while she worryingly replied, "You can just call me Emma. And are you sure this is safe? I mean… for him? I will do anything to bring him back and let him know I'm really here for him, but have you ever used this dream root before? Where did you even get it?"
Killian's and Liam's mother shook her head as she answered, "I picked it from a field not far from here where the root grows. There isn't much of it, but not much is needed. And no… I haven't used it before myself, but I've known others who have and who have succeeded in helping the souls here to sleep and dream, as well as to awaken them from them."
"Forgive me…" Lila uttered nervously when she appeared across from Emma on the opposite side of the bed, along with Graham and David as well. "I don't mean to interfere. I too couldn't help but overhear and heard you speaking of dream root. If you wish to use it to try to help this man you love… I can help you. I'm one of those who've used it before and I know of its power. But I must warn you, it could be dangerous."
"How so?" David questioned fearfully when he looked over at the witch he didn't know aside from her name and that she was loved by one of his oldest friends.
Lila bowed her head while she responded, "Once your daughter enters his dreams, I'm afraid the only way either of them will be able to awaken again… is if she can convince him she's real and help him break through his fears and his pain."
Emma's father immediately objected, "No. Emma… you can't."
"I have to," his daughter steadfastly replied, then looked up at Lila again. "Can you guide me through what I have to do?"
"I can," the witch said assuredly. "But you need to get some rest. Dream root will drain you both mentally and physically. Sleep."