Hook… I Will Always Find You

Chapter Thirty-Six

Emma was the first one to wake up once she succeeded in helping the man she loved to believe she was real and that she had come to save him from Hades' wrath, as she opened her eyes expecting to see her father or Killian's mother standing over them. However, before recognizing that neither of them were there, the Savior looked over at Killian and laid her hand over his cheek to help him wake as well, then smiled down on him as he weakly did so, opening his only good eye the best he could beneath the cuts and bruises covering his face.

"You did it," Lila stated happily upon seeing her friends who had been unconscious and under the dream root's effects for a couple of hours since Emma had entered the pirate's dreams awaken, as the blonde haired woman slowly sat up before she turned to continue to help Killian by putting her pillow behind his head so he could rise up a little further off the bed, though he barely acknowledged as she did so and avoided looking at Emma or the woman who was a stranger to him as much as she was to everyone else. "I never should have been worried."

"Lila… where is everyone?" Emma asked while she moved her hand to take Killian's into her own, then saw Cruella sitting in the other room on a chair with the shackles that had been used before on Killian around her wrists, ankles, and chest to keep her bound, as well as with a gag in her mouth to keep her quiet. "And why is she here? Please tell me everyone's okay."

The witch nodded sadly and then she responded, "We believe everyone's fine. But, while you were both under, there was an attack. A swarm of furies… one of Hades' many creatures down in this realm. This vile woman here and a man who had the same face as your father led the attack and unfortunately, a few of your friends were taken. Regina, Robin, Leroy, Smee, and August too. The others including your father left here to find them. Except for… for his… I conjured a spell that allowed me to look into Cruella's mind for where she and the other leader planned on taking Regina, in hope that it's still where they'll be. It's where your family are heading now and if they're not there, Graham will track them. Try not to worry. They have Tinker Bell with them and I gave them some of my own magic too. I promised them that I would remain here to look after you and Hook, as well as our own prisoner."

After listening to her and Emma while they talked, Killian struggled to rise from the bed until the Savior laid her hands across his shoulders to stop him as she worryingly asked, "What are you doing? Killian, you're far too weak to try to rise up from this bed. You've been badly wounded and I can't heal you. Please… Just let me take care of you."

"Your family… our friends, they're in danger," the man she loved frailly answered her and then finally collapsed back against the pillows again when he became too weak to keep fighting against her. "Emma? God… you never should have co… come. You should… shouldn't have dragged everyone…"

"We came here to save you because you didn't deserve to die and I couldn't let you remain trapped in this Hell while Hades continued to torture you," the Savior replied firmly when she recognized the look of despair, as well as guilt in his eye while he struggled to look at her. "None of us could."

Killian closed his eye again and a tear fell as he shamefully responded, "You should have. I died… I sacrificed my life to keep… to keep you all… safe. But they're not. You're not."

He suddenly gasped painfully and writhed on the bed when a wave of pain washed over him, while Emma held him as gently as she could to try to comfort him with Lila's help, then once he was able to talk again after the two women laid him back against the pillows beneath his head, he continued darkly, "This… This is what I deserve aft… after all I've done. I couldn't live… Not like that. I don't want… What'd you do? Why couldn't you… Why couldn't you just let me go?"

When Killian finally allowed himself to settle into the pillows and continued to rest, as Emma fought to hold in the tears threating to fall when it broke her heart to hear the man she love fight so desperately to try to prove to her he wasn't worth the sacrifice she and those who cared about him were making for him in return, she was sadly reminded of the moment when Zelena and Gold had nearly drown Killian, as he had been angry with her then too for being willing to risk everyone's life for the sake of his own.

Some time ago, outside of Zelena's farmhouse…

Unfortunately, Zelena and Gold had managed to surprise Emma and Hook by their sudden appearance a few yards in front of them despite the heroes' efforts to bring the fight to the Wicked Witch instead in hope of keeping them from trying to take her brother away from her parents all over again.

To make matters worse, the witch had ordered Gold, who was more than happy to comply with this one command, to force Hook head first into the well outside of the farmhouse so that he would drown unless Emma chose to let them go so she could save him, a man whom like Zelena had taunted, she couldn't wait to run away from. Not because of anything he really did to her, but because she resented him for taking away the life she had with Henry in New York and because accepting she had found a home where she could be happy meant she would have to be the Savior to everyone. The truth was, it frightened her.

However, Emma pushed all of that aside and focused on saving the man who needed her to, as she immediately rushed over to where Hook was drowning, then struggled against the Dark One's power that was keeping Hook's head under water while she fought to pull Killian free. Thankfully, the villains finally vanished in the witch's green smoke and Emma was able to pull the unconscious pirate out of the well at last.

"Hook!" she fearfully cried out to him as she laid him down on the ground upon doing so, then began to shake him over and over in hope it was enough to awaken him. "Hook! Wake up! Killian! Killian, come back to me."

"Oh God!" the Savior uttered worryingly between pants while she struggled to breathe herself in her rush to fight for his life, as she looked around her for sign of anyone nearby who could help her knowing full well she was on her own, then she looked back down on him and knew he was going to die if she didn't do what she had to in order to save him. "Son of a bitch!"

At last, Emma leaned over him while she plugged his nose and laid her lips over his to give him mouth to mouth so she could breathe for him, and it was in this moment that she could feel as her magic left her body just like Zelena planned all along, but it was also in this moment that Emma no longer cared so long as the man lying unconscious before her would be alright.

Emma finally pulled back after breathing a few breaths of air into his lungs and franticly pleaded, "Hook… Come back to me."

All of a sudden, Killian's body began to move again when he finally began coughing up the water he had been forced to swallow as Gold had attempted to drown him, until he laid his head back against her hand she placed on the ground under him so she could hold him steady for comfort, and she sadly looked down on him while he struggled to gasp for air.

Killian weakly turned his head towards the woman who had saved him and with concern in his voice he whispered, "Swan?"

"What did you do?" he then questioned her angrily with fear in his eyes when he strangely raised his fingers to his lips once he felt her kiss upon them. "What did you do?"

"I saved your life," she answered him defensively while Hook struggled to sit up and then rise again from the ground to his feet. "A little gratitude might be nice."

The Captain scoffed in frustration as he shook his head and turned away from her, then he retorted, "Swan… I've lived for over two… two hundred years and in that time, my life's been nothing but a waste since I've spent most of it seeking vengeance against a man who can't be killed. I'm a villain. My life is hardly a life worth saving, especially not if it comes down to you losing yours or anyone else here theirs. Which it might now. You're far too important."

Emma was surprised by his confession as she looked at him, though he kept his back to her and then she replied, "That right there… your willingness to give your life for my sake and the sake of everyone else… that shows me that you aren't a villain any longer, Hook."

"Maybe not," Killian responded to her sadly once he finally turned around to face her again. "But I'm no hero either. Why did you kiss me, knowing full well you would lose your power the moment that your lips touched mine? It was what gave you power over the Wicked Witch. You were supposed to defeat her. Your power was all that protected you from her. What if you get hurt? Or worse…"

"First of all, I didn't kiss you," she facetiously answered him before he could finish his sentence, though she smiled at him as she saw the sincerity and his yearning for her in his eyes when they met hers. "I was saving your life. It's called mouth to mouth. It's what we do nowadays to help get a person breathing again when they stop breathing, which you did. You were drowning, Hook. You just spit up a ton of water that filled up in your lungs, so you know that. And second… I gave up my power because whether I like it or not, you're my friend. And forgive me for thinking so, but I see that you're a better man than you see in yourself. This town needs people like you in it. I know you will protect my family and our friends. So… accept what I've done and be grateful. Come on. We need to get back to the hospital before that witch attacks."

Present time, in the Underworld…

Emma finally broke the silence that had fallen over them while her thoughts had brought her back to this moment in time, as she gripped his hand tightly in her own and whispered, "It's like I told you back when my power was lost thanks to Zelena's curse on your lips, because I brought you back to me after you nearly drowned… I see that you're a better man than you see in yourself. But now it's also because I love you and like it or not, I can't lose you. Especially not like this. And if I have to spend the rest of our lives trying to prove to you how wonderful and loving you are, I will."

In the other room, Cruella groaned through the gag in her mouth and rolled her eyes in disgust at what she saw as a sickening scene in front of her, then turned her head like Emma did when both Alice and Liam came down from the upper floor of the cottage upon hearing voices from down below.

When they appeared in front of Emma and Killian as they stepped into the entryway of their room and froze upon seeing Killian had awakened at last, the Savior quickly stood up while she kept hold of his hand, then spoke quietly to them saying, "Please… just be careful and try to keep things quiet."

"Liam?" Killian then uttered in surprise upon seeing his older brother standing there before him and then weakly backed further away from them the best he was able to, suddenly afraid that all of this might have been another of Hades' cruel tricks after all. "You can't… You can't be real. Are you?"

"It's really me, little brother," the older Jones whispered sadly while he slowly approached him on the other side of the bed opposite from Emma, as Lila stepped back, then moved around to the bottom of the bed to observe and wait in case she was needed. "After all these years… you're finally here. You have no idea how good it is to see you again."

The younger man struggled to see him through his good eye, then reached out weakly after he let go of Emma's hand when Liam reached down to take it instead and Killian let out a sound of relief upon feeling his touch. As Liam sat down and leaned over his brother, he turned his head to glance over at their mother, then realized he had no idea how he was going to introduce her to him so long as Killian was in the state he was in.

However, he finally mustered up the courage and nervously cleared his throat, then Liam reached out with his other hand for Alice to take as she walked into the room to stand beside her oldest while he said, "Killian, I… I'm not really sure what the best way is to do this, but this woman… She's our mother. I know you don't remember her at all. But I do and I promise you she's as real as you and I."

Killian stared at her with sadness in his eye and quietly replied, "There's… something I remember of her, if you really are…"

It was then that Alice softly began to sing the lullaby she used to sing to both of her boys every night before she would put them to bed, while Emma and Liam turned their heads to watch her as she did so. Killian on the other hand closed his eye to listen to the sound of her voice until she finished and soon a single tear slipped down his cheek when he felt in his heart that this woman truly was the woman who had given birth to him so, so long ago. When she finished, he looked up at her again as Alice simply leaned over him and kissed her youngest son on his forehead.

"I'll leave the three of you alone so you can talk," Emma stated quietly as she gently caressed Killian's cheek, until he swiftly reached out to grab her hand before she could walk away.

"Thank you, Emma," he responded while he looked again into her eyes. "For not giving up on me… even though I have. I don't know… I want to believe… to believe you. I'm just not sure of any… of anything anymore, except… Except that you love me… as I love you. Don't go too far."

The Savior shook her head as she smiled, then raised his hand to her lips while she kissed it tenderly and answered, "I promise. I'm not going anywhere."

He simply replied, "Good."

Alice and Liam smiled at the woman who loved him too, then Emma finally walked away while she and Lila entered the room across from them so they could talk in private as well without disturbing the others. Meanwhile, in the back of her mind Emma was worried about her father and their friends, and she hoped they were really okay like Lila had told her.