Hook… I Will Always Find You
Chapter Forty
Later, inside Alice's cottage…
Emma continued to sit with Lila in the other room across from where Killian's mother and brother stayed with the man she loved over the next couple of hours, keeping her eyes on them while she spoke with the woman she was starting to get to know. They both ignored Cruella, who remained tied up and gagged only a few feet away from them, as the two women discussed how several of their friends had gotten captured when the fight broke out, then tried to come up with a plan of action in case those who went after them to save them failed and none of them returned.
Thankfully, it never came down to them having to do so, as a heavy knock suddenly sounded on the door and Liam immediately rushed over to open it to them. All of their friends entered the cottage and Emma walked over to embrace her father when David saw her awake again, then pulled her into his arms.
"I'm so happy you're okay," she whispered when he did so. "When I woke up and found you weren't here, and learned about the attack…"
"I'm sorry," he replied quietly, then Emma pulled back as she looked around to make sure that everyone made it back safely and that they were okay too. "But they needed my help and the truth was, just sitting by waiting for you and Hook to wake up again was making me feel useless. Are you alright? And Hook?"
Emma turned her head towards Killian who had fallen asleep again, this time in rest and then she responded sadly, "I'm fine. At least physically and I'm well rested. But Killian… He's far from okay, Dad. I mean, he's awake… or he was until a little bit ago, and he knows I'm real and that we've really come for him. It's just that he's afraid. Not for himself of course, but for us. He got pretty agitated when he overheard Lila explaining how some of you had gotten captured, while the rest of you left to save them. He's upset we risked our lives to come down here for him. Killian's also in a lot of pain. But he won't admit it or ask any of us for help."
The Prince rubbed her back in comfort as he turned towards the Jones family across from them as well and then stated, "At least he's safe and past the worst. Now you just need to convince him he deserves to be saved. And you will."
Sensing there was something troubling him when she turned her head to look up at his face again, the Savior asked, "Are you sure everyone's alright? Was anyone hurt?"
"Not badly," David answered quietly. "A few cuts and bruises. That's it. It's just… I finally met my brother. He was working for Hades along with Cruella here, Pan, and the Blind Witch. I tried talking with him, but he wouldn't listen to me. He's angry. And he wants me dead because he thinks I stole his life."
"Do you expect him to try to come after you?" his daughter questioned again.
"I'm not really sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did," he replied in frustration, then sighed. "Go on… you should go in and sit with Hook. By the way, did he have a chance to talk with his mother and Liam before he fell back asleep?"
Emma nodded as she responded, "He did. At least for a little while until Killian seemed to get upset with something they talked about. I have a pretty good idea what it was, but I'll talk with him about it later once he wakes up. Why did Hades send his minions and furies to kidnap Regina?"
Upon hearing her friend's question, the Queen turned around to face them as she answered curtly, "He needed my help in bringing Zelena down here. Which I did because Hades left me no choice. He was going to kill our friends by burning them alive."
"What does he want with Zelena?" the Savior continued to ask. "How'd you even do it?"
"Apparently, my sister and Hades had some wild romance some time ago up in our world however brief it might have been," Regina replied with a hint of disgust in her voice. "Since you've refused to give him your heart, Emma… Hades is going to try to make that witch fall in love with him all over again. I'm not sure what he's really after, but it's not love. I just hope she's smart enough to see through his lies. I may hate her, but she's still pregnant with Robin's child. But we can finish talking later. Go see Hook like your father said. It looks like he's waking up again."
Emma turned towards the room and quietly walked over to the bed where she stood at the bottom of while she looked over at Liam and Alice after they rose to check on Killian when he began to stir, then asked, "Would you mind if I took over again for awhile?"
Alice laid her hand over her youngest's arm when he weakly nodded his head to let her know he was okay with it, then she and his brother walked away to leave them alone. Emma walked around to the right side of his bed so she could take his hand again and did so. Killian just turned his head and looked up the woman he loved the best he could while he waited for her to speak.
The Savior smiled down at him until she nervously asked, "How are you feeling? Can I get you anything? Some water, or… well, under the circumstances, rum would help you with the pain a little."
"No… I'm not thirsty," he responded to her frailly, then closed his eye when the pain across his back and his chest flared up once more until it finally settled. "Not even for rum. As hard as that is to believe. I'm fine. Your father… the others… Have they returned yet? Are they sa… safe?"
"They've all made it back safe and sound," she said to him assuredly.
Killian nodded and took a few breaths in and out to try to help ease his pain a little, then spoke reluctantly as he said, "I apol… apologize… for my rudeness earlier, Emma. It's just that I… I didn't give my life, expecting you to save me. Nor did I want you too. I've done… terrible things and maybe… maybe you can forgive me, but I can't. And I can't live any longer. I've already live… lived for two hundred years. Far longer than any man has a right to. What we shared…"
Emma began to cry silently while he spoke until she cut him off as she spoke to him more firmly saying, "Please don't tell me that the few years we've shared together is all we were meant to have. It's not true."
A tear slipped down from Killian's eye as well while he answered, "I'm not strong like you are, Emma. I never was. I'm we… weak. Weak from the moment the darkness entered my body… and weak the rest of my life before I met you. I was only able to fight off my inner darkness… because I had deluded myself into believing I was bet… better. Because I wanted to be with you. But the things I've done… I've done… I still want to be with you. However, I can't be selfish anymore."
"You're not being selfish for wanting to be alive and wanting to be with the woman you love!" the Savior replied more curtly than she intended to be with him. "Even if it is selfish, who cares? I don't. You're not the villain you see yourself as. You're a hero to me. What about me in all this? Don't I get a say about what I want? I want you, Killian. You make me better than I was without you in my life. You brought me back home to the place where I've always belonged and helped me to make peace with my past and the things I kept blaming my parents for. My family… Our friends… Don't you understand? Storybrooke is your home too. Not here. Not in this… this Hell. Your fate doesn't have to be determined here in the Underworld. We decide our own fates. Remember? You helped teach me that. You just have to find a way to forgive yourself. Please… please let me help you."
Killian looked into her eyes in despair for only a few seconds more, until he finally just turned his head away from her and closed his eye as a way to show Emma he was through talking. The Savior wiped the tears from her eyes and then stepped away to return to the other room where her father and their friends were talking quietly amongst each other.
"Are you okay?" David asked his daughter in concern upon seeing how red her eyes were from crying, when she sat down beside him on the couch. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," she whispered darkly so that he was the only one who could really hear her other than Tinker Bell who was now sitting on her other side, and coincidentally Cruella who was bound behind her, while Emma raised her eyes to look up at both Alice and Liam who were also sitting among them. "That didn't go as well as I hoped. I couldn't even ask him about what was said between him, Liam, and their mother. But I'm betting it has to do with a secret Liam's keeping from him from their time under Silver's control. He and Hades told me something pretty awful while I was in their company. Killian's shutting himself down. Dad… how did you and Mom know your love for each other was true love? I mean, really know?"
David looked over at her as he responded, "I thought we've told you this?"
Emma nodded as she answered, "You did, but… please just remind me."
"Your mother and I saved each other's lives the first time we ever met," he replied while the Prince turned away and thought of his wife. "Then, I told her about my mother's ring and how it was meant for the woman I would one day truly love. The moment Snow snatched the ring from my hand and tried it on her own finger… I knew then and there that I would never love another. It might have taken her a bit longer to learn we were true loves for ourselves, but I think it was when I took her arrow in my shoulder meant to kill the Evil Queen so I could prove my love to her and break the Dark One's spell she was under… I'm pretty sure that's when she knew it too. We've been on so many adventures together and we fight to be together no matter what happens. Just like you and Hook do for each other. What you share… must be true love as well."
"Maybe, but how do I prove that to him?" the Savior questioned sadly as she looked back towards the man she loved still lying in the other room. "Right now he doesn't understand why I love him and his love for me isn't enough. He thinks loving me is selfish because he believes that I deserve better. But if I could somehow… prove our love is true for his sake, it might be enough to give him something to fight for."
It was then that Cruella grumbled something through the gag in her mouth keeping her from talking, as everyone in the room stopped talking when they all turned their heads to stare at the vile woman. She attempted to talk to them again when no one said anything to her, or made a move to pull the gag away.
Finally, Regina stood up from the floor where she sat beside Robin and at last pulled the cloth away while she uttered, "What is it, dog hater? I thought the gag in your mouth made it pretty clear that we didn't want to hear your voice again."
Cruella sneered, "You've made your point quite clear, Regina darling. However, your Savior here was just sickeningly talking about needing to find a way to prove what she and the pirate share is true love. There's a chance, that I might know of something."
"What would you know about true love?" Emma retorted angrily when she also moved to stand beside the Queen, as did David and Tink.
"Nothing," the villain stated honestly. "But I've heard talk of a test that's here somewhere in the Underworld. A test of true love. It's only a rumor mind you, but one that used to give many of us souls hope long ago until the rumors simply… ceased to be spread around."
David looked at her in disbelief as he skeptically uttered, "Yet you just happened to have heard this rumor?"
Cruella glared at him while she curtly asked, "Do you wish to hear the rest of what I know, or not?"
"Go on," Regina retorted. "What was this rumor?"
"Ah… ah…" the evil woman then answered smugly. "My information doesn't come for free, my darlings. If you want to know, then you have to set me free."
The Queen scoffed as she replied, "Not a chance. Hades already knows where we are, but we won't give you the opportunity to leave so you can go right back to him and tell him anything you might have overheard us talking about to feed him any information."
Emma immediately recanted as she responded, "It doesn't matter. Nothing she might have overheard from us can do much more to hurt us. Cruella, if what you tell us leads me to finding a way to help Killian, then we'll set you free."
"You're going to have to let me go as soon as I tell you what I know, or there will be no deal, Savior," Cruella said again snidely. "I assure you, the information I have is something you will want to hear. It might not only give lover boy a will to live, but perhaps even the chance to live again. Do you agree?"
"Fine," the Savior answered, then used her magic to release their prisoner from her bindings. "Now… what do you know?"
The villainess grinned, then she spoke smugly again saying, "Somewhere deep down within the furthest depths of this world, there's a bit of magic that restores life to a soul who's become trapped down here. No one knows for sure what. Rumors once spoke of one man from the land of the living who came down here to save his own love and succeeded. The only reason why I haven't traveled down there to see for myself if it's true, is because there's supposedly a test. To ensure only those who are worthy can reach it. It requires one to offer up their heart for judgement. We all know I have no heart. Quite unfortunate for me. However, it sounds to me like it's a test of true love, doesn't it?"
Everyone glared at Cruella while Regina skeptically replied, "For mere rumors that you claim have faded away into nothingness, you seem to know a lot."
"She's telling the truth," Emma strongly responded upon using her superpower to see if the woman was lying while she had spoken.
"Emma… I know that every part of you wants to believe this to be true, but it's possible your superpower is telling you she's speaking the truth only because your heart wants it to be so badly," David answered his daughter worryingly. "And even if it is true, it could be just another of Hades' traps. More souls surely would have tried to find this magic unless it's extremely dangerous, which I have no doubt that it is. Besides, if we can just reach the dock where Charon dropped us off, that will lead us to the portal home, we won't need that magic whatever it is. We can save Hook up in our world. We can't…"
She motioned for Cruella to leave, then looked back at David again once the villainess was gone as she stated, "I have to try. It may be the only chance I have to save him. I can't unless I can convince him and myself our love is true love. I'm willing to risk this, just so I can convince Killian of what he has to fight for. Even if we can't get to this magical artifact, or whatever it is this test is required for. If you tell me there's another way, I won't go. If you tell me we can escape from here with Killian and then believe that he'll be able to recover from all of this, I won't go. Can you? Can you promise me that?"
Her father shook his head sadly and then replied, "No. No, I can't. I may hate it, but my own heart's telling me you're right, Emma."
"Okay… so should these so called rumors be true, how do we find this entrance down in the deepest depths of the Underworld?" Regina questioned while she looked worryingly between both Emma and David.
"Leave that to Lila and me," Graham responded, then finally pulled the boat in the bottle they had taken from Hades' lair and handed it over to David. "We'll send word back to you once we've found it and you can meet us there. By the way, this boat can be your passage home. For when you're finally able to leave this world."
David nodded and said quietly, "Thank you."
The Huntsman answered, "You're welcome."