Dead Reckoning

Chapter Twenty-Three

Upon returning to his shop, Belle noticed the stern look on her husband's face and when he walked towards her, out of concern for her friend she asked, "How is Killian? Everyone is clearly very worried about him. What happened?"

Rumple opened the book in his hands again to show her the same page he showed to the others in the hospital and then answered, "This is the weapon our newest villain used on the Captain. It's from Neverland and I fear that saving him will be most difficult. A few of them will be returning to the island with hope of retrieving the waters that will heal the burn, but I'm not so sure about… well I suppose poison is the best word for what is spreading throughout his body. Curing it won't be as easy. Unless we can, all the years that Hook spent in Neverland will finally catch up to him as his youth will be ripped from his body and Hook will die. I could use your help with research. I believe I might have the answer around here somewhere, but…"

"Of course I'll help you look," the beauty responded worryingly before he could finish asking, then took the book from him and began to shuffle through its pages. "Do you have any idea where we ought to start looking? You found one book about it, which appears to be in your handwriting. These drawings are all done by you as well. Where did you find the information about the brand to be able to create this page?"

"It was shown to me when we traveled to Neverland in order to save Henry," Gold replied quietly. "By my own shadow. I cut it out of me so that it would guard over the dagger, even from me so long as we were trapped among the Lost Boys. I couldn't have Pan use my dagger against me. I thought of taking the brand for myself, but I had no need to steal ones youth as I'm already immortal. I was also trying to be a better man at the time for Neal's sake. At the time, I really was trying."

Belle smiled sadly as she laid her hand gently over his arm, then stated, "I know you were. All right… So perhaps we could try to get the brand away from the villain who's currently in possession of it and then we can use the steel itself to discover a way to save Killian. Do you suppose you could summon it here to us?"

The Dark One looked at his wife with surprise at her suggestion, then smiled smugly as he answered, "Not without knowing exactly where it is I'm afraid. But perhaps if we were to spy on these pirates. I just need something might have…"

"That might have what?" she asked when Gold paused a moment and then flicked his wrist as Killian's hook suddenly appeared in one hand and one of his crystal balls in the other.

"Something that might have touched said villain when he and our own resident pirate fought one another," he continued smugly and then touched the tip of the hook to the orb, as several images swirled around within it until the right image he sought finally appeared, showing Bishop and his men hiding inside a cave out in the middle of the woods somewhere. "I believe if we listen in on what they're up to, we may learn where they're keeping the brand and perhaps even of their plans."

Meanwhile…

"How did you come to learn of this ancient brand?" Gold and Belle heard the brute ask a shadow they realized was helping their enemies when he spoke up again. "In all the years I lived on the island before being banished, I never knew of it. I thought I knew all there was to know of Neverland."

The crewmen sent out to gather the firewood returned carrying sticks and branches from the trees in their arms as the entity responded, "Trust me, you don't know our world as well as you think you do. Not even Peter Pan understood it completely. Nor did he understand that the shadow he claimed as his own wasn't completely devoted to him as he believed. It showed me how to find the brand days before these heroes captured it to get them home when they came here some time ago. Not so I could kill Pan then, but in case it was necessary to do so in the future. It turns out it wasn't needed. Because the boy's own son killed him first."

The first mate looked at the shadow as he asked, "Why would it want to kill Pan if it was so devoted to the boy?"

"Because, Pan had eventually become too arrogant," Rufio's shadow replied. "The island's first shadow no longer believed him to be the chosen leader Neverland deserved. It too was killed when they came here to Storybrooke. We cannot allow the same to happen to us."

"It will not come to pass so long as we continue to work together to see that Hook dies and then find our way back home," Bishop answered with confidence. "We will just have to steal ourselves a magic bean."

All of a sudden, a bright red glow burst through the cave as a strange voice within the light responded, "That won't be necessary. I can get you home without some magic bean, a ship, and especially without this old shadow trying to take all the credit for you having your revenge."

Bishop and his men immediately stood and pulled their weapons while they struggled against the light surrounding them, as the brute called out, "Show yourself! Or you will regret coming here, I assure you."

At last, the glow faded and a man who was even larger in stature than Bishop was himself stood among them. He was tall, clean-shaven, had deep green eyes, red hair, and wore a royal blue tunic, brown leather gauntlets, as well as sandals on his feet. He wore a scabbard at his side that held an extravagant ancient sword with a gold hilt. Rufio's shadow flew down before the stranger to confront him until the newcomer opened the palm of his hand to reveal two coconut halves and quickly lights the candle within the lower piece to draw the entity in to trap it. The boy's shadow let out a terrifying, ear-splitting screech as it become sucked into the shells and suddenly engulfed in flames until it was suddenly destroyed.

Bishop glared at the being before him as he asked coldly, "Who are you? Or what are you?"

"You don't recognize a God when you see one?" the deity sneered and released the ash left of the shells onto the ground at his feet, then wiped off his hands. "I'm not too surprised. I'm Zagreus, son of Hades and former God of the Underworld. The true and rightful ruler of the Underworld, until he was destroyed by these so-called heroes. They think they're free to live happily ever after now that the Savior's final battle has been fought. I'm here to see to it that they lose everything they hold dear."

"You are too late," the brute replied smugly, then chortled when he felt a renewed strength within his right hand and watched as the limb slowly de-aged. "I have already begun my reckoning. And as you can see, I do not need any of your help."

Zagreus became angry as he spoke up again saying, "Like you needed that shadow's help? I was the one who gave you the map that helped you to find your way back to Neverland! I was the one who opened the passage between worlds so you could return with your ship. Not that dark entity! Me! I want to see these heroes suffer for what they did to my father and now they will, but because I made it so. If you wish to hold onto your newfound youth, you will obey my every word. Storybrooke will fall… and everyone in it. Captain Hook and Emma Swan happen to be the first to pay. And then, I will finally go after the Wicked Witch who killed Hades. The rest will die at the hands of my army once I raise them from my father's domain."

The man now called Bishop smiled and then uttered, "Rufio's shadow told us to wait here, but we have grown tired of waiting. I look forward to a real fight."