Killian Jones

I wake up with a pounding headache. I hear a steady drip, drip, drip of water. By the sound of it, I'm in a cave of some sort. "Bloody hell," I say with a groan. "What now?"

"Oh good, you're awake," a very familiar voice says. I look up and see her red head come into view. She wears a white shirt with black pants and the maroon cloak that belonged to her beloved. She throws me a cup of water and I drink it hungrily, my throat already dry with thirst.

When I finish, I set the cup down on the cave floor. "What do you want with me, and where am I?" I've no idea what business Ariel has with me in this world, but whatever it is, it can't be good.

"I need your help," Ariel says, sitting on the ground next to him, pulling the rope on his wrists off. "You probably don't remember him, but there was a guy in the same crew as you. His name is Eric. He once told me if anything ever happens to him to find Killian Jones and tell him what's going on. He was taken by the sea witch, Ursula. Can you help me?"

"Look, Ariel, as much as I'd love to help you get your prince back, I can't. I have to help my Swan break this curse. If I do, then you'll be reunited with him."

Ariel looks taken aback. "I didn't tell you my name." She grabs a dagger from her belt and holds it to my throat. "How do you know my name?" She yells.

I let out an exasperated sigh. Of course this is happening to me. Of all the people in the Enchanted Forest that Eric could have told Ariel to contact, he said me. I need to get back to Emma. We have to figure out a plan and break this bloody curse.

"Over here!" I hear a voice yell. Henry. I try to sit up, forgetting that Ariel has a dagger to my throat.

"Agh!" I fall back to the ground as blood appears on my neck. Ariel's eyes widen and she quickly removes the dagger. I know she never meant to actually hurt me.

"Killian!" I hear Emma yell. Ariel stands up and faces the entrance to the cave where Emma stands. "What did you do to him?"

"All I did was hold a dagger to his throat," Ariel says indignantly, crossing her arms. "He's the one who tried to sit up. It's not my fault he hurt himself."

Emma comes in and kneels next to me, holding out her hand, healing the cut. "Thanks, love," I say as she helps me up.

"Why did you take Killian?" Emma asks Ariel.

"I needed help to find Eric. He's missing. I thought Killian could help," Ariel says.

"So you took him and held a dagger to his throat?" Emma asks with a raised eyebrow. "Not the smartest tactic. But Killian is preoccupied right now. We're trying to break a curse that could possibly reunite you with Eric."

"Killian was saying something about that. If I'm cursed, wouldn't I know it?" Ariel asks.

Emma gives a bitter laugh. "No, you probably wouldn't," she says with a sad sigh. "I'll do everything in my power to break this curse. But I need Killian to do it."

"Sure, of course." Ariel nods her head and looks at the ground. "I hope you break it soon."

"Thanks," Emma says with a small smile. She grabs my hand and practically drags me out of the cave, Henry right on our heels.

When we get far enough away, Emma suddenly stops and turns to me, bringing her lips onto mine in a heated kiss. When she pulls away, she stares into my eyes with a passion. "Don't ever...do anything like that again. Okay?" She says. I can tell how panicked she was and I put my hand on the side of her face to try and calm her.

"Okay," I whisper. I lean in and kiss her forehead. "I'm sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. Ariel came out of nowhere and surprised me."

"I can't lose you," she says quietly, close to tears, "Even if it could be reversed. I can't bear the thought of watching you die."

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm a survivor. You don't need to worry about me."

She nods and I pull her in for a hug, resting my chin on her head. I notice Henry staring at us with something in his eyes that looks a lot like happiness. I smile at him and he smiles back. In this moment, I feel for the first time in a long, long, time that I have a family.

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I look around the room, confused. There are no windows, only curtains. The floor is red and soon the curtains start to catch fire. I've heard this place described before. It's the dream world that people go through when they've been under a sleeping curse. The question is, why am I here? I've never been under a sleeping curse in my life.

I hear a helpless cry from behind one of the curtains. It sounds like the cries of an infant. I quickly run to it, avoiding the fire in any way I can. I pull the curtain aside and see a baby wrapped in a pink blanket in a basket. I pick the baby up and nestle it into my arms as I run back to the center of the room, away from the fire.

Embroidered on the blanket the baby's wrapped in is the word in red cursive letters: Leia. She suddenly opens her eyes. They're a deep blue, almost identical to mine. When she sees my face she starts crying.

I look around the room, helpless to do anything.

"She wants her mother," Emma says behind me. I turn around to see her standing in a burnt black dress. The sleeves flow to her hands, only their are burnt marks in them. The dress probably would have gone down to the floor if a quarter of it wasn't gone due to the flame marks. She smiles sadly and I see tears in her eyes. "But Leia can't have her mother, because you failed. You failed us."

I watch as flames engulf Emma. I cry out for her. She just shakes her head. "You can't save me. No one can, and it's all your fault."

I don't know what to do. There are tears in my eyes and I just barely manage to choke out, "I'm sorry, Emma."

Before I can do anything else, the flames are gone, and so is Emma. Little Leia starts wailing in my arms and I wish I could help her, but I know I can't, because I failed.

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I wake up with a start. I look around desperately only to realize that I lay on the Forest floor, right next to Emma. I look over at her and see that she's awake. Her brow is furrowed.

"What were you dreaming about?" She asks softly, reaching up and wiping the sweat off of my forehead.

"Nothing that matters," I say quietly. I've had many vivid dreams in my lifetime, but none as vivid as that one. For some reason, I don't want to tell Emma. I just feel like this is something I have to keep to myself.

"It clearly does," she says sitting up. "You're shaking and you feel feverish. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," I say right away.

"Killian," she says softly. I turn and look at her. The look in her eyes says that she wants me to tell her so she can help ease my pain. I lean in and softly kiss her on the lips.

"I'm fine now," I tell her. "Anyways, you should probably go back to sleep. We need to--" I'm cut off by a twig snapping to the right. My head whips in that direction and I see Snow standing there with a smile on her face. Standing next to her is the one and only author: Isaac.

Emma and I quickly stand up. She grabs her sword and points it towards them. "What do you want?" She demands.

"I actually wanted to thank you," Snow says. "You see, I've been trying for the longest time to kill Regina, and then one day you just happen to shove her into a bar, one she never comes out of. But I'm also here to kill you because I was the one who was supposed to kill her."

"Killian, I can't do it," Emma whispers so quietly that Snow can't hear. "I can't fight my mother."

"Use your magic, Swan. Get us out of here," I say. It's not quiet enough. Snow hears and waves her hand. A cuff appears on Emma's wrist. I know what that cuff does. It blocks out magic. Emma drops the sword in surprise and tugs at it, trying to get it off.

"I-I can't," Emma says, tugging desperately, "Not anymore." She faces Isaac with a look of pure hate on her face. "Somehow, someway, you will rewrite the story. I will not lose the world I know to this." She gestures around at the Enchanted Forest.

Isaac laughs. "Why would I do that when I'm loving this story so much more? You've gotten what you deserve."

Emma lets out a growl and starts to move forward, but I hold her back. She struggles for a moment before giving up. Snow comes closer and waves her hands. My wrists are bound with rope. I look over at a still sound asleep Henry and find that his are bound too.

"You're my prisoners now," Snow says with a smile.
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Sorry for not updating in a while! And I'm sorry this chapter was boring, it'll get better. Thank you guys so much for 1.5k reads! It means a lot to me. Comment your thoughts! 😊