You Are Loved

Chapter Thirty-Four

"So, you're planning on leaving Storybrooke, without so much as a goodbye, and with the quill my daughter and I gave you for safe keeping," Maleficent said curtly as she appeared within black smoke before the former Author standing a few feet away from the town line early the next morning, waiting for someone else to arrive, as Isaac spun around in surprise. "I told you that I would help to insure your freedom, so long as you didn't betray me. I released you from the page those heroes trapped you in. And you think you can just run with the object that is helping us to insure our own revenge?"

"Maleficent?" the small man stated nervously. "I wasn't expecting you to find me. You are certainly looking better."

The Dragon Sorceress nodded as she responded coldly, "I've always had a very high tolerance for pain. Did you really think I was going to let you walk away from us now? We're not finished. There's more work to be done and I need the boy's quill. Hand it over, now!"

Isaac shook his head as he replied, "I can't do that. I mean, I don't have it on me right now. I put it someplace for safe keeping myself. I couldn't very well risk it being caught on me should I run into one of those heroes."

"You know, I would almost believe you if I didn't know any better," she answered calmly as she began to walk around him. "But I've been keeping my eyes on you too, just as I've done with everyone else here in this God forsaken town. Did you really think that I wouldn't find out that you went to these heroes behind my back to make a separate deal with them?"

"Please, I can explain," the last Author responded quickly as he started to back towards the line while she kept walking toward him, then pulled out the quill from his vest pocket and held it in his hands, threatening to break it in half. "I will do it if you don't back away. I saved you, Maleficent. I gave you everything you ever wanted. But if you kill me, neither of us will get what we want."

All of a sudden, Regina appeared behind Isaac within her own magic cloud of smoke and swiftly punched the little man with her fist when he spun around upon hearing her voice as she replied, "That quill isn't yours to destroy, or to control any longer."

Isaac fell to the ground hard as the magical pen slipped out of his hand and rolled across the pavement before him until Henry immediately ran over from behind Maleficent as he swiftly snatched it up and held it tightly in his hands, feeling the relief wash over him now that he's finally gotten it back.

The man who once lived as a peddler man within the Enchanted Forest glared at the fifteen year old, then turned around to look between the two women as well, as he spoke up again saying, "Henry? You mean, all of this was just a rouse? But I thought…"

"That we wanted to kill the heroes one by one?" Lily answered as she appeared beside her mother, along with David and Snow. "That was the plan. But we've had a change of heart thanks to them. They've helped me to see how wrong I've been and that if I was going to follow through with my revenge, then I was going to lose everything I ever really wanted, especially my mother."

"I need to get back to Mom and Killian," Henry said anxiously as he glanced over at his adopted mother, then raced to her side. "Please, let's go!"

It was then that he and Regina both vanished again, while David stepped forward while he pulled handcuffs from his back pocket and waved them in front of the former Author as he stated, "You know what these are. It's time for you to go back to jail."

Isaac glared at the Prince as he locked his wrists into the cuffs and responded coldly, "I don't see how this is fair. Maleficent and Lily both have threatened your family. They cursed your daughter and Hook, and nearly killed him. Yet you're arresting me and letting them remain free? How is that fair?"

"They're not getting away with what they've done scot free," Snow replied as she moved to stand beside her husband. "They will no longer be allowed here in Storybrooke. And thanks to you, they can return home."

"I don't see how that's much of a punishment," the prisoner answered curtly.

Lily looked over at the Charmings as she responded, "I've lost the chance to make it up to my best friend for the sins I've committed. I want Emma and I to be as we once were, but now that isn't possible. She'll never trust me fully even if she has forgiven me for what I've done to her and the man she loves."

Isaac scoffed and replied, "That's hardly the same thing as being forced into a book."

"That's enough," David answered curtly, then pulled the man forward and looked at the two Sorceresses. "It's time to go. First to the station and then back to Emma's."

Meanwhile…

"What if he destroys the quill before they can get it back?" Emma asked nervously as she continued to sit with Killian with his head lying across her lap while he remained within a restless sleep on the couch, both Marco and August waited with her for the others to return, and Ursula and Prince Eric paced back and forth while they waited.

August looked between his friends and father, then responded, "He won't, Emma. You have to have trust that everything's going to be alright very soon now."

She glared back at him as she replied coolly, "I wish I had your kind of faith. You know I've never been very good at that."

"Maybe not, but you've certainly gotten better over the years, because of Killian and Henry," the wooden man child answered sincerely. "You'll see that I'm right."

"Mom, we did it!" Henry suddenly called out as he reappeared with Regina in her purple smoke. "I've got my quill back."

Emma immediately pulled Killian tighter against her as she looked down at him, then back at her son as she pleaded fearfully, "Do it, Henry! Please fix this."

August quickly grabbed the original copy of Heroes and Demons from off the table nearby him and handed it down to the teenager as he knelt down on the floor as he prepared to write, pulling out the ink from his coat pocket, opened the Author's book up to the back of the book where there was a blank page, then spoke as he finally began to write the words, "Thanks to our Savior's ability to forgive and her plea for her childhood friend, Lily to be better than she believed herself to be, let the Sorceresses' curse become undone."

All of a sudden, a bright white light filled the room as everyone shielded their eyes. As it finally faded, Emma immediately took Killian's face in her hand, gently stroking his cheek while willing him to awaken, but nothing seemed to change. She leaned down to kiss his lips as tears began to fall, then she turned back to Henry with a fearful look on her face.

"Why didn't it work?" she asked quickly.

"It had to have worked," Henry responded nervously. "I felt the magic pour out of me as I wrote it and we all saw it."

Marco once again knelt down beside the couch as he rested his hand over Killian's forehead and then replied, "It's possible he isn't waking because he is so ill."

The Savior's son quickly cried out again, "That's it. Mom, your magic should be working again. You can heal him the rest of the way now."

"Please, Killian," Emma whispered as she closed her eyes and concentrated, feeling her magic once again begin to flow through her and into the man she loved so deeply. "I love you. I will always love you."

"And I you, Emma," Hook answered faintly as he opened eyes slowly opened after a few moments of silence and sadly looked into hers, then he turned away from her as she struggled to sit up. "I appreciate your efforts, everyone's efforts to save my life. However, I fear that our love… Swan, doesn't change the man I am. A monster and a coward. If there's one thing… this experience has taught me, it's that I can't… can't be who you need. And I don't deserve you."

When he stood up and started to walk away, Emma immediately grabbed his hand to stop him while she stood as well, then without him looking back at her, she responded, "You're wrong, Killian. Please, don't believe that."

He finally turned his head as he looked into her eyes again and replied, "I need time. I want nothing more, than to take you into my arms and kiss you again, to pretend like none of this ever happened. But I can't. Because it did. Forgive me, love."

"Emma, you did it!" Snow spoke up happily as she and David both walked inside their home, followed by Maleficent and Lily, just after Hook stormed past them as they walked up the steps. "He's alright, but… Where is he going?"

"He's still ashamed," Emma answered brokenly as she continued to stare at the spot where Killian had been standing moments ago. "How am I supposed to help him?"

Days later…

Emma stood around the alter within Regina's vault with her parents and the former Evil Queen while Regina slowly waved her hand over Killian's own left hand within the jar from Gold's shop that Emma had taken back from the Dark One days before the chaos began and as she did so, Snow asked, "So, have you tried speaking to him yet?"

The Savior shook her head and responded quietly, "I tried to a few nights ago, but he wouldn't see me. All I could get out was that Maleficent, Lily, and now Liam and his grandmother have returned to the Enchanted Forest along with his father's body. I want to talk to him about everything, but Killian asked for time and I'm trying to give him his space. I know that he's been staying back on his ship and that he's barely come out. Henry's tried to talk to him, but he's hardly spoken to anyone, least of all to me. What the hell am I supposed to do? I know how badly all of this messed with his head. He's more broken than he's ever been and I doubt that anything I could say would be able to assure him that he's wrong about who he is. He thinks he's a coward and a murderer. Not just because he killed Brennan in front of everyone at the celebration, but because he killed him before out of anger, as he's killed many others while he was villain. And then it's like he's completely forgotten that even while he was cursed to be a coward in our alternate reality, he still fought against his every instinct to protect Henry and me from…"

"From me and your mother when we killed him," David interrupted somberly, to pull his daughter out of her tirade.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so bitter or accusing," the Savior replied as she looked between her parents. "What do I do?"

Snow took her daughter's hand as she answered, "The right words will come when you need them to."

When Regina finished and lowered her hand, Emma broke away from the current conversation as she looked over at her friend and asked, "Well, can you tell if Gold was telling the truth? Is his hand really cursed… or did that bastard manage to just get so deep into Killian's head and fears that Killian subconsciously reverted back to his old self?"

"No, it's definitely cursed," Regina responded curtly. "If Killian hadn't have made that deal with Gold to have him remove his hand again, then it would have eventually overpowered and consumed him until he became the evil version of Captain Hook again. Despite what the Dark One made him do to get him to remove it, Killian made the right decision."

"Gold wanted him to believe that he was capable of being the ruthless pirate he was before, back when the two of you met," David said worryingly. "It's no wonder he can't believe he's not that man anymore. No matter what he does, or how hard he fights to be the hero we all know he is, he's constantly being reminded by villains that he's one of them."

Emma flicked her wrist as Killian's hand from the jar appeared in her own, then she asked Regina worryingly, "Can you remove the curse?"

The Mayor looked at the Savior cynically as she replied, "With a little time perhaps. But Emma, I doubt you'll be able to talk Killian into taking his hand back, due to his fear alone. He's in a lot of pain right now after all he's been through, yet he's still more worried about you. He won't willingly take back his hand no matter how much he might want to, if he fears that there's the slightest chance he could hurt you, or Henry, and everyone else he loves. I suggest that you don't push him with this."

"Regina's right," Snow added sadly. "Surely it doesn't matter to you?"

"I don't care that he has a hook for a hand," Emma answered with sincerity. "I never did care. I only want him to be able to care about himself the way that I do, the way that he used to pretend when he flirted with me up on that beanstalk, or in Neverland, or when we first started dating. I haven't seen that side of him in a long time. When he's ready to talk about it, I can give him a small bit of self appreciation back if he wants it. In the meantime, will you hold onto it for me, Regina? And remove the curse if you can?"

She nodded and then Emma turned to leave as she stated, "I have to think. I'm going to go for a walk, but I'll see you tonight at Granny's."

Later that evening…

After Emma left the vault, she walked down to the harbor and found that the Jolly Roger wasn't tied to the docks, then she looked out toward the horizon and saw his ship off in the distance. She didn't know if Killian would be ready to talk to her yet, but she needed to talk to him. If only to assure him again that she will love him forever no matter what. Emma used her magic to transport herself to the Jolly Roger and as she did, she looked around for Killian, then found him standing against the starboard side of his ship while he stared off in the distance at the sunset. However, all words seemed to disappear from her mind as she saw him, especially as she slowly walked toward him until she was beside him and saw the sadness on his face and in his eyes.

While he kept his eyes forward, Hook was the one to speak first saying quietly, "I had a feeling you would appear here tonight, Swan."

"I've been here every night, waiting for you," she whispered.

"I know that none of this has been easy for you and for that… I am truly sorry, but how can I possibly deserve you?" Killian asked desperately as his head fell and he closed his eyes to hold in the tears threatening to fall.

The Savior gently raised his head and turned him around to face her, then placed her hand over his cheek as she asked sadly, "Do you really believe all you've done to become the man standing before me now, the man I've fallen in love with because he did the impossible by making me believe in love and in myself again, isn't deserving of my love? Pushing me away, isn't protecting me, Killian. When we said goodbye in the Underworld, I promised you that I wouldn't ever put my walls back up, but how can I not if you won't forgive yourself enough to believe in us. I love you. So much that it hurts when we're apart and it terrifies me. I've watched you die four times and then almost again over the last several days. And by the way, if anyone was to blame for what happened to you, it was me. Lily was angry at me, but she set aside her anger because deep down, she is good too. And I saw that, because of you."

He looked at her with confusion as he questioned, "But I didn't say or do anything."

"I learned to forgive you despite your past and as I saw how much you struggled to believe in yourself, I realized that that was really all Lily wanted to," Emma responded as she smiled at him. "She and Maleficent will both be alright because they have each other again and are home in the Enchanted Forest where they belong. Ariel and Eric are together again because Ursula left to speak with her father and gave them another sea bracelet. And she'll be staying here in Storybrooke for awhile to help fight alongside us against whatever else comes next. As for Liam and his grandmother… they've returned to the Enchanted Forest as well, with your father's body so they can give him a proper burial. You killed your father that night all those years ago because you were in pain over what he did to you, but this time… you killed him in order to protect my father. Brennan gave you no choice because he wanted you to suffer. But you can't let him win. The real point I am trying to make, is that without you I'm lost, Killian. I need you. You once told me, all sins can be forgiven when someone loves you. And I do love you, no matter what. Please don't forget that."

"Forgive me for being a coward," he replied, then suddenly pulled her into his arms and held her close as he kissed her tenderly. "For everything. I love you too, Emma. I always will."

She smiled as she said smugly, "I know that. That means there's still a wedding in our future. Now, let's get back to Granny's. Everyone's safe and happy again, except that they're all waiting for you to come back to us. They all miss you, especially Henry. Will you be alright?"

Killian nodded and then answered, "Aye. It may be some time before I can return to being me charming self, but so long as you're always by my side, I'll be fine. And I will always strive to be the hero that you believe I am, Swan. Always."

The End