Storybrooke, present day

For a moment the entire band of heroes seemed frozen in time. No one moved; no one spoke. Then all at once everyone broke out into celebration.

It finally sank in for Killian that with the defeat of Hades, this whole bloody nightmare—from Emma taking on the darkness all the way to him dying to defeat said darkness—was over. He whooped in triumph, turning toward Emma, lifting her in the air and kissing her with all the love and joy in his heart. She for her part, matched him kiss for kiss, one of her legs kicking up behind her.

When Killian finally pulled away, gently setting his wife back on the ground, he looked around the clearing. It looked like the other couples among them had chosen to celebrate their victory in much the same way he and Swan had. Only the Crocodile appeared to be less than pleased, standing alone near the wishing well, sour look across his face.

Curious, that. Why would the man be less than pleased that the god who'd most recently been tormenting him was vanquished?

Emma seemed to read his mind, as she often did now that they shared one heart. "Gold, what's with the scowl?" she asked, stepping out of Killian's arms. "In case you missed it, we won. We saved your worthless ass as well as the rest of ours."

If possible, Rumple's scowl deepened. He gestured toward the ground at their feet. "Congratulations, pirate," he said, "it appears you've succeeded after all."

Killian glanced to the spot the Crocodile was indicating and noticed the change in the Dark One dagger he'd dropped after the battle. The blade had utterly disintegrated, the wavy surface reduced to nothing but ash, only the hilt remaining.

Emma turned toward him, eyes widened. "Does that mean…?"

"Yes, Miss Swan…or should I say Mrs. Jones?" Rumple said irritably. "Your one-handed pirate has managed to destroy the darkness once and for all. There will never again be a Dark One or the power therein contained."

Killian's heart pounded, and he felt the tears prick at the back of his eyes. This had been his life's mission. This was why he'd lived for a long three hundred years. For much of that time he'd pursued his quest in a wrong-headed manner, seeking vengeance against the Crocodile rather than justice, a way to save anyone else from being destroyed the way his first love was. He'd long since begun pursuing the end of destroying the darkness in a nobler way.

Milah finally, finally had gotten justice.

Emma smiled up at Killian, reaching a hand to cup his cheek. Pride and wonder shown from her green eyes. Slowly she brought him down for a quick kiss. "Killian, don't you ever doubt your hero status after this. You are as true a hero as any of us."

He smiled broadly, leaning down to return her kiss.

They were interrupted by a derisive snort behind them. "Ah yes," Rumple said, "the pirate is a 'true hero' and gets all he wishes, while the rest of us are constantly screwed over."

Killian felt the anger bubble up, the old resentments still simmering and the newer offenses still stinging. He took one step toward the Crocodile, hardly even aware of what he meant to do or say to his erstwhile enemy, but before he could go further he felt a hand on his shoulder.

After a mutual nod between the two men, Charming stepped past Killian, stopping directly before Rumple. "Alright, enough," he said, pulling a set of cuffs from his pocket and placing them on the Crocodile's wrists. "After all you've done to all of us over the last couple of weeks—let alone the last several decades you have no room to complain about being screwed over."

Swan's father marched the Crocodile away, his wife following after. Killian was on the point of offering his arm to his wife to follow them when a gasp startled him.

"What…what is that thing?" Megara gasped, pointing toward the sky.

Behind them, Robin Hood cursed. Killian looked up and felt like cursing himself. A fury. One of Hades' infernal beasts used to carry off souls to the land of death.

Hercules stepped forward, giving Meg a quick loving look. "It seems its time I make good on my vow, my love. I did, after all swear to sacrifice my life if you could live."

"I…I don't want to say goodbye," Meg said, stepping forward and wrapping her in her arms, hugging him tightly to her.

"I know," he said, burying his face into the crook of her neck, "but we will see each other again. When your time comes; after you've lived a long full live; I'll meet you on the other side."

"I love you," she said. Killian could hear the depth of emotion in her voice, and he stepped closer to Emma, wrapping her in his arms. This…was just too close for comfort to what he and his own true love had gone through only a matter of weeks ago.

"I love you too," Hercules said.

After taking a deep breath, Hercules stepped out of Megara's embrace and turned toward the fury, who had stopped as though waiting for the farewell. "Very well. I'm ready."

The fury nodded and moved forward.

But it passed Hercules and wrapped it's talons onto Megara. She cried out as it lifted her in the air and began flying swiftly away.

"No!" Hercules shouted, breaking into a run. "It was supposed to be me! I'm the one destined for the Underworld not her!"

It soon became apparent that Hercules…and the rest of them, who had joined him in his headlong run, had no hope of keeping up with the quickly moving fury. After moments, the creature was out of sight, Megara's shouts no longer able to be heard.

Hercules ran a hand through his hair, cursing fluently.

"Calm down, Wonderboy," Regina said sternly.

He stopped pacing to throw her a venomous glared. "Calm down?! You watch your True Love be carried away by that creature and then maybe you'll have room to tell me to calm down! I need to find out where it took her; I need to get her back; I need…"

"Enough!" Regina said firmly. "It just so happens, I know exactly how it feels to have my True Love carried away by a fury. It happened to me a few weeks before our little vacation in hell. And if you'd shut up for two minutes at a time, I could tell you how to get to it—and how to stop it."

Hercules took a deep breath and ran his hand once more through his hair. Finally he turned back toward Regina. "I apologize. Please continue."

"We know that the fury takes its victim to the lake—the site of a portal to the Underworld."

"But we'll never get there in time!" Hercules said. "It's a good quarter hours walk from here!"

"Lucky for you," Regina said, "we have magic. Mrs. Jones, would you take your husband and the lovesick god? I'll transport Robin."

Beside Killian, Emma nodded then instructed him and Hercules to each take one of her hands. She waited until they complied, and then nodded her head, smoke coming up to cover them. When it cleared, they were at the lake, Regina and Robin materializing only moments afterward.

Thee fury was nowhere in sight, but Killian's stomach dropped when he saw who was. None other than Charon waiting on his barge. It all hit far too close to home after his own ordeal with death.

They heard the screech of the fury, Meg yelling, before they appeared in view.

"Now what, your evil majesty?" Hercules asked

"Formerly evil majesty," Regina muttered. "We distract the fury, step before it, share its effects among all of us. Worked for us last time."

It was a good plan that had worked like a charm last time.

But this time it failed.

They did everything in their power to get the fury's attention, yelling, waving, jumping up and down, shooting arrows and fireballs. Nothing deterred it. It continued flying steadily, evidently intent on Charon's barge.

It would appear the Underworld was determined to get Megara's soul for itself.

They fought on as long as they could, but finally the fury reached its goal. It set Meg (none too gently) down in the barge and nodded for Charon to take off.

"No!" Hercules yelled to the heavens, anger coming from him in waves. "I made a vow! A vow! I fulfilled my end of the bargain. I did what I promised! I'm the one who should be on that barge!"

He railed on for several moments, hurling imprecation after imprecation at the heaven. Finally, as Charon's barge disappeared into the fog, Hercules' strength seemed to give out, and he dropped to the ground.

Suddenly, the North Star began glowing. It got larger and larger, the light it exuded growing with every moment. Finally, the star reached the earth, it's illumination as bright as the noonday sun. Killian shaded his eyes, watching curiously as the light slowly dimmed to reveal a man.

He glowed in much the same way Hercules had when he'd walked through Megara. He stood tall and stately, his white robes belted at the waist with a golden cord.

"Rise, my son," the man said, reaching a hand down to Hercules.

"Zeus," Robin muttered softly, voice awed.

"In the flesh," the man…no, the god replied, sketching a deep bow.

Slowly, almost painfully, Hercules got to his feet, the anger and pain still sketched deeply into his handsome features.

"My son," Zeus said, voice kind and compassionate. "You have now completed your final task. In being willing to offer your life for the woman you love, you have become a true hero and have fully restored your god status. It's time for you to return to Mount Olympus, as is your birthright."

Zeus moved forward as though to embrace his son, but Hercules sidestepped his proposed embrace. "No, father," he said bitterly. "I no longer have any desire to live as a god. I have no desire to live among gods and goddesses who turn back on their promises."

Zeus's brow furrowed. "You speak of your vow, do you not?"

"Yes," Hercules spat. "Meg should be alive. Meg should be here and I should be on that barge headed back to the Underworld. I made a deal! My life and godhood for her life!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible, my son," Zeus said sorrowfully. "Your truest act of heroism restored your full godhood and destroyed your last vestiges of humanity. Quite simply there was no humanity left to bequeath to your lady love."

"Surely there's something you can do," Emma said, holding tightly to Killian's arm. "Seems pretty messed up that he became a true hero and his reward is to lose his true love. Trust me, I know how excruciating that is."

Zeus seemed to ponder the situation for a moment. Eventually he smiled. "There is, indeed one possibility."

"What?" Hercules asked, "I'll do anything! Just restore Meg to life!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible," Zeus said, "but that doesn't mean you must be separated from her. When Hades was defeated, he and his cohorts were sent immediately to hell. My wayward brother, being a god, cannot be denied his rule, but as punishment for his crimes, he's been relegated to the rule of hell and only of hell. This, of course, leaves the Underworld leaderless."

"Pardon me," Killian said, "but how does this help Hercules return to his true love?"

"I may not be able to free Megara from the Underworld, but if Hercules agrees to become the ruler of that land, he will once again be reunited with her. Together they can run the Underworld as it was meant to be ruled. They can be servant leaders, helping their people work through their unfinished business and safely reach their eternal destination. Would such an arrangement be pleasing to you, my son?"

As Zeus spoke, Hercules began glowing, his look of pain and despair transforming into one of utter joy. "I cannot speak for her definitively, but for my part, I would be honored, Father."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

After bidding them goodbye, Hercules stepped with his godly father into the light, presumably to reunite with his Megara and take up his post as ruler as the Underworld. Emma, Killian, Regina and Robin watched until the light disappeared behind the gods, and then rushed home, intent on finding Henry, making sure he'd survived the last couple of hours as well as they had.

After a round of drinks—hot cocoa with cinnamon for Henry and the pregnant Belle, and something a bit stronger for the rest of them, Henry had matter-of-factly declared that Emma and Killian needed their privacy. He'd insisted on staying with Regina for the next week so that they could have it.

Emma wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so after bidding farewell to her son and parents (and making it clear that she and Killian were not to be disturbed during the next week for anything less monumental than the literal end of the world), she'd poofed herself and her husband back to the house by the sea.

Though staying home was not exactly the honeymoon most couples dreamed of, it worked for Emma and Killian. They spent long hours talking, planning their future, planning a total redecoration of the house whose furniture reminded Emma far too much of her time as the Dark One, laughing and generally falling more deeply in love with every passing moment.

Of course, it went without saying that the two of them spent long hours breaking in their new king sized bed. (On the first morning, Killian had wiggled his eyebrows and pointed out that with Emma's ability to poof victuals from Granny's they had virtually no reason to ever leave their bed.)

For the most part, the town respected Emma's firm insistence that they not be disturbed—once they figured out the savior was truly out of commission.

It was the morning of the second day of their "staycation" honeymoon, their kisses once more becoming fevered, their hands beginning to wander, things about to get interesting once again, that Emma's phone began to buzz from its place on her nightstand. Killian groaned, reached over, grabbed the offending device and answered it with a surly "What the bloody hell do you want?"

Emma chuckled as she buried her face into his should and then began kissing a path across his chest.

"I want the sheriff," Leroy said irritably. "Dopey ate all Granny's bacon. Didn't leave me so much as a crumb. That's theft in my book, and I want some justice!"

Killian muttered something about where Leroy could shove his bacon as Emma settled back, continuing to laugh.

"Leroy," Killian said in a voice of forced patience. "Mate, did you by any chance happen to see the notice on the front door of my wife's and my house?"

"Um…yeah."

"Splendid," Killian said. "Then you know we are not to be disturbed for anything less than the end of the world. Tell me. Is the world literally coming to an end?"

"Well…no," he admitted, "but…"

"And is there not another sheriff in this town? One who is fully capable of dealing with the pilfering of pork products?"

"Well…yeah, I guess so."

"Excellent," Killian said. "So, and I mean this in the kindest way possible. Leave my wife and I the hell alone."

He'd hung up, thrown the offending talking phone across the room and then turned back to Emma. "Now love, where were we?"

Emma grinned. "I think you were just about to…" and then she leaned in to whisper something in her husband's ear that had him growling in appreciation.

"As my lady wife wishes."

But as perfect and blissful as the week alone was, all good things must come to an end. Bright and early on the morning of the eighth day back, their doorbell began ringing insistently. Killian grumbled as the two of them got dressed and headed for the stairs.

Emma pulled the door open and was almost knocked over when her thirteen-year-old bowled into her, wrapping her in an exuberant hug, followed by Snow and Charming.

"How was your honeymoon?" Snow asked. "Did you have a good time? What did you find to do to fill your time?"

David groaned. "Yeah…don't answer that last one."

Emma chuckled, feeling Killian wrap his arm around her waist. "I'll spare you the details."

"But aye," Killian said with a mischievous grin. "To answer your earlier question, Lady Snow, we had quite the spectacular time."

"Again," David said, covering his face, "this is one of those things I don't want to know about."

"So," Snow said, holding up a box and a carrier filled with steaming cups, "we brought breakfast."

"You guys are the world's best parents," Emma said, taking the box from her mother, and spreading the breakfast offerings on the table. "Grab a plate everyone, and let's dig in."

There was virtual silence in the house by the sea for several minutes afterwards. The only sounds the clinking of dishes, exclamations of approval, as the family demolished the full breakfast before them.

"So, what's been going on around here while we were out," Emma asked, once the meal came to an end. "Any new villains? Curses? Did Leroy ever get justice for the bacon theft."

Charming laughed. "Well, Leroy lodged a formal complaint, and I paid a visit to Dopey and had a talk with him about how it's really not polite to eat all the bacon without checking to make sure someone else doesn't want a piece. Only way I could find to shut Leroy up."

Emma laughed. "So what about the rest?"

"It's been quiet around here, believe it or not," Henry said. "Not a single crises the entire week!"

"Well, lad, that must be a record for this town," Killian said with a smile.

"Probably," Henry answered, sneaking one more donut out of the box. "Definitely haven't had this much peace since Grandma Belle banished Grandpa Rumple after that whole Snow Queen situation."

At the mention of the Dark One, the group around the table sobered.

"Just what is my old Crocodile up to these days?" Killian asked.

Emma reached over and grabbed his hand, sensing the distress, the anger her husband was carefully keeping under control.

"He's facing justice," David said in a hard voice. "When we got back, we put him on trial; let the whole town vote on his sentence, since the whole town have been his victims. We decided to slap him with life in prison."

"You've got him locked in our jail?" Emma said with a groan. "You mean I'll have to deal with him every single day when I go into work."

Henry shook his head. "Nope. Grandma came up with a better solution than that."

"Yeah, mom? What's that?" Emma asked.

"The mines," Snow said with a shrug. Worked for us back in the Enchanted Forest. We figured it would work again here. We've got rumple incarcerated in a cell down in the mines."

"Life imprisonment," Emma said, shaking her head. "Seems pretty rough to be stuck down in that dark cave for the rest of your life. Granted, I can't think of anyone who deserves it more."

"We thought about that," Henry said. "Hook, my other mom, you were both big villains, did terrible things, but you changed. You became heroes. We decided to give Rumple that chance too."

"He's got a life sentence," David said, "but he does have the possibility of parole—if, that is, he ever decides to turn his life around and make restitution for his crimes. He's got to find a way to truly convince us of his sincerity, though. The whole town. Only way he'll ever get out of there."

"What was his reaction to that?"

"He threatened us all within an inch of our lives and promised to start planning escape."

"So, apparently he's not up for the whole redemption path?" Emma said.

Snow laughed. "Yeah, you could say that. At least for the moment. I still have hope he can turn it around one day, though, despite everything he's done."

"Always the hopeful one, aren't you, my lady?" Killian said with a grin.

"I like to think so."

The smile slid from Killian's face. "And Belle? What's become of her? The Crocodile is a right son of a bitch, but the lass doesn't deserve the consequences of his villainy."

Henry shrugged. "She's…sad, but I think she's doing okay. She's back to working at the library and she's taken a room at Granny's."

"She left Rumple," Snow said. "Apparently it was a big scene, her yelling and him pleading. She's told him she and their baby will be better off without him as he currently is."

"So that's it, then?" Emma asked.

"Not entirely," David said. "She's basically given him an ultimatum. He has to be redeemed and he has to find a way to show her he chooses her and the baby over power before she'll come back to him."

"How exactly he might do that, I have no idea, given the fact that his power was destroyed in the battle with Hades," Snow answered. "I guess that's his problem to figure out."

"And of course," Charming said, "she's made it crystal clear that if he should demonstrate redemption and a choosing of her over power it will be his last chance. If he so much as lies to her about whether or not he took out the garbage she and the baby are gone. Forever. He'll never get another chance."

"Seems fair," Emma said.

A lull fell over the conversation as they cleaned up after breakfast. Everything tidied once again, the adults made their way to the living room while Henry wandered upstairs to check out the room that would be his during the times he was living with them. Emma sat with Killian on the loveseat, his arm around her shoulders, her head against his chest.

"Nice place you've got here," David said, looking around. "Never really got a chance to see it…well…before."

Emma glanced aside, a pang going through her at the mention of the weeks she spent as the Dark Swan, pushing her family away, planning terrible things for good reasons.

"Yeah," Snow said, breaking the sudden tension that had descended. "Looks like you've got plenty of rooms upstairs. Plenty of room for when you two decide to give us another grandchild or two."

Emma laughed. "Mom, we just got married. Think we might need a little time before we start planning to bring any little Emmas or little Killians into the world."

"Not, of course," Killian said with a grin, "that we'll have the least objection to making said lads and lasses when the time comes."

"Watch it pirate!" David growled.

Emma laughed again. "We do want kids…someday."

"Works for me," Snow said. "Now, as it turns out, we had a few reasons for coming here besides just bringing breakfast."

"Aye, my lady?" Killian asked, his hand absently caressing Emma's arm.

"Yeah," she said. "We were thinking we need to have a big, town-wide party!"

"Um…" Emma said, "why?"

"We figured the pirate deserved a 'Welcome back to life; we're glad you're not dead' party," David said. "Least we could do for our new son-in-law."

Emma looked up at Killian, her smile becoming tender as she noted the surprised, pleased look on his face. "My thanks," Killian said finally, "it would be a great honor."

"Think nothing of it!" Snow said. "So, we were thinking, we'll have it at Granny's, of course. We could have…"

Emma stopped them with a raised hand. "Yeah, how about not."

"How about not what?" David asked.

"How about not Granny's" Emma said with a quirk of her brow. "Seems to me every single time we all gather there for a celebration some crisis happens. I think she's a jinx."

"You have a point about that," Snow agreed. "But if not there, where? There aren't that many places around here big enough to host a town-wide party."

"Why not here?" Killian asked with a slight shrug. "Our house is large enough to host such a party. In addition to celebrating my—all of our return—it could also serve as a housewarming."

"That's a fantastic idea, Killian!" Snow gushed. "We'll have to get together sometime to talk about the details. But for now, there are other details we really need to get started on."

"Okay…" Emma said, drawing out the word. "Just what are we deciding on details for?"

"Your wedding of course!" Snow said. Emma couldn't help but smile. Her mom was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning.

"Should have known we wouldn't have more than a week before she descended on us," Emma said, smiling up at Killian.

"You…you still want to have a formal wedding here in Storybrooke, don't you?" Snow asked, disappointment clear in her eyes.

"Of course mom," Emma answered. "Like we said after our first wedding. We wouldn't miss it for the world."

And as Snow went on and on about venues and colors and dresses and receptions and everything else related to weddings, Emma smiled to herself. It was very true. She wouldn't miss any of this for the world.

Emma Swan was no stranger to loss, that was true, but thanks to these wonderful people in her house, she knew she'd never again be a stranger to love either.

The End!

Notes:

-Well there you have it! I really, really wanted to get this fic completed before the 5b finale, but this weekend was just one of those impossible times for writers. During the moments the muse was all fired up and ready to write, I was busy with other commitments. Then when I actually had time to write the muse was MIA. *shrug* What are you going to do?

-So obviously my version of 5b was quite a bit different from canon 5b (and my finale was WAY different!). Hopefully you enjoyed this canon divergence!

-Thank you so much to everyone who's followed, favorited and reviewed this story! You've really inspired me to keep going and reach the finish line.

-Up next: ….well nothing for this story. I will, however, continue updating "Fluffy Fridays" as long as time permits. Btw, to those of you who have sent reviews of the last 2 or three chapters, somethings up with . I can see that I have new reviews, but when I click on the link, it doesn't show me any of those new reviews. When (if?) that ever changes I'll definitely send my normal "thanks for the review" pm!

-As far as future stories…well…my plan is to take a nice long writing hiatus to deal with all the busy-ness in my non-fandom life, but who knows? Just this morning I was thinking about what I would have liked for the finale, and it made the muse sit up and sniff the air. Could be if I get a handle on things IRL, there might be a new MC in the works…