Summary: In the Dark Hollow, Emma watched as her two potential loves nearly lost their shadows, and therefore their lives. What if Hook had not escaped unscathed? In a desperate bid to save him, Emma may have inadvertently bound them deeper than true love ever planned. Follows canon up to Emma, Hook and Neal arriving at the Dark Hollow to capture Pan's shadow, then departs in a wholly different way.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan-fiction. The characters are property of Once Upon a Time, and I am only borrowing them. I make no profit from the sharing of this work. Quotations in bold borrowed from the show.

Chapter 1

The Dark Hollow

My nose wrinkled at the offensive odor permeating the ochre-hued air. Combined with the incessant cawing of birds and the twisted trees – so different than the tropical oasis of the rest of this cursed island – I felt as though I'd unwillingly stepped into a bad horror movie.

The Dark Hollow, they'd called it. Not a movie, Emma; it's your life! Yeah, things just kept getting better and better.

"I've only got one hand, but I'll still do a better job!" Hook's lilting voice interrupted my musing, calling attention to the renewed pissing contest between my would-be-suitors which had started the moment we'd rescued Neal from Echo Cave.

"Knock it off; this is not the time!" I shouted, stepping closer to try and claim the lighter for myself and put an end to their macho posturing. We needed to get this over and done with as soon as possible.

Neal shoved Hook away from where they were trying to ignite the magical coconut candle designed to capture Pan's shadow, and we all watched – shocked – as the action caused the lighter to slip from the pirate's grasp and fly into a nearby tree stump. The dread which filled my body was compounded by the sudden arrival of three shadow creatures with glowing eyes.

"Looks like we've got company," Neal commented. "Quick, grab the coconut!"

"Which one is Pan?" I asked as I attempted to sway one of the shadows from closing in with a swing of my sword.

"He's controlling all of them," Hook replied as he and Neal circled the clearing, but his words were swallowed by one of the shadows as it positioned itself between me and them.

I reached back and just barely grasped the coconut with my fingertips before lunging toward the hollowed-out trunk containing the lighter. With my back pressed against the rotting wood, I held the shell tightly against my chest and watched for a distraction which could allow me to reach in and grab the lighter. In front of me, Neal and Hook swung their weapons in an attempt to hold the shadows at bay, but all it seemed to do was rile them further; after all, metal could hardly harm air.

My heart pounded violently against my ribs as the three shadows suddenly changed course and converged over my head. A ghostly black arm wrapped around my shoulder and tugged. Pain exploded from where it touched me as surely as if I were being skinned alive.

"Emma!" I heard Hook's voice pierce the enveloping darkness and the pain immediately stopped. As I sucked in air to regain my shaken confidence, my eyes scanned my surroundings wildly. Two of the shadows had targeted my accomplices and were pinning them to trees, weapons discarded on the ground beneath their feet. Their cries of pain joined the mocking sound of the crows and ripped at my heart like icy claws.

"Oh God," I murmured, terrified and helpless, my eyes widening almost beyond comprehension as the outline of Hook's aura began detaching itself from his body. "Hook!" I screamed, voice thick with some emotion I'd not allowed myself to think about until that moment. A quick flick of my eyes revealed Neal in the exact same danger.

A well of raw, untamed emotion rioted through me. I'd never felt so completely enraged, scared and helpless all at the same time. My fingers tightened into fists and I remembered what I was holding. The coconut shell vibrated in recognition of the magic coursing across my skin. A quick thought to my lesson with Regina, and I knew I had to try, and more, that I would succeed.

Channeling all of my feeling at the tiny black wick, I laughed – a small, broken sound – as the flame ignited. Above me, the infamous shadow of the boy who would never grow up seemed to realize its plan for ambushing me had backfired, and I watched with a sick sort of fascination as it was pulled into its magical cage. The top of the shell clicked merrily into place a moment before two thuds resounded through the hollow.

I scrambled to my feet and approached the two men who lay sprawled at the base of the trees they'd been pinned to. Neal pushed to his knees almost immediately, his eyes trained on the closed shell still clutched in my grip.

"How did you do that?" He shook his head as though to clear it, but my attention focused on Hook, noticing he'd yet to move from his prone position. "Regina…she's teaching you magic; isn't she…" Neal's voice sounded fuzzy and distant, like he was speaking through water.

I reached Hook's side and gently called his name. All the adrenalin which had fueled my magic prickled in my veins, adding to the nausea building in my stomach as I waited for a sign that all three of us were okay. "Hook," I called louder and reached out to shake his shoulder, fully expecting him to roll over and offer me a lazy grin accompanied by an innuendo-laced comment about not being able to keep my hands off him.

The leather of his coat felt too cool under my fingers. I shoved him harder, my voice repeating his name with a growing sense of urgency. Neal appeared in my periphery and the two of us rolled Hook over onto his back. I clasped his face between my hands and growled, "Dammit Hook, wake up!" Leaning down, I listened for the tell tale signs of life – breath and heartbeat – but it was as if he was as hollow as the place we currently occupied. I refused to acknowledge the tears flooding my eyes, nor the way my own heartbeat had tripled in speed.

Working almost on autopilot, I assumed the position to provide chest compressions and started the rhythmic motions while chanting "please, please, please" under my breath with each exertion. He couldn't be gone, he just couldn't. There was too much unresolved between us, and besides, he was a fairy tale character; he was Captain Bloody Hook for Christ's sake! He wasn't supposed to die!

I moved to give him rescue breaths and was met by Neal's hand firmly holding me back. "He's gone, Emma! They must have taken his shadow. There's nothing you can do."

"Don't!" I growled. Unwilling, or maybe incapable, of believing it was over. I tilted his head back and sealed my lips to his, exhaling into his seemingly lifeless body. My mind raced with the memory of the only other time my lips had met his and how surprised I'd been at the passion between us. I'd known there would be desire, but I'd not expected the tenderness, too. With Henry on the line, I couldn't allow myself to consider what it could mean; I couldn't be distracted by anything or anyone. Later, when we'd all returned to Storybrooke, I knew there would be choices to make. What was it Hook had said mere hours before? "When you do succeed, that's when the fun begins…"

He was willing to fight for me. I sure as hell owed him the same in return.

The tears I'd ignored trickled down my face and I could taste their salt as I blew once more. "I'm not giving up, Killian," I whispered. Placing my hands over his heart, I resumed the compressions and let my memory swim with all the experiences we'd shared, good and bad. Every smirk, every tease, every denied trip of my pulse.

"Emma…" I heard Neal's voice beside me, "Emma, what are you doing?" The question was instilled with quiet astonishment.

I followed his gaze to where my hands rested above Hook's heart. A soft white glow radiated from my skin. A sense of hope mixed with fear swelled within me as I continued the compressions. "I…I don't know," I exhaled. "He can't die, Neal, he just can't…"

The glowing from my hands pulsed so brightly that I had to move to shield my eyes, before its quick expulsion plunged the hollow into darkness once more. I reached out to feel for Hook and was met by the same unmoving leather-clad body as before. I sucked in a breath and stumbled backwards. "No!"

"Shh, Emma, wait, listen," Neal called, his ear pressed to the pirate's chest. Frantically, I positioned myself next to him and picked up the quiet thudding of a restored heart beat.

"Hook!" I shook him, hard. His heart was beating, and he was breathing again, but he still wouldn't awaken. "What's wrong with him? Why isn't he waking up?" I looked to Neal. "Is it a curse?"

Neal looked as dumbfounded as I'd ever seen him. He held his hands up uselessly. "I have no idea. By all rights, if they took his shadow, he should be dead."

"Maybe they didn't take it; I mean, I only saw the three original shadows." I tried to control the tendril of hope blossoming in my thoughts.

We both stared at the unconscious form of Captain Hook in silence. I felt weak with the exertion of fighting off the shadows and then confronting the real possibility that I had lost someone who had come to mean more to me than I'd allowed myself to acknowledge. Neal took my hand cautiously. "You saved his life, Emma." There was so much more behind his words than their apparent meaning, but I didn't have the energy to deal with anymore. At least not yet.

I stood on slightly trembling legs and brushed the dirt off my pants. "We've got to get him back to the others. Maybe someone will know what to do."

"Emma…" Neal tried to capture my eyes, "Just what happened between you two?"

"Nothing," I sighed.

"You acted like your heart was breaking. He's a pirate, Em." His voice was soft, but the accusation still rang true.

"What do you want me to say? He saved my father's life and he's helping us save Henry. He doesn't deserve this, and anyways, I…I can't deal with this right now. Just help me get him back to the others. Neal, please," I hated the twinge of desperation in my tone.

Neal wisely didn't say anything more, but from the look in his eyes, I knew this conversation was not over. He sighed before hefting the slightly larger man into a fireman's carry. "What I wouldn't give for some pixie dust," he mumbled.

Our trek back to Tinkerbell's home was slower than our original journey, no doubt due to the extra weight Neal carried, but despite the wild jungle-like path, and the somewhat unwieldy bundle he shouldered, he never broke his stride or complained about the exertion. He also never broke the silence that had descended upon us. I knew he had questions; we'd hardly had a chance to speak since we were reunited at Echo Cave. Though, I suspected his thoughts were as distracted at that moment as my own.

I walked closely behind him, giving me ample opportunity to survey them both: one walking tall and strong, the other with eyes closed and defenseless. I'd told Neal I loved him when I thought I was about to lose him. But I hadn't felt nearly the same violent eruption of emotion at the sight of him falling into the portal as I had moments ago when I thought Hook was truly dead. Was it just the fear of a final, ultimate parting that caused me such panic? I let my eyes trace Hook's face, took in the curl of his black lashes, missing his expressive blue eyes, and imagined never seeing them flirt with me across a room or clearing again. And it hurt. I couldn't pinpoint when he had become so important to me, but I felt somehow responsible for his current predicament. Was that all it was, then? Was my emotional panic due to a massive case of guilt?

"We're here," Neal's sudden words snapped my eyes away from Hook to take in the much less menacing hollow inhabited by Tinkerbell. He hefted Hook off his shoulder and deposited him, perhaps not-so-gently, against a tree trunk.

Mary Margaret and David rushed across the glen. "Emma, what happened? Are you okay? What's wrong with Hook?"

Still reeling from the events of the day, I simply stood there, no clue where to even start explaining.

"We're okay," Neal started, his expression lingering on my face before he turned to speak directly to Mary Margaret. "We got Pan's shadow, but they did something to Hook. He almost died. Emma saved him." Mary Margaret's eyes flicked between the pirate and my face, her curiosity anything but subtle.

"We don't know why he won't wake up. It's got to be some kind of curse…" I started to say.

"Not a curse, Dearie, he's in a state of half-life." The sudden reappearance of Gold aka Rumpelstiltskin caused an involuntary gasp to resound from our assembled group. My head swiveled to the right, taking in Neal lifting a sword to his own father. "Bae," Gold exclaimed.

"Don't trust him," Neal commanded. "He's after Henry."

"Nonsense." The familiar voice of Regina, the Evil Queen, sounded from behind me. She walked to the middle of the clearing with the same calm arrogance she always displayed when she thought she had the upper hand. She held out a strange silver box with a red jewel on the lid. "He's helping us save Henry. He's done more than any of the rest of you."

"What's in the box?" David inquired. His stance matched Neal's, though his tone was light enough.

"Peter Pan." Gold smiled, before turning to look at the coconut I held. "And I see you've retrieved Pan's shadow. This is most excellent news, indeed. Now, all we require is the boy and we can be on our way."

"Do you really think I'll let you near my son? I don't care who you've got trapped in that box, you will stay far away from Henry." Neal closed in on his father.

"I'd like to hear what this is about," I spoke, standing guard over an unconscious Hook while my eyes vacillated between Neal and his father.

"There's some sort of prophecy stating that Henry will be his undoing. He'll help us rescue him alright, but only so he can kill him himself."

"What?" exclaimed Mary Margaret, David, and myself.

"Bae, you must believe me; I will never harm Henry, not intentionally. While it's true there is a prophecy, I've found a way around it." He motioned to the box held by Regina. "This is Pandora's box. We used it to trap Peter Pan. Without him, the Lost Boys are merely wild children. And now that we have the shadow as well, we can gather Henry and return home."

"What about David?" Mary Margaret interjected. "And Hook? We can't just leave them here on this island. There has to be something we can do."

"We are wasting time," Regina interjected. "We need to focus on saving my son. The rest of this can wait." She turned to me, secure that I would agree with her statement, mother to mother. And while I agreed Henry was still a priority, I wasn't so sure it would be as simple to waltz in and take Henry from the Lost Boys as Gold assumed.

I felt five pairs of eyes staring at me, waiting for a command or at the very least, a comment. And suddenly I felt completely drained. It was all too much. I couldn't focus. My mind and emotions were torn in so many directions and yet I knew I couldn't rest. Every challenge we defeated was replaced by even more challenges. We'd come so far, yet still had so much to do. They looked to me as their savior, but they didn't know just how scared I was almost every single second; how I forced myself to maintain walls just so I didn't crumble.

My eyes drifted down to Hook. He knew. He saw right through me and claimed to care for me anyways. I took a deep, steadying breath and turned back to the very different people assembled before me, pondering for just a moment the ridiculousness of our party: an Evil Queen, a dark sorcerer, his son, the ultimate fairy-tale princess and her Prince Charming, and an outcast fairy. But then I noticed we were one short. "Where's Tinkerbell?" I asked.

"She went to scout the location of the Lost Boy's current camp. We told her we had a way off the island so she's making good on her promise," Mary Margaret responded, her smile proclaiming her love and belief in me in a way that words never could.

I stepped closer to Gold, leveling my gaze directly at him. "Are you planning to hurt my son? You know I can tell if you lie."

"I would no more harm him then you would your unconscious friend over there, Dearie," he answered vaguely. Only, I was beginning to suspect he wasn't being vague at all. I turned back to look at Hook, somewhat shocked at the tiny jolt of panic which spiked in my chest when I saw how close Regina was standing to him. Just when had I become so protective of him?

Turning back at Gold, I caught a look of complete understanding pass across his dark eyes, chased by the recent memory of my hands glowing brightly against Hook's chest as I administered CPR. He knew. He knew I'd done something other than human first-aid to save him. I gasped quietly, too quietly for anyone else to hear, but it was enough to earn me a flash of one of Gold's teeth. "Not now," he whispered.

"Right. I say we make a plan." Neal's tone brooked no argument from the rest of us. "We'll wait for Tink to bring us information about where the Lost Boys have Henry. It's true that without Peter they will be less organized, but they've still got centuries of practice on their side, and we shouldn't underestimate them."

"And I'll repeat myself, what about David? Hook said if he continues to drink the enchanted water, he can return to Storybrooke and live long enough for Rumpelstiltskin to create a cure." Mary Margaret stared directly at the sorcerer in question, who merely nodded in response.

"We could split up. Some of us go to the camp, and some of us go get the water." Neal suggested. "Tink and I know the Lost Boys better than the rest of you, so we can get Henry-"

"There is no possible way that I will not be joining you in retrieving my son. And I suggest we bring all the magic with us that we possess just so we are not, as you say, underestimating them. Gold and Miss Swan will join us as well." Regina's eyes glinted with her resolve.

"David and I can go get the water. Shall we all meet at the Jolly Roger?" Mary Margaret's tone had taken on its optimistic quality now that a plan was forming.

"Yes, indeed, but may I inquire as to how you plan to commandeer the enchanted ship without its captain?" Gold smiled with that mix of innocence and insensitivity he used when he knew something that the rest of us didn't. "He is certainly in no position to get there on his own and this is a dangerous island. Will none of you stay to guard him while we carry out our various tasks?"

"If you're so concerned, maybe you should stay," Neal offered, his eyes still full of distrust.

Gold looked pointedly at me. "As he is here on Miss Swan's behest, she is really the only one who can speak on his behalf. What do you say, Dearie? Who among us shall babysit the pirate?"

I glared at Gold, hating the position I found myself in, and worse, knowing that he knew how uncomfortable I felt with all of it. He knew I was torn, but also that I would come to the same conclusion he had minutes ago. There was only one person in our group who could stay behind; one person who perhaps could be helpful, but was not vital to the mission of saving Henry. This same person was also the only one with any sort of vested interest in the pirate at my feet. Stupid pirate and all his past vendettas. This was why you didn't burn bridges!

"I'll stay," I conceded quietly, trying to ignore the judgment in Regina's eyes, just more confirmation to her that she was a better mother than I was. "It's the only way the plan makes sense."

"Emma, are you sure?" Mary Margaret surveyed the unconscious man behind me with a worried brow. "Maybe I should stay, too?"

I shook my head. "No, David needs another person with him as backup, and I agree with Regina that our biggest firepower should be focused on getting Henry back safely. So after you get the water, the three of us can get Hook back to the ship, and we can all leave together."

"Well, I'm glad to hear you can be rational, Miss Swan." Regina sidled up to me. "And here; you can use this to look in on our actions. Just in case." She handed me one half of a mirrored compact.

A rustling noise just beyond our perimeter jolted everyone into motion, weapons drawn. Seconds later, the blonde hair of Tinkerbell pushed past a crop of banana leaves, and she gasped at the sight of us. "Well, this is not the welcome I was expecting."

Neal lowered his sword and moved to relay the plan to the surprised fairy while the others gathered their things.

I felt him before I saw him; the slither of dark power over my skin had always reminded me of ants crawling on my arms. "No matter what you see in that mirror, Dearie, I wouldn't be racing off without your charge." He glanced down at Hook, nudging his foot with his scaly boot.

"Oh?" I inquired with the defiance in my tone that always seemed to come out when dealing with Gold.

"Answer me this, do you find yourself suddenly more protective of the rogue? Feeling a bit drained yourself?" He grinned.

I refused to answer, not that it mattered. Gold's grin widened. "Yes, well, be stubborn if you like, but on the chance that you don't heed my words, don't say I didn't warn you." He sauntered off to stand near Regina who was busy tucking Pandora's Box into a satchel slung over her shoulder. They were quickly joined by Neal and Tink, who offered me a sweet smile before the motley gang turned toward a path leading out of the hollow. Meeting my eyes Neal simply stated, "Be careful."

"They'll save him, Emma. I know they will." Mary Margaret wrapped me in a warm hug. "We'll be back soon." I didn't miss the way her eyes glanced warily at my 'charge.'

"Here, take this." David handed me an arrow. "The tip is dipped in Dreamshade. Just in case." He kissed the top of my head in the way that I'm sure he believed fathers did. This was still new to us.

"Thanks. And take care of each other. Don't worry about me." I murmured, feeling just a tad bit uncomfortable.

"Impossible," Mary Margaret smiled.

I watched in silence as they disappeared down a path further from where I stood guard. And then there were two.

A/N: So there you have it; my first ever chapter in the Once Upon a Time fandom. I hope you continue reading...the ride gets quite exciting! (At least, I hope you think so, lol). Reviews are love! You can also find me on tumblr (emeraldromance).