EMMA (NOW)

She stood at the top of the mountain, her hair whipping around her in the wind, and blew softly on the seashell that hung around her neck. Calling for the monster from the deep.

She should have felt fear, the descriptions of him from Belle's books enough to make even Charming, with his bravery wince, but she felt nothing but hope and anticipation at the chance, however fleeting of bringing Killian back to life again, to make him whole.

She was sick of being caught in the in between, having his heart back in her hands, watching and feeling it beat against her skin, while his body lay in a place of safety in Regina's crypt, cold and lifeless. They had tried everything to merge the heart and the body, but the body was dead, his soul gone with it, killed in his sacrifice to help them all defeat the Snow Queen, and surprisingly Rumple.

She knew it wasn't healthy to carry it around with her, but it was all she had of his, and the warmth and steady heartbeat comforted her, allowed her to hope. It gave them a chance to be together again, however unlikely, however fleeting.

She told the heart everyday that she loved him, words she had not managed to let go of, and get out to him before it was too late. She searched the heart for signs of deteriorated, of darkness, but it carried on without him, red, vibrant and strong.

She understood him even better now, his centuries old quest for revenge, having to fight everyday to focus her energies on bringing him back to her, rather to chase the hollow satisfaction of hurting those that had injured him so. Reminding herself not to start a battle with Rumple, as despite his bad intentions, his very act of ripping out Killian's heart in the first place might be the very thing to save him.

So she stood at the top of the mountain, and waited for the darkness, and death to appear. She was not afraid.

She felt the magic swirl to life around her, picking up the very dirt and twigs off the ground and carrying them in the wind around her.

And suddenly right before her he appeared.

Not the vividly horrid creature she had expected, part man, part creature, part alive, part dead, but rather a man, a handsome ghostly man, with brown curly hair and bright blue eyes and a smile made to charm.

His outfit was old fashioned, as if from another era, and his eyes twinkled in excitement at the sight of her.

There was none of the evil in his eyes that she had expected. None of the contempt or hate.

Rather he simply looked tired, resigned, sadden by life, but also unexpectantly pleased to see her. She saw another emotion on him then she recognized, loneliness.

He bowed, a little formally stating in a soft nice voice that suited him

"I am his agent, his messenger" "As pleased as I am to see an actual living person, he has nothing to offer you, as you have nothing to offer him"

"Who are you?" "You seem familiar almost to me, but also not"

"I am not important"

"I need his help"

"He will help no one but himself, keeping even me prisoner"

"Please, please, the very life of the man I love depends on it" Emma said this passionately, begging almost, desperate.

"Help me and I will find a way to free you from him." " I am the savour, I have magic, once I have him back me, and my family, my friends, I promise will find a way to free you."

The man regarded her interested, looking at her hands, glowing white with her magic during her speech. Emma could tell by the resigned look on his face, he held no hope for his own release, but was moved by the passion in which she pleaded.

"You can not free me, but tell me your story and I will think on it, but I make NO promises, as he will not help without a price, a dear one to me personally"

"The man I love is not dead, dead, only half dead. His body died, but his heart lives on. He is stuck somewhere in the in between of life and death, trapped and I need to bring his body back to life." He died a hero, he saved our whole town in the process"

Emma told him, of the Snow Queen, of Rumple, of the sacrifice he had made to save them all. But mostly she stuck with the details she could see moved him most, her deep love for him, and her desperation to be together again, to right the wrong done to him, to make him whole.

"I never even got to tell him that I love him, even as I watched him die, I was too terrified to say the words" She mourned at the end, with such heart in her eyes with the tears, it was this ghostly man's undoing. Emma could see the shift in him when he decided to help.

He ran his hand through his curls, like a nervous tick thoughtfully, and Emma thought again that he just felt like a good person, at odds with the profession he seemed trapped in. She would help him, she vowed, regardless if he was able to help her. She would find a way to free this man from whatever invisible chains bound him in his position and give him, whatever it may be since he was clearly dead, like a ghost himself, his own happy ending.

"It may be possible if the heart lives. He guards the gates between the worlds, transports souls between them. If the heart lives, it is possible for him to bring this man you love's soul back, and once both the soul and living heart are reunited with the body he would live again...:"

Emma's eyes lit up in excitement at this, began twitching in anticipation to see Killian rise from where he had fallen for them all.

"Wait, wait, don't get excited" the man said. "He will not be swayed by love and a pretty face like me, he will not be willing to help without getting what he wants.."

"I will do it, what he wants, I will pay the price"

"No love, you don't understand, it is THE price. A life for a life" "If he gives you back your love, you will need to bring him another, a particular person to him to die"

"The saviour will have to murder someone for him, not just anyone, the person who I love the most"