Quelling My Bloodlust

Chapter One

Emma and Killian chased the dark entity out into the night until it disappeared once they reached the center of town, where David and Mary Margaret were already there waiting for them to join in their search as their daughter called out, "Where is it?!"

Her father kept looking all around them as he replied, "We don't know."

"It just disappeared into the night," Mary Margaret then stated with concern, as Regina and Robin joined them as well after returning to town from their walk.

"Hey, what's going on?" the Mayor asked with concern upon seeing the worry on their friends' faces while they continued to look around.

Hook stared ahead of them as he answered darkly, "The Dark One… It's no longer tethered to the Crocodile."

Regina stared at the others in disbelief as she questioned, "What?! Where the hell is it?"

As she strained to hear the entity's cries from somewhere in the distance, knowing that it was still close by, the Savior quietly responded, "It hasn't gone anywhere. The darkness… It's surrounding us."

"Regina!" Robin cried when the darkness reappeared moments later as Regina gasped in fear while it suddenly began to consume her and ripped her away from the others. "What's it doing?!"

"What darkness does…" Emma fearfully replied while she and everyone else continued to stare at the sight before them in horror. "Snuffing out the light."

"I'm not gonna let it," Robin retorted firmly as he charged forward to try to save the woman he loved before Emma could stop him, until the darkness forced him back and to the ground.

Killian immediately turned to her as Emma then shouted again, "That's not gonna work on this thing! The Apprentice told me we have to do what the Sorcerer did! We have to tether it to a person to contain it!"

Just as the Savior started towards the dark entity with the jagged dagger clenched tightly in her hand, Mary Margaret cried out, "Emma!"

All of a sudden, Emma gasped awake as if from a dream, or rather a nightmare, as her upper body bolted upright from her own bed within her parents' loft. Her forehead and neck were drenched in sweat, her blankets had been draped over her up to her shoulders, and she immediately felt completely drained, both physically and emotionally.

She struggled to make sense of what was happening, and why her parents were sitting at her bedside with worry for her on their faces, especially when she could feel the dried tears that had fallen down her face from what she knew must have been from hours of crying, though she couldn't remember doing so.

"Mom… Dad…?" Emma whispered fearfully as she slowly sat back against the headboard behind her. "What… What's going on? Were you sitting up with me all night? What happened?"

"Do you remember anything about what happened last night?" her mother asked with concern, as she quickly looked over at David who met her eyes until they turned back to their daughter. "After you had the Apprentice pull the darkness out of Gold using the Sorcerer's magic box so you could try to save him?"

The Savior tried to think back to the nightmare she had just awakened from before it could finish playing itself out, realizing then that what she had dreamt was more than a nightmare as her mind struggled to process the events from the hours before, and finally she answered worryingly, "I remember the darkness escaped after it expelled itself from the Apprentice's body, then vanished from Gold's shop. I remember we left to go after it… to try to find it. It surrounded Regina and began to consume her. And that… That's the last thing… I stepped forward to take the darkness into myself. To save Regina. Didn't I?"

David took her hand in his own, then nervously responded, "Yes, but…"

"No!" Emma then suddenly heard Regina weakly cry out to her from within the center of the vortex of evil surrounding her, when more of her memory came back to her before her father could continue. "There has to be another way!"

"There isn't," the Savior replied strongly while she kept her teary eyes steadfastly on her friend who was about to lose to the darkness once again. "You've worked too hard to have your happiness destroyed."

Just as Emma was about to plunge the dagger she was still grasping firmly straight into the dark entity before her, her father immediately cried out with fear, "No!"

Everyone looked on as she turned around again to face her parents before completing her task while she shouted out to them sadly saying, "You figured out how to take the darkness out of me once."

"You need to do it again…" she continued despite her voice breaking as she did so. "As heroes."

"Regina… is she okay?" Emma then asked again when she suddenly broke from trying to remember what came next, knowing in her subconscious that the worst of what had occurred then was yet to come. "I remember being willing to sacrifice myself to the darkness to save Regina, but I don't… I don't feel any different than before and I certainly don't feel the darkness inside of me. How is that possible? Mom… Dad… What aren't you telling me?"

She continued to look at her parents in confusion when they didn't seem to be able to answer her and looked at each other with worry. At last she fought through her fear and struggled to remember the rest. And it was then that she felt a deep sense of loss when she looked around her and realized that Killian was missing.

The rest of her memory came back to her full force, as she saw Hook when he ran up to her while he pleaded, "Emma! Emma, please! No. Don't do this."

Emma moved in close so she could embrace the man she loved despite being unable to tell him until that moment, while he held her tightly against his own body that didn't want to let her go. However, before she had the chance to say anything more to him, Killian suddenly reached down to her left hand and stole the dagger away from her, then forcefully shoved her back so that he was free to make the sacrifice for her before Emma or anyone else could stop him.

Upon him doing so, Emma cried out, "No! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Exactly what you were about to do yourself," Killian answered her without wavering despite knowing the anguish that was to come for him in doing so. "Sacrificing my life to save you and Regina from having to give up yours. You said it yourself, Swan… Regina's worked too hard to change, just to lose herself now and you're sorely needed here more than I am. To be not only the Savior for everyone, but because you're all that is good and beautiful in this world. And because I love you. I've lived in darkness all my life until I met you. And I know this darkness that was trapped in the Crocodile better than almost anyone."

"I'll fight it… for as long as I can…" he added faintly after he finally plunged the dagger into the center of the dark entity so that it would release Regina at last, as the pirate captain struggled to keep his eyes on Emma's. "…until you can find a way to stop me. Aah!"

Robin embraced Regina as she ran back to him once she was freed from the evil, while Emma attempted to race back to Killian when he screamed out in pain until both of her parents grabbed hold of her to keep her back as she shouted, "It should be me!"

Hook stood as tall as he could as he responded again, "It's better that it's me… making this sacrifice… than for anyone else. You know it, Emma. Just promise me… Promise me no matter what happens… that you will remember me as I am now. As a… a hero. Not the monster… I'm about to become."

"I promise," she replied to him desperately. "I love you too. I always will. I will find a way to save you, Killian…"

"Stay… stay strong, Emma," he whispered until at last, the darkness fully consumed him and Killian screamed in anguish as it did, until finally the entity vanished as though it were never there.

Emma shook her head in disbelief once she finally remembered everything that happened the night before, as she stood shakily while she uttered, "No. No… no… no… Killian! Oh God… No."

Mary Margaret pulled her daughter into her arms to hold her when Emma began to collapse in despair, then with deep remorse she said quietly, "I am so sorry, Emma."

"That was one of the bravest things… I've ever seen," Charming added with sincerity as he joined in holding their daughter, then laid one hand over the back of her head to try to comfort her what little he could.

"What happened afterwards?" the Savior finally asked again once she got her composure more under control as she pulled away from her parents. "How did I end up back here, and asleep?"

Her mother answered, "You didn't just wear yourself out from crying until you fell asleep, Emma. You lost consciousness. After the darkness consumed him… all that was left behind was the dagger. With Killian's name engraved across the blade instead of Rumplestiltskin's. The moment you touched it, you collapsed. Your father and I brought you home and stayed here with you all night while you cried. Regina and Robin stayed with Henry for a little while until we told them to go get some rest. We figured it was best if Henry stayed with Regina."

The Savior nodded and then she responded, "I remember… hearing Killian screaming. In agony as he was consumed. When I touched the dagger, I suddenly felt overwhelmed by his anguish and his fear. It was just too much… Where is he? And where is the dagger now?"

"It's safe," the prince quickly replied as he pulled something concealed by a piece of cloth from his inside coat pocket, then unwrapped the material to reveal the dagger, the name Killian Jones glaring up at the woman who loved him from the blade. "We have it here with us and we won't let it fall into anyone else's hands. As for Hook… we don't know where he is. We tried to call to him using the dagger to do so, but… Regina figured that he might have been transported to another realm. It might explain why he's not here and why he's not beckoning to the call of the dagger."

"We need to find him," Emma answered firmly. "Call Regina. Tell her that we need to talk, but have her meet us back at Gold's shop. I have to speak with the Apprentice again if he even can. He might be the only one who knows where Killian is."

David nodded, then he responded, "Even if the Apprentice doesn't know where Hook is… We will find him, Emma. And we'll find a way to save him from the darkness too."

Mary Margaret spoke again saying, "Your father's right. We don't like to give up on our friends, remember? Especially one who's willing to sacrificing his life and his soul for the woman he loves so much. Our own daughter."

She and her husband both pulled Emma into another embrace when tears once again began to fall from their daughter's eyes as she took the Dark One dagger from her father and held it tightly in her hands while she fearfully stared down at Killian's name, which never should have been there. Yet she loved him even more for being willing to sacrifice so much, just as he had earlier that same day when he gave his life in Isaac's alternate reality so she and her son could fight to save everyone else too.