A/U This is not meant to make absolute sense because it is a prologue and set in the future (basically where this fic will end up) but I need you all to trust me. Please give me your hearts and feels so I can both crush them and sprinkle them with fairy-dust over a long period of time.

Soul Sacrifice

PROLOGUE

The smell of smoke filled his nostrils, the heady by-product of excessive magic swirling all around them in the air. His icy blue eyes locked onto the impossibly green ones that stared down at him with a mix of cruel satisfaction and unresolved betrayal. The past had a bad habit of catching up with the residents of this town – if not for some of their actions, none of this would have happened. But it seemed the tendency to ignore future consequences ran through this settlement as if it were an inherited gene.

"I told you I would kill you," she said, the needle-sharp point of her dagger precariously tracing his Adam's apple. Killian laughed once without humour, his eyes trained on hers. He would not reward her with the fulfilment of watching him die without defiance.

"You don't even look afraid," she said with a cocked head, her tone unnaturally apathetic. Her indifference was the most unnerving thing about her; Killian could still remember the brightness and purity she had once embodied. This woman's disposition was a constant reminder of the scars he had left her to bear and the regret affected him more than her current temperament.

Killian's thoughts inevitably drifted back to the blonde who could be heard fighting somewhere behind him – more specifically, the time she had cursed his inability to fear things. It felt like a lifetime ago, that day that was forever bathed in the warmth of afternoon sunlight. Her crystalline eyes flashing with anger and the faintest vein of relief, her hair as it had flailed unrestrained in the sea breeze.

"You're not afraid of anything and it's going to get you killed one day, Killian!" she had yelled indignantly. And she was right, it was about to get him killed because once upon a time he had hurt a woman very deeply. He had not bothered to ponder the consequences of his actions and look where it had gotten him; kneeling before his executioner with the blade of a knife pressed firmly to his throat.

She watched him curiously, unconcerned with the battle that was still occurring behind them. The lives of her comrades, in her eyes, were as insignificant as the dirt she would find tucked beneath her perfectly uniform nails. Either way, she needn't worry about them with the weapon she possessed.

"Just get it over with," Killian replied. It was not so much fear that tinted his handsome features, but resignation with the slightest hint of regret. Regret that he would not fulfil the promises he had made to so many people. She narrowed her eyes and the appeased expression dissolved; having him go willingly was not a fit punishment for the crimes he had committed against her. He needed to suffer and there was only one thing in this world that she could imagine might cause him the unbearable pain she desired to inflict.

"I think it unfair that you were able to crush my heart," she said and her eyes drifted up from his face to the many people fighting behind him, "so I'll crush yours." Her eyes settled on something behind him, like predator locating prey, and became unfocused. Killian knew better than to run from her or try and intercept the knife in her grip; she may have appeared oblivious to his presence but she was definitely alert. Knowing this but refusing to kneel any longer, he stood up in front of her.

Killian watched her as she spoke the foreign and turned around to try and discern the meaning of her words. He watched as the hooded figure turned from its course of action and made a direct course for the saviour. It became obvious in that moment what his executioner was doing.

She was amidst her family, consumed by the ongoing fight with the man and woman. Her powers were waning; she had already been struck once by the magical device in the woman's possession. The dark thing moved swiftly through the trees and was coming from an angle unforeseeable to her. She wouldn't have enough time to react, nor did she possess the power to fend it off.

"Swan!" Killian cried out in vain, catching her attention. She spun swiftly around and noticed the hooded figure rapidly approaching. The pirate watched as she ducked from its grip and realised very quickly that she didn't have much time. He turned back to the green eyes that were focused on the thing, the lips that muttered incomprehensible words, and knew that he had to draw her attention away.

Killian glanced back at the woman desperately trying to avoid the beast and drank in her features for the last time. The grey-blue eyes that constantly implored him to be better and unflinchingly scolded him when he wasn't. The blonde hair that felt like silk and framed her face like a halo when it was fanned across a pillow in the dead of night. The angles of her face and the curve of her mouth; he could vividly recall the warmth they elicited within when pressed against him and phantom touches immediately began to dance along his lips. He could afford himself this last glance.

The pirate took a deep breath, steadying himself as he did the only thing that would draw the possessed woman's attention away. He did something that he never would have been prompted to do had it not been for the inconceivable feelings he harboured for the blonde. He made the ultimate sacrifice.

Killian took a calculated step closer to his attacker, thrusting himself forward with significant effort – into the knife that had remained in her steady grasp. The dagger pierced his abdomen like it was tissue, a testament to the pinpoint to which it had been sharpened. The woman holding the weapon stopped what she was doing and stared at the man before her. Her face creased in utter shock and she pulled the blade from Killian with a blunt jerk.

The pain of the wound was muffled somewhat by the knowledge that he had successfully drawn her attention away from her task. At least he would die with dignity and, in death, he would have accomplished the only thing he'd ever sought; to protect her. He had faith that she would come out of this mess, not unscathed but, alive.

He grunted in pain, falling to his knees before her. The knife was coated with his blood and dangled at head-height from her delicate hand. She seemed unable to comprehend his actions, as if the idea of sacrifice has never crossed her mind. He couldn't blame her, really – the last time she'd known him was when he'd been in his darkest days. In her mind, the concept of Captain Hook making an honourable sacrifice was unprecedented.

Killian looked down to where a scarlet stain was slowly saturating his shirt and placed his only hand over it. The slight pressure was enough to make him cry out but the pirate managed to bite his tongue. His jaw set, Killian raised his eyes to look up at the woman before she could deliver the mortal blow. It would all be over soon and blackness bit at the edges of his vision. He could feel himself swaying slightly with the effort it took to stay upright. As the leaves littering the forest floor crackled faintly beneath his weight, the pirate heard a blood-curdling scream behind him.

"Killian!" Emma cried out, her voice loud and painfully clear against the mostly quiet back drop of the forest.

Chapter One: The Mark coming VERY soon.