Captain Swan One Shots

The River of Broken Dreams (Part 2)

Killian's demons had been numerous and merciless.

Upon arriving in the Underworld, memories had attacked him. Feelings of anger, regret, hatred, but most of all, self-loathing had flooded his entire being, leaving him exhausted, yet unsure of how that was even possible.

In the blink of an eye, he witnessed every heart-wrenching moment he had ever experienced. From the death of his mother to the moment he became a pirate. From losing Milah, to what felt like the hundredth time he lost Emma. His whole life, his entire centuries-long life, flashed before his eyes. And he was left utterly drained and heartbroken.

Not only had he relived every terrible moment that led to what ended him, but he'd lost and betrayed the first family that he'd had in hundreds of years. And he could blame no one but himself.

Except for the bloody crocodile, as usual. Killian knew, the moment Emma had run him through with that damn sword what the imp had planned. See, had it not been for Rumplestiltskin, he would have died a hero, having saved Emma and her family and accomplished his lifelong goal of destroying the Dark One once and for all.

But Gold has found a loophole, making himself the Dark One once again, and he took away Killian's last stand, reducing his death to meaningless, overdramatic, and resulting in a heartbroken saviour. And Killian was livid. If not for his own sake, then for Emma's, who's shattered cries he had heard with his last breath. He knew she would figure Gold out, and he wouldn't be surprised if he found him down here soon enough. When Emma Swan was angry, nothing ever ended well. Killian knew that first hand. Pun intended.

He was okay with death, really, his life had been far too long as it were. His reason for anger being not that he was dead. Because no, he could never be angry with Emma for that. He had asked her, no begged her, to kill him.

His anger came from the fact that even in his last moments, his final stand in front of the love of his life, Rumplestiltskin had still found a way to screw him over, draining all hope.

That was why, when he didn't lose every recollection of who he was and what he stood for, Killian realized that there was nowhere else to go than to the place he wanted nothing more than to call home.

Hell was Storybrooke. The irony, while not lost on him, just wasn't enough to make him question it anymore. His entire existence was some twisted joke.

Storybrooke was supposed to be a new beginning for Killian. A fresh start with the woman he loved who finally, finally loved him back. Now, it was nothing more than an empty town, filled with zombies who had forgotten themselves, and charred hopes and dreams.

Well, hell certainly did drain hope and brightness out quickly, didn't it?

He wondered if Bae was down here. Was he one of the brain-dead spirits walking aimlessly around Main Street? Or was he too searching for something he would never get now that his life was over?

Killian made his way to the house that was once, if briefly, filled with dreams of a future with Emma. It was different, sadder, duller here. But he sat on the porch steps, hoping he could just sit there and wait several decades, until his love arrived.

Perhaps this was his punishment. Waiting.

He hoped Emma could move on, that she could find love again, live her life to the fullest with someone who could give her everything she had ever dreamed of. The thought made him happy, regretful, and insanely furious all at once. He would be the first to admit that he cried on those steps.

He knew not how long he sat there when a pair of arms encircled him and a soft, angelic and familiar voice announced her presence beside him. However, he did know it was far to short a time for his waiting to be over.

When he looked up and saw his Swan, just as beautiful as she had been when she was finally free of the curse that night, he knew something was horribly wrong.

After a moment of sheer panic that she had left her family for him, she assured him that wasn't the case, she wasn't dead, she'd come to save him. Of course she had. His stubborn Emma and her refusal to let him go. She said she brought people along. This confused him because who would she have brought with her to hell, besides her family?

The answer? His. Liam and Milah, later accompanied by his father and mother.

His reaction? As Emma later told him after the initial shock of "Oh bloody hell, Swan, how did you find them?" Was priceless.

Needless to say, her next revelation, that they would share a heart, nearly saw Killian attempting to shove Emma back on the boat to the land of the living.

It was a kiss that changed it all.

But we'll get to that.

So apparently when I write at 1:30 in the morning, my writing gets really poetic/sophisticated? I don't know, when I was re-reading this chapter it felt different from what I usually write, like darker or more dramatic but I can't decide if I like it or not. Let me know your thoughts please? Thanks for reading!

~Emily