In my Once Upon A Time FanFic, “Adrift,” Killian Jones is hit with a curse that resets the last few years of his life, and the ripple effect has had some catastrophic consequences.

Emma finds herself facing a very different man and some very different circumstances. Can she help Killian find himself, break the curse and set things right?

In this scene, Emma, Hook and their friends are set upon by Zelena’s infamous flying monkeys…

Mulan’s shout of “Take cover!” sent her running for the trees, with Hook close behind her. The monkeys swooped down, shrieking and snapping their fangs, their wings beating a pounding cacophony. Mulan stepped forward, her blade flashing through the air as they circled and dove toward her.

“Mulan!” Emma rushed out, running toward her.

“Emma! You don’t have magic!” Hook’s shout echoed as he followed her, drawing his cutlass. Emma came to her senses a second later, once Hook’s words registered, and she drew her dagger, just as a monkey’s hind feet latched onto her arm, twisting until the dagger fell from her grip. Its claws reached out for her throat, but a moment later it was pulled hard by his fur, and the creature screamed and turned, wings beating furiously, to attack Hook.

It was dispatched quickly by Hook’s cutlass, but not before another set it’s sights on Emma, swooping down toward her. Hook grabbed Emma by the collar of her shirt, pulling her down and behind him, slashing at the monkey as it howled and screamed in pain. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mulan being driven down to one knee, her sword being pulled from her hand and he shifted in front of her, hacking at the animal until it loosed it’s grip. He felt the creature’s claws tearing at the side of his neck, raking down his chest and he groaned in pain, but raised his cutlass again, holding him off until Mulan gained her feet and ran the creature through.

The rest of the monkeys flew off abruptly, as though ordered back by some unheard command. Hook sunk to his knees, his hand clasped to the side of his throat, coated in blood.

“Killian!” Emma grabbed him, lowering him onto his back and putting her hand tight over his. “Hold on. Hold on.” Her eyes were wild and she glanced over at Mulan, who was tearing a long strip of material from the bottom of her shirt.

“Here – bind it up with this.”

Emma nodded, encouraged to see that Killian’s eyes were still clear and bright. “Okay, on three. One, two, three.” She moved her hand and so did Killian, and she was further relieved to see that while the wound was jagged and long, it wasn’t gushing blood. He wasn’t entirely out of danger, but he wasn’t going to bleed to death in front of her, either. She bound his neck up as tightly as she could without compromising his airflow, then she peeled open his shirt to look at his chest. He winced as she peeled the leather away.

“Does it hurt very badly?” she asked.

“The blood matted to my chest hair, which is more than a little painful,” he tried to grin. “And the bastard ripped my vest.”

“Your chest,” she clarified. “Does your chest hurt?”

He raised his brows. “Now that you mention it, it hurts bloody awful.”

“Bloody awful is accurate,” she said, looking down at him. “It’s bloody and it’s awful, but I don’t think they hit anything vital. You can thank your black leather for that.”

He looked pained. “My black leather is vital, love. They’ve ruined my whole look.”

She took another bandage from Mulan, pressing it onto his chest wound. “I have to get that shirt off you.”

He raised a brow and she gave him a smirk. “Come on,” she said, helping him sit up. She managed to put a makeshift bandage in place, staunching the worst of it, but he was still going to lose blood until they got him taken care of properly.

“We need to get him back to the castle,” Emma said, as she and Mulan helped him up to his feet. He leaned heavily into Emma, more than a little weak from blood loss.

Mulan nodded. “I have healing herbs there, and we can stitch him up.”

“Regina can heal him,” Emma said. “Let’s go.”

Mulan held Hook’s eyes for a moment. “Thank you for your assistance,” she said brusquely, then she gave him a short nod and moved off to join the others.

Hook raised his brows. “I think she’s warming to me.”

Emma smirked. “She saw you shirtless. It works for me.” She glanced down at his wounds again, lowering her voice. “Now tell me truthfully – is this all from claws, or did it sink its teeth into you?”

“Claws,” he replied. “Thankfully, I managed to keep it’s jaws off me. Why? There’s not much you could do if I turned into a murderous simian anyway.”

“I’d think of something,” Emma said. “I’d tie you up or something until we could find a cure. But if Mulan knew, she’d likely use that sword on you right now.”

Hook’s jaw tightened. “She’d be right to do it. If that should happen, you can’t be trying to save me, love. I’d be just as likely to kill you while you’re trying to subdue me.”

She wrapped her arm tighter around his waist, balancing him as they began to walk. “I wouldn’t just let you fly off and become her monkey assassin.”

“You could always find me later,” he said. “I’d be the devilishly handsome simian who’s reaching for your breasts.”

Emma shook her head. “You are definitely okay.”

You can find Adrift on Fanfiction.net or at Archive of Our Own (AO3)