Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Henry sat at his desk, holding a cup of hot chocolate between his hands. He sighed as he looked over the stories of his grandparents' adventures in the Enchanted Forest. When he was younger, looking at these stories would bring him some comfort. Now, he was noticing a common theme in all of the stories in the book - you cannot have it all. His grandmother, Snow, was able to be with her true love but she couldn't rule her kingdom. His mother, Regina, was the sole ruler of a land but her first true love was taken from her. His other mother, Emma, could save every single person in Storybrooke yet no one was able to save her from her darkness. Henry learned that "happy endings" didn't mean that a person received everything he or she wanted. Happy endings were simply having enough of something to maintain happiness.
"I guess I should be happy that I have one good mother left," Henry said to himself as he felt a slight breeze on the back of his neck.
Startled, he set his cup down, stood up and turned around as a tiny, gray tornado appeared in his room. He shook his head as a dark figure emerged from the gray smoke-like funnel. A white-haired woman in a long-tailed black leather jacket appeared as the swirling cloud dissipated. She stared at Henry as she took a step closer to him, opening her arms and motioning for him to accept her embrace. He watched as she quickly put her arms back at her side. She must have realized that he wasn't in the mood for hugs and kisses.
"Kid, Hook told me -" she begun until Henry interrupted her.
"Look, mom, I really can't-" he started to say.
He needed to tell her that he loved her but he just couldn't handle having an evil mother again. For years, Regina had treated everyone in town like second class citizens, pushing them over and making everyone see her as an evil queen. She even convinced Henry that he was overly imaginative, incapable of knowing the difference between real life and fantasy. Once Henry broke the curse, found his father, and was kidnapped by Peter Pan, Regina had changed into the loving mother who had become a role model to Henry. That process took many years, too many for Henry to have to repeat with his other mother. Yes, he had faith that Savior Emma was still in the Dark Swan, but she needed to understand that it was going to take some time for him to forgive her for ripping out Violet's heart.
"Henry, you need to listen to me. Hook's also the dark one."
"How?"
Hook was evil now, too? Henry thought. This was not good Not good at all.
Henry was losing some of the most important people in his life. Who was next? Grandma and Grandpa Charming? Robinhood? Regina again? Henry rubbed his temples as he contemplated how much more would he have to lose before the heroes saved the day again.
"I'll tell you later, but I'm worried he might -" Emma started to say and then stopped.
Silence. Henry wasn't sure why she just stopped talking. Something must have happened between Emma and Hook. Did he hurt her? Henry scanned her face and tried to think of what Hook could have done to upset the Dark Swan. Maybe there were still good parts in her. His mother was still there. He couldn't give up.
He took a step closer to her as he asked, "He might hurt me?" He watched the way Emma nodded and he knew that this wasn't about him, it was about her. Even if it wasn't, there wasn't any reason why Dark Hook would want revenge against him. In fact, Hook was rather fond of Henry. There was the time when the two worked together to free Zelena so that she could use magic to open the portal to Camelot. Yes, Hook persuaded him to go behind his mothers' backs but Hook had the right intention. Or all the times that Hook leaned in close to Henry and whispered a suggestion on how to woo Violet. Henry concluded that Emma was just overreacting since Hook would never hurt him. Then again, he thought his mom would never hurt him either.
"You're afraid that he would take his anger out on me?" he asked, taking one more step closer to the sad woman. "Mom, what happened? Are you okay? Is Hook going to tell me something that further ruins our relationship?"
"Worse," she said. "He told me that as long as he gets what he wants, he doesn't give a damn about the rest."
Henry sighed in relief when he realized that this had to be a couples' issue. His mom and Hook had a fight and she came to visit Henry afterward. That would explain why she was upset but it didn't explain why she was worried about Henry's safety. He wasn't sure what he should believe at this moment. The only thing he knew for sure was that he had a better chance against an evil Hook than to trust Emma again. After all, Hook was a pirate and he used to have evil tendencies. Henry knew that Dark Hook couldn't be worse than pirate Hook.
"Sounds like typical villain mantras," Henry deducted.
"Henry, I'm serious," she exclaimed. She stepped close enough to ruffle his hair or place a hand on his shoulder, yet she stayed still. " He's so mad at me right now that he'll hurt you to hurt me. Maybe you should stay with me so -"
"My other mom can protect me just as well."
Henry's eyes widened when he saw Emma shuddered. He could see it in her eyes that she knew she had lost him. She was vulnerable as the Dark Swan. He started to raise his arms up to pull her close, to tell her that good prevails over evil and that he would find a way to save her and Hook. He opened his mouth to say something then immediately closed it. She rarely showed any signs of weakness when she was the savior. It had to be a ruse. He could tell Emma was studying him by the way her blue eyes scanned his face. She was trying to guess what he was thinking. Or maybe she wanted to see if he was buying her act. She cupped her hands on his cheek, making him flinch from the coldness of her pale hands.
"I want you to know that everything I did," Emma started to say, lowering her voice with each word. "No matter how wrong, was to help you."
"Ripping out Violet's heart and making her reject me did a lot of good."
"Henry, I," she started to say but closed her eyes and sighed. She removed her hands from his face, shook her head, took a step away and said softly, "Just promise me you'll stay away from Hook."
Before Henry could respond, she was gone and the remnants of a gray fog were all that was left. He placed a hand on his forehead and sighed. He yearned for the old days when things like Operation Cobra didn't take such a toll on him. The stakes were much higher now since he played more of an active role than just convincing Emma that Storybrooke was under a curse. Maybe he was just beginning to realize that his life would always be one curse after another. How many times would he gain a new family member just to lose another?
It was an endless cycle that Henry blamed himself for continuing. Emma would be okay if she was still in Boston. She would be okay if they never left Storybrooke to help Gold find Neal. She wouldn't have used magic if he wasn't so gullible and believed that Peter Pan needed his heart to save all the lost boys. Emma would have been fine if both she and Henry lived in New York again, having no memory of Storybrooke and no memory of everyone they left behind. Worse of all, Emma would still be Emma if Henry kept Merlin's pen and used the pen to remove the darkness from her.
The main problem was that Henry was too childish to come to his senses and to realize that sometimes a person had to do the wrong thing in order for good to continue. But then, when would a person stop acting evil? Things weren't as black and white as they use to be. What did it really mean to be good? Doing good deeds or having good intentions? Who decided what good and bad was? Were the heroes just the people who were liked the most? Was a villain just a villain because the heroes decided they were? Was there such a thing as good and bad magic? Did it make any difference if someone was using white magic or dark magic? Was magic entirely bad? All these questions ran through his head, creating more questions and leading him further away from any solutions.
He walked back over to his desk and sank down into his chair. He swung around, looking at how much bigger his room was at Regina's manor than at the Charmings' flat. For years, he went back and forth from staying his mom to living with his grandparents and his other mom. He was never really by himself. He never just sat alone in an empty room and thought about abstract concepts like goodness and evilness. It could be a sign he was growing up and losing the childlike qualities that best characterized him. He knew that getting older came with a lot of privileges but he didn't realize that growing up led to being filled with so much doubt and confusion. This wasn't just teenaged angst as Regina had earlier pointed out. This was the beginning to an end of innocence. Innocence was one of the things that Snow and Charming fought so hard for him to keep. As he swung around in his chair, he realized that he was losing his innocence, his naivety was slowly dripping away, and this newfound state of questioning was here to stay.
He returned to his book and idly flipped through the pages of Grandpa Charming waking up Grandma Snow with a kiss. He heard a car honk, then immediately heard his mother's voice from, what he assumed, the office or the living room on the ground floor. He heard the front door, listening to the clicks of his mother's heels as she stepped onto the pavement. He peered out the window in front him, noticing that his mother was talking to someone in a sheriff's car. Charming must have been checking up on him. Henry's eyes traveled back down to the picture of his grandpa kissing his true love and then his eyes traveled back to the sheriff car outside. He had a "happy ending" but he wasn't at peace. What was the point of a happy ending if you spent your whole life trying to protect the people you loved. With one swift move, Henry slammed the book shut.
"I had enough fairy tales for one day," he said out loud to himself as a familiar breeze trickled against his neck.
"Aye laddy," said a voice from behind him.
Henry jumped out his chair and immediately turned around to see his mother's boyfriend surrounded by a thick red cloud.
Wait? Henry thought. When did Hook get magic? Right. Mom told me that Hook somehow became the dark one.
He didn't look any different. Maybe he wasn't going to hurt Henry but then why did he teleport into his bedroom while his mother and his grandpa were outside talking? Was the Dark Swan right? Was Emma actually still inside the Dark Swan and trying to salvage any traces of goodness by protecting her flesh and blood from a scorned lover. If Emma was right, then Henry was in danger.
"Hook?" Henry spoke as if he was asking a questioning. He backed up against his desk and his hands automatically grabbed onto the edge of the desk.
"A bit skittish my boy?" he asked as he flashed his usual smile while taking a step closer.
"You don't have to be like my moms and let the darkness consume you," Henry quickly said.
"You said that rather smartly," Hook said as he shook his head. "You're damn mother must have got to you first. So you know what she did to me?"
Henry's eyes widened and Hook's smile disappeared from his face. Emma turned Hook into a dark one? How did she do that and still live? Why did she want her boyfriend to become evil? There were so many questions filling his head that he didn't realize that Hook stepped even closer. Now Henry was starting to doubt the reason Emma had came. Was the only reason Emma had visited him was to save face? Or did she truly believe that the Captain of the Jolly Rogers would hurt the grandson of Snow White and Prince Charming?
"You can fight it," Henry told him. "I know you can. You did it before."
"Not that simple. Pretty soon I'll be the most hated person in town."
"Hook, you aren't like Grandpa Gold," Henry said as he removed his hands from his desk and took a step closer to the pirate." You aren't weak. You don't need dark magic to make you feel powerful."
Hook eyebrows tilted to the center of his face as he narrowed his lips. He ran his fingers through his black hair, sighed and said, "Damn right! I'm not but your bilge rat of a mother is going to have hell to pay."
Henry never heard Hook talk about someone as horrible as he was talking about Emma. He understood he was angry at her, Henry was still a little mad at her, but Emma did not deserve to be badmouthed. Henry hoped that Hook was just mad and that wasn't going to actually do anything to hurt Emma or anyone else. However, he was starting to see why Emma was worried about Henry's safely because Hook was starting to become angrier by the minute. The way his face was turning red, how his jaw clenched and how tense his body was becoming was starting to frightened Henry. He thought about calling for his mom or his grandfather but he wasn't sure if that would make Hook do something rash that would jeopardize Henry's safety. He had to be cautious and try to prevent Hook from getting more worked up.
"Sorry laddy, but it is too late," he snarled. Hook's eyes darkened and he raised his voice in a way that made Henry take a step back. "When I'm done with Storybrooke, it would be worse than the Godforsaken Davy Jones' locker."
Henry's hands gripped the edge of the desk again. He gulped as the pirate moved his face closer to his. Emma was right to warn Henry about Hook. She wasn't just upset about the way the pirate treated her. Henry was a little relief to know that his mother still cared for him. If only she would have stayed or told Regina that Hook was going to come him. Now the only thing Henry could hope for was that his mother and Grandpa looked up at the window and noticed that something was going on upstairs. They might not have seen Hook since Henry's back blocked him from the window's view but they should have at least been concern why Henry's back was turned towards the window.
"Hook, you are not evil," Henry stated.
"Oh, that's where you are wrong, boy. I'm Admiral of the Black hell."
Hook stood inches away from his face, close enough to muffle a sound if Henry decided to scream.
As much as he wanted to believe that Hook would never hurt him, he was beginning to think that Hook would hurt him just to prove how evil he was. The phrase "he doesn't give a damn about the rest" felt more like a warning in retrospect than it initially did when Emma said it. Hook knew Henry when he was just a ten-year-olds. He watched him grow into a confident young man who would do anything to protect the people he loved. Now Hook looked at him as a means to a plan. Whatever that plan was or what it entailed was not good. He needed to get away from Hook and then find Emma and stop Hook from destroying the town. At this moment, the only thing Henry could do was stall and hope he could stall Hook long enough for Regina and Charming to realize that Henry was in danger.
"This isn't you," he said, hoping Hook would see that he was terrorizing the son of the woman he loved.
"I'm the worse bloody pirate in this hellhole," Hook whispered, glaring at Henry as he snarled after overemphasizing each word. He stepped even closer and began smiling in a way that unnerved Henry.
As Henry stared at the pirate, he could hear Regina's voice from outside, telling Charming that Henry was safe upstairs in his room and needed some time alone. He wished she knew that her son's body was so close to an older man that Henry could smell the two sprints of cologne on the pirate's neck, feel his warm rum-scented breath against his forehead, and feel his leather-clad knee rub against his adolescent legs. If only she knew that Henry had gulped when Hook slowly raised his one hand up and placed it on Henry's shoulder, tightening the grip as he widened his smile. Henry shuddered as Hook pressed his body closer to his, forcing the Savior's son to press his back firmly into the edge of the desk. Henry nervously placed his arms behind him as he leaned away from the pirate's face, his fingers brushing against the heated porcelain handle of his hot chocolate.
The cup, he thought. That's it. If I could distract Hook long enough to grab the mug, I could pour the hot liquid on him, run and scream for mom.
"Whatever my mom did, please don't punish me for it," he quickly said. "She ripped Violet's heart out. I'm mad at her, too."
"Henry," he said slowly, over-enunciating the syllables in his name. "I'm not to going to make you dance the hempen jig. I have a handsome offer and if you just come with me, I'll-"
"There's no way I'm going anywhere with a dirty pirate!" Henry interrupted as he grabbed the mug's handle with two of his fingers. His heart was beating fast, so fast against his chest, he felt like Hook could hear the intensity of the beats and would use his magical hook, rip it out and crush the heart right in front of the Savior's son.
"Dirty?" he chuckled as he brought his face even closer to Henry's. Henry hoped that Hook didn't hear that cup slide against the wooden desk. "I bathe quite frequently, thank you very much."
"Hook, please."
Henry grabbed firmly into the handle, preparing himself to swing the mug and quickly throw it in Hook's face. Henry would have to act fast. He would have to scream for help and try to escape his room fast enough so Hook wouldn't use magic against him. Henry hoped that Hook's lack of magical skills would act as a disadvantage, making Hook slower to react than someone like his mothers or Grandpa Gold.
"Laddy, you know better than to beg. Didn't the crocodile teach you anything?"
"He was too busy lying to Belle to tell me his life stories."
Hook nodded and his face softened. He moved his hand off Henry's shoulder and it looked like he had a change of heart. Henry didn't. He immediately swung his cup and threw the liquid in Hook's direction, the hot chocolate projected onto Hook's face.
"AHHH ye damn bastard!" Hook screamed while Henry pushed him and lunged for the door. Hook swore as he fell onto the ground.
"Mom!" Henry yelled as he ran as fast as he towards the doorway. He could hear the front door slam open and seen traces of purple fog appear behind him in his room. He didn't hear Hook's screams anymore and assumed that he left.
"HENRY!" he heard Charming yell for him.
For some reason, Henry couldn't answer. The only thing he could do was run and keep running even when he saw Charming running towards him.
"Henry!" Charming grabbed Henry by the end of his sleeve to stop him from running, pushed his trembling body behind him with such force that he fell hard to floor, right on the edge of the stairs. Henry stayed still as Charming held his pistol up and began shouting while he walked towards Henry's room. Charming stopped at Henry's doorway and Regina walked out of the room and shook her head.
When she saw Henry, she ran towards him and asked, "Henry what happened?" She watched as he shook his head before pulling him up and placing both hands on his shoulder. Her eyes looked so watery as her face contorted between expressions of sadness and anger."What did Emma do? WHAT DID SHE DO?'
"They left," Charming said as he walked back over to Regina and Henry. "Henry, what happened?"
"Was it Emma?" Regina asked him again.
Charming placed the gun back in his holster as he took out his phone. Henry noticed the tears forming in his eyes. He must have thought Emma was so far gone that she would hurt Henry.
"No, Emma didn't," Henry spat, noticing how relieved Charming was for a second. Regina's emotions didn't change.
"Who?" she asked.
"Hook."
Regina looked back at Charming and the two exchanged a surprised look that quickly faded into an expression of intense anger.
"I'm going to -" Charming started saying until he stopped and started running down the stairs.
"Wait!" Henry yelled as he watched Charming stand still in the middle of the stairs "Emma. She came and warned me that Hook was now the Dark One and wanted to hurt me."
"Take Henry to the apartment so Snow can watch him," Charming said as he headed towards the front door. "We need to find Emma."
"So she can tell us what the hell is going on," Regina added as she wrapped an arm around Henry and nudged him down the steps.
As he walked, Henry couldn't believe what had happened. One minute his mother was warning him about Hook, the next minute Hook was pressing his body against Henry, then Henry threw hot chocolate in his face, and his other mom and grandpa came to investigate. Earlier today his only worry was that no one in his family was ever going to be entirely happy, then he was feeling confused if there was such a thing as good and evil, but now his only thought was how Hook had violated his personal space to make a point. That point was to show Henry that he was evil now and wanted to make Henry feel uncomfortable in order to get back at Emma. He hoped that he would not have an encounter like that again. It was something that Henry feared that he would never get over.
As he grabbed his coat from the closet neared the front door, Henry just wished that things were back to normal. He grabbed his navy blue trench coat, turned to the mirror on the closet door and placed an arm in each sleeve. He looked at the mirror as he adjusted his collar, loudly gasping when he saw a faint red cloud appear behind him.
"Mom!" he yelled just as an angry pirate appeared from the red fog.
"Henry!" he heard Regina yell back.
Henry tried to run but Hook grabbed him by his closet and pulled him close. Just as a purple cloud starting to appear, the thickness of Hook's red fog surrounded Henry, enveloping him until it was the only thing he saw. Henry felt his body begin to float through the redness, becoming so light that Hook's grip felt like a brick was waiting for him down. His head spun as the world around him ceased to exist. He could hear his mother's voice, her screams were faint and sounded so far away. He closed his eyes to focus on her direction, trying to pull himself away from Hook to move closer to her voice. It was to no avail. He could no longer hear her voice and instead heard the sound of something else. It was like a loud swishing sound. He moved closer to the noise, stumbling and falling through space until his feet touched something. His body fell onto something hard as the red cloud disappeared and a blinding light took its place.
He heard Hook utter something, the intensity of his voice sounded like he was hovering over Henry. The roughness of wooden floorboards scraped against his palm as he blindly tried to move away from his captor. He called out for Regina and Emma but he only heard the pirate's chuckle. A hand grabbed the back of his coat's collar and he felt himself rise up onto his feet. The ground beneath him was moving slowly as if it was floating on water. He wobbled as his eyes adjusted to the brightness around him. His vision was blurry but he could clearly see Hook's face. Henry closed his eyes, opened it and realized where Hook had taken him to.
"No," Henry exclaimed as he fell back down. He could feel his eyes stinging as looked up at the smiling dark one. "Why are you doing this?"
"Welcome to the Jolly Roger," Hook announced as he once again grabbed Henry and started dragging him towards the back of his boat.
A/N: Thank you for reading my story. Please favorite, follow and review since it encourages me to continue writing. Feel free to follow me DiscreetKitty on Tumblr and Instagram and DiscreetKitty96 on Twitter for story updates and request.