This is a little experiment for one of my stories. Emma and the others manage to bring not only Hook back, but Neal as well (because I refuse to believe he had no unfinished business). But his reunion with Emma isn't exactly what everyone was expecting.
Important Notes: Neal arrived in the Underworld. When Gold and Pan kidnap Zelena, he offers her to Hades in favor of ripping up the contract, and letting Neal come back to the living with him. Robin never dies but Regina and the others accept Zelena. Also, Belle doesn't go into a sleeping curse. Her and Rumple are currently working things out, but she isn't as much of a bitch as she is in the show about him becoming the Dark One. I love her, but she needs to step back and understand how this time, she messed up. Sorry, ranting.
They survived. Emma wasn't so sure why she was so surprised. They had survived Cora nearly having control of the Dark One. They even survived Neverland and Peter Pan and his immortal teenage followers. Then they survived Zelena actually having control over Rumplestiltskin. But she had not imagined ever surviving the Underworld and its ruler Hades.
They fought hard and got Hook back, but he wasn't the only soul to return. While Emma and her family had managed to find Hook, save his soul, and find a way back, Gold had managed to save his and Belle's child from Hades contract and bargained with the Lord of the Underworld for Neal's soul as well.
Everyone went to Granny's as they often did after a grand win. Emma was sitting with her family, laughing and enjoying the time as if they hadn't just spent weeks below ground. Although it was still a little confusing as to why the Land of Souls looked like their little sleepy town and she tried not to remember how it felt to be in the other diner. She looked around, smiling at the group of people celebrating their return, including Hooks, but there was one person she could not fine.
"Mom, are you okay?" Henry asked from across the table.
Emma smiled at him and Killian, who sat next to her. "There's something I need to do. I'll be back."
She left the diner and into the night air. She had forgotten how warm it was Maine. One would think that being in the Underworld would be hot and fiery, but it was actually much colder. Like death. She pulled her coat closer and went to find Neal.
She found him at the docks which seemed a strange place for him. If it was Killian she would understand.
"Hey sailor." She smiled.
Neal glanced back but he didn't offer a smile in return. He simply told her hey and looked back out to the sea.
"What's wrong?" She asked, sitting down next to him. "I would have thought you'd be happy being back. Henry is, but he's a little upset you're not at Granny's with everyone else."
Neal grimaced. "I'm sorry. I just can't be there right now."
"Hey," He looked at her. "Did something happen?"
He sighed. He wasn't sure where to start, or if he even had the energy to talk to her about it. Apparently coming back from the dead took a lot of a person.
"I really don't want to talk about it Emma."
She looked confused, but tried to brush it off. "Okay."
They sat in silence watching the sea until Emma couldn't handle the quiet.
"Alright, if you don't want to talk about it, I'm going back to the party."
She got up and began to walk away, but stopped short when Neal finally spoke up.
"What's wrong with you Emma?"
She turned around. "What?"
Neal got up and turned around to look at her. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Emma stared at him shocked, not sure where he was going or what even brought up the question.
"Neal, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong is that you're not Emma!" He shouted.
He was glad no one else was around to hear their conversation, but he wouldn't have minded either. In fact, he wanted others to hear. He threw up his hands and let out a heavy breath.
"You know what? Forget it. I just can't do this."
He walked away and left her on the docks, still confused. She couldn't understand why he was so upset. They both knew they would never get back together, but what had she done that would make him so upset?
Neal walked away from Emma, still upset. He was doing fine until she came to talk to him and then it all came back to him. His father and Belle didn't have to tell him what happened after he died. He knew. He had seen it. He was one of the special few in the Underworld who actually got to see what his loved ones and friends did after he did. But only because Hades showed him. When he died and landed in the Underworld, he had been confused as everyone else who landed there. Then the Lord of Death came to him and decided he wanted a chat. He was interested to see what the son of his favorite Dark One had to say.
Neal didn't like him, though he wasn't sure what kind of person would. Even his father didn't like Hades. But it didn't matter. He had seen what Emma and the others did and it made him sick. He was ready to go back to his father's house, since there wasn't really any place for him to stay and after his time in the Underworld Granny's didn't sound so good, but as he was nearing the diner his phone went off. He looked down at it and chuckled.
But then he remembered who all was there. He didn't want to go into the diner where the people he currently hated was all gathered, but since his new step-mom was pregnant and he felt obligated to help out, he took a breath and walked in.
As soon was he opened the door Henry came running up to him, wrapping his arms around him.
"Dad! I'm so glad you're here."
Neal couldn't help but smile. "Hey buddy. How are you doing?"
"Come on, you have to join us."
The boy smiled and went back to his seat. Neal watched him, but he tried not to focus on the other man who sat across from his son. He ignored the situation and went up to Ruby.
"Hey."
"Hey, my dad and Belle are wanting some burgers. Can you pack some up?"
"Sure thing." Ruby smiled and walked away. Neal didn't tell her why Belle was in the mood for burgers late at night, but he wasn't sure he should tell. He didn't think his father and her would want the town to know about his new little brother or sister. Though he knew Emma and her group of heroes knew, which made it even harder to be around any of them right now. It only got worse when David stepped up and slapped his back in his usual way.
"So you're back. How do you feel?"
Neal sighed, "Tired."
David laughed but it wasn't a joke. He was tired, in every way, which was why he wanted to leave as soon as possible.
"Where's Emma?"
As if to answer the deputy Emma walked in. She quickly scanned the room and saw Neal. Appearing normal, she walked up to her father and ex-boyfriend.
"Hey." She smiled lightly.
The three of them all immediately noticed the awkwardness in the air.
"Is everything alright?" David asked.
"It's fine." Neal quickly replied, not looking at either of them.
"Baelfire."
He groaned. There was only one other person who called him by his old name other than his father. It also happened to be the last person he wanted to see.
He turned around. "Listen, I'm just here to get some burgers, alright?"
"I just wanted to say-uh,-"
"I'm sorry?" Neal answered for him, though he didn't once believe that was what the pirate was going to say. "Don't. I won't believe it."
"Neal." Emma exclaimed. "What is wrong?"
It was the straw that broke the camel's back and he realized how much he wanted to yell at them. Perhaps it wasn't the best course of action at the moment, but he was too fed up and too angry to care.
"You want to know what's wrong Emma?!" He waved his hands, gesturing around the diner. "All of this!"
Quiet quickly filled the diner and the talks of merriment and clanking of toasts were silenced with his outburst.
"This is all wrong!"
"What are you talking about?"
Her expression that told him she truly didn't understand only made him more anger.
"You don't understand? You don't understand how all of this is sick?! Well let me explain it to you."
"Dad-"
"No Henry," He raised his hand to his son to silence him. "You need to hear this. Everyone needs to hear this. Do you want to know what happened Emma? Do you want to happened to me in the Underworld? I saw everything." He looked at her, too tired to glare.
"What do you mean?" It was her father who asked. Emma was too shocked by his outburst to say anything else.
"I saw how you waited a whole day after I died before kissing Hook. Emma," He moved his hands and arms in an exasperated manner. "I know things will never work out between us. I get that, but why not show some fucking respect?!"
His revelation only made the patrons grow more quiet. But he didn't stop.
"I wasn't dead for a whole day before you went to him! But that's not the real problem. The real problem is how you people treat my father and Belle."
Then Hook made the mistake of speaking up.
"The lass may not have deserved it, but your father sure did."
A right hook hit his face faster than anyone could react to stop it.
"NEAL!" Emma cried out. "What the hell? I know you're upset but what the hell?"
"I'm not upset Emma! I'm furious! You're better than this! Or at least I thought you were."
He watched her help the pirate off the floor, but no one else made the mistake of speaking or even getting near him.
"In fact, I thought you were all better." He was now speaking to everyone else in the diner, but mostly to Emma and her family and new friends.
"But you know what, I guess it doesn't matter. As long as you're considered a hero, you can do whatever you want. Such as believing that an unborn child would be just as evil as her mother."
He stared at David. He could see pain in his eyes, but he could also see that neither David nor Snow regretted their decision.
"But it doesn't matter that you sent all of Emma's inherit darkness into an unborn child and than let her be taken to another realm. Your daughter's the Savior." His voice went higher on the last word and everyone could begin to see his father, but he didn't care. He was too angry. And if this was how heroes were nowadays, he could completely understand why his father always hated them.
"Oh, I guess it also doesn't matter if you're a hero everyone looks up to. You get to do whatever you want. You get to be selfish and uncaring of another's needs. You're automatically good so everything you do is good. And I guess being the Savior means you're not above blackmail."
He turned his attention to Emma, still shocked by his reaction. "You blackmailed my father to save Hook. Yes, my dad has done many bad things before, but you know what's really sick? My father has been the Dark One for over three centuries and he gets blamed for everything he ever did. And it doesn't matter if he did something good and brave, everything is still his fault. But once you became the Dark One, all your actions are blamed on the curse. Because Emma the Savior could never do anything wrong. Emma would never sent a bear after my step-mom to get my father to become someone he doesn't want to be. No, that's not Emma. That's the curse.
And while we're on the topic of the curse, why don't we talk about you?" He looked at Hook. "My father has been the Dark One for over three hundred years, and he has NEVER come close to doing anything like you did in the first, what? Week you were the Dark One? Hook brings all the Dark Ones to ever exist to Storybrooke, but because he sacrificed himself in the last minute, he's the hero of the story and once again my father gets blamed."
"He took away my sacrifice, or do you not recall that he became the bloody Dark One again?" Hook asked, furious at the mention of the Crocodile.
"Do you want another punch? And you were going to die anyways! Or do you not recall how you got cut by Excalibur? Whether you became the Dark One or not, you were going to die because of that cut anyways. Emma didn't' do any favors for you. And I remember watching you actually get pissed off at her for turning you into your worst enemy."
"Aye, but I've forgiven her for that."
"Well I can't. I can't forgive you Emma for how you tried to kill Belle just like Hook tried to three times, or how you kidnapped my dad when he was powerless and crippled. And when Belle asked for help? None of you offered it." He looked at David.
"Why? Because it was about my father. Just like when we came back to the Enchanted Forest, you and your wife ignored mine and Belle's pain. Yes, you lost Emma and Henry, but they were still alive! I had to watch my father sacrifice himself to save the whole town from his father and Belle had to watch her True Love disappear for what we thought was forever. But when we offered an idea to help get him back so you could get back to Emma and Henry, you brushed us off. You thought your pain was worse than ours, and god forbid we do anything that involves my father.
"I know you all hate him, but there are lines even my father would never cross." Then he walked closer to Zelena. "You are the absolute worst and neither you or Hook should be alive for what you did to my father and Belle."
"And what did I do?"
"Oh you don't remember? How about how you took control of him for a whole year, and the first command you ever gave him was to kill Belle. Or how all of you," he looked back to Emma and David and the others. "Only went to find him for information. Once you had, you left him!"
"Neal, she had the dagger, there wasn't anything we could do."
"But Belle tried! And when she asked for your family's help to save him from you, they denied her. Why? Because despite it being your fault you were all in that mess with you as the Dark One, it was still because of my father. If my father takes punishment for his actions, so should you and Hook. Heroes be damned."
He took a quick breath but noticed a bag on the counter and he remembered what he was suppose to do. Besides, if he stayed any longer, he would only get more angry and he wasn't sure what would happen.
"Now I know there is more to all the crap you and your damn family have done, but I have to go. Before I do however, let me just say this. Emma, you are the absolute worst version of yourself and I can't even stand to look at you anymore."
"Neal." Her voice hitched.
"And if Henry ever becomes like you or your family or Hook and Zelena, two people who had the absolute worst to anybody, than you're a more horrible parent than your own. You're not the Emma I use to know. You're nothing but a hollow shell."
With that Neal left the diner, slamming the door behind him. They watched as he began to walk away but then stop short and turn around, making his way back inside. He walked up to the counter and grabbed the brown bag with the burgers.
"Oh," He looked back at everyone who still watched him in wide eyed silence. "If anyone, and I do mean anyone, ever tries to kill my family again, the Dark One won't be the one you have to worry about. If anyone hurts my father, or Belle, or my new brother or sister, or if anyone even goes near them, I will kill you."
He slammed the door behind him one last time and headed to his car which he parked by his father's shop.
The diner had never been more quiet before. It was seconds, but felt like minutes, before anyone spoke up and when they did, it was Leroy who spoke first.
"You tried to kill Belle?" He looked at Emma.
She felt dread. She had not wanted anyone to know. Although she knew it was a mistake, she had honestly believed it was simply the darkness that led her to send a bear after her. She was fully aware of what she needed Gold to become, but as she stood there, she knew she would never hurt Belle.
"Belle's the nicest person I had ever met, why would you try to kill her?" He asked again.
"Neal's right though." Granny spoke up from behind the counter. "Rumplestiltskin had been alive for a long time. I'd never seen him do anything like what the pirate did."
Before everyone knew it, everyone was agreeing. Soon Emma and her family saw their town be turned against them. Hook and Zelena were the villains once more and everyone agreed that the Charmings and Emma were just as bad. They even realized that if they were willing to accept the two so quick and swiftly, despite how Gold had helped to save the town more than they ever had, they weren't heroes. And Emma knew they were right.
The next few weeks were tough for the Emma and her family. She had never felt so isolated before and wondered it this was how Gold and Belle always felt. She had to now admit that they only talked to her when they needed her help, either with research or to watch baby Neal, but they never invited her to hang out. Thinking back over the past, she remembered what kind of person Hook and Zelena had been. She knew that they had changed, but what had they done to show it? Zelena, well, nothing. If Regina believed in her, so did they.
Emma wondered who was worse, Hook or Zelena, and she agreed that they were both equally bad. Zelena tortured Gold for a whole year and they just left him with her. She knew he wasn't a good person himself, but Zelena was worse and no one deserved what happened to Gold. And Hook, she didn't know what to say. She remembered the night he shot Belle, but she hadn't know he tried to kill her two other times. But it didn't matter. Neal was right that night, and she knew it. She knew it to her core and it made her sick. Her parents started to agree and tried to amend their relationship with the town, but it proved harder than they thought. Apparently sorry wasn't enough. They learned how hard it was for Gold to always try his hardest to be good but only get beat down. Regina was a little easier for the town to accept since out of her, Hook, and Zelena, she actually worked for her redemption; but the town still didn't like for her to be close to Zelena. Zelena and Hook was having the hardest time of all and Emma wondered if they would ever be forgiven. She learned that Neal was right and that somewhere along the road, she had lost herself. And she did so before she was the Dark One.
For one, she kissed Hook before Neal's grave was cold. She was lonely and hurt and Hook admitted that he took advantage of that and it was wrong, but she accepted it. She had been angry at Neal for so long, but it didn't mean he deserved to be treated like he was. And Belle. Emma didn't want to think about that. It was the worst realization. Her and her family had hurt her the most. All the girl ever did for them was help, and the two times she asked for it in return, they completely ignored it and practically said it wasn't worth it. To make matters only worse, they never even tried to help her save her and Gold's child from Hades. And Emma knew why. Just as Neal said, because it had to do with Gold, it didn't matter. She wondered if she really was as bad as her parents. Which was worse? Sending all of a child's darkness into another child? Or leaving a child under the contract of Hades, the Lord of the Underworld?
She shook her head. It had been weeks since Neal yelled at them all at the diner that diner, and still she was feeling sick with guilt. She wasn't a hero and she most certainly wasn't a Savior. While her parents and Hook and Zelena tried to make amends with the town, she was headed to the two people who mattered the most at the moment.
She knocked on the door of the pink mansion and saw Belle. She wasn't surprised when the young brunette didn't smile back.
"Emma, what are you doing here?"
"I know I can't apologize enough, or really do anything that can make up for what I did to you and Gold, or what my family did for that matter. But can I try?"
Belle sighed, crossing her arms. "Neal told us what happened that night. He wasn't happy when we got back. He didn't tell us why until he came home."
"You and Gold didn't know that he saw?"
Belle shook her head. "No, but it did help him and Rumple get closer."
Emma smiled. "That's good. Is Neal here?"
"He's in the baby room."
Belle hesitated before leading her to the baby room where Neal was working on painting. He had argued with his father on whether they should use magic or not. Gold said that it would be easier and far less messier, which he was right, but he was out numbered. Both Belle and Neal agreed that it had more love and care if done by hand.
Emma walked in to see Neal crouched on the floor, covered in paint from hair to boot. The big smile he was wearing quickly left when he saw her.
"Hey." She tried to smile.
"Emma, hey. What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to apologize for everything. I know that won't be enough. It's definitely not working for Mom and Dad with the town."
Neal glanced at the floor and looked back up. "They know the town isn't the one they have to apologize to, right?"
Emma chuckled. "I don't think they get that yet. How have you been?"
"Busy. Helping get things ready for the baby."
"I don't think I ever said congrats."
"I'm not the one you need to congratulate." He moaned as he bent down to grab another pain can. His muscles were sore from constantly bending up and down.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Uh, yeah. You can help paint." He held out a paintbrush.
Emma looked at him like he was joking, but when she saw that she wasn't, she grabbed the brush and began working on a wall.
"So how are you and Hook?" He asked. It wasn't as awkward as he thought it would be. He guessed he was still pretty mad. After all, he hadn't seen Emma, Henry, or anyone else since that night. He was doing good on avoiding them.
"We're actually taking a break."
Neal stopped his brushing. "Really?"
"Yeah. You helped me remember who he was and who he still is."
"What do you mean?"
"He might be a better person to others, and maybe even to Belle, but not to Gold."
"They have a century feud."
Emma nodded. "I know, but at least Gold buried the hatchet. Did you know that even after he helped, again, to save Hook from Hades, Hook still tried to go after him?"
"What do you mean?"
"Instead of a thank you for saving him from the Lord of the Underworld, he told Gold that had had a stay of execution."
"Are you serious?!" Neal exclaimed.
"He told Gold they were even, for now. Which made me realize that he just expects Gold to do something else, or he's planning on something himself."
"Emma, how could you ever be with a guy like that? You deserve better. Or you use it." He added quietly. "And Henry definitely deserves better than his mom hanging out with a guy who is constantly after revenge, even when his enemy let it all go."
"You're right. I'm sorry Neal."
He let out a breath. He was tried again. So they stopped talking and agreed to leave the subject alone, finishing painting the room for his new brother or sister.
Alright, just bring it out all. Whatever argument you have about who is better, Rumple or the heroes and Hook, bring it. I am ready. But be warned, if you attack for the heroes and Hook, I will attack back. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) Your one and only warning. Thank you.