On Hook's command, they got to shore and made a camp in a small clearing, away from prying eyes and Pan's ears. The atmosphere was, in the easiest of terms, tense. Regina and Mr. Gold talked in hushed voices, making Mary Margaret wonder what the hell they were up to. She didn't like it when they plotted together, it always meant trouble.
Hook lead them to their campsite and he kept quiet, thinking about how he'd give anything to get off the island. He walked in brisk pace, making everyone else almost jog to catch up to him at times.
David was at the end of the line, walking in silence. He had a dark look on his face, and Mary Margaret frowned. She couldn't decide what he was feeling bad about. Maybe because of Emma, who he didn't catch or jump after when she fell through the portal. Maybe because he punched Hook. Mary Margaret knew her David was a reasonable man and that he'd realize eventually that what he did was a bit overboard. After all, Hook of this time couldn't control his past actions.
Her steps faltered a bit and soon she found herself walking next to her husband, who was still staring straight ahead, reminding her of a stubborn horse.
"You are over-thinking everything," she told him gently, grasping his hand with her own.
A painful expression settled on his face. "What part?"
She gave him a small, reassuring smile, "Everything. We're going to find Emma, you know we always find each other. And then, we'll find Henry, who, right now, is safe because Pan needs him. And when we find Emma and Henry, I'll find a way to get you off this island, if it's the last thing I do," she said fervently, her eyes glowing with determination.
"And what about him?" David motioned towards Hook.
"As much as I hate to admit it, he can be a reasonable man what he wants to. He understands."
David let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, "So that's our solution? We'll just figure everything out?"
She squeezed his hand tighter, "Charming, you know us. We'll find a way. We always do."
After half an hour of silent walking through trenches and that horrific jungle, they came to a stop. Mary Margaret looked up and saw that everyone was letting their belonging drop to the floor.
"You two figure out a way to track Pan down," Hook told Regina and Mr. Gold, who didn't look like they liked to be told what to do, especially by a pirate they both had an axe to grind with, "and I'll go get us some firewood."
Snow nudged Charming, "You want to make amends?"
"I..." David opened his mouth to rebel against her pushing him, but he eventually saw the good in her ways. He sighed in defeat, "Fine. I'll go with you," he said a bit louder, directing his words to Hook, who nodded shortly in return, before he disappeared in the foliage. David jogged to catch up to him, only to find him walking faster than before.
He was still pissed off at him. So much for being reasonable.
"I'm sorry for punching you," he admitted after a few minutes of stretched, awkward silence. "I was-"
"Angry, I know," Hook cut in. "It's perfectly understandable. Had someone tied my daughter up and threw her below deck for hours on end without food I would be angry as well."
David's eyes bugged out and he grabbed Hook by his coat, yanking him back. "Come again?"
He chuckled, nervousness washing over him as Charming stared him down, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Right... you didn't know that part."
"Damn it, Hook..." David ran his hand over his face, trying to keep his temper from flaring. It's not this Hook. It's not this Hook, he chanted inside, "did you have any decency back then?"
"Define 'decency'."
"I don't know, like, basic human emotions. Mercy, some pity, anything good."
"Oh," he made a sound of understanding, "that kind of decency... Then no."
Hook wondered out on his ship after sleeping for what seemed minutes. Sleep would not come to him since he lost both his hand and Milah, and it was starting to wear him out. He could barely think straight anymore, the insomnia almost killing him. And when he finally managed to close his eyes and drift into half-sleep, he was woken up by loud, almost hysterical laughs coming from the deck.
He looked around, looking for the source of all the merry. He noticed none of his crew was at their posts. They were all huddled in a circle, surrounding someone. Hook pushed past them, and the laughter died down as he did so, all of them scattering away to do their work before he threw them into the ocean.
He stopped in his tracks when he saw the person that was entertaining them. She was sitting on a bench, a bottle of rum in her hand, and a piece of fruit in the other. A wide smile was plastered over her face as she laughed over a story Smee was telling her. He caught Hook's eye and the words died on his lips, fear creeping to his eyes.
The lass noticed the change in his attitude and looked up too, her eyes locking with Hook's. "Captain!" she yelled, "There you are! We were having a blast. Did you know that this guy," she pointed at one of his men, "just got married? We're celebrating!"
He neared her and grabbed her by the elbow, pulling her to her feet. "Just what in the bloody hell are you doing here?" he growled, shaking her.
She shrugged, pulling her hand back. "What?" she asked nonchalantly, "You said I was free to go, but who says I want to? Maybe I want to stay here."
"Why?"
"Why do the stars shine?" she wondered mockingly, looking up at the night sky. "Why are you an ass? I don't have all the answers," she shrugged.
"You are out of your mind if you think you're staying at this ship."
"Oh, come on Hook, why not? Are you afraid I might actually annoy the life out of you?"she grinned, before her face turned serious. "I just... I need your help to get home."
"Or I could just kill you."
"You won't do that," she said, sounding far too sure for his liking. Actually, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that everything about her felt off. The way her gaze shifted when she looked at him or how she sounded so sure of herself, so sure of everything that had something to do with him. It was almost like... well almost like she knew him.
He drew his sword and in a flash had it pressed up against her neck. "And why not?"
"Because," she said, her eyes softening as her hand came up and moved the sword gently out of the way, "if you wanted to, you would have killed me by now."
They stared at each other for what seemed forever, before he finally spoke up. "Being on a pirate ship... it's not the safest thing the world has seen."
"I can take care of myself," she stated, once again sounding too sure of herself. This time there was a trace of defensiveness there as well, making Hook think this wasn't the lass' first time she found herself alone in an unknown land, left to her own devices. Add the sarcasm, the lonely spark in her eyes he'd seen in other people who were abandoned, the brisk attitude and the smart-ass thing and... how funny.
They were the same person.
"Suit yourself, but if you fall into trouble, don't ask for my help."
"Wasn't going to," she fired back.
He turned on his heel and headed for his cabin, before something occurred to him. He turned to face her, she was still standing in her old spot. "Do you care to tell me your name or am I going to have to refer to you as 'that thing'?"
She rolled her eyes, a flash of pain passing through them. "Emma Swan - Emma. My name's Emma."
He didn't say anything, he just went back to his space, closing the door after him. "Emma," he repeated slowly, his voice echoing in the silence of the cabin. He felt sick as her name left his lips, sounding like it belonged only to him to say. He didn't like it felt like it was supposed to be heard there, on his ship and written into the walls. He hated himself when he felt the urge to say the name again.
And again.
Emma sat on the deck long after Hook went to his cabin, staring up at the stars. She thought that maybe he'd come back, but no such luck. Still, she felt like she was making some progress, him allowing her to stay on the ship and all. It was a small battle, and she knew she was far from winning the war. She sighed, letting her head fall to her knees. Of all the fairy tales and happy endings, she was stuck with crap happening to her over and over again. Mary Margaret -Snow White- told her that the Universe had something planned for all of them.
Well if this was the plan it had for her, then the bastard had a bad sense of humor.
"You don't seem like a thinking type," she heard a voice and looked up, seeing Hook walking towards her.
"Gee, thanks," she remarked dryly.
Silence fell upon them for a few moments, both of them staring at the small village the ship was docked in. Emma didn't tear her eyes away, thinking there was something familiar about the village. She wanted to slap herself when she realized she'd seen it before, in Henry's book. It was the village Rumpelstiltskin killed Milah in.
She frowned. If it happened maybe two or three weeks ago, then why the hell did he still stick around? Did he enjoyed torturing himself? Probably. He was most likely trying to fuel his need for revenge, an action Emma deemed extremely stupid. She found running quite therapeutic, but, then again, she wasn't the best picture of emotional health.
"I'm sorry," she blurted out before she could stop herself.
"For what?" he asked coldly, not sparing her a glance.
She realized there was no taking it back now. The words hung in the air between them and they left her with no other choice but to continue. "For, uh... losing your... true love." The words burned her throat for some reason, and left her questioning whatever the hell she was feeling.
His throat closed and it became hard to push the words out, his fury starting to bubble in him again. "How do you know about that?"
"Smee told me," she said quickly, trying to justify her knowing such a private thing. She realized she just made the man who gave her food collateral damage."I asked where you were and he said you were sleeping, which was weird because you hadn't slept in ages. Ever since the Dark one..." she stopped talking, realizing she was taking this too far. "I'm sorry."
"You apologizing won't bring her back. Besides, you shouldn't feel sorry, the monster who took her should."
She cringed, the words to defend the grandfather of her son on the tip of her tongue. Still, she dug her fingers into her sides and thought of another thing to say. "But... Smee said," there she goes again, throwing the man to the sharks, "that he killed her on a dock not far from here. Why haven't you ditched this place? It's what I would have done."
"To remind myself of that monster, who is still out there, laughing at me."
"Seems like an awfully masochistic thing to do," she mumbled.
"And what do you know about losing someone?" he snapped, for the first time looking up at her. She stayed quiet, sure that if she got into this argument with him one of them wouldn't make it out alive. Her silence only made him probe further. "I thought so. You look like a princess, Swan," he said, not meaning it to sound like a compliment, more like a foul word. "You probably had a golden cradle and everything about you screams you had everything you asked for, every single one of your wished granted, even the tiniest, most ridiculous of them."
He knew he was wrong, but getting a reaction out of her was an opportunity too good to pass out on. And based on the red color of her face, he suspected a reaction was coming.
She shook her head, mumbling inaudible things under her breath, and Hook noticed her shoulders were shaking. "He... pompous... heartless... bastard... son... bitch..."
"What was that?" he mocked her, enjoying her anger.
He didn't expect her to pull out a blade and jab it into the deck, the strength of her action leaving the knife standing. He stared at it, and wondered if she was going to punch him again. He wanted to see her try.
"You know what, Hook? I don't care that you just lost Milah, because guess what, pain wasn't reserved for jackasses like you!" she yelled angrily, getting into his face. "You think the rest of the world doesn't know pain?"
"And what do you know about it?" he asked, challenging her.
"I was left on the side of the road when I was an hour old! I spent my whole life without a family, then I fell in love with a man that left me the second he was threatened, and he never came back. I had a kid, on my own, who I had to give up, only to have him find me ten years later with a stupid storybook in his hands that made my life a living hell. My parents could be my roommates and my kid, who I had finally gotten back, was taken away from me by a psycho bitch and is now being kept as a science experiment for a teenager with mental issues! How's that for pain?"
He stared at her and for the first time, seemed to be speechless.
"If you think you're the only one that looks for a reason to get up in the morning, you're wrong," she said quietly, the weight of her own words pressing on her chest. "But I... I can't let my kid down. That's why I need to go back."
He didn't say anything, he simply got up and walked away, leaving her alone in the darkness. She listened to his steps as they grew more distant and finally disappear. She looked up and started to count stars, tying a reason not to cry to every one of them.
Hook and David took more than enough time gather the firewood, in Neal's opinion. He looked around the camp, taking everyone in. Mary Margaret was fumbling with her bow and arrow, looking like she was deep in thought. His father was sleeping and Regina was creating small fire balls with her hands, the sense of magic clearly overtaking her.
He felt out of place there, with everyone doing their own thing, while he waited impatiently for Hook and prince Charming to come back. Neal wasn't stupid; he knew where David's loyalty lied, in who he put his trust and who he would pick if it ever came down to it. It was a funny thing, a prince and a pirate acting like the best of friends, but he supposed it wasn't so surprising. Emma seemed to call his name whenever she needed help.
Jealousy was not a nice feeling.
They came back a little while later, carrying the logs in their hands and arguing about something.
"...to just ram the sword in his-"
David cut him off, "Don't be an idiot. We're not going to impale the kid on anything."
Hook shrugged, "It was an honest suggestion."
"Yeah, well, it sucks."
Hook was woken up from the feather-light sleep by some leaves crumbling. His eyes shot open and he looked around, searching for whoever was making the noise. Everyone was sleeping, as they agreed Hook would take the first shift. The light from the fire shone on the faces of the people around him, and he noticed they were impossibly still.
Hell, they weren't breathing.
He moved to check on David, but another crumble to his left made him jump to his feet and look around.
"Well, Hook, so nice of you to finally notice me. I was starting to feel neglected."
He sighed, turning to him with a weary look. "Hello Pan."
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