It's a Tale of Woe and Revenge

Chapter Six

"Emma!" Snow exclaimed as David stood from the booth where he, Snow, and Henry were sitting inside Granny's diner, while her mother held baby Neal within her arms, waiting for her to arrive. "Is everything all right? Your text sounded urgent."

"I'm not sure at the moment," she answered nervously as she walked over to them, then motioned to Brennan to have a seat in the chair that David pulled from one of the tables nearby for him. "But so far… No, not everything's all right. Wait, where's Regina?"

Her father took a seat next to Henry across from the women, then Henry responded, "She was on her way, but she spotted something strange coming from the direction of her vault. Mom went to go check it out. She'll be here soon. Zelena should be coming soon too. She was taking care of little Robin first though."

David kept his eyes trained on the stranger since the man walked in with his daughter and then finally spoke up asking, "Emma, who is this?"

"Uh… well he's why I've asked you guys down here in the middle of the night," she replied nervously while she looked between Brennan and her family.

"Here we are, a nice cup of hot cocoa with cinnamon for each of you," Granny interrupted before Emma could continue, while she came over to their table and carefully placed the drinks down before each of them, then as the older woman was about to set one down in front of the stranger, the baby accidently bumped her arm, causing her to drop the mug of cocoa into the man's lap, but when it fell, instead of burning him, it phased right through him as the mug shattered into pieces on the floor.

Everyone became startled by not only the crash, but upon seeing that the newcomer was no more than a ghost and stared at him in shock, until Emma nervously cleared her throat and then continued, "Yeah uh… As I was about to explain, this is Brennan Jones."

David quickly turned to his daughter as he asked with disbelief, "Jones? You mean to tell us that Hook has another brother?"

"No, not another brother," she answered and rubbed her forehead in frustration. "He's actually Killian's father.

"His father?" Snow stated as she also looked at her daughter with surprise. "You mean…"

Emma finished for her mother, "Yes, he is the man Regina was talking about on the night Killian saved us from the Dark Ones and yes, Hook killed him not long before Regina's curse."

Henry looked at Brennan cynically as he asked, "Okay, but what is he doing here?"

"What is who doing here?" Zelena questioned when she entered the diner from the back room while carrying her daughter in her arms, having missed the rest of the conversation. "I'm sorry I'm late. Robin's been a bit fussy tonight, for the last few nights actually. I suspect she misses her father. Where's Regina?"

"Mom will be here soon," Henry quickly responded without turning his gaze away from the stranger, who was obviously feeling very uncomfortable in a room full of people he knew didn't like him the moment it was announced that he was Hook's father.

Snow looked at the former Wicked Witch as she added, "This is Brennan Jones, a ghost and Hook's…"

David appeared to be suspicious of the stranger too, as he stared at him as Henry was doing and finished replying for his wife, "Hook's father."

"Wait, where is Killian?" Henry suddenly asked in concern when he finally turned away from the man and looked across the table at his mom. "Shouldn't he be here too? Doesn't he know about him?"

"He does, but… Killian's really having a hard time dealing with him being back," Emma answered despondently. "He needed some time alone."

Charming gave a sad sigh and then responded, "That's certainly understandable. Talk to us. How is he even here?"

The Savior nodded and began, "The truth is, we don't really know much more, other than that Brennan claims things down in the Underworld have changed since Hades disappeared and that he was able to just climb out instead of choosing to move on like many other souls that were down there. Arthur has been pretty helpful to them since he took up reign it seems."

"I don't buy it," Zelena replied sternly. "No matter how much things have changed down there, I don't believe it's possible for a soul to just climb out without any help from someone above. Otherwise, a lot more of them would be roaming around free."

"That's exactly what I said," Emma answered in agreement.

Snow quickly asked, "Yes, but the question is why? I mean, why would Gold want to bring Killian's father back from the Underworld? Surely there are a number of others he would have preferred to raise from the dead, or whatever it is he's up to."

It was then that Brennan finally talked as he responded, "Forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn, but it's as I told Miss. Swan here. I do not know who this Gold is and I don't know how I really came to be here either."

"But you do know something you're not saying," Emma replied brusquely as she looked into the man's eyes in order to get a better read on him. "I have a gift for telling when someone is bullshitting me, Mr. Jones. And I can tell that you are. What about? What aren't you telling us?"

"The fact that he didn't really become free of the Underworld on his own accord," Killian answered coldly as he suddenly appeared from the back entrance of the diner like Zelena had earlier and laid down a clump of grass and dirt on the table in front of his father, then took turns looking between everyone in the room while he continued on with his explanation. "I walked down to the pond after I left Emma on the beach and had a look around the portal. I found that there's been a small patch of the ground dug up. It took me a few minutes, but I finally realized that the area was where I fell after I died."

Emma understood then as she moved to stand beside Hook, took his hand in hers, and finished for him, "Killian's blood would have seeped into the ground and this dirt would be saturated with it, but it isn't. Someone with magic definitely brought his father here by summoning Charon, but it wasn't Gold. He wouldn't have needed to dig up the earth to somehow get Killian's blood, not when he could have used his own."

David reached out in attempt to grab hold of the man by the front of his shirt in hope of getting him to tell them the truth, until his hands phased through him as the mug of cocoa had earlier. The Prince had forgotten that Brennan was still only just a spirit, so instead he lowered his arms again, then pulled the chair out from under him to get the man to stand. How he was able to sit without his body phasing through the chair, none of them really understood.

All eyes were on him as Snow said calmly, "We all know now how you really arrived here. But we don't know who brought you here, other than that it couldn't possibly be Rumpelstiltskin."

"So who was it, Jones?" David asked again curtly after glancing quickly over at Hook with remorse.

"It could have been Hyde," Zelena responded after a minute when Brennan still refused to talk. "I mean, he isn't a magical being himself, but he is here in town somewhere and he's certainly got the means to be able to pull off something like this. We should talk to Dr. Jekyll."

Killian moved closer to his father so that he was standing directly in front of him as he replied in disagreement, "No, that monster didn't do this. Hyde couldn't care less of my father's existence, let alone that he would've had to retrieve him from the world of the dead. Please father, tell us who really is responsible for raising you."

Brennan shook his head and answered, "I'm afraid I can't do that, son. I swore that I wouldn't tell, but you will all find out soon enough. That much I can tell you. And I'm afraid that I wasn't truthful about one other thing, at least not in the sense that you took it to mean. When I told the woman you love that I only wanted to make things right, I meant that I wanted make you sorry for killing me all those years ago, which I had to suffer down in the Underworld."

All of a sudden, the man reached up to touch the side of Killian's head while Hook attempted to step away from him. But, before Emma or anyone else could do anything to stop his father, Killian began to scream as a bright light engulfed them both and caused everyone to cover their eyes, though Emma struggled to break free of David's grip on her to try to help the man she loved. After nearly a minute passed, the light finally faded, though everyone still had trouble seeing anything until their eyes became clear again.

"Killian!" she cried out for him upon finding Hook crouched down on the floor between them, his eyes squeezed shut while he held his hand tightly against his head as agony flooded his mind, then Emma immediately knelt down in front of him. "Killian, what is it? Oh God no, not again. Please look at me. What's wrong?"

"Where did his father disappear to?" Zelena asked as she and everyone else besides Hook and Emma began to look around, only to find that there was no sign of him.

However, just when Henry was about to talk again, Killian weakly raised himself from off the ground with Emma's help, then lowered his hand and opened his eyes as he responded cruelly, "I'm right here, witch."

David cautiously stepped closer to his friend in order to get a better look at him as he asked worryingly, "Hook? Are you…?"

"My son is no longer doing the talking here, Your Majesty," Hook replied, only everyone realized now that it was really his father who replied in Killian's own voice, from within his body. "Only I am."

"What the hell have you done?" Emma asked dreadfully, trying to look at the man she loved with something other than fear and remorse, as Killian was the only person she could see even if it was really Brennan saying the words coming out of his mouth.

Killian's father smiled and turned his eyes downward as he began to stare at his hand upon feeling the sensations of being alive again, continued to look over the rest of his son's body until his sight finally became caught on the hook worn over his left arm, then he answered strangely, "I did what I had to do in order to regain the life that my son stole from me. But try not to worry, Swan. Killian is still alive. He's simply trapped within the back of his mind, unable to do anything to help himself as he is forced to watch everything that happens from here on out as a slient observer."

Emma became infuriated when the man used Killian's special name for her, and even more while he continued to speak so callously toward what he had just done, as the softness in her eyes changed to anger, then she responded, "No! I won't let you do this. I warned you I would stop you if you tried to hurt Killian. I won't let you kill him. I won't let him die again."

"Neither will we," David added sternly as he stepped in front of him to block his way when Brennan tried to leave, while Henry did the same. "Let Hook go, now!"

"I can't," the new villain replied smugly. "It's as I said, my son won't die. I didn't blame Killian for being angry with me for what I had done to him. I understand that selling him and his brother into servitude is the cruelest thing a father can do to his children. But I was disappointed Killian couldn't let go of his anger toward a monster far worse than myself, at least enough to spare my life. Especially when I had another son only thirteen years of age lying only a few feet away. I bet he didn't tell you that, did he?"

Emma closed her eyes for a few seconds in frustration and then looked back at him again as she answered, "No, he didn't. But he would have. We were just beginning to talk about his past. I know a lot about your son, certainly enough to know that he's a man who deserves my love, but he lived for centuries before we met. It'll take a lot of conversations for him to be able to tell me everything."

Brennan scoffed and then responded, "Go on and make as many excuses for him as you like, Emma. But the truth is, he forced me to abandon my son I had with my second wife when he killed me. She made me see the error of my ways and changed me into a better man, so I named him Liam, after my oldest son as a way to honor him and Killian both. And so that I would remember never to make the same mistake with my youngest that I had with my other sons. I failed to keep that promise I made to myself because of Killian. I had years… decades within a deep, dark corner of the Underworld to think on my actions as well as his. And my disappointment turned into anger and hate as I was tormented by the vilest of souls lucky not to have been tossed down into Tartarus by Hades the moment they died. That was my punishment for what I had done. However, there is nothing worse than not knowing what happened to my Liam."

"If you just asked, Killian would have told you what happened to him," Henry spoke up despondently over the possibility of losing the man he was beginning to see as his second father all over again. "He always believed in good form and that meant that even when he was Captain Hook, he never would have harmed a child. Hell, he risked his life to help my family save mine after I was taken to Neverland as Pan's hostage, when Killian had no reason to help us, except that he simply longed to be a part of something good, longed for a family that you never gave him."

"That's right, kid," the Savior replied proudly as she laid her hand down on her own son's shoulder, then looked over at Brennan again.

The oldest Jones scoffed and then answered, "You may be right, but I still have my reasons for doing what I'm going to do now."

Snow stood up from the booth as she moved to stand beside Granny and asked, "And what is that? The only place you're going is inside our jail until we can figure out how to save Killian. My husband and daughter are this town's sheriffs."

"I don't think so, madam," Brennan retorted coldly. "You see, I can read my son's thoughts and I can see that there is a possibility that Liam is still alive within the Enchanted Forest. I'm going to go find him, then once I discover the truth about what happened to him, if he still lives, I will take him to Neverland and use Killian's knowledge of that land so that we can live for however long I wish for us to. We will disappear and you will never see my son again."

"No, you won't," David responded more forcefully than he had before. "You need a magic bean or a portal to get there from here. And both are very hard to come by."

The man smiled as he turned to the Prince and replied, "Maybe the magic bean is, but the former Wicked Witch over here, or the former Evil Queen who's also changed her ways, both of them have the ability to wield something my son calls, the Apprentice's wand. With it they can create a portal for me."

Zelena laughed contemptuously and then asked, "And why would I ever help the likes of you? I'm not exactly a fan of the pirate's, but he is one of the good guys and my sister considers him a friend. I don't think so."

"I thought you'd say that," Hook's father answered calmly. "But eventually one of you will help me get to where I want to go. I won't risk getting the two of us killed again, but I can hurt him. And I will if I have to. The choice is yours, Miss. Swan."

"How can you do this?" Emma asked sadly as she glared at the face of the man she loved, but finally saw only the villain talking through him. "How can you do this to your own son?"

Brennan shouted back angrily, "You mean like how he could kill his own father? He deserves to suffer as I did. Killian wanted revenge on the man whom he calls a Crocodile so badly, this is the price he gets to pay, for all the lives he's ruined."

All of a sudden, he swiftly slashed Killian's hook deeply across David's chest, causing him to gasp in pain, and shoved him against Henry while his daughter and wife shouted his name, then Brennan fled from the diner before Emma, Zelena, or anyone else could do anything to stop him. Emma started to go after him, but hesitated and then turned back around as she immediately rushed to her father's side to heal him.

When she finished, David looked up into her eyes as he stated weakly, "Gah… Don't worry, Emma. We'll find him. We'll stop him from leaving and we will find a way to save Hook from that monster."

"How could I have let this happen?" the Savior asked miserably. "How could I have been so careless not to see how much of a threat he was?"

"Because he is Killian's father," Snow responded with worry as she laid her hand on her daughter's cheek to try to comfort her a little.

Emma shook her head in disdain as she began to cry and then replied, "Yeah, and I knew he was lying about something. I just didn't realize he was lying about everything he told me. But I should have. I never should have allowed him to get close to Killian. This is all my fault and now I might lose him, again."

David stood with his wife's help and leaned down to help Emma stand up as well, then he answered confidently, "You won't, Emma. Not ever again."

"David's right," Snow responded in agreement. "You share true love and nothing can defeat true love. You two, and your father and I, we're proof of that."

"I want to believe you, but until he's safe and that bastard is dead for good, I'm having a hard time believing you right now," she replied angrily.

It was then that Granny spoke up again after she had kept quiet during the whole ordeal saying, "There's one thing we ought to find out somehow and that's how exactly does a ghost have the ability to do… well whatever the hell he just did to Hook."

Emma thought for a moment and then answered, "You're right. Whoever helped Brennan escape the Underworld, had to have given him some kind of magic to pull this off. We need to find out who exactly started all of this. It might give us the answers we need to the rest of our questions."

"Henry, what's the matter?" Emma asked again as she looked over at the teenager and noticed the worry on his face as he was staring at his phone in his hands.

"It's Mom," he stated with concern. "She should have been here some time ago, but she hasn't answered any of my texts I've sent her."

Zelena nodded in agreement and responded, "He's right. She should have been here by now. What on earth is keeping her?"

Emma gave a heavy sigh again, then replied, "It looks like we're going to have to split up. Dad, you and me will go to try to find Killian. Henry, you go with Mom and Zelena to go find Regina. Call us if you find anything and be careful. Please protect them, Zelena. God knows what trouble we'll run into next."