Chapter 9: Alice

Emma:

She looked down the hall and saw a number of doors. Which door am I supposed to open, she asked herself. She started with the door to the furthest door to the left. Just from the outside, it looked so much fancier than all of the other cabin doors. With the solid mahogany wood compared to the rusted oak doors, the door had gold linings, but it's not the door that pushed her onward; to the right, a golden plate read "Killian Jones, Captain."

So, this is Hook's personal space, she read…why not take a peek? There's nothing wrong with that right?

She pushed the door open carefully, releasing a low creak from the hinges. Quickly, she whipped her head around to make sure that no one heard. She took a step into the room and scanned it. What the fuck, she thought, this definitely is not a captain's cabin. The bed was a statement, with the same mahogany wood that made the frame, with golden colored sheets and feather fluff pillows, king sized. The only other object that stood out was the treasure chest that sat at the foot of the bed. Emma stared at it, but found a lock. Dammit, she thought. She gave it a shot anyway.

She walked up and tried to pry the lid open, and surprisingly, it did. It wasn't gold she found, but clothes. Where's all the treasure?

She took one more scan of the room and found a simple desk, with a chair, a lamp, a quill, and a piece of paper lying on the center of the desk. Yeah, Hook, you have only one piece of paper to write on, smart much?

She took three strides and picked up the paper. No, it wasn't a paper. It was a picture. What the hell, she wondered. Who is this…?

Emma brought the picture closer so she could get a better look. This can't be Milah, she's too young, she continued to examine.

It was a picture of a little girl: dirty-blond hair that was kept out of her face with a simple black bow. Her hair flowed to the middle of her back. Her deep blue eyes matched Killian's and she had the same sly grin on her face, but there was also an aura of curiosity in her eyes. Her blue dress emphasized the color of her eyes. Emma looked and noticed the background. It looked as if it were in a forest, there was a lot of surrounding grass and trees…there was a manor to the left side of the little girl. She turned it over and saw words written on the back.

"Dearest Killian," it read. "I miss you. I've been longing to see you because it's been too long. Come find me soon if you wish to see me for the last time…"

The rest of the words were smudged out with finger prints. Emma turned the picture back so it was facing up. She looks familiar, Emma tried so hard to think of the girl's name, but she just couldn't put a finger on it.

"Emma Swan just couldn't resist, could you, love?" Emma jumped as she heard Hook's voice in the doorway.

"Hook, I –I –I'm…I'm sorry," Emma said, still in shock from hearing him.

"You did know this was the Captain's quarters, why did you bother coming in?" Emma saw that Hook was clearly upset.

"I –I don't know," she continued to stutter, though.

"Never, ever, look through my possessions again, unless I've given you permission," he warned her.

Emma was about to place the picture back on the table, but she continued to hold it. "Hook," she turned to him. She'd revealed some things about herself, now it was his turn. "Who is this girl?"

A look of sadness, sorrow, devastation showed on his face. She could tell she'd just asked something personal because she watched, feeling bad, as he turned back around and began to walk away.

"KILLIAN JONES, YOU LOOK AT ME RIGHT NOW!" Emma yelled. She lowered her voice. "I'm sorry, but I've told you a little about my life, and now it's your turn. You told me to trust you, and guess what, maybe I do. So, you can trust me too."

Hook walked back into the room and took the picture from Emma's hold. He held it up next to his face so that Emma could see it clearly. He pointed a finger to the girl. Emma listened as he said the next words, and the next words took a while for Emma to register as she couldn't believe anything that was said.

"Emma Swan," Killian looked at her, making sure she could hear and feel the pain in voice.

"This is my little sister, Alice."

Killian:

He'd never told anyone the story, except for Milah. It hurt so much to bring back the memories of Alice. He took a seat in the desk chair while Emma leaned on the wall, arms crossed. I guess I'm telling the princess too, Killian thought, but how do I start?

"Alice," Emma said surprised. "I can see the resemblance."

"Don't be so modest, love," Killian continued to stare at the picture.

"No, really, her eyes look just like yours. She has the same look on her face, as if she's always up to trouble. She reminds me of you," Killian looked over and heard her laugh quietly. He couldn't help but smile himself. It was the first time he'd heard someone say the two siblings looked alike.

"She was my best friend," Killian turned to Emma.

"So…what happened?" she asked, "if you don't mind me asking."

"I must say, love, I do enjoy telling you my stories because you actually take the time to listen."

"It's what I do," Emma returned a caring smile.

"Alright then, princess. Here's what happened."

Killian took a deep breath and told Emma pretty much his life story.

"Alice and I were born here, in this land. King Leopold had just risen to the throne, but your mother wasn't born yet. His original wife was still alive and Regina was still unknown to the family.

"Our father was Leopold's personal assistant; our mother was a palace messenger, the only female one. We lived in the manor that was about a quarter of a mile away from the palace itself."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Emma interrupted. "You knew my grandfather? How old are you?"

"We'll get to that, love," Killian smiled. "Let me continue."
And so, he continued:
"Every day, Alice and I would play in the yard; you see, our yard stretched for about one mile, so we pretty much had a section of the forest blocked off for us. Well, there was this section of the yard that was blocked off. I remember, father always said 'if you go there, King Leopold will have to take away your play area and you'll never see this house again.' It took so much for Alice and I to keep ourselves away from the area.

"Spring had just begun and Alice and I were home alone. Father was away with Leopold at another kingdom and mother had gone overseas on royal business. Alice told me, 'Killian, let's go out and play!' So, being the older brother, I swore to myself that I'd watch her and protect her."

Killian looked down, not wanting Emma to see the tears forming in his eyes.

"Alice was always the curious and the more imaginative one between the both of us. She told me, 'mother and father aren't home, so they won't know that we went to the forbidden area.' I tried to stop her, but she couldn't resist. 'Killian, there's a white rabbit, over there!' I looked over to where she pointed, and I saw the rabbit she was looking at, but there was something off about the rabbit, so I told her to leave it alone. Of course, she didn't listen, and ran after it, chasing it. I ran after her and saw that she'd reached the area that we'd never seen before. There was a marble white gazebo in front of us. She was standing inside of it, staring down at the middle. I ran to her so I could see what she was staring at…There was a hole, but it was covered by wood. I tried pulling her back, but once again, she resisted. She pried at the wooden cover, but it wouldn't open. I asked why she was trying to open the wooden cover, and she told me 'the white rabbit went down the hole!' I honestly don't know why she wanted the white rabbit so much, but I tried three times to take her back to the manor, but she kept going at the cover. Finally, it was the first time I'd gotten angry with her, so I had to reach over to pull her from the ground, but…the wooden cover opened."

He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He began to speak, when Emma came over and held his hand for support. She could tell that he was having a hard time telling the story. "Hook, if you don't want to continue, I'm not forcing you to."

He wanted to stop talking, but he wanted to keep talking. Milah interrupted and made fun of Killian when he choked up, but Emma cared because she knew what it was like to lose a family member. So, Killian continued.

"I don't know what happened next, honestly. One moment I was holding on to her, the next she was falling down the hole…she must've let go of me for some reason, but it was the last time I saw her."

"I thought you said the wooden cover was stuck. Was there a lock on it?"

"No, I still don't understand to this day how it opened up. But, I sat there for the rest of the day, waiting for her to come back, but she never came. It was so hard to me to walk back to the manor that night. I had to tell my parents that she'd run away because I knew if they found out that we'd gone to the forbidden area, my family would've been banned from the castle grounds. Mother and father were devastated; Leopold sent out a search party, but she was never found.

"I was fifteen when I asked my parents. I asked what was hidden in the forbidden area. I ran away about three hours after they told me."

"That's why you named the ship Alice," Emma said, still holding Killian's hand.

He nodded. He held up the picture. "Alice always kept this picture with her. She ripped off the other side, which was a picture of me; our parents took the picture in the front yard. It was the last picture our parents took of the two of us. I found it on my bedroom desk the day I left home. It's the only picture I have of her; she has the other half."

"So, where did she go? Did the hole lead to some other place?" Killian could tell by the look in Emma's eyes that she'd already discovered the truth.

"Wonderland."