"I'm going to murder that bloody git!" Killian growled, turning in a circle to take in all the mayhem around them. "I'm going to plant my hook in his diminutive face!"
Emma grimaced. "I get where you're coming from. I kind of want to string the tiny bastard up by his toes for trying to ruin our honeymoon, but I think we need to be strategic about this."
He shot her a wary look. "Just what are you suggesting, love?"
"I'm saying," Emma answered, "that our 'control Blackbeard' strategy doesn't seem to be working. Maybe we should try a new tactic."
"Such as?"
"Maybe instead of just putting him in prison, we make him an offer he can't refuse," Emma said, looking grim.
"Bloody hell, Swan!" Killian said, "are you seriously suggesting we make a deal with that arsehole? After all the trouble he's put us through ever since Neverland?"
"Not a deal, precisely," Emma answered, "more of an ultimatum. What if we threaten to leave him somewhere to be rodent food if he doesn't start cooperating?"
A feral grin lit up Killian's face. "Now there's the cunning pirate lass I married!"
"But before we do anything, we need to find the son of a bitch," Emma said.
She closed her eyes in concentration, took a deep breath, and then waved her hand. A moment later, Blackbeard, shouting in surprise, zoomed into her open hand.
"What the buggering devil?!" he asked, glowering up at her. The effect was rather marred by the fact that he was no more than two inches tall.
"I might ask you the same thing, you gormless buggar!" Killian said. "What the bloody hell do you mean by defacing our bedchamber in such a manner?"
"And how did you even get out of the hold?" Emma asked, setting him on the desk and putting her hands on her hips.
He shot her a look that clearly said idiot. "Pirate."
"Of course," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Did you call me to your chamber…or rather, as this is my ship that you so inconsiderately stole, my chamber…for a reason?" Blackbeard asked. "If not, kindly send me back where you found me. I've a fair amount of pillaging and plundering to attend to."
Killian growled. "If you know what's good for you, mate, you'll shut your bloody mouth!"
Emma placed a gentle hand on Killian's arm. "It's okay. I got this."
"And what exactly is it that the lovely Mrs. Hook has 'got'?" Blackbeard asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Just this, you tiny little son of a bitch," Emma said, getting in his tiny face, "You are not going to ruin what's left of our honeymoon or we'll squash you like the bug you are."
"I'd like to see you try, love," Blackbeard said. "It could end up being quite enjoyable for both of us. And since I'm feeling generous this evening, I might even let your husband watch."
For a moment Emma thought Killian really was going to murder him this time. Finally he took a step back, clenching his jaw. "Get on with it, Swan," Killian said, "before I do something I'll regret."
"The way I look at it," Emma said, glaring at the little pirate, "you have two options. Either you agree to cooperate and behave yourself for the rest of this honeymoon, and we take you back to Storybrooke with us and I restore you to your former self, or we sail to the first deserted island we come to and maroon your tiny, worthless ass where you'll have to hope and pray no indigenous rodents decide to make you their dinner."
Blackbeard eyed her carefully. "Just like that?" he asked. "You want me to believe you'll take me to your home land, make me big and just let me go?"
"There will be conditions, of course," Emma said.
"Such as?"
"One, you give up your stupid attempt to steal the Jolly," Emma said. "She belongs to Killian, and if you were stupid enough to lose her to him twice after you took her, it's your own fault. Two, we don't just let you go. You're on probation. I put a tracking spell on you for the next year, and the second you steal so much as a toothpick from Granny's you're right back to being Small, and I toss you in our premium cell in the basement of the mental hospital."
Blackbeard grumbled under his breath.
"What was that?" Emma asked, crossing her arms, "I didn't quite catch that."
"I said," Blackbeard said in evident ill-temper, "that you have an accord."
"Wise move, mate," Killian said.
Blackbeard glared up at him. "Captain Hook really has gone soft," he said. "I never would have believed I'd see the day where Captain Hook stands behind his wife's skirts and lets her make the decisions."
Killian wrapped an arm around Emma's waist. "When a man finds a woman with as much intelligence, courage, wisdom and all-around perfection as my Emma, he would be a bloody fool not to give her ideas the utmost consideration. Perhaps one day, should you give up being such a prat, you'll find your own love and learn the joys of an equal partnership with a strong woman."
Emma tutted. "Yeah, I wouldn't hold my breath on that one."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
The next morning Killian tossed their last bean (save the one that would return them to Storybrooke) into the sea, and sailed them through.
Early that morning as they lay wrapped in each other's arms, they'd discussed just where their last bean should take them.
"It's your turn, love," Killian said. "Where shall we go to finish our honeymoon?"
Emma thought for a moment. "This is going to sound really weird, and I don't know if it's even possible, but as long as we're checking on people in other lands, there's one last land I'd like to visit."
"Aye? And which land is that?"
"The Wish World," Emma said.
Killian shot her a surprised look. "You wish to return to the Evil Queen's fantasy world? Whatever for?"
She'd shrugged against him. "I know it wasn't real and everything, but I have a whole lifetime of memories from my life in that place. And though he wasn't real, Henry in the Wish World was my son. The way we left him…he'd just lost his grandparents and his mother disappeared. I just want to make sure he's okay."
Killian rolled over and kissed her. "Then to the Wish World we shall go."
As they washed up on the shores of the Wish World version of the Enchanted Forest, Killian took Emma's hand, and they began walking.
"Last I saw Henry," Emma said, "he was riding through the countryside with a group of knights looking for Regina to get his revenge. I have no idea where to start looking now."
"Didn't you tell me that when you were here you started your journey by talking to your friend, the wooden man-child?" Killian asked, managing to keep the grimace on his face to a minimum.
"August?" Emma asked, looking over at him. "Yeah, I mean, I guess we could ask him what's going on. Certainly wouldn't hurt."
They found August in his workshop, hammering away at what looked like it was going to become a rocking chair. From time to time, he struck up a conversation with the cricket that sat at the far end of his work bench.
Emma knocked at the open door frame, and August looked up, startled by the interruption. When he saw her, August's face lit up.
"Emma!" he said, pulling his work apron over his head and rushing toward her. "This is quite a surprise! I hope everything is alright in your home land?"
Emma smiled, squeezing Killian's hand before dropping it so she could show off her ring. "Everything's fine. In fact more than fine. Killian and I are on our honeymoon. Thought we'd drop in and make sure everything's good around here."
The cricket, wearing a top hat and holding an umbrella, came to perch on Emma's hand and looked down at her finger and then chirped in what sounded to Killian like approval.
Meanwhile, August had yet to comment. Killian looked up at him curiously and saw the animated puppet staring at him slack jawed, his eyebrows raised nearly to his hairline.
"That's…that's great," August finally said after clearing his throat and shaking his head slightly. "I must say, your world's version of Captain Hook is…almost unrecognizable. I'm sorry to stare but, wow! I can't even wrap my mind around it."
Killian turned toward Emma. "Love, just how altered was I in this mixed up reality?"
She grinned mischievously. "Well, you were still handsome. I don't think anything would be powerful to knock the handsome out of you, but….you were…kind of a mess."
August laughed. "That's an understatement. He's a full-on walking disaster."
"I beg your pardon!" Killian bristled. "You're quite bold to say such a thing to my very face!"
Emma put a gentle hand on his arm. "Trust me babe, the version of you the Evil Queen dreamt up? So very, very not you. At all."
Killian calmed. Emma's touch was wont to do that to a man.
"Can I interest you in a cup of tea?" August said after a moment. "Jiminy and I were just about to take a break for some refreshments."
"That's nice of you," Emma said, "but we've really got to start searching."
"Searching for what?" August asked. "Emma, don't tell me you're trapped here again! We used the last enchanted tree to make your portal last time."
"No, that's not it," Emma hastened to reassure. "It's just…when Regina and I left the last time, Henry was in a pretty bad place. He'd just seen my parents die, and then I disappeared. I just wanted to, you know, make sure he's okay. Do you, by any chance, have any idea where he might be?"
August's brows furrowed. "I'm sorry, Emma, but that's a complete mystery. He continued to look for you, out for the Evil Queen's blood, but a few weeks ago he just…disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Killian asked, "whatever do you mean?"
August shot him a wary look. "Well, Captain, you ought to know. You—or rather your other self—were the last one seen with him."
"What?!"
Jiminy Cricket landed on the table near them and began chirping animatedly.
"Um, sorry," Emma said. "Don't speak cricket."
"He said that he saw what happened," August said. "Henry left his knights and went off on his own and Captain Hook happened to corner him."
"Corner him?" Emma asked. "Tell me he didn't hurt him!"
"No," August said, "he wasn't hurt, but Hook apparently kidnapped him, looking for a ransom from the kingdom or some such nonsense."
"And where exactly did my other self take the lad?"
August shrugged. "That's where things get murky. The last thing Jiminy saw—the last thing anyone saw, Hook had just kidnapped Henry. After that…nothing. They just seemed to disappear. I'm sorry I can't be of more help, Emma, but I'm afraid we know little more than you do."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"They couldn't have just disappeared into thin air!" Emma said, pacing the deck of the Jolly. "They have to be somewhere."
After leaving August and Jiminy Cricket, she and Killian had decided to head back to shore, believing Captain Hook was most likely to hold Henry on his own home turf—his version of the Jolly Roger, but when they'd reached the shore, they'd found precious few leads.
They'd walked the beach for a good several miles, when they spotted a second Jolly, and for a moment, Emma felt triumph, believing they'd found her son and his kidnapper, but it turned out to be a dead end. They'd boarded the ship only to find it empty—save for the terrible mess everywhere one looked. Empty rum bottles, dirty dishes and clutter was piled up all around.
Killian grimaced. "I ought to flog the Wish World version of me for leaving my ship in such squalor!"
"Well get in line," Emma said grimly. "First I plan to kick his ass for kidnapping my son. That is, assuming of course, we ever find them."
Killian took her into his arms and held her for a moment. "Don't worry, Swan. We'll find them and we'll set all to rights."
Emma pulled back enough to look up at him. "I really love you, you know."
"Aye," he said. "And I'm every bit as enamored of you, my love. We'll find them, I swear it."
Emma reached up on tip toes and kissed him, drawing in his confidence, his belief in her. The embrace went on for several moments, but then suddenly Emma noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Several yards out, there was a disturbance in the water, ripples growing bigger and bigger before something huge and metal began to emerge.
To Emma's surprise, Killian started to smile. "Swan! I don't believe it! It's the Nautilus!"
"Nemo's sub?" Emma asked.
As they watched, the giant sub fully reached the surfaces, and then Captain Nemo and Liam emerged.
"The very same," Nemo said, giving her a courtly bow, "and as luck would have it, I think we can be of service to you. Meet our newest recruits."
A moment later, Wish World Hook and Henry emerged from below.
Notes:
-So WW Hook kidnapped Henry, but the both of them ended up getting more than they bargained for when Nemo showed up. I figured if anyone in the Wish World could benefit from the kind of help Nemo specializes in it would be the pirate who'd wasted his life on revenge and the boy who'd just started down that path. I intended to get into more of their time with Nemo, Liam Hook and Henry in this chapter, but this seemed like a good place to pause.
-Up next: Emma and Killian spend some time on the Nautilus, and find out just what's been happening with Wish World Hook and Henry. Then, down to one magic bean, Emma and Killian close out their honeymoon and return to Storybrooke. This story is really drawing to a close. Only one chapter to go!
