*TRIGGER WARNING* for rape, torture-y stuff, and general violence.
Mother and son broke water sputtering but thoroughly pleased with themselves. Breathless, Emma wrapped one arm around Henry, tousled his sopping hair, and helped his exhausted body along with hers towards the dock. She yanked on one of the ropes securing Hook's ship to the harbor: it would easily take their weight.
"Can you pull yourself up, kid?" she asked him.
"Yeah," he said, his eyes glazed with the exhilaration of success and adventure. As he lifted his body out of the water and scrambled to swing his legs over the dock to climb up - he certainly inherited her quirky combination of athleticism and lack of grace - she received several mouthfuls of water from his dripping clothes.
"Sorry!" she heard his playful voice yell as he dragged himself onto the wooden slats. She looked up as his body disappeared onto land, expecting to see his shining face gleefully peering down at her, watching her come up and offering a hand.
It did not. There was only silence where she should have heard the sounds of his soaking figure clambering around, readjusting to being on land. A deep panic filled her, one that she had not known since he had eaten that damned apple turnover, to save her; to save everyone. "Henry?" No response. "HENRY!"
With one rough tug on the dangling rope, she yanked herself high enough to swing one of her legs onto the dock. Over-zealous in her effort, she overbalanced and nearly collapsed back into the water. A majestically shined hook, attached to the arm of a man she had never wanted to see again, appeared in her line of vision, steadily offered as something to grab hold of. Her stomach plummeted as she rebalanced herself on her own and launched herself onto the deck, slamming roughly into the man's waiting figure.
"Emma," he smiled, not missing a beat. "How absolutely ravishing you look when your clothes are soaked and see-through." Before she had the chance to do more than get her footing and open her mouth, the captain slammed her temple with the blunt side of his hook. She was out cold before she hit the ground.
Her head throbbed impossibly, and for a moment she wondered if it had all been one big drunken dream. But she was soaked, her arms and ankles secured firmly, painfully, behind her back, and she smelled sea air in her nostrils.
Henry.
She forced her eyes open into the too-bright light to find Hook sitting daintily on the steps leading up to the steering wheel of his ship, leering at her. She looked wildly around for her son and quickly located him, wild-eyed and clearly trying to yell from behind a red gag. He was, like his mother, tied upright to a wooden pillar, with a full-view of his bound and bleeding mother.
"Good morning, pet," Hook greeted her cheerfully.
"Hook, this is between us; let him go." She was pleased that she sounded infinitely more confident than she felt.
His smile firmly in place, Hook rose slowly and advanced on Emma. "Always about business, aren't we, Emma Swan? And I must say I appreciate that, because I have some business I'd very much like to discuss with you." His tone was still light.
"Hook, please - " Losing it a little, Swan. Keep it cool.
"Oho, polite all of a sudden, aren't we?"
"Hook - " Firmer now, enraged and emboldened by his mockery.
Still smiling, he slammed the blunt side of his hook across her mouth. She spit blood and heard Henry yelping, saw him struggling desperately against his bonds. Tears flooded Emma's eyes now as she struggled to keep pain out of her face for Henry. Henry.
The smile had left Hook's face. "When I want you to speak, Emma Swan, rest assured that I will inform you. Now. You have something I require: the ink I need to skin my crocodile. You also have something I desire. And as I see it, Swan, you owe me at least one of these things. I got you the compass, you took everything from me - betrayed me, several times - so now I'll take from you what I need." She struggled unsuccessfully against the ropes as he removed the vials of ink and potion from her pocket. He dangled them in front of her.
"What I require. And now, I think, is time to take what I desire. But I'd like to think that I'm an honorable man, Emma, so I'll be generous: how about combining what I want with a little lesson for your boy? Hm?" His face was mere inches from hers. Eyes not leaving Emma's, he raised his voice. "Henry! Tell me, lad, have you ever fantasized about being a pirate?"
Terrified into honesty, Henry nodded. Hook glanced at him and his smile returned, his gaze fixed back onto Emma. "Good lad. And as luck would have it, dear Henry, you are currently aboard the ship of the most magnificent pirate ever to live: myself, of course. And I'm going to give you your first pirating lesson today, free of charge! Now, doesn't that sound exciting?"
Emma could feel Henry trembling from where she stood, and she never knew her heart could be sliced into so many pieces and still beat. Hook uttered his next words with careful deliberation, addressing them more to Emma than to Henry, his eyes boring into hers violently.
"Your first lesson will be in how pirates deal with treacherous little sluts like your mother, Henry. Pay close attention, now."
"Hook, please," she began, her breath ragged and her voice all but completely broken, "not in front of him, he's a child, he's my son - "
The captain raised his Hook and Emma inhaled sharply as Henry screamed behind his gag and writhed against his restraints. Instead of crashing down on his captive's face again, the captor tore his hook down with lightning speed, slicing the front of Emma's jeans open with precision, metal menacingly grazing the vulnerable flesh between her legs. Tearing the denim open wider, Hook pressed himself into her hips, bringing his fingered hand down to unlatch the front of his pants as she nearly vomited at the feeling of his hard cock pressing into her trembling body.
Henry's throat-ripping screams through his gag tore into Emma's body harder than any unwanted cock ever could, as she tried one last time.
"Please, Hook, not in front of my - "
"Oh nonsense, Ms. Swan, my father showed me this at a young enough age. And what I learned was really quite instructive, you see." His eyes sparkled with venom and - was it pain? lost love? grief? disappointment? - as he poised himself at her vulnerable entrance. "There's only one way to deal with women as conniving as you." Not taking his eyes off of hers, he dug his hand into her hair, yanked her head back into the wooden plank to which she was tied, and roughly slammed his hips forward, forcing himself fully into her body, sending a pain throughout her entire being that was so profound that she wasn't sure if she was even still alive. Henry. Henry. Henry. Regina.
And suddenly it was over, a deafening bang overshadowing Henry's muffled screams, and she opened her eyes to see - she must be dead, because it was impossible - a figure she knew quite well kicking her heel directly into Hook's crotch, sending him careening backwards even farther than her magic had. His shout of anger and pain filled the ship and Emma's bones as the apparition wrenched his hook out of its socket and chucked it, in one swift motion, into the water.
Hook's screams ignited the air as Regina Mills, literally glowing with grieved rage, pummeled her fists, magic forgotten, over and over and over again, onto Hook's face, repeatedly slamming her heels into his crotch when her knuckles grew raw with their attentions to his face.
"Move, Regina," Emma heard a deep voice say as she felt the trembling fingers of her mother untying her.
David was standing, poised with his sword high above his head, above the writhing figure of Hook, paralyzed by the strength of Regina's rage and the agonizing impact of the Queen's footwear on his crotch. Glancing up from her assault on Hook's face, Regina backed away from the man, kicking him roughly as she did so, her face awash with tears and her body trembling even harder than Emma's was.
"No! Wait!" Emma found her shaking voice as Snow finished untying her and Regina removed Henry's gag, stroking his face endlessly as she sobbed openly and released him from his bonds.
"Don't kill him," she choked out as Regina turned to look at her, face contorted with terrified awe and confusion.
She looked at David and saw that tears covered his face as well. "Emma, he's a monster, we saw what he did to you."
"Yeah, maybe he really fucking is. But he did it to me, David, so I get to decide what happens now." She tried to glance down at the man, and gagged at the sight of him. She turned away from Henry and Regina and wretched violently, leaning against the pillar for support, thinking hard and fast as her stomach flipped outward out of her mouth. She remembered what he said about his father, and furious empathy filled her. An idea struck her as she wiped her mouth roughly with the back of her hand.
"When Henry and I were in the ocean, we didn't just get the ink. Ursula gave us this potion thing that lets you start your life over, as a baby. I thought we could use it on Cora, but we - we'll find something else for her." She thought of Henry's report of Flotsam and Jetsum. "I know just the people that would want a baby." Her body shuddered, not knowing if she was ready to look at the woman who was standing at her side, embracing their crying son, unsure if the blonde was ready to be touched.
"Regina," her voice quaked, avoiding her eyes, "is there some sort of spell that you could use to make him a merperson baby?" Regina nodded shakily, wearily.
"But Emma," she said cautiously, "you don't feel he deserves - "
"Do I feel that hedeserves to die? Oh yeah. But do I think he does? Not for a second. Just like you don't deserve to die. Revenge can't help," she said thickly. She glanced at Regina, not wanting her comment to come off as an aggression towards the Queen's horrific past.
Meeting her lover's wild, tear-filled, agony-laden eyes broke something in Emma. She fell to her knees at the feet of her son and lover as Regina whispered the words that Emma hadn't the strength for. "But your family can."
Emma gathered her weeping son into her arms as Regina took Emma tenderly into hers and Snow roughly tied Hook up and gagged him, for once taking a leaf out of Regina's book and giving him a sound kick as she stood. Satisfied that Hook was secured, Emma's grief-stricken parents hovered over the Swan-Mills family, silently crying into each other. One of the first images David had of his grown daughter was of her tied to a post on a ship, being raped in front of his grandson... He sobbed into Snow's quaking shoulder. Steadied somewhat by the energizing force of the magic that was their touch, Emma gently pulled back from Regina and Henry's embrace, trembling hands cupping Henry's face.
"I'm alright now, Henry. I'm safe. And so are you. And so is your mom." She paused and looked up at Regina. "Speaking of which, how - ?"
"It's a long story, dear," Regina said, not unkindly. "Henry?" She changed her tone gently. "You know you can talk to us about what happened, when you're ready."
"Eyecunnenheloo," Henry choked between sobs. Regina and Emma glanced at each other, nonplussed.
"Say it again, kid," Emma encouraged softly. Silently, his mothers willed the energy of their magic to flow deeper into him, and they watched it steady him as he gulped for calmer breaths. He lifted his tortured eyes to Emma.
"He was hurting you, and I couldn't help you," he moaned. Emma's face screwed up in agony and she pulled him forward into her chest, clutching him desperately, hoping against hope that letting him leave the water first hadn't completely shattered his ability to believe in the "good" that he held so dear. She looked helplessly at Regina, whose mascara had almost completely blackened her face. The older woman took a deep breath, nuzzling her face into his hair.
Voice trembling only slightly, Regina spoke. "I know what that feels like, honey. And I know that that helplessness when someone we love is in pain is the worst feeling in all the realms." Emma thought about the hatred in Regina's eyes as she punched and kicked Hook. "But you know what, sweetheart?" Henry sniffed a response into Emma's chest, and both women smiled ruefully at his persistent adorableness. "Sometimes even the strongest heroes are helpless, but do you know what it is that makes sure that - that good still wins, no matter what?" Henry emerged from Emma's chest, looking in hope at his mother.
"What?" he asked, his voice thick and teary. Emma's heart soared: he wanted to know, which meant he hadn't given up. Regina leaned closer to Henry's face conspiratorially and smiled gently, hopefully.
"Love," she whispered, as Emma nodded emphatically and Snow's heart broken again, remembering when a much younger, much less damaged Regina had talked about love like that to her.
A slow, small, trusting smile crept across Henry's face. Regina nuzzled his nose with hers, and his hesitant smile broadened. "Now go with your grandparents for a moment, Henry, so I can get your mother cleaned up." He hesitated.
"We'll be right here, kid," Emma assured him. He nodded and rose.
"Oh, Henry," Regina called. He looked down at her. Regina waved her hand and with a subtle whirl of the air around him, he was completely dry, and the bruises and scrapes from his struggles against the ropes had vanished.
"Cool," he whispered in gratitude, and he scampered into the open arms of Snow and Charming.
Left alone, a silence grew between the lovers. Regina didn't know what Emma was ready to face, but she knew that the completely uncensored rage that she had unleashed on Hook spoke more to Emma of her love for her than words or any of her other actions yet had. In her anger, she had made herself vulnerable, though not nearly as vulnerable, she knew, as her lover, always miming and aspiring to a thick skin, who had been forced open, in front of her son, then in front of her new lover and newly-found parents. The older woman was intimately familiar with overwhelming fear, intense physical pain, and humiliation, but she knew even she could not begin to fathom Emma's trauma. As for the Savior, she didn't know how to look at her Queen, knowing that Regina was quite possibly in more pain than she was: she knew how broken she would be if the roles were reversed. She certainly was in unbearable agony herself, having failed to protect their son from perhaps the most horrible thing he could have witnessed, wondering how to address the woman with whom she had just confessed love and a desire to be a family. Was that only hours ago? It seemed impossible, like so many other things did at that moment.
"Em-ma." Regina's soft whisper, her unique annunciation of her name, roused the blonde from her numbly pained reflections. Emma made a noise in the back of her throat to indicate that she'd heard her brown-eyed savior, but couldn't meet her eyes. "Emma, Henry's going to be just fine. And I know he only views you as stronger now, nothing else." Wondering in awe about how well Regina could read her mind, Emma chanced a look into her eyes. The older woman offered her a soft smile.
"Hi," she whispered, eliciting a returned smile from her love.
"Hey," Emma croaked.
"Can I dry you off and clean you up, sweetheart?" Regina asked gently. Emma hesitated. "No touch required," Regina assured her, heart breaking. Emma marveled at her insight, but shook her head.
"I want your touch," she mumbled, realizing in that moment how desperately she wanted, needed, Regina's gentle touch to heal her, to cleanse her, body and soul, from her irrepressible urge to scrub her skin so hard it would come off, to crawl out of her own body in disgust and shame. She longed for Regina's touch to make her feel whole, feel human, again.
Regina raised Emma's hands to her face and caressed them with her cheeks, knowing they could not kiss until Cora was subdued, ignoring the traces of vomit on Emma's hand. The contact sent drying warmth from her fingertips to her toes. "I'm going to spend the rest of my life touching you, always when you want it, and never when you don't, Emma Swan."
Emma leaned forward into the brunette's embrace, feeling grounded for the first time in a terribly long time. She felt Regina's spells coursing through her, cleaning and healing her skin where she had cut herself against the ropes and wiped her vomit, sealing the bloodied gashes where Hook had slammed her temple and mouth, mending her jeans and underwear, soothing the bruises he had forced into her body.
"Thank you," Emma whispered into Regina's neck, for so much more than drying her off, healing her wounds, and fixing her clothes. She pulled back from their hug, meeting Regina's eyes with the biggest smile she could manage. She wiped her hands across the brunette's face, willing the tears, mascara, and traces of Hook's blood away. To her slight surprise, her magic worked, cleansing her lover's face, soothing her sore knuckles, and bringing a smile to her full lips.
"I want to kiss you so badly," Emma whispered earnestly.
"Soon, my love," the older woman replied, caressing Emma's face gently.
"Soon indeed." A bitter voice interrupted them as they heard matching oomphs issue from the mouths of Snow and Charming as they were slammed and bound to opposite sides of the ship. The recovering lovers whipped around, standing up simultaneously as Regina magicked Henry back to their side.
Cora smiled calmly as she soaked in the moment, at once relishing and resenting the fear in her daughter's eyes.