Hey guys! So I did get a request to write out my ideas for why it isn't going to be Neal in the coffin at the end of the season, I'm just going to write out the main ones.
'Believe in second chances' was written on Neal's promotional poster that was released just before episode 3x11. I don't think that they would pair that saying with him unless they were going to give him that second chance. The chance of a good relationship with his father, the chance of being a father to Henry, and the chance to be with Emma. And I don't think that second chance will only last one episode. Now who knows when we will find out about what is going on with Neal at the moment, or when he and Emma will be reunited after being separated for the second time this season. But I think that he will get his second chance, and it won't be a second chance to die.
One of the most important reasons of why Neal is not going to die, and that is because he already did. Neal 'died' at the end of episode 2x21, now us as fans learned that he was alive at the end of episode of 2x22. But the entire cast spent that final episode and the beginning of season 3, at least 6 episodes, thinking that he was dead. We saw their reactions, how Rumple ultimately decided to go on a mission that he thought would lead to his death because his son was dead and his son was all Rumple cared about (besides Belle of course!) we saw Henry lose the father he was just getting to know and love and most of all we saw Emma lose the man she had just said 'I love you' to, and heard it back. Neal's death has already been explored to its full extent, it would bring nothing to the plot to just kill him off now.
Neal has been a key part of the entire plot of Once Upon A Time since before we even saw him in episode 2x01 and officially met him in 2x06. He is the reason that Rumple created the curse, and gave it to Regina to cast. His story isn't done. And without him we wouldn't have Henry, who helped his mom break the curse. And though Neal has apologized to Emma for what happened all those years ago, I don't think she has fully forgiven him yet and she can't trust him without being able to forgive him first. His story is not done, and I don't think that they will be able to wrap everything up by the end of the season.
So that's why I don't think that Neal will be the one in the ground at the end of this season, and I have no clue who will be. But I don't want it to be Hook just so Swanfire can happen either, that would be a kind of lousy end to the issue all us Oncer's have been arguing over for a while now.
Believe in second chances
Neal woke up around nine the next morning, the first thing he did was go and check on Henry. Neal listened at the door first and heard nothing out of the ordinary, since Henry was usually awake by now Neal knocked on the door
"Yo, buddy you still human?" he asked
"Yeah dad!" yelled out Henry just as Neal got a text from David
-Hansel and Gretel's dad remembered something else, his kids were saying that they felt sick about an hour before they went missing. Neal read this before asking Henry
"Do you feel at all sick?"
"I feel fine!" said Henry
"Alright I'm going to let you out but on one condition." Said Neal
"What?" asked Henry
"If you feel even the tiniest bit weird or sick you tell me or your mother immediately, you got it?" said Neal
"Got it!" agreed Henry. Neal broke the seal on the door and opened it Henry jumped off his bed and walked towards his dad
"Go on into the kitchen, I'm going to wake up your mother." Said Neal, Henry nodded and went downstairs. While on his way back to their room Neal sent a quick text to David
-Henry's ok, at least for now
-good, as far as I know no one else has gone missing. Replied David, Neal put his phone away and walked into his room to find Emma still sleeping, the room was completely dark thanks to the curtains that hung on the windows. Neal walked over to one of the windows, the one closest to the bed and pulled open the curtains.
"Hey!" said Emma as the light hit her, forcing her to wake up.
"Henry's ok, he's waiting to eat breakfast downstairs." Said Neal
"You know, you used to like sleeping in." said Emma grumpily
"Yes but you have a job to get to, David is waiting for you at the sheriff's office." Said Neal as he pulled the covers off Emma and grabbed her arms to pull her up. Once she was on her feet Neal gave her a quick kiss before leading her away from the bed.
"I'm gonna check on Henry, see if he's feeling weird, if you're not down there in ten I'm gonna come back up here with a glass of water to throw on you." He said, Emma grumbled about something that sounded like 'hate you' so Neal smiled and said
"Love you too!" before ducking out of the room and heading downstairs and helping Henry with breakfast
Exactly ten minutes later Emma showed up in the kitchen
"I'm running late, don't have time for breakfast." She said as she kissed her son on the top of the head, Neal was pouring her a to go cup of coffee
"Here, take this." He said, handing her the cup and a protein bar
"Thanks, love you both, gotta run!" said Emma, excepting the food and kissing her husband on the cheek before running out of the kitchen, Neal realized that she didn't have her keys on her
"Emma wait! You forgot something!" when Emma turned around Neal tossed her the keys which Emma caught with the hand holding the protein bar
"Thanks, bye!" she said, running out of the house, Neal chuckled and looked at his son
"So what do you want to do today?" asked Neal, Henry shrugged and continued to eat his waffles
"Ok…do you wanna have a swordfight?" asked Neal, Henry shook his head, Neal sighed and sat down next to his son
"Listen to me." Said Neal softly, he waited until Henry looked at him before continuing
"Grace is going to be fine, she's a strong girl, she will be fine, so will Hansel and Gretel. I know you're friends with all of them and that you miss them a lot, but there is nothing you can do for them right now, I know it's hard but you have to believe that everything will be resolved soon. Just don't lose hope Henry." Said Neal, Henry nodded and stared down at his half-finished waffles
"Can we go horseback riding?" he asked suddenly
"Yeah, yeah sure buddy just finish your breakfast first and we can go to the stables!" agreed Neal.
Meanwhile Hook and Red are sitting in Red's car which is parked on the side of the road, Hook is in the driver's seat looking extremely confused as he stares at the controls that Red is pointing out to him, carefully explaining to him what each is for. Red had decided that Hook needed to learn how to drive.
"Ok so that's the gas and that's the brake." Finished off Red, Hook nodded and put his hands on the wheel where Red told him to and gingerly took his foot off the brake, the car slowly started to move forward and Hook turned the wheel, attempting to get the car out into traffic before pressing on the brake hard as he was about to hit another car.
"Ok I can't do this." He said, clearly panicking, Red laughed and decided to give him break
"Ok put the car in park and we can switch seats." She said, still laughing, Hook did as she said and the both got out of the car just as Red was going to get in the driver's seat a flying monkey came out of nowhere and knocked her to the ground, Red cried out in pain
"Red! Are you ok?" asked Hook, rushing over to her. Red was bleeding heavily from a cut in her shoulder
"Bloody hell." He said as he picked her up and ran off to the hospital which was thankfully just a few blocks away. Hook burst through the doors of the hospital a few minutes later
"Please, she was attacked and she needs help!" he shouted, Whale came running over with nurses following behind him with a gurney
"Put her on here." Said Whale, Hook gently placed Red on the gurney, she was floating in and out of consciousness. Hook made to follow them but a nurse kept him back
"I'm sorry but you can't go with her right now, I will come and get you when we've patched her up" said the nurse, Hook nodded and the nurse ran off after the doctor. Hook remembered that Red had given him her cell phone a little bit ago to hold on to, he still had it. He pulled out the phone and called the sheriff's office, knowing that that was where he would find Emma or David.
Emma was sitting at her desk when the phone rang, David moved to pick it up
"I got it!" said Emma and David let her pick up the phone
"Sheriff Swan." Said Emma as a greeting
-Swan thank god, Red and I were just attacked by a flying monkey, Red's hurt I brought her to the hospital. Explained Hook
"How bad is she?" asked Emma
-deep cut in her shoulder, she was barely conscious by the time I got her here.
"Ok, I'm on my way, stay put." Emma hung up the phone and grabbed her red jacket
"Red just got attacked by flying monkey, could you stay here and man the phone just in case there are others?" Emma asked David, who nodded and Emma ran outside.
And that ends another chapter of Emma's Choice, I hope you guys liked it! And if anybody has anything to ask/ say to me about the chapter or reasons in the beginning please feel free to leave a review or PM me!
Never lose hope
-daughterofathena2