Jolly Roger
Killian prided himself on his ability to keep his emotions in check, but a situation like this had him panicking more than he has since his brother died. His short hair sticking up all over his head, his hands trembling like he was a boy that had picked up a sword for the first time. It was honestly pathetic.
"Killian," Milah says, voice strained," calm down and find a seat."
"I can't sit at a moment like this," he replies, proud that his voice never cracks. "How can you be so calm?" Milah gives a breathless laugh, resting a hand on her swollen belly and rubbing it a moment. He follows suit, a small bit of calm coming from the gesture. Rubbing her belly had become something of a habit since she told him they were going to have a baby, though he did let out a squeak the first time he'd felt a kick.
"What do I do, Milah?"
"Go and get Jamie, then stay outside and drink for both of us." He felt sick to his stomach at the thought of leaving her in here with only his first mate, but the thought of sticking around and seeing everything happen made him realize why women fainted. The whole thing was overwhelming, but the end result would be something amazing. "Go, Killian!"
"Right, I'll just—" He'd straightened up and went to run, only to have his cabin door swing open and nail him in the face. "God above, why's everything happening tonight?" He clutches at his face, eyes stinging as the pain spreads from his nose to his cheeks.
"What are you doing in front of the door," James demands, pushing Killian aside so he could kneel on the floor in front of the bed.
"I was going after you!"
"Well, I'm already here!" Killian bites his tongue, Milah's look enough to have him fleeing the room. It would do him no good to get on her bad side tonight when she was already in enough pain. Labor, he was sure, was far worse than a possible broken nose even if it was making Killian fight tears in front of his crew. Everything out on deck had come to a standstill as the first ear-splitting scream sounded from behind the cabin door.
"Please, God," he prays, looking up at the crescent moon high in the sky," please, let her and my baby make it through this safely."
Storybrooke
I yell into my gag when I hear Archie screaming from down in the hold, knowing Hook could be torturing him at this very moment. He probably was, a cricket would be easy to crack in the end. Hook had covered my entire body with a blanket to try and muffle the sounds that I would hear and make, but it wasn't enough to block them all out. I wriggle as much as I can, yelling at the top of my lungs until I can no longer hear Archie's shouts for help. Has Hook killed him?
Suddenly the blanket is pulled back, letting me have fresh air and a view of the pirate in question. His dark hair is tousled and a light sheen of sweat decorated his forehead, but his eyes were bright and he had a smile that only meant bad things for my papa. With a growl, I kick out at him and manage to land a blow to his stomach before he catches my foot.
"Easy," he growls, pinning both of my feet to the bed and tying them to the footboard in record time. "When all of this is over, you and I are going to have a long talk about your temper, young lady." I glare up at him, stubbornly pulling against the rope keeping my hands bound. Maybe if I wiggled enough they'd loosen up? "Relax, the cricket is still alive and unharmed. Do you need to use the bathroom?" I shake my head, unsure why he would ask. "Good." He tugs the blanket back up over my head and I can hear him walking out.
"Bastard," I shout as well as I can, knowing that it was just jumbled through the gag and he couldn't understand me. It made me feel better, though, and I think that's what really counts. With a huff, I allow my head to thump back against the pillow. This is some serious bullshit. The second I get loose I'm punching him right in the damn mouth.
I shake my head roughly as sleep tries to creep up on me, trying my hardest to stay awake despite how little sleep I got last night. It was difficult to close my eyes knowing Hook was just across the room, his breathing too loud and my nerves completely shot. But now, with Hook and Cora off the ship, it was hard to fight it. And yet, my lids were beginning to feel like lead and my thoughts growing cloudy.
The next time my eyes open, I find Belle leaning over me with a sword in hand. She smiles down at me, letting out a relieved sigh as she cuts through the ropes binding my wrists. "Is this where you've been all this time," she asks, looking angrier than I've ever seen her. "I'm going to hit that stupid pirate the first chance I get."
"I feel ya," I nod after removing the gag, moving to work on the ties binding my feet. "I call at least chipping his tooth, though." Belle moves across the room to dig through some of the drawers, though I wasn't entirely sure what she was looking for. Maybe she just wants to see if he had Jack Sparrow's compass or something.
Footsteps creak above our heads, sounding too loud in the quiet.
"Archie—"
"I already got him out," she assures me, still digging around. I sit up with a grunt, struggling with the knot that kept my feet bound. Hook would walk in any second and I won't be any use if I can't get my feet loose. What kind of knot is this anyway? Cursing under my breath as the footsteps come closer, I yank at the ropes as hard as I can.
"Looking for this," Hook asks, appearing in the doorway with a familiar yellow stole hanging on his hook. Belle spins around at his voice and I freeze as my eyes lock on the shawl. It had been in Papa's safe for twenty-eight years and enclosed in a magical case back in the Enchanted Forest before that, one of the few things we still had of Bae. Why in the name of God does this pirate have my older brother's shawl?
"That doesn't belong to you." Her voice is a little shaky from the scare, but it grows firmer towards the end.
"Oh, it does now." He smiles a little and I roll my eyes at his arrogance. Can he not have eye-sex with every woman he meets? Frankly, it's a little disturbing to see him do it. If there's one thing I'm certain of now, it's that my biological father is a ho of massive proportions.
Grunting, I focus back on the knot, making a little progress until I spot Hook grabbing a pistol off the desk a second later. I freeze, eyeing him warily as he stares down at it in confusion. He's never seen one before, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to put a cap in someone's ass. "Put it down," I demand, still yanking at the ropes.
"Or what, you'll talk me to death? No offense, Vee, but you need to be a bit taller in order to intimidate me." With that, he focuses his attention back on Belle and raises the pistol until it's even with her head, one finger resting over the trigger.
"Don't talk to Aveena like that," Belle says bravely, squaring her shoulders. In that instant, even if only for a second, I could see the Princess that agreed to trade her life in exchange for her kingdom. She was brave and beautiful and she didn't take shit from anyone, including playboy pirates and egomaniacs with psychopathic tendencies. This is the woman my papa fell in love with and he would love her even more if she's the one that brings this bitch down. "You have no right, not after what you did to her and her mother."
"And what would that be exactly, my dear?"
"You stole her from her husband and then you got her pregnant with your child, a child that you gave away to the closest person once she died!" Hook lets out a dry laugh, looking anything but amused. "And why do you need that shawl anyway?"
"Let me guess, the Crocodile told you some big story with a modicum of truth and you believed him because you think that you love him. Well, real life's messier than the stories you devour." He sends me a look, his eyes softening for a moment before he looks to my future step-mom again. "Tell me something, Love." He moves closer, stopping inches away from Belle and speaking in what I assume is a seductive tone. "If a woman comes to you and begs you to take her away, is that theft?" My breathing hitches at his words, fingers stopping their work for a moment while I fought to decide whether or not he was telling the truth. Had my mother truly hated Papa so much that she would run from him?
"You're lying," I state, looking up at him with my chin tipped up in confidence. "You stole her away and my papa never found her again until the day she died on your ship."
"There's that word again, died, like it was an accident or something."
"He would have told me if it was murder."
"Are you really so sure, Vee? Both of you want to know why I'm so set on having a crocodile skin hanging on my wall? It's because he tracked us down years after I rescued her from the village coward, a man who was too afraid to even put up a fight for her. He killed her, he ripped her heart out right in front of me and crushed it to dust because she loved me. If that wasn't enough of a reason for vengeance, he stole my daughter and told her I was the one responsible for everything. As for the stole, it should be rather obvious why I want it."
"Because you know it's the only way for him to find his son," Belle murmurs, frowning up at him in disbelief. "You want to hurt him again and you don't care how you have to do it."
"Nice try, but I'm afraid you're wrong again. I took the stole because my Milah made it, I'd recognize her stitching anywhere. I was the one that sat and watched her for hours as she sewed herself clothing and a stole similar to this one for our daughter. As for your reasoning, why would his son even want to be found? There's a reason he ran away in the first place."
"It was a fairy," I interject," she tricked him into opening a portal and he was sucked through before Papa could save him."
"Believe that if you choose to, but what I'm most curious about is one thing. Has he even tried looking for Vee since I took her back yesterday?
"Of course he has," Belle shouts," he's been worried sick between finding Aveena and a way to find his son!" I push back the feelings that are making my hands shake and continue to work. The knot was nearly untied now and if I could just see clearer I might be able to get it. I maneuver so that I'm hanging over the side of the bed, spotting my glasses lying close by and snatching them up. I have to wipe some dust off the lenses, but I can see clearly again once they're in place.
"And if one of them stood between him and power, if one of them developed the strength to stand up to him, he would destroy them. Children are nothing but tools to him, he uses them until they're all dried up, and then he throws them to the wayside. And what makes you think he'll treat you any differently?"
"He wouldn't do that, he's got honor."
"I've known plenty of honorable men and he's not one of them." The second the knot is untied, I leap off the bed and against Hook's legs, making him fall backwards against his desk and then to the floor, pistol skittering out of reach. With a growl, I deliver a hard punch to his mouth.
"You wouldn't know honor if it bit you on the ass," I shout. He stares up at me in shock, like he couldn't believe I'd actually hit him, but his expression quickly turns dazed when Belle kicks his head.
"Come on," she yells, pulling me to my feet and grabbing Bae's shawl. We manage to get on deck before Hook catches up, jumping in front of us with a wicked grin and blocking the only way off the ship aside from going over the railing. "How in the hell did you manage that?"
"Oh, I know this ship like the back of my…." He trails off, gesturing to his hook. "Well, you know. It'd be smart that you return my stolen property, Belle."
"Or what?" All of us are shocked when Papa comes into view, a hard set to his jaw that I've only seen when he's really upset. He's not gonna leave this ship until Hook's a bloody mess. It was scary to think of and knowing what he would do to Hook made another part of my childhood hero fade away.
Hook makes a satisfied noise, turning to face Papa with his arms outstretched in welcome. "You look different in this world, Crocodile. Like the coward I met so long ago, limp and all."
"And yet, you still can't kill me." Papa comes closer to Hook, too at ease and too calm for the rage I can see in his dark eyes. Anger seemed to always lurk beneath the surface, bubbling a boiling in his veins until there comes a chance to let it out in explosive bursts. "Morgan, are you well?"
"Ask me that later," I answer," preferably over a milkshake." He spares a moment to study me, looking for any sort of wounds and narrowing his eyes when he spots the red marks circling my wrists.
"You did that to her." He turns his gaze to the pirate again, lips pressed into a grim line. "You kidnapped my daughter and you bound her with something to keep her from running off. Do you know how long it's taken her to conquer her fear of having sheets wrapped around her from sleep, let alone ropes tying her in place?"
Without warning, Papa brings his cane down and smashes the rubber tip against Hook's face, knocking the pirate down. I jump, backing up instinctively until I feel the side of the ship preventing me from going any further as I watch Papa beat Hook with his cane. I've never seen him this angry before and it scares the shit out of me. I don't pay any attention to Belle when she takes the shawl from me or tries to disrupt the fight, I only see Hook's bloody face contort in pain as Papa continues to beat him, using the head of the cane to inflict more damage.
"You hurt her," he snarls savagely as he brings the cane down again and again," you probably set back weeks of therapy! You hurt my baby and, by God, I'll never allow you to do that again!" Papa growls down at him, the noise sounding like it came from a beast instead of the man I associated with deadly calm.
"Then kill me," Hook shouts between grunts of pain. Hook's laughing now, making me look up with tears in my eyes. Papa stared down at Hook in anger, like he was ready to strangle the pirate. "Go ahead and show your girls that you're no stranger when it comes to cold-blooded murder."
"Papa," I cry out, voice breaking," stop, please!"
"Rip my heart out. Kill me like you did Milah, and then I'll finally be reunited with her and Vee can realize how much of a beast you really are." Papa lets go of his cane, kneeling beside Hook and wrapping his hands around his throat.
"Stop it! Just stop it and prove that you aren't bad like he says!" Breathing hard and feeling sick to my stomach, I sink to the floor. "Show me that what everyone says about you is wrong, that Belle and I know you more than anyone else. You're my papa. Where's the man that raised me?"
There's a tense moment of silence where Papa just glares down at Hook, hands still tight around his throat. I could see the killer in him, the predator that would rip someone to shreds for even thinking of harming his cub.
I know what he's capable of and it terrifies me.
"You take your little ship and sail until you fall off the edge of the world," Papa commands, voice soft and holding a warning. "I never want to see you again." I open my eyes when I feel a hand take mine, Papa helping me to stand and half supporting me as we walk off the ship. "You're safe now, Morgan, Papa's got you."
Papa pulls the car to a stop a few feet from the town line, holding tightly to Bae's shawl as I do the same to my necklace. There was enough potion that he was able to pour some of it on the necklace, so I could go with him to find Bae. I'm still mad at him, but I could understand why he did what he did.
"My daughter and this shawl would have been lost if it wasn't for you, Belle. I would have been lost. After everything you've learned about me, after everything I've done…. Why haven't you given up on me?"
"I learned a long time ago," she answers earnestly," that when you find something that's worth fighting for, you never give up."
"Get a room," I groan as they lean in to kiss, getting out of the car quickly so I don't have to see the display. It was bad enough with Hook, but Papa's affections were downright disturbing. The couple joins me a few minutes later, Papa winking at me as I loop my arm through his. "We're gonna have us a nice long talk later about when it's okay for PDA." He chuckles, taking Belle's hand in his free one.
We stop at the edge of the spray-painted line so that Papa can pour the last of the potion on Bae's stole, the yellow fabric glowing for a moment as the magic soaks in. It was the same reaction my necklace had, making me clench it even tighter. Will this actually work or are we all screwed? It wasn't a comforting thought, but I keep my worries to myself.
"Here we go," he says quietly. He steps over the line, the same blue that had enveloped my necklace and Bae's shawl covering him. The magic hums and reaches for me, but I take an unsure step back, holding my breath as Papa turns to face us again. "Belle," he smiles, pointing at her," and my little bird." I give a relieved laugh, letting my necklace fall back into place against my chest.
I move back over to the car, letting the couple have a mushy 'I wish I could go with you' moment. My relief is short-lived, however, when a strong arm wraps around my neck and crushes me back against a man's chest. The familiar scent of Hook fills my nose and old fears rise to the surface again, making me cry out.
Papa and Belle turn to face us, but none of us were quick enough to stop Hook from firing the pistol, the bullet burying itself in Belle's stomach and sending her stumbling over the town line into Papa's arms. "Belle," Papa shouts, lowering her to the ground. "Belle!"
"Who's Belle," she asks, confusion and pain making her voice shake. I can feel my knees try to give out on me, but Hook keeps me standing.
"Fear not," Hook drawls smugly," she'll live, but she'll have no idea who you are."
"What you've done cannot be undone," Papa sobs, panicking as he moves Belle back over the line.
"Well, now you finally know how it feels!" He stretches out the arm that wasn't holding me in place, daring Papa to hurt him. Anything Papa did to Hook would hit me too, but he wouldn't be thinking of that in this state and that worried me. Would he kill Hook and me? Apparently so because when he raises his hand, there's a ball of fire waiting and ready to be thrown.
I still don't know whether it's a blessing or a curse when a car speeds forward.
It makes Papa forget his vengeance and cover Belle, but the car hits Hook head-on and Hook takes me with him over the hood, having turned just right so he took most of the blow. Everything hurts when I hit the ground again, landing on my arm wrong and feeling the bone snap as I continue to roll down the small slope until I come to a stop in the ditch.
Breathing is hard, my knee was throbbing and there is blackness tinging at the edge of my vision as I stare up at the sky; blood trickles down the side of my head, warm and wet. There seems to be double everything, the visions appearing side by side and kind of wavy like in a funhouse mirror. I groan, trying to move but unable to do so without pain lancing through me.
Why can't I have a normal life without evil queens, psychotic fathers, and big accidents on a regular basis? It's like the stars have aligned and decided that they hate me and want to make me suffer. Well, fuck you, stars. I'm a teenager and we people don't just lie down and take it. I groan, looking around without moving my head. My new glasses are cracked and half off my face which doesn't help me see anything more than a few feet away. Sirens in the distance allow me some relief, knowing that help was close, I close my eyes and take a breath.
They'll find me in time.