Chapter 20

When I got home, arms laden down with my brand new knife, and all of the things I needed to make a stew, (the only thing Desmond, my adoptive father, had ever managed to teach me to make), Regina was nowhere to be seen. Quickly searching the house, I decided to just shoot her a quick text when it became apparent she was not home. I had to speak to her, and soon. Skulduggery and co would be in town any day now, and I wasn't at all sure what to do.

On one hand, I was beginning to really like being in Storybrooke. There was always something going on, excitement at every turn, plus, my parents were here, and I wanted, no, needed to get to know them better.

On the other hand, I missed Ireland. I missed my friends, and my usual work, and the routine of my normal life, stake outs with Skulduggery, weapons training with Tanith, and hanging out in Ghastly's shop, annoying the hell out of him with Fletcher. Plus, there was no guarantee that the American Sanctuary would even let me stay here, now that they knew I was in the country.

I sighed, shaking those thoughts away and turning back to the matter at hand. Since Regina had likely been held up at work, I got the stew on the stove at a low simmer and decided to head back out to meet Hook at the Rabbit Hole. It's not like this is going to take long after all.

I got there a few minutes early, faintly amused to see the man in question already leaning against the bar, eyes drifting towards the door every few seconds. I didn't bother to go past the door frame, waiting for Hook's eyes to drift towards me again, and gestured for him to follow me when I caught his eye, exiting the bar shortly after and slipping into an adjacent alleyway.

Hook followed readily behind me, his gait sounding more uneven than usual, and I smirked internally as he began to speak.

"You came."

"Of course I did." I turned towards him, tilting my head back to meet his gaze. "You promised you'd make it up to me." He smirked at that, swaggering closer to me.

"Aye, I did say that didn't I?" He whispered as he leaned into my space, eyes intent on mine.

"You said quite a few things if I'm remembering correctly."

"Maybe I should stop talking altogether."

"I quite agr-" Hook's mouth on mine halted the rest of my sentence, and I let myself get swept up in him. The leather of his coat creaked softly as I gripped his shoulder and back, holding on for dear life as his tongue brushed against mine, the smell of leather and something that was uniquely him filling my nose. Regret filled me briefly, as the thought of who this man really was and what he had done to my family flittered across my mind.

Damn it.

I found myself pushed up against the wall of the alley, and unable to make myself leave his embrace. His hand and hook worked in tandem to push my coat off my shoulders and trail up and down my bare arms, goosebumps rising in their wake. Hook's flesh hand grabbed one of mine from where it rested on his chest, threading our fingers together and pressing it into the wall behind me. A moan escaped me when his mouth left mine, trailing down my neck, and his hook came to rest on my hip. I sighed in delight, groaning softly when he stopped, mouth just barely brushing against my ear.

"I must ask, love." He murmured, my eyes fluttering open at his soft voice. "Whenever were you going to tell me that Regina is your mother?" I tensed up at that, lust clearing from my mind in an instant, and I pulled away to look him in the eye. His shone darkly back at me, and I forced myself to remember why I had come here tonight.

I hit him before he could register that I had moved, my free hand catching him in the temple, a knee coming up to hit him in between his legs. Hook crumbled slightly, his grip loosening, and I pulled free, ducking under the grasping arm that came my way as I spun away. Turning to face the man, I smirked as he fought to right himself, a chuckle threatening to escape as he glared down at me.

"That wasn't very nice, love."

"I thought I made it clear when we first met." My fists shot out in a series of blows, which Hook hurried to block. "I'm-" "not-" "a-" "nice-" "girl!" He caught my arm on my last hit, twisting my arm behind me in a painful move. He chuckled darkly from his position behind me.

"That has become apparent." I slammed my heel into his foot, turning around to aim another hit his way, when his own fist came crashing down, splitting my lip and disorienting me for a moment.

Hook used the opportunity to pin me against the same wall he'd recently held me against, though this position was far less friendly. His flesh hand held my wrists in a bruising grip over my head, his sharp metal hook pressed flush against my neck and his body pinning mine to the rough brick of the wall. Despite this, I smirked up at him.

"To answer your earlier question, Capitan," I breathed out, aware that his grip on my wrists had tightened significantly. "I'm never one to share family secrets with strange men. But…" I leaned in towards his face, watching suspicion flash across his unfortunately handsome features. "I'll let you in on one more." Shadows slammed into Hook, sending him across the alley into the opposite wall. I rubbed my wrists, absently waving my hand, causing more shadows to crash into him, holding him in place while I stalked over to him. I smiled mockingly at him. "Good cheekbones aren't the only thing I inherited from Regina."

Ignoring the surprised look that flashed across the pirates face, I pulled the knife my father had given to me earlier that day. Hook shifted nervously as I brought it towards him, pressing the blade gently into the flesh directly under his eye.

"If you ever touch my family again-" I trailed the blade over his cheek gently, aware of how his eyes tracked it as it move. The blade came to rest gently on his throat, and the breath in his lungs froze. Looking down at him, fear and fury mixing in his eyes, I found myself unable, (or unwilling), to go through with my original plan. The blade inched away from his neck. "I will make you wish you had died here tonight." I said seriously, moving the knife from his throat fully as the threat registered in his eyes. I paused for a moment, looking down at the furious man before me. "It's a shame you know." I murmured quietly. "I was actually beginning to like you." And with that, I disappeared off into the night, trying to ignore the feelings that the angry silence that followed me brought forth.


It wasn't until some time after I got home that it occurred to me that Regina had never responded to my text, and I began to feel an icy panic descend upon me. I used a mix of Shadow Walking and speed walking to first search the house, then the family crypt, and then finally her office. When I arrived, I was dismayed to find that the door was unlocked, and the lights were off and cold, with Regina nowhere in sight. Not really knowing where to go from there, I tried texting her once again, only to receive nothing in response.

I perched myself on the edge of one of her pristine couches, trying to convince myself that Regina was perfectly safe, where ever she was. Eventually, I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up to the sound of the door slamming open a few hours later, Emma and David sweeping in with guns. I rolled off the couch and into a defensive crouch, pausing when I spotted them. The father daughter duo looked equally as confused.

"Valkyrie?" Emma asked, David moving to sweep the rest of the room. I rose, glancing between the two. "What are you doing here?" She squinted slightly at my bruised face and split lip. "What happened to you?"

"That's not important right now." I waved off quickly, really not wanting to explain what I'd been doing while my mother had been taken. "Regina is-" I cleared my throat roughly, running a hand through my hair. "Regina went missing last night. I didn't…didn't know where to look. I was hoping she just stepped out but-"

"She never came back." Emma finished for me, eyes unusually sympatric. I nodded. David turned, yelling over his shoulder towards the door.

"It's ok, she's not here!" Mary-Margaret and Henry appeared, the young boy rushing over to me when he spotted me. I reached down to hug him, ignoring Mary-Margaret entirely. I hadn't seen her since she tried to get my mother to rip out her heart, and I had no intention of speaking with her anyways. From my arms, Henry piped up.

"When you find her, you're not going to hurt her, are you?" he asked quietly.

I glared at the dark haired woman. "No." I responded tensely. "They'll just throw her in a cell for the rest of her life." Mary-Margaret winced, opening her mouth to speak before her daughter interrupted.

"We just want the beans she stole from us."

Mary-Margaret, determined to keep the conversation from more tense subjects, continued on, ignoring my claims. Henry pulled away from me, shooting a confused look my way, to which I mouthed later. "I don't get it. Why would Regina leave her office unlocked?" She asked, walking further into the office. I shrugged, having found it weird when I got there last night but without real answers.

"Especially when she's keeping the beans here." David added, increasing my confusion. I leaned down towards Henry.

"What are the beans for exactly?" I whispered.

"They're magical beans, they can take us to the Enchanted Forest, or any world really." He whispered back, watching the assembled group like I was. "Mom stole some for some reason."

I hummed at that, eyes on David as he approached a glass case that held a large plant, Henry quickly moving to join him. Mary- Margaret sighed.

"Was keeping them here. They're gone."

"Something's not right." Emma interjected. "Regina would never leave evidence like this behind." David shrugged.

"Maybe she already used them to portal out of Storybrooke." I scoffed at that.

"Without me or Henry?" I asked incredulously. "She would never."

"I agree." Emma said, glancing over at the two of us. "I don't think she'd leave her children." Henry turned towards his bio mom.

"What if something bad happened to her?" he exclaimed, paying little mind to Mary- Margaret's hand landing on his shoulder in comfort.

"Security system says the last time someone was in the office was around two am this morning." I furrowed my brow at that.

"I was in here at three am, nothing seemed out of place when I arrived, apart from the door being unlocked." I stated, crossing my arms.

Emma continued on. "They used an override code to get in."

"Why would Regina need an override code on her own alarm?" David questioned.

"She wouldn't." Emma and I said together, exchanging weirded out looks as we did so.

"You think someone else broke in and took the beans?" Mary- Margaret asked in a concerned tone that set my teeth on edge.

"Well, we haven't found Regina anywhere and haven't heard from her." Emma said, looking towards me.

"Last I saw her was when I left her here, around noon yesterday." I said, responding to Emma's unanswered question.

"So something bad did happen to her." Henry exclaimed quietly.

"We're going to find her, Henry. I promise."

"There's only one person who could overpower Regina." Mary- Margaret stated, looking to her husband.

"Gold." David sighed out. Emma shook her head.

"He's too busy with his new/old girlfriend." I groaned slightly at that.

"Don't remind me." I muttered out, Emma ignoring my dramatics entirely.

"No, this wasn't Gold." She glanced up at her mother. "This was Tamara."

"Haven't you already gone down that road?" Mary- Margaret sighed out in frustration.

"Maybe not far enough."

"Or maybe it's time for you to let it go?" I raised an eyebrow at that, unsure of why Mary- Margaret was being so dismissive of a decent theory.

"August was attacked the day Tamara came to town." Emma exclaimed. "I don't think that was a coincidence."

"What if you're wrong?" David cut in. "If Regina's in trouble we can't just drop everything else because of a hunch."

"Which is why we're not gonna drop everything else. Go to Gold. I'm sure he has some kind of magic that can locate Regina."

Regina's name echoed in my mind, and I had a sudden realization, my hand coming up to clutch the locket hanging around my neck.

"I'm an idiot." I interrupted, startling the group. "We might not need my father just yet, I think I have a way to find her."

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, turning towards me.

"I have a way to be taken to where Regina is but it'll only work for me and I have no way to bring anyone else with me." I looked helplessly around at the gathered group. My other hand fished my phone out of my pocket. "I'll text you where I am as soon as I get there. If you don't hear from me in ten minutes…" I bit my lip. "Get my father."

I backed a few steps away from the quartet, ignoring Emma's questions. The cool metal of the carved locket heated slightly in the warmth of my palm. "Regina. Regina." I sighed unevenly. "Regina."

Everything around me faded away, replaced with a silent, dirty room, the smell of fish strong in the air. I spun to find my mother strapped down to a table, her panicked eyes turning towards me. I began to step forwards, when there was a sudden sharp pain in the back of my head and darkness rushed up around me, my phone clattering to the floor.


An aggressively neon green rental car drove down a road, passing a faded sign that welcomed the inhabitants of said car to the town of Storybrooke. Behind the wheel, a skeleton wearing a well fitted suit and hat narrowed his gaze on the approaching town. A handsome woman sat in the passenger seat, running a nervous finger along the length of one of her katanas.

In the very cramped backseat, a blond teleporter squirmed uncomfortably, his legs splayed awkwardly out in search of more legroom. The skeleton sighed.

"Fletcher." The blond man's head shot up. "Stop that. You're annoying me." The woman snorted inelegantly.

"When does he not annoy you Skulduggery?" She asked sarcastically, Skulduggery tilting his head in serious consideration.

"When he's totally silent and still."

"So, unconscious or dead?" Skulduggery shrugged.

"Pretty much." Fletcher scowled at the two, crossing his arms with a huff.

"Thanks for that, I'm feeling very appreciated."

"Well you shouldn't." Skulduggery retorted. "You couldn't even get us into town."

"It's an uncharted area!" Fletcher exclaimed, waving his hands in emphasis. "Never mind the fact that I've never been there and we couldn't find a single photo of the place anywhere. How was I supposed to teleport us into a place like that?"

"Excuses, excuses." Tanith sighed mockingly, sliding her sword back into its sheath. There was a beat of silence, before Tanith began to beat her fingers against her thigh. "Are you worried Skulduggery?"

"About what, Fletcher annoying me to death?"

"No." Tanith furrowed her eyebrows. "About if Valkyrie decides to stay…with her family."

"We are her family." Skulduggery responded in a firm tone, grip tightening on the steering wheel. "She's even got me saying mushy nonsense like that. I'm not worried in the least."

Tanith exchanged a look with Fletcher that Skulduggery pretended he didn't see. "Alright Skulduggery." Tanith conceded. "Let's go get our girl back."