Chapter 26

Even with the strangely named Skulduggery Pleasant, the mission to steal the beans back from Greg and Tamara was no easy one. Between the snarky pirate and the unrelentingly quippy Detective, David found himself all together fed up by the time they arrived back at the diner.

He hurried ahead of the two other men, pulling open the door and calling out to the gathered people inside. "We have the beans."

Excited murmurs went up, though Skulduggery was quick to tune out the conversation around him, swiveling his head around to look for his partner, and cutting off Emma's question about David's injury when he found her missing. "Where is Valkyrie?" The blonde woman's eyes shot towards him, and a terrible feeling welled up in Skulduggery at the look that resided there. His false eyes slid shut and he slumped back against the glass behind him. "Damn it."

Henry perked up from where he was standing with his grandmother, looking between his mother and the strange man. "And where's my mom?" Emma walked over to the young boy cautiously, aware of the livid man at her back.

"Regina and Valkyrie can hold off the self-destruct device long enough for us to escape, but…" As she trailed off Henry frowned at her hesitant tone.

"But what?" He demanded, eyes sliding past his mother to meet the furious gaze of Skulduggery. Emma opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by the Detective's sharp tone.

"Your mother has left them to die." Multiple pairs of eyes shot over to the slender man, who in turn adjusted his coat with sharp, angry movements. "Because that is all you 'heroes' seem to do, isn't it? Make messes, and force others to sacrifice everything to fix it for you. Now," the man glared at Emma. "Where are they?"

Emma exchanged a look with her father. "I don't-"

"Where are they?" Skulduggery hissed, the calm façade entirely gone. "You've created a problem that has the potential to get far, far worse if we don't rectify it immediately." Emma stared up at the intimidating man, considering him for a moment.

"The mines." The words were barely out of her mouth before Skulduggery brushed past, and out the diner door, faintly aware of Valkyrie's nephew yelling something out behind him.

Skulduggery didn't care. He had an idiotic partner decisions to save.


Emma stared down Hook, having just convinced him to hand over the bean. He considered the blonde woman thoughtfully, ignoring the faint bell over the diner door that rang as the assemble group filed out.

"Why are you really doing this?" He asked quietly, alarmed as a deep sadness crossed Emma's gaze.

"The kid just lost his father today." She responded, equally quiet. "I'm not letting him lose a mother and his aunt, too." Hook frowned at that.

"His father?" He asked, searching his mind for any previous mention of men dying in Storybrooke, but coming up empty. "Who's Henry's father?" Emma looked surprised at that, as if expecting Hook to know already.

"Neal." The breath rushed out of Hook, as the connection between the young boy he had known all those years ago, the beautiful woman he had formed a grudging respect towards, and the small lad he'd met a few weeks ago when trying to kill the Crocodile became clear.

"Baelfire?" he asked in a whisper. Emma raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." She responded, holding the bag that, to her knowledge, had the bean inside it close as she passed the stunned pirate to leave the diner. Hook's eyes slid shut against a wave of memories, and he was left in the diner to consider whether he was willing to betray the family of the young boy he had already once betrayed.


We didn't speak much, Regina and I, as we allowed the diamond to drain our magic. Seconds stretched out eternally as, bit by bit, we killed ourselves to save the people we loved. A steady stream of blood had begun dripping from my nose as my magic was forced to stop healing my body from injuries sustained while with Greg and Tamara, and I pretended that I couldn't see the concerned look on my mother's face.

Pounding footsteps and Regina's surprised voice broke through my thoughts. "What are you doing here?" Skulduggery, who was leading my family towards Regina and I, stepped around to stand next to me, crouching slightly to get a better look at the diamond. He tilted his face towards me for a moment.

"You look awful."

"So do you most days, but I have the decency to not say anything to you about it." I muttered back dryly, selfishly relieved that he was here. Turning back to the conversation my mother was having with Henry, I listened as Regina raged against the, frankly, insane plan to throw the diamond into a portal created by the one and only bean that David and Skulduggery had managed to get back. I exchanged a look with my partner, both of us aware that this was likely not going to work. Skulduggery shrugged, reaching out a hand to try and channel his magic towards the diamond, and receiving a quick shock, a reflection of Regina and I's magic, for his efforts. He straightened, coming to stand behind me, and nodded sagely at Emma.

She nodded in return, gesturing for Henry, David, and Mary-Margaret to stand back before reaching into a small leather pouch, her eyes going wide as her hand searched around and seemingly found nothing. David frowned.

"Emma?" The woman in question turned around, a stunned look on her face.

"It's empty." She whispered, a terrible realization coming over her face. "Hook." I shut my eyes against her words, laughing bitterly.

"It always leads back to that bastard, doesn't it?" I grimaced, pain lancing through me once again. Across from me, Regina's hands began to shake.

"We can't contain this much longer." She said quietly, regret tinging her tone as she glanced between Henry and I. Emma brought her parents and Henry into a tight hug, tears beginning to course down their frightened faces, and Skulduggery ducked under my outstretched arm to face me.

His gloved hand came to rest on my cheek and I leaned into it, dimly aware of the painful embrace my mother was having with Henry. "Always have to do things the difficult way, don't you Valkyrie?" I chuckled weakly at that, meeting his fake eyes with mine and sobering quickly.

"If she comes…" I whispered, dread mounting at the thought. Skulduggery shook his head.

"Then I will get your family out." He responded firmly, glancing down as Henry approached us. My partner's head tilted at the young boy who watched him curiously for a moment, before his attention switched to me. Skulduggery moved away from me as Henry launched himself under my arms, burying his face in my stomach as he hugged me. Without taking my hands away from the stream of magic, I crouched as much as I could, laying my head against his. Whether a tear or two dripped down my face into Henry's soft hair, I couldn't say.

Skulduggery's voice cut through the somber moment. "I wonder if it will take this time." I snorted, moving my head from Henry's to glare semi-mockingly at him.

"Is this really the time?"

"I think it's a fair question."

"You do realize we are all about to die? This isn't just about you."

"I don't see why it shouldn't be."

"Egotistical bastard."

"But that's why you love me." I shrugged at that, aware of Henry pulling back with a confused look on his face that was likely mirrored by the rest of the people around us.

"Eh, love is a bit of a strong word I think." Skulduggery let out an insulted huff at that, opening his mouth to respond when Emma cut in.

"What if…what if I could help?" She said, coming to stand next to Regina. I frowned as a silent conversation passed between the two women, watching out of the corner of my eye as David and Mary-Margaret quickly ushered Henry around the bend, Skulduggery not moving from his place besides me. Emma's shaking hands rose, joining ours around the diamond, and I watched in mild surprise as bright blue energy began to stream out of her into the gem. A surge of power made me wince, but I barely had time to consider the pain as we finally overloaded the diamond, and a blast of magic sent the three of us back into the walls of the mine, my flailing arm taking Skulduggery down with us.

I groaned as I came to a few minutes later, glancing around to see Emma and Regina similarly recovering from the blast. Next to me, Skulduggery let out a huff of breath. "That's what we get for saving a magical town." I chuckled weakly, looking up as Regina limped over to my side. Her hand cupped my cheek, worry evident in her eyes, before she pulled me into a tight hug.

"Don't you ever do that again." She muttered into my hair. I silently returned her embrace, both of us aware that I'd likely do something like this again. Emma's voice separated us, and Skulduggery reached down to pull me up from the ground.

"We did it." The blonde said, surprise coloring her voice. Regina walked towards the woman and her parents, stopping briefly to scoop up the diamond.

"Yes, we did." My mother breathed out, glancing back towards Skulduggery and I. David chuckled as we joined them, Skulduggery's arm keeping me up.

"Gotta hand it to Henry." He exclaimed. "He's right about a lot of things."

"Yes, he is. Isn't that right, kid?" Emma asked, glancing towards where Henry should have been. She frowned at the empty corridor. "Henry?" I surged forwards, my mother on my heels as we rushed back through the tunnel.

"Henry?" She called out in alarm. "Henry?" Emma dashed ahead, leaning down to pick something up.

"Emma, what is it?" Mary-Margaret exclaimed, paling when Emma turned towards us with Henry's torn backpack in her hands.

"They took him." Fury erupted in me as I took in her words, and Skulduggery's voice coming from over my shoulder was the only thing that kept me from saying something.

"Then let's get him back." I glanced back at him, realizing that he'd removed his façade, and nodded. A sharp gasp from Mary-Margaret alerted me to the fact that not everyone had known that Skulduggery was a skeleton, and I turned to see the range of surprised faces around me.

"You're a…?" David trailed off, exchanging a look with Emma who looked equally shocked. "And you didn't tell us?"

Skulduggery tilted his head, glancing between the shocked faces around him. "Well, there wasn't really a time to mention it before now, was there?" And with that, he adjusted his hat, and strolled casually down the tunnel towards the exit of the mines. Several pairs of eyes fell to me in question, and I forced myself to shrug as calmly as I could, the anger running through me the only thing keeping me standing straight.

"He's got a point." I followed Skulduggery down the tunnels, determined to get my nephew back and tear apart those who had taken him and killed Neal.


Mr. Gold stared grimly down at the magical globe as it pointed him towards where he knew the mines in Storybrooke lay. Belle's comforting hand appeared on his shoulder, and the man smiled back at her, offering her his arm, the two disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke.