Chapter 28
As it would turn out, traveling between realms via the power of magical bean absolutely sucks. By the time we emerged on the other side of the portal, I was barely holding on to the contents of my stomach, though Fletcher did not fare much better as we roughly landed. His face was pale and drawn, and before I could even try to ask if he was alright, he was bent over the side of the ship, throwing up what little he eaten the previous day.
The sound cut through the delicate silence that had descended over us, and I winced, moving away from him and towards the bow of the ship, my eyes fixed on the faint island in the distance.
"Is that it?" Emma asked over the lingering wind as I stepped up next to her.
"Aye," Hook called back, his eyes connecting with mine as I turned back to look at him. A grimace pulled at his lips. "Neverland."
Skulduggery and I were leaning quietly against the rail at the bow of the ship, Fletcher having escaped downstairs after his bout of illness. Across from us, and several feet back, Emma and her parents were having a terse conversation. After a few moments, Skulduggery's head tilted towards the helm where my mother stood with Killian. A wry smile crossed his lips.
"Valkyrie."
"Hmm?" I hummed in response, my eyes affixed to the mountain that took up much of the island.
"Are your ears burning?" I turned towards my skeleton friend, eyebrows raised.
"Should they be?" I asked quietly, glancing around the ship. He nodded back towards Killian and my mom.
"They're talking about you."
"Oh?" My eyes darted to them, and theirs darted away just as quickly, the pair shuffling awkwardly. I leaned into Skulduggery. "What about me?"
Skulduggery's fake eyebrows wiggled suggestively. "I think the queen is trying to discern your pirate's intentions." I elbowed him sharply, turning my reddening cheeks away as I focused back on the island.
"He's not my anything." Skulduggery only hummed in response, letting me stew in my thoughts for a moment before opening his mouth once more. Thankfully, my father reappeared, interrupting whatever suggestive comment my skeletal friend had been about to share.
"No, you won't." I tilted my head at the comment, having missed the lead up to his interjection. Hook scoffed sarcastically at him.
"Oh, well, that's a great use of our time," He sassed, using his hand and hook in tandem to steer the ship. "a wardrobe change."
I stepped closer, Skulduggery on my heels, and took in my father's new outfit. It was a strange scaley leather getup, tight enough for a fission of embarrassment to pass over me, and, yet, terribly familiar to what I remembered him wearing in my youth. His eyes connected with mine, a determined look passing through his gaze.
"I'm going to get Henry." He declared, heedless of the tension that passed over the group at his words.
"We agreed to do this together." My mother cut in sharply, my father breaking our staring contest to address her over his shoulder.
"Actually, we made no such agreement." Emma sighed in exasperation, stepping up to him.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because I want to succeed."
"What makes you think I'm going to fail?"
"Well, how could you not?" Emma drew back sharply as the carelessly cruel comment, and I froze in place as I watched the man I knew as my father become the man the Enchanted Forest knew as their tormentor. "You don't believe in your parents. Or in magic. Or even yourself."
"I slayed a dragon. I think I believe."
"Only what was shown to you." My father's eyebrow raised, and I felt the burning eyes of a pirate against my face as he continued to tear into Emma. "When have you ever taken a real leap of faith? You know, the kind where there's absolutely no proof?" A hint of a smirk crossed his face, and Skulduggery's hands on my shoulders anchored me in place as I tried to step in. I was no fan of Emma, but even she didn't deserve this. "I've known you some time, Ms. Swan, and sadly, despite everything you've been through, you're still just that bail bondsperson. Looking for evidence." He spit out, his gaze leaving hers and drifting over to the island. "Well, dearie, that's not going to work in Neverland."
"I'll do whatever it takes." Emma breathed out, determination straightening her spine. Rumpelstiltskin leaned towards her.
"Or you just need someone to tell you what that is." He shrugged, his eyes connecting with mine again. "Sorry dearie. Our foe is too fearsome for hand-holding. Neverland is a place where imagination runs wild, and sadly, yours doesn't." His head tilted apologetically towards me, and I could only stare back dispassionately as he twirled his cane on the ground and disappeared, the cane hitting the deck of the ship soon after.
The silence he left behind rang out loudly for a moment, before it was interrupted by Fletcher noisily exiting the below deck with a grin. "Woo, I feel much better, I think that granola bar I bought before we got to Storybrooke was bad or something, because-" He cut himself off abruptly at the solemn looks on our faces. "Uh, did I miss something?"
I found myself below deck, sometime later, passing a ball of light from hand to hand. Since the diamond fiasco, I hadn't had much time to rest and recover, but my father's words were still echoing around my mind, and I knew that I had to be ready to face down whatever stood between me and my nephew. The sound of shuffling feet near the doorway broke my concentration, and I spun towards the noise, somewhat unsurprised to find Killian smirking behind me.
"Oh. Don't stop on my account." I sneered back at him without any real heat, before turning away once again.
"Wouldn't want you to learn all my secrets, pirate." I clenched my hand, shadows gathering around it as I tried to create a dagger, something that I had been able to do pre-Surge, and had struggled with afterwards. Killian's eyes burned into my back, and I wished desperately for the feelings that his gaze brought up in me to go away- permanently.
"What are you doing?" I closed my eyes against his voice, giving up on the shadow dagger for the moment, and moving to take a seat on one of the wooden benches that lined either side of the cargo hold.
"Getting ready for the fight ahead." I sniped back, pulling shadows to my gathered hands again, this time in a roiling, unorganized mass. He looked surprised at the response.
"Well, I've never known you to need to 'get ready' for a fight." He drawled, glancing around the cabin. "I thought it was your natural state."
"Well maybe you just don't know me very well, Hook." I fought against the ugly feeling that popped up from using his moniker, glancing over just in time to catch the faint hurt that crossed his face before he covered it. I tilted my head at him, releasing the shadows as I considered the man in front of me. "What is it you want?"
"To give you something." He held up a key, and I watched curiously as he crossed the room to a small desk, pulling out a box. "You know, Baelfire and I once spent a lot of time together." Grief passed over me unexpectedly, and I closed my eyes against the rush of tears that tried to escape. I laughed weakly.
"I'm guessing that you two spent more time together than him and I ever managed to." I tried to grin up at Killian, but based on the look he sent back, I'd failed quite miserably. Focusing on the item in his hand, I frowned slightly at the short sword he was presenting me with. "What-"
"This was his." My eyes snapped to his, making no move to take it.
"I didn't realize you were sentimental." I said quietly, searching his gaze, and finding something that I couldn't quite name. A halfhearted smirk pulled at his lips as he pressed the sword into my hands.
"I'm not." He said, glancing down at me. "I just thought you could use it where we're going." I smiled lightly back at him, waving a hand over the sword.
"The sword says otherwise, tough guy." I sassed, smiling wider as a small, but genuine, smile replaced the smirk. He said nothing as he moved back over to the desk, and handed me what looked like a metal shot glass, retrieving a bottle of something from another compartment.
"To fight." He reiterated under his breath, pulling the cork out of the bottle with his teeth in one smooth move- something that I absolutely did not find wildly hot. He glanced at me as he poured a measure of alcohol- rum from the smell of it- into my little glass. I stared back, and he lifted the bottle slightly. "To Bae." He continued quietly, and I knocked my glass against the bottle.
"To Neal." I whispered back, throwing back the drink in time with Killian. I winced at the slight burn, watching as he plopped down on the bench across from me, allowing a comfortable silence to descend around us. "How long was he with you?" He held my gaze for several seconds, before a resigned sigh escaped him, his eyes darting away for a moment.
"Long enough to know I miss him too." I open my mouth with another question in mind, when the ship shuddered violently. Our concerned gazes met, and the corner of my lip quirked up.
"Is that a normal sound for a ship to make?" A strained laugh huffed out of Killian as he stood, offering his hand to me.
"Unfortunately not, love." I took his hand, the unpredictable movement of the ship pushing me into his chest. A blush erupted across my cheeks as I stared up at him, pushing away after a long moment, and hurried upstairs, determined to ignore the red-hot feeling of his eyes on my back as we raced towards danger.
I poked Skulduggery, my finger creasing the wet material of his suit. He didn't respond, so I poked him again.
"You're pouting."
"Valkyrie, I am an ancient skeleton detective. I've fought in dozens of wars, faced down faceless gods who spent a year pulling apart my bones, and saved the world from damnation at least three times. I do not pout."
"You pout all the time."
"Name one time."
"That time you lost your hat in a magical storm a few minutes ago." He paused, the hair from his façade dripping water into his equally fake eyes as he glanced sadly down at me.
"It was my favorite hat Valkyrie. It went with half my suits." I snorted, wringing salt water out of my hair. "I didn't bring a spare, am I supposed to kill Peter Pan hatless?" He whined.
"Most people have to kill other people hatless."
"Well they aren't cultured like me."
"Thank god for that." Ignoring Skulduggery's faux outraged gasp, I glanced around at the ship, which was looking worse for wear.
Having just fought off a hoard of mermaids- Tanith will never let me live this down- and solved some of our infighting through some dramatics from Emma and the power of needing to cooperate to stop the storm, we were all soaked to the bone and weary. But, we were alive, and that was enough to bring a little smile to my face as I watched the island, and Henry, grow ever closer.
