Surprise!
I know I said the story is going to be posted on every Saturday but I have two reasons for posting today. First because I want to test something for myself and secondly because both me and my friend, Sofia, had an awful week and this is kind of a gift for her as well. I can't promise a new chapter on Saturday, but we will see!
In this chapter we get more answers about Milah but we also find out what happened with Killian in the last chapter! Also angst is coming my dears! And I am not talking about that soft angst. No no no no. Pure angst! Angst is coming in Neverland and this chapter is the beginning of the real Neverland story with my own twist to it!
As always many many thanks to ultraluckycatnd (Tumblr)!
PS: At the end of the last chapter, Alexa left this review:
Milah came to town looking for Killian but how did she know to go to Storybook and why didn't the protection spell keep it hidden from her?
My dear, I hope this chapter answers to your question about how did she know about Storybrooke! The thing with the protection spell has been explained in the first chapter, Milah came into town just before the spell covered the town entirely! Much as John and Michael in the show.
Storybrooke
Milah entered Granny's after another tiring day in Storybrooke, searching for Killian. It was just her second day in town looking for him, but no matter how many people she asked, no one seemed to know Killian.
She sat down at a table, asking one of the waitresses to bring her a hamburger and a coffee when she saw the door of the diner open and Ruby came running inside with another girl. Milah watched Ruby as she scanned the customers quickly and then her eyes stopped on her. Ruby told something to the girl beside her and then both of them come towards Milah.
"Hi Milah," Ruby said when she came in front of her.
"Hello Ruby. Can I help you?"
"Actually, yes. We have a few questions for you if you don't mind." Ruby motioned to the chairs in front of her and Milah nodded. Both girls sat down, face to face with Milah.
"About me?" Milah asked curious.
"Well, about you and the man you are looking for," the other girl said.
"You know Killian?" Milah asked hopefully.
"Does he have a hook?" Ruby asked, making Milah confused about her question.
"Ruby!" the other girl screamed at her.
"Sorry."
"Sorry. Ruby is a little too… direct. My name is Belle," Belle told Milah with a soft smile.
"It's nothing. I was like her once upon a time. I'm Milah."
"I know. I mean, Ruby told me."
"What can I help you girls with?" Milah asked again.
"Okay, so this may seem too forward, and if it is, please don't hate us but... umm…," Belle said quickly.
"Are you Rumplestiltskin's wife?" Ruby said out of nowhere.
"Very subtle Ruby," Belle said, putting a hand on her forehead.
"What?"
"Well? Are you?" Ruby asked again, this time with less patience.
"I… I was... I was his wife, yes," Milah admitted.
"Then why are you not looking for him?" Belle asked her.
"Is he here?!" Milah asked panicked.
"No. I mean not right now."
"Rumple is alive?" Milah asked, this time more terrified than panicked.
"Yes. Why are you afraid of him? I can see it in your eyes," Belle asked softly.
"He is the one who killed me," Milah said, shocking both Ruby and Belle.
"What?" both Ruby and Belle cried at the same time.
"What do you mean?" Belle asked her with a calmer voice this time.
"I was, as you already know, Rumplestiltskin's wife," Milah started her story. "A long time ago, before he was the monster he is now. I was in an unhappy marriage; Rumple was a coward, and he was always looking for the easy way out of a problem and I started to feel trapped in that marriage. But we had a son, my Baelfire. He was my light, I wanted to be there for him, but one day I had too much of Rumple's shit. Bae was sick because a snake bit him, and Rumple made a pact with someone that Bae would be saved but if Rumple was to have another child, that man would take it. I couldn't even look him in the eyes, I was so angry with him. That night, I went to a tavern in our village and there I met Killian. He was a pirate. He punched someone in the face who wouldn't take no for an answer, and then he offered me a drink."
"What happened after?" Ruby asked.
"We talked for a few hours and Killian offered me a chance to go with him since I wasn't happy at home. But I couldn't leave Bae, so I turned him down. A few weeks passed, my marriage with Rumple was getting worse and worse and then Killian appeared again in the town. I spent the night with him and his crew at the tavern until Rumple came after me. The only problem was that Bae was with him too. I couldn't take it anymore after that night. The following morning, I went to Killian's ship and I begged him to take me with him. So he did. Killian told me a few hours later that Rumple came to take me home, Killian challenged him to a duel and he refused. I left with Killian and for almost ten years we were together." Milah finished with a smile on her face.
"You said Rumple killed you? How?" Belle asked curiously.
"After ten years, we went back to the town to take Bae with us. He was old enough to be on a ship. I missed him and Killian wanted me to be with him again. Besides that, we didn't want to leave him with Rumple. But then came a surprise. When we arrived in town, we found out that Rumple was the Dark One. He saw Killian and he was furious. He wanted to kill him because he took me with him and challenged Killian to a duel. On the second day, I went to the place where the duel was supposed to happen and I arrived just in time to stop Rumple from taking Killian's heart. Rumple was prepared to kill him but I couldn't let him do that. I made a deal with him, to give him a magic bean in exchange for leaving us alone, to live our lives in peace. He broke the deal hours later when he put his hand in my chest and took out my heart. I don't remember anything after that, just that I woke up, years later, in Hong Kong."
"Why there?" Belle asked again.
"There was a man called The Dragon. He never told me his real name, though. He told me about this city and that everyone here was cursed and was from the Enchanted Forest."
"So you knew who we were the moment you came here?"
"I just knew that you were from the Enchanted Forest. I didn't know who you were back there."
"What have you done all these years?" Ruby asked Milah.
"The Dragon told me that I couldn't come here; that no one knew their identity and my presence would have a bad effect if I came. That was twenty eight years ago."
"Twenty eight years ago?!" Ruby yelled, making some people turn their heads.
"Then what have you done all this time if you couldn't come here?"
"The Dragon tried to find an explanation of why I was alive but he couldn't. So I decided to travel around the world until he told me that I could finally come here."
"So you came to find Hook?" Belle asked.
"Yes."
"But he wasn't here from the beginning," Ruby pointed out to Milah.
"I know. The Dragon told me when Killian came here for the first time. He knew everything that happened here. When he told me that Killian was here, I decided to come here too. For him." Milah explained to them and then realised something. "I have a question for you too. You said you didn't know him when I asked you yesterday, but now suddenly you do. How?" she asked Ruby.
"You said you were looking for Killian Jones. We only know him as Captain Hook," Ruby explained to Milah.
"Why are you calling him that?"
"Because that's what he calls himself. He has a hook in place of his left hand."
"How?" Milah asked shocked.
"We don't know that."
"So where is he now if he's not here? Is he back in the Enchanted Forest?"
"He's in Neverland," Belle said.
"Neverland?"
"Yeah."
"No, that can't be. Killian hates that place."
"He is there with our friends and Rumplestiltskin."
"Why?"
"Before you came into town, we all almost died because two idiots, a woman and a man, tried to kill us. Remember when I asked you if you knew Tamara and Greg? Yeah, that's them. They tried to kill us not long ago. But Regina, known as The Evil Queen back in our land but the mayor of the town in this land, and Emma Swan, who is the sheriff and the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, saved us. Emma's child, unfortunately, was kidnapped by Greg and Tamara and fell through a portal. Hook, I mean Killian, offered his ship to go search for the boy. The next thing we knew, the ship went into a portal."
"Who is there with him? Beside the parents of the kid I mean."
"Um, just Emma, she's Henry's mother. Also there are Mary Margaret and David, Emma's parents, and Regina and Gold, erm Rumplestiltskin."
"Killian and Rumple are on the same ship?" Ruby could see that the look on Milah's face was one of total fear. "But why?"
"Erm...," Belle started but didn't know how to continue so Ruby talked.
"Because Emma's child is Mr. Gold's grandson."
"But that means that…?" Milah started but couldn't end the question. It couldn't be. It's been hundreds of years.
"Bae is Henry's father."
"My Bae is alive?"
"We… we don't know that. He was hurt, badly from what I heard from Emma and then he fell into a portal."
"So that means that...?"
"Henry is also your grandson."
"Oh God…," Milah said even more shocked.
Neverland
Emma turned to see what happened behind her when she saw Hook on the ground.
"Hook?" She said dropping on her knees beside him while Regina hit the boy who shot the arrow towards them with her magic.
Hook was on the ground with his eyes closed. Emma tried to wake him as the others came around them.
"Hook, come on. Wake up, you idiot!" Emma screamed at him. Yet, nothing happened.
Emma started to get angry at the fact that he jumped in front of her. She wasn't careful, she had her back turned to them and to the Lost Boys and yet, somehow, she knew that he jumped between her and the arrow that was now on the ground beside him. Emma hit him in the chest one more time and right then Hook opened his eyes with a deep breath.
"Bloody hell!" he said, putting his hand on the new wound.
Emma could breathe again. He was alive.
"You idiot!" she yelled at him.
"Emma!" Mary Margaret snapped at her.
"No," she said looking at Mary Margaret and then again at him. "You, what were you thinking?!" Emma yelled at him.
"I was thinking about the fact that you have a son who most likely doesn't want his mother dead," Hook said while still on the ground, trying to take a better look at the wound that was forming on his side.
"And that means you can die?" Emma snapped back at him.
"Why don't you just say thank you and leave me alone, Swan?" he snapped at her.
Emma was surprised by his tone because right there, in front of her, her parents, and Regina, stood Captain Hook, the terrifying pirate. Not Killian Jones, the person Emma started to see every time she looked into his eyes.
"Sorry. Thank you, Hook," she said rising from the ground.
She took one more look at him while her father was helping him stand up, but his eyes were still on the wound, not at her.
"We should go back to the camp. We don't know if the Lost Boys would attack again or not."
The rest of the group nodded and started to move back to the place they had used as their camp in the last few days. Hook stayed behind, not talking to anyone. Even when they made it back to camp, Hook decided to stay in the back, not talking to anyone; even when Mary Margaret asked him if he was okay after the hit he took earlier or when Regina offered to heal the wound.
When everyone decided to go to sleep, Hook offered to stay awake all night while everyone else got a full night of sleep. But as usual, Emma's sleep refused to come. She turned again and again on her cot but she couldn't fall asleep, her mind too full from the events of that day. When she opened her eyes and looked towards the fire, she expected to see Hook, but instead, the place was empty.
Emma rose from the ground and looked around her in search of the pirate. He wasn't in the camp, she was sure of that. Emma looked around, in the forest, and saw a shadow there. Emma started to walk towards that place, Hook being even more visible. He was sitting on a tree trunk looking at something in his hand.
"It's not nice to spy," she heard Hook's voice say softly.
Emma decided to go closer to him and when she was in front of him, she could see that the object he was holding was the arrow that hit him earlier.
"Take a seat?" Hook asked her, showing her the place behind him and then took out his flask and gave it to her.
She sat beside him and took the flask in her hands, but refused to drink from it.
"I'm sorry," she said not looking at him.
"For what?"
"For earlier. You saved my life and all I did was yell at you."
"What's done is done," he said with a hollow voice, still not looking at her but at the arrow in his hand.
"Okay, what is going on?" Emma watched closely as Killian's eyes stayed on the arrow without a word. She wasn't even sure if he heard her question.
"Hook?" Emma asked again putting a hand on his shoulder.
Hook blinked twice and looked at her as if she woke him up from a deep sleep.
"Sorry love, what were you saying?"
"What is going on with you?"
"Nothing."
"Don't lie to me. You know I can tell when you are lying."
"That you do."
"I'm serious Hook. What is going on? You've been staying away from us since you were hit, even if physically you were here. Is it the wound? I can try to heal it if you don't want Regina to do it. I don't know how, but I can try."
"Yes, Emma, it's about the wound," Hook said defeated.
"What is it? Honestly, Hook, you're starting to scare me."
"The arrow had dreamshade on it," he said looking at her with sadness in his eyes.
"What?"
"It's a plant, remember? I told you about it when we first came to Neverland."
"Yeah, I remember, but I don't understand."
"It's a deadly plant Swan."
"And…?"
"I've been hit with it, Emma. I'm a dying man."