The former merchant captain John Silver of the Enchanted Forest was not someone who liked to be double crossed. After years of making trips delivering grain between kingdoms, he had had many opportunities to be double crossed and do the double crossing in turn. He always liked to twist events when it looked like he would be double crossed into his favor when he could. This long standing personality trait was what led him to storming through the streets of this strange town in the Underworld searching for the former crew members who had been under his employ when they had lived.
A thunderous expression on his face, the few people who were still out and about gave him a wide berth as he searched the rest of his former crew out. He knew that most of them worked at the cannery (thanks to Hades) and that they all had the evening shift. His first mate, Jim Hawkins, was on the same shift as he at the cannery, and was therefore off work. He went to get Jim first.
As he made his way to Jim's flat, Silver pondered upon what he had just heard. He couldn't believe that Liam Jones, the deckhand who had once belonged to him in an indentured servitude contract, had been the one to orchestrate his death. If he had been asked before this, he'd have never accused Liam of being the party responsible. Silver would have said that the one to do it would have been the younger Jones brother, Killian. Killian had been the vengeful sort, always trying to get back at Silver for his cruel punishments and taunts.
Killian was the one who had the spark of fight that Silver loathed to see in slaves. (Slaves, indentured servants; it was all the same to Silver. The Jones boys had belonged to him no matter which way it was cut.) Silver had tried to cull it out of the man, but the fight in him had been too strong. A lash didn't quell the fight, cutting his rations hadn't done the trick, nor did rum make him more docile. If anything, the spirit just made Killian Jones fight all the harder. It had seemed that the crueler Silver became to the man, the more motivated Killian was at defying him. No, he'd have definitely said that Killian would have been the one to orchestrate his death if he'd been asked prior to this.
Silver looked up at the rundown building that had been his destination, finally arriving. He shook off his thoughts and quickly climbed the four flights of stairs to Jim Hawkins' dwelling. He pounded on the door until Jim answered it.
"What?" Jim snarled as he opened it, not bothering to see who it was on the other side.
"We've got some unfinished business to attend to," Silver replied, not bothering with any niceties. Jim stopped short when he realized who it was on the other side of the door.
"Sir?" He questioned, not following his former captain's train of thought.
"I'll explain on the way to get the others," was Silver's only reply, turning to walk away from Jim. Jim gazed after his former captain confusedly for a moment and then followed, letting his door slam behind him.
"What are we going to do?" Jim questioned, striding to keep up with Silver's furious pace.
"We're going to get us some retribution," Silver said. "I know who is responsible for our deaths, and we're going to make them pay."
Jim smirked. "Who shall we be making to walk the plank, sir?"
"Our former crew members, the Jones brothers." By now, Silver was halfway to the cannery, not stopping to take a breath let alone think the situation through. He was too intent on revenge.
"The Jones brothers? You mean the two who mutinied against us in that typhoon?" Jim asked.
Silver nodded. "They're the reason we're stuck here, and we will make them pay."
Jim nodded his head in understanding and agreement, and the two men crossed the rest of the distance silently, with Silver leading the way. Silver was not going to let this rest. He was going to see those Jones boys burn in the Boiling Sea if it was the last thing he did.
When they got to the cannery, Silver was able to catch the rest of the crew on a break. He quickly explained the situation, and once they were successfully riled up, they quickly began making their way to that old abandoned mansion, not caring that they were technically at work. What was the worst that could happen to them? They were already dead and stuck in limbo, after all, with no hope of figuring out their unfinished business, let alone solving it. At least vengeance would give them some satisfaction in death. Not to mention, it gave Silver a twisted sense of satisfaction that he could still motivate the group of men who had been under his employ for all those years of life. Once a captain, always a captain.
Silver and his former crew marched forward through the evening, determined to make the ones who had wronged them finally pay. Silver's eyes gleamed in anticipation of the carnage that was soon to come. He smirked a small, twisted, and anticipatory smirk as he led the way towards the old abandoned mansion that he had overheard Hades talk about.
—
Liam met up with Emma, Killian, Henry, and Regina just after dark like they had previously agreed. Liam felt nervous about the mission he had been given by Hades, but he knew he had no other choice. He had to protect his brother from finding out just the kind of man Liam really was. He had to help Killian find his reason for being able to move on.
They all gazed at the mansion's facade as they walked.
Killian commented, "Well, the mansion is here. I guess old White Beard was telling the truth."
No one responded to his comment. "Do we have the key," Liam asked, wanting to get down to business and get this job done.
Killian nodded. "We have it. But there's a protection spell on the door. Could be dangerous to open it." Killian lifted an eyebrow up at the thought of danger, given their current location and all they had been through so far.
"Oh, well, I suppose I should do the honors," Liam responded. He might have mucked up his life, but he had spent it trying to protect Killian, and he wasn't about to stop doing so now.
Killian smirked, misinterpreting why Liam had offered, a misinterpretation for which Liam was grateful. "You always were the noble one, weren't you?" He held the key out for Liam to take, and Liam did so.
He looked at Killian for a moment and then walked up the steps and put the key in the hole. He swung the door open and held it open for the rest of the group to go through, finally crossing the threshold last. He took in their surroundings, to which the others seemed to pay no attention. Perhaps they had been in here before, if their assertion that everything here had a counterpart back in the Land of the Living.
"Wonderful," Killian stated. "I love what they've done with the place." Killian moved a spider web out of the way in a doorway so that Emma could step under it. Once she was clear, he let the spiderweb go. It shouldn't have comforted Liam to see that Killian was still just as observant as he, but it did. Perhaps things hadn't changed as much as Liam had feared.
"We should split up… move fast," Liam offered.
Emma frowned in his direction, which he pretended not to see. "Uh, yeah. I guess. Henry, uh, you got to stay here."
Liam watched as Henry looked at his mother in disgruntled amazement. "But this was my idea," the lad protested. "I'm not gonna stand behind and do nothing."
Emma moved close enough to pat her son on his shoulder. "You're not doing nothing," Emma replied. "You're the lookout."
"Lookout?" Henry echoed skeptically.
"Don't argue with your mother," Regina (the Queen? Seriously, what was he supposed to call all these people?) butted in.
"But-" Henry began, but stopped when Regina turned and faced the lad and frowned.
"Or your mother," Regina stated firmly as she frowned at him. Henry's protests died as they all headed in separate directions.
Just as Liam was entering a hallway on everyone's left, he heard Henry mutter, "Last time you leave me behind…" but he didn't hear the rest of Henry's defiant grumbling because he had left them all behind to finish up the mission Hades had set him upon. Liam realized he felt rather out of place as he observed how seamlessly they all moved together, blending their words and actions together in a well-practiced orchestra of accompaniment, but he mentally shook it off. His feelings of being left out didn't matter. Squaring his shoulders, he began moving through the mansion, looking for the book that Hades had described.
He figured it would be in something like a study, or perhaps a library, and so he moved from room to room trying to find the most likely location. The first study he came across didn't have it. The second on that side of the mansion didn't have it either. With every room he entered, Liam felt his heart race that much faster. He had to beat the others to finding that book, else he'd never get the chance to bury his secrets for good.
He swore after making that dreadful decision that he would take what he had done to his grave, and he's been successful in that endeavor thus far. He would not fail at finding those pages and continuing to keep what he had done hidden from his brother. Filled with a blazing determination, he finally strode into what appeared to be a large library located in the center of the mansion but towards the back, and in a glass case in the center, was the very book Hades had instructed him to find.
It only took him a moment to locate the section that Hades wanted to be destroyed. It was obvious what he was looking for as he scanned over the pictures. Liam quickly gathered them all in his hand and tore them out, trying to tear as close to the binding of the book as he could so as to not make it apparent that the book had been tampered with.
He glanced up, surreptitiously scanning his surroundings to make sure no one was coming. If one of them saw his actions, all hell would break loose. He knew Emma Swan was already suspicious of him, and he reckoned that she wouldn't hesitate to bring his indiscretions out into the light in an attempt at making him look bad in front of Killian. Once he had them out, he folded them up and slipped them into the inner pocket of his jacket. Now he just had to destroy them.
He hesitated for a moment. Looking down at his feet, he murmured a soft, "I'm sorry, brother." He regretted his actions, but he didn't regret them enough not to go through with his plan. He had to find a way to deliver them to Hades without arousing the suspicions of the others with whom he was working. Liam left the room and made his way down into a new set of rooms so he wouldn't be anywhere near the crime scene.
The room he found himself in seemed to be some nondescript sitting room. It had a fancy-looking settee and several chairs and a couple of tables. A baby grand piano rested in one corner. Liam deliberately left the door open and began searching through the books that rested there, wanting to give the impression that he was searching for the book in case one of the others stumbled upon him. He shifted through a few books that resided on a table, not getting very far through the stack when he heard a shout.
"Guys! I've found the book!" Henry shouted, his voice a bit muffled due to the distance between rooms that Liam had made sure to put between him and the library. After waiting a moment longer so as to make it seem like he had been searching a bit further away, he left the room after he heard the footfalls of Regina, his brother, and Emma.
When he entered the room, he saw them huddled around a big book with the title "Once Upon a Time" emblazoned in a fancy bold script.
"Alright, so what kind of story do you think we're looking for?" Emma asked.
"I don't know," Henry responded. "I'm not sure how different the stories are in this version from the one I have at home."
"Wait," Liam interrupted. "That was the book we were looking for?"
"Yes," Killian answered. "This book is very special. If a key to defeating Hades exists, it will be within its pages."
"I found that just a few moments ago. I didn't realize it was what we were looking for." Liam smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry I didn't recognize it sooner."
Emma and Regina shared twin looks of confusion. Killain clapped Liam on his shoulder.
"That's alright; you didn't know. Now let's see if we can find Hades' weakness, shall we?" Killian smiled and opened the book, carefully flipping through the stories of heroes and villains, princes and princesses. Liam couldn't believe the stories that this book told. The stories seemed to be of former denizens of the Underworld.
Killian continued to thumb through the pages, shaking his head slowly as his searching yielded no results. Finally, he reached the end and threw his hand up in exasperation before resting it against the cabinet.
"There's no mention of Hades' story anywhere," Killian announced.
Regina rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"
Liam looked between his brother, Regina, and the book. He held his breath, not daring to believe that he had gotten away with his prevarications.
Emma pointed at the book. "Yeah, and look," she said, flipping the book to the end. "There's some pages that are missing."
Regina nodded thoughtfully. "Back during the first curse, I tore my story out of Henry's book so he wouldn't know I was the Evil Queen."
Killian sighed. "Well, if Hades has done the same, we don't stand much chance of finding it." He shut the book with a dull thud. Killian noticed his fingers had some lingering ink stains from handling the pages, and he rubbed his fingers against his jeans absentmindedly, not caring much about the residue except to make sure he didn't transfer it onto something else by accident.
Emma cast her suspicious gaze upon Liam, and it was all he could do to resist fidgeting. "What do you think, Liam?" she asked. "You found the book. Was there any evidence it had been tampered with?"
Liam shook his head, partly in denial and partly in amazement that the lass's suspicions would immediately go straight to him. He supposed it made a certain amount of sense; he had volunteered the information that he had found the book, after all. It would only make sense to accuse the person who had found it of tampering with it, especially when no one was around to witness the finding of said object.
"No," he replied. "And until I find any, I'll choose to have hope."
Liam wondered if his words sounded as hollow to their ears as they did to his, but none of the others seemed to notice the lies peeling from his lips like a carol of bells at Yuletide.
"Those pages," Liam continued (after all, in for a penny, in for a pound), "could have fallen out and still be in this house."
Gods, he was laying this on too thick, wasn't he? There's no way his brother would believe the drivel coming out of his mouth, but Liam had thrown his money into the center in such a large amount that there was no going back. Should he go all in on this gamble and finish his declaration in his old captain's voice? No, surely that would be enough to give away his game to Killian, and all of his plans would be for naught. Best stay away from the captain's motivational speeches; this wasn't his old crew, after all. (Well, one of them technically was a member of his old crew, but Killian had been a pirate captain in his stead, so he didn't really count, not to mention that Killian technically had also been promoted to captain in the King's navy after Liam's death before his turn to piracy.) Besides, these people were royalty. They were typically the ones giving the motivational speeches, not hearing them. They'd see through this in a heartbeat.
"And, I," Liam continued, using his motivational captain's voice even as he had just decided not to use it because he just couldn't help himself, "for one, won't give up without trying to find them."
Liam paused for a moment, quickly taking stock of his companions' facial expressions. Regina's face bore a look of bored skepticism at his claims, Henry's brow was furrowed in what looked to be mild confusion and uncertainty at whether Liam was right that the pages were still in the house, Killian's eyes looked approving and had a glint of hero worship that Liam had become accustomed to seeing over the years they had grown up together, but Emma's… Emma's face was turned down into a scowl. The suspicious look in her eyes had only grown deeper. She looked at Liam as if he was something at the bottom of her shoe. Liam didn't like the look of scrutiny she bore towards him, so he turned around and walked out of the room, just missing what it was that Regina murmured to Emma.
Once he exited, he slunk off into the shadows, making sure to avoid Henry and Regina's leaving to search for the pages in another room. After he was sure the mother and son were in another part of the manse, he leaned as closely to the door as he could. Emma and Killian were locked in a terse conversation.
Killian was turned to Emma, who was still facing the doorway.
"What's wrong?" Killian asked. "Aren't you coming?"
His question seemed to startle Emma out of her thoughts. "Uh, yeah, sorry," she responded. "Let's go."
She started to walk around Killian to leave, but his little brother threw out his hand to stop her. "No, wait. Wait. Not until you tell me what's going on. I know when something's bothering you."
Liam watched as Killian smiled softly at the pretty blonde. His brother's smile was encouraging, and Liam had the brief thought that that same smile had probably worked on the woman many times before this. He wondered just how often Killian had offered to play the role of supportive lover. (Liam felt a slight tinge of outrage; shouldn't it be Emma that offered the support after she had killed him?) He watched as Emma gave Killian a look of trepidation, and Liam realized that Emma knew that Killian wouldn't want to hear what she had to say about the eldest Jones brother. He also watched as she took a breath to fortify herself and said what needed to be said regardless of whether Killian was prepared to hear it or not. In spite of his dislike for her, Liam couldn't help but be impressed by the lass's courage.
"It's Liam," Emma responded. "I've had a bad feeling ever since we met, and at first I thought it was just because he didn't like me. I think he's hiding something."
Liam watched as a shocked look crossed Killian's face. Whatever he had been expecting Emma to say, it was clear that Killian had not expected that.
"That's preposterous," Killian replied. "My brother wouldn't lie."
Emma shrugged. "Maybe," she said trepidatiously, aware that she was walking into a mined field with her assertions, "there's stuff about him you don't know. Maybe he does know what his unfinished business is down here."
Killian shook his head in instinctive denial. "No, you're wrong about him," he denied, his voice taking on a shade of anger as he spoke. "I know who my brother is. I'm gonna go help him find those pages." Killian turned and stormed off, a scowl resting on his face. Liam watched Emma's face fall in disappointment (but was that also acceptance on her face? Liam couldn't be sure from this angle).