Hopefully some of you have realized where I'm going with this by now. If not, pay attention to Archie and the chapter titles. Enjoy!
~The Last Ronin~
"Killian!"
"Emma no!" Neal grabbed me around the waist, hauling me back before I could charge into the jungle, "He's gone.'
"No!" I elbowed him in the gut, trying to break free.
"Emma stop!"
"Let me go!"
"No Emma!"
"Neal, if you don't let me go right now I'm going to kill you!" I snarled before something struck me from behind and blackness claimed my vision.
x-x-x-x-x
I pace the length of the room, my entire body vibrating with barely restrained energy. Once more I try the door but it's still locked. With a shriek I kick it again, a dull boom echoing through my prison the only effect of my outburst. Pulling back my fist I bury it in the padding on the wall but it's like hitting a marshmallow – useless.
Raking my hands through my hair – yanking more than a few strands out by the roots in the process – I scream at the top of my lungs.
"Archie let me the fuck out of here!" No one answers though and I attack the wall yet again. If I close my eyes I can pretend it's Neal's face that I'm beating black and blue.
The room is empty now, the bed I'd had before having been taken away. My lips twist up in a malicious grin as I remember how I lifted the frame and hurled it at Henry's father seconds after he walked through the door. The shock on his face was priceless, even as he dove out of the way.
The wooden frame had shattered and I would have been surprised had I not felt about ready to explode out of my own skin like Henry's favorite comic book character. For a moment I could have sworn my skin had even started turning green. That was probably just a trick of my red tinted vision though.
I saw red – mostly Neal's blood though some of mine was in there too. Red gushing from the hole in my former lover's shoulder where I'd driven one of the broken legs of the bed like a stake. Red pouring from my knuckles where the skin split when I hammered my fist into his face. Red from my lips after he backhanded me in return. Red. Red. Red.
A part of me was shocked – too small a part really, considering that Neal, for all his faults, had never struck me before. But the truth is I barely felt the blow; I still barely feel it.
I'm sure my face is a bruised mess right now but I can't bring myself to care. I'm just too…too…I scream and slam my fist into the wall once more, tears burning the backs of my eyes. Neal isn't the problem – not the real one anyway. The real problem is him!
He left! After everything that happened between us. After everything he did. Everything he said. Everything he made me feel…he left! That sonofabitch left me!
"'I quite fancy you from time to time.'" I snarl in a ridiculous impression of him, "Well guess what buddy? Right now the only thing I fancy is my foot buried up your lying ass!"
Once again I plant my fist into the wall, this time imagining that it's his face. We were supposed to all come back from that accursed island! He promised me! He promised we'd come back and start a life together!
Liar!
Liar!
That bloody fucking liar!
"Killian Jones!" I roar at the empty room, ignoring the throbbing ache in my most-likely-broken hand, "You better never come back because if you do I'm going to kill you! Do you hear me? You're dead Pirate! Dead!"
x-x-x-x-x
"Any change?" I ask Dr. Hopper as Snow and I enter the office he's borrowing from the hospital while keeping an eye on Emma.
"Nothing you probably want to see," Archie says quietly, turning away from the monitor that's displaying my daughter's room.
"We already saw Neal," Snow says, "what happened?"
Archie pulls off his glasses to clean them while watching us, "Anger; which is normal, though I'm a little concerned at the intensity of it – it's closer to rage really."
"But what happened?" Snow asks again.
"I thought maybe a familiar face would help her let out some of the feelings she's repressing – and it did – though it would have helped had I known more of Neal and Emma's interactions in Neverland beforehand," Archie sighs and replaces his glasses, "apparently he did something to her that made her angry while they were there and seeing him caused it to explode…violently as I'm sure you've realized."
"Will this last?" I ask, "I mean, is she going to stay like this forever?"
"She shouldn't, no, though I won't lie and say it isn't a possibility," Archie shakes his head, "the mind is a complex thing and every individual is different, but I believe Emma will get through this. Until this stage passes though we should keep her physically isolated. You can speak with her if you want but it should be done through the door."
"I would like that," Snow says immediately, "perhaps Henry would as well."
"It might help," Dr. Hopper nods, "just keep in mind that for the time being she's little more than a cornered and wounded animal…she may say and do things she probably won't mean."
"Alright then," Snow says and I can see her steeling herself for whatever we're about to face.
I take a deep breath myself. I've fought all sorts of creatures – wraiths and mermaids, sirens and dragons – all without batting an eye. But this, the mere thought of facing this demon wearing my daughter's face has ice running through my veins. How in the world are we going to do this?