AN: Finally an update. Not exactly Captain Swan, but it still counts, right?
He steps onto the Jolly Roger without hesitation, feeling strangely at home on the mostly unfamiliar ship.
It's dead quiet out on the water, eerily so, even the usual lap of the waves giving way to silence. The town itself is much the same, muted, almost ghostlike. With this thought, Henry resists a shiver as the sea breeze picks up, tucking his chin deeper into his scarf.
He heads below deck, easily finding his way to the Captain's Quarters, footsteps loud against the planks. The room is deserted, Henry realizes, looking like a tornado's passed through it. Drawers had been pulled from their tracks, their contents spilling out along the floor, a chair in the corner knocked sideways, a few books torn from their places on the shelves. The sight causes Henry's heart to sink, imagining what might have happened.
They're all devastated by his mother's sacrifice, but perhaps no one more so than Killian. Henry had seen the shock, the desperation, the way Killian had struggled to keep his knees from buckling.
And now he's nowhere to be found.
Henry paces the floor for a few moments, nervously wondering where Killian could have gone, what he might be doing. (He's a hero- Henry knows it, Killian's a hero, but it wouldn't be the first time he's done something rash in the wake of a tragedy.)
Henry lets out a frustrated sigh and makes his way above deck, squinting at the morning's light. He considers his options and decides to wait it out, knowing (hoping) Killian will have to come back to his ship eventually. Settling down on the floor, Henry leans back against the mast, closing his eyes. He's tired, but there's an energy that's been buzzing in his bones since Regina had explained what happened to his other mom. The knowledge that they'll find her, the anxiousness to get started on the search, has Henry's blood thrumming.
And of course it's not a question. He knows they'll get Emma back one way or another But it's the time in between the loss and the rescue-the waiting-that has Henry worried.
Because they-he and Emma and Killian-had become something like a family in the past two months. Henry remembers those six weeks of peace, when it was quiet and restful and the three of them had fallen into a routine. He has flashes of his mom and Killian walking him to school, the three of them falling asleep on the couch while something on Netflix played in the background, and Sunday dinners at the loft- the five of them and little Neal, and even Regina on more than one occasion.
They had been happy, and Henry's not about to let another curse wreck that. He'll talk to Killian, he'll convince him that they can beat this, that they can and will find Emma. That he's part of this family now, too, and in this family, they always find each other.