Hey you guys. So sorry for the long delay in updating. My grandmother passed away a few days ago and Black Friday at work caused a lot of craziness. Thanks for your patience and I promise to have a longer chapter up very very soon 3 Enjoy this short lead into a much more dramatic upcoming chapter 3
Chapter Nine: You Burn With The Brightest Flame
"Mind telling me what my son is doing in a jail cell?" Gold asked as Hook slammed the steel door shut, turning around in surprise.
"It's not wise to sneak up on a pirate, mate." he replied, tucking the key into his jacket and leaning against the cell.
"And why is he knocked out?" Gold continued with his questions as he stepped up to look through the bars.
"I suppose since you abandoned your son you haven't had the pleasure of seeing what a bloody fool he has grown up to be. And a violent one at that." Hook explained casually, taking a dagger from his side and running his fingers over the tip, watching his own actions and paying the older man no mind.
"What are you going on about?" he asked again, snapping his fingers as he lost his patience, leaning on his cane.
"Your golden boy here has been less then kind to your towns little savior." he answered with a huff of boredom and disinterest.
"Stop speaking in riddles, boy! What has he done to be locked up and beaten from the looks of it?" Rumple exclaimed, seeing his sons bruised and bloody face between the bars.
"He's been hurting woman half his damn size, dearie." Hook snapped, angry at the mans tone when he was the one playing the pissed off card now. Emma was the one being hurt, not Baelfire. And the Dark One was working his last nerve.
"That's impossible. He would never-" but Hook wasn't going to listen to this any longer.
He held his hook up in front of his elder in protest, stepping up toe to toe with him. "Well he did. But I guarantee you he will never again. He wouldn't dare." Killian threatened, his jaw clenched tight with rage as he forced himself to speak through it. "And you'd be so wise as to pass that message along when he wakes." With those last words, he was gone, storming out of the jailhouse until he ended up at the Queens home. The sun was setting, giving him less then an hour of orange sunlight before blackness covered the town. Before he could stop himself or figure out why he was there, his hand was already knocking on the door before it was answered by a small boy half his height.
"Hello, lad. Just who I wanted to see." Hook introduced, clapping the boys shoulder before walking inside with him, amused by his obvious joy at seeing the pirate.
"Captain." Regina greeted when they walked into the living room where she was reading.
"Witch." he greeted back with a playful smile which she returned with a dry laugh.
"Is there a reason you are in my home with my son?" she asked, setting her book down and standing from her seat in front of the fire.
"Actually, I was hoping to have a word with him. Completely innocent, nonpirate talk, I assure you." he promised with a cocky bow.
"Of course." she said, leaving the room. How could she say no to the man who saved her sons life not so long ago.
"Thank you." he said sincerely, waiting until she was gone before addressing the boy.
"Is my mom okay? Emma." he asked, worry etched into his boyish face.
"Aye, she is alright. I wanted to talk to you about your father, however. He is in jail. It seems he was trying to find something in your home. Tore the place apart. Any idea what he may have been searching for?" he asked, knowing full well the boy knew what it was.
"The book." he whispered, running out of the room before quickly returning with a large book. The same book of stories from earlier. A window into the future.
"Well, I'll be damned." Hook muttered, watching as Henry hugged the bounded book tightly to his chest. "It is a good thing you weren't home then. Why does he want a childrens book anyways?"
Henry laughed dryly, plopping down on the couch in front of the fire. Hook sat on the arm of the sofa, looking over the boys shoulder as he opened the book.
"If I had to guess, I'd say he wants to know the ending to his story. It's not just a childrens book, Captain. It's everyones life written as a story but its true nonetheless." Henry explained, opening the book to the same page he saw earlier. A simple blonde woman standing in the center of a forest. Her face, however, looked different then it had before. Sadness was drawn across her pale face as tears poured from her eyes. Perhaps this was a different story, a different chapter then before.
"What happened?" Henry whispered, mostly to himself as he ran his small hand over the page. "This is Emmas story. Why did it change? What did you do?" he accused, worried at his mothers new path as he noticed sadness had replaced a smile in her depiction.
"I didn't do a damn thing to her." he replied with narrowed eyes.
"I've got to go see her." Henry muttered mostly to himself. He clutched the book tightly to his chest and ran out the door.
"Bloody hell." Hook hissed, following at his heels. "It's getting late, lad. You can't just go trolling the streets alone. Haven't you learned to be more careful what with being kidnapped by Peter Pan and all."
"I don't care. My moms story has been rewritten which means something happened. Every ending is supposse to be happy ever after for good hearts. Like Emma." he explained as they walked quickly towards the boys home. "And the villains of the story are the ones with unhappy faces. I have to help her fix whatever it is that gave her a villains ending."
"It's just a book, kid." he said, trying to calm the boy down.
Henry huffed as he took the stairs to his apartment building two at a time. "You don't get it. If she doesn't get the right ending in the story, she doesn't get the right ending in real life. And if anyone deserves a happily ever after, it's Emma."
"Whatever you say." Hook groaned, following the younger boy inside. A frown formed across his face when he saw Henry stop in the threshold, the boys gaze locked on his bothers back. Hook followed his stare to find Emma crouched down on the floor with a dustpan and broom, sweeping up piles of broken glass around her. Blood ran down from her hand to her elbow, small drops falling to the hardwood floor. She didn't notice them enter as she continued to sweep up the shards, taking no caution as pieces dug into her skin as she swept.
"Mom?" Henry asked slowly, taking careful steps inside while Hook stayed in the doorway. He shouldn't have come back. He wasn't the one to fix the broken hearts and be a shoulder to cry on. He was usually the cause, not the solution. Seeing her like this, even without seeing her face, he knew he had to get out of town. He had to get away from her. He would only hurt her in the end. Anything he ever loved had been taken from him or used against him and destroyed before his eyes. He wouldn't watch that happen to the frail woman in front of him. And he certainly wouldn't let it happen to her son.
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