Bane of His Existence
Chapter Three
Two weeks before Henry's and Ella's wedding…
Since arriving within the New Enchanted Forest, Hook, Regina, and Henry had been working together with Tiana, the leader of their rebellion, as well as with Ella, Jack, and others to continue to push back against Lady Tremaine and her soldiers while she continued to make advancements against them in order to try to destroy the heroes once and for all. Zelena and her daughter also joined with them when they could, though they often had their own duties to tend to on their farm a long distance away from the rest of their family and friends.
After establishing their home with those from this new realm, Henry's marriage to Ella was fast approaching and both Regina and Hook were especially worried either Lady Tremaine or Drizella would strike against them to try to ruin the two lovers' happy day. So, they've been working all that much harder to make sure their camp was well protected and that their own spies were out where they would be alerted quickly to an attack should the villains strike.
Late one night, Henry approached Hook as the pirate was planning an offensive against a group of soldiers camped not far from their camp with Regina in case they attempted to attack and cleared his throat so he wouldn't startle his mother and the doppelganger of the father he missed, then spoke up saying, "You guys should call it a night. Surely everything's in their proper place."
Regina smiled as she reached out to take her son's hand and squeezed it gently, then she replied, "You're probably right. We just want to make sure that woman's soldiers can't get through our defenses and that no one will be able to ruin your wedding day like I ruined your grandparents' wedding, or like the Black Fairy did to your mother and Hook… the other Hook."
"They won't," Henry answered confidently, then looked over at Hook as well. "Because I know you. Both of you. Besides, we still have a couple of weeks. We've got plenty of time to make sure everything's in place."
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Hook… you have some visitors here to see you," Ella interrupted when she appeared before them, followed by Mr. Gold and Alice, who kept her distance from her father out of fear of hurting him, especially once Hook started to move towards her upon seeing her there until he stopped himself from doing so as soon as she warned him to stay back.
The young woman spoke to him despondently as she pleaded, "Please… don't come any closer. We came here with good news, Papa. Rumplestiltskin thinks he may have found a way to cure the poison over your heart so that we can finally be together."
Hook glanced towards the Dark One nervously, then immediately turned back to his daughter as he questioned, "What kind of cure? And what's the price attached to it?"
"My price for it is free," Gold responded, keeping his eyes on his latest student's father somberly, then summoned a book into his hands and carefully turned its pages until he came upon the one he sought to show him. "I made a promise to Alice that I would help you both find a way to be cured of the curse forced upon you. However, as you know there's always a price with the magic involved in such a feat. In this ancient spell book we came across in our travels throughout this realm as well as others, I've discovered an elixir that can be made to cure the curse of the poisoned heart. Unfortunately, it requires a special ingredient that cannot be found here. I need the waters from a magical spring with elements that can be found only within Neverland."
Killian shook his head in objection as he curtly replied, "No. We can't risk it."
Regina looked at him worryingly as she asked, "Why not? If there's a chance you can finally be free to be with your daughter, isn't it a risk you're willing to take? I'll come with you."
"I would do whatever it takes to be with her again," he answered adamantly, then his eyes softened as he looked back over at Alice, who in turn kept her eyes on him as well. "But only if it was I who had to risk everything to get what I need. I would brave the treacheries of Neverland again in a second. But I can't ask you to come with me. This journey's far too dangerous. Surely you remember what Neverland is like from your own travels there, but the Neverland we'd be traveling to… because it stems off from my own realm, the Wish Realm, Pan was never defeated. He's very much alive and just as vile as the demon you've described in your stories from your own adventure there. I won't have you come with me and I certainly won't allow Alice to come either. I can't have any of you risking your lives. Not for me."
"Then we'll travel to the Neverland we know, where only the Lost Boys remain," Henry responded before his friend could go on. "You still ought to know it enough to be able to guide us to its magical spring, and this way we won't have to worry about fighting against Pan. I just have to be the one who enters the portal first so that it leads us to where I'm thinking of."
Hook let out a sigh of frustration, then retorted, "It won't ever work if your Neverland and mine are too different. Like you've told me, it was only the other me who traveled to Dead Man's Peak along with his brother as I have, then again with your grandfather. I know where the magical spring is. You don't. It's best we go where I'm most familiar, but the risk is still far too great. Besides, you're about to be married in two weeks time. I can't lose you, Henry. I promised your mother and my other self I would look after you. I can't lose any of you. You all mean too much to me."
Regina spoke up again saying, "Which is why I'll be coming along to look after you both."
"Papa, please…" Alice whispered again pleadingly as she took a few steps closer to her father, though this time it was Killian who moved away from her. "Aren't you tired of living this way? Being this close to one another, but being unable to truly be together? I know how much it kills you to not be able to hold me when I'm sad. How much you have to fight from embracing me even now, just to assure yourself I'm really here and that I'm still with you. Being unable to be with you is killing me too, Papa."
"If there's a chance to cure the poison over your heart and this mark on my arm put there by that witch who did this to us, I would go anywhere and risk anything," she added as she pulled back the sleeve of her blouse to reveal the branding mark burned into her wrist.
Regina looked to Alice and then turned back to Hook again as she replied, "If you're willing to make the journey yourself, Hook… I told you, I'm in. I know how it feels to be separated from my son, though because I was still the Evil Queen then. And again because of the Pan we knew when he had Henry kidnapped, then cast another dark curse himself in order to separate us. I would fight through hell again and again to be with him. Believe me, I've been there… literally. Alice can stay here with Gold so she won't be there in Neverland to put herself in any danger. What do you say, Hook?"
When his friend didn't say anything at first, Henry continued, "You're almost as much of a father to me as Killian is, Hook. You are practically him after all. If it were him facing this curse, he'd give everything he had to fight for those he loves. He'd be afraid to accept our help in such a perilous journey, but he also understands it's always better to fight together no matter the risk. It makes for a better chance at success. I feel the same way."
"I trust you will look after my future husband," Ella said quietly as she moved to stand beside Henry and took his hand in her own. "You'll be back in plenty of time for our wedding."
"Please trust them," Alice pleaded once more as she turned back to her father. "If you don't want me to go, I won't. But you have to be willing to fight if you wish to keep me from going to Neverland on my own. Because I will if you refuse to help yourself."
The pirate captain from the Wish Realm chortled at his daughter's stubbornness, then finally he answered, "Very well. We'll leave at first light. But Alice… you have to promise me you'll remain here."
Killian quickly turned to the man who wore the face of his former enemy he had once sworn revenge on, then stated, "Please keep her from following after us once we're gone. She's stubborn. Continue to look after her for me?"
"You have my word," Gold responded. "The waters alone aren't enough to cure the poison over your heart, but the rest of the ingredients I can find here. I can also gather what's needed to keep the waters from taking your life, since you'll be drinking what will no longer a part of that forsaken world."
"Thank you, Gold," Hook whispered with sincerity, then reached out his hand in gratitude for the Dark One to shake. "Even if this doesn't work, I still thank you. For giving us both hope."
