Bane of His Existence
Chapter Twenty-Three
Once more in the New Enchanted Forest…
Alice carefully made her way down the slope that led to the river where her father found a place to sit on a large rock, then began to remove his boots and leather coat in order to cool himself down. Despite Regina having healed him, he couldn't stop feeling warm from a fever that no longer plagued his body as it did while they were still in Neverland. The truth was, he was weary and disheartened from their journey to that dark island Hook hoped never to return to again, especially because doing so had all been for nothing.
However, when he heard a soft voice he knew so well despite being unable to hear it often because of the poison that weighed heavily over his heart, Hook weakly stood again and turned around to find his daughter sitting up on a low branch from a tree nearby as she called out to him quietly saying, "Hello again, Papa."
He smiled at her sadly and choked back a sob as he responded, "Alice… You have no idea how good it is to see your face and to hear your voice again."
"I was worried for you after you left," she continued worryingly when she sensed his despair. "And now… Papa, I'm so sorry. I never should have come here to ask you to go. I didn't think about how dangerous Neverland really was for you. All I wanted… was for us to be…"
"Together again," Killian whispered before his daughter could finish. "Believe me, I wish for nothing more. I take it you heard then?"
The young woman nodded, then answered, "I was standing outside of the tent when all of you were discussing what happened. That witch who haunts you, she was there too? Why does she hate you so much? Why did she do this to us? Please… please tell me the truth. I know you're keeping it from me because you want to protect me, but I don't care how painful it is for me. You shouldn't have to keep this burden to yourself, Papa."
Hook let out a long sigh and then finally replied, "You remember the stories I used to tell you, about the villain I used to be until you came along and softened my heart?"
"Of course I remember them," Alice responded sadly. "They're a part of what helps to keep me fighting to be with you again. The good and the bad. I hear your voice in my head telling them to me whenever I think of them. Is this witch someone from your pirating days?"
The evening before Alice was born…
"That was a hell of a night, love," Captain Hook stated proudly as he stood up from the bed where he had made love with Rapunzel, the beautiful woman standing at the window of the tower as she looked out of it, whom he believed to be innocent, then returned his cutlass to his scabbard once again at his side now that he was dressed again and finally walked over to stand behind her.
She smiled smugly and then turned around to face the pirate while she answered, "Yes, it was. Can't quite remember another like it."
As he leaned in close to kiss her once again, he whispered, "Aye."
"What the hell was that?" he then asked strangely when he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a baby crying from within the back of the room and turned to look for the source.
"That little cry…" she began as the baby cried even louder, then reached up to caress Hook's left cheek before she walked away from him to move over to the child's bassinette. "…is the sound of my freedom."
Hook followed after her while he asked again more curtly, "Where did you get a baby from?"
Rapunzel leaned down to pick up the baby as she replied, "The usual place. Like you said, it was quite a night."
"No, no, no, no, no," he uttered in disbelief of what she was trying to tell him. "That can't be. It's not possible."
"Not if there's magic involved," she responded coldly, and then suddenly transformed into her true self to reveal to him what she really was.
Killian stared at her in shock at first until he quickly pulled his sword from its scabbard again to defend himself should she attack, then spoke again saying, "You… you're the witch."
She looked down at the child no longer crying while in her arms and then looked back at him again as she answered cruelly, "I prefer Gothel. I have to say, I had no idea getting what I needed was going to be that enjoyable."
"If you're the witch who guards the tower, then where's Rapunzel?" he questioned while continuing to hold his blade out.
"Oh, that's a tragic tale," Gothel replied coldly when she finally laid their baby back down within her bassinette again. "I built the tower to imprison Rapunzel. But she managed to turn the tables and trapped me instead."
Hook glared at her darkly while he finally lowered the cutlass and responded, "That's why you needed the flower."
The witch walked up to him again and began to seduce him, reaching up to caress his face once more as she retorted, "Not the flower, but you. The flower imprisoned me, which means it couldn't free me."
"The only way I can escape this prison is by leaving someone in my bloodline to take my place," she continued when Killian resisted her advances by turning his head away from her and returned to the tower's window, then raised her hand to test the magical barrier keeping her trapped inside until it suddenly vanished, indicating she was finally free at last as she gasped with relief and exhaled sharply.
"That's where you came in," Gothel added when she turned around again to look at her lover once more. "The power from the petal just sped up the process. But don't worry. I left you a petal. It's small, but there's more than enough magic for what you need. Shall we?"
When she indicated she wished for him to leave with her from the tower, Killian asked angrily, "So, you're just gonna leave and abandon this baby here?"
The witch rolled her eyes when he suddenly became noble and then said, "Oh, don't look at me like that."
"You're a pirate on a quest for revenge," Gothel continued as she walked up to him again and roamed her hand over his chest to try to allure him to follow her while he struggled to keep on resisting her. "I'm sure more than one innocent person has paid the price on that little journey. What do you say I come with you and help you get your revenge, and then you come with me and help me get mine?"
"You got what you needed…" Hook answered with finality as he suddenly pulled her hand away. "…and so did I. Let's leave it at that, shall we?"
She stared at him darkly while she stated, "Suit yourself… love."
Gothel sauntered back to the window, then climbed up onto its threshold after she glanced back at him and added cruelly, "And don't brood for too long."
Back in the present, as Killian broke from his thoughts…
"Aye," her father answered remorsefully, while he fought to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. "I met her… on the evening before you were born within that tower you were trapped in for all those lonely years. The very evening you were conceived. Alice… I'm afraid that this witch who has done this… She's your mother. She deceived me when we met just that night. I came to that tower in search of a golden flower for the Evil Queen… the villainess from the Wish Realm where I'm from. Not Regina. She promised me she could help me get my revenge on the crocodile, on the Rumplestiltskin also from my realm, if I just helped her by getting the golden flower for her. I was told it contained magic so powerful, it could give us both what we wanted. I found it, thanks to a woman I believed was trapped in that tower before you were. I believed she was innocent. However, she turned out to be a witch who called herself Mother Gothel, only I learned too late. She had used the golden flower to help her to conceive a child in a single night as we… made love, so she would finally be free to escape her prison. Only someone of her bloodline could do that for her by taking her place there. Gothel believed my heart was black enough that I would abandon you and leave you to die so I could have my revenge, but she was wrong. And because I refused to be with her, she punished me by returning years later to poison my heart so we could never be together again. You don't remember her burning that brand on your wrist because she used her magic to render you unconscious before you ever saw her. I could only tell you a witch had done this to us and that your mother abandoned us long ago. I never could tell you the rest… not because I knew how much the truth would hurt you, but because I was ashamed. Ashamed of what I had done. You were my only saving grace and I wanted so badly to be the father you deserved. Only I've failed at that too. I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you all of this before, Alice. I'm sorry for everything."
"It's all right, Papa," Alice replied sadly, wanting so badly to rush into her father's arms to hold him and to comfort him, only to remember she couldn't, so she wiped away her own tears while she continued to comfort him the best she could without going near him. "You didn't fail me. You've been here for me all along even though we haven't been able to be together. You stayed with me for as long as you could and lived an even lonelier life than I have. But then you found your other self, and Emma. And Regina and Henry. They gave you hope and maybe this journey to Neverland turned out badly, but you haven't failed me because you haven't given up yet. I believe you will find a way so we can be together again. You just have to believe it too."
It was then that Regina appeared from the darkness of the night as she walked down from the hill while she responded, "She's right you know. One day, we will defeat Gothel by curing the poison over your heart. Seeing you two together again will be the beginning of her downfall."
Alice smiled at the Queen in gratitude for her assurance, then spoke again saying, "I'm afraid it's time for me to go. Will you keep on looking after him for me, Regina?"
"You know I will," she answered sincerely, while she moved in closer to stand beside him as they watched Alice start to run off until she stopped again to look back at her father.
"I love you, Papa," she called out to him. "Please don't ever forget."
He smiled sadly as she finally continued on, then he whispered, "I won't. What do I do now, Regina?"
Regina turned to him and replied, "We keep looking. We will find a way, Hook. You just have to have hope."
When a wave of dizziness suddenly washed over Hook as he swayed on his feet, Regina reached out to catch him so he wouldn't collapse and guided him back over to the rock where he had been sitting before Alice appeared to him, then helped him to sit down again. Without another word between for the next several minutes, she once again took his hand in her own and looked up into his eyes, while he looked down into hers. Words weren't necessary in that moment, as a love between Captain Hook and the former Evil Queen was kindled.
