24. PROMISES.
Everything was ready. The assembly could start as soon as all the rulers who'd been invited to it appeared, with the exception of Eric or his father, who lived too far away from Snow's kingdom, but they were in touch to know everything that was said on the reunion.
Phillip had been the first to arrive the castle, riding his loyal horse. After having greeted Snow and Charming and spoken with them for some minutes, he'd gone to spend some time with Aurora before everyone else appeared, taking the occasion to see how Killian was as well. Seeing them together and happy didn't hurt as he'd thought it would do. It was true that he'd decided to let her go months before, when he'd realized how much they loved each other and the fact that he'd faced a dragon for their freedom had made the prince develop more respect for the former pirate, but, while he was travelling to Snow's home, he wondered if he would feel something like sadness or jealousness when the moment came. Nothing of it happened. Aurora had received him with her beautiful smile. She could be with another man, but Phillip would always think that she was a beauty. Hook had greeted him after her, shaking hands with him. He looked remarkably better than the last time they'd seen each other.
The group of three spent about half an hour talking, the prince avoiding carefully the issues which could bring bad memories to the couple. Phillip observed them while they spoke: they were sitting together, holding hands and he just could admit that they were really happy. He could feel it, and that made him feel happy for them too, specially for Aurora. He was even starting to really like Killian Jones.
The conversation was interrupted when they heard a knock on the door. It was Jour.
"Phillip" he said when he saw the prince was there "I've been so busy preparing for everything that I didn't know you'd come" they shook hands in a friendly way "How are you?"
"Fine, thanks. Ready to start." he answered.
"Well, that's why I've come. Everyone's here and we'll start as soon as we three arrive the room." Killian and Phillip nodded, but Aurora had something to say:
"You'd say four." she said, getting up after the two men.
"Aurora..." her brother started "You don't have to remember everything that's happened. Why don't you stay here and wait for us to finish? We'll tell you everything we decide."
"Why? I've been one of the people who've suffered that man's decisions the most. I've got the right to be there."
"You need rest" Phillip said, feeling as if he'd gone back in time and, at the same time, knowing that, like the first time he'd said that, she wouldn't listen to him.
"It's not negotiable." she declared.
Killian smiled at his quite desperate brother- in- law.
"Let it be, mate. You don't know her as much as we do" he said referring to himself and Phillip, who was trying not to laugh.
Jour looked at the two men and then at his sister, who stared at him with a firm expression. He finally had to surrender.
.
David stood up on his seat on that big round table. All the quiet conversations finished in that exact moment and everyone looked at the king, who started to talk.
"Welcome again. As you all know, we're here to discuss about some censurable decisions that our colleague, King William, has made lately."
With the help of his wife, Hook, Aurora and Jour, he explained everything that had happened since William had known about the existence of a pirate living in his kingdom; how he'd imprisoned him without taking into account that he'd made up for his crimes and had been pardoned, how he hadn't wanted to listen to Snow or anyone, and the most important fact: how he'd planned to kill an innocent man just to avoid problems.
Nobody else spoke until the story ended. Then, the murmurs started to rise again. David let them talk for some minutes and then he asked for silence.
"I hope we all agree that this is an unnacceptable behaviour and that we must do something to prevent it for being repeated." some of the rulers nodded. The king looked at everyone's faces before speaking again "So, what do you suggest?"
King Midas was the first to break the silence.
"I think none of us thought that William would be so obsessed with what happened to him..." he said "I mean, if someone did something to my daughter..." he didn't complete the sentence, thinking about Abigail "Anyway, that kind of tragedy doesn't mean that he had to make someone who has nothing to do with it pay. It's not what a king does... maybe he doesn't deserve to be a king anymore." some of the others approved what Midas had just said.
"I think we're exaggerating a bit" the Blue Fairy said, flying to the centre of the table "What he's done has no excuse, but he's always been a good king."
"But he's crazy" Jour replied.
"Blue's got a point there" Snow admitted "Regina was a piece of work too, but we gave her a lot of opportunities, why wouldn't we do the same with William?"
"And how many of them succeeded?" Phillip asked. "How much pain did she cause us until the last one worked?"
"I think we will succeed as long as we don't just forgive and forget" Charming said. "He's got an obvious problem and we have to do something with it, we're not discussing that. By the way, we have to act quickly. He must know now that Killian's alive and we don't know if his obsessed mind is plotting something."
"In that case, we must keep him under a close surveillance" Jour said.
"He owes me" Killian spoke for the first time since the discussion had started "If he's a real gentleman, he will admit it and leave us alone."
"But what if... ?" Snow started.
"If he comes across someone like me?" Killian continued her sentence "I know."
"I think we must speak to him, tell him that we know what he did" David started.
"And that we tricked him" Jour couldn't help smiling when he added those five words.
"He's got the right to know that too" the Blue Fairy agreed.
"We should bring Felix too, as an evidence" Phillip added, remembering the lost boy. "Maybe if we make a deal with him or something like that, he'll be willing to collaborate."
"Hey, stop" Snow said "Are you assuming that we're going to pay him a visit?"
"I guess so" Jour answered. "We can go and tell him 'Hey, William, guess what? The 'pirate' is alive and we've come to punish you for being a psychopath'" some of them smiled with the rookie's ideas.
"Let's develop that idea" Cinderella's father-in-law suggested.
"Fine, so, some of us go to his castle and tell him all we know about him, we bring Felix with us and tell William whatever we decide to do with him." David said.
"And we tell him something like 'we'll be watching you'" Jour added.
"Count on me" Phillip offered.
"What if he thinks we're all crazy and attacks us or something like that?" David asked.
"Let's take him by surprise then" Killian said.
"Have I heard well? Are you coming with us?" Phillip asked. Hook hesitated for a moment. He'd said that without thinking, unable to avoid thinking like the adventurer he was and he hadn't really thought about going to William's castle.
"I... I don't know." he answered "I don't want to hide from him and I'd like to be there to help and see what happens but..." he looked at Aurora. "I want to stay here too" he concluded.
"I understand" David said.
"Go" Aurora told Killian, putting her hand on his arm "You must show William that you're alive and that he made a huge mistake."
It wasn't like she wanted to separate from Killian again but, after all, she knew that it was very likely to happen and she wasn't worried about it: it wouldn't be dangerous, just a 'work travel'.
"But..." he tried to resist. He'd already been absent for so much time and he didn't want to go away from Aurora again.
"I'll be fine." she said.
"Well..." Jour started "I think Aurora's right. Why don't you join us? As a member of the quest, you have to return to the king who 'sent' you to let him know your story and he has to thank you for having done the task for him." he said with a mischievous smile.
"How funny" Killian replied.
"It's true." Aurora said "Go and spend some time in the sea, in the Jolly Roger before he's born." she looked at him with a smile.
"I'll do it" he agreed with a sigh. She was right after all; once Allan was born, he surely wouldn't want (or be able) to go anywhere.
"We'll hurry up so we can return as soon as possible" David said meaningfully. Killian nodded.
"So..." the Blue Fairy spoke again "It's not clear what we're going to do with William yet."
"I suggest that we make him see that he has a problem and needs help" Snow said "Then we can offer him..." David interrupted his wife:
"A therapy with Archie?"
"For example" she said. Everyone seemed to agree.
"But he'll have to prove that he's changed" Phillip continued "And we must keep an eye on him."
"That's the price he'll have to pay" the Blue Fairy agreed.
"Yes, and the fact that he will look like a fool" Jour added.
They talked about all the remaining details of the travel and, when the meeting ended, they'd decided that David, Jour, Killian and Phillip would travel to Eric's kingdom aboard the Jolly Roger. Maybe the prince would want to join them too in their way to William's castle. They'd tell him everything they'd agreed and that he had all the other kingdoms against him unless he accepted their offers. The journey would start to be prepared and the group would be able to leave Snow's kingdom in a couple of days.
.
After having been sitting in the room where the assembly had taken place, going for a walk in the gardens was the best plan Aurora could think of. The weather was quite cold, but the rain had disappeared completely a couple of days before. Killian was hugging her with his right arm while they walked.
"I promise to hurry up" he said, breaking the silence.
"Don't worry about that." she replied, stopping and facing him.
"I don't want you to miss me too much" he said with a naughty smile. She opened her mouth "Now, seriously, I want to be here as soon as possible, before he arrives."
"You'll be." he kissed her briefly.
"There's something I want to do before I leave" he said and, to Aurora's astonishment, he got down on one knee and extracted a ring from his pocket. "Will you marry this scoundrel?" he asked putting the ring on her finger.
She was so surprised that she needed a couple of seconds to answer.
"Of course I will" she finally said with teary eyes.
He stood up and kissed her fiercely, as happy as he hadn't expected to be when he'd thought about that moment. For her, as the princess she'd been educated to be, that was one of the moments she'd dreamt of when she was little, althought he wasn't the prince charming she'd expected then... Killian was better than that. She smiled widely at him when they stopped kissing and he did too. Suddenly, she separated from him, putting her hand on her belly.
"A kick" she simply said. He placed his hand next to hers.
"Hey Allan, have you listened to that? She's said yes" he told their unborn son, making Aurora roll her eyes.
"You knew I would" she replied smiling.
"Of course." they started to walk again, his good hand on her shoulder again. One more time, there was no need to say anything. To keep walking together was enough, feeling the happiness they only could feel when they were together, and nothing else mattered, they had the feeling that everything would be fine. The minutes passed and, finally, Aurora was the one to break that silence:
"How much time have you been planning this?" she asked with curiosity, feeling how the baby kicked again.
"Just a couple of days. I thought this was the right moment and I took the ring from the Jolly Roger. It was part of a treasure I found a lot of years ago." he explained.
"It's beautiful" she commented.
"Like you" he said almost instinctively. She smiled, remembering the first time they'd kissed. They'd said exactly the same two sentences then.
.
Three days later, the Jolly Roger was ready to start its journey. It was a cold and cloudy day and Killian had got up early to get prepared, not wanting to wake Aurora up until the moment to say goodbye came.
"Aurora... wake up." she opened her eyes and looked at him "I have to go now, alright?" she nodded. "No, don't get up, it's cold outside" he said when he realized that she had such intentions.
"Take care" she said, caressing his cheek.
"I will" he answered, kissing her. "You have to do it too, alright?" Aurora nodded.
"I'll miss you" she said. He kissed her again and then, he proceeded to say goodbye to his son.
"See you, lad, daddy's going to return soon but you have to be good to your mum while I'm away, alright?" he said, placing a kiss on her belly. One more time, Aurora wondered what would people think about the captain if they saw him doing that.
The moment was broken by a knock on the door.
"That must be your brother" Killian said. "I'll leave you two alone so you can say goodbye, alright?" he kissed her again, cupping her cheek with his good hand.
"I love you" she said.
"Me too."
With a smile, he walked towards the door and opened it, letting Jour (and Phillip) come into the bedroom.
He closed the door and waited for them in the corridor, thinking about the immediate future.
One more journey and, when he returned, they would be together forever and live like the family they were, with no obstacles in their way and just freedom to live however they wanted.