25. RETURN TO THE JOLLY ROGER.

When, after having slept for two more hours, Aurora went out of her bedroom to have breakfast with Snow, she found the queen in front of her, walking through the corridor, towards the door she'd just closed.

"Good morning" Aurora said.

"Good morning for you too" Snow answered with a smile "I was going to look for you... well, that's pretty obvious. Are you hungry, honey?"

"Yeah, I am." she answered. The queen took her by her arm and they walked through the corridor together. "Anything about the Jolly Roger?" Aurora asked.

"There wasn't any problem when it weighted anchor and, with this weather, everything must be going well. I was in the harbor until I lost its sight and I could see that your future husband was quite excited about the journey."

"I can see that." Aurora answered with a smile, remembering the day in which they'd gone looking for Ariel "It's been a while since the last time he went somewhere on the Jolly Roger. He must be ecstatic right now... I'd like to see his face."

"Do you miss him?"

"Well, I haven't had time for that, but wait until a week passes. By the way, we've been apart for so much time that a bit more than a month is not such a big deal. Althought, deep inside, I'd prefer that he'd stayed..." she remained silent for a moment "But it's the best decision we could have made... and he'll be fine, it's not like he's off to kill another beast" she added, as if she was trying to convince herself. Snow shook her head.

"You won't have time to miss him, you'll see." she said. "We've got a lot of work to do too." Aurora looked at her intrigued "Don't look at me like that, your son's coming in about six weeks and you haven't anything ready for him yet."

"You're right" she admitted, suddenly feeling worried about the amount of things to be prepared until the day came and about the day itself. Snow, as soon as she saw her face, interrupted her thoughts:

"Don't worry, I'll be there helping you." she said, squeezing her arm. "It will be fun."

Glad to see that she would have the queen to guide her with that as she'd been doing during almost all her pregnancy, Aurora decided to bury her worries for the moment and to focus the story Snow had started to tell her about how she'd arranged everything for Emma's arrival.

"And with Red's help..." the queen was talking non-stop when suddenly, she realized something "How silly I am! You haven't met Red yet, or Belle... I should, no, I must introduce them to you... and Ella, how could I have forgotten about her?"

The princess couldn't do anything but nodding. Snow didn't stop talking until they arrived the dinning room.

.

The wind messed his hair, the smell of the salty water filled his lungs and the sound of the waves hitting the ship was the only thing he could hear. How he'd missed them. How he'd missed that special sensation of freedom that he only could feel aboard the Jolly Roger. It was great to be there again.

Killian was standing on the quarterdeck hours after they'd left the harbor behind, staring at the horizon. The ship, helped by the wind, sailed really quickly, which was contributing to his good mood too: the quickest they moved, the sooner he'd return to Aurora's side. He looked at the clouds to check that it wouldn't start to rain and then, he started to observe what his companions were doing. It was really strange to think about himself on that moments, on his ship but surrounded by kings and princes ready to defend him in front of the psychopath. It was quite funny in its own way. His first crew, starting with Mr. Smee, should see him then.

He must have smiled with that thought because Phillip caught his attention from the deck.

"Hook! What's so funny?" he asked and joined him in the quarterdeck.

"How things change" Killian answered. Phillip looked at him puzzled for a couple of seconds and then, he agreed.

"You just have to look at us to see it." he said. Hook nodded.

"Yeah... that's exactly what I was thinking of..." they remained silent for almost a minute, without having anything to talk about when, suddenly, Killian smiled again.

"What now?" Phillip asked.

"Do you remember when you visited me in the dungeons?"

"Yes." he didn't understand what was so funny about that, taking into account that he'd found the former pirate completely depressed.

"I promised I would let you punch me" the captain specified. The prince smiled too.

"Things we do when we're desperate" he said.

"You can do it, you know." Phillip looked at him surprised.

"Very funny."

"I'm serious. If someday you want to punch me, I won't stop you or make you apologize. It's a valuable debt."

"Good offer. If I were you I would take it" Jour, whose presence hadn't been noticed by any of them, said behind their backs.

"Alright, if you insist..." Phillip surrendered and, clapping his back, he returned to the deck, leaving Killian thinking about the same issue again. His crew should definitely see him then.

.

Three days later, Aurora was looking wide-eyed at every corner of the large bedroom Snow had just guided her to.

"Your brother left ir prepared for you to fill it." the queen said while she approached the wooden crib which was near the bed, without knowing what to answer.

They'd arrived Aurora's kingdom about thirty minutes before and the princess was still overwhelmed, not only because of that bedroom, but her people's affection. Seeing her kingdom (which at least wasn't as deserted as she'd left it - she could see a little village near the castle) and her palace again was exciting enough, but she hadn't thought that she would be received so well: it seemed that everyone had approached to say hello (and congratulations), tell her how they'd missed her and ask about how she was... there were even two or three people who'd asked her (without any bad intentions) where she'd left 'her husband'. Nobody seemed to have anything against her or what she'd done in the past (changing Phillip for Killian, for example) and she'd wanted to greet everyone, really thankful for all the support she was receiving and she hadn't expected.

After having had that improvised talk with the families and with a smile on her face, Snow had guided Aurora to her castle, which was much better than the one she remembered from the last time she'd been there, althought it was obvious that it hadn't been restored completely as its only inhabitant since the return had been Jour.

Finally, after having walked through the corridors she knew well, they'd ended up in that room. Her future bedroom. It reminded her of the one in Snow's castle that she was using during those days, really different from the empty room she remembered. And all of that was because of her brother. Aurora felt really grateful to him and to Snow, for everything she'd done for her.

"Wow..." she started "I... I don't know what to say." She thought about Killian and how he would react when he saw it and imagined them three spending time in that room. It was definitely a very good vision.

"Don't say anything then" the queen answered with a smile.

"Thank you."

"You don't need to say that. Your brother loves you, you know... and for me it's good to have someone to take care of since Emma and Henry aren't living here." Aurora noticed a bit of sadness in that last sentence and approached Snow, taking her hands. Now that she was going to become a mother too, she could understand how the queen felt for not having her daughter with her. "Don't worry about me. So..." she changed the subject "are you happy?" the princess nodded "Everyone knows it, you've seen... what happened with Eric, William... and with the dragon."

"They're so kind..." was the only thing Aurora could say. Snow squeezed her hands.

"Why don't you rest from the journey while I go to see how's everything going here?" she asked.

"Can I go with you?" Aurora asked, using her best puppy eyes just in case it helped. That was her kingdom and she wanted to take part in its management.

"Okay" Snow sighed after thinking about it for a moment "As long as you take it easy." she said with the tone she'd used to talk to Emma. The princess nodded again.

"I promise" she said.

In the afternoon, when the sun had almost disappeared from their sight, their carriage took them to Snow's kingdom again. Aurora had fallen asleep, her head resting on the queen's shoulder. Mary Margaret knew that she would need a good amount of sleep to get over all the tiredness of that day, but it had been worth.

.

They were almost there.

After a little more than two weeks of sailing almost non-stop, that morning they could see Eric's kingdom without needing to use a telescope. They were so close to it that they'd allowed themselves to have some extra time to relax. The four men were sitting on the deck, talking about nothing in particular.

"So, how's Ariel?" Phillip asked with curiosity. "I mean, it may sound ridiculous but I've never seen a real mermaid."

"She hasn't anything in particular" Jour answered.

"Not really" Killian agreed "She used to have fins instead of legs but apart from that..."

"She's pretty, isn't she?" Jour continued "I wonder if all of them are like her."

"If you're interested, she's got six sisters" Hook replied with a smile "She surely won't have any problem to introduce you to them."

"Now I understand why my sister calls you 'stupid pirate'" the blond commented. In the days they'd been living together, they'd had time to talk about everything and had started to develop a good friendship, totally oposed to the bad relationship they'd had when they'd met each other until Jour had made up his mind.

"I don't know if I would be able to stand King Triton's anger, I mean, I know he isn't a bad guy but, you know, one of his daughters has already been 'stolen' by a human... " Phillip commented.

"Imagine you two" David said, referring to the prince and the other king "appearing in front of him asking for his permission to marry two of his other daughters and take them away from him."

Killian couldn't help laughing along with Charming.

"Very funny" Jour said "I prefer to look for someone for me in land, thanks."

"Mothers, be careful with you daughters, Jour and Phillip are single." David said "Now, seriously, you two must be like the much sought-after bachelors in all the Enchanted Forest."

"Sincerely, I wouldn't mind if my daughter appeared one day with a young version of one of you, mates. I would trust him more than if he were a young version of me" Killian added.

"Trust me, if someday Aurora and you have a daughter, you won't let her go so easily, no matter who the boyfriend is" Charming said.

"You still preferred Neal" Killian insinuated. The king laughed.

"Enough talk" he said standing up. Everyone understood that the break was over.

When they arrived the shore, Eric was waiting for them in the harbor. The Jolly Roger's crew approached him, but the prince went directly to hug the captain. There had been a long time since they hadn't seen each other.

"Hey, look at you" Eric said "You look like an honest man now" Killian laughed.

"That's the idea, mate" he answered. "Where's Ariel?"

"In the castle, waiting for us. She's really excited about seeing you again." he stared at the former pirate for a couple of seconds. "How did you do it? When everyone thought you were dead... everyone talked (and talks) about it."

"It's a long story." Eric clapped his back.

"Oh, sorry, I haven't greeted you" he said to Jour, David and Phillip. After having done it, he spoke again "So, what is your plan."

.

When King William knew that there were two kings, two crown princes along with that damn pirate (whose survival was already known by him) on his castle's door waiting to talk to him, he felt as if everything spun around him. That could only mean that they were in the pirate's side, and against him, but what could he do? he had to receive them.

When they entered the throne room, where William was waiting for them as he'd done the day Killian and Aurora had been brought there, he saw that they had brought Felix with them. So they'd had him imprisoned all that time...

William didn't interrupt them when they told him everything they knew. "You've came here to punish me, have you?" he asked.

"No" David said "We've come to make you a proposition. What you've done is awful, but we're willing to give you an opportunity as long as you assume that you have a problem."

"You don't understand anything" the host replied.

"We know what you've been through" Eric added "And it's really terrible, we know that too. But that doesn't mean that you have to make someone else pay."

"After all that I've taught you... all I've done for you and your sister" William said coldly as usual, staring at Jour.

"Precisely because of that we think you deserve this opportunity. We know you're not a murderer, but you need help." he replied.

They needed to persuade the stubborn William with a long comversation, telling him that they would watch him so he wouldn't do anything to anyone anymore among a lot of more ideas. Finally, the king felt defeated and surrendered, accepting to do whatever they wanted him to do. In the end, what else could he do? Attack all those kings and future kings?

"But remember, you'll have to show everyone that you've got over this madness. That's the only way you'll be given a new chance." David warned him.

In that moments, William looked like what he really was deep inside: a tired old man.

"Don't worry about your kingdom" Eric told him "My father and I will take good care of it."

.

When, hours later, they left the castle, Killian wasn't thinking about that king anymore. That issue was definitely from the past and then, the future was all that mattered. A future which started in that precise moment.

Everything was solved.

He could return home.

...

Hi! Long time without saying anything to you.

First of all, thank you so much for all the follows and favourites...

To the guest who posted a review in chapter 21, thank you very much for your support!

If you remember, in that chapter I said that the fic was coming to its end, but then, while I was working on the following one, some new ideas came to my mind, so now I think this fic will last until chapter 30 or so.

But, for now, here you have this one. I'm not very excited about it, but it's something I had to talk about.

Next chapter will be more interesting, I promise.

Thanks everyone for reading!