"Drop the weapons, or she dies," King George stated in a simple voice. The hand wrapped in Emma's hair wrenched her head back, exposing her throat while the man holding her brought a knife threateningly up to rest there. Everyone on board froze. Emma gasped for breath through her constricted airway, the pain swelling in her ribcage as she was forced to elongate her midriff where she knelt on the ship's planks.
Reluctantly, Charming dropped his sword, and Neal followed suit. A soldier collected the weapons and stepped to the side.
"First things first," King George started as he began to pace. "The boy leaves now."
All eyes turned to Henry who gulped, trembling behind his father's legs.
"You want him, you'll have to go through me," Neal growled aggressively, standing a bit taller though he was unarmed and beset by a number of soldiers with blades.
"Are you deaf?" King George asked laughing. "I said 'he leaves', not 'he's coming with me'. I promised his mother he would not get involved in this when she told me where I could find Emma, so get him off my ship."
"She's my mother," Henry insisted fiercely, pointing at Emma. "And I'm not going anywhere until you let her go."
"So brave for someone so young," King George purred, his voice dangerously low as he narrowed his eyes at the boy. "But no, I don't think so. You have two choices. Either you turn around and step off this ship right now of your own accord, or I throw you off myself."
"Neal, take him down to the dock," Emma insisted at the threat, her voice constrained through the chokehold.
"Mom-!" Henry protested with a squeak.
"Henry, go with your father."
"No!" he refuted angrily, making to move towards her valiantly, but in an instant the surrounding blades bore down on him still further, and the guard holding Emma pulled her violently to her feet, digging the blade into her neck so that dark droplets erupted from the incision. Emma cringed and let out an involuntarily cry of pain with what breath she had left.
"I won't say it again," King George said threateningly as Neal pulled Henry away from the swords pointing at him.
"Take me," Charming offered, trying to distract attention from his grandson while at the same time attempting to free his daughter from the knife at her throat. "Leave her alone and take me instead."
"David," Emma choked in a warning voice, surprised at the strength of the fear she felt for her father as he made the offer.
"I don't want you," King George scoffed.
"Let her go and I'll give you whatever you want."
"You don't have anything I want," King George repeated. He looked down at Emma. "She does."
The tense deck hung with intrigue, and King George allowed it to simmer silently for a moment before continuing.
"I came across the most peculiar thing one evening while I was in Storybrooke," he recounted. "I saw this woman here reach into a cow and pull out its heart. Just like Regina did. How long have you kept her ability to use magic a secret? How long have you known?"
Henry's mouth dropped open where he stood behind his father. Emma cast him an apologetic look. She was hoping he'd never have to find out about her power. Charming looked at Emma, who seemed to be struggling to stay standing, her chin raised high to avoid the knife against it. This is exactly what he'd been afraid of ever since he found out his daughter possessed this gift, and especially when she had begun to ask Gold to help her hone it. Magic is power, and power corrupts. Power makes people do dangerous things in order to obtain it.
"No matter," King George continued with a wave of his hand as he slowly began to pace to one side of the deck. "I stole the hat from the dock not moments after you left. There was enough dust left in it to get it to spin again. See that world is so boring. No kings, no kingdoms, just small towns and reality television. I much prefer it here."
"You had no kingdom here by the end," Charming reminded him angrily.
King George reached the staircase from the upper deck and began to descend. There was something menacing in his smile and his confident gate.
"Yes, that's true. I often asked myself why that was. What was it that King Midas had and Regina had that I didn't? That allowed them to remain on their thrones while I was ousted from mine?"
King George reached the bottom of the staircase and stood towering over the blonde woman before him, still held about the neck by one of his soldiers.
"Magic," he answered, eyeing her greedily. Charming clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white, as he saw this man surveying his daughter like some object he could possess. "I'm taking back the kingdom you stole from me, and this time I'm playing the game just like everyone else. This time I'm going to have magic on my side. I'm going to have her."
King George reached out and grabbed Emma firmly by upper arm, stealing her away from the guard who held her and bringing her so that her face was close to his. He took a knife of his own out, positioning it against her stomach.
"She doesn't even know how to use her magic," Neal said desperately.
"There are ways of forcing people to learn," King George said quietly, as if only to Emma in front of him, his eyes hungry, devouring her. "If it's in her, then there is a way to force it out of her."
He turned his attention from her to the rest of the deck at large, dragging her in front of him, his knife still at her throat as he addressed them from over her shoulder, keeping her pressed very closely against him.
"Don't worry. If she cooperates, she will be treated nicely. She is, after all my granddaughter."
"She is no such thing," Charming spat, outraged. "You were never my father. Just because you stole my twin brother from my parents at birth, then blackmailed me into pretending to be a prince when he died doesn't make me your son."
"Well, if she's not family, then I suppose there's no reason to treat her nicely now, is there?" His face shown with a spiteful smile as he tossed Emma's injured body cruelly to the ground. She shuddered and coughed as she attempted to catch herself, blood spurting from her lips.
The deck burst into action as Charming lunged forward, taking advantage of the fact that Emma did not have a weapon at her throat to attempt whatever rescue he could, but he remained unarmed and surrounded by soldiers. He dealt a few of them some good blows before one was able to catch the back of his shoulder with his sword, slicing his flesh and felling him to his knees. Simultaneously, Henry had leapt forward, and the threatening swords that bore down on him caused his father to grab him back protectively until he all but swung him over the railing, despite his tiny protests, and gently lowered him to the dock below, out of harms way. No sooner had he done that was Neal himself forced to follow him, much less gently, over the edge by the advancing soldiers. On the other side of the deck, Charming reached up blearily to stem the flow of blood from the wound at his shoulder, two blades trained on him where he knelt, tilting his head as King George's shadow fell over him.
"Take her to the brig, and prepare to set sail," he commanded his soldiers before leaning over and addressing Charming directly. While he really only wanted Emma for her power, he had to admit that he was enjoying the double achievement of also causing such anguish to the man who had taken everything from him as Charming was forced to watch her daughter be battered around. "Take a good last look at your baby girl, shepherd," he bid him, as in the background Emma struggled weakly against the number of guards converging on her. "Because you won't be seeing her again."
He brought his knee up to meet his enemy's face, and Charming was thrown backwards off the deck and into the sea.