The threesome returned from their mission to 'find the sextant' to camp with David fully healed from the dream shade poisoning with the addition of the newly discovered alive Captain Romeo Montague. The pair waited for the assassin to do something, anything when she saw her father stood mere feet away for the first time in years. With her mind spinning she did the only thing she knew how to do. Block it out.
Only silent tears came from the female assassin but nothing more was said as she simply picked up her blade from the ground and walked straight past her father to climb down the cliff to start their trek back to base, putting as much space as she could between her and father. It was Hook who invited his fellow Captain to join them, which he gratefully accepted despite his daughter's reaction, or lack of one.
The trek back was done in silence. Along the way neither man had seen that both the father and daughter duo had disappeared until they walked into camp only to be met with a drawn bow and arrow, sword and fireball by the women that had already returned after getting their message to Henry.
"You can stand down. It's us" David reassured as the trio let out a relaxed sigh of relief as they withdrew their weapons and magic as David rushed towards his wife capturing her lips in a heated kiss in greeting, making the former Queen look away in disgust
"Ugh" Regina grimaced looking at Hook "Uh, where's the sextant?" she asked the pirate, as her mind wandered to where the redhead had gotten to.
"I'm afraid Pan got to it first" Hook tells the other as David and Mary Margaret finally separate for air
"Mmm" his wife hummed "I'm not complaining, but what was that..." she was cut short as her husband brought her into passionate another kiss
"Okay, I'm complaining" their daughter complained looking away in embarrassment
"What I wouldn't give for another sleeping curse" Regina commented to herself
David ended the kiss again and turned his head to Hook "Hook... he saved my life"
"You sure you wanna tell them that, mate?" the pirate questioned the Prince
"On our trek, we were ambushed by lost boys. Pinned down, outnumbered. But Hook, he risked his life to stop me from getting hit by a poisoned arrow. But if it wasn't for Hook I wouldn't be alive" he leaves his wife and walks to Hook "Your flask, please" he asks the pirate who gives it over to the Prince "I thought he deserved a little credit. Thank you" he tells the pirate gratefully taking a swig from the bottle, but grimacing at the taste and handing it to his wife
"To Hook" Mary Margaret salutes him.
She offers the bottle to Regina" I don't do rum" was the first thing she heard when Amelia stomps into camp.
"I do" Amelia suddenly announced her presence as stormed into the camp snatching the bottle from Mary Margaret taking a long swig of the rum before throwing the bottle behind her for Emma to catch before it hit the ground as she continued into camp.
"Well that doesn't look like a happy ending" Emma says watching the assassin walk further into camp with Regina on her heels "What happened to her?" Emma directs the question towards her father and Hook
"I think I can explain that" a sweet male voice spoke up to the women. Mary Margaret's head snapped up to see someone she hadn't seen since she was a girl.
A proud smile grew on the captains face as he looked between her and the older man "Swan" the pirate addressed the blonde with a smile "May I introduce you to the legend that is Captain Romeo Montague of the Jackdaw"
After the happy reunions Snow and her god father Romeo Montague. The princess took the Master Assassin to the campfire to introduce him to David and Emma, while his daughter kept her distance on the edge of camp nursing her nearly empty hip flask watching the happy exchanges of god daughter to god father. But that didn't stop the envious thought that swirled within the Assassin's mind as her hand gripped the flask tighter and tighter in anger.
Her envious thoughts came to an abrupt end when she felt Regina take a seat next to her, joining the assassin to watch the scene before them. The smile hadn't left the pixie haired woman's face as she talked endlessly to a man she grew up knowing. The former Queen recognized him, she had only ever spoken to him once before she even knew about the Brotherhood existence. Before she met Amelia.
And now he was here. His appearance came as a surprise to everyone in camp but the redhead was the only one not to have said anything to the Master Assassin currently sat with the Charming family.
"I don't think drinking your sorrow's away will help this time, dear" the Queen opened with as watched the redhead take in a last swig of whatever drink was in her flask emptying it. Regina needed something out of the redhead beside her, anything at this point, they couldn't risk the assassin getting distracted now, and she didn't want to see the redhead so upset then she was right now.
The former Queen placed a comforting hand on the assassin's knee "Melia, I-"
"I saw Claudius sink his hidden blade into his chest" the redhead tells her "I had to run as soon as they heard me on the balcony" she gulped squeezing her eye's shut as the memory came back into her mind "How the hell is he here of all places?"
The brunette didn't know what to say, she could here the pain in her voice as more of her life was being turned upside. First it was Rumple's letter. Then the Jackdaw. Tinkabelle. And now the man himself that had caused so much heartache was now sat mere feet away from them. The former Queen wondered how the woman hadn't gone crazy on this island. All she could do the one thing didn't do for over a decade while they worked together. Be there for her.
She gently gripped the assassins knee once again making the redhead slowly look at her. The inner turmoil of just having the man that had lied to her all her life with them would send her into a spiral was unthinkable "I don't know, Melia. But I think it's something you need to ask him" she encourages her.
"That and about a million other questions" the redhead scoffed rolling her eyes at the former Queen
Taking her hand off Amelia's knee her hand slipped into the inside of her jacket to the letter she had been looking after since landing. The letter that had started Amelia's journey to Neverland. The reason why she even got onto the Jolly Roger instead of staying out in Storybrooke. Slipping it out of its pocket she hands it back to the redhead "Then start with this one, it's the least you need to know right now"
Slowly almost hesitantly the she takes the letter from the Queen's possession her emerald eye's meeting hers deep brown. She was giving up whatever leverage she held over the assassin just like that to help her with Romeo. Something she would never have had done before the first curse.
"Thank you" she tells the woman next to her with an upturned smirk that always make her stomach flutter whatever the occasion
"Your Welcome" Regina softly replies returning the smile.
The moment between gave both woman the spark of hope they needed to know that they had a chance at something that had both unknowingly wanted, without revenge or curses overshadowing it.
He wasn't surprised with his daughter's reaction of seeing him alive again. Not at all. He knew of the consequences of his secret being exposed, especially to Amelia. Her screams were the last thing he heard in Monteriggioni. And now she hadn't uttered a single word to him.
It felt surreal to be sat with his young god-daughter Snow White, now a fully- grown woman in front of him with a husband that had an uncanny resemblance to Prince James and their adult daughter Emma. Snow had told him why they were on the island. They were looking for a boy Henry. He was Emma's son. Snow's grandson. He had been taken by a couple of his 'agents' of Pan's in the Land Without Magic and they were there all there to get him back.
He was surprised to find out that King Leopold's second wife who was sat with his daughter was his mother, by the means of adoption. He remembered the dark magic that had started to manifest around her during their all but brief conversation years ago. Now it had grown over the years he had been away, and now that darkness was touching his daughters knee.
"Romeo?" Snow called out to him sat next to her husband
"What kind of relationship does my daughter have with the Queen?" he asked the now grown woman. Her husband and grown daughter grew tense and looked to each other to answer his sudden question.
"Well uh.." Snow tried to answer
"Don't worry" he tells the woman with a gentle smile "I think I already know" he said to the family before standing up and walking over his daughter and the Queen. He cleared his throat making his presence known to the pair making their eyes snap away from each other to see hims stood in front of them.
"You mind if I talk to my daughter alone, Your Majesty?" he asks the former Queen
The older woman stood up and straighten her blue blazer "Certainly" she say's leaving the father and daughter alone.
Enchanted Forest.
Many Years Ago
"You can't be serious Leopold, she's just a child!" the young Queen-to-be heard from behind a semi-closed door to King Leopold's study.
She had been exploring the palace by herself getting used to the vast corridors and passageways that took her to different parts of the palace. It would be her home from the moment she said 'I do' at the alter. She wanted to get to know it inside out if she was going to be stuck here for the rest of her life. Luckily she had gotten away from any of the staff to explore alone until she came to a stop outside she knew as Leopold's private study.
"The proposal was accepted Romeo" she heard Leopold voice say "She saved Snow's life, what else must I do to reward her?"
"Bring her into court and have her be Snow's companion" Romeo suggested to the King from across his desk "Not as her step-mother, there's no need to put a crown on her head or a ring on her finger. You have a healthy heir in Snow"
"I do not need her for that" Leopold quickly tells his and his late wife's old friend
"Then allow her court with a young duke or count and let her marry someone of her choosing"
"Snow need's a mother" the King tells his friend sternly "since Eva…." The King paused "She has not been the same since her mother passed..nor have I"
"I understand my friend" Romeo says knowing full well how it felt like to loose the personal you loved the most. There wasn't a day he didn't think about Juliet. Not only was she his wife, but his best friend. But he got to see her every day in their daughter who was growing into the spitting image of her mother "It is not Regina I am concerned with. It is her Mother Cora, dark magic surrounds her, she is a danger to the kingdom of she if put in a position near the crown"
"Preposterous" Leopold snapped at the man "The woman has been nothing but a grandmother to Snow. I wouldn't be marrying her daughter if I thought either of them would be danger to anyone let alone my own child"
"Who exactly accepted the marriage proposal"
"Excuse me?"
"Just answer the question, who accepted you proposal. Cora or Regina"
"Does it matter who accepted it. She is old enough to marry with no suitors in view"
"You don't even love her" Romeo paused "You are a coward Leopold"
"Coward?" Leopold spat "This coming from the man who won't tell his daughter who he is to her, that surely is a cowardly act if I say so!" Leopold snapped at the man. The room went into silence as the King's last words resonated with the other man "Romeo my old friend I am sorry"
"And yet you said it anyway" the other man replied darkly
"Romeo please I spoke out of hand and in the heat of the moment. I speak no truth to it" the King tried his best to back track the conversation but the damage had already been done.
"I'll be taking my leave Your Majesty, and I will not be attending the wedding" Regina jumped back in surprise as the door suddenly opened to reveal a man in strange robes and swords strapped to his waist. He held a her gaze under scrutiny before he stood straighter before bowing to her at his waist.
"Your Majesty" he gruffy greeted her before heading down the corridor. She watched the strange man walk down the corridor as he pulled a white hood over his head before disappearing.
"You look tired" Romeo started, sitting down next to his daughter she had changed since the last time he had seen her. No longer was she the young girl that was just learning about the world around them, now she looked like she carried the whole world upon her shoulders.
"It's not every day you find your father on top of a mountain called Dead Man's Peak" she replied dryly to the older man.
"I'm sorry you had to find that out the way you did, you must have questions"
Amelia reached into her robe and handed him an envelope that Regina had just given her back "How about we start with this?" she stated as he gently took the letter off her and opened it. He remembered this letter well, he wrote in his darkest days of grief.
He let out a deep sigh "I wrote this after your Mother passed. I had hoped he would try and find you. Did he ever?"
"He recruited me years ago for some jobs" she stopped herself "I worked for him for about a decade. He only told me about this a few days ago"
"Damn coward" Romeo seethed to himself "Where is he now?"
"On the island somewhere, looking for his grandson. Henry"
Curious brow's grew on his face hearing this "Emma's son?"
"The very same" she drawled "Rumple's son had a relationship with Emma in the land of no magic eleven years ago. Henry was the result of it"
His eye's looked out at the small family they were apart of as they sat around the fire "Have you told them?"
"No"
"Amelia" he said lowly, in a scolding tone
"No, don't do that" she suddenly tells her "Don't' scold me like some child, it's my decision not to tell them"
"What of the Queen, have you told her?" the elder assassin mentally chastised himself for his tone, it was to early to ask her about her relationship with the Queen.
"Don't do that" she suddenly snaps gaining the others attention for a second at the raised voice, they quickly went back to what they were doing leaving the father and daughter alone "You lost that privilege of who I'm close with when you decided not to tell me who you were to me, you let me think my father was low life drunk that ran from my whore of a mother"
"Amelia I'm sorry" he apologized again "It was for your own protection"
"You're thirty-five years too late for sorry father" she spat the last word at him before leaving him to find as much solace with Mary Margaret and her husband as much as she could.
With their first conversation in more than 15 years ending in disaster. The assassin's turned to watch the former Queen teaching Emma how to use magic. The younger of the two ignored the sympathetic looks she was getting from the former Princess as the older was solely focused on the veteran magic user trying to teach the rookie. It was proving more difficult than either assassin first thought as the blonde refused to concentrate on the simple task of lighting the fire. They didn't have time for Emma's inexperience now.
The redhead found the teaching of magic was like her training. You either did or you didn't. Not middle ground. No safety net. If you fell from a high branch you were expected to get back up and try again until you mastered it. It wasn't quick unless you were naturally gifted with it. So with what hope either of the women had of the blonde learning magic in a few hours was surprisingly optimistic to say the least.
"Remind me" Romeo interrupted her thought as he watched the interaction with an even closer eye that she did. He didn't trust Regina. That was a given. No assassin trusted any magic user. It's drilled into their mind from their first day of training "How does Snow and David's daughter have the ability of magic" Romeo gently asked his daughter.
He was creeping. It had been half an hour since their last conversation went down the drain. He he would get the silent treatment from her. She always did when she was younger. He had to be the fist one to make the move to get her talking again. And it was working. Again.
"Snow and David are true love's" she answered her father lowly "Emma is the product of true love magic"
"Light magic" he simply stated knowing having some knowledge of the magic world they worked in
"mmmh" she hummed in confirmation as she watched the former Evil Queen paced around the blonde.
"Focus" Regina instructs the savior "Concentrate"
"It's kind of hard when you're talking in my ear" Emma complained to the older woman
"And when the wind blows or it's raining, or... someone's shooting arrows at you" Regina listed to the blonde "Yes, concentration's hard. That's the point. Find your anger and use it to focus"
"No" Emma stopped her concentration to turn on the Queen "There has to be a way without going dark" she tells her
"You're such a pathetic waste of ability" Regina seethes at the blonde. Amelia smiles to herself knowing what Regina was doing, Romeo had done the same tactic with her.
"And you're a monster" Emma retorted with her back to the campfire
"Smell that?" Regina suddenly asks the savior sniffing at the air
"What?"
"Smoke" Regina simply stated to the blonde making the latter whirl around back to the campfire, which was now lit. Regina walks away having given up on the blonde as the latter knelt staring at the fire. Amelia stood up from her seat and approached the other side of the campfire, holding her hands out over the fire warming them. She had to wait a while to get her hand warm again.
"I'd say you were doing well coming from a person who's never used magic before now" she tells the blonde trying to convey as much support as she could
"I'm hearing a but…" Emma drawled
"Regina's not wrong. You need to concentrate even with her breathing down your neck all the time"
"I bet you know how that feels right" Emma teased the assassin with a knowing smirk
"Even so. I know how it's like having a tough teacher" Emma looked up to Romeo sitting behind his daughter
"Was he really that bad?"
"They all were. Being an assassin is a way of life, you either excel or fail, there was no middle. The same with magic. I can't second guess myself in the middle of a fight, otherwise the people you care about get hurt or worse and neither can you"
"Like John?" she softly guessed over the campfire
"Difference is you've got people around you that's not gonna let that happen" Emma gave the assassin an appreciative smile across the campfire. However, the pair were interrupted when they saw Mary Margaret, Hook and David gathered at the edge of camp together talking quietly. It wasn't' just Amelia who saw this, Emma did too and approached the small gathering.
"Where you guys going?" the blonde asked her parents suspiciously as they looked like they were about to leave camp
"Firewood" "To get water" the couple both answered
"Guys, what's going on?"
"Neal's alive" Mary Margaret suddenly blurted out making Amelia and Romeo's head to pick up at the piece of news
"Neal i... is... Alive?"
"Maybe" her mother quickly told her daughter before facing Hook and David "Sorry. She deserved to know"
"This is a waste of time. He's toying with us" Regina argued to the prospect of trying to find Neal as the assassin joined the group to discuss this recent discovery
"I don't think so" Mary Margaret said as she crossed the camp to the edge to a patch of disturbed dirt and a broken branch "Look. More scuffling. Someone was definitely resisting"
"How do we know that means Neal?" Emma asks her mother
"Well, then someone was fighting for his life" she says looking to Amelia and Romeo for some sort of support only to get skeptical looks from both the father- daughter duo
"Can't you use your vision to see what happened"
"Our vision does not work like that Snow" Romeo tells the Princess with a sad smile
"He's right," Amelia supported her father "We can only see a trail"
"And there is one" Romeo speaks up as they see his eye's glow the same way as Amelia's whenever she uses her special sense "It's faint, we don't much time before it disappears for good" he says looking around to the other's "We must follow it now if we have any chance of finding this..Neal"
"Are you really going to fall for this?" Regina looked to the savior only for the blonde to stay silent "Fine" the Queen scoffed "You wanna follow the Evil Munchkin's dirt road? Be my guest"
"Wait. Where are you going?" Emma asked the older woman
"To save our son."
"We need to stick together"
Regina laughed at Emma's plead "No, we don't. You may be prepared to risk Henry's life over some heartbroken fool's errand, but I'm not. I'm tired of waiting around!" at that the former Queen walks in the opposite direction to that the rest were heading
"Regina" Amelia called after the woman quickly moving her feet to follow the woman into the jungle uncaring of the looks her father was giving her.
"What if she's right? Pan could be lying" Emma tells her mother
"Just because it seems too good to be true, doesn't mean it is. Don't give up. You owe it to Henry to find out if his father's still alive. And you owe it to yourself"
With the decision made to find Neal, the older Assassin prepared to leave when his eyes sought out his daughter who had run after the Queen.
"I'm sure she'll find us mate" Captain Hook's voice interrupted his search for his daughter
"I know" he tells the pirate he's had various encounters with over his life on the high sea's. Some of them had been on Neverland itself.
"Are you sure you can track Baelfire?" the pirate suddenly asks him
"Baelfire?" the older assassin asked the Captain. He hadn't heard that name in decades. Hook saw the confusion in the man's face
"Aye. Neal's true name" Hook confirms with the assassin before walking away to his tent.
The former Queen took them a distance away from the main until she stopped to turn on the following redhead "Are you really going to follow them on their fool's errand?"
"You know I have to" the assassin almost whispered frustratingly and a knowing look
The brunette head dropped knowing why Amelia had to go and help. He was her family after all "I know" she slowly replied lifting her head back up flicking her raven her up "Just…promise me you'll be careful"
That half smirk returned to the redhead's face as quickly as it disappeared earlier when her father interuppted them "Only If you do the same when you find my uncle"
"It's still odd to think that you're actually related to the imp" Regina retorted dryly
"You're not the only one" Amelia replied before taking a few steps backwards back to the camp "Good luck, hopefully by now the old man should've figured something out"
"Is that optimism, I'm hearing dear?" making the assassin grimace to herself
"Maybe. I'll find you after I've found my cousin" the assassin tells the Queen before leaving her to find her Uncle
Enchanted Forest
Many Years Ago
She couldn't get that damn assassin out of her mind. Amelia's last words to her before she leapt off her balcony had been plaguing her day and night since she had left. And the gall of her to tell her that she needed to change her way's. She didn't know what that little brat did to her. She would never understand. Ever.
"Take a leap of faith" she imitated the younger woman as she paced her room once again. She needed to teach that little assassin a lesson. Never mess with a Queen. Especially one that knew her secret.
She didn't know how quickly she penned her letter to whomever oversaw the Brotherhood of Assassin's but after a conversation with her father, they wouldn't be happy to hear that she was a daughter to one of their assassins. It was forbidden for an assassin to have a child, have a normal life. Their life was to serve the Brotherhood in it's entirety, even to their death. A child or family would only serve as a distraction to complete their mission.
Those were the stories anyway. But seeing as she had met a living breathing assassin, one that had come from her bedtime stories from her father, the ones that would defend the innocent when people with magic like Rumpelstiltskin and her mother would come to destroy everything in their way for power. Then this must be true.
Then the question entered her mind: Where were they when her mother killed Daniel? He was innocent.
She had to be careful. She couldn't accuse her outright. She could just be the product of one of the assassin's trysts. No she had it had to be one of the assassins she served with. But which one? She briefly met one a few years ago before her marriage to the King. She overheard a heated argument between her then fiance and someone else. She heard the name; Romeo.
She also knew of a man Snow would talk endlessly about. A Master Romeo Montague. He was the girls godfather.
Good. Not only would she be hurting the redheaded assassin, she would be hurting Snow as well. Two birds. One stone
Sealing her symbol into the cooling wax her letter was finished. But why didn't she feel better? Sure, it would hurt her but her mind brought her back to their moment in the upturned carriage. She felt it. That pull.
She had only felt it once before with Daniel. Shaking her head out of those thoughts she refocused on what was going on around that moment. The girl was bleeding out from the injuries she had suffered from the brute mercenaries that were hell bent on killing her and Snow. But she insisted it should be her. It was her job after all. She hardly knew Snow or herself, but she was willing on dying if it meant they survived.
'No' Her other voice told her. 'She deserved this' She needed to be taught a lesson
She was thankfully taken out of her thoughts when Snow's shrill voice disturbed her making her physically tense up"Yes Snow" she forced the sweetest voice she could muster up at a moment's notice
"I was wondering if you would like to take the horses out for a ride" the girl asked her stepmother
"Certainly" she forced herself to tell her step-daughter "Let me get changed and I'll meet you at the stables" she tried to dismiss the girl form her room as she stood up from her vanity heading to her wardrobe and behind her changing screen. As Snow ventured further into the bedroom a noticed the folding and sealed letter on her table
"Who were you writing to?" she asks her step-mother
Nosey brat. Regina seethed to herself as continued to dress herself "A letter to Amelia, thanking her again for helping us" she quickly lied
"Really? You've been writing to each other?" she replied with excitement in her voice at the mention of the redhead that had saved their lives
"Yes, but she hadn't replied yet"
"Oh" that's all that came from the Princess "Do you think she's forgotten about us already?"
"She's probably busy trying to find the people trying to hurt us" she said emerging from the screen now in her riding gear "I wasn't going to send it anyway. Now come those horses aren't going to ride themselves" she said to her stepdaughter heading towards the door as Snow lingered at the table still eyeing the letter.
Checking that Regina had truly left. Snow picked up the letter and tucked it away on her person ready to send it as soon as she could before following her step-mother out
Unaware of the catastrophic results that the letter would bring would it once it reached its true recipient.
Yet again the group set out to hike the thick Neverland jungle in search for Neal, minus Regina this time but with the addition of her father. The hike remain silent until the leather clad pirate broke it, his curiosity got the better of towards the older sea Captain
"So how exactly are you still alive" Hook asks the older assassin "Last I heard you were killed by your Brotherhood" Hook started the conversation at the back of the hike through the jungle, Mary Margret and Emma led the group through the jungle as she walked in the middle of the two groups.
"I think that's a conversation in need to have with my daughter Captain Jones" Romeo answered the curious pirate
"No please I think I'd like David and Hook to hear how you lied everything I knew about since the age of three" his daughter spoke up
"I think the lady hath spoken mate" Hook said with a wide smile towards the older Captain
Romeo let out a long sigh "Where do I start?"
"How about around the time Claudius sent a blade into your chest and I ran for my life" she drawled out
"And he did. I thought I was dead, but then Claudius told me he lased the blade with the same dream shade that I had brought back home after I spent a year here in my younger days'. They sailed me here on the Jackdaw and gave me the cure, only…." The older man and tried to find to words only stop mid-step with her father doing the same. David and Hook thankfully carried on ahead of the pair.
"You couldn't leave" she finished
"You know I would've moved the sun and the moon to find you again Amelia" he tells his grown daughter taking her shoulders in his hands "I know your angry, I would be too, I promise you I will tell you everything I owe you at least that"
"You do" she tells the man before turning and following Hook and David
Romeo knew these caves all too well as he and the group came to a stop were the faint gold tracks had come to a stop. "The tracks lead directly into that cave" he informs the others as he comes to face to face to the place where he had to make his hardest and easiest decision of his life.
It was here, as he saw his Juliet trapped in Pan's cage when he knew he loved her with all his heart.
It was here he left a boy here to continue his suffering after he promised him the world.
"This must be where Pan is keeping Neal"
"If the cave is some sort of prison, why aren't there any guards posted to stop us?" David asks the others
"Because this prison doesn't require guards" Hook tells the Prince making his way towards the front, staring into the pitch-black entrance "Echo cave"
"You know it?" the female assassin spoke up
"All too well. I lost half my crew inside those rock walls. The only way to rescue someone from inside is to reveal a secret"
"A secret? That's all?" Mary Margaret asks
"Your darkest secret" the pirate corrected darkly "Echo cave derives its name from an old saying... "the deeper the lie, the more truth in its echo." The cave demands that you reveal a truth about yourself. A secret you would never admit to anyone"
"This is ridiculous" Amelia rolled her eyes at the pirate folding her arms across her chest
"Don't kill the messenger, luv"
"Even if we spill our guts, how do we know Neal's still alive in there?" Emma questioned out load
"Because this is what Pan wants" Romeo spoke up to the blonde "He wants us to rescue him"
"Why?" David asked
"So that we reveal our secrets" Hook added "He believes once we do, our secrets will destroy us"
"Then what are we waiting for" Romeo said walking straight into the cave without a care in the world
The older assassin was the first to emerge from the other side of the tunnel to a deep cavern followed by Hook, Amelia and the Charming couple the cave was larger than what it look on the outside, as a hundred foot gap between them and a wooden cage that held Neal, he was alive after all.
"Emma!" Neal yelled over the gap seeing the blonde for the first time since he fell through the portal in Storybrooke.
"Neal" she gasped in surprise seeing the man
"It must be a hundred feet across" Mary Margaret hypothesized to the group as she tried to looked for a way to the other side
"Even if we fashioned some sort of rope, there's nothing to attach it to" David said outload "No way to swing over"
"So, what do we do?" Emma asked
"I told you what needs to be done" Hook spoke up "Consider this the moment of truth, literally. Now... who wants to kick things off?"
"So, what? Someone tells their secret and they sprout wings?"
"I don't know the particulars, only what I've been told"
"Well, how do you know it'll work?" the prince asked as Hook took a deep breath and turn to face Neal in his cage
"There's only one way to find out, I suppose" he turns back to face everyone "I kissed Emma" he confessed to the group earning an eye roll from the blonde herself
"You did what?" David exclaimed as a concerned father
"David, now is not the time" Mary Margaret scolded her husband
"I already told Mary Margaret, so technically it's not a secret" Emma tells the man "But it was just a kiss. How's that your darkest secret?"
"It's what the kiss exposed" he told her "My secret is, I never thought I'd be capable of letting go of my first love... of my Milah... to believe that I could find someone else that is, until I met you" the ground shook underneath their feet, they looked towards the gap and saw a stone bridge start to form itself from the secret told by Hook. The secret worked.
"Uh... Mary Margaret..." David went to go next only for his wife to stop him
"No, no. No. Me next" the former Prince stopped her husband "Ever since the curse broke, since we found each other, since we found Emma... And all of that happiness, there is something I haven't wanted to admit. Our daughter is a beautiful, smart, amazing woman whom I love very much, and of whom I could not be more proud. But she's all grown up. And... As much as I wanna pretend I'm okay with that, I'm not. We missed it, David. What we have with her is unique, but it's not what I wanted. We were cheated out of everything... her first step, her first word, her first smile. We missed it all"
"What are you saying?" David asked her
"When we get off this island and get back to Storybrooke, I want another go at it. I wanna have another baby" the ground shook again as another part of the bridge grew nearer to them
"Nothing in this world would make me happier, and I know with all my heart that you would make... An amazing mother. But it can never happen... At least not with me" David told his wife with a sombre face
"What do you mean?"
"When Hook, Amelia and I went to search for the sextant, they were really taking me to find a cure"
"A cure for what?"
"Dream shade"
"The lost boys, the arrow... you pushed me out of the way..." the princess shook her head at her husband
"I wasn't fast enough. I was hit. They were able to find a cure, but it comes at a price. I can't leave Neverland. If I do, I'll die" the ground shook once again as the bridge grew towards them, but it was still a way away from reaching them.
"It's still not close enough" Emma fretted at the edge of the cave, she looked back at Amelia and her father who had yet to confess their darkest secrets "We need one more"
"No" Amelia shook her head at the blonde "No, I'm not doing this"
"Lia please we're so close" Emma pleaded with the assassin knowing what she needed to tell the others
Letting out a shaky breath she looked she turned towards the Charming family "Before I got onto the Jolly Roger, Rumple gave me a letter, addressed to him from Romeo, informing him of his sister's death"
"Gold had a sister? What does that have to do with you?" Emma asked the redhead in confusion, she thought she might confess what happened to the other what happened to John and her son
"Juliet" Romeo spoke up from his place "My late wife was Amelia's mother" he tells the others
The other's pause in stunned silence as the news sunk in "That's your secret, that you're the Dark One's niece" David asked the woman
"I wish it was just that simple" the redhead replies "I've spent the last decade of my life thinking that all my family were dead, that the Brotherhood had taken away the only family I had. Reading that letter brought back how alone I was for so damn long" Then she turned to her father with un-shed tear shimmering in dimly lit cave "It reminded me how angry I was with you for lying to me"
"Those who called us their family, hunted me down. Every village, town and forest, they never gave up. I was so scared, all I wanted was for you to find me like you always did, but you never came"
"But I let my guard down and I moved on. I created a family of my own. They found us in the middle of the night. They killed the love of my life; and they took my three-year-old son from my arms all to prevent some prophecy of the Creeds demise" the audible gasp came from Mary Margaret as she continued to tell her father the truth.
"I killed them all" she tells the man she idolized for so long her body shook as the rage she felt finally come to the surface "I spent the next decade of my life hunting and killing them one by one. And I didn't feel any better for it. But I don't regret it because it got me here. Saving a boy that has only seen me as some sort of hero, that has never lost faith in me. Half the time I feel like I don't deserve it. But he does it anyway. Because that is what a real family does. Not the illusion the Brotherhood built to keep us all in line, to give up everything that is amazing about life. I've learnt so much more about it in service of the Evil Queen and the Dark One than I ever did with you" she seethed at the older assassin.
"Earlier you told me that you'd tell me everything I wanted to know, but I don't think there's anything you could say that would make up for the last two decades of my life, bring back my son, my husband. I wish I'd never found out the truth because at least I'd still have them" the pair stayed in silence as the ground rumble once again for the bridge to complete itself and connect the group to her cousin.
Emma looked between the pair at the assassin's heart breaking confession echoed through the cave, the others remaining in silence as their own secrets seemed to pale into insignificance as the woman poured her heart out to the man she had loved as a father for years. This hadn't been something that been brewing inside her since coming down Dead Man's Peak. This had been years in the making as her heart darkened and the world around her closed in on her.
"Amelia.." he said softly to his daughter the only voice that had broken through the silence
"We're done" she tells her father before leaving the cave completely leaving Romeo to watch as his daughter left him
The truths echoed through the group as Emma led the rest of the group including the newly released Neal out to find the redheaded assassin with her back to the cave and her hands of her hips. Her secret was out after so many year kept in the dark for so long.
She didn't know how to feel at that moment. Relief, that this big secret was finally out. Or completely vulnerable as she let go of her emotion in front of so many people, even if they were her family. All she knew is that she needed someone to tell her she did the right thing by finally telling her secret she had been keeping so close to her chest for so long. Anyone.
Hearing footsteps behind her she quickly wiped the tears from her face, praying no one took notice of her as she turned around to be greeted by everyone that had entered the cave including Neal. Deliberately keeping her eyes off her father her eye's met Neal who had heard everything from his side of the cave. Her cousin gave her a curt nod in greeting without anything said as they gathered. Her father purposely keeping his distance from her.
"Thank you" Neal tells the group
"Well, don't thank us yet" David tells him "We still have to save Henry"
"We found your star map, so the real question is, do you know how to get off this island?" Hook adds
"If we can find Henry, I can get us home" is all that Neal tells them
"Let's go get Tinker Bell and... retrieve the boy" Hook suggested leading the Charming couple and the assassins back to camp.
AN: Big Chapter today!
Thanks for reading!
Remember to:
Follow/Favorite/Review/Comment