Summary:A CS Neverland Canon Divergence: When Emma and Hook find themselves in Neverland, with only one another as ally, they must find a way to put their past and distrust aside in order to rescue Henry from Pan’s clutches. Emma needs Hook to help guide her past all the dangers the island has to offer, while Hook needs Emma’s help to not make the same mistakes he made the first time he found himself trapped in Neverland. Trapped in a deal of his own making; one he is most unwilling to repeat.
A/N:I am lying, liar who lies. I totally thought I would have this wrapped up in one last chapter, but… things got wordy (Sorry?). That means y’all will be getting one more chapter after this, and I am hoping to have it ready to post next Sunday.
Much love to @whimsicallyenchantedroseand@kmomof4 for giving this the once over for me! Also, a big thank you to the @neverlandnewyear mods for hosting this event again (and letting me use the banner as cover art!), and all the lovelies in the Discord for your enthusiasm and support!
The tension was almost as thick as the jungle humidity. With Hook leading the way towards Dark Hollow and Neal bringing up the rear, Emma was left sandwiched between two men who would have had enough issues to work through without throwing some sort of ridiculous rivalry over her affections into the mix. She supposed she should be glad they had heeded her chastisement from earlier and set aside their petty feud in favor of getting back to the task at hand before she absolutely let them have it. Besides, despite the things she knew she’d have to face at some point, the feelings and longings and desires she’d have to sort through when their mission was complete and they were all safe and sound back in Storybrooke, in this moment, if either of them pressured her to make some sort of choice, she would choose Henry.
He’s the only love I have room for in my life right now, Emma determined to herself while suppressing any and all wayward thoughts or feelings that might argue otherwise.
If there had been any doubts as to whether she and Neal could have reconciled and made another go of things if he hadn’t been shot and fallen into that portal, they had been sufficiently dealt with given her reaction to the news that he had survived. A reaction that churned guiltily in her stomach, made even worse by the sensations that had already been present there. Swooping sensations and small flutters that flittered up into her chest cavity, brushing against her heart with their wings of fancy whenever a certain pair of forget-me-not eyes caught her own. Though much more pleasant than the feelings Neal’s gaze brought up, they were not ones she was ready to give credence to, preferring instead to file them away in the back of her mind as nothing more than an attraction that would most likely fade once she managed to gain some distance and perspective.
Distance she was not getting as the trail grew narrower and more overgrown, causing both men to hover more closely to her while urging her to watch her step, each with a helpful hand at the ready whenever an obstacle presented itself.
I’m seriously embarrassed that it took so long for me to post the second part of my @neverlandnewyear fic, but finally, here we are: Part Two at last!! This will be the conclusion of this particular story, so hopefully you will feel I’ve wrapped it up with a bit of steam, and bit of a comeuppance for Neal, and a little fun for our pirate and princess too!
In case anyone needs it after so long, I’ve included a link to Part One, to refresh your memories!
Written for the CS Neverland New Year 22 Event
Contains imagined missing moments or revisions from the end of episode 3x06 “Ariel” - after they’ve exited the Echo Caves. The point-of-view switches between Killian and Emma at the section break, as it did in the first part - it picks up right where that one ended. This is the final part of this particular story.
Killian didn’t stop moving - couldn’t stop moving - crashing and blundering more loudly and blindly than he usually allowed himself on this accursed island, (than was truly safe) the further he got from the crushing reunion he had left behind him. More important than the Lost Boys or island beasties he might alert with his movements was seeing that he was far removed from any in his band of heroes witnessing the disappointment and hurt searing across his face. Already, only scraps remained of the renewed hope Emma Swan had reignited in his heart, and he was scrambling to gather those last tatters around himself, as much as he would his heavy leather duster in a downpour.
But it was proving more difficult than he would like.
Finally, he came to an abrupt stop as the ground before him fell away sharply - a steep gorge marking the end of the pixies’ domain and lowering down into the borders of the tribal natives’ land. He had nearly forgotten the boundary in the years since his last venture through Neverland’s jungles. Thankfully, the trees and foliage had thinned enough near the rocky edge to warn him just in time.
Staring down, chest heaving to regain his breath, Killian hung his head, admitting to himself that he had to stop before he tumbled into some unseen chasm or ran right into one of Tiger Lily and her band’s poison arrows. The dark green maze cut through by jagged rock outcrops and winding streams was not as he remembered either - thicker, deeper, and even more foreboding than it had been when he’d lived there long ago (though he would have reckoned that impossible before this return). The last thing he needed was to force the very people he was trying to gain some space from to come to his rescue. And he certainly couldn’t bear to appear any more pitiable to Swan than he must already. That dratted confession he’d made had only served to allow her to fall into the arms of her boy’s father.
As his breathing slowly returned to normal, Killian pinched his eyes closed against that image replaying itself in his mind’s eye. He merely needed a moment to get himself under control, slide the veneer back into place, and pretend that all was as it should be. He might not be able to pass off his confession in the Caves as anything but the unvarnished truth - the bridge it had begun made doing otherwise impossible - but he could regain the insouciant charm, the cavalier, devil-may-care attitude he wielded so expertly and carry on as though it didn’t matter that much to him. True, Swan had somehow gotten past his defenses, wormed her way into his chest, and cracked his heart back open to feeling once more, but if he played it off as a passing fancy, brushed it aside, ‘out of sight, out of mind’, would any of them bother to look past what they thought they knew of the “scoundrel pirate” to see how false it would be?
With a weary sigh, Killian attempted to steel himself; his mind made up. Play this right and he might leave Neverland still in possession of a shred of his dignity. It wouldn’t be his first time hiding the hurt he bore, burying it to use as fuel to push him forward. He’d merely thought he might be able to stop doing so. One of these days, though after centuries one would think he had suffered enough, he would stop entertaining foolish hope.
I love it when Emma puts Neal in his place!!!!! It just pisses me off when he thinks he’s entitled to something that he doesn’t deserve!!!! So thank you for that!!!!
And I love that Killian was trying to get away from the scene thinking he had lost all Hope only for Emma to come to him and show him how she feels and that he still has Hope!!!!!
Thank you for this amazing story!!!!! I will be going to re read again!!!!
Rating: Mature to start with, some later chapters will probably end up being explicit.
Warnings: Abduction, Ransom, Mortal Peril.
Summary: One night, in every corner of every magical realm, every boy aged nine to seventeen disappeared. Not one remained. That was when Pan made himself known to the realms, and from that night the eve of every boy’s ninth birthday meant their disappearance, until finally the realms demanded to know what he wanted to return their children to them. Pan told them he wanted the saviour, and while most realms were confused Snow and David knew what he meant and confessed the role their daughter was supposed to have played in breaking the curse. The realms voted and agreed to Pan’s terms, and Pan stopped taking the realms sons, holding the children he’d currently taken as insurance of their compliance.
For the next fifteen years Emma’s birthday wasn’t a celebration, it was another tick on the countdown clock to the end of her freedom. Not that she was ever free in the first place, but to save every male child in the United Realms including her younger brother, Leo… She understood that she had a job to do, and she would do her duty with her head held high. What she didn’t count on was the sparkling blue eyes of the man Pan sends to escort her to Neverland in time for her twenty-first birthday.
Notes: So, the angst is pretty much over, but that doesn’t mean the story has ended. Emma and Killian have a lot still to contend with, but from here on in this is mostly fluff… ENJOY!
Huge thanks to @kmomof4 as always, we’re nearly there, and you have been incredible! Thanks to the @neverlandnewyear mods for running the event!
As Emma and her mother neared the bottom of the staircase, David stepped forward to hold his arm out to his wife. Killian felt a hand in the small of his back and stepped forward, swallowing thickly as his throat and mouth felt suddenly dry. He glanced over his shoulder to see Roland giving him an encouraging nod.
He didn’t think he’d ever been more nervous about anything in his life. But this felt like something, a simple moment of him stepping forward and offering his hand had become this momentous thing that he wasn’t quite sure he understood. He looked back at Emma and kept his eyes on her. This was about her, about publicly announcing his intentions. He wasn’t sure that was actuallywhat it meant, but to him it felt like it.
He watched the curl of her lips change as he stepped out of the crowd, and gave him an almost imperceptible nod of her head.
She’d wondered if he would, if he wanted to step up beside her so soon after they’d returned home or if he’d want to take things more gradually. With their conversation earlier today she wasn’t sure. He was expecting things to take a while, but the ring on its chain was secure around her neck, giving her the strength to face the difficult transition back into royal life.
She could feel the heat of eyes on her, including her parents, but the only ones that mattered were Killian’s. He looked nervous. Her father had definitely noticed that something was going on, but her mother wouldn’t have known that unless her husband had told her of his suspicions because Emma had most definitely not said anything while they’d been together earlier. She would know now, by the way they were looking at her if nothing else.
“If I may, Your Highness,” Killian said with a deep bow, offering his hand as he straightened up with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes. She beamed at him.
“You are most considerate, Captain,” she replied easily, the airs and graces of court coming back to her as though she had never left. The knowledge was there, assuredly drawn on from years of practice, but the words felt foreign in her mouth. She placed her hand in his and stepped off the bottom step. She felt a sort of calm settle over her, with him so close and placed her hand in the crook of his elbow as an excuse to step closer.
A season 1 Neverland AU. Emma is still trying to adjust to her new life as Sheriff of Storybrooke and mom to Henry, who still believes everyone in town is a fairytale creature. When she finds a badly beaten, one handed man while patrolling, she’s convinced he’s crazy. He is, after all, rambling about fairies and shadows and crocodiles. But when Henry is suddenly taken by what Emma swears (but can’t believe) was a shadow, the madman in the hospital might be her only hope of getting her son back. Whether he likes it or not.
“Sheriff Swan.” Regina walks into her office like she owns the place, not bothering to knock. “Where’s my son?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well he’s not at home so I assume he must have snuck off to do something ill-conceived with you as that seems to always be the case.”
“What are you talking about? I haven’t seen Henry since the weekend.” In fact, he’d told her that they needed to hold off on Operation Cobra because his mom was getting suspicious. She knows though that it’s because he’s mad at her. He has been since she had to tell him she had Killian committed. And he’s been avoiding her. “Are you telling me you don’t know where he is?” Emma demands as Regina’s face grows from smug and annoyed to concerned. “It’s after seven!”
“He didn’t come home from school. I just assumed… He’s probably with a friend.” Emma wants to snap at her. Even when Henry is concerned she can’t back down, needs to be right rather than admit she screwed up and needs help.
“He doesn’t have any friends - at least none his own age,” she reminds the woman, even though it’s painful to say. It’s Regina’s fault Henry never befriended any of the kids at school. How could he, with a terrifying mother who kept him under lock and key? “Did you check his castle?”
“No. I came straight here.”
Emma grabs her keys off the desk. “You go check the park. I’ll go to Granny’s and see if he’s been there.” She may hate the woman, but this is Henry. It seems Regina’s willing to put their mutual distaste aside for this as well since she shockingly agrees and follows her out to her own car.
“Call me if you find him,” the Mayor orders and Emma nods, demanding the same courtesy in return.
She reaches Granny’s quickly, both the owner and Ruby hurrying over to her when she walks in and she realises she must look as worried as she feels. “Have you seen Henry? Is he here?”
Granny shakes her head. “No. But he was here earlier pouring over the storybook and a couple others.”
“Which books?” Knowing her kid, wherever he is it probably has something to do with the damn curse.
“I’m not sure. Kids books from the looks of them. Ruby, you served him.”
Ruby shrugs apologetically. “It was busy. But yeah they looked like regular kids books - fairy tales and stuff. One had a picture of a ship in it. I only remember because he covered it when I came up to him.”
“A ship?” Ruby nods. “Maybe he went down to the docks?”
“Hey Leroy!” Granny calls and the gruff, stout man looks up in annoyance. “You see the Mills boy today?”
“Why would I be hanging around with kids? I ain’t a babysitter.”
“You’re looking for Henry?” David walks over to them, a tray of takeout cups in his hand. “Is he okay?”
“He’s missing. Have you seen him?”
“He came by the animal shelter about an hour ago. Wanted to know if we’d found any crocodiles.”
A season 1 Neverland AU. Emma is still trying to adjust to her new life as Sheriff of Storybrooke and mom to Henry, who still believes everyone in town is a fairytale creature. When she finds a badly beaten, one handed man while patrolling, she’s convinced he’s crazy. He is, after all, rambling about fairies and shadows and crocodiles. But when Henry is suddenly taken by what Emma swears (but can’t believe) was a shadow, the madman in the hospital might be her only hope of getting her son back. Whether he likes it or not.
It’s still early when Emma makes her way down Main Street towards the pawn shop, most of the town still asleep - except of course her roommate who had been heading to school early every day this week, out of the house by the ungodly hour of seven. She’s not sure she believes her - some excuse about a science fair Henry never mentioned - but she has more important things to deal with this morning. She’ll ask Mary Margaret about it tomorrow.
Making her way past Granny’s, she notices David leaving, nudging the door open with his elbow, a coffee in each hand. He offers her a friendly but guilty smile and Emma nods back at him. She doesn’t have anything against the guy personally; it’s not his fault he broke her friend’s heart. But there’s something to be said about girl code, she reminds herself as she reaches the shop.
She doesn’t notice the glass until it crunches under her boot. Emma looks down, lifting her foot and noticing the shards that line the sidewalk just outside the door. Hand on the doorknob she notices the shattered pane in the window above it, patched up with cardboard and duct tape, and frowns. Another break-in? She double checks that she wore her holster today even though it looks like this happened a few days ago if Gold’s already patched it up. But he didn’t call her to report it and suspicion and intuition prickle at the back of her neck.
The bell above her head lets out a small chime when she enters the shop. “Good morning, Miss Swan,” Gold says, looking up from the ledger in front of him. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” His grin is polite, as always, but she fights the urge to narrow her eyes at him, at the constant hint of sarcasm that always accompanies that smile. There’s a cut above his eyebrow, just barely hidden by his hair falling over it, but noticeable to someone used to looking.
“What happened here?” she asks, shutting the door behind her and crossing the shop cautiously. She can’t put her finger on it but something looks out of place. It’s not as if there’s ever been any real, discernable order to the store, but something just feels… off. She notices an empty display case, the glass missing where the others are locked shut and gives the owner a look she thinks might be a bit too accusatory.
Mr. Gold shrugs. “Local vandals.” His tone is dismissive. “Came in, took a thing or two. Nothing valuable.”
“And you didn’t think to report it?”
“They were teenagers from the high school. I came out of the back and scared them off - they must have thought the shop was empty. I didn’t want to get them into trouble. I’m sure you know better than most how devastating a run in with the law can be at such a young age.”
Emma bites the inside of her cheek at the sympathy mimicked in his tone, the knowing reminder hidden beneath it. “You didn’t have any trouble reporting Ashley when she broke in.”
“Ah, but you weren’t the law then, Sheriff,” he adds with a small, conspiratorial smile. She doesn’t believe him.
“They do that to you?” She nods at the cut on his forehead, bruising visible as he brushes his hair back to touch it, much worse than she originally assumed.
“This? No, no. That was another matter entirely. I was tidying in the back room and forgot my cane in the front of the store. I’m afraid my leg wasn’t up to it,” he explains, patting the leg in question. “I took a fall and hit my head on the desk.” Another lie. She eyes him suspiciously as he feins embarrassment, but it’s not as though she can do anything about it.
“Were you looking for something?” he asks then. Emma raises a brow in confusion and he sweeps a hand out towards the store. “A gift for the boy perhaps? I just got some books in that I think he might enjoy very much.”
Emma shakes her head. “No, um, thanks. I was actually hoping you might be able to help me find someone - or something.”
The corner of Gold’s lips twitch up. “How very cryptic and fascinating,” he muses. “I thought finding people was your specialty, Sheriff.”
A season 1 Neverland AU. Emma is still trying to adjust to her new life as Sheriff of Storybrooke and mom to Henry, who still believes everyone in town is a fairytale creature. When she finds a badly beaten, one handed man while patrolling, she’s convinced he’s crazy. He is, after all, rambling about fairies and shadows and crocodiles. But when Henry is suddenly taken by what Emma swears (but can’t believe) was a shadow, the madman in the hospital might be her only hope of getting her son back. Whether he likes it or not.
Thank you @the-darkdragonfly for helping me figure out what the hell is even happening in this fic and thank you @elizabeethan for letting me complain and virtually shout ideas at you <3
***
Part 3
Emma glances up over her phone at the man lying motionless on the hospital bed, wrist firmly secured to the railing with her cuffs. The cuffs that Whale had refused to let her take off him, right before he’d refused to let her leave the hospital while ‘that psycho’ was still in here. Take him to a jail cell or stay here with him; I don’t care. But I’m not taking responsibility for him! the doctor had insisted, rubbing gingerly at his neck, his eyes nearly as crazed as his patient’s had been a moment before.
She’d taken a look at him, the bruising and the dried blood - he needed a hospital, not a cell. And so here she is, nearly three hours later, curled up in an uncomfortable hospital chair, switching between apps on her cell while she waits for this guy to wake up. She could have sworn she saw him move or heard him make a noise but as she watches him still as the dead, she knows it was just wishful thinking. Whatever was in that syringe really did a number on him.
Groaning, Emma looks at her watch. She wonders if she’ll have to spend the night here. Maybe the Sheriff’s station would have been a better idea after all. At least there she could have gone home and taken a nap or at least used the cot Graham had kept in the back. The hardest part had been convincing Henry to go home - even after Regina had shown up and chewed her out for putting her son’s life in danger. Emma hadn’t bothered to explain that she’d explicitly told Henry not to come.
“You let him run wild while there was a violent madman with a knife on the loose?” she’d demanded.
“It was a scalpel-” Emma corrected somewhat under her breath.
Summary: A CS Neverland Canon Divergence: When Emma and Hook find themselves in Neverland, with only one another as ally, they must find a way to put their past and distrust aside in order to rescue Henry from Pan’s clutches. Emma needs Hook to help guide her past all the dangers the island has to offer, while Hook needs Emma’s help to not make the same mistakes he made the first time he found himself trapped in Neverland. Trapped in a deal of his own making; one he is most unwilling to repeat.
Thank you to everyone who participated as writers, artists, betas, and cheerleaders - This was an amazing January! Thank you all for sharing your wonderful work ❤️❤️
After Emma’s dramatic flight from the diner, Killian promises the Charmings that he’ll find her and do everything in his power to convince her to stay. As he walks he considers the different ways of approaching her: his usual “cocky pirate” bravado probably wouldn’t convince her to stay, but acting like the lovesick fool he is inside would send her running for the hills.
“You’re making a mistake,” Killian says bluntly. Emma turns to watch him approach with a grimace, full defenses up.
“I don’t want to talk to you about this,” she replies, turning her gaze back to the pond as she crosses her arms over her chest.
“If you won’t listen to me, listen to your son. He thought this might remind you of what you’re leaving behind, your family,” Killian tells her, convinced that she’ll change her mind if shown enough evidence. He grabs the book out of his satchel and sticks it in front of her face until she takes it.
“Henry is my family, and I’m taking him where he’s safe. That’s it, end of story,” she says firmly, setting the book down next to her without a glance. Although he usually admires her iron will, the fact that she’s using it as a shield right now just pisses him off.
He has clearly underestimated her powers of denial, even though he already knows that she’s stubborn as hell. Memories of how many hoops he’d had to jump through to coax her away from life with the Monkey Man fill his brain, and it makes him see red.
“For fuck’s sake, Swan! The safety first nonsense is just that,” he cries, no longer willing to let her walk away without a fight. “I saw your life in New York, and I know that you thought you were content. Yes, you and Henry had a home and a life together, but your head was stuffed with Regina’s memories! What did you have there that you need to return to so desperately? Why do you want to go back to a life of lies?”
Emma looks stunned by his words, so she must have forgotten about his ability to read her so clearly. Her cheeks are aflame and her eyes appear glassy, but at least she’s willing to have a conversation.
“It was real for us, Hook! You don’t understand — for as long as I can remember, I’ve been running, looking for home. I hadn’t ever found it, until New York,” she tells him wearily, slumping down on the bench. He hates to see her physically deflate like that, and he curses himself for it.
“I know what that feels like, Swan; truly I do,” Killian admits, shifting uncomfortably. The sadness in his eyes gives her an idea of how deeply his pain must sit in his soul.
“I believe you, but eventually you found a home, on your ship. For me, running away was the only consistent thing I ever did before going into Bail Bonds. I want to give Henry a stable life, and we had that in New York,” she says, and he agrees — but only about what Henry deserves. The part he hasn’t told her, about where his home truly lies, will have to wait for another day.
He searches her eyes, wondering why she’s willfully ignoring Henry’s wish to live in Storybrooke. He asks her directly: “You know that Henry doesn’t want to leave, Emma. What’s stopping you both from having a life here, with your entire family?”
“Because of this, Killian!” she says with exasperation, pulling the book into her lap and opening it to the page illustrated with a curse cloud rolling over the Enchanted Forest. “I don’t see my family here. I see fairy tales, and stories of princes and princesses. Henry and I are from the real world — we were never meant to be a part of any of this.”
For a moment, he seriously considers telling Emma the whole truth: that he knows exactly how she feels, because without his ship for the first time in more than a century, he’s completely unmoored, and that he doesn’t know what he’s going to make of his life if she rejects him. She has no idea what he gave up, but finding out would be too much of a burden for her right now, so he keeps his mouth shut and continues moving forward.
“Then what are you a part of, Swan?” he asks gently, folding himself down next to her on the chilly bench. She looks down at the book, and when her gaze returns to his, there’s so much sadness in her eyes.
“Aside from this year with Henry, I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of anything,” she admits, and his heart screams at him to tell her how wrong she is. But he waits, because instinct tells him to be patient.
“But, Emma, you could be,” he says hopefully, but she’s already covering her emotions back up, and the moment is lost.
She snaps the book shut, handing it back to him. Putting her palms on her knees, Emma looks down at the ground for a few seconds before standing up, and her eyes are devoid of emotion. Killian is pretty sure that, short of a miracle, Swan’s going to fly the coop.
“I learned something a long time ago, Hook: home is the place that, when you leave, you just miss it. So yeah, I’m gonna keep running until I feel that,” she tells him, sounding bitter and broken. He feels quite bitter too, trying desperately to keep his emotions in check.
“So you’re just going to keep running, then? Swan, think about your parents - don’t you even care about them, or anyone in Storybrooke?”
“Of course I care…I just have to do what I think is right for me and for Henry —“ Emma tells him. The blinding burst of magic in the direction of Zelena’s hideout puts an end to the conversation.
What happens next is a blur, but within less than a minute, the out of control vortex of magic sucks them into its orbit, sending them hurtling towards the unknown…
A season 1 Neverland AU. Emma is still trying to adjust to her new life as Sheriff of Storybrooke and mom to Henry, who still believes everyone in town is a fairytale creature. When she finds a badly beaten, one handed man while patrolling, she’s convinced he’s crazy. He is, after all, rambling about fairies and shadows and crocodiles. But when Henry is suddenly taken by what Emma swears (but can’t believe) was a shadow, the madman in the hospital might be her only hope of getting her son back. Whether he likes it or not.
Thank you @elizabeethan for reading this over for me!
****
Chapter 2
“Is it true?” Henry demands when he meets her around the corner from his school.
She probably shouldn’t be sneaking around seeing him while Regina is at work, but the woman leaves him alone all evening. Emma had been a latchkey kid for most of her life, so many foster parents not caring enough to be home when she came back from school, and it sucked. So what’s the big deal if they grab a hot chocolate at Granny’s? What’s Regina going to do, curse her? Probably, according to Henry.
“Is what true?”
“They said there’s a man in the hospital and that you brought him there.”
“Who said?” she asks, frowning. What the hell kind of gossip mill does this town have that the events of last night have already reached the elementary school? Maybe she should be wary of seeing Henry like this, in case someone tells the Mayor.
“Everyone’s talking about it! Who is he?”
“I don’t know. He hadn’t woken up yet when I left.”
Henry hums. “I wonder if he’s in the book. He didn’t come here with the curse like everyone else - nobody knows him.”
Emma nods vaguely. She hadn’t recognized him. Though it had been hard to tell with so much blood fresh and drying on his face. She’d gone with him to the hospital, following the ambulance with the cherry on her bug after they loaded the unconscious man in. He’d been still by the time the paramedics arrived - Emma had been scared he was dead, her hand steady on his pulse to make sure he wasn’t.
Crocodile, the word’s been bouncing around in her head since he spoke it, voice laced with pain and anger and something darker, sadder, tired. What’s crocodile? It can’t be an actual giant lizard. Storybrooke is strange, she’ll give it that, but they’re in Maine, not Florida; there aren’t any gators roaming around the streets of this small town. So what then? A place? The name of a bar maybe? Or a person, she wonders, a code name or some kind or an alias. She shakes her head at herself. This is Storybrooke, she reminds herself again. There are no secret gangs and codename, no seedy underworld, just small town fundraisers and spiteful mayors.
SUMMARY: Emma and Killian have finally free to have their honeymoon and with Neverland now back to a place of dreams an desires Killian decides its the perfect place to get away. The island has a few surprises for them but Emma has her own surprises for her husband.
A/N: This is my entry for @neverlandnewyear. My writing muse was dead but my art muse decided to step in. The picture of Emma is my first manip so please be gentle with me.
Sometimes the muse just wont cooperate but we’re so glad the art muse stepped up! Enjoy the beautiful art and story teaser from @everything-person
Rating: This peek is Teen, I guess. I expect the rest of the fic to be Mature, maybe straying into Explicit? I’m not sure, it’s not finished yet!
Warnings: Abduction, Ransom, Mortal Peril.
Length: Currently over 70k… and still going…
Summary: One night, in every corner of every magical realm, every boy aged nine to seventeen disappeared. Not one remained. That was when Pan made himself known to the realms, and from that night the eve of every boy’s ninth birthday meant their disappearance, until finally the realms demanded to know what he wanted to return their children to them. Pan told them he wanted the saviour, and while most realms were confused Snow and David knew what he meant and confessed the role their daughter was supposed to have played in breaking the curse. The realms voted and agreed to Pan’s terms, and Pan stopped taking the realms sons, holding the children he’d currently taken as insurance of their compliance.
For the next fifteen years Emma’s birthday wasn’t a celebration, it was another tick on the countdown clock to the end of her freedom. Not that she was ever free in the first place, but to save every male child in the United Realms including her younger brother, Leo… She understood that she had a job to do, and she would do her duty with her head held high. What she didn’t count on was the sparkling blue eyes of the man Pan sends to escort her to Neverland in time for her twenty-first birthday.
Notes: So this is a sneak peek for my NLNY fic for 2022. I was hoping to have this written in time, but it’s become a monster and it’s not done. I can’t start posting properly until I’ve finished writing, so instead please enjoy the art up the top there and the opening of chapter one…
A huge, huge thank you to @kmomof4 for betaing this for me, and for being super supportive while I’ve been tearing my hair out over this. Thank you to the @neverlandnewyear mods for running this event again, and for letting me push my date back, even if the only thing it’s achieved is me getting the art done so I can share that… Ooops!
A Gentleman Never Tells (Chapter 2) | Neverland New Year 2022
Author: cosette141
Rating: T
Words (chp 2): 6.4k
Summary: Right after saving Henry in Neverland, Pan puts Emma under a Sleeping Curse that only romantic love can break. Hook’s kiss wakes her, but in the confusion of the moment, it appears to everyone else, including Emma, that it was Neal’s kiss that woke her. As the group celebrates and Hook empties his flask alone, he can’t help thinking it is better this way. CS
It spread like sunlight through her whole body. There was a sense of calm, of utter contentment in her chest. Like something just felt right.
The only other time she’d felt something like it was when she’d woken Henry from Regina’s Sleeping Curse.
Yes, that was what it felt like.
Love.
But there was something else to this feeling, something exciting, some elated part of it that she felt before. She just… couldn’t quite… place it.
Emma blinked a few times, staring at a wooden ceiling. She was lying on something soft, but her mind was a few steps behind.
A bed?
The last thing she remembered was rescuing Henry. They had been on their way back to the ship.
But after that… nothing.
But her puzzlement halted when she heard a door open. A voice floated in, and Emma managed to recognize it as Neal’s.
“…tried twice, but I—Emma!”
Emma turned her head, noting, albeit delayed, that she was in a cabin that looked like one of the Jolly Roger. And not just any cabin; Hook’s. “Where the hell am I?” she mumbled, even more confused.
Neal was at her side in seconds, pulling her into a crushing hug. “It worked!”
Emma tensed in his hold, her mind crashing into the present.
She didn’t exactly like being touched, and she’d barely started to hug her own parents. But hugging him…
She’d realized it when he’d embraced her in the Echo Cave.
She didn't want to.
It was a hold that used to bring so much comfort. He was the first person who ever held her like she was worth something.
Now, it all felt tainted and empty.
Neal, however, was too elated to realize the embrace wasn’t reciprocated. And Emma was still too confused about the whole situation to shove him off. “What worked?” she mumbled, seeing her parents, Regina, and Gold standing in the room. Her parents looked over the moon.
When a new curse hits, the Swan-Jones’ find themselves living a life that’s not their own. But when a book pops into their lives and infiltrates their dreams, will they work out the mystery of who they really are. Can they find their way back to Storybrooke? And how does Neverland fit into it all?
Notes:
This is my entry into Neverland New Year 2022. I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks to Kit and Elsie for reading through this story for me.
“It’s coming. The curse - it’s here!” Grumpy ran down Main Street, calling out. If he had a bell he would have rung it.
“That dwarf always has a way of being so damned pessimistic,” Emma said to her mom.
“He does, but he’s usually right about these things. You better go and find Killian and Henry. I love you, Emma. Just remember the family motto, we always find each other.” Mary Margaret gave her daughter a tight hug and kissed her on the cheek.
David burst into the loft. “Emma, thank God. Killian’s out of mind with worry.” He gave her a hug on her way out.
“I love you both.”
She ran down the stairs to find Killian and Henry waiting for her.
“Another bloody curse. Just what we needed. By the looks of those clouds, we’re not going to have time to get back to the apartment.”
Killian grabbed Emma’s hand and gathered her and Henry close to him. An urge to protect his family took over him.
Emma wrapped her arm around Henry’s shoulders. “Don’t be scared. We’ll be together this time.”
“Why did you say that, Love?” Killian asked her, curiously. He’d always found her insight marvellous.
“I don’t know. I just have a feeling,” she replied, as she looked into his blue eyes and gave him a watery smile. She hoped her feeling proved correct, because she couldn’t face another curse being pulled away from Killian and Henry.
As the storm clouds targeted the town once again, the Swan-Jones family crouched low and held each other tight.
“Whatever happens, we’ll get through this together,” Killian told his family.
Emma appreciated his strength at this time when their world was, once again imploding around them. “I love you, Killian; you too, Henry.”
As the curse hit, Killian and Emma’s lips connected in a kiss so intense. All the love they felt for each other; all the curses they’d endured both separately and together, was poured into the kiss.
Mokamotani - A Captain Swan Neverland New Year One Shot
A/N: Thank you to the @neverlandnewyear moderators for hosting again! This is one of my favorite events because I just love all the Neverland goodness packed into one month. Unbeta’d, please forgive the mistakes that I’m sure exist but really hope are not there.
Mokamotani - to speak straight, tell the truth
Manitou - peace
Summary:Emma thought the time for truths had passed with the Echo Cave, but a newly rescued Henry and a magical snack prove otherwise. If Emma thought the Echo Cave had been soul-baring enough for a lifetime, she has another thing coming. Hopefully Hook can step in and help save the day. Who am I kidding, you know what I write, of course he can. Fluff, Humor, some ugly truths, some funny truths.
CS Neverland New Year 2022: “Hearts Like Wildflowers”
Summary: He was used to the darkness until she brought light into his life with her wild blonde curls and prickly attitude. Even on this godforsaken island, she manages to make him feel alive. (Canon Divergent from 3x06)
A/N: this is my contribution to @neverlandnewyear. This is my first time participating in this event, and I couldn’t be more excited to share this story with all of you! Hope you like it!
He didn’t plan to kiss her again, but it happened anyway.
They have been wandering the jungle for hours. They were still trying to locate Pan’s hideout and had split up from the others, which, if anyone had listened to him, was a bad idea.
The air is so steamy and humid it feels like it’s raining. Her blonde ponytail has doubled in size, with soft curls springing everywhere. It fascinates him a bit as he follows her, trying to figure out how to get her to let him take the lead. Even if he is enjoying the view. Now he’s convinced he can’t get them more turned around than they already are.
“Hey, you hear that? It’s a nightingale, supposedly a symbol of love and anticipation,” he says, trying to make conversation and keep his voice matter-of-fact, standing still. She turns to look at him and starts back in his direction, and he has no idea if she wants to punch him or just walk past him because they have passed that moss-ridden rock three times already.
But her foot catches on something when she almost makes it in front of him, and she stumbles. Her hand reaches out, landing against his chest. He puts his hand and hook on her arms to steady her. She looks up at him, her green eyes wide, and her lips slightly parted. She is very, very close to him.
Oh, bloody hell, he thinks with a harsh intake of breath. Then his hand and hook on her arms draw her against him, and he closes his eyes and kisses her.
A season 1 Neverland AU. Emma is still trying to adjust to her new life as Sheriff of Storybrooke and mom to Henry, who still believes everyone in town is a fairytale creature. When she finds a badly beaten, one handed man while patrolling, she’s convinced he’s crazy. He is, after all, rambling about fairies and shadows and crocodiles. But when Henry is suddenly taken by what Emma swears (but can’t believe) was a shadow, the madman in the hospital might be her only hope of getting her son back. Whether he likes it or not.
“Sheriff Swan.” Regina walks into her office like she owns the place, not bothering to knock. “Where’s my son?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well he’s not at home so I assume he must have snuck off to do something ill-conceived with you as that seems to always be the case.”
“What are you talking about? I haven’t seen Henry since the weekend.” In fact, he’d told her that they needed to hold off on Operation Cobra because his mom was getting suspicious. She knows though that it’s because he’s mad at her. He has been since she had to tell him she had Killian committed. And he’s been avoiding her. “Are you telling me you don’t know where he is?” Emma demands as Regina’s face grows from smug and annoyed to concerned. “It’s after seven!”
“He didn’t come home from school. I just assumed… He’s probably with a friend.” Emma wants to snap at her. Even when Henry is concerned she can’t back down, needs to be right rather than admit she screwed up and needs help.
“He doesn’t have any friends - at least none his own age,” she reminds the woman, even though it’s painful to say. It’s Regina’s fault Henry never befriended any of the kids at school. How could he, with a terrifying mother who kept him under lock and key? “Did you check his castle?”
“No. I came straight here.”
Emma grabs her keys off the desk. “You go check the park. I’ll go to Granny’s and see if he’s been there.” She may hate the woman, but this is Henry. It seems Regina’s willing to put their mutual distaste aside for this as well since she shockingly agrees and follows her out to her own car.
“Call me if you find him,” the Mayor orders and Emma nods, demanding the same courtesy in return.
She reaches Granny’s quickly, both the owner and Ruby hurrying over to her when she walks in and she realises she must look as worried as she feels. “Have you seen Henry? Is he here?”
Granny shakes her head. “No. But he was here earlier pouring over the storybook and a couple others.”
“Which books?” Knowing her kid, wherever he is it probably has something to do with the damn curse.
“I’m not sure. Kids books from the looks of them. Ruby, you served him.”
Ruby shrugs apologetically. “It was busy. But yeah they looked like regular kids books - fairy tales and stuff. One had a picture of a ship in it. I only remember because he covered it when I came up to him.”
“A ship?” Ruby nods. “Maybe he went down to the docks?”
“Hey Leroy!” Granny calls and the gruff, stout man looks up in annoyance. “You see the Mills boy today?”
“Why would I be hanging around with kids? I ain’t a babysitter.”
“You’re looking for Henry?” David walks over to them, a tray of takeout cups in his hand. “Is he okay?”
“He’s missing. Have you seen him?”
“He came by the animal shelter about an hour ago. Wanted to know if we’d found any crocodiles.”
A season 1 Neverland AU. Emma is still trying to adjust to her new life as Sheriff of Storybrooke and mom to Henry, who still believes everyone in town is a fairytale creature. When she finds a badly beaten, one handed man while patrolling, she’s convinced he’s crazy. He is, after all, rambling about fairies and shadows and crocodiles. But when Henry is suddenly taken by what Emma swears (but can’t believe) was a shadow, the madman in the hospital might be her only hope of getting her son back. Whether he likes it or not.
“Sheriff Swan.” Regina walks into her office like she owns the place, not bothering to knock. “Where’s my son?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well he’s not at home so I assume he must have snuck off to do something ill-conceived with you as that seems to always be the case.”
“What are you talking about? I haven’t seen Henry since the weekend.” In fact, he’d told her that they needed to hold off on Operation Cobra because his mom was getting suspicious. She knows though that it’s because he’s mad at her. He has been since she had to tell him she had Killian committed. And he’s been avoiding her. “Are you telling me you don’t know where he is?” Emma demands as Regina’s face grows from smug and annoyed to concerned. “It’s after seven!”
“He didn’t come home from school. I just assumed… He’s probably with a friend.” Emma wants to snap at her. Even when Henry is concerned she can’t back down, needs to be right rather than admit she screwed up and needs help.
“He doesn’t have any friends - at least none his own age,” she reminds the woman, even though it’s painful to say. It’s Regina’s fault Henry never befriended any of the kids at school. How could he, with a terrifying mother who kept him under lock and key? “Did you check his castle?”
“No. I came straight here.”
Emma grabs her keys off the desk. “You go check the park. I’ll go to Granny’s and see if he’s been there.” She may hate the woman, but this is Henry. It seems Regina’s willing to put their mutual distaste aside for this as well since she shockingly agrees and follows her out to her own car.
“Call me if you find him,” the Mayor orders and Emma nods, demanding the same courtesy in return.
She reaches Granny’s quickly, both the owner and Ruby hurrying over to her when she walks in and she realises she must look as worried as she feels. “Have you seen Henry? Is he here?”
Granny shakes her head. “No. But he was here earlier pouring over the storybook and a couple others.”
“Which books?” Knowing her kid, wherever he is it probably has something to do with the damn curse.
“I’m not sure. Kids books from the looks of them. Ruby, you served him.”
Ruby shrugs apologetically. “It was busy. But yeah they looked like regular kids books - fairy tales and stuff. One had a picture of a ship in it. I only remember because he covered it when I came up to him.”
“A ship?” Ruby nods. “Maybe he went down to the docks?”
“Hey Leroy!” Granny calls and the gruff, stout man looks up in annoyance. “You see the Mills boy today?”
“Why would I be hanging around with kids? I ain’t a babysitter.”
“You’re looking for Henry?” David walks over to them, a tray of takeout cups in his hand. “Is he okay?”
“He’s missing. Have you seen him?”
“He came by the animal shelter about an hour ago. Wanted to know if we’d found any crocodiles.”
A season 1 Neverland AU. Emma is still trying to adjust to her new life as Sheriff of Storybrooke and mom to Henry, who still believes everyone in town is a fairytale creature. When she finds a badly beaten, one handed man while patrolling, she’s convinced he’s crazy. He is, after all, rambling about fairies and shadows and crocodiles. But when Henry is suddenly taken by what Emma swears (but can’t believe) was a shadow, the madman in the hospital might be her only hope of getting her son back. Whether he likes it or not.
“Sheriff Swan.” Regina walks into her office like she owns the place, not bothering to knock. “Where’s my son?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well he’s not at home so I assume he must have snuck off to do something ill-conceived with you as that seems to always be the case.”
“What are you talking about? I haven’t seen Henry since the weekend.” In fact, he’d told her that they needed to hold off on Operation Cobra because his mom was getting suspicious. She knows though that it’s because he’s mad at her. He has been since she had to tell him she had Killian committed. And he’s been avoiding her. “Are you telling me you don’t know where he is?” Emma demands as Regina’s face grows from smug and annoyed to concerned. “It’s after seven!”
“He didn’t come home from school. I just assumed… He’s probably with a friend.” Emma wants to snap at her. Even when Henry is concerned she can’t back down, needs to be right rather than admit she screwed up and needs help.
“He doesn’t have any friends - at least none his own age,” she reminds the woman, even though it’s painful to say. It’s Regina’s fault Henry never befriended any of the kids at school. How could he, with a terrifying mother who kept him under lock and key? “Did you check his castle?”
“No. I came straight here.”
Emma grabs her keys off the desk. “You go check the park. I’ll go to Granny’s and see if he’s been there.” She may hate the woman, but this is Henry. It seems Regina’s willing to put their mutual distaste aside for this as well since she shockingly agrees and follows her out to her own car.
“Call me if you find him,” the Mayor orders and Emma nods, demanding the same courtesy in return.
She reaches Granny’s quickly, both the owner and Ruby hurrying over to her when she walks in and she realises she must look as worried as she feels. “Have you seen Henry? Is he here?”
Granny shakes her head. “No. But he was here earlier pouring over the storybook and a couple others.”
“Which books?” Knowing her kid, wherever he is it probably has something to do with the damn curse.
“I’m not sure. Kids books from the looks of them. Ruby, you served him.”
Ruby shrugs apologetically. “It was busy. But yeah they looked like regular kids books - fairy tales and stuff. One had a picture of a ship in it. I only remember because he covered it when I came up to him.”
“A ship?” Ruby nods. “Maybe he went down to the docks?”
“Hey Leroy!” Granny calls and the gruff, stout man looks up in annoyance. “You see the Mills boy today?”
“Why would I be hanging around with kids? I ain’t a babysitter.”
“You’re looking for Henry?” David walks over to them, a tray of takeout cups in his hand. “Is he okay?”
“He’s missing. Have you seen him?”
“He came by the animal shelter about an hour ago. Wanted to know if we’d found any crocodiles.”
Crocodiles. “Did he say anything else?”
David frowns. “He wanted to know how long it took for my memories to come back. For the curse to work on me, I think is what he actually said. I don’t really know what he meant.”
Emma sighs, shoulders sagging in relief. “It’s okay. I do.” She knows where he is. “Thanks,” she nods at them all before heading back out to her car and heading down the road to Storybrooke General. She hasn’t been back since that horrible evening, since Killian swore she’d regret it. She almost did a few times, but her guilt got the better of her. Emma knows she did the right thing, but that doesn’t mean she feels any less crap for doing it.
She takes a deep breath, bracing herself for Killian’s anger and Henry’s inevitable tantrum before she goes down into the basement where the psychiatric ward is housed. She texts Regina that she found Henry and she’ll bring him home - if only for another way to stall a little longer.
The nurse at the front desk tells her she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, there haven’t been any visitors, certainly not any kids. Emma nearly rolls her eyes, she knows her kid. He’d have found a way in, so she flashes her badge and continues on past reception. She’d expected to find Henry in or outside Killian’s room. What she hadn’t expected was to find him with a ring of keys in his hand, quickly trying each one while Killian watches through the window in his door, standing guard.
“Henry. What the hell are you doing?”
Her son freezes at the sound of his name, the small wince on his face telling her he knows he’s been caught. “Don’t be mad,” he says quickly.
“Don’t be mad? You’re trying to break a mentally ill patient out of the hospital,” she snaps, doing her best to not shout at him.
“I’m not ill,” Killian glares through the bars.
“Mom, we have to get him out! He’s in danger!”
“Kid,” she sighs, “I know you want to believe him but it’s not real. And if someone is trying to hurt him he’s a lot safer here than running around town.”
“But it is real!” he insists. “And if we don’t get him out of Storybrooke soon the curse will get him! Just like it did David.”
“David just got his memories back,” she tries to reason. “That had nothing to do with a curse.”
Henry shakes his head furiously. “No, it was the curse!”
“I -” Emma starts but he cuts her off.
“What about Graham?” he demands and her breath catches at the mention of his name. She doesn’t miss the way Killian’s head tilts with interest, noting her reaction.
Emma swallows. “What about Graham?” she asks weakly.
“He got his memories back and then he died.” The words are blunt and while she knows he doesn’t intend them to, they cut deep. “Killian can’t stay here so long as he knows the truth. Regina will either make him forget or she’ll kill him.”
“Henry,” she says softly, reaching out to brush a hand over his hair soothingly. How did she miss this? This whole time her son’s thought that his mother murdered someone he cared about. “Regina didn’t kill Graham. He had a heart attack.”
“No he didn’t!” he insists, stepping back from her. “And if we don’t get him out of here she’ll kill him too.” He sounds desperate, on the edge of tears - and resolute. She knows there’s no reasoning with him. Not now.
“Henry, go wait for me at the front desk,” she says firmly, playing the mom card she hates using with him and holding out her hand for the keys.”
“But -”
“Go. This isn’t a curse. This isn’t a game, okay - this is dangerous.” She glances up at Killian whose eyes narrow, hatred seething from his gaze. “Now,” she adds when he doesn’t move right away and Henry hands her the keys, dejected.
“I thought you believed me,” he says sadly before running off through the swinging doors. Emma sighs, heart breaking at having to hurt him. But this isn’t one of the fantasies she can indulge, not when there’s someone who could be put at risk as a result. It’s fine to let him believe Mary Margaret is a fairytale character, that she’s some fabled saviour. But feeding into a sick man’s delusions isn’t helping anyone.
“So what,” she says, looking up at Killian again. “You’re just going to manipulate a kid into helping you break out?”
He raises a brow at her, that anger still not leaving his eyes. “Your boy is the only sane one in this town.”
“He’s ten. He believes in fairytales.”
“The fairytales are true, love,” he bites. “You best start listening to the lad or there’ll be darkness coming for all of you.”
A chill runs down her spine. She knows it’s not real. It’s not. But listening to him, he believes every word of what he says and a small, terrified little voice in the back of her mind asks her what if he’s telling the truth. She shakes her head. Just because you believe something doesn’t make it true, she reminds herself.
“Stay away from my kid,” she warns.
“He sought me out. I can’t exactly go looking for him from this brig can I?”
“You’re not a prisoner,” she tries to reason.
Killian reaches a hand up to wrap around the bar on his window, eyeing her carefully, his smile is shrewd and laced with loathing. “I believed you the first time, Swan. Fool me once, shame on you.”
She doesn’t let herself take the bait. He can hate her. Emma can live with that. He just needs time to get better. He needs treatment and help, and if he still hates her after, well, she’ll have done everything she can - the right thing.
“Goodbye, Killian.” He doesn’t answer, only glares and she hates how much it bothers her to have him look at her like that when only a few days ago they’d agreed to trust one another. She’s doing the right thing, she reminds herself, even as her conviction falters every time she has to repeat it.
“Sheriff,” He calls, when she’s nearly at the doors, the title mocking, an insult on his tongue. She turns back. “Keep your boy close. There are things in this world you don’t understand.”
She hates the dread that settles in her stomach at his warning, the way it turns her blood cold and her skin hot. She’s not going to listen to a man who tried to get her son to break him out of a mental institution. But she can only just make out his face and she knows from the way he still seethes that the warning isn’t for her - it’s for Henry. And the worst part is, she believes him.
*****
“We have to help him, Mom,” Henry begs as they make their way down the dimly lit streets back towards the Mayor’s house. The street lights are flickering, every few minutes one going out entirely until they’ve gone past it and it stutters back to life. It’s eerie and if this wasn’t Storybrooke she’d be walking a hell of a lot faster, dragging her kid along behind her to safety.
They should have driven. But he’d been so worked up when Emma had found him in reception that she’d left her car at the hospital, opting to let him walk off some of the pent up energy before he got home and it exploded with Regina nearby. She couldn’t risk him bringing up anything about Operation Cobra around him, not when it would only give Regina more ammo to keep him away from her.
“We are helping him. The doctors are going to do everything they can.”
“But he’s not crazy! He needs to get out of Storybrooke.”
“What he needs is medication, and probably therapy. Henry, he believes some dark sorcerer is trying to kill him, okay? He thinks all the fairies and mermaids and magic stuff is real. He’s not well.”
His eyes go wide with hurt and anger. “I believe in all that magic stuff. Do you think I’m crazy? Are you going to lock me up in the psych ward too?”
“It’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re ten, he’s a grownup.”
“You’re a grownup,” he insists. “You said you believed me; you said you believed in the curse.” Henry looks at her with hope that quickly shifts into realisation, and then anger. “You lied! You think I’m crazy - just like Regina.”
“I don’t think you’re crazy. But Killian isn’t well.” She doesn’t know how to make him understand, not without crushing him and destroying their relationship. “Besides,” she says, remembering suddenly. “You told me he’s not in the book. How can he be from the Enchanted Forest if he wasn’t cursed?”
“Because he came after,” Henry explains.
“After? How? From where?”
He grins, clearly taking her questions to mean she believes him now and she can tell he’s proud to have figured something out. “Neverland.”
Emma frowns. “Neverland?”
“Think about it,” he pushes. “He’s afraid of kids and said a crocodile is after him, he had a sword - he only has one hand…” Henry raises his eyebrows at her and Emma squeezes her eyes shut in exasperation.
“You think he’s Captain Hook?”
“He is! You even said he was talking about mermaids and fairies. And that story about the Lovell house - three kids disappearing out the window… sound familiar?”
She has to admit that it does all fit together. Except that probably just means the guy saw the movie or read the book and based his delusions on that. The street lights flicker once again and Emma’s breath catches as Henry smirks.
“Do you believe me now?”
“I believe that he believes he’s Captain Hook, if that’s what he told you. But Peter Pan is a book, kid, not a fairytale. It was written by a guy who actually existed like a hundred years ago. It’s not the same as something like Snow White or Cinderella.”
“It’s still a story,” he argues. They’re rounding the corner of the pawn shop now, the sky seeming too dark for the time of night, the street lights dimming the longer they walk. They should have taken the car.
“Not every story is real. If so, how come we’ve never seen Godzilla running around?” she jokes, trying to lighten the mood and ignore the chill running through her as the wind picks up suddenly.
“You’re making fun of me.”
“I’m not making fun of you. I just think you’re wrong about this one. You need to trust me, okay. We need to let the doctors handle Killian from here.”
“He is Captain Hook.” He’s resolved now, clutching his bag with the book to his chest as he sets his jaw in a way that’s unplaceable but familiar. He looks up suddenly, face hardening in determination. “And I can prove it.”
Before she can ask what he’s doing, he’s run off across the street, narrowly avoiding a lone car making its way down Main street. She has to stop as the car honks, stopping her from following him wherever he’s going. She stares off after the car, debating flipping whoever it is off, but then she catches sight of Henry’s retreating form and she realises where he’s headed.
The Lovell house.
Fuck.
“Henry!” she calls, running after him, but he ignores her, pushing open the front window and worming his way through the opening before she reaches the property. “Son of a bitch,” she mutters to herself. That place is a death trap. “Henry, come on,” she tries, through the window as she attempts to squeeze inside. It’s a tight fit and she only just makes it, even if it takes her twice as long as it did him.
By the time she’s inside, the place almost pitch black apart from the sparse traces of moonlight breaking through the windows and the cracks in the walls, he’s already across the entranceway, past the painting of the old Victorian family on the mantle. Three children, she notes. Not four like in the story. Henry hovers at the bottom of the staircase and she calls his name again.
“Don’t go up there,” she orders. “It’s too dangerous.” He only hesitates for a moment, looking up at the rickety steps, at the one she broke through a few days ago. Then he faces her, resolute.
“I need you to believe me,” he says before running at full speed up the stairs.
“Henry!” she yells as she hears the steps creak under his weight, one breaks off halfway up behind him and lands at her feet as she reaches the bottom. “Henry, come on! I believe you, okay?” she shouts up.
“No you don’t!” he shouts back as he reaches the top of the staircase and her heart can’t decide if it wants to stop racing because he’s safe or pound harder because she doesn’t know how she’ll get him back down.
God damn it, she wants to scream as she realises what she has to do. Setting one foot on the first step close to the edge where she hopes it’s sturdier, and grabbing on to the railing for dear life, she begins her slow ascent to the second floor. Every few steps, the wood groans under her weight or there’s a terrifying crack, but nothing breaks thankfully, including her neck.
Henry’s gone by the time she reaches the top and she shouts his name, her voice echoing eerily through the empty floor like it’s mocking her, answering from every room all at once. She hears footsteps echoing too, unable to tell where they’re coming from, but a kid’s for sure. She calls Henry’s name again and he still doesn’t answer. She knows where he’s going though, trying to picture the outside of the house, that window he spoke about in his story, and goes left.
There’s another small stairwell at the end of the hall, this one less dilapidated than the main staircase, curving and narrow and she hears the footsteps coming from the top. He is so grounded when she finds him. He’s gonna wish she let Regina handle it, she tells herself. Henry’s speaking, something she can’t make out and she frowns.
“I can’t hear you kid, but whatever you’re saying better be an apology,” she says before there’s a small shout and her heart drops. Emma sprints up the last few steps, hoping he hasn’t fallen right through the floor or cut himself on an exposed nail or broken piece of furniture. But the room is eerily silent, empty. “Henry?” she tries. Nothing.
She scrambles for her phone, turning on the flashlight and shining it into every corner. It’s a nursery, the old-fashioned kind where the kids would live until they were old enough for the parents to want them around. Three beds rest against the wall to her right, moth-eaten sheets and dust-covered cobwebs draped across them. The rest of the room is littered in old toys: a dollhouse that’s almost an exact replica of the one it’s in, swords and stuffed animals and costumes. There’s a dresser with a drawer left open, a pincushion forgotten atop it.
A cold sweat breaks out on the back of her neck. She understands why everyone thinks this place is haunted. With every corner she flashes her light into she expects to find a child, equally as dust covered and desiccated as the rest of the room watching her. Frozen in time, forgotten. But there are no children here, most importantly, not her own.
She’s about to leave the room, go looking for him somewhere else when she notices the bench across the room. Light pours onto it from the open window it’s built under, and onto the one thing in this whole house that doesn’t look a century old: Henry’s bag.
Emma runs to it, to the window that’s thrown wide open, thoughts so flooded with panic that she can’t hear a single one and she grabs it, leaning out over the edge to the street below, expecting to see the worse. But there’s nothing, no body like she feared and she wants to cry in relief, a small sob leaving her as the worst fear she’s ever felt in her life subsides.
“Henry!” she calls again, and still she’s met with no answer. She takes the bag, checking the room again, checking every other room in the house, making her way down the terrifying stairs. Nothing. There’s no sign of him. She knows her son. She may not have known him long but she knows him. He’s reckless, and stubborn, but he’s not stupid. He wouldn’t disappear on her without any explanation. Regina, maybe, but not her.
She takes out her phone, dials Regina’s number. “Is Henry with you?” she demands before his other mother can get a word in.
“No. I thought you said you found him.”
“He’s gone,” is all she can manage to say. “Henry’s gone.”
*****
The entire town gathers at the Lovell house, every inch of it scoured by everyone she’s met and some she hasn’t. An Amber Alert is dispatched. The streets are combed, classmates are called and woken up. A search party is formed and heads off into the woods. They look until the sun comes up, Henry’s name echoing through the streets of Storybrooke like a taunt, reminding her with every unanswered call that she lost him, this is her fault.
“We’ll find him,” Mary Margaret reassures her, handing her a cup of cocoa as Emma sits on the curb outside the Lovell house, clutching her son’s storybook in her lap. “He’ll come back.” Emma shakes her head, already fearing the worst. She doesn’t even know which worse scares her more, that he ran away, that he was taken, that he had an accident… “Remember he took off to find you a few months ago? He came back then.”
“Yeah but this isn’t him taking a bus to Boston,” she answers, somehow sounding both broken and harsh. “He’s trying to find Neverland, Mary Margaret.”
“Neverland?” Regina demands, appearing next to them. “Where the hell did he get that idea?” She looks at the book in her hands. “Is this your doing?” she glares. “You and that book again?”
“Regina,” Mary Margaret tries to interject. “This isn’t anybody’s fault.”
“Don’t defend her!” Regina snaps. “And don’t try and placate me; my son is missing!”
“Our son is missing,” Emma corrects her. “I want to find him too.”
The other woman glares. “How do I know you didn’t take him? That this isn’t all some ploy to run off with him?”
Emma feels like she’s been slapped and anger rises within her. “Because I wouldn’t keep him from the people he cares about,” she snaps back. If Regina wants a fight, she’ll get it.
“Stop it,” Mary Margaret jumps in, more boldly than she’s ever heard her speak. “Both of you lost him, both of you want Henry back. Stop fighting each other and work together. You’re the Sheriff and the Mayor for goodness sake. You have a better chance of finding him if you’d just put everything else aside for a minute!”
Both of them stare at her for a moment. She’s right. Emma knows she is. And as much as she hates it, Regina is better to have as an ally than an enemy right now. She turns to Henry’s other mother. “He went into that house because he was trying to prove that Neverland was real. He got it into his head that it was like the curse.” She makes a point to leave out the bit about Killian, not wanting to risk Regina going after him. “He thinks the ghost story everyone tells about this house is about the Darling children. You know, the ones from -”
“Yes, I’ve seen the movie,” she cuts her off harshly, brow pinched tight, lip curling in a snarl. “Neverland. Of all the… Keep everyone searching,” she orders, marching off.
“Where are you going?” Emma asks in disbelief. Apparently only she had decided to lay down her arms.
“To find my son!”
*****
Another hour passes, and still there’s no sign of Henry anywhere. “Can you have everyone sweep the town again now that it’s light out? And the woods?” she asks her friend. “I’m going to check the house. Maybe there’s a closet or something that was missed.”
She nods, “Be careful,” and heads over to speak to the teams that have assembled themselves. Emma’s about to head back into the Lovell house when she notices Regina. She looks carefully behind her, hands shoved deep into the pockets of her coat before she slips into Gold’s pawnshop. What the hell? she thinks, not giving much thought to her decision before she hurries down the street after her.
The shop is still dark, the open sign unlit and Emma peers through the window as discreetly as she can, doing her best to hide herself among the displays. Gold is there a small vial of something on the counter in front of him and wearing that unflappable, infuriatingly polite grin as the Mayor snaps at him. At least she’s pretty sure she’s snapping at him. Her face is twisted in that same way it always is when she talks to Emma and while she can’t hear what’s being said, she can hear the muffled sounds of her raised voice.
Regina’s hand comes down hard on the counter, making Emma jump. But Gold doesn’t flinch, his expression calm and collected if not a little annoyed as he answers her with dismissively raised brows. He must be the only person in this town besides herself who isn’t afraid of Regina. Her voice is louder now, just enough for Emma to catch ‘owe me’ and ‘my son’ and ‘get there’, before she storms out.
“What was that about?” Emma demands as the door is flung open. Regina startles, then glares when she sees her.
“That was none of your business, Miss Swan.”
“Like hell it’s not! I heard you talking about Henry. If you know where he is or how to get him back you have to tell me,” she insists, wondering if her authority in this town would have any influence over this woman.
“I don’t have to tell you anything. Henry is my son. I’ll get him back safely. You need to stay out of my way, this is all your doing after all,” she accuses.
“My doing?”
“Bringing him around that man. Did you even think about how dangerous that could be, how susceptible that boy is?” She’s angry now, angry enough that she looks panicked for a moment, like she’s said too much when Emma asks about the man. “Go back to your search party, Sheriff,” she dismisses, turning to walk off. Emma grabs her arm and Regina reels on her. “Get your hand off me!”
“How are you going to find him?”
Regina gives her a determined look, jaw setting harshly. “I’ll find a way,” she swears before ripping her arm from her grip.
Emma baulks at her as she takes off down the street. She knows something. She knows where Henry is, or she has an idea - and it’s not in Storybrooke. But whether or not she knows where he is, she doesn’t know how to find him, how to bring him home.
All your doing, bringing him around that man, Regina had said. Which man? Killian? But he’s locked in a cell in the basement of the hospital. She’d just left him there before Henry disappeared. He couldn’t have done it - he wouldn’t have done it. Only… she remembers the warning he gave her son a few days ago, stay away from that house, all the glimpses he shared of whatever he’d gone through, what other children had gone through.
He may have imagined everything, but maybe there was a grain of truth in it, some trauma that he fantasised to protect himself. No, Killian can’t have been the one to take him, but he might know who did. And she locked him up.
She runs back to the hospital, her car still in the parking lot where she left it last night, dashing past Dr. Whale who tries to stop her, past the receptionist in the basement who barely gets a chance to check her badge before Emma grabs the keys off the rings and continues down the hall. She reaches his room, banging on the door with her fist, and then again when there’s no answer.
“Killian!” she practically shouts, hearing sleepy groans of disapproval from the rooms around her.
“I can hear you, Sheriff, no need to shout,” he answers with an annoyed sigh. She looks through the barred window, craning her neck until she can see him sitting up on his bed, elbow resting on his raised knee like he couldn’t care less. They’ve changed him into a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt, but even still, dressed down and locked up, he looks ready for a fight. He only glances at her, barely giving her the time of day before he asks, “Rough night?”
“The place you talked about, with the boys and the fae berries, the one you escaped. Is it real?” He cocks his head at her, frowning.
“I believe you declared it wasn’t, did you not.”
“Killian. Is it a real place? Neverland,” she clarifies, hating how ridiculous it sounds. But if there are real people who took Henry to a real place somewhere near Storybrooke, she’ll feed into his fantasy and call it whatever he wants
He raises a brow, a small, knowing smile curling his lips as realisation dawns on him. “Ah, I see you’ve been speaking to your boy.”
“Is it real?”
“I fear to answer your question would only have me sent to some other, even more disagreeable brig. Seems to be a bit of a pattern -”
“Killian.” She knows she sounds desperate and he must hear it in her voice because he smirks, his face shifting as he realises he has the upper hand, confidence dripping from his words as he answers.
“Aye, it’s real.”
“Can you take me there?”
“I could,” he concedes, nodding before standing and walking over to the window, fingers wrapping around the bars. “But I won’t.”
“I need you to,” she starts but he shakes his head.
“No. I’ll never go back there,” he swears. “Not for all the world. I earned my freedom and I won’t be dragged back.”
“Please, Killian, I need your help.”
He glares. “And why should I help you? You’re the reason I’m here. I trusted you. No, I won’t make that mistake twice.”
“I saved your life,” she reminds him.
He laughs, a sharp, angry sound. “Aye, you did, though I don’t feel quite so inclined to return the favour at the moment.”
“Then just tell me how to get there,” she snaps. “If you won’t help me.”
Killian scoffs. “You couldn’t find your way even if he wanted you. Neverland is about belief, love,” he tells her, words cold and chosen to cut. “And you, you don’t believe in anything - not me, not in magic, not yourself. no, something or someone took that from you long ago didn’t they?” he asks, eyes casting over her from head to toe and smirking when she doesn’t answer, realising he’s right.
“You don’t even believe in your boy,” he taunts and the words twist in her like a hand closed over her heart. Killian grins, satisfied with his work and turns his back on her, clearly expecting her to leave, deciding she’s not worth any more of his time.
“They have Henry,” she tells him, grabbing the bars, and fighting the tears in her eyes as she makes one last, desperate attempt to get him to help her. He freezes. “Whoever they are, they took him.”
“What do you mean?” he demands, whirling on her, his own fingers closing around the bar below her, face close enough that she can feel his breath on her cheek even as he glares at her. “How? This better not be a trick -” he starts.
“It’s not a trick. He ran into the Lovell house to prove a point. I couldn’t get to him in time and then he was just… gone.” His gaze darts to the floor, calculating, deciding. “What do you know about that house?” she pushes.
“Nothing,” he tells her before his eyes lift to hers once more. “But I’ve known others like it.” She takes a chance, hoping that if nothing else, he’ll help her for Henry’s sake, and lifts the keys, unlocking the door and letting it swing open. He studies her. He could run if he wanted. She couldn’t stop him and he knows it.
“Please,” is all she says, trying to read the war raging behind the deep, conflicted blue staring back at her. His jaw ticks, fist clenching at his side and steps out.
“Come on. If he’s taken the boy… we don’t have much time.”
******
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