snowbellewells · 1 year ago
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CS Fic Rec Monday: "Burn the Ships" by: @booksteaandtoomuchtv
This short MC is a work in progress and just heating up, but I am already completely "hooked" ;p It was written as a gift for @kmomof4, but I actually think it's a bit of a gift for all of us. @booksteaandtoomuchtv makes brilliant use of Pan, one of OuaT's best villains, his horrifying henchman Felix, and she also blends in werewolves, one of my favorite things to mix with CS and OuaT stories!!! My heart was already in my throat for Emma in the story, and I'm already so excited for this version of Killian to find her. I simply cannot wait for the next chapter, and if you haven't started it yet, you really should see for yourself!!
I also tried to make it some cover art, I hope you will like it @booksteaandtoomuchtv!!
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"Burn the Ships" by: @booksteaandtoomuchtv
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his-lost-one · 5 months ago
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my favourite hypothetical ouat au will always be one where pan/neverland also got cursed in season one bc the potential is just so juicy tbh, especially if the focus is on the cursed versions a lot
like first of all the lost boys as just some teenagers who cause trouble in storybrooke? that sounds so fun. i need to see the shenanigans pan would make felix cause !!! the pranks devin would play on their teachers !!! just in general all the bullshit they’d do xD
because i feel like most of that would just be harmless pranks, but sometimes the facade of what they were like on neverland would shine through when they’d take some pranks too far and there wouldn’t be any remorse - i mean, it’s pan, so duh - but you know?? that could be turned into something edgy so easily !!!
and maybe wendy would be in the same class as them and she’d like try to stay out of the guys’ way maybe out of self preservation or fear or just instinct from memories she doesn’t remember.
and maybe at the end of it all, they’d just be classmates during the curse. or maybe they would sense that something’s off, there’s more to all of this - just like when graham started remembering bits and pieces before he died. maybe pan would’ve expected all this and somehow implemented a way to get his memories back like rumple.
i mean imagine that- some random high school delinquent suddenly remembers that he’s a magical supervillain infamous across realms. the CHAOS potential. (and henry would be in so much danger lmao)
or maybe pan didn’t anticipate anything and so rumple has to live at least a few weeks or months just knowing that this random trouble making high school student is… well. you know. his dad lmao.
like that would throw off the whole dynamic in s1 so much. especially because i can imagine rumple almost assuming that pan knows (regardless if he actually does).
and then there’s tinkerbell. who would she be in storybrooke? what would her name be? maybe she’d be a former nun (*cough cough*) who then got a job at the school? or maybe she’d have a house somewhere in the woods, a bit away from the main part of town. maybe a bit like zelena’s farm house. i could imagine tink being an author and a loner. who would try to stay away from most people in town, but especially the nuns and mother superior.
maybe someone would ask her at some point why she’s not a nun anymore and like with others when asked about their curse past, she’d be surprised that she’s struggling to remember- it’s all fuzzy. she’s not sure. all she knows is… there was something with the mayor and then she was thrown out of the covenant. she barely even questions why she doesn’t remember.
and actually i want to get back to the lost boys + wendy. bc like to have them be students at storybrooke’s local high school as their cursed selves is one thing, but that’s not enough. where would they actually live? i was thinking, maybe in this au the nuns run a local orphanage and they all live there. obviously pan wouldn’t be happy there, so he’d cause even more trouble i think, but i think wendy would be even more miserable there. she probably doesn’t know why, but for some reason, she’s just always on edge and somewhat scared around pan and his “friends” (are they even friends??? who’s to say?). ofc it’d be because of their past on neverland but none of them would know that and idk. i just think it’d be a fun dynamic.
anyway- i feel like felix, devin and wendy would keep their own names in storybrooke, but idk what tink and pan would be called.
well. hm. maybe tink would get something something like Kelly Bell? kelly because green (which is what the blue fairy called her) and bell bc. yk. tinkerBELL. not exactly the most creative name, but it’s a start ig. idk- shdjjdkdjf
pan might get his name malcolm back and maybe he’d just be malcolm pan- even if that’s kinda a weird last name. or maybe pan and rumple’s cursed selves would be related just like their original selves, just in a different way ofc- so maybe he’d be malcolm gold? but then what would the relation actually be?
i think it’d be funny if it was just the other way around - like malcolm is mr gold’s “son” lmfao. rumple would be SO upset about that when he gets his memories back and it would honestly make the family tree even messier. or maybe it’d be left vague like malcolm is just some distant relative but beyond the name they have nothing in common? that would have potential too but it feels like a more distant idea so idk shdkbskfhf
and one more thing. rufio and hook would ofc not be there in storybrooke, since we all know that hook was with cora and rufio is presumed dead, but maybe they would be present in some cursed memories? like the lost boys have memories of a guy who used to be a classmate of theirs or even a friend called rufio who eventually died because of a one handed drunk driver lol. obviously when they’d get asked about the details no one would quite know, just like always with the curse. but snippets like that could be there. maybe pan would remember some sailor he talked to vaguely and maybe he’d even recognise hook, but he also couldn’t recall any details. also the sailor part would fit bc storybrooke does actually have docks and the like. idk i think the curse giving them such funky and fuzzy memories has potential too. especially if the timeline got changed even more so that maybe hook and cora end up in storybrooke before the curse is even broken. wouldn’t that be fun?
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donteattheappleshook · 3 months ago
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Not Broken At All Chapter 17/?
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Summary:
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 out the window of a house everyone believes is haunted, the madman in the hospital might be her only hope of getting her son back. Whether he likes it or not.
Rated E
Catch up on Ao3 (where my italics work) or on Tumblr 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Thank you thank you thank you @the-darkdragonfly for helping me so much with this chapter I literally wrote at your kitchen table lol.
This one is a bit shorter because I had to move the last scene to the next chapter or it would have been like 10k long…. but hopefully that means chapter 18 is coming soon!
(at least you didn't have to wait a year for chapter 17?)
*******
Part 17
Emma follows Killian’s eyes as they dart towards the ceiling, the deck above their heads. It’s dark out, but not the dark of night, the dark of an oncoming storm, that ominous, looming chill of electricity in the air, the waves lapping against the sides of the ship that rocks unsteadily against the threatening sea. A shiver runs down her spine. Whether Pan’s here or not - he’s fucking furious. 
There’s a knock on the door, Wendy not waiting for permission before pushing it open. “Is he here?” Killian asks, voice low. 
She shakes her head, holding a small, empty vial. “Not yet. But Ianeira sent a warning - he’s on his way and he’s not happy.” She looks out at the first heavy drops that land against the window like bullets. “Obviously.” 
“Get the boys below deck,” he orders, still not raising his voice above the rumble of the storm outside. “Scarlet,” he adds, the younger pirate leaning against the doorframe, “go wake the crew. Tell them to be ready for a fight.” 
“What are you going to do?” Wendy frowns like she already knows the answer. 
“Handle Pan.” 
“Absolutely not.” Emma answers at the same time as Wendy’s “like hell” rings through the air. “This was my idea. I’ll go deal with the consequences,” she insists, but her words are ignored as the two captains continue to argue. Will shoots her a sympathetic shrug from his place in the doorway. 
“We don’t have time to argue,” Killian finally snaps at his second, standing and grabbing Emma’s pants from where she hung them last night before tossing them to her. “Pan and his Lost Boys will be here any minute and we need to make sure the boys are hidden and the crew is ready to defend the Jolly.” 
“Is that an order, Captain?” Wendy asks, arms crossing over her chest and Killian stiffens. Emma didn’t miss the weight put behind the question.
“Cap-” he starts but she cuts him off.
“No. No more of this ‘I’m not the captain’ or two captains bullshit. If you’re going to pull rank and make me follow orders then you don’t get to decide you don’t want to be in charge anymore tomorrow. If this crew is going to put our lives on the line for your plan, and trust you to handle Pan, then you’re going to be the one to make the order. And if you die today -” Her harsh facade breaks just a fraction - “It won’t be because of something I could have stopped.” 
The room is silent as the two stare each other down, the rush and howls of the storm growing louder outside, growing closer as they remain locked in the standoff, Wendy’s ultimatum hanging between them. “Well?” she demands. 
He’s silent for another moment, but then he lets out a sigh. “Bring the boys below deck, make sure they don’t make a sound or Pan will remember that they’re here.” Another hesitation as neither she or Will move and his thumb runs over the ring on his finger. “That’s an order.” 
Wendy’s shoulders both straighten and sag at once as she shifts into her new role, her face blank, betraying nothing, but Emma knows. She can see the hurt and the fear, of his betrayal and of the danger he’s putting himself in as she nods. “Aye, Captain.” 
Killian flinches away from the title just the barest amount before she heads out of the room. 
“What are you gonna tell him?” Will glares at his usurping captain. 
Killian sighs. “I haven’t figured that part out yet.” He reaches for his shirt, pulling it on over his head and turning to find the man still there. “Go wake the crew,” he orders again and Will stares at him for a long moment before doing as he’s told. 
Emma watches him as he dresses, yanking her own pants on and rising from the bed, the buttons of his vest fastened methodically, one by one with practiced fingers before he dons his greatcoat. She realizes what she’s watching as he slides his sword into its sheath, secures it to his hip: a soldier dressing for battle, each piece of his armour clad carefully down to the expression he smooths over his face, the one that hides the man who’d let her in his bed and held her against the threat of the night behind a cold, heartless facade.
“Killian,” she starts, ready to fight him on this. Rescuing the boys was her decision. She’d made them do it. This should be her responsibility. Nobody else's lives should be on the line for her choices. A boom of thunder cuts her off before a flash of lightning brightens the room.
“He’s here,” Wendy tells them, stepping back into the room. Killian doesn’t confirm if his orders have been followed - he doesn’t need to. 
“Let me go,” Emma insists. “I can tell him it was my idea. I can -” 
“No.” They answer in unison and before she can protest a boom of thunder echoes above them and an angry, lilting voice calls out above them. 
“Thieves! Show yourselves!” The demand is followed by a roar of approval, small, young voices calling out in a battle cry she’s heard before. The room goes silent, tension in every line of her body and Killian’s. Wendy looks to her captain, waiting for orders, hands fisted like she’s trying not to barge up there herself. 
Emma sees the barest flash of fear in his gaze before he schools it and turns to her, leveling her with a hard, commanding look. 
“Go to the hold with the children. Promise me you’ll stay down there - that you won’t make a sound.” Emma glares at him, his face only inches away as he speaks so quietly she can barely hear him. He glares back just as defiantly. “Promise me, Swan.” She doesn’t answer. She’s not promising that. Not when it’s her fault Pan’s here and he could hurt them. “They need you. They trust you and they need to stay hidden. If Pan’s reminded they’re here… he might demand their lives in place of the dead we took.” 
Her glare deepens. “I know what you’re doing.” 
The corner of his mouth turns up just a fraction before he straightens it. “Then you should have no problem following through with it.” When her shoulders straighten his hand comes to her cheek. “We can’t risk Pan finding out about you - not while we don’t have a way of defeating him or saving Henry. You can’t protect anyone if you’re dead,” he adds, using her words against her now and her eyes narrow. “You can’t protect Henry if you’re dead.” That one hits hard and Emma knows he’s right - but she still doesn’t like it. She doesn’t want him dead either. 
Pan’s warning rings out again, harsher this time - ‘Come out and face me, coward!’ - and Killian’s shoulders tense. “Fine,” she concedes. “But if things go bad -”
“You’ll stay right here.” It’s a warning, and she almost wants to call him on it, to see what he really thinks he can do to her that’s worse than the situation they’re already in, but she bites her tongue. He takes her silence as the end of the discussion. “Darling,” he calls over his shoulder. “Bring her to the hold and then join me on deck - Darling,” he tries again when she doesn’t respond, but Wendy’s attention is focused outside the cabin, staring out down the hall, a frown starting to pull at her brow and Killian’s matches it. “Wendy?”
“Where’s Will?” 
“What?” 
“Will.” Her voice is low, far away but rising with tightly restrained panic. “He should be back by now. Where’s the crew?” 
As if on cue, a voice rings out loudly above them. “Pan! Two visits in as many days? To what do we owe the honour?” They rush to the stairs, crouched low looking out at where Will stands, alone, facing off against Pan. Fuck. Please don’t be an idiot. She can feel Wendy tense beside her and Killian reaches, grabbing his first mate’s arm. 
“Don’t,” he warns and Emma’s surprised to see her try to yank her arm free. But he holds firm. 
“Scarlet.” Pan sounds annoyed but intrigued nevertheless. “It’s been a long time.” He cocks his head, a small smirk on his childlike face. “You got old.”  
 “Go get the crew,” Killian orders, staring her down and not releasing her until the fight fades slightly from her eyes. He knows how much this must be killing her. “If there’s going to be a fight, we won’t be able to stop him alone. Bring them with you and meet me on deck.” 
Will baulks. “How dare you! I’ll have you know I’ve the complexion of a man less than half my age.” He brushes a hand over his scruffless cheek as if to prove it.
There’s still resistance in Wendy’s stance but she nods, dashing off towards the crew’s quarters. Killian turns to her. “Stay here. Don’t let the children leave the hull.” She can only nod, still watching as her new friend continues to bait Pan. “Bloody idiot,” Killian mutters under his breath.
Emma grabs his arm, halting him. She waits until his questioning gaze turns to her. “Be careful. Please.”
He watches her for a moment, eyes darting up to the deck, and then takes her hand, presses a kiss to the back of it and nods the voices above growing louder. He spares her one last glance before dashing up the stairs.
“Hook,” Pan says as soon as he reaches the bow of the ship. “There you are. I don’t like to be kept waiting.” 
“Apologies,” Killian offers with a small bow and a polite smile. “To what do we owe the pleasure?” 
“Where are my shadows?” 
“Your shadows? We don’t have any shadows here.” 
“Don’t lie,” Pan snaps and Emma flinches. “You stole eleven lost boys from me. Those were my lives - I won them fair and square. Give them back.” Emma half expects him to stomp his foot, but it’s then that she realizes that he can’t - because he’s not on the deck. He’s flying, or hovering a few feet above it. Wendy had said that Neverland’s magic couldn’t touch the Jolly - does that mean Pan can’t either? Can he not set foot onboard?
“They’re at the bottom of the sea, I’m afraid,” Killian tells him with a wince and she can see the rage building in the small boy.  
“Then I’ll take them from your crew. Eleven of them in exchange for the ones that you took.” Emma casts a glance back down the hall towards the hold where a dozen children hide. 
“No need for that,” Killian begins. “They aren’t to blame for this little misunderstanding. I’m sure we can find a solution where you get what you want that’s fair.” Pan hesitates at the word fair. He loves his games - he loves his rules. 
“Then who is to blame?” he demands. “Bring the thief forward so that he can be punished.”
“Unfortunately we-”
“I did it.” 
“Scarlet,” Wendy hisses in warning, but he’s already taking another step towards Pan. 
“It was my idea.” 
Pan glares. “Why?” 
There’s a pause and then Will smirks. “I just wanted to piss you off. For old time’s sake.” 
The boy’s anger shifts into something cruel and amused. “Well then, you can pay the price for old times sake. You remember how much fun my punishments can be,” he adds. She sees Will’s back go stiff right before Pan’s hand plunges deep into his chest and Emma has to cover her mouth with her hands to catch the scream that tries to escape. The crew stills, petrified. This isn’t the first time they’ve seen this happen.
“Wait!” Wendy shouts as Will lets out a groan of pain. Killian grabs her arm, silencing her and holding her in place. Pan ignores her, pulling his hand free, something bright and red and glowing held in his palm. That can’t be what she thinks it is. 
“Eleven lives,” he muses again, floating easily across the deck, thinking. He gives the thing a small squeeze and Will cries out falling to his knees. Pan smirks, he’s enjoying this, she can tell; he already knows what he wants to do and Emma’s nails dig into her palms, every bone in her body demanding she go up there and not let this happen. It should be her that pays the price. Not Will. 
His fingers tighten around it again and Will stops breathing, hand clutched to his chest where his heart should be until finally, Pan loosens his grip, looking at Will with his head cocked again. “You really did get old, Scarlet. But maybe not old enough…” He looks him over carefully, then the mass in his hand. “Eleven Lost Boy’s lives… so many years - But I think we can make it an even hundred. For old times sake?” he smirks. “That sounds fair,” he decides. “You can pay me back a hundred years.” 
When he squeezes the heart again, Will collapses onto the deck, bits of dust slipping from Pan’s fingers as the light flickers in and out and Emma can see Killian physically holding Wendy back now, knuckles white around the leather of her coat. Nobody breathes. The crew look like it’s taking everything they have not to run - either to Will or away from Pan. Instead they stand frozen. 
She counts the seconds as they go by. One. Two. Three. Four. Five… Will rasps out a strangled cry, fists balling against the wood planks of the deck. Six. Seven. Eight… She watches him grit his teeth, sweat beading along the back of his neck, fighting. Nine. Ten. Eleven…
When she reaches eleven, Will takes his first breath in what feels like hours, the light in Pan’s loosened grip smaller and dimmer but still glowing, still beating. 
“That should do it,” he smiles, returning Will’s heart to his chest.
Will gasps, settling his hand over it as if to feel the beat under it - make sure it’s really there. Then he frowns up at the boy. “Is… is that it?” 
“Scarlet.” It’s Killian who snaps this time. “Below deck. Now.” Emma can’t see the look Wendy gives him when Will defers to her, but it sends him to his feet and across the deck in a second, head bent low. 
“Emma,” he greets with all his usual bravado despite the raspiness of his breath when he finds her on the stairs. “Fancy seeing you here.” 
She punches him in the arm. Hard.  “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Ow!” 
“That was so stupid! What the hell were you thinking?” 
Will shrugs. “I owed him one. And I’m not going to let Killian get one up on the galant gestures.” 
“Hook.” Pan says, drawing her attention away before she can hit Will again. “If your crew isn’t going to play fair then they won’t get to play with us anymore”
“I’ll get them in line,” he promises and she can hear the edge in his voice. 
“Good. Do you need a reminder of the rules? You were away for a long time…”
“I remember.” 
Pan nods, happy now - a child getting his way. “Good. Then the game can continue.” He turns, hovering over the railing of the ship and casting them one last glance as the threat of a storm begins to clear. “But no more chances,” he warns. Both Killian and Wendy nod solemnly before he flies off towards the beach. 
As soon as he’s gone, Wendy practically runs towards the cabin. “All of you,” Killian commands, drawing the crew’s attention away from their former captain. “Back to work. Now,” he snaps when they don’t obey immediately. They scatter, finding work to keep them busy. 
Emma has to jump out of the way as the other woman barrels down the stairs, grabbing Will by the shoulders. She turns him one way and then another, hands coming to his face as she does the same to his head, checking for injuries. Finally, her hand settles on his chest and Emma can tell she’s counting heartbeats. Will lets her, not resisting as she checks him for any sign of permanent damage. 
When she seems satisfied, she raises furious eyes to his, the hand at his chest fisting in his shirt and shoving him away from her. “Fuck you, Scarlet,” she bites out before storming off down the hall. 
Killian takes over, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. Will is less willing to let himself be manhandled by him though, shoving at his arm even as he holds firm. “Do you not know how to follow an order, mate?” 
“I’m not your mate,” he snaps back, more annoyed than angry. “And you’re not my Captain.” 
“And here I thought we were getting along,” Killian answers sarcastically. “And you don’t have to like it, but I am your Captain and if you do that to her again -”
“Like you did when you took off to find Henry?” 
“That was different. I did it to spare her the pain of losing someone she cares for.” 
“So did I. Do you really think Pan would have been so forgiving if you’d taken the blame? You’ve been gone a long time, Hook. You’re not his favourite playmate anymore.” 
“And you are?”
“I’m still alive aren’t I?” 
Killian scoffs. “You’ve lasted a decade. Speak to me when you survive a century.” 
“Well if we keep her alive we won’t have to,” Will snarks, nodding at Emma. 
“Me?”
“I wouldn’t have stuck my neck out for you if I didn’t think you were actually going to change things.” Emma doesn’t have an answer to that, the weight of his faith in her more than she can handle right now. “Don’t make me regret it, aye?” he winces, rubbing at his chest.
“What did he do to you?”
He gives a small shrug. “Crushed my heart. Wasn’t so bad, really - I’ve had worse.” 
“What?” 
“It’s a particular favourite of his,” Killian explains. 
“I’ve seen him do it to disobedient Lost Boys for hours - days once. He’s done it longer to me when I was his second. I’m surprised it was only…”
“Eleven seconds,” Emma supplies. The longest eleven seconds she can remember.
“Aye - I thought he’d be angrier.” 
“What did he mean by you paying him back a hundred years?” 
Will shrugs again. “Pan loves his riddles. I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. I need to go find Wendy.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Killian warns and it almost sounds like a threat. 
Will scoffs, finally shoving his hand away. “Please. I’ve done stupider things than egg Pan on.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Killian rolls his eyes and Will glares at him before smirking.
“I’ve become very good at getting her to forgive me.” 
Emma wonders for a moment if she’s going to have to prevent a murder. “Get out of here before I get Pan to come back and crush your heart for good.” 
“What? I thought we were mates -”
“Go,” Emma tells him. Before Killian follows through on that promise. Thankfully, Will isn’t stupid enough to push him any further and does as he’s told. She puts a hand on Killian’s arm. “Just remember that he almost died today. Cut him a bit of slack.” He doesn’t seem convinced, continuing to glare after the younger man. “And he might have saved our lives. He definitely saved mine.” 
Killian scoffs, finally looking at her. “And he’ll never let us forget it.”
“So what’s next?” she asks, trying to distract him from his sort of daughter and her sort of boyfriend’s sort of love life. 
“Hmm?”
“We’ve got the lorelei, we’ve got Tinkerbell, we’ve got a ship full of Lost Boys and pirates, we kept him from getting any more shadows… what do we do now?”
“We figure out what Pan’s plan is.”
“Can we not just… kill him?” she knows they can’t - probably - but she’s pretty sure the idea hasn’t been thrown out there yet so it’s worth a shot. 
Killian shakes his head like she expected him to. “If we could, I’d have done it by now. I did once, when I first returned to Neverland after decades away. I ran him through with my sword trying to avenge my brother.” Her hand on his arm tightens without her meaning it to. “He pretended, made a whole show and lay there until I was sure he was dead - and then he started to laugh. Just another game - the first one I played with him even if I didn’t know it. He told me it was the only time he would let me win.”
“We’ll find a way.” 
He smiles at her, small and half-hearted but she believes him. “I’m sure you will.”
***
“Why do we have to do this?” one of the boys - Kyle, she thinks - complains, dropping the wooden sword to his side. It had been so strange and jarring to learn some of the Lost Boys names over the last few days. “ We have nothing to do but wait ,” Killian had said. “Tink has let the Constant know that we’re ready to meet with them and they’ll send word when they’ve decided if they’ll hear us out .” For some reason, the boys had all been like Wendy in her mind, born ‘ somewhere around the 1880s, I think, ’ or Will, who’d come to Neverland during the Blitz, using dreams to escape the nightmares of real life. But this new group of boys weren’t characters out of a book or an old black and white photo. 
“My mom named me after the guy in some robot movie that had just come out,” Kyle mentioned and it was a moment before it clicked. “The Terminator?!” He’d only shrugged. “That might’ve been it.” This boy was her age. He couldn’t have been born more than a couple of years after she was. Another boy’s tattered shirt had a faded image of Lilo and Stitch on it - he didn’t look more than twelve. These boys were just… kids. Regular kids like the ones she grew up with and the ones who lived in Storybrooke or Boston - boys like Henry. And now they were soldiers. 
“We have to do this,” Wendy answers, giving his fake sword a tap with her own so his arm straightens, “because everyone on this ship needs to be ready to defend her when the next raid happens - If you want to live until the next one.” 
“But we already know how to fight,” he whines. “We defeated you every time.” If Wendy’s upset at the casual mention of her crewmates being slaughtered, she doesn’t let it show. “I already know how to sword fight.” 
“Do you now?” Killian calls from the helm before she can answer. 
“Captain…” his first mate starts but he ignores her. He’s an imposing figure, clad in black leather with the metal of his hook gleaming in the sun and the weight of his sword heavy at his hip. As his footsteps echo across the deck as he makes his way over to where the boys had begun their training they all go silent. 
“Now now, Mr. Darling, if the boy thinks he’s beyond our instruction he should have the chance to prove himself.” He stops in front of the new recruit, drawing his sword in a slow, measured movement, the tip an inch from the kid’s nose and Emma panics for just a second that he might cut him down right there. But then he turns to Wendy, “Bosun, get this boy a real blade,” and she realizes he’s had exactly the effect he intended as everyone around him tenses. 
Wendy goes to fetch a weapon, shooting him the kind of eyeroll kids learn to make in front of adults without getting caught - one she knows very well.
“Think you can defeat me, boy?”
To his credit, Kyle straightens his shoulders, taking the offered sword and raising it to the Captain’s, ready for a fight. She thinks she might see the tiniest bit of approval beneath the scorn in Killian’s expression. The boy moves first, swinging at him with all his might as he deflects again and again. Killian’s toying with him - she knows he is. She saw Killian fight Will that first night on the Jolly. His blocks are too slow, letting the kid get within inches of hitting him. He doesn’t make a single attack, his feet unmoving and she’d think it was cruel if she didn’t understand why he was doing it. 
Finally, when the boy starts to sweat, she sees Killian shift, adjusting his stance as he swings at his opponent. The block comes almost too late, only stopped by the way Killian pulls back at the last moment. He does it again, and again, backing the boy across the deck with blow after blow. There’s no flourish to it, no showmanship, just skill and finesse and strength and speed.
The kid starts to panic, the attacks coming too fast and Emma holds back a gasp when Killian’s blade slices across Kyle’s forearm. After that, it’s easy for Killian to twist his blade out of the kid’s shocked hand with his own, his elbow coming up to knock the boy flat on his ass. By the time he looks up, nose bloody, eyes dazed and watery, Killian’s sword is pointed at his chest, his brow arched in a harsh challenge. 
“Please don’t kill me,” the boy says so quietly and so heartbreakingly that she thinks she sees Killian’s face soften just the barest amount before he takes a step back, dropping his sword. 
“Listen, all of you,” he booms, though every eye on the deck is already on him. “You’ve never defeated anyone. Until now you’ve been playing a game and the game has been rigged. And I’m sorry to say, you’re now on the losing team. The only thing that matters from this moment on is staying alive. And the only way to stay alive is being a skilled enough fighter - and knowing how to hold that skill back enough - that Pan will want to fight you again.”
 He lets this hang in the air for a moment, the boys’ faces showing different degrees of confusion and understanding and horror. “So all of you will follow Mr. Darling’s instructions and learn everything you can from him. You’ll fight to defend this ship, yourselves, and each other when the time comes because you’re part of my crew now.” He reaches a hook out to Kyle who sits cradling his nose and heaves the boy to his feet. “And we look after our own.” 
Killian looks at the boy who nods, message received loud and clear, before clapping him on the shoulder. “Scarlet, see that our newest crew member’s wounds are tended to. He put up quite the fight.” 
“Aye, Captain,” Will complies without argument or sarcasm and Killian must be as shocked as she is because he keeps his mouth shut. 
“Darling must have said something to him,” he tells her when Emma joins him, his sword sliding carefully back into its sheath as he watches Wendy continue her lesson. 
“Or maybe you just did.” Killian only looks at her, brow raised in disbelief before she gestures at the sword hanging at his belt. “So, come on, are you going to show me how to use this thing or not?”
His face splits into a shit-eating grin. “Ah, Swan, I’ve dreamed of the day that you’d ask me to show you how to handle my sword.”
***
“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Tinkerbell asks. She’d floated onto the ship that night, looking stronger than when Emma had last seen her - the few days with the Constant clearly having done her good. Her wings looked taller, fully unfurled, the crepe paper like skin no longer breakable and frail as they flutter behind her. 
“Is there good news?” Killian sighs, standing from his desk where he’d been looking over maps of the island while Emma asked him questions about them, how each was different based on when it was drawn, what Pan had changed, who he had brought. He seemed unbothered by the fairy magicking his window open and letting herself in. 
“They’ve agreed to meet with you. They haven’t agreed to help,” she clarifies when Killian looks surprised, “but they’ve agreed to hear you out.”
“And the bad news?” 
“They’ll only meet us in Echo Caves.”
Killian lets out a heavy, long suffering sigh, thumb brushing the inner corner of his brow, words dripping with sarcasm. “Wonderful. Did they happen to give a reason why?” 
“Something about making sure you can be trusted - some incident at skull rock?”
“It was a misunderstanding,” he mutters under his breath. 
“Really because the way I heard it -” 
“It’s fine. Tell them we agree to their terms. When do they expect us?”
“First light.” 
Killian nods. “We’ll be there. And Tink,” he adds when she turns to leave. “Thank you.” 
She sneers. “I’m not doing it for you.” And then she’s gone before he can say another word. 
“What’s Echo Caves?” Emma pulls her knees up to her chest where she’s perched on the desk after she’s sure the fairy’s out of earshot and Killian’s sagged back in his seat. 
“Another one of Neverland’s little delights,” he sighs again. “The magic of the cave compels you to share your deepest secret - whether or not you’re even aware of it.” 
“Have you gone before?” she asks. 
“Once.” His hand drifts up without her really noticing, fingers curling around her calf, thumb tracing over her shin and she thinks maybe it wasn’t a pleasant experience. “Pan wanted to test my loyalty.” She rests her chin on her knee, dreading what he may have had to confess to Pan to keep himself alive on this horrible island. He smiles up at her then, a put-on apathy. “Thankfully, I had many terrible deeds in my past to confess to.” He doesn’t give her a chance to say anything before he releases her and stands again - something dropped between them and something else put up. 
“Are you afraid?” 
Killian doesn’t look at her. “Always.” Her heart tightens. She understands - she’d only been here a few weeks and she’s been terrified every moment - apart from her brief experiment with fairy wine - centuries… she can’t imagine. “But not of the Constant. Tiger Lily may hold a grudge but they’ll do whatever’s best for this island, and so will their people. And I’ve no ill-intent towards them or love for Pan.” He looks at her then, pausing. “Are you?”
“Of having to spill my deepest secret to a bunch of strangers? No, why would I possibly be stressed about that?” she smirks half-heartedly. 
“Strangers?” Killian raises a brow, sliding back across the room and resting his hand and hook on the desk on either side of her. “You hurt me, Swan. I thought we were friends - acquaintances at least.” 
She shoves at his chest rolling her eyes and he smirks. “Usually a guy has to buy me dinner before he gets to hear the all sordid details of my past.” Or coffee in an empty theme park where a pretty smile and a well-placed sneak into his past makes her think she’s safe to reveal herself, to trust someone with all of it.
“Hey,” his thumb brushes over her knee as he tries to catch her gaze. “Where’d you go?”
Not anywhere he needs to know about - or anywhere she’d care to revisit. So she smiles at him, lets her foot brush against the side of his calf, teasing, distracting. “Just trying to figure out which of my deepest secrets are gonna come spilling out of me tomorrow.” He doesn’t believe her, his lie detector almost as good as her own, she's realized, but he doesn’t say anything about it. 
“Well you are a mystery, Swan,” he tells her with a half-hearted smirk. 
“Not for much longer, apparently.” 
Something shifts in the way he’s looking at her, sympathy or understanding as he cocks his head. “You know you don’t have to come if -” 
“I’m going.” 
Killian huffs a laugh. “Of course you are. Well if there’s anything you want to get off your chest without an audience, now’s the time.” His eyebrow quirks up in challenge. “Won’t be a secret anymore if you tell me.” She meets it. 
“What? Is one revelation about me not enough for you?”
Something shifts again, something heavier, her skin warm and humming with fear and anticipation as he looks at her the way he had when he’d been curled around her on the floor of the brig. His voice is lower when he speaks. “Perhaps I’d just like to know you, Swan.” 
She casts her eyes to the floor, his gaze too intense - always too intense - before setting the smirk that had fallen from her lips back in place. “You first.” 
“I’m an open book, love. Ask me anything you like.”
She has one question, one that’s been itching at the back of her mind since she’d seen the canvas of scars etched across his skin. “Who were you? Before you were here - before you were ‘Captain Hook’?”
His bravado falters for a moment. “I was many things. Son, brother, slave, sailor, lieutenant, captain, pirate, partner… None for very long.” He gives her another of those showy smirks. “It seems Hook is the only one that stuck.” Her heart breaks a little, so many loves lost and so many injustices done in such a short life. She thinks of the scars that had criss-crossed his back, that she’d asked about so casually then - slave he’d said - and she wishes she could do it over, pay both them and him the reverence they deserve. “What about you?” 
“What about me?”
His hand slides to her wrist, to the laces she’d tied there the first day she’d come back to the sheriff’s office alone. All of his things had been gone. Desk cleared out, jacket taken from the back of his chair, the few things he bothered to keep - a tacky ceramic wolf, a photo of him and some friends she never bothered to ask him about, even the bottle of whiskey he kept in his top drawer - had been ransacked. He had no family that she knew of - no family that could be found at all - and she’d just known that it was Regina. She’d come in and wiped every trace of Graham clean like he never existed - apart from a single pair of boots forgotten by the back door. 
“They belonged to someone I used to know.” 
“Someone you cared for?” 
“It doesn’t matter,” she shrugs. “He’s gone now.” 
“It mattered enough for you to keep a piece of him with you.” He fingers the laces again, focusing on them, not making her meet his eyes again. “I know what it is to lose the people that matter most.” 
Emma pulls her hand back, sliding them both behind her under the guise of leaning back on the desk and gives another dismissive shrug even as she can’t make herself look at him. “Yeah, well, when you grow up like I did you learn pretty quickly not to get attached.”
Thankfully, Killian knows how to take a hint, straightening and flashing her an off  grin. “If only we all possessed such a skill, Swan.” Then, pushing away from the desk,  “I best let the others know what awaits us all  tomorrow.” 
Emma swallows, this island has already taken so much from her - her son, her name, her memories - almost - her whole belief system… How much more can it really take? She doesn’t ask - not anymore as she slides into Killian’s bed instead of her own, and he doesn’t say anything as he joins her a few minutes later, just pulls her against him, breath warm and comforting against her cheek as they try to shut themselves off from the cries that ring out on the deck above them. 
*******
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retrointhenow · 2 years ago
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Broken Barrier : Peter Pan X Reader
Author's Notes: This is a story based off one of my recent tiktoks. My tiktok is retrointhenow, the same as my tunblr here! I have tried shifting before and have yet to be successful. I don't have tips for shifting. I'm also not interested in making a part two for this so please don't ask.
---
"Come on." I groaned staring at my ceiling. It's been about a week since my last shift to Neverland. Things went exactly as I wanted them, I set my timeline as a nice calm period. I had everything I wanted. The boys were nice, the mermaids haven't tried to drown me yet, and life was good. Recently I've had trouble shifting back, time moved slowly in Neverland compared to my actual reality, but I think Peter is starting to catch on.
There was a two month break between shifts and Peter heavily questioned where I was. Thankfully I was able to blame the met,aids but I couldn't use that excuse again. Sometime I forget that the language dialect is different that what I'm use to so I'll slip up when I'm talking. I think that's part of what gives me away. At least I wrote down in my scripts that my clothing was different.
Finally I was able to relax and dream of Neverland. It's hard to describe how I get there. But it's like someone turns on a light and then I'm there.
The island was hot and humid today. I analyzed the terrain surrounding me and noticed that I wasn't to far from dead man's peak. A long hike back to base camp. Without a doubt Peter knew I have arrived. He knew everything that happened on his island.
"Y/n ? That you?" I heard someone call. I walked toward the voice and Devin ran around a tree.
"Oh hey Dev! Beautiful day today isn't it ?" I smiled and joined him on his duties. Devin was my best friend, without me writing that in. He was the first to greet me and actually welcome me to the island.
The boys were a little skeptical about a girl arriving in Neverland. Of course Wendy was there, but Peter only kept her as collateral for the Darling boys. Peter had no agenda for me though.
"Don't tell him I said this. But I think Pan has been worried about you." Devin picked some berries.
"How so ?" I worked at another bush. Of course I wanted Peter to like me, but I decided to let it happen naturally. It's my own desired reality where I could control anything but I wanted something to feel real. Besides, I want to know how he would really feel about me.
"He's been running around the island searching for you. He's had quite the bad attitude as well." He frowned and stood up. "If I didn't know better, I'd say Pan cares about you." I passed my bowl to him and rolled my eyes.
"I would like to think so, but Peter has quite the attitude without me being present. Besides, we was probably doing his island perimeter checks." My heart swelled with joy at the though. Could he actually like me ? No, no he's too busy. But Devin wouldn't lie to me. Then again he is a boy. Best not to get my hopes up.
Together Devin and I made to long trek back to the camp. We talked about what happened since I left last. Fortunately he was easy to gaslight and confuse about my whereabouts. I just took pieces of what he said and included them into 'my' story about where I was. From what I gathered Felix has been running the camp as Pan hasn't been around recently. Could that be because of me ? No, I'm stretching to read between the lines.
"Hey Y/n, long time no see huh?" Felix greeted me. I felt myself flush with worry.
"Not such a long time. I'm never too far away." I tried to play it off. It's hard to live two realities simultaneously. Sometimes I mix up my realities and say the wrong thing. One time I was talking to my real world friends about Felix, forgetting that he doesn't truly exist.
We all hung around camp for a while, tidying up and finishing up the daily chores Pan had set for the day. Pan had yet to make his grand appearance since I've shown up.
"Rumor had it, Y/n, that Pan is avoiding you." Jack, one of the older boys, nudged me.
"Huh? What do you mean avoiding me ?" I picked my head up from the fire and looked at the lost boy.
"I don't know, but no one has seen you for a good two days. Since then he's had this twisted look on his face. Kinda perplexed." He threw sticks into the fire.
You know the saying " speak of the devil and he shall appear"? I tend to think that's true, cause right after Jack said that Pan waltzed in. Everyone went silent, only the crackling of the bonfire could be heard, Aline with the island creatures too.
"Carry on." Pan said. Slowly the noise picked back up. He walked to his tent. The boys started dancing as the sound of the Pan pipe started. Peter played a slow and mesmerizing rendition of the iconic 3 note Peter Pan melody.
"You should go talk to him." Felix sat next to me. I peeled my eyes open as I started to fall asleep.
"About what ?" Pan continued to play soothing songs. He knows how much I love listening to him play.
"Come on. I'm not stupid. I know you like him, and I believe with a best friends intuition that he likes you to." He gave me a comforting smile.
"It would never work anyway." I shrugged.
"You never know. He fronts whoever he's near you. Tries to act tough. But behind closed huts, he thinks about you." Felix stood up and brought me with him. "If things don't work out you can alway, according to Pan "go back to your world". " I felt my body stiffen. No way. I mean, yes Pan somehow knows everything, but he can't know about my world. Or that I even exist outside of Neverland. Might have to make a note about that when I wake up.
I drug myself to Pan's hut and nervously opened the tarp.
"Need some company?" I poked my head in.
"I think you're gonna come in anyway." He sat his flute down and walked to his desk.
"Observant I see." I fully stepped into his room. I had seen his hut before but never fully pictured it. He had a small bed and a decent desk cluttered with papers. He whisked his arm over the desk and the parchment disappeared, most likely to his desk in the Thinking Tree. The thinking tree is his actual home, he only stays in the camp hut for temporary reasons.
"Is there something I can help you with ?" He sighed and turned towards me. Looking directly at me for the first time today. His Forrest green eyes searched my being. I made my way around the hut before sitting on the twin sized bed.
"You haven't spoken to me today." I crossed my legs and cleaned the dirt from under my fingernails. I heard the creaking of his wooden desk from him sitting on it.
"Where do you go ? When you leave here ?"
"I don't-"
"Bullshit." He stopped me. "I know everything Y/n. You often forget that." I folded my hands together and chewed on my lip.
"Something's are unknowable. Even unexplainable." I held my breath and hoped he wouldn't be able to figure anything out. He cracked a smile, he got me. I know magic can pass through the fairytale realms, even to a place where magic certainly doesn't exist ?
"I know you're not really here. In Neverland. You go somewhere else when you disappear for days at a time. Especially that time you left for two weeks. I feel it." He hopped off the desk and walked towards me.
"I'm right here. Sitting in front of you. You're looking right at me." I challenged him. If I learned one thing, it was how to battle with Pan, verbal and physical. I felt my face heat up, my tell.
"I might be looking at you Y/n, but I'm not seeing you. You have this thousand yard stare and sometimes it's like you're not even here." Thousand yard stare ? I just get lost in my own mind sometimes. Unfortunately I fell weak to Peter Pan, no matter what. I could hang with Peter and his games just long enough but I always fell short just before the finish line. Always fumbling the bag.
"You always knew too much for your own good." I smiled sadly. Would I break his heart if I told him he wasn't real in my life ? Even though I had been visiting Neverland for months it felt like years. I felt like I had a second family, I had real fun being with the boys, living in a land of magic was indeed enchanting.
"I know that if we lived in the same reality that maybe we could be together like you want." He stroked my hair and lifted my head to look at him. I tried my hardest to not look at him. He knew, and it broke my heart instead. "Look at me Y/n." I slowly dragged my eyes to look at him, tears filled my waterline.
"Do you think that could actually happen ? Us being together if I was truly here ?" My voice faltered with each word. It feels wrong to ask that. Knowing it's not real to me. I have a real life, not this made up fabricated dream world.
He had moved his index finger from under my chin to my cheek to cup it. He gently stroked his thumb across the area, catching a stray tear. "I think friends don't look at each other the way we do unless we wanted something more." His voice was soft and soothing.
I leaned into his touch and closed my eyes. Everything felt so real. "It could never work. It wouldn't be real. For either of us." His other hand held mine.
"For what it's worth. It feels real when we're together."
So was it wrong for us to lead each other on like that ? Pretending what we had was real ? Maybe so, but neither of us had been happier than in the moments we spent together.
---
But eventually I went back to my reality and left Peter in his. I still get visions in my dream of him, but that's all they are. I haven't even tried to shift in months. But we knew this would happen at some point. You can't postpone the inevitable. Now it's time to move on. Move on from something that never truly happened.
Peter's POV
"She's not coming back. Is she?" Felix stood next to me, staring at her empty hut.
"No. But she'll never forget us. We're always going to be a part of her." Felix nodded and walked off to join the other boys. I'll find where she came from, I'll search for her and bring her back.
Until then I'll watch her hut. Waiting for her to walk out, waiting for her to come home.
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humblefryingpan · 2 months ago
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(Once upon a time au - spoilers for season 3 and I think season 6)
Ngl I kinda loved the Henry/Pan body swap I low-key wish it stayed like that. It probably wouldn't have been great in the actual show but I'd love to see that in a fic/au
Everyone really struggling at fighting Peter because he looks like Henry? Amazing. And I like thinking about if they kept it that way, imagine them trying to raise the kid who looked like their enemy
(this is an angsty and long post)
Rumple looking at his grandson and only seeing his father who betrayed him. Tbh, I don't think he thought of Pan as the same person as his dad in general. Like pre-neverland he only saw him like that twice and it probably would've been more "the boy my dad invented to get rid of me" yk? That's my opinion at least
So Rumpy knowing Henry was supposey fated to kill him and then looking like that guy? He would not have handled that well and I'd have loved to see him having more of a reaction
Killian seeing his stepson and trying to ignore that he looked like the man who killed his brother. Pre-neverland I think he only knew Pan from when he rocked up and tricked him into killing his brother/best friend/only remaining family? So going from that, as well as everything in neverland, to marrying Emma and having to live with someone in Pan's body would've been sad as shit and I'd have loved it. He was dealing with his own guilt a lot when he moved in and I think this would've made it just that little bit worse
Regina and Emma trying to raise their son while looking at the man who kidnapped him. Both of them are definitely "fight first, question later" girls and they would've had to try to unlearn that in order to not hurt their son. Especially since they knew Pan as the guy that kidnapped Henry and the guy that tried to kill them all.
If this happened then the way I'd have done it would be someone finding out he was planning the curse and killing him before he could kill Felix (to stop the curse and also bc I love Felix and I have plans for him). Since he was still in Henry's body when he did the curse I would've said they killed him before he could switch places (I forgot how and when they switched back mb, doesn't affect the au too much right?)
So somebody (Rumple would probably work best but readers choice ig) killed Peter/Malcolm while he was in Henry's body and he got trapped in that body with magic so that he couldn't escape. Since the body would've been messed up when he got killed, Henry stays in Pan's body.
And I mentioned I had plans for Felix - he was clearly very devoted to Pan, like he didn't even get that mad when he killed him. I'm willing to bet that if he survived he still would've defended him. But now "Pan" is actually not Pan, it's the boy Pan wanted to sacrifice and I think Felix would've been pissed about that.
So he'd also be struggling with this entire situation. Losing Pan, but still seeing him in this town. Knowing Henry he'd try to talk to Felix too. Felix would either fully isolate himself, seek revenge on anyone and everyone who took part in Pan's downfall or he'd follow Henry around, trying to cling to any remaining part of Pan's existence. Assuming Regina doesn't kill him that is
Or if you want to stick to the canon show a bit more then Rumpy could kill him after the curse was cast but before he could turn back to himself.
And side note- Peter actually looks more like Emma and Neal's kid tbh. Like Henry looks sort of like Regina's son, and I see the snow white in him, but I don't see the Emma yk? So in the "Emma loses her memory again and thinks she's a regular parent" storyline she'd just assume he turned out more like her, Regina could alter her memory into thinking he always looked like that anyway.
And in that version she'd have the two versions of her memory. One where she sees her son as he always was and then getting the memory of who he actually was dumped on her. And struggling even more with seeing both simultaneously, even worse because Henry also wouldn't remember.
Which brings me to the point of - imagine Henry trying to grow up looking like the guy that took advantage of his kindness like that? Every time he looked in a mirror he'd see Pan instead of himself (and there are a lot of mirrors around when you're being raised by the former evil queen).
He'd see everyone struggling to adjust to him, he'd know why, and he'd probably feel insanely awful about it. He blamed himself for Neverland anyway, now he'd blame himself for everyone's discomfort.
And like I said at the start of this lil au infodump, I don't think it would've worked long term in the actual show. I don't think the writers could've got it to work in some of the storylines, but Pan-Henry has been rattling around in my brain like a lego stuck in a jar since I first watched it. Basically I want everyone to be sadder and I want more Pan, the angst potential in this is incredible to me.
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hannahhook7744 · 9 months ago
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Lost Children Camp;
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Art I made of the camp in my ouat-descendants crossover, 'The Lost Children'.
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emmasaviorswan · 2 years ago
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Swanfire teenage AU inspired by: 🦢🔥
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sweetrays · 2 years ago
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Been obsessed with the ship Wendy Darling/Rufio lately and I wanna write about it but I need some ideassss 😭
GIMMIE WENDY DARLING X RUFIO ONESHOT IDEAS RIGHT NOW 😡
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themadlostgirl · 2 years ago
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B&B: Cooking Lessons
*I FORGOT I HAD THIS PROMPT IN MY ASKS! I AM SO SORRY! Better late than never at least.*
Prompt: More funny Felix x Reader Storybrooke AU shenanigans. Title says it all.
~~~
“Darling,” Felix reached past you to turn off the tv, “It’s three.”
“No!” you flopped over on the couch. “I don’t wanna go!”
“It’s not that bad. Stop complaining and let’s get this over with.” he tried to pull you off the couch. You held onto the armrest, refusing to budge. “Stop being a brat! Come on!”
“Never!”
“For the love of god. Fine. You force my hand.” he let go of your leg and started tickling your sides.
“No fair!” you shrieked with laughter. You tried to swat his hands away but he took the opportunity to grab you and pull you off the couch. “That was low, Felix.”
“And you’re being dramatic.” he pulled you along out of the apartment. You knocked on the apartment door of Snow and David.
Snow greeted you with a bright smile. “Come in you two. Ready for your cooking lesson?”
“Snow, I am going to be straight with you. I think you need to give up on trying to teach us to cook.” you told her. “I am perfectly content living off of Granny’s lasagna and toaster waffles.”
“Ignore her.” Felix pulled you inside. “She’s been in a mood all day.”
“You’re fine learning how to cook. Why do I have to learn too?” you whined as you were tossed an apron.
“Cause I am not going to be the sole person cooking the meals around the house. This is easier than back on Neverland, I don’t know what you’re complaining about. It’s not like we have to skin anything or butcher it. It all comes pre-packaged.”
“I liked cooking on Neverland better because it was just stick the meet in fire till it is brown. That’s all it had to be. Now we have to saute shit. What the hell is saute!”
“Well, you’ll be pleased to know that we are not going to be sauteing anything today.” Snow assured you. “And cooking is an essential life skill. Even if it is something simple you need to be able to prepare food for yourself.”
“Fine. What are we making?” you gave in and accepted your doom.
“Well, considering that we had a problem last week when we tried to make risotto I thought we would bring it down to something hopefully a little easier. We are going to make muffins.”
“That sounds easy, right?” Felix eyed you. You rolled your eyes. You weren’t holding out hope.
“I found a simple recipe. I already got out all the supplies, you guys just need to follow the directions.” she gestured to the various ingredients scattered around the kitchen. “Now, you guys have come a long way since we started so I am going to let you take the reins. If you have any questions feel free to ask but I am going to stay out of your way.”
“Joy.” you turned to the recipe. It didn’t look complicated but you were a disaster in the kitchen. Why couldn’t they just accept that?
“Preheat oven to 400 degrees.” Felix went to the oven and turned it on. “Okay. Next we need to line a muffin tin with liners.”
“Line a what with what?”
“I’m guessing they mean this.” Felix picked up a tray with various divots in it. Next to them were a package of little paper liners.
You lined the tray with the liners while Felix measured out the ingredients. “Next we need to mix the milk, vegetable oil, and egg in one bowl and the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bigger bowl.”
“Okay.” you took the ingredients he handed you and dumped them in their respective bowls. This wasn’t too bad so far.
“Now we mix in the wet ingredients with the dry ones. Once those are blended we add the chocolate chips.” Felix instructed. Felix poured the ingredients together and began mixing. You handed him the chocolate chips to add and started picking at the leftovers in the bag.
“What next?” you asked.
“How about you read it.” he handed you the card.
“We gotta spoon the batter into the cups to two thirds full. Then it says we need to mix together some white sugar and brown sugar to sprinkle on top.”
“Alright. I’ll start spooning. You mix the sugar.”
“Okay.” You went to grab the sugar.
Snow’s phone started ringing. “I gotta take this. You guys are doing great though. I’ll be in the other room for a minute.”
“Got it.” Felix said, carefully spooning batter into the cups.
You mixed together the topping and turned around to hand it to Felix. You slipped on a bit of milk that got spilt on the ground though. The bowl of sugar in your hands flew out and dumped all over Felix. “I am so sorry!”
He turned to you deadpanned, crystal sugar glittering in his hair. “Really?”
“I didn’t mean to.” you couldn’t help laughing though. He shook the sugar out of his hair like a dog shaking off water.
“Oh no, it’s fine.” he dipped a hand in the flour and tossed it at you. It hit you right in the face. “Now we’re even.”
“You jerk! Mine was an accident!” you wiped the flour from your face. Now your shirt was covered in it too.
“What are you gonna do about it?” he smirked.
You grabbed the wooden spoon off the table. “Oh I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do about it.”
“Stand back.” he grabbed the bag of flour. “There’s more where that came from.”
“Felix!” you warned. “Don’t you dare.”
“Don’t you!”
You were in a stand off up until the oven dinged to let you know it was preheated. The sudden sharp noise made you jump and you turned instinctively to see what caused it. In the split second you realized your mistake and felt a handful of flour hit the back of your head. You turned back and Felix was wearing a shit eating grin.
Oh that was it! You chucked the spoon at him and grabbed the sugar off the counter to throw back while he was distracted. You chased him around the table throwing handfuls of sugar at him as he tried to dodge and fired back with handfuls of flour.
You were making another lap around when Felix suddenly changed directions and came running straight at you. He caught you with one arm and dumped the rest of the flour directly on top of your head. “You little--” you had run out of sugar. You reached for the closest thing you could grab which in this case was the carton of eggs and smashed one on his head.
The cold slimy yolk running down his neck was enough to get him to drop you. You grabbed the entire carton and readied another egg. “Darling, out the eggs down.” he told you, hands up. “We had our revenge no need for more destruction.”
“Should have thought about that earlier.” you chucked another egg at him. He dodged out of the way and it sailed past him. “Get back here and take it like a man!”
You threw another and another trying to hit him as he dodged around the apartment.
“Alright guys I’m--” Snow stepped back into the room just as you threw another egg and hit her in the chest. “Ow! Hey!” She looked around at the mess the two of you had created. You had only seen Snow angry one other time and had forgotten just how scary she could be. This quiet rage settled on her as she wiped the egg from her formerly pristine baby blue sweater.
“What the hell happened to my kitchen?! What did you two do!” she gestured to floor and yourselves. “I was gone for five minutes! This place is a wreck!”
“Sorry.” You and Felix muttered. “Things got a little out of hand.”
“A little!” she made another grand gesture to the flour, sugar and eggs splattered and dumped everywhere. At that moment David returned with Emma and Henry. They took one look at the mess, the state of you and Felix, and the rage on Snow’s face and wordlessly backed out of the room.
Snow turned back to you two. “You are going to clean this place spotless and then go back into town and buy me back all the ingredients you wasted.”
“That’s fair.”
“You also don’t get to have any of the muffins.”
“What!”
“Neither of you deserve muffins after this! Now get cleaning!” she shoved the broom and paper towels into your hands. She finished filling the muffins and set them in the oven to bake while you and Felix cleaned.
By the time the muffins were out of the oven you had swept up all the flour and sugar as well as scrubbed the egg off the walls. The pair of you were still a mess but the apartment was clean again at least. Snow sent you off to wash up and get changed before heading out to the store.
You and Felix didn’t talk but each time you looked at each other you had to suppress a laugh. Still better than the risotto disaster.
You came back to the apartment with the replacement ingredients. Snow, David, Emma and Henry were relaxing in the living room munching on the muffins you had made. At least they had turned out okay.
You set the groceries down and apologized again for the mess. Snow forgave you and thanked you for the groceries. “For what it’s worth, the muffins came out perfectly.”
“Isn’t that swell.” you looked at them in envy. They looked so good too.
You and Felix returned to your apartment and saw a pair of muffins on your coffee table. Guess that was heroes for you. You slumped back on the couch with Felix, muffin in hand. “You know, despite the whole mess part, that wasn’t a terrible cooking lesson.”
“I thought the mess part was the most fun.” he ruffled your hair. You took a bite and sighed. They were really good.
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depressedstressedlemonzest · 10 months ago
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Him fake laughing here is hilarious.
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Stupid issac
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I love henry and emma using pop culture references with hook and hook just going along with it.
Can you imagine going for some rum and then BOOM goats milk? 😂😂😂
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Another pop culture reference for hook 😂😂
You're the Light One
Her utter confidence in him in every universe 🥺
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🥺🥺 you're a hero rumple 🥺🥺
It's just chipped.
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Regina sacrificing being with Robin to save henry OF COURSE SHE WOULD he's her BABY
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Jeez zelena, at least try to be more compassionate when faking a wedding.
Love emma just punching that prick in the face.
Hell yeah! Henry the author!
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Emma trying to Hide that smile once she sees that hook is okay 🥹🥹
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Emma just 😝 at hook 🤣 just a good screen grab.
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YOU CAME BACK TO ME 😭😭😭😭
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kingoftheneverwoods · 1 month ago
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STARTER CALL!! {PETER}
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LIKE OR REBLOG
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his-lost-one · 5 months ago
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okay so ive been thinking about rufio again shjdbdjd
i just had the thought that in my previous post abt him i did not mention his life before neverland pretty much at all and then i had the thought “what if he was a prince?”
i mean think about it- a prince who feels lost and lonely and unloved enough to end up on neverland. amazing concept imo.
this is most definitely not canon, so: au where rufio was a prince before neverland
i’m thinking that there were probably people around him a lot, since a prince needs to be kept safe and all that, so his loneliness was more emotional than physical
and he probably didn’t fit in very well with the court life and the people around him- i can imagine he just wanted freedom to do whatever he wants to and not have to adhere to like behavioral rules to be proper and polite and whatnot
i also think he probably wasn’t the crown prince so maybe that’s what made him feel lost specifically- because “why do i need to follow all these rules when it’s my brother who will be king?”
and ofc i’m imagining all of this leading to him being really distant emotionally from his family and most people around him
maybe he then ran away from home a while before he was ever collected by pan or the shadow.
i could imagine him living undercover maybe as a homeless guy in that town hamelin where pan tried to grab baelfire the first time and decided to name them the lost boys
pan didn’t get baelfire that time, but he did get the other ones most likely and i feel like rufio might’ve been one of them
rufio probably would’ve kept his past a secret; both because he didn’t like it and didn’t want to talk about it, but also because it’s just not relevant anymore on neverland
maybe he eventually wanted to tell felix but i have a feeling that he never actually did
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donteattheappleshook · 2 years ago
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Not Broken At All Chapter 11/?
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Summary:
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 out the window of a house everyone believes is haunted, the madman in the hospital might be her only hope of getting her son back. Whether he likes it or not.
Rated M
Catch up on Ao3 (where my italics work) or on Tumblr 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
I'm so sorry for how long this chapter took! It was going to be a certain chapter, then got switched to another, then got switched back and cut in two because it was too damn long... Even the person in the room changed
So anyway, here it is, the first half of the chapter that has affectionately been nicknamed "the one with the fairy orgy"... I'm so sorry.
Thank you thank you thank you thank you always @the-darkdragonfly and @elizabeethan for your help with this feral fic 😘
And thank you everyone for the reblogs, comments and replies that give me so much dopamine ❤️
*****
Part 11
Emma stands tense outside the room she’s just been locked out of, holding her breath as the unfamiliar voice carries over through the door, confused and on edge about what possible threat could have been waiting for Killian inside. There’s a moment before he speaks.
“Tink.” The word leaves him with a sigh of relief and it takes her a moment to place the name. “It’s been a while.” 
The fairy scoffs, her voice betraying bitter grudges when she answers. “You could say that.”
“I didn’t mean to -”
“Save it,” Tink interrupts him. “I’m not here to talk about that. I don’t care that you’re back or whether you’re planning to stay.” 
Lie, Emma thinks. She knows that tone all too well, defences up, hiding pain with indifference - they can’t hurt you if you don’t care - and realises that this is yet another person Killian left behind, intentionally or not. For a moment she wonders if Tinkerbelle is just another scorned lover, if that’s why he’d locked her out of the room. But Emma heard her carefully constructed detachment. It’s more than that. 
“I’m just delivering a message,” she finishes. 
“From who?” 
“Mab.” A long silence follows the name and Killian’s answer is quiet when it finally comes. 
“Wendy said you went back.” 
She scoffs again. “Not like I had much of a choice, did I?”
“You could have stayed on the ship -”
“What turned to piracy? Pretended to be an overgrown lost boy all dressed up in leather?” The thinly-veiled insult sounds personal and when Killian doesn’t take the bait she continues harshly. “We both know Pan only likes us side-characters when we’ve got our hero to play sidekick to. A fairy with no magic on her own in the woods? I became target practice real quick.” 
“Tink…”
The emotion in her voice hardens. “Like I said, I’m just here on behalf of the Queen.”
“You’re her messenger now?” Emma can tell there’s no malice behind the question, shock maybe, but no mocking. Tink takes it that way regardless.
“They’re my people, Hook,” she spits. “I should never have left them in the first place. They told me you’d get bored - just like Pan did.”
“I didn’t -”
“You’re expected at dawn. Don’t be late - you know she doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
“Aye.”
“I’m assuming your request has something to do with the blonde in the hall?” Emma freezes, worried that her cover is blown. Clearly Killian hadn’t been as quick as he thought. But Wendy had said they would see through her disguise. He doesn’t answer. “What the hell are you getting us involved in, Hook?”
After a pause he answers carefully. “A change.”
Tink laughs bitterly. “Nothing changes in Neverland. You of all people should know that by now. Two hundred years you tried to get away? And now here you are, back where you started, playing his game.”
“I’m not playing his game,” he bites out. “I’m ending it. Once and for all.” 
She snorts in disbelief. “All you’re going to end is your life - and you’ll drag anyone stupid enough to take your side right down along with you. But you don’t really care about that, do you? Not so long as you get your revenge. Same story, different crocodile, isn’t it?” 
“I’m sorry I hurt you, Tink,” he says, somehow managing to hold his composure despite the accusations she throws at him. “But it’s different this time.”
“You didn’t hurt me,” she snaps in disgust, offended at the suggestion. “I just know a stupid idea when I hear it. And so does the Queen. She’ll never agree.” 
“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”
Emma doesn’t hear anything else from inside the cabin, the silence drawing out until the sound of the lock sliding free snaps sharply against her ear that’s practically pressed to the wood. The door remains shut, shuffling footsteps, a drawer being opened and the clink of heavy glass coming from the other side. When she pushes it open and steps carefully inside, Killian’s sat back in the armchair, a tumbler in his hand, the bottle left open on his desk. 
He looks up when she enters, flashing her a grimacing imitation of a smile and tilting his glass. “Rum?” 
She wonders for a moment if she should leave him alone; clearly, he's in need of some wallowing. But he looks particularly self-destructive as he brings his drink to his lips, staring off at the window where she imagines the fairy came and went through, and she thinks better of it. He did promise her a nightcap after all. 
There’s no second glass, so Emma picks up the bottle, drinking from it as she hops up and takes its place on the table. The little smirk that tugs at the corner of his lips is more believable this time.
“So that was Tinkerbell, huh?” she asks, taking another sip - because it’s really good rum.
“Aye. Different from your stories, I take it?” 
She thinks for a second about the cranky little fairy with a take no prisoners attitude from the movie and shrugs. “Actually they got her pretty spot on I think. Only in the movie she was really tiny, and definitely dressed by a man.” Emma hadn’t seen the stranger the voice belonged to but she somehow assumes those two were artistic liberties. 
Killian hums. “Fairies are only tiny when they want to be. Makes them particularly good at sneaking into all sorts of places they have no business being.”
“From what you’ve told me, I don’t know if you can really call your bedroom somewhere she has no business being.” She’s pretty sure he just rolled his eyes at her and it makes her snort. Or maybe that’s the fourth sip of rum she’s now taking. “Is she right?” Emma wonders aloud somberly as she drinks again. “Are we fucked?” 
“I’m going to assume that’s some lovely colloquial way of asking if we’re going to fail in your land,” he says, raising a brow. “Because if you’re asking literally I -”
“It is.” She’s the one rolling her eyes now. 
“She’s angry with me,” he sighs. “An all too common affliction around here.” Emma doesn’t bother offering any insincere comfort. He messed up and he knows it. He left people behind and now he has to face up to it. “It’s clouding her judgement. Queen Mab hates Pan as much as everyone else on this island. They have the least to lose in trying to defeat him.” She’s not sure she likes the fact that he sounds like he’s trying to convince himself. 
“Why’s that?” 
“Pan’s afraid of them. He has control over the whole island but their magic is ancient and powerful.”
“So then why don’t they just kill him?” 
“I’ve asked myself that same question for centuries.” 
“Did you think of asking them?”
He turns to her, narrowing his eyes. “The creatures of Neverland aren’t very forthcoming with their secrets.” 
“That’s a pretty evasive way of saying everyone else is evasive.” She smirks at his annoyed glare, taking another swig from the bottle. 
“I think perhaps you’ve had enough rum,” Killian suggests, reaching for the bottle as though she’ll hand it over. She only scoffs, helping herself to another drink and he sighs. “Well at least share if you’re planning on finishing the bottle,” he insists, nudging his glass towards her. 
She pours him a generous serving and they drink in silence for a while, both reflecting on the day to come tomorrow. Fairies. As weird as the mermaids were, she somehow knows the fairies will be even weirder. And she’s supposed to be some sort of enticement to get them on their side which is still so confusing to her. What exactly about her is considered the enticement?
“What am I supposed to do tomorrow?” He raises a brow, drawn from his thoughts. “I’m bait right? Or like some strange way of sweetening the deal? What am I supposed to do?”
“Nothing. Stay close to me and Wendy. You’ll be more of a distraction, a way to get their guard down, make them more open to listening.” 
“That’s really weird. And kind of creepy.”
“You’ve never used your beauty or your wiles to help you get what you want?” he challenges and she recalls all the honey traps she’d set to catch dirtbag skips. 
She helps herself to more rum, the dark liquor making her feel warm and relaxed for the first time in days. “So just sit there, shut up, and look pretty?” 
He smirks. “Somehow I don’t believe the ability to sit there or shut up are skills that you possess, Swan.” Emma makes a snarky face at him and he chuckles, sliding his now empty glass back towards her. “You're a rarity in this land, love. The Fae are a vain people and they’re desperate to possess the most exquisite and remarkable of everything.” She moves to refill his drink, spilling when he adds. “And you’re certainly that.”
“Shit,” she mutters, wiping at the little puddle of rum.
“If not wholly uncoordinated,” Killian smirks as she hops off the desk to go retrieve the cloth next to his washbasin. Turning back though, all thoughts of the spill are discarded because he’s sitting there, lounging in his chair with his shirt half unbuttoned, looking like he just sauntered off the pages of a pirate romance novel; and she can blame the rum for it later, or just the fact that it’s been a while, or how good it felt to kiss him in the hallway, but she decides to just fuck everything else. She deserves something good after the hellish few days she’s been through. 
His smirk fades when she crosses the room back to him, discarding the cloth on the desk and stopping in front of his chair. She only hesitates for a second before climbing into his lap, settling a knee on either side of his hips, fingers curling around the fabric of his shirt. Killian’s breath is hot against her lips when he asks, “What are you doing, Swan?” as though he could really be misreading anything she’s doing.
“Using my wiles to get what I want?” she shrugs in answer. “Unless you really did just mean a drink when you offered that nightcap-” His hand is at the back of her neck before she can finish, weaving through her hair and dragging her mouth down to his. 
Emma can taste the rum on him, heady and spiced as he draws her into a kiss that’s more intoxicating than the drink, wasting no time in picking up where they left off outside his room. She chalks it up to some inexplicable Neverland magic, the way she reacts to him, the heat that burns through her, the all consuming desire for him, to somehow get closer than the way they’re already pressed together, to taste more of him, her tongue sliding past his lips, fingers reaching for the few buttons he’d bothered to fasten.
Her legs wrap around his hips as his brace slides across her back, standing suddenly from his chair and lifting her onto his desk, knocking the almost empty bottle off and sending it crashing to the floor. He doesn’t seem to care, thumb tracing her jaw as he tilts her head to deepen the kiss, hook drawing along the length of her thigh to her knee. 
When she drags her mouth away to try catch her breath, his lips find the line of her neck, his tongue dragging across her skin, the scratch of his stubble making her shiver. She tilts her head back to give him more access, biting back a moan, fully aware of how well sound carries through these walls. His mouth is just beginning its exploration of the low neckline of her shirt when, as if she’d cursed herself just by thinking it, she vaguely hears the door unlatching. 
“Hook? Is everything - Oh shit!” Killian pulls himself away - not nearly as quickly as he should really - at the sound of Wendy’s panicked voice. Emma sits frozen, mortified. “I’m sorry. Um, I heard glass break and I just came to see if - I thought maybe Pan - Well, clearly you’re fine so I’ll just… Carry on.” 
As if. Face burning, Emma shoves at Killian’s chest until he steps back from her, jumping off the desk and turning, unable to meet the other woman’s eye. “It’s fine. I was just - we were just… I’m going to bed now,” she says, unable to come up with a decent explanation that Wendy would buy. She’s not an idiot. “We’ve got an early morning after all,” she adds, heading out of the room. 
“We do?” the girl asks, and Emma only casts a glance back at Killian, who looks more annoyed at being interrupted than anything. 
“He can explain,” she answers, hurrying past her. She’s only just shut the door behind her when she hears Wendy’s voice carrying over through it. Clearly all the flustered apologies had been for her benefit, not Killian’s. 
“You didn’t waste any time did you?”
“Didn’t we have a conversation about knocking?”
Shutting her eyes and heaving a sigh, feeling like an idiot, she makes her way down the hall to her room, hoping she can wake up having dreamed the whole embarrassing incident. 
***
Emma wakes to a knock on her door, a soft “Swan,” called through it and she groans, rolling over and hiding her face under the blanket. She’s pretty sure she just fell asleep and now someone has the nerve to rob her of the few hours she was hoping to get tonight. Her head hurts. Probably from the rum, she scolds herself, and then her stomach tightens in embarrassment and something else as she’s flooded with memories of liquor on her tongue and on Killian’s, of bodies pressed together and fingers tangled in her hair, rings catching and tugging at the strands. 
He knocks again. “Swan?”
“Go away,” she grumbles, not ready to face him after she threw herself at him last night… twice. She thinks it almost would have been better if they had slept together. That way at least she could have gotten it out of her system and she wouldn’t have to deal with the awkwardness of unresolved tension and the humiliation of getting caught. 
Killian laughs softly. “We have to go. It’ll be dawn soon and there’s a ways to go to the Fae lands.” She groans again. Of course there is. Because every single group on this island apparently decided to set up camp as far away from one another as they could. She cracks an eye open, the room still pitch black. Who demands their guests show up before dawn? Right, fairy queens, that’s who. She hates fairy queens.
Dragging herself out of bed, she shuffles blindly into her boots and across the room, finding the doorknob and cracking it open, squinting against the dim light of the hall. “I’m up,” she sighs, glaring as best she can between her hangover and the light at the amused look on Killian’s face. “Let’s go,” she urges, gesturing for him to lead the way and following groggily behind him. 
To his credit, he doesn’t say anything, no comment on her current state or on the events of last night. She’d have expected him to be smug - moreso than usual anyway - or embarrassed - does he get embarrassed? But instead he’s silent as they walk through the hall, not even turning back to throw an innuendo over his shoulder. 
For a second she wonders if she did dream up their encounter last night. But the faded redness she can feel still hot on her neck and the slight hangover still stubbornly rattling around in her head and in her stomach tell her it hadn’t been a dream. Either he was over it, or he’d just decided not to be a self-satisfied jerk about it. Or, she thinks - and the thought bothers her more than it should - he just wasn’t as affected by it as she was. Maybe random hookups with quazi-friends aren’t so out of the ordinary for him. He does get his fair share of tail around here. She’s too bothered by the fact that the idea bothers her to even snort at her own pun. 
When they reach the deck and find Wendy and Will waiting for them, Emma can’t meet her eyes. Will looks between the three of them with a confused frown, clearly sensing something off. Emma’s just happy that Wendy didn’t tell him. It gives her the courage to glance up at the other woman and she receives a small, tentative smile in return. 
“Whatever happens,” Killian tells them all, reassuming his role as Captain, “stick together. Nobody wanders off on their own.” 
“Why’re you looking at me, mate?” Will scowls. Emma was wondering the same thing, noting his pointed glance at her. 
“Wendy and I haven’t aged in centuries,” he reminds them. “We’re hardly human by their standards anymore. You two on the other hand...” 
The younger pirate rolls his eyes. “I’m nearly eighty years old, ain’t I? And it’s not my first time at the Fae court.”
“Just don’t do anything stupid.”
“Oy!” 
Killian’s headed off towards the dinghy before the younger pirate can say anymore. Passing by him, Emma shoots Will a playful smirk. “You look pretty good for your age,” she tells him before following the Captain over the side of the ship. Will beams.
  They’re deep in the jungle when her guides finally slow their pace. The foliage here is as dense and dark as it was by the mermaids’ caves and the Constant’s walls, and Emma wonders if all the creatures came to some consensus that anyone who wanted to visit would have to find their way blind to their territory, or if it’s just an annoying coincidence. 
“We’re here,” Killian tells her. “Remember what I said; stay close and don’t eat or drink anything unless we tell you it’s safe.” 
She nods. It’s not like she has much of an appetite anyway, between her nerves and the old rum still sloshing around in her stomach. And she has no intention of finding herself alone in a place where any of the inhabitants would apparently be thrilled to steal a hundred years of her life for fun. “Got it, no drinking the Kool-aid.”
Wendy and Will are pulling apart branches that have formed a dense covering in front of them, light poking through the dark as they do, and Emma cranes her neck to see where it’s coming from. There’s a sound of running water as the light takes on a golden hue as what she assumes is the entrance is revealed. But it’s not frightening like it had been at the lorelei’s cave, no strange echo and singing, only the soft, almost soothing rush of a river nearby. She can already feel herself drawn to it, and it’s not until Killian reaches an arm out across her waist that she realizes she’d begun walking unwittingly towards the entrance. 
“Keep your wits about you,” he warns her. “Everything in the Fae Court is designed to make you want to stay; everything is a calculated temptation. Remember that, and don’t give in.” 
“Right,” she swallows. Shutting her eyes in an attempt to get herself back under control, she takes a few deep breaths as Will and Wendy clear the rest of the foliage from their path. When she opens her eyes again there’s a gate in front of them, solid gold and decorated with intricate carvings of flowers and animals, and fairies in various states of undress. It’s beautiful, the soft glow that she’d seen before now revealed to be hundreds - thousands - of lanterns beyond the gate, lit against the dark of the predawn hour. She’s never seen anything like it. 
“Fuck,” Wendy breathes, breaking her from her enchantement (which may or may not have been an actual enchantement). “It’s Solstice.” 
“Solstice?” Emma asks as Killian curses under his breath, walking over to look at the lanterns through the gate. Will looks absolutely thrilled. “What’s Solstice?” she presses. 
“A celebration of the shortest night of the year and the return of the sun,” Wendy explains. 
“It’s the Fae’s most sacred festival,” Killian adds, rubbing at his temples with thumb and forefinger before pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. “How did we not realize it was Solstice?” he asks the others.  
“So it’s kind of like Christmas?”
A slow, knowing smile creeps across Will’s face and she doesn’t trust the amused look in his eyes. “Something like that, aye.” 
“We have to go, come back another time,” Killian decides but his second frowns at him in disbelief. 
“And spurn the Queen’s invitation? To Solstice? If you’re looking to make an enemy, Hook, I know some less terrifying people you could offend.” 
“Do you have a better idea?”
“Yes. We go in there before the sun starts to rise,  participate in the celebration like grateful guests, and gain favour with Her Majesty before we ask her to risk her entire queendom with us.”
“You don’t understand… the ceremony it’s… complicated and-”
“It’s not my first Solstice,” she interrupts and his eyes go wide. 
“It’s what?”
“The summer one is better,” Will pipes in, Wendy nodding in agreement with a fond smile. Killian looks horrified and someone had better tell her what the hell this ceremony is that she might be getting involved in.
“We need her help,” Emma reminds him. “Tiger Lily said they wouldn’t help unless we have the fairies on our side. So unless you think we can save Henry and take down Pan with only the lorelei I think we just have to go to the party.” A party shouldn’t hold so much weight, she thinks, wondering when Neverland became high school.
“I agree,” Wendy backs her up and Killian shoots her a disapproving look. 
“I’ll go,” he declares. “I’ll speak to the Queen privately and the three of you can stay out of it.”
“What and leave you to have all the fun?” Will argues, sounding very put out. “Not likely.” 
“Tink probably already told her about Emma, and we haven’t missed a Solstice in nearly a decade.” Wendy points out. “We can’t risk her thinking she’s been stood up or that we’re hiding something from her - especially something she wants. We all have to go.” 
“How bad can it be?” Emma adds, going for encouraging, and wishes she hadn’t when she sees the frown that crosses his face.
“It’s not that bad at all,” Wendy assures her. “It’s actually really fun so long as you’re careful and don’t eat seven walnuts and decide to jump in the river because you think you’re a frog.”
“That was one time!” Will sighs defensively. 
“I’m surprised they invited us back.”
“How many times have you gone?” 
Will looks like he’s counting while Wendy only quips back “How many times have you?”
“Guys, I can’t see the stars anymore. We’ve got to decide soon,” she urges them.
Killian’s sigh is long-suffering and reluctant. “Fine. But if anything happens to her-” he begins to warn the other captain, but stops himself. 
Her frustrated expression softens. “It won’t. We’ll be careful.”
“That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun though, right?” Will ventures. “We were invited to the celebration…” 
“Is someone gonna explain this celebration to me, or are you all just gonna keep talking about me like I’m some helpless damsel you all need to watch over?”
With a proud smirk, Wendy reaches for the gate and runs her hand over the seam which trails a golden light in its wake. Emma jumps when two of the little carved fairies on either side suddenly come to life and look at the pirate. “We have an audience with the Queen,” she tells the living gold fairies. “Captain Hook and his crew.” After a moment, the figures each take hold of their side of the gate and, wings fluttering furiously, they pull the doors open. 
“I’m going to regret this,” Killian breathes before leading the way through the threshold.
Wendy loops her arm through Emma’s. “The whole day is a really big party. Food and drinks and music and dancing from sunup to sundown. That’s why the summer is better - the days are longer.”
That doesn’t sound so bad minus the frog walnuts, she thinks as they follow the path through the ancient, winding trees. These don’t look like the rest of Neverland’s dense jungle with crowded trees and dark, waxy leaves. No, these are ancient. Willows and oaks with moss covered trunks and branches, leaves pale green and hanging down along the path reflect the soft light from the lanterns that float magically all around them. The whole thing looks like… well, a fairytale.  
“Beautiful isn’t it?” 
Emma nods, remembering Killian’s warning that everything here was designed to make people want to stay. She can hear music not far off, soft and melodic. “So then what’s the big deal?” she asks.
“Um, well,” Wendy starts as they draw closer to what she imagines is the court, outlines of figures in the dim light, laughter floating over in tune with the strings being played. All dressed in the same, loose fitting tunics and pants or dresses made of gauzy material and ornately patterned fabrics. She can see the gold gleaming off of the stitching from yards away. Disney’s Tinkerbelle was definitely drawn by a dude. “The Fae have a different way of celebrating than most humans.” 
Emma frowns, wondering what she means by the vague explanation as she watches the graceful partygoers mingle, drinking from crystal and golden flutes, picking food from trays being carried by more modestly dressed fairies. 
A group of couples are dancing over by the musicians, others sat around watching or talking over the melody. It seems like a pretty standard party apart from the fact that they’ve all got wings, fine and delicate looking, that extend the entire length of their person. One fairy’s wings flutter as her partner swings her around, her feet leaving the grass as she spins in mid air. 
Another couple have retreated into one another, locked in an embrace that feels a little intimate for the middle of a dance floor, but Emma’s been to clubs before, she’s no stranger to people getting a little carried away in public. What she’s not used to, is the way one of the other fairies, a tall, handsome redhead who’d been watching the pairs dance, sets his drink down, standing to cross the field and join them. She blinks in disbelief as he wraps his arms around the woman and reaches to cup her partner’s cheek so he can kiss him. Emma looks away, face red as the woman trails her lips along the length of the first man’s neck, all three sets of hands wandering, reaching for whatever inch of skin they can touch in the sudden menage-a-trois that seems to have formed.
“Looks like some are getting started early,” Wendy says, as though a random three-way in the middle of the party is nothing out of the ordinary. 
“Early?” she gapes, the words registering as she watches another couple flirting boldly by a table covered in cakes and pastries, a touch starting innocently and then quickly growing bolder. “Oh my god.” She stares at Wendy as they approach the crowd. “Is this a sex party?” Suddenly, Killian’s distress over his near-daughter having attended several of these celebrations starts to make more sense. 
“It’s not a sex party,” she defends. “It’s a celebration of love and new beginnings, of life and the vitality that fuels their magic.” Emma stares blankly at her. “Okay fine, it’s not just a sex party.”  
“That’s exactly what it is,” Killian argues and Emma turns to look at him, her attention having been fixed on the dancers ahead as they walked. She can see more people now, coming from the forest to join the party. All beautiful in their rich clothing and dazzling, excited smiles. 
Oh my god, she’s at a fucking fairy orgy. She’d laugh if she wasn’t still so stunned. 
“And you guys have all been here before?” For a place that was supposed to be for kids, everyone else in Neverland seems to really get around. 
“A handful of times,” he answers shortly and Wendy scoffs under her breath. 
“It’s considered quite an honour in their realm to be invited,” Will tells her. Emma doesn’t really have a reply to that. 
“So everyone just… all day?” 
He snorts. “Basically.” 
“There are other things too,” Wendy promises. “Food and drink and dancing. There’s a whole ceremonial aspect to it as well, you know.” Killian rolls his eyes. She thinks maybe there wasn’t much more to it for him. “Their magic comes from dedication, to all things, from worshipping the power in everything around them, the earth, the sky, the food, and the people.” 
“Hence all the…” Emma gestures vaguely at the couples, “worshipping.” She doesn’t really understand, but this isn’t her world and people throw these kinds of parties for way less where she’s from. 
“It feeds their magic.” 
“And is everyone expected to… participate?” she asks warily, trying to sound as casual as possible. 
Wendy’s casual ‘yes’ and Killian’s emphatic ‘no’ and spoken at the same time. Killian glares at Wendy before turning to Emma. “In the celebration, yes. But one can celebrate however they like.” She holds back a snarky question about how he’s chosen to celebrate in the past as a fairy notices them. She’s gorgeous - of course she is, Emma wants to roll her eyes - tanned skin and short black hair, wings fluttering demurely as she hops up and glides across the field to land in front of them. 
“Hook,” she greets with a coy smile. Killian’s face looks torn between the natural urge to smoulder and a determination to keep his sombre mood. 
“Thistle.”
“Where have you been?” she accuses, pouting prettily. “We’ve missed you,” she tells him, hand tracing delicately along the chain at his neck before wrapping around the charms. 
We? Emma wants to ask, but before she can, two more fairies saunter over, a tall, curvy blonde and an equally stunning redhead. The whole trifecta, she rolls her eyes. The two Fae women join the first, draping themselves shamelessly around his arms, fingers playing at his hair, the lapels of his coat, the curve of his ears which Emma notes are bright red. Wendy looks like she’s going to be sick. It’s a bit much, really. She gets it, he’s fucked a lot of fairies. 
“Solstice hasn’t been the same without you, you know,” The blonde tells him, catching her suggestive smirk between her teeth. “Why didn’t you come back?” 
“I… had some business to attend to in the Land Without Magic.” 
“For ten years?” the little brunette demands. But before he can answer, defend the fact that time continued here without him, the redhead traces a bejewelled finger along the dimple in his chin, smiling wickedly. 
“It’s alright, Thistle. He can make it up to us this year,” she assures them before her lips find the underside of his jaw. 
“Oh for fucks sake,” Wendy curses under her breath. “I don’t know if I can handle a Solstice with him,” she tells Will.
Killian clears his throat, eyes casting quickly and uncomfortably to Emma’s as he extracts both his arms from the fairies’ grips. “I - uh, that is I…” She doesn't think she’s ever seen him speechless before. Though that may have something to do with the blonde’s hand wandering dangerously close to his belt. Emma turns away, not in the mood to watch him get it on with Charlie’s Angels, when a voice calls his name from the center of the party. 
“Killian Jones,” the woman declares, walking over with arms spread wide. The fairies who’d been fawning a moment ago quickly detach themselves from him, pulling back to stand behind Killian, bowing low. The imposing woman beams at him, stunning, dark skinned with black hair curling tightly down to her waist, flowers and golden beads woven intricately throughout. “The infamous Captain Hook returns.” The fairy takes his face in her hands, pressing a kiss to each of his cheeks. “It’s been too long.” 
Killian offers a small bow, seemingly unable to fight his smile. “Your Majesty.” 
*******
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inkpotsprite · 4 months ago
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I came up with this AU a while back - probably a few months after I stumbled into this fandom - and it's been bouncing around in my head for a while. (Excuse the scatterbrained nature of this post, I'm just writing my thoughts as they come)
Tim Drake meets Peter Pan (OUAT edition)
I mean, he's the perfect candidate for a lost boy. Neglected, lonely and will probably become scarily loyal to the first person who offers him a way out of that. Not to mention, he's smart, has loose morals (I mean, he did stalk and blackmail Batman) and can be a little ruthless at times, he'd be Peter's right hand man in no time.
So, he lives as a lost boy for a while, but finds Peter's ways of doing things too dark or cruel and, being the baby genius he is, escaped from Neverland, back to Gotham.
But also, we could combine this concept with the Tim joins the family early trope. Like, he goes to Neverland a couple of times, but also starts connecting with the Waynes, so that could be part of the reason he's able to let go of that loyalty to Peter, because he's got something better waiting for him. He never tells the Wayne's about his time in Neverland, worrying that they'll see him differently due to the morally grey things he did there as Peter's right hand man. Tim deals with quite a bit of imposter syndrome and insecurity, but ultimately, he's more happy than not.
Then, a few years later, Damian comes in and is all, well, Damian about things which makes things take a bad turn for Tim. The family is bad at balance/communication and Tim "Abandonment Issues" Drake is a very unreliable narrator at times, so it's angst galore. Then Peter turns up again.
Tim goes with him to Neverland, this time with the intention of staying forever.
Or, we could go another route and look into Damian, a kid whose whole life had been uprooted as he's sent to live with a father he's never met and with a family with vastly different dynamics to what he's used to. He's not neglected, but he's certainly lonely. Especially when being held up to expectations and moral standards that he finds impossible to comprehend after being raised by Talia and Ra's.
So Peter comes back, but he takes Damian instead, as a way to lure Tim back to Neverland. And, even if he doesn't like Damian much right now, of course Tim will go after him because that's his little brother and no way in hell is he letting Peter take him.
We could even sprinkle in a little backstory about Peter knowing Bruce from when Bruce was a kid, after his parents died. Now, two of Bruce's sons are missing and he has to find a way to Neverland.
That's where Jason comes in. Jason Todd, the ultimate lost boy who never was. Not for lack of trying. Peter's shadow swooped down to get him when he was living on the streets, but Jay isn't some naive kid, he's a Gothamite, a Crime Alley kid and he knows that if someone - even that someone is a creepy shadow person - grabs you and tries to get you to a secondary location, you fucking fight it with all you have. So, Jason never makes it to Neverland. Instead, he fights so hard that the shadow drops him, right onto Captain Hook - Killian Jones' - ship. They bond, Killian teaches Jason the ropes, but Jason ultimately decides to go back to Gotham for whatever reason (maybe Killian messes up or Jason's trust issues get the better of him) and he leaves.
We could also play around with parallels between Bruce and Peter. Both taking in lost, lonely kids that no one else wants, having them fight battles, Peter could even hit Bruce with that 'at least my boys will never die' as if forcing them to live forever in eternal stagnation is so much better.
While in Neverland together, Tim and Damian start to bond over their feelings of never truly belonging anywhere. That they'll be forever defined by what they did over who they are. As they grow closer, Tim reassures Damian that he will always belong with him, to give him the chance to prove it.
Meanwhile, Bruce, Dick and Jason are on their way to Neverland. And Peter is ready to start playing the game.
... And that's all I've got so far.
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cssns · 4 months ago
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Please welcome the multi-talented @spartanguard to CSSNS24!
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Your Tumblr and any other applicable names
SpartanGuard
How long have you been in the CS/OUAT fandom?
I watched the show from Day 1 until the very final episode; became active in the fandom during 4A, so coming up on 10 years!
When did you start shipping Captain Swan?
Actively after the first date; low-key in 3x14—"If it can be broken, that means it still works." SWOON. (You speak for all of us, Kaitlyn!)
What drew you to this event?
I love Captain Swan and I love fantasy!
What inspired your topic?
I really enjoyed the movie Jungle Cruise and there were a few aspects of Frank's character that really reminded of Killian (not saying what as I don't want to spoil the movie), so the wheels have been turning on how to adapt it into an AU for a while. But I knew it wouldn't have quite the same meaning with the OUAT characters if we just dropped them into what's essentially a historical fantasy in our world, so twisting it into something that fits into the Enchanted Forest (and associated realms) has been fun.
If you would like to share a snippet/sneak peek/summary of your fic or artwork, please use the space below.
Inspired by the movie Jungle Cruise, but set in the world of OUAT; Princess Emma is searching for a cure to help her kingdom's war effort—but so is the leader of her enemy kingdom. Alongside her sister, Snow, she seeks out a guide to Neverland, where the mythical cure supposedly hides, and finds Captain Killian Jones, who is less than eager to help. Adventure, danger, and romance follow!
For our artists: What kind of art do you like to do? Picsets, painting, digital, etc? Feel free to give as much info as you like.
Mostly manips, but the occasional picset if everything I want to convey outstrips my photoshop abilities.
For our betas: Who/what have you beta'd before, or is this your first time? Feel free to give as much info as you like.
I've been beta'ing almost as long as I've been writing fic, and my day job is as an editor. (Fic is much more exciting than the things I edit at work, though!)
What are you looking forward to most about participating in this event?
Seeing all the fun stories and adventures we get taken on!
We are beyond excited to see Kaitlyn's story drop on 8/14/24! She's also going to be an artist and beta, so she's going to be super busy for CSSNS24!
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anonymous-dentist · 11 months ago
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I can imagine that Slimecicle is the Boogeyman while El Mariana is la Llorona in ouat au
In traditional Once Upon a Time fashion, let's see
Charlie is the Boogeyman who is also the Mad Hatter (from Alice in Wonderland), who has a crush on Puss-in-Boots and who is married to La Llorona, who is Mariana, who is also one of Peter Pan's Lost Boys who left Neverland after the evil takeover and grew up into a very sad, very tall mess of a man who is in love with the female version of Sleeping Beauty, who is Roier in drag
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