We're all a little lost

That was hilarious enough to make Mal laugh, diverting her eyes as she fought to retain control. Mal was nothing like her mother, nothing. She might lie and steal and cheat, she might even hurt people, but she didn’t break her promises. She didn’t leave her family behind to rot. Mal rolled her eyes at the old adage, shaking her head. “Stain? Please, Harriet. I’m already rotten to the core.” Except she wasn’t. Mal had never removed her heart; had never asked her mother to show her what her magic had done. But Mal had never truly used her magic to hurt other people either. Not yet. 

Harriet continued droning on and the faery rolled her eyes. She didn’t care who the other girl kissed, or fucked, or whatever it was she was going on about. “You don’t have to concern yourself with my wellbeing, or my magic,” she replied. Harriet didn’t get it. Mal had been without her powers for decades; literally decades. The town might not have been with magic before, but she could feel it in the air, under the streets. Someone had brought magic to this town, and that meant she was free to use her powers. “Who says we’re trapped?” she asked. “Maybe they just need someone strong enough to break whatever curse is holding this place inside a bubble.”

“Are ye though? My heart’s no black yet, because while I might be a typical villain kid, I’ve no done anything truly evil. What about you? What did mama lizard get ye to do for her before the curse?” There was only one thing that would ever cause her own heart to go black and that was getting revenge on anyone that dared to hurt her family. The pirate would willingly turn her heart black for family. There was a difference between being rotten to the core as everyone on the isle loved to claim and the darkness that was their actual reality. Peoples hearts could be removed and crushed after all.

Oh Harriet didn’t concern herself but it as fun to poke and tease fun at the dragon, but she elected to just shrug in response, none committal and open to interoperation. “Yer so right Malizard! Why didn’t I think of that? Are ye that strong person? By all means, please go ahead and try, ye’ll be my hero.” The pirate grinned wickedly, she’d watched someone try earlier and collapse to the ground in pain. This would be hilarious. “I’ll come watch, just so I can recount tales of yer heroism to the rest of the town.” A bright smile lined her features, positively wicked in nature, but sweet looking all the same. She raised a hand to point in the direction of the town line. “By all means Dragon Breath.”

Killian was now losing his temper with his daughter, she had thought up this bullshit story in some bratty attempt to hurt him further, to tear him down until he was as broken as she must’ve been. And it was working. His eyes wet with something which was not tears, his fingers pressed tightly into the inner corners of his eyes until the wetness had left and hidden back inside of him. But he left her to rant until she had gotten it all out, the sad pitiful story of how she had somehow managed to travel to the underworld and save her siblings, he would’ve laughed in her face had it not broke another chip away from his cold and dead heart. 

Villains did not get happy endings, and that was the only proof he needed to believe that his children were not back to life, they weren’t back, and they’d never come back. If they got lucky, Milah would be with them, looking out for them as he knew she would do. 

“If yer’ quite done now.” He growled words drawing out slowly, while his hook made home under her chin, dragging her face up until their eyes met, and the anger and hurt which invaded his eyes, he could only guess was replicated within his daughters. “I didn’t need ye’ to tell me how I’ve fucked up, I already know that. I’m the king of fucking things up, haven’t ye’ noticed that yet, I can never make ye’ happy because I’m incapable of that, but don’t ever doubt that I don’t love ye’ cause ye’ and yer siblings, yer the most important to me, an’ that’s sayin’ a lot.” 

His words broke, hook falling away while he took a step away from his daughter, so much he still wished to say to her but he didn’t know the actual words he should’ve spoken. He couldn’t deal with things when they got too much like they previously had, and his instinct is to turn to drink before anything else, because that was his coping mechanism. But he has already failed his children, even if she was telling the truth, he had still failed them. 

“Are they really alive?” This was no longer Hook, the great and fearful Pirate Captain speaking, it was Killian Jones, a man worried about his children.

He didn’t believe her. That was fine, but she wasn’t lying. So whether he liked the story or now, whether it was easier to hear it as a work of fiction. It was Harriet’s real life for the past few weeks. He could ask the peppy sheriff and the kid Henry if he wanted, but he wouldn’t care enough to check. That much was painfully clear and she got it. He didn’t want to believe that she would do such a thing - or maybe it was that he just didn’t care.  She didn’t budge as he stepped towards her, dark angry and hurt eyes looking into his ocean blue, but the emotions were mirrored between them both. Pain. Anger.

“I’m no done Papa, I am far from being fucking done.” The pirate growled back, but she paused sensing he was in fact going to speak. Harriet know she should be more scared with the hook below her chin, the point not far from tender flesh; but the point was to force her eyes, not hurt her. “Aye, ye do. Because maybe if I repeat it enough it will get through that pigheaded head o’ yers.” Her dark eyes were slowly getting a pink tinge to the edge, looking more glossy than before. “We’ve dinnae want some perfect hero pa, we just want you. You. Life with ye before that curse - I was happy pa. With you, and Harry and CJ. The crew. Home. I was happy. Ye made me happy.” The first tear rolled down her cheek as he pulled away.

“How am I supposed to believe ye care when you never show it? When I look at how much I’ve failed ye since the curse started? Ye’ve disappeared from my life since the curse broke. Ye didnae come for us. Ye didn’t come for me when they died and I was alone. Because I failed ye, I fucked up and ye didnae want me as a result.” She didn’t doubt he loved Harry or CJ, his despair here was clear. Her. She was a different story. She was supposed to watch over her siblings, protect them, guide them and instead she got them killed. If Harriet was her papa, she wouldn’t want to find her either.

That was one thing that he was sure he would have missed out on, had he been born and raised in the Enchanted Forest; the chance to learn how to protect himself.

He knew some pressure points to go for if someone tried to grab him, but he agreed with Ettie, he should know how to wield a sword without hurting himself.

“Do you think I’m in danger?” Henry asked the pirate that had become a close friend to him, he could believe her if she told him that he was in danger and part of him knew that if he needed protection then he could always go to her. Or even to Anthony even if he hadn’t met the other boy yet.

“If you need someone to talk too, I can be someone to talk at” Henry offered quietly, he would have suggested Archie but since the portals, his friend had disappeared like most of the other adults in the town.

The kid was clever, more than the adults in his life clearly gave him credit for and she figured he’d pick it up quickly.

“No necessarily, but kid, yer mum has a lot of enemies. To many to count - look at this place, and how many teenagers and kids came over from the isle and Auradon. She took all our lives away from us. “It’s only natural that some people aren’t gonna take it well.” and she’d rather the kid be safe when they did. A crew was only as safe as it’s weakest member. The evil queen was leaving herself and Henry vulnerable by not teaching him how to defend himself.

“It’s mitigation, no reactive.” Preparing in advance would protect the kid in the long run. “Thanks kid, and if ye need me, we’ll all be that Bael’s bar most o’ the time. Away With The Fairies. My brother Bael owns the bar.”

It was the little dink of metal piercing metal that made Hansel turn, glancing to find a fucking dagger sticking out of a post box, and one pissed looking young woman staring back at him. He brought a hand up, pointing to himself. “You’re accusing me of stealing?” he asked, expression innocent as he held his hands up in a gesture expressing innocence. “Not me, lady.” So she had gotten his mark’s wallet. That explained why he hadn’t been able to find it. Interesting.

“Aye, and not very well. Yer far too obvious with yer bump, and you pick the heaviest item. If ye had went for the other purse in that pocket I wouldnae have realised because the one currently in yer pocket is heavy.” Arms folder. “Next dagger goes between yer eyes. Besides, there isn’t much notes in the one you took, just a lot of coins - not even decent ones - little bronze ones.” She was telling a half truth, there was notes, but she was watching his facial expression.

“Not in this realm,” Neal corrected, almost gleefully. “They think Jack Sparrow, Captain Pugwash. Maybe even Blackbeard.” There was an almost unholy sense of delight in saying the last one. Neal remembered quite clearly some of the awful things spoken about the rival pirate. “Captain Hook’s a joke. The kids of this realm aren’t scared of him; they mock him.” Okay, so it wasn’t accurate in any sense, but perhaps the Peter Pan story in this realm at least had something worthwhile about it.

“I know.” The despair in his tone had to tell anyone listening how upset he was by the fact he couldn’t prove that he hadn’t wanted to leave her, but he hadn’t; his nightmares for months were of Harriet and little baby Harry being caught by the Shadow, being caught in a wreck, being unsafe all because he’d left. Once he’d been with Pan for a while, however, he had new nightmares; ones where the pirate’s children were stuck with Pan too. That, it turned out, probably would have been worse. “I can’t prove it to you, Ettie, but I mean it. I’ve only ever been so sorry once in my life.” And that? That was when he let Emma take the fall for his crimes, like August had asked him to.

He took the wallet back gratefully, pleased to have his little treasures back in his possession, but now that he knew who had taken his wallet, it wasn’t quite so important. Because one of the memories of his treasures, Ettie, had come back to him and that meant the world. She’d been like the little sister he’d always wanted, and he could feel the instincts screaming at him again already. But she wasn’t five and he wasn’t a teenager - somehow the age gap seemed to have increased, and he felt awkward.

The news that she’d been alone - that he had another little sister, and CJ was officially his little sister simply by her relation to Harriet - struck him to the core and before he knew what he was doing, he’d wrapped both his arms around the young woman to pull her into a hug. “I get that you don’t wanna hear it, but your pa is shit,” Neal muttered, holding her tightly against him. “I’m sorry, Ettie. You’re not alone now.”

Ok, so from the list that Bael just gave her, Harriet only knew who one of them. “Who the bloody hell is Sparrow or Pugwash?” She ignored the gib about Blackbeard. Overgrown oaf didn’t even know how to sail his own ship, only ordering people to sail it for him. A captain was only as good as the help he was to his crew, and for her father’s sins, he knew how to muck in and help and that was something he had passed to her. “Ye better mind yer words Bael, my papa is not a joke. No matter what’s happened, he is still my papa and calling him a joke, is callin’ me a joke.”

Of course he couldn’t prove it, it had been forty years give of take and both of them only looked fifteen or so years older. Magic royally sucked. Harriet hated it. Magic had dictated her life since the moment she was born and magic had ruined her family. Because of the curse she had lost her pa, she lost her siblings, she lost time and happy memories. “Of course ye cannae. What’s done is done though. No turnin’ back.” something Harriet was becoming increasingly aware off. Shit happened and she just had to try stand up, and dust herself off and more on. Bael left, it hurt, she got over it - kinda. “Regret’s are not logical, ye can’t change what’s past.`’

Harriet would find someone else to steal from; even if that meant she had to go without tonight so that CJ and Ant could eat, or they could put a roof over their head for the night at the B&B. She looked at Baelfire though, taking in all his features. He didn’t look too much different, just, older. Just as she was sure that she definitely looked older than the last time he’d seen her. Everything was screaming at her that this was the same person that held her as she cried when she was small, who bandaged up skinned knees and elbows. She wanted to hug him, but she was too scared too. To scared to get attached again.

The minute Bael pulled her against his chest, tucking the younger pirate against him, the young woman began to sob. She’d needed to hear that, hear that she wasn’t alone, someone just holding her and saying they’d be there. It’s all she needed, over the last few weeks and beyond. “Pa’s not shit, I’m sure he’s hurtin’ too.” the muttered against the man who was effectively her big brother’s chest.

Mal was rather pleased to see Harriet almost fall on her ass, blown a good distance away, leaving her satisfied with the result. Yes, she still had a handle on her magic. That was good, and if it had indeed grown more powerful like she anticipated, then she was going to have to make sure she kept an iron grip (pun not intended) on the reins. She shrugged at the pirate on the floor, pressing her lips together in a frown before she spoke. “I don’t know why you think I don’t have a grip on my powers, Fish Bait,” she replied, holding her hands up. “I could have done a lot worse and not a bit of damage to myself. Do you really want to throw down?” The truth was that she wasn’t completely confident; the sort of magic she’d have to use to scare Harriet off was more than she was ready to test.

Then again, she thought to herself as Harriet approached, touching her hair like she was someone deserving of that closeness, perhaps she should just burn the bitch. Green eyes narrowed, but she pulled an innocent face. “Are you worried about little old me?” she questioned, bringing her finger up to boop Harriet on the nose. “As adorable as your crush is, Oyster Brain, I’ll be just fine. The Enchanted Forest couldn’t contain me and neither will this little town.”

“Because yer as emotionally unbalances as the lizard you call mother?” Harriet offered unhelpfully as a solution. “Yes throwing down sounds fun - the more you use your powers, the greater the prince Malizard. All magic comes with a price, and what are you willing to pay to get at me? You ready to stain that little heart of yers black?”

“Worried? Why no. Not at all. You imploding, being trapped in a faraday cage. These are the dreams that actually make dreaming worthwhile.” She sighed dramatically, but it changed to an amused snort at Mal’s words. “Crush aye? O’ course, that’s what this is.” Harriet’s tone dripped with sarcasm. “Ye know though Mal, I did have ye on, my what would it be like to kiss them list. But alas, I’m an honest woman now, Ant and me.” She shoulders bunched in a deep shrug. “This has been a positively riveting conversation Dragon Wart; but you fail to think things through logically - unsurprising really. This isn’t the Enchanted Forest. This is a land which stifles magic. Not unlike the Isle, and we were trapped there for twenty eight years until the annoyingly peppy sheriff broke the curse - we didnae escape the isle Violet, we were freed. Except nae one is freeing us this time.”

So CJ was okay. Did that mean Harry was too? Then again, Anthony had seen Uma from a distance; if anyone would drag the other pirate back up to the land of the living, it was undoubtedly going to be her.  It seemed his pondering of cavern homes wasn’t required, and he listened as the love of his young life explained where they were. Storybrooke, just like Ginny had said. He felt Harriet come closer and wrapped his arms around her tightly, just revelling in the fact he was alive and had her at his side for a moment.

And then she punched him. Ettie was tougher than she looked (and she looked pretty tough), so he didn’t feel completely unjustified in letting her go to rub his shoulder gently, sending her a faux hurt look. Magic did indeed come with a price, one that few were ever really able to accept. He knew of her feelings on magic and bit his tongue to stop a retort. It wasn’t the time. But then Ettie was touching him, confirming that he was. He was alive. She might not like it, but it was definitely some kind of magic and he was worried about the price. Unless…

But any thoughts running through his head disappeared for a long moment as Ettie kissed him again. The kiss was part of her threat, he was sure, but in that moment he couldn’t focus on much else but her lips, her breath, how warm she was against him. Everything was alright again. He pulled away only after he was certain Ettie would be more satisfied (because he was), giving her a small smile. “I’m not intending on going anywhere, so please don’t feed me to anyone.” Anthony leaned in and stole another brief kiss. “Does this mean I get to keep doing this? Prove I’m stil around?”

Harriet hummed lightly at Anthony’s question. Lips quirking into a smirk, a sigh playing lazily, over dramatically. “I guess so? I mean, yer stuck with mandatory touching for the next month, just so I can be sure yer no going to disappear on me again, and kisses are most welcome.” she grinned, her head leaning forward to rest against his shoulder. The anxiety was still there, in her chest, the inane panic that she could blink and he would be gone. That this was just some grief induced dream that she never wanted to wake up from. Right here, in his arms, knowing Harry and CJ were alive. This was her happy ending. She was sure of it.

Anthony was her happy ending. Her siblings were her happy ending. It had nearly destroyed her being without them; without anyone.

A hand moved from his chest, cupping his jaw as the pirate paused for a minute, just to take in her first mate. Her heart. She’d kill him if he ever scared her like that again, and she was tempted to punch his arm again, and just narrowly managed to stop herself. It had always been Ant, ever since they met in the Enchanted forest. When a pirate gatecrashed a royal ball and the Princesses cocky nephew came over to her after she rolled her rolled her eyes at the princesses fawning over him. To the lord helping the pirate steal jewels, spending the night together. To him joining to the Navy. To the altercation between the Navy and the Jolly Roger, her and him, sword to sword - until she pushed him overboard.

They found each other. They always found each other. Those fates that Hades spoke off; they kept tugging the Navy Man and the Pirate Princess together. Fingers moved to his hair. “We need to find a house. Away from the water. It’s like the Isle here, there’s a barrier.” CJ wouldn’t want to go near the water. As much as she wanted to stand here and kiss Ant all day - and she truly did - there were plans for their futures that needed to be put in place.

Mal scowled. So she was out of practice, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t figure something out to torment the pirate with. Being pinned didn’t intimidate her - she’d been in worse situations, and she was absolutely willing to take the risk of imploding if it meant she took this snot-nosed little brat with her. God, Harriet was worse than Harry, and Mal hated Harry for more reasons than she could count. Literally the only thing going for the oldest Hook was her face, and she was more than tempted to ruin that right now. But she stayed still, listening. Carlos died. Evie… She didn’t know what had happened to Evie, and Jay was okay. She had to find them, as soon as possible. 

Eyes going wide, she pulled her best faux-innocent face and snapped. “Oh, you think you’ll ever get close enough to pull a weapon on me, Barnacle Brain?” Her hands found Harriet’s sides, sliding up to rest against her stomach. “You’re only this close because you’re right where I want you.” Her eyes glowed and she pushed with her magic, forcing Harriet away. Pursing her lips together, she fluttered her eyelashes. “But thanks so much for the information, Harri. My gratitude can be found in the fact you’re not ash right now.”

“Nah, I’m only this close because I caught you off guard Mal baby.” The pirate cooed gently. The hands moving across her stomach had Harriet pausing wondering what the fae was up too. Until eyes glowed and she was thrown back, but she managed to brace herself and managed to land on one knee rather than her ass. Harriet gritted her teeth at the pain in her side, and the pain in her knee from landing on it. “Ye mean in the fact we’re no ash right now.” She made popping sound with her lips as used her hands to mimic an explosion. “Yer lucky that you didnae knock yerself out there Dragon Breath.”

She moved back close to Mal, her hand moving to play with a strand of purple hair. “Oh Mal, who needs weapons?” She pulled her hand back, a wicked grin on her lips. “No just weapons contain iron. No in this land.” Buttons, jewellery, everything had iron in it here. It was glorious. “I wonder how careful yer going to have to be in this town Mal - metal everywhere - how much of it will be iron I wonder? I bet the houses were built with iron bones - would it act as a cage if you went inside a house built with iron?” Harriet laughed happily.

He had a pirate offering to teach him how to sword fight.

How awesome was that! Henry had to fight down the childish urge of bouncing up and down on the heels of his feet in excitement, he had a number of people in his life that should have offered to teach him considering he was the son of the Evil Queen and the Savior as well as the grandson of the infamous bandit Snow White and her Prince Charming.

He’d be everyone’s first point of attack when looking for weaknesses.

“Really?! You’d want to teach me how to sword fight?!” He questioned happily before he frowned in worry about the lack of sleep that she was dealing with “Nightmares?”

“Of course kid. Every kid should know how to wield a sword without hurtin’ themselves. Ye know? Pa and Smee taught me when I was small. As soon as I could lift it without fallin’ over.” Did most parents not do that in the Enchanted Forest? “Ye see, papa has a lot of enemies, and the Jolly Roger sailed in dangerous waters. It was for our own protection. Harry and CJ too as soon as they were old enough.”

Henry was the grandchild of Snow White and her prince. Son of the Evil Queen - and the saviour if rumours were to be believed - the kid was a walking liability. Should have learnt years before now.

Her head nodded a little. “Sometimes, they’re not all about what happened - there is some figures from my childhood who’re enough to strike fear in the hearts of men.”

Neal snorted at her defense of her father. Killian Jones, Captain Hook. The man who had torn his family apart, the man who had dragged his mother away. If she hadn’t gone, if she hadn’t been tempted by him, then maybe she would have stayed at home with him. Perhaps she would have been happy being a mother, and loved his father. Perhaps Rumpelstiltskin would never have become the Dark One and they would all still be in the Enchanted Forest, or so long dead that they would’t have had to worry about a Land Without Magic. No, Baelfire hated Killian Jones with a burning passion; the only good thing about the man had been his children. “Your pa’s a lying, cheating asshole who gives even pirates a bad name,” he replied, shaking his head. No, he hated Killian and couldn’t deny it, even to Harriet.

But there it was. A name he hadn’t heard in such a long time, and it almost brought the boy flooding back. Her next words broke his heart and Neal took a step forward, only stopping himself because she’d asked him not to touch her. She didn’t know him like she had then, couldn’t trust that it was him, and it killed him more than he realised it would.

“No, no. I didn’t- I wanted to take you with me,” he responded again. “The Lost Boys were looking for me. They knew I was there and your pa…” He swallowed. “He’s the reason my mom died. He’s the reason I had to leave. I never wanted to leave you, Ettie. I would’ve taken you with me in a heartbeat if I could’ve.” But instead she’d been left with Killian Jones, a man not fit to be a father. A man who had revenge in his heart and no room for children. 

He wasn’t the right age. That made Neal snort. “Different realms, different time frames. I’m not the one who got trapped in a curse for twenty eight years. I’ve been here… I’ve been- alone.” Ettie would know how much that hurt him. He’d confided in a five year old, that he’d been so happy to have a family and then he’d lost it all again. Again and again and again. Neal Cassidy was not destined to have a happy family, it seemed. “God, I missed you, kid.”

The piratess scowled at his words about her papa. “Yer wrong, my pa is the pirate name. When they hear pirates, they think Hook.” She swallowed, she would always defend her pa, even though she hadn’t seen him since before CJ died, considering in twenty-eight years and a couple of months, she’d spoken to her pa once.

No one knew about the Lost Boys - not really. Everyone here believed that the Lost Boys were a bunch of tiny children who defeated the big bad pirates - Captain Hook. The look in his eyes told Harriet he’d seen the very nature of many of her nightmares. Neverland was not the pretty place this land without magic seemed to think. His mom. Of course. She knew exactly who his mother was. Her entire existence had been focused around her father’s need for revenge against his father. She’d spent the entire of her existence chasing crocodiles. Except, for a brief period, where a tall lanky boy was on the ship, and he wanted to play with her. He wanted her to be a kid. 

Bael. He was Bael.

“Ye cannae say that. It’s easy to say that crap in hindsight. I couldnae prove it to be true one way or another Bae. I woke up and ye were gone. No explanation. Ye were just gone. And pa was in a foul mood.” And why would he take her? No even her pa really wanted her. No even Harry. Ant would tire or her, CJ would grow up and leave her.

By all accounts she hadn’t seen Baelfire in over forty years if you took her age when he left and the curse into consideration. She put the coin back in the wallet, and handed it back over, complete with all the money inside. Harriet might be a villainous pirate Captain, but as the saying went, there was honour among thieves. She still remembered sitting in Bael’s lap after she had gained the scar on her forearm, the lecture the teenager boy was giving her, because he had been so happy to find a family, just for a snot-nosed little brat to go and scare him like that. “I missed ye too Baelfire.”

“I... I’ve been alone too. My little sister CJ - Calista Jane, she’s fifteen; she was born a year or so after ye left - she got hurt, and she died. Harry too, and Anthony - my... boyfriend. They all died. I went to the underworlds too find them. But I was alone for weeks - I couldn’t find pa. Or he didn’t want to find me, ye know?”

Carlos had what now? Mal’s expression dropped into one of disbelief for a moment. How- how the hell did Carlos make friends with literal gods? On second thoughts, she didn’t want to know. The son of Cruella had many hidden talents, even unto himself, and she wasn’t going to question this one. So that was the boys accounted for, but nothing on Evie. A hint of panic ran through her. Okay, okay. She had to figure out how to find her blue-haired bestie and stat. Mal couldn’t help but laugh as Harriet took a step towards her, trying to threaten her even. Oh, this? This Mal could deal with. She’d had enough fights on the Isle and prior to that, and now she had her magic back. “What’re you gonna do about it, Pirate Princess? Make me walk the plank?” Her fingers sparked, itching to unleash something on her.

Except any desire for a fight drained from the fairy in an instant at the mention of the Underworld. “What do you mean the Underworld? You just said they were alright!”Anger fueled her and in a moment, she was pushing the older pirate back towards the nearest wall, fists balling in her clothes. “You better explain, Hook, and fast, otherwise I’m going to ruin that pretty little face of yours.”

“Awww you think I’m a princes and my face is pretty.  Go for it Pixiedust, do your worst - do you actually even remember how to use that magic of yours? You sure using it wouldn’t implode on yourself? You willing to take that risk? Because I am.” The pirate backed up, but as soon as her back touched the wall she flipped them so Mal was against the wall. “I wonder if iron would burn you now - I heard it’s poisonous the the fae people. I mean, I’m not Harry, but I’m more than willing to experiment in the name of science.”

“However I’m feeling generous. Recently my pseudo big brother came back into my life and he is horrifyingly heroic. While you were god only knows where - maybe sleeping, your mom’s good at those curses right? - everyone that was on the Isle when it collapsed died. Jay was here. Carlos there. Evie, not a damn clue. But Hades sprung that cage and brought everyone back. Yay.” she muttered the last part sarcastically, hands clapping together in a girly way.

((PAST))

Oh shit.

Hades didn’t do well with crying kids, nor crying women and it was much much worse when the both of them were put together which was why he usually left stuff like this to his wife.

“Hey now” Hades started awkwardly as he limbed up from behind his desk and moved to where the young woman was standing, the only woman he had ever really been able to comfort was his wife and that was only because he would pull her into a hug; just as he would do with his son too. “No need to despair, from what my sources have informed me, your brother has been reunited with one of those who holds his heart, your sister is not alone and should you find your man; you could possibly take him back with you if you bring him back here to cut a deal”

“I made my own way out, Uma came for me and Gil.” He stated, not going to much detail about the whole revival process as he was certain that was something his sister didn’t need to hear. “CJ is okay though? I stayed with her as much as I could in the Underworld, honest.” 

“I’m alright but that brat Carlos won’t be when I get my hands on him. I was planning on pushing him through the portal while it was open but the flee-ridden mutt managed to stall out just long enough for the ground to open up, caught me on the very brief moments I was off-guard, he died as well though so, It’s kind of a win.”

“Hades told me. I’m glad you go out Harry.” She’d gotten all the way to hell and both her siblings had already gotten out. Sod’s law really. “Ceej is as well as she can be, you did amazing, I’m so sorry I wisnae there for either of you.” She’d failed as a big sister, she hadn’t been able to protect either of them. “Can I give my little brother a hug or is he too grown up for that now?”

“He what?” Harriet’s eyes darkened a little, sure Harry shouldn’t have been trying to push someone through the portal; but Storybrooke had been on the other side, not hell, and the mutt boy killed her brother? At least he died too. “I hope you plan on making his life miserable, perhaps we can set his mother on him.”

Hook had heard her voice before he’d seen her. How could he have ever forgotten the sound of his eldest’s voice. It had brought a calm to soothe his madness even if was just the smallest way, yet it also reminded him that once again he had left her all alone. She had lost both siblings and he had left her to fend for herself. Any other father would’ve been there for their child but not him because when he was on self destruct he rather was alone. “Aye, I won’t fall.” Was his only reply to her statement, he didn’t want to think about his daughter’s body in the water. Lifeless. Taken away by her home. 

He froze paused stuck in his spot at the mention of his passed child. Finally being the thing that forced the captain into looking at his daughter after all this time. “Is tha’ supposed to be some sick joke, kid?” Hook spat, venom filled his words and his tone, as he dangerously took a step towards his daughter. “Yer really hate me tha’ much? Wha’ think it’ll get rid of me too?” 

Hand clenched tightly once more again, as he forced to fight back the anger currently bubbling inside of him. How dare she. “Wha’s next, yer gonna be tellin’ is’ to go find Harry?” If only death did work so easily that he could seek out his children - and his lost love.

“Do ye know what is some sick joke? To think ye actually care about any of us.” She fumed, her heart beating painfully in her chest. Chest constricting making each drawn in breath painful. “Do ye know wha’ I’ve been doin’ with my time pa? I begged the Sheriff to get the Queen to take my heart. I begged her to help me forget to let me follow my family to the Underworld. Then I found a way in. I went to the belly of the underworld. I spoke with Hades who told me Harry and CJ were already returned.“ he could call her cruel. “Hate ye? I love ye more than anything. It’s you who hates me apparently.”

“Calista is alive and well - considering - and currently likely to be helping herself to a bottle of rum from Bael’s bar. I should probably lecture, but am sure Bael will cover tha’.” Harriet sneered at him, dropping the bag filled with her’s and CJ’s things. Turning to face him, she wasn’t a kid anymore and she could go toe to toe with his anger - after all, she inherited hers from him. “Where the fuck were ye when the portal to the underworld open? Where were ye when I was alone? Ye know what, dinnae answer, I can smell it fae here.” She laughed bitterly, like it matter, it mattered as much as she did to him apparently. “Ye should aye. I didnae see him when I was in the underworld, but Hades assured me that Harry made it out with Octupusgob and Prettyboy - and since I work wi’ Prettyboy, I have it on true love authority.”

She saw the curled fist and she scoffed, shaking her head, back teeth grinding as she fought for some semblance of control. Harriet was the definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Trying to get through to her pa over and over, and only ever incurring his anger. “I love ye papa, I do. More than ye will likely ever love me. But I cannae keep fighting ye. Yer my papa. So if ye need to swing at me to make yerself feel better. Go for it. But ye better make it count, ye only get one.”

“Ye need to bare in mind, yer not the only one who was hurting.”