safe passage

alexandralyman:

(I have a lot of feelings about the fact that Captain Hook gave Snow and Charming safe passage aboard the Jolly Roger before Emma was born in 6×20 and they were all still under the singing enchantment at the time)

The princess was with child.

It hadn’t been obvious at first, her garments loose enough to conceal the swell of her belly beneath the folds of leather as snowy white as her famed complexion. He’d heard the tales, he knew them on sight from the moment they stepped into the tavern while he watched unseen from the shadows. Captain Hook had no time for anything but his vengeance, but he was an observant man and he noted the way she rested her hand on the babe within when the bargain was struck between them. He’d had an urge to hold a knife to her throat and demand the Dark One be delivered to him at once, deal be damned, their quarrel with the Evil Queen was none of his concern and he’d waited so long (too long) to skin himself a crocodile…but even he was not so far gone as to threaten a pregnant woman and risk her miscarrying on the deck of his ship.

There was blood enough on his hand already.

The moon was bright over the wine-dark sea and the stars were like the diamonds he’d spurned as payment. He held their course steady, sailing the Jolly through the treacherous waters that led to the queen’s castle. It was a journey of only one night, but the nights were long when his bed was empty and the space in his chest where his heart should be ached for what was lost so long (too long) ago. The refrain echoed on the wind as the song refused to fade, whatever enchantment had befallen the land followed them out to sea and with the crash of the waves on the hull he kept singing low under his breath, “Revenge, revenge, revenge is gonna be mine.”

She came up on deck, alone, her tall, blond prince still tucked away down below. The few crew still awake gave her a wide berth, Captain Hook had promised the princess safe passage, and safe passage was what she would get, she was in no danger from his men. Her long dark hair reminded him of another woman, another time, another life, when he’d loved and been loved, a man instead of a villain, Killian instead of Hook. When happiness had been his for the taking and the horizon was full of promise, new adventures waiting to be discovered.

“Until that croc destroyed my life and filled me with hate unabating,”

It roared in his ears so loud that it almost drowned out the sweet sound that had the rest of the men all turning to look, heads cocked and old memories making hard faces soft, for a moment.

Snow White was singing to her child.

A mother’s lullaby, a promise to “My darling daughter so fair, so beloved you are, with my smile and your father’s hair.”

Hook felt his shoulders hunch under the heavy leather, turning the collar up to his ears in a vain attempt to block it out. He had no time for this, no space for softness in a hard world when all that mattered was the destiny waiting for him just over the horizon.

“Revenge, revenge, revenge is gonna be mine.”

“And her name is the song in our hearts, the melody of the love that will always be true. With our daughter’s fate at stake.”

Their voices mixed on the wind as the sails snapped and the ship rode the waves, rising and falling like the music that continued to play across the stars.

“…find happiness waiting.”

“The most powerful magic of all. Emma…”

“….is gonna be mine.”