A Mikaelson in Storybrooke

"The Miller's Daughter"

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2.16

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The Jolly Roger was rather fast, and I hadn't traveled on a boat since I was four and my mom and I had to travel overseas to get to our new home. We moved around a lot, avoiding death from vampires hunting us down. Despite that morbid little detail, I actually enjoyed that boat ride.

But this one, not so much. I kept feeling guilty for not helping Mr Gold, who in some very, very, very complicated sense is sort've my Grandpa, which I refuse to refer to him as. I'm not 100% sure I could, but back home, my blood could supposedly cure almost any sickness and heal almost any wound.

But then again, I feel like I would be betraying my mother, and it started to make me sick on how much I was mentally debating this. So I finally settled on still keeping it a secret since Gold said he could cure himself, and if it ends up not working, then I can pop in and reveal to everyone that I'm not actually human like I let them believe for so long.

Ruby had been waiting by the docks as soon as we got there, and helped Neal with getting Gold off the boat, so that's what they were doing now.

"Are you okay?" Mary Margaret shouted as she and her husband ran towards us.

Emma was tying the little rowboat we had taken from the ship to the dock since the Jolly Roger couldn't exactly fit. "Yeah." She answered with a small sigh. "Yeah. We're all right."

"Uh, I drove a ship." Henry said excitedly as he walked alongside his father.

Charming glanced over as he took Ruby's place. "Did you now?"

"Yeah, my dad showed me how."

"That me." Neal awkwardly raised a sort of free hand. It was the one holding Gold's cane. They reached the truck where Gold let all his weight be supported by it.

"Thank you. Thank you." He thanked the two, his voice strained.

"Is Cora trying to control you with the dagger?" Charming asked.

"Well, you'd know if she was, because most of you would be dead by now." He responded.

"Well, then, we'll just have to take the fight to her before that can happen." Mary Margaret stated as she walked up to the group.

"We will."

"And this time we finish it." I furrowed my brows, looking at Mary Margaret in confusion. That didn't sound at all like her, especially with all the speeches about how killing is wrong, no matter who it is, and that everyone can change and blah, blah, blah. I zoned out during a few.

"Mary Margaret-"

"David." She cut him off. "She needs to be stopped. She needs to be killed. This is our family. We are going to protect it." David sent a quick glance at me as he moved to his wife's side. I stayed near Gold, just in case he suddenly felt too weak to support his own weight.

"Of course we will." He said, looking at her. "But what you're talking about goes beyond that."

"Does it? Because she is the reason you've never met my mother." I glanced down, thinking of my own mother. My entire family. And the person who made it so that we could never see each other again lives on inside them. Quite the story, isn't it?

"I know. I know what happened to Queen Eva, and I have zero problem with Cora dying for it. But not by your hand. And not out of vengeance."

"Why?"

"Because you wouldn't be able to live with yourself." He reasoned. "You have the purest heart of anyone I have ever known. That's who you are. And that's who you're going to stay." He finished as the rest of the group approached.

"You okay?" Emma asked, a wad of blankets in her arms.

"Ah, I'm beginning to feel a bit stronger." Gold replied, hand over his wound. "Take me back to my shop. There's magic there can protect us." David and Neal each wrapped and arm under his own, helping him to his desired destination.

"Let me guess," Henry spoke up, "Hope and I get to go with Ruby."

"You got it, kid." Emma confirmed as I made my way over to Ruby and my brother.

"I'll keep them out of the crossfire." Ruby assured.

"Thank you." Mary Margaret said, glancing back worriedly.

"Don't look so worried." Henry said. "You'll stop Cora. You won't let her get away." He sent them a reassuring smile before Ruby led us away. Henry walked ahead by the time we made it into town, knowing enough to remember to stay in our sight.

"Are you okay, Hope?" Ruby questioned, giving me a concerned look. "You've been quiet, and, well, distant, I guess."

I looked up at her, shoving my hands into my pockets. "I guess I'm just worried."

"About? I mean, I know there's a lot, but what specifically at this moment?" She asked, clarifying her already easy-to-understand question

"Everything." I breathed, watching the air I exhaled became a cloud in the air before dissipating into nothing. "I mean, Henry's not on the best terms with Emma, I don't want Neal to break his heart too. Gold is dying, and Regina is helping Cora to become the Dark One. And I..." I trailed off, "I can't watch any more of the people I love get hurt."

She didn't speak for a moment. "I know your life hasn't been the greatest, Hope, but I promise, you aren't getting rid of us so easily."

I sent her a small smile that she returned as we continued walking, the conversation dropped. But that's thing, I want supposed to lose my family so easily either, and I can never see them again.

And I have no idea what I'm going to do if something happens, something only they would be able to help me with. All I do is just sit and pray that it never does.