Only Be Dark: OUAT/Killian Jones

Ariel

"He's telling the truth," Mary Margaret suddenly said, and stood up from her place beside David. Walking over to a broken branch, she looked down to see the dirt was moved aside in an odd and unnatural way, unsettled by some sort of movement. "The tracks. And a scuffle. Someone was here while we were gone. We have to tell her-"

"No, no, no," David stopped his wife, and she looked at him in wondering while Y/n looked at him puzzled. "She already lost Neal once, and if this is a game, we can't put her through losing him again."

"He's right. Either way, telling her is what Pan wants, which is why we shouldn't do it," Hook advised.

"What if he knows we're not going to tell her, and that's what he wants?" Y/n countered back, not knowing how to keep this kind of information secret from her sister.

"Pan's games are always the straight forward course that allow him the easy win," Hook told her, and she raised an eyebrow. "We tell her, and we are following on that course to his victory."

"You wanna find him without letting her know?" Mary Margaret questioned, looking between the men.

"Why hurt her unnecessarily?"

"I've never lied to her before," Mary Margaret said, appalled.

"You're not lying. You're just keeping a secret until confirmation," Hook reworded her statement, making Y/n cross her arms as she looked worriedly at her sister.

"Secrets always seem to keep us from the ones we really care about," Mary Margaret claimed as she shifted uncomfortably at the notion.

"And sometimes secrets protect the people we love," David said back, making Mary Margaret let out a breath.

When Emma had gone to get some more firewood, the four of them collected their things to get ready to go out in search of Neal. Y/n bit her lip in anxiety, twiddling her thumbs together as her parents got a canteen of water ready for the voyage. The twins barely ever lied about anything before, and when they did, it was just a simple little secret that they revealed after a day or two, not even, sometimes. A secret this big with someone as important to Emma as Neal was? Y/n wasn't sure how long she could keep this from her.

"If we're gonna hide this, we need a good cover story," Mary Margaret said as she helped David with his canteen.

"Done."

"It's not a problem." Hook said after David spoke, but Y/n wasn't sure she believed in them.

"Where are you guys going?" they heard, and turned to see Emma and Regina walking towards them with confusion written on their faces.

In a fit of panic, the men both said, "Get firewood," "To get water" at the same time, looking over at the other as Y/n put her hand over her forehead.

"Guys, what's going on?" Emma questioned them once more.

"Neal's alive," both Mary Margaret and Y/n said at the same time, giving a glance to the men, who looked at them with scrutiny.

Emma's eyes widened with shock at their statement, saying, "Neal is..." When she saw Hook and David's face, she whispered, "alive?"

"Maybe, we're not- We don't know for sure," Y/n said, closing her eyes and shaking her head before looking at her shocked sister once more.

At Hook and David's disappointment, Mary Margaret said, "Sorry, she deserved to know."

"Pan told you this?" Emma said, making Regina scoff in disbelief.

"Are you serious? We should be focusing on how to get Henry back, not some old schoolboy lover who may or may not be alive," Regina snapped, becoming aggravated with their lack of focus on finding Henry.