Swan Song ❂ Killian Jones [1]

95

Despite knowing Pan's motivation for sending them there, the group still made their way into the cave. None of them had the heart to simply turn away and give up. Not when there was a chance that, by going inside, they could get Neal back. So, they moved among the rocks, walking further into the cave. Odette ignored her racing heart as she thought about what may await them on the other end of the passage.

And then they saw it. As they came upon a ledge overlooking a large endless chasm spreading out in the middle of the cave floor beneath them. But it wasn't the endless drop that got their attention. It was what lay across it. A cage made of bamboo sticks, inside a trapped man they all easily recognized. As he did them.

"Emma!" Neal's voice echoed against the rocks and stones as he called out to them, his hands grasping the bars of the cage holding him in.

"Neal." The blonde stepped back, surprise on her face as she stared at him.

"It must be a hundred feet across." Snow said, leaning towards the ledge as did they all. Glancing down, Odette now understood what Killian meant when he spoke of all the men he'd lost within these walls. There was no way for anyone to survive that fall.

One look down into the chasm was enough for her to retreat away from the edge, her back brushing against a hand that had been extended behind it, Killian ready to grab on should she slip at any moment.

"Even if we fashioned some sort of rope, there's nothing to attach it to. No way to swing over." David said with a sigh as his eyes followed the length of the hole in the floor all the way over to the ridge which held Neal's cage.

"So, what do we do?" Emma questioned.

"I told you what needs to be done." Killian reminded. "Consider this the moment of truth, literally. Now... who wants to kick things off?" He asked, turning to look at the group form which none spoke up for a few moments.

"So, what? Someone tells their secret, and they sprout wings?" Emma questioned in a dubious tone.

"I don't know the particulars, only what I've been told." Killian said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Well, how do you know it'll work?" David couldn't help but ask. If Hook's never done this before then they had no assurances it would be successful. Or that there weren't any further traps along the way.

Hook gave out a small sigh as his head turned back to look at Neal. "There's only one way to find out, I suppose." He said, turning back to the people standing behind him as he began to spill his own secret. "I tried to kiss Odette."

His announcement had the blonde herself raising a dubious eyebrow while the news stunned the only member of their group still in the dark about the situation. "You did what?" David questioned in an enraged voice.

"David, now is not the time." Snow whispered to her husband with a small shake of her head.

"Technically not a secret, I already told Emma and Snow." Odette pointed out, earning herself a wide-eyed look from David which was basically asking 'Why not me?'. Like that needed to be answered. "And, maybe I misjudged you and you're the most honest person in the world, but how is that your darkest secret?" She couldn't help but ask.