Once We are Descendants

Chapter 35: Family Feud

The two take various stances on the deck, their swords clashing in every direction. Killian had to admit, but he was impressed in his alternate son's swordsmanship. Clearly, he had learned well from his real father and must practice very often with this Uma person. However, the Storybrooke Captain Hook had one thing that Harry did not, experience. Over 200 years of fighting other pirates and his time in the navy had taught Killian every trick in the book and while he obviously was not going harm or even kill the boy, he had to find a way to end this battle soon.

"Yer pretty good old man," Harry sneers. "Ah didn't think I'd ever catch up wi' someone who is as gud as me."

"Such an ego will be your undoing lad," Killian warns. "Overconfidence in one's self will expose a great weakness."

But the teenager snorts with derision at this warning. "What weakness?"

He then lunges forward and makes a very wide swing at the captain's unguarded left side, but the adult is too quick and forces it away. The son of Captain Hook then goes for the right, but his "father" blocks, the swords clanging heavily, causing some nearby seagulls across the harbour to take flight in fear. Killian keeps his stance strong, knowing that the lad will not quit easily or quietly. The teenager had to be taken down a few pegs to get his chaotic behaviour under control.

The pirate notices out of the corner of his eyes that his wife, Regina, Crystal, Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos, and the other prisoners that he never got the names of are on the edge of the dock overlooking the harbour. He can see that they are hurrying towards the ship and he knew Emma was going to insist that one of the observers use magic to intervene. Knowing this has to end now, Killian Jones remembers the faulty wooden board right next to the stairs. One that always creaked and caused anyone unlucky enough to step on it to lose their balance or even fall.

He changes his position, taking larger swings at the boy's left side in order to force him back towards the staircase. He becomes more aggressive in his slashes at the boy's cutlass and the captain can see the shock in Harry's eyes. The entire time they were duelling, the young teenager was in control and the one attacking, but now Killian was the one attacking, lunging forward which is throwing the lad off-balance and exposing his weakness to his "alternate" father. The two get closer to the board and Captain Hook begins speaking in a calm tone to Harry Hook.

"Your knowledge of fair swords play is..." he pauses every time their swords meet. "Impressive for a... Lad your age, but... you rely...too much on your own strength...It's not always about... the weapons you use... or... the strength of your attack... sometimes..."

Then Harry steps on the board, it creaks loudly and sinks into the deck, the teenager briefly looks down, which is all Killian needs to finish this. He stomps on the other end of the board, throwing the teenager off balance, he then reveals his hook to the boy, grabs the lad's cutlass, lifts it out of his hands and over the side into the water below. The son of Captain Hook falls backwards against the stairs and grunts in pain. The real Captain Hook then holds the tip of his sword against the boy's leather belt around his shoulder as to not to harm the boy but keep him in place.

"Sometimes, it's all about paying attention to your surroundings," Killian finishes.

Both of them are panting heavily after finishing this strenuous duel. Harry looks utterly stunned and slightly mortified that he was just bested in combat, but he's more shocked by what's on his opponent's left hand. His blue eyes go wide when he finally realizes who he'd been fighting the whole time. No wonder his swordsmanship was so polished and skilled... he was fighting his father!

Regina, Emma, Crystal, Mal, Carlos, Jay, and Evie finally reach the deck and enter from the gangplank. Emma immediately goes up to her husband to check him over, but he was perfectly fine as she'd expected. She then looks down at the poorly behaved teenager with sympathy, but also with disappointment.

"Guess you didn't need our help after all," the blonde says.

"Aye," Killian says, finally sheathing his cutlass. He then offers the boy his right hand to help him up.

Harry looks utterly stunned and confused. Normally, whenever he lost to his father, the cruel man would scream at him and tell him that fish fought better than him. In fact, if any of his children lost to their father at swords play, they'd be forced to clean out the worm and gutting station at the back of his shop. This humiliation was one of the many reasons that the son of Captain Hook had run off to become part of Uma's crew in the first place.

"Good show Lad," Killian says gently. "But perhaps you should think about who you are going to be duelling with before you start a fight."

A/N: Please review, it's the greatest form of love and support I can get as an author.