Trigger warnings: Secret siblings, arguing, panic attacks, anger, resentment, etc.
Let me know if I should add to the list.
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Killian was leaning against a tree, on the verge of a panic attack.Slowly breathing in and out as he desperately tried to calm himself down.
He couldn't believe that he had just done that. That he had used his children in that way. That he had revealed their existence to people who were practically fucking strangers to him.
What had he been thinking?!
They were gonna use this against him whenever they pleased now!
The pirate captain was so distracted that he didn't hear the footsteps approaching him until it was too late."Were you ever gonna tell me that I had siblings? Or was that another secret you planned to take to your grave?"
Killian spun around to find a livid looking Neal and instinctively took a step back after seeing the expression on the other man's face. If looks could kill, he'd have been 6 feet under in that moment.
Killian swallowed heavily; he hadn't expected Neal to confront him so soon after his rescue.
He had thought he'd be too focused on reuniting with Emma and looking for Henry to seek him out just yet. He had thought he'd have more time to come up with a good enough explanation to explain just why he hadn't told Neal about his siblings. But it looks like he'd been wrong.
Man, the universe was really not on his side today .
"Lad, I know you're angry—" Killian started, mind racing as he desperately tried to think of a way to calm Neal's temper. He knew the lad's could be worse than even his and his mother's sometimes. But Neal didn't give him that opportunity .
"No!" The brunette shouted angrily, cutting him off almost the very second the words had come out of his mouth. "Don't you fucking 'lad', me! Don't you fucking give me that shit. I want answers and I want them now!"
He stepped forward and jabbed Killian hard in the chest with his finger. Staring him down harshly. Looking exactly like his father in that moment. "So answer the goddamned question!"
Killian flinched back as if he had been slapped and decided to be honest with his kinda-sorta-step son since he really didn't have any other options. He was absolutely positive that he had never looked more remorseful and ashamed of himself and his actions than he probably did at that moment.
"Bae, they had already disappeared by the time you showed up and I didn't see any reason to—" apparently, being honest was the wrong thing to do—judging by how red Neal got when he said that. Or maybe it had been the way he had phrased it? He didn't have much time to dwell on it, because Neal once again cut him off before he could explain.
Which was getting very annoying.
Even if he did deserve it a tiny bit.
"Didn't see any reason? DIDN'T SEE ANY REASON?! " Neal repeated, voice steadily increasing in volume with every uttered word. " I HAD 3 YOUNGER SIBLINGS AND YOU DIDN'T SEE ANY REASON TO TELL ME JUST BECAUSE THEY DISAPPEARED?! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?! WHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT REASONING IS THAT?!"
Killian suppressed another flinch as Neal ranted angrily at him. He knew he deserved every word of it—hell, he knew that he probably deserved way worse—but that didn't make the words hurt any less. And He couldn't help but worry that all the yelling would draw Pan's attention to them. The fact that the Charmings hadn't come to see what all the hub-bub was about didn't calm those worries in the slightest. But he knew that trying to bring them up now wouldn't end well for him.
Neal would probably just think that he was trying to change the subject to get out of this conversation. Would think that he wasn't remorseful at all for hiding his siblings' existence or for lying to him once again. So, he didn't voice his worries. Instead, he tried to apologize "Bae, I'm sorry—"
Only to be cut off by the other man AGAIN .
"I HAD A RIGHT TO KNOW, KILLIAN!" Neal was shaking, even as the heat in his stare faded. Shaking even as the hate and anger and resentment drained from his being, leaving nothing but a tired, hurt expression behind. "I had a right to know" he repeated one last time, shaking his head.
Killian was too stunned to speak after that and just stared at him. Stared at the man he had been planning to retrieve and raise at one point with Milah. At the man who he had failed so many times and continued to fail every moment that his son was left unattended with Pan on this dreaded island.
Neal stared back at him, waiting for him to reply but he couldn't bring himself to. Not while Neal was staring at him with that look in his eyes. The look of disappointment and hurt that he had seen so many times in both Neal's eyes and the eyes of his family and friends. It was a look that always caused him pain, whether or not he had earned it.
When it became apparent that Killian wasn't gonna say anything, the other man rolled his eyes and scoffed, muttering "typical!" As he glanced up at the sky before walking away. It was only then Killian found his voice.
"I know. And I'm sorry " He wasn't sure if Neal heard him or not because he didn't turn back around. Killian wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer or not. He didn't know that the Charmings were having an equally as rough conversation back at camp at that very moment.
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"I can't believe this!" Emma's voice rang throughout the forest, making her displeasure known.
"Emma, I know that this is sudden—" Snow started cautiously, reaching out to comfort her—only for her daughter to spin around and glare at her. She halted her moments and jerked back as if she had been slapped. She felt David give her hand a gentle squeeze—no doubt trying to offer her some form of comfort even if he wasn't willing to speak up yet.
"Sudden?! You're telling me I have a missing older brother that you have not mentioned even once before we stepped foot on this damn island and you're describing it as 'sudden'?!" They had never seen Emma look more angry and disappointed than she did at that moment.
David, in a moment of poor judgment and complete dumbassery, decided that now was a good time to speak up. "Sweetheart, I know you're angry but—"
Emma didn't let him finish. She looked ready to commit murder. "DAMN RIGHT I'M ANGRY! I HAVE A BROTHER AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME! WERE YOU EVER GONNA TELL ME OR WERE YOU JUST GONNA HIDE THIS FROM ME FOREVER?!"
David and Snow both reared back at her words, looking shocked. That and the silence that followed only made Emma angrier.
"WELL?!"
They said nothing.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS? ARE YOU SERIOUSLY NOT GONNA ANSWER ME? ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GONNA SIT HERE AND STARE AT ME LIKE I'M THE CRAZY ONE WHEN YOU'RE THE ONES WHO TRIED TO ACT LIKE HE NEVER EVEN EXISTED !" Her voice carried for miles.
The island never seemed more silent.
It was unnerving.
David had no doubt that if she wanted to, Emma could have killed them in that moment and gotten away with it. "Emma, honey, that's not what we were trying to do—"
"Then what, prey tell , were you trying to do?" She asked, steam practically coming out of her ears. Hands on her hips and a sneer on her face.
Snow spoke up then, voice soft as she did so "we were trying to find a way to tell you. We just didn't know how. We weren't trying to erase him or act like he had never been born. We'd never do that. We just didn't know how—" her voice cracked, causing her to pause. She was staring at her fidgeting hands, which were laying in her lap. She didn't dare to look at her daughter.
She knew all she'd see was Emma's angry face. The same angry face that Chad had. She knew she wouldn't be able to take it.
David decided to pick up where she left off. "You were already reeling from the fact that we were your parents and that we want you, and that Henry was right about the curse. We didn't want to add anymore to it. We know how you feel about all of this. That you weren't planning on staying in Storybrooke to begin with. We didn't want you to feel obligated to stay or to stay because you felt bad for us. We didn't want to force you into anything. But we were gonna tell you. After you got more settled in and after everything calmed down a bit. You deserved to know about him. You deserve that much."
Emma's features softened before she let out a sigh and plopped herself down on a log across from them.
Allowing the anger, hurt, resentment, and disgust to drain out of her. Allowing her defenses to lower. After hearing that reasoning, she felt a little guilty for yelling at them, even if it was justified.
She'd just been so sure that she'd been wrong about them.
Sure that they were just like every foster parent she had ever had who would act like their other kids and previous foster kids hadn't existed. Sure that they had had her to replace her brother and that they were gonna erase his existence in their lives.
She felt like a fool for thinking like that, but she had seen it before. She had been the kid who had been replaced and had seen other kids get replaced.
Seen their reactions.
Their pain.
Felt their pain.
And the idea of her parents— God , that was never gonna get any less weird to say or think— doing the exact same thing to her brother had stung and had made her jump to his defense. Even if she didn't know him personally.
She didn't know why.
She couldn't explain it.
But she just felt the need to protect his memory—to protect him—when she had found out that her parents had hid it/him from her. She'd probably never understand it. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to. Because it wouldn't matter. She had already made an ass of herself, after all. There was no taking it or her words back.
Emma sighed again before finally looking back at her parents. They looked so defeated, no doubt thinking that she hated them.
That wouldn't do.
She rested her chin on her fist and said only one thing.... "What was his name?"