CHAPTER SIXTEEN | DON'T BE A FOOL
"Wait, where are you going?" Emma Swan calls out, quickly walking after Naomi who was already walking back to the camp.
She frowns and turns around, "I'm going back to the camp, obviously."
"That's it?" Emma exclaims, running a little bit to catch up with the brunette. She sighs and grabs her wrist, "Naomi, please, you have to help me."
"I don't have to do anything," she says, grabbing her wrist back from Emma's hold. "and even if I wanted to help you, I can't. I don't trust any of you people."
"You trust Pan, right?" The blonde questions, putting her hands in her back pockets.
Naomi laughs, looking at her in disbelief. "You really think that he'll heal Henry?" She asks, shaking her head. "You'd have better luck with the mermaids. And they tried to kill him." She looks at Emma again, "There's nothing I can do, Swan. It's best you leave."
Emma sighs, throwing a hand through her blonde locks as she looks at the retreating figure of Killian's daughter.
"Killian," she whispers under her breath, eyes widening. "that's it."
The Saviour quickly walks away from the beach, so fast that it almost looked like she was running. She runs back into their camp, trying to catch her breath while she looks around, trying to find Regina or Mr. Gold.
"Gold," she calls out, searching for the man. "Regina, I know how to save Henry."
"How?" The black haired woman asks, immediately sitting up from the rock she was sitting on. It was already pretty late and the others were asleep.
Emma looks at her, "We'll need three things. Hook and, magic and rope."
"Look, Emma, whatever kind of fantasy you're into, I don't care. I just need to sa-"
"It's not about that!" Emma cuts her off, yelling slightly. She sighs, looking at the others who remained asleep. "I talked to Naomi. She told me that she is only able to hand the sand over to somebody she trusts."
"Easy, give it to Michelle or Belle and get it over with," Regina says, shrugging. "what are we waiting for?"
"That's the thing," Emma says, smiling hopefully. "she trusted them before she stopped that Hourglass or whatever. We need her to trust somebody after she did that."
"Hook." Regina mumbles in realisation, she looks at the sleeping pirate and smirks. Her eyes avert back to Emma. "Okay, so I get that part but why do we need the rope."
"We need to put a spell on it before we tie Hook and Naomi together, a spell that will only release them if Naomi starts trusting him," Emma explains, making movements with her hands to prove her point. "and if she trusts Hook..."
"She can hand over the sand." Regina finishes, smirking. She knew that the chances of her handing over the sand were very slim but it was their biggest shot.
"He's her father. No matter what he has done to her, that kind of bond never fades." Emma says, she walks towards their supplies and grabs a rope from the pile. "I am willing to try, are you?"
******
"Where have you been?" Peter says, sounding slightly angry while he walks over to the girl. "I come down only to hear that you went on a little stroll around the island with the oh so wonderful Saviour."
"If you know already, then why do you ask?" Naomi frowns, sitting down on a rock while throwing some leaves in the campfire to keep it burning. "Was I gone for that long, then?"
"Love, you left at morning. It's evening, now." He says matter of factly. He sighs, brushing a hand through his hair before sitting down next to her. He carefully wraps an around around her waist and smiles when she lays her head on his shoulder. "Just give me a heads up next time, okay?"
"No," she refuses, looking up at him. He raises an eyebrow at her. "because if I did, you would've stopped me."
"I would not," he denies, looking at her in disbelief. "I know that you can handle yourself and I trust you with that."
She raises an eyebrow back at him, "I know, but lately you have been more...clingy. Not that I mind, though."
"I haven't." The green eyed boy denies again, placing his head on top of hers when she laid down again. "I have just been...protective. And I have every right to be."
"I know, I know." Naomi sighs, she looks up into his green eyes and smiles.
She presses a quick kiss to his lips and was about to pull back but he grabbed her cheeks, pulling her back in. "I love you." He mutters against her lips.
"I know," she responds, smirking while standing up from the log. "I love you, too." She holds her hand out for him. "It's late, come on. Let's go to bed."
He smiles, "Let's go then." He says, accepting her hand. They were about to walk away and back to the treehouse when Naomi suddenly heard a leave crack behind them.
"What was that?" she asks, looking at Peter. He shrugs, nodding towards the treehouse.
"Doesn't matter, let's just go." He responds, trying to pull her with him. "Love, come on."
Naomi shakes her head, pulling her hand away from his. "I just want to take a look, I don't trust this." She says, nodding at him. "You can go on, I'll join you in a minute."
He looks at her in doubt, "You promise?"
She nods, and he hesitantly walks away. She waits until he is inside the treehouse before unsheathing her sword and walking towards the source of the sound.
"Hello," Regina says, suddenly appearing in front of her. She gasps and points her sword at her. "how are you?"
"What?" she scoffs, she hears somebody come up behind her and turns around, immediately cutting that person's arm with her sword.
Emma hisses and her hand immediately go to her right arm, trying to stop the bleeding. "Now, Regina." She groans, looking at the black haired woman.
"What?" Naomi asks again, she sheets her sword again, turning around to face Regina but the woman quickly blew some dust in her face, thus making her fall unconscious.
She catches the girl and looks at Emma. "Now to get her back to Hook." She says, Emma nods and looks at her arm. "You need to put a bandage on that."
"Yeah, I noticed." She remarks sarcastically and they start to walk, Regina carrying the unconscious girl. "I didn't know if it would work, you know. The sleeping spell."
"It doesn't," Regina states, looking at Naomi. "not with her at least. She has practiced with magic for too many times for it to work. That's why I used a multiplied dose. One that was the same as the sleeping spell but ten times stronger."
Emma nods, looking at her arm. She frowns and tries healing it with her newfound magic. "Can you do a healing spell?" she asks.
"Can't you do it, I'm kind of busy here." The black haired woman comments wittily, her eyes pointing at the girl. "That was the first thing I taught you, you should know how to do a simple healing spell."
"I do!" Emma defends herself, lifting her hand over the wound again. "It just isn't healing."
Regina rolls her eyes and stops walking for a few seconds, she tries holding the girl with one hand and manages to do so but barely. She quickly lifts a hand over Emma's arm and continues walking.
"Uh, Regina." Emma mumbles, looking at her arm that was still bleeding. "It's not healing."
"Of course it's healin-" she looks at Emma and her eyes widen, she frowns. "why isn't it healing?"
******
Naomi groans, lifting her head. She yawns and immediately comes alert, she wasn't in the treehouse, Peter wasn't there and she was sitting on the ground in some kind of clearing in the woods.
She doesn't panic and tries to stand, only to find out that that isn't working. "What the hell?" she mutters, pulling on the ropes that were tied around her wrists. She looks behind her and her eyes widen when she saw her father sitting there, her wrists were tied with his.
"Killian, wake up!" she yells, using her own back to tap onto his. He groans and slowly opens his eyes.
"What's going on?" he says groggily. He yawns and his eyes widen, "This is not the camp." He says, turning around to face his daughter. "Naomi? What are you doing here? What am I doing here?"
"I don't know," she responds, trying to make a knife appear in her hands but she found herself unable to. "I can't use my magic. What kind of bullshit is this?"
"It's my only chance at healing Henry,"
Naomi's ears perked up at the familiar and irritating voice, her eyes narrow as she looks at Emma, spatting, "Swan. Let me go, right now." She commands, she could always try freeing herself, considering that she knows how to escape from a knot but decided against it, for now.
"I can't do that, Naomi." She says, walking towards Killian and his daughter. "We need you to trust your father, only that way will we be able to leave. I know you want us to."
"Ever realised that this-" Naomi says, her eyes were trying to look at the ropes. "-is not going to make me trust anybody?"
"I don't get it, what is going on here?" Killian tries asking a question but both women ignored him and continued their conversation together.
Emma nods, her arms crossed over her shoulder while she looks down at the ground. "I get that, but I've always felt like there was more to your father's story than you know. He loves you, why would he leave you?"
"I ask myself that question every day," Naomi mumbles and she feels her father wince behind her. "so what, am I supposed to sit here and, talk about my feelings?" she adds, saying the last part in a baby voice to spite her.
"I don't know," Emma answers, "That's your choice. The ropes will only disappear if you start trusting him. It doesn't have to be anything heavy, just something easy."
"Swan, you can't do this!" Naomi yells when she saw Emma walking away. She tugs at the rope, trying to get free. "Emma Swan you will not want to be around when I get free you stupid ass-saving, red jacket wearer!"
She continues tugging at the ropes but feels her father's hands covering hers. "Naomi, it won't work. You know that." He tells her softly and she huffs, quickly taking her hands back.
It stays quiet between them. Naomi didn't want to say anything, she forbid herself from making any type of sound. It didn't matter if it was a groan or sigh, she would not let it slip.
She told Peter that she was ready to start forgiving her father, she could see that he cared. But that was when they were saying 'goodbye'. That all turned out to be fake, although she still wasn't sure about that.
But where the things she said there fake as well? The things about Tink and Belle were true, so were the ones about Alex. And the ones about Peter were definitely true. So, maybe, the ones about her father were, too.
Naomi sighs, immediately cursing herself for letting it slip when her father suddenly decided to speak up because of that. "It didn't went like you think it did, you know." Killian says, turning his head slightly. "I never traded you for a ship."
"Don't lie!" Naomi says quickly, she takes a deep breath and composes herself. "Don't lie, you did trade me for something that stupid otherwise we wouldn't be in this situation."
"I did," Killian mumbles sadly, looking back at the ground. "but that wasn't the reason. Do you remember when I asked you to get something from the Jolly Roger that day?"
"You told me to get my sword," she whispers softly, smiling when she realised that Emma was stupid enough to leave that with her. "but what does that have to do with it?"
"The man, Nathanael, I believe." He continues and Naomi hums in agreement, signaling that he got the name right. "The bet was never gold for the ship, Naomi."
"W-What?" the girl stutters in shock. "Then what the bloody hell was the bet?"
"Do you remember the day we went to see a woman, completely dressed in white. Her name was something with an O," he says, shaking his head. "she was a doctor."
"No," Naomi mutters, shaking her head while her eyes glazed over. "Don't you dare tell me."
"You were sick, Tori." Killian continues, his eyes watering as well. He could hear her sniff and closed his eyes. "You caught the plague."
"No, no. You told me, she told me that it was just a cold." Naomi argues, shaking her head. She furiously blinks the tears away. "It was just a cold!"
"It wasn't. I couldn't heal you, I couldn't lose you. Doctors didn't have a cure for the plague, but magic did." He continues, a tear falling down his cheek. "The bet I made with Nathanael was; he would give me a cure for you if I won and I would give him my ship if he won."
"So, it-it was about the ship." Naomi mumbles, blinking the tears away again. She would be damned to let one fall and she was so determined not to.
"In the beginning, yes." Killian sighs, looking ahead of him again. He looks around and starts talking. "But, as you know, I lost. I lost which meant that not only, I would lose you, I would lose my ship and crew as well."
Naomi's heart clenched and she closes her eyes, cursing in her head when a tear fell. "I went back to Nathanael when you were playing with Mr. Daniels' son." Killian sighs, "I begged him for the cure, and he gave it to me. But not without a cost."
"He wanted me for my magic," Naomi finishes in a whisper, a slight crack in her voice when she suddenly realised, that after all those years; it was never her father's intention to abandon her. "he wanted me to hide him, he was a fugitive."
"I never wanted to abandon you, Naomi. But knowing that you were alive without me was better than knowing that you were dead with me," He finishes, and he hears Naomi taking a deep inhale of breath. "I really hope that you can forgive me some day. But I was only trying to protect you. You're my daughter, and I love you."
Naomi closes her eyes, leaning her head against her father's shoulder. She sighs and lets a few tears fall, and she just sits there. Her head laid back on her father's shoulder while she silently cried. After all those days, those years thinking that he didn't care about her, thinking that he abandoned her. Only to find out that all he was doing, was looking out for her, like a father should do.
"I believe I spoke to mum," she whispers, a crack in her voice and she hears her father taking a sharp inhale of breath. "when I was between this weird state between life and death. I could see her, she could touch me and I could hear her voice."
Killian chuckles, a tear falling down his cheek when he thought back at his Victoria. "I would do everything to hear her voice again." He mumbles.
"It was different than I imagined it, softer and more caring. She was even more beautiful than on the drawings." Naomi says, a small smile tugging at the ends of her lips while she thinks back at her mother. "She loves you." Another inhale of breath was heard. "And she told me not to be too hard on you."
Killian stays silent and looks at the sky, smiling up at it. There was this small part in him that hoped that she was there with them now. "When I saw myself saying goodbye to Peter, I told him that I was ready to start forgiving you," she says and he becomes even more quiet. "and that was when I didn't know about...about what actually happened."
"Naomi, what - what are you saying?" Killian whispers softly, ignoring the wind that blew past them. It made his cheeks feel cold thanks to the fallen tears.
She takes a deep breath, another tear falling. Her voice cracking when she says, "I forgive you."
Killian smiles, a genuine smile before he starts chuckling in belief. He was about to say something when he suddenly felt the ropes disappearing. They stand up and both rub their wrists.
"Now, don't get too enthusiastic. I don't trust you with my life, yet." Naomi says, a small smirk tugging at the ends of her lips. "But I trust you enough." She sighs, looking into the eyes that were identical to her own. "We're quite the mess, aren't we?"
"Aye, that we are." Killian sighs, he stands a bit awkwardly before Naomi slowly leans in and slowly wraps her smaller arms around his waist. He gasps and smiles, hugging his daughter back.
******
Can you guys believe that I only have one chapter left for you guys?
Yeah, me neither.
But I suddenly have inspiration so I am probably going to post it in an hour or so, so be prepared for the end is near.
-L