Once We are Descendants

Chapter 33: Members of Darkness

It was Killian's turn to sit in silence, however, unlike Regina, he doesn't disappear into the town or down to the docks. He sits in a nearby chair of Jay and Carlos's hospital room, now completely in a trance. Emma sits down on the armrest next to her husband, wrapping her arms around him tightly. She knew that the prospect of becoming a father was scary to him; it was scary to her as well. Neither of them had done the diapers, the late-night feedings, and the tantrums, but they both had their family and friends there, many of whom have been through those stages or are going through them right now, the former Evil Queen and Emma's own mother being just a few of them. Yes, it did scare her that she was going to be a mother all over again, even though she hadn't had the courage to really do it the first time... mostly due to the fact that she was in prison when she'd had Henry. Additionally, both her and Killian had not exactly had the best parenting examples set for them; his mother died not long after he was born and his father selling his sons into slavery to escape the law and his own sins; her parents being forced to put her through the wardrobe to protect her from the dark curse and unintentionally forcing her to grow up in the foster system. But she and Killian were definitely going to be different and they were overjoyed that this miracle is the next step in their happy beginning; this baby was going to born to parents who were true love and would care for him or her with all their hearts. But for her hook-handed husband to learn that he already had children... it was a lot to take in. Regina turns to Jay for confirmation.

"Are you sure?" she asks. "I mean I knew that Captain Hook slept around a lot,"

"Regina!" Emma hisses not exactly pleased with her friend bringing up her husband's past with women. Additionally, there were still teenagers in the room, not all of them were adults.

"It's true," Evie says.

"He's actually got, three kids..." Carlos admits, wincing when he sees the colour drain from Captain Hook's face.

"All from the same woman?" Regina inquires further.

"Regina!" Emma snaps again.

"Emma, I'm sorry but the version of Hook we left in the other realm with Henry had a daughter; so why would another version not have more? You know Killian wasn't always devoted to one woman."

"He spent almost 200 years trying to kill my father because he killed Milah," Crystal points out, raising an eyebrow.

"Wait, what?" Mal asks, very confused.

"Your dad has killed?" Carlos asks, looking even more shocked.

Crystal sighs. "Let's just put it this way, none of us in this room are saints... if I can assume that you guys have done some stuff you're not proud of either."

"But we've never... killed anyone," Evie says in disbelief.

All the VKs are shocked by the realization that this town is not as wholesome and quiet as they once thought.

"And be glad that you haven't," Crystal sighs. "Everyone has a dark side and sometimes... that darkness becomes so overwhelming that you do something that you cannot take back."

Evie takes a step away from her mother. She thought this version of her mother was better; more loving and less selfish, but now with the mention of taking someone's life, she's now more afraid of Regina than ever. Everyone can see the hurt on the Evil Queen's face as her daughter backs away from her, towards her friends, and this time out of fear.

"Emma, even you?" Carlos asks.

This is a gut punch to Emma and she swallows a very large lump in her throat. Her hands begin to shake ever so slightly, facing the son of the woman she killed. Granted, the woman he calls his mother was probably better than the one she and her family had faced. The puppy-hater was a sociopath who had no redeeming qualities of any kind; she was sadistic, cold-hearted, selfish, cowardly, and cruel in every sense of the word. This meant that it would be impossible for the woman to have a happy ending and everyone who had met her knew it. Emma had done it to save her own son, darkening her heart in the process, but she still felt some remorse for doing so, even after the sadistic witch tried to push her and Robin into The River of Lost Souls in the Underworld. It was wrong to have killed her, but now she feels even worse. Here's this kid, the son of Cruella De Vil and he's watching as his friends are slowly discovering who their parents are in this realm, and his mother was gone, killed by the Saviour's magic. She can't think of anything to say as she tightly grips Killian's shoulders.

"Yeah, Kid, I have..." she says quietly, trying to avoid the kid's gaze.

"Life isn't all rainbows and unicorns guys," Crystal says bluntly. She looks over at Evie: "Your mother poisoned a princess because she was jealous of her good looks." She then turns to the boys. Unlike the others from Storybrooke, Crystal knew whose parents raised these kids. She looks at Carlos. "Your mommy dearest was no animal rights activist. She wanted to murder a lot of puppies just to have a fur coat made from them." Emma swallows some bile coming up her throat, having her theory confirmed in front of everyone. She feels overwhelming guilt and avoids Carlos's gaze. However, the son of Cruella is too busy looking at the blunt girl speaking. She looks at Jay. "Your daddy wanted to take over Agrabah, not caring how many innocent people he hurt while doing so and even became an evil Genie to do so."

"Wait, you're Jafar's kid?" Regina asks.

Jay just nods, still glaring at Crystal. This proves the group's theory of him being Aladdin and Jasmine's kid right up.

The daughter of Rumpelstiltskin turns to the daughter of Maleficent. "And your mom cursed a tiny baby to die by pricking her finger on a spinning wheel. All because she didn't get invited to a baptism. And didn't you say she ruined your boyfriend's coronation and tried to take over the kingdom?"

The purple-haired teen's eyes glow green. "It wasn't just... It was more complicated than that..."

"Exactly," Crystal points out, happy that Mal just made her point. "It always is, there are always reasons behind everything and it's always, ALWAYS more complicated than you think. So, take the time to think about who you have come from before you judge us so harshly for our pasts."

The room goes into awkward silence territory for a long time. No one really looks at one another, almost scared to admit that what the daughter of Rumpelstiltskin was correct, but now the question about whether the VKs could trust the people from Storybrooke... the people who were supposed to be their parents, and in some cases, better parents.

It is Killian who is the first to speak.

"Their names..." he says.

"What?" Mal asks.

"What are my children's names?" he says quietly.

There is another long silence before anyone answers him.

"Well, there is Harriet, she'd be your eldest daughter..." Evie says.

"Followed by Harry, your son," Carlos adds.

"And your youngest daughter, CJ," Mal finishes.

"CJ?" Emma asks in confusion.

"It's short of Calista Jane," Jay explains. "She actually, looks a lot like you Emma."

"Me?"

"Yeah, she has blonde hair like you," Mal says. "But different eye colour, and she's also a lot more annoying than you."

"She does have an affinity for red though," Evie points out the similarity in the blondes' fashion choices. "But she does wear crocodile skin boots too."

"That is so cruel," Crystal mutters under her breath. "Although my Dad's skin would have made a wonderful purse."

"Aye," Killian smirks.

Killian looks at Emma for a long moment and then forces himself to grin cheekily. "Perhaps in some realm, I did remember that damned bar wench I kissed."

Emma does her best not to smile and smacks him on the back of the head playfully. The little exchange between the couple is completely lost to the rest of the group.

"But only Harry came through the portal with us," Evie adds. "He's Uma's first mate and is the reason Ben and I were pushed through here in the first place."

"There's also something you should know about him..." Mal says.

"And what might that be...?" A voice chuckles. Suddenly, the group hears laughing from the doorway.

Everyone turns to see Harry Hook, with his precious tool glinting in the hospital light. He throws three people to the floor in front of them; Ben, Doug, and Jane, all of whom are confused, and likely still injured. Then, the son of Captain Hooke leans in the door, grinning smugly and removes a sword from his belt.

"Ready to pick up where we left off?" he asks.

A/N: Please Review