#swanfire fanfic
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Merlin’s Peak
Summary: They say that lives change atop Merlin’s Peak.
Neal invites Emma to go stargazing with him the night of the annual Autumn celebration. He has an important question to ask her.
(No Curse AU)
Swanfire Week 2023 Day 2 Writing Prompt: Neal and Emma spend the night on the perfect hill for stargazing.
#swanfire#sfweek2023#neal cassidy#emma swan#firethieves#baelfire#swanthief#bae & emma#once upon a time#ouat#swanfire fanfiction#swanfire fanfic
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Swanfire AU
Emma Swan is a famous thriller author known by her pen name, "Christian Swan." She has to disguise herself on a field mostly dominated by men so her books will sell well.
At the moment, Emma is facing terrible writer’s block while trying to finish the final book of her recent series, "The mystery of the eyes." Her editor, Regina, suggests taking a break and maybe trying something out of her comfort zone.
Regina’s plan is easy. Emma will collaborate with "LunAnne Henderson," a famous romance writer, on a book of short stories to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the editorial. Regina is willing to give them her beach house in Tallahassee, so the book will be ready in six months.
Emma accepts even though isn’t so sure about it. What she never expects is that "LunAnne Handerson" is also a pen name, and the person behind all of those romance books isn't anyone other than her ex-elementary school best friend Neal Cassidy, with whom she hasn’t spoken in ages.
#swanfire au#swanfireedit#swanfire fanfic#Today on fanfiction I will never write#I bring to you this story that may or may not be inspired by a lot of dramas and other fandoms#Sorry in advance. This hasn't been revisited by any of my friends so it could have a lot of mistakes.#swanfire
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Swanfire Month: Traditions
In the Swan-Cassidy Home, there were no missed birthdays.
For Henry’s birthday, it switches each year between Emma and Regina’s houses. Henry gets presents from what seems like everybody, there’s no end in sight to the amount of buttercream frosting and lit candles, and now he has his family, all of the people he loves, looking at him warmly as they sing happy birthday.
Emma’s birthdays are no longer quiet, they aren’t single cupcakes or forlorn wishes. Neal bakes her a cake (with help from Snow, who shows up at the crack of dawn to wish her daughter a happy birthday). The cake gets crazier each year, sometimes adorned with candles, sometimes with sparklers. Neal greets Emma in the morning with donuts with googly eyes and silly kisses. Her birthdays aren’t lonely, but they aren’t loud anymore either, somehow just the right kind of busy, the one that doesn’t feel like busyness at all. It always ends with Neal gently kissing her forehead and softly singing her happy birthday.
Neal’s birthday is a party. It’s food and laughter, crazy board games, and wacky party games. He likes to play football in the woods. Emma rolls her eyes at his antics, but she adores him. When Rumple hugs Neal it’s full of tears. Neal’s favorite gifts are hugs and hot fudge sundaes. His birthday is on the calendar with a winky face. Many times, his birthday presents aren’t given to him, but rather experiences he shares with his family, he’ll plan a day where it’s just him, Emma, and Henry. He wants his family, and he wants to share the love.
For Neal and Emma, their birthdays are never missed, and always are filled with reminders, from each other, that they aren’t alone anymore.
#swanfire#swanfire month 2022#emma swan#neal cassidy#ouat#once upon a time#my ouat imagines#swanfire fanfic
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As a Swanfire shipper, I want to know if there are any amazing fanfics that I can read? Would love to start reading some!
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Swanfire Week Day 1: Parallels
"Mike, what do you remember about my dad?" At Neal's apparent non sequitur, the mechanic blinked. "Because what I remember is sneaking out of my room at night to sit at the top of the stairs and watch him sew."
"Sew?" Michael scratched his head. "Look, Neal-"
"Dad spent hours at the shop every day, working his rear off," Neal said, ignoring the interruption. "He had a lot of debt, and the only way he could afford to pay it off was to work every free moment he had. But he never opened the shop until after I'd gone to school, and he was always closed by the time I got home. When I was there, so was he. And if that meant working late into the night after I was already in bed to make up the difference, that's what he did."
"That's very nice, but-"
"Michael, my dad wasn't perfect," said Neal, shaking his head. "He was stubborn, and old-fashioned, and much stricter than any kid would have liked. But at the end of the day, none of that mattered. What mattered was that he was there."
- Excerpt from “Not My Homeland Anymore”, Chapter 8: “Though I Can't Recall Your Face”
After an earthquake shakes things up, Neal (and Henry) try to help two lost kids find their dad.
A belated entry for @mysteryandnonstopfun's Swanfire Week. (As always, this one's for @swanfireprincessmydear-- this story would not be anywhere with out you.)
[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2]
#ouat#my fanfics#swanfire#emma x neal#sfweek2023#henry mills#neal cassidy#ava zimmer#nicholas zimmer#michael tillman#emma swan#otp: tallahassee#alternate universe#excerpt#not my homeland anymore#my edits#all queued up
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Nails on ao3 - OS - 985 words
If you dislike Neal, and wanna see Emma walking away from that relationship quite intentionally, I have a short OS that seems to be upsetting the SF community.. oops?
For years, I've heard some quote about how.. if you don't have haters, you aren't doing it right? Measuring success by how many people hate you? Something like that. Well, looks like I'm a step up on the ladder of success!
Honestly, I don't enjoy angering or upsetting people, but as a stoic, I find the silver lining. I must be a better writer than I give myself credit for, since I can apparently elicit such negative feelings. And it does seem to be true, the most successful people have haters and lovers in equal measure.
So, thank you for hating me. I don't hate you, if that matters at all. I hope you have wonderful days, weeks.. lives. Everything your hearts desire, is all I want for you 😘
#rylieoriginal#fanfiction#once upon a time#ouat#emma swan#fanfic#ao3#anti swanfire#haters gonna hate
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Words of Comfort
In my own personal SwanFire Storybrooke AU, because of the custody arrangement Baelfire would spend some time with Milah until he’s 17 (he would start to make excuses to not see her). Anyway, in my AU, he has low self esteem and self-confidence issues and Milah’s the main reason for that.
She’s always making him feel like he’s useless/worthless, belittling his dreams and goals, and once he begins dating Emma, she pretty much tells him in so many words that she’s too good for him and if they do end up marrying, it’ll never last. He doesn’t ever say much or talk about it but Rumpel has an idea of what’s up. Why? Because after almost every unfortunate weekend spent with his mother Bae would come home in a sad, depressed state; withdrawing from his father and drawing as a way of privately expressing his feelings. He also knows because Milah did the same to him while they were married: belittling everything about him every chance she got. Her emotional abuse and the neglect of their son was the reason they divorced. Before the divorce, her abuse was always toward Rumpel. Now, it was directed at Baelfire. Perhaps looking at him and being around him made her feel guilty but he didn’t care. It angered him that Milah would treat their own son like that. Almost every visit ended with a very heated phone call, always concluding with Milah denying her behavior, blaming Rumpel for Baelfire’s ‘mental problems’ before she hung up abruptly.
More on AO3
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This is a formal request for more lighthearted Swanfire fics. I’m tired of being sad, this shit is exhausting 😭😫
#swanfire#swanthief#emma x neal#emma swan#neal cassidy#baelfire#once upon a time#ouat#fanfic#fanfiction
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Love in the air
Interior Holodeck of the USS Fairytale. Emma, daughter of Captain Snow White, and Ensign Balefire, son of Dr. Belle, are on a date.
Emma (enjoying herself Shooting at the hollo image of enemies they encountered before) : this is very romantic.
Balefire: i don't see how but if you're happy I'm happy.
Emma: "This is very romantic."
Balefire: "I don't see how, but if you're happy I'm happy."
Emma: "You always know what makes me happy
Balefire: of course I do."
As the two ensign embrace each other for a passionate beep the intercoms Go on line Ensign Emma Nolan report to the captain's Ready room
Baelfire: Every time
Emma (giggling) is not often Bae.
Bae: "What did you do this time?"
Emma: "Nooooothing." (innocent look)
Bae: "Emma, your mother only calls you when you're in trouble."
Emma: "Oh, okay, you got me. I did do something."
Bae: "Tell me."
Emma (flirty tone): "Guess."
Bae: "Oh, come on. What did you do?"
Emma (flirty): "I cannot tell you. I might just have to show you later."
Bae: "Emma!" (with a chuckle)
Emma: "It's a surprise, bae. You'll love it, honest."
Baelfire: "Last time you said that we were stuck cleaning the bathrooms of the Fairytale."
Emma: "This time I promise it will be better."
Baelfire: "Fine Em. I am looking forward to your surprise."
Emma: "Oh, you won't be disappointed."
Bae: "Okay, but you should get going."
Emma: "Yeah, I know. I am headed there right now. See ya later."
The two give each other a kiss, and then Emma makes her way to her mother's ready room.
Snow: "Emma, I called you here an hour ago."
Emma: "Sorry, mother. I was on a holodeck date and didn't even hear the intercom. It is a huge ship."
Snow White: "Emma don't lie to me. I am well aware that everyone heard the intercom."
Emma: "Okay, but if this is about Ensign Lily, she started it."
Snow: "I did not know that."
Emma: "Well if its me about changing the label on the salt and sugar that was just a prank."
Snow: "What? I didn't know that either."
Emma: "Then why did you call me here, mother?"
Snow: "I called you here because I wanted your opinion. I was thinking of redecorating my ready room but now I am considering grounding you."
Emma: "Mom, I am 20 years old you can't ground me."
Snow: "Wanna bet, young lady?"
Emma: "I am not a child mother.
Snow: "And yet you insist on acting like one."
Emma: "Oh, come on, mother."
Snow: "Don't give me that young lady. If you are going to act like a child, then I will start treating you like one."
Emma: "Mother!"
Snow White: "Yes daughter."
Emma: "Mother! I'm a grown woman."
Snow: "Then prove to me you are. Because if I catch you behaving like a child again, I will treat you like one.
Emma: "Mother, no!"
Snow: "No, you don't want to prove to me you're a responsible adult?"
Emma: "Mother, I am a grown woman. I go on holodeck dates. I do my duties. I'm responsible."
Snow: "Emma, you're a good officer. I won't lie, you are better than me when I was your age. But you're reckless, impulsive, and don't think things through. You took a shuttle to play chicken."
Emma (blushingly): "That was because of a dare."
Snow: "My point exactly. What kind of grown woman risks her life like that? So, until you prove to me you are an adult, you will be treated as a child."
Emma: "No fair!! But fine, treat me like a child."
Snow: "Glad we understand each other."
Emma: "Mother, you are a cruel woman."
Snow: "I love you too sweetie."
Emma: "Mother, you know I love you, but I will be out here proving myself. That way you don't have to treat me like a child anymore."
Snow: "I know Emma, but you are my child. Just try and remember to be more responsible."
Emma: "Promise, mother."
Snow: "Good girl."
Emma: "Mother, I've got to get back to my date."
Snow: "Alright dear, just remember to be more responsible."
Emma: "I will mother. See you later."
Emma returns to her date and tells Baelfire everything her mother said.
Baelfire: "I think you'd look cute in pigtails and dresses."
Emma (playfully): "Shut up."
Baelfire: "What? Just saying."
Emma: "Whatever. You are still annoying."
Bae: "And yet you love me."
Emma: "Yes, I do. Let's get married."
Baelfire: "What? You can't be serious."
Emma: "Why not? We've been on a dozen dates. We love each other. Why not get married?"
Bae: "For starters, your parents would kill me."
Emma: "Dad was just saying that to scare you. It won't be a problem."
Bae: "Your mother could fire me."
Emma: "I know, but if you keep me happy, she won't have a reason to fire you, right?"
Bae: "Fine, let's get married then."
Emma: "Yay! I'm so happy. Now, what should we do for the wedding?"
Bae: "Well obviously invite our families, but we also have to search for space for you and me on this ship."
Emma: "Oh, right. So, we have to plan a wedding. Hmmm… Should it be on a holodeck or in the cargo hold? I think the holodeck would be nice. What do you think?"
Bae: "What about on the moon, or Planet Vegeta, or in the Enchanted Galaxy, our home world?"
Emma: "Hm, those are good ideas. But don't you think we should stay close to our families since we are planning on inviting them to the wedding?"
Bae: "We work and live with our family and friends. All we have to do is put in a request and your mother might say yes. If she says no we will do a holodeck wedding."
Emma: "True. Okay, we'll put in the request. I hope she says yes."
Bae: "What about food?"
Emma: "Hm, maybe we should eat something from the replicators. Oh, I've heard that there is an amazing pastry that they make on the bridge. Or I could ask one of the chef-officers to make us a meal."
Bae: "What about food?"
Emma: "Hm, maybe we should eat something from the replicators. Oh, I've heard that there is an amazing pastry that they make on the bridge. Or I could ask one of the chef-officers to make us a meal."
Baelfire: "You're right. Remember to get Tiana, the chef-officer."
Emma: "Okay, will do. What about our clothes? Should we stick with uniform or get something more formal?"
Bae: "I prefer formal."
Emma: "Okay, I guess we will have to ask a fashion officer for help. Or maybe mom will know what we should wear."
Bae: "If you say so, but I suppose we could do that. who's going to officially marry us?"
Emma: "Hmmm… Let's think… Should it be the captain? Or maybe the ships priest?"
Bae (surprised): "The ship has a priest?"
Emma: "Of course, many of the crew members have a faith. The priest is there to provide guidance and assistance when needed."
Bae: "Well then, I suppose the priest can marry us. What else do we need to plan?"
Emma: "Hm, the invitation. Do we send them out? Or just make them on the holodeck? Should everyone on board the ship be invited?"
Bae: "We could just use the intercom to invite everyone."
Emma: "Hm, we could do that. But what if we wanted some privacy or wanted to only invite a few friends?"
Bae: "That's true. Well, I guess the holodeck it is. We just need to settle on a date."
Emma: "Okay, when do we want the wedding to take place? I was thinking sometime soon, but is there a particular date you had in mind?"
Bae: "We need time to send all of this out, so what do you think in two weeks on a Friday night?"
Emma: "Sounds good to me.
Bae: "Am I going to tell my mom, you'll tell the captain or do you want us to tell them together?"
Emma: "I'll tell my mom You can tell your mom.
Bae: "Okay, love."
Emma: "And you should also tell the priest, so that he can get ready."
Bae: "Yes dear."
Emma: "This is exciting. I never imagined I would be getting married so soon."
The day of the wedding arrives. The ship's priest stands at the front of a beautiful area on the holodeck. A crowd of crew members are seated in the audience. In the front row are the bride, Emma, in an elegant white dress, and the groom, Baelfire, in a dark suit.
The priest: "Brothers and sisters, we are gathered here today to witness these two enter the holy bond of matrimony. Ensigns Baelfire Gold French, do you take Ensign Emma Ruth Swan Nolan Blanchard Charming Mills to be your wife, protect her, cherish her in life until death do you part?"
Baefire: "I do."
Priest: "And Ensign Emma Ruth Swan Nolan Blanchard Charming Mills, do you take Ensign Baelfire Gold French to be your husband, protect him, cherish him in life until death do you part?"
Emma: "I do."
Priest: "Then by the powers invested in me by the captain, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."
(Baelfire kisses Emma. The audience erupts in cheers and clapping.)
Baelfire carries Emma bridal style out of the holodeck and throws the bouquets of flowers. Ensign Lily Page (Emma's best friend) catches it.
Baelfire: "That's my wife, everyone!"
Emma: "That's my husband everyone!"
The audience cheers and the celebration begins.
Baelfire dancing with Emma at the party.
Emma chatting with her friends.
Emma and Baelfire talking in the bridge.
#once upon a time#ouat#star trek#star trek ouat crossover#fanfic#the voyages of the uss fairytale#startrek#snow white#emma swan#neal cassidy#baelfire#swanfire#once upon a time crossover
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OUAT fanfic: "Requiem"
My latest update of "A Time for Everything" depicts Hook's thoughts during and in between Episodes 3x15 and 3x16.
Explored in this chapter: Who arranges funerals in Storybrooke, where no one aged for 28 years? How did Hook learn about the stages of grief? What did people talk about at Neal's funeral?
Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50711170/chapters/134555035
Read on FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14287129/13/A-Time-for-Everything
#Once Upon a Time fan fiction#Once Upon a Time fanfic#canon-compliant#character analysis#headcanons#relationship analysis#Neal Cassidy#Baelfire#Captain Cobra#Captain Charming#Rumbelle#Quiet Minds#It's Not Easy Being Green#character death#grief#stages of grief#mourning#hurt/comfort#canon-compliant Swanfire#canon-compliant Captain Swan#abc's once upon a time#A Time for Everything#a time to weep#a time to mourn#Captain Swan
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If you'd be willing to give me a little for that OUAT soulmate au you've mentioned, I'd love that!🌹🌹
since you have sent two roses, I will send one line from each of the soulmark fics I've started (the killian and milah one counts as a wip even though it's pretty much finished because I say so:)
"He was, certainly, a black sheep- but a black sheep led by her to the slaughter. He was just a broken man trying to pull himself back together, and it wasn't his fault that her love strung him along, becoming the thread he used to stitch back together the shattered patchwork of his heart."
And then this one is fron the Swanfire fic that I've started but am still very not very far into:
"Another disaster ever after for Miss Emma Swan." she thought, pulling over, well aware that she was busted.
Thanks for the ask! Ily and stay hydrated!
#kazzy answers asks#kazzy writes#the kanera blog#kazzy's kazootuals#milah ouat#killian jones#emma swan#neal cassidy#millian#swanfire#baelfire ouat#once upon a time season 2#kazzy's fanfics
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#swanfire#next part of my swanfire fanfic for christmas but posted on may xd#neal goes with emma and henry to new york and also gets fake memories#alternate s3
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The Chronicles of the Dark One: Fathers and Sons
Chapter 14: The Story of Neal Cassidy
He used the knife he conjured to butcher the squid as respectfully as he could, taking only the bit of the tentacle that he would need to create the ink necessary. It was tempting, of course, to take more, and there were certain Dark Ones in his head crying out for him to do just that, given the value in gold as well as usefulness, but necessity demanded that he take only what he could use. After all, he could harvest the squid ink and get a hundred bottles of squid ink, but what good would that do him or Henry in the end. None, all the squid ink in the world wasn't going to help, but one proper dose from a well-timed arrow just might do the trick.
So, he took only the bit of tentacle that he needed and then retreated with Bae back into the forest. "I need a safe place to build a fire," he informed him, then watched as his son nodded and continued to lead him back through the forest with ease. He hadn't a clue where he was, but it was ever increasingly and painfully clear that Baelfire did. The implications of that knowledge…it made him want to vomit. It reminded him that there was something he wanted to know but was afraid to ask, something that he'd suspected in New York when his son had known who Hook was and how to steer his ship. It was something that made watching him walk around this place as if he owned it terrifying.
Up ahead, he heard noise, splashing, and he smelled salt in the air. Still, Bae walked on until they finally emerged on a beach. He'd been behind Baelfire, unable to see around him. He heard the commotion the second that Bae stepped out into the clearing, the shrieks and high-pitched screeches followed by splashes. Once he moved around Bae, he saw elbows and fins and hair stirring up the water and diving anxiously into the lagoon before them. They were gone within seconds, leaving only ripples and bubbles in the water where they'd been.
Bae shrugged at the area around him. "The water here is salty and frequented by mermaids. The boys don't come here, and even if they did, we'd hear them first," he explained with an expertise that only made him want to shiver more. How was it possible to want to talk about something just as much as he didn't want to talk about something?
Despite Bae's assurance, he set to casting temporary spells to keep them safe and then finally one to light a fire. But that wasn't all he needed. Nearby he spied a shell about the size of his fist. It wouldn't hold much but perhaps just enough so long as…
"I uh…I need a flat stone of some kind to make it easier to cut."
"Nah…hand it here," he ordered, extending his hands for tentacle and knife alike. Before he could question it, he'd handed the tools over, and Bae wandered over to a rock that was neither flat nor small. He watched as Bae carefully balanced the tentacle upon it and then angled the blade.
His heart skipped a beat. "You want to go in close to the tip," he ordered, suddenly nervous that his son might think this was just as simple as slicing a tomato. "Make a shallow vertical slice right down the center and then peel it apart to find-"
"The ink sack," he finished. "I know."
And then he watched as his son perfectly carved up the squid tentacle on a less than ideal piece of stone and extracted the two-by-two spherical ink sack, completely intact. He held out his hand as Bae dropped it into his palm. He was positive, absolutely positive, that no matter how many times Bae might have seen him use squid ink as a child, he had never seen him do that.
He took the knife Bae offered back and then wandered over to the fire he'd built, aware of Bae following him as he went. He sat down and drew the shell he'd found closer to him; all the while, Bae hovered over him, looking less than concerned. He was confident. He was confident in this plan, confident in his abilities, even confident in the fact that they were safe right now, and that was without knowing he'd used magic to set up the barriers. His heart twisted at every sad and sour fact. He didn't want to know. And yet…
"You know your way around the place," he commented as he used the knife to slice through the ink sack's protective shell.
"Yeah, I wish I didn't," Bae commented. That was not quite the definitive answer he'd been hoping for.
"You came here, didn't you?" he pressed as he used the tip of the knife to puncture the final inner skin of the sack and allowed the ink to drain into the bowl of the shell. "Before you went to the Land Without Magic, the portal brought you here."
"No, actually. The bean did just as the Blue Fairy promised. It took me to the Land Without Magic."
It was a good thing he'd already emptied the contents of the sack because otherwise, his hands might have slipped and dropped it, spilling the precious liquid on himself. Untreated, it wouldn't have done much, but still…
Bae had been here. He knew that he had. The way he'd said that he wished he didn't confirm at least that much of it, but if the portal hadn't brought him here then…Pan. Pan's Shadow. When he'd kept Bae in the Enchanted Forest, he'd been sure to keep the hovel and later the castle under every possible protection that he could for fear that Pan might attempt to reach out and snatch his boy. He'd made sure those protections were even stronger after Pan had actually tried. Was he saying that without anyone to protect him after he'd gone, Pan had got him anyway? Oh, he'd never been more fearful of the truth, but he had to know!
"So Pan-"
"Nope…coming here was on me," he stated, reaching down to grab some leaf or other as he started to tear it apart.
No. Pan hadn't kidnapped him, but then…Bae had asked to come? After what he knew about Pan from the last time? Had he reached out?
"I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Yeah, why would you? Not like you were there to understand."
"Bae-"
"Neal."
He swallowed hard. He'd always be "Baelfire," but if calling him "Neal" was truly what he wanted, then he'd at least make an effort. Or, at the very least, he'd make the effort not to say either name out loud.
"Neal…I'm trying. I want to understand," he urged as used a stick to hollow out a bit of sand close to the fire coals so he could stick the shell close enough to bring the ink to a boil. "Help me understand."
Bae watched him from where he stood by the fire. The bit of debris he'd been fiddling with in his hand was still now. He was thinking about it. Though his body may have been still, it was obvious from the look in his eyes that his mind was thinking. If it was anything like his own mind, it was probably a mile a minute. But he was a patient man. He continued to hold his gaze, continued to wait, continued to hope until finally…
Something in his eyes shifted as he let out a sigh and looked out over the water. "All right," he breathed so quietly that if he hadn't had magical hearing, he didn't think he'd have heard him. But finally, he tossed the leaf aside, letting it float to the ground as he squatted down beside the fire.
"After I left our world, I ended up in London, only this wasn't yesterday. I didn't really grasp the concept or the importance of a year, but I figure it was eighteen hundred something or other. And when I landed there, I was alone. No money, no clue where I was, no magic…no you.
"Being an orphan my age in London, it was either go to the workhouses, which was essentially indentured servitude, or try your hand as a pickpocket. I wasn't particularly comfortable with either but tried them both anyway and chose the lesser of two evils. But picking pockets, that's just hoping for maybe a penny or two, if I was lucky. It wasn't enough to live on, not that I had anywhere to live anyway. So, I'd get hungry. And just like any teenage boy who's hungry, sometimes I did stupid things for food.
"So, this one day, I was so hungry I could barely see straight. I guess I uh…I wandered into a house and found some bread just sitting out on a table, with no one in the room. So, I ate. And when I finished, there was a girl who came into the room. You uh…you probably heard of her. Her name was Wendy, Wendy Da-"
"Wendy Darling…from the story," he breathed in shock.
"Yeah," Bae smiled, glancing down. "You always told me our lives were stories, guess you were right. I just didn't learn it until later…"
Yes, the Dark Ones as well as the Blue Fairy and his own damn Curse had made the fact that they were not but stories in someone else's book of fairy tales quite clear. Even those that he never expected to be real, it seemed, were, only stolen from other realms. He supposed it shouldn't have surprised him, he'd gone to plenty in search of Bae, but the realization that Baelfire had been here and then met the very Wendy Darling that appeared in a story featuring Pan…it was quite remarkable. And devastating.
"So anyway, I wandered into the Darling home a scared, hungry kid, and Wendy Darling found me. She took pity on me, and her mother did too. They adopted me right then and there, took me into their home, got me clean and fed, I even had my own bed and a tutor. And for a while, things were almost like normal. For a while I could almost forget you, I could almost focus on my new family and my new home and my life without magic, and then…"
"Pan found you," he inserted in Bae's silence.
"Not Pan. Only his shadow," he corrected. "Wendy spoke of it one night. She spoke of a magical land and a magic boy that never grew up and talked about how much fun it was to be there.
"And I tried, you know. I tried to tell her to stay away. I'd been burned by magic before, my family had been torn apart by it; I didn't want it happening again! But Wendy didn't listen.
"All magic comes at a cost...you taught me that too. And one night Wendy came back heartbroken because the bill had come due. Pan wanted one of her brothers, one of our brothers. He was after Michael and James, was prepared to return for them another night, but me…I thought I could help. I'd seen magic before, and I'd faced it, I'd dealt with it. I thought…" Bae sighed and shook his head, letting it hang down for a second before he looked back up and into the forest.
"I don't know what I thought. I don't know what I was thinking. All I know is that when push came to shove, I couldn't let another family be destroyed by magic. It was either them or me, and I chose to let the shadow take me."
"Oh, Bae…"
"It's Neal," he corrected quickly. "And I don't want your pity or your apologies or anything else you may claim to offer because I don't need it. I learned that a long time ago. Baelfire died when the shadow brought me here. Just took me a little while to realize it. It took me a while to learn just how much of my life was a lie.
"Coming here…that's how I met Hook. It's how I learned to steer a ship, how I learned to fight with a sword and defend myself, how I learned about the island before I had to conquer it. It's how I learned about a lot of things I didn't know."
His stomach gave an uneasy turn as he realized that the conversation had begun to go in a different direction, one that he sensed but hadn't been prepared for. He would have loved to have stopped the tale there, to settle with knowing where Bae he'd gone and how he'd got here, but now…he was too deep into this to back out now.
"You met Hook."
"Yeah. Yeah, I did. I managed to slip away from the shadow, and Hook picked me up. They thought I was a lost boy for a while, but when they realized I wasn't, they hid me. I stayed on his ship for however long it was in a land where there's no such thing as time, eluding Pan and the boys, until…"
Bae paused. It was a palpable moment. Up until then, he'd been talking non-stop, as if starting the story meant he demanded he finish it as quickly as possible, but now...now hesitated. He swallowed and looked down again as if in pain before he looked back up at him with dark eyes.
"Until I found a picture, a drawing of someone familiar, someone from my memories of home. It was a drawing that shouldn't have existed because the person in it was supposed to have been dead."
He heard the accusation in his tone, the challenge that it presented. His instinct, just as it always was, was to tiptoe around it. His mind tried to conjure up ways to escape the trap his son had cleverly laid out for him, ways to dance around it so he could figure out what he'd been told and deny it. But then he pictured Belle and how she'd been appearing to him, daring him to be different, to change. If he was to do this, it wasn't going to be by being who he'd been these past many years.
"Milah. Your mother."
"Yeah, don't bother lying about it; Hook told me everything I needed to know," he spat out quickly.
His own stomach rolled as he realized that Baelfire would truly know everything now, at least where he and his mother were concerned. It meant that he probably also knew how he'd lost Milah, how cowardly he'd been when he refused to fight. Baelfire hundreds of years ago would have seen through the dramatics of the story that Hook told him, given him the benefit of the doubt, maybe even defended him. But this Baelfire, angry and bitter, he wasn't going to be as kind.
"You know what I can't figure out…" Bae paused to clear his throat as if emotion threatened to overtake him, but his gaze remained stoic as ever. "What I can't figure out is why you didn't tell me."
Well, at least he'd started with an easy enough answer. "You were a boy…you didn't need to think that she chose Hook over me, over us."
"Didn't need to think…" he mumbled the words before looking back down at the ground. When he returned his gaze to him, he didn't see the eyes of the man he'd found in New York City, but the hurt and questioning gaze of a boy. His son. "But she did, didn't she?" he questioned almost sadly. "That was exactly what she did."
"I've come to believe that it had more to do with me than you, but yes…that's what she did."
Again, he had to suppress the urge to answer too quickly. He hated Milah. He wanted to cheer Baelfire on for coming to such a conclusion, for discovering on his own what a terrible woman she'd been. But he couldn't do it. As much as he hated her, he couldn't bear the damage that it might do to his son to know that. And besides, with the benefit of wisdom, things looked different than they did years ago.
"Your mother…we were young Bae, neither of us knew what we were doing or what we wanted or what we needed. Which is no excuse that I'll give her credit for when it comes to abandoning you. But it's also taken me a long time to see the problems that existed in our marriage were-"
"Yeah," Bae coughed, standing up suddenly and moving away from him. "I'm going to stop you there because I sense this is leading to a conversation about your girlfriend and I'm not into talking about that."
He took a deep breath. The truth was that he hadn't been trying to steer the conversation in that direction, Bae had been the one to bring up Milah. But he could see where Bae would get the idea and given their topic, he could also see the conversation heading that direction whether he planned for it or not. He wanted to talk to Bae about Belle; truly, he did. But he didn't want to force the conversation either. So, if he didn't want to speak about her, maybe there was another conversation they could have.
"What about talking about Emma?"
"Emma…" Bae scoffed. "What about Emma? We're here for Henry. I'm here for Henry."
"Come on…" he sneered accidentally. He wanted to be gentle, but there was only so much he could pretend not to notice. If Baelfire wanted brutal honesty from him, then he had better be prepared for all that came with it. "We both know it was Tamara that shot you, and we both know that when you look at Emma…your gaze lingers a bit too long, son."
Neal set his jaw as he stared at him, giving him a fine example of a "long-lingering gaze", but he had the feeling that they both knew that wasn't the same kind of gaze he used with Emma.
"Yeah…I think I'd rather go back to talking about your girlfriend than talking about how long my 'gaze lingers' on Emma. Your ink should be about done, by the way…" he pointed out, motioning in the direction of the fire before turning his back on him.
#Rumbelle#Rumple#Rumpelstiltskin#Dark One#Neal Cassidy#Baelfire#Swanfire#Peter Pan#Milah#Captain Hook#Killian Jones#ouat#Ouat fanfiction#fanfic
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Swanfire Week Day 5: Song/quote
“Who are you?” There wasn’t even the slightest bit of recognition in the other man’s eyes, and Neal swore he could feel his own blood boiling beneath his skin.
“It’s Neal!” He was shouting now, and everyone in the bar was looking at them, but he still couldn’t bring himself to care. “You know, Ruby’s best friend?”
“Ruby?” Finally, something seemed to actually reach Graham, and his gaze focused onto Neal’s face.
“Yeah, Ruby,” Neal spat. “Remember her?”
“I don’t…” Graham shook his head, then closed his eyes, his chest rising and falling with slow, steady breaths.
“Look at me!” Neal shouted, but even though Graham’s eyes reopened, they slid past him like he wasn’t there, like he didn’t even exist.
Before he could think twice, a fist slammed into Graham’s face, and Neal realized a second later that it had been his own.
- Excerpt from “Not My Homeland Anymore”, Chapter 9: “Like You Don't Even Exist”
Neal and Graham have some… differences of opinion. Neither reacts well.
Another belated entry for @mysteryandnonstopfun's Swanfire Week, and, of course, a gift to @swanfireprincessmydear.
[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 8]
#ouat#mood board#my fanfics#swanfire#emma x neal#sfweek2023#red huntsman#ruby x graham#neal cassidy#graham humbert#emma swan#ruby lucas#rumplestiltskin#regina mills#otp: tallahassee#alternate universe#excerpt#not my homeland anymore#my edits#all queued up
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Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan, Baelfire | Neal Cassidy/Emma Swan
Characters: Emma Swan, Evil Queen | Regina Mills, Baelfire | Neal Cassidy, Henry Mills (Once Upon a Time)
Additional Tags: Queen/Swan/Fire, Polyamory, Co-Parenting, The Evil Queen in love, SwanFire and Swan Queen together, QueenSwanFire, Fluff, romantic
Summary:
To co-parent Henry successfully a unique arrangement is made.
#SwanQueen#SwanFire#QueenSwanFire#Regina Mills#The Evil Queen#Once Upon a Time#OUAT#Emma Swan#Baelfire#Neal Cassidy#Nealfire#polyamory#co-parenting#ao3 fanfic#Fanfiction#OUAT fandom#OUAT fanfiction#ao3feed#ao3#ao3 writer#Henry Mills
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