Hope Jones The Pirate Princess

Aftermath

As everyone watched the remaining part of the school collapse all hope died. The last thing anyone had heard before the crumble was Dalton scream.
Everyone looked at the once glorious building that was now a pile of crumbled bricks and broken glass. Once the smoke had cleared anyone who remained at the school raced toward the south side of the school to see what Dalton had been screaming about. Somehow he had survived the destruction. (Probably due to the fact everything had fallen into the hole instead of on top of him).
They found Dalton hanging over a hole sobbing. Nobody wanted to find out what or who was down there, this morning the school was perfect and now it was the final resting place of Princess Alexandria Charming.
Around a meter away from her people noticed Hope was sprawled out along a slab of concrete her hair thick with blood and debris from the building.
Emma and Killian had no idea what to do, did they jump down and risk not being able to get back up? Or did they stay up and watch her bleed to death?
Emma pleaded for Killian to let her jump down but he was against letting her go down there as he didn't know if it was safe. He couldn't risk losing both Emma and Hope. Blue knew she had to bring Hope back up she thought it was the safest option. And it was.
She flew down and collecting Hope before sending Alexandrias body back up.
Emma pulled Hope into her arms and began to sob.
"Blue is she?" Snow questioned but Blue shook her head
"No, she isn't dead!" Blue comforted "However, the same can not be said for Alexandria!"
"Neal is going to be distraught!" Snow cried as she began to call Charming.
Dalton had hold of his sisters body, wondering why she was in that part of the school or why she was there at all. He then remembered she had been there dropping off Hope after she had babysat for their newborn the night before.
He glanced down at her hand and noticed her engagement and wedding rings were missing, were she and Neal separated? Why hadn't she told anyone?
After an hour anyone who wasn't injured or hadn't got any information was told to leave. That was when Hope and Daltons family's arrived and saw what had happened.
He heard Neal screaming at Hope despite the fact she was still unconscious, he heard the rest of her family comforting her parents but they hadn't lost Hope.
Dalton hadn't allowed his eyes to leave his sisters lifeless body until Darling forced them away.
She pulled him up from the floor and into her arms their parents held Alexandria until Neal had finished screaming at Hope.
He made his way over to his wife and held her close to his chest, he couldn't control his tears they seemed to continue to fall from his eyes for hours.
Snow and Charming allowed their son to fall into their arms and rest there just as he did as a child. He turned to Hope who had started to regain consciousness and began to yell at her once more.
"This is your fault!"
"Lay off mate!" Killian warned but Neal didn't listen. Why would he? He knew nobody else believed it was Hopes fault but to him it was.
Robin, Charming and Henry pulled Neal away and placed him into a carriage that took him back to his parents castle.
Hope began to try to stand but fell straight back to the ground. Ashley and Thomas walked past Hope and threw her a look that easily could have killed her.
Darling knelt down beside her and held her close, one of her sisters had just died she was glad the other hadn't.
Dalton didn't know what to do with himself, the last conversation he and Hope had had was her telling him she wasn't going to go back to him. But in this moment all he wanted was her but he thought it was best for him to leave her in the protection of her family.
He began to walk away from the pile of rubble when he heard Hope cough his name. He rushed to her side as she told her family to leave them for five minutes
"I'm sorry!" She sobbed
"Hey, none of this was your fault!" He sniffed, he didn't like to cry in front of Hope but he realised he couldn't hold the tears in any longer
"Isn't it? If Alex hadn't have dropped me off this morning she would be alive! If I hadn't been so stubborn we wouldn't have been fighting and... Dalton your crying!"
"Yeah... Lex... she... she wasn't so lucky!" He wept before Hope pulled him into her arms, she hadn't realised just how much she had missed him up until that moment
"What did I do to deserve you?" She chuckled into his hair
"Wait... are you?" He smiled before quickly realising he was pushing the idea onto her and Hope didn't respond well to pressure
"Coming home? Yeah, that is if you'll still have me?" Dalton didn't even need to respond the smile on his face said enough. He pulled Hope into his arms and refused to let go for fear of losing her again.
"Hope, I think it's best you stay with your parents until your better!"
"What? So you don't want me to come home?" She huffed
"Of course I do!" He scolded cupping her face in his hands "But I have a kingdom to run and as much as I wish I didn't...I do! Your parents can be there every minute of the day to care for you!"
"I'm not even that badly injured!" She whined trying her hardest to persuade them all to let her return to their home. But as she tried to stand on her own she fell straight into Daltons arms
"Really?" He laughed placing her down gently on the ground
"Dalton," Emma smiled "you can both stay with us!"
"Are you sure Mrs Jones?"
"Aye lad we are!" Killian laughed as he picked Hope back up from the floor knowing full well she was ready to go home "now I think it's time we get this little princess to bed!" He smiled as Hope began to yawn and rub her eyes.
"Looks like someone hasn't lost their touch!" Emma laughed as she walked back to the bug.
Daltons parents, despite being hero's, had never been anything like Hopes parents, it was the one thing he envied about her. His mother had always been closer to his sisters and his father had been busy running the kingdom to spend any time with him.
Hopes parents had always been there for him. Killian had taught him more than Thomas ever had and Emma was almost his mother.
Killian handed Hope over to him as they sat in the back of the car and he sat and ran his hand through her hair over and over. Holding her close and keeping her safe.
"I love you!"