If I could turn back time…words that ran through his mind over and over ever since the night of the coronation, he wished he had the power to change things, truly change things. He knew the moment he turned his back on her and chose Madeline that he had screwed up royally. He would do anything in his power to make things right, but he knew there was a huge chance that it wouldn’t be enough.
A Duke, another man, one he knew since he was a child, a man he genuinely liked was now moving in. He never had issues with Duke Perceval, he doesn’t know why he accused him of being a playboy, yes he does, because he’s trying anything he can to keep her. He knows that the Duke can give her everything he can’t, he’d be stupid to think there wasn’t a chance that she would choose him.
He couldn’t blame her, not really, this was all his fault, he pushed her away. She had every right to run to the comforting arms of another man, he didn’t belong to her, not really, not the way he wanted. It was his fault all his fault.
He wished he had been stronger, been able to stand up and speak the truth and chosen her anyway. Oh, he’d been a coward, claiming he’d done what he’d to protect her, when in truth he was protect himself. He was nothing but a fucking coward, and all he did was make things worse.
Some of the things he’d said were cruel, the things he’s allowed Madeline to say and do were even worse. He had been hurt and lashed out, he hasn’t meant any of it. Madeline knew where his heart lay and felt threatened, but he shouldn’t have let her behave that way, he should have shut her down sooner.
There is one more thing he can do to prove what she means to him, it’s a risk, he knows this, he could still lose. If any of this has taught him anything it would be that it’s better to risk everything to gain everything than lose everything because he did nothing. So he’d do it, he’d risk everything, he just hoped he wasn’t too late.
Cat and I were discussing whether Milah knows about Liam’s unfinished business and this happened:
The way I see it, if she knows, it was a late night at the bar. She had gotten into another fight. But this was different. He could always tell when she was fighting because she was seriously upset instead of fighting because that is how she went through life and now it's how she goes through death. This was a genuinely upset kind of fight.
So, in spite of his better judgement, he lets her stay and get cleaned up. They get to talking. They always get to talking when it is late and they are the only two left in the place.
She was feeling really down about having left Bae. He finally gets the important detail from her. It is Bae's 100th birthday.
She admits that she was thinking, and she hates herself for it, but she was thinking about how he has probably died (oh if you only knew the truth) and since they haven't found him in the Underworld he probably moved on.
And she is furious with herself for being upset by that.
Because she doesn't want him trapped in this place.
But if she can't make amends with him somehow, she doubts she will ever be able to move on.
So, Liam listens to her for a while, pouring them both drinks, listening to her talk about Bae, and about how guilty she still feels about leaving, and how she feels like she traded his happiness for her own.
Finally, Liam comes out with "At least you didn't trade someone's life for yours."
That makes her sit right up and listen because Liam doesn't talk about his Unfinished Business. Ever.
So, slowly, haltingly, completely convinced she will hate him for it (convinced he will deserve her hatred,) he tells her the story that no one else knows. If it distracts her from her own pain and guilt, that is enough reason for him to tell it.
And she surprises him by /not/ hating him for it.
Although she does say that it was a very Pirate thing to do. Which he isn't thrilled with, but it could be so much worse.
He deserves so much worse.
And he tried to tell her that, tried to make her see. This was unforgivable. Why couldn't she see that.
But she doesn't. Instead she asked one very simple question. "How old were you?"
She knows, or close enough, but she isn't asking the question for her own knowledge.
He was seventeen, and Killian was fourteen (too young to join the navy, but they lied about their ages so they could get in.)
"And you still managed to get your brother and yourself out of slavery?"
Liam had never actually used that word about it. He used servitude, indentured, anything to make is sound a little better. He couldn't have explained why, but it was there. Maybe it was a holdover of trying to keep Killian's spirits up.
Make things sound a little brighter, a little better than they really are.
It makes him a great storyteller.
"I... I traded their lives for our freedom," he said hollowly.
"Well, seeing as they were the ones preventing your freedom in the first place, they were the right lives to trade."
That stopped him short because he had always blamed Brennan for that, never their subsequent captains or crew. (If he could have traded Brennan's life for their freedom he would have done so in a heartbeat. He wouldn't have even ended up in the Underworld for it.) There were things he blamed those other men for, pretty cruelties mostly, but his and Killian's servitude had always felt like Brennan's doing.
Maybe that had been easier, saving all of that hatred for a man who wasn't their, who never told them what to do. Killian was suited to roiling anger seething beneath the surface. Liam was not, so he had long pushed away any thought of blaming the captains and crew for his captivity.
"You really think that?" he asked. His voice sounded almost pleading, even to his own ears, almost like a twelve year old waking to find himself suddenly father and brother to Killian.
He hated that he needed her to think that so badly. It wasn't like they were even friends, not really, (not yet.) She was just a regular who he was growing accustomed to always having around the place. He shouldn't have needed her approval.
But he did. Oh, how he did.
"If there is one thing the perspective of death has taught me, it is laying blame on the right people. I'm much better at that than I used to be." For a moment her smile went brittle, like the tiniest thing could break it. Because what she didn't mention is that death has taught her to be more skilled at blaming herself. But then the moment passed and her focus was on him again.
"You amazing, insane man, of course I really think so. What kind of lunatic would say no, you should stay in slavery and not take your chance at freedom? Even, or maybe especially, at the expense of your captors."
They don't talk about it again. Some days he wants to forget they ever talked about it. Some days, worse in some ways, he thinks she might be right. Maybe it wasn't the worst thing in the world that he saved his brother, even that way.
But he doesn't dwell on that. Some tiny part of him knows, if he dwells on that, if he comes completely to terms with what he did, or if he dares to accept it, he will be able to move on.
That is the goal. Eventually. But it is nearly closing time at the Rabbit Hole and Milah is smashing a chair over some guy's head and he has so many other things on his mind that old wrongs. Perhaps tomorrow he will try to sort out how he feels about the past, but there is life enough here, of a sort, at least for today.
So do you guys want the drabbles my mind cooked up from Cher and Tim McGraw songs? I mean they will just twist the knife deeper so I understand if you don't want it.
So, over that the @askoncerp (I run Liam Jones for the duration of this flashback at @asktheoriginalliam) @ask-milahthepiratequeen went and mentioned in a post something about speculation on what would have happened if Liam were in Killian’s place. So naturally, I drabbled at her as revenge for making me think about it. This is still basically the same as I messaged to her, with her flailing and crying cut out. Blame her, not me.
Tagging @nothingimpossibleonlyimprobable because I know she likes Jones brothers feels that aren’t very nice.
When Liam watches the body of the boy he had tried so hard his whole life to protect, he doesn't react like Killian would have.
He doesn't rage or swear or burn the Pegasus Sail.
He doesn't have Killian's capacity for unfocused rage so he doesn't rally the crew to mutiny and piracy.
In a calm, quiet voice that hides the fury and sadness beneath, he informs the crew that they need to return briefly to Neverland. People need to know what Killian... his voice nearly breaks when he says his brother's name... people need to know what he died for.
So they return to Neverland briefly. Liam returns to the island alone. Pan is no where to be found, of course he isn't, that would be too easy. But Pan is not Liam's main concern. He gathers what he came for and orders the ship to set sail for home.
He has no home, not anymore. Home was wherever he and Killian were together. Home sank to the ocean floor wrapped in a clean white sail.
When they arrive at the king's castle, he ask the crew to remain on the ship. He has business to attend to.
He tells the admirals that they succeeded but at great cost, for Neverland was a more dangerous realm than they anticipated. In honor of his brother, he wants to see the king personally. They grant him that. He is the best captain in the Fleet, entrusted with the finest ship for a reason. It is only right they do as he asks when he has suffered so great a lost. They only see his grief. They fail to notice his quiet rage.
He arrives in the throne room and bows to his king like good servant returning home.
"Your majesty, I have your prize," he says and reaches into his satchel... Killian's satchel that he had given him at the start of their journey.
He scratches the Dreamshade across the king's hand. "There is your medicine," he says bitterly.
There are two ways the story could go here, two different versions of the tale told on ships and in dockside taverns when the winds howl and moan and the rain lashes the windows.
One version tells that he was caught and hanged for treason and the death the king. That his crew stole the body that night and gave it a sailors burial, sunk to the bottom of the sea wrapped in a clean white sail.
The other version is for longer nights, when there is time for the second part of the tale to unfold.
In that version, Liam survived. He made his way back to the ship where the men were ready to leave and sailed away in the fastest and only flying ship of the fleet.
He didn't turn to piracy. He didn't have the unfocused rage at the world for that.
Instead, he did very specialized shipping. When people needed something from another realm, he could acquire it for a price. The same if they needed an item smuggled behind enemy lines or similar. How high a price depended on the item and how much they actually needed it. He was a naturally honorable man and sometimes his rates could be downright cheap. But heaven help anyone who lied about the cargo.
He was delivering some items for the Ogre Wars when he met Milah.
He didn't fall for her instantly. He offered her adventure and travel, but not love. That came later, as they talked for hours about their lives, their loves, their regrets, what few hopes either of them had left.
Slowly, almost without noticing it, they fell for each other completely.
Liam would come to regret that lost time, would come to regret he hadn't kissed her the first moment he saw her and every moment after.
We know the story of the Dark One already, his rise to power, the loss of his son, his search for a method of crossing realms.
Well, rumors had spread about Liam's ship, that it could fly, that it could cross realms, that it could go anywhere.
Liam had been less antagonistic toward the cowardly spinner, so he met the Dark One under more favorable circumstances, at least until he caught sight of Milah.
Some history cannot be changed, some moments are fated to be. Milah would always have died there on the deck of the ship, in the arms of a man who loved her more than life.
In one brief moment of uncharacteristically rash fury, Liam charged at the Dark One, intending to strike down this monster than had murdered his love. But immortals are not easily killed and he lost his hand in the attempt.
There was no bean to take away. The Dark One didn't leave the ship, nor did he bother to finish it's captain. (He would someday regret that oversight.) He left the man bleeding on the deck beside the body of his love.
The frightened crew attempted to do as they were told, to pilot the ship to the Land Without Magic, but a Pegasus Sail can't go to a realm that has no magic so it simply crashed back to the water in the same realm.
The Dark One killed most of the crew in a rage and then simply left, fully expecting the captain to die and any remaining crewmen to never be important enough to matter.
Liam didn't go to Neverland. There was no point. If he needed to live longer, he could always go there later with the Pegasus Sail.
Feverish and grieving, he once again watched the one person he loved more than anything else slip away into the ocean and hoped perhaps they could find each other in the afterlife.
But here, he had work to do.
Over the next few years, a legend grew.
Anyone who who made a deal with the Dark One would see a ghost ship slide across the horizon, even inland, the Flying Dutchman with Captain Jones at it's helm.
(He never embraced the title of Captain Hook. It had mostly been Pan's idea that stuck for Killian, and it was far too theatrical for Liam's taste.)
The Flying Dutchman and it's captain would lay waste to any benefit the person had received from the Dark One. If they sought riches, they would be left paupers. If they sought protection, they would be slain. if they sought better crops, the ground would be sown with salt. If they sought a child... the captain was known to have a soft spot for children who were being treated as currency and most of his crew over the years was comprised of children bought and paid for by the Dark One.
Knowing that the Flying Dutchman would undo the deal and worse, people stopped making deals with the Dark One.
Because he knew that the Dark One would live far longer than he would, Captain Jones was not satisfied with that. He still sought a way to destroy the monster once and for all.
He started harboring in Neverland, never staying long enough for trouble with Pan and never setting foot on the shores. It was a compromise to live long enough to see the demon destroyed.
But there was a focus to Liam's revenge. He never allowed himself to be distracted from his goal by side missions for lesser powers.
He had no dealings with Pan, and therefore no cause to sell Bae. They settled their differences and Liam persuaded the lad to stay on.
Slowly, Liam's anger at the Dark One spread to Bae, who became convinced that the Dark One had essentially replaced his father.
And after years of sailing together, Bae agreed to help Liam destroy the Dark One once and for all by stealing the dagger.
Liam hated to risk Milah's son like that, but he allowed Bae to return to his father, a joyous reunion that wouldn't last for long.
Briefly, Bae considered not doing it once he was back with his father, but the Dark One reared it's ugly head again and Bae decided that Liam was right. He stole the dagger in the night and returned to the Flying Dutchman.
The next time Liam and the Dark One met was as equals. The Dark One had magic, but Liam had his one weakness.
Some say Liam won. Wiser tale tellers know that he lost.
With the power of the Dark One, Liam struck out against any who used their power for evil. At least at first.
Bae was at this side and tried to persuade him to set the magic aside, not to make the same mistake as his father, but there was still work to be done.
There were cruel kings to destroy. There were slavers to kill. There were so many others who used their power to harm those weaker than themselves.
But it didn't stop there.
He started seeing cruelty and corruption everywhere.
Even good kings make mistakes.
Even kind men are occasionally cruel.
Bae finally left the crew, unwilling to be a part of that anymore. He told Liam that there is one chance remaining to him, that True Love's kiss can break any curse. And perhaps that is true, but Liam knows that his true loves lie at the bottom of the sea.
He turned his sights on Neverland next, some part of him still blaming that demon-child for Killian's death.
Neverland is now the closest thing he has to a home. Not that it can ever truly be a home. He twice watched his home slip beneath the waves, wrapped in a clean white sail.
He mellowed a little with age, not truly done, just tired. Tired of the fighting, tired of knowing every day that he is no closer to being reunited with the people he loves. He spends most of his time drifting in the Flying Dutchman over Neverland, watching over his empty realm.
They say the name Liam Jones is still etched on the dagger.
They say he seeks someone foolish enough to replace that name with their own.
They say that somewhere, Baelfire still seeks a way to destroy the curse without sealing his own fate. He would like to save Liam, but that is by no means a necessity in his planning.
They say that the Dark One will come if summoned, and that he is willing to make deals.
But beware, because they say if you try to sell him a child, he will tear out your heart and crush it.
You’re standing at the sink washing dishes when you hear the front door open. A small smile takes over your lips.
“Hey babe where are ya?” Liam calls from the foyer.
“The kitchen babe.” You call back to him.
You hear a low moan as he walks up behind you and slides his arms around your waist. “I missed you today baby.” Liam gently moves your hair to the side and starts placing small kisses on your neck.
You gasp at the feeling of his lips against your skin. “Mmm, I missed you to babe.” You reach for the hand towel drying your hands and holding onto his hands placed against your stomach.
“I think we need to go out, maybe a nice dinner at a quiet little restaurant. I need time alone with my baby, but my stomach is telling me it needs to be full too.” Liam turns you around to face him as he looks from your eyes to your mouth then back to your eyes. “Sound good baby?”
“Yeah Li, whatever you want to do babe. I just want to be with you. I don’t care what we do. But I need to get dressed.”
“You look fine Lis. I don’t think you need to change.”
“I can’t go out in cutoff shorts and a ratty old T-shirt Li. Are you mad?”
Liam laughs, “ok, maybe you’ve got a point. But nothing too fancy.”
You walk upstairs grabbing a black skirt and purple top. You slide on the top and pull your hair up off of your back and shoulders. Reaching for the skirt you slide it up your legs then reach under the skirt and quickly remove your panties. Smiling to yourself you walk out of the closet and back downstairs.
Liam is sitting on the couch, head back and eyes closed. You walk over and straddle him sitting down onto his lap and his eyes pop open just as you lean in and kiss him. “I missed you more.” You smile at him kissing his nose.
“Mmm, I love when you miss me.” Liam starts to slide his hand up your thigh and you slap his hand away.
“Uh uh uh, no way babe, no touching.” A giggle escapes as you push your skirt back down.
“But baby, this isn’t fair. I just wanna devour you when you look this good.”
“The growling of your stomach is telling me one thing and that hard bulging in your pants is telling me something totally different.”
You slowly rub your hand against the bulge in his pants leaning in and kissing him deeply. Running your hands through his hair as Liam slides his hand up your thigh to your center and he gulps loudly.
“Baby, you forgot something.” His thumb starts to rub your clit then he slowly moves it to your opening and slides it inside of you.
You gasp at the feeling and tug on his hair as your eyes slowly open to see Liam looking at you with a fond smile and a dark desire in his eyes.
“Dinner can wait, I have more important things to take care of right now.”
Liam slowly stands from the couch and you wrap your legs around him as he kisses you deeply. “I sure am happy that you missed me so much today baby.”
“I did Li. I need you. Make me scream baby”
“Oh you can bet I will. Liam sets you down on the floor as he rubs his hand over the bulge in his pants.” He moans loudly, “I needed this baby. You drive me crazy.”
(Ok this is gonna be a long post but I'm stuck on mobile so bear with me. I did a post simaler to this last father's day and was on hitaus during mother's day so here we go with this, Liam is writing his dead mother.) homo-bodt mysticaladventurer its-always-cold-here ishvalanedward totally-not-a-makoto-blog - Lim gathered up his pen and paper again. He had done this on father's day last year, and now it was time to write to his mother. He sat at his desk and shivered. Of course this was going to be hard. He never even got to really know his mother before she died. It was only natural to feel this way. He finally picked up his pen and started to right. Dear Mom, I have heard so much about you. Edward and Alphonse have said so many good things about you. I just wish I had gotten to know you. Granted we never really got to be properly introduced. I'm your youngest son Liam. I mean I know you will never read this, but it's making me feel better. I mean I guess it sort of feels a void in my life, not your fault just so you know. I miss you. I always wonder what you would think of me. Would you be proud of me for my accomplishments in automail? I know you would be proud of Alphonse and Edward. They saved all of Amestris for crying out loud. I also constantly find myself wondering if you would aprove of my relationship with Selim. I mean Winry always says you would, but I still wonder. I also wonder what it would be like to have gotten to know you. Would I still be me? Or would I be more like Edward and Alphonse. Would I be braver then? Maybe. I guess I got sort got side tract. To finish this off, I just want to say happy mother's day. Love, Liam He then folded the paper and placed it with the letter he had written to his dad the previous father's day so he could read it later.
A/N: This isn’t on the list, so I assume you just want it to be based off that. :)
Liam stared at you from across the table, his food untouched. You were trying hard not to look at him, but were finding it difficult not to. He said your name quietly and your gaze snapped to his brown eyes. “I need you.” He stated firmly. “I need you now, later, tomorrow. Forever. I need you in my life.” Liam told you, his tone unwavering. Your throat became thick and you wanted to pinch yourself for the sudden tears in your eyes. Liam reached across the table and took your hand in his. “I love you.” You began to shake your head. “What if this doesn’t work? What if we don’t make it till forever, Liam? God knows we don’t live in a fairytale.” You countered. Your heart was pounding in your ears because despite all the logic you just gave him, you wanted nothing more than to be with him too. Liam sighed. “I can promise you forever. This is it for me. You’re it for me. For life.” He tried to explain again. “There is no changing my mind, fairytale or not.” You returned his small smile and let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. “You know I love you too. We can try,” You said, squeezing his hand. Liam grinned at you. “That’s all I’ll ever ask of you, love.”
