This is a new series of mostly unrelated one shots that have a common denominator of being inspired by, and featuring music. It's about telling different aspects of the Killian & Emma story through song.
Each song is an individual, stand-alone story.
The Truth – David Cook [Analog Heart]
No silly curses, evil witches, crazy imps, and other type of nefarious misdeeds had plagued their lives since the fall of the Wicked Witch of the West six months ago. It was a life Emma and Killian had always wanted, punctuated with the right amount of adventure given that a permanent (and heavily guarded) portal that now linked the Enchanted Forest to Storybrooke.
Given how most of the people who had lived with Storybrooke's modern facilities had been unsurprisingly reluctant to abandon their comfortable lives in favor of the Enchanted Forest the first time around anyway, it was an arrangement most people were pleased with. It was truly a best-case scenario, as far as Killian was concerned.
He'd taken like a fish to water in adapting with the modern technology he now had to contend with on a daily basis, but Killian had fallen in love with the sheer diversity of The Land Without Magic's music.
He'd taken to learning new songs every day from Emma's vast music library that she stored on her computer (which had taken him an embarrassingly long time to master, especially with one hand), by choosing songs in random order, picking a title that tickled his particular fancy.
The mouse hovered on a title that caught his eyes; it's simplicity and honesty verifying its name. "The Truth," he read out loud. By David Cook, off the album Analog Heart.
Killian liked this man already.
He double tapped the song, closing his eyes as a drum beat and scratchy vocals permeated the room.
Two steps removed from every thing I thought I knew
There's no remedy
I see your face in every single thing I do
You change me
Emma. Gods, who was this man, and how did he know? He'd literally changed for Emma Swan, hadn't he? That entire year, he'd seen her face everywhere. He'd stayed his hand from his flask more times than he could count because she hadn't been there to drink with him. He'd stayed his tongue from lashing out at Baelfire during the particular confrontation on why Henry's father hadn't been the best choice to retrieve mother and son. He'd stayed his blade, tampering the anger, because he'd seen her face.
Your laugh intoxicating
One touch and I'm negating everything around
Take me and I'm yours
I only want you anymore
I kiss the ground
He bit his lip, allowing the guitar melody to assist his memory to their kisses, now abundant where they'd once been scarce, allowing it to accost his senses. He'd do whatever it took to see her happy, and he didn't feel an iota of shame that he was so helplessly devoted to Emma Swan, because she made him whole, without doing anything at all.
I rest my head from running circles 'round my mind
On why you let go
No answers to be found, romances don't rewind
I guess I'll never know
Why your absence is devastating
No touch to calm my head and everyone around
You leave me when I'm yours
'cause you don't want me anymore
I hit the ground, yeah
The lyrics, angry, sad and broken (Killian feels really sorry for this David Cook), made Killian recall to a time when Emma had stayed away from him, how she'd suddenly just disappeared from his periphery because she'd fallen in love with him and had been terrified because The Wicked Witch had just threatened to take away everything she had ever loved. Killian had been devastated, had recklessly endangered his own life to ensure Emma's safety, completely unaware that his own survival had been part of Emma's sanity, because he'd given himself to her and thought she didn't want him. What a fool, he'd been.
If you want to know the truth,
You make or break my day
If you want to know the truth
I wouldn't have it any other way
The song is angry, sad, completely and hopelessly in love. There is so much yearning in the music that Killian understands it, is glad he's no longer in that place, that Emma's embraced him, that they're trying to make this work (because True Love doesn't mean no problems), but the last verse rings true. He really wouldn't have it any other way.
A/N - This song is off David Cook's Analog Heart album. It is unavailable on iTunes, but David has consented to its free distribution to fans via any means of sharing. (Yes, we've asked in person. He said go for it.) If you're interested in this album (and only this album, for subsequent albums please support this brilliant man and buy it off iTunes) kindly PM me. He's a brilliant lyricist and he has a great voice, and I personally think he is way underrated. It seems fitting that he was the one who inspired this series. More to come, from different song era's and artists!