Prompt: Killian is believed to be dead after a trip at sea one morning, and Emma believes so too, but when danger comes along a few years later, she comes to know that a stranger she had met at that time has quite the good choice of words. Happy ending Captain Swan, but I wouldn't blame you if you thought this was a character-dies-boohoo story. Tinge of adventure, angst, humor and fluff, for other genres.

A/N: 'Ello guys! How are you doing today, or tonight, or… this afternoon? Hopefully awesome. This is a little fic I chose to write before going to camp (which starts Monday, mind you, and today's Saturday where I am, so I chose to write it early and, quite frankly, quickly) so I wanted to write a little something after writing some of my other story, The Thief of Many Things. (UPDATE 31st of July: I was previously going to make this a drabble and all, but it ended up being WAY too long for one of those, so I had to separate the story into bits, ending up a three-shot and an epilogue and I posted this pretty late ;p;)

You see, that is my first and only story I've written in FanFiction, so I wanted to prove myself wrong and say, "Hey, you actually wrote a finished story and published it!", because I am currently writing 7 other future stories, plus the chapters for The Thief of Many Things.

This story is based on the book/movie, The Princess Bride. Tacos to you who've read/seen it. I personally haven't, but plan to for my Christmas present, because Wikipedia only goes so far to tell you how a book goes.

Disclaimer: Don't own, profit, or make real canon to ABC's OUAT, Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House series, or William Goldman's The Princess Bride. PEASANT AHOY!

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…

For All I Care

…

Curse her for reading The Princess Bride.

Curse her for watching the movie as well.

But most of all, curse her for having the idea of kissing the bloody pirate anyway.

Nevertheless, she was stupid enough to suck face with the major flirt five more than three times. And if she were Henry, it would be 'yolo' all day long.

"Damn bar wench-" Being timely correct, that was the first time that they'd kissed, but not truly, as he wasn't exactly the pirate she knew all the time they'd been together.

"Aye-" When she found out that Killian traded her ship for her, there was a deep emotional surge inside of her, and so they kissed outside of Granny's, unbeknownst to Henry's smug gaze.

"Son of a bitch-" Stupid family-protecting man got himself drowned by Gold. Well, he didn't have to know that Emma was never so concerned in her life. Especially for his sake.

"I could make you-" When Killian had appeared in New York outside her apartment and kissed her, she'd allowed herself to melt for a moment under this 'stranger''s touch, but soon enough regained herself and made a nutshot.

"Perhaps you were the one who couldn't handle it-" The true first time they'd locked lips, and maybe she wanted to correct him in the cave when he 'admitted' he kissed her. Emma was very thankful for no smug-ness or any of his usual banter; she'd wanted to retort that she'd initiated the kiss and that David would kill him if he didn't. Stupid polite pirate.

But the words that really stuck that day were, "As you wish," as she left him behind her, ordering him to 'go get some firewood or something'.

I mean, it couldn't be possible that he'd watched The Princess Bride as well, could he?

Seriously, even the time he had hung out with Henry and Roland for the day and they'd asked if they could watch something on a contraption called a 'TV', onto which Killian raised an eyebrow at this 'remote' and tried to pour some rum on it ("Never once have I seen in my life something that wouldn't go right without rum!" he had exclaimed defensively).

No, of course he hadn't. Perhaps he actually had always been a gentleman.

Or, as Emma gazed out the window with Killian hugging her from behind, placing a smile on her face, maybe he had always been good on words.

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…

"W-what?" Emma asked in horror.

"I-I'm sorry Emma," Mulan appeared, carrying Killian's hook. She'd been sailing with him, David, Victor and Tink in search of major villains they'd heard was going to go after Storybrooke next after taking Camelot, their names Jack and Annie, Morgan le Fay's prized protégés. But after claiming being Master Librarian's weren't their true destiny to wielding magic, they had turned dark under the influence of greed and hunger.

Tink had been the duo's prisoner in Neverland, as they had travelled across the realms to stay forever young with Pan, the evil twits stealing some pixie dust, some Pegasus feathers from the Indians and keeping some hostages on their treehouse, including Tink. She had ignored telling her new associates in Storybrooke out of loss of memory, but upon meeting Hook, she'd recalled once again what they were up to, as their 'secret' plans they made weren't so secret, and she'd stolen the battle plan papers before escaping.

After long days at sea travelling realm to realm, searching for Jack and Annie, they'd won, but had lost a warrior in the process.

"Hoo- Killian's gone, Miss Swan." The Chinese warrior had patted her on the shoulder comfortingly, before Emma stepped away from the sad group of people who had come to inform her on the loss. "He truly died a hero." David tried. "He was my friend, my mate; killed by a monster we call mankind."

"I-I, I know you love him-" said Mary Margaret with a queenly look in her eyes.

"I still do," whispered the blonde to her brokenly.

"-But part of loving something is to let it go as fast as when you first fell in love. Killian wouldn't want you to be down like this."

"I know, mom. I-I just- never got to say goodbye. Never got to say the things I wanted to. Never got to do the things I aimed to do with him- not like that, dad." She began sadly, but stiffened up at the look David gave her as she began the second part of her sentence. She was an adult, she was allowed to do whatever she pleased, appropriate or not, but she guessed she could just take it as a compliment towards his fatherly love towards her. All he wanted was that she would be same.

"I'll get through. See you tomorrow, guys."

"But-" All they met was a closed door, and Emma's walls once again higher than Mt. Everest.

Sobs wracked her body as she held on tightly to Killian's necklace he'd given her before he'd left.

"Keep this for a while. It's me in there, you see, Swan," he pointed to one of the many keychain-like things, one of them a crystal cross, with slight dirt on it, and another a small, wooden pirate ship. He touched the cross first. "I was once someone with glass-like features, pure, kind hearted and full of blasted good form, but after everything that happened to me-" Killian averted his eyes to the little boat, "I became a pirate."

"My pirate." Emma replied cheekily before giving him a peck on the lips.

"A foolish one, at that." Killian chuckled.

He returned to his tale of the necklace he wore. "But once I met you, I was transparent one again, perceptive, really." He raised his voice a bit on the word 'perceptive', reminiscing the times on the beanstalk. "I became a fragment of crystal once more. And that's what I love about you, Emma."

And with a chaste kiss on her lips, he left a taste on her tongue that no-one could ever make her forget before stepping foot on 'The Journeying Dawn', his new ship.

She remembered his last words to her as she cried herself to sleep on the cold tiles of the kitchen floors.

"I will never love again."

Emma sinks her head into the crook of her legs in despair.

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2 YEARS LATER~

Darkness.

Bitter darkness engulfed her inside the cage she was put inside by Jack and Annie.

What was she thinking, trying to avenge her lost love, just like he did?

It was quite the foolish plan, and had gotten Ruby, Robin and Regina into the mix as well, them sitting right next to her as her new cell-mates.

Once in jail, always in jail, Emma thought to herself glumly, peering out to look at the smirking faces of the evil children. Must've been Pan-fans as well under his influence in their time in Neverland. "Silly people, you think you can defeat us?" Jack laughs harshly. "With our wits and magic we acquired over the years, we will destroy you, just-" the boy sweeps a finger over the bars of the cell to point at Emma, "-like we destroyed your irritating True Love, Emma." He says disgustedly. Annie laughs wickedly behind him.

"Very much, Jack. We'll deal with them in the morning. Morgan's scroll is almost finished." She takes him by the arm and leads them out when the blonde emits a yell from behind them.

"What the hell would you kids know about True Love if you haven't even reached past puberty?"

The two narrow their eyes and use their magic to transport themselves to Emma's front in mere seconds, each armed with a sharp blade in their hands. "Puberty isn't the deal here. Really, we're more than 50 years older than you after staying with Peter for a few decades." Annie sticks the blade under Emma's chin after Jack raises his hand full of magic to fasten her down with invisible wires with a diabolical look in his small, beady eyes behind the glasses. "Being a child has many more pros than you think, Swan-girl. You just have no idea because you're less powerful thank we are, thanks to Morgan, our beloved enchantress."

The little girl rolls her eyes and secures her look into a glare. "And if you dare try to defeat us she-wolf, queen, pickpocket and savior, all residents of Storybrooke will fall. All because of your bitter stupidity. It was, after all, your idea to try and knock us down. Now do you see where that got you, sweet cheeks?" She cackled.

"My laugh is way better." Muttered Regina behind her.

"And I'm way more than a she-wolf, I'm a person." Ruby rolled her eyes.

"And I'm a hero, I pickpocket for the poor, you idiotic children-" began Robin.

"Shut up, you twits," snapped Jack, releasing Emma with a flick of his wrist, and upon falling to the ground was held up once again by the group of friends in concern as she coughed briefly. "At least we're not the ones in the cage like zoo animals."

"Well I'm certainly not a zebra, am I?" asked a voice from behind the duo.

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MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA CLIFFIES! Anyhow, I hoped you enjoyed this little start to what is a three-shot! If you enjoyed, please leave a little review for me, or quite possibly a muffin, or fav/follow! I would really appreciate it!

TO ZEBRAS AND CLIFFIES!