I own nothing except my delusions.
Emma and Killian climbed the beanstalk, focusing on the task at hand. Killian got a couple feet ahead of her, when he turned his head to look at her.
"First beanstalk? Well, you never forget your first."
Emma ignored his innuendo.
"You know," Killian tried again, smiling, "most men would take your silence as off-putting, but I love a challenge."
"I'm concentrating," Emma told him.
"No, you're afraid," he told her. "Afraid to talk, to reveal yourself, to trust me. Things'll be alot smoother if you do."
Emma was finally at level with him. She looked at him as she reached for a vine. "You should be used to people not trusting you."
"Oh. The pirate thing," he responded with a smirk. "Well, I don't need you to share. You're something of an open book."
Emma paused, immediately turned to him, annoyed. "Am I?"
Killian stopped so they could face each other. "Quite. Let's see. You volunteered to come up here because you were the most motivated. You need to get back to a child."
Emma didn't look at him as he spoke, instead waiting until he was done. She rebuffed him. "That's not perception. That's eavedropping."
Killian gave her a knowing look, like he was seeing right through her. "Ah, but you don't want to abandon him the way you were abandoned."
"Was I?" Emma asked. She did not like that he really was able to read her.
"Like I said, an open book."
"How would you know that?" she asked him. She would give him this one.
Killian looked back up at the vines. "I spent many years in Neverland, home of the Lost Boys. They all share the same look in their eyes- the look you get when you've been left alone."
Emma shook her head, uncomfortable with his words. "Yeah, well, my world ain't Neverland."
Killian looked at her, his blue eyes intense. "But an orphan's an orphan."
Emma didn't answer, she just kept climbing, hoping she could leave him behind. His words hit too close to home for her.
"Love has been all too rare in your life, hasn't it?" he asked her. They were at the same level again, this time closer together. He looked straight into her eyes. "You ever even been in love?"
Emma looked up for a moment, trying to regain her composure before she met his gaze. "No. I have never been in love."
She quickly started climbing again. Killian knew she was lying.
Emma was flustered by his words. He read her too well. She was so preoccupied, she missed the vine. She scrambled for purchase, but slipped. Killian immediately reached for her with his hook, catching her before she fell. Neither noticed that the sharp point sliced into her palm.
As Emma held on, Killian kept his eyes on her, his gaze soft and full of concern. "It's alright, love. I've got you. I'm not gonna let you fall."
Emma nodded weakly as Killian pulled her up so that she could grip the beanstalk.
The pain in Emma's hand didn't even register as she clinged to the vines. Killian watched her. "Are you all right?"
Emma nodded, stuned, at the fall and his words. She couldn't help the warm feelings of comfort that his words brought. "Yeah- yeah. I'm fine. Come on, we have to keep moving."
Killain watched her for a second longer before he nodded to her. They both continued to climb.
Eventually, they made it to the top, where they both scrambled onto the solid ground. They both stood there panting, trying to catch their breath. Emma looked at Killian before they decend the ledge into the courtyard, unable to believe they just climbed a beanstalk. She looked around, taking in the skeletons that littered the ground.
"What happened here?" she asked.
"It's where the final battle was," Killian told her.
Emma started to wander, taking everything in.
Killian turned back around to her, noticing the blood on his hook from when he had caught Emma. "Give me your hand."
"What?" she asked. She looked at it, noticing the long laceration.
Killian reached for her. "Your hand- it's cut. Let me help you."
"No. No. It's fine," Emma gently protested. She didn't want him to worry about her.
Killian grabbed her wrist with his hook. His voice was just as gentle. "No, it's not."
Emma quickly composed herself, her tone sarcastic. "So now you're gonna be a gentleman?"
Killian gave her a conspiratorial look before whispering to her. "Giants can smell blood," and in his regular voice, his tone flirtatious, continued, "and I'm always a gentleman."
Emma rolled her eyes.
Killian pulled out a flask from his vest, which he pulled the cork with his teeth. He poured the liquid onto her hand.
Emma immediately pulled back, wincing as the cut smarted from the liquid. "Ah! Oh! What the hell is that?"
"It's rum," he told her, examining her hand. "A bloody waste of it."
He pulled the dark scarf from his neck to begin to bandage her hand. Emma looked up at him as he continued. "Here's the plan. We wait for the giant to fall asleep, when he does, we'll sneak past him into his cave. It's where the treasures are, where the compass lies."
He began tying of the scarf as he spoke, placed one end between his teeth, and pulled it taut.
Emma found that the air had escaped front her lungs as she watched him. Her voice was breathless. "And then?"
Killian's voice was soft. "And then we run like hell."
Emma snapped out or her trance, eager to complete her mission and get away from Killian. She did not like the effect he was having on her. She couldn't hope for something just so she could get burned again. Her voice returned to normal. "I don't have time to wait for a giant to fall asleep. The powder Mulan gave us- we need to use it. We gotta knock him out."
Killian briefly considered her words. "Well, that's riskier."
"Than waiting for a giant to fall asleep when we need him to?" Emma asked him.
"Point taken," Killian replied with a sly grin on his face. "Ooh, you're a tough lass."
He pulled out the bag of dust Mulan had given them. Offering it to her. "You'd make a hell of a pirate."
Emma noticed the tattoo on his forarm where is sleeve was pused up. It was a beautiful piece, she had to admit. It was a heart pierced by a kris with vines around it. She couldn't help as the question bubbled from her. "Who's Milah on the tattoo?"
She watched as Killian quickly pulled down his sleeve with his hook, covering the tattoo. "Someone from long ago."
"Where is she?" Emma asked.
"She's gone." His tone told her the subject was closed. He began to walk towards the entrance to the lair.
Emma thought that maybe she wasn't the only one to be burned in the past. She knew he was hiding something.
"Gold," Emma realized. She turned around to see he had stopped in his tracks. "Rumplestilskin. He took more than your hand from you, didn't he?" Killian turned back to look at her. "That's why you want to kill him."
Killian took a breath. "For someone's who's never been in love, you're quite perceptive, aren't you?"
"Maybe I was once," Emma admitted to him.
Emma clung to the statue at the entrance of the lair as Killian grabbed a bone to beat against a large metal shield.
'You ready?" he called up to her.
"Yeah," she responded.
Killian moved next to the large shield, proceedings to alert the giant. He struck the metal three times, then waited. After a moment, growling erupted from the entrance, followed by loud, thunderous footsteps. Emma's grip on the statue tightened as the ground shook. After a moment, the giant appeared.
Emma looked up, taking in his massive size. "Oh, damn it."
Killian watched the giant for just a moment before liking his lips and calling to the giant. "Oi!"
The giant looked down, noticing the pirate. Killian continued to call him. He began to move closer to Emma. "Hey! You big git! Yeah, you. Huh? You wanna kill a human?"
Emma raised her eyebrows, amazed that he was taunting the giant as he did. She was slightly impressed by his bravery.
Killian continued to mock the giant. "Huh? You want to kill a human? I'm the worst human around. Come on!"
Once the giant was about to lunge, Killian ran closer to Emma, who was pushing herself upright to throw the dust. Killian called to it one last time. "Come on then!"
Right as the giant reached down to grab Killian, Emma threw the dust straight into the giant's face. The giant looked at her, grunted, then collapsed into a massive heap of limbs on the ground. Emma held onto the statue as the ground quaked.
Emma moved around the statue to search for Killian as she called out to him. She couldn't see him. She was instantly scared he had been crushed when the giant fell. "Hook? Hook!"
Killian appeared be the giant's leg. "He's out cold," he told her.
Emma sighed in relief that he was okay.
Killian looked up to her, smiking as he spoke. "I don't mean to upset you, Emma, but I think we make quite the team.
Emma smirked. "Let's go steal a compass."
Emma climbed down and together, they made their way through the giant's lair. After watching Killian, she was very impressed with him, and wondered if maybe they did have a connection. She just prayed that she was right about him.
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