AN: This was written for hookedemma on tumblr as a Christmas gift. I didn't have much time between finishing and Christmas so the names stayed the same. Couldn't think of what to change Emma's name to, and it probably would have been really weird for me hah. So just go into this bearing that in mind, and that it is heavily an AU. I simply started writing it and then all of this happened so on that note, I hope you enjoy! xoxo
The entire kingdom seemed to be in a panic. Those in the castle were stalking back and forth, wringing their hands and calling out to each other in frenzy. As she passed the windows, Emma noticed the shadows crawling in, hungry and desperate to devour them all. This time, the evil queen's threats were not so inconsequential as they once were – not like the stories that Emma heard from her parents about their wedding day, or the night Emma was born. No, this was different. The bells above the castle were ringing sinisterly as she sprinted through the corridors, and her boots slammed powerfully against the floor.
"Killian…" Emma muttered beneath her quickened breath, and she elbowed her way through several guards with a force far greater than she could have imagined possessing as they tried to stop her.
"You must remain in the castle walls, Princess!" one of the guards shouted after her, and Emma heard his armor clinking and clanking as he tried to catch her, but she knew they would never. "By order of the King and Queen!"
Emma groaned in protest and picked up her pace, her strides growing bigger. "When was the last time I ever listened to them?" she reminded the guard, not caring enough to look back over her shoulders. Emma hated it when they referred to them as royalty when they spoke to her. She sprinted between two more guards faster than they could raise their arms to halt her, but they gave up as quickly as she could outrun them. They wouldn't have caught her, and especially in all of that metal.
Killian. His name repeated itself over and over with every single step she took, like she was in a trance. The only thing that crossed her mind was him. Emma had no idea where he could be, but there was one place she could always count on him being in times of anguish; in times when they needed each other and they had never needed one another as much as they did now. She burst through the doors of the castle and her boots thundered powerfully on the stone steps as she descended in a hurry, the docks not far.
She dared steal a glance at the sky where the clouds spun and formed a ceiling of darkness that enveloped the kingdom and the realms surrounding it. There was not a single speck of sunlight left – only grey.
"Emma!" Snow's voice shouted from the castle. "Emma, you need to get back inside now, please." She could hear the desperate pleading in her mother's voice, but she couldn't turn around now. Not when she was this close. Even if Emma wanted to, her legs kept her running.
She came to a sudden halt at the stables and deliberated the white horse that grazed carelessly without a worry in the world. Emma bit down on her bottom lip and considered it for a moment. It would certainly get her down to the docks in time. She stepped up to her father's horse and carefully ran her fingers through his long black mane, brushing it with her nails. He grunted at her and she lifted herself onto his back, taking the reign and winding it through her leather-gloved fingers. Emma nudged the horse's sides with her feet and he went, guided down the bridge toward the docks. Faster and faster he moved as she spurred him on. His hooves kicked up dirt as he ran, and Emma leaned forward against his mane, gripping the reigns tighter.
Killian, please be there. She could see the docks now, and the ships rocking back and forth against the water violently as the storm crept in. "Killian!" she shouted over the galloping and crashing of the waves, hoping that maybe he would hear her, and if he heard her, he might come running to her.
They had grown up together; Killian and Liam's family had sailed under the command of the realm for a long time, delivering goods to be traded with other kingdoms. Emma had always carried a certain fondness of their ships, and dreamt of one day venturing out to sea with them. Even if it was just for a day, it was all Emma wished for, but it needed to be in the right moment. Now, Emma didn't know if that chance would ever come.
On Emma's eighteenth birthday, Regina arrived unannounced and very much uninvited with a threat. Her threat was to cast a powerful curse; one that she had been waiting for until today. It would rip them from this land, and tear families and loved ones apart. The history between Emma's family and Regina was long and winded and devastating, and she knew that the evil queen wouldn't stop there. Something bad was on its way tonight, and this could perhaps be the very last time she would see him… anyone.
The horse halted and dug it's hooves into the dirt as she pulled back on his reigns. Emma didn't wait to clamber off, landing on her knees but immediately climbing back to her feet, disregarding the dirt covering her pants. "Killian?" she yelled again, her eyes wide and her quick breaths turning to smoke in the air. Her eyes scanned the docks for any sign of the dark haired lieutenant or his brother. The pit of Emma's stomach dropped at the realization that he may not be there after all. Had she gone to the wrong place? Perhaps he had ventured to the castle in search of her only to find himself lost as well.
All Emma heard were the bells from the castle ringing; louder and louder, they shook the entire kingdom with fear. The lightning in the clouds reflected off of the water, and the thunder crashed, quaking everything around her. She was too late – the curse was coming and Emma was alone; no one to say goodbye to, and no one's hands to hold with the spectacular hope that a miracle would protect her.
Why was she so desperate to see him anyway?
"Emma?"
She spun around so fast that she had to regain her lost balance on both of her feet. "Killian…" she breathed. Emma had said his name so many times that it begun to feel unreal, but this was most definitely very real.
His hair was just as tousled as hers, blowing about in the heavy winds, and he had dark circles beneath his eyes. He was in his blue jacket, but he was missing his hat, which Emma spotted tossed carelessly to the ground. "Emma…" he whispered again with a smile.
Emma ran at him and the impact against his chest was almost enough to knock the breath out of her lungs. She could already feel his warmth wrap around her as he slung his arms across her shoulders. His fingers curled through her hair and she held onto him tight, like he would vanish the instant she let go of him. All of the doom and anxiety lifted from Emma's shoulders the instant she was with him, and she breathed in the scent of his jacket, trying to burn it into her memory.
"What are you doing down here?" Killian asked, pushing her away by her shoulders so that they could look at each other. "You should be in the castle where it's safer." His fingers left her hair and the fear returned to Emma again.
"I needed to see you," she muttered, pushing back the tears that were accumulating in the corners of her eyes. "I don't know why, but I needed to see you before…" Emma couldn't finish her sentence, as if saying it would make it absolute that this would be the last time. No one knew where they would end up, and the unknown was the most fearsome of all; more terrifying than dangerous beasts and dragons, even more than being left alone. It was not knowing what would happen that Emma dreaded the most.
"What about your mother and father?" Killian sounded confused, and he grabbed her hand. He gave her a gentle tug toward the horse, but Emma's feet were rooted in place. "Emma, we must get you back to the castle. This storm is not going to pass quickly."
"It's not a storm," she snapped, and she pulled back from him, releasing her hand from his grip. He didn't know – Killian had no idea what was coming for them, or what the queen had in store when it did. "It's a curse."
"I beg your pardon?" Emma saw his face shift from concern to bewilderment in seconds. "A what?"
"A curse," Emma repeated, and she took a deep breath, not sure if she was prepared to explain, but she knew she had to. "Regina said it was going to take away all of our happy endings or something… that everyone we love will be taken." Her eyes scanned his expression as his brows knit together and his frown grew deep while he took in the weight of this new information.
His firm grip loosened on Emma's arm and his hands fell loose at his sides. It was a lot to learn so suddenly, and so late too. She had forgotten that Killian was away on her birthday and he had only returned from his voyage not even three days ago. How badly she had once wanted him to be there, but Emma recognized her relief that he wasn't. He would have spent these last hours worrying about what might happen like everyone else had. "There's absolutely nothing we can do to stop it?" Killian's voice was breaking and he sounded… afraid.
Emma shook her head and mumbled a long 'mmm' below her stifled sobs. Her heart skipped beats when she turned her attention fleetingly to the bells. Now they were louder than ever, and all of them were ringing. She could hear someone shouting under the sound, and when Emma looked, what she saw pulled all of the air out of her lungs and made her sobs catch in her throat.
There was a cloud of purple and green smoke slithering through the cracks in the mountains and hills, filling every gap it could reach as it slowly came upon them. There were flashes of light between the smoke as it rose through the air and grew higher until it enveloped the mountains. It crept across the water, covering the once blue waves with a purple haze, rumbling as it approached.
Killian's mouth fell open and his eyes locked onto the curse that was rushing at them. "You wanted to spend those last moments with me?" he said, biting back the shakiness that surfaced in his voice. His eyes were glazed over as he embraced Emma's face again in his palms. They had grown cold, and all of the light left them, leaving only the last sliver of happiness left within them – this very moment. "Emma, I'm sorry…"
Emma looked back at Killian, trying to remember his eyes, his hair, his sad smile, everything about him, and she could feel all of the things she had ever felt for him flowing through her. This man meant more than she had ever fancied he could. Between all of their disagreements, he was everything to her, and he was the last face she wanted to see before it all disappeared from her memories. Emma pulled her face away from his hand, knowing that if she got any closer, it would be even harder to say goodbye. "I'm sorry that it had to come to this…" Emma was angry – if it wasn't this, it was something else. When would she ever get a day off? She could never have those moments – not like this. This was short-lived, and would be blown away in the wind soon enough. There was nothing that she could grab onto and hold for as long as her strength would allow it. Every time she thought she could, it would so easily slip through her fingers like trying to grasp the air.
The roaring was so intense now that Emma could barely hear her own thoughts.
"The curse! It's here!" someone screamed in the distance.
Emma buried her face in Killian's chest and breathed him in one last time as the purple clouds lurked about; gaining momentum as it grew closer, starving for their despair and eager to consume them all. They held onto each other tighter than they ever had, and the smoke was at their feet. This was it; this was everything that Emma had feared since she'd heard the threats from the queen herself.
"Everything you love will be taken from you."
They both held their breaths as the smoke immersed them, surrounding them in a mist of darkness. Emma thought back to her parents now, screaming I'm sorry in her head, wondering where they were and if they worried about her. She could hear Killian repeating something in her ear as he hid his face in her hair, but Emma could barely discern what it was. The tears fell freely down Emma's cheeks with painful sobs, and she cried into Killian's jacket, her body shaking against his.
It almost sounded like…
"Not a day will go by I won't think of–"
The fog shrouded them, the roaring sending tremors through the disappearing ground beneath their feet. Then, Emma's world went black and the sudden silence rang in her ears louder than the bells once had.
xxxxx
Emma shifted uncomfortably in her seat and lifted her head from her numbing arms. The tingling was spreading past her elbows and into her shoulders. How long had she slept? She squinted her eyes at the sun that poked its way through the cracks of the blinds. Emma had forgotten what she was working on before she felt a nap was necessary, but the papers laid in a disarray in front of her screamed anything but exciting.
"Good nap?"
Emma stood up straight away and her knee slammed ungracefully against the bottom of her desk with a sudden bang. "I – I just have this killer headache." It wasn't a lie; she could feel it in her temple as it throbbed furiously as if she'd slammed her head rather than her knee. She readjusted her glasses on her nose and pushed the hair that had fallen from her ponytail away from her eyes.
"Go grab yourself a coffee," the sheriff told her, and he tossed his keys at her.
"You sure?" Emma didn't want to leave her work for him to do, and in such a disorderly fashion. He looked just as tired as she felt. "Thanks, sheriff."
"I told you, you can call me Graham," he snapped, and he slumped at his desk with a weary sigh. He beckoned her to the door and threw his feet up on his desk. "Now go before I change my mind."
Emma grinned at him and flew out of the office and into the chilly autumn air. She pulled her leather jacket closer to her and crossed her arms, shivering against the wind. Why the hell did I even wear this today? What was I thinking when I got out of bed? She picked up the pace on her way to Granny's – it wasn't very far from the sheriff's station, only a few blocks and if she kept at the speed she was going, she would get there in no time.
Emma stiffened against the gusts as she reached the diner, bolting through the door at such a speed that she nearly tripped over herself. The diner was quiet and there were only a handful of patrons enjoying their coffees. Ruby was there to greet her as always when she walked in. She had taken over the diner since Granny had grown too old to run it. She still helped Ruby here and there, but it was mostly Ruby who kept the place running now. "Same as always, Ruby," Emma said, leaning over the counter.
The little bell on the door jingled as Ruby slid her paper cup to her. Emma thanked, paid and turned toward the door. Before she could get a single step forward, she halted as someone stopped just short of her, Emma nearly hitting them.
"You might want to watch where you're going next time, Miss Swan," her cold voice said, and she flipped her hair back in the way she always did that annoyed Emma so much. It was Mayor Mills, the one woman in this town who could make Emma's blood boil and anger seethe from her ears. "Next time, you might want to watch it or else you're going to spill your hot drink all over someone."
"I think you need to heed your own advice, Mayor Mills," Emma said flatly. The fingers of her free hand coiled into a fist and she was ready to strike her obnoxiously smug grin.
"Good day, Miss Swan." Regina stepped past her, not bothering to apologize – as always – as she hit Emma with her purse.
Emma's gaze followed the back of her head, her rage burning a hole in the back of her head, as Regina sat down in her seat at the counter. When Mayor Mills strut into Granny's, you had better get the hell out of her seat should you be so misfortunate to have been in it. Emma made a face behind Regina's head and spun around to the door again, but shrieked when another body appeared in front of her. This time, Emma wasn't so lucky, and she crashed into it. "I'm so sorry!" she cried, and the hot mocha with its fluffy whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkles fell from its cup and down the front of her jacket. Emma could immediately feel the redness in her cheeks as all eyes turned on her, including Regina's.
"No, my apologies," said a man's voice, and he scrambled to help her. "I should have been keeping an eye on where I was going." He bent down to reach for her cup that had fallen and splattered its contents across the floor, and when he came face to face with Emma again, her breath caught at the back of her throat.
She met his bright blue stare with her own eyes wide, and Emma studied him for longer than what would have been classified as comfortable, forgetting that there was coffee dripping from her shirt. When she realized how strange it must have been for him, she sputtered and pushed her glasses up her nose. "I uh – I'm so sorry." You already said that, Emma.
"It's quite alright, really," he repeated. He wiped his chocolate-y fingers against his black leather coat and smiled up at her. "You're drenched, love." He pulled the black scarf from around his neck and dabbed her jacket with it, breathing nervous laughter that Emma wasn't sure he tried hard to hide. "You're the girl working for the sheriff, aren't you?" The question was sudden and unprompted, but Emma couldn't help a proud smile.
"Yes, I am!" She hitched her breath while he continued to dry off the collar of her coat, and she swore she felt his warm fingers brush lightly over her skin for the briefest of moments, but it was enough to send a spark through her. "I'm Emma."
"James," he answered back, and the grin he gave her made Emma's stomach flutter.
"Have we… have we met before?" There was an odd familiarity about him, and a small part of Emma thought that she might have recognized him; it felt like she had known him far longer than these thirty seconds, but she was likely imagining things as always. She hadn't even known his name.
James shook his head and stuffed his damp scarf into his jacket pocket while he scratched behind his ear with his free hand. "I don't recall," he replied lowly, appearing as confused as she was.
There was a painfully awkward moment when neither of them said anything. Emma stood with her half empty cup, swaying from side to side on the balls of her feet and he looked around the diner – anywhere but at each other. Emma still felt every pair of eyes on them, but she didn't dare look. She coughed and he sighed, both of them trying to find the right words to say.
"Well, I better get back," was what came to mind. She cursed to herself in her head – she could have stayed and chatted for a while, or perhaps even grabbed a new coffee, but no. Her excuse was she had to go. Good one, Swan. She darted straight for the door, leaving him no room for response.
"I'll see you around?" James shouted after her while Emma pushed the door open with her stiff body.
She didn't say anything. She only peeked over her shoulder, the fear evident on her face now as the heat resurfaced in her flushing cheeks.
The tension in her stomach was frightening as she exited. She had spent a lot of her life alone – no family or friends, and certainly no one to make Emma feel the way she did in two minutes. It was silly, and she would probably never see him again, but she smiled anyway.
No, no, no. She had to ignore everything that just happened, and pretend she never crashed into him and exchanged glances or nervous words, although Emma couldn't shake the strange reminiscence that she felt when she looked at him, like she had seen those blue eyes somewhere before.
Yeah, maybe in another life. Emma snorted out loud to herself and left the diner with her half-full cup of mocha.