To fulfill my lack of CS this hiatus, I have started a few new projects that shall be occasionally updated, the first of which is this one. I've never been much into AU fics, but CS has this way of writing themselves...
Title: Strange Bedfellows
Setting: Enchanted Forest with no curse. Emma is a princess and Hook's a pirate.
Summary: When Emma finds that one can't be too picky with her escape plans in a time of war, she is forced to form an unlikely alliance with a would-be enemy. On the other hand, Hook finds that princesses are not to be trifled with.
Notes: Considering/have in the writing a part two. We'll see.
Disclaimer: Don't own Once. Wish I did. Sad face.
"Princess, I don't like this."
As most irritable member of the seven dwarves, Grumpy's words were less than patient, but Emma had never needed much coddling. In fact, the extra emphasis sometimes helped with her problem of not listening because, if anything, Emma increased her charge down the stairs. The dwarf huffed in annoyance as he tried to keep up.
"It's the only way," she answered hurriedly, craning her head to see how much farther the stairs went. Both of them flinched momentarily as another quake rocked through the castle walls and Emma heard cursing from the dwarf behind her. She flicked a look back at him.
"Grumpy, you're just going to have to trust me."
He snorted. "It's not you I don't trust."
She leapt down the last few steps and her strides lengthened as they reached level ground. She paused for a moment, looking to the dwarf for direction. Despite her confidence, Emma couldn't say that she had been in a dungeon many times and she hadn't the faintest idea of which direction to go.
The dwarf sighed, but, realizing that they had little time, gestured to the dank pathway to the left. She took off, grabbing a lit torch from the wall as she went.
The dungeon got darker as they went and the torch that Emma had grabbed came in handy, as other lights seemed far and few between. Many doors and few corridors later, Grumpy pointed out the right cell door.
"You're sure?" She asked, pulling out her sword from its sheath in preparation. She also passed the torch to her dwarven ally, hefting her grip on her sword.
Grumpy nodded, voice tinged with a sense of bitter irony. "I should know. I helped put him in there."
She let out a breath and waved a hand over the lock, using the little magic that she had. It unlocked itself with a pop and she pulled it open to confront the individual inside.
She could make out the prisoner's slumped form immediately, back supported by the wall, legs spread out in front of him. Then the torch cast light over his face, his tousled hair, and the chains around his wrists, and she tried not to let her eyes linger any more than necessary. He certainly was pretty.
He was also asleep.
She scowled, feeling a stab of irritation at the man's blasé attitude. Of course he had fallen asleep while the castle was being attacked.
She stepped closer and kicked at his leg, face set in a frown. She was starting to regret her plan already. "Wake up, Hook."
He stirred after another well-placed kick, eyes sliding open and then closed again as a smile came to his face and he bit at his lip. "Hello, love. If you're the new addition to my dream, then you're quite welcome."
She glared daggers at him. "Keep it in your pants, pirate. We don't have much time."
"Keep what in my pants?" He asked with an even broader grin, tone laced with innuendo that Emma did not have time for.
"Keep it in your pants or I cut it off with my pickaxe," Grumpy growled from behind her and the pirate's eyes lazily slid to the dwarf, a frown coming to his face.
He sighed, chains clanking as his hand reached up to rub at his eyes. "I suppose I'm awake after all."
Emma had just about had it and she did what she always did when she ran out of patience- put her sword to good use. She took a step forward and raised her blade, tipping it at his neck. His eyes slid all the way open and connected with hers in a way that almost made her breath catch in her throat, but she held her gaze stubbornly.
"On your knees," she said icily, commanding in that way that only royalty could, lips lingering over each word in a way that left no room for doubt.
He returned her look with a saucy grin, but she could see the dark spark in his eyes. "Or what?"
She pushed the sword forward a bit more, dragging the point along the dark stubble of his neck slowly, leaving a red line that would turn to blood if she only pushed a little harder. To his credit, he didn't flinch, that dangerous light still in his eyes. "Or we'll find out what."
He mirrored her steely-eyed gaze as the moment hung between them and, all of a sudden, she felt a fire between them that she couldn't have possibly foreseen from sitting in on his trial, from picking up the little hints and clues that he would accidentally leave behind- the pain, the sadness, the anger. She had seen things then- had seen that there was more to him than what he pretended to be- and that was the only reason that she was here now, giving him a chance.
And then a faint smile passed over his face, as if he felt something too.
His head seemed to tilt only infinitesimally, the semblance of a bow, a rough slant to his mouth that suggested he was enjoying himself. "Only for you, princess."
She pulled the sword back enough for him to shift to his knees and then returned it, this time touching his chin with the flat of her blade, turning his eyes up to hers. He watched her, blue eyes strangely dark, and she couldn't look away. She wondered how many times his pretty face had gotten him out of one mess or another (because it certainly would have charmed a less suspecting soul), but he was getting no mercy here. As she surveyed his face, she noted with small satisfaction the cut on his temple and the bruise that blossomed on his cheek, both lingering reminders of his capture.
His eyebrows quirked upward, as if asking her what was next. She was enjoying having him at her mercy far too much.
"So you know who I am, then," she said curtly, referring to the title that he had addressed her with earlier. "That makes things easier."
"The princess," he retorted, savoring each syllable. "And the savior, so I hear. I saw you at my trial, you know. My bloody excuse for a trial, anyway. So nice of your dear old mum and dad to set that up for me." His sarcastic tone turned softer, something that she didn't expect, especially with her sword still at his throat. "Finally escaped that leash, I see."
She ignored his leash comment because he was right and it did feel good to be alive and free, even if it meant her life was in danger. Her parents had sent her away from the capital in the hopes that she could stay away from the fighting, but it seemed to have followed her here as well and now she needed the help of a pirate to escape.
She couldn't stop her sword from marginally surging forward, though, reminding him of the precariousness of the situation. "That's what happens when you try to kill Rumplestiltskin."
"Thought I'd be doing the world a favor by killing the Dark One," the pirate muttered, one eyebrow raised at the twisted nature of the situation. "Turns out he's gotten much more popular since I saw him last."
"He's different now," she retorted, feeling her temper rise. "He's changing." And the kingdom could use his power, she bit off, swallowing the real reason why the kingdom protected him and didn't have any intention of doing otherwise.
"Because of his son," Hook answered and she saw his jaw set in a pained way, saw his eyes fall away from hers for a brief moment before the sneer came back to his face, the anger. "I don't believe the crocodile can change any more than I believe that dwarf can fly." He nodded to Grumpy, who Emma had genuinely almost forgotten was here. The dwarf scowled at him in return, but Hook had already turned his angry gaze back to her, all pretense of playfulness gone. "And you, princess, you're going to marry the bastard's son, aren't you? Do you even love him?"
"Enough," she snapped, pressing the sword against his throat to silence him. "We don't have time to talk about my personal life, pirate. The castle will be taken and something tells me that you don't want to see the Evil Queen any more than I do."
He winced. "We didn't exactly leave on good terms."
She made a scathing face at him as if to ask, Really? Her too?
He shrugged, as unapologetic as ever.
"Well, I'm going to give you a chance to save your sorry existence, for what it's worth," she said, narrowing her eyes. "I'm going to free you and you're going to take me and Grumpy to your ship at the docks. Then you're going to help us escape from this place and take us back to my mother and father's castle, where you will be handsomely rewarded and free to go about your business, as long as it doesn't involve killing a certain crocodile, as you put it."
A smile danced across his face. "You seem to be assuming a lot, darling."
"You'll do it," she replied, voice strangely neutral. "You don't have any other choice."
He was looking back into her eyes again and this time it was like a rug was being slowly pulled out from under her and she knew what was happening and she knew that she would fall, but she didn't care. There was a flicker of understanding in his eyes and he nodded slowly. "I'd need my crew."
"You'll get them."
"And what's keeping me from taking off and holding you hostage once we leave port?"
She met the challenge, but not in a way that she had been enforcing, not in the way she knew he would expect. Her voice dropped and it was softer. "I trust your word."
"The word of a pirate?" He asked scathingly, eyes narrowing in a mix of curiosity and disbelief.
"The word of a man," she countered.
He nodded, eyes flickered with something she couldn't identify. "Okay."
"Okay," she answered, lowering her sword and crouching down to magic his chains open. Gripping her sword tighter, she grinned at him wolfishly as they both rose. "Plus, I'd like to see you try to take me captive."
"Ooh," he responded under his breath with an arched eyebrow, voice much too intimate for her liking. "Don't tease me, lass."
She rolled her eyes and pushed him towards the door, in front of her where she could see his every move. "Let's go."
Grumpy eyed him suspiciously at the door. "I'm watching you, pirate."
"I like you, too," Hook grinned, patting him on the shoulder with a shit-eating grin. "Let's be mates." Even in the high stress of the moment, Emma could appreciate the dwarf's following comically stunned and simultaneously irritated expression.
But Hook pushed past him and Emma motioned for Grumpy to tell them which way to go, but Emma noticed that neither of them took their eyes off the pirate in front of them.
Although Emma suspected that part of her reason might be a tad different than the dwarf's.
As they traveled through the musty tunnels, Grumpy dropped back to send Emma a glare and a hushed whisper. "Princess. I'm not complaining, but really? That trusting his word part? You really trust a pirate?"
She eyed the leather-clad figure in front of her, taking in his stance, his slightly hunched walk, the way he held his hook stiffly at his side. "No," she answered shortly, although a part of her wanted to say yes. "He's a pirate. I trust his survival instincts and his greed. And as long as I keep him thinking that I have powerful magic, he'll think twice before doing anything rash."
She pushed on ahead, falling in step directly behind Hook, avoiding Grumpy's further questioning.
Because she had chosen to play him that way in the moment, to make him think that she trusted him, and she couldn't help but remind herself to keep herself detached. She'd do what she had to in order to get home and he would be the one able to get her there.
Right now, she didn't need him to be a man of honor. She needed him to be a pirate.