A/N: This is an idea I had a while ago but I wanted to post it after I moved so I could continue it regularly, so here is the first part :)
A new day was slowly approaching, but instead of staying in bed until a reasonable hour, Emma stood on her balcony to watch the sunrise. It had become a habit of hers recently, perhaps due to the lack of sunlight she had experienced so far in her life. She cherished every moment of her freedom now, and everything that she had taken for granted when she was a child.
The fact that she was alive and back home with her parents was something of a miracle, considering there were many times when she had truly believed the Evil Queen would kill her. Emma was 17 when she first asked if that was Regina's intention, but the Queen simply laughed coldly and told her death was too easy.
It was memories such as that which reminded her why she was still single and motherless at 25. Had she grown up at the castle her entire life, she would have been married with children now, living a completely different life. How many people could say that they had been kidnapped by their step-grandmother at the age of 10, forced to live hidden in her tower away from her family and friends?
Or that their heart had been broken after discovering that their first love had betrayed them the entire time, getting close to find out her secrets and tell his father, who just happened to be the Dark One. But the pain of Neal's betrayal had only been increased when Regina murdered him right before her eyes, ripping his heart out and squeezing it until all that remained was dust and a cold, lifeless body.
Emma's life was certainly very different to the perfectly planned life of a royal, but her parents were doing their very best to get her back on track now that she had returned, starting with the biggest, most ridiculous birthday celebration the kingdom had ever seen. Normally a princess would have a ball on her 18th birthday to celebrate her transition into adulthood, with various suitors paying visits in the weeks after for her hand in marriage. Although Emma was 7 years late for the tradition it took a rather heated discussion with her parents to convince them to stop suitors visiting her. Her life was already vastly different to tradition, and had been dictated by everyone around her. This time she wanted control of her life, starting with her love life. She would be choosing her future husband or she wouldn't take one at all.
She watched the ships sailing along the horizon, the rising sun setting a soft glow on them as they made their way to the royal harbour. Emma felt laughter bubbling up in her chest. These people had travelled for days to attend her birthday ball and yet she wished to be out there sailing in the opposite direction. Of course that was too much of a risk; the Dark One was still out there, plotting his next attempt to steal her magic.
She didn't even know what was so great about her powers, especially as she could barely even perform basic spells like levitation. Sometimes it bubbled up to the surface, crackling from her fingers or glowing from her skin, but it faded quickly. Emma didn't particularly care for her magic and wished others would feel the same, but that was definitely wishful thinking. She sighed as she leaned against the stone balcony, longingly staring out at the vast sea surrounding the castle.
Captain Hook stood at the helm of his ship, looking through his telescope at the grand castle of Snow White and Prince David. Normally he wouldn't have even ventured into royal territory but this was a special exception. Hook had heard plenty of stories about them, never able to enter the Enchanted Forest without hearing at least a whisper of their tales, but it was their daughter he was interested in. He had heard a fair few stories about her too, and when rumours circulated that the 'lost princess' had returned a few months ago, his hope of seeking revenge had been reignited. He was aware that the girl was somehow tangled with the Dark One, and that her parents would do anything to protect her from him, maybe even willing to join forces with a pirate to rid the world of the crazy imp who was after their daughter.
His eyes scanned the castle, falling on the small figure that stood on the balcony, looking out in his direction. He was still quite far, but even from a distance he knew this was Princess Emma, her blonde hair and feminine figure unmistakable. He wondered what she was even doing up at this hour; surely she should be getting beauty sleep in the fresh sheets of her oversized four-poster bed, but evidently she was an early riser. Not that any of that mattered to him, he was just here to gain the help of the royals, and perhaps it was distasteful of him to use their pain and suffering to his advantage, but he was a pirate, a vengeful one at that. He looked away from the princess and called out orders to his crew, readying the ship for docking. By the time his ship next left the docks, the Crocodile would be dead and Milah avenged, finally.
A/N: Just in case it isn't clear, Regina's way of stopping Snow get her happy ending was to take away her child. There is a reason why she waited until Emma was 10 and why she murdered Neal, but it will be explained further into the story :)