"Mother, Emma will be fine," Leopold assured his mother as they stood on the docks outside of the Bela Fortuna, praised as the most beautiful and fastest ship in the navy. "Will, Tom and I will be there and the prince will look after her, of course," Leopold continued, "and, besides, you'll only be two weeks behind us. We'll be together again soon."
Queen Snow nodded and embraced her eldest son, before turning to her second and third, and, finally, her daughter. Emma was nineteen and her only daughter. "Emma, my darling, are you sure you don't want to follow your brothers with us in two weeks?" Snow begged and Emma shook her head vehemently.
"I can take care of myself, Mother, and I promised Elsa that I would be there early to help her prepare. And Prince Neal can hardly turn up without me, now can he? What would people say?" Emma convinced her mother, who nodded again.
"Oh, my baby, be careful," Snow said as she pulled Emma close. Emma nodded and pressed a kiss to the side of her mother's head in goodbye.
"I'll see you soon, Mother," Emma promised with a smile, before following her brothers and her betrothed onto the ship, where Captain Edward Scarrett and the rest of his crew stood proudly at the helm.
XXX
Emma had always found that the sea soothed her to sleep. She would sleep better with the waves beneath her than with a steady ground. She woke up the next morning in her private cabin, feeling fully rested. She lounged in bed for a while, reading some of the book she'd brought with her, then she swung out of bed and dressed herself, plaiting her hair back out of her face and applying some light makeup the way her maids had taught her.
She ventured above deck and found that Misthaven was nowhere in sight. They were well and truly on their way. It was Queen Elsa of Arendelle's wedding and Emma was to be chief bridesmaid, as Elsa's best friend. The journey to Arendelle was a month and Emma and Elsa probably saw each other once a year, when Emma went to Arendelle for a month. It was rare indeed for Elsa to come to Misthaven, as the monarch of her own kingdom, but Emma didn't mind the journey to Arendelle. She much preferred to be without the hassle of being a princess and the constant judgement of every person in the kingdom.
"Your highness," the captain greeted her.
"Captain," Emma replied with a kind smile. "Do you know where I could find my brothers and Prince Neal?" she asked.
"They are at the helm, Princess," the captain told her and Emma nodded in thanks, before traversing the ship to where Leopold, Thomas, William and Neal stood.
Neal greeted her with a kiss to her hand and Emma smiled. "Sister, how did you sleep?" Thomas asked and Emma answered.
"Shall we go and have breakfast?" Leopold suggested.
XXX
And so it went. For the next seven days, Emma woke and read and dressed and saw her brothers and ate breakfast and then she sewed or read or did other things that were appropriate for a princess and then they ate lunch and then tea and then she went to bed. And Emma did this on the seventh day too.
She'd gone to bed as usual, but was awoken abruptly by a gargled scream from the decks above. She threw a robe on over her petticoat and ran up the stairs. She was greeted by the sight of the captain with a cutlass to his neck. Emma's appearance above decks drew the attention of every person on the ship and the man holding Captain Scarrett chuckled darkly.
"So, this is it, Captain?" he said. "The thing you are so desperate to protect. Who is she? I knew a ship of such fame as the Bela Fortuna was hardly just the ship going ahead to scout out," the man scoffed. The man was tall and dressed in all black. His eyes were circled in black liner and, even in the darkness, Emma could see that they were bright blue. Despite the situation, Emma acknowledged that he was very attractive.
The cutlass drew closer to the captain's throat. "Who is she?" the man hissed in the captain's ear. Emma saw droplets of scarlet blood dripping down the captain's neck.
Emma swallowed. "Stop!" she shouted. "Stop. My name is Emma and I am princess of Misthaven," Emma blurted, the words falling from her mouth in a desperate bid not to let the captain die.
"No, your highness!" the captain cried.
"Emma, no!" Leopold screamed from his place within the crew. Emma set her jaw.
"What do you want with this ship?" Emma asked and the man smirked.
"My crew and I simply wanted treasure, your highness," the man mocked, "and it appears that we found some," he said with a predatory look in his eyes. "Smee, look after the captain," he ordered without turning. A man in a red cap came and took up the man's position.
"You see, princess, we're pirates," he said, hissing the last letter in the word. This news didn't shock Emma. What shocked her was being able to see the hook on the end of his arm. Captain Hook. Emma had heard tales, heard the horror stories of this man taking whatever he wanted, no matter the consequences. He had killed and tortured and kidnapped and more.
Captain Hook came right up to her face and stroked it with his good hand. "I think you'll make for the perfect loot," he whispered in her ear. Emma shivered and recoiled from him. He moved behind her swiftly and pulled her against him. "Now, Captain, are you sure that the princess here is all that you are carrying? Because this is a mighty big ship for just one girl," he said and Emma could feel his breath on the back of her head.
"Don't take her," Leopold begged, coming out from the crowd. Emma swore.
"Language, sweetheart," Hook whispered in her ear, squeezing her side. Emma scowled.
"I'm the heir to Misthaven, not her. You don't need her," Leopold cried.
"Leo, no," Emma shouted, well aware that Hook wasn't going to trade. He was going to take both of them.
"Oh, how sweet," Hook crooned. "Take him," he ordered and Emma almost let out a sob. "In fact, why don't you take the other two as well, wherever they are? All four of the Misthaven heirs, how lucky I am," Hook crowed. "I know they're here as well," he said, watching as Leopold and the crew attempted to fight off Hook's crew.
William and Thomas didn't reveal themselves and Hook laughed, making a gesture with his hook. One of Hook's crew stabbed Frederick, one of the crew members on the Bela Fortuna, in the stomach and he collapsed, blood seeping out of him. Emma whimpered and Hook's hand tightened around her waist. "Now, darling, why don't you point out your brothers to me and we'll get going?" he suggested, drawing patterns casually on her waist, as if kidnapping royalty was something he did daily.
Emma began to sob and her two remaining brothers stepped forwards, reluctance in their every step, giving themselves over to Hook's crew without a fight. Hook laughed triumphantly and his men began to lower Leopold, Thomas and William down into small wooden boats waiting to transport them back to the grand ship in the distance. Emma watched as Leopold, Thomas and William disappeared with despair. Her mother had been right to worry about them. How were they ever going to get out of this?
It was as Emma and Hook climbed into a boat themselves that Hook spotted Prince Neal, swaying on his feet. "You!" Hook said, pointing at him. Hook's remaining crew turned to look at Neal, who was the antithesis of a sailor. He'd not adapted to sea ways well. "Albatross, get him," Hook said impulsively and Emma knew that their last hope had been squandered. Not even Neal was going to take word back to her parents now.
"Captain, please tell the King and Queen to be expecting correspondence," Hook shouted back to Captain Scarrett.
Hook smirked at Emma as they all bundled onto the small wooden boat and began to row back to the ship in the distance. They were pulled up by some more of Hook's crewmen who had remained on Hook's ship.
Her brothers were shoved onto the ship. Emma watched as William tripped and fell and the crew laughed at him and mocked him. Emma blinked back tears. Hook still had hold of her, his hand almost caressing her waist now. Neal stumbled as he was dragged onto the huge ship.
"Welcome to the Jolly Roger!" Hook cried with a smirk and every member of his crew cheered. "I do hope that your stay here will be fruitful," he said, rubbing a hand up and down Emma's side. For the first time, Emma wondered what they were going to do to her. They were going to ransom her surely, but what would they do while they were waiting for her parents to send back the money? Emma had heard tales of pirates with girls, heard tales of not understanding the word no… Surely, they wouldn't. Not to a princess.
"Now, gentlemen, I think we should escort our guests to the royal quarters," he said with a sadistic smirk and Emma sneered at him. They were shoved below deck towards the brig. The only light was from a lantern that one of the crew members was holding. William, Thomas, Leopold and Neal were shoved down to the floor by the pirates, but Hook handled Emma with a bit more care.
"Search them," Hook ordered and, whilst the pirates stripped her brothers and her betrothed of any sort of weapon or treasure, Hook whispered to her, "Do you have anything to hide, princess? Any pretty jewels?"
Reluctantly, Emma put her hand to the back of her neck and unclasped her necklace, remembering it being given to her in the first place. She bit her lip and moved to her left hand, realising without surprise that taking this piece of jewellery off didn't faze her so much as taking off her beloved necklace had. "No, Emma," Neal cried as she took off her engagement ring and gave it to the pirate.
"Oh my," the pirate crowed in her ear, sending shivers racing down her spine. "Is this your betrothed, your highness? And to think you didn't even consider not giving me that ring. Do you not love him?" he hissed in her ear and Emma snarled at him, making him chuckle.
"Come, men, let's leave the royalty to sleep in their new chambers," Hook said with a filthy smirk at them. "Unless the princess would like to keep me company instead," he whispered in her ear, pulling her flush against him. Emma pushed herself away from him in disgust and she heard his chuckles echo as he walked away.