Chapter 1: So It Begins

A grey sky loomed overhead, rain descending from the inky cloud coverage in such a constant melody - never once missing a beat or changing patterns with non-existent wind – that the young bounty hunter perched within her aged yellow Volkswagen beetle had all but drifted into a light slumber. Her head slumped idly against the headrest of the driver's seat, eyes closed loosely as hundreds of New Yorkers scurried along the sidewalk bordering the bug, black and grey umbrellas accentuating an already bleak July afternoon.

There was a low hum of the radio accompanying the sound of rain meeting the metal of the car, as well as a trail of warm air coming from the heater that Emma had turned on before growing tired. Although afternoons in New York during this time of year were commonly in the uppers seventies, the storms from the last few days had urged the temperature downward considerably.

A loud 'thud' against the side of the bug caused the young blonde to startle awake with a gasp, frantic blue-green eyes searching for the source of the sound. A man's foot had slipped off the curb due to the waterlogged sidewalk and he had steadied himself using the only thing within reach, Emma's car. As he hurried on, Emma released a breath to calm herself before letting her head fall back against the seat once more. Tousled blonde waves cascaded over her shoulders in a care-free manner, moving when Emma ran a hand over the crown of her head and nestled it for a moment within the soft tendrils. She yawned loudly, using her free hand to muffle the sound as her eyes fell on the clock.

3:45pm. Her target would be leaving his job at the supermarket across the street soon. Usually at 4, sometimes later than that depending on if the co-worker of the day decided to show up on time for shift change. She silently hoped that whoever it was, would. That would mean less time waiting around.

Emma sat up straighter in her seat, moving to push her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. It was a habit she had developed over the years, but she chuckled to herself when her fingers didn't find her second eyes. It had been only yesterday that she had switched to contacts, tired of having to buy new glasses each time they broke during a bounty chase.

To kill time, Emma reached a hand towards the passenger seat and retrieved a file, bringing it back to her lap to flip through the contents. She paused on a page that listed her target's past offenses, the very reasons she was sitting on the side of the road in her bug on this miserable day, instead of being back in her apartment with a warm blanket and hot cocoa in her hands. The bounty hunter makes a point to herself that she shouldn't really complain. This job paid the bills, which allowed her to have shelter over her head and food in her stomach.

At the top of the paper in bold letters sat Gabriel Smith, a boy at the ripe age of 18 that had robbed various convenient stores in the past few years, sometimes getting a job for a bit in order to gain trust and swipe the money more easily, and sometimes holding cashiers at gun-point while hiding behind a ski mask. She raised an eyebrow when she noted just how much money he had stolen in all... how many businesses he had surely hindered along the way.

He had done this various times all throughout the northern United States, but had never drawn huge attention to himself until unknowingly robbing a store owned by a big-wig entrepreneur with too much money on his hands. Although the store was but a blip of his fortune, he had insisted a bounty hunter be sent after him, specifically one of the best, and that is where Emma had come in.

The 27-year-old sighed loudly, snapping the file closed once more before depositing it back into the passenger seat. She felt sympathy for this boy, especially since she had once been in his shoes, but perhaps being caught would turn his life around. Better now than later when one of those gun point robberies turned into a murder case. Then there really would be no turning back for him.

It had ultimately been Emma's time in jail that had prompted her to attempt a better life, to make it something worth living. If she could do that for a few of her targets - give them that rough shove that had ultimately helped her - then she could handle the looks of hatred she always received initially from them.

She took a moment to stretch, feeling the muscles within her back protest the movement, her spine following along with a few loud cracks and pops. She had been sitting in her car for a few hours now. Although she had been trailing Gabriel for the last few days and knew his timely habits, she hadn't wanted to take a chance of missing her bounty. The sooner she could catch him, the sooner he'd hopefully be headed down a new path in life.

The blonde perked up when her target exited the convenience store, the muscles in her toned legs flexing instinctively, ready to give chase should the young man try to flee.

"Here we go." She pulls her leather jacket closer to her torso and straightens it out before opening the door and stepping out into the pouring rain, her boots sloshing in a large puddle just beneath the front wheel. She placed her hands above her forehead in a sad attempt at keeping the rain out of her eyes and moved to follow her target towards a nearby parking garage.

Emma had already taken the liberty to clamp locks onto the back wheels of the boy's vehicle hours ago, so she knew he wouldn't be able to drive away in a frenzy of stupidity. She welcomed the coverage from the parking garage as she entered before casually calling out to her target.

"Gabriel." She offers a small wave as the 18-year-old turns around, damp blonde hair falling across his forehead with the movement. "Gabriel Smith?" She questions lightly once she has his attention.

And that is all it took… she could see a sudden rush of emotions flood his eyes - confusion, shock, recognition, and then fear. "Don't…" Emma tries, but it was too late.

Gabriel chunked his bag with force at the approaching woman as a diversion, making a run for it as the rather hard and heavy item collided with Emma's abdomen and then landed on her right foot. She gasped as air was forced from her lungs and then hissed sharply as pain coursed through her foot.

"What the hell are you carrying, rocks?" she snarls in agitation, before pushing the pain aside to give chase. She feels her legs pushing her forward, back towards the opening of the garage and into the storm (much to her aggravation). As she's running, her eyes scan the area for her target, and quickly they find a flash of bright red from the man's work vest vanishing among a sea of commuters.

She does her best to pick up the pace without face planting as she forcefully shoves her way through hundreds of people on a very slick and dirty sidewalk. As many times as she had given chase, she still was far from the most graceful woman in the world.

"Stop!" She knows Gabriel can hear her, but isn't surprised when he doesn't listen. They never do. At this point in her career, Emma silently contemplates why she even bothers yelling the statement anymore. Hell, a few years ago she wouldn't have listened either. She would have run as if her life depended on it (and had done just that, many times). If only she had known back then that stopping would have saved her a lot of trouble and heartache.

She slowly made progress, getting closer to Gabriel due to having a physique fit enough to handle this type of chase, whereas the young teen was clearly growing tired quickly. He darted left down a thin alley littered with garbage. Emma nearly slipped as she hit the slime that had accumulated on the ground surrounding the dumpsters.

Thankfully, when she has to stop briefly to steady herself, she also noticed that Gabriel was trapped by a dead end. He looked extremely panicked, trying desperately to climb the chain link fence that sat at the end of the alleyway.

"Ah, ah. No you don't," the blonde heaves, jogging to grab the back of his vest and yank him down off the fence. He falls with little fight, his grip poor due to the rain covering the fence, and also drenching both of them to the bone.

She wasted no time in pulling the handcuffs from the pocket of her leather jacket, slapping them around Gabriel's wrists while he is still trying to get his bearings. He thrashed and fought hard against her grip as she pulled him to his feet, his breathing hard and brown eyes wild.

"Hey, chill out," Emma snapped. "All you're doing is making this harder on yourself," she continued, her eyebrows knit together in a mix of annoyance and struggle to keep him still.

"I'm not going to prison!" he yells frantically, doing all he can to get away from the older woman. Thankfully, Emma's body is trained both mentally and physically for this, whereas Gabriel is just a scared teenager acting on his flight instincts. He does; however, manage to kick backwards and connect his right sneaker with Emma's shin. She sees stars for a moment as she holds back tears threatening to spill from her eyes in reaction to the pain.

"Fuck!" she snaps harshly. "Enough!" With that, she slams him against the chain linked fence and puts her full body weight against him, pinning his arms harshly against his back.

"Stop fighting before you get yourself in more trouble. You're already in enough as it is," she growled, giving her shin a moment to stop throbbing before she yanked Gabriel away from the fence and started pushing him back towards the mouth of the alley.

A flood of excuses, pleas, and bargains tumbled from the boy's mouth, the words all but toppling over one another in a slew of panic.

Emma rolls her eyes at his attempts to bargain his way out of his capture, letting out a gust of air to remove a wet tendril that had fallen in front of her face. She probably should have put her hair up for this little adventure.

"Think of this as a new start, kid," was all Emma muttered before falling silent for the rest of the walk to her bug. She tuned out his incoherent ramblings and helped him into the backseat before closing the door and leaning back against it. She wanted to take a moment to compose herself before entering the vehicle. She allowed her breathing to slow for a few moments before slipping her soaked jacket off and finding her normal place in the front seat.

Her shoulders shuttered violently as she moved to turn the heater on full blast, rubbing her hands together rapidly in front of the welcoming air.

"You know kid, if you hadn't run, we both wouldn't be freezing our asses off right now," Emma pointed out, watching through the review mirror as Gabriel shivered beneath his work clothing. He had grown quiet now, knowing what his fate would be for the coming years. To him it was the end of the world, but to Emma it was a new beginning.

"The next couple of years are going to suck, I'm not going to lie," Emma sighs, her tone one of sympathy. "But it'll get better and you'll learn from all of this."

"What the hell do you know, lady?" the teenager snapped out of anger, venom littering his tight tone.

Emma moved to put her car into drive, and then spared him one last glance through the mirror before turning her focus to the overly busy streets of New York.

"More than you could even imagine," she responds quietly, almost to herself rather than to the boy whom she knew didn't care at the moment.

But he would.

Yes, one day he would.

A man watched silently from under the cover of a nearby apartment complex, straining to keep his eyes on the blonde woman across the street as she shoved the even younger blonde male into the back seat of her... what was it called again? The term had slipped his busy mind. Four-wheeled contraption, that would due for now. The wheeled vehicles that littered the street were still a foreign concept to him, one he didn't care to learn about. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to stick around long enough to learn too many customs of this strange realm.

He was growing quite irritated with the crowd of people that kept shoving their way down the sidewalk, constantly colliding with one another, and many times blocking his view. He had more than once shoved the strangers out of the way harshly, earning glares from a few who quickly averted their eyes when they truly took him in.

He was fairly tall at 5'10" and stood in a way that screamed authority and demanded submission. His jaw was square and covered in a fairly well manicured beard, leading up to black hair and ocean blue eyes. Perhaps to a friend or lover they might be welcoming, but at the moment they are narrowed against the rain and hardened in thought. Perhaps the most obvious thing about the man, and probably what made passers shy away the most, was his quite blunt attire. He adorned all black clothing, including leather pants, scuffed boots in need of a good shining, a long-sleeved shirt with fanned out sleeves covered around his torso by a fitted leather vest, and a heavy leather coat that stopped just above the backs of his knees. A hook also replaced his left hand, which was lost long ago in another time. To those who passed him, he looked like a man dressed up as the iconic Captain Hook. If only they knew that he truly was the one and only, Killian Jones.

He cocked his head to the side curiously as the blonde woman leaned against her vehicle, exhaustion clearly evident in her stance. Whether it was mental or physical exhaustion, he wasn't sure. The boy hadn't been much of a challenge for her, but it had made Killian chuckle when the boy kicked her in the shin. It was something he would have probably done as a young lad. Although, admittedly, if he was being held captive by a woman with the looks of her, he might not have fought at all.

So this is her, the famous savior. Hook queries to himself, quite pleased with his catch.

"Emma Swan." He lets the words slip from his lips quietly, thoughtfully.

Although Killian had never met her famous parents, Snow White and Prince Charming, in person, he could tell (even from this distance and awful view through the damn rain), that she was their daughter. Her posture, although tired and quite drenched, was quite strong. And he had learned from her encounter with the young boy that she was quick on her feet and dangerous to be put up against. There was definite fight in her. Hook smirked, his lips curving upwards ever so slightly.

Perhaps killing a few fellow pirates from an enemy crew in order to obtain a magic bean to come here was worth it... if only for the view. He definitely wouldn't mind getting to know this woman soon enough.

Killian shifted slightly as Emma got into the car and vanished within the traffic of this painfully busy land. He preferred the smell of salt water and the view of a endless sea to all of this bloody rubbish.

He stood for a moment longer before merging into the flow of human traffic, back towards the dock where his ship was currently anchored. Thankfully, this was New York, and the arrival of a pirate ship wasn't the strangest thing that this city had seen, perhaps, not even close to the strangest. He would go back to his Jolly Roger for now and settle in for the night, but soon his work would need to begin.

Rumors had made their way through the realms over the years of a curse that had been cast by the Evil Queen herself, trapping many in this world without magic in a town known as Storybrooke, Maine. None of the residents had retained their memories of their former lives, trapped for the past 28 years without the ability to age. One of the many under the queen's curse, including the Savior's own parents, was none other than The Dark One, better known as The Crocodile, to Killian.

The crocodile had taken his hand years ago, and had killed the woman that he had loved right in front of his eyes. He had been forced to watch her pain and the fear that had clouded her eyes before she had collapsed in a dead heap on the deck of his ship, her heart crushed to dust within The Dark Ones' palm.

Killian's rage grew as these thoughts entered his mind and he shoved down a growl that was threatening to spill from his lips. He wanted revenge for what The Dark One had taken from him. But in order to do that, he needed to make the savior remember who she was.

He knew the basics of her story. Snow White had given birth to Emma moments before the curse hit, and her parents had sent her through a magical wardrobe to this world in order to avoid the affects of the Dark Curse. She was destined to find Storybrooke when she turned 28 years old, a birthday that would occur three months from this day, to break the curse and save everyone. However, Killian knew of one major problem to this plan. Emma had no idea of her destiny.

She had spent her nearly 28 years in this world without magic. How would she be expected to believe in such things as being a savior to a land caught up in the worst curse in history?

Hook would have to make Emma see... make her believe. He could simply go to Storybrooke now and finish the crocodile off. He had no magic and no memories, he was helpless and quite vulnerable. But no, that would not be good enough. Killian wanted him to remember everything. He wanted The Dark One to know exactly who he was when he shoved his sword through his chest and smiled in triumph as he killed him.

There was only one thing standing in his way of doing just that.

Emma Swan.

He would make her remember, whatever the cost.

He would have his revenge.

Soon.

Yes. Very, very soon.

That's it for chapter 1. This is my first attempt at a Once Upon A Time story and these characters, so let me know what y'all think! I really look forward to playing with this story and seeing what comes of it.

Please note that Hook is still the rough, tough, and vengeful pirate that always acts on impulse. He hasn't yet changed, because right now he only views Emma as a pretty step towards getting his revenge.

I don't have a beta reader, so I apologize if there are any mistakes. I try to read and re-read before I publish, but I never am able to catch all the mistakes.

Anyway, thank you all for reading! Hope everyone have a great day!