Chapter 1: Ten Hours
Once Emma was out of sight Killian began trying to work he way out of the cuffs. The giant had left him alone and he had hoped that he could use his hook to pick the lock. Usually his hook did him quite a bit of good in these situations, but it seemed that his old friend wasn't going to help him this time. He should have expected the cuffs to be too strong. After several minutes of trying he finally gave up and sat down. Ten hours. He was supposed to wait for ten hours before the giant released him. "Bloody Swan," he said out loud.
Emma had said she couldn't take a chance that she was wrong about him. That meant that some part of her was trusted him, or at least wanted to. What she didn't realize was that he had started to trust her too and it had been 300 years since he actually trusted someone other than himself. Then she went and abandoned him. He should have been angry, he should have wanted revenge, but instead he found himself wanting to find a way to prove to the Swan girl that she could trust him.
Ten Hours. He had no idea what he was supposed to do while chained up for ten hours. His mind continued to wander to Emma. She wasn't like most of the women he met in his life and that intrigued him. But it also scared him. In the short time he had known her he had found himself getting attatched. He found himself wanting to take his walls down and let her see the real him. Something he had not been willing to do for years. And that was something that terrified him.
Trust wasn't something that came easy to him. And apparently it didn't come easy to her as well. He had told her she was an open book. Part of it was because he saw himself in her. The girl abandoned all her life, losing everything, and not able to trust anyone but themselves. Was he really seeing her or was he simply repeating what he knew about him? The time there only proved to give him time to think. To think about what he was supposed to do in this situation. He had technically betrayed the Queen. And he was sure Cora would not be happy with him when she found out.
Now he had to decide what he was going to do when he was finally free. Was he going to go back to Cora and try to figure out how to get the woman to trust him again. Help her perhaps get the compass back from the band of princesses? Or he could attempt to get the Swan Girl to trust him. Perhaps prove to her that he is on her side. That side would be a dangerous one. He gathered that the princess squad would not just kill someone if they could avoid it. But Cora. . . she was different. She could take someones heart and control them to do her bidding. He had seen it with his own eyes and it was unsettling. It wasn't something he wanted to experience for himself.
Killian had been searching for his revenge for a long time. Hundreds of years after all. If he did decide to side with the heroes for once. . . what would that do to his revenge? The crocodile deserved to pay for taking his love from him. For killing her for no good reason other than she had left him. Leaving her son had been her biggest regret. And the cowardly man became a cowardly monster. And even though all his life had been about destroying that creature, somhow this Swan girl managed to make him consider it not being worth it after all.
Something else that scared him about her. His revenge had always been on his mind. And yet this girl came along and changed that. She made him think that maybe he could find something else worth living for. That maybe getting his revenge was not the most important thing. It wasn't as if it would bring his love back. . . or his hand for that matter. What would really happen if the crocodile died? He was the Dark One. Someone would have to take his place. And Killian knew that he didn't want that to be him.
His thoughts were interrupted when he hard the large footsteps of the giant returning to him. Though he was sure that the ten hours were not up yet. Perhaps he managed to waist an hour or so with his thoughts but he knew that it had not been much past that. He raised a brow as the giant observed him as if he was trying to figure him out. There were few people in the world that were ever able to figure him out. And he doubted that the Giant would be able to.
"I'm not a monster you know," the Giant said as if Killian had just called him one. He gave the giant a confused look before standing up and tilting his head to the side.
"Aye. . . I'm quite aware of that,"
The giant appeared surprised by the comment as if he expected that Killian would have argued the fact with him. "You don't think I'm a monster?"
He had gathered that this giant did not have good experiences with humans prior, but given that he had technically came to steal from him, he had figured that Killian would have been looked at as the monster. "If you were a monster. . . you would have killed me the second Swan made her way down that beanstalk. Instead I'm here. . . alive. . . and waiting for the ten hours to be up. Meaning that despite the fact that you are no longer under threat. . . you are honoring a promise. Monsters don't do that. I've met monsters. . . you're not one."
The Giant grinned as if he had just been given a great compliment before sitting down in front of Killian, the building shaking as he did so. "My name is Anton,"
Killian followed suit and sat down as well. "Killian Jones. . . though most call me by my more colorful moniker. . . Hook," he offered with a tilt of his head. "I take it you are not going to let me go until the ten hours are up."
"I promised I wouldn't," he replied, confirming his suspicions. He gathered that this creature must have been rather lonely if he was the only giant there. "I always believed humans were evil. I met two that seemed nice. . . but they betrayed me and killed all of my kin."
"Some of us are," Killian admitted as he leaned back against the wall. Most considered him to be evil and maybe he was in a way. Though it wasn't as if he ever went out of his way to hurt people. It had only ever been in pursuit of his revenge. "I'd say you were rather unlucky in meeting some that chose to harm you. I do appologize on their behalf."
"So why is it that you two came? If it was not to kill me?" Anton asked, curiously awaiting an answer.
"There was a compass here that the Swan Girl needed to find a way back to her son. . . with whom she had been seperated from," Killian replied with a small sigh. He hated to think of a mother being seperated from her son without a choice. It made him wonder if his mother had ever had a choice in the matter.
"And what about you? Why are you here? And why did she leave you behind?"
That was the question that Killian had been waiting for. He knew it was coming and yet there was a part of him that wanted to hide the truth. Like he always did. And yet he figured that there was no harm in being honest with the giant. "I wanted to go back with her. . . in order to seek revenge on the man who took my love. . . and my hand," Killian replied trying to hide the sadness in his voice at the m ention of his love. "And Swan. . . . she didn't trust me. . . Pirate and all."
The giant appeared to think about that for a moment. As if trying to figure out if he was telling the truth or not. "Was she wrong?"
That question had surprised him and it was one he had been thinking about. Should she have trusted him? He had wanted her to. Though how could he completely blame her when he knew that he had always been out for himself and his revenge. When he knew how hard it was to trust someone when all you have known is losing everything. "I don't know," he admitted, his voice a bit softer than it had been. "Part of me wants her to trust me. I thought at first that I was coming up here for my need to get my revenge. But . . . I find myself wondering if maybe I really was here for her."
It was the first time Killian had really opened up so much to someone. And a giant who was technically keeping him captive of all people. Yet, he wasn't sure what else he was going to do with his ten hourse there. Maybe talking out how he felt was going to help him figure it out himself. "I don't exactly blame her. I am not known for helping others. . . or thinking of others before myself. My revenge has always been the most important thing to me. But somewhere along the way I feel like I started to push my revenge aside and actually did what I could to help her. Its strange for me."
Anton listened intently as he spoke and he wondered what the giant was thinking. He didn't understand how he felt so he didn't expect anyone else to. "Maybe you should try to show her that you want to help," he offered finally, as he leaned his head on one of his hands. "Help her get back to her son."
Killian thought about it. He knew that Swan had the compass now but she would not be able to open a portal without the wardrobe dust that Cora had. And he doubted that would be something that could be stolen from Cora. He was good, but he wasn't that good. Cora likely had the stuff on her person at all times. "Maybe, but Cora has the other item needed to open a portal. . . and she is a dangersous one to tangle with. I'll be lucky if she doesn't take my heart for helping Emma up here in the first place."
"So when I let you go. . . . what are you going to do?" Anton asked, his brow furrowing as if he was trying to figure the pirate out. Though he was sure that he wouldn't be able to. Killian often was not sure about himself.
"I dont' know. . . . " he admitted, looking down at his hook and picking at it. "Cora will likely find me. And if she doesn't decide to kill me. . . . Maybe I'll figure it out then."
"Well. . . you better figure it out soon," Anton stated as he got up and moved over to the chains, unlocking them and letting him go free. "Because your time is up, but before you go. . ." he added, removing something from his neck and holding it down to him. "Take this with you. . . its an old magic bean. Its dead now, but I have found it to be good luck. Maybe it will help you."