Hi all!

This is just a cute lil' Captainswan one-shot of them meeting. AU where, like in the Golden Compass series, each person has a daemon animal. Just so happens that Emma and Killian's daemons are more similar than expected!

"Hm, next on our list… let's see…" I frown down at the scrap of paper in my hands. Bread, check. Milk, check. Cereal, check… Everything on my grocery list is accounted for. "Well, looks like we're all done here, let's go!" Shoving the paper into my coat pocket, I start walking.

Honk!

I turn on my heel. Behind me, an angry-looking male swan stands, puffing up his feathers at me. My daemon. No, not demon, as in those Hell-creatures, but as in a companion that reflects your soul through the form of an animal. Everyone here has one.

The swan hisses and gives another honk, adding an annoyed flap of his wings.

I give a mock-pouty face. "What, is someone being needy?" I roll my eyes. "I hear ya, you're hungry. Come on."

With a satisfied tail waggle, the swan follows me. We walk together through the marketplace, cool autumn air stirring around us. The outdoor market is busy, with crowds of people and their daemons collecting their daily groceries.

I've never thought much about daemons, they're just a normal part of life, but I guess not to some. Like I said, they're a reflection of your inner-most soul, morals, and traits, and take the form of an animal of the opposite sex that represents those characteristics. For example, someone who is sly and sneaky may have a fox as their daemon, and a shy person may have a mouse or rabbit.

My swan daemon has been with me since birth, as daemons are. No, they're not "born" or in the womb with you (what the hell?), one day when you're a baby they just kind of… come into your life? It's hard to explain, and I can't remember back that far. But, yeah, my daemon is a swan because apparently I'm graceful, beautiful, but still can be damn vicious, which I think is a satisfying description. (Also, my last name is Swan. Go figure.)

His name is Remus, by the way. I was a fan of the Harry Potter books when I was little, and Remus was my favorite character.

A pair of children run by, chasing a rolling ball, followed by dog and chickadee daemons. A stall ahead of me is worked by a greasy-looking old man and a bald rat perched on his shoulder. On a bench, a young couple is sucking face, and their daemons (a mouse and butterfly) are romping around each other.

My heart becomes heavy with memories. Neal, my ex, appears in my mind. We lasted a brief time, and the ending was horrible. I thought it was love, but just like a rat (his daemon), he tricked me and scurried out of my life, leaving me with a baby and jail time.

I hope these two can work it out, despite their different daemons.

Different daemons in a relationship don't matter too much, as long as the animals are similar in what they represent and get along well, or one makes up for what the other doesn't have and vice versa. Most couples live long, happy lives together with different daemons. For example, my parents, whose love has been called the purest and strongest anyone around knows of. My father's daemon is a lion, and my mother's a dove- wildly different, but surprisingly an excellent combination.

Although very rare, because most people have never even met someone else with the same daemon as them, if two people do fall in love and have the same daemon, it will supposedly be True Love. Fairytale stuff, if you ask me. Like, what are the odds?

I'm startled out of my thoughts as I bump into a body. "Hey!" someone shouts. A hear a daemon's irritated snort.

"Sorry," I mutter, and hustle on.

Finally, I see my destination ahead of me. Sneezy's Seed and Feed- Remus's favorite take-out dive. The stall is covered by a yellow and blue tarp and the counter is lined with bags and boxes of bird feed. A short man with a chronically runny nose stands behind the register, a chicken daemon (yeah, a chicken, lucky guy) is perched on his head.

"Afterdoon, Biss Swad," he greets with a sniffle. Remus and I are almost regulars here.

"Hey, Sneezy," I reply. "How's the cold?"

He shrugs. "Dot any better."

I fish some dollars out of my purse and lay them on the counter. "The waterfowl bag, please, extra-large again." He nods, stocks the money away, and hands me a paper feed bag with a goose printed on it. I also purchase a bag of songbird seed for my son's daemon. (His name is Henry, ten years old, and the daemon is a goldfinch.) I thank Sneezy and Remus and I are on our way again.

I've hardly taken five steps when a huge commotion arises. People shriek and run, daemons bark and squawk and neigh. I see two men barreling through the crowd, one with a leather jacket and black hair, and his pursuer an older man with long limbs and a sharp nose. I immediately recognize the former: Mr. Gold, the local jeweler and antique seller. His daemon is a serpent.

However, I don't recognize the man in black being chased. Then, suddenly, I find him on top of me with myself and the bird seed sprawled on the ground.

"Hey!" I shout, trying to free myself from his weight. "Get the hell off me!" I'm about to spew profanities, as Remus is already doing so. The man looks at me, startled, and my breath catches in my throat. His eyes are beautifully blue and features sharp, with stubble at the jawline. Shit, he's gorgeous. No, wait, stay on top of me it's okay!

"Apologies, lass." Oh double shit he has an accent. He pushes himself up, only to be snatched by the collar.

Mr. Gold has a firm hold on him, grinning with a gleaming gold tooth. I can smell his breath from the ground. "Aha, thought you'd get away, thief." The serpent around his neck gives a pleased hiss.

"I-I" the man struggles for words, tugging at his collar. He looks at me with fear and pleading in his eyes. Mr Gold growls and tightens his grip, earning a gasp. I realize: he's choking him.

"Thank you," I blurt, nodding to the leather-jacket thief. "For… getting me the thing, the thing from Mr. Gold."

His blue eyes are pure "what the hell?" but I give him a "go with it" glare. He attempts to nod. "A-Aye, the object, just as you asked of me." He reaches into his jacket pocket and tosses me… a spyglass? I quickly catch it, hoping my confusion wasn't noticed.

Mr. Gold looks between us. "You two… he was to retrieve that spyglass for you?"

"Yep."

"Did you tell him to steal it, as he did?"

I blink, then feign surprise with a gasp. "No, I did not! I told him to hang onto it for me until I could meet him and pay for it." I glare at the leather jacketed man. "Remember?"

He nods rapidly, a smirk forming. "Aye, my apologies, I must have misheard your instructions."

I clear my throat and turn back to Mr. Gold. "There, you see, simple accident. Now, if you'll unhand him I'll pay for the… the spyglass."

With an unhappy growl, Gold drops him and shoves out a palm. Cursing inwardly, I smack a few dollars into his hand. He gives a final glare to me and the man, then stalks off. The crowd parts as he moves away.

I whirl at the black haired man. "What the hell?!"

He blinks nervously. "I'm very sorry, lass. Thank you for saving me from that villain-"

"You're the villain! You stole from Gold and robbed me of my money, and spilled my birdseed!" I point angrily at the spilled bag on the ground. Remus lets out an upset honk.

The man shakes his head pleadingly. "Please, I can explain. And I'll buy your birdseed, to repay for the money you put up for the spyglass." His blue eyes bore into me. "Please allow me to, I promise I am a gentleman."

I huff and cross my arms. "Fine." His eyes light up and he smiles, "Great! Come, lass." My heart flips and I find myself following him. What have I gotten myself into?

"There, two bags of birdseed." The man hands me the bags and the change. "On me. Told you I can be a gentleman."

I snatch the bags, irritated at his ego. "Thanks for the freakin' birdseed." I pause, my irritation fueling down. "You got a name, or should I just call you 'leather-jacket-handsome-thief-man'?"

He laughs at this. "Killian Jones, lass. Though handsome will do."

I snort. "Emma Swan."

He raises and eyebrow, pointing with his eyes at Remus. I roll my eyes. "Yeah, funny."

Even though I have my errands complete, I find myself wanting to walk with him still. And I do. Now that I know his name, we drift into a natural-feeling conversation. "So… what up with the spyglass?" I ask.

"It was my brother's," he explains. "We were both sailors, so it was a necessary tool used without much thought. After he passed, the spyglass became something that connected me with him. One of the few items of him I had left. That Mr Gold fellow, he stole it from me." Killian shrugs. "So I stole it back."

I gawk up at him, shocked by the openness. "Oh… I'm, uh, sorry about you brother."

He smiles lightly and nods. "Thanks… What about you, Swan? Your family?"

I register the fact that he called me 'Swan'. I don't say anything about it. "Well… I'm in touch with my parents, and I guess we have a good relationship…" I think, unsure how much to reveal to him. "… I have a son. He's ten."

To my surprise, this earns a genuine smile. "Really?"

"Yeah. He's really sweet… smart, brave… he wants to be a writer. He has a goldfinch as a daemon."

"I take it bird daemons run in the family?"

I smile. "Yeah, my mother's is a dove, so you could say that." After a few awkwardly silent steps, I ask, "What about you?"

He shrugs. "Birds also run in my family, I guess. My brother's was an albatross, and mine is a swan."

This makes me stop in my tracks. "You're kidding."

He laughs. "No, though I can be quite funny sometimes. In fact, there's the old girl now." He nods ahead at the road. Some yards in front of us, a white bird is fluttering toward us. My mouth hangs open in awe; I've never seen another swan daemon, or met someone with one.

Killian stretches out a well-muscled arm. The female swan flits her wings and lands gracefully on it, shaking out her head and neck. He coos and runs a finger over her bill, receiving a tail waggle from the bird. "Aye, this is Milah."

I stare at her in amazement. Of course I've seen other swans, like wild ones on ponds and in books and stuff, but this is different. Remus seems equally impressed. He flies up to stand on my shoulder, stretching out his long neck to get a better look at Milah. The two birds bob heads at each other.

"Looks like they've taken a fancy," Killian observes, grinning.

I find myself smiling, then giggling, then asking: "Killian… would you maybe like to get lunch sometime?"

He says he'd love that.

I hope you enjoyed, please comment! 3