Chapter 2: In Which the Princess Gets Her First Pair of Shoes
Rumplestiltskin was in the middle of his breakfast when he suddenly felt a disturbance in the magic of this realm. He quickly jumped up from his chair and walked over to his mirror. Upon honing his powers, he saw what he was looking for.
"Belle!" He barked out to his maid.
"Yes, Rumple?" Belle's cheery form appeared in the doorway to his living room.
"Be a dear and hand me my cape. I've got an errand to run."
Belle curtsied before going to retrieve the fur lined tattered cape, his favorite.
"What is it Papa?" Bae asked from the table.
"Oh, nothing my boy. Just need to pay a visit to the Queen."
"Which queen?" A look of suspicion crossed his young face as he asked his question. Rumple regarded him with a look, and just as he was about to answer Belle interrupted the two of them with her return.
"Here you are," she said, handing the cape to Rumplestiltskin. He threw it on before disappearing into thin air- always one for theatrics.
Killian could not believe what he got himself into. Just mere hours ago he was on his way home to his ship. Now there he was agreeing to help this strange lass. Then again, it wasn't as if he had much of a choice. He probably could have found his things, but this girl wouldn't give up. And that struck something in him. He had no idea why these lanterns were so important to her, now he would just have to find out why, if for no other reason than to curb his curiosity. Liam's revenge could wait a couple more days; it was not as if he had any great leads anyways. He just had to fix his boat first so that he could search some more.
And besides, maybe he could have fun with this... he should make best of the situation at hand and get this over with as quickly and as painlessly as possible. This would probably be the most interesting situation he found himself stuck in so far in his life. Blackmailed by a beautiful, young recluse.
He was just about at the bottom of the tower when he heard Emma let out a yell from above. He looked up only to see her coming down the side of her tower incredibly fast, and not in the most traditional way. She stopped herself with her ridiculous hair just above the ground. He watched her with a raised brow as she carefully placed her feet on the ground. Something was off here; clearly she didn't get out much, but to what extent, he wasn't sure.
Killian jumped down the rest of the way and landed on his feet with ease. "You alright there lass?" He adjusted his hook as he walked over to Emma. She had given it back to him earlier, as well as his sword. His dagger on the other hand, was in her bag, the hilt of it just sticking out from the corner.
"Just fine," Emma replied. She appeared to be struggling with getting her hair down from the post out side the window, which allowed her to propel down the tower. With her bag swinging around her body as she struggled, it finally it came loose. Then she looked around with a smile growing on her face.
He had to admit, Emma had a cute smile. Where the hell did that come from?
"So, where to, captain?"
"Well, Swan, we have-"
"What did you call me?" Emma asked. As she cut him off, confusion and something else, an emotion Killian could not yet identify, colored her eyes.
"Swan… You have a swan necklace…" He said pointing at the circular swan pendant hanging from a chain around her neck.
"Oh- right." Her hand went to the necklace. Killian gave her a questioning look. But she didn't acknowledge it. She merely stared absent-mindedly in front of her as they continued walking into the cave.
Okay… "As I was saying, we have two days until they let the floating lanterns loose. It would take us at most one day, were we to take the direct route. So, we should have plenty of time even if we run into trouble." Killian's voice echoed off the cave walls. He saw her nod in acknowledgement in front of him.
When they reached the vines, he stepped in front of Emma and pulled back some to let her to pass. She gave him a curious look.
"I may be a pirate, but I am also a gentleman. After you milady," he said with a wink.
Emma pulled away from him all the while fluttering her eyes. Ha! He flustered her.
About bloody time - he feared he lost his charms.
Killian stopped right as he got into the clearing and took out his map and compass. Emma turned around from the other side of the small clearing when she noticed he wasn't following her.
"What are you doing?" She questioned, walking back towards him.
"Getting my bearings, I got turned around before."
Emma bent down and looked at the map from the opposite side.
"Ever see one of these before? An actual Pirate map?" He asked her teasingly.
She just looked at him with a seemingly blank stare. Only, at a closer glance, he noticed that it wasn't blank; there was something lurking under the surface and gods help him, now he was really curious.
After Killian figured out their approximate position they took off into the forest. He could feel the excitement and anxiety rolling off of her.
"First adventure with a pirate? Well, you never forget your first," he said. He came to a stop in front of her to look her in the eyes, but still kept some distance in between them. "You know, most men would take your silence as off putting, but, I love a challenge."
"I'm concentrating." She deadpanned as she stepped around him.
"On what?" He had to look down as he walked to make sure he wasn't stepping on her hair. How she managed with all of it, he would never know.
"Well, you did say that you were in an 'armed chase'. I'm listening for them." She said with a glance over her shoulder.
"No, I think you're afraid to talk. To reveal yourself. I believe I remember you saying you were going to trust me."
"I trust you to be a pirate."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He couldn't help but take slight offense by that.
"That you are going to do whatever it takes to get your treasure." She turned around then and saw him roll his eyes. Treasure was not high on his list of needs. And if it really was, he would have it right now. How shocking of her to come to that conclusion. "Or is there something else… you need the treasure for something more important, don't you?"
Wait, what. How did she-?
"And why would you say that?" A dangerous tone entered his voice.
Her only response was a widening of her eyes and shrug of her shoulders as she turned around to continue on, thankfully in the right direction. "I'm right though, aren't I?"
Damn it, this is going to be tougher than he thought, she's bested him twice now. He can't have that, especially not when he started it. "Deflecting are we? Well, I don't need you to share. You're something of an open book."
"Oh, am I?"
"Quite so, I'm afraid. I'd wager that you've hardly ever been out of that tower."
"What gave it away, when I said I didn't know my way around? Nice detective work, captain." She said in a tone dripping with sarcasm.
"You wanted out and you had no idea what it was like out here. So, you needed to blackmail me into taking you, to make sure I wouldn't abandon you like everyone else had." As he said this out loud, the realization of her situation was hitting him and he couldn't help but to feel for her. He knew that feeling all too well.
"Had they?" She retorted, breathing deeply. He was sure her breathlessness was not just from their walking. She was being defensive and he saw sadness in her eyes.
"Like I said, open book," Killian said sincerely with an attempt at a tight-lipped smile.
"How would you know that?" She asked looking at him intensely while trying to seem like she wasn't bothered.
He responded with the same wide-eyed look and shrug that she had earlier.
She turned on the spot and they continued on in silence through the thick forest. Killian really did admire this girl. He believed in good form. While swindling someone was not the best of form, however, she was fighting for what she wanted. And for that he couldn't help but respect her. After all he is a pirate, getting what you want by questionable means is part of it. After all, a man unwilling to fight for what he wants deserves what he gets.
Occasionally as they trekked on, her hair would get caught on a branch, but for the most part it was smooth sailing, so to speak. They came upon an old dirt road, thankfully. That meant they could find some place for food, and have an easier time walking. Or so he thought until he saw Emma limping slightly.
"Stop. You're hurt." Killian said, placing, his hook around her arm.
"I'm fine," she replied, while trying her best not to limp.
"No, you're not. You, my dear, need shoes. Now, sit like a good girl." He showed her over to a log on the side of the road and got down on his knee. Carefully he lifted her foot up.
"Watch it, buddy."
"Don't fret love. I am a gentleman, remember." Killian responded, while flashing her a sinful smile. He held her foot up with is hook while grabbing his flask from his belt with his hand. He poured the contents of the flask on to her injured foot.
"What the hell is that?!" Emma hissed, quickly trying to pull her leg back, but to no avail, as it was encircled by his hook at her ankle.
"It's rum, and a bloody waste of it." Killian said while looking over the cut. Emma just sat there un-amused, gritting her teeth. He took out a piece of fabric from somewhere on his person and started tying it around the bottom of her foot, covering the wound. He closed the knot with his teeth. "There, that should do it."
"Thanks," she said, a bit uncomfortably as she grabbed the hand he offered her when he stood upright.
"There's a market not far from here. We can get you shoes and some sustenance for the both of us." Luckily, with this area of the woods being so close to the kingdom was littered with taverns and traveling wagons. He watched her as she fixed her skirts and hair before moving forward.
"Wait."
"What now?"
"We need to do something with this-" he gestured to her hair trailing on the ground, "before going into the market. You're going to draw unwanted attention."
She looked at him a bit nervously, and nodded. She turned back around to the log, sat down and started braiding her hair intricately, decreasing the length of it.
After a good chunk of time waiting for her to finish with her hair, Killian had to ask,
"Why do you keep it that long?"
"Because." She shot him a warning look as she tied up the end of the braid.
Killian could only shake his head in response to another piece of the puzzle revealing its self. This would certainly be complicated. "Well, for what it's worth your golden tresses look lovely like that." He said rather cheekily. She responded with an eye roll. He was having too much fun pushing her buttons.
Killian kept their pace slow as they walked side by side. They arrived right outside the small clearing off the side of the dirt road, which housed the makeshift market of wagons and carts when he heard Emma let out a giggle from behind. Caught off guard, he quickly turned to her with a smile growing on his face to see what she was laughing about.
"Wha-" His face dropped immediately when he saw the wanted poster in her hand.
"You know, this is a really great portrait of you," she said with a smile that reached all the way up to her eyes… and damn him if it wasn't the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen.
He quickly grabbed it out of her hand and saw the monstrosity before crumpling it up and throwing it over his shoulder. Emma was laughing at him now and he felt his face turn red. He just turned toward the market muttering under his breath. "Never get my nose right."
Rumple appeared with a poof of magic in the main chamber of the Evil Queen's castle and found said queen arranging her potion bottles in a large cabinet.
"Hello, dearie," he said dramatically as he approached her, his tattered cape whipping about behind him.
Regina quickly turned around. "Rumple," she said with distain. "What do you want?"
"Is that anyway to talk to your teacher?"
"Ex-teacher." She pointed a finger at him as she closed the cabinet behind her.
He made a face as he waved off the biting words. "I have come across a rather interesting development..." Rumple waited for a response that never came before carrying on. "That lost princess of Snow White and Prince Charming's…"
At that he got a reaction. Regina stood up straighter and was trying hard not to show how those words had affected her. "What about her?"
"She's back from wherever she was." He regarded Regina carefully. "I felt the magic, you know, the same type of magic from that flower that saved Snow White's life all those years ago."
"How?" Regina gritted out. And then Rumple was happy; all of his suspicions were confirmed.
"How what, dearie?" He stepped into her personal space and then said menacingly,
"Do you know something?"
Regina let out a frustrated growl as she turned on her heel and made a beeline for her mirror in the corner of the room. Rumple was hot on her heels and she looked into the mirror searching for Emma. And then they saw her, with the pirate.
Emma was… well, Emma was a lot of things. But pinning it down to two things, she was confused and excited. So far, the outside world hadn't been at all what Regina said it would be like. All those times Regina had spoken to her about it, Emma always had the feeling she wasn't telling the truth. And now she had validation. She didn't know what to do with that. And frankly, she didn't want to think about it when she was enjoying everything so much. The smell of food, the smiles on everyone's faces, and the gorgeous patterns of clothes kept her distracted as Hook led her towards a leather merchant.
Oh, Hook. He was certainly a confusing subject. He was a pirate, but he didn't always act how she would have expected. He made her feel uncomfortable, but not in a bad way, because when he pushed, she pushed right back. She had to admit, she kind of liked the challenge too. He also had the strangest temper. He was fine one minute, then by mentioning the right, or rather wrong, thing, it was like flicking a switch. But he never lost it like Regina would.
Also, he turned red when he was embarrassed.
She filed all this information away to think about later, and tried on the dark brown boots that were handed to her.
"Here, try these."
She grabbed them from Hook and put them on quickly as he scratched the back of his head uncomfortably, watching her. Emma got up to see how they felt, which was surprisingly delightful. Her cut hardly hurt with the cushioning of the boot.
"How are they?"
"They feel good. Just one thing," She leaned a little bit closer to him, biting her lip. "I don't have any money, so we should probably just..." She cocked her head to the side and checked to look at the merchant, who was looking away.
Hook's eyes almost popped out of his head, and the smile that grew on his face lit up his eyes. He got closer to her, leaning towards her ear. Too close for comfort, she could feel his breath against her neck. "My, My. Look who'd make one hell of a pirate." She stood still, not wanting to back up and reveal how he affected her. Luckily, he backed up. "No stealing today, love. You saw that wanted poster. I'll get your boots. You just better have some goods in that tower of yours to pay me back with." He winked at her before turning to walk over to the leather merchant. All she could do was stare at the transaction. The owner seemed to be kind, and she kicked herself for considering stealing from him.
Emma had to literally shake herself out of it as Hook walked back over to her.
"Now, sustenance," he said with a smile, and he made a small bow in the direction of the food cart.
They made their way through the carts, passing by some of the other shoppers. The smells that came from the food cart were heavenly. There were so many options she didn't know what to choose. She heard Hook order some things as she looked around. And that's when she saw a guard entering the market.
She quickly went to Hook's side and grabbed his left arm. That caught him off guard. "Hook. We gotta go," she whispered and nodded over towards the guards.
He turned back to the owner of the stall, paid, and left in a hurry out the other side of the market. He led them back into the woods in the light of the setting sun.
As they walked, they ate their dinner of meat sandwiches. Emma's foot still throbbed, but it was much better with the boot. It was just strange. She was experiencing a lot of new things today, and pain lasting longer than the incantation for her magical hair was one of them.
She still couldn't believe how wrong Regina was about everything. Life outside of her tower was amazing! But thinking about it, when she talked to Hook, it was the first time she saw the truth in someone's face. Granted, there were things he was hiding, but at least he wasn't blatantly lying out lying to her. That earned him some brownie points, and just a bit more of her trust.
"How do you feel about finding a place for tonight?" Hook stirred her from her thoughts as they both finished their meals.
Emma didn't get the chance to respond before a guard in golden colored armor appeared in front of them.
"Not so fast Captain!"