Disclaimer: Hope you all like this chapter! I don't know when the next one will be written, so hold tight!

Chapter Three: My Legs Are Weak

Wonder and confusion almost overrode Emma's struggle for oxygen as she was hurtled through a seemingly never-ending tunnel of swirling colors. Upon entering the water in the river, she had been sucked into the whirlpool, which seemed to be a condensed hurricane on the inside. The wind was so strong, it was hard for Emma to catch her breath.

Though, the colors were mesmerizing. Blues, yellows and pinks- some shades she'd never seen before! This is a dream... a terrible dream... She told herself, closing her eyes from the wind. Suddenly the rushing stopped, and Emma felt herself falling rapidly.

She slammed into cold water, and quickly surfaced for air. It was very dark, and the water was very choppy and slightly cold. Emma could already feel her limbs growing tired, and she struggled to look around for land. There was an opening of light to the right, causing her to realize that she was in some sort of cave. There was a distinctive echo of the waves lapping against something, and she hoped it was a ledge for her to climb on, not the walls of the cave.

From shuffling through foster care, swim lessons had never been a priority for many of her foster parents, so she was not very proficient. She could do a basic crawl and backstroke, but... that's about it. Treading water was currently a struggle, especially with her boots on her feet, and her dress and coat dragging her with the waves. The water stung her eyes, and she became distinctly aware that this was salt water. Where the hell am I? She thought, slowly swimming towards the opening of the cave. Maybe from there she could follow the wall and-

"SHIT!" The scream exploded out of her mouth without a thought as something brushed against her leg. It was slick, and set chills up and down Emma's spine. Please be seaweed, please be seaweed. Blinking tears away, she moved towards the wall of the cave at a faster rate. Her dress was dragging her down, and she half contemplated taking it off.

A wave practically slammed her against the rock wall, and she scrambled to find an indent to hold onto. She froze as something touched her leg yet again; it felt like a finger running down her calf to the top of her ankle boots, causing her to nearly have a heart attack. Instinctively she kicked towards this thing, and her eyes bugged when she actually made contact with something solid. There was a strange noise coming from the water, like the sound of nails on a chalkboard but muffled. "Oh my god, oh my god!" Scrambling along the wall, Emma slipped several times on the algae, and certainly cut her hands at least once.

Her fear was so complete that she'd crossed the threshold into survivor mode, where her adrenaline had completely taken over. Finally, she bumped into something substantial. In the dim moonlight from the opening to the cave, she saw several reflections in the distance, indicating she'd finally reached some sort of ledge. It was a bit high for her, so using all her upper body strength, she kicked and attempted to push herself up onto it.

It was incredibly hard, and despite her best efforts she was truly struggling. She finally managed to maneuver her torso onto the ledge, when something latched onto her ankle. She screamed in surprise, and violently thrashed her legs but whatever it was (it felt like a hand) had a vice grip on her, and was not letting go. Slowly, whatever or whomever it was began to pull her backwards into the water. Emma tried to find anything to hold onto, and eventually found one little gap in the rock. Gripping into it with her right hand, she winced as sharp barnacles cut into her fingers. Ignoring the pain, she continued to pull against her attacker, and her grip began to have the desired effect. Her left hand finally made contact with a rock of some kind, and despite the thick algae coating, used it to pull herself up onto the ledge. She nearly had her entire torso on the ledge, and she slammed her leg against the rock, causing the attacker's grip to loosen enough for her to pull her leg out of its grasp. Falling onto ledge, she quickly shuffled as close to the wall as she could, as far away from the water as possible.

Staring out into the water, she saw a dark shadow against the moonlight reflecting on the water. It resembled a head, and suddenly the light reflected off what were obviously eyes. On a face. A human face. Though, the light also reflected off the teeth of this creature, and they were not human teeth. Shark-like was more accurate.

Wishing she still had her knife, Emma did her best to summon her courage. Usually she had it in abundance but now she was beginning to feel tired. The adrenaline was slowly ebbing away. Reaching around her, she groped for anything she could use as a weapon. But as the minutes stretched onwards, she realized the creature was not moving. "Leave me alone!" Emma demanded, drawing her bleeding hand up towards her chest protectively.

This clearly wasn't the greatest idea, as whatever it was began to move closer, its dark hair dragging behind it as it swam. "I just want to drown you." Emma's eyes widened, and using her wet boots she attempted to push herself up on the wall, as far away from this thing as possible. This creature's voice was not what she'd expected (she really hadn't expected coherent words at all); its voice was melodic, youthful and very feminine.

Irritation began to creep into Emma's emotions, and her upper lip began to curl in disdain. She was really getting tired of all this shit. "Get the hell away from me." She snapped, and the creature laughed.

Despite its nightmarish visage (its eyes began to glow yellow upon closer inspection), Emma found herself becoming relaxed. "Come back in the water." The monster cooed, and Emma began to step forwards despite herself. However, its head suddenly snapped to look at the entrance of the cave. An orange-yellow glow was reflecting on the water, and the sound of oars hitting the water caused Emma's thoughts to clear.

The monster let out a hideous snarl, and looked at Emma one last time before diving in the water and disappearing. "What..." The teen was left hugging her bleeding hand to her chest, breathing heavily. There was the noise of something bumping against the edge of the cave, and the orange light grew stronger. Could it be a flashlight? Could someone be coming?

But could she trust them? She'd already been assaulted twice today, and frankly she wasn't too keen to find out who was coming. She finally managed to find a loose rock, and gripped it tightly in her uninjured hand. At least she could defend herself for a few moments with it? "Whose there?" She shouted, her question echoing violently around the cave.

An accented masculine voice responded, "Hello?" The tip of a small sailboat appeared, its mast nearly scraping the opening of the cave. "Whose there?" A lantern was attached to the front of it, illuminating Emma but blocking her vision.

"I asked first!" Emma snapped in spite of herself. She was tired, wet, cold, and in pain and honestly just wanted to go home to the warmth of the Barber household.

The sailboat pulled up alongside the ledge, and a hand shot out from it and gripped onto it. "You're not Tiger Lily." A young man sat at the tiller of the tiny boat, half his face obscured in shadow from the lantern. What kind of a name is Tiger Lily? Emma thought, raising her eyebrow slightly. He had lightly tanned skin, dark hair and eye-lashes, which framed his eyes quite beautifully as his eyes narrowed. He seemed to be making his mind up on something, and eventually his expression softened and a brilliant smile replaced his pensive frown. "Well, hop on in then."

"Look," Emma started off, taking a cautious step forwards, "I don't know where I am, or how I got here- but I was just attacked by a monster and pushed through some portal thing. If you think I'm just going to get into some boat with some stranger-"

He raised his eyebrows and quickly cut her off, "You're wounded. There's a bad tempered crocodile in these parts, not to mention the sirens- so how about you just get in the boat. Unless you'd like to stay here." He paused and looked around, his lip wrinkling in distaste, "It's a bit dingy though, don't really see the appeal."

Frowning, Emma knew he was right. Slowly she made her way over to the boat, and ignoring the other hand he extended to her. One foot at a time, she wobbled into the boat, leaving a morbid, red handprint on the edge of the boat. "Sit there," He indicated to the other side of the boat, not that it was all that big to begin with. She sat, and he pushed off the ledge with one of his oars. It took him some time to turn the boat around towards the exit, but he was a rather efficient rower.

Once they broke out of the cave, and were quite a distance from it, he pulled the oars in. "So, what's your name?" He asked (in an accent Emma believed to be from some part of Britain... or possibly Ireland?), as he stood up. The boat teetered to the side, causing Emma's stomach to drop. As he reached up to the top of the mast, he began to untie the sail.

"Emma."

His fingers worked quickly, and the sail let out and caught the breeze. "Is there a last name that goes with that? Or is it just Emma?"

"Emma Swan."

"No need to be so hostile, I was asking a simple question." He grabbed a rope attached to the sail, and looped it around a knob on the side of the boat. "Can you sail, Emma?" His eyes then traveled to her hand, and he pursed his lips. "That can wait. Just sit tight." With one hand on the rope and the other on the tiller, he began to move the boat so as to best catch the wind. "If I say boom, duck as quickly as you can."

Emma frowned, "Why?"

The young man gave her a look, "Because that's the sound your head will make when that bar," He nodded at the rod attached to the lower end of the sail, "smacks you in the head."

Delightful. Emma thought, surly despite the fact she was aware she was being rescued. After a long stretch of silence, she finally decided she was being a touch unfair. "So... what's your name?"

He looked away from the horizon for a moment to look at her, and that brilliant smile was back- it made Emma uneasy, and she didn't know why. "I thought you weren't going to ask! It's- boom!"

"Wha-" Emma began to ask but remembered to duck. The boom swung over where her head had been, as they began to change direction slightly, towards the shore. "Your name is Boom?" She asked skeptically, once he told her she could sit up again.

He laughed, "No, no." He pulled the rope in his hand, causing the sail to tighten against the wind. "My name is Killian Jones."