Ships, grand and not-so-grand covered the area of the docks. Killian and Emma got looks here and there, but nothing too major. Emma heard Killian mumble under his breath something about the Jolly Roger and how he wished he had it right now, and she couldn't blame him. She spotted a decent-sized vessel and pointed it out to Killian. "What do you think of that one?"
"Too small."
"What?" Emma looked at the ship again, then back to Killian. She was clearly confused as it looked good enough to her. Killian shrugged in response and pointed to another one. "That's the one." The ship he pointed at was certainly grand, almost as grand as the Jolly Roger itself. Its sails were a solid cream color, not stained or ripped or anything of the like. The paint looked fresh and crisp, designs covering it from bow to starboard.
"That's the one," Emma said. "You're right. It's perfect."
"I know you'd see things my way, Swan." He smirked at her and she rolled her eyes in response as usual. They went over to the dock it was anchored at, and luckily for them, the ship was empty. "Ready to be a bit…" He hesitated for dramatic effect, but he continued, "Bad?"
"I suppose. I could use a little excitement." Killian moved his hand down in a signaled-fashion, and they ran to the ship. Emma went to get the anchor, but it was already up. The boat was floating there in the water, and as luck would have it, the boat was already leaving.
"Get them!" A pirate captain and about five of his crew came from all sides of the boat, surrounding them. "I reckon you're trying to set sail, but alas…" The captain smirked wildly at Emma and Killian. "Alas, you'll die before it happens." He took out his sword and swung at Emma, who was ready. A clash of steel was heard again and again while Killian dealt with the henchmen as best he could. One lost his balance, so Killian took the opportunity to push him over the boat. Two others followed him briefly afterwards, but the last two were relentless.
"Die!" One shouted towards Killian, lunging toward him, just to have Killian strike him through the chest and push him overboard as well. The last one, as Killian or Emma might remark, was smart. He jumped off of the boat and swam to the docks. The captain was still fighting Emma, but Killian took a moment to stare at the "pirate" beauty that Emma was. She swung her sword with enough ferocity and grace to make Killian's heart pump faster. He now decided his gazing was over and tripped the captain, whose tricorn hat fell off, and now Killian imitated lunging at the captain. The captain flinched hard, just like he had done when Emma did something similar to him at the hospital, but this time, the person could actually run. And run he did.
"Look at you, terror of the seas," said Emma to Killian after she took the captain's hat and placed it on her own head. It was a dark brown tricorn hat with a reddish feather attached to it, and her confidence was clear as she placed her hands on her hips. "I think I like this hat."
"I think I like that hat too. On you, I mean," Killian stumbled with his words, but he gave a charming smile that seemed to take her mind off of it. When she smiled back at him, his heart skipped a beat at such a sight. Her smile to him was always something that he enjoyed being the creator of, and with that he turned on his heel to steer the ship, which was now on its way out to sea. The sea… something that always calmed him. Crashing, sapphire-blue waves raised to meet the edge of the boat, yet the sheer power of the ship just broke through them. He could see Emma out on the deck, where her pale blonde hair became golden under the sun of the sea, and he remembered what he said to Charming on his trip. "Aye, I'd go to the end of the world for her, or time." He truly meant every word he said. To himself, he always said that he simply enjoyed the challenge of chasing a woman that had those walls up, but she seemed to be taking them down. That kiss they shared in Neverland may have exposed his feelings to himself, and the Echo Cave may have revealed how he felt to Emma, but he found himself falling for her more and more as her walls came down.
In some ways, he felt scared. He hadn't loved anyone since Milah, and all of those feelings of revenge faded in his mind as he stared out to Emma on the deck. She was looking out to the sea herself, and he wondered if he was thinking the same things he was. Once they were sailing out smoothly, Emma came up to Hook to watch him sail.
"I wanted to thank you, Killian," Emma looked to his back to let him concentrate. She waited for him to respond to her to say anything else. She understood cues if needed, but she waited a moment too long before speaking again. "For going back for me in the first place in New York…"
"It was the right thing to do." Killian didn't break to look at her and instead took the hint that he should be concentrating.
"How did you do it? How did you get to me?" She walked to Killian and placed her hand on his arm, almost worryingly.
"Well, the curse was coming. I ditched my crew and took the Jolly Roger as fast and as far as I possibly could to outrun it." He prepared to continue his tale, but Emma interjected.
"You outran a curse?" She stared straight at him, no clear emotion on her face, but Killian could probably read through that hint of worry in the twinkle in her eyes.
A devilishly handsome smile spread across his face, ear to ear. He assured her, "I'm a hell of a captain." She laughed at his comment, but she let his face turn back to steering the ship for a moment. Another moment lingered, and her arm was still resting on his arm, but he did decide to continue with the former soft and serious tone he took up to. "And once I was out of the curse's purview, I knew that the walls were down. Transport between the worlds was possible again, and all I needed was a magic bean."
"Those aren't easy to come by." Her words were true and piercing. Sharp and tonal.
"They are if you have something of value to trade."
"And what was that?" Emma looked at him, confused. She truly had no idea. After he said nothing for a long moment, she feared the worst. The worst part of it was that she trusted him, and she knew he wouldn't have done anything terrible, but she couldn't help but having a small feeling that something might have happened. "Killian, what did you do? What did you trade?" She said this in a firmer voice, her hand subconsciously gripping tighter on his arm in intense worry. Her green eyes attempted to pierce through any false visage, and it seemed to work.
"Why, the Jolly Roger of course," said Killian. The words struck at Emma hard, and he could tell. This would hardly be the time for Emma to let Killian down easily, especially after he'd done so much to get to her. That entire year, all he could think about was her. How to be a better man for her. How to fight off the darkness for her. How to fight off the darkness for himself… He barely knew what to do, really, but at that time, all he knew was that he needed to get to her, and for this he was willing to trade his escape from everything: the Jolly Roger.
"You traded your ship for me?" Her brow furrowed at him, and she saw the weakness in his smile. Emma could tell it pained him to lose something he cared for, but he also seemed happy.
His voice said one smooth line that broke any wishes of staying apart any longer. "Aye." Their gaze lingered to just each other, no sound but the crashing of the waves and the flapping of the sails above them. Then, just like the waves crashed against each other, their lips did the same. Any walls Emma had were broken down by his complete vow of selflessness, and the arm that once gripped his traveled to the back of his neck, where she kept her hand gently. He moved his only good hand to her back in order to hold her closer than ever before. Just like the sea wears down a rock over time, Emma and Killian were each other's ocean. After a long and romantic moment together, Emma broke away and smiled at him with that smile he loved so dearly to see. Around them, the sea seemed to sparkle against the sun's rays, but Emma could not look away from the sparkling of his own sea-like eyes.
"Even after everything that's happened recently, nothing has changed my mind from what I said in those Echo Caves, Swan," Killian said as he looked directly at her, where his hand now grazed her soft and pale cheek, which was rosy with a faint blush. Her mind lingered at their kiss, his touch, and the release she felt when she did. It wasn't easy, keeping her walls up, but all of that energy she attempted to put towards her walls were just channeled into their moment. She could hardly believe that Killian would do something so selfless. "I've come a long way. Trying to be the hero isn't easy, but I will admit. It does have its perks." There it was; the humor Emma loved so steadily. It was lighthearted and always perfectly timed, but she did surmise it was because he has most likely had hundreds of years to perfect jokes like those.
The gaze Killian had for Emma was nothing short of mesmerizing. They'd taken a few steps away from each other in favor of taking a small breather, but they could not halt their stare. Almost like a game. Whoever broke first would lose, and unfortunately for Killian, Emma lost. She looked away and off into the distance. Even when they were all alone, something held them back. The clicking of Emma's boot heels traveled down the deck of the ship, but she came back up with a flag in arms. "We need pirate names." The same faint smile she had hours ago came back to her flushed face.
Killian understood the need for Emma's space, and he nodded in agreement in the changing of a subject. "Aye. I do think I like Captain Swan, though. Captain Leia Swan: legend throughout the realms! Known for breaking into royal parties under the alias, 'Princess Leia'."
"Captain Swan?" Emma laughed at the mere thought. "That sounds ridiculous, but sure, we can do that." She gave him the flag and said, "First Mate Charles, go hoist that flag. Captain Swan here can take the reins for a bit."
Killian huffed as the heavy flag entered his arms. "First Mate? Fair enough, I guess." He turned on his heel and furrowed his brow, walking away before wondering how she knew how to steer a ship. He shrugged and supposed it must have come with the confidence of the outfit. Once he figured out how to hoist the flag, the symbol on it shined against the sun. He knew that mark, and he remembered just was about to happen. He ran up to Emma, shouting with intense worry and dismay, "Emma, we need to get out of these seas, now!" She could barely hear him, though. She screamed back, "What? I can't hear you, come up here!" Killian grunted with distress and grabbed a spyglass in order to rush over to the deck.
Emma saw him run towards the deck with his spyglass, and another worried feeling dug itself into her mind. "Killian, what do you see?" And as she said that, her heart almost dropped out of her chest. Not actually, but on the horizon she saw a ship. Her hands began to shake, but she took a firm grip on the wheel and steered it the other way. "Is there any way we can make this go faster?!" Her grunted struggles called for Killian to help her, so he ran up after compacting his spyglass.
"If that's the ship I think it is, then we are in a lot of trouble," Killian's voice trembled, but he took the wheel from Emma, who he pushed. "I'm going to try to get us out of here. Load up the cannons, wherever they are on this ship."
Her eyes widened at his sudden rush of command, which she really had no problem with since she wanted to live, but the situation's demands were met instantly. All of his focus now was on the ship, and he was desperately looking for some kind of advantage. She found herself running down below deck to get cannons prepared, yet it felt like an instinct at this point. Was this the life that Killian loved so much? She couldn't possibly wrap her head around it since her heart and stomach felt as though they'd been replaced at this point, but it got even worse when she went below deck and saw that the ship had no cannons. Through one of the slits in the boat she could see the ship coming fast behind them. "How is that speed coming?!"
"I'm certainly trying, here! How goes the cannons?" Killian shouted from above deck, but in his mind he could not deny the fact that if this was the ship he thinks it is, they would not be getting away. The grip on the wheel grew tighter as his mind drifted into negative thoughts. Captured, hurt, or even killed.
There were no cannons, and Emma knew that. Her jaw clenched along with her fist, and she jogged back atop the deck to break it to Killian. The tone of her voice went soft as she told him, "This ship has no cannons, unfortunately…"
He stomped his foot on the deck and shouted a loud, "Damn it! They're getting closer! Swan, get below deck so they don-" the two of them were interrupted by a loud guffaw of various pirate sailors.
Emma turned her head, her mouth agape with shock. The ship, the crew, the captain… It was the Jolly Roger. Killian stood in front of Emma, knowing well what he would do if he saw her again.
There he was: Captain Hook. Not Killian. Killian had fought too hard to lose that name after all of the grief he faced. Hook grinned wickedly at Emma and Killian. "Well, would you look at that, crew! We've come across a regular pirate couple. Fancy they'd steal themself a ship, hm?" The pirate crew shouted unintelligible things in response, but it sounded encouraging. "And who would that be behind your back? Move." He waited for Emma to come out, but Killian held her there protectively. Doing what she does, though, she yanked her arm from Killian and went to the front of them, hiding her face with her hat. "Oh, lads, look! A woman captain. How interesting," Hook strutted up next to Emma and tilted her chin up so he could see her face, but his face became completely disoriented once Hook saw Emma's face. "The bar wench? Oh, this should be good."