Summary: CS AU, Savior!Killian, Hook!Emma.
The World Turned Upside Down
You and me
The land, sun, trees, the sky, the stars, the sea
365 degrees
I am a puzzle, you're the missing piece
Hang on a minute, just a minute, please
I'll come
And everything under the sun
And everything under the sun
Part Two
"I don't know if this is such a good idea," Mary Margaret said as they trekked through the forest. She cast a wary eye at Hook walking up ahead, wrists tied together courtesy of Mulan. "Do you think she can be trusted?"
"Oh, I know she can't be trusted," was Killian's resounding answer. He studied their guide with a critical eye. She seemed to be at quite at ease despite her bound wrists, grinning as she said something no doubt inappropriate to Aurora. "But I figure she'll have to let us in on a few of Cora's secrets to keep us happy, and the more we know about Cora's plans the better."
Mary Margaret nodded her head in agreement, giving him an approving smile, and continued on ahead of him.
"We're close!" Hook called over her shoulder back to them. "It should be just over this ridge."
"And what is 'it' exactly?" Killian asked.
"You shall see," she sang with glee, causing a knot of dread to form in the pit of his stomach. Anything that had the pirate that happy could not be good.
He got his answer a minute later as they finally scaled the top of the ridge.
"You have got to be kidding me," Killian groaned, staring at the large, green monstrosity jutting out of the earth and piercing up through the cloud cover above. He shot Mary Margaret a incredulous look. "A beanstalk, really?"
She grimaced and shrugged, and Killian realized he was talking to the same woman who had a conversation with a bird the day before. Beside her, Hook was all smiles. "Aye, and, gods willing, we shall find the compass at the top."
"Let me guess," Killian said dryly. "It's being guarded by a murderous giant."
"How did you know?" Hook asked, looking disconcerted.
"The stories managed to get something right for once," Killian replied. He gestured for them to start climbing down the ridge. "Come on, the sooner we get down there, the sooner we can start climbing."
Up close, the beanstalk was an even more daunting prospect than it'd been from afar, and as Hook regaled them with the history of The Enchanted Forest giants, Killian found his stomach churning with apprehension. He had a bad feeling about this, but they needed that compass, and if climbing a freaking beanstalk to get it was what he needed to do to get back to Victoria, that's what he would do.
"Alright, so we scale up the beanstalk, find this magic compass, come back down, find Cora, get the wardrobe ashes and go home," Killian said, more confidently than he actually felt. "Let's get to it then."
Hok grimaced, adopting an innocent expression. "Ah, see, there's one little hitch I forgot to mention," she told them, and Killian narrowed his eyes at her. "The giant placed an enchantment on the beanstalk to keep intruders such as ourselves off of it."
"Lovely," Killian drawled exasperatedly. He was getting really tired of this girl's games. "And I suppose you have a way around that?"
"Well, my dear, as luck would have it, Cora gave me a counter curse before we parted ways," Hook explained. She brandished her bound wrists hopefully. "If you'd be so kind as to untie me, I would be happy to show you."
Killian and Margaret exchanged glances with Aurora and Mulan before they wordlessly stepped over to Hook. Mary Margaret untied the ropes around her wrists, glaring at the girl. She seemed personally offended about her helpless seamstress act. Noticing Killian supervising, the pirate shot him a saucy wink over Mary Margaret's shoulder, causing him to roll his eyes in exasperation.
"Much obliged, Your Highness," she practically purred, and Mary Margaret huffed.
Once free, Hook wasted no time in casting off the heavy peasant clock she'd been wearing since the refugee camp. Underneath, she was garbed in burgundy leather pants and matching vest with white shirt sleeves. She wore a number silver necklaces, which came to rest between her breasts, the neckline of her shirt tantalizingly low due to several undone buttons. Killian wondered if she did that on purpose or if maybe it was too hard to button her shirt with only one hand. She caught him staring and gave him a wicked grin, and he decided it was definitely the former.
"Like what you see, love?"
"Get on with it," Killian ordered.
She sniffed. "Have it your way, then." Hook held up her wrist for the four of them to see. "Now, sadly, I only have one more of these cuffs. The other was to be used by Cora." She cast a playful eye over them all. "Now, whom will I have the great pleasure of climbing with today?" They all looked amongst themselves uncertainly, causing her to chuckle. "Please, don't all volunteer at once."
The four of them pow-wowed together, Hook looking on in amusement from nearby, and Killian listened to all of their justifications as to why they should be the one to go before interjecting, his patience wearing thin.
"It anyone's going, it's going to be me," he told them firmly.
"If this is because we're women—" Mulan began to protest, her expression fierce.
"It's not," Killian assured her. "I know what you're all capable of, but Mary Margaret is right. We've got a bigger stake in this than you do."
"It should be me then," Mary Margaret insisted, and not for the first time, Killian thought of how he must have inherited her stubborness. "You're still new here."
"There's no way in hell I'm letting you go up there with Hook alone," Killian told her.
"Ouch, that hurts," the pirate said, placing a hand mockingly over her heart.
They all ignored her. "You know I would do anything to get us back to Victoria and David," Killian said, placing a hand on Mary Margaret's shoulder. "I won't fail." His mother—it felt strange for him to think of her as that since she'd first been his friend—nodded briskly, but he could tell she was worried.
"Here," Mulan said, drawing his attention. She pulled a cloth covered jar out of her satchel. "Take this with you. It's powder made from poppies. If they giant inhales it, it should put him to sleep, giving you time to search for the compass."
Killian took it gratefully. "Thank you."
He gave Mary Margaret a reassuring look before stepping away from the group and over to where Hook was waiting.
She grinned at him as he approached. "Ah, I'd have picked you, too," she said, which he was obviously supposed to take as a compliment.
Killian matched her smirk with one of his own. "Let's just get this over with," he retorted, unzipping the sleeve of his leather jacket and holding out his wrist to her.
"Just lay that here, like so," Hook directed, guiding his hand to her shoulder, her smile wide at his discomfort. "Mmm, isn't this nice?" She clipped the magic cuff to Killian's wrist. "This will allow you to climb, which makes the beanstalk the least of our worries. Once we make it to the top, we shall have to be on our guard at all times." She gestured to her hookless hand expectantly. "Now, my hook, if you please."
He couldn't expect her to climb with only one hand, Killian reasoned with himself, looking down at her earnest expression. It was with great reluctance that he dug into Hook's satchel and withdrew her hook, wondering how many throats she'd slit with it's sharp point.
"No funny business, alright?" Killian warned her, handing it over.
"I wouldn't dream of it, love," she retorted, clicking the hook back into place.
He rolled his eyes and slung the satchel over his shoulders. They both headed over to the beanstalk, Killian looking back at Mary Margaret one last time. She gave him an encouraging nod which bolstered his confidence, and without further contemplation he found his first handhold and began the ascent.
"Enjoying the view down there?"
Killian gritted his teeth and ignored her, focusing instead on the placement of his hands and feet as he climbed. He would not give her the satisfaction of rising to her bait, though, and he was slightly ashamed to admit it, he hadn't failed to notice her shapely form climbing above him; it was hard not to, what with those leather pants clinging to her every curve.
"Ooo, the strong silent type, eh?" she teased, stopping momentarily to grin at him. "Not to worry, I love a good challenge."
"If you don't mind, I'm trying to concentrate here," Killian told her irritably. "It's not every day one climbs a beanstalk."
The girl huffed. "Very well."
They lapsed into silence and continued climbing. Killian tilted his head up slightly and figured they were maybe a little more than halfway up. He didn't dare look down, afraid that if he did he'd lose his nerve.
"So, who's Victoria?" Hook asked, despite only minutes passing in silence.
Killian found himself blindsided by his daughter's name on her lips and almost lost his footing. "No one," he said brusquely, steadying himself.
Hook looked down at him in concern for a moment before pressing on. "Your lover?"
"No."
"A child, then," she guessed. "Your daughter, perhaps?"
Killian gritted his teeth again. "I don't have a daughter," he bit out, mentally berating himself for being so unconvincing.
The pirate had the nerve to laugh. "Aw, nice try," she said mockingly, "But I am going to let you in on a little secret, Jones. I have this little quirk, call it my 'magic power': I can tell when anyone is lying."
Killian snorted. "A pirate with an internal lie detector?" he asked.
"Ah, but I wasn't always a pirate," she told him, her tone growing a touch wistful. "Believe it or not, I used to be quite the respectable wench."
She had stopped climbing, and Kilian, watching the myriad of emotions flit across her face, had come to a halt as well. After a moment, she seemed to come back to herself and their eyes met. She felt real to him in that vulnerable moment: neither the helpless damsel she'd first pretended to be nor the provocative pirate, she was simply a woman remembering better times. He could relate to that.
"But we were talking about you," she said, breaking eye contact and digging her hook into the beanstalk above her. "You and your daughter. Amazing, isn't it? How easy it is, how instinctual it becomes?"
"How what becomes?" Killian asked, following after her.
"Caring," she said simply, stopping again and glancing over at him. "Loving your own despite never having received the same yourself."
And Killian thought about how naturally he'd fallen into fatherhood, despite being rather unceremoniously thrust into it. When Mave had died, he'd thought all capacity to love had died with her, but not a day had gone by when he hadn't wondered where the baby that she'd died giving birth to was; if she was being loved and taken care of. In only a matter of days, maybe hours, Victoria had become the most important thing in his life, which was why he couldn't fail in returning to her. He'd already abandoned her once, and he'd be damned if he was going to do it again.
"You speak as if from experience," Killian noted, raising his eyebrows at her. "Do you have children of your own?"
Hook stared across at him, an inscrutable expression on her face. After a moment, she blinked and looked away, her wall going up. "Perhaps you were right before," she said cooling, returning to the climb. "Silence is best if we're to concentrate."
He'd touched a nerve obviously, and was surprised to feel a tad bit guilty about it. Then again, she'd needled him incessantly about Victoria, wasn't he allowed to do the same? Evidently not. How interesting a picture their little conversation presented, though. Something had happened to this woman that had her hiding her pain behind a facade of innuendo and false bravado. He wondered if it had to do with Gold, and figured that part of it probably did. He was curious, curiosity being one of his many faults. All he knew was apparently there was more to this Captain Hook than met the eye.
They spent the rest of their assent in silence, though it was not uncomfortable or awkward at all. Killian's arms were trembling with exertion as they neared the top, and even Hook's gumption seemed to be failing her. Her hand and hook placement grew clumsier, and she let out an angry curse when she accidently placed her hand on of the beanstalks many thorns. Luckily, they were only feet from the top and it was with great relief that they clambered down onto solid ground. Or, Killian reasoned, whatever it was that was holding the giant's massive palace up hundreds of feet in the air. He felt small indeed gazing up at the structure, wondering how in the hell they were going to do this.
Low cursing brought his attention back to Swan who was eyeing her bleeding hand disdainfully. Making a sudden decision, she pulled a flask from seemingly thin air and, using her mouth, popped open the cork and poured it on the wound, grimacing as she did so. The potent scent of rum wafted over to him, making his stomach recoil. It had been years since he'd had rum. It reminded him of the dark period of time after Liam's death when every day had been a drunken haze, and he'd been unceremoniously discharged from his unit.
Swan noticed him watching her as she unwrapped a scarf from around her neck. "Giants can smell blood," she told him. "Don't want to take any chances now, do we?"
She went to wrap the scarf around her hand and Killian, seeing how difficult it might be trying to do that with one hand, found himself stepping forward.
"Let me do that," he said, and she looked at him as though it were a trick, like she'd never been offered a simple kindness in her life, and maybe she hadn't.
"I can do it my—"
"I insist."
She scanned his eyes carefully before handing over the scarf, and he set to work wrapping it carefully around the cut.
"So, now you're a gentleman?" she asked softly, eyes intent on his face.
"Don't read into it too much," Killian told her, but softening it with a slight smile, their eyes meeting. What was wrong with him? He knew he couldn't trust her and here he was flirting with her. Looking away, he changed the subject and continued bandaging her hand. "What's the plan here?"
"Sneak in, find the compass before the giant finds us, sneak out again?" she suggested with a shrug, and he could feel her still surveying him.
"That's the best you can come up with?" Killian asked, his pitch rising noticeably. Some pirate she was. Maybe this was why Peter Pan got the best of Captain Hook in all the stories.
"Do you have a better idea?"
"Maybe," Killian said. He paused to tie off the ends of the scarf, smoothing it over her hand. "Good?"
She flexed it experimentally. "It'll do," she said, before looking at him gratefully. "Thank you."
Killian nodded before pulling out the cloth covered jar Mulan had given him. "I think our best bet would be to use Mulan's knockout powder," he told her. "With the giant out of the way for sure, we'll have free range over the place."
Swan pursed her lips in thought. "A risky wager, but one with a potentially big payoff," she considered. A wicked grin that did something funny to Killian's stomach blossomed across her face. "Not a bad plan at all. You know, you'd make a halfway decent pirate."
Killian shook his head in amusement. "Thanks, I think." He proffered the poppy powder to her. "Here."
When she extended her hand, that's when he saw it. He couldn't believe he'd missed it when he'd been wrapping her hand, but the tattoo on her wrist certainly caught his attention now. It was very simple black and white likeness of a boy, about 10 or 11, the features unmistakable and impossibly familiar to Killian.
She grasped the jar, but Killian didn't let go on his end. "Who is that?" he asked, gesturing to her tattoo.
A closed expression came over her face, features darkening, and she tugged the poppy powder out of his hand. "Someone from long ago."
"Your son?" he persisted. When she refused to answer, he tried a different approach. "What happened to him?"
She gave him a long hard stare, tilting her chin up almost defiantly. "He died."
Killian's shocked intake of breath was no act, though she probably thought it was for a different reason. There was only one thing running through his mind, however: she didn't know. She'd been fighting tooth and nail to get to Storybrooke and she had no idea.
"Gold," he blurted out, but something stopped him from revealing the truth. "Rumplestiltskin. Your hand wasn't the only thing he took from you, was it?"
"No, it wasn't," she whispered harshly, and her voice grew heated as she pressed closer to him until their faces were only inches away. "But before you judge me, think about your daughter, your Victoria. What would you do if someone took her away from you? Ripped out her heart in front of your very eyes and before she could even draw her last breath, disappeared with her body so that you couldn't even give her a proper burial? What would you do, Jones?"
As her eyes bore into his, he remembered the terror he'd felt when Victoria had collapsed after eating Regina's apple turner, then the subsequent rage and hatred that had welled up in him when he'd seen Regina at the hospital. How he'd threatened her and had fully intended to carry out said threat if Victoria hadn't made it.
"I'd be doing exactly the same thing as you."
She searched his eyes for a lie, and when she couldn't find one, her glare lessened and she nodded. "Then you and I understand each other," she said finally.
"I guess we do," Killian agreed.
Hook moved away after a moment, putting some distance between them. "Come," she bid him, attempting a smile, though it was a mere ghost of her usual cocky grin. "Time for us to give that giant a little surprise."
Following after her, his mind reeling with everything he'd learned in the last few minutes, Killian thought that the giant wasn't the only one who was going to be getting a surprise. And what a revelation it would be. How exactly did you tell someone that the son they'd thought had died long ago, the son whose death you were actively trying to seek vengeance for, was actually still alive and well?
A/N: Thank you all for your reviews, favorites and follows! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was definitely fun to write, especially the end of it. Next chapter should be really great too.
A couple things though. 1) Someone asked me if Killian and Emma's accents are switched and that's a definite yes. I know, I have Killian talking a little formally sometimes, but he has an American accent and Emma has a British one. 2) Bits and pieces of Emma and Killian's histories have come out and more will be revealed. I'm trying to keep them similar to their actual canon histories but they'll have differences. 3) Mave = Milah, who's dead. 4) Liam is Killian's foster brother, also dead, (poor Killy). 5) Some things will play out like they did in the show, others will not. 6) I like including actual lines from the show, like "I'd pick you", gumption, the whole gentlemen thing, so expect more of those.
I think that's it. Please let me know what you guys think! Your reviews encourage me to write faster! And next chapter should be a doozy! :)