Here's my next chapter. It's not a very long one but it's important. Next update should be during the week or maybe at the end.
Enjoy and Review!
Struggling was useless, but Emma couldn't hep herself. Her legs kicked out against the forest floor as Captain Hook dragged her away from the road his hand still clamped over her mouth, his free arm wrapped tightly around her stomach as he pulled her back. She couldn't see the road anymore, the trees were thickening and any sound of hooves on the packed dirt ground had long since receded into the distance. But Emma was nothing if not stubborn.
"Easy, Lass." Hook said in her ear, his voice catching slightly as Emma kicked out at his shin. Clearly it was an effective blow, she could hear his breath as it hissed through his teeth. "Easy, I'm not here to hurt you." Emma tried to respond, to shout and scream all manner of profanities, but Hook's hand was a harsh pressure over her face. "All I want is what you took." He said again, but Emma wasn't listening. She had tried everything to get free, kicking, scratching, even biting, but Hook's grip, if anything, had tightened.
Clenching her eyes shut, Emma forced back any thoughts of tears. Crying would not make this or any situation about this any better. Her hands fisted as she fought back with one last burst of energy, her mind filed with Henry, of the horrible fate that he's suffer in The Evil Queen's hands. A sensation bubbled up inside her, like foam rising from a boiling pot, burning and frothing, forcing its way towards the surface. Emma let out as gasp and then she was free.
Hook's grip was gone and there was nothing but a grunt as Emma tore free, her legs already carrying her towards the road. She could hear groans and cursing behind her, but she didn't dare stop. Stones were stabbing her feet through the thin soles of her worn boots, her dress skirts snagging on branches and thorns.
Emma wasn't sure what she had expected when she reached the road, but she couldn't help the numbing sensation that filled her already aching body as she looked down the empty track, any sign of horses or a carriage long gone.
"No." Emma breathed, any hope she'd been foolish enough to let rise dissipated in an instant. Her legs felt weak and she fought against the urge to just collapse on the ground, let her knees scrape against the dirt and let herself fade away.
"You are full of surprises, Love." A voice said and Emma spun around looking up into the face of Captain Hook, a rage she didn't know she had beginning to rise in her stomach.
"You. This was you." Emma snarled, pushing against his chest. He barely budged but his body tensed at her touch, like he was expecting it to burnt by her skin.
"I think you'll find that you are the thief here, Love. I'm just here to collect what you stole." He said casually, looking her over with one of his dark eyebrows raised. "That little stunt of yours just made it more interesting."
"What stunt?" Emma all but growled, her eyes frantic as she stared up at the man before her, the smirk on his lips that she wanted nothing more than to smack off. Hook tilted his head at her words, a glint of curiosity flashing over his face before he smirked once more.
"You didn't mean to." He said, his voice full of arrogance, his eyes glinting knowingly. "Well, Miss Swan, you sure know how to impress."
"I don't care what you want. I'll give you all of your possessions back, just let me go now." Emma half-pleaded, the distain in her voice seeping through, breaking any sincerity that she had tried to muster.
"Oh, I don't think so, Love." Hook said, grasping her arm as she tried to pass him, spinning her back around. As soon as he touched her, she felt a spark, something hot and bouncing flutter through her skin at his touch. But it was gone in a second and Hook was recoiling quickly. Emma suspected he's be clutching his hand in pain if he had one to spare. "You sure are a tough lass." Hook said, looking down at his hand with mild appreciation.
"I don't know what happening, but I don't care. I have to get my son back." She didn't run, she knew he'd just pull her back again. But perhaps if he knew what was at stake, he'd take pity and let her go. Then again, this was one of the most ruthless pirates to ever set sail, the chances of him taking pity on the woman who stole from him were slim at best.
"You son?" He asked and perhaps, if she wasn't so sure she was going to pass out from a quickly induced exhaustion, a look of sympathetic understand crossed his features.
"Yes." She said earnestly, pleading with voice for some understanding while her eyes tried not to glare. "He was taken by that carriage and I need to save him."
"I trust you know who the owner of that carriage was?" Hook asked, looking at her like he knew more than her already.
"The Evil Queen." Emma fought the tremble in her voice. The first eighteen years of her life had been spent running from that woman, hiding in orphanages and disappearing into the forest at the sound of hooves, but before Baelfire Emma would always found herself dragged back by the Black Knights, sometimes kicking a screaming. One of the less memorable retrievals Emma had been hit on the back of the head by her pursuer and carried back unconscious. If Emma would ever admit to be afraid of someone, it would be her. But with Henry in play, Emma had no choice. She'd tear the world apart before she let anything happen to him.
"Good, so rather the ignorance you're running off of stupidity alone." Hook said mockingly. Emma was a few remarks away from hitting him with a tree branch. "Just nice to know who I'm working with."
"Working with!" Emma exclaimed, looking at Hook liked he'd grown a new head.
"I've got a proposition for you, Love-"
"- I'm not your Love -" Emma interrupted, but Hook continued like she'd not even spoken.
"I've got a certain foe who I've spent many a year trying to defeat. Clearly you are a force to be reckoned with."
"What makes you think I can help you?"
"Because I know a thing or two about magic," he said, looking down at her with an almost piercing gaze. "And what you wield isn't learnt from any book."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Emma said, but even without her superpower she could feel the lie falling from her tongue. Truth be told Emma had had her suspicions. It was only little things, coins appearing in her hand with no memory of touching them, being warm in the winter without a cloak on. Emma had been passing it off as nothing for years, but Hook had no reason to release her without reason, and to recoil after touching her skin was something that didn't have any reasonable explanation.
"Oh, I think you do." Hook said almost teasingly, cocking one eyebrow and looking at her in a way that made her wants to squirm out of her skin. "That was light magic, very defensive. Look," He said, holding up his only hand, the one that had recoiled at his touch. "It hurt like hell but didn't even leave a mark. You were born this way."
"I still don't understand how I can help you." Emma said, trying very hard to keep her eyes on his and her voice steady.
"Because everyone knows the best way to combat dark magic is with light, and I do believe you owe me." Hook leant forward as he spoke, his eyes level with hers but his gaze no less piercing. Emma was surprised by the blue in his eyes, the dark, navy ring that outlined the iris, keeping the crystal sea inside.
"Who is this foe?" Emma asked, swallowing past the lump in her throat.
"I want revenge on the man that took my hand. Rumpelstiltskin." He sneered, standing back up to his full height.
"The Dark One?" Emma scoffed, already shaking her head. Her 'magic' was enough for her to take on as it was, the idea that she stood even a slither of a chance against the most powerful wielder of magic in the Enchanted Forest was enough to make her want to curl up under a rock and hide for as long a she could.
"The very same." He replied. "I'll offer my ship and my services to help you find you boy and You help me skin my crocodile."
"Whatever this is," Emma said, holding her hands out before them, expecting to see sparks, or fire, or something equally as terrifying. "I don't know how to use it, so I can't help you."
"Not yet." Hook said, stepping closer again. "But everyone learns to master their gifts at some point." He was leaning forward again, his breath barely ghosting over her face, but Emma could still smell the rum on it. "And like I said, you owe me."
"I don't owe you anything." Emma spat, poking him in the chest – hard. "So, you either help me get my son back, or get out of my way."
"I think you've just made yourself a deal, Love." He said and the way it rolled off of his tongue was enough to make Emma's stomach flip, and not in a pleasant way. Robin had joked once about Emma's stubbornness, that when evil smiled at her, she smiled back. Well, something evil was smirking down at her and she was doing anything but smiling.