A/N: I love cliffhangers. Apparently you do too. To the guest who left an anonymous review (which I can't respond to in PM form or I would) - I'd like to remind us that it is in fact very plausible that both Snow and Charming would agree to give up their firstborn child in order to save the entire kingdom from the Evil Queen's curse. Remember how they did that in season one? Different terms, but same deal. Ok enough of that. Enjoy everybody!
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"The price was their firstborn child."
Emma felt sick to her stomach. The room was spinning and the words kept ringing in her ears.
They traded me. They traded their own daughter to a monster.
Killian heard the breath catch in her throat. He remembered they still hadn't eaten anything and feared she might swoon again. He hurried around the corner, hoping she was decent, forgetting that he wasn't, and took her in his arms, thinking of nothing other than the pain this young woman must be suffering and willing to do anything to ease her burden.
"Forgive me, Princess, I should have chosen my words more carefully. I-" he struggled to find the right combination of words to comfort her, but they wouldn't come. So he simply held her as she reeled from the unthinkable truth of her circumstances.
After a long while of standing there in silence, she mustered the courage to hear more.
"Was it their plan to spirit me away with a handsome stranger all along?"
"As I understand it, their plan was to have no children," Killian replied, guiding her toward the chest on the floor. He kicked the lid shut and sat down with her on it, keeping his arm around her for support. It seemed less intimate and more friendly than the embrace they had been sharing before.
Intimacy is not an option, he reminded himself. No matter how much he may desire it.
"But your parents are very much in love," he said, hoping to remind her of the familial happiness and love she'd always known, "The pregnancy was bound to happen eventually. And so it did. When you were born, the Dark One came to your parents and promised he'd return for you on your twenty-first birthday."
"But that isn't for another three days," she interjected. Killian shrugged.
"He isn't known for his truthfulness." Emma nodded and Killian continued, "Your parents have spent the last twenty years trying to prepare you for this day. Your father himself enlisted my help six years ago when he made me Captain of the Jolly Roger. We've been meeting in secret ever since, planning your escape, preparing for the worst, hoping for the best."
Tears rolled down Emma's cheeks but she could hardly feel them. She could hardly feel anything but a dull ache in her chest. She felt numb. She knew there must be more that he could tell her, but she couldn't bear to hear another word. At least not now.
Killian placed his hand on top of hers and gave it a squeeze.
"Your parents love you, Emma. Since I was just a boy, your father has been watching from a distance as other men have trained me to be the one to keep you safe. I swore to protect you. And I always keep my word."
Emma looked down at her hand enclosed in his. The skin was tan and rough and weather-beaten; so unlike her own, which was pale and smooth as alabaster. If what he said was true, and Emma had no reason to believe it wasn't, then she was now following the plan her parents had been anxiously toiling to put in place for the last twenty years.
It all made sense now. The survival skills, the lessons in hunting and fighting, the obsession with her ability to win the hearts and minds of her people, the constant preparation for the worst, even the ridiculous paranoia and over-protectiveness.
All of it was for her good. And all of it was love.
Moreover, Emma knew her father. She knew the kind of man he was, knew his standards. If he had truly hand-picked Killian Jones to be her protector, then she knew this was a man she could trust with her whole self.
He lifted her chin gently with his fingers. She raised her eyes to meet his gaze.
"No matter what happens, Swan, I swear I will never leave you or forsake you. We will get through this together."
It was an odd sort of oath, but it struck a chord somewhere deep within her. Emma concentrated all her powers of intuition and searched his bright blue eyes. She found no lie in them.
"Promise?" She asked, her voice no louder than a whisper.
"Promise."
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The next morning, Killian packed everything they couldn't carry in the chest and buried it again. He told Emma they were heading to the Maritime Kingdom, where his first mate, a man called Mr. Smee, had been ordered to sail the Jolly Roger, by way of Arendelle.
It was a ruse of course. Smee knew nothing of the princess or of Killian's secret meetings with the King. For all intents and purposes, Smee was sailing back to Arendelle to pick up the crew and cargo the Captain had left behind and complete the delivery of cargo to the Maritime Kingdom. Smee believed he would then sail the ship back to meet the Captain at the Royal Palace.
Or at least that was the plan before the Dark One had attacked.
Killian hoped against hope that Smee had escaped with the Jolly Roger in time.
He also hoped that he and Emma could make it to the Maritime Kingdom before his crew.
He'd worked it all out in his head the night before. It could be done, but they would have to be fast. Once aboard the Jolly Roger, Killian knew they would be safe. After all, she was the fastest ship on the seven seas, and he was her Captain.
With the Jolly, they could weather any storm, travel anywhere they wished. Killian allowed himself, only for a moment, to imagine sailing the world with Princess Emma. Many strange and glittering shores awaited them, he at the helm and she by his side.
Perhaps wearing a red satin dress.
"Ready?" She asked. Her voice brought him out of his day dream. He cleared his throat, slinging the strap of his haversack over his shoulder.
"Aye," He replied, leading her out of the cavern.
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Back at the Royal Palace, Snow White and her Prince Charming were suspended from chains hanging from the rafters in the Great Hall - one of the few rooms in the castle which had survived the attack virtually unscathed. The Dark One, Rumplestiltskin, was circling them like a predator stalking its prey, contemplating the best angle to go in for the kill.
"I just don't understand," he said, folding his hands and tittering cheerfully, "We made a deal. I was very generous. I stopped the curse, defeated the Evil Queen, I built the prison that holds her still. And gave you twenty-five years of happily ever after." He rounded on them, leaning his golden, scaly face ever closer to the King. "And even after your precious baby girl was born, I didn't take her right away." He stood upright and continued circling them, "No! I'm a generous man. Your precious little princess Emma. I let you raise her as your own. Even though SHE WAS MINE!" He screeched, right in the Queen's face.
Snow White flinched, but only for a moment. She set her face like stone and glared right back in his beady, reptilian eyes.
"She is not yours."
"Oh-ho-ho! I beg to differ, dearie! I have contract right here with your name on it that says otherwise," he said, making a scroll appear out of nowhere with a flourish of his wrist. With a second, it unrolled itself, exposing the many terms and conditions in the finest print and the two signatures at the bottom of the page.
"You'll never find her," David said, hoping to draw the Dark One's attention away from his wife, at least for a while.
"Ahh, but you see, this contract is not only legally binding, it's magically binding."
Rumplestiltskin snapped his fingers and the contract disappeared.
"What do you mean?" Snow White asked, unable to fully conceal the alarm in her voice. He let out an even higher pitched fit of tittling laughter at that.
"Cannot hide, can't break free. A few days more and you shall see!" He crooned softly in his eerie little sing-song voice.
Snow White was thoroughly unnerved. She could no longer hide it. Lucky for her, that was exactly the reaction Rumplestiltskin was hoping for. Satisfied with his work, he turned on his heel and headed for the door. But just before slipping out, he peeked his head back inside and said coolly, without rhyme or affectation,
"I will find her, you know."
Snow White and her Prince Charming could no longer conceal the despair they felt creeping into their hearts and settling there. The Dark One grinned as he exited the room, slamming the door behind him and setting the bar to lock them in with a wave of his gilded hand.
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A/N: I hope you're all enjoying these rapid updates. Lucky for you my husband's been out of town and once my little one is asleep, I have the evenings to write and write and write. Perhaps they'll slow down now that he's back. But for now, I'm just gonna ride this train of prolificity. Thanks for riding with me! :)