Title: A Life of It
Author: Roguie etc…
Part: 7/?
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Characters: Emma/Killian
World: AU Modern
Rating: T, with the likelihood it will change to M over time, because I'm weak like that.
Warnings: Child abuse, bullying, all the bad things you'd expect to find in a poorly executed foster care system.
Spoilers: It's AU, so not likely.
Summary: Everywhere she was sent, he was there, her savior, the boy with blue eyes. He should have meant nothing to her, just another person that had to leave, but he meant everything. Against all odds, he kept coming back.
Disclaimer: OuaT is not mine, if it were, tackle hugs and sweet kisses would be our norm. Also, there would be way more, *cough*, sword practice scenes between our Captain and his Swan.
A/N: Well, it couldn't stay perfect forever…. No throwing things at my muse – she's over the pre teen angst… let's live this last night with our young Killian and Emma… and then see what she has in store for teenaged Emma. Hey, at least I didn't cry writing this one – we all have lessons to learn in life, don't we? :P
~~~?~~~
Killian Jones found himself living the dream for months following his move to Emma's neighborhood. Having changed schools so many times in his life, it didn't bother him to start out at the bottom of a new one, taking on high school like he did every other challenge in his life: a smirk on his lips, a flash in his eyes, and a cocky swagger to every step that made him seem far more confident in himself than anyone could guess.
The girls had one more year in middle school to get through before they could join Killian and Victor at the high school, but since the boys' classes let out a half hour before the girls' classes did, Killian was able to be waiting at their stone fence every afternoon and walk them home.
For a long time they walked on egg shells around their foster parents, listening for any whispers that would indicate one or the other of them would be moving on, but they were two months into the new school year and there was nothing. Slowly, they started to relax.
He couldn't help himself but to laugh at Emma and Ruby as they bustled around getting ready for Halloween. Some idiot at their school got the bright idea that everyone needed to dress up like characters from books for the school dance, so they were trying desperately to put costumes together that would work.
He was laying on Ruby's sofa, waiting for the girls to come out of the bathroom, half heartedly looking at the pile of homework he had to get done on the weekend when they finally emerged. Ruby grinned at him proudly, turning in place to show off her Little Red Riding Hood costume, the shawl her grandmother had made her working perfectly with the white maiden's dress with red trim that cut just above her knees. She finished off the look with knee high white stockings, ruby red shoes and the picnic basket they'd used almost daily through the summer for their afternoons at the park.
Killian gave her a low whistle, waggling his eyebrows at her and grinning wide. "Looking sweet, Rubes," he complimented, earning a huge smile from the girl as she dashed up the stairs to show her grandmother.
It took another long minute before Emma appeared, almost shyly, from behind the door. She was wearing a floor length blue and white gown, tied tightly at her waist, and had her hair pinned up with only the longest strands at the back falling down to their full length. Killian's eyebrows lifted and he blinked twice as he gazed at her, a slow grin spreading across his lips.
"Well, well, my little princess."
"Shut up."
"Not a chance, your highness. Blue is definitely a great color on you, princess."
"Seriously, Killian, shut up." Her eyes flashed defiantly, and his grin widened further.
"What's the matter? Does her royal highness not enjoy a compliment from her lowly escort?"
Her little fist connected with his shoulder before he had a chance to back away, making him laugh all the harder.
"What's the matter, Em? Your foster mum freak out when you said you wanted to be the bride of Frankenstein, and instead made you be Cinderella?"
When her green eyes turned misty with tears, Killian realized he'd gone too far, immediately wiping the grin off his face as he went to stand in front of her.
"Hey, Em, I'm just teasing, you look great, really."
"I look stupid. She made me be a stupid princess; I'm not a stupid princess."
He shook his head, kneeling down so that he could look up in to her eyes. "Nope, you're not a stupid princess, you're a beautiful princess. You're gonna knock 'em all on their asses when they get a look at you, Em."
"I don't want to be a stupid princess. I wanted to be a pirate."
Killian grinned. "Yeah? Why?"
She shrugged, miserably.
"Did Victor tell you I'm going out as a pirate tonight?"
She shrugged again, mumbling as she turned pinker and pinker. "Hetoldrubyandrubytoldmesoidontwannabeaprincesscozpiratesdontlikeprincesses."
"C'mon, Em, who says a princess and a pirate can't hang out together?" He grinned, backing up to wave a pretend sword in her direction, before bowing to one knee and holding a hand out to her. "May I escort you to your ball, m'lady?"
She sniffed, shrugging. "It's just stupid school. The dance doesn't start until four thirty."
He nudged her arm, making her look up at him. "No, pretty girl, I'm asking if this old pirate can take his beautiful princess to her dance." He grinned lopsidedly. "I'll meet you at the fence after school, and we'll go together."
Emma blinked at him rapidly, her little jaw dropping open in surprise. "But… you have your Halloween party thing…"
He shrugged. "Doesn't start till nine. We'll go to yours, I'll walk you home and then I'll go to mine. Fair enough?"
The smile that lit up her face was so radiant it was blinding; Killian couldn't help but grin in return, proudly walking his embarrassed little princess and their over the top best friend to their school, darkening his gaze to a glare if anyone dared tease them.
~~~?~~~
"Dude, no, I promised Emma," Killian pulled away from Victor as the other boy tried pulling him into the group of guys that would be going to the party that night.
"C'mon, Kill, she's not gonna care. It's a little kid's dance. This is a party. A high school party, man. They've got beer and weed for the pre party, and no one is gonna invite you again if you bag off to go to a kid's dance. God, man, this is your rep you gotta think about!"
Killian dragged his hands through his hair, tugging at the strands as he looked down the street where he knew Emma would be waiting for him in the next few minutes. He pulled at the silk shirt he wore, readjusting the belt that held up his fake sword. "I can't, seriously, I promised her."
"You can make it up to her tomorrow, man; you gotta do tonight for you." Victor shook his head in disgust. "Listen, I promised Ruby I'd go to this stupid dance too, but you don't see me worrying about it. She'll get over it, they both will. It's beer! And weed! Niners don't get invited to this shit, like, ever!"
"Look, let me just go get her and take her to the stupid dance, then I'll meet you guys wherever. I can't just not show up. I can't do that to her."
"Whatever. I can't believe you're screwing yourself over just to hang out with a ten year old. There are gonna be chicks at this thing, like real chicks; you're not gonna get your hands on shit hanging out with pre teens."
Killian groaned. "Dude, you're disgusting."
"And you're pathetic. You gotta figure your life out, Killian, and let the kid figure out hers. I know you have this big brother thing going with her, but man, you're turning down potential grope-age for a princess party."
"Fuck!" He dragged his hand over his face, groaning into his palm as he weighed Victor's words. He didn't know how long he'd be at this school, how long he'd have to hang around these guys who, knowing Victor, were about to find out he was turning down a potentially rocking pre party for a junior high dance, and Victor was right, this could ruin him, completely.
"Yeah, man, you're thinking right now. C'mon, give 'em ten minutes at that dance and they're not gonna care that we're not there. Just get her a bunch of flowers or some shit tomorrow and tell her it was my fault. She'll get over it. Trust me."
Killian never wanted something to punch more than he did in that moment, glancing down the street to where Emma would be waiting any minute now for him and then back to Victor who once again began tugging him towards the guys holding the pre party.
God help him, he followed Victor without a struggle.
Jesus, she was just his kid sister, anyway, right? It wasn't like it was a date or nothing.
He could hardly choke back the bile that threatened to rise in his throat as Victor body slammed one of the guys and offered him a fist bump. "Fuck, yeah, we're down for this!"
God, what was he doing?
~~~?~~~
"He probably got held up at school, Ems," Ruby murmured, casting worried glances at her best friend as the smaller blonde drew further and further into herself the later it became.
"Yeah, sure." Emma shrugged, the excitement that had lived in her eyes all day long dimming until the usual bright green more closely resembled a murky sea.
She tugged at the stupid princess dress she'd been forced to wear, hating all the silk and satin, knowing nothing about her stupid costume reflected Emma. She'd been stupid to believe him when he'd told her it was pretty; it wasn't pretty, it was stupid. Just another reflection of what her stupid foster parents wanted out of her. She was nobody's princess.
"We can wait a bit more," Ruby tried again, "The dance only started five minutes ago, it doesn't matter if we're a bit late." She forced a smile onto her red lined lips. "Besides, maybe he'll come with Victor later. They probably just got tied up with their costumes or something. Y'know they're worse than girls when it comes to being perfect."
"Yeah, maybe." She couldn't help the nausea that swirled in her tummy or the sense of crushing disappointment that resulted from her own stupidity in trusting someone. "Let's just go; if they didn't want to come to this stupid dance then they shouldn't have offered, right?"
"Right, we'll find other, cuter boys to dance with than those idiots."
Emma offered her a weak grin, shrugging, turning to follow Ruby into the gym where the music was already being primed.
She thanked God that no one noticed as she curled up in the corner, watching Ruby dance with boy after boy. As expected, no one asked her to dance, and she really didn't care. The only boy she'd wanted to dance with wasn't there, so it was all just a wasted effort being excited about something so stupid.
At five thirty, Emma glanced at the clock, wishing time would hurry up so that she could get home and get out of her stupid dress.
At five thirty five, she glared at the clock, silently accusing it of taunting her with its slowly moving minute hand.
At five forty, her finger nails cut into the palms of her hands, drawing blood from the little half moons she left in an attempt to keep a somewhat realistic smile on her lips.
At five forty five, she glanced at the clock, and willed away the tears that were building up, suddenly realizing that she'd held out hope the entire night that he would come.
At ten minutes to six, her teeth ground together with the sheer force of rage that flowed through her little body. How could he?!
At five minutes to six, she jumped when a hand closed around her shoulder.
"Hey, pretty girl, wanna dance?"
At four minutes to six, the only boy in the world with the power to hurt her made her cry.
At three minutes to six, Killian Jones was forced to understand exactly how fragile was his best friend in the world, when she came apart in his arms and his heart shattered under the weight of his own guilt.
At two minutes to six, anyone looking would see a little princess dancing with her pirate, her face buried in his neck, his arms around her waist, both holding the other close as unfamiliar emotions rocked their young frames.
At one minute to six, a princess clung to her pirate desperately, her eyes on the little clock that ticked away their seconds together, a new, hard determination in her eyes as she wiped away her tears and pressed little lips to his cheek.
At six o'clock, that pirate was left in the middle of the dance floor, stunned as his pretty princess walked out of his arms and all alone walked the ten minutes home.
When the party he went to later that night was busted for drugs and underage alcohol, he was dragged back to his foster home, high on whatever had been given him, his eyes filled with painful self loathing. From the sheer disappointment in his foster parent's eyes, he knew that when he woke in the morning that black van would be waiting for him and it would be entirely his fault. Everything was his fault.
Her broken heart.
His new home.
Her betrayal.
His new school.
Her rage.
His guilt.
He understood then that he'd made more than one huge mistake that night, the worst of which he'd now not be given the chance to rectify.
Killian Jones grew up that night.
He only wished his princess could have seen.
~~~TBC~~~
Remember much like magic, all muses come with a price. This muse's price is that little review box down below. Please don't make her chase you for payment, it seems a bloody awful waste of her time, wouldn't you say?
