Beta'd by Angelfan984
Thank you so much! You are the best beta ever! ^.^
Chapter 9 – Distance
Months had passed. Killian could probably list the minutes down to the seconds since Emma had walked out of that motel room and out of his life. It was for the best, he had convinced himself weeks ago, but it didn't stop him from catching his breath every time he saw a blonde woman in the New Orleans crowds below him. Like now. A woman went against the flow of the crowds and stood out. His gaze snapped to her and he watched the woman move a moment before he realized she didn't move like Emma had, there was no fluidity or grace to the drunken woman's movements.
Losing interest his gaze scanned the drunken crowd again, it was the height of the Mardi Gras crowds and random men and some females stood up on their balconies offering up the beads for anyone that would flash them. None of them took notice of him in the shadows of the sign for his building. His eyes landed on another blonde head and she moved like Emma, with a determined grace. He willed the woman to look up, but she didn't as she continued to move through the crowd.
"See something you like?" A voice came from the darkness behind him. Hook straightened his shoulders and turned quickly around to face the God.
"Loki, to what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked sarcastically an eyebrow arched and a full smirk upon his face. They had history between them, and Hook had done random small jobs for the God, as long as he received something from the situation that was. It didn't matter to him that the man was a liar; he didn't get involved in the petty games of the gods. Not if he could help it.
"I could bring the woman up her if you'd like? Maybe just go offer her some beads and you can continue your voyeurism in the dark." He suggested a half smile on his lips his hand out stretched to point out the blonde woman that he had been watching the last few minutes. The god's dark hair fell across his forehead and he absently brushed it away. "You do look like a man in need though, so maybe the first option would be best? We could share? I do like the blondes." This time the smile filled his whole face, his deceiving human body showed him as a man in his mid thirties and the smile lit up his entire face with tiny crinkles around his eyes.
Rage filled Killian at the idea of sharing Emma with anyone and it took all the restraint he had mastered over the years to hold himself back from pushing the God from the building.
"No sharing then? Pity." Loki laughed. "That's okay, I didn't come for the women this time. I have a favor to ask you. Freyja and Odr, you may know them from the stories as Snow White and Prince Charming, they are going to come to the mortal world to find their long lost daughter. But I'm going to need you to make sure that doesn't happen. I had planned to do it, but I lost track of the girl many years ago."
"Now how does a Norse god lose track of just a girl?" Killian asked with a humorless laugh.
"Oh no, my dear friend, not just a girl, a savior of the gods is what she is. A savior of gods I don't want saved. Besides myself that is. I had her under control for a minute, but I lost her when she went into the mortal judicial system. I just couldn't help myself, you know my nature—" He paused with a rueful smile, "well and it just came out. I had thought to keep track of her through my son, but he was useless, the mortal world has not been good to him and he never even remembers talking to her, besides I've lost track of him years ago. I have no use for him anymore."
"And how do you think I would be able to find her if you've lost her?"
"You are a Dark Hunter and this is your world, not mine." He paused to straighten his suit tie slightly. "Of course there is something in it for you, I have a trinket that might interest you. It will allow you to bring back a loved one. I'm sure you have someone you could bring back."
That had Killian's full attention. "Only one person?" He asked and his voice cracked with suppressed emotion. His mind flashed to Liam and Milah simultaneously. His beloved brother or the love of his mortal life, could he choose his brother over his one chance at freedom? Surely Milah would free his soul if he brought her back. But then his traitorous mind brought Emma's face to the front of his thoughts. Would she have freed his soul if he hadn't pushed her away that night so many months ago?
"Well, it's limited—" Loki shrugged his shoulders, "—but if you aren't interested." He turned as if he was going to leave.
"Wait!" Killian stopped him, "we have a deal."
Freyja, the Norse goddess of love, beauty, attraction and battle, paced her chamber waiting for Odr to return from his most recent battle. It was time. She had waited the 28 years to find her daughter, the danger had passed, and now she wanted to find her eldest daughter. Loki had told them before she had been born that she was cursed to die on her 28thbirthday. But that if they sent her to the mortal world and did not look in on her until she was 28 years old, that she would live.
It had been the most painful choice of her existence, but she had to give her, her best chance. So she had sent her daughter with the mortal name of Emma to the mortal realm, with Loki's youngest son August with promises that he would look out for her, as a brother. It had taken a lot for Freyja to trust the god of tricksters, having been burned by him once before, but what choice did she have?
The peaceful serenity that she normally held close fled her as she waited for her love to return, her Charming King of Esir had been gone too long.
"You will burn a hole in the marble if you continue your pacing Snow." The calming voice of one of her twin brother washed over her, using the nickname he had given her when they were children. He had used it to tease her relentlessly about her perfect beauty, but it had changed over the years and became an endearment that only those close to her used.
"Oh Frey, it is almost time! How can I be calm when tonight could be the day I bring my daughter home?"
"Do you not think that you are getting ahead of yourself? What if she prefers the mortal world? Would you leave her there once again? Could you do that sister?" Frey asked as he walked over to her slowly, with each question he paused and picked up a different trinket from the long table between them. He examined each before setting it down and asking another question. "Is that something my kind hearted sister could really do? Or would you force her here?"
She stopped pacing and faced him; tears filled her eyes at the thought of not being with her oldest daughter. "I would stay with her if that is what it would take, and Charming would stay with us, I know he would."
His only response was to laugh at her statement.
"I would! He would!" She burst out looking as though she wanted to also stomp her foot in defiance. "You would visit us of course." She added softer more of a question than a statement this time.
"I would, if that was your decision." He affirmed before pulling her into a brotherly hug.
Emma burst through the exit door of the nasty bar she had just been in, following her mark closely down the back pot ridden alley. A large puddle soaked her booted foot and she groaned. "Son of a –" she said taking a moment to look down at her now ruined leather boot. She supposed that is what she got for thinking fashion over practical things like proper running footwear.
The man flew down the alley way and around the corner out of sight. She followed and had him on the ground in moments. "It's time to pay the piper, buddy." She said as she snapped the cuffs around his wrists.
"I don't know what you are talking about, I didn't do anything wrong." He cried in outrage.
"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say." She gave him a hard push forward after he was on his feet, "now move it."
In minutes she had him in the back of her car secured and she drove the short distance to the police station. Pushing him through the station doors she was greeted by Bethany's smiling face. "Hey girl! You got another one so soon? Anyone ever tell you how amazing you are?" She laughed as she came around the counter in her dress blues. "I'll take it from here, but you stick around for a minute I've got something to tell you."
A few minutes later Bethany came back around the corner a smile still on her face. Emma stuffed her hands into her back pockets after approaching the desk in front of her. "So what do you have to tell me?"
"You know that guy, Neal? The one you have been looking for? Well—" She paused dramatically a wide smile filling her plump face, "he was spotted in New Orleans the other night, a B & E caught him on camera, we normally wouldn't get information like this but there was a murder, so all the stations are on the look out for him and a few other men. You want to check out the video, I'm pretty sure it is your mark, but it's been a while since you showed me that picture. So you might want to make sure."
The beating of her heart intensified in her ears. Neal was found after all these years? Was that possible? Her breath caught audibly in her chest and she swallowed. "Are you sure?"
"Well pretty sure, but like I said I think you should take a look. I've got the video in my office, come on you can see for yourself." She motioned to her to follow.
Emma followed, her heart in her throat. Bethany closed the door behind them and then turned on the old TV on the rack and turned on the DVD player. The motions felt like an eternity, but eventually the TV was on and the video was playing. It was gray and a little blurry but it was Neal, there wasn't anyone else it could be. "Oh god." She breathed as she collapsed into the chair behind her. She felt faint like she wasn't getting enough air.
"Emma!" Bethany exclaimed and was turning off the DVD player and turning the light back on all at the same time. "I'm so sorry! I thought it was Neal, but I wasn't sure. At least now you can get your justice honey. That bastard was wrong getting you sent to jail at such a young age." She ran her hand soothingly across Emma's back, almost motherly. And she was motherly to her all the times she had been in Dallas, even going so far as to inviting her to dinner at her home.
Emma had spent the last few months in Dallas, even going so far as to rent an apartment. Although she only had a small sofa and a few coffee cups to show for it. Every day she stopped herself from going back to New Orleans, back to find Killian and finish what they started. Now she had an excuse to be back in the city. Her number one mark had resurfaced after all these years and there was no way she would refuse this chance. Neal would be brought in and she would finally have closure.
"Bethany, I've got to go. I'm sorry, but I just—" She stood up and grabbed up her discarded purse.
"Emma, honey, just take a moment, you don't want to drive in this state. And you don't know all the details yet."
"Details?" Right, details, the most important part to finding any mark. Her emotions had taken over for a minute. She collapsed back into the seat like a deflated balloon.
"Okay, so I have a file here with all the finer details, but it seems the B&E was at a bar called Sanctuary. No one is talking about what happened and the family that owns the place is refusing to let the police get involved. Besides removing the body no police have been admitted on the property."
"What? Why not? If there was a murder then the police have that right."
"That's the thing, it doesn't really look like a murder, and it looks like it was just a heart attack or something. No blunt trauma or any other wounds."
"Then why do the police think it is a murder?"
"All of the initial reports say there looked to be a struggle and that there was blood on the floor when they arrived. But all the reports after those first ones tell a different story. It's like some kind of witchcraft." She shuddered.
Emma snorted before she could help herself. "Witchcraft? Really Bethany, I thought you were more level headed than that." She laughed, but then her mind went to the damions that had attacked her while she was in New Orleans. And Sanctuary sounded familiar to her, but she wasn't sure why. Maybe it was all connected. She picked up the file off of Bethany's desk and leaned over to give her a quick good-bye hug. "I'm fine. I'm going to go now, before it is too late and the trail runs cold."
Killian poured the god a drink, "It's rum, I assume you still have a taste for it." He held out the glass to Loki. "Now tell me who I'm to locate?"
"It's a little more than that actually." Loki laughed. "I need you to not only find her, but hold onto her for a little while. You are charming enough I'm sure you can think of a creative way to make her stick around. Oh and she's a natural blonde, if you know what I mean, it seems you like blondes." He told him over his shoulder as he walked the perimeter of the large room.
"Until what point? How long must I keep her with me?"
"Oh don't bother yourself with the tiresome details." He said dismissively. "I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself, it's a gift I'm giving you really."
Killian knew the man before him liked his games, so he tried to pick apart his words to find any loopholes. "And pray tell me her name."
"Well I'm not sure she is going by the same name, she was something of a lost soul when I came upon her. But she used to call herself Emma, Emma Swan." Loki took a long drink of his rum and missed the expression that crossed Killian's face at the reveal of her name. It couldn't be the same Emma. He pinched the bridge of his nose and restlessly pushed his hair back from his forehead. Loki caught the movements and stilled like he was watching prey. "It seems you know of my Emma." He cocked his head to the side studying him, not missing anything this time around. A deep chuckle filled the room. "Hook, the secrets you keep. And I thought we were friends after all these years." Killian clenched his jaw and bit back the words he wanted to say at the god's words. "Something you wish to say Hook? Are you backing out of our deal? I could always find someone else to find my dear Emma for me."
"No!" The word burst from him without much thought. "I'll find her and keep her away from her parents." Killian promised.
"Good." Loki smiled. "I'll be in touch when the time is right." And then the god was gone. A breath he hadn't known he had been holding in rushed out of him once he was gone. He would find Emma and hold onto her long enough to get that artifact.
A/N ~ If you want more information about the Norse gods I've introduced here is a link. wiki/List_of_Norse_gods_and_goddesses Some of the others may make an appearance. I've been in love with Norse mythology forever and I noticed right away with Once that Freyja was A LOT like OUAT's version of Snow White and that Odr is her prince charming. Then the unbelievable fact that in some stories Odr is known as Odin the king of Esir and Freyja's partner in battle most of the time. Basically I think that Odr and Odin are twins and that Odin died and Odr took his place as King of Esir, sort of like Charming took the place of his twin brother. ^.^ And although I'm not using Loki in this way he could be considered Rumple in the OUAT story. I hope you enjoy this twist, I know I had fun writing it (but that could be because of my love of Norse mythology). Oh and if you do know Norse mythology you will notice that I have used creative decisions to have some gods/goddesses still alive... and not killed in the battle of Ragnarok, ahem Loki and a couple others I want to use in this story. lol Like always thanks for reading!
