A/N: Those of you who guessed Blackbeard, guessed right! He's the current captain of the Jolly Roger and Emma has yet to find out how that happened. Also, now that we know about Killian and Ursula's history in canon I can make her less of a stock character and give her more interactions with him. Well, as much as can be considering he's still cursed.

This story was meant to be my own version of 4B from the start, so I think I should let you know I'm only using a few parts of the cannon - like Ursula's and Killian's past for instance. We've just found out that Elsa had trapped the Jolly in a bottle on the show, but that didn't happen in this story. Don't worry though, you'll find everything out when the time is right :)

I hope you enjoy this chapter and I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on it *bats eyelashes*

Chapter Nine

It's just a drop in the ocean, a change in the weather,
I was praying that you and me might end up together

"Fancy meeting you again, Ariel. You know, I think I almost missed your endearingly garrulous presence," the pirate said, towering over the two women with a wicked grin on his face as another member of the crew tied their hands behind them, positioning their chairs back to back in the dimly lit brig.

"Can't say that I missed yours, Blackbeard," the mermaid all but spit back at the pirate, looking him in the eye in silent affront. She kept wiggling her tail up and down as it quickly transformed back into a pair of human legs, covered by a long, pale blue skirt.

Emma's jaw dropped open so fast that it would have likely hit the floor if it wasn't attached to her skull. "Wait, you're Blackbeard? Jack Sparrow's nemesis, that Blackbeard?" She asked, open-mouthed and wide-eyed, completely unable to hide her surprise.

"I don't recall coming across any man named Jack Sparrow, lady. But if he's if he's anything close to a pirate captain, then chances are he's one of my numerous enemies," Blackbeard calmly replied, giving the blonde a once-over as an impish grin took place on his face. "But yes, most call me Blackbeard. It's a pleasure to meet you, too," he added in a sarcastic tone.

Emma mentally scolded herself for not addressing the fictional character - as she was more than a little disappointed to find out now - in question as Captain, something she was absolutely sure her second favourite pirate would find very disrespectful.

Then, she thought twice and made the wise decision not to try using some of the pirate lingo she absorbed from watching the movies countless times with Henry when they lived in New York. After all, there was a good chance not every pirate would find her attempts charming, much less boop her nose, play with her hair, or look at her with a ridiculously adorable smile like Killian always did when she tried talking pirate to him.

(During the year she spent living alone with Henry she had never understood where her almost obsessive fascination with Pirates of the Caribbean had come from. That is until a certain leather-clad someone with had a hook in place of his left hand knocked on her door and turned her entire world upside down, making her knees inexplicably weak and her heart start to race whenever he fixed his gaze on her. A reaction not entirely prompted by fear and surprise from her part - not that she'd ever admit it out loud.)

"Well, I don't really care who you are," Emma said, trying her best to keep her voice firm. "What the hell are you doing on this ship?" Her words sounded so possessive she surprised even herself. But she knew how much the Jolly meant to Killian, he had shared enough about his past for her to know that this was the ship his brother captained before dying of dreamshade, as well as where he'd spent many good times with Milah and Neal- Baelfire, at the time.

Emma knew how attached to his ship Killian always had been, as well as a few tales behind his affection for the old vessel; which is why she would never regret letting the last bricks of her wall finally come down after he told her he had traded his ship, his home, for the narrow chance of finding her again.

"Oh, but you should care. In case you haven't noticed, lady, I'm the captain of this ship," Blackbeard stated, trying to tone down his irritation at her bold defiance. He was scowling at her while his right hand twitched slightly on his side.

You bloody well are not! - Emma suddenly heard Killian's voice shouting in her mind, his lilting accent sounding as clear as if he was standing there right by her side. She shook herself and briefly wondered if trying to hide her fear behind a strong attitude was only going to make her start hearing voices in her head.

"Might I suggest you address me more politely if you don't fancy walking the plank soon, miss..." he trailed off, waving his now steady hand in her general direction as he waited for her to reveal her name with visible impatience.

"Swan, Emma Swan," she replied while holding his gaze, using all her experience as a bail bondsperson to try to look calm and unaffected in front of her target. The only difference being that she was the target now, but she chose to ignore that fact and focus on schooling her features into a neutral expression. She belatedly wondered whether telling him her name was a bad idea, although she didn't think there was any way he could possibly know her. Everyone she knew, with the exception for Ariel and Eric, was all the way back in Storybrooke.

"Miss Swan. Like I said, it's a pleasure," Blackbeard said, his grin widening even more as he did a mock curtsy in front of her. "It's been a while since we've had ladies aboard, but I don't think the crew will be any less excited when I tell them about our new guests."

Revelling in Emma and Ariel's respective faces of disgust and shock, Blackbeard winked at his new prisoners before walking towards the small flight of stairs that led back to the main deck above, turning around just before he started going up the steps. "If you two behave well, perhaps I could consider letting you rest for a moment before I send my men down to have their fun with you," he said before he turned his back to them, walking away as his hollow laughter echoed ominously between the walls of the brig.

Ursula was on her way to meet the others at Granny's, where they had decided to storage their food as well as Cruella's personal stock of gin bottles and various fur coats. She went a little out of her way to pass by Killian's body, as she usually did whenever she found herself alone, and noticed he was still moving.

"What's wrong, Hook? Can't sleep?" She snorted at no one in particular, ignoring how bitter her own voice sounded. "To be honest, I don't how you've managed to sleep at night all those years after what you did to me."

"Swan..." Killian kept murmuring the name incessantly. He had been sleeping soundly like every other person in the cursed town as of recent, until Rumple noticed the pirate started to stir violently in his sleep about four hours ago and notified his lady frenemies of the change. Killian hadn't been quiet since.

Ursula sighed and crouched down close to his body, shaking her head as she looked over his distressed countenance. "She'll be fine, okay? You missed that part but Maleficent cursed her before sending her off. She won't die, Hook. She'll come back eventually, you just have to be patient." She huffed, shaking her head and getting up to her feet again. "It's a shame patience was never one of your virtues. Things could have been very different otherwise."

"Don't worry, I'm sure he isn't actually going to do that," Emma finally said, her voice breaking the dreadful and heavy silence that they automatically fell into when Blackbeard left them in the dark, literally, some hours ago. "He wouldn't really give us to his crew," she said, trying her best to reassure her friend, but her words sounded empty of confidence even to her own ears.

Surely he was just taunting them, that's what pirates always do when they catch new prisoners. He wasn't actually considering giving them to his crew to feast on, right? Emma felt a chill running down her spine at the thought, knowing the only experience she had of real pirates was with the one who was completely different than all the rest.

Ariel's only response for a long time was taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out through her nose. "I hope you're right, Emma." Emma found her friend's defeated tone was somehow even more frightening than Blackbeard's threats.

"Ariel, all you told me about Blackbeard was that you rescued him from drowning," Emma said, not entirely sure she wanted to know what horrible things the pirate must have put Ariel through, at the same time desperately needing to fill the dreadful silence with any topic of conversation. If whatever history they had was as gloomy as she was imagining, then it would probably be best she found out now and prepared herself for the worst. "Is he the reason why you don't swim on the western waters anymore?"

"Yes," Ariel replied, taking another deep breath before continuing. "I already told you how I first met him because of your... Killian. I'm not sure how I should refer to him."

Emma could feel her cheeks start to burn as she realised she didn't really know it herself. They'd never discussed what their relationship status was, not that they had found much time for it amidst all the crises and subsequent villains wreaking havoc in Storybrooke. Although boyfriend would probably be the most appropriate term, she felt like it couldn't possibly represent all he meant for her. Especially considering they were counting on being each other's true love to break the sleeping curse when she returned.

"Killian will do," Emma replied, her voice barely audible as unbidden memories of their first date came rushing to her mind along with a familiar prickling sensation in her eyes. It seemed like it was ages ago now, and she couldn't help but wishing she had made better use of all the quiet moments they could have enjoyed together if she hadn't been so reluctant to let her feelings for him grow in the beginning of their relationship as they inevitably would the longer they spent together.

"Right. After Killian threw him overboard and I jumped in the water to save him, he told me Eric was in Hangman's Island so that we would be even according to the pirate code. I helped him before, so he had to help me back," Ariel explained, the note of tension in her voice only highlighting the signs of nervousness all over her face, which Emma would be able to see had she not been in such an unfavourable position for gathering what the mermaid was not saying through her facial expressions like she would normally do. "I was swimming back to the island a few months ago and I decided to take the shorter way, the western waters. Guess which pirate ship was passing by and decided to fish me out of the water?"

"The Jolly Roger. With Blackbeard as its captain?" Emma asked, craning her neck to the side trying to see her friend's face. If Ariel was trying to sound sarcastic, she really had to work on keeping her emotions from showing through her tone of voice.

Ariel nodded, but kept facing away from Emma. "As soon as he saw his crew dragging me to the deck he came to talk to me. He told me he would let me go this time, but that I should be more careful in the future. He spared me then, so now..." Her voice was breaking and Emma tried to reach for her hand behind them, but the tight ropes only allowed her to awkwardly hold Ariel's fingers instead. She hoped it was still of some comfort, to feel with her own hands that at least she wasn't alone in this. "Now I owe him a favour," the mermaid finally managed to say.

"Maybe he won't charge it now," Emma offered after considering Ariel had to be a fan of her mother's hope speeches if they were such good friends in the past. "You know, if my mum was here she would tell us to have hope."

"You're right, Emma," Ariel said with a few sniffles, which she immediately tried to stifle as Emma heard her swallowing hard. "I just hope he doesn't want me to pay with my life."

Review? ^-^

As usual, thank you so much for leaving your lovely reviews on the last chapter! I hope you liked all the suspense in this one! Sending cupcakes to: gracefulswansavior, jessica, totalqt91, Athena Brianna, JulieCS, DocHippy, LexieMcSteamy, LichMaster701.