Here's the chapter we've all been waiting for! Thanks for your patience :) I still don't own OUAT.
EMMA
"So any ideas as to what you're gonna say to him?" - David asked Emma as she parked the bug outside Killian's hotel.
She shrugged. "A few". Keep your tactics as vague as possible when preparing for a battle. Even when discussing them with an ally.
August Booth's words rang in her ears. Even after almost a decade, she could never forget their first few lessons. And yet, she still knew next to nothing about her mentor.
Nine years ago
She's read somewhere that there were five stage of grief.
Anger. Well, she has definitely experienced that. It was, in fact, the only emotion that was strong enough to devour the pain inside her.
Denial.. It would be a couple of years yet before she completely be done with that, but for now, the flashes of hope that Neal leaving her was just a misunderstanding were occurring less and less frequently.
Depression. The psychiatrist who tried to help her after she tried to kill herself a few days after arriving to prison told her that suicide attempts were a serious, sure sign of depression. He wasn't lying, so check.
Bargaining. That was a tricky one. She may have wished for Neal's return and made promises to herself that she'd never steal again for the first few weeks, but something was telling her that that was only scratching the surface. She was right.
Acceptance. Yeah, she wasn't going to touch that one.
She wasn't going to complain about getting out of jail six months early, but Emma Swan was still apprehensive about meeting with the man who pulled whatever strings to make that happen. The place where he asked her to meet him in the letter she received last week, that also included keys to her yellow home-on-wheels, did nothing to placate her. It really frustrated her, even then, that her power didn't work on letters. For all she knew, he was a pervert with a thing for ex-cons.
She wouldn't have come if it weren't for the fact that he's mentioned her ability in the letter and told her he could help. Offers like that were few and far between in the life after prison, so here she was, sitting at a diner just outside Portland, ME and biting her lip nervously. The diner was possibly the most depressing and dingy establishment she's ever set her foot in. She scowled at the waiter who was leering at her and stared out of the window, not wanting to miss the man who called himself August Booth.
"Hello Emma" - a voice behind her chair startled her. She turned around to see a dark-haired man in his 30s, clad in a leather jacket, holding a motorcycle helmet.
"I parked behind the place" - he explained, as though sensing Emma's thoughts as to why she hasn't spotted him. She nodded.
"Hello."
"My name is August Booth" - he spoke as he took a seat across her. - "Thanks for meeting me."
Present day
"Which room is he in?" - David asked Emma, following her inside.
"Shit" - she cursed, having forgotten that complication. To her surprise, David smirked.
"It's a good thing you brought me along, then" - he said and approached the reception.
"Hi, Storybrooke PD. Could you tell me the room Killian Jones is staying at?" - he asked the receptionist who couldn't be more than eighteen.
"Umm..." - she stammered. - "I'm n-not really supposed to..." Emma rolled her eyes.
"I'm investigating a murder, and I believe he can help" - David replied. Emma was somewhat impressed by his direct approach. The receptionist's eyes widened.
"It's room 8, sir" - she mumbled. David thanked her and ran up the stairs, Emma hot on his tail. Room 8 was at the end of the left corridor. Emma knocked, nodding at David who was holding onto the handcuffs in his pocket.
The heavy wooden door opened seconds later, revealing Killian Jones still in his day clothes, despite it being close to midnight. He barely had a moment to smile, when Emma nodded at David again and together, they grabbed him and cuffed his hands together.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" - he roared after they pushed him into a chair, apparently too shocked to fight them. Emma crossed her arms.
"I want answers, Jones. Now."
KILLIAN
God, she was beautiful. The time he has spent with Emma Swan in the few days they were in Storybrooke has revealed to him that she was beautiful in a myriad of ways.
When he first met her at his book signing, he had no idea who she was, and was too distracted by her nosy questions. But he still noticed the golden locks framing her smiling face, the green eyes that sparkled in excitement when she spoke to him. He would later realise that she was putting on a show, but it didn't stop her from being immensely captivating to look at.
When he bumped into her at the hospital, he saw that there was a secret side to her so alike, yet so different, to his own. The shock may have blinded him for a few moments, but in no way did it alter his senses. His eyes weren't deceiving him - Emma Swan was a sight to behold. The fierce determination she demonstrated while questioning Sheriff Nolan made him admire her spirit and made him see that there was a nobility to her. The kind that he knew he didn't have. Her gift, her beautiful, precious gift - it was made for saving lives, or, as she appeared to be doing, catching criminals. When the Mayor appeared in the chamber, he saw fear in Emma's eyes. The kind of fear he was accustomed to as a young child after Liam's death. He hated the Mayor at that moment, and there was nothing Whale could say that could convince him otherwise.
When he saw Emma having a panic attack in his car, flashes of his own childhood blinked before his eyes. He shook them off and climbed into the car with her, trying to help her. The revelations that followed were some of the more surreal, yet freeing moments of Killian's life. Telling Whale felt nothing like this. The closest was the moment when a seven-year-old Killian chose to whisper his secret to a nine-year-old Liam when they hid under the covers during a thunderstorm. Killian remembered Liam telling him that it was nothing to be afraid of, holding him and telling him to breathe, and then he revealed his secret. Liam understood. He always has, until he died a few years later. Since then, Killian Jones has been alone, with no-one to share the burden of his curse.
Until Emma Swan appeared in his life.
He was very impressed by her shooting skills that night at the range - it was quite an experience, being attracted to a woman holding a gun. The drinking that followed has been an eye-opener. From the few words Emma uttered in her inebrated state, that Killian was certain she had no memory of, he gathered that she has been burnt in the past, like him. He has suspected this much since he gave her a ride back to Belfast the first time, but to see her like this - helpless, curled up against him - it tugged on his heartstrings. The pull was a hundred times stronger than that of his first ever book character, Milah - "The Coward's Wife" may have brought him to fame, but creating her and then killing her was like taking a claw to the heart. Emma Swan, however, was a different story. He wasn't sure if it was her gift, or her beautiful, wounded soul - he didn't know where the one ended and the other one began - but whatever it was, it made him want to take care of her the next morning. Ordering room service was the very least he could do.
The day of the Storybrooke Memorial fire was one of the worst days of his life. Hearing from Whale that Emma was OK wasn't enough - he had to go and see it for himself. Her not trusting him may have stung, but he understood. So he suggested to her to ask him bluntly about what was going on.
And apparently, handcuffing him in his hotel room was her way of following his advice.
"What's the question?" - he fired back. Emma snorted.
"How about you tell me why there are dead bodies of yours and Whale's brothers underneath Storybrooke Memorial?" - she apparently had no desire to beat around the bush. Killian had to admire her, even if he was itching to know how she found out.
"Because Whale and I are trying to bring them back to life" - he replied. Truer twelve words have never been spoken, yet Emma scoffed.
"And I'm supposed to believe that? You know full well that your power has a way of blocking mine, so unfortunately, it makes things a little harder. But I'm going to give you one more chance and ask you again: Why are you and Whale keeping your brothers down there?"
Killian sighed. He has never hated his curse more than he did right at that moment. Not even when he found out that it drove Robert Gold insane.
"Your power? What?" - they both gasped, forgetting that David was still in the room with them. Emma ignored him.
"It's not as bad as it sounds, mate!" - Killian cried out.
"I'm not your mate!" - David growled, reaching for his gun, but Emma raised her hand to stop him. Her eyes were still fixed on Killian.
He looked down at his cuffed hands, wishing he were able to seize the goddamn curse and pull it out of his chest. It has been blackening his heart for long enough.
"Emma" - his voice broke - "even if my hands were free, I wouldn't be able to yank that stupid power out of myself, but I swear on my brother's life" - Emma and David both snorted at that - "that if there were a way, I would do it! I'd do anything to get you to believe me!"
Emma sighed, seemingly facing a struggle within herself. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she nodded.
"Okay, let's for the sake of argument assume that you ARE in fact trying to revive your brothers. But how? I get Whale's part - wouldn't surprise me if pulling a Frankenstein were possible, what with all sorts of secrets being hidden from the general public - but how do YOU come into it?"
Killian nodded. "I'll tell you. But it can never leave this room" - he added, giving David a pointed look.
"Not a chance in hell" - David hissed. Emma placed a hand on his shoulder.
"David, it's OK. I can take care of this. Go home."
"You sure?" - he asked softly, glaring at Killian. Emma nodded.
"Go. Tell Mary Margaret I said hi. I'll be fine, I promise. I've done this a million times." She deliberately omitted that none of her previous cases involved a literal liar, but David didn't need to know that. He hesitated but nodded, sending Killian the last glare before walking out.
Emma took a seat across him in a spinning chair and narrowed her eyes.
"Okay, you have two minutes."
He sighed and began his tale.
"Liam died when I was 12. Poisoning. He was the only one who didn't flinch when they heard what I was capable of. When he died, my parents put up with me for about three years before eventually kicking me out of the house. I got by, because I was no longer dumb enough to believe that people would see past.. past the curse.
The writing - it helped. A lot. I used to write as James Hook, author of realistic fiction, but the books were too good. Writing was the only way I knew how to control myself, so I channeled the power through my characters. Eventually, I realised that I needed to change, so I became Killian Jones, the fantasy novelist.
Escapism is a powerful thing, especially in this day and age. Members of a consumerist society don't get too many chances to completely lose themselves in a book. This is what gave me the idea in the first place, Emma. Writing fantasy has been a much better outlet for my curse - it's easy to get lost in "The Land that Never Was" and it's safer than getting obsessed with a character of realistic fiction.
I just submitted the first draft of the first book when Victor Whale appeared in my life. He figured me out. He knew what I could do. I was about to tell him to get lost, but then he told me that he was a doctor who had the knowledge of how to bring dead people back to life.
We met up a few times during that year. He told me he has previously attempted to revive his brother, but he always became a monster. A monster he couldn't control. Gerhardt became unhindged, didn't know who he was or what he was doing. Whale's father even got killed in the process. He approached me because of my power. His idea was to try and revive Gerhardt again but with my help. I was to write him a personality and persuade him that it is who he was."
Emma held up her hand to stop him.
"Come again?"
"Think about it. I can convince a person to believe anything. Whale knew it, so he asked me to write him a Gerhardt. He told me what Gerhardt was like when he was alive and asked to... sort of compile a personality from those facts? It had to be clear and detailed for Gerhardt to believe it, so I spent several months working on it alongside "The Land that Never Was."
Emma nodded slowly. "Go on."
"Emma, what you have to understand is that I was ready to do anything in the world to bring my brother back. I still am! Whale knew that, so he offered to revive Liam in exchange for my help. I obviously knew Liam better than anyone, so his personality was a little easier."
"Is that it? The draft of your brother's personality?" - Emma took out the manuscript and held it in front of him. His eyes widened.
"Did you read it?" - he asked. She shook her head.
"I wanted to hear your side of the story first."
A ghost of a smile graced his handsome features, but it was nowhere near enough to mask the pain and determination in his eyes.
"I appreciate that, Emma. I'll answer any questions you may have about Liam, but I must ask that you refrain from reading it. I know I'm not in any position to ask anything of you, and I don't expect you to understand, but..."
"I won't" - Emma promised, cutting him off. "What happened after you finished writing?"
"I only finished Liam's two days ago. Writer's block has been a bloody hindrance for weeks before I got here. I don't know... I guess I just thought being closer to Liam would help" - he shrugged pathetically. Emma nodded.
"What are you planning to do?"
"The rest is up to Whale. I can do nothing but wait until Liam wakes up" - he replied.
Emma's reaction next chapter! Reviews are my Thanksgiving gift, even though I'm not from the States :)