Nouqueret Prompt: Here I go again. have always thought that if he and his brother were both navel officers they were not from poor familys. Back then even in the EF to be a high ranged officer you had to have a ciertan social status. Because really look at his manners and why he talks , he has a better educación then Charming!
Based on a few things I think it's unlikely Liam and Killian grew up together. 1 The age difference makes me think they may have grown up in different circumstances. 2 There is ... almost an idolization of Liam by Killian in the interactions we see... it doesn't suggest your standard sibling relationship to me. But it would fit better if Liam picked Killian up from the gutter (literally or metaphorically) after he was abandoned by their father. So that's the kind of backstory I am going to play with!
Fitting with the themes of this collection of stories (Storytelling and CS) I'll do it in the style of a story being told (shown, technically) to Emma.
To try to clarify the transitions: anything in the past will be italicized and from the young Killian's point of view, for simplicity (It's magic right, I can use whatever POV I want! :P) Interactions in the present will be normal text and from an external point of view. Hopefully that will not be too confusing.
"It's not the same without the dress." Emma complained with a small smile, indicating her jeans and boots. She was sure most of the town would think she was doing something else entirely with the pirate alone in her apartment, but in fact she had asked him to teach her another dance. "Besides... I think I like the waltz better."
"Of course you do." Killian teased, closing the distance between them to hold her waist again as he switched to a waltz step.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Emma asked falling into the now comfortable steps with him.
"Oh I meant no offense, your royal highness. The waltz is a wonderfully... intimate dance," he purred, "The minuet is too formal for people like us."
Emma rolled her eyes. "Wouldn't 'your grace,' be more fitting?" She asked teasingly, "I thought you said I was a natural dancer?"
"'Your grace' is for duchesses. It would not be fitting at all, my princess."
Emma rolled her eyes. "You would know that...Actually...why do you know that?"
"I have many hidden talents, darling, one day perhaps you'll reveal them all."
"I'm serious, Killian. Why did you fit in so easily at that ball? Were you a prince in another life?" she teased.
He raised his eyebrows. "Would that be so terrible, your royal highness. Princesses are supposed to find their prince after all."
Emma's jaw dropped and a look of horror passed over her face as she stepped back. "Wait...what...?!"
"Do try not to panic love, I assure you I am no prince. I do find it curious that the idea so horrifies you."
Emma shrugged, "I've never really been the kind of girl that expected to find Prince Charming-" she stopped abruptly and shuddered. "That never stops being weird."
Killian laughed and Emma looked at him pointedly.
"Why are you avoiding the question?"
"It's something of a long story, love."
"Perhaps you can show me?"
"If it's all the same to you I'd prefer to stay in the current timeline for a while." Killian told her, eyebrows furrowed.
"No, I mean..." She waved her hand and the glass of the mirror on the other side of the room swirled. "You know all about my past now, isn't it only fair that I should learn why it is that Captain Hook, scourge of the oceans, knows how to ballroom dance?" She held out her hand to him, "Show me?"
Killian glanced concernedly at the mirror, hesitating for a moment before taking her hand. The mirror swirled again and a young boy's face came into view in the midst of a crowd of people. She knew that look. The lost look that gazed back at her from the mirror every day of her life until she had found her family again, until she found him...
"Who-" Emma started, and Killian stiffened next to her.
"Meet Killian Jones, Orphan and pickpocket. Not exactly Prince Charming, eh? I was to go on an adventure with my father, I had looked forward to such a trip all of my life. But on the morning we were to leave I found myself alone, made an orphan by my father's own choice. I was still young, young enough that I could count on some charity for a while after he left me to my own devices. Before long I realized that I would have to make my own charity. I learned to pick pockets, and I was bloody terrible at it. So I learned something that served me well for... many years. I exclusively targeted young ladies. Should they catch me I gave them such an innocent heartbroken look that not one managed more than a weak scolding."
Emma smiled slightly. "So you've always been this manipulative," Emma teased, but Killian didn't smile.
"Aye, love, I learned that it worked, saw no reason to abandon the practice. Before long it became unnecessary, for I would not get caught. Until... until Liam." Killian pointed to the mirror, where a young man in a neat blue uniform caught the young Killian's arm as he reached for a purse in a crowd. The man dragged Killian off the street before turning to face him.
Killian put on his best innocent face but the man's eyes did not soften.
"Your name is Killian Jones, is it not?"
Killian's eyes widened in surprise.
"Answer the question."
"Yea, but how did-"
"Yes, not yea, boy. I'm going to take care of you from now on, Killian. No more picking pockets, understand."
"Yea...I mean, Yes... but..."
"It's taken me a while to find you, Killian, I apologize. My name is Lieutenant Liam Jones, and I'm your brother."
Killian's jaw dropped slightly but he closed his mouth rapidly, getting the feeling this man would not like that, for some reason.
"Come on Killian, let's get you something to eat and we can talk."
Killian turned to Emma who was still watching the mirror in fascination "That was Liam? He's so ... young."
"He was many years my senior, but yes, he made Lieutenant exceedingly young. From that day Liam saw to it I never had to steal for food. Thievery was bad form, he told me. But he was soon to ship out again. He was already Lieutenant of the Jewel of the Realm and I was to go off to a military academy. The same one Liam attended apparently. Though the commander was not fond of the idea. Liam was accepted as one of them...but he was over a decade my senior. There were rumors that my father was ... well, not my father and having disappeared in disgrace he was not exactly around to assert my bloodline."
"What difference would that make?"
"You must understand Swan, military officers ... they came from a certain rank. Any question about that and... well...see for yourself."
The mirror swirled again and Emma watched as the younger Killian pressed his ear to an ornately carved wooden door.
"It's not his place, perhaps he could be groomed into a decent engineer, but it is not my job to create gentlemen. Gentlemen are born, not made."
Killian pressed his ear to the door eagerly, but his face fell as he caught the commander's words.
"Your opinions are your own," He could hear his brother's voice raising slightly in irritation, "but he is my brother. All I ask is that he receive the same education as I did. If he fails to live up to the role of a military officer of the realm that is another matter entirely."
There was silence for a moment and then the commanders voice rose again.
"All right Lieutenant, but this is no charity school."
"He will pay tuition like every other boy here, I've asked for no charity."
Killian heard chairs scraping and he ran from the door settling back down in his chair and trying his best to look relaxed. Liam exited first and nodded at Killian to follow him outside. They sat down on a stone wall outside and barely had they settled before Killian burst out "I can't afford tuition, Liam, you know I've not got nothing."
"'Do not have anything', Killian. And, in fact, you do. You have me now, remember. Your job here is to learn everything you can. And perhaps one day you can join me out at sea! When I'm captain, of course." Liam added with a smile.
"But I'm not a gentleman, like he said-"
Were you listening outside the door, Killian?"
"Yea...s. Yes, perhaps."
"That's not good form, Killian."
"I'm sorry."
"Between you and me," Liam's voice lowered to a whisper, "he's wrong. Gentleman are made, Killian, and you will be a gentleman one day."
"How long will you be gone?" Killian asked tentatively. He had only just gotten used to having family again, he wasn't sure he was ready to start over...
"Hard to say, but trust me you'll be far too busy to miss me. As soon as we make port, I'll come visit. You'll have to tell me everything you've learned, of course, so pay close attention."
Killian nodded solemnly. Gentlemen were made. He knew it was true, because Liam did not lie. It was bad form.
That voyage had lasted nearly two months, the next one four, but Liam was right. Killian almost was too busy to notice. Every moment of every day from the breaking of the sun over the horizon to the middle of the night when he collapsed exhausted into his cot was scheduled, down to the minute. He rose promptly with the sun, tidied his bed just so (he had learned the hard way what happened when you left a corner untucked.) Getting dressed was also something of an ordeal, everything had to be shining, gleaming, wrinkle-less. Clean, tidy and orderly.
His professors weren't particularly fond of him, pointing out on a regular basis how much they had to make up for due to his questionable upbringing. Still, Killian was determined to prove to them that gentleman could be made, as Liam said. By the time Liam returned from his first voyage Killian hardly ever slipped into his old habit of speaking.
He learned geography, the languages of empires he hadn't known existed, and mathematics. He absorbed it all eagerly committing everything to memory to tell Liam when he returned. And it was worth it, all the late nights, because when Liam returned he smiled and told him he was proud of him. In return, Liam shared with Killian stories of his voyages, the lands he visited, the peoples he met.
After two years some of the boys in his class began to disappear into at sea training programs. They would happily mock Killian for having to stay in classes. They were going to learn what it really took to be a sailor. No Captain would accept an officer that had never gotten his uniform wet. Killian gritted his teeth and bore their taunts with dignity as Liam had taught him. Still, it ate at him each day until finally, on one of Liam's shore leaves, he asked his brother about it.
"They say this is how officers are trained. Is that true, am I not progressing fast enough to-?"
"That used to be how officers were trained," Liam interrupted. "Some of the older commanders still think you can't learn how to be an officer without being on the sea. Trust me Killian, this is where you want to be right now. Learn everything you can from them, and you'll be ready for all the sea can throw at you."
"How can I hope to command a ship when I've never been at sea myself?"
"You'll learn quickly, brother. Anyone can learn to tie a knot or swab the deck. You are learning to think like an officer."
So Killian learned the constellations of the stars and how to address a Prince compared to a Duke. He learned how to dance and how to calculate the velocity of a mass accelerating in a curve. How to fight with a cutlass and what words to use when accepting a dinner invitation. It became second nature to him to stop outside of a room and check his shirt was tucked in properly.
Still, the years passed achingly slowly, and it did not escape his notice that he was now the oldest in the academy. It only increased his desire to absorb everything that his teachers knew, if he was going to be stuck here he would learn everything. The professors began to design more complex curricula for Killian since he had so far surpassed the other students and when that was no longer enough, he was left to his own devices in the academy's extensive libraries. Having finally learned all he could from his professors he consumed the knowledge of the libraries voraciously.
The mirror shifted once more and now Emma saw a young man, no longer a boy, sitting in a tavern with a simple meal of soup of some kind and bread. Killian stiffened at the sight and turned away pulling his hand from Emma's but she did not release him.
"I'm not sure you should see this one, love."
"I want to know." Emma responded simply. "How old are you?"
"I don't know love, it was so long ago. Perhaps 19? By then I was twice the age of most of the other's in the academy and my commanders allowed some measure of freedom. My education was now almost entirely in the libraries and I could eat in town away from the younger boys, if I wished. I took every opportunity to escape that academy, even if only for a meal. I never could completely escape though... The men that had been in the academy with me as a boy returned on shore leave occasionally. I often saw the sailors filling the local taverns. On shore leave days the streets were full of men trying to make up for lost time at sea." He glanced back at the mirror at the young man quietly eating his dinner and winced. "Many of the ladies that I usually saw shopping in the market or eating in the tavern failed to appear on shore leave days. Though I never quite understood why before...It left a sour taste in my mouth."
William Davies was one such man. Killian remembered him well from his first few years in the academy, and despite his desire to avoid the man like the plague his dinner was interrupted by a cry across the tavern.
"Killian JONES?"
Killian sighed and glanced up from his meal as the the man crashed clumsily down next to him.
"Davies," Killian responded tiredly and the man grinned back at him.
"What the bloody hell are you still doing in this blasted town...you're not still going to that God-forsaken school?" William's eyes glittered, and Killian knew a barb when he saw one. Still he kept his tone flat and unperturbed as he replied.
"You mean the one responsible for teaching you stem from stern... theoretically?"
William laughed but there was a venom in his eyes, "Still as stuffy as always, land suits you."
"I wish I could say the same, sailor, but it seems your manners have not been improved in your time at sea." Killian eyed the remains of his dinner, silently wondering if he had time to finish his bread before William caught up with the conversation.
Wiliam froze, glassy eyes and slow reflexes informing Killian that the glass of rum he was holding was likely not the first he had imbibed this evening. William was never a quick wit even without the influence of the alcohol.
"Really you're going to comment on my manners? And who did you get that from, Killian, your mother?"
"Whom."
"What?"
"From whom did you get that."
In retrospect it shouldn't have surprised Killian that it was not the insult to the man's manners but the correction of the man's speech which would get him punched in the face. Fortunately, ducking a blow from a highly intoxicated sailor was not exactly a difficult endeavor. The man was thrown off-balance by his own punch and nearly landed face first in what remained of Killian's dinner. Killian rapidly pulled the plate out the way (he happened to be enjoying that soup) balancing it in one hand as William hit the table. Killian kept his face entirely calm as he returned the meal to the table. The man pulled himself up and glared before finally letting out a huff.
"You're nothing Killian. And no blue uniform will ever change that."
With that William stalked back to the bar and Killian returned to finishing his meal. By the time Killian had finished eating William had disappeared, probably with one of the ladies he had being eying salaciously all evening. Killian made haste back to the academy. He may be afforded the luxury of eating away from the younger boys but his freedom was still limited by a strict schedule. Besides he was currently in the middle of a study of seabirds which he hoped to finish memorizing by the end of the week. It occurred to him while reading one day that should he ever be thrown off course by a storm it would be helpful to know what seabirds were native to which islands. His train of thought was interrupted by a cry that echoed through the streets before being cut off abruptly. Killian spun, immediately altering his trajectory towards the origin of the sound. Before long he came across a somewhat vulgar scene... One of the sailors apparently couldn't be bothered to acquire a private room to entertain his lady for the evening. Just as he was about to turn away the lady let out another whimper and a whispered, "Please don't."
Killian immediately drew his cutlass and advanced. Slipping his blade beneath the man's chin, he drew him away from the woman. She hurriedly attempted to cover her current state of partial undress. Hardly even a woman, Killian realized now that he could see her face, not very much more than a girl. Killian's jaw clenched as William glared back up at him. "Give me a break Killian, not everyone in this bloody town is a stuffy moralist like you. She likes it rough don't you darling, I know you want to play."
The woman shrank away and Killian turned to her. "Shall I leave, milady?"
The girl shook her head vigorously and Killian nodded turning back to William who despite Killian's cutlass at his throat kept one of her arms pinned to the wall.
"Release her."
William laughed, "Killian, come on? Even you must know how this works. Of course she'd say that now, with another man present. They like to maintain their facades-"
His words were cut off when Killian's blade pressed tighter and blood dripped slowly from William's throat. "Release her immediately, or I remove the offending arm for you."
William released his grip and the girl pulled away.
"Milady," Killian called before she had a chance to bolt. "If he ever bothers you again, contact Liam Jones on the Jewel of the Realm. Understand?" she nodded before bolting away, disappearing around the corner in moments.
"Damn it Killian," William grumbled, "I'm only on shore leave the one night. You wouldn't understand-"
"I understand perfectly. If I ever see a scene like this again, I'll take the arm first before the Royal MP's even have the chance to deal with you."
"And you'll tell them what? She'll not come back to tell her story. Who do you think they'll believe. A gentleman officer sailing in defense of the King or a nobody, stuck in school because no one will have an officer with bad blood."
Killian smiled slightly, before leaning in to whisper..."It's whom, you utterly useless bilge rat. And that's why I'll take the arm first..." Killian released William who stood frozen for a moment staring at him.
"You're cracked," he finally said, then he laughed uneasily and retreated from the alley. Killian was late in returning from dinner that night and though he faced severe consequences for the infraction, he'd never been so happy to bear the sanctions for tardiness.
"I suppose I always had a bit of a ... tendency towards taking justice into my own hands... so to speak." Killian told Emma as the scene faded away.
"What happened to the girl?" Emma asked tone still somewhat shocked.
"I don't know, Never caught William at it again, though to be realistic it's possible he was just avoiding me. But the girl, she never contacted my brother. That moment convinced me that no sailer on my crew would drink aboard any ship of mine." He smiled wryly.
"Really?" Emma asked with a small smile, "You had a dry naval vessel?"
"Aye, Swan. For sailors who drink rum get drunk, and drunkenness leads to bad form." He said the line like someone reciting a phrase from a book and he gave a little half shrug when he was done, holding out his flask and offering her a drink to celebrate the irony.
"How much longer were you there?" Emma asked curiously.
"Some years still. The last voyage Liam took while I was in the academy was one of the longest. He was gone for nearly a year. It was hell waiting for him to return. As it didn't seem likely that I would be going on any adventures of my own in the near future, I lived off his tales of adventures and heroics. I determined it must have been quite the adventure to have kept Liam away for so long and I was dying to hear about it."
Emma turned back to the mirror which was swirling again. Killian still looked young, but probably years older than the previous memory.
When Liam finally arrived Killian noticed that he could barely contain his grin.
"What has you so excited today, brother," Killian asked.
"My Captain means to retire," Liam told him, "he means to yield his command to me."
Killian grinned too, "Are you telling me that you are going to be the Captain of the Jewel of the Realm, Liam?"
"So it seems. How goes your schooling, Killian?"
Killian's smile faltered briefly before he restored a tight smile to his features.
"Well, I suppose. I've long surpassed my teachers abilities..."
Liam nodded with a small smile, "Have patience, brother."
True to his word, the very next day Liam came to him at the Academy. "Good news, Killian. How would you like to be the Lieutenant of The Jewel?"
A grin split across Killian's face but it faltered almost immediately.
"Have you suddenly decided you have no desire to go to sea?"
"No no, of course not, it would be my great honor to accept-."
"Come now, Killian, I know you too well. What is bothering you?"
Killian sighed. "I've been here for years. I've learned all my training masters could offer me and more and yet my commission depends on your goodwill."
Liam laughed, "Is that what you think?"
"Of course," Killian said in confusion.
"Well then I should tell you I had to practically dual two other captains to get you. You've done well brother, and I would take no other."
Killian smiled again and hugged his bother tightly. "Thank you, brother."
Liam smiled but quickly pushed Killian away a forced seriousness on his face. "That's Captain to you Lieutenant, I'll expect you to keep things ship-shape for me!"
"They'll be no tidier ship and crew in all the realms." Killian said proudly and Liam nodded.
"Of that I've no doubt."
The swirling of the mirror faded again, this time going dark as Killian removed his hand from Emma's, a look of melancholy on his face.
"Aw, Killian don't I get to see the grand adventure of the Jones brothers?"
"No, Swan, I'd rather you not."
Emma's teasing smile faltered, "So soon? ...but you only just..."
"Aye."
She fell quiet unsure about what to say to clear the clouds from his eyes.
"Killian?"
"Aye, Swan?"
"Would you teach me how to waltz again. It's been a while, I might be forgetting."
Killian smiled and pulled her close, "As you wish."
AN: Let me know if you think I got their characters right and if not how you think they could improve! I don't think I'm as good at writing young Killian or Killian/Liam interactions so I'd appreciate the feedback. Thanks Nouqueret for the prompt. I appreciate the chance to stretch a bit!