A/N This is the first fanfiction that I have ever written so I apologise if it is not the best. I will try to post new chapters regularly so that you do not have to wait too long to continue reading.

This will be a SwanQueen story.

Prologue

Emma blocked the punch easily, standing opposite her in the ring was a muscular man who was easily a foot taller than her. Anyone who didn't know any better would have been confused as to what was going on.

Emma was not the most intimidating person to look at, she actually looked rather weak and at a first glance you would think she were an easy target, but don't let her looks deceive you. Emma could easily defeat almost anyone in the ring. The man she was fighting now was nicknamed The Black Belt, he was a decent fighter but no match for her, he had challenged her to a fight in an attempt to prove his worth. This happened a lot, by this point it was a ritual for any boxer in the small back alley gym to go up against Emma in order to keep their pride. They didn't have to win, they never won, it was all about proving themselves, the longer they lasted the more they were respected.

Emma didn't know why she could fight like this but she wasn't about to complain. Growing up in foster care, bouncing from home to home she found it an advantage to be able to keep her own. However although her skills improved over time her body remained the same, she did not let this deter her, in fact she used it as an advantage often able to gain a leg up on her opponent when they underestimated her.

Before long The Black Belt was knocked out and she had won the fight... again. She left the ring and started to take her gloves off. She looked at the clock on the wall 9:07pm, it was time to head home for the night.

As she was pulling on her jacket she felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced behind her and grabbed the person standing there and swung him to the floor.

"Swan!" The person shouted.

"If you didn't want to end up on the floor you shouldn't have touched me, you know better than that." She spoke calmly but inside she was furious.

Killian Jones also known as The Pirate was a sub par boxer but he had been practically stalking her since she joined the gym.

"Wanna grab a beer?" Killian asked smirking as though he thought of himself as irresistible. Which Emma knew he did.

"What part of me throwing you to the floor gave you the impression that I would want to go out with you?" She asked trying to keep her anger in check to stop her from choking him.

"I thought it was sexy." Oh he just doesn't give up she thought to herself her anger fading to pity as she realised he really had no idea how resistible he actually was.

"Sure you did." She mumbled barely loud enough for him to hear as she turned on her heel, grabbed her duffel bag and exited the gym.

It was 9:30pm by the time Emma reached her apartment door, she fished the keys out of her jacket pocket and unlocked the door stepping into her empty apartment. She threw her keys onto the kitchen table and hung her jacket over the back of her chair before opening the fridge and taking out a can of non alcoholic ginger beer.

She didn't drink, never had, it was a promise she had made to herself many years ago when she was in a particularly rough foster home. She was 15 years old by that point and had two foster sisters aged 10 and 8. She had woken up during the night to the sound of the front door slamming and she knew what was coming, her two sisters were also awoken and had begun whimpering in their beds, afraid of what was to come. Emma told them to get into the corner of the room furthest away from the door just before it swung open and their foster father stepped into the room. She remembers the smell of alcohol dripping off of him as though he had had so much to drink his body couldn't hold it anymore. He staggered forward and went to grab one of the younger girls but Emma intervened, she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, she was only 15 but already a good fighter and although he was twice her size he was completely drunk so she managed to shove him out of the bedroom and shut the door behind her. He got up and started banging on the door but she held it shut, even long after the banging had stopped, she held it shut all night so that her sisters could sleep without fear. The following morning he had beaten her for he actions but it didn't matter, she had kept her sisters safe. It was that morning, which was so similar to every other morning but somehow so different that she decided she would never let herself drink, if there was the slight chance that it would make her more like him she would avoid it like the plague. She had been sent back soon after that but she had kept her promise to herself and had never touched a drop of alcohol.

She sat down on the couch and pulled her legs up while switching the television on and watched whatever was on the first channel she came across. Before long she got bored and found herself doing push-ups to keep her mind occupied. After 50 push-ups her mind was still not interested in anything so she decided to take a shower before heading to bed. By the time she was pulling the sheet up over herself it was 10:37pm and she began to doze off while wondering how she would get through her day tomorrow.