Chapter 3

Ten-year-old Killian sat on the edge of the bed in his brand new bedchamber, his head bowed and his hands clasped loosely between his knees. This room at King David and Queen Snow's castle was familiar to him; he'd stayed here during each of his previous visits to the castle.

But he wasn't a visitor anymore; this was now his home.

This bedchamber was grand—with a soft, comfortable bed, a wardrobe full of clothing, a magnificent mahogany bookcase filled with all the books he could desire—books on ships and sailing, books on knighthood, biographies of the greatest heroes of the Enchanted Forest, thrilling tales of heroics and adventure. Killian had every creature comfort he could possibly wish.

And yet, Killian wished with all his might that he could go back to his old, simple life. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful for the King and Queen and all they had done for him; he was. He very definitely was. He'd never in his life felt such relief and gratitude as when he saw King David arrive on Captain Silver's ship and demand the cruel man release the Jones boys from slavery.

It was just…over the past month, it felt like Killian's whole life had crumbled down upon him. First Mama died…and then Papa left…and then he and Liam were trapped on that horrid ship…and then just yesterday he'd lost Liam too. Liam wasn't gone for good, of course. He'd just become a sailor in King David's navy, but he'd be gone for long months at a time, so he was as good as gone from Killian's life—at least until Killian was old enough to join him.

In one month, Killian had left his entire family. He felt the tears prick behind his eyes again, but he took a deep breath and then let it out, determined not to cry again. He'd cried enough in the last month to fill up a lifetime.

Suddenly there was a tentative tap at his bedroom door.

"Come in," Killian called in a dull voice, and then he felt his ire rise when he saw who was on the other side of the heavy wooden door.

"Killian?" Emma asked in an uncharacteristically tentative voice. "Can…can I come in?"

Killian frowned. "Princess," he said, "I…I'm not in the mood to argue with you today."

"Good," Emma said, breezing into his room and plopping down beside him on his bed, "because I didn't come to argue."

"Emma, that's all we ever do," Killian pointed out.

"Uh-uh!" Emma protested. "There was that one time I punched you in the face!"

Killian rolled his eyes. "See? We're already arguing."

Emma frowned for a moment, then took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Okay, maybe we are, but I really didn't come here to argue with you, Killian."

"Why did you come, then."

"It's just," she began, picking at a loose thread on the duvet on his bed, "I know you're sad and a lot of bad things have happened, and…well, I thought, maybe you could use a friend."

Well that was unexpected! Killian shot the little girl beside him an incredulous look. "You want to be friends with me? Why? You hate me."

"I don't hate you, Killian," Emma insisted, "and before you even say it, I'm not trying to argue again! But I don't hate you. You're just…annoying sometimes, but I guess maybe sometimes I am too."

"You've got that right, lass."

She glared at him, and Killian found himself wanting to smile for the first time in this whole disastrous month.

"I'm going to pretend like you didn't say that."

"Why?" he taunted playfully. "I was just agreeing with you, Emma. Isn't that what people are supposed to do when they're not arguing with each other?"

She gave him one more quick glare that had his lips twitching to smile again, and then she gave it up and smiled back at him. "I guess so, but you don't have to be so enthusiastic about it."

Killian laughed.

"Very well," Killian said with a nod after he'd calmed once again, "so you would like to be friends. Why, princess? Are you just…pitying me?"

Emma shook her head. "No, that's not it. It's just, well, now that you are living here all the time and not just for a week in the summer, I thought maybe we should try to get along. Better to be friends if we have to be around each other every day, than to be enemies."

"Good idea," he said. "So what is it that friends do?"

"Well, I know how much you like the water and sailing and everything," Emma said. "How about we go down to the docks and look at Papa's ships? It's terribly hot today; maybe we could even go to the beach and wade in the surf."

Killian gave her a skeptical look. "Are you quite sure your papa would allow his precious Swan Princess to go all the way to the docks without adult supervision? I remember a couple of times last summer you got in trouble for wandering off on your own."

Emma let out a huff of air that ruffled the hair on her forehead. "Papa worries way too much! I'm a big girl now; nine-years-old, and he and Mama have been teaching me how to defend myself. Still…you're probably right. Mama said I could invite Princess Elsa to come for a visit if I'm good, so it would probably be better if I don't get in trouble right now."

Killian smiled. "Well…it was nice of you to suggest it anyway," Killian said tentatively. "I think it would have been fun to go down to the docks and the beach."

"Well then let's do it!" Emma insisted. "I don't really understand why you love the water so much, but maybe you can show me? Besides, we won't go alone. I'm sure I can get Graham to agree to go with us."

"Who's Graham?"

"He's one of my mother's most loyal guards," Emma answered. "A long time ago, when Grandma Regina was trying to get revenge on Mama, she ordered Graham to kill Mama, but he wouldn't do it. When Grandma Regina found out about it, she got really mad and took away his heart so she could control him. But then, when Mama offered Grandma Regina another chance and she took it, she gave Graham back his heart. Graham's been one of Mama's personal body guards ever since."

"Okay!" Killian said, after a moment. "If you don't think we'll get in trouble, let's go down to the ocean! And just you wait, Princess Emma! One of these days I'll have you liking the water so much you'll even ask me to teach you to swim!"

"Maybe," Emma said skeptically, getting to her feet and turning toward the bedroom door, "but don't forget, Killian! If we're friends we have to do things I like sometimes too!"

Killian groaned. "Don't tell me we're going to have to have another tea party with all your stuffed animals!"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly," she said. "I don't like having dumb tea parties any more than you do. I just made you play tea party with me last summer because I thought it would annoy you. I like my sword training and my archery training much better than playing with dolls or stuffed animals. Maybe I could talk Papa into letting you train with me too!"

Killian's smile widened. "That would be splendid! You know, Swan Princess, I think I'm going to enjoy being friends with you!"

Notes:

-It's been a crazy week! I actually almost forgot about Fluffy Fridays!

-In case you couldn't figure it out from the first few parts of this story, a tiny bit of background about what's the same and what's different from canon: In my version of events, Killian and his family obviously lived a couple hundred years later than he did in canon, thus he and Liam never even met the unscrupulous king that sent them after dream shade (and Killian never met Milah—thus there's no feud between him and Rumple). With regard to everyone else, everything pretty much happened as it did in canon up until Snow and Charming defeat Regina just before their official marriage. Where the change comes in is in the events of 2x10 (The Cricket Game). In the past portion of that episode, Snow and Charming capture Regina and at first plan to execute her. At the last moment, Snow insists they can't do that; they need to give her one last chance to turn away from her vengeance. In canon, Regina refuses that chance and continues full speed ahead with her plans for revenge, but in this story, she makes a different choice. Snow lets Regina out of her cell, and Regina realizes that her hatred and revenge don't—and won't ever—make her happy, and she turns her life around. Because of that, the curse is never cast.

-In the next few chapters, you'll see a little bit more about how that change affected the main characters—particularly Regina and Rumple.

-So, I decided to stop before I got to young teenage Emma and Killian. This chapter was already at 1000 words, and I figure the young teen part will take a full chapter to tell anyway. So now the plan for this story is for it to be 5 chapters and an epilogue.

-Up next: Killian and Emma continue their friendship, but by the time they're 16 and 15 respectively, Killian's feelings for Emma have started to change. Emma's still content with their friendship as it is, and doesn't know what to think about this change in Killian. Luckily she has her best friend, Princess Elsa to confide in.