A/N: I'm not sure if all my readers read my author's notes, but if you don't you must. This chapter for example contains important information. First, you will discover more about Emma's real background, which she goes by another name. Second, I've given Cora the part of the Director, but her and Regina are not in any way related in this fic. Those of you who have seen the John Wick films won't be lost. Happy reading and I am excited about the next upcoming chapter as Regina will finally make an appearance.
Chapter 3: A Swan's Origins
"That's her." A man spoke in Italian to his companion sitting in the passenger seat of their car. Both eyes on Emma.
"Yes."
"Tell them she's arriving at the corner."
The assassin within the passenger seat reached for his phone, dialing a number to alert the rest of the blonde's presence.
Emma walked along, drenched in rain water. Her head turned to the sound of a vehicle approaching her at a fast speed that impacted her almost immediately. She grunted as her body rolled onto the hood of the car, landing hard against the wet pavement. Just as quickly as she stood, another car impacted her with the same speed. This time with her head meeting the windshield of the vehicle.
Due to the adrenaline, of course, she quickly sat up. Bright headlights shining her way as Emma quickly took off running.
Two assassins on motorcycles watched as the blonde, once again ran for her life, while the ones inside the vehicles chased after her.
Horses softly cried out as Emma ran inside some stables, past a few men leading some of their horses out.
Soon after, three assassins, weapons drawn out, entered the stables. All going their separate ways, while on alert for any signs of the blonde.
One of the men's heads turned, his eyes growing wide from the presence of the blonde. He groaned as her fist impacted his face, while Emma held onto his arm. Another groan escaped him, while she turned her back to him, delivering another blow to his face with her elbow.
Emma struggled with him at first, slamming his locked arm upward against her, injuring it. She maneuvered him to her movements, placing him in front of her. Her knee striking his stomach. She grunted in her struggle again for just a minute. Her hand reached for the man's leg, causing his body to slam hard onto the hay covered floor, while she kneeled expertly beside him.
He grunted once again, as she stood, her foot stomped strongly against his groin. Followed by another kick to his face.
Emma bent down to reach for the man's weapon, jerking it back as a shot was fired right near the ground. Almost aiming for her hand. Another assassin chased after her soon after as she ran.
The blonde quickly pulled on the reins of a black stallion, moving the animal to her liking as quickly as she could. The assassin chasing after her, grunted as he was impacted by the horse's behind, sending his body flying hard against the gates.
Emma watched him as he was determined to stand back to his feet. She grunted while with her hand, smacked the horse's shoulder, hitting a nerve that caused the animal to deliver a fast and hard kick right to the man's face. His body falling to the floor unconscious.
Her head quickly turned to the sound of the other horses crying out. She ran up to one of them, sliding her body underneath the animal, her hands reaching for the other assassin's weapon as she quickly stood to her feet. Two shots firing out of the man's weapon as they struggled.
Emma's next move was to jump up, twisting her lower body so her legs would wrap around the man's neck. It was a move she didn't perform often, but it was one that always worked. She brought him down onto the ground along with her.
Both stood up rather quickly, the blonde's grip tightened around the man's wrist, preventing him from using his weapon as both assassins danced around for a while in such position. His back turned towards her, while Emma wrapped her arms around his form, her grip on his weapon never loosening as two random shots were fired against the floor. Clouds of dirt rising up, while the horses cried out around them.
Emma dodged one of the man's attempted punches, pushing him slightly away as she blocked another incoming punch. As both her arms wrapped around his own arm, the blonde kneeled down, crouching forward, causing the man's body to spin onto the floor, right over her own.
Standing to her feet, she quickly rushed towards a baby stallion. By the look of it was probably in his teens, which she knew those horses tended to be more afraid of any movement around them. Her hands were placed against the animal's fur, as the horse's back legs delivered two hard kicks to the man's face. Knocking him out unconscious.
There was one more assassin left.
Emma moved along as the last of them was coming her way. She reached for the man's arm, as two random shots were fired, frightening the horses around them. She turned her back to him. She pulled hard on the man's arm causing his body to flip over hers as she kneeled.
Quickly blocking an attempted punch from the man, she grabbed onto his armed hand, knocking the weapon out of his grip as it clattered onto the floor.
The blonde dodged one of the man's punches, followed by two of his kicks. She grunted as he then delivered another quick kick right to her chest. Her body slamming back against another horse.
The man shouted as he attempted to deliver a punch. A punch that was then blocked by the blonde, while she struck him twice in the back with a knife hand strike. Blocking another one of the man's punches, her grip tightened around the man's suit, holding onto his arm as she flipped him over her body while she kneeled. His body landing on the ground with a hard thud.
Emma quickly moved towards the horse, grabbing a hold of the animal's reins that were equipped with it. She wrapped the leathered reins tightly around the grunting man's neck, grabbing a hold of the seat of the animal as she quickly mounted it, riding away all while the man was dragged. His screams heard until he slammed hard against a pile of hay and wooden wall.
As she rode out of the stables, mounted on the horse. The two assassins on their bikes soon chased after her, engines revving.
Pedestrians' heads turned to the sight of the blonde on the horse and the other two chasing after her on their bikes. Emma made her way through a line of traffic, listening as the wheels on their motorcycles screeched right on the pavement as they turned to follow her.
Emma looked back as one of the assassins caught up to her, wanting to reach for her arm to knock her off of the horse. The blonde yanked her arm away, delivering two punches to the man's helmet, punches she was sure echoed inside of it, enough to bang on his eardrums. She quickly slammed his head against the handles of his bike, all while reaching for the handgun he had strapped to his back.
Aiming right to the man's head, she fired two bullets through the helmet, all while his body soon lost control of the bike, slamming right into a truck.
The engine of the other biker revved, following Emma close beside her, while the blonde slid her body beside the animal to her left, holding onto the reins as tightly as she could. Using the animal's body for cover.
She waited until the second motorcyclist was close enough to aim her weapon right at his bike. She fired three shots at the front tire, causing the man to lose complete control of it, as it lifted upward and sent his body flying forwards, while it slammed against a car. Horns honked in the distance as the blonde continued to ride off into the night.
"Emma Swan. Open contract. Increase, fifteen million."
Robert Gold read the text of the bounty increased on the blonde's head through his phone. "Where are you going, Emma?" He asked among himself, wondering how the blonde would get out of this alive. He knew she would, but he still wondered how.
The night had grown quiet as Emma rushed towards an old looking theater. The lights of it shining bright. Her hand slammed down against the plastic window, her eyes taking in the woman sitting behind it, inside the ticket booth.
"We are closed." The woman's thick Russian accent sounded calmly. Her eyes still focused on the piece of literature she held before her.
Another loud thump was heard, as Emma placed the crucifix against the window, slamming it down. Her pants sounding heavy as the woman's head slowly turned to face her.
An assassin's head turned towards the blonde, watching as she entered the theater. They wouldn't be able to kill her there. For now.
Soft piano music played out through the entrance, as two men held the doors open for the blonde to enter. The light dim.
Making her way through, Emma stopped in front of a desk that was placed a few feet before the main entrance. Where a group of men sat, their eyes on her as she placed down the crucifix.
"It's been a while." One of the men spoke to her in Russian.
Emma dug inside her suit jacket, the few gold coins she still had in her possession rattling as she placed them on the table before them, followed by the medallion Gold had given her. Her eyes focused on them.
"And the belt." One of the three men sitting behind the desk motioned to her.
Emma stood silent for a short minute, before removing her belt without any hesitation on her part. Its buckle clanked loudly as she placed it flat and laid out on the wooden table.
"Show her the way." His head turned to the third man who stood up and waited for the blonde patiently to follow him.
Emma grabbed a hold of her crucifix, her eyes on both men who remained seated, "Be seeing you." She told them in perfect Russian.
"Be seeing you." Both replied in unison. Their heads followed Emma who moved on further into the theater.
"Again!" Shouted a woman, who sat a few feet away from the lit up stage, watching as one of her ballerinas performed a dance. Messing up on one of the parts. Like Sidney Glass, and Robert Gold, she was one of the top ones. Not of the High Table, but they owned their own kingdoms. And if anyone could help Emma right now, it would be her. Cora. Or the Director as she was well known by. The woman who brought her up to be what she now was. She owed her that much.
"Again!" Her shouts echoed in Russian, while the closing of doors echoed throughout the theater. Cora's eyes were filled with surprise at the sight of the blonde, who stood and kneeled before her now, her head bowed down in respect. An expression she didn't allow the blonde to see on her.
"Irina." Cora spoke the blonde's true name. Her Russian name. A name she hadn't heard or spoke out in years. Not since Emma left to become what she expertly was. "Why have you come home?" She asked. Her voice cold, yet calm. Her eyes looking forward again.
Emma held up her crucifix before her. Her green eyes glancing up into her own.
"You present this to me like an answer."
"I still have my ticket." Emma replied, holding up her crucifix, practically begging for help.
"After all the chaos you've caused for the last few weeks, you think your ticket is valid?" Cora spat. Her stare cold, "You forget that the Ruska Roma is bound by the High Table, and the High Table stands above all?" She asked. "They could kill me just for talking to you." She leaned in, her lip twitching in anger, "You honor me by bringing death to my front door."
Her eyes took in the sight of a desperate child. A child she dearly missed, but wasn't about to show it.
"Oh, Irina. What has become of you?" Cora asked, never remembering once, the sight of the blonde in this state.
Emma's eyes looked down to the carpet, her Russian spoken out in perfection towards the woman, "I am Irina Jovonovich." Her eyes looked up, locking with Cora's as she spat her next words out, "I am a child of the Belarus, an orphan of your tribe… You are bound to help me…" Her voice raised an octave as she spat her last spoken Russian vocabulary. She held the crucifix more towards Cora, tightening her grip around it as it wrapped around her fingers, "You are bound. And I am owed."
Classical music played out through the older woman's momentary pause.
"Rooney, enough!" She shouted, her eyes looking towards her dancer as she fell onto the floor. Standing to her feet, her head looked over her shoulder at the blonde who was still kneeled in place, "With me."
Emma stood to her feet, following the woman in silence. Her eyes looking at the ballerina who sat exhausted on the stage floor. The girl's back covered in tattoos very much like Emma's, only with a slight difference.
The blonde followed Cora right through two back doors that lead into the backstage of the theater. Two of her guards walking right behind her. It was silent, despite there being more of her girls in their costumes. Some practicing, some doing warm up stretches. It all felt very familiar to Emma. Very much like the home she remembered.
"You are owed." Cora spoke calmly, walking along with the blonde in tow, "You are owed nothing, Irina. You know, when my pupils first come here, they wish for one thing. A life free of suffering. I try to dissuade them from these childish notions, but as you know, art is pain."
Emma's head, along with Cora's, turned to a girl sitting on a chair, her foot stretched out on another chair that was placed before her as she ripped off her loose toenail without so much as a flinch or cry of pain of any kind. The girl simply turned her head, her eyes locking on the blonde's.
"Life is suffering." Cora turned the corner, heading down a set of stairs. The blonde walking beside her now. "Somehow you managed to get out. But here you are, back where you began." She stopped on her tracks, facing the blonde, "All of this for what? A kid?"
Emma's lip quivered as she continued to follow her, "He wasn't just a kid. It was my family."
Thump after thump was heard as a pair of young boys wrestled on a mat. One performing one of the same moves Emma had been taught within these very walls.
The blonde stopped as Cora did, her eyes looking into the woman's as she smirked.
"Fond memories?" Cora asked her, continuing well on her way.
The blonde's eyes connected with those of the two boys who wrestled before her. Everyone in that room stopped at the mere sight of the blonde. Her being a legend and all.
The next room they walked through was lit up only by dim lights that were against the walls. That and a single fireplace. A row of ballerina's practiced as their instructor told them how to move step by step. A fine piano piece playing throughout the room.
Two men standing by two wooden doors that led to another room, pulled them open. Standing in place as Cora and Emma, both stepped right inside.
"Sit." Cora motioned towards the table in the center of the room, equipped with chairs.
The blonde's head turned towards the doors as they closed, leaving both of them alone. She looked back at Cora who sat in front of her, across the table. She pulled out the chair before her, feeling the warmth of the giant fireplace that was lit up behind her as she sat. Her eyes locked on the woman sitting before her.
"Even if I wanted to, I can't help you, Irina." Cora's voice was once again calm, "The High Table wants your life. How can you fight the wind? How can you smash the mountains? How can you bury the ocean? How can you escape from the light? Of course, you can go to the dark. But they're in the dark, too." She paused, "So tell me, Irina. What do you really want?"
"Passage." Emma replied, her tone almost a whisper.
"Where did you want to go?" Cora casked.
"Casablanca." She replied.
Cora chuckled, "The path to paradise begins in hell."
Emma leaned against the table, holding out her crucifix before the woman, "I know you have connections. You know of someone there who should be able to help me."
Cora looked at her in silence for a moment, the corner of her lip quirking up into a tiny smirk. A smirk that spelled out a mystery. Because she did know of someone in Morocco who would help her.
"So be it." She reached for the crucifix, holding it within her hand, "You hand me your ticket, I will tear it. If that's what you really desire."
Emma unwrapped the string of beads from around her knuckles, handing it over to Cora, who didn't hesitate to take it within her grasp. She tore the crucifix from the beads with one fast yank. As she held it up for one of her guards to take, Emma stood from her chair, removing her suit jacket from her body, while she worked in undoing the buttons of her shirt.
Cora's guard took an iron from its stand, screwing on the crucifix to the end of it.
Emma turned to face Cora, nodding as she placed a chair in front of her, sitting down, while she pulled down on her shirt to expose her upper back. Visible bruises and injuries coating one of her upper shoulders and some on her arm and ab muscles.
The man held the crucifix near the flames of the fire, standing behind the blonde as he waited for direction.
Emma's eyes met with Cora's as she leaned against the chair, all while the woman remained seated before her.
"With this, Irina, your ticket is torn."
Emma yelled out in pain as the red burning crucifix was held against the skin on her back, burning its brand over part of her tattoo. Strands of fallen golden hair covered her face as she panted, groaning in pain as the hot object was finally removed from her back.
"Instructions will be given to you on who to look for when you arrive to Morocco." Cora spoke, her eyes connecting with Emma's, "You can never come home again." She stood from her chair, "Take her to the lifeboat." She ordered, leaning in, taking in the green color of the blonde's eyes for one last time, "Do svidanya."
The sound of the door closing was heard once again, as Emma was left panting against the chair. "Do svidanya." She muttered.
Even though she was in an extreme amount of pain, she was grateful for Cora's help.