chapter three ~ rumblings of real trouble
Despite the blatant innuendo Killian Jones was dropping, even as he remained placidly behind bars, and Emma's flustered and heated reaction (which both of her friends could certainly pick up as well), Graham did grudgingly turn to head out, mumbling to his new inmate that he had better behave himself and not give Deputy Swan any trouble. Emma could practically hear Ruby's eyes roll dramatically in reaction to her brother's overprotective warning, without even looking at her friend's face, before Ruby did turn to follow his lead.
To Jones' credit, he didn't fight the sheriff's edict or respond challengingly at all. Instead, he offered an almost respectful nod of deference to the other man. His softly murmured response was genuine when he answered, "Of course, Sheriff. I wouldn't think of doing otherwise."
The sincere reply seemed to stop Graham's stalking exit short, his wiry frame practically vibrating with tension, but his shoulders lowering as well before he also bowed his head and let out a breath. Looking back over his shoulder, eyes stormy but voice calmer and more genial than it had been. "Thank you," he stated simply. "I appreciate that…truly."
He then spoke to Emma, clearly deciding he owed her a bit more explanation as well. "As I've thought on it more, I may remember a prisoner named Belle in Regina's castle back our land. If she is the same person Gold seeks, I might have an idea where she could be. I'll admit that my memories seem to be coming back in pieces instead of all at once, and fuzzily at that. Maybe because I wasn't always fully myself when they were made? I don't know really….but if we find her there, not only will we have found her and have our gambit to offer him, but Gold certainly can't ask us to hold Mr. Jones on those grounds any longer. If I'm right, he'll be hunting Mayor Mills instead."
Emma nodded her understanding, and Ruby looked galvanized by the lead as well – ready to head off to the rescue and into action. Moments later, the two of them were gone, and Emma found herself alone in the station with the devastatingly handsome, and more and more irresistible, Killian Jones. For a few awkward minutes, she attempted to elude his searching, heated gaze. She could feel it on the back of her head, tingling at the base of her neck, but she was avoiding him, more than a little embarrassed at her obvious attraction being picked up on, and that she knew she couldn't hide it if she got close to him, let his eyes draw her in once more. Pretending to straighten the mess of her desk, check the phone for messages, and see that more coffee was brewing could all only take so long however. When Killian's voice once more reached out to her from across the large, open room, caressing her ear with its low, warm timbre, Emma had little choice but to turn and meet his heated stare head on.
"Come now, Swan," he coaxed, beguiling smile on his lips, "don't ignore me. Interrogate me, punish me for my malfeasance if you must…" at that his eyes glittered with truly salacious temptation and a licking of his chops that did indeed make him look wolfish, "but don't kill me with boredom."
She found herself smirking back, moving closer to his cell in spite of her own resolve, and about to challenge the innuendo he tossed out with a saucy comeback of her own, when suddenly a low rumble vibrated through the building around them; the actual ground beneath her feet rocking unsteadily. Unsettled to say the least, her heart pounding and eyes seeking out some sort of cause, Emma stumbled forward and grasped the bars of Killian's cell before her for balance. Still confused and more than a bit worried, she couldn't help noting that his hand closed over hers on the metal bar comfortingly; lending her assurance, even as the floor seemed to shift and tremble under her, and it began to look as though the brick outer wall of the station was wobbling and rearranging as well.
Her eyes finally flew to meet Jones' intent gaze, hoping he could perhaps explain what was happening.
A dark look crossed his features making him look distinctly foreboding. Emma had the definite sense that he did at least have some suspicion or idea what might be occurring, but before she could gather her voice to ask him, her eyes widened in genuine trepidation as the bricks in the wall nearby did indeed begin to not just shift but fall away. It was as if, as she watched, stunned, the wall crumbled in the shape of a wide archway, opening the station to the street outside.
She felt Killian go rigid next to her, again making her almost certain that he knew exactly who or what was coming for them, and that he was absolutely dreading the confrontation. Already nervous, his reaction made her mouth go totally dry, turning her hand within his grip up to twine her fingers with his in search of a bit more courage with which to steel herself.
Mere seconds later, two swirling funnels of purple smoke appeared in the opening, clearing gradually to reveal Regina Mills in one of her perfect, sharp skirt suit ensembles and an older, similarly dark-haired, dark-eyed woman beside her dressed in an opulent gown that Emma could only assume was more reminiscent of this other realm everyone else seemed to hail from; it certainly didn't look like anything she'd ever seen in modern day New England. Both were cool, composed, and completely unruffled, despite the unbelievable and sudden appearance. They stepped through the now obviously magic-created gap and with a single gesture of the older woman's hand, the continued rolling beneath their feet abruptly ceased.
"Cora," Emma heard Killian growl angrily at her back, low and under his breath, but indicating to her clearly his wariness and a previous acquaintance that was less than pleasant. She recalled his recent brief confession to Graham, that this woman was both a powerful sorceress and Regina's mother, and also the way he himself had reached Storybrooke.
Reacting almost without thought, and while still clutching his hand, Emma stepped in front of Jones subtly, as if to shield him from direct attack. Not that she could do much against magic, but this was partially her jail after all. She wasn't having someone hurt on her watch; not if she could help it. Beyond that, something fiercely defensive rose inside her. This man – she didn't yet know him well – but she sensed a pull, a tie between them that she didn't want severed. Though he seemed ruggedly able to care for himself – if he had been alone as long as it seemed, he clearly could – she didn't want him to stand alone against two dangerous witches. There wasn't even a question; she didn't know exactly why, but what he had shared of his past with Gold made it clear he'd been hurt with magic before, and she wouldn't merely stand by to let it happen again without trying to help.
Pressing her mouth into a thin line and planting her feet, even as Killian hissed at her shoulder, tugging at her arm, urging her to step aside, reasoning that if they were there for him he didn't want her to take his place, Emma focused on staring the two women down resolutely, hoping not to give away any of her doubt or fear.
The older woman, her dark hair up in some elaborate twist, practically simpered in self-satisfaction at them, her voice a sickening coo, a deceptively sweet warning hidden in friendly greeting. "Well, Captain, what have we here? I wondered where my traveling companion had gotten to. You don't look as though you've done all that well for yourself." Her wide, pearly smile seemed polite and magnanimous, but beneath it showed her teeth in an eerily chilling grin.
Emma scrunched her face up in confusion, not understanding the 'Captain' title or her teasingly condescending manner. Killian however, though she could feel his tension through the bars that separated them, appeared outwardly unconcerned and nonchalant to the woman's barbs and her veiled threat. His voice was cool and silky as ever when he responded, "Well, I see that unencumbered by my dissention you've found and teamed up with your daughter, as you desired. So it certainly hasn't held you back any, your Majesty."
Emma found herself thrown even more and further confused by the royal honorific Jones offered the woman before them, but before she could question anyone on the finer points of who she was or what was going on, Cora nodded back to them, a light chuckle leaving her that somehow made the hair on Emma's arms stand on end.
She inclined her head toward Killian in a subtle gesture of agreement before adding, "You are correct. Certainly your defection has hardly stopped me. However," and here she pursed her lips, clearly taking in both the people who stood before her: their stances, their closeness, and quite possibly even their strong but undefined connection, then cutting briefly to her daughter, who looked cruelly pleased and expectant for what would happen next. "Though I do not take slights or betrayals lightly, you are not the one I've come to deal with at present."
Though it was Emma who had been lost up to this point, now Killian seemed equally puzzled by his former cohort's words. "Pardon me, Love," he smirked deviously, just as able to simper back at her as she was to put on false charm, "but I'm afraid I don't quite understand."
"Oh no?" the older woman tutted mockingly. "Well, you see, I came to this little hamlet to make amends with my daughter, which you well remember, Captain. As it turns out, our family reconciliation is nearly complete." She shrugged, looking for all the world as if she had not a care, merely one tiny little chore to accomplish and all of her plans would be achieved.
Killian, however, knew better than most just how deceptive her pleasant smile could truly be. He had first met the woman on a mission from Regina to Wonderland – where he had been sent to kill Cora. Instead, he had nearly lost his own life, felt those clawed fingers squeezing within his chest, and knew that in the case of this mother and daughter, the evil apple had not fallen far at all from the poisonous tree. Having his life spared by the deceptive and powerful Queen of Hearts had left him with something of a presumed debt, and a knowledge from just enough time spent with her as a compatriot, of how truly dangerous the woman was. Not for a second did he believe her answer would be anything pleasant, he feigned nonchalance to toss back a casual, "Oh yes? And what is it that two accomplished sorceresses such as yourselves could still need?"
Unfortunately, Cora Mills seemed to snap instantaneously into deadly seriousness; her coy, teasing manner vanishing from her face. She suddenly stood right before them, almost nose-to-nose with Emma, sparing merely one more glance with a frightening gleam in her dark eyes for Killian. "Just a little gift, mind you…a token really…to show my sweet Regina how sincere I am in my desire to make things right – to know her again and be her mother."
Something about the woman's tone of voice, the fiercely capable but also unhinged look on her face made Killian freeze. He attempted to raise both eyebrows in challenge, as if to ask doubtfully what sort of gift that could possibly be, but he could already tell that she was coiled, ready to strike, and in that instant, he couldn't force out the words to push her any further. He could see as clear as day that she was about to make a bold move, and Regina's smug expression as she watched from the background with sadistic glee only made the inner warning bells of foreboding ring with more intensity.
Emma was without the benefit of previous dealings and experience with the elder Mills, and so had no such compunction in dealing with their sinister opponent. Instead, she narrowed her eyes, practically growling back, "Oh yeah? Well then go for it, Lady," in a defiant dare that made Killian's blood run cold at danger it invited.
Even so, he couldn't have been prepared for the rapid way Cora's hand shot straight forward, somehow penetrating Emma's chest with sudden violence, and causing Swan to cry out in stunned pain despite her former toughness. Delving about within the golden siren's body before him with a terrifying purpose he knew all too well, Killian barely choked back his own desperate protest, not wanting to make the witch savor her task any more than she already did.
"Thank you, my dear," Cora said mockingly to Emma, her hand looking to at last close around the desired organ as Swan began to gape for air. "You see, you're in my daughter's way. Getting between her and her son. She wanted you removed from the picture, without implicating herself." She smiled a jagged, horrifying grin, "And I am only too happy to oblige."
Emma actually snarled, regardless of her precarious position and Cora's literal grasp on her very life. Killian knew then and there that he had never been so impressed, so enthralled with anyone before. "You'll get to Henry over my dead body," Emma vowed through clenched teeth, glaring at Regina with a fire that was intimidating even with the Queen of Heart's arm engulfed in her torso.
Cora merely laughed aloud at Emma's words, readying to pull her arm free with the deputy's heart in her grip. "I'm sorry to tell you this, my dear, but that is precisely what is about to happen." She tried to withdraw, but instead of emerging with the organ in her hand, the vile woman seemed stuck. She jerked harder, actually moving Emma awkwardly along with her arm, but neither her hand nor the heart left Emma's body.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Cora snapped, yanking her arm back toward herself in earnest now, or attempting it at least; her puzzled frustration growing as she pulled to no avail.
Killian was equally stunned, gaping at Emma who had begun to glow so brilliantly he had to squint to look at her fully, even as her face turned toward him to ask the same question herself. Then, to both their surprise, Cora was flung away from them, across the room with a force so massive it blew Regina off her feet as well – both villainesses careening into the far wall where they lay for the moment, unmoving and still.
In the intensity of the last several minutes, Killian had forgotten his own strength; the unnatural power that did at least come along with the trials and alienation of who (and what) he was. He had been watching passively, his worry for Emma almost paralyzing him; forgetting that he was capable of freeing himself and coming to her aid. Once that seeming trance had broken, Killian's lupine protectiveness and dominance forcibly made themselves known; a low whine escaping his throat as he saw Emma fall back against the bars behind her, slumping at the energy which must have fled her body, and her lithe form visibly trembling. The beast within could remain contained and idly watching no longer, no matter how he had endeavored to up to that point to follow their commands and adhere to Emma and her sheriff's wishes.
Gripping the bars at either side of himself firmly in his large, roughened hands, Killian began to push firmly, slowly but surely bending the bars of his cage outward with his beyond human strength to where he could easily step free of confinement. In doing so, Emma lost the support she had been leaning on and practically collapsed against his solid chest.
Killian's arms came up to hold and encircle her of their own accord; his step forward readying him to catch her when she toppled, even as Emma looked up at him over her shoulder, blinking in confusion and dazed half-awareness at the sudden shift in position and their now close proximity. There was still a definite shaking to her limbs that Killian could feel as he gathered her closer to his considerable warmth – another trait of his dual nature, that he might have chuckled at in a lighter moment as Emma seemed to almost unconsciously snuggle nearer to him – unable to resist holding her while he had the chance. Her sweet, cupid's bow lips parted slightly in surprise as she attempted to catch her breath, and he could no more help the awed, enamored smile he gave her than he could help embracing her for as long as possible.
"Alright there, Lass?" he finally murmured, right against her ear, his mouth actually brushing the delicate lobe and causing a shiver to run through her all over again. Practically, he knew he should be making sure that Cora and Regina were truly incapacitated and looking for a way to hold them prisoner, or at least neutralize the danger they presented once they regained consciousness, but neither of the women had stirred in the slightest, and Emma Swan seemed not at all ready to pull away or push him back as he had fully expected. Holding his breath, he determined not to ruin the moment rather than do anything which would cause her to withdraw.
"I – I- I think so," the deputy stammered, wetting her lips and shaking her head rather adorably, somehow looking smaller and less certain than the tough, impenetrable front she had presented until that very moment. "Wh-what was that? How did I do… whatever that was?!" Her eyes bugged and she gestured expansively as if trying to illustrate the blast that had come from her chest and propelled her attackers away from them.
"Well, Emma," Killian hummed gently, his hands – both whole and stunted – rubbing up and down her arms unconsciously, attempting to offer her some sort of soothing comfort, "I don't mean to upset you, but if I had to venture a guess, I'd wager you used some sort of magic."
Swan did shove herself away from him then, eyes darting from her felled enemies to her own hands extended before her, and from his open, earnest expression to the bars bent wide to allow his freedom behind him. "What? No!" she shook her head in denial, blond mane flying wildly in all directions as she did so. "That's not possible. I don't have magic. And I certainly wouldn't know how to fling people across the room with it, even if I did!"
Killian's eyes narrowed at her outburst, his already stirred blood responding to her fire in a primal way he could not quash. It was all he could do to hold back his instincts just then as they urged him to pull her in and kiss the arguing breath right out of her. The wolf lurking beneath the surface suddenly rammed itself against his internal barriers, desperate to break free, to devour the delectable woman before him with lips, tongue and teeth, making her indisputably his own.
Emma of course, though obviously shaken by the events they had just weathered, looked nowhere near backing down; in fact, she appeared to be gathering steam, jabbing a finger toward the warped cell bars and turning her frantic ire on him. "And what is that?! Are you seriously telling me you could have gotten out of there whenever you wanted?! What were you doing? Just toying with us? Why?"
Dropping his head slightly, Killian had to fight the surge of disappointment that flooded his veins. 'Always mistrusted, never understood,' his mind seemed to hauntingly remind him once again as Emma's wild questions veered ever more toward accusation. Attempting to mask the hurt her sudden doubt had caused, Killian gathered his ever-effective cloak of flirtatious bravado around him, practically leering at her with devilish baiting in his tone. "Wouldn't you like to know?" he goaded, not wanting to provoke her in truth, but not sure how to answer the question honestly without spooking her and still keeping the howling beast within at bay, even as it hankered, slavered, to flee, to get away and lick its wounds. How to explain that he had hoped to aid their cause, to gain their trust, regain a bit of his tarnished honor, and maybe, at long last, find a place to belong? All he knew was that her reaction had forced him to see once again how foolish he was for holding out such hope.
Her arms crossed over her chest, panting with both exertion and indignation as she faced him down, toe-to-toe, the forms of the two Mills women clearly forgotten behind her. "Maybe I would," she shot back, "but I'm not about to start begging for hints. I wouldn't give you the satisfaction."
Neither of them were prepared to give an inch; that much was crystal clear. And Killian would lay odds that Emma had no more idea how they had gone from practically tangled in each other's arms to squared off ready to fight in mere seconds, but there they stood, sparks shooting between them, emotions high and ready to boil over at the slightest bit more provocation.
Again, his quivering muscles warned him of years' experience at barely holding back the change always on the very edge of his consciousness, warring to be free – his natural state constantly chafing at being held back, but when he had exerted such strength and let his emotions become so agitated, it was all the more close to the surface. Basically grinding his teeth, both jaw and mobile fist clenched, Killian let his eyes fall closed in a bid to shut Swan and her maddening presence out, to ground himself once more and stave off his shift until he could reach cover and manage it unobserved.
Both of them paused, chests heaving and at an impasse, until the sound of an alarmed shout, footsteps pounding, and then Graham's form appeared in the collapsed opening of the station's outer wall to the street, caused them to break eye contact. The swell of intense emotion that had swept them up dropped them again, and caused deputy and werewolf to fall away from each other. The sheriff agilely leapt over the pile of bricks to reach them, turning quickly as he regained his footing to offer first his sister, and then a wide-eyed, pale, and silent woman Emma could only assume was the elusive Belle French, his hand in turn to help them clamber over the rubble as well – Ruby quite adeptly, a marked spring in her step at all the action and excitement, and the other woman moving with a stiffness that spoke of lengthy inaction and uncertainty.
Even as she reached the inside with the rest of them, she carefully kept herself half hidden behind Ruby and continued to clutch Graham's steady hand with her own shaking fingers. She did peer out at Emma and Killian with a curious gaze, indicating that she was getting a sense of her new surroundings and wouldn't remain cowed for long, but still, Emma's heart went out her. The rather shell-shocked effect pale, thin visage gave left Emma unable to imagine what all she might have been through. "Belle, I assume?" Emma asked gently, not wanting to startle or push the other woman in any way, but wanting to acknowledge her all the same.
"Aye," Graham nodded, his accent think and softer than normal, a reassuring smile down at the petite woman offered as he spoke. He then looked up to Killian. "I apologize for taking you in earlier. You could have made things much more unpleasant than you did. I appreciate it, and I'm sorry for doubting you. Clearly you and Emma have proven quite a team while we were gone, but the three of us can take it from here. We should be able to sway Gold from his vendetta against you now, knowing it was Regina who was hiding Belle. Still, just in case… you might want to make yourself scarce for a day or two…"
Killian opened his mouth to argue, not liking the idea of leaving two fellow wolves – and Emma – to face off against his mortal enemy, not to mention the Evil Queen and her manipulative viper of a mother. Nor did he like the way matters remained between he and Emma – raw emotions left unspoken and the electricity that had been zinging between them unfulfilled and set alight. However, what the other man said made sense. His gaze turned to Emma, and she nodded shortly, letting him know she agreed with Graham and that he was dismissed.
Much too determined for that to be the end, Killian knew he would be back to finish what he and Swan had started, but the situation was too volatile and complicated for him to worsen their best chance of defusing at least one of their threats. They absolutely would not make the desired progress with Gold while dragging Killian along. He capitulated, merely stating that if they were sure – to which Ruby gave him a toothy grin, reminding him that they were kindred and she and Graham could handle it – he would go for the time being, but he wouldn't be far. He could be called back for help if needed. He and Graham shook hands, and Ruby gave him a much friendlier look than he had garnered from her previously…but Emma wouldn't meet his eye.
Now wasn't the time, he scolded himself, moving to the exit and stepping out of the station into the open air, headed for the tree line not far from this edge of town. Emma had seemed just panicked enough to let him go, despite their earlier closeness, and he kicked himself as he broke into a loping run for wishing once more that she would ask him to stay.