Summary: Ever since Emma was 13, she knew she had the ability to destroy people if she wanted to, and some days, she really wanted to. After being forced to go to Greenwood Academy following a traumatizing event in her childhood that brought to the surface her ability to manipulate fire, she never thought she would be free of the place. So for nearly 10 years, she lived a solitary existence with the exception of her best friends, but that was all about to change. Killian Jones had just been sentenced to attend the university campus at Greenwood Academy after an accident at sea caused him to be dishonorably discharged from Her Majesty's royal Navy and lose his hand. He doesn't know what to think about these newfound powers and what they spell for the rest of his now not-so-normal life. But a chance encounter one day has the ability to change all of that. A story about love and redemption between two people that shows, if you have the right person beside you, you can find a light in the darkness.

Rating: M

Content Warnings: Mentions of Violence/Death, Brief mention of Childhood Abuse/Sexual Assault, Mild Sexual Content

Chapter Notes: Chapter 4 has arrived! I thought I wouldn't actually have time to post today since I had to make a 6 hour drive back from one of my friend's weddings, but looks like I was able to get back into town sooner than I expected. Thanks to the Mods for being flexible and allowing me to post tomorrow if needed. I figured this chapter, since I haven't done so already, I would clue you into the meaning behind the stories title! It is actually a song title, "Love Lies" by Khalid and Normani. I found the lyrics of the song to fit so well to this story that I couldn't think of a better chapter title than that song.

This chapter is actually from Killian's point of view, so we get to peak into his head and find out a little bit about what he is thinking about Greenwood academy and his thoughts on Emma as well! Thanks again as always to my beta daveyjacobsthepotterhead and my artist princesse-swan, I couldn't have asked for two better collaborators on this project!

Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Killian hated this god forsaken school, or whatever the hell they decided this glorified prison was supposed to be.

He hated that he was sent here after his hearing with the Royal Navy.

That he was now half a world away from his brother.

And he hated that he didn't have control over his own life anymore.

Ever since the incident that got him marshalled by the Navy, dishonorably discharged, and exiled to this rubbish school, he had been decidedly unhappy with the direction that his life was spiraling.

But then again, in comparison to that, maybe sitting through his Introductory Biology course was the least horrible thing that he could be doing right now.

Shuffling his notebook around to try and start a new page while the professor droned on about the Krebs cycle seemed to create an unnecessary amount of noise. Still not used to only operating with one hand, and Greenwood not having approved the production of a working prosthetic hand for him, Killian found the most frustrating things to be something that used to be easy before he lost his hand.

And the way the glove that they had fitted his other hand with didn't make life any easier, since he didn't have the fine motor skills that he was used to. But then again, ever since they fitted it; and removed those horrible iron gloves that made his already concussed head spin and stomach flip, he hadn't felt a single rumbling of that oozing darkness inside him.

The darkness that had blotted out the world that day and obscured everything on that ship-

Killian stopped that thought in its tracks. He wasn't going to dwell on what had gotten him stuck here in the first place. Scrambling to get the rest of the cycle written down in his notebook, he tried to focus back on the lecture in front of him.

That was a good thing at least, that he was afforded the opportunity to go to school and get a university degree. Since he had followed Liam's footsteps into the Navy eight years ago, he had thought occasionally about stepping back a bit and going to university and getting his degree. But what had stopped him was not necessarily knowing what he wanted to spend the rest of his life doing, because whenever he looked into his future, he always saw himself spending his life at sea, traveling the world with his brother.

Glory for the Jones Brothers.

Killian sighed. Not anymore.

The professor called lecture to a close at that point, assigning the reading for the next class later in the week. Killian sighed again and placed his pen down, scrubbing his gloved hand over his eyes.

Another frustration about this damnable place, he couldn't even feel the skin of his own hand anymore, because the glove wouldn't come off.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a way to remove it himself, and they hadn't said anything to him when they gave it to him about not being able to remove it.

Then again, he didn't really care at the time, he just wanted those….poisonous gloves removed.

Working to shove all of his stuff in his bag, Killian got stuck waiting for the rest of the students in his row of the lecture pit to exit so he could stand and just dump everything into the bottom of his bag.

He could sort through it again when he got back to the prison cell they called his dorm room.

Throwing his bag over his shoulder, Killian watched as the last of the students in the pit filed out ahead of him, some throwing a weary glance at his glove. Apparently word traveled fast around this school as to who came in with some new, scary power; and that immediately made others weary of him, and others like him he supposed.

"Is everything alright Mr. Jones?" Professor Hopper asked from the front of the lecture pit.

Killian nodded his head yes in return, not really feeling like giving an oral response, and turned to head up the stairs out of the lecture pit.

"Just give them time Mr. Jones, new students take some time to get used to." Killian paused at the words, shoulders and back tensing he was sure was meant to be reassuring.

Killian did arrive at the school a few weeks into the term, and while many professors had been very accommodating to him having extra time to make up the course work, since he was stuck here during the school breaks, the students hadn't been as receptive. Shaking his head again, he made it up the last few steps and pushed his way out of the doors leading out of the pit and into the lobby.

He paused outside of the building, wondering where to go next. He didn't have any more classes for the day, but he also didn't want to spend the time holed up in his dorm room doing nothing.

As he was contemplating what to do, Killian spotted a familiar blonde head walking through the throng of students towards the library.

Smiling, Killian increased his pace to try and catch up with her.

He watched as she ducked into the front doors of the library, catching her headed to the right as the glass doors closed behind her. Killian finally made his way up the steps and into the building.

He hadn't been to the library often since he started at the school, so he didn't realize the sheer size of the space when he walked in after her.

To the right of the main lobby was a large study room, with dozens of tables and computers and groups of students studying. He paused just inside the entrance, hearing a handful of students grumble as they moved around him into the room, and scanned the space for her.

After a few minutes of searching, he finally spotted her at a table by herself in the corner, headphones over her ears and hunched over a notebook. Killian began weaving his way across the room over to her table, ignoring the glances that the students gave him as he walked past.

He set his bag down loudly on the floor next to hers and scrapped the chair out across from her.

She started, her pen scratching across the page of her journal, and she looked up at him, surprised.

She moved to pause her music and shifted her headphones off her ears. "Killian, this is a surprise."

"Mind if I join you love?" He asked, gesturing to the chair he had just pulled out.

"Not at all." She said, then looked down at the journal in front of her and scowled.

Killian looked down as he took his seat and saw the drawing that she had been working on was now marred by a harsh line of ink straight across the center of the entire page. "Terribly sorry about that, if I would have known what you were working on I wouldn't have startled you that way."

"I wasn't entirely happy with the direction it was going anyway, so maybe it was for the best." She commented, shrugging. She made to turn the page in her notebook to a fresh page when he reached out and placed his hand on her wrist to stop her.

She jerked her hand back from his as if she had been shocked. He tried not to take the action as a slight against him.

"Mind if I take a look?" Killian asked, gesturing to her notebook.

"Umm, yeah, sure." Emma mumbled, rubbing at the bracelet on her wrist.

Eyeing her warily, seeing how jumpy she was with him all of a sudden, he slowly turned her notebook around so the bottom of the page was facing him. She had the rough outline of a woman, reaching her hand up towards the sky to grasp at something. It looked like it was turning out to be something marvelous, but he had unfortunately ruined it.

"It looks great Swan, if I hadn't dropped in and ruined it like that it would have probably turned out to be amazing." he said, passing the notebook back to her.

"The proportions were all off, and I don't really like the way she is standing anyway, so maybe-"

"It really does look like something great, you have a lot of talent Emma." She ducked her head as a beautiful blush spread across her cheeks.

"Thanks Killian, what are you doing in the library?" She asked, then cringed. "Sorry, that came out wrong, I didn't mean for it to sound that way."

"It's okay, I was just looking for somewhere else to study besides my dorm room." He said.

"Me too, that happens a lot more often than you would think." Emma said, flipping the page of her notebook. "What are you studying?"

"Biology, Dr. Hopper was going over the Krebs cycle today and I have to admit, I didn't listen as well as I should have. We have a test coming up next week that I will most certainly fail if I don't make any progress." Killian said, working to pull his textbook out of his bag. "What about you?"

"Not necessarily studying, just wanting to get out of my dorm. Also, my friends know that I don't want to be bothered if I'm here." Emma said nonchalantly.

Killian thought over that phrase for a second. He hadn't had the time to make many friends at this school yet, but he didn't really know if he had a place that he liked to go when he didn't want to be bothered.

There really wasn't any kind of personal space when you are deployed on a vessel in the middle of the ocean with 300 other men; so he supposed he wasn't used to having a placed he could necessarily call his own without having to share it with anyone.

Maybe that was why his private quarters here bothered him so much.

The fact that she said she wished to be alone earlier clanged through him again. "Would you like me to leave you alone then?"

He would leave her alone if she wished, but he fervently hoped otherwise.

Emma shook her head at him, "No, you're fine," She said, "I know that you don't have some ulterior motive to drop in on me like they sometimes do."

He quirked an eyebrow.

"They just don't get me sometimes, I guess." Emma said, "They bug me about things that they all would worry about, but that don't necessarily apply to me. Sorry, I'm not making any sense."

She continued to rub at her wrists in a nervous manner while she was rambling. Once she realized he was watching her, she pulled her shirt sleeves back down to cover the bracelets at her wrists.

Killian reached his hand out tentatively towards her wrist, pushing back her sleeve and lightly touching; or he hoped it was a light touch, he couldn't tell through the glove, the bracelet at her wrist. "What are these?"

She looked down at them morosely, a look of longing in her eyes, "You obviously haven't been here very long if you don't know what these are." Showing him both the bracelets on her delicate wrists, she continued. "They are suppression bracelets. They knock my powers down to a level where I can't access them anymore."

"You say that like you want to be able to use them again." He stated, a question hidden in the phrase.

If he had the chance, he would never feel that rolling darkness under his skin ever again. He didn't like feeling that out of control and lost as he did that first time his powers manifested.

"How much do you know about me Killian?" She asked, wary. He didn't know what to make of the sudden walls going up in her expression. He didn't think he had said anything wrong.

"No more than you have told me love." He said honestly, trying to dispel the sudden tension.

"My powers come from fire, and I miss the warmth and life that the flames brought. The safety and protection they made me feel." She looked saddened as she spoke, like she was talking about a long lost friend. He said as much to her.

"Yeah, I suppose I am." She gave him a sad smile, wrapping her arms around herself a bit. Maybe that was how she tried to feel that warmth that the flames gave her again.

"Well, now that I've taken this conversation in a horribly morose direction, I suppose I must propose a new topic of discussion. You said you understood the Krebs Cycle?"

She hadn't, he remembered belatedly, but he hoped she would be able to help.

Emma tucked her hair behind her right ear, and nodded her head. "Yeah, what didn't you understand again?" Leaning towards him, she waited patiently as he worked to get the textbook open to the right section.

Turning the book around to face her, he pressed down on the binding with his shortened arm. The Diagram splayed out between the two pages was fully displayed for her. Gesturing to a section he explained how what Dr. Hopper had told them during his lecture differed from how the textbook explained it.

She gave him a small smile as he rambled on in his explanation. The haunted look still hadn't left her eyes, but Killian vowed to himself that he would do everything in his power to keep that look from her eyes as long as she let him.