Chapter Specific Warnings: For those of you who like Liam, I don't paint him in the best light (sorry)
Chapter Notes: And we are back! Now we get to hear Killian's point of view of the aftermath from the fight on campus, including visiting some of the ghosts of the past. Thanks to daveyjacobsthepotterhead for being an amazing beta and princesse-swan for the amazing chapter art. Enjoy!
Chapter 11Ten days.
They had locked Killian in his room for ten days.
Great way to thank him for saving the campus and all that.
The first thing on his mind after they unlocked his room this morning was to find Emma and figure out what happened to her.
He had woken up in the secure infirmary near the training rooms, apparently hours after the security on campus had swarmed in around him and Emma, barrels of the long rifles aimed at both their heads.
Killian remembered Emma dropping down to her knees after the guards' command, but just like his powers, the world went dark and silent.
After making certain that he was physically okay, they swapped out one glove for another, removing the full suppression glove from his hand to a lesser model that he was able to remotely function in, and placed him in his room on lock down.
No matter how many times he pounded on the back of his door for someone, anyone, to come in and give him some kind of explanation of what was going on, no one responded. He had finally given up after a day or two, his hand felt as though it was getting horribly bruised under the heavy metal of the glove, and his wrist wasn't in any better shape.
He had spent the duration of his sentence stuck with his thoughts.
At least he had mastered some form of his powers, and it was the only time that he had used his talent with an actual intent in mind, instead of it rushing out from him in some desperate need to protect.
There was still that crushing desire to protect self above all else that burned when the darkness had flown away from him that afternoon, but an even stronger desire that Emma not be hurt.
The thought of Emma spurred him on faster, heading towards David's room on the other side of campus.
At least they had fully replaced his glove when they arrive this morning. He didn't like not having full use of his one functioning hand.
He had tried dropping by Emma's dorm, since she lived in the high security building next to his, but she hadn't been around.
No sign of her there either, considering the lack of guards surrounding her room like they had been his.
He caught sight of a familiar red streaked head moving across campus.
"Ruby!" He yelled, waving his hand above his head when she perked up and turned to look in his direction.
Before Killian knew it, Ruby had him in a crushing embrace.
"Killian, Thank God." She said in relief. "Are you okay?"
She physically pulled back from him, making space between their bodies where there hadn't been before. Her nostrils flared as she sniffed at him.
"Are you scenting me?" He asked with a barely concealed laugh.
Her serious expression didn't waver. "I don't smell any blood. Where have you been for the last few days?"
"Locked down in my room, where do you think?" He said, lifting his newly fashioned suppression glove into the air. "I had to wait until they fashioned me with a new one of these."
"Makes sense. The entire campus is talking about what happened, the students are saying that you and Emma are heros." Ruby gushed, smiling at him like a proud mother hen.
"I take it the administration doesn't feel the same way." Killian said ruefully.
Ruby's expression soured. "That is putting it lightly."
"Speaking of Emma, have you heard anything from her?" He asked, feeling slightly panicked at the expression of concern crossing Ruby's face.
"No, I haven't seen her since Mary Margaret and I took off to go and take shelter. I thought you would have known where she was, David said you both were carried off in a separate direction than him after security rushed in to take over the scene." Ruby said.
"No, either she was taken somewhere else entirely or she was moved before I awoke, but I haven't seen her since then either." He commented, looking around, as if expecting her to appear out of thin air.
"I wonder where they put her." Ruby commented offhandedly.
That thought made Killian's heart clench even tighter in his chest.
When they last talked, really talked, they hadn't necessarily been on good terms. He was man enough to admit that part of that was his own fault though. After how she reacted to his advances that night, he really, really should have known not to push the issue of what happened to her when he confronted her that day.
That was also another mistake. Confronting her when she was already skittish enough around him again and trying to force her to talk about what made her that way when he wouldn't even admit to her how he lost his hand was a bit hypocritical.
Hindsight is truly twenty-twenty.
"David may have an idea of where she is, have you checked in with him yet?" Ruby asked, recapturing his attention.
He shook his head. "No, I was only let out just this morning, you are the first person from our little friend group that I have run into."
"Well, I don't think David has any classes today, so he should be up in his dorm. I know him and Robin were planning on hanging today as well."
"Thanks Ruby," He said, leaning in quickly to give her a peck on the cheek and darting off again in the direction of David's dorm.
"Good luck!" He heard her yell after him.
Killian was quickly stopped once he arrived at the building by two armed guards, demanding some form of Identification before allowing him into the building.
For security reasons they claimed.
More likely to force everyone into following more rigid standards than the academy previously had to keep students suppressed.
Once he was cleared by the guards, Killian made his way up to his friend's room on the 3rd floor.
He knocked twice, feeling a bit of relief hearing David's muffled "One second" coming through the door.
Killian stood shuffling his feet, looking around and seeing nothing while he waited for his friend to come to the door.
And for the second time that day, Killian was pulled into a crushing hug. Though he swore he could feel his ribs start to give a bit more as his friend lost control of his considerable strength for a second.
"Fuck. Jesus is it good to see you." David said, voice muffled from his shoulder.
"I would return the sentiment, but I think my ribs are about to crack." He said, wheezing a bit.
"Shit, sorry." David said, releasing him immediately.
"You're not normally this crass Dave, are you feeling alright." He asked, looking his friend over.
David looked fine physically, but Killian hadn't seen his friend after the battle, and didn't know if he had gotten hurt in the crossfire.
"I'm fine. I just haven't heard a peep from you or Emma since you both were dragged off. Just a relief to know that they hadn't shipped you off to some supermax facility somewhere." David said, gesturing for Killian to join him in his room. He waved to Robin as he walked in, noticing his other mate sitting on the futon in the room.
"Don't count your blessings yet mate, I ran into Ruby earlier and she hasn't heard from Emma either."
"Wait," David started, grabbing his shoulders roughly and turning him back around. "You haven't been with Emma this entire time?"
"No, I haven't seen her since I passed out. I am just as curious as to what happened to her as you are."
Worry flashed through David's eyes. But it was Robin who spoke next.
"Who knows what that bastard Riggans did to punish her. He has had it out for her ever since he arrived here two years ago."
Seeing the color drain from Killian's face had him quickly backtracking. "Not that he would take it too far. There are too many people he would have to go through to do something truly harmful to Emma."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't try." Killian said, thinking back on the encounters he had had with Riggans in the past.
None of them had been particularly horrible, but he got the distinct impression that the headmaster had taken the job to feel superior to a group of people who made him feel inferior. And he ruled the academy with an iron fist out of fear of losing that power.
But Emma had mentioned to him, multiple times over the last few weeks, that something just wasn't right with Riggans, or that he hated her.
She hated him, that he knew for sure. Emma hated that Riggans made her behave no better than a prized mare at a stable whenever anyone came from outside to inspect or review the handling of high risk cases.
Robin clapping a hand onto his shoulder broke him out of his thoughts. "Why don't you take a seat and relax man, We all know David is one of the first people Emma will try and find once they let her out of wherever they are holding her and we will be there waiting."
David walked over and handed them both a beer, which Killian promptly took a large drink of. It wasn't as good as the stock of rum that he kept in his own room, but it would have to do in a pinch.
"So, what has been going on that I need to know about." He asked, trying to distract himself.
"Not a whole lot actually." Robin said.
"Well, that's if you don't include Ruby breaking up with Victor and taking him back the next day." David chimed in.
"Yeah, but that's an almost monthly occurrence now anyways, it was bound to happen sooner or later." Robin quipped back.
Killian was thankful that they continued carrying on the conversation without him, because he was more concerned about everything that had happened with Emma than the trivial nature of his friends' relationship status.
He thought back to that day a few weeks ago, when they had their fight.
Killian knew she had been ignoring him. It was painfully obvious since there weren't but 20 people on this campus during breaks and he hadn't seen her at all since that night she had shoved him off of her and cowered in that corner away from him.
He knew something, or someone had happened to her, she had hinted as much. But it killed him not to know why she was pushing him away all of a sudden. So he had tried to force it out of her.
Which was literally the dumbest thing he could have done.
He had known she had walls, given that it wasn't until after that first school break that they had spent with each other that she finally began to open herself up to him a bit in the first place. But what he hadn't known was how viscerally she would respond to having those walls pushed at.
Killian hadn't asked much of her, fuck, he hadn't told her anything about himself, but he thought she at least owed him an explanation for that night.
Who knows, maybe it would have been something they could have worked on together.
But because he opened up his big arsed mouth, she wouldn't talk to him any more.
And now with everything that had happened to them last week, he felt like he owed her an explanation.
She had looked startled, thankfully not frightened of him, when he revealed what his powers could do. And she had told him about her powers, how they worked for her, so he had thought they could at least talk about something that they seemed to have in common when they finally saw each other again.
Who knows when that would be thanks to that bastard Riggans.
His thoughts and David's and Robin's conversation were interrupted by a knock on the door.
Killian's heart leapt to his throat as he jumped up to answer the door.
Unfortunately, it wasn't Emma on the other side.
It surprised him more that it was his brother.
"Liam?" Killian asked.
His brother hadn't changed much since he last saw him before he was deployed to his own vessel, still straight backed in his full naval dress uniform. The stubble along his jawline was new and he had let his hair grow out a bit more than usual which was revealed when he removed his hat in way of greeting.
But what was he doing at the academy?
"Aye little brother. May I come in?" He asked, gesturing into the room.
"It's younger brother," he corrected automatically, "And I don't know, what are you doing here? The campus is closed."
"Well, I thought that would be obvious, I am here to see you, Killian." Liam replied.
Killian huffed out a breath, "Yes, I very well understand that, but how did you get here? You need to have a student ID to get anywhere."
"Besides, this isn't an approved open campus day, so no family members are allowed on campus." David chimed in, leaning against the doorframe.
"Thanks, for that bit of information. But when you know the right people," Liam gestured to his medals and rank indicators on his uniform, "You can get in pretty much anywhere."
"That doesn't explain why now, why today Liam. I have been here for well over 5 months, you could have decided to visit sooner."
"I was only notified of your marshalling and subsequent sentencing last month, and it took two weeks for my leave to be approved. I arrived a few days ago but they wouldn't let me onto campus, saying you were locked down or whatever nonsense."
David and Killian shared a look, it seemed a likely story from Killian's point of view, but if he knew his brother, he thought there was some other reason he had arrived on campus.
"Well, it wasn't some nonsense, they really did have me on lock down for the last few days." He responded, folding his arms across his chest, tucking his blunted wrist so Liam didn't see it.
"And what did you do this time that warranted the punishment Killian, it wouldn't be unlike you to do something just for the attention." Liam said, his voice taking on that condescending tone that he knew Killian hated.
No matter what he did when they were younger, Liam always had that self-righteous bastard attitude about him that always seemed to imply that he was better and Killian was the lesser of the two brothers Jones. He had tried to shed that while in the academy, make a name for himself away from his brother.
It wasn't his fault things happened to muck it all to hell.
"He bloody well saved the entire campus, that's what." Robin said, coming up from behind him to try and get in Liam's face.
Killian saw David move from behind him and Robin came to a halt behind his shoulder.
Liam let out a low laugh. "Of course."
"Of course what?" Killian said, raising his voice for the first time in a long time with his brother. "What are you trying to say Liam?"
"First the incident out at sea that got you marshalled and now this! Seriously Killian, I don't know why you are doing all of this! Are you doing it for attention? Is that it?" Liam yelled at him, getting into his face.
Killian flushed in anger and embarrassment, feeling the heat rush up his neck. He clenched his fist to try and get himself under control so his brother wouldn't see how much his words were affecting him.
"Right, because why else would I do anything." He said, exasperated, "That's how everything always was! If I didn't do something right, whether it be during my schooling or during basic training, it's because I wanted attention! Not because I was actually struggling or anything! You just thought it was a parlor trick to get you out of the spotlight and me into it!"
"You never gave me reason to think otherwise Killian." Liam yelled back.
Killian lost control of his temper, "WELL GUESS WHAT LIAM, I DON'T WANT THIS!" He yelled, reaching out to shove his brother out of his space. Both his gloved hand and wrist landed a solid blow against his brothers chest and he stumbled a few steps back.
Liam looked visibly startled when he noticed Killian's lack of a left hand. His brother grabbed onto his blunted wrist.
It wasn't anything like when Emma touched him there, like she understood. His brothers touch was harsh and gripping.
"What happened to you, brother?" He asked, his tone so much softer than it had been before.
"You have been keeping tabs on me well enough Liam to know where I was and what had happened, but you didn't care enough to notice this in the reports? I guess that shows where your real priorities are."
He shouldered past his brother, purposefully hitting his shoulder against Liam's to get some of his frustration out.
Turning the corner, he bolted down the stairs and out of the building. His emotions were swirling all over the place. He didn't know how to feel about the fact that he fought with his brother, because they hadn't had a good row like that in a long while. But the older he got, the less it seemed like his brother understood him. Even more now that he had discovered his powers.
His brother had strong opinions against people with gifts, so he wasn't sure how his brother felt about him being someone who was different from him now.
He stopped walking in the middle of the campus, taking a deep breath of fresh air into his lungs.
Killian didn't want to go to his dorm. In fact, he wanted to be as far away from there as possible.
He also knew David would be looking for him after sending his brother off, and Killian didn't want to deal with that confrontation either.
He started walking in the direction of the science building, hoping to find some solitude there.