Chapter 3: Time didn't stand still

"Next time I won't be so merciful." She snarled. Her fist hurt more than she expected.

He was slumped against the wall, rubbing his jaw and quietly swearing under his breath. "Your highness." It came out as a groan. "If it isn't too much too ask, could you please tell me what the hell that was for?"

"Think back, I'm sure you can remember a few things."

"One or two now that I think about it." He said jokingly, straightening up. She could see a red mark on his left cheek that looked to make a lovely bruise. "But none of them I thought would anger you like this." He looked at her sceptically, obviously doubting his own words now that he had experienced her temper.

"Then you were wrong about me."

Emma was aware of the eyes of the stable-hands on her. She glared at them, motioning for them to continue working, though she knew their ears were flapping at every word.

"I guessed."

That triggered something inside her, making her spin around. "You guessed! YOU GUESSED!" She looked at him with disgust. "Next time... Make me the first to hear of your fictional stories. And I would like you to speak to Philip about what you said. If he leaves because of you, I promise - I will make your life a living hell."

And with that she left, slamming the wooden door shut behind her. Her thought were confused and strange, and her head hurt so bad she could hardly see. So even if she was listening, she wouldn't have heard his reply.

But the stable-hands did, and they found it very curious, though they hid it well, for they had a lot practice. But strangely enough, not one of them present went off and gossiped about it with their friends. Perhaps they could relate to what he said.

"It already is a living hell, your highness. It has been for a long time now."

Later, Emma lay in bed, trying and failing to get some sleep. She was hot and uncomfortable, knowing that if she had dozed off, her dreams would be horrible. So instead it seemed that she went through every tiny detail of her long day. It was hard to think of the good things when she had so many of the opposite to haunt her.

If Philip truly cared for her, then why had he given in to Hook's words so easily?

And why did Hook despise her enough to do such a thing? He couldn't believe his own horrid words about her, could he? Why would he? He didn't even know her.

Unless...

No. Emma rolled over, disturbed at that thought.

Unless he was trying to show her how much she truly was to Philip... But that couldn't be. They two were friends. And if there was one thing she knew about friends, they didn't do such things to each other. She never would to Graham.

There was something else she was missing...

Didn't she and Graham overhear Hook saying something was dangerous? What could be dangerous? He can't have meant her.

Her bruised hand ached in response.

Emma smirked.

The sun rose slowly, warming the castle until it was considerably more cheerful. She had a quiet breakfast in the parlour with her family. The silence was broken occasionally with polite conversation. She met her father's eye over the table. Noting while she did, that his meal too, was untouched. The look he gave her suggested that the two of them were going to have a nice conversation about her behaviour after they had finished. She didn't care much about whatever he had to say to her at that moment. What bothered her more was that he was worried, and when he was worried, there was trouble.

Emma just wished she knew what was going on, wished that they could trust her enough to tell her.

"So," Said Snow, yet again starting a conversation to prevent things from getting too awkward. "Do you have any ideas of what to name your child?"

Guiltily Emma realized that she had forgotten while she was caught up in her problems.

"Alondra for a girl, and Gabriel for a boy." Said Belle happily, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the room.

"Beautiful names." Surprisingly, it wasn't Snow that had spoken, but there father. "But if you would excuse me for a moment, I would like to speak to Emma privately."

"Of course."

Emma stood and followed him to the next room, where he closed the door softly behind them to muffle their coming conversation.

"Emma I would like you to tell me the truth..." He said quietly. "Did you punch the man who came here with Prince Philip. The man who they call Hook?"

"Yes I did." She said without hesitation. And I would do it again, she added silently.

"Why?"

"Or rather," Emma hoped she wasn't going too far saying this. "Why wouldn't I?"

"He is a guest in our home, and you.. you are a princess." He didn't even sound disappointed, just tired. "I know you don't like him. I don't either, I admit. But that is no call to start being violent. It is not the done thing to attack anyone you think is unpleasant. It's not like he's a criminal." "

She blushed guiltily, regretting it only because it was making things harder on her family. What would people think when they heard about her. Chances were, she would never find a husband with her behaviour. Hook was wrong about her wanting Philip's money. But perhaps he wasn't wrong about her being trouble.

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again." She bowed her head, hoping it was the truth and she could contain herself.

Her father sighed. "Don't apologize to me, he is the one with the misfortune to cross you." There was the faintest hint of amusement in his blue eyes. "Go talk to him about it. I'm sure you of all people can come up with a feasible excuse."

"Of course."

"And Emma?"

She paused, her hand on the door. "Yes father?"

"Take another walk with Graham, it might help you to cool down a little. I'm sure Aurora would be very happy to come along too. She hasn't been out much lately."

Emma didn't mention that that was how it all started. She enjoyed walking, and her father might not think it was such a great idea if she told him all about it. "I will."

The first thing she thought as soon as she was away from everybody was, how on earth was she going to apologize to him? He was the one who should be doing that, not her. But... She supposed they were supposed to be kinda even now, that was, if he talked to Philip. It wasn't likely that he had, but she didn't even know him... She was starting to think that she knew Philip just as well.

Philip...

How was she going to forgive him? Even if he did change his mind, it just proved how very much he cared. It didn't seem to be all that much after all. Her eyes stung. Annoyed, Emma distracted herself by thinking of what to say as an apology. It only helped because it was so difficult. Eventually, after hanging around the gardens and coming up with nothing, she decided to wing it, and see what happened. After all, it wasn't as if she had much to lose with him. It was then that she realized that she had no idea of where to find him. She didn't even know his real name!

She refused to ask Graham. Obviously everybody already knew what had happened. How else did her father know? So she was saving that beautiful gift of talking to him about it later. This day seemed to get worse and worse. Maybe it would even beat yesterdays one.

Thankfully she was saved the trouble of actually looking for Hook, because she met him in the hall.

He had a large blue and green bruise on his cheek, just as she had predicted. Emma couldn't help but feel satisfied with it. For some reason, she still wanted to hit him.

"Oh... Hello." She said, trying not to meet him in the eyes. "I... I am sorry about yesterday." She lied awkwardly. "I was overreacting, and I shouldn't have hit you." She shifted uncomfortably as he listened. "It won't happen again..."

He waited, an eyebrow raised.

"...And I hope you get better, ah, soon." Not.

He didn't say anything for a long time, and Emma suspected that he was doing it to annoy her.

It worked.

"WELL?" She snapped, unable to stand the silence.

"Ha! I knew it was only a matter of time before you came out. The real you." He frowned for a millisecond. "Your father had you say that, didn't he?"

Emma was silent, biting her tongue to keep it that way.

He then pretended not to notice the absence of her answer. "You really can't have expected me to believe that bunch of lies you just threw at me." He casually leaned against the stone wall, watching servants carry baskets of freshly baked bread past them. "I mean, "I hope you get better" isn't really a strong argument, is it? Or even a very good apology actually." He looked thoughtful, casually scratching his chin. "Plus it was obvious that you wanted the opposite of that. You want to punch me again right now. And that isn't even me exaggerating."

"Shut up." She glared at him. "Did you talk to Philip?"

"You figure it out yourself. He's coming this way anyway." And then he was off again.

"No, I don't want to..." see him. She finished in her head.

Dammit!. She couldn't even fake an apology. She really needed to learn how to lie.

Funny, she always thought she was good at it. But instead, she was read like a book.

"Emma..." Philip was indeed close by, he looked embarrassed his eyes were on his feet. "Is there somewhere else we can talk?"

Emma struggled to stay angry at him. It was hard to keep that scowl on her face when he looked so sorry. "The garden." She said as coldly as possible.

"Uh... Lets go then." He offered his arm to assist her, which she ignored.
"Emma I'm so sorry... About yesterday." He said in a low voice as Emma led him to the gardens. He was a step behind, probably remembering her offence last time. "I regret what I said to you more than you know. And I will regret it every day in my future. That is a promise." He paused as they passed some guards who were on duty by the entrance to the gardens.

It seemed that Philip was a far better liar than Emma.

"Then are you still leaving tomorrow?" She snapped. "Or are you just saying goodbye?"

Philip winced. They stood by the same stone bench as last time. Only neither of them sat down, instead they stood face to face.

"No, I changed my mind..." He avoided her eyes. "Hook will leave tonight, off back home."

"Go with him then. It's not as if anyone here will miss you. I know you want to run away from the danger."

Suddenly Philip was standing still, his fists clenched. "Emma, how do you know about that? Did Hook tell you."

Emma opened her mouth to deny it. And then she realised that she could use it to her advantage. "Yes. He did."

"Then you will understand what's at stake. Emma this isn't a game! If I stay here I put your whole family in danger!" He looked tired too, now that she thought about it. Why did nobody tell her anything? She was always the one left in the dark.

"Why?" It wasn't a single question, but all of her confusion put into one word.

"Wait..." He frowned. "He didn't really tell you did he?" Now he looked worried. "I need to know."

She was silent.

"God Emma!" He looked angry, very angry. He began pacing, his boots kicking up dirt. "No, no, no!" He muttered to himself as he paced. "He knows where I am... He knows where I am!"

"Philip?" Emma said cautiously. Trying not to let her panic rise. "What is it?"

He froze, as if coming to a decision. "Emma," Then he grabbed her hands, squeezing them. "Promise me... Promise me you will marry me when I return."

"Return?" Her voice sounded funny, like it wasn't her own. "What do you mean? I thought you were staying."

"I will be back in a day or two. Please Emma, promise me." He pleaded.

"I... I - Yes... I will."

He kissed her forehead quickly, and then straightened up. "Goodbye."

And then he was gone. Emma didn't see him leave, because her eyes were tearing up. She had sunk to knees, her head in her hands. She had no idea how long she sat like this, but eventually she felt a gentle touch on her shoulder.

"Princess? Are you all right?"

Emma looked up and recognised one of the palace guards.

"Yes," She wiped her eyes. "I'm fine."

So do whatever it takes
'Cause you can't rewind a moment in this life
Let nothing stand in your way
'Cause the hands of time are never on your side

They were all silent as they climbed the hill, as if there was a shadow hanging in the air.

The wind was salty and blowing hard, and the earth rumbled and shook as the waves pounded the shore. Emma had her shawl wrapped tightly around her shoulders, trying to keep the chill out. Spring was almost over, but there were sometimes strange weather changes.

She should be happy, she was going to marry Philip. It was a dream come true, but still Emma couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. It was almost like a bad smell. What was happening under her nose? If only Hook hadn't left yet, then she would ask him, and perhaps gain some more insight on what was going on.

Emma saw Aurora smile weakly at several rabbits bouncing into their holes.

It was really a odd day, Emma kept finding herself sweeping the cliffs with searching looks. It seemed Graham was waiting for something to happen too, but in the end it was Aurora who was the first to see anything of importance.

"Look!" She pointed to somewhere close to the forest. "It's Philip. I... thought you said he was leaving for a few days Emma?"

"Uh huh."

"Someone else is with him." Graham noted. His eyebrows drawn together, looking worried.

Emma couldn't see the second person, and didn't care.

She didn't care about anything except what was unfolding before her eyes.

Philip had crumpled to the ground as if his strings were cut, and it was not too hard too see something that looked horribly like the hilt of a dagger sticking out of his chest. He didn't move after he fell.

He never moved again.

Any screams were lost in the wind, snatched away and never heard.

Time didn't stand still, the waves still crashed and roared. The sun continued its slow descent over the horizon. The seagulls continued their screeching and squabbling over fish carcasses. So why did Emma feel as if everything was over?

Time didn't stand still.

And then Graham was running faster than she thought was possible down the hill, but it was too late. He was gone forever. Even his killer was turning away, looking as if it was no big deal.

As if he did it every day.

It was Hook.

Time didn't stand still.

He was gone by the time Graham got there.

No time for goodbye he said
As he faded away
Don't put your life in someone's hands
They're bound to steal it away
Don't hide your mistakes
'Cause they'll find you, burn you

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