Hope you guys like this next chapter!
If I stay, it won't be long
'Til I'm burning on the inside
If I go I can only hope
That I make it to the other side
If I stay, it won't be long
'Til I'm burning on the inside
If I go, and if I go
Nobody questioned why Hook would do such a thing, nobody stopped to think that it wasn't right. Nothing was right.
Nobody except Aurora. But who would listen to her? They were all caught up in their own little worlds.
He should have run, he should have listened. The same thought went through her head over and over. She had been having strange dreams, which were expected after what had happened. Everything now felt like deja vu. Every second of every day, as if she had dreamt of the future but then forgotten.
Nothing was as it seemed. Even what she had seen with her own eyes was a lie. She could feel it, so why couldn't they? They were looking with their eyes and not following instinct.
Philip dying wasn't meant to have happened.
They needed to listen. Even for one moment. Why couldn't she have had a brother? She needed someone to confide in... Someone who understood and didn't think she was raving.
"Father," She pleaded, trying to get his attention as he wrote quick messy writing on a piece of parchment. He hadn't slept, she could tell. He was looking exhausted and worried even before Philip's death. "Please listen, something is wrong. Can't you feel it?"
He didn't look up, or even cease scrawling. He dipped his quill in ink and continued. "Of course I know there is something wrong. One of my guests was just murdered on my land. This isn't just a common killing. This could cause war."
When Philip's parents heard, who knew what they would do?
War wouldn't actually be surprising. Soldiers had been sent to track down Hook, but who knew where he was going? The blame would fall on her family.
"But..." She trailed off, he wasn't going to listen no matter what she said, because he was right. Maybe she was just imagining things...
Still it continued.
He should have run, he should have listened.
His body had been carried back to the castle, he had been wrapped in a blanket they had in the saddlebags.
Emma had refused to look at him. She had been white and drained, as if all the life had been sucked out of her. The sun, almost mocking, had peeped out from behind the clouds, almost as if the world felt that the worst was over, and it could bring warmth back.
If only it was that simple.
She didn't even say a word. Not even one quiet word.
It was just wrong.
Emma had shut herself in her room, the door locked.
No one tried to make her come out, though Aurora seemed to be trying to tell her something once... "Wrong, it is all wrong." Emma didn't even care. She couldn't care.
He was gone.
She had seen it happen again and again in her head. It didn't stop. It never stopped. The pain wasn't ever going to stop.
He didn't move after he fell.
He never moved again.
She was going to spend the rest of her life with him. And now it was impossible.
Emma screamed into her pillow, not stopping until her throat felt raw.
Time continued when everything was meant to end.
Graham had spent the last few hours trying to keep everything together. A lot of the guests were panicking. No matter how many times he tried to explain that the killer was gone, and was likely never to come back, they kept arguing with him.
Why did he choose this over a comfortable life away from the fighting and war?
"Listen to me," His patience was now at the breaking point. They didn't want to see him angry. "He has no reason to come back, let alone come back and kill any of you."
"When did that stop any murderers?" The flustered Duke muttered, his eyes popping. "The Prince wasn't the only one was he? There were other deaths, before him! How do we know who is next? It could be any one of us..."
Graham glowered. When would it end. Every time he thought he could relax and have no worries, something like this came up. It was like god was against him.
"What would you be doing right now if you were me?" He growled, his teeth clenched. "Don't you think I have already done my best?"
"Maybe it isn't enough!"
But Graham was already storming off. Little did that man know how close he was to being pummelled.
Inches away.
It was true that there were other deaths. They had started about a week ago, spread throughout the city. It was always the same. A dagger to the heart, they weren't connected in any way that he knew of.
It was like someone was trying to scare them.
He thought of the panicking duke. It was sure was working.
The funny thing was, the killing had started before Hook and Prince Philip had arrived. Several days before.
He can't have been the one responsible for the rest of the dying.
And who was "Hook" anyway?
Why was this happening?
Would there be more deaths?
And where was Emma? Was she ever going to come out of hiding?
Time could heal anything he was told a long time ago. He had believed it once. He was foolish... Young and gullible. He had thought the pain of death was when you yourself suffered. Not when others were ripped away from you.
He still felt the pain.
Would it be the same for Emma?
His head hurt.
He was beginning to regret not punching that man. Maybe it wasn't too late?
When she dreamt of him, it wasn't the grown up him, the one she was going to marry.
It was him as a child. When they had no secrets from each other. Before the distance between them began to grow.
"Remember me, Emma." He said in her dream. "And don't do anything stupid. Some things aren't as they seem." They were playing in the long grass. Wooden animals were scattered around the flowers, where they would be forgotten about until the gardener found them and returned each one.
"I don't understand." The child Emma was confused, fiddling with a daisy chain. "Why are you saying that?"
The child Philip smiled. "You will understand, when the time is right." He stood up, dropping his toys. "Lets go see if we can have some cake, I'm sure I smell something good."
And then they had ran through the sunlit grass, shouting and laughing.
When Emma woke she was curled up in a ball shaking, but feeling different.
Not exactly better, just different.
She was no longer going to cry and grieve.
She was angry. It rose and grew inside her until she could no longer stand it. She knew where Hook was going, from the memory of the last conversation she had with... with Philip.
"Hook will leave tonight, off back home."
Home.
She knew where Philip lived, she had been there once with her family. She remembered vaguely a kingdom, much like this one, only larger and noisier, with strange colours and different sweets she had never had before.
And then she leapt up wildly, throwing her covers off.
She was dizzy from lack of movement or food, and almost toppled over.
A moment later she was opening her jewellery box and grabbing the most expensive looking bracelets and strings of pearls. She stuffed them into a pillowcase, cleaning all of them out of her drawers. And then her hand hovered over a large ruby on a gold chain.
It was beautiful, shiny and cool, with clean lines. Her parents had given it to her for her seventh birthday, and it was the only jewel she had ever loved.
And then after a split seconds hesitation, she lifted it over her head and tucked it beneath her shirt.
This was the only one she wasn't going to sell.
"And don't do anything stupid. Some things aren't as they seem." The voice echoed.
"I'm sorry Philip," She muttered dryly. "But being stupid is kinda my thing."
A/N Review? *Hopeful face!*