Chapter 2
The Wolf
It is the first time anyone has ever saved the Dark Swan.
It is the first time anyone ever even wanted to save her.
Her past allies, well, you could say their hearts weren't really in it, No, the only one who ever saved the Dark Swan was her. She can't rely on anyone else, can't trust them, can't trust anyone.
Most of the realm thinks it's the only sane thing Queen Snow ever did. Lock her child in tower on a faraway island and throw away the key. Lock up the beast so she can never harm anyone again. They speak like being a monster is her own fault. They just don't know. They don't understand that monsters aren't born. They're made. They didn't see how she had been created, carved by darkness like some sort of living sculpture.
She knows that fearsome rumors about her tower hang in the air, forbidding even the bravest of warriors from attempting a rescue.
"Why did you come?" she asks as she walks in front of a man clad in dark, faded clothes that hang from his form rather poorly. "You don't look like much of an adventurer," she adds, with an amused chuckle. His head bows shyly as he struggles to find the words. Clearly she's judged correctly. She doesn't meet his eyes as her comment hangs in the air.
He had obviously been privy to the rumors surrounding her existence. When he found her, he had been terrified by her every movement, something she plans to exploit fully.
"Let's just say fate has a way of putting us on paths we didn't intend to take," he mumbles sheepishly. When she looks back, he's ducking his head.
She chuckles at that. She kind of likes how easy it is to get to him, his expression flipping from frightened, to flustered, to the occasional daring glance. It's very…interesting.
She hasn't had interesting in a long time.
"And what do you venture toward? What has you trapped?" she asks. "No one can say things like that unless they truly know . His descent down the stairs halts suddenly. His mouth opens to reply, but he bites it back. His hand claws at his left wrist, but then he freezes, mouth closed. If he is breathing, she can't tell.
There's something troubling about this man being still. She just met him, but he seems like the type to remain in constant motion, moving or fidgeting no matter the situation, refusing to be physically caged despite whatever it is that has given him such insight into the feeling of being trapped
But now he is still, eyes staring at nothing.
She wonders what he is seeing.
Eventually, it must be the inside of a stone stairwell again, because he comes back to himself.
"We've known each other for about five minutes, lass. I don't believe that warrants the baring of our souls, do you?" he says dryly.
if anyone else spoke to her like that, she wouldn't hesitate to rip out his heart and squeeze it so slowly that his screams could be heard for miles. But she lets this man slide for it. He freed her, and it wouldn't be good manners to kill her rescuer. Not yet, anyway.
She rolls her eyes at him, crossing her arms. "Fine." He's certainly interesting. She can't remember the last time a person interested her, not since…
They reach the bottom of the tower in tense silence. He opens the door and holds it for her.
"Such the gentleman," she says with an annoyed expression. It makes his eyes sparkle with mischief.
"I'm always a gentleman love." He says, before he comes back to himself and averts his eyes in obvious embarrassment. "Sorry, I-" He stops mid-sentence as his eyes dart to something over her shoulder. She spins on her heels, hands at the ready.
She knew it was too easy.
"Get back in your tower, princess ," a voice sneers. At a loud gasp, she whirls back around to see the man being dragged from the door, twisting and squirming. He's held with an arm painfully twisted behind his back and a curved blade to his throat.
The instant he feels the cold blade, his eyes widen. He stops squirming. There's that unnatural stillness again.
"Or your new friend will die here." The attacker uses the word "friend" sarcastically. It's not like Princess Emma has any real friends. No, she's never had a real friend.
Emma bristles, a mixture of desire to do what she does best and run from this place warring with the even stronger desire to stand her ground and show the guard what happens when you threaten her. In fact, Emma wants to skin the guard and leave her for the Queen to see. She wants to leave a message not soon forgotten.
She wants Snow White to know that the Dark Swan cannot be contained. Contrary to her mother's belief, she was born to be free.
"No. But I'll tell you what, dog . Release my pirate, and perhaps I won't skin you for trying to keep me on a leash," she hisses, knowing it's a lie.
She'll probably skin her anyway.
Emma feels her magic seeping back into her, but painfully slowly. She's worried that not enough time has elapsed since her imprisonment, and her magic might fail her. But she can't let worries cloud her. She needs to put up a brave front and let her powers go.
Fear and doubt never mix well with dark magic.
Well, here goes nothing!
Emma snaps her fingers, magic heightening the sound as magic bounces off the walls in a supersonic attack that makes the brunette guard howl in pain at her sensitive ears.
Stupid dog.
The guard's grip loosens ever so slightly, allowing the man to twist out of her hold and grab her dagger as a souvenir.
Emma expects him to use the blade, to slash at their enemy, to cut her, to hurt her, to help them escape. Any rational warrior, or knight, or hunter, or hell, even pirate, would do that.
But he doesn't. He grips the weapon as if it is still held against him rather than under his control. He looks more nervous than when he was the hostage. His gaze flickers between the blade and the brunette, and then back to Emma. It's obvious that he has little to no combat training. In fact, she believes he's terrified of the weapon itself.
Then how did he even get the key? Why did he even come here?
The guard is on her feet again, eyes glowing yellow in the darkness. She howls loudly as she springs for the closest target, the man, claws extended. Emma reacts in an instant, sweeping the man out of harm's way with a flick of her wrist, letting her magic blow him off his feet and way out of the wolf's striking range.
He hits the ground in a crumpled heap, cursing slightly as he holds the side that hit the ground. His rise back up is slow and fearful. It's possible he's even trembling.
She stands by her earlier assessment that he is not an adventurer. He isn't even a fighter.
But that's fine. He freed her, so she will take care of this dog without using him as a chew toy. But make no mistake, it isn't out of sense of duty, or repaying the debt to the man.
The Dark Swan just didn't like losing potential new sources of entertainment. He is just too…interesting… to die so soon. The Dark Swan doesn't like when people break her things. The Queen has broken enough of them already. This man is hers to play with until she gets bored.
"Stay behind me and out of my way," she hisses at the man, dodging the wolf's attempt to slash her throat. She finds a rod and waves it like a sword at her enemy. She would much prefer a sword.
"You'll never get away from here, Princess," the guard sneers "Don't you remember? They'll always find you! "
Emma shudders. Those words always bring her a sense of dread, of hopelessness. She is still trapped, not by shackles and chains, but by hate and cruelty.
And blood. She can never escape the blood that runs through her veins.
Will it ever end? She doubts it.
Suddenly her wrist feels like it's on fire as her arm is ripped open by the wolf's fierce claws. The rod clatters to the floor loudly. Yup, Emma really wants a sword. But such a weapon is not available at the moment, forcing her to call upon her magic once more.
Her hands glow briefly with darkness, then it dies out. She is too tired, too weak, for her magic to burn as brightly as usual.
"Magic is about emotion, Emma. What are you protecting?"
She had laughed at that, her first magic lesson. Too bad that lesson had been about light magic rather than the type she had humming through her.
" Magic is about emotion, Emma. Whom do you wish to destroy?"
Much better. But regardless of her emotional state, she can't make her magic react.
She curses under her breath. She's on her own.
The guard, in full wolf mode now, tackles her to the ground, a paw on her throat, claws griping at her skin. Emma weakly attempts to push her off, but the wolf is too strong, and Emma is weak after spending so long in chains.
The Dark Swan stares into yellow eyes, silently daring the wolf to restrain her, to kill her. She would rather go down fighting than return to that tower.
She won't go back there. She won't!
The endless hours in silence, thinking and thinking about all the things she's done wrong. The occasional visits from her mother, interrogating her about the location of the dagger. The questions upon questions racking her brain, wondering where he is, what he is doing.
Does he miss her? Does anyone miss her?
"Shut it, you fleabag!" shouts an accented voice, and the hilt of the dagger comes down on the back of the wolf's head, dropping her, unconscious, on top of Emma.
Emma blinks. It takes her a moment to process what just happened. He saved her, not once, but twice!
The man stands over her and the collapsed wolf. He seems surprised by his own actions, practically throwing down the knife and clutching his cut hand. Emma can see the blood dripping from his skin.
The idiot had held the dagger by the blade and hit the wolf with the handle.
"Bloody hell!" he curses loudly, before looking at her embarrassedly, as if he regrets saying such foul words in front of her. He really is laying on the 'gentleman' stuff rather thickly. She suppresses a chuckle and an eye roll.
"What did I…Is she…" he stutters, eyes returning to the unconscious wolf-girl. He looks horrified by the possibility that killed her.
Emma shakes her head in disappointment, pushing the wolf off of her and getting to her feet. "Just out cold." Her mind fills with thoughts of how to put the beast out of her misery. Remove her heart? Slit her throat? She does need a new fur coat after all.
"Please don't," his voice cuts in. "She doesn't need to die."
Emma glances his way, crossing her arms. "And why is that? I've killed for less than locking me in a tower, threatening me – " she seethes at first, but then stops as she notices his state.
He looks unwell. His eyes are distant, body shaking. For the first time in a very long time, something seems more important than her vengeance.
" Please," he practically begs. It was probably his first time holding a weapon. She's sure this was the first time he's ever used one on someone. Cute really . But he seems haunted now, distraught over the fact that he injured someone, even if it was to save her life.
She doesn't know why, but she finds herself nodding, pocketing the weapon and placing a hand on his shoulder. It makes him flinch.
"Shh. Relax. If I wanted to hurt you, I'd have let her slit your throat," she reminds him. Her words don't seem to comfort him. She isn't exactly used to calming someone's fears.
"Hey, it's alright. Don't freak out on me," she tries again. "Let's get out of here, hmm?"
He relaxes a bit, allowing her to lead him from the tower to his ship. It's the only ship, so it must be his.
She stops briefly, breathing in fresh air for the first time in a long while. She closes her eyes for a moment, taking it all in.
She's always liked how freedom feels.
Thank you for those who are following the story, as you can see it's based in the AU during the finale. I made some tweaks to it, more as the story progresses. There are some changes I made to certain characters that might be a bit risky, I hope I pulled it off. Let me know what you think!
8/20/17: betad by notoriouscs
~Luna