Chapter 4

Ice Cold

It is night by the time she finishes the bottle. She craved a handful of things while locked in that tower. Rum was one of them. Just because she was immortal and didn't need food and drink, didn't mean she didn't enjoy them.

And rum…rum is always her vice of choice, although she prefers something a little bit pricier than what was available on this ship. Emma leans back in the Captain's chair, enjoying the feeling of authority in the position. She already assessed that the man who owned said chair was a tasteless, cheap booze in expensive bottles, gold hidden in every cranny, nothing personal anywhere on the ship. He didn't seem to value anything that didn't have materialistic value.

The crewmembers, on the other hand, have a few knickknacks, messages in bottles, journals of their adventures, and the like squirreled away. One member keeps old clothing worn by past dalliances, apparently ones with some style. The Jewel is a ship in her mother's navy. If she didn't enjoy messing with the sailor so much, Emma would indulge her rage at the Queen and roast the enchanted wood, damn the consequences.

But she holds back, occupying herself by rifling through the crew's possessions. She can tell a lot about a person based on their keepsakes and the way they arrange their personal space. Who is a workaholic? Who is a collector? The first mate, as it happens.

Emma is certain her mysterious rescuer has many of keepsakes somewhere on this ship. She searches through every crew member's bunk and is sure she hasn't found his yet. None of the profiles she creates to go with each set of belongings fit him.

Either this isn't his ship, or she hasn't found his personal space yet. She's already seen how comfortable he is with the ship, so she knows he's spent a great deal of time here. There has to be a place marked as his own, a place that will give her somewhere to start making sense of him.

Now bored with the ship's hold, she ventures onto the deck, Emma spots her only shipmate right where he said he would be, hands gripping the helm, back hunched over, head nodding in exhaustion. He is tapping his foot rhythmically to keep himself awake. Emma teleports herself over to him, making him jump in alarm.

"Princess…" he stutters groggily. "I didn't…" She waves him off, grinning.

"No worries, sailor. I just found myself quite bored and figured I'd see what you're up to," she says casually, sitting on the railing. She can see the tension her precarious position is causing him.

"You shouldn't…it's not…" Emma rolls her eyes at his worrying yet again.

"I'm a big girl, Jones. Now tell me, how long have you been a sailor?"

A goofy smirk appears on his face. "Since I was a boy," he responds instantly. "My brother taught me once he had his own ship. I was a cabin boy back then, but I could always sail a ship better than any of his men. Liam used to tease them about it."

Emma can't help but feel jealous of the sheer joy she sees in his eyes, the first time she's seen light so innocent and pure. She wonders what it would be like to have a sibling that truly cared about her.

Apparently when he's tired he's a bit freer with his words, Emma notes.

"How long have you had magic?" he asks suddenly, carefully meeting her gaze.

She crosses her legs, leaning over the edge as she looks at the sky, seeing the stars clearly for the first time in a while. She finds her favorite constellations easily.

"I was born with it," she whispers, remembering the day when she discovered it in herself, when she got so angry she –

"Magic from true love?" he ventures, the same smile, same light in his eyes on his face.

"Hardly. My parents were never in love. Not the true kind anyway. If they are in love, it's the most disturbed love ever. No, my magic was a curse, a way for my mother to control the realm. She thought that combining the greatest potential for darkness and the Dark One's curse, would earn her the mother of the year award," Emma snarks. "And don't look at me with pity. Joke's on her. As soon as I hit eighteen, my magic spiked, and I tossed that stupid dagger to another realm. "

The memory of her mother's face when she did that, when they could no longer control her like a puppet, was priceless. She wasn't their precious obedient little girl anymore. She was free.

Being tethered to the dagger's string was worse than death. The day she threw it away was the start of the rest of her life. Even while hiding from the Queen's men, finding the company of strangers rather than family, life had finally been worth living She explored parts of herself she never knew existed. Emma had been happy, happy until –

"Swan?" Kilian asks. "What makes you think I would pity you?" Utter honesty rings in his voice. "You can handle yourself quite well. Whatever you went through, it made you the swan you are today, so no, I don't pity you."

She smiles, a real smile. She doesn't understand why, but she feels at ease around this clumsy sailor, this clumsy mysterious sailor who has yet to lie to her. How rare.

"Why are you doing this?" she whispers, approaching him to cup his cheek in her hand. He tenses but keeps his gaze from fleeing.

"I told you, because I had to," he says quickly. And there it is. A lie. Alright, now it starts…

"Along with my magic, I have this other talent. It's my super-secret weapon. I know when someone is lying." She traces his arm with small circles, other hand drifting to his chin, making him meet her gaze. He's determined to hold his ground.

"You didn't have to do this. You say you didn't have any other option, but that's a lie. A smart man like you could have found another way. I want to know why you helped me, why you risked your life for someone you hadn't even met."

He opens his mouth slightly, pulling away. "My reasons are…selfish," he utters softly, almost guiltily. "I'd love to say that I was doing the right thing, but that would be another lie. I had a selfish desire, one that seemed quite a bit unrealistic," he admits.

She rolls her eyes. "If there is anything I understand, it's being selfish. It's all I am." When she wants something, nothing can stop her from getting it – toys, sweets, men, power. Nothing is too out there, nothing sacred from Emma Swan.

"That's a lie," he says suddenly, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You can lie to me all you want, Swan. We've only known each other for a few hours. But you shouldn't lie to yourself."

Emma sucks in a ragged breath, pulling back. He's looking at her now, challenging her to respond because he knows he's right. She doesn't like that. She doesn't like feeling so exposed.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," she hisses. "I'm a villain."

He opens his mouth to speak, but she stops him. Something feels strangely familiar about the dark, murky water, the land she can barely make out in the distance, the very air they are breathing. It doesn't have the inherent magic of Camelot. It's too cold to be Misthaven. That leaves only one nearby option.

"Where are we?" she hisses suddenly, her skin prickling with the intense magic she feels. Emma can't believe she didn't notice it sooner. When he doesn't respond fast enough, she whirls around, gripping his throat in her hand. It doesn't matter if she likes the sailor. If he is leading her into a trap –

"Arendelle," he responds in a gasp, hands trying to pry her nails from his skin. "The quickest route to Misthaven."

She curses under her breath. That is what she feels. She was right. She has to do something, get out of here, hide her magic, something…

"What's wrong Swan?" he asks, his attempts at getting out of her grasp more desperate as his oxygen depletes.

She releases him, deciding to spend her energy pacing about the deck instead. She responds without looking at him, "Arendelle has two very bad things: a king who is prejudiced against all magic, and a witch who would like nothing more than to freeze –"

She stops talking when she hears a pained gasp, whirling around to see Killian drop to his knees, clutching his chest and shaking like a leaf.

"Don't let me stop you. Tell your friend here what I'd like to do to you," Killian's voice purrs in a manner that is clearly not his own. Emma spins, looking for the owner of that familiar icy tone.

She's here.

Emma finds her perched one of the masts. Emma watches with daggers in her eyes as the ship's new passenger prances down her just-made ice staircase toward the deck. The statuesque figure has ice blonde hair and cold blue eyes. Her dress is long and flowing, glittering like ice. In her hand is a glowing red heart, perfectly manicured nails piercing it in a way designed to cause pain.

She never just controlled a heart, Emma recalls. She would clutch it, draw out the pain until the very last breath.

"You were never good at feeling me coming. Maybe it's because I always had better self-control than you did," the woman snickers, stalking around Emma to stand behind Killian. He is still on his knees, gasping for breath but otherwise unable to move.

"Elsa. What do you want?" Emma snaps, calling up her own dark magic. It rises to the surface, making her palms glow black. "Another fight? Because we both know how well the last one ended."

Emma remembers knocking out the witch with a single well-aimed blast. Now that is a memory she feels like reliving.

Elsa rolls her eyes, clutching the heart and making Killian gasp again. "Don't even try, Emma. Put a lid on your magic before I turn his heart to dust. Of course, that's not really my style. It's more of your mum's cup of tea…I know! I can freeze it!" she says.

Emma can see blue seeping into the red heart, making the pirate shake even more violently. His skin is turning pale, but he maintains his kneeling position, keeping his eyes on the deck.

He lets out low moans of pain and desperation, sounds that Emma can't take anymore.

"Stop!" she exclaims her magic vanishing instantly from her hands. "Stop it right now or else," she growls.

Emma hates the smirk that appears on the Ice Queen's face, but Elsa eases her grip, allowing some tension to fade from Killian's body. He hasn't stopped shivering though, and his heart remains an ominous blue color.

Without a word, Elsa bends down to cup his face in her pale fingers. She makes him look at her. "You're lucky, whoever you are. Emma likes you. Maybe you'll be a better hostage than the hunter she fancied a while back."

Killian pulls away stubbornly, and she drops his face with a pout. "Stand up," she orders him. He shoots straight up on wobbly legs, obviously surprised by his inability to resist her orders.

"Take us to wherever you pirates gather." He nods rigidly before stumbling down the deck, downstairs and further into the ship.

"What do you want, Elsa?" Emma grumbles as she is led forward. She hates being used and had half a mind to let the queen crush his heart just to avoid this helpless feeling.

"All will be revealed in due time," she giggles as they arrive. It looks to be a type of common room of the ship. Elsa points to a spot away from the benches. "Now go stand there, by the door, and let us lasses talk," she orders Killian, mimicking his accent.

He stares at her from his spot, pleading in his eyes.

"Elsa," Emma says through gritted teeth. "Talk. Now."

Elsa rolls her eyes. "Fine. I need your help, and your ship to rescue Ingrid."

Emma stiffens at the name. "Ingrid ?"

Elsa nods, her voice turning sad. "Anna and Hans trapped her." She explains. "I barely got away with my life. I need back up. I was just on my way to rip out some hearts to get myself an army, but thankfully I sensed you instead."

Emma recalls Ingrid coming in and out of her home when Emma was growing up. Ingrid was the best friend, the best older sister she could ask for. When her mother made her cry, she would run to Ingrid, watching as her friend made Emma's favorite ice-cream out of thin air to cheer her.

"I don't understand why you'd need to steal the sailor's heart to get me to agree to that," Emma whispers. "Even if you and I don't get along, you should know that I'll do anything for Ingrid."

Elsa loosens her grip on Killian's heart. Emma looks over to the exhausted man, who is wringing his hands and breathing heavily.

Emma doesn't like people in misery unless she is the one causing it. She especially doesn't like her toys being tortured, unless she is the one doing the torturing.

Elsa stupidly lets down her guard, just like she always does. Her hand is loosely holding the heart and she's looking out the port window rather than at her. Elsa's always distracted by one thing or another.

Quick as a whip, Emma flicks her wrist, and Killian's heart flies from the Ice Queen's grip into her own waiting hand. Emma flashes a smirk as she stands, thawing all traces of ice from the heart with her fiery rage.

"I'll do anything to keep that Snow Witch out of my life," she amends with a hiss. "She may have been my sister growing up, taught me to control my magic, took care of us, but she was never my blood. She was never interested in me , just what I could do."

Elsa visibly shrinks as Emma turns her back on her and walks over to Killian. It's clear act of dismissal, showing Elsa that she isn't as important as she thinks. Emma is and always will be stronger than the Ice Queen. That's why Elsa needed leverage in the first place.

"Relax," Emma whispers to Killian when her hand rests on his tense chest. He relaxes unnaturally under her touch, by command rather than by trust. "I'm going to return this, and then I want you to go to the Captain's quarters and rest in bed. You look like hell. I'll deal with this."

He nods wordlessly as she pushes the heart into his chest, making him fall forward, into her shoulder. He breathes rapidly for a moment before regaining his composure. She shushes him softly, rubbing circles into his back.

"Emma?" Elsa asks timidly now that she doesn't have the advantage.

"Quiet," Emma snaps. She doesn't need to look to know that Elsa flinched. "Jones, can you walk?"

He nods, finding his balance and pulling away from her comforting grip.

"Please don't kill her, Swan," he utters, eyes barely focusing. "Don't judge someone based on what they do because they're desperate."

Emma raises her brow in question. She can feel the double meaning to his words. He always has a double meaning.

"Are you really going to defend her? Ask for merc y? Again ?!" she gasps. First the wolf guard, now her?! "She stole your heart! She could have made you do anything, and you would have! It wouldn't be blackmail or manipulation. You would have no choice but to do her bidding. Do you understand that kind of power?"

He doesn't respond at first, swallowing thickly before nodding. "Yes," he says hoarsely. "I do understand, Emma. I may not be an adventurer. I may not be brave, but I do understand being controlled by magic. Don't kill her. Sometimes the bravest thing is not to fight. Sometimes mercy is the wisest choice."

She isn't sure what it is, perhaps the way his words sound a bit too much like an order .

Emma Swan hates orders.

In an instant she has her hand wrapped around his neck, squeezing until his skin turns white as he gasps.

"Do not mistake my actions for caring, Jones. I do not like people stealing from me. If she hurt you, if she killed you, it would be like stealing you from me. Don't get any ideas about making demands. If I want to kill her, if I want to wring her scrawny neck or melt her with one of my fireballs, then I will. If I want to take your heart and have my wicked way with you, than I will. Do not think of us as partners, as equals, as anything. And don't you dare give me orders, Jones."

She releases him as the final word leaves her mouth, turning her back on him. She regrets her temper as soon as she finishes her tirade. She doesn't want to look at him as he tries to change her mind. She doesn't want to see him look at her like the monster she truly is.

Why is Elsa here? Emma was happy teasing the sailor, watching him get flustered, probing his mind like she was a person, not the evil creature she really is.

Perhaps it's for the best, after all. Now he doesn't have to wait to see who I truly am. The thought leaves a bitter taste in her mouth.

Without another word, he hobbles out of the room to one of the cabins. Emma suppresses an ounce of hurt that he didn't even say a single stupid thing back to her.

Emma whirls around to glare at Elsa, smirking as she shifts her focus from regret to the way she bested the Ice Queen. Elsa stands straight, trying to hide the fear in her eyes, fear that feeds Emma's glee.

"You're lucky, ice cube. Killian is a better person than I am. I'd rather him not believe I'm a total murderer," Emma hisses.

"Understandable," Elsa replies. "Since you like him." It sounds like the taunt of a teenage. Elsa has always been juvenile.

Emma's eyes flash dangerously. "Don't push me."

Elsa just rolls her eyes and closes the distance between them. "That's not a denial, Ems," she adds with a smirk "But fine. If you insist, I didn't finish explaining my deal anyway. I want you to help me free our sister, and in exchange, I'll keep your secret ."

Emma crosses her arms, leaning back smugly. "I don't have a secret." She ignores her own unintentional admission of caring for the sailor.

"What is it you always say? Oh yeah, knowledge is power. " Elsa says with a wink. "And I have a bit of information about that time you ran away from the Queen. You visited a particular fairy for help. Ring a bell?"

Emma hisses angrily. Her black magic surges again. She desperately wants to let it out, willing to let it consume a bit more of her soul just to quiet Elsa's insipid talking.

"My own little assistant knows too, and he is to share this knowledge if I don't return," Elsa threatens. "You wouldn't want anyone to learn of your dalliance, or your mother to know exactly what became of the result."

Emma snaps, grabbing the blonde by the throat, slamming her into the wall.

"I will kill you," she hisses. "Right after I kill your ice cube seller." Emma understands Elsa's allusions, and she knows the Ice Queen won't hesitate to blow apart Emma's whole world.

Emma has made a lot of mistakes in her life, hurt a lot of people, but Elsa's threat will hurt the one person in this world that Emma always puts first. Emma will die before she lets that happen.

But she can't risk Elsa having told anyone else, she can't let her anger put her secret in jeopardy. So, despite all her instincts screaming at her to do otherwise, Emma releases Elsa.

" After I rescue Ingrid."

Now we're getting somewhere! Let the plot begin!

Surprised? Hopefully I pulled off a completely OOC Elsa. Because it's AU, I think she's supposed to be different.

I'm not going to bore you with my reasoning for why I wrote her this way, but if you're curious, review and I'll answer in a PM.

Ok, I'm going to vent over the most recent episode so if you don't want spoilers, or the rambles of an obsessed fan...you've been warned.

Ok. I know alot of people are in utter turmoil over the Captain Swan heartbreaking scene, (including me. It caused me physical pain to watch) but I think backing Emma into a corner, making it obvious that she can't have Killian AND the power was brilliant of him. It also shows why the kiss didn't work. Belle fell in love with Rumple after the curse, not before. Killian can't love the darkness like he loves normal Emma.

And Rumple being a hero, I wonder how she's going to manage that!

And King Arthur... I may have lost my chill, while watching it. Threats were made...assassins were hired...enough said. But I'm totally seeing a Macbeth parallel in his character so far, but a little less psychotic...thus far. I feel if he even TOUCHES the dagger, Killian will stop at nothing to get it back, I don't see him respecting the authority of a king, given his history with a corrupt king.

I'm also convinced Emma didn't cast the curse, due to the fact that no one is dead, that she cares for at least.

Ok, end of my rant.

8/21/17: Now beta read by notoriouscs

~Luna