Chapter 8
The Trap
They're trudging through snow. It's cold on her feet, and the flakes that have just started falling stick to her skin. Her boots are soaked, and she's in the worst mood possible. Emma doesn't understand how anyone could want to be around this stuff ever, let alone live in it all the time. She'd prefer a grassy meadow or a stone tavern any day.
"Look Ems! It's snowing! Isn't it simply divine?" Elsa says gleefully, practically skipping, and singing.
I don't care about our plan. If she starts singing , I'm going to show her what happens to frozen things in summer, Emma vows, eyeing the witch carefully.
Elsa winks back, obviously knowing that she's getting to Emma.
The snow is agonizing enough. Emma forgot just how giddy Elsa gets when she's in her element, literally. It's disgusting. But it does remind her of her first meeting with the young queen, a memory that felt like a lifetime ago.
Emma had just run away from her mother, lost and alone in the world. She thought she would always be stuck on the run, hiding from Queen Snow's then Ingrid found her and changed everything. Ingrid was filled with light and happiness who comforted a runaway sorceress when she had nothing. It was the same magical day that Elsa, still in her coronation attire, eyes brimming with tears, found Ingrid and Emma. Everything changed for two scared, powerful young women on the same day.
"I hate the snow," Emma snaps back to the present. "And you. How far is this prison anyway?" It didn't seem so far on Killian's map. She can cross realms without breaking a sweat, but she can't stand this snow for a moment longer.
Elsa stops, tapping her cheek in thought. "Another hour's walk?" she guesses. "Is that too much for you?"
"Nope," Emma replies, popping the p, suppressing her desire to start an argument. They can't do that. It isn't a part of the plan. Fighting would get in the way of the show they need to put on, and if there is anything they excel at, it's putting on a good show.
When they first met, their interactions were civil, behavior that was drilled into both of them growing up as princesses in their own were both dirty little secrets.
The years of hostility from those supposed to love them and the constant emphasis on being in control, showing no emotion, had nearly driven them mad. They were raised as weapons, to one day be unleashed as their kingdoms' personal attack dogs under the control of their vindictive parents, yet still required to maintain the façade of innocent princesses dispute the curses inflicted upon them.
Who knew hating your parents could make you such close friends, but close they were. Emma and Elsa were like sisters.
Ingrid, Emma and Elsa were a family. They had been happy.
Elsa stops for a second, eyeing Emma carefully. Emma gives a small nod in agreement; she sensed their presence as well. If they stop, the plan is ruined, so they press on, both feigning ignorance of the forces watching them. It's only a matter of time before they make their move. Armies tend not to be the most patient creatures.
It is starting.
"Hold it, villain!" cries a voice. Emma and Elsa stop, magic at the ready as if surprised by the small group of guards who quickly surround them, brandishing swords.
Emma smiles at the thought that those metal twigs could harm her. She is the Dark One, and soon, they'll know what that means.
"You are in Arendelle. Magical beings like you are strictly forbidden," says someone, a guard Emma assumes. but his armour looks decorated strangely. She looked over at Elsa.
A guard? She silently asks.
Elsa nods at her before looking back at the group. She steps forward, keeping her back straight as an arrow. "I am Elsa, eldest daughter of Queen Gerda and rightful heir to the kingdom," she announces in that princess voice that was instilled in both her and Emma since childhood, a voice they would always have in their arsenals whether they liked it or not. "I command thee to lay down your weapons."
It's a noble effort, but one they both knew was doomed to fail. Elsa wasn't the rightful heir in the eyes of the people, not since Ingrid took her away from the castle, away from everything.
Ingrid drove the first wedge when she started talking about light magic and forgiving those who had wronged them. Emma didn't want to forgive her mother, whom she believed never truly loved her. But Ingrid insisted that because Snow had magic, she could join their family.
She tried no such argument with Elsa's sister who had long proven her inability to accept what she did not understand.
Ingrid saw the world as us against them. She hated non-magic users, and she believed that possessing magic was enough to bond people together. She thought that with a little love and compassion, Queen Snow could be reformed, that the four of them could be a family.
Emma didn't take it very well, constantly arguing with Ingrid, who just didn't understand that Emma's mother was beyond rehabilitation. The unfeeling monarch who manipulated her own daughter into becoming a monster didn't want or deserve Emma's forgiveness. But Ingrid refused to listen.
Elsa, on the other hand, kept insisting that not all mortals were bad. Emma always caught her staring off into the distance, waiting for something, or maybe someone, to appear in the distance. Emma was sure to it was non-magical, for why else would Elsa keep it a secret? Whenever Emma questioned her, the almost-queen would smile softly.
"He made me a promise," she said, and that was that.
"Our king is Hans," the lead guard says sharply, bringing Emma back to the present. "You, witch, are an enemy of this kingdom." Elsa isn't fazed by his assertion. She's heard it many times before.
Suddenly there are guards upon them, swiping at them mercilessly with their weapons, aiming to kill, not capture.
The sorceresses reply just as fiercely. After so much time in the close quarters of the ship, they desperately need the release of tension, the release of the darkness gripping their hearts, the release that these foolish guards seem oh so eager to give them.
It would be so easy to just kill them all with a single wave of her wrist, burying them in the snow, watching as they struggle for breath, as the life slowly drains from their bodies. Such a sight would fill Emma with glee, but then more will come. And when she dispatches those, then the magical prisoners under Hans' control will be summoned to deal with them. No, Emma can't have that. She needs to be underestimated, to be overlooked as a real threat.
So she doesn't allow the battle to seem so totally one-sided. Instead Emma burns the guards with fireballs or breaks their bones by sheer force of will instead of what she'd usually do if she wanted to win: tear out their hearts one by one.
She looks to her left to see Elsa freezing solid those foolish enough to come at her, sending each human ice sculpture crumbling with a quick blow from an icicle staff. Her chilling laugh pierces the air as her power merges with the everlasting snowstorm.
If anyone questioned if they were monsters before, they wouldn't after seeing the lack of regret in their eyes, Elsa's joy as she kills, and their smirks reveling in their complete control. They work well together, the two bloodthirsty blondes. Just like old times, except now they can actually kill people.
Then one day Emma told Elsa her plan. Emma was going to run away. She was tired of obeying Ingrid's rules, of always feeling like she let Ingrid down when she just couldn't feel how the woman wished she would.
Elsa lost it, screaming that Emma was leaving her like everyone else did. She begged Elsa to leave too, but her sister couldn't leave her only blood family she had left. Emma swore to Elsa that she'd be back, she'd come back for her, for her sister.
And Emma did return a few years later, but instead of triumphant, she came back lost and afraid again, just like when Ingrid found her the first time. Emma was burdened by a terrible secret, and she needed Elsa. She needed her sister.
But when Emma left, their sibling love had melted to bitter rivalry. Both felt betrayed by the other. Elsa's coldness when she most needed her support reaffirmed for Emma that she was better off alone. She was better off without magic. And so Emma did what she did best.
She ran. Ran from Ingrid, ran from Elsa, ran from her kingdom.
Ran from her fate.
Something smacks Emma on the back, knocking her from her memories to whirl around to face her attacker,.
"Hello, lass. Miss me?" drawls a voice, flashing a wink with his good eye.
"Of course, Captain," she replies evenly, conjuring her blade as all the approaching guards back off, watching the two circle each other slowly. "I'd never get tired of your pretty face." And then she strikes.
He blocks her attack with ease, flicking his wrist just so to pull the blade from her grip.
"But it isn't so pretty anymore, is it?" she teases darkly, eyeing the dark bruise on his face. Without a second thought he slashes at her, cutting open her wrist.
She hisses in pain before switching to fireball attacks. He doesn't panic, just calmly deflects the magic with his enchanted sword, driving her backwards with her own firepower. Emma notices the remaining guards, those not being slaughtered by the homicidal Ice Queen, of course, watching with awe. This newcomer is easily dealing with the monster who was demolishing their forces unchecked only moments before.
In sudden fury she leaps at him, really aiming for her fallen weapon.
"I'm going to cut out your throat, you dirty pirate," she spits as she pulls the sword toward her with a bit of magic and shoots him a coy smirk.
"Dirty? I bathe quite frequently, thank you," he responds. He swings full force, hitting Emma across the face with the blunt side of his weapon.
She blinks once before losing her balance and falling backward. He catches her quickly, bridal style, head rolling onto his shoulder. She may be the Dark Swan of the realm, but even she has her weaknesses. She just hopes sharing them with the sailor was the right choice.
He settles her gently on the ground. "Good night, my fair maiden." It's soft and sweet in her ear, making her fight a smile as she drifts into unconsciousness.
Another whisper of his voice is even lower. "You can trust me, Swan. All will be well. Your plan will work."
Emma wakes much as she expected to, chained to the wall in a cell. The restraints scratch at the rash left behind from her last stint in captivity, but these chains are a bit wider than they should be, nothing like the ones back in her tower. They barely suppress her magic. She had thought Hans was an expert in this, or perhaps she is just more of an expert at escaping. she doesn't know.
Fortunately, they separated her from Elsa. Emma couldn't handle the Ice Queen's whining for the duration of their rescue/escape. Hopefully Elsa stuck to the plan and let Killian best her as well. They had decided that getting him close to whoever was in charge of this prison was the best course of action. Convincing the King's forces to see Killian as their savior seemed like easiest way to make that happen.
But Emma has to admit, he is getting good with a sword. She only has a few notes of improvement for him from their staged fight. Sure, her magical attacks missed purposely, and she had taught him the move that ripped her sword from her hand, but with a few more weeks of practice, he might even surpass her with a blade.
"Rise, demon," demands a voice. Emma turns her head and moves closer to the bars, making the armor-clad guard jump.
"Of course," she purrs. "Where's the Captain? He's the one who caught me, not any of you incompetent fools."
The man doesn't react, instead pushing a tray through a small hole in the bars. It's disgusting. She'd rather starve than eat that mess. Good thing it's not an issue, since the Dark One doesn't actually need food.
"He is speaking to the King," the guard replies stiffly.
The King? Emma suppresses a groan. She expected the fool to come when he heard they captured his sister-in-law , but she had hoped he wouldn't arrive so quickly.
No matter. Her plan will still work. They always do.
"Speaking about little ol' me?" she flirts. "You Arendellians sure know how to flatter a lady."
The man grins a little too widely. It makes Emma nervous. He steps closer to her cage, aiming to taunt her. He obviously doesn't know who she is, what she can do. Perhaps she had let them underestimate her a little too much if they think these chains will keep her magic at bay.
"Actually, my king isn't too trusting of late," smirks the guard. "He has a foolproof way of ensuring that no foreigner who tells him a lie lives to tell another."
Emma doesn't like the sound of that, especially since every word leaving Killian's mouth is sure to be just that.
Thoughts whirl in her head. Stick to the plan and don't worry about him, or risk the whole operation to ensure he isn't in danger? To be honest, when she came up with the plan, she hadn't paid much attention to whether the Sailor lived through it, but that was before...before she realized that he could still be useful to her, he could still entertain her.
He's more than entertaining isn't he?
The plan was for her to slip out, find Elsa and Ingrid and get out. If she looks for Killian now, it puts the plan at risk, they could all be caught, forced to do Hans' bidding. That is a fate worse than death in her eyes. She should trust the plan, let things happen how they scripted. Yes, Emma will stick to the plan…
The guard moves to retreat from the cell bars, and Emma flips from strategizing to acting on her primal instincts.
"Well, knowledge is power after all," she snickers, breaking her chains and flinging herself against the cage. The bars, enchanted with something strong, burn her skin, but it's no matter. Burns will heal, she thinks. But this won't. Emma shoves her hand into the man's chest before he has a chance to flee. He can only gasp silently, as her first thought while gripping his beating heart is be silent.
It pulses red in her hand, oh so pretty. Emma looks up, seeing the shock and fear in the man's eyes.
Now he knows who he's messing with. Now he knows what happens when you cross the Dark One.
"Tell me, soldier, what does your king wish to do to the Captain?"
He has no choice. He spills his guts to her, voice dripping with terror.
She curses under her breath as she hears what they plan for her sailor.
This is not part of the plan.
Ok, that episode today just broke my heart.
I'm not going to rant because I need time to process what just happened, probably on the next one.
Next Chapter is going to be really long btw. Along with some answers along with many more questions.
9/5/17: Beta read by the talented notoriouscs.
~Luna