Chapter 23
It's Snowing
"I'm sorry Emma I can't be associating with the likes of you. I'm king now I don't have time for you Emma."
She blinked in confusion. Killian was there staring at her with this dismissive look. She shook her head.
"Killian, please, I'm back, I'm ready to fight for you!" Emma said, grabbing his arm pleading for him too look at her, to leave with her. She could't lose Killian, not after everything they've been through.
"I love her Emma. I love her, not you." He said avoiding her gaze. "How could I possibly love you?"
She flinched, feeling her world coming apart. "Killy sweetie!" Called a voice, entering the room. Emma looked up seeing Zelena dressed in the finest silks and jewels. Killian stood, smiling at her brightly, passing her by.
"Zelena, my love." He greeted embracing her, pressing his lips to hers. They caused a halo of rainbow light to kock the wind out of her, True Love's Kiss.
No. This wasn't happening.
"The baby kicked." She said softly grabbing his hand and placing it on her enlarged stomach.
"No Killian. No. This can't be happening." She pleaded. "Come away with me, please you're my happy ending!" She screamed.
"Oh darling. Our child. Our child." He breathed not looking at her, not even hearing her, kissing Zelena again.
"Get away from him!" Emma snarled.
"Darling. You said you would deal with the Dark One." Zelena reminded him, tucked behind him.
He looked towards her, eyes void of all kindness. "Ah yes. Guards! Take her away."
She looked around, seeing guards appear at each side, her wrists were bound in chains, they were dragging her away.
"Killian! No! Don't do this!" She pleaded. "Don't leave me!"
He looked her, really looked at her. "You left first."
And he was gone.
Emma woke up screaming. She was crying, sobbing, pleading for this not to be happening. She knew it was a dream, but could see how easily it could happen.
She remembered the heartbreak evident in his eyes. He begged her not to go. It was bothering her, if he was in love, why didn't he want her to leave? Why did he seem to need her to stay?
Maybe she should have asked that then, because now it was too late. He had his happy ending, and it wasn't her. She hoped one day she could get a little bit of peace from knowing that he was happy, even if it was without her.
She lifted the vial in her hand, there was one long blonde hair, curling slightly in the light blue liquid as well as a few shorter blonde ones. It was undeniable.
Neal was her brother.
She just didn't understand how that was possible. Snow had said she'd killed him! Had she given him up? Was she ashamed at having a normal baby boy? If so, why visit him on his birthday? Why give him her gifts? If she was really ashamed and wanted no connection to him, why visit him at all. It was the same as her visiting Henry, masquerading as a distant aunt.
There was only one person who could answer her questions.
Emma stood, dusted herself off, looking up at the castle that loomed over her. She may have lost Killian, but Emma would find her happy ending, and it started with the truth about her family.
Emma snapped her fingers, changing her attire from the faded red dress she wore with Belle and Neal to something a bit darker. Her black leather crocodile skinned clothes would do just fine. It went well with her long hair tied in a tight pony tail. Today wasn't the time for being nice, for pleading to their humanity, her parents had none.
Another snap and Emma wasn't alone in a grassy field, she was outside the throne room.
Emma stepped forward, throwing the double doors open in a massive boom of dark magic. She looked around at the people previously discussing things with her mother, were now silent, watching her with wide eyed terror.
But no one moved.
That bothered her.
"Out! All of you!" She snarled, grabbing the nearest person, plunging her hand in their chest, making them cry out in agony. "I would like a word with my mother. If you value your heart don't make me wait." She snapped dropping the man to the floor, heart intact.
Within seconds the room was empty, empty save for her parents.
She looked up, watched her mother's cold expression.
"I should kill you." Emma snarled. "The only thing keeping me from doing that before now was my belief that I could still save my father." She glared at the man. "But it's obviously that he doesn't want saving."
He didn't flinch. Emma turned back towards her mother, stalking her way towards her.
"Then why haven't you?" Snow asked.
"Because I want the truth." She snapped back. "Who are my real parents?"
Snow's expression faltered. "I am. We are." She said, and Emma could detect no lie.
"Then explain this!" She snapped, she closed her eyes, concentrating. Her hands flickered with light for a split second before fading. "Light magic! How do I have light magic?" Her mother exchanged a look with the huntsman. A desperate look.
"I- They-" She stammered. For once the Queen is at a loss for words.
"Snow. She has to know. We can't keep hiding the truth from her." The huntsman said suddenly stepping forward, hand on her shoulder. "Cast the spell." It was the first time she saw him even touch her mother.
Emma looked between them, some hidden understanding passing between them. She'd never seen it before, never seen them like this before.
"Ok." Snow said in a single breath, hand glowing brightly, before a purple glow flashed around her, Emma didn't recognize the spell. "Emma, I am your mother." She insisted, but her voice isn't cold, it's pleading.
"And I am your father." The Huntsman said sternly, empty face filling with the love Emma remembered, it made her recoil. "But I'm not being controlled; I haven't been for a while, since before you were born. I'm here out of my own free will."
She shook her head, she'd seen his heart out of his chest; hear her mother ordering him around. She'd seen the dead look on his face.
"I gave her my heart because it's the only way she can feel anything. We share it." He explained. "Just not in the traditional sense."
No. If they share a heart….
"Emma. The reason that you have light magic is that we're true loves." Snow said in a small voice. She stands, walking down the steps towards her.
No. No. She wasn't….
"Then why." She asked. "Why did you do this to me? Why have you hated me? Used me? Hurt me? Turned me into a monster!" She screamed, the windows shattering due to her uncontrollable emotions. Her mother was coming closer, her eyes glassy, filling with tears. Real tears.
"Emma-" She shook her head, not giving them a chance. This was a lie, a trick, a way to hurt her.
"I loved you daddy! I loved you so much! And you're saying you had your own heart? Made your own choices? You stabbed me!" She shrieked in agony pointing at him. He looked at her sadly before looking away guiltily.
"Someone has my heart and made me do all those terrible things." Her mother said in a weak voice. "Charming hurt you because it was the only way to convince her not to kill me for failing her."
Emma detected no lie, but the broken look of her mother, hand hanging in shame struck a nerve in her heart. She didn't understand, couldn't understand.
"Who?" She asked gently. She didn't believe her, not yet, but if she was telling the truth…then Emma had some serious work to do, and thinking to do. She didn't know what she'd do if it was truth, if her parents were being controlled for the last 28 plus years. If every interaction she's ever had from them had been a lie.
They shook their heads. "We can't say. She'll know." Her father said, closing the distance between him, and her mother. She watched her father sweep her mother into his arms, hold her close, as her mother seemed on the verge of a breakdown, whispering quiet shushing sounds.
It looked too much like how Killian held her when she'd seen Snow.
Emma had never seen her like this, not ever. They seemed human all of a sudden. They seemed like her parents. Parents who know they've failed their child, children, and didn't know how to fix it. People helpless to fix it, stuck in the dark for so long…
"Why turn me into the Dark One?" She asked.
Her parents exchanged a look. "A prophecy. One she feared desperately. It said that the child of the Dark One and a child of True Love would bring about her ruin, they would stop her plans." She swallowed.
"So when she learned I was a child of true love, she had you turn me into the Dark One. Had you make me miserable. Make me unlovable." She breathed in realization. The Dark One and a child of True Love could not have a child if the two were one and the same.
"Please Emma, please believe us, we're trying our best to keep you safe, she wanted us to kill you, but we couldn't you're our daughter." The Huntsman said desperately. "Trapping you was the only way to keep you safe."
Tears streaming down Emma's face. They sent her away when they could no longer control her so they wouldn't have to kill her. In their own twisted way, they were giving Emma her best chance.
"I believe you." She whispered. "I truly do."
The look on her mother's face was pure love and joy, the face she once wished on every star to see once upon a time. "I'm going to fix this." She promised. "I will. I'll get your heart back mother. No one deserves to be heartless." She insisted. "But you don't have to worry about me falling in love; my true love picked someone else."
Her mother moved from her father's side and tentatively closed the distance between them. Emma allowed her. She allowed her mother to hug her, wrap her arms around her shoulders and just exist.
At 28, Emma received her first hug from her mother.
Her father went to a mirror, picking up a tree branch as mother and daughter parted. She looked at her strangely, but her mother's face brightened. "The tree." She gasped. "Yes, yes, I almost forgot." She said happily. He did, placing a long branch in her grasp.
"It's from an enchanted tree. Burn it and give it some direction and you'll find your way wherever you want to go, just in case she comes for you, in case you need to run to another realm." She explained. "I love you Emma. You're my daughter. I've always loved you and I always will"
She nodded. "Thank you. I promise. I'll take care of this; I'll come back for you." She vowed quickly, seeing the way her mother swayed. Whatever the spell she'd learned to block this woman from listening in on her heart, it was taking a toll on her.
"Charming." Snow hissed, gripping The Huntsman's arm in pain. He shushed her, cupping her face, kissing her gently, helping her back into her thrown. Whatever spell had momentarily blocked the hold on Snow's heart was fading.
"Next time we meet, we have to pretend you don't know this, any of this. We have to be villains." Snow said. "Stay safe."
Emma nodded, but added a final word. "He's happy." She assured them. "You know who."
Her parents didn't smile, back under their cursed personas.
Emma snapped her fingers disappearing. She had a lot to think about.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Come on Killian, back to bed." Said a voice. Emma looked around, seeing Regina hauling a struggling Killian. He was stumbling, leaning heavily on the bandit.
"Killian!" Emma called. He was muttering incoherently clutching onto Regina as she led him back into his tent. She didn't know what was happening, just that Killian was in bad shape. Emma followed, not quite understanding.
"I'm fine." He slurred as Regina put him to bed. She smiled at him kindly.
"You must have hit your head, pirate, if you think I'll buy that. I can't take you anywhere can I?" Regina jested.
Emma got a better look at him, he was shivering, paper white, breathing deeply. Regina was holding his hand and he was clutching hers, but it didn't look like his grip was too strong.
"You'd miss me on your patrols." He teased eyes closing. Emma went to his side, trying to hold his other hand but she slipped right through. She tried again, resting her hand just above his skin.
Blue eyes snapped open at her touch. "Swan." A sleepy grin on his face, eyes clouded with pain. "No hallucin..hallucinations last time." he said face tense in confusion. "Am I dreaming?" She smiled at him, running her hand against his cheek.
"Why are you so sick?" She whispered. Emma thought it was the secret that had been weighing on him. She thought that now that she knew, Killian would be enjoying his happy ending, not shivering in the forest.
"Not sick." He said stubbornly. Even in a dream, Emma knew when he was lying.
"Killian? Are you talking to someone?" Regina asked. He nodded; face easing as he took a long blink.
"Princess…Can I have this dance?" Emma forced back a sob at just how wrecked he was. How had this happened? Zelena was supposed to be taking care of him! He was supposed to be living a full life! As much as his betrayal hurt, she never wanted this.
"Of course Killian." Emma said simply.
"Oh no, he's delirious." Regina complained dryly, but Emma could see her panic beneath her sass.
"Good." Killian sighed nodding off.
Regina gasped standing up. "It's going to be ok, I'm going to get Zelena, she'll find something for you, something to make you feel better. One of Lily's potions maybe?" She said fleeing the tent.
"What happened Killian?" Emma pleaded. "She was supposed to take care of you." He didn't answer.
Zelena stormed in moments later without Regina. Emma breathed a sigh of relief, regardless of her feeling for the healer, she loved him, she would take care of him, make him better, make him healthy.
"Having trouble thinking straight Killian darling?" Emma blinked at her tone. "Having trouble catching your breath? How about coordination? What? That going too?" She mocked. "Never thought I'd get this lucky."
What the-
"You shouldn't have gone off walking with Gina this should have you stuck in camp with me for a bit." She taunted, moving her hands into his pocket, pulling out a purple vial. It looked identical to what Lily had given her. With ease she uncapped it and poured all of it onto the ground, much to her horror.
"Can't have her convincing you to go after the Dark One can we? Or filling your head with ridiculous thoughts." She watched Killian shiver.
Zelena didn't love him. She didn't care for him. Emma knew love, she'd seen it, envied it. There was no love in her condescending tone.
"You witch!" Emma screamed, lunging for her. She was going to kill the witch! Emma went right through her.
"It'll be ok darling. Just listen to me and all will be well." She said, rubbing a thumb along his lips. They were pale as he gasped suddenly for breath,
"Don't touch him!" He stirred, waking up blindly, coughing violently. Zelena wrapped herself around him, handing him a handkerchief to cough into. She rubbed his back saying soothing lies before Killian moaned Emma's name and was out again.
"Killian!"
She wouldn't let this stand, she wouldn't let him be manipulated and used. She wouldn't let this woman, this witch who'd somehow conned him, break him, kill him.
"I'm coming for you." She whispered, feeling herself fading. She raised her head, glaring at the red head who couldn't see her.
"I'm coming for you too."
XXXXXXXXXX
"Emma!" Cried a voice. Emma startled awake. She looked up seeing Lily leaning over her, with a worried expression.
She shot up gasping for breath.
"You fell asleep again." Lily said worriedly. "You just showed up here and fell asleep."
Emma gave a weak smile looking around. She was in a bed in a bare room in Lily's brick house.
"How did I get here?" She asked in a daze.
Lily crossed her arms. "That doesn't matter, what matters is you, what the hell Emma?" She asked. "You tell me that we all have to leave, you ask me for a blood testing potion, and then poof you're gone! Without even a goodbye to Henry! Now I'm getting more and more letters about Killian from Regina! And instead of going there and being with him, you're here! Sleeping! It doesn't make sense!"
Emma sighed, curling up. She had to think, what to do, how to tell him that his love was poisoning him.
"Emma. I know being helpless sucks, I know you're scared but Killian needs you right now." Lily insisted.
Killian needs her.
"I saw him. Killian, I did that weird dream thing we do. Zelena, she's poisoning him." Emma insisted, tears building in her eyes. "You should see him Lily, he's pale and dizzy and weak and-"
It had to be Zelena there was no other explanation.
"And probably not eating and sleeping, maybe a little disoriented." Lily listed. "I know." She crossed her arms. "I thought you didn't care?"
She blinked. She would always care. Emma never stopped caring for her sailor.
There wasn't a world, a universe, a reality that Emma Swan didn't care about Killian Jones.
"How do you know? And of course I care; I just want him to be happy, not sick." She knew because of her dream, their weird ability to dream appear to the other in times of need. How exactly had Lily known? Surely she would have roasted the witch if she'd known before they left.
Lily looked at her confused. "I told you, I found out, stumbled on him-" She snaps her eyes closed, not wanting to hear details of Killian and Zelena.
"Me too…It made me sick." She admitted. Now it was Lily who looked confused.
"You saw him fall unconscious too?" She clarified. "That made you sick? I mean it's a scary sight but-"
Unconscious?
"Lily wait, back up. I think we're having a serious communication error." Emma admitted shaking her head and palms. "I caught Killian kissing Zelena. He told her he loved her, they were true loves and I just…I ran. I couldn't take him letting me down easy or sneaking around with her."
One second. Two seconds. Three.
"That WITCH!" Lily roared. Her eyes were glowing a violent green. Emma swore she even saw scales spotting on her hands before she took a calming breath. "That's why you left? You thought he was cheating on you? With HER? True love with HER?" Emma nodded.
"Emma, Killian was a mess when you were hurt. The only person he was cheating was himself out of his own rest. You were asleep for THREE days, not 300 years." Lily insisted. "Even then I doubt he could love anyone more than you. I don't know what you saw, but it was definitely not-" She stopped. "Then you don't know." She said interrupting her rapid fire. "You really don't know…"
"Know what?" She asked. What was going on with her sailor? "Will someone just tell me what's going on?" She was really getting tired of this. "Why is Zelena making him sick? What's wrong? What is this secret that keeps Killian from telling me how he really feels? What is it that makes you look sad when I talk about him? If he's not with Zelena why did you think I left? What made you so angry that you were on his side?" She ranted, pacing back and forth.
Somehow, even while not knowing, Emma knew. She knew.
He didn't want to tell her. He didn't want to ruin the peace. Peace that would shatter if he d- if he was dy-
Lily said handing her a letter. "I think you should read it. I think you should hear it from him."
He was pale before, possibly in pain, how could she not realize, how could she think…
She saw her name on the top. It was in Killian's writing. He wrote her a letter. The only reason he would write her a letter would be if he knew something would separate them.
Ever the gentleman
She opened it.
My love, Emma.
I've written this letter a dozen times.
But if you're reading this…I'm gone.
I'm dead.
I write this now to explain to you what happen. I told you what I used to think true about my time in Neverland. I told you how the Jabberwocky stirred dormant memories, sealed memories. It was then I found out…I learned that my time with you was greatly limited. By then I'd already fallen for you my beautiful Dark Swan.
Fifteen years ago, believing that a deadly poison was actually a mythic cure, Liam poisoned himself to prove a point to his stubborn younger brother. I was able to give him the cure, but it had a price, he could never leave Neverland, we could be together stay together until the end of the world, but Liam wasn't happy about that. It wasn't enough for him. He had someone to return to you see, no one I knew according to him, but he tried to barter for an escape with the leader of the island. I was young, but I remember them being a true demon.
The two, my brother and the demon, they came up with a solution. They wanted me to rid Neverland of an enemy. They wanted me to kill someone.
I tried, I really did Swan. But I just couldn't do it. I don't regret that. I don't regret not killing the boy, the child, but if I had, things would have been so different.
Because soon after, my brother made a second deal, I urged him not to. I thought we could be happy on the island, just the two of us, it was not ideal, but I firmly believed that it wouldn't be so bad. Liam didn't listen. He told the demon that if a price must be paid, then surely they could decide who? He had not chosen to drink from the spring, it was not him who in desperation, proclaimed that they would pay any price.
It was me.
The demon cursed my brother and I, sealing my memories of these events, and sent me off the island oblivious to the fact that the day I turned the same age of my brother…I would bear his curse, I would die of the dreamshade poison.
And Liam would be free.
Emma couldn't help but gasp. There was still another page to read, but she couldn't do it, not yet. She couldn't help but remember the loving way he thought of his brother until he killed Hans, until he learned something dreadful. She just never imagined this. She didn't imagine he could be dying in such a terrible way. He was suffering.
"Is it true? Is Killian really dying? Is there nothing I can do?" She pleaded. Lily shook her head.
"Nothing in this realm can save him, not even the most powerful light magic. Mine could only post pone the inevitable."
Postpone? That meant that he was already out of time.
"What about that purple potion?"
Lily's somber expression fell further. "It's for the pain. This poison, its not a quick and painless death Emma."
I'm alright Swan; I'm not in any pain. I promise.
"It's really bad isn't it." She asked, her voice sounding terrified. Lily nodded.
"I tried to help with my magic, but my mother says that it's only going to make it worse in the long run, the longer he tries to fight it, the worse it'll be. You need to go back." She said sternly. "He needs you. He was so heartbroken when he thought- he thinks-"
She gasped. "He thinks I left him to die." She says in a gasp. "He thinks I don't care for him, that I don't love him, I didn't. I wouldn't!" She insisted, shaking in agony. She can just imagine what he was going through, weakening and all alone. Killian had been all alone for so long, that was the last thing she wanted for him. She thought he was happy, thought it was for the best.
Lily's holding her now, holding her still. "He doesn't know that." Lily insisted. "Tell him. Save him. If anyone can do it, if anyone can transcend realms to save the man she loves it's-" Lily's interrupted.
"Mom!" Its Henry, rushing in with a letter held tightly in his grasp. He stops short. "Moms! Its Gina. She sent another letter. I know I'm not supposed to peak but Diablo ripped the letter and I just." He takes a breath, handing it to Emma rather than Lily. "You need to see this." Henry's expression is unwavering, Emma can even feel the raven on his shoulder, Diablo, staring her down with it's amber eyes.
(Mal's bird always did hate her)
Emma opened it. She scanned Regina and Lily's exchange of child rearing things. She skipped right to where the bandit's hand writing looked rushed, frantic even, near the end, as if she'd adding it hastily.
Lily, if you can contact Emma, do it. Now.
It's about Killian, I promised I would tell you how he's doing but…I can't…I can't talk him out of this. He's going to marry Zelena. He doesn't want to; he loves Emma, even if she doesn't deserve it. But he wants to help us, some of the idiots my sister insists on respecting tried to strong arm us into marrying one of them.
There are other ways out of this, but Killian is stubborn, he told me about his condition and he wants us to use it to marry, before he dies, to use his name for our benefit. My fool of a sister is letting him; I can't talk them out of it. I don't want to build my future on my friend's blood. I won't. There must be a way to save him.
It's only been a few days since the announcement and Killian, he's not doing well, he said he had a few weeks but he's getting really sick, really fast.
He's given up hope Lily. He's content to die. I don't know much about magic, but Iknow about giving up hope and if he doesn't find some soon he will die.
As much as the thought of taking back someone who hurt you is repulsive, I think seeing her would do him good. Judging by the rate he's going, the marriage will happen soon, please find Emma, get her to stop this atrocity.
She's the only one who can.
"He's marrying her." Emma repeated. "That's what this is about. That's what this whole thing has been about."
Getting rid of her, conning Killian into agreeing to this marriage, then when he died…
If Zelena was smart, she could try to spin this as a ploy by her mother, vengeance or some nonsense, it would make Emma stop at nothing for vengeance, there was nothing better than putting the family of her worse enemy on the thrown.
"What?! Why!" Lily exclaimed, handing her over the note. She read it quickly.
"Because he believes in good form." Henry replied. "Good form states that you always help a damsel in distress."
Oh Zelena was going to be distressed when Emma was done with her. She would be real distressed without her lying tongue!
"Are you sending Killian more of these purple things?" She asked. The brunette nodded. "Zelena's been stealing them, dumping them."
Lily's eyes went wide. "That's…that's just evil." She explained.
"If she thinks she can have him. If she thinks for a minute, that I'm going to let her get away with this then she has another thing coming, I'm going to wipe the smug look off her sorry face! I'm going to go and get my Killian back." She proclaimed, even if he never looked at her again. "I can save him Lily, I know I can."
Lily smirked. "Don't think you're going alone, I'm coming with you." She insisted. "Hell yeah! Let's go stop that wedding!"
Lots of answers for Emma, and for the rest of you as well, I hope it made sense.
My major reason for this whole marriage plot line is because the whole interrupting wedding event during Operation Mongoose, but I had to steal it from Outlaw Queen, sorry.
But on a side note, I do want to announce that this universe has me so excited about writing that I can't quite say goodbye to it just yet. While the ending of The Purple Fairy is in sight, the end of this universe for me is not in sight at all, so I figured I'd keep going until my excitement dampers out, there are just so many different characters I want to introduce and explore!
I'll leave it at that for now.
Guest Reviews:
andria: I know, its a shocker, but it was planned since I decided to make Zelena a bit of a villain.
Anna: Ha, you'll find out very soon just how much of a mess the situation is. Unfortunately, the Charmings aren't the 'evil' character I was hinting at in earlier replies, sorry, but I couldn't wrap my head around making them my end all be all villains. They're complicated characters to say the least. Emma and Killlian are definitely not lucky, but are star crossed lovers ever lucky? I'm open to chat a bit, I do have to be a little vague at times since it is the internet after all, PM me if you ever want to.
Guest: My explanation for why it could't be Regina was that A) She wouldn't agree to it. B) Zelena is older so she's trying to get the thrown over her younger sister. C) Zelena makes it much more fun! I'm glad you liked my surprise ending.
~Luna