A/N Aaaaand here comes Killian's dickhead move. Enjoy!
Chapter 10: Devil's Deal Remade
"You seem upset," a voice mocked from behind Hook. He turned; emptiness greeted him in the dense shrubbery. Scanning the area and finding nothing, he returned to leaning against the tree and closed his eyes. A twig breaking made the pirate's eyes snap open.
Standing before him, in a midnight blue gown, was the same devil that had so recently wanted him dead.
"Come to kill me, have you?" Hook asked, smiling arrogantly and spreading his arms.
"Actually, I came to offer you a deal," the haughty feline voice replied. He narrowed his eyes in disbelief.
"Milady, I'm quite sure that just days ago I recall you marching towards me like hell on legs, ready to tear my heart out. Can you understand why I might be confused?" Hook asked, cocking his head to the side. The woman laughed without humour.
"I'm surprised you haven't asked how I got here, Hook."
Hook shrugged, "I know you to be resourceful, if there was ever going to be another way to travel here, you would find it." Stepping into the moonlight, Cora smiled dazzlingly at the pirate.
"I would be flattered if I weren't still… irritated by your choice of journey here." Hook smirked.
"Yes well, if I haven't upset a woman or two in my day then I'd be a bad judge. What is it that you seek, Cora? You aren't the type for visits purely based on menial conversation." His smirk evaporated, replaced by an expression of wary curiosity.
"I want what you want. But, since you were unable to complete the feat yourself… I think you need my assistance, Captain." Cora watched as Hook's wariness dispersed.
"You mean the crocodile?" The pirate's smile reappeared thinking of the prospect of his revenge fulfilled. Tonight had beaten him so far down that he'd figured he would just give up.
"Yes, but we'll be doing things my way, understood?"
Hook nodded, bowing in an over-exaggerated fashion, "I am at your command."
She grinned, and it sent a chill up Hook's spine. Stepping closer so that she was an inch from the pirate, Cora whispered threateningly, "If you double-cross me this time I won't wait around, you'll regret it if you live long enough."
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Emma had just arrived home, tears still spilling from her eyes as she unlocked the door and entered the apartment. For a quick second, she was worried Henry might come rushing in to welcome her. She didn't want him to see her this way. Luckily though, the saviour remembered that Henry was staying with Regina for the night and would be for the next two nights.
Sagging in sudden relief, Emma pulled off her leather jacket and hung it on the coat rack. Emma walked solemnly to her bedroom, peeling off her jeans and shirt and sliding into track pants and a white silk singlet. She climbed into bed, her appetite was gone – replaced by crushing knots and twists that made sleep evade her.
Without warning, all the memories of Neal and the crushing grief came flooding back. On her own, where no one could see her, Emma's walls splintered and contracted revealing the broken girl behind them: the girl who fell too hard, too fast and paid the price. The girl who had been broken by this world, first by the foster system and then by a man with an easy smile named Neal.
Sobs wracked her frame as she curled tighter into herself. Eventually, sleep came where she dreamt of the sea and of eyes the colour of the sky.
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Hook followed Cora sheepishly to the docks. After the threat, she had mentioned needing to show him something that might make him more complacent in her demands. Walking up one of the piers, the pirate looked around. There were no vessels that interested him – they were all small and white and utterly unremarkable.
At the end of the pier Cora turned to him with a wicked smile and motioned for him to follow her. Hook raised an eyebrow as she walked in the direction of… well, nothing. There was nothing tied to that side of the dock.
Cora raised her foot expectantly and leant forward. Usually, under the threat of a woman falling into icy water, Hook would have been a gentleman and tried to prevent her from tumbling over. Cora was a completely different object altogether.
Her foot landed with a thud on something solid and his other eyebrow rose. Cora glanced back at him, nodding her head for him to follow. Hook did, placing his foot in the exact place she had and continuing forward where her figure had disappeared.
He felt himself pulled forward as he hit some sort of barrier and then he was standing on a deck. Looking around, Hook genuinely smiled. This wasn't any deck, this was his deck. It was the Jolly Roger, here in Storybrooke. She must have put some kind of invisibility hex on it to ensure its anonymity.
Cora swivelled in her position to watch the pirate's reaction and was immediately satisfied with what she saw.
"So, I assume from your grinning you will be agreeing to the deal?" She asked, raising her eyebrows expectantly. Hook looked at Cora modestly and shrugged in the arrogant manner that characterised him so vividly.
"I guess this would mean we have deal. What is it you need me to do first?" He asked, moving to stand at the helm of his boat. The feeling of the wheel in his hands made this dangerous situation he was entering into seem less daunting. A splotch of red on the underside of the wheel caught his attention; dried blood.
Sucking in a breath of air, Hook remembered his crew and what she had done to them, what she had made him do to them. It was hard to keep his face neutral as the witch spoke again, ignorant of his discovery. Restraining the urge to gut her, Hook listened and reminded himself that this was his only option, and since when do pirates have a conscience? A voice sounding eerily like Emma whispered in his head.
"I am to understand that you have a knack for the blonde one? The saviour?" Cora's words were tipped in menace and she uttered the last one as if it were an explicit insult. At the mention of Emma, the pirate straightened up. He remembered back to their previous encounter and was wrapped in both anger and compassion.
Her mistrust, her mannerisms, everything made sense as she uttered the words: "at least it wasn't her choice." Someone had hurt her dearly, and in such a way that had broken her. It eerily reminded Hook of his own experience after Milah – except she had been taken from him. And yet he couldn't help but be unreasonably dismayed that the swan girl had seen through him.
Hook had always fancied himself closed off to others – among other things comprising of ladies' man and expert sailor. His façade had prevented anyone thus far from making him confront his demons, and then along came the dashing product of true love. For some reason that was unknown to him, Emma could read him as easily as he could her.
That was why he was angry with her. It was also why he had to cut off all connection with her.
"Yes, I do know her," Hook finally answered Cora stoically. She eagerly noticed his evident dislike and seized the opportunity.
"Oh captain, don't be modest. I know there's more there, you two are kindred spirits – both having lost love suddenly and brutally." Cora smiled, watching as Hook squirmed uncomfortably under the scrutiny.
"You could say that, what does this have to do with her?" Hook asked defiantly, trying to ignore the mixed emotions that speaking about her filled him with. Somehow Cora knew what Emma had gone through and she was likely unafraid to exploit it.
"I need you to distract her. Use whoever or whatever but please keep her out of the way for at least nine hours, beginning precisely at eight-thirty in the morning."
Hook took the opportunity to raise his eyebrows, "That's awfully specific. What have you planned and how does it coincide with me slaying the crocodile?"
"That is for me to know and you to find out. Trust is a virtue, dear captain. I'll ensure you have your crocodile – just keep her occupied and away from town for nine hours." Cora's answer was vague but he had no other option but to trust the wretch of woman. Rolling his eyes in frustration, the pirate walked down to the main deck to stand before her.
"Do we have a deal, captain?" Cora asked, extending her hand in awaiting compliance.
Hook hesitated slightly but redeemed himself, flashing his trademark smirk with a cruel and dark edge. "Aye, we have ourselves an agreement."
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Emma woke lazily the next morning, she had forgotten that crying yourself to sleep – while utterly depressing – was also a sure fire way to ensure an unbroken night's rest. She knew from experience while in foster care. The blonde looked at the clock and realised it was eight o'clock in the morning and she had to be at her office in half an hour. Eyes wide, she sprinted into action trying to make herself presentable.
Her staple leather jacket, keys and sheriff holster in hand, Emma made her way to the station. Luckily she arrived with five minutes to spare. She checked her phone momentarily and was horrified to see thirty-two missed calls from her mother's number. Dialling sporadically, Emma sagged in relief when Mary Margaret answered.
"What's wrong? Is David okay?" the saviour asked frantically
"Are you okay? We heard about what happened with Hook and Rumplestiltskin and Belle last night! Everyone in town is wondering what the hell happened – all I know is that he came storming back into town with a dazed Belle in tow. Where's Hook?" Mary Margaret gushed, and Emma's relief quickly turned chaotic as she recalled the exchange with Hook. Walking into her office, the blonde noted with dread the large pile of paperwork waiting for her.
"I don't know where he is… he um, ran off after it and I went home. Sorry I didn't answer your calls I was just so worn out from… everything, really." Emma said, lowering herself into the office chair behind her desk. Only seconds after revelling in comfortable leather of her wheeled chair, she heard footsteps coming down the hall to the precinct.
"Someone's coming to the station, I'll talk to you later Mary Margaret," she said, hanging up the phone abruptly. Blowing air exaggeratedly through her lips, Emma stood from her desk chair and waited for someone to enter. When nothing happened, the sheriff left her individual office and watched the door, expectant. Again, nothing happened and Emma grew impatient.
The other areas of this building hadn't yet been leased out; there wasn't anything else in this building other than the precinct. She walked into the hallway, listening carefully as the door swung shut behind her.
Silence greeted Emma's strained ears.
"I'm so freaking on edge, I've started hearing things," the blonde muttered to herself, eyes downward as she turned to move back into the office. Only instead of running into doors, Emma ran into a figure clad in leather. Emma had only looked up for a second when a blunt object knocked her unconscious. She vaguely heard two words before the blackness consumed her;
"Hello, love."
Sorry guys, I couldn't let them start getting affectionate on each other too easily – there needs to be conflict first and this will do just that. Don't worry though, I've written a couple more chapters and they'll be fine – trust me.