AN: I was really pleased with the reaction I got for the last one, so I decided to write a counterpart from Emma's perspective. Enjoy!
There's a magic that lives inside of him, flowing through his veins, pumping in his blood, sending sparks flying wherever their skin touches. It's different than her own brand of magic; it can't be seen, but she feels it whenever she looks at him.
She chases him the way she once did belonging, wanting a place to call her own, finding solace in all the lines and angles and edges of him. He's stronger than any magic she's ever dealt with; a breath of life, a fire under her skin, a pull in her chest. She was always lost, always looking for a place to land, discovering a lifeline every time their gazes lock.
His touch presses adoration into her once hollowed bones; she loves his eyes and his lips, the tight curl of his fingers and the way his voice whispers home.
And she loves him.
She loves him so much that she feels it, fluttering in her stomach; tight in her throat; both light and heavy in her heart. She is dizzy with the weight of it, with the hard set of his jaw and the soft curve of his smile, with the spark in his blue eyes.
She loves him so much that it makes her better, makes her believe she can be better. He blinks those eyes and she wants to rid them of anything that's ever taken the light from there. She wants to believe the absolute best in this world merely for his sake.
She loves him so much that she finds happiness, pushed into the dimples of his cheeks and the tips of his fingers. Anything that ever made her smile is there in his eyes; the blue only ever reminds her of a clear sky, of the sun on her skin and lightness in her heart. He is vast as the sky himself, and she wants to know that depth. All her life spent living under the sun, but she looks at him and she's burning. She would give her magic away a thousand times over if it meant he would be safe, if it meant he would be happy.
She loves him so much that it makes her sappy and cliched, and she is every bit the woman she always claimed not to be. She is every bit the woman she never expected to be again, the type that believes and dreams and hopes, that feels her stomach flip when she turns to find his blue eyes already watching her.
She loves him so much that she'd give any help he needed, would always come through for him. She would face any villains, cross any realms, jump any obstacles if only for the sake of that smile which pushes her heart into her throat. His happiness is everything, and it closes the fissures in her jagged heart.
She loves him so much that she wants to show him her world, wants to help him adapt to all its intricacies, is willing to teach whatever he's willing to learn. She wants to know him, to know the whole reason why he became the man he did. She wants to hear all of his stories, wants to comprehend exactly what it is about the ocean that washes him in calm. He fills her with a kind of compassion she hasn't felt in a long time, and it makes her want to understand; she has all the time in the world to understand.
She is insanely in love with him. He is the reason she doesn't want to sleep at night, afraid she might lose him if she lets her guard down; but when he stays with her, the thrum of his heart is all the lullaby she needs. On those nights, she breathes in and feels his presence soothe the ache in her chest. Their hearts beat the same rhythm, and she smirks when she hears it; she falls asleep to the sound of his love.
As for her, his sound is a war drum, urging her to march on. She knows she will never be the same after loving him. It is not like the first time she loved- he is not like the first time. He is hope and faith and an understanding so strong it startles her with its power. He is so much patience, so much care; he is so much.
She had forgotten how badly the past could hurt; it is only in loving him, through learning how to love, that she begins to let it go. She's a shattered bunch of fragments, but he kisses each broken piece. Even when she pushes away like the current, he pulls her back like the tide; without him, she is that Lost Girl once again; stumbling and scared, and nowhere to be found.
She'll love him until her last breath, and until all the last breaths of the people left after she's gone.
He chases away the demons with just his smile; she couldn't remember what home felt like until the day he gave his away for her.
From that moment, she quickly learned that belonging is dark haired and blue eyed and strong;
that family holds many meanings, and it can't be defined by blood;
that home is gentler and kinder than any dream she'd ever conjured up;
that home is named Killian, and he's bright as the sun.