Well, this chapter wasn't suppose to be this long...hope you all like it! ALSO,
I changed the dynamic between Hook and Emma in the last chapter because as I was writing this chapter out, I felt, at that moment, I didn't capture him the correct way. Feel free to go back and read that little part if you feel like it!
Anyways, thank you to mothermckarther for beta'ing this chapter :3
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time, or any of the lovely characters within the storyline. Sadly.
Emma has done what she agreed to do; she has gone back to the cabin and stayed there. Lazily she observes as the globe's hue shifts from a brilliant periwinkle to a deep cerulean blue. After a short moment Emma lets her curiosity get the better of her. Moving off the bed, she decides to look for hints about Milah and her bond to Hook.
"If he's kept her necklace, he may have kept her journal if she had one…" Emma muses out loud as she searches into each drawer of the cabin. Nothing.
"Hmm" Emma hums as she walks around the room staring at different objects, "If I was a journal…where would I be?" She thinks out loud.
As Emma continues her wandering about the cabin, she spots a single book sitting in a corner. "A book within a book, perhaps?" Emma mutters as she pulls the dusty book from its hiding place and opens it.
"Ah ha!" Emma whispers with excitement as she pulls out a broad, hand-size journal from within the medium sized book and opens it to the first page.
Day One:
I left him today, that idiot of a husband…Rumpelstiltskin. Someone had told him that I was kidnapped by Killian. Oh how wrong that person is. Killian brings out something inside of me that Rumpel never did. I feel alive and young again, and how wondrous this feeling is. I wish I could have said farewell to Baelfire. I know he will be hurt by my leaving, but I can only hope that he will understand one day that I could not stay in a loveless marriage. Ah, to become a pirate was not something I thought would happen to me, but fate can change. Well, there is no point in writing about the past now. I have new adventures to discover!
Goodnight, diary
"Rumpel—Rumpelstiltskin had a wife?" Emma wonders out loud with surprise as she flips through the coffee colored pages as she begins to read the rest of the diary.
Emma stares at the one of the last pages with numerous emotions streaming through her. Sorrow for Rumpelstiltskin because his wife left him, for their son who suffered the loss of his mother, and for her, Milah, who fell in love with a pirate, which had been her undoing.
Wrath drifts around Emma's heart because Milah had deserted her child and Emma can't help but feel anger since she wouldn't have left Henry the way Milah did with Baelfire.
And finally, joy because Milah loved Hook. It sounded like true love, which is something Emma has never encountered and doubts that she ever will.
Emma sighs sadly and places the journal back into its hiding place with her emotions conflicting.
Crawling into the bed, Emma stares longingly out towards the windows as the night sky begins to change as the morning sun rises. Today will mark three days that she has been captive on this ship.
Her parents must have reached the other kingdom by now, or they maybe they have gone to the seaport village and discovered the slaughter for themselves.
'I have to get them a message…' Emma thinks as she covers herself with the sheets in exhaustion. Looking out towards the sky, Emma falls asleep as the sun begins to rise.
The sound of the opening and closing of the door to the cabin awakens Emma from her slumber.
"Hook?" She guesses sleepily from the bed, but doesn't move from her resting position.
"Aye, love, it's me," Hook answers.
Emma hears his heavy footsteps walking towards her.
"Love, where is the Ocean's Heart?" He asks as he stands over her from the side of the bed.
Emma grunts as she shifts her arm around the bedding in search of the sapphire globe, "In here," Emma slurs drowsily, her hand bumping into the sphere. "Here" She yawns as she hands him the magical item.
"Thank you, love," Hook responds as she hears his heavy steps walk away from the bed.
Emma rouses when the sun is at its highest point in the sky. She looks around for Hook, vaguely remembering that he had turned to the room, and sees him sound asleep on the couch.
"Hook," Emma calls out as she strolls over to him. "Wake up," she grabs his upper arm and shakes him.
Emma gasps as the pirate shoots up with his hook angled at her neck, "Whoa! Sorry," Emma shouts as she takes a few steps away from the pirate glaring down at the pirate.
Hook blinks the sleep out of his eyes and stares blankly at Emma, neither of them speaks.
"Aye, love?" Hook says ending the silence
"I need to write a letter to my parents," Emma says walking over to the table, "they must be worried sick about me." As much as Emma doesn't enjoy how her mother fusses over her, she knows that Snow will be worried sick about her and Henry; the thought of him thinking she left him sends twangs of pain to her heart.
Hook nods in agreement, "Are you going to tell them that you ran away with a pirate, love?" He bounces up and off the couch with excitement, "That would make a great story to tell them!"
"No," Emma sighs. "I'm going to tell them that I…" she ponders for a moment before continuing, "that I boarded another ship, and I will be at—" she stutters, "—where I am needed to be as soon as I can. Or, tell them that I will just be going home." Hook places a piece of parchment onto the table with ink and a quill.
"So, love, where are you supposed to be then?" Hook asks her his eyes full of curiosity. There is no denying that he finds this little princess attractive but there is something about her that conjures up something familiar to him.
Emma stares blankly at him.
"That is my business," she says, her tone guarded.
"Let me guess," Hook ponders as he observes Emma who has became to write on the paper. "You are going to meet a suitor, or, your undesired intended." He says, staring arrogantly at the blonde.
Emma stops writing.
"Ooh!" Hook smirks with satisfaction at the reaction, "Is he already your spouse?" He pushes the pestering father.
"No." Emma bites out as she exhales as she begins to write again.
"Not a husband? And judging by your attitude not a fiancé either," Hook stares with interest at Emma who is writing with a heavy, brutal hand onto the paper. She is trying to ignore the questioning.
"A suitor then?" Hook badgers her with more deductions because he wants to know why she seems familiar to him.
Emma glares heatedly at Hook for pestering her with personal question and feather quill is being flattened into her hand because of his irritation.
"Suitor it is!" Hook exclaims leering at Emma. "Not true love then, lass?" he continues to nag the irate princess.
"I've never met him, so I wouldn't know." Emma bites out bitterly, still glowering because she showed too much to him.
"Wait," Hook speaks as he stares at the blonde before him. "They—your parents…are making you meet suitors for marriage? When they are the perfect example of true love?" He seems genuinely puzzled by this new knowledge of the princess. He had assumed that the Queen and King would have let their daughter explore freely.
"Yes." Emma says with a subtle hint that she does not what to talk about the matter at hand. It brings back far too many memories.
"But…why?" Hook queries with a true interest, "I had expected that the Charmings would have let you find love, not force you into it…" he trails off, confusion in his face. Even he, the greatest pirate of all time knows the story of how Snow White and Prince Charming fell in love and how together they locked the Evil Queen away.
Emma sighs with hesitation, "This is their way of helping me find my one true love." She remarks bitterly. Even being aware of how her parent's are only trying to help, she can't help be feel bitter and upset of not receiving the same happy ending at the same age her mother did.
"How many have there been?" Hook asks as he stares into the stormy, clouded grey eyes of Emma, his face expressing concern as well as a thirst for knowing her past.
"Prince Naveen would have been suitor number twenty-eight." Emma replies curtly as her grip on the quill tightens at the thought of meeting the sable skinned prince, whom she knew full well that he had fallen in love with a commoner.
Hook looks genuinely bewildered, "Now love, don't get me wrong," Hook says softly. "You may be a pain in the arse, but so far you are pleasant, and that is being around a damned pirate," he pauses, "So how, out of twenty-seven suitors have you not found the one?" he asks as he stares baffled at the golden hair princess who, in his opinion, isn't so bad.
"Because," Emma says with caution in her voice, "I have a son."
"Father walked out?" Hook determines by the guarded look in her eyes, he gazes at Emma with respect but her face has become unresponsive and overcautious.
"Yes."
"Who was he?" Hook questions softly and grabs her hand. A spark went off in his brain as a connection was made. She had been abandon by the man she had probably fallen in love with, and he can relate to that.
"Someone for long ago." Emma says roughly as she stares warily at Hook. Can she trust this pirate? She wants too because she hasn't had anyone to trust or confide into for years.
Hook chuckles, breaking the thick silence and gently lifting the tense air.
"Alright, love," he starts, "how about this? You tell me about the baby daddy, and I'll tell you about Milah." He can sense that the princess wants to tell him what happen because it is becoming apparent that she hasn't spoken to anyone about the matter…at least truthfully. And, perhaps, he can confide into her as well.
'I already know about Milah…' Emma thinks grimly. "Sure." She agrees with a sad smile, perhaps she will find out more of the bond between the two pirates that was not mentioned in the book…and possibly some relief from her haunted past.
Emma sighs as she begins her story. "Suitor number one…He hadn't been a prince or even blue-blood. I just consider him the first," Emma says, clearing her throat to begin her tale, "He had been…a thief." She says quietly and stares at the shocked eyes of the pirate.
"A princess interested in a commoner?" Hook jokes, almost delighted to see a tiny, almost none existent smile on her face that quickly disappeared as she continued her story.
"I had been going through a rebellious stage." She jokes at the memory, "and I had stolen something from him that he had stolen from someone else. He didn't even know that I was the princess…"
She had just barely escaped the castle without being noticed by any of the guards. Mounting her stead, Emma gallops off into the Enchanted Forest, her shiny, white-blonde hair flowing as her horse picks up speed. Emma smiles as the fresh forest air fills her lungs, "Free…" she whispers serenely into the wind.
As Emma travels to the lake that lies within the forest, she notices a sparkling glimmer in the opposite direction of the river. Turning her horse towards the shiny object, Emma takes off again. As the horse breaks the edge of the clearing, Emma dismounts her horse and walks to the brilliant object.
Opening the jewel-decorated box Emma takes out a silk bag and peaks into it. A bean. "A bean?" Emma questions out loud, "Really? A fancy box…for a bean?" Emma tosses the silken bag back into the box and closes it.
"Hey! Get back! That's mine!" A voice shouts from the edge of the clearing.
Emma stands up calmly holding the box looking at the man, "Is it? I found it," She smirks arrogantly as she holds the gemmed box close to her chest, "I think it is mine now," she says deviously as she turns and runs to her horse.
"Get back here!" the man shouts as he chases after her but she is already mounted and galloping off into the forest.
"He caught me, eventually, and somehow, we began to see each other, and I, of course, had to sneak around to see him…we got serious. We always had a really good time…and I wasn't happy at home. As it turns out, the Crown had wanted him for something he stole from my kingdom. He would be running to a different realm to save himself from being caught." Emma sighs sadly at the memory; "I told him that I had the ability to fix it so he wouldn't have to run. I told him...I told him that I was the princess and that I could have him pardon from the crime."
"He was startled to find out who I was, but I thought it didn't make a difference. I thought my parents would see that I loved him and wouldn't condemn him to the punishment. So, I told him to meet me outside by the stables one night so I could take him to meet my parents…" Emma trails off into silence.
It is almost winter, and icy-white frost has coated the once green leaves of the trees and the grass. The sun had set almost an hour ago leaving Emma waiting outside by the stables in the dark for the man she loves, Neal, a common thief that she had met months ago. The wind nipped her now runny, red-nose because the temperature had dropped with the rising of the moon. He is late. It has been thirty-minutes past the time they had agreed to meet. Pulling her fur-lined cloak close to her chilled body, Emma tries to ignore the gut feeling of anguish in her belly as she falls to the ground.
"He never showed." Hook finishes for her, brushing away the lone tear that had fallen from her eye.
"I kept going back, every night at the same time, but he never came. The next month I found out I was pregnant. Scandalous, really, no one outside the inner circle of royals knows Henry is my own son."
"How long ago was this?" Hook demands as anger flashes through his eyes for a moment before masking with a blank demeanor.
"Ten summers ago. I was eighteen," Emma clears her throat as if to clear the air and quickly changes the subject, "Who was Milah?" Hook coughs stiffly and tenses.
"She was…" Hook has a hard time forming words. "A bloody astounding woman. I met her at a tavern, and she asked to come aboard my ship because she wanted adventure." He laughs. "I didn't think she would become something more, or a marvelous pirate, but she did."
"How did she die?" Emma asks gently.
"Milah had been a married woman when she came onto my ship. Her husband had been Rumpelstiltskin before he became the Dark One. He started to search for her some years later, and he found me first, so I told him that she died aboard the ship. Still angry over his wife being taken he challenged me to a duel—"
"Which you agreed to?" Emma intervenes knowingly because for the small amount of time of knowing the pirate king, it is clear he never backs down from a fight.
He stares at her slightly annoyed with the interruption but answers her, "Aye, lass I did, and he would have bested me and killed me had Milah not shown up with something to bargain with him. She made a deal with him to come to the ship tomorrow to do a trade off: our lives in exchange for the item that he wanted. He agreed." Hook says as the memory of Milah's death beings to form.
It had been a sunny day with the perfect wind for sailing; however, Killian was being helped onto the boat by his love, Milah, because of her ex-husband who attacked them.
"Get him some water!" Milah shouts at the men, who echo the order back as one rushes to fetch the water. "Bring up the prisoner as well, with all of his belongings!" she snaps at the crew as she leans Killian against the railing of the ship.
"Well, well." Rumpelstiltskin steps aboard the ships almost out of thin-air, "You finally found a family." He says sarcastically, "one you could never have with me." Rumpel's voice is full of hate and malice for the woman who left him as he walks past her.
Milah doesn't say anything but stands there, glaring with equal hate.
Killian walks close to her, clutching his side as she passes him the silken bag. Milah glances at him before walking up to Rumpel.
"Do we have a deal? Are we to go our separate ways?" She asks glaring at the man-now-turned-beast.
Rumpel cackles with a smirk, "Do you mean…" Rumpel sneers at her with a kind of sick amusement, "I forgive you?"
He beings to pace around her, "Do you mean…have I moved on?"
Milah scowls at Killian as Rumpel brushes his shoulder against hers.
As he walks farther down deck Milah turns to face the monster. "Perhaps, perhaps." Rumpel ponders as he wiggles a finger, " I can see…you are truly in love." He says with hidden sarcasm and no true kindness.
However, Milah takes the act of feigned kindness as true. "Thank you." Milah says as she turns to look at her love.
"Just…" Rumple says quickly, "one question!" He exclaims.
Milah turns back to him, "What do you want to know?" She asks him.
Anger builds up in Rumpel as he points in anger at Milah, "How could you leave B?" His question rings out with malice and anger.
Milah does not answer him but tenses at the memory of her son.
"Do you know…" Rumpel snarls at her his rotting teeth barred at her, "walking home that night…knowing that I had to tell OUR son that his mother—"
"Please…" Milah begs quietly.
"—that his mother was dead?" Rumpel finishes as he snarls at the women.
Milah tries to reason with him, "I was wrong." She begins, "I was the coward—"
Rumpel points a finger angrily at his ex-wife, "YOU left him! YOU abandoned him!" He exclaims with hate.
"And there is not a day that goes by that I don't feel sorry for that—" Milah says quickly.
Rumpel throws his arms about, "ENOUGH!" He exclaims, which silences her.
"He came and accused her of leaving her child, Bae She didn't tell that me that she had a child, but I doubt it would have made a difference." Hook says, glancing to see the concern in Emma's eyes.
"You let him go" Rumpel snarls, as he gets closer to her.
"I let my misery cloud my judgment." Milah tries to explain weakly to the revenge-bound man.
"Why were you so miserable?" Rumpel asks as he stands close to her face, not believing she had been truly miserable.
Milah glares down at the Dark One, "Because," She snarls at him as she gets in his face, "I never loved you."
She watches as Rumpel's face drops at the harsh truth. He smiles cruelly as his hand shot into her chest.
"NO!" Killian shouts running towards the two, but the Dark One uses magic to restrain him. Once Killian frees himself, it is too late. The Dark One had crushed Milah's heart.
"I love you…" Milah whispers as she takes her last breath.
"Nevertheless, out of anger Rumpelstiltskin ripped out her heart and crushed it in front of me while I was helpless to do anything about it." His face is strained as he tries to contain the anger inside. He couldn't control the anger
Out of anger, Hook slams his fist into the table, "Rumpelstiltskin laughed as I held her in my arms as she died. He was enjoying her death, that bastard." Hook glares at Emma whose face is in complete shock.
"People really do that? T-tear people's hearts out, for revenge, I mean…he did…that t-t-to …" Emma intervenes with a whisper with fear at the idea of hearts being ripped out.
"Aye, people can tear other's hearts out." He answers her in anger; "He cut off my hand, as well because he thought that it had the deal-breaker in it. He left, and the crew, and I gave a burial to Milah. We traveled to Neverland."
Emma inquires quietly, "Why did you go?"
"I had a crocodile to skin." He says darkly as he stares into her eyes with no form of kindness.
"CAPTAIN, WE ARE NEARING LAND!" Smee's voice yells from outside the cabin.
Hook's behavior alters drastically.
"Aye, Smee!" He yells back, "Anchor the ship!" he moves to go. "Stay here," he says sternly. Hook grabs the glowing sphere and heads out the door.
"I'm not staying here! I'm going with you!" Emma leaps from her chair and follows him.
"Nay, lass, you aren't." Hook says as he walks onto the upper level of deck, not looking back at her.
Emma glances around in haste trying to find a way to prove herself to him; she spots a barrel of swords. Rushing towards the barrel, she pulling out the first sword and runs to the captain.
"Hook!" she shouts, "I'll prove myself, fight me!"
He lazily turns around to look at her, "Really, lass?" He says, "You want to do this?" he voice is full of apathy.
"Yes." Emma declares, "If I can't hold my own, I will stay here. But, if I can hold my own, I get to go. Deal?"
Hook stares at her considering the terms. "Well, love," He says playfully, "you love to make deals with pirates." He breaks into a smile, "We have a deal." Emma lifts her sword.
Both fighters walk on to the main level of the deck, "Let's fight then," she says as she goes into her stance.
Hook grins as he pulls him own sword out and takes the first lunge in attack. Emma swiftly parries the attack and stares at him for a moment.
"I can do this," she hisses to him with determination.
"Prove it." He whispers back with amuses as he presses his blade against hers.
Emma sheds her blade and pivots around, taking her stance again, she lunges her sword at Hook. Their swords clash together but Hook blocks attack by holding his blade flat against his hook. He smirks with arrogance at the princess who thinks she can fight.
"Not bad," he mumbles only slightly impressed, "but not good enough," Hook moves his stance forward as Emma is forced backwards as her blade is forcefully being lowered.
Emma pushes her stance forward, trying to hang the upper hand; however, Hook catches her foot and trips her, forcing Emma into hold the hilt towards her chest while on the wooden floor of the deck. Grinning lustfully, Hook places his hook around her sword and locks it in with his own.
"Normally," He jokes seductively as he stares down at Emma, "I would prefer to do more enjoyable activities with a woman on her back…"
"Really?" Emma questions as she turns and lifts her legs to hit Hook in the back of his knees causing him to collapse backwards.
"I found this very enjoyable," She remarks saucily, her eyes twinkling as she balances on her knees in-between Hooks legs, with blood dripping down her cheek from when his sword nicked her face, as she presses her sword against his neck.
Hook stares at her in disbelief before laughing, "You bested me!"
"Does that mean I can go?" Emma asks as she tries to mask the excitement as she pulls her blade from his neck.
"A deal is a deal, love." Hook says as he stands up and holds out his hand for her to take.
Emma accepts the offered assistances, smirking wildly at her accomplishment. She had out-dueled the pirate king!
"Come on, lass." Hook says walking to a raft that is hanging off the ship, "we must row to shore."
"It's only us?" Emma inquiries as she steps into the raft.
"Aye, lass."
"Why?" Emma questions as the small boat is lowered towards the sea. Hook positions himself between the paddles.
"The pixies aren't precisely fond of humans coming into their realm." Hook states as the rafts hits the water, and he beings to row towards the coast. "There only a handful of humans who live there." He continues.
Emma doesn't answer but watches him as he moves them towards land.
Once the raft has been pulled onto the shore, Emma and Hook begin to follow a river that heads into woodlands.
"Why are we following a stream?" Emma asks as she drags her water-drenched boots through the deepening stream.
"There is a waterfall not too far ahead which is the gateway that leads to the Bubbly Bog that is in Neverland."
"Bubbly Bog? That doesn't sound pleasurable." Emma says, following closer to Hook than before. Images of goblins, trolls, and other violent creatures from the books she had read fill her mind.
"For us, it will be no issue. The pixies only go there to bring back certain items and only in groups because of the dangers," Hook answers as he spots the cascade, "There it is, love."
"It's a waterfall," Emma announces plainly as they walk up to the falling water.
"Right now, it is," Hook says as he pulls out the plant that Alana had given him. "This will open the portal," He shakes the bottle of dried plant.
"She has a fondness for you, you know?" Emma says looking closely at Hook as he blows the sun-dried herb into the waterfall.
"Aye, I am aware." He answers her. Emma is pleasantly surprised how bored Hook's reply is toward the bold statement.
Hook and Emma watch as the portal forms.
"Come on, love." He says as he holds out his arm for her to take.
"Aye, aye, Captain." Emma says sarcastically taking his arm.
Hook winks at her, "Off to Neverland!" He exclaims as he brings her closer to his body as they walk through the portal.
Wasn't kidding when I said it was a long chapter! I felt it was important to give background for Emma in this story about what happened to her, and I kept Hook's background the same but I wanted them to have a moment of 'She-isn't-just-a-princess' and 'he-isn't-just-a-pirate' moment'. I wanted them to see each other as humans who have a past.
Anyways, I appreciate to those who review this story and give me ideas on how to improve! I love reading all the things said to me!
Please review!
Happy Shipping!