a/n: This chapter took me a little longer, (it was being stubborn). But I think I liked the way it turned out, but I also decided to stop stressing about it either way and just post it. Also this story just passed 50 followers, so yay! thank you so much :) (also if you feel so inclined I'd love if you left a review, it helps me feel like people are actually reading this :)

It's barely past mid-afternoon and Emma already feels as though they've been walking for an eternity. When they started out that morning she knew they had quite the distance to travel, but thinking about walking for hours, and actually walking for hours are two very different things.

Her limbs are heavy with exhaustion and her feet absolutely ache, and though they haven't really stopped for a break, she hasn't suggested one. The last thing she needs is for Killian to think that she can't handle a little bit of walking.

It's been a while since either of them has said anything, and the silence is filled instead with the continual rhythm of their footsteps and quiet breathing. Not that Emma necessarily minds the silence, it provides her an opportunity to sift through her own thoughts and observe the environment around them.

What she's noticed is that though they've technically landed on an unknown planet, it doesn't really feel too unfamiliar. The trees, the grass, the stream flowing steadily alongside them, it all looks and feels exactly like it would if they were strolling through the wilderness on their own planet.

However, despite the similar environment she can't help but notice that the air here is a little different. Not in the sense that it is different when she breathes, but rather it feels different. Every once in a while the air feels as though it's humming, it's a silent but pulsating feeling that makes her skin tingle and her spine shiver.

And when it happens again she finds herself staring at the back of her hands, trying to see if there is a physical difference on her skin.

"What has you so deep in thought, Swan?"

Killian's voice breaks her from her reverie and she looks up from her hands to see him walking backwards, staring at her with a curious lift to his eyebrow.

"It's just the air here," she looks back down at her arms, "I was trying to see if I could see a difference on my skin when it's humming like it is now. I mean, I'm not really sure what I'm looking for… maybe my hairs standing on end or something."

"Humming?" he says, tilting his head to the side, his eyebrow rising impossibly higher.

"Yeah, humming. You don't feel like your skin is tingling?" And she has a hard time believing that he doesn't, considering its happening right now and she can feel it all the way down to her toes.

"Like a chill from the wind?"

"Except there is no wind," she mutters quietly. The air is practically buzzing, but she's suddenly unsure if what she's feeling is from the planet, or maybe she's just cold and tired. "You don't feel it?"

"I've yet to experience the sensation, love." He stops walking and swings his pack around from his shoulders to pull out their canteen. "But why don't we stop and rest for a while?" He hands her the canteen before pulling out another ration bar, splitting it in half and handing her a piece.

She takes a long drink from the canteen, still a little disconcerted that apparently only she notices the humming air. But it's stopped now, so she's choosing to ignore it, and she'll see if it goes away once she's had a good night's sleep.

"How much farther are we walking today?" she asks, trying not to sound as tired as she feels. Her lack of sleep from the other night is really starting to catch up to her, and she wants nothing more than to curl up on the soft grass and sleep for the rest of the day.

Killian's eyes trace over her face for a second, before he gives her a small smile. It's like he can see right through her efforts to try and hide her exhaustion. "We'll keep going until the sun starts to set, so two more hours or so."

He takes the canteen from her and takes a quick drink before replacing it in his pack, nodding his head to the side to indicate that they should keep walking.

"Why don't we play game to help pass the time?" Killian looks down at her with his lip between his teeth and Emma can't help but lick her own lips before flicking her gaze up from his mouth to his eyes.

"A game?" she asks skeptically.

"Aye, a game. We sometimes played it in the navy to help relieve the monotony that can often come with a long day at sea."

She could use a distraction; otherwise she might drive herself crazy with something ridiculous like counting how many steps she takes until they stop walking. "Alright," she sighs, "what's your game?"

He smiles at her, apparently pleased that she's playing along. "I give you a riddle, and you solve it by asking questions that I can either answer with a yes or a no."

"Fine," she lets out a long exhale, and Killian looks entirely amused at how begrudging she's being about this, "what's your riddle?"

-ES-

The last two hours of the day go by much quicker than the rest of the day had, and Emma suspects that has a lot to do with Killian. They play his ridiculous game for a while, but once the riddles end, the conversation never really stops.

And Emma doesn't normally do this. This talking for hours about nothing important, this laughing until she can't breathe, this thing where her heart flips every time the man smiles.

At least she hadn't in a long time, and she hadn't planned on doing it ever again. But here she is, and it scares her a little with how easy it is.

So when night comes, and the camp is set, she takes her blanket and situates herself on the opposite side of the fire again. Knowing that she'd probably be warmer and she'd probably sleep better next to him, but also knowing that despite how much she likes him, and despite this easy friendship they've created, she's just not ready for that yet, even if it is just sleeping.

Pulling the blanket a up a little higher so that it covers more of her body, Emma closes her eyes, tires to ignore the fact that the air is humming again, and wills herself to sleep.

-ES-

On the fourth day of their trek to the fallen spaceliner, Emma's patience is thin, and her temper is short. It's a culmination of eating nothing but those stupid ration bars, barely getting any sleep, walking for hours on end, and the fact that at least ten times a day the air makes her skin tingle, which Killian still doesn't feel.

So when they finally get to the mountainside and Killian doesn't even pause before walking into the forested terrain, Emma can't help the frustrated exhale that escapes her lips.

"Killian, stop."

"What is it, Swan?" he turns around to look at her, and though Emma knows he's done nothing to deserve her frustration, she feels too tense to try to rein it in.

"Are we sure this is the best way to go?" It's a mountain after all, and the prospect of hiking uphill, through thick forest, for days on end, does not sound the slightest bit appealing to her at the moment.

"It's the surest way to the spaceliner," he gives her quick nod and continues walking, not having caught on to the ire undertone in her voice. "And besides, it's more of a giant hill than a mountain; we'll be on the other side sooner than you think."

His voice is so infuriatingly optimistic, and it does nothing to calm the frustration burning in Emma's chest.

"And if we get lost?" she snaps, "And we're stuck in there for weeks, then what?"

Killian's eyes narrow at her tone, "We won't get lost."

"Oh, right, because you're a lieutenant with amazing navigational skills," she crosses her arms in front of her and watches as he clenches his jaw. "We're on a strange planet Killian, this isn't the ocean, and this isn't home."

"The principles are the same, Swan." His voice is tight, controlled, but there's an edge to it. "But if you think there's a better way, by all means go ahead, I'm not going to force you to come with me."

"Fine," she spits through her teeth, "leave me half the supplies and I'll make my own way, and perhaps I'll see you at the spaceliner."

Killian flinches back ever so slightly, eyes blinking furiously for a second. He obviously wasn't serious when he suggested they separate. But Emma glares at him until he shakes his head in frustration and throws the pack to the floor.

Running his hand through his hair in irritation, he divides their supplies, wraps it all in one of the blankets, and hands it to her stiffly.

"Fine," he echoes back sharply, "go on then."

Emma snatches the blanket of supplies out of his hand but she doesn't move, she just continues to glare at him.

He stares just as hard back, unrelenting.

She knows there is no way he's going to let her wander off into the wilderness alone, but it's turned into this absurd battle of wills. A game of who's going to give in first and she doesn't intend to lose.

So with clenched fists she takes a deep breath, turns around and stalks off.

He doesn't think she'll actually go off on her own? Thinks she won't last five minutes without crawling back?

Just watch her.

-CS-

Killian drags his hand down his face in aggravation, completely bewildered at what has set off this little spat.

She'd been irritated, but he hadn't exactly been the epitome of a calm, understanding, gentleman. Instead of trying to talk out what was upsetting her, he'd responded with petulance, and that had only escalated the situation.

But his own temper is already cooling off and he's not sure if he should chase after her, or if that will only make everything worse.

He finally settles on continuing in the direction they'd originally been heading. But he keeps his pace slow enough so that she can catch up with him once her own anger has faded. She knows what direction he's going, but he takes extra time to break off branches and scuff up the path so that she'll be able to find him with ease.

It's been two minutes since she's left, and he's already considering sitting down and waiting for her. She'll come back, there's no way she wants to risk the unknowns of this planet alone. She'll come back and they will either talk about it, or act like it never happened, but either way he expects they'll get at least a couple more miles in before they have to stop for the night and make camp.

Killian wasn't anticipating just how anxious being separated from her would make him, especially now that they're no longer in the open plains. He has no idea what type of creatures make home on this planet, or more specifically, this forest.

His mind is quick to come up with a hundred different scenarios where she's either eaten or mauled to death. And it's with these thoughts that he turns around and begins retracing his steps. He'll find her and convince her that this little feud is not worth the danger of being apart

He's hardly taken fifteen steps when he hears her, and it's not what he expects. He's not greeted with the sound of her muttering angrily as she makes her way back to him. No, what he hears instead makes his stomach drop and his heart stop.

She's screaming.

"Bloody hell," he growls, and before he has a chance to blink he's sprinting after her. Branches flinging into his face as he hurtles past them, they cut at his arms and tear at his clothes but he scarcely notices them.

Images of finding her just seconds too late torture him, so he pushes himself to run faster, his muscles burning from the exertion.

Fortunately she hasn't roamed off too far and within minutes he's crashing into a small clearing, eyes searching for her fearfully.

She's backed up at the edge of the clearing against the tree line, arms extended in front of her, and she's opening and closing her hands in a strange manner. However, Killian is more concerned with what's skulking towards her.

A large tawny cat, one that Killian has never seen the likes of before, is slowly making its way towards Emma.

It's all sinewy and sleek muscles that look powerful enough to overcome both of them with ease. And Killian watches in horror as the beast's shoulders hunch and its head lowers, clearly preparing to pounce on his prey.

He doesn't have a weapon, but he has to do something to stop it, and his best option is to attack it before it attacks Emma. He takes a few quiet steps forward, hoping to jump on it and break its neck before its teeth can do too much damage to his own body.

Emma ruins this plan, however, once she realizes what he intends to do. Her eyes snap to his and she shakes her head furiously, taking an unconscious step in his direction.

Feeling threatened by the sudden movement, the cat emits a low growl, bares its teeth and slinks even closer to Emma.

Helpless and desperately wanting to get the cat away from Emma, Killian picks up a rock, throws it at the beast, and whistles to get its attention. Consequences to himself be damned.

That cat turns to Killian snarling in anger before it shifts its weight onto its hind legs and launches itself towards him. In that brief moment before it reaches him, Killian only has one thought repeating incessantly in his mind.

Break its neck.

Break its neck and hopefully not die in the process. Break its neck so that if something does happen to him, Emma can get away. Break its neck because it's the only way he can think of to save Emma.

There is a sharp cry of "Killian!" and before the beast ever reaches him, it's thrown to the side by a blinding rush of white light.

Slightly disoriented, Killian watches as the beast pulls itself up from the ground and dashes off back into the forest, clearly determining that the danger of obtaining its prey is no longer worth it.

He quickly turns his attention back to Emma; she's standing with her hands stretched out in front of her, eyes wide and chest heaving.

"Emma," he breathes out, he's so relieved and all he wants to do is pull her in and hold her against his chest for the next hour, but instead he just gently grips her shoulders and looks into her eyes.

"I'm okay," she whispers before he can even ask, "I'm okay."

But her hands are trembling and her breathing is ragged. Killian feels shaky himself, so he runs his hands up and down her arms in an attempt to soothe them both.

"Are you sure?" he asks as he brings his hand up to cup her face, his thumb tracing her cheekbone. "It didn't touch you?" and he rakes his eyes up and down her body as he speaks, checking for any injuries.

Emma simply shakes her head in response before closing her eyes to take a steadying breath.

Convinced that she's not harmed Killian takes his own deep breath and feels the tightness in his chest disappear.

"Was that you?" he asks, referring to the blinding light that had struck the cat. He's seen magic before, he just had no idea Emma had it. But when she looks up at him there is hesitance in her eyes.

Killian resumes rubbing her arms, to encourage her, or comfort her, he's not really sure but he knows that he's not quite ready to let go of her yet.

"It was me, I have…" she bites her lip nervously for a second before continuing, "I have magic."

She looks so uncertain as she says it, and Killian can't help the smile that forms on his lips. What she just did was remarkable, and she deserves to know it. "Well you were bloody brilliant, amazing."

"Really? I'm not very good at it, and it usually happens sporadically, I often end up using it when I don't want to, and have a hard time finding it when I do."

"Well perhaps you just require a little more practice, love." She's no longer trembling, so Killian releases her. But he itches to take her hand, to somehow stay connected to her. With the sound of her scream still fresh in his mind, he wants nothing more than to feel her, to reassure himself that she's safe.

"Maybe you're right, this is the second time I've been able to use it exactly how I wanted to, the first was when the pod shut down."

"See, Swan," he says winking at her, "you're a natural."

Emma lowers her lashes briefly before meeting his gaze again, her cheeks slightly pink, and Killian's stomach flutters at the action.

"I dropped my supplies a little ways back," Emma takes a slight step away from him as she says this, "they shouldn't be hard to find and then we can probably get another mile or so of walking in before sunset."

"Let's just hope there isn't another wild creature scavenging through your ration bars when we get there, I've had enough excitement for one day."

"What will you do if there is?" Emma smirks, "throw a rock at it?"

"Hey! I'll have you know, I was about to defeat that beast with my bare hands!"

"Sure you were," but she's smiling and her green eyes are dancing with mirth.

Which means it is Killian this time whose checks turn pink as he scratches at the back of his head.