A/N : Publishing this in the midst of all the craziness on Tumblr... x) Still, I hope you'll read it. You like bold Emma ? GOOD.

Chapter 9 : Sea Spright

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Fucking Killian Jones.

That was a normal morning aboard the Jolly Roger. Emma had opened her eyes, scanned the cabin, sighed and swore : Fucking Killian Jones. The infuriating Captain was making her life a living hell. Was he even aware of this ? She didn't understand him, at all. He just kept refusing her proposals. And she didn't get why. She felt this undeniable attraction between them, this supernatural chemistry. She had never felt like this before. She needed him. She craved for his body, his warmth, his smell, his breath, especially since she had put her lips on his flesh... And she knew he wanted her too. She felt the desire lingering in the air each time they were together. Well, those moments were more and more rare, for the prude pirate was clearly avoiding her. But they were on the same ship. He could not avoid her forever.

Hook had decided to sleep with his mates. They didn't understand why in the world their Captain would purposely refuse to sleep with a stunning young princess. But he didn't owe them anything. He knew it was the wisest thing to do. Because he was aware of things she would never imagine. He had a plan. And he wanted to stick to it. Princess Emma Elea of Eurwen would not change it. She had to stop her incessant flirting before it was too late. By all the Gods, the pirate couldn't even believe he was the one to think that. And yet, he was.

The sun was slowly making its way to its zenith, gradually floodlighting the endless stretch of the Nehalennia Ocean. The sky was pure and clear, a warm wind chasing away a few cottony stains. The weather was much more clement than it was back in Elanoriah. They were almost there, the Pirate Island, den of the mariners and fellons, where the sun was always shining no matter the seasons. The island knew no snow, no cold, no rain. The weather was always gentle. It was out of the world, out of Draiochtland. Literally.

Hook was at the helm, his eyes lost in the neverending blue. He was no fool. The warmth and the sunrays couldn't make him forget which day of the year it was. December the 31st. He, the dreadful Killian Jones, had never sailed on December the 31st . Because he knew all too well what the sea did to the fools who ventured there that day. His father had. And never did he come back home. Nor did his crew. They were now all wandering in Davy Jones's locker for eternity, his glorious ship lying at the bottom of the ocean, eroded by water and times. He just hoped he was not to know the same fate, not now that he had a mission to achieve, not when he was so close to his lifegoal.

"Lir, may you keep us safe on that fateful day," he whispered to the God of the Sea. What ? Sailors were very superstitious.

But a voice made its way to his ear and jolted him out from his reverie. "Captain Hook praying a God ? Well well well, it must be important. Are we gonna die or something ?"

Emma. Of course. She couldn't have stayed in the cabin when the weather was so tempting. Or when he was not in there with her.

Hook sighed and turned to her. "Maybe."

"Could you be a little clearer ?" she recklessly asked.

Hook's eyebrows furrowed. "No."

"Whoa. You're really talkative today. Wait, it's almost been a week." She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned back. "What's going on Hook ? Is this because of my flirting ? Because I..."

"Why the hell do you think you're the center of the attention, princess ?" he thundered, suddenly letting go of the helm. "I have bigger problems than you trying to get me to fuck you."

Emma's jaw clenched. She was not giving up that easily. "Fair enough. My apologies Captain, I thought you were into me."

Hook swallowed and turned his eyes to the sea. But Emma noticed his unease. "Tell me you don't feel anything for me and I'll leave you alone", she said very seriously. But the pirate remained silent, his eyes locked the Gods know where. He was trying so hard to act as if nothing was going on between them. But in her quest to finding out what was missing in her all these years, she had learnt to observe people. She knew how to recognize liars. And the specimen that stood right in front of her was definitely the most interesting of them all.

"There's something going on," she said as she took a step towards him. "And I swear I'll find out what it is. The looks your men gave me when I set foot on this ship, you taking me to the end of the world though all you want is a reward... I'm pretty good at finding out secrets. Because I know those very well. It's just a matter of time before I discover yours."

She went away and headed to the deck when she froze and smiled. "Oh, by the way, if we die today, you'll be the one regretting not screwing me when you had the chance. Just saying."

And the worst part of this was that she really did mean this. Hook stroke the helm and swore. He had a plan. But this plan didn't include Emma being a nympho. "Lucky me", he sighed.

As he tried to focus on the map, drops of water crashed on the thin paper. One, two, three, then dozens of drops rained down from the changing sky. Coal and hematite invaded the heavenly vault, followed by an ocean of heavy and threatening clouds. The wind grew colder, and soon, white lightening ripped the sky apart. This was no natural storm. All of it, from the smell to the light exhaled dark magic. Curse. The waves grew and rolled and crashed onto the hull, causing the ship to shake. Hook held onto the railing, desperately trying to keep his eyes opened despite the pouring rain. Only one thing came to his mind in this chaos. "Emma..." he said. Where was she ? His eyes peered at the deck in front of him, but the raindrops mingling to the wind made it impossible for him to make out anything. His men were all busy keeping the ship afloat, but Emma was nowhere to be seen. He had found her once.

He was not losing her now.

Emma was on the deck, lost in the middle of a real mayhem. Shoved by the sailors and the dangerous waving of the ship, she had trouble standing on her legs. She was soaked and shaking, her golden hair plastered against her forehead and cheeks and hanging in front of her eyes. It was the very first time she faced a thunderstorm. A week ago she didn't even know how it felt like to be aboard a ship or what sea looked like. She had no idea what to do. Gathering her wits, she decided to take shelter in Hook's cabin as if he surely would've wanted her to, but as she tried to move, her body refused to obey her. Her feet were strongly anchored on the slippery deck.

"What the hell ?" she screamed.

"Hello Emma."

The princess blinked and raised her head. She couldn't see clearly, but she made out a feminine silhouette. Her hair was as black as the ravenlike sky, and despite the darkness, she could see two twinkling blue eyes staring at her. A strange aura surrounded her and exuded from her shape, as if she wasn't really there... At first, Emma even thought she was in her head.

"Who are you ?" Emma asked, cautiously.

The woman laughed. "Oh, Killian didn't mention me, of course. How gentleman-like of him." She paused and moved forward. "I am Milah, Killian's wife."

Emma frowned and opened her mouth as if to speak, but the words died on her lips. What could she possibly say ? She was struck and dumbfounded. She didn't know anything about Hook.

"How did you get here ?" Emma inquired, confused. "It's been a week and... I haven't seen you around... How... How is this possible ?"

Milah smiled and shook her head. "Oh sweetheart. I am not here. Not really."

"Do I look like I want to play to riddles ?" Emma snapped.

"You look like you can't do anything else since you're literally stuck here darling."

The young woman bit her lips. "What do you want ? Why doing this to me ?"

The said Milah moved forward her, an evil smirk distorting her face. "See, a few years ago, my heart was crushed right where you stand. Its dust covered the deck and was then carried away by the wind. But Killian never forgot me. He never forgot my dead body in his arms, the look in my eyes as I was dying, my heart reduced to dust as my last 'I love you' died away. And ever since a little more than a week, I feel like he's slipping away from me. His heart's not mine anymore. Someone else is haunting his mind. You, my dear, are a threat."

As she was trying to process the woman's words, Emma felt a grip tightening her heart, cutting her breathing.

"You should not stand here you little slut." Milah spat, her blue eyes turning red. "You don't deserve him. I should be here in your place, alive. Because you know what sweetie ? Davy Jones's locker sucks."

Emma gasped for air, helpless. She sank to the ground, her hand put upon her heart as if she tried to ease the pain and untighten the grasp. She was unable to think straight, unable to talk, unable to make it stop. She felt the ache growing in her chest as the air was running out. The only thought her brain allowed her to make concerned the irony of the situation. She didn't have a heart. The thing that lied in her chest was a counterfeit, a sham. And yet, she felt the sharp pain coursing though each cell of her body, from her chest to her bones. She wanted it to stop. No matter what it took.

Suddenly, as Milah was dangerously moving forward her victim, Hook rushed to the deck. "Let her go !"

"Killian ?" Milah softly said.

Hook cautiously approached her. "Milah, please, don't do this."

"You gave me no choice my love. You are forgetting about me, forgetting about your revenge. All of this because of this whore ? She will never love you, you hear me ? Never !"

"It's not for you to decide !" he screamed. Seeing the anger distorting her features, he did his best to remain calm. "Milah, I will always love you, but holding onto a ghost makes me ghost. I want to live again, I have to move on."

The woman was out of her mind. The red light in her eyes intensified. "NO ! I WON'T LET YOU !" She clenched the fist, her nails diving into the palm of her hand. Emma let out a cry of pain and her head fell heavily on the deck.

"NO !"

Hook rushed to her, hot tears mingling with the cold raindrops. He was not losing her to a memory. He kneeled by her side and took her in his arms. "You foolish girl, I make the demands, you follow them. I demand you to wake up, you hear me ? EMMA ?"

Milah tilted her head to the side. Desperation had replaced her wrath. "I've waited for you to sail on December the 31st. I wanted to see you again. You never came. You knew I would pay you a visit and still, you never came. And today, here you are... Cradling another woman in your arms ? It was never supposed to be this way... Never..." Her look was empty, wandering in the Jolly Roger, as if she was talking to herself.

Hook raised his head. "Do you love me Milah ?" he asked as his voice cracked.

She took a step towards him. "Of course I do."

"Then let her live."

Milah lowered her head. The wind had ceased and so had the thunder. Nothing was to be heard but the patter of the rain onto the deck.

"She's my second chance" Hook softly said. "My only chance. Please. "

Tears filled Milah's eyes, which were blue again. She looked peaceful, as if she had understood something, as if she had finally found her answers. "You are her only chance Killian Jones. Just like you were mine." With these words, she slowly faded away, as the darkness vanished under the gentle sunrays.

Hook caressed Emma's cheek, waiting for her to wake up. "Please Emma, wake up." He carefully tucked her soaked hair behind her ears and noticed how her eyelids trembled. Soon, she opened her eyes with difficulty. The Captain couldn't help smiling. "Welcome back princess" he whispered in a grin.

Emma rubbed her forehead, still weak. "That was my first angry ex. You could've warned me", she mumbled.

Hook breathed deeply as he helped her get up. "I owe you an explanation indeed" he confessed. He wrapped her waist with his arm and led her to the cabin. Once there, she fell onto the bed, exhausted and sore. Hook sat on the leather armchair in front of the bed. "Are you hurt ?" he asked.

"Apart from my heart, everything's fine", she said. "Now, care to tell me what the hell just happened out there ?"

The pirate bit his cheek, unsure as to what he should said, and how he should present it. "You saw me praying to the God Lir earlier", he reminded her. She nodded. "Well, there is an old pirate legend which says that if you venture on the ocean on the last day of December, spirits will invade your ship and drag you down to Davy Jones's locker. Those spirits are vengeful ones, ghosts of persons who died at sea, often on the ship they're haunting. We call them 'sea sprights'. The woman you saw out there was one."

"She also was your wife", Emma added.

Hook rubbed the back of his neck with his good hand. "That she was. Well, not officially."

"Care to be a little more explicit about the woman who almost killed me ?"

The pirate leant forward and put his elbows on his knees. "We loved each other. We... I met her in a tavern about twenty years ago."

"Woah, wait, twenty years ?" Emma exclaimed. "You met when you were both ten or what ?"

"Aye, this... I may have stayed in Neverland for a while."

All right, what was going on today ? "Neverland ?" she repeated, frowning. "I thought it was nothing but a tale."

"All tales come from something real. It's one of the many worlds floating around us."

"But how did you get there ?"

"Remember what I told you about the beans ?"

Another lesson to chant. "Only six remained. The first two were used to bring Gaelic and other wonders to our world, centuries before the Ogre Wars", she recounted.

Hook smiled. "Good girl. I used two beans to get to Neverland. I wanted to find a way to get my revenge."

This was all becoming very confusing for the still dizzy princess who had just faced Captain Hook's dead and hysterical ex. "Hold on a second, your revenge from whom ?"

Hook bit his lip. He knew he had to talk about this eventually. "I'm coming to this point. I met Milah twenty years ago, when I was 28. But she was already married to another man, a coward who had nothing to offer her. She left him and ran off with me. But he found us only a year later and he killed her."

"He crushed her heart in front of you..." Emma continued, lowly.

The pirate closed his eyes and nodded.

"Who was he ?" she asked softly.

The name came out of his mouth like an insult. "Rumplestiltskin."

Rumplestiltskin. The Dark One. The one who had ripped her heart out twenty three years ago. What a coincidence... Or was it ? "I'm sorry Hook. Sorry you had to go through all of this."

The pirate cracked a sad smile. "I'm sorry too. My demons shouldn't have gotten to you. She almost killed you today."

"But you saved me. Once again." She paused and her lips parted in a grin. "Just tell me you don't have more angry exes."

"You want the truth ?"

Emma laughed. "I'd rather get some sleep."

"Right. Rest love. I'll wake you up once we're arrived." Hook got up and reached the door of the cabin. Her voice held him back.

"You're lucky", Emma said.

"What ?"

"To have someone who loves you that much. She came back for you. She tried to eliminate me because she was afraid of losing you. I'd like to love that much. I'd like to be loved that much."

Their eyes locked for a few seconds that seemed to last for an eternity. Silence, once more, had invaded the space between them. The pirate just nodded in silence before getting out and closing the door behind him. Once on the deck, as his crew was cleaning up the mess caused by the supernatural thunderstorm, he sighed heavily. She wanted to be loved.

If she only knew her face was the last thing he saw before sleeping every night.

A/N : Awwwww okay this chapter is maybe too cheesy but what the hell that's what these two are doing to me. I hope you enjoyed it :3 Killian's 'already' into Emma, more than she suspects... And well, Emma realizes this hole in her chest may not be a blessing. But obviously, it's not that easy.

About the 'sea spright' thing, I'll post something on Tumblr later to explain it. Basically it's a ghost of the sea who haunts ships. "The word spright dates back to the 1500s and is an alliteration of the word 'spirit' " The more you know... I actually hadn't heard about this before I came across a website as I was looking for pirate legends. The thing about sailing on December the 31st is also legit, I read it on a French website. I just mixed the two legends and BOOM, this was born :) Also I'd like to add that I don't hate Milah, I just wrote her this way because it fitted !

Lots of love to everyone, you're amazing