CS ff: “Wait for the Moonrise” (9/10) (au)
Summary: Emma doesn’t remember who she was before she was found in the woods, but she knows that she has a few close friends, a good job, and a loyal cat that greets her every day when she gets home from work. What she doesn’t know, however, is that her past is about to catch up to her in the strangest of ways. She learns quickly that not everything is as it seems, not even her cat.
Rating: E
Content warnings: smutty smut, brief mentions of the loss of a hand
Chapter specific content warnings: some more happy smut, and some creepy, curse-related bullshit. ;)
A/N: Holy fuck. It’s Chapter 9. Picks right up where we left off after Chapter 8. Really, I have nothing to say other than to heap loves on those who helped make this happen, and to those who are still following along, and of course, @clockadile for taking a moment and creating a masterpiece.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8
Catch it on Ao3 or FFN! And catch @clockadile‘s artwork HERE!
Neither of them move away immediately, including Killian's hand remaining firmly on her breast over her bra, as if letting it go means he's somehow letting her go and he just can't bear to do that. But Regina plants herself on the couch in front of them, and crosses her arms over her chest. With a sigh and one more squeeze, he finally moves his hand to her waist, turning her so her back is to his front until his delicate situation has gone down.
"What the hell was that?"
"Regina? Do you, I mean, what do you think happened?"
"I don't know? There was a gust of wind and then this weird rainbow flew through the room." As if hearing what she's just said, she slumps a little and presses the back of her hand to her forehead. "Oh god, Emma, what did you eat the other day? Maybe I have what you have."
Emma chuckles, for once knowing exactly how she feels. "No, we're not sick. I'll explain everything to you if you promise not to tell anyone else."
If it's possible, Regina looks even more skeptical. It's so strange looking at her and knowing that her likeness has looked on from the Hall of Portraits her entire life. The reality is much snarkier, less cruel than some stories have led her to believe. She wonders how much of that is a product of this cursed personality, but then again, she realizes that the core of who she was didn't fade because she was cursed here.
Turning to Killian, she motions for her shirt, which he bends to pick up as he grabs his own. "Can we get you something to drink? I think I have a bottle of rum in the kitchen."
"I don't do rum," Regina says with a dismissive sniff. "So, your uh, friend from a foster home?"
The unstated question hangs in the air as Emma and Killian each slide their shirts back on. "My name is Killian," he offers, stretching out his hand.
"That was just on my best friend's breast," she states plainly.
It's all too much, and Emma snorts as she scurries off to the kitchen to grab a couple beers (surely, it's after noon somewhere, right?) while trying to hold back her laughter. When she returns, Killian has dragged the coffee table away from the couch in order to sit on it, leaving the extra spot on the couch open for her.
"Okay, by the time I'm done explaining this, you're gonna want to have me locked up in the room next to Belle, but you have to trust me, and don't tell Graham."
The other woman furrows her brows, nodding for Emma to continue.
It takes three beers to get through the story, to explain where Emma came from, and why she's there. She does her best to explain Killian's presence, with him filling in any details she doesn't know.
"So, let me get this straight. I'm a former queen, you're a princess that was kidnapped, and this guy was in the navy until he ran off to become a pirate?"
"That's the very abridged version of it," Killian says, gathering their empty bottles to take back to the kitchen.
"And he's also your boyfriend?"
Killian hesitates, obviously straining to hear Emma's response to this question. One corner of his mouth is lifted in a smirk as he makes eye contact with her. Emma smiles as she looks fondly in the direction he disappeared. "Yeah, probably a little more intense than boyfriend, but that's a good start."
"And he was also your cat?"
"I know it sounds crazy…" Emma starts, but before can even continue, the other woman is cutting her off.
"This is too much," Regina says, standing up and heading for the door.
"No no, wait!" Emma rushes past her and leans on the door. "Listen, I know how weird this all sounds. But do you remember three years ago when I got lost in the woods?"
"What? No. Belle got lost in the woods a couple months ago. Didn't she?"
"She was found there, but Regina, I came first. A couple years ago, we ran into each other in the hallway and I didn't remember who you were because I had a head injury and they said I had amnesia. Do you remember taking me to lunch and helping me find a new phone?"
The gears are turning, Emma can see that much, especially when Regina shakes her head a little to try clearing the fog. The action looks so familiar to Emma that she has to stop herself from shaking her own head. In her periphery, Emma can see Killian standing in the kitchen doorway, tense and waiting to see if they'll have to run sooner than they thought.
"I can remember going to get you a new phone, but that doesn't seem like what happened."
"Push through that fog, Regina. Think about my twenty-fifth birthday, and how I supposedly drank too much and got lost in the woods and you bumped into me in the hall a couple days later."
"Outside the apartment," she adds on, her voice far away as she tries to recount what happened, "and you apologized to me like I was a complete stranger. Emma, you're not lying."
"I'm not. It's all true, but it seems so fake, right?"
"Right," the other woman says, and she squeezes her eyes shut. The town is trying to force the fake memories back on her, Emma can tell, and the resulting headache is going to be awful. "Did you get a lot of headaches?" Regina asks, as if hearing her thoughts.
"Yeah, keep thinking about what I said. Take some pain pills, and go take a nap. It'll get better. And remember," Emma says in the most commanding voice she can, "do not tell anyone about this. Not even Robin, okay?"
"Okay, fine."
With a quick plan to meet the next morning for breakfast, she sees Regina out and closes the door, securing the lock with a satisfying thunk. She knows Killian is going to be standing nearby, and she knows that they're officially alone again.
When she turns, she's not surprised to see him propped against the wall leading to the kitchen, his stance relaxed now that their company is gone. He smiles, his lips slowly curling upwards and his thumb hooked into the waistband of his sweats. "Swan," he greets. His voice is deeper than she remembers, rougher now that she thinks about how he was speaking all day. He really has become her pirate. Her heart flutters, her stomach dips, and there's a swooping down lower that has everything to do with the way he's standing and looking at her. She could take him straight back to bed, but…
"Wanna tell me again how you became a pirate? Maybe don't leave out the details I won't understand this time?"
Sensing the shift in mood, he straightens and takes a few solid steps towards her. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. I'd like to know what happened after you disappeared from that bed."
The images that flash through her mind cause her heart to thump wildly in her chest. "We need to make lunch, I'm gonna need some more alcohol, and I'll tell you if you really want me to."
"I would. I cannot find the words to tell you the chaos that ensued after you went missing, Emma. I can never fully explain what I went through when I came back to that empty room."
She can't imagine what that was like, not just for Killian, but for her family, as well. She suddenly longs for nothing but her parents' arms. All of her life she longed to grow up so she could find her own way in the world, but despite being on the brink of her own marriage, she was never ready for the harsh separation that they went through.
It's not like she knew they were missing her, though. For the last three and a half years she's lived this happy little existence, working her hours at the station, coming home, sometimes drinking away the feeling that she wasn't where she belonged. It's another hard pill to swallow that she's been fucking her way through Storybrooke trying to find her place in the world. She, Emma Swan, the woman who decided at twenty-three (but maybe even earlier) that Killian Jones would be the man to take her virginity, and would only ever be with him for all her days.
Of course, Killian has had his own adventures. He's just told her about them, even, and the women he's been with. All of these thoughts float through her head, settling in a pool somewhere in the middle of her brain until she can process all of it.
"It's going to be difficult to get through the last three and a half years, you know."
"Aye, but you can start at that first moment, tell me what that crocodile did to you, tell me he didn't hurt you too badly." The soft pressure of his palm on her cheek is what brings her attention back to the present. Her eyes focus on him, and he gives her a tremulous smile as his fingers drift down to tap her chin. Then he's moving away towards the kitchen to make good on their plan of food and alcohol.
She watches as he makes them sandwiches, opting for peanut butter and jelly so they can eat sooner rather than later. She tries to figure out what to explain first, opting for the moment they would've last seen each other the day after her birthday.
"Well, I mean, he didn't, technically." Emma takes a deep breath as she prepares herself for this conversation. "I remember you moving from the bed to go get breakfast, and I fell back to sleep. It couldn't have been long after you left that his magic broke through the barrier. I don't know why it weakened. He was able to create a damper so it wouldn't be heard when he broke the lock. I could feel the magic in the air only moments before he had me bound and gagged, using the early morning and the guards around the palace fighting sleep to his advantage. He made me watch as he left his calling card on the pillow for you, and then we were gone."
She stops there, pulling out a couple plates from one cabinet and a bag of chips from the pantry. "After that? I got carelessly thrown around and dragged through the woods. I managed to break his bonds for a second and tried to run for it. He transported me while I was running, so I shot through the portal at full speed. When I got to the other side, I immediately forgot why I was running, so I just kept going. I stumbled into the same clearing where I found Belle a couple months ago. I'm lucky that two hikers or campers – oh geez, now that I think about it, those two used to be palace cooks when I was a kid. Anyway, they found me and got me to the hospital."
She explains that the head wound was mostly from when she fell on her face when she broke the bonds. "If I hadn't resisted, I probably wouldn't have ended up injured. I doubt he would've cared if I had died once I was over here, though." He tenderly lifts his fingers to brush against the faint scar she still has. Again, she's baffled by how much the small gestures affect her.
"He deserves to lose a limb or two of his own for letting harm come to you at all," he murmurs, leaning forward to press his lips to the old wound. She squeezes her eyes shut, in awe that her stomach jumps in a familiar way that she didn't know it could yesterday. "I know this was all because of some prophecy, and that your parents thought if we got past your birthday without incident that everything would be fine. Why the birthday? What was the full prophecy?"
"So, from what I'm to understand, there's this prophecy a soothsayer told him about me. Something about how the twenty-fifth year of my life would unlock my potential to destroy the full spectrum of the darkness. I guess he figured if he just…sent me to another realm that would take care of it. I thought Dad told you all of this."
"Your father never gave me the full details about it. He told me about the security measures, but it was just assumed that he would strike on your birthday. Nothing about the morning after."
"Yeah, well, since when has he done anything the easy way? I feel his presence everywhere, now that I can identify it. It's always like someone is watching me when I'm walking down the street. He has a way of seeping in everywhere, I guess."
"That's what worries me. That's what makes me want to get to the water faster."
While they eat, Emma pushes along, telling Killian about the hospital, and how the fact that she was found in the woods eventually faded away. Even when Cat showed up, she still remembered pieces of the incident, but it kept fading until even she didn't remember how she got to Storybrooke. She tells him all about the friends she made and the exceptionally non-threatening adventures she's had while she's been here.
Once the table is clear, Emma makes them each a mug of hot chocolate, dragging a blanket from her closet to pull over their laps as they settle onto the couch for the second half of their stories. They go through Killian's tale – starting with him storming out of her parents' sitting room that day and coming up with a plan to steal Liam's ship.
"Wait, wait. You stole the Jewel of the Realm? This is just connecting now. Oh, Liam must've been pissed."
"Oh, he was. Probably still is. I sent them enough gold to cover the cost, eventually."
She laughs at that, throwing her head back as she nearly cackles in delight. "What do you bet the chances are that it also pissed off my father?"
"I'm nearly sure of it. Your mother always sent me messages though, before I told that boy to tell them I was dead. I do feel awful now for putting them through that. I can only imagine how they handled the news."
"Well, Liam must not have believed you," she says, tangling her fingers with his for a second before reaching out to stroke along the empty skin where his other hand once was. He flinches, but ultimately relaxes into her touch. "Belle got transported here because there was a man questioning her. But it's not what you told me about visiting her. It was Liam, looking for you."
She watches the emotions cross his face, seeing the love for his brother, the sadness, and the giddiness all pass over before he swallows down his emotions. "Shouldn't be surprised. Bloody idiot is more stubborn than I am."
The sun goes down while they talk, and they go through every detail they can think of along the way. Emma orders Chinese delivery while Killian stumbles his way through what he sees as his decline into piracy, admitting that the best part of the whole experience was finding his love of the seas he sailed on.
"You know my missions with the navy were few and far at the start, and then I got the strategy title and never looked back. But when I wasn't following anyone's orders but my own, it was like I was meant to be there. The only thing missing from my life, in the grand spectrum, was you."
As she's getting used to, her heart lurches at his words, and she realizes that she loves him the same way she always did, even though they've both grown into evolved versions of themselves.
And then they're caught up to when a black cat appeared on the stoop of the apartment complex, and Emma can finally ask all the questions she's been saving for any "later" they would get.
"Okay, be honest with me. How much time did you actually know you were Killian while you were Cat?"
"Oh, very little. It was easier, sometimes, to just let go. I would hold on to my own facilities long enough to see you were okay, but every time you brought those blasted toys about, I was gone. I was a cat. I'd catch myself halfway up the curtains and suddenly think of our lives together, and then before I could concentrate too long, the thought would be gone and I'd be back to a common household animal again." His hand gestures while he speaks, and Emma strives to remember each moment she vowed to chastise him about.
"So the knocking shit off the tables?"
"All Cat," he says with a grimace.
"Kicking litter until it coated the floor?"
"I'm guessing that's why you moved it from the closet into the bathroom?"
"It was easier to clean up from the tile floors."
"Of course. Well, on behalf of my feline counterpart, I apologize. I hope any time I spent being adorable outweighed any time I was a nuisance."
There are plenty of other moments she can bring up, but decides he sounds sincere enough that she'll let him off the hook. Well almost, when she cocks her head to one side and asks, "Who says you were adorable?"
"How many photographs do you have of me on that talking mobile phone of yours?"
"Fine. Shut up." He wins this round.
-x-
The coupling they engage in that night is the reunion that Killian has been searching for since he left the castle in search of Emma. Above him or below him, she is sure and sensual, her movements fluid in a way that wasn't evident the last time they made love before she got her memories back. This is the body that knows his as the first. This is the woman who holds every aspect of his heart. This is the love they would've grown into over years of marriage, but thankfully this moment with her is so perfect that he forgets to feel pain at the loss of years they should've spent together.
When Killian falls asleep, it's with Emma curled against his side, his fingers paused in their motion up and down her spine and her hair getting caught in what could definitely classify as a beard at this point. She's drooling, her mouth open just enough that he can feel the dampness on his shoulder, but he can only focus on the fact that he's with Emma in all her versions, and nothing else matters.
He doesn't dream, and his body doesn't ache, but he wakes up early and rolls to press himself against Emma's back. Skin to skin, she hums as she wakes, her hand reaching back to clasp his neck as his lips and teeth find her shoulder. In a rough morning voice, he details all the ways he'll make her come undone, enjoying the way she pushes back against him in a defined rhythm.
With a glance at the clock, his hand wanders across her body, and he gives a lazy smile at the fact that the moon will be setting soon, and here he still is.
It's even more poetic as she stretches away just enough to grab protection before he slides inside her. They stay as is, her leg thrown over his hip as he enters her from behind. It's leisurely, and somewhere between making love and fucking by the way she commands him to move. He doesn't inform her of the significance of the time until after they're both spent, and Emma stretches languidly as she chuckles. Her body still has him in a firm grasp, and so the motion causes one last aftershock of his orgasm, and he buries his face against her shoulder as his breath stutters out.
Far too soon, she's moving away with a squeeze to his hip. "I'll go make us coffee. I have breakfast with Regina, and then I'm going to see if I can find you a pair of shoes to make the walk back to the beach. Any idea what will happen when you summon Ursula?" She shakes her head, then, disbelieving smile on her face. "I can't believe you got Ursula to help you. I heard she once turned someone into an urchin just for looking at her the wrong way."
"Was that before or after her father was taken by the Dark One?"
"Ooh, probably before. I do look forward to meeting her. She was always invited to our parties, but never attended. Maybe I can convince her to attend one if it's partially in her honor for helping to rescue a lost princess."
"Speaking of which, her father is supposedly somewhere in town. Before we call for her, I really do hope to poke around and look for him."
"I can do some research later. I have to go into the station at noon for my shift. I can't have Graham getting too suspicious."
"He really does sound…" He casts around in his memories for why the name sounds familiar. "You know, Emma, can you remember the guard that used to sneak us the sweets from the bakery in town sometimes? The sweetbreads with the poppy seeds?"
Emma thinks for a minute, and he watches the wheels turn. "Vaguely, I think he ended up leaving? Or – no. Oh my gosh, go figure I became friends with him later in life. He's always taken care of me, too. I wonder why my parents never told us he went missing. I wonder if they even knew."
"How many others are here that we know?" Killian thinks aloud.
"I'm sure we'll figure that out eventually. Okay, I'll start the coffee pot and then I need a shower. I need to not look like I've had sweet, sweet, reunion sex for seventeen of the last twenty hours since she saw me last."
"There's still time to add to that count, love."
She looks like she's considering it, her eyes trailing down his chest to where the blankets are hiding the fact that he's already halfway to ready.
"Go, Swan. Go shower. I'll make the coffee. Or else I'm going to follow you in there and fuck you until breakfast turns into a late lunch."
When her tongue darts out to wet her lips, he can tell she's still not throwing the idea out the window, and Killian chuckles as he grasps her chin to kiss her. He nods in the direction of the bathroom, and Emma finally makes a terse noise as she slides out of the bed and pads out to the bathroom. Only when the door clicks behind her does Killian throw the covers off himself, scrounging through his pile of clothes for a pair of boxers and a t-shirt before he goes to start the coffee maker.
Emma ends up just stealing a sip from his mug, giving him a smacking kiss on the cheek as she darts out the door to meet Regina. He can hear her greet the other woman outside their apartment doors, and their chattering voices fade away down the hallway towards the elevator.
Unsure of what to do with himself, Killian takes the time to shower, borrowing a fresh razor from her supply to trim up his beard. It's still longer than he normally keeps it, but it'll do. Somewhere in the middle of the skin care routine he could really get used to, he thinks about what it would be like to live this life instead of one back in Misthaven. Life on Earth instead of in the Enchanted Forest is wildly different, in how not wild it is. He's barely finished cleaning up the bathroom sink when the door opens and closes again.
"We have a plan!" Emma calls out as she walks in. "And you have shoes!"
"Brilliant," he yells back, checking himself in the mirror one more time before wandering towards the sound of her voice.
"How was breakfast? How is Regina feeling?"
"She's doing better than I expected. She doesn't remember who she is, obviously, but she's receptive to the idea that everything she knows is a lie." She's pulling the shoes from a bag, the simple boots a little scuffed but otherwise sturdy looking. They look like they'll be the right size, which is what really matters.
"Okay, I have to go change for work. Did you make yourself breakfast yet?"
"Not yet. I showered and cleaned the bathroom. I surely will miss the convenience of disposable razors."
She chuckles, stroking a finger along the trimmed edge. "Well, enjoy as much of the electricity and indoor plumbing you want while I'm gone. I should be home in time for dinner. I'm bringing you Granny's tonight. There are things you need to try before we go back."
"I'll take your word for it, love."
Emma sidles away down the hall, and Killian tilts his head as he watches, enjoying the way her snug jeans hug her curves. Long dresses and large petticoats are never going to be the same.
He grazes his way through the remaining food in the refrigerator, leaving only enough for the next day so they can eat as Killian prepares and Emma goes to work again to keep up appearances.
She returns with a look of triumph and excitement. "It's our last night with modern conveniences. Let's live it up and use everything we won't have in Misthaven," she says decisively, and the glint in her eyes is not entirely innocent.
They turn on every light in the apartment while he tries a cheeseburger for the first time. They drink enough soda that the sugar high carries well into the evening, and she pulls out the toys she never used after he came to live with her. One thing is for sure: they're definitely not cat toys.
He memorizes the way she looks in the throes of passion, sweat glistening over the swell of her breasts as her skin flushes with orgasm. It's a sight to behold, indeed. Batteries, it turns out, are great fun in the bedroom. He's only sad they waited this long to use these items, as they both fall asleep with a level of exhaustion that only comes from intense passion that they both admit to never having felt before.
Emma leaves him in the morning with instructions for things to get ready for their departure. There's a satchel in her closet that she pulls out, and he packs a variety of the garments she's grown dependent on over the last three years, mostly of the underwear variety. He finds a slinky nightgown in the drawer, the tags still attached, so he packs that as well. No reason it should go to waste, after all.
He dresses in the jeans he favors, adding a button-down shirt and the brocaded vest. Last, he slips on the boots that Emma brought home the day before. He adds his own undergarments to the satchel and hauls it into the living room.
A late lunch is waiting for Emma when she gets home from the station. It uses up the last of the food they had so as not to leave waste behind. He trails behind her into the bedroom after they've finished eating so they can discuss what steps to take towards getting home, and what to do about the townspeople. She takes care to slip out of the uniform she's worn for the last three and a half years, hanging it back in the closet. She redresses in a pair of jeans, throwing on a long-sleeved shirt and a sweater, thick socks, and a tall pair of boots. She tops it all off with the red leather jacket he's seen her dress in more often than any other article of clothing.
After much debating about it, they decide that they'll have to find a way to break the memory curse around the portals so they can return for the others. Killian thinks of Belle trapped in the asylum, thinks of the people that Emma has befriended over the years, and voices his displeasure at leaving anyone behind.
"I think it's better that we get back to my parents and get reinforcements before we try to get anyone back. No one else outside that asylum has their memories back. We can hopefully take advantage of that until we figure out what to do to save them all."
"You've said you feel like the Dark One has eyes around town. Do you suppose he'll notice if there's someone he didn't send here wandering about?"
"I don't know. Anything is possible, but for now we'll operate under the assumption that he can't possibly keep track of everyone he's ever sent here. Right?"
He shrugs, a little less reassuring than she's looking for if her expression is anything to go by. "Right, but I guess we'll find out." In the face of his uncertain words, he gives her a solid kiss to make up for it.
Outside the apartment, Emma locks her door, her fingers brushing against the painted wood once more before she turns to greet Regina, who is just exiting her own apartment. The three of them climb aboard the elevator, which it turns out is much more unusual when he's not in the form of a cat. Much like riding aboard the Jolly Roger for the first time, his knees wobble a little as it reaches the ground floor.
It's apparent that there's something wrong the minute the elevator door slides open. There are a few people milling about the lobby of the apartment complex, which wouldn't be unusual, except that their eyes are trained on the now-open door, rather than the task they're pretending to do. Killian, against the wall of the enclosure, is hidden from view, and he flattens himself further in hopes of not being seen as soon as it's obvious something is wrong. Regina gives Emma a look that she must be able to read, because Emma says something about forgetting something at her place and tells Regina she'll meet her outside.
A curt nod from Regina follows, and she walks towards the exit at a brisk place. Emma pushes the button to return to her floor, standing almost protectively until the door slides shut. She all but bundles Killian back into the apartment, telling him to stay put as she goes out to meet Regina.
"I'll call if anything goes wrong," she says. Then she's kissing him quickly and closing the door behind herself.
Killian locks the door, watching through the peephole as she makes her way back down the hallway. Stuck in the apartment, the only thing he can do is pace and wait. The women are gone for over an hour, and Killian is on his twentieth circuit of the living room as Emma unlocks the door and enters with Regina. They have takeout in hand, a good cover for why they were out but also a necessity if they won't be leaving immediately.
"Okay, so we need a new plan," Emma says as she puts the bag down on the table. "When I got back downstairs, there was no one in the lobby. Which means they somehow know you're here. To be honest, a True Love's Kiss is probably not a very subtle bit of magic to go through a town that's not supposed to have magic."
"I never even considered that. Do you think the magic from the kiss was strong enough for him to detect from another realm? Is he ever actually here? What do you propose we do?"
"I suggested that we wait until nightfall," Regina responds. Her memories are still missing, but whatever Emma said to her at breakfast the day before must've convinced her of the validity of their claims. Since then, she's been instrumental in the plans for their return. "I don't know if that'll make much of a difference but at least we'll feel less like sitting ducks when we walk out. And we're going to use the stairs and side entrance this time, too."
Even when the sun goes down, there's an eeriness lingering around every corner. There are still people out and about, but they don't seem anywhere near as menacing as the ones in the lobby earlier in the day. At the very least, Killian is able to make it out of the building for the first time since he showed up as a cat.
Halfway to the docks, though, a man approaches them, asking for the time.
"It's eight fifteen," Emma informs him, but the man doesn't move. "Excuse us," she says, trying to edge around him. His expression is vacant, his eyes blown so wide that no iris is visible, just his large, unseeing pupils.
His hand raises up, stretching towards Killian. "You there, what time is it?"
"The lass already told you, it's quarter past the hour," he says, and then tries to move around. He's trying for impatient, bothered, but natural. The man's hand suddenly clamps around his bicep, his fingers digging into the muscle with strength he would've never assumed the man has.
"Are you sure, dearie?" The man's lips twist unnaturally, and Killian's eyes grow wide at the image of the Dark One's smile on an unfamiliar face. He debates his best course of action, seeing as his only hand is incapacitated. The sleeve of his sweater is pulled as low as possible to hide the missing hand, another thing that they worried would catch attention earlier, and Killian knows he can hit the man with his arm if necessary –
It turns out that line of thought is completely unnecessary, as Emma lunges forward and punches the man square in the jaw. He falls to the side, and Emma snaps Killian out of his stunned state by asking him to help her move the guy into the alley closest to them.
There are more and more people dotting the way, some exiting establishments, and Emma grabs hold of his hand as Regina leads the way. Without fail, every person walking turns towards them, several that the women seem to recognize as they gasp before darting down side streets and pressing into the shadows the best they can all the way down to the waterline. They stick to alleys and unpaved roads until the shadows along those seem to be crawling with them, and they anxiously dance away from each building.
With no lights to guide them, Emma turns on the flashlight on her phone, illuminating their way as Killian tries to approximate the area he came to shore all those months ago. Unfortunately, the entire landscape feels different as a human, so he's starting to feel more and more anxious. When they get to an area that could be the right one, he presses his thumb to the space that Ursula touched, and turns in a circle to see if it glows brighter in any direction.
"Excuse me miss, do you have the time?" they hear the question asked, not by a single voice, but by several, all staggered in various tones and inflections.
Killian looks up to see a line of men standing just before the sand begins, and his eyes go wide. They're his men, the whole lot of them. There's Smee and helmsman and one of the best swordsmen he's ever met who joined the crew from the start and has never left his ship, and even the deckhand they recently took on before Killian found his destination. Their eyes are glazed, though, and unrecognizing.
"Distract them, I just need another minute to locate this bloody shell and then we can make a run for it," Killian snaps. He can feel his panic rising, looking between the expanse of shells and the men who have kept him sane over the last few years. "And for god's sake don't hurt them, they're all from my crew," he pleads.
"Excuse me men, I believe you're needed back at dock three," a voice rings out from their left. The crewmen all turn, their eyes clearing as they agree with the one who speaks before they walk off.
There are two men watching his crew walk away to make sure they go, but the newcomers keep their position as they stand guard.
"I believe that should make your mission easier," the same man says again, and Killian squints his eyes to see him better. He can only assume the one that spoke is Ursula's father, and he's surprised to see the man looks fully aware of who they are and why they're there. There's no time to question him, of course, because the second man is the one who immediately commands all of his attention.
There stands Brennan Jones, not a day older than the last time Killian saw him before he shipped out when Killian was only a wee lad.
Killian desperately wants to ask Brennan questions, a thousand questions all at once popping into his head. How did his father get here and why were they told he was dead? He wants to know what he knows, if he knows anything, about the life he left behind in Misthaven, and the teenage Liam and toddler Killian that were without a father far sooner than they should've been. He wants to tell Brennan that he's a widower, but he cannot get his mouth to function.
"You three need to move along, immediately. My daughter is waiting for your call," the other man says, confirming Killian's suspicions that he's Ursula's father, Poseidon. He's only able to raise his hand in something like thanks, or greetings, or salutations, before the mark on his arm flashes bright and he can see the shell out of the corner of his eyes.
"Be safe," Brennan says, not showing any recognition that he's speaking to his own son, but smiling warmly at all three of them. They don't have time for anything else, and Killian curses time, all time, no time, before he turns to grab the shell that's emitting a faint light.
"You'll want to be moving a little faster," another voice says from the space where his sailors just occupied, and Regina looks distinctly guilty as Robin comes closer. "The police force has just been dispatched to search for three escapees of the mental institution."
"Do you have it?" Emma asks, pulling him in yet another direction. He glances back at his father, his throat seizing up with emotion as he looks his fill for a second.
He nods, holding it up as he finds his voice. "Let's head for the woods to try to lose them."
"We'll try to throw them off the trail," Poseidon assures him.
"Killian, come on," Emma urges, pulling him by the hand and away from the two men. He only gets one last look at his father before he turns and runs with the others.
There are two possibilities for why they're able to pull off the call to Ursula: either Brennan and Poseidon have succeeded in redirecting the men away from them, or they've found a stretch of beach by the woods that the others cannot find. No matter what the reasoning, Killian is grateful for being able to whisper Ursula's name into the shell before chucking it into the waves.
In a matter of moments, the sea witch herself emerges from the water, her eyebrows arched in surprise. Killian doesn't know if that's due to him calling or because of the entourage that surrounds him.
"I was beginning to worry you wouldn't call. The last full moon set and I hadn't heard from you," she admits. Still, she eyes Regina and Robin with suspicion before she turns her attentions back to Emma and Killian.
"Had to keep you on your toes, so to speak," Killian declares. "Your father helped us escape. I wasn't able to bring him with us, and for that I apologize."
She lifts her hand in acceptance. "A little magic goes a long way. I asked him to help if you ever made it down to the beach. I'll look forward to reuniting with him for good after you've defeated the Dark One. Now, I agreed to transport you and Princess Emma back, so what about these other two?"
"Regina needs to come with us. She was the most powerful student Rumplestiltskin ever had before she went missing and I think she can help defeat the darkness when we all get back," Emma tells her.
"Regina? You mean the Evil Queen? The one that terrorized the lands for so long that we were actually relieved when she went missing?"
"I assure you," Regina asserts, her face the picture of disgruntled, "that whatever I was before, I'm not now. When my memories return, I promise to offer my sincerest apologies. But right now, there are a whole bunch of people looking for us so it might be best to haggle out the details later."
As if right on cue, there's a shout somewhere in the woods, quite possibly indicating that someone has located them.
"Right. Okay. All of you step right this way then." Ursula beckons them further, and Killian is the only one who doesn't immediately step towards the water.
"Don't you need us to do anything else? What animal will we be transporting as?"
The second Ursula chuckles, his face pinches up in a sour expression. "Oh, Captain, there may have been one or two unnecessary steps to your transportation. I could've changed you once you were already here. I probably could've gotten you closer to the princess, too." There's a twinkle in her eye that Killian doesn't care for at all, and he almost anticipates the next words out of her mouth. "Pearl sends her regards."
Emma turns to look at him, her eyebrow going up, and Killian ducks his head as the flush spreads over his cheeks. He will never live this one down.
"You wasted two bloody weeks of my time for vindication?"
"I was keeping an eye on your situation. If a full month had gone by before you got to the princess, I would've intervened. But truly, any longer and the Dark One would've definitely sniffed you out. The waterways have been nothing but gossip about how he's on a manhunt for one with a missing hand. Now, we're wasting time, Captain."
"Well, it's a good thing we got lucky in the eleventh hour," he says, and shuffles forward after that, reaching for Emma's hand just before the magic of the waterways swallows them up. The trip is brief, with a bubble surrounding them on all sides. He glances at Emma as they zip past the line of one realm and into another, and the look on her face is pure exhilaration. Robin and Regina look mystified, but neither are as worried about magic as he assumed they would be. He wonders if that's a product of how calming Emma has been, or if it's their true personalities recognizing something they knew before.
Killian knows the beach they land on, just along a similar ride of forest on the edge of Misthaven's borders. He's felt the sands beneath his feet many times before, but it's been too long. He breathes a sigh of relief, noting the lack of pollution and absence of electrical buzz in the air. The only thing he'd yet to grow accustomed to was the effects of the technology.
In the space it takes for him to inhale and exhale again, it all happens at once.
Ursula's eyes widen and she's gone in an instant, back beneath the waves they just emerged from. Killian turns just in time to see Robin yanked into the woods. There are no physical forces pulling him, so it must be the power of magic. Regina goes running after him, making impressive speed in the heels she refused to leave behind.
"No, wait!" Emma tries to stop her before running after her as well, and Killian follows because what the bloody hell else is he supposed to do?
It's a trap, of course, which Killian should've known after what they went through to get back down to the water in Storybrooke. They're surrounded by tall trees on all sides in the clearing they wind up in. Robin, though unconscious, is otherwise unharmed. As Regina stoops to check on him, she's thrown into the nearest tree, her body connecting with such a sound that Killian winces even as he tries to get to Emma.
He stumbles towards her, but he's hit with a blast of magic. In despair, he realizes that he's familiar with his new perspective. The bastard has turned him back into a cat, and he watches helplessly as he tries to untangle from his clothes as the trees and the shadows all morph into the Dark Ones of all the ages passed. Rumplestiltskin steps forward, his skin shimmering in the moonlight that filters in through the trees.
"Well, well, dearies. So glad you could drop in."
It feels like it takes hours for him to escape from the prison of his own clothes, but he at least surfaces enough to look out. Regina, now limping, just makes it back to Emma's side as the circle around them presses inward.
"I hope you're all prepared to die together." The demon raises his hands, the magic circulating between them, and his smile grows more unhinged as he readies his final blow.
Chapter 10
