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everything-person · 30 days ago

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Summary: Killian, along with his brother, lived deep under the sea being raised by his grandfather King Triton in King Posideons court. Emma lived high on land in the Enchanted Forest being raised by her parents Queen Snow White and King "James" in the Misthaven court. Their worlds so close yet so far. What happens when they meet and their curiosity gets the best of them?

A/N: This story is based on one of the first fanfics I ever read, Castles in the Sand by alleycat22 on fanfic.net. It was unfortunately never finished so this fic is an ode to that story. I am not trying to plagiarize anyones work there will be similarities because one fic inspired another.

Prologue

The mist of the sea sprayed against her skin as the wind whipped her golden hair. The wood bit into her palms as she gripped the railing of the ship leaning back enjoying the sea air; listening to the waves crash against the ship beneath them.

“Isn’t this great?” She turns her head upwards to see her father standing just behind her, a smile gracing his features.

“The salty sea air, the wind blowing in your face,” He inhales deeply before letting out a sigh, “Perfect day to be at sea.”

Finally looking down at her she smiles back at him.

“A fine strong wind and a following sea,” the gruff voice of a sailor near them caught her ear, “King Triton and Poseidon must be in a fine mood.”

“King Triton?”

“Why ruler of the merpeople your highness,” another sailor answered.

“Merpeople?”

“Yes! Mermaids and mermen, half fish half human, swimming about below this very vessel.”

The young girl’s eyes went wide as she leaned forward, feeling her father’s hands come to rest on either side of her waist, bent in half staring at the water below them, trying to catch a glimpse of the creature the sailor spoke of.

“And King Triton rules over them with a mighty hand. ”

She absorbed every word the sailors said. Her imagination running wild with all this new information. Then she paused, standing up straight once more she turned her attention to the sailors.

“Who's Poseidon?”

“Poseidon is his brother. He rules all the sea and the creatures that live there. Each brother can control the tides and the storms too, so when the sea is restless you know something is a miss in their kingdom.”

Almost as if to prove the sailors point a strong waves rocked the ship, nearly causing the young princess to tumble over if it wasn't for her father hands still griping her sides.

She turned to her father, “Do you think it's true, Papa?”

Her father shrugged, “I’m not sure, Emma. I’ve never seen a merperson.”

“I have.”

They turned to see the lady of the ship finally on deck. Emma raced over to the woman looking up at her, eyes slightly widened, mouth agape.

“Really, Mama?”

Her mother knelt down, gently brushing her daughter's wind swept her from her face. “Really. She was beautiful and very kind and very curious.”

“How come I’ve never heard this story?” Her father asked behind her.

Her mother shrugged looking up at her husband, “You never asked.”

“Will you tell me?”

She looked down at her daughter, “I’d love to.”

Emma's face lit up with her excited smile.

“But another time. You have some studying to do,” the twinkle in her daughter's eyes quickly faded as her mouth turned down into a pout, “Just because we are traveling doesn’t mean you get out of your studies. I promise when we are done I will tell you all about my friend Ariel.”

Her mother stood, grabbing her hand to lead her below deck. Emma dragged her feet but followed her mother, though the pout never left her face until a question came to mind.

“Mama,” she said, catching the woman's attention, “Do you think I could meet a mermaid?”

“Maybe.” The woman thought about her words carefully, not wishing to deject her daughter, “It is rare to see a mermaid, let alone meet one, like I did, but anything is possible.”

They passed by a sailor who had just pulled up a fishing net, detangling their catch. He pulled out one that was slightly too big for his hand, so when it started the squirm as the ship was rocked again, it slipped from his grasp, falling back down to the sea. It swam deeper and farther trying to get away from its captors. It swam right past a young boy.

Following the trail the fish left, the boy saw it lead to the surface. His curiosity got the better of him so he swam up, seeing the hull of the ship cutting through the water. The closer he got the more his curiosity grew, and he reached out his hand towards the ship.

“Killian!”

He turned to see his brother's scowl, “What the bloody hell do you think you are doing?”

“I was just-”

“First, you are late! Grandfather has everyone looking everywhere for you! And I find you chasing after a human's ship!”

“I-”

His brother grabbed his hand, beginning to drag him the opposite way of the ship towards their home. “You could’ve been seen! You could’ve been caught in one of their nets! You could’ve been harpooned! You could’ve been killed! Is that what you want? Huh? To be dragged out of the water and hung up to dry in the sun? Is it, little brother?”

“Younger brother,” Killian muttered.

“What?” His brother turned to face him again.

“Nothing happened, just relax.”

“This time! Nothing happened this time. You need to be more careful. You’ll be lucky if I don’t tell Grandfather about this.” Never letting go of Killian’s wrist, his older brother began swimming again.

They swam for a while before reaching an iridescent glowing city. Continuing through until they reach a glittering palace, that currently had many merfolk anxiously swimming around its grounds.

“King Triton, he's found!” a guard called into the palace, as the two boys swam into view.

In an instant the boys found themselves in front of the king himself, relief washed over the grand king's face as he spotted the two boys.

“Killian, thank the seas you're alright,” The older man embarrassed the smaller boy.

The once anxious waters calmed with the king, as merfolk stopped their search and went back to their duties.

“Liam, where did you find him?”

“Um, well.”

At the older boy's hesitation, the king pulled away from the younger, holding him by the shoulders, fixing both of them with a look. “Where did you find him?”

KIllian’s hand found its way to the spot behind his ear, “I was just exploring.”

“Exploring where?” The man's eyes shifted between the two boys as both were seemingly more interested in their tails than in giving him an answer.

With a sigh Liam spoke up, “I found him chasing a human ship.”

“HUMANS!”

Killian flinched, “I was just curious.”

“Killian, how many times must we go over this?! The surface and humans are dangerous!”

“I was being careful. Nothing happened.”

“THIS TIME! You could’ve been seen by one of those barbarians! I’ve already lost two daughters to them! Do you think I wish to lose one of my grandsons as well?! I am never NEVER to hear about you and humans again, is that clear!” The king’s voice boomed with authority off the palace walls.

Killian’s head bowed deeper as Liam gave a quiet “yes sir.”

The king sighed, “What am I going to do with you boys?”

Silence hung in the water between the three of them before the king spoke up again. “You are both to go to your room for the rest of the day. I will have supper sent to you. Neither of you are permitted to leave this palace until I say so. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir,” the boys answered.

As soon as they did, the king waved them off and they swam to their room.

“I don’t know why he’s so mad,” Killian started, “It wasn’t like I was seen.”

“He’s not mad, Killian. He’s scared. As was I.”

Killian continued as if his brother had never spoken, “And I don’t know why he talks about Ariel as if she's dead. She isn’t.”

“But Mother is.” Liam said pointedly.

Killian turned away at his brother's remark.

“Humans aren't to be taken lightly, little brother. They are dangerous and can be cruel.”

“Younger brother,” Killian muttered.

They stayed in silence. It was only when they reached their room that Killian spoke up. “I’m not afraid of humans. I could fight.”

Liam chuckled “Oh yeah?”

He nudged his brother who pushed back. Their pushing turned to shoves, which turned to grappling, which turned into an all out wrestling match. They wrestled until Liam pinned him.

“You were saying, little brother?"

“Younger brother.” Killian stated defiantly as he shoved Liam off him. “Do you think I’ll ever meet a human?”

“For your sake, I hope not,” Liam said just as Killian grabbed onto his shoulder and began round two of their wrestling match.

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AND Thats all she wrote. I hope it was worth the read.

#captain swan #cs fanfic #cs ff #cs au #cs fic #cs mc ff #emma swan #princess emma #killian jones #mermaid!killian #mermaid!au #ouat #once upon a time #prince charming #snow white #liam jones #sandcastles and riptides

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frozenwolftemplar · 10 days ago

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Fanfic Recommendation: neverending world tour by laikaspeaks

Following the lead set by @jackie-shitposts , I thought I'd profile some of my favorite CS fanfics, starting with those that may be a little lesser-known. First up is a quick post-canon number: neverending world tour by laikaspeaks!

neverending world tour

Author: laikaspeaks (I think she's on tumblr but I don't know her handle)

Link: neverending world tour - laikaspeaks - Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019) [Archive of Our Own]

Pairing: Gen

Warnings: None

Word Count: 657

I know a lot of us didn't like having Team Red break up (physically, at least) at the end of the show; laika didn't either. So, in the grand tradition of fanfic, she wrote a fix-it.

Laika wasn't a regular writer in the CS fandom (she only ever wrote two fics: this and a carulia drabble), but she is a talented wordsmith, and neverending world tour shows this talent on full display. The dialogue feels like it was ripped from the show, and the imagery brings this slice-of-life snippet to life. It's one of my favorites and I hope y'all enjoy it too!

#the greats of cs fanfic #carmen sandeigo 2019 #cs fanfic #carmen sandiego #carmen sandiego fanfic #team red

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donteattheappleshook · 6 months ago

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Not Broken at All Chapter 18/?

Summary:

A season 1 Neverland AU. Emma is still trying to adjust to her new life as Sheriff of Storybrooke and mom to Henry, who still believes everyone in town is a fairytale creature. When she finds a badly beaten, one handed man while patrolling, she’s convinced he’s crazy. He is, after all, rambling about fairies and shadows and crocodiles. But when Henry is suddenly taken out the window of a house everyone believes is haunted, the madman in the hospital might be her only hope of getting her son back. Whether he likes it or not.

Rated E

Catch up on Ao3 (where my italics work) or on Tumblr 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Oh hey! What's up everyone?

I know it's been a while (shocking) but it's Solstice today and the muse decided something needed to be posted for this fic in honour of the fairy orgies XD

This was written super fast and not really re-read because it's already 10pm so I'll probably edit it later but I'm giving it to you all now.

Happy Solstice and I hope you enjoy this chapter! <3

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Part 18

“Doesn’t look so bad,” Will shrugs when they stand outside the mouth of the cave the next morning. Emma and Wendy roll their eyes at the same time. It does look that bad. For a place called Echo Cave she’d had expected something bigger, something louder. But all she can see as they approach is a narrow tunnel in the rockface, no sound escaping from within. So she jumps when Tiger Lily’s voice suddenly comes from within.

“You’re late.”

“Apologies,” Killian nods. “The forest has changed a fair bit since I last made the journey - it took us longer than anticipated to find the path.”

“You have a habit of doing that,” Tiger Lily scoffs. “Misinterpreting time.”

The reply is so quick, and Killian’s sigh so exhausted, that Emma has to hold back a snort of laughter.

“We came as fast as we could.”

“Come then, let’s not delay any further. The others have gathered.”

“Who are the others?” Emma asks Hook quietly as they follow.

“The eldest of those who were here before Pan. They were barely more than children when it happened, but They have some memory of how things were.”

“I thought you said they’d forgotten all their magic.”

“We did not forget,” Tiger Lily snaps from the entrance. Emma watches as the faint, gold dusting of magic that covers their skin, the only light in the otherwise pitch black cave shimmers and slides over their arm, cascading like water down through their fingers that they trail along the rocky wall, leaving flecks of sparking, gold dust in their wake. “It was taken from us. Through slaughter and cruelty. When the children who were left behind grew enough to become a threat to Pan, we were forced to lock away what little we remembered or meet the same fate.”

Every time she thinks it can’t get worse, it does. The massacre of Tiger Lily’s people and the destruction of their history, the torture and killing of the Lorelei, the horror of the murder of those boys on the beach. There’s no end it seems to Pan’s cruelty, to his thirst for blood.

Emma reaches for the shimmering of light that remains along the wall, glittering and moving with the flow of the rough surface. It glows brighter beneath her touch and something swells from deep within her, rushing to meet it, warm and electrifying, before she yanks her hand back and stumbles the rest of the way though.

The walk is long, this cave buried deep in darkness and stardust. She’s not sure she even hears it at first, a small whisper of a voice from far away, the words too quiet to make out, but repeating. As they continue along and a dim light starts to appear in the distance, they grow louder. It’s a child’s voice, rolling against the walls of the cave - wish I’d never come here… just want to go home. Just want to go home. Just want to go home….

She feels Killian’s hand on the small of her back and realizes she’s stopped walking. “It’s alright, love. It’s just an echo. The last secret that was shared here.” She still hesitates, not wanting to get any closer to the haunting voice. “Whoever they were, they’re not here anymore.”

“His name was Ruffio,” Will says, nearly as quiet as the first echo. “He’s been gone a long time.” He only meets her eye for a moment before clearing his throat and continuing as though he hadn’t said anything. She can’t blame him. She knows by now that nobody in Neverland ever goes home. “Come on - we’ve got secrets to spill.”

The light ahead grows until finally they emerge into a massive cavern. The stone that surrounds them black onyx - gleaming faintly against the dust that covers the ceiling like a galaxy above them. The space feels boundless, endless like the darkness could go on forever and she’s reminded of their flight here, of the endless sea of stars they’d sailed in on.

There are four people standing in the center of the chamber on a platform of the same black onyx, all of them with the same sharp, androgynous features as Tiger Lily, all with the same loose-fitting clothes and cropped hair, and all with that same shimmer of living magic glowing faintly in the dark. Tink stands with them, waiting. None of them are any older in appearance than herself, but she knows better by now than to judge age or power by appearance on this island.

The Constant.

They follow the rest of the way to the narrow, stone bridge that connects the ledge to the platform on which the others stand. When Emma takes a step to follow Tiger Lily onto the bridge, Killian puts an arm out, halting her in her tracks. Emma watches, heart in her throat as the bridge crumbles after Tiger Lily, stone falling away behind every step until they reach the end and there’s no bridge at all.

“The Constant keep no secrets,” Killian explains. “The cave can’t compel anything from them. We, on the other hand…”

“Of course they don’t.” No wonder they wanted to use this place. Easy to make others share their deepest darkest secrets when you’ve got none of your own to divulge and nothing to risk. “What about Tink?” she asks, nodding at the fifth person standing with the Constant.

“The fey have wings.”

Right. “So how does this work?”

“From what I remember, you step out onto the edge and call out your secret. If it’s truly your darkest, the cave will echo it back to you.”

“And then we get across?”

“Aye, easy as that,” Killian attempts a smile, but it comes out as a wince. “I’ll go,” he offers though he looks like he’s dreading this as much as she is. She’s just thankful she doesn’t have to start. He lets out another sigh, bracing himself and then, “I kissed Emma.”

Fuck. Her heart drops into her stomach. He’s been a pirate for two hundred years - How the hell can his darkest secret have anything to do with her?

Will smirks. “Kissed? Is that what they’re calling it these days? And I think you’re forgetting that we were all there when she jumped you at Solstice.” His smirk deepens. “And when Emma came back all wet.” If Emma could reach him she’d smack him.

“I literally walked in on you,” Wendy deadpans.

“I’m not talking about Solstice,” he sighs, not rising to the bait. “It was…” She knows when it was. We’ll keep each other safe, they’d promised. She doesn’t need everyone else to know though. Not when she’s not even sure what any of it meant or what it means now. “It doesn’t matter,” Killian shakes his head. “It was what the kiss - what all of it - exposed.” Fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. “My secret is… I never believed that I’d be capable of letting go of my first love, of my Milah.” He breathes her name like a prayer and a wound. “To believe that I could find someone else.” His eyes lift to hers and it’s only by sheer force of will that she’s able to stop herself from taking a step back, from running away from the way he’s looking at her. Because she needs to hear this. They all do. If she wants to get across this fucking bridge, if she wants to talk to the fucking Constant, if she wants to get her son back - she needs to hear this secret as much as he needs to tell it. “That is, until I met you.”

She doesn’t know what to say or if she’s supposed to say something, can’t bring herself to look at Wendy or Will or look away from his eyes still burning into hers. And then before she even can do anything, Killian’s voice echoes through the cave, ‘until I met you’ called back to them like a ghost. A rumble follows as a section of the fallen bridge rises back from the depths below them, rock by rock, rebuilding itself.

Killian lets out a humourless laugh. “So, who’d like to go next?”

“I will.” Wendy stands with her shoulders straight, like she’s ready for a fight rather than a confession. Emma gets a sinking feeling in her stomach from the way she’s making herself look at Killian, with shame and guilt. He doesn’t look surprised - he looks like he expected this to hurt. “Sometimes… Sometimes I wish you’d never found me. Sometimes I wish you had just kept on walking that day when Pan left me to die.” She winces. “I’ll always be grateful to you for saving my life, for taking me in but…”

Killian nods when she hesitates, her eyes damp with unshed tears. “Go on, it’s alright.”

“You trapped me here, Hook. You’re the reason I have to live in this neverending nightmare. Forever. You knew what that water would do to me and I know you couldn’t ask but… you didn’t give me a choice. And I think that if I had one now - if I could have had a say in the next hundred years of my life… I’d rather you’d just let me die because this -” she gestures at herself, at everything around them. “It’s worse than death. And because of you I’ll never leave.” She lets out a bitter laugh. “I can’t even die if I want to. Not unless Pan decides that’s what he wants. You forced this life on me, Killian, you cursed me to live because it made you feel better and I don’t… I’ll never forgive you for that.”

Tears stain her cheeks now, jaw tight as she refuses to let any more follow and Emma can see the heartbreak on Killian’s face. “Wendy…” but she shakes her head and he stops the step he’d taken towards her.

“I’m sorry,” she chokes and he shakes his head this time. Her secret echoes around them like a taunt this time - ‘never forgive you for that’ - and another piece of the bridge rebuilds itself. The silence hangs between them, louder than any echo, until Will steps up.

“I suppose I should go next - while we’re on the topic of never being forgiven.” He takes his own steadying breath. “I’m dying.”

Wendy’s face falls. “... what?” It comes out cracked and small and frightened. “What do you mean you’re dying?”

The look Will gives her - there’s so much guilt there, so much pain and self-loathing and love. Emma may not know much about it but she can recognize it now in his eyes, in the way he looks at Wendy. “I lied when I told you I didn’t know what Pan did to my heart. I’ve seen him do it before.”

“One hundred years…”

Will nods, a self-deprecating smile falling flat. “I really hoped that I could keep it from you for a little longer. Neverland will slow it down but… he squeezed a hundred years from my heart. I’ll start aging faster - a lot faster - and pretty soon…”

“How long?” He hesitates a beat longer than Emma can handle - and Wendy… gods, she can’t imagine. “How long?”

“I’ll be dead in a few months - three, maybe four depending on how long I would have lived if I’d aged like a normal person but - I’m so sorry, Wen. I didn’t want to tell you, I -”

Whatever he was going to say and whatever she might have answered is stolen by the cave calling back to them in Will’s voice, ‘dead in a few months’. Nobody looks as the bridge puts itself back together, all of them too focused on the cruel revelation. He did it for her, Emma realises, for all of them but… he’s dying because of her. Wendy’s losing him because of her. Even Killian looks solemn at the news.

“Your turn, Emma,” Will chokes out with the palest attempt at levity she’s seen him manage since she met him. “Wouldn’t want to be left out of all the fun, would you?”

She looks out towards the chasm between them and the Constant. She doesn’t even know what she expected to confess, or what she’d hear confessed by those with her, and now, with the truth of Will’s fate hanging in the air, nothing feels like it matters in the grand scheme of things.

What even is her deepest secret? That she gave up Henry? That she had her heart broken by a selfish man who used her and then left her? That she spent a year of her life in jail? That she’s spent her whole life searching for the parents who left her behind? That between Neal and her parents she doesn’t think she could ever trust someone again - could ever let herself love someone again, or let them love her… That she might be anyway? None of it feels like enough; none of it even feels like a secret anymore, not since Henry found her and brought her to Storybrooke.

And then, like bile and sick, she feels something being forced up from her throat, words clawing their way to the surface and past her lips of their own volition. She can’t stop them. She doesn’t even know what she’s going to say until they come spilling out.

“I wish Henry had never come to find me. I wish he’d never brought me to Storybrooke.” The confession leaves her gasping, tears in her eyes as though she had been sick. She wants to be, hearing such a horrible truth being spoken out loud. Killian looks at her with sympathy, but she turns away from it. And once it’s started, she can’t stop it. “I never wanted to be a mother. I gave him away because I knew he’d be better off without me - but also because I knew I’d be better off without him. He’s a beautiful, amazing kid and I love him more than anything… but I never asked for this. Every day since he showed up at my door I’ve been terrified - every minute of every day. Those few minutes in the Fae forest when I couldn’t remember him were the most peaceful I’ve felt in months and when it all came flooding back it just reminded me of how much simpler my life was before I had to be anything to anyone. I don’t want to lose him. But I never wanted to find him either.”

The bridge rebuilds itself, completing the path across as the worst thing she’s ever said, ‘never wanted to find him’, is echoed back to her cruelly. She feels drained, numb, and she wonders if the others are feeling this horrible emptiness too. She looks out at where the Constant wait. If this is their idea of having them prove their allegiance, they better be ready to give theirs in return.

“Come on, Swan,” Killian tells her, leading her across the bridge. None of them say a word, Will and Killian both casting glances at Wendy who won’t look up from her feet, and the silence follows them the whole way across.

“That sounded rough,” Tink comments when they reach the platform, the five Constant talking in harsh whispers in a language she doesn’t recognize.

“How lucky of you to have missed it then,” Will snips. He must be feeling worse than Emma realized.

There’s an argument starting, still in that foreign language, but she can tell just the same. Every few words there’s a glimpse of something that feels familiar, a syllable from another language she’s heard, a word that could be French or Spanish, a glimpse of English, not one language but many - like every language spoken at once.

“This meeting has been a topic of some controversy,” Killian whispers. “But I think Tiger Lily might be on our side.”

“You can understand them?”

He shrugs. “One picks up a few things after two centuries.”

There’s a small scoff from Tink. “Yeah, all that pillow talk was really educational.”

Killian ignores the quip. “They’re the keepers of the last of the forgotten history of the old Neverland.” He nods at each as he names them. “That’s Philodendron, Halcyon, Alder, Jacaranda, and you know Tiger Lily.

“Tiger Lily is one of them?”

“Tiger Lily was the oldest Constant to survive the massacre. They were just shy of a century when Pan took over.”

“A century?”

“The Constant are eternal, love. A century is nothing.”

The Constant have gone silent, a tense, begrudging conclusion to their argument that Emma can feel even if she doesn’t know the words.

Finally, Tiger Lily speaks. “Tinkerbell tells us you wish to unearth the secrets of the island - secrets that were buried to keep us safe.”

“Secrets that could return the island to the way it once was if you ally with us against Pan,” Killian counters.

“If our knowledge could have defeated the boy,” Alder interjects, “we would have done so a millenia ago when he first laid waste to this island.”

“Maybe your knowledge alone couldn’t defeat him, but we have the Lorelei on our side, and the fae,” Wendy adds, gesturing at Tink.

Alder scoffs. “You have one fairy. One who’s been without magic for almost five hundred years, who’s magic was corrupted by the very demon you seek to destroy. Our magic was born from the innocence and dreams of children, the purest light magic there is, and even it was snuffed out by Pan’s darkness. What chance have you with a weakened fairy and the duplicitous sirens?”

“We have more than that,” Tink interjects, bitterness and insult obvious in the bite of her words. “We have her.” It takes Emma a moment to realize that she’s the one being gestured at and now every set of eyes is on her.

“Me?”

“Her?” Wendy frowns.

“You can’t honestly tell me you haven’t noticed. She practically reeks of magic. It’s spilling out of every pore. I clocked it as soon as she got here.”

“I don’t have magic.” The Constant continue to stare, questioning, doubting. “I don’t. Don’t you think if I did I’d have used it by now to get Henry back?”

“Not if you weren’t aware of it, love,” Killian offers gently.

“Okay but I’m not some fairytale character; I’m from Boston - the land without magic. I don’t have any power.”

“Oh for…” Tink swears under her breath, crossing the room and grabbing Emma’s wrist. Faster than she can stop her, the fairy pulls a small blade from the complicated twist of pins and leather that keeps her mass of blonde hair piled on top of her head, ivory handle embellished with gold runes, and slashes it across Emma’s palm.

“Ow! What the hell!” Emma shouts, yanking her hand away. That fucking hurt. Tinkerbelle doesn’t resist, the rest of their small crew moving to intervene, but all at once, they freeze. Emma follows their gazes to her hand, clutched tightly in a fist to her chest and her breath catches. There’s light seeping through the cracks in her fingers, golden and swirling like smoke, shimmering like the magic that flows over the Constant’s skin.

Jacaranda reaches a hand out to her, palm upturned in a request and Emma looks to the others before carefully placing her hand in theirs. Carefully, the Constant unfurls her fingers, examining the light that shines from her wound with a careful touch. Their eyes go wide. “This is our magic,” they say, voice soft and tinged with awe. “Ours and… something else.”

“May I?” Philodendron asks, extending their own hand. Emma nods, even as the urge to refuse shouts at her. You don’t have magic. You’re not magic. You’re a goddamn bail bonds person from Boston, not a fairytale character. Philodendron looks at her after taking a moment to examine the wound themselves. “This is light magic,” they confirm. “It’s raw and untapped but powerful, more powerful than anything I’ve seen since before Pan’s time.” They twist her hand a bit, trying to look closer, to read something in whatever they see that Emma can’t. “But this isn’t born of belief and dreams as ours is, it's the product of something else… of -”

“True love,” Emma breathes out, so low she doesn’t mean for anyone to hear it. Henry had said that hadn’t he? That she was supposed to be the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, that she was supposed to be the Saviour.

“Yes, that’s it,” Philodendron nods slowly. “You were right, Tinkerbelle. This is more powerful magic than we anticipated.”

“Can you use it?” Emma asks, still not believing it really, but if it means they’ll help her get her kid back, she doesn’t care what she has to do.

“That depends,” Halcyon takes a step forward. “Can you wield it?”

“No, I…” she doesn’t even know how this is possible.

“I can.” They all turn to Tink, Emma cradling her hand to her chest once more. “If you tell me what we need to do, I can guide her. But you’ll have to let me.” The last bit is directed at her and she hesitates… Tink hasn’t exactly made a secret of the fact that she’s not a fan of hers, and she just slashed her damn hand open… Trust already isn’t her strong suit to begin with. “I’m not going to steal it,” Tink snaps and looks genuinely offended and Emma remembers that she knows what it is to have her power taken from her.

“I know you won’t. I just… what if it doesn’t work?” How powerful could this magic be? She’s not anything special, she never has been. Why would this be any different?

“Then I guess you don’t get your kid back.”

“Tink,” Killian warns but Emma can’t help but appreciate the fairy’s bluntness.

“What do we need to do?”

“This cavern, ” TigerLily starts, taking a knee and placing a hand reverently on the stone, “used to be a sacred place. It held all of the secrets of Neverland, and the dreams of children who visited - the purest and most honest of truths of all - fueled the island as it did our magic. This was its source - the source of everything.

“But then Pan tainted this cave with his twisted version of secrets as power, as something to be wielded, and forced us to sacrifice the last of the light magic that still breathed life into Neverland, the cavern shielded itself from his darkness. Now it echoes truths rather than accept ones taken maliciously. This place… has seen nothing but darkness for centuries. It has not been sleeping, but fighting, the last of the resistance against Pan right under his nose, keeping the darkness at bay and it has hardened. We need to remind it what the light looks like.”

“It can have mine. Whatever this is. If it can help and if this place can defeat Pan it can have all of it.”

Tiger Lily smiles kindly. “Not all of it. It would never snuff out your light. But even the slightest kindling can spark an inferno and with it you can breathe magic back into the island.”

“How?”

They nod to Tink who retrieves her knife again, slashing her own palm this time, the light that glows from her wound a shimmering green, and holds her hand out to Emma. Heat burns across her skin when she takes Tink’s offered hand, the light between them growing, shining and mixing. Tink places her other hand on Tiger Lily’s shoulder and the Constant flattens both their palms against the stone beneath them. After a moment, they look to Emma and she knows she’s doing it wrong. She’s not doing anything but she’s doing it wrong.

“I’m sorry.”

Tiger Lily shakes their head, their smile not malicious, but understanding.

“I have met so many lost boys and girls on this island. So many broken, hardened children lead here by fear and hurt and neglect, so afraid to trust, to love, to admit or even accept what they want, what they desire more than anything - what has been robbed of them. This place is born of dreams and truths and you, dear Swan, strong Swan, brave Swan… frightened Swan, have locked yourself away from both.”

“But I already told this place my darkest secret.” But she doesn’t need Tiger Lily to tell her - this place echoes darkness, resists darkness. That secret was Pan’s magic - not Neverland’s.

“What do you dream of, Emma? What truths do you keep from yourself?” Emma opens her mouth to speak but Tiger Lily holds up a hand. “Do not tell them to me. Tell them to the lost girl. Unburden her.”

What does she dream of? Things she can’t have, things she’s never had, things that were taken away. She wants to find her parents, that’s no secret though, she’s always known that. She wants them to have never given her up in the first place. She wanted a family, the one she could have had with Henry and Neal if he hadn’t turned out to be the vile person he was, the life that she’d had just a glimpse of after one missed period, before everything went to shit. She doesn’t want that anymore. She hasn’t let herself want any of it since then, not love, not family, not hope…

Her skin begins to warm, something flaring beneath the surface. Liar. She doesn’t know if it’s the cave or herself or her magic but it echoes through her like her secret against the walls. Tiger Lily accused her of locking herself away from her dreams, from her truths, but can they even still be truths if they’ve been silenced and stomped down for decades?

She thinks of the lost girl she was, abandoned, a runaway on the street, burning the last of her childhood, of stupid fairytales and stories to keep warm in a world that was only ever cold. What had that girl wanted? Powerless, lost, alone. That girl who felt like nothing, who meant nothing to anyone, who had never mattered and never would, who had only herself to take care of her. She wanted to matter - to someone, to herself, she wanted people to matter to her, to be able to let them. She didn’t want to be alone anymore. Even as she pushed away every foster parent, every friend, every lover as she grew older, she didn’t want - she doesn’t want - to have to do it alone.

That’s what she dreams of, what she refuses to admit that she dreams of. That for all of her rightly earned distrust of everyone, for all of her caution and her fear of abandonment, of love and hope, she wants to be able to let them in, let them matter. She wants to believe that she could have that happily ever after that she’s scorned all her life.

Images flash in her mind as the heat builds, her body tingling, a faint glimmer of light shining against her shut eyelids. Henry smiling in her doorway in Boston, Mary Margaret offering her a home, Killian bringing her to Neverland, Wendy helping her hide from Pan, Will sacrificing himself for her, Killian nearly sacrificing Milah’s name - sacrificing his memories, all of them banding together to help her save her kid, even Tink now, helping her to wield magic she doesn’t understand.

She’s not alone. She’s not in this alone. For the first time in her life she has people she can count on. People she can trust. She thinks of the smile Henry gave her when she let him know she wasn’t going to leave Storybrooke even though she could, of Mary Margaret’s pep talks, of shared hot chocolate and drinks and advice in their apartment, of Killian in that dank brig after one of the worst hours of her life - perhaps I would - of his words whispered in the quiet darkness of his cabin - I’m here. You don’t have to ask - of his confession echoing around them - until I met you. She does matter to people. She’s not nothing. She was never nothing. She matters and she has people who matter to her.

Her whole body alights, the blood in her veins not blood anymore but something else, something powerful and she can feel it surging beneath her skin, pulled by a force as it rushes through her and towards that opening in her palm. The white of her light overtakes the green and Tink’s body jerks like the surge of magic is as jarring to her as it is for Emma. Tiger Lily gasps, the ground beneath them starting to glow, tendrils of golden light snaking towards them across the stone like rivulets. Their body starts to shimmer, the dusting of gold shining brighter until their skin is swallowed by it completely.

Emma can feel sweat beading on her skin, the salt mixing with the tears she hadn’t realized she’d been crying. She doesn’t know how much longer she can keep this up, the power coursing through her overwhelming. Tink’s hand is shaking in hers, both their palms damp and slippery and white knuckled and she can’t imagine how much more effort the fairy is putting in as the one actually channeling all of this.

“There’s so much,” Tiger Lily says in awe. “We’ve forgotten so much.” Their eyes are glowing with the same gold that covers their skin, their mouth pulling into a smile even as tears roll down their cheeks.

“I can’t -” Tink starts, but doesn’t let Emma release her hand when she tries to stop.

There’s another moment, the light engulfing the Constant almost completely, so bright Emma has to look away, before finally, suddenly, it stops. The three of them slump against the ground with a gasp of exhaustion. Emma doesn’t even turn when she feels hands on her shoulders, helping her to sit up, she knows it’s him. Wendy is at Tink’s side helping to support her as well as the Constant circle around Tiger Lily, all of them holding one another in a moment that feels beautiful and private as joy and heartbreak play over their faces.

“Can you. Stop him?” Tink pants out.

“I… I think so. There’s just - there’s so much. I need time to sort through it all.”

“We don’t. Have. Time.”

“All of the secrets of Neverland, millennia’s worth, have just been poured into my mind. It will take me more than a few minutes to understand it all and find what will help us.”

“How much time?” Emma asks. Henry’s already been here too long - too long without knowing that she’s here, that she’s coming for him.

“I don’t… give me a few nights at least. Come back in three days. That should give me time to make sense of what is needed at least.” Their eyes are far away, like they’re not seeing the cavern around them but something far bigger and far more extraordinary.

Emma nods. “Three days?”

“Three days. And then we’ll rid this island of its false king forever.”

***********

Let me know if you'd like to be added or removed from my tag list!

@kmomof4 @elizabeethan @the-darkdragonfly @undercaffinatednightmare @jennjenn615 @dramioneswan @gingerchangeling @gingerpolyglot @batana54 @lfh1226-linda @csalltheway @xsajx @xarandomdreamx @onceratheart18 @ownedbycaptainswan @teamhook @pirateprincessofpizza @lostintheskyfaraway @zaharadessert @thejollyroger-writer @ultraluckycatnd @justanother-unluckysoul @spartanguard @jonesfandomfanatic @deckerstarblanche @jrob64 @klynn-stormz @wefoundloveunderthelight @sailtoafarawayland @tiganasummertree @winterbaby89 @hollyethecurious @stahlop @superchocovian @snowbellewells @xellewoods @sals86 @karlyfr13s @ouatpost @skairipakomtrikru @lonelyspectator12 @anmylica @alexa-fangirl-forever @inspiredbystardust @marcella2727 @paradiselady19 @koryandr @killiansprincss @goforlaunchcee

#captain swan #cs neverland new year #cs fanfic #captain swan fanfic #cs ff #sorry this took so long again #cs angst #cs smut #ouat season 1 au #neverland au #happy solstice!

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cstveamaryllis · 1 year ago

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CSOW : DAY 6 & 7 : FAVORITE CHARACTER + LA FEMME ROUGE : OFFICIAL CARMEN SANDIEGO SEASON 5 BOOK COVER

version 1

version 2

i didn’t know what to do for these days, but it hit me! The CSV official book cover release 👀 There was actually supposed to be an animation for the two days but I cut off the idea due to it taking quite a while. I’ll still post it though!

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aprilqueen84 · 3 months ago

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All's Fair In Love And Magic Chapter 2

Well hello! I am so so sorry that this has taken me so long to get this out to you all. Life has been..a know life and the muse left me for so long. But I'm back and ready to bring you the rest of this story and many more. Since it's been 3 years (jeez) since this story was updated I'll provide a link below so you can get caught up. Also if you would like to be tagged in this and any future works let me know!

AFILAM A03 link = https://archiveofourown.org/works/34290355/chapters/85316980

Tag List : @resident-of-storybrooke, @kmomof4, @jennjenn615, @pirateherokillian, @piinfeathers @enchanted-swans, @superchocvian, @deathbycaptainswan, @winterbaby89, @kingofmyheart14, @hollyethecurious, @hannahhook7744, @klynn-stormz, @yourbeautifuleverypiecelove, @therooksshiningknight, @earanemith, @snowbellewells, @motherkatereloyshipper, @emmythedaydreamer, @quirkykayleetam, @onceuponsomechaos, @goforlaunchcee, @undercaffinatednightmare, @a-faekindagirl, @zaharadessert

"All's Fair In Love And Magic" Chapter 2

Killian Jones had a feeling when he woke up that today was going to be a shit day and man did he bloody hate being right. As soon as he walked into headquarters this morning he knew something was very wrong. The lobby had been a flurry of activity with what looked like every single Guard member rushing around the room. When he had spotted his partner David Nolan and made his way over to him, Killian could tell by the look on his face that whatever happened, it was bad. But nothing could have prepared him for the scene he saw in the woods.

Sanctuaries were supposed to be sacred, protected places for outcasts or wayward travels and any violence against one was punishable by death. The building when they had come upon it was completely destroyed with only the outer structure remaining and once they crossed the threshold they saw the massacre that had occurred. Charred bodies littered the floor, unrecognizable except for the occasional fangs, horns and pointed ears to help identify the types of species that had been there. He had been examining one of the bodies when he heard David calling his name from the other side of the room. When Killian reached his partner, what he saw made him stop short.

Laying by what used to be the window was the body of a woman. The body wasn’t what made him stop short, it was the state the body had been in. Unlike the other bodies, this woman had been completely untouched by the fire. Her face was frozen in fear and agony and one of her hands was clutching her chest. Killian looked over at David in disbelief, then the older man pointed to the floor, there next to the body was a symbol traced in the ashes.

When he knelt down to get a better look at the symbol, Killian’s eyes widened, he immediately recognized it. His head snapped up to David’s, his partner's face conveying exactly what he was thinking, that this was worse than they had first thought. That symbol hadn't been seen in over Twenty Years and the individual who used it was long dead. How it ended up here is very troubling and it was for that very reason why David and him were now here at the Mill’s Coven.

Out of all the supernatural beings, he distrusted witches the most. At least with creatures like vampires or demons he knew what they were after, they had a clear goal in mind. With witches though, you could never quite know if they were being truthful or not and it was usually too late before you found out the truth.

That’s why he wasn’t buying the shocked look on the witch sitting across from him face. Witches were loyal to their coven. There was no way that they would say or do anything against one of their own.

“I don’t understand. What do you mean you think someone here had something to do with the murder?” The witch, Emma he believed her name was, said angrily. She was a beautiful woman. He thought so when he first saw her walking toward them earlier, all sweet smiles while welcoming them.

David turned and glared at him for the abruptness of his statement. “What my partner means, Ms. Swan, is we have come into some evidence that someone from this coven could be involved and we would like your input on the matter,” he said, trying to ease the tension he could feel between his partner and the woman in front of him.

Emma threw one last heated glare at the dark haired man before turning her attention back to Guard Member Nolan. “What kind of evidence do you have?”

David reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope. Opening it he took out two photographes. "Ms. Swan, can you tell me if you recognize this woman?” he asked, passing her one of the pictures.

When Emma looked at the photo she gasped at the image. “Oh my God! That’s Glinda!” she exclaimed in horror.

“Glinda?” David asked.

“She’s one of our senior witches or she used to be.” Emma whispered, still not believing what she was seeing. “What happened to her?”

“I’m very sorry to say that she was in the sanctuary when it was burned down,” David told her sympathetically.

Emma looked up at him in confusion. “Why would Glina be in a sanctuary? She wasn’t running from anyone.”

David went to respond but was interrupted.

“What do you mean she used to be your most senior witch?” Killian asked sharply.

Emma turned to glare at him. “She left the coven. Relocated back to her hometown,” she responded through clenched teeth.

“When did she leave?” David inquired gently, hoping to put the young witch at ease after his partner's abrasiveness.

“She left about a week ago,” Emma said while still shooting daggers at Jones.

“Did she tell you, or anyone, why she was leaving?”David questioned further.

Emma turned to him and shook her head. “No. She left in a hurry. She didn’t even say goodbye to anyone.”

Killian scoffed.

“Do you have something to say?” Emma demanded.

“Aye. You're telling me that one of the most senior witches of your coven just up and left without any explanation and nobody found that the least bit suspicious. I thought you witch types were supposed to be smarter than that," Killian said harshly.

"Now you wait a damn minute! I don't know who you think you are but you have no right coming into this coven and speaking to me in this manner! I don't give two shits if you are a Guard Member!" Emma yelled, rising to her feet to stand in front of him. She knew she shouldn't be talking to him like this but he was being a dick.

Killian looked up at her speechless. He didn't expect that sort of reaction. She was gorgeous standing before him, blonde hair tousled and green eyes on fire. She was magnificent and if she hadn't been a witch he might have been tempted. Too bad that she was.

“Okay. Why don’t we all just calm down and take a deep breath," David suggested as he quickly rose and stood between them.

"I certainly hope you don't conduct all your investigations like this." Emma seethed All the while narrowing her eyes at Jones, who had the audacity to smirk at her.

"No. You'll have to excuse my partner, it seems he left his manners at home," David said, turning to Killian and silently telling him to shut the hell up. His partner rolled his eyes then gave him a quick nod of his head.

Emma sat back down trying her best not to pay Jones any attention. Taking a deep breath she faced Nolan. "I don't understand, Glinda didn't have any reason to seek shelter in a sanctuary. She wasn't cast out and she certainly didn't abandon us. What was she doing there?" she lamented, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Glinda was dead.

"It might have something to do with this," David said, passing her the other photo. "Does the symbol look familiar to you?"

Emma took the photo and frowned at the image, it was a little hard to make out what with it being traced in what she assumed was ashes. It was a dagger with what looked like a rose wrapped around the blade. "No. I've never seen this before. What is it? " She asked, handing back the photo.

David exchanged a quick glance at Killian silently communicating with his partner before turning back to the witch. "Ms. Swan.." except he didn’t get the chance to finish his question because a voice interrupted him.

“What on earth is going on here?”

All three heads turned toward the sound of the voice to see a dark haired woman walking towards them. She had the air of authority around her and judging by the look on her face, she was not pleased with the situation she walked in on.

“Regina,” Emma said as she hastily rose to her feet and out of the corner of her eye she saw the two men do the same. Her aunt looked as poised as ever but Emma could see a slight bit of nervousness that was uncommon for Regina. "These gentlemen are with the Guard."

"Yes. I know," Regina says matter of factly before turning toward Nolan. "Hello, David," she said in greeting, her tone oddly fond.

"Regina," David says coldly, his demeanor instantly changing in the presence of the woman.

Regina smirked slightly at him. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this impromptu family reunion?"

"We aren't family," David said harshly.

Emma and Killian looked at each other in confusion. Their mutual animosity was forgotten for a moment as they watched.

Killian looked at his partner in shock. "Wait a bloody minute. You know her David?"

“Unfortunately,” David responded.

“Oh! David you wound me,” the dark haired witch said mockingly.

“Enough! Regina we’re here on High Counsel business,” David said firmly

“What kind of business?” Regina asked in an annoyed tone.

“Glinda’s dead, Regina,” Emma informed her gently.

“What,” Regina says, clearly taken aback.

“There was a fire at a sanctuary, it was burned to the ground. Glinda was inside,” Emma explained.

“How do you know it was Glinda?” she asked, with a stricken look on her face.

Killian, having had enough of beating around the bush, grabbed the envelope out of David’s hand. “Because of these,” he said, taking the photos out and tossing them on the table. He watched as Regina took in the images before her. A sense of delight went through him as he saw her eyes widen. “Look familiar?” he asked, gesturing toward the photo of the dagger and rose symbol.

“That symbol has nothing to do with me,” Regina hissed in contempt.

“Regina, do you know what it means?” Emma asked her aunt.

“It’s nothing!” she said dismissively.

“Oh, you know it’s not nothing.” Killian said before turning to Emma. “It’s the insignia of a very dangerous dark magic user, one your aunt knows very well,” he said, throwing a smirk Regina’s way.

“You need to stop talking right now,” Regina said, taking a menacing step toward him.

“It’s the reason that she’s dead. The fire didn’t kill her,” Killian informed them, not backing down.

“What do you mean?” Emma asked.

“Our head healer came to the conclusion that Glinda’s heart was crushed from within,” David informed them while casting a pointed look at Regina.

Emma gasped. “That’s impossible! That’s a dark magic act and it’s been outlawed for centuries.”

“Darling, if you actually believe that, then you are more naive than I thought.” Killian

sneered at her.

Emma could feel herself start to tremble with rage at the man standing across from her. She opened her mouth to tell him exactly what kind of jackass he was but never got the chance because suddenly a loud bang rang out.

All eyes turned toward the sound. David had apparently taken out his sword and slammed it onto the table. “Enough! this isn’t doing us any good!” he said, his voice filled with anger. He took a deep breath to calm himself. “Obviously we aren’t getting anywhere, so for right now we’ll be leaving,” he turned to look at Regina, “but make no mistake. We’ll be back.”

“David you can’t be serious,” Killian said, clearly not happy with his partner's decision.

“Let’s go,” The older man said as he picked his sword and the pictures up off the table.

Killian leveled a glare at the two witches before he turned and followed his partner to the door.

XXX

When they got outside Killian turned to David. “What the hell was that!?” He demanded.

“Not now, Killian,” David said through clenched teeth. He knew that coming here was going to be tough, but he thought he could handle it. He had almost breathed a sigh of relief when instead of Regina another witch had come to greet them. That relief was short lived of course when the woman he hated with every fiber of his being walked into the room. David would normally call himself a pretty level headed and calm person but he knew he had to get out of there before he did something he regretted. He took a few deep breaths to calm down before heading down the path towards their car.

“David. Would you hold on a minute,” Killian said once he caught up to his partner.

“What!” David snapped as he spun around to face the younger man.

Killian stopped in his tracks, slightly taken aback by the older man’s demeanor. “What’s gotten into you, David?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now. Let’s just get back to the compound,” David said tersely before getting into the car and slamming the driver's side door behind him.

Killian stood there in shock until the sound of the car starting broke him out of it and he quickly got in the car. The drive was quiet, neither man said anything for fear of setting the other off. Killian stared out the window thinking back on the interview. To say it was a disaster would be an understatement and if he were being honest Killian was one of the main reasons why it was. He knew that he let his anger get the better of him and it might hurt the investigation to come.

Killian turned to look at David and a stab of guilt went through him. He owed the man literally everything, Killian would be dead in a ditch somewhere if it wasn’t for David. Before becoming a Guard Member, Killian’s life had been hell. His Mother had died when he was young leaving him and his older brother to be raised by their absentee father. Parenthood didn’t agree with their no good father anymore and after a few years, he left in the middle of the night and then it was just him and Liam on their own until..it was just him.

When David found him he was angry, vengeful and on the verge of doing something incredibly stupid. David had talked him down. He had brought Killian back with him to The Guard Headquarters and since then, David had been his mentor, partner and friend. Becoming a Guard Member had been the best thing that had ever happened to him. He had found a community of people that he loved and respected including David’s wife Mary Margaret, who welcomed him with open arms.

The car coming to a stop pulled Killain back to the present and saw that they had come to a stop in front of David and Mary Margaret’s house. “Dave. What are we doing here? Shouldn’t we be heading back to headquarters and briefing them on what happened?”

David didn’t look at his partner as he turned off the car, still too angry about everything that happened. If David was being honest he wasn’t really even all that mad at Killian’s behavior tonight. He knew how the younger man felt about witches, so he wasn’t entirely surprised by his reaction. No, David was angry because he had to go and tell his wife everything that happened tonight and he was not looking forward to it. With a deep sigh he opened the door and stepped into the cool night air.

“David what’s going on? Why are we here?” Killian asked again. Concerned about how quiet his partner was being.

David finally turned to look at Killian as the younger man came around the car and stood next to him. “I need to talk to Mary Margaret,” he said wearily.

Killian looked at him in confusion. “About what?”

David sighed and ran his hand over his face in frustration. “About the fact that her half sister might be involved in a murder.”

#captain swan #cs fic #cs supernatural story #cs fanfic #emma swan #killian jones #david nolan #mary margaret blanchard #regina mills #witch emma #hunter Killian

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fedorah-the-explorah · 2 months ago

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The Ripping Off a Carrie Caper

She didn't burn the gymnasium down on a whim; she burnt the gymnasium down because she was pissed off and the last book she had read was Carrie.

Forget the haters; revenge is always worth it, and arson is fun.

#carmen sandiego 2019 #carmen sandiego netflix #carmen sandiego #cs fanfic #yay look at me i wrote a oneshot

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myfearless-love · 5 months ago

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Down the Primrose Path (Chapter 1/? - "her paper crown")

Chapters: 1/? — "her paper crown"

Rating: Mature

Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)

Relationship: Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan

Additional Tags: Captain Swan - Freeform, Captain Swan Regency, There Was Only One Bed. Friends to Lovers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Duke Killian Jones, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Scarred Killian Jones, Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Emma Swan

Summary:

Desperate times demand bold actions, and Emma Swan is about to pull off the ultimate gamble: faking an engagement to the elusive Duke of Hookshire to rescue her family from financial ruin. Her plan seems foolproof—until Killian Jones, London's most reclusive and mysterious nobleman, learns of his sudden engagement.

Once a celebrated figure of society, a tragedy drove Killian into self-imposed exile. Now, intrigued by the daring woman claiming to be his fiancée, he steps back into the spotlight, determined to turn the tables.

In a game where hearts are on the line, can a fabricated love affair turn real, or will the truth shatter more than just their reputations?

READ HERE: AO3

Preview:

So this is my new Regency Captain Swan story that I've been working on since last year. I'm finally excited to share this with all of you and hope you will enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

A huge shoutout to my amazing beta, @xarandomdreamx who has been instrumental in helping me refine this story. Her incredible work on grammar, clarity, and providing constructive feedback has been invaluable. I can't thank her enough for her meticulous corrections, unwavering encouragement, and insightful comments. This story wouldn't be what it is without her support.

I'd love to hear what you think! Please drop a comment and let me know your thoughts, reactions, or any feedback you might have. Your support means the world to me!

Tagging some folks who might be interested:

@anmylica @elfiola @zaharadessert @gingerchangeling @undercaffinatednightmare

@jrob64 @teamhook @kmomof4 @jonesfandomfanatic @mie779

@winterbaby89 @tiganasummertree @stahlop @rylieblu @ultraluckycatnd

@eddisfargo @booksteaandtoomuchtv @laianely @hollyethecurious @resident-of-storybrooke

@beckettj @whimsicallyenchantedrose @captainswan-kellie @veryverynotgoodwrites @lfh1226-linda

@snowbellewells @caught-in-the-filter @shady-swan-jones @bluewildcatfanatic @fairytalepetzkle

(Let me know if you want to be added or removed from the list)

#cs ff #captain swan #captain swan ff #cs fanfic #emma swan #captain hook #killian jones #emma x killian #ouat ff #once upon a time #regency au #fake engagement #DTPP #niki writes #captain swan fanfic

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4getfulimaginator2022 · 1 month ago

Link

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csgiftexchange · 8 months ago

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This event will again not be taking place this year.

I am focusing on my, and possibly the, last year of Captain Swan Secret Santa. Which does currently have sign ups live right now. You can find that post HERE

But I want to make it clear though this event has only happened one year this event is not abandoned. The one year it did happen it was very fun and I enjoyed running it. I do hope that this event can run next year maybe we can even do a Christmas in July gift exchange so we don't have to wait for the winter season.

#captain swan #cs fanart #cs fanfic #cs fandom #csge #csss #cssecretsanta #csss2024 #cssecretsanta2024 #killian jones #emma swan #ouat #once upon a time

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piinfeathers · 1 year ago

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the scars we bare

it's a mid-january miracle, i actually wrote something. after threatening to finally start writing captain swan fics, i actually did it. thank you to all my beautiful friends on discord who encouraged me and to @dykelilypage i'm so glad you liked your gift <333 this is chapter 1 of 2, second one should be up tomorrow probably maybe who knows? :)))

summary: emma swan came to the underworld with one purpose; to rescue the man she loved from hades' grip. and she would do anything, sacrifice everything in order to that happen. when hades offers her a deal, a test of their true love, she takes it. in the end though, the bargain might just take more for them than they have to give. S5B canon divergence

tw: minor moments of gore and torture, also pregnancy and child birth

✨ ao3 link ✨

***

Emma had made plenty of bad decisions in her life. Big, catastrophic decisions, she could admit that. If she were to rank them though, willingly letting herself fall under a sleeping curse to rescue the man she loved from hell, probably would have ended up pretty high on the list.

She stared at him, across the wide airy field of middlemist flowers that wasn’t actually there, but felt nearly as real as she remembered, and wondered if he would feel the same.

“Swan.” Her name sounded like a prayer, rasped from his too-dry throat.

She was running then, or maybe she had started running before, she wasn’t sure. Her arms circled him when they met, his own grip nearly crushing as he lifted her off her feet. Frantic kisses and searching hands probed each other as incomplete pleas stuttered out of each of them.

“You alright?”

“-m fine. You can’t be here-”

“-made a deal. Hades, he had a deal.”

“-have to go back. Please, you have to go back.”

“I can’t.”

The last two words dropped like a stone between them and Killian jerked back. His face was the same as it had been when she’d last seen him alive. It was no longer the swollen mess of throbbing bruises Hades had left it in, when he’d shown Emma her lover’s broken body that was being torn and burnt and flayed apart until she had screamed to make it stop. Killian’s hand, the fingers still intact and no longer snapped and broken, cupped her face. He was trembling. Or maybe that was her. It was hard to tell at this point.

“Emma,” her name came out as a whisper. “Emma, where are we?”

She smiled as something huge and terrifying in her chest threatened to burst open.

“Somewhere... Somewhere in my mind. I think? Maybe,” she glanced around again, trying to focus. “A memory. He kept saying something about memories. Our memories.”

“Love, you aren’t making any sense.”

She laughed and it sounded like a watery hiccup. “Hades. Hades and I made a deal.”

The hand on her face tensed as she watched his expression grow brittle. “Emma-” his throat bobbed. “Emma. What kind of deal? What did you promise him?”

She held up her right hand, her index finger raised. A small droplet of blood welled up in the sensitive pad of flesh at the tip where she had pricked it only moments earlier.

“Sleeping curse,” she tried to keep her voice calm as she risked another glance at him. His face was ghost white, completely drained of colour. “I think he thought he was being funny. Something about “the old Charming family tradition.””

Killian’s head was shaking, his eyes darting away from her as he scanned the edges of the tree line behind them, looking for a way out. “We have to wake you up. Emma you don’t understand, Hades he-”

She watched his gaze go unfocused, the nerve in his jaw popping.

“Hey,” she said quickly, her hand curling around his neck, pulling him back to her. “He can’t get you, not here. Not unless he feels like breaking our deal.”

His eyes were still nervy, and she could feel his pulse jumping beneath her palm, but he focused on her again. God she had missed him. Missed the way he smelled, the way his scruffed jaw felt when she held it. It suddenly seemed so hysterically unfair that they’d only had a few months together. They deserved a lifetime.

“This deal,” he rasped after a moment. “Tell me exactly what he asked of you.”

“He wanted…” she trailed off, trying to remember what he had said. “He said he wanted to test us. To see if what we shared was true love or not. That we needed to really see every part of each other before we made our decision.”

Killian was holding very, very still, his expression unreadable. “And for us to do this test, you needed to be cursed, is that right? Am I cursed as well? Is that how I’m standing here with you?” His voice sounded calm, almost reasonable, as if they were discussing the rules to a complicated board game. But Emma could still feel his panic, could see it starting to edge into the corners of his eyes, turning them glassy. Another one of her huge, catastrophically bad decisions alright.

“No. No you aren’t under a sleeping curse,” she tried to make her voice comforting, but doubted it had much effect. “He said that souls without a living body don’t need curses to be moved to the dream realm, as long as they’re tethered to someone alive they just sort of- “hitch a ride,” or something.”

A smile started to spread across his face, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “So I’m tethered to you then?”

“Seems that way,” she said, her heart feeling like a dead weight in her chest. “I’m not exactly sure about the next parts, he was talking about memory magic, about old wounds needing to be opened up. He said the dream realm made the magic more…” she waved her hand. “Potent or something. Made it easier to find old memories.”

Killian’s hand dropped to her shoulder, his hook resting against her hip. “Why does he want us to explore old memories? Which memories? What does he gain from that?”

“I have no idea, I’m pretty sure he was just talking to hear himself speak at some point.”

“I don’t like this. Hades wouldn’t make a deal unless it was to punish or to trap you here. Emma, please,” his tone was growing frantic and it was making her own nerves start to fray. “Try and remember exactly what he said. Every word. If he’s trapped you here-”

“I don’t remember all the specifics! I was a little distracted watching you get tortured. Hades didn’t exactly have my undivided attention.”

Killian’s eyes shuttered and Emma could feel the slight tremor in his hand as it fell from her shoulder. She wished she hadn’t mentioned the torture. The second she had, she’d seen his face go blank. When this was over, she would kill Hades. She wasn’t sure how exactly, but she would get creative. Somehow she would figure out a way to make the god of death hurt in the same way he had made Killian hurt.

“Look,” she said, her voice thick. “All you need to know is that he can’t hurt us. I made him swear it. He can’t touch you here, and he can’t kill me. Everything that happens now is up to us.”

He looked up, staring at something far away from them, like he was remembering something he’d rather forget. “And if we fail? What then? Does he get both of us to torture for eternity?”

“We won’t fail,” she told him. They wouldn’t. She couldn’t let that happen. Even if it killed her, she would never let Hades touch Killian Jones again. “I got down here didn’t I? And I found you. The hard part’s already done.”

He huffed out a laugh that sounded wrong to her ears. “Your confidence is admirable, Swan. But you don’t know what Hades is capable of. What he does to you once he has you.”

She could feel him slipping from her, could feel the despair coming off him in waves, and it killed her. “There’s a fail safe,” she told him quickly. “I can call off the deal at any time.”

He jerked his attention back to her, suddenly alert.

“But Killian, if I call it off, if I choose to end this, you go right back where I found you. Back to Hades,” she said, a world of meaning in her words.

“But you’ll be safe?”

She looked at him. She should tell him. Tell him the entire truth. Tell him exactly what she had promised to keep him safe, to bring him back home. What she had signed away. But if she told him, if he knew everything, he would never agree to it. He would refuse and send her back and all this would be for nothing. He would go back to the endless, screaming pain that Hades had cleaved into him until there was nothing of him left. She couldn’t let that happen.

“Yes,” she said. “I’ll be fine. But you won’t. Please Killian. Please just let us try this first. We have to.”

He blew a breath out of his nose, looking down when she grabbed his hand in both of hers and squeezed. “Alright,” he said. “Alright, we'll try.”

She grinned as she wrapped her arms around him, kissing him, holding him. His hand moved up to her hair, cradling her head, his forehead coming to rest against hers.

“So. How exactly does this trial work? What do we have to do?”

There was a quick burst of magic to the left of them, and a door twisted into existence a few feet away. The carved wood groaned slightly as it seemed to sway towards them, rocking on its frame, before coming to a stop. They both stared at it.

“Well. Guess that answers that,” she said.

“Indeed,” he sighed, turning back to look at her. She saw a question, huge and all consuming in his stare that went unasked. Right, this was her deal. Her curse. He would follow her lead. Like he always did. Whatever happened, no matter how much it took from her, she would do whatever it took to make sure he got out of this.

“C’mon,” she nodded towards the door. “Let’s get this over with.”

He grimaced as they walked towards it, reaching down to grip the brass handle and opening it for her. “Any idea what’s awaiting us on the other side?”

She squeezed his hand, raising her brows. “Nope.”

They walked through. And the ground beneath their feet vanished.

***

She was falling. Her hair was whipping around her head while the wind rushed up and made her eyes water. Images and noise strobed past like flickering television screens as she plummeted down towards a huge, white nothingness. If she focused she thought she could make out faces, blurred and half formed, but they streaked past her, faster than her eyes could follow. She tried to reach out, tried to find something to grab a hold of, something to slow her fall, but it was like falling through light and sound and a great vast emptiness eager to swallow her whole.

Was this it? Was this what Hades had planned all along? No harm to her physical body sure, but trapping them in some fucked liminal space for eternity? Well. That was a different story.

She tried to look up, or whatever passed for up in this space and suddenly felt something grab her arm. Killian, his grip tight on her, was falling beside her. His mouth was open, mouthing something she couldn’t hear over the roar of noise and wind and her own frantic heartbeat. She tried to reach for him, her fingers outstretched-

When everything slammed to a sudden stop.

Her mind lurched, feeling like the contents of a car with its brakes hit too hard. The tunnel of noise, whatever it had been, was gone, and a blindingly blue sky stretched out in front of her. She tried to blink and turn her head, but her body was locked in place, no longer listening to her.

Only…only it wasn’t her body.

She heard someone call for her, but it wasn’t her name she heard, it was Killian’s. She twisted and when her mouth opened it wasn’t her voice that boomed forth, but a man’s, low and accented, and oh-so familiar to her.

She’d dealt with memory magic before, had stayed up long, magic-drunk nights as the dark one weaving dream catchers together in order to snare memories. She’d been expecting something closer to that, where memories played like snippets of old tv reruns. This was something completely different. She wasn’t just watching Killian's memories, she was living them. In his head.

“What news do you bring me then?” he called.

He sounded happy, and Emma could feel it then, he was excited about something. Somehow, inside his head, she could feel thoughts, could almost reach out and touch them.

He stood on the top deck, near the massive helm. Below him, near the rigging of the sails, a woman with dark hair and seafoam eyes grinned at him. Even before Emma felt the sudden rush of love and recognition, she knew exactly who she was looking at. Milah.

“No news that can safely be shared among mixed company, captain ,” Milah called with a wink. She had Henry’s smile, Emma realized distantly.

The crew around Milah laughed uproariously, and her wide grin was a twin to the one stretching across Killian’s as he swung round the deck to go meet her.

Just as Emma was greedily drinking in the image of the image of the woman who had her son’s grin and Killian's heart, the world suddenly melted and shifted around her. It was as if the memory smeared, all the unimportant bits forgotten and discarded. She moved through short, foggy glimpses of old points in time. Moments alone with Milah, the sound of her laugh, the feeling of her eyes watching him, her laugh lines fanning out from the corners. At the core of it, his love for her was like a warm, even glow in his chest. Emma was suddenly sad that she would never get to meet this woman. This woman with the sharp wit and an easy laugh. She thought she would have liked her.

She kept floating through memories until they solidified all at once into sharp focus. Killian was back on the deck. Only he couldn’t move, something tight twisted around his chest and pinned him down. In front of him, Milah was on her knees. A man stood before her. His hand was buried into her chest.

Emma recognized Rumpelstiltskin as blind, frantic panic tore through Killian, choking her. Killian had never told her explicitly how Milah had died, only that Gold had killed her. But she knew this moment. She knew what happened next.

Rumpelstiltskin's hand tore free, Milah’s beating heart in his grip. He stared at it almost hungrily. Emma heard Killian shout, felt him pull himself free from the ropes binding him and dive for Milah as she slumped back. He caught her, begging, pleading words stumbling from his lips. She felt so light in his arms, a hollow empty shell. They shared a look, Milah’s gaze full of an unspoken farewell.

She heard, rather than saw the crunch of the heart as Rumpelstiltskin crushed it. Milah gasped, dead even before the ashes crumbled and fell to the deck.

Rage built in Killian, blinding and useless. It pushed him to his feet, surged him forward. He cursed Rumpelstiltskin, his hands in fists, desperate to drive them into the scaled skin and rotting teeth of the man who took his love. Rumpelstiltskin's grin was sharp. A blade flashed. Men shouted. A horrible, exquisite pain erupted from Killian’s left wrist and drove him to his knees. Emma wanted to scream.

Everything started moving too fast. The memory grew blurry again, every part of it dulled by the all consuming pain and rage boiling in Killian. He was screaming, driving a hook into Rumpelstiltskin's chest, mocking laughter meeting his ears. Then hands were grabbing him, pulling him back. Pain. Oh god there was just so much pain. Emma felt herself being dragged down with it, Killian’s vision growing black. But even in the darkness she felt the agony, unable to escape it. All alone in his head, she ached.

The memories came and went. Bright flashes of faces crowding into his vision, frantic voices and bloody rags. Blood. There was so much blood. She could smell it, the sharp, copper tang of it. It felt like it coated his tongue, filled his nostrils and tried to drown him. He was being moved, every bump and bounce he felt sending jolts of pain through his system and forcing him back into blank unconsciousness.

Then heat. It was so sudden and sharp it brought him back to bleeding, screaming life. The world around him was thrown into abrupt focus as molten heat was pressed against the agonizing, throbbing stump of his wrist. He looked at the white hot blade being forced against his skin, watched as it melted his flesh and made it bubble around the edges, cauterizing it. He was screaming. It filled his head, an endless bellow of animalistic pain that crashed into Emma like a blow.

When the darkness came for him again, Emma welcomed it with a sob.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when he started to wake again. She didn’t care. Every part of his body was one, long, endless agony. She couldn’t breathe from the force of it. Above him, it grew dark, then light, then dark again. Time moving on with or without him.

A noise woke him at some point. She blinked the grit from his burning eyes, trying to look at where Killian's hand had been severed. His wrist was an angry, mottled thing, the skin around it too pink, too tight. Thick blisters, fat and stretched taunt, seemed too shiny in the pale light below the deck of the ship where they had left him.

Her head lolled, their shared vision turning syrupy around the edges as the pain rose up again and smothered her in burning heat.

She could hear voices, pitched low, all whispering with a panicked edge.

“Fever.”

“ Infection…”

“The amount of blood he lost-”

“No one could survive that.”

Emma writhed inside the shell of the memory. Killian , she sobbed, unsure if he could hear her. Was he in here with her? Was he reliving this too and she just couldn’t feel him? Or had Hades taken him away from her again? It was so quiet now. Killian. Killian. She repeated it again and again, his fever touching her own mind, choking the air from her lungs. How could he bear this? How could anyone bear this?

Fresh pain shot from his wrist and Emma threw her head back and screamed. Tears rolled down her cheeks when it was Killian’s voice, Killian’s pain she heard echoing endlessly in her head as she was pitched sidewise into another memory.

He was vomiting, heat and misery burning him, leaving him feeling feverish and delirious. He was fading in and out of consciousness, through the days, maybe weeks, he could no longer tell. Food and water had to be forcibly shoved into his mouth until he swallowed it, all the while he cursed at them for daring to try and keep him alive in his grief.

Emma watched it all, helpless inside his head. Killian had been right. Hades had found a way to torture them after all. Because this? Watching Killian break apart, unable to help, was agony. She wanted to fight, wanted to scream at the unfairness of it. But she could do neither. She could only sit and witness it all.

More memories faded in and out. In his rare moments of lucidity, the image of Milah, her heart torn from her chest, burned across his brain. His heart felt empty, like a hollow burden, sinking his body down deeper. His love for her burned itself away, twisted and malformed from grief. In its place, only one thought remained. Revenge.

The word repeated itself, over and over, until it became a mantra. As his body healed, as the scar tissue on both his wrist and his heart thickened, he swore it to himself, again and again. He would have his revenge. No matter the cost.

Trapped inside his tortured mind, Emma mourned for him.

***

Killian woke in agony. Pain snaked around his spine and sank into his bones, leaving him too weary to move. For one, terrifying moment, he thought he was back in the underworld. That all this had been a ruse. Emma had never come for him, Hades had simply split open his head and planted the idea of her, giving him hope and then taking it. Yet again.

But this place didn’t feel like his hell. There were voices around him, low murmuring, distinctly human voices.

He tried to open his eyes, but they stayed stubbornly shut. Another wave of pain twisted inside him, washing over him as his back arched and a low, sobbing moan filled his head. Emma. That was Emma’s voice.

“You’re doing great Emma, just a little longer now,” a strange voice near his feet comforted.

He felt her then, Emma. She was scared and exhausted and so, so heartbreakingly sad that it nearly swallowed her.

He wasn’t here, he realized as her emotions buffeted him and surrounded him from all sides. This was Emma’s body. Her memory.

Her eyes opened and Killian looked across the room through tear blurred eyes. She was on her back, doctors and nurses standing around her, their faces hidden with masks and hair coverings. Blinding, overhead lights seemed to beat down on her, making her even more uncomfortable. She tried to move and Killian felt something tug on her wrist.

She let out a small sob of annoyance and pain, looking down at the silver cuff that chained her to the bed. They’d restrained her. She was in pain, she needed help, and they’d restrained her.

Fury raced through him, though he couldn’t tell if it was his or hers he felt, or a combination of the two. She felt so small in the bed, and so completely alone.

Another rush of pain, this one stronger than the first two, sent stars across their shared vision and Emma fell back.

“Okay Emma, you’re ready. It’s time to push, alright?”

She was shaking her head, and Killian felt her panic and his own bleed together. She was giving birth. He was about to witness her giving birth inside her own mind. For some reason the complete invasion of it flooded his brain, made him want to climb out of her head and simply hold her. This was her memory. Hers. He had no right to witness this and Hades certainly had no right to take that choice from her.

But he was here. There was no taking back what had been started. So he sat in the mind of the woman he loved and felt her body tear itself apart.

She was screaming, her body bearing down, the act of giving birth overwhelming her rational brain and simply taking over, trying to push. Sweat poured down her face as she strained, her pain now just a constant steady stream of misery. She wanted it to end. She needed it to end. She just wanted to lay back and sleep and never wake up. She’d fought so hard her whole life and now she had no fight left. She was done.

“You've got this Emma,” a nurse soothed from her left side, her gloved hand rubbing circles on her back. Emma liked her, Killian could feel it. This was a kind person, the only person who treated her like a patient and not a prisoner. A good person, a decent person. Someone who would make an amazing parent. Unlike her.

“Emma, I need you to work with us,” the doctor positioned between her legs called. “You need to keep pushing, your baby is ready to come out.”

Her baby. Killian felt a spark of something light inside her. Emma was too scared to give the feeling a name, but Killian recognized it instantly. Love.

Oh how she loved this little baby. She adored it. She sang it songs in her head and read to it in the bed of her prison cell when everyone else was asleep. She would give anything to her baby if it asked.

So she pushed. She pushed even as she felt like she was tearing in half, when the pain grew knife-sharp and carved her open. Voices blurred around her, all speaking over each other, telling her to take deep breaths, that she was almost there, that it was almost over. She gripped the sides of the bed, shoving forward and pushed until she thought her bones would crack and she would break apart until there was nothing of her left.

“Big push now Emma! Big push!”

She screamed and it was like the ozone in the room ignited, the lights in the room glowing white hot and shattering. Killian felt a punch of raw, primal magic explode from within her and then-

A baby’s cry, small but strong, broke through the silence. Henry. He was here. Killian wanted to look at him, wanted to see the boy's face, the feeling nearly overwhelming him. But Emma didn’t turn to look. She squeezed her eyes shut, and sank into the mattress.

“It’s a boy Emma,” the doctor said, a smile in his voice.

A boy. She had a son. A beautiful, perfect son. He cried out, and Killian felt it drive into Emma's heart like a knife. Every part of her wanted to turn, wanted to take him in her arms and hold him, to soothe his cries and protect him from every bad scary thing in this world like it was her only job in this life.

But…she couldn’t. She loved him more than anything. She would give him anything to make him happy, to keep him safe. And because of that she knew that meant he had to go away. As far away from her as possible. He deserved so much, he deserved the whole world. And she couldn’t afford to give it to him. All she had to give him was a chance. A chance at a better start. Without her. She couldn’t be a mother, couldn’t be his mother. She would ruin him. Taint him somehow. She wouldn’t do that to him.

Killian felt the decision form in her mind, felt her shake her head and grit her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut as tears spilled down her face. He heard the doctor tell her that she could change her mind, that it wasn’t too late. But he knew. He knew what happened next. He wanted to beg her to change her mind, to see that she already was a mother, he wanted to be there and tell her over and over until she believed it. But he couldn’t change the past. He could only watch it.

“No. I can't be a mother,” her voice was so small, it broke him.

He felt her heart tear itself in two. When the doctors carried her baby away from her, when Henry’s small, searching cries faded down the hall into silence, Killian felt as a piece of Emma’s heart went with him. Heartbreak didn’t come close to describing this feeling. It was as if a huge, yawning emptiness split open in her chest where her heart had once sat and consumed her.

***

Killian woke with a start, jerking up and dragging air desperately into his lungs. Beside him, Emma shot up, panting, eyes darting until she saw him. Her face was pale, her hair damp from sweat and sticking to her face. She opened her mouth, her eyes rapidly moving over his face, before flinching away from him and vomiting into the tall grass. He shot forward.

“Emma, breathe. It’s alright, it’s over. What did you-?”

“Probably a good idea to give her a minute,” a taunting voice called from behind them. “She had a hell of a ride in there.”

Killian’s head spun, white hot rage spilling into his blood. Behind them, Hades sat back in a plastic lawn chair, one ankle crossed over his knee, grinning.

“You bloody bastard,” Killian was on his feet, his hand clenched. The overwhelming urge to stomp the heel of his boot into Hades’ cold, dead smile, nearly blinded him.

“Ah, ah, ah!” Hades warned, a single finger raising in the air. “We wouldn’t want to do anything rash now, would we Emma?” He leaned over, calling to her. From her kneeling position, she shoved her middle finger over her shoulder without turning and spat in the grass.

“Hades if you’ve hurt her-”

“Me? Oh no, I didn’t do anything,” he said with mock innocence. “All I did was show her your memory.”

Killian felt his blood run cold. What memory could he have shown her for her to react like that? He knelt back down when Emma moaned, wiping the back of her hand against her mouth.

“Ignore him,” she rasped. “I’m alright. It was-it was just intense.”

“Emma love, call off the deal. I won’t have you in pain like this, I can’t-”

“No!” her eyes burned as she reached up to grip him. “Killian, no, I can handle it. Please. I promise.”

Killian blew a sharp breath from his nose, trying to keep his composure. “Emma,” he tried to make his voice gentle but it still carried an edge. “Love, what memory did he show you?”

Her eyes went distant for a moment, and Killian felt his stomach tighten. He had lived centuries, had done countless brutal things. Any of them were enough to have her react like this. The question was, which one had Hades chosen?

“It was Milah,” she said after a pause. “The moment Rumpelstiltskin killed her, and took your hand.”

Killian went still, staring at her. Hades had shown her that moment? Milah’s face, frozen in fear, floated in front of his eyes, there and gone in seconds. A phantom twinge of pain jolted from his wrist reflexively.

“How much-” he swallowed. “How much did he show you?”

“Oh, I showed her everything, don't worry!” Hades's cheery voice called. “No gory detail left out. Gave her the full surround sound experience, didn’t I Emma?”

Beside him, Emma's face turned pale, her tongue darting out to wet her dry lips. Killian remembered the pain he had felt trapped inside her memory of Henry’s birth, the agony she had gone through, and felt dread turn his skin cold. She had experienced him losing his hand. Even in his most lucid recollections of that day, Killian had never managed to remember that pain in anything other than hazy, blurred-over recollections. He had pushed it so far from his mind to protect himself from reliving that brutal torment.

And Hades had just made her experience it in full, merciless detail.

“You bastard Hades, there was no bloody need to show her-”

“Show her what? The moment you decided to dedicate your life to avenging your one true love?” Hades asked, his eyes growing wide with mock innocence. He turned to Emma and grinned. “No offense of course. No shame in being the runner up.”

Killian surged to his feet, blood pumping, hook raised. He would bloody end him. Here and now.

“Don’t let him get to you.” Emma said, pushing herself up on shaky legs, to grip his arm. “He's not worth it.”

Killian spared her a glance. “He doesn't have the bloody right. He doesn’t have the right to reach into our heads and pull out our pain just to torture us with it.”

“Oh I’m pretty sure I do though. After all,” Hades steepled his hands together, his gaze locking on Emma. “We made a deal.”

“The deal was to test our true love, not whatever twisted game you’re playing at Hades,” Killian snapped.

“And that’s exactly what I’m doing,” Hades said, his tone taking on an edge of false sincerity. “True love isn’t just some cheap card trick, it’s the most powerful magic that exists. To have it you need to love so fully and completely that it’s like second nature. And you can’t have love like that when you don’t really know a person, now can you?”

The god of death gestured with both hands, like a demented talk show host. “Seriously this is a once in a lifetime opportunity here! I really wouldn’t pass this up if I were you. You,” he pointed to Killian. “Get to finally see inside the head of the saviour, finally learn what makes her tick. And you,” his hand swung to Emma. “Get to learn what kind of man Killian Jones really is.”

His words felt ominous. A promise and a curse all at once.

“Ignore him,” Emma said. “I already tried to tell him earlier that this whole test was pointless.” She turned to look at him, her mouth turning up at the corners as a fire lit behind her eyes. “I already know exactly what type of man you are.”

“Mmmm, do ya though?” Hades asked with a hiss of breath, tilting his head to the side. “See, I'm not so sure about that. I mean you two have known each other, what, a few months at most? He’s got a whole three centuries worth of history before meeting you. Entire lifetimes lived before you were even born.”

His gaze sharpened, the edge of his smile growing pointed. “Are you really sure he’s even worth it?”

“Yes.”

Killian sucked in a sharp breath at her sudden certainty. She turned and looked at him, her eyes holding promise. “Yes, I know he’s worth it.”

“Touching,” Hades said dryly. “Really. And for your sake, I hope you’re right. We’ve got a hell of show left to get through.”

Killian could feel the magic starting again, could feel the rush of it start to build, and shook his head. He still didn’t trust this, any of this. He knew how Hades made deals, and he knew there was no way he would give either of them up so easily.

“Emma said you agreed on a fail safe, a way out for her if she needs it. How do we know you’ll honor that?” He asked, stopping the god from conjuring another door.

Hades turned to give them a bored look, as if the question was barely worth his time. “Emma isn’t dead, not yet anyway. I don’t have any way of keeping her bound in the underworld with me. She has the ability to leave whenever she wants.”

“Yeah sure…one small problem though,” Emma glanced between the two of them. “I can’t exactly get up and walk out while I’m stuck in a sleeping curse, can I?”

Hades’s smile turned wolffish, his eyes lighting as if she’d finally said something interesting. “Well now, how funny you bring that up. I was wondering when you would.”

When they both only stared at him, the god’s face fell.

“Hello? Sleeping curse?” he said, gesturing to Emma with a flicking hand. “True love’s kiss? Big flashy light show? Thought this was all sort of obvious? Gods you two really are slow. Here.” he jumped to his feet, hands tucking into the pockets of his pants, and stalked towards them.

“Let me break this down for you. You have two options, one; you see my test through to the end and test the strength of your love, or two;” he held up two fingers on his left hand. “If at any point you want the trial to end, all you have to do is kiss her. She goes back home, no hard feelings, thanks for playing, and you,” he turned to Killian, his grin predatory. “Stay here with me. And we go back to our fun little games.”

They were still for a moment, Emma hand in his squeezing tight. They could. They could just end this now. He could end this now, and save her. He turned to her, caught her tortured gaze. Her head gave one, barely noticeable shake, no.

“Unless, of course,” Hades continued, taking a step towards them. “You’re worried it won’t work?”

Killian blinked. An old, nearly buried dread rising in him like ocean water in a sinking ship. That old fear that Hades was right. That it wasn’t true love at all.

Oh he loved her of course. He had never loved anyone the way he loved Emma Swan. Even the way he had loved Milah had been different. Not any worse or any less but…different. Loving Emma Swan was like loving the sun. It came as natural to him as breathing.

But in his weakest, most torturous moments of doubt he wondered. He wondered if she ever felt the same. She loved him, of course, in her own quiet way. And he had taken that love and cherished it, held it closely to his heart and lived off it, satisfied with all she gave him.

But. True love? In the depths of her heart was it really true love? The uncertainty of it killed him. And he knew that Hades was perfectly aware of that fact. He had practically split Killian’s head open, torn out chunks of him. Every fear, every doubt, every agonizing thought that Killian had ever felt, Hades knew. And now he planned to torture both of them with it.

“We’ll keep going with the trial.” Emma said, breaking Killian’s thoughts apart and scattering them. “But we need real memories this time, not whatever sadistic thing you find in our pasts that you feel like torturing us with.”

“Ugh. Fine then, since you two want to be boring, we’ll do this your way! Let’s start at the beginning.” He flicked a hand through the air and another door appeared before them. “No more skipping to all the fun bits first. Off you go!”

They stared at it for a moment. It seemed to pulse with magic, threatening and inviting all at once. In his hand, her fingers were cold, the knuckles white where they gripped him tightly. He shifted, lifting his hook and brushing a lock of hair from her shoulder. Her eyes found his and locked on, a question in her eyes. He waited.

“What memory did he show you?” Emma asked finally, glancing up at him. “I’m guessing it was one of mine. Which one?”

Killian debated not telling her. Did she really need to know how Hades had stolen that moment from her? But her face was resolute, her gaze steady. There was no point withholding this from her.

“You were in the hospital,” he said, watching her face. “Giving birth to Henry.”

“Oh.” she said, so quietly he barely caught it. Pain flashed across her face, fast and sharp, before her walls went up again and her expression grew blank.

They both turned to look at the door as it swung open, the hinges squeaking slightly. He gripped her hand tighter, felt her hesitation before she squeezed back. Side by side, they walked through together.

#captain swan #killian jones #emma swan #there is probably a lot of spelling mistakes in this #i wrote all of this on my phone 💀 not a joke #steph writes #cs fics #cs fanfic #captain swan fanfic

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cssecretsanta2020 · 6 months ago

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Santas Last Christmas

And with our finale gift given ends my era of running Captain Swan Secret Santa.

I took over this event after only participating in it twice myself and having never run an event before. I had no idea of all the stress and challenges that came with it. But it was an experience I will soon not forget.

If anyone is willing to take over please let me know! I don't wish to see this event go but I know I cannot be responsible for it anymore.

Thank you to all the participants Santas and helper a like without you this event wouldn't happen.

#csss #cssecretsanta #captain swan #cs fanfic #cs fandom #cs art #emma swan #killian jones

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everything-person · 14 days ago

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BETA BY THE LOVELY PATIENT AND TALENTED @snowbellewells

CHAPTER 1

Hooves beat against the earth as she urged her beast faster. The wind whipped loose strands from her braid as trees blurred past her. A smile never leaving her face.

“Over there!"

"There she is!” the voices were accompanied by the sound of galloping horses on her tail.

Her smile grew, the thrill of being hunted had her blood pumping. She hasn’t felt this alive in weeks. She never wanted this feeling to end. Chasing the thrill, she steered her companion right through the trees.

Her pursuers weren’t as easily thwarted as she had expected, but she was just getting started. She led them through a path she knew well. Ahead of her she spotted a half- collapsed tree with just enough space under it for her stallion to pass, but it would knock any rider off their steed. She slipped her feet from her stirrups, a gentle hand on her horse's withers.

“Steady, boy steady.” She reassured her animal as she brought her knees to her chest and bracing her feet on her saddle. She refused to slow their pace with the company catching up behind her, and they headed straight toward the downed tree. As they approached, she readied herself.

“Stop!” a voice shouted from behind her.

Mere seconds before she collided with the tree, she jumped up in the air over the trunk and landed back in her seat on the other side. A laugh burst from her as she heard the sound of hooves scraping the earth from sudden halt. Her victory was short lived however as she once again heard the pounding approach of her would-be captors.

“Alright boy, let's see how they like this,” She said, squeezing her thighs motivating her horse faster. Once again weaving through the woods leading the group to her next obstacle.

“Halt in the name of the Queen!”

As she heard the command she saw what she was looking for. Fifty feet ahead of them were ripping rapids. Ignoring the men following her, she leaned forward and urged her steed straight to the water. As they came to the edge of the river, she signaled and her horse jumped.

For a moment the world felt like it had slowed as she and her horse seemed to fly over the rapids. She lived for these moments, her blood was pumping, her mind was clear, and her being was untethered from everything, feeling free.

As they landed on the other side safely, time seemed to catch up with them again. She pulled on her reins, halting her animal, turning to the side to see the guards had also pulled their steeds to a halt just on the other side. Both she and her horse let out a huff, a smirk ever present on her face, pride welled up inside her at having bested them once again. As she turned to continue her run, the smirk quickly fell from her face and her head dropped to the side at the sight of a tall man dressed in furrs leaning against a tree and a wolf with different colored eyes by his side.

“You’ve had your fun, Princess. Time to go home.”

Picking up her head and squaring her shoulders, she countered, “What's it to you, Huntsman?”

“These are the protected grounds of the wolves and your galavanting is impeding their hunt,” he answered as he approached with hand raised to steady and calm her horse, petting its muzzle before his hand trailed the side of its face to its neck grabbing hold of the reins, “Come now, Emma. You bested them again. Now turn around and go home.”

“Says the man who is free to live as he wishes,” Emma grumbled as she allowed him to turn her mount back towards the river.

“I more than anyone know why the caged bird sings. I also know that as a princess you are granted more freedom than most just by birthright.”

“Just because the bars are plated in gold doesn’t mean it isn’t a cage.” Emma nudged her horse forward, and they walked back across the river to the guards waiting on the other side and was escorted back to the castle where her parents awaited her.

As one of the guards, with the help of a stable hand, took care of the horses, the other two led Emma to the throne room.

“Your majesties, her Highness Princess Emma has been found and returned,” one guard announced as they entered.

Her mother seemed to be amidst pacing when she was announced and stopped upon seeing her. Her father stood leaning against one of the floor- to- ceiling windows, his head turned and his shoulders dropped at the sight of his daughter. Her mother rushed forward to envelope her daughter, who was now as tall as she was if not slightly taller, in her arms. Her father waved his hand dismissing the guards.

“Emma we were worried when you didn’t show for your lessons,” her mother said, pulling back her hands sliding down her daughters arms refusing to let go as if afraid she’d disappear again before her eyes.

“I’m fine, Mama. I just went for a ride.” Emma shrugged.

“Yes. But you did so without telling anyone what you were doing, where you were going, or when you would be back.”

Emma's lips were pulled into a tight but polite smile, “Well I’m home now. Isn’t that what's important?”

“No,” her father finally spoke. “What's important is that you disappeared again. Missed your lessons again. And had half of the castle guards searching and chasing after you instead of their regular duties.”

“I didn’t order the search or the chase,” Emma bit back.

“Emma.” Her mothers brow furrowed, “We ordered the search because we didn’t know where you were. What if something happened to you?”

“Like what?” Emma asked exasperated, “It’s not like the Evil Queen or Rumplestiltskin are running around anymore.”

“They aren’t the only people who can cause you harm. And plenty of other things could have happened to you as well.”

Emma shook off her mother’s touch, crossing her arms and taking a step back, “I can take care of myself.”

Her father closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose, “We know, because that's how we raised you, but that is not the point, Emma.”

“Then what is?”

“The point is you ran away. And if we didn’t know better, we could’ve thought you were dead.”

“But you did know better, so why send the guards?”

“Because we weren’t sure, and we didn’t know if you'd come back on your own.”

The silence filled the air; one could cut the tension with a knife. Emma didn’t confirm nor deny their suspicions. Their stand off seemed to stretch time itself. It was her mother who broke first.

“Emma, this has to stop. The disappearing, the sneaking out, the shirking your responsibilities-”

“Oh, so you both can have adventures, but I’m to just sit listening to lectures and stories and never having an adventure of my own.”

“You forget most of those adventures were forced on us-”

“At least you weren’t stuck in a boring castle,” Emma muttered under her breath.

“Fine,” her father loudly proclaimed, “If you say you're stuck, you're stuck. For the next month you are bound to the castle grounds. You are not allowed to step a foot off this island.”

Emma's mouth dropped. Even her mother looked at her husband with a surprised tilt of her head, but she seemed appeased by the slight nod he gave her, turned back to her daughter with a look that meant they were serious.

“But what am I supposed to do?”

Her mother spoke up this time, “Well it’d be a great time to catch up on your studies. Polish up on all your skills. Besides, you used to love running around exploring the castle; you'll find something.”

Meanwhile in a sunny cove in Neverland.

A grown merman stretched out on a rock, his fins lazily flicking the surface of the water, soaking in the warmth of the sun. His hands interlocked behind his head, eyes closed as a contented sigh left his lips.

He heard the water ripple with movement but didn’t bother to look. It was too big to be a fish, so he assumed it was one or two of the mermaids that usually graced this place.

“Ah welcome ladies, plenty of room up here don’t be shy,” he greeted.

He heard some more movement but then felt something touch his tail.

“Woah there lass. I know I said don’t be shy but-” He was cut off by a hand gripping the base of his tail and pulling him down the rock into the water.

Once fully submerged, he turned to his attacker, his brow furrowed then relaxed when he saw who it was.

“Having a nice day, little brother?” Liam stood there decorated in his military garb, arms crossed, disapproving look etched in his features.

“Younger brother. And I was until you came along yanking on my tail. Bad form brother.”

“No, what's bad form is you missing another council meeting.”

Killian feigned shock, “That was today? Damn. I’ll be sure to be at the next one.”

Killian moved to swim past his brother, but Liam grabbed him by his arm, “No, you’ll be at this one. They are holding the meeting for you. Come on.”

Killian resigned himself going back to the palace, but shook off his brother's hand, refusing to be dragged. “Alright then, shall we make this interesting?”

He swam ahead a bit, turning on his back to look at his brother as they continued forward.

“I’m not in the mood for one of your silly games, little brother.” Liam said, very pointedly not looking at his brother, instead looking at the water ahead.

“Younger brother,” Killian stated as he twisted his body once more, now swimming directly beside Liam, “You wouldn’t be able to keep up anyways.”

“Nice try.”

“No, I’m serious. With all that armor weighing you down. I wouldn’t want you hurting yourself.”

Killian knew he was getting to him. He made a point to swim ahead a little. He saw Liam catch up to him, keeping his pace. So he did it again, going a little faster and getting ahead of him. Liam again caught up to him, but this time he continued until he was ahead. Killian caught up to him, giving his brother a shove as he passed. Liam caught up and retaliated, nudging Killian to the side as he sped past him.

Their race was on. Leaving behind nothing but a trail of bubbles in their wake. Liam was able to keep up with Killian, but the younger brother quickly pulled ahead. He was one of the sea’'s fastest mermen, and it was also one of the few ways he could best his brother.

They never slowed their pace as they crossed realms, through the city, not even as they entered the palace grounds. As Killian reached for the palace doors, he once again felt a hand grip the base of his tail and pull. Liam, now next to him, reached forward. Killian, regaining himself from the attack, pushed himself and reached toward the door. They simultaneously touched the door.

Liam was slightly out of breath when he proclaimed, “Looks like it’s a tie, Llittle Bbrother.”

Killian’'s head snapped toward his brother, brows furrowed, “Younger brother! It is not a tie when you cheated!”

“I did no such thing.”

“What do you call pulling me back?!”

“Fair play.”

“How is that fair play?”

“You started this by shoving me.”

Killian’s mouth opened to refute his brother, but he is interrupted by the doors of the palace flying open. Both brothers turn to see a tall, dark- skinned mermaid with an indigo tail.

“What in the depths are you two doing out here? Get inside NOW!” She demands through near gritted teeth.

The brothers bow their heads and followed the mermaid inside and down several hallways before pausing a moment in front of another pair of doors. Some servants came forward and don Killian in garments befitting a prince for such a meeting. The three simultaneously steel themselves before the elder mermaid opens the door and they enter.

“There you three are,” Triton’s voice boomed,' voices, “We were beginning to worry.”

“Apologies everyone. I must have gotten the times for today's meeting wrong. My thanks to Liam and Ursula for correcting me and thank you all for your patience,” Killian spoke up.

The three take their seats at the table, all eyes on them, including the calculating eyes of the heads of the table. Silence lasted only a moment before the council meeting continued as normal.

Once the meeting concluded, merfolk exited the room. Killian and Liam were about to follow when a voice stopped them.

“Killian. Liam. A Word.”

They turned back to see their grandfather, King Triton, standing beside his brother Lord Posideon with Ursula just behind her father. They glanced at each other before fully facing the trio, the doors behind them closing.

“Is something wrong?” Killian asked as Liam stood stoic beside him,

“Yes,” Poseidon answered, “Do you believe the way the two of you conducted yourselves today is befitting princes of the seven seas?”

When he was met with silence, he continued, “Not only were you late, causing the council to be upheld in their duties, but you arrived at the palace doors like children, causing your aunt to nearly drag you here by your ears.”

Killian takes a moment to glance at his brother. Liam's hands are behind his back looking dead ahead. He appears a proper soldier, but Killian catches movement behind his back as his brother fiddles with the mermaid's tear bracelet he always wore.

“Now, I guess I should expect such a display of disregard from Killian. But you, Liam, I thought you better,” Poseidon stated with a slight shake of his head in disappointment.

“The fault was mine,” Killian spoke up, looking Poseidon in the eye, “Liam was only trying to do what was right, as always. I goaded him into a race. I started the argument outside the palace doors.”

“You should both know better-”

“Leave them be, Junior,” Triton finally spoke up, “They were behaving as brothers do. We committed more atrocities when we were their age. Or need I remind you?”

Poseidon slowly turned and tilted his head toward his brother, “I don’t believe I was speaking to you, Tool.”

“How many times are you to lecture them? They are good mermen.”

“How many times are you to defend them?”

“They are my grandsons, and so I will defend them as long as I breathe and when I see fit.”

Poseidon's face softens slightly, “We will not breathe forever brother.”

“Father-” Ursula started, but was stopped when Poseidon raised his hand.

The brothers looked at each other a moment longer, having a silent exchange before Triton nods towards Poseidon. Poseidon exhaled looking back at both boys.

“Come, Ursula.”

Poseidon moved to leave, swimming between the boys and opening the door to move through it. Ursula followed her father, pauses at the door to glance back at the brothers before leaving and shutting the door behind her.

Triton takes a deep breath, looking at the boys he has raised all these years. “Liam, you are dismissed. I’d like to have a talk with Killian.”

“Grandfather-”

“Liam,” Triton cut him off, his voice soft but stern, “Go.”

Liam glanced between his grandfather and his brother, then nodded and left.

“Grandfather-”

“Come Killian,” Triton moved to the door and motioned for his grandson to follow him.

They swam through the palace halls. Killian kept glancing at his grandfather, wondering where they were going and what Triton wanted from him.

When he couldn’t stand the silence anymore, he spoke up, “Grandfather, I truly am sorry for holding up the meeting.”

“Tell me, Killian. Why do you insist on not coming to the council meetings?”

“I don’t know what you are referring to,” Killian tried.

Triton stopped swimming and turned on his grandson, fixing him a look with his arms crossed over his broad chest.

Killian looked down, scratching at the spot behind his ear. Glancing back up, he saw that his grandfather had raised an eyebrow pointedly staring at him, waiting on him to speak. Killian looked away, his hand having moved from his ear to the back of his neck.

“I just don’t see a point in me being there.”

“You are a prince-”

“Aye," he dropped his hand, finally met his grandfathers eye again, "but I don’t have a place at the table. Liam, I understand, with him being part of the guard, but not me. You have five heirs to choose from, all with their own children. I am just a spare with nothing to offer.”

Triton dropped his arms, placing a hand on Killian’'s shoulder, “You are a part of this family. You will always have a seat at the table and have so much to offer.”

Killian looked away, refused to meet his eyes. He knew his grandfather believed his words, but he was skeptical.

“Come,” Triton wraps his arm around his grandson’s shoulder.

They swam until they reached the king’s terrace that overlooks the city. Triton removed his arm and released Killian. He moved to lean against the banister.

“You know your mother had a hard time finding her place too.”

Killian’s eyes widened slightly as he looked at his grandfather. Rarely did anyone speak of his mother, including his grandfather and Liam.

“That's how we lost her,” Triton turned back to look at Killian, “We don’t want to lose you too.”

Killian nodded, “I understand, and I don’t wish to cause anyone to worry about me.”

“Then I hope you will take my help.”

Killian hesitated waiting to see what his grandfather had in mind.

“First, I want you to enroll in the guard.” Triton held up his hand stilling Killians protest, “You may not always be a guard, but it will give you a sense of purpose for now.”

Killian wanted to protest, but the look on Triton's face gave him pause. He wasn’t the strong King giving an order in this moment. He was a concerned grandfather asking for his grandson to take his help and advice to heart.

“As you wish, Grandfather.”

“And second,” Triton gestured to Killian's left arm, he felt a tingle that caused him to look down at a golden cuff now wrapped around his wrist.

Killian lifted his arm to his face inspecting the golden cuff;, it had etching encasing it, and it hummed with magic.

“That cuff limits your power to travel the realms.”

Killian’'s head snapped up, “Grandfather!”

“Listen to me, Killian. How can you expect to feel you have a place when you are never here?”

Killian didn’t have an answer. Though he understood his grandfather's thinking he felt as if the walls were closing in on him.

“You are not bound to the palace, just to this realm. And please Killian, don’t look at this as a punishment. Look at it as an opportunity.” Triton paused for a moment, “You are dismissed. Enjoy the rest of your day. Tomorrow your training with the guard will begin.”

Killian nodded to his grandfather and left. Trying to make sense of how in just an hour he went from being relaxed and free to being trapped between a rock and a hard place.

#captain swan #cs fanfic #cs ff #cs fic #cs au #emma swan #princess emma #killian jones #mermaid!killian jones #prince charming #snow white #liam jones #ouat #once upon a time

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frozenwolftemplar · 1 month ago

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Flash Fiction Friday 5/16

I MADE IT!!!

Okay, so I didn't have a lot of time to write today, hence coming down to the wire; I also didn't have a lot of time to edit, hence blowing way past the limit. BUT! I loved this prompt so much and had such a beautiful idea for it, I had to go on ahead. I hope you enjoy!

Title: The Beatitudes

Fandom: Carmen Sandiego 2019

Rating: T (to be safe)

Word Count: 1,261 (I tried and ran out of time; forgive me).

Warnings: None, but this does have themes of religious questioning, so if you're not comfortable with that you may want to skip.

Carlotta remembers learning them, sitting in the musty backroom of the classroom, twirling a strand of hair around a finger and sending daydreams through the window. She remembers Sister Francesca's blue-veined hand squeaking words across the chalkboard in spidery script, not hearing their shudders. And she remembers scraping her chair across the floor as she stood with the rest of the class to recite, in plodding cadence:

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."

Over and over, around the wad of contraband gum she'd shoved in her cheek until Sister Francesca's spidery script was scrawled in her head. There had been no resistance, no doubting, no shooting her hand into the air to question the ancient nun if the poor in spirit really would receive the Kingdom of Heaven; all had been accepted with blind fidelity.

They stayed with her. Even when she moved beyond the little school run by the nuns who would likely be first in line for their share of the Earth and cast aside her uniform and disintegrating Catechism in favor of camisas and faldas that would have Mama rolling in her grave if she saw, the Beatitudes remained.

“Blessed are the meek, the merciful; blessed are the pure, the poor.”

They were her Religion, as far as Carlotta was concerned, along with those Ten Commandments etched alongside in Sister Bernice’s cramped handwriting. So even as hard-earned cents went to the dime store paperbacks Sister Camilia had routinely decried whenever one was discovered in a backpack with spine cracked so it opened to a particularly steamy scene and the chapel that held her devotion became the club downtown, she still lived by the Beatitudes.

And still believed in their truth.

***

A man bumped into her one morning at the bus depot as she was on her way to join some acquaintances at a house they rented in another town, one that promised a nightlife that set with the rising sun and many a guapo caballero. He was in a rush, fingers barely tapping his forehead in rapid and glancing apology, and the next instant she noticed her ring was gone.

And she knew, in some way she couldn't describe, that he had taken it.

But she didn’t let the anger flash to her eyes, didn’t spin on her heel and shout an accusation across the platform, for-

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.”

So instead she called for his help in searching the platform for the ring she’d ‘accidentally’ dropped.

And in the end, she was rewarded with better than the Earth.

They parted with her ring on her finger, and her number in his pocket.

***

It had been six months- six wonderful, glorious whirlwind months- when the man, 'Dex' to her now, told her.

"Lottie…" he'd kept his eyes on his hands as he spoke, fingers picking and pulling at the poor upholstery of her pilling couch. "There's something…I feel you should know. About me. And my…work."

She'd clicked off the Blockbuster rental, and listened, with plummeting stomach, as Dex spun a tale almost too fantastic to believe. One of murderers and thieves and a secret centuries-old criminal empire that lived in the shadows, one run by a council of five especially cruel and twisted evil masterminds, of which- dear Lord- of which he was one.

Almost, because even while part of her screamed that this was wrong, just a very bad tasteless joke, a larger part knew he spoke true.

The man she'd been ready to give her heart to…was a murderer.

"Thou shalt not kill," shouted Moses from Sinai.

"You are a good woman, Carlotta," he'd said to the floor as she stared with wide eyes and pale face as the magnitude of his story sunk in and the clandestine rendezvous and dates were painted to a new, ignoble light. "And deserve a good man. Or, at least," he gave a rueful, humorless chuckle. "One who is not bound to Hell." He stood slowly, and gave a slight bow in her direction. "Hate me as you will; I know it is my due. I can show myself out."

Carlotta didn't move, too numbed by this new facet of Dex, and for a moment stalled, until-

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."

"No." The word was out before she realized, and the shock was left behind to tumble to the floor as she moved to stand in front of him, smiling gently, the sins already forgiven.

And she was shown better than mercy.

The night ended with Dex's lips against hers.

***

The moon was high, the hour was late, and her and Dex were still up.

Tomorrow was the day they would tip the first piece in their chain of carefully placed dominoes, each click and clack bringing them closer to Dex leaving the shores of VILE's cursed Island for the final time and starting a new life with her and their daughter.

It was a good plan, a foolproof plan; they'd both examined it from every angle, poked dozens upon dozens of holes in it and stopped them up, thought of every possible thing that could go wrong and prepared. Now all that was left to do was begin.

It was terrifying.

But she tried not to think about that as she nestled closer to him and felt his arm tighten around her, and turned her thoughts instead to the happiness waiting for them at the end of the treacherous road. Because-

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

No motive could be purer; surely He would grant them this.

***

Thunder roars in Carlotta's ears, even though the sky above is clear, and the acidic tang of smoke burns in her nose though the breeze ruffling her hair is scrubbed clean of such horror.

She can't move. She can't breathe.

She is on the sidewalk outside of their old home; she flew back when Dex and their daughter failed to arrive at their rendezvous point and rushed to the villa where she'd left them.

She found a nightmare.

The villa is gone.

The neighbors are gossiping over their fences and talking of a murder, a man shot dead last night.

And a fire.

Their plan failed, and-

A wail rises up in her throat, but she refuses it, biting hard on a fist as she screws her eyes shut.

-and she lost both of them.

Tears leak from her eyes as she tastes blood and sinks to the pavement, the grief crashing upon her with the weight of the heavens. And admist her anguish-

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."

Blessed.

The concrete under her knees is hard and unsympathetic; the sun an oppressor overhead.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Tears spot the cement. Her daughter- her beautiful baby girl, so full of life, so happy, who was just starting to walk and babble, who her and Dex were trying to teach 'mama' and 'papa,' was gone.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

And Dex…oh, Dex…

Blessed. Blessed. Blessed.

But she doesn't feel that touch of the Divine. All she feels is cold, cold grief, and a single aching question.

"Why?"

"Blessed are those who mourn-"

It was a lie.

(A/N: Tagging @mmaricarmen23 and @backofthepencil11 ; thought you might be interested in a Carlotta-centric fic 😊)

#carmen sandeigo 2019 #fanfic #carmen sandiego fanfic #in which i write #my writing #carlotta valdez #dexter wolfe #cs fanfic

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