Once Upon A Happy Beginning

Chapter Seven: The Other Captain

Killian

The portal throws us out onto a beach, I can't even see the sand or the sea or the sky. But I know the scent of the salty breeze that can only be found out on the open waters and my face is buried in the warm and cosy blanket on the ground. I roll over and look at Emma, beautiful as always, but this time in my leather jacket which despite being 90% of my closet for a long while, seems to look even more brilliant on her. I notice the bag of beans and hastily shove it in the duffel bag with all the other important items, before I turn and kiss my wife.

She sighs under her breath as our lips part, "Welcome to the Caribbean, babe." She sits up and I see her face fall into an expression of concern, before she brightens up. 

"What is it, Swan?" I question, reaching out for her hands. I jump back when she sets a white flame ablaze in her palm. "So that answers the question that we're still within the magic border." I clarify, mainly for my own sake.

"Yeah. That's right." Emma says, extinguishing the flame and brushing her legs down. "So according to Gold's map, this is Tortuga Island, the closest one to Haiti's mainland and should" She says with clear uncertainty as she peers at the paper and nods, "be just off the coast of Port-de-Paix and then I have no idea how to get to the hotel, it could be miles off for all I know. Now," She looks at me handing over the Crocodile's map, "I'm hoping I've married a man who'll be able to sail us over there... with just the slight problem that we'll need to find ourselves a boat." 

I grin, "I think we might be able to do that."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The boat we managed to find was a small one, a rowing boat, something I'd came across on few occasions but never felt as much like home as the Jolly Roger did. However, this, now, felt right. I was churning the oars through the water, as I watched Emma skim her fingers across the turquoise surface. She was sat across from me with her blonde curls streaming in the light breeze, she looked perfect. Content with the world. Emma - the most fitting name for a stunning boat with a stunning girl in it. 

"Oh look Killian!" She practically squealed pointing a few nautical miles away from us at a pod of dolphins leaping towards Tortuga. I'd seen dolphins before, I was a pirate for many a century and marine life wasn't new for me, but hearing my wife talk about them in amazement was a dream come true. "They're beautiful!"

"That they are, love." She steadies the oar I'm holding in my hook and I look up at her eyes, "Nowhere near as beautiful as you though."

"You're not to bad yourself, handsome." She teases and I smirk at her.

"I know. I'm always dashingly handsome."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After a while on land and a bit of what Emma called 'hitchhiking' and I call bloody dangerous, we end up at an incredible beachside hotel. Emma went up to speak to the lady at the counter and I just looked around bloody dumbfounded at everything. It's not the first time I've seen the cars on the roads or whatever, but in here, it's otherworldly. I almost laugh at the fact that to all these people I'm a character from a book, like I once was to Emma and Henry, but here – there's so many men and women and some children from the local cultures and there's some obvious tourists like we are. But, it's incredible. 

My eyes are drawn to the signage near a counter labelled in some language. There's lots of drawings of different ships, vessels very similar to my precious back in the Storybrooke marina. I wander over there, half an eye on my wife, and I stand near to the man and woman who look just as invested in the information as I am. I scan the boards for some language I understand and then I catch some of the couple's conversation. 

The man sounds grumpy and frustrated at his travelling companion who seems to mad at him to want to be here. It's really his words that pique my interest first, or rather what he calls the lady. "How are we getting out of here then Swann?"

"I don't know," She retorts, "Maybe, if you'd actually tried to help me back there, we'd no longer be in this position!"

"You shouldn't have burnt the rum then!" Aye. That's for sure, no one burns the rum. 

"Don't forget, you're meant to be the man that escaped the island in three days! You're meant to be Jack Sparrow, the greatest pirate of all time!" Second time the lass has been wrong. 

"It's Captain Jack Sparrow." He corrects. I notice Emma looking for me and get out of their little argument – words spinning in my head. The other Swan and the other Captain. 

So... welcome to the Caribbean! 🌴🥥

If you haven't already picked up on it; part of the story, is based off the Pirates of the Caribbean (first film only, The Curse of the Black Pearl). I highly recommend that you read this if you don't know what happens. 

Elizabeth Swann is the upper-class daughter of the governor on her island. She's in love with the blacksmith William Turner who she met as a child. She's always had a fascination with pirates and ends up being kidnapped by Captain Barbossa and his crew aboard Jack Sparrow's previous ship The Black Pearl. 

To cut a long story short, mid film Jack rescues Elizabeth but Barbossa decides to maroon (abandon and pretty much leave to die) them on an island, that he'd previously marooned Sparrow on, and Elizabeth and Jack continue their flirty conversations and get drunk on the beach until Elizabeth decides to call her father's Navy with a smoke signal by burning up the rum supply. 

How does this leave the pair in the 21st century?

Do they know anything about what people know of them?

Will Killian's interaction with them affect the honeymoon?