What Could Have Been: A Once Upon A Time Fanfic

Chapter 8

Emma tried her best to be quiet as she made her way up to the main deck. She was glad to see that Mr. Smee was still sleeping.
Ducking behind a row of barrels, Emma waited for the men to board the ship. She peeked between two of the barrels where they created a small gap and watched. After a few minutes, the men returned to the ship deck. Hook nudged Mr. Smee with his foot.
"Wake up!" he demanded.
Mr. Smee came to with a loud snort.
"Where is the girl?" Hook asked.
"Well, I, uh. . ."
Emma took that as her cue and came out from her hiding place.
"I'm right here!" she announced.
"Where did you get that?" asked Hook, pointing to the sword in Emma's hand.
"It doesn't matter." Emma said as she moved towards him. "Now, I'm leaving. And if you try to stop me, I'll not hesitate to kill you."
Hook just watched her with a smirk on his face as she began to make her way off of the ship. But before she could, he drew his own sword and slapped the flat of the blade against her chest.
"Then I'm afraid you'll have to kill me." he said.
Emma turned and glared at the pirate, moving back a few steps. Hook moved his sword so that the tip touched her chest, just above the collar of her shirt.
Emma flicked the blade away with her own, and slashed at his stomach. But Hook anticipated this move and was able to block her sword with his, the metal causing a loud clang as the two blades met. Emma stepped back, then rushed forward and swung at Hook's throat.
Hook ducked and in a swift, sweeping motion, used one of his legs to bring Emma's out from under her. She fell to the deck, her sword sliding across the wood away from her. The fall knocked the wind from Emma's lungs, and she lay on the ground, coughing.
Hook placed a foot on her stomach and raised his sword above her head.
"Do it." she panted, her eyes challenging him.
With a shout, Hook brought the sword down.
Emma squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation of the inevitable. But it didn't come. Slowly, she opened one eye, then the other, and saw the tip of the sword hovering between her eyes.
"What are you waiting for?" she asked. "Just do it!"
"No." Hook said, returning his sword to its sheath. Then he reached his hand down and helped Emma to her feet.
"You have no value once dead. I need you alive." he said.
They glared at each other before Hook added, "You showed some potential there. Where did you learn?"
"I've watched my father a few times." Emma replied.
"I see. Well, I'd be happy to teach you how to actually use that sword. What do you say?"
Emma actually wanted to learn more, but she didn't want to show him her excitement. "I'd like that." she said sternly.
"On one condition; you don't try to kill me again." he said.
"Fine." Emma said.
"Excellent! Let's begin, shall we?"
Somebody tossed Emma's sword to Hook, and he caught it easily. He then handed it to Emma, giving her a warning look. And he began teaching her how to properly use a sword. They practiced for hours until they were both too tired to continue.
After eating a dinner that consisted of more dried meat and some fruit, they retired to their rooms to sleep.

For the next couple of days, that's how their time was spent; sword training interrupted only by the need to sleep and eat. By the third day, Emma had improved greatly. It had begun to sprinkle as the clash of metal on metal filled the air on the Jolly Roger. Both were drenched in sweat and growing tired, and the rain felt good as it fell on their skin.
Hook was sure he had the upper-hand, as always, until Emma surprised him by expertly knocking his sword from his grasp, and it fell to the deck with a clang.
Without a moment's hesitation, Emma set the blade on Hook's throat and quickly closed the distance between them so that they were nearly nose-to-nose. She stared into his blue eyes with a look of accomplishment on her face.
"I win." Emma stated breathlessly. Then she stepped back and removed the blade from Hook's neck.
"Good job." he congratulated her. He sheathed his sword and looked at the clouds. A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and a clap of thunder boomed.
"Looks like it's about to get a whole lot worse." Hook said.
And he was right. Soon after, it began pouring rain and the thunder and lightning were nearly constant.
Emma went to her room to get out of the rain, and Hook went down to his room to make sure that the windows were shut.
He had left one open. He ran over and shut it, making sure to lock it.
"Hello, Captain?" he heard a familiar female voice.
"What is it, Zelena?" Hook sighed, turning to his mirror.
"You said I'd have her by now. What's taking so long?"
"We had to stop for supplies and we just ran into a bad storm. So it's going to take longer than we expected." he said. What he didn't say was that he was glad about the delay. Over the past few days, he had begun to develop feelings for Emma. He still wasn't entirely sure exactly how he felt about her, but he knew that he couldn't hand her over to the Wicked Witch.
"How much longer?" Zelena asked.
"How should I know?" Hook replied.
Zelena growled and her image faded from view.
Just then, there was a knock on his door.
"Can I come in?" he heard Emma ask.
"Uh, sure." Hook said.
"Who were you talking to?" Emma asked as she opened the door and entered the room.
"I wasn't talking to anyone." he lied.
"But I could've sworn I hear-"
"It was probably just the boat creaking." Hook waved it off. "Now, what did you want?"
"Oh, well, I was wondering if you had any books that I could read. You know, to pass the time."
"Sure. They're all over there." He pointed to a large bookshelf sitting by the door. Some of the books had fallen to the floor from the waves tossing the ship.
Emma walked over and picked up a book from the floor.
"What's this?" she asked.
"That is a book filled with details about my many voyages." he answered.
"Would you mind if I read it?" Emma looked at him expectantly.
"Go right ahead." he said.
"Thanks!" Emma said, then left to go back to her room.
Hook sighed as he watched her leave. He was falling fast for her, but was certain that she'd never fall in love with him; a pirate, no less!
'No,' he thought. 'she could never love me.'
Little did he know that Emma had been slowly falling for him as well.
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I'm sure some of you were waiting for it, and here it is, finally: the beginnings of a CaptainSwan romance!
I know that this chapter was probably kind of boring. But not to worry! There's plenty of action coming up pretty soon!