Our Future

Chapter 3 | Waiting

Emma's POV

Two Years Ago

Everyone was silent as they sat in Emma's living room, waiting for a sign, anything that would give them the slightest indication of Hook's return. Emma sat with her knees curled to her chest and her head on the arm of her sofa. Her father's hand rubbed soothing lines up and down her arm.

"We were promised," she whispered into the heavy silence. "He promised us Killian would return by midnight."

"There's still time, Emma," Mary-Margaret leaned around David to touch her leg, but Emma hardly felt it. Tears burned her eyes and she swallowed back the sob she felt building in her throat. She was going to lose her one true love again. She was powerless in the face of her own demise. Again. Emma felt her, their heart, jack hammering her ribs. Their journey to the Underworld had been a success, and Hades himself had agreed to their deal. He'd promised to return Killian to them by midnight, on the night of winter's first snowfall. Emma craned her neck to look out her large window. The full moon turned the falling flakes to droplets of silver as they drifted to the ground. They were already sticking, forming a blanket across the grass.

A terrible beeping noise shattered her heart as Henry's watch announced the hour. It was midnight, the first of December. And he wasn't there.

Emma squeezed her eyes shut, and a collective sigh went through the room as everyone released a breath they didn't know they'd been holding.

Emma wriggled free of her father's grasp and rose to her feet.

"I need some air..." She mumbled as she took long strides towards the door, not even bothering to grab her coat as she yanked on the handle.

She heard someone, several someones,  call her name, but Emma ignored them. Some part of her begged her to stay, to seek comfort with her family, but her head was pounding like a bongo drum behind her eyes and she couldn't breathe. Air hitched in her throat and a sob finally pulled its way free of her chest. Then she was running, leaving her front door wide open behind her.

She didn't know where she was going, only that she needed to move or the pain would suffocate her. It would wrap it's hot hand around her throat and squeeze until she couldn't breathe and she drowned in her own tears. They came now, spilling down her cheeks as she sucked in the icy air. It was soothing, but nothing could soothe the ache in her heart, their heart.

Without realising it, she found herself at the docks. There was no one around, not at this hour, not with the weather like this. She ran to the edge of the promenade. A thousand years ago, she had sat here with him, and he had asked her if she could ever forgive her parents for lying to her.

God, how long ago was that?
She'd been so stupid back then, too afraid to tell him how she felt.
I should have told him. I should have told him every waking moment I had that I loved him more than anything. That he was the world to me.
But now it was too late. He was really gone, and there was nothing she could do. No contingency plan, no Excalibur. No treacherous journey to another world that could bring him back to her.

Emma felt as though she would rip in half as sobs racked her chest, and she sat down on the cold, wet concrete. She hugged her knees and curled her fist around the ring, biting down on her fingers to stop herself from choking.

"You lied to me." She said to the open silence. "You told me you were a survivor! Where are you now, huh?!" Emma jumped to her feet and yelled out at the open water. That's all she had now, a damn ring and the sea he'd loved so dearly.

Looking down at the ring in her palm, Emma's anger evaporated, like smoke on a breeze.

"I love you, Killian Jones." She whispered.

Somewhere through her pain she heard footsteps. Her family had found her. They'd want to comfort her, as they had  the night she had driven Excalibur through Killian's chest. But Emma didn't know if she could handle it right now.

Your fault. You betrayed him, you killed him and now he's gone. Forever.

"It's my fault, it's all my fault." She whimpered. The footsteps stopped. Good. "Please just leave me alone right now." The words were barely audible through the sob that racked her body, her last shred of composure destroyed.

"Swan," her name was a whisper, but Emma felt like it had been shouted. Through the gaping abyss of her pain, she heard that one word. She couldn't move.
"Emma, look at me." She felt a hand trail down her arm, warm fingers curling through hers. Warm, and very real.
"Emma, I love you."

The world became unfrozen, and her head snapped around, fresh tears streaming down her face. And he was there. Smiling down at her like an idiot.

With hands numbs from cold and pain, Emma touched his face. Solid and warm beneath her touch. His lips curled into a cocky smile, and he bent this forehead down to hers.

"Didn't think you could get rid of me that easily, did you, Swan?"

"Killian?" She whispered.

"Aye, love, I'm right here. And I'm never leaving you again." A breathless laugh escaped Emma's chest and she raised her chin and kissed him with all the love and longing she had in her heart.

Our heart.

Hello peoples! Thank you all for reading, and please leave any comments. I'd love to talk to any of you!!!!

Btw I wrote this without a solid theory/plan to do with what happens in the UW. Sorry if doesn't quite line up or make sense.
See you next chapter! 😘