A Fire Inside

Chapter 15 Promise?

A/N: POV switches a couple times in the chapter so look out for that! Shits about to get real in this book :D

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During Christmas break, I had been spoiled to living in Killian's loft, with his huge bed, his TV, easy access to a kitchen for late night snacks when I wanted them, and most importantly, easy access to him. Now that Christmas break was ending in just a day, I found myself stuck to him like glue.

I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my head to his back while he stood in the kitchen making breakfast for the two of us.
"You do realize that you'll still see me after today right?" Killian chuckled
"Yes but not like this." I muttered. "I'm going to miss waking up to your messy bed head."
"I'm going to miss this too, but we'll try to figure out a way to work around everyone being back."
"I need an invisibility cloak." I sighed.
"No such thing love and before you ask, neither is polyjuice potion so you can't pretend to be someone else to sneak in here." He said and I could feel him smirking.
"Someone finished chamber of secrets after I fell asleep last night." I said.
"Well if I'm going to keep up with your horrible references, I'm going to need to know the material. Ham and cheese in your omelette?" He asked.
"Yes please. Peppers too." I said and pulled away from him to let him cook, and to get the orange juice out of the fridge.

"I wish I could just live up here... I still don't understand why it matters. I mean how are they going to fire you from Magic school?" I sighed.
"We've talked about this. Just because we aren't a normal school, doesn't mean the same rules don't apply. What we are doing however not technically illegal, is morally wrong. Other students would see it as favoritism, Us keeping this a secret is more to benefit you than me." Killian said and set breakfast on the table.
"What do you think your friends would think of us?" He asked.
"I'm not sure. I know August would be upset but August has had a crush on me since my first day here. I'm not sure about Ariel and Elsa, Victor wouldn't care one way or another as long as I'm happy.. but am I just supposed to keep you a secret forever?" I asked as I poured orange juice for us.

"Not forever love. Just a while. I don't think if anyone finds out its going to be as disastrous as what it would be in a normal school, because lets face it, Those of us who can use magic need to stick together considering there is a whole lot of people out there who can't, and who think its wrong. You wouldn't be going anywhere, and neither would I. But I don't want anymore attention on you, You're already in the spotlight because of what happened on Halloween. I'd rather not give anyone else a reason to make you a target."
"I thought that was just a prank." I said and sat down to eat.
Killian just smiled and shoved a fork full of omelette in his mouth to avoid speaking.
"Killian.." I said. "You told me Gold said it was just a prank."
Killian swallowed his food and sighed.
"Gold told us to tell you it was likely just a prank to keep you from worrying. However...no one knows anything about who did it. Emma knows when people are lying and she questioned everyone.
"I thought that was just a thing she said to scare people is that actually something she can do?" I asked.
"Aye."
"Well shit.. You know how many times I've lied to her Killian? A LOT she has to know something is going on here." I said referring to Killian and I. "And also how could you lie to me about my life being in danger!"
"Calm down Sera, This is the safest place for you to be."

"Is it? Because if it wasn't anyone here, than it was an outside job, which means I'm not all that safe and neither is anyone else." I said.
"I promise you, I'm not going to let anything happen to you, or your family. We have people on the outside watching your house every night. There are people who follow your brother around and he doesn't even know it. All to keep them safe. Nothing is going to happen. We let our guard slip, it won't happen again. And Emma doesn't know anything about us trust me, she would let me know if she did."
"Okay." I nodded. "I trust you."

We finished breakfast and I was helping Killian with the dishes.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked.
"Of course." Killian replied. "What is it?"
"I have searched the library from one end to the other on healing magic and I can't find a thing. How is it that Gold can do what he can do?" I asked.
Killian tensed and he shook his head.
"I don't know how that man does anything he does." He replied.
"Funny.. His wife said the same." I muttered. "Someone has to know. He can't be the only one with those powers I guess I'm going to have to go straight to the source."
Killian dropped the glass in his hands and it shattered in the sink.
"Bloody hell.." he muttered.
"Oh! Wait, I can do this." I grinned and put my hand over it and whispered the spell Tink had taught me and watched the glass repair itself.
"Look at you." Killian smiled.
"If I can fix a glass.. How hard could it be to fix a human?" I sighed and leaned against the sink.
Killian sighed.
"Sera please don't go asking Gold how he does things. It never works in anyone's favor. Why are you so interested in healing magic anyways?" He asked.
I just shrugged my shoulders and looked away.
"Sera.." Killian said softly. He dried the last of the dishes stood in front of me. "You want to know how Gold does what he does?" he asked. "He uses dark magic, very dark magic."
"How could helping someone heal be dark magic Killian? I don't understand."
"Because it changes too much. We are not meant to be invincible Sera. Not even people who can do magic. It breaks the rules. All Magic is a give and take, dark magic however more often than not, the take is not worth the give. Please do not go down that road. I beg you."
"You speak like you've dabbled in it before."
"I have Sera, I speak from experience and you need to trust me when I tell you, you may achieve what you are looking for, but it does not come without a price and unless you are willing to pay that price don't you even think about it."
Killian's grip on my shoulders tightened, and his eyes began to water.
"Okay...Okay." I said and reached up to wipe a tear as it rolled down his cheek. "I won't."
"Promise me." Killian said.
"I promise." I said. "What happened Killian?" I asked.
"That is not a story for today. Okay? Lets just talk about something else." Killian said pulling himself away from me.

The rest of the day, was pretty normal, at least as normal as it could be for us, but my conversation with Killian early had been heavy on my mind. I wanted to know what exactly happened but it obviously upset him so I didn't want to push. So I just tried to make the best out of our last day of break, and the last day that I would be able to spend this much time with him for a while.

At the moment, we were on the couch with nothing but a throw blanket covering us, I laid my head on his chest as he ran his fingers through my hair. I turned my head towards the TV that had netflix playing in the background.
"What are we watching?" I asked with a laugh.
"I haven't a clue love, I barely had time to press play before you attacked me." Killian chuckled.
"Oh? I attacked you?" I said and raised up to look at him.
"You did. You are tiny, but you are mighty." Killian smirked.
"And don't you forget it." I mumbled and laid my head back down lazily tracing shapes in his skin with my finger.
"I don't want to go back to my dorm tonight." I whined.
"I know you don't. But everyone will be back in the morning, some arriving earlier than others." Killian sighed. "I don't want you to go back either, I've rather enjoyed your company this week and its going to be very quiet without waking up at 2:30 in the morning to you microwaving pizza bagels."
"Normal people sleep at 2:30 in the morning. I snack." I smiled. "Speaking of.." I said and rolled off of him taking the throw blanket with me.

This was the moment I'd been dreading all week, It was getting late, and I knew I had to go back to my dorm. Classes picked back up tomorrow morning, which meant everyone would be arriving very early. I put my things into my backpack and put it over my shoulders.
"I should check Bastion before I go.." I muttered and walked over to the tank.
"You checked him just a few minutes ago. He's still a snake." Killian smiled.
"Shut up, I'm obviously stalling." I sighed. Killian wrapped his arms around me.
"I will see you tomorrow morning, bright and early, and again in the dining hall for both lunch and dinner."
"But you can't hug me, or kiss me there." I frowned.
"I know. I will try to come up with ways we can sneak around, just be patient." Killian said and pulled away to walk to the kitchen. He handed me a container.
"Leftovers from dinner for your 2:30 cravings." He smirked.
"Thank you." I smiled.
"Okay, go on you before I change my mind and don't let you leave." He chuckled and walked me to the door.
"You don't want to walk me to the dorm? In this dark and spooky Mansion?"
"You're darker and spookier than anything in this Mansion darling. I have faith in you. If I walk you to the dorm, I may not make it back here tonight Its best we go our separate ways here."
I sighed and nodded. "Okay." I said and stood on my toes to give him a quick kiss.
"See you tomorrow." I said and stepped out the door looking over my shoulder at him.
"Get some sleep Stark. Pop quiz in the morning." He smirked before closing the door.

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I would have much rather been woken up by my screeching alarm, but here I was opening my eyes to Regina Mills standing over me.
"You sleep like the dead." She scoffed.
"Welcome back..." I muttered.
"You better get up, classes start in 30 minutes." She said. "Consider that a late Christmas present."
"Oh shit." I sat up and pushed the blankets off of me and hurried around the room grabbing my things to go shower and get ready.

"Why does our room smell like douchey cologne?" Regina asked with an eyebrow raised and then she smirked. "Did you sneak someone in here?"
"What? No." I grumbled.
Regina circled me with her eyebrow raised.
"You're wearing a mens shirt, and it smells like cologne. You slept through your alarm, which you never do, and you absolutely look like you're hiding something. You totally snuck someone in here!"
I had brought one of Killian's shirt's that I spritzed with some of his cologne with me, it helped me sleep last night.
"Oh. Don't worry, I'm not going to tell. I didn't think you had the guts to do something like that. Way to go Stark. Was it Jefferson? He came back last night."
What??
"Uh.. no he doesn't go here. He goes to my old school. I have to get ready." I said and hurried past her into the bathroom.

I had no idea Jefferson came back last night, The alarm on Killian's phone didn't go off letting him know that someone had come through the barrier. What if he saw me leaving Killian's loft?

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Try as I may, I could not focus for the life of me on what Killian was teaching. I kept looking behind me at Jefferson trying to find any indication that he knew something, but he wasn't looking at me, He was writing something down.
"Stark." Killian said. I turned around in my seat and looked at him.
"Your thoughts?" He asked.
"I..uh...No?" I said and mentally slapped myself.
"Thought so. Maybe instead of focusing your attention on Mr. Hatt, you could pay attention to my lecture." Killian said. I looked back at Jefferson who was now looking at me with his head tilted and a goofy smile.
Great.I turned back and shrank down in my chair.
"I knew it was Jefferson." Regina whispered.
"Shut up!" I hissed.
"Stark see me after class." Killian sighed and went back to his lecture.

After class, I waited for the rest of the class to walk out as I started gathering my things. I looked up at Killian who was leaning against his desk with his hands in his pockets, looking at me expectantly.
"Am I really that boring?" He asked when I didn't say anything.
"No. It's not that." I sighed. I looked back to make sure no one was in the classroom.
"Did you know Jefferson came back last night?" I asked.
"No." Killian said and pulled out his phone to look at his alerts. "Clever little bastard must have temporarily disarmed the spell keeping the barrier up."
"Why would he do that?"
"I haven't a clue. How did you even know he came back?" Killian asked.
"Regina told me. I don't know how she knew.."
"What even brought it up?"
I sighed. "I took one of your shirts, and I put some of your cologne on it, and I wore it to bed last night because I couldn't sleep.. Its stupid I know.."
"Its not stupid Sera...its kind of sweet." Killian smiled.
"Regina asked why the room smelled like douchey cologne. Her words, not mine. And She thought I snuck Jefferson in our room last night." I rolled my eyes.
"Douchey?" Killian scoffed.
"Not important right now. What if Jefferson saw me leaving your loft? And if he disarmed that spell, what if he came back earlier than last night?"
"That...could be problematic." Killian sighed.
"Exactly." I said.
"I will look into it. You better get to your next class." Killian winked.
"Will you give me detention if I tell you no?" I asked and raised my eyebrow.
"I would normally, but I've already given someone detention, so that just wouldn't be any fun." Killian said with a smirk.
"Next time then." I grinned at him before turning around and leaving.

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My phone had been going off all day during classes, and I couldn't answer it so before even thinking of walking into the dining hall for lunch, I checked my phone. I had a bunch of missed calls from my dads number. I quickly hit return call and put the phone to my ear. Killian poked his head out of the dining hall looking at me.
"One second." I mouthed to him and put my finger up. He tapped his watch.
"Sera?" I heard Gabes voice, it was whispering.
"Gabe. What's up? I've been in classes all day."
"Its dad.." He said. My heart dropped into my stomach.
"What's wrong with dad?" I asked.
"He collapsed, I've been trying to reach you for hours Ser!"
"I'm sorry Gabe! Are you at the hospital? How is he doing now?" I asked.
"I don't know. They just keep saying he's resting but they haven't said much else. I'm scared Sera. I don't know what to do."
"Just hang on. I'll be there as soon as I can Okay?" Every part of me wanted to break down into tears but I couldn't. Gabe was scared and I couldn't let him know I was too.
"Okay." Gabe replied and I heard my mother say something before the line went dead. I shoved my phone in my pocket and without even looking back, I started walking towards the door.