Red Rebellion

Chapter 1

Amidst the settled silence of Emma and Killian's bedroom, the faint sound of far-off hastened footsteps caused him to snap his eyes open.

He waited and listened until suddenly the subtle squeaking sound of a protesting hinge rattled in the bedroom close by. He rolled over and studied the night sky through his bedroom window. It couldn't be earlier than 3:00am. What the hell was his daughter up to?

As if he wasn't confused enough, a great thud suddenly beat against the wall that separated the two bedrooms. This was a sound he knew all too well. She was having target practice with her cork target board... at 3:00 in the morning.

Letting out an exhausted sigh, Killian pushed his blankets back in an effort to get out of bed. Before he could sit up, Emma wrapped her arm over his chest and pushed him back down into bed. "No," she murmured lightly. "Just leave her be."

"Emma, she's throwing knives... There's likely an image of me posted on that target."

"Please Killian, just for tonight let her handle it on her own. She won't want to talk to you right now."

Another thud hit the wall, the urgency pressed into the forefront of his mind. "I can't idly listen to this," he muttered.

This time Emma got up with him to quickly grab his arm. "Killian, stop. If you go in there right now, you'll only make things worse. Don't add any more fuel to her fire tonight."

After a moment of hesitation, Killian sat back down weakly on the edge of his bed. His head lowered, immersed with an unshakable image that would likely haunt him for the rest of the night. His voice came out in a hushed shaking whisper, "Did you see the way she looked at me?"

Emma frowned, shifting over across the bed so that she could wrap her arms around his bare chest. Her chin rested in the nook of his shoulder; she brushed a light kiss along his hot skin. "What else could you have done? You were just being her Dad."

Elizabeth couldn't sleep. Not after everything that had happened. Whenever she would close her eyes, she was taken back to the center of the ballroom again.

Adam smiled affectionately down at her and she felt his fingers tighten around her waist. The blood rushed to her cheeks, and amidst the disarray of emotions she felt building in the base of her gut, she managed to smile back. His narrow blue eyes softened into her own. With a confident tug at the side of his grin, Adam leaned his face closer to hers. His arm pulled her in close.

She closed her eyes and anticipated the soft molding of his mouth against hers, though instead her shoulder was suddenly jerked back by another forceful grip. Just what in the hell do you think you are doing? She barely registered the low growl as her father's. Adam stumbled over his words, dumbstruck and intimidated by the rage coursing from Killian's glare. You are not to ever try something like that with my daughter again.

Instead of allowing her eyes to water with embarrassment, she immediately channeled it into something else. Her hands clenched up into tight fists while she began to see red. She didn't notice the gentle reassuring touch of her mother's hand over her shoulder when Emma walked into the confrontation. Emma said something brief to Adam, sending him away, and then looked up at Killian whose sharp glare still spoke murderous threat. Short words were exchanged between the two adults before Killian finally turned to look at his daughter.

Elizabeth felt the weight of her father's gaze on her. She looked up to meet his infuriated expression with her own burning hostility. Her narrow, ice blue glare screamed the pain of her father's betrayal. Killian tried to hold his ground, but couldn't help but take a step back away from where she stood.