Tumgik
#wasted 13 hours!!!! I could use that to play dishonored instead!!!!
nightwhite13 · 3 years
Text
.
2 notes · View notes
kathrynmaslow · 5 years
Text
Love Lies 6/15
Summary: Ever since Emma was 13, she knew she had the ability to destroy people if she wanted to, and some days, she really wanted to. After being forced to go to Greenwood Academy following a traumatizing event in her childhood that brought to the surface her ability to manipulate fire, she never thought she would be free of the place. So for nearly 10 years, she lived a solitary existence with the exception of her best friends, but that was all about to change.
Killian Jones had just been sentenced to attend the university campus at Greenwood Academy after an accident at sea caused him to be dishonorably discharged from Her Majesty’s royal Navy and lose his hand. He doesn’t know what to think about these newfound powers and what they spell for the rest of his now not-so-normal life. But a chance encounter one day has the ability to change all of that.
A story about love and redemption between two people that shows, if you have the right person beside you, you can find a light in the darkness.
Rating: M
Content Warnings: Mentions of Violence/Death, Brief mention of Childhood Abuse/Sexual Assault, Mild Sexual Content
Chapter Notes: Chapter 6 is here folks! This one is a bit shorter but it sets up the next chapter very nicely, so I am super excited for you all to read that next week.
Thanks as always to my beta @daveyjacobsthepotterhead and my artist @princesse-swan who has some more amazing art coming your way for this story! Enjoy and happy Daylight savings!
Read on FF
Catch up on Tumblr: One  Two  Three  Four  Five
Art by @princesse-swan here
Chapter 6
Unfortunately, all good things had to come to an end.
Or, that was what Emma was currently thinking.
Fall break had ended, and that meant that the campus was once again swarmed through with students at every hour, a complete difference from the quiet nights she had spent out with Killian in the courtyards.
It also meant that her friends had come back on campus, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but Emma was truly feeling that way as she was getting bombarded with questions from her friends.
Ruby and Mary Margaret probably had good intentions, since they always made a point to ask her what she did over her break stuck on campus before they launched into their own stories about their travels instead.
They did at least act like they were excited to see some of her new drawings.
But she was trying to keep the fact that she had truly grown fairly close to Killian away from her friends, because they were way too noisy on the subject in general.
Ruby seemed to have a knack for picking up that she was lying to them though because she kept poking at it.
“I still don’t believe you Emma, I think you are keeping something from us about how you spent this break!” She taunted, smiling wickedly at her over her burger.
Emma grumbled into her bowl of broccoli cheddar soup. “I don’t know what you think I am hiding from you Ruby. I worked on some new pieces of art in the library, met a new student on the lower campus, and got rained on one night while I couldn’t sleep.”
“You are telling the truth when it comes to that aspect of the story, yes. You did do all of that over the break. I just think that you aren’t telling us the whole of it.” She retorted.
Emma fought the urge to cringe at the accurate statement. She moved her gaze away from the look her friends were giving her and scanned around the dining hall. They were in a fairly quiet area of the hall, and thankfully not a lot of people were milling around by them while she was getting the third degree.
A familiar mop of black hair stood out in the crowd and blue eyes met hers from across the room.
Shit.
Killian started making his way across the room towards them and she pleaded with whatever beings were listening that Killian would get the message and turn around and head away from them and save her from this torture.
He did not.
But, it seems, she did have a bit of luck in her corner after all.
“Hey, Mary Margaret. Did you get the information for the assignment that we have due in biology next week? Dr. Hopper mentioned the assignment in my lecture but didn’t actually tell us what it was about.” He said in way of greeting.
Her friend, who had mainly been silent throughout the whole ordeal so far, nodded her head at him.
“Yeah, I think I should have it in my notes, let me check.” Mary Margaret said, reaching to pick up her book bag from the ground.
“Hey Emma, how have you been?” Killian asked her while he waited for Mary Margaret.
“I’ve been good. How have you been?” She asked, hoping it sounded casual. She didn’t want to tip Ruby off.
But, unfortunately, she always seemed to underestimate her friend.
“Since neither one of these ladies seemed to want to take the time to introduce me, I will do it myself. Name’s Ruby.” She said, extending her hand at Killian.
Killian looked down at the books in his arms and then at Ruby’s extended hand.
“It looks like I will have to pass on the hand shake for right now, considering i don’t have one to spare.” He joked. He flashed a smirk at them and Emma had to cough a laugh into her hands.
Ruby turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow. “That wasn’t subtle at all. All of those years spent trying to get you to be cool around handsome boys is now a waste.”
Killian threw his head back and laughed at the statement. “Really Ruby, how do you expect someone who has the ability to manipulate fire to be ‘cool’?” He laughed.
Ruby cracked a smile. “I like you Killian, I think we will have to keep you for awhile.” She wagged her finger at him. “I could always use another sarcastic, witty person to bounce my awesomeness off of.”
“Well, considering I already work with Mary Margaret and know Emma pretty well, it shouldn’t be too hard to work my way into your little group, I do have to warn you though that I won’t add much time into painting nails or anything. Not really my scene.”
Emma cringed. Considering she hadn’t told her friends, well, anything about whatever the hell this thing was between Killian and herself, she waited for the inevitable pouncing of her friends on that morsel of information.
“Here it is.” Mary Margaret said, triumphantly pulling her notebook out of her bag.
Emma breathed a sigh of relief. It also wasn’t that she necessarily wanted to keep Killian a secret from them either.
It was just so rarely that she had something that she had a shred of control over that she didn’t want to lose that. And this thing, however it was going to play out, seemed to be happening on her terms.
Killian never pushed. He never made her feel like control over their relationship, if it could be called that, was ever out of her hands and exclusively in his.  
She saw Killian’s eyes shift over to her occasionally as he listened to Mary Margaret explain what their professor had assigned them. He had noticed her uncomfortableness with the way the conversation had been heading. It also seemed like he wanted to possibly talk to her about something but didn’t really want to do it in front of her friends.
“Thanks so much for that Mary Margaret. Emma, do you mind walking with me for a moment?” He asked, shifting the books around in his arms as he nodded towards one of the cafeteria exits.
“Sure.” She said, pushing up from the table and shrugging into her sweater.
As she came around to  his side, she reached out and grabbed a book or two off the top of his stack.
“Thanks love, I didn’t realized I was going to get interrogated when I came over, otherwise I may have put them in my bag first.” He commented, throwing her a smile.
She felt a small one break out across her face. “Yeah, get used to it buddy. Ruby is as ruthless as a wolf ripping into fresh meat.”
Killian shuddered at her description.
“I’m not even kidding, her other form is a wolf.” Emma dead panned.
“I will never stop being surprised by this place, will I?” he said, pushing out the door and keeping one foot back for her to follow him out.
“Likely not.” She said. She was still surprised by things happening on campus, and she had been here for almost half of her life. “Anyway, what did you want to ask me away from the rat pack?”
Killian looked away from her and scratched behind his ear in a nervous manner that she had come to know and love. She gave him a bit of an encouraging smile when he turned back to look at her. He smiled back at her sweetly.
“You’re probably going to think it’s stupid because you have probably been to the thing a hundred times already,” Killian said, gesturing absently with his hand after shuffling his books to rest in the crook of his other arm, “But that carnival is coming onto campus this weekend, and I was wondering if you would like to accompany me?”
“Are you asking me out on a date?” She asked, a bit surprised. No one had ever asked her out before.
“Nothing quite so formal love. I would do something much more romantic for an actual evening out,” Killian said, quirking an eyebrow at her.
Emma thought back through all of her years living on campus here, and she couldn’t recall a single time that she had actually gone to the traveling circus when it had come to campus.
It wasn’t the typical circus anyone would think of when they thought of a big tent show, but more or less a place for people with powers to travel and perform in front of others. But she had seen some of the normal circus aspects such as the ferris wheel and lines of chance games along the walkways.
She came back from her thoughts to see Killian watching her expectantly.
“Sure, it sounds like fun.” Emma said.
A bright smile lit up Killian’s face, and caused her to smile back at him in return.
“Awesome, see you around then love.” Killian grabbed her hand and then leaned in to kiss her cheek. Emma smiled back at him in response as he grabbed the books back out of her arms and tucked them in with the rest before walking back across campus.
Emma touched the cheek he had kissed softly, unspeakably touched by the gesture.
She shook her head to clear it as she turned to walk back to where her friends were sitting.
“What did lover boy want to ask you?” Ruby asked bluntly as Emma sat back down at the table.
“Lover Boy?” Emma asked at the same time Mary Margaret admonished their friend.
“What? He said you two were pretty close, doesn’t take much to put two and two together.”
“Look Ruby,” Emma started, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Killian and I, I don’t even think either of us know truly what this is. We are just friends right now.”
“Sure you are.” Ruby replied, sounding all for the world that she didn’t believe Emma at all.
“When did you get to know him Emma? I know David told me that he had met Killian on campus once with you before, but that doesn’t lend much time to really becoming friends with someone.” Mary Margaret asked, giving Ruby one of her patented ‘just drop it’ looks.
Ruby rolled her eyes in response.
“I actually spent a bit of time getting to know him over school break.” Emma said.
“Killian is High Risk?” Mary Margaret asked, looking shocked.
“Yeah He is. You look surprised.” Emma stated.
“No, No. It’s not that I’m surprised, he just doesn’t seem the type.” Mary Margaret said.
“But I do?” Emma said, glaring at her friend.
“Now Emma, you know that isn’t what I meant.”
“Than what did you mean by that Mary Margaret?”
“I just meant that Killian had never mentioned it before,” Mary Margaret said, trying to back track away from the conversation.
“Yeah, well guess what Mary Margaret. Maybe people don’t like talking about that kind of stuff because it makes people look at them differently. Maybe Killian doesn’t like telling people that he is High Risk, considering he didn’t tell me he was until he saw me over break.” Emma said, growing frustrated with the direction things were heading.
Her friends knew how she felt about her high risk status, or at least she thought they did. But considering Mary Margaret’s comments, maybe they didn’t really.
“I’ll see you guys later.” She said as she grabbed her book bag from the floor next to her seat.
“Emma…” Mary Margaret said, sounding like she wanted to make an apology but not knowing how to salvage the moment.
“Just, leave it, ok?” Emma said, throwing her bag over her shoulder and walking out of the building.
Sighing in defeat, she didn’t know where she wanted to go next. She didn’t have any classes left for this afternoon, but didn’t necessarily feel like heading back to her dorm room.
Emma thought through Killian’s schedule. He didn’t have any classes left for the day either if she remembered correctly. Killian had mentioned that his dorm was in the building next to hers on the second floor, so Emma thought she would give it a chance that he was back in his room.
Mind made, she started across campus towards his dorm.
Thinking back on her conversation with Mary Margaret and Ruby, that was the one thing that frustrated her most about her friends. It was the fact that they didn’t seem to get that there were issues of hers that they didn’t relate to.
There had been many occasions where she had been just trying to live her life to the best of her abilities while stuck on campus and had been judged, or left out, or told that she couldn’t or shouldn’t participate in things just because of her classification as a student.
And without even realizing it, her friends had made her feel that way on more than one occasion. Planning on going to events around campus, even though high risk students were not allowed to participate, or planning nights out on the town for open campus days when Emma wasn’t able to join them.
They would act apologetic when Emma confronted them about it, or apologize for not really making plans that could include her, but Emma was left out all the same.
The only person that she had been able to relate to about these things so far had been Killian.
Pushing through the double doors of his building, she turned up the steps to head up to his floor.
The thing that was different about the dorms in the high risk building was that they weren’t numbered. They were specifically assigned to each student and had their names written on placards next to the doors. Like living in a senior living facility.
Her grandmother’s room had been labeled similarly when she had visited when she was younger.
Killian’s door wasn’t that far from the stairwell, and she knocked twice on the door, listening to see if anyone was there.
There wasn’t any response right away, and Emma sighed. She was really looking forward to hanging out with him for a bit.
Just as she was turning to head back down the hall towards the stairs, Killian’s door swung open.
“Emma, what are you doing here?” He asked, surprised.
“Would you believe me if I said i was avoiding people?” She asked, suddenly unsure of herself.
“I would actually, since you are the only person who knows the location of my secret lair.” Killian said with a sarcastic twitch of an eyebrow.
Emma gave him a deadpan look and pointed up at his name card on the door.
“Okay, not so very secret,” Killian Laughed, “but the people that you would want to avoid don’t know where it is.”
“Do you mind if I come in?” She asked.
“Not at all, Please join me.” Killian said, stepping aside and gesturing into his room.
“Thank you,” Emma replied, grateful.
His room was not that much different than hers with two twin beds; a left over from the traditional college dorms, two dressers and a desk, a small kitchen and private bathroom.
While Emma had pushed her two beds together to make an attempt at a larger mattress a few years ago, Killian had kept his separate, choosing to make both of them into a sleeping space.
“Expecting someone?” Emma joked as she set her stuff down on the unoccupied bed.
“No, but it’s a familiar habit really.” Killian said. At her blank expression, he explained further. “I used to be a Lieutenant in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy. Having at least one other bunk mate was normal on a ship. As odd as it sounds, it’s familiar.”
Emma could understand that. When everything in her life was spiraling when she first arrived, she had the people who set up the rooms decorate hers like her room had been at home.
“That makes sense. And the Navy? I don’t know if I ever thought you to be a military guy.” Emma said.
“Well, I thought you had an inkling when you called me ‘Sailor’ the other night” Killian responded.
She flushed when she thought back on the night that she had kissed him for the first time.
She hadn’t been planning to do that, quite the opposite really. She had been prepared to burn the night away brooding in the rain when he had materialized out of the dark, answering a prayer she didn’t remember saying.
It had been a comfort having him there with her on that night, and he had gotten her to laugh when she hadn’t been anywhere near happy when he found her.
And she was curious, to see how her first kiss would be. If it would have lived up to everything that the books she had read made it out to be. It had surpassed all her expectations.
It felt like she was standing in the sun on a not quite warm day, and that first burst of bubbles after drinking sparkling wine on new year’s day, and that rush of joy from hearing a baby’s infectious laugh.
“No, I didn’t know. But you had so many nicknames for me already with love, and swan and all that, I had to come up with something of my own to call you.” Emma said, coming back to the present.
“Well, it fit better than you had even thought, didn’t it?” Killian said, laying back on the other bed and looking over at her from under the hair now falling into his eyes.
“It’s funny how some things work out, huh?” She said. “So, how did you end up in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy?” Emma asked, attempting to mimic his british accent and failing horribly.
Killian laughed in response. “That was horrible, but I will tell you how that all came about just for that sad attempt.”
Killian looked pensive for a moment.
“I actually followed my brother into the Navy.”
“How old is your brother?” She asked.
“Liam is 8 years my senior, so he would be about 33 by now. I followed him into the academy as soon as I completed upper school, or high school as you would call it here. Liam had already risen through the ranks a bit, he was already a sub-lieutenant by the time I had started my first days at the academy.”
“That must have been nice, already having another family member in the armed forces to be able to take advice from.”
“It would have been, if it weren't my brother.” Killian said bitterly, looking up at the ceiling.
“How so?”
“Liam can be a right selfish ass if he wants to be. Pardon my language.” Killian said, looking over at her apologetically.
“I don’t mind,” She said, gesturing for him to continue with his story.
“Liam has always had this attitude that he can do no wrong and anytime I do something wrong it is because I am trying to bring attention to myself in the wrong manner. I don’t know when it started but that image of me being the lesser of the two Jones brothers got really hard to shake the further along i got in the academy. But he is my brother, and I love him.” He said, still staring at the ceiling.
“I’m sorry he treated you that way.” She said after a few moments uncomfortable silence.
“It’s no trouble. I won’t be seeing him again for a long while anyhow.” Killian said, finally turning to  look at her again. “Now, I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon after our conversation, what happened?”
Killian had always been able to read her fairly well. “Mary Margaret made a comment that came across along the lines of how you don’t seem the type of person to be considered high risk and I do, and it didn’t... doesn’t sit well with me.” Emma said.
“And nor should it, that was very rude of her.”
“It was, and more the crux of the matter is that no matter how hard they try, they don’t seem to get it.”
“Get what?” He asked.
“They don’t get what it’s like to have someone look at you and not see you, to only see your power and the fear of that power that you have. And it has always been this way. They always plan things and not take into consideration whether or not I can go, or if it is something that I would have liked to have been included on.” Emma vented. It felt good to be able to talk about it to someone.
She looked over at Killian, “And while you may be new to this sort of thing, and this sort of life, you already understand me better than they do. And I wanted to go somewhere I wouldn’t be judged and wouldn’t be subjected to an interrogation about my romantic interests.”
Killian smirked, “Well, you won’t be interrogated on my watch Love.”
Emma smiled at him as he began to tell her more stories about his time in the Navy. They spent the entire afternoon swapping childhood stories.
26 notes · View notes