Treasure

Chapter 74

A week later...

Killian stood on the deck of the Jolly Roger, going full speed, as he looked out his spyglass to find the water were calm. He hadn't seen Peter Pan since Emma freed him. The captain would be lying if he said he was happy to never see than demon again. Deep down that feeling of revenge still lingered. Even if Pan wasn't the one who sent him and his brother on that mission to collect dreamshade, he could have done more to stop them, to save his brother. And now that the green-eyed demon couldn't hurt the captain, he would surely be a dead man.

However, Killian couldn't afford to think like that. He had Emma to worry about, and now more so than ever. He hated to admit it, but she was right, Liam would've wanted him to continue to live out his life full of happiness and not hate. Liam certainly wouldn't have wanted him to kill anyone nor only live for revenge. Emma was a constant reminder of that. She might have not known Liam but they were much alike and deep down the captain counted his lucky stars every day for that...

No news ever came from King George's kingdom regarding his death or more importantly who was responsible for it. Perhaps Emma did the kingdom a favor and their repayment was their silence. Nonetheless, it ate away at Emma ever since. She spent much of her time below deck, not because she had to, but because she wanted to. The princess let her instinctive choice consume her mind, knowing she took the life of another... All her life she was raised to be good, to give people another chance, to choose the right path. She had convinced herself that her parents would be upset with her, if not her entire kingdom.

The captain did his best to tell her it wasn't her fault for acting on instinct, that she had saved him, but she refused to believe that was the only way to save his life. He knew her parents wouldn't care of the king's death because it was a small price to pay for her life. However, she didn't see it that way and it was becoming difficult to raise her spirits and ease her mind.

Emma remained in their bed trying to forget what she had done. On top of it all, she refused to eat and rarely slept. Killian did his best to take care of her as well as his other responsibilities but found himself starting to feel responsible for her actions. After all, he was captain and should have been nowhere near that kingdom, let alone the kingdom's ruler. More importantly, he shouldn't have let her go off with the deceitful king. But he couldn't think that way. He has killed more people than he could count and the bloodshed didn't bother him anymore, especially when it came to protecting her...

After scouting out the waters one last time, he assigned Mr. Smee to take over the evening responsibilities so he could try and give Emma some dinner. He had the ship's cook make one of her favorite meals hoping it would do the trick.

Meanwhile, below deck, Emma layed in their large bed with a pillow over her face, hoping the memories of what she had done would pass. Killian would tell her every day not to dwell on the past, nor relive that awful moment, but she found herself disobeying his wishes as always. The only good that came out of this was that her headaches had passed and the crew was starting to be nice to her again. Not to mention her rift will Killian quickly passed after killing the King of Mal...

    After retrieving the plate of mashed potatoes and roast beef, Killian headed to their quarters to find Emma's untouched lunch till on the table. He sighed and placed her dinner plate beside it and headed over to their bedroom door. Slowly opening it, he found Emma in her usual spot on the bed, buried under the covers... Not wanting to startle her, he knocked on the open door. "It's me, darling." He said entering.

To no surprise, she didn't answer, nor move at all. He had to admit, seeing her like this hurt more than he thought. In a way, she had lost her innocence. Killing a man with her father's sword... not even he could imagine that kind of pain, but he remembered the first time he killed somebody. He remembered the replay in his head over and over and the way he wished he could take it back. Luckily for him, he had Liam at the time who would comfort him...