Treasure

Chapter 30

Emma slowly walked in the dirt path, kicking pebbles and dragging her feet. She really didn't know where she was going, but somehow ended up near the castle's stables. It was the only place she felt where no one would look for her. The only people that ever came down here were the stable workers and the knights who rode their horses. The princess and her father would only come down here for sword training every once in a while, but it was nothing special. Only in this past week has she spent more time down here than she did in years past, thanks to Killian.

She walked into the stable and observed the sight in front of her. Rows and rows of horses of all colors and sizes. They all looked strong and ready for a good run. The horses were always well-fed, getting the best diet. Sadly they rarely went out, they were only ridden when there was trouble in the kingdom. Misthaven was a quiet place, rarely facing any conflict. Not that that was a bad thing, the Queen and King worked hard for it to be that way...

    "Ah, there you are." A deep voice said from behind her.

    "Killian, what are you doing out of bed?" Emma said with wide eyes and a worried tone.

    "Looking for you, everyone is actually." He responded, holding his side where he was stabbed.

    "Come on, we need to get you back to your room." She said, warping her arm around his waist.

    "Not yet, we need to talk." Killian said, pulling away to face her.

    "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I had magic, I just didn't want to think about it." She responded, letting out a heavy breath.

    "Come sit darling." He said, sitting on a nearby haystack.

    "I didn't mean to hurt the other guy, I just..." She rambled.

    "Well if it's any consolation, he's alive. In the dungeon." Killian said, placing his hand in hers.

    "I don't really want magic." The princess admitted.

    "Well you do. So you can either run from it and have it get out of control or you can accept it and learn to control it." The captain responded in a direct tone.

    "I rather run..." She responded under her breath.

    "What are you so afraid of?" He asked.

    "Oh I found them!" August yelled from the door.

    "Bloody hell..." The captain winced in pain as he stood up.

    "Killian?" Emma asked, looking at him.

    "Em, you gotta stop hiding from your problems." August said, ignoring Killian.

    "Are you alright?" Neal asked Killian, entering the barn.

    "He needs to get back to the castle." Emma said, her concern growing.

    "Emma, we've looked  everywhere for you." The King said, entering the barn with his Queen.

    "Why don't you sit down." August suggested to Killian.

Killian took a seat, feeling dizzy and his body heated up.

    "Emma! You know better than to run off!" Snow said angrily.

    "Maybe we should get him back to the castle..." Neal said, referring to Killian.

Just as Neal finished his sentence, Killian collapsed on the floor. Bloodstained his hand from where he was holding his wound.

    "He's bleeding!" Emma shouted as she kneeled down by Killian.

    "You have magic, you can heal him." Snow said in a loud tone.

    "I-I don't know how." Emma responded, tears forming in her eyes.

    "And this is why you need to learn magic." Snow said, ignoring the current situation.

    "Can we worry about that later?" August shouted as he and Neal tried to pick Killian up.

    "Come on, let's get him back... " David said, going to help them.

They were now back in Killian's room... His wound had split back open from walking too much too soon. August stitched him back up and Neal went to go find him some new clothes. Emma sat by a sleeping Killian as she patted his head with a cool cloth cooling him down.

    "How is he?" David asked, trying to show he cared.

    "Why do you care?" Emma responded rudely, without looking up.

    "Emma, we do care." Snow responded from the other side of the room.

    "He's fine." The princess responded harshly.

Emma got up from the bed and went to open the balcony, letting in fresh air.

    "We're sorry we made you feel like you didn't have a say in the decisions about your magic." David said softly approaching Emma. 

    "But Emma, you do have magic and it's not just going to go away." Snow added.

    "I know... I've just seen what magic does to people." Emma said quietly.

    "Rumplestilskin?" Snow asked.

    "Yeah." Emma responded.

    "Not all magic is bad, Emma. Take Elsa for example." David added.

    "Yeah, but everyone in her kingdom feared her for a while." Emma said, her eyes glossy with fear.

    "That's because she didn't learn to control it until later in her life." Her father responded.

    "And you know from your history lessons that magic wasn't always liked in their kingdom. That's why her parents didn't say anything, they didn't want anyone to hurt her. But she changed all that. Her kingdom loves her." Her mother added.

    "I'm just scared." Emma admitted.

    "And it's okay to be afraid. Everyone is afraid of something." David said.

    "Take your father for example, he's scared of me." Snow joked with a smile.

    "Hey, everyone is scared of you." David teased, making Emma laugh.

    "How about you go to Arendelle, learn from Elsa." Snow suggested to Emma.

    "I don't know, I just got back and I can't leave Killian..." The princess said, walking back over to Killian.

    "Well, if we are going to consider Elsa, we have to ask her first. So your mother and I will send out a letter. It'll take a few weeks to hear back anyways, if he stays in bed he should be fine by then." David said calmly.

    "Thank you..." Emma said, hugging her father quickly.

    "We love you, okay?" Snow said, hugging her daughter.

David and Snow left the room, leaving Emma alone with a sleeping Killian. She knew everyone was right, she had to learn to at least control it. It made the princess feel better that her mother offered to get in contact with Elsa, one of Emma's closest friends, to help train her. She and Elsa were close in age and had many things in common, now including magic. Emma was surprised by how accepting everyone had been when they found out she had magic, not many other people were as lucky... just as she thought her life was turning back to normal, another adventure awaits.

Sorry it's a bit of a shorter chapter, but don't worry the next few will be longer!

As always... leave comments, suggestions, questions, anything! 

Thank you for reading :)