Treasure

Chapter 39

    "You did?" Emma asked quietly.

    "It made me feel like I still have a purpose, that I can still help." He continues to explain, "I liked talking to our alliances and hearing their worries, and I'm good at helping."

    The Princess put all her selfish thoughts aside, "You're right then, you should go."

    August smiled at her approval, "I wanted to give you your gift before I left." He said, handing her a small square box.

    "Emma laughed as she wiped a tear away, "You know you don't need to get me anything."

    "I wanted to." He stated, still trying to give her the box.

Emma took the box and opened it. A small, handcrafted, wooden swan... "It's beautiful. I didn't know you still carved wood." She said, admiring her gift.

    "Sometimes I still help down at papa's shop." August let out a laugh, "I know Killian gave you the nickname Swan and your parents gave you a swan necklace last year, but it also reminded me of the story I use to read you."

    "The Ugly Duckling." Emma said, remembering the past.

    He nodded, "The swan didn't think it would ever change, until it did. Just like you thought you'd never get out of this Kingdom, until you did."

    "So you thought it was right what I did last year?" She asked, "Staying on the Jolly Roger with Killian."

    "I do." August responded in a serious tone, "If you didn't do that, you would have never met him and then you would've been stuck in this kingdom forever, you would have never reached your full potential."

    Emma hugged him, "Thank you for everything. For taking care of me and always encouraging me to be more than what I thought I was."

    August broke the hug, "I always knew you were destined to be more, I'm just glad you realized it too."

The two said their final goodbyes and then Emma watched him board the ship and sail away from her balcony. She knew he'd be back eventually, but that didn't matter. August was finally doing something for himself. All his life he looked after his father and then his father, Geppetto, told him to look after the Princess when her parents couldn't. He took good care of her, always boosting her confidence and showing her there was more to life than ball gowns and crowns. He showed her what it was like to build something from scratch, in Geppetto's shop. He showed her there was life beyond the Kingdom's boundaries, he took her on her first adventure away from home. He showed her the life he wanted to live and now he finally got the chance...

The sun was beginning to set and the ball would be starting soon and Emma had yet to get ready. Luckily she never took long to get ready and surprisingly no one came in to help her get ready. Maybe her mother finally respected her wishes of wanting to do more herself, or perhaps they were  just needed elsewhere. Nonetheless, the Princess put on her blue ball gown and tied her hair up in a bun. She was about to start her makeup when there was a knock on her door, "You may enter." Emma said.

"You always sound like the Princess I first met whenever you say that." Killian laughed entering the room, looking down.

Emma followed in his laughter, "Well I am still a princess after all."

Killian finally looked up to find his love looking as gorgeous as ever. Her hair was held back to expose her beautiful face and the dress hugged her figure perfectly, he loved that there wasn't any makeup on her face, "You look stunning, Swan."

"Please, I haven't even done my makeup yet." She smiled from her vanity.

"You don't need any darling..." He responded, still in awe.

The Princess's face went red, "To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you?"

Killian shook his head back into reality, "Well I was helping set up the plates by the food table, then a few dozen slipped out of my hands, so the Queen thought I'd be better help up here." He said with a smirk.

Emma let out a laugh as she did her makeup, "Killian Jones, the most feared pirate in any realm with the fastest ship in any realm, helping set up a Princess's birthday ball."

The Captain was now the one blushing, "Perhaps I like setting up dances." He said in an offended tone.

Emma finished her makeup and went over to Killian who was sitting on her bed, "Well with your help, I'm sure everything will be perfect." Said said, placing a kiss on his warm cheek.

Killian smiled and looked down to find the small box August gave her, "What's this?"

The Princess opened it to show him the wooden swan, "A gift August made me." She said sadly.

"You don't like it?" Killian asked, hearing the tone of her voice, "I think it's quite lovely."

"No, I like it." She said quickly, "August... he left the Kingdom already."

"I'm sorry, love." He said, placing an arm around her as Emma laid her head on his shoulder, "I know how much you wanted him here."

"Yeah, but I know he's happier where he is now." She responded with a small smile.

Killian let out a breath, "As much as I was jealous of that man when I first met him, I'm gonna miss him too."

David entered the room, "Guests are arriving darling."

Emma got up and Killian followed, "I'm surprised mother didn't follow you in-"

"Sorry, I'm late!" Snow said, interrupting. Emma looked up to Killian who just laughed... "Emma are you ready?"

"Almost." The Princess answered, looking around the room. She walked back over to her vanity where her crown sat and she put it on her head, "Okay, I'm ready."

The Queen smiled, "I thought about it, and you don't have to wear your crown if you don't want to."

Emma thought for a moment, "I know." She said with a smile, "I want to." 

Snow smiled as hard as she could, "You look absolutely beautiful."

"You're mother is right." David chimed in, "Now hurry up, everyone is waiting to waltz." He said as him and his wife left the room.

Killian was preparing to leave the room when he turned around and saw a frozen Emma, "Are you alright love?" He asked, confused.

"I don't know how to waltz." She responded with a scared expression.

The Captain looked at her in disbelief, "I'm a pirate and even I know how to waltz."

Emma started to panic, talking a mile a minute, "I never liked to dance, so I didn't learn it and my parents didn't care because there were always more important things to learn and-"

Killian grabbed her hands, "slow down." He said, cutting off her sentence, "I'll teach you..."

Killian pulled Emma close to him and walked her through the steps. She quickly picked up on the moves and was soon a natural. They both laughed as they danced in her room and soon Killian picked her up off her feet and spun her around, getting lost in her forest-green eyes. Moments like this he wished he could freeze forever...

Not much CaptainSwan fluff in this chapter, but don't worry, there will be many more moments between the two after the ball. I wanted to wrap up August's storyline this chapter and their goodbye was a little longer than intended, hope you don't mind!

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

Thank you for reading :)