The Enchanted Forest

The very night that Baelfire was born things became different in the Stiltskin household, and it wasn't because of the new baby. Cali saw something snap in her mother the night her papa returned home broken and bloody. Different is the simple way she defined her "new" mother. Milah hung around the taverns more, drinking and flirting her time away. As though being a coward's wife meant she had to be a drunken mother as well.

             
Wasting her nights away hadn't become Milah's only bad hobby either, pushing anger and frustration deep into the pit of her hollowing chest made something else snap. Swirls of miserable emotions poured into the well, threatening to overflow within Milah, and eventually it did. The fist rushing to hit her replayed vividly in Cali's head everytime she closed her eyes the first time it happened. And then Mama hit her again. And again. And again. Until every night as she slept all Cali lived was the never ending abuse.

Bruises and scratches began to spread with violent colors and wide patterns across her body. Whenever voices rose or hands formed fists Cali had begun to flinch. She saw her mother fawning over her baby brother, never letting her son come to harm. Milah often left Cali wondering again and again what she had done to her mother to make her despise her so...

Seven days before Cali's sixteenth birthday, the unimaginable happens. Well, quite a few things happen concerning the Stiltskin family. Cali holds their axe, Mama letting her use it once again. She splits another piece of wood and out of the corner of her eye Cali can see Papa playing with Bae. Baelfire runs after dragonflies with a net in hand and Rumplestiltskin hobbling just behind him. His foot never healed right after he injured himself to leave the ogre wars.
             

'And as usual, Mama and I are working while Papa's supposed to be helping,' Cali thinks as she grips the axe handle and swings down into the center of a new piece of wood. Winter is coming swiftly to the small town, frost arriving on frigid winds and breaths trail through the air like the smoke puffing soundly from chimneys. Milah picks up the split pieces and stacks them on their growing pile when Rumple hobbles over.

             
"Milah! Calypso! You don't have to be doing this yourselves, I said I would do it."

"You said that," Mama growls, "and somehow it still didn't get done."

"Well, um, I was playing with the boy," Papa motions towards where Baelfire is playing. He meets Cali's eyes for a mere second before looking away, "princess, why don't you go play with your brother."

"Yes, Papa," Cali sighs, she leaves her parents to their bickering and when she's far enough away she rolls her eyes. 'Our family may be in shambles, but there is no reason that Bae should have to suffer for that. Sure Mama and Papa fight often, and when Mama isn't fighting Papa she's hitting me, but Bae doesn't need to know that.' As Cali gets closer to Baelfire she sees what he's doing, her brow furrows seeing him reaching for something on the ground. 'Even if Papa chooses to be oblivious to Mama's pain, to my pain-.' Bae screams curling away from the thing he was reaching for, Cali sees the snake slithering away from his shaking body and runs towards him.

"Mama! Papa!" Cali yells, holding Bae and soothing his tears. She tries to pull him farther away from the snake that rears towards them just as Milah makes it to them and kills it with the axe.

In shock, Cali hadn't seen Papa come up behind her, but she notices as he takes Baelfire from her arms. Bae has his hand clutched to his chest, it's coloring a stricken purple and crusty green with the bite swelling alarmingly fast.

Rumple and Milah leave Cali alone with Bae in search of a cure for the snake venom. A nurse from the village shows up only minutes after they leave, and quickly gets to work taking care of Baelfire. She asks Cali to go get some water, after explaining to her in hurried whispers that if they didn't find Fendrake the Healer then all was lost.

Because he is Bae's last hope to live...

In the midst of the Enchanted Forest, a shabby round hut hides. Sunlight filters through the trees, casting light between the brush and exposing the small clearing. A man hunches over, inspecting something in the earth as Rumplestiltskin and Milah hurriedly approach the healer. As Rumple begins to speak his stutter hurts their situation as Fendrake recognizes his favorite expression painted across the poor man's face — desperation.

"Ex, excuse us. Fendrake the Healer? Sor, sorry to bother you, sir. I, it's our son. Oh my, we un, we left him at home, thinking it might be too dangerous to move him."

"We need the antidote to this," Milah cuts in, quickly pulling the body of the snake out of her satchel and shoving it into the healer's face.

"Atlanthean rat snake. It's a twenty-four hour poison. Your boy will be dead by tomorrow."

"No! No!"

"Unless you're willing to use magic."

"Magic! We, we'll pay anything. What magic?"

The healer reaches into his dirty jacket and pulls out a small vial of crystal blue potion. The anxious couple lean inwards, and his features twist upwards into a smirk because he knows they will be his next swindle. Milah reaches for the vial, but Fendrake snatches it away shaking his head. The two emerge from the cramped hut moments later, Milah cursing everything that walks.

"One hundred gold! We won't see that in our lives," Rumple whines, hobbling after his fast paced wife.

"No," Milah rounds on him sharply, "but we'll get our cure anyway."

"How?"

"You'll go back and take it."

"Take it? He'd kill me for sure!" Rumplestiltskin quakes, wondering what has gotten into Milah's mind now. 

"Oh, now there's a puzzle you'll have to figure out," Milah sneers at her cowardly husband, "he can't kill you, if you kill him first."

Taking timid steps into the candlelit tavern, Cali's features are twisted into absolute disgust, 'Bae on his deathbed and my parents are already drinking.' This tavern is the only place either of her parents will go, the owner's long time friends of the family who look out for Milah whenever she comes.

Calypso has to stand on her toes to finally spot her parents and she is met with a sight she hadn't seen in years. Her parents kissing, passionately? She watches as Rumple takes something from the table, and disappears into the crowd and out the door.

Shaking her head, Cali steps past her shock of seeing her parents so intimate and she rushes to her mother who so happens to be tipping back another drink. 'The reason I had even been looking for them had hit me hard — Bae.'
             

Cali reaches Milah who turns her fading attention to her daughter, "Mama! What were you and Papa doing here?"

Milah scoffs quietly, "your father had to get something before we got Bae's cure. What are you doing here?"

             
She doesn't get the chance to respond as a drunk knocks into Cali who bumps into her mother. Ale slips from his cup and all down Cali's front and onto Milah's feet.

"Come on, Calypso," Milah orders, pointing to the door, "why were you here?"

             
"The, the nurse! She says that Bae doesn't have much time left, she thought you and Papa would want to be with him..."

But Milah has already run out of the tavern and towards their hovel at the words of no time left. Cali is left standing lost for only a few moments before she moves to leave the tavern. However the drunk man from seconds before grabs her arm tightly. Her heartbeat quickens and she tries to twist from his hazy grip. Panic grips the edges of her senses as he grabs a musky rag from his pocket and begins to press it against her chest. 'I know what he's doing.'

             
"Oh, did I make that mess?" A toothless grin masks little of the devilish thoughts in his eyes, "oh, such a nice dress, and a pretty girl still in it."

             
Her complexion pales in milliseconds and Calypso attempts to twist from his grip again, "no! Stop it. I don't need your help."

"No, no I got it," the man steps closer, his size towering against Cali's thin frame.

Air disappears from the space around her, Cali's heart thumping painfully against her ribcage as the world darkens on the edges of her vision. All she wants is to vanish when he adds, "you can make it up to me, sweetheart," with a toothless smirk on his tone.

             
Her breathing begins to falter as she tries to twist from his grip with another step farther away from him.

"Let me go," Cali's voice quakes and trembles on the words, small and weak in her moment of need.

Then a black leather clad hand comes between her and the drunk, resting on the drunk's shoulder. Cali is twisted towards the new man who has dark hair as he makes the drunk face him. His eyes look over the lady, eyes catching onto the beer down her dress and the tight grip this obviously drunk man has on her. But now he has the perfect stance to get her away from the drunk, but he can't help pausing at just how terrified she is. Cali has to look up to meet the eyes of the stranger in black and red leather as he speaks, only droplets of relief touching her racing heart.

             
"Let the lady go. Leave her be," he demands of the drunk, hand wanting to go for his sword instead of using words.

"Or what?" the drunk laughs cheekily, gripping Cali's arm tighter. She winces and attempts to pull herself away from the drunk again, the dark haired stranger's fist clenches in an immediate reaction when he sees her eyes flutter from the pain.

             
"Gonna deprive me of a little fun?"
             

"Well," the dark haired stranger trails off, and Cali's eyes widen and her heart hammers against her ribcage violently. All relief flees from the pit in her stomach along with every bit of thankfulness towards her rescuer. Her knees weaken and the world spins rapidly once again at her hoped savior's words.

"I do suppose, if that's your idea of fun-" and his clenched fist is already connecting with the drunk's nose. The drunk's head is knocked back, crimson begging to rush from his nose as it fractures, and the drunk is unconscious before he even begins to fall backwards.
             

Cali finds the drunk's grip loosening as he falls, but not enough for her to not begin to fall with him. Her hero however catches her by the waist gently while removing the drunk's arm from her own. Moving her closer to a nearby table, he hurriedly puts space between himself and her so she doesn't panic any more. He grabs a pair of drinks off of a passing waitress' tray before sitting down by her. He slides one of the shots over to her, watching her eyes as fear flees from the clouded orbs.

             
Now that the drunk is bleeding and unconscious on the straw floor several feet away, Cali's heart beats slower as she takes several deep breaths. Her palm rubs at the part of her wrist that was caught, she knows that it'll be an ugly color by tonight. Once her heart slows and she feels the world has stoped spinning she takes in her savior's appearance. Her blue eyes glance over the black leather, adorned blade at his hip, and land on his worried sea-green eyes that burn into her memory in seconds.

             
"Thank you?"

             
Her voice is soft-spoken and warm as she thanks him, asking for his name at the same time, and he melts as a small smile takes place on her lips. The woman's voice is still breathless, yet after what she just went through he expects it. And he does wish to admit that if he were to save anyone in a tavern, he's glad that he saved someone more beautiful than the stars themselves.

            
"Jones, m'lady," he gently takes her hand, kissing the soft back for longer than he should, "Captain Killiam Jones, at your service."

His accent and voice surprise Cali, expecting him to sound older than just a few years older than herself. She smiles, and Killian's stomach soars with butterflies twisting in pure joy.

             
"I do believe you've already done that, when you saved me," Cali can't seem to pull her eyes away from his own.

"Captain... that doesn't look to be the uniform of any navy I've seen in these waters," she trails off, brows pulling together in confusion (and Killian almost says she looks cute confused). "Oh, you're, um-," Cali watches his eyes sadden at her realization, Killian's eyes not leaving her own once.

             
"Well, they call us pirates. In truth, we sail where we will and we answer to no crown."

            
"You're free," sighing Cali sits beside him, thinking on overdrive of all the glories of being free. Killian's eyes widen as the lady sits next to him, no one reacting to the pirate's confession in quite this way before.

             
"I haven't seen anywhere beyond this little port. Is, is it wonderful to travel so? To be free to the winds and tides. To do as you wish when you wish?"
             

"Aye," he grins as he leans in.

Killian had seen the sparkle in her eyes, as though she knew exactly how he felt on the sea. And his head travels as he leans in closer, til she can see each speck of blue and green in his eyes, as though whatever he says next is a secret meant for none to know. Like it's Killian's whole world, his eyes shining bright in his living dreams.

             
"Do you know... there are cities, where the air smells of spices. And where women are carried on jeweled chairs. And when you get out far enough to sea, and you can no longer see any land. It becomes just you, the sea, and the stars, where you feel nothing and everything all at once."

             
Killian pauses, debating something that Cali finds herself leaning forward in her eagerness to know.

             
"Would you like to see that?"
             

"With all my heart," Cali doesn't even think before responding, and her cheeks burn in embarrassment. She's prepared to throw away her whole life for a man who was bold for her on a chance. Yet her heart twinges sharply as her thoughts cloud her mind, shadowing her dreams with reality. Forcing her to remember that she isn't living a fairytale. Reminding her that life did not mean for her to live.

             
Cali's eyes drop from him for the first time since they met, scanning the palms of her hands. Because the scars may have faded from her hands, but she can feel the indents on her arms. Hear her mother screaming in her ears all the insults that latch onto her heartstrings to keep her captive. She's ready to go anywhere with this man, but invisible chains hold her down.

Killian had been watching as the woman before him looked down in silence, as though shamed by her words. And when the nameless girl goes to speak again, Killian's heart wilts like a dying rose when her eyes stay glued to her palms.

"I mean, I, I would love to go. But I have responsibilities here. I have a job, and the most pressing of them all, a dying brother."

Cali's eyes flit back up to him just as his own fall in disappointment, but she had seen his gaze the way he had been looking at her... like he had been memorizing every detail of her face.

He clears his throat, running a hand through his hair, blushing in his own embarrassment, "ah, of course. What we wouldn't do for our siblings... Well, um, would it also be that a better man than I has already won your heart?"

And Cali melts at his words, Killian Jones understanding every word she had said, but still hopeful despite her unknown life. 'I want to go with him, I truly do. I desperately wish to drop my life and chase a new one with, with him. But in this cruel world, family is the one thing I will not utterly abandon. Not like how they've abandoned me...'

"No," Cali's voice is gentle, like a bird gliding over the water until it settles into the sea and sets it fate, and she continues hoping he can't hear yet wishing with all her soul that he does, "there is no one."

"Well, I am in port quite often, should your situation ever change?"

"No, um, it won't. It, it will probably be worse after today, but thank you for rescuing me, Captain."

Killian had almost forgotten that him saving her had sparked this, whatever this is. Cali stands hurriedly, remembering that Bae is nearly dead. He rushes to stand with her, a thin smile masking the feelings clattering in his ribcage, "anytime, love."

Butterflies take to fluttering faster within Cali's stomach as he says 'love' and presses another kiss to the back of her hand.

'Ten minutes.' She looks back and meets his eyes, still latched onto her own, and watching her leave. Her head screams with reason, but her heart shatters with each step. Her soul cries, echoing a chill into her bones to run away. To run back to Killian Jones.

The door barely closes behind Cali and her head only spins faster in a flurry of thoughts and unimaginable emotions spurring in her chest. 'I've not even known him for a day, much less an hour.' But the way his eyes had lost that glittering light as the door separated their gazes tore Cali in half.

And Killian was not taking their parting much better, for mere moments since Liam had died Killian felt whole again. With her, a woman he had saved from a man with drunken and horrible intentions. A lady whose name he may never know, a lady who taught his heart how to rush faster than adrenaline and rum and treasure in mere seconds...

'Oh, Killian Jones, how are you already stuck in my head?'

Cali runs back to the hovel as fast as her feet can carry her. Coming to the door, it swings open right in Cali's face and the nursemaid leaves as she enters. Fear bubbles in the pit of her stomach fearing the worst, especially when she finds Mama and Papa hovering over Baelfire. She watches as her father takes a small vial of violently teal liquid and pours it down Bae's throat. She watches, amazed, as the snake bite disappears and his fever fades in an instant. Her near-death brother now appears completely fine, and Cali feels regret at not leaving with Killian when she could as Milah lays eyes on her daughter and announces that they are going to the well.

Once outside of the hovel and the door is shut, Milah rushes at Cali who groans as she hits the wooden wall behind her.

"And where were you when your brother was dying," Milah growls, fingers clenching around Cali's thoat.

Grabbing at her mother's hands, Cali gasps, whimpering to be free. Clouds spread across her vision for the second time that night as air begins to feel like a luxury when Cali can no longer bring air into her lungs.

"Doesn't matter," Milah spits and releases her grip on Cali's throat, allowing her to slide to the ground and Cali feels the bruises swelling on her neck as she gasps for air.

Cali gasps falling onto her side as Milah sends a kick into her stomach, "now go fetch some water and," she grips Cali's hair, pulling her up to face her. Tears slide down Cali's cheeks as she cries silently at her mother's hand, "don't stumble about this time."

Milah then turns back inside, and to her favored child, and Cali once again disappears from the hovel. She hurries to the well, but as Cali pulls the bucket up her thoughts slow her actions as her thoughts overtake the swirl of nonsense in her mind.

Her savior, pirate captain just won't get out of her head. 'Get over it- him.' She tries to convince herself that whatever those ten minutes were, he is a lost cause. 'He doesn't even know your name. Why would he even care? He probably cares the same bit of nothing about you that everyone else does. He probably already had another girl at his side!'

Only Cali knows that her pirate captain is different than everyone else in her life. Her heart yelling over every thought in her head that he's waiting for her, and that he will wait for the dream he wants to share with her.

When Cali finally gets back to the hovel with a bucket of water in each hand, her own thoughts have bullied her to tears that fall heavily down her aching cheeks. Her heart spikes when she sees Milah running into town, and Cali feels little relief knowing that she's going back to her drinks.

Cali doesn't attempt to mask her confusion as she sees her father whispering to Bae as she sets one of the buckets down beside the two, taking the other for herself.

She doesn't bother asking about the cure. About the magic at place here. She would be surprised if he even answered her. Because for the longest time now, it seems as though she is a burden to her mother and a ghost to her father.

But still in the dead of night, every time Cali's eyes flutter closed, the sea green tinted eyes of her hero play on repeat in her head. Cali can still feel traces of the fluttering butterflies that made her feel somewhere else, somewhere safer than this old town. And for once in years of nightmares and shadows turned terror, her dreams consisted of something more...

'Oh, Captain Killian Jones, why are you stuck in my head?'

old author's notes /
[   ➤Please refrain from flipping any tables about the age differences yet, because they are changed for this book. Calypso is about sixteen when she meets Killian who I have as about two-three and a half years older. I like to think this isn't very long from when he first became a pirate, which I say is about when he was seventeen-eighteen. So Cali is practically sixteen and Killian is nineteen. And even though it's not normal for us, it would be for the world they live in.➤      ➤𝐀𝐡𝐡𝐡! 𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞. 𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤?➤
➤𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭. 𝐈 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧! 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞!➤. ➤𝟗-𝟐𝟗-𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎➤   ]

And tbh I almost cried awhile writing most of this chapter so please help my unstable emotions over my favorite couple literally finally meeting (again) for y'all!!

I honestly feel like I was able to put so much more into Cali and Killian's first meeting in this chapter, and I'm very proud of how far they've come.

I do have to admit that getting feedback or even votes on my books helps me feel motivated to write because I know that someone is still reading and enjoying!! So if your reading or even rereading, please leave a comment or a vote for faster updates idk!!

Plus I have several social accounts that I would love to get to know y'all on such as Discord, Insta, Tumblr, and a few others in my bio!! Feel free to ask me whenever if you want to talk!!

Hope you all enjoyed, I'll try to update soon!!
Have a wonderful day!! I love you all so much, and thank y'all for the support!! (Just please remember that I'm more likely to update with encouraging comments, not demands <3)

LOVE KATIE<33
05/25/2022

bonus: a little Callian manip <3