Prologue

I wasn't always running. I was a Princess with a grand home, loving parents, even an annoying-as-hell little brother I would do anything for. Actually, he's the reason why I'm running. Henry. My family. I love them all and I ran to protect them. The Evil Queen's plan failed. She was supposed to take away everyone's happy endings. Since she couldn't do that, she's determined to just take away my mother's happy ending: Me.

Part One

Chapter One

The guards came out of the rain late that summer night. Most of the town was at the tavern, laughing together and chattering away near the fire and at the surrounding tables. Rain poured down outside, the cold helping to fog the windows from within and obscuring flashes of lightning. Thunder crashed, but it could hardly be heard over the merry sounds of the pub.

Silence fell when the double doors at the front of the building burst open to reveal eight of the Queen's guards. Everyone knew for whom they'd come but no one gave away her position by even a flicker of their eyes. Patrons started moving again, careful to keep it casual, drawing attention away from the back of the room with their loud chattering and shuffling of chairs.

Ever so slowly, Emma shifted towards the back door, ducking down a bit to hide behind some of the townsfolk. She was almost to the back door when two of the guards started heading in her direction. She hadn't been spotted yet, but it was only a matter of time. Then, a cloaked and hooded figure moved just inside their peripheral vision, capturing the guards' attention. The danger had passed and Emma wasn't about to wait around. She slipped out the back door, grabbing her dull brown cloak along the way.

She slipped it on as she walked and kept to the deepest shadows as she slowly made her way towards the forest. Emma cursed her own stupidity as she went. She shouldn't have stayed as long as she had. But it was so comfortable here; the people were kind and welcoming, and it was so close to her home, to her parents. Not to mention, she was tired of running. She'd been at it for over a year now. No, must be more like two, she mused as she passed into the forest.

A tingling sensation spread through her and she stopped dead, her heart pounding in her head. She shifted around slowly, determined to figure out what was causing it. She squinted her eyes in an attempt to see through the gloom, and even though the trees helped block some of the downpour, she still couldn't see more than ten feet in any direction.

Relying on her instincts had served her well these last years, and while she couldn't see anyone, she knew someone was there, watching her. If it were the guards they would have attacked already, she thought to herself. She weighed her options, wondering who could be following her. Finally, she decided she needed to keep moving, in case Regina's guards decided to wander into the forest. Instead of heading towards her hideout though, she took a meaningless and winding path through the forest, the better to gauge her pursuer's abilities and stamina, and possibly force them into more forward action. Emma was not fond of games, and she particularly loathed hide-and-seek.

Eventually the rain stopped, making it easier to listen for her unwanted companion's breathing or footsteps, but they were far too clever to be heard. Still, she knew they were there. When she got to the river, she took a minute to drink and rest, hoping to entice her follower into coming closer. As she waited, she once again pondered her options. She needed to get to her hideout, if only to retrieve the rest of her things and be on her way to the next village. She was also increasingly curious about the person on her trail, mostly wondering what it was they wanted from her, but also marveling at their exceptional tracking skills; the only reason she knew someone was there was a gut feeling. There had been no overt signs of a pursuer in the several hours she'd been wandering the forest. Whoever was behind her was very, very good.

Option one: She could continue on like she had been, wandering the forest in the hopes of losing her tracker.

That option was dismissed almost as soon as she thought of it. She was tired and she needed to get out of the area as soon as possible. She didn't have time for those kinds of hopes.

Option two: She could head back to her hideout in the hopes that one, her tracker would lose her or two, her tracker would continue to follow but not try to harm her.

No. There were too many variables, too many unknowns in this option. Again, she couldn't pin her safety on a hope.

Option three: Call out her tracker and get some answers.

She ran the risk they would refuse to interact with her, but that was a risk she was willing to take.

"Are you thirsty? Might as well come get some water. You must be, after trailing me since we entered the forest." She turned to look behind her, where she felt her pursuer was lurking deep in the shadows of the trees.

With no warning, she was grabbed from behind. Big hands snatched at her waist, pulling her backward. Emma yelped in surprise but quickly got ahold of herself. She threw up her leg and slammed it back down into her attacker's inseam then elbowed him in the stomach. He let go with a grunt of surprise and she whirled around, right hand grabbing for the dagger in her belt, slicing him across the cheek as she moved away.

It was dark, so she couldn't see her attacker's face, but she could see the outline of his body. Tall, broad shoulders, and he seemed unnaturally bulky, like he was wearing a long coat. He stepped towards her and she stepped back, glancing around for a better defensive position near the river. He reached forward slowly and said, "Gods, lass, where did you learn how to do that?"

Emma shook her head to clear it, sure she'd just had some sort of auditory hallucination. "What?"

"I asked where you learned that. I always thought you'd be more of an archer, like your mother. I would never have expected you to know any close-combat fighting." He took another step forward, taking advantage of her disbelief.

A warm humming started spreading through her body, an excitement and pleasure she hadn't experienced in years rushing through her veins at the sound of that voice. His voice. "Peter?" she whispered, hardly daring to believe it.

He paused in his step forward and groaned. "Will I never be rid of that name?" he murmured, mostly to himself. "Actually, lass, I go by Killian Jones now." He took a step forward just as some clouds moved away from the moon, giving her enough light to look into his mischievous blue eyes. "But most people have taken to calling me by my more colorful moniker," he lifted his left arm, something silver glinting at the end of it. "Hook."

Emma couldn't help it. She chuckled at his cocky tone. Her laughs increased when she saw the annoyed look on his face. "Gods, Peter. '…my more colorful moniker, Hook,'" she mocked, deepening her voice and bringing her left hand up, her first two fingers curved to mimic his hook. She punched him lightly in the arm and rolled her eyes. "Don't be such an idiot."

He growled low in his throat, a sound she was sure he meant to sound threatening, but which just made her start giggling again. "It's Hook, your highness."

At his formal address, her face fell and she stopped laughing. "What?" She tilted her head to the side and frowned. "You've never spoken so formally to me before." She tried and failed to keep the hurt out of her voice.

Hook's face hardened. "Things are different now."

"Pray tell, what's happened that old friends can no longer address each other by their given names?" she sneered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We were hardly friends," he threw back. "And that brings us to why I'm following you." He stepped closer and Emma, who had been thrown by his first comment, stayed put in her shock.

"Hardly…wait, why have you come to find me, Hook?"

He looked her over for a quiet moment, sighed and said, "I need you."

Somehow she knew he didn't mean it in a good way. She raised an eyebrow. "What for?"

He smirked at her and sent a smoldering look her way, but she only continued looking at him. "You are a valuable pawn, lass, and I need to make a game-changing move to achieve my goal."

Her jaw dropped. "A pawn? You're really likening me to a chess piece?" He smirked at her and shrugged. She laughed bitterly. "And I suppose you want to move this pawn in the direction of the 'black queen'?" She took a step back and tensed, ready to run.

He shook his head. "Think of it as moving you in a more sideways direction. Towards a third party who has mixed loyalties."

She sent him a questioning look, wondering whom he could mean, but he only shook his head. "So what's your plan? Are you going to knock me out and carry me over your shoulder back to your ship? Keep me locked in your cabin until you can deliver me to…whoever needs to see me so badly?" she said it pointedly.

"That's for me to know, lass. And as for getting you there…" he leered at her. "I was going to give you your own cabin, but if you'd rather bunk with me, darling..."

A branch snapped in the distance and both of their heads turned in that direction. They looked back at each other, each considering their choices. Emma bit her lip as she waffled between running from Hook and going with him. He raised an eyebrow at her as she contemplated, tensed to run after her if that's what she chose to do. Ultimately, it came down to Emma's exhaustion; she was tired of running. She needed a game-changing move as well, and maybe going along with Hook would put something into action.

But she was under no illusion that she would be safe with him. He was obviously no longer the boy she'd known growing up; she would have trusted Peter with her life, but Hook…he was obviously pursuing his own goals, with no regard to what happened to Emma. She sighed, eyeing him. "Alright, let's go," she decided cautiously.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "That's it? No struggling?"

She shook her head and motioned for him to start moving. "Right now, at least eight of Regina's guards are combing this forest for me. I don't have the time or energy to fight you on this. If you're telling the truth about not imprisoning me on your ship, I'll be able to escape should I need to. If not, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve." He looked at her with doubt. "And you never know, maybe this person we're meeting can actually help."

He continued to stare at her, trying to read her thoughts. Rolling her eyes and sighing, Emma started walking into the trees. "Where are you headed, Princess?" he started following behind her.

Without looking back she answered, "The sea is this way. Unless you sailed your ship on the river or somehow flew it into the forest, we need to head in this direction."

He smirked at her. "You'd be surprised." He motioned over his shoulder with a nod of his head. "The ship's this way."

Emma furrowed her brow. "But that will lead us further into the forest. There's no water whatsoever that way."

"Try something new, darling. It's called trust," he said without looking back at her.

Emma rolled her eyes and murmured to herself, "Yeah, I trust you about as far as I can throw you, darling."

"What was that, darling?" he called back to her.

"Nothing," she denied when she caught up to him.

"You know, you never had such trust issues with me before," he commented, giving her a pointed look.

"You never seemed so untrustworthy to me before," she shot back sulkily. It only made his manic grin widen.

They walked in silence with Hook grinning like a loon and Emma getting more and more angry with herself for going with him. This was not a good idea. She had no way of knowing if the person they were meeting was a friend or an enemy. Just as she was about to turn around and make a run for it, they reached a clearing, in the center of which sat a huge ship.

Her jaw dropped. "What?" she asked, looking over at Hook.

His grin widened. "The Jolly Roger. Just wait until you see what she can do." He started climbing up a rope ladder and she hesitated. Was this really her best option for escaping Regina's guards and getting back home to her family? She lifted a hand to place it on the ladder but left it hovering over the first rung.

She had no idea where Hook was taking her or to whom. It could be straight to Regina for all she knew, and she was just following him blindly. Because she'd grown up with Peter, had trusted Peter. But if this time trekking with him through the woods was any indication, cheery Peter was long gone and ruthless Captain Hook had taken his place. Did she really want to place all her trust in a person she didn't really know anymore?

"Better make a decision soon, love," Hook called from above. Emma lifted her head to look at him and saw him nod behind her.