I can't believe I'm doing this, but here goes, the first instalment of my multi-chapter fic about our favourite swashbuckler and strong-willed blonde princess. I have it all planned out already. Yes, I have. Every. Single. Chapter. So hopefully everything goes smoothly! I hope to update once every week. The writing will be tricky, because I'm not the expert in adventure stories, and I'm trying to incorporate humour where possible too. So I sincerely hope that this satisfies your curiosity on some level.

Some notes before you begin: They are awesome characters, but I've decided that Gold and Regina will not appear in this story even though they were on the Jolly Roger headed to Neverland. So take it as they did NOT go onto the ship, leaving just the four. I'm introducing new characters (*wink*), so I didn't want to make it overly cluttered with too many characters – this is about Hook and Emma after all. Also, this fic will NOT acknowledge completely every single character that has been introduced by the show so far. So allow me some creative license yeah? Heh.

Okay enough of me talking. Let's proceed…

I.

Transition

This was really happening – there was no mistaking it.

Moments ago, the Jolly Roger sunk into a deep abyss of swirling sea water, the portal that was opened by the magic bean which Hook threw into the ocean. Emma was pretty certain from that point on that they should just arrive immediately, or at least near, where Neverland should be. They – wait, cross that – she needed to save her son. She considered herself quite a patient person, especially if she could endure a personality like the one Hook possessed. Also, she had seen many things in her lifetime, what with being the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, so she really shouldn't be surprised. Shouldn't. But apparently there weren't enough things in the expanse of the universe to surprise her, so this really was one of them.

After the ship entered the portal and the sea closed up on them, they were somehow just… floating. In darkness. Emma didn't quite know how to comprehend this. She didn't feel confined to the laws of gravity; she felt this was space, even. Were they in a vacuum? Was that even possible? Where on earth did the ridiculous magic portal teleport them to? Was it even on earth? She couldn't really see anything, either – not her own body, not the ship which they were clutching onto just minutes ago. On that note, Emma couldn't even count how long she had been suspended in limbo. It felt like hours when it was really just minutes.

She couldn't talk, it seemed. She tried to speak, but nothing happened. She tried shouting then, which was even worse because everything about her senses were numb except for her sight. This idea of travelling between worlds seemed to get more and more complicated and tiring – why was it so hard just to get somewhere? She silently pleaded that this darkness would fade and that maybe, magically, her son would appear in front of her. She had felt horrible enough for leaving him when he was a baby, and then Neal, his father, was likely to be dead. Now, he was in danger, and she believed it was her fault. It was her fault all over again, and she had failed. Failed. She partly wished she had magical powers to bring him back to her, but she didn't, and horridly all the people she knew who harnessed those abilities were either dead or relatively evil.

This had really better not be some kind of reincarnation of my nightmares playing in front of me, Emma thought, willing herself to imagine some sort of world that looked like Neverland, so that maybe if she imagined it then she would end up there somehow. With everyone gone from her sight as well, she wondered where each of them were, and what they were doing. Hook was standing right in front of her when they were on that vessel, and there's no way he disappeared to some other land – there's no way one other of them magically vanished into thin air.

But being Emma, she started contemplating the what ifs. What if this, what if that. She was mainly worried about Henry all over again, and she started worrying even more about the fact that everyone else with her on the ship was gone.

Until, out of nowhere, a very bright light appeared, growing from a tiny dot until it enveloped the whole of her, and she felt her eyes close automatically at the sight. Within nanoseconds, she appeared back onto the Jolly Roger – well, somewhat.

It was freezing, cold, water. And she was inside it. The ship was on the ocean floor, sunken as though it was shipwrecked right to the bottom of the sea, and the first person she saw when she opened her eyes to swim was Hook, swimming right in front of her, gesturing with his hands for her to close her mouth and to hold on to some rope. This was possibly the most bizarre experience she ever had to endure – she began to question if Neverland really was what she thought it would be, even though she had just imagined the place to be as dark and frightening as the tales she was told about this strange land.

Oddly, it was comforting to be greeted by Hook's blue eyes looking bluer in the midst of the turquoise seas they were swimming in.

Just the shock, she told herself, the man's helping you.

And indeed he was – he used his hook to latch himself to the steel chain that was wrapped around the central post of the ship mast and he used his right hand to hold out a rope for her to grab, which she did. She felt the ship magically rise from the ocean floor, everyone on board holding on tight. She glanced around and saw Mary Margaret holding on to the sideboard with David. They were all half-swimming and half-standing on the deck. The Jolly Roger rose faster and faster from the bottom of the deep sea until it launched itself out of the ocean very abruptly, and Emma, losing her balance, tumbled right into Hook; and Hook, who lost his hold on the chain upon the ship being flung out of the ocean, barrelled with Emma until his back slammed into the wooden steps leading up to the helm of the ship.

OOF. OW! Arghhh! Oooh, Hook let out in the process.

"So let me guess – you couldn't find your footing, that's why you had to fling yourself into my arms yet again, though of course this time you decided to take it one step further and roll around with me on my ship while being drenched," Hook remarked cheekily, still lying on his back with Emma on top of him.

She raised her head and looked at him pointedly in the eye, her golden locks fully wet, plastered to her forehead and completely unladylike. A normal lady would look utterly atrocious in that manner, but Hook couldn't find himself thinking anything other than that Emma looked hugely appealing to him, even when she was dripping in sea water.

"This is not the time to be making jokes," Emma commented seriously, trying to get off Hook without falling down again – she really wasn't feeling steady after what just happened with her suspended in a black hole and then suddenly swimming in the middle of an ocean. "Where in the world are we?"

"Such a damper on the mood, love," Hook replied, his usual grin on his face. Emma glared at him, finally standing, attempting to squeeze water out of her clothes without letting Hook have an eyeful of her undergarments. She couldn't feel totally annoyed with him though, because she was more concerned about their whereabouts. The ship was moving, and she looked beyond, trying to see if she could make anything out. At the moment they were just heading into a thick bout of mist, and she really couldn't see much. Weirdly, the sun was shining very brightly and she was grateful that it would dry up her clothes soon enough.

First day on a ship together and we're physically colliding, Emma muttered to herself. Great start.

She glanced at Hook and saw him removing his coat and vest, his silver hook glinting in the rays of sunlight peeking through the thick white clouds above them. She found herself thinking that she now couldn't figure him out a hundred percent, which frustrated her. Yes, she could tell when he was telling the truth and when he was not, but aside from that she didn't understand why he was being so kind to help her. He really didn't have to come back to offer his ship and his services. Well, they'd have the problem of finding a ship and someone to captain it and sail it for them, but they would find another way if they had to. Heck, she would find a different solution if she had to – that's who she was, and that was what she always did. She would find ways when people said there were none. So if she didn't have Hook with her, she wouldn't die and despair. But somehow he made a decision to return. That puzzled her more than anything he'd done or said to her before, because it seemed to her like he was nearly a different person when he had come to aid her in this journey.

No doubt, he was Captain Hook, so if the fairytale stories she knew about Neverland were just a little bit right, he would have the knowledge of getting around the area better than anyone else she knew. But aside from being the Hook that she knew and had come to know, she believed that there was another side to him that she had yet to discover. She wasn't quite able to put her finger on it, but she knew there was a whole other life he had – being over 300 years old – and that made him the somewhat arrogant, egoistical, self-protective, reckless maniac that he was today. What she really wanted to know was the reasons for his decision so that she could find an even footing with him. She had no choice; if they were doing this together, she had to know him better. She didn't think she could trust him that easily, not when they had each betrayed each other more than once already. It wasn't really that she didn't want to allow him room to redeem himself – far be it. He was a scoundrel, but somehow at the moment he didn't feel as villainous as he did to her before. He wasn't exactly wicked by any means, but that didn't mean he suddenly transformed his hardened heart either.

Hook felt her eyes on him as he walked up to the wheel and retrieved his gold telescope, peeking through the lens. He knew exactly where they were. He just didn't want to say anything just yet. What would be the point? They knew where they were meant to head towards, and that's exactly where they nearly were. The portal had been true to form – although he was fairly certain he didn't remember going through the ocean before. The weather was looking beautiful for now, but he was sure it wouldn't be long before darkness would descend.

Emma glanced over at David and Mary Margaret, who were also drying themselves off, apparently also trying to get a sense of where they had ended up. David walked over to her, determination and concern marked clearly on his face.

"Emma, are you alright?" he asked, seeing the look on her face of wariness and worry.

Emma looked at David, nodding abruptly. "I'm fine. We just need to find out where we are. Hook, where are we?" She raised her voice loudly, intent on making progress on their journey. There was no time to waste. There were lives at stake – her son's life at stake. There were many things and people she had lost in her life, but she wasn't losing Henry, and he wasn't losing her. Not him, not on her watch and not on her life.

Hook turned to her at the sound of her voice calling his name, tilting his head ever so slightly. "Where are we, you ask?" he repeated. "Well, if my knowledge serves me right, I believe we should be a mere hour or two away from the borders of Neverland."

She looked at him, eyebrow raised. "How do you know that? I don't see anything around that tells me we're near there. In fact, aside from this mist we're sailing through, I'd say we're heading to some exotic tropical island, but from what Gold has told me about this place–"

"–it isn't some summer holiday and building sandcastles in the sand," Hook finished for her, his expression dark and serious, his eyes looking distant yet a touch violent. "Aye, the coward is right for once. It does not have that sort of atmosphere at all."

"Then what is it like?" Mary Margaret asked, jumping into the conversation.

"Wait," Emma cut in. "I want to know whether you're sure we're headed towards Neverland. It's not the first time we'd end up lost someplace else."

They were all standing near the wheel of the Jolly Roger, and Emma was facing Hook, one hand on the wooden rail. Hook shifted his gaze to her in response to her statement, and walked toward her. "You still don't trust me? Not after what I've done for you?"

"What you've done for me?" Emma questioned sarcastically. "What exactly do you think you've so nobly done for me? Well, aside from the fact that you–"

"–came back," Hook finished for her again. "That's right, lass. I came back. For you," he drawled, voice low and deep. "I offered my help. I let you use my ship. To save your son."

He was directly in front of her, his hook lightly grazing her arm. She could feel it through the fabric of her long-sleeved shirt, and she swallowed, momentarily looking away in admission to his correction of her flippant remark. She gathered her wits and turned back to look him in the eye. That was, grudgingly, an unnecessary comment on her part. She shouldn't have to mock him like that, especially since he was helping her, trying to be particularly gentlemanly with her.

Stupid Hook. One moment a foolish untrustworthy blithering madman, another moment a debonair gentleman who speaks sense, she thought in frustration.

"Why then?" she spoke up, not backing down. Their faces were inches from each other, typical Hook who had no comprehension of personal space whatsoever. "Why did you come back to help me? Tell me the reason why you came back."

There was actually no time, and at the back of her head Emma knew that these sorts of questions were, though important to her, irrelevant at this point. They needed to get to Neverland as quick as possible in order to search for Henry. She had no idea what they wanted with him, and it could mean all sorts of horrible outcomes. But he brought it up. And she indirectly caused him to bring it up.

He paused at her question. There was too long a story to tell, too many things she didn't know about him, too many unexplained events and too many answers to be given. He couldn't tell her yet. Not now, and he wasn't sure if he ever could tell her everything – about how his life was connected to hers, how he regretted the things he had done. She wasn't ready to hear him out, and this was far from being the right time and place to reveal his past.

He could sense the heavy stares of David and Mary Margaret on them, and he stared back at Emma, making a decision to give her the most honest yet short reply he could produce. His face remained cold, refusing to give her an opening into his mind as much as he could. Sure, he knew she could read him well, but she wasn't a mind-reader, and she didn't know him as well as she thought she did.

"I came back because I made the mistake of leaving a little boy behind once. I regret my decision, and am helping you do this instead of repeating the errors I previously committed," he whispered harshly. It was the simple truth in two sentences.

She looked back into his eyes, and she knew he was not lying. There was hurt and pain reflected from the grey irises focusing on her, and she understood that there was a lot more to his story.

"Good that you had a change of heart then," she said to him solemnly. "I just– I can't trust someone so easily. Trust takes time."

"But you don't have time, do you, love?" he asked dauntingly. He gestured to their surroundings. The ship was moving smoothly across the peaceful seas, the mist still swirling around them. "We're headed to a place only I know how to navigate, and we're arriving in less than an hour, if my count is right. In fact, because I've been gone so long, goodness knows what else is in store for us now. Neverland is enchanted, more so than any place you've ever come across. Your son is trapped somewhere there, for a reason we don't know of. Four of us are without magic, going to a place with magic. I'd say if you want to bank your trust somewhere, my account would be the wisest choice – without which you would otherwise be very likely to perish before you even take ten steps onto the island."

He spelled it all out for her, and she almost hated him for it. Such logic he knew how to weave when he needed to. She knew he was right, and he knew it too. She looked over at David and Mary Margaret, who overheard the entire conversation and were waiting on Emma's call. She couldn't find it in herself to depend on Hook, because she wasn't the type of person who depended on others. She was a warrior, and she was used to leading, not following. She felt weak having to rely on Hook, if ever, and if at all. But she had no choice.

"Fine," she released, gritting her teeth. "I trust you to lead us and find Henry. But you'd better keep to every single word you say or you will pay for it."

Hook hovered over Emma and considered her words for a moment or two, then gave her a flirty wink. The tension in the air dissipated between them. "Aye," he acknowledged, then turned from her and returned back to the helm where David and Mary Margaret were standing.

"I don't suppose the two of you need to be enlightened about our plans?" he asked them, a grin on his face. "Your daughter was speaking loud enough for you, I gather."

David had a look of suppressed irritation on his face, grunting at Mary Margaret and Emma. "Don't try to mess around with me, Hook – unless you enjoy my fist connecting hard with your pink cheeks, of course."

"Honestly, I'd have to sa–" Hook began, ready to unleash another witty line.

"This is hardly the time for bickering!" Emma stopped Hook, putting a hand on his arm warningly. "We need a plan of action. We need to have an expectation of what's going to happen, because it's going to be dangerous–"

But she was cut off by the sound of the waves raging very suddenly around them, the motion rocking the Jolly Roger very unpleasantly without notice; and they all reached out to grab something to hold on to. The mist parted, white wisps descending upon them, until it revealed beyond, a number of rock formations, and even further ahead, the main island of Neverland, with small isles surrounding it. They were headed right towards the middle of two very tall rock formations, towering over them. Everyone was silent, Emma taking in the environment around her and thinking about how they were going to find Henry in a place like this. It was evening, and the sun was still in the sky, but would set very soon.

Then the unexpected happened. As the ship began to sail between the rock formations, it penetrated a large unseen shield covering the areas of Neverland. The ship seemed to sail right through it, but at the last second, the shield rebounded. The Jolly Roger remained untouched, but four of them were thrown out of the ship to different parts of the island, almost immediately. It was almost as though the shield were another portal, but it wasn't; it merely teleported them directly onto the islands.

Emma landed with her body face down, hands dug into coarse sand. She had a sensation whereby it felt as though she had just been dropped down from the sky. She looked up, but didn't see anyone. She got up quickly, brushing the sand off her clothes. This had to be Neverland; they just saw the same sun about to set in the sky. Her breaths were rushed and she called out the first name she thought of.

"HOOK!" she shouted, realising for the first time that she really depended on him. This was ridiculous. How could they be separated like this? And to think, she had just agreed to letting him lead them through Neverland – and now he was gone.

She walked along what looked like a small beach, calling out for Mary Margaret and David now. She started running because desperation kicked in, and there was no way she could survive for long on her own. She had no idea where she was, which part of Neverland this was. She saw the figure of Mary Margaret lying at the other end of the beach and momentary relief flooded her system instantly.

"Mary!" Emma cried out, turning Mary Margaret's body around. Her mother stirred, and eyes fluttered open, much to Emma's happiness. "Oh, thank goodness you're okay."

"Emma," Mary Margaret mumbled softly, sitting up slowly. "Ah, that hurts. What happened? Are we on Neverland?"

Emma scanned the area cautiously, her vision setting on the sun and the sky which she knew was the exact same colour when they sailed between the rocks. The sky was painted with colours of indigo, soft pink and crimson red. It was starkly beautiful, but Emma had a feeling of dread creep up on her, and everything didn't seem as inviting as it looked anymore.

"I'm pretty sure this is Neverland. But I have no idea where Hook and David are, or how we got off the ship," she spoke quietly, another weight falling on her shoulders.

There you have it. I assure you that in the next chapter you will find out a teeny bit more about what's going on – there will always be some development on Hook and Emma's relationship too.

But for now, could you pleeeaase REVIEW? I promise that if you overload me with feedback, I will give you huge hugs and thank you forever (and maybe make Hook take off not just his vest and coat, but more items… although if you're interested in that now, you can check out my one-shot, ahaha!).