"Anything, Aunt Ruby?"

Ruby came into the cottage in the middle of the woods and looked at her two darlings, the children of Snow White and Prince Charming. Emma was nineteen years old and turned into such a beautiful, intelligent and resourceful woman. Neal, her brother, was a feisty, strong, and willful sixteen year old. Ruby looked after them as if they were her own children.

"I haven't heard a word about your mother, dear," Ruby said to Emma, "I'm sorry. We'll keep looking. I won't stop until I find her."

Emma felt so helpless hiding in the cottage away from the Evil Queen. It had only been a week ago that her parents castle was attacked by Regina, the Evil Queen and her army. It had been so unexpected. Despite holding her army back for three days at the city gates, Regina's army had overcome and stormed the castle. Emma and her younger brother, Neal, were taken by her mother's best friend, Ruby and Ruby's mother, Granny, into the secret passageway underneath the castle. They traveled to a small cottage in the remote area of the woods where they awaited word of the fate of Emma's parents, Snow White and Prince Charming. Emma cried and her brother punched a wall when they heard that their father had been captured by the Evil Queen but rejoiced when they heard their mother escaped.

Emma, Ruby and Granny had expected Snow to join them at their cottage but she had not come. They were worried that something had happened to her. Emma started pacing back and forth in the cottage trying to come up with a plan that would get both her parents back.

"Ruby, I'll go to the village tomorrow and get some information," Emma said resolutely.

"No, Emma! It's too risky. You're too easily recognizable. What if the Black knights capture you?" Ruby implored.

"I can't just sit here while my parents are in trouble," Emma reasoned. "I need to do something!"

"We're leaving tomorrow anyway. It will be harder to catch us if we move around, not stay in one place," Granny said.

"What if mama shows up and we're not here?" Emma cried.

"Don't worry. Your family will always finds each other," Ruby tried to calm her.

Emma went to sleep that night with a heavy heart. In the past her mother and father always found each other but they always lost each other too. Part of the reason they always found each other was because they didn't just sit around and wait, they did something about it. Emma was determined she wouldn't just wait around. She would need to come up with a plan to get her parents back. Getting the kingdom back would then be the next step.

She realized the only person that could help her against the magic of the Evil Queen was Rumpelstiltskin. A plan started to form in her head.


"Another round of drinks, Mr. Smee!" Captain Hook ordered his first mate to get more drinks. Fortune was smiling down at him with his last conquest on the seas, a schooner laden with gold dubloons, yards of rich fabric and for some reason, a collection of admiral hats in all shapes, colors and sizes. He let his crew keep the hats.

He was in his element sitting and drinking with his crew in a tavern, flirting with the attractive bar wenches that caught his eye. Looking at him, you would think he was enjoying himself and living in the moment but he really was masking a hole in his heart. His dead brother was the last person to care for him and when Liam was alive that was when Killian felt whole.

He sat in the tavern remembering a beautiful woman with dark hair and grey eyes, seducing him into her bed at a rented room in a tavern a couple of weeks ago. That first glorious night they spent together was one of the best nights he'd had in a long time. Milah was her name. She begged him to take her away from her husband. At first, he backed off telling her a pirate ship was no place for a woman but she convinced him with her mouth and her body.

He welcomed her aboard his ship and set sail for other ports. His nights were spent with Milah warming his bed and his days spent sailing and looking for merchant ships to plunder. He felt the most alive during that week and it was those moments he was remembering.

When he docked into port, he heard rumors of the Dark One tearing up town after town looking for his wife. It was only a matter of time before he came into this town. Milah finally confessed that she was the Dark One's wife that he was looking for and she needed to leave before Killian and his crew were sentenced to death for taking her away. He tried to talk her out of it telling her that he could keep her on his ship, the Jolly Roger, but she was too fearful of the Dark One. One day she left his ship and never came back. Killian figured she went back to her husband.

Now Killian was sitting in his tavern with his crew, drinking the night away. He started thinking of his dead brother, Liam. Liam was the most honorable, noble man he knew and wondered what Liam would think of his pirating ways. He probably would be disappointed but understood why he became a pirate. Liam was the knight in shining armor, not Killian. Liam would be the one to rescue the damsel in distress, not Killian.

That thought made him sit up straighter. For once in his miserable life, Killian wanted to be someone's knight in shining armor. He wanted to be thought of as a hero, not just some worthless pirate. Well, he had a damsel in distress ready to be saved. He would start with rescuing Milah from her evil husband.

He started to form a plan in his head to steal back Milah from her husband, the Dark One.

He knew it was a stupid plan, but he was drunk enough to go through with it. Now he just had to persuade some of his drunken crew to help him out. He decided to buy his crew more drinks.


Emma was standing in front of the doors to the Dark One's castle. She had crept away in the middle of the night while Ruby and Granny went into town to seek more information. She kissed her brother on his forehead, leaving him a note that she was going to seek help from other sources. She knew she had no time to spare because Granny and Ruby were werewolves and would be able to sniff out her scent trail when they found her gone. She couldn't let them find her until she was able to convince the Dark One to help her.

Suddenly she heard an evil giggle coming from behind her. She turned around to find the Dark One, Rumpelstiltskin, looking at her.

"Princess Emma! Fancy meeting you here," Rumpelstitlskin exclaimed.

"I've come to ask you for your help," Emma implored.

"Well… getting down to business, are we?" Rumpelstiltskin replied. "Let's take this someplace more comfortable.

With a twirl of his hands, he apparated him and Emma inside his hall.

"Let me guess! You want me to help you rescue your parents from the Evil Queen!" Rumpelstiltskin said in a giddy voice. He could feel a deal coming on, one that he would be delighted to make with a princess.

It took a moment for Emma to right herself, not being used to being transported to another place in a span of a few seconds.

"Ah, yes. My father has been captured by Regina," Emma told him. "Most likely he is being held as bait until my mother comes to rescue him."

"And as soon as your mother comes, the trap will be sprung and once she is captured, your parents will both be sentenced to death, am I correct?" Rumpelstiltskin surmised.

Emma shuddered at the way he said the word death so flippantly.

"Can you help me?" Emma asked desperately. "I'll do anything to help my parents' survive."

"Always what I like to hear," Rumpelstiltskin said with glee.

A loud noise like an explosion went off outside the castle closer to the gates. Rumpelstiltskin turned to the noise and his face contorted with rage.

He turned to Emma and said, "Wait right here while I see who it is I'm about to kill."

Rumpelstiltskin then disappeared, most likely to check out what caused the noise.

Emma didn't like the idea of staying in one place especially when it came to noises that sounded like explosions so she decided to find a place to hide.

She walked from one corridor to another hoping to find someone else, a maid or a butler or anyone. There was no way a castle this big would be without staff to help clean it. She was walking down a hallway when she heard sounds coming from a room and she decided to open the door to see who was there. The room was dark when she stuck her head inside.

"Hello? Anyone there?" Emma asked. She stepped inside the darkened room to investigate the noise. She took several steps in when against the far wall; she saw a silhouette of a rotund man with a cap on his head. What she didn't see was another man creeping stealthily behind her, grabbed her and covered her mouth with his beefy hand.

Emma panicked and the sharp heel of her boot came down on the instep of the man's foot. The man yelped in pain.

The other rotund man rushed towards them and said, "Don't panic Mistress Milah! The Cap'n means to try to rescue you."

Before Emma could answer that she wasn't Milah, the man whose foot she stomped on put a piece of cloth in her mouth to gag her.

"She's probably hysterical and not thinking straight. We need to leave now!" the man whispered vehemently. "The Dark One will be back any second. Bind her! It'll be quicker and we'll explain later."

They put a long hood over her head that she was wrapped from head to foot in and bound her with a rope. Emma fought desperately until a thick arm squeezed her until she couldn't breathe. When she eased her struggling, the restraint eased. When she struggled again, the arm squeezed. She began to get the message; she would be taken one way or another.

Strong arms lifted her and laid her over a broad shoulder. Emma felt gagged and trussed up like a helpless goose. She could only moan and wiggle in protest as she was carried out onto a loggia and whisked down the outer stairs to the courtyard. Once they came to the ground, a sense of urgency seized the two. Her stout captor jogged along for a pace, knocking the breath from her and then slipped through the hedge that bordered the courtyard.

All of a sudden she was hurled through the air in a rather wild swoop until she came to bounce, thankfully on a thick pile of straw.

The two men climbed into the cart. The cart jiggled and creaked as the horse was urged forward. The pace was slow and plodding. Each moment Emma's spirits plummeted as she found little hope for rescue.

"Bloody hell, Smee. This is the last time I let the Cap'n talk me into something like this when I'm drunk," said the man.

"When I get to be an old sea dog, I'll be tellin' the story of stealin' the Dark One's wife from right under his nose."

"As if you'll live that long!"

The journey was long. She started to smell the sea air and sound of seagulls when they stopped and took her out of the cart. As she was being carried over some stranger's shoulder, she heard their footsteps plodding over wood and then walking over what sounded like a gang plank. She made sure to be completely still for fear of falling into the water and possibly drown. She felt herself being taken into one of the cabins below and was deposited onto a bed.

"My apologies, Mistress Milah," one of the men who abducted her said. "We'll unbind you when we cast off."

Emma was seized with paralyzing fear. She did not know what would become of her when they found out she wasn't Milah, the Dark One's wife. Then she was worried about her parents. She was so close to getting the Dark One to help her. Now she felt so helpless. Her fear turned to outright fury when she realized what these dopes did.

She heard the man give the orders to cast off. She felt the ship gently sway away from the dock and towards the open sea. It was a half an hour until someone came to untie her.

"Sorry, mistress. I would have come down sooner but I'm new here and still trying to learn my place on the ship," said a young boy releasing Emma from the ropes. "I've been assigned to stay with you until we get to Arendelle."

Emma quickly removed the hood from her and ran to the door. It was locked and the door looked very sturdy.

"Listen, your buddies made a mistake. I'm not Milah, okay? You got the wrong woman and you need to tell someone," Emma

"You're not Milah?" the young boy asked.

"Yes, go tell someone right now so they can take me back to shore," Emma ordered.

"Okay, miss. I'll go tell someone but you need to stay right here," the young boy said. He left and locked the door behind him. She then heard footsteps coming towards the cabin.

A rotund man with a red cap and a tall beanpole man came in to the cabin to look at Emma.

"Blimey! It's not Milah!" said the tall beanpole.

The rotund man with the red cap said, "The Cap'n isn't going to be pleased."

"You know who else isn't pleased? Me! Take me back to shore at once!" Emma screamed.

"Let's go ask Graham, he'll know what to do," the tall beanpole said. They all left and locked her in the cabin again.

This time when they all came back into the cabin, a tall, handsome, brown-haired man came down to meet her.

"First mate Graham Humbert, at your service, Miss?" Graham asked her name.

"Miss Swan," Emma said.

"Miss Swan, I understand that there has been a misunderstanding-"

"That's an understatement."

"It appears the wrong woman has been taken."

"Yes, now that we have cleared up, I need you to take me to the nearest port and let me off this boat."

"It's a ship. The nearest port is near Arendelle and we can take you there," Graham told her.

"That would be fine," Emma answered.

"In the meantime, please take part of our hospitality. I will send some food and refreshments to you," Graham said.

"Thank you, Mr. Humbert. I appreciate that," Emma said surprised by his good manners.

"I'll let you know when we are about to disembark," Graham announced. He then left to go above deck. He looked out over the water and half-hoped the weather wouldn't cooperate with their plans to let her off at the next port. He found Miss Swan very attractive and hoped he would be able to spend more time with her. They sailed from the sea into the river that would take them close to Arendelle. If they were stuck at port because the water in the river froze over, he would indeed be able to spend more time with her.