"I already told you I'm just a blacksmith" the old man tried desperately to convince Emma that he was telling the truth but she was having none of it. She could tell when someone was lying a mile off and this man certainly was.

"Sure you are" Emma bit back as she turned her head and whistled to signal the ogres. She turned back to the old man and brought her face close to his

"You don't want to talk to us, maybe you'll talk to the ogres while they rip you limb from limb" She could hear the desperation in the old man's voice when he protested against them leaving him. She could see the fear in his face through the grey beard and long grey hair but she still wasn't buying it. They headed towards the woods away from the large tree trunk where she had tied him and called for the others to follow her. But Aroura, ever the innocent, turned back towards the old stranger

"What if he's telling the truth?" she whimpered while staring up at the old man with just as much desperation on her own face. She just found it impossible that a man this old and frail could be responsible for all this carnage. The others carried on walking and Emma refused to look back.

"He's not" Emma barked with a cold certainty. Aroura kept her gaze for a few more moments until she forced herself to turn around. But this remorse for the stranger was short lived...

"Good for you!" came a slightly desperate shout from behind them. The rest of the women looked shocked as they turned around but Emma faced the old man with a triumphant smile.

"You bested me, I can count the amount of people who've done that on one hand" The stranger continued with an obnoxious tone growing in his voice. This struck the others as strange as he did not sound how he looked. His wit and sarcastic voice sounded like someone a lot younger. But they brushed this off as Emma stepped closer towards him.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" She asked knowing full well it was a pun to indicate his lack of a hand.

"Who are you" Emma continued as the old man let out a sigh.

"Killian Jones. But most people have taken to calling me by my more colourful moniker" The old man said as he looked back up at his blonde captor

"Hook"

...

Emma was stunned. Even more stunned than she has ever been throughout this whole fairytale thing. So far, Every Person she had met bared some resemblance to who they were supposed to be in the books, but this was just impossible. The man must have been about 70 years old. Sure he was missing a hand but there was no way in hell that this was the famous Capitan Hook. There was not long black hair, the needle point moustache, no long red coat or sword. There was nothing. She thought that this was perhaps one step too far from sanity but this was the least of her worries. If this man was telling the truth, there was a magic compass at the top of a beanstalk that he would help them obtain in return for passage to Storybrooke. However Emma could not see how this man was going to be doing any climbing at his age. His back was hunched and he looked as though his feet could barely hold him. Eventually, despite what Snow had learned about him, he took some of his weight and helped him to walk the few more yards until they reached the beanstalk. After a brief discussion about what the beanstalk was really like compared to the stories Emma had heard as a child, they discussed the method Cora would use to get to Storybrooke if she had both the ashes and the compass. After hearing this, Emma was determined to get up the beanstalk and return with the compass as soon as possible, even whilst lugging a snarky old man behind her.

"We'd better start climbing" Emma said to the group to which the old man was quick to reply...

"Yes dear, we had better, however I feel I may benefit you more when I revert to my true from" He said motioning to his tied Hand and stump. He have a fake innocent smile and tilted his head as Snow Stepped towards him and removed the ropes. As soon as he was free he brought his face closer to snows.

"Thank you milady" he whispered with a wink of his eye which seriously unnerved the group. Even Emma shivered at the sight of the old man behaving like that. He reached into his long grey robes and pulled out a small glass bottle filled with a black liquid. He removed the stopper with his yellow teeth and raised it towards the others.

"To your good health, ladies" He spoke with raised eyebrows as he downed the liquid on one. He dropped it on the floor and stood with his eyes closed as if waiting for someone to strike him. But after a few seconds, a cloud of rich purple smoke engulfed the old man and swirled around him. It remained like this for a few seconds but the smoke quickly faded away. The Women nearly fell to their knees when they saw what stood before them. Emma couldn't close her mouth or bring her eyebrows down.

The old man in dreary rags was gone and what stood before them explained the snarky attitude and the flirting. This man had a lot to flirt with. The long grey hair and beard had melted away and in their place lay Jet black hair with a sharp chin and cheekbones layered with black stubble. The wrinkles of an ancient man had disappeared and had been replaced with a smooth youthful complexion but with the shadow of a scar on his cheek. The bushy grey eyebrows had gone and a pair of bright blue eyes were revealed and were framed with thick eyelashes and lines of black eyeliner. Emma scanned down the new younger man and raised her eyebrows further. The old cloaks and rags were gone and were instead layers of thick black leather that complimented his new tall lean frame. The man shone in the sun from the sheen of the leather and from the silver jewellery that now hung from his neck and fingers. Emma briefly caught a glimpse of his chest revealed by a deep V cut in his leather vest but quickly Averted her eyes to her companions. Snow was just as stunned but perhaps a little pissed at the way he had deceived her into helping him, Aroura was a little fearful and Mulan's expression did not seem to have changed at all. The blonde brought her attention back to the man in full view and now understood why he said he was the famous Capitan Hook. He was defiantly a fearless pirate and was now smirking at her. He began to laugh at her disbelief.

"Not what you expected, lass?" He joked at Emma who was now trying to get a word out but was struggling. She was just gawping like a goldfish why couldn't she speak? She had never been rendered speechless before. A low chuckle rumbled through the man's broad chest again as he stepped closer to her. He was now almost inches away.

"I couldn't stand those robes any longer love" He whispered as he bowed before her.

"They are a bugger to fight in" He smirked again as he brought his top half up straight again. Never once breaking eye contact with his chief captor.

"Now you see my true form that Cora had been conceal from you, I offer an introduction once again..."

He stepped to her side and picked up the bag Emma took from him and fished out a gleaming silver hook. This frightened the women a little as he faced Emma again and snapped it into its rightful place on the stump on his arm.

"Capitan Hook at your service"