The estate was always quiet when Regina left. Most would say it was because of the lack of sexual activity going on but Ruby was convinced it was something else. Sure that part was true, other than that the pirate didn't do much talking. She drew lines over maps that Ruby didn't understand and read books.

But as she watched the Hangman's captain depart on her horse to the docks, she was determined to find out what it was that made the house quiet. It was mostly because of her lack of entertainment during Regina's trips.

As she sat in the library of the estate, reading a mystery novel, a pair of familiar timid steps approached, "Ma'am?"

Ruby looked up from her book at the man at the door. She tilted her head to the side, urging him to continue. He stepped inside a bit more and closed the door behind him, glancing around for any sign of other people present. She glanced around as well with a suspicious look in her eye at his abnormal behavior

"I'm alone," Ruby assured pushing up from the chaise and dropping her book on the soft cushion. "You may speak freely."

"You have a...visitor."

"Should I be wary of them?" Ruby asked cautiously, recalling where she kept weapons hidden in places only known by herself.

He sighed and pursed his lips in thought, "Personally speaking, I would suggest that you do."

"Very well then. I'll see them and get them out of here as soon as I can."

"Miss Lucas?" he called after her as she walked to the doors.

"What is it?"

"Looks to be a man of the government."

"We can't have that now can we?" She grabbed her book and pushed it back into its spot on the massive shelf. The short man nodded and then frowned before shaking his head. She smirked at him, "Regina wouldn't approve of having a government man snooping around her things. Warn the guards to keep an eye out. Tell them to make sure there aren't any friends of his lurking around the estate."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Thank you, Mr. Bailey."

Ruby left the private library and walked to the entrance nodding to a guard to follow her for precaution. He followed silently until they came to the foyer. The older man looked nervous wringing his coat in his hands very firmly. She relaxed, seeing that he was probably the least threatening government man she'd ever encountered.

"How may I assist you?" Ruby questioned.

"I'm here to…" he hesitated. "My name is Maurice…Maurice French. I work for-"

"I know who you work for. And it's fairly dangerous for you to be lurking around a known pirate district."

"I haven't come here looking for trouble," he raised his hands to show his innocence.

"What is it that you need here, Mr. French?"

"I'm here for the captain…of Devil's Hangman. I need her assistance."

"With what exactly?" Ruby asked skeptically.

"I'd rather discuss that with…her majesty."

"Everything that comes through this door goes through me first. My job, strangely enough, is to protect the captain. So if I feel that something is threatening, I eliminate it." Ruby spoke calmly but that didn't keep the visitor from paling at her words. The guard hovering over them smirked, flashing his teeth to reveal a gold crown over his canine. Maurice took a subtle step away from them both and closer to the door. Ruby tried not to be amused by it and shrugged casually, "Besides…The Queen of the Damned isn't here right now."

"What?" He looked utterly horrified of that fact and Ruby figured something other than the government invading the estate was going on. "When will she be back? Few hours?"

"A few weeks, Mr. French. She's a very busy woman." His face blanched and his hands tightened around his coat as sweat began to build upon his forehead. "Why don't you stay for some tea?"

He glanced behind him anxiously before nodding his head. Ruby led him into Regina's study and sat with him in front of the massive fireplace. Just as they sat down the doors opened up with Charlotte walking in with the tea she had mentioned. Ruby nodded her thanks before the blonde left the room.

"From the way you're holding yourself I believe it's safe to assume you need a bit more than simple tea," Ruby commented to break the silence. He didn't reply and she sighed to herself pushing the teacup in his direction for encouragement, "Charlotte knows a nervous man a mile away. She slipped you something. Should loosen you up."

He nodded and reluctantly took the cup, taking a weak sip from it before scrunching up his nose, "What's in this?"

"Whiskey by the look on your face," Ruby chuckled. "What is it that you came here seeking the captain for?"

He sat the cup down and placed his hands on his knees, "It's my…my daughter. She was taken."

"Taken?"

"Yes…by pirates."

She was taken aback by his words, wondering if he knew what kind of captain Regina was, "You're aware that Regina Mills is a pirate lord, aren't you? If not, then surely you know she is the pirate above all pirates?"

"I understand that yes. But I've heard rumors…that she would take jobs for the right price and I'm willing to pay it."

"She has accepted such things but…why her?"

"Unfortunately, I have no doubt in my mind that my Belle has been abused in more ways than I care to find out. I have more faith that your captain will return her." Tears gathered at the corners of his tired, blue eyes.

"This neither confirms or denies anything but no pirate, man or woman, would put themselves above taking advantage. Not to say that she will but it's a foolish thing to put faith in a pirate."

"I understand the code of no code but I've gone to the pirate captains I could find. I'd feel better knowing she was the one to go out and find her. I'm desperate ma'am. The Navy refuses to help to retrieve my daughter. I have no other choice."

"There's nothing she can do right now but she will be back in 3 weeks. I believe she will help you."

"Thank you so much." He reached out to take her hand. Ruby smiled sympathetically at him, giving her hand to accept his appreciative shake. "I truly mean it. My Belle is everything to me."

"I know the feeling of losing something you love." The older man nodded, accepting the empathy lightly. "I'll do everything I can until Captain Mills is back from her trip."

"You have all my thanks."

She cleared her throat and sat her tea down on the table and settled her hands in her lap, "Yes…now, what can you tell me about your daughter? Anything that could specify who may have taken her? Where she liked to go? Any men she particularly shared company with?"

"Yes, I'll do my best."

"What do you think they're going to do with us?" a voice asked breaking the eerie silence that followed the darkness around below the deck. The ship swayed in an almost soothing pattern lulling most of the young men back to sleep.

"We're going to be pirates you twit," another voice replied. Some other grumbling followed, more than likely disagreeing with his statement.

"Do you know what ship we're on?" the first boy hissed turning over in his bunk. "It's the bloody Devil's Hangman."

"What's your point?"

"The captain, the Queen of the Damned, she's a pirate lord."

"What the bloody fuck about it?!"

"She won't hesitate to kill us if we mess up. Haven't you heard the stories?"

"Screw the stories. That bitch won't touch me."

"That bitch…" Killian said appearing before all the bunks. "Wants to see you sorry lot up top. Why don't you go say that to her face?"

They scrambled out of their beds and stood to attention as the morning light flashed down on them from the spaces between the floorboards of the deck. Killian walked the line, inspecting the lines of their soft faces. It was a tossup with them. Most of them he could imagine surviving the first sail out. The others were either going to perish or the captain was going to throw them overboard and as harsh as it sounded it was a hell of a show to see. And he was unashamed to say that he did enjoy it.

"You're all pathetic. Most of you won't make it but it's too late to change your mind about getting on this ship unless you think you can swim all the way back to shore," he said loudly. His feet stopped in front of one them and leaned in close to his face, "You, boy. What's your name?"

"James."

"Mr. James. You, sir, can make your way to the captain's quarters. I'm sure she'd love to hear your thoughts on her." When he didn't move or respond, Killian grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him so they were nose to nose, "I said captain's quarters, boy. We can always start the day throwing you off the ship. It'll be your lucky day too. The sharks are out just waiting for us to throw them breakfast."

The boy jerked out of his grip and sidestepped him to leave and go up top. Killian watched him go with a sneer on his face before turning back to the rest of them, "Obviously you're new here." They all glanced around noticing that most of the hammocks and cots were empty except for the group of them that were new to being on a pirate ship. He shrugged and continued, "Well, anyway as for the rest of you. Enjoy breakfast because you're going to work…right to the bone."

They all nodded obediently and filed out. He let them go all except one, "You…your name?"

"Neal."

"Neal," Killian repeated. "How old are you?"

"22."

"No younger than myself it seems. So you've heard them? The stories of the Devil's Hangman?"

"Yes, sir."

"You believe them?"

"Yeah, I do. The captain, she's…her heart stopped and she hasn't aged a day in over 100 years. It's true isn't it?"

"Aye. It is."

"I told myself I'd become a pirate to sail on the ship with her. The Queen of Pirates."

Killian gave him a tight grin and patted his shoulder, "The captain will like you. That's always best...safer that way."

"Thank you, sir."

"Go on."

He pushed him towards the exit and followed behind him. The bright morning sun beamed down on them harshly. The part of the crew who knew to get up earlier than the boys had already been out on deck working and were working up a sweat under the heat. He glanced up to the crow's nest and noticed the man looking tiredly out to the sea.

"Oi!" Killian called up to him. The redheaded man looked down to him and squinted. "Come down from there. On to the mess hall with you."

A grateful look passed over his face and the brunette man turned back to the rest of the deck seeing most of everyone leaving towards the stairs that led down to the mess hall for their breakfast. His eyes roamed over to James walking up to the guards at the doors to the captain's quarters.

"I'm looking for the captain," James muttered looking away from the two men that towered over him.

They were in different clothes than the rest of them. Depending on the sea dock one decided to become a pirate they probably had cultured pirate wear. They were tall and stuck in between muscled and just overweight. Their waists were strapped with scimitar swords and he was sure from the many people that had come in and out of their port they were the notorious Arabian pirates. Most feared right under the Queen herself.

"Who are you, boy?" one of them spoke with a shiver causing deep voice. "You don't look familiar."

"Jones sent me here to see the captain."

"Well, I don't know you, you rat," he said taking a dangerous step forward. "If I don't know you-"

"Let him in," a deep, sultry voice commanded from inside the room. The guard pulled his hand away from grabbing the boy's throat. He stepped aside and James slipped between them, staring warily at them as he went. He walked through the door and stopped at the purples and reds covering the room. It wasn't what he expected of captain's quarters on a pirate ship. It was more elegant, like a cabin of a British Naval captain.

His eyes instantly fell on the bed on his right, silk sheets and red pillows vacant of the woman he was looking for until a patronizing laugh echoed around him. His eyes snapped up to the woman at the desk directly opposite the door on the other side of the room. He jumped as the doors of the cabin slammed shut behind him.

"You're not man enough to catch me lying in bed," Regina snorted and he winced at her tone. She looked up to him again her expression on her face instantly became unreadable. "Is that what you think you're here for?"

"No." He shook his head frantically averting his eyes from hers.

"Don't think you'll be anything important to me, Mr. James." He looked at her with wide eyes. She slammed a glass jar at the edge of her desk and leaned back in her chair. The boy gulped nervously and took that as her way of commanding him to come forward. He took tentative steps until he was at the edge of the desk. She bowed her head shortly and the jar was picked up.

James looked up in confusion and his face flushed at seeing her undo the linen shirt over shoulders. Like anyone, his green eyes fell on the jagged wound over her chest.

He'd heard her story briefly and like his father he dismissed it. The woman didn't exist as far as he was concerned until now. He wanted to be aboard the Devil's Hangman. Now that he knew she was real, she was more terrifying than he had expected. Sensing what he was being asked to do he walked around the desk pulling the lid off the jar as she turned in her chair.

Something caught his eye and he figured being on her bad side wouldn't get much worse if he spared a glance. So he looked and instantly regretted it.

He shouted and jumped back, knocking around things on the woman's desk. There was a small space in the corner where a bookshelf obviously was but on the wall adjacent to the shelf was man hanging on the wall by a sword stuck through his chest and into the wall.

"My mind, body, and soul are joined with the ship. He wasn't a very loyal man."

"He's dead," the boy stammered.

"He is. And I'm making your first duty on my ship to be to dump that body into the ocean by yourself and if I sense you've not done what I told you, you'll be next."

He glanced back at the blood pooling under the dead body and turned his eyes back to the woman. Hesitantly, he dipped his fingers into the jar and stepped forward to her. He held his breath as he leaned forward and smeared the cream against her chest. Their eyes met and he looked for any sign of him doing something wrong before he continued to timidly rub it in, cringing at the feeling of the broken skin against his hand.

The stories of the Devil's Hangman and its captain sprouted up almost 100 years ago yet this mark - that had been seen the exact same way by everyone who was allowed close enough – never changed. Never faded or healed.

"You feel that?" Regina questioned, watching his hand move away.

"No…"

"Exactly."

James looked away from her as she took the jar from his hand and sat it down, "On your knees."

"Captain?" He looked up her with his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. She pulled him down and he dropped to his knees in front of her. Before he could even give thought to what was going on, she dropped her boot-clad foot onto his knee. Knowingly, he grabbed the woman's leg and pulled it closer and started to tighten the straps.

"Mills." Regina looked up to Killian standing in the doorway. He smirked at the boy submissively finishing up her boots. "'Enjoying that, Mr. James?"

He got no reply and Regina leaned forward grabbing him tightly by the ear. All the cold rings on her fingers made the grip even more intense and he bit his lip.

"Answer," Regina hissed.

"Yes, sir," he ground out.

"Good thing. You'll be down there more often than you can imagine." He looked up into Regina's eyes before glancing down to her crotch in the tight leather pants. It was safe to assume she didn't catch that but if she did, she didn't speak on it. She roughly pulled her hand away from his face and leaned back in her seat as he continued his work.

"What is it, Killian?"

"The new lads are ready for instruction. What would you like to do, love?"

"Meaning?"

"One of us is going to have to navigate. Would you like to break them in?"

"I don't have the patience today," she said flexing her fingers. Her first mate immediately noticed the small stain of blood on the back of her hand. He glanced around the room until he spotted the pool of blood gathering in a corner. He nodded his head knowingly. "I've already had my prearranged fix of homicidal tendencies for today. Dealing with them today will leave us with half a crew."

"I understand, Captain. Just navigate us, I'll handle them."

James glanced over the desk to Killian and saw that he was walking towards them. Regina pulled her foot away and almost as if on cue the older man jerked him up from the floor and threw him in the direction of the door. James stumbled and took his leave with Killian calling after him, "Start swabbing the deck!"

"I think you'll have plenty of sorry sacks throw overboard…should your need to release that tension arises."

"Thank you for that," she nodded with a smirk.

"Anything from the compass?" She looked up at him as he sat down on the edge of her desk.

"Which one?" Regina laughed.

"Nothing new has been coming from that moral compass of yours in years so it's safe to assume which one I'm speaking of."

"Point taken," she nodded, tracing the lines of the map splayed out on the surface in front of her. "My compass is blank for now."

"Any idea where the next island is?"

"Yes, but that's not where I'm going."

"Where are we going?"

"I have a bounty to collect," Regina said leaning back in her chair. "Captain Yuri has cheated death four times I believe, he's on the list. The Cove."

"To think some people don't believe you are Queen of the Damned," Killian laughed. "I'm going to break them. Try to relax."

She nodded at his request before he started to walk himself out. He stopped just short of the door and turned back to her, "Just between you and me, there's a stowaway on board dressed as a lad. I'm sure she'd enjoy it if you snatch her away, promise not to out her, and take her on your silk sheets."

"Jones," Regina warned.

"I'm sure you prefer your desk better I suppose."

"Jones!"

"Just putting it out there. That's all."

"Your point has been made."

"How about she gives you a massage?"

"Get out," the brunette said shaking her head as she went back to her map.

"Aye, Captain," he bowed and closed the doors behind him.

"Are you sure about this?" Ruby rolled her eyes at the question and continued to slip into her coat. "It could be dangerous."

"I don't know if Captain Mills has ever mentioned how we first met but I'm far from helpless Mr. Bailey."

"Captain doesn't like you leaving the estate."

"Despite her thoughts, I'm not a little puppy. I was previously an assassin. I think I'll do just fine."

"An assassin, ma'am?" He questioned warily as she opened the front door.

"The first time I met Regina, I tried to kill her because that's what I was ordered to do," Ruby informed smugly as she left out the door, leaving the man stunned and surprise.

Though he was right about her leaving the big house. Regina didn't want her leaving very often but it was fairly boring to be stuck there all the time. So she liked to sneak away and venture out into town, completely ignoring Bailey's wishes for her to stay inside so Regina would strangle them both.

She never went anywhere too open but she at least wanted the fresh air. Today wasn't for leisure, even though she wished it was. Some investigating needed to be done on the missing woman. Belle French.

There was just the man to help her especially in the affairs of the British Navy and anyone in relation to it.

After a few minutes of walking, Ruby stopped at an alleyway and focused straight ahead down the sidewalk as she spoke, "You look a bit suspicious."

"Well, don't we all look suspicious when a stray black horse walks up with a secret message? A black horse really?" The bearded man spoke, lighting his pipe.

Ruby eyed the smoke that lingered in the air as he stepped out of the shadows of the buildings on either side of him, revealing his navy uniform. His hat was under his arm and his coat thrown over his left shoulder.

"It's the only horse willing to leave the estate on official business like this. Regina taught her horses to be skeptical of any man wearing that," Ruby said gesturing to his uniform.

"It's like stepping on glass with that woman..." He shook his head with a frown.

"Best you and I not be seen together," Ruby sniffed dismissively.

"I'm not that terrible looking am I?" He smirked and she rolled her eyes.

"You're too relaxed. Most wouldn't be so casual about being an informant for a pirate lord."

"Ah, that's where you're wrong, darling. I'm not an informant for Captain Mills. I'm an informant for a former contract killer of the government. Gives me less reason to be concerned." She continued to look unimpressed despite wanting to crack a smile. "What is it you need, Lucas?"

"Information."

"I'm an open book."

"I know you are, Graham. I need information on French. Maurice French. His daughter was taken by pirates."

"I've heard."

"He came looking for Regina's help in finding her," Ruby said walking up to him. "I knew she'd take the job but she won't be back for weeks, so I'm looking for a rather useful start to this search."

"What kind of information are you looking for?" Graham questioned skeptically.

"Mr. French told me that he went to his superior officers for assistance and they refused him after they heard everything from him. Apparently, they had some clues as to who might have taken her but they refused him that information as well."

"Unfortunately, I can't help much there. It's going around about her but it's all speculation. Nothing compact, solid. Although if anything, if someone has mentioned a name…"

"Speak your mind, Graham," Ruby said sensing she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear.

"The disappearance and the Devil's Hangman have been mentioned in the same conversation on more than one occasion." He watched her sigh and nodded his agreement. "Other than that you and I both know there are many pirates that are in the business of trafficking and all the rest wouldn't mind a body to warm their bed until they're uninterested."

"Yes, that's what I was afraid of but why would superior officers keep that a secret?"

"Working for the government doesn't mean your hands are free of wrongdoing. You know that better than anyone."

"I do."

"Ruby," he caught her distant attention. He took the pipe from his mouth and slipped on his hat. "I have some things that can help later on. Meet me around back of the pub. Time I gave you a birthday gift."