A/N: Thank you all of you who have already followed and favorited this story. Since yesterday I only posted the prologue, I decided to post the first chapter today. From now on, I'll try my best to post once or twice a week. Feedback is very much appreciated!

Chapter 1. The Tower.

To find the tower had been a quite easy task.

The old Williams told him everything he knew about the princess' whereabouts -Killian was beginning to wonder if the man did indeed know everything-; Williams' indications didn't look to be complicated at all. With the Jolly Roger at her fullest speed, they would reach the port within a couple of days. From there, all he had to do was ride towards wherever direction the tower happened to be.

"Ride towards the northeast, through the woods." Williams had told him, as they got down from the ship side by side. "And if my old memory doesn't fail me, I was told three days of traveling on horse would be just enough to get there."

Killian stopped walking for a moment, turning around to watch the old man.

"Thank you for telling me all of this. Make sure my ship is well kept during my absence."

The man laughed. "You can count on that. Let's just pray you actually do get back."

"You should know this already: I'm not an easy kill." Giving him a couple of pats on the back, Killian laughed. And that way, he left him and the ship behind.

He had to get everything ready to leave first time in the morning. Killian didn't doubt that he wasn't the only one going after the princess, and for that he couldn't allow himself take any time longer than he actually should.

The first thing he did was to get provisions. He exchanged a small bag of coins for enough food for the whole trip, as well for some couple of essential things when it came to be heading towards a journey through the woods- among those was enough rum for him to drink throughout the entire adventure.

By nightfall the pirate looked for a place to sleep, wanting to be as rested as possible for the trip; possibly that would be the last time this week he would sleep in a bed. And when the sun rose in the morning, the pirate tied his bag of supplies on a horse and began heading to the woods.

He felt a little out of place, the sweet swing of the waves against his beloved Jolly Roger replaced by the compass of the trotting horse. It was a different journey, moreover, since he was actually on his way to perform a somewhat noble task. Who would have ever thought that the fearsome Captain Hook would end up going to save a princess? The end justifies the means, and his revenge was worth going through this heroic quest.

If it was not enough with having to travel without any company, his surroundings did indeed happen to make his journey even less stimulating. If only there were something around him; a sky which look up to, an animal, or even a field of bloody flowers. However, all he saw was trees, so high he could not see beyond the green leaves, all of them so similar that the only thing left was for him to beg not to be going in circles.

At night, during his time to rest, Killian could not help but wonder what the story behind the princess was. What would he find in that tower? What kind of beast would he face? Claws, teeth, some kind of great and terrible creature was what he had imagined. He might not be the best warrior enchanted forest, but he happened to be pretty fast. And he knew that when facing a wild beast, often the things that gave advantage would be having quick reflexes and speed.

But something told him that the beast had to be much faster than him.

Passing the third day of his trip, the sea of trees finally came to an end, and after spending days with leaves as protection for a second Killian had to put his hand over his eyes, protecting them from sunshine. The glade was spacious, with grass everywhere he looked, and right in the middle was the tower, which seemed to be much taller than the trees.

"Well, bloody hell."

With a leap, he got off his horse, and tied it to the trunk of a nearby tree. Pulling an apple out of his bag, he cut it in half. Chewing one half, he fed the other to the horse.

"There you go, lass." He told her, petting her carefully.

He went up to the tower. Now that he was closer to it, it looked even higher than before. It was made of stone, most of them mossy. From where he stood, all he could see were the stones, no entrances or windows anywhere to be seen. He began to surround the structure, hoping to find some kind of door, but as he kept walking he realized that what the old Williams had told him had been true.

It seemed there was no way to get inside the tower. There was no door, but Killian knew better than that. After all, half of those who came to the tower, failed to enter. However, the other half had entered indeed -and had been eaten by the beast-, and Killian would be part of that half – minus the whole 'being eaten by a terrible beast' part. There had to be some sort of hidden entrance, and he was going to find it.

First he gave a few laps around the tower, hoping to see something that he may have missed the first time, a camouflaged door perhaps, or a lever that would make a secret entrance appear. He found nothing, however. Then he circled tower, with his good hand touching through each stone that conformed the walls, trying to notice if the texture of some of them happened to be different, thinking that perhaps this was a case of a hidden magic door, that maybe touching the rocks in a given pattern, the door would appear before his eyes. If that happened to be the actual answer, Killian did not find out. Finally, he tried to check the ground around the tower, thinking of an underground entrance. That didn't work out, either.

He looked for the entrance for maybe couple of hours until no more ideas came to his mind, and he dropped to the floor. Pulling his bottle of rum out from his leather jacket, he took a sip. How I can rescue the princess if there isn't a bloody entrance?

Chirp. Chirp.

Killian took another sip, thinking perhaps this whole deal of rescuing damsels in distress was definitely not his thing.

Chirp. Chirp.

One more sip. He'd have to look for another way to get his revenge.

Chirp! Chirp!

"Bloody birds! Can't you let a man drink his bloody drink peacefully?" Killian exclaimed as he stood up, turning around to where the sound came from.

The bird, small and black-feathered, was about three meters above his head, standing in what could be...

The pirate bent down, searching with his eyes a small stone he could use. Once he found one, he got up and pointed a little higher to where the bird was, in that mossy spot that seemed to be a bit more sunken than the rest of the wall.

The bird flew away, and Killian felt encouraged as he heard the thump of the stone hitting glass. A window.

He ran to the horse, recalling that he had brought a rope with him. Pulling it out of the bag, he tied it to his waist. Perfect.

Killian went to where the window was, and stared at the stones that would serve him as a road towards the window. He looked down at his left arm, and pressed his lips against his hook.

"Don't you dare fail me today." He whispered, and with a deep breath, he began climbing.

He was thankful that the tower was made of irregular stones, and they left enough space between themselves for him to place his three good limbs, and his hook. He had already risen halfway through the tower when one of his feet took a misstep, and if it wasn't for the steady grip of his hook, he would've fallen down. No, it never failed him.

After several minutes climbing, finally he was facing the window. He was holding on with the help of his feet and his hook, which was clinging onto a stone above his head. With his other hand, he did his best to clean some of the moss that covered the glass. That window was not very big but it was enough so he could enter. He also noticed that the glass was intact; those who had entered the tower previously had not gotten through there.

Putting his right hand next to his hook, to exchange hands, he turned his face around to protect it from what he was about to do, and hit the window with his hook. At the first blow the glass began to crack, and at the second one it broke in hundreds of pieces.

Cleaning the shards of glass that were left on the surface, he peered through the gap that he had just opened. The floor was close enough to only give a small jump from the window, so Killian guessed he was maybe in a second or third floor. This room was completely empty, and looked a little dark, with nothing but stairs and what appeared to be a couple of skeletons. Nice.

However, he wasn't able to see or hear anything that indicated that he had the beast close to him. In fact, the tower seemed peaceful, in complete silence.

He sat on the surface of the window, and untied the rope around his waist. Looking at the wall, he tied one end to a couple of stones that stood out. That would work perfectly so he and the princess could leave the tower. Then, Killian jumped out from the window, and the sound that his feet made as they hit the stone floor, made his heart drop to his feet. He remained still for several minutes, hand on his sword waiting for the monster to come at any time. But again, it seemed that the only sound in the tower was the one of his own breathing.

He climbed the stairs as slowly and quietly as he could. Each floor was exactly like the previous one, empty and gray and dark. Something that caught his eye were the walls: marked with what looked like claws. There had actually been a beast in the tower, possibly a furious one. However, the more up he went, he began to doubt that the monster really was there. Everything was so quiet, that Killian was almost certain to be alone in that tower. Even the idea came to his head that maybe someone had already beat him, they had come before him, killed the terrible beast and taken the princess, along with his opportunity of getting his revenge against the crocodile, very far away from him.

There is only one way to find out, he thought as he followed up on that ladder that seemed to never end.

Killian felt as if it had taken him years to finally reach the final floor. His first impression was that it was... different. It was still gray and dark, but despite the dustiness it seemed to have more life than all of the other floors before. He noticed a closet, a tub and a mirror; he also noticed there was a bookstand. Walking up to it, he noticed they were tales for children. She probably hadn't used them in many years, since they were covered in a thick layer of dust. A lot of them seemed to have been ripped apart. There were marks on the walls as well in this room, but these were not claws; they were days. And as he stared at what probably happened to be nearly twenty years of marking days in the walls, the pirate could not help feeling sorry for the princess.

And as he kept walking he saw, at the end of the room, a bed. And lying on the bed, was a woman of blond curls, sleeping soundly.