Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time

TWO

"He couldn't possibly be alive," Mulan said. "You saw what that beast looked like. It must've eaten him whole."

From where she sat up against the base of a tree, Snow looked out a gap within the canopy where she could just make out the lightening horizon. "It surpassed us. Why do you think that is?"

"Maybe it found him just as annoying as we did," Emma guessed.

Snow gave her daughter a disparaging look.

"What?" Emma said innocently. "You know you were thinking the same thing."

"I've never seen such a monster in my life," Aurora said quietly. She sat close to Mulan; the girl-warrior had quickly become the damsel's protector without having to exchange a single word. They had a connection no one else could understand—they both lost Phillip. Aurora, chilled to the bone after their close encounter, was wringing her hands together. "Do you think it'll come back for us?"

"I don't think it even noticed us," Snow said a little distantly. "It seemed to know what it was after."

"Hook," Emma finished what no one wanted to say. "But why? Why him?"

Snow's shoulders rose in a shrug. "Maybe he had something on him that attracted it to him."

Emma tried not to smirk.

Snow rolled her eyes. "Not what I meant."

"We can't stay here," Mulan spoke up. She, too, glanced out at the rising sun. "We'll only have daylight for a few short hours. We should get moving."

"We're still going to Rosalie Fox?" Aurora asked incredulously. "Was the monster not enough of a sign? This is not a good idea."

Snow canted her head stubbornly. "We aren't turning around."

There was a deep, vibrating throb growing in the core of Hook's head. He groaned and lifted his hand to touch his forehead. He couldn't—his wrists were still bound. If he strained to recall the details, he remembered being prisoner of Snow White and her motley gang. And she had led them into a forest. The Infinite Forest.

Fuck.

The last thing he remembered was hazy. There had been that monster chasing him… and then… something. No. Someone. Someone had knocked him aside. Probably Mulan or Snow, considering they valued the information he had.

So without any consideration as to who he might be with, he tried to peel his eyes open. They protested and strained when met with the blinding rays of the sun. He allowed them to adjust a moment before glancing around.

Before he could so much as notice the strange carved walls of a cave surrounding him, the pommel of a sword appeared in his vision. Startled, he looked to its owner.

It was a woman, but it was definitely not one of the women he had traveled here with. She had fiery red hair and dark eyes; the hood of a cloak was draped over her head, casting her face in shadows as she faced away from the sun. He could just make out that she was glaring at him.

"Make a sound," she said in a low, threatening voice, "and I'll knock you out again."

Hook let his eyes travel between the sword and her eyes, quirking an eyebrow up. "Miss Fox, I take it?"

She didn't seem at all surprised to discover that he knew who she was. She didn't even blink. "And you're Five Finger Nelly?" she asked, sarcasm lacing her tone.

Hook's eyes narrowed. "The legends didn't mention you had a sense of humor."

He thought she would smirk, but she didn't. Instead she sat back on her legs and studied him carefully, the way a serpent might assess a meal.

"You're not one of Jafar's trackers, are you?" she finally asked.

Hook tried not to show his confusion. "Pardon?"

"Judging by how you were running from the beast last night and your obvious inexperience in the outdoors, I would guess you wandered in the Forest by mistake. Though what of your bindings?" she asked more to herself than to him. "You're a prisoner?"

"Obvious inexperience outdoors?" Hook was utterly offended. "I was being pursued by a demon. Forgive my haste."

Rosalie matched his quirked eyebrow. "A demon?"

"Yes," he said a little sharper than needed. "Did you not see the beast?"

"It was a beast, yes," the fiery girl said, seemingly amused. "But no demon."

"And how would you know?"

"Because it was tracking me, that's how." Rosalie stood. A scowl found its way onto her lips as she gathered several pouches and weapons strewn throughout the small cavern. Her interest in Hook seemed to have faded, and she prepared herself to leave.

"Tracking you?"

"Listen," she said as if he hadn't spoken. "I shall leave a fire for you. Whomever you're traveling with will see the smoke and come looking. You're welcome."

Hook sat up fully; he tried to reach for a dagger near his foot, but his bound wrists were tied to a long-dead tree stump, and would hardly budge an inch.

"Or you can free me," Hook offered. "And I will tell you what it is I am doing here."

Rosalie didn't pause. She strapped a sword to her hip. "And why would I be interested in that?"

"Because it has everything to do you with, love." Hook smirked up at her, waiting for her to take the bait.

She didn't. "Most things around here do," was all she said. She leaned over a small fire Hook had yet to notice and supplied more tinder to the flames. It ate them up hungrily.

"You aren't the least bit curious?"

Rosalie only gave him a mischievous smile. "Curiosity cuts deeper than a blade."

Without further ceremony, she disappeared out the mouth of the cave. Hook watched, his agitation growing as smoke billowed outwards after her, and wondered just how long it would take for the others to come find him.

"Bloody women," he cursed.

It was strange to be in a forest but hear no birds singing. Emma pondered over this as she picked her way across a trail behind Snow.

Aurora had been spinning tales of doubt since they began walking nearly an hour earlier. Even Mulan, who had more patience when it came to the helpless princess, was growing annoyed.

"She may not even return you to your land," Aurora said, glancing around the sunlit forest uneasily. "She's a kitsune—they're tricksters. Mischievous things, the whole lot of them."

Emma tried not to roll her eyes. "Well, then, what's a kitsune, anyway? You've all been talking about it, but have yet to go into detail."

Aurora was unsure of herself. "I only know what my father has told me."

"Which, evidently, is enough to get us to turn around," Emma said dryly.

Mulan had had enough. "A kistune is a fox. Hence the name Rosalie Fox. They are spirit creatures and shape shifters. Most legends paint them as wicked creatures with a thirst for blood or money. They deceive all those that are loyal to them." Mulan gave Snow a pointed look.

"Rosalie is different," Snow insisted defensively. "She banished herself from civilization as punishment for what she did. She wants redemption."

"That's exactly what a kitsune would lead you to believe," Mulan said. "Before stabbing you in the back. Or rather, biting."

"Feel free to make your own assessment of her once you meet her," Snow said with finality, signaling the end of the discussion. "Until then, keep your thoughts to yourself."

A silence descended on the group as they continued their trek. Snow navigated her way through the thick forest, slashing through thickets and bushes with her sword when needed. Emma's gaze drifted every now and then; even the air in this world felt different. Lighter, somehow. She never felt one-hundred percent like herself here; something was missing.

As her eyes flicked over the tips of pine trees and looming walls of rock, she caught sight of something strange.

"Guys," she said. "I thought people didn't live in this forest."

Mulan shrugged. "They don't."

Emma paused. "So where's that smoke coming from?"

Everyone stopped. Heads canted towards where Emma was gesturing. Snow's eyes narrowed in confusion; she kept her sword drawn and walked carefully through a patchwork of roots to approach the billow of smoke.

"It's a cave," she announced. "Up on the face of that rock."

"Is it Rosalie, you think?" Emma asked.

"No," Snow sounded very sure. "She would never give herself away like that. Not unless she wanted to be found." She glanced back at Emma. "Stay here. I'll check it out."

Emma nearly snorted. "Stay here my ass," she muttered. She exchanged looks with Mulan; they all followed behind Snow, who began scaling the rock wall up to the cave entrance. It didn't take very long; the mass of rock had worn hand and foot holds within it, hinting that someone had used this place often. Snow pulled herself up into the cave a moment later, shocked by what she found.

Hook sat on the far side, tied to a rotted tree stump, looking entirely bored out of his mind. He rolled his eyes at Snow as she gaped at him and tugged on his bindings once more.

"Took you long enough."

Emma was standing beside her mother a moment later. She glanced at Hook, let the realization sink in, and scowled. "Damn."

Hook smirked at her. "Miss me, darling?"

"Hardly. I liked you better dead."

Hook glared.

"She just left you? Without saying anything else?"

Hook sucked in a breath with exaggerated patience. "Yes," he nearly huffed. "As I have repeated nearly four times now."

Snow White worried her lip between her teeth, thinking. After getting Hook down the rock wall and back on the ground, they paused in their trek to consider this new information: Rosalie was around. But she was being tracked by something? A beast?

"She didn't say why it was after her?"

Hook stared at Snow as if he were speaking to a slow child. "No."

The sun was at its peak in the sky; beams of light streamed down through the canopy, illuminating patches of bright green grass here and there. It didn't look like the kind of forest monsters lurked in.

Snow turned and walked in one direction before stopping again, pausing right before a patch of light. She frowned. "Well we won't be able to track her down during the day. But we can go to her den—it's really not far from here—and we'll see if she returns to it at nightfall. But now I'm not sure. Not if this creature is hunting her."

"Why can't we track her down right now?" Emma asked a little impatiently.

"Daylight," Snow said simply. "She'll be in fox form."

"That explains why she was in such a tizzy," Hook grumbled.

Emma's forehead crinkled. "Daylight does it? Every day?"

"Yes, which is why she chose to live here. There are only four hours of daylight in the Infinite Forest."

"If her den is close, we should reach it by sundown," Mulan said. "We'll need to make camp there. I'm not going to risk walking through the forest at night again."

Snow nodded.

By the time the sun was nearing the horizon, the group of five was coming upon their destination. Snow recognized the spot by a series of tiny, nearly imperceptible holes in the ground. Hook's feet would catch several times in the holes; he'd stumble and curse until he came across another. Everyone pretended to be oblivious to his agitation. Snow, focused solely on the task at hand, began confidently walking ahead of the others.

"Up here," she said. "The entrance is right through those trees."

Mulan's face tightened with anxiety. "How long ago were you here last?"

Snow tried not to share in the worry. "It'll still be there. I know it."

The group followed her into a small clearing. Straight across from them was a series of toppled trees; if one didn't look very closely, they wouldn't see the dark entrance to an underground den and would pass right by it.

Three steps into the clearing, Snow stopped dead in her tracks. She put an arm out, signaling for the others to stop behind her.

All around them, a countless number of bows and arrows were pulled at ready, targeting the small group in the center of the clearing.

A broad shouldered man stepped out from the circle, meeting Snow's gaze solemnly. "Your weapons," he said. "On the ground. Now."

Snow had been so eager to get to the den, she didn't even think about walking right into an ambush.

A/N: Busy busy, I know. It'll all come together in the next chapter. Can we guess who the man is? I didn't give much of a description on purpose… But who uses a bow and arrow and lives in the woods? (: Thanks for all the favorites/follows/reviews! So… Review again!(: