Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I only own my OC characters. Any lines in bold are either from Once Upon a Time, One Upon a Time in Wonderland, or any of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Enjoy the story!
Something nudges Will along his ribs rather forcefully.
"Bloody h***, Killian. Can't you let a man sleep?" Will groans upon seeing the other man standing over him.
"We have to get a move on. The compass won't find itself, mate. Come now, we're wasting daylight," Killian responds before extending a hand to help the ex-thief up.
Will grabs the pirate's hand before looking around to find Hannah packing up the essentials for their beanstalk climbing adventure: rope, plenty of water, and food. Hook adds two flasks of rum into the bag when his wife's not looking and shoots Will a don't tell look. Will returns the look by pretending to zip his lips and throwing away the key. The two men shoot each other an approving look, each of them trying not to laugh.
"Well, your compass awaits. Shall we?" Hannah asks Killian as she comes over to him.
"Aye. We're ready to go, Scarlet. Get your sorry carcass over here," Hook says, teasing Will as he does so.
To think, the two men only met a day ago and they're already behaving like best friends. This mission is going to have more than one final outcome and gain, of that Hannah is certain. She predicts that her husband and best friend are going to be best mates after this whole ordeal is over.
"Quit you're complaining, mate. I am the one who helped you to commandeer that ship," Will smirks.
"Can we please just get going? We need to find the Jolly Roger, defeat Davy Jones, AND get out of Wonderland before Jafar gets us. Just saying," Hannah reminds the two bickering men.
"You make a fair point, lass. Let's go," Hook agrees before grabbing something out of his satchel.
"Wait. If these beans create… portals, why not just pick one and find your ship that way? Why the compass?" Will questions, still confused on the situation.
"Because there aren't any more beans," Killian replies in a monotone voice.
"I thought the whole reason Jack came up the beanstalk was to slay the giant," Hannah speaks up, looking at her husband in confusion.
"Whatever story you think you know, my dear, is most certainly wrong. Sounds like a lovely tale, but the truth's a little more gruesome," Hook tells her, hoping he explained everything well enough.
"So, basically, the giants destroyed all of the magic beans. Now we have to go to the top of this bloody high beanstalk to try and find a compass that supposedly lies with the hidden treasure?" Will sums up, looking at the pirate for confirmation.
"Aye. The treasure remains, and amongst it lies the compass. Now it will guide us to my ship. But, we can't find the Jolly Roger without the compass. Once we get it, we steal back the Roger from Davy Jones, then we're on our way," Killian says with an excited smile on his face.
"Then we better start climbing," Hannah suggests before placing her foot on the base of the beanstalk.
Magical energy crackles from the beanstalk, throwing Hannah backwards, just landing in Killian's outstretched arms.
"What the bloody h*** was that?" Will demands, looking at the beanstalk with a skeptical expression.
"Right, so, I failed to mention that the giant enchanted the beanstalk to repel intruders," Hook smirks, scratching the back of his neck in the process, something he does whenever something's bothering him.
"All right, so how the bloody h*** do we get up there, then, pirate?" Will asks, open to any suggestions.
"I've got a counter spell from Anastasia, if you'd be so kind and get it out of my satchel," the pirate answers.
"How did you get a counter spell from Ana? She left Wonderland not long after we arrived," Will reminds, an incredulous look on his face.
"She handed me the spell before jumping through that bloody portal that bloody realm-crossing rabbit made. We don't have time for this, mate. Questions and answers can wait until later," Killian argues before grabbing the wrist cuffs from Will.
Yep, Hannah's even more sue that they're going to become best friends before the journey is over. Hook slips the wrist cuff around Hannah's right hand before she does the same with his right hand. Will struggles getting his around his own hand, but after five minutes the thief gets the magical ward properly situated on his wrist.
"So, what does this counter spell do?" Hannah asks her husband as the three of them place their feet at the base of the beanstalk.
"This will allow you to climb, but there are other dangers. Thankfully, you've got me to protect you," the pirate captain smiles at her.
"A little full of ourselves are we, pirate?" Will teases as the three of them begin their climb up the beanstalk to retrieve the magic compass.
"Why don't you keep your thoughts to yourself, mate?" Hook responds, giving Will a somewhat dangerous look.
"Or you'll what?" Will challenges, looking at Hook with an equally dangerous face.
Hannah just smiles at the continuous banter between the two handsome men, knowing that she is in for a long climb up the beanstalk.
In Storybrooke
The door to Granny's Diner swings open, admitting Alice, Cyrus, Anastasia, and the White Rabbit. The four friends look around for Regina or Mr. Gold. From the stories Will's told her about his time in Storybrooke, Anastasia knows that Regina looks somewhat like Cora, since she is indeed the old Queen of Hearts' daughter.
"Where could they be?" Cyrus wonders aloud, not caring about the looks he gets from some of the townspeople.
"I don't know. Is this the right spot, Anastasia?" Alice asks the White Queen, concern lacing her voice.
Anastasia lets out a sigh as she searches the small diner for the other two magical people that reside in the town.
"I think so, Alice. Will's told me enough about Granny's Diner that I would assume that it's where we can find Regina or Mr. Gold," she replies, still scanning the room for any signs of magic.
Robin Hood, overhearing the whole conversation while eating lunch with Roland and Henry, decides to go over to the group and help them.
"You boys stay put. I'm going to go help those people," Robin instructs Henry and Roland.
The famed thief gets out of his seat at the booth and walks over to Anastasia and the others from Wonderland.
"I can't help but overhear your situation. You're looking for Regina, yes?" Robin asks Ana when he comes up.
"Yes, actually. Who are you?" Anastasia responds, looking at Robin with somewhat of a skeptical look on her face.
His face looks familiar to Ana, but she can't be sure where she's seen him before.
"I'm Robin of Locksley, at your service, milady. How can I help?" Robin introduces himself, giving her a sight bow once noticing the crown resting on her head.
She gasps, remembering this as the man that Will used to work with in Sherwood Forest, the famous Robin Hood.
"My friends and I need to find Regina or Mr. Gold and get them to come back to Wonderland with us. Will's in trouble," Anastasia explains, causing Robin's eyes to get wide.
"Will's in trouble?" he questions, his voice sounding alarmed.
Yes, he hasn't seen Will for many years, but they were pretty close in the Enchanted Forest, almost like brothers, even. Robin would do anything to help one of his men.
"Yes. He went to help Hannah and a man named Hook try to find their pirate ship, but now all three of them are in danger," Anastasia explains, an emotion Robin can't exactly place in her eyes.
"Well, then I must take you to Regina immediately. Henry, take Roland home; I have to take these people to see your mother," Robin instructs.
Henry nods his head before taking his little brother by the hand and leading the younger boy back to the mansion. And so, two realms are going to combine to help their friends and family achieve one particular goal. Where that goal would eventually end up was yet to be known to both groups, but for now, everything was looking up.
In Wonderland
"No bloody way! I am not singing a song about working for Captain Hook. That is not bloody happening!" Will argues, looking at Hook like he has grown a second head.
"Come on, mate. Humor me," Hook laughs, looking at the former Knave of Hearts with a small smirk.
"You've been singing these bloody pirate ballads the whole climb up the beanstalk! Give it a rest," Will all but yells at the pirate.
"Fine, then I'll do the honors meself," Killian grins, resulting in a groan from Will.
"Bloody h***," the latter whispers.
"Yo-ho! Yo-ho! Yo-ho! Yo-ho! Yo-ho! So, try the life of a thief! Just sample the life of a crook! There isn't a boy who won't enjoy a-workin' for Captain Hook! The world's most famous crook!" Hook sings, his voice getting louder when he reaches the last line.
"Are you drunk, mate?" Will asks after the last line, knowing Hook would never sing in front of anyone otherwise.
"I might be," he smirks before taking another swig from his flask of rum.
"That would explain it, then," Hannah whispers under her breath to Will, hoping her husband's drunkenness will wear off when they reach the top of the beanstalk.
How else are they going to fight a giant without him?
"Is this your first beanstalk?" Hook asks his wife and friend with a smile.
"Yeah," Will and Hannah answer in unison.
"Well, you never forget your first. Trust me, I know," he grins at them before continuing to climb up the beanstalk.
"If he is not normal by the time we reach the top, please give me permission to chain him to the beanstalk where the two of us can get his bloody compass," Will whispers to Hannah, resulting in a grin from his best friend.
"You have my permission, but let's hope you don't have to restrain my husband. We'd hardly be able to fight a giant without him," Hannah laughs, looking at her friend with a half-smile.
"Aye. I hope for our sake and his that he becomes sober long before we reach the top," Will remarks reaching his hand out to grab the neck of Hook's jacket to keep the pirate from falling off of the beanstalk.
Several hours later, the three friends reach the top of the beanstalk, and Killian, thankfully, is sober once more. He reaches the top first and helps Hannah and Will up, noticing the blood on Hannah's hand as he pulls her up.
"Give me your hand," he tells her, looking down at her hand.
"What?" she questions, not feeling the blood trickling down her hand.
"Your hand. It's cut. Let me help," Killian explains before reaching for Hannah's hand.
"No, no. It's fine. Just…." Hannah tries to persuade before starting to turn, but Killian grabs the sleeve of her jacket with his hook.
"No, it's not. Giants can smell blood. I'm just trying to keep you safe from this beast," he tells her before grabbing a bandage of sorts out of the bag they carried up the beanstalk.
First Hook pours some of the rum from his flask on the wound, hoping it will do the job of peroxide in this situation.
"Ah! What is that?" Hannah screams as the rum gets in the wound.
"It's rum," Hook answers nonchalantly while getting the bandage ready to wrap around his wife's hand.
"Yeah, and a bloody waste of it," Will mumbles under his breath.
Hook shoots Will a dirty look before turning his attention back to Hannah. The pirate carefully begins wrapping the bandage around her hand, or so he thinks. Hannah lets out a gasp as his hook accidently scratches over the cut on her hand.
"I'm sorry. Pirate's hands. I know they're rough. I'm sorry, luv," Killian apologizes, fearing he made the injury worse.
"No. I mean yes, they are, but….. But I'm fine. You were just trying to help," Hannah calmly says to him looking into his electric, hypnotic blue eyes.
"Here's the plan. We wait for the giant to fall asleep. When he does, we'll sneak past him into his cave. That's where the treasures are. Where the compass lies," Hook explains to Hannah and Will.
"And then?" Will asks.
"And then we run faster than any of us have run before," Killian answers, looking at the distance between the cave and the beanstalk.
"Or, better idea. The powder Cyrus gave us, we need to use it. We've gotta knock him out," Hannah amends the plan, looking between both of the men she is on this journey with.
"When did we get magical knockout powder from Cyrus?" Will inquires in a confused tone.
"I got the bag of it when Anastasia was giving the counter spell to Killian. I don't know what you were doing, Will. So, we need to use the powder to get the upper hand on the giant," Hannah explains to them.
"That's riskier," Killian disagrees, looking Hannah in her sparkling blue eyes.
"Then waiting for a giant to fall asleep when we need him to?" she challenges, looking at Hook with a raised eyebrow, a trick she's picked up from him over the years.
It tends to exaggerate her point, often making Hook see that her idea is better than his.
"Point taken. You're a tough lass. You'd make a great pirate. What do you say to becoming a pirate after we get my ship back?" Killian responds with a smile.
"We'll see," Hannah replies before going to get in a hiding position, waiting for Hook to execute the plan.
"You ready?" Hook calls up to Hannah and Will, both of whom are hiding atop the statues the giant keeps near the door.
"Yeah," the two friends call down to the pirate captain.
Hook takes a giant bone from one of the fallen warriors off of the ground and bangs it against the giant piece of armor that previously belonged to a giant. A loud grumbling comes as a response, and soon, a giant is in the group's line of sight, bellowing at the top of his lungs, looking for the intruder.
"Oi! Hey! You big git!" Hook yells at the top of his lungs.
This catches the giant's attention and he turns to face Hook.
"Yeah you, huh? You want to kill a human, huh? You want to kill a human?" Killian taunts, making sure to place a lot of stress on the word human.
The giant starts to rush towards Hook, which doesn't even make the pirate captain flinch. He gathers all of his courage and continues to taunt the beast.
"Well, I'm the worst human around, so come on! Come on, then! Come on, then!" Hook continues spinning after each sentence, luring the giant closer to where Hannah and Will are hiding with the magic powder.
As soon as Hook and the giant are close enough, Hannah and Will throw a handful of magic powder each at the giant. The colossal beast falls to his knees in about two seconds, covering nearly the entire floor area in front of the cave. Neither one of them can see Killian from their vantage point.
"Killian?" Hannah calls out, wanting to find her husband, hoping he wasn't crushed by the giant's fall.
"Hook?" Will yells, concern for his newfound mate causing him to call out in such tones.
Both friends hear movement and then a voice to accompany the movement.
"He's out cold," Hook laughs before starting to help his companions down from the stone statues.
"I don't mean to upset you, Hook, but I think we make quite the team. Between the three of us, I doubt there's anything we can't do," Will smiles at the pirate while sliding off the statue.
"And why would that upset me?" Hook asks.
"Well, I know that you have a pirate crew and I have the Merry Men, sort of. But, this is one of the best missions I've ever been on. The three of us actually work together as a team," Will replies while dusting the dirt off of his pants.
"We do make quite the team," Hannah agrees with a smile of her own.
"Aye. Let's go steal a compass," Killian smirks before the three friends head into the giant's cave.
"Bloody h***. Look at all that gold," Will whispers in awe once they enter the room filled with treasure.
Hook and Will start to explore the room, each of them taking their sweet time admiring and even smelling the gold.
"Let's get to it. The compass," Hannah tells them, reminding the two men why they are at the beanstalk in the first place.
"What's your rush?" Killian asks her as he looks through a golden telescope.
"How long do you think magic knockout powder lasts?" she asks him, hoping that he might know.
"I have no clue," Hook admits, and Will just shrugs his shoulders.
"That's my rush," Hannah says, hoping both men understand why she's in a hurry.
"Too right, luv. Come, Everything we need is right in front of us," Killian assures before walking forward through the room.
"How are we gonna find a compass in all this mess?" Will asks, looking at all of the jumbled treasure as the room continues to go on and on.
"By looking," Killian deadpans, casting a smirk in the direction of the Knave of Hearts.
"Start searching instead of just complaining, Will," Hannah tease him slightly, which earns a slight laugh from both Hook and Will.
"I wonder how much treasure we could carry down the beanstalk," Knave muses out loud.
This comment earns him a somewhat icy look from both of his friends, as if they are reminding him of their mission.
"In addition to the compass, of course," Will quickly adds to his previous statement.
"So, it's just in here somewhere?" Hannah asks her husband, knowing he has more of an idea where the compass might be than she does.
"Allegedly. Give me a boost would you, luv?" Hook replies as he comes across a giant wardrobe of sorts.
"Well that's just bloody fantastic. I have a future I'm quite keen to see. And you want me to risk all that for a hunch?" Will directs to the pirate captain.
Just as Hook is about to reply, a giant shaking goes through the room.
"Someone's up. Quickly, get under something!" Killian shouts as the giant gets closer to the three friends.
Hannah and Will hide near the wall, hidden by the mound of treasures from the giant's sight. The footsteps of the giant beast cause the ceiling to start shaking, and a chunk of the ceiling crashes down near Hook.
"Killian!" Hannah shouts as she sees her husband disappear under the pile of rubble.
She jumps up, grabbing her sword and cuts the rope that is holding a cage up above the giant. The cage drops down over the giant, making him drop the compass near his feet and raises the rubble away from Killian. The pirate captain slips out from under the granite and Will slides for the compass, just barely grasping it before the giant can get his hands back on it. The three friends stand there letting their breaths regulate before they all burst out laughing. Killian is the first to be able to speak, and he lets everyone know what he is thinking right away.
"You are bloody brilliant! Amazing!" he compliments Hannah before spinning her around, which makes her smile at his compliment.
"You weren't so bad yourself, Captain," she teases before kissing him on the lips.
It is then that Will gets off from the floor and walks over to the couple with the compass in his hand.
"And nice work to you too, mate. That dive must've hurt," Killian remarks, clapping Will on the back as he does so.
"It was nothing. Now, I think we should go. That cage isn't gonna hold forever ya know?" Will reminds.
"May I see it? The compass?" Hook asks Will, to which the thief gladly hands over the compass to the pirate.
"Is it real?" Hannah asks him as the needle turns around in a circle before stopping, pointing the trio in a southwestern direction.
"Aye. Come, let's go. It's about bloody time Davy Jones pays for his crimes," Killian says with a devilishly handsome smile.
"Right then. Let's go," Will says as three friends begin to walk back towards the beanstalk, the compass guiding them.
Little did they know that they were being watched from the shadows of the room.
"Yes, go find your ship. We'll see how far you get ahead of me," an eerie voice whispers in the darkness.
Author's Note: And there's Chapter 4! Thank you to those of you who are reviewing, it is greatly appreciated. Leave a review with what you think, those are always appreciated, and until Chapter 5, my lovely readers!