"Are you comfortable down here, your majesty?" The deep, gravelly voice of her captor startled Regina but she did her best not to show it. He stepped out of the shadows; his long beard dripping down his front and his hat so drenched the long black feather had fallen limp. "Apologies for the turbulence." He smirked. "There's a storm outside."

Regina scowled, her teeth grinding together as the ship pitched and a rum barrel tipped over and rolled across the deck. Blackbeard wasn't bothered by the waves, so in tune with his ship that every pitch and dive could be countered with a broad stance and a menacing scowl.

"You'll pay for this."

"To whom, your majesty?" He strolled before her, ignoring the clapping of thunder. "My son?" He laughed. "That boy couldn't find his ass with both hands, my dear. You've backed the wrong pirate."

"You have so little faith in your own son?" She stared up at him. "What happened between you? What made you like this?"

Blackbeard studied her closely, pulling a stool across the rocking floor to sit just in front of the bars. He sat there in silence for a moment, watching her with a hand in his beard as he scratched at his chin.

"Her name was Esmeralda," He stared at a spot just shy of her toes. "Her people, gypsies, had been driven from the catacombs of Paris and she stowed away on board my ship." Regina could almost see a smile grace his lips, were it not for the beard and the perpetual scowl.

"I asked her if she was afraid because she'd hidden away on a pirate ship." He chuckled lightly and Regina's eyes widened at the sound. "She said they'd have never thought to look for her there and so it was the safest place she could be."

"You fell in love with her."

He looked her in the eye with those icy blues, so like Killian's. "She lived on my ship with a tambourine and a goat that refused to be anyone's dinner. She entertained my men and she lived here with me, in Neverland, for two hundred years."

"She was Killian's mother?"

He nodded slowly. "When we met, I had been searching for the fountain of youth; instead we found a portal to Neverland and she came with me."

"What does this have to do with how you treat Killian now? If she loved him, if you loved each other. Why do you insist on torturing your son?"

"My son," He almost spat the word. "Was a curious child; we'd been searching a downed ship for gold, a small adventure for the boy that wasn't dangerous, as she had requested. But he came across an amulet. When he touched it it left a mark on his hand. A wraith came for him the next night."

Regina's breath hitched and she pulled her hands tighter together, clenching her palms.

"You know of this wraith?"

"Rumpelstiltskin sent it for me."

"Well then since you live, you know it can change paths." She nodded. "Esmeralda took the amulet from Killian, pressed it to her own hand and took his place. That boy is the reason she's gone."

Regina's eyes were wide. "And you blame him?"

"It was his fault."

"He was a boy." She snarled. "All he was guilty of was that he had a mother who loved him; a mother who was willing to give her life for him. And you blame him."

"I have lived three hundred years without her." He choked on the words and Regina took a deep breath.

"And you could have spent that time, loving her son; your son."

Blackbeard's eyes blazed. "How dare you!"

"How dare I?" She spat. "I know what it's like to lose that love. To have your child stop loving you. You had a chance, to love the last thing left of her and you squandered it."

"You have no idea how hard it is."

"Don't I?" Regina scoffed. "I spend each and every day unable to stop loving the grandchild of my enemy, because he has been mine since birth and after ten years they decide they want him back so they took him from me. Now you've taken him from me and for what? So you can live forever? Forever without her, without Killian; is that what you really want?"

"That's not the point."

"It's precisely the point. You don't even know what you're fighting for, do you?" Regina laughed maniacally, letting the Evil Queen slip past her lips for just a moment, letting the fire of magic burn in her eyes as she looked up at him. "You're waging a war for a child who wants to live forever at the expense of your own."

Blackbeard leapt up from the stool, grabbed the iron bars and quickly unlatched them. He swung the heavy gate open and stormed into her cell, kicking up the rank water with his heavy boot.

He grabbed a hold of her arm, twisting it awkwardly as he pulled her to her feet. Regina refused to cry out, instead clenching her teeth and biting down on her lip as he dragged her from the hold, stumbling them both up the stairs, where Regina's heels caught just enough to jar her ankle before they stepped out into the pelting rain.

The storm was raging so strongly the rain was almost indistinguishable from the waves crashing against the ship; the only difference being the taste of salt that sprayed across her lips. Regina's fear and anger boiled together as she was tossed across the deck to the arms of an awaiting pirate, this grimy hands gripping her shoulders as he turned her to face the Captain.

She didn't have the strength to shake him off.

"Bring him!" Blackbeard shouted over his shoulder and Regina's eyes widened as she saw a latch open in the floor a few feet away from where they'd emerged. A small boy burst forward, shooting out and up into the sky.

"Peter Pan," Blackbeard stated with a madness in his eyes, gesturing up to the boy that circled the skies and crowed, the long tendrils of Blackbeard's scraggly hair slapping him across the face with each gust of wind and errant wave. The seas roiled more and Regina could feel the warmth behind her eyes growing with her anger as another head appeared, pushed forward by two burly pirates.

"Henry!" She gasped, struggling at her bonds, desperate to break free and run to him. "Henry, can you hear me!?" She shouted over the roaring of the sea and Henry's eyes tipped towards her suddenly, widening upon sight of her.

"MOM!" He screamed, struggling for all he was worth against the thick arms that held him firm.

"It's alright Henry, everything's going to be alright, I won't leave you alone!"

"Mom, are you hurt? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, sweetheart, did they hurt you?"

"No, Greg and Tamara are dead though." Regina's heart wept a moment for Owen, the little boy who had awakened her heart. But for the man that had tortured her and captured her son, the news only strengthened her resolve.

"I hate to break up this precious reunion," Blackbeard smirked. "But there's work to be done here. String him up."

The pirates immediately dragged Henry to the mainmast, strapping him down with ropes as Regina saw Peter perch himself on the bannister of the quarterdeck stairs. "I remember you," Pan pointed at her, twisting his index finger as though in accusation. "You've been here before."

"No I haven't."

"You have."

"I don't believe so."

"You were just a child," He smirked. "You wept for your father into the lace of your nightgown, I remember you."

Regina studied the floor for a moment, staring ahead of her as a brief image came to mind. She had thought that Neverland was familiar; it was the smell in the air, the warmth of the sun, the same crackle of magic. Neverland was where a young boy with dark hair and blue eyes had hidden her in a tree far from shore, away from the mermaids who'd wanted to drag her under the sea and keep her magic for their king. She'd thought it had only been a dream.

Suddenly, she remembered Triton's words from the council chambers; she knew they'd try to take her. This had nothing to do with Henry, not really; and this had all happened before.

Regina felt the anger bubble up in side of her; tears were streaming down Henry's face as he watched her with fear in his eyes. Her shoulders started to shake and the ship suddenly started to crack and bow. She pulled her hands out to her side, revealing to a baffled Blackbeard that she had been unbound for some time. Tossing her head to the sky, she thanked Tinkerbell silently before the magic swirling within her burst forward.

The ship rocked, tossing violently as the sea churned. A great trident rose from the water, followed closely behind by the massive body of King Triton, scowling down at them. Regina's eyes flashed purple, twisting and turning like the waves as she felt her body change.

"I knew you'd return." Triton's mighty voice boomed and Regina's maniacal laugh vibrated through the waters, knocking the pirates from their feet as the deck of the ship split in two, under her weight. Tentacles spread out, dropping across the deck and knocking the pirates overboard. Blackbeard clung to the mainmast, holding on to Henry's ropes for dear life as the boy turned his eyes up to his mother.

She wrapped a protection spell around him, keeping him afloat as her great rolling body waded out to meet the King of the Sea.

"The Kraken has come." Blackbeard murmured and Henry turned to him, eyes wide. "She was just stories, told by the pirates to ward men from the sea."

"She's my mom."

"Yeah, boy, and she's waged this war before." Henry met the eyes of the frightened pirate.


Hook gripped the wheel desperately, holding on tight as the waves thrashed the side of his ship. It almost tipped, the mast touching the surface of the water before it was thrown back to standing upon the tumultuous waves again.

Turk clung to the ropes, swinging out before falling back to the deck with a thud, shaking his head to clear it.

"It can't be far!" Hook shouted and Turk nodded up to him, having faith in his captain but not in the storm. Suddenly, a bright light appeared ahead of them, glowing as it grew from the distance, brighter and brighter until Hook could make out her features through the rain.

"Tink!" He gasped as she collided with his cheek, grabbing a hold of his ear and swinging to his shoulder, clinging fast the the wet tangle of hair at the nape of his neck. Her wings were weighed down with the heavy rain, no longer able to lift her into the air so she dropped to his shoulder and clung to his collar for dear life.

"What happened to you?" Hook gasped.

"It's a long story," She sighed, tapping his neck kindly as she jingled with every movement. "But now is not the time."

"What's happened? This storm," He breathed, looking out to the roaring horizon. "This isn't natural."

"It's Regina," Tinkerbell shouted over the growl of the thunder. "You have to help her."

"What have they done to her?" Hook roared, his anger as terrifying as the storm that shook them and Tinkerbell trembled, seeing first hand, her dear friend's love for Regina.

"I don't know, but the storm started when I unbound her ropes. Your father had set some kind of magic on the cloth that held her hands. But she's free now, and I fear the storm's strength."

"How far?"

"You're close, just over the next swell."

"I'm coming, Regina." Hook muttered to himself and Tinkerbell watched the side of his face with a gentle half smile. She had missed him. All those years of him and Peter at each other's throats and she'd missed them both. She knew there was no saving Peter, not now, but there was still a chance to save Killian. All they had to do was get to Regina.


"It was never about my son, was it?" Regina boomed, her thunderous movements shaking the pirates down to their bones. The ones that still clung to the broken parts of the ship, turned their eyes away in fear and those that had fallen into the waves, shouted and screamed for help.

"Oh it was," Triton turned his trident towards her, gathering the clouds above them and dragging down a bolt of lightening. "it was a trap. Your son has magic, true enough. Better yet, he has the power of belief, which so many children in this world have lost."

"But why Henry?" She growled, eyeing the trident aglow with the heat of the lightening bolt.

"You know why."

"Me," She breathed, her strong tentacles dropping into the water in a brief moment of stillness as she realized. "You wanted to lure me here, to finish what you started."

"You were the truest believer Neverland had ever seen. You brought magic to this place, you fostered it. Your presence made it grow. Look at you now, the lady of the sea." Triton sighed, gesturing to the form she'd now taken; the beast every man of the sea feared. "You could be powerful here. So can your son."

"You won't win this."

"Regina!" A voice startled them. Regina looked down to see, with a smile in her eye, that the Jolly Roger had made it. With Hook at the helm, she smiled when she noticed the tiny little light perched on his shoulder.

"Killian look out!" She screamed, the depth of her voice strengthened by the advance in her size. The sea rumbled with the sound, shaking the water and knocking Hook off course as Triton angled his trident at the ship.

The bolt missed by a hair, knocking the ship on it's side before one of Regina's tentacles rose up and wrapped around it's base, setting it back on the surface. At the same time, she knocked Triton aside with another, pushing him down below the water as she shouted to Hook. "Get Henry! He's tied to the mast!"

Hook looked over, seeing the ball of white light that encased her son, tied to the mast and his father, who was holding on to stop himself sinking in the sea.


"Do you have any way to track him?" Emma asked Gold as they trudged through the forest. The rain came down in a think blanket, drenching them all to the bone; thankfully the wind had left them at the shore.

"Even if I could, the magic in this storm would counter any measure I took."

"Magic storm?" David threw over his shoulder and Rumple nodded.

"This isn't just any storm, it's powerful and unnatural. I'd say it's even more treacherous out at it's centre."

"You mean, someone is making it storm?" Emma scoffed.

"With all you've done and seen, dearie, and you doubt it?"

"No, it's just, who is that powerful?"

"It's remarkable what a mother is capable of, when her child is in danger."

"Regina?" Snow choked. "Regina is making this?"

Gold nodded slowly. "I believe so, yes."

"I hope Hook finds her in time." Snow muttered, walking on ahead of them with her eyes cast down. David shared a look with Emma before pressing his palm between his wife's shoulder blades and following along behind her.

"Do you know this future?" Emma looked, for the first time, like she needed Rumple's reassurance.

"I don't." He shook his head. "Regina's path became blurry to me several years ago. Power like that cannot be mapped with a parlor trick."

"So you don't know if she'll make it through this."

"I know that she has before, dearie. I believe with Regina, that's all we really need." Emma nodded, clutching the thin strip of fabric to her chest as she followed after her parents, watching the ground as she stepped away from him.

Rumple looked back over his shoulder, feeling the heat of Regina's magic all the way back from the source of the storm and he could feel the raw expulsion of power rumbling right down to his bones. "Come on, dearie," He muttered. "You can win, if you focus."


The ocean rocked with the force of Regina, battling with all her strength against Triton. The waves crashed up, like tidal waves crashing against their bodies and knocking the tiny Jolly Roger this way and that. Hook, with a little help from Regina's magic, managed to make his way over to where Henry was still tied to the mast, barely keeping afloat on the last piece of the Queen Anne's Revenge still above water.

"Hook!" He shouted for him and Killian's lips spread in a thin smile, grateful the boy was happy to see him.

"I'm coming, lad, just hang on."

"Hold that thought, boy," Blackbeard's voice caught Hook off-guard as he leapt from his perch gripping the mast and landed with a thud; heavy boots against the ship's rolling deck. "You've gotta get through me first."

Blackbeard pulled his cutlass and Hook shared a look with Turk who instinctually took a hold of the wheel, nodding to his Captain that he'd do his best to steer the ship. Hook jumped down from the quarterdeck, keeping his footing steady as the ship roiled and the rain pelted him sideways.

Eyeing his father carefully, Hook made his way slowly towards him with a determined stride. "We could end this if you let him go."

"Neverland will fall, if that boy leaves this place."

"You can't know that for certain."

"You think we'd go through all this if we didn't know."

"I think you'd do anything to turn a purse of gold." Hook scowled and their swords came up, clashing together; a sharp metal against metal spark in a sea of growling waves.

"MOM!" Henry screamed and Hook looked up to see Triton bring a bolt down upon her, but Regina came back at him with a burst of burning magic. Bright purple light swirled between her hands before she threw another bolt at him again. Hook's heart lurched at the sight; their massive titanous bodies spinning the sea into a swirling whirlpool. His ship pitched and both he and Blackbeard lost their footing for a moment. He reached out, clinging to the rope ladder and pulling himself up towards the mast.

Blackbeard followed close on his heels, all the way up to the crossbeam. Hook dashed out across it, surefooted and quick. He spun around on the edge of the beam, holding his sword on his father with a steady hand.

"You don't have to do this."

"Neverland's magic is failing, we need something and their magic is that something."

Hook rolled his eyes, fighting off his father's attack with the sharp clack of metal on metal. "Look at what that magic is doing," Hook gestured wide to the storm around them, the swirling seas, the pelting rain and the dark clouds overhead. "This is what happens when you try and use that magic for an ill purpose."

"We're trying to save this world."

"You're trying to steal a boy from his mother!" Hook shouted back, his eyes mad with anger, the blue in their depths flashing ferociously.

"His belief, his strength, will save this world."

"And her grief will destroy it!" Hook screamed.

Blackbeard made another swing, Hook countered it and the force of the blow had Blackbeard struggling to maintain his footing. Hook grabbed his sleeve, heaving him upright before the sudden swing of his father's cutlass had him staggering back.

Hook stumbled to the end of the beam, his toes practically tipping off the edge as Blackbeard smacked his sword from his hand. The world around them was suddenly silent, even though the storm raged on. Hook stood at the tip of his father's sword, his feet precariously perched on the end of the beam as he looked into his father's eyes.

"None of this will bring her back." He spoke softly and he could see Blackbeard's hand shake ever so slightly. "I can't bring her back; nothing I can do or say will fix it, but don't make Regina and Henry suffer for what I did."

Blackbeard's eyes softened, Regina's words from earlier burning at the back of his mind. Slowly he started to lower his sword with the very slightest nod of his head. The rain drenched them right down to their bones; Blackbeard's hair was plastered to the side of his face and his long, plaited beard was matted from the wind. His eyes turned down to the sea as his sword fell to his side; his shoulders sagging in defeat. "It was never your fault," Slowly, he gathered the courage to meet Killian's eye. "She did what she did because she loved you and because she loved me."

Killian's eyes widened but before he could respond, Blackbeard screamed out as a small, powerful force collected Killian and they both went tumbling from the mast. He could hear the crow as Killian hit the water, the shadow of his attacker flying up into the air with a maniacal laugh.

"He was a pest." The voice giggled, flitting this way and that as if he were dodging the rain.

"He was my son." Blackbeard growled, grabbing the double-barrel flintlock from his belt, swirling it around his finger, before pulling the trigger on the boy. Peter fell to the sea, his demonic laughter dying out the closer he got to the ocean before the splash finally silenced him. "We'll fix this world my way now." He muttered, clenching his teeth.

To Be Continued.