"Hook?"

"Ariel?"

Ariel's look of shock quickly turned to one of amusement. "Well, this is quite a change." She looked him up and down. "Who did you anger this time?"

He scratched behind his ear. "Believe it or not, this isn't a curse."

Ariel's face quickly grew confused, and she tilted her head as if asking a question.

"It turns out my father was a merman. Ursula threw me in to the sea unconscious, and...well, you can see what happened."

"I've never heard of that happening," she said. "Merpeople have mixed with humans before, obviously, but the children are usually just human."

"Guess there's a first for everything." Then it hit him: I'm talking to Ariel. "Wait, what are you doing here? I thought you were living happily ever after with your prince." (There was a bit more venom to his words than he had intended.)

"I had been, but I was trapped in the bottle. After you traded your ship to Blackbeard, he began terrorizing people, including the royal family of Arendelle. Their queen put the ship in the bottle as punishment."

"Elsa did that?" Impressive.

Ariel nodded. "Unfortunately, I was trying to stop him and got swept up in it all. So...thanks for freeing me."

"My pleasure, lass. Can I ask, though: why are you still here?"

"I wanted to make sure it fell back into the right hands. I thought you'd take it, but then you disappeared; Ursula and the Dark One have been there ever since."

He clenched his fist in anger. "Bloody bastard." Overhead, the water swirled, grabbing his attention; the storm must be nearing.

"You need to stop doing that."

"Doing what?" What the devil is she talking about?

"Calm down with the water works!"

"Lass, I've no clue what you're talking about."

"You haven't noticed that you can control water?"

His eyes grew wide and his brow furrowed. "...What?"

"Yeah. Mermaids can control portals, but mermen can manipulate water."

Bloody hell, I have magic. As if I needed one more thing thrown at me. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It made sense, though—any time he'd been particularly emotional (usually angry), the water around him seemed to reflect that. But whereas he didn't have a choice but to accept his physical changes, this was one he intended to ignore. It was just too much.

"Most people would be a little more excited to find out they had powers," Ariel commented.

"Yes, well, most people haven't had the past few days I've had."

Quietly, Ariel asked, "Did you just find out about your father?"

He nodded. "Aye."

An awkward silence came over them, until he decided it was time to not be in the harbor anymore. Even if Ursula's powers weren't full-strength, he worried that she might notice the presence of two merfolk nearby. "I found a cove that's relatively secluded; you're welcome to come with me there, if you'd like; unless you plan on heading home."

"It seems like you could use my help."

"Follow me, then."

They traveled in quiet, until he couldn't be anymore—the guilt he still felt over their last encounter was gnawing at him again. "Ariel, allow me to apologize for how I behaved when we last saw each other. I thought my ship could replace a broken heart, but I was wrong, and I'm sorry."

She took in his statement. "Apology accepted." Then, after a pause, "Was it worth it? Did you find your love?"

"Aye, that I did." As much as he felt ashamed of what he'd done to Ariel, he wouldn't change it in a heartbeat—it allowed him to get back to Emma.

"Where is she?"

"The same place your prince is; on dry land." Wait...on dry land. "How are you able to be with him?"

"Regina gave me an enchanted bracelet; as long as I have it on, I have legs. But it's with Eric right now."

Blast. "You know of no other way to transform?"

"I'm afraid not."

If a mermaid didn't know, then he had little hope anything at the library would—but Belle could find out anything, if given enough time.

Thankfully, they had arrived at the cove; he just wanted to sleep and avoid thinking about any further revelations or more dead ends.

He watched as Ariel surveyed a kelp bed before settling down into it.

"Is that comfortable?" he asked.

"It's not a mattress, but it's the next best thing down here."

Thinking it unsafe to go above, he found another grouping of the plant and laid down. It was surprisingly soft—much more so than the rocks. At least I'll sleep well.

Before he drifted off, his mind wandered to the shell he'd been holding on to. He had no idea what time it was (the moonlight cutting through the water only suggested 'late'), but he thought it worth a try.

He whispered into it, "Emma?" and waited to see if he'd get a response.

It took a minute, but one came. "Killian?"

It had only been a few hours, but the sound of her voice brought him joy. "How are you, love?"

"I'm fine; about to go to bed. You?"

"Aye, the same." He sighed. "But Swan, I have to tell you something: Gold is back."

He thought he heard her gasp. "Are you sure?"

"Positive; and I suspect that's who's been impersonating me." Worry then crept into his voice. "I fear he may be after you."

She sighed. "It makes sense. We'll meet in the morning to discuss it, ok?"

"Alright."

"Sleep well, Killian."

"You too, Swan."

Despite his worries, sleep came fast, and before long he heard his name coming from the shell again. Waiting on the rocky shore were Emma, her parents, and Belle.

"Ariel?"

"Snow!"

The two women shared a long but wet embrace, but Killian stopped paying attention when he felt warm arms wrap around him from behind immediately after sitting.

"Good morning," Emma said quietly.

"Morning, love." He turned his head to meet hers in a too-short kiss that tasted like coffee; she laughed when he licked his lips after. Gods, I could go for that. The food and drink here was very different from what he was used to, but coffee had quickly become one of his favorite things. (Though it may have had something to do with their new morning traditions.)

As if reading his mind, Emma said, "Don't worry—I got you some. Granny sends her regards." I'll bet the old minx does, he thought as Emma presented him with a cup and a to-go bag before sitting down next to him. The hot liquid was a welcome change from the constant cool of the ocean.

He saw Belle out of the corner of his eye and was about to greet her when she quickly avoided his eyes. "Weren't you taught it's rude to stare?" he said with a smile.

She glanced back up. "Well, it's not every day your friends acquire tails."

"Fair enough."

She finally smiled back, though he could tell something was troubling her. He wanted to talk to her, but David began speaking.

"Alright, before we attract any unwanted attention, let's get this going. Hook, tell us exactly what you saw last night."

As he relayed the story, he noticed the expression on Belle's face grew increasingly grim.

"Ok. Belle, you still have the dagger in a safe place, right?" David asked.

Belle swallowed, looking uneasy. "Actually, that's part of why I needed to come here. Killian, was that you who interrupted my date with Will a few nights ago?"

He knew Belle and the thief were seeing each other, and while he wasn't thrilled about it, he wasn't one to deny either of them happiness. "I don't recall catching you out with him ever, so no."

"I thought so." She shook her head, and told the story of what happened that night with who she thought was Killian and the dagger. Sadly, she said, "It must have been him. Even when I thought he couldn't deceive me any more, he found a way."

A large wave broke against the beach not far from them, making Emma and Snow jump. Still taking advantage of his own wife. Bloody demon.

"Hook," Ariel called out to him in a warning tone, knowing full well that wave was his fault—and this time, he did, too; now that he knew about his capabilities, he was starting to feel the water as an extension of his body, despite his desire to ignore that.

But he feigned ignorance. "What?" he spat out. How could I be expected to keep my anger in check when that man walks free?

"You know what. Calm down before you drown everyone."

All eyes were on him now; he began to feel the heat of embarrassment. Emma squeezed his arm. "Killian, what is she talking about?"

He had no idea what to say, partly due to nerves and partly out of stubborn avoidance. So Ariel spoke up in his stead.

"Mermen have the ability to manipulate water, but Hook here hasn't quite figured it out."

"Really? Killian, that was you?" He could hear the amusement in Emma's voice.

"Aye," he nodded, looking down, hoping she'd pick up from his brief answer that it wasn't something he wished to further discuss.

"We'll talk about it later, then." Good. She reached down to squeeze his hand, and he looked up to meet her eyes, hopefully saying thank you with his expression.

"Alright, does anyone have any ideas on what to do about Gold, or why he's after Emma?" David retook command of the conversation, directing it back to the task at hand. However, his statement received nothing but glances and shrugs in response.

"Maybe Regina knows?" Snow suggested.

"It's a start," Emma replied. "We should probably head back into town, then."

Emma's word was all they needed to start heading away from the beach, but he grabbed her hand a little tighter before she started to follow. "Swan, please promise me you'll stay safe."

In the past, she might have brushed off his concern, but she met his eyes with stern resolve and nodded. He knew she could handle herself, but he couldn't help but feel on edge where the Dark One was concerned. "You too, ok?"

He could see the worry in her eyes that mirrored his own. "I will." She leaned in for a quick parting kiss, and then stood to follow her parents.

Belle had lingered, waiting for Emma, so he called out to her. "Have you found anything, Miss Belle?"

She came a bit closer, so she wouldn't have to yell. "I'm afraid not, yet, but I did find a book on merpeople last night. I'm going to start looking at it when I get back to the library."

It did little to placate him, but he could pretend to have hope if she did. "You'll let me know what you find?"

"Of course, Killian," she said with a smile, reminding him how nice it was to have someone else in this town look past his moniker. "Take care."

"Take care," he echoed, and watched her, too, leave the beach, leaving him alone with Ariel.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Bugger if I know," he replied, before falling somewhat melodramatically back into the water.

Under the water, she found him. Smiling, she said, "Come on; I'll show you some things."

He raised an eyebrow in response.

"Mermaid things!"


Belle had found the beat-up tome hiding behind a much larger book that reminded her of Henry's storybook. The navy blue leather was worn at the edges, and there were only hints of the gold foil that had once adorned the cover, but she could still make out the embossed designs. It must have been beautiful at one point; it was covered with images of shells and all manner of sea life, and the title Merfolk was featured prominently in an elegant typeface, flanked by small drawings of the subject creatures.

She found it the night before, but had only been able to start looking through it today. Honestly, it was a welcome distraction, especially after the news of her husband's return—and deception. She and Killian had made amends and fallen into an easy friendship; the fact that her husband would abuse that as a means to his own ends made her stomach turn. I should have known; all the signs were there. But instead of kicking herself, she threw herself into research.

The book was filled with information, drawings, and history; but not one mention of anyone changing forms. There were plenty of stories of humans interacting with mermaids, and few of them having children, but they were always one or the other. And she had yet to find any evidence of a merman coming ashore.

She began skimming—as interesting as the stories were, they weren't helping. And I miss my friend; she'd gotten very used to having him around in the six weeks of calm, so now things seemed awfully quiet in the library. Will did visit each day, but he wasn't quite as interested in the books as Killian was.

Suddenly, a story caught her eye. She read it quickly, and then again for good measure. It didn't answer the question they were asking, but it certainly answered some others. And it might just give him some hope—something she noticed he was sorely lacking this morning.

A smile growing on her face, she quickly pulled out her phone and dialed.

"Emma? Can you meet me here? I think I found something."


Thanks for reading, you fabulous people!