I would like to thank BaDWolF89, Kira Tsumi, BloodMoonWanes, and Pyro Loves Ice forreviewing, following, and favoriting this story! It means so much to me that so many people are showing support for the story. If you want to follow my tumblr for the page, please do so! The link can be found on my profile. I would love some more followers over there, and I'm on it a lot more than I am here. So if you want to chat, ask a question, or just stalk the hell out of the page because I post pretty pictures of Colin/Killian and sometimes Lucy/Isabel, you should definitely follow!

Also, I am sorry if the last chapter was confusing. I am not going to make any excuses like I lost inspiration or anything. I am trying to set something up that may or may not lead into a sequel. Who knows? Just please be patient while I work out the kinks and everything.

Lastly, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. I put a lot of hard work into it. Parsing episodes of OUAT and trying to figure out what parts I want to rewrite completely or keep the same are very time consuming so this chapter is kind of like my baby. I won't say anything more about it. Like I said, I just hope everyone enjoys the chapter!

Enchanted Forest - Present

Killian rolled his eyes as Snow, Aurora, and Mulan argued over one another to figure out who should accompany him on the beanstalk. The Swan girl, on the other hand, stood off to the side. Like Killian, she seemed a little more than exasperated with the display the three women before them were putting on. Killian had joked that they should just go at it with one another, but he didn't think they would actually be so literal with it. He watched in amusement as they argued at first. After an hour of arguing, time was running out. Cora would be on her way to them, and he would rather like to not still be around when she showed up. It was one thing to betray her and head for the hills. It was pure stupidity to do so and stick around. Although, he found the prospect of seeing her face when she realized what he had done to be quite intriguing. She dangled his going to Storybrooke over his head every chance she got like he was a dog begging for just a scrap. When he tried to act like he didn't care, she would remind him of why he wanted to go in the first place. Using his revenge against him, she would make him bend to her will again. Of course, one thing stuck out to him that he didn't quite understand. She mentioned once, somewhat offhandedly, that he would see familiar faces there. When he asked who it was, she said it would be someone he didn't expect to see. He wasn't sure what that meant, but he was sure that he didn't like she kept that information from him.

He half hoped he meant his wife, and while he walked with the group to the beanstalk, he thought about asking if anyone knew her. Should one of the say yes, he would know that she was still alive. However, he also remembered what he had seen that day. The burnt cabin and her shawl laying in the midst of ash and rubble. Isabel was gone. His child was gone. It was just better to not hold out any hope that they were still alive. It only led to disappointment. Killian was tired of disappointment. He wondered if perhaps Cora meant Peter Pan and that imp known as Tinkerbell. Had they made it to Storybrooke? After all, Killian only hadn't because of Cora's counterspell. Anyone outside of the little dome was subject to Regina's spell so maybe they had. It was to be expected, right? If they were who Cora meant, he hated to tell her that he did expect to run into them. They were nothing to him. Killian placed no sentimental value on their lives, and he swore that he would get his revenge on the boy and his flying ball of light. They had tortured him, mocked him. They were his enemies. Along with the crocodile, he'd have his revenge. If the Dark One could not use his magic, then surely Peter could not fly. If the boy couldn't fly, he had no chance of surviving against Killian. He'd run the boy through with his hook and smile as the glow of youth left Peter's body.

For Tinkerbell, his revenge would be much different. Neverland was supposed to be a land where no one aged, and it was supposed to be unfamiliar to him. Yet, the second he got close enough to make out the shape of a pixie, he felt a tug at his heart. She was familiar to him. It was to the point that he often found himself wanting to know more of her than to kill her. He could barely make out her face, but he wanted to hold her in his hand without the urge to crush her to death. Many times they found themselves as the outsiders, sitting off to the side while Peter got to have the adventures. Killian was unwanted because he was an adult. Tinkerbell found herself unwanted because she disagreed with Peter or some other ridiculous reason. They would sit and watch together; kindred spirits in those rare moments. For Tinkerbell, his revenge would not be so brutal. He might even offer the pixie her life in exchange for her help. Peter would have to die, though.

"It's me. I'm going, and I'm not going to fail," Emma cut in. Killian smiled. Out of the three women, she seemed the least likely to annoy him. Maybe she wasn't as maleable as say Aurora or as savvy as Snow or Mulan. Emma could likely stand her own if it came down to it. Not that Killian saw himself never returning from the giant's keep.

Snow stepped up to her daughter, quietly speaking. "You're new here."

"It's about getting back to Henry. I don't care what I have to face." She paused for her moment, seemingly bracing herself for Snow's retort. "You're not going to argue with me?"

"Would it do any good?" Snow asked.

"No." Emma turned to Mulan and gestured to the satchel the warrior wore. "Anything in that bag that's going to help me with a giant?"

"A hook?" Mulan quipped.

"Hey!" Killian frowned.

"Come with me," Mulan said to Emma. She took Emma to the side, and the two women began to whisper to one another.

Once again, Killian was the outsider. He watched Mulan pull a pouch from her satchel, handing it over to Emma. He would have liked to know what was in there, especially since he would be climbing the beanstalk as well. It was bad enough that Cora refused to fill him in on all the details of her plan, but he felt he at least deserved a heads up on what the women were planning for the top of the beanstalk. "Ladies," he interrupted. "In this world, we are slaves to time. And ours is running out. In other words, tick tock." Emma walked over to Hook, and he smirked at her. "I was hoping it'd be you."

"Just get on with it." The disdain in her voice was evident.

"Put your hand right here." Killian gestured to his shoulder, and Emma did as told. Taking Cora's enchanted cuff, he snapped it onto Emma's wrist with the same smirk as he wore before. Her disdain not deterring his usual nature towards any woman. "That's a good girl," he mumbled to her. "This will allow you to climb. There are other dangers. Thankfully, you've got me to protect you." He pointed to his, well, lack of a hand to which Emma just rolled her eyes. "I can't climb one-handed, can I?"

Emma reached into the satchel, handing the hook over to Killian. "Don't think I'm taking my eyes off you for a second," she told him with a hint of warning in her voice.

"I would despair if you did," he smirked one last time.

The two of them began to climb. Hours passed, and Emma barely said anything to Killian. He hated silence almost as much as he hated too much talking. Still, they were in for a very long climb if they didn't start talking. He practically felt himself aging as they quietly climbed the beanstalk. The only sound heard was their heavy breathing and slight grunting. He half wanted to make some sarcastic remark about what their climbing actually sounded like, but he felt the joke would fall on unamused ears. Silence for Killian was a lot like time. There were many times where he prayed to the gods for some silence. Just a moment's peace in Neverland, but with that peace came something else. In Neverland, silence meant the worst of things were about to happen. Whether it were caused by his crew or something else, silence never meant anything good. It was the same when he and Isabel were together. If Isabel was silent, he could bet something was bound to happen; something that would lead to possibly the best make up sex of their lives. Still, the silence beforehand usually led to the small woman scaring Killian. And worst of all, he remembered the silence when he returned to her. Hoping to be greeted by his pregnant wife, he insted was greeted by the entire village holding their breath. No one could or would tell him where she was. He had to go and find what was left of their marriage.

Killian supposed he could break the silence with a little small talk. Women loved small talk, and they loved talking about themselves. Emma didn't seem the type. Perhaps if Aurora had won the argument, the silence would be filled with useless conversation about her precious prince and why Maleficent hated her in the first place. Of course, Killian never found it hard to imagine why anyone would hate certain princesses. Regina probably hated Snow White simply because the girl was lovelier than her, but at the same time, everyone knew the truth about Regina's love. Then there was the one her initially planned on rescuing from her cell in hopes she would thank him by sharing where the crocodile's dagger was hidden. He was sure there was someone out there who hated her as much as he did. Well, he didn't hate her as much as he didn't understand her. He guessed there was no real accounting for taste. She supposedly loved the monster, though he found that a little hard to believe. Then again, Milah had loved him, and Killian was far from innocent when they had met.

Emma and Killian were nearing the top of the beanstalk, and Killian was dying for some sort of sound. The more time that passed, the more he became paranoid as to what Emma might be planning. Something about her seemed so calculating. Sure she was mistrusting, and Killian wasn't about to argue that he was a model for honesty. Still, Emma could at the very least say something worth while. That's all Killian wanted. She didn't even have to make it worth while. She could comment on the scenery, and as he was more than sure she was getting a very nice view of his backside, a comment on that particular part of the scenery was more than welcome. He doubted she would be so bold as to tell him what a nice ass he had so he supposed he might want to get the conversation ball rolling.

"First beanstalk? Well, you never forget your first," he said with a chuckle. Then he added. "You know, most men would take your silence as off-putting, but I love a challenge."

"I'm concentrating," she told him, though he knew better than that.

"No, you're afraid. Afraid to talk – to reveal yourself. Trust me – things'll be a lot smoother if you do," he egged her on.

"You should be used to people not trusting you." Ah, she was throwing it back at him.

"Ah, the pirate thing." He rolled his eyes and continued climbing. "Well, I don't need you to share. You're something of an open book."

"Am I?" she asked, slightly amused.

"Quite," he nodded. "Let's see – you volunteered to come up here because you were the most motivated. You need to get back to a child."

Emma rolled her eyes. "That's not perception. That's eavesdropping."

"Ah, but you don't want to abandon him the way you were abandoned," he added, mocking her only slightly.

"Was I?" she asked.

"Like I said, an open book." Killian could read people. While most tried to keep everything close to them, he could still figure them out. It was part of being a pirate; studying people until you could figure out how to swindle them. It may not have been the most skillful trait to have, but it certainly helped him out of a few scrapes. When he met Milah, he instantly could tell how miserable she was. Like him, she lived with pain. It was a different kind of pain but still pain nonetheless. He hated to say it, but it was that pain that drew him to her. Of course, the fact that she reminded him of Isabel also played a part in his rescuing her from her sham of a life.

"How would you know that?" she asked.

Looking up, he knew he did not want to tell her too much about himself. Nothing about his wife's death. Nothing about his father leaving him alone. Like her, he figured that less she knew about him the better off he would be. Then she wouldn't be able to use anything against him. Just as he wouldn't be able to use anything against her. "I spent many years in Neverland – home of the Lost Boys. They all share the same look in their eyes… The look you get when you've been left alone."

She pulled herself up by another vine on the beanstalk and looked at him. "Yeah, well, my world ain't Neverland."

"But an orphan's an orphan," he mused. "Love has been all too rare in your life, hasn't it? You ever even been in love?"

"No. I have never been in love," she lied.

A lie. That's exactly what it was. Even though she answered almost immediately, he knew that it wasn't true. A sadness filled her eyes, and he imagined that's how he used to look. Killian purposely hardened himself so that nothing would ever affect him again. Not love. Not sadness. Not anything. He guessed Emma had done the same thing, which made her a kindred spirit, but like Tinkerbell, it certainly didn't make Emma an ally. They could relate to one another, but at the end of the day, Killian was going to be about himself and no one else. He honestly hoped Emma wasn't like that. If it came down to it, he hoped she would save her companions. They were far more trustworthy than he was. She could probably guess that he had some plan to betray her as well, but Emma was the type to try and save anyone. It was just who she was really.

"Have you ever been in love?" she asked.

The question caught him off guard. "I have," he answered quietly. "Long ago. Several hundred years ago. She had the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen."

"What happened to her?" Emma asked.

"It doesn't matter. It was centuries ago, and I've mostly forgotten," he shrugged. And that was his biggest lie. After three hundred years or so, Killian still remembered everything about Isabel as if it happened only the day before. He remembered waking up next to her the morning after their wedding night. He remembered how full his heart felt when she told him that she was carrying his child. When the Dark One asked him what it was like to lose the woman that he loved, Killian knew exactly what it felt like. Rumplestiltskin reaching into his chest to extract his heart was unnecessary. Neverland served two purposes for Killian. One was to allow him to live long enough to figure out how to kill the immortal crocodile. The second was to help him forget his past. He wanted to forget the pain that lingered from Isabel's passing, and he wanted to forget the new wounds given to him by Rumplestiltskin.

With one last pull, they reached the top of the beanstalk. Killian looked around at the wreckage from the legendary battle that took place there. No. It certainly was not like the one Emma described when they first arrived. He imagined it being much more beautiful and definitely grander than what was in front of the two of them.

"What happened here?" Emma asked. She looked around with her mouth agape.

"It's where the final battle was," he answered. "Give me your hand."

"What?" she asked, obviously caught a little off guard.

"Your hand – it's cut. Let me help you," he told her.

Emma shook her head. "No, no. It's fine."

"No, it's not," he insisted.

"So, now you're going to be a gentleman?" she asked sarcastically.

Killian reached into his satchel and pulled a dark bottle from it. "Giants can smell blood. And I'm always a gentleman." Taking the cork in his mouth, he pulled it from the bottle. He poured the dark liquid onto her hand, which caused her to yell out and demand to know what it was. "It's rum. A bloody waste of it." He started to carefully tie a piece of fabric around her hand to control the bleeding. "We wait for the giant to fall asleep. And when he does, we'll sneak past him into his cave. It's where the treasures are – where the compass lies." Using his teeth, he securely tied the fabric.

"And then?" she asked as he tucked the excess underneath the fabric.

"And then we run like hell," he answered. He could feel her protest getting ready to spring forth. Maybe he shouldn't have hoped her for her to join him after all. Of course, Aurora would have been the only one to join him that would not complain or question his plan. That was just boring.

"I don't have time to wait for a giant to fall asleep," she grumbled. "The powder Mulan gave us – we need to use it. We got to knock him out."

"Well, that's riskier," he shrugged. Her face pretty much told him there was no arguing with her. "Ooh, you're a tough lass. You'd make a hell of a pirate." Reaching into his satchel, he pulled the puch Mulan had given Emma. As he held it out, his forearm was exposed to Emma, which she noticed almost immediately?

"Who's Milah on the tattoo?" she asked.

"Someone from long ago," he answered darkly.

"Where is she?" she asked.

"She's gone," he told her. He began to walk away from her. Emma already informed him that she too was good at reading people. The last thing he needed was for her to pry into his personal business. It was none of hers, just as she believed her business was none of his.

"Gold." He stopped in his tracks, and they turned to look at one another. "Rumpelstiltskin. He took more than your hand from you, didn't he? That's why you want to kill him."

He took a deep breath, cursing her for figuring it out all too quickly. She was effectively calling him on his lie so he would call her on her own. "For someone who's never been in love, you're quite perceptive, aren't you?"

"Maybe I was, once," she answered quietly.

Killian swallowed thickly. The plan was set. Emma would climb to the top of a statue, wait for the giant to pass her, and knock him out with the poppy powder. It seemed like such a good idea until they put it into action. Killian would be left on the ground to hide until Emma basically fulfilled her role. Then he would come in to help her find what they were looking for. It seemed so simple. Now he was a little unsure of how successful the two of them were actually going to be. "You ready?"

"Yeah," she called down to him.

She didn't sound so sure of herself, and that just made Killian feel like neither of them would even lay eyes on the compass. Still, he looked down at the bone in his hand. Raising it, he found a metal shield on the floor and bashed the bone against it. At first the bone vibrated in his hand, but then the ground started to vibrate as a loud roar echoed through the hall. The giant came running through the hall, heading straight for Emma. He was much, much taller than either of them had anticipated. The so-called giant statue Emma perched herself on was not nearly tall enough for her to use the powder. Killian cursed. He had to think of something quick. He guessed he could use the bone and shield method again, but that was not going to help anything. The giant roared too loud to be able to hear it.

"Hey! You big git! Yeah, you. Huh? You want to kill a human? Huh? You want to kill a human? Well, I'm the worst human around. Come on. Come on, then! Come on, then!" His taunts were not desgined to be a self-reflection, and had he had the time to think about it, he probably would have thought about his words. The worst human around. Yes, he truly thought of himself in that light. There was nothing redeemable left of him. Emma and the rest of the women were right to not trust him because he was the worst human there was. He could probably find a few people to agree with him. Those people at the camp probably would. If Milah were alive to think about it, she would agree. And Isabel? Well, Isabel probably wouldn't be able to call him her husband.

The giant bent to snatch Killian up. He closed his eyes and welcomed whatever outcome this might have. Should he meet his death, he would be perfectly fine with that. Thunder could be heard throughout the hall, and Killian opened his eyes. Luck seemed to still be on his side because the giant was passed out just a few feet away from Killian. He studied the whole scene to make sure he wasn't some apparition standing by after his death. Alas, he was not.

"Hook!" The distress in her voice was evident. She thought something had happened to him. "Hook!"

He walked to where she could see him. "He's out cold. I don't mean to upset you, Emma, but I think we make quite the team."

They smiled at one another before Emma began her desent from the statue's shoulders. Once she was in front of Killian, they began their search for the treasure room. The entire palace was filled with treasures so a treasure room seemed a little moot, but Killian was in awe of everything that he saw. A fraction of the treasure would have been able to buy him whatever his heart desired. Of course, his heart didn't desire what it used to. At least that's what he led everyone to believe. While everyone saw a loot-starving pirate, that was only the part of it.

"They hoarded all of their greatest stolen treasures in here. Piles of jewels, and every room filled with coins," he mused.

"Well, let's get to it," Emma told him. "The compass."

"What's your rush?" Killian asked.

"How long do you think magic knockout powder lasts?" she asked.

"I haven't a clue," he told her.

Emma nodded. "That's my rush."

Killian smiled at her. So she wasn't in the mood for a little humor. "Too right, lass. Come. Everything we need is right in front of us." He gestured in front of them and led her deeper into the room.

"They kill all the giant housekeepers, too?" Emma asked sarcastically. "How we going to find a compass in this mess?"

"By looking," Killian answered. "Start searching. I wonder how much treasure we could carry down the beanstalk." Emma gave him yet another unamused expression. He was starting to tire of her attitude. "In addition to the compass, of course."

As they wandered throughout the room, Killian stuffed small pieces of treasure into his pockets. Maybe they didn't hold much value anymore, but they sure were pretty. Killian tried to not let Emma catch him. The last thing he needed was some sort of lecture from her about them not having time for all of that. Emma nearly tripped over something, and when they looked down, they found a full skeleton laid out in front of them with a sword in its hand. Jack was etched into the blade.

"What the hell?" Emma asked, stepping back from the skeleton.

"That would be Jack," he told her.

Emma looked up at him with skepticism reflected in her eyes. "As in Jack…" she trailed off.

Killian nodded slowly and finished the thought for her. "The giant killer."

"With that toothpick?" she asked in disbelief.

"Well, it packs quite a wallop. You'd be surprised," he told her, starting to walk off for a it more treasure. Emma grabbed him abruptly, pulling him to her. Her arms wrapped around him, and he couldn't help himself. He wrapped his arms around her too. "It's about bloody time."

Emma pushed him off her and nodded to the rope stretched across the room. Then she gestured up to a cage hanging from the ceiling. "It's a trip wire. Quite a security system."

"Well, that's a plausible excuse for grabbing me, but next time don't stand on ceremony," he winked at her.

"Let's find the compass and go home," Emma rolled her eyes at him.