10. Base's story

This just couldn't be true. They had just saved each other's lives and he was thinking about attacking her again already? Why else would he have sneaked into this room behind his captain and his first mate? There was no other explanation for this considering the way he usually treated her.

Emma ignored the pain in her hands and placed her right hand on a knife at her belt secretly being alarmed by his strange behavior, "do you really think this is the right moment for this? You don't look like you could handle this now, to be honest."

Base frowned angrily and she had the impression that he was confused by her words and maybe even by her reaction what confused her in return, "I'm fine. And even if not I'd still be able to take you on."

At least he believed so. His self-confidence hadn't even gotten a scratch, had it, "you haven't been able to do that before as well and you were healthy back then, remember?"

Just like he wanted to confuse her even more he took a seat right across from her and stretched out his right leg that seemed to be hurting him, "stop that nonsense and listen to me. I don't have much time."

Voices from above disturbed the silence as she drew her hand back from the knife slowly, never leaving him out of sight. She wasn't certain anymore, that he still wanted to attack her nor that he had intended to in the first place but she wanted to be careful.

The noise grew even louder just like the crackling and rumbling of the damaged Jolly Roger all around them and as she spoke her words were hardly to be heard, "what on earth is going on up there?"

Hook ran on deck. Smee's words had been more than confusing. It seemed too impossible to be true what his first mate had just told him on their way up here. He had said that the planks and masts had started to shine in the colors they were painted in as they had searched through the mess for survivors and for their dead mates. But there was no way the Jolly Roger could do something like that, was there? She was damaged, she was broken and so had to be her magic. How on earth should she be able to repair and save herself?

As soon as he arrived up there he looked around searching for a source of this strange happenings. Smee indeed had told the truth. Everything around them was glowing and sparkling and the noise which he had ignored just a moment before, believing it to be the sound of the ship breaking apart completely, was coming from everywhere. Even the sails that were hanging in shreds from the damaged masts were shining brightly. He had never seen something like this before.

Everywhere he turned to look he had to notice that small lights flew up from every part of his Chip that was damaged and maybe even broken off like fireflies on a field in the night.

"What the", he whispered as the broken parts flew up into the air and restored themselves before they flew back in place where they seemed to melt to the ship. The planes, that had broken into the ship, straightened out and malformed with the parts they had broken off from, while missing parts seemed to grow out of what was left. Now he understood where the noise had been coming from.

The more parts flew up the more of their mates they found on deck. Hook stepped up to the middle of the ship, "hurry up, get the men."

His pirates rushed across the planks collecting their mates if they were alive or not. The hurt and unconscious they brought under deck to mend their wounds while the dead ones were collected in a corner of the deck that was restored completely.

Hook walked up to the steering wheel while the stairs underneath his feet finished repairing themselves just before he placed his feet on each step. He focused at the people around him and frowned as he noticed that Base wasn't anywhere to be seen. It wasn't like him to stay under deck no matter how hurt he was. Usually he would come up and do whatever it took to help and make himself useful. And he had seen him after the attack, so he knew that he hadn't been as hurt as he wouldn't show up here now, right?

The ship shook and he had to hold on to the steering wheel so he wouldn't fall. Maybe his poor Jolly Roger had been hurt more than he had expected her to be. He walked up to the oar and noticed that even that seemed to need to be repaired from the light which was emitting from it. He sighed and leaned at the restored rail while the voices of his men reached his ears through all the noise. Even though the situation had been awful before, it was wonderful to watch this scene. It was like in a dream just that he would never have imagined something like this. He had never known something like this could happen at all. He only knew about dark magic so this was like a fairytale. He couldn't express how relieved he was through seeing this and searched the deck suddenly thinking of Emma who should be with him to enjoy this now. But she wasn't there.

So where was Emma? Hadn't she followed them up? What on earth was going on here? Base and Emma were kind of missing? Those two had never gotten along not even after they had teamed up to save him. Hadn't he seen Emma hit him just earlier? The relaxed and happy sensation from just seconds before was gone. He felt as if he was loosing control and that could turn out deadly for him as the captain of this crew. He remembered how Smee had told him about Emma leading them to King Frederic's castle to get him out and Base following her orders. Yes, his first mate had said it exactly like that. Was she betraying him? Were they up to something? But Base wasn't really the person to riot against him, was he? He had always trusted and relied on him and the pirate had always proofed to be worth it in the past. And Emma…why should she do something like that? She wasn't interested in ships and commands, was she? All she cared about was to find Blackbeard and she was wiling to do everything it would take or she wouldn't help him searching for the prince now, would she?

But if this wasn't about rioting against him then maybe there was something going on between them? Could that be? Was it such a hate-love-relationship he had heard of? His hand turned into a fist before he even really thought this through. He didn't like that idea and he didn't like that Smee's information and what he was observing himself were melting up to cause doubts and anger in his heart. Just the thought of Emma and Base hiding something from him could make him worry more than the broken Jolly Roger before and imagining them to hook up made his blood boil with anger.

Hook frowned and looked down at his hand that was still turned into a fist. He had cupped her cheek with it when he had gotten lost in her eyes like there was nothing but her. He remembered his fingers prickling as the mood had tensioned between them and he had actually thought of kissing her. Right after that he had been confused of his own reaction to her and of his disappointment in her because she had broken that moment. She had winced back as if he was a poison she was both fearing and longing for. And still he couldn't understand neither her reaction nor his own. When had he started to want to be close to her like this? When had he started to need her around him and hear her cheeky and always challenging words. When had he grown addicted to her voice like that? Or even her presence?

He looked up to the main mast and noticed that its sail sewed up itself. As he looked at the other sails he noticed the same, while the lines that were supposed to hold on to all of them, grew larger as they snaked across the planks up the masts and bound themselves to the repaired sails. Even the barrels and boxes seemed to repair themselves with nothing but the light that made everything shine.

No, he was really over reacting. Just because both of them weren't here, didn't mean they were plotting something or there was something going on between them. Who knew? Maybe they were even fighting again if they were together at all and he didn't have the time to check on that now. The sea was calm and he wanted to get away from here as fast as possible now that the Jolly Roger would be strong enough to take them anywhere again. But even though he knew how ridiculous his reaction was, he still couldn't enjoy, what he saw the way he had done it just seconds ago, before all those dark thoughts had sneaked into his head and poisoned his heart.

Hook focused on the ship and the lights. Yes, he was certain. He had never seen something like this before, not even in Neverland where the entire island could seem to be shining during the night. And yes, this indeed was like a bloody tale people would tell in a tavern in a small village or even to their children to send them to bed, if there even was someone doing stuff like that.

He had never seen magic like this before but he was certain that it was magic and the only source of it could be Emma, since the Jolly Roger had never done anything like this before and she had been damaged a lot of times in the past. So had Emma done that? But she couldn't control her powers, could she? They had never talked about her powers ever since they had returned from Cora's castle. Back then she had seemed to be pretty surprised if not even shocked of it so he had believed her to be inexperienced in using them. Had she just fooled him and she knew exactly how to use it and what she could do with it? Was he being played by a witch again?

Hook shook his head lost in his thoughts. This was getting ridiculous. Since when was he doubting her so much? Or should he have done it before? There never had been a reason for it. She wasn't like Regina and Cora. In fact those three women were fundamentally different. While the witches had played and betrayed him, Emma was more honest. And even if she wanted to, he was spoiled enough to believe he would be able to look right through her anyway. So why was he angry with her to the extent to distrust her like this?

He focused on the magic in front of him determined to distract himself before he would get more than angry again. Or was this the work of the Jolly Roger though? She had magic, he perfectly knew that but he hadn't expected it to turn out like this. His ship had never done that before in those around three-hundred years he had spend on it, so why should she suddenly do it? But on the other hand he hadn't known about her magic protecting him from Cora for the past twenty-seven years, too. Maybe it was possible and she was really doing it herself.

"Captain", Smee ran up to him looking everywhere but at him being just as confused and surprised. He even stumbled over his feet because he wasn't paying attention enough to where he was going, "we-we have found almost everyone now."

"What does that mean", Hook asked forcing himself to get back to business instead of getting lost in his surroundings and the worries about Emma. There was no need to worry about her. He had to worry about his men. He needed to find out how many and who was hurt and who not and he had to find out who was lost on sea or had died on board. He wouldn't search for the lost men, since it would be pointless. They most certainly were already dead anyway. But that meant he would need new members for his crew. If just King Frederic wouldn't have destroyed everything he would have enough men even after this now. Not to mention that the barrels and boxes might be repaired but empty and they wouldn't have enough food to feet all of them. Emma's words of dying of thirst on the sea came to his mind along with a picture his imagination came up with.

Yes, he certainly didn't need to worry about Emma. He really had enough other things to care for now. Maybe it would bei wiser to search for the lost men on see as well. He didn't want to load his conscience with images of men suffering from thirst surrounded by water they couldn't drink and they would drown it sooner ob later.

Base focused on his hurt leg and answered her question, "seems the Jolly Roger is healing herself."

"Healing", Emma repeated as if she wasn't certain she had heard the right word, "you mean repairing, don't you?"

Base rolled his eyes, "we've never seen her do that before. Must be the magic in her wood."

The ship shook and he frowned as if he was wondering if he was right. He only knew about the ship's magic because of the rule of not mentioning Cora's name on board some weeks ago. Hook had explained to them that they would be safe on board as long as they wouldn't mention the witch's name because the Jolly Roger was protecting them with her magic. Sure, he had known the ship was made of empowered wood that made her almost unbreakable, but he had never known that those powers would include protecting them like this. He had underestimated her in that matter before, so why shouldn't she be able to heal herself? He could believe it. It was too bad he had overestimated her indestructibility so he had had to learn the hard way about it. He was almost certain that it was the same for everyone else on board including Hook.

Emma gave his theory a thought and suddenly Nova's face came back into her mind. Or maybe a fairy was taking care of it for them and they just didn't know. Nova had told her she would take care of it, hadn't she? So in the end the little fairy was helping her once again. Emma held back a grin and concentrated on the pirate in front of her.

His leg seemed to hurt him quite a lot. He almost glared at it as if he was angry with it for hurting and being hurt. The shaking of the ship didn't seem to help him at all. In fact it seemed to worsen his pain even though he didn't move it directly.

This situation was just too strange, "what do you want to talk about?"

He sighed and hesitated as if he wasn't certain to tell her even though he had made the decision to do it earlier. He didn't say anything for a long moment and Emma wondered if it really was as urgent as he had pretended it to be. She had thought he didn't have much time to discuss whatever it was he wanted to talk about. So why did he waste time now?

Base frowned as he noticed something behind her back. Emma turned around to look at it as well and noticed the glass of the window flying back into its place piece by piece and as every part of it was back, the cuts melted together and the window looked exactly like it had done before the kraken had attacked. Everything in the room started to shine and the chest Hook hadn't opened to check slipped soundly across the floor and back into the wardrobe where it must have been before. They exchanged a short and confused glance before Emma stared at her feet and watched the water vanish as if the wood was sucking it in.

"Something's wrong with the crew."

She looked up at the pirate as fast as her neck hurt, "what?"

He waited for her to understand that he was serious.

"Shouldn't you tell Hook instead of me", Emma asked confused. It wasn't like him to talk with her about something like that. Base was someone who knew who to talk to if something was off and he never would have trusted her with something like that in the past. So what had changed? Besides that she wasn't responsible for anything like that and she didn't want to get involved in it. It felt as if he was treating her as the captain instead of Hook and that was more than wrong. She had never claimed that position and she would never do that. Besides that he was the last person on earth who would accept it, wasn't he? So, what was this about now?

Base sighed, "he wouldn't believe me. Something has changed a while ago and it's influencing everyone here. That is why I need to talk with you."

Lately? She had come on board but she had believed that nothing had changed through it, except for the gulley, since everybody had done his work functioning like a machine. And still her arrival on board was the first thing that came to her mind hearing this. She was always with Hook so maybe she just hadn't noticed how her presence affected the men. But how should it affect them? Just today she had followed him into his quarters for several minutes and he had asked not to be disturbed, right? Could it be they were losing respect not just for her but for him as well through that? But that didn't make sense. If it really was influencing them then they should disrespect her and respect him even more, right? Why was she even thinking about that now?

She didn't tell him anything about her thoughts even though the words, "I came here", were already lying on her tongue, "and why shouldn't he believe you?" They both knew that she could have also asked why she should believe him then. He seemed to think that she had some kind of influence on Hook, if he came to her because his captain wouldn't believe him. But with this insinuation of influence came responsibility she would have to take if she would listen to him. She would need to react to what he had to tell her, even though she didn't know if he was just asking her for advice or if he wanted her to do something and that might push her into a position she didn't want to have. A position where she might end up between Hook and his crew.

"Because I don't have evidence", he answered and it was the truth at least according to what he believed to be true, "and he seems to listen to you. It could be less problematic for him to believe it if you tell him as an outsider."

Emma frowned. It was uncomfortable to hear him calling her an outsider after everything they had gone through now, even though she knew that this man still didn't trust her what made this entire situation even more confusing. If she was an outsider in his eyes then what did he believe she was doing here? He suspected her to be an outsider with influence on the person leading all the others?

She remembered him calling her a strumpet and anger boiled in her blood. It would be perfectly matching if he still considered her to be sleeping with Hook. She felt as if she had to make something clear even though it was somehow ridiculous that she even cared abtut his thoughts. She had never cared for other's thoughts about her before. But maybe the problem now was not what he thought of her but what she was thinking of herself. Of course she didn't believe to bei a strumpet but she was troubled with the way things were between the captain and her and that was actually the reason she cared about it now.

"I think we have a betrayer on board", Base suddenly continued as if it cost him some courage to finally spill it. He was looking at her carefully as if he was trying to see something in her reaction. As if he was trying to find some evidence that she was part of this betrayal.

Emma simply stared him in confusion and surprise. She didn't know what to say since she had heard, that he was certain about it, in his voice, "what?"

Whatever it was he saw in her reaction it seemed to ease his mind and he sighed, "yes. And it's already been like that for a long time now."

"Tell me everything from the start", she said and took a seat in front of him on the desk crossing her arms in front of her chest. She would hear him out and try to decide what to do then. If there really was a traitor on board then not just their lives would be in danger but their plans as well. They might not accomplish anything if the people who were spying on them would work against them.

"Two nights before we landed and ran into you, it was my turn to take the night shift. It was very dark and cold so I didn't expect anybody to show up on deck. There was no reason for it since we were in the middle of the sea and nobody usually shows up on deck in the middle of the night there. And still I didn't notice him right away", he said almost guiltily, "that alone is already suspicious."

"What happened", Emma asked to speed it up. For some reason the rush he had been in before seemed to have completely vanished now.

"Someone had sneaked on deck and when I noticed him, he ran away from me and disappeared without even making one sound", he said as if it made everything clear, "I didn't believe it to be important, so I wanted to ignore it but then I found these feathers and one of those bundles you bind to a bird's leg to deliver messages."

"So? Maybe someone was homesick", she said and shrugged, "maybe someone wanted to write to a woman he was missing too much."

He glared at her, "of the pirates traveling the longest with us nobody has left any family and the others don't know the Jolly Roger good enough to escape from me without even making one sound. They always step on a plank that creaks or is broken and needs to be repaired. I would have noticed them."

"And what about a woman or several", she asked still skeptically.

"But don't you think it to be strange that Snake ran right into you the first evening we were in that town? And that Smee was convinced by someone on board that we should attack you?"

"What does that mean he was convinced", Emma asked and frowned. There was still nothing special about it except for this little part. It was strange.

"When he woke up in his cabin the next morning someone had shoved a paper through underneath Smee's door, telling him that you were a bounty hinter, who had collected Snakes bounty, and convincing him that it would be a vice decision to attack you without even telling the captain. The point is nobody of the crew had even noticed that Snake had been missing then. Those who had noticed that he hadn't returned yet had believed him to be with some strumpet or lying drunk in a corner of the streets. It wouldn't have been the first time. But nobody knew that he had been caught. I asked everyone and was asked myself about it when Smee decided to attack you. I know what I'm talking about."

Something was off with that story. She needed a moment to think it through while Base continued to defend his opinion about those incidents, that still didn't seem to be of any concern or connected to each other in any way.

"But when you attacked me, Smee said that he had been there when I caught your mate, didn't he?"

Base sighed, "that was a lie for the latest members of the crew. He had only told us old ravens about it because he had believed us to be the ones who had written that letter to him. We spent most of our time with Snake usually."

She still wasn't convinced of his theory. There was nothing that would have made her think about a traitor on board, but as she wanted to tell him so, he hurried to continue his explanations as if he had noticed her skepticism, "but that wasn't everything yet. When we escaped from Cora someone cut off the lines of the main sail. Hook was told that they had reaped apart, but when I checked on them I noticed that they had been cut to slow us down."

"I hadn't even noticed that."

"Because Blackpool had climbed up fast enough to exchange them", Base said, "and there was even more. When we traveled to the castle of this Snow White and her husband I saw someone sending another dove and again I couldn't catch anyone and nobody knew anything about sending a dove when I asked the next day."

"You really asked everyone", Emma asked skeptically.

"The thing is, it had to be someone of the elder members", he pointed out, "I already toll you, didn't I? I would have caught him if he wasn't that familiar with the Jolly Roger as I am and that time I was on alert."

"So?"

"As I asked the others Blackpool said he had noticed something as well but he hadn't been able to catch anybody. According to his words there must have been a strong exchange because he had noticed something like that for several times. Remember what happened in that castle?"

"The wrong track", Emma said slowly even though she wasn't certain if he knew about it yet. Hook didn't reveal everything to his men after all.

"What wrong track", he asked confused and watched her carefully.

She sighed, "when we entered that castle we were searching for something but we only found a hint that lead us to Cora. The track had been placed as obvious that others should have noticed it before us, but still we seemed to be the first ones to see it."

"Well, then you won't like what I've got to tell you now", he said almost relieved and certain that she would believe him now, "on our way to the witch there had been other incidences like that just like the night before we anchored in King Frederic's realm."

"Each time something bad has happened, right?"

"Yes. I teamed up with Blackpool to keep track of it but we never were able to catch him nor to find out about the letters that were sent or received", he said darkly and almost frustrated now, "but what bothers me is…"

"What?"

"Until recently I believed our fight with you had been a set up to get you on board", he said slowly watching her as if he wanted to analyze her reaction while listening to him, "but after that every time something happened you were risking your live as well."

"So", she asked slowly. She was worried about the conclusion he might have come to during this time he had been rethinking this.

"I had believed you to be part of this", he continued, "so I kept an eye on you, but you put your live just as much in danger as Hook and us. And if you would have been part of it you wouldn't have done your best to get him out of that prison and save me as well, would you?"

"Yes."

"But when we attacked you, Hook hadn't been involved at all", he said slowly as if he was still wondering about it, "so this couldn't be about killing him at least not only…"

Emma froze as his gaze wandered up to her again. He hesitated to say what was going through his mind and she had a hard time to understand it since she wasn't as familiar with the entire subject as him. His face turned into a white mask that didn't move for a long moment as he stared at her with his mouth opened, "maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to tell you."

"What do you mean", she asked impatient. She was sick of his cryptically behavior just now.

"Well, our fight obviously was set up by someone", he started to explain, "but the goal of that couldn't be harming Hook, since he wasn't involved in it. It can't have been about us crewmembers was well, since we were too many and to all your respect nobody would have expected you to win against us. That means…"

"Someone wanted to get rid of me and tried to use you guys to do it", she asked skeptically even though it sounded plausible even in her ears. She didn't like this thought, "but there is nobody who could consider me to be important enough to be killed, Base."

"Or someone just didn't want you to team up with Hook", he concluded slowly. They were silent for a long moment in which they stared at different points in the room that slowly turned darker according to the way they were feeling, because the bright light of the magic surrounding them vanished from their view. That also meant that Hook might return soon.

"No matter what it is about", Base finally said darkly, "it doesn't change that someone is a traitor and he is willing to put all of our lives at stake."

Emma frowned, "what about last night. Wasn't it your shift? Did you notice someone?"

He swallowed hard, "yes. But nothing has happened yet."

"You call this nothing", she asked sarcastically and pointed at the ship, "we were almost sunk."

"But nobody could send a kraken."

"At least nobody without magical powers", she concluded darkly and looked up to him seriously.

"You mean Rumpelstiltskin?"

She remembered her conversations with the wizard. He didn't want her to be here but he didn't want her to die, too, or he wouldn't try to convince her to travel back to Snow White's castle all the time. No, he wanted her to be there because he needed her to do something which meant he should be interested in keeping her alive. Sending a kraken for an attack like this would be way too risky since she might be killed.

"I don't know", she said slowly and bit her bottom lip. She didn't want to tell him about her little conversations with Rumpelstiltskin, "maybe it was somebody else. Someone must have told Cora that we would arrive there after all."

"Regina?"

"We have a common goal and I believe we are an important tool for her at least up until recently, so it wouldn't make sense to boycott us before today's incident."

"So you believe me", he asked with something that sounded suspiciously like hope in his voice.

"You need to tell Hook", she stated instead of answering him, "he needs to know this."

"He won't believe me", Base repeated, "I'm suspecting someone of our eldest mates to try to kill us. We've been traveling around for a very long time now, a time span you would never even imagine. That created a bond between us. We trust each other to a certain point and we rely on each other cause that's what makes live like this even possible. I have no proof for anything I just told you. He won't believe me until I can show something to him. I need evidence."

"So what is your plan now", she asked curious and exhausted from everything that had happened today.

"So you really believe me."

"I'm not certain yet", she said slowly and carefully, "it could be possible that you're the traitor and the only reason you're telling me all this is to distract us with searching for you."

Base grinned at her almost evilly, "I see. What do you need as proof?"

"Answer me just one question", she demanded to his surprise. She knew what he was thinking with just one glance. What could one question change about her distrust? How could one question proof anything to her?

"What?"

"Have you ever taken advantage of Hook's trust in you", she asked, "have you ever lied to him?"

"I did", he said hesitating but keeping eye contact to her anyway, "I was the reason Milah ran into Rumpelstiltskin and him."

Emma stared at him in disbelieve, "what?"

"I had been supposed to make certain she wouldn't find out anything about his duel with the wizard. He had wanted to protect her and we all had known that she wouldn't just sit back and let him fight on his own. I had been distracted for just one second by a strumpet, I don't even remember what she had been looking like anymore, as she suddenly disappeared into the streets. She must have had overheard someone talking about it in the tavern, someone of our men or some strangers who had overheard something. You must know, there was a time rumors like that hadn't been able to be kept hidden for long. Instead they had spread all over town within an eye blink and Hook had always been someone catching attention back then.

Of course he asked me about my failure back then, but I lied to him. I told him Milah had tricked me and that she had noticed something was off because it had been unusual for me to be around her that much and for so long. Of course I apologized for it over and over again", he sighed, "and not just for her death but for my lie as well, because he blamed himself for not talking with her about it. And I swore that I'd do anything to protect him."

Truth.

There was a heavy silence in the room hanging between them like a dark cloud. It had been a lot to take in within just some minutes so it was no surprise that she felt a little exhausted after everything she had heard just now. But the most shocking thing about it was Base's reasons for being as loyal to his captain as he actually was. She hadn't noticed even a single lie in his words and it was quite risky to tell her such a story, knowing that Hook might want to get rid of him out of an old pain that might catch up to him hearing this truth.

Emma cleared her throat, "and what are you planning to do now?"

Base looked up to her in surprise. He had been too lost in his thoughts to expect her to say anything as it seemed, "I need to find evidence for my theory."

"I still think you should tell him", she stated, "he needs to know and he needs to hear it from you because he won't listen to me in these matters."

"Why that", he looked at her in surprise.

"Because he already freaked out when he heard that I decided to save him and that you guys followed my instructions."

"Who told him that?"

"Smee, as it seems", she said slowly and remembered someone standing in a crowed like he was completely uninterested, before he tried to get out of a castle they had planned to escape from together. Maybe that had been nothing. It wasn't worth to mention it.

Base frowned lost in his own thoughts before he sighed and snapped out of it, "before I tell him anything I need some evidence for my theory. So Blackpool and I will keep on searching and watch out for any letter exchange on deck."

"Fine", Emma said slowly and placed her hands to both sides of her on the edge of the desk to push up herself, "but I think you should consider that the traitor might not just be one person on board."

"What do you mean", he asked as he stood up to leave the room and froze in his movement.

Emma swallowed, "that means that the traitor might have teamed up with someone and that means we shouldn't just suspect elder members of the crew but everyone to work together with him."

He looked at her bewildered, "if you mean Blackpool-"

"I don't really consider him to be involved in this but we should be careful anyway", she disturbed him, "or do you have any reason to trust him about this matter?"

Base looked at the chair in which he had been sitting just seconds ago, "yes. He was the only mate besides me who questioned Smee's decision to attack you with as many men and keep it secret from Hook back then. He even almost argued with him."

"So what?"

Base sighed, "I don't know. But why would he boycott his own plan like this? If he would have kept discussing this with Smee, he would have succeeded in stopping all of us."

"It could be a façade to keep his secret", Emma said slowly and followed him to the door, "I'll check on him. I don't really want to believe it myself, but that doesn't mean we can let our guard down."

The pirate stopped in front of the door and peeked outside to check if the hall was free and he could leave without anybody noticing him, "by the way, why do you even believe me?"

"Because you didn't lie to me", Emma said looking at him honestly what seemed to confuse him for a moment, "you told me this immense secret about Milah and you and you didn't lie to me for even a single time despite you perfectly knew I could use it against you."

He let out a breath, "you can't know that for sure."

"I do", she said as self-confident as she felt in this moment, "and I'll know it when I talk with Blackpool, too. I believe you. That you called me a strumpet on the other hand…"

"Lately I felt as if someone was watching me", he said as he opened the door, "I just wanted to make sure nobody would notice that something was different. Don't get me wrong. I still don't trust you completely but for some reason I'd like to try."

"Good", Emma said a little surprised, "in that case we should keep this a secret."

"But not in front of Hook", Base said as he left the room and walked down the hall, "he tends to notice stuff like that, at least if it's about a woman."

Emma frowned and closed the door again before she leaned back at it. Base had just given her a lot to think about and she couldn't help but already think of a person who might be the one man they were looking for. The thing was that she didn't know who he was working for and if she interpreted what she had observed rightly who he was working for. Who could want to kill them like that having magical powers that were strong enough to summon a kraken to attack them? Or had the attack of the kraken just been a coincidence and something big was about to come? Was there another reason for everything that had happened besides killing them? She looked through the room but she couldn't notice anything missing. Or was it about prince Henry?

Hadn't Hook really noticed anything yet? She could hardly imagine that. But she wouldn't be the one to talk about it with him. Base had to or he could get in real trouble when Hook would believe him to betray him through it instead of listening to their assumptions.

"What are you doing", Snow White asked concerned while watching her. It wasn't like she didn't trust her, but she couldn't help but feel strange watching her doing magic in her own home. If she was honest, she felt threatened by it, but she knew that this feeling was nothing but an echo of old times.

"You said you wanted to know clearly if someone was spying on us here, didn't you? And since finding out the truth about this theory is the only way to convince you of our plan on this subject, you should just let me do my work", Regina said and bound together some herbs she had brought with her. The plants were as fresh as she could still smell them throughout the entire room, "and what are you doing with those?"

Instead of answering her, Regina held up the bundle and with one movement of her finger, a small flame appeared on the very top of it and increased quite fast, before grey smoke emitted from it. It smelled of the herbs even more.

Snow watched the smoke, placing a hand upon her nose and wandered what this might be good for even more. At least she couldn't see anything special that would have made it worth to endure that smell. Regina on the contrary was wandering through Henry's bedroom as if she was following something only she could see. She was focused on something invisible that lead her to the bed, then to the hearth.

"What do you see", Snow asked impatient after a moment, when she was almost certain, that waiting wouldn't change anything about the fact, that she couldn't see, what the woman in front of her obviously saw.

Regina who had returned to the door to start her little journey all over again, was pale by now, but the fire getting closer to her fingers didn't seem to be the reason for it at all. She didn't even notice how close it had gotten to her fingers as it seemed which meant there was something else she had noticed and Snow wasn't certain, that she wanted to know about it anymore.

"Give me a moment", Regina answered and walked through the room again after turning to the hall. She seemed to be disappointed about something. But about what? Snow watched her walking through the room a little directionless, just as if she couldn't see which way to go. As if she was a little confused.

She sighed and resisted the urge to walk up and down the room impatiently, knowing it would only trouble the witch, who disappeared in the wardrobe now. When she came back she returned to the door and turned off the flames. She definitely was disappointed and a little exhausted from concentrating, maybe.

"So", Snow asked again even more impatient than before, since her question hadn't been answered earlier, "there is nothing, right?"

"No", Regina said darkly and stared at the room, the entire place is filled with tracks of several magical beings, but only one person has filled the entire room with her or his track. I can't follow the track because I can't decide where to go. At some places like the bed that track turns from a line into a huge spot. I tried to follow it outside anyway, but right outside this room it simply vanishes. I still don't know if there is anything at the windows, because the smoke didn't reach that far and I was too busy searching through the rest of the room, before the herbs had burned down too far."

"What does that mean? I thought you couldn't find anything, when you searched through this room earlier? Why now?"

"That means, who ever it was , who was in here, spent more than a week in this room and might even still be there", Regina said darkly and shoved the burned herbs back into her bag as soon a sshe was certain it had cooled down again. She didn't want to leave any track to what she had done or she would have thrown them into the hearth, Snow realized.

"But what really bothers me is, that everything I found out so far, was left here so I would find it. It's true, earlier I couldn't find something and that means, that somebody must have wanted me to find this track, which means, that someone indeed has been listening to us.

Snow was nervous. The more Regina's words entered her mind forming into meanings the paler she turned as realization struck. That meant the person who had kidnapped Henry had been here for quite some time before her son had disappeared and it might be possible that the person was still here watching their grieve and their pain and spying on them, knowing their steps and staying some steps ahead from them all the time. Everything they might have done to get him back might already have been spoiled to the culprit right from the beginning. And they hadn't even noticed it. But who was the spy? It was important to know, to find out how much had been spoiled. And to avoid it from now on. What if it wasn't a spy but a betrayer? Could it be possible that one of her own friends had switched sides and was betraying them now? Just the imagination of that felt like hell.

Snow sighed in frustration and pushed that idea into the back of her mind, where she would leave it until she would have time and strength to deal with it, "is there really no way to find out who?"

"The track ends in front of that door", Regina said pointing behind her, "I don't know how, but whoever it is, managed to cover it somehow. And again, it's not a good sign. Actually it convinces me even more, that I found this on purpose and I don't to be played around with like a puppet."

"Is there no way to find out?"

Regina's expression darkened even more, "there is someone we could ask, since he is the only person I know, who could do something like this, but he'll ask for something in return and I'm not certain either of us wants to pay it."

Rumpelstiltskin. But Regina was right. At the moment she had nothing to offer and she couldn't imagine what he would ask for. When he had escaped their prison without any trouble and leaving nothing but a blank scroll of paper behind, it had been obvious that this entire charade of catching him, had been nothing but fake and he had used them for something they still didn't understand. He was more than dangerous.

But what wouldn't she do to get her son back. The answer was she would do anything for it. She was almost dying to find out where he was. If he was fine. If he missed her just as much as her but was able to cope with it. If he would sleep well. If he was eating properly. If he was healthy. If he was even alive.

"I have an idea", Regina said slowly, "we could change the place for our discussions to my castle."

"What?"

"Yes", she walked up to her, "and during that time I'll try to find a solution for this problem."

"We could simply ask him", Snow said slowly realizing that she didn't care about what she would have to give in return to get Henry back.

"Don't be reckless", Regina warned in a very serious voice to her surprise, "maybe there will be a time that will make such a deal even more important than now."

"What could be more important than finding Henry?"

"Could it be you've been thinking about asking for his help all this time?"

"Why not? We're wasting time."

Regina sighed and walked up to her, "you don't know, what he will ask for in return."

"I'll do anything for Henry."

"Me, too. But that doesn't mean that I'll loose my mind doing it", she stated a little annoyed now, "what if he asks for Henry in return?"

She couldn't breath for a moment. She hand't thought of that possibility for even a second. And still Snow forced herself to talk, "why should he do that? He couldn't keep his word, if he'd ask for him." One thing was clear. If she would really want his help, she wouldn't ask to know who was behind all this, but for Henry.

"Or he could ask for his life at his eighteenth birthday. Or for his first child."

"We would find a solution for this."

"Like you did with Cinderella? As far as I know her big love disappeared when you tried to betray him and get out of her deal."

"You still didn't answer me, why he should do that."

"To punish us", Regina said as if it was the simplest thing in the world, "he wanted that curse to unfold at least as badly as I, if not even more. He is really angry about that. And on top of that you lost the only person who could stop what the curse turned into. Besides that we don't know what he is after. Nobody ever knows."

"I'd take that risk anyway. All I want is, to get Henry back."

"And I'd do it too, but just if I'd know that Henry really is safe back home and that whoever took him, can't hurt him again and Rumpelstiltskin neither."

Snow sighed. She was right, but it hurt like hell to even think like that. But even though she admitted it to herself, she hoped it wouldn't turn out like that anyway. She just didn't want to give up hope, that it would turn out differently, even though through her experiences of searching for Emma and Henry she knew, that hope could be a double-edged sword. It could lift you to new options and help you to reach your goals and expand your skills and strength or it could let you fall to the ground after lifting you to the heavens, what was even more painful or at least she imagined it to be worse.

Fine, for now she would push the idea of asking Rumpelstiltskin in the back of her mind but she knew she wouldn't forget about it until Henry would be back. Maybe she would even use it to find Emma then. When they had lost their baby girl the wizard hadn't answered their calls and after everything Regina had just told her, she could even imagine why. But now a lot of time had passed and it had to be important for him to break the curse, because time was running out for him, too. As the Blue Fairy, had said the twenty-nine years would be over soon and then they would all die, if they had magical powers or not.

"Okay", she gave up for now and decided to discuss this again later but with Charming, "and what now? What do we do now?"

"Get Charming, we change our location", Regina said seriously, "I don't trust this place anymore. It feels as if the walls had ears and I hate it."

True, it was strange. Actually it was even more than strange, to know that someone might by spying at them and it was even worse knowing that this place was her home, but it was exactly that, her home. She had left a place called home like this before and she didn't want to do it again. She wanted to fight for this one even more than she had tried it for the last one. She had made this place her home, her save haven and it would be the place her children would come back to, if they would be found. With her simple sounding words Regina pulled away the ground below her feet without even realizing it.

Snow White took a deep breath, before she followed the witch outside and down the hall, but when she reached Emma's room, she stopped and stared at the closed door.

"What's wrong", Regina asked stopping as well as she noticed her. As she recognized the door she was silent and lost in her own thoughts as it seemed. Snow White didn't care. She remembered the last time, she had been in there and wondered if she would feel the same way as back then, if she'd enter that room again. Would she feel strong again? Would she be encouraged to stay and find the spy or even to summon the Dark One to make the deal she was hesitating to make in fear it could cause more damage than help? Or would it give her the strengths to leave and endure her pain of losing both her children, knowing that she'd get them back, because hope wasn't as fragile as she had learned the hard way.

The last time she had entered that room, she had found back hope. Would she learn to trust this hope like in the past, if she'd go in there once more?

Snow walked up to the door, refusing herself to doubt a room to have such influence on her and hugging her hope it would do so instead. She opened the door and stepped into the dark room keeping her breath. She waited and recognized everything in here even though it was dark. But nothing changed. Nothing. It was disappointing and she felt ridiculous for holding on to the hope it would. But she had learned something as she realized exiting the room. She had remembered the feeling of trusting her hope just like she had done in the past and the room had nothing to do with it. She had simply used it as a tool and nothing more.

She walked up to Regina, who had watched her with a puzzled expression. But if the room had nothing to do with her newfound hope what then? The woman she had found in here? How? Who was she? Hadn't Regina said something about Captain Hook? But if that woman was connected to the pirate, than how could somebody like that influence her positively?

Snow snapped out of her thoughts as she reached the base of the stairs and realized, that Regina had been following her in silence. It was as if they had switched roles now. The witch seemed to be lost in her thoughts just like she had been a moment ago. What was she thinking about no? The past? Or had all this talk about children and what parents would do for them reminded her of her own mother and her relationship to her?

Snow had known Cora and at some point in her past with her she had stopped to feel sorry for the witch and had simply hated her for the decisions she had made and the way she had made them. In fact that person had been the first one she had hated honestly. Cora had been deceiving, cheating on everyone, playing with dreams and hopes and trust she received from others to her hearts content, selfish, hungry for power of every kind, greedy, deciding, missing every kind of empathy and emotionless towards others, including her own daughter. IN other words she considered her to be pure evil and she was glad she was gone for good now. Snow didn't even have a problem to imagine her to be dead even though she knew it better and understood that she had just vanished into another world. But she also understood very well that Regina might not be thinking and feeling like her.

No matter what she had done, Cora had been her mother and had raised her to a woman, who had saved a little girl's live without knowing her or even a second thought, before she had damaged her by betraying Snows trust and her good intentions that was. So for sure there had to be something good Regina could remember about her and if not, the fact that she was her mother might already be enough to make her miss her and regret her own actions, despite everything that had happened between them. She had just send away her own mother. Her mother, who had been in a bad shape, when she had send her away, after everything she had told them. And she would never be able to see her again, nor to try to apologize or talk everything through, that had happened during all those years.

Snow remembered her own mother's death as if it had been just yesterday and even though it wasn't hurting as badly anymore as it had been back then, her sorrow and loss was just as real as it had been back then. She had learned to cope with it somehow, just like she had managed to overcome her grieve for not using that bloody candle, she had believed to be a gift of the Blue Fairy.

So she could understand Regina maybe even a little better than anyone else, because not helping her own mother, allowed her to emphasize with her sending hers away for good. Through doing nothing or doing everything, they had both been involved in their mother's deaths somehow and sending Cora way for sure felt like that.

Snow sighed. Hell, even if there was nothing good Regina could remember about her mother she for certain must have loved her. She had kept calling her mother after all and she hadn't killed her instead of sending her away. Maybe there was still a little girl inside her that would accept and do everything for her mother's love despite all the pain, disappointment and hatred she received from her. She knew that something like that existed, she had seen it herself. Children being hurt and used by their parents, clinging even more to them, than they would have usually done, if they would have had loving parents, because love was what they were craving for.

Regina had lost that woman just days ago and they hadn't even considered her feelings for just a single moment. They hadn't comforted her, hadn't talked about it enough and they hadn't cared at all. They had only seen the mask of strength she had hidden her true feelings with and had believed it to be true. They had taken her actions as given without empathizing with her for even a second. And Snow wasn't willing to believe Henry and their worries for him to be the only reason. No, they hadn't thought about any of this because it had been easy nothing else. And there it was, her guilty conscience that proofed her right about all of this.

"Ahm", she said slowly and Regina snapped out of her thoughts putting on her mask again. She hesitated as she recognized the strong expression in her eyes. There was the same determination she had seen, when she had been running from her, but it wasn't directed at her.

"We will find him", Regina said as if they had been arguing about it just a moment ago and she wanted to make her point clear. As if she wanted to convince not just her but herself as well, "we definitely will find him."

"Yes", Snow said sounding not as strong as her because she was a little confused of her reaction now. Could it be the woman in front of her hadn't been thinking about her mother but about Emma? Maybe she had compared what had happened to her with what was going on with Henry now. That sounded plausible, she had to admit. But still she wouldn't forget to address Cora's disappearance. She would definitely try to comfort her as soon as the right time would be there. It was important.

A door opened and the Blue Fairy and Charming walked up to them. Well, now apparently wasn't the right moment.

I hope you enjoyed it. :-)