Hope you like this next chapter. Someone in the comments requested that I add incorporate Snow White and her buddies back into the story and I figured it was a pretty good idea, so at the end of this chapter there'll be a little interlude where I talk about what's happening to them. As always, review my pretties!

"So how do you suggest I find this mysterious informer of yours?" Emma asked after Hook had recovered from the blow she had sent directly to his stomach. He gave her a rather annoyed look as he rubbed his ribs uneasily, remembering the pain of the past few minutes and wanting desperately to avoid its repetition. "We poke our noses around, see what's going on..." he answered.

"You're not poking you're nose around anything" she said, gesturing towards the half-naked women she guessed were this world's equivalent of strippers, "in this filthy place."

"So condescending, Swan." Hooks said playfully, arching a surprised eyebrow at her. "Is there something I should know?"

Emma rolled her eyes and pushed him lightly to the side, striding towards the nearest...'employee'. She whispered a few hushed words with the woman, who was staring at Emma as though she were a being from an entirely different world (which she was), before Hook took Emma by the arm and dragged her away from the conversation.

"What do you think you're doing?" he whisper-yelled at her with a look of complete and utter exasperation on his face. Emma shrugged his hand off of her arm, which was squeezing her rather tightly, and responded innocently, "I'm asking. You men, you're all the same. Too cocky to stop and ask for directions."

Instead of mocking her use of the word 'cocky', as one might have predicted, Hook told her seriously, "This isn't about me being too cocky, which of course I am," Scratch that. "This is about me being wise in the ways of piracy. You can't just go around asking people where he is." he chastised, "You need to be subtle. If he hears that the wrong person is looking for him, he'll run."

"Why would he run?!" Emma asked disbelievingly.

"He's mixed up in some...unsavory business." Hook replied, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. Emma gave him a skeptical glance but decided that she didn't want to know what that meant.

"Then how do you suggest we go about this?" she asked stupidly.

"You. You go about this. He sees me, he'll be gone for good." Hook told her. "As to how you're going to find him-I suggest you get into character." Hook told her with a mischievous eyebrow raise. Emma glared at him, angered by his cryptic words and the sheer fact that she was presently in a brothel.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Emma asked. Hook's only reply was a suggestive glance towards a poorly covered blonde who was presently passing in front of them. Emma's eyes shot open at the realization of what he meant.

"You mean you want me to-" she couldn't even finish the sentence; the idea was so ludicrous. "I'm not doing that! How would that help anything? Besides, how am I even supposed to 'get into costume'?" She spat out question after question, her voice rising an octave each time. She was getting progressively worried for no apparent reason - the thought of actually dressing up like a stripper (and since she was in the middle ages/renaissance (who knows what year it is?) , they probably did a lot more than strip, was scary. Especially if she had to do anything in front of Hook. Even if it was just wearing some ridiculous costume that made her feel like she was in a porno.

"It's not happening." Emma said definitively. "Ever."

Hook rolled his eyes dramatically and sighed. "I didn't actually mean that you were going to have to dress up like a whore, just pretend you're looking for...employment. Since our informer owns the place, you'll probably be taken to him." Hook assured her.

"And if I'm not? Taken to him..."

"Then I guess you'll just get the job." Hook shrugged. "Just know that you'll always have a client in me." he winked suggestively at her and Emma scoffed disgustedly before pushing her way past him and addressing a woman in the corner of the room, who seemed to be the most dressed. Hook watched from afar, not wanting to interfere. The two women exchange quiet whispers for a few minutes, and the heavy-set employee Emma was talking to gave him a tentative glance. Hook saw Emma wave dismissively at him and roll her eyes before pulling the woman's attention back to herself. She was asked to spin, which Emma did, and was eyed in places she was none too happy about, before she was finally brought upstairs so that she could talk to 'him' (whoever that may be). As she was lead up the stairs, she tossed Hook a worried look and all he could do was give her a reassuring smile (which really just came out as uneasy). He was not at all comfortable with leaving her alone in the brothel, because men who came here were only looking for one thing, which they would gladly take from Emma. He knew the inner workings of the sick men who came here (as he had frequented many a brothel in his pirating days) and was not at all reassured by the thought. In fact, he was very tempted to follow her and watch over her, to make sure that nothing bad happened, but refused to let himself; it could jeopardize the whole operation. The most he could do was wait.

Snow White, Aurora and Mulan stopped for a rest at mid-day, having been walking for days on end, and snacked on dried oats and rotten fruits. Their meager stores of food were getting slimmer and slimmer and there was little game to catch anymore. They were at least two days away from the nearest village and weariness was growing in the bones of all three.

In truth, weariness had grown deeper than the bones for Snow. It was not even weariness even more, but hopelessness, pain. With everyday that Emma was gone she grew sadder and sadder, sunk into a deeper and deeper depression. The words she spoke grew fewer and she no longer wore smiles or laughed at her companion's jokes. She had regressed to a body, void of joy or feeling. She felt hollow and alone. On the surface she harbored hope that she would find her daughter but on the inside, a dark corner she refused to acknowledge, she knew that it was hopeless. Emma had been given back to her after 28 years only to ripped violently away from her again. The universe had cursed her! Not even that, but all the universes in all the worlds had cursed her! She would forever be without husband, without daughter, without grandson. What was the point of living if family was gone and your home ruined?

Snow's companions, Aurora and Mulan, had noticed her changing mood and her darkening spirits but knew not what to do. They had grown close to her, gotten to know things about her only friends would know, and to see her in such a dark and saddened mood pulled at their heartstrings. It was more than either could bear to witness. But they knew not what to do.

"Snow?" Aurora asked tentatively as she scooted closer to her friend. The woman did not even look at her, or indeed make any gesture to express that she had heard her. Instead, she stared blankly at the forest floor chewing her food. Aurora gave her a pitying look and bit her lip nervously; she knew she must fix this. She must find Snow's daughter.

"We'll find Emma, I swear Snow." she promised.

It was then that Snow's finally acknowledged her. She shot her head towards Aurora and told her with hollow look in her eyes in her eyes, as though she didn't believe what she was saying, "I know we will. And when we do, I'm going to kill Hook." Then, with a flash of real anger, true emotion she whispered, "Revenge will be sweet..."