Long way to happy

by pinsel90

Survival in the Enchanted Forest wasn't easy but Emma Swan knew how to achieve this easily. The thing is, sometimes survival isn't enough, because if you want something you have to risk something. And sometimes it even means to team up with pirates you usually hunt. (Mostly Captain Swan; Warning: AU & OC! Give it a try. Love comments. :)) Don't own Ouat/its characters/the picture.

21. The seven princesses

20. The seven princesses

"Any idea how we could find them", Robin asked as he finally gave up to search the daughters night chamber. It was a light room with huge curved windows and seven beds that were lined up at two walls. At the opposite site of the windows there were two doors, which lead into the hall and dressing room. Robin had checked it, too, but hadn't found anything which was not surprising at all, since it was crammed with clothes and make up even though it was bigger than the night chamber .

"How should I know? I don't even understand why we agreed to this", Regina shrugged and looked uninterested at her feet. She was sitting on one of the beds and held up her foot as if she wanted to check how it looked in her shoe. The truth was, she didn't even pay attention to what she saw but wondered why a mother wouldn't notice what happened to her seven daughters. She couldn't imagine that there was a mother as ignorant and absent as this. Maybe because her own mother had been so present in her life that she had rebelled against her to have even a single second of peace.

"Regina I thought you could understand the best", he said surprised and a little disappointed, "you are missing a boy who is like a son to you. Can't you imagine what Emerald has to feel like missing her seven daughters?"

And there it was, the question she somehow refused to ask herself. Why didn't she feel sorry for her? Just why couldn't she emphasize with her? It was scary that she didn't feel with her at least a little. Actually she couldn't understand her. It was as if there was a wall that blockaded her few, so she couldn't see Emerald's pain and grief. She was afraid to answer this question just as she was afraid to question her own reaction and the reasons behind it. What did it mean that she couldn't feel with her?

Why had she been able to understand Snow's feelings while she couldn't understand Emeralds? The situation was the same, wasn't it? And yet it was different. The one thing that was different was Emerald. For some reason there was something off with her and that she had tried to give Cora the fault for her pain, so Regina would feel responsible to make it up to her, had worsened everything about it.

Robin who seemed to be quite disappointed in her, avoided to look at her. That she could perfectly understand because she hadn't helped him even a little. Otherwise, he didn't have a clue about her impression concerning Emerald.

Finally he sighed as if he was giving up and looked at her, "maybe we should check the other rooms. Didn't they say there were more rooms belonging to this quarter of the palace?"

"To be honest, I don't think that we will find anything", she explained and stood up. If she couldn't emphasize with the Queen she could at least show some solidarity towards Robin and support him, "here are many djinns and none of them has been able to find a hint. Besides that they told us that they had vanished from this room."

"And what shall we do now", Robin asked and his voice sounded as if he already expected her to propose to give up, "what is your idea?"

Regina gave it a thought and walked up to a window. She looked across the part of the palace that had been free exclusively to the princesses, their maids and their eunuchs. Compared to her own castle this place was very huge. Everywhere were towers of different sizes and the roofs were round and colorful just as the doom they had seen in Emerald's throne room. The princesses' part of the palace consisted of four rooms and a huge garden. One room had been their bedchamber, the others had been their dressing room and two washrooms. Nowhere else in this entire palace they had been able to walk freely. They must have felt like prisoners in their own home.

"I just can't imagine we'll find something the djinns haven't noticed yet", she finally spelled out her thoughts. "What would they have needed to do if they would have been able to run away", she suddenly asked thinking of her own attempts, when she had been forced to marry Snow's father by her mother, "which way would they have needed to go?"

"Do you really think they could have run away as easily even if they would have wanted to", Robin asked and walked up to her.

That was true. She had at least been able to escape to the woods back then, before her mother had caught her and with a little magical help… Suddenly she felt she could emphasize with the princesses more than she could with Emerald. Now that she thought about it, the Queen's story had been strange, too. Curiously she turned around to Robin, "which way would you have taken?"

He looked at her surprised but he held back any further protest and seriously thought about it, "I assume, I would have taken the way through the dressing room and the yard."

"How", Regina asked curious and followed him to the next room. They left the bedchamber and crossed the dressing room through another door that lead right into the garden. IN the middle of it was a huge fountain in front of loads of flowers and a small labyrinth consisting of neatly formed blocks of bushes. In the middle of it was a huge tree with white flowers. Its branches reached far across the labyrinth.

"Here is magic", Regina suddenly said and walked up to the fountain. She could feel it everywhere just like back in the town when the jinn had found them.

"Magic?"

"Yes", she looked around and noticed the perfect shape of the bushes that build the labyrinth and the flowers that grew and blossomed just as perfectly. There was not one blade of grass or weed that grew on the sandy way nor a single flower that had escaped to the meadow in front of the labyrinth instead of the flower beds. It was too perfect.

She frowned and stared at the ground. The sand…

"What's wrong", Robin walked up to her.

"The magic", Regina said disappointed, "I assume it comes from a spell that is put upon this garden, so it exists the way it is."

"What?"

"Robin, the ground is sandy, so how could possibly grow a flower here", she said disappointed and looked around, "how could you have tried to escape from here? We are in the middle of the palace."

Robin sighed and walked up to the labyrinth, "I don't know. But why do you even think that they ran away?"

"It's just an idea", she shrugged and sat on the edge of the fountain. Maybe it had been a stupid idea. Somehow she had drawn a connection not between her and the Queen but between her and the missing princesses. She couldn't help but feel that something was off with the Queens story. On the other hand it maybe wasn't a good idea to project her own youth and her situation with her mother back then on their situation. Maybe it was too farfetched.

Robin looked at her for a long moment and frowned. He walked up to her and looked at her legs, "Regina, stand up for a moment, please."

"What", she stood up confused and watched how he searched the frame of the fountain where she had been sitting. He felt the same spot over and over again. It was a place that was grey as the rest of the fountain. On its brink there was a mosaic that created a red flower pattern, which wasn't just painted on it but carved into each stone.

Robin stopped and looked up to her, "would you mind?"

"Where?"

With one finger he pointed at the spot he had been checking on. Now that she could see it completely, she saw that something was off with the flowers there. IN her blood rushed power as she imagined what she wanted to do and with one move of her hand the flower, that didn't belong there opened up like a drawer.

Robin looked inside and found a flower made of textile, a needle and a hat, that didn't seem to belong to the princesses. It wasn't something a woman would wear. In the city she had seen men wear hats like that. Besides that it didn't match to anything she had seen in the princesses' dressing room.

"What now", Robin asked and gave it to her, "how is it possible that the djinns didn't find it?"

"Because of the magic", Regina answered, "it had been closed magically and the magic was equal to the magic in the entire garden. I didn't feel any difference and if it hadn't been for you I would have never noticed it. I assume they did neither."

"Whose is that?"

"Let's find out", Regina held a hand above the hat and closed her eyes. She concentrated on it, felt it in her hand and magically selected every bit of it from its fabric and form to a single hair, that was still sticking to it and the sweat it had absorbed once.

In her thoughts she tried several spells which had turned into her blood ever since she had tried to find not just Henry but Hook and several years ago even Snow's daughter Emma and Snow. As soon as she felt the pull, she grabbed Robin's hand to take him along, as one of her spells finally worked out. Purple smoke surrounded them for a short moment, before it opened up to a dirty and dilapidated place.

Robin blinked and looked around in a hurry, "where did you take us?"

"Hopefully to the person who owns this hat", she answered and searched the room as well. Through the small window in the east noise from the streets reached their ears. There wasn't any furniture except for a big cloth filled with something that looked like straw. Through the open window the wind blew up a thin blanket that was hung up on a line, which crossed the room. The blanket swung fluttering in the breeze. Its sound covered the noise from the street so it was impossible to understand anything special. In front of the window a damaged wooden staircase lead down to the ground floor. Everywhere around it, there was broken glass, wood that had been split in peaces, sand, which had been blown through the windows on both sides of the room - the east and the north. The other walls didn't even have windows but just closed holes that were nailed with boards. The windows in the north didn't show anything but the dirty and damaged wall of the next house, that was very close.

"Let's hope he still lives here", Robin said pessimistic and surrounded the half wall that had been build around the staircase, "if he is even still alive."

"He is everything we have, so please, don't be so pessimistic", she requested gently even though she believed it to be highly possible, that he was right about this.

There was a sound and both of them stopped in their movements and exchanged a surprised glance. They didn't make a sound but surrounded the staircase on both sides, so what- or whoever there was didn't have a chance to get away.

Someone moaned and a fist that was raised in the air, appeared right above the half wall in front of the wall in the south. Robin was faster and spoke up to the person lying there, "who are you?"

"What", a confused young man asked and moaned again. As Regina could finally see him, she noticed his dirty face and arms, his dark curls, which reached his shoulders and the thin black vest he wore opened above his thin chest. His grey eyes always shone out of the dark color of his face just like his yellow teeth as he moaned again. He blinked in Robin's direction since he hadn't noticed her yet and sat up on the small mattress he had made himself. It looked just like the blanket filled with straw that they had noticed in front of the window before.

"Seriously, who are you? What are you doing here?"

Regina answered for Robin, "we're searching the owner of this hat."

The man turned around in surprise and slowly got up as if he was scared. For sure he felt cornered and threatened, but she didn't care. She just held up the hat so he could perfectly see it and his reaction proofed that he knew it.

"What hat", he asked avoiding and begged away to the wall behind him, "who are you?"

"We don't want to hurt you", Robin stated calmingly, "but we need to find the man the hat belongs to."

"And you should help us", Regina added, "before I lose my temper."

Robin glanced at her angrily, while he walked up to the man slowly as if he was a scared animal. She ignored him. They didn't have time to waste and this man wouldn't tell them anything if they treated him too softly.

The stranger didn't understand her threatening anyway, since he had no idea who she was and what she was capable of, "I don't know."

Robin came closer, "what's your name?"

"Forgotten", he grinned wickedly and ran up to the half wall. With one jump he crossed it and grabbed the line that was hanging from the ceiling above it. He swung to the other side and almost fell as Regina pulled him back magically as if she was a magnet. Through the speed he swung back as fast that he crushed into the wall, in front of which he had been standing before, because he slipped off the line. He grunted and kneeled in front of it.

"Ups", Regina commented this outcome honestly since she hadn't planned for this to happen. But she didn't feel guilty. He had tried to run away after all.

"Who are you", repeated Robin less gently now, "what is your name?"

"Abu", the young man finally answered and looked up to them in pain. His back had to be aching badly.

"Why did you try to run away", Robin continued less forcefully and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Abu's eyes wandered to her shortly, as if he was scared of her, before he asked, "what do you want from me?"

Regina held up the hat again, "is that yours?"

"No."

"Whose is it?"

Abu bit on his lip and looked at his hands instead of answering her. He didn't look as if he was thinking of an answer but as if he was refusing to do it at all.

"You know him, so tell us", Regina drilled further. She hated to wait and her past self already would have tortured him to get the information they needed. But she wasn't that person anymore, so she would just wait and hate to have to do it.

"We don't want to hurt him", Robin pointed out, "we just need some information and we hope that he can give it to us."

"We don't betray each other to the Queen", Abu only answered and looked at the ground stubbornly.

Regina swallowed hard as she felt reminded of her own past. On her search for Snow White she had heard sentences like that very often. Had it made her furious back then she only felt guilty now for what she had done to those who had said it.

"How do you know that", she asked with a weak voice what caught Robin's attention immediately. She ignored him and concentrated on the man who was still kneeling in front of her. That she had seen many times before, too and the memory of it in addition to the rest mate her feel guilty now.

"If you have the hat, you must work for the Queen", Abu answered as if it was obvious. It also revealed that he had to know more than he admitted.

"Why wouldn't you help the Queen", Robin asked curious and focused on him.

"Do you think I'm stupid? I certainly won't tell you!"

"As you can see we don't belong to the palace and we have nothing to do with what is going on here", Robin explained and pointed at their clothes that didn't even look slightly as if they worked for Emerald.

"By the way, we already would have reason enough to hurt you, if we did", Regina added, who slowly understood what kind of person Emerald really seemed to be, "cooperate or I might change my opinion and hurt you anyway."

"You can trust us", Robin insisted with an angry glance at her. Just now she realized that she had threatened him again just like she would have done in the past. Maybe it was better to just ask questions and leave it to Robin to convince Abu to answer.

Abu looked at them confused and insecure. Of course, her threat was more impressive on him than Robin's try to achieve something through friendliness, so in the end he focused on her a little scared. They had to give a strange impression on him. For sure they looked for him like angel and devil, who had teamed up to confuse and threaten him.

Regina sighed and repeated Robin's question, "why wouldn't you help the Queen?"

"Because…", he hesitated and chose his words carefully, "because I'm not someone she wants to have in her realm."

"So you are a thief", Regina stated out of instinct. Certainly Emerald could make use of a murderer more than of a thief if she was a little like she had used to be. Besides that Abu was too fast in running away to be a simple beggar.

He nodded and proofed her to be right.

"So what's the name of your friend", Robin asked who obviously assumed that he wouldn't put himself in danger like this if they weren't friends.

Abu looked to the window in the east and bit his bottom lip. At first she thought that he was thinking about the question but then she noticed that someone was climbing through it. It was hard to imagine ho he had managed to reach the window t all, but there definitely was coming someone. She decided to help him up. With one movement of her hand, a man flew shouting into the room. He waved his arms and legs wildly as there was nothing he could hold on to and landed on his knees on the other self-made mattress. He had dark short hair, dark eyes, his skin was brown and he breathed heavily. He stared at them like a wet and shocked cat and as he stood up slowly and carefully, his legs trembled. He was dressed in white wide trousers that were dirty from the sand outside and a brown vest as it was usual in this country. His feet were naked.

While Regina focused on him, Robin took care of Abu. They didn't want anyone of them to run away secretly.

"Aladdin, run", Abu tried to warn his friend and did his best to fight off Robin, but he wasn't a skilled fighter, "they work for the Queen."

"That's not true", Regina said fast and shook her head.

Aladdin stepped back anyway. He looked irritated from his friend in need to her and tried to decide between helping his friend and running away to save his own life. She had seen that conflict in so many eyes before that she was certain to be right.

Aladdin stopped in front of the window and focused on her, "if you don't work for her you must work for the thieves."

"Who", Robin asked and wrangled with Abu who still tried to fight him off.

"My father's thieves", Aladdin clarified.

Regina held up the hat, "seriously, what is going on here? Is this yours?"

As he noticed the hat in her hand, Aladdin froze and looked at Abu again, who yelled, "I told you."

"We only want to find the missing princesses", Robin insisted, "please, help us."

Aladdin turned pale and stared at them. Maybe that hadn't been such a good idea. It appeared he didn't want them to search for the girls at all. Actually he looked more as if he was afraid that they could find them. The question was why? And why had his hat been hidden at the castle where only the princesses had been supposed to be?

"Come here and talk", Regina ordered as he looked over his shoulder at the window behind him. He had tried to do it secretly but she had noticed it anyway, "don't even think of running. You don't stand a chance."

She gave him a moment to decide if he wanted to talk with them freely or if he wanted a rough conversation. She wouldn't have a problem with either choices, but preferred the first option.

He obviously made up his mind and looked at his friend with a worried spark in his eyes. But he didn't say anything.

Regina crossed her arms, the hat hanging from her left hand unnoticed, "what did you do to the princesses?"

Aladdin looked at her shocked, "what?"

"You obviously know more than you admit", Robin explained playing along. Good, then they were heading into the same direction.

"What?"

"Come on, it's obvious that you did something", she created more pressure on him, "what happened? Did they catch you as you tried to steal from them? What happened then? How did you do it?"

"Oh god", he cried out, "you think I hurt them? What the hell did she tell you?"

"Don't", Abu tried to stop him, "it's a trap."

"Did that witch tell you that I was at fault?"

"Al, are you crazy", Abu shouted in between. He tried to free himself more violently but it was useless. In the end Robin simply shoved him against the wall and he couldn't# even see anything anymore.

Regina looked at him shortly, "relax. I have been called worse than a witch."

Robin looked over his shoulder, "what is the truth? Why do you call the Queen a witch?"

Aladdin blinked surprised, "how do you know I was talking about her?"

"Abu mentioned something before you came", Regina sighed and leaned at the half wall. She threw the hat at him and watched him stare at it, "look. I've made the experience that if the mere people talk bad abut someone higher than them, it's the truth at least most of the time. I don't like her, too. So why don't you tell us, what really happened?"

---

"Wow", someone said beside her while everyone else turned silent. It wasn't more than a whisper, but as she turned around and saw her opponent talk with Hook, she could understand his words anyway, "she hit it."

The pirate grinned almost proudly as he raised his glass and watched her across its edge, "of course."

"Does she always hit", the stranger asked and fished out the money he had bet on his own win. He admitted his defeat. Maybe it was better for him. Darts had always been fun, when she had played it with Graham so she perfectly knew how to play it. Not to mention that it always had been a nice but not very effective practice for throwing knifes.

"I don't know", Hook shrugged, placed his glass back on the bar and took his money as if he was disinterested.

Was he serious? Of course, she almost always hit. He met her eyes as if he had noticed her anger, while the men around them left her alone to spread all over the room and drink in silence again. Something in his eyes told her that he was angry with her. She had a guess why. As she turned around to pick up the darts, she noticed that some of the men even avoided to look at her. It was clear. She hadn't acted the stubborn but clumsy girl who didn't know the game long enough and now that everyone knew her abilities nobody dared to challenge her anymore. They didn't want to lose their money to her. Hook knew that and he had wanted her to fool them longer, so he could make more money.

She walked up to the captain and sighed. She was sick of this. The problem was, that they didn't have any money left. Even though they had taken along jewels and some diamonds, the farmers had been quite too greedy to accept less than three of each in exchange for their horses. Some of the guards and people in the towns they had passed they had had to pay for their silence or they would have been followed and maybe even arrested because Hook was known in Elliot's kingdom quite well. She had even found an old wanted poster of herself, which had made things even worse. At least she had managed to hide it from Hook.

All in all they had been quite lucky with their departure with the others. They actually had made it out of the hut without being noticed by anybody. They had taken Elliot's and Kevin's cloaks and had walked through the forest for almost three days, before they had decided to leave it behind and search for a farmer who would sell his horses to them. Too bad that man had noticed how desperate they were. The prize had been quite high and as he had noticed Hook and remembered his wanted poster, his prize had risen even higher. In the end almost nothing of their diamonds and jewels had been left. They had traveled for another four days. They nights they had spent in forests or close to trees and hills, where they had been able to make a fire and to hide at least a little. But the closer they had gotten to the coast, the more people had recognized Hook, which had coasted them quite a lot.

At the first harbor they hadn't found the Jolly Roger they had expected, so they had traveled further, hoping they would make it in time to reach the other meeting point. Too bad that had coasted them even more of their little treasure and now they were completely out of money. The last bit they had spent for food for their horses. And as close to the coast it was too dangerous to use any of the few jewels left, because they might be attacked because of it.

Emma walked up to him and placed the darts in front of him on the bar, "don't look at me like that."

"Did you really have to win that easily", he asked almost in a whisper and looked at her disappointed, while he shoved the money in one of his pockets, "we could have earned a lot more, you know?"

"When will we leave", she asked instead of answering him, since it would be pointless anyway. They both knew the answer. She wasn't a good player if she didn't want to and right now, all she wanted was to leave this place. It was filled with dubious people. Some of them she even knew from wanted posters. They were those kind of people who didn't earn the prize money on their heads for nothing. Those, who she usually had always hunted down, because she had known that she wouldn't do something wrong. And of course, those men usually didn't just accept, that they were fooled or that they lost. They would try to get their lost money back so it would be best to not anger them. They were to many and they wouldn't hesitate to team up on them and kill each other for the money once they would be done with them.

"I thought about tomorrow", he answered and frowned as he noticed her reaction, "you want to leave sooner?"

Emma didn't answer but looked around. She searched for someone focusing on them. Not everyone liked to be fooled.

"Do you like forests that much", he asked almost amused, but Emma knew him better. He was just as aware of the danger they were in, as she was.

"You know why", she stated in a whisper that he almost couldn't hear and drank from his drink. She emptied it.

Hook watched her for a long moment. Then he picked up the darts and held them up, "wanna play?"

Emma stared at him, "certainly not."

"Why", he asked darkly, "afraid you could lose?"

"We don't have time to play around", she insisted and became nervous as she finally saw someone focusing on them. It wouldn't take long anymore and everyone would turn against them, if they would believe they could earn the money they had just won. Those men didn't know honor. They were just greedy.

"Let's bet."

"We need to leave."

"If we leave now, we'll be dead before we leave the room", he explained totally relaxed, "what do you want to bet?"

"Nothing", she finally turned to glare at him. How could he be as relaxed? She didn't want to play now. They needed to leave before everyone would turn against them and his words would come true. Now they still had a chance to get away without any problems. Why didn't he see that?

"Okay", he got to his feet, "I've got an idea."

He paused and Emma had a bad feeling about this. It definitely didn't sound as if he would agree with her, but more as if he insisted on a stupid darts-game with her.

She was proofed to be right, "if you win, we'll leave immediately."

He waited for her reaction. Obviously, he wanted her to ask what she would have to pay. But she didn't play along. They really needed to leave now.

He sighed as he understood that she wouldn't act along. He fished something out of his pocket and placed it on her lap so nobody could see it, "if I win, you tell me about this, Love."

Emma stared at her lap and froze. She didn't need to read the name written on it or to see the picture drawn on it to know what this was. She had believed that he hadn't noticed it. How had he found this wanted poster? Hadn't she taken everyone they had passed? Hadn't she destroyed all of them or at least made sure that he wouldn't see them?

"What do you say", he asked in a whisper and leaned into her.

Emma scrunched it up and glared at him, "forget it."

Hook sighed and leaned back, "you really won't be challenged by me?"

She stood up and shoved the wanted poster into her cloak before anybody would see it. She glared at him which was answer enough. He got out the money they had just earned, placed it on the bar to pay his drinks and sighed. He followed her outside slowly and now he even paid attention to the men surrounding them. He walked up to her as they reached the door and shoved the money back into a pocket of his cloak without paying attention to it. He whispered, "I'll find out about it. Don't you want to tell me that story first?"

"Why should I?"

"Because your version of the story is what interests me most, Love", he said but he couldn't hide the sarcastic sound of his voice. He held open the door for her.

Emma stopped and glared at him, "seriously. Forget about it."

"Why should I", he leaned into her and steadied himself at the door, "I told you I wouldn't forget about it earlier, didn't I? I'm really curious and the more you refuse to tell me, the more I'm driven to find out."

She sighed and stepped back to head through the door as she was suddenly pushed aside and stumbled into Hook. The door closed behind black hair that vanished through the door.

"What was that", Emma asked confused and freed herself of his grip, "who was that?"

"Shit."

She turned around to look at him. He was searching through his pockets as if he was a drunkard searching for his rum.

"What", she asked and barely noticed the men focusing on them. She took his arm and pulled him outside to escape from them before they would decide to attack them just as she expected them to. The door closed behind their back and just now she was able to relax and breathe more easily. This door wasn't much but it was at least something that stood between them now.

"What's wrong", she asked again, as Hook didn't answer her previous question. Instead he searched through his pants now, "did you lose our money?"

"I didn't lose it", he growled and looked up to her in anger, "and it's not the only thing that has been taken from me."

Emma frowned. He couldn't mean what she believed him to mean. This just couldn't be true. How was it possible that someone had actually robbed Hook? Why hadn't he noticed anything? Why hadn't she noticed anything?

"What else", she asked slowly even though she already guessed the answer to this question. It just couldn't be true.

"The bean", he admitted and avoided to look at her. He searched the street for the culprit, but he didn't find anybody, "it has been stolen from me."

Great. So now they would have to find another way back to the Enchanted Forest once they would be in Neverland.

---

They left the town as fast as possible. Hook was right. The men of the tavern didn't like to have them around. It was best to leave them behind as fast as possible. They took their horses and rode back into the forest. Now that they didn't have the money anymore, they couldn't buy food for the animals and they certainly couldn't get something to eat or a bed for the night for themselves. Their only option was to get back into the forest they had avoided so far.

It was called the Red Forest not just because the color of the trees and bushes that never changed from red to any other color but because of the dangerous animals and creatures that were supposed to live in it. They had heard stories about it in the taverns they had visited to make money. They had been warned of it countless times. Wolves that were as huge as cows, creatures that were half human and half bull, leaves that turned into insects that attacked humans and plants that attacked what got to close to them were supposed to exist in here. All those dangers had attacked countless people, whose blood had turned the ground of the forest red as blood. Some men even had reported that the river's water that left the forest into the ocean had been red of the blood from time to time. And others had said that people who didn't want to endure their illnesses and old age for eternity, which they would have through the curse, had entered the forest to end their lives earlier.

"Maybe this forest isn't such a good idea, Love", Hook said slowly and watched the trees and bushes around them carefully. Until now they had followed the road into the forest but the bushes had grown closer together until they had swallowed the rest it. There was no way to get any further with their horses.

"Don't look at me", she stated and shook her head, "I'm not the one who lost our money."

He sighed, "are you going to blame me for it forever now?"

"For the money not", she admitted and got down from the horse, "but maybe for the bean."

"You're so kind", he said sarcastically and leaned across the horses neck to fondle it, "what are you doing? I thought we would heat to the sea now."

"And where do you want to stay there", she asked and looked up to him, "our friends from the tavern will search for us there. I don't think you want them to find us, do you?"

"Might still be the better option", he sighed and leaned back.

Emma walked up to him and caressed his horse's bridge of the nose, "Mr. Jones, don't tell me you are afraid of a little forest."

He grinned and looked at her in surprise, "how do you know-"

"That your real name is Jones", she cut him off and stopped in her movement, while her own horse smelled at her back, "I found a chest strap with that name stitched into it in Milah's chest. Unless she used to wear it, you are the only one, who it can belong to."

He sighed and leaned back, "and here you go again."

"What do you mean", she stumbled forward as her horse pushed her back and snorted. Their horses were nervous, so something definitely had to be dangerous in this forest. Or at least they thought so.

Hook chuckled but as he noticed the horse's reaction and his own one started to move nervously, the smile vanished on his lips, "that you're way too observant, Love. I need to be more carefully with you."

Emma held on to his centime and smiled pleased about his answer, "you took that risk when you made that deal with me."

"Seems so", he shortened his reins the horse stopped moving and snorted frustrated. He looked around hoping that he might notice something in the darkness around them, but he couldn't see anything that could be dangerous to them.

"What about now", she asked and watched him amused, "afraid to take another risk, Captain?"

He shook his head, "oh no. Don't do that, Love."

She acted surprised, "what?"

"You know what", he pulled his right boot out of his stirrup and got up, "you challenge me. And it works."

Emma laughed as he finally got down and helped him to pull down the reins, so he could lead his horse through the bushes with it. She took the lead. It wasn't easy to get through a forest, whose plants were proliferated together, especially not with frightened horses. Soon she had to admit that Hook might have been right, but she was too proud and too stubborn to admit it. At least they didn't need to get very deep into the forest. They just needed to leave the road behind until they wouldn't be seen anymore.

Her horse stumbled over a tree and Hook's startled. He held it back even though it tried to break out and glanced at Emma, "we should stop here."

Emma looked around and sighed, "are you sure? The river is close by."

He followed her glance and walked up to her, his horse reluctantly following him. He exchanged a short glance with her before he slowly walked up into the direction of the river. She followed him and took his horse, when they reached it. Like that he was able to check the area freely. Finally, he turned around grinned at her, "I guess we should make a fire."

The fire was made fast and soon they sat around it and relaxed while their horses searched the forest ground for something they could eat. Here they wouldn't find a lot, but at least they could drink water and rest. They seemed to relax but they were vigilant anyway.

Hook finished off the rest of the bread they had bought in the town and leaned back, "you never told me about that wanted poster."

"Which wanted poster?"

"Don't act dumb. Yours. We talked about it in the tavern", he watched her carefully.

"I don't know what you're talking about", she grinned and looked up to him amused. She wouldn't tell him about it no matter what he would say or do. To talk about it would open the door to a lot more questions and she didn't want to face these questions. He didn't need to know that story.

"I'm curious."

"So?"

He grinned, "I might decide to discover that secret. Don't you want to tell me before I discover it on my own?"

"Why should I want that", she asked honestly and watched him just as carefully as he watched her. The fire between them warmed her face and her front while she leaned at the tree the horses were bound to. She could here their breathing across the crackling of the fire.

Hook looked at the flames before he answered her, "maybe I jump to conclusions or find out something wrong."

"Would that change anything about our deal?"

He studied her for a long moment, but Emma already knew the answer even before he curiously asked, "is there something that could drive me away?"

"What do you think?"

He sighed frustrated and looked away from her. Emma chuckled and caught his attention once more. He looked at her for a long moment before he stated, "you won't tell me, will you?"

Emma shifted her seat and smiled, "someone once told me that secrets were a woman's benefit."

The atmosphere changed. He charmingly smiled back at her, "oh, I don't think you need that kind of benefit."

"No", she asked put her feet in front of the fire to warm her lower legs, "why that?"

"Why could you need something to benefit you around me", he asked back and mirrored her sitting position at the tree he was leaning at, "you already wrap me around you little finger, don't you?"

She reminded herself to breathe and blinked, "I do?"

Hook's grin turned bigger and he bit his bottom lip, "now that we're talking about it, there is something I would almost have forgotten about."

She hesitated to take the bite he threw at her. But in the end, it was the only thing she could do, "what could that be?"

"Our little discussion about kisses and nice kisses", he leaned forward, "I almost had forgotten about it."

Emma swallowed hard, "if that's the case I must have been right."

He frowned, "about what?"

"Well...", she said as silent as he almost couldn't hear it across the fire, "if you can forget about it then it can't have been better than nice."

Hook stood up, "maybe you're the one who needs a reminder of it. It was better than nice."

"Really?"

"Yes", he walked up to her and held out his hand, "and if you ask that you really need a reminder."

Emma looked up to him but didn't take his hand. To kiss him again was a bad idea, "what could a reminder possibly change about it?"

"Your opinion for exam-", he was cut off by the horses. They whinnied loudly and shunned. Hadn't it been for their ropes they would have fled blindly.

Emma grabbed Hook's hand and let him pull her up absentmindedly. They stared into the darkness silently and waited for something to show up at their fireplace. Something that would simply be there or that would attack them. It was pointless to try to shut down the horses since their fire would give them away anyway so they just waited for a moment. Bushes rustled and Emma pulled the crossbow out of the saddle bag. It was the one they had taken along from Gwen's hut. Hook pulled a sword he had stolen from a man in a tavern, while Emma had played darts with them.

Nothing appeared in front of them, but the horses didn't relax neither. Hook stepped back and looked around, while Emma walked past the horses and searched the darkness.

"I guess, there was nothing", Hook said slowly, "maybe it was just a rabbit that scared them."

"A rabbit that made the bushes rustle like that", she asked skeptically and shook her head, "no. I don't think so. You know what? I'll check on it."

"What", he stared at her, "no."

She ignored him, "you stay here and take care of the horses. If we lose them, we'll be in even more trouble. I'll be right back."

"Swan", he said angrily and ran up to her to stop her. He grabbed her right arm and pulled her around to him, "didn't you learn anything?"

She smiled at him, "don't freak out. I'll be fine. I won't go far. I just want to make sure that nobody suddenly jumps at us because we haven't been careful enough. And this time is different. You know where I'm going after all."

Hook studied her for a long moment. His thoughts were running wild. She could see it in his eyes. There was the worry for her and the worry to be killed in sleep tonight just because they hadn't checked the area around. He swallowed hard but before he could answer, another bush rustled, the horses reacted to it once more and in the near distance there was the noise of something breaking through the woods. Whatever it was, it didn't approach them but ran past them.

Emma looked at him, "whatever that was, it has seen our fire and heard the horses. If we don't take care of it, it definitely will come back for us."

Hook sighed and let go of her, "be careful."

She smiled at his pale face. As she noticed that he didn't look at her, she sighed and ran between the bushes and trees into the darkness. She tried to hear more noise of something moving in here but the horses whinnying was too loud to hear something. She ran until she found broken branches and damaged bushes. She followed the track as silently as she could. It lead to the river where it vanished into nothing. She looked all around hoping to find something, when she heard someone crying. She turned around but all she could see were trees and bushes. Then she froze. She looked at the river and stared at it. She leaned closer to it just to notice that it was colored red.

Emma swallowed hard before she stepped from river stone to river stone to reach the other side. She searched the area there and found something that looked like a hove of a cow. It reached out of a tree, whose trunk was colored in red as well. It was all bloody and as she stared at the hove, the tree pulled it inside. It was gone. Emma stared at it speechless and stepped back slowly. So the tales were true. In this forest really existed trees that attacked animals. Seeing the blood at its trunk she was convinced that the tree didn't just attack animals. For certain it would be fine with anything that got too close.

There was the crying sound again. Emma turned around slowly and stared between the bushes. She avoided the tree as far as possible and tried to stay away from the next one too, as she followed the sound. It came from the shadows. Was a woman crying there? Or even a girl? She shoved through the bushes the crossbow in abutment.

Suddenly there was a sound from the left and Emma shot. She heard that she hit something but she didn't have the time to check on it anymore. Someone jumped at her and threw her to the ground. She heard a wordless yell just he hit her.

Then she had defend herself against someone hitting her face and her chest. It didn't hurt but it was just as annoying as the fact that her attacker was sitting on her as if she was a horse's back. Emma caught up her girls arms and stared at her.

"Stop", she growled deciding through the noise of the girl made. She was around seventeen. Her hair was red and curly. Her face was very dirty just like her dress and she was small. She stared at Emma in surprise and stopped moving, so she let her go. That turned out to be a mistake, because as soon as she let go of her wrists, the girl started to hit her again. Emma cursed and roughly pushed her off her. The girl fell back but got up as fast that Emma had only time to kick her. She hit her leg and the girl fell to her knees and cried out in pain.

She got up and grabbed her crossbow, before she would take it. She pointed it at her, "one more move and I'll finish you off."

The girl looked up to her scared. Traces of tears marked her face. Had she been crying before or was that the reaction to her kick? She had heard someone cry before.

Emma waited for her reaction. The girl didn't say anything but simply stared at her angrily.

She frowned, "who are you?"

The girl just clenched her teeth but didn't answer.

"Why are you in a forest like this?"

Again, no answer.

"Did you see what happened to that cow", Emma asked and nodded in the direction of the bloody tree.

The girl didn't answer but sobbed.

What was wrong with her? Why didn't she talk? Didn't she know how to talk? Couldn't she understand her? But in that case she wouldn't have sobbed as she had mentioned the tree. Was she too shocked to answer? Maybe she had been searching for a cow she had lost and had watched the tree kill it. Maybe she was traumatized. She was still quite young but not too young to live on her own and certainly not too young to run into a wood like that without knowing anything about it.

Suddenly the girl winced back. Emma snapped out of her thoughts, but it was too late. Something hit her from behind, she stumbled against a tree lost the crossbow. She hit her head at the tree trunk, but turned around fast enough to avoid another strike. She bowed down and the creature hit the tree instead of her. She stared at it in disbelieve. It had a human body and swung an ax but it didn't have feet. Instead it walked around on hooves. A long dark tail of a cow swung around its human legs and it stared at her through human eyes that were surrounded by a bull's head with big horns. They were bowed up to heaven towards the middle of its head.

Emma stared at it speechless, while it tried to pull out the ax that was stuck in the tree behind her. Emma rolled to the side and avoided its kick. She picked up the crossbow and hit its back with it. It yelled in pain and used his anger to pull out the ax. It turned around to her and Emma threw away the crossbow and ducked as it stroke again. It missed her and she used her position to pull out a knife. She rolled to the side so it hit the roots of the bloody tree. The tree reacted to it immediately and the creature turned around to it in fear. It screamed as the tree swung its branches at it and wrapped its branches around the ax to pull it out of its hands.

Emma crawled back and stared at it, the girl next to her. She stared at it in shock, before she grabbed her wrist and pulled her away. She still didn't say anything. She just sobbed. Emma got to her feet and followed her further away from the tree. She looked back one last time and saw the tree swinging its branches at the creature that tried to escape from it. It was hit in the back, was pushed to the ground and landed where Emma had been just seconds ago. Then branches wrapped around its legs and it was pulled underneath the tree, where it disappeared yelling between the roots. Blood spread out of it, the creature's yelling stopped and after a moment the tree stopped to swing. Everything was silent again.

Emma grabbed the girls wrist and stopped her. She stared at the tree in shock and held on to the girl absentmindedly. She didn't let go of her even though she slightly noticed that she tried everything to free herself. As she tried to bite her, Emma finally snapped out of her thoughts and pulled her closer roughly, "stop that."

She froze and stared at her, "earlier that wasn't your cow, right?"

She didn't answer but stared at her. There was no need to say it out loud. She could read it in her eyes that she was right. Emma swallowed hard and sighed, "you come with me."

The girl shook her head in fear and pulled at her arm again, but Emma ignored it, "you can't stay here alone. If you come with me and stop to attack me, I can help you to get out of here again."

She froze and stared at her. She didn't know what to do. She was torn between Emma's offer and her strange wish to escape from her. Maybe there was even more to that, but Emma couldn't understand it. She just waited for her decision even though there was nothing she could decide. She definitely wouldn't let her go no matter what she wanted. It was too dangerous for her to stay in this forest.

The girl stopped pulling at her arm and sighed in resignation. Emma smiled at her, "good. Then come."

She walked up to her crossbow and made sure that she would follow her. Then she took her hand and lead her back to the river in a far circle around the dangerous tree. They avoided its roots until they reached the river that was filled with blood once more. It took Emma a while to find back the way she had come to that part of the river. Maybe there even would have been a shortcut but she didn't dare to try to find the right way in a forest like that at night. It was too dangerous.

"Finally", Hook greeted her and swirled around to them. As he noticed the girl next to Emma he froze and stared at her, "you."

The girl froze and stopped in her movement.

Emma froze and looked from one to the other, "you know?"

"Where did you find her", Hook asked and walked up to them.

The girl tried to hide behind Emma and grabbed the cloak in her back frightened. Emma looked at her and raised an eyebrow before she focused on Hook again.

He sighed and pointed at her, "our friend here stole our money and the bean."

"I see", Emma said slowly and pulled her forward, "and she saved my life."

The girl froze and stared up to her in surprise. She was still holding on to her.

Hook raised an eyebrow, "she did? Did you get yourself in trouble again, Swan?"

She shrugged, "at least we don't need to worry about the thing that crossed our way earlier. It's dead. What about our horses?"

He pointed at the animals, "had to tightened their reins, but they are still here. And they calmed down once the noise stopped. What do you plan to do with her?"

He was suspicious. Emma sighed. He knew her too well.

"Oh no", he sighed and shook his head in disbelieve, "not again, Swan."

"She saved my life", she repeated.

"And what is it this time", he asked annoyed, "a missing prince? A cursed river? A sister that needs to be freed?"

"I don't know", she shrugged and walked up to her pulling the girl along, "she doesn't talk with me."

"So she hasn't told you about our bean?"

"No", Emma said and showed her that she should sit down, "but maybe she is so kind to give it back voluntarily. That is, if she understands us, of course."

The girl looked up to her. She studied her frightened and stubbornly at the time, before she searched in her pockets pulled something out. But she refused to hand it over.

"What is this", Hook asked impatiently and stared at her hand. It was obvious that he was angry with her. His pride was hurt because she had managed to steal from him unnoticed, which was quite impressive even for Emma. She hadn't seen anybody steal from him before but she was certain that it wasn't easy. Base had been difficult to steal from, too. On the other hand this girl didn't seem to be dangerous at all. She had hardly been able to attack her earlier. She had jumped at her recklessly and her hits afterwards had been ineffectively, too. It was a miracle she was still alive in a forest like this.

"You don't want to give it back", Emma asked merciless and looked at her. Once more, she didn't answer but simply shook her head. Emma sighed, "why?"

No answer.

"Can't she talk or doesn't she want to talk with you", Hook asked and walked up to them. He left space between the girl and him but placed his right hand in Emma's back to catch her attention, "what do you think?"

Emma looked from him back at the girl and studied her for a moment. Her face was dirty, she had cried a lot, she was frightened and very stubborn. Her red curly hair was a mess and her green eyes focused only on her just as if Hook wasn't even there. Her clothes were cut and dirty and she was very thin. She didn't wear shoes.

"You can't talk, right", Emma asked and waited for a reaction to her question.

The girl nodded.

"Can you write?"

The girl shrugged, which could mean anything.

Emma bit her bottom lip, "fine. If you agree, you nod and if not just shook your head. Do you understand?"

The girl nodded.

Emma and Hook exchanged a short glance before she asked, "do you have the bean you stole from Hook?"

The girl glanced at him shortly before she slowly nodded.

"Do you want to give it to us?"

She shook her head.

Hook snorted in disbelieve. In the meantime, Emma tried to create a question that would give them answers and that she would be able to answer with a simple yes or no at the same time. She searched the ground for a spot where she would be able to write, but the ground was to dry even as close to the river as they currently were.

In the end she decided to ask herself through until she would get the answers they needed to get any further, "do you want to stay with us?"

The girl hesitated, then she shrugged.

"Are you scared of us?"

She hesitated again, but nodded.

Emma shortly glanced at Hook before she asked, "do you trust me?"

The girl focused on her, swallowed and nodded.

She looked at Hook, who understood what she wanted with just one glance and stepped back. He returned to the tree he had been sitting at before she had taken off to find this girl. It felt as if days had passed since their conversation.

"Do you want to keep that bean?"

The girl nodded.

Emma frowned, "do you know what kind of bean this is?"

The girl nodded.

"Do you want to travel somewhere with it."

She nodded again.

"Why? Are you running away from somebody?"

She shook her head and pointed at her heart.

Emma frowned, "does it hurt?"

She shook her head and placed her hands upon her heart as if she was hugging someone.

"You are searching for someone dear to you, right?"

She nodded and her expression lighted up now that she was understood.

Emma exchanged a short glance with Hook, who wasn't amused to hear this at all. In fact he was pretty upset. She glared at him hoping that he would understand that he shouldn't say something. They didn't want to scare her even more and she wouldn't hurt her.

The girl pulled at her sleeve to catch her attention and gesticulated wildly as if she wanted to tell her something. Emma didn't understand. She pointed at herself, then she drew a line in the air as if she wanted to mark a height. She pointed at her eyes and at the river and pulled at her hair before she pointed at the ground between them. Then she waved her hands through the air as if she wanted to push something off a desk and stopped. She looked at Emma as if she was expecting her to understand it, but she didn't. It was too fast and didn't make any sense.

"I'm sorry", Emma said slowly, "I don't understand."

"Ask her about the place we want to go", Hook suddenly said from behind. He sounded annoyed and bored, "maybe it's the same place and we can take her along."

Emma rolled her eyes and sighed, "do you want to travel to Neverland?"

The girl's eyes widened and she took a deep breath. She straightened her back and sat up. She seemed to be excited as she nodded wildly.

Emma frowned before she looked at Hook who seemed to understand her better than she did. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and glanced at the girl across the fire that burned quite low by now, "are you searching for your boyfriend?"

The girl glared at him and shook her head before she repeated her strange movements again. She glanced at Emma, her green eyes filled with hope. Emma sighed and drew her hair back, "are you searching for friends of you?"

She shook her head and held up a finger.

"One friend?"

She shook her head and repeated the movements all over again. But this time she pointed at Hook before she pointed at her hair and her eyes. Emma glanced at Hook, who was just as puzzled as her.

"How did you get into this forest", he asked and rolled his eyes as he remembered that she wouldn't answer his question, "did you follow us?"

She hesitated, then she shook her head.

"Were you here before we came here", he asked and she shrugged.

"Did you even know that we were here", Emma asked while her thoughts were stuck with her strange movements.

Again, she shook her head.

"Were you hunted in here", Hook asked and sighed.

She nodded.

"By this creature, right", Emma asked and she nodded and shivered as she remembered it.

"What creature", Hook asked and focused on Emma.

She turned around to him and shrugged, "half human half cow. It attacked us and was killed by a tree."

He sat up, "you followed her into the wood to get attacked by a Minotaur?"

"A what?"

"A Minotaur", Hook repeated, "a creature half human half bull with huge horns."

"Oh", Emma shrugged, "she was hunted by one, but when I reached her it was already dead. The second one attacked us after that."

The girl pulled at her sleeve and repeated her movements once more. Emma sighed and sat down beside her, "I'm sorry, but I don't understand."

The girl desperately tried to hold back her tears as she repeated the first half of it once more. Emma watched her closely as she pointed at herself and marked a place in the air that was lower than her head. She missed someone important to her and she wanted to travel to Neverland, which was the place where Hook wanted to search for the missing prince. They wanted to search for a child there.

She frowned, "are you searching for a younger sibling or a cousin or something like that?"

The girl's eyes widened as she nodded wildly then she pointed at Hook again.

"A boy?"

She nodded again.

"Is his name Henry?"

She shook her head and pointed at her hair and the ground and her eyes and the river.

Emma exchanged a short glance with Hook.

"Don't look at me", he blocked her off, "I didn't even get the first part." Then he frowned and stopped. He stared at the girl and the ground. He narrowed his eyes, "his hair are brown and his eyes are blue?"

The girl nodded again.

"And you think you will find him in Neverland?"

She nodded.

Emma sighed. This couldn't continue. They wouldn't achieve anything if they would continue this little question game. She stood up and searched the ground for a stick she could use, while Hook asked countless questions. The more he asked the more he seemed to be annoyed. She couldn't blame him for it. It was exhausting and didn't lead anywhere to ask around like this.

She found a stick and walked back to her. She gave it to the girl, got her flask from her saddle and sprinkled the ground with the water inside of it. Then she sat down beside her and pointed at the ground, "if you can't write it down you could draw it."

The girl sighed.

"Do you know this forest?"

She nodded.

"Why did you get in here?"

Emma looked at Hook while the girl wrote into the wet ground. He stood up and walked up to them. He leaned at the tree behind Emma and looked at the ground. He frowned and read it out loud, "you searched for your family? Why should your family be in here?"

She wrote and Emma read, "Mrs. Billhook took them away from you because you couldn't pay for your safety? Who is Mrs. Billhook?"

It was Hook who answered her, "she is a legend. She is supposed to kill those whose life is over."

"What", she stared up to him.

He raised an eyebrow, "you don't know that tale? She is supposed to run around with a scythe and kill those who have to die. It's a very old legend."

"But if she usually kills people why should she want you to pay her for something", Emma asked confused and looked at the girl, "what did she want to be paid for?"

The girl grabbed the bottle and sprinkled water on the ground once more before she wrote something.

"She owns this forest and demands money in exchange for her protection of the creatures in it."

Emma frowned, "but why?"

"The curse", Hook said silently and met her glance, "the curse stopped everyone from aging and dying a natural death. In other words she has gotten useless. She's got nothing to do anymore. Her task doesn't exist unless people die. She must have chosen this place to make herself useful again."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed, "I've heard stories about this forest before but the more time passed the darker the stories became. In the beginning there had been stories about a forest filled with strange creatures that never left their forest and lived from dead who were brought in their forest. But lately the stories changed. There's been rumors about Minotaurs that left the forest and killed families and towns to eat. There've even been stories about people who have been eaten alive, which doesn't make sense if you consider that they only ate the dead."

"If you would have seen the one I fought with earlier, you would easily believe it", Emma said slowly.

The girl pulled at her sleeve and pointed at the ground. She had written something again.

"She took my family", was written in the wet ground, "she forgot about me."

"What is your name?"

"Chloe", she wrote into the sand.

"Why can't you talk Chloe", Emma asked concerned and sighed.

The girl sprinkled more water on the ground and wrote, "it's part of the deal. I need to get the money and mustn't talk until I have it."

"And why do you want to search for your brother in Neverland?"

"Because he wasn't with her family", Hook pointed out, "or at least she believes so."

Chloe nodded slowly. She stared at her hands and clenched her left fist tighter, in which she held the bean. She was helpless and she didn't know what to do. She had stolen from them to get the money for her family and a way to Neverland. She had entered the forest to pay this Mrs. Billhook at least a little and had ended up in danger. She had saved Emma's live by pulling her out of the way or the tree would have killed her, too.

"Don't say it", Hook sighed angrily and leaned back at the tree.

Emma touched Chloe's shoulder, "give us a minute."

She stood up and walked up to him. She stopped right in front of him, "she saved my life."

"She'll cost us time."

"Time I wouldn't have if she wouldn't have saved me."

"Which wouldn't have been necessary if she wouldn't have stolen from us", he growled but she could already see that he softened.

"She is desperate."

"She might betray and kill us because she is desperate."

Emma sighed, "come on, Hook. What about your good intentions?"

"Which good intentions? I can't recall."

She glared at him. They both knew that was a lie.

Hook sighed, which was answer enough. He gave up.

He glanced at her lips and sighed again.

Emma turned away from him and looked at Chloe who watched them carefully, "we'll help you. Just one more question. When I shot into the darkness earlier, did you attack me because you thought I would shoot at your family?"

Chloe's eyes widened as she remembered it. Her face turned pale and she got back to her feet. Her breathing sped up and she seemed to hyperventilate. Emma grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at her, "calm down. Maybe it was nothing."

She didn't listen.

"Okay, I heard something fall to the ground, too", she admitted, "but that doesn't necessarily mean that it was someone of your family."

Tears appeared in her eyes and Emma exchanged a short glance with Hook. He understood and sighed, "if you get killed I won't forgive you."

"In that case I get a reason to haunt you", she grinned and grabbed the crossbow out of his hand, "sounds fun."

Hook obviously didn't agree. There was something in his eyes that she couldn't understand. Was it fear?

She focused on Chloe, "stay here with Hook. He will protect. You don't need to worry. He won't hurt you no matter what he says. Okay?"

She hesitated and stared at her with tears in her huge and scared eyes. Then she nodded.

Emma let go of her and turned around. She walked up to the horses and put another arrow into it. She grabbed the bag with the other arrows and hung it over her shoulder.

"Be careful", Hook suddenly said from behind her.

She hadn't heard him come so she winced before she turned around to him, "be nice to her."

He snorted.

"I know you can be nice", she stated, "you were nice to Gwen, too."

He sighed.

"I'll be back soon."

"I should go."

"You don't know the way", she explained, "but you know more about this Mrs. Billhook than I, so maybe you can understand Chloe better than me."

Hook frowned and grabbed the belt of her bag to pull her closer, "you should wrap it around your body. You could lose it if you just hang it from your shoulder."

"What's wrong", she asked confused of his strange behavior, "angry because you didn't get the chance to convince me that the kiss was more than nice?"

He raised an eyebrow and looked up to her, "want me to do it?"

She gave it a thought, "depends on the kiss."

Hook almost grinned but it didn't reach his eyes, "you're scared."

She narrowed her eyes, "are you?"

"I believe in you, Swan", he stated in a natural voice, "you'll come back."

"I hope so", she joked and smiled.

Hook pulled her even closer. He focused on her lips and tightened his grip on her bag. She could feel his warm breath on her lips and looked at his lips in expectation but just as she thought he would kiss her, he stepped back, "no."

She frowned, "what?"

"I won't."

"Why not", she looked at him surprised and disappointed at once. She was confused to feel disappointed at all.

Hook stepped back and let go of her bag, "like that it'll be a good-by and I don't want to say farewells."

She looked at him speechless as he walked away and continued, "but if I wait until you return it'll be a reward. I like that one better."

Emma stared at the same spot even long after he had returned to the fireplace and Chloe. Her mouth went dry and she swallowed hard. She only snapped out of it, when the horse behind her moved and pushed her forward. She pulled the bag tighter and vanished into the forest.

It was easy to find the dangerous tree now that she had walked that path twice but it was hard to find the place where she had shot at. She searched the area and used the bushes and trees to cover herself always making sure that she wouldn't accidentally hit or hurt one of them. She didn't want to end up like the Minotaurs before and if a tree would attack her there would be nothing she could do. Most of the time she tried to stay away from the trees completely. What she had watched earlier had scared her a lot and she would never have imagined that something like this even existed in this world. The Enchanted Forest had many dangers. First of all the witches and wizards and the Dark Forest from where was no return. But she had never heard about living and moving and killing plants and creatures that lived between them. It was strangely and it was creepy.

---

As Emma returned to the fireplace, Chloe was curled up on the ground and slept as deeply as if she hadn't slept in days. She lay with her back to the glowing logs, which was everything that was left of the warm and secure fire.

Emma sighed and put down her crossbow and the quiver with the remaining arrows and watched her for a moment. For some reason she reminded her of herself when she had been nothing but a kid. Back then she had been easily scared by everything. Hunger and cold had been her daily companions and loneliness her biggest sickening poison. She had started to steal food and money and often she had been caught doing it. Most often she had gotten away, because people had not been able to touch her. Each time they grabbed her arms to pull her back and to punish and hurt her, they had winced back as if they had been burned. During the nights she had slept in stables and in the woods even though it had scared her like hell. There had been days when she hadn't slept at all because she had been so scared. Winter and rain had been her biggest enemies and soon she had learned to make a fire.

"What did you find", Hook suddenly asked and chased her dark memories away. He was sitting on the other side of the fireplace and watched her through tired eyes. Something about the way she treated him had changed even though she hadn't even noticed it. Emma didn't know what she should think about it and felt as scared as she had been as little kid.

"Nothing. Just a little blood and this small piece of fur", she held it up but he couldn't see it, because it was too dark now that the fire was so low, "is she alright?"

Hook snapped out of his short sleep and answered her, "she- she didn't want to communicate with me, but simply lay down to sleep."

Emma couldn't really believe this but left it be. She picked up another log and scratched through the ashes so the air could reach the embers and ignite it again. The night was cold and after she had met those Minotaurs she didn't want to stay in complete darkness. Who knew what else was living in here? The fire might keep away at least the wolves.

"So you shot an animal", Hook asked. He moaned as he tried to stay awake badly, "what was it?"

Emma got the bloody fur out of her pocket again and gave it to him, before she sat down next to him, "I think a deer."

Lost in his thoughts, he caressed the fur with his thump and looked into the licking flames. Something was nagging on him but he didn't spell it out. His eyes wandered to Chloe, who moved closer to the fire in her sleep.

Finally he spoke up, "say, how did you survive as kid?"

Emma looked at him in surprise. He had barely ever asked about her past, mostly, she assumed, because she usually had blocked up and refused to tell him. So why did he suddenly care about her childhood? Maybe because he hoped that she would open up to him at least about something that was as far part of the past as it wouldn't trouble her anymore? And why had he implied that she had had to survive?

She wanted to ask all those questions but at the moment he was as tired that she couldn't. She decided to soften a little and to let him now, because she couldn't see a problem with telling him about her childhood at least until she had met Neal.

Emma smiled and looked into the flames, "I grew up at a woman's house in the middle of the wood. She was around sixty and tried to her best. Her name was Martha. She was kind but she always had so many worries about how she should keep all of us kids alive that she couldn't cope with it and it never felt like I was living in a warm and safe home. Martha did her best to keep me alive and I could always talk with her, but she never felt like a family."

"And what happened to her?"

Emma glanced at him.

"She died when I was around fifteen", she looked into the flames and was lost in her thoughts. It had been a long time since she had thought of her at all. She hadn't even talked to Graham about her. Actually the only other person who knew about her was Neal, "she left to get something to eat and never returned. Later I found out that she had an heart attack on her way back to us."

"Was she your mother?"

"No. She never had made a secret of that and when she was angry with me or desperate because of our situation, she reminded me of it. But she never hit me."

"How many children were there with you?"

She gave it a thought and shook her head, "I don't know. More than five at least." Then she hurried to ask before he wanted to hear about the time after Martha, "but why do you ask?"

"Love", he suddenly said nervously and stared at the fur in his hand. The sound of his voice was enough to make her stiffen, "please tell me, that you don't see what I see and that I'm just hallucinating because I'm half asleep."

Emma looked at him startled before she looked at his hand, too. She took it out of his grip in disbelieve. A cold shiver ran down her spine and even though she could see and feel it, her mind simply refused to accept it.

The fur was gone and left was nothing but a piece of human skin. For a pig it was too soft. She would have loved to throw it away, but she was afraid to lose it in the dark so close at the fireplace. Maybe they would still need it and the risk that Chloe might find it was too high, so she resisted the urge and ignored her revulsion.

Hook who was fully awake now, seemed to notice her reaction and took it out of her hand again, "I could swear that it was fur just a second ago."

"You don't need to", she said bewildered, "'cause it definitely was. How is that possible? We can't be dreaming, can we?"

"No, at least not the same thing."

"But how…", she stopped in the middle of the sentence as she noticed, that she had already asked that question.

Hook swallowed hard, "weather we are crazy or there is someone who has been turned into an animal again."

Emma turned pale, "so you say I shot a human instead of an animal?"

"Yes."

"Is this still an effect of the cursed water? What do you think", she didn't wait for his answer, "oh my god. What if it wasn't the only cursed human and we ate…"

Hook placed his hook on her shoulder to stop her from jumping up and glanced at Chloe as if to check if they had woken her up, "no. That water didn't even reach this place. We are too far away from it and by now most of the people who had been cursed should be back to normal again."

Emma looked at Chloe, too, "you mean her family… this Mrs. Billhook…"

"Yes."

"Then her brother might not be in Neverland", she assumed and turned around to him in her sitting position in excitement, "he is here." She stopped herself, "or it was one of her parents."

"No, that can't be", Hook disagreed darkly, "Chloe said that Mrs. Billhook had caught her parents and only her brother was missing. Mrs. Billhook doesn't turn the people she catches into anything."

"How can you know that?"

Hook looked at her in surprise, "Emma, don't you know who she is?" As he noticed that she didn't know her, he explained, "Mrs. Billhook is death."

"Oh…", she said slowly, "so she isn't real? Is she just a symbol?"

"She is real", he sighed, "she definitely is real. But I've never met her in person. She usually doesn't show herself."

"But why was Chloe an exception", she wondered and looked at the sleeping girl once more. Involuntarily she wondered if this Mrs. Billhook also had caused Chloe's muteness.

"This isn't good."

"What?"

Hook stood up and walked up to the horses and back again. He was totally confused and if Emma wasn't mistaken even scared. She had never seen him like that. She stood up and pulled him to the horses, so Chloe didn't hear them, "what's wrong?"

His stare told her that he couldn't believe she was even asking that, "don't you understand? If we interfere with her… Emma don't tell me you still want to help her. She means death."

Emma shrugged as if it was nothing, even though she was worried by his reaction, "I don't see the problem. That's nothing new, is it?"

"Swan", he almost yelled, "those are two completely different things. There was always was a possibility to die but Billhook means certain death, Emma. There won't be a possibility to survive if she is involved. Death will be certain."

"You can't know that."

He glared at her, "if we interfere in her business there is no way to question it."

Emma snorted, "I don't want to bring her parents back from the death. I know that's impossible. But we could at least help her to get her brother back. How would we be meddling in her business through that? We've helped others like that before, haven't we?"

"That was different. Elliot and Kevin had been turned by that strange wizard and not by death herself. They had the possibility to survive", he insisted and shoved his hand through his hair.

"Didn't you say earlier that Billhook doesn't turn people into animals?"

"If she wants to cause their death through it, there is nothing she wouldn't do", he snorted and leaned at a tree as if he was exhausted.

She had never seen him like this. She had seen him having fun in the face of an enemy, she had seen him angry and furious and she had seen him worried. But never had she seen him as scared as now. Emma calmed down a little. She walked up to him and shoved her thumps into the loops of her belt, "but we don't know if she did that. It could be possible that Chloe and her family used to live close to that damn river and that the boy turned into a deer through the water as well."

"That doesn't matter", he sighed, "if she wants his death and we help him, we will interfere in her business anyway."

That didn't convince her at all, "but he has a chance of survival now, just like Elliot and Kevin had. So she can't be certain that he will die. Besides that things do change and unless she shoots someone right in front of our eyes, there is nothing like certain death."

Hook didn't say anything. And there was no need to, since his glance was speaking volumes. He still refused to agree. He wasn't convinced that his would turn out good. He didn't want to put their lives in danger through this because he didn't see any reason to help Chloe. And he couldn't understand that she wanted to do it so badly.

"Ever since we met you got us into these strange situations, that seemed to be impossible", he slowly said after a while.

Emma stepped back. She was hurt even though she didn't know if he meant something bad or if he was just stating a fact with that. As usual she chose to pick the assault behind it, what was more painful than she had expected. She couldn't understand why it troubled her so much. Had that kiss changed so much about her opinion of him? When had she let him as deep into her walls as something like that could hurt her?

"Okay, then let's do this", she said and her voice sounded strange even in her own ears. She kept going even though he looked at her as if he had noticed that he had made a mistake, "I'll search for her brother and you can wait outside the forest with Chloe. If I'm not back by three days from tomorrow, you-"

"Forget it", he stopped her and his voice sounded angry, "you won't go alone."

"Are you afraid I might run away?" It was just a joke but Hook obviously wasn't in the mood for that. She couldn't tell if there was just fear she might actually make such a decision or if there was anger in addition to it. But why would he be angry about it? It was just a joke…

He sighed and ignored it, "even if I wanted to I wouldn't. I still need you to achieve my goal and with your bad luck the possibility that you just die and leave me alone with it is quite high."

Now she was satisfied. It was his way of telling her that he cared for her and she could handle that better than what he had said before.

Emma frowned, "bad luck? Why?"

"Emma, I already told you: if something could happen it definitely does happen when you are involved."

She remembered what he had said about impossible situations before, that had hurt her and suddenly she understood, that it hadn't been an insult, but an admiration, "that's not true."

"It is", he strolled back to the fireplace with her on his heels more than satisfied with their amusing conversation, "for example, as we arrived in that harbor town…"

"Port Grace?"

"Yes. There live around fourhanded people and within the first thirty minutes you manage to run into the one person with a grudge against the king, who helps us."

She shrugged and felt that he was convincing himself of her latest idea through this, "so?"

"Of course, she is the only person with an agenda that would get us in more trouble", he pointed out.

Emma made a pout, "if Doris hadn't been, we wouldn't have made it inside the castle at all."

"And Gwen-"

"That was your fault, not mine", she interrupted him amused, "you wanted to help her."

"And then there is this fairy", he continued.

"What's wrong with Nova", she asked alarmed and frowned.

As he sat down he was just as amused as she had been a second ago, "let's just say I never even imagined that a fairy would repair my ship one day."

"Which is something good yet again", she insisted and looked into the flames. She smiled and looked back at him, "actually you are the one who always gets us into trouble. I mean the thing with Gwen and before that King Frederic and Cora."

"I'm sure, that Cora found us was your fault."

"Ha", she leaned back and focused on him, "no. You forget there something. I was the one who saved us."

Hook grinned and leaned back as well.

"Maybe it would be safer for me, if I wouldn't take you along", she mocked him and he chuckled. Then they were silent for a moment.

He became serious again, "how do you even want to heal that boy?"

It wasn't hard to understand that he didn't mean the wound of her arrow but the fact that he was turned into a deer. She pointed at his flask, that was hanging from his belt, "you've still some of the water left, that you got from the river, don't you?"

"Then let's hope you didn't hurt him too badly", he said which was as good as an agreement. He really had changed. Otherwise, she would have needed to convince him to give up on that usable item.

"I barely saw him."

Hook looked hat her seriously and pointed out darkly, "that doesn't matter with you."

---

Aladdin gritted his teeth but Robin could see that he gave up. Something told him that he wasn't the bad guy here. Still, his reaction had been quite strong to what the Queen might have said. Just what was going on between them? Was there something wrong with the Queen? Was there something he hadn't noticed yet? Maybe he had been blinded by her story too much to notice that the portrait of the loving mother was nothing but fake. At lest it was awkward that both Regina and these guys hated her so much.

His eyes landed on the woman he had kissed just hours ago, who focused on Aladdin and didn't notice his glance. At first he had thought that she only was angry because they couldn't continue their search for Henry immediately. He had believed that she felt weak surrounded by so many djinns and had interpreted her reactions as a sign of insecurity just as he had felt.

"How did that hat end up in the castle", Regina asked as Aladdin didn't answer and pointed at the hat she had just thrown at him.

Aladdin looked down on it. His expression changed into a lovely glance as he asked absentmindedly, "did you find anything else?"

"A fabric rose and a needle", Robin answered and loosened his grip on Abu a little. That he regretted almost immediately. The man freed one of his hands and punched him in the face so he let go of him completely. Robin blinked and prepared to strike back, but Regina had already taken care of him.

Abu hung at the ceiling as if he had lay down on the ground. He was pinned with his back to it, his arms spread widely to both sides of his body. He moved his legs and tried to move, but it didn't work. Angrily he yelled and cursed Regina, who was quite upset now.

Aladdin stared up to his friend in shock and squeezed the hat in his hand furiously, "let him down!"

"Then tell him to behave", Regina threatened through gritted teeth.

Robin walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. He felt flattered that she would react like that even though he wasn't certain that h was the only reason for this and he felt a little strange, because he wanted to protect her instead, "put him down."

Regina looked at him shortly, then she moved her arm, let him fall and caught him just five centimeters above the floor, what made Abu and Aladdin scream. Then she lowered him slowly and carefully until he was laying on the floor for real.

Abu screamed even as he already touched the floor.

"Satisfied", Regina asked and looked at him as if he had betrayed her. He had made her stop forcing Aladdin after all. You could say he had destroyed her plan, which she obviously hated a lot.

The sun set and Robin walked up to Aladdin and Abu, "please, talk with us. We don't know what's going on here at all. We just arrived."

Aladdin looked at Robin as if he was trying to decide if he could trust him. Then his eyes wandered to Regina and this time he didn't even seem undecided. Anyway, he sat on the frame of the window and sighed. The orange color of the setting sun framed him like in a picture and for a moment you couldn't see his face anymore.

"Who are you guys", Robin asked slowly. He was afraid he could scare them away again and at the same time he felt ridiculous because he had asked that question so often lately.

"I'm Aladdin, the son of the biggest thief all over Agrabah. He is called Alibaba."

That sounded strange. He hadn't said that his name was Alibaba but that he was called like that, "what's so special about that name", Regina asked who obviously had noticed it, too.

"You don't know even that", Abu asked in disbelieve and relaxed immediately, as he understood that Robin hadn't lied to them, "have you never heard of him?"

"Alibaba is a title for the leader of the biggest thief caste in our land", Aladdin had placed a hand on his friends shoulder to hold him back. He hesitated. As he noticed that this didn't have any meaning for them, too, "they are around forty thieves, they can hide and steal very well and they follow Alibaba. For each other they are like a family but they clearly follow Alibaba's orders."

"I guess we've seen them in the market street earlier. Are you one of them?"

Aladdin looked at him, "not anymore. I left them and my friend Abu was too loyal and naïve, so he followed me."

"They are chasing us now", Abu added, "you don't simply leave them, especially not if they believe that you have taken something away from them. That's why I didn't know if you work for them or for the crazy Queen."

"At least I was called the Evil Queen and not the Crazy Queen", Regina mumbled and Robin grinned as he noticed it.

"Why did you leave them", he asked curious. Usually you didn't just leave behind people who you considered to be family unless you really had a very good reason for that.

"I refused to obey to them", Aladdin answered.

"And what does that have to do with the missing princesses", Regina asked bored and impatiently. She obviously didn't see any use in these information. Maybe she even thought this was wasting their time.

"They were the plan I refused to follow, that's the connection", he answered and looked straight into her eyes. He wasn't afraid of her anymore, Robin realized. So he had to be brave.

"What plan", she asked interested now.

"The King had died and his sister had to obey to his last wishes if she wanted to take his place until one of his daughters would marry. One of those conditions was that each of them should receive a wedding gown. I assume, he had wanted them to be prepared for the moment they would find someone", he explained.

"Wait", Robin interrupted him and held up his right hand, "sister? She is not their mother?"

Aladdin snorted and shook his head, then he continued, "the Queen had been searching for a dressmaker so my father came up with a plan. I should pretend to be one, sneak into the castle and try to find and steal the two magic lamps that were supposed to be locked away forever guarded by the royal family."

"You wanted to steal djinns?"

Robin looked from Regina, who was surprised, to Aladdin, who looked at her for a long moment, before he continued, "yes. Somehow my father had found out about it. Actually, it was nothing but a legend, that they existed at all. But he believed in it and he didn't want the Queen to lay hands on them. He already distrusted her back then."

"What happened", Robin asked, "and why didn't anybody know about them?"

"Their existence was a secret given only from King to King", Abu answered, "they were supposed to hide and protect them. Through fulfilling the king's wishes the Queen would have had access to them. And as you can see, she broke the rule to never make use of them and rules using them now."

Regina frowned, "you said there were only two djinns?"

"Yes", Aladdin said darkly, "she just pretends that there are more and covers it with magic."

"So you sneaked into the castle", Robin tried to give him an impulse to continue.

"I had to make time, so I used a cloth of magical fabric to convince Queen Emerald that not everyone could see it, but only the smartest ones", he continued and Abu as he added, "of course, there was nothing, but she was arrogant enough to believe him."

Aladdin was very serious and looked at Regina, "I don't know. I have the feeling that she perfectly looked through us and wanted to use us as an excuse to avoid the King's wishes. She would have never needed to pay us and she could have let down her nieces without angering the high council."

"Was he jealous of them", Robin asked.

"No", Regina answered to his surprise, "she wanted to destroy the people's trust in them by destroying their reputation. If the girls would have appeared naked in front of anyone, nobody would have accepted them as their rulers anymore and certainly nobody would have married them. This was about power."

Aladdin nodded, then he looked at the ground and smiled absentmindedly, "the girls never believed me. They challenged me instead of throwing me out. At night they let their birds into my room, they placed stones in my mattress and they shortened my pants in my sleep. I wanted to get back on them so I stole from them."

"He got seven at once", Abu added proudly, "one night and he stole from all of them."

"I was caught", Aladdin said as if he had already told him that many times before but Abu refused to listen, "she noticed me."

"Who?"

"The eldest daughter, Armara", he said darkly, "and she talked with the third daughter Chiara about it. She convinced the others and in the end even Rovalia, the sixth princess, believed it even though she had been the most naïve and trusting of them all."

"What happened then", Robin asked feeling a little sorry for him, since the princesses obviously had united against him.

"Dobaria and Meralia are quite creative when it comes to annoying someone. They hid my shoes and sent away my hat with a bird. One day I woke up and my toe nails had been painted in the colors of a rainbow. Another time I woke up in the middle of the night and they had bound my hair to the bed frame. It hurt like hell and I couldn't move. Bavaria, the second daughter, used her knowledge and mixed something in my drinks each evening so I wouldn't wake up when they did all that to me. She is quite good with plants, you know?"

"So", Regina asked impatient and waited for the biggest part of his story, that was yet to come.

Robin sighed and looked at the young man. Now, after those stories he could understand, why he wore his hair so much shorter compared to other men here, "hadn't there been seven princesses?"

Aladdin sighed but didn't answer, so Abu did, "he met them each day to make their dresses", at this point, he highlighted his sarcasm with a gesture of his fingers, since there had never been anything like making dresses for them, "but the seventh never showed up. She always visited their father's grave."

"Jasmine had been the closest to her father", Aladdin explained her behavior, "I wouldn't dare to say that she loved him the most, but it definitely was the hardest for her to cope with his death." he paused and Robin noticed something in his eyes that made him believe, this wasn't just an explanation, but a defense.

"Jasmine stole everything back from me and even though I noticed her, she knocked me out", Aladdin almost sounded proud of her. He paused again, lost in his thoughts and stared at the ground.

"The rose", Regina concluded, "you made it for her."

He nodded as he looked up to her in surprise, "I was allowed to leave the castle from time to time to get more of the fake textiles. So my father convinced me to search for the magic lamps again. The problem was, that thanks to the observant Armara all of them noticed that I was searching for something. She showed up at my room together with Chiara and Jasmine to convince me to help them or to threaten me."

"Let me guess", Robin said, "Armara came up with the idea, Chiara was supposed to convince you and Jasmine should threaten you?"

Aladdin smiled at him, "congratulations. You looked through them faster than I did."

"What did they want", Regina asked to speed up the story.

He looked at her again, "they promised to help me, if I would give them the opportunity to meet someone they could fall for. It didn't matter to them, which one of them would marry first and become Queen. All they wanted was to get far away from their strange aunt. They wanted to rule, before she would destroy everything."

"Why?"

"Even as the old King had been as sick as he hadn't been able to stand up anymore, his sister had given at least huge dinners for the entire family while the princesses spent each second at their father's bed. But when he was dead and his last wish had been announced, she suddenly stopped giving those parties."

"Maybe she just grieved."

"She even stopped to celebrate a whole year after his death", Abu stated aroused, "it was crazy. The castle had always been filled with celebrations and suddenly it was forbidden to dance, because the royal family was grieving as she said."

"It's logical", Regina stated and all three of them looked at her, "she wanted to gain and keep power, so she simply never created an opportunity for any of the princesses to get married. Those dresses and you she just used to cover up her plan."

"So?"

"We made a deal", Aladdin continued, "they would help me find the djinns and allow me to keep one of them, if I would never reveal, where the second one was, wouldn't use him for evil and would create opportunities for them to find a suitable husband."

Regina studied him, "why did you agree to that? You could have kept searching for them alone."

"Jasmine didn't hesitate to throw me out of the castle. She even threatened to pretend to have fallen madly in love me. That would have been reason enough for the Queen to behead me. All that stopped her was this deal and the possibility to get away from her", a faint smile appeared on Aladdin's lips, "thanks to them I was able to find it. They were able to reach places I was never even able to see. When I had a lamp, my first wish was to create a way they would be able to meet nice and strong men."

"Let me guess", Robin interrupted him, "you forgot suitable?"

"Yes", he admitted guiltily but not sorry at all.

"The jinn created a portal in the middle of the gardens", Abu continued.

Aladdin stopped him, "it's the tree. Between its roots there is a portal through which it was possible for them to meet our thieves."

Abu's glance turned dreamy as his mind wandered off, "Rovalia is such a beauty."

"And?"

"Emerald soon noticed that something was off", Aladdin said, "through celebrating at night the girls had been quite tired during the day and this fool here had Rovalia as excited and dreamy as she was singing and daydreaming all the time. They were smelling different and one time Dobara and Meralia had been completely drunk when they returned home. They slept for a hole day."

"You forget the shoes", Abu added, "they were damaged from dancing all night."

"Emerald noticed that something was off and as she searched the entire castle for a clue, she found the second jinn", Aladdin said darkly, "and with that the princesses were in real danger."

"You forget your father", Abu reminded him, "he wasn't too happy that you didn't give the jinn to him and that you didn't at least get rid of Emerald."

Aladdin looked at the ground, "he followed us back one night and in the gardens he found Jasmine and me. We argued, Emerald found us and used her jinn to turn him into a fountain. Because he was holding on to my hat and the rose, you found it somewhere inside, I guess. The needle had been stuck in the rose back then."

"What happened to the princesses", Regina asked and crossed her arms.

"Emerald's first wish was to enslave the jinn and his powers to her. Through that she achieved endless control over him and he wasn't bound to his lamp anymore. Nobody could take him away from her anymore. You could say, that she kind of was his lamp now", Aladdin explained, "her second wish was to destroy the secret way through the tree and her third one was to turn my father into that fountain."

He stopped and Abu continued for him, "we managed to get them out of there anyway thanks to Aladdin's second wish, but they found us. We fought and Aladdin lost his magic lamp."

"Jasmine found it", he said and his voice was rough as if it was hard to remember for him, "she wished for a place where her sisters and her would be locked up and save from the Queen, for our safety and that Emerald would never be able to find us weather with her jinn nor through her guards."

"They did a great job protecting us and the kingdom", Abu said, "Emerald became Queen but she was never able to use the jinn's magic against the realm and the people."

"So the magic I noticed in this place and that protected your realm, was the idea of the princesses", Regina asked slowly, "but what about Cora? Emerald said she had taught her how to protect her castle so I wouldn't enter it unnoticed just like nobody can enter Agrabah."

"That wasn't something the princesses had done", Aladdin answered and shook his head, "at least as far as we know. Emerald used her jinn to do it and we assume that she didn't want the princesses to return unnoticed. And as to Cora… she showed up here one day. As far as I know - and that isn't much - she wanted to use her to find her nieces, but she didn't want to help her. I guess she saw an concurrent in Emerald. Cora was quite hungry for power."

"Why didn't the princesses free themselves", Robin asked.

"We can only guess", Abu answered, "I assume they just didn't want Emerald to get a hold on the second jinn. And they didn't want a war in their kingdom, which would have happened the moment they would have demanded their throne."

"Emerald is still their aunt", Aladdin added silently, "she is part of their family. Actually she is everything left of it."

"What about us", Regina finally asked, "why should we be able to find and help them?"

Aladdin shrugged, "I don't know."

Robin exchanged a glance with her before he decided to trust them. He walked up to them, "look, we ware searching for an item that will help us to find someone very important to us. Emerald promised to help us if we'd help her."

"To be exactly, she didn't really leave us a choice", Regina growled from behind him, "I knew something was off with her, when she tried to convince us to search for her supposed daughters."

"Daughters", Aladdin asked confused, "you already said something strange earlier. What is that about?"

"She pretended to be the princesses' mother and the king's widow", Robin explained, "she clearly wanted to fool us."

"Where are the other guys", Regina asked, "you know, the ones the rest of the princesses spent time with the most?"

Suddenly he was very silent. It wasn't as if he talked less than before at first, but the moment her question hang in the air, his silence was awkward and heavy. Aladdin didn't even look at her. He didn't seem to be looking anywhere at all. He just stared at nothing as if he was far away psychically. Abu answered for him. He was the only one of them who didn't seem to notice anything strange about his friend's reaction, "the thing is… Aladdin, he…", he looked at him shortly as if he needed to check if he could say what he wanted to, without hurting him, "When the girls didn't show up anymore, they accused us of separating them from the girls. Everything worsened when Alibaba vanished and the princesses went into exile. They blamed us for it. They are upset… they know that Aladdin had the jinn and they just can't understand, why he lost it. They don't understand why he didn't use it against Emerald to protect the princesses."

"I'd do it again, if I'd have the chance to", Aladdin said darkly, "Jasmine… I'd do everything for her and she had asked me not to do something bad with the jinn."

"Glad to hear that", Regina said darkly and smiled at him with satisfaction, "because we'll need you to show us where they disappeared."

"What for", Abu asked and stood up, "even Emerald's jinn couldn't get through. And if she didn't tell you anything about all this, we can be certain that she doesn't want them to get out."

"Just show me the place", she insisted and stared straight into Aladdin's eyes. She didn't pay attention to Abu at all just as if she had decided that Aladdin was their leader.

Aladdin hesitated and swallowed hard. You could almost see how his thoughts ran wild on the search for the right decision. Certainly he thought about having Jasmine and the others back while he reminded himself of the dangers for them that would come along with it. In the end his distrust towards them seemed to win, "you haven't told us anything about you yet. Why are you even here in Agrabah? Who are you? And what could make Emerald believe that you could help her?"

Robin looked at Regina. They exchanged a short glance, then he spoke up, "my name is Robin Hood and this is Regina."

"Regina as in -", Aladdin stopped and stared at her in fear.

Abu finished his sentence for him, "the Evil Queen."

"I should have noticed it", Aladdin whispered bewildered.

Regina looked away, so they couldn't see her face. Robin could see, so he noticed the sadness in her eyes. She really was famous and now she was afraid to screw up everything because of her past and the negative fame she had gained from it. That was nagging on her and slowly it became an even heavier burden to her than ever before. He felt sorry for her even though he knew that she was responsible for it herself.

He decided to continue so she might have a moment to calm down and settle her feelings, "we are searching for someone very dear to us and Emerald said, she could help us to find him."

Regina looked at him with an expression that he couldn't define fast enough, because she glanced at them again very fast, "we are trying to help Snow White and Charming."

Abu was puzzled, "whom?"

Regina looked from him to Robin in surprise.

"How do you know Regina", Robin asked curious. If they didn't know her from her past with Snow White and the Dark Curse then there had to be another source.

"Cora", Aladdin answered darkly and looked at Regina, "she tried to find us in Agrabah so we would tell Emerald what you want to know from us now. For that she killed innocent people and used others to spy on us. She took their hearts and controlled them like dolls. She mentioned her daughter from time to time. She was proud of your depravity."

"If it helps", Regina said slowly and her voice was scratchy, "my relationship to her was conflicted and we had very different opinions of how to handle things in the end."

Aladdin looked at her puzzled. Just as Robin changed the subject realization struck, "wait, you said neither Emerald nor her jinn could find you because of Jasmine's second wish. But why could Cora and Regina find you then?"

"Cora indeed found some of the thieves. The are statures in Emerald's gardens now", Abu said subdued and shrugged, "it's strange."

Regina sighed, "no it's not. Jasmine's wish must have protected you even from my mother. And maybe they made a wish from their prison so Emerald would need someone from outside Agrabah to find them."

"And she must have chosen you because of Cora", Robin concluded and looked at her. They exchanged a long glance until Regina sighed and broke their eye-contact. The story with her mother troubled her more than he had expected after everything that had happened to Cora. He had actually considered her to be fine soon, but maybe he had been too fast and she still needed time. He could easily remember what it had been like to lose his parents, but he had no idea what it had to feel like to lose both of them through your own hands. At least Cora wasn't dead as far as he knew.

Regina took a deep breath, "I don't know what my mother said about me. But it would be nice if you would help us to help you. The only way to achieve our goals seems to be helping you."

Robin looked at her in surprise, "you think so?"

"Yes", she admitted, "if the djinns already had been a secret that had been known only by the royal family, then you can expect our agenda to be the same. I don't trust Emerald, so maybe her nieces will be able to help us instead. Besides that Emerald hadn't known about the magic lamps until she had stumbled into them, right?"

"As long as the princesses know about it, your are", Robin agreed and ignored Abu's and Aladdin's curious but confused expressions. They obviously didn't understand any of this.

"I doubt Emerald knows exactly what we are searching for", Regina insisted, "and if she does, she'll want to have it for herself, if she really is as hungry for power as my mother had been."

Robin walked up to her so the two others couldn't hear him, "so you believe those two blindly?"

"I believe in my instincts. Snow always relied on it. And seriously, do those two awake your distrust? They didn't even ask us for anything nor have they offered something to us. Emerald on the other hand did both. She spied on us the moment we came here and she kind of kidnapped us. Besides that I instinctively reacted to her."

"What do you mean with that", Robin asked confused of her last sentence.

"Let's just say evil finds itself", she said darkly and as if it didn't mean anything to her. But Robin looked through her mask. It hurt her to count herself to the bad ones after all those years.

He placed a hand on her shoulder to support her and looked at Abu and Aladdin to change the subject. Now wasn't the time to comfort her more than through this short gesture. But he wouldn't forget to talk about it later, when they would have time. Now was the time to put on some action so she could feel and see that she wasn't the Evil Queen anymore herself.

"So where is that strange place where the princesses are?"