I had THE most amazing time on my mini-vacation! I'm feeling rejuvenated from my days off. Back to work! I know this chapter is short, but I wanted to get something out there since it's been a few days. Rest assured that I will be working my butt off to get another chapter done before work tomorrow (or, rather, later today). Thank you for all the kind reviews! Almost to 100 now, woohoo! Enjoy!

Time seemed to drag for the trio in the captain's quarters as they sat in awkward silence. None of them felt particularly like talking about everything that had been happening. Thankfully, it didn't take more than a few hours for the ship to reach the border between the two lands. Hook himself came to retrieve them.

"You're up, darling," he said to Annie with something between a smile and a grimace. He didn't know what she had planned, but he was certainly curious to find out.

Hook watched them all as they filed past him, his eyes straying a bit as Regina passed. He'd almost forgotten how amazing she looked in a dress. She caught him staring and smirked before she made it a point to glare at him, to which he playfully winked at her.

When they came up to the surface, everyone was surprised to see that the storm had broken – or, at least, they'd sailed out of it. The skies were still gray, but they could see clear blue in the distance. It wasn't pouring rain anymore, so the clothing they'd just changed into remained dry.

"Is this the line?" Annie asked.

"Indeed, it is," Hook replied. He pointed to one of the sails at the front of the boat. "That's about where the line is. You'll find you won't be able to cross it."

"But your crew can?" Annie asked.

"Yes. We've been allowed to move across freely as payment for the work we do."

"Transporting people to the world of the damned?" Annie asked darkly and Hook nodded.

"Hey, a fellow has to make a living. Most of the people we bring across deserve this fate." He didn't look too convinced.

"No one deserves this," Annie said. She walked slowly toward the sail that had been pointed out to her. As she drew closer, sure enough, she could feel the energy around her change. It became gradually harder for her to move forward, until finally, she stopped. She placed a hand up and a kind of barrier crackled to life, glimmering clearly in the air for just a moment before disappearing again. She turned to Hook. "Be ready to move the ship forward. I'm not sure how long we'll have."

"What exactly do you think you'll be able to do?" he asked her with skepticism.

"Take the barrier down."

Daniel stepped forward quickly. "Annie, no. It's very powerful, you don't have the means."

"I can feel it, Daniel. There's power inside me. Travelers were meant to be able to cross all barriers between worlds."

"Yes, but Annie, this is much bigger than that. This is no ordinary door. It's a barrier inside of a world. And not just any world; the world of the damned."

"But we're not just ordinary travelers, either," Annie argued. "Our parents gave us something more when they died. They sacrificed everything for us, and I believe the powers that were transferred were magnified somehow."

"Sorry to interrupt," Hook said stepping in. "But I couldn't help overhearing that you believe yourselves to be travelers?"

"I don't believe it," Annie told him. "I am."

Hook laughed grimly before shaking his head. "No one's heard from the travelers in years. They're believed to be all dead and gone. Killed in the war."

Annie looked at Hook in confusion, but turning to Daniel, she saw a sad acknowledgment in his expression. "What war?" she asked him. Even Regina had grown somber.

In place of an answer, Daniel moved closer to her. "Annie, it's too much. We'll find another way out."

"No," Annie shook her head. "This is our only way out." Her voice turned slightly desperate. "Please let me do this. I just got my family back and I'm not going to let anything stand in the way of that. Daniel, I can do this. Just trust me."

After a moment, he finally nodded. Everyone watched in silence as Annie turned back to the barrier. Putting her hands up against the barrier, she closed her eyes in concentration. She found that if she stayed focused, she could feel her way through it in her mind. Find its cracks and openings and pull them apart. It was an uphill battle at first. As quickly as she'd pulled it apart, the pieces would fuse back together. Redoubling her efforts, Annie felt her energy draining as she forced the barrier open.

The others watched in amazement as the crackling energy spread outward, leaving a very obvious opening that grew wider by the second. Hook watched in fascination until Regina brought him out of it with a sharp, "Hook!"

"Right, then," Hook nodded. He turned to his crew, giving the order to move the ship forward.

Annie was weakening noticeably and as a result, the opening began to grow smaller again. Regina, thinking quickly, pushed Daniel forward. "Hurry!" she urged. "The three of us are the only ones aboard who can't cross the barrier."

Remembering that fact, he ran forward. When Annie saw that they were all safely on the other side, she collapsed to the ground, allowing the barrier to re-form. She managed to catch herself and leaned her hands on the ground for support.

Regina and Daniel both bent down quickly. "Annie?" Daniel reached out to grasp her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Annie very slowly nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm just really dizzy and really tired."

Regina brushed a few strands of hair out of Annie's face. "Go ahead and rest."

This time Annie shook her head no. "Not until we're home," she said weakly.

"You can't travel like this," Daniel told her. "You should rest, first. We can go home when you're feeling better."

Annie was too tired to argue.

"Can you stand?" Daniel asked.

Annie attempted to pull herself up, but her legs were too shaky and her head spun. Daniel was quick to scoop her up into his arms, carrying her back toward the cabin. Regina followed behind, watching Annie with concern. Once inside, Daniel set her carefully on the cot that was Hook's bed. "Thank you," she said with her eyes closed. "Regina?" she opened her eyes just a hair.

Regina moved to sit on the side of the bed. "Yes, honey?"

Annie grasped Regina's hand and closed her eyes again. "I just wanted to make sure you were here."

Regina gave her hand a soft squeeze. "I'm here. You can go to sleep now. Daniel and I will both be here when you wake up."

"You better be," Annie whispered and then was asleep.

Regina carefully pulled her hand away and then stood, pulling a blanket over Annie. She turned to see Daniel watching her cautiously. Sighing heavily, she moved back to where they'd been sitting previously. Daniel followed. She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose to ward off a growing headache. When she opened them again, Daniel was still looking at her. "I'm not going to hurt her, you know," she told him.

He nodded silently. "Why?" Daniel asked after a moment.

She looked at him incredulously. "I love Annie. You can't seriously believe that I would ever harm her?"

Daniel shook his head. "That's not what I meant. I'm thinking about how much you've changed, the things you've done. Your justification was me. You used my memory to do terrible things, and I'm just wondering why? The Regina I knew would never have given in to hatred like that."

He watched the emotion flit across her features. Again, he almost wanted to comfort her, but stopped himself. Shortly after, she composed her expression into a carefully concealing mask. She'd never looked at him like that, and he almost regretted saying anything to cause her to react in such a way. "Daniel, we should talk about this later. It's going to be a large conversation, and I'm guessing not a quiet one." She glanced over her shoulder at Annie and her expression softened once more. "Can this wait?" She looked back at him and he nodded.

"As long as you promise that we will talk."

"We will," she assured him. "I promise."

Satisfied, he leaned back and closed his eyes, attempting to get some rest himself.

Regina didn't even try. There were too many things to think about. Instead, she watched Daniel as he fell asleep, reveling in the fact that he was alive. She allowed herself, just for a little while, to pretend like nothing had ever happened and gaze at Daniel as she'd done before his death. When she found herself wanting to crawl into his arms and lean her head against him, she forced her eyes closed. Tears slipped out anyway and she found herself shaking with quiet sobs. She pushed a hand over her mouth to hold them in. One question played over and over in her mind; what had she done? She'd lost Daniel again, but this time she had no one to blame but herself. She wouldn't even allow herself to hope that maybe this time she could get him back.

I haven't made up my mind yet, but don't be surprised if the next chapter is all Storybrooke. If I have enough time, maybe both? I have more plans for this trio and the normal gang in Storybrooke, but is there anyone I'm leaving out that people would like to see? I know, I personally want more Red :) I'm requesting that of myself. Hahaha. Let me know and I'll do my best to incorporate them.