Their tavern was just as sad as the rest of their pitiful little town. There was nothing special or unique about it. It was exactly the same as every other tavern he'd been in since he'd become this creature. Which was how he knew it would be the perfect place to meet a stranger who claimed the Dark One had need of him. The dark and dampness of the business at least gave him some bit of comfort as he strolled over to a private table farthest from the door and sat down. Vultures. All barmaids were vultures, and they were on him as though he'd only just died yesterday.

"Sir, what can I…"

He removed the cloak from his head, and instantly she choked on her words, eyes rounding at the sight of him.

"What…what can I get you?" she asked in a much softer tone.

"Ah…nothing for me, Dearies, but my company, if he arrives, will have some of your strongest ale!" he pronounced. Alcohol wasn't good for much, but a loose-lipped meeting was certainly better for him. Besides, he'd only be throwing away his money if he got something for himself. He'd noticed since losing Bae that alcohol had little effect on him in this form.

"Are…are you sure?" the barmaid asked, suddenly getting the courage to offer a small smile and tilt her hip in his direction. It reminded him of Ava, the woman who had once tried to seduce him so he'd make her his "queen". "Is there anything else I can help you with." It sounded like something Ava too. But he was quite sure that he didn't need what the wench was offering — filthy town.

"Quite."

She left with only a single glance thrown back at him over her shoulder. Women. He understood entirely why half of them shrank away from him in fear, but he was clueless as to why the other half eyeballed him like he was a roast turkey, and they were starving. He hadn't a single interest in what they were after. Not at the moment, at least. Not until he got back to Baelfire, then perhaps some of those old desires might be permitted to come to the surface again. Although, after a year of searching for his answer, he was positive that getting to Baelfire also meant surrendering his power; that meant gaining a limp. He couldn't be sure that women would continue to look at him this way when he was no longer the Dark One, weak and nearly as pitiful as this tavern.

Many people came and went as he sat there in that tavern contemplating the mind of the "fairer sex", but he knew the second the man he was looking for came in. Timidly he looked around, and when his eyes finally fell on him in the back, he noted the swallow that made his throat bob up and down. As he got closer, he smelled distinctly of fear, just like so many did when they came into contact with him for the first time and weren't prepared for the sight of him.

"It really is you," he stated with wide eyes as he sat down at the table. "The Dark One, in the flesh. Or…whatever that is."

He managed to restrain himself from rolling his eyes only by keeping them cast down at the table and avoiding Smee's gaze. He'd been looking for him so long, that was the best he'd come up with? He had a hard time believing this man had anything he could ever want when he approached him with stupidity like that.

"You've gone to a lot of trouble to meet me. You better hope I agree it's worth my time."

"I've heard you'd been looking for something. And, as luck would have it, I'm a man who trades some hard to find objects."

Perhaps he'd been wrong about the man. He'd spoken quickly just now, but it didn't have the same cadence that fear had. It had the tone of necessity. He'd spoken to move things along. And better yet, as the woman from the bar brought a stein of ale toward their table, William Smee got suddenly silent. A quick glance told him Smee was eyeing her with suspicion and unwilling to talk in front of her. Perhaps he'd underestimated him. It seemed the man knew how to hold his tongue around others. At last, someone with a brain. That was a lifesaving skill in his line of work.

"Like a bean?" he muttered, once the woman moved away. He'd whispered it really drawing his head closer to his own and cupping his hand around his mouth to block the sound from even potentially getting out into the crowd. "A magic bean that can transport you between worlds."

He had his attention before out of curiosity, but now he possessed it out of necessity. The Dark One was an experienced deal maker. He'd been doing it since long before even his own parents had been born and he knew that sometimes offers were false and even worse, sometimes they were traps. That he should be summoned to a strange woman's hut and told of this man's need to meet him, and that he had the one thing in the world he needed more than anything, was suspicious all on his own. The phrase "too good to be true," came to mind. He couldn't seem too interested.

"I've been told, they no longer exist in this land," he pointed out.

Smee leaned forward, his eyes wide. "Not in this land, no," he admitted. "But the ships that dock here often return from far off lands with treasures they don't always understand."

"And yet, you do?" he mocked. This man with a red floppy hat…he understood what they didn't? It was difficult to believe, and yet here he was. It was for Bae. Anything else and he would have left already. But if there was hope he could get him a bean that could take him the Baelfire, what choice did he have but to stay and listen?

"It's my job. As is knowing the rumors of who might pay the highest price for said treasures."

Rumors indeed…he'd been incredibly careful not to let many know what he'd been searching for. The fact that this stranger knew what he wanted most of all without any familiarity with him was disturbing. He'd have to find the source of these…rumors. If they were true, of course…

"And what rumors could they be?"

"That you were once a great coward, but that you became the Dark One to overcome that and protect the, uh, son who you lost, despite all-"

He had to summon his magic and use it to limit the air getting into his lungs to stop him from talking. A fool's brain buried beneath a wise talker. He should have known. William Smee must have had some kind of familiarity with his former village. That must be where the rumors he'd heard had come from because he could think of no where else he'd get information like that. He'd have to do something about that. And about…this.

"It's not nice to spread rumors!" he snapped loudly, so the entire bar could hear him, just in case a single person had heard him. Best to stick to business! "The bean – where is it?"

"I don't have it," he rasped out, with his own hand around his neck as if it could help him in some way. If he'd just lied to him, there was nothing that could help him. "But I can get it, I swear!"

He was begging. But he'd also said the magic words. And so with that, he relinquished his hold on Smee's throat and sat back, trying to look just as disinterested as he had when they'd first started. All the while, inside, he was nearly leaping for joy. He had a lead on a bean, an assurance they did exist! Forget the curse he'd been worried about finding; he was about to prove that Blue Bitch wrong and join his son!

"You haven't heard my price," Smee commented after the coughing fit he'd barely noticed had passed.

Price. What was that word to him anymore? He'd heard every other rumor about him, had he not heard the one about gold?

"I spin straw into gold. Price shouldn't be a problem."

"I don't want money," he insisted quickly. "I want eternal life."

He let out a loud, obnoxious laugh that he hoped passed along the message of just how ridiculous his request was. Smee knew what he wanted, he'd give him that, but he didn't want it enough. He wasn't desperate for it, and that made him no threat to his blade, only his comfort. There was no spell for eternal life, not one that wasn't a curse at least. There was a spell to keep an individual young, which could go on a lifetime, but it needed to be repeated and reset constantly. That would require keeping Smee in his life forever, and if he got the bean and he left, he wouldn't be able to fulfill the deal. But there was something else, something close to his request that a man like Smee might accept.

"Only the Dark One has life eternal. So, you want more, son. What I can do…what about youth? Spin the clock back till you're a little boy again?"

He could see his mind working behind his eyes. It was reassuring. If he was considering the bargain, then he'd been right. He wanted eternal life for the novelty of it, not out of necessity. He had nothing to fear of him.

"Close enough. Deal!" he agreed just a bit too eagerly. He wasn't desperate enough for eternal life, but he was betting that he would be desperate not to meet an untimely fate. A little motivation for getting that bean couldn't hurt.

"But remember – you fail to deliver, I spin the clock forward, and turn you into dust."

He understood. He could see it in his eyes, and in the way he pulled his hat on and rose from the table to get to work. "Thank you. Thank you!"

He was gone quickly. He liked that. His assessment of William Smee was that he wasn't exactly the brightest burning candle he'd ever met, but he seemed to be a savvy enough businessman and he had managed to get the butter blossoms for the old lady. Probably he was good at his trade and little else. But he knew better than to get his hopes up. After all he'd had more than a few leads on magic beans since Bae had gone away, and each and every one had failed. He knew better now than to count his chickens before they hatched, or in this case, count the beans before they were sitting in his hand.

"You sure you don't want anything?" the barmaid questioned, coming up to him but staying a safe distance away.

He'd been about to vanish, to simply leave her staring at his empty chair when he heard a voice that rang out in his ear and grabbed his attention. It was a familiar voice. Someone he recognized but couldn't place until-

He glanced over in the direction of the sound, and the glance became a shocked stare. Black clothes, earring, elaborate beard…he recognized that voice, and now he knew why. It was because the last he'd heard that voice he'd been quaking so hard in his boots he hadn't been able to move and watched helplessly as he stole away his wife. Killian Jones. The pirate who'd taken Milah.

He watched now as he walked into the bar without fear of conviction like so many pirates in this town did after they'd paid the lawmen. "Where's my beer?!" he questioned with a joyful smile on his face. A joyful smile…a joyful smile like the one he had stolen from Baelfire when he'd taken his mother. If he'd never taken Milah…

"You know, I suddenly find myself quite thirsty," he explained to the barmaid, who happily set one of her mugs of ale before him and marched off to take care of the new guests. Rage simmered beneath his skin and he allowed it. Let them drink. Let them gorge themselves on food and drink. His thirst was much more murderous. It would only be satisfied by blood. For Baelfire.

For Milah.


So, let's talk for a second about how one manages to write a fiction as big as this one, because if you think like me you'd look at the original prompts of 180 chapters and feel a bit overwhelmed. The first thing I did was break the fiction down into sections, eight total, that I treated almost as individual fictions. From there, I broke the sections down piece by piece or rather episode by episode. With a fiction this large it's tempting to skip a scene and gloss over minor details, like this scene perhaps. But that's not what I do. It's lazy. Doing it this way made sure everything was in order and got the attention that I like to give to my fictions. This first section I called "The Beginning Section". I know, original, right. This section is one of the smaller ones but not the smallest. It includes the confrontation of Milah and Hook, Jiminy Cricket, what Rumple does with the dolls, and his first encounter with Granny.

Thank you so, so much for your reviews on the previous chapter Songbird, Grace5231973, Jennifer Baratta, Enomisje, and Fox24. I'm so happy to have you back for this fiction. I hope that I make ya'll proud. I'm sorry it's so long but I've been planning this fiction for years and I wanted to do right by it! Peace and Happy Reading!