The wind was harsh as we sailed through the portal. I was hanging onto the rigging for dear life, swaying from side to side dangerously. I reminisce about the time I spent on Uma's ship growing up. She taught me all of the parts of her boat, and she even let me steer it around the Isle once in a while. That was until Mother decided it was time for me to attend Dragon Hall, and I haven't spoken to her in months, I feel really bad. We then shot out of the portal, into open water. "Is that it?" Emma asked.

"Aye." Hook replied, "Neverland." The way that Hook had said the word made it sound evil, a dark presence that no one should ever enter.

"Hook, what do you need done?" I asked reluctantly.

"If you want, you can get the coil of rope from the crow's nest." Hook replied sarcastically. I nodded. Pulling my hair into a ponytail, I hoisted myself up the mast. I was lucky I was wearing suitable clothes for the trip, a pair of black leggings, a red turtleneck and black boots. My heart necklace swayed gently as I pulled myself up, and Ben's ring clinked slightly against it. I hauled myself into the crow's nest. I found the rope and swung it over my arm. When I was sure it was secure, I grabbed the nearest rope and swung down back onto the deck, landing right next to Hook, who jumped in surprise. "Bloody hell." Hook muttered.

"One coil of rope fresh from the crow's nest captain." I said, handing it over. I gave him a mock salute before ambling over to Emma.

"How the hell did you learn to do that?" She wondered, her eyes wide.

"You spend enough time on one ship you realise they're all the same." I explained, leaning against one of the railings. "When I was a kid, I was essentially banished from my home. The daughter of Ursula, Uma, took me under her wing and taught me all there is to know about Pirating...unfortunately, Mal roped me into one of her schemes. I developed a close friendship with her and the others, and I abandoned Uma. She probably hates me…"

"I'm sure she doesn't hate you." Emma assured me, placing her hand on my shoulder. If you ever get back to...Auradon?" I nodded to Emma's inquiry. "If you ever get back there you could explain everything to her and I'm sure she'd understand."

"Here's hoping."

"Hey." Mary Margaret interrupted. Causing Emma to drop her hand. I stiffened at their presence. First, Mary Margaret kills glanced at David before looking back at us. "What happened to Neal and Henty, it's not your fault. You can't blame yourself."

"I don't." Emma said, not looking at her at the moment. She then turned and trained a harsh gaze at Mary Margaret. "I blame you. All this happened because I-we listened to you. You say good always wins? It doesn't. I didn't grow up in some fairy-tale land. Hadley grew up even worse than I did. Our experiences are different, that's all we can go on."

"And all we have to go on is ours. So if you would let us share our wisdom-"

"Look, we don't need you to 'parent' us." I snapped. "I see why you're doing it and I understand but we don't need it. Emma is your age, I'm practically an adult myself, is many instances I'm already an adult because I've gone through things you can't even think to fathom."

"We have equal amounts of wisdom." Emma added. "And all I want is Henry back. I should never have broken the curse. I should have just taken Henry and-"

"You're right." Mary Margaret said. "Then you'd be together. Emma, Hadley, we missed the two of you growing up, and it haunts us every day."

"And that's why we're here now." David continued. "We don't want you to have to go through the same thing too, Emma. And you won't. We are going to get our family back."

"How can you two be so infuriatingly optimistic?" Emma demanded.

"It's who we are."

"Why? Ever since you got your memories back, ever since you remembered that you're Snow White and Prince Charming, you're lives have...well, they've sucked!"

"I don't know how you can be so hopeful at times." I added, my eyebrows furrowing together. "I've met once-powerful villains reduced to mere husks of themselves that barely get by with what they have for twenty years, and they do nothing but steal and yell and complain."

"Our lives haven't sucked." David argued. "We found you two."

"And lost Henry!" Emma argued. "And Neal. And countless other people."

"Emma, the minute I let go of the belief that things will get better is the minute I know they won't." Mary Margaret said. "We'll find Henry."

"No you won't." A voice spoke up. We turned to Gold, who had changed into an outfit that looked Isle worthy.

"Oh, well, that's a great use of our time, a wardrobe change." Hook quipped.

"I'm gonna get Henry."

"We agreed to do this together." Regina announced.

"Actualy, we made no such agreement."

"Why are you doing this?" Emma asked.

"Because I want to succeed."

"What makes you think I'm gonna fail?"

"Well, how could you not? You don't believe in your parents. Or in Magic. Or even yourself."

"I slayed a Dragon, I think I believe."

"Only what was shown to you. When have you ever taken a real leap of faith? You know the kind where there's absolutely no proof. I've known you some time, Ms Swan, and sadly, despite everything you've been through, you're still just that bail bondsperson, looking for evidence. Well dearie, that's not gonna work in Neverland."

"I'll do whatever it takes." Emma stated.

"Or you just need someone to tell you what that is. Sorry, dearie, our foe is too fearsome for hand-holding. Neverland is a place where imagination runs wild, and sadly, yours doesn't." Gold spun his cane, and it fell to the deck with a clatter. When we looked up, he had disappeared.

TIMESKIP

I managed to find a cutlass lying around the ship. I un-sheathed it and inspected the blade. Old, probably made around a hundred or so years ago. I practised some old swings that Uma taught me, and found that it came naturally to me, almost like riding a bike, I think people say. I dropped the weapon when I heard thuds on the side of the boat and we started to rock back and forth. I darted to the wheel, skidding to a stop before planting my feet and grabbing the large object. The seas were never this rough around the Isle, but I knew how to keep The Lost Revenge afloat. My eyes burned gold as my Dragon Strength flooded my veins, the wheel pushed against me, and at one point threw me to the side. I growled, steam escaping the sides of my mouth before I grabbed the wheel again. "What are you doing?!" Regina asked as she came up to the wheel,

"I'm trying to keep her steady!" I replied, gripping onto the wheel.

"Hold on!" Killian ordered, running on deck with Emma. "Prepare for attack!"

"Be more specific." Regina demanded,

"If you've got a weapon, then grab it."

"What's out there?" Emma questioned, "A shark? A whale?"

"A Kraken?" David suggested.

"Worse." Hook said gravely. "Mermaids."

"Mermaids?!" I exclaimed, my hands tight against the wheel.

"Yes, and they're quite unpleasant."

"You think?" Regina asked rhetorically. The Mermaids slammed their tails onto the hull of the ship.

"Try and outrun them!" Killian stated, turning to me.

"How can we?" I asked him, "All the sails are down!"

"How many of them are there?" Emma asked over the storm.

"I will not be capsized by fish!" David declared, running over to a cannon. David shot a cannon into the water as Mary Margaret and Emma threw a net into the water.

"We caught one!" Mary Margaret shouted.

"One?" Regina asked, "There are dozens." She lit a fire in her hand, "Enough of this." Regina threw some fireballs into the ocean, scaring the Mermaids away which caused the ship to still. "There, they're gone."

"Not all of them." Mary Margaret argued, still hauling the Mermaid onto the ship. "What about that one?" With a wave of Regina's hand, the Mermaid was on the ship, flopping around like a dead fish. I walked over to the mermaid, letting Killian man the ship.

"Get that thing off my ship!" He shouted, pointing at the woman.

"No." Regina disagreed. "Now we have a hostage"

"I hate to say it but I'm with Hook." David admitted. "Those things just tried to kill us."

"Then perhaps we should find out why." Regina said,

"How, by torturing her?" Mary Margaret questioned.

"Well if need be, sure." The Mermaid reached for a shell and blew into it.

"What was that?" I asked. "Mermaids in Auradon don't have that kind of magic."

"A warning." The Mermaid replied. Thunder rumbled overhead. "Let me go, or die."

"What is this?" David asked. Taking the shell from me and holding it to the Mermaid's face. "What did you do?"

"Let me go…" The Mermaid pouted.

"Not until you tell us." Regina disagreed. "Or we make you tell us."

"Threatening her isn't the way to motivate her." Mary Margaret argued.

"Well, I'm all out of fish food."

"Doesn't matter if you get her to talk, you can't trust her, Mermaids are liars." Killian stated,

"Course they are." Emma sighed..

"Maybe they're just scared of Pan." Mary Margaret reasoned. "If you let her go, maybe they'll be on our side."

"Or, maybe she and her friends will come right back and kill us." Regina argued.

"I don't need my friends to kill you." The Mermaid stated. "You'll kill yourselves. Now let me go." Lightning struck and the Mermaid smirked.

"What the hell?" David questioned. My eyes flashed gold, this was some powerful magic.

"It's a storm." I informed everyone, my eyes raking the sky's before they fell on the Mermaid. "She called the damn thing. We shouldn't let her go, she'll leave us all to die, and if need be she's leverage." David unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the Mermaid's neck.

"Stop the storm, then we let you go." He demanded. The mermaid shook her head. David growled and pressed the blade to the Mermaid's neck.

"That's more like it Charming, filet the bitch." Regina growled. David looked at Regina and then Mary Margaret before letting the Mermaid go.

"No, we're not barbarians." He declared.

"What we're going to be is dead!" Regina retorted.

"Hold on! I'm gonna turn her around." Killian said. "I've outrun many a storm."

"I'll help." I said, darting up to him. I helped him steer the boat away from the storm.

"Make it stop or die." Regina threatened the Mermaid.

"We're not killers!" Mary Margaret shouted,
"Yes, you are." The Mermaid said. "You bought this death upon yourselves."

"This is why we should free her!"

"That feel good nonsense Snow, might play in the Enchanted Forest, but this...this is Neverland." Regina stated. The ship started to sway.

"Keep your grip pirate!" David commanded.

"It wasn't me mate!" Killian shouted back.

"The damn ship is taking on water!" I reported.

"Now may I resume killing her?" Regina questioned.

"No!" We all shouted.

"You kill her and her kind have a personal vendetta against us!" Mary Margaret pointed out.

"The Queen is right." Killian said. "They've already tried killing us."

"Stop!" Emma screamed, "That's enough, we need to think this through!"

"I already have." Regina told us. She waved her hand and the mermaid was a block of wood. "There, that should stop the storm."

"Regina! What did you do!"

"No..." A giant wave appeared before us. I gripped the wheel, pressing up against Hook for safety.

"What have you done!"

"I thought you could outrun a storm!" Emma shouted at Hook and I as the three of us tried to keep the wheel steady.

"The Isle never had storms this bad!" I told her.

"This isn't a storm." Hook retorted. "It's bloody damnation!" I watched from afar as Regina and Mary Margaret fighting, which lead to her punching Regina in the face. Hook and David then started to fight which left Emma and I at the wheel.

"It's not the Mermaid." Emma told me. "It's us." I looked around and saw that the storm was indeed getting stronger, just as the fights started to escalate.

"Everyone!" I pleaded. "Stop fighting! Please! We'll all die! Can't you see we're the ones causing the storm?!" No one reacted, and continued fighting. "Emma, they won't listen to us." I told her. "We need to get them to stop this." My eyes scanned the boat to find out what to do. And then it hit me. "Keep the ship steady, I'm gonna do something." I let go of the wheel and ran to part of the rigging, hoisting myself onto the side of the boat. I took one look at my family, and then turned to the water.

"Hadley!" David called. I tensed.

"Hadley!" Mary Marget echoed. I jumped into the cold water below, instantly blacking out as my head hit the side of the boat.

TIMESKIP

I remember coming too, coughing up water, and curling into a warm body beside me. The water had chilled me to the bone, and I was uncharacteristically warm. My eyes gazed at the sky above, before turning to Mary Margaret. "Told you so." I rasped. I felt Mary Margaret press a kiss to my forehead. I guess I could accept this from her, but we'd still need to have a proper talk about her parenting skills.

TIMESKIP

We all trudged onto the shore. The Jolly Roger was destroyed so we had to continue on foot. "We don't have to do it this way." Regina told us. "Hadley and I can fix the Jolly Roger, our magic is powerful enough together and we can execute the pirate's plan."

"Sneak attack?" Emma questioned, "Let's not be naive. You both need to save you magic, we'll need it later because Pan already knows were here." There was a pause. "It's time we stop running. Gold was right, this land is run on belief. All of us have been too busy being at each other's throats to be...believers." Emma paused. "I was as wrong as anyone else. But it's time for us to believe, not in magic, but each other."

"You want to be friends? Even after everything that's happened between all of us?"

"I don't want or expect that. I know there's a lot of history here and a lot of hate."

"Actually I quite fancy you time to time, when your not yelling at me." Hook admitted.

"We don't need to be friends. What we need to know is the only way to get Henry back is cooperation."

"With her?" David questioned, gesturing at Regina, "With him?" David gestured to Hook, he looked personally offended. "No Emma, we have to do this the right way."

"No, we don't. We just need to succeed. And the way we do that is just by being who we are. A hero, a villain, a pirate. It doesn't matter which because we need all those skills whether we can stomach them or not."

"And what's your skill, Savior?" Regina asked.

"I'm a mother. Now I'm also your leader, so either helps me get my son back, or get out of the way." Emma turned and started to make her way off the beach. I followed behind her with everybody trailing behind me.