It would be months before Hope crossed paths with her handsome rival again. Not that she would admit to finding him handsome or that she would characterize him as being "hers". She was now miles away from the village by the beanstalk, both physically and in thought. Hope had most recently been recruited to stop an unjust tax collector, it was the most Robin Hood-like job she'd ever been given, quite literally robbing the rich to save the poor.

She had expected to be pursued by guards after threatening the aforementioned tax collector (who folded to Hope immediately by the way), but evidently the King didn't see it necessary to deal with one lowly village hero. Such was far below his station to care about. So Hope rejoiced, having succeeded in retrieving the village's money, getting the tax collector to play fair and had gotten off entirely scot free.

Following this rousing success, she ducked into a tavern on the outskirts of the Madigan Forest, an establishment almost exclusively frequented by drunken guards and criminals. She barely had time to remove her cloak before she saw William staring at her with his usually cocky smile.

The pair were only reunited for a second when a group of unusually sober guards sitting by the door erupted in raucous laughter, pulling their focus from each other. When Hope looked back at William, she saw a very distinct panic on his face.

She looked at the guards then back to William and furrowed her brow, silently asking if they were after him. Guards were usually after one of them. William's look of increasing desperation told her everything she needed to know.

Hope's analytical mind jumped to action, from where William stood, there was no clear path to the exit without going past those guards, who were sober enough that they would definitely notice him. Even disguised, if William was in as much trouble as Hope suspected, given how he looked at her with deep, pleading eyes (which wasn't easy for him since the pair despised needing things from one another), he stood no chance at getting past the guards unnoticed.

Yes, there was no way around it, Hope was going to have to help him escape. She was the only hope (haha she thought to herself) that he had.

Luckily for William, Hope knew exactly what to do, as she usually did. With a wink in his direction, Hope quickly undid the ties at the top of her leather shirt, revealing more cleavage than William had ever known her to show, and pulled her hair down from the bun it rested in on the back of her head to fall in curls over her shoulders.

Before William could even process what he was seeing (whether he was angry or thrilled he didn't know), Hope was striding confidently over to the guard's table and leaning over it temptingly.

"What are you boy's playing?" she asked with a hint of a laugh in her voice, Hope may have resembled her father, but she could be her mother's daughter when she needed to be. The man she assumed to be the captain looked at her hungrily, she could practically see the uncouth thoughts roaming his mind. Fortunately, that was exactly what she wanted. The man gave her a mildly menacing smile before offering her a seat next to him.

But Hope wasn't there to play games, rather than take the offered seat, she strode right around the table and placed herself strategically on the man's lap. A look of shock flashed over his face before a disgusting look of success replaced it. He hooked one arm around her waist, pulling her further to him while his other hand rested on her thigh.

At risk of being uncouth myself, Hope could physically feel her plan yielding its desired result as she let herself be pulled closer to the man. Despite her absolute hatred for the situation, she would be damned if she let them catch William and end their game of chase.

Hope knew exactly how to play the part at hand, her mother had taught her well, and she knew what if she was going to pull this off, she needed to maintain control.

Never let them know you've got them, she could hear her mother say in her mind.

So rather than squirm away from the man's touch, or the roving eyes of the other guards at the table, Hope imagined they were someone else's hands touching her. Someone who she wouldn't want to shy away from. And with her imagination acting as a protective shield, Hope pushed her hips back into the man's lap (again her success was extremely clear) and placed a tantalizingly ungloved hand on the man's chest.

William watched this entire performance in horror. A sudden need to rip off the Captain's hands was boiling over in his mind. But arguably the most horrifying part was how perfectly at ease she looked. He liked to think he knew Hope well enough to say she would certainly not enjoy such a crude display of lust. Nonetheless, there she was, letting the captain's hands roam across her body like he owned it. And William could not seem to fathom why.

William knew in that moment that he was more than capable of murder.

But all of those thoughts were forgotten as Hope threw a brief look at him over her shoulder. Her mouth was laughing at something the guards were saying, but the message in her eyes was clear.

Get out of here.

She was hitting on the guards for him. She was giving him a way out. She was saving his life.

He immediately rushed out the door of the tavern, walked right past the guards, who were far too focused on Hope's decolletage to notice him. He mounted his horse, it had wound deep into the night by the time Hope managed his escape, and he didn't stop riding until morning when he was deep within the safety of Madigan Forest.

William got off his horse and began to let his thoughts wander, making camp as he did so. He had never even considered that Hope might put herself at risk to save him. He found himself wondering if she did what she did because of the truly good heart he knew she possessed, or because of something more. It was vastly unclear to him if she would have done such a thing for any criminal she knew, or if it was William who made all the difference.

His thoughts were interrupted in the midafternoon by the sound of horse hooves approaching, getting caught by guards at this point did not seem to be a desirable option, so William quickly sent his horse off into the forest with orders to come find him later. He had known his horse for nearly a decade and knew for a fact that he would find him wherever he went. He then hid himself behind a tree and began to consider if he could climb it silently when an all too familiar brown horse rode into his clearing.

"Well I must say that was quite the performance you put on last night," William said as he revealed himself. Hope got off her horse with a look of exasperated disapproval gracing her face.

"I only put on such a performance to help you escape," she bit back at him.

"Really? Because you seemed to be enjoying it quite a lot." anger skirted his voice even though he didn't mean it to. The image of the captain's hands on his Hope still burned in his mind. Not that Hope was an object or that she was his in any fashion, but the thought burned nonetheless.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're jealous," a smile played on her lips at the very thought.

"Of you? No, can't say that guard was really my type," William said with his grin returning like a defensive mask.

"Not of me, of the guard. You were jealous of him, admit it!" she commanded, a smile now fully apparent on her face and her hands placed defiantly on her hips. William noted silently that she had laced her shirt back up fully and tied her hair back again. Sensing that she had caught him but unwilling to lose, William changed the game.

"Alright, I will admit it," he paused and walked towards her, putting them in the all too familiar position of being altogether too far apart and too close at the same time. "So long as you admit it too," he finished vaguely, a devilish smirk on his face.

"Admit what?" she asked haughtily, keeping her feet firmly planted where they were. William leaned in towards her,

"Admit that while you were allowing that vile guard to touch you, you were pretending he was me," he said with a smug and arrogant look. The responding look on Hope's face told him everything he wanted to know.

But Hope was damn certain she was never going to admit such a thing.

"I can't admit that because it is simply not true," William once again could see the princess inside her come to power as she proudly turned and walked away from him.

"So you have never thought of me?" he taunted as he followed her,

"Never let me invade your dreams?" Hope turned and looked at him incredulously, his eyes darkened ever so slightly,

"Never given a single thought to acting on what's between us?" William turned and walked the other way with his final question, Hope reluctantly turning on her heel to follow him.

"There is nothing between us," she lied through her teeth, but she still wasn't willing to give in.

"That is a bold-faced lie and you know it," he called over his shoulder as he strode further towards the edge of the large clearing, Hope on his heels.

Hope's mind then caught up with her, recognizing the moss at the edge of the clearing a second too late. She lunged for William just as she had in the giant's castle, succeeding in grabbing him (he turned towards her in delighted confusion when she did so), but not in pulling him back.

Before either could utter another word, they were caught up in a hanging net about 7 feet off the ground, as close as they'd ever been, their fronts pressed together with only their arms crushed between them.

"Oh my god you have GOT TO BE KIDDING!" Hope yelled, seemingly to no one but the sky. For once it was William whose mind started to think of an escape plan first.

"I can't reach my sword or yours," he quickly assessed after trying to shift around in the net to no avail.

"I can't reach them either," she said after regaining her composure, with their arms pinned between them there was no way out, except…

Hope inhaled quickly, indicating she had an idea, before sighing deeply and closing her eyes like she did when she was annoyed.

"You can't reach my sword," she said through gritted teeth, "But you can reach my dagger."

"Where on earth is your dagger?" William's mind rushed back to their fight months earlier when she had dropped her sword and miraculously produced a dagger out of thin air. He had never really considered where she got it.

"It is strapped to my right thigh," she said, her voice void of all emotion. William smiled playfully as he reached down to retrieve it when Hope (somewhat awkwardly given the space in the net) grabbed his wrist.

"Your hand goes anywhere else and it comes off," fury and exasperation laced in her voice. He smiled as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Noted,"

He reached down to her leg at what seemed like a glacial pace. She felt his hand run under her skirt (she wore a short leather skirt over her pants, partially because she liked skirts and partially to conceal the dagger), even through the leather of her pants she felt the warmth of his hand as he ran his fingers over her leg to find the dagger, unclip it and pull it up between them.

"Now that wasn't so hard,"

He grinned as he set to work cutting the net apart, not considering how they would make their exit as he accidentally allowed them to tumble unceremoniously down onto the forest floor. Hope found herself straddling her rival with her hands bracing herself on the ground, a few curls of her hair hung down over William's face.

"See Jones? So many better things you and I could be doing," he harkened back to an older taunt of his. Hope quickly removed herself from him and stood. She offered her hand without thinking about it, she cursed her respectful upbringing. William laughed as he took it,

"You are stubborn, you know that?" as Hope got angrier, William seemed to get more amused.

"Yes, well, you are relentless," she shot back, quickly dropping his hand from hers.

"And you are difficult," he cocked his head and crossed his arms across his chest. Hope's eyes had grown wide with anger, her cheeks flushed red, whether it was from the fall or the conversation was unclear.

"Well you are-" Hope struggled for a word, her hands balling into fists by her sides. She didn't like losing, but at this point, all of her calculations indicated that she had no way to win.

So instead of insulting him, Hope threw herself at William, her lips crashing into his, he reacted immediately, his arms uncrossing and immediately wrapping around her back. One hand threaded itself deeply into her hair while the other held her tightly. One of Hope's hands snaked around to the back of William's head while the other remained pinned between them.

He walked Hope backwards until her back met a tree, he pulled her head back slightly to grant him better access, kissing her like he didn't think he would ever get the chance to again.

She pulled away to take a breath, and without missing a beat, William had lifted her off the ground, her legs wrapping around him immediately as she kissed him again at full force. He moved from her mouth down her jawline and neck, eliciting gasps from Hope, much to William's delight. She closed her eyes as if to focus,

"I'm gonna regret this," she whispered breathlessly as she raised her hand and with a flick of her wrist dissolved the pair of them in a puff of pale pink smoke, putting them instead in her room at the tavern. Willaim pulled away for a mere moment, placing Hope back on her feet, after processing what she had just done, he reached up to hold her cheek.

(A/N Some mild smut is about to happen, nothing too graphic and it isn't too long, but you can skip it if you want. They hook up, Hope is vulnerable and shows weakness around William. That's all you'll miss. I marked where it ends :) )

"You're sure?" he asked quietly. There wasn't a single piece of Hope that didn't want to say yes.

"Yes," she responded simply, kissing him again with even more passion than before. He picked her up off the ground again, this time placing her on top of the desk that sat against the far wall of the room, never breaking their kiss, his lips meeting hers desperately after all their time spent apart. His hand found its way to her hair, pulling it down so it fell down her back. He moved off her lips and down to her collarbone, no doubt leaving marks behind.

As he did so, Hope let out increasingly desperate whimpers before once again with a flick of her wrist and a puff of pink smoke, she discarded her boots, dagger and leggings. She now sat before him with her shirt still laced and skirt still on, but bare underneath.

He placed his hand on her thigh, moving it slowly and delightfully upwards. He pulled away from her,

"May I?" he asked once again before going any further. Hope was nearly too breathless to answer.

"God yes," she had grown more and more desperate with every kiss. Every bit of her dominating presence had temporarily disappeared, her only thought being how she could get more of him.

William danced his fingers ever closer to her center, the second he reached it Hope gasped in wonder, even the slightest touch was bliss after all this time.

"My God you are so wet," William said as he buried his face in her shoulder, placing more kisses along her jawline, Hope bit her lip to try to hold back her moans and whines of desire.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say you have thought of this before," he moved to look her in the eyes, his nose drawing a line across her cheek, his lips a mere breath from hers.

"Have you thought of this before my Hope? Thought of me kissing you?" he punctuated the question with a painfully slow kiss.

"Of me touching you?" he drew his left hand over her still covered breast and down her body to her leg. Hope moaned at the action, words still alluding her, desire and need clouding her vision. William dropped his voice barely above a whisper as he placed himself right next to her ear,

"Of me making love to you?" he moved his fingers back to her center, running them gently over her entrance, but going no further, which was driving Hope mildly insane.

"Yes, yes I have, god Will of course I have, please Will, please" she burst out hopelessly. William could not have been more shocked or delighted if he tried to be, Hope's submission and the use of a nickname made her all the more attractive, if that was even possible. His devilish smile returned,

"Please what?" evidently he had found the one arena where he could triumph over Hope Milah Swan Jones, and he was loving it. Though he was acutely aware that Hope knew he was just as desperate as she was, just a bit less vocal about it.

"Please touch me," she obeyed almost immediately, again she couldn't have been more contrary to her usually stubborn self.

"As you wish," he whispered in return, and turned his focus back to his hands, pushing a finger inside her while his thumb rubbed small circles around her most sensitive parts. Hope let out a strangled gasp and moved her hips to create more of the delightful friction she craved.

William grinned and obliging added another finger, pushing in and out of her, watching Hope unravel at his very fingertips. It was possibly the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

And unravel she did, gasping can calling his name as she came, clutching his shoulders as if to keep her steady. He held her close as she attempted to catch her breath, but he offered little reprieve as he lifted her off of the desk, this time carrying her to the bed. Though her mind was clouded, Hope maintained enough sanity to remove the remainder of her clothing, baring herself before him as he did the same.

( A/N Smut over :) )

The most surprising aspect of the endeavor was the revelation of the many tattoos that decorated Hope's pale skin. A swan rested on her ribcage, a pirate ship sailed on her thigh, three overlapping Hs sat on the back of her left shoulder, two crossing swords lay opposite the swan and just above her hip bone lay the phrase "I will always find you".

William looked at her lying upon the bed and came to the conclusion that anyone who had ever said they understood beauty was wrong, for they had most likely never seen Hope Milah Swan Jones.

And from there they lay together, gasping and calling each other's names deep into the night, a year and a half of pining culminated in fireworks. Both parties melted happily into the abyss as night came and fell, both finally conceding to the arms of their rival. Not even Hope could bring herself to plan out what may happen next.

It was Hope who slipped out of the spell and was confronted with what they'd done first. She woke up early the next morning to find herself still wrapped in William's arms, and while her heart may have begged her to stay, her mind reached the conclusion that the only logical course of action was to run.

Hope wasn't about to ruin another person's story with her presence.

So with the mastery of someone who made a living sneaking out of places, she slipped from William's arms and onto the floor to retrieve her clothing. Unwilling to let him wake up, she reluctantly magicked her clothes back on. Hope loathed to use magic unless she absolutely needed to, she didn't want to give anyone the impression that she was useless without magic. She was indeed gifted with immense power, but she rarely ever put herself in a position where she needed it.

William stirred in bed but did not wake, Hope didn't bother with her hair before she slipped out of the room and bolted as soon as she knew she was out of earshot. Down the stairs, straight onto her horse and into the forest she once again dashed, hoping she'd be far away before William even noticed she was gone.

But Hope was not the only one who could anticipate the unexpected. She was scarcely a mile into the forest when she looked behind her to see a familiar black horse and his rider gaining on her. She groaned inwardly, she couldn't run from her problems when they ran after her.

She stopped her horse and sheepishly turned to face William, who looked at her not with anger, but deep fascination.

"Now you are many things Hope, but a brilliant actress is not one of them, so I cannot imagine anything that occurred last night was false," he stated, his usual mischievousness and debonair smile noticeably absent.

"No, no it isn't that at all," she quickly clarified as she dismounted her horse, William doing the same.

"Then I have offended you in some way," William looked at the ground ashamedly, thinking himself a cad for having violated his Hope.

She's not yours, he reminded himself.

"No, no you mustn't think that, you were as honorable as a prince," she rushed forward and grabbed his arm, drawing his eyes from the ground up to her face, alight with a vulnerability that he was unfamiliar with.

"We just can't be together," she finished before pulling her hand away and turning back towards her horse.

"And why not?" he angrily rushed to block her path, he couldn't bear to watch her run from him anymore.

"Because I don't exactly have the best history with together!" she yelled back at him. All Hope wanted to do was to not hurt him, but he sorely wouldn't let her walk away.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked more gently, still angry, but now he wanted answers. Hope sighed and pursed her lips, once again calculating the probability she could get out of this situation without talking. She came to the conclusion that she had no chance.

"I was engaged," she said bluntly, looking off into the distance to avoid eye contact. William's eyebrows jumped up to his hairline, but retreated as he processed that she said "was" and that her ring finger was notably bare. He remained quiet, silently urging her to continue.

"His name's Stefan, he's a prince, my family loves him." she finally relented, turning back to face William.

"I've known him my whole life, his older brother is friends with my uncle," this elicited a quizzical look from WIlliam but she didn't elaborate.

"I told you a while ago that I am a product of true love, but so is like everyone I know. My entire family is built on true love. And not just like normal true love, like 'go to the ends of the earth' true love, 'give up your heart' true love. It's like the norm. And everyone expected me to find it." she sat down on the ground with her back against a tree. She spoke almost to the forest rather than William, the story just falling out of her. He followed her lead and sat down beside her, listening intently.

"My mom is a princess and my dad's a pirate, and my grandparents put on a good act, and they do love my father, but there is still the lingering fact that when they met him, he was a villain. And I look exactly like him. Like there is nothing of my mom in me," she paused and let out a small humorless laugh "I'm all Jones no Swan, that's what my older brother used to say,"

"Is your older brother your half brother?" William interjected for the first time since she began her story.

"Yeah, Henry, he's way older than me too, nearly 17 years, Hugo, that's my younger brother, he's the opposite, there isn't even a year between him and me, we're practically twins,"

William's mind flashed back to the tattoo on her shoulder he had seen the night before, three Hs overlapping.

Henry Hope Hugo

"And Henry is fucking perfect, and his dad isn't a reformed villain, though his dad did leave my mom pregnant and in jail so I don't really know why he doesn't get more hate for that,"

William's eyes went wide with every increasingly strange detail, but remained silent and attentively listening.

"But he did have a good reason, so I guess I forgive him. Anyway, Henry is perfect and everyone loves him. And everyone loves me too, it's just there's always this lingering idea that I'm too much like my dad or something," she scoffed at the thought, in her opinion she could never be too much like her father.

"When I was 14 Stefan kissed me, and I liked him so I kissed him back. We were immediately together," she looked pointedly at William, "And everyone loved Stefan, he was a prince from a good family, and everyone seemed to love me more because of him. Like I had found my love story so I was one of them now. So I stayed with Stefan, and I told him I loved him. And I think I did but I don't know. My mom had to do this thing in the underworld once where she had to choose to save her heart or my dad and she chose my dad and I kept asking myself if I would do that for Stefan and I didn't know if I would, hell that's not even true, I knew I wouldn't"

Hope stood back up at this point and began pacing, it was clear she hadn't said all of this out loud in a while. William again had to actively try to suppress the millions of questions he now had about the underworld

"When I was 18 I went to college, and he didn't want me to go. He wanted me to stay in Storybrooke, that's where I am from, but I wanted to explore and go on adventures. So I went backpacking through the realms with my brother and I went to college, all the while promising Stefan I would settle in Storybrooke when I graduated. But when I was 20, I came home for Christmas and Stefan proposed in front of my entire family," she shuddered at the memory,

"I couldn't say no, I had to accept and everyone was so fucking happy, I couldn't ruin that for them."

William's heart sank at the statement, there before him stood the most extraordinary woman he had ever met, a woman who loved her family so much that she was willing to condemn herself to a life of unhappiness just to please them.

"So we started planning a wedding right away, and I said yes to everything else too because it made everyone happy." her distressed expression dissolved into a smile, "Except for Hugo, he knew everything. He knew I was unhappy, he knew I had been planning to break up with Stefan before he proposed. He begged me to break the engagement. Straight up begged."

William started to like this Hugo character.

"And then one day someone asked some stupid question about bridesmaids and I said I didn't want any bridesmaids and they asked why and I said because I didn't want to get married."

William could picture it, Hope's complacency snapping, her composure failing and her finally not being able to say "yes" one more time.

"It was a shit show, Stefan's parents were there, pretty sure Aurora still hates me. But anyway, I went back to college and graduated. And then decided to go somewhere new. Find an entirely new realm and find my own story without my entire family looking over my shoulder."

"So you came here," William connected the dots. Hope nodded in confirmation.

"Don't get me wrong, I love my family, and my dad felt so fucking bad about giving Stefan his blessing."

She laughed at that memory. Her father had been the one to come find her on the Jolly Roger the night she broke the engagement, he begged her forgiveness for not seeing her unhappiness sooner. She loved him for that.

"I miss them all like crazy, but I told them I wouldn't come back until I found my story," she finally stopped pacing, she felt her shoulders relax, it had been a long time since she thought through that whole thing. William rose from the ground where he sat, his determination and resolve returning,

"So because you have had exactly one failed relationship, you and I cannot be together?" he challenged, she whipped around to face him, her hair whipping around with her.

"No of course not," she said, maintaining her sensibility and calm.

"Then why?" his voice raised, he stepped towards Hope, who stood defiantly facing him.

"Because I ruined Stefan. I let him believe I loved him and that I was his future and I ruined his story because I wasn't. If I am wrong about you, then I will ruin yours too," William was taken aback as he saw tears well up in her eyes, he reached out to wipe them away as they fell.

"And if you are right about me?" he said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Well then I think I might finally be able to go home," her voice shook as she said it, saying such a thing made the entire situation painfully real. William's heartbeat increased, the thought that Hope may reciprocate the depth of his feelings for her was enough to make his spirits soar into the sky.

"So your Stefan, I take it him and I are very different?" William pulled away and began strolling in another direction, Hope snorted.

"Well he's a law abiding prince who was terrified to go to second base with me, and you're a thief I met in jail who ravished me in a tavern last night," she said, her cool and confident air returning.

William clucked his tongue in mock disapproval,

"What on earth would your family say?" he chided with feigned scandalization.

"Oh they'd hate you," she laughed.

"A bit protective are they?" he playfully questioned as the pair strolled deeper into the forest (Hope was actively watching for traps this time).

"The reason Stefan was afraid to go to second base was because my father once threatened to cut off his hand if he did,"

Hope did not fondly remember the most uncomfortable encounter she'd ever had with her father when she was 16 and had really thought she and Stefan were home alone.

"Alright I have been dying to ask since I saw that portrait of yours, how on earth did your father lose his hand?" William abruptly stopped walking to ask his burning question. Hope laughed again at his legitimate concern, but her confidence wavered as she considered how to answer the question.

"He made some poor decisions before he met my mother, he crossed the wrong man and got his hand cut off for it," Hope intentionally remained vague, she'd tell the story of her middle namesake another time. This answer was more than enough for the wildly fascinated William.

"So he just replaced it with a hook?" he asked in awe.

"Got so famous he was known as Captain Hook,"

William laughed at the moniker.

"Can you imagine having only one hand? My God, how interesting that would be," William marveled at the idea as they walked.

Hope suppressed a smile and stopped walking. She had one card she hadn't played yet, perhaps it was time she finally used it.

"That would be interesting, but I am afraid I can do more than imagine it," William turned to look at Hope a few steps behind him and watched in amazement (and horror) as she removed her right hand, revealing that her arm ended in a thin metal plate at her wrist. His jaw dropped and he was rendered speechless, Hope merely laughed.

"When my brother and I were going through the realms, we crossed an old enemy of my father's, he wanted to remind my father that he could never escape his past. So he took my hand." She gestured with her stump of an arm before reattaching her right hand and wiggling her fingers as if to test it.

"But if your hand was cut off how can you-" he asked in bewilderment, still vastly astounded at the sight he'd just seen.

"My real hand could only be reattached by the man who took it, who has no magic so he couldn't have done it if he wanted to. And he threw my hand into the sea where it was probably eaten by sharks, so that was a lost cause. But an old acquaintance of my parents did quite a lot of research on the reanimation of life. After consulting with him, a couple professors from my college and using my magic, I was able to build this bad boy," she waved at him with her right hand.

"It connects with the magic in my blood so I can control it just like I would my normal hand," WIlliam still stood dumbfounded before her, she laughed in response.

"I love my dad but I am really not a hook kind of girl," she clarified as she turned to walk back towards where they left the horses. William quickly followed her.

"You are the strangest woman I have ever met," William informed her once again.

"I do so hope that's a good thing," she teased as she reached her horse. William pulled her around to face him.

"Believe me my Hope," her heartbeat increased at the term of endearment, "It is a wonderful thing,"

He leaned down and kissed her softly, a kiss that was deep and full of what could be love. He had barely pulled away when she turned right back around and mounted her horse. William walked back towards his own with a laugh and a shake of his head.

"You don't mind us parting ways again?"

She asked genuinely, she was internally debating what she would do if he said he minded, her heart desperately begged her to do whatever she had to do to feel his arms around her once again.

"Of course not," his devilish grin flashed again, "All the best love stories are long," Hope blushed profusely but nodded her agreement.

"Besides, I already told you Jones, I will always find you,"

Hope bit her lip,

He still doesn't know what that means, she said to herself.

Yeah but he keeps saying it, another voice in her head responded.

"Can't wait," she gave him a genuine smile before turning and galloping off into the forest, leaving William to ponder the conundrum that she was on his own.

His mind wandered to the tattoos he had seen on her the night before. Most of them were easy enough to figure out.

The hook on her hand for her father, he was known as Captain Hook.

The swan on her ribs for her mother, I'm all Jones, no Swan.

The Hs for her brothers, Henry, Hope, Hugo.

The pirate ship where she was raised, the little girl on the ship in the portrait.

The two swords were not as obvious, but after looking closely at them the night before, he recognized one of them as her own sword, with the pink in the handle. The other sword could have been the twin of her own, except it had a dark forest green streak in its handle.

Except for Hugo. He begged me to break off the engagement.

There isn't even a year between him and me,

We're practically twins.

Twin swords for the brother she called her best friend.

And most intriguing of all, the curling script above her hip reading "I will always find you,". The tattoo was old enough that there was no way she had gotten it because of him.

And yet he had said it, and she already had the tattoo.

He now remembered the briefest of flashes of panic that went across Hope's face the first time he had said it, he hadn't registered it at the time, but he had said a phrase that for some reason, was incredibly meaningful to her.

It was almost as if they were meant to find one another, he smiled at that thought as he rode in the opposite direction that she had.

He'd give her a head start, then he'd find her again.