Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time, nor am I affiliated with Adam Horowitz or Eddy Kitsis. Title of the story is taken from a song by Carina Round. For the hat-trick of things I do not own, see basically everything.
A/N: Thank you for the amazing response to the first chapter, your reviews/favourites/follows all mean a lot (: Hope you all enjoyed "Selfless, Brave and True", I won't comment on it in case someone hasn't seen it yet. Hopefully this chapter helps with the hiatus...it's the longest thing I've ever written. Sorry/Not Sorry. Enjoy!
It was not shaping up to be Emma's best day ever. Even before falling through the portal to Wonderland (Wonderland? Really?) her day would have been classed as eventful. Now it was just hell. The world she found herself in was too colourful, too bright, like a five year old had gone wild with a finger paints. The sky, such a deep pink when they had been in the cavern, now peeked a garish, cloudless blue through the gaps in the large flowers overhead. Though none of the guards spoke, Emma could swear that she heard disapproving voices.
"Honestly, soaking wet and cavorting with a pirate!"
"Scandalous, Myrtle, just scandalous…"
Emma tried to slow down long enough to figure out where the voices came from but the guards pulled her on. The petals of one particularly pretty flower opened up as she passed, a delicate china pattern slowly revealing itself as Emma squinted up. She gasped when she met another set of eyes embedded deep into the flower. The shock wore off the longer she examined the flower, sadly thinking that Henry would be thrilled to see something like this. In the heart of the flower, seeds arranged themselves into the form of a mouth which, to Emma's fascination, moved.
"Someone's been naughty," tutted the flower, closing its petals again in admonishment.
Did that flower just judge me? Emma asked herself, frowning as she left it behind.
Despite the last few days spent in the Enchanted Forest with Snow White, Mulan and Sleeping Beauty, Emma had a hard time coming to terms with the idea that she was in Wonderland. Perhaps she had merely hit her head harder than she realized in the river? Hook's voice drifted through the air, making idle chatter with the silent guards, and Emma shook her head. No, this had to be real; she would never dream of or hallucinate any scenario with Hook in it.
The flowers and grass grew steadily shorter before disappearing completely into the ground. In their place, a vast gray wasteland stretched on in all directions. Compact and colorless earth left no room for rocks or any signs of life. Even the sky overhead rumbled with threatening rain clouds.
"Where are you taking us?" Emma demanded over the synchronized sound of thudding boots.
She shook her arm, trying to attract the attention of the guard holding it. He gave no indication he even knew she was there beyond the tight grip he had around her.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!"
Emma stopped walking, expecting the guards to admonish her or double their efforts to move her. Yet they marched on regardless, dragging Emma alongside them with a maintained level of effort even when she dug her heels in. Not once did they acknowledge her. She shouted out in frustration as she rejoined the march to preserve her dignity.
"You making life difficult back there, sweetheart?" Hook called, amused and apparently entirely unconcerned with their current situation. As though to emphasize this, he turned to one of the guards and affected a conspiratorial - though still loud - voice. "She does that sometimes. Call it a charming character quirk."
"Why won't they listen to me?" Emma shouted back, tugging away her arm again. When there was no effect but her own discomfort, she gave up and, though she would never let him know this, began to copy Hook's relaxed gait. His confidence gave the impression that he was allowing the guards to restrain him and that, despite generously letting them think otherwise, he was the true leader in this little group. He brought independence to conformity.
"My guess is that they're Shells," Hook said, oblivious to Emma's semi-admiring thoughts.
Emma's mind flicked through the possible meanings of this (Shotgun shells? Seashells?) before realizing that she would have to ask. Asking questions had been her default setting over the last few days and now more than ever she missed the familiarity of her homeland.
"What are Shells?" She hoped Hook couldn't hear the grudging note; if he knew how she hated being in the dark, he would do everything he could to keep her there.
"They're victims of sorcery," Hook explained, and here his tone took on a more serious note. "Powerfully dark magic, not to be played with. The victim is stripped of his original self and filled with a single-minded purpose. No emotion, no empathy, just the urge to complete his mission."
Emma scoffed in an attempt to hide her horror. "Explains why you're getting on so well with them."
Hook didn't reply. Emma worried - no, not worried, wondered - if she had pushed him too far. Well, she had spoken the truth and if couldn't face himself then that wasn't her problem. She occupied her mind with the query of who had sent the Shells and why.
They came to an abrupt halt. Emma's arms jerked painfully as she was forced to stop and though she knew the Shells would not respond, she cursed at them anyway. Hook's soft laughter didn't help matters.
Four guards remained around Emma and Hook while the others marched on ahead further into the wasteland. Everything about the Shells was perfectly synchronized, inhumanly so, and Emma tried not to wonder who the men were before their curse. They formed a horizontal line that stretched twenty men long. In unison the Shells lifted their staffs, upended them and slammed the diamond topper into the ground in front of them, cracking it open. For a moment, nothing happened. Even Hook was silent, intrigued by the practice. The Shells hadn't taken his sword from him, Emma noticed, and it gave her a small bit of comfort.
Her comfort levels dropped drastically as a deep roar shook the ground. Emma looked up and around wildly but the source came from beneath them. Hook took a step closer to her, his body tense in preparation for a fight, though the roar soon stopped. The guards surrounded them once more, silent and unmoving like living prison bars, but the spectacle was far from over. Emma strained to watch the ground in front of them sink away into a downward spiral of steps. She stared at the top step for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts.
"We're going to have to walk down there?" she murmured so that only Hook could hear.
He glanced at her, his lips pulling up into a smile at her discomfort. "Now isn't the best time to develop a fear of the dark, sweetheart."
"I'm not afraid," Emma insisted, bristling. "Not of the dark."
"But you are afraid of something," Hook said, choosing a peculiar time to cross-examine her.
Emma shot him a look designed to say Not now but, of course, he ignored it.
"Nothing to be ashamed about," he said with a shrug. "We all have our fears."
Emma feared everything about her current situation. She feared never returning home, she feared leaving Henry with Regina, she feared leaving Snow at Cora's mercy, and she feared letting her guard down around Hook long enough for him to exploit these fears. Instead of saying any of this, she looked pointedly around at the Shells.
"I'm not talking in front of these guys."
"Why not? They can't hear you." He stood closely next to the nearest Shell and leaned over to bellow into his ear, "Can you, you git?" When the Shell did not so much as flinch, Hook moved away, satisfied. "See?" His smile was predatory. "We're completely alone."
"Wonder why that doesn't fill me with confidence."
The Shells began to move in single file and climbed down the steps. Emma followed without hesitation, in that moment more afraid of being pushed by the Shells and their unwitting strength than she was of turning her back on Hook. The rhythmic footsteps were oddly comforting as they all descended into darkness; they told Emma that there were steps ahead and she would not fall, as long as she was careful. She held onto that small piece of comfort as the sunlight faded away high above them and she was forced to reach out sideways for the dry stone walls that curved with the steps. Anything that help her feel like she wasn't about to fall into an abyss.
"How are you feeling, Swan?" Hook asked, his voice echoing down the stairwell.
"Been better," she admitted, able to acknowledge her fear in the darkness. "And to think I complained about climbing the beanstalk."
A confused pause. Then, "You didn't complain on the beanstalk."
"Maybe not out loud."
"Ah. Thought you were quiet."
"No, that was just to avoid talking to you."
Hook let out a rueful chuckle. "You are honest to a fault, darling."
"Honest? Damn, I was aiming for insulting."
"Same thing," Hook dismissed.
The rest of the descent was silent aside from footfalls and sighs of exertion from the humans. When the steps eventually evened out it was onto a long corridor made up of dark rock, illuminated by glowing white crystals embedded into the ceiling. Some Shells were already marching on ahead but Emma paused to catch her breath, leaning against the smooth wall. Despite thinking she had had enough of water to last for awhile after her struggle in the river, she would give anything for a drink. When Hook joined her in the corridor, his thoughts seemed matched to hers for he was pulling out his flask.
"Drink?" he offered. At her suspicious frown, he sighed and took a long draught. He swallowed without so much of a flicker in his expression, though Emma could smell the strength of the rum, and held out the flask again. "It isn't poisoned."
Emma's war with her pride and her thirst did not last long. She knew that if she turned down the offer now, it would not be given again. She took the flask, ignoring Hook's satisfied smile, and tipped back a small mouthful.
"Thanks," she said, handing it back.
Hook wouldn't take it. "Go on, love, have a bit more."
"No, I'm fine," Emma insisted, shoving the flask more forcefully at him.
He took it without further pressure and tucked it back away with a grin. "Afraid to lower your inhibitions around me?"
"My inhibitions are the only stopping me from punching you in the face," Emma told him, pushing herself away from the wall as the Shells behind them picked up their marching pace once more. "After everything you've done today I really wouldn't be goading me."
Hook easily matched her stride, keeping a safe distance from the Shells. Though they were surrounded, they were at least free from the Shells' painful grip.
"I mean, you do realize this is completely your fault?" Emma continued, glaring straight ahead at the back of the Shells' heads. Through her peripheral vision, she saw Hook's lips twitch in amusement born from disbelief.
"Don't sell yourself short there, lass, a good portion of the blame belongs to you."
"Hold up," Emma said, turning to look at him in indignation. His replying glance dared her to contradict him. "You opened the portal, you fell into it and you dragged me down with you."
"The latter two were unfortunate consequences of saving the heart of your friend," he reminded her, anger biting into his tone.
"Which you took in the first place!"
Emma's voice rang through the underground corridor at such volume that it reminded her she had to keep a cool head. When she was angry she was distracted, and now more than ever that was something she could not afford.
"No good deed goes unpunished," Hook muttered in the silence that followed.
"Yet all the bad ones seem to."
When Hook looked at her, his eyes held a peculiar expression. He had found something in her that he understood, that he shared, and it threw him off-balance. He blinked and looked away, unwilling to press it.
They trudged onwards in contemplative thought. Although Emma didn't know what they were about to face, she knew that she could at least gather as much knowledge as she could about her surroundings. Since the Shells weren't a talkative bunch, she would have to settle for Hook.
"So, you've been to Wonderland before?" Emma asked, ignoring the pain in her feet from walking so much.
"Just the once. A mission from Cora's daughter, Regina, asking me to kill her mother." At Emma's patient silence, he continued. "My assassination attempt on the Queen of Hearts went about as well as could be expected yet, fortunately, Cora saw fit to spare my life."
"Cora's the Queen of Hearts?" Despite her incredulous tone, it actually made sense to Emma. At least, as much sense as a revelation like that could make. "Huh."
She glossed over the fact that Regina had wanted her own mother dead - it was messed up but it was Regina, and Emma had learned not to expect any good deeds from her - and instead tried to think of questions she could ask that might help in the long run.
Finally, she settled for an underwhelming, "Any advice?"
"If a caterpillar offers you a smoke, probably best that you don't take it." Hook paused. "Actually, no, forget that. Smoke all you want. Might make you more malleable."
Emma ignored the last comment, though she had to admit that the warning piqued her curiosity.
"You make that mistake first time you were here?"
"Aye. Took a few drags and spent the next six hours questioning why my hand had turned into a hedgehog."
Emma laughed despite herself, wondering if there was anything in the world she would not trade to have seen that. She thought back on what she knew of Wonderland, small pool of reference though it was. She had read the book and watched a few movie adaptations but so far nothing was really matching up.
"I'm guessing we should stay away from the mushrooms, too?"
Hook grinned. "Don't need mushrooms, darling, I'm big enough already."
Emma wasn't sure if she admired Hook's ability to turn anything into an innuendo or if she found it increasingly annoying. Somewhere between the two, perhaps. The last thing she wanted to do was encourage him, so silence fell between them again.
The Shells stopped walking and Emma tried to prepare herself for whatever was to come. Sunlight lit the end of the tunnel, casting shadowy shapes of trees against the rock wall. Four Shells roughly separated their prisoners and took them by the arms again, receiving no resistance as they brought them forwards into the light.
Emma blinked as her eyes adjusted, and then blinked again in incredulity. A courtyard of pale marble lay at the foot of a white palace whose turrets and spires stretched into a sky that threatened snow. A handful of courtiers in elaborate dresses stood idly about, watching the newcomers with vague interest.
"But we didn't climb back up any steps," Emma said to Hook, standing captive beside her. She stared up at the sky in confusion. "We should still be underground."
"Don't try to apply logic here," Hook advised. "It's a land outside what 'should be'."
Emma nodded, though her mind could not keep up. She decided that, for now, it was best to just accept it and move on. Whoever they had been brought to was obviously important, probably royalty if the lavish surroundings were anything to judge by. Beyond the Shells, Emma could make out a dais in the centre of the courtyard, beneath a pair of white trees completely void of leaves. Apprehension set in when she saw the throne on top of the dais and the woman occupying it; if this woman - this Queen? - meant them harm, there was no way of escape. The courtyard was completely enclosed, the only exits were to enter the guarded palace or leave through the guarded tunnel. Considering that the guards seemed impervious to harm, neither exit was particularly viable.
Again without warning, the Shells burst into life and walked Emma and Hook into the courtyard, forcing them down into a kneeling position before the dais.
"That's enough," the woman said, her voice light and delicate. At her command, the Shells lined up outside the entrance to the tunnel and, as though someone had suddenly turned off their power supply, their heads drooped forwards until their chins touched their chests.
"Welcome," the woman said, drawing attention back to herself. Emma kept her eyes trained on the marble floor beneath her, trying to devise some form of attack. "I trust my guards were gentle."
"Gentle enough, my Lady," Hook replied, though Emma was certain that his arms ached as much as hers did. "If it grants me favor, I have ties to the woman who used to rule this land."
"The Queen of Hearts?" The woman's voice was icy. "You will find no friends of hers here."
"Fantastic!" Hook said, changing tack and grinning widely. "Couldn't stand the woman. I pledge my allegiance to the new monarchy."
Emma tried not to scoff. Every word that came out of Hook's mouth was another justification for leaving him behind on the beanstalk. She couldn't trust him, not when his loyalties were rooted in whoever could help him the most at that particular moment. The woman seemed to think much the same.
"And why would you do that, pirate? You don't know who I am."
At last, Emma looked up. The woman was pale, paler even than Emma, with poker-straight hair so light that it was almost indistinguishable from her complexion. Her sharp features were beautiful but cold and distant. The many layers of her silk dress folded in one another in a swathe of icy blue. Atop her silvery head rested a crown crafted from diamonds, and it was this that made Emma connect the dots.
"The Queen of Diamonds," Emma guessed aloud. Basing a royal family around the suit in a deck of cards was an odd way to go about things, but then this was Wonderland.
The Queen's eyes flitted over to Emma for the first time. She seemed bemused, if not more than a little impressed.
"You have heard of me?"
"Your beauty and wisdom are the talk of our kingdom," Hook answered smoothly, causing another barely restrained eye-roll from Emma. "Though I admit, our tales do not do you justice."
"I haven't heard of you," Emma corrected, upfront in her ignorance for fear the Queen would ask for knowledge about herself that Emma would not be able to provide. "Sorry."
The Queen mulled this over for a moment. Though Emma could feel Hook glaring at her for her honesty, the Queen did not seem at all offended. When she spoke, she picked her words carefully.
"A diamond may believe itself to be glass, while glass will always strive to deceive you." The Queen rose from her throne and drew herself up to her considerable height. "My court is not one of masquerade. The Queen of Hearts sat atop a throne of lies and wherever she is now, you can rest assured that she is not missed. I am respected, adored, for all I ask from my subjects is that they tell me the truth." She smiled at Emma as she spoke the last line but her face hardened as she looked at Hook. "Beautiful lies will get you nowhere in my kingdom."
That's Hook all out of ammunition, Emma thought, trying not to find too much satisfaction in the chastisement. She seemed to have earned the Queen's favor and something told Emma that "in her good books" was the safest place to be. That said, the Queen still had not given them leave to rise and Emma was beginning to ache.
"Where is it you hail from?" the Queen asked, taking her seat on the throne again. She was elegant with every movement, her superiority evident even without words.
"Storybrooke," Emma replied before Hook could say anything. She didn't trust him to tell an unembellished truth.
"Storybrooke?" The Queen's lips lifted slightly in amusement. "How quaint."
Emma shrugged, her defenses automatically rising in favor of the place she hadn't realized she loved so much until it had been torn away from her.
"It's home."
The Queen of Diamonds pursed her lips as she surveyed Emma, curious rather than angry at Emma's brusque voice.
"Did I offend you?" she asked, her pale eyebrows drawing together. "It was not my intention, though I should warn you that if you wish to survive in my court you shall have to develop a thicker skin. Model yourself after the diamond: beautiful and unbreakable."
Unbreakable seemed a good way to describe the Queen; she was slight enough to fear strong gusts of wind lest they should knock her over, yet she exuded power. Her body may have been fragile but her mind was sharp enough to give her the strength of ten men. Emma knew it would be wise to be afraid of her, particularly as she seemed to be the sorceress who created the Shells that remained motionless around them.
"Thanks for the tip," Emma said. Then, feeling the need to clarify: "We didn't mean to trespass in your kingdom, we just got lost."
"I know," the Queen assured her. At Emma's surprised look, she smiled. It was not comforting. "I see more than most eyes allow, Emma Swan."
Emma was feeling more uncomfortable by the moment. More than uncomfortable, she felt threatened, despite no outward sign of aggression from the Queen. However, the Queen wasn't finished. She raked her eyes over Hook with none of the glazed admiration that Emma supposed he was used to.
"And not forgetting Hook," the Queen said, bordering on disdain. Hook nodded his head in wary acknowledgement, noting her tone. "You were glass once, entirely unremarkable. Then something happened, a fracture, but instead of shattering you transformed under the pressure. A diamond, forced into existence by hardship." Her smile, grudgingly respectful, softened when she turned to Emma. "But you…you are a true diamond in the rough."
For a moment, Emma could only stare at the Queen. Her suspicious metaphor on creating diamonds from glass aside, she spoke of Hook's past with certainty; was she psychic? Panic flashed through Emma's mind at the thought of the Queen revealing all about Little Orphan Emma and her tragic backstory, particularly in front of Hook. On the beanstalk he had merely looked at her and guessed some of her more painful secrets, she didn't want him knowing any more. The Queen smiled, and to Emma's paranoid mind it was a confirmation that her thoughts were laid bare for the monarch to read at her leisure.
"Your Majesty has quite the gift," Hook said, and though his tone was friendly there was a tightness around his mouth that suggested he was just as out of his depth as Emma was. "We have great need to return to our land as soon as possible."
"Your land," the Queen said, pursing her lips. "I see. And what, pray, do you intend to do once you return?"
"I wish to start a new life," Hook replied without hesitation.
The lie did not go unnoticed by Emma, though she would not give any indication of his untruthfulness. As it turned out, she did not need to.
"Guards!" the Queen screamed without warning, her face flushing with fury.
The Shells marched forward as one towards them. A shaken Emma stood to defend herself, no longer concerned with appropriate propriety in front of the Queen. Hook was not far behind her, reaching for his sword before he was fully upright. The Queen of Diamonds let the threat of the Shells linger for a moment before raising a gloved hand. The Shells froze back into their empty state and the Queen turned her cool eyes on Hook.
"That was your first lie, pirate. Do not let there be another."
Hook glared back at her, the sheathing of his sword his only acknowledgement of defeat. When he spoke it was with a noticeable effort to keep his tone in check.
"All due respect, your Majesty, but I am the Captain of my ship. My rank outstrips pirate."
"And where is your ship now?" the Queen returned, her cold smile holding more than a hint of mockery. "A Captain without a ship is a man without a title and you, darling boy, have neither."
The air almost crackled with Hook's anger at the Queen's cooing condescension and all Emma could do was pray he wouldn't attempt anything stupid. But the Queen wasn't finished.
"I see the truth of you, Captain Hook, who you are behind all of your bravado. Your loss and the emptiness it wrought screams out, just waiting for someone to listen. But, oh…" She glanced at Emma, eyes slightly narrowed in thought, before turning back to Hook with faint amusement. "Three hundred years of piracy and still stung by betrayal. Not as heartless as you pretend, hm?"
The courtyard was silent.
"Hearts were the interest of the previous Queen," Hook managed after a moment. Emma didn't dare look at him for fear of finding truth in the Queen's observations. "My interests lie in finding a way out of Wonderland."
It was a noble attempt at sounding unconcerned but the Queen's cold smile told him he hadn't quite achieved it. When Emma risked a glance at him, Hook had his eyes fixed on the Queen. Though Emma kept her eyes on him, he didn't look at her once. Had the Queen's words cut into him that deeply? Emma had assumed that his anger over her leaving him on the beanstalk was due to some notion of male pride rather than genuine hurt over being left behind.
Meanwhile, the Queen was busy quizzing Hook.
"What brought you to my land?"
"A portal sent us off-course," Hook replied, evidently trying to recover himself from the shock of the Queen's previous remarks.
"From Neverland?"
"The Enchanted Forest."
Every question the Queen asked seemed to be intended as a test, an opportunity for Hook to lie to her again. When every word was truth, she appeared satisfied that the Captain had learned his lesson.
"The portal did indeed misdirect you if you landed as far out as Tearful Bay," the Queen said, shaking her head.
"Tearful Bay?" Emma repeated, unsure if she wanted to know the origin of the name.
"Named for the consequences of a foolish girl's meddling with our magic," the Queen explained, her habitual look of distaste firmly back on her face. "Almost drowned in her own tears."
She's not the only one, Emma thought, feeling sick at the knowledge that she had been thrashing about in a river of someone else's tears. And not just anyone's tears, but the original Alice. Who knew how long they had been there, resting stagnant in an untouched cave.
"I will help you," the Queen decided while Emma tried to control her gag reflex. "You will stay the night while I gather resources."
Emma's eyes widened in alarm - she didn't want to stay in Wonderland for another hour, let alone a night - but Hook spoke before she could.
"Your Majesty is very kind. What can we do for you in return?"
It wasn't an acknowledgement of her generous offer; Hook was merely pointing out that "something for nothing" was not a rule that Queens and Captains lived by. The Queen gave a thin smile.
"You can deliver a message for me," she said, though she did not elaborate. "One message, and then you can go back to your loved ones. Or," she added with a spiteful smile at Hook, "whatever mission you allow to rule your life."
"Your Majesty is very kind," Hook repeated, inclining his head in the most half-hearted attempt at a bow ever seen.
"Indeed." The Queen considered Emma for a moment before smiling. Uncovering painful pasts seemed to be the way she amused herself, and Emma had more than enough memories to keep her satisfied. "Emma, dearest, lovely to see you've finally found your family after so many years of solitude."
Emma shrugged. "Being alone didn't bother me."
The lie slipped out before Emma could think. Denial was just instinct after so many years of protecting herself, but she had no time to explain that before the screeching Queen set her Shells on the Savior.
"Well, this is starting to seem frightfully familiar."
Emma blinked through her grogginess but it took her another few moments to register what was happening. A dull throb in her head persisted as she struggled to her feet, staring around the small dungeon cell. When her eyes met Hook's, she stifled a groan. How did this keep happening? She noticed a nasty cut above his eyebrow and, sure enough when she glanced down, smears of blood stained his hands.
"What did you do this time?" she asked, her fingers keeping a firm pressure on her temple. The other hand explored her head but luckily, aside from the headache, she didn't seem to be injured.
Hook chuckled. "Oh no, love. This was all you." His smug satisfaction permeated the already stale air and Emma found that she would very much like to punch him. "The Queen doesn't like to be lied to, remember?"
"Right," Emma muttered. "Of all the Queens out there, I had to lie to the psychic one."
She should have realized it before, but Hook was not surrounded by bars the way she was. The assumption that they were in side-by-side cells was wrong; he was free and she was not. Had he been imprisoned and then escaped?
"From what I gather, the Queen of Diamonds' power lies in seeing your past rather than reading your thoughts," Hook corrected, watching her closely as she put the pieces of her imprisonment together. "She won't know I came here, or that the prison guard is suffering from a spontaneous case of unconsciousness, until the next time she sees me." It was clear that he was not much interested in explaining things further. He had won this round, they both knew it, and now all that was left was for him to deliver the final blow. Emma waited, gripping the prison bars in her frustration.
"Don't worry, I won't leave you behind," Hook said, much to her surprise. He held up a rusted key and made to open the lock, before making a great show of pausing and drawing the key away again. His smile, a cruel imitation of regret, made Emma feel foolish for even considering that he wouldn't take his opportunity to get back at her. "Unfortunately, I have a tendency towards revenge and you, sweetheart, have given me a great deal to be vengeful about." He pocketed the key and took a step away from the cell. "Let's see, you spent roughly an hour and a half locked in Rumplestiltskin's cell so I'll only have to leave you here for another eight hours and thirty minutes." He winked. "Eight hours twenty, if you're good."
Emma hated him. Her fingers coiled tighter around the bars, imagining his neck in place of the cold metal. When she spoke, it was through gritted teeth. "Hook, we don't have time for this."
"Of course we do," Hook said, waving away her words with an insultingly casual smirk. "We're staying the night, in case you don't recall the Queen's orders. Only, one of us will be sleeping a little more soundly than the other."
Emma shook her head, trying to keep her desperation at bay. She recognized the vicious irony of her position and could only imagine Hook's delight at how this had played out. It may not have been his actions that locked her up, but he had taken full advantage of the situation. Even if he did release her later, there was no telling who he would ally himself with in the meantime.
"The Queen will screw us over, you know she will," Emma said, trying to appeal to a common sense which she wasn't entirely sure was present in the Captain. "We can figure something else out if we work together."
Hook's smug smile twitched. "We make quite the team," he said, echoing his own words from on top of the beanstalk. Bitterness had replaced admiration since then, and he made no attempt to hide it.
"Don't risk everything for some petty sense of revenge," Emma said, but she knew it was too late.
"I do this, and we're even," Hook told her, and for just a moment all traces of satisfaction faded. "We can get on with locating a portal, all scores settled."
Emma was about to inform him how damn stupid that was until she saw the expression in his eyes. There was too much lingering darkness there for it to be considered earnest, yet Emma could tell that he believed what he was saying. He truly considered revenge as an equalizer, as something that would make everything better. Emma would have pitied him if she wasn't currently trapped in a situation that proved how dangerous his method of thinking was.
A moment later, Hook was back to his superior self.
"I told you back by the river that there was only one thing that could help me get over it," he said, as though this had been sufficient warning.
"Yeah. This isn't what I thought you meant."
Hook grinned, his eyes dipping considerably south of her own for a moment. "That one track mind of yours is certainly something I look forward to addressing." His eyes met hers again. "Sleep well, sweetheart."
He turned and strode away, not so much as flinching when Emma slapped the cell bars with her open palm and shouted his name, though he did pause when he reached the doorway. He looked back at her, and there was no playful malice or immature gloating anywhere on his features.
"I am not a man to cross," he said simply. His seriousness was tinged with a sadness that Emma did not understand. "Take care you don't do it again."
Then, for the second time that day, Emma had to watch as Hook left her behind.