AN: Sorry it took me so long to update! I've been distracted with finals, but I finished my last one last Thursday and now have the whole summer to write all the time! :) So please enjoy and review this chapter! I'll probably have the next one up by next weekend.

Just a few miles away from The Snuggly Duckling, a tall tower lay nestled in a tiny clearing, with a thick forest completely surrounding it. This tower was the home of Red and Emma, or the Lost Princesses if you prefer.

Emma Swan (the last name that Regina had given her as a baby) had grown up to be every bit as beautiful as she had been expected to be. Long golden tresses adorned her head, and her bright hazel eyes shone with adventure, but that spirit had been dulled over the years. After Regina told them that their birth parents had abandoned them, Emma had been unable to put her trust behind someone fully.

Red Lucas (again, a name given by Regina) too had become extremely beautiful. Wavy, beautiful, dark hair framed her pretty face. Her soft, innocent voice did not, however, reflect her personality. She was far from innocent. Both of them had prickly personalities. Red, being a whole month older than Emma, considered it her job to protect her. She didn't let the pain she felt from being abandoned show.

Not to say that abandonment was the only issue the two had to deal with. The obvious obstacle in their life were the stone walls built up around them. Trapping them. Keeping them from their destinies.

They were their only company, except for Regina about once every day. Because of that, the two truly considered themselves sisters. They played games together, read books, cooked, and whatever else they could find to distract themselves from their isolation all day. They could communicate with mere eye contact, knowing exactly what the other was trying to get across. Neither could keep a secret from the other. Not that there were real secrets to keep. Life isn't exactly full of hidden escapades and adventures when you've spent 21 years without leaving a building.

Of course, that was one of Regina's rules for them. They couldn't, under any circumstances, leave the tower. The two had suspected for a long time that their mother wouldn't come every day unless it was to check that they hadn't snuck out. Still, they loved her unconditionally, since they had been raised to believe that their sister and Regina were the only people in the world who would care for them. Everyone else would inevitably leave. That presumption had been put in their heads and encouraged by Regina for years. She didn't want them being under the impression that leaving would be "fun", or her revenge could be ruined.

However, that makes it sounds as though Regina didn't care about them. She did, in her own twisted sense of caring, but not nearly enough to ever tell them the truth or allow them to leave. It would be impossible to go 21 years taking care of Emma and Red and not grow to feel something for them.

On this particular day, Emma and Red were playing hide-and-seek, like the sophisticated young adults they were.

"Found ya!" Red shouted, as she turned a corner and saw Emma scrunching herself between one of their many bookshelves and the wall.

"Well of course you did, you only counted to 20. I count to 50 every time," Emma grumbled, crawling out of her spot.

"Or you just suck at losing," Red laughed, holding her hand out to help her up. Emma grabbed it, yanked, and pulled Ruby down on to the ground with her.

"What? No! I'm the best at losing. Never take it personally. You know my motto," Emma said sarcastically. "So that's what, the 18th time you've found me? You feel like we should do something else?"

They both made their way over to the one window in the tower. Red pushed her back up against the pane. Emma hoped over, letting her feet dangle down, and she studied the good 100-foot drop or so. They would do this nearly every day. Stare out, but never dare to really go.

"Your birthday's coming up soon, you know."

"Is it, Red? Really? I had no idea," Emma bit back. She could be construed as extremely harsh to most, but Red knew better. The sarcasm and the sometimes hurtful comments were just part of who she was. She knew Emma never meant it, and never took it to heart.

"And the floating lights'll be back…" she trailed off. This wasn't a conversation the two needed to have. Not again. Every year, they would stare out their window on Emma's birthday, and soon after nightfall, floating lights would fill the sky. It might seem like thinking small, but that was really why they wanted to get out of this tower. To solve the mystery of the floating lights. To figure out what they were for, why they were on Emma's birthday, where they came from. Emma had always felt that the lights must have something to do with their destiny; that they must mean…something. But "something" was all they could ever come up with. Every year since they were about 7, the two had been planning on asking Regina whether they could go to see the lights. They had never done it. Their mother gave off such a persona of negativity when it came to Emma's birthday. She would always get her a present, sure, but her smiles and laughter seemed forced. She never enjoyed it as much as a parent truly should.

"Of course they will. They always are."

"Yeah, it's nice to have that one thing in you're life that you can really depend on right?" Red replied, speaking with the sarcasm both were so familiar with. "You know, when you live such crazy, wild lives like we do."

Emma, knowing what Red would begin talking about next, cut her off before she could. "C'mon, let's not start with this again," she groaned, rubbing her head temple with her fingers lightly. "We both want to leave, but we can't. You know that we can't. Mother would never forgive us, and there's no way in hell we could last two seconds out there."

"Fine, it was just a thought," Red huffed back, and the two sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments. Red, however, didn't like staying quiet. That was probably one of the biggest differences between them. Emma loved being alone, but Red couldn't stand not talking for 5 minutes. "Did you read that book on werewolves I told you about?"

"Yeah, I started it."

"What did you think?" Red asked, barely consealing her excitement.

"I think being a wolf would be a real bitch," she replied simply. "Not having the ability to control when you turned? Being, as the book so cheerfully put it, a "slave of the moon"? Sounds awful."

"Yeah, but what if you were the type of wolf that could control when you turned, and could keep themselves in check when they did? Apparently they're really rare, but…"

"That'd be better," Emma conceded, "but I still don't love the sound of it. You seem to, though." Red paused, as though deeply considering her statement.

"I guess so," she said slowly. "Having the ability to change into something else, to become a whole different species, and just…run." They both knew how that sentence would've ended, so she didn't bother saying it. Just run away from your problems. From your fears and your anger and your regrets.

A little leaf went floating down in front of Emma's face, and her gaze sharpened. She stared intently as it went by, and it suddenly when flying back up on to the tree in had fallen from, reattaching itself. Emma smiled proudly at the tree.

Magic had been a talent that came naturally to Emma, though it was nearly impossible to control. It had come to her attention when she was nine years old. She had gotten very jealous of Red and her artistic abilities, and had been glaring at her paintbrushes, when somehow, they just started moving across the canvas. Of course, even her magic hadn't been able to create good art, but that was hardly the thing to focus on. Red's face, when she had looked over and seen Emma staring back in awe while her brushes swept across the page with jerky but graceful motions, had been priceless. Her cherry colored lips had fallen into a perfect 'o'. After a few moments, the two had examined the brushes closely, checking to see if there were invisible strings attached. There hadn't been. Emma had, slowly but surely, learned little bits of magic trough the books that Regina bought for them. It was still spastic and unsteady, but she was learning to do little things like reattach leaves to trees.

Regina had never been told about Emma's little "talent". While both girls loved her, they also knew her well enough to know that this wouldn't please her. Regina herself was a witch, but it didn't change what her reacton would be. She didn't usually respond well when they tried to open up to her. Not exactly a "touchy-feely" parent.

"What on earth are you two doing, practically falling out the window!" A voice sounded from behind them. Speak of the devil…

"Mother!" Red cried happily, putting a faux smile on her face. Emma and her often had conversations interrupted like this, and they learned to adapt, pretending that they had never even considered breaking her "never ever leave this tower ever" rule. Regina had, as usual, appeared in the middle of the room. There was no real way to get into or out of the tower unless you wanted to scale the walls. Fortunately, her magic gave her a much easier entrance.

"I got you some fruits from the market this morning," she announced, throwing a basket down on the table. "Oh dear, today's been stressful. Hope yours was better?"

"Yes, actually, we were just talking, and-"

"Speak up please, dear. I can barely hear when you talk these days," Regina smiled. Emma tugged a bit at the sides of her blue summer dress (she hated dresses, but Regina washed their clothing, and they were all she had left), trying to come up with the proper words.

"Well, basically I've deiced what I want for my birthday," she said clearly, and she sat down next to her mother. Red glanced at her in a panicked way, checking to make sure Emma really wanted to bring this up now. Regina nodded in understanding, and beckoned for her to continue. "Red and I would really like to leave the tower, for just one night, and go see the floating lights," she rushed her words, but Regina must've heard regardless of her speed, because she froze.

"Floating lights?" She asked. "You mean the stars? You don't need to leave you tower to see them."

"These are different, mother," Red spoke up. "They'er bigger than stars, and they mover quickly, and they only appear on Emma's birthday."

Regina glanced at them dubiously. "I haven't the faintest clue what you're talking about, but I really don't have time for this right now. My day was awful, and I'm not going to sit here and play your little games. I've never seen these lights in my life, but even if they were real, I wouldn't let you go. It's a cruel place outside of these walls, girls," she reminded them patronizingly. "This tower protects you. So no, you may not leave." Red and Emma looked at each other in shock. They had been preparing to ask that for practically their whole life, and then Regina had just shot it down? Just like that?

"But-"

"No! Stop questioning me!" Regina practically screamed, her personality changed in the blink of an eye. The sisters jumped in alarm at the exclamation. "My word is final!" They fell silent, staring at the ground in shock. Regina, breathing deeply from her explosion, sighed. "Great, now I'm the bad guy."

"No mother, you're not," Red said softly after a moment. "We were being rude. You know what's best for us, and we know that." Regina smiled appreciatively, and turned to Emma, who nodded in agreement, though not very enthusiastically.

"Oh my darlings, you need to realize that I only want to help you," Regina sighed. Calming down, she stood. "But I really must be off. Eat the fruit!" And in a puff of smoke, she was gone, leaving a devastated Red and Emma in her wake.

"You're sure about this?" Hook whispered to Jefferson, as the two crouched behind a large pillar. After scaling the walls to the tower, they were right outside the room were Rumplestiltskin's dagger was hidden. Surprisingly, there were only a couple men stationed outside. Presumably, after guarding it for nearly 22 years, the king and queen and relaxed on the security a bit.

"Not in the slightest," Jefferson grinned back. The two nodded to each other. Jefferson sprung from behind the pillar, a small vial of his poison uncorked in his hand. Hook heard a few shouts, a splash of water, laughing, and then Jefferson went flying past him into the darkened passage. Two guards went sprinting after him, but after about 10 seconds, they slowed down, and quite suddenly slumped down to the ground. Hook went about dragging them out of the light, went Jefferson reemerged.

"Now that really should've been more difficult."

"Are you complaining?" Hook raised an eyebrow as the two placed the guards away, wiping their hand(s) off a bit, as though the unconscious men had been poisonous (which, considering there were some visible drops of Jefferson's drug on them, they were. The poison didn't have to be ingested, only make physical contact with a human).

"Not in the slightest," the hatter repeated yet again. They ran to the door, and using his metal appendage, Hook picked the lock. The door swung open with surprising ease. This really is too easy, Hook passingly thought, but didn't dwell on it. Luck must simply be on our side.

In the center of the room, resting on a small stand, was a purple cushion, with the famed infamous dagger on top of that. No other guards were stationed in the room.

Cautiously, Hook stepped up to it, and placed his one hand onto the handle. Nothing happened; no magic came out of the walls, threatening to kill him, no guards rushing in out of nowhere, no alarms went off, nothing.

"Then let's be on our way, shall we?" He smiled to his companion, and they rushed down the hall, back to the window they had entered from. As they ran, however, they heard some shuffling from behind them. The guards, who had been knocked out with a very small amount of the drug, seemed to be waking up, and would no doubt be after them any moment. "Quickly," he urged, and they reached the window in only a few moments. Hook swung out, and started scaling down the walls, Jefferson close behind him. More shouts were heard from above them, and they knew that more guards would be coming soon.

In a few minutes, they had gotten to the ground. Running as fast as they could toward the gigantic steel gates that protected the castle, they glanced behind, and saw about half a dozen men on horses, pointing in their direction. There was no way they would be able to outrun them on foot, unless there was a distraction… And in that moment, Hook knew what he had to do.

Cringing slightly, he pulled a second vial of Jefferson's poison out of his pocket. He had given this to the pirate in case their first plan didn't work out. In case they needed a back up. He had given it to him because he had trusted. Hook had always said that trust was a foolish notion, but he still felt guilty, as, once they had turned a corner and the men could no longer see them, he splashed the substance on Jefferson.

"What're you…" he gasped, looking down at the glass in Hook's hand.

"I'm sorry," Hook muttered quickly. "Truly I am. But we can't stick together and get out alive. And I need this dagger."

"How could you…" Jefferson trailed off again, but this time from the impending sleepiness, not shock.

"I'll find Grace, once I've killed Rumplestiltskin. I'll be the dark one, and I can protect her. I can reunite you with her. I can get you out of jail," Hook began making promises he knew would be nearly impossible to keep, if only to ease his conscience. He had never felt this level of guilt for betraying someone. Maybe it was because he felt bad that he was separating this man from his daughter. Maybe it was because Neverland caused you to forget nearly everything, including most emotions. The guilt must've been softened by the magic in the land. Regardless, he made a note in the back of his mind that, if everything went according to plan, he would one day help Jefferson and his family.

"You sonuva…" And with one last open-ended sentence, Jefferson fell down, a light snore escaping him. With one last silent apology, Hook ran off into the night, leaving the shouts of, "We found him!" and "Where did the other one go?" behind him.

A few hours later, still in the dead of night, a few of the guards went to give an update on the whereabouts of the dagger to the king and queen. Victor was there as well, since he had been woken by the noises in the castle. When he had been told that Jefferson, his old friend, had been part of it, he refused to go back to sleep.

"So? Where is the dagger?" Charming prompted.

"We have been unable to find it, your majesty," the young man said quietly, as though he were wishing he could sink right into the ground, simply so he could get out of this room.

"How is it possible? The other man could've only been a few paces away!" THe king shouted, pounding his fist against his throne.

"Do we have any more information about the other man?" Victor asked in a quiet and polite manner.

"Yes, the man who was left behind told us exactly who he was. Captain Hook, who, until recently, was believed to be in Neverland."

Victor froze at the name. Sharply, he said, "Hook? You're certain?"

"Yes, doctor. We're quite certain. A few men even say that they thought they had seen a hook instead of a hand. The mad man's words only confirm it."

"Ahh…" He slumped down in his chair. "I think I know how he got here…"

"What's this nonsense?" Snow turned to him, with her concerned and motherly voice on.

"When I got a portal to open and bring me back here, he must've jumped in as well. Word travels quickly around that land. If there was a rumor I had a portal bean, Hook would've heard about it."

Both Charming and Snow looked slightly worried. "Stories of Captain Hook are known well, even in this land. If he were to obtain the Dark One's powers…" Making up his mind, Victor stood.

"He won't. I was already planning to leave on my journey for the princesses today. I can merely add capturing this brute to my to-do list," he finished with a bit of a crooked smile.

"No, Victor, it's dangerous! We can't let you take on both of those!" Charming jumped in quickly.

The doctor smiled crookedly "I am touched by your kindness, Your Majesty, but the pirate's presence in the Enchanted Forest is my fault. The princesses' absence is as well. I need to right these wrongs. It is my duty."

Meanwhile, Hook had been running for, by his precise measurements, far too long. Only a few men from the palace had chased after him after he had abandoned Jefferson, since the rest had been busy trying to find the dagger on his ex-companion. After that, however, a few more had joined the chase. Using some skilled hiding techniques, Hook had managed to evade their pursuit, and found himself quite alone in the middle of the forest. He had been wandering for a long time now, and he decided that he well and truly needed a place to rest for the night. Tomorrow he would go in search of Rumplestiltskin.

He had stored the dagger in a small satchel he had with him, and every so often, he would reach down into it and check that it was still there. He didn't want to be experiencing this guilt for abandoning Jefferson only to loose the reason behind his betrayal along the way.

Absentmindedly torturing himself with different scenarios of how heartbroken this Grace would be, he made his way into a clearing. Glancing around, he realized that he had no recollection of reaching this place. His feet had led him here and, as his eyes landed in shock on a huge tower, he understood why.

The structure before him would be the perfect place to hide out. It was in an obscure area of the woods. It looked from the outside as though it could be dilapidated, but he could just barely see into the one window at the very top. It appeared, from the tiny bit he could view, to be in fine condition. He circled around the walls a bit, but saw no door. He even pressed his hand against it in certain places, hoping that an entrance would magically appear, in the same way the Lost Boy's tree house worked. Still nothing.

Sighing in defeat, he started scaling the walls, just like he had back at the castle. He was tired, and made many clumsy moves along his way. The tower's walls were much smoother that the palace had been, which made it harder to climb, especially with only one hand. Nonetheless, he made it to the top relatively unscathed.

Hopping through the window, he looked around in amazement, something he rarely did, considering how few things amazed him anymore. The walls were covered in murals. There were little projects all around, like sewing or cooking.

Wait…cooking? Yes, there was fresh food lying on the center of a table. He walked over cautiously and picked some up. None of it was rotten. If there was fresh fruit, there must also be people that are here regularly, right?

And at the exact moment this thought occurred to him, he heard a whooshing sound in the air. Before he could even turn around, the back of his head was met with a large frying pan. A sickening thud echoed around the room as his body collapsed on to the ground, unconscious, with the the two lost princesses standing over his body, staring in curiosity.