CHAPTER THREE

They had failed.

The compass lay smashed in ruins. No use to any of them now. Hook had tried, Emma knew that, they all had, but Cora was as vindictive as her daughter. If she couldn't have it, apparently no one could as the curse she'd hurled had ripped the golden object straight out of Emma's hands literally tearing it apart with the force of her rage. They'd retreated, fleeing from the mad witch and her magic, the useless wardrobe dust gripped in Hook's hand as he led the way through the forest, his side apparently truly chosen.

They didn't have time to mourn the loss of their lives in Storybrooke, Aurora had woken burnt and screaming the name of a boy she'd met in her dreams. Henry. It was a lifeline through the dark, or a light in a dream. A way home. Regina, Gold, Henry and Charming, reaching out through a netherworld of nightmares beckoning them in. The wardrobe dust they'd retrieved from Cora had magic enough they believed, to pull them all in as they slept, to take them through one world, into another.

But as Emma watched Snow and Aurora fall into a sleep that failed to pull her, Mulan and Hook with them she knew the plan hadn't worked the way everyone had hoped. Emma had known it was a desperate hope, but she'd been willing to go along with it if it meant even a hope in hell of getting back to Henry. They'd banked on her affinity for the other world, on her pull back there and Snow's desire to take her with them. But as she watched feeling tears sting her eyes, the portals enveloped the sleeping forms of the two women Snow's hand that still gripped hers tightly simply vanished, leaving her alone in an enchanted forest with only Hook & Mulan for company. Emma knew then what she had suspected her entire life, hoping and wishing never got her anywhere.

Mulan's hand fell onto her shoulder and Emma dropped her head, burying the deep desire to scream obscenities at the universe for its unfairness. They didn't have time to dwell on it, on the fact that for whatever reason, this portal in their dreams only worked on those who'd been afflicted by a sleeping curse just like they'd feared... never had she wished more that she'd been the victim of Regina's devilish pastry. The sound of an approaching army of ogres was all she could hear as Mulan drew her sword.

"Emma." Hook grasped her by the arms, turning her to face them. "We need to move. There will be other portals Love. But you only have these limbs, you want to keep them, we need to stay ahead of the ogres." He pulled her away, dragging her dazed form out of Cora's path, reminding her, that he'd lost his chance at Storybrooke too, lost the chance for his revenge as his grip tightened painfully refusing to let her fall behind.

Mulan had always been incredibly brave, but without Aurora, whatever glue had held them together seemed to have faded. She had been here to keep a promise to a man she loved, that promise was over. When they separated to outrun the ogres, Mulan never caught up with them again. Hook had found tracks that suggested she was alive and well, but headed back towards her old life, wherever that had been, but at least out of Cora's path. Emma couldn't blame her, this fight against Cora wasn't hers to bare and with Snow gone, Mulan's equally fragile hope for rebuilding the Kingdom seemed to have gone with her.

Unfortunately that left her with Hook. Emma blinked away tears trying to distract herself with anything other than the thought of Henry, of never seeing him again. She'd lost him again... she'd only just gotten him back.

"I have a plan." Hook approached her quietly as she sat at the waters edge, refilling her flask and trying not to think of Henry, and how at least he'd have his grandparents to keep Regina from him now. They'd have the family they so wanted to be again... just without her in it. Maybe it was for the best, she only seemed to trail trouble behind her.

Hook crouched down beside her, his hand hovering over her back, but not touching, which was showing restraint for him. "You want to hear it?" he pressed and Emma bowed her head.

"What's the point." Emma sighed, "I'm done. The wardrobe dust is gone, we used it on getting Mary Margaret and Aurora into that dream realm portal. My mother's home, she's with her Prince Charming, they'll take care of Henry, he'll be safe from Cora, they all will, because we definitely know she's fresh out of portal magic now."

Hook's hand pressed against the centre of her back tenderly, sliding down the to settle above her waist; she closed her eyes, allowing herself a brief moment of comfort from it, she'd deny she leant into it, no matter what she was certain he'd insist later. "I might not be able to get you back to Storybrooke, but I can get you away from that witch." He sounded so sincere that Emma turned to stare at him, searching his face for a trace of a lie, there wasn't even a flicker of his usual charming deceit.

"Why would you do that? We had a deal, if Storybrooke's off the cards, so is your revenge."

Hook smiled, "I told you Love. I wasn't giving up on us. I can't very well woo you when we're on the run from a mad woman can I?"

"You can't woo me anyway." Emma smirked back at him, realising he hadn't taken his hand from her back. "But seriously. Where can we go? Clearly the apple didn't fall far from the tree with Regina and Cora, because that woman doesn't know when to quit, and vengeance is about all that drives them."

"Neverland." Hook's answer was as deadpan as it was ridiculous. Emma opened her mouth to tell him that; then shut it abruptly. This was Captain Hook, where the hell else would he suggest?CaptCa

"It's a real place?" Emma asked tentatively, "How will we get there without a portal?" she gave him her full attention now as they stood, staring nose to nose.

Hook his hand reaching out to remove the strand of curled blonde hair that had fell across her face, his apparent need to touch her at every opportunity clearly hadn't abated. "Pixie dust." Hook informed her, his hand falling away from her face and going in his pocket to pull out a pouch. "There's a Pixie in Neverland..."

"Tinkerbell?" Emma quirked an eyebrow, almost laughing at the ridiculousness of it all still. "Oh for heavens sake." She turned away from him, shaking her head and wishing like hell she'd been able to wake up from this nightmare when Mary Margaret had. "If you had Fairy dust all this time, then why didn't you offer to use it before now to help us get home?" she glared at him pointedly, hoping like hell he had an explanation, because if he didn't, they were really done.

"You know a lot... and not much at all." Hook snapped, sounding irritated as he grasped her by her bicep with his hook and spun her to face him, waving the pouch in her face, his irritation seeming to give way to anger for just a flash, that she didn't miss. "And it's pixie dust, Lovely, not fairy dust."

"What's the difference?" If she ever got back she swore she'd head to the library and google the hell out of fairytales and magic.

Hook gave her a dark look. "Vicious little creatures, Pixies are the black sheep of the Fairy world, trust a Pixie and it might just be the last thing you do."

"Noted. They're the Hooks of the fairy world." Emma smiled sweetly, not quite joking with him, "And this Pixie dust is going to get us out of here?"

Hook gaze narrowed, he'd been more intense since the others had left she noted, "It can get us to Neverland, because that is where that snot nosed little minx of a pixie is. Think of it as my escape hatch in case I ever needed to get back, after all I had no idea what I might find left here."

"Must have been a shock to see the devastation the Curse brought?" Emma tried to imagine it.

Hook gave her a hooded look through his eyelashes which she chose not to try and interpret as he held out his hand to her. "What do you have to lose? Seems to me you've lost everything that matters. Guess that makes me your only option."

"Don't sugar-coat it or anything for me." Emma muttered, watching his hand as he fingered the pouch. "What will it do... open a portal or?"

"No. We'll need to fly there." His grin said well enough that he was enjoying toying with her.

"Fly; like Peter Pan?" she was officially down the rabbit hole she mused, cursing internally.

"Who's Peter Pan?" Hook gave her a confused look that made her pause from her own mental flagellation.

"You're Captain Hook, how the hell can you ask that?" Emma was bewildered, the story was Peter Pan... if he wasn't in it then what else about the story had lost something in translation?

"Look Love. We don't exactly have forever to debate this. Cora will be sending those Ogres this way soon enough, they'll have fixed onto our scent by now. Either you trust me and we do this, or you don't and you stay here and take your chances." Hook, blunt as ever.

What choice did she have? Neverland right now had to be better than here. But trust Hook? He held his hand out to her expectantly, and reluctantly she placed hers in his, disappointed but not exactly surprised when he pulled her into his arms with it. His hook slid around her waist, forcing her to remember what he could do with it. "Trust me." He pressed a hard kiss to her lips and upended the dust over them before she had the chance to smack him for the presumption.

"Do I need to think happy thoughts or something?" Emma asked as the dust settled all over them.

Hook smirked and pulled her in closer to him. "Don't worry Love, I've got that covered." His grin was all leer and she would have complained, but their feet chose that moment to leave the ground.

Emma let out a startled yelp and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. "Tell me you've done this before?" she all but pleaded, seeing the ground begin to fall away far too quickly.

"Shall I lie to you?" Hook smirked, taking the chance to hold her tighter as he directed them ever upwards.

"Second star to the right and straight on until morning...?" Emma quipped, trying not to let on just how freaked out she was. Hook gave her one of those thousand yard stares he was so fond of when she said something that made utterly no sense to him.

"How about I lead." He responded, staring up as they rose skyward. "Hold tight Love, the dust goes up well, but not down, if you fall, I can't come after you." The moment they hit the clouds, things began to change, the clouds were beginning to spin around them. Turns out flying to Neverland was a way of reaching some sort of portal in the clouds, which she was relieved about, she wasn't sure science in this world was as far along as in hers, she wasn't keen on the idea of floating into the frozen stratosphere and into the vacuum of space.

"I'd take a deep breath." Hook advised having to shout over the increasing roar of what seemed to be a tornado in the clouds. "Helped with the whirlpool last time anyway." He added quietly enough that she almost missed it, but his barely repressed excitement was infectious and she grinned despite herself, watching as the clouds whirled them to dizzy inducing speeds. She was going to Neverland... Henry would have been beside himself so she owed it to him to enjoy the ride at the very least as the clouds enveloped them in cold, wet madness. Hook held her tightly in his arms, their eyes locked as madness swirled stealing her logic and replacing it with giddy adrenalin; she kissed him hard trying not to think on what it meant as he kissed her back just as furiously. She closed her eyes from the nausea inducing spin they had entered, focusing on him entirely, on his still form amongst the squalling tempest all around them clinging to him like the lifeline he was, floating high up in the sky.

A crack of lightening that struck, electrifying every cell in her body and they dropped like stones, plummeting through the air to be deposited into a crystal blue lake, the force of the impact ripping them apart. Emma rose spluttering to the surface, mildly concerned until Hook surfaced spitting water and looking as elated as she felt that they were still alive.

"We're alive!" Emma grinned stupidly at him as she spun, trying to take in the surroundings from the trees and hint of a mountain top she could just make out directly ahead.

"I know. I'm as surprised as you." he swam towards her, looking far too pleased with himself.

"I thought you said you'd travelled like that before?" Emma splashed water in his face angrily, causing him to splutter and try a new tact as he dived low and wrapped his arms around her, surfacing too close for her to attempt to drown him without going under herself.

"I've travelled to Neverland... but the whole flying thing was new. Tink gave me the gist of it when she handed over the dust at hook point, but given as it was under duress, I wasn't holding out much hope that the instructions would hold up."

Emma glared at him. "Great."

"We're alive. We're in Neverland Love, the land where no one ages... no one dies, and everyone forgets their life before. My dear, trust me, this is the perfect place for you and I to start fresh."

Emma attempted to detach herself from him. "There is no you and I. And I have no intention of forgetting anything." Hypercritical she realised, given the lip lock they'd just shared at a flat out spin in the clouds, but she could call that a moment of weakness that she didn't want to repeat.

"Give it time Love. You have forever now, I'm sure I'll grow on you." His confidence was starting to get under her skin she noted in irritation as he headed for dry land, a new swagger to his stride she noticed, apparently being in Neverland suited him.

They hiked through woods for an hour or so before they came across the coast line, Hook was oddly quiet, his eyes scanning the horizon as he gazed out over the ocean.

"Are you expecting something?" Emma came to stand beside him, squinting out against the sun, amazed at the crystal clear waters, she could almost imagine this place was a paradise... if it wasn't for all the pirates.

"Expecting... and not disappointed. Take a look Emma," he wrapped his arm around her waist tugging her into his side and pointing his hook out directing her eye line to the horizon. Our chariot awaits." Emma stared, watching the unmistakeable shape of a boat, complete with elaborate sails coming over the horizon.

"Please tell me that's not the Jolly Roger." Emma sighed, certain from the pleased grin she felt curling his lips as he kissed her temple that it was exactly what it was, his hand slid more firmly around her as she sought to detach them, side stepping out of his grasp. "Hands Hook." She warned.

"Hand actually my Lovely." He chuckled, not releasing his grasp on her with said hand. "And in this world, it is most definitely Captain Hook. Wouldn't want the boys to think I'd gone soft."

"More pirates?" Emma couldn't bring herself to sound enthusiastic about that, as the notion of just where and with who she was trapped with began to sink in like lead.

"Oh come now Love, I'll protect your honour." His leer made her more nervous than usual.

"What with your nonexistent honour?" Emma snapped back, feeling nervous as the ship grew closer and larger, it's black sail unmistakable. Pirate.

"I promised you Emma, we are on the same side. Have I lied?" he caught her arm, forcing her to meet his gaze.

"Not so far. I'll admit, you helped with Cora, Snow's back home; I'm in Nerverland safe and sound... so you say. But don't think we're friends Captain. You're still a pirate and your still out to get in my pants. So forgive me for not exactly trusting your 'honourable' intentions." Emma ripped her hand out of his.

Hook looked genuinely affronted, with his hand on his heart. "You wound me Emma."

"Touch me again, and it won't just be with words." Her promise only seemed to stir a new challenge in him if his wry smile meant anything. She had noticed the signs of his confidence growing with every step in this land that was clearly his, it was more important than ever that she stopped him in his tracks, whilst she still could with regards to their 'friendship' such as it was.

"Fair enough." He nodded, placing his hand behind his back and turning his attention to the steadily encroaching pirate ship. Emma came to stand beside him, keeping an arm's length away and not buying his acceptance act one bit, he'd sworn to her that he wasn't going to give up on the idea of her; he had never struck her as a man to walk away from a challenge. Now he had her entirely at his mercy, reliant on him for safety and shelter... she in no way imagined he thought he didn't have an advantage to press.

"How do they know your back in Nerverland, because I take it it's been a while?" she asked quietly, not entirely certain she wanted the answer.

Hook kept his eyes on the approaching vessel. "Pirate thing." He replied, not giving an inch.

"Bull! More likely it's some weird Neverland magic thing." Emma rolled her eyes, she was done with magic too, how on earth did people get by when strange unexplainable, uncontrollable things happened all around them, all the damn time. It was a control freaks hell.

Hook gave her a faintly impressed look. "Like I said, Pirate thing."

"Great." Emma muttered, clearly after her little reminder that she wasn't going to play along with his happy little wench fantasies, he'd decided to become uncommunicative.

"Emma. You seem to think you know much of what it is to be a pirate." He gave her a sideways look that made her stomach knot unpleasantly; he nodded, seeing her swallow with dawning comprehension. "I may be charming Love, but my men are not. Follow my lead, don't question my authority... and don't trust a word they say." His lips were pressed together in a grim line as he watched a rowboat begin to creep steadily towards them. "Mila thank the gods, never got the chance to experience what Neverland does to men like this... to men like me." He eyed her darkly. "Lucky you."