I would like to thank Johnny Storms Girl and Em-Jaye for reviewing, favoriting, and following the story! Once again, I really appreciate everyone for reading the story! It's become a labor of love, and I want to get it right for everyone. Thank you for your patience when I don't get on updating quickly! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. I watched the three episodes that are covered in this chapter so much that I've dreamed about them. Yeah. I wanted to get everything right and made sure I could make everything work as seamlessly as I hoped. Let me know what you guys think!

Enchanted Forest – Present

His usefulness was finally coming into play. He received word from Cora that it was time for him to play his part in everything. She warned him the group of women may see through his act, but he was to gain their trust through any means necessary. Once he joined their party, he was to send word and have Cora waiting for them at the beanstalk. Little did she know, he had an alternative plan; one that may very well end in his death.

He found it fitting that he had to hide himself amongst the dead bodies. Cora really had a flare for the dramatic; having ripped the entire camp's hearts out. Then she hid him. They had to find him, break up their little women's only club. She wanted them to need him. Only he could help them. Only he could lead them to Cora. He had to be honest with himself. He enjoyed the idea of someone needing him again. Laying underneath the bodies, he heard the women approaching. They were discussing Cora and Lancelot; what to tell everyone at camp. He looked at the dead man next to him. "How do you feel about Cora's betrayal, mate?" He paused as if the man were actually going to open his mouth and answer. "Yeah. Me too." He didn't have time to chuckle. The women were upon him.

"This can't be! Our land! We were protected here – hidden. How did the ogres find us?" Mulan questioned in almost a panic.

"Ogres didn't do this," Snow corrected her.

"What?" Mulan asked.

"Cora did. Their hearts, they were ripped out." Snow sounded so broken and earnest, and Killian wanted to laugh at her for it. Cora did say the fairest of them all was too compassionate. "This is her magic, twisted and evil. We have to stop her."

Show time. It had to be Killian's best performance yet. He needed to make them believe he had tricked Cora and managed to be spared. He had to be as pathetic as Cora wanted him to be. He had to play the character he'd been playing for what seemed like months now. Killian started to wave his hand, moaning as if he were actually trapped.

"Help," he forced out, and they noticed. "Oh go help!" He felt someone pulling him from the pile of bodies. "Please." He struggled to get free, gasped, and pretended he was terrified of Snow White's cherub face. How deceiving that face actually was. She told him that he was safe and she just seemed so sincere. "Thank you."

The princess that Phillip jabbered on about and that Swan girl helped him stand. His legs were convincingly shaky, and he trembled as he held onto them. They bought every second of it. As they helped him to a table, he realized one thing. They could help him get to Storybrooke just as well if not better than Cora could. When it came to loyalty, Killian placed it in whoever his best bet was. Cora was just as fickle. Whoever could help, she'd place her allegiance in but never her faith. She trusted him about as much as he trusted her. Like Killian, she planned everything ten or twenty steps ahead and for every possibility imaginable. If the women were as smart as Cora gave them credit for, then they couldn't be all that bad. They might even be helpful to him. They sat him at the table and then walked away from him.

"You definitely seen him before?" Emma asked.

"Yes," Mulan answered. "He's a blacksmith, came to our camp a couple months ago. He said he lost his hand in an ogre attack." She paused for a second. "Why would Cora leave a survivor?"

The four women stood off at a distance from Killian. They watched him warily, which he had expected. He rubbed at his eyes, pretending as if he were still in distress. He'd always been good at playing people. It was part of why Captain Finnegan kept him as part of the crew. He was good at stealing, great at fooling people. Well, he was good at fooling most people. Only one person could see through him. That was Isabel. She always told him how terribly transparent he was. No matter how many times he tested that theory, she could always call him out. "Some fearsome pirate you are," she'd giggle. For a brief moment, the hurt he displayed was real.

"I can't thank you enough for your kindness. Fortune, it seems, has seen fit to show me favor," Hook told the women as they finally approached him.

"An island full of corpses. You're the only one to escape. How exactly did that happen?" She didn't trust him. Maybe she was much smarter than he thought.

He looked up at her, trying to sound as pitiful as he could. He was going to have to do his absolute best with this Emma character. "She attacked at night – slaughtered everyone in one fell swoop. When she started ripping out people's hearts, I hid under the bodies of those who had already been killed. Pretended to be dead myself. Mercifully, the ruse worked."

"So much for fortune favoring the brave," Emma muttered.

"It was all I could do to survive," Killian defended himself.

Emma leaned in close to him. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I'm pretty good at knowing when someone is lying to me."

"I'm telling you the truth." He didn't really even know what the truth was. All he knew was his vengeance.

"We should leave here in case Cora decides to come back," Milan suggested as she looked around cautiously.

"We should start searching for a new portal back to Storybrooke. I only got about five minutes with my husband, not to mention my grandson," Snow said the last bit so nonchalantly, as if someone who looked so young could have a grandson.

"You have a grandson?" he asked slightly amused.

Snow shook her head. "Long story."

"Well, I know this land well. I can guide you." Killian started to stand, but Emma grabbed him by his hair and held a dagger to his throat. He fought the urge to tell her how that particularly trick had already been used on him, and he married the girl that did it. Of course, Emma seemed a little too abrasive for his liking.

"You're not going to guide us anywhere, until you tell us who you really are," she told him.

Killian swallowed as he scrambled to think about what he could possibly say to get her to believe him. What could he do? What kind of trust could he sew with Emma and the rest of the group? How could he prove he was worthy to join their party? Easy. He wouldn't. It became plain to him as he contemplated what he had seen of Emma. She didn't trust anyone. It didn't even seem like she trusted herself all that much. If he were hoping to gain her trust, he would fail miserably. He didn't like to fail. Failure was never an option for Killian. He had failed twice in his life, and both times he swore he would not fail again.

Widening his eyes, he tried not to speak so calmly. "Please. I assure you. I mean you now harm! I'm only a blacksmith!"

"Bullshit," Emma spat. "Cora wouldn't leave a survivor. It's a loose end, and I'm guessing she doesn't like loose ends."

Snow nodded in front of him, and he knew Emma looked to her for confirmation. From what he knew, Snow knew how Cora worked. She knew how Cora would think. Emma was new to the land, and where she wanted to go out with guns blazing, Snow took a more calculated approach. The blade left his throat. He thought she might have had a change of heart, but then Mulan grabbed one of his arms while Emma took the other. They led him over to a tree, tying him to it.

"You can't just leave me here!" Hook argued.

"Watch us," Emma told him.

He fought against the ropes. "I told you. I'm just a blacksmith."

"Sure you are," Emma nodded. Turning, she whistled loudly. Loud enough to alert the ogres. Their groans and growls echoed throughout the clearing. "Don't want to talk to us? Maybe you'll have something to say to the ogres. I'm sure they'll listen while they tear you apart." Thunderous footsteps approached them, and Emma didn't seem like she cared very much that she had put all five of them in danger. Gathering a few things, she motioned to the other three women. "Come on."

Killian watched them start to walk off, and he called for them to wait. They continued to walk away from him. Aurora was the only one naive enough to believe he might be telling the truth. Emma shut down Aurora's suggestion that Killian might be truthful, and he growled internally. "Good for you! You bested me! I can count the amount of people who've done that on one hand."

"That a joke?" Emma stepped closer to him. "Who are you really?"

"Killian Jones," he answered, "but most people have taken to call me by my more colourful moniker – Hook."

"Hook…" Snow said in disbelief.

"Check my satchel," he nodded to the bag Snow was holding. She reached inside, pulling the silver hook from the bag.

Emma was still a bit skeptical, "As in, Captain Hook?"

"Ah," he mused. "So you've heard of me."

Emma stepped even closer to him. She wore a slightly more menacing look on her face, though Killian wasn't buying it. "You better hurry up. They're getting closer. So, unless you want to be dinner, you better start talking."

"Cora wanted me to gain your trust, so I could learn everything there is to know about your Storybrooke. She didn't want any surprises when she finally got over there," he told them.

"She can't get there. We destroyed the wardrobe," Emma corrected Killian.

"Ah, but the enchantment remains," he smirked at her. "Cora gathered the ashes. She's going to use them to open up a portal. Now, if you'll kindly cut me loose."

"No!" Mulan interjected. "We should leave him here to die. To pay for all the lives that he took."

Killian glared at Mulan. "That was Cora, not me."

"Let's go," Emma spoke up.

The four women started to leave again. Killian was not going to meet his end at the hands of a bunch of smelly ogres. " Wait. Wait! You need me alive."

Emma turned around quickly. "Why?"

"Because we both want the same thing – to get back to your land," he answered.

"You would say anything to save yourself. Why are we supposed to believe you now?" Emma asked.

"I arranged for transport with Cora. But, seeing how resourceful you are, I'll offer you the same deal. I'll help you, if you promise to take me along," he told her.

He then told them about a certain compass that Cora sought. The compass would help Cora get to Storybrooke through the portal. Without the compass, Cora would end up anywhere. The compass made the destination a little more specific. Killian was a little unsure of where exactly this new plan might take him. Sure he planned on betraying Cora in the first place, but there was something he hadn't really planned on. Emma Swan. She was unpredictable. While he planned on Snow putting up a fight, he hadn't really expected her daughter to be so much like her. Then again, Emma didn't seem the meek and mild type like Aurora. She was a warrior like Mulan and Snow. He could see it written all over her. There were things she fought in her life. She was fighting to get home to her son. She was fighting for her family.