Past

"Well, well," the witch smiled sinisterly at the two royals standing tensely in front of her. "There's no need to fear me darlings. I'm only here on the grounds of peace on this joyous day with the presentation of a gift."

"We don't want anything from you," the queen spat, clutching the shoulder of her husband protectively. "Leave Maleficent. You are not welcome in this kingdom."

"This kingdom?" she questioned, raising an arched brow. She eyed the queen carefully, circling the royal couple slowly and daringly. "You mean the kingdom that was mine? The one that your people took from me when they chained me down and burned off my wings?" She approached the two closely, looking at them with bitter eyes. "I am only reclaiming what was stolen from me."

Maleficent paused, enamored by the intense buzzing coming from the queen's presence. She surveyed the queen's fearful eyes. She took a step towards her, but her husband, the king, stepped in front of her, facing the witch. "Don't you dare touch her."

Coming to the realization of their secret, the fallen fairy chuckled darkly. "Well, what do we have here?" She eyed the queen's belly with curiosity. "Or should I say who?" she grinned.

"Guards!" the king demanded. A swarm of armed guards entered the throne room, but it was too late; the dark fairy had disappeared in a cloud of green smoke. They were safe, for now.

"Stefan," the queen muttered in a trembling voice, tears filling her brown eyes. She collapsed against her husband, clutching her stomach with fear. The king held his queen in his arms, powerless against the reality of the situation.

"Shhh… Leah. We're going to be alright," King Stefan whispered into his wife's ear, comforting her.

Present

A gentle morning breeze danced through the open room, inviting white curtains in its daylight waltz. Birds chirped their morning hymn, shyly hidden in the verdant canopy. Other Neverland creatures arose lazily from their slumber in the dark jungle. Rays of warm daylight streamed through the open window of the treehouse, kissing the soft, tanned skin of a fair maiden, bare and beautiful, hidden beneath a mess of white blankets and entwined limbs on a sea of pillows and mattress - Neverland's beloved and bright flower.

Andy opened her tired brown eyes, taken aback by the intensity of the daylight. She let out an exhausted groan, stretching out her sore limbs. Her eyes widened in fear and embarrassment as she remembered the events of the prior night when she felt a pair of two strong arms wrapped around her bare torso. Turning her head to her left, she saw the sleeping face of Peter Pan, lost in dreams, a gentle devil. Blood rushed to her cheeks, discomfiting her entire body. Feeling her soft body tense up, the corner of Pan's mouth pulled up into a smug smirk. "No need to feel insecure A; it's nothing I haven't seen," he commented. His voices was dry and groggy, and his hair was messy.

Andy let out an irritated sigh. "Shut up Pan," she spat, quickly jumping out of the warm bed to find her clothes. Pan took the opportunity to prop himself up and entertain himself with Andy's temper.

"You were unhinged last night," he grinned, placing his arms behind his head on the headboard of the bed.

"Shut up Pan," Andy repeated with more force. "We don't do morning talks, remember?"

"I wouldn't consider this a 'morning talk.' It's not like we're cuddling or anything," he defended.

Pulling her shirt over her body, she glared back at him. "It's morning. We're talking. Hence, 'morning talk.' I'd rather not."

She found her pants and quickly pulled them up, not wanting to deal with Pan's conventional innuendos this morning. The entire situation was embarrassing enough.

"So what are you doing today?" Pan asked casually.

"Whatever you have planned for me," she answered robotically.

A satisfied grin stretched onto Pan's face. "That's more like it A. Well, today I'm going to pay a little visit to our Dark One. It looks like he's travelling separately from the pack, the lone wolf. Figures."

Andy rolled her eyes. "And what is it that I'm doing today?"

"Surveillance," Pan decided. "I know you like that sort of stuff. Our cute, little Storybrooke group is having trouble locating my compound. I want you to keep tabs on them and Hook; I'm interested in offering him a little deal. When I'm ready, and when you're ready, I need you to do a little acting."

"Got it," she said simply. She began to climb down the ladder.

"And A," he called out before she disappeared into the day.

"Yes."

"Please don't get caught," he requested. "I don't want to be cleaning up any other unnecessary messes."

Past

"You're going to be having twins. Two girls," the Blue Fairy reported as the blue glow on the queen's enlarged stomach faded away.

Tears of joy filled the king and queen's eyes, hands enclosed in one another. "My daughters," the king managed, kissing his queen atop of her blonde head.

"Congratulations-" the Blue Fairy started, but was interrupted with the loud arrival of her apprentices. They wore worried looks upon their faces. "Flora, what is it?"

The red fairy, the leader Flora, spoke first. "It's Maleficent." The eyes of the Blue Fairy grew wide as well as the king and queen.

"She's planning a curse," Merryweather, the blue fairy, added. Queen Leah brought a hand to her mouth, letting out a muffled and pained sob, collapsing into the shoulder of King Stefan.

"A sickness curse," Fauna, the green fairy, said. The three fairies lowered their heads sadly, allowing the king and queen to express their woes and sorrows.

"How long?" King Stefan demanded, in a shaky, uneven voice.

"Until the birth of your twin daughters," Flora concluded.

"What else do you know?"

"Maleficent plans to take the two of your daughters," Fauna muttered in a grave voice. "She wants to take away your happiness."

"NO!" Queen Leah roared in a broken voice. She would not allow the witch to win. She did not care about what happened to her. So long as her two daughters were safe and happy, she would be happy. "Stefan, there has to be another way. I don't care! I don't care! We need to ensure that our daughters will be safe."

"What is that we need to do?" he asked his queen.

"We need to go to him."

Present

Andy nonchalantly made her way through the Neverland jungle, trying to enjoy her stroll as much as she could in order to purge the events of last night from her mind. Yes, she was Pan's slave. However, as much as she detested everything about it, she had absolutely no power in possession in order to remedy the situation; she was trapped under Pan's thumb.

Her mind drifted off into an array of scattered thoughts. How long had she been in. Neverland? She was 19; she knew that much. But how long had she been 19? She had lost track. She couldn't even remember her life before Neverland because she had invested so much of her time thinking about her future life outside of the island once she escaped. Despite being titled "Lost Girl," how could she be lost if she still had the hope of leaving? Not once had she heard the eerie melody of Pan's pipes, no matter how much force he and Felix used against her to manifest the broken and Lost Girl inside of her. She had not given up.

She began to step silently when she heard the distinct murmur of voices of the Storybrooke group. Finding a nearby tree which overlooked a clearing, she began to climb. Nearing the first branch, she began to see their small settlement; it was rather empty. She could only see the pixie cut woman, her husband David, and Emma Swan. Regina and Hook were absent. She could see that their clothes were slightly singed from Andy's little seaside spectacle. She assumed that they avoided any large casualties due to magic, most likely Regina's now that Andy knew she was the Evil Queen back in the Enchanted Forest.

Andy listened in on the conversation between David and his wife. "Snow, I don't trust Hook. Once a pirate, always a pirate." Snow White.

"David, I know," she said, holding David's arm. "But we have to trust Emma. She's right. We're not going to get anywhere if we don't work together. We have to have hope in her."

David smiled weakly down at Snow and nodded. "You're right. But that doesn't mean I'm going to go around playing patty cake with him." Snow smiled at David and rolled her eyes.
Emma emerged from the lush greenery staring at a piece of parchment, looking confused and troubled. Snow and David immediately went to her side. "Emma what is it?" Snow asked, worry written upon her face. "What is that?"

Emma snapped out of her dazed trance and met the worried eyes of her parents. "Pan," she said in a low voice, paranoid that he was somewhere watching her every moves. Andy remained dead silent from her perch in the tree.

"He gave this to you?" David asked, eyebrows furrowed at the sight of the blank parchment. "I don't understand."

"He told me it's a map," Emma said.

"But it's blank," Snow pointed out.

"He said it would show me the way to Henry once I stopped denying who I truly was," she said in a frustrated sigh. She walked away from her parents, finding a spot to sit on log in front of the flameless fire pit.

"And who are you?" Snow asked, joining Emma on the log.

Emma looked genuinely confused. "I don't know. I don't know who I am. I'm just Emma," she said in a small, disappointed voice. "I'm just Emma."

"It's okay," David comforted. "Just take your time; we won't pressure you." The two walked away from the blonde, who concentrated on the blank parchment in her hands. She closed her eyes and mumbled incoherent words. Andy leaned in closer to try and listen, but her foot lost its ground on the tree branch, causing Andy to fall from her safe haven onto the cold Neverland soil. Taken aback from the impact of the fall, her head swirled with black clouds as her dark eyelashes fluttered to a close.

Past

The Queen held the hand of the King tightly, as if she were about to lose consciousness. They walked briskly, hoods over their heads, through the dark hallway whose walls were adorned with bizarre and abnormal decorations ranging from a single lock of hair to the helm of sword. Their eyes were glued to the dark wooden floor below them, one step at a time.

"I don't think this is a good idea, my queen," King Stefan pleaded, not daring to meet her gaze.

"Stefan, what other options do we have?" she disclosed in a hushed tone. "We have none. We're doing what's best for our daughters."

King Stefan couldn't muster a response, for he was frozen with the uncertainty of the future storm. He only bowed his head sadly and retreated back to silence.

They reached the end of the dark hallway. Queen Leah raised an unsteady hand to the cherry oak door, but stopped when a loud, snickering voice filled the room. "Come on in dearies! Don't be shy," the high voice laughed as the cherry oak door swung open, revealing a green, scaly man with large reptile-like eyes, twiddling his long, spidery fingers in a feverish manner. "Rumplestiltskin, at your service!" The reptile man bowed theatrically with a grand maniacal grin stretched upon his scaly face.

The two royals observed the strange man in both wonder and horror. Neither one dared to speak first.

Rumplestiltskin danced around the frozen pair, humored by their fear. "Well I'm not gonna bite if that's what you're thinking. I've just finished my supper," he sang, twirling around them. "Oh, I see what you're playing at here. Business is business. Well, let's get to it. How can I, Rumplestiltskin, be of service?"

Breathless, Queen Leah spoke first. "We want to make a deal," she stated firmly with no hint of fear or shakiness in her voice.

A devilish glint flashed across the reptile's darkened eyes. "And what sort of deal are we talking about dearie?" he inquired.

The Queen inhaled sharply. "We want your protection."

"Do I look like a fairy godmother to you?" he sneered, narrowing his large eyes into slits.

"No," the Queen said, taken aback. "There's this witch, and she's planned an evil curse to destroy our kingdom."

"Your kingdom," he articulated, savoring the words slowly like a fine, aged wine. "Well, I am honored to hold such royalty within my palace!"

Light filled the Queen's brown eyes. "So you'll do it."

"Eh, no," Rumplestiltskin said bluntly, turning away from the two abruptly to pace back and forth across his grand dining hall.

"What? What do you mean?" the Queen demanded, following after him.

"This curse, what is this curse?" he inquired, still pacing.

"An illness curse," the Queen responded, observing him with pleading eyes.

"An illness curse, you say," he repeated, still pacing. "An illness curse to sweep the entire land of your kingdom-" His train of thoughts halted when he heard a furious buzzing sound coming from the Queen. He turned slowly and looked into her eyes, searching furiously for an answer. He closed his eyes and lowered his head, nearing the belly of the Queen. "Oh joy!" he exclaimed when the Queen's secret manifested itself in front of him. "You are with child!" The King stepped in front of the Queen protectively while Rumplestiltskin giggled with mad delight. "Oh this is absolutely splendid! Terrific!" He waved his arms into the air fervently. "Well, with this news, I have good news for you!" A look of hope spread across the faces of the King and Queen. "I can offer my protection services to you." The Queen let out a cry of joy as tears of happiness filled her soft eyes. "But, there is a catch," he warned in a grave voice, holding up a spidery, green finger.

"What is it?" the King demanded, holding the silenced Queen in his arms.

"I cannot offer my protection services to all. After all, I am the only Dark One," he giggled, waving his fingers like the legs of a spider.

"What does this mean?" the Queen muttered.

"This means that I can only protect a selected number of individuals; I can only protect the two most important people in the kingdom."

Hope fell from the King and Queen's faces. To abandon their people in a time of crisis would mean to abandon their responsibilities as leaders of the kingdom. However, to stand by their people would mean to stand by them in death and deny their daughters the opportunity of life. Either decision was out of selfishness, but which one was to the extreme degree?

"I'll let you two talk," Rumplestiltskin said, bowing and retreating to the red arm chair by his fireplace.

"Leah," King Stefan began.

"Our daughters," Queen Leah mustered out in a dry voice. "Our daughters."

"But what about our people?"

"But our daughters." She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence because the thought of her daughters never living to see the sunshine or the other beauties of the world sickened her stomach. "We can't do this to our daughters."

"But we can't do this to our people either Leah," King Stefan.

"There has to be another way."

"You said there was no other way, but the way of the Dark One Leah! You told me we were deprived of all other options."

The Queen remained silent, torn by the reality of the impending situations. She closed her eyes, allowing the tears to spill and pour down her beautiful, sad face. "A curse can be broken."

"What?"

"Any curse can be broken," she whispered.

"How?"

"The most powerful magic of all - true love."

Present

Andy groaned when she began to stir from the blackness of her fall. Her head pounded intensely like an archaic tribal drum during the performance of a passionate ritual. She felt that her arms were behind her back, entwined in rope by an obvious expert. She inwardly laughed at her predicament. This sort of thing was supposed to be her job, after all.

Eyes still shut, she listened to her surroundings to assess the situation. Directly in front of her, she could hear the crunching of twigs and dead leaves by a pair of boots. She didn't dare to open her eyes just yet, at least until her bindings were loosened by another expert.

She waited until the right moment, and unveiled the curtains to her warm, honey orbs, absorbing the intensity of the daylight streaming through the seams of the green canopy. Brown met blue in an intense gaze. "Good morning Sleeping Beauty," the pirate jested, revealing a striking white smile. If Andy wasn't in her current situation, her insides might have done a flip. Aware of his abilities and charisma, he gave the fiery brunette a wink. "Did you have a nice sleep?"

Brown eyes narrowed at the captain, she proclaimed in a firm voice. "I am no princess."

Hook chuckled. She had fire. "Of course not, Pan's girl."

Blood boiling at his bold statement, she stated in a deadly, low voice, "I am not Pan's girl."

Enamored by her spunk, he moved closer to the brunette sitting against the tree, bending down to meet her eye-level. He brought her face to his and observed her features. Andy inhaled sharply and held the air in her lungs, heart beat racing at his warm proximity. She met his blue gaze boldly, not faltering. His black hair was tousled and messy, and the black scruff on his face had thickened. Despite the dirt, her beauty radiated brightly through the grimy layer. He lightly traced a finger down her jaw and danced a single finger through the ropes of her dark braid, making her cringe from the electric current flowing between their two bodies. "Touchy," he quipped, standing up.

Andy quietly released the breath she had kept in captivity. "What do you want?" she demanded, trying her best not to sound breathless or pathetic.

"I only wanted to finally meet the infamous Lost Girl of Neverland, the assassin," he said in an innocent voice, flashing her the puppy dog look.

Andy scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Alright. You've met me face to face. Now what?" she questioned, arching her eyebrow at him.

"You blew up my ship," he stated in a small voice, humor coating his telegraphic words.

"I was only doing what needed to be done," Andy defended, eyes narrowing.

"And blowing up my ship was absolutely mandatory?" he asked incredulously.

"I don't make the orders; I carry them out."

"So you can't tell Pan, 'No. Sorry. Don't feel like it'?"

"Not if I don't want to be a dead assassin," she said with a deadpanned look.

This girl was interesting. His grin had not faltered. "Now, you give me some answers."

"But I asked the first question. Formality and code of honor, captain," she spat. "What do you want? Why am I here?"

"Oh, so my reputation precedes me?" he asked, pride clear in his voice.

"Answer my question," Andy demanded stoically, looking at him with a dead look. She might as well have just left by now since her bindings were loose; listening to him augment his ego was not on Andy's bucket list of things to do before she left Neverland once and for all.

"I love the rigidness to the sound of that. Chills. Alright love, code of honor says I shall," he replied, giving a small bow.

"What do you want?" she repeated.

"I wanted to meet you," he said, holding his right hand over his heart.

"Shut up," she scoffed.

"Well, it's true."

"Partially."

"Now onto my question: Why did you blow up my ship?"

"Simple. Pan asked me to," she answered simply, a satisfied smirk spreading across her face. "A personal message from Pan himself."

"Ambiguity will get us nowhere, love," he tested, eyes slightly narrowing now that she had the upper hand in this little game of theirs.

"And questioning the negligible problem will achieve nothing but frustration," she shot back, smug. "You started it captain." Hook wetted and pursed his lips, hand on his hips. She knows how to play. Pan's trained her well. "Now, if we actually want to achieve something effectual, then I suggest you either change your game board or get another piece because I might die of boredom."

"Oh we wouldn't want to waste such a beautiful face, would we?"

"Hm. Charming," she commented.

"No that's David," Hook said, slightly humored.

"Then what are you?"

"I'm the devilishly handsome pirate," he grinned broadly. Andy rolled her eyes. "I see your angle, assassin. Nice try at my game, but flattery will get us nothing but inflated confidences. Would you like me to untie you love? Or do you prefer this sort of situation?"

Andy smirked at the pirate. "No need, love," she mocked with a sweet smile. "I untied myself ten minutes ago." She pulled her arms from behind her back, revealing the loose bindings. She lazily tossed them to the side and folded her arms across her chest with a smug smile. "But I'll stay to hear you out."

Hook laughed and shook his head. "My, my, we've got ourselves a little vixen. I'm impressed." Why was he not concerned that an assassin was loose? Andy was a little offended that Hook didn't seem to be intimidated by her surprise. He reached into his coat, and Andy tensed up. Sensing her defensive nature, he held up his hook in peace. "No need to stir, love." He revealed a flask in his hand. He bit off the cork with his teeth, eyeing Andy dangerously, daringly. He took a swig from the liquid and passed it over to Andy. Hesitantly, she grabbed the flask, not breaking eye contact with the captain. She sniffed the unknown liquid. Rum. Of course. Relaxed, she downed a gulp of the liquor. "Well, the little tiger has claws, doesn't she?"

"I'm not little," Andy defended, irritated.

"No. No you are not," Hook muttered incoherently under his liquor-laced breath with an unreadable gleam in his eye.

"Ok fine. Then let's get serious," Andy decided, handing the flask of rum back to the captain. Hook raised an eyebrow as she cleared her throat. "You first."

"Why are you the only Lost Girl on this island?"

"I don't know that answer to that. All I know is that I was dying, and then I wasn't because Pan decided to spare my life. In return, I'm forever in his debt, which truly sucks. Why are you, Captain Hook, travelling with this Storybrooke group? You don't strike me as a team player, so why are you pretending to be one? In other words, what's in it for you to go against Pan?"

Hook held his tongue, debating on whether or not to answer that question. "I do not know that correct response to that question, but Emma Swan convinced me to act otherwise. Are you loyal to Pan?"

"Only out of a life debt, meaning there's no other way to repay it other than to serve him for a lifetime. To be honest though, I expected him to eliminate my presence from the island a long time ago, about a week after my arrival here. This Emma Swan, the savior, what's special about her?"

"She's the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. She broke a sleeping curse that originated in the Enchanted Forest and transported its residents to a land without magic. Why didn't Pan choose to eliminate you immediately?"

"He wanted something which I owned. Why is the savior special to you?"

"She's not," Hook lied. "Why would Pan want you to eliminate us?"

"I don't know. Maybe because you're in the way of his mastermind plan. Pan never fails."

"It appears so," he said distantly, releasing a saddened sigh. What was it about this pirate that is so frustrating and enthralling?

"Why should I not kill you if Pan asks me to?"

Hook's eyes hardened at the abruptness of her question. Hidden beneath her beautiful exterior was someone dangerous, someone wild. "Because I can offer you something that Pan doesn't have."

"What is it?"

Hook clicked his tongue and wagged a finger at her. "Formality, assassin. It's not your turn now. Can I trust you?"

"Depends," Andy shrugged. "You should be aware of the fact that in order to survive Neverland, you have to work alone; you should know this captain because you should be familiar with the game of Neverland. If my life were on the line and Pan asked me to kill you and your group for the sake of my survival, I would choose my own survival. So, don't be surprised or feel betrayed because you know if you were in my position, you would do the same. We're a lot alike Hook."

"Aye love," Hook agreed, now cautious of the assassin in front of him.

"My turn. What is it you can offer me?" Andy pushed. "Why should I choose you over Pan?"

"Other than my obvious good looks, I can offer you something that any Lost One wants - a place to belong. I can offer you that. I can offer you a path, one that leads to a home. I can give you a way out, your way out of Neverland. Your freedom."