Journey to find the Children,

Day One.

Early Morning, 05:00

A single bean. That is all we have, which means we've not enough for the way back with the children of Storybrooke. Wherever we go we may get stuck; but if I know the dynamics of this particular team, we will find a way.

I have to hand it to the Crocodile… he practically ripped his shop into bits in search of an old bottle that held a single bean, one he kept, in his own words, for a rainy day, and which he had stolen from Zelena before the second curse dragged everyone back to Storybrooke while I searched for Swan in New York. But after Bae passed, he stashed it away, hoping never to have to make use of it.

I have to say I have never been more grateful to Rumplestiltskin.

So here we all are, readying ourselves to journey into a realm none of us has ever seen. I feel rather unsure that this steel beast of a vessel will hold, even if Emma, Regina dna the Dark One have cast a protector spell on it. She's a large one, larger than my Jolly, far heftier, but with enough room to bring back the many infants that have gone astray. I am the Captain once more. And while I must say I missed the position, I hate the circumstances that led me back to the helm of a ship.

We shall depart at exactly oh-five hundred and thirty hours, before the sun rises.

It took every effort on my part to try and work the ways of this steel monster of a ship. It is tragic that this realm does not manufacture wooden ships any more; they are far lighter, easier to maneuver and can gain unbelievable speeds, drafted by the wind… and with the proper magic, sometimes they fly.

I've not had any proper repose in days, neither my lady Swan nor I. How can we even dare to think of doing so? Our children are gone; we know not of their whereabouts, their health and worst of all, whether or not they live at all. I am inclined to believe so… but hope is a fickle friend and an even more fickle ally. It's usually the first to jump ship and desert you.

Both Swan and I know how it feels to lose hope… and I fear that, should we lose our little ones and our Henry… we might lose ourselves. I pray not.

The journey begins soon. I must be sound of mind and at the ready for this. I pray this may not be my final entry, for we have no clue where the bean will take us to… But regardless of our fate, if we go down, at least I will go down with my Swan… and my friends. I pray to Ursula tat she will grant us a calm sea…

Day One.

Early Morning, 06:49

This is a heavy, heavy ship. But, I would lie if I said that it hasn't been fun to Captain it. I had to learn that these ships are not wind and ocean-current powered; they are equipped with their own engines. Unstealthy, unsightly and damn hard to stir through portals, it seems. But here we sit, in the calmest ocean I have ever seen in my life, under a beautiful night sky, clad with billions of very unfamiliar stars… and the lights of a not so distant harbor stirring to life.

This I feel must be the harbor of the realm of Hamelin.

As always, my Emma was right… and she has once again steered us all in the right direction. Ah, that savior of ours! I have always been proud of her, but never more than now. Except maybe when she took the white witch on.

I love that woman.

Marco provided us with a smaller vessel, made of wood in the fashion of the old couriers of the Enchanted forest. It can hold fifty seated souls and is far less conspicuous looking than the very unsightly large ship that brought us all here. Regina has cast a cloaking spell on that massive ship; we are not about to raise awareness of our presence.

The Dark One has taken a scouting trip under an invisibility spell, to get a sense of the fashions of this realm, so we can blend in and start asking around.

Gods, I miss my little ones! I sometimes wake to the sound of Emma sobbing softly… and I hold her to me, I promise her that we will find them, get them back in one piece. And as soon as she has conciliated with her woe and achieves sleeping once more, it is I who begins to weep into the early hours of the morning.

I have become terribly used to the early shuffling noises of Henry readying himself for school, placing pop tarts in that magical little toasting box and shouting a happy "see-yah guys" as he exits on his way to his educational institution. I hear a deafening silence, devoid of Liam's delightful talkative gibberish and the cooing sounds of my little princess. We've each other, though; I am proud to say that this grievously poignant affair has, if anything, reminded us of how important we are to one another. It seems to have had the same effect on the Charmings and the … Stiltskins, if that's what they're called.

Day one

Dusk, 19:04

So far, we have been able to secure a communal room at an inn; this realm is surprisingly similar to the Enchanted Forest. Emma claims that she can perceive this place also has magic, albeit she claims it to feel irregularly odd… she tried to practice with a mild fireball, and she managed, albeit the fireball was… alas, pink. And cool. Cold fire.

Nobody really knows much about the rules of magic in this world.

We arrived in a single party earlier in the day and were welcomed by a rather shabby looking bluejacket that looked eerily familiar to a crewmember of mine that I had thought lost at sea over a century before Neverland. He tugged us in and welcomed us to Hamelin… and looked scared and saddened out of his bloody mind. But he took one look at me and… well, turns out he WAS that sailor I lost to the whims of nature. He smiled at me and just jumped. Begged me to take him with me, wherever I went, anywhere, except here.

I suppose it must be fortune smiling down on us that we found my old sailor; he was more than willing to talk, as long as we found a private setting. He accompanied us to the town and found us a decent inn. Currency was to be an issue: We all had gold from the Enchanted forest, but he swiftly took it from us and traded it at a very underground trader's for some gold of this realm.

Something's off here.

There are also no children around, not one giggle to be seen.

Travis Bailey (That was the sailor's name) sat with us at the inn, over a beer, and spoke of the nature of this town.

"Aye, Cap'n… here there be all the wealth a pirate's mind can dare dream of. But don't be fooled, sir. The wealth of this town has taken a heavy toll on the hearts of many a townsfolk. These coins you now hold in your hand in exchange for the ones you brought hither from your realm, they stem from the mountains that lie beyond the town. There are all sorts of magical beings there, elves, pixies, goblins, trolls…. And a sorcerer. One that wields a power far greater than any I've ever seen." He swallowed, looked around and craned his head to me. "His home sits atop the largest deposit of gold in the known universe, Cap'n. And he controls it; the trade, manufacture of goods… and extraction. There are never enough hands, never enough miners to cover the massive demands of the greedy wizard that controls this village and its surrounding realm. Once there were dwarves… and they were worked to death. The shafts, they say, are small… and no grown man would ever fit through them… so he… he…"

"He took the children…" I closed my eyes.

"Indeed, sir. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them." He nodded. "Many mothers still wonder whether their babes still live. Alas, over the side of the ridge that marks the end of the blackened gold mountain, is a stack of skeletons… wee ones, Sir." He gulped. "Many of the little ones have perished. And since there are no more infants in Hamelin, I believe he has taken to stealing babes from other realms."

So that's where my children were… a mine.

"And why hasn't anyone confronted him?" Belle quipped.

"He's… far too powerful, m'lady." He shook his head. "We know only of one wizard who might just be able to vanquish him. Alas, the price of the Piper's death is steep. Far too steep. For his very life is rooted on the very gold he sits upon. The only feasible way of doing so is… by destroying the mountain…"

Snow gasped. "But the children!"

"Aye, Ma'am. That is the reason why."

"So, the Pied Piper IS the wizard." Emma frowned.

"Indeed."

"Bailey…" I leaned in. "There's one matter that remains unresolved…" I swallowed. "I can understand where he'd want younglings to crawl and dig through the tunnels. That is barbaric enough. But…" I blinked. "Two of my three children are but infant babes. One is barely able to toddle and the other, well, she's but a wee little girl, in her swaddling blanket, still."

"What does he need babies for?" Rumple completed my thoughts.

Bailey closed his eyes. "Skipper… It is believed he… grows the wee boys to work the mines… but the lasses…" he shook his head and swallowed. "He…"

"He what?" David cut in.

Bailey sighed deep. "You must know, highness… there is no greater energy than love. After that, it is innocence. If consumed…"

"It makes you invincible…." Regina added.

"Innocence… was the main ingredient for Zelena to open her time portal." Rumple nodded. "It is a magical essence so hard to come by, that the only way to absorb its power into a human body is… by…"

We all knew the answer. Swan gasped and I saw her contain her tears.

The Dark One and I nearly toppled backwards. He had his little Milah and my Lizzie… BLOODY HELL IS THIS EVEN REALITY? We were the most loathsome, feared villains once, and not one of us would have even thought of ingesting wee baby girls! I could have sworn Belle was short of losing it. But Swan, terrified as she was, stood up and nearly knocked the inn table over. "My daughter's not about to become ANYONE'S lunch. We're here to get them all out of here, take them home and put an end to this son of a bitch. His reign of terror is over."

Bailey grinned. "All due respect, m'lady… only one very powerful wizard known through the realms has the necessary skill to weaken him enough to penetrate his defenses and destroy that evil gold mine from it's very core."

"There's three wizards here, buddy." Regina growled. "Take your pick."

He sighed. "Only the real Savior can get the job done."

I couldn't help smiling. Emma nodded. "Yeap. That would be me."

Bailey furrowed his brow at me and smiled. "You… espoused the Savior, Cap'n? Not bad for a pirate scoundrel."

I nodded with a grin.

"Aye…. But nobody's to destroy that bloody hell hole until we figure out a way to get the children out of there… all of them."

"Aye aye, skip. Only, for now, it's advisable to sleep. The Piper scouts the realm at night. The daytime is his time to admire and sulk in his pools of gold. It is safer to find the children during the daytime. I suggest you remain here, at the inn."

So here we will be till… tomorrow. As soon as the first golden rays of the sun touch this cursed horizon, we will make haste to the mountains, past the hills… and into the reign of the Pied Piper. For now, whether we can stomach the notion of what he usues baby girls for, we have to gather our strength.

Swan and I did not. We made love. We are still unsure how we managed with the anguish in our hearts, but it felt like the right thing to do.

Love binds. We WILL find our wee ones and our teenage boy… and all his friends.

I just wonder how many realms we'll need to visit to deliver the babes back into the arms of their loving parents?