2. HOW IT ALL STARTED.

"Neal!" was the first word they heard from the strange pirate ship that had appeared in the horizon moments before. Mulan, Phillip, Neal and her had watched it approach to the shore until it finally stopped and six people approached them from it. One of them, the blonde that had screamed ran desperately to hug (and what a hug!) the latest addition to their small group. A ten-year-old boy joined them screaming "Dad!". After them, another familiar face came: Snow White, hand in hand with a man who couldn't be another but her husband, the famous Prince James. Another woman walked before them, Aurora and Phillip recognized her: she was King Leopold's wife; she had been to their kingdoms many times with her husband (wasn't she who had cast the curse?). Finally, they realized that there was an old man with them, who seemed to be thinking about how to approach them and was just staring at Neal with wet eyes. The kid noticed that:

"Grandpa, he's alive! Come here" he said approaching Rumplestiltskin and taking his arm. The old man tried to resist:

"Henry, I don't think..."

"Papa" said Neal, who hadn't moved from the spot. That could be just his imagination, but Mr. Gold would swear that his son was about to cry. For a moment nobody said anything. The tense silence was broken by Emma, who whispered "go" to her boyfriend. Still hesitating, he walked a couple of footsteps.

"Let's go grandpa" Henry insisted and tried to make the old man move towards his son, but it wasn't necessary because Neal started to run (as fast as you can run in the sands of the beach) and hugged his father.

"Bae... I..." for the first time in a really long time Mr. Gold didn't know what to say. His tears started to run down his face. "I'm so sorry."

"Doesn't matter... doesn't matter" said Baelfire trying not to cry. "You've come" he kept hugging his father. "You've kept your promise."

Nobody spoke for a couple of minutes, no one felt the necessity to break that silence, which wasn't tense anymore... until a new voice came from the ship.

"I am the captain! Why haven't you told me anything about this?"

Nine pairs of eyes stared at the man who was also staring at them from aboard.

"Hook" whispered Neal "What is he doing here?"

"It's a long story" answered his girlfriend.

"Can we trust him?" asked Mulan, who hadn't spoken in a while.

"I guess so" said James. "In fact, he's been resting since he helped us in may fights and was hurt."

During that small conversation, Killian had come to the beach and approached them.

"Baelfire... I thought you were dead" he said, looking at Neal, who gave him a cold glance. "I... I'm glad you are alive."

"Thank you" he answered with the same cold tone. The pirate noticed the rest of the people who were there.

"Ladies" he bowed to Aurora and Mulan with a smile. "It's always a pleasure."

"Stay away from them!" Phillip warned him. "I know what you did" he looked at Aurora meaningfully.

"You must be Prince Phillip... The typical handsome, gentle, brave and boring prince. It's a pleasure." said the pirate. Immediately he was punched by Phillip.

"Please, can we behave as civilized people?" Mr Gold asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry" the prince apologized "It's just that..."

"Don't worry, I think we all understand you" answered James.

The night fell and the Jolly Roger's crew were guided to the refuge Mulan and the rest had built near the beach. The Fairytale Land was exactly as Mary Margaret and Emma reminded from their last visit. Their hosts gave them some food and soon started to ask them about their adventures. They told them how they had saved Henry from Peter Pan and how their adventure had ended up in another unexpected place: Avalon.

"Greg and Tamara had more magic beans hidden" explained Charming "And Emma was hurt in the battle..." he did a pause and stared at his daughter "Really hurt."

"We didn't need to think twice. We had the beans and my friend..." Mary Margaret breathed deeply "Lancelot had told me about that magic island, Avalon. Its waters are the same as Lake Nostos`"

"So we went there and could save Emma" continued her husband. "Though it wasn't easy. We had to fight many creatures there. We were lucky to have Hook in our team" the captain didn't say anything, he just kept drinking silently.

"And how did you come here?" asked Neal, really intrigued.

"Avalon doesn't take you where you want to be, it takes you when you need to be" answered his father.

"You just have to sail away from the island and it will take you there... whatever 'there' means" ended Regina.

"We all thought that we were returning to Storybrooke, but, obviously, we needed to come here" added Emma, taking Neal's hand.

After the dinner, they kept talking about everything: Storybrooke, how Phillip had been rescued, Neverland, Avalon... until Henry fell asleep in his father's arms.

"Well, I think we all should go to sleep. It's been a long day." said Charming. Everyone agreed.

"You can come to the Jolly Roger if you want" said Emma to the smaller group.

"You don't have to go there, you can spend the night here" said Phillip.

The visitors decided to take his advice. The refuge was comfortable enough, but small, so Aurora was trapped between Mulan and Emma. Suddenly, she felt how someone was moving and opened her eyes. She saw how Killian got up and walked outside. He had been so serious during all the night, so opposite to the one she had known that, after being thinking about it for some minutes (he could be plotting something, he was a pirate after all), Aurora decided to trust what Snow's family had said about him and went out to look for him. She hadn't forgotten that he'd had mercy upon her when he'd been working with Cora. Maybe something was bothering him and needed someone to talk to. She tried not to wake her friends up and, when she looked at the Jolly Roger, she saw a light in it. With difficulty, she reached the place where that light was and saw the captain sitting in the deck, close to a box which contained bottles of rum.

"Why are you here?" she asked. He turned his head to look at her. That was a question he wanted to ask too, but instead, he answered it.

"I belong here" she understood. He didn't feel part of the group. She tried to cheer him up:

"They've told us you've changed and have helped them a lot. If you keep acting like this, you can be forgiven one day."

"I'm a pirate. Pirates can't change, can they?"

"Why are you so sad?" she sat near him.

"I'm not sad. I'm free now, there's no brat to look for, there's no lost son to find. Now I can return home." he took another gulp of rum.

"You are sad... and drunk. By the way, you don't have a home, do you?"

"Drunk? I've just started. Would you like to drink with me princess?"

"You haven't answered my question."

"Why would you care? You've got your dear prince, people around you..."

"You could be part of them if you wanted."

"I don't need your compassion. I'm captain Hook for god's sake!"he shouted "I tricked and attacked you and your friends. I stole your heart..."

"Emma thinks there is something good in you. And so I do. You returned my heart. You took care of Bae when he was a child." Killian tried to say something, but she didn't let him "You betrayed that crazy guys who kidnapped Henry and helped his family to find him..."

"What else could I do?"

"Don't be stupid. You are not so cold and selfish as you pretend. I think you are sad, you try to hide it but, in the end, you want what they have: a place to go, with friends and a family. You don't know how I miss my parents. Do you miss them too?"

"Do you want to drink with me, princess?" he repeated. She decided not to insist.

"Sure." he gave her a bottle. "And the cup?"

"The cup?" Killian looked at her as if she were mad "Oh, my dear princess, how spoiled you are!"

"Spoiled?" Aurora asked. Then, she took a long gulp from the bottle. She regretted it immediately "Oh my god!" He laughed.

"Ah, my little princess, you have so much to learn" he looked at her with naughty eyes.

She didn't answer. She hadn't noticed before how beautiful his eyes were.

"Hello!" he said. "Is there anything in my face?"

"No, of course not" she answered "I need more rum."

"Sure."

They didn't speak during about twenty minutes. Sometimes they took a gulp from the bottle and Aurora felt how her body was becoming hotter because of the rum. She finally broke the silence:

"I don't have my prince."

"What do you mean?"

"Phillip. We are not together."

"Did he choose her?"

"No. We three decided to stay as friends for a while. He... he's not the same since his soul returned from wherever it had been. He needs time to recover... and to decide whether he loves me or Mulan."

"Idiot."

"Hook! You don't have the right to say that about him. You don't know him!"

"More rum?" he changed the subject.

"No, thanks, it's enough."

"Yeah, you've got a reputation."

"Yes, I've got it."

"Then you shouldn't be alone with this stupid pirate while your prince and all the rest are sleeping. Why have you come here?"

"I was worried about you."

"You don't have to worry. I can take care of myself."

"Don't begin again." she warned him.

"As you wish. I didn't expect you to come here. If someone had told me that a woman was coming I would have thought of Em... well, nobody." she suddenly understood something.

"You love her, don't you?"

"It doesn't matter, she has made her choice. By the way, what are you? Jiminy Cricket's apprentice?" she ignored that last question.

"It's not the end of the world. You've changed and there are many women out there who..." she was interrupted by the pirate.

"Shut up and drink with me." he said handing her a full bottle of rum.