A/N: Howdy chaps! New chapter right here. I still seem to be in the habit of updating daily. Oh that post-school-do-nothing-with-my-life phase...

I like this chapter. It has Hook. =]

I'm like, watching Harry Potter right now. And I can't help but feel like Voldemort's voice is as insanely hilarious as Christian Bale's Batman. Legitly, Harry's death scene, it's like he's tryna put on a sexy voice or something; I don't even know what's going on. Imma stop rambling 'bout HP and let you read.

Enjoy! xx

Hook

Poppy dust wasn't notorious for its longevity. As the sun began to set outside, Captain Hook realised he'd been sitting at his desk waiting three hours for Pan's girl to wake up and he began to grow increasingly impatient albeit slightly curious as to why the girl had such a low immunity to the concoction. She should have awoken hours ago.

Her face was peaceful in sleep. Looking at her for the first time without her scarf shrouding her face, Hook could see what Pan saw in her. With long black hair falling from a loose tie that curved around her face, flawless in its nature, there was no denying her beauty.

Ella, of course, had been awake for at least a few minutes, but was yet to open her eyes.

At first she'd been afraid, feeling the luxurious nature of the mattress beneath her and drawing her own conclusions. But when she'd felt the steady rocking of a boat, her mind had ceased its fretting, and turned wary.

Letting herself attune to her surroundings, she felt that her hands were bound behind her back. Only with rope, not handcuffs, so she automatically knew they wouldn't be a hindrance. Keeping her breath slow and steady, she listened for anyone else who may have been there, hearing it in the tapping of something on wood, constant and annoying like the ticking of a clock. Metal on wood, Ella decided – her eyes snapping open as she realised Captain Hook was in the room.

His blue eyes were staring directly at her.

Hook didn't seem to be perturbed by the fact that she was awake, in fact he kept tapping his silver hook on the desk as though he expected Ella to utter the first word. If it was a battle of wills he wanted, he was going to be waiting a long time for that word.

Ella sat up, feeling less vulnerable when she could stare him down equally. After a few minutes he muttered, "Would you like me to untie you, love?"

Ella's hands had already been free from her bonds for a minute. It wasn't too hard to work a knot backwards; she'd had enough practice at it.

"Would you care to explain why I'm here, Captain?" Ella gave him his title almost mockingly, the space between them not enough for her to miss his surprise when she pulled her hands out from behind her and folded them gently in her lap. "Poppies, wasn't it?"

"Aye love," he said, finally ceasing the incessant sound of his hook on the desk. "It was. I had to meet the girl who seems to have it all under control. I was expecting Pan to kill you see, after our little interlude last night, and yet here we both are."

"Indeed," Ella answered, his hands gesturing to his cabin. "It is rather flash for a pirate."

"I'm a man of good taste Ella," Hook smirked, standing up from his seat at his desk.

"Hence the working for Pan," she scoffed. Hook didn't miss her sarcasm, arching his eyebrow in interest.

"You, my dear assassin, are growing more intriguing to me with each comment that comes from that lovely mouth of yours." His eyes began to wander across her face and stopped on her lips. She coughed to get his attention before they wandered any lower and pointed her fingers to the purple orbs on her face.

"Eyes up here or the crew get a little less lively," she quipped. "What do you want?"

"Not even the tiniest bit interested Princess?" Hook queried, flashing her a daring smile, with eyes sparkling mischievously. It was a look that many years ago, might've melted her to the core. Now however –

"I'm no princess," Ella almost laughed.

"Of course you're not," Hook replied, staring her up and down thoughtfully, clearly not having gotten her disinterest yet, "If you were we wouldn't be having this conversation. You'd be too busy beg-"

"Back to the topic at hand Captain," she said, steering his one-track mind back to why he actually had kidnapped her. "Why am I here?"

"Well I simply wanted to get to know you a little better," he said, clutching his heart in over-dramatic offense. "Is there something wrong with wanting to know ones' work colleagues?"

"When their employer places one's life over the other," Ella paused for effect, "Yes."

"And by that of course you mean yours." Hook nodded, his hook catching a glint of the light as he folded his arms, leaning back into his desk. He must have seen Ella's surprise that he was so cool with the news because he gave a low chuckle and said, "You don't really think I expected Pan to like me for ten years straight? I haven't even liked me for ten years straight. It keeps things interesting when you spend your days stuck in a land where time doesn't move. I suppose I expected him to kill me a little more quickly than this though."

He frowned at her at that, almost a little worried, "He…hasn't asked you to kill me yet has he?"

Ella examined him carefully. His fear of death was real; as though he had some unfinished business to attend to that hadn't yet been resolved. "No," she replied slowly after a moment, "Not yet."

"But he will," Hook said, her nod being the only confirmation he needed before he pulled out his sword and flung it towards her. However, the moment she'd seen his hand going for the weapon, she slid off the bed, ducking underneath the sword and jabbed at his kneecaps with hard hands, rotating her leg around to pull his feet out from under him, and pushed her hands upwards to twist the sword from his grasp.

In under four seconds, Captain Hook was on the floor with his own sword at his neck.

"Who are you?"

His eyes were wide, staring at the girl in wonder. Her face had turned hard with Hook's sudden attack, and she was reluctant to relinquish her hold on him. Keeping him on the ground, the sword point dangerously close to his throat, Ella answered.

"Pan didn't exactly hire me for my good looks."

Hook quirked his eyebrow, sensing the untruth in her words, "We both know that's a lie love."

Frustrated by the way he saw straight through her, she resolved to leave the ship immediately, especially if he wasn't going to answer the only question she really wanted to know. Why. But with his sudden attack, she'd sort of come to her own conclusion. Hook just wanted to get rid of. Turning to the door, she found it locked, and returned to him with stormy eyes, noticing the key swinging on his belt.

"I'll let you out," he began, looking at her honestly, "If you promise to talk to me."

"We've talked enough Hook," she all but growled, wanting desperately to get out of there.

"But not about how much we both want out of Neverland," he said with knowing eyes. And she grimaced. Surely her way off this island couldn't be in the hands of a one-handed pirate?

It had been ten years…

"Pan can't know," she said as Hook neared the door, the key about to turn in the lock. "You have to promise me Pan won't know."

"I can make that deal darling," he smirked as he pushed the doors open onto an empty deck.

"I need to know something else from you," Ella started abruptly, spinning around to face him. "It's undoubtable that Pan will find out I was here. He doesn't have to discover how, or what exactly we spoke about, but he does want to know one thing. Your final secret in the echo cave – "

"Shall remain as secret as it possibly can." Hook's face closed off and she knew, she would get no answers about that from him tonight. Perhaps in time…

A lot of time considering he'd brought her there to kill her and now suddenly had the desire to help her. Ella wasn't falling for it.

"So what's your name?"

Ella smirked, knowing she could weasel her way out of that one easily without lying, "Mei."

"That's not what Pan calls you."

Ella feigned shock, "Goodness Captain, have you been eavesdropping?"

"Only as much as you Assassin," he smiled at her knowingly. "Perhaps it's time we dropped the formalities love." He swept into a bow, looking up at her with a teasing smile, "Killian Jones."

Ella's face dropped in shock, "You mean your name isn't actually Hook? I've been calling you that for ten years!"

"Evidently you've been deceived," the Captain straightened up and told her, "If we'd met before my name would've been on your lips over and over-"

"Can you just stop," she groaned in frustration, her hands tensing as she began to walk away from him.

But Hook caught her arm quickly to stop her from moving anywhere. She flinched at his firm grasp on her right arm, looking back at him with warning in her eyes before it turned into a grimace. As the burning moved into his hand, he yelped and jumped back, an electric charge shooting up her nervous system and into his body.

He flung his right hand around as though trying to dispel the magical pain that the band around Ella's arm had emitted. Eventually it faded to the barest sense of pins and needles, but Hook was looking at the golden band in pained curiosity.

"I thought that was decorative," Hook voiced, refusing to touch her after that, cradling his hand close to his body.

"It's not," Ella grunted, rubbing at the tender flesh around the metal band through gritted teeth. "Pan doesn't exactly like anybody else touching me."

Hook's blue eyes widened as he finally realised exactly what Ella was. She'd led him to believe she was working for Pan, it was what she told herself. They had the contract and everything. But of course, before that came along, she'd been brought to Neverland for a very different reason. "It's a slave band?"

"No shit Captain," she replied sarcastically, taking a few steps away from him. "You came from the Enchanted Forest where it's a universal symbol of slavery. Did you think I was just wearing it for fun?"

"You don't act like a slave," he replied, a sense of pity in his eyes. She didn't want his pity. She wanted her freedom; she wanted him to get her off this island. "I thought you could be a runaway; maybe you just couldn't get the thing off."

Yes, Ella thought as she looked at the markings just above the band, some markings didn't come off.

"Is that why you have to kill – "

"No," she replied honestly, beginning to walk over to the railing. She needed to get out of there; now. With Hook knowing her place in Pan's world…she was just another damsel in distress, in need of saving. And she didn't want that. All she wanted was to curl up in her cave and sleep.

"Then what's he got on you love?" Hook asked finally, just as she was about to jump of the railing.

Ella almost laughed. What didn't he have on her? She supposed, right now, one of her motivators was pretty apparent, and it was one that she didn't mind sharing with the pirate.

"He wants to take me out of the field," she whispered back over her shoulder.

Hook frowned, trying to keep her there, to find out more about the mysterious assassin, "What on earth does that mean?"

"It means I spend a lot less time with a knife in my hand," Ella said with a sigh as she looked out towards the island in the moment before she jumped into the water, "And a lot more time in his bed."