A/N: Hey team!

That 50th Anniversary Episode. Need I say that Clara is turning out to be the bombshiz? I got up before 7 this morning just so I could watch the simultaneous broadcast. I am so dead tired right now.

So lucky for you, I wrote this yesterday. =]

Thank you for the reviews! I lost a follower, but I gained a few more, so ta my lovely readers. You are wonderful.

Onwards! xx

Compass

Clearing her head, Ella climbed out of the water and pulled her dry clothes from the trees outside her cave, drying herself off with a blanket-like rag that she called a towel. She was surprised when the sound of footsteps echoed up the path. Reaching for the dagger on the ground by the river, she turned quickly, seeing Hook looking at her appreciatively, leaning easily against a winding tree. Ella visibly relaxed when she saw Hook's easy posture, but was still mentally alert.

"Enjoying the view?" she asked drily, turning away from his penetrating blue eyes and walking into her cave, hoping that he wouldn't follow. She wasn't up for people at the moment.

"Immensely love," he smirked as she left, staring after her as she went to get changed. He waited patiently, pacing the area outside her cave slowly, resisting the urge to turn towards her alcove. He may live by a code of honour, but that didn't mean he wasn't a man, and if he saw her with any less clothes on, his resolve to not simply kidnap her may begin to slip. Running his hand through his hair, he blinked at the sun shining onto the cliff, sighing in his thoughts. It had clearly been much too long.

"Alright Hook," Ella's voice made him spin around. She had slipped into her breeches, a loose white shirt tucked into them, and was walking towards him barefoot, towelling her black hair dry. Weaponless, practically defenceless, the girl approached the pirate in curiosity, "Pan could catch you at any moment. What's your game?"

"I'm not the one playing games," he answered, pointing back down the path with his hook towards Pan's camp. "There's only one devilish mastermind on this island, and let's be clear darling, it's not me."

"So why are you here then Hook?"

"Planning!" Hook almost looked shocked that she would have forgotten such an important part of escape. To be honest she'd had other things on her mind. But as he pulled a piece of parchment from his coat, she found herself a little more invested in what the Captain had to say.

"As far as I know, you don't get off the island without Pan agreeing," Ella reminded him as he cleared away some dirt and sat down on the cliff edge, unfolding the parchment to reveal a map. It was familiar to her; Neverland.

"Aye Assassin," he replied, pushing the map out with his right hand. With a soft flourish, Hook offered, "Take a seat love."

Ella folded her arms up over her chest, her towel hanging loosely as she realised she'd been biting down on her lip in order to not retort. His words were too similar to Pan's orders. Finally she answered, glad that she didn't have to obey, "I prefer to stand."

Hook shrugged, not noticing her discomfort and began, "So, we can either fly out of here or portal out of here. To fly requires either Pegasus' feathers or Pan's Shadow, neither of which I have. Portalling needs either beans or enchanted mirrors…I have heard of a hat…"

"Or a specialised compass."

Hook's brow furrowed as Ella began pacing. She'd seen Pan's compass once – years ago. He'd hidden it in Dead Man's Cave, the lowest and hardest part of the Echo Caves to get to. It was where he put the most valuable things he owned; the things he liked but never thought he'd need.

"I've heard of them. But how's that going to help?" Hook continued, looking up at the moving body across from him. "Everything requires magic."

"Your ship has magic," Ella frowned, a little confused. His face opened up in shock.

"What?"

"You didn't know that?" It was Ella's turn to be surprised. It had been obvious to her the moment she'd stepped foot on it. Being particularly susceptible to most magics was not a fact she wanted to share with the pirate eyeing her expectantly. All it meant was that sometimes things hurt a little more, or lasted a little longer than they should. And that she could sense when she was about to walk through a force field or onto an enchanted ship. Although, Hook had come to that realisation of her susceptibility himself after the poppy incident, he just didn't realise that his ship carried magic in its sails.

"But how?"

"My guess is it's in the wood," Ella said, reminiscing about the Enchanted Forest. "There are many kinds of enchanted materials back home."

"So you think that if we had a magic compass we can just, what, sail off the edge of the map?"

Ella pondered that for a moment, not hearing the sarcasm in Hook's response.

"A map, a ship, a compass," she scanned her brain. "And pixie dust!"

Hook was eyeing her doubtfully as though she didn't realise that pixie dust hadn't been seen about the island for an incredibly long time, not to mention the disappearance of the fairies.

"Hear me out," she said, finally sitting down with him, excited by the prospect that this could actually work. "Pan keeps a stash of pixie dust for an emergency, in exactly the same place as his compass. Dead Man's Cave."

"Dead Man's Cave?" Hook's eyes widened. "You can't be serious love."

"I know," Ella frowned, gnawing casually on her lower lip. Dead Man's Cave was dangerous and dark; buried beneath the Dark Forest. Getting down there was going to be hard. There were only so many secrets she had, and they weren't enough to get down there. And all of them weren't secrets she was willing to reveal in what was clearly a two person job designed for Pan and Felix. Or in their case, her and Hook.

"How many secrets has your crew got?"

"Considering I've only got about five of them left –"

"Sorry," Ella murmured. It was a bad idea to remind him about that. She was going to have to go in alone if she couldn't find another way around it. Rubbing at her temple, she felt the beginnings of a headache in her mind and muttered to the man across from her, "I'm going to go and talk to Pan."

"You've visited him a lot in the past week Assassin," Hook started, looking up at her with those blue eyes of his. "A lot more than you usually do-"

"You have been spying on me," Ella looked at him harshly, quickly getting to her feet as Hook rolled up the map and did the same, frustrated with herself for falling so quickly into easy words and escape plans. She should be on edge around the pirate; he was exactly like everyone else. He had an ulterior motive, and judging by his constantly wandering eyes, she was pretty sure she knew what it was. "I knew I couldn't trust you."

"We're in the same boat love," Hook said evenly, a little affronted. "Quite frankly I have less reason to trust you, but I do."

Ella sighed openly, recalling Pan's frequent orders to her of espionage and execution in the past week "Well, there's something up with him. I don't know what it is and quite frankly I don't care, but it's got him on edge."

"Well, off you go then you traitorous little slave." Hook said it with a smile on his face, as though he liked the idea that her life was held in Pan's teenage hands. He was angry, Ella thought curiously, angry that she didn't trust him. She shot him a dangerous look before running into her cave and grabbing her cloak. She wasn't eager to show anything more than she had to when she saw Pan, so she laced up her boots quickly and threw her daggers around her waist.

When Ella reappeared, throwing the cloak over her thin clothing, Hook was gone and she breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't going to have to deal with the sexually charged pirate for a while. She spent the walk down the path preparing herself for looking Pan in the eye…

12 Years Ago

"So how long until we reach the front?" Mei enquired of Shang as they rode side by side through the countryside. Men surrounded them on all sides, a single line of cavalry followed by hundreds of infantry trekking behind them.

"A day," Shang replied shortly. He refused to look at her as he scanned the area ahead. "We need to make camp before the sun sets. There's a clearing about a mile away."

Mei nodded as Shang repeated his orders to the rest of the army. They gradually turned aside to the way Shang was leading and set up camp as dusk began to settle in, bringing with it soft clouds that were growing darker with the day. Mei tied her horse to a tree before weaving her way through the men searching for the Captain.

Just as she was about to give up, he said from the darkness, "Mulan sends her regards."

Spinning around, she saw his sombre face while his hands clutched a letter. Mei noticed that just barely, his hands were shaking, in nerves or fear, she didn't know. But walking into his arms, she found that it wasn't only his hands shaking, but his only reaction was to hold her tightly, as though trying to ground himself by the mere connection of their bodies.

"It's okay Shang," Mei muttered in slight confusion. "We'll get through this."

"We might die," Shang murmured, pressing his forehead to hers, his warm hand tracing down the side of her face, wrapping her black hair around his finger.

"We might not," Mei's eyes were wide, her hands placed lightly around his waist, as his brown eyes shone with a glimmer of fear…tinged with excitement. He disentangled himself from her form as he looked at her face in acute wonder at how someone could be so brave and beautiful.

"And if we don't," he began slowly, holding her hand in his, palm upwards, "Would you…would you marry me?"

Momentarily, Mei didn't realise that there was a cool ring of metal sitting in her palm. It was thin and engraved with small patterns that shone with something beautiful, something that sparkled. She was stunned, just like she'd been in the first moment she spoke to Shang. But she didn't need words, instead, closing her hand over the ring, she leaned upwards and pressed her lips to his. His hands came up to her neck, before cradling her face as though she was the most precious thing in the world. He kissed her eagerly, as though it was their first kiss all over again.

Shang pulled away to breathe, "Was that a yes?"

"Of course Shang!" she breathed as though he was crazy. He gave a small chuckle as she turned around, pushing aside her hair from the nape of her neck, offering her necklace clasp to him. He had it off within a second, and she was threading the ring onto the chain where it sat amongst her two identification tags. "I think Mulan sent more than her regards," Mei smirked, touching the ring knowingly with her fingers and giving him a small smile. "It's nice to know she approves."

"I asked her to send it," Shang replied softly. "It was my mother's."

"And I'll keep it close to my heart for safe keeping," she explained as he put it back around her neck and she spun around to face him, tracing the lines of his face in the cool night air. "At least until we're out of harm's way."

"Yes," Shang said, touching his lips lightly to hers, once more holding her close in the darkness of the evening, channelling Mei's endless optimism. "When this war is won, we'll be together."

Present Day

The boy had his back to Ella as she approached silently..

"So Pan," she began, her hand tracing delicately along his shoulder blades as she swung around to face him, her purple eyes darkening in the dusk. Pan cocked an eyebrow at her; Ella was being a little – a lot – more touchy than normal.

"You're being awfully lovely E." Pan's brown eyes examined her warily. "What do you want?"

To forget last night. "I have a question to ask you."

"Ask away," he answered, taking a seat, "Doesn't mean I'll answer."

"Dead Man's Cave."

A flash of what almost seemed like anger flashed across his face. It was his place – he hadn't even realised Ella knew about his treasure trove. Only him and Felix were supposed to know about it. But surely she couldn't know how to get in there…

"Hook knows about it."

Pan couldn't deny the irritation that fled though him when he realised she'd been conversing with the pirate, again. A pirate who she'd revealed last night, wanted to free her. Or in pirate terms, steal her. The muscles in his hands began to turn white as he clutched unconsciously at the flesh of his hand. Ella didn't miss it though, and found herself wondering why Pan was so frustrated by the concept. She hadn't exactly kept it secret that she'd run from him if she could.

"Hook can't get in," Pan said begrudgingly, "And it's not really high on my priorities list. Which reminds me…"

Ella watched his hand reach into his tunic and pulled out the silver chain that made her heart beat that little bit faster. She almost didn't want to look at it, worried he was going to use it as leverage again. Instead, he threw it at her easily, realising as he did so that he'd just let go of a very important object.

Catching it nimbly in her curved palms, Ella cradled it in awe, looking back at Pan in confusion, asking, "What are you doing?"

"A thank you," Pan shrugged, beginning to walk away, "For last night."

Ella couldn't contain the mask of shock that her face became. Her pink lips opened in amazement – the point of being a slave was that Pan didn't have to thank her. He didn't have to do anything for her. But as she looked from his retreating back to the necklace in her hand, she was overwhelmed by…she wasn't sure what it was. But she leant it to gratitude.

As she made her way home, her mind preoccupied by the army tags and engagement ring that she passed between her fingers, Ella found herself disturbingly realising that Pan had just given her a gift – a gift that he knew meant the world to her. But underneath it all, she had to question why. She always did. The moment Ella stopped was the moment she gave up.

Back in the camp, Felix came up behind Pan with warning in his eyes. "Why would you do that?"

"It makes her happy." Pan had watched Ella leave with a spring in her step, a genuine smile creeping onto her face. A pang of something – he wasn't quite sure what it was – had moved within him before he was distracted by his second-in-command.

"Happiness is dangerous Pan," Felix warned, "You know that happiness leads to hope."

"But where will she place that hope Felix," Pan questioned, watching after her curiously, "In the pirate, or in me?"

He needed her to want him to want to be with him. Pan wouldn't let her go. He wouldn't lose another one. Not again.