A/N: Hey Team!
Hope you all enjoyed the last chapter. ;) Thank you for reviewing my lovelies!
Can't wait for tomorrow's episode! So excited for Robbie Kay as Henry. =]
Enjoy! xx
Arrival
"I am walking on sunshine my fellow partners in crime," Ella called out as she dropped down onto the deck, waving the contract in her hand. Hook was lying on the deck as the morning sun arose, his jacket serving as a blanket. He stirred when he heard Ella's voice, and she walked over to him, casting a shadow over his face.
Finally being dragged from his sleep he murmured, "Must you insist on waking me up before dawn two days in a row?"
"I do when we're getting out of here," she couldn't keep the smile off her face as she waved the contract above Hook. He leapt up the moment he saw it and grabbed for it with his hand. Skimming his eyes over it, his neutral expression grew decidedly more horrified the further down the page he went.
"You agreed to this?" he asked in horror, looking up at her over the page.
"I was already a slave," Ella shrugged.
"It says here that only Pan can release you from the contract," Hook frowned. Ella began to feel terror rip through her until she remembered what Pan had said last night.
I know what you want from me; and you can have it.
"He did," she followed suit of Hook and frowned. Why? Why would Pan do something selfless for the first time in his life? That is, unless it wasn't selfless. Unless he wanted them to leave.
"Is there a reason why Pan would let me go, Hook?"
"I've never known the boy to do something kind in his life," Hook admitted, looking up at her apologetically, "There has to be something in it for him."
"That's what I thought," Ella returned, ignoring the fact that Pan had admitted he was allowing the consequence of the contract breaking. He was allowing love, or at least, his twisted version of love, back into his heart. "But what? Does he want us gone? Last I heard, he was intending on keeping us around. Or at least, keeping you around a little longer."
"Well I doubt he needs me that much. I just do menial tasks, he can get anyone to do them," Hook frowned. "He might enjoy killing off my crew. But…there has to be something bigger at play here."
"Neverland is dying," Ella answered with a shrug, "If that gives you any clues."
"That gives us more than clues, love," Hook looked up at her in astonishment. "That gives Pan a motive. What if the only way to save Neverland is to get out of it and find a cure? What does that make us?"
"A way out," Ella realised.
"And what lies outside of Neverland?"
"A world filled with different magic," Ella continued, nodding her head. "Magic enough to save Neverland."
11 Years Ago
"Where are you going Killian?!"
"I'm sorry Milah," he was pulling on his boots and grabbing his coat. "I'm so sorry. Stay here. We're in a port that's incredibly unsafe." Killian leant down beside the bed and placed a kiss on her hand and then her soft lips. "I've never asked you this before. But please."
"Where are we Killian?" Milah looked at him persistently. "What are you doing?"
"We're in Bahnen Nain," he revealed as he grabbed his coat and headed towards the door. "And I'm here to rescue an old friend."
Bahnen Nain was unlike many other portside towns. Rather than hustle and bustle, the people who lined the roadside were poor. Grime lined the derelict houses and it all paled in the view of the glorious castle visible from miles around.
How Bahria had beat Shayan in the war was beyond Killian. Shayan was the better established empire by far. The only possible reason that Bahria could have won, is by sacrificing everything else for their army. And judging by the state of this town, Bahria had sacrificed everything.
"Alright Tink," Killian murmured to himself as he pulled out the map she'd given him last week when they'd made port in Veria once more. "Where am I headed?"
The map lit up with the green of Tinkerbell's pixie dust, giving him an exact route that he needed to take to get to Shang's cell in the prison. Looking upwards, Killian could see it in the distance. A massive brick building covered in vines and stained by years of rain.
Many had said it was nigh impenetrable. Of course, they didn't have the stash of pixie dust in their pocket that Killian did. Within moments he was rendered invisible by Tink's enchantment; now it was just a matter of not running into anyone, which wasn't hard considering no one was around.
He snuck in via a drainage tunnel. Battling rapid flowing dirty rainwater up to his, he made his way towards a small courtyard where the sun struggled to peek through the cloud cover. Looking at the map, Killian saw that he had to take a few lefts and a right before he was anywhere close to Shang.
Killian drew his sword as he continued through the corridors, surprised he hadn't met any resistance yet.
"…I don't care what you cretins do normally, but we have one of Shayan's female soldiers coming in tomorrow. I would have loved to have both of them, but we've only got one. Eventually she's going to the slave markets, but we've got her for a few months. Tell your men that she's our prisoner not plaything. You'll all get a better payment if her virtue's intact. Now men, keep her away from floor four at all costs. One of Shayan's army captains causes quite a bit of trouble up there. We don't want them concocting a plan."
"Yes sir."
Killian was buried in the shadows as a man came thundering past. Fourth floor? he questioned himself after what he'd heard, before looking down at the map and swearing inwardly. Damned Tink hadn't shared the fact that the prison was more than one floor, although he should have realised upon seeing the building that this obviously wasn't going to be as simple as he thought.
The moment he stepped out of the darkness, he continued on his route, unsurprisingly ending up nowhere near cells. He was in the right place, just four floors too low.
Killian went a little off course after that, his heartbeat accelerating in suspense. It was much too quiet for a prison. How had he not run into anyone yet?
"Well well," a voice said suddenly from behind him. A silver blade crept around his neck and Killian grimaced. It was tight; this guard meant business. "I'm not familiar with all of the prisoners, but most of them don't walk around with swords."
Killian didn't say a word, finding it hard to breath as he attempted to figure a way out of their impasse. His sword was at the man's knees, but it wasn't as fatal as the one at Killian's neck. Eventually, swallowing his pride he dropped it with a loud clang. Despite common opinion, he valued his life. Another set of footsteps came up behind Killian and said to the man, "This guy got in? Impressive."
"Do we kill him or-"
"No," the new voice answered, a little bored. "Take him into custody. Fifth floor. Undoubtedly the General will want to speak to the first person to breach Bahnen Nain."
"First person eh?" Killian found his voice as his hands were bound behind his back. "Guess that means I should get some kind of award then."
"Gag him."
Present Day
That night, as dusk settled in, the shadow was flying over the ocean, a young girl flying with it, arms spread out in joyous abandon. She was lost, her hair whipping about her face as the wind carried her.
Then suddenly she was falling.
She landed in a heap upon the floor, looking around at the jungle in curiosity. The shadow had dropped her and left, not entirely delicately either. The next moment, she heard rustling around her, someone moving through the trees.
A boy appeared, not too much older than her. A grin broke out on his handsome face but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Nevertheless, when he held out his hand, the girl took it in her own.
"You must be Wendy," the boy began, seeing the girl nod as she got to her feet. She was still in too much surprise to answer so he continued, "My name is Peter Pan. And this…this is Neverland."
"Why am I here Peter?" she asked in confusion, looking around at the darkness.
"You're going to save us Wendy," Pan said, as he looked her in the eyes. They reminded him so much of Ne-
He pushed it aside, giving Wendy a small comforting smile as he ran his fingers lightly over her hand.
"Come home."
xxx
After having spent a day getting the ship ready to sail with the assistance of Hook's three other crew – Smee, Harvey and Smith, Ella sank down onto the deck, unbelievably tired as stars began to dot the night sky. The compass was digging into her bottom and she took a moment to bring it out and examine it. She needed to go back to her cave to get her weapons and clothes before they set off, but that would have to wait for tomorrow. Now that she was released from Pan's contract, Ella wouldn't put it past Felix to set half of the lost boys on her.
Just as Hook came to join her, Tink came running out of the cabin. Ella thought she saw a large map open on Hook's desk as she did so, but that wasn't what she was so excited about.
"Whoa! You guys will not fucking believe what I just saw."
Ella eyed Tink curiously before muttering to Hook out of the corner of her mouth. "Is there a Neverland equivalent of Magical Leaves?"
"I feel like if there is, Tink probably found it," Hook hissed back.
"What are you guys muttering about?" Tink said a little off put, before shoving it away and returning to them peacefully. "There was this weird shadow thing and a girl flying through the air."
"WHAT?!" It was Ella and Hook's turn to be surprised. They jumped to their feet in unison and ran to the port side of the ship, searching the sky for the shadow. They spotted it just off from Pan's camp, where a white flash fell through the forest.
"That was-" Hook frowned, his blue eyes troubled.
"No way." Ella replied, looking up at him. They shared a look of complete astonishment. This threw out their hypothesis that Pan was following them off the island. Not if he'd just brought someone back.
"Why did Pan bring another girl to the island?" Tink asked in confusion. "Doesn't he already have you?"
Ella looked back and Tink and shook her head. They hadn't seen each other all day since she'd been holed up in Hook's cabin apparently looking over maps. "Pan released me."
"Well he got a replacement quickly," Tink said bluntly.
"She's not a replacement," Ella said knowingly, her face screwing up in concentration. "I heard Felix talking once…about a plan B…and he's been gone for about six months and suddenly returned; maybe he found it."
"This girl is plan B?" Hook frowned. "For saving Neverland?"
"It has to be," Ella returned, looking between Hook and Tink, desperately believing it to be true. She wouldn't wish the last ten years on anyone. But there was also something deeper. And she didn't want to admit that maybe she felt like she had some sense of ownership over Pan that made her insides twinge when she thought that Pan could replace her so easily.
"I'll go in and check tomorrow," Ella said, more to herself than the others. "I'm not going to leave her – whoever she is – in Pan's clutches."
"Why?" Tink began, "She's obviously not our problem."
"Be human for once Tink," Hook said harshly. She looked over at him and raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything more. Biting her lip, the fairy went back to his cabin and closed the door.
"Why do you treat her like that?" Ella frowned at him as his face fell into his hands on the railing. He began to run his hands through his dark hair in frustration as Ella asked him the question.
"She needs to stop acting like the world doesn't affect her," he murmured into his hands, eyes glistening as he finally brought them away to look out to the sea.
"It's what we all do Hook," Ella reminded him. With a small sad smile, she walked away from him before climbing downstairs to find a free hammock, undoubtedly belonging to someone that she…
I killed this person.
In the end, she sank to the hard wooden floor of the corridor and curled up to the wall, breathing deeply to suppress the overwhelming thoughts of her life that came flooding back as the price of freedom.
And clutching at her clothes, Ella let the tears that she'd held back in order to do what needed to be done, and reached for her necklace clasp. Holding back her loud sobs, she slid the ring off her necklace and twisted it between her fingers long into the night.
Hook watched the night sky up on deck, not even daring to let sleep overtake him until he went downstairs and checked that Ella had stopped crying, and had drifted off into oblivion. Covering her with a blanket, he moved the hair that was sticking to her face delicately and took one last look at her tearstained face before leaving her alone.
Killian Jones thought he was saving himself the heartache, but he was simply falling harder. Once more, he heard Tink's words in his head.
She would never be his.