It has been a few hours since Emma and Hook entered the forest for the first time. The chills and creepiness of the place cringe Emma a bit, but it didn't affect her to give up in finding her son. She just always hope her son would survive in this condition of forest.
Emma believed they have been walking pretty far from the start but not any clue of human marks showed up. "Do you actually know where we are heading?" Emma finally opened a talk to Hook, the admitted leader of the pack.
Hook smiled smugly in reply. He found it's funny how Emma didn't trust a pirate on knowing the route in Neverland. "I have pirate instinct, darling. I know Neverland like the back of my hand."
"So, where are we going now?"
Hook stopped walking and looked around them. He placed his hand on a tree in front of Emma. Emma stared at him oddly. "A safe place, probably. We need to rest, the sky will getting dark soon."
"I don't have time to rest. I need to get back to David and Mary Margaret with Henry as fast as I could."
He grinned, "You're a tough lass. But I've made a promise to your father that you will be safe."
Emma rolled her eyes and continued walking. Her hand clenched tightly as she strolled past Hook. She isn't used to people putting her first. "I will be safe."
"As you wish, Swan."
They continued walking to another way in the forest. Now the forest looked a bit different from the first way, it has older oak tree in the way. "Well, you haven't properly told me about this Henry kid. How did you find him?" Hook asked, out of the blue.
Emma's stare fixed on him for a while, puzzled if she should tell him or not. Trusting someone new is a hard thing for her. She doesn't want another Neal thing in her life, or even anything remotely like it. Emma exhaled a breath, "He is the one who found me in Boston."
He darted a confusion look at Emma, "You were in where?"
"It's a place in America. Long story short, he found me from a book. A book about fairytale stories and characters."
"That book you've always mentioned?" Hook asked.
"No, it's a different one. The story is about the Enchanted Forest's past before Regina casted the dark curse."
Hook scratched his brow, "Not a clue where I could find from that story to find Henry here. But the book you've mentioned about Neverland, does it even exist?"
"Yes, in my world. But my world ain't Neverland." She answered.
"I've once heard someone said there's a book about Neverland's past here. Maybe someone brought it by mistake from your world." Hook explained. "We need to find that book at least. I want to make sure of something."
Emma was startled by his words. She somehow knew that trusting him will lead her to be betrayed yet again. "But the purpose we went to Neverland is to find Henry. Not for a book-finding trip."
"I'm not saying we're changing the purpose, darling." He stated and he continued walking as though there's nothing he should worried about.
Emma stopped her pace and pulled out her sword, pointing it to Hook all of the sudden. Hook moved back a few steps until his back was touching the rugged skin of the tree behind him. "You're using us, Hook." Emma said in a ruthless way.
"Stop pointing it at me, will ya?" Hook responded. "This doesn't make it any better. Because you don't trust me."
"Why should I trust someone who betrayed me once?" She said with a vicious voice.
"If I'm not wrong, you also betrayed me in the giant's place." Hook corrected as he cocked his head slightly to one side, "It's conscionable that I betrayed you that time."
Emma pointed the sword closer to his throat. "So it was a payback? Also this time?" She asked, arching her eyebrows.
A thin wrinkle on his forehead straightened up. His gaze changed, now more serious than before. "Actually, no." He said. Emma gradually distanced the sword away and his hook diverted the sword from pointing at him. "I'm nothing but a pirate, is that what you think?"
"It's the truth." Emma said, slowly sliding the sword back to its place.
"No, the truth is, you haven't had enough trust in everyone that cares for you, to make you looked thoroughly at them." Hook said in a serious tone. Emma's jaw muscles jumped as she considered his words. She has never seen Hook this serious before, with a deep demanding voice.
Emma took a deep breath. She decided to focus on the purpose rather than listening to the pirate's babble. "Let's just find Henry. And go home."
"You're relishing this aren't you?" Hook gave her a sardonic smile. "Threaten people at will."
Her face didn't change a bit, she still leered coldly at him. "Bad things tend to happen to bad people. Don't blame me if something like that happened to you."
Hook, that had been beside Emma, stopped his track in sudden. "Just because I'm a pirate, doesn't mean I'm as wicked as a witch.
Emma just continued walking the forest. She didn't to hear any word he said to make her feel sorry for him. "Shut the babbling, Hook. I've seen enough of everything."
"No, you haven't seen everything, Swan." He muttered as his foot set its track again.
A few moments later, Hook's prediction played out. The sky was getting darker, so did their vision. Emma fumbled around in case a tree would suddenly appear before her. Hook suddenly wrapped his hand around hers. Emma felt a warmth feeling transferred to her body. She wanted to let it go, but at the same time, she didn't want to get lost in the darkness.
"I can see through the darkness, you know." She lied.
Hook just reply it with his signature smirk as he was still holding her hand. "Pirate perks. I know when it's too dark and I can see through that." Hook explained.
"Okay, so, why is it so dark here? No moon or even any stars at all?" Emma complained.
"There is a moon, a beautiful one. Unfortunately the night mist hid it because this section is known for its dark creatures. So, don't lose a grip of my hand if you want to live."
For the first time Emma decided not to dismiss Hook's tease. He's right, if she lost her grip, she would be lost in this dark condition. After they both strolled past a huge tree, Emma felt someone held his other hand.
"Hook, it's not necessary to hold both of my hands."
Hook looked at her puzzledly. "I'm not holding your other hand. Don't you forget I only have one hand?"
For a moment Emma felt a shiver ran down her spine. "If it's not you, then who?"
Hook turned his head to see what's behind Emma. He saw a blur figure of a dark shadow perching right behind her. "Emma!" He warned. In a quick movement, he dragged Emma behind him and pulled his old sword up.
Emma, still not seeing anything other than a dark fog in front of them was confused. "What? What is that?"
"It's a fog creature. It can get you lost in the forest if you walk passed it." He said as he swung his sword to the fog, but it didn't do anything better.
Her vision still didn't show any developments. All she could see is Hook playing attentively with his sword which didn't do any sign of improvement. "And what are you doing with that sword?"
"Just trying to tear them apart." He said, "Move, Emma!"
Emma moved further back with Hook still facing the fog. "Why isn't it tearing apart?!" He grunted. As the fog came towards them, his sword fell into the fog. The fog then grew darker, indicating that something, something unpleasant was inside.
"Run!" Hook exclaimed as he grabbed Emma's hand, but she refused it.
"It's useless. The fog will chase us in no time. Use my sword." She pulled her sword out and gave it to Hook.
"You are the rightful owner of that legendary sword, Swan. It's bad form if I use it." He refused.
"But I can't see that thing!" she shouted in reply. "There's no use of being a gentleman if we're in a dreadful danger!"
In sudden Emma could feel her back was pressed against his torso. She turned her head and found Hook already held her hand that gripped the sword. "I'll handle your hand, and do exactly what I command."
The fog was getting closer to them. Emma swung her sword forcefully, just secretly hoping she wouldn't damage anymore of Hook's limbs or worse, hit herself with it. With Hook's help of guidance behind her, the sword perforated the fog and slowly it started to vanish. "Keep going until it's completely gone." Hook commanded.
After the dark fog finally disappeared, Hook stayed in that position awhile, letting his mind memorized every feeling when his presence was closed to her, before he loosened Emma from his handle. "I don't mean to upset you, lass. But I think we make quite a team again." a playful smile curved his lips.
Emma, who was still out of breath couldn't help but smile back in response. For the first time again, she finally started to trust someone new to save her. "Let's find Henry before any shadows trying to eat me up again."