Chapter 5: Faith

David found his wife pacing back and forth in the ship's deck. He knew she was very worried about their daughter and grandson. It's an almost impossible thing to do, trying to find someone in a big mysterious land they barely know anything about. With an enemy that even Gold should be feared. But he knew for sure, Emma will never fail to find her son. Just like he always found Mary Margaret and Emma.

David came towards her and stopped her from her walk, "She'll find him, Mary Margaret. I'm sure of it. And they will be okay."

Her eyes turned up to see David, he couldn't help but feeling sad when he saw those brown eyes glistened with pain. "How do you know?"

"I have faith," David said, putting his hand to her shoulder, transferring his warmth to her. "And I hope you have it too."

Mary Margaret nodded in reply, "Right then, let's go to the village and try to collect information."

They left the ship and decided to explore the village. If they collected some information about Greg and Tamara here, it would make them closer to finding Henry. The chances are small, but trying wouldn't hurt, right? The nearest village in Neverland was not very far from the place Jolly Roger landed. Just a few miles away and they found a small fishing village on the opposite direction.

At a glance it reminded them about Storybrooke. But when they walked closer to it, the two places couldn't be more different from each other. The style of the place was very old fashioned. The streets was simple and the buildings didn't look as strong as the modern buildings in Storybrooke. "I don't see why Greg and Tamara brought Henry here." David said, studying the village's condition.

"Maybe there is another purpose they took Henry other than destroying the magic." Mary Margaret said.

David scrunched his eyebrows and turned to look at Margaret's expression. Her face was very serious. "Then, what else could it be?" He asked.

"It's worse than that." Her eyes lit up, David saw a fire that wasn't there before. She knew Greg and Tamara's plan had changed. And they involved her beloved family. "Whatever that is, I won't let them did it to Henry. Ever."

~o~

Emma turned the first page of the book, carefully as not to break the fragile pages of it. The first page led her to a chapter titled, The Lost Boys. She started to read it with Hook beside her. Before a single word came from her mouth, his hand was already on her shoulder. She could feel the warmth from his hand through the fabric of her red leather jacket, and somehow she was already comfortable with it.

But when she turned to see him, in front of her was not the confident Hook with his legendary sly smile, no. Hook's face was pale with pain. She shifted her eyes to his shoulder, moving closer to see if she had missed a crucial part when she tended his wound. Somehow, it was deadlier than it looked. "Hook, I'm not faking this, but you look- unbelievably pale, are you sure you're okay?"

"Actually, I just remembered Felix's bow has poison on it." He explained with a sly grin on his face. "I should've killed him when I could."

Emma glared at him in annoyance, "And you're not going to do anything about it?"

"Should I? I have a body of a pirate, love."

Emma rolled her eyes at the cheeky answer from Hook, he is always too confident about his strength as a pirate. "A pirate can meet its break down in anytime."

"But it's not of our concern right now." He said, "Can we just, appreciate this book for a moment?"

She felt anger rushed through her body, though she didn't even understand why . "This book is not important!" Emma closed the book and took it with her, heading for the door going out the hut. "It is not going to make us find Henry any soon nor fix our problem now."

He turned his head to one side but kept his eyes on her, "Where are you going? Any chance you are going to abandon me again for a headstart?" He queried, his voice fumed with fury.

Emma turned her head to meet his eyes. She looked at it for a moment before words flew down from her mouth. "I need a headstart, yes."

She slipped the book into her shoulder bag before she continued, "But it doesn't mean that I have to abandon you. I will find a remedy for you, after that, we will part our ways."

"Oh Swan, you are so fullof yourself, aren't you?" A sneer touched the corners of his lips, "Just because you're the savior, the hero, you think you know everything and no one could harm you in any way?"

Emma stood frozen, her breath caught in the middle, but she was glad Hook didn't find out the truth. The truth why she wanted to part with him. She couldn't take the chance that she's wrong about him. It would be too hurtful if the same thing with Neal happens for the second time. "You have your book, so you don't have to follow me around, pretending to find Henry but all you can think is this freaking book."

A veil drew across his eyes as he saw the lit of fire in her eyes, "Try something really new, darling. It's called faith." He said.

She scoffed at his respond, not believing how a pirate would say something like that to anyone. "Why would the glorious Captain Hook suddenly give up his revenge and act goody-goody with others?" she said incredulously.

"The reason I went back to Storybrooke is to do something for other people." His face hardened, wanting to say more than words but decided against it.

Emma's gaze settled on him, lacking of patience. Her inner morals were battling, arguing if she should trust his words, but somehow she still couldn't get herself to believe the guy in front of her. Although her superpower didn't confirm him as a liar. "All I want is the truth, Hook."

A slowness overcame his voice, "Maybe this constant pursue for revenge is the reason no one cares for us." He was really tired of people not trusting him because others said so. "Because all this time, other than my vendetta, I don't feel anything but empty." He said with a lowered voice prudentially.

Emma's mouth slightly gaped, contemplating the words in her head. All the pain from her past that she had buried deep down in the darkest part of her heart, the one that she had done her absolute best to run away from, they opened in an instant. She felt the exact feeling she had when was alone in the program when she was five. The time when she had no idea who or where her parents were. The time when all of the friends and family she made in the program were wanted by other families. Everyone, but her.

"That's not the only reason," her voice wavered as she tried to shake off the memory, "Believe me, it's not."

A flashback strain crossed her mind. The best moment of her life, with the first person she has ever truly loved before. Neal was the best thing that happened to her. The person who taught her how to love and trust someone. Yet at the end of the day, he was also one of the worst thing that ever happened in her life. What if the same thing happened again ?

Emma felt her wall slowly began to fall apart although she always guards it well if somehow it happened. She couldn't help but felt Hook is just the same like her. An unwanted soul.

"Then, what about you, Emma? The look in your eyes, it's the same look like I see in the Lost Boys' eyes." He deducted with certainty.

"That's not of our concern—"

Before Emma could even finish her words, Hook wobbled, his body growing debilitated. His right leg began to weaken, and shadows kept drifting through his vision. He leaned on a wall beside him, closing his eyes as he hazily heard Emma shouting his name.

Hook tried with all the power he had to stand up, and he felt himself slowly falling down. A small but strong hand caught him, mid-fall. Emma. She looked over his right shoulder, bloods freshly streamed down from the wound because its deepness.

"We need to find something to clean your wound and cure the poison." Emma swiftly left the hut, with Hook hobbling on her hand.

"There's a pond… behind this." Hook pointed at the back door of the hut. Emma strengthen her grip on Hook and brought him to the back of the hut.

The pond looked mostly slipshod, but it didn't matter to her. The only thing on her mind was to keep Hook alive. She didn't feel accustomed with the feeling since the last guy she really cared about was ten years ago- besides Henry, of course. Emma receded Hook and leaned him on a tree, "Thanks, lass. I don't want to be a burden to this journey, so forget I had this."

"What is this journey without its captain." Emma muttered with a flat tone, covering the truth that she truly cares about him.

Emma pulled out her mother's handkerchief her mother gave her before they sailed and she sunk it in the cold water of the pond. After it's all wet, she went to Hook and ripped the torn fabric off his shoulder. She wiped the blood gently from his shoulder as he whimpered in between. "The poison still remains, though."

"We will find the remedy." Emma assured him.

Hook gave her another sly smirk while withstanding the pain, "or we should find Henry first."

Emma was stunned for a moment, how could she had forgotten the main reason she was there. She could just left him here bleeding to death, but instead she remained here and was searching for his remedy.

"But I won't find him with a dying pirate in my company, right?"

Hook drew in a long breath and let it hiss out slowly, "Too right, lass." He was silently glad she still let him be her companion. "So, is there any chance I could be a little more than a companion, Swan?" He teased, forcing a grin as he twisted his head to Emma's green eyes.

She cocked her head to one side and gave him a stare, "You're the kind of guy who would not easily despair, aren't you?"

"Considering that I've spent two hundred years for wanting revenge to crocodile, I conclude myself it is." He muttered softly while Emma continued bandaging the fresh wound, "Besides, I love a challenge."

"Have heard that one before."

She took an unused fabric from the hut and use it to bandage his wound. "Did any of it remembering you of something?" Hook asked under his breath.

"The beanstalk?" Emma responded, with a sincere smile on her face that Hook always wanted to see.

A satisfied smile pursed on his lips, he didn't think Emma would remember any of their moment in Enchanted Forest which is still planted on his mind. "Yeah, you never forget your first."

Emma helped him stood up, and they looked at each other before one of them could speak a word. They couldn't refuse to believe they had a connection, between each other as the kindred spirits. But Emma still has to reminding herself, if she is ready to take a chance to have faith in somebody she thinks she already knew well.

Excerpt: The Lost Boys (Part. 1)

It was a really dark and tenebrous night, there was a boy, lurking in the shadow. He held his thin coat tightly as he went to the town. His hand was trembling from the coldness of the night. His eyes a bit bugged off, couldn't restrain the cold. Then someone in the back patted him. He turned back frantically at a presence of a girl.

"Hey, where's your mother?" said a girl younger than him, concerned.

"I don't have a mother." He said in deadpan.

"Then, where's your father?"

He walked closer to her until he finally can saw her whole face, she was just an innocent little girl who wore wealthy dress. "I don't have it too."

"So, you're all alone?" she asked.

"Yes."

The girl pulled out something from her nice bag. It was a freshly baked bread. She gave it to him without hesitation. "Here, you can have it. My mother gave it to me but I'm already full."

The warmth from a bread swiftly warming beneath his skin. He held the bread tightly than eating it. "What's your name?"

"Felix." He said as he held the bread closer to his body.

"Why aren't you eating?" The girl asked, confused.

"It's warm." The boy shortly answered.

"It's not too cold out here." The girl looked around, studying the surrounding of an almost full night fair.

"Yeah, because you're wearing a dress." He said. She looked down to her dress and nodded approvingly.

"I forgot how thick this dress is." The girl smiled in return, and Felix is slightly confused because he's not used to people being nice to him. He always mistaken as a thief, or bum who doesn't deserve to live.

"Follow me. I know a place where everything is lovely and magical." She said again, her eyes filled with spark. She offered him her hand.

His hand moved gradually to answer her, but he refused it. "How do I know you're not lying?" He scolded. It's very strange to him finds a wealthy girl being nice to him. "There's no such place like that in this world."

"You're right, because it's not in our world. It's in the dreamland, the other part of our world." The girl explained. "Would you accompany me now? We have to see it."

"Why would you want me to accompany you?"

"Because there's a secret that must not be told. And I think you're a good keeper."

"What is it?"

"I've seen someone went there before, and what she did is just sitting in her window's bedroom. Waiting for a shadow comes and brings her to that land."

"That's a nonsense!" Felix shouted. His hand started to trembling, because the night is getting late. "I don't believe in magic."

"Me too. Before she told everyone in her school about how lovely is that place, where no one is getting old, and fairies everywhere." her eyes gleamed, not sure if it's from reflection of the star, or she is very hopeful.

"It's just probably her weird dreams." He said with no interest at the story.

The girl didn't simply give up. She took his hand and dragged him to somewhere she only knows. "Let's just go and prove it with me, Felix. I really wanted to prove her that it's not real."

"Wait, where are we going?" Felix couldn't do anything except follow her and held his bread on the other hand tightly. He planned to eat it alone, but she already dragged him out of nowhere.

She turned to meet his face, with a plenteous hope in her eyes, she said, "Neverland."

(to be continued).