The Portrait of Elijah Mill's

by 06bromleys

Family Above All. Elijah Mill's has only had one goal since the Dark Curse was cast 28 years ago; his sister's redemption. When Henry brings Emma Swan to Storybrooke, his world is turned on it's head as he seeks to hide the monster that lives within his portrait. Will he be able to beat the monster inside or let it destroy the things he loves the most? (Rated M for Safety)

16. Chapter 16: Tallahassee

Introducing: Phoebe Tonkin (The Originals) as Lady Hayley Wotton

---

Despite their recent failure of losing out on using the enchanted wardrobe to find their way home to their family to stop his mother's efforts of reaching the Land of No Magic to reach his sister and nephew, the mournful mood that settled across the groups at the loss of Sir Lancelot, was lifted slightly as they listened to Emma question Elijah about his vampirism, debunking the most common myths that had been related to the supernatural creature she had learned through her life spent in the the Land of No Magic.

She wanted to learn, and if is that what she needed to trust him, he was more than happy to answer the questions she had about his abilities, regardless of how ridiculous they sounded.

"Do you eat garlic?" the question made the vampire smile to himself as they continued their journey on foot back to the encampment of survivors. Walking together, the blonde's mother couldn't help but to be happy for her friend to see how well her daughter was taking his second nature.

"Yes" he confirmed trying to keep the smirk off his face.

"Sunlight's clearly not an issue for you" she states glancing up at the bright sun in the sky above them.

"We can procure rings that protect us" he replies holding up his right hand towards her to show her the ring that sat on his middle finger "The stone, Lapis Lazuli, contains magical properties that allows us to walk in the sun without bursting into flames. It was spelled it shortly after I turned".

"Ouch" she grimaced at the thought of bursting in flames, thinking of her next question "Crucifixes?".

"Decorative".

"Holy Water?".

"Drinkable".

"Mirrors?".

"Myth" he smirked at her as they walked side by side towards the encampment with Mulan leading the group "Make's shaving in the morning all that more easier" he adds rubbing his hand over the dark stubble that had started to make it's appearance around his jaw.

The line of questioning ended as the blonde's brows furrowed remembering how he ate nearly a whole leg of chimera back in the camp. "How can you eat? If technically you're.." she trailed off.

"Dead" Elijah stated outload "It's not a bad word. As long as I keep a healthy diet of blood in my system, my body functions normally. Eating helps with cravings, so does drinking" he informs her.

"Does that mean you..kill to survive?" Mary Margaret heard her daughter ask the man as she glanced back at the pair behind her as she followed Mulan and Aroura ahead of her.

"I learned a long time ago how to control my cravings. And how to hunt. Snatch. Eat. Erase" he recited from memory "Animal blood keeps me alive, but I'm not as strong as I could be".

"Erase?" Emma questioned the man.

"Mind Compulsion. Vampires can control the mind of a human, or lesser being. Wielders of Magic are harder, but not impossible. I can make someone follow any instruction I order, or forget who I am or what I did to them. They would forget about being fed on and move on with the rest of their day or even life without fear".

"You've uh...You've never done that on us right?" she nervously asked. Not sure whether she wanted that question answered.

"No. And nor do I intend to. You should be able to make your own decisions and be free from anyone. Although, I have used it on your father a few times" he admits to her.

"You have?!" Mary Margaret exclaimed from in front of them.

"Only to make sure his intentions for you were a worthy one" he tells his friend "I couldn't allow my intended just marry anyone now could I?" he defended himself.

"Still... Just ask next time" the pixie haired princess trailed off as she continued as Emma took hold of his arm making him stop from following the others back to camp.

"How does it work? Show me".

"Emma I'm not.." he protested.

"You said you would tell me everything. I want to know".

He shouldn't, he knew how it felt to be under someone's control, to have no free will, to lose memories. But he knew she wouldn't just let this go

Stepping closer to the saviour, the latter went to step back no sure what he was doing until he took her head an face into the palms of his hand making her stay still as his eye's met her's, trapping them in his gaze as he felt her tense.

"Relax" his smooth voice commanded her, his eye's dilating "I'm not going to hurt you".

"You're not going to hurt me" she repeats back as she physically relaxes in his hands.

"What's your name?" he asks the woman as Emma tried to fight the urge to answer him but it was in vain as the word escaped her lips.

"Emma Swan" she flatly answers him entranced in his gaze, not the same way she was in his office but this was different.

"Where do you live?" his voice reached her ears.

"Storybrooke, Maine".

"What's your job there?".

"I'm the Sheriff".

"Do you think I should get a haircut, once we return to ?"

"Yes" she instantly answered him.

Blinking out of the compulsion, he let her go, making her stumbled back a step or two away from his as she regained control of her own mind from the cloud that had been lifted before looking back up at him wide eyed as he pulled out a handkerchief from the inside of his tunic "Woah..." she all she could say.

"Woah indeed. And I'll take your suggestion into consideration" he chimed unfolding the folded handkerchief to reveal the herb that he had found growing on pots around the castle. He smelt the sharpness of his the moment he stepped into the crumbling building.

"Here" he says offering the purple herb to the blonde who slowly took it from him "It's a herb called Vervain. I found it being grown in the castle grounds. If its worn or ingested by a human compulsion is impossible for a any vampire to control you, more importantly it can hurt people like me".

"Are there more like you?" she asks him putting it in the pocket of her leather jacket "More vampires I mean".

"Possibly" he gulped "It's not like we have a vamp bar and grill to meet in and plot together, we're solitary creatures. Enjoy our own company. Quiet. Makes it easier to stay hidden".

"From what?".

"Hunters" he answered her truthfully as he stepped forward to catch up with the other's as Emma followed suit.

"What about the person who made you like this. Where are they, did they come through with the curse?".

"No" he quickly tells her "He's gone. My sister and I made sure of that before we ever thought about enacting the curse" he tells her as they neared the encampment, following up the trail they had used when leaving.

"I don't know if I can do this" Aurora voiced her anxieties to the group as they got close to the edge of the area "I'm not a very good liar".

"Oh, it's not really a lie, Aurora" Mary Margaret did her best to reassure the young princess "Lancelot did die an honourable death, and Cora did escape. All true. Just leave the particulars to us. There's no reason to cause unnecessary panic amongst your people".

"I'm not so sure it's unnecessary-".

"Shh. Shh. Shh" the vampire hushed the Princess stopping them from going any further as he tried to hear the chorus of drumming heartbeats that deafened his senses urging him to feed on the blood that was being pumped through their bodies, suddenly silenced as the only heartbeats he heard were from the four women behind him. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Looking towards the wooden towers erected around the edges of the encampment he noticed them empty, recalling the sentries that manned them when they were first brought into the refuge.

"Mulan those tower's are they always manned" he asks the female warrior, making her turn and see what he was seeing.

"Always" she answers "We always have sentries guarding the entrance".

"All of you stay here".

"Elijah" Mary Margaret and Emma called out to the man only for their voices to reach deaf ears as he sped into camp, leaving the four women to anxiously wait for the vampire to find out what had happened to the saviours as they heard a loud whistle reach their ears coming from inside.

Following the all clear from Elijah inside the area, the women rushed in, weapons at the ready to face whatever was through the fog that had settled over the ground only to see Elijah stood in the middle of motionless corpses strew across the field as shacks had been torn apart and left to smoke from fires that been set.

"Oh my God…".

---

Looking for any saviours seemed like a waste of time as they went from shack to shack looking for any sign someone was hiding from whatever had hit the camp during their absence as Elijah took his time crouched down on his hunches examining every inch of the bodies that surrounded him looking for any clue for what happened to them.

It wasn't vampires that's for sure otherwise the he would've smelt the blood straight away. No this was something deadlier than a vampire.

"This can't be…" Mulan denied to herself "Our land… We were protected here – hidden. How did the ogres find us?".

"Ogres didn't do this" Elijah announced to the other's as he looked to the fist sized in their chests.

"What?".

"Cora did this. This is my mother's work. Their hearts… They were ripped out. It's what she's known for".

"This is her magic, twisted and evil" Mary Margaret declared looking at the female warrior "We have to stop her".

"We're too late. She killed them. She killed them all" Mulan continued to fret.

"But we have to stop her before she hurts anyone else!" the pixie haired princess argued as Emma saw movement in the debris.

"Hey! Hey! Look!" Emma suddenly exclaimed pointing to something on the ground making the other's to see a hand waving underneath debris and bodies.

"There's someone under there" Aurora said as all four woman rush towards the area to help Emma free the person as Elijah remained stood watching as he heard the fifth heartbeat join the other's "He's alive" the princess added.

This wasn't how his mother worked, she wouldn't have left a lone survivor let alone a witness.

"Please" the dark haired man begged as he was helped up to see four women surrounding him "Please, help me".

"It's okay" Mary Margaret tried to reassure the man as he continued to plead for help. "It's okay. You're safe now. We won't hurt you"

"Thank you" he breathed out as Hook saw Cora's own son staring intently at the scene before him "Thank you…".

---

Seating the survivor at a bench Elijah stood close by with his hand firmly around the pommel of his sword while Emma and Mulan left camp to fetch water for the group. There was something terribly odd about the situation that he couldn't put his finger on, at least he wasn't alone in his suspicions of the man as he listened to Emma's conversation with the warrior.

"Have you seen him before?".

"Yes, I've seen him around" Mulan tells the saviour "He's a blacksmith. Came to our camp a couple months ago. Said he lost his hand in an ogre attack. Why would Cora leave a survivor?".

At the question the blonde couldn't help but look up and see Elijah looming over the blacksmith ready to pounce at the slightest sign that he wasn't who he said he was. Elijah knew his mother the best and he wasn't falling for the survivor acting for a second.

"It's messy. Doesn't make sense".

"You think he's lying?".

"I think Cora's tricked us before. I don't want that to happen again" she voiced to the warrior as they reached the bench to re-join the others.

"Here you go" she says offering the man the cup that he gratefully took before Mulan filled with water from her waterskin.

"I can't thank you enough for your kindness" the one handed man tell them "Fortune, it seems, has seen fit to show me favour"

"An island full of corpses. You're the only one to escape" Emma start her interrogation "How exactly did that happen?".

"She attacked at night" the blacksmith answered her "Slaughtered everyone in one fell swoop. When she started ripping out people's hearts, I hid under the bodies of those who had already been killed. Pretended to be dead myself. Mercifully, the ruse worked".

"So much for fortune favouring the brave" Elijah commented from behind the man making him look round

"It was all I could do to survive" the blacksmith tell him allowing the vampire to get a good look at the man. He recognised him, he didn't know from where or when but he knew him somehow. The beard, the earring on his right ear, but something

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret" the blonde saviour speak up making him turn back around as she leant on the table on her elbows to look him in the eyes "I'm pretty good at knowing when someone is lying to me" she tells him "So is he" she adds points to Elijah behind him, making him turn his head to look at the vampire silently staring back at him.

"I'm telling you the truth" the statement allowed the vampire to hear the slight skip in his heart. He was lying.

"We should leave here in case Cora decides to come back" Aroura voices to the blonde

"We should start searching for a new portal back to Storybrooke" Mary Margaret suggested to her daughter "I only got about five minutes with my husband, not to mention my grandson".

"You have a grandson?" the blacksmith asked the woman in confusion as Elijah took slow steps towards him while he was distracted.

"Long story".

"Well, I know this land well. I can guide you" he offered the women only for the vampire to take a fistful of the mans hair wrenching it back, his fangs extending from his month as he made the man look up to see the sharp

"You're not going to guide us anywhere" Elijah tells the man squeezing his jaw "Until you tell us who you really are".

---

Tying the man to a tree wasn't his idea of extracting information he had on his mind as he and other's watched Mulan pull the rope tighter around him, it involved at least a small snack for himself with the information they needed, but if this how she wanted to go ahead, he was all for it, he would have to give points to the woman's for her creativity, it was something not even he would've thought of doing.

He was the one usually left to how and when he and his sister violated their guests, this was like a breath of fresh air.

"I already told you. I'm just a blacksmith" he pleaded to the group

"I think we all know that's a fib" Elijah voiced from where he stood "Anyone feel hungry?" he purred out allowing his vampiric features come to surface making the man squirm against the tree.

"Sure you are" Emme scoffed at him before turning, bringing her fingers to her mouth the saviour whistled loud enough for it to be heard by beast that had overtaken the land since the curse. Sure enough a second or two later a growl was heard in the distance, loud enough for everyone to hear "You don't want to talk to us? Maybe, you'll talk to the ogres while they rip you limb from limb" she adds as the growls grew louder.

"Come on" she encouraged the other's to leave the man to his fate.

"You… You can't just leave me here like this!" he pleaded to the others as Emma and Elijah led the group away.

"We can and we will" the vampire tells the man.

"What if he's telling the truth?" Aurora voices to the pair.

"He's not" Emma tells her.

"Good for you!" the man chuckled darkly to himself making them stop "You bested me. I can count the amount of people who've done that on one hand" he says as they turned to walk back to the man tied to the tree as the former sought out the vampire in the group "I'm surprised you didn't recognise me first. Ripper!".

"I beg your pardon?" Elijah narrowed his eye's at the man.

"That supposed to be funny?" Emma jumped in before the man could retort "Who are you?".

"Killian Jones, but most people have taken to call me by my more colourful moniker – Hook"

"Hook…" Elijah whispered the name to himself.

"Check my satchel" Hook prompted them as Mary Margaret search through the bag on her person.

"As in, Captain Hook?" Emma questioned him.

"Ah, so you've heard of me" he grinned at the woman as Mary Margaret took out a silver hook from the satchel as more growling and crashing was heard behind them.

"You better hurry up. They're getting closer" Emma warned him "So, unless you want to be dinner, you better start talking" .

"Cora wanted me to gain your trust, so I could learn everything there is to know about your Storybrooke" Hook tells them "She didn't want any surprises when she finally got over there with her precious vampire son alongside her" he sneered at the man.

"She can't get there. We destroyed the wardrobe" Mary Margaret argued.

"Ah, but the enchantment remains" Hook corrected her "Cora gathered the ashes. She's going to use them to open up a portal" he tells them as the Ogres got nearer still "Now, if you'll kindly cut me loose".

"No. We should leave him here to die" Mulan tells Emma "To pay for all the lives that he took".

"That was Cora, not me" Hook corrected the warrior.

"Let's go" Emma instructs the other's again, turning to leave the pirate again.

"Wait. Wait!" Hook calls out to the man and women making the stop and turn back again "You need me alive".

"Why?" she asks.

"Because we both want the same thing – to get back to your land".

"You would say anything to save yourself" she points out "Why are we supposed to believe you now?".

"I arranged for transport with Cora. But, seeing how resourceful you are, I'll offer you the same deal. I'll help you, if you promise to take me along".

Glancing behind her the blonde found Elijah looking for any sign he had heard a lie she might've missed, but as gave her no sign that Hook wasn't telling them the truth, she turned back to the tied up pirate.

"How are you going to help us get home?" Mary Margaret questioned him this time.

"The ashes will open a portal, but, to find your land, she needs more. There's an enchanted compass. Cora seeks it. I'll help you obtain it before she does".

"So, Cora won't make it to Storybrooke, and we'll be one step closer to getting home" Emma states outload.

"Sounds too good to be true" her mother voices to her daughter.

"There's only one way to find out" Hook retorts.

"You tell me one thing, and whatever you say, I better believe it – why does Captain Hook want to go to Storybrooke?".

"To exact revenge on the man who took my hand… Rumpelstiltskin".

---

While the mere thought of aiding Captain Hook back to Storybrooke made his skin crawl, the reminder of the reason why eased the feeling as he thought of what would happen when the one handed pirate faced the Dark One to enact his revenge. Not only would the man face his death and his presence in his life would all be so fleeting, the opportunity for the front row seat was all that too tempting not to deny the man his wish.

Walking behind the one-handed pirate as he led the way to where the enchanted compass they needed to find their way back home.

"Ripper" he greets the Queen's brother with a toothy gin on his face "Tell me how's Her Majesty?".

"I suggest you stop calling me that, otherwise you might leave this land with one less head to fight against the Dark One with".

The threat only made the man grin widen, he was getting under the man's skin already.

"And why's that? You afraid once they found out what you really are they'll be so trusting into a man who's known for ripping people apart".

"And I never have" Elijah tells him making him stop with a hand on his chest "So whatever it is you are speaking about. I suggest you stop before you I make so, that you never speak again. I won't ask again".

The threat made the pirate take pause as he look up at the vampire that stood over him, clenching his jaw as he stared up to see the real monster he laid bare for anyone to see before the curse, only to see nothing.

"You really don't remember me, do you mate?".

"Remember what?" the vampire spat feeling his impatience with the pirate grow by the second.

"What your sister hired me to do?" the pirate quietly asked the vampire to see if he recalled anything about their last encounter in the Enchanted Forest before the curse.

"Is there a problem?" Mulan's voice interrupted the pair as she stood between them seeing that their small discussion had held up the entire the group.

"Keep walking" Elijah orders the pirate shoving him ahead of them to continue their journey.

"Up ahead. We'll find the compass just over the ridge" Hook announced to the group as they neared a ridge as Emma and Mary Margaret spoke.

"Do you get the feeling he's leading us exactly where Cora wants us?" Mary Margaret voices to her daughter "That this whole thing's a trap?".

"It's definitely a trap" Emma tells her "As long as we know they're trying to play us, we can-".

"Stay one step ahead of them" she states to her daughter.

"Exactly" the blonde confirms as they caught up to the other's looking at was now in their way of getting to the enchanted compass; a beanstalk that disappeared into the clouds.

"Let me guess – the compass is up there?" Emma asked the pirate.

"Oh, yeah" he confirms.

"So, how do we get to it?".

"It's not the climb you need to worry about. It's the giant at the top".

Emma was the first to step forward to continue their quest, quickly followed by the pirate, the female warriors, former bandit, vampire and princess made their towards the base of beanstalk.

---

Reaching the bottom of the bean stalk, the vampire couldn't help but to incline his head up to see how far the stalk truly went up into the sky as it seemed to go on and on, disappearing into the clouds high above of thick vines twisted together

"It's a little freakier than I remember from the story" Emma voices to the group as Elijah remembers the story he one told Henry a few times as a bedtime story.

"Reminds me of death" Mulan chimes.

"Encouraging" Mary Margaret sighs out as Elijah shrugs to himself.

"Well, your compass awaits. Shall we?" he prompts them towards the base of the beanstalk.

"Wait. If these beans create…portals, why not just pick one and go home? Why the compass?" Emma asks the pirate.

"Because there aren't any more beans. Whatever story you think you know, my dear, is most certainly wrong".

"There was a guy named Jack, and a cow, and something about evil giant with a treasure and a golden goose. …Or harp".

"It was both" Elijah corrects the blonde recalling all the times he had read the story to Henry when he was younger. It was one of his favourites for his Uncle to tell on the nights he put the young boy to bed when his sister was busy.

"Sounds like a lovely tale" Hook tells the pair "But the truth's a little bit more gruesome. The giants grew the beans, but, rather than use them for good, they used them to plunder all the lands. Jack, was a man who fought a terrible war, defeating all but one of the evil giants. The beans were destroyed by the giants as they died. If they couldn't have their magic, then nobody could. Certainly very bad form".

"Evil giants, who made magic portal beans? Why doesn't anyone just go up and grow some more?" the blonde questions him.

"Because one giant survived. The strongest and most terrible of them all" the sentence made the vampire roll his eye's at the man's dramatics "And we'll have to get past him to-".

"The magic compass" Mary Margaret supplied.

"Indeed. The treasure remains, and amongst it is the compass. Now it will guide us to your land. Cora has the means to open a portal with the wardrobe ashes, but she can't find your land without the compass. Once we get it, steal the ashes from her and we're on our way.

"How do we know you're not just using us to get the compass for my mother?" Elijah questions the man.

"Because you five are far safer company" he tells Cora's son "All I need is a ride back. I'll swear allegiance to whomever gets me there first".

"Then we'd better start climbing" Emma speaks up only for Hook to stop her.

"Right, so… I failed to mention that the giant enchanted the beanstalk to repel intruders".

"Alright, so how do we get up there?".

"I've got a counter spell from Cora. If you'd be so kind" he says holding out his tied wrists. Elijah was the one to step up, taking the dagger from his belt as he kept his gaze firmly on the pirates as he took hold of the man's bound wrists, the vampire placed the edge of the blade against the binds, swiftly pulling the blade against it to cut the binding, nicking the skin underneath on purpose.

"Ah!" the pirate hisses out in pain as blood welt up from the small cut the vampire had deliberately made.

"Oops" he feigns his clumsiness swiping up the drop of blood with his finger before the pirate could take it away from the vampire, seeing the smear of his blood on the vampire's "Silly me" he drawls out to the pirate eyeing the drop of blood "Forgive me, I haven't fed in a while. Fortunately for you, I'm not a fan of too much salt" the vampire tell the pirate taking out the white embroidered handkerchief that had made the journey with him to wipe all evidence of the man's blood off his finger.

"Thank you, mate" he slowly tells the vampire, taking a step away to pull away the rags he wore over his more fitting dark ensemble to show them the glowing leather cuff around his wrist.

"I've got one more of these" he tells the group "Cora was to accompany me. So… Which one of you four lovelies shall take her place? Hm? Go on, fight it out. Don't be afraid to, you know, really get into it".

---

Enchanted Forest

Many Years Ago

A year or so after his sister's wedding, and meeting Lord Wotton in Basil Hallward's home, Elijah found himself waiting in the man's living room inside his townhouse once again, reclining in a luxurious one armed chair waiting for the man himself to make an appearance and continue their adventures that took them miles outside his sister's queendom, for even days at a time.

Henry Wotton was showing him a life outside the four walls of his family's estate, introducing him to theatres that entertained the masses on a nightly basis that his mother would never have let him taken a step into, let alone stay and be introduced to their actor's and actresses.

Now that his mother was in another realm, he could finally embrace life until he would have to marry Snow White. All that stood in the way of his complete freedom was King Leopold.

The townhouse seemed to be an odd place for the Lord to reside in. Most would often choose an estate away from the towns and villages. Perhaps he enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the world just outside his front door, not cooped up in an estate where you could go weeks without seeing anyone but your family.

He was truly in the middle of everything, a walking distance from the theatre district on one side and the docks on the other, to a market full of goods from all over the Enchanted Forest and beyond.

The monotonous ticking of the clock annoyed him as he tried to concentrate on the book he had found to while away the time until his friend decided to

At last he heard a step outside, and the door opened "How late you are Henry!" he murmured loudly.

"I'm afraid I'm not Henry, Mr Mill's" a feminine voice answered him, making him jump to see a young woman stood in the room. Long brunette hair fell onto her shoulders as her large almond eye's took in the sight of him. She was stunning. Perfect even from the straight define nose, apple cheekbones, her heart shaped face extenuated every detail as she looked at the young lord sat in her husband's home.

Jumping from his seat at the presence of the woman, the book fell onto the floor as he stood to attention at the lady's presence.

"I beg your pardon Miss" Elijah tells her bowing his head respectfully at her "I thought-".

"You thought it was my husband" she states to which he simply nodded "I'm afraid it is only his dear wife" she drawled out as she made her way towards the young man that had "You must let me introduce myself. I know you quite well from how much Lord Wotton speaks of you".

"Often, Lady Henry?" he questions her feeling the corner of his lips tug upwards.

"A lot then" she corrects him this a tight lipped smirk "You're all he seems to talk about on the rare occasions I see him".

"My apologies".

"None to be had. I'm just glad he's out of the house more than he was" she quickly dismisses his apology as she makes her towards the grand piano that sat in the middle of the room "Do you play Lord Elijah?"

"I do milady" he replies with a smile.

"Call me Hayley, you're a friend after all" she says taking a seat on the stool.

"Hayley" he tested her name on his tongue that left a sweetness behind he never tasted before now.

---

"All due respect, I'm the best equipped to go. How many wars have you been through?" Mulan opened the debate as Hook waited for the group to decide who would accompany him up the beanstalk.

"My share" Mary Margaret retorted to the warrior.

"It should be me" Aurora spoke up, volunteering herself surprising the others at her eagerness to climb.

"You? You haven't fought in a battle" Mulan argued with the Princess.

"This is about us getting home to our loved ones" the pixie haired princess tells her "Why would you-".

"Because I have no loved ones" Aurora tells her "If I fail, you can still go on".

"It's me" Emma announced as she turned back from looking at the beanstalk I'm going, and I'm not going to fail" she tells them as determination lacing her voice.

"You're new here" Mary Margaret told her. only for her daughter to continue.

"It's about getting back to Henry" she states to the group "I don't care what I have to face" she tells her mother only to met by silence "You're not going to argue with me?" she asked her.

"Would it do any good?" Mary Margaret retorted.

"No" Emma simply answered her, she was going to find them a way home herself.

"I'm going with you" Elijah tells the blonde "The beanstalk shouldn't be able to detect something that's already dead. It'll be safe for me to go with both of you".

"Elijah-" Emma went to argue only for the man to interrupt her.

"I have as much as reason you have, if not more" he declares to the woman as the other's listen "I need to get back to my own family, that includes your son. Stopping my mother from coming within an arms reach of him is my top priority. I gave you my word that he would be safe-".

"That was different" she tried to argue "That was Regina".

"Compared to my sister, you'll want the Evil Queen by your side if you ever come face to face with our mother. You saw with your own eyes what she does to people who disappoint her, even her own flesh and blood aren't safe. If she ever reached Storybrooke I wouldn't be able to stop her".

"By going with you, by getting us home, is how I keep my nephew safe, even if I have to spend a nauseating amount of time with a damn pirate" he grimaced at the thought.

"Okay" the blonde relents agreeing to let him go with her, not that he was asking her permission. He was going whether she wanted him to go or not "Thank you" she tells the man before to Mulan. "Anything in that bag that's going to help me with a giant?".

"Or Hook?" Mulan replies looking over to the one-handed pirate.

"Hey!" the pirate exclaimed from his place having heard the warrior.

"Come with me" the female warrior prompted the blonde away from the group leaving Elijah behind to speak privately as she reached into her satchel to take out the bag of dust that would aid the three once they reached the top of the beanstalk.

"Elijah-" he heard his friend call out to him as he watched Emma and Mulan walk away from them.

"I need to go Snow" he quickly tells her.

"I know" she nods her head in understanding. She knew how much he cared for Henry, even if Emma didn't quite understand how much just yet "Just keep her safe".

"You have my word Snow" he tells her before the smaller woman moves into his arms to wrap her own around him as he presses his nose and face into the crown of her head as her daughter spoke to Mulan.

"This. Powder made from poppies" Mulan informs Emma handing over the cloth satchel to her "He has to inhale it" she instructs her.

"And your sword – how strong is it?" Emma asks her.

"The most powerful blade in all the realms".

"Is it strong enough to cut through that beanstalk?" she goes on.

"Indeed" Mulan confirms.

"Give us ten hours. If I'm not back, you cut it down and keep going".

"Snow won't like that" Mulan voices her concern with the plan "Elijah won't".

"That's why I'm asking you. If I don't get back, you get her home".

Listening closely to Emma's instructions, Mulan heard her silent plan. A plan that could possibly get her killed if she didn't get it right. Despite his best efforts of getting her to trust him, the more she learnt about him and his second nature the less she could trust him. She could only hope one day he would forgive her for this, for putting Henry first.

"Ladies" Hook called out to the group gaining their attention "Ripper" he adds his voice dropping in tone "In this world, we are slaves to time. And ours is running out. In other words, tick-tock".

Giving his friend a gentle kiss on her cheek as he parted from her, handing over his sword to her before making his way towards the pirate with Emma following close behind pulling the sleeve of her red leather jacket down.

"I was hoping it'd be you" he grins at the blonde, before he looked over to the unwelcome vampire that had decided to join the climb "You however".

"Just get on with it" she tells the man, offering the man her arm.

"Put your hand right here" Hook instructs the blonde saviour as he placed her hand on his shoulder "That's a good girl" he comments as he places the second magical cuff on her wrist before she took it away.

"This will allow you to climb. There are other dangers. Thankfully, you've got me to protect you, if not I'm sure" he says as he points to the handless stub silently asking for his silver hook to be returned to him "I can't climb one-handed, can I?".

Giving in to his request Emma takes the silver hook from the brown satchel to return to him.

"Don't think I'm taking my eyes off you for a second" she warns the pirate as he attached it back to the end of his handless arm.

"I would despair if you did" he retorts with a flirty smile.

"Don't think she'll be the only one with their eye's on you pirate" Elijah quickly informs him

"Let's go" Emma tells the pair growing tired of the tension between them as she drops the satchel on Hook's hook before turning to the base of the beanstalk.

Taking their places to start their long climb, reaching up the vampire took hold of his first vine, he paused waiting for any sign of the magic's protecting itself from stopping him from advancing only for nothing to happen. His theory worked.

Looking back the vampire gave his old friend one last nod of his head the vampire started his climb to find their way home.

---

He was never a fan of heights, even during his human life. The ground was where his food was, it was where his home was, it was where he could easily move about to snap the pirate's neck to get him to stop talking as he and Emma climbed up the stalk behind him.

The climb was easy enough for someone like himself, but he wasn't to take any risks as he kept a steady pace in with Hook, he could go further ahead, but the thought of leaving her behind with the pirate made his skin crawl.

"First beanstalk?" Hook asked the pair breaking the silence of the climb Well, you never forget your first.

You know, most men would take your silence as off-putting, but I love a challenge" he grinned down to the blonde woman trailing after him and vampire.

"I'm concentrating" the blonde stated to the man.

"No, you're afraid" Hook retorted "Afraid to talk – to reveal yourself. Trust me – things'll be a lot smoother if you do".

"You should be used to people not trusting you" the vampire speaks up as he continues to carefully using the branches that twisted round to make the stalk, and the green vines as roped to pull himself further up.

"Ah, the pirate thing. Well, I don't need you to share. You're both something of an open book" he observed from his silent companions.

"We are?" the blonde retorts.

"Quite" he grinned "Let's see – you both volunteered to come up here because you were the most motivated. You need to get back to a child".

"That's not perception. That's eavesdropping" Elijah corrects him.

"Ah, but you don't want to abandon him the way you were abandoned".

"Was I?" Emma was the one to ask the man while the vampire was left in quiet contemplation of the man's insight as his brows furrowed at the observation. Was he abandoned?.

"Like I said, an open book". Hook said making his point to the pair.

"How would you know that?" the vampire asked from his right side.

"I spent many years in Neverland, home of the Lost Boys. They all share the same look in their eyes… The look you get when you've been left alone".

"Yeah, well, my world ain't Neverland" Emma told the man from his other side.

"But an orphan's an orphan. Love has been all too rare in your life, hasn't it? You ever even been in love?".

"No. I have never been in love" Emma tells the man before continuing, leaving the men behind as Hook looked towards the vampire.

"How about you Rippa? Ever been in love?".

Stilling the man thought of his answer, on one hand he could lie and carry on like the question didn't bring back the memories of the one woman he would've burnt the world for just to be with her

"Once" he tells him feeling the pain of losing the only woman he truly loved all over again. It nearly tore him apart "She died" he added honestly answered the man making Emma glance down at the vampire as he continued to climb.

---

If there was one time of year he dreaded the most of his new life as being and extended member of the royal family. It was Snow White Birthday Celebrations.

Every year, the King would host a grand ball for his daughter to celebrate the anniversary of her birth in the attempt to lessen the sting of his late wife's untimely death. Which meant her fiancé would have to make an appearance and spend the evening with her in front of courtiers, neglecting his wife as she remained sat with no one to dance with as Elijah was pulled into dance after dance with the Princess if she wasn't dancing with her father.

This year however was different. King Leopold allowed him to invite some friend of his to his young fiancée's ball. There was hardly any thought put into it as he saw Lord Wotton and Hayley hanging off his arm enter the ballroom, music played around the room as couple's danced in unison on the dance floor.

Seeing his friends enter the room, the Queen's younger brother excused himself from the group of faceless courtiers to find the King situated near the doors, welcoming every person that had made the trip to the palace for the occasion, to bring his attention to the couple that had just entered the ballroom.

"Your Majesty" Elijah call over his future father-in-law over as the Lord and Lady was being announced to the room, "May I introduce you to Lord Henry Wotton and his dear wife Lady Wotton" he introduces them as the married couple bow and curtsy to the monarch.

"Lord Wotton" the King greets the young Lord and his wife "Lady Wotton. Thank you for coming to my daughter's ball".

"Your Majesty" Henry replied with a wolfish grin that was mirrored by Elijah "Thank you for inviting my wife and I. It is an honour to have been invited".

"You can thank Elijah here for it" the King tells him "He's spoken nothing but good things about you. I look forward to seeing you around more often. Any friend of Elijah's is a friend of mine. Please enjoy yourselves" he says prompting them t o step further into the ballroom and join in with the evening festivities of dancing, drinks and food.

Letting go of his wife's arm the Lord brought Elijah into a brotherly embrace that was mirrored by the younger man.

"Good to see you brother" Henry tells his old friend before pulling away keeping his hands gripping his upper arms.

"Good to see you too. Let us find my sister, the Queen, she's been making demands of making your acquaintance since I told her I was inviting you".

"I can only hope you've only told her the good things".

"Only the bad things I assure you" Elijah laughed out as his eye's caught a pair of almond ones he had missed more than anything.

"Hello Elijah" she greets him with as a secret smile played on her lips.

It had been a while since they had seen the other. The longest for a while. As the months went by since their first encounter, he had made it his mission to catch her at home whenever he was to meet with Henry. Their love of music bonded the pair closer together until they grew closer when he saw how lonely she was with her husband constantly absent from their home. But he wasn't surprised since he once told his friend his view on marriage;

"The one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception necessary for both parties. I never know where my wife is, and my wife never knows what I am doing. When we meet,—we do meet occasionally, when we dine out together. We tell each other the most absurd stories with the most serious faces. My wife is very good at it,—much better, in fact, than I am. She never gets confused over her dates, and I always do"

His marriage to her was only to keep up appearances in public while he pursued his hedonistic fulfilment. So while in the public eye he's seen as a loving husband that spends time with his beautiful wife, his vices come out to play in private. Wotton doesn't' care about her like he does for her.

Their mutual affection blossomed behind closed doors of the Wotton townhouse while he pursued his vices.

"Hello" he replies taking her hand in his to place a gentle kiss on her fingers, his eye's lingered on her's. He couldn't wait to get her all to himself later.

---

Reaching the top of the beanstalk, just in time for the sun to dip into the horizon, the three were met by a massive stone courtyard that fit the description of a giants home allowed themselves a second or two to catch their breath from the long climb, before stepping down the lip to stand in the middle of the courtyard.

"What happened here?" Emma asked the pirate, seeing the skeletons that laid strewn across the ground.

"It's where the final battle was" Hook informs them as the smell of metallic blood reached his nose, making him look towards Emma and to the bloodied cut in the palm of her left hand. She must've caught it on something on the way up.

"Give me your hand" Elijah tells her, reaching out to take it.

"What?".

"Your hand, it's bleeding" he tells her "Allow me help you".

"No, no. It's fine. Just..." she says brushing his concern off to tell him, trying to step away from him.

"No, it's not" he firmly retorts, snatching her arm in his hand making her look up at him "If I can smell it, the giant can too" making sure she understand what he was trying to tell her. Or some form of understanding. He hadn't had human blood in more than two days, and even the thought of harming her wouldn't stop him from taking what he needed. He needed the temptation go.

"As much as I'd hate to say it love, the vampire knows what he's talking about" Hook vouches for the vampire seeing how tempting it must be for the man to turn his back on easy food "Here" he says offering him his bottle "It's rum. Bloody waste of it".

"Save your rum" Elijah tells him keeping his eye's fixed on the saviours as he lets her arms go "We don't need it".

Clenching his jaw in annoyance the pirate took the bottle back "As you wish, Ripper" the pirate grumbled out before walking away from the pair to look for anything that had been eft behind that would help them once they got inside the giant's home.

Taking the dagger from under his tunic, the vampire pressed the sharp point against the tip of his finger, hard enough to break the skin making blood welt up from the cut. Squeezing the self inflicted cut, he made more blood escape the cut before it healed itself.

"May I?" he asked the woman holding out his free hand to her. He needed her to trust him.

Placing her bloodied hand in the open palm she watched as the vampire carefully traced the wound in her palm with his bloodied finger as she felt the layers of skin come back together before her eye's.

"What the hell?" she trailed off in wide eyed astonishment.

"Blood heals" was all Elijah tell her knowing Hook was still nearby and given his tendencies to eavesdrop on private conversations, he didn't want to give the man the knowledge of what he could do.

"Will anything happen?" she asks him watching him use his handkerchief to wrap around her hand the where the cut was to keep up appearances with the pirate making sure it was covered as the saviour took not of the neat embroidery of E.M on the corner of the handkerchief and the bloodstain next to it.

"No" he whispers down to her "A human has to ingest vampire blood before dying to go into transition".

"Transition?" she questions him.

"An in-between state, you're not dead, but you're not quite alive. To complete it you have to drink human blood. It's a choice".

"And if they don't?".

"They die".

"Is that what happened to Sibyl?" Emma pried seeing her opportunity to discover more about the actress he was once engaged to be married to. Did she jump into the river to avoid becoming a vampire like him?

The name made him snap his head up to meet her gaze, his mouth agape at the name that had left her lips.

"How do you know that name?". He had only mentioned that name to Mary Margaret once before the curse broke.

"Regina may have mentioned her when I was planning to leave".

"Of course she would" he scoffed to himself taking his hand off her as they found his hips as she see's her mistake seeing the pain that went through his eyes. He should have known his sister would try and pull a stunt like that.

"That's...not who you were talking about" she trails off in realization.

"No" he flatly tells her "I didn't get one" he quickly changed the subject "A choice" he gulped as Hook interrupted them seeing the covering over Emma's hand

"Now, if you're done playing the hero mate, the plan is to wait for the giant to fall asleep. And when he does, we'll sneak past him into his cave. It's where the treasures are – where the compass lies".

"And then?" the vampire blinks at him.

"And then we run like hell" the pirate says.

"Or" Elijah speaks up "I could just compel him to give us the compass. Hassel free and we can be on our way".

"No" Emma quickly quashed down both ideas proposed by both men "We don't have time to wait for a giant to fall asleep. Compelling him won't work either" she tells the vampire "You said it yourself. You're not as strong as you could be if you had people blood. That's how Cora beat you last time. She knows that too. You haven't had any since the curse broke. We can't risk it not working on something like a giant"/

"-The powder Mulan gave us, we need to use it. We got to knock him out" she tells them.

"Well, that's riskier" Hook argues.

"Than waiting for a giant to fall asleep when we need him to?" she questions him.

"Point taken" Elijah chimed in as he felt the corner of his lips quirk up.

"Oo, you're a tough lass" Hook drawled out impressed with her judgement, taking out the large pouch of powder from the satchel, exposing a tattoo located under the leather cuff of a heart and the name 'Milah' written across it to the blonde and vampire "You'd make a hell of a pirate" he compliments the woman.

"Who's Milah on the tattoo?" she asks the pirate.

"Someone from long ago" he answered her.

"Where is she?".

"She's gone" was all he said as he walked away from her.

"Gold" Emma stated realizing why the pirate was after the sorcerer making him stop. "Rumpelstiltskin. He took more than your hand from you, didn't he? That's why you want to kill him".

"For someone who's never been in love, you're quite perceptive, aren't you?".

"Maybe I was. Once".

---

As the evening wore on, Lord Henry Wotton had lost track of his wife in crowds as she had managed to convince Elijah to dance with her after meeting his sister, the Queen. Now neither could be seen as he made his way towards the young Princess who stood watching the dancer's itching to join them.

"Your Highness" he bows deeply to the young girl newly turned twelve. The girl's pale complexion and dark hair made her stick out of the crowd as she was showing signs of the beautiful young woman she would grow into. Elijah was certainly a luckily man to be engaged to a girl who's beauty would outshine the kingdom itself once she was old enough to wed.

She was the opposite of the women he would usually pursue during their 'hunts' as he liked to call them. Favouring women with brown or blonde hair darker skin tone, he looked away from any wench that so much resembled the young Princess in looks or demeanour.

"Lord Wotton" the Princess curtsied to the young Lord "Elijah's friend".

"The one and only Princess" he smirked "You've heard of me then".

"Yes. Elijah speaks highly of you sir".

"As he does you, Princess" he replies with a smile "I was wondering if you would dance with me".

"Oh I uh" she stuttered not sure whether to take the man's invitation. Her shyness was getting in the way of what he needed.

"I would very much like to dance with you your highness" he tried again meeting her eye as his eye's dilated to compel the young girl.

"Certainly" she agrees taking his hand, allowing her guide her into the middle of the dancefloor to take their positions to join the group waltz.

"Speaking of Elijah, I was wondering if you had seen him, he's seemed to have disappeared with my lovely wife".

"Oh" he heard the young girls heart thump harder in her chest as they stepped in unison with the other couples, keeping a respectable arms length distance between him and her, knowing either the guards or her father would be watching "I'm sorry. I haven't seen him since earlier" the friendly smirk dropped from his face at this. The girl was lying. He didn't even need to listen to her heart as her face gave her lie away.

She knew where he was.

Taking hold of her gaze, his eye's dilated as he took hold of her mind as they continued to dance, none the wiser "Tell me where you saw him last".

"I saw him sneak out of the ballroom about half hour ago" she flatly answers him.

"Was he alone?".

"No".

"Who was with him?".

"A woman" she tells him.

His wife was with him.

"Thank you Princess" Wotton tells her a hint of smirk appears on his lips "Now, in the future whenever I ask you a question, you will answer it truthfully".

"I'll tell you the truth" she repeats back to him as his compulsion sticks.

"Good girl. Now, forget our conversation and go find your Father. It's time for bed" breaking his hold on her, the Princess shook her head finding herself still dancing with Lord Wotton, Elijah's friend as she felt her eye's droop in weariness. Gosh she was tired. Today's been a long day.

"I'm tired" she suddenly tells him breaking coming out of his compulsion "I should go find my father and say goodnight".

"That's a good idea Princess" he says as they stopped dancing keeping hold of her hand in his, bringing her hand up to his lips, he left a sweet kiss on her knuckles
"Happy Birthday Princess. I hope we meet again".

"Thank you. It was nice to meet you Lord Wotton".

Leaving the man to go find her father the Lord turns to leave only for the Queen to be stood there having witnessed everything he had done to the Princess. She was never that agreeable.

"How did you do that?" she narrows her gaze at the man with a curious gaze risen on on her face.

"I have no idea what you mean Your Majesty" he feigns ignorance with the woman in front of him.

"How did you get Snow White to do as you ask" she clarifies with the man.

"A gift" he smirks at his friends older sister "Now if you would excuse me. I need to find my wife, so we can leave".

"You're not going anywhere until you answer me" she tells him placing her hand over his heart. She could just rip it out like Rumple had taught her and force him to tell her everything only for the Queen not to even feel the faintest of heartbeats as she used her magic to find his heartbeat. There was none.

"W-wha-" she stammered.

"Goodnight Your Majesty" the man smirked at her before moving around her to leave the ballroom to find his wife, leaving the Queen to watch him leave with only one question on her mind.

What the hell was he?.

---

Armed with the poppy powder, Emma perched herself on top of a statue near the entrance of the castle the giant resided in, while Hook and Elijah remined on the ground with a large bone in each of their hand and a giant bronze shield on the ground to attract the giant out of its home and hit it with the powder.

"You ready?" Hook asked the blonde on the statue as Elijah waited for the go ahead.

"Yeah" she confirms.

Joining the vampire at the metal shield, the men took it in turns striking the shield with the bones one after the other to wake the giant inside.

BANG. BANG.

BANG. BANG.

BANG. BANG.

Stilling, the pair hear a growl from inside the castle before the ground suddenly shook from the thundering footsteps that approached them as Emma struggled to keep her balance on top of the statue from how hard the ground shook , until the giant finally made his appearance.

"Oh, damn it" Elijah heard Emma say to herself as she saw the miscalculation of how exact tall a giant truly was.

"Distract it" Elijah hisses out the pirate next to him.

"What?" the pirate questioned him his brows furrowing together.

"Distract it and I'll do the rest. Trust me" he silently urged the man to do as he said, he didn't even need to compel him as the pirate stepped away from the shield to gain the giant's attention.

"Hey!" the pirate yells up to the giant waving his arms at it "You big git!" the insult made the giant growl making it move towards the pirate "Yeah, you. Huh? You want to kill a human? Huh? You want to kill a human? Well, I'm the worst human around. Come on. Come on, then!" he continues to goad the giant as he was quickly joined by Elijah as he held up his hands with a dagger in his hand.

"Hi there" he greets the giant waving the dagger in the giant's direction "I'm Elijah!" he adds before speeding over to the right, making the giant quickly grow confused as how fast the human could move "Over here!" he yelled out making the giant tur his back on Emma as she saw what he was doing. He did this with the Ogre.

Rushing back to his originally position next to Hook Elijah continued to provoke the giant "Bet you can't catch us!" at human pace the vampire and pirate ran towards the direction Emma was as the giant leans down to grab the pair only for Emma to hurl the bag of poppy powder in his face, making it explode as the giant fall's unconscious and falls heavily onto the ground making Emma hold onto the statue to dear life as the ground shook once again from the giant hitting the ground.

Righting herself, the blonde looked down onto the ground to see Elijah and Hook nowhere in sight.

"Elijah! Hook?".

At their names being called out the men appeared one after the other, either side of the sleeping giant making the woman let out a breath of relief.

"He's out cold" Hook reports to her "I don't mean to upset you, Emma, Ripper. But I think we make quite the team".

"Don't ever say that again" Elijah grumbles out as he picked himself up from the ground heading for the door.

"Let's go steal a compass" she tells the pair seeing Elijah slowly approach the door "You good?" the blonde questions him seeing him stood at the threshold of the castle.

Reaching over the threshold, the vampire's arm easily went over the property line with no resistance. Castle's were always a grey area when it came to invitations, but the true owner of the home must be dead if he was allowed into the home without an invitation. He was good.

---

With time against them with the literal sleeping giant just outside the giant building, the trio made their way through the long corridors that were lined with treasures big and small that only the most ambitious could ever of dream of achieving in their lifetime.

He'd never seen wealth like this. It made him wonder even if the giants saw this as wealth by how much they had hoarded. Even the smallest pile of coins would be able to feed a family for a year down on the ground. Not even the infamous thief that stole from the rich to give to the poor in Sherwood Forest that rung rings around the Sheriff of Nottingham would know what to do with all this.

"They hoarded all of their greatest stolen treasures in here" Hook informed the pair as they walked down the hallways "Piles of jewels, and every room filled with coins" he adds as Emma and Elijah continued ahead not realising that the pirate had become distracted by a pile of coins.

Feeling his absence, the vampire and the saviour stop to turn back to see the pirate with a coin to his nose

"Let's get to it. The compass" Emma reminds the man as the vampire rolls his eye's at man.

"Forgive us, we should've more considerate and allowed you to have moment or two with something we haven't come here for" Elijah drawls out sarcastically to the man. Once a pirate, always a pirate, no matter the situation.

"Forgiven mate" the pirate replies taking his time to sniff a gold coin he had picked up from a pile "What's your rush?".

"How long do you think magic knockout powder lasts?".

"I have no clue" he answers her.

"That's our rush" she states to the man.

"Too right, lass" he agrees with her pocketing the coin "Come. Everything we need is right in front of us" he tells them leading the pair straight to the treasure room.

The room was filled to the brim with treasures that every square metre of the large room , which made their mission of finding one small piece of it that much more harder. as large pieces of gold laid out on the floor leaving a mess

"They kill all the giant housekeepers, too?" Emma voiced to the pirate seeing the state the room had been left in "How we going to find a compass in this mess?".

"By looking" the vampire speaks up "Start searching" Elijah instructs the pair, before the three separate to look for a place to start their search for the golden compass.

"I wonder how much treasure we could carry down the beanstalk" Hook wondered outload making Emma and Elijah look at him is disbelief "…In addition to the compass, of course" he quickly adds as they come across a lone skeleton in rags with sword still in it's hand that had the name 'Jack' engraved on the blade near the pommel.

"What the hell?" Emma exclaimed seeing the lone skeleton.

"That… Would be Jack" Hook tells her.

"As in Jack…".

"The giant killer" he finishes.

"With that toothpick?" she ask's referring to the sword laying in the skeleton's hand.

"Well, it packs quite a wallop. You'd be surprised" he stays taking a step backwards as the vampire see's a tripwire he was about to trigger. Using his speed the vampire rushed forward to grab the pirate in his arms to pull him forward awkwardly brining the pirate into his chest to keep him from going anywhere near the tripwire.

Finding himself in the vampire's arms the pirate tries to push him off only for the vampire's superior strength to drag him away from the wire that would've spoilt their plan.

Pushing the pirate away from the tripwire, the man staggers back regaining his footing to face the man that had suddenly manhandled him.

"Whoa, mate" he hold up his hand at the vampire "I'm flattered. Really I am" he huffs at the man, flustered at the sudden proximity he found himself with the vampire "However I prefer to be the one giving out the love bites, if you know what I mean" he said, sending a flirtatious wink towards Emma making her roll her eye's at him.

"It's a trip wire Casanova " Emma points out to the pirate, making the latter look down why the vampire suddenly took hold of him.

"A thank you would suffice" Elijah huffed as he straightened himself to brush any evidence of the man from his clothing "Believe me. I didn't enjoy being that close to you either".

"Quite a security system" the blonde voiced pointing to the large cage high above them that would've fallen on them if Elijah hadn't intervened.

"Well, that's a plausible excuse for grabbing me, but next time...".

"I agree. I won't next time." Elijah tells him stepping over the wire to walk away from him and Emma.

"After you" Emma prompts the pirate to go first making him hum to himself as he followed Elijah over the wire.

---

Finding the main treasure room, the three split up, looking through different piles of treasure only to come up short at every pile the vampire searched.

"So it's just…in here somewhere?" Emma questioned the pirate.

"Allegedly" he answers her finding a gilded cage in the middle of the mess "Give me a boost would you, love?"

"So I can't see what you're pocketing? No way" she You give me a boost.

"Try something new, darling. It's called trust".

"Or I could just compel you to only find the compass" the vampire tells the pirate "and each time you think about betraying us, you'll swallow a gold coin whole until your eventually stomach bursts" he adds, blinking at the man "What shall it be?".

"We have Elijah to give us a boost each" Emma reasoned with the pirate "Do it side by side and fast. Who knows how long before the-" the blonde was interrupted as they heard loud footsteps in the distance announcing the sleeping giant was now wide awake and coming after his human intruders.

"Someone's up" Hook chimes in as the footsteps neared the neatly stacked of coins around the room fell as the stomps made the ground shake more violently "Quickly. Get under something" Hook tells them as Emma and Elijah rushed after the pirate to find somewhere to hide, only for the saviour to stop short as Elijah and Hook carried on for a few more steps until they stopped to find Emma behind them staring at the door as the giant jumped down the stairs leading down from the entrance to the room making the ceiling above the vampire and pirate to cave in and fall on top of the pair, disappearing from view.

"Elijah? Hook?" Emma yelled at the pile of rocks as the giant approached her, leaving her frozen in place as she was picked up by the giant hand.

---

Up in the air with the giant's hand the thing stopping her from falling from a great height, screaming out in frustration the blonde tried her best to pull herself out of the giant's tight grip on her only to fail over and over again, she had to talk her way of this somehow. It just depended on how willing the giant was to listen to her after tricking him earlier.

"I'm not what you think!" she tried to reason with the giant as continued to fight her way his hold on her.

"You're a thief, and you poisoned me!" the giant yelled at her "So yeah, I'm pretty sure you're exactly what I think".

"No. Look, you have a compass. I need it" she pleaded with him managing to free her left arm.

"I don't care what you need" he replied as he tightens his grip around the blonde human as tightened making her grunt out in pain.

"No, for my son!" she grunts "To save my son! Don't you have a family?" sh tried to reason with him as she tried her best to hit him with her free arm only for the giant to barely feel it.

"No, because humans killed them all" he tightened his grip even more making her gasp for breath as her vision burred and doubled. Talking wasn't working, she needed to take a page out of Elijah's book.

Doing her best imitation of a vampire, the blonde opened her mouth wide to bite down on the giants hand as hard as she could, making him drop her onto his lap before falling onto the ground before quickly getting up to run back through the treasure room as the giant ran after her.

The ground shook violently under her feet as more treasure fell around her as the giant followed her towards the direction of Jack's skeleton. Rounding the corner the blonde leap over the tripwire to grad the abandoned sword, turning back round as the giant makes his appearance under the cage that was attached to the tripwire.

With a swing of the sword, the blonde cup through the rope, triggering the trap, the cage fell from the ceiling on top of the giant, trapping him on his front as Emma ran forward holding the sword in front of her ready to use it.

"Nice security system. Efficient" she compliments the man pointing th sword towards the giant's face making him wince in fear.

"No. No! No! No! No!" he pleaded to the human holding the sword that killed his brother.

"I can tell by your face you know what this is. Let me guess – it's dipped in some sort of poison. You have a compass. I need it" she demands from the giant.

"You're going to kill me either way" he says to the human surrendering to face the same fate as his brothers "Go ahead. Kill me".

"You don't know me" she firmly retorts as her features softened hearing the man's acceptance to die.

"I know your kind" he tells her hearing the hate in his voice "They massacred us, and destroyed our beans".

"I heard it the other way" she argued.

"That's because the victors get to tell the story".

Poking the sword closer the giant once again he winces in fear again "Okay! Stop. Here" he relents sliding the compass across the floor under the cage for Emma to retrieve it "See? I'm not the bad guy".

Holding up the sword up at the giant with the enchanted compass in her other hand the saviour changed her mind and lowers it "Maybe you are telling the truth. Doesn't really matter. I have to go" she says picking the sword back up to threaten him with "Are there any more of you?".

"No" he answers her "I'm alone" he says as Emma spots a shrivelled looking bean attached to the giant's necklace.

"What's this?" she questions him "Is this a bean? Can this make a portal?".

"Not anymore. It was destroyed like the rest of them. I wear it as a reminder… A reminder that you're all killers" the statement made her point the sword back in his face.

"You're wrong" she tells the giant lowering her sword, turning to leave. When her back is turned, the giant free's himself from the cage, making her duck down as part of the cage coming flying over her head.

Getting back onto his feet the giant over towers the saviours as she helplessly holds the poisoned blade up at him in warning only for the giant to move past her to remove a boulder that was covering a tunnel leading outside, throwing it across the room.

"Go" he simply tells her.

"Why?".

"Because you could've killed me, and you didn't" he says as she looked at him is disbelief "You get one favour. Now go, before I change my mind" he warned her.

Doing as she was told the saviour head for the tunnel to her freedom only to remember to two men still inside that she needed to keep from stopped her and her mother from getting back to their family.

"Actually, I get two favours" she tells the giant turning back to face him.

"What?".

"Well, the way I see it, I could've killed you twice. The poison and when you were knocked out. I didn't" she reminds him.

"What do you want?".

---

It didn't take him long for the Lord to find where Elijah had taken his wife, he only had to compel the nearest guard to tell him where his chambers where located, he wasn't stopped as he came upon Elijah's door, hearing a womanly laugh from inside the room, the vampire peeks through the gap in the door to see his friend and wife stood in a loving embrace Infront of his fireplace, holding her with such gentleness like she was a breakable piece of tableware as she melted into the passionate kiss they shared.

He had noticed something different in his wife's behaviours these last few months, after years of being his personal source of food, between the trips out, being seen together as the loving couple to keep up the façade he needed to maintain while living among humans and higher society and the occasional donation of her blood. In return she lived a comfortable life, lifting her out of the squalor he had found her in, without the worry of the marital duties society had set out for her.

He never minded any of her other human lovers before, seeing as it part of the deal they agreed to when they married a decade ago when she was only seventeen and found out about his little secret.

But a liaison with Elijah of all people. Was a step too far. And by the look's of it, the affair had been going on for a while. rom the sweet whisper's of 'I love you' coming from both of them he could hear.

But Elijah's deception of his trust stung the most out of the betrayal. He would make them both pay the only way he knew how.

Letting himself in to the room, the couple broke apart hearing the door suddenly open to see Lord Wotton in his room closing the door behind him as he looked upon his wife and friend he called his brother.

"Henry-".

"You missed the speeches" he tell the pair keeping the friendly smile on his lips as he stepped further in to the room "Although it was nothing special, the old fool drivelled on about the Princess resembled his dead wife, with no thought towards his daughter's lovely step-mother. Rather an insult don't you think, Elijah?".

"Y-yes" Elijah stammered out as Wotton heard how fast their hearts were beating. They were scared. And as they should be. "Henry-" he tried to talk to the man only for the Lord to interrupt him.

"Oh save the explanation brother. I perfectly understand, what's going on here" he points between his wife and his friend "You love her" he tells Elijah before glancing towards his human wife "And you him".

"But what I don't understand is all the secrecy, my dear" he send the question towards his wife "All you had to do is petition for your freedom to be with him and being the benevolent man I am. Most likely have granted it".

"We were going to tell you" Elijah spoke up, only for his voice to crawl under his skin "I swear-" Rushing forward with inhuman speed, Wotton cut off his words as he gripped his throat, pinning him to the four poster bed with ease as the Duke's son felt the unnatural strength his friend possessed.

"Your word doesn't mean much brother" he snarls in his face, hearing his heart beat a mile a minute "I lived by your word for the past two years, during that time I never had to resort to this..".

"Henry don't do this, don't do this" Hayley pleaded with the vampire as she rushed after them, only for her effort to be useless as he locked his eyes with his friends, his eye's dilating as he compels him.

"I didn't want to love" he tells his wife "All I wanted was his allegiance. Now I'm going to have to take it".

"Henry no!" she continued to beg him trying to pull him off Elijah's neck as he choked "Leave him alone!".

"Don't...Don't..." Elijah pleaded with his friend as fearful tears fell down his face.

"You will do exactly as I say when I say" he compels him "You will not run, you will not hide, you will simply obey" he compelled the human before letting him go, making him stumble on the ground, blinking slowly as the compulsion sunk into his mind.

"No" Hayley murmured to her love "Elijah" .

"Now" Lord Wotton's voice overpowered her's "Kill her!" Lord Wotton yelled out the order, pointing to his wife.

"No Eli-" his name caught her throat as his hands snaked around her neck and squeezed, tears streamed down his cheeks as she tried to claw at his hands at her futile attempts to get him off her. But he was too strong as darkness edged her vision as his sobs was the last thing she felt was a hand thrusting into her back taking hold of her heart before being ripped out by her husband behind her as she fell limp dead in Elijah's arms.

Throwing her heart into the flames , Lord Wotton brought his bloodied hand up to his mouth as to lick it clean with his tongue savouring the last taste of his late dear wife as Elijah collapsed onto the ground with his dead love in his arms as loud sobs of grief were muffled out as he pushed his head and face into her chest as he gripped at her dress as he wept for his first love.

---

Dragging himself out of a pile of rubble that had fallen on him and Hook was not something he had thought would happen to him when he told the saviour he would be joining her and Hook up the beanstalk.

Reaching out of the rubble to pull himself out further, his hand was grabbed by a familiar one as he was helped out of the rubble by Emma as she helped him up onto his feet as he felt himself sway on his feet from abuse his body had been through that last ten hours or so with little to no blood in his system.

"Easy Dracula" Emma drawled out seeing him sway "I know you heal fast but I don't think you heal that fast".

Taking his time he felt himself feel better as he look at the blonde woman in front of him "Hello" he breathed out as he met her gaze, taking a moment to take in how beautiful she looked at that moment. Despite the layers of sweat and grime that had collected over her skin from being in the Enchanted Forest. She was perfect

"Hi" she replied with a smirk on her lips "Uh not to spoil to moment, but where's Hook?".

"Sadly, he's still alive" he reports to the blonde "Asleep but very much alive" he adds before changing the subject "May I see it? The compass" he needed proof it was real, that he could get back home.

Taking the compass out of her pocket, the saviour shows the vampire the golden enchanted compass that will get them home once they stole the ashes from his mother.

"You really have it" was all he said in disbelief as a genuine smile reached his lips as he reached out to touch it "We can get back home" he can get back to Henry, but as he got a fingertip to the object it was quickly taken away from him and safely replaced in her pocket safe and sound.

A chuckle left the vampire's mouth as he felt relief rushed through his body for the first time in days.

"Come" he states "Let's go" extending his hand out to Emma, instead of taking it, the blonde places the bottle of rum Hook was carrying with him into it, making him look at her in confusion.

"Swiped it off Hook" she smirks up at him "You look like you need something to drink".

"Thank you" he breathed out uncapping the bottle, Emma watched as the vampire brought it up to his lips, tipping it back taking deep gulps of the alcohol, swallowing the amber liquid waiting to feel the satisfying burn the drink usually left on it's way down to his stomach only for a painful burn to replace it as his mouth, throat and stomach burned like he had swallowed a mouthful of vervain.

"Ahh!" he exclaimed in pain, coughing up the rest of the rum from the mouth to stop from anymore reaching his stomach, making the saviour wince hearing the man's painful chokes as she waited for the poison to weaken him enough to do what she needed to do.

Lifting the bottle in his hand, his blurred vision just about made out the herb he had given Emma earlier floating in the amber liquid.

Feeling the rawness of his throat, he felt all the energy he had slip away from him, as his knee's buckled beneath his weight, landing on his knees as he used what little strength he had left to smash the glass bottle onto the ground, shattering the glass to spill what remained in the bottle onto the floor as he saw the source of his poisoning in the middle of the glass.

"Vervain" he gasped out in disbelief. She poisoned him.

Seeing her opportunity, the saviour quickly crouched down attaching a metal cuff and chain around his right wrist that was attached to the wall behind him, as he could do nothing to stop her from slipping his daylight ring off his middle finger.

"Emma" he croaked out to her, and he looked up at her "What are you doing?".

"Elijah, I..I..can't" she stutters trying to avoid is eye's. She didn't want to do this, she really didn't.

"Emma look at me" he demand from her. He wanted to look her in the eye as she told him why she was doing this to him "Look at me!" he yelled at her making him cough and splatter, feeling his chest flare out in pain from raising his voice "Why?".

"I can't take a chance that I'm wrong about you" was all she could say to him "I'm sorry".

"You're sorry? Have I told you a lie?" he questions the hero stood before him, she couldn't' answer him knowing he was right, her superpower hadn't picked up lie from his lips since coming here

"I've told you everything" she head his voice grate against his vocal cords "Everything! Are you just going to leave me here? After everything I've done. I'm still the same man you met in Storybrooke. I'm still me. I'm still human!" the raspiness of his voice made her eye's water hearing how much pain he was in as he clutched at his stomach as he fought off the warning of falling unconscious.

"It's just a head start- that's all" it sounded more like she was telling this to herself, to reassure herself that she wasn't completely betraying him. It was just a head start to figure out how to get the ashes from Cora to get back to Henry.

"I need to get home" he pleads to her "I need my family just as much as you do!".

"I do too" she agued.

"You don't understand" he huffed out shaking his head at her "They're my humanity, without them I'm- I'm" he stuttered.

He didn't want to think of what he was without them. He'd felt nothing before. Flipped the switch in his head left a trail of bodies behind him.

"Maybe you should've thought of that before coming here" was all she could say before the saviour turned her back on him, making herself put one foot in front of the other as he continued to yell after her as she felt a guilt ridden tear fall from her eye.

"Don't turn your back on me. Please. I need to get home. I need to get back to my family! Emma! Emma! Swan! Swan!".

---

"You...DEMON!" his friend screamed from the floor as he look up to see Lord Wotton drinking the fresh blood from his hand.

"Been called worse mate" Henry flippantly replied as he turned away from the scene of his wife's body and heart to continued clean his hand off. Turning his head to the side Elijah eyed the iron fire poker, he had nothing to lose. His heart was broken, his love was dead, there was no point going on. Not even the prospect of his future as a King consort would be worth living for.

Jumping from his place sat over his love's body the human picked up the 'weapon' from it's stand, looking straight at the creature that had made him kill his love as a scream of anguish escaped his lips as he swung the weapon towards his friend heart only for the man to disappeared in a blur of his eye taking the Queen's brother aback in surprise

"Oh drop the poker before you make a bigger fool of yourself" Henry's voice came from behind him making him as his hand let go of the poker on command before whirling around to face him.

"What are you?" Elijah breathed out in fear.

"Your friend" Henry replies making him relax, believing his every word as his eye's dilated to compel him further "You will forget what happened tonight, what you saw and how you felt about my wife. As far as you know, she died of a fever overnight. You'll mourn her as a friend in the morning. Until then. let's enjoy the rest of our night. Perhaps we'll run into the little actress you've grown so fond of. I heard she's Juliet tonight".

Nodding his head Elijah follows his friend out of the room forgetting about the body that laid out with her heart next to her, in time to catch the latest show Sibyl Vane was headlining that very night. She was Juliet tonight.

---

Checking the sundial she had drawn in the ground at the base of the beanstalk once again, Mulan saw the shadow of the stick had moved past the ten hour mark Emma had made her swear by if she hadn't returned. She knew what had happened. Whatever plan she had in store for the vampire must've failed and now she was dead.

From where she sat in a log with Aroura's head on her lap as the Princess slept after waking up from a nightmare she knew all too well, Mary Margaret watched the warrior closely to what she was doing with the sundial she had drawn shortly after Emma, Elijah and Hook had left.

Making her decision and keeping Emma's word, the female warrior turned heading straight for the beanstalk as she draws out her sword ready to bring it down.

"Whoa, wait!" Mary Margaret quickly voiced her protest as she stood from the log, jarring Aurora from her slumber as she runs after the woman with the sword "What are you doing?".

"Just stay back" Mulan warns her turning with her sword held up in warning "Emma gave me ten hours"

"No, no, no!" she pleads with the warrior not to go through with her daughter's request.

"What, you're just going to leave her to die?" Aurora threw at the warrior.

"Ten hours. The vampire may have already killed her!".

The statement made the former Princess look at her in confusion. Why would Elijah want to kill Emma? But she didn't get a chance to ask the question as the warrior swung her sword at the beanstalk, making a surge of magic to surge up and from it.

"No!" Mary Margaret screamed out as she rushed towards the warrior, tackling her to the ground and making her drop her sword onto the ground as the pair wrestled ignoring Aroura's pleas to get them to stop.

"No, stop! Stop! Stop!" the Princess pleaded with the pair of fighting women.

Getting the better of the former bandit, the female warrior managed to wrestle her underneath her as she tried to tell her why she was cutting the beanstalk down.

"This was your daughter's wish!" she yells in her face before she was forced onto her back by the former bandit as the latter used her weight to keep the warrior on the ground.

"I don't care what you say! You do not put my daughter in danger! Elijah would never kill her!".

"Stop!" Emma voice broke them apart as she fell from the beanstalk with a painful grunt leaving her lips as her back met the ground.

"Emma!" Jumping off the warrior Mary Margaret and Mulan scramble to their feet kicking up dust in their wake as they rushed towards the returning blonde as her mother reached her fist helping her back onto her felt "You okay?" she frantically asks her daughter.

"Two earthquakes and a jump from a beanstalk. I think my brain's still rattling around a little" she answers her mother as she regains her footing.

"I did what she ordered, nothing more than that" Mulan defended herself "Did you get it?" referring to the compass.

"Yep" Emma confirms showing the three the enchanted compass the giant. Anton. Had given her.

Aurora W-Where's Hook?" Aroura asks the blonde reminding the former Princess of the vampire's absence.

"Where's Elijah?" Mary Margaret adds.

"Detained" Emma answered, both questions knowing that Anton was taking care of the pirate with Elijah already taken care of "Let's go. Get your stuff. We got ten hours before they follow us".

At that the female warrior and Princess left the pair to gather their belongings leaving the mother and daughter duo to speak privately.

"What? What do you mean? How?".

"I got a friend looking after them till then" Emma tells her mother.

"What do you mean?" Mary Margaret continues to press "What did you do to Elijah?".

Reaching into her other pocket, Emma found the ring she had taken from Elijah, limiting him from leaving the giant's lair before nightfall. Opening her hand, the simple silver ring with the blue stone sat in her daughter's palm.

"What did you do?" she asked her daughter lowly.

"I'm sorry. I know he's your friend, but he's still a vampire. We can't trust him. Especially with Henry".

"Emma, you don't understand what you've done" she says shaking her head at her daughter "You have no idea what this will do to him, what he'll do once he find us-".

"I don't care!" she yells at her mother "I'm putting my son first" she firmly states to her mother.

Keeping her mouth shut, the former Princess kept her thoughts to herself letting her daughter think that she was protecting her son by hurting the one person that they could rely on to protect him.

If she thought Regina was bad, she had no idea what Elijah was like when you stopping him getting to someone he cared about. She had to let her daughter learn the consequences of her actions. It was the only way she was going to learn after all.

"Okay" she could only say taking her daughter away from the others before speaking again "You told her to cut it down?!" she exclaimed as Mulan heard her.

"Yes. I couldn't risk-".

"We go back together" she tells her daughter taking hold of her shoulder's as she literally shook her daughter as she spoke "That is the only way. Do you understand?".

Falling into her mother's arms, the let the fatigue of the last ten hours set into her bones as her mother gathered her in her arms in a warm embrace, hoping the warmth would ease the guilt that settled in her stomach from leaving Elijah at the top of the beanstalk.

"Yeah…" Emma sighed out in agreement.

"Good. Now, let's go get that dust from Cora".

"Yeah, and go home".

---

Ten Hour's Later

He had never missed the ground so much in his life as he did the moment his feet met the bottom of the beanstalk after ten hour's of being held captive by a giant at Emma's request for sparing his life. As soon as night had fallen, the vampire was down that beanstalk before the giant could stop him, knowing he had a short window to return to the ground without his daylight ring.

Slicking his wet hair back off his face, the vampire felt his weakened muscles scream out in protest from the after effect of the vervain poisoning as he fell to his knee's relishing the feeling of the cold raindrops on his face.

He missed the rain. It was fresh. Fresher than the tainted rain that fell in the Land of No Magic as he took in a deep breath of the wet foliage around him. This was his home.

"My dear boy" a voice he knew too well drawled out "It seems, you've been on quite an adventure".

"Mother" his voice strained out as he looked up at the woman that given birth to him stood there with an umbrella over her head.

"Now, what was the lesson you keep forgetting?".

"Love is weakness" he was too weak to fight his mother as he repeated the lesson she had given to him over and over again.

"Good boy" she says placing her fingers under his chin to get a better look at him "Oh look at you" she cooed at her adult son in concern "You look washed out. You must be starving. Luckily for you. I save a special meal lined up just for you".

Letting go of her son's head the older woman waved her hand in the air summoning the a young blonde haired woman to appeared beside her.

"W-where am I?" the girl began to panic looking towards the older woman or the man to answer her as the vampire heard the loud drumming of her heart in his ears drown out her questions.

"I spared her from that pathetic encampment" Cora smirked at him "For you, my son" looking at his mother the vampire hesitated thinking it was another trick.

"Well go on" she encourages him "I need you back at full strength for when we go to Storybrooke and to make them pay for what they did to you"

Stepping out of the way, to give her son full view of his 'gift', the reminder of Emma had done to him, the vampire sped towards the woman, appearing before her as he took her chin in his fingers.

"Sh, sh, sh" he gently hushed the crying woman in front of him "Turn around".

Doing as she was told, the woman shook in fear as she felt a hand pull her long blonde hair out of the way, to uncover her neck to him as he felt the veins under his eye's crawl to the surface. God he was hungry.

"What's your name?" he asks her.

"H=Hayley" she answers him.

"Hayley" he echoed tracing her arty with the tip of his finger "I knew a Hayley once. Loved her even" he replied taking hold of her jaw from behind the vampire reared his head back as his fangs extended out before he lunged for the artery in her throat as a guttural growl emitted from the vampire throat as the blood healed the effects of the poisoning feeling his true strength return to him.

The girl screamed out in pain as he lapped up the blood that escaped her body as he held her close against him as she tried to fight him off, only for a hand to wrap itself around her neck be squeezed it, an audible snap was heard from her neck, silencing her as he drank up the rest of her blood in peace.

Cora watched on with a proud smirk on her lips seeing her broken son become the monster she needed him to be as he feasted on human blood. She didn't even have to break him like she would Regina. Emma had done all that for her.

---

AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

The Doctor and Tallahassee covered in this chapter.

Little more background on Lord Wotton in this chapter.

Happy Mother's Day to those who celebrated over the weekend.

Until next time:

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