{ neverland }

02. { lost girl }

The cawing of the birds in the otherwise quite silent forest was a bit chilling to hear, but the silence was occasionally broken when the sound of a blade against wood cuts through.

Charming hacks through the tree branches that were blocking their path through the forest. The others follow behind him.

"The ridge is just a few hundred paces up ahead," Hook instructs them.

"You really think we're gonna be able to see Pan's hideout," Emma asks. She wasn't too sure about the plan, but she had to admit that Hook knows the island better than any of them.

If they wanted to succeed they must trust him, even if just a little.

Captain Hook tells them they should be able to see everything, including where he is keeping Henry and Winter. Regina, feeling annoyed by how long everything was taking them, remarks that she could have just poofed them up there in an instant.

Hook looks over his shoulder.

"Where? Have you any idea what's up here? Or anywhere? There are dangers all about. Only I can guide us past them."

Emma agrees, arguing that Hook's lived here before. If he says hiking is the best option, they should listen to that. 

The group holds up before a bush that Charming has to clear out of the way. He was about to hack into it when Pongo sniffs the bush and starts to growl lowly, lowering himself on his front paws and baring his teeth. Hook grabs David's arm quickly once he realises what kind of bushes they were.

"I can handle a couple of thorns," the prince remarks sarcastically.

"That's dreamshade. It's not the thorns you have to worry about, it's the poison they inject you with. This plant is the source of the toxin I used on the Dark One," Hook warns sternly.

When Emma asks for more elaboration about the poison he used on Gold, Hook explains he used a concentrated dose. In natural form, death by dreamshade will be much slower and more painful.

The captain suggest to go right, around the bush of dreamshade, but the prince stubbornly says they'll go the other way and pushes himself past the bush. As Emma was about to follow Charming, Regina and Snow, Hook stops her.

"Your father's a distrustful fellow," he comments.

Emma shrugs. "He's just not used to working with the bad guys," she tries to explain to him.

"I can assure you, on this island I am not the bad guy," the pirate tells her in all seriousness.

"Yeah, well, Pan's not supposed to be one either," the blonde replies defensively.

Hook asks her what could've possibly given her that idea. All he has known about Peter Pan is that what he has experienced. To him Pan was a villainous teen through and through who has a taste for manipulation and hurting others. Emma responds that it was every story she's heard of as a child.

 "Well, they got it wrong. Pan is the most treacherous villain I've ever faced," he grabs Emma's arm so she would stop and look at him," did I ever tell you how Winter and I met?"

"Parts of it. You said you took her aboard your ship one time," Emma responds, unsure where he was going with this.  

"It is not the whole story. I was sailing the Jolly Roger, pirating my days away when we docked for a while in a harbor. Belle introduced herself to me as Winter's mother. She told me her child was taken to Neverland. I should have known there was more to the story, but the price I would receive was a little too enticing."

Hook sighs deeply, his gaze far off away between the trees as he continues to reminisce about that night at the docks. He should have recognized the Dark One's trickery. Instead he fell for his trap.