As the group of them made their way down towards the bottom of the beanstalk, (Y/n) wondered how exactly they were supposed to scale the giant plant. Just, freeclimb it? There was an awfully big risk of them falling to their deaths should that happen. Then, of course, if they do reach the top, there's the giant that they needed to deal with before searching for the compass. Hook had even gotten to telling them about the beans the giants used to harvest. Magic beans that could open a portal to any land you wish to go to.
When the six of them did reach the beanstalk, Emma looked up at it, saying, "It's a little freakier than I remember from the story."
"It reminds me of death," Mulan stated, making (Y/n) raise her eyebrows a little bit on the spin the warrior decided to put on it.
"Encouraging," Mary Margaret muttered.
"Well, your compass awaits. Shall we?" Hook said, and started towards the base of the plant.
"Wait, if the beans create portals, why not just take one of the beans?" (Y/n) asked, and Emma furthered the question.
"Why the compass?"
"Because there aren't any more beans. Whatever story you think you know, my dear, is most certainly wrong," Hook told them.
"Uh, a boy named Jack traded his cow for beans, and a song about a nice giant and a bad giant... a chicken that had golden eggs... and a golden harp?" (Y/n) remembered, thinking back on the last time she had heard Into the Woods. She had been in a foster home for a few months with a musical loving foster parent, who had many of their songs playing through the house. It got quite annoying after a while.
"Sounds like a lovely tale," Hook said with a faux smile. "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 and his men 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 the 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?" Emma questioned, tilting her head.
"Because one giant survived. The strongest. The most terrible of them all," Hook told them, and (Y/n) let out a sigh. "Now, we'll have to get past him to-"
"The magic compass," Mary Margaret finished sarcastically.
"Indeed," Hook said, looking from the beanstalk to the women. "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, we steal the ashes from her, then we're on our way."
"Why not just get more ashes from the wardrobe?" (Y/n) questioned, thinking it simpler. "Why go through all the trouble of stealing the ashes she has when we can get our own?"
"That does seem like the simple solution to avoid death, doesn't it?" Hook said as his eyes scanned her. "But, unfortunately for us, Cora destroyed what was left of the ashes. She's got the last bit that survived."
"How do we know you're not just using us to get the compass for Cora?" Mulan asked.
"Because you five are far safer company," Hook stated, taking his eyes away from (Y/n). "All I need is a ride back. I'll swear allegiance to whomever gets me there first."
"Then we better start climbing," Emma said, moving towards the beanstalk, only for Hook's voice to stop her.
"Right, so, I failed to mention that the giant enchanted the beanstalk to repel intruders."
"All right, so how do we get up there?" (Y/n) questioned.
"Well, I've got a counter spell from Cora, if you'd be so kind," Hook said, and motioned to his bound wrists. They each shared a look before Mary Margaret walked up to Hook with a cold face, roughly ripping the ropes from his wrists. He smirked as he said, "Thank you, my lady," and winked at her. As he removed his rags to reveal his pirate garb underneath, Mary Margaret gave her daughters an annoyed glance. Hook held up his right hand and tapped a glowing black band around his wrist. "I've got one more of these. Cora was to accompany me. So, which one of you five lovelies shall take her place? Hm? Go on, fight it out. And don't be afraid to, you know, really get into it."
As the women all stepped away from him to have a more 'private' conversation, they actually did end up fighting about who would end up going. "All due respect, I am the best equipped to go," Mulan stated, looking at Mary Margaret. "How many wars have you been through?"
"My share!" Mary Margaret retorted.
"It should be me!" Aurora claimed, and they looked at her surprised.
"You? You haven't fought in a battle," Mulan pointed out.
"This is about us getting home to our loved ones. Why would you-"
"Because I have no loved ones," Aurora interrupted Mary Margaret. "If I fail, you can still go on."
"It's me. I'm going and I'm not going to fail," Emma said, but Mary Margaret spoke up to retort against her.
"You're new here."
"It's about getting back to Henry. I don't care what I have to face," Emma stated, making (Y/n) walk over from her stance next to the beanstalk.
"Emma, that's exactly why you can't go," (Y/n) said, and before Emma could respond, she kept going. "If we get back to Storybrooke and have to explain to Henry that his mom died trying to get some damn compass, do you think it's going to be worth it?"
"I'm not going to die."
"How do you know?" (Y/n) questioned, making Emma sigh. "Look, out of all of us here, I'm the best choice because I don't have anyone waiting for me to get home in Storybrooke." When Mary Margaret went to speak up against her, she stopped her and said, "Mary Margaret, you've got David. Emma, you've got Henry. Me? I don't have a son or a husband or even a boyfriend to have sleepless nights waiting over whether or not I'll return. I'm going."
Mary Margaret didn't like saying that she had a point, but she did. (Y/n) really didn't have anyone waiting for her like she did David and Emma did Henry. "I don't like this," Mary Margaret said, and (Y/n) shook her head as she gave her the sword on her side.
"I don't either, but we don't have a choice," she said, and looked over at Mulan. "Do you have anything that might help with the giant?"
"Or Hook?" Mulan stated, but the pirate heard her.
"Hey!"
Mulan gave him a hateful glare as he looked at her, offended, before glancing back to (Y/n) and saying, "Come with me." Going out of his eyesight, Mulan pulled a pouch from her satchel and held it up to (Y/n). "This. Powder made from poppies. He has to inhale it."
"Thank you," (Y/n) said, holding it in her hands. Glancing back at her sister and mother, she looked to Mulan again and said, "Give me twelve hours. If I'm not back by then, you keep going. I don't want you to wait up on me if I'm not coming back."
Mulan nodded her head, and Hook called, "Ladies, in this world we are slaves to time, and ours in running out. In other words, tick-tock." (Y/n) let out a sigh, and rolled up the sleeve of Graham's brown jacket as she walked up to a smirking Hook. "I was hoping it would be you."
"Just give me the band," she hissed at him, not sure she could get through this journey without killing Hook.
"Put your hand right here. That's a good girl," Hook said, and placed her hand on his right shoulder. "This will allow you to climb, but there are other dangers. Thankfully, you've got me to protect you."
"There is no way I am trusting you that far," (Y/n) said, ripping her hand away form him as soon as the band was secured on her wrist.
"If you don't come back down, there's a good chance these lasses will kill me before I have time to set my foot down on the ground. So, forgive me for exercising precaution," Hook told her, and paused before gesturing to his hookless left hand. When (Y/n) raised her eyebrow to say no, he countered with, "I can't climb one-handed, can I?"
(Y/n) let out a sigh and took the hook from his satchel that she held, handing it to him. Before he could take it, she yanked it back and said, "If you think that I am letting you out of my sight with this hook on your arm, you're wrong."
As he gave her a devillike grin, he took the hook from her and clicked it into his wrist cover, saying, "I would despair if you did."
Rolling her eyes at his statement, she dropped the satchel onto his hook and went for the beanstalk base. Giving her sister and mother one last look, they nodded towards her, and she took a deep breath before taking the first step of the climb, Hook joining her quickly as they started their climb up to the giant's palace. It took them many long hours before they were anywhere near the top, and the silence that it brought was comforting, considering Hook had remained quiet for most of the journey up. The wind whistled in her ears as it blew past her, so strong she felt like it was trying to knock her off to her death. Heights weren't her friend, so she just kept her head up high and didn't look down.
As another bird cawed past them, the silence between the two climbers was broken when Hook asked, "First beanstalk?" She didn't answer him, and merely gave him a glance before focusing on her task at hand. "Well, you never forget your first." When once again she didn't reply, trying to ignore his presence, he said, "You know, most men would take your silence as off-putting, but I love a challenge."
"I'm not trying to be your challenge," she snapped, the statement having peeved her a little bit. "I'm just trying not to fall."
"No, you're afraid. Afraid to talk," Hook stated. "To reveal yourself. To trust me."
"Maybe I just don't want to talk to you, or trust you," (Y/n) said, taking another step into her climb and grasping onto one of the vines.
"Well, things would be a lot smoother if you did."
"You know, I'd think you'd be used to people not trusting you," (Y/n) claimed, giving a dry laugh.
"Ah, the pirate thing," he said sarcastically, and looked back at his task. "Well, I don't need you to share. You're something of an open book."
"I think that's your ego talking."
"Oh, trust me, it's not," Hook said, and stopped his climb as she looked at him. "Now, let's see. You volunteered to come up here because you've got the least to loose. But, you want to help your sister get back to her child."
"You're right, I was wrong," (Y/n) said, and Hook tilted his head at her. "That's your eavesdropping talking."
"Ah, but you don't want them to feel abandoned like you were abandoned," Hook stated lowly, and (Y/n) turned her head away. "Like I said, open book."
"How would you know something like that," (Y/n) asked, turning her head back to him with a cold look in her eyes.
"I spent many years in Neverland, home of the Lost Boys. And they all share the same look in their eyes. The look you get when you've been left alone," Hook explained, scanning her once more.
"This isn't Neverland," (Y/n) said, going back to climbing.
"An orphan's an orphan," Hook stated, following after her on the climb. "Love's been all to rare in your life, hasn't it." Coming up close to stop by her, her caused her head to turn his way as he looked at her in sincere question. "Have you ever even been in love?"
(Y/n) paused, the question hitting her a little too close to home. She had been with many men in her life, but none have managed to capture that spark in her that Henry described so many times in her book. Even Emma had been in love with the man that gave her Henry. She thought she had been, once in her life, but it was a fleeting moment of infatuation, and she now knew it was nothing more than that. Adjusting her grip on the vines she held, she looked away from Hook and said, "No. I haven't."
"Why do I find that so hard to believe?" he asked as she kept climbing.
"Maybe you should. Or, maybe, it's none of your business," (Y/n) said, looking down at him, which was a mistake. When she saw how far up they were, she slightly panicked, and her breathing got a little heavier as she couldn't take her eyes off the world below.
"Hey. Hey!" Hook tried gaining her attention, coming up beside her. She couldn't look away from her ground, her fear keeping her frozen in place. "Hey, eyes on me," Hook said, latching his good arm around one of the vines and using his hook to gently draw her eyes away from the ground, back up to meet his eyes. "There you go. It's not so bad, now is it?" he asked, his hook lingering under her chin.
Taking her head away from his hook, she moved away from him and said, "Let's just go." Hook watched her for a few moments before following her up, the rest of the climb remaining just as silent as it was before their conversation. (Y/n) slightly slipped on one of the vines, letting out a hiss as she looked at her bleeding hand. Cursing under her breath, she wiped off some of the blood on her shirt before continuing the climb. When they did reach the top, the sunlight instantly went out, and the area around them darkened, only lit by torches surrounding them. Panting as they got off of the beanstalk, they jumped down from a step of stone that they were on, and (Y/n) looked around to see devastation around her. Skeletons of long dead victims lay around them, and armor from battles long forgotten lay discarded. "What the hell happened here?"
"It's where the final battle was," Hook said, his cheeky voice gone. As (Y/n) walked away from the beanstalk, Hook called her back. "Give me your hand." When she questioned him, he said, "Your hand. It's cut. Let me help."
"It's just a scratch," she said, trying to get herself away from him, but his hook found its way around her wrist, pulling her back to him.
"No, it's not," he insisted, pulling her closer than she needed to be.
"Oh, so now you're a gentleman?" (Y/n) asked in faux curiosity, mockery lacing her voice.
"Giants can smell blood," he whispered to her, pulling a bottle out of his belt. "And I'm always a gentleman.
"Oh, I'm sure of that. Your questions on the beanstalk sure proved your point," (Y/n) sneered as he took the cork out of the bottle with his teeth, spitting it to the side as he gave her a huff.
"Are you always this irascible?" he questioned her.
"Only to the people I know I can't trust," she responded shortly, and Hook leered before pouring quite a bit of the liquid in the bottle on her cut. It stung immensely immediately, causing her to try and draw her hand back, only for his hook to stop it. "Ah- Ow! What the hell is that??"
"It's rum. And a bloody waste of it," Hook answered, looking over her cut.
Breathing heavily, (Y/n) said, "I'm more of a whiskey girl."
"Oh, I don't doubt that," he said, and took the scarf from around his neck to wrap her hand up. "Now, here's the plan. We wait for the giant to fall asleep, and when he does, we'll sneak past him into his cave. That's where the treasures are. Where the compass lies." As he finished, he looked her in the eyes as he tied the scarf tightly with his teeth.
"After that?" she questioned.
Finishing tying her hand up, Hook smirked and held it in his hand a little while as he said, "Well, then we run like hell."
"Instead of waiting however many hours for the giant to fall asleep, let's use the powder Mulan gave me. It'll knock him out," (Y/n) said, taking her hand back from him and holding it to herself.
"That's riskier," Hook said.
"Than waiting up for him to fall asleep so he can find us while we do?" (Y/n) retorted. The faster they get out of here, the better.
"Point taken. Ooh, you really are a spitfire," Hook teased, pulling the powder from his satchel as (Y/n) glared up at him. "You'd make a hell of a pirate."
When (Y/n) looked down to take the powder from him, she saw on his open wrist a tattoo. It was a heart with a wavy dagger doing through from top to bottom, the name 'Milah' written on a scroll that circled the heart. "Who's Milah?" she asked.
His entire demeanor changed. Where he was once confident, Hook now stood slightly reserved. His gaze went to the ground instead of trying to flirt with her as he looked into her eyes. Even his voice had become distant as he said, "Someone from long ago."
"Where is she?"
Walking past her, he slightly snapped, "She's gone."
Connecting the dots in her head, she turned around to see his retreating form and said, "Rumplestiltskin." Hook stopped, the old name bringing an anger, a darkness, into his heart as it always did. "This is about more than just your hand, isn't it? He took her from you," she deduced, and he turned around to face her, his eyes blank. "That's why you want to get to him. Why you want to kill him."
"For someone who's never been in love, you're quite perceptive, aren't you?" he said, and she began walking his way again.
"You don't have to have been in love to have experienced pain," (Y/n) stated, crossing his path. "Not everything has to do with a spouse."
"Aye... I suppose not," he murmured as he followed her, snapping himself back into his usual pirate persona. "So, how exactly are we going to get that giant to take this powder?"
(Y/n) sighed slightly, looking around at their surrounding area. She saw a large tower beside the opening to the giant's lair, and looked to Hook as she said, "How do you feel about being bait?"
"Beg pardon?" he said, his face contorting to one of distaste. "I'm not overly fond of it. Why?"
"If I hide up there on that statue, and you get the attention of that giant, I can throw this powder at him and, hopefully, he'll inhale it and pass out," (Y/n) explained her idea, and Hook followed the plan. "It's easier than trying to sneak it to him."
Hook didn't like the idea, but in the end, decided to go along with it. As (Y/n) climbed to the top of the statue, Hook watched her to make sure she didn't freeze and fall. When she reached the shoulder of the stone man, Hook took of the large bones nearby and ran to a large bronze shield.
"You ready?" he asked her, and she gave him the go. Banging the bone onto the shield, it let out a great crash that echoed throughout the stone walls of the fortress. A yell of anger soon joined it, and thundering footsteps came stomping their way. (Y/n) held on for dear life as she gripped to the side of the statue's head, and soon, the giant came out of his hiding hole. (Y/n) silently cursed under her breath when she saw him, knowing this was going to be difficult. "Oi! Hey! You big git!" Hook called, the giant's face contorting into anger when he saw the man. "Yeah, you, huh? You want to kill a human, huh? You want to kill a human?!" (Y/n) raised an eyebrow at his distraction technique. "Well, I'm the worst human around, so come on!"
Just as the giant went to grab ahold of Hook, he turned just perfectly for (Y/n) to throw the poppy powder into his face. He coughed it up, inhaling the dust as it settled along his nose. Grunting slightly, he fell to the ground, passed out. "Hook?" (Y/n) called, but when she didn't get a response, she became a tad concerned he got crushed. "Hook?!"
When she saw him standing from beside the giant, she sighed. Both in relief and annoyance as he said, "He's out cold. I don't mean to upset you, (Y/n), but I think we make quite the team."
"Let's just get that compass and get out of here," (Y/n) said.
"Well, I'm awaiting you, my dear," Hook stated charmingly, making (Y/n) huff and begin her climb down the statue. Maybe it would have been better if he had been crushed by the giant. When she reached the bottom, Hook held out his hand for her to grab as she hopped down, which she refused and jumped herself. Her foot got caught on a loose rock, however, and her foot twisted as she tumbled. However, instead of feeling the cold ground beneath her, she felt warm arms, and looked up to see Hook grinning down at her. "Next time, just accept a gentleman's hand."
"No matter how much you pretend, you're no gentleman," (Y/n) said, getting up herself and gently pushing him away. "Now, come on. We've got a compass to find."