Dead Reckoning

Chapter One

Months before the Queen's dark curse was cast…

Mr. Smee and the rest of the pirate crew who had been living in Neverland for more than two hundred years along with Pan, the Lost Boys, Indian Braves, mermaids, and fairies, among other magical and non-magical creatures alike, were busy while they finished packing their goods, their belongings, and their treasures aboard the Jolly Roger as they prepared to leave the island for the last time. These pirates had few belongings that were rightly theirs, as most of what they carried onboard was all stolen goods from their journeys outside of the realm while on missions for ruler of Neverland. Fortunately, the demon child as the ship's Captain preferred to call Pan, didn't care about what they took, so long as they took nothing of real value to him.

As Hook stood on the shore while watching his men as they rowed out to the Jolly Roger with the last load of goods for their journey back to the Enchanted Forest, Pan appeared behind him and before the boy could speak, without turning around Hook spoke up first saying, "It's about time you appeared. I was beginning to wonder if you might have thought you could renege on our deal. And if you've come here to ask for my assistance doing any more of your dirty work, you can forget it."

Peter Pan smiled when the Captain turned to face him, then he responded, "A deal is a deal and you've finally earned your reward, Hook. A chance to fulfill your revenge you've sought against the Dark One after all this time and it only took you a couple of centuries to do it."

"That's because you've refused to grant me passage off of this cursed island," the pirate Captain retorted curtly. "You've also failed to help me discover how to kill the Dark One as you said you would help me to do when I first arrived back in Neverland all those years ago, yet you couldn't even do that. So, don't talk to me of earning some reward you think you're handing me out of the goodness of a heart which you don't possess. I have fulfilled the ends of both our deals. Now, how do we fly out of here without an infernal magic bean?"

"My shadow will help you leave Neverland and stay with you until you reach the Enchanted Forest," Peter answered as the dark entity flew into the opening from behind its host and flew out to the Jolly Roger, then embedded itself into the ship's largest white sail so that she would fly as she did with the pegasus sail Killian and Liam had used to get them to this dreadful realm in the first place long ago. "Do you really believe you can discover the secret to the Dark One's weakness without my help?"

Hook glared at the boy as Pan moved around to stand beside him, then he replied, "I will have my revenge, but I will get it without your tricks and your bloody games any longer. As it turns out, I happened to have found a good lead the last time you sent me out on one of your errands. I know where to find someone who for some reason might be close to the monster."

Pan nodded and then responded, "I'm impressed. Well… I suppose all the luck to you then, Captain. I don't have much confidence you'll succeed in your foolish endeavor, seeing as who it is you're trying to kill, but I will say that you've got more shrewdness and determination to accomplish something than I've ever met in a person before. Goodbye. I hope to never see you again."

"Believe me, the feeling is mutual," the Captain said to himself when Pan vanished and left him alone to wait for his first mate to row back to the shore to pick him up.

Present day, Storybrooke…

"You see, Sister," Grumpy stated crossly as he, Emma, and Killian all entered the Rabbit Hole where a fight had broken out between some of Killian's old pirate crew, a few of the dwarfs, as well as several more of the bar's patrons. "I told you we were going to need both of you here to stop this mess. I walked out of the room to make a quick phone call to Doc just to see where the hell he was, and when I came back inside, everyone was fighting. Including the rest of us dwarfs and you know how much Bashful hates to fight. How are we going to stop this?"

Killian looked around the room while he pulled out the service weapon which David had turned over to him when he retired and Killian became the new sheriff alongside his wife, then he answered, "It appears your old friend, the Dragon Sorceress's daughter is up to her mischief again, Swan."

Emma sighed in frustration and replied, "Yeah, I got that. We're going to have to go talk to Lily when we leave here. Maleficent too. I warned her, if she's going to teach Lily how to hone her powers like Regina did for me, she's going to have to watch her and keep her from causing this kind of trouble. But Lily thinks using her powers to start a bar fight is a funny way to help her train and now she's not even here anymore to enjoy it."

"I used to think it was funny to watch a fight break out at times too, back when I was a still a villain," the Savior's husband responded and then fired three shots from his gun up into the air in hope of gaining some of the patrons' attentions to slow them down a bit, though it didn't do them any good to do so. "I'll take care of my men and help Grumpy here with the other dwarfs. Do you think you can handle the rest of them, love?"

"Yeah… I've got it," she answered, then watched Killian step away with their friend to work on their end, while she raised her hands and concentrated her powers to try to counteract the spell she knew her childhood friend had cast over everyone in the room.

Only a minute passed, when all of a sudden, a bright white light emitted from Emma's hands and flooded the entire room as the magic washed over everyone just as Smee struck his Captain hard with a heavy punch to his jaw. However, as soon the as the light faded and he realized what he had just done upon seeing Killian fall back against the wall behind him once the spell was broken, he immediately rushed over to help him stand tall again.

He offered Killian his hand as he stuttered nervously, "For… forgive me, Captain. I'm not… not sure what came over me. It's like…"

Killian interrupted him saying, "It's like it was magic? Just relax, Mr. Smee. No harm done. What happened here wasn't your fault, nor anyone else's either. At least not anyone's in this room."

"Are you okay?" Emma quickly asked as she raced over to Killian, having seen his oldest friend strike him before she could stop the fighting.

"Aye, Swan," her husband replied as he raised his hand to his face and flexed his jaw to make sure it still functioned properly, not expecting it wouldn't. "Trust me, I've been hit much harder than that before. Many times in fact. Not many people liked pirates, as you know. Least of all me."

Smee then questioned again, "What did happen then, Captain?"

Killian looked over at his former first mate while he responded, "Like I've told you a number of times, Mr. Smee… I'm no longer your Captain. I've released you from my services the moment it was decided that we were staying here in Storybrooke once the Charmings' and Zelena's curse was broken way back when. Call me Hook, or even Killian if you like. But you don't have to call me Captain out of any kind of respect."

"It's because I respect you that I still call you Captain, Sir," William answered his friend honestly, while Emma just smiled. "I may not have been too happy about staying here in Storybrooke when you first told us we would no longer be the pirates we were before all of this happened, but I've long since grown to appreciate your decision. Even if some of the other men haven't. Frozen yogurt is still the best thing I've ever eaten."

"I appreciate that," Hook replied in gratitude. "As for what happened here and now, it was a small spell gone awry. That's all. But Emma's fixed it. Feel free to go back to whatever the hell it was you were doing before the riot."

Smee looked down at the cards and money now scattered on the floor around the table he had been sitting at before the fight broke out, then he looked back over at Killian as he responded, "Actually, I was losing pretty terribly like usual. I think I'm going to call it a night before the rest of the men I was playing against get their bearings back and remember that I owe them several more doubloons than I can actually afford to pay them. Good night, Sir."

As the bigger man turned to leave the bar, Killian uttered, "Night, Mr. Smee."

"Dopey, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy, and Bashful are all fine," Grumpy then said once he finally got the rest of the dwarfs back under control again. "You saved the day again, Emma."

"I'd hardly call breaking up a bar fight saving the day," the Savior answered, then she reached out to take her husband's hand and leaned her head against his shoulder.

She looked into Killian's eyes as she continued, "What do you say… we head home for the night and enjoy a quiet night at home? We can make waffles for dinner."

Knowing exactly what his wife really meant, he smiled at her, then replied, "Sounds perfect to me, love."