Pirate Ships and Pixie Dust

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing.

A/U. Regina didn't succeed with her plan. But when Regina escapes her prison intent on revenge, Snow and Charming make a deal with a cunning pirate by the name of Hook to keep their daughter safe. EmmaxHook

The council had been called in the dead of night so as not to alert the princess what was happening. The only thing lighting the way of the seven dwarves was the shimmering glow of the blue fairy. "I don't like it," said Happy with a frown, "it is wrong lying to the Princess like this. She's our friend."

Grumpy whirled around and glared at his fellow dwarf. "She's Snows daughter. We do what we can to protect her, even if it means lying to her face."

"But I think it would be better if-"

"Shhh!" the Blue Fairy hissed, startling them all. "Quiet! You never know who might be listening. Now come."

She flew just a little bit ahead of them. They followed, until finally they reached the old cabin where they used to live before becoming part of the palace guard. Snow and Charming were already there, both holding torches and looking nervous.

The King and Queen had changed much since their younger days. Both looked a little wearier, as the duties of running a kingdom took its toll on them. Not to mention raising a free spirited, sixteen year-old daughter.

"Oh!" Snow exclaimed in relief as she saw her friends. "Thank the gods you made it safely. We were so worried."

The dwarves bowed to their King and Queen, soon after embracing in a hug. "We'll always come," said Grumpy, making Snow smile.

"Do you have the key?" Charming asked. "We tried opening the door when we got here but it refused to open."

"H-h-h-here," said Bashful, his face red as he handed it over.

Charming took it. "Thank you."

He opened up the door then let his wife and the others in before him. Once everyone was inside, he used an old chair to keep anyone else from getting in. "Is everyone here?"

"I believe so," said the Blue Fairy.

"Good," said Charming.

Snow looked around the room as though she expected something sinister to pop from the shadows. "Are you sure you weren't followed? Because no one can know we're here."

"Positive," said Grumpy, "Stealthy might not be with us anymore but we still know how to be…well…stealthy."

She smiled at him. "Good. It is crucial that no one knows about this. If the kingdom were to find out they might turn on us…or worse, Regina could use it to manipulate everyone."

"I still don't understand how Regina got out in the first place," said Happy, "the mirror should have kept her trapped forever. This was supposed to be our age of Ever After."

"She convinced one of the guards to break it," said Snow, "and now that she is free she will stop at nothing to get her revenge."

Charming squeezed his wife's hand. "Everything will be fine. Blue has a plan. You do, don't you?"

Blue nodded. "It should work as long as you have what he wants. Did you manage to get what he would require?"

"Abigail was more than generous," said Charming, "there is a chest of gold from her father Midas in the back of the cabin. We'll show it to him but he won't get it until Emma's safe."

"That is very good news," said Blue, "Pirates will work for anyone but only if they are paid well enough for it."

"The fairy speaks the truth." The group turned and a figure emerged from the shadows. He was dressed head to toe in black, his brown hair a mess, and had scruff on his chin. The smell of sea salt came with him and there was no mistaking who he was. "You'd better hurry up and explain. I wouldn't want to miss my tide after all."

Snow stepped forward, tilted her head, and eyed him uncertainly. "You're Hook?"

The pirate nodded. "Although my given name is Killian Jones and you needn't worry about hiding the gold from me. I found out about it weeks ago from a man of mine named Smee. It's sufficient enough for what you're asking."

"I don't know about this," said Charming, "how do we know that we can trust you with our daughter?"

Hook grinned. "When there's gold involved you can always trust me to be trustworthy. Besides, I'm fairly certain that I can handle a wee Princess until this…battle business of yours is done."

Charming and Snow exchanged glances, and Grumpy chuckled. "Captain or not you've never met a Princess like Emma. Have fun, Hook. She's you're headache now," said Grumpy.

"Grumpy!" Snow chided. "Emma is not a headache. She's-"

Charming smiled at his wife. "She's unique."

"Yes. That's quite right. Emma's unique," said Snow.

Grumpy huffed. "Last time you tried throwing a ball for her she disappeared for three days. The entire guard had to search for her in the woods."

"And I caught a cold!" Sneezy added, sneezing as if to prove his point.

"And let's not forget when she tried to sneak off to the dragon caves," added Happy.

"Midas's guard got lost for an entire night," said Doc.

Snow sighed. "Now, just wait she isn't without-"

Hook raised an eyebrow. "Well you have me intrigued. I do believe I can't wait to meet this 'unique' Emma."

Charming and Snow both stepped forward. "If you do anything to hurt her-"

"Oh keep your royal knickers in a twist. The bargain was to deliver her safely to Neverland. I'll do just that. Now how exactly am I to retrieve your Princess?"

"She is visiting friends of hers. Board the ship, steal the gold, and take her but you are not allowed to harm anyone else. Do you understand?"

Hook rolled his eyes. "It won't be believable if I don't harm someone. I'm a pirate. It's what I do."

"Hurt me," offered Grumpy, making everyone turn to stare at the dwarf.

"What? Grumpy I couldn't ask that of you-"

Grumpy shrugged. "Why not? I am one of her guards. Besides, I can take a hit…and Pirate or not I still don't believe this 'Hook' can do much damage." He scowled at Killian, who only seemed amused by his behavior.

"Alright dwarf. So it is then! Set your Princess off on her journey and in three days' time I shall take her to the safety of Neverland. I would say that it has been a pleasure but I'd be lying." He grinned, and bowed to the King and Queen making a point of staring at Snow. "Milady."

Then with a flourish of his hand he walked from the room. When he had closed the door behind him Grumpy muttered something that sounded like "this is definitely a bad idea."

The wind whipped across her face as she sat on the side of the ships railing, the skirt of her long, maroon dress pulled up so that she could feel the cool water spraying her ankles. Emma grinned. "Aha! Doesn't that feel amazing?"

"Oh merciful gods!" the shrill voice of Emma's governess rang out. "Child, what do you think you're doing? Come down from there! You'll fall in."

Emma huffed. "Oh stop, Margie. I'll be fine!"

"No you won't! You'll fall in! You'll drown! Then your parents will blame me and I'll be locked in the dungeon!"

"Come on Margie. You know you want to do it too. It feels great."

Margie shook her head. "I most certainly do not. Now why don't you come up on deck?"

"But Margie-"

"No, Princess Emma. Your parents would never forgive me if anything happened. Now come back up here. Now! Or else I shall be forced to go tell Sir Grumpy on you."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Fine. But it's not fair! Besides, it's not nice to use me as an excuse to talk to Sir Grumpy anyway."

Margie reddened, and Emma laughed as she crawled back onto the ship. She couldn't help it. She had never been to sea before. It was so amazing to be so far from everything with no one to stop and gawk at her.

Being the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming was hardly an easy task. Not that her parents put pressure on her but rather everyone else did. They expected her to be just like them. Only she wasn't.

She was herself, whoever that was, and she liked doing things like sitting on the sides of ships in the ocean. "My Mother did far more dangerous things when I was younger."

"That doesn't mean that it's right. Come on now your highness. I'm certain your parents would be none too pleased with me if I let you be lazy on this voyage. Let us go do something productive with our time shall we? Like work on your needle point!"

Emma groaned but reluctantly followed her teacher back to their shared cabin. They stayed there until after dinner when they went back on deck to join the crew for late night story telling.

The men who were working the ship were all big, burly, and smelled as though they hadn't bathed in days. But they were friendly enough and had been handpicked by her father to crew the ship.

A fire had been set up on deck and she sat near it with a blanket draped over her shoulders. One of the men, who was tall, with red hair named Seamus, was in the middle of telling a story about pirates. "…they say that losing his love made him go mad. So he travels the seven seas, searching for the crocodile that killed her, determined to take his revenge on him no matter what the cost."

Emma shivered. "But how can he be alive after so long a time?"

"They say he hid in a land where no one ever grows old," explained Seamus, "and that he's buying his time. He only returns when he has word of the crocodile's whereabouts."

Grumpy, who had been sitting not too far off, huffed. "Sounds like a load of manure if you ask me. A crocodile that can't be killed? All it takes is one good spear."

"Laugh all you want dwarf! It's true. Hooks real, he's real and he's a monster."

"And how would you know?" sneared Grumpy.

"I met a man that worked on his crew. He barely escaped with his life!"

"Codswallop!" exclaimed Grumpy. "I've never heard of such a pirate! Or a place where you stay young forever. You quite filling the Princesses head with such rubbish. She'll have nightmares."

"Grumpy!" Emma hissed, annoyed with the dwarfs protectiveness. "I'm not a little girl anymore you know."

Grumpy huffed. "You could have fooled me."

"I'm afraid I agree with Sir Grumpy dear," said Margie, "this is all foolishness. I wouldn't believe a single thing that man says."

Seamus laughed. "Alright then, but you mark my words…if you see a ship with sails as black as death, that flies through the air don't say I didn't warn ye."

"Come on now your highness! You'll catch death of cold staying out here!" said Margie as she started to usher Emma back to their cabin.

"Oh come on now. I'm not even the tiniest bit cold," Emma insisted.

"Inside dearie! And I won't be having any more of your lip or else I'll write to your Mother."

Emma rolled her eyes but followed her governess in anyways not wanting to argue with her. They went to bed shortly after but she didn't sleep a wink. She kept on thinking of Seamus's tale of the man who had lost his hand for stealing another man's wife only to have her eaten by a crocodile.

A pirate would be exciting to meet she couldn't help but think, far more interesting than any of the twits she had to deal with on a regular basis. Being the Princess she was not without suitors but no one had ever held her interest for very long. She supposed that was because she was her Mothers daughter.
Her Father was only a Prince by marriage. He had originally been a Shepard boy. But years ago his parents had given his twin brother to a king because they'd been in desperate need of money. Then the brother died and her father had been forced to take his place. There had also been something involving a dragon, but whenever that came up her father was sketchy on the details.

Needless to say it wasn't expected that Emma marry a Prince although it was "hoped for". Everyone who was anyone felt the need to tell her that at some point during the day. The only people who didn't seem to care if she married a royal or not were her own parents. Still, she couldn't help but feel some responsibility to do what was right for her people.

Not that she was going to run off looking for a pirate to get married to either. That would be ridiculous. Pirates were dangerous…but still that didn't mean that she wasn't intrigued by the idea of them. If she were to meet a pirate well…it would be a story to tell at the very least.

Beside her, Margie was snoring blissfully unaware of Emma's wild idea. It was a good thing too otherwise her governess would probably spontaneously combust at the very thought of it. Emma tried to sleep but her mind was too full of Seamus's story to even close her eyes.

She lay awake staring at the ceiling with a million thoughts racing through her mind. That was when she heard it-a loud bang coming from the outside that made her bolt upright in bed. In only her night gown Emma raced to the window to see what was happening. There were a thousand or so new men that she hadn't seen before and some kind of brawl had broken out on deck.

"Margie!" Emma hissed as she walked over to her governesses bed. "Margie get up!"

Margie let out a loud snore and muttered something about custard pastries. Emma groaned. "Gods Margie get up! Something's happening on deck."

Her governess started awake. "My child what do you mean waking me up at this gods forsaken hour?"

"Someone's attacking the ship!" Emma exclaimed, quickly pulling her governess up out of bed onto the deck.

"Princess-Princess you can't be serious! We shouldn't be out there! We should be back in the cabin. It's the safest place for us!"

"No, we've got to help the men," she insisted, "grab anything you can find and use it to defend yourself." She picked up a nearby broom. It wasn't the most dangerous thing but it was better than nothing.

Margie had hold of her arm. "Please Princess. I'm begging you. This is madness."

She was right. It was madness. Sword fights were going on all around her and those that didn't have swords were fighting with their fists. One man had even been head butted.

"Everyone get your heads out of your ruddy arses and stop your bloody fighting!" The whole of the ship froze as though someone had stopped time. Emma and Margie both turned their heads toward the sound of the voice.

Standing in the middle of the ship was a tall man dressed all in black. He had dark smudges in underneath his eyes, scruff on his chin, and a way of looking about the ship as though he owned every single person in the room. But there was no life in his eyes. They were dead.

The man surveyed all of them. "I'm here for the Princess. If you hand her over I shall let you all go free."

Emma found herself being shoved aside by Margie. "Over my dead body you fiend!" Margie exclaimed. "Do you know whose ship you are on? You are on Snow White's royal vessel and if you so much as touch her daughter she will have you hanged!"

The pirate smiled. "Ah, you must be the governess then. I wasn't expecting you. I suppose where the Princess goes you go?"

"Right you are sir. Only the Princess won't be going anywhere. Not if I have anything to say about it."

The man laughed. "Oh, I like you lass. You've got a bit of fire in you. My men like that. I'll take you as well then. Smee!"

"Y-y-yes, Captain?" came a timid sounding voice.

"Take the governess to the ship!" A pointed look from her governess told Emma to remain quiet and she watched helplessly as she was drug away from her.

"Now the Princess must be a down right coward to let someone she cares for take her place on a pirate ship. If she steps forward I won't harm anyone more."

"You know nothing of me!" Emma spoke for the first time. The pirate's eyes searched the crowd. When his eyes landed on her she could feel their cold gaze that made her regret her decision to draw his attention.

"Ah," he said as he strode forward in her direction, "and so we have the Charming Princess. You live up to your name lass. You are not without your 'charms'." He grinned at her and she glared at him.

"What could you possibly want with me?" she asked, her chin jutted out stubbornly.

His lips twitched into a grin. "A pirate never reveals his secrets sweetheart."

"Tell me what you want with me or else I won't come with you."

His face fell immediately. "Saucy little thing aren't you? Fine. I want to kidnap you so that I can demand gold and jewels from your fine family. Does that sound alright to you?"

Emma stared around at her people on the ship. "Don't do it Princess!" Grumpy shouted, and she was stunned when the dwarf came forward. He stepped in the way of the pirate. "You'll get off this ship now if you know what's good for you—you- scallywag!"

"Ah, a brave dwarf. Why don't I cut you down to size?" the pirate said with a grin. Emma screamed then as she saw the pirates hooked hand come out from where he'd been hiding it behind his back. With the same hook he went to draw a cut across Grumpy's face.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" she screamed, pulling the man away from the dwarf. "You monster! He didn't do anything to you. And you said you wouldn't hurt anyone if I came with you!"

"But you haven't agreed to come with me," he said pointedly, "until then I can keep no promises. Do you agree to my terms?"

Emma scowled. "Fine."

Hook smirked. "There's a good lass. Now I agree to not hurt anyone."

"You're a liar."

"I'm a pirate," he said, and before Emma could object he cut down a nearby rope, grabbed her by the waist, then swung from their ship to hers ignoring her screams. Once on board he patted her on the head. "You're ever such a good girl for agreeing to come. I'm sure you're parents will be very proud. No blood shed and no tears."

At his words, Emma heard the sound of someone balling that she realized was Margie. Her governess rushed towards her. "Emma what were you thinking dearest child? You should have stayed on the ship."

"I couldn't very well leave you alone with pirates now could I? You'd never forgive me," she said, patting her sobbing nurse on the back. "No tears indeed."

She glared at their kidnapper. "I hope you're happy."

"Thrilled," he said sarcastically.

"I don't suppose I get to know the name of my kidnapper?"

"If you are an enemy its Hook. If you wish to remain on my good side I go by given name."

"That is?"

He grinned. "Who says I want you on my good side lass?"

Margie let out a great, heaving sob. "You rotten pirate!"

Hook rolled his eyes. "By Gods, get her to calm down. She's giving me a headache."

"She wouldn't be giving you a headache if you hadn't decided to kidnap her."

Hook said nothing only stared at her with a bored expression before he walked off. "Set sail men! We've a journey ahead of us." Emma was left alone with a still sobbing Margie much to her dismay. And as her governess sobbed into her arms she couldn't help but think how terrible it was that only hours before she had been wishing she could actually meet a pirate. Now she had and she absolutely hated him.

A/N: I'm not completely sure how I feel about this fanfic but I'm having fun writing it. Thanks for reading it and let me know what you think. –Cambria