Greetings! This is the first Once Upon a Time fic that I've posted...i started it over the hiatus between seasons because I was feeling pretty OUAT deprived haha.

So there's already definitely differences down the road when the story catches up to Neverland, but I'll try to add-in some of what we've learned from the show as if fits in the the story. I don't know if that will make it AU, really, because I'll try to follow the show (loosely)...
Anyway, i just love Captain Hook (So fun and, let's be real, so hot!) and he needs a friend =] so...that's where my inspiration started and then it just kind of flew from there. Anyway, hope you enjoy. I have several chapters finished so hopefully I'll be able to update soon...

Prelude
"They say I've gone mad, but they don't know what I know. Cuz when the sun goes down someone's talking back."
-'Talking to the Moon' by Bruno Mars
_

"Father," a young boy stopped on the docks, causing the older man to come up short of the land.

"Yes," he sighed, short on patience after a long day of fishing.

"Someone's in the water..."

"Oh? What was it?" Samuel Jones ushered his son along once he glanced down and saw nothing- the animal had gone.

"Not it father- who! A girl," the boy tried to go back.

Samuel scoffed but did do a visual sweep of the water, but he didn't even see so much as a ripple out of place.

"Don't be silly- a reflection, it probably was."

"No," the boy insisted. "Was it a mermaid what I saw?"

His father laughed outright, causing his son to frown. He had heard of half-fish-half-humans and thought it would be quite a treat to see one.

"There are no mermaids in these waters anymore, my boy... and we are better for it," he added.

"Why?"

"They are twisted creatures. They are a different race, and most have no respect for us. Long ago, men and woman of the seashore admired their beauty and wondered at them...before we knew their malice- they have drown sailors or, in less serious cases, been known to cut fishing nets. More trouble than their beauty is worth," Samuel spat. "They keep to their homes in the muck of the deep seas because they learned their lesson coming places like this..."

The boy considered this. He still thought he'd seen someone, but perhaps his father was right and it was only a reflection...he looked back at the boats for someone with red hair but saw no one.

He tried to put it from his mind, as the issue didn't please his father. He hadn't known the issues mermaids brought to harbor towns. He'd heard tell of them only from sailors who traveled long and far...perhaps mermaids in other waters were different and let passersby alone.

Sighing, he supposed he wouldn't be finding out anytime soon.

"Going to get the boat ready this morning, son?" Samuel asked, clapping his boy on the shoulder as he was already awake and eating breakfast.

"Yes, father," he smiled and hopped up.

He pulled a hat over his dark hair and ran out of the house.

"You're quite sure he ought to be working at the docks alone?"

"Aye," Samuel smiled while Helena, his wife, watched their boy through the front window. "He's a smart boy and the fishermen know him..."

He was confident in what he'd taught his boy. Besides, if he got some of the work done, Samuel would have time with Helena...alone...

He wrapped her in his arms from behind and felt, more than heard, her sigh and relax into him.

...

"Boy..." there was a soft whisper but the boy was too busy working to hardly notice.

"...it's off to work we go, hi-ho, hi-ho..." he half muttered, half sang.

He knew it was one of many work ditties chanted by dwarves. He'd never heard a dwarf sing, but he had seen one once...

"Boy!..hello!"

Startled a bit, then, he jumped and looked about.

"Here"

He looked down between the boat and the dock and saw a little face in the water. Coppery hair surrounded it, swaying in the water. The girl blinked and raised her head from the water more. It was a rather small head...she was young- he guessed maybe his own age!

"What're you doing down there?" he laughed.

"I'm stuck," she pouted.

He frowned but then watched her shift her weight to lean back. Instead of feet, a flipper rose from the sea!

"You are a mermaid!" he shouted.

The girl let go a small squeal and disappeared under the water.

"No! No! I'm sorry- come back! Come ba- hello," he smiled.

"I'm scared...some fishermen don't like us," she told him when she resurfaced.

"I know- my dad told me," he nodded. "So what happened?"

"I got caught in your riggings a ways back...I shouldn't have been where I was," she mumbled. "Now I'm stuck! It's knotted and waterlogged, so I can't get it off," she whined. "It hurts- it's too tight, and I can't grow nails yet to cut it..."

"Hmm...what's your name, mermaid?" he asked.

Her predicament was clear to him, now, but he didn't know what to do about it.

"Ariel," she sighed. "And yours?" she asked, lacing some command into her tone.

"Killian," he answered. "Killian Jones."

He drummed his fingers on the side of his father's boat. If she couldn't get herself undone by now, he doubted he'd get the thick ropes undone...plus, he wasn't convinced he wanted to get in the water with a merperson- what if his father was right?

But... but she was just a girl. It was no danger.

"What would you like me to do for you?"

"Have you a knife?"

He wondered over giving the creature a weapon, but only for a moment- again, she was just a girl. He wasn't afraid of little town girls his age; he wouldn't be frightened of her, either.

"Certainly."

He disappeared momentarily and returned to lean over the side and hand her a short blade. A pleased smiled split her little face and she began hacking at the rope around her.

"You're not the only mermaid left, are you?"

"What?" her giggle tinkled up to him from the water. "Of course not- you're very funny," she beamed.

"Then why didn't anyone help you?"

"Oh," she frowned. "No one was with me...I didn't mean to come here at all, not to this part of the realm anyway. I'm still figuring out distance traveling alone," she admitted.

"You've traveled the realm? How far?"

"Quite far... This realm, that realm," she shrugged, sticking her tongue between her teeth in concentration as she sawed a bit more and then tore herself free. "Here."

She reached the knife back to him. He took it back with little to no thought- he was preoccupied.

"Other realms? You've been to others?!"

"Oh sure," she shrugged and floated on her back in an effort to relax after a tense night.

"Where? -wait, how?" he asked excitedly.

"Well, all the realms have bodies of water, boy," she smiled. "Everyone needs water."

"You can travel under the ocean to any realm you wish?"

"Some are hard to get to and a few are blocked- no one's sure why because once they were all open," she told him lazily. "Have you not been to other lands?" she frowned in realization.

"No, I wish," he sighed longingly.

"Really?" she twisted back up in surprise so that her head and shoulders were above the water now.

"Yes, but someday I will," he told her firmly.

"Good, it's quite fun... even oceans differ in each world...sea animals and things. I imagine it's quite the same further on land where I can't see."

"Wow," Killian breathed. "And you can just go whenever you please? Does it take long?"

"Not really," Ariel considered. "It just takes experiences and some concentration, and a little magic to..."

"You're magic! Ugh, oh wow..." he repeated again.

"A bit...we aren't witches with spells or nothing," she defended.

"Sorry"

"Anyway, it's more about knowing what way to go... It was always quick with my uncles and even my oldest sister's good at it now... I'll figure it out, too..."

"So there really are lots more of you?"

"Duh, that's what I said," she smiled and laid her head back again.

Killian considered everything and studied her. The fish half of her was a teal color and some dark purple fabric was made into a sleeveless shirt, wrapped from her armpits to down just past where he supposed her hips might be if she were a human girl.

"What's on your head, Killian?" she asked and tried out his name for the first time.

He frowned and patted his head.

"..what do you mean?"

"It's on your hair- you're touching it," she laughed.

"This is a hat," he grinned.

"Why?"

"...it's clothes. It keeps my hair from the wind."

"Hmm, it would fall off under water probably," she mused.

"You've never met a human with a hat? Maybe they're abnormal in some lands..."

"I've only met one human," she admitted. "My uncle says I should wait until I'm older... I'll be faster incase I have to get away."

"I thought seasoned trade sailors got on with mermaids in the deep seas."

"Usually, but you never know- that's what my dad always says," she screwed up her face. "I can't wait until I can talk to all the sailors I want... learn about hats and things," she prattled on.

Killian laughed.

'Hats and things? Girls were true oddities.'

"Well I can't wait to travel the worlds and see everything...what's your favorite place you've been?" he asked, leaning over the rail excitedly.

"...Neverland, I think," she smiled. "There's several mermaids there and they are my age- they'll always be young."

"Always?" Killian frowned.

"In Neverland, time is an illusion- nobody gets older."

"Gee..."

"It's all a lot of boys there- they play many games."

Killian let himself feel jealous of her for a bit.

"Well, I hope you have your adventures soon- maybe we'll meet again! Because I think I should probably go- fishermen are coming..."

"Oh, right," he sighed. "I hope I do see you on one of my adventures, Ariel," he grinned.

"That would be fun," she straightened up and beamed. "...can I have it? Your hat, I mean- you don't seem fussed about it."

"My hat," he laughed. "I thought you said it'd come off under water."

"So? I want it...something from a human," she emphasized.

"Ah, well...alright," shrugged and dropped it to her.

"Here"

She reached into a fold of her top where she'd knotted a portion of fabric. From it she revelaed a yellow piece of...

"Coral...from a lagoon in Neverland," she held it up and tossed it up to him.

He caught it deftly.

"Thanks," he breathed.

It was so much cooler than a silly old stocking hat his mother had patched for him more than once.

"You're welcome"

"Good luck finding your way back"

"Thank you...happy adventures, Killian Jones," she smiled and began to swim away.

"...see you soon," he promised and committed her to memory- her fire hair, her clear green eyes, and her freckles.

Ariel...he'd remember.

"Hope so"

She waved her hand and flipped forward; a small splash from her tail was her final good-bye.

A real mermaid! A real one! He'd love to see more...he'd love to see everything! He would discover his own way to travel the worlds and see as much as she'd seen. Maybe more...

He twisted the coral in his fingers and slipped it into one of his pockets. His father wouldn't approve. He wouldn't tell him...