Hooked

When the sun started rising and everyone was awake, gathered on the deck of the Jolly Roger, they began planning where to go from there. They decided it would be best to split up for now, to go through the nearby villages to see if they could find anything out… see if anyone may have seen Henry, or Greg and Tamara. Just anyone or anything that could help them. Any bit of information would be useful—the only thing they knew for sure was that they were in Neverland.

It was decided that Emma, Snow, and Charming would be one group, and Regina, Gold, Hook, and Ariel would be another. They split up once they were away from the ship, one group going towards one village and another group going to another.

Ariel walked a few steps behind her own group watching them as they walked silently toward whichever village they were heading toward. Regina turned her head and saw that Ariel was walking on her own. She slowed down a bit so that Ariel would catch up to her.

“Aren’t you from Neverland, Ariel?” Regina asked. Ariel noticed Killian turn his head ever so slightly, knew he was listening now.

“Yes,” Ariel answered after a moment.

“Interesting,” Regina murmured. “Mind me asking where you got your legs?”

“I’d rather not,” she said. She glanced at Gold, before looking at Killian, noting they were both listening to their conversation. She glanced at Regina. “Maybe some other time.”

Regina was staring at Gold, a smile on her face.

“I’d love to hear it.” Ariel could tell she’d already figured it out

---

Each place they stopped was the same. Regina showed the shop owners a picture of Henry, asked if they’d seen them, told them who he was traveling with… they all just shook their heads. They almost looked nervous when they answered.

“Why do they all look so scared?” Ariel asked Killian.

“Because there’s only one place lost boys end up,” he answered, looking down at her. “You should know, being from here and all.”

“Are you talking about Peter Pan and the Lost Boys?” she asked, confused. “Last I heard that was the best place to end up.”

“You haven’t been around in a very long time, have you?” he questioned.

“Why? What’s changed?” Ariel asked.

“I’d rather not say,” Killian said, glancing over at Regina and Gold. He looked back at her. “I’ll tell you later, but it’s not a very pleasant story.”

---

When they returned to the ship the sun was beginning to go down. Emma was leaning over the edge of the ship, looking for them. The moment they were all on the deck, Emma was watching them with worry in her eyes.

“Did you find anything?” she asked.

“No,” Regina answered. She turned to Gold. “There’s got to be something you or I could do to make this easier.”

“Can’t you pinpoint more exactly where he is?” Emma asked Gold. “We were able to find Neil pretty easily with that globe.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Gold said.

---

After everyone had gone off to sleep, Ariel made her way to Killian’s quarters and knocked quietly on the door. He opened it a moment later and stood back to let her in. The room was dim, a single oil lamp lit on the desk illuminating the small space.

“Sure you still want to hear what happened to Peter Pan?” he asked, as he poured them both a glass of the same kind of alcohol he had left for her the previous night.

“Yes,” Ariel answered, watching him. He handed her a glass and sat down in the chair at his desk before motioning to his bed.

“You can sit there,” he said, stretching his legs. She sat down on the edge of the bed, watching Killian carefully as she took a sip of the liquor. She shivered as it warmed her insides. “So, as I’m sure you know, Peter Pan originally came to Neverland to stay young, he didn’t want to grow up. But, as he soon found out, as most do, you have to do more than just come to Neverland to stay young.

“When he realized he was aging still, he learned from someone in Neverland that he needed fairy dust in order stay young. And as you know, fairy dust does not last forever,” he paused to take a large mouthful of liquor. “So, Pan finds out after a long period of time that the fairy dust doesn’t last forever, and he finds a fairy that is willing to tell him the way to keep himself young forever: Tinkerbell.

“Now, this is where things get a little dark. You see, most people are eventually fine with aging after such a long period of youth, but not Pan. He doesn’t want to have to keep getting large doses of fairy dust, he wants a way to have eternal youth—but it’s very dark magic, comes with a price. And the price for this kind of magic is his shadow. Doesn’t seem like much of a price, but his shadow, being detached from Pan, takes away part of his humanity. He gets to keep his shadow, but it will never be able to be reattached. I don’t know much of the details around that part of the story, but I do know quite a bit about the rest,” Killian paused. “Any questions so far?”

“No,” Ariel said. She could feel the dread in her stomach. She had known Peter Pan at one time and it was hard to believe that someone who had seemed so pure could go so dark.

“So the story goes, that in order to stay young forever, there is a spell that this fairy, Tinkerbell, can do,” Killian continues. “If Pan is to sacrifice the life of a child born from True Love, and absorb his soul, he will be able to stay young forever. The only problem is a child born from True Love is hard to come by, so instead, about once a month, Pan sacrifices one of his Lost Boys to keep him young, hoping that maybe that boy was a product of True Love. Tinkerbell is able to tell once the child has been killed whether or not the child has the soul they need. The Lost Boys are still loyal to Peter Pan though, but that’s because Tinkerbell is able to bind them to Pan. Pan usually sends his shadow to collect boys.”

“That’s horrible,” Ariel whispered. “You don’t think Greg and Tamara would take Henry to Peter Pan do you?”

“I couldn’t tell you,” Killian said. “But I hope for his sake that they don’t.”

Ariel threw back the rest of her drink, grimacing at the feel of it burning down her throat and into her stomach. Killian stood up and took her glass, refilling both hers and his. He sat back down once he had handed Ariel her new drink.

“You never told me you were from Neverland,” Killian said after a few minutes of silence.

“You never asked,” she answered, taking a sip from her drink.

“What’s this business about getting legs?” Killian asked, eyes wandering down before returning to her face. “Were you a mermaid?”

Ariel looked away from him.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said.

“We don’t have to talk about it,” he said. “Just want a yes or a no to the question.”

Ariel sighed, staring down at the amber liquid in her glass.

“Then yes, I was a mermaid,” she said. She finished her drink and stood up, setting the empty glass on the desk. She looked down at Killian as he watched her. Without thinking she rested her hand on the side of his face. When her eyes fell on his, she realized what she was doing and pulled her hand away quickly. “Goodnight, Killian.”

She left his quarters, closing the door behind her and going to where she and everyone else was sleeping. Once in her bed, she sat there and pulled out the bottle of liquor Killian had left for her the previous night. She really didn’t like being here in Neverland, but she knew there was no going back.