smile like you mean it

The man was intriguing and now Henry was definitely going to be taking him the long way around to Emma’s office because now he could talk to him about the Enchanted Forest as well as the other ways of getting through realms.

“I know there’s also a hat, Ally’s dad used to use it and she has a bit of the power to” Henry added, the blonde daughter of the Mad Hatter was an intriguing source of information about realm jumping but she only really knew about the hat and to realms that she had actually visited “And they tried to use magic beans to get to those that were stuck on the other side of the portals after the curse broke”

He was trying to find a specific person?

“Who are you looking for? maybe I could help, I kinda know almost everyone in the town and where they can be found”

So the kid wasn’t gonna pretend magic didn’t exist. That was refreshing; he had a feeling a lot of people in this town would prefer to hide from strangers, and the kid was still way too trusting. He nodded. “I’ve heard about a hat. The Mad Hatter, right?” he asked, recalling the various versions in the media with a fond smile. He liked the original animated movie best, that was for sure. “They still got some of those or did they use them all up?” He didn’t want any of them, but it was worth knowing if anyone planned on causing trouble with them.

Neal sighed to himself. Henry was a good kid, a curious kid, and to be honest he looked somehow familiar. There was something about his expressions that twigged some part of his memory and he couldn’t place where. “Emma Swan. She’s probably relatively new to town.” And the Saviour. She was the reason the curse had broken, but he wasn’t sure if the kid was aware of that fact. “If you can send me her way, I don’t need the sheriff at all.”

He was giving him an out?

Aziz had heard so many things about his father’s time before meeting his mother, about how the people looked down at him and the danger that the guards posed to him every day; even if he hadn’t stolen anything at that point in the day. But he had never heard about his father ever being given an out by his mark, and he had never been given an out if he was caught slipping things from the other students in Auradon.

The thing was; he needed to money.

Living in the loft that he had found was good, but he needed money to grab some food and stuff to use so that he could actually live considering he hadn’t yet decided whether or not he was going to stay with his parents once everything settled down.

“Asif my friend, I do not know what you are talking about. Now if you will excuse me I have places to be and I will shout if you do not release me, I am sure that the people of this town will sooner react to a teenager yelling for help than they would a stranger crying thief”

Neal had to hand it to the kid, he had balls. Too much courage, if you asked him. He was going to take the fucking keepsakes out of his wallet and put them somewhere else after this, just to avoid such a situation. Next time, he’d let the wallet go. Neal rolled his eyes and shrugged. “See, kid, you’ve got this problem. I really don’t care what people in this town think of me. I’m making my dues, I’m settling some old scores, and then I’m getting the heck outta dodge. So you shout and they think I’m bullying some kid? Whatever.” He pointed out to the edge of town, where they couldn’t see. “I walk through that barrier no one else can leave and I’m golden.”

Of course, he had no intention of leaving town at all; he’d just brought a bar, after all, and a home to make sure his adopted siblings were safe and cared for. But Neal was good at lying; he’d made a literal living out of it. He was confident the kid wouldn’t call his bluff, and besides - there wasn’t really anyone around. It’d take a good minute or two for someone to come back, and Neal was hardly going to actually hurt the boy. “You can take the damn money. I don’t care about it. Just give me the rest of the stuff back.” He shrugged.

“Worst case scenario here for me is that I let you go, give your description to the sheriff and you get caught anyway. It’s a small town, you can’t leave it and you can’t hide. So the way I see it, you got two choices: take my money and leave the rest, or go to jail. I’ve been there, kid. I know what I’d pick.”

Ok, so from the list that Bael just gave her, Harriet only knew who one of them. “Who the bloody hell is Sparrow or Pugwash?” She ignored the gib about Blackbeard. Overgrown oaf didn’t even know how to sail his own ship, only ordering people to sail it for him. A captain was only as good as the help he was to his crew, and for her father’s sins, he knew how to muck in and help and that was something he had passed to her. “Ye better mind yer words Bael, my papa is not a joke. No matter what’s happened, he is still my papa and calling him a joke, is callin’ me a joke.”

Of course he couldn’t prove it, it had been forty years give of take and both of them only looked fifteen or so years older. Magic royally sucked. Harriet hated it. Magic had dictated her life since the moment she was born and magic had ruined her family. Because of the curse she had lost her pa, she lost her siblings, she lost time and happy memories. “Of course ye cannae. What’s done is done though. No turnin’ back.” something Harriet was becoming increasingly aware off. Shit happened and she just had to try stand up, and dust herself off and more on. Bael left, it hurt, she got over it - kinda. “Regret’s are not logical, ye can’t change what’s past.`’

Harriet would find someone else to steal from; even if that meant she had to go without tonight so that CJ and Ant could eat, or they could put a roof over their head for the night at the B&B. She looked at Baelfire though, taking in all his features. He didn’t look too much different, just, older. Just as she was sure that she definitely looked older than the last time he’d seen her. Everything was screaming at her that this was the same person that held her as she cried when she was small, who bandaged up skinned knees and elbows. She wanted to hug him, but she was too scared too. To scared to get attached again.

The minute Bael pulled her against his chest, tucking the younger pirate against him, the young woman began to sob. She’d needed to hear that, hear that she wasn’t alone, someone just holding her and saying they’d be there. It’s all she needed, over the last few weeks and beyond. “Pa’s not shit, I’m sure he’s hurtin’ too.” the muttered against the man who was effectively her big brother’s chest.

“They’re pirates. Pirates more famous in this land than any other. Hook’s been forgotten.” He sighed though as she continued to defend her father. He should have known better; Harriet had always been something of a daddy’s girl, it was obvious she was going to defend him. “I’m not calling you a joke, Ettie. I have no doubt that you’re gonna be one of the finest captains to sail the seas of whichever realm you end up in,” he tried to console her, without addressing the issue of her father again.

Regrets weren’t logical, huh? He laughed at that. “It’s got nothing to do with logic, Ettie. Regrets are emotional and you know me. I’m as emotional as the best of them,” he teased. He’d always tried not to be, and he’d gotten better at it as he’d gotten older, but Baelfire had been an emotional, impulsive boy, while Neal Cassidy wasn’t much better as a man. Both lives, cursed by feelings. Maybe it was his punishment for something, he wasn’t sure. “You’re telling me you don’t have regrets?”

He held her close as she protested, deciding it was best not to bring the topic back up. They could discuss Killian Jones when Harriet was feeling a little less emotional and they both were somewhere more comfortable, not to mention private. He didn’t pull back from his little sister - she could hug him as long as she wanted to, for all he cared - but he’d already made a decision. He hadn’t been intending on staying in town. He was planning on speaking with Emma, making his apologies and whether she accepted them or not, he was intending to leave afterwards. Now? Now he had to stay.

“So, I’ve got some cash. Could probably put down a deposit on a place here.” Not that Ettie probably understood that - buying houses was more of a Land Without Magic deal; back home, in the Enchanted Forest, you had a tendency to build your own homes. “I could get a place. There’s a lot of abandoned houses round here. Me, you, your sister, Harry. Your- sorry, is he your boyfriend or what?”

The piratess scowled at his words about her papa. “Yer wrong, my pa is the pirate name. When they hear pirates, they think Hook.” She swallowed, she would always defend her pa, even though she hadn’t seen him since before CJ died, considering in twenty-eight years and a couple of months, she’d spoken to her pa once.

No one knew about the Lost Boys - not really. Everyone here believed that the Lost Boys were a bunch of tiny children who defeated the big bad pirates - Captain Hook. The look in his eyes told Harriet he’d seen the very nature of many of her nightmares. Neverland was not the pretty place this land without magic seemed to think. His mom. Of course. She knew exactly who his mother was. Her entire existence had been focused around her father’s need for revenge against his father. She’d spent the entire of her existence chasing crocodiles. Except, for a brief period, where a tall lanky boy was on the ship, and he wanted to play with her. He wanted her to be a kid. 

Bael. He was Bael.

“Ye cannae say that. It’s easy to say that crap in hindsight. I couldnae prove it to be true one way or another Bae. I woke up and ye were gone. No explanation. Ye were just gone. And pa was in a foul mood.” And why would he take her? No even her pa really wanted her. No even Harry. Ant would tire or her, CJ would grow up and leave her.

By all accounts she hadn’t seen Baelfire in over forty years if you took her age when he left and the curse into consideration. She put the coin back in the wallet, and handed it back over, complete with all the money inside. Harriet might be a villainous pirate Captain, but as the saying went, there was honour among thieves. She still remembered sitting in Bael’s lap after she had gained the scar on her forearm, the lecture the teenager boy was giving her, because he had been so happy to find a family, just for a snot-nosed little brat to go and scare him like that. “I missed ye too Baelfire.”

“I… I’ve been alone too. My little sister CJ - Calista Jane, she’s fifteen; she was born a year or so after ye left - she got hurt, and she died. Harry too, and Anthony - my… boyfriend. They all died. I went to the underworlds too find them. But I was alone for weeks - I couldn’t find pa. Or he didn’t want to find me, ye know?”

“Not in this realm,” Neal corrected, almost gleefully. “They think Jack Sparrow, Captain Pugwash. Maybe even Blackbeard.” There was an almost unholy sense of delight in saying the last one. Neal remembered quite clearly some of the awful things spoken about the rival pirate. “Captain Hook’s a joke. The kids of this realm aren’t scared of him; they mock him.” Okay, so it wasn’t accurate in any sense, but perhaps the Peter Pan story in this realm at least had something worthwhile about it.

“I know.” The despair in his tone had to tell anyone listening how upset he was by the fact he couldn’t prove that he hadn’t wanted to leave her, but he hadn’t; his nightmares for months were of Harriet and little baby Harry being caught by the Shadow, being caught in a wreck, being unsafe all because he’d left. Once he’d been with Pan for a while, however, he had new nightmares; ones where the pirate’s children were stuck with Pan too. That, it turned out, probably would have been worse. “I can’t prove it to you, Ettie, but I mean it. I’ve only ever been so sorry once in my life.” And that? That was when he let Emma take the fall for his crimes, like August had asked him to.

He took the wallet back gratefully, pleased to have his little treasures back in his possession, but now that he knew who had taken his wallet, it wasn’t quite so important. Because one of the memories of his treasures, Ettie, had come back to him and that meant the world. She’d been like the little sister he’d always wanted, and he could feel the instincts screaming at him again already. But she wasn’t five and he wasn’t a teenager - somehow the age gap seemed to have increased, and he felt awkward.

The news that she’d been alone - that he had another little sister, and CJ was officially his little sister simply by her relation to Harriet - struck him to the core and before he knew what he was doing, he’d wrapped both his arms around the young woman to pull her into a hug. “I get that you don’t wanna hear it, but your pa is shit,” Neal muttered, holding her tightly against him. “I’m sorry, Ettie. You’re not alone now.”

The bartender knew him, which wasn’t all that much of a surprise to the Captain - he wasn’t gloating, but he was known well throughout the realms, being a villainous pirate captain came with a side where everyone would hear stories about him an’ his crew. Not that they were all true, but only a few were. 

“Aye, the great Captain Hook, in yer bar. Ye’ should be lucky.” The cockiness was evident in his words, yet it never held the same flare it had once held, the power that would scare people into never speaking back to him, he’d get back to that part of his reputation once he had his ship and could leave this god forsaken town, and all the curses that came with it. 

Yet, the more he stared at the bartender, the more he held a familiarity which made his heart ache in the most painful of ways.  He looked like Milah. Although, he knew that to be impossible, Bae - the boy he had once tried to make a family with - had been taken by the lost boys, and Hook had never heard of him since. 

“Yer’ll find tha’ I de have money, actually. An’ it’s just as good as anyone else’s.” His one human hand, already had fished his money from his pocket, slammed it down onto the bar.

This was what he hated. The attitude. The self-assured cockiness that had been inherent in the man before him even when he’d been a teenager, duped into thinking he’d landed on his feet when he was swept up onto the Jolly Roger. Perhaps it wasn’t truly as forceful, no threat involved, but it still made Neal want to sneer at the man who hadn’t changed. It was no wonder Harriet had come by the bar, miserable as all hell. Obviously she’d found him.

The money slammed onto the table was indeed a surprise, but Neal wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Killian could spend all his money here, if he so liked - Neal had no intention of letting the man leave with a penny to his name now. “By all means, waste your money on alcohol. The more you spend here, the more can line your children’s pockets.” Every cent would be spent on CJ and Ettie. Neal had decided. It was his damn bar, he was going to make sure the girls got what they deserved.

Neal rifled through the money on the bench and turned, grabbing a bottle of the captain’s preferred beverage to hand. He pulled a couple of glasses and poured the precise amount. Not the best in the bar - he wasn’t going to waste that on Killian - but good enough that the pirate couldn’t complain. “Now drink and get out. Last thing I need’s you making my staff angry.” The last thing he needed was Harriet coming in for her shift and immediately going off the wall.

“There is a very big mix” he chuckled lightly as he thought about the numerous kids that had come through from both the Isle and from Auradon; Ettie, CJ and even Evie were definitely one side and on the other was Ally and Ellie who he had met in Granny’s on one of the days Emma had taken him there.

He hadn’t had much time to talk to Evie about the separation but he knew that as soon as their mom was found, they would be able to work it out; his mom could fix almost everything. 

Curses? Magic? 

What the hell? This man knew about magic? Henry nearly tripped over in shock and righted himself with a shocked look over at the man, so he was someone like August? “You’re from the Enchanted Forest?”

All these kids, these people from the Enchanted Forest... There had been a time when Neal had actually started forgetting his life back then. Forgotten that he had been in another realm, one with magic everywhere. Although he couldn’t forget the Darlings or the Hooks, he could pretend he hadn’t been a Lost Boy anywhere except in his dreams, that maybe he’d just been a messed up kid abandoned like so many others. Then Emma happened and this town came into his life, and now... He knew there was no escaping it.

At least his father wasn’t there.

Neal had to hold back a laugh at Henry’s expression, although he did smile, shrugging as he shoved his hands back in his pockets. “This ain’t the only way to get out of a realm, Henry.” Neal gave the young boy a knowing look. “Magic beans, mermaids... Sometimes even shadows can get you outta one world and into another.” He sighed. “Always seems to pull you back though. That’s why I gotta find this person. So I can say my piece and leave.”

He’d been able to get away without much trouble and Aziz almost let a breath of relief out as he started towards his little hideout so that he could search through the three wallets that he had pilfered during the day.

But his relief was short lived as a arm draped over his shoulder and the arabian prince stiffened and was about to bolt when he realised that if he did try and take off, his last target could easily grab him and drag him back by his jacket and cause a scene; he couldn’t afford a scene to be made.

“Ya Ibn el Sharmouta“ (Son of a bitch) Aziz cursed under his breath at the start that he had from the man appearing next to him.

The fourth person to take his wallet from him? and he still hadn’t learnt his lesson? By allah, did this man not know how to keep his money safe? and just how many pickpockets lived within this new place?

“Aietidhari - My apologies my friend, but I’m not sure what you are talking about” Playing innocent was his best play until he could run without the chance of being dragged back.

The boy was tense under his arm and Neal had to admit that he was pleased to see it. Kid wasn’t stupid; he knew he was in trouble and was ready to fight for it. The thief in him was pleased; it was difficult to survive on the streets and this was clearly a factor the boy understood. Despite his travels, he had no idea what the young man was saying, except that it was in Arabic, until he switched to English and Neal could follow again.

God, what bullshit.

“Yeah, you do,” he corrected, walking alongside the young man. “You pulled my wallet. Maybe you picked it up and it fell outta my pocket, but you’ve got it now. Brown, leather, got some keepsakes I really want back. You were gonna take it to the sheriff’s office, right?” he asked. He was giving the young man an out and they both knew it. He’d be stupid not to take it.

“Half the kids here would probably teach you new ones to be honest” Henry informed him with a small grin as he remembered Ettie, he had a feeling the female pirate captain could easily teach the man a number of inventive curses if he hung around long enough; but he also didn’t want the man sticking around until he knew who he was. “The other half would be insulted”

Nodding at the name handed to him, Henry filed it away for later; there were no ‘Neal’s’ in the book but he could easily be hiding behind a new name like August did or he could genuinely just be a stranger which made Henry a little more weary “Nice to meet ya” he replied as politely as he could considering the man wasn’t to be trusted.

Henry shook his head at the question “Nope, I was one of the lucky ones” He answered, he nearly added that his mom adopted him after the accident but that would mean that the time frame was off unless Neal assumed that he was recently adopted. “My sister was caught in it though, we’re still trying to get through that”

That made Neal laugh. With his travels across the realms, he was pretty confident he had the art of foul language down pat, but he wouldn’t argue with the kid. He couldn’t have been older than eleven, anyway. “Got a bit of a mixed lot then, huh?” he asked. The more Henry spoke, the more Neal suspected the kid was fully aware of the curse that had befallen the town, but how did you bring that up without sounding absolutely insane?

Henry didn’t trust him, Neal could tell that much, and he felt a small sense of pride filter into him at the knowledge. It was a smart move, proved the kid was more confident and careful than he seemed to be. A small grimace of sympathy flashed across Neal’s face at the mention of a sister. So they’d been split up, but Henry had gotten to stay here. Neal’s thoughts drifted to Ettie and Wendy, John, Michael, Harry... He’d had that sense of family for a while and he knew what it was like to lose it.

“Sorry to hear that, Henry. Stuff like that, it takes time. Take it from someone who knows.” He glanced down at the young boy and shrugged. Better now than never. “Curses, magic - it’s all a bunch of twisted lies and broken promises. You seem like a good kid, I’m sure your sister will make it through.”

Of course she had heard the stories about the young boy who was practically her eldest brother in all but blood through his affections for Harriet.

Baelfire was the hero in many of the stories that Harriet would tell her as she grew up on the Jolly Roger before the curse hit them, he was someone who kept Harriet safe and made her feel loved while on the seas of Neverland and the mast story was one of Harriets favourite to tell her because it always reminded CJ to be careful when it came to climbing; even though she already spent ages climbing.

If this guy was the man that her elder sister talked about constantly, then maybe he could be trusted but she needed to know for sure and she didn’t know how too. She wasn’t going to give him any chance of thinking that he had the right person until she was certain she could trust him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about sorry, but I have to go; my sibling always told me not to talk to strangers” 

Neal felt slightly deflated as the girl insisted on leaving, but he could understand it too. It was a smart move, really; don’t trust strangers, especially strange men, and Neal appreciated that. With a sigh, he rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away from her. “Alright, I get it. I could be any regular old freak, but ask your sister about me. I’ve seen her in town, she’ll tell you I’m the real deal.”

He looked back at CJ after that, pointedly looking down at her pockets. “But you’re not leaving with my wallet. Take the money, if you want it. I don’t mind. Harriet’s sister is my sister so like, consider it borrowing from your big brother without any need to return it. But I want the other stuff.” It meant too much to him to lose, even if it was to Harriet’s baby sister.

His statement had her grinning. “Those hands of yours are at my discretion mind.” Though she froze as he continued to make statements. No, he wasn’t implying what she thought he was. She’d known the son of a Dark One. Loved a son of a Dark Ones. The arm with the scar was pulled against her chest, a subconscious sign that she remembered. He wasn’t. He couldn’t be. The male was lying and a cruel sneer foxed itself on her lips. “Nothing wrong with making like my pa, he works well w’ one hand.”

A doubloon threaded. Harriet’s blood ran cold and she was quiet, fingers wrapping around the chain. She gulped as she pulled it from the wallet, the gold glittering in the light, transfixing the pirate. Though for once, it wasn’t the promise of wealth that had her attention. It was the recall of memories she thought buried. Of being in port, of being scowled at by the women in the village because she was a little girl running around in trousers. The tut’s off ‘well seeing there isn’t a mother in the picture’. One of the Dark Queen’s guards, and slipping the gold from his pocket, presenting it proudly.

“Bael.”

It wasn’t. It was a cruel trick. He’s stolen it. Baelfire promised he would never take it off no matter what. An inane promise to a five year old, but something that had stuck with Harriet all through the years, when she recounted tales of the lost big brother to CJ who hadn’t been born yet. If he was, it presented another heart wrecking revelation.

“Ye left me.” Not us, Harry didn’t factor into her pain here. Bael left her. Was it because she was too much trouble? Because she’d hurt herself? Wouldn’t behave? Smee didn’t leave.  Eyes skirted around him, looking for an escape route, this was too much. Too much reminiscing, too much emotion. “If yer who yer claiming to be, ye left me. Left solely with adults that had no time for a little girl and a brother who wasn’t old enough to play with. 

They’d never discussed Bael again until she was telling stories to CJ in the dead of night. She threw herself into learning everything about being a pirate from the time he left, no more childish games. She learnt everything and then became the teacher to Harry and CJ when they were old enough. Yer papa’s little sea urchin, Smee would call her. But she had missed being little sister. “Yer no the right age.”

Neal snorted at her defense of her father. Killian Jones, Captain Hook. The man who had torn his family apart, the man who had dragged his mother away. If she hadn’t gone, if she hadn’t been tempted by him, then maybe she would have stayed at home with him. Perhaps she would have been happy being a mother, and loved his father. Perhaps Rumpelstiltskin would never have become the Dark One and they would all still be in the Enchanted Forest, or so long dead that they would’t have had to worry about a Land Without Magic. No, Baelfire hated Killian Jones with a burning passion; the only good thing about the man had been his children. “Your pa’s a lying, cheating asshole who gives even pirates a bad name,” he replied, shaking his head. No, he hated Killian and couldn’t deny it, even to Harriet.

But there it was. A name he hadn’t heard in such a long time, and it almost brought the boy flooding back. Her next words broke his heart and Neal took a step forward, only stopping himself because she’d asked him not to touch her. She didn’t know him like she had then, couldn’t trust that it was him, and it killed him more than he realised it would.

“No, no. I didn’t- I wanted to take you with me,” he responded again. “The Lost Boys were looking for me. They knew I was there and your pa...” He swallowed. “He’s the reason my mom died. He’s the reason I had to leave. I never wanted to leave you, Ettie. I would’ve taken you with me in a heartbeat if I could’ve.” But instead she’d been left with Killian Jones, a man not fit to be a father. A man who had revenge in his heart and no room for children. 

He wasn’t the right age. That made Neal snort. “Different realms, different time frames. I’m not the one who got trapped in a curse for twenty eight years. I’ve been here... I’ve been- alone.” Ettie would know how much that hurt him. He’d confided in a five year old, that he’d been so happy to have a family and then he’d lost it all again. Again and again and again. Neal Cassidy was not destined to have a happy family, it seemed. “God, I missed you, kid.”

Well that was a lie right there.

No matter who Ettie was talking too, she wouldn’t tell whoever it was much about CJ because her sister was stupidly overprotective like that. The only person she would talk too about CJ in a big way was Anthony and that was because she knew she could trust Anthony with everything. Including her heart it seems.

“Sorry matey, but you surely do have the wrong person” CJ informed him firmly although she was once again hesitant as he gave her his name.

She knew of a Baelfire, they were tales told to her in the nights aboard the Jolly Roger by her sister as a way to get her to go to sleep while growing up; their big brother in everything but blood. A boy that had taught Harriet what it was to be an elder sibling, he looked out for her and she looked out for her own little siblings in the same way.

“I’ve heard the name”

The young woman’s continued insistence on not being who he thought she was started making Neal feel unsure of himself. But the two girls looked alike and Neal had to get a grip. He was good with faces; it was one of his few talents. He never forgot important features, which meant he’d never target the same mark twice, and this girl was definitely related to Ettie in some fashion. He just hoped he’d gotten the correct information.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve got the right person,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “From Ettie? Did she ever tell you about the time she tried to climb the mast when I fell asleep looking after her? Little brat was halfway up the ropes by the time I realised she was gone and getting her down again... I nearly broke my neck. Then she just hops out of my arms and laughs at me.” It was an old story, but all of his stories involving the Hooks were old - they came from a time before he’d been sold out by Killian Jones, a time when despite everything, he’d thought he’d found a home again.

“Oh I plan on it, it’s my wallet now after all. I found it.” While other thieves would balk at being called out; Harriet thrived on it. Nothing was more exciting than the confrontation. You know, besides having the money from the wallet - money was always a prize. She had to wonder though if the contents of the wallet were valuable consider that was he only reason he wanted the wallet. She really just needed to get food for CJ and Ant, but the magpie pirate nature she had decided that she wanted all the contents or barter for a bigger payout with the goods.

He was looking at her weird and she snatched her arm back and she sneered at the male. “Grab me again and I’ll be takin’ yer hands.” She rubbed the spot he’d held, it didn’t hunt, but she was going to play it up, what kind of pirate would be if she didn’t, her fingers wrung around the spot, creating a red mark, just in case she had to call for help to get out this situation. Nothing created a fuss like ‘this stranger grabbed me.’

He’d only looked at her strange when he’d seen the scar on her forearm, a thin silvery line from an accident on the Jolly Roger when she was a kid. Running around after all the adults as they entered a portals, tripping and catching her arm on a hook for tying the mast up. “Don’t know why ye care. The name’s Harriet. What off it?”

This conversation was too unnerving for her, and that was saying something so she opened the money side of the wallet and took the notes. “I should go. I need to find my brother to make sure he’s alive again and I need to make sure my sister eats.”

Harriet. Suddenly the bravado, the complete lack of any kind of moral compass became startlingly clear. His biggest regret in the entire Neverland fiasco was that he hadn’t been able to get back to Harriet and Harry on Killian’s ship. The man, his mother’s lover (or killer? He knew now how corrupt his own father was, perhaps he really had been mistaken), had managed to keep two children away from Pan and his shadow, and being around the two kids had been like having a real family for once, like what he’d started feeling towards the Darlings. Sure, Harry had only been a baby but Harriet had been mischief wrapped up in a bundle of fun. A bundle of fun his own irresponsibility had hurt.

A bundle of fun who’d gotten that scar because he hadn’t kept a close enough eye on her.

“I’ll keep my hands, thanks,” he replied without really thinking about it, too busy staring at the woman replacing the young girl he’d last seen as a teenager himself. God, she’d been so small, missing a tooth from her escapades and now she was an adult in her own right, glaring at him and he’d missed everything. The closest thing he had to siblings and he’d missed her growing up. “I don’t need to make like your pa, although I guess it might be fair. The Dark One takes Hook’s hand, Hook’s daughter takes the Dark One’s son’s.”

“Please.” Neal had to stop himself from reaching out to grab her again. “In the wallet. There’s a doubloon, threaded.” Between that and the picture from John Darling, the boy formerly known as Baelfire hadn’t been able to keep anything else safe. He’d promised her he’d never take it off but in this land... “Doubloons aren’t really a thing here, so I’m trying to keep it safe, outta sight.”

His mom had a sixth sense about who she could and could not trust and his other mom could tell when people were lying; Henry seemed to have a knack for noticing when people were uncomfortable, no matter how well they hid it. And he knew the man next to him had no idea how to interact with him until he had made him laugh a genuine laugh. “There are a lot around here so you may need to get used to it if you’re thinking of staying in town”

Maybe he can get the man’s motives out in the open on the way to the Sheriff’s office; a circle or two of the town will have to happen to make sure the man is okay enough to see his mom.

“Not sure” he shrugged in answer, which was still very true “Hadn’t really gotten the chance to speak with them about it” which again was true because he hasn’t yet.

“My name’s Henry, not kid. If I’m going to be showing you around then I’d prefer if you’d call be by my name; I already get called kid enough by my mom” Henry huffed lightly, he was being a bit disrespectful but the man was yet to prove whether or not he deserved respect from Henry. “There was an accident, it seperated some of the families here and they have only just gotten the chance to find each other but some families are still having trouble”

A lot of kids. The entire thing sounded completely suspicious but he had to remember that he had no idea what curse had been inflicted upon the townsfolk; just that Emma had broken it and saved them all. She’d always been amazing, even without being the Saviour herself. “I’ll keep that in mind. Less swearing. Got it.”

Neal grinned at the kid- Henry - as he insisted on calling him by his name. There was something familiar about his huffing, but he didn’t take any offence to it. Neal had gotten far worse from Ettie when she’d been half his age. “Henry, got it. Neal,” he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. He frowned a little at the news of what had happened to the town. “An accident, huh?” he asked, giving the young boy a glance. The curse had separated people, had it? “You get caught up in that accident too?” he asked. The kid seemed too bright for that to be the case, but he’d often hidden his emotions behind a smile too.

Walking through the town in this busy time meant easy pickings for Aziz as he began to search through the crowds for the easiest targets of his light fingers, a skill he had been able to enhance through his time in Auradon.

Bumping into one of his closest targets, Aziz slipped his fingers into the jacket in his sights and deftly pulled out a wallet which was heavy enough to hold enough money for him to survive but also light enough that it shouldn’t be noticed missing until later.

Slipping his fingers from the pocket, he placed the wallet in his jeans and continued down the street without a look back and ran his fingers through his hair hoping not to be caught just yet.

It was becoming a habit for Neal to check his pockets whenever someone bumped into him in this town. After Ettie and CJ, and that goddamn bank clerk (seriously, who the hell had put him in charge of the town’s money?), Neal was beginning to sense a pattern and that pattern was that he’d lost his touch over the years. He used to be able to spot another thief from fifty feet away, and yet here he was, checking his pocket and discovering his wallet had been removed. Again.

With a hefty sight, he span on his heels and started following the young man who’d bumped into him. At the very least he hadn’t lost his memory for faces, and he waited until it was a little quieter to throw an arm over the teenager’s shoulders.

“Look. I’ve about had it with this town and it’s not your fault that you’re the fourth goddamn person to do this to me, but I’m gonna need my wallet back, kid.” He was losing his patience with the town, he really was. Someone needed to set up a fund for these kids who couldn’t afford anything.

In a bid to get away from the happily reuniting families Killian had took refuge in the closest bar, and the one thankfully not run by that wretched Gothel-Woman. The Captain wanted to get away from the painful reminder that he had no idea where his children were, and drinking would always be the best solution for forgetting. 

It was also highly possible that Hook turned to alcohol too much for his problems with the amount that he drank. Or he had too many problems. But either way, it was a good way of distracting himself. 

And it tasted really good. Rum being his only reminder of being out at sea, until he found his ship and could leave this cursed land. 

“Aye, I’ll ave’ your best bottle.” His one real hand fished into his pocket pulling out the notes, he was glad his cursed persona had saved up for him to spend and waste of alcohol. He wouldn’t be needing them anymore. 

@baelisonfire

Neal was finding he needed to settle down. Finding his former family of sorts here in the form of Harriet and her little sister CJ, not to mention certain other surprises, he knew he had to stay in Storybrooke for at least a while. He needed to make it up to Emma, more than anything else. But that meant finding a job and somewhere to live; he couldn’t just rent at Granny’s for the next few months when there were probably cheaper options.

It was the search for inspiration that led him to the bar he was now trying to clean up. A deal with a dodgy bank clerk (Neal knew the look in his eyes; it seemed Hansel of the gingerbread stories was more devious than he’d been led to believe) and Neal was now the proud owner of Away with the Fairies. Perhaps it was the new arrivals and the trouble they brought with them, or perhaps it was simply relief that things were going back to normal, but the atmosphere was gently buzzing. Pleasant.

At the sound of a voice, Neal turned to greet his new customer and very nearly dropped from shock. The colour must have drained from his face for a moment but it quickly gave way to shock, resentment and a long burning anger.

"Hook.”

He hadn’t forgotten. He’d been sold out, dragged to Neverland and it was largely down to the man on the other side of the bar. But years had also tempered his rage and as much as he wanted it to burn, it was mere smouldering embers. “Best’s probably more than a pirate like you can afford.”

The laugh told her, her con wasn’t believed and in an instant her face twist from sweet and innocent to a wicked grin. Posture changing from apologetic to confident and eyebrows raised and her head tilting to the side. “I didn’t apologise? How utterly wicked o’ me. How ever will I apologise? Oh that’s right.” The Captain gave an amused laugh. “I won’t be apologising landlubber.

“What’s it worth to ye?” She held up the wallet in one hand before moving it behind her back out of reach. Her grin being positively sweet once more. “Possession is in the eye of the beholder - and I love, hold it, ergo it’s mine.”

He seemed familiar in a way she couldn’t place; she’d probably stolen from him in the Enchanted Forest - twenty eight years of faux memories sorta fuzzed out the old ones to a degree. “Am no going to jail. I have it, it belongs to me. Besides I have a first mate and baby sister and a crew to feed before they go hungry.” she wouldn’t eat until they eat.

Landlubber. So he was dealing with a pirate. It wouldn’t have been the first time; he’d certainly spent a good while around that type while he’d been on Hook’s ship, before he got dragged off to Neverland; it was almost refreshing to come across the typically cocky attitude associated with her ilk. He even admired her bravado for a moment - it took a lot to stand up to someone else, especially when he was clearly stronger than her - but he couldn’t let that go. She could make his wallet disappear in an instant and he wanted it back.

“Take the money,” he replied with a shrug. He could cancel the cards, get new ones. The money wouldn’t last her terribly long. “I just want the rest of the contents back.” It was just a few stupid little photos, a few small keepsakes he’d clung to over the years from various parts of his life. Ticket stubs from a movie he and Emma had actually paid to see, like on a real date. A folded up picture that John Darling had drawn for him that he’d managed to cling on to throughout his Neverland nightmare. A bit of the cloak he’d been wearing when he fell through the portal and away from his father, the last item he had left of his old man.

His life in a few fragments.

Neal took the opportunity when he saw it. He reached for the young woman’s arm and pulled it towards him, only hesitating when he noticed the scar on her arm. But there was no way it could be- he’d seen Ettie when she was five. He’d been taken away when she was young and she’d be older, surely-

“Who the hell are you?”

It was a hit and a miss when it came to targets of pick pocketing, some of them wouldn’t notice, others would and some would allow her to run but others wouldn’t react in the most kindly way.

It seemed that CJ had both bad and good luck with this man as he offered her the chance to take the cash and run, her fingers twitched at the offer but it also proved that she had lied to him when he caught her. The blonde was also curious how he knew Harriet by the nickname that only those she trusted could call her.

But then her own name was spoken as he smiled a little and CJ hesitantly took a step back away from him as she watched him with caution.

“Sorry matey, you got the wrong person. First you call me Ettie and now CJ? You sure you’re right in the head?”

He could see the thief’s itchy fingers, the temptation to take her money and go, but he was sort of glad that she was standing her ground. For one thing, it meant he got a longer chance to speak to her, a bonus if she really was who he thought she was. And he was positive about it now - the longer he watched her, took in her features, the more certain he was that this was indeed Harriet’s sister.

The one he hadn’t seen before he left Hook’s ship.

“Well, you look a lot like your sister and she’s told me all about you now.” Not completely the truth. The other girl had mentioned she had a sister and had her name, but he hadn’t had a chance to truly catch up with Harriet just yet. She wasn’t a six year old clamouring for stories with Ael; she was a twenty one-and-twenty-eight-more year old with two siblings and a no-longer-dead boyfriend. “Name’s Baelfire, or Neal in this realm. Spent a lot of time on your dad’s boat. Ettie remembers me but I’m not expecting you to know who I am.”