I awoke to the minty smell of sage burning.

I groaned and opened my eyes slightly.

I was lying on the wooden counter of a hectically cluttered kitchen. A copper kettle whistled cheerfully on the stove and herbs hung from rods suspended from the ceiling. I turned my head to my right and blinked at a shelf full of bottles, odds and ends, and a human skull?! I snapped my gaze back to the ceiling.

I heard some humming and felt somebody's presence as they walked into the room. I closed my eyes.

"I know you're awake silly!" Chirped a feminine voice.

I opened my eyes to look at the slip of a girl.

Her hair was wound in tight silvery blonde curls, and she was ethereally beautiful.

"My name is Merryweather, how is your head dear?" She blinked at me and I noticed her eyes were each a different color. One golden brown and the other a cool blue.

"It -It's alright, where am I?" I asked uncertainly.

"You are in my home in the Neverland forest. The good Captain brought you here after you were attacked. Do you remember much?" She asks tending to something boiling on the stove.

"About what?" I frowned. 

She huffed and whiped her hands on her white apron. "About the changing. You can imagine my surprise when The Captain lugged a wolf-woman into my cottage."

"A- a Wolf woman?" I looked over at the ring on my left hand suspiciously.

"You only came back to us once I started burning the wolfs bane... I don't know if it'll come back if you leave here..." She continued, chewing on her full lips.

"I-I don't think I will..."

"Why's that dear?"

"I believe it's the ring that made me like that." I reply warily. 

"May I?" She asks gesturing to my hand. 

"Sure, if you must." I reply uneasily.

I was beginning to wonder where Hook was, when he suddenly strode into the kitchen.

"Belle! You're awake!" He pulls me into a hug.

I awkwardly pat his arm. 

I catch the stink eye Merryweather gives me but she doesn't notice.

"Thanks to Merryweather's handiwork." I reply smiling.

"Well perhaps we should speak about what we came here for?" Hook reminds me of our business here. 

I nod, "Good Idea." 

"And what did you come here for dears?" She smiles, sitting down and turning her attention to us. 

"We need your help to break a curse." I reply.

"Two actually." Hook corrects. 

"Oh? Well tell me more, spare no detail."

"Well... both of the curses are from the same sorcerer."

"Who?" She asks batting her eyelashes at Hook.

"Pan." He growls. 

She stood her chair screeching against the floor.

"He's the strongest sorcerer in the land! You may as well give up now." She huffs. 

"Surely there must be something, anything we could try!" I exclaim.

"The only thing powerful enough to dispel magic that dark is a powerful light..." she murmurs to herself.

"How powerful are we talking here?" Hook asks warily.

"The rarest magic of them all... True love." She frowns. 

Hook smashes his glass down on the ground. I jump as it shatters. "What?!"

"Do you know how hard it is to find true love?! The odds against us are staggering!"

"It's a lost cause." Merryweather comments.

"No... no it isn't. If there's a chance that we can save Everard and Rose, then why the hell don't we try?" I exclaim. 

"Rose? And how do you figure you'll even get to her?" Merryweather asks sarcastically.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

She tosses a piece of hair over her shoulder, "Pan has just brought her to his castle..."

Hook blanched.

"Hook..." I say softly. 

"No... NO!!!" He screams. 

"Allow me..." Merryweather sighs, "Hook darling sit down I'll get you something to drink." She gently pushed him down into the chair.

"Hook look at me." I demand. 

His eyes were despondent. 

"We'll fix this! We can do this..." I encourage, "Surely you were Roses true love! I know she loved you."

"How?" He asks brokenly.

I hesitate for a moment, "...Violet told me..."

He brightens marginally.

"All we'd need is a plan to get inside, undetected by a squadron of fairies." I shrug.

"And I can help with that." Merryweather replies.