Calliope should've known that seeking Killian out when he was drinking wouldn't end well. It never did, no matter which realm they were in, or what version of Killian she found. She knew it was a bad idea. But she did it anyway.

This realm, filled with alternate versions of people she'd known once, had given rise to the Killian she had dedicated the most recent years of her life to helping. Calliope had never claimed to fully understand the ways realms came into being or ended, or the way time flowed between them, but as she picked her way around weather-beaten rocks, sounds of crashing waves beyond them, it didn't surprise her that every version of Killian sought refuge by the sea.

The one who had tried to kill her in Neverland had hated straying too far from the ocean. The one she sought now, whose perseverance in the face of adversity over the half-decade they'd been together overpowered her better judgment, had returned to his roots. And those roots were seafoam and salt spray. As she moved through the sea caves hollowed out by centuries of assault from the ocean, Calliope breathed in deeply. As much as Killian loved the ocean, so did she.

Calliope didn't know if she owed that to the tainted memories she still shared from her days on the Jolly Roger, or if her love of the sea reached back further, to the days when she dedicated her life to discovering the grand, the vast, and the epic. She didn't have time to ponder that. She ignored the way her sandals allowed the seawater that broke in through the cracks of the stone to wash over her feet. She ignored it all. She had a bigger purpose here.

It had taken several months to find out where Killian had gone after they'd parted ways. She'd called in several favors from the Merfolk, bidding them bring news of the famed Captain Hook back to her if they ever came across him. One named Adella finally brought her the information she'd needed: tales of a once-feared pirate returned home only to disappear again into obscurity and the sea coves.

As Calliope moved through the red-brown cave walls, the discordant melody of ocean waves breaking on the outer stone drowned out her footsteps. It got louder with each step she took. Rounding a corner, she blinked back in surprise as dying sunlight flooded her face. It took a moment to adjust. But when she did, her heart sank.

A shadow-like silhouette of Killian Jones loomed at the edge of the small outcrop, an islet amidst caverns shaped by crashing waves. He sat with his legs in the water, shirt loose and lacking any of the leather she'd always associated with him since Liam's death. The sunlight that bathed his hideaway in golden hues highlighted the flecks of grey in his disheveled hair, an inch or so longer than she ever remembered him wearing it since she'd met this version. What looked the same as ever, though, was the brown glass flask in his right hand, though it glowed like darkened amber in the setting sun.

Calliope looked right first. A few chests of gold, jewels, and a chalice or two lined the natural wall. The grotto held cases of rum, and wine and every other kind of alcohol Calliope ever remembered either Killian drinking. A single wooden chair, worn from salt spray and the open air, sat in the center upon a woven rug. As she glanced at the rock immediately beside herself, Calliope saw a hammock folded up and out of the way. She hesitated.

Reaching out, Calliope ran her hand over the white cloth. Her heart sank as she recognized the feel of canvas beneath her fingertips. Sailcloth.

As though Killian could feel the intrusion, he turned around towards her. His cheeks were flushed, skin a bit more tan than she remembered it while they'd traveled around the New Enchanted Forest. It reminded her more of the old Killian, the one she'd traveled the ocean with.

"Get out."

The slur of his voice and the quivering of his right hand wrapped tight around the bottle of rum made her hesitate. She watched him there, hand slipping on the wet rock as he set down the alcohol and tried to push himself to his feet. He stumbled. Calliope moved forward.

"Damnit, I said get out!" But when she didn't move, he just looked at her too. He stopped shaking, from anger or from drunkenness she didn't know, and just sighed. His body deflated. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to see how you were," Calliope said.

He wasn't doing well, that much was clear. Killian had spent more than a few of his days wallowing in self pity and deep anger when they'd traveled through the kingdoms looking for a cure to his poisoned heart, but she'd never seen him quite like this. Killian Jones was a survivor. He had a daughter he loved above the entire universe. He had a reason for living.

Pain filled her chest, an ache settling deep where her heart sat, as she realized the broken man in front of her had lost all hope. And unlike the Killian that had tried to run her through with a cutlass in Neverland, this Killian Jones had let go of his vengeance enough that it didn't fuel him. It couldn't sustain him.

For the first time, Calliope wondered if filling him with hate would be preferable to leaving him to join the seashells in their emptiness beside the waves. She wanted to reach out to him. The aching pain turned to rage as she thought of Gothel and the way she'd ruined not only Killian's life, but also Alice's. She'd been trying to track the girl, to find out where she'd gone, but all her trails had gone cold.

The girl had survived the tower's destruction. But beyond that, Calliope knew about as much as the seagull that landed on the rock jutting out of the waves not far beyond them. It scuttled around the top of the stone before settling down peacefully. Calliope looked back at Killian. He may have settled down, but it hadn't been peaceful.

"Come to see how the great Captain Hook fares?" Killian mocked. He swayed as he moved over to her, using his sharpened hook to brush her hair from her shoulder. "How noble, dear Muse."

She shuddered at the cold metal as it brushed her exposed skin near her neck. Calliope didn't tear her gaze from his. The alcohol strained his voice and movements, but his stare felt no less piercing. For the briefest moment, she remembered the glint of the other Killian's hook, waving in the starlight, the night that she'd left him behind to return to Neverland. He had fed his soul with insatiable anger.

This Killian had drowned in grief. The blue of his eyes reminded her as always of the ocean, but as much the forgotten depths as the tossing waves she so adored while sailing. Tears pricked at her eyes as she reached out to him. He was so close. She could smell the ocean on him. But as she reached out to run a hand over his sunburnt face, he flinched back.

Calliope froze. She saw the anger creeping in, the bitterness she remembered seeing whenever she'd return from Alice's tower. He wanted what she could have, the ability to touch his loved one. And as he withdrew, scoffing out a harsh laugh and stumbling towards the ocean again, Calliope realized in that horrible moment that he had managed to do the same to her without the help of deadly poison.

"Bloody hell, Calliope, you think you can help?" he said. His voice rose as he turned back to her, tone sharper and anger increasing even as she stood frozen by the exit of the grotto. "You think that after a half-decade of nothing, you can, I don't bloody know, save me?" He scoffed. Taking a long drink of tum, he paused to let it sink into his body before pointing at her, hand still clutching the bottle. "You wanna help me? Go find my daughter. Cure my heart!"

She had known coming would end poorly. It always did when grief and rum mixed. As he settled back into his spot overlooking the sea, bottle in his right hand and hook resting on his left leg, she didn't respond. She'd known it would end poorly but she'd had to come. She had to see him, one more time. And now that she had, she knew what she had to do.

"I will not stop trying, Killian," she said. "I don't care how much rum you drink, or how much you decide to hate me while you sit here, wallowing in self-hate and bitterness. But I am going to find a way to help you and Alice."

He didn't respond. She could see his jaw clench, the knuckles of his hand turning white as he gripped at his rum bottle. With a sigh, she turned away. She left him to his rum, and to his hovel. She just hoped that he could find enough of a reason to keep living while she figured out how to save his life.

As she backtracked through the caves, Calliope tried to ignore the wet tears on her face. How many tears would she shed for Killian Jones, and now for his daughter? It almost made her laugh. When she reached the outskirts of the sea caves, Calliope allowed herself to stand on the shore. The waves crashed hard against the rocks, spraying her face and hiding the tears.

She wondered what her sisters would think of her. Erato and Melpomene would've told her story with great care. For a moment, she closed her eyes and tried to imagine their songs in the ocean waves.

Calliope didn't know how long she'd stood there, but the sun had set completely by the time she decided to move along. The tossing waves had slowed, calming to a steady but fairly tame lapping against the rocks. She closed her eyes again, holding her palm out. In an instant and puff of golden smoke, a large conch shell materialized. She held it to her mouth, whispering the name of a mermaid she knew had a special interest in humans.

It didn't take long for the red-haired, blue-eyed mermaid to surface. Calliope crouched down on the edge of the rocks. "Hello, Ariel."

"Calliope! What are you doing here?" She swam a few feet from the edge, a small smile on her face.

Calliope let out a small sigh. "I've got a favor to ask."

"Name it!"

It made her smile, knowing that the mermaids even in this realm considered her a friend. She didn't know if Neverland had been duplicated as well, but she'd always been a friend and ally to the merfolk there, and the ones that called this realm home had been nothing but helpful as well.

"A friend of mine is living near here," she started. Calliope paused, wondering how to phrase it. Mermaids and pirates didn't mix. She supposed honesty would work best. "He's a former pirate-"

"Captain Hook?" Ariel's eyebrow shot up in surprise.

She smiled. "That's the one. I've known him for a long time, this one, and the one from my home realm." Calliope felt herself frowning again, and she settled down onto one of the larger boulders. "He's lost so much, everything he loves, Ariel. He's alone, and he won't let me help him, not here."

"Pirates are dangerous."

"I know." Calliope smiled. Killian certainly was. But even Killian couldn't beat a mermaid in the water, no matter how good of a swordsman he was. "But I know you, Ariel. Or I knew you, in the other realm. And I trust you. Would you please watch out for him for me. You know how to contact me. Say my name, and I will come. But please, keep him alive."

Ariel didn't respond right away. She just looked from Calliope to the sea, then back. After a moment she offered a small smile and a nod. "Of course. But if he tries anything, I'll stick him with a trident."

Calliope couldn't help but laugh. "I expect nothing less."

It didn't take long for the mermaid to disappear back into her world beneath the waves. As the wind began to pick up and the moon climbed higher in the sky, Calliope allowed herself a few more moments to rest. She didn't know where to start with Alice. She didn't know what land to search, even what realm. But Calliope knew she would search everywhere from Oz to Wonderland and if she had to, even the old Enchanted Forest to find that girl.

Calliope reached into her pocket. There were six beans left. After that, she knew she'd need to find more. Beans weren't easy to come by. She and her sisters had grown them in Neverland, cultivating them with their magic and the belief that ran through the veins of their island. Calliope's magic had touched every inch of the land and sea in the waters from the wellspring. But here, she wasn't quite sure how easy it would be to replicate that.

With a deep breath, Calliope tossed the bean at the rock wall behind herself. It exploded into golden sparks. Closing her eyes, she decided to start at the beginning. She didn't hesitate before stepping through. As the portal shut behind her, sparking and sputtering away into nothingness, she looked up. As she stood in the shadow of the crumbled tower, Calliope took a deep breath. She would do this, even if she had to do it alone.

Author's Note:

Hey guys! This is a quick note to let you know that I'm planning to continue this fic for July's Camp NaNoWriMo. I need a small break to reset myself for it, so there probably won't be updates for the next month!