A/N: Hola! Lol, welcome to the first story, Calm Before the Storm, of my second Once Upon a Time series The Sorceress's Grimoire :) This is my second attempt at a Once Upon a Time series/OC, I've written one before this that was a Gold/OC story :) I've written some other stories for quite a few other shows and movies for anyone who might be interested ;) This story will follow the episodes more in terms of what's happening in the present, but will also have an Enchanted Forest flashback/backstory chapter afterwards :)

This story should be about 35 chapters long and updated daily. This will also be a Hook/OC story that may also feature some Swanfire for warning ;)

~8~ is a scene break.

Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time...or we'd probably have just one full season of the baddie instead of a split season :)

~8~

The Doctor

The Enchanted Forest used to be a place of light and love and magic, so much magic that it could almost be felt in the air, even by those that were unable to tap into the talent to wield such a craft. That was not the forest that two figures were faced with as they stood on the edge of a small camp, a refugee camp of sorts, staring at nothing but corpses that littered the ground.

It had been a year, one year since the curse that had frozen their land had lifted and nothing was the same. There were only a handful of people still left in the land after the darkest of curses had ravaged and pulled all those that hadn't been protected from their world, trapping them in a strange new world. Everyone knew of the Dark Curse, of the Evil Queen who had been so embittered against her step-daughter, Snow White, that she went to extreme lengths to see the woman suffered. Everyone knew a curse was coming, could remember the dark purple clouds sweeping across the lands and then…

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

It was as though they had merely blinked and the land before them had changed. They were left feeling as though an agonizing time had passed though they knew not how long exactly, not till whispers had started that the Evil Queen was being defeated. There had been hushed words that it would take 28 years for the Queen's curse to fail, for the realm to be restored to its former glory, though it appeared that the Curse had only needed 27 to start breaking apart. Looking at the land now, it was hard to believe it would ever reach that point again. The trees were overgrown, the crops had died and failed, the ogres had returned, and the kings and queens of various kingdoms were gone. There would have been anarchy, had it not been for the refugee camp that had been constructed by Sir Lancelot.

The man had taken control, had organized the camp, had designated what little resources and talent remained towards trying to just survive, to rebuild. It had been a year since then, since they took one breath in one year and released it nearly 3 decades later. They were still struggling, but making do. It was almost as though every inhabitant of the Enchanted Forest that was left had come to settle in the camp, save for a band or two that were nomadic and stayed in the deep forests.

That was all no more though.

Every person in the camp was dead.

"I hate this," one of the figures spoke, a woman, surveying the corpses and the smoking camp with wide blue eyes that were filling with tears at the thought of all the lives that had been lost, "I hate that this is the price to find the other realm," she looked at her companion, "It's just awful," she sniffled, "Couldn't we have found another way there?"

"We've been trying, love," the man beside her spoke, his accent thick, "For a year, we've been trying. This may be the only way to seek those we are after."

"Mother will not be happy with this," the girl muttered, crossing her arms but lifting a hand to her mouth, nibbling at her fingernails.

"Oh I doubt your mum will be pleased," he agreed, reaching out to take her hand from her mouth, pressing a kiss to her knuckles, "But this will get us to her, you'll see her again."

She pursed her lips, "Why did you have to agree to help Cora?" she asked him, "Killian, we could have found another way. We…we could have joined up with the others, the ones from that other realm."

There had been more whispers, that two from the land that the Curse had taken them to had returned. She didn't know which ones though, no one had said anything about it and, by the time she had arrived there…well, there wasn't anyone alive to ask.

The man sighed, moving his other arm to scratch at his chin, revealing his hand to be missing and replaced with a shining metal hook, "I don't think you'd want to, love," he shook his head, "Trust me. Of the two evils, Cora is the lesser."

She frowned at that, "I doubt there is anyone worse than Cora," she shivered just thinking of the heartless woman, literally, the woman had ripped out her heart ages ago if the stories were true. She was a woman, many people would say, was befitting of being the mother of the Evil Queen.

"Rumpelstiltskin," he muttered, an edge to his voice.

The woman gave him a sad look, reaching out her free hand to touch his cheek, a smile ghosting across her face at the feel of the stubble on his chin as she looked into his blue eyes, letting her thumb rub against his cheek, "You will see your Crocodile again," she told him gently, "But…promise me you'll remember that revenge never solves anything."

His jaw clenched at that, she could feel it under her hand, but he turned his head to press a kiss to her palm, "I'll keep it in mind," he could promise that at least, not that he'd listen, not that he wouldn't enact his revenge, but that he would remember her words.

She let out a gentle breath, though he could see disappointment in her gaze as she let it fall away from him and towards the corpses once more, "It's just awful," she repeated, "She didn't need to do this, she didn't have to take their hearts…"

He tugged her closer by the hand he still held, moving his arm around her shoulders as she felt tears coming at the sight. It was…a truly vicious and terrible thing to witness, but he couldn't help but think she had been lucky to not bear witness to Cora actually tearing out the hearts of all the men and women and…children there. He knew she wouldn't be able to bear that. The legends of Cora were…terrifying at best, and he knew that the woman in his arms was a sensitive soul, strong as the finest rum, but sensitive like stomach of a new sailor.

She hated this, she hated violence and fighting and people getting hurt, grew pale and queasy at the sight of blood on others, fretted over him whenever he returned from a tavern with so much as a split lip. She didn't like seeing others hurt or in pain, had told him only that she had witnessed her mother in such a state for nearly her whole life and couldn't do a thing to help her save try to offer comfort when she could. She was always trying to make him smile or laugh, to encourage him to speak of his brother, to remember him fondly. She…cared for him, in a way no one had since his brother…centuries ago.

And he found himself clinging to that.

There had been a choice, a year ago, that she could remain in the refugee camp, or she could stay with him. He'd thought, surely, that she would stay at the camp, with other people, helping them, and he'd been shocked (and, though he'd never admit it, heart warmed) when he returned to his ship to see her sweeping the decks and asking when they'd cast off. According to her, the camp would be filled with people that could help each other, but he had no one to look after him. She'd been at his side ever since. At first it had been obligation. He had promised to care for her, to protect her for a client, and she was returning the favor after the Curse was broken. But…she'd stayed for more than that now. And he was happy she had. She reminded him of the man he'd been before he'd been a pirate, brought back that little bit of chivalry in him piece by piece.

"She went too far," she murmured into his chest, "She always goes too far," she sniffled but pulled back, her eyes straying to the corpses, "Whatever happens, Killian, we can't let her get to the other world. We can't. Who knows what evil she'll spread there. She was left here for a reason."

He nodded, "I'd rather her be trapped in a cage in the lowest levels of hell, as well," he glanced up, seeing a flock of birds fly out of the trees in the distance and sighed, knowing it meant someone was approaching the camp…and there was only one group that would be, "It's time, love."

The girl looked over her shoulder at the camp and swallowed, turning back to him, "Promise you'll be careful?" she asked, "Don't antagonize them with your lewd remarks."

He grinned at that, "I think you mean my charming wit."

She laughed, shaking her head, "Promise me," she reached out and snatched the curve of his hook, "Or I won't let go."

"I wouldn't mind that," he grinned at her.

"Killian," she gave a mock-huff.

He tugged her closer by his hook, touching her cheek, "I promise you, Lyssa," he looked into her light blue eyes, "I'll control my tongue."

Lyssa nodded softly, "I'll be just on the edge of camp," she reminded him, "If you need any help, I'll be nearby. Ok?"

He nodded, leaning in to press a kiss to her lips, his hand curling a strand of her red hair around his finger, letting it slide away before he turned and made his way towards the camp, Lyssa watching a moment longer before moving to the tree line and hiding behind one to wait.

~8~

He held his breath as he heard the women return to the camp, just as Cora had predicted they would. He had been given a brief summary of what had happened, of why they were returning. Apparently the women from the other world were looking for a portal back, in the form of an old wardrobe that had acted as a portal for the first Curse. They had left the camp to get the wardrobe with a warrior, Mulan, and another princess, Aurora, unaware that Cora had taken the guise of Sir Lancelot, had been the man for quite a while, and followed them. A confrontation had happened where Lancelot had been revealed for what he was, Cora in disguise, and the wardrobe had been destroyed. Cora was certain that they would return to the camp, to warn the others not to trust Sir Lancelot, as though Cora were so foolish as to return to the came as Lancelot after that.

That was where he came in, Cora had approached him with a business proposition, to join her cause in exchange for passage to the other world where Rumpelstiltskin had been hidden away. He had…quite a debt to settle with the man and he would see it through if it was the last thing he did. She had known of his past with the Dark One, had come to him for assistance. He was a pirate, deception was in his blood, if there was anyone that could infiltrate the small group of women and either get information out of them or steal what Cora would need once they'd gotten hold of it, it would be him. He just needed a way to gain their trust…which was where this came in.

Cora truly had gone more than a bit extreme, but her anger at losing the wardrobe had been unmatched. She'd stormed through the camp, ripping out hearts left and right, freezing the various people in place so that they couldn't even fight back. It wasn't a fair fight, it wasn't good form at all in his opinion, but he wasn't about to tell the woman and risk her ripping out HIS heart on top of everyone else's. He couldn't risk it, he really couldn't, not when Lyssa was counting on him as well. Too much was resting on this plan working and for it to work he needed to be on Cora's side…unless he thought the women approaching would be a better side to settle on.

If it were just him, he'd have no qualms with allying himself to the Queen of Hearts as Cora was also known, he'd have no qualms doing what she asked and reporting to her. But it wasn't just him, there was Lyssa to consider. It was truly a rock and a hard place she had placed him in. It wasn't safe, for her to be around Cora, but equally he knew that if she knew just who the women were that had come from the other land, she wouldn't want to side with them either. On one side were the 'heroes' and the other the 'villain' and it should have been easy, what with him being who he was, to side with the villain over the hero. But again, there was Lyssa.

Her safety came first and…that might just mean siding with the heroes for this round.

It would depend how the meeting went.

"Oh my God!" he could hear them now, turned his head slightly from where he was lying under a pile of debris and bodies, able to make out a blonde woman in a red leather jacket had spoken, staring around the camp in horror.

"This can't be!" the warrior he recognized as Mulan seemed completely startled and confused, "Our land…we were protected here! We were hidden. How did the ogres find us?"

He felt his hand curl into a fist when he saw none other than Snow White moving over to one of the bodies to examine it. She had changed, her hair was shorter, she was wearing trousers and other odd clothing, but she had a bow and arrow quiver on her back much like the stories said she did when she was a bandit. He could recognize her regardless of her hair, pirates knew what royalty looked like. And even if he'd never seen her before, he would recognize her from other sources.

"Ogres didn't do this," the princess (or was she queen now?) spoke.

"What?"

"Cora did," Snow White stated, straightening, gesturing down to the blood on the chests of the corpses, "Their hearts…they were ripped out. This is her magic, twisted and evil. We have to stop her."

In that one brief statement he could agree with the woman alone. Cora, for all her usefulness, was dangerous.

"Too late," Mulan frowned, "She killed them. She killed them all!"

"Well, we have to stop her before she hurts anyone else!"

He took a breath, knowing that this would be the opportune moment and managed to stick his hand through a small opening in the debris and wave it, making sure to do so weakly but with enough movement to be seen.

"Hey!" the blonde woman cried, spotting him, "Hey! Look!" she hurried over and he closed his eyes, making it seem like he'd just gained consciousness at the sound of their voices.

"There's someone under there!" the princess Aurora spoke and he could feel the debris being cleared off his back, the bodies that half fallen on him being shoved aside, allowing him to roll down onto his back with a gasp, "He's alive."

"Please…" he wheezed, "Please…"

"It's ok," Snow White hurried over to help.

"Please, help me."

"It's ok. You're safe now. We won't hurt you."

"Thank you," he forced his eyes open to look at them, keeping them half drooped, "Thank you…"

Perfect.

~8~

Lyssa held her breath as she stood near a tree, pressed just against the other side of it, but able to hear the blonde woman and Mulan speaking as they were across the camp, near the tree line, discussing the mysterious man they'd found

"Have you seen him before?" the blonde woman asked the warrior.

"Yes, I've seen him around," Mulan nodded, "He's a blacksmith. Came to our camp a couple months ago with his wife, a red haired woman. Said he lost his hand in an ogre attack. They stopped in every so often, but never stayed too long, mostly came to trade for resources."

"Trade what?"

"Fish mostly," Mulan shrugged, "Her father was a fisherman, apparently. Is that important?"

"No," the blonde shook her head, "It's just…people that don't stay in one place usually don't because they don't want people to know them or they don't want people to know they're there."

Mulan nodded, considering that, "Why would Cora leave a survivor?"

"It's messy. Doesn't make sense."

Lyssa frowned at that, curling her hand into a fist as it rested against the tree, straining to listen as they grew quieter.

"You think he's lying?" Mulan realized.

"I think," she glanced at the camp, "If he's the only survivor he'd be more broken up over his wife being somewhere around here and he's not."

Lyssa winced at that, she hadn't considered that Mulan would recognize him. They were there so briefly she hadn't thought they'd been noticed that much.

"Cora's tricked us before," the woman continued, "I don't want that to happen again."

Lyssa leaned around the tree to watch them walking back towards the camp and carefully began to make her way around the trees, trying to get a better view of them and hoping that he'd be able to handle the suspicions of the woman.

Snow White looked up at the blonde as she approached the table where she and Aurora were sitting with their mystery man, handing the man a small goblet of water, "Here you go."

"I can't thank you enough for your kindness," he smiled up at them, "Fortune, it seems, has seen fit to show me favor."

"An island full of corpses," the blonde began, unable to keep the questioning out of her voice, "You're the only one to escape. How exactly did that happen?"

"She attacked at night," he sighed, "Slaughtered everyone in one fell swoop. When she started ripping out people's hearts, I hid under the bodies of those who had already been killed. Pretended to be dead myself. Mercifully, the ruse worked."

The blonde was silent, looking at him intently, as though waiting for some other sort of emotion to leak through, but he was silent, sipping his water. She glanced at Mulan who nodded, understanding what had been said before, the man should either be devastated that his wife was dead or be frantic to return to her after the event he'd suffered, but he was calm, too calm, "So much for fortune favoring the brave."

"It was all I could do to survive!" he defended.

She scoffed, "I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I'm pretty good at knowing when someone is lying to me."

"I'm telling you the truth!"

And it was, in a way. Cora HAD attacked at night. She had slaughtered all of them in one move. And he DID dive under the bodies and he pretended to be dead for the sake of gathering their attention when he woke. It just hadn't happened when she'd actually been ripping out the hearts but afterwards. All the rest of it was true though so he didn't know what this woman was speaking of that he was lying.

He may be a pirate, but he had some honor left.

"We should leave here in case Cora decides to come back," Mulan stated.

But Snow White shook her head, "We should start searching for a new portal back to Storybrooke. I only got about five minutes with my husband, not to mention my grandson."

He frowned and looked up at her for that, "You have a grandson?" he eyed her, wondering if the curse had frozen them as well as it had in the Forest.

"Long story," Snow White waved it off.

"Well, I know this land well," he offered, "I can guide you!"

He would later admit that he was, in fact, mildly surprised when the blond moved behind him and held a dagger to his throat, "You're not going to guide us anywhere, until you tell us who you really are."

His eyes flickered to the tree, able to see a flash of orange-red just at the side of a tree trunk, before subtly shaking his head in sign not to do anything. He could handle this, he would NOT allow Lyssa to be caught in the middle of this, especially not considering who made up his present company.

~8~

He glared fiercely as he was tied to a tree by a rope around his chest and legs, his arms freer than the rest of him, thankfully with his mouth free of a gag as well, allowing him to speak to the four women as they watched Mulan finish tying him up, "I already told you. I'm just a blacksmith!"

"Sure you are," the blonde scoffed, before putting her fingers in her mouth and letting out a shrill whistle, "You don't want to talk to us? Maybe, you'll talk to the ogres while they rip you limb from limb."

He stiffened at that, not so much for the sound of the ogres he could hear stomping in the distance at the sound of the whistle echoing through the air, but a fifth women that he spotted over their shoulders.

"Lyssa don't!" he shouted.

But it was too late, Lyssa had already moved past them, running to the tree and using his own sword he'd given her to hold onto to swing at the ropes, freeing him. He only barely managed to reach out and grab her free arm as she rounded on the startled women who hadn't heard her approach.

"How dare you!?" Lyssa frowned at them, "I don't believe you! You were going to leave him to the ogres? You are supposed to be the heroes aren't you? And you were just going to let him be torn apart?! That's…that's…that's just…mean!"

The blonde blinked at that, as though questioning if that was the best word the woman could come up with.

"And…and evil," Lyssa added, a faint flush to her cheeks, she really should have picked a better word, "What is the matter with you?"

"With us?" the blonde scoffed, "HE was the one found in the middle of a pile of bodies and then tried to LIE to us."

"Fine, fine," he rolled his eyes, "Good for you," he huffed, tugging Lyssa back more and reaching out for the sword in her hand. It wasn't that he didn't trust her with it, he knew she was skilled with a blade, it was just…it made him feel better, that he had something to defend her with against these women, to have the sword in HIS hand. Even without the blade he knew that she wasn't exactly helpless, but it made him feel better, "You bested me. I can count the amount of people who've done that on one hand."

"That supposed to be funny?" the blonde gestured at his stump of a hand that was looped through Lyssa's arm, "Who are you two?"

"Lyssa," Lyssa stated, "As you already heard him call me," she gave a small mock-curtsy to them.

"Killian Jones," he added, "But most people have taken to call me by my more colorful moniker, Hook."

"Hook?" the blonde repeated.

"Check my satchel," he nodded at the bag that the blonde had taken from him, watching as she opened it and pulled out a metal hook from it.

"As in, Captain Hook?" she gave him an odd look for that, observing him.

She supposed, at the moment, he didn't look much like a pirate as he was wearing a peasant's garb to blend in, but she could see it now, the dark hair, the ear piercings, he DID give off a pirate feel.

"And who are you supposed to be?" the woman looked at Lyssa, "Rose Red?" she glanced at Lyssa's red hair.

She was a thin woman, just a few inches shorter than Hook appeared to be, her hair was held back by a small clip, half up, the rest of it hanging in waves down her back. She appeared to have a long sleeved white shirt on that was cut at the shoulder to reveal just a hint of skin. There was what looked like an apron of sorts over it, light blue in color, more like a sleeveless dress with a boxed neckline that flowed to the ground and tied behind her, though there was a slit down the middle of the skirt that revealed the white dress underneath it. It was a simple dress but she could see hints that told it was well made and that the materials were, perhaps, slightly better fabric than a peasant would be used to.

"I'm just…Lyssa?" the girl frowned, giving Hook a confused look, not sure what she meant, she had already introduced herself as Lyssa, so she didn't know why the blonde would think she was someone other than that, "Analyssa."

"And what the hell was that back there?" the blonde gestured at the camp, fixing Hook with a hard look.

Hook rolled his eyes, "Cora wanted me to gain your trust, so I could learn everything there is to know about your Storybrooke. She didn't want any surprises when she finally got over there."

"She can't get there. We destroyed the wardrobe."

"We heard," Lyssa murmured, "Thank you for that. We don't want her there either."

"You don't?" Aurora frowned.

"My…my mother is there, I think," Lyssa offered, "I've searched for her but she isn't in the Forest any longer and…I just want to find her again. But not if it means Cora will have a way to that realm."

"She's trapped here for now," the blonde nodded, "The wardrobe's ash."

"Did you take the ash?" Lyssa asked.

"No. Why would we?"

"All magical artifacts possess an enchantment on them, the magic that makes them…well, magical," she began, sounding almost like she was reciting an old lesson, "It doesn't go away. If you burned the wardrobe, then the ashes would still contain the enchantment."

"Cora gathered the ashes," Hook informed them, "She's going to use them to open up a portal."

"And how's she going to do that?" the blonde narrowed her eyes.

"No," Hook shook his head, "You want my help, you help us in return."

"Help how?"

"The same deal. Lyssa and I shall help you, if you promise to take us along back to your world."

"And how are you going to help us get home?"

"The ashes can be used to open a portal," Lyssa explained, shaking her head as though she didn't understand why these people didn't know how magic worked, "But a sort of guide would be needed to make sure that you go to the right realm."

"There's an enchanted compass," Hook offered, "Cora seeks it. We'll help you obtain it before she does."

"So, Cora won't make it to Storybrooke, and we'll be one step closer to getting home," the blonde nodded, glancing at a dark haired woman beside her.

"Sounds too good to be true," the woman murmured.

"There's only one way to find out," Hook shrugged, moving to put his sword in his belt, tugging Lyssa to his other side to hold her more securely against him, he could see her staring at the dark-haired woman, a frown of concentration appearing on her face as though she were on the cusp of recognition and he knew, once she realized just which royal stood before her it would not be good.

"You tell me one thing, and whatever you say, I better believe it," the blonde eyed him, "I get why the girl wants to go. Her family's there. But what about you? Why does Captain Hook want to go to Storybrooke?"

"To exact revenge on the man who took my hand," he said simply, "Rumpelstiltskin."

The dark-haired woman frowned at that but looked at the blonde, "It's as good a reason for someone like him."

"Fine," the blonde muttered, "You two are with us, but we're watching you."

"If we're to be traveling together," Lyssa began hesitant, almost sounding like she didn't want to know, "shouldn't we know WHO you are? I know of Mulan and Aurora…"

The blonde blinked, as though just realizing she hadn't said her own name, "Emma," she shrugged, "I'm Emma. Emma Swan. And this is…" she gestured at the dark haired woman, not quite sure how to phrase or introduce her.

"And I'm Snow White," the woman smiled.

Lyssa's expression completely dropped, surprising the four women when she stepped closer to Hook at that revelation, a small frown coming to her face with something akin to fear and an enormous amount of dislike flickering across her eyes. She let out a breath at that, shaking her head as she stared at Snow White, the woman looking more and more confused as the silence rang out. Clearly this was NOT the reaction any of the women were expecting, but Hook had, gently turning her to move closer to his side his hand sliding up and down her arm to comfort her, knowing what she had to be feeling to see that particular woman before her.

Lyssa just swallowed hard, closing her eyes tightly as though she could will the women away with just wishing it to be so, her heart racing and a dark emotion settling over her heart.

Snow White.

The woman before her WAS Snow White, just as she feared.

Hook had been right, of the two evils, Cora was certainly the lesser of the two.

A/N: Ooh...seems like Lyssa doesn't like Snow }:) I wonder why...hmm...we'll have to wait and see :) I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! :)

For a reference, to help picture Lyssa, an actress that I see as being close to how I picture her in my head is Amy Adams ;)