Dark Hearts | Once Upon A Time

XXVi. The Many Adventures on the Beanstalk

Enchanted Forest. Present day.

"UP AHEAD" KILIAN Jones yelled turning to the group that had fallen behind the group consisted of Erica and her sister and their mother and Keira, Mulan and Aurora were all upahead Mulan leading the pack and guarding Aurora while Keira hung around the two pirates who she seemed to know though nobody knows exactly why yet "The compass is just beyond that ridge"

Emma rolls her eyes and Erica slaps Emma lightly on the. arm which leads her to getting a 'what the hell was that for look' leaving Erica to smirk as she narrows her eyes in the direction of her sister as Mary Margret leans in and whispers to her daughters "You do realise that they could just be leading us where Cora wants us and this whole thing could be a trick?"

"It's definitely a trap" Emma assures her mother as they step over a log

"Or they could just genuinely want safe passage to Storybrooke? They seemed to hold no alliance to Cora, they just want to go with whoever can get them there" Erica interjected only to be given a sharp look by her sister

"As long as we know their playing us. We can --"

"Stay one step ahead of them" Mary Margret states realising what her youngest daughter was saying which made Erica roll her eyes before she stepped over another log and walked faster in order to catch up with the others, only to stop short when she sees the giant green beanstalk reaching up to the clouds in the sky

"Whoa" Erica mouthed as her sister came to stand next to her

"Let me guess" She stated raising an eyebrow as she cast a glance at the two pirates "The compass is at the top of that thing, but. then how do we get to it?"

"It's not the climb you need to worry about," Jaclyn stated "it's the giant at the top"

Emma didn't stop to think twice about stepping over the bushes and going closer to the beanstalk and that scared Erica as she followed after her sister scared that she was going to do something stupid

"It's a little freakier than I remember from the story" Emma comments to her sister as she glances up at the beanstalk. Erica just nods and hums agreeing with her, the tale they had heard as kids that didn't paint the beanstalk to be terrifying but then everything else they heard as kids was either wrong or just versions of the truth painted to be more like a fairytale and with the happily ever afters

"It reminds me of death" Mulan states

"Encouraging" Mary Margret and Keira mumbled

"Well your compass awaits" Killian gestures to the beanstalk and looks at everyone "Shall we?"

Emma turned to the pirate, her face scrunched up in confusion as she asked a question "If the beans creates a portal then why don't we just pick one and go home? Why do we need the compass at all?"

"Because there aren't any left" Jaclyn stated, not bothering to turn around as she continued to make her way towards the beanstalk "Whatever tale you two know is most certainly wrong"

Erica nodded "I figured as much so what's actually true of the fairytale that we know, there was a guy named Jack who sold a cow for magic beans and that grew a beanstalk and there was a golden goose or sometimes harp that Jack used on the giant which made him and his family, rich beyond belief"

Killian smirked "Sounds like a lovely tale, but the truth's a little bit more gruesome. The giants grew the beans but instead of using them for good, they used them to plunder all the lands. Jack was a man that fought a terrible war, defeating all but one of the giants. The beans were destroyed as the giants died if they couldn't have the magic then nobody could"