Pan looked at him before he smiled. "If you can defeat Cora without losing any of your company, I'll let you leave." Because while it would leave him without any extra people to play with, watching them all fumble around the island and fight would be entertainment enough.

"Oh?" Gold replied. "And how would you define 'defeat'?" Because specifics were key, and he didn't want to leave Pan any wiggle room.

"When someone is dead I consider them defeated," Pan said. Because unless they were dead they could always pose a problem again. "If you still want to go down that road, Rumple."

Gold raised an eyebrow.

"She is a threat, and she is no longer useful to have around," he said. "Perhaps you underestimate the number of people I've killed for less."

"Perhaps. Or perhaps I overestimate how much their opinion matters to you." Pan paused and smiled. "But I think not, not with that pretty little thing you've been keeping close."

"Leave her out of this," Gold growled. But he couldn't deny that Pan was right; Tina would definitely not approve of what he was planning, and there was a significant chance she wouldn't forgive him for it, even if it got them back home.

Pan smiled slowly at that. "So you do care for her," he said quietly. "How interesting." He watched Gold for several moments, debating what to do with this new information. He could always make the game more fun, after all.

"She is not your concern," Gold replied firmly. "Your word, if you please, that if Cora is taken care of, we are free to go."

"Very well," Pan agreed. "If you can defeat Cora and not lose any of your group, you will be free to go. You have my word."

Gold studied him for a moment, and then nodded.

"Then I will take my leave," he said. With that, he disappeared. Time to go back to the others and see about discussing a plan.

Tina was waiting for him, her arms crossed, though she didn't say anything. Instead she looked at him for a few moments before looking at the others. She had an idea what he'd been doing.

"I have a plan," Gold said, though he was watching Tina. Lowering his voice, he added, "You're not going to like it, and there is nothing I can do about that. But it will get us off of this island."

"Alright," Hook said, looking at him. "Let's hear your plan, then."

Tina frowned at him but didn't actually protest. Yet.

"We will be allowed to escape the island," Gold said, "on the condition that Cora is defeated without any sort of considerable harm to our little group."

"Defeated?" Rachel echoed. She had a sinking suspicion she knew what that word really meant.

Hook nodded after a moment. "Not a bad thing," he agreed. He was more practical that way. "For Pan, that's relatively easy."

"It is indeed," Gold replied. "And as much as I hate him, I do know that he tends to keep his word. We will be allowed to leave once Cora is dealt with."

Hook nodded. "So how do we defeat Cora? She's not exactly going to sit around and wait for us, and she has some advantage on this island."

"I will deal with Cora," Gold said. "It's past time that I remove the threat she insists on posing."

"And you can handle her on your own?" Hook said, raising an eyebrow. He knew he wasn't a match for Cora, but sometimes Gold's arrogance still threw him.

Gold just gave him a bit of a flat look.

"I would rather nobody got caught in he crossfire," he replied.

Hook nodded after a moment. "So you need to find her, and we need to stay out of the way," he summarized.

"Ideally," Gold said. "Back to the ship, if you can." He glanced at the girls and then back to Hook, hoping the pirate got the message: keep the girls safe and out of trouble until Cora was dead.

Hook nodded a bit. He'd keep Rachel safe anyway, but he'd take Tina too for now.

Good nodded in return. For the moment, he would trust the pirate.

"I will go with you as far as the ship," he said. "Then I'll go after Cora."

"Agreed." Hook looked at Rachel and took her hand, starting to walk back towards the dinghy so he could row them back to the ship.