Part One
A/N: Hi there!
Just a little something I had floating around in my head, sorry if it's a bit rushed, I wanted to put it up before the next episode completely derails my thought process. I'm being a liberal with how well it sticks to canon but it is set before Dark Hollow. Basically, they've freed Neal, but Regina is still with them (mostly because I needed a seventh member to the group, for obvious reasons) Pan hasn't taken Henry to Wendy yet though I'm implying that it's happening at this time.
It will probably be two or three chapters, not too sure how I'm going to finish it.
Mostly I wanted a little bit of fluff and smut and harmless Nevengers fun before we get to the seriousness of saving Henry. Definitely CaptainSwan, with a taste of SwanQueen because it's my guilty pleasure.
Rated M for the next chapter so this one is a T for language.
The title is from the song Moonchild By Iron Maiden
Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it isn't mine.
Peter Pan needed more time, the irony of which was not wasted on him. The famed legend, a boy who would never grow old, who had essentially all the time in the world, needed more of it. If only they knew the truth. Time was an illusion that was quickly running out
Henry was proving to be more difficult than he had first envisioned. The boy was undeniably stubborn, and it was taking him longer to put his plan into action. What precious time he had left was being cut shorter by the approaching rescue party. The Swan girl and her companions were drawing dangerously close, and he had been disappointed with how quickly they had found Baelfire. That particular distraction was supposed to have taken much longer.
But he had seriously miscalculated Hook. Pan had thought that the pirate would have kept the information to himself, at least for longer than he did. He had expected him to toss and turn, worry whether he should share what he knew. Mostly he had hoped that Hook would be selfish for a spell, at least until this new honest streak that was becoming more prominent won out and he finally spoke up. But that should have been a while from now, diverting them from their current rescue mission with the distraction of another at the last minute. Allowing him the extra time he needed to convince the boy.
What he had not expected was for Hook to walk straight back to their little camp, minutes after learning of Baelfire's survival and telling them what he knew. His one-handed pirate with a drinking problem was becoming increasingly, and worryingly, noble. They had found and freed the Dark One's son mere hours after Pan had visited Hook.
Luckily for him, his new distraction was going to be much more effective.
Pan circled their little camp, sticking to the shadows at the edge of the small clearing. They were all sleeping, spread out around the dying embers of the campfire. Snow and Charming were curled up together, the pair of them the closest to the waning warmth. Regina was directly across from them, further from the fire under a small lean-to. Hook, Tinkerbelle and Baelfire were also sleeping soundly evenly spaced in an arc between them.
The pirate, the pixie and the thief. They all had betrayed him, and they all would pay in time. But right now he had to focus; once he had the heart of the truest believer there would be nothing in any realm that could stop him.
He stopped walking, hidden in the shadow of a large tree.
She was separate from the group, furthest from the fire. Pan paused staring down at her sleeping form. She was lying on her side, one arm draped across her stomach, the other hand clenched in a fist near her face. Her hair was splayed out in a fan around her, glowing silvery white in the moon. Her face was screwed up in a scowl, occasionally her head would jerk to the side and her frown deepened as if she were hearing something in the distance. Bad dreams for the Swan girl.
Circling her slowly he wondered for what felt like the thousandth time what was so intriguing about her. He had been alive for hundreds of years and never had someone captured his interest so dangerously. She bore the unmistakeable signs of abandonment, he knew the second he laid eyes on her that she was lost. And the lost belonged to him, were ruled by him. Yet she had the hard built walls of a survivor, a strength that challenged him. She was resilient, and breaking her would take time, which he had already established he was in short supply of.
For now he needed her distracted, all of them.
Stepping back from their camp into the trees he began climbing until we was well above them. He pulled the pouch from inside of his tunic, carefully opening the flap. It was ancient, much older than him and made from a leather that was once dark but had long since faded. An intricate design was tooled around the edges, words inscribed in Latin surrounded by symbols and shapes he had lost interest in deciphering decades ago.
A dark glittering powder fell from the pouch as he turned it over, hanging in the air like thick smoke, spreading out over the tiny clearing. It swirled and spun, as if directed by a breeze, until it hovered above each of their sleeping forms. After a moment's pause the powder fell, sinking into their bodies causing them to glow for a moment before extinguishing suddenly.
Smiling to himself he climbed down from his perch, turning back in the direction he came.
The particular curse he had unleashed was powerful acting fast before settling in for a slow burn. He did not want her dead, though to be honest the rest of them he could care less. Though he had no control over the effects, if he could have chosen, he knew which symptoms he would inflict upon each of them. However all he could do now was allow the curse to run its course. He was confident that they would find his favourite imp and he would fix it, but it would take time.
Time he now had to spare.
Emma woke with a start, sitting bolt upright and breathing heavily. Her eyes darted around the clearing as if trying to find what had disturbed her. Seeing and hearing nothing she let out a small breath, trying to regulate her heartbeat as she frowned.
She was used to being woken suddenly, years in the system and on the streets had instilled a heavy survival instinct in her where even the smallest disturbance could wake her from a deep sleep. Living with Mary Margaret,
Snow White… her mother… whatever, had been difficult at first. The petite schoolteacher/warrior princess talked in her sleep and Emma had spent half of her nights jerking back into consciousness at every nonsensical outcry.
After a while she had learned to tune it out. But now, thanks to the stint in the Enchanted Forest and their extended stay in Neverland (home of sociopathic adolescents, plants that tried to eat you, and disembodied cries of lost children) she was on red alert, barely getting an hour of uninterrupted sleep at a time.
What she was not used to was being woken for no apparent reason. She glanced around their campsite, far enough away from the others that she could easily keep them all in her line of sight. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the clearing. The sun was starting to rise, allowing enough light to search for shapes that didn't belong amongst the shadows of the trees. Seeing nothing she let out a sigh, leaning back and resting on her hands, allowing her head to flop backwards.
Everyone else was still asleep; though not for long if the sun was almost up. Hook was usually the first to rise, years at sea training his body to wake just before the sun cleared the horizon. At the thought of him an image flashed through her mind, vivid and loud and holy shit.
She glanced in his direction, heat rushing to her face as she thanked whatever deity was in vogue this week that he was still sound asleep and could not see her blush. If he saw her blush he would want to know why, and his ego did not need to know that she had been dreaming about him.
Her eyes darted back over to his sleeping form only to find that he was beginning to stir. Like goddamn clockwork.
Jumping to her feet she quickly looked around for something to do so that he did not catch her staring at him. Noting that no one else was waking she cursed under her breath realising that she had nothing. Out of the corner of her eye she could see he was sitting up and rubbing sleep from his eyes with his good hand. She bent to grab her boots, pulling them on slowly like she had not noticed him.
"You're up awfully early this morning love," he spoke quietly.
She straightened to face him, starting when she realised how close he'd managed to get while she was pretending he wasn't there. He was inches from her, all stubble and smirks and those impossibly blue eyes boring into her like they could see right through. Not that it was unusual, he was never one for respecting people's personal space, but she was startled none the less. Even more so when a flash of heat shot through her, pooling low in her gut.
Emma staggered backwards a step, shocked and a little horrified at the sudden surge of desire. What the hell was going on with her?
"Lots to do," she spoke shortly, shaking her head. "We should wake the others."
She turned away from him, running a hand through her hair. It was just an aftermath of the dream, she reasoned. Nothing more. And it most definitely had nothing to do with the fact that she had kissed him the other night. Nothing whatsoever. At all. Nope.
Hormones and denial, what a way to start the day.
Shaking her head Emma crouched down and gently shook David's shoulder. He blinked slowly up at her, his arm reflexively tightening around Mary Margaret's waist.
"Time to get up," she said shortly, not wanting to hover.
Things were awkward between her and her parents at the moment. After her "lost girl" revelation to get the map to work Snow had been trying to act like her mother. Emma hadn't been ready for making the jump from solitary bail-bonds-person to saviour princess surrounded by family in one step. She needed baby steps.
In Storybrooke at least there had been things going on to distract them, so that she could work out this confusing progression of family in her own way. Of course in Neverland it was the sole focus of their trip apparently. Never mind that they were here for Henry. It seemed that at every turn somebody had something to say on the subject, and she blamed Pan for that. He had started the trouble with the stupid map and made it worse with the Echo cave fiasco.
Snow had been so preoccupied with trying to be her mother, on focusing on what they had missed out on, that she forgot that she was already her friend. Emma had admitted as much to her before the curse had broken. She was the first real friend she had ever had, and she would rather start with that relationship and work from there.
Hook had managed to rouse Tinkerbelle and was currently trying to wake Regina who appeared was being stubborn. Emma sighed and walked over to Neal, hesitating a moment before she shook him awake. He sat up suddenly, grabbing her wrist and jerking her forward until they were a few inches apart. She let out a small breath, only just managing to stay upright, crouching down as she was.
There was a tense moment where she was caught in his gaze, his eyes blazing. He blinked several times seeming to recognise her before letting her go. He'd been like this since they had freed him from the cave, jumpy and a little more hostile. He'd stare at whoever was speaking, as if taking a moment to realise that yes, they were actually there and not just some figment of his imagination he should be trying to ignore.
She could only imagine what it would have been like, not only being trapped in there alone, but on this island, with no way out, without hope. Again. But she also tried not to, she was not ready to talk to Neal about much of anything save for Henry. Now was not the place to get into their complicated histories, she was not ready to open that can of worms. Her body, it seemed, had other ideas.
Her skin burned where he had been touching her and she was practically thrumming with energy. What the actual fuck? First Hook and now Neal.
Shaking her head slightly she waved off his apology and went to join the others for their usual breakfast of unnamed fruits (Hook's made-up ones did not count). She was no longer very hungry, rolling the large orange fruit between her hands and trying not to look at anyone. There was a strange tingling working its way through her body, not unlike pins and needles, causing her skin to itch. It had begun when Neal touched her and was slowly growing stronger.
"Are you going to eat that?" David's voice startled her, she hadn't heard him approach.
She silently handed it over to him frowning as he snatched it from her hands and bit into it like he hadn't eaten in days.
"Hungry?" her eyebrows quirked up.
"Not really,' he shrugged, finishing the last of it and tossing the pip into the fire pit.
His eyes darted around the others, watching them eat. Shaking her head she climbed to her feet.
They usually packed up the camp fairly quickly, they didn't have much with them and they had been doing it for long enough. Every day had become almost depressingly routine. Get up, eat, clear the camp, walk for endless hours looking for any sign of Henry (usually trying not to be killed by any number of the dangers Neverland had to offer, see: sociopathic teenagers, carnivorous plants), set up camp, sleep, rinse, and repeat.
They had been doing enough of this that they didn't need to talk. But then again just because they didn't need to didn't mean that they didn't. First it had been Regina, complaining that she tired and needed to sleep for longer, then David wanted even more to eat, then Tinkerbelle complained that if David got more she should have more and Neal joined in on a similar vein. Hook stood on the edge of the clearing, slightly away from the group and idly filing his namesake with a bored expression, occasionally rolling his eyes as if he were above such trivialities. Mary Margaret was close to yelling, her face slowly reddening. Emma was trying to calm the situation down, though telling everyone they were being idiotic didn't seem to be working.
Honestly she was too busy trying not to look at Hook to be putting a lot of effort in.
"This is ridiculous!" yelled Regina, throwing her hands up in the air. "I'm going to take a nap until you sort out who deserves the most to eat."
And with that she stormed off, unrolling her mat with a flourish and collapsing onto it, letting out an almost obscene groan of contentment.
Emma felt the now alarmingly familiar flash of heat shoot through her at the sound and actually caught herself moving towards Regina. What the actual fuck? Something was going on, something was definitely going on because Hook she could understand, even Neal if she was being perfectly honest, but Regina? She was having a breakdown. Something along the lines of a psychotic snap after all of the hell she had been through in the last few weeks (Jesus, had it only been a few weeks since she'd fallen through Jefferson's hat?) and it was manifesting as some bizarre attraction to everyone in sight. Hook, Neal, Regina, had Tinkerbelle's hair always looked that soft? There was no other explanation.
She turned to face the others. Mary Margaret who usually spouted the benefits of cooperation and reasoning was shouting and raging; David fighting with Tinkerbelle over the last of the breakfast fruits and Neal glaring at them.
The group fought frequently that was for sure, but usually over important things: their plans for the day, how they were best going to try to find Henry. But this was different, this was petty and stupid and so unlike any of them. It was similar to when they had first arrived in Neverland, when the mermaid had cursed them.
"Emma what are you doing?"
The sound of Neal's voice snapped her out of her musings. She was standing in front of Tinkerbelle, closer than she usually stood, barely a few inches between them as the blonde pixie stared at her, with no memory of moving. She'd been distracted by her thoughts, not that they seemed very important anymore, what had she even been thinking about?
"What?" she asked, not understanding the question.
Her hand moved, reaching out and tucking a curl of hair behind her ear before cupping the side of Tink's face. The second her hand made contact with skin the tingling stopped and she let out an audible sigh as relief washed over her. It was like being slowly submerged in warm water, soothing the itching, burning sensation on her skin and heating her pleasantly from the inside. She found herself staring at the startled looking pixie her eyes darting to her lips.
"What are you doing?" growled Neal again, grabbing the back of her shirt and pulling her forcibly away from Tinkerbelle.
The second her skin broke contact a hollow ache started in her chest and the tingling returned tenfold. She was breathing a little heavily and all eyes were on her. She turned to look at Neal, who was staring at her incredulously, but there was an undercurrent of anger boiling beneath the surface, his hand moving from her shirt to her shoulder, filling her with the comforting warmth once again.
She couldn't take much more of this, being slapped around by her hormones was driving her mad. She knew if she could just touch someone the burning would stop, but Neal's hand on her arm didn't seem to be enough, she wanted to press against him, to feel every inch.
Her eyes found his, still staring at her angrily and she frowned as she recognised its source. Neal was jealous. Jealous that she had almost – oh dear God she had almost kissed Tinkerbelle.
"Something's going on," she said, shaking her head as she pulled out of Neal's grip, finally coming to her senses.
Balling her hands into fists she focused on the pain of her nails digging into her skin; trying to ground herself and ignore the aching need to touch someone.
"That is an understatement," snarled Neal stepping closer, the jealous anger still flaring in him.
"Hey!" yelled Mary Margaret joining the fun. "Take another step and so help me god I will cut your hand off."
"Still wouldn't increase your chances," taunted Hook from the edge of the group. "Though I am told imitation is the highest form of flattery."
"I don't know what we are arguing about!" yelled David. "We should be splitting up to search for more food!"
"No!" cried Tinkerbelle. "If we split up how can I trust you will return all of your spoils? I should get the most of everything, I'm the one risking my life infiltrating Pan's camp!"
"Will you all shut up?!" Regina called over. "Some of us are trying to rest!"
There was an increase in volume as everyone argued, Hook occasionally throwing in a sarcastic comment and looking bored with the entire situation.
"EVERYONE STOP IT!" Emma screamed.
A gust of wind blew through the camp from where she was standing, panting heavily and staring around at them all. The magic had ripped out of her unexpectedly and without any input from her. Regina had warned her that this would happen if she didn't learn to control it but right now she was too busy trying to control the impulse to reach out and grab the closest person (just to get rid of the painful ache filling her) to particularly care very much at the moment.
The others were staring at her, most of them surprised, though she could see anger building in Mary Margaret.
"Don't you see what's happening?" she said, not daring to move as the impulse built again. "It's the mermaid's curse all over again! Doesn't what you are feeling seem strange to any of you?"
She glanced pointedly at her parents who both blinked in surprise. Mary Margaret glanced down at her hands which were balled into fists though unlike Emma they seemed to be out of anger.
"I'm mad," she gritted out. "But I don't know why, I mean this is stupid but I shouldn't be this mad. I want to hit all of you."
She glanced apologetically at David, who looked far too concerned with something else to worry about his wife wanting to punch him in the face.
"I feel like if I don't eat something I'm going to collapse," he said, holding up the last piece of food he'd managed to wrestle from Tinkerbelle when she was distracted by Emma and frowning at it.
"That's mine!" the pixie snarled taking a step forward as if to snatch it back. She froze mid-step, staring at her hands like she did not recognise them.
"Not that it isn't fun hearing you all share your feelings," sneered Regina, not even rolling over to look at them. "But I am exhausted, keep it down."
"Pan."
Emma whirled around to look at Hook, tightening her fists (to the point where she was in danger of breaking skin) when the desire to grab the front of his coat and kiss him reared up suddenly inside of her.
"What?" barked Neal, noticing Emma's gaze.
"Pan," he spoke the name like it was poison. "He's trying to distract us, cause us to fight amongst ourselves instead of-"
"Searching for Henry," Emma finished.
"Aye, like telling me about him," he nodded towards Neal. "There was no reason to share that unless he wanted us to search for him. He probably expected me to take much longer to share what I had learned."
"Don't look so proud of yourself," said Neal, rolling his eyes.
"But how?" chimed in Tinkerbelle, her gaze darting around at everyone. Emma didn't miss the slight blush that crept onto the pixie's cheeks when her gaze fell upon her.
"It's like the mermaid's curse," said Mary Margaret looking enraged by the thought. "He's making us fight amongst ourselves over stupid things."
"It has to be more than that."
Regina had walked over without anyone noticing, staring at Emma with an odd intensity. Again Emma's nails but into her skin trying to master her bizarre new impulses. Had the Queen's hair always been so glossy? She wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through – what was her obsession with hair?
"That explains the four of you but not the rest of us," Regina gestured to Neal, Tink, David and Mary Margaret, causing Emma to frown. "I don't want to argue with any of you, which is strange in and of itself, all I want is to rest, I've had enough of everything and just need a break."
A break from finding their son? Emma was about to yell at her when she cut her off.
"And I seriously doubt Emma is harbouring any secret passion for the pixie," her words caused Emma to blush.
"We were all saying that different things were affecting us," said David dropping the food in his hands as if holding it any longer and not taking a bite was causing him physical pain.
Emma watched Tinkerbelle snatch it up and hold it defensively to her chest, her eyes darting around at all of them.
And just like that their brief moment of clarity was gone.
"How dare you!" snarled Mary Margaret, taking a step towards the blonde.
"It's mine!" Tink spat back.
Emma panicked, she was losing them. Already David was staring longingly at the food as Regina shrugged and turned to wander back to bed.
"We need to figure out what this curse is!" she cried, trying to make herself heard over the top of the fresh bout of bickering that had broken out.
She stormed over to Regina, grabbing her by the shoulder and spinning her around. She was going to demand she tell them what she knew, or demand that she perform a spell to figure it out but the second she was facing her Emma grabbed a hold of her other arm. Energy thrummed through her at the contact, surging to the tips of her fingers and toes, filling her with such heat that she could barely see straight.
Her lips crashed against Regina's and she had to fight a small moan. Pulling the woman closer she wrapped an arm around her, her hand cupping the back of her head and pulling it to the side, deepening the kiss with the new angle. It was like electricity crackled between them. Sparks prickling the various points where their skin touched. Emma felt the power flooding her system, hers and Regina's, battling for dominance, heightening every sensation. She was so lost in the way her body was responding, the heat flooding her system that she didn't feel Regina's hands sliding between them until they pushed her backwards.
Emma flew back several feet, magic aiding Regina's shove, before crashing onto the ground in a heap.
She struggled to breathe for a moment, the force of the impact knocking the air from her lungs. Her very nerves were on fire, and for a moment Emma could not tell if the pain was from the fall or the sudden loss of contact.
Everyone had stopped arguing and turned, looking between Regina who was staring at Emma wide-eyed, hands still outstretched, and Emma herself lying on the ground.
"What are you doing?" yelled Mary Margaret storming towards Regina and to Emma's horror drawing her bow and arrow.
"STOP!" she yelled, ignoring the way that her entire body was protesting and scrambling to her feet. "It's not her fault, I…"
"You stay the hell away from my daughter!" Mary Margaret snarled, her aim not wavering.
"I deserved it!" Emma yelled back. "I… attacked her first, it was warranted."
Mary Margaret continued to glare at Regina who, Emma thanked God, had refrained from explaining just how she had attacked her. There was a tense moment before Mary Margaret dropped her aim, her eyes screwed closed and her hands shaking with the effort.
"We need to figure this out," she growled and Emma let out a tiny relief.
They were getting back on task.
"Attacked her did you?" Hook's voice made her jump, he had snuck up behind her whilst she was trying to prevent Mary Margaret from shooting Regina; and she could tell by his smirk that he had witnessed the whole thing.
"Something is making us act this way," she gritted back. "Making Mary Margaret so angry, and David hungry and me…"
His smirk deepened as he stepped towards her, invading her space like always.
"Making you what darling?" his tone was innocent but his expression was anything but.
Emma's breathing hitched at his proximity, the heat was radiating off of him causing the burning itching of her skin to increase to a nearly unbearable level. They were inches apart, the smell of him overwhelming her, salt and leather and that ever-present hint of rum and spice.
His lips were quirked in their usual smirk and looking at them was reminding her about how warm and soft they were. She was reaching up to fist her hands in his coat when he was shoved away, Neal pushing him roughly against a tree.
"What do you think you are doing?" he snarled at the pirate as Emma rushed to intervene.
"Cut it out," she hissed, her voice still a little breathy, a fact that was not helped when she tried to shove the two of them apart and heat continued to course through her. "I don't have time for you jealousy right now Neal! I need to figure out what this stupid curse is."
She barely even registered what she was saying, the words holding little importance. She was losing the precious control she had been fighting for before and now was focused mainly on separating the men so she could kiss one of them, both of them, she didn't care as long as she could do it before she exploded.
For the second time in ten minutes she was thrown backwards through the air. It took her a moment to realise that Regina had used magic to tear them all apart. Looking around she saw the rest of the group spread around the Evil Queen and getting to their feet. They too had been thrown back by the blast and Mary Margaret looked ready to rip Regina's throat out with her teeth.
"We need to work out what this is," she said, her hands still held out in front of her as if ready to smite anyone unwilling to help. "Whatever this curse is, we need to get a hold of ourselves so we can figure out who did it."
"Pan," repeated Hook. "It has to have been Pan."
"Right," nodded Emma. "To distract us."
"This whole island is filled with magic," began Tinkerbelle. "And Pan is connected to it. He controls it. But the magic is fading, which is probably why he needs Henry to somehow fix it."
"How can Henry fix magic?" Emma asked confused.
"I don't know," sighed the pixie, shaking her head sadly. "But my point is that he would not be able to use the magic left in the island. At least not like this."
"He has curses though," said Hook, stepping into their tightly forming circle. "Bottled and trapped in artefacts. He does not have many but he does have them."
"How do you know that?" asked David frowning at him.
"Because I was in Neverland a long time," he sighed. "And you don't survive long in Neverland without dealing with Pan."
Emma shot her father a look cutting off whatever he was about to say to the Pirate because they did not have time to deal with lectures about honour and whatever it was her Prince Charming father was about to spout.
"Do you remember any of them?" Regina asked. "What they looked like? Anything?"
"Well he did not exactly give me a tour detailing the finer points of his collection," he replied with a dry tone, and a sardonic quirk of his eyebrow. "I only really know of the two I bought him and it can't be either of those. A shell from the lagoon enchanted with the song of a siren, meant to lure people to their death, and one of the totems of the Picaninnies, which I believe was meant to allow one to enter into others' dreams. Other than those I saw not a one of his cursed trinkets.
"The pouch," breathed Tinkerbelle.
"The what?" asked Regina.
"I saw it once in his camp. It's old and leather with the most beautiful patterns and words inscribed on the front," she explained in a rush, her words tumbling over each other. "Felix told me about it, said it was an old curse, older than Pan even. I wanted to know what the words meant, what language they were in but he didn't know. Superbia, acedia, luxuria, ira, gula, invidia, avaritia."
"Saligia," whispered Regina.
Silence greeted her words, Emma looked around at the others noticing blank looks that probably mirrored her own. She had no idea what the word meant, but it sent a chill through her none the less. It was a word filled with foreboding, whispering through the air like a curse in and of itself. This was definitely not good.
"It's old magic," she continued. "A curse known only to a few. But it's powerful. It infects the host with a sin, controlling them like a compulsion and driving them to self-destruction if they don't get a grip on themselves."
"Sin?" echoed Emma incredulously. "You think we've been infected by sin?"
"A Sin," corrected Regina. "There are seven sins and seven of us, usually only one sin will manifest."
"What, like the sin we are most prone to or something?" asked David.
"Not necessarily," sighed Regina. "The curse works at random, latching onto the nearest hosts it can find."
"So how do we get rid of it?" asked Emma.
"I don't know," shrugged Regina. "If there is a counter-curse I was never told of it."
"So what do we do?"
"We should figure out which Sin each of us got hit with," said Neal, speaking for the first time.
"Wrath," gritted out Mary Margaret. She was glaring around at them, breathing heavily as if she had been running a large distance. "I can feel it, burning inside of me. Every time I hit something or scream at someone it lessens for a moment but then just comes flaring back."
"Greed," chimed in Tinkerbelle. "I keep fighting the urge to just take everything you have and leaving you here to die."
"I thought I might have been Greed," frowned David in confusion. "Because of the food before."
"I think you'll find that's Gluttony mate," smirked Hook.
"Well what about you?" he snapped back.
"I haven't been acting like you lot," he shrugged. "Perhaps I was not hit with whatever Pan used."
"That seems unlikely," said Regina fighting a yawn as she sat back down leaning against a tree. "He probably hit the camp with the curse last night while we were sleeping. Seven sins, seven hosts, you must have been hit too."
She leant her head back against the trunk, closing her eyes.
"So what was it then?" challenged Hook, his tone disbelieving. "Because unlike you lot I appear unaffected."
Regina shrugged, "What do I care?"
"Sloth," spoke Emma suddenly pointing to the resting Queen. "You got hit with Sloth. And I think you got hit with Envy."
She turned to point at Neal, whose jealous behaviour, whilst not entirely out of character after the Echo Cave fiasco, was definitely much more intense than warranted. He nodded, frowning to himself before stepping away from the group. David and Mary Margaret were talking to each other a little ways off, she could see her mother snapping at her father and then apologizing repeatedly though still huffily. Regina was now almost completely unconscious resting against the tree whilst Tinkerbelle paced back and forth, throwing furtive glances at all of them. Wrath, Envy, Greed, Gluttony, and Sloth.
"That only leaves Pride and…" her voice trailed off as colour flooded her cheeks, she had no trouble guessing which Sin was coursing through her system.
"I believe the word you are looking for is Lust," Hook smirked.
She turned to glare at him. Of course Captain Innuendo would be thrilled that the curse had turned her into a raging hormone with the control of a horny teenager.
"What does that leave you?" she bit back.
"I thought we'd established I did not get cursed," his eye-brows rose, cockily challenging her to contradict him.
"Well that would have been the Pride talking," she smirked before changing her tone to a pleasantly confused one. "It's funny, you don't seem all that different to me."
Neal stepped between them and turned to face her. He grimaced when he realised what he'd done, shaking his head slightly as if trying to clear a haze before speaking, "So what next? We need to get rid of this before someone gets hurt."
Or does something stupid, Emma mentally added.
"Is there a spell?" she turned to ask Regina who looked in danger of falling asleep.
"I don't know," she shrugged in response. "I told you he never mentioned a counter-spell."
"Who never mentioned a counter-spell?"
"My father," sighed Neal after a pause.
Emma turned to face him. He was frowning again, though this time she recognised the pain and fear that had nothing to do with the curse. It definitely made a lot of sense that the Dark One would know. And he did after all teach Regina. Their only hope now being that if he knew enough to mention it in passing, he would know enough to fix it. Knowing the way her luck had been recently Emma wasn't willing to bet much on it, but they had to try.
"We have to find him," she grimaced apologetically, reaching out to grip his arm.
She ignored the impulse to close the distance between them, fighting the pull of the curse as she squeezed Neal's arm, trying to comfort him. When she dropped her hand she let out a breath she had not realised she'd been holding.
He nodded before stepping away from her. She turned to face the others.
"We need to fight this, until we can get to Gold," she said looking around. "The sooner we find him the sooner we can get this crap dealt with. The sooner we can find Henry."
The sooner I can bitch-slap Pan, she thought idly as they nodded their agreement and set off after Neal, the only one who knew where Gold had been last.
All she had to do was fight the urge to jump everyone, simple. She rolled her eyes, trailing after the others. Speeding up her pace she fell into step next to David and Mary Margaret, thankful beyond belief that her parents were exempt from the Lust growing stronger inside of her. She could do this, she thought, she could just stick close to her parents, and hopefully help distract them from their own sins. The others would be a different story.
She glanced behind her to see if they were keeping up, berating herself with how stupid that was the second she did it. He was several feet back, strolling along like he hadn't a care in the world. Her gaze stayed fixed on him for longer than it should. He smirked when he caught her staring, eye-brow raised like a question mark, see something you like?
She turned her attention hastily to the front and, ignoring the urge to stop and tackle him to the ground, she marched onwards. They better find Gold soon. She had the feeling that the sin bubbling inside each of them was going to get harder to control the longer they tried to fight it.