Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time or its characters, I just borrow.
Well, that didn't go as planned. They had managed to get Pan and Henry back into their appropriate bodies, thanks to some help from a few items in Gold's shop. And a literal cat-and-mouse, though that's a much longer story which isn't important in the long run. Gold tried to kill Pan, Pan returned the favor. Neither was dead, though Gold was in pretty rough shape.
They had informed the town of the impending doom, along with Plans A, B, and C. (After some heated debate, they had formulated an alternative to plan B. If Regina could get a shield up, it would only last for four months. After that, if Emma couldn't get the potions, the return spell would kick in. Regina had decided that if it couldn't be done in four months, it couldn't be done.)
The townspeople were, understandably, upset. Some just cried, some tried to come up with other solutions. If we could make a magic mirror portal thing, don't you think we would've by now? A few helped with later attempts to kill Pan, but the little twerp managed to escape each time. They did manage to capture Felix, though. They carted him back to the jail cell and kept a heavy guard around him, with him spouting his usual "Pan never fails" crap the whole way. It was as much to help the town as to punish him. Supposedly Pan needed to kill the thing he loved most for the curse. Felix was probably the closest he had to a loved one.
Seriously, can't we gag him or something? No, Emma, you're the sheriff; you can't just gag people when they're annoying. But he's evil. No, he was brainwashed by an evil person. Not only did he not try to help get Henry's heart back, he didn't even want to leave Neverland. … You still can't gag him.
Emma was beginning to develop a complex with her inner debates. Gag Felix, don't gag Felix. Kill him, don't kill him. The only thing the two sides of her agreed on was to use him as bait if necessary. Though, she doubted that Pan cared about Felix past wanting a devout follower to agree with his every word and obey his commands without question. And, you know, to die.
That was all within a day of finding out that Pan was in possession of the curse. The day after, Mary-Margaret cornered Emma while she was packing for her potential, though seemingly inevitable, search for a magic-wielder in the Land Without Magic. (None of the multiple attempts on Pan's life by multiple people had yielded anything even close to the desired effect.)
"When are you and Neal planning on leaving?"
Emma looked at her mother with a quizzical look on her face. "I'm not going with Neal."
"What? Why not? You can't go alone." Mary-Margaret looked seriously alarmed.
Emma continued to stuff clothes into her bag. "I wasn't planning on going alone, but I'm not taking Neal with me. I'm not going to search for a way to save Storybrooke with someone I'm going to be second-guessing all the time. The entire time we were down in that vault talking about options, everything he came up with amounted to 'run away'. And that's what he does, he runs when things get tough. I refuse to split my focus between doing what needs to be done and wondering if he's going to be there when I turn around."
"What's this really about, Emma?" Mary-Margaret started walking around Emma's room, dumping random items on her bed next to the bag. Really, Mary-Margaret? In what world does a rescue mission require a cocktail dress and a dictionary?
Emma sighed and ceased her packing. After returning the dictionary to the bookshelf, she turned to face her mother."As you may or may not know… Neal set me up, got me arrested, and abandoned me all because August, excuse me, Pinocchio, told him to. He said it was so that I could fulfill my destiny, but it was really because he was afraid of running into his father. Because he was afraid of magic. After the curse was broken, he could've come to see me. He could've called, but he chose not to. He was still afraid of running into his dad. In New York, he told me that if he had known who I was, he wouldn't have gone anywhere near me. How am I supposed to trust someone who betrayed me and wanted nothing to do with me when he knew what I was?"
Mary-Margaret had stopped her random browsing as well. "You said you still love him."
"I do, I probably always will. But it's because of what we were. We were young thieves, living life on the road with just each other to depend on. Everything seemed so easy, even when we were running from cops. It was exciting, and he could make me laugh. But I'm not in love with him anymore. And he's not in love with me either; he just hasn't realized that he doesn't even know me anymore." Emma dumped an armful of underwear and socks into the bag.
"He's Henry's father."
"And, because of that, I'm trying. I'm trying to trust him again. Do you know how tiring it is to force yourself to find reasons to trust someone?" She shoved a sweatshirt and a few t-shirts into the bag more forcefully than was probably necessary.
Either Mary-Margaret couldn't think of a good argument after that, or she didn't feel it was necessary. She just pulled out the wrinkled clothes stuffed haphazardly in Emma's bag and folded them. "Don't forget your toothbrush." Moms.
-.*.-.*.-.*.-.*.-
That day after that enjoyable conversation, Pan's shadow managed to break Felix out again, this time putting Tinker Bell (who had been one of those on guard at the time) in the hospital. She was still unconscious. No one knew what exactly had happened to the fairy, other than that her shadow hadn't been ripped away and she wasn't the victim of your average blunt force trauma.
Regina called the group from the vault together and told them that it was coming. They had known it would be soon. "Three hours at most, probably less."
Which was when the arguing started again. As Emma loaded a suitcase and a bag full of cash and blank fake IDs (all courtesy of Regina and Mr. Gold) into her car, she told Neal to give her the keys to his apartment in New York.
"Don't worry, I won't lock you out when we get there," he replied with a smile, as though it was some kind of joke.
"Neal, you're not coming with me." Seriously, is that shock on his face?
"What do you mean I'm not going with you?"
"It really only has the one meaning. Will you give me your keys, or not?"
"Who's going with you if not me?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes, actually. Who are you taking on this very important mission to save an entire town if you're not taking me? Are you going alone?" Emma's eyes involuntarily flicked to Hook, who was actually putting forth the effort to pretend that he couldn't hear them. "You've got to be kidding me!"
Emma turned and looked Neal straight in the eye. "Neal, I'm not taking you with me. This is a trip to find someone who can use magic. You hate magic. I'm not going to take the chance that your disdain will show on your face while I'm trying to convince a potentially volatile, magically-inclined person to help us."
"And you think that Hook is a better choice? He's a pirate! A villain." By this point Hook had walked a good distance away. Good, I didn't really want to have any version of this conversation with Neal within Hook's earshot.
Emma sighed and looked at the sky. "Why does everyone always say 'pirate' like it's both a bad thing and all that he is? Yes, he's a pirate. Maybe he was a villain once, but he's proven that I can trust him." Neal looked like he was going to verbally explode again. "Neal, you're not coming with me. I'd rather go alone than pretend that I can trust you with this. Can I have your keys or not?" Neal looked at her for a minute. Well, 51 seconds (she counted). Then he slammed his keys on the trunk of the car and walked off in a huff. That better not scratch the paint.
She walked over to Hook. "Well, love. Off on your adventure then?" Yeah, probably should have brought this up sooner…
"Depends, are you coming with me?" To the uncertain expression that was his response she added, "I could use a navigator." They both had a small smile for that. After a moment Hook nodded. Emma let out a small sigh of relief. "We should leave in less than two hours, so go get whatever you need. Your hook will draw too much attention, so I'd prefer if you bring your… other attachment." She gave him a big grin, enjoying using the innuendo he had used so long ago in a completely practical, and nonsexual, manner. Hook gave her another small smile and made off for the docks. Also probably should've mentioned different clothes… and maybe that an apparently bottomless flask of rum isn't necessary...
She made her way back to her car where Mary-Margaret, Regina, and Henry were waiting for her. Mary-Margaret and Regina both had bags at their feet. Emma's mom pulled her into a long hug (too tight, Mom. I think you're overcompensating for 28 years of no hugs), and picked up two of the bags. "First-aid kit, and a bag of miscellaneous stuff that you didn't pack but should've." Again, moms. "Thanks, Mom," Emma replied with a smile. Mary-Margaret's smile was huge at being called 'Mom,' even though she was barely keeping from crying.
Regina held up the smallest of the bags she had brought with her. "This has the instructions for all the potions; the ingredients, how to make them, how to administer them, yadda yadda. I also included the ingredients that we already had, and a basic guide to magic." Please tell me it's called Spelling for Dummies, please.
Regina pulled Emma out of earshot of Henry and Mary-Margaret. "You need to take Henry with you." The younger mom was shocked. "What?" Not that she didn't love her son, but a quest for a witch probably wasn't the best place for him. Even if he'd love going on a quest. Especially if she actually called it a quest.
Regina sighed. "If I can get the shield up, he'll be frozen here until you get back. If you don't get back in time, everyone he knows will pop away and he'll be left all alone. If I can't get the shield up… I don't want Henry anywhere near Pan, especially if none of us will remember that Pan's a threat."
Emma looked back at Henry. "Hook and I are probably going to be constantly on the move, and-"
"You're taking Hook?"
"Regina, priorities. We'll be constantly moving, and I don't know how much safer he'll be out there. If we manage to find someone with magic, we'll have to risk that person being… unfriendly." But I really don't want to say goodbye to my son.
"Okay, you like options, right? Option A: Henry stays here, shield falls, everyone leaves and he's alone. Option B: Henry stays here, curse sweeps through, Pan wreaks havoc and possibly destroys him. Option C: Henry goes with you, and you keep him as safe as possible. If anything goes wrong here, at least he'll be safe and he'll have a parent." Regina obviously disliked those options as much as Emma did. There was no safe place for their son. Emma nodded.
"Good. I have his bags packed already."
They returned to the car, where David had joined Mary-Margaret and Henry. As Regina loaded Henry's bags into the trunk and threw a pillow and blanket into the backseat, and told him that he was going on the grand adventure, David took Emma aside. My, aren't I popular today. He handed her an envelope. After she looked inside she hugged him. "Be careful," he told his daughter. "Thanks, Dad."
Hook had returned. Aside from his glove "attachment," he hadn't brought much else. Although Emma did see a flask. "Packing light?" She asked him.
"Well, I thought swords and daggers might draw some attention."
"That it would. Which is why we have these." She gave him a handgun, showing him her own as she did.
"We've gone from you stealing my hook to you giving me a weapon. My, how far we've come." How far indeed. I'm not even thinking about how you shot Belle. Well, maybe a little.
"Henry's coming with us." A small crowd had gathered around her car. Seriously, what's with the popularity all of the sudden? Can't going leaving for a rescue mission ever be just a small family affair?
"Ah, young sir. Ready for an adventure?"
"As long as I get to stay in my body this time." Henry accepted a round of hugs and then jumped in the backseat. Emma also got a round of hugs and well-wishes from several people in town, some of whom she wasn't even sure she knew. To Emma's surprise, David shook Hook's hand and wished him well (and Emma was pretty sure she heard "take care of my daughter," followed by an "always"). Mary-Margaret gave Hook a hug and told him pretty much the same thing. This surprised Emma even more than David's congeniality with the pirate. Snow White might be grateful that Captain Hook had saved her Prince Charming, but she had still been pushing Emma pretty hard in Neal's direction. Hopefully our talk made her understand that things between Neal and me aren't likely to go that way.
Neal and Gold had both stopped by to say goodbye to Henry. Neal was pissed that his son was leaving town with "that pirate," but couldn't refute Regina's logic. He did try to make another argument for him going, instead of Hook, but Emma just gave him a look that simultaneously managed to say bored, annoyed, shut the hell up, not even listening, and are you kidding me? Gold threw Emma a succinct "good luck." Regina offered "don't screw up." So courteous. I should ask for the name of her etiquette teacher.
Instead, she asked how they would know whether the shield worked or not. Since they were leaving before either the curse would hit or the shield went up, it's not like they could just find out when it happened. "If the shield holds, it will be like a faint purple dome over the town. If the curse breaks through, there won't be a dome over the town."
Simple enough, I like simple.
"Alright, Hook, get in the car. Let's get this show on the road."
A/N: Reviews are food, and constructive criticism is dessert! Particularly if someone is acting OOC. (Yeah, I know there's a bit of that this chapter.)
I should have the next chapter up before tomorrow's mid-season finale airs.