The Lead

TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS LATER

Bae drew the arrow back and anchored, feeling the fletch dig in his cheek, and then he released. The arrow landed in the trunk of the tree he was aiming at. It wasn't often the thwack of the arrow coming to rest in a target reminded him of Neverland, and even when it did, it seemed three worlds away. But that time, he remembered the captain whom he regarded as an omen of his freedom. He remembered the night he escaped Neverland, and he remembered the people he left behind, other Long Lost Children like himself.

He drew another arrow and whispered a single word down the shaft: "Morraine." The arrow landed in the center of the cluster of the ones he'd been shooting that morning. He walked over to the trunk and plucked each of the arrows from the wood and examined their tips before dropping them into the quiver at his hip. If Mulan returned with news of a way to return to the place the newcomers called Storybrooke, that meant a possible way he could reach the Nowhereland and make good on his promise.

He returned to his position ten paces away from the tree and turned to face it. The trunk was riddled with holes, and the bark had started to flake away in some spots. The holes farther from his target showed signs of weathering, and he gave a proud smile at his consistency. When he lived in the village in the Frontlands, he hadn't heard of or been able to afford to take up archery. Now, after three hundred years in Neverland and the casting of the curse, he'd found archery as the ideal medium for sorting out his thoughts, venting his frustrations, and killing things for food or self-defense.

"Wondered where you were," said a village boy behind him. Bae turned to face the one who called himself Alec.

"Getting in some practice," Bae replied. "Just in case."

"Just in case of what?"

"I'm making travel plans."

"Are you nuts? Have you seen it out there?"

"Ogres, wraiths, giants, hell hounds, krackens in the seas. I've heard all the stories."

"They're worse than they are in the stories."

"That's why I'm getting ready." Besides, Bae thought, the Nowhereland is worse than anything anyone said about the world beyond the haven. "Well, that's morning practice done, I should think. Anything good for lunch?"

"Depends on your definition of good."

"Edible?"

"Technically."

Bae laughed. It was just like home.

OUAT

"What do you mean the curse didn't take him?" Rumpelsiltskin asked.

"I mean what I said," Smee replied. "The curse didn't take him. He didn't come here with the rest of us."

"So where is he?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know, or you won't tell me?"

"I seriously don't know."

"So start telling me what you do know."

"We...we went to Neverland, so we would never grow old. We were there for a long time, three centuries, I think it was, and then the curse hit. There were...Lost Boys."

"Lost Boys?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, this time genuinely interested.

"Yeah, all sorts. A set of twins, skinny kids, fat kids, kids of all colors, from all kinds of lands and time periods..." Smee's eyes drifted to a charcoal sketch behind Rumpelstiltskin. "One of them...looked like that."

Rumpelstiltskin glanced back and quickly noticed the portrait. He grabbed it and returned to his chair quickly in spite of his limp. "You've seen this boy?"

"Yeah, several times. Haven't spoken to him, though. He was one of them, a Lost Boy, and he made them attack us."

"This boy?"

"No, not him. The ginger kid, Pan. Peter Pan."

"Peter Pan has this boy in his keeping."

"Last time I checked, which was before the curse, so who knows where either of them are now. Haven't seen 'em in Storybrooke, that's for sure."

"So do you think your captain and this boy are in the same place?"

"Could be. The Enchanted Forest does still exist, otherwise those two women would've disappeared off the face of the earth or come back. I can't be sure. I haven't been around magic hats in a long time."

"So you know about Jefferson's predicament. What else do you know?"

"Bits and pieces. You probably already know a lot of it, given that you're the Dark One and you know everything. Almost." Rumpelstiltskin nodded and got to his feet. "Hey, you're not gonna kill me over the fights with your son, are you?"

"For the reason that you might be the key to finding him, I'll keep you alive." Smee relaxed the chair he was tied to and watched Rumpelstiltskin walk out of the basement.

OUAT

"Hello, Henry." Henry looked up from his hot chocolate and cinnamon to find Mr. Gold standing next to his booth. "May I join you?"

"Yeah, sure," Henry replied. "What're you doing here?"

Gold sat across from Henry and asked, "Do you still have your book?"

"...Yeah. What's this about?"

"I'm interested in a certain fairy tale. Peter Pan, I believe it is."

Henry shrugged. "Haven't seen it there."

"Oh. Thank you." Gold stood to leave.

"Seriously," Henry said. "What's this about?"

"I was just...curious."

Henry leaned back in his seat and chewed his lip.