"Shh!" the boy hissed as the group pressed against the outer wall of a small cave. It was hard keeping the youngest one quiet (and he really hated that they took him out at all, but it was too dangerous to leave him alone). They'd succeeded in getting this far, only a bit more to go…

The sounds of their followers faded, and they waited one breath, then two, before scrambling up to the small cave they called home.

Exhaling slowly, the leader of the small, rag-tag group of children sank to his knees in relief as the chants and yelping of the Lost Ones echoed in the distance. Finally, they had food to last a few days, and more leaves to make extra blankets for the chill that was starting to settle on Neverland.

Not that Neverland was ever without a cold dampness.

"Everyone okay?" he asked, clearing his throat to clear the nervous tone that had settled in it. The other three nodded as each exhaled in relief that no one had managed to catch them.

Gods, what had he done? He never should have come here. He should have been able to protect them better. Found a way that prevented them from following him to this place. He was a coward. Just like his father had been.

"Bae… are you ready to eat?" Wendy's soft voice came from the crude, table-like stone they used to eat off of.

Baelfire nodded slowly and slipped away from the mouth of the cave. "I'm sorry, you guys. You shouldn't be suffering here with me."

"Bae, we willingly came with you to Neverland. We couldn't let you get hurt by Pan and his army. We knew what we were signing up for," John said. "We promise."

But for Baelfire, that wasn't enough. He was still angry that any of this had to happen at all. If Hook hadn't betrayed him… if he hadn't even broken into the Darling home for food to begin with, none of this would have happened, and Wendy, John and Michael would be living in London with their parents, safe from Pan's harm. Safe from the destruction he caused them.

Maybe it was a family curse. Neither of his parents were exactly… heroes. Maybe he was cursed to not live a great life. Sins of the fathers and all that. Mr. Darling had taught him about that. Maybe this was his punishment for his father's sins. His mother's too.

"Bae? You're awfully quiet tonight," Wendy said softly. "Is everything okay?"

No. Things were very far from okay. But he couldn't let them see that something was terribly wrong with him.

"Yes," he lied as he fiddled with the makeshift fork he was using. "I'm just deep in thought. Sorry."

"It's okay," Wendy said with a small smile. "I imagine we all think to try to keep ourselves somewhat sane."

"Yeah," he said, picking at the meat they'd managed to steal from the Lost Ones.

"Bae?" Michael asked, his voice unnaturally small in the cavern. "Will you tell us the story about the ogres at bed time?"

Bae could only smile at the boy that had become a younger brother to him. "You want to hear about the ogres after everything we went through today?"

Michael nodded. "The ogres aren't real. They can't hurt anyone. Not like Pan."

Baelfire chuckled softly to himself. He hadn't told Michael that the ogres were very much real, and that he'd almost had to fight them if his father hadn't stopped them. The only good thing his father had done with his Dark One powers.

He nodded a little, looking at Michael with a smile. "Alright. I'll tell you the story tonight," he told him, squeezing the boy's shoulder gently. Even if it killed him to do it. It reminded him too much of the past. But Michael and John and Wendy liked it. Perhaps one day he'd tell them the truth about where he'd come from – he knew he couldn't keep it from them for much longer considering how adept he was to living in a forest compared to their cozy, urban, London home.

He shivered as the shouting from the Lost Ones got louder, and they pressed themselves against the wall away from the mouth of the cave. Baelfire wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. They needed to figure out a way out of here. His coconut was okay, but how could he even ensure that the shadow would come back for the Darling children? He couldn't risk losing them again.

But the problem was… he wasn't sure what else he could do in order to make sure all four of them were able to escape from Pan's wrath.

"Something is wrong with you, isn't it?" Wendy suddenly asked.

Bae swore under his breath as he looked up at her guiltily. "Sorry Wendy. Just… thinking about the best place to start the story," he lied.

Wendy's look was almost identical to the one his father gave him when he was caught in a lie, but instead of pressing it, she sighed. "Oh. Of course."

He avoided her gaze for the rest of the dinner, until they were putting Michael to bed.

"Okay Michael. The story of the ogres. Once upon a time in the Enchanted Forest, there was a young boy who lived with his parents in a small village. Their village was under the control of a mean duke, who sent the children of the villagers off to war against the vicious ogres," he began, watching as Michael's face lit up.

He wondered, slightly fearfully, if Pan's influence was growing on the younger boy.

"And then what happened?" Michael asked.

"One day, a girl named Morraine was called to serve in the Duke's Army. She was very frightened, because she had never learned to fight. She did not want to die. And so as she was taken away from her parents and family, she knew she needed to be brave… and she remembered what her mother said about the power of hope. And in the darkest of times she had, when the ogres were right on top of their camp, swinging their clubs and squishing the soldiers between their large, unwashed toes like bugs, roaring with their ogre breath, and blinking, unfeeling with their large, unfocused eyes."

Michael yawned at this point, leaning back against the leaves they'd fastened together for pillows. "Did she escape?"

"Oh yes… Morraine had hope that she would. And one night, a man from her village came to the camp. This man, she had known him as a spinner, appeared with a dagger in his hand. His skin looked like pulled leather, glittering like a crocodile. Morraine was scared – she had heard whispers that he was known as the Dark One now. A man with incredibly dark powers. But instead of harming the children fighting in the war, he drove back the ogres into their territory and sealed them away, never to harm the surrounding villages again."

The Darling children had all fallen asleep at this point, huddled together as they always were. Baelfire had always been the outlier in the family. The poor homeless child Wendy had found stealing bread one day was never going to properly fit in with their family.

Exhaling as quietly as he could, Bae slipped back over to the entrance of the cavern and looked up at the dark Neverland sky. The stars had always fascinated the teenager. He wondered if his father – if he was still alive – was looking at the same stars. Once, he'd dreamed of going up into the sky to get a closer look. Then he'd been grabbed by the shadow and realized he preferred being on the ground.

But that never broke his love for looking at the stars, and as he focused on one, he did something he hadn't dared to do since his life in the Enchanted Forest.

"I wish we could go back to where we belong," he whispered up at the sky, before turning away to go to bed.

"We've waited a long time to hear you say that, Baelfire," a voice whispered.

He whirled around, grasping the small dagger he'd managed to forge out of a rock, before catching sight of the voice and dropping the makeshift weapon. A fairy. This one green.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Tinker Bell. I was banished here for a few years, so I understand how anxious you are to get out. I'll take you back to where you belong. That's what you wished, right?"

Baelfire nodded dumbly. "Wendy! John! Michael! Wake up! We're going home!"

"What? Home?!" Wendy gasped, eyes snapping open and rushing over to Bae and the fairy as her brothers slowly followed suit.

"That's right. If there's anything you want to bring back with you, I suggest you grab it now."

Baelfire couldn't think of anything to grab but the coconut. If nothing else, it would make a cool candle holder. Michael, of course, grabbed his beloved teddy bear.

"Everybody ready?" Tink whispered.

The four children nodded eagerly.

"Okay! Here we go!"

And finally, with a touch of pixie dust, the Darling children were finally free of Neverland.

"Twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty," Mary Darling counted as she finished her nightly routine. Make sure all the lights were off, make sure the kitchen was spotless, and finally… make sure the window in the nursery was open for her children to return to her.

Blame had been spouting from every direction since the children had disappeared. Some people blamed Balefire – the young boy they'd taken in when they'd discovered Wendy hiding him in their home. Others blamed Wendy for having too many ideas and refusing to conform to the standards of womanhood that was expected of her. Yet others blamed her husband George for being too harsh on the children. But one thing they all agreed on was that the children would never come home.

But Mary chose not to believe any of those things. She believed her children would return soon, and that was why she kept constant vigilance at the window of the nursery.

Slipping into the room, Mary smiled at the sight of Nana, their faithful Saint Bernard laying in her spot. Nana's big eyes gazed up at Mary as she entered the room, and the dog followed her to the large window seat overlooking the London streets. She could see Big Ben in the distance, and a twinkling star just beyond that.

"Oh Nana…" Mary said softly as the dog rested her head on Mary's lap. "I miss them so much."

Nana whined, understandably upset at the situation they were currently in, and Mary reached down to stroke her furry head gently.

"Oh, but I don't blame you at all. You were the best nanny dog George and I could ever ask for. I just… I want to know where they are. If they're okay… when they'll come home…" she sighed, wiping at the corner of her eye with her free hand as tears threatened to fall.

"Mary…" George said softly from the doorway. "It's time to come to bed, darling. Please."

Her husband had become disheveled in the wake of their children's disappearance. He had been trying desperately to keep things together, but Mary could see the façade breaking each day when he came home from work.

"No, George," Mary said. "I do not want to go to bed yet. I only just got here."

"Sitting here isn't going to bring them back… if they ever come back," George said, kneeling next to Nana on the ground. "Sitting here is only going to further upset you."

Mary narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't believe it's possible for me to get more upset when all four of my children are missing."

"Four? Mary – "

"Baelfire is like our fourth child to me."

George exhaled sharply through his nose, and she knew what was coming. "That boy is the reason our children are gone! We should have just sent him off to the nearest orphanage when we found him."

She shook her head, unable to believe that her husband would wish such a fate on someone like Baelfire. "You believe what you want. I will believe what I want. I will be sleeping in here tonight. Goodnight George."

"Mary – "

"I said goodnight."

George sighed, beginning to retreat from the room. "Goodnight Mary."

She turned back to the night sky dotted with the stars, and did something she hadn't done since she was a child.

"I wish I could be with my children again," she whispered desperately to the quiet London streets. She expected nothing, of course. Wishes weren't real – they were just whispers of desperate souls clinging to the hope that they would come true.

Which is what made what happened next so extraordinary.

Mary wasn't sure who saw it first – she or Nana – but the resounding cry of surprise and barking from Nana was enough to get George bursting into the room just as the blue beam of light grew bigger, flying into the room and landing just behind Nana, who continued growling at the woman – oh God, were those wings she had?

" I've heard your wish, Mrs. Darling," she said, looking at the anxious Nana. "My name is Blue. I can take you to your children."

George pulled Mary into his arms as they both stared in alarm at the woman. "You… you know where they are? Where are they?" he asked.

The woman smiled. "They're where they belong. And I'll take you there too."

She must have been dreaming. But dream or not, the thought of being able to see her children again was too much. "Please. Take us there. Nana too."

Nana's fur was still on-end, but they needed their family to be whole – and it wasn't unless Nana was there too."

"Of course," the woman replied with a small smile, and with a wave of her hand, their cozy home in London seemed to melt away, and they were transported to… a forest.

"I – I don't understand. Where are we?" George asked as they took in their new surroundings.

"This is the Enchanted Forest," Blue replied. "Your children are here. I've seen to it."

Mary frowned. "But – why are they here? Why didn't you bring them home to London where they belong?"

Blue shook her head. "Because they – nor you – belong there."

"Your wish was to go to where you belonged, Baelfire, and I granted it to you," a voice said.

"Yes, but I meant London, Tinker Bell. I didn't mean to be brought back here!"

Their children appeared from behind a tree, guided by another fairy – this one green.

"Wendy! John! Michael! Oh, my darlings!" Mary cried, running over to the children and pulling them tight to her. "I knew you'd come back… I knew it. Oh! And Bae… you're here too!"

He nodded slowly, curling into her as the others did, but she could tell something still felt… off with him.

"What's the matter?" she asked, frowning as she looked at him.

"This… this is the Enchanted Forest. This is where I'm from. The place I ran from… Blue, why did you and Tinker Bell send us back here?"

But as they turned to get answers from the fairies, the two had disappeared, and the sound of horses could be heard drawing closer to them.

George straightened his back, staring in the direction the horses were coming from. "Mary, children, get back. I'll handle this," his said gruffly. Mary could hear the persona he used at work beginning to come out and inwardly groaned. George liked to think that made him sound authoritative, but it didn't.

So she too prepared herself to have to intervene. They were in a completely foreign place – they had no idea what sorts of people lived here.

Finally, two horses burst into the clearing. On their backs were two young girls dressed in trousers Mary had never seen women in – and neither could have been much older than Wendy.

"Er… are you guys lost?" the blonde girl asked with a curious tilt of her head. "You don't look at all familiar."

"Yes! We are actually. Do you happen to know where the nearest town is?" George asked, looking up at the girls curiously. "And, er… do you happen to know where we are?"

"This is the Kingdom of Misthaven," the dark-haired girl replied with a tilt of her head. "You guys aren't from around here are you?"

"We're from London. England," she was quick to say before George blew Baelfire's cover. She knew he was frightened of being in this place. She didn't want to be the reason he was brought to harm here.

The girls exchanged looks of confusion, which made Mary's heart sink, the dark-haired girl's eyes narrowing in distrust even without words as the girls had a silent conversation.

Where was this place if they hadn't heard of London?

"We'll take you back to my place," the blonde finally said, beginning to guide her horse further into the woods. "My parents will help you."

"Ah, excellent! An adult we can talk to," George said.

Mary shot him a look before returning her gaze to the girls as they started to follow them deeper into the forest. "Thank you very much."

"Look! A palace!" Wendy gasped as a large fortress came into view. "It looks so much bigger than Buckingham Palace! Is this where you live?!"

The blonde smiled and nodded. "My name is Emma. I'm the Princess of Misthaven."

"The – the princess?" Mary whispered, staring at the girl with wide eyes as the rest of the family stared in shocked silence. "My apologies, your majesty. We must look ill-prepared to visit royalty."

Emma though, waved her hand. "No worries! You guys needed help, and my parents taught me to help those who needed it," she said with a smile. "Mom! Dad! Yue and I are back and we brought some guests!"

Mary's breath was taken away at the couple that entered the room. A king and queen.

"Hello," the queen said with a small smile. "Welcome to our kingdom. I am Queen Snow White, and this is Prince David, my husband."

"H-Hello. We are the Darling family. We've traveled quite a long way."

Queen Snow nodded. "Of course. You must be exhausted. We'll show you all to your rooms."

Mary's legs felt like gelatin as they followed the king and queen up the stairs into the bedroom wing of the castle.

"I hope you'll be comfortable here," Snow said, opening one of the doors. "This will be for the children. The door over there leads to a room for the adults."

Three beds dominated the room, decorated with elegant dressers and paintings.

"Thank you, your majesty," she whispered, lifting Michael into her arms and taking him over to one of the beds. "It's beautiful…"

Snow nodded. "Of course…"

As Mary and George settled in to their own large bed, she exhaled, staring up at the ornate ceiling.

Their family was back together at last.