"I'm going to kill him!"
Emma coughed as the mermaid helped to push her onto the sandy banks of the shore, her wet hair matted around her shoulders and her shirt clinging to her skin. "I'm going to skin him alive and feed the rest to his sorry band of hooligans." Regina, who had been the first to reach the shore, continued to rant as she poured out the water that was in one of her boots.
"No one is going to kill anyone." Emma continued to cough as she sat up on her own and began wringing the water out of her hair.
"How could you not want him dead after he tried to kill us? After what he tricked Henry into doing?" Regina asked in disbelief as she slid her boot back on. Emma sighed impatiently as she stood up.
"Because he's just a boy and because it's wrong."
The enchantress smirked at this, her lips twitching slightly at the corners. "Peter Pan is not a boy, he's a pint sized monster."
"Well look at the pot calling the kettle black." Emma retorted, earning a glare from Regina.
"That's it." she said through clenched teeth, deciding that she was done playing nice with the blonde and stood up before taking a step toward her.
"Enough!" Neal cut in from where he crouched, Henry's limp body which was growing steadily more and more pale resting by his feet. Glaring at the two women, Neal clenched his fists and stood up before he tried to reason with them both.
"Pan still has Henry's heart. We should be coming up with a plan to get it back now and worry about what to do with him after."
Looking from Neal to Emma, Regina crossed her arms and sighed in surrender. "Agreed." she muttered under her breath.
"We should regroup with the others then." Emma stated as she walked over and bent down to pick up Henry. Once he was safely in her arms, she turned and nodded to Ariel and the rest of the mermaids who waited idly in the water.
"Thank you for your help."
"Be careful, and good luck." Ariel replied before she and the other mermaids began swimming away, leaving the rest of the group to pick their way back to Pan's camp.
The sun had set, dipping beneath the horizon and was replaced with a velvety black sky lightly dusted with the stars. Back at Pan's camp, a fire crackled as Killian poked at the red hot logs with his hook before he warmed his hand as he held it a few inches away from the dancing flames. Behind him, Tinkerbell, Wendy, and Charming busied themselves by placing all the unconscious Lost Boys into the cages that they had built to keep Pan's prisoners in case any of them woke up before the others returned with Henry. After closing the door of a cage and locking it, Charming looked down to notice the younger blond beside him was frowning as she shifted her Lost boy around to a position she thought would be comfortable although it was a difficult task considering how small the cage was. She would know, she had been trapped in one for years and it was damn hard to sleep in it. "What's wrong?" Charming inquired. Breaking her focus on the Lost Boy, Wendy looked up to see that the man was talking to her.
"Nothing." she replied, though her expression didn't change.
"We'll get you safely back to your family, Wendy. I promise." he reassured her, thinking that she was probably worried about them all. Returning her attention back to the Lost Boy in her care, she decided that his current sleeping position was the best she could do and finally closed and locked the cage.
"It's not that. I'm very excited to see my brothers again. I just..."
When her voice drifted off in thought, Charming got down on one knee so that he was almost eye level with her, meeting her gaze to confirm that she could continue and that he was still listening. "I just wondered what would happen to the Lost Boys. Without Peter and his magic, they won't have anyone to look out after them. They wouldn't survive here." she finally finished. Standing close by as she was assisting in putting the Lost Boys in their cages, Tinkerbell glanced over at Charming, wanting to know the answer to Wendy's question as well. When Charming didn't answer right away, Wendy went on to explain her concerns. "They're not bad kids. I know they seem like they are but they're not. They're just angry. I was angry with my parents before I decided to come to Neverland for the first time. I thought that I didn't need them but after being here for so many years, I miss them. I bet that's how the Lost Boys feel about their families."
Finally understanding the girl's sadness, Charming placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We'll take them back with us. We can find them homes in Storybrooke, some of their family members might even still be there." he finally replied with a smile. "It won't be easy of course. Most of them will kick and scream the entire way back but I'm not going to leave anyone behind." he added as his eyes flickered over to Tinkerbell, a gesture that he hoped conveyed that he wasn't about to let the former fairy stay behind on this hellish land by herself either. Catching his gaze, Tinkerbell smiled faintly before quickly looking away and locking the last of the cages.
"That's wonderful." Wendy replied at the news that the Lost Boys would be coming back with them, a smile returning to her face. After gently squeezing her shoulder, Charming stood up again just as the thick jungle that surrounded the camp began to rustle, causing Killian to stand up with his Hook raised ready and alert in case of danger. It was only Snow who stepped into the camp, a couple of rabbits in each hand that she had hunted for dinner.
"They're still not back yet?" the short haired Princess questioned as she placed the rabbits by the fire for roasting later. Sitting back down, Killian shook his head in confirmation to her question. "I'm getting worried." Snow said as she glanced over at Charming who walked over to her side and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I'm sure they're fine." he reassured her as he pulled her close. Emma was perfectly capable of handling herself and Regina and Rumpelstiltskin were masters of magic. With such a powerful trio working together, Pan had no chance of getting away with Henry's heart. His confidence in the rescue party was quickly proven wrong however as the branches on the edge of camp began to rustle again and Emma emerged with Henry in her arms. Everyone looked up to spot the blonde, Killian immediately getting to his feet as she carried her child over to the fire with the rest of the rescue party in tow.
"Thank heavens, you're alright." Snow exclaimed as she as she pulled away from Charming only to tug her daughter into a tight hug after the blonde had passed Henry back to his father. Emma didn't return the hug however, fresh tears starting to burn her eyes.
"I failed." she murmured as if she were only reminding herself of the disaster that happened back on Skull Island. "I couldn't stop it." Pulling away from her, Snow looked at her daughter in confusion when Regina cut in.
"He took Henry's heart." the enchantress explained as she smoothed out the hair of her adopted son, her own tears starting to fall again. Looking over at Henry and noticing that he was awfully pale for the first time, Snow held her daughter close again.
"We'll get it back." she reassured the blonde before she gently began wiping Emma's tears away.
"There's always hope." Charming stated as he held onto Emma's hand and smiled at her. "You reminded us of that recently." Squeezing her father's hand, Emma inhaled deeply before she nodded in agreement and finally got the mixture of emotions she was feeling under control.
"Where's the crocodile?" Killian interrupted the sickeningly sweet little family moment as he noticed that Rumpelstiltskin hadn't returned with them. Neal was the one to answer him, gently placing Henry down by the fire on a blanket that Regina had spread out for him.
"He went in first after Pan but he wasn't there when we went in."
"His stupid box wasn't there either." Regina added as she held onto Henry's cold hand. Looking up at Regina, Neal had a sudden realization.
"Pan's captured him." Of course, he should've known that before but had assumed that his father's lack of presence was due to his cowardice as it always was, that Pan far outmatched him and the old man had simply tucked tail and run. A small stab of guilt pierced at his heart for not having noticed it earlier in all the commotion of trying to get Henry back.
"Where's Pan now?" Tinkerbell asked as she stepped over to where the fire was, Wendy following after her and away from the cages.
"We don't know." Neal sighed as he stood up.
"He didn't come back for the Lost Boys." Emma observed as she stared over at the cages, figuring that would've been the first thing the boy would've done now that he had all this power that could actually sink an entire island.
"Well we can't go searching all of Neverland for him." Regina exclaimed with a sense of urgency in her voice. The place was too big and full of hiding spots for the wretch to crawl into. "We don't have any time. Henry's getting colder." Looking from one adult's sullen face to the next, Wendy spoke next.
"There's a tower." she started, drawing the attention of those around her. "It's in the mountains. I heard the Lost Boys talking about it. They're not allowed to go there."
"I know that tower." Killian said as a matter of factly. He had seen it before on one of his many trips to Neverland. Though it peaked his curiosity as to why such a strange structure was even there in the first place, he never got the chance to explore it.
"You can lead us to this tower then?" Emma asked, a small sense of relief washing over her as the pirate nodded his head. "It's a shot in the dark but it's better than nothing." Emma said as her eyes flickered between Neal and Regina since they both had a say in the matter.
"I agree." Neal concluded, looking over at Regina as well. It didn't take much to convince the Enchantress as her child lay dying at her feet and she was itching to tear Pan apart for it. They had no other leads and she was starting to grow desperate.
"Lead the way." she finally replied as she looked over to Killian. With everyone in agreement as to where their next destination should be, the pirate began leading the way out of camp and back into the jungle. Before Emma turned to follow him, she gave Henry one last glance and instructed Snow and Charming to keep an eye on him.
"Come back in one piece okay?" Snow asked, managing to sneak in one last hug before the blonde went off again. "Okay." Emma replied, pulling back before looking over at Charming who smiled at her. She then inhaled another deep breath before she chased after the second rescue party to catch up to them, her parents looking on in concern as they held onto each other...