Previously: Gold gave Jane a false cure, causing the dreamshade to start poisoning her. Gold was killed by Peter.

Chapter 9: Heartless

"No," Peter cried, falling to his knees beside Jane. "No. I won't lose you again," he murmured, cradling her head in his lap.

Releasing his spell on Regina and the others, Peter moved his hand to Jane's chest. Heat pulsed along his hands, growing into a prickling sensation along his fingers: the spark of his magic. Without hesitation, he pushed his hand into her chest, his fingers gently enveloping her heart before he pulled it out in one smooth motion. Gripping it carefully in his hand, Peter's shoulders sagged forward and he let out a slow sigh when he saw no signs of the dreamshade reaching Jane's heart.

"Jane!" Regina shouted when Pan's spell broke. Watching as Jane succumbed to the dreamshade while paralyzed and unable to do anything to save her was one of the worst moments in Regina's life. All she wanted to do was make sure Jane was alive. When she saw Pan clutching Jane's heart it had her own lurching in her chest.

"Don't hurt her!" Regina commanded, though she didn't feel very powerful at the moment. Not with her daughter's heart in the hands of Pan.

"You really think I would hurt Jane?" Peter bit out. "I wasn't the one who didn't give her the cure for the dreamshade. You know how dreamshade kills, yes?" Realization dawned on Regina, cold as ice trailing down her spine as she stared at Jane's untouched heart in Pan's hand.

"By reaching the heart," Regina whispered. Pan removed Jane's heart to save her.

"You killed him!" Belle interrupted with her screams. Rumple was gone, and it was all Pan's fault. Why wasn't Regina ending him? All of this was Pan's fault.

"He was going to let Jane die," Neal murmured, half to himself, and half to Belle.

Neal couldn't believe his father was going to let an innocent girl die just so he wouldn't lose his family. His papa had never changed. Rumple had no qualms about hurting others to get what he wanted. Jane was just a girl, she'd done nothing to his papa. She'd even protected Henry on the island. And his papa was just going to let her die to get to Pan.

"Neither of those are the current problem," Hook reminded them as he came to stand beside the queen. "If you all haven't forgotten, Pan's curse is still coming for us."

"Not for long," Emma added, picking up the scroll that lay abandoned on the street. "Regina, please. I know you're worried about Jane, but she's fine for now. The town needs you."

"You break the curse and you kill Jane," Pan called out, not moving from his spot beside Jane.

"What do you mean?" Regina questioned darkly.

"Jane still has the dreamshade in her. She can't live forever without her heart, and with it she will die. The curse will bring Neverland to her, the one place she can survive the dreamshade." Peter smirked at the Evil Queen. He didn't actually know if the new Neverland would allow Jane to survive like the old one had. His worst fear at the moment was that it wouldn't, and he'd have no way to save Jane.

"You little, manipulating," Regina spat out, advancing towards Pan.

"Maybe Gold left the real cure in his shop?" David suggested. As much as he would love to watch Regina destroy Pan, they didn't have time for it. They needed Regina to break the curse. After a moment Regina ordered him and Snow to go find it. She needed to break Pan's curse for the town's sake, but she'd be damned if she let Jane die because of it.

"Give me my daughter's heart," Regina ordered once David had left to retrieve the cure, extending her hand towards Peter.

"It doesn't belong to you," Peter shot back as he slipped Jane's heart into a pouch he pulled from his pocket for safe keeping before slipping the string attached to it over his neck.

"And you think it belongs to you?" Regina sneered, anger burning in her veins.

"It did, and it will again," Peter commented, self-assured. Jane had loved him once. Peter was determined to win her love again. "Better work fast on breaking that curse," Peter added with another smirk as he watched green clouds gather in the distance.

Stalking back towards Emma, Regina took the scroll from her. Closing her eyes, she let her magic probe the scroll until it starting answering her. Flashes of images and words ran across her closed eyelids, mocking her with their instructions.

"Can you break the curse?" Emma asked, coming to stand before Regina when her eyes shot open.

"Yes. But there is a price," Regina sighed, her hands tightening around the scroll. "I have to give up the thing I love most. I can never see Henry again."

"So you finally admit you don't love Jane like you do Henry," Peter called from behind her, highly satisfied at the Queen's confession.

"Jane is the daughter I never had, don't you dare say I don't love her," Regina spun on her heal and glared at Pan. "But I raised Henry from an infant. He was always my son."

If only Jane was awake to hear the Queen's confession. Then she might finally realize she didn't belong with these people. She belonged with her real family, with those who have always loved her. She belonged with Felix and Peter.

"I found it!" David cried out as Mary Margaret and him came running down the street. In his hand he clutched a container of clear liquid with a label across the glass.

When Peter held his hand out for the vial, David looked to Regina for permission. She reluctantly nodded her head. Pan wouldn't jeopardize Jane's life, he could be trusted with the cure. As soon as Peter had the cure in his hands, he gently moved Jane's head back to his lap, tilting it up so gravity would move the cure down her throat. Uncorking it with his mouth, he pressed the vial to her lips, tilting it until the vial was empty.

"Come back to me," he whispered in her ear before kissing the side of her head.

Consciousness returned slowly to Jane. Her head felt heavy and her vison was spotted. When the fog lifted from her mind and eyes, she abruptly sat upright, causing her head to spin again. The last thing she remembered was Gold trying to kill Pan, and the curse rolling in on the horizon. Glancing around she found herself surrounded by half the town. When her eyes found Peter, his hand gripping hers tightly, Jane expected to feel something: relieved, angry, happy. He was alive. But she didn't feel anything.

"What happened?" Jane murmured groggily. "Why are you all dressed like that?" Everyone was dressed in their Enchanted Forest clothes. Regina even had her long hair again. Glancing down at herself, Jane found herself clothed in a pale blue dress, the solid gold decorative belt Regina had given her for her birthday fitted snuggly around her waist. She knew she hadn't changed, and even if she had, she didn't have that dress in Storybrooke. It was left behind when the curse swept them away.

"We're in the Enchanted Forest," Regina responded from Jane's left. "To break Pan's curse, I had to break the original curse as well," she muttered, glaring at Pan.

"Where's Felix?" Jane asked, turning to Peter. Although she didn't feel as frightened as she should for her biological brother, the concern was still present, even if it felt more like she was going through the expected emotions.

"I'm right here Janie," Felix reassured her, stepping up behind Peter. He'd kept his distance before she woke up, terrified to do anything that might impede her healing.

"And Henry?" Jane prodded, moving onto the next person she should be concerned about.

"Henry and Emma had to stay behind," Snow responded, tears in her eyes. Jane waited for the sadness to come, but it didn't. She felt strangely numb.

"So they got to stay in the world of electricity and running water and we get…this," Jane muttered glancing around at the miles of trees. She never liked the Enchanted Forest. All it ever brought her was pain. Pushing herself to her feet, she swayed a little as her head spun. Probably a side effect of almost dying. Jane wasn't too concerned about it. She seemed to be the only one.

"Take it easy there Jane," Peter murmured, catching hold of her arm to steady her.

"Don't worry so much. It seems no matter how hard life tries, I won't die," Jane shrugged. She didn't know why, but she just didn't care anymore. She didn't care what happened to her, to Henry, Felix or Peter. It was weird, but she wasn't going to question it. It was like a weight was lifted from her. She felt lighter. Rumpelstiltskin's cure had cured more than just her wound.

"That doesn't mean you can't die. Pan's…right," Regina spat out the last word, scrunching up her nose at the admission. "You need to take it slow. I'll get you a horse, you'll ride to the castle."

"It's okay. I can walk," Jane insisted, illustrating her proclamation when she veered away from Regina and Peter in favor of following the Charming's. It seemed the caravan of mismatched townspeople were already starting the journey.

"She's being careless," Regina muttered to herself as she watched her daughter leave.

"I believe the correct term is heartless," Pan responded, stepping up beside the Queen as he too watched Jane walk away. Even without a heart, she couldn't be cruel like most were when they lost their hearts. She was just distant.

"If you'll excuse me, I've got something of Jane's that needs returning." Smirking at the Queen as he tugged on the strings of the pouch that held Jane's heart, Peter turned to chase after the girl who had stolen his.

He didn't anticipate her response to him offering her heart back would be 'no thanks.'

"No thanks?" Peter retorted his eyebrow raising as he studied Jane.

"I don't want it back. All it's ever brought me is pain and sorrow," Jane reiterated as she started walking again. Peter quickly fell in step beside her after letting out a low groan. How was he supposed to get Jane to love him again if she wouldn't take her heart back?

"There's been plenty of joy that went with the sorrow. What about your family? What about Henry, Felix…me?" Peter tried again, only to strike out again.

"I'm never going to see Henry again, Felix abandoned me, and you tried to kill my friends," Jane ticked each point off on her fingers. It only had Peter once again pulling her off to the side of their little caravan.

Tracing his fingers along the side of Jane's face, Peter let his thumb brush over her lips.

"What about the thrill of emotions? The rush of blood to your cheeks," Peter asked as he brushed his fingers over Jane's cheekbones.

"The rapid beating of your pulse at the anticipation," Peter continued, brushing his thumb over her lips once more before pressing a soft kiss against them. "The feeling that your heart is pushing against your lungs as it steels the breath from you. Don't you want to feel that again?"

Jane just stared at him blankly, blinking emotionlessly at him. Her eyes were empty, but she stayed close, and that was all the opportunity he needed. With his free hand, Peter pressed Jane's heart against her chest, returning it to its home. Closing her eyes as she gasped in pain, Jane's eyes were full of tears when they opened again.

It felt like a crushing weight on her chest as her heart processed everything she'd been told since she'd woken up in the Enchanted forest. Being separated from Henry forever and not getting to say goodbye had her heart squeezing painfully and the tears wouldn't stop. Sorrow attacked her from all sides, twice as painful after being numb to everything. Pulling free from Peter's grasp, Jane began pummeling his chest with her fists.

"Take it back. Take my heart back. Please," Jane begged pitifully, her voice squeaking on her plea as she struggled against Peter when he held her wrists in a firm grip. Eventually she gave up, sagging against Peter and sobbing.

"Feeling is a part of living Jane. You need to let yourself feel," Peter murmured to her, stroking her hair as she cried against his chest.

Jane wasn't sure how long she cried against Peter's tunic. Long enough for the caravan to pass them by. The distant screams, one of them being Regina's, had Jane's newly returned heart squeezing tight in her chest.

"Jane, no," Peter shouted as Jane took off in the directions of the screams. Screaming meant nothing good, and Jane was running right towards it.

Knowing he had no hope in catching up to her on foot, Peter took to the sky. He wasn't the only one. Peter watched as winged monkeys twisted and turned in the sky before dive bombing the group below. One headed for a small boy, the other for Jane. Without thinking twice, Pan retracted his magic, pulling his arms in tight to his side and letting gravity speed him towards the ground and towards the monkey headed for Jane. Colliding with the winged monkey, Peter tackled it to the ground, using his magic to incinerate the creature.

"Are you alright?" Peter asked, rising to stand before Jane.

"You can still fly," Jane murmured distractedly, her brain still trying to analyze everything that had just happened.

"It would seem so." Peter hadn't been sure if he'd still be able to without Neverland, but he'd been hopeful when he still had his magic in Storybrooke. Somehow, even without the island, he had retained his magic.

"And you chose to save me," Jane said, not sure if she should chide or thank Peter for saving her instead of the little boy.

"I will always choose you, Jane," Peter insisted, his eyes never leaving Jane's.

Struck by Peter's fiercely honest declaration, Jane wasn't sure how to respond. As much as everyone else claimed to love her, only Peter had shown on multiple occasions that he placed her above anyone and everyone else. He'd searched for her, and when he couldn't find her he waited for her. He'd saved her life multiple times even if it was a choice between her and his plan.

"We should catch up with the others," Jane murmured, finally breaking eye contact with Peter.

Peter followed behind Jane as she moved towards the front of the group, towards the Evil Queen. He had a little hop in his step. Jane was finally starting to realize how much more he cared about her than anyone else in her life. He could see it in her eyes after he'd told her he'd always put her first.

"If I can get into the castle through the underground tunnels I can lower the spell and then you can send your army through," Regina corrected, her eyes flicking towards Janes as she came to stand beside the Charmings.

"You're going in alone?" Jane asked. She didn't think it wise for anyone to go into the castle alone when there was an enemy with unknown resources and power waiting inside.

"Yes. And you're going to go with the Charmings to the forest man's camp," Regina ordered. Jane was about to refute when Snow rested her hand on her shoulder. Snow had already tried to get Regina to let her go with her. There was no way Regina would let Jane go.

"Be careful," Jane whispered, before turning with the caravan to go deeper into the forest.

Peter fell in step beside her on her right, Felix filing in on her left. They trekked on in silence until they reached a clearing with tents and a roaring fire. It almost reminded Jane of the Lost Boy's camp in Neverland. Glancing around at the townspeople for the first time Jane realized people were missing from the crowd.

"Where's Will?" Neither Will nor Hook could be found among any of the little groups of townspeople talking. They weren't on the outskirts of the camp either.

"He must have popped back in another part of the forest. Haven't seen him since the curse swept us up and brought us here." Peter wasn't complaining about the lack of pirates. In fact, he found it highly amusing Jane didn't even realize the pirate was missing until now. Not only had Peter been the first person she asked about when she came back to, but the pirate hadn't even come to mind until hours later.

Jane found herself relieved Will wasn't around. After everything he'd done, and the way he'd been acting since the town originally got their memories back, she found a break from him to be a nice reprieve. She couldn't help but hope he remained absent for a little while longer.


A/N: I'm back with an update and I hope you enjoyed it! I'd love to hear what you think.

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