A/N: We're almost at the end of this fanfic- chapter eleven and an epilogue still to come! Part of me feels like I should have spaced these chapters out more, but at the same time I think a week of suspense is long enough ;) And I love reading your reviews, it's great to know you guys are enjoying it!
When Cassandra arose from her forced sleep, she immediately felt the difference in the air. Looking up at the bright blue expanse, she knew Neverland was long gone. She presumed it wouldn't be much longer till they arrived in Storybrooke.
"Morning Sunshine." A chirpy voice spoke.
Cassandra frowned as Regina came into view. The woman crouched beside her and suddenly all traces of joy vanished, the mask revealing a very serious Regina.
"I just want you to know," Regina's tone was low as she disclosed the information with a sadistic smile. "Your plan- trying to distract us- didn't work. We found Pan, and I assure you we took care of him." Her eyes gleamed with triumph.
Cassandra watched her. The girl's blank expression morphing into confusion. What was Regina talking about? Peter was already dead.
"Death was far too swift an end for him." Regina added; she couldn't resist. For once, she had won- she had gotten her happy ending. She wanted Cassandra to realise that she had been defeated. She wanted her to suffer for what Henry went through. "We sent him into Pandora's Box so he can pay for what he did, forever."
And then Cassandra was alone. And the confusion, still somewhat lingering, stretched itself thin and became a hollow sort of despair. She felt like she should be grieving; should feel the pain one was supposed to, when the person they loved was trapped in eternal torture. But she felt none of it. She tried, but her heart wasn't in it. It didn't feel as if he were gone.
It was like a dream, where she'd wake up curled in Peter's arms. He'd see the pout on her face and ask her what was wrong. She would tell him about her bizarre dream; how he died. And he would look at her and laugh. Not a mocking laugh, the kind that was spurred on by pure disbelief and amusement. The kind that comforted someone. Laughing at the fact that her mind had created a scenario so unbelievable. Because it would never happen.
But it had. This was real. And there was no pout. There were no teary eyes.
A thought crossed her mind. Maybe there was something wrong with her? She shook her head- scrap that. It was clear she wasn't the sanest of people. But even the mad must feel something, rather than the numbness she felt now.
The ship docked and the rope around each set of wrists and ankles fell slack. Cassandra glided behind Felix, following him off the Jolly Roger where a crowd had formed. Storybrooke residents greeted their friends that had returned from the perilous mission, relieved that they were all safe. Wendy pranced from the ship to her brothers, hugging them tightly. Something stirred within Cassandra and she quickly averted her gaze. She refused to believe she'd just experienced envy.
The Lost Boys wandered off into the town, making use of their newfound freedom. Felix, however, stood firmly at the dock, seeming quite content as he watched Henry with his family. Cassandra peered at him curiously.
"What are we doing here Felix?"
"We're waiting."
"For what?" Cassandra puzzled. Did he not realise that Peter was gone?
"Instructions." He answered with a sly grin. Cassandra just looked at him with bewilderment, not knowing how to respond. He knew something.
Henry began wandering over to the pair of them, a funny look on his face. Cassandra froze. She knew that look. It was so unlike Henry. It was dark, cunning, and incredibly smug. There was only one person who could envelop all three of those things so well into one glance.
But that wasn't possible. He was dead.
"What do you have in mind, Peter?" Felix wondered. Cassandra shot him a look. Of course he knew, Felix was always the first to know everything about Peter's plans.
"I swear to god," Cassandra huffed. "When you get your body back I'm going to kill you."
Henry smirked, an expression that was so bizarre on the young boy's face. "Not the most romantic way to celebrate our reunion, but then again, you were never the sappy type."
"Not only are you a child, you're my brother!" She stopped herself from gagging. "I'm not talking to you if you're going to keep weirding me out."
"Pan. If you don't mind?" Felix cut in. Henry dragged his eyes to his Second-In-Commamd. "What's the next step?" Cassandra had never been more grateful for Felix's ability to get back onto business.
"You need to be punished." He smiled sweetly. The pair of them frowned. Did they hear him right? "Hey, Mom, Dad! What about Felix, he's still free." He called.
"What, am I just a block of wood?" Cassandra muttered.
"What're you doing?" Felix hissed.
"They need to trust me." Henry whispered.
"Henry's right. We can't let Felix just walk away free." Regina confirmed. "Cassandra too."
"Oh no, can't have a Lost Boy on the loose." Cassandra said in mock terror. "Especially when you just let all the others wander free."
"It's different." Regina retorted. "You and Felix, you were close to Pan. We can't trust you."
"You can't hurt her! She's my sister." Henry pleaded.
"She also helped Pan when he tried to kill you. And they almost succeeded, we won't risk your safety again." Regina declared, looking to the others for confirmation.
"I mean," Emma hesitated. "Henry's right, she is family. But... we can't chance it. Not after everything that's just happened. Not yet." She concluded and gave Henry an apologetic smile. "Sorry kid."
"Don't worry." David reassured. "We've got plenty cell space for these guys."
"Two cells Charming, you have two." Cassandra quipped as she and Felix were dragged off. "What happens if there's a crime, huh, you ain't gonna have any room for them."
"Then you and Felix can share." David forced a smile, trying to get the girl to shut up.
"Oh you don't want that, that'd be much too dangerous. Two geniuses in such close proximity; the whole of Storybrooke would implode."
They trudged a bit further.
"Although," Cassandra mused. "If you're there, I suppose your idiocy could cancel out our 'genius waves'."
David sighed. Felix suppressed a chuckle.
/
"Felix, I never thought I'd say this when in the pleasure of your company... but I am well and truly bored."
The boy observed Cassandra in amusement as she slowly collapsed from her handstand. The heap groaned.
"It's been half an hour, calm your pretty self."
Ignoring the tongue-in-cheek compliment, Cassandra rolled onto her back. "How can you just sit there?" Her head flopped to the side and she scrutinized the relaxed figure in the other cell. He hadn't moved at all. Not even to wipe the hair from his eyes.
"Because not everyone has to be as impatient as you."
Cassandra heaved her body off the floor and sat up straight, crossing her legs. "So how'd he do it?" She wondered eagerly, now confident there was nobody in the station eavesdropping.
"While you were busy making a fool of yourself, Pan snuck onto the ship, through the window of the cabin the boy was staying in. The Evil Queen cast a protection spell on his heart, so the only option was for Pan to switch bodies... right before Rumpelstiltskin trapped his body in Pandora's Box."
"So that's why Devin..." Cassandra trailed off as Felix nodded. "Dammit. Now I've got one less reason to hate him."
She was quiet for a moment.
"I know…" She revealed. Felix tensed. "That Emma's not an evil hag who used magic to send me to another realm." She rolled her eyes, almost laughing at how stupid it now sounded. The idea that she only figured it out not long ago was comical. "I don't know how he did it. But I know it was all him... Peter and his grandest game of all."
Felix's body sagged with relief. She doesn't know.
He quickly recovered and relaxed into his usual self, full of witty remarks.
"Took you long enough." He sat back and cracked a smile. "I doubt even Prince Charming would have been fooled for that long."
Cassandra pouted. "I wouldn't go that far."
Sniggering, Felix tilted his head. "What gave it away then?"
"I don't know." She said with a shrug. "Maybe I just wasn't getting any psychopath vibes from her. Henry was pretty convincing too-"
Felix slid off the bed and scooted towards the bars that separated them. "Convincing how?"
The boy could see the shock on her face. Surprised by the sudden interest. In all honesty, Felix wasn't quite sure either. He supposed it must have been down to his involvement in the plan to obtain Henry's heart. Felix had been there since the beginning. If Cassandra had been oblivious to the truth of her past the whole time she was in Neverland, how did that boy manage to convince her within a few days.
"He... he laid it all out. And the whole thing sounded ridiculous. But I didn't want to believe it. That tale, Felix, my life grew around it. Any doubts became harder and harder to acknowledge as time passed. Because if they were true, it would mean that I'd been played all that time... which... I was."
Felix watched as she traced patterns in the dust on the floor by her feet.
"You forgave him though."
She nodded, not meeting his eyes. "It had gotten to the point where I couldn't survive without him. I need him Felix. It's pathetic but it's true."
"Andie." His fingers curled around the bars, only she could appeal to his softer side. "He does love you. That part was real, I promise."
Raising her head, she gave him a watery smile.
"Crying doesn't suit you." He scrunched up his nose in disgust.
"Sorry." She dabbed the corners of her eyes with bottom of her hand. "It's been a long day."
"A long life."
"Yeah." She let out a long shaky breath. "A long life indeed."
/
"We found Regina, with Mendell. He's coming your way." David's voice through the radio finished. Static crackled and Emma looked to Neal.
"Greg Mendell." She said, shocked. She had been so sure it was her.
"So I was right. It wasn't Tamara." Neal replied.
Emma crashed to the floor.
"Actually... it was." Neal's eyes shot to Tamara who chucked a metal pipe onto the floor. She spotted Emma's gun on the floor. Stepping over the body, Tamara picked up the gun and aimed it at Neal. "I just had some help."
"What are you doing, Tamara?"
"I have to keep magic out of this world, Neal. It doesn't belong here. You more than anyone should understand that. It drags people away from their families. It's a poison."
"You've been lying to me. How long have you been lying to me?"
"This is more important than any..."
"How long?!" Neal yelled. He needed to know.
"Since the beginning. Since I spilled coffee on you."
"It wasn't an accident. You planned it all. None of it was real." He could feel a hole growing in his chest, every memory of Tamara falling down it and making the void even bigger.
"Neal, you're a good man-"
"Did Cassandra know? Did you drag your daughter into this too!"
"She's not my daughter Neal."
"So you lied about that too?" He couldn't believe it. The better part of a year. And it had all been a lie.
"She's yours."
Neal looked at her, bewildered. "What?"
"Ask her." She pointed behind her to an unconscious Emma. "Eleven years ago, she had twins."
"Cassandra's older than Henry." Neal pointed out. Did she really think he was stupid enough to fall for that?
"Because of magic." She spat out the word with disgust. "It tore her away from the life she could have had."
Neal blinked, not entirely sure if he was convinced yet. "Does she know?"
"She knows who you are. Who Emma and Henry are. She doesn't know about me trying to destroy magic."
"Why didn't she say anything!"
"You can ask her yourself, if you stay out of my way."
"I can't let you leave here, Tamara." He began pacing forwards.
"Neal, please don't make me." She warned. Neal took no notice and the next thing he heard was a gunshot; the next thing he felt was a pain in his chest and he fell to the floor. "I'm sorry Neal."
"You should be." Emma's voice rang out as she kicked the gun from Tamara's hand. The pair swung and grabbed at the other. Emma picked up Tamara when she noticed the gun several feet away. She threw the woman onto the ground with a thud and raced to the weapon. She pointed it towards Tamara. "It's over."
"No, it's not." Lying on the floor, Tamara threw a magic bean. It skidded across the dusty wood and suddenly a giant portal appeared where Emma stood. The blonde leapt up and grabbed onto one of the pipes that clung to the wall. The metal however, wasn't strong enough, and slowly bent over, lowering Emma towards the portal.
"Bye." Tamara said, fleeing now that Emma was unable to chase her.
/
"Do you think they'll be okay?"
"Course they will. Not like anything can happen to them while they're locked up." Devin answered.
Darrel nodded, unconvinced, and watched the other Lost Boys playing about in the sand.
"Y'know what Tootles said?" Devin muttered. "Just like home, he said. Poor kid, it's just the beach that's the same. Even then, there aren't any mermaids."
"It might not be such a bad place, Storybrooke. Why can't you give it a chance?" Darrel wondered, breathing in the salty air. He hadn't minded leaving Neverland, for similar reasons to all the others that wanted to leave. But now that he had left, he found himself missing Neverland. Unfortunately, he and Devin appeared to be the only one.
"I just get the feeling we won't be sticking around for much longer."
The red-head peered at him. "Why's that?"
Devin ignored his question and switched the topic to another of his concerns. "Did you think there was something up with Andie?"
"Considering she was screaming when she couldn't get off that ship, I'd say yeah."
"No, I mean. Before that. Before Skull Rock."
Darrel furrowed his brows, deep in thought. "I don't think so, I mean, she was normal Andie when I last saw her- playing the drums."
Now it was Devin's turn to look baffled. Darrel was supposed to be one of her closest friends, if not the closest (he didn't quite know where Felix was on the scale). So how come Darrel hadn't seen any of the signs: the false smiles; the sudden lapses into thoughtful silence; and the vacant, hopeless expressions when she thought no one was looking.
He had deduced that Pan must have been part of the reason for her change, otherwise he would have sorted it. Pan would never let her odd behaviour go amiss. He hated, with a fierce passion, when Andie was upset.
"Darrel. I want you to think really hard. Think back to when Andie had that long conversation with Henry." Devin waited until the boy nodded. "Now, after that, don't you think she seemed a little off. Quieter than usual. She kept disappearing from camp too."
Devin watched and waited whilst Darrel tried to remember. Darrel traced back through his memories. He vaguely recalled wondering where Andie was, though at the time he had dismissed it; he had presumed she was helping Pan with the game now that it was in its final phase. Rewinding further, he saw her face- sad and subdued. Again, he had dismissed it because as quickly as the expression appeared, it had vanished. Darrel thought he had been imagining things. He thought maybe she was just tired. He didn't link together all the signs- that something was wrong.
His head darted upwards. "Did you figure it out?"
Devin shook his head. "She didn't want any help from me. I tried to ask, but she shut me out."
"What're we going to do?" He queried, voice full of worry.
"We," Devin said, full of determination. "Are going to save our friend."
/
Cassandra walked into Emma and Mary-Margaret's apartment with Henry by her side.
"Is it true?" Cassandra paused and looked to the woman in confusion. Emma watched her, eyes glossed over.
"What?" She questioned softly.
"Tamara said that you were my daughter. That Neal, was your father."
Everyone in the apartment jolted their heads towards the two blondes. Cassandra glanced down to her feet, watching her toes wriggle beneath the fabric of the shoes.
"Answer me." Emma spoke slowly, as if she was starting to get angry.
Cassandra nodded sheepishly. You could practically hear the gasps from the onlookers. "It's true."
"How? Dunno if you noticed, but you're way older than you should be."
"I don't remember." She shrugged.
"Do you have any proof, that you're who you say you are?" Cassandra was still for a moment then shook her head. Emma sighed. "We'll just have to take you to Gold then... after we've told him about Neal."
"What about Dad?" Henry blurted.
Grief washed over Emma's face. "Henry," She crouched in front of him, looking him in the eyes. "Tamara shot Neal… he's dead. I'm sorry." Trying to hold herself together for the sake of her son, Emma drew Henry into a hug.
Cassandra froze in shock. Tamara...killed Neal? Neal was gone?
She had wanted her parents to pay for what they did to her for so long. Now that it had happened… why didn't she feel happy about it?
/
Cassandra and Felix both turned as they heard the squeak of door hinges. Emma appeared, staring at the pair of them from the other side of the bars.
"What's the matter with Henry?"
"He still has his heart." Felix drawled with a cruel smile.
Emma shot the boy a glare. "I'll ask one more time." She turned to Cassandra. "What have you done to my son?"
"What do you mean?" The girl questioned.
"He's different. He's been acting strangely."
"Ah." Cassandra spoke. Emma grabbed the bars, eyes boring into her daughter's face. "It's just as I feared Felix... a severe case." The girl faced Emma with a serious expression. "I recommend you look under the 'Teenage Rebellion' section of 'A Parent's Guide to Puberty."
As Emma registered that the girl was joking, Cassandra snorted at the look on her face.
"Must you behave like such a child?" Felix muttered.
"Come on I saw you smile."
"This is unbelievable." Emma kicked her foot against the cell door. "Why can't you just help me, what do you have to gain?"
"What do we have to lose?" Cassandra beamed.
"A second chance." Emma answered without missing a beat. "Not everyone gets one, but you are and you're wasting it. I mean were you ever wanting to help us? First you gave us that stupid fake locket and then-"
"Sorry what?" Cassandra's interest was piqued.
"The locket you gave us... it was a fake." Emma said slowly, not knowing what it was that had Cassandra confused. "We tried to use a tracking spell on it; nothing happened. Was it- what, some sort of test?"
"I thought you... you said you didn't use it?"
"I thought it best not to tell you." Emma said firmly. "I didn't know what your plan was."
Cassandra dove to the bars dividing her and Felix. "Is it true? Was the locket a fake?" Felix glanced up at her. He nodded.
"So he was testing me, even then... he didn't trust me." She whispered to herself. She raised her voice. "Is this still the fake?" She pulled out the locket from under her shirt.
"He switched them back as soon as you gave it to him. He 'fixed the chain', remember?"
She did. She'd had no clue he changed them either.
"Cassandra please." Emma begged, seeing her opportunity. "Henry believed in you. And I really really want to too."
"Peter is as good as dead in that box. And it's because Henry still lives."
Emma thought for a long moment. She knew that this was her last chance to try and get through to the girl. And dammit, she would make it count.
"Wendy said that Pan was dying-" Emma thought aloud, her brain spinning as it tried to realise something, something important, something they had all missed. "-that Henry's heart was the only thing that could save him... it would make him immortal." The woman gasped as it clicked.
"Yes. Henry didn't deserve to die. I'll admit that. But I couldn't lose Peter. There's more to him than what you've seen."
"Cassandra, what if Pan wasn't going to die?"
The girl's face scrunched up. "He was going to die. There was a prophecy, and I saw the hourglass; Peter didn't lie to me."
"No, but what if he didn't tell the entire truth? Hear me out." When Cassandra didn't say anything, Emma continued. "With Henry's heart. Pan would be immortal. That suggests that without it, he wouldn't be-"
"Thank you for stating the obvious." Cassandra began to turn away.
"But it doesn't mean he was going to die!" Emma rushed. Cassandra paused, and looked to Emma curiously.
"... What?"
"Neverland's magic was running out, he said. Maybe it was. Neverland's ability to keep its inhabitants young. If it disappeared, Pan wouldn't die-"
"He would age." Cassandra finally understood. It wasn't that Peter didn't want to die. He didn't want to grow up. Though in a sense, ageing did equate to dying. That must have been why her secret shook him so much. He had this whole game in place to keep himself young, and yet she dismissed youth so easily...
"Don't you see? Saving Henry, it wouldn't kill Pan."
A tune sounded and Emma retrieved her phone from her jacket. She held it up to her ear.
"David?" She was quiet for a minute and her eyes widened. "What?" She waited while he spoke. "Yeah, I'll meet you at Gold's." She hung up and stuffed the object back in her pocket. "Mother Superior is dead. Pan's shadow killed her. Now will you tell me how the hell he's controlling it from inside that box?"
Cassandra was aching: her body; her mind; her heart. When had things become so complicated? Why couldn't she go back to the times when it was simpler; when her world was steeped in blissful ignorance. If she helped Emma, Henry would live and so would Peter. If she didn't, Peter would never stop his tricks and schemes. His cunning nature was a part of him, but the brutality... that had to stop. How many had died at his hands? She couldn't let him ruin himself anymore. His heart was growing darker and darker and soon there would be no room for compassion, no space for love.
Overly aware of Felix watching her, Cassandra made up her mind.
"If I help you... you promise not to hurt him?" She whimpered; Emma seemed to be more sympathetic towards sad children. The woman nodded.
"I promise."
"That boy you've been taking with you around Storybrooke," Felix couldn't believe what he was seeing. He made no sound as Cassandra sold out his leader, for he was completely and utterly gobsmacked. "It's not Henry."
She would save him. As he had saved her so many times. He was her saviour. Now it was time for her to be his.
"It's Peter."
/
Emma and Cassandra raced towards the small group outside Gold's shop.
"Gold! We need to open the box. Right now."
"Miss Swan. What the hell do you think you're doing letting her out of her cell?" He pointed at the girl.
"Emma, he won't listen to us." Mary-Margaret explained. "He thinks it's too dangerous.
"But that's the thing, it's not." The Charmings, Belle and Rumpel looked at the frantic woman curiously. "Tell them."
Cassandra squirmed as everyone's eyes shifted to her. She sighed, they wouldn't believe her. It was surprising that Emma did. "Peter switched bodies with Henry before you put him in the box."
"But that means... Henry's trapped in there!" Snow fretted.
"And we're supposed to trust you, why exactly?" Gold shut off Mary-Margaret's worrying. "You would never go against Pan."
"Three things: I've discovered that Peter isn't actually going to die without Henry's heart;" She checked the items off on her fingers. "Henry was very, very, very slightly starting to grow on me; and," She grimaced. "I can't have Peter flirting with me again in my brother's body."
"I know something's been up with Henry. This is the reason." Emma implored. "Please, open the box."
"And what if she's lying?" Gold quizzed. "We let Pan out. He'll destroy the whole of Storybrooke."
"Then we'll take it outside of town. No magic. He can't do anything."
Gold thought about it for a moment. "And if it is Pan?"
"Then he's been controlling the shadow from inside that thing. Endangering the life of my son. We'll make sure Henry's safe from Pan forever, we'll kill him."
Cassandra gaped at Emma. She thought they were on the same side- she scoffed at herself. What an absurd notion. It took longer to fully trust someone. Cassandra knew that better than most.
"Very well." Gold declared. "But you put her back where she belongs. If Pan is in there, I'm not having her anywhere near him."
Emma nodded. "Sorry." She apologised to Cassandra. Her daughter nodded. She'd gotten further than she thought with her assistance. When they found Henry in the box, they would let her out of that soul-sucking cell. Hopefully.
Still conscious of the urgency of the situation, the pair ran back to the station. Immediately, Cassandra complied and stepped into her cell; Emma locked the door behind her.
"Thank you." Emma walked away.
"Emma!" Cassandra called. The woman halted, back still facing her. "I was wondering... Peter's map. Who are you?"
The woman turned on the spot and smiled although it didn't meet her eyes. "An orphan." That was all Emma left her with before dashing from the building.
Cassandra stood watching where Emma had been. An orphan. So perhaps her speech to the Lost Boys was sincerer than she thought. She dragged herself to the bed against the wall and collapsed onto it.
"Why'd you do it?" Felix's voice was hoarse. She turned to look at him. He looked lost and defeated.
"I couldn't let him destroy himself. You've known him longer than I have. Don't tell me you haven't noticed."
Felix nodded sadly. "I thought you were making him better."
"All I was, was a short-term fix. The island was slowly draining the good from all of us; Peter was almost out. Away from Neverland, there's a chance he can be the Peter we know he can be."
"Can I ask you something?" Felix had never seemed so vulnerable.
"I presume you will regardless." She said with a smile, though it felt false.
"What was your secret?"
"So Peter really didn't tell you?"
"I thought he would. But no. Didn't even give me a hint."
"Was it planned? Sending me to Echo Cave?"
Felix looked at her apologetically. "Yeah. He needed to know you weren't turning on him."
Cassandra bit her lip. She did have her suspicions. All of a sudden, she chuckled humourlessly.
"What is it?" He asked.
"My secret had nothing to do with that. I said that I wanted to grow up." Her laugh grew louder despite the sad shine in her eyes. "He got more than he bargained for with that sneaky scheme."
Quietly, Felix mumbled. "He got more than he bargained for with you full-stop."
/
Tamara trudged through the woods, where she found Greg, burying the remains of his late father.
"Sorry about your father."
"Me, too."
The pair were silent for a moment. Eventually, Tamara retrieved a brown diamond from a small pouch.
"Do the folks back at the Home Office know anything about it?" Greg asked.
"Yeah. They did. And you're never gonna believe what it does."
As she explained the purpose of the jewel, Greg's eyes widened.
"What are we supposed to do with it?" His eyes looked like they were about to fall from their sockets.
"They want us to move to the next phase." She revealed.
"Already?" So soon? They'd never completed a mission so quickly.
"Yeah. There's only one way to get what we all want. We have to blow Storybrooke off the map."
"And they don't know Cassandra's on our side, do they?"
"No. They know about her parent's, but as far as they're concerned, Cassandra doesn't have a clue about the plan."
"So we're gonna have to kidnap her as well as the boy."
Tamara nodded. "She's not stupid, she'll stick with him so our job's a whole lot easier."
"Good. And she knows where the Home Office is?"
"Greg. Don't worry. She's been through portals before, she knows how they work. She'll get us there safely."
Greg heard the conviction in her tone. Tamara however, had an itch in the back of her mind. She had complete faith in the cause... but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong.
/
Two figures walked through the cemetery. The first, a dark-haired woman, had her eyes set on the building looming in front of them. The second, a small boy, hunched in on himself nervously, eyes constantly searching his surroundings.
Regina unlocked the door to her vault, quickly ushering Henry inside. Sealing the door behind them, they made their way downstairs.
"Promise you won't touch anything?" The mother asked, she knew how curious her son could be.
"I promise." The child swore. The smile that lit his face, seeming so innocent, did not belong to Henry Mills. It was the complacent smile of a boy who had lived for a very long time; the smile of a boy who knew when he had won.
Discreetly scanning the shelves for the potion he needed, the boy paced in silence. Sometime later, his eyes landed on what he had been searching for. It sat in the nook above Regina's shoulder.
"What is it?" She asked, having noticed he was standing very still all of a sudden.
Peter Pan had always been good at thinking on his feet. "I was just thinking how lucky I am to have you protecting me here."
"Oh, Henry." Regina beamed, touched by his sentiment. "When all this is over, I promise I'm finally going to be the mother you always wanted me to be." She declared, hugging her son tightly.
Pan reached around the woman with one hand, gripping the bottle. He pulled it from the shelf.
"I love you." Regina said as she pulled back. Pan lifted the bottle and removed the lid. A powdery substance filled the air above it, where it was inhaled by Regina. Immediately, she fell to the floor, smacking the concrete.
"I know. That's why this was so easy." Not giving the sleeping woman another thought, he began scouring the room for what he really went there for. He rummaged through boxes and chests and at last, he found it. The scroll. The scroll to cast the same curse that had started it all.
Dread filled Peter when the realisation hit him. He needed the heart of the thing he loved most. And he needed to crush it.
Cassie.
He placed his hand on his chest, picturing her soothing heartbeat. It never failed to comfort him. He couldn't do that. He had realised years ago...
He would rather die than lose her.
/
It was getting dark when the pair of prisoners had their next visitor.
"Pan." Felix sprung to his feet.
"Hello Felix." He greeted, still in Henry's body. "Sorry to interrupt your party, but I figured you'd appreciate some fresh air."
Swiftly, Peter moved to the door and got to work on picking the lock. Cassandra stood up and watched him. Did he know what she had done?
"What's the plan?" She chirped.
Peter's head shot up and he glared at her. Cassandra flinched. Okay maybe he did know...
Creaking loudly, the heavy door swung open. Felix, sensing the tension, glided from the cell without a word.
"Let's go." The boy commanded and began marching away. Cassandra's heart dropped in her chest.
"But Peter... " Felix frowned. "What about Andie?"
Peter spun around impatiently. "Who?"
The two Lost Boys looked at him in confusion, was he really that upset with her? Felix pointed.
Peter's gaze flickered to her. When their eyes met, Cassandra felt ice spread through her skin: there was no recognition in his eyes. He didn't know her.
Oh Peter...
"Felix, I don't have time for every silly little friend you make. You've known her, what, a day?"
Before Felix could protest, Peter was gone. He looked to the girl still locked in her cell. A mixture of perplexity and confliction on his face. Cassandra's gaze was glued to the floor. Felix started towards her, but stopped himself. He knew what she would want him to do. Something was wrong. Somebody needed to watch over Pan.
He fled the scene, catching up with his friend.
Meanwhile, Cassandra sunk to the floor, eyes still glossed over.
Oh Peter. She sighed. What have you done?
She sat in that cell for a long, long time... wondering what price he would have to pay, and whether he was ready to pay it.
