Another chapter... Woo Hoo! Thanks for sticking with me! Much love!

I totally understand you guys! Why won't Emma say anything about Milah?! Remember she did try to back in the cave to Hook.

But then again, we are talking about Emma, and I have feeling that she would try and take care of her problems on her own.

And I haven't forgotten about Milah's side of the story. That's for next chapter!

Remember: it takes hours to make, minutes to read, and seconds to review. Please review!

Chapter 13

Emma took a deep breath to calm her frantic heartbeat as she followed Neal into Dark Hollow. Why the hell was Hook doing this now? It was hard enough that she had to rescue Henry from a teenage psycho also known as Peter Pan, that Hook's former lover was out to get her, and now she was stuck in the middle of what had now become a love triangle! First his confession and now declaring his intention of winning of heart would have made any other girl melt, but then again Emma wasn't just any girl. She would deal with all the shit involving Hook, Neal, and Milah after she had saved her son.

When they had gone deep enough the light in her lantern blew out and she turned to see the same happened to Hook's. Thankfully, the place emitted its own eerie glow making things visable. Neal took out the coconut. "So what do we do? Just wait for Pan's shadow to show up?" She asked him.

"Yeah," he replied opening it up. "Light the candle and the shadow's drawn to it." Neal placed the coconut onto a fallen tree. "When it gets close enough to the flame, I'll put the lid on it, trapping it inside this bad boy." The wind began to pick up and she shivered.

"Sounds like a wonderful plan, except our lanterns went out," Emma heard the pirate say, "How the devil are we going to ignite the bloody thing?" Neal pulled the lid off a lighter.

"Welcome to the twenty first century." She walked around waiting for Neal to light it up. After a couple of moments she asked,

"How's it going over there guys?" She saw Neal struggling with the lighter.

"Almost there..." Hook walked up to him offering a hand.

"Let me help." Neal shrugged him away.

"No, I got this." He attempted to light it again.

"I only got one hand and I could do better than that," Hook scoffed. The two began to bicker and Emma resisted the urge to roll her eyes watching their antics.

"Really? You're doing this now?" She asked them in disbelief.

"You heard the lady. Are we going to keep arguing or get the candle lit?" Hook took the lighter from Neal and tried to get the flame to come out. Neal laughed.

"Harder than it looks, huh pal?" He snatched it back from Hook and then the two wrestled to claim it, with the lighter eventually being flung backwards out of their hands, landing several feet away. Emma couldn't believe it. What they hell were doing?

"We don't have time for this you guys." Neal and Hook turned looking for it. And a blast of wind made her look up, her stomach twisting when she saw the dark floating silhouette of a boy. "We really don't have time for this! Is that Pan's shadow?!" She yelled above the howling wind, pulling out her cutlass.

"Yeah!" Neal shouted back. And then she saw there were three shadows. They plunged down to attack them and Emma waved her sword frantically hoping to hit one of them. Hook cried out as one of the shadows lifted him up and pinned him to a tree trying to take his shadow. Emma's eyes widened and her vision became a little blurry.

"Hook!" She yelled out in horror and quickly dove under a fallen tree.

"Emma!" She heard Neal call out her name behind her and she could only guess that the shadows had gotten to him as well. They screamed for her to leave, but she couldn't. She blinked the...tears? out of her eyes and concentrated on the candle. She had to get it lit and the only option left was magic. But let's face it, she sucked at it. The last time she had tried with Regina, the evil queen shook her in pity when she had failed to light the campfire. "Stop thinking!" Gold's voice suddenly yelled at her, "Conjuring magic is not an intellectual endeavor. It's an emotion. You must ask yourself, 'why am I doing this? Who am I protecting?' Feel it." His words slammed in to her. Emma closed her eyes and held her hand above the candle and her surroundings vanished.

Neal. She wanted to protect the father of her son because even after everything he did, she couldn't deny the fact that she still loved him.

Hook. She wanted to protect the only man who had ever broken through her walls. Throughout this journey she had come to realize she had true feelings for the pirate, although what kind of feelings they were, she had still yet to find out. And she intended to.

Emma waved her hand and the candle lit up. She opened her eyes to see Pan's shadow being sucked in and she quickly clamped on the lid of the coconut. Hook and Neal's bodies landed with a thud as they were released from the trees.

"Regina's been teaching you magic?" Neal asked getting up, and Emma swore she heard a hint of disgust in his voice.

"Yeah…I guess she has..." Her breathing still a little erratic from the magic. She looked up as Hook got to his feet, clutching his side. And then she was mad. She jumped to her feet, grabbed her lantern and quickly walked out of Dark Hollow, leaving the two men scrambling to catch up.

"Look Emma, I'm sorry, I messed up," Neal said breathlessly behind her. She whipped around, her eyes blazing at the two.

"Yes you did. You both did. We almost lost our chance at capturing the shadow because you two were fighting over a lighter!"

"It wasn't the fighter we were fighting over, love," Hook said plainly. So much for waiting to deal with this after Henry's rescue. She sighed.

"If I had to choose someone," and she found herself looking at Hook, "I choose Henry. He's the only love I have room for in my life." She walked away letting them digest her words.

"Where. Is. Pan?" Emma glared at Felix, the loyalest of the Lost Boys and the one who would probably know where was Pan was.

"Not. Telling," he mimicked her serious tone, glaring back. Her shoulders slumped, what was the use? She was stupid to think he would help her find Pan, Felix practically worshipped the boy. So much had happened and Emma was so frustrated that she wanted to cry. She had finally caught up to Henry only to lose him again. Henry had given up his heart to Pan because he wanted to save magic, because he wanted he a hero and she couldn't have been more proud of him. And it was heartbreaking that it was all a lie. Pan wanted to save himself, not magic. She bit her lip and walked backwards, quickly turning around nearly running away from the group. She needed to be alone right now.

"Emma!" She slowed down and turned back to see Mary Margaret behind her. She couldn't keep the tears back and buried her face in her mother's shoulder. Mary Margaret rubbed Emma's back trying to soothe her daughter.

"It's been a long day Emma. Why don't you go rest for a while? We'll get the Lost Boys to tell us where Pan is." Emma immediately stiffened.

"No...I can't. We have to save Henry." The last thing she wanted to deal with was Milah….she quickly pulled back her mother. "I have to tell you something." Mary Margaret tilted her head, looking at Emma suspiciously.

"What is it?"

"Ever since we came here, I've been having these dreams…. dreams about Milah." Mary Margaret's eyes widened.

"As in Neal's mother?" she nodded. "Are you sure? Because Pan could be doing this to mess with you. I'm sure once we get off the island it'll stop." Emma opened her mouth to argue, but her eyes began to droop and she could feel the magic forcing her to sleep. As much as she hated to admit, she was afraid of the what the female pirate and witch could do to her. In her sleep she had no magic, she was defenseless. She crumpled against her mother fast asleep, the magic too strong for her to resist.

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