Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time
AN: Thank you, GranddaughterOfCaskettAndTivia for all of your help on this. Especially thank you for your speedy work! ~ XOXO MAS
Chapter Twenty
Killian let out a relieved breath when he realized whose voice was threatening them. He then let out a resigned sigh knowing this may not turn out well for them. He started to turn slowly when the voice snapped. "I said don't move," she repeated.
Now Killian rolled his eyes. "Bloody hell, Tink, there's no need to stab us to death with your poison blades," Killian grumbled holding still like she demanded
There was a moment of shuffling before the woman asked, "Hook?"
Killian turned slowly, his hook out in front of him in a peace offering. "Hello, love." He grinned at her, shooting her a flirtatious wink. She scoffed at his actions.
Slowly, the blond lowered her spear. "What? How? You got off..." she paused. "What the hell are you doing back here with?" Her eyes landed on Emma. "You." She recognized Emma after a moment, but she grappled for a her name for thirty seconds before she snapped her fingers. "Emma, right?" The blonde's eyes darkened suddenly and she shoved Hook. "And you bloody left me here!" She accused sharply.
Emma nodded hesitantly, momentarily drawing Tinkerbell's attention away from Killian and back to her. "Um yeah, hi." Even after discovering her parents were freaking Snow White and Prince Charming, she'd forgotten about the sheer absurdity of meeting Tinkerbell. Perhaps it was the fairy's ridiculous name that made it so impossible to believe she was real.
The blonde fairy nodded to Emma in greeting before turning back to Hook. "I don't like you," she snipped, though there was no real bite behind it.
Hook scratched the back of his ear uncertainly, aware that he and the fairy had a complicated relationship most of the time. "Um, well you know Pan didn't give me much of a choice," he reminded her.
"And you think that makes it okay?" She snapped, shoving him again. "Whatever," she sighed. "What's going on?" She asked.
"Look, Tink," Emma stepped in front of Killian, "we'll get you off the island when we get off, but right now we're looking for our son." She motioned between herself and Regina. "Pan kidnapped him and-"
Tink's eyes moved slowly over the group, they narrowed in on Regina. "What is she doing here?" The former fairy held up her spear again, this time aiming it at Regina and interrupting Emma's explanation of why they were in Neverland in the first place.
Killian pressed it down with his hook. "Sadly, she's with us. Pan kidnapped Emma and Regina's boy." Quickly, he detailed Henry's kidnapping to the fairy. He turned to David and Mary Margaret. "These are Emma's parents, Snow White and Prince Charming."
Tink studied Snow. "You're Snow White?" She asked. "This is the woman who ruined your life?" Her head fell to the side. "Wait, how are you all the same age." Her eyes flashed again to Regina. "What the hell did you do?"
"Wait." Emma held up her hands. "How do you know Regina?"
Tink sneered at the woman. "She's the reason I lost my wings."
Regina scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Please, it is not my fault that you thought you could help."
"I did help, you just didn't accept it." Tink held her head up high defiantly. "It's not my fault you're a coward and turned your back at the idea of true love."
Emma's eyes moved between the two women. "Okay, as fascinating as this conversation is, we need to find a way to get to Pan's camp so we can get Henry."
"Henry?" Tink repeated. "Oh, this is why Pan let you go. He let you go because you were having a son. And he needed your boy." Her eyes lit up. "He's Bae boy too, isn't he?" She started putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
Emma shifted uncomfortably from foot-to-foot. "I don't know who Bae is. Um, his name was Neal and he's not around anymore." She tried to ignore Killian's tense stance behind her. She cleared her throat and nodded. "But, yes he needs Henry, and if we can just find Pan's camp-"
"I can show you were the camp is," Tink offered to help. "And maybe it wasn't Bae. Maybe Pan needed him for some other reason. I mean he was the Dark One's son, I'm sure there are lots of reasons to need him," she rambled.
Killian interrupted Tink. "There's a but in there Tink. I know you, you'll show us the camp for something. What is it?" He asked impatiently.
Tink snorted and nodded. "I'll help you, just as soon as you tell me your exit strategy." The fairy crossed her arms and raised her brow.
The group faltered and David adjusted his sword uncomfortably. "This was sort of a spontaneous trip," he admitted.
Tink scoffed. "You honestly think you'll just be able to waltz off this island? No one leaves this island unless Pan lets them. And you need a portal. You don't happen to have one of those, do you?"
"We used our only portal to get here," Regina mumbled.
Tink rolled her eyes. "Of course you did. You never could do things the easy way," she snapped.
Emma sighed. "Look, is there a place we could go to talk. I'm sure between all of us we could find a way to get to Henry and get the hell off of this island."
Tink sighed. "I'll show you where my camp is." She led the way through the jungle to the tree house that Emma vaguely remembered from when she was fifteen. When they were all settled in, passing around Killian's flask (Regina was still adamant that she didn't do rum), they lapsed into silence.
"You seriously came back here with no way off?" Tink asked Hook suddenly. "After all that time you spent trying to get off to kill the Dark One to avenge Milah?"
Killian seemed startled by the question. "Aye, Emma needed me. Henry needed me. There's nowhere else I should be."
"You did it then, you got your revenge?" Tink asked.
Killian shook his head. "No, I haven't considered that in quite some time."
Tink's brow furrowed. "What the hell could change your mind? You spent three hundred years pining for your revenge!" She pointed out.
"I met Emma," he answered simply. The group was silent at his admission. Emma's cheeks lightly flushed at the sheer amount of love in his voice. David shifted uncomfortably at the admission and Snow beamed with tears in her eyes.
Tink cleared her throat. "It seems you found your true love."
"Aye, lass, I did. And Henry is her lad. I love the boy like my own already. We need to find him and get him home safely," Killian pleaded with her. "Please, Tink, we need your help."
"I can get you in, but I'll not risk Pan's wrath if we don't have a way out," Tink reminded them.
"Well, how does Pan leave the island?" Snow asked.
"Pan doesn't. No one does." The fairy sounded exasperated with them.
Emma's head shot up, remembering her own voyage across the realms. "That's not true."
"Love, Pan gave me a bean one of the boys had here. He kicked us off the island when I nearly filleted Felix, the bloody bastard," Killian told her softly. "It's how we wound up out of here. From there I got another bean and landed in Florida."
Emma was shaking her head. "No, there is someone else on this island who leaves." At the questioning looks, she answered simply, "His shadow."
OUAT
"If we can catch it, I can tether it to the sail of the Jolly," Regina stated certainly. "Then we can fly back home."
"It should work just like Pegasus's feathered sail, that's how Liam and I got here the first time," Killian explained to them all. "The only issue will be catching the bloody thing."
"There has to be something it's attracted to, something it's drawn to." Emma began pacing around Tink's tree house. "Something, other than children and Pan, that it can't escape."
"Light," Tink and Killian replied together.
"Shadows are attracted to light. They can't escape it." Tink explained.
"So," Snow began slowly, "if we can make something like that-"
"A coconut," Emma supplied. "If we cut a coconut in half and put a candle in it then we can capture the shadow and hold it in the coconut. Or something like that strong enough to hold the shadow."
"That's bloody brilliant, Swan!" Killian beamed at her. "And the shadow has no actual strength, it should hold it."
"I'll go find a coconut," David offered. "Then we just need to know where the shadow stays when it's not out kidnapping innocent children."
"That would be in Dark Hollow," Killian provided.
Emma sighed. "Really? It's can't be Rainbow Valley or something happy?" She muttered. "Okay, let's get the coconut and hollow it out. Tink, you don't happen to have a candle, do you?"
The fairy nodded. "Of course I do." She smiled at Emma. "Now, let's go get the shadow and figure out how to get your boy back."
OUAT
Emma, Killian and Regina were the three who volunteered to go into Dark Hollow to find the shadow. Emma was afraid they'd need Regina's magic, and Killian was familiar with the territory. Clutching the coconut close to her chest, Emma stepped into the cave first. It was dark, but Emma could feel shadows pass by them quickly. "We need to light the candle and get out of here," Killian ordered over the whipping wind. "We don't want to lose our shadows to this place."
As soon as he said that, the shadows seemed to sense them, moving swiftly around them. Emma opened the coconut and held it out to Regina so she could light it with magic. Before the woman could lift a hand she and Killian were both pinned to opposite walls.
Emma dropped behind a rock, her eyes wide as she tried to dodge the shadows. Closing her eyes, she remembered that she also had magic. Holding her hand over the coconut, she focused. She focused on Henry. She focused on how much she loved him. She focused on bringing him home.
Nothing happened.
She focused on being a family. She focused on how she hated Pan for doing this to her.
She felt a pulse through her veins and flicked her wrist automatically. The candle flickered, illuminating the dark cave. A terrible screeching made her want to drop the coconut and cover her ears. She looked around, terrified that something had happened to Regina or Killian, when she noticed the shadow being pulled into the coconut, it's filmy body twisting and turning, trying to find something to latch onto to avoid going into the light. Emma was fascinated watching as it wrapped around the candle. The moment it was fully inside, she snapped the lid on and held it tightly.
"Killian? Regina?" She finally called out.
Killian sputtered. "I'm here, love. Regina?" He asked.
The woman wheezed, "Okay, I'm okay." She pushed herself up on a rock, clinging for dear life. "Can we get out of here?" She asked weakly.
Emma nodded and crossed over to the woman, holding out an arm in support. "Please," she murmured.
OUAT
When they reached Tink's tree house, they found Mary Margaret, David and Tink had a plan. "We're going in at first light," Tink told them. "It's when they're at their weakest."
Emma held out the coconut to Regina. "Can you protect this so Pan can't open it?"
Regina nodded. "I think so. I have no idea how strong he truly is though, but Rumple himself couldn't get past this." She grinned and waved her hand over the shell.
"We should get some rest. Killian and I will take first watch," David offered.
Emma looked between her father and her fiance. She nodded after a moment. Standing she crossed over to Killian. "If anything happens, wake me?" She requested softly.
He smiled down at her. "Of course, darling. Get some sleep. We're going to get Henry in just a few hours," he murmured softly to her.
She rocked up and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Then we can go home." He caught her head, tangling his hand in her hair to hold her in place, giving her a toe curling kiss. She sighed into it, leaning fully forward before she finally stepped back. "Love you."
"Aye, lass, love you too," he agreed, tweaking the dimple on her chin lightly before following her father down the ladder.
Sighing, Emma moved over to one of the cots Tink and Snow had set up earlier and settled down on it. She closed her eyes and prayed for a few hours of sleep, knowing she wouldn't because she would only hear the sounds of the Lost Boys crying for their homes. She hoped Henry wasn't one of them.
On the ground, David stood in front of Killian, his hand extended. "I believe, Killian, that I owe you an apology." Killian stared at his hand blankly. "I should've been more open-minded about who makes my daughter happy. You do. And you love her very much, it's all a father could ask for. Thank you, thank you for loving her and for being there when Snow and I couldn't."
Killian shook the prince's hand. "Honestly, your highness, she makes it easy. I just love her."
David swallowed hard, but nodded. "And it's David," he corrected.
OUAT
XOXO
MAS