A/N: Hope you all had a good weekend :) Enjoy and please review! :)
"Emma, what happened to watching my back?!"
Regina cries out as two masked figures run out at her from the thicket. She raises her hands to ward them off, but before she can even think of sending them sprawling back into the undergrowth, she suffers a horrible pain to the back of her head and everything goes black.
Moment's later- at least, she presumes this to be the case- she blinks away the dark wings that cloak her vision and thrashes angrily in the grip of two captives that drag her unceremoniously through the dirt.
"Hey!"
She scolds furiously, struggling to get her feet beneath her, but her assailants are short, and the angle makes it difficult to push herself up.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
She demands, before letting out a grunt when the uncomfortably forceful grip beneath her armpits loosens and she's left to sprawl on her back against a large boulder. It's the same mound of rock she and Emma had been sitting on, and she looks to her side to find the blonde looking rather irritated and dirty.
"You were supposed to be keeping watch!"
She grumbles breathlessly as she pushes herself up and moves to retaliate.
"Regina, watch-"
But the younger woman's warning trails off as the brunette begins coughing chestily; thick powder blown into her face through the end of a wooden pipe and catching in her hair.
"-Warned you."
Emma sighs, and when dark eyes glower at her feverishly, she struggles to push herself forward to allow the Mayor a glimpse of the fact that her hands have been tied tightly behind her back with a hunk of vine.
"What was that stuff?"
Regina asks, before yelping when one of the masked figures jumps on her to string her up much like the Sheriff has been. She shows her teeth angrily- outraged by such rough treatment- and snaps furiously when she's pulled once more so that she's sitting upright against the rock.
"What are you doing?!"
Silence from their captors, but the blonde turns to her and explains
"I'm not sure what that stuff is. I can't use my magic, though. It's like it's been drained."
"Poppies..."
The brunette seethes, and she struggles along with Emma to try and peer behind them where the small group of assailants have gathered. The dull surface of the rock stands in the way, and the two women exchange a glance wrought with uncertainty.
"It's okay. They're just kids, right?"
Emma whispers, and the Mayor concludes that she sounds as though she is trying to convince herself as much as she is offering comfort, and she nods woodenly as she tries to gain a little leverage from the tight bindings to her wrists.
"Yes, just kids."
She mutters, and she has the innate urge to snap at the blonde and ask her if she's forgotten their previous attack by Pan's boys, but Emma's expression suggests that the memory is still fresh in her mind.
"What do they want, though?"
The younger woman mutters beneath her breath, also working to loosen her wrists with the occasional wince as she twists and strains the injury to her side. Looking down at the mud-slathered destruction of her clothes from being manhandled over to where they sit, Regina worries her bottom lip as she wonders if the blonde's own capture might have caused her some actual damage, but all she says is
"How am I supposed to know?!"
Green eyes narrow at her irritably, and the Sheriff hisses
"Don't get mad at me. You didn't see them any more than I did!"
"Well, I was out in the open. You should have-"
"-Silence."
Comes an order from above them, and both women crane their necks to look at a stocky figure stood up on the rock looming over them.
"Hey, listen, if you're going to-"
Emma starts, before shooting the Mayor a furious glance when the latter nudges her none too gently. Regina glares back at her warningly, and the blonde sighs as she looks up at the boy who jumps down from the rock and crouches to face them. He wears a hewn sack over his head with mismatched holes gouged out for the eyes. A mane of feathers has been woven into the seams to add vibrant colour, but the overall effect is ghoulish. From within the sack, bright blue eyes glitter, and though she has no clue why it might be, Regina is sure that they are filled with good humour.
"I said silence."
The boy reiterates, and the Mayor narrows her eyes as the blonde sighs irritably. Stocky limbs are streaked with dirt and dark blue paint, and the handle of a large buck knife sticks out of the kid's hellishly worn sneaker.
"You never did listen, did you?"
He shakes his head as he turns to Emma, before getting up and stalking back behind the rock to talk to his companions.
"Check the cave."
He orders, and a steady patter of footsteps follows this request as at least some of the others do as he tells them.
Regina turns to Emma who frowns back at her, mirroring her look of perplexion.
"What did he mean by that? How does he know?"
She mouths, and the younger woman shakes her head in confusion as she casts a dubious look behind them. A moment later, voices sound from inside the cave, before a disgruntled growl both women recognise greets their unwanted guests.
"I'm coming, I'm coming, let go of me!"
Tinkerbell grumbles, and there's a rustling of leaves and a small thump followed by a pained yelp. The sound is the wrong pitch to belong to the fairy, and as the other two women struggle to see what's going on, a small boy of about seven comes shuffling into view, rubbing at his knee. They guess his age based on his stature as he too wears a mask, but he soon takes it off and tosses it into the mud, exposing cheeks tracked with tears as he sobs quietly.
"Oh, now look what you did."
Comes a disgruntled accusation from behind the rock, and Tinkerbell mutters something inaudible as another of the boys comes into view and places an arm around their weeping comrade.
"Tinkerbell?"
Regina tries in hopes of getting to the bottom of their newest uncomfortable dilemna, and the fairy comes padding around the rock to look down at her old friend and the young woman sat beside her with a bemused expression.
"What is going on?"
The Mayor demands, and Tink looks up at the others uncertainly and splays her palms.
"I don't know. Would you guys care to explain?"
She sounds irritated, but remarkably calm, and Emma and Regina share a glance as four boys walk slowly into view to make their number an even six. Standing in the middle is the stocky leader of their pack, although now that they are able to see him beside his peers, it seems that he is not in fact carrying extra fat, but rather muscle, and he stands a head above all the others save for one; a lanky boy with the ungainly proportions of a young teen.
"Put your mask back on."
The teen demands of the weeping boy now wiping at his nose. In doing so, he has smeared a glistening trail of dirt and snot across his cheek, and the Mayor wrinkles her nose while Emma frowns.
"It doesn't matter. Tink's here."
The leader advises calmly, and he places a gentle hand on the younger boy's shoulder before pulling a wrinkled swatch of fabric from his back pocket and handing it over so that the kid can clean himself up.
"Yes. Tink's here. What's going on?"
The fairy asks, taking a seat on the rock and responding to Emma's distrustful glower with an infuriating shrug.
"Pan's looking for these two."
The boy in the sack explains, and the Mayor thins her lips before asking
"And what are you doing?"
"We were looking for you, too."
He answers pleasantly enough, before casting his attention once more at the blonde; blue eyes meeting green through the holes in his disguise.
"I should have known it wouldn't be so easy."
He sighs, although his muffled remark seems filled with mirth.
"What do you mean?"
Emma asks, trying in vain to think if she recognises the kid's voice or eyes, but completely in the dark as to who he might be. He seems to know her though, and this frightens her quite badly although she tries not to let it show.
"You liked making things as hard as you possibly could, Little Fawn."
The boy sighs, and the blonde swallows while the Mayor studies her warily out of the corner of her eye.
"Who are you?"
Emma asks quietly, but the boy moves back to address the fairy and ignores her.
"We followed the pirate at first. Killian Jones but he goes by another name now. Pan's got his eye on him and the others. He thought the pirate would lead him to her."
He gestures with his thumb towards the Sheriff, and Emma frowns as she tries once more to rid herself of her restraints; becoming increasingly agitated. Tinkerbell throws the other two women a glance before asking
"What does he want with her?"
"He wants to make sure they don't get in the way. The Saviour and the Queen. He wants to keep an eye on them, but they seem to have given him the slip. The pirate was supposed to keep her from being a threat. We came looking to see if we could find them, but following the Killian only led us back to the camp with the other two that have come here. We waited there a while, but the pirate told the others that these two had gone off alone. Pan's been hunting ever since. Fortunately, we found you first."
"Wait. So you're not one of the Lost Boys?"
Emma asks, and the lanky teenager shakes his head as he corrects
"We are. We belong to Pan, in any case."
"We're his."
The leader agrees, before making a small gesture with his hands and disappearing from view. In response to this silent order, the others lean over the two women bound in front of the rock and take a hold of them tightly.
"Hey, watch it!"
The blonde seethes, as the Mayor scolds in agreement
"There's no need to push!"
The boys lead them back into the cave, beckoning for Tinkerbell to follow, and the odd little group sidles with some difficulty through the narrow chasm in the rock until they spill out into the large cavern in which the women had slept.
"Sit."
The lanky teen orders, and Regina strives to peer through the darkness as the Sheriff feels around blindly for the edge of one of the beds. Once she finds it, she leans forward to brush her shoulder against the brunette's legs, causing the Mayor to let out a surprised gasp before taking a clumsy seat beside her.
"Harry, give me one of your matches."
One of the boys- possibly the leader of the group- requests, and after some fumbling in the darkness, a small flame is touched down into one of the candles to provide a little more light.
"Sorry about that."
The boy in the sack sighs, placing the candle back on the ledge and walking over to the women on the bed.
"Sorry for sneaking up on you like that, too. We had to do it, you know that."
He shrugs, and the Mayor glowers at him reproachfully and mutters
"I know nothing of the sort. If you wanted to talk to us, you should have just done so."
"Not true. You were ready to use magic on my boys just for startling you, and she turned around on me grabbing for a sword."
He gestures towards Emma who narrows her eyes at him and asks irritably
"What do you want? What's going on?"
"I wanted to find you."
The boy explains patiently, turning to the smallest of his followers and murmuring something in their ear. The younger boy nods and hurries out of the cave. Catching the distrustful look the women react with, the leader sighs and confides
"Paul's going to keep watch in case Pan or any of the others show up."
"Any of who? You said you work for Pan."
Emma frowns, and the boy shakes his head and elaborates
"I'm a Lost Boy. We all are. But we don't work for Pan, not right now we don't. He hasn't noticed yet, and that's good for all of us; you and us lot. He's been too busy playing his games with all of you and with Henry-"
"-Henry?!"
"Where is he?!"
Both Emma and Regina start up immediately, and the boy holds his hand up in a request for silence.
"He's back at the camp. Don't worry- he's unharmed. Pan wants to use him, though. He's trying to trick him; trying to gain his trust. It's what he does, but this time, it might work. He really might be able to use Henry to save the island... He hasn't told him yet what that would mean, but he will. He has to."
"What do you-"
"-He means to hurt him eventually. After he's dealt with the two of you... These are all secrets, though. The others don't know. They just do as they're told. Please, don't think too badly of them."
"So why do you know all of this?"
Regina asks distrustfully.
"Because, I'm his confidante. I have been ever since Pan realised that Henry was who he was looking for. Before, he just knew that he was looking for the heart of the truest believer, that's all any of us knew. Then he found out who Henry was, who his parents were, and that's why he brought me into all this."
"You knew Ne-Bealfire?"
Emma asks, and the boy looks back at her through the holes in his sack and shakes his head.
"That was a while before my time here. I know of him, but we never met. No, Emma, it's you who he's been asking me about. I couldn't tell him much, but enough to have been trusted with some of the facts... He means to kill you. Both of you... And then your son. We don't want that to happen, and now we're here."
He finishes, showing his hands as if in truce, and the blonde frowns as she takes all of this in, before asking warily
"Who are you?"
"A friend."
The boy replies, reaching up a hand and pulling the sack off of his head."
"You... You're... Oh my god!"
