Hey guys! Quick chapter I wrote between Essays! Not as long as usual but it should hold you guys over! Enjoy!
Back in Neverland
"No!" Henry yelled, kneeling on the floor with Autumn. Everyone else in the cave went to her side as Peter Pan made his escape through the eye of the cave.
"Oh my god." Neal gasped. "Autumn." He shook her.
"Is she… is she…" Henry couldn't get the word out.
"No… not yet." Regina said, running magic over Autumn, "This will slow the process, but if we don't get her heart back soon, she will be."
"Where the HELL was Gold?" Emma spat angrily.
"I don't know, but we need to move." Regina said, grabbing Henry's hand lightly. Neal picked Autumn up in his arms and they ran from the cave. When they got back to the lost boy's camp, they had woken up and everyone looked hopeful until they saw Autumn limp in Neal's arms.
"Bloody hell, what happened?" Hook asked, shocked.
"Pan took her heart." Regina said.
"It's all my fault." Henry said sadly. "I was a diversion and I was too stupid to see it."
"Henry… no." Regina said softly. "Listen… it'll be okay. You aren't stupid… you're good and a hero. Pan tricked you, he tricked all of us." Henry shrugged away slowly and sat by where Neal put Autumn. There was a sound of a scuffle and everyone to see Long Shot on top of Felix, the laced arrow to his throat.
"You knew, didn't you?!" he shouted at the teenager.
"Long Shot." Tink said.
"No… he knew!" Long Shot seethed. "Where is he?" Felix visibly tightened his jaw.
"He's probably at his thinking tree… remember Long Shot?" a little lost boy said sweetly.
"The pixie dust tree… we'll get ready to go." Long Shot said. Snow, Emma and Regina went full force into the jungle, leaving everyone else to rally up the Lost Boys and get ready to cast off. The women ran until Snow suddenly stopped. There on a stump was Pandora's box, just sitting there on it's own.
"Hey guys, it's Pandora's box… what if… Pan captured Gold in here.." Snow went to pick it up.
"Don't touch that. Pan probably…" Emma started, all three women were grabbed by vines and pinned to the tree.
"Ahh… regret… a very useful weapon." Pan came striding out of the brush. The women struggled, he bent over and picked the box up. "All you woman have regrets… all related to being mothers. Funny thing, parenthood." He examined the box.
"What the hell do you know about being a parent?" Regina spat.
"Why… Your highness… all the dealings you had with him… and now with me.., you never noticed the family resemblance?" he laughed holding the box side to side with his own face. "Plus Baelfire has the family eyes, which he passed onto his son, Henry."
"Gold is your son?" Emma asked shocked.
"For someone who is supposed to be so powerful. You're a bit slow on the punch darling." He chuckled. "So many regrets… I honestly have none. Giving up my son was the best thing I could have possibly done for myself. But your regrets ladies… they will eat you alive… literally. See, for such a powerful force, that's all pixie dust is, regrets."
"I don't have any regrets either." Regina struggled.
"Don't lie, Regina." Pan flashed with anger. "We both know you've lied awake wondering what life would be like if you could have just loved Snow White… or if Emma had never come to town… if Emma had been shot instead of Autumn. Fun y how you care for my little granddaughter. That care, that feeds your regrets… and those end up being miscalculations. It's why I am always one step ahead of all of you." Pan laughed.
"You did miscalculate." Came a voice from behind Pan. He turned to see a hand buried in his chest. "You left magic on my hand." It was Henry, he yanked the heart out and Pan fell to the jungle floor and the vine let Snow, Emma and Regina go. Snow picked up the box and all three stared at Henry.
"Henry… I…" Regina started.
"I know… I should have stayed at the camp, but…" Regina dragged him into a hug.
"You did the right thing… I'm proud of you."
"Me too." Emma said.
"Good. Everyone is on the ship… Let's go get this back in Autumn's chest." He handed the heart to Regina and the four of them actually magicked to the Jolly Roger. The entire ship held their breath as Regina slowly sunk the heart back into Autumn's chest. The girl responded by sitting upright with a gasp. Panting and her forehead a bit slick with sweat she looked around.
"Why do I feel like I've been hit by a truck?" she groaned lightly, everyone chuckled.
"You hit a stone, cave floor with a force." Emma chuckled slightly. Henry rushed forward and hugged her tightly.
"Henry, you're okay!" she hugged him back. "Do I get to know what happened while I was out?"
"After we get your Dad out of Pandora's box." He helped her up. She walked to the helm where Neal was waiting with the box. He smiled at her and opened it, in a haze of red their father appeared.
"Papa." Neal hugged him. Gold playfully smacked Neal's cheek.
"Told you I would never hurt the boy."
"Daddy!" Autumn leaped on him.
"Princess!" he picked her up and kissed her.
"I love you, I love you, I love you!" Autumn hugged him. "Guess what?! I had my heart ripped out… because Peter Pan is my Grandfather… want to explain?"
"How did you figure out that?" Gold asked his daughter,
"I saw it when Regina put my heart back in. I saw what he saw while my heart was in his body." She smiled and hugged him tighter. "Don't worry, you're a much better Daddy than him."
"That's for sure." Neal hugged him too. Suddenly both Autumn and her father flinched, then Long Shot screamed,
"Princess, Pan is…" he ran up then he stopped, then blood came out of his mouth. He had an arrow on his throat, two more arrows struck him before he fell to the deck, Autumn trying to catch him. Gold and Regina went for Henry and Hook and Charming tackled Felix, who had somehow nicked Long Shot's bow and shot him with it. Autumn scooted the dying boy's head in her lap, the arrow on his neck hit something major and it was the laced arrow. She knew he was going to die. She cried.
"I got you Long Shot… don't worry, I got you." She sniffled, then began to pant heavily as flashbacks of Graham came forward in her mind. She cried even more, not being able to say anything, but hugged him close. She didn't care that she was getting blood all over him. He slowly began choking and trembling then he fell motionless, staring at her. The lost boy died being hugged by someone who loved him.
"Autumn… he's gone." It was Snow.
"No… it's not fair." She cried. "Not fair." She muttered. Emma sunk next to her and shut the boy's eyes. "He never had a family Emma. His parents abandoned him for drugs… we could have been his family. He had a chance."
"I know kiddo… he was a good kid." She went to help her up, but Autumn stayed. "Autumn… you gotta let him go."
"We'll bury him back home, alright dearest." This time it was Gold lifting his daughter up. Hook took the boy below deck and Gold cleaned her up.
"I keep seeing Graham." She whispered to her father.
"I'm sorry dearest, I'm sorry this is your life and reality." He whispered. "Pan is finally in Pandora's box, and you and Henry are safe now." Autumn nodded and went to the edge and watched as Shadow was caught to the sail and they lifted off the ground. Autumn stared down in a mixture of sadness and wonder. She heard someone walking up behind her, the slight switch in the steps told her it was Hook.
"You know, Neverland looks beautiful from up here."
"Aye, Neverland is like an asylum. Looks better the farther you get away from it." He smiled.
"I'm so done with people dying." She sighed, casting a look at Felix. "I wonder what happened to him… really."
"What do you mean, Felix? He's just an evil soul." Hook countered. "Pan is what happened."
"No… I don't believe it was just Pan, nor that anyone is born evil. Something or someone must have tripped him up somewhere."
"How do you figure?"
"I think you know this as well as I…" Autumn sighed. "'Killing is not as easy as the innocent believe'." She quoted.
"A little girl with so much wisdom… how does that happened?" Hook chuckled.
"I tend to quote Albus Dumbledore a lot." She shrugged.
"I'll have to meet this Dumbledore." Hook nodded, Autumn actually laughed,
"You'll have to read Harry Potter then."
I hope you guys like it! Back to my essays! Bleh! Hahaha!