Hook's really taking the "I choose Henry" seriously, she thinks, putting her turtleneck on over her tank top as Neverland's breezes keep getting cooler. Normally, they just end up close to each other... "Gravitating" sounds too formal. But he's near the front of their dirty and tired convoy now, when she's pretty sure rolling her eyes at some disarming comment would be putting her more at ease. Ahead of her, her parents chat about something, and then David veers off on his own, not angry, not defeated. Then have they made up? The only compromise they could possibly come up with in their situation is...
You won't just feel like an orphan. You'll be one.
Shit.
She runs up to Mary Margaret and touches her back, several inches from her quiver full of arrows.
"Looks like you two buried the hatchet," she tries to say in a casual, conversational tone, not at all like how someone who's fishing would sound.
"Buried? Uh...I don't know. We've at least put it away for now," Mary Margaret stammers, so hesitant. Yeah... She's choosing to stay with David. They'll both be left here, on this island full of vengeful Lost Boys? What's supposed to happen after she runs out of arrows? What's supposed to happen if she doesn't? She clenches her own arms.
"So you're really going to stay here with him?" she asks. Her cheeks and ears heat up at the realization she's still a little surprised. True Love's nothing to sneeze at, she knows, but...had her name come up at all when they'd talked about it?
"The thought of leaving you, Emma, it kills me," she says after her mouth dropped open. So that's it then? Isn't the very idea of anyone in their group stuck here just flat-out unacceptable? None of them had thought it through to this point, she knows, spontaneity definitely not an advantage, but whenever she'd indulged in picturing Henry in her arms, she hadn't pictured any dead bodies or missing people, either. "But there's nothing we can do. If David leaves the island, he'll die."
"So you're just giving up." It's a weird thing, being so mad she can't even look at her mother, but even angrier at the idea of both of them staying here. They don't belong anywhere so dark. They belong in some sunshine-filled meadow where birds sing all the time and help them out with their chores. She starts counting the backs of everyone in front of her again, just to make sure they're all here. "Family means being together, all of us."
"But...there's no other way." The anger evaporates the second she looks at Mary Margaret's panic-stricken face, panicked at the idea of leaving David here alone, and—Emma fights off the urge to smile—panicked at the idea of never seeing her again. She'll soften her tone.
"Maybe this is just you rubbing off on me, but I don't believe that. There's always a way."
She hadn't wanted to resort to bringing up his brother; Liam, David had said. She'd wanted to at least pretend everyone still had some semblance of a private life after being here. God knows she couldn't stand Pan putting her life on display, and he can't either. But she can't leave David here without trying first.
She weaves her way around everyone until she's right behind him, and she knows he knows she's behind him because that's how he is and he doesn't get to be a million-year-old pirate and easy to sneak up on.
"We need to talk," she says, taking hold of his arm.
"I find when a woman says that I'm rarely in for a pleasant conversation," he quips, staying on the path, apparently wanting to avoid her. Great.
"There has to be some way for David to leave the island."
"Well, there isn't."
No, that can't be right. He had had to think outside the box when it came down to just keeping David alive. If they put their heads together, they can do this.
"He told me about your brother, what happened...I know it can't be easy to talk about, but-"
"Then let's not, shall we?" She doesn't want him to relive it. Imagine, thinking everything's okay, only for someone you love to die, just like that. She can't have that happen to her father. "The water that cured David from dreamshade is connected to the island. If he leaves, the connection is broken and the poison will kill him."
She's thought of that, but at least he's talking. Now it's time to talk out a plan.
"What if we took some of the water with us? That way he stays connected. He can stay alive in Storybrooke."
"For how long?" And this time, he stops, so he stands right across from her, looking her in the eye. Not wanting her to try it. "Once the water runs out, the dreamshade will take his life."
"Unless there was another cure."
They look over at the same time at Gold—no. No, he's in his Rumpelstiltskin mode, swaggering up to them, like jumping ship and all this about Henry being his undoing meant nothing. But a cure—that meant something.
"You're suddenly interested in what I have to say?" He smirks at them. "I thought I wasn't to be trusted."
"You're not, but I'll take my chances," she snaps. He circles her like a predator, commanding her attention, having all the power in the discussion before it's even a discussion. It's an effective sales pitch, she thinks. One he's probably done again and again.
"Well, if you'll remember, I too was poisoned with dreamshade by a cowardly pirate, and yet-"
She doesn't mean to glance over at Hook, his tight grin not reaching his eyes promising trouble.
"Yes," she snaps, shutting this down before things get more dramatic. "And we know how you cured yourself. The candle that takes another person's life—David is not that selfish."
Although if Pan's the person on the other end of that candle, she might just find herself going along with it...
"How noble," Gold says, sneering at her. "The point is, after my near-death experience, I discovered much about the poison."
The corner of her eye notices Hook shaking his head and seeing where this is going, but see, that's the thing about what being a Dark One must be like—people listen to you whether they want to or not because they're desperate. And Gold? Gold sniffs desperation a mile away.
"I believe I could create an elixir back in my shop."
"What's your price?" Because if he has another kid running around somewhere, he can go get himself another guide. She's done with the fairytale version of the Kevin Bacon game.
"Well, this is quite the favor," Gold's pretty much singing. "I'd expect one of equal weight when we return."
He starts to walk away. But...they hadn't made a deal. He's walking away so she'll agree to anything he says, maybe even agree without knowing, like she did before. And she'll do it. It's her father.
"No." Neal breaks the silence. Neal? She'd hadn't even noticed he'd been next to his father the whole time. He catches up to him, and if there's anyone in the group Gold will wait for, it's Neal. "When we get back to Storybrooke, you're going to save David because it's the right thing to do. No deals, no favors. Understand?"
Her eyes find Hook's and ask without speaking, is this real? It's like the two of them are watching a play. Except for how tense Gold is, like it pains him to just do someone a favor without getting anything in return. Hook's not looking directly at her anymore, still watching what's unfolding in front of them, but he believes Neal. Cautiously, but believes him.
"Fine," Gold murmurs, nearly hisses. "I'll do as you ask."
And that's it? How many people back in Storybrooke made a deal with him only to wish later they had a Neal Button to push?
"I'll go tell David," she says, hurrying before anyone changes their mind.
They're all behind her, but she doesn't need to hear Gold's posturing—or Neal's. She'll find David and tell him privately. He can be the one to give Mary Margaret the good news, and she's using "good" loosely, still not sure there won't be a price attached somewhere. Then she doesn't have to be the one to tell Mary Margaret it was Neal that made it happen.
She feels Hook at her side again, and she exhales, seeing Gold and Neal out of earshot.
"What do you think he would have wanted?" she asks under her breath, her head reeling at the possibilities.
"Best not to dwell on it," he mutters back.
No. No, no, no! She sees his heart! Her own is going a mile a minute; it will stop if it doesn't.
"Henry, wait!" Neal yells as they run up to where he and Pan are standing, not too close. "Whatever Pan's telling you to do, don't do it!"
"Dad?" She hasn't heard his voice for so long. "You're alive?"
"I am, buddy," Neal says, his breathing ragged but trying to stay calm. She can't take her eyes off Henry, the rest of this cave or cove or whatever it is blurring.
"And I need you to listen to me," Neal continues. "Pan is lying to you."
"Oh, pleasure to see you too, Baelfire," she hears Pan fire back, more irritated than angry. "Not to mention the Savior and the Evil Queen."
It's her turn to try. She hadn't believed when he'd held the turnover in his hands, but she does now. Maybe that will make all the difference. She has to hope.
"Henry, you need to get away from him now. He's trying to hurt you."
"No. The heart of the truest believer—it's what's going to save magic."
What?
"No, it's not. This was never about magic, Henry. You have to believe us. The only person Pan's interested in saving is himself," Regina says, her voice quivering, her arm stiff at her side with her fingers stretched out, like she's fighting the urge to throw one of her fireballs. Emma looks away from her back to Henry. That had to make sense to him. She doesn't want to look away from him again, but the three of them need a plan, to do something other than stand here and beg Henry not to do anything.
"That's not true!" Henry cries.
"Of course it isn't." Pan comes into her line of sight now, blocking Henry's view of her, and she wants to roar and tear out her hair and tackle the little demon shit to the ground, but the heart is so close. Almost golden.
"Yes, it is! Pan can't live without you dying! If you give him your heart, it's going to kill you!"
"They're trying to stem your belief, Henry," Pan argues, almost interrupting Neal and placing a hand on Henry's shoulder. "Remember, every hero gets tested."
That's what this is about? Henry getting to be a hero? Saving Neverland?
"Henry," she says as gently as she can so he'll look at her. Biting her lip, s-she can't lose him. "I know what being a hero looks like, and this isn't it."
"Why would they lie?" Henry's looking up at Pan, not her. No. No, not her Henry. He's already a hero. Everything he's ever done, bringing her to Storybrooke, eating the turnover, fighting for her and Mary Margaret to come home to him—he's her hero!
"Because that's what adults do, Henry. You know that better than anyone."
"Henry...you have to believe us," Regina pleads with him.
"Your parents don't care about Neverland, Henry. They know if you give your heart to save it, then you'll have to stay. They're being selfish because they don't want to lose you!" Pan barks, all the smugness gone. Her superpower isn't working, but it doesn't have to. She knows a sociopath when she
sees one, and this one believes his lies. On an island run on belief. What's real and what's not probably got confused a long time ago.
"Henry, you have to trust us," she tries again.
"Trust?" Pan growls at her, and it takes her out of the moment for just a minute, back to the book she'd read, something about Pan snarling at the mom or something, all the more terrible because he was gnashing his baby teeth. She shakes her head. If she lets Pan scare her that much, it's over.
"I'm the only one who's ever been honest with you, Henry," he goes on frantically. "The only one who ever believed in you. This is your choice, not theirs! You have to choose now. We're running out of time."
"We believe in you, Henry," Neal says, full of faith, faith she didn't know if he really had or not, but there is hope in his tone, and she's been around all this magic stuff long enough to know hope can be enough.
"Because we love you," she adds. And when it's not enough, love does the rest.
"More than anything," she hears Regina tell him.
"I love you, too," Henry says to them all, and she smiles. She lifts her foot. "But I have to save magic. I'm sorry."
"No!" she screams, but it's drowned out along with Regina and Neal's. A green light pulsates out from where Henry stuck his heart into Pan's chest, the scent a nauseating mixture of alcohol and candy. It knocks her off her feet, the entire island shaking like it's an earthquake.
Her baby is on the ground, not moving, and Pan hovers above them.
A/N: Whoa, okay. Calm down, guys. It's not the end of Henry yet. It's not even the mid-season finale. Coming up? Team Neverland succeeds, but will it be smooth sailing after that?
