A/N: I have finally proofread all of the chapters and edited them. It's hard to believe that I started this story back in 2014, and it's taken me 5 years to fully commit to finishing it. To those who've stuck around, I am grateful. I hope that these last few chapters will deliver a satisfying ending.
"You were saying earlier that you could sense things on the island. Do you think-"
"That I could track Baelfire? Yes, but tracking him and the Dark One at the same time is very tiring. I barely have any magic," Tink said quietly, and I could tell that she had baggage concerning her old existence. I decided not to pry because of the task at hand, however. "Baelfire has been in the same location for the past two weeks. Pan had tried to capture him, from what I could tell. When I organized the fake hunt with the Lost Boys, they expected to hunt for Bae, not an actual hunting expedition. Baelfire picked his hiding place well, but he won't be able to survive there."
"We're going to take him with us. There's no point in staying on this island when he doesn't want to," Killian added. His walking had gotten better in the passed hour, relieving me from carrying most of his weight. "What are we to do about the Dark One? Violet said that he needed to avoid Pan until we found Bae. We can't exactly split up with me incapacitated."
"Hold on," I said, stopping in place. "What about Smee? He's been on the ship the entire time, and Pan hasn't sent anyone on boats to deal with him."
"They probably don't even know he's there," Hook replied in awe. "Tink, there has to be messenger birds on this island, right?"
"Even better. Violet, use your power. You have magic that is in tune with this island. Make something that will give us easy communication with- who was it, again?" Neither Hook or I replied as I sat down on the damp ground to think. What do I need? A means to message someone across a great distance. Okay, think, think,... think lovely thoughts.
"Love, look," Hook whispered, and I opened my eyes. In front of me stood a black bird barely half a foot off the ground. It cocked its head to the side, but did not move. After the initial shock was gone, I quickly thought up parchment and ink. "Write to him-" Hook paused, looking at Tink for answers.
She rolled her eyes. "Write to him that he can find Baelfire in a cave on the leftmost part of the island, next to the natives camp. Tell him to tread lightly and to bring Baelfire back on his ship." I wrote everything down quickly and blew on the parchment to make the ink dry. Once the ink was matte, I rolled up the message and tied it to the bird with a string from my tunic.
Picking up the bird in my hands, I whispered, "Go to Smee." And, the bird flew off without a single moment of hesitation. "Now, we have the hard part."
"Convincing the Dark One to agree to our plan? Should be easy since we're returning his son," Tink replied confidently.
"Not if his dead mother and the man who stole his wife tell him the plan," I stated, grimacing at the shear absurdity of the circumstances. "He'll agree mostly because he gets Baelfire back, but we cannot let him fight Pan. He'll lose, and Pan will become the Dark One." I scowled at the thought of Malcolm getting more power when he deserved nothing. "Tink, start tracking him. If he arrived just now, he can't be far into the jungle."
"Oh, I only tracked him to update you two. If you want to meet with him, just say his real name. I would say it, but I don't know it."
"Fine, I'll call him." I furrowed my brows and looked around. Killian met my eyes and smiled in reassurance. Taking a deep breath, I clearly stated, "Rumplestiltskin, I want to make a deal." I wouldn't know if the latter part helped to bring him here, but I felt confident in my decision to say it. With a quick gust of wind, the scaly being showed himself. "You're here," I said in disbelief. Hook start backing away, which the Dark One noticed. He scowled at the pirate and kept the expression when he looked at me. "I-I- oh, Rumple. What has happened to you?"
"Who are you?" the Dark One asked, skepticism lining his tone. "How do you know me? Oh wait, don't answer. Maybe a village girl who remembered me as the coward. Well dearie, I will hear none of it today. I do not have time for this-"
"Wait! Hear me out. We found your son Baelfire. He's safe on our ship-"
"You took him on his ship," he said with clenched teeth. "The man who stole my wife?!" The Dark One's magic was cracking through the air, making the environment tense and dangerous. "Tell me why I should trust you, especially him."
"Rumple-"
"I am the Dark One! You will address me as such!" he commanded.
A familiar hit of deja vu struck Violet as she shook her head. "You can trust us, Dark One. We are trying to leave this island. Baelfire is safe, but you are not."
Rumplestiltskin let out a chuckle. "Not possible. I am the strongest magic wielder-"
"In your world," I interrupted. "Here, Pan's power is boundless, but he's dying. In order to live forever, he wants to absorb your power. He had, at first, pushed the plan onto me, but I soon realized that Peter Pan only serves himself."
"Be that as it may, he cannot kill me without my dagger," the Dark One revealed, looking slightly peeved at the fact he had to.
"A dagger that could easily come into his possession," Tink added before staring at her nails.
The Dark One scowled at her, but nodded. "I am no one to deny the fact this world's magic has no bounds." He scanned us for a moment before grinning. "Fine, I shall agree to your plan..." I smiled in response, but before I could say anything, he continued, "But, for a price."
"You're getting your son back," Killian gritted out. "Isn't that enough?"
"Was I talking to you?" the Dark One sneered. "My boy is not a prize, but a magic bean might be," he said with a smirk before giggling. "I know little miss ex-fairy has numerous magical items in her possession. Isn't that correct, dearie?" he asked, looking straight at Tinkerbell.
Shocked, Tink widened her eyes before looking away. "A magic bean is quite rare..." she trailed off.
"But, you do have one, don't you?" Tinkerbell nodded and frowned. "Quite splendid. We have ourselves a deal."
"How much further Tink? We have to get to the ship before Pan finds us!" Killian silently yelled while slicing at the thick jungle ahead of them.
"We are getting close. If I had known earlier that we needed the bean, then we wouldn't be in this situation," Tink complained, clearly aiming towards the Dark One who had a pensive look on his face.
"This is no time for arguing. We need to get that bean," I said. The journey was going surprisingly smooth, better than I had expected, but it left me anxious. I looked back at... my son to put my mind on something else. How had he become like this? So marred with anger, coveting dark magic. If I had been alive, would he have been like this? Backing up to match pace with Rumplestiltskin, I stared at his face and frowned. I don't even know what he actually looked like.
"What is it?" the Dark One impatiently asked, causing me to look away. "Fascinated by my appearance?"
"No, just wondering how you came about to look like this... wondering how you actually looked like-"
"That does not matter. This is who I am now. You are no one to question anything about me." Damn that anger. The frown never left my face, but I decided to stop attempting to talk to him. Killian looked back at us after the exchange and sent me a look that I could only place as worry.
Before I could process my thoughts further, we had finally arrived at Tink's home. She climbed up quickly, the three of us staying on ground. As quick as she gone up, she had come back down, now with a shimmery bean in her hand. She went to hand the bean over, but I stopped her immediately. "He's not getting the bean until we get off this island."
"We never agreed to those terms," Rumple sneered.
I smirked. "Well, we didn't sign a contract, now did we?" He scowled at my cheek but was complacent with the decision. As soon as Tinkerbell put the bean in her satchel, the noise had begun. I couldn't exactly place it in the beginning, but it soon started to sound like a roar. My eyes widened in fear that some wild animal was coming. But, the noise filled up the jungle, far louder than any animal could. Slowly, the noise sounded humanlike, and I finally realized what it was. "They found us," I breathed. Killian, who had withdrawn his sword, was even more on-guard than before. Tink inched behind me, while the Dark One remained unfazed. I furrowed my eyebrows, but focused my attention back on the impending doom. Closing my eyes for a moment, my hand was now clenched around an impressive sword. I pulled it in front of me with determination.
Finally, Felix stepped out of the shadows. His expression did not let off any emotion, so I waited for him to say something. He ushered some more of the Lost Boys in, definitely not the entire rank of them who were seemingly hiding still. The boys were armed with cross bows and clubs, looking somewhat vicious, but I knew better. They were scared boys baited into doing a power-hungry man's bidding.
"Pan let me go, Felix. Why are you hunting us?" I demanded, lowering my sword slightly.
"He let you go, but he certainly has use for him," Felix replied, pointing at the Dark One who scowled in return. "Pan wants his powers."
"And, he will get none of it," Rumplestiltskin stated confidently. "Tell you Pan that sending his crew to fight me will only result in their deaths."
"He was willing to take that risk," Felix replied nonchalantly, but the other boys looked fearful, now that they knew what they were getting into; however, they didn't lower their weapons and ultimately, settled with a look of determination. "Attack!" Felix yelled abruptly before stepping back into the shadows. The boys yelled when charging at us but the Dark One pushed them back with a slight bit of magic. The rest of us looked at him in awe before turning back to see the next onslaught of Pan's minions. One by one, each group was knocked out. Before they could come to, we made a break for it, running towards what we assumed was the shore.
Five minutes into running, the same buzzing roar of the Lost Boys encompassed the jungle. We didn't know from which side they could attack, but Tinkerbell yelled out, "They're coming from the left!" Instead of stopping to fight, we veered towards the right slightly in order to run the opposite direction. A slight gap in the jungle indicated that we were getting closer and soon enough, the telltale smell of the salty ocean entered my senses. We all stopped at the beach, looking around to figure out the direction. Finally, we spotted the Jolly Roger in the distance further towards the right.
While running on the beach, I was astonished by the fact that none of the Lost Boys were following us still. Even the roar had dissipated, but I soon realized what had happened when we came across the place Killian and I had parked our rowboat. The boys all stood in a blockade line from the edge of the shore into the jungle. Out from the ranks came Peter Pan, and I saw the Dark One clench his fists. That further fueled my anger, and I stepped in front of the group to address Pan. "A blockade isn't going to stop us, Malcolm," I said, threatening him. Some of the boys began muttering and asking each other who Malcom was, and Peter scowled in response.
But, his expression morphed into a malicious grin. "You've brought me who I wanted. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have known where the Dark One was traipsing in my island. I'm all-knowing, but even I have my limitations. So, I do have to thank you for that, Violet. Bravo for messing up your master plan. Now tell me, how exactly are you going to protect the Dark One now."
"I don't need protecting," replied Rumple, stepping up to where I was. I began to work that one of the boys would just shoot an arrow at him, but they seemed to have lost their weapons. What exactly was Peter planning? Peter then took out his pipes and began playing a tune that I blocked off. But, the boys were entranced and began inching towards us as if possessed. The Dark One did the expected action of pushing them back, but they just kept on coming. When about thirty boys had approached us, the Dark One's push back began to weaken. And, that's when it had hit me. Pan was draining the Dark One in order to attack him easier. Widening my eyes and then honing my anger, I raised my arms out similar to how Rumple had his out and began to wish. Push back, push back, push back... And, the one boy in front of me was flung harshly into the boys in the blockade who fell back. Pan stared in surprise, as did the Dark One. But, I paid that no mind as I walked further up to the ranks, knocking out the boys.
Once I was a few feet away from Pan, I stopped and looked at him to make a decision. His surprise suddenly changed into arrogance, almost as if he had been feigning shock. "Did you think my plan was foiled? Oh no, see I have this trusty," he paused, taking out a peculiar silver dagger, "dagger in my possession. Come here, Rumpelstiltskin."
Before I could blink, Rumple had materialized next to me. Pan walked up to him with confidence and started taunting him with the dagger, but I knew what he was doing. He was playing before he went in for the kill, and I wouldn't let him destroy my son's life again. Running towards the pair, I saw Pan pull the dagger bag to plunge it into his son's flesh, and I stepped in front of Rumple.
At first, I didn't register the pain. I felt extreme exhaustion and was only slightly aware of Pan's widened, bloodshot eyes. And then, the pain came flooding in. With a pained sigh, I sunk to the floor. I could vaguely hear Killian yell my name before I felt a pull on my stomach and suddenly, my back was against hard wood instead of course sand. Hands were touching my abdomen, but I didn't know what they were doing because my vision went black even though I was still conscious. But, the exhaustion was overwhelming. The last thing I remembered was Rumple speaking an encantation.