Chapter 26: Safe and Sound?
First, there was a sky, then there was the ocean again as the destination looms near. When they're back on the waters, you could tell from far away in the distance Storybrooke was there, the pier is near. The Storybrooke inhabitants on board the ship are finally relieved that they're back home, at last, their mission complete. While the others who have been in Neverland for nearly as long as they can remember have mixed reactions, for the younger lost boys it was of awe and wariness, while Felix as the oldest of the lost boy is however looking at the new land in caution. While Tinkerbell is a little bit enjoyed by the fact itself, that she is no longer on the island however she then groans as she remembers that Blue is here. Then there is Felicity and is of course enthralled that she's here with her family intact and together however there is that feeling she still has about Henry. The thing is she doesn't know what to say or do anything about it as she doesn't know anything aside from that there is dark magic there.
As they got nearer the docks, everyone has found that the pier is swarmed with people there, welcoming their people back home, welcoming Henry back home. To them, the people welcoming everyone back, on the outside looking in, and the people on the ship it was like for a moment everything is going to be okay. That they're back home, safe and sound at last.
A crowd is heard cheering as a wooden board is kicked down. Stepping over it is none other than Henry Mills on the Jolly Roger, having returned from Neverland. However, what the others do not know is that it is Peter Pan in disguise. The boy smiles, looking out at the people of Storybrooke. He exits the ship, soon followed by Mary Margaret and David, who all look out to the crowd, smiling, glad to be home. Everyone cheers; once Henry is off the ship, he is immediately hugged by Granny, followed by the dwarfs. Regina exits the ship, but no one takes notice of her. Followed behind her is Rumpelstiltskin, who looks down at his true love, Belle. They smile at one another before the Dark One exits the ship to join her. Behind Rumple is where Emma exits the ship along with her husband and daughter together embracing the truth to the people, ready for the change that's bound to happen once they see her with Captain Hook. Mary Margaret is seen embracing in a hug with her former friend, Ariel, having not seen each other in so long; Eric stands by his true love's side. Meanwhile, Regina stands alone, no one has missed her then suddenly feels a pat on her shoulder from Emma and the pirate, and as the couple looked at her Regina knows from their eyes they say that you're not alone, that from here on now they're friends.
The Lost Boys begin exiting the ship, Felix first, looking miserable due to Pan's supposed defeat. Henry glances over at the angry Lost Boy, making eye-contact. Rumple and Belle embrace in a hug, that latter reminding her love that she told him she'd see him again. "That's the last time I don't listen to you," Rumple exclaims. They are soon joined by Neal, whom Belle welcomes back. Neal thanks her, and then turns to his father, holding up his cane. He reveals that he found it below deck and thought he may need it. "Thank you, Bae, I do," he says, adding on that it's a reminder of the man he was and should no longer be. The three hugs. The Lost Boys finish exiting the ship. John and Michael Darling watch as they all exit and are soon met by the sight of their sister, Wendy, exiting. The brothers call out for their sister, making their way through the crowd to be reunited. They all embrace in a hug. "Is it you?" Wendy asks. "You have no idea how long we've been waiting to see you," Michael exclaims. Neal soon joins them, and Wendy asks if they remember Baelfire; the four hugs. Neal asks what happens now, to which Michael says he thinks it's time for the Darling's to go home, all of them.
As everyone now seems to be on land, Snow exclaims out loud gathering everyone's attention to her as she goes towards Emma where she's with her husband, daughter, and son. As she gets there, she hears David muttering, "Snow what are you doing?" he asks curiously, knowing she was doing something that they haven't discussed. Instead, she smiles and why does he have a feeling that he's not going to like it.
"When we left here, Emma was awakened from the sleeping, and immediately after that Storybrooke was saved then Henry was kidnapped. However, when we got to Neverland the journey that we've had taken there was something we weren't expecting." David groans as he knew right from then what his wife is doing now. "As you have already known, Killian Jones well known as Captain Hook have awakened our daughter with true love's kiss, what we didn't know then was that they've been married and not only did we find Henry, we also found out that we have a beautiful and strong granddaughter named Felicity who has been at Neverland for centuries. With great joy, I'm pleased to introduce you to our new additions to our family, Killian and Felicity Jones." Snow said as she's next to her son in law and her granddaughter, presenting them to the public. Then she thought of Regina and said, "Also Regina helped save us all, without her we wouldn't be here."
After a few minutes of shock and silence, murmurings were going around with the citizens of Storybrooke. In the minds of them all, they each questioned of what exactly happened at Neverland. The following question which everyone will wait until a welcome back party at Granny's is how was this possible. However, one man there knows part of the answer, it now made some sense what the name of Felicity meant to them as Archie Hopper goes back to his apartment. While the rest of the citizens left, going back to what they were all doing previously except for the gang that has been in Neverland.
Emma near her son pulls Henry to the side, asking how it feels to finally be home. He looks around, exclaiming, "Better than I ever imagined." Emma smiles at her son.
As the crowd had parted after Snow's revelation, Felicity embarrassed told her that she didn't have to do that. However, Killian while also wants to say the same thing, he can't keep his brother off his mind, how he died while David still lives is something that he is confused by. "Ah it is, the Dreamshade overtook my brother moments after leaving Neverland."
"Gold will find a cure," Mary Margaret says happily, "you'll be okay." Emma then admitting that for a moment, she was worried they wouldn't have gotten back. "Well, we did," David exclaims happily.
The Shadow remains trapped in one of the Jolly Roger's sails. David watches with Emma, Rumple, and Belle, asking what they should do about it. Rumple tells the prince not to worry as it is trapped just as it was in the candle. "The only person who can free it is safely in here," adds the Dark One, holding up Pandora's Box. Pan, who is still disguised as Henry, leaves the group and approaches Felix. "What do you have in mind, Peter?" the lost boy asks, "What if someone decides to open that box and let the real boy out?" Pan assures his trusted henchman that that is not the problem. Felix asks what the next step is, to which Pan replies the lost boy needs to be punished. He then calls over his "parents", asking what about Felix, reminding them that he is still free. Felix asks what his boss is doing; Pan says that they need to trust him. Emma, Neal, David, and Regina approach the two, Regina stating that Henry's right, they can't just let Felix walk free. "Oh, no worry, we got plenty of cell space for this guy," David says, dragging the evil lost boy away. Emma assures her "son" that he is safe now.
At the pawnshop, Rumple is seen placing Pandora's Box into a slot in the floor. The Dark One tells his company that once he seals the box in there, no one can break the spell but him. Killian, Emma, Regina, Belle, Neal, and Pan, disguised as Henry, watch as Gold uses his magic to lock the box in. The young boy asks if Rumple would ever break the spell, to which the Dark One says he won't, as he wants Pan trapped just as much as they do. Emma, Killian, and Regina assure "Henry" that the one in Pandora's Box will never get out and that nothing will happen to them again. Rumple adds that so long as he's alive, that boy will never see the light of day. "Henry" nods.
Hours later after the gang from Neverland is now showered with fresh clothes they go to Granny's Diner, where a celebration is held in honor of everyone's return from Neverland. When everyone has arrived there, everyone wanted to know the story of Emma and Killian Jones. The story of how they met each and how they had a life together once upon a time. Emma and Killian both decided that they shall tell the full story. Emma prepared them to be comfortable as the story is going to be long. When everyone got all comfortable and find themselves sitting down, they sat down ready, engaged to be hearing the story. Once the story had started and how everyone reacted to how the two met, well they were quite astonished to learn that Emma was saved from being drowned, that Emma who basically who can take care of herself was a lady in distress was amusing to them. Then as Killian continued to story, everyone was engaged and found themselves mostly thinking that Damn the pirate is a great storyteller as they were enraptured with the details that he was telling them, it was quite something else they admit. They didn't react much after that, as they listened to his voice along with Emma's. If they made a reaction they did so by being quiet and reacting at the right places as they did like learning Felicity's birth, they wore smiles and some of them chuckled as Emma told them her thoughts, as she thought it would be a boy and that they would've named him after his brother. When the story was finished, the people accepted Killian Jones for who he is and not his other persona as Captain Hook as they have all heard about. For knowing the truth that they didn't know about, they didn't find it appropriate to call him to his other persona when he wasn't exactly himself, and living off as someone else is something that all experienced when they were cursed.
They then ate and drink as everyone goes around the diner, congratulating them once again as they did at the dock. It was like how a light bulb turned on and off, that Killian finds himself being treated fairly from everyone. With Emma by his side, he was going to ask her a question when suddenly his in-laws go toward him, Mary Margaret then answered him before he even asked when she just said, " They see you as someone that can be trusted, recognizes you as a friend." She said smiling and then David finds himself seeing Killian as his son in law, by giving him a pat on the back. He didn't have to say anything, even though it did took him a long time to trust him, however after hearing the whole entirety of the story, he found himself liking him and realizes that he took care of his daughter and he couldn't help himself that if he would give someone his blessing to be with Emma, his daughter, it would be him.
After that, Emma is approaching Henry (still Pan in disguise), who is sat in a booth. The savior drops her son's storybook on the table; however, the boy does seem to care. "Well don't seem too excited," she says sarcastically before noticing there is something off about her son, ever since they came back here, and they've only been back here for a few hours. This thought catches her off, realizing that that statement she had just remarked says something is off. Peter Pan in disguise then quickly puts on a smile and flips open the book. "Are you okay?" Emma asks. "Yeah, why?" he replies before looking down at the book, reading it. Emma is now worried about her son; she doesn't know why yet however she knows that this is not Henry.
Grumpy and Happy converse with Mother Superior elsewhere in the diner when they are approached by Regina and Tink. "Green," the Blue Fairy exclaims in shock. Regina corrects the leader of fairies, stating her name is Tinker Bell. Blue tries saying she knows but didn't expect to ever see the fallen fairy again; at this point Tink jumps in, stating she felt likewise. The formerly Evil Queen demands Mother Superior give Tink her wings back, but the nun reminds Regina she doesn't take orders from her. Regina states Tink helped them in Neverland, deeming she's earned it, even getting pixie dust to work again. This surprises Blue, who asks to see. However, Tink fiddles around with the tube of dust dangling from her neck, stating she was only able to briefly, as it's not something she can do instantly. "Then there's your problem," Blue replies, stating Tink simply doesn't believe in herself anymore, then asking how she can believe in her if Tink can't even do that. The head fairy then walks away, leaving Tink annoyed, who tells Regina she needs a drink.
Back in his booth, Pan continues flipping through pages of Henry's storybook. Killian watches from afar, turning to Emma, asking how their son is doing. "As good as can be expected," the blonde replies. He then leaves, leaving her with Felicity. Then Emma looks at her daughter, silently telling her to follow her as they walk somewhere where they could get privacy, as they walk towards the hallways that overlook the diner and everybody in it, did Emma finally talk to her daughter. "Felicity do you feel or sense anything weird with your brother?" she asks wondering if her daughter knows something is wrong.
At first Felicity didn't know what to say then looking at her mom. "Yes," she answered. With a breath, she told her mama feeling and sensing something happened on the Jolly with Henry after Rumpelstiltskin took care of the problem before they arrived here before she went to her room and slept. She told her thoughts thinking that it was nothing and she was only exhausted however she's telling mama now as the feeling and sense that was there from last night is still there.
This worries Emma more and generally speaking while Emma is more powerful than her daughter, she's not good at detecting other magic, while she does get feelings from to time, she can't sense it as Felicity can. With this in mind, she can't help to ask, "what can you see?" with a fearful tone.
Knowing what her mama's asking for, what she meant, she catches the double meaning as her mama asks her magically. What can I see magically? What can I sense Henry with? What do I see the magic surrounding him? "Dark magic." She says quickly and she saw her mom flinch with worry and is scared. Before her mom asks another question, she answered saying, "It was there last night and before you ask, yes, it's still there surrounding him. As you remember from all those centuries ago, that when someone has magic, their essence in magic turns to color. (If the person has light magic, the color stays will be lighter, while those with dark magic will have a darker color.) The color is dark orange-red." She says finished as then watches her mama now scared and worried with Henry. Then asks, "should we tell anyone?"
Emma now back in reality from wandering around in her head of what has happened, of what went wrong as she replays the memory from last night after Rumple was shortly back on the grounds of the ship and replying that he's going to check on Henry as he says there's something wrong. Trying to remember what had happened after that memory, the memories flooding in, she felt an awful chill to her and suddenly there was silence until Felicity asked the last question of should we tell anyone. She thinks quickly and answers, "No, I don't think we can. No one will believe us."
Then they got out of the hallway, as Felicity goes towards her grandparents and Emma goes back to the booth where Henry is still sitting at, flipping through the pages of the storybook. As Pan flips through the pages; the next being of Hansel and Gretel, Emma then approaches him casually at the booth, exclaims, "Sorry kid, it's time for something you didn't have in Neverland - bedtime." Pan, wanting to keep up the act, closes the book and gets up to head off with Emma. Regina walks by though, so Emma reminds him to say good night to her. Regina is surprised by this, having not realized it was already this late and exclaims that it'll be hard letting him out of her sight. Pan then suggests maybe she doesn't have to, stating he could maybe stay with her tonight. Both women appear surprised by this, but Regina is thrilled saying "of course." Emma doesn't appear fine with this however since she decided not to tell she lied and stated to just call whenever she needs to pick him up. Standing with another crowd, Mary Margaret overhears this. Regina tells who she thinks is her son to come with her. Once they've left, Mary Margaret joins Emma, who is trying to build the memories from last night and acting like everything is fine; she states Henry probably just wants to spend his first night back in his old room. "Yeah, I'm sure that's it," Emma replies, still finding the words to say that she can't say. Mary Margaret pats her daughter on the back and walks away.
In the bedroom of Henry Mills at the mayor's mansion, Pan in disguise sits in the bedroom of the boy who he is impersonating. He continues to look through the storybook, flipping through pages of around the time the Dark Curse was originally cast. The boy looks around the bedroom, briefly looking over one of Henry's comic books and a record player. "Lights out, young man," a voice calls - Regina - who have come to wish him a good night. Pan then asks the formerly Evil Queen if she brought her vault over to Storybrooke during the curse. "Yes Henry, you know that." Pan then wonders if it has all her magic, something Regina finds suspicious, "Why're you asking all these questions?" Pan (in the form of Henry) answers that he may need it to protect himself from Pan. Regina states he won't be able to hurt him, as he's locked up in Gold's shop. Pan then asks what if he gets out or finds a way to come after him. Regina sits down on the bed and states that magic isn't the answer. As she closes the storybook, she adds that her vault is sealed shut for a reason, as it's dangerous, but she will protect him no matter what. Pan smiles at this, and Regina places the book on the dresser, stating that it's now time for him to go to bed. As she undoes the sheets for him, the boy gets in underneath. Regina then kisses her son on the cheek, tells him good night, and leaves. Once seeing she's gone, however, Pan hops out of bed and opens the curtains to his windows. Once opening up the window and looking out, he says to himself with a devious smile on his face, "She's wrong, magic is the answer. It's time..."
Over at the Storybrooke docks, the Shadow still attached to one of the Jolly Roger's sails, is suddenly able to break free and begins flying through the sky. It zips down a road, and past the clock tower, on its way to do Pan's bidding.
When Emma woke up back at Storybrooke at first, she is confused about where she's at, remembering what happened last night. She knows she is not drunk though where she is at is so familiar. Then she remembers how horrified she felt when Felicity told her about the dark magic of dark green is surrounding Henry. She remembered that feeling and then the welcome back shindig was ending, after Henry left with his other mom, Regina to sleep there, as they left everyone left as well. Before that, she was wondering where Felicity would stay a night at, as she didn't want her to go toward her room at the ship, then her parents suggested she could take the couch or take Henry's bed at the moment. She was so distracted ever since she spoke to her daughter, that she forgets the whole evening, that she followed Killian back to the Jolly and had sex with her husband. Even with one hand, he's still great at it. She doesn't regret it at all; however, she shouldn't have used Killian, lying to him to try and forget about what's going on with their son. She really shouldn't have done that, even though Killian did warn her, however, he wasn't complaining when they made love last night two or was it three times before they succumbed to sleep.
When they woke up and the sun rises more in the sky since they or rather he woke up at dawn, they met up with her parents, and oh my goodness, almost everything feels right. Almost. Ever since her mom told the town accepting the new members of their family and David finally approves of her husband, it's no wonder why she's feeling good. Question is how long it would last as Storybrooke always have something that's going on and this time coming back from Neverland it is surrounding her son and she doesn't like it. As she sits there looking at Felicity who no longer wears her old clothing from the past centuries and new modern clothing, she knew her daughter adapts fast to where she's at, and as they look, she is wondering if they or rather her as she decided to tell someone about Henry. If every day was like this, everyone getting along, with the family altogether if only Henry was here and nothing was going on with him, she would've felt complete. Now it's not, it was weird, knowing something is wrong and she nor her daughter knows how to fix the situation, whatever that is.
The next day at Granny's Diner, Mary Margaret and David eat lunch; the latter comments he never thought Granny's lasagna could taste so good, causing his wife to chuckle. "Perhaps you'd like to wash it down with this," a voice calls out - Rumpelstiltskin - who places a small bottle down on the table. "Is that-," Snow starts, to which Mr. Gold confirms is an elixir, which will cure David's Dreamshade poisoning once and for all. "You found a cure, already?" David questions, to which Rumple states he is a man of his word. David asks for sure if he owes Rumple nothing, to which the Dark One confirms it's on the house. David nods, thanking Rumple, and the Dark One walks away. Mary Margaret turns to her husband and sees him simply staring at the potion that will save his life. She asks what he's waiting for, telling him to drink it. David pops the top off the bottle and guzzles it down. Snow asks how he feels, and David begins breathing heavily for a moment. He goes to feel his side and a smile comes across his face - he's cured. He leans across the table and passionately kisses his wife. Mary Margaret sees the smile on his face and asks what he's thinking, to which the prince replies he was thinking they could maybe get started on having another baby. Snow's smile instantly goes away, however, and she looks down. David states he didn't mean right now, but Mary Margaret states Emma didn't listen to them. David is confused for a moment.
Then the the bell rings when Emma, Killian, and Felicity come through the doors as after they tried to get Henry at Regina's mansion. When he declined, they were all sad, and as they've all walked Killian said that Henry's not okay. Even if they spent little time together, he knows, and mother and daughter told him that they know as well. However, the visit to Regina's, got them more worried as Felicity suggested maybe the real Henry is in there somehow and is trying to fight, unfortunately, that's not the case. So, when the three of them walked in, they walked with gloom and notice that David and Mary Margaret were already there, having just eaten their lunch. When David notice them, heading towards a booth next to them, they were surprised that their son wasn't there with them. Before he could talk to them, they ordered their food and drink as Ruby went over them shortly after they arrived and sat down. When he had gotten the chance to talk about Henry, Emma stood up and decided to take a short walk for a few minutes and invited her father.
"What's wrong with Henry?" David repeated himself now that they're walking.
"He's not himself, he didn't even look like he recognized his storybook last night. I'm worried about him." Emma stated simply, not wanting to say anything else, especially about the magic. David defends his grandson by saying he went through a lot in Neverland, but Emma states she knows this, but he also asked to stay with Regina the night before. David has a hard time defending that but says she did help them save him, and she did raise him until Emma came into his life. David says he'll probably want to stay with his biological mother tonight so he wouldn't worry about it, adding that they're all recovering. Emma says she knows, but just can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen and she needs to do everything she can to stop it. David tells his daughter she can't keep thinking like that, but Emma wonders why not since bad things do keep happening. David states that good things do too, but if she thinks like that then she misses out, adding that there's more to life than looking for the next fight, saying she has to look for the moments. "Moments?" Emma asks with an unsure smile on her face. "Yes," David replies, "life is made up of moments; good ones, bad ones, but they're all worth living," Emma argues she seems to be a magnet for the bad ones, to which David replies that is all the more reason to look for all the good ones in between the bad.
After that, Emma's spirits were no longer down and keep thinking about the good moments, about the good memories like two nights ago when Felicity and Henry met for the first time, how she felt wholly for the first time in a long time. She keeps on thinking things like these as they walked back to the diner. Back at the diner, lunch was brought out and her grilled cheese with onions rings are there, already to be engulfed in it. Killian then told her if she was feeling better and said that she did, also said that her father helped with that. Knowing that her parents overheard them, she looked at them with their shocked facial expressions and told them that she meant them. She then went back to her food and asked Killian and Felicity how the food was. Felicity said that she liked the cheeseburger with onions rings and Killian liked his hamburger and borrowing some of their onion rings, which he enjoyed. Emma then notices his action and playfully says "go get your own."
He then played along, and he did the eyebrow trick of his, like wagging them, and just says "Pirate." She then shoved him playfully while Felicity finishing her meal rolled her eyes and chuckled used to her parent's antics. When everyone finished, they went to the bathroom and as soon as they exit the bathroom, the food already paid, they left the diner and encountered Tinkerbell. Then a scream was heard.
"What the hell is that?" Emma asks. Another scream is heard, and David points to the direction it's coming from and starts running towards it, followed by Mary Margaret, Tink, Emma, and Killian. Outside of the Storybrooke Convent, the Blue Fairy is seen running around, screaming, as she is chased by the Shadow. She is unable to get far, however, as the creature manages to catch up with her and promptly rips the fairy's own shadow right from her body and flies away. Blue then collapses to the ground, dead. David, Mary Margaret, Felicity, Emma, Tink, and Killian show up just as the Shadow gets away; David checks for a pulse but sees she is lifeless. Tink asks why the Shadow would kill her, to which Hook replies he has no idea but knows the Shadow only takes orders from one person. "Pan," Emma exclaims.
At Regina's house, Pan, still in the body of Henry, is seen reading through the storybook. "Henry," Regina calls, quickly entering his bedroom, "Come with me, something's happened." Realizing what this means, an evil smile comes across Pan's face