The Enchanted Forest-Past

I was helping the crew get ready for our return trip to Neverland after another failed attempt at finding a way to kill the Dark One. I sighed before looking out at the Enchanted Forest close to us.

"Catherine." I turned to see my father walking up to me. "Everything ready here?"

"Yep," I nodded to him. "When are we departing?"

"Shortly." He looked at the land in front of us and I could see something fill his eyes.

"Do you miss it here?" I asked him and he smirked.

"Sometimes," he answered looking down at me. "Mostly just memories that will never be again."

"About mom?"

"And others." He never really talked about his past with me or anyone on the ship, but most of the crew had been with him since the beginning. I'd been kept in the dark about my entire family my entire life. I only knew what my father allowed me to know.

"Will you ever tell me about them?" I asked him quietly.

"Perhaps one day, when we get our revenge." With that said he walked away from me back to the helm. I sighed before finishing my task and joining him.

Neverland-Past

Back on the island at sunset, I looked out at the ship as she floated in the ocean. At the sounds of someone coming from the forest behind me, I turned to see Felix.

"Welcome home," he said with a small smirk on his face.

"Normally Shadow is here to take me to the camp. Why you today?" I asked him.

"I do as Pan orders." He shrugged before turning and going inland. I followed him silently. As the sky darkened on us, the crying started. My father and the rest of the crew never heard the crying, but I couldn't seem to escape it. Even Pan's lute was hard to resist sometimes. "You ever consider not coming back?" I stared at Felix's back in shock and confusion. Was this some sort of test from Pan? Was he listening in the trees waiting to order me to stay on this island forever?

"No. This place is my home," I told him honestly. Neverland was all I'd really ever known with the occasional trips to the Enchanted Forest. But even on Neverland, most of my time was on my father's ship, learning everything I could about how she operates and such.

"But Hook has," he mentioned and I kept quiet. I'd overheard my dad talking to Smee about what happens after he got his revenge. He'd stay out of Neverland. Forever. He was tired of working for Pan.

"Why are you really asking me this?" I finally asked him. "Pan order you to ask me this?"

"I have a mind of my own."

"Oh, please." I rolled my eyes at him. "Everyone knows your Pan's little lap dog. He's trained you so well you probably don't remember how to think for yourself." He quickly turned and forced me against a tree

"You will learn your place around here, pirate," he warned and I only smirked at him.

"You and I both know Pan doesn't want me harmed. You can't hurt me."

"If you got caught in Dreamshade due to your own clumsiness." My eyes widened at his words and his smirk grew. He knew he got me there. Even if the Dreamshade didn't kill me, the cure wouldn't allow me to leave the island ever again. "Thought that might get your attention."

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"Nothing from you. Just remember who the real top dogs are around here." He released me and continued to walk away. I took a deep shaky breath before following.

Storybrooke-Present

After hearing what sounded like a large earthquake that shook the entire town, I followed the rest to the town to where some old mines used to be. Everyone had gathered around and was trying to figure out what was happening, but no one seemed to have an idea.

"Everyone step back, please." I turned my head to see Mayor Mills make her way to the front of the crowd from her car.

"Is that a crater?"

"No. There were tunnels, uh, old mines, something collapsed."

"Be careful, step back." Everyone did as she said as Emma and Sheriff Graham walked up to her. They spoke quietly for a moment before Regina looked back at the crowd in front of her. "People of Storybrooke, don't be alarmed. We've always known this area was honeycombed with old mining tunnels but fear not. I'm going to undertake a project to make this area safe, to rehabilitate it for city use. We will bulldoze it, collapse it, pave it."

"Pave it?" I looked down to see Henry next to me with Archie right beside him. "What if there's something down there?"

"Henry, what are you doing here?" Regina whispered to him.

"What's down there?" Henry asked her and I shook my head lightly.

"Nothing. Now step back. In fact everyone please, please step back. Thank you. Let's go boys." We all moved back as everyone else started doing their jobs when Henry grabbed my hand.

"What was that?" Henry whispered to Emma, who was still standing close to us.

"Henry, enough. Listen, this is a safety issue now. Claire, take him to the car and both of you wait there." I gently pulled Henry with me to Regina's car and we got inside.

"What do you think is down there?" Henry asked looking out the back window.

"Leftover things from when they used to mine coal, I guess," I told him. Not a minute later Henry jumped out of the car and I quickly followed him as he snuck to Archie and Emma.

"Hey, Archie. Over here." They both joined us and ducked behind one of the lights with us. "This requires all of Operation Cobra... all of you."

"I didn't realize I was in Operation Cobra," Archie told him.

"Of course you are, you know everything," Henry told him smiling. "We can't let her do this. What if there's something down there?"

"They're just some old tunnels," Emma told him.

"That just happens to collapse right after you get here? You're changing things. You're weakening the Curse," he told her excitedly.

"That's not what's happening," She tried telling him.

"Yes, it is. Did you do anything different today? 'Cause, something made this happen." I watched Emma touch her badge and I looked at her confused. Was she starting to believe Henry's fantasy? Regina made me jump when she appeared behind Archie out of nowhere.

"Henry, Claire, I told you to wait in the car," Regina ordered and we left to go back to the car. "Deputy, do your job."

Neverland-Past

Once we'd made it back to camp, I sat on one of the logs in front of the fire and thought about Felix's threat. Would he really throw me in Dreamshade? If he did would anyone other than my father care enough to help me get to the cure? That being if they even told him what had happened to me.

"You seem to be deep in thought." I sighed as Pan sat next to me.

"That's what happens when I'm planning," I lied.

"And what are you planning?" he asked me.

"The end to all my enemies," I told him sarcastically.

"I assume I'm on that list," he said with a smirk.

"The very top."

"Next to Felix." I turned and stared at him. "I've had quite a conversation with him about threatening you with Dreamshade."

"So you were listening."

"This is my island," he reminded me with a smirk. "I know everything that happens here." I didn't say anything. "Would it be so bad to stay here forever? You did say it was your home."

"Being forced to stay here because I'll die if I leave is completely different from having the choice to go between here and everywhere," I told him. "Neverland is my home, yes. But I don't want to have to be forced to choose between my father and my home."

"Not all of us get that choice," he told me staring into the fire.

"The boys you bring here are unloved by their families and are probably orphans. I'm neither."

"Yet you can hear them crying and my lute." I was silent again. "That has meaning, Catherine."

"I'm not unloved and I'm not an orphan," I reminded him. "I have my father and the entire crew of the Jolly Roger."

"Do you?" he asked me and I scoffed. "Your father cares more about his revenge on the Dark One and the crew only truly care about themselves. You know this and you still want to deny it?"

"That's not true!"

"Why are you avoiding this truth?" he asked me. I glared at him before getting up and walking into the forest. I could hear him behind me, but I didn't care. I just wanted to get as far away from him as possible. "You can't hide from this forever."

"Why are you doing this?" I asked finally turning to him. "Why do you insist that I accept what you're saying as truth?"

"You can't lie to yourself forever Catherine."

"Why do you care?!" At this he was silent. "Answer me, Peter Pan."

"If you aren't ready for the truth, Catherine Jones, then so be it." With that said, he flew away from me angrily.

"You'll have to answer me one day!" I shouted after him.

Storybrooke-Present

The next day, Emma called me asking if I'd seen Henry at all. When I'd told her I hadn't I overheard Archie tell her where he was probably going to be and went to join them in the search.

"Henry! Henry!" Emma and I called out looking for any sign of the boy.

"Henry!" I heard Archie call out as Pongo sniffed around trying to help us out.

"I don't think he's here," Emma sighed.

"Henry!" I called out again.

"I think he is." I turned to Archie and saw an Apollo Bar in his hand. "Candy bar. He had these with him."

"Trust a kid to think of the essentials," I laughed relieved at the discovery. Suddenly, the ground shook beneath our feet again and I quickly ran into the mines calling for
Henry.

"Henry!"

"Claire!"

"Archie! Claire!"

"It's not safe!" I fell and looked over my shoulder to see Archie on the ground and the last of daylight being hidden by the entrance to the mine collapse. I heard Archie light a match and stood up as he picked up his umbrella and we made our way further into the mine.

"Henry? Henry?" Archie called out as I tried to look into the darkness past our little circle of light.

"Archie! Claire! You're here to help me!" Henry said excitedly.

"Thank god!" I hugged Henry tightly as he looked at us with a wide grin behind his flashlight.

"No, I... Listen, we gotta get out of here," Archie told him quickly.

"So you're still against me," Henry sighed backing away from me.

"Henry, this isn't about that," I told him.

"Henry, there's no time for that. Come on, Henry, come on!" Archie begged him as Henry continued backing away.

"You don't believe me? You'll see. You'll see." Henry turned and ran down the tunnel.

"Henry! Henry, come back!" I chased after Henry with Archie soon behind me. "Hey!"

Neverland-Past

Pan had been avoiding me for a few days now and part of me actually missed the demon. Most of the boys avoided me except Felix, but after his talk with Pan even he gave me extra space. I made my way to the lagoon and picked up a flat stone to skip it along the water.

"On your own today?" I turned to see my father and I quickly smiled and ran to give him a hug. "He's finally left you alone I see."

"Got into a bit of a fight and he's been leaving me alone ever since," I admitted. "Are we leaving soon? Is that why you're on the island?"

"Am I not allowed to come see my only daughter he asked and I laughed.

"Of course you are." Pan's words ran through my head and I bit my lower lip in thought. "Can I ask you something?"

"Ask away."

"I'm more important than your revenge against the Dark One. Right?" I avoided looking at him and stared into the lagoon.

"Catherine." He wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "You are the most important person in the world to me. Whoever told you otherwise is a fool. Who said such things?"

"Pan said a few things to me and..."

"Catherine." I looked up at him with his forceful tone. "Pan is trying to drive a wedge against you and the ship. I don't know why, but he wants to keep you here away from us. He'll use you as leverage against me should the need arise."

"You're right. I'm sorry. That was stupid of me." I looked back at the lagoon only for him to pull my face back to his.

"Are you developing feelings for him?"

"That's ridiculous," I laughed at him. "As you said, he'll probably use me as leverage at the first chance he gets." He said nothing as I stared out into the dark waters.

Storybrooke-Present

Archie and I continued to search for Henry until we saw his flashlight shining at a gap on the ground.

"Henry! You gotta slow..."

"There's something shiny down there," Henry told us.

"Henry, this is seriously dangerous. We gotta get out of here," Archie told him.

"It could be something," Henry insisted.

"Look, I'm frightened for you, Henry."

"Because you think that I'm crazy?"

"No!" Archie nearly shouted at him.

"Henry, this has nothing to do with Operation Cobra," I told him. "When Archie and I came in here the entrance collapsed. We're trapped in here. And the mine is still collapsing." That seemed to grab his attention and he finally started looking afraid.

We walked around for a bit, looking for a way out when we heard something faint.

"Henry, Claire, do you hear that?" Archie asked us and we stopped walking to really listen to the noise.

"It's Pongo!" Henry called out happily.

"Follow the noise."We followed Pongo's barking to a part of the wall with a metal sheet on it. "It's loud. It's over here." Archie and I removed the metal sheet to see an open tunnel behind it.

"What's this?" Henry asked.

"It's like, an old elevator," Archie explained. "To get the mineworkers in or out. It goes all the way to the top. That's why we can hear Pongo."

"If it goes all the way to the top..." I smiled at the thought.

"Can we make it work?" Henry asked.

"Let's give it a shot." We got inside the elevator and Archie tried to turn the wheel. "Come on!" Henry and I went to help him turn the wheel and the elevator started to move. I grinned at Henry until we felt it shake all around us. Archie wrapped his arms around us as the elevator dropped.

Once the shaking was done, we looked to see the elevator had moved down just enough so we were once again trapped. We sat on the ground and I leaned on the wall of the elevator in silence for a bit.

"I'm really, really, really sorry," Henry told us.

"For what?" I asked Henry confused.

"I just wanted to find proof." I smiled at him before scooting over and wrapping my arms around him in comfort.

"It's really alright, Henry," Archie told him with a smile. "You know, I'm sorry too. Okay, I don't think you're crazy. I just, I just say to you that you got a very strong mother, who's got a clear idea of a path that she wants you to be on. When you step off that, she-she is scared. You know, it's natural. But, it's also natural for you to be able to be free, to think the things that you want to think. So, anyway, I didn't mean those things I just said to you. I never should have said them."

"Alright, why did you?" Henry asked him.

"I guess I'm still not the right person. I'm not the man I wanna be," Archie confessed as the elevator shook again.

"I think you can be him," Henry told him once the shaking was done. "I think you can be a good person. I mean, you're Jiminy Cricket."

"Henry, Henry, Jiminy Cricket was a, was a cricket, okay? It was a conscience, and, and I hardly think that's me," Archie told him.

"I don't know," I told him and he gave me a look. "You're the only therapist in town that everyone trusts with everything."

"And before Jiminy Cricket was a cricket, he was a guy, who took a long time to figure out the right thing to do," Henry told him. Archie thought about it for a bit before smiling.

"He kinda sounds like me."

"Now it's harder for you, because of the curse, to care for the voice inside of you, to be who you wanna be," Henry told him as the elevator shook again, stones dropping on top of it.

"Hey, can I ask you again?" Archie asked Henry.

"Of course," Henry told him.

"Why do you think it's so important that your, your fairytale theory is true?" Archie asked.

"I don't know," Henry said after a moment of thinking about it.

"Give it a shot," Archie told him as Henry handed him a chocolate bar and handed one to me as well.

"'Cause, this can't be all there is."

"I understand," Archie told him and I stared at the chocolate in front of me.

"I thought if I've found proof... But I didn't find anything," Henry sighed.

"That's not true. I was lost when you found me, right?" Archie asked him as he handed him a piece of the chocolate.

"You mean, you remember?" Henry asked excitedly and Archie chuckled.

"No, I don't remember. But I do remember the person I wanna be."

"And that's better than any curse-breaking I can think of," I told them. "Even if the curse doesn't break, we can still be the best us we can be." I squeezed Henry's shoulders with a smile before some noises erupt from above us.

"What's that?" Henry asked as we all stood up.

"It's a rescue." I laughed as I saw Emma being lowered from the top.

"You guys okay?" She asked us.

"Yeah, we're all okay," Archie told her.

"Hang on, Henry," she said before turning to a walkie-talkie on her shoulder. "Okay, let's get a stop." Emma stood on the roof of the elevator and quickly removed it. Archie helped Henry up and Emma grabbed him holding him to her tightly. "Come on, I got you. Okay. I got him."

"You get him to safe..." The elevator started to rumble under our feet and my heart nearly stopped in fear of the drop and dying here.

"Archie! Claire!"

"It's gonna fall!" Archie told her.

"I'm sorry," Emma told us and I felt my eyes widen in panic.

"It's okay," Archie told her, umbrella in one hand and the other wrapped around my shoulders.

"Archie! Claire!" I quickly closed my eyes and buried my head into Archie as the elevator fell with a loud noise. I heard Emma laughing and I looked up to see Archie's umbrella hooked onto a hook on Emma's pants. I sighed in relief as I joined them in laughing as Henry held up a thumbs-up signal. They pulled us up and everyone clapped as they pulled us out of the shaft and into the sunlight. Regina pulled Henry to her while Archie and Marco hugged each other with joy. I just smiled at them sadly before looking up at the sky above us.

"Are you okay, Henry?" I heard Emma ask and I looked over just in time to see Regina shove her away.

"Deputy, you can clear the crowd away." Emma watched unwillingly as Henry was pushed away from her. I looked up as paramedics came up to me and pulled me to the ambulance and checked me over.

Neverland-Past

I was sitting in a tree and staring up at the stars when I felt someone sit next to me.

"You looked lonely, so I thought I'd join you." I shook my head and laughed lightly.

"I'm tired, Pan," I sighed. "No more games today."

"I didn't come here to play games," he told me.

"Then why are you here?" I asked him.

"I don't know if you're ready to know."

"Pan..."

"I was trapped here," he told me and I stared at him in confusion. "I won't tell you by who. I don't think you'd care too much. The person who placed me here killed my family while I was out hunting."

"Why?" I asked him.

"Embarrassment?" he guessed. "I wasn't someone he wanted someone else to know about, so this was his solution."

"This isn't a solution," I told him looking out at the ocean. "If there's no way to get off this island, it's a cage. Guess it's a lucky thing you have magic."

"At what price." He wasn't really asking me and I glanced at him to see him staring at the ocean. At Skull Island.

"Is there a price?" I asked him. "Being here?"

"Everything has a price."

Storybrooke-Present

Outside the mine, I sat next to Emma and Henry as we watched Archie and Marco chatting happily.

"Is that Archie's father?" Emma asked and I laughed lightly.

"No, they are just old friends," Henry told her.

"Marco and his wife never had any kids," I explained to her.

"You really scared me," Emma told Henry.

"I'm sorry." Archie and Marco walked up to us.

"Gentleman, well, come on, your mom wants to take you home," Emma said and we all stood up until we heard a small noise surround us.

"Hey! Listen!" Henry said smiling at Archie. We all listened as crickets chirped and we smiled.

"Crickets."

"They are back," Henry said turning to Emma. "Things are changing." Before Regina took Henry home, we all celebrated everyone going home safe and sound.