I own nothing. Least of all this.

1:32

"Is that it?"

"Aye. Neverland."


I caught Jayne's and Rose's gaze, and nodded towards the back of the ship. There were several things they needed to know before we arrived.

"What's the play, boss?"

"First things first: I'm probably gonna split off from you guys at some point or another, so there are a few things you should know are coming before they happen. Mermaids. Not very nice, here or anywhere else. Feel free to get rid of them by any means necessary. No interrogations; just eradication. If one manages to get a call out on a conch shell, crush every emotion you have. They'll just feed the storm the mermaid summoned. Dreamshade. Very nasty poison, almost incurable. Charming will be poisoned at some point or another; do not let anyone else know that he's been wounded. He'll be cured, eventually. Tinker Bell. At some point, she's going to kidnap Regina. Let her. It'll work out fine. Lost Boys. Them you can kill as well; or try to. They're pretty resourceful. Pan's map he gives Emma. Do not try to help her with it, unless it's to solemnly swear you're up to no good."

"Blank?"

"Blank. When the Charmings discover Neal is alive…"

"Alive?"

"Complicated. Anyway, Regina will leave to go it alone. Go with her, and follow where she leads. Hopefully, it'll be right back to me. We can figure the rest out from there; just...take care of yourselves."

"Will do boss."

"Where will you be during all this?"

"Hopefully, with Gold."

"The Dark One?"

"If you like. There are some things I need to do, answers I need to get. And the quickest way to do that is to stick with him."

"...I don't like it."

"Nor do I. But I have a plan. Well, four plans. Well, four plans, and a lizard. Never mind. Just try and keep to what I told you, and you should be fine. And see if you can finagle a spare bean each; in case of emergencies. They should send you back to wherever you wish."

"Got it."

"That's all I got. See you both on the Flip Side."

I watched them both walk back towards the others. They would be fine. I hoped.

"So, the renegade Time Lord wishes to consort with the likes of me. How interesting."

"...How much did you hear, Gold?"

"Enough. You told them what was going to happen, didn't you?"

I breathed a sigh of relief. I really didn't want Gold finding out Neal was alive; not yet anyway.

"Some of what's going to happen, yes."

"A Time Lord who doesn't think Time is all theirs to know, and no one else's. How novel."

"Not really. You just haven't met the right Time Lords."

"Quite. I was under the impression that you came alone to Storybrooke. Apparently, I was mistaken. You lied to me."

"I never lied to you. I merely told you certain truths in order to manipulate you."

"Funny. I thought that was my job."

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

"You said you had a plan, Witcher. If you are to tag along, I would very much like to hear your excuse to do so."

"Very well. But I'm not telling you about the lizard."


"Emma, the minute I let go of the belief that things will get better is the minute that I know they won't. We'll find Henry."

"No, you won't."

I always loved that version of Gold's outfit.

Hook, not so much. "Oh, that's a great use of our time. A wardrobe change."

"I'm gonna get Henry."

"We agreed to do this together."

"Actually, we made no such agreement."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I wanna succeed."

"What makes you think I'm gonna fail?"

"Well, how could you not? You don't believe in your parents, or in magic, or even yourself."

Oof. Harsh.

"I slayed a dragon. I think I believe."

"Only what was shown to you. When have you ever taken a real leap of faith? You know, the kind where there's absolutely no proof? I've known you for some time, Miss Swan. And, sadly, despite everything you've been through, you're still just that... bail bonds-person, looking for evidence. Well, dearie, that's not gonna work in Neverland."

"I'll do whatever it takes."

"Well, you just need someone to tell you what that is. Sorry, dearie, our foe is too fearsome for hand-holding. Neverland is a place where imagination runs wild. And, sadly, yours doesn't. Witcher. You're with me. As for the rest of you: as they say, catch you on the Flip Side."

He twisted his cane, and with a puff of smoke, we both vanished.


"I must admit, your hanger-on has more skill than I had previously estimated. To hit such a shot, with a weapon not his own, is truly remarkable."

He was talking, of course, about the dead body of one Greg Mendell lying in front of us. One bullet hole, directly in the temple. Instant kill shot.

"That's Jayne for you. Prides himself on two things; his drinking, and his shooting. Oh, and his interrogation skills. So three things actually."

"Useful person to have around, then."

"Pay him enough, and yeah."

I knelt down beside a pair of tracks. Small ones, that led directly into the jungle.

"Looks like your grandson is not overly burdened with common sense, if he didn't think to stay on the beach, and left a trail like a rampaging hippogriff."

"Whatever your opinion of Henry may be, it doesn't matter. We follow. Now."

"As you wish."

And I followed the Dark One into the Dark Jungle of Neverland.


We had been walking for quite awhile. I had picked up on our tag-along not long after we left the beach. But this was Gold's business, so I merely waited for him to...

"Come out and say hello, dearie."

Notice.

Our tail stepped out into view. Felix, if I remembered correctly.

"Hello Rumplestiltskin."

Gold made a half-hearted imitation of his signature hand-gesture.

"Pan welcomes you to the island. He wanted me to tell you he is...excited...to see you again."

"Oh, yeah. I'm sure he is."

"He wanted me to let you know you're welcome in Neverland, you, and your companion, for as long as you wish to stay...with one caveat."

"There's always something with him."

"If you're here for the boy...well...that makes you Pan's enemy."

"Then nothing's changed."

"If you go against him, you will not survive."

"Well, the question...isn't whether I'll survive. Because we both know I won't. No, no. The real question is…"

He hoisted Felix up by his neck."

"Whether or not there'll be enough of you left when I'm through to stop my companion from killing Pan himself. Because I intend to take each and every one of you with me."

"So, is that your answer?"

"That is my answer."

"Well, then, I suppose that means I'll see you again, in less...friendly...circumstances."

"Count on it."

"One last thing, then. There's something he wanted you to have."

A straw doll dropped to the ground at Gold's feet. Slowly, he knelt down, and picked it up. Tears began to stream down his face as he held it.

"Isn't it funny? The things we haven't thought about in years still have the ability to make us cry. See you around, Dark One."

Felix moved in my direction, and stopped to face me.

"And what about you?"

I crossed my arms. "What about me?"

"What's your stake in this?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Pan will find out. Sooner or later. He always does."

"We'll see."

"You can't kill him, you know."

"If I get what I want, I won't have to."

"The boy isn't yours, either."

"Who said anything about the boy?" I uncrossed my arms, and rested my hand on the Colt. "Go back to your master, lost one. And tell him there are wolves in this forest now. He's no longer the hunter; he's the prey. Of Dark and White both. So he better start running."

He slowly backed away. "Pan won't forget this."

"I'm counting on it."

I watched as he vanished into the foliage. Already, I wasn't looking forward to our next meeting. At. All.

I pretended not to notice as Gold continued to hold the doll. Like I said, this was his business. Not mine.


A fireball leapt from Gold's hand to the pile of kindling, instantly setting it ablaze.

"Show off."

He turned, placing his back to the fire, with his shadow on the rock in front of him. I stepped up beside him in the exact same position. With a wave of his hand, both of our shadows froze. He knelt down, and began to cut his shadow away from his body.

This was where the first part of my plan came in; switching shadows. Originally, Gold had just cut his away, and given it the Dark One Dagger. Not bad, until Pan got ahold of your shadow. He hadn't the first time, but things were different with me here, and I was taking no chances.

His shadow fully detached, Gold turned, and began to cut away mine.

Or at least, he tried to.

About halfway around my right foot, he suddenly froze, and jerked back to face the rock. His hand waved once again, and my shadow...disappeared.

It wasn't supposed to do that.

"A fake shadow. How interesting."

Cold steel pressed against my throat, just deep enough to make swallowing hard.

"Tell me, Time Lord. Is there anything about you that's real?"

"...I promise you, whatever is going on, I had nothing to do with it."

"Whatever's going on. As if you didn't know. Shadows don't just disappear on their own. But yours, seemingly has. And not only that, it left a near perfect decoy in its place. Now, do you happen to know what that means, hmm?"

I tried to swallow, and found I couldn't. "...I'm afraid not."

"It means, dearie, that your soul, is currently, not to be found."

"...My WHAT?"

"Someone, somewhere, has decided the soul of a Time Lord would be a rather nice thing to have. And I'm not about to trust a man with no soul with this Dagger. So, we're making a slight alteration to your plan. Stand very still."

What else was I gonna do? Whistle?

The hand not holding the knife gestured, and Gold's shadow floated over to me. His hand pointed down to my feet, and purple light shot from it in a triangle to connect to both the shadow, and my heels. Slowly, his shadow attached itself to me, and I could feel the Darkness within it as it did so. Gold's soul.

Oh God, I didn't have a soul.

Wait...how hadn't I noticed before?

I mean, I knew the signs. Apathy, violence, sarcasm, willingness to sacrifice...oh.

Either I had lost it when we fell through the portal (unlikely), and thus hadn't had time to notice it, or (much more likely), I hadn't had one since I arrived in the Doctor's world. I mean, how else would you describe what I had done to the Templars, Borusa, and the escaping Silence?

The only question now was, where did the fake shadow come...

Rose. The connection, between Bad Wolf, and myself. That hadn't been a fake shadow, it had been a representation of Rose's soul. Gold had just dispelled it. And replaced it with his own.

This was very, very, very, bad.

The Darkness latched on.

I started screaming.

And then I stopped.

It had accepted me as its new, temporary, owner. And the Darkness has never been one to cause pain to its wielder. Hallucinations and mind-bending were more its style. I could already feel it, trying to reach into my head, and take what it found. I slammed its fingers in the proverbial door. None of that now, none of that. This was only temporary, I reminded myself. Only temporary. I hoped.

"You are certainly full of surprises, my dear Witcher. Take a look."

The Dagger, which had only recently been at my throat, hung in front of my face. There was no mistaking the name that was now engraved on it.

THE WITCHER.

I swallowed. About the only good thing I could see about this situation was my true name hadn't appeared on the blade. Probably due to the fact the soul it was tied to was no longer in my body!

Sorry. Better now.

"Now, I know you can cause me a lot of harm using just my shadow. You don't even need magical means to do it. So, just in case, I think I'll hold on to this. For safekeeping."

I was in no position to argue the point.

"You really should be thanking me. After all, with my shadow tied to you, no one can cause you, or more importantly, me, any grief by either controlling your soul, or ripping your heart out. Although I'm doubtful you have one of those to begin with."

"...I came...to help, didn't I?"

"Ah, but help who dearie? Certainly not Henry. And certainly not me."

"The world."

"Whose?"

"Yours. The people who Greg and Tamara were working for...they would see magic destroyed. And the wills of all men, slaved to their own. I've seen it before. I won't let it happen here. Not like with the Cybermen, or the Daleks, or any other God-forsaken group who thought they were above others."

"...You're a hypocrite. All Time Lords consider them above others."

"Yes. But not me. And you knew that. Or you would have already ordered me not to kill you."

"I assure you, I needed no order to ensure that. Now, with all of the dramatics out of the way, I suggest we resume the search for my grandson. Move."

And so I moved. And wondered exactly what I had truly gotten myself into.