"You'd think the ex-pirate with a rum habit would cut my sister some slack," Regina said, curling her lip at Hook.
Hook glared. "You'd think that the Evil Queen would be smarter than to send her wicked sister to romance the most devious man alive."
Emma stepped up then, putting a hand in between the two. "Easy, arguing between ourselves isn't going to help us."
"The savior has a point," Hades said. Everyone looked up in surprise, and Emma pushed Henry behind her. "I came… for your help." Hades said blandly, looking as if the words made him sick to say.
"And why would we help you, of all people?" David asked skeptically.
"I went to meet Zelena, and found this note."
Regina took the letter, scanning it quickly and thrusting it towards Emma. "Zelena, she's been taken by Mr. Gold and… his father?"
Pan waved a hand, making the letter appear in his hand, glaring down at the scribbled handwriting. "So, dear old dad was able to convince Rumple to join his quest. How pitiful."
"Just tear up the contract!" Regina exclaimed.
"No, it won't be that simple. I know the 'Stitskins are rather slippery men," Hades said. Pan's lip curled.
"Then we'll get my sister back some other way!"
"No, no. Not you," Hades said.
"Who is going to be more motivated than me?" Regina snarled incredulously. Hades smirked.
"Reyna."
"Me," she laughed. The letter in Peter's hand caught fire.
"Not bloody likely," Hook growled.
Hades nodded. "Let me make it simple for you," he said, not acknowleding anyone other than Reyna. "If Zelena makes it out alive tomorrow, I'm prepared to offer you a deal."
"Don't trust a word he says, Reyna," Hook said.
"I agree with Killian," Emma said, looking hesitantly at Reyna.
Reyna looked at Hades with her eyes slightly narrowed, waiting for him to continue. "We both know that all your friends, your family, your baby, your boyfriend, none of them would be here if it wasn't for you. If you help me, I'll take every one of their names off the headstones."
"How could I help you?" Reyna said.
"You can ensure the third 'Stiltskin's loyalty," Hades said. "And you've certainly got the tenacity to help me out."
Reyna took a deep breath. "Okay. But you'd better hold up your end of the deal."
The next day, Reyna was leaning up against the wall at the inn entrance of Granny's standing by an irate Peter. "I'm ensuring you and everyone else gets out of here alive. You can be mad all you'd like," she said. They heard the bell ring as Hades entered the front door.
Reyna used a pin, starting to unlock the door. "I could just do that with magic, love."
Reyna rolled her eyes. "Yes, and alert Rumple that we are here? To hold up our end, Ill handle this and you just worry about the magic to stop Malcolm." Peter just glared in response. Once the lock was open, they walked in, hearing the tail end of the conversation.
"And no one said anything about her heart. You may be good with magic, but you see, we are better," the oily voice, of Malcolm said from where he loomed over Zelena.
Peter easily waved a hand, preventing the man from entering her chest cavity. "Yet, you still aren't good enough to best me."
"I was beginning to think you couldn't get in," Hades sneered. Reyna raised a single eyebrow.
"Locks aren't an issue."
"Since when does my son play lap dog to the king of death?" Malcolm said, looking at Pan appraisingly. Peter glared, raising a hand towards the man. Reyna put a hand on his wrist.
"Not lap dog if you know how to get what you want from who," she said with a cold glare in his direction.
"I never pegged you as daft, Miss Jones. You won't get what you want from him," Rumple said, smirking towards the others.
Reyna rolled her eyes. "Like you didn't? I'm surprised you stuck around to even help your father, considering you've gotten all you came for."
Rumple considered her words before smirking, "I suppose your right." He disappeared without another word. Malcolm clearly wasn't expecting this, and shouted after his son.
"You won't be getting what you wanted today, or any day, in fact," Reyna said. Malcolm glared.
"This isn't over," he snapped before disappearing as well.
Hades moved forward to grab Zelena, removing the cuff. Peter gagged listening to them speak, and only looked up when they shared True Love's kiss.
"There will be fully formed portal, at the cemetary. It will lead back to Storybrooke, but it will close at sunset."
Reyna nodded. "Good. Now hold up your end of the deal."
When the heart split didn't work, Pan was very much angry, while Reyna was more resigned.
"There has to be another way!" Peter shouted
Reyna sighed, "Peter…"
"No! I'm not leaving you down here. I won't!"
Reyna scrubbed a hand over her face. Henry spoke up.
"What about the myth of Orpheus?" he asked, looking towards Hades for confirmation.
Hades shrugged, considering it. "It's only been rumored, though supposedly he and his beloved are the only ones to ever escape my realm."
Reyna looked contemplative, "I think I remember that one. Something to do with ambrosia," she said.
Hades nodded, "It could work."
Reyna clearly didn't believe him. "I'd bet that that made you pretty mad, two people excaping without your permission."
"I don't bloody well care," Peter said, looking at her seriously. "If there is any chance of me getting you back, then I don't care. Where is it?" He asked, turning towards Hades, his face hard.
He pulled her along as they all followed Hades towards the library.
"You are not thinking clearly, I don't feel good about this," Reyna said, struggling to pull him to a stop.
Peter shook his head. "I don't care, this is the only way, we don't have long. Please, love, we have to try." He stopped, pulling her close to him and cupping her cheek. "Please, love. For me."
She searched his face, and while her stomach churned uncertainly, she swallowed her bile and nodded.
She stepped into the elevator, ensuring that Emma knew to get everyone, including her baby, into that portal whether she and Peter returned. Hook assured her that there wouldn't be a need, and made her promise to be safe.
They rode down in silence, Peter's hand tight around hers, and she looked at him hesitantly, swallowing thickly.
Minutes later, the elevator clattered loudly to a stop, and the entired a firelit corridor, with a steel table at the end, a scale a top it. They walked forward, hand-in-hand. Peter looked at the table's engraving, while Reyna read aloud, "Only a heart filled with True Love can pass."
Peter nodded. "Easy enough," he said, before pressing his own hand into his chest and forcing his heart out with nothing more than a twitch of the eye. He released a breath before placing his heart, which was dark, half black, half red, onto the scale.
"Nothing." Reyna said nervously, before Peter suddenly started choking violently. "Peter!" She shouted, trying to step forward, only to be roughly pushed back by a hand.
Behind her, stood Rumplestiltskin, smirking at his older brother as he held a hand over Reyna's mouth, the other hand clamping down roughly over her arms to keep them pinned. She knew that it wasn't real, seeing as he looked every bit like the Crocodile that Hook called him, but that didn't prevent her from struggling. It certainly felt real.
"Grab your heart, dearie. Pathetic you thought this would work," Rumple taunted, where Peter was still crouched, coughing violently with a hand pressed to his chest.
"Besides, we both know how much more powerful you'll be without her. She holds you back, forced a child upon you, is making you grow-up! She is slowly killing you and you are too blind to stop her. Take your heart and leave before Neverland is destroyed completely and there is no hope of you securing the Heart of the Truest Believer."
Reyna, still struggling, was trying to tell him to shut up, for Peter not to listen. Pan looked towards Rumple, slightly dazed, and Reyna sobbed, hoping with everything that the magic of the Underworld wouldn't make him give in. Rumple's hand moved up to her throat, constricting tightly, preventing her from making any noise.
"Y- hrt.." she wheezed out, pleading with Peter and pointing at the heart.
Peter, who had struggled to his feet, glanced once at his heart, before suddenly leaping forward, tackling her to the ground, using his magic to dispell Rumple from existance. They panted where they were laying in a heap.
"Thanks," Reyna said through her rushed breathing, laughing breathlessly at his incredulous face.
"Get my heart? Were you being serious!" Peter said, getting off of her and pulling her into a standing position. She shrugged.
Peter huffed, pulling her in for a kiss, "I love you a little too much for that, love."
Reyna smiled at him, despitr her fear. She pulled him towards the door that opened, letting him stop to grab his heart on the way. Inside, was a platform with a tree stump, and several branches. Peter and Reyna split up to search, but any ambrosia crumbled to dust. The floor gave a violent jerk.
"That must be the portal opening, we don't have much longer. You need to go," Reyna said.
"Not without you," Peter countered. Reyna huffed, but got up. "Come on." She pulled him through the door, and through the corridor towards the elevator. As she was about to cross through, she felt a pressure on her back and a sudden flow of energy through her chest. Turning around in surprise, she stumbled, pressing a hand where a now beating heart resided.
Peter forced her further into the elevator, pulling the gate down. "What are you doing?" Reyna shouted, feeling tears in her eyes. "We have to go. You need to take your heart back!"
Peter shook his head, looking at her sadly. "We may not be able to share my heart, but if you take the whole thing, your body can walk the Earth again in this form," he said, gesturing to her.
"You knew. You knew it was a trap!"
Peter nodded and smiled tearily at her. "Yes. I needed a way to give you my heart and ensure we would say goodbye uninterruppted, it'd be bad for my reputation otherwise. We already had more time than we probably deserved."
Reyna sobbed, reaching out to him. "Don't say that."
Peter grasped her hand tightly in his, the world beneath them shaking once again. "I never got Henry's heart, and I was supposed to die in Camelot. It's best this way, love."
"No, its not. This is all my fault."
"I want you to live, knowing that you are happy-"
"I can't be happy without you."
Peter sighed. "You have your son, and the Lost Boys. Somebody has got to look out for them. You need to go, be alive. If I cannot have my immortality with you by my side, I'd rather die knowing you have lived, then live knowing I left you down here." Reyna shook her head again, unable to fathom leaving him here.
"Do what I asked you to in Camelot. Let me die. Those heroes up there, they don't care about me. But you, you have so much to live for. Love, I wish more than anything that we could both leave, but this is as far as I can make it in this game of Hades'. The game is over for me." Another earthquake occurred, and Peter pulled her into a kiss, that was salty from their tears. He pulled away, taking in her appearance one last time, all the while pressing the button to begin her descent and pressing the hilt of the Dark One's dagger into her hand.
Reyna still protested, falling to her knees and holding his hand tightly as she slowly began her ascent.
He held her hand just as tightly, presssing a kiss to it, and stretching as she got higher.
"I love you, Reyna Jones. More than life itself," Peter said.
Reyna could feel her heart breaking as her fingers were forced to release his when he could not longer reach. "I love you, Peter, until the day after forever!"
She stared at him, until he disappeared completely, and only then did she fully collapse, sobbing. The elevator ride felt longer than it was, because every cell in her body ached to go back down. To let Peter hold her and never let go.
The door opened and Hook was the first person to her. "Reyna! Reyna!" He said, pulling her up to her feet. She sobbed, forcing herself away from him. She only wanted Peter.
"Reyna, where's Pan?" David asked, biting the bullet.
Reyna sniffled, glaring at him. "He knew it was a trap. He knew and he took me down there to give me his heart." Emma, handing Hook his nephew, pulled Reyna into her arms, holding her tightly until she gave in and sobbed into the blonde's chest.
Henry looked confused and sad, "So Pan? He… He's stuck here?"
Reyna took a deep breath, keeping her face blank. "He can… He will move on. We need to get the portal. If Peter is going to stupidly sacrifice himself, I will make sure it is not in vain," Emma and Regina shared a look at this.
"We would, but Hades has trapped us in here using the Blind Witch's magic, Emma and I can't break it," Regina said straightforwardly.
Reyna raised an eyebrow, before throwing a hand forward, fueling Pan's magic with every drop of anger she was feeling towards Hades. Instantly, the doors folded like paper and flew into the street with the amount of power she used. Her chest twinged painfully, but otherwise there were no adverse effects to the magic. She, without looking at anyone, took her baby from Hook and walked out of the library. She had a portal to catch and a god to kill.
Reyna hesitated outside the portal on the clock, the weight of what she was doing suddenly dawning on her. She rocked her son, who had begun wailing loudly the closer they got to the portal, trying to consider her options. She waved Regina, Robin, David, Henry, Hook and Emma onward, the latter pausing, but turned continuing once Felix stopped beside the Queen of Neverland.
"He wouldn't want you to linger, Reyna," Felix said.
"You knew what he was planning, all along, didn't you?"
Felix just looked at her, giving her all the answer she needed.
Her lip shook as she repressed her tears, still rocking the baby gently. "I didn't want it to end like this. I thought we'd have forever. We'd have our baby, and our Lost Boys, and each other, and we'd be happy."
Felix sighed, pulling her forward. "You're going to get through this. We're going to get through this, he was my best friend. I promised him."
Reyna nodded, and she and Felix walked through the portal.
When they stepped back into Storybrooke, Reyna ignored everyone, instead heading in the direction of the house she had created while she was the Dark One. She knew that Felix was following her silently, and she heard Hook shouting her name.
"You go see Mom and Neal, take Henry," Emma said to her father, jogging to catch up with Killian and Reyna. Henry protested slightly, but David squeezed his shoulder, and he agreed to go. He wouldn't be able to help Reyna yet.
Reyna walked inside, not bothering to close the door behind her as she walked into the living room. Waving a hand with a light burning sensation, the baby's cradle appeared before her. She gently placed the sleeping infant inside, rolling it slightly before she turned to face the group behind her, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well? Why can't you lot just leave me alone?" Reyna said, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.
Emma looked rather affronted, Hook flinched away, and Felix just walked around her and sat down on her couch, gently rocking the baby's cradle.
Hook stepped forward tensely, making Reyna glare. "He's gone, lass. I know it hurts now, but you-"
"You're glad he's gone, don't pretend that you aren't," Reyna hissed.
Hook held up his hands. "I never liked that bloody demon, but that doesn't mean I want my little sister to be hurting because of it."
Reyna bared her teeth, her hands shaking. Emma quickly stepped forward, putting a hand on Killian's arm to prevent him from digging himself a bigger whole.
"Reyna. We are just trying to help. You need to deal with his death as any normal person would. He's gone, and this time he isn't coming back."
Reyna's jaw clenched, and she more lost than she ever had before. "How does a normal person deal with it?" she mumbled.
Emma stepped forward, hugging her in comfort like she would Henry. "They grieve."
They were sitting around the room when Emma's phone rang, David telling her that Merida found Arthur. Emma got up, quietly excusing herself, Killian following after a moments hesitation.
She looked down at her slumbering son. "Well, what is it?" she asked.
Felix leaned forward, staring. "What is your plan?"
"I kill him."
"How?"
"I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm not quite sure how you kill a god."
Hours later, she met Emma at the library, where Emma explained where Regina and Robin had gone, and their current plan. "The others, they didn't think you could handle it yet. But I think that this will bring you closure. Will let you put Pan to rest the right way. Let you mourn him."
Reyna smiled politely, before taking a seat, opening up a book in front of her.
Pan stewed in the corner of the diner, trying to figure out how exactly he could turn this around and do as Reyna asked. It was the least he owed her after the promise he had her make.
The door opened and in walked the King of Camelot himself, Arthur. The man looked panicked and was frantically asking the barmaid where he was. Pan watched with disinterest.
"I actually think its rather obvious where you are, laddie," Pan said, standing up from his seat and approaching the man. The man glared, grabbing a knife from the counter and brandishing it at Pan's throat. He slammed his back into the wall.
"Tell me where I am, or I'll run you through."
Pan smirked. "Awfully redundant to kill a dead man, don't you think?" When fear flashed in Arthur's eyes, Pan's smirk got bigger. "Welcome to a new broken kingdom."
"No…But I had so much left to do!"
"That makes two of us, your highness," Pan snarked.
Arthur stumbled backward, his eyes dazed. Pan, annoyed slapped him. "Denial, grief, anger, let's skip to acceptance. You are going to help me. Tell me what is happening in Storybrooke."
Arthur explained what little he knew, and Pan ground his teeth. The Blind Witch leaned over, giving her two cents about Hades lack of weakness.
"I know what his weakness is. I just need a way to get it to Reyna. You'll be helping me, Arthur. Consider it a quest to your happy ending."
He led the unwilling king to Hades' throne room, feeling oddly vulnerable with Reyna having all his magic with her.
"Maybe whatever it is you're looking for isn't here, mate," Arthur said.
Pan spun around, glaring intently at the other man. He raised his hand on instinct, disappointed that he couldn't make the main double over in pain. "They have to be here! Hades is up there, and as long as he is alive, Reyna is in danger."
Arthur looked at him in surprise. "I get it now, this is all about a woman."
"Yes," Pan said defeatedly. "The most beautiful woman in the world who sacrificed everything for me! I promised her that I would try to move on, but that isn't going to happen if there is any chance of her still being terrorized! Now you were a king before. Where would you hide the one thing you never wanted anyone to find?"
Arthur stared at Pan for a moment, taking in the desperation on Pan's face before he nadded. "If he was anything like me, he'd have kept it somewhere nobody would think to look, to touch." He kneeled next to the chair at the center, feeling the arms and legs, "his throne."
He moved his hand, pressing a hidden button. The foot rest popped open, and out fell the pages. Arthur met Pan's green eyes. "Your Holy Grail."
