Open up your eyes
Save yourself from fading away now, don't let it go
Open up your eyes
See what you've become, don't sacrifice
It's truly the heart of everything
Within Temptation - The Heart of Everything
Neverland
Three days prior to the Final Eclipse
Rumple took a deep breath before he climbed out of the boat and walked toward the entrance to the cavern. As he was about to step through Regina and Emma raced toward it.
"No…wait…!" he cried.
The women were thrown through the air and landed hard on the ground.
"Pan cast a protection spell," he explained.
"There must be a way to break it." Regina formed a fireball in her hand and threw it against the cavern. It began to bounce off the wall, barely missing them.
"Whoa! Careful with that!" Bae shouted.
"Try all you want but Pan's magic is too powerful. At least for you," Rumple said as he stepped through the barrier.
"What..?" Regina gasped.
"How did you do that?" Emma asked.
"The spell is designed to keep anyone who casts a shadow from entering."
"And you don't have one. You were telling the truth about ripping your shadow off." Bae said.
"And Pan knows it. That's why he cast the spell he did. This isn't about keeping you out. It's about drawing me in. He knows I won't give up the chance to finish what I came here to do."
"You really did come here to save Henry."
"I gave you my trust when I gave you that box. Now I need you to give it back."
Bae reached out to hand the box to him. Regina grabbed it back.
"Hey!"
"You'd better come through Gold or I'll make what Pan has planned for you look like child's play. You understand me?" she demanded coldly,
"Well a simple good luck would've sufficed," he joked with a small smile as he walked up the steps. Once he was inside he reached inside his coat pocket and took out the doll, feeling like the terrified child he'd been centuries before when he first arrived in the cursed place.
All I wanted was a fresh start for both of us but he didn't give a damn about me. All he wanted was to be a child again...a child who couldn't have a child.
"Hello laddie. Oh, I see you've come bearing gifts."
"Where's Henry?" Rumple demanded
"Oh, you mean my great grandson yet you still refuse to remember that I am the seed that you all spawned from."
"Because you're nothing but a coward to me, the sperm donor. Mama made me."
"We both know if that were true I'd already be in that box."
"You don't think I can do it? You let me inside just to...talk to me?"
"No. To see you again. To give you one last chance. Stay with me. Let this go. Let's start over."
"Do you think I wanna be with you? That I could ever forgive you after you abandoned me?"
"I'm disappointed Rumple. After all these years I thought you'd be more...understanding considering you did the same thing to your own son. You traded Balefire for the power of a dagger and I traded you for youth. We're alot more alike than you care to admit."
"We are nothing alike!" Rumple growled.
"Of course we are, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Neither one of us was cut out to be a father, old boy."
"I regretted leaving my son the moment I let him go. I spent my life trying to find him. And what did you do? You forgot about me," he said bitterly.
"I never forgot about you! Why do you think I call myself Peter Pan?"
"Don't think I believe for a moment its because you care for me."
"But I do. All you have to do is put down that box and you'll see its true. We can make the fresh start you always wanted."
"Oh, I'm gonna make a fresh start. Just not with you," he said with a smile and waved his hand over the box to activate it. To his horror nothing was happening. He tried again. "I don't understand..."
"Because you don't have it!" Pan said triumphantly, producing a second box.
"You switched them!" Rumple whispered fearfully. How had he not realized it?
"Follow the Lady. Still having trouble believing. In Neverland all you have to do is think of something to have it. Even something fake. But the real one... well, let's see what it can do," he said with a smirk and waved his hand over the box. The ruby began to glow and Rumple could feel the box drawing him inside.
"No!" he cried.
"I'm sorry Rumple. You had your chance, The choice was yours."
"You bastard!" Rumple screamed.
Storybrooke
Rumple's Victorian
"..No….No! Rumple!"
Belle's terrified screams woke Archie and Az out of a deep sleep. The couple raced down the hall to the master bedroom to find Belle sitting up in her bed, sobbing in despair.
"Belle, what happened?" Archie asked. Az sat down on the bed and took the heartbroken woman into her arms.
"R...Rumple...Pan switched boxes on him and now he's trapped!" she sobbed.
"Oh no!" Az cried in horror.
Belle rose and reached for her robe. "I'm going to get him out of there. The slippers. Give them to me. I know you have them or a travel storm token."
"You are NOT going to Neverland alone!" Archie said angrily. "And you can't face Pan alone either. If he can trap Rumple, what do you think he will do to you?"
"He won't be able to do a damned thing to me because I'm going after Aramon's Talisman and I'm going to use it on the bastard then find out where he put that box."
"You don't even know where it is!"
"I do," Az said softly.
"Dellia, no! You know what will happen if you step one foot in the OZ again."
Az glanced up at her husband. "Archie, with Rumple trapped in Ephesis, me here and DG and Wyatt under Alemedia's control Pan will take Henry's heart. We cannot let that happen. Not if there is a way to stop it and retrieving Aramon's Talisman may be our only option."
"We only have one travel storm token and the slippers can only take two. You are NOT going to the OZ without me!"
"Once we get the talisman I can get another token from Ambrose."
"But we're taking the slippers just in case," Belle said firmly. "I'll be ready to leave in an hour," she added, leaving no room for argument.
Az and Archie returned to the guest bedroom to dress.
"I don't like it Dellia...it's too dangerous."
"You would've done the same for me," she reminded him.
"I know but….I don't trust anyone in that place not to hurt you when we show up there. Some of them still want my head thinking I was working for Bastinda."
"It's a risk we have to take. Henry needs us. Rumple needs us."
"What are the rest of them doing? His mothers! Unless Pan…"
"That's why we have to go darling. We may be Henry and Rumple's only chance."
In her own bedroom Belle finished filling her sack with an extra change of clothing and grabbed her sword from the closet along with the Walther pistol Rumple had given her shortly after she was released from the hospital. Knowing her lover was trapped, she didn't dare risk invoking his magic to weaken him. He would need all his strength.
"Hold on Rumple...hold on...I'm getting you out of there."
They climbed into Rumple's Cadillac with Archie at the wheel ad raced to MacDonald's farm. They arrived at the farm a short time later. Az took the coin out of her pocket and dropped it on the ground.
"Stand back!" she called out over the rising winds. "And join hands!"
The trio clasped hands as the large funnel cloud formed in front of them.
Az led them toward the cloud and they stepped in, picturing the Grey Gale in her mind. Belle clung to them tightly as the wind picked up and they began flying through the air. They could see Storybrooke disappearing beneath them and as the smoke cleared they found themselves standing on a hilltop with two suns shining in the sky.
Oz (The Outer Zone)
The Gray Gale
"Here we are….the Grey Gale or as the Ancients refer to it…Lurline's Temple. The original one," Az whispered. She'd been to the sacred site only once and that was while she was still under Bastinda's control to retrieve the Ozopov emerald from DG.
"I don't see anything," Belle said.
"You will. The doors will only reveal themselves to those of our bloodline." Az stepped forward and two emerald green doors appeared in the center of the hill and opened. The three travelers went inside.
"This looks more like a burial vault than a holy temple," Belle said, looking down at the spiraling staircase and seeing monuments along the walls.
"It is meant to be both."
Belle approached a pair of white doors and above them written in gold lettering was the name: DOROTHY GALE.
"My maternal line descends from her and Lurline. She was not a mage when she came to this land; she came into her powers later. This is why my powers are not as strong as those of Rumplestiltskin. He is a pureblood. I'm not. She guards the Ozopov Emerald, the one that holds the last of Lurline's magic, her very life force. If it is destroyed…."
"It acts like the trigger Regina had in Storybrooke, doesn't it? If you destroy it, it takes the magic out of Oz and destroys it?" Belle asked her.
"I'm afraid it's far worse than that, Belle. Not only will the OZ fall…all the realms will fall…Lurline's magic created them. The only stone that can counteract its effects is the one we're here to find since it harnesses magic from your land, but our emerald will never leave this vault again."
"Thank the gods for that."
"Where is the emerald we're looking for, Az?" Belle inquired.
Az sighed. "Dorothy Gale's crypt."
"But...But how do we get there?" Belle stammered.
"The door to its location and the location of the talisman is here."
She led them down the staircase to the lowest level. Above two stone doors were the words ARAMON STROGOFF and there was not one but two symbols similar to the ones on Belle and Archie's palms on each side of the door. Azkadellia stepped forward and touched one of them and was blasted back. She fell to the floor in front of Belle and Archie.
"Dellia!" Archie exclaimed and helped her to her feet. "Are you all right?"
"Do…Doesn't want me….only a pure heart….can open the door."
Belle stepped forward and pressed her hand against one of the symbols. It began to glow but the doors wouldn't open.
"No…No! Come on…let me in please!" she begged. "You don't understand…I need those stones…Rumple needs them. He's not the monster everyone thinks he is. You have to let me in!" She pounded frantically with her fists. "You have to let me save him. I'm his bondmate...please!" She held her hand against the symbol on the door.
"Left...and right….two locks…" Az murmured.
"Dellia, we're running out of time! We need to get that door open!" Archie cried.
Az glanced at the doors. "Of course! I should have remembered!" she cried.
"What?" Belle cried.
She looked down at Archie's palm, seeing the House of Ozopov symbol branded into it. "Two symbols….two locks…one for each half of the bloodline. I can't open it…but you can…together."
"Us?" Archie was puzzled. "How?"
"She is bound to a Strogoff, you're bound to me, an Ozopov. That means you are now part of our bloodline," Az answered.
"Archie, please…just try!" Belle begged, keeping her own palm pressed against the symbol. Archie walked over to the second one and pressed his palm to it. A white light surrounded both of them and the doors opened.
"We did it!" Belle cried and threw her arms around her friend.
"Come inside all of you and claim what you seek," a voice boomed through the marble walls. The four held hands as they entered the final resting place of Rumple's forefather, the man once known in his native land as Ivan Strogoff, proclaimed a god by the Ozians when he won the heart of their beloved Lurline.
Belle recognized the décor; she'd seen it in photographs and artwork depicting the palace of the Tsar he once served, Ivan the Terrible. The throne he was seated on was an exact replica of the one his master used, wooden with a high, straight back and a pedestal with ivory plates with carvings that depicted crucial events in Ozian history, not mythological events as Ivan's. On the wall above the throne hung a tapestry showing Aramon standing with Lurline and their children, the image so lifelike. Belle recalled Rumple showing her a similar one he made of himself and Bae. She'd never seen it when she lived in the Dark Castle. It was part of the second shrine he had to his son's memory in his chambers in the west wing, the only room in the castle she was forbidden to enter. Rumple often told her he didn't understand where his weaving talents came from, his father couldn't weave anything except tapestries of lies and he never knew his mother. Now she knew.
"Closer, my children," he beckoned. Reluctantly they stepped forward and kneeled before the throne. "Azkadellia, my daughter, you put yourself at great risk returning here. Tell me, why did you?"
"Rumplestiltskin is my kinsman and Belle my kinswoman through his bond to her. I…I know the pain he endures as long as Alemedia holds his soul. It was my pain when Bastinda held mine," Az answered. "His father wishes to possess the heart of the East Guardian and absorb all the magic of Neverland. Doing so will cause an even greater disruption in the balance and it is our duty to stop it. Rumplestiltskin is now a prisoner in the Realm of the Forgotten and he must be released!"
"The man you know as Peter Pan carries within him the blood of powerful warlocks in my native world, many of whom were burned at the stake for consorting with Lucifer. While only a select few of them practiced the dark arts and their deaths were justifiable, the deaths of the innocents were not. Therefore, only a mage with powers equal to his can defeat him….and he must do so as a true guardian, a mortal without magic." He eyed Belle. "Do you believe your bonded can defeat the realms' darkest evils as a mortal?" Aramon inquired.
"I do."
"We'll see."
Ephesis
The Ozian Hell Realm
The Realm of the Forgotten
He was in complete darkness. He buried his face in his hands and began to cry as he imagined what horrible fate awaited Bae and Henry. "I've failed you...again!"
"There is still a chance you can save them," he heard a voice say in the distance. "If you are willing to do what it requires."
"Who's there?" he asked, looking around and seeing no one. "Show yourself!"
He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see a young woman with white blond hair, blue eyes and wearing a silver gown sitting beside him.
"Who are you?"
"I am many things to you. I am Hope," she answered softly as she reached up and brushed a tear from his cheek. "You've kept this box all these centuries, surely you know its legends."
"Right now it does contain one of the world's darkest evils...me," he said sadly. "And now the other...my own damned father...is going to kill my son...and my grandson...and it's all my fault! He'll keep me trapped in here just long enough to succeed...and then he may release me just so I can watch him enjoy his victory."
"You have a way to escape, you just have to believe it is possible."
"I don't know what to believe anymore."
"You don't want to!" Hope said angrily as she hauled him to his feet, shook him and slapped his cheek. "Overcome your fear, Rumplestiltskin! Be the man I know you are! The man Belle loves, the father Baelfire remembers! Or do you truly wish to follow in your father's footsteps now and live for no one but yourself?" she went on shoving him away from her, her hands on her hips and giving him a glare that was as terrifying as his own when he was in one of his rages.
"No!" he cried. "I'm not like that anymore. I've changed."
"Then prove it," she hissed. "Remove your heart!"
Rumple scoffed. "And how is that supposed to help me, dearie? I have removed my heart...many times and it is as dark as my soul from this cursed power I traded my son for as my father was quick to remind me of. Nothing can remove this darkness from me except my death and being locked in here is a fate far worse than my death."
"Yet did you not say in your message to Belle that you could defeat Pan and live?" Hope inquired softly.
"Only if she brought me this box from my shop. And my father switched this one with a fake. He was always good at that...trickery. Follow The Lady," Rumple added bitterly. "And like everyone else I fell for the ruse. He will take my grandson's heart and will kill him, my Bae and everyone else along with them to retain the youth he traded me for. I've failed Bae again and you need not be here to remind me of it! Go!"
"Do you not believe that your son still has faith in you?"
"Why should he? He knows now of the prophecy."
"He gave you this box when you asked him to trust you enough to give it back. By admitting you removed your shadow in preparation to enter the barrier Pan placed around Skull Rock your son could have faith that you came to Neverland to save Henry, not kill him. If that is not faith, Rumplestiltskin, what do you assume it to be?"
"Desperation."
"And what of your grandson? He does not fear you now even when you were cruel to him. Do you doubt he believes you can save him?"
"He doubts all of us because his life has been built around our lies! And that, dearie, works to Pan's advantage. He will use that to make Henry believe he is his only true friend. He toys with words, a skill I learned to use as well."
"And Belle?"
"What about her?"
"Do you doubt her love for you is as strong as yours is for her even after she has sent you proof of it?"
"Proof I'm now trapped in! She'll forget me eventually. It's for the best."
"Is it?"
"I'm done talking. Leave!" he snarled.
"Remove your heart," she ordered again, more firmly.
"If I do it, will you leave then?"
"Perhaps."
Rumple plunged his hand into his chest and grasped the organ, roughly pulling it out. He gazed down at it, frowning. "I don't understand...this…this is not how it looked before."
"When was the last time you removed it?"
"After I...after I threw Belle out of my castle and was told of her death," he confessed sadly. "It was almost completely dark then, with only a small portion still red."
"Yet now, twenty-eight years later, there is only a small dark portion here." Hope indicated a small black spot.
"How is that possible? Once a heart turns dark, the darkness grows inside it until it consumes it."
"It can...unless there is still something or someone that can bring light into its darkness and give it the strength to fight against it and banish the worst of it and in turn strengthen the will of its host. Now, divide its essence."
"Divide its essence?"
"You've tried it before, did you not?"
"Twice. The first time after I let Bae go and after I lost Belle the first time to try to see if she was alive. And nothing happened. Just as nothing will happen now It's too late for me."
"We'll see. Divide it," she encouraged.
"Your name should be Persistence, not Hope," he grumbled.
"Divide it," she insisted.
Rumple closed his eyes, concentrated and waved his free hand over his beating heart, bracing himself for yet another failure.
"Open your eyes."
He opened his eyes slowly, gasping in shock. The dark portion of his heart still lay in his palm while there were three larger pieces hovering in the air, all of them glowing with a bright white light.
"I don't understand...how...?"
"You have three sources of light in your darkness, Rumplestiltskin. Summon them to you now. Make their strength your own and your strength theirs. A bond in love and blood is strong enough to cross time and space to defeat the darkest of evils."
He reached out and took the first glowing piece in his free hand. "Baelfire," he murmured as he opened his palm and released it. It vanished. He then reached for the second piece, raising it to his lips. "Belle," he whispered and kissed it before he released it, reciting the incantations silently. He gazed at the third piece, unsure if he should keep it with him or take the risk that it would return to him if he sent it to his chosen recipient. Taking a deep breath, he reached for it and cupped it in his palm tenderly. "Henry," he said softly then slowly opened his palm to allow it to escape.
Ephesis
The Ozian Hell Realm
The Realm of the Forgotten
A glowing orb appeared in the throne room, hovering before Belle.
"What is that?" she asked.
"Take it...and discover for yourself what it is," Aramon encouraged. She took the glowing orb into her hands and as she held it, she could feel his love for her within in.
"I don't care how long it takes Rumple, but I will wait for you. And I will fight for you. I'll never stop fighting for you!" Belle vowed as she pressed the glowing orb against her chest near her heart. She gasped as she felt a felt a slight pain and pulled the orb back to see that it was now glowing red.
"See as I see
Feel as I feel
Let our two hearts become one
Not even in death shall this bond be undone!" she chanted and released the orb, hoping that it would deliver her message to Rumple.
"Well done, child. Well done." Two silver boxes appeared in Aramon's hands. He opened the first and took out a tear shaped ruby pendant. "This is my talisman. I am certain, Azkadellia, you are familiar with what it can do."
"Render any mage user powerless for several hours but if you hold it over their hearts, it can take their powers away forever."
"Unless you have this." He opened the second box and took out a square shaped emerald pendant. This stone holds all of my magic, my life force…and it can harness the magic of any realm. It is also where the magic Lilliana took from Rumplestiltskin as a babe is stored. Once it is returned to him, he will become what he is meant to be…if he chooses the right path."
"He will!" Belle vowed, falling her knees. "Thank you! Thank you."
Aramon smiled down at the young woman. "Rise child. Ozmalita chose well. Your love will be Rumplestiltskin's light out of the darkness. You must go and be ready when the time comes."
The group raced out of the crypt and found a small army waiting for them. One of the men raised a gun and fired a shot. Azkadellia sank to her knees clutching her shoulder, her limbs freezing as the squid ink the bullet had been coated with began to work its way through her system.
"Dellia!" Archie cried.
"Archie...you must…get Belle back to Storybrooke!" she murmured.
"I'm not leaving without you!"
"Take them into custody!" the leader ordered.
"You're not taking us anywhere!" Archie snarled and concentrated, slamming the tip of his umbrella into the ground, throwing up a shield over them. The soldiers began firing at the shield at will, the bullets bouncing off it.
"Shit! It's Commander Ozopov!" one of the older guards cursed.
"I thought he was dead!"
"Sorry to disappoint you McKendrick but I'm very much alive. "Now, release my wife or you're going to be getting a very nasty reminder why I wasn't one to trifle with!"
"Take her back to the palace."
"No one is taking us anywhere now release my wife or so help me Lurline I will tear this forest apart!" Archie yelled, his eyes glowing green.
"And I'll help him," Belle growled.
Cracks began to form in the earth beneath the soldiers' feet. Several screamed and began to run, one of them dragging a protesting Az with them. Archie turned his head sharply and a tree branch swung out and struck the man holding Az in the face, forcing him to release her.
Belle threw a fireball at one of the trucks and it burst into flames. Archie teleported Az to their shield while she struggled to recover from the effects of the squid ink.
"Enough!" they heard a woman's voice yell and the rest of the solders were thrown against the trunks of trees and pinned there.
"DG…" Az said weakly, praying her sister was now in control of the body, not Alemedia.
"Well well, what have you got there?" she asked, summoning Belle's satchel to her and taking out the boxes. "Oh, at last! The centuries I've spent searching for these and they were right under my nose the whole time."
"No…." Archie and Az moaned.
"Pity….I can only use this on one of you. But which one…" the goddess murmured as she approached them with the talisman in her hand.
"None of them!" they heard Wyatt snarl and blast her, the talisman falling out of her hands. Alemedia jumped to her feet.
"You can't hold me back forever, Tin Man!" she hissed.
"I don't have to. Just long enough. Archie, get them out of here! Now!" he ordered as he continued to blast at DG, a travel storm token appearing in Archie's hand. Belle snatched the talisman and put it back in its box.
"No one's going anywhere!" DG gestured and Az, Archie and Belle were pinned to the ground. "The Balance will never be restored!"
Wyatt could feel himself weakening.
"DG, for Lurline's sake, break through and save your sister!" he yelled.
"Deege, please…." Az pleaded and concentrated, shattering DG's paralysis spell. She got to her feet and began to approach her sister.
"Dellia, no! She'll kill you!" Archie cried.
Az held out her hand. "Nothing can hurt us if we're together! Take my hand!"
I'm sorry I let go, Az.
I'm here and I'll never run away again. Take my hand!
Wyatt out his arms, sword in hand. "You want me Alemedia…come and get me!"
"Wyatt, what the hell are you doing?" Archie demanded.
DG reached out and clasped her sister's hand in hers and they began to glow.
"Az!" she sobbed. "Oh Az, you shouldn't have come!"
"I had to, dammit! It's the only way we can help Rumple!"
"Dottie, go with them."
"Wyatt," she sobbed. "Oh, what have you done!"
His eyes met hers. "What I had to, taking as much of her darkness out of your souls and tethering it to mine. She's taking control again…now you have to go! Rumple is going to need you once he neutralizes that dagger. GO!"
"You damned stubborn tin man," DG sobbed. "You are NOT sacrificing yourself for me again!"
"I love you Princess. Now get going!"
Archie tossed the token. They could hear maniacal laughter as the funnel cloud formed and jumped into it. Seconds later it vanished leaving Wyatt alone with a group of dazed and confused soldiers.
"Why did you let them leave? If Rumplestiltskin neutralizes the first dagger…" Katia Ozopov said as she stepped out from her hiding place.
"It will make no difference, Katia. I still hold the South." Alemedia grinned. "Come. There is much to be done."
The pair vanished in a puff of smoke.
Neverland
Skull Rock
"Something's wrong. We gotta inside that cave!" Bae cried.
"The moon," Emma said softly.
"What?"
"The moon is what casts our shadows at night. What if we block it out?"
"An eclipse? Is that possible?" Bae asked.
"We're going to make it possible," Regina murmured. "Follow my lead Emma."
The pair held up their arms and began to chant, pushing the clouds in front of the moon to obscure its light.
"It's working! I'm in!" Bae exclaimed.
"Now let's go get our son," Emma growled, following him through the barrier with Regina close at her heels.
"I'm sorry but you're a little late for the party," Pan sneered, tossing Pandora's Box up and down in his hand while Henry lay unconscious on the ground at his feet.
"What did you do with my father?" Bae growled.
"Put him away for safekeeping of course. And I believe you have something for me, Regina." He gestured and Henry's heart appeared in his hand. He set Pandora's Box down and shoved the heart into his chest. Seconds later he cried out in pain.
"What…what's happening…." He held out his hands, his eyes widening in horror at the wrinkled skin and age spots.
"You don't have it all," Regina boasted and blasted him. As he was lying on the ground she reached into his chest and pulled Henry's heart out. Before she could unleash her full wrath on him, he vanished. Bae scooped Henry up in his arms.
"Dammit! Where the hell did he go?" Emma demanded.
"Never mind we gotta get Henry the hell outta here!" Bae snapped. Regina grabbed Pandora's Box while Emma teleported them back to the Jolly Roger. Bae carried his son below deck to the Captain's quarters and laid him on the bed.
"Don't let us be too late. Please," Emma pleaded while Regina gently pushed Henry's heart back into his chest. His eyes fluttered open.
"You did it…" he whispered. "You did it…together."
"Henry," Emma sobbed and threw her arms around him.
Regina graciously allowed Emma and Bae a few minutes alone with their son and sat down to wait for Henry to be ready to be tucked into bed, just as she used to do. As she waited, she noticed something glowing by her feet. It was a small orb. Once it was in her hands a vision appeared before her eyes. She saw herself and Rumplestiltskin back in the Enchanted Forest when she was still a fledgling sorceress under his tutelage.
"You can do four things with hearts. Crush them, control them, use them to uncover truths the mind hides or divide their essence," Rumplestiltskin was explaining. "We've already done the first three. The fourth is a bit...difficult and no one has ever done it successfully in this land, only Oz."
"Splitting a heart in half is the same as destroying it."
"Not quite, dearie. Remember, a heart becomes enchanted once it is removed."
"Then why do it? What benefit does it have?" Regina demanded impatiently.
"The ability to be a strength or a weakness."
"How?"
"Unlike your first three options, you would be dividing your own heart's essence, sharing it's strength with someone else and in turn you would gain part of their heart to use as your strength. Now, if you happen to come across someone who has done this, you won't be able to take their heart...but if you weaken them, you also weaken the one who has the other half. Think of it as a two for the price of one deal."
"The second part sounds more promising. So, how do you divide a heart's essence."
To demonstrate, Rumple reached into his chest and removed his blackened heart, holding in his palm. He closed his eyes and concentrated, waving his hand over it. Moments later he opened his eyes.
"Had this worked, my heart would be divided into two pieces, one glowing with white light hovering above the other here in my hand as it is my half. The other, you would hold in your hand and speak the name of the person you want to send it to. When they receive it, they will see your heart's memories because they show the truths the mind can hide and learn the reason why you've trusted them with this fragile part of yourself. If they press it close to their own heart, it will remove a piece of their heart to return to you and replace it with part of yours. Then you will be able to draw strength from each other across time and distance. By dividing your heart's essence with a loved one, you can combine your strength to defeat an enemy or if one is weakened, it can draw strength from another, essentially weakening that person temporarily. And a heart that is divided cannot be taken."
"I will never need to do that. I'm strong enough on my own."
"We can't. A heart filled with darkness can never divide its essence."
Regina smiled. "So you've succeeded at doing the impossible even while trapped, have you, Rumple? I don't need your heart's essence...but Henry does. He needs both of us. Now I can make certain that little bastard never hurts him again!" she vowed as she followed the glowing piece down below deck into Hook's quarters where her son lay on the bunk.
"Mom, what is that?" he asked.
"Take it and you'll see," she said softly. "It won't hurt you. You trust me, don't you?"
"I do, Mom," the boy assured her, grasping the smaller piece in his hand. As he held it he could see his grandfather, his mothers and father standing outside Skull Rock, thrown back from entering.
Henry recalled being with Pan in the room with the hourglass when Pan teleported him away to another room. He hadn't even known his grandfather had come for him or even heard him. Where was he? He held the orb tighter, realizing he was now seeing the events of the night through Rumple's memories. How was it possible?
He now saw his grandfather and Pan standing in the hourglass room while he waited in another, his grandfather holding a small box.
Henry watched with sadness as his grandfather was drawn inside the small box and imprisoned by his own father. No one had ever done anything that cruel to him. His parents and grandparents had their faults, but they all did what they did to protect him.
"Mom, we gotta find that box. Grandpa is trapped inside and we have to get him out!" he cried frantically.
"Not all of him is, my little prince."
"How?"
"What you're holding in your hands is a piece of his heart...a piece that belongs to no one else but you." she murmured.
"His heart's essence," he said. "He couldn't divide it before, but he can now because he's returned to the light."
"I'd do anything for you, Henry. How did you know that's what this was?"
"That's what its telling me. What he's telling me." He held the orb to his chest until it vanished.
"Now no one can ever take your heart again as yours is now divided too," she said softly. "Get some sleep little prince." She kissed him once more before she went back on deck.
On the deck of the Jolly Roger Bae stood off in a corner alone with conflicting emotions raging through him...elation that he now had his son back safely, remorse that he'd doubted his father and fear that their troubles were far from over. He saw a flash of light beside him and turned to see a white glowing orb. As he touched it, he could see his father and Pan inside Skull Rock and heard their confrontation as if he were witnessing it firsthand. Even as Pan tempted him with survival, his father stood his ground, reminding both Pan and his son that he never forgot the child he abandoned. Bae watched with a heavy heart as Pan trapped his father in the real Pandora's Box while his father held a fake one, crying out in agony. The image was then replaced with another one from his own youth. He and his father were walking through the forest, Rumple carrying his old walking stick in his hand.
"You don't need that anymore so why bother carrying it?" he asked bitterly.
"There's something I want to show you Bae. A lesson I hope you'll remember should you need it."
"If it has to do with magic, you can forget it."
"Pay attention."
"Fine!" he grumbled realizing his father was not going to let the matter drop.
Rumple waved his hand over the walking stick until it glowed. "It's now enchanted. To everyone else it looks like an ordinary walking stick but in my hands or anyone who carries my blood, this stick can be much more." He twirled the stick in the air and a glowing dome appeared over them. "Blood magic, Bae." He twirled the stick again and the dome vanished. "It can also be triggered by thoughts and emotions. If you focus your emotions on an object it will give you what you desire."
"I'm gonna get you out of there, Papa...somehow. We need you." He cradled the glowing orb against his chest, feeling a small stab of pain before he released it. It was now glowing red. It stayed there for a minute or two before it vanished.
Ephesis
The Realm of the Forgotten
"This was all for nothing. They don't trust me. I don't trust me," Rumple said sadly.
"Don't they? Look." Hope said, indicating the three heart pieces that now hovered about the small black portion he held, all glowing a deep red as they merged with it to reform his heart. He gently placed the organ back in his chest, overwhelmed by the emotions emulating from it, the most powerful one being love. He pressed his hand over his heart, sobbing quietly.
"I don't deserve their love...not after everything I've done."
"Yet you have it and now it is time for you to go."
He was about to ask how when he vanished in a cloud of red smoke.
Neverland
The Jolly Roger
Bae retrieved Pandora's Box and walked out to where Emma, David and Snow stood. waving his hand over the ruby stone that served as the box's lock. It rose upward and a cloud of red smoke billowed out of it. When it cleared a slightly dazed and confused Rumplestiltskin stood in front of him.
"Bae?" he called softly and threw his arms around his son.
"Papa," Bae gently patted him on the back.
"Where's Henry?"
"He's safe. He's safe," Bae assured him.
"I told you I wasn't gonna hurt the boy."
"I know, I'm sorry. I just wish you'd told me about Pan before…when I was a kid."
"Because I didn't want you to know I was as bad a father as he was. Because we're both the same; me and him. Because we both abandoned our sons," Rumple said sadly.
"No, you're not the same. You came back for me, Papa."
Rumple smiled softly and embraced his son again. "You don't know how much I need to believe that now." He tensed as he felt his father's presence on the ship.
"What's wrong?"
"Pan," Rumple said through gritted teeth. "He's here. I need the box, Bae...quickly!"
"Papa, be careful!" Bae begged. "He already trapped you once."
"Oh, don't worry. The only one going in the box now is him!"
He went below deck and saw his father in the room with Henry attempting to rip off the boy's shadow now that he couldn't take his heart. "Blood magic works both ways...Father," Rumple said coldly, waving his hand to activate the box. The magic reached out and seized Pan, the boy screaming as he was being sucked in, but his son was not aware that he'd switched bodies with the one lost boy whose soul still belonged to him.
"Henry! Henry!" Regina cried frantically when she came down the ladder into the quarters.
"I'm okay. I'm okay!" Henry assured her.
"Are you sure?"
"He's a strong boy Regina. You raised him well," Rumple said not disguising the pride in his voice. He hadn't understood why she needed a child during the curse but now that he knew the full truth, there was no one else he could've trusted to raise the boy all those years but the woman who had been a daughter to him. "I'll stay with him."
"You're sure?"
He nodded. "Just...get us the hell out of here."
"You don't have to ask me twice about that," she muttered and left the cabin. Rumple settled himself in a chair by the wall with Pandora's Box clutched tightly in his hands.
"He's not gonna get out of there, is he?" Henry asked worriedly.
"No. Go on back to sleep. I'll be here." Rumple said softly and settled himself into a chair in the opposite end of the room.
On deck Bae opened the shell and released the Shadow while Emma and Regina blasted it, trapping it on the mainsail.
"Brace yourselves!" Snow called out to the terrified children and Tink as the ship took flight. Many of the children clung to each other while it soared through the night sky for miles and miles until it passed through the magical barrier and suddenly it was daylight and they were once again in the ocean.
"Why so glum?" a boy asked a pouting Felix.
"Why? Why? Pan's gone."
"Is he?"
The boy smirked.
"You switched," Felix chuckled. "But…but I thought losing Henry's heart weakened you."
"Only temporarily laddie. I don't need Neverland's magic anymore."
"Why?"
"Because I'm back in the realm of my ancestors, old friend and the closer I get to the motherland, the stronger my magic will be. We're going to make this our new Neverland courtesy of the same curse my son created to bring himself here. We just have to get it."
"You will. Peter Pan never fails."
And Storybrooke would be his new Neverland.