6
On the ship, everyone was quiet. They had just gotten to Neverland and for now, the sea was calm. They were slowly making their ways to the Island and everyone was thoughtful, for one reason or another.
Leroy was cleaning his ax, David was showing his daughter some moves and Hook was telling everyone about the dangers of Neverland and what they had to be careful about.
Bella, for her part, was thinking about August and that one time, when they had spent the entire day on a small boat. It had been a great time for her and she couldn't keep the memory away. It was still hard to believe for her, that she wouldn't see him ever again and she was missing him even more on this ship. She could almost imagine him coming behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and whispering in her ear that he loved her... He would have come with them to get Henry back if he had still been himself, she knew it.
"You're okay Bella?" Snow asked her and Bella quickly dried the one tear she had on her cheek.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just... old memories coming back, that's all." Bella replied, forcing a smile on her face.
"Of August?" Snow asked and Bella nodded silently.
"I'm sorry... It must be hard for you, this situation..." Snow started to say but stopped, not really knowing how to continue.
"I'll be fine eventually. I just need some time and a distraction. Rescuing Henry will do that, I hope." Bella smiled.
"I know that we just met but if you need someone to talk to, just know that I'm here." Snow told her softly before she joined her husband and daughter.
Bella knew what Snow was trying to do. She wanted to be a mother and since her daughter, Emma, was closing off, she was looking for someone else to mother. In any other circumstances, Bella might have played along and helped Snow resolve her issues but what had happened to August had changed that, it made her more selfish. She should have tried to call him more, she should have gone to find him sooner...
She had lost her love because she hadn't been worried sooner, because she had trusted that he was fine... She had believed him when she knew he was a good liar, that he would lie if he thought it would protect her. She should have checks on him sooner and now she had lost him and she was the only one to blame. Blaming Tamara had been easy but Bella now realized that she had been the one who caused his death.
She could have come, find him and been with him. She would have convinced him to regain the town, helped him turn back into a man of flesh and bones and when Neal arrived with Tamara, they would have been able to stop the woman before she hurt anyone... Even Henry being kidnapped was her fault.
Bella couldn't stand still and look at the sea anymore, she needed to move, to do something. She angrily dried her tears and turned around, looking at everyone, wondering if she should pretend she was interested in Hook's tales because his company soothed her pain or train with Emma and her parents. That's when, as if answering her need for action and her dilemma, mermaids started to attack them. The distraction had been short because between her powers and those of Gold, they had been quickly disposed of.
"But they're not dead, right?" Emma asked worriedly.
"Of course not. Some of them might be hurt a little but they'll heal quickly." Bella replied.
"Pan knows we're here, we can't sneak in anymore." Hook declared.
"Then we barge in." Emma decided.
.
Greg and Henry had landed in the water and managed to made it to shore. Of course Henry tried to use this occasion to make a run for it but Greg was fast and quickly caught him and tied him up tighter before he started making a fire to signal whomever the "Home office" was.
When a group of teenage boys arrived, Henry quickly guessed where they had landed and who the boys were. He wasn't sure who to trust but after the Lost Boys killed Greg in front of him, Henry tried to make a run for it, fearing for his own life. He was alone and didn't know the jungle he was in, the Lost Boys did and quickly caught up to him and brought him to their leader, Peter Pan.
One look at him and Henry knew that Peter Pan wasn't the hero that the Disney movie made him out to be. He was a villain, that much was obvious in his eyes and Henry knew that he couldn't trust him.
Pan ordered his boys to untie Henry and if Henry thought for a second that he'd be able to run, Pan made it clear that there was nowhere for him to run. They had patrols all around the camp, magical alarm systems that would warn Pan if he left the camp... Henry was free to come and go inside the camp, as long as someone could see him but he was warned that if he tried anything like running or fighting them, he'd lose and have to suffer through horrible consequences.
Henry was sitting on a log, away from the others and the move reminded him that he felt something in his pocket earlier when it had been empty all day. It was the first occasion he had to look at it since Pan and the Lost Boys seemed decided to leave him alone for now, probably giving him some time to get acclimated to everything. As he searched his pocket, Henry quickly found something cold and metallic. He looked around to make sure that everyone was looking somewhere else and he got it out, only to see that it was a mirror.
Immediately, Henry guessed that Bella or his grandfather must have done it at the last moment to be able to reach him. Since everyone was clearly noisily celebrating his capture, Henry figured that it was safe to try it and with crossed fingers he called out:
"Mom? Grandpa? Bella? Is anyone there?" Henry whispered, not really knowing how it worked and keeping the mirror hidden from sight.
.
"Mom? Grandpa? Bella? Is anyone there?" Bella heard coming from one of the pockets hanging from her father's belt as they followed Hook through the jungle.
She opened it and took the mirror out, calling everyone's attention to it.
"Henry? Are you okay? Don't trust Peter Pan. We're coming." Bella said quickly before giving the mirror to a worried Emma.
She figured that 'Don't trust Peter Pan.' and 'We're coming." were the most important things to tell him in case they were interrupted.
"I'm fine, apparently he wants me alive and unharmed. Where are you?" Henry asked them.
"We're in Neverland, don't worry Henry, we'll save you." Emma smiled at him, relieved to see him alive.
"Henry, it's very important that you don't trust Peter Pan, he's my father and the most evil person you'll ever meet, myself included. Whatever he needs from you can only be for evil reasons and you can't give it to him." Gold warned him.
"Okay... Wait he's coming back. I'll call back later when it's safe. Love you." Henry said quickly before all they could see was the inside of his pocket and then it turned off.
"Well, at least we know that he's fine and he knows we're here, so he won't lose hope." Hook nodded.
"He also knows to be careful and not to trust Pan. That's a good thing." David nodded.
"Yes, it is. Now, where is his camp?" Emma asked their pirate guide.
"Unfortunately, he keeps on moving it and it's very well protected... It won't be as easy as to cross the jungle and attacking his camp." Hook shook his head.
"Yes, even using my magic won't be safe here... Because we're blood, he'll be able to detect it, maybe even stop it. I can't even see the future because here, time stands still." Gold shook his head.
"Well, what do we do then?" Leroy asked but before anyone could make a suggestion, Gold rose his hand to ask for their silence.
"You all need to hide, I feel someone coming. I think it's one of the Lost boys... Maybe I can get something out of him, or make him think I'm not working with you. Don't make a sound until he's gone." Gold replied as Bella used her powers to cloak them all while Gold went to sit on a large rock.
After a couple of minutes of silence, The Dark One said:
"Come on out and say hello dearie. Felix, of course you're the one he sent. Still not tired of locking his boots, are you?" He added once a teenage boy, a hood hiding his face, walked out of the tree line with some sort of wooden mace on his shoulder.
When he arrived, Bella felt Hook, who was by her side, tense and the way he wrapped his hand in a fist, she guessed that he wanted to go after the boy. They probably had history because even Smee was tensed and had a hand on his sword. Hoping it would sooth him, Bella placed her hand on the pirate Captain's arm and tried to ignore the fact that he was now looking at her, an entirely softer (and confused) look on his face.
"Rumpelstiltskin... Pan wanted me to welcome you on his Island and to tell you that he's very excited to have you here." An arrogant teenage boy replied.
"Oh yeah, I'm sure he is." Gold rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"He wanted me to let you know that you're welcome in Neverland for as long as you wish to stay, with only one condition." Felix declared with a confident smirk.
"There's always something with him, doesn't surprise me." Gold replied and waved for Felix to continue, as if he wasn't really worried about what the boy was about to tell him.
"If you're here for the boy... well, that makes you Pan's enemy." Felix finished.
"Then nothing's changed." Gold growled.
"If you go against Him, you know you won't survive." Felix reminded him with fake concern.
"The question isn't if I survive or not, because we both know I won't and I've made my peace with that. No, the real question is how many of you I take down with me." Gold replied with an amused chuckle.
"So is that your answer to Him?" Felix asked seriously.
"That's my answer." Gold nodded.
"Then I suppose it means I'll see you again... In much less friendly circumstances." Felix told him.
"Count on it." Gold smirked.
Felix then turned around and took a couple of steps before he turned back towards Gold and said:
"One last thing: There's something he wanted you to have." As he said this, Felix threw a little hand made doll on the ground at the Dark One's feet and they could all see the emotion on his face as the powerful man dropped to his knees to take it in his shaking hands.
It was obviously hurting him since the powerful man had tears dropping from his eyes and it made Felix smile as he added:
"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." He chuckled, mocking his nickname.
As soon as Felix was far enough, Bella lifted the cloaking spell and rushed to his side.
"Is that the doll you dropped? The one he named himself after?" Bella asked him.
"Yes, it is..." Gold whispered.
"It took everything I had not to kill that boy... I hate him almost as much as I hate Pan. I owe him a few death." Hook shook his head.
"Will his fate be the same as Rufio Captain?" Smee asked him excitedly.
"What I did to Rufio will look like child's play next to what I have planned for Felix shall he ever cross our way again." Hook replied to his first mate.
"Why couldn't we just jump on him and get rid of him right now then if you all want to kill him?" Leroy asked as he moved his ax from one shoulder to the other.
"Because it wouldn't be wise, Felix is Pan's right hand man. His second in command. Going after him would mean declaring war on Pan and it would only push him into something that might hurt Henry." Gold shook his head.
"Then we wait... let's go and find a place high up to try and locate his camp." Emma decided.
They walked for several minutes before Hook held David back with his hook and Gold back with his hand.
"I can handle a few thorns." David rolled his eyes.
"It's not the thorns you have to worry about, it's the poison they inject you with. It's the same poison I used to try and kill Rumpelstiltskin. In its natural form, your death would take much longer and far more painful." Hook explained.
"Well, I suppose I should thank you for keeping me from going through it a second time." Gold nodded.
While everyone made their way around the poisonous bush, Bella took a small vial out and filled it with the poison, feeling that it might end up useful one day and, once she was done, she put some of the berries of this same bush in one of the belt's empty pockets. She'd be able to use them to try and make it grow, it would be great to keep people off of a property.
"Planning on using that on someone in particular, Love?" Hook asked her.
"Not really, but it could be useful, we never know. Especially if it can't be cured." Bella replied.
"Well, that's not exactly true Love. A cure exist on the Island."
"It does? What is it?" She asked him.
"Water, a hidden water spring on top of Dead Man's skull. But there's a deadly price for using it... Once you drink it, you can't ever leave this realm or the poison will take your life the minute you leave." Hook explained and Bella could see from the emotion on his face and in his voice that he was speaking from personal experience.
"Who did you lose because of it?" She asked him.
"My brother." He replied before he hurried his steps to create more distance between them, not feeling like speaking about it too much.
.
They walked for a few more hours until they reached one of the highest points of the Island and discovered that the jungle hid Pan's camp very well. They couldn't just cross the jungle of course, it would be too hard and dangerous if they considered all the creatures that lured in the darkness.
"Isn't there another way?" Snow asked.
"I can't use magic to find it or get us to it, he'll block me." Gold shook his head.
"What about Tink Captain?" Smee asked and everyone turned to look at them.
"Tinkerbell?" Emma and Bella asked in one voice.
"You know her?" Killian asked Bella.
"Of course I know her, ever kid in our world knows her." Bella replied, nodding her head.
"Pan trusts her Captain, she'd be able to show us the way to the camp..." Smee insisted.
"If she's willing to help that is." Hook added.
"Do you have a bad history with her or something?" Bella asked him, trying to figure out why he seemed reluctant to get her help.
"Not really. We crossed path a couple of times but we don't really have that big of an history..." He shook his head.
"Then why do you look so reluctant to find her?" Leroy asked in his usual grumpy voice.
"Because she has a bit of a temper and I don't want to get your hopes up. If we catch her in a bad mood, she won't help us." Hook replied.
"At least we can try. We might be able to convince her to help, find something she wants..." Bella argued and the Charming's nodded.
"As you wish, milady." Hook told Bella with a charming smile before he led the way for them.
"He likes you?" Emma told Bella.
"What? Who likes me?" She replied, confused.
"Hook!" Emma insisted while Snow, who was by her side, nodded.
"What? No, I told you before, we just shared a few drinks, nothing happened." Bella shook her head.
"I didn't say that something happened, I'm just saying that he likes you a lot and I'm sure that he'd love for something to go on with you two." Emma replied.
"Do you think we're far from Tinkerbell's place? I wonder if she lives in an actual house or in a flower like in the movies..." Bella asked, a small blush on her cheeks.
"And you're not trying to avoid the subject or anything..." Snow chuckled.
"Listen, maybe, just maybe, I like Killian and feel like, given time, something could happen between us but the key word here is 'given time'. I still need time to get over August... It still hurts me too much to think about him. Being with anyone else right now... It's just not possible." Bella shook her head.
"See, was that so hard to admit?" Emma smiled at her.
"From the looks of things, I think he knows that and is going to give you the time you need." Snow added with a smile.
"True, and he doesn't look like the kind of man who likes to give up. I mean, he did wait over 200 years to kill Gold..." Emma shook her head.
"My Captain is, indeed, a very patient man Milady. I know him very well and I can assure you that he does like you, a lot. He'll wait as long as you need. Don't worry, he won't hear of this little conversation." Smee said with a small smile as he stepped around them to reach to front of the line where Charming and Leroy were speaking with Hook while Gold walked on his own, deep in thoughts.
"I didn't even notice he was behind us..." Snow shook her head.
"He better keep his mouth shut." Bella said with a blush.
The group walked for a couple of hours until they arrived in front of a Tree house.
"Well, look who decided to come back? What are you doing here Hook? Did you miss the ambiance?" Tinkerbell asked him.
"We're not exactly here on vacation. We need your help." Hook replied.
"If you're here about the man, he's already dead. All I could salvage from his body was this watch. The Lost Boys got to him already. I can't help you." She shook her head.
"His name was Greg Mendel and he kidnapped my son for Pan. We want to get him back before Pan does anything to him." Emma explained.
"And why would I help you? What is it exactly you think I can do to help?" The green fairy asked them.
"Because Pan trusts you, you know how to get to his camp." Hook replied.
"So what? I break his trust and show you to his camp? What does that get me other than a death sentence from Pan once you're gone, or dead yourselves?" She asked him.
"You could come with us, back home." Snow suggested.
"Do you even have a way to get home? A way to leave this realm?" Tinkerbell asked them.
"We do." Bella nodded.
"Come on Tink. You might not know this but Henry, the boy Pan took, his not only Swan's boy. His father is Baelfire." Hook said, trying one last thing to convince the fairy.
"Bae? He's alive?" Tinkerbell asked.
"He... The people who took Henry hurt him." Emma replied, shaking her head.
"Your son is also his?" Tinkerbell asked Emma who nodded.
"You were close to my son..." Gold declared and Tinkerbell nodded.
"Even if I wanted to help you, we can't talk here, Lost Boys keep on coming around all the time. We need a safer place to talk." Tinkerbell shook her head.
"Where?" David asked.
"I'd suggest Baelfire's place but I don't know where it was... Even Pan doesn't know, and that's saying something." The fairy replied.
"I do." Hook said and Smee nodded.
"You do? But... If you knew where Bae was hiding, why did it take you so long to leave Neverland? Telling Pan would have guarantied you an immediate way out of Neverland..." Tinkerbell asked him, not confused.
"I couldn't let Pan get him back. He was Milah's son... I waited until he left on his own before I took Pan's offer on a deal and got out of here." Killian replied in a quiet voice, as if afraid to reveal the best parts of him.
"Well then let's go. The sooner we're there, the faster we can plot a way to get Henry back." Leroy insisted and everyone nodded and followed Hook and Smee on the way.
.
When they arrived, Hook showed them how to open the door and they all entered. It was an emotional for Gold, who was discovering a new side of his son's life as well as for Emma, who could still feel him close to her when in this place.
"I didn't know he could draw..." Emma whispered, looking at a wall.
"He got that from his mother. Milah was a great artist." Hook replied while Gold touched the mattress and closed his eyes, probably imagining his son sleeping on it.
"So, I can get you inside his camp but do you even have a plan? These boys are ruthless and the arrow they stick you with are coated with dream shade. It will definitely end up killing you." Tinkerbell declared once they were all inside the small space.
"And his shadow. We have to be careful, the shadow can kill us." Smee reminded them.
"I know that Baelfire had some sort of candle hidden in a coconut to keep the shadow trapped. That's how he escaped. It's probably still around her somewhere." Hook explained.
"We need to form two teams then. One team stays here and look for the candle and someone needs to go to get the water that heals Dream-shade." Bella decided.
"I told you Bella, it's not permanent, once you leave the land, the poison will kill you." Hook shook his head.
"But with enough water with us, Rumpel and I will be able to make a permanent antidote. Taking some with us will definitely help." Bella explained, speaking directly to him.
"Fine. Bella, you go with Hook to get the water, we'll stay here, find the candle and use it to trap the shadow. We all meet back here when we're done." David decided.
"Okay. Do you know where to go to find the shadow?" Bella nodded.
"Yes, sadly, I do." Tinkerbell nodded.
"So do I." Smee added.
"Wait, here Emma, take this mirror, it's also spelled. If something happens or the plans change, we use it to contact each other. I'm sure Henry will call for you if he gets an occasion to." Bella suggested as she took a small mirror out of her bag and gave it to Emma after making it shine.
"Do you have something to put the water into?" Gold asked Bella who nodded:
"I had a few small water bottle. They're empty now so it'll be perfect." Bella informed him.
"Very well. Be careful." Rumpel told Bella who nodded and told him the same thing.
She knew that Pan would be on the look out for them and that he would try to hurt them or to put them against each other. They'd have to be careful and ready to defend themselves against Pan's boys.
Fighting teenage boys with real weapons didn't seem right to Bella but if they were willing to use deadly poison against them, they were justified. Maybe she'd be able to use magic on them and force them all to fall asleep at the same time.
"Ready Bella?" Killian asked her, a gleam in his eyes telling her that he'd use the fact they were alone to flirt with her some more.
"Yep, let's go." She nodded, wondering if she'd be able to stay focused on the mission with Killian flirting with her.
Already, the pirate was starting a casual conversation with her and Bella couldn't help but enjoy it. She felt guilty for feeling the way she did in Killian's presence but at the same time, didn't August leave her, lying to her and keeping her in the dark? Was it so bad if she started to fall for another man?
Sure, she still loved August, just like Killian probably still loved Milah but at some point, she'd have to move on. She was still young and could still make a life for herself. get married, have children...
But then again, maybe Killian wasn't it, maybe all he wanted from her was a one night stand... Shaking her head, she chased these thoughts from her head, refusing to face them. Now wasn't the time. She'll take a few minutes to think about it once Henry was safe and they were all back in Storybrook.
Then, she'd take the time to find a place to stay, a place to make her own and only then would she consider moving on from August. If Killian really cared about her and wanted more than flirting, he'd wait that long, otherwise, it would be a sing that he wasn't the one and that she had to wait some more.
So, what did you think?
I don't know if this is going to be much longer... I might just pause it for a while until I decide on the right way to go... Next chapter might be the last before a while...
Reviews are always appreciated.
Lorelei Candice Black