Okay well it's been 11 days since the last update, which is too damn high! But sorry guys, the problem was that I hadn't seen the last four episodes and I didn't know when to put stuff where. Well guess what? Still haven't gotten to the last three, but I'm going to soon. In fact when I started this story I had only watched up to 'Quite a Common Fairy'. Still, I feel like I've done a good job changing it so there's no relation between Henry and Pan.
Guest: Yeah...uhm. They did just meet. Well I guess technical Peter met Sam and Sam just ran into him... but yeah, Pan knows Sam's running around with the gang.
Last Time on Fighting Destiny:She hears a rather sardonic voice. "Well that's new."
"No. It's just a little blood." She replies without thinking. She looks away from her fingers and up at… no one. There was no one there.
At the camp Emma stares down at a unlit fireplace, arms crossed and brow set. Regina is crouched down next to her. "Focus." She stands up, pushing her arms of her calves. "Concentrate."
Emma rolls her eyes at Regina. "It's kinda hard when you're talking in my ear."
"And when the wind blows, or it's raining, or someone's shooting arrows at you?" David and Mary Margaret watch the two women bicker from a comfy position on a rock. "Yes, concentration hard. That's the point! Find your anger and use it to focus." She circles around Emma.
"No." Emma says, "There has to be a way without going dark." She turns her back to the fire, facing off against Regina.
Regina let's out an exasperated noise. "You're such a pathetic waste of ability!" She shouts, throwing her arms up.
"And you're a monster!" Emma accuses Regina.
Regina crosses her arms and sniffs at the air. "Smell that?"
"What?!" Emma cries.
Mary Margaret's head moves off David's shoulder, looking at the fireplace. Regina looks at Emma. "Smoke." With that Regina walks away from Emma. Emma turns around to see a small fire dancing in the pit.
David sighs against Mary Margaret. "This is a bad idea," He tells his wife.
"She has it in her. She should learn to use it." Mary Margaret consoles her husband. "We just have to trust her."
David frowns, "Yeah, it's not Emma I don't trust."
"Well Regina doesn't trust people in our group either." Mary Margaret smiles, thinking about the petite blonde.
David let's out a small chuckle. "Don't tell me you miss your little sidekick?"
"She's something else." Mary Margaret laces her fingers with David's. "She's taken to following around our one-handed companion."
Hook emerges from the jungle, dragging a dazed Sam along behind him. He pulls her up to the Charmings. "We need to talk." He says, tapping on David's shoulder. Sam maneuvers under the arm Hook has on David, prying herself from Hook's grasp and plopping down at Mary Margaret's feet.
Sam holds her hand over her nose, and Mary Margaret silently exclaims when Sam brings down her hand, revealing red spots on her pink sweater. "Sam! Are you okay?" She grabs the girl's chin, tilting it side to side to further inspect the blood trailing from her nostril to her lip.
"Oh, you mean the nose?" Hook asks angrily. "Yeah. Pan gave her that."
"What?"
"What?"
"What?"
Everyone looks at Sam, wondering as to why she inquired about it if she was there. "I ran into Peter Pan?" She has an extremely confused look on her face.
"Yes, and apparently he attacked you." Mary Margaret exclaims tightening her hold on Sam's chin.
Sam knocks her head to the side. "Buh 'is tu-" She squirms out Mary Margaret's concerned grip. "But his teeth weren't pointy."
"You didn't actually see him." Hook corrects her. "Or his teeth."
Sam responds with, "Yeah but he didn't sound like someone who has pointy teeth."
"It doesn't change the fact that Pan now knows she here." David interjects. "I mean, he gave her a bloody nose. He wasn't very happy to see Sam." David gestures to Sam's face and she rubs her sleeve under nose, trying to get rid of any remaining blood.
"That's not exactly what happened." Hook looks at David and Mary Margaret. "Pan paid me a visit before he bumped into the girl." He scratches the back of his head. "He uh… he told me that Neal is alive." Both Mary Margaret's and Sam's hands fly to their mouths. "That he's on this very island."
Mary Margaret shakes her head. "Emma saw him. He was shot. He fell through a portal. No one can survive that."
"Well he did and now he's here." Sam hung on Hook's every word. "That he came across this very camp while we were away."
Mary Margaret grows skeptical. "According to Pan. If he's telling the truth."
David is also skeptical of the new information Hook provides. "Why would he tell you?" He asks crossing his arms and looking towards Hook. "What does he hope to gain?"
"Who knows why he does anything." Hook shrugs his shoulders and stares at Sam like he is trying to figure something out. "He has his reasons."
"He's telling the truth." Mary Margaret stands up by pushing off of David and avoiding Sam's feet. She moves past Hook and touches a light green stalk that has been broken. "Tracks, and a scuffle." The other three have moved behind her, watching her track. She points along to the indicators of a presence in camp as she talks. "Someone was here while we were gone." Mary Margaret grows excited. "We have to tell her."
She turns around and runs into David, who outstretches his arm and stops her from going to Emma. "Nononono, she already lost Neal once." He looks over his shoulder at Emma for a second before returning his gaze to his wife. "And if this is a game, we can't put her through losing him again."
"He's right." Hook says, drawing looks of disbelief from both Sam and Mary Margaret. "Telling her either way is what Pan wants. That's why we shouldn't do it." He says with a conviction, trying to convince Mary Margaret and possibly Sam, who has remained surprising neutral.
"You want to find him without letting her know?" Mary Margaret asks.
Hook nods, thinking that Mary Margaret is considering David and his' point of view. "Why hurt her, while her heart is hurting?"
Mary Margaret's brow furrows. "I never lied to her before."
When Sam hears that she moves next to Mary Margaret, linking arms with her. "I'm with Mary Margaret. Lying is not a good way to go,"
Hook represses the urge to roll his eyes at their good natured response. "You're not lying, you're just keeping a secret.
"Secrets always always seem to keep us from the people we really care about." Mary Margaret says, patting her free hand against the arm that Sam has entangled with her own.
David gazes at his wife sadly. "And sometimes secrets protect the people we love." He feels Sam's gaze rest on him, the girl had picked up on the fact that his words held hidden context, she just didn't know what the context was.
David hoists his satchel over his shoulder, preparing to set off to look for Neal. Mary Margaret looks between him and Hook. "So we can hide this," She says, talking about herself and Sam. "But we need a cover story."
"Done." Hook says with a nod towards David. "That's no problem."
Emma walks up to the four, having watched them whisper conspiratorially for a while. She notes David's bag. "Where are you guys going?"
"Get water," and "Firewood" is said at the exact same time by David and Hook. They give each other a look that says 'why'd did you have to say something' and Sam tightens her grip on Mary Margaret.
Emma looks at each of them suspiciously. "Guys. What's going on?"
A couple seconds of silence tick by, and Sam opens and closes her mouth, debating whether or not to say anything. She doesn't have to though, because Mary Margaret blurts out, "Neal is alive."
Sam lets out a relieved sigh. "Thank God you told her, I was about to let it slip." Sam lips turn up in an embarrassed smile.
"Neal i-is," Emma pauses when her breath catches. "alive?" She's only able to whisper the last word. When Sam realizes what the information means to Emma, her smile drops, becoming serious for Emma's sake.
"Maybe." Mary Margaret tells her daughter before turning to the two men looking at her and waiting for an explanation. "Sorry, she deserved to know."
Sam unhooks herself from Mary Margaret and walks right in front of Emma. She leans forward and stage whispers, "Do we have to tell Regina?"
Hook and Mary Margaret chuckle at Sam's weak tactics to disclude Regina. "I'm afraid its a group effort, darling." Hook reaches out and actually ruffles Sam's hair.
Emma calls out for Regina and they all chime in at different times, explaining the situation to her. Regina's scowl deepens with every new piece of information she get's on the groups' new plan. Finally she throws her hands up, "This is a waste of time." She looks around at the group, "He's toying with us."
"I don't think so." Mary Margaret turns towards the trail, Emma close on her heel. "Look!" She says pointing at the ground, "More scuffling. Someone was definitely resisting." Mary Margaret turns back to the group, her eyes sparkling with hope.
Emma questions her mother. "How do you know that means Neal?"
Mary Margaret thinks for a second before saying, "Well, it means someone was fighting for his life."
"Are you really going to fall for this too?" Regina yells towards Emma. "Fine. You already let a moronic stranger just up and join are group. So why wouldn't you want to follow the evil munchkin's dirt road? Well be my guest."
Regina starts to move away from everyone but Emma stops her. "Wait. Where are you going?"
"To save our son." Regina spits. "Getting away from her is just an incentive." Her accusing finger points at Sam.
Emma pushes Regina's arm down. "Oh stop with the whole 'Sam's evil' thing, we need to get along and stick together."
"No we don't." Regina lets out a very dry and sarcastic laugh. "You may be prepared to risk Henry's life over some heartbroken fools errand, but I'm not." Her eyes flash dangerously. "I'm tired of waiting around." Regina walks away from the group and enters the jungle, officially breaking from the group.
Emma's eyes find the ground. "What if she's right. Pan could be lying."
Mary Margaret takes Emma's hand. "Just because it seems too good to be try doesn't mean it is. Don't give up. You owe to Henry to find out if his fathers still alive." Mary Margaret locks eyes with her daughter. "And you owe it to yourself."
Pan's telescope clicks as he opens it. Felix stands off to his right as Pan observes the procession of adults moving through the jungle through the lens. Lost Boys are milling around the cages that are suspended in the air behind both Felix and Pan. "Look at them going." Pan says while watching Mary Margaret lead them through the jungle in a single line. "So determined to find their missing friend."
"Speaking of that friend," Felix drawls out. "What should we do with Neal?" A flash of gold catches his eye and he sees the girl trail behind Hook. His mind reels at the sight of her. Or what he assumes is the sight of her, Felix doesn't have a telescope to see their faces but he can just tell that it's the bitch. She's significantly shorter than the others and she had trouble walking in the jungle.
Felix is wondering why her hair is so damn long when Pan speaks snapping Felix from his stupor. "It's time to move him. Take him to the Echo Cave." Before Felix turns away he catches Pan's spyglass aims towards the back of the procession, towards the girl. "The game is about to get interesting."
Felix doesn't has time to dwell on Pan's last statement, instead turning his attention towards the cage that is ascending to the doesn't has time to dwell on Pan's last statement, instead turning his attention towards the cage that is ascending to the ground. He oversees Neal's cage move to Echo Cave, but his thoughts stay on the girl who isn't supposed to be real. As the Lost Boys place Neal into the center rock in the cave Felix decides to investigate as to why he's seeing a figment of his nightmares running around. The Lost Boys head back to camp and Felix slips off into the jungle, dreading the place he has to venture to in order to find answers. He slips deeper into the jungle, finally crossing over to the place that the Dark Jungle melts into the Forbidden Jungle. Felix emerges into a clearing looking up at the Lying Tree. The dangers that accompany going here are high, the last time a Lost Boy stumbled across this place, he was killed by Pan. Felix knows to be quick and takes large purposeful steps until he's right next to the tree. After this, he doesn't know what to do; he doesn't know how to activate whatever magic lies within the tree. So Felix holds his hand up and touches the tree. Wind whips around him and a golden dust flies into his eyes, but he still doesn't remove his hand from the tree.
When Felix opens his eyes he looks around at the new surroundings, eyes open wide. The tree has become larger than before and the sun shines down making the meadow look like a warm and happy place. Felix watches as a projection of himself, flickering momentarily, stalks into the meadow. The mirage Felix moves towards the tree stealthily, eyes sweeping around and feet purposefully trampling the wildflowers that grow. Mirage Felix walks under the shade of the tree when the girl drops from a branch and falls on him, knocking mirage Felix on his back. She holds a dagger under his throat for total of three second, then she rolls off him laughing. "I win!" She cries, laying down next to the still winded mirage Felix.
Mirage Felix grunts, too winded to get off the ground. "Next time you won't be so lucky."
A mirage of Pan comes into the meadow, quirking an eyebrow at the two sprawled on the grass. "Ah, you can finally stand her?" Mirage Pan holds out his hands to them both, and they use him as leverage to get up.
Mirage Felix growls, "No." And storms off into the Dark Jungle. The real Felix watches himself leave and turns his attention back to the two in the meadow. They turn to each other smiling, their hands still together from when mirage Pan helped her up and the girl let's out a small giggle. They lean in and Felix audibly gasps when their lips touch. They pull apart and envelope in a close hug.
Mirage Pan's chin rests on the top of her head and she talks into his shirt. "When will Felix not…" she pauses for a second. "Absolutely hate me with a fiery passion."
Mirage Pan laughs at her. "Rapunzel, I doubt he ever will."
Rapunzel lets out a strangled sound. "I want to move from the camp."
"Don't let a grumpy Felix kick you out." Rapunzel draws away from mirage Pan and falls down to ground. He follows the suit falling down next to her.
"I just need my own place." She holds her hands up, letting the sun stream through her fingers.
Mirage Pan sits up, "Well you can have this place." He looks at her. "I give you this tree!" He says laughing.
The gold dust starts whipping around Felix again, drowning out the rest of their dialogue. It settles and the scene has changed. No longer is Pan and Rapunzel sitting in the shade, Felix turns his head to see Mirage Pan standing right next to him, carving into the bark of the tree. His arm passes right through Felix, making Felix shudder at the sensation. His hand no longer sits on just the bark of the tree, instead resting on the entrance to her treehouse. Felix looks at the inside of the tree, shocked to find the hammock and dried flowers from whenever he falls asleep.
"You carved me a tiger, right?" Felix whips his head around, surprised to see the grass in the meadow has become completely engulfed in flowers. Then he spots his mirage self sitting crossed legged, arm propped up and hand cradling his chin. Rapunzel braids small blue flowers into his hair, and he isn't enjoying it at all.
Mirage Pan let's out a laugh that Felix has never heard the real Pan make. "No, I'm afraid it's turned into a lily."
"But that's not remotely intimidating." She whines.
Mirage Pan stops carving and goes to crouch down in front of mirage Felix. He addresses Rapunzel. "You're braiding flowers in his hair. Not very intimidating."
The gold dust whirls again, but this time Felix is prepared. He braces himself for the stomach dropping sensation. When it all clears, the meadow is cast in darkness. Felix looks around at the empty meadow, wondering why he was brought to this moment. He looks into the tree seeing Rapunzel sleeping in the hammock. He hears a small rustling and looks at treeline, watching as mirage Felix emerges from the jungle. He sneaks forward and soon is standing at the archway. Felix watches as mirage Felix pulls out a small knife and moves over her hammock. He stands over her and brings the knife down, and Felix watches in anticipation. Rapunzel's hand shoots out and hits mirage Felix in the face. Felix watches as they struggle, each getting a couple good blows in here and there. Rapunzel stumbles out of the tree and mirage Felix follows, his lip bleeding. Her foot comes flying up towards his face but he ducks away in time. He punches her in the stomach, smirking as she doubles over.
"Rapunzel! Rapunzel we need you!" They stop fighting as the Lost Boys come running into the clearing. They're carrying the fake Pan on a stretcher. They bring the stretcher and set it down in front of fake Felix and Rapunzel, treating their battered state as if a normal occurrence. Peter is covered in a sheen of sweat and is not breathing. Rapunzel collapses and fake Felix catches her by the elbows, just barely preventing her from falling to her knees. He holds her there, not too happy with the situation.
One of the Lost Boys talk quietly. "He's finally lost."
Another chimes in, "The island has been sick for too long.
"Surprised he lasted this long."
"What are we going to do."
"He's dead." When the last boy says that, Rapunzel's resolve brakes and the tears stream down her face. Both Felix and the imposter of himself are shocked, and mirage Felix let's her fall to her knees crying. The sobs rock her body and she leans over Pan, crying into his shirt. She's draped over him weeping and the Lost Boys join in, crying for their lost leader. Sobs rack Rapunzel's body and Pan's arms wrap around her, comforting the girl. He sits up and starts to shush her, stroking her head and rocking her.
"Peter!" She cries and pulls back searching into the boy's eyes. Rapunzel's cheeks are streaked with tears that almost seem to glow as her hands come up to cup Peter Pan's face. "Peter. How" she whispers.
He smirks at her, "You saved me. My knight in shining armor." Her lips crash against his and the Lost Boys ooh and ahh.
A shocked Felix breaks away from the tree, stumbling back. He takes one look at the tree and takes off into the jungle, trying to get away from the Lying Tree as fast as possible. He leaves the Forbidden Jungle with more questions than answers.
The reason that the chapter is cut into two parts is because I typed up the first half and it was longer than most of other chapters. Expect Part 2 a week from now. So what do you guys think? Which day is best for updates. I tried doing Wednesdays because it's hump day and a little chapter then would totally brighten my mood. But if you guys rather have it during the weekends, or on Mondays to make Mondays doable, just tell me.
On to the Shoutouts :)
KreativeGirl: Felix remembers now and Hook is going to very soon!
That's all! So because this usually takes up more space, I'm going to add a plug for my new story. I just published a story for X-Men: First Class and for all of you who think Lucas Till/Havok/Alex Summers is amazing and want to see the OC I created for Marvel check it out! And Then There's The Puppeteer
I Love You Guys. :D