Yes I got this update out! I'm thinking of returning to the Wednesday updates, if you guys don't mind. This episode doesn't have a whole ton of Sam, because there's a lot of Neal/Emma/Hook stuff going on, and why would I include that (I think I've accidentally put in some side CaptainSwan) . The explanation as to why Sam and (some) others don't "remember" Rapunzel's Neverland escapades is drawing closer.

I don't know when the next update will be out... but it might be a while. It's just that I'm afraid if I update so soon each time, people will start getting bored of all the constant updates and just skip out... but I love to write so I might just update anyway. Yay inconsistency!

Peter Pan and his second in command, Felix, sit with their backs to their the fire. They don't talk, the only noise is their knives biting into the sticks as they carve the sticks into spears. Pan inhales sharply, abandoning the spears. Felix also stops and looks over at him. "What is it?"

Pan's hands grip his knees as he adjusts to someone leaving his domain. "Someones leaving Neverland."

"Where?" He casts his spear to the ground. "How shall we stop them?"

"It's too late. But at least I still feel that." Pan scowls.

Felix thinks he knows what Pan is talking about, but isn't sure. "The new addition to Hook's group?" he asks, mind flashing back to the images he saw when he was in the Forbidden Jungle.

"Ah, Felix. You were able to see that girl." Pand scoffs darkly. "It is rather interesting."

Felix pushes Pan farther than he should, desperate for answers. "You recognize her?"

Pan expression gains a mischievous air. "That's the interesting part." he softly explains, "I cannot sense her at all. It is as if she doesn't exist."

Pan's comment worries Felix, "What do you mean?"

"It's nothing." Pan waves Felix off. "Some random girl who shouldn't be here. I might just have to play a game."

Felix mind reels. Pan doesn't seem to know the girl at all. Pan is his all powerful leader, and it scares Felix that whatever magic this girl possesses outweighs Pan's. "First this... addition arrives and then someone leaves Neverland. Should the time frame be moved up again "

Pan's eyes flicker darkly for a moment before he lets out a sigh. "Don't worry Felix." Pan massages his temple with his index finger, "We simply need to get word to our friends on the ground."

That's all Pan needs to say for Felix to know the topic of Rapunzel has been dropped. So he turns his attention to the matter at hand, the person who left Neverland. "In Storybrooke?" He's very doubtful of their friends.

"They can handle this. All it does is move up our time table a touch." Up until then, pan had been staring off into the treeline but he now turns to Felix. "We need to Henry ready." Pan pushes off the log with a sigh. "And I need to have a chat with our friend in the other cage."

Rapunzel sank to her knees, trembling in fear. She stares blankly ahead watching but not processing the scene in front of her. The woman who raised her, the closest thing she has to mother, stands over a body while panting heavily in exertion. Ms. Gothel's knife glints dangerously into Rapunzel eyes, but she doesn't notice anything but the knife sitting in Gothel's raised hand.

Rapunzel had heard someone call down for her, so she had thrown her hair out of the tower. It was the same as any other time Ms. Gothel returned from her travels, so Rapunzel didn't feel any need to be cautious. But the hand that gripped the ledge of her window was mannish and rather hairy; a completely different hand than the one she should have seen. A man jumped into the tower, gripping at her hair. The man walked towards her, scaring her with the crazed look in his eyes. He was beat up and grisled, blood seeped from a wound over his eye. He smirked in an evil way and Rapunzel saw that his teeth were sharpened to point at his canines. She backed up, but with every step she would take back, the man would take two forward. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out so she closed it. Before she knew it, her back hit the wall and the scary man towered over her. When he brought his hand up and tried to caress her, she found her voice and shrieked out for Ms. Gothel. She felt her vocal cords ripple as she mustered as much volume as her twelve-year old body allowed her. The man flinched away from her face before he brought his palm up in the air. The air popped and the man went slack before falling to the floor dead. Rapunzel looked away from the body and up at a fuming Gothel.

Rapunzel couldn't help but let a tear slip out. It's really the first time she has had a reason to be sad or sacred enough to cry. Her body racked with sobs and she sits there completely clueless as to what's happening. Gothel casts the man's corpse aside using her foot. She crouches down in front of Rapunzel reaching out and touching her cheek, confirming something Gothel hasn't seen sense Rapunzel was a baby. Gothel wraps her in a hug and rocks her back and forward, whispering sweet nothings in Rapunzel's ear. She continues to sob into Gothel's dress. Gothel reaches in the folds of her dress and removes an empty vial. She holds it to Rapunzel's face, catching the tears that are falling. When Rapunzel feels the glass against her cheek, she flinches away. "Shh. Shh." Gothel soothes Rapunzel and continues to press the vial against her cheek. "Rapunzel. My dear Rapunzel, I will never let anything like that happen to you ever again."
Rapunzel chokes on her own voice. "Why?" That's all she can manage to say.

Gothel understands what Rapunzel is trying to ask. "Listen my child, you are special. That's the reason why I am the one who has raised you, cared for you. People will want to take advantage of your, ability. Others might try to search you out. They will try to make you cry. Do not let them." Gothel takes the vial away from Rapunzel's face and corks it. She spends a moment gazing at it before placing it in Rapunzel's palm and folding Rapunzel's fingers over the vial. "Keep this for emergencies, never ever use it on yourself. This magic is complicated and you will never be wise enough to fully understand it. That is why you will not use this after the vial runs dry. Right?"

"Ok-kay," Rapunzel clutches the vial close to her heart.

Gothel reaches out and wipes away the remaining tears from Rapunzel's face. "I'll take care of the brute, just worry about calming down." Rapunzel nods and watches as Gothel magically transports both herself and the man that she killed. It was the first time that she saw magic be used by Ms. Gothel, not understanding that her herself had just performed magic at twelve. Gothel poofed outside of the tower and looked down at her hands that glowed ever so slightly from Rapunzel's trauma. Gothel couldn't stop herself from bringing her hands up to her face and basking in the innocent magic that radiated from the salty water. Her tongue darts over the iridescent liquid, reveling in the disappearance of one of her raised veins.

Emma and Neal lounge on a log while everyone else stands around them. Emma speaks up in disbelief, "Pan's shadow. That's your way off the island?"

Neal gives them a nod. "Unfortunately that's the only way."

Sam doesn't understand what the problem is. "The shadow is nice though." Her mind goes back to the thing that dropped her in this place originally.

Neal looks at the girl skeptically, Emma had explained who she was a couple times, but Sam is still a stranger to him. "The shadow is not something you mess with for no reason."

Sam rocks on her feet. "But he helped me escape. How is that mean?"

Neal hears about that for the first time and he scowls. "Pan's shadow brought you here? That probably means that Pan wanted you here as another way toy with us."

Sam inches away from Neal and starts to hide behind Hook. He steps in, moving in front of her. "She has proved herself, mate. Let back a little."

Neal sees the trust that the blonde has gained from the group. "Well then let's hear what happened."

"Neal." Emma warns.

"What? We should make sure that she isn't just one of Pan's minions." Neal crosses his arms and huffs.

Mary Margaret and Hook bristle but Sam just tugs on the end of her braid. "I saw this flash of red and when I investigated it was the shadow and it got me out of the tower."

"See she's wor-" Neal stops short. "Wait did you say red?"

Sam nods and stops hiding behind Hook, "Yeah Pan's shadow had these cool glow-y red eyes."

Neal eyebrows draw together in confusion. "Pan's shadow doesn't have red eyes."

Mary Margaret gives a small, relieved smile. "Then it wasn't Pan's shadow."

"Who else has a disembodied shadow?" Emma asks.

Neal shakes his head. "Then I have no idea how you got here then."

Sam tilts her head sideways and puts her hand on her chin. "Oh, I don't know either," She pauses and drops her hand. "Sorry,"

Neal is confused. "About what?"

"I can't help with the shadow." Sam looks down at her feet, she had stolen that one Lost Boy's shoes so at least she wasn't barefoot.

"Good thing I'm in charge of shadow duty." Just hearing the story about Sam made Neal wary but now that they have had a conversation, Neal can see why no doubts the girl.

"We thought you learned how to navigate the stars." David says disappointedly.

"I know how to navigate the stars, but I can't fly." Neal's attention shifts to Emma for a second longer than the other.

Mary Margaret chimes in, "I'm guessing that's where the shadow comes in."

"That's why we have to capture it." Neal says with a nod.

Emma offers her realistic opinion in a rather raised voice. "Capture it? We've never been within 10 feet of Pan unless he wanted us to be. Sneaking up on him to steal his shadow? That sounds insane!"

Hook sends a glance in Sam's direction. It had seemed as though Pan didn't mean to bump into her, but Hook wasn't sure. "Except Pan's shadow is rarely with him. It can carry out his will from miles away."

"And I bumped into Pan by accident." Sam adds. Hook sighs, the girl does not know how to keep anything to herself.

"What does that mean for us?" David asks.
"It means we can get his shadow without having to be anywhere near Pan." Neal shifts a little in his seat. "As long as we know where to look. I know where to look."

Emma stands up. "Ok you and I are on shadow duty." She gestures to Neal and he also gets off the log.

"As am I." Hook starts.

"Shadow duty!" Sam says with a smile.

Hook tears his gaze from Emma. "I don't think so, darling. This trek won't be easy." He looks back to Emma. "You could use another veteran of the island. And Sam can stay with Mary Margaret and David."

"Thanks man." Neal says with a nod in Hook's direction.

"Well in the meantime we'll give Tinkerbell a heads up. See if she can make good her promise to get us into Pan's camp." David gestures to Mary Margaret and Sam.

Emma looks around. "Okay we meet back at Tink's. Then we get Henry." Her eyes sparkle with passion. "And get the hell back to Storybrooke." She walks away from the others.

*Scene Change/Time Passage (whichever you want)*

David leads Mary Margaret and Sam through the jungle. Sam lags behind the couple, aware of the thick tension between the two. David tries to strike conversation with Mary Margaret. "I think were almost at Tink's." He looks over his shoulder at his wife. "I see why she picked this area, nice quiet jungle. Might make a good spot for a hut, don't you think? Or a tree house, if you prefer." Nothing. She doesn't respond to him and Sam stops walking altogether. They continue moving, completely oblivious to the girl left behind. "Mary Margaret!" She passes by him, bumping his shoulder. "Snow!" He shouts after her and she stops. Sam backs up, not wanting to be in the middle of their fight. "When are you going to start talking to me again, when we're storming Pan's camp? When were grabbing Henry?! When!? You need to say something!"

Mary Margaret spins around to face him. "Why? You didn't. You didn't tell me anything!"

"At first I was hoping I could find a cure for the poison, and if I could I-I figured there was no reason to worry you." He stares at Mary Margaret. Sam has slipped out of sight, taking caution to stay within earshot of them. She doesn't want to be separated from the group.

She can hear Mary Margaret shout back at David, "Okay, but then you did find a cure, and you still didn't tell me."

Sam feels guilty listening to them, but at least she is giving them privacy. She can hear them talking back and forth. David: "I know."

Mary Margaret: "So what, afraid of worrying me again?"

David: "No. I-I-I didn't think."

Mary Margaret: "No you didn't think. you didn't think I had a right to know you could never leave this island. Why didn't you tell me?"

David: "I was sacred."

Mary Margaret: "Did you think I wouldn't stay here with you? After everything we've been through. Did you think I would ever leave your side?"

David: "No. I knew you wouldn't, and that's what scared me. I didn't want you to be stuck on this isla-" Sam stops straining to listen when a hand clamps down over her mouth and pins her arms behind her back in an instant.

Her scream is muffled by the hand and she hears a familiar voice whisper in her ear, "Boo." She struggles against the stranger, kicking both her feet up in the air. Then the voice talks again. "Now I'm going to let you go, but we're going to be quiet. Not going to spook the two lovebirds." The hands let go and she stumbles away. Sam whips around and glares at the- annoyingly handsome- stranger. She feels the blood rush to her cheeks and her brow furrows, angry at herself for blushing. She sizes up the boy dressed in dark colors, his eyebrow is raised in bemusement but she can feel a dark undercurrent running through his features.

Sam composes herself and scowls at him, "And who are you." She tries to be intimidating, but it's very laughable.

The infuriating boy with the cuffs on his wrists smirks at her. "Well I should ask you the same thing. Not many people are able to get the one-up on me and it's rather...irritating."

Sam takes a step back and raises all her defenses. "Peter Pan."

"See that's the problem, you know my name but I don't know yours." Pan smiles coyly and starts to take a step towards Sam.

Sam starts backing up, fumbling with her too-big moccasins, "Oh, no. This isn't happening right now." She trips on a root and falls down. The heat rises to her face again. "DAVID!" She screams, "MARY MARGARET!"

Pan stops smiling and malice mars his features. "You're no fun." He takes another step forward before David comes barreling through the trees.

David shouts back to her, "SAM!" He catches a glimpse of Pan's back before he vanishes. He looks down to see Sam shaking on the ground. Mary Margaret follows close behind, running up to Sam and reaching down to help her. "What on earth happened? Why was Pan here?" David asks going over to the two girls.

Mary Margaret lets go of Sam suddenly and Sam falls back down. "Pan was here?" She exclaims, then she sees the girl on the ground again. "Sorry. Let me help you up." She reaches for Sam and Sam looks skeptical for a second before grabbing onto Mary Margaret's hand.

She stands up and brushes off invisible dust. "I was just giving you two space, and then all of sudden Pan was right there."

Mary Margaret starts to fuss over Sam, "What did he want?"

"He didn't… He was asking what my name was." She holds onto Mary Margaret.

David lets out a frustrated sigh, "And I guess he knows it now." He throws his arms up. "What is he playing at now?"

"We'll just have to ask Neal and Hook about it." Mary Margaret checks on Sam one more time. "And the faster we get to Tinkerbell's, the faster we find out what the heck is going on." Sam nods and David agrees.

They walk in silence and Sam makes sure not to move away from the other two. While they walk Sam thinks about what David said. Snow. Snow. Snow. As in Snow White? That couldn't be right. Before she realizes it, they're at this impressive and quaint tree house. Sam sees Tinkerbell for the first time, identifying Tink by the blond bun on the top of her head. Tinkerbell sees the three and starts talking, "I was wondering if would see you again. But if you've come to talk me into helping you before you've found a way off this island, I still-"

"We found one," David interjects. "Or we're about to."

Tink balances her basket on her hip and looks at David. "Not sure I like the sound of 'about to'" She sees Sam and a confused look passes through her eyes.

Mary Margaret talks from Sam's side. "Pan's shadow. Emma went with Hook and Neal to capture it. That's our way off the island."

Tinkerbell turns skeptical. "Capture Pan's shadow. Yeah I'm not lifting a finger until I see some proof that you've actually succeeded."

That's when a voice comes from the trees. "Hey." Neal, Emma, and Hook emerge and Neal grasps the coconut in his hands. "Here's all the proof you need. It's been a long time Tink."

"Bae? Is it really you?" She asks peering at the grown man she had known so long ago.

Neal smiles at Tinkerbelle. "Yeah. Most people call me Neal now."

"We did it." Hook says, "Are you finally ready to do your part, Tink?"

"Yes. Yes I am." Tink turns and starts walking away and Mary Margaret follows, dragging Sam along.

She hears Neal call out, "Uh, Emma?" and they stay behind to talk about whatever they need to talk about.

Conversations break out between the people in the group and Sam decides it's as good of time as any to talk to Mary Margaret. "Well, uhm, Mary Margaret?" Mary Margaret looks at Sam and nods, non-verbally telling her to continue. "What did David mean when he called you Snow?"

Mary Margaret smiles at Sam. "In the Enchanted Forest I'm Snow White. I thought you knew that." Sam grows somber and looks down. "What's wrong?" Mary Margaret asks.

"It just doesn't make sense." Sam mumbles, "Snow White's been dead for a hundred years."

WHHAAAT? Intriguing? Maybe? I'll take any predictions or suggestions. Those who are on the site just to enjoy the fanfiction don't realize how amazing comments are. You guys make me go Awww every time. Plus my email is hooked up to my phone so I get it as soon as you comment. So yeah, when I get a alert in the middle of IB Bio it makes my dreaded teacher bearable. (Mini rant: Mr. Peterfeso, no one give a damn if 'these pretzels are making [you] thirsty' Stop guilting us about our lack of attention in class!) Sorry, I needed to say that...

Black Widow loves you: Here, take this chapter because I don't know when my next update will be. But your comments (both of them) were motivators for pushing through writers block.

Captain Squishy: Thank you for commenting on the necklace, I didn't know when I was going to get its back story in, and you being confused about it reminded me to include it. Does it flow well? I wanted to give Gothel a bitter-sweetness where yes, she is comforting Rapunzel BUT she's also using her. If you're still confused just tell me.