Chapter 5: You're Not Asking the Right Question
A/N: Howdy y'all. So I just wanted to update you on a couple of things. So I have created four new polls. I have made all of them yesterday, but I can only have one of them shown on my profile. With that being said, I am only going to keep one poll up for a certain amount of time. I will keep each poll up for forty eight-ish hours on my profile. So basically what I'm asking you guys to do is take the polls, if you would be so kind to do so. Three out of four of the polls have to do with this story. The fourth poll is a poll on what story you all would like to see me write next. If you don't like any of the ideas I have on that particular poll; I have included another option saying "No other story, keep writing The Heart of the Truest Believer and the Mind of the Most Patient Lover." I have created these polls just to have a little more communication with you all. The current poll I have up now is "What is your favorite character in The Heart of the Truest Believer and the Mind of the Most Patient lover?" I have put this poll up yesterday. Yesterday is considered Friday, September 5, 2014. Therefore, I will close this poll on Saturday at 11:59 P.M central time. (If you don't know the time difference between central time and your time zone, I suggest googling it) But for the rest of the polls, I will be closing them at 7:59 P.M central time, because I am a student in school right now, and I have to get up at 5:00 A.M for school. Here is the schedule for the polls if you would like to know. The first poll has already been opened. I already said when it will end. I will then put up the second poll on Sunday, September 7that 12:00 A.M central time. The second poll will close on Tuesday, September 9that 7:59 P.M central time. The third poll will be up at 8:00 P.M on that same day. The third poll will close on Thursday, September 11that 7:59 P.M. The final poll will be up at 8:00 P.M that same day. It will close on Saturday, September 13that 7:59 P.M. The next chapter of this story, or a new story will be up later that day, hopefully. This schedule will also be posted in my profile bio. If you don't have any time during the week to do this, I understand that everyone is busy and I won't be mad. But with that being said, I would at least like one person to do the polls, so then I can have some sort of general idea on what to do next. Also, in the review section please put down what you'd like to see happen next. I didn't really get a suggestion last chapter, so right now I'm kind of just improvising. So please, and thank you! I'm done babbling now so…
I was walking in the dark forest. It wasn't very easy to tell if it was night time or day time. That was the hardest thing to decipher, other than where Henry and Rory were. We had gotten nowhere with Tinkerbell whatsoever. Pan just stopped trusting Tinkerbell once he found out she was working with us. Then he moved his camp to the other side of the island. Nothing but another dead end. I was starting to lose hope with finding Henry, but I couldn't because I am the Savior. I can't just abandon my own kid like that. Plus I can't let Amy, River, and The Doctor down. They want Rory back as much as we want Henry back.
For some odd reason I decided to walk in Neverland alone. I looked behind me at the trees and at the path I had already walked through. I had the strangest sense that somebody was following me. It was probably Mary Margaret worrying about where I was going. But to my avail, there was no one there. I decided to keep on walking, even though I know I shouldn't have.
As I continued to walk, I heard a branch snap. I stopped dead in my tracks. My shoulders tensed up causing them to move up to my ears. I stayed there, not even daring to turn around. I heard footsteps getting closer and closer to me. I shut my eyes tight and pushed my lips to a close. After a while the footsteps stopped. I opened my eyes only to see a light shining from behind me. I felt the heat from the beam on my back. It felt awkwardly comforting in a way.
"Emma Swan, 'The Savior'" said the mysteriously husky voice. I knew the voice. I've heard it once before. No it couldn't be. It just couldn't be. I decided to turn around to see if it was true.
"N…Neal?" I said as I gradually spun around to see the mysterious person. All I could see was a shadow with what looked like a candle inside of a coconut. The coconut had holes to help the light project through it. I squinted my eyes to get rid of the unwanted light. I put my hand up on my forehead to help me see the mysterious man with the somewhat raspy voice. The man bent down and put the coconut on the ground. He stepped forward into the light so I could see his face. Sure enough it was Neal.
"So long no see, Emma."
"What the hell, Neal. I thought you were dead!" I said slapping his shoulder.
"I know. I was only injured though."
"How long have you been following me?"
"For about a day."
"Why did you not tell me you were here sooner?" I said slapping him. I felt tears clouding my eyes.
"Because I wanted to get a chance to talk to you alone."
"Why?" I said wiping the tears from my eyes.
"Because Emma, I love you."
"You can't just say that and then show up back in my life. I have spent so much energy and time trying to mourn and forget about you. Then you just show up like nothing happened." This sent floods of tears pouring down my cheeks. Neal came forward and hugged me. I just sobbed in his chest.
"I know, I know. But I didn't have a chance to find you. I fell through the portal and I couldn't find you until now."
"Yes you could've. You were in Neverland all this time. You fell in a portal in Neverland where I have been since the day I thought you died."
"No I haven't. I fell through a portal to the Enchanted Forest."
"Then how are you here?"
"I'm not here," he said. I looked up at him with a questioning look, "I'm still there in the Enchanted Forest trying to get here. Trying to help find you and Henry."
"What do you mean?" I chuckled and buried my face into his chest again, "I'm hugging you right now."
"Oh really?" said a non-American accent. I looked back up to find that I was hugging Peter Pan.
"AHHHHHHHH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Then I opened my eyes wide open.
I realized that I was in our base in my sleeping bag. Everyone had just awoken. It was nothing but a dream. But it felt so real. I felt my cheek and it was covered with sweat and tears. I must've been sleep crying.
"Emma! What's wrong?" cried Snow.
"I…I…I… just had… the most… terrible… dream… ever." I said stifling between sobs.
"About what?" asked my father. Everyone stared intently at me from across the base.
"Neal." I cried out.
"Bae?" Rumplestiltskin had said vulnerably.
"Who's Neal?" asked Amy.
"Neal is Henry's father," Snow explained, "and Emma's ex."
"He died an hour before we came here. The people who kidnapped Henry shot him with a gun and opened up a portal, and he fell through. There is no way he could have survived." Said Hook.
"What happened in the dream?" questioned Regina.
"I was walking alone in the forest here in Neverland, when I felt someone following me. I thought it was you, Snow, but I turned around and no one was there. So I kept on walking until I heard someone behind me. All the sudden I felt a light shine on my back. There was Neal holding a coconut with a candle inside it. It had holes all over the coconut. Neal talked to me. He said that he didn't die. He said he was only injured, and that he fell through a portal here. He then proceeded to tell me he loved me. Then he started acting strange. I was hugging him and then he told me he fell through a portal, but it wasn't to Neverland. He fell through a portal to the Enchanted Forest. He said that he is there now and that he is trying to get to Neverland to try and find Henry and I. Then I just laughed in the dream because I thought he was joking. Then I looked up and I saw that I was hugging Pan. That's when I woke up."
"Wait this coconut with a candle in it, "Hook began to say," were the holes circular?"
"Yeah, I think so, why?"
"Because Neal was here before. When he was a little boy. When he still went by the name of Baelfire. I know this because he used to be with me on the Jolly Roger. He had already been here once before I met him. He tricked Pan's shadow and that's how he got back. But then he found me and said he wanted to go back to Neverland. He said he was trying to find a girl named Wendy Darling. When he was unsuccessful he left Neverland again. But one thing I taught the boy was how to make a map. I took a coconut and poked holes in it based on a location. Then I put a candle inside of it to make it glow when it was dark."
"So maybe this coconut is real and it's somewhere on this land?" The Doctor questioned.
"Maybe there is a chance that Neal is still alive and actually is in the Enchanted Forest." River said.
"No no no no no. Pan is playing with you, Emma. I know it. He's just trying to get to us, dearie." Rumple retorted.
"And how do you know that for sure?" Amy questioned.
"Because I know Pan more than any of you ever will."
"Rumple, I'm asking you this one more time. This can help us find Henry and Rory and find out if Neal is still alive. How do you know Pan?"
"You aren't asking the right question, dearie. You should be asking about who he is."
"Fine, then who is he?" The Doctor retorted getting in Rumple's face.
"He's my father."
"What? How? He is about fifty years younger than you." Regina spat.
"That's the power of magic, dearie. But what he has found out is that magic always has a price."
"What do you mean he found this out?" The Doctor continued to question.
"My father abandoned me because he hated having a burden of a kid. He never loved me. My mother left and all he had left was me. He never even wanted a child in the first place. He never wanted to settle down because he hated being old. He always wanted such a thing as time travel, so he could go back in time and be young again. When he would sleep when he was a child, he would dream of Neverland. He would dream that he could fly. He dreamt that in this place you could do whatever you wanted. So when I was young my caretakers gave me a bean. My dad found out about this bean. He found out it was a portal and he could go anywhere he wanted. So he took me and went to Neverland. He went up in this tree and brought down pixie dust. He said that he would come here when he was a little boy in his dreams. He would use the pixie dust to fly. So he used it on himself. But a shadow came out of nowhere and said he couldn't fly because he wasn't young. So he wished to be young again. The shadow changed him into a teenager, but since he was a teenager he couldn't have a kid. So the shadow flew me out of Neverland. But now Pan is dying. So now he needs Henry and Rory to help him stay immortal. If he gets the heart of the truest believer and the mind of the most patient lover, he will stay immortal forever."
"See I told you he was hiding something," cheered The Doctor. River slapped him upside the head and he said, "ow," as he rubbed his head.
"But just because you know him and don't trust him doesn't mean that Neal isn't still out there." Emma said.
"Don't be so naïve, dearie. He's just trying to divert our attention from finding Henry and Rory to finding Neal."
"Well you're both right," said a new voice coming from the trees. Out walked Peter Pan, "Neal is alive and I do need Henry and Rory for those reasons."
"So this is the famous Peter Pan," sang The Doctor as he walked up to Peter, "I'm The Doctor, pleasure to meet you."
"I know who you are, Time Lord."
"I know who you are, manipulative, conniving, self-absorbed, irresponsible, immature, nostalgic, Peter Pan."
"I could say the same about you, loner. Always needing a companion to keep you sane. Preferably a young, pretty, female. Oops sorry about that Mrs.," he said waving to River, "how nostalgic can you get?" said Pan getting into The Doctor's face. "I know who you are, I know what you did," said Pan getting in The Doctor's ear, "I even know your name," Pan pulled out of his ear. He maintained eye contact with The Doctor. Never once did he blink. Pan continued this eye contact as he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out something round wrapped in a red cloth. "Here Mrs.," Peter called while throwing the red ball, "this is for your troubles." The Doctor looked back at River as she caught the mysterious ball. He looked back at Peter, but he was gone.
"River, what is it?" Regina questioned. River was shocked. Her eyes were huge and her jaw was wide open.
"I…I don't know."
"Don't just stand there, open it." Amy ordered her.
"No don't," Rumple said firmly, "it could be some type of trick."
"Here let me take it." Said Charming. Charming always had to prove that he was the most noble and the bravest of the group. Charming took the red cylinder from River. He quickly unraveled the ball from the cloth.
It was the coconut Neal had in the dream.
A/N: What did you guys think of this chapter? Let me know in the review section! Don't forget to suggest what you want to see happen next! Another reminder to do my poll! Sorry if I sound like a mother nagging you guys all the time with all these things to do. But I love you all!