Bane of His Existence

Chapter Six

When the three heroes stepped out of the portal that opened up upon the pirate captain throwing a magic bean before them so they could pass through realms, they found themselves in Neverland, only a new and different version of island which Henry and Regina both remembered so well despite their efforts to forget it. To Hook, this Neverland looked the same to him as it always did. Dark and eerie, as the sounds of lost children crying could be heard in the distance from where they stood on a cliff overlooking the treacherous forest below.

"And I thought I would never have to hear those sounds ever again," Hook whispered despondently, though to no one in particular.

"What sounds?" Regina asked curiously, being unable to hear the cries herself.

Henry walked over to stand between his mother and friend while he replied coldly, "The sounds of the Lost Boys crying. Only those who've been abandoned by their parents can hear them. It's just one of this island's many cruelties. Mom could hear them too, the last time we came here. Grandpa… Gold, must have been able to as well. You're lucky you can't, Mom."

The Queen looked over at her son and gently squeezed his shoulder to offer him what little comfort she could in that moment, then responded, "I'm sorry, Henry. And Hook. Let's just make our way to the spring and get what we came here for. The sooner we do, the sooner we can leave. I have to say, it's a good thing Alice thought to harvest herself a supply of magic beans so we've got a few to get back to the Enchanted Forest with… in case we can't make it through the first portal."

"You've each got one," Hook then stated as he continued to stare ahead of him until he turned and started walking away from the cliff's edge to head into the forest, while Henry and the Regina followed after him. "Like I have. So if anything happens to me while we're here, you can both get home. And you must. Neither of you should have come with me. Neverland is far too dangerous. This is my fight. My problem. I never should have allowed my daughter to convince me to come back. Surely there's another way to heal my heart."

"There probably is another way, but Hook…" Regina began to answer until she cut herself off when she rushed forward in order to move in front of the pirate to get him to stop by grabbing him by his shoulders so that he was looking at her as she continued. "We came with you by our own choices because we care about you. I didn't want to admit it at first and maybe not for the longest time after Emma first suggested you team up with us on our adventures. But you've been good for my son just like your other self was… is. I'll forever be grateful to you for that. And don't you dare go into this believing you're going to fail. We've got a treacherous journey ahead of us, but none of us are in the habit of giving up. You know that."

The captain looked deep into her eyes as he uttered quietly, "I just don't want to let my daughter down again."

Henry came up beside them and replied, "You've never let her down, Hook. You could have gone with Gothel to continue seeking your revenge against the Rumplestiltskin from the Wish Realm. And with her power you might have even succeeded in doing so. But instead you stayed behind with Alice in that tower even though it was a lonely life until she grew up. You sacrificed everything for her. She loves you, and she's proud of you. Now come on. Let's find that spring."

Hook finally allowed himself to loosen up a little and nodded as he smiled at them to show his gratitude for their encouragement, then he continued to lead them through the forest in the direction of Dead Man's Peak where the island's source of magic remained protected by the dreamshade plants surrounding it.

Even though they spoke quietly amongst themselves while they carefully cut down the brush and plants blocking their path ahead, time passed slowly. The longer the heroes remained there, the more nervous they became, as Pan and his minions had yet to attack them. It was only a matter of time before they did, as they learned from their last time in Neverland that the demon knew everything that happened on the island, including when there were new arrivals. Little did they know that Pan and the Lost Boys weren't the only threat to them.

At long last, they came upon the bottom of the peak. Hook then looked over the ropes he carried over his shoulder and around his waist to make sure that they were sturdy and thick enough for the others to climb up behind him once he did so himself, having made the climb a number of times before in the centuries he lived there.

"You know you don't have to make that climb on your own," Regina said to him worryingly as she suddenly grasped Hook's arm when the pirate was about to take the first steps up. "I can use my magic to…"

"The more you use your magic, the more attention you will draw right to us and though we've been lucky Pan hasn't discovered our arrival thus far, it won't be long before he does if you even so much as make a spark," he retorted sternly, then looked between his friends with his own concern. "I'll be fine. And so will you. This peak isn't as treacherous as it appears."

Unfortunately, it was then that the ruler of the island chose to come before the heroes from out of nowhere as Pan snidely responded, "That cliff might not be, but I am. Just as treacherous as I appear, that is. Hello again, Hook. I'm surprised you've come back after all these years. The last time we talked, you were pretty adamant about not returning to Neverland again."

The captain immediately moved protectively in front of Henry and Regina, who ignited a fireball within her hand to defend them, then the boy sneered as he added, "And you brought the Evil Queen with you too. Is she a passenger on your ship? Wait a minute, your ship isn't here now… is it? You haven't come here your usual way. Why is that?"

"My business isn't yours," Killian answered curtly, as he pulled his cutlass once again from its scabbard at his side, as did Henry. "If you've come for a fight, I'm more than ready. But how about we make this a fair fight. Sword to sword, no magic. Or are you a coward?"

"You brought your friends here with you, so I brought mine," Peter replied, when a small number of his Lost Boys suddenly ran out from the plant life and trees, then surrounded them as the demon summoned a sword into his own hand. "I give you my word, Captain. No magic. I may be young, but I can fight with a blade as well as you."

Hook quickly turned again to Regina as she snuffed out her fireball and used her power to force two of the boys back when they charged, then he whispered, "Now's the time for you to use your magic, Your Majesty. Go get the waters from the spring while Henry and I hold them off. Worry not about your son. I'll protect him. Go!"

She didn't hesitate doing like he asked as she used her magic to transport herself on top of the peak, then Regina waved her hand over the dreamshade plants Hook had warned her about during their conversation on their way to the cliff to part them so she could get through to the magical spring. Fear for her son and their friend lingered in her mind despite her knowing they could handle themselves well in a fight. However, Pan had magic and while he said he wouldn't use his power against them just now, she didn't trust he wouldn't go back on his word to gain the upper hand if he so chose to.

Regina entered through the plants' opening and knelt down over the waters as she summoned Hook's flask he always carried on him to her hand and quickly uncorked its top so she could fill it. However, she froze when thunder and lightning unnaturally appeared in the sky above her, then she turned her head when Gothel suddenly appeared within the storm's darkness before her.

The former Evil Queen cautiously rose to her feet to face the witch while she stated darkly, "Gothel… I should have known you'd follow us here."

"Don't think I haven't been keeping my eyes on you heroes, just like you used to do when you were still the witch I once admired yourself," the villainess smugly responded. "You could have been a part of my coven had you remained the woman who made you stronger than the woman you've become instead, Regina."

"I like who I've become," Regina answered with confidence. "And I'm more powerful now than I ever was back then because I have learned to like who I am. Light magic is more powerful than your dark magic."

The other woman sneered as she replied, "Let's not waste time with petty words trying to convince one another which of us is better. You know that I can't allow you to heal Hook's poisoned heart. He defied me and denied me what I wanted from him."

Regina glared at her as she coldly responded, "He gave you a daughter and your freedom from the tower you then trapped her in for the next several years. You could have been a mother to her and perhaps even a wife had you not deceived him about who you really were and allowed love to take its natural course. But instead you gave into your cruelty that poisons your own heart and tore Hook from Alice because he refused to be your slave, which he would have been had he given into his own darkness. Love for his daughter saved him then. It will again. However, love won't save you because it's not a quality you possess."

"You underestimate me," Gothel answered haughtily, as Regina was suddenly bound when roots and vines from the trees began to twist around her body and her wrists in effort to hold her long enough so the witch could do as she came to Neverland to do. "These waters won't help you and Rumplestiltskin to help him."

"No!" the Queen shouted as Gothel pulled a vile from her bosom and used her powers to shatter it over the spring so that its contents spilled into the magic waters, as Regina then saw the pool begin to turn black while her poison spread until it strangely reshaped itself into a small stone within the palm of her hand once it finished doing its job. "What the hell have you done?"

The witch smiled cruelly at her enemy as she replied, "I've extracted all magic from within these waters, making it nothing more than just a spring. Now Pan will have to look elsewhere if he wishes to save Neverland and to remain youthful forever. Just as you heroes will have to try harder to help Hook. That is if he survives. I fear you might be too late."

Regina was finally freed from her bonds as she ran over to the cliff's edge and looked down in time to see Hook fall when he was suddenly shot in his upper chest by an arrow from Pan's bow, having shoved her son out of the way after the island's ruler attempted to kill Henry while his back was turned to the demon. She and Henry both cried out for him in fear as Henry quickly grabbed hold of him, and Regina immediately magicked herself down between her son and the villain before them, then forced the last of the Lost Boys still standing back into the trees around them, attempting to do the same to Pan as well. However, his own power allowed him to remain on his feet until he gasped and doubled over in pain.

Peter looked up at her again through his anguish, then suddenly emitted power from his hands as it washed over the heroes and snarled, "You… you've destroyed the magic within the spring. You've killed Neverland!"

"I wasn't the one who did this," Regina angrily responded as she remained protective over Henry and Hook. "If you want someone to blame, blame the witch who calls herself Mother Gothel. Is that arrow poisoned?"

"Unfortunately it's one of the few that weren't, but if you want to save Hook, you'll have to find a way to do it without your magic and now without the spring's waters as well," Peter Pan answered darkly while he struggled to stand straight. "What little magic I have left was enough for me to neutralize your own, so you won't be able to use it any longer until you find your way home. If you even can. Any magic beans you may be carrying with you are now powerless too."

With that said, Pan suddenly vanished within a green smoke cloud while the Lost Boys around them weakly rose to their feet and ran away. Once they were gone, Regina looked up on top of the peak and watched as Gothel disappeared as well, then she finally turned back to Hook while she rushed over to kneel down at his side.

She quickly examined the wound made by the arrow sticking out from his chest, then took his hand in her own and looked into Henry's eyes with worry as she said quietly, "We need to find ourselves some place where we can make a shelter and then treat him. Help me carry him."

The younger man nodded and looked down at his friend lying against him while Killian writhed in pain, then together he and Regina struggled to lift him between them as gently as they could while Henry whispered fearfully, "Hook saved my life just now. I've got most of his weight. You're going to need keep your eyes on our surroundings in case Pan or the Lost Boys attack again."

Without waiting any longer, Henry and Regina carefully guided Hook back through the forest while they fought against the hanging tree branches and plants once again blocking their path. The wounded pirate struggled to help them by staying on his feet the best he could despite feeling so weakened, until he couldn't any longer when he slowly lost consciousness. Thankfully they didn't have much further to go when they finally came upon a small clearing where they hoped they'd be safe long enough to help him.

Regina helped her son to lay the pirate captain on the ground, then she reached up to raise her son's head so he was looking at her as she spoke again quietly saying, "I need you to find some firewood… so we can build a fire. Quickly. We need to keep him warm and I'll most likely have to cauterize the wound once I can get the arrow out. Be careful, Henry."

He smiled at his mother to reassure her he'd be fine, then looked back down at Hook and gently squeezed his hand as though he were awake enough to feel comforted in the slightest way Henry could offer him while he pleaded, "Hold on, Killian."