He hadn't slept well since he'd left – was taken from, really – Storybrooke; he woke at the slightest noise, and even if he did manage to sleep for longer than fifteen minutes, he had nightmares. He'd heard the Lost Boys talk about what they got up to on a daily basis, and the images their stories inspired were enough to make him sick to his stomach.
He'd dreamed of his mothers and the others coming to rescue him only for Pan and the Lost Boys to take care of them in a similar way to how they killed and displayed the local wildlife. When he'd jolted awake, he'd been so horrified at what his sleeping mind had come up with that he'd almost vomited more than a few times.
Without even seeing his own reflection, he knew he must look terrible. Like sleep, food hadn't been easy to come by; he expected he'd lost a lot of weight since he'd been here, and with no sleep, he likely had circles under his eyes dark enough to make him look like a raccoon.
He still hoped someone was coming to rescue him though, even despite his nightmares. Consciously, he knew they were stronger than Pan, but his unconscious mind was apparently more prone to doubt. His mother wasn't going to lose to a group of teenage boys, and neither would Emma or any of the others.
An apple smacked into his chest and dropped into his lap, and he blinked a few times before he looked up to see one of the Lost Boys walking away from him. The apple was small and looked overripe, but Henry just sighed and began eating. It was likely all he would get for a while. He'd stopped arguing against being given apples a while ago when his hunger had gotten the better of him.
One thing he'd learned quickly living with the Lost Boys was that they loved to fight. They didn't even have to have a reason; they just walked up to someone and punched them and then next thing anyone knew, they were rolling on the ground beating each other until they were bloody.
Henry was dreading when one of the boys finally worked up the nerve to attack him. He knew none of them liked him; Pan didn't pay as much attention to them since Henry had arrived, he'd heard them whispering to each other not long after he'd arrived.
He suspected his time was approaching, too, if the growing number of boys lurking near his sleeping spot was any indication. They'd been steadily growing in number for the past few days, putting him more and more on edge as time passed.
As he was finishing off the last of his apple, he heard footsteps, and he braced himself. He couldn't say he was surprised when hands closed in the collar of his jacket and hauled him up until the tips of his feet were just barely touching the ground, and he grimaced at the rank breath of the Lost Boy holding him.
The boy didn't say a word, just pulled back and smashed a fist into his nose. Henry flinched and felt his nose break and blood begin running down his face. The Lost Boy grinned triumphantly as Henry spluttered and spat out his own blood that had dripped into his mouth.
Some of the other boys guffawed, and the sound of it ignited a rage in Henry he hadn't realized he had. He kicked out at the boy and caught him in the knee, and he found himself dropped to the ground. The guffaws of the other boys turned to catcalls, which only served to further Henry's anger.
He lurched at his attacker and struck out at the Boy's face. There was a loud crack, and the Lost Boy stumbled back, clutching at his own broken nose. The boy cried out and clutched at his face, and Henry made to attack him again only to be stopped in his tracks by an invisible force.
When he heard clapping, there was no doubt who had grabbed him. Pan stepped in his line of vision, smirking evilly. "Well done," he crowed, his grin stretched across his entire face. "I didn't know you had in you, Henry."
Henry glared at him as best he could, being completely frozen and all. He didn't think it was very successful, but Pan seemed to understand what he was trying to convey.
He sighed. "A bit disappointing, but I can't say I'm surprised." He waved a hand lazily, and Henry stumbled forward and collapsed to the ground. Blood had pooled in his mouth while he'd been stuck, and he spat a few times and shuddered at the coppery taste.
Pan clicked his tongue, and Henry wished he could spit on his shoes. That would fall under the category of 'stupid and life-endangering' though, so he stifled the urge and wiped gingerly at his face with his sleeve instead.
He tensed at the sound of approaching footsteps again, and Pan pulled him to his feet by the back of his jacket and leered at him. "I'd fix that," he jerked his head at Henry's nose that was still dribbling blood, "but then you wouldn't have a battle scar, and that would just be a shame, wouldn't it?"
The grin he gave made Henry shudder, and then he found himself back on the ground again. This time, he didn't try to get up, just stayed and hoped they would leave him alone. He missed his moms – both of them – and he just wanted to go home and have things go back to normal.
If his mom rescued him from this, he swore he'd stop judging her so harshly. He'd never wanted to be safe in his room on Mifflin Street so much in his life.
As if his prayers had been heard, a familiar smell registered in his mind, and instead of causing dread and anger, it brought relief. He curled in on himself and relaxed as his mother's magic curled protectively around him. As it did, though, he realized it was mingling with a different person's magic, and a sniff instantly told him he had never smelled it before and he had no idea who it could belong to. Perhaps they had found an ally on the island?
Pan screamed something, and suddenly the clearing was consumed with noise. But Henry kept his head down, not wanting to watch. He'd seen enough violence in the past several days than he'd ever wanted to see; sword fights didn't really hold the appeal they once had.
"Hey, kid," a voice said, and Henry could have cried from relief when he cracked open his eyes to see Emma crouched down beside him and reaching out for him. He quickly threw himself at her and buried his face in her chest, and she hugged him tightly. "It's okay, we're gonna get you out of here," she told him, and he couldn't find his voice to reply.
"Henry!"
The smell of the magic surrounding him intensified, and he found himself crushed between Emma and his mom. One of his mom's arms was around him, and as close as he was, he could smell her magic mixing with the unidentified stuff.
As his moms hugged him, he realized the second source of magic; he could feel it pouring off Emma in waves. Surprised, he struggled to move so he could see her face. "You're using magic?" he asked breathlessly, and Emma looked taken aback for a moment before nodding hesitantly.
"That damn turnover," he heard his mom mutter, and then he found himself pulled to his feet yet again, though it was much gentler this time.
He turned to look at his mom, and he was a bit embarrassed to find his eyes welling with tears at the sight of her. He'd not thought it possible to miss her so much since learning the truth about her.
"We need to go," Emma said tersely, and Henry blinked and tore his eyes away from his mom. Emma was standing with her back to them, shoulders tensed with her sword raised, facing down at least ten Lost Boys. "Regina."
"I heard you," his mom snapped at Emma's back, and he grabbed her outstretched hand without even thinking about it. This was real. He was going to leave, to go home.
As he finally looked at the battle raging around them, Henry could see Charming, Hook, and a woman he didn't recognize fighting in close quarters with some of the Lost Boys, and Snow was firing arrow after arrow into the fray from the edge of the clearing. As he watched, transfixed in fascinated horror, he saw Hook brutally swing a Lost Boy into a nearby tree and knock him out cold.
"–ry. Henry!"
He started when he felt a hand on his cheek, and the next thing he knew, Emma had taken him from his mother's hands and swung him up onto her back. He peeked his head over her shoulder just as they entered the tree line, and even though he couldn't see her, he could hear Regina following close behind them.
They crashed through the undergrowth at a frantic pace, and Henry had to duck his head more than a few times so he didn't get whacked in the face by a tree branch. As he raised his head again, he became aware that they were passing the trees at a rate far faster than human, and when the smell of Emma's magic registered to him again, he realized what was happening.
Within a few minutes, they burst from the trees onto the shore, and off in the distance, Henry could see Hook's ship floating in the ocean. There was a dingy pulled up onto the sand, but they stopped several meters away from it and turned back toward the forest.
"Regina, you do it," Emma said, sounding completely out of breath. "I don't trust my magic to not drop us off at the bottom of the ocean."
"As soon as the rest of the idiots get here," Regina replied, and Henry was surprised at how civil they were being. He wasn't used to seeing them like this; usually, they were at each other's throats. Maybe it was because they were united in a cause again, like they'd been when they'd saved Storybrooke.
Less than a minute later, Charming appeared out of the trees, closely followed by the others. They were all glowing faintly, and Henry belatedly realized that they had been sped up by magic as well, his mother's by the smell of it. That was also odd; his mother hated them.
They had almost reached him and his mothers when Pan appeared suddenly between them, lacking his signature smirk and instead fixing the three of them with a glare fierce enough to melt diamond. Something in Henry's stomach lurched, and he briefly thought he would vomit.
"Give. Him. Back," Pan growled, taking a threatening step forward. Behind him, Charming and the others had stopped in their tracks, looking unsure of what to do. "He is mine."
Henry glanced between his mothers anxiously, but he shouldn't have been worried. Regina stepped forward without hesitation until she was toe-to-toe with Pan, and Henry's stomach clenched with worry.
"He is my son," Regina said, with an icy fierceness that chilled Henry to the bone. He'd only heard the tone a few times in his life, but it never failed to terrify him. This was the Evil Queen that he'd read about in his book, the one that had inspired terror in so many. "You have no claim to him."
"Oh, I think I do," Pan spat back, tilting his chin up at her.
Regina's magic crackled in the air around him, and just as Henry ducked his head into Emma's shoulder and braced himself for something horrific, he felt another whoosh of magic, this time smelling of Mr. Gold.
Pan gasped, and Henry's head lifted without his permission to see Pan staring down at his chest in shock. A long, thin blade was protruding out of it, and past his shoulder stood Gold, his expression more empty than Henry thought imaginable. It was terrifying to look at, and he found he couldn't for long.
"That's something worse than Dreamshade, boy," Gold said coldly and yanked his blade out like it was nothing. Pan began bleeding profusely without the dagger to staunch the flow, and the black blood oozed through his fingers as he clutched at his wound. "Don't underestimate the Dark One."
A low, gurgling sound came from Pan's throat, and he died with his eyes staring into Henry's.
Henry didn't realize he was shaking until he found himself cradled against Emma's chest again. "Regina," he heard her say softly, "get us out of here."
/
Tears were dripping down his nose as he sat on the deck of the Jolly Roger. He didn't understand why he was so upset; he'd never held anything but hatred toward Pan, but he couldn't stop himself from crying like a child. His mother was holding him tight to her as Emma stood by awkwardly, looking extremely out of her element.
"It's okay, sweetheart," his mother whispered to him as he clung to her. "He's gone; he can't hurt you anymore."
It wasn't even that, he realized. He was crying partly from relief from finally being rescued and from the shock of how violent everything had been. Living with the Lost Boys had been horrible – he had never considered becoming a vegetarian until he'd come to Neverland – but he hadn't wanted their escape to be so bloody. Returning to the Enchanted Forest and being a prince was not nearly as appealing as it had been not even a month ago.
"I love you, Mom," he whimpered, and he heard his mother's breath catch. It had been months since he'd told her that, but being stuck with a bunch of savages had helped him reevaluate his priorities. Regina had raised him since he was an infant, and he'd just brushed her off like she'd been nothing when he'd found his birth mother.
"I love you too, Henry," his mom said quietly, squeezing her tight against him as if she would never let him go. At this point, he didn't think he would argue very much.
There was a loud splash and a high-pitched squeak at that moment, effectively ruining the moment, and both Henry and Regina turned to see Emma standing next to the ship's railing, soaking wet and dripping saltwater onto the deck.
They were both silent for a minute until Henry started giggling, which caused Regina to start chuckling quietly, and Emma looked at them with an expression like she wanted to be mad at them for laughing but couldn't bring herself to be.
"Help?" she finally said, plucking at her wet shirt. "I'd do it myself, but I'd probably end up setting my clothes on fire, and we really don't need that to happen."
Henry glanced up at his mother to see her raise her eyebrow, and she seemed to stifle a smirk as well. She waved a hand and Emma was dry again, and Henry was surprised that his mother hadn't changed her appearance in some way. He thought it was a missed opportunity; Emma with brightly colored Mohawk would have been hilarious.
Emma mumbled her thanks and sat down beside them, and she reached over and ruffled Henry's hair and grinned at him when he smiled at her.
/
He was happy to find out that his mothers had chosen to room together so he didn't have to choose one. As they had had a bit to travel before they could return to Storybrooke, Henry had decided to finally get some decent sleep.
Charming had woken him up some time later and brought him dinner, and he'd seemed to realize that Henry didn't really want to talk and they had eaten in mostly silence, which Henry had sincerely appreciated.
After that, David had tucked him back into bed with a smile, and when Henry had woke up again, Emma was snoring quietly on the bed across from him, one arm flopped over the side onto the floor. Regina wasn't in the room when Henry sat up and looked around, and after a minute, he slid out of bed and scampered over to Emma's and crawled under the covers with her.
Emma stirred slightly at the invader in her bed, but she just curled an arm around Henry and fell still again.
He woke alone again later, finally feeling rested, and when he stepped outside the cabin, everything was still, the others apparently asleep. Quietly so as not to wake anyone, he crept up to the deck, but just as he was about to climb onto the deck, he heard voices and peeked his head up instead.
It was a bit difficult to make out in the perpetual gloom of Neverland, but he could make out both of his mothers up at the wheel, talking in low voices as Emma kept the wheel steady. They looked more at ease with each other than he'd ever seen them; his mom was even smiling.
As he watched, Emma seemed to try and make Regina laugh if her odd facial expressions were any indication, and to his surprise, his mom looked like she was indulging her. It made him smile, so he just stayed there for a while and watched them talk.
Something had obviously changed between them while they'd been on the island, and he wondered what it had been. Maybe he'd ask them one day, when this was all just a bad memory.
In the Disney movie, the Lost Boys wore animal costumes, which is more than a little morbid if you think about it.