Night fell. Emma sighed, next to Rumpelstiltskin huddled by the steps. This land would never be one she could get used to, the night sky a soft dark violet.

"You're sure you can get this getaway spell together in time?" she asked.

"Miss Swan, such doubts. Have I ever been unsure about my magic?"

No need to cluck about it, she thought, although she reminded herself that a "Dark One's" powers on Henry's side would be nothing less than a force to be reckoned with.

"...moreover," Rumpelstiltskin continued, bringing her back into the present. "Can the lot of you find Regina...alive...and then get to Henry? Some of us have rather hit an incompetence streak lately." His eyes veered to Hook who glared back in kind.

"Hey, truce, remember?" she snapped. "Everyone's pulling their weight, Gold."

"Precisely. So there was no need to question me, was there?"

So cool and suave all the time, except when he chose not to be...sadly, it seemed a crocodile was all too appropriate—a creature who could calmly wait, could be still and seemingly passive until just the right moment before it unleashed hell. She loathed it, respected it, and loathed she respected it.

"Don't piss off a desperate mom, Gold," she warned, starting back to where her parents were loading a longboat when she stopped. Neverland, Greg and Tamara, magic in general—she needed to collect herself. She needed to be at her most alert and yet her most serene. Wax on, wax off, or something. So she tilted her chin up to the sky and searched for Orion. There. Gemini? There. Taurus? Now this was creepy. She'd been too tired in the Enchanted Forest to stargaze. Had it been the same sky, too?

Stop walking towards him, stop walking towards him...damn. Hook turned, sensing someone nearby and so now was her cue to ask stupid irrelevant questions minutes before they all entered into some battle with Viking-level bloodshed a sure thing.

"Is that constellation called Orion here?" she asked, pointing up.

A moment's blink, he slowly looked up as if suspecting a trick and then eyed her.

"You know your stars. I told you you'd be one hell of a pirate." A grin spread along his face...never good. "He hunts the little rabbit right there, Lepus."

"Yeah, great, but if these are all other worlds, why is the sky the same? Why are they called the same thing here?"

"I'm not a philosopher, Swan. I've happened to notice your world was quite aware of some of the more notable names from my world, myself included. If the worlds connect, then why does it surprise you there are similarities?" He brought his head down just a little, eyes softening, and for a moment she feared he would ask her if she was afraid. Hell, why was there such a fine line between finding a way to compose yourself and distracting yourself from fear? "I'm sure the women from both worlds look fairly similar, but if we want to be sure..."

She laughed in spite of herself.

"You're coming. Better arm yourself and get ready. It's almost time to go." She turned, but suddenly felt reluctant. It wouldn't kill you to play back, she thought. Hear a guy's dark-and-troubled-past story and you don't throw anything out there? Pretty sure now was not the time to share that she also once had a confrontation with a lover's...ha ha...partner's spouse, she opted for something lighter. "Pretty sure being late to a fight goes against some kind of pirate code."

Charming heaved, hauling Greg by the armpits, Hook assisting by hauling the ankles, into a longboat. Gagged, they could all finally catch a break from the offensive names and pseudo-scientific speeches that would be right at home in an outdated textbook. The nine millimeter he kept in his holster still retained fifteen shots, but he knew that could change tonight.

Snow cut in front of Emma and sat in the longboat, a challenging smile on her face.

"Hey! Don't think that's going to stop me from going," Emma warned.

"No. We're going together." Snow patted the space next to her. It struck Charming as endearing...and odd...that the proof the Snow who had despaired over her heart weeks ago was gone, was that the bandit he'd fallen like a ton of bricks for in the forest was waiting for her family to join her into the fray.

"David was already going..." Emma trailed off, watching him climb into the longboat. "Oh, what the hell." She climbed in after them.

He sat across from them, gripping the handle of an oar.

"Coming, Hook?" Emma called up.

"Right away." The longboat wobbled when Hook jumped in, grinning up at Rumpelstiltskin, who was lowering them. "Best not be left alone with the elderly fellow, right, mate?"

"Now remember," Rumpelstiltskin called down to them, ignoring Hook's comment. "There is already a shield enchantment on the ship, so once you're back, you'll be safe. I'll be finishing the flight spell while you're gone, but I will be pinpointing your location. The globe should let me see exactly where you all are and I can assist long distance."

"Long distance sounds pretty haphazard," Emma called back.

"Since when do you know anything with my name on it to be haphazard, Miss Swan?" The longboat hit the water, murky, but still warm in the dark. "Good luck."

The sand faded into an overgrown brush, luscious and humid, moisture clinging to every starchy star flower and every endless tree trunk. The smell of animal waste permeated the air more than the smaller islands. That made sense, Charming thought, with it being a bigger island. Moonlight prevented them from tripping over low-hanging branches and tangled shrubs. Leaving Greg tied to the boat, they had decided to scout for Regina before anything else. A tip of white close by caught his eye. Taking a knee, he sifted through the soil until the tip tapered down into a full skull, a raccoon or badger-sized creature, some teeth overlapping the jaws. But it wasn't a wildlife comparison that occupied his mind. Little drawings and letters covered the base of the skull, like a kid's cast covered in signatures.

"Look," he said, holding out his discovery. "Handiwork of a kid, a Lost Boy, I bet. We're getting close."

The only, only, reason he dared not hope the Lost Boys hadn't killed Regina was that if they had killed her, then they would be hostile to the rest of them, and shooting children was just something he would never be able to do. He held the skull, promising himself he would make a stronger argument for Regina's incarceration once that was possible. It had gone beyond her affecting only their family; she had almost let the entire town be destroyed, the thought of Henry, with any children that might have been born once the clock started going again, alone, alone in the middle of nowhere with no one who would believe his story frightened him, not just infuriated him, but frightened him. And no matter the circumstances, he would not lose anyone to that woman again.

Fingers caressed his arm; Snow had sneaked up on him, her temple brushing against his arm. He planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"What's wrong? Besides everything?" she asked.

Before he could answer, they fell back, he, Snow, Emma, and Hook swept up in a mass of scratchy twine and rope. On his back, Snow across his belly, Hook on his arm, he tried to roll onto his side.

"Is everyone okay?" Snow shouted.

"Peachy, m'lady," Hook said, his face pressed into one of the net's windows. He rolled to the edge of the net and began slicing away at the rope with his hook.

"Snow, can you reach my knife?"

"Yes. Right here." Feeling his pocket knife pulled from his pocket, he braced himself for the eventual long drop. Once again, nets were involved when Snow White took something from him. He let out a small chuckle.

"That's looking on the bright side," Emma grunted, stuck behind him.

"Go easy on him, Emma. This is kind of how we m—!" There it was, the thud. Jeans did little to break falls, but he'd noticed that a while ago. The only way that could have hurt worse is if he'd fallen on his keys.

"Everyone okay?" he asked, patting himself down. Helping Snow to her feet, they found themselves surrounded by a group of children, their eyes glistening in the moonlight as much as a wild animal's.

"My Peter Pan's rusty. We don't get eaten, do we?" Emma mouthed to anyone willing to answer.

"Wait!" Regina emerged from the brush, still in the burgundy blazer and black slacks from Storybrooke, but with fox and beaver pelts hanging from her waist like a belt. A necklace of sorts, teeth or bones Charming couldn't tell, added to the visual weirdness. "Boys, hold on. These are our friends. They're here to help us. Where's Owen?"

"Back in the longboat. What did you find out?" he asked.

"Peter Pan is supposed to return tonight. They have Henry in a cage to the west of here with the Lost Ones guarding him, Tamara included. The boys say there are ten of them." She stepped closer to them, her voice lowering. "They've taken their shadows. Once Peter Pan removes a shadow he can command it. They can follow orders but apparently aren't too bright since they've been mistaking all these boys for Henry. They bring them here and once the Lost Ones say it was a mistake, their shadows get taken and they get left here to fend for themselves." The smallest, a chestnut-haired boy with green eyes that could have looked like Henry if Charming squinted and wasn't aware of how old he was supposed to be, clung to her leg. Picking up a stick, he drew into the soil.

"Using this box as the place where they're keeping Henry, can any of you make me a map?" A blonde, worldly boy raised his hand.

"Miles," Regina said, gesturing for him to come forward. Everyone huddled together and watched him draw into the dirt.

"Slightly's the one you got to watch out for the most, him and Tamara," he said, using an X for each Lost One. "Tootles is a pushover, but he's always surrounded by the others."

"Slightly?" Emma and Regina repeated at the same time, their eyebrows straightened, faces as white as Neverland's beaches. They looked at each other, pure horror taking over.

Whale led Belle and Ruby down into the bowels of the hospital, the paint on the walls gradually darkening from white to to green to brown. Stopping in their march just long enough for him to use a keypad, they entered a lobby with a lone snake light.

"No, no." Terror seized Belle, memories of running down the long bare corridor to this lobby overwhelming her mind. Her hair and eyes feral, her feet kicking off the slippers to keep from sliding to the floor—sedatives, a straitjacket on occasion... What little light there was in the lobby began fading from view, so dizzying she couldn't tell if her eyes were opened or closed. Her knees buckled.

"Belle, Belle, you are not going back into that cell." Whale's fingers clenching her arms brought her vision back, one pixel at a time. "You will never, ever go back in that cell. There's someone down here who may have a way to get us to talk to them. We will let him out. Belle, look at me."

She had no identity, no memory. She spent the day staring out the window, no view, just the sun and a tree, hoping today was the day someone who loved her would come let her out, someone would talk to her, someone would just touch her...

"Belle, it's okay." It was Ruby's turn to hold her hand. Ruby, a friend. Ruby had given her a place to stay when she had nowhere to go. Ruby showed her how to pour syrup on pancakes. Ruby explained how a public library in this world worked.

"I'm, I'm fine. Really. Lead the way." She wore an azure three-quarter-sleeved dress with a leather belt, not a ratty hospital gown. She was allowed to have a purse with things like money and keys and makeup inside. She had friends, loved ones. She was Belle. Squeezing Ruby's hand, she made it farther down the corridor than she thought she could and watched Dr. Whale unlock a steel door.

"Mr. Glass? We need you," he said into the dark.

Charming stretched his leg until his foot reached a nub in the tree trunk wider than two of him. The Lost Boy with the top of his ear missing, Ian, tapped the base of the trunk and bustled off into the darkness to his position. His arms began slow, feeling they each had a massive weight strapped to each of them. Refusing to pant, he straddled a thick branch and scooted until he could see the field where, just to his left, sat the mouth of a cave where, if they could trust these kids, Henry was caged. He held his breath watching through the leaves as Emma dragged Greg through the field, stopping just short of the cave. Hooded figures met her, forming a human barrier between her and the entrance to the cave.

"Tamara! Tamara!" Unsheathing a sword, she held Greg by the base of his neck until one of the figures stepped forward.

"Hi, Emma." Tamara threw back her hood with a smile Charming would have once described as friendly. She stood with one leg out, arms folded, aloof.

"Give me Henry."

"I see you found Greg." With the toe of her boot, she batted his chin until he looked up at her.

"Bring Henry out to me and let him go and I'll give you Greg." Emma maneuvered the sword to where all she had to do was thrust downward and it would plunge into his back. To anyone else, he would have said it would have been too tempting, but he trusted her.

"Greg for Henry? Emma, we don't turn over the President of the United States in exchange for some garbageman."

"Let me see Henry!"

"Miss Swan," another one of the figures approached. He pulled his hood off with two hands, a narrow-faced man with a square jaw, tawny blonde hair.

"Mr. Slight," she growled.

"Had to make sure we would know where to find Henry, didn't we?" His toothy grin shimmered.

Rumpelstiltskin finished the spell. At last, just a small bagful of fairy dust could propel the entire ship to fly. He stuffed it into a breast pocket on the inside of his coat and knelt down to the drawer just underneath his bunk for the orb to pinpoint the location of the others. He had just the spells in mind to render these opponents nothing more than flies in ointment when anyone would care to look back at this whole misadventure.

"Rumple?"

Almost dropping the orb, he spun around. He knew that voice. He knew the precise probability of that voice being here, zero. And yet at no time as the Dark One did his ears ever play tricks on him.

"Belle?"

She was in the square mirror right above the cabin's basin, the streaks and spots on the glass obscuring her only a fraction. She looked beautiful, the furrowed, agonized expression on her face the only thing he would change. In spite of that, he dashed to the mirror and pressed his hand against its corner, the corners of his mouth turning up. "How?"

"I don't know how much time we have. Mr. Glass is straining himself." She looked to the side at something unseen, and then back at him. "You're in trouble." Licking her lips, she tilted her head so he could see her worry even clearer. "The fairies must be behind all this. I think they're the ones who ordered those people to take Henry."

"I know."

"No, Spencer, King George, you had made a deal with him that he'd spy for you?"

"Yes. The fairies gave Bae the magic bean, Belle. That's why I hated them so."

"The Blue Fairy attacked him. I'm sure she knew about them taking Henry. Even if, when, you come back, you'll be up against her. She told him she knew a way to keep your power from you, and the prophesy you told me about. There's Henry, the boy, and Peter Pan's a boy..."

"Peter Pan's a fairy," he said with a dulled voice. The Blue Fairy, he'd known her pride, her temper, but always believed her to have the same tool Snow White and Charming used when tempted to show their enemies no mercy. Had she remembered the entire time? So she must have been the writer of that ever-important book that Henry had used to solve everything. "Does she know you know about this?"

"Only Ruby and Dr. Whale and now Mr. Glass know," she said. Whale? Victor? Good lords, not that man...priorities, man, he reminded himself.

"Belle, if you had to kill a fairy, if it were that or your death, or the death of someone you cared about, could you do it?" His gentle Belle should have been a hostage negotiator, had all the strength and integrity to rival anyone, but killing? His hands shook at the thought. "Please, Belle. Promise me you would defend yourself however you needed to. I can't live without Bae and you. Could you do it?"

A little nod followed by a more assertive one answered. "Yes, I could. But, how do you kill a fairy?"

"It's not hard. It's not something just anyone would think of or know off the top of their head, but it's far from hard."

"You think Peter Pan will reward you for giving him a body?" Emma bellowed at all of them. They stood motionless, Charming debating about firing now or sticking to the plan. "People with power don't tend to share it."

"And your Dark One is a better alternative?" Tamara snapped. This Mr. Slight, Slightly, held his arm out to hush her.

"Miss Swan, Emma, this entire multiverse thrives on power, as if a life force dealt it out among the realms, giving some people more than their share," he said. "Good, evil—neither matter. Those who hinder that end up dead, any power they did have returning to the life force that in turn deals it out accordingly. Peter Pan has abilities the likes of you, someone raised in a land without magic, can scarcely imagine. He demands more power, so we help him find it, as he will take power from us otherwise." He neared her, his pointed chin jutting out. "I told you when you gave him up he was a very special child. You not holding onto that power was your own mistake."

Emma lifted the sword, the blade inches from him. His laugh pierced the night.

"You're a bold woman, Emma," Tamara said with a condescending shake of the head. "But you were just plain foolhardy to come out here all alone."

The sound of an arrow slicing through the air whooshed from a tree on the other side of the field, missing Tamara by a hair.

"I'm not alone." Emma grinned, swinging her sword just in time for Slightly to block it with one of his own.

Now. Actually firing the gun was never how he'd imagined it would be. It took not only focus, but relaxation, a gradual pulling back of the trigger, controlled breathing. The first shot deafened him. Unprepared for the recoil, he teetered back but caught himself, watching one of the Lost Ones writhe on the ground howling, clutching their leg. Regina emerged from the other side of the field, just underneath where Snow stood on one of the limbs, sending her arrows zipping through the air, the next one right into the knee of another Lost One. Regina lifted her palms into the air, the ground where two of the Lost Ones stood quaking. Vines broke through the soil and curled around them, coiling and coiling around their legs and waists until they fell over.

The Lost Boys zipped past the fray into the cave. Charming descended as quickly as he could, knowing falling from any height was as good as death. Leaping from the lowest branch, he sprinted into the cave after them, Hook following, stopping at the sight of a Lost One swinging two swords.

"Go."

"You've only got one sword!" Charming yelled, his feet already shuffling backward into the depths of the cave.

"But two weapons." The clanging of swords and, Charming realized, a hook, echoed through the cave, sending the last few bats zigzagging to the nearest exit.

A/N: Okay, very scene-heavy, perspective-heavy chapter, I know. There may be only one other in the entire story that uses this format, so don't worry; the rest only rely on one or two points of view, three at the most. The net was a shout-out to Return of the Jedi, which I also do not own. So will they get Henry out of there? What will Henry have discovered during this time? I can't tell you except that the summary says rescuing Henry is only the beginning!