The day the Evil Queen unleashed the dark curse that swept over the Enchanted Forest most were utterly taken by surprise, others resigned with a weary acceptance while some viewed the great billowing cloud with a small smile of victory.

John viewed the bruised coloured cloud on the far horizon like a tidal wave and it was not one that he particularly wanted to get swept up in. To spend year after year stuck in the 1980's? No thank you. Though he could imagine how much it would amuse Pan to have him stuck in Storybrooke, he would probably laugh himself to sleep imagining him in polyester jump suits and Velcro strapped running shoes. John shuddered. He could only abide short ventures into the world these poor wretches were about to be transported to and while Michael quietly mocked him for being a stick in the mud he could not help it. He had standards. He was a man of his time out of time and it made his bones itch. Michael sometimes complained of feeling thin, of being stretched too far but John supposed they all reacted to it in different ways. He could only imagine what they must feel in Neverland, to be so stagnant for so long, it must be hell even if the reward is eternal youth. At least he can watch the days pass, even if he does not feel their effect.

He sighed and consulted his pocket watch. The boy – thing was more appropriate – and the brothers had formed a shaky but long lasting alliance and they did so for two reasons: Wendy and their muted sense of guilt. Their interference with time, their foolhardy attempts to correct it had only made what they wanted to prevent happen. It was something that both Michael and John were reminded of every time they looked in a mirror and were confronted with their own unnatural immortality.

But now was not the time for self-pity, he had a job to do. The ship was docked by the shore, rocking to and fro as the ever speeding curse spread further, bringing with it darkness and driving winds. He was to ensure that Hook did not get swept up in the curse and that he did not come to a foul end. He knew that Hook was now beyond the curse but he was not out of danger. A dark shape hurrying along the pier drew his eyes and he allowed himself a small smile. Good, she had fallen for the decoy ship, it had not been a wasted journey.

Eying the storm behind him warily John made his way quickly to the figure and as she let her cloak fall to her feet, about to jump into the water, John snapped the collar around her wrist with sufficient ease. The mermaid spun around, knife in hand and was about to plunge it in him when he said a single word.

"Sleep."

Tiger Lily's eyes fluttered shut and she fell into his waiting arms in a cascade of dark hair and long limbs. He knew that he did not have a lot of time. The curse was almost on them and he knew that the magic cuff that Pan had given him, one that gave him the power to issue commands, did not work as effectively on mermaids as it did humans. He carefully lowered the young woman down onto a bed of moss, on a bluff overlooking the palace and the glittering sea. He tightened the ropes around her wrists, his face grim and set with determination. He had done some things that he had been less than proud of but he and his brother still considered themselves gentleman and tying up a woman set off a writhing shame in the pit of his stomach. On his knees beside her he sighed and brushed her silky hair way from her face, finally getting a good look at her.

She was beautiful but not in a delicate way. Even asleep she was strong and stern, her brow furrowed and he contemplated that was what he probably looked like too. Both had been on a mission of revenge, of murder but the only difference was John had failed spectacularly.

"Well, I suppose you have now too. Sorry but the pirate is not for your blade," he said with a touch of sympathy. The mermaid had been after Hook for countless years, thirsting for his blood after the captain had killed the man she loved: Rufio, a Lost Boy. John had never met him but Wendy always spoke of him with the utmost regard, even as Pan sneered quietly to himself in a corner. Anyone who got Pan's back up was fine with John. Tiger Lily stirred, her eyelashes fluttering and John watched as she woke. Large dark eyes regarded him with confusion but as she noticed her bound wrists those inky eyes flashed with rage and she struggled to get up.

"There's no point fighting, there's no time," he offered gently but she sneered at him.

"Who are you?! Why are you doing this!?"

"Just another bag of bones from the Home Office, at your service," he joked. Dear god what was he saying? He sounded like a fool. Her full lips parted and her tongue licked across her lip nervously. He watched the movement and then looked into her eyes and what he saw made his stomach fall. Behind the rage and the brave lifted chin was fear.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing. I – I'm just following orders," he said, trying to explain, wanting to sound gentle but he had almost lost the capacity for softness. He leaned closer to her, like a flower to light. He was utterly unaware of it but she was humming very softly under her breath.

"Oh, you are a serf," she said with a sneer and John dimly remembered Pan saying that his target was royalty. He briefly wondered what such a life could be like under the sea when her soft lullaby siren call pulled him in closer and then she struck like a snake. He had bound her feet together but she was able to lift her bare legs up and wrap them around his neck.

She's trying to choke me! he thought wildly as she yanked him on top of her until their faces were inches apart. Her teeth were bared in effort and rage as he struggled above her. Her legs slipped to his shoulders as he tried to sit up but she pulled them back down with a growl, her arms now wrapped around his neck. His glasses slipped down his nose and she was suddenly distracted.

Now mermaids and magpies are a species apart but they do have one thing in common: attraction to shiny, pretty objects. As if a switch had been flicked the once murderous mermaid was now utterly beguiled by the glasses falling down his face. She lifted her arms and quick as a flash she pulled his spectacles off to inspect them. Winded and completely bewildered John leaned off her, watching the naked curiosity on her face as she brought the lenses up to her eyes.

How peculiar she is! This is madness…get up, get up as she's distracted.

John, in a rather compromising position with a strange woman, hastily slipped his body down hers, pulling out from her circling legs until he was free. Heart racing and his cheeks flushing with heat he looked at the mermaid as she tried on his glasses. She looked comical but she was also the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"What is your name?" she asked calmly, as if her early attempt to strangle him had not happened.

"…John," he said and then kicked himself. Why was he telling her who he was?

"Joooohn," she drew his name out and his stomach turned over pleasantly. He was going mad, somehow he was losing his mind because a mermaid had stolen his glasses.

"I uh, excuse me but I must be going now."

"I won't forget this," she said distractedly, pushing the glasses down to the tip of her nose. "You stopped me from killing him, when I finally had the chance. I won't forget when we meet again," she whispered, taking the glasses off to blow hot air on the lenses.

Threatened with retribution John should feel fear or even contempt but instead his stomach did another pleasant flop. See her again? He got to his feet and looked up as the sky darkened. He could hardly see a bloody thing and he knew he would not get them back off her. Blinking like a mole in the dimming light Tiger Lily smiled up at him, an expression he missed.

"Sorry about this, nothing personal but I'm afraid you won't remember any of this for quite some time, and that's if you're lucky."

He inclined his head to her in farewell and then drew out the bean Pan had given him. In a flash of green light and swirling wind Tiger Lily watched him jump into the portal through one smeared lens. As the dark curse swept over her and rubbed away everything she had been Tiger Lily gripped the glasses to her chest and chanted his name until she was submerged.

"Get it to work, get it work, get it to work, get it to work, get it to work," the mad man muttered quietly, rocking back and forth as he sat crossed legged on the isthmus that connected the royal palace to the forest behind them. Not the most ideal place to appear, far too exposed but beggars could not be choosers. Well they could but his aim was notoriously bad. Once the man sitting below him could have aimed a portal to open on the head of a pin but no more.

Michael stared sadly down at Jefferson, a man he had known briefly once and the change in him was immediately noticed and shocking to behold. He had known the realm jumper as a cocky, charming thief but now he was a gibbering mad milliner. He had rescued him from Wonderland, on Pan's orders, and brought him to a spot where he would be sucked up by the dark curse but the sight of Jefferson, who was even now making a hat, sent a spike of guilt through Michael.

"Oh I'm sorry…" he sighed, remembering with another lurch that Jefferson had a daughter and wife and wondered what had happened to them. He had no solid proof but he would put money on the suspicion that Pan was at the root of the realm jumper's degenerated state. Pan blamed Jefferson for his part in the plot that had almost killed Wendy, as he had blamed them. He could have killed them all but for Wendy's sake did not. Pan had a strange grasp on mercy. Jefferson looked up at him as the curse came billowing down the sides of the wooded valley and regarded Michael for the first time.

"Can – can you help me?" he clutched the top hat to his chest and stared up at Michael with a twitchy hope. It was pathetic and heartrending. He didn't even realise that his hat now worked. Shame he would not have the time to use it.

"I wish I could. Goodbye Jefferson…" He walked away, creating some space so he could throw the bean but as the curse swept up behind him like a wave Michael turned to Jefferson quickly. "There is hope, you might not think so but there is. A saviour will come and she will save you and everyone. Remember that Jefferson, remember her and remember your daughter."

He threw the bean as the cloud swept down on them, about to jump when he felt a hand on his arm. He spun, thinking it was Jefferson but it wasn't. It was a small woman dressed in green. He had not heard her approach.

"Take me with you."

"What?" he looked up at the cloud, it was almost here. Seconds away. He looked back down at the woman. She was slight, with blond hair gathered in a messy bun at the top of her head. She was beautiful, he was reminded of delicate petals but this flower was wilting. Pale, almost luminous skin stretched tight over cheekbones and her body wavered from side to side, the hand she had grabbed him with keeping her upright. She peered at him from dark ringed eyes.

"I know who you are, I know who you work for: Pan."

"Is that so?" Michael stiffened, fingering the blade that he kept up his sleeve. Pan had many enemies and they do not see him as anything different, not when he was in his employ. The woman smiled weakly, as if she had read his thoughts.

"I mean you no harm. My name is Tinkerbell and I just want to go home. I need to," she corrected with a pained look.

Tinkerbell. Yes, he remembered her. She left Neverland with the pirate captain years before and had fallen out of contact with the island. Michael narrowed his eyes at her, wondering why she was leaving her lover and how she knew he would be here but now was not the time for questions. As the cloud descended on them Michael gallantly motioned for her to jump into the portal.

"Ladies first."

The fallen fairy jumped into the portal and Michael caught the unmistakable glint of tears in her eyes before he followed after her. As the portal disappeared with a popping noise Jefferson looked up at the swirling cloud before he was transported to another realm, whispering one word and smiled the first sane smile in years.

"Grace."

a.n:

I'm so sorry for the wait but it's only now that I actually have time to focus on this. I plan to write four more chapters, each a snapshot of an event. Next chapter will be up tomorrow and will feature Peter and Wendy. Thanks to anyone still reading!