NOTE: Just to clarify between this chapter and last chapter, the asterisks separate the days and the line breaks separate what's happening with Henry and what's happening with Emma and Regina and the others. There won't be any differences in separation like that after this chapter though.
Yesterday
Henry couldn't be sure when he'd fallen asleep again, but he knew he'd fallen asleep in the shade. When he woke, he was just as hot as he'd been before Greg and Tamara had tried to break his spirit.
The sun wasn't as hot or as high in the sky as it was when he first woke up, but it streamed through the tree limbs while it started to set.
He looked up and squinted. Had it been a full day? Or was the sun setting on a completely different day then the one he'd woken up on the first time around?
"Here," a gruff voice quickly said.
Henry looked over at the front of the cage and saw a blond haired teen on the other side. The blond held out a coconut near the bamboo bars.
"What is that," Henry asked as he remained where he was against the back wall of the cage.
"Food," the blond answered, sticking to one word explanations for the moment.
Henry sighed and stood up. He slowly made his way to the blond and cautiously accepted the coconut.
"If you can break it open, you deserve to have it," the blond said.
"You mean, I have to earn my meals? It's only a coconut."
"You're lucky you're getting the coconut."
Henry turned the coconut over several times in his hand and inspected it.
"Well," the blond asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked from Henry to the coconut. "Get to work. If you can't break that open by the time me and the others come back, you don't get supper."
"Are you saying that if I can eat this before then, I get real food?"
The blond laughed.
"No, that is your food. If you can't eat it before I come back, it'll be taken from you and you won't get anything else to have until sometime tomorrow."
The blond turned and started to walk away.
"Why are you doing this," Henry asked.
"Because it's how you prove yourself in this land," the blond replied over his shoulder as he slowed his pace, but kept walking. "We all went through it. If you're gonna survive here, you've gotta make it through tests like these. Besides, none of us are gonna go out there and kill some animal for you. If he decides to let you out, then and only then, will you be able to kill them for yourself. That will be your so called 'real' food."
The blond then vanished into the woods and Henry had a test to pass.
He looked down at the coconut and groaned. He got down on his knees and started to bang the coconut against the ground.
Today
The compass pointer adjusted continuously with slight flickers. It appeared what Regina's heart desired was on the move.
Regina looked at the tip of the pointer then slid her eyes up from the compass to follow the dirt pathway the group walked on. There was nothing up ahead other than wild trees similar to those she hadn't seen since she lived in the Enchanted Forest. Vines hung low enough from them to nearly strangle anyone that simply walked into them. The bark had some moss on it, but was otherwise healthy.
The group had decided that as important as finding Henry was, Emma and Hook needed to be found first.
Snow and Charming followed closely behind Regina with their weapons at the ready. They scanned every inch of the woods for their daughter even though they knew she'd gone off with Hook. They didn't trust the pirate, but at least he wasn't as dangerous as anything they could face and all they had faced in Neverland.
Rumple continued with the group, but he stayed behind them at a distance. He limped across uneven terrain with a tense grip on his cane a few feet behind the rest of them.
Jack stayed close to Regina, or rather close to his compass. He kept nervously, worriedly, glancing back at itas they headed further into the woods. He had willingly given over the compass and didn't think they'd want it for anything more than finding what they had apparently went to Neverland for, but he'd given the compass away once before. Without it, he found himself lost once again like he had been before the device came into his possession. He sailed without purpose and as much as he liked the sea, he needed more.
When he got the compass back, surprisingly not through theft for once, he felt right. He was in touch with what he wanted again. Of course, he'd already freed his precious Pearl from the bottle he'd found it in on some island in the Caribbean. After that, he didn't have anything to go after. It wasn't until he met up with the woman he'd given the compass to that he found something to fight for: her. He wasn't sure what he was doing at the time, he'd just acted. It wasn't until she bled out in his arms and returned his compass that he realized he finally didn't care solely for himself anymore. Though when he lost her, he lost the only person he cared for other than himself. So he was back to being a lonely, selfish pirate. Not even a man.
Putting the compass in another woman's hands didn't mean as much as it had the first time and he treasured the thing so he fidgeted with every second the compass spent in Regina's hand.
"How could they have gotten this far," Regina asked.
Snow stared at her former step-mother's back with much suspicion. She didn't know what she had noticed in the difference in Regina's behavior and what she saw in Emma's room earlier, but she felt a knot in the pit of her stomach that signified she wouldn't like it.
"Emma does have an ability to walk fast when she wants to," Charming supplied.
"And Hook left the group a few minutes before Emma," Snow added. "Maybe Emma went off to find him?"
Regina heard what they said and she knew Charming was right, but she definitely didn't like Snow's hypothesis. Every conversation she had with Rumple about Emma steered her closer to the truth about how she felt about everything, but the closer she got to that truth the greater her fear became.
The sun rested on the curve of the horizon. Soft oranges colored the sky masked by the surrounding area's trees. So when sunset turned into a rolling cloud of darkness, no one expected it and everyone looked up.
Regina was the first to gasp. She dropped the hand holding the compass to her side and tensed.
Snow clutched tighter to her bow and quiver, her mouth agape.
"You all are up against some strange things," Jack started. "I didn't agree to help you so I could fight that."
"I'm afraid he found us," Rumple spoke up as he stopped to stare at what circled them from above.
"And who exactly is he," Charming asked with a thick, strong voice also laced with a good amount of fear from uncertainty.
"As I've said before, someone we should all fear," Rumple answered as he unclenched and clenched his fist around the handle of his cane.
"That doesn't really answer the question now, does it," Regina rhetorically asked, but it sounded more like a statement.
The cloud of darkness came back again and swooped down. Glowing eyes blinked at Regina before the dark, transparent figure lunged at her.
Regina's eyes widened and her jaw dropped further in a silent gasp, too stunned to respond any other way.
The Shadow.
All of the group members from the Enchanted Forest knew the stories about Neverland, knew about the Shadow. And of course Hook, having come from Neverland, knew first hand about it.
Regina didn't know what it would do to her as it came for her, but she knew what it was capable of. Though she had magic and could defend herself, how did someone fight something that wasn't corporeal?
The Shadow reached out its hands and shoved Regina onto her back in the dirt.
Regina landed with an "oof" when the air shot out of her lungs. She tried to catch her breath, instantly winded from the harsh impact on the ground, and slowly pushed herself onto her elbows.
The Shadow took its time lowering itself toward her.
Snow and Charming wanted to help. The looks on their faces said as much, but they didn't know how.
The Shadow loomed over Regina and reached out again, that time slower and more deliberately.
Several twigs snapped loudly in rapid succession near by.
The Shadow blinked and pulled back an inch. It looked over its shoulder in search for something then flew away in a hurry.
Snow and Charming rushed over to Regina and each held out a hand to help her up.
Without thinking about it, she grabbed both their hands and allowed them to help her to her feet. When she stood, the three of them let go of each other and she brushed her hands over her leaf- and dirt-covered clothes.
"What just happened," Snow asked as she worriedly looked at Regina.
"I don't know," Regina honestly answered.
The three of them looked to Rumple who shrugged after he realized all eyes were on him.
"Don't look at me," he said. "I'm just as shocked as you. Although I will say, that's who we should all fear."
"Because we can't fight it," Regina asked.
"That's a good reason, but that, dearies, was-"
Before Rumple could finish his explanation, a loud and familiar voice called out from the distance.
"Get the hell away from my son!"
Yesterday
He had been able to open it, but even the slightest bit of nourishment from the coconut juice still didn't suffice. Though when the boys had taken an exceptionally long time to get back to Henry, it proved to be in his favor. They had surprisingly supplied him with a few scraps of food leftover from their earlier meal at "his" request. The infamous "he" the boys kept talking about seemed to show kindness, or at least what posed as sympathy.
It was dark at that time. The only thing that lit up the clearing were burning torches placed in the ground in a circular pattern around it.
The boys only came to check on Henry, which really meant they wanted to make sure he hadn't escaped. Apparently, whoever wanted Henry there didn't want to make his presence known just yet.
But according to a dark haired boy, the only reason "he" hadn't come by to see Henry was because he'd been preoccupied with several intruders.
"It must be those pesky people come to save you," the dark haired boy spat out the last word when he pointed to Henry. "He said he actually managed to trick them into stopping at this one place in the middle of nowhere."
The boys all smiled and started to laugh before the dark haired one continued.
"He set up this place, like a 'pit stop' or whatever, and when they stopped he was gonna attack, but then he saw Ursula's eels nearby and decided to let her take care of them for him.
"He said two of them went overboard and haven't come back yet. The others, unfortunately, are still out there."
Henry tried not to appear on the verge of tears. He felt a pang of worry and utter sadness like something was severely wrong. His heart beat faster at the news and he just knew something had happened to either Emma or Regina. But because the boy had said two people had gone overboard, it could have been both of his mothers in danger.
He wouldn't show it, but the boys around him seemed to want him broken and they got it. He feared his mothers wouldn't be able to save him. He knew they would try, he believed they would anything including work together to save him, but that didn't mean they would make it out of wherever they were alive.
Henry quickly learned in his time trapped in the cage that nothing was guaranteed. Regina could use magic and Emma could cause plenty of harm on her own, but what were they even up against? He thought he was going to lose them in the mines the day he'd been kidnapped. He hadn't lost them then, but he'd come damn close. Anything was possible and he was hungry. So hungry.
When the boys left him that night and his stomach loudly growled for sustenance, he wondered for the first time if his mothers did make it to him alive, would he still be alive?
Today
All of the Lost Boys stood with their eyes fixed on a caged Henry except for the one who considered himself the leader, a blond boy with a sinister smile and wicked gleam in his eyes.
Henry backed himself up to stand in the center of the cage. He wanted to keep himself away from the blond boy as he circled around the cage like a predator stalking its prey.
"What do you think, Felix," one of the other boys asked from the line up of teens a few feet away.
The boy who asked had short but scraggly black hair.
All the boys, including him, had dried dirt on their faces and on their hands. In fact, most of their bodies were covered in dirt as well as the rags they had for clothes.
Felix, the blond boy, pulled a worn drawing from one of his pockets and held it up to the cage bars for comparison. He glanced from the photo of a boy's head to the boy in the cage. He slowly grinned.
"We got him," Felix announced with his back to the other Boys, though he didn't yell.
The Boys behind him smiled.
"Finally," the black haired boy said with relief. "He'll be satisfied."
"Then we'll get what we came for," Greg asked as he approached from somewhere in the woods, Tamara at his side.
Felix's grin faded once he heard Greg's voice.
Henry turned to see his abductors make their way toward the Lost Boys.
"Only when he sees fit," Felix turned and answered Greg.
Henry swallowed hard before he mustered up enough courage to ask the question he'd wanted to ask since Greg and Tamara grabbed him in the mines.
"What does he want with me," Henry asked.
He stayed rooted in the center of the cage and tried to keep his breathing regulated.
Show no fear, he thought to himself.
Biologically, he came from royalty. Snow White and Prince Charming fought in the face of danger whenever it presented itself. Most of the time, the danger ended up being his other mother Regina.
Regina didn't entirely come from royalty herself, though her father was a prince. But Cora had made her a Queen and once she had that power, she refused to give it up. Henry wasn't entirely sure why since he figured his mother didn't want to turn into Cora – who would? – but she unwittingly had. With that came her magic training and inability to lose any battle, big or small. Even when faced with her own death, which had happened on more than one occasion, she always appeared strong.
Then there was Emma. She was the reason he was related to Snow and Charming, but Emma had plenty of power of her own. Though he didn't know much about her before he brought her to Storybrooke, he could see she'd been tough for a while and that toughness appeared unwavering.
Emma fought everything. He saw her as a hero because the book of fairy tales he swore by said she was the Savior. But also, the entire time he tried to convince her of that, he believed it more and more each day when she went behind Regina's back just to see him. He believed it more and more from the way she took everything head on. Even if she didn't seem willing to do something, she still did it anyway because she knew it would mean something later.
Henry came from courage and goodness and strength and damn it if he didn't combine the best parts of his grandparents and his two mothers in such a sticky situation.
Felix looked back at Henry and darkly chuckled.
"You'll provide him with great power."
"You still won't tell me who he is," Henry boldly said as he balled up his fists at his sides.
"You'll find out soon enough," Felix said. "He'll be here before you know it. He'll be thrilled to meet you."
Felix stared straight into Henry's eyes for a moment, a darkness and demented look in them as he did.
Henry felt threatened and scared, but he kept his features controlled much like Regina would. He couldn't deny the stare sent shivers down his spine, but he refused to let any of the people around him know that.
Once Felix felt as though he had sized up and intimidated Henry, he turned his back on him and faced the Lost Boys.
"Today is the day he praises us," Felix started to make a speech. "Now that we've got the kid in a cage, we'll be treated with a little more respect."
Felix went on, but after a few more sentences Henry tuned him out. He took in the boys' appearances and pieced together just who they were with the few words he'd heard Felix say to the others and the knowledge that he was in Neverland. Something clicked in his mind about the last four days and after a moment of realization, his eyes fell to the cage's latch. It was bound to the bars with a frayed rope.
The cogs in Henry's mind started to turn and a plan soon formed.
Henry looked over at Greg and Tamara and saw them busy staring at each other. They seemed to be having their own hushed conversation while occasionally acknowledging what the boys had to say in case it pertained to them. At least that's what the street smart, Emma Swan part of Henry's eleven year old brain had deduced.
All of the boys were focused on Felix while the blond paced back and forth giving some kind of victory speech.
Henry slowly stepped up to the front of the cage and looked left and right to keep his eyes on everyone. He wanted to make sure he hadn't attracted any attention and so far he hadn't. He carefully reached between the bamboo bars of his cage, the easiness of his escape something he wished he'd noticed sooner.
He slid his hand over the latch and made sure not to stare down at it. If he did, he was sure to focus too much on the latch and someone would figure out his plan. He gripped at the frayed rope and subtly tugged at it. After two or three tugs, he stopped with his fist still clenched around the scratchy material. He peered around and pretended to listen to Felix then glanced over at the oblivious Greg and Tamara.
His eyes flicked down to the latch for a fleeting moment, just long enough to evaluate how the latch was secured. When he looked up, he waited a second or two before he started to tug and pull at the rope again. After a few twists and pulls, he reached between the bars with his other hand and started to awkwardly attempt to untie the rope.
Felix pointed at Henry and Henry stealthily slid his hands back inside the cage to rest at his sides. He looked around at the group of boys then looked down at his feet like some sad, trapped puppy.
Greg stared at him for a short moment when Felix had directed the Lost Boys' attention to the kid. Tamara said something when Felix dropped his hand and continued to talk about the person they had yet to meet. That was when Greg turned his head and gave her his full attention.
Henry looked up in the direction of Greg and Tamara. Convinced the two were preoccupied with each other once again, he looked to the boys in front of the cage. Even Felix stood at a distance, closer to a small pond, if it was even a pond. To Henry, it looked more like a puddle, though he wasn't sure how deep the murky water went.
He carefully slipped his hands out again and worked through the knot of the rope. Within another minute, he'd successfully done more than loosen it. He pulled the rope into the cage with him before he let it fall to the ground. He may have only been eleven years old, but he tended to think like one or the other of the handful of adults he idolized. Not that it was the most important or prominent thing on his mind, but he hoped his mothers would be proud he'd managed to escape if he did in fact pull it off.
For some reason, though he was supposedly the focus of everyone's goals, none of them seemed to pay him any attention in that moment. Given the perfect opportunity, Henry swiftly flipped the latch upward and opened the cage door.
He had seconds, he knew, before someone would see him head into the woods. He also knew he had no idea where he would be going when he ran, but he had to get out of there. He had to find his mothers. He wouldn't settle for anything less than his family.
Without much more thought, Henry pushed open the cage door and disappeared in a flash.
"Hey, he's making a run for it," he heard Greg shout at the others.
Henry looked over his shoulder with wide eyes and watched as all of those he'd been surrounded by had started to chase after him.
Regina headed in the direction of Emma's yell, but the blonde didn't yell again. She couldn't hear anything more than panting and footfalls as Charming, Snow, Jack, and herself rushed toward where they assumed Emma was. Convinced they wouldn't find anyone that way, Regina looked down at the compass and followed the arrow.
Snow and Charming started to veer off to the right when the wind picked up and the distant sound of what imitated an angry mob grew from a dull whisper to an almost cacophonous roar.
"No," Regina called out to them.
Snow and Charming whipped their heads to acknowledge her, both of them obviously confused as they slowed down.
"This way," Regina pointed forward, a little more to the left than they had originally been running.
"I'm followin' her," Jack said and motioned toward Regina while he stepped closer to her. "The compass doesn't lie."
Snow sighed and looked to Charming. The two had a short, silent conversation all through a simple stare.
Rumple limped forward in the distance, but he didn't appear too concerned with catching up and just watched where he stepped.
It didn't matter what he did anyway. Yet again, no one could seem to remember he even existed and he couldn't have cared less. He'd already lost his son, the only reason he'd trained Regina and gave her the dark curse to cast. He waited more years that he could count to travel realms and get Baelfire back, but it was all for naught.
But then something suddenly clicked. Revenge had lead to his lust for power and there was revenge to be had for his son's death.
Rumple stopped dead in his tracks and listened closely to the sounds not made by his traveling companions. He listened to the riled up crowd off to one side and limped with a little more purpose toward them.
Snow and Charming took a step toward Regina together, in sync. They didn't know Jack Sparrow and they weren't sure they could completely trust Regina yet, but they did know that Emma said Regina had saved her from Ursula. They had to believe Regina had at least changed enough not to steer them wrong when it came to their family.
All three of them followed Regina as she hastened her pace and swatted away leaves and vines and all kinds of Neverland nature. Her intentions seemed clear enough: she wanted to find whatever stood on the other side of the woods.
Regina glanced up and down from the compass to all the island foliage in front of her with determination. She breathed more erratically the closer she felt to where the compass lead her. She couldn't explain why, but she hoped it meant she'd find what the compass told her she wanted.
In the not-so-far-off distance, the woman they'd heard before yelled out again.
"Henry!"
Instantly, Regina's eyes widened at the sound of panic in the woman's voice.
"Emma," Regina called out. "Henry?!"
"The compass," Jack said as he peered over her shoulder and pointed with both hands to the object.
Regina looked quizzically at Jack before she readjusted her focus to the compass again.
Just before Henry yelped, the pointer sharply turned to the left.
Regina didn't hesitate to vanish in a cloud of purple smoke.
"Whoa," Jack stumbled back a few steps in shock. "Where'd she go?"
Jack looked to Snow and Charming who seemed more than concerned with the recent chain of events, but when they heard Henry groan and make a few other sounds of discomfort, they sprinted forward.
When the purple smoke cleared, Regina looked around the uninhabited part of the island. There were only leaves and vines and dirt. She heard sounds of distress come from her right, from the place she had transported herself from.
Then, she heard a grunt behind her and snapped her head to face whatever had made the sound. She scanned the area at eye level before she heard a groan and shuffling of leaves then redirected her eyes to the ground.
Blonde hair filled her vision as Emma slowly pulled her slumped body away from a tree trunk. She reached behind herself and pressed a hand to the back of her head.
Regina swallowed hard and looked down at the compass. It pointed right at Emma.
"No," Regina softly breathed out before she looked over at the younger woman, baffled.
Emma scrunched up her face as she pulled her hand away from her head, oblivious to Regina's presence. When she opened her eyes and stared down at her hand, she saw blood.
"Damn," Emma grumbled.
"Emma! Regina!"
Snow yelled for both women between shooting arrows at the Lost Boys.
Charming slashed his sword at a Lost Boy himself. He glanced over at Henry after every swipe he took at a dark haired boy while a blond haired boy pulled Henry away from the fight.
Henry growled as he kicked and squirmed in the blond boy's arms, but he couldn't seem to free himself. He tried to shake back and forth in an attempt to do so, but just as Snow released an arrow his eyes widened in fear.
"Grandma, turn around!"
Emma's eyes shot wide open at the sound of Henry's warning. She scrambled to her feet and caught sight of Regina.
"What- Why aren't you with Henry," Emma asked with a raised voice, almost hysterical for the younger woman.
Regina looked from the direction of the battle to Emma. Immediately, she saw the anger in green eyes.
"Take me to him," Emma growled as she forcefully grabbed Regina's hand.
Regina felt something wet and sticky between their hands and looked down. She saw the blood, but when Emma rapidly jostled her arm around she looked into dark green eyes.
"He needs us! Help me get my son back or get out of the way."
Not even a second later, purple smoke surrounded them.
They reappeared in the middle of the battle. A bunch of Lost Boys against Charming.
Emma looked around, but she couldn't see her mother anywhere. She did, however, see Henry being dragged away and ran straight for him.
"Henry!"
Something dark passed by overhead and Regina looked up. She spotted the Shadow and followed its trajectory as it flew toward mother and son.
Regina dropped the compass and threw out her hands. She sent purple sparks at it and somehow, when the bolts of electricity hit it, the Shadow skidded to a stop in the air. It shook with the aftershocks of the charge that wrapped around it before the Shadow turned to face her.
The Shadow changed direction and flew straight at Regina. It swooped down in front of her and smacked its hand against her chest. A flash of purple appeared between them upon contact before Regina screamed.
Emma reached out for Henry and swatted away the blond kid's swinging arm.
"Henry, take my hand," Emma said in a frantic rush.
Henry moved to grab Emma's hand before he could see past her. Just as Regina screamed, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
Emma closed the distance between her and Henry in a couple steps and yanked him toward her by his forearm. She had heard the scream, but she couldn't lose Henry. Whatever had started to happen behind her, she knew Regina would have wanted her to keep her sight set on getting Henry back.
With her other hand, she swung a right hook and punched the blond teen in the face as she hugged Henry against her stomach and chest.
The blond boy shuffled back a few feet and touched his nose as blood began to trickle down his face. He gingerly pressed his fingertips to his cheekbone and winced at even the small amount of pressure.
Emma turned back toward Regina and Charming and closed a fist around the back of Henry's shirt collar. She helped him jog alongside herself as she hurried away from the blond teen, but quickly noticed the reason for Henry's earlier scared expression.
The Shadow had started some kind of extraction from Regina as something black, though partially transparent, rose out of the brunette's chest at the command of the Shadow's hand.
Emma didn't stop running. She pulled Henry along with her to her father's side.
"Where's Mom," Emma asked as she kept Henry in front of her and stood behind a sword wielding Charming.
"I don't know," Charming quickly said after he jabbed at one of the other Lost Boys. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Emma breathlessly said. "Watch your right."
Charming looked to his right and sure enough, another Lost Boy attempted to blindside him. He gave a backhanded swing and barely nicked the boy's torso.
Emma looked back over at the blond boy just in time to see him approach the group. She shook Henry's shoulder a few times.
"Come on," she said. "I need a weapon."
"But Grandma and Mom! We have to help them," Henry exclaimed as Emma rushed him away from Charming.
"I know, but I can't find your grandma."
"Mom!"
Emma immediately looked over at Regina before the brunette fell to her knees and whimpered.
"I have to get you out of here, Henry," Emma sternly said as she looked from Regina to her son.
"No. I'm not leaving her!"
Henry started to run toward Regina.
"Henry, no!"
The Shadow looked at Henry as it continued to pull the dark thing that looked somewhat similar to itself from Regina.
"Leave my mom alone," Henry yelled.
A second after Henry challenged the Shadow, it did just that. It closed its fist and flew up, leaving Regina behind, before it flew toward Henry.
Regina fell onto her stomach with a cry of pain as her own shadow slammed back into her body. She rolled over and looked back at Henry. She saw Emma run straight for him, but the Shadow seemed to fly faster than the blonde's feet could carry her. Regina struggled to stand, but did it with a large burst of pain in a few seconds.
"Henry," she cried out and reached toward him though they were more than a few feet apart.
Just as the Shadow angled itself downward to speed up its flight toward Henry, Emma lunged forward and tackled the boy to the ground in a protective hold. When they landed in the dirt and the Shadow reached out to grab them, a golden bubble shot out around them and sent the Shadow flying backward in the air.
Regina stared in astonishment at Emma as she held Henry close while they remained on the ground under the golden shield. She only broke her gaze when she heard a rustling in the trees and saw the Shadow bounce through the branches of a few of them before it flew up further and disappeared. She turned her attention back to Henry and Emma and moved toward them.
Emma propped herself on an elbow as she slowly started to sit up.
"Henry? You okay," she asked as she sat up completely and rolled him onto his back.
Henry groaned, his face contorted to express the pain he felt.
Emma immediately tensed at the sight and pressed a hand to his chest.
"Henry! What's wrong," she asked.
"I think my ribs landed on your arm," he grumbled as he rested a hand on his right side.
"Sorry. I'm sorry," she quickly apologized. "Are you gonna be okay?"
Henry swallowed and sighed before he nodded and blearily opened his eyes.
"Emma," Regina said as she stopped in front of the protective barrier the blonde still had in place. "You're safe."
Regina slowly brought her hand out to the wall of the shield and felt the magic.
Emma looked over at Regina and in that moment realized what she'd done.
"I protected us," Emma said more to herself, but stared right at Regina.
"Yes," Regina nodded. "But you have to take it down now. You're safe."
"Yeah, for now," Emma said and to Regina she sounded like a frightened child.
"What about Grandma and Gramps," Henry asked then pleaded. "They need help."
Emma looked from Henry to Charming as he continued to fight the Lost Boys by himself. Then she turned to see her mother start to stir and kick at Greg and Tamara as they dragged her toward the edge of the woods. She turned to Regina with worry in her eyes.
"How do I take it down," Emma asked.
"It's like letting your walls down. You just have to relax. You have to trust enough that you're safe."
Henry looked back and forth between his mothers. He opened his mouth to speak, but when he looked up at Regina he saw something in her eyes as she stared at Emma and only Emma. He had no idea what it was he saw, but it was enough to keep him silent.
After a few seconds, however, when Emma still hadn't done anything to lower the shield, he looked from Regina to Emma and barreled into his blonde mother's front. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed tight.
"I'm okay, Mom," he said into Emma's shoulder. "We can go home now. I'm okay."
Tears almost tumbled down Emma's cheeks at Henry's words. Instead, she smiled with watery eyes and wrapped both her arms around him to return the hug.
The shield came down and Emma kissed the top of his head.
Regina pitched forward and hugged them both before she too kissed the top of Henry's head.
"We have to go," Regina said as she started to pull away from the embrace.
"Right," Emma said as they all stood. "We have people to save."
A/N: Hopefully, I can get the next chapter fixed up and finished Saturday (today or tomorrow depending on where you live). Just a heads up, however, that the battle won't be finished until after the season premiere. Also, we're closing in on the final part of Neverland for this story, but I do intend to continue it past Neverland. Leave a review and see if you can guess what comes next. Or just leave a review and let me know what you think so far. :)