A/N: Another short one, but hopefully it had a lot more happening in it for all of you than the last chapter. WARNING: there's a line from 3x03 I used in this chapter so if you haven't seen the episode yet, spoiler alert.
Snow pushed past a few bushes and things and walked up to Charming as her husband mixed together a salve. She held out a handful of berries and added them to the bowl he used to mix the ingredients.
Hook came from the other direction with a near handful of other ingredients and gave them to Charming who added them into the mixing bowl. He watched Charming lift his left arm to take the ingredients and noticed no pain or other change in his demeanor. He withheld one of the ingredients and walked around Charming to stand on his other side. He nudged Charming's right shoulder and handed over the last ingredient.
Charming narrowed his eyes at Hook and suspiciously stared at him for a moment before he reached up to grab the ingredient. When he did, he cringed and almost stopped his hand mid-air to take a minute for reprieve. Instead, he only slowed his movement and pridefully pushed through the pain to yank the ingredient from Hook's only hand.
Thankfully for Charming, Snow hadn't caught the exchange. Unfortunately, the only reason she hadn't caught it was due to her shortness of breath as she sat down on the rock across from Charming. He hadn't realized her sudden silence until she was nearly doubled over and wheezing.
"Sno.! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Keep working," she breathlessly managed to say with a grimace.
Charming frowned with deep concern and continued to stare for a few minutes more. He didn't want to look away, he wanted to help her. He only looked down at the bowl used for the salve because he realized it was the key to saving her.
After what felt like an eternity, they had a salve to give the mermaid and called for her again with the sea shell. Hook grabbed the shell, but Charming quickly snatched it out of the pirate's hand when the other man sharply inhaled and readied himself to blow into the shell.
Hook puffed out a sigh to release the breath he'd sucked in while Charming blew into the shell and the three of the them waited for the mermaid to reappear.
She came sooner than the last time and her eyes were hopeful while she adorned a vile around her neck that she hadn't worn when they first called her.
"Do you have it," the mermaid asked.
"Yes," Charming said as he extended the salve to her.
The mermaid reached out for it, but Charming withdrew his hand and took a small step away from the water.
"What about the antidote," he asked.
The mermaid touched the vile that was tied around her neck like rustic jewelry. She nodded and took off the makeshift necklace.
"On three," Charming told her. "One, two...three."
They handed over the salve and the vile at the same time and snatched one away from the other.
"Thank you," the mermaid softly said.
"Thank you," Charming replied with a quick nod.
"Wait," the mermaid called out after she inspected the salve and Charming turned to give Snow the vile. "You need a tear from me. A mermaid's tear has rejuvenating properties. It's the secret ingredient to the antidote and the only way to get it to work."
Charming sighed and knelt down in front of the mermaid. He twisted off the top of the vile and held it out under the mermaid's eye.
"Good luck to you and your family," she said only slightly louder than a whisper.
The mermaid blinked out a single tear and it glittered on its descent into the vile. The second the tear added to the clear colored antidote, she swam away in a hurry and flipped her reddish-orange tail when she dove back into the sea with the bowl pressed to her stomach.
The tear and the liquid in the vile swirled into a cloudy white mixture. Charming stared at it, impressed, then turned to his wife and gave her the vile.
Snow nervously sighed and looked at Charming for a fleeting moment before she tipped back the vile and gulped down the antidote.
With the vile emptied after she swallowed the antidote, the ground shook and a yelp sounded only a short distance from them.
Charming and Snow stared at each other with wide, worried eyes. Snow immediately dropped the vile and the two of them instinctively held hands as they charged in the direction of the yelp.
"You can't have him," Rumple yelled at the demented boy who clearly ran the tragically managed island.
"Well, that's not for you to decide, is it," Pan grinned.
Then, as if on cue, the Shadow appeared and loomed overhead.
"No," Emma wildly yelled, more guttural and inhuman as the sound ripped its way out of her vocal chords and not for the first time since their arrival in Neverland.
"Henry," Regina called again, still unable to match Emma's angry shouts. She settled for an attempt at a more sane way of announcing their presence to their son.
"Mom!"
A flash of red hair disappeared in the water and the mermaid flicked her tail before she submerged herself entirely. Then an echoed and somewhat watery, muddled jingle sounded and left Rumple, Henry, Emma, Regina, and Tinkerbell confused and speechless.
Pan laughed and confidently stood before the group with the Lost Boys spread out behind him.
"When I want something, I get it," Pan said. "And I want Henry."
Henry wiggled his way out of Rumple's hold while the imp focused all his bitter attention on Peter Pan. He ran straight toward Regina and his brunette mother hurried to meet him halfway.
Pan's shadow zoomed out overhead and went straight for Regina and Henry.
Emma's eyes widened and without a second though, she threw out her hands. At the same time, Tinkerbell pulled pixie dust out of nowhere and blew it in Regina and Henry's direction. A golden bubble formed around mother and son followed by a second wall of glimmering green.
The Shadow connected with the magical shield and bounced off it. It flickered like a flashlight running out of batteries and tried one more time to break through the barrier.
Regina held onto Henry and looked up to see the Shadow charge at them, but the contrast of the Shadow soon faded into a lighter transparency.
"No," Pan angrily yelled then glared at Tinkerbell. "You. I should have gotten rid of you a long time ago."
Tinkerbell smirked then stuck her tongue out at him.
Emma looked over at Tinkerbell – who, at that point, stood beside her – in shock.
Regina turned and stared back at the two blonde's whose magic currently protected her and Henry and she couldn't mask the amazement as well as the disbelief on her face. She clung tighter to Henry and pressed him almost suffocatingly against her chest as she continued to stare at Emma and Tinkerbell.
"Boys," Pan called out to the Lost Boys.
All of the Lost Boys pulled out their weapons and waited for Pan's next action. When their leader motioned toward the fairy, the Boys all rushed toward her. Some fired off arrows with the tips dipped in Dreamshade while the others kept their swords at the ready.
Always the protector, Emma bit back her disdain for the other blonde and unsheathed Neal's sword to fend off the oncoming attack.
Tinkerbell touched Emma's shoulder as the other woman stood slightly in front of her then blew a little more pixie dust in front of them. Arrows halted against the sparkling dust and fell to the ground a few feet in front of Emma.
Charming, Snow, and Hook appeared out of the brush behind Emma and Tinkerbell. Immediately, Charming pulled his sword out and held it up at the ready. He squeezed Emma's shoulder, the one Tinkerbell hadn't occupied with her hand, and bravely stood in front of his daughter.
Hook came to stand by Snow, who always found her place beside Charming, and the entire group that had traveled to Neverland stood strong before Pan and his damaged Lost Boys with the added help of Tinkerbell.
Rumple drank in the sight before his features straightened out to a fatally determined expression. He was ready to fight and he seemed to know just how to do that if his steely gaze was anything to go by.
"You'll never win, Pan," Rumple spat.
"I highly doubt that," the boy cockily replied.
One of the Lost Boys turned his attention away from Tinkerbell and shot an arrow at Rumpelstiltskin.
Rumple held out his hand and waved it from left to right with a sinister grin spread across his face. He giggled like the Dark One and not at all like Mr. Gold when the arrow intended to hit him had slid away and crashed into the ground.
"The boy is definitely my undoing," Rumple almost smugly said. "But it's not at all a bad undoing."
Pan quizzically looked over Rumple and his expression showed his attempts to decipher what exactly the Dark One meant by that statement.
Emma, Tinkerbell, Charming, Snow, and, after a short moment, Hook, slowly closed the distance between themselves and Regina and Henry.
Both Regina and Henry still remained under Emma and Tinkerbell's magical protection and watched as the entire group came to stand near them, around them, with fiery and heroic expressions.
"We stand together," Charming boldly said and projected his voice to ensure everyone heard him.
Emma slyly, proudly, grinned at that and tightened her grip around the hilt of her borrowed sword.
"Then you'll die together," Pan said before he raised his arms out at his sides.
The Lost Boys lunged at the group in its entirety.
"Emma," Regina quickly called out through the barrier. "Let us out."
"I can't risk either of you being hit by those arrows," Emma said as she glanced between the approaching Lost Boys and Regina.
"We'll be okay," Regina insisted. "We have magic. Our magic. I bet you and I combined...are strong enough to overpower Pan."
Emma glanced back at the Lost Boys then to Pan before she worriedly settled her gaze on Regina again.
Regina, as well as anyone else that paid attention, saw the fear in Emma's eyes.
Emma looked down at Henry and faintly smiled at him similarly to the way she had smiled at Regina when the brunette had helped her and Mary Margaret out of the well in Storybrooke.
The barrier fell away and Henry lunged at Emma. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her. Emma quickly patted his back then pushed him to stand at her side.
Henry refused to let go even as Regina stepped up to stand beside Emma. He gripped the back of Emma's shirt as well as the back of Regina's purple jacket and stood between his two mothers.
Regina and Emma instinctively joined hands, their clasped hands at their sides in front of Henry.
"Know what you want," Regina quickly tried to teach Emma more about magic to help them. "Know it and then want it more than anything. Feel what drives your magic and will yourself to protect whoever or whatever it is. Channel it outward. Feel your magic like you feel everything else."
Arrows came at them and suddenly, Regina and Emma held out their free hands. Each of them deflected the arrows before Regina threw a few fireballs at the Lost Boys.
Rumple limped toward the family and used magic to protect himself on his way over to Emma, Regina, and Henry. He reached Henry just as a Lost Boy tried to attack the three of them from behind and made the boy's bow and arrow disappear. The weapon reappeared in Rumple's possession and he fired off a poisoned arrow at the Lost Boy. It hit the boy straight in the heart and the boy fell to his death.
Rumpelstiltskin spun around to face Pan and the rest of the Lost Boys and shot a second arrow at a high point in one of the trees. He hit one of Pan's traps, traps meant for those that didn't belong on his island like himself and Charming and Snow and Regina, and unleashed it on Pan and the boys.
Three Lost Boys were swept up in a huge net and hoisted in the air. Pan looked over his shoulder and witnessed the boys' capture. He growled and shot an infuriated glare at Rumple who wildly grinned at him in response.
Pan walked down the island hill he had stood on and made his way toward Rumple, Regina, Emma, and Henry with malicious intent expressed on his face.
Hook fought off one Lost Boy while Tinkerbell showed off her perfected defensive fighting skills against another Lost Boys.
Tinkerbell kicked the boy in the shin, punched him a few times – not expertly, but well enough to hurt him – and gained the upper hand in no time.
Charming slashed his sword at every Lost Boy that dared approach him while Snow aimed and shot arrows at the boys that had their own arrows, though theirs were poisoned.
Regina and Emma focused all their attention on Pan while the others worked to keep the Lost Boys away from them. Henry's eyes widened at the sight of the boy who hadn't looked much older than himself walk right toward them.
Splashes in the water didn't distract a single one of the large group, though there was activity at the shore. Mermaids leaped out of the water and threw starfish at various Lost Boys.
Swords clanged and scraped together in an ultimate battle for survival while arrows sliced through the air across a decent sized expanse of the island.
Pan pulled a small sword, one more like Neal's in size than Charming's, from his belt and wielded it much like one would handle a wand. Wisps of green magic collected in the reflective blade before he cut through the air as though he were fighting against an invisible object.
A strike of green shot out of the blade like a whip and nicked both Emma's shirt and part of Regina's jacket in one swift movement.
Rumple reached down and pulled his dagger out of his boot. He held it up to the sky and willed all of his power into the dagger. Red magic shot down like lightning and jolted into the dagger. It shook Rumple from head to toe as the dagger absorbed every bit of magic he could conjure. After a moment or two, the magic had been retained and the dagger glowed red before it returned to its normal silver and black etching.
Pan tried to attack with his sword again, but Rumple lashed out with his dagger and a burst of red energy hit Pan in the chest like a strong, solid punch. It forced Pan to stagger a few steps backward and he lowered his sword in a moment of weakness with his eyes cast down on the ground.
Henry immediately grabbed both Emma and Regina's wrists and squeezed.
Regina and Emma simultaneously gasped at the surprising contact. A white light emanated from their wrists where Henry's hands wrapped around their skin and neither one of them could deny the surge of power they felt. It was power that didn't come from either one of them and caused them both to look down at Henry, stunned.
Henry looked up at them, wide eyed only out of confusion and not shock. He hadn't seemed to feel what Emma and Regina had.
"What is that," Emma breathlessly asked as she kept her eyes on Henry.
Regina gulped as she looked at Henry then up at Emma.
"The heart of the truest believer," Regina answered just as breathlessly.
"Moms, look out," Henry yelled as he looked at Pan.
Pan moved his sword to strike them again, but both Regina and Emma's attention snapped from their little moment to boy who threatened their son.
Regina and Emma projected not only their own magic outward, but also whatever Henry had just given them. They blasted Pan back with purple and blue sparks and the boy flew across the island.
The ground shook again, like it had before Emma and Regina heard the yelp that brought them to Henry, and everyone looked to see Pan hit the ground hard.
"Whoa," Emma exclaimed. "Was that...?"
"Henry? It might have been," Regina replied, still a little shocked.
"Wait, I have magic," Henry asked.
"That is something we can discuss later," Rumple said as he got their attention, all three of them. "For now, focus on stopping Pan."
"And how do we do that," Emma asked, skeptical of their abilities, combined or not.
"Whatever you did to stop the trigger," Rumple started. "Do it again."
Regina and Emma looked at each other for a moment before both of them came to a silent agreement. They looked around and saw some struggling, starfish covered Lost Boys along with their fighting family and acquaintances when, seconds later, a red charge burst against every Lost Boy and trapped them against several different trees in the area. Both women looked to Rumple behind them and saw him grit his teeth from his exertion.
"The time is now, dearies."
Charming, Hook, Snow, and Tinkerbell all stopped fighting the instant the Lost Boys flew away from them and writhed beneath electric red bonds against the surrounding trees. They stared in shock and awe at Emma, Regina, Henry, and Rumple as the four of them stood out among the rest of them.
Again, Emma and Regina felt their magic course through them, but that time was different. Different not only because of Henry, but because of how they projected their magic together. A white glow continued to faintly light the place where Henry held on to both of his mothers while blue and purple sparks of magical electricity sizzled and crackled around Emma and Regina's joined hands.
Henry looked at the colors that bonded Emma and Regina together with wide eyes and a slack jaw, mouth agape. Though he always believed in magic, he felt that belief stronger than ever when he saw Emma and Regina create it together. It was something unlike anything he'd seen or read before and he knew in his heart, in his soul, and in his mind that they were a force greater than anyone could have predicted.
Regina and Emma gasped again at the feel of their combined magic before their eyes slipped closed and their bodies glowed with the color of their magic like two auras on display. Regina glowed purple and Emma glowed blue and a comforting warmth internally swept over and engulfed both of them.
Even the mermaids stayed to watch their magic work, the small band of five or ten mermaids and mermen n the water with amazed expressions on their faces.
Regina stood with her lips parted just before she started to gently convulse with the force of their magic, like she had when they were in the mines the day they stopped the trigger and saved the town.
Emma's breath hitched again and felt magic crackle at her fingertips like static shock and jolted once as a wave of Regina's magic melted into her bloodstream and swam through her veins.
Both women slowly opened their eyes as a thick, purple smoke flooded the ground around their feet and pulsed forward like a slowly rolling fog. When their eyes opened, Charming and Snow gasped. Tinkerbell's jaw dropped to the ground and Hook's eyes widened due to a few conflicting emotions. All were stunned into further silence in different ways, but they'd all seen the same thing.
Regina's irises glowed and sparked purple while Emma's glowed and sparked gold.
One long, baited second later, a white light burst out of them and shook the entire island as it knocked everyone to the ground.
Emma and Regina let go during the magical blast and flew several feet away from each other in opposite directions.
Henry fell backward and collided with Rumple who embraced him as they fell together to the ground.
Charming landed in a heap on top of Snow and Tinkerbell was thrown against a tree before she hit the ground face first. Hook impacted the ground with his ass before he slid a few feet through the dirt on his back and rolled onto his stomach due to the strength behind the sudden burst.
The Lost Boys that once were restrained against the trees had been released and then fell to the ground after the white light had flashed.
Already on the ground, Pan convulsed like a person being struck with defibrillator paddles to restart their heart when his faint Shadow burst into a dissipating puff of smoke like after a candle was blown out. The smoke rolled over him before some of it seeped back into his body, but he still remained stiff on the ground with his eyes closed even a minute later.
Everyone slowly worked out the kinks their violent falls to the ground gave them as they all clambered onto their feet. Charming was the first to get up and painfully helped Snow up next. Tinkerbell stood next and rubbed the back of her head after her rough collision with the tree.
Henry rolled off Rumple and pushed himself onto his feet after her. He turned back to look down at Rumple and helped the man sit up up as best he could. Once he sat up, Rumple let go of Henry's hand and slowly pushed himself off the ground. He stood up and stumbled a bit before he placed a hand on Henry's shoulder to brace himself. Henry used his strength to keep Rumple upright and succeeded with only a few staggering footsteps from the added weight of his grandfather.
After Rumple let go of Henry, once he could stand on his own, Henry looked around at everyone. The only ones that made it out of the blast were those who came to protect him, the mermaids and mermen included.
Ariel and her sister smiled as they saw the group on their feet then nodded at their own group. The band of mermaids and mermen swam away together, satisfied with the outcome.
Henry smiled as he panted, his breath shallow from the force of Emma and Regina's magic plus whatever he did to help them. Then, as he looked around again, his smile turned into a frown. Out of the group, his mothers were only ones to not get up. He looked from side to side in search of them and saw Regina first.
"Mom!"
Henry worriedly ran over to her as she laid on the ground to his left, closer to the water. He knelt down beside her and shook her back and forth with a hand pressed to her shoulder.
She groaned and slowly stirred. Her eyes fluttered open and she lolled her head to the side to acknowledge Henry's presence.
"Henry," she hazily greeted him with a tired smile.
Regina reached out and brushed a hand through Henry's hair.
Henry widely and warmly smiled down at Regina.
"You're okay," he happily said.
"Yes, I am."
Charming, Snow, and Tinkerbell rushed over to Regina and Henry. Rumple, on the other hand, limped in the opposite direction while Hook groaned and finally got up much later than the others.
Snow got behind Regina and lifted her into a sitting position then Charming grabbed Regina's forearms and pulled her onto her feet.
Regina stumbled into Charming and even though he fought off his own pain, he held onto Regina and kept her standing.
Regina leaned into Charming's embrace until she slowly blinked away the fogginess in her head. After a moment, she regained enough strength to gently push away from Charming and stand on her own.
"Thank you," she quietly said before Henry jumped at her.
Henry wrapped his arms tightly around her waist like he had earlier with Emma.
Regina grunted when Henry rushed into her stomach and chest, but slowly wrapped her arms around him and returned the hug.
"That was awesome," Henry said.
Regina smiled and tears welled up in her eyes. She didn't fight those tears for two reasons. One, she was still weak from the magic overload and two, she would never hide her love for Henry. Having him back and safe deserved tears of joy. She dipped her head and planted a kiss on the top of Henry's head as she held him against herself. She squeezed her eyes shut when she kissed him and a tear slipped down her cheek and into his hair. She brushed her fingers through the hair on the back of his head as she opened her eyes and looked up.
Her tears over joy stopped when her face slowly fell at the sight of Rumple across from them at a distance. He stood, bent at the waist, with his attention trained on a limp form with blonde hair. She gasped and immediately tensed.
Henry felt the change in Regina's demeanor and pulled away from her enough to look up at her. When he saw her face, he squirmed in her arms as her grip on him loosened and he turned to face what had Regina's attention. Within a few seconds, he saw Emma on the ground near Rumple and both of them ran toward her without a second thought.
"Mom," Henry shrieked as he ran twice as fast as Regina to reach Emma.
Everyone quickly noticed what made Henry and Regina run toward Rumple and Charming and Snow didn't hesitate to follow their lead and run toward their daughter.
"Emma," Snow called out in a broken voice as she fought back tears brought on by her overwhelming concern.
Henry collapsed beside Emma and tried to shake her awake like he had done to Regina.
Regina sank to her knees on the other side of Emma with Rumple hovering above her as he continued to look over the blonde. Rumple wasn't her concern however. Emma was.
"Mom! Wake up! Please, wake up," Henry begged on the verge of tears. "Emma?"
Regina stroked a hand through Emma's hair and hoped Henry's attempts would wake the younger woman. A short time later, Emma still hadn't gotten up. Out of genuine care for the woman she'd fought alongside with to get their son back, she pressed a hand to Emma's chest. There was a faint heartbeat and she sighed with relief.
"Is she alive," Charming quickly asked when he saw Regina sigh as a small smile lazily appeared on her face.
"Yes," Regina replied. "Barely."
"Then why are you smiling," Snow angrily asked.
"Because I can fix it," Regina said as she looked up at Emma's concerned parents.
"How," Charming growled his disbelief.
Regina readjusted herself on the ground beside Emma and looked away from Charming. She didn't respond to him and instead focused on Emma. She cradled the other woman's head in her lap and pressed her hand more firmly against Emma's chest. She took a deep breath and as she slowly released it, her magic visibly flowed from her own chest down her right arm, through her hand, and into Emma. It was a faint purple, almost pink, flow of thin and wispy smoke that glowed when more of it went into Emma's chest.
A moment later, Regina pushed down on Emma's chest like a compression performed during CPR, but she only did it once. A burst of magic rippled into Emma and the blonde gasped as she blinked open her eyes a few times.
Emma panted as she stared at everything with wide eyes then looked up to see Regina directly above her.
"Welcome back," Regina smiled.
Emma curled her lips into a goofy smile.
"Thanks," Emma breathed out.
As they both stared at each other, lost in a moment together, they played the same memory through their heads at the familiarity of their words.
Emma hadn't been able to catch her breath since she'd pulled herself out of the well after Regina had stopped the green glowing "death curse" from blocking her and Mary Margaret's return to Storybrooke.
"Your mom...she's a...piece of work, you know," Emma asked as she held on to Henry who clung to her side.
"Indeed I do," Regina responded as she heavily leaned against the tree behind her. "Welcome back."
"Thanks," Emma breathed out with a smile before she dropped her head onto Henry's, her cheek pressed to the boy's hair.
"Well, now that Pan's defeated," Hook said after a moment as he joined the group. "We should figure out a way back to Storybrooke."
"Agreed," Charming said.
Emma grunted and all eyes were on her again.
Henry had thrown himself on top of Emma who still sat propped up in Regina's lap. Henry wrapped an arm around Regina's lower back and held both of his mothers at the same time.
Regina rested a hand on Henry's back with a smile.
Emma groaned under Henry's weight, but chuckled at the family moment she'd never been able to have before Henry had dragged her back to Storybrooke with him. As she chuckled, she gently slapped a hand down on Henry's back and started to rub. She closed her eyes as her laughter subsided and she chose to focus on the goose bump inducing sensation of Regina's hand running through her hair.
Tinkerbell blinked several times as she stared down at Regina, Henry, and Emma. She took a moment to process the affectionate family embrace the three of them shared before she cleared her throat and redirected everyone's attention to herself.
"I might be able to help you open a portal," Tinkerbell told the group before her eyes fell to Regina again.
Emma opened her eyes and looked up at Tinkerbell at the same time as Regina.
"You'd be willing to help us after all," Regina incredulously asked, surprised.
"You got rid of Pan like I asked. I don't see why not. And it's not like I didn't help you before. Look who's back."
Tinkerbell gave Henry a friendly smile when the boy turned to look up at her.
Henry smiled back.
"Why don't you come with us," Snow quickly suggested.
Tinkerbell furrowed her brow and turned to Snow.
"Back to Storybrooke," Snow added to clarify.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Tinkerbell said before she looked down at Regina.
"There's plenty of room in town," Regina casually said after a moment. "If you want to leave Neverland, I won't keep you from finding a home in Storybrooke."
"You say that and it only makes me think you'll tolerate me being around, but you won't really welcome me," Tinkerbell explained.
"There may be some issues we need to work through," Regina said as she felt Henry give Emma space to move and the blonde tried to sit up. "But I think we can. If you want to try being friends, I'd be willing to give it a shot in Storybrooke."
Regina gently pushed Emma up into a sitting position before Snow came over and pulled her daughter to her feet.
Emma smiled at Snow and Snow returned the smile with one equally as bright and warming.
Tinkerbell considered the group as she looked around at all of them. Her eyes settled on Regina before she answered.
"Okay," Tinkerbell said. "Maybe this is my second chance."
Snow smiled at Tinkerbell as she kept Emma in a half-hug pressed against her side.
"A second chance at happiness," Snow asked.
Tinkerbell nodded.
"It's been a long time since I've even smiled," Tinkerbell confessed.
"Alright," Emma lightly said as she blew out a heavy sigh and regulated her breathing. "Let's go home."
Charming proudly grinned at Emma for her words while Snow squeezed Emma and rubbed her arm with a smile before she let go.
"Where do we make the portal," Hook asked as he picked at one of his nails with the point of his hook.
"Here. The water," Regina answered. "I think I can direct us to one of my mirrors in Storybrooke."
"And I can use the last bit of my pixie dust to open the portal," Tinkerbell said.
"We're going home," Henry fondly said after a moment as he looked out at the sea.
Regina and Emma looked down at him as the group headed toward the shore. They smiled at him as he walked between them toward the water and each of them set a hand on his shoulder.
"Home," Emma warmly and smoothly said like hot chocolate on a cold winter day.
They all stopped at the shoreline and Tinkerbell and Regina stepped in front of everyone else. Regina hesitated before she waved her hand over the water and recreated the image of one of her floor length mirrors that she kept in her family mausoleum. The water rippled with a picture of the inside of the mausoleum and she grinned.
Tinkerbell dug into the pocket of her short, green dress and produced a small amount of pixie dust. She sprinkled it over the water's surface and the image of the mausoleum shimmered with silver and gold speckles created by the enchanted dust. She stepped back and took one of Regina's hands in hers then looked over at Regina with a smile.
Regina smiled back before she took one of Henry's hands in hers and he grabbed Emma's hand.
Emma took Snow's hand and Snow took Charming's hand while Charming reluctantly held out his hand for Hook.
Hook smirked at Charming's discomfort then looked at the remaining member of the group.
Rumple.
He glared at the man and his anger was returned with equal force. Begrudgingly, they moved closer to each other and Rumple gripped Hook's forearm a couple of inches above the pirate's hook.
A few of them took deep breaths before they all started to take one step after the other into the water.
When the water reached most of their shoulders, Tinkerbell looked at Regina one last time. She admired the woman's hair and remembered how it used to look when it was long. She openly gazed at Regina's dark and alluring eyes that in that moment were filled with happiness. Several thoughts of Regina flashed through her mind before the group submerged themselves in the sea. A ring of white blasted out from the water when everyone's heads had dunked under the water and the shimmering stopped just as the image of the mausoleum disappeared.
Before anyone knew it, the group felt the blast and lurched forward through the other side of the portal.
A rush of water pushed through a grand mirror and flooded hard, marble floors. Tinkerbell surfed through the mirror in a wave of water first followed by Regina and so on. They surged through the portal in a line, but as soon as each of them passed through the mirror they let go of the person in front of them.
They all tumbled out of the mirror and landed in a tangle of limbs on the floor while the water came through the mirror behind them like a strong waterfall.
Everyone coughed and tried to squirm and crawl away from each other. Emma and Regina gravitated toward Henry while Charming and Snow found each other and tried to get to Emma. The five of them eventually ended up together with Tinkerbell nearby on one side of the room.
Regina quickly waved her hand in the mirror's direction when she counted heads and knew that everyone had come through the portal. Her magic sealed the portal and the roughly flowing water stopped as reflective glass solidified in the mirror's frame.
They all wiped the water out of their eyes enough for them to take in their surroundings.
Regina frowned at the strangely familiar yet long since thought about feeling of the marble beneath her and looked down at the pattern on the floor. Her eyes widened when she recognized the cracked marble.
"Damn," Regina said.
"What? What is it," Emma asked as she sat, confused, with Henry in between them.
Snow and Charming followed Regina's eye line and inspected the floor. It took them a few seconds before they reached the same conclusion.
"How did this happen," Snow asked.
Regina shook her head.
"What happened," Henry curiously asked.
Snow and Charming looked up at Regina. With his eyes focused solely on Regina, Charming answered Henry.
"We're back in the Enchanted Forest."
Note: I'm not sure that was as big and amazing as I had originally wanted it to be, but you can let me know in a review. Happy Once Day/Sunday, by the way! Also, thank you so much for your continued support through reading, reviewing, adding this to your favorites, and for following. I really appreciate it and love everyone's feedback. :)