DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ONCE

so, I know, it's been a while. Last we talked, the biggest thing on my mind was to start dating again, but now I could care less. Since then, I've lost my best friend, my cat, who I have had since I was four, so writing became a challenge when every other scene I was killing off characters. This chapter I had written throughout the various stages of loss, so if you don't feel something during one of the scenes, I'm not sure if you're human.

As always, please review, if not for me, for Bear, who this chapter is dedicated to

Enjoy. Don't take life for granted. Hold on to the ones you love. Life passes you by in the blink of an eye, don't waste it.

Chapter 60 – Melting Point

Morgan's POV

"I know you're awake." I tell Pan when my dad leaves. I've been waiting a long time to ask him what the hell is going on and I was not wasting another second when I knew for a fact that he was just faking being asleep because…okay, I don't know why he was faking, but I was going to find out why he's been so secretive.

"You know me well, Princess." Pan replies, sitting up and looking at me with that smirk that I just can't resist, but I remind myself that I'm mad at him, forcing myself to scowl at the only guy I've ever truly cared about. Okay, this is harder than I thought it would be. I mean, how the hell am I supposed to stay mad at someone that is incredibly hot and has been there for me when I had given up the thought about anyone actually giving a damn about me? But at the same time, I know I don't want to continue being with someone that goes from being completely head over heels for me to a secretive asshole in the blink of an eye. I'm not the same girl that I was a year ago, things have changed, and I'm starting to actually understand that romance is more than just having a pretty face, it's about what lies underneath. While Pan and I certainly have history together, let alone the first guy that has ever broken down some of my walls, I'm starting to wonder whether or not he's worth it.

"You're lucky that I'm in pain cause if I weren't I would have murdered you already. Seriously, you couldn't even pick up a damn phone call or answer a fucking text?! And don't even try to give me that excuse of how you're still learning how things from this world word cause I know you know how to work a phone since you practically begged me to teach you, and that's three hours of my life that I'll never get back." Pan just looks at me, like he was trying to figure out how to respond. "I'm sorry, do you need a minute to come up with a plausible lie? I don't know why, but for some reason I thought that you'd have an entire novel of excuses given that you've iced me out for three weeks."

"I know that you're angry, but just hear me out."

"So what? You can tell me some piece of crap excuse of why you couldn't be bothered to talk to me for weeks?! I thought we were a team, I thought I was the one person that you'd always tell the truth to, but instead you ignored me. Do you have any idea how alone I felt? Do you have any idea how it felt to be completely alone? You promised that I'd never have to be alone again; you broke your promise." Pan moves next to my bed, he tries to grab take my hand in his, but I pull away. Just because he showed up when I got hurt, didn't mean that I would run to him as if he hadn't been a complete asshole.

"I was trying to protect you from Ingrid. I want to keep you safe. I mean, look what she did to you. I know I should've told you what I was doing, but I didn't want to put you in even more danger, guess I pissed you off all for nothing."

"Ingrid isn't our only problem anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say some of your former Lost Boys aren't exactly pleased that you chose me over power, and they'll do anything to finish what you started. Maybe you should've chosen infinite power over me. At least then I'd be dead and wouldn't have to deal with you and all your damage on a daily basis." Pan's expression changes from concerned to vengeful, the dark and twisted look that I was once accustomed to during my time on Neverland with him, in a matter of seconds.

"Rufio. I'm gonna kill him. Don't worry, Princess, he's not getting away with this. I don't care how many joined him, I'll kill them all!" I grab Pan's hand before he can storm off in a blind, bloodthirsty rage. "What? Rufio's my mistake, and I need to stop him before my past mistakes cause me to lose you. You know that he's not gonna stop until you're dead, right?"

"Ingrid first, then your psychotic former Lost Boys. We won't live long enough to defeat Rufio if we ignore Ingrid. She wants something from me, and since everyone who has ever shown an interest in me has tried to kill me, I'd like to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Does this mean you forgive me?"

"This means I don't wanna die. I'm still majorly pissed at you and I will make you pay." A playful smirk comes onto his lips, which usually meant he had an idea or he was thinking about gruesome ways to kill people that he absolutely loathed, like Hook.

"You can't stay mad at this face forever."

"Watch me."

"If you're mad, love, then why are you still holding my hand?" I wrench my hand free and glare at Pan with as much anger as I can muster. "It's okay to find me irresistible. I mean, look at me, Princess. Try finding someone more devilishly handsome than me."

"Right now, the only thing I can't resist is punching you in the face."

"Oh really? Even if I do this?" He lightly kisses me on the lips before I can even think of reacting; I want to say that his kiss changed nothing, but he's such a good kisser and I wanted to pull him close, never letting him go; I end up frozen, not reacting even a bit as he tries to get some sort of reaction from me. "Still want to punch me, love?"

Emma's POV

I drag Morgan along with me, not willing to leave the teenager alone after the mysterious attack on her and Henry. Like always, they were being oddly secretive for some reason, but with Ingrid still out there, I didn't have the time to interrogate them into telling me what really happened. When this is all over, I sure as hell will get some answers from, and something tells me we're about to have another mess on our hands.

"You do realize that I'm sixteen, not six, right? And can you seriously slow down, I'm pretty sure I'm tasting my gut right now." Morgan complains; I let go of her wrist, allowing her to catch her breath as she itches the bandage around her torso.

"I don't think you're supposed to touch that. You could open the wound, again."

"I still don't get why you wouldn't let me use my magic so that I wouldn't feel the constant pain coursing through my body. I mean, what's the point of having magic if I can never use it for personal benefit?"

"Gold told me that you were struggling with basic magic; if you tried, you might make it worse than it already is. The last thing we need right now is for your impatience to cause you to make things spiral out of control while experimenting with powers you have yet to control. I get that it sucks being in pain, but you'll just have to deal with it. Besides, Whale said it should heal by itself in a couple of weeks."

"What's the point of even having magic if you people never let me use it? Honestly, what's the worst that could even happen? Come on, Emma, you're not seriously gonna make me be in agonizing pain for two weeks, are you? I know that you don't exactly have the best maternal instincts, but I figured even you wouldn't be able to stand your own flesh and blood being in obvious pain."

"Just be happy that you're allowed to walk after getting stabbed. You got lucky, kid, but it could've been a lot worse. I thought the two of you were smarter than to let something like this happen after everything you've been through, and yet you got stabbed and Henry has a fractured wrist. I go M.I.A. for one day and you two manage to put yourselves in as much trouble as possible. I'd like to see you live long enough to get your license."

"Is this another ploy to discretely interrogate me? I already told you that I got stabbed by someone before passing out. I guess Henry somehow managed to fight him off while I was out, and long story short, we're both alive. Can't we just move on and try to pretend that our lives are at least semi-normal for half a second? Or at least let me walk down Main Street alone like most sixteen year olds?" Morgan was good, I'll give her that, but I knew that she and Henry weren't being completely honest; there was something that they were trying to keep hidden, but why?

"I know that I don't have much experience being your mother, but you can tell me if something's wrong, I want to help."

"Not everyone in this town is a hero, Emma. Just because I got hurt doesn't mean there's a new, evil, magical villain that wants to destroy the world behind it. Sometimes you get hurt, but that's life. You're seriously overreacting about it. Here's an idea; instead of obsessing about everything concerning me, you should let me take care of myself, like I always have, while you play the part of the protagonist of a predictable tv show where the main character has to decide which of the two guys she wants to be with. Seriously, get your life in order before you try to interfere with mine."

"You are definitely Neal's daughter."

Morgan's POV

I know right now is probably the worst time to be alone after Rufio and his goons kidnapped me last time I was by myself, but the moment I noticed Emma was distracted, I quickly give her the slip. It wasn't even because I needed some alone time from my crazy family…okay, maybe a little…the real reason was that I had to figure out what the hell I was gonna do about Ingrid, how I was gonna kill her. My family, with the exception of Mr. Gold, are heroes and would never kill her, even though she deserves it, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to survive, and not even they can stop me.

"Oy! Don't you know it's not safe to be out here by yourself?" A teenager with mesmerizing honey brown eyes, that seem to sparkle in the sun, asks me. I look up at him, and a wave of déjà vu comes over me, but I disregard it as he could just have one of those faces. You know, the kind of face that makes you stop and think about where you've seen them before, only to finally conclude that they're a complete stranger that visits your dreams every night. Besides, what does it matter if I've seen him before? Storybrooke's a small town, you end up meeting everyone and anything with a heartbeat eventually, whether you want to or not. I've sort of reached the point where I don't even care about meeting the guy that defeated an Ogre with an enchanted yoyo and a broken flute. While awesome, the only person I really care about is me, myself, and I. Okay, and also Pan, but I'd sooner die again than inflate his ego even more by telling him that no matter how much he drives me crazy, I'm crazy for him.

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much." I reply, barely glancing at the guy wearing a cowboy hat as I walk past him. It was bad enough with my own family worrying about me every time I got a scratch, I didn't need some strange, yet attractive, boy adding to the insanity that is my life.

"Rufio wants your blood. He's been plotting for a long while, and that's not something you really wanna take lightly, trust me." He matches my pace, determined to keep talking to me. At first, I think…well, I don't exactly know…but the moment he mentions Rufio, my heart feels heavy once again. "How do you know about Rufio? Me and Henry haven't uttered a word about him to anyone."

"Don't you remember? I sorta saved you and your brother from Rufio's minions."

"I got stabbed and was hallucinating from the blood loss, for all I know a feather could've come to life and kicked their asses through the use of song and dance in a two minute montage. And even if you did save my life, so what? My life is constantly in danger, and yet I've done perfectly fine without the help of some guy that thinks he lives in the Wild West just because he wears a cowboy hat. Hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but it makes you look like some moron that became convinced that he was a cowboy after hitting his head on a rock. This here is the 21st century, so act like you don't live on an island where time stands still anymore or live with a pack of wolves and hope they don't eat you while you sleep."

"You're wearing cowboy boots."

"Touché. But I still don't need your help. And even if I did need help, I'd sooner ask a box of hair than you. At least it wouldn't annoy the crap out of me, so take a hint and go play cowboy with somebody who looks like they have no life."

"You almost died the other day. You would have slowly bled to death if I wasn't there to save your ass, so instead of acting all high and mighty, you might want to thank me. I know that you don't trust me yet, but you should if you actually want to live a full life."

"You do realize that when the Snow Queen casts her curse, you'll wanna kill everyone and anyone in sight, right? If I were you, I'd be worried about your chances of survival right now, not mine. So, go back to whatever hole you crawled out of and stay there before Ingrid casts her spell and I rip your head off. Sound good?"

"Are you sure you're not already under her spell?"

"Are you sure you want to be pushing my buttons?"

"What's your problem? You know, I didn't have to save your ass, and if Rufio wasn't a complete psychopath, I might consider helping him kill you. You've made a lot of enemies during your short stay on Neverland, Morgan, and while I won't resort to plunging a dagger in your heart, someone else will. I know that you've cheated death before, but with the army he's building, it's just a matter of time before you actually die."

"Why do you even care?"

"I just don't wanna see Rufio win. He's a monster."

"I fell in love with a monster, a demon boy, Rufio's much worse. Pan had a slither of humanity left when I met him, and he let himself fail so that I could live. He gave up everything he had worked centuries to achieve for me, but Rufio doesn't have something he would give up everything for, he has absolutely nothing. Some might say that everyone has a weakness, but when you have absolutely nothing, there's not one thing to hold you back. People say that Pan hasn't really changed, and maybe they're right, maybe he hasn't. All I know is no matter how pissed I am at him, he did give up on a scheme that he'd been calculating every move for centuries just to let me live. You might think that Rufio is exactly like Pan, but without an anchor to tie his humanity to, he will become something far worse than any of us could ever imagine. Call him a demon, self-centered, a boy without mercy, but he is not soulless or heartless, that's Rufio."

"You know, while he was ignoring you, he was spending quite a lot of time with Will Scarlet, the thief, how do you know he's not planning something along the lines of villainy? Not to mention that he has multiple ties to people like Ingrid, people who are hell bent on taking over and ruining everything."

"He's not that person anymore. He's changed."

"So, after everything, you still love him? Why? I know this is none of my business, but why do you waste your time with someone like him. I mean, he tried to kill you for power, and yet here you are dating him."

"You're right, it's not your business."

"But why. Why date Pan of all people?"

"He gets me in a way that no one else has."

"And that's enough? You deserve way better than Pan."

"You have a lot of opinions about my life for someone who just had the honor of making my acquaintance. I mean, I don't even know your name, yet here you are acting like we've known each other for ages, telling me that I need to dump my boyfriend."

"My apologies. The name's Freddy."

"Hmm. You looked more like a Stiles to me."

"You're a strange one, you know that?"

"And am quickly running out of patience with all your questions."

"Okay, just one more. After everything he's put you through, you still choose him. How do you know that he won't wake up one day and decide he's done being an antihero? What if he decides being a villain sounds like a better option? You know, people never really change, they only pretend to. Pan tried to kill you once before, Morgan, how do you know he won't become a demon boy again? How do you know he won't team up with Rufio and finish the job?"

"A month ago, I would've said something like "I believe in Peter Pan", but things are different now…more complicated."

"So, what would you say now? Do you still believe in him?"

"I just hope that he isn't driven by world conquest and power anymore. I hope that he actually is the person he pretends to be, or at the very least, a small part of him is indeed this guy that can truly care about someone other then himself. While I do care for him more than most, sometimes I do wonder if one day he'll wake up and decide that he doesn't want to settle for a semi-average life. What if he wakes up one day and decides that I'm the only thing in the way of him getting whatever he wants? Then what? I might've survived Pan's murder attempt once already, but if he tries again, I don't know if I'll have the same luck."

"You don't strike me as someone who fears much, especially Pan."

"We all have our secrets. Truths hidden until it becomes of vital importance." I pause for a moment, studying Freddy; the way his eyes would glance down precisely after three seconds of staring at me, how he swung his hat around his index finger in a cross between boredom and joy, and the constant cracking of his knuckles. "That's why you're here, isn't it? You want answers so that you know whether or not to be afraid, but in actuality, you're more nervous than ever before. Whatever you're hiding, whatever you're running from, I can't help you. All I ever do is make things worse."

"This coming from the girl that defeated Zelena."

"When it comes to taking down psychotic bitches, I can actually not screw things up."

"What about Pan? If he tried to kill you, again, what would you do? Would you kill him?"

"I don't know."

Peter Pan's POV

"INGRID! Show yourself!" I yell into the air, waiting for the coward to stop hiding and face me with whatever courage she managed to find. I know that her curse has already been cast and it's only a matter of time before I'm back to the monster that I once was, but I didn't care right now. All I cared about was making sure Morgan would be safe…and maybe if I do what's necessary and kill Ingrid she'll forgive me just a little.

"She's not here, mate. And even if she was, what would you do?" I hear the pirate's voice ask me, but I couldn't be bothered to give the captain the time of day. Time was running out and talking to him about hook polish would only waste my time and patience.

"Go away, pirate. Unlike you, I'm actually going to be helpful and destroy Ingrid before she destroys Storybrooke and everyone in it."

"You know, mate, not that long ago you tried to do the same. Wanted to be the only one to get their deepest desires, no matter how many people paid the price. And now, you're out here risking your life for the girl you were prepared to kill in order to live forever."

"Immortality means absolutely nothing if you have no one to share it with. A long time ago, not dying was the only thing that I cared about."

"And now?"

"I'd do anything for her. To be with her."

"You are aware that she wants nothing to do with you at this moment, right? You ever consider whether she's worth all of that? Ever think to just give up?"

"Never. She drives me insane half the time, and the other half has me doing things that I never thought I'd ever be doing, but I'd be absolutely mad to give this up. She makes me…better—helps me see what truly matters. I'd die a million times over if it meant she was safe. Someone like that—someone you'd die for— you only meet once in a few lifetimes, and they're worth fighting for every step of the way." As I talk, my mind drifts to all the adventures I've had with Morgan and all the adventures that I want to have with her. I gave up power and villainy for her, and I was determined to make things up to her, to show her that she's still everything I'll ever need in life.

"You would die again to stop Ingrid?"

"She's just some princess with rare ice powers and big dreams, ones that she'll never be able to live long enough to see come true. When I find her, I will end her without even breaking a sweat." That was a lie; while Ingrid was no threat all those years ago, she's not nearly as weak and vulnerable as she once was, defeating her would not be that easy.

"Is that so?" Ingrid's voice says moments before she appears in front of us, in a cloud of smoke, out of nowhere. Typical, she always had a flair for the dramatics. "Sorry to tell you this, Peter, but if that's your plan, you'll fail, again."

"I don't fail."

"You have before."

"Never against a washed-up princess like yourself. You might have a form of magic that I don't, but I've had centuries to learn everything there is about magic and how to use it. I'm giving you an opportunity to save yourself the trouble and just turn yourself in before you do something you'll surely regret. Go up against me, who has lived far longer than any of those books you'd occupy your time with, and I promise you a death far more excruciating than you can possibly imagine."

"You'd think someone as old as you would know when to give up. Face it, Peter, you don't have what it takes anymore to defeat me. Confronting me with a one-handed pirate with a drinking problem? You've seriously lost your edge if this is the best that you can do."

"You might wanna rethink just giving yourself up now, Ingrid. Believe me when I say you do not want to cross Peter Pan when he's angry." A new voice says from behind. I do not break my glare from Ingrid until Nealfire was standing next to me.

"Come to join the party, have you, Baelfire? No running to your father for help or perhaps the mother of your children? Maybe even dragging your daughter with her unstable and untrained powers into this."

"I might not know how to use my powers yet, but I do know that if I run you through with this, you won't be a problem anymore. By the way, I really am not a fan of the color yellow or bracelets forced upon me." Morgan's voice says; I turn my head to see her standing behind us, a yellow ribbon at her feet in pieces, with a sword in her left hand and a quiver of arrows and a bow slung over her back. "I'm really sick and tired of you walking around Storybrooke doing whatever the hell you want while I can barely get five minutes alone to pee. You might want me in some twisted family of yours, but I don't. So, either get the hell out of here for good, or I'll make your last moments alive as hellish as possible."

"Morgan, you shouldn't be here. You're still healing." Neal tells his daughter. I, for once, agreed with Neal, she could've died thanks to Rufio, yet here she was ready to fight Ingrid in what will be a fight to the death. But, how am I supposed to tell her that when she is armed with both a bow and arrow and a sword, not to mention whatever else she has hidden on her.

"We can worry about when there's not a psychotic nutjob on the loose. I'm staying, so we can either waste our time arguing or we can just skip to the part where we kick some ass."

"Neal, the lass is right. We don't have time to argue with her." The pirate tells him; Morgan looked more than a little smug about her being right, but then again that was all part of her charm, the reason I fell for her in the first place.

"You couldn't be more right, Hook. Time is running out for all of you." Ingrid tells us, her eyes sparkling at the idea of us destroying each other so that she didn't have to bloody her dainty little hands herself. "Soon, the spell will affect each and every one of you, causing you to see to see the absolute worst in one another. Tell me, Peter, how does it feel to know that your precious little girlfriend is about to use the skills that you taught her to end your life once and for all." I clench my fists tightly, my nails biting into my skin, trying not to give Ingrid the satisfaction of getting under my skin, but the twisted smile makes me realize that she can see right through my seemingly cold and uncaring act.

"How about I slit your throat right now and end the storm before you make me think of the most agonizing way to kill you. If you think I'm just gonna stand by and let you take away everything I've worked for, you're even dumber than you look."

"You think you have a choice? Soon enough you'll be the villain that you once were, but this time there won't be anything to save you. My spell will make you far worse than you ever were, and when that happens, you'll take out each and every one of these pests for me, leaving only a handful of survivors which I'll rule over."

Neal's POV

Everything felt like a blur; one moment Ingrid was laughing maniacally saying something about how she would not be defeated and the next all I could think about how Hook, the drunken pirate who was the reason why I had to endure centuries of Pan's hellish torment because he also had issues with my power-hungry excuse for a father, was the only thing standing in my way of being together with Emma. She didn't deserve to end up with him, she belonged to me, and if it wasn't for August, we would have been living a perfect life. We would've raised Morgan and Henry together and wouldn't have had to deal with all the crap curses, witches, and immortal demons have put us through. I glare at Hook, drawing out my sword and glare at the worthless pirate; it was time to put an end to his pathetic life. He was the cause for all of my troubles, and now I'll make him pay for everything. I'm sick and tired of putting up with this useless, self-centered, one-handed pirate with a drinking problem; I was only doing it for Emma, but with him out of the picture, she'd finally be mine.

"You think that you can beat me? You're as idiotic as your worthless father. When I'm done with you, I will have you begging for me to just end your miserable life, and then I'll have Emma all to myself. Well, as soon as I get rid of those damn kids of yours. With them still in Emma's life, she'll be constantly reminded of you, so I'll just kill them too." I pull out the sword that I had originally been saving for Ingrid and point it at Hook's throat; it was time that I put an end to the good for nothing pirate once and for all.

Peter Pan's POV

"Morgan, stop!" I plead with the girl I love as she tries, yet again, to cut off my head with her sword. It would appear that I was unaffected by Ingrid's spell, but everyone else were their worse selves, willing to kill one another without batting an eye. I didn't get it; this spell was supposed to make everyone bloodthirsty and lethal, yet here I was, no different than before, and something told me that this wasn't by design.

"It's time for you to die, Peter!" She shouts, coming after me with a soulless look in her eyes, void of any emotion. I quickly dodge her attack, kicking her down to the ground, trying to knock just a bit of sense into her. Before she could get back up and try to kill me once again, I grab Ingrid, throwing her harshly into a tree. This was all her fault, and I bet that if I killed the Ice Witch, Morgan would revert back to her normal self.

"You think this is funny, huh? Well, it's time for you to claim your spot in the deepest level of hell, praying for mercy! I'm tired of you ruining everything that I've worked hard to obtain, Ingrid! It's time for you to get exactly what you deserve!" I move to melt her with a fireball, but before I can, something pierces me in the back, causing me to drop her as I writher in pain; I look back to see Morgan aiming an arrow at my head.

"That's it, Morgan, finish him." Ingrid calmly commands.

"No, please." I grip onto a tree, slowly pulling myself up and force myself to look into Morgan's steely cold eyes, trying to see if there was a small part of the real her that still existed, that still cared for me. "Try to remember." I take a couple shaky steps towards her, doing the best I can to ignore the pain as I move closer, trying to forget that it could only take a second for her to kill me. "Try to remember that I love you. Please, fight it. You're stronger than this. Do what you do best and be stubborn. You've never let anyone tell you what to do before, Lost Girl, and you shouldn't start now. Please, you have to remember who I am, what we've been through together. Sure, things have never been easy, but at the end of the day, I love you more than anything, and I know you do too. Fight it! Fight her!" I collapse in pain just inches away from Morgan, my eyes locking with hers, pleading for her to remember what we have, no matter how messy and complicated things may be.

"Finish him!" Morgan looks back and forth between Ingrid and I, clearly at crossroads about what choice to make. I see something in her eyes when she keeps her eyes trained on me for a few seconds, taking me for what I was for the first time in a long time, helpless. "What are you waiting for? Finish him! Finish him now!"

"Shut up! Both of you! Just shut up!" Morgan yells, her hands gripping the bow tightly, shifting her aim back and forth between me and Ingrid.

"Very well, if you won't, I will." Ingrid pushes Morgan out of her way and presses her heal down on my throat, making it hard to breathe, causing me to gasp for breath.

"Ring of fire, make this witch expire. Ring of fire, make this witch expire." As I start chanting the words, I notice flames start to engulf Ingrid. Only one of us was walking out of this alive, and I was not willing to go down without a fight. She presses harder on my throat, and my vision starts to get blurry due to the lack of oxygen. "Ring of expire—" I start to fall into a state of bardo, but before I encountered the final stage, I'm thrust back into the realm of the living with a motionless Ingrid lying a few feet away with an arrow lodged in her throat.

"Pan? Please tell me that you're okay." Morgan pleads, hovering over me, tears daring to fall from her eyes.

"I don't feel so good, but I'll live." I tell her. I weakly smile at Morgan; she was back, Ingrid was dead, and soon everything would go back to Storybrooke's version of normal. I tilt my head to the side, looking past her to see Neal kneeling in a pool of blood.

Neal's POV

In the blink of an eye, my vision clears and I stop what I'm doing, finally digging myself out of the darkness. Unfortunately, it wasn't soon enough. I open my eyes to see my dagger inside Hook's gut; by the looks of it, he didn't have long before he was gone.

"I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to. I didn't-I didn't want Emma like this." I say, breaking down the man who had once been like my father to me. Sure, we've had our differences, but that doesn't mean I didn't appreciate everything he's done for me. While I've never said it, I owe a lot to him; he helped me become the hero, the father, that I am today. Hook wasn't supposed to die like this; he was a pirate, a survivor, he was supposed to defy the odds, he was supposed to live forever.

"It's okay, mate. This is Ingrid's doing, not yours." Hook chokes out, blood coating his lips.

"No, it's not. It's not okay! You don't deserve to go like this."

"Baelfire, there's nothing you can do. Just take care of Emma and your kids for me. Be there for them and live your life. I wasted mine trying to kill your father, and now my time has come; don't make the same mistake I did. I never moved on from your mother's death and spent centuries trying to avenge her. Please, Bae, let me go; I'll finally be reunited with my Milah, I'll finally be happy again." Tears start to well up in my eyes at the thought of losing him.

"You're a survivor, Hook. Please, don't go. I need you to stay alive."

"The cat with nine lives eventually runs out of lives, as have I. Pl-please tell Emma that she-that she was right. Love her for the both of us, you-you have to promise me that. Please, Baelfire, promise me-promise me that you'll take care of your family. Prom-promise to punch Pan for me. He-he might be good now, but he still-he still deserves it."

"I will."

"Good. I wish-I wish we had more time together. You were like the son I never had, the son I always wanted. The-the Jolly Roger is yours now, take care of her for me. All I ask-all I ask is for you to use her in my honor. Just-just enjoy your life. Don't-don't make the same mistakes that I did. Please promise that-promise that you won't. Be a better man, be there for Morgan and Henry. Life is short, don't-don't let it slip you by. Please—" Hook fades away before he could tell me what else I had to say. I cry over my nemesis turned friend, not wanting to leave his body, even as the paramedics came, I didn't want to leave.

Morgan's POV

It had been about a week since I killed Ingrid, since things went back to its version of normal, but that was a loose term around here. Things have been quiet lately, a little too quiet if you ask me. I knew it, Henry knew it, anyone with half a brain knew it; things were about to get chaotic once again, but we were gonna be ready. Not everyone has survived these past few years, but that was just the cost of life; life, it only lasts for a moment, and Hook's death especially made me realize that. There have been times when I wondered what my life would've been like if I had never been taken by Pan's shadow, if I had been allowed to live a normal life, but those thoughts have been buried long ago. I was different now; happier, more sure of myself, more open. I've lost myself through the way, been unsure of what to do, but I've also gained a lot. I had friends, enemies, people in between, and family. Pan and I had become closer after everything that had happened, more willing to let each other in, so if anything, Ingrid had helped me, helped us. We weren't keeping secrets anymore, well, not as many as we used to. Rufio was still at large, keeping to the shadows for the time being, but he couldn't hide forever. We would find him, and one way or another, we would find a way to stop him. I'm still learning about this world, my power, who I am, but I'm not afraid anymore, I'm not afraid to put myself out there. People are gonna come after me, people are gonna try to kill me, and I can either hide away and hope someone saves me or I can fight. Whatever Rufio was planning, I'd be ready, and I wouldn't be alone to fight him; I wasn't a Lost Girl anymore, I was a somebody.

Dedicated to my Best Friend 2001-2018

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Until Next Time Bandit Out.