Chapter Five: Forever Young
"In Neverland, no one ages physically, but time does pass."
Emma raised an eyebrow and looked at Hook, surprised that he had decided to volunteer any information.
Mary Margaret was sleeping while Hook lounged against a tree and Emma kept watch over the dying fire. Mulan's sword rested on her knees and her gun was at her hip, but she still did not feel safe here. It wasn't safe in this foreign place, and it wasn't safe with the pirate.
"Neverland is how I managed to retain my dashing good looks," Hook continued, giving Emma a wink.
The blonde leaned forward. "How old are you?" she asked curiously.
"Depends. Do you fancy older men?" Hook replied. Emma rolled her eyes, and he gave a low laugh and a smirk in response before continuing, "Let's just say I am old enough to have known Rumpelstiltskin when he was still human."
"Fascinating," Emma deadpanned. She vaguely remembered reading a part of Henry's book that dealt with the Dark One, and thought it possible that Rumpelstiltskin was ancient. Mary Margaret certainly talked about him as though he had been around for a very long time.
It was strange to think that Hook could be that old, too. He certainly didn't look like it.
She must have allowed her eyes to sweep over his body, because he laughed again and said, "Are you checking me out? Would you like me to come closer to the fire so you can get a better view?"
"You wish," she snapped back automatically.
"Hm…" He was silent for a moment, gazing at the embers, then said, "Peter was young when he came to Neverland. Just a boy. And he didn't spend much time out of that land, so he didn't age physically. But he has been around nearly as long as I have, so mentally and emotionally, he is old. Old enough to be a chief." His expression hardened before he muttered under his breath, "And a bastard."
"He's just a kid in our stories, and on the side of Good," Emma scoffed. "You probably just don't like him because he actually beat you."
"On the side of Good? So does your world also use children to fight battles?"
Emma's eyes widened, but she said nothing. That was something else she remembered from Henry's book – something about children fighting ogres. But the details were vague at best, and she'd never given much consideration to the possibility that this had happened more than once.
How could anyone send children to fight monsters?
"What happened?" she asked.
Hook grinned. "You tell me about your life, and I'll…"
"No," Emma interrupted sharply before he could finish the offer.
Hook leaned forward slightly. "Then tell me about Rumpelstiltskin."
"You seem to know quite a bit more about him than I do," Emma answered truthfully.
She hadn't paid enough attention to Henry's stories in the past year. Perhaps if she had, she'd feel less out of sorts. She'd know how to navigate this land, and she'd have the knowledge she needed to be less of a burden to Mary Margaret. At the very least, it might have helped her keep the upper hand in conversations with Hook.
But she hadn't listened to Henry and she'd only glanced over the stories in that book...
"I know what he was like in this land," Hook replied, gesturing to the woods around them. Firelight reflected in his eyes and cast shadows along one side of his face as he continued to study Emma. "But what is he like in your land?"
"I'm not going to help you figure out how to kill him," she said firmly.
Hook's eyes narrowed dangerously, and said, "I don't plan on killing him. That would be too quick. No… I'm going to take his heart."
"Like you took Aurora's?" Emma demanded, anger flaring in her chest at the memory of the princess' pale face when she had realized that someone else held her heart. Aurora had been terrified, and yet despite that, she had still bravely insisted on being tied up and left behind, left alone in this destroyed land so that she couldn't betray them again.
Emma's hands curled into fists at her side, and she was just itching for an excuse to hit the pirate.
But the thought of Aurora also made her feel guilty. They hadn't bothered going back for Mulan or Aurora, hadn't even bothered checking to make sure that Mulan had safely and successfully returned her friend's stolen heart. They didn't have the time to double back to that cell, but still…
Emma averted her gaze for a moment, and silently told herself that once this was over – once they had made it back to Storybrooke and rescued everyone from Cora – then they would figure out a way to find their two new friends again.
Maybe.
Hopefully.
"Nothing quite so literal," Hook said, interrupting the blonde's thoughts and staring down at his hook with a contemplative frown. "I was only able to do that once – a gift from the Queen."
"Regina?"
"Yes."
"Why would Regina give you the ability to take a heart…?" Emma started, and then stopped when the answer became blindingly clear. "You were supposed to take Cora's."
Hook did not confirm or deny the accusation. Instead, he said softly, "I've waited a long time to get revenge on Rumpelstiltskin. He took my heart from me once, but let's see who wins this round."
Emma chuckled darkly. "I wouldn't bet against him. He's already proven himself adept at using magic in our land, and he has no qualms against hurting people. The wraith he sent after Regina was proof of that."
"Why would he send a wraith after her?" Hook asked eagerly. "What did she do?"
Emma was wise enough not to answer that question. She didn't know the answer, of course – she'd never figured out what Regina had done to enrage Gold. But more than that, the glean in Hook's eyes was telling her that the answer to this question was important to him, and she was not about to give him the satisfaction of a reply.
She'd probably said too much already.
"Rumpelstiltskin kills without thought and without regret. But a wraith doesn't kill. It just sucks the soul out of the body and sends it to eternal suffering," Hook explained. "If Rumpelstiltskin was willing to do that… He was angry. The Evil Queen got to him somehow." He gave Emma a scrutinizing stare, then a look of realization dawned on his features, and he murmured to himself, "And I think I know how." He laughed then, and a triumphant smile pulled at the corners of his lips. "Well, she always did have a penchant for taking people's hearts."
Emma chewed her lip, worried but unsure what to do. Finally, in an awkward attempt to switch the subject, she said, "So Peter Pan is physically a child and emotionally an adult. Huh. Usually, with guys, it's the other way around."
"He grew up, even if he didn't age," Hook replied, leaning back against the tree once more, a content look in his eyes.
"Pity you didn't do the same thing," Emma snarked. "You could have used all that time to grow up instead of holding onto your desire for vengeance."
Hook stared at her for a long moment, then said quietly, "You have a son."
"What of it?" Emma asked warily.
"If you had seen his heart ripped from his chest and crushed into dust in front of you, how quickly would you get over it?"
Emma didn't have an answer.
And they were silent for a long while, Hook staring at the embers of their fire and Emma contemplating all the things she would be willing to do if someone hurt Henry.
They started walking the moment the sun rose.
Hook took the lead, and set a quick pace, but neither Emma nor Mary Margaret complained. They were all eager to reach his ship.
As they walked, Emma fell into step beside Mary Margaret and asked quietly, "Do you remember the story of Peter Pan? The story from our… from my…"
What was she even supposed to call it? She couldn't call it their world, or even really her world... Or could she? It wasn't her world, not technically, but it was the only world she had known for nearly three decades and the Enchanted Forest certainly did not feel like home. It was Mary Margaret's world, but not Snow's, and the woman walking next to her was both.
Finally, she settled on, "From the world Storybrooke is in."
Mary Margaret considered this, then answered slowly, "Well, there is the Disney version, but the original was written by a Scottish playwright. Barrie, I think."
"Was Peter Pan… did he kidnap the children in the story?" Emma asked. She'd only ever seen the Disney version, and it was overly saccharine as most Disney movies of that era had been. But the original versions of fairy tales were generally quite a bit darker, and it wouldn't surprise her if this one was, too.
Mary Margaret raised her eyebrows in surprise at the question and shook her head. "No. Wendy, Michael, and John Darling all go with him willingly. Although… I think he tries to bar Wendy out of her own home when she decides to return to her parents." Giving Emma a knowing look, she asked, "What did Hook say?"
"That Peter Pan kidnapped children to fight battles for him."
Mary Margaret shrugged. "That's possible, I suppose," she admitted. "I don't know the real story, I'd never even heard of Neverland before the curse." She hesitated, then pressed, "Did Hook say anything else about Peter Pan?"
"Just that he was really old, even if he looked like a boy. Even if he didn't age."
"I understand that," Mary Margaret said thoughtfully. "I mean… I didn't age for twenty-eight years. Time didn't move for twenty-eight years. But I still remember everything that happened. There might not have been much variation in my day-to-day life, but… twenty-eight years. I should be quite a bit older by now."
"I know," Emma mumbled, reflecting on how much less weird her life would be if her mother wasn't practically her own age.
"And sometimes I feel older," Mary Margaret continued. "But sometimes I don't. Sometimes it is like Storybrooke was just an aside, and my life has picked up again right where it left off. But I was Mary Margaret for as long as I was Snow and… I think of myself as Mary Margaret now, even though I know she wasn't ever real…" She gave a wan smile. "It's hard to explain."
"Imagine how strange it must be for all the children in Storybrooke," Emma mused. "They have twenty-eight years of memories, but they're just children. I wonder how old they feel."
"It's more than that. I mean… I have twenty-eight years of memories… but in all twenty-eight of those years, I am the same age. I have more years of memories… fake memories, memories of things that didn't happen… from Mary Margaret's childhood. A childhood that she – that I – never actually lived through. It's… complicated. There are so many years inside my head."
Emma mulled that over quietly. She hadn't given much thought to how strange it must be for the inhabitants of Storybrooke to remember things that never actually happened. Her viewpoint on life had changed rather rapidly in the past few weeks, and she was just slowly getting used to this new existence. But it seemed like every time she felt as though she was adequately coping, something new was thrown her way to upset her balance.
Now it was apparently Hook's turn to challenge her point of view.
She glared at the pirate's back.
They walked for a while in silence, then Mary Margaret rested her hand lightly on Emma's arm and said softly, "You know, just because Peter Pan might not be a hero… well, that doesn't mean that Hook isn't a villain."
Emma nodded and said sourly, "Still, I liked the fairytales a lot better when they were black and white."
Mary Margaret gave a sad smile. "If only it was that simple."
"You're not welcome here, Spencer."
George curled his lip at the name. He knew that many of the town residents were still going by their Storybrooke names, but he saw no reason to. He was not Albert Spencer – that name belonged to a man who had been created by someone else's curse, a man who might have wielded the power of a District Attorney but did not wield the power of a king. He was King George, and he was not about to let anyone forget that.
"I prefer your Majesty," he replied as he stepped further into the otherwise empty flower shop.
"You're not my Majesty," came the reply. "So unless you are planning on buying something, get out."
George snorted. "Why such hostility? What did I ever do to you, sir?"
"It's Moe French now. I'm not longer Maurice. The Evil Queen's curse saw to that."
"The Evil Queen's curse was broken," George answered. "You can be whoever you want. And I am surprised that a person of your standing would choose to be a flower delivery man." He glanced around with a smug smile. "It's hardly a noble calling."
"I'm not a noble anymore," Moe replied flatly, his words angry. "And you aren't either."
"I was never a noble. I was royalty. And the Evil Queen did not take that from me," George hissed.
"You're right," Moe replied mockingly. "It was Prince James who took that from you when his army defeated yours. You were forced to flee, weren't you? He took your kingdom and added it to Snow White's and made quite the conquest."
"I didn't realize you supported Prince James and Snow White so… ardently," George growled. The conversation was not going the way he had envisioned, but he couldn't seem to get it back on track. Moe was on the offensive, bringing up the loss of his kingdom and throwing salt into already painful wounds.
James – the fake James – might have stolen his kingdom, but he was still a king by birth, which was more than that imposter could say. He deserved respect, he deserved deference… and he deserved power.
Moe sighed and said, "You're a persona non grata, your Majesty. After what you did to that boy…"
"I didn't realize it was a crime to kill a mouse," George cut in sharply.
"I don't want any more trouble," Moe said simply. "Belle…" He stopped, a flicker of pain in his eyes. "Belle is gone, and I'd rather stay under the radar for now. Rumpelstiltskin is…"
"Rumpelstiltskin is dating your daughter," George sneered. "He has murdered people. He has caused pain and suffering, and enjoyed it. Why is he worthy of her forgiveness when you are not?" He paused, waiting just long enough for Moe to slowly nod his head in agreement, before adding, "Why is he even walking around freely?"
"He has magic," Moe murmured softly. "Stopping him would be…"
"Difficult," George cut in. "I know. But no one is even trying. Just as no one is trying to imprison the Evil Queen. They are both allowed complete freedom… why?" He stepped forward and lowered his voice. "Snow White and Prince James had no qualms about going up against the Evil Queen before. But they had something to gain, didn't they? They wanted to free the kingdom from the Evil Queen's grasp so that they could rule it. But now they no longer have a reason to fight these people who have caused us such pain, so they aren't."
"Snow White is gone," Moe answered pointedly. "And…"
"And Prince James – no, he doesn't deserve the title. David Nolan has done nothing to Regina Mills or Gold. He appoints himself Sheriff even though he was not elected to the position and presumes to run the town in his wife and daughter's absence… but what has he actually done for us?"
"I… well…" Moe hesitated, then narrowed his eyes and said, "You've murdered people, too."
"I've killed people in war. That is not the same as cold-blooded murder," George defended himself.
"You killed that mouse," Moe shot back. "He might have been a mouse once, but he was human when you killed him. Why are you walking around freely?"
"Because David Nolan and his pet wolf couldn't be bothered to stop me," George replied. "They didn't care... or rather, they didn't care enough. Which works out well enough for me."
That wasn't the full story, of course. James-
No, not James. He would think of the imposter as David from now on. He did not deserve to have the same name as the true James.
David had wanted to lock him up but the cells in the Sheriff station had been destroyed when the wraith attacked Regina, and no one had bothered to fix them. By the time David had realized this, he'd been forced to let George out of his sight for just a few minutes while he searched for someone to fix them, and that was all that had been needed for the one-time king to slip away.
David might have looked for him, he knew, but with the loss of the hat that was supposed to bring back Snow and Emma, the imposter had been busy with other concerns. And since all it took was flower pollen to throw off the wolf's keen sense of smell, George had managed to avoid detection fairly easily.
Of course, wandering around in broad daylight was risky, but it would all be worth it if everything went according to plan.
"You want to stay under the radar," George said with a thin-lipped smile that did not reach his eyes, "because you're afraid of what exactly? Fighting back? Demanding what is rightfully yours? All you did was try to protect your daughter. How is that so wrong?"
"She thinks…"
"She thinks Rumpelstiltskin is truly good at heart. Clearly, her judgment isn't one we should trust." George folded his arms over his chest. "It was David Nolan and Ruby Lucas who found her, wasn't it? When you tried to send her over the town line."
"How do you know about that?"
"I make a point of knowing everything I can about the happenings around here, particularly if they involve Rumpelstiltskin or the Evil Queen," George answered readily enough. "And the point is that they intervened. They got in the middle of your disagreement with your daughter, they intervened, they judged you, they helped her move on and leave you behind, and even now the wolf is friends with her and is probably whispering lies in her ear, poisoning her against you. And all you were trying to do was protect her from a monster who had tricked his way into her heart."
"I… you're right…"
"You are nobility, Sir Maurice, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. And maybe you have no problem allowing David and Ruby to strip you of your title and your power, but are you really going to let them take your daughter, too?"
Moe frowned, and then his expression hardened. "No," he said firmly, "I'm not."
Talking to Henry had never been easy.
When he was younger, Regina simply had not known how to interact with a child. She'd had little to do with them in the Enchanted Forest – save for Snow, of course, but she was determined not to think of Snow for fear that her opinion of that child would taint her relationship with Henry.
As Henry had grown older, she had slowly figured out how to be a mother, but it had not come easily or naturally to her. She had loved him, in her own complicated and dysfunctional way, and for a time she had been content in the knowledge that he loved her with all the simple innocence of a child.
Then he'd received that book, and everything had changed.
Regina stood in the doorway to the guest room, watching as Henry clutched David's hand. It had been a challenge last night to convince Henry to get some sleep, and almost as soon as morning had come the boy had rushed back to his grandfather's side.
He looked up at her then, his face carefully devoid of expression. "Is it time for school?"
"Actually, I don't think you will be going to school today," Regina replied, stepping into the room.
Henry frowned. "What? Why?" he demanded.
Regina sighed. She knew keeping him from school was uncharacteristic of her, but she just didn't know what else to do. She had yet to come up with a good way to keep Henry safe while he wasn't in the house or under her watchful eye, and with Cora out there…
The idea of allowing Henry to wander around school unprotected sent a shiver down her spine.
"It is too dangerous, Henry," Regina said softly, crouching down beside her son. "You are not safe at school."
Henry's frown deepened. "So I have to stay inside the house all the time?" he demanded, an edge to his voice. "I don't ever get to see anyone?"
Regina tried not to flinch at the implied accusation, the suspicions that Henry was thinking but had yet to voice aloud. She pressed her lips into a thin line and stamped down the annoyance that rose every time Henry refused to give her the benefit of the doubt. She had to earn his trust, she knew – she had to earn everyone's trust.
It was just so hard.
"Well, you can invite Miss Lucas over if you wish," Regina said reluctantly.
"If I am safe with her, then why can't she come with me to school?" Henry demanded petulantly.
Regina sighed. "I don't think it would be fair of us to ask Miss Lucas to go to school with you," she said, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips at the thought of that conversation. "She has a job that requires her attention."
Though, admittedly, the werewolf had always seemed willing to drop her responsibilities at the diner every time David asked for her help.
But, Regina reminded herself with a shake of her head, allowing Ruby access to the house so that she could watch Henry was merely a necessary compromise. It did not mean that she wanted the other woman to spend much time around her son.
Henry nodded and looked back at David.
He looked so downcast, so hopeless, that Regina found herself reaching and resting a hand on his arm as though she could somehow will her own strength into him. He didn't pull away from her, but he stiffened slightly at the contact and she nearly yanked her hand back.
They had made so much progress. She had made so much progress. Henry had finally started believing in her, believing that she could change, and now he was drifting even further away and she couldn't figure out how to stop it.
She had tried to protect him at the well, and then when he had begged her to have faith in him she had acquiesced against her better judgment, and what had she gotten in return?
Her mother.
"I need to work on a few things," she said finally, offering him the only bribe she could think of in the desperate hope that he would smile at her, "but maybe we could go out this afternoon. We could get lunch at the diner. And ice cream."
Henry nodded glumly. "Fine," he said, not looking at her. There was a moment of silence, then he added, "Do you know how to get Emma and Mary Margaret back yet?"
Regina bit back her annoyance at the question and answered, "No, not yet. But I'm working on it."
"How?" Henry pressed. "How are you working on it? Do you have ideas? Have you done anything yet…?"
"I don't…" Regina started angrily, but cut off the words before she could say anything she would regret. She looked at David's unconscious form, and said in a tone of forced calm, "I don't have any ideas yet, Henry. But I am… I'm trying. It's just that with the hat destroyed and the portal closed... well, there aren't a lot of options left and I…"
"You have to," Henry interrupted, looking at her briefly before turning away once more. "You promised."
"I know," Regina agreed. "And I meant it. I am going to do everything I can to bring them back." When Henry did not reply, she pressed her fingers lightly under his chin, forcing her to meet his gaze, and said, "You believe me, right? I am doing everything I can."
"I don't… I'm not… I…" Henry stumbled over the words and didn't answer. After a moment, she dropped her hand and he quickly moved away from her, slipping off the chair and kneeling in front of David.
Regina waited, but Henry said nothing else, so she rose to her feet and walked from the room in frustration. She almost slammed the door shut behind her, but instead closed it quietly and leaned against the wall.
She did not have a plan. Her mother was here, and her mother was powerful, and Regina had no idea what she was supposed to do now.
They were safe inside the house, and some part of her wanted to stay here forever, to keep Henry close and let the rest of the town burn if only it would allow her to avoid facing her mother. But Henry would never accept that, and even though she could hold him against his will, it would only make him hate her.
She did not think she could survive his hate - his indifference was already tearing her apart inside.
But she wasn't sure she could survive facing her mother, either. She had not been lying that day that she stood over her mother's dead body and confessed her love, her weakness. Despite everything, she still wanted her mother's approval.
But it would come at too high a cost.
It always did.
She turned and walked into her bedroom. She was exhausted, both emotionally and physically, but that wouldn't matter to anyone. And she couldn't afford to be sloppy. She couldn't afford to make mistakes.
She snatched her telephone up from the nightstand by her table and quickly punched in a number.
Archie Hopper answered after three rings.
"Dr. Hopper," she said briskly, skipping over pleasantries and not bothering to identify herself, "I'm worried about Henry."
"Yes. Ruby told me what happened."
"Of course she did," Regina sneered, irritated that the werewolf was talking about her behind her back and not for a moment trusting that Ruby was even telling the story accurately. "I wonder how different our versions are."
There was a pause, then Archie said, "I take it that Henry is not doing well with this new… development."
"You mean our failure to rescue Miss Swan and Miss Blanchard?" Regina snapped. "No, I would say he is not doing well with that development."
"And your mother's arrival?" Archie pressed.
Regina nodded even though she knew Archie couldn't see her. He was one of the few people who actually knew about Cora. Regina had been reluctant to talk about her mother at first, and had done her best to avoid the subject every time Archie asked about it during her therapy sessions. But after everything that had happened with Daniel and Whale…
She'd broken down during that impromptu session and confided all her fears that magic had turned her into her mother.
Regina walked over to her bed and slumped onto the mattress. How could she feel so drained this early in the morning? The day had barely begun.
"I was hoping you would be able to talk to my son," Regina said.
"If he wants to see me…"
"He won't," Regina interrupted.
Henry would never agree to see Archie professionally, not if she was the one who suggested it. It would serve as a reminder of all the times she'd sent Henry to the cricket in the past, hoping that the PhD the curse had given Archie would somehow allow the bug to make Henry stop believing in fairytales and the curse. It hadn't worked, and it had only made Henry hate her more, and if she proposed it now, he would take it as some nefarious plot.
She gritted her teeth at that and tried, once again, to force down the wave of jealousy that arose every time she was forced to confront the knowledge that she still didn't have his trust.
"Ah," Archie said. "Well…"
"I'm taking him to Granny's diner for lunch. Perhaps if you were also there you could…"
"I'm not going to lie to him, Regina," Archie said firmly. "I'm happy to talk to him, but I'm not going to pretend that we didn't set this up."
Regina debated throwing the phone against the wall.
"Fine," she snapped. "Never mind. It was a ridiculous notion anyway."
"I can help. I want to help," Archie protested.
"Don't bother," Regina said, and hung up.
She closed her eyes and let out a long breath. That had failed miserably, though in retrospect it had been a stupid idea. There was no way anyone in this town – even those like Archie who claimed to want to help her – would ever trust her to know what was best for Henry. She couldn't rely on their assistance for connecting with her distant son, which meant that she would have to figure it out on her own.
But that was not so unusual – she'd been alone for a long time, and she'd dealt with it before. She'd dealt with Henry before; she could do it again.
But not now. Now she had to do something else, though she absolutely despised that it was necessary.
She had to find Gold.