Chapter 41: Nasty Habits
Felix was leading Neal through the jungle with his hands tied in front of him. He wanted to know what happened that day so many years ago, and one of the people involved in the incident was just walking in fort of him.
"Feels like just yesterday I welcomed you to Neverland the first time, Baelfire. Gotta say, hoped I'd never see you again." He said, trying to coax a reply from him. "Especially, after you let yourself be fooled by Spitfire, who left you here on your own."
"Believe me. I wouldn't have come back on my own accord. But, then maybe Pan shouldn't have taken my son." Said Neal trying to free his hands. "And I see you still believe anything that Pan tells you."
Felix frowned at his last words. He knew Pan didn't tell the Lost Boys the whole truth of what happened that day, but he truly never thought to outright question everything. Their taunts to each other continued until Neal finally freed himself and knocked out Felix.
"I'm not a boy anymore, Felix. I sure as hell ain't lost." Neal said, taking off his jacket and looking at Felix with a glare. "And if you truly believe that Rose would have left Neverland by herself, without the Lost Boys, then you don't know her at all."
Neal left quickly into the jungle. Felix groaned and started to get up. He knew from the start that something was up with Pan's retelling of Rose's departure of Neverland. He had hoped she would come back, but the years passed, and she didn't return. He, along with the other lost boys, lost the last bit of hope they had for adults.
Rumplestiltskin was putting on war paint, when Rose's apparition sat down on the log next to him.
"It's missing some sparkles." She said with a smile.
"You were one of the few that could see past it, past the monster."
"So, why be the monster again?"
"I need the monster, Rose. It's the only way I can save him. And that's what I've decided. I'm gonna save Henry."
"The prophecy states that Henry will be your undoing. To save him, you ensure your own death. Don't' get me wrong, I love Henry. He's my nephew. Great-nephew? Step-grandkid?" She shook her head. "Let's leave it for later. That is a weird and complicated issue."
"You don't think I can do it?"
"I'm just saying that you are not known for putting others before you."
"I always put you first." He said, caressing her cheek. "But things are different now. I lost my son, and for the looks of it you may be close behind."
"You really think getting back my memories and powers will kill me?"
"I know you will overcome it, just like you did before." He frowned while looking at the jungle. "What I'm afraid of is what will happen until you regain control. I doubt that your family will leave you alone to get your bearings. Your magic is very powerful, and right now very unstable. You might hurt them and that, that will kill you."
The vision of Rose opened her mouth to say something, but Rumple just raised his hand to silence her.
"One way or another, you'll leave me. You were the only one that could see both sides of me, that didn't believe I had to choose one or another. My son is dead. The only way I can redeem myself to both of you is by saving Henry and giving my life."
Rose was hunched over, breathing heavily. Her body felt like it was on fire. Her head was hurting from reliving her other life. Even though she remembered how she could control her powers, then they were growing as she learned to control them, but now she was trying to piece together two lives while trying to control a great amount of magic.
She had to sort through everything that happened to her in her two lifetimes, separate what happened in the Enchanted Forest and what happened in the World Without Magic. All this, while trying not to blow up the entire island, her body feeling like it was tearing itself apart, and the anger and guilt of what happened the last time she was in this wretched place didn't help.
Rose just hopped that no one would come find her until she could at least take two steps without her magic flaring out. Right now, she was a danger to everyone.
Emma was going over the plan with the group. She was still a little weirded out about Tinkerbell.
"Tink is fine." She said, trying to make Emma feel more at ease. "That's what Rose always called me."
With those words, silence fell on the clearing. They all had in their minds the image of the scorch marks on the ground. While Mary-Margaret had broken down at the realization that her sister had been in the middle of whatever happened there and David consoled her, the other tried to look around for clues about what happened.
Emma found the broken bottle, and Regina could feel Rose's magic in the air. Tinkerbell recognized the bottle and informed them that Pan had kept Rose's memories there.
"Then, she has her memories back?" Asked Mary-Margaret. "Did Pan do this to her?"
"No." Said Regina "The magic I can feel here is Rose's. When her memories returned, so did her powers. Her magic must have gone by instincts, and she was with Pan, her magic must have felt the threat and took her away."
"Then we must find her." Said David while holding his wife.
"Are you crazy?" Said Tink with wide eyes. "With that amount of magic ruled by instincts, she will kill us before we can let her know it's us."
Emma, Mary-Margaret and David started to argue, but Regina agreed with her.
"The fairy is right. Rose needs to sort this out by herself. She will be fine and come to us when she is ready." Mary-Margaret was about to say something, but Regina glared at her. "You want to go find her? Then go and when her magic hurts you, if it doesn't kill you, what do you think Rose will do?"
Mary-Margaret frowned and thought about it. Her sister would never forgive herself if something happened to them because of her magic.
"Alright." She said with a sigh. "Then we move forward with our plan. She will come to us when she is ready."
While retelling the plan with the information provided by Tinkerbell, she warned them about the Lost Boys and how their weapons were covered in Dreamshade. But when she asked about their escape plan, she realized how ill prepared they were.
She showed them Tamara's watch to emphasize how screwed they were if they didn't have an escape plan.
"This is what Pan does to people he employs. What do you think he's gonna do to you? I'm not sticking my neck on Pan's chopping block without a way off this island. I already did that once. I'm not doing it again. When you figure that out, you know where I live." She said before turning around and leaving.
After discussing how Tinkerbell was right, Hook told them how no one left Neverland without Pan's permission.
"Spitfire left with a lot of help. But, one man did it on his own." He looked at Emma. "Her partner in crime, Neal."
At Pan's camp, he was trying to get Henry to join the Lost Boys, but he still couldn't hear his flute. Before they could discuss it further, Felix arrived by himself and Pan approached him. He told him how Baelfire got away and was reunited with the Dark One. Felix wanted to move Henry, but Pan had other plans.
"Then, I'll take watch. We wouldn't want them to arrive when you are not ready." Felix said, turning to leave camp.
"If you are so interested in our safety." Pan said with a glare. "Maybe you should go to the clearing near the northwest stream. There is the real threat."
Felix didn't answer and kept walking. Once outside camp, he turned northwest. Pan knew exactly who Felix was really looking for, and what better way to have his right hand back on track, than seeing his precious princess out of control.
When Felix was approaching the clearing, he could see scorch marks here and there. He saw a great mark where she had teleported, and every step she took left a small circle of destruction. The plants, even the ground, were dead. He heard a noise, and when he finally stepped into the clearing, he saw her.
Rose was hunched over, breathing heavily, while red mist came out of her body. It was like she was exuding it. She raised her head when she heard someone approach, and her eyes widened in horror.
"Felix." She whispered. "No. No, no, no. You have to leave."
He looked at her with wide eyes, not believing what was in front of him. The red mist was coming from her, but not only that. The veins in her whole body were glowing red. He realized that she didn't only have magic, she was magic. And at the moment she couldn't control it. The first thing he thought, the first instinct he had seeing her like that, was simple. Run.
Gold and Neal had reunited. After Gold was certain that his son was truly alive, they teamed up to take Henry back from Pan. They got squid ink to immobilize their common enemy. They approached the camp and put everyone to sleep except Pan himself. After a short conversation, Neal shot the arrow and, as expected, Pan grabbed it. When he saw the squid ink, he chuckled.
"Well, how about that? I'm impressed." He looked at Neal. "And surprised that you didn't use this technique last time."
"Then, neither one of us knew how to extract it, and the squid wasn't too keen on giving it to us. " Said Neal with a chuckle. "Although, Rose arguing with the squid amused the mermaids, and she used that to convince them to help us instead. But I don't know why you ask. After all, nothing happens in Neverland without your knowledge. Right?"
Rumplestiltskin looked at his son in realization. It had been him who helped his firebird out of this hellhole all those years ago. He also remembered how he refused to teach her how to extract the ink from a giant squid. She argued that she might need it someday, that she could find herself fighting against someone more powerful than her. In his arrogance, he told her that if that was the case, he would come and help her, she just had to whistle. Why didn't she? Even if he hated this place, he would have come. For her, he would have gone anywhere.
After they left Pan immobilized, they made their escape with Henry still unconscious. But discord had already been sowed between them. They were arguing about the prophecy. Rumple was saying how he didn't want to kill Henry anymore, but Neal didn't believe him.
"Things have changed. I... I didn't come here to Neverland to hurt Henry. I came here to save him and get Rose's memories back."
"After what you just told me, I'm supposed to believe you?" Neal asked outraged. "And what exactly is your relationship with Rose? Because, if you are using her, I swear…"
"I won't lie to you, Bae. Self-preservation has been a nasty habit I've had my whole life, but I came here to break it, to do the right thing and to save your son. Even if that meant sacrificing my own life." He sighed. "And Rose, Rose is someone very dear to me. I would never use her. I'd do anything for her."
Their fight continued, but Neal still didn't trust his father.
"What happens if we get back, and you're reunited with Rose, and you realize that the only thing standing between you and your happy ending is my son? And suddenly, undoing doesn't sound so great."
"You're my happy ending. This is, because it's my redemption. I can be strong, son, if you have faith in me." He pleaded. "And Rose would never forgive me if something happened to Henry. She always told me not to focus on one side of things. That undoing could mean a lot of things. And I'm willing to find out what it really is."
Neal still couldn't trust him. So he got a leaf covered in squid ink and pressed it to his father's palm, while talking of his time in Neverland.
"You know, after Rose left and our escape plan failed. I was living here and sleeping in a cave, I used to dream of you coming to rescue me. But then I'd wake up and remember how you left me behind. You left your own son behind for the power of that dagger. How can I think that things would ever be any different?"
After the Dark One was paralyzed, Neal took Henry and left him behind. His father warned him that only he could protect them from Pan.
"I'm sorry, I got no choice. We're safer without you. Rose went head-to-head with Pan. Now we know better what he's capable of. We can take him on." He said with confidence. "Goodbye, papa."
Felix knew he should run. He was in danger. Rose couldn't control her powers. But he couldn't, not when he was so close to knowing the truth. So he kept his distance and starting asking the questions that had plagued his mind for the past 27 years.
"What happened that day?" He asked with a glare. "Why did you leave?"
Rose looked at Felix with a pained expression. Not only because of the pain she was feeling at the moment, but for the pain she knew she had caused all those years ago, when her plans for escaping Neverland had failed.
"It wasn't supposed to happen like that." She said with labored breaths. "The plan was different."
"Yeah. Right." Felix scoffed and stood up. "I'm sure you didn't plan on getting found out. You are like the other adults. You never keep your promises."
He turned to leave, but he heard her whimper from the pain and stopped. Even if she betrayed them, he still remembered how she treated them. How she took care of their wound, scolded them, made them laugh, told them bedtime stories and tucked in the younger boys. For the youngest boys, she was a mother. For the oldest, a big sister. That's why her treason hurt them so much.
"I wouldn't have left without all of you." She muttered. "I would have brought with me every single one of you. I wouldn't have left anyone behind. You know that, Felix."
He looked at her and saw truth in her tear filled eyes. He still didn't know what exactly happened that night. But he knew one thing. Rose hadn't betrayed them. He left the clearing and reunited with Pan and the Lost Boys, it was time to get Henry back.
Rumple was looking at the straw doll after the ink effect ran out.
"I'm sorry Rumple. Neal should have trusted you." Rose's apparition said. "But trust is hard to earn back."
"After everything I've done. It's no surprise." He sighed, sitting down next to her.
"Well… He might not fully trust you yet, but I do. I know you would have protected Henry. You would've even given your own life to show Neal that you've changed."
"Are you asking me, or do you truly believe that?"
"I know you wouldn't have hurt Henry, because I would have kicked your ass if you had. You know I can do it." She said with a smirk. "But that's not what is important right now. Bealfire is alive and I got my memories back. You have something to live for."
"But the prophecy remains. Henry's still my undoing."
"This again?" She asked with exasperation. "I told you a thousand times. Keep focusing on the negative, and you lose sight of the positive. And undoing can mean a lot of things."
"Yes, but I have a nasty habit of self-preservation."
"Well, habits are formed. We are not born with them. So they can be broken." She looked into his eyes firmly. "Are you willing to find out what it takes to break them?"
"Go away. I don't want to talk now." He said with a frown.
Back at the camp, Pan was talking with Henry. He could finally hear the music. He was one step closer to his goal. He went to stand beside Felix, and the two of them looked at Henry dancing with the other boys.
What he told Baelfire was the truth. No one came or left Neverland without his consent. He was included in that. He needed Neal to leave, so he could father the truest believer. Only one person was the exception to that rule. Rose Red had managed to come to Neverland instead of another boy. Her powers confused and intrigued the shadow, and he thought he could use her. But once she arrived, he saw how the Lost Boys were being affected by her. Not just the young ones, who still missed their families now and then, but the older ones. Even his most trusted companions. Yes, she managed to enrapture Rufio and Felix.
Rufio had started to be hesitant of Pan, and Rose's arrival set something in motion that Pan didn't like. But a little scheming got Rufio out of the way. And with Rose and Baelfire's failed escape plan, he got Felix back where he wanted him. And got rid of the thorn in his side that was Spitfire.
Her return was unplanned, and it was already affecting Felix. Something had to be done with her. If she still wasn't in control of her powers, maybe he could go back to his first plan for her. Things were starting to look up for Pan.