Okay, maybe they shouldn't have tried to fight the mermaids, but Emma and Regina are too used to 'scare first so you don't get scared', and there is too much bad blood between Prince Charming, Show White, and the Evil Queen for them to not fight at any incentive, even if two of them are Heroes.
But almost drowning seemed to have done the trick, and the fighting had stopped before they could destroy the boat completely, however, now they are left with fewer options.
"We don't have to do it this way." Regina says as they make their way into the sand on the coast of Neverland. "I can fix the boat. My magic is powerful enough, we can follow our original plan and make a surprise attack by the water."
"Surprise attack? Let's not be naïve. Save your magic." Emma says, cutting her off and turning to face the three of them. "We'll need it later because Pan already knows we're here. Plus, the water is where pirates are." She says, trying not to think too much about the fucked up reality that the words coming out of her mouth to make sense, knowing it is best to try to follow Gold's advice, but still, there is someone they can't avoid meeting. "It's time we stop running. Gold was right, this land is run on belief. All of us have been too busy being at each other's throats to be believers." She looks at their faces and saw that she had their undivided attention. "I was as wrong as anyone else. But it's time for all of us to believe. Not in magic, but in each other."
"You want to be friends?" Regina asks, incredulously. "After everything that's happened between all of us?"
"I don't want or expect that. I know there's a lot of history here, a lot of hate. We don't need to be friends. What we need to know is the only way to get Henry back is cooperation."
"With her?" David asks, pointing at Regina. "No, Emma, we have to do this the right way."
"No, we don't." Emma says firmly. "We just need to succeed. And the way we do that is by just being who we are. A hero." She pointed at the couple. "A villain." She pointed at Regina. "It doesn't matter which because we're going to need all those skills, whether we can stomach them or not."
"And what's your skill, Savior?" Regina asks with contempt.
"I'm a mother." Emma answers, showing she had no time for Regina's sarcasm at the moment. "And now I'm also your leader. So either help me get my son back or get out of the way." She didn't let anyone say anything, simply turns and walked in the direction of the dark forest ahead, hearing their steps behind her shortly after.
It probably would be better if they had a map, a compass, or anything that could tell them where the fuck they were going. The dense forest seemed darker than the rest of the island and Emma couldn't shake off the constant feeling of being watched.
"We should go to the highest place, and try to get a view of the whole island from there." David suggested when it became clear they could be walking in circles and wouldn't notice.
"And how will we find it?" Regina snaps back. "I can't even magic us there because I can't even see the higher place."
"What about we follow the stars?" Mary Margaret asks and pointed up.
"I am sorry, but are you familiar with the astronomy of Neverland?" The Queen asks, crossing her arms and showing her disbelief in every word. That was exactly the kind of thing they didn't need and Emma was ready to say so to Regina when Mary Margaret answers.
"No, but if we follow the second star to the right we will be sure we are not walking in circles." Emma wanted to scoff at the reference but she had to admit it was a good plan. So they followed the clearly brightest stars in the sky in the hopes that whatever direction they were walking, was taking them more into the island.
After a few minutes of walking, cutting plants, and avoiding some thorns that seemed like bad news, Mary Margaret was the first one to end the silence.
"Here, you need to stay hydrated." She says, giving Emma the bottle of water.
"Thanks, Mary Margaret."
"You know, Mary Margaret's a bit formal." She says, attempting, and failing to look like she hadn't thought about this before. "You could call me 'mom' if you want. You've done it before."
Emma remembers it, but saying stuff in life-or-death situations always seems better, the chance of not facing the consequences of her words is always too tempting for her to let it pass, and unfortunately, sometimes, she had to deal with it. Not that she wanted that any of them had died then, it's just that… it would've been easier.
"That was back when we were…" She starts.
"We were about to die. Oh, no I get it." Mary Margaret completes and Emma isn't sure she really does but they had already lost Regina and David from sight, they can't afford to be separated on this godforsaken island. And she really doesn't want to have this conversation. Ever.
Emma turns around to get ahead but can't walk three steps before there is a blade on her throat. She breaths in and tries to remain calm, not letting go of the lantern she had taken from the boat. Her assailant is on her right, hiding behind the trees, only the blade visible.
She can sense the exact moment Mary Margaret notices what is going on and raises her arrow and bow, but nothing happens. Neither moves their weapons and Emma takes a deep breath to keep herself calm.
"Easy there." Comes a man's voice from behind Mary Margaret, and Emma has the suspicion she has found herself in a similar situation as hers. "Put the bow and arrow down, slowly." The man says and Emma wants to find a weak spot on the one holding the blade on her neck but he is too hidden. She also doesn't know if there are more of them.
"You too." The man holding the blade to her neck says. Emma distantly notices that the sword isn't shaking, not even a little, showing this man knows what he is doing and is used to doing it. "Put that…thing down." He says and Emma knows he is talking about the lantern. If he doesn't know what it is then he certainly didn't come from her land. She counts her odds and decides that it is better to comply, for now, until she cam see everything they got, plus, Regina and David would notice soon enough that they had stayed behind.
"Well done." The man behind her says and, finally, her assailant gets out from behind the trees. He is taller than her but doesn't seem that older, his clothes are dirty and in pieces, she sees tattoos and jewelry on him, and his eyes are hard but a little bright from adrenaline, not even an ounce of fear or precaution in it. He smells like dirt, sea, and fish.
"Turn around." He says and she notices a slight accent. Crap, she hopes the stereotypes aren't right in this case, because she has seen enough TV and movies to try to guess what these men are.
She slowly turns and sees that, as predicted, Mary Margaret has a blade-wilding sea-rogue of her own.
The two men look at each other and laugh loudly and unhinged, Emma is almost seeing a weak spot on him when the man by her side whistles loudly, and suddenly, there are seven more men near them.
"Well, well, well, look what we have here." One of them says, he looks the less impressive of them, being shorter, rounder, and younger than the others, but his red hat screams in a color that the others don't have. "It's hard to see women here, at least a woman with legs." He says and to Emma's surprise, none of the men laugh, all of them too busy looking her and Mary Margaret up and down. Their eyes don't have lust or desire in them but simply seem to be mentally calculating the price of their heads, she doesn't know if that was better.
Before they can say anything else, David comes out of nowhere and attacks two men, one of them who was holding Mary Margaret hostage, and, taking advantage of the shock of her own attacker, Emma punches him hard in the face and takes his sword. Mary Margaret is fast to try to shoot an arrow but is attacked before she can, so she takes out her sword and starts fighting too.
Even if Emma managed to slay a dragon before, she still has zero training with the sword, so they are seven against two and a half but she won't give up, her son needs her, and this won't hold her back.
Still, they are losing.
Emma is caught by surprise by an especially vicious attack and suddenly the sword is no longer in her hand. She barely has the time to worry about it when a fireball comes between her and her attacker.
"That's enough." Regina says, her pose and tone fitting her regal status.
"Took you long enough." Emma says, out of breath. Everyone has stopped at her arrival so she can finally check on David and Mary Margaret and sees that they are a little dirty and with a few scraps, but they will be fine. She lets out a sigh and finally lets herself relax when suddenly, the men start to laugh. Emma looks at their faces and sees that, somehow, they made a mistake.
"What-…" Regina starts but stops when, suddenly, the attackers start moving again. The one beside Emma grabs her by the arm and pulls her against his chest, his sword already cutting her throat slightly. David and Mary Margaret are equally attacked while two men made their way to Regina.
The Evil Queen seems furious at their audacity to keep attacking and raises her hands with a fireball in each. Emma knows she will kill them without mercy and she thinks the group knows it too. So why did they keep moving ahead? With a final smirk, Regina throws the fireballs at the two men in front of her.
And nothing happens.
The fire goes out seconds before touching their skin making Regina looks at her own hands in shock, and then it is too late, one of them uses his sword to hit her in the head and she falls. Before she can think about getting up, the other one presses his knees on her back and puts metal cuffs on her.
Emma can feel her panic starting to show up at seeing Regina defeated so easily. She looks to the side and sees that David has one man holding each of his arms and pressing him against a tree, while Mary Margaret is in a situation similar to hers, and she can see that at every swallow, the blade on her throat cuts a little more.
"This just keeps getting better and better!" The man with the red hat says, standing in the middle of them. He laughs a little and takes some more chains from his satchel. "C'mon, men, the Captain is going to love this."
Crap.