With Pan's shadow firmly in their possession the group of hero's, villains and island inhabitants trekked through the jungle to their next part of their mission of finding Henry now they had a way off Neverland. The islands inhabitants and Hook were the ones to led the group through the jungle as the others followed at the rear of the rescue party.
Tinkerbell glanced back every so often to see the red head conversing deeply with Baelfire. She could see Juliet in the redhead the more she saw the assassin. She couldn't believe she didn't see it before now. Know what she knew before he and Juliet left Neverland all those years ago, she easily put two and two together when she saw the pair together.
A sad smile grew on the fairy's knowing her friend ultimate demise "She looks like Juliet" Tink mused to Romeo as they continued to lead the group to Pan's camp
"I know she does" he retorted "she's bull headed as well"
"Oh, I know" Tink told the Assassin who raised a curious brow at the fairy "We've met" she gulped thinking back to what she heard from the Assassin back in the cave
"I take it wasn't pleasant?"
"I did more harm than good I think" she tells the older assassin
"My daughters become many things since the last time I saw her, but unforgiving she is not" Romeo tried to reassure the fairy "She'll forgive you when she is ready, just give her time to think it through and she'll see the light in the end"
Behind the leading pair Amelia stayed with her cousin as she saw her father and Tink speak to each other, being the only other island inhabitants, they must have come across one another at some point.
"I'm gonna ask Tink and Romeo how close we are to Pan's compound" the female assassin heard the Prince say to his wife behind them "I don't wanna be surprised by any lost boys on patrol"
"Good idea" Snow replied as the redhead moved over to left to let him through and leave his wife and daughter
"You coming?" he knew Amelia heard what he wanted to find out from the fairy
"One sec" she tells the Prince before he carried on forward
"I think you need to speak to my father" Amelia suggested to her cousin as they walked through the jungle as she hugged her forest green robe to her, fasting the buttons tight against her as she tried keep warm. The island had gone from hot and humid to near freezing since they had arrived.
"Why's that?" Neal asked her
"He explained what happened. I think you'd empathize with him with the choice he had to make, I'd bet you'd make the same choice. I know I would"
"Not likely" he scoffed as the front of the group came to an abrupt stop, hurrying forwards and taking her Kukri blade out as Romeo unsheathed both his sabers from his belt that sat either side of his hips. The others did the same holding their swords and bows as they waited in bated breath for the figure or figures to emerge from the disturbed foliage
The group collectively let out a sigh of relief as Regina let out a gasp of surprise as she was greeted by one's she left to find Rumpelstiltskin with swords in their hands with the addition of Tink and Neal
"Well, if this is your version of a rescue party, we got here just in time" she drawled at the group who were putting away their weapons just as Rumpelstiltskin stepped out behind the former Queen.
Amelia kept a weary eye on her father as he faced Rumpelstiltskin for the first time in maybe decades. His old students words spoke true as he saw the Assassin that had brought his sister back to the Enchanted Forest. He was older than the last time he seen him which was when his niece was still quite young.
"Dark One" Romeo gruffly greeted the other man as he pushed the last of his sword back into its place
"Montague" the sorcerer greeted the older assassin with a sharp nod
"What are you two doing here?" Mary Margaret' inquired with the pair
"Well, same as you, except we actually have a chance" Regina announced, pointing to a small box that the Dark One held in his hands "Pandora's box. It could trap Pan for eternity simply by opening the lid"
"You didn't tell me my father was with her" Neal asked Emma in a low voice
"I didn't know"
"Wait, your father is the Dark One?" Tink asked Neal
"He's my uncle as well" Amelia added folding her arms across her chest
"What?"
"Yeah" Neal confirmed for the fairy "and he's not getting anywhere near Henry"
"Bae..." the Dark One whined to his son
"Why? What are you talking about?" the saviour asked Henry's father
"There's a prophecy that says that Henry will be his undoing" Neal divulged his fathers secret "He didn't come here to protect him. He came here to kill him"
"That's why you didn't want to find Neal before you got Henry back? Because you knew he'd spill your secret"
"Everything I did was to protect Henry, to rescue him from Pan" Rumple argued to the group
"It all makes sense" Emma realised "You left before we even made shore. You wanted to get to Henry first... " the sound of blade being pulled from their sheathes rang out as the group took out their weapons again as they turned on the Dark One, with the exception of Romeo as he tried to stay impartial to the situation that had unfolded before him. Instead his hand went to his beard chin in contemplation as he thought of the latest development.
"To be on his own..." David added as Mary Margaret loaded her bow with an arrow trained on Rumple's head
"So no one could stop you..." Hook said
"So you can kill him" Regina finally added
"It's not gonna happen, not unless you go through all of us first" Emma warned the Dark One as he stood eight against one
"You're making a mistake" the old man tried to reason with the heroes and villains united against him "I don't care if the boy is destined to be my undoing. I won't hurt him"
"Because that sounds just like you" Amelia scoffed at her uncle as she gripped her Kukri blade in her hand
"Without me, you will fail" Rumple told them "I'm the most powerful amongst us"
"That's why we can't trust you" Neal tells his father
"If I could give you my dagger, I would. But I can't"
"But you can give me Pandora's box" Neal retorted "I don't have to trust you if I could stop you."
"Son..." after a pause the old man relented handing the box that would defeat Pan over to his son
"Look at me, you so much as lift a finger to perform magic, you're gonna spend an eternity in this box" Neal warned his father before snatching the bow out of his hands
"Let's go" Emma ordered the others as they put away their weapons as the headed towards the trail Regina and Rumple had emerged from
"Look..." Rumple stopped his son and his niece "you may think you know who you're up against, but you don't. Then tell me. What really happened between you two?
"Peter Pan destroyed my father" he looked to Amelia "and your mother"
The rescue party went forward to the camp in full force as they marched closer to their destination. Romeo headed the party once again with Tink, while Amelia stayed near the back in front of her Uncle. They hadn't said a word focusing on getting to the camp and finding Henry.
"We need to talk" Emma started catching up to the pirate in front of her making the red head behind her look up
"I've found when a woman says that, I'm rarely in for pleasant conversation" Hook retorted
"There has to be a way for David to leave the island" Emma's question peaked Amelia's interest
"Well, there isn't" he simple answered her
"He told me about your brother, what happened" Emma told the pirate "I know it can't be easy to talk about, but..." Hook cut her off
"Well, then let's not, shall we? The water that cured David from dream shade has connected him to the island. If he leaves, the connection is broken. The poison will kill him"
"What if we take some of the water with us?" Amelia interrupted the pairs conversation making them stop to look at her "That way David and Romeo stay connected. They can stay alive in Storybrooke"
"What?" Emma questioned as the assassin got questioning brows from both Hook and Emma
"Romeo was poisoned with dream shade by our Mentor and cured to ensure his banishment"
"For how long?" Captain Hook questioned the women trying to find a way to help their fathers "Once the water runs out, the dream shade will take their lives"
"Unless there was another cure" Rumple announced to the small group as he and Neal joined the small group making Amelia take a cautious step back "You suddenly interested in what I have to say?" the old man told them as he continued forward "Thought I wasn't to be trusted"
"You're not, but I'll take my chances" Emma tells them
"Well, if you remember, I, too, was poisoned with dream shade by a cowardly pirate" Rumple pointed to Hook "And yet.."
"Yes, and we know how you cured yourself old man, with a candle that takes another person's life" Amelia finished for her uncle "David nor Romeo aren't that selfish"
"Oh, how noble. The point is, after my near-death experience, I discovered much about the poison. I believe I could create an elixir back in my shop"
"What's your price?" Emma asked the man
"Well, this is quite the favor" he told the savior and assassin "I'd expect one of equal weight in return from each of you"
The older man went to walk away only for the red head to grab him by the shoulder and force him back as she stepped in his path
"So, you want another decade of my life" Amelia scoffed at the man "tracking down every person that thought they could trick the trickster" an involuntary chuckle left the redhead's mouth "My Father tried to give you a chance to be something more to me when I had nothing, yet you threw that away so you could use me and my upbringing to get petty revenge on deals that people tried getting out of. My final contract with you was to get your son" she seethed the last words at the man "I owe you nothing"
"And..uh here I thought you do anything to get away from dear old Dad" the old man jeered at her taking a few steps towards her
"Because despite what he's done to me over the years, at least he regrets lying to me for so long. Something I don't think you ever wanted to do"
"No" Neal stepped up to his father as he came between his cousin and his father "When we get back to Storybrooke, you're gonna save David and Romeo because it's the right thing to do" he tells him "No deals, no favors, understand?"
"Fine" Rumple relented "I'll do as you ask"
"I'll go tell David" Emma tells them as she leaves to catch up with the others only be cut short when Tink and Romeo backtrack to find the stragglers with the Charming couple and Regina
"We're here. Pan's perimeter" the fairy announces
"It's time" Emma nods before taking stepping up as the leader of the rescue party "Tink will sneak us in the back like we grab Henry. In and out, simple" Emma went over the plan before looking to Neal "You good with Pan patrol?
"Locked and loaded" he confirmed tapping his leather satchel
"You mind if I, uh..." Rumple spoke up taking Hook's sword from the pirate's belt "borrow this? You said no magic, I agreed. But I'm not walking in there with nothing but my good looks"
"Now I, on the other hand..." Hook trailed off as Romeo unsheathed one of his swords handing it to the pirate
"Here, in case your good looks fail you" Romeo quipped throwing his sword to the pirate who easily caught it in his good hand
"Thanks, mate"
With the plan set the group looked to Emma "Let's get Henry"
High in the tree's Amelia overlooked Pan's camp as she watched the lost boys talk among themselves. Turning on her sixth sense her world around her came to life as the Neverland turned dark blue.
In the foliage she saw the group of rescuers in blue waiting patiently for the all clear from her. Turning her head her vision highlighted the lost boys as red except for one blue figure sat at the edge of camp sitting on a log with is elbow's on his knees and hands clasped tighter waiting for something.
Thomas. Her father's 'apprentice'
She looked further into the camp to see a blue figure in a cage a little away from the camp. But there was no sign of either of her targets.
"Can I at least use magic on these boys?" Rumple quietly asked his son as he stood with Regina waiting for the red head's signal
"No"
The three went back into silence waiting for their moment as the older man become more impatient for his niece "How much longer is she going to take?"
"Trust her Rumpelstiltskin" Romeo's gruff voice came from his right "she knows what she's doing"
Just as Romeo stopped speaking a series of whistles that went unnoticed by the lost boys resonated through the camp, but went noticed to the figures waiting in the foliage surrounding the camp, a smug smile pulled up on Romeo's face as Rumple gave him a pointed glare.
"I'll do it" Regina tells the Dark One
"You remember the spell?" the older man as his once student earning a pointed glare from the Queen before she waved her hand.
As the lost boys dropped to the floor asleep so did Amelia from the tree landing on her feet with a thump as the rescue part emerged from the foliage with weapons ready for a fight
"He's not here" Amelia announced to the savior as she quickly approached the Assassin
"What? Are you sure?" she gaped at the Assassin as everyone looked through every nook and cranny of the camp to find the eleven-year-old
"Emma, I'm sorry there not here"
"Help!" a voice yelled out that made the savior run towards the noise with Neal hot on her heels while Amelia sought out her father.
She quickly found Romeo with an unconscious Tom on the ground as he looked over the young teen, approaching the par
"Is he okay?" her voice made her father look up at her
"He is"
"I can get Regina to wake him up" Amelia offered her father
"No, that won't be necessary if the others see him awake before them, he'll be in more trouble" he said as he placed his soft satchel behind the teen's head in a fatherly manner.
With no sign of either Pan or Henry the rescue party regrouped in the camp after Emma and Neal discovered who was in the cage near the camp. It was a young girl in her early teen's called Wendy. Neal knew her before his time on Neverland.
While everyone gathered around the girl either stood or sat down on something Romeo remained with the unconscious Tom while the other lost boys had been tied by their wrists and ankles for when they finally woke up. The older Assassin wouldn't let anyone near his apprentice. Even waving anyone away if they got too near him.
Seeing this Regina sought out the redheaded assassin not understanding the protectiveness over the one boy, that just so happened to be the same Lost Boy they had used to get their message to Henry
"Do you know what that is about?"
"I do" she tells the former Queen as the letter in her robes seemed to start burning through the material
"Well?" she pushed her old partner
"His name is Thomas, over the years he's become Romeo's new apprentice, we run into him earlier when he found us on our way to Tink's tree-house"
"He found you?"
No one just found an assassin, let only two and with the teen's experience of finding them
"He possesses our sight. He's been waiting for a chance to off the island for a while, so when we came, it gave him hope he could actually do it with our help" she explained turning her heard to look at the former Queen "Why are you so interested in him anyway?"
"No reason" she quickly tells the assassin attempting to walk away only for her Amelia's firm grip on her forearm to stop her "Get your hand off me" Regina lowly growls snatching her arm out of the assassin's grip.
She was defensive, she knew something she didn't
"Then tell me why are you so interested?"
"Why are you obsessing over this boy, if you haven't noticed my son is still missing"
"You need to tell me because if my Father finds out first, you have no idea what he's capable of when someone get in between him and a young-ling"
"I think I can handle a few sharp blades" she snaps at the assassin before walking away from her as she see's Neal kneeling down in front of the girl they had found
"Hey, Wendy" Neal started "since you've been here, have you seen my son? His name's Henry"
"You have a son?"
"Yeah. Pan needs his heart"
"Has he said anything about the heart of the truest believer?" Emma asks from a stool she was sat on
"No. I'm sorry. He never mentioned anything about a heart"
"She's lying" Rumple snarled holding up his sword he borrowed from Hook "Where is he?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa" David quickly rushed forward to stop the dark one from advancing further "What the hell are you doing?"
"I've carried enough lies in my life to recognize their burden. She knows where Henry is"
"Is that true?" Neal asks Wendy looking back at her
"You don't understand" the girl plead with the others
"You're helping Pan?" Mary Margaret added
"He's keeping John and Michael alive, only if I do as he says" Wendy explains
"Trust me, whatever he's promised, he will go back on his word" Gold tells her
"And why should I trust a man who abandoned his own son?" she argues
"Because your brothers did" Regina spoke up "They trusted a woman named Belle. They helped her get this box so we can defeat Pan"
"They're okay?" the girl asked the former Queen
"For now, and only if we succeed" Rumple replied
Neal went back to kneel in front of the girl "Wendy... we will save John and Michael, I swear to God. But right now, I really need your help. Please"
Convinced that her brothers were safe Wendy started to explain "Pan told Henry that... he needs his heart to save magic. But it's a lie. He needs it to save himself"
"What do you mean?" Hook asked from were he lent on a tree
"Pan's dying. He needs the heart of the truest believer to absorb all the magic in Neverland. And once he does... he will be immortal, all powerful"
"And what happens to Henry?" the redheaded Assassin speaks up for the first time
"Well, it's a trade. When Pan lives, Henry will die"
"How do we stop Pan?" David asked the girl
"Pan took Henry to Skull Rock" Wendy informs them "But you haven't got much time"
"Then we stay behind" David says to his wife glancing to the assassin's present "Someone needs to be here to guard the lost boys when they wake up" Amelia nods along with the former Prince
"You don't need to stay behind" Emma argues to the four
"David's right" her mother stops her "You get him home, tell him we love him"
"Tell him yourself, when you get back from Deadman's Peak" Emma replies looking at Amelia "Gold can cure you and Romeo back in Storybrooke. We just need to bring some of the water with us"
Hearing the news the former Princess closes the distance between herself and her daughter engulfing her in a grateful embrace "And you... you didn't give up" the redhead hears her chuckle out as Mary Margaret turns to Gold "Thank you"
"Well, apparently, that's the only thanks I need these days.
"Tink and I will take care of things here" Hook announces to the group "Meet you back at the Jolly Roger when you find Henry"
"Promise me if your father and I don't make it back, you get him home" Mary Margaret whispers to her daughter
"We're all going back home" the blonde says out load "Together"
With their final move in motion Amelia joined her father and the Charming couple back to Dead Man's Peak with smiles on their faces as they trekked towards the Peak that held the water they would need to take back to Storybrooke. With the water safely in both men's water skins they walked back to Pan's camp seemingly lighter footed, knowing they had a chance of getting them back home.
"You really want me to come back with you?" Romeo gently broached the subject with his daughter making her look at him
"I do" she tells her father with a half smile that would always remind him of his wife"Is that really so surprising?"
"I thought after everything-"
"I know. And I'm sorry for that. But spent the first eighteen years of my life wishing you were my father and now your here and there's a chance we can have the relationship I've always wanted with no-one to stop us this time"
"I would like that as well Amelia" he mirrored her smile just as the two assassin's came to a sudden thought as their felt something sift drastically in the air making the Charming couple ahead to notice.
The married couple didn't get a chance to turn around as a burst of green magic washed over them almost making lose their footing as the wind rushed past them as David grabbed his wife's hand to keep them steady.
Once the pulse had faded the royal couple frantically looked around for the source
"What was that?" Mary Margaret asked as she and David looked back at the assassin's behind them. But all they saw in the their faces was complete heartbreak as neither assassin hide the tears that ran down their cheeks knowing what had happened for that powerful pulse to happen.
The worst had happened.
Wide eyed and frozen the redhead's lipped trembled as her heart pounded loudly in her head, only two word escaping her lips
"Oh god"
AN:
Getting to the end of the first half of Season 3.
Can't wait to start publishing the next half, but we've still got a couple of Neverland story line to get through before we get to the second half
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