Better Love

Chapter Two

"I..." Jessa woke up, eyes blinking in the harsh bright light. "What?"

"Jess!" She heard Snow's voice right beside her. "Guys! She's awake!"

"Where am I?" She asked the princess, groaning as she reached up to touch the spot on her head that was hurting.

"The hospital." Snow told her. "And don't touch. Pan slammed you into a tree, you hit your head." Jessa looked around, recognizing the beeping machines and white walls of the hospital.

"What happened after I -"

"We stopped Pan." Rumplestiltskin stepped into the room, quickly followed by Henry who rushed over to give her a hug. "He's back in his body, trapped in the Pandora's box. Thanks to you, he wasn't able to complete his spell." He smiled, almost proud. "You did well."

"Yeah, good job." Emma told her.

"Thanks." Jessa respond with a slight blush, sitting up. "Can I get out of here now?" It was a well known fact to anyone who knew her that she hated hospitals, hated the sterile, depressing, ugly interiors.

"I'll ask Doctor Whale."

It only took a few seconds for the doctor to enter the room. He had clearly been listening in on them from outside. "Jessa, leaving already?" His tone was bored, but that was just how he generally sounded. "It's not everyday we get a hero in here... oh wait, you guys never leave. I forgot."

Jessa chuckled. She liked the doctor. He could be a bit of a prick, but his sarcasm was amusing enough. "Just sign me out please."

"Yeah, yeah. We all know about you and hospitals. You just fought a demon and we're the thing that scares you." He signed her chart as she protested the concept of her being afraid of anything. "Go home, be careful, call me if your head gets worse, etc, etc. You know the drill."

"Of course." She hopped off the bed when a thought hit her. "Hang on, what happened to that other guy? Pan's guy?"

"You mean Felix?" Henry asked and Regina scoffed at the name.

"Yeah"

"He's in jail." Charming told her, trying to sound comforting. "After we trapped Pan he went violent on us. Like a rabid dog."

"It was a little scary." Henry told her.

Jessa grabbed her things. "Well, I can see why. Pan did try to kill him."

"Yes. To steal his heart." Regina told her, like she didn't already know.

Jessa nodded, but her mind was swirling with thoughts. The boy - she now knew him as Felix -, his fearful shout had branding into her brain.

***

Felix sat on the floor, stretched out and leaning against the wall. It had been almost two days since he had been thrown in here, with barely anyone to speak to other than the sheriffs. Emma... and Prince Charming. The two of them filling him with such rage. Acting as if they know him, acting like they were so good, and pure. Like everything they did was just and honourable. The hypocrisy was astounding.

"Hello." He suddenly heard a quiet voice say.

Felix quickly turning his head to see a girl standing in the doorway. Tensing up, he glared at her.

"Felix, right? She asked, hands fidgeting. Smiling in a friendly way.

He recognized her almost immediately. She was the girl who stopped Pan. That stopped Pan from crushing his heart. She had cleaned up since then. Hair brushed and body clean, with a short, pink dress on. There was a small scratch on her face (one that would fade within a few days), but other than that, she looked the complete opposite to him, who truly looked like he lived in a forest.

"What do you want?" He forced his voice to sound harsh. She was friends with the heroes, so she was his enemy. It didn't matter that Pan abandoned him, she was still his enemy.

But... "I wanted to see if you were alright." She told him, leaving the safety of the doorway to step closer to the bars of the cell. The shoes she wore made her taller, with their strangely tall heels. Even if he knew he would still tower over her if he stood up. They made clicking sounds when she walked and he couldn't imagine they were very comfortable, or practical. How could she possibly fight in them?

"Why?" He responded, confused and distrustful. She was trying to manipulate him, he thought. That was the only explanation.

The girl just smiled at him, her wavy brown hair bouncing as she crouched down so that they were at eye level. "Well, you did almost die." Her tone was almost teasing, definitely trying to sound friendly. "Plus, I don't imagine a cell is very comfortable."

He scoffed. "You, are the one who put me in here, your friends. Thinking you're all so good, while doing the same thing that Pan would do to his enemies." Felix hissed at her, delighting when the friendly smile slipped from her face. But she managed to regain her composure a moment later much to his annoyance.

"Are you his enemy. Pan, I mean? He did betray you."

It was his turn to be caught off guard. "Shut your mouth!" He lunged at the bars of the cell, fury in his eyes. The girl fell back, frightened at his sudden loss of patience. "Don't even say his name!" He spit out.

"I'm sorry." She raised her hands in surrender. "Ok? I'm sorry. I won't, I just..."

"You're trying to manipulate me. Trying to convince me to join you, to trust you. Well, I don't!"

"Yeah." She stood up, brushing off her dress. "I can see that."

Her tone turned cold, abandoning the warm and friendly tone she had started with.

"I'm glad, girl." He told her, smirking. He hadn't fallen for her tricks.

"My name's Jessa." She told him. "And I'm not glad, all your friends have let us help them, give them new homes. You could too."

"I don't need your help."

"Really? Because Rumplestiltskin told me that now that P... now that your leader is gone, the shadow won't bring you back to Neverland, or any other world. You're stuck here."

"I'll find a way."

The girl — Jessa — sighed. "I'm sure you will. But wouldn't you like to do that outside of a cell?"

"You would be stupid to let me out of here, girl." He told her with a smirk.

Jessa just turned, rolling her eyes. He may have been right, but she wasn't willing to give up that easily. Despite how infuriating he was being. She left the room, knowing that she wouldn't be able to say anything else to him at the moment that would make him trust her.

Still, she vowed to return. He was lost, his emotions spilling out of him and threatening to explode. She knew that feeling well enough. She didn't want anyone to feel like that if she could help them. And she knew that people like Felix were easy to take control of, to use as a weapon. Just like Pan had been doing days before.

It only took a few minutes of her being gone for Felix to start feeling a little lonely. His conversation with her had been the most interesting one he had since he had last spoken to Pan. In fact, he'd hazard a guess that Pan would have liked her. If she wasn't a girl, of course.