Pan Never Fails

The Return Home

Y/N sat in the waiting room, studying the gray and brown speckled brick straight ahead of her. She heard the receptionist call Emma and Regina. They burst in and ran to the little room but they were too late. Henry was gone.
Y/N felt it was important they had privacy. Regardless, she couldn't have moved if she wanted to. She heard Regina sobbing, "no, no," but Emma was quiet. Y/N finally looked up to see her smooth the boy's hair.
"I love you Henry," she whispered and kissed his forehead.
A wave of light, multicolored and shining, burst from the room. Shooting out from Henry who gasped and sat upright. "I love you too. You saved me." Emma sounded delirious in her laugh as she held Henry close. "You did it," he mumbled from inside her crushing embrace.
Emma looked around at the others in the room. She saw everyone's eyes: clear for the first time since she'd known them. "Henry, what's going on?"
"The curse, I think you broke it."
"That was true love's kiss," said Mother Superior, the Blue Fairy. Regina looked mortified. The woman sized fairy turned on her, "if I were you, your majesty, I'd find a place to hide."
But Regina didn't run just then. She went to Henry, grasping at his hands, desperate to be heard. "Henry, no matter what you think, no matter what anyone tells you, I do love you." Then, she turned and ran out the double doors.
Emma looked around again before concern crossed her face. "Henry, what's going on here? The curse is broken, why didn't they go back?"
"I don't know."
They helped Henry to stand and go to the window, just to see if they really were still in Storybrooke, to make sure they hadn't all been taken back to their home in the Enchanted Forest. They were just in time to see a purple storm cloud of a curse wash over buildings and street signs, coming rapidly towards them.
"What is that?"
"Something bad," Henry whispered, "magic is coming."
Y/N's arm began to burn as the cloud got closer.
She felt herself collapse to the floor as the purple haze engulfed them all.

Y/N had a jumbled, distorted dream of Neverland. She couldn't be sure what was really happening, what were stories, and what were memories of the imaginary island. She was feverishly aware of Storybrooke from her place in the hospital. Emma and Snow traveled between lands, the Wraith beggan terrorizing the townspeople and Henry went to live with David. The town was in chaos and she slept still.
When she awoke in earnest, she was lying in the same hospital bed Henry had occupied before. They had traded places. Henry was now the one reading to her.
She struggled to sit up and felt burning pain shoot through her arm. She cried out and Henry pushed her back down. "Shhh," he whisper-shouted, "it's okay, you're okay."
Y/N took a panicked look around the white, sanitary little room. "Why am I here?"
"Doctor Wale says there's poison in your system. He's not sure what to call it but it's definitely poison."
"I was poisoned? By that purple smoke?"
"No," he shook his head, "that was the magic coming back. The poison is in the cut."
"A cut? On my arm?"
He nodded mutely.
She closed her eyes and forced the fog from her mind. Her dream of returning to Neverland came back to her, clinging to her like the smell of smoke on clothing. Felix, his sword, and the black veins spreading from the cut on her arm. "Henry, that book you were reading, I'm in it right?"
"Yeah."
"Can I see it?"
He handed her the book and she thumbed through to the page about Peter Pan and his shadow. "Is it really that simple?"
Henry shrugged, "Belief is a very powerful thing."
She shot him a teasing smile. "You sound like Snow."
"She's right."
"Maybe she is. I know what to do now."
That night she made her way to the window. She held her throbbing arm to her body as she watched the sky darken, clearing space for stars. As soon as the second star appeared she closed her eyes and whispered, "Peter, I believe."
Nothing happened. The room was still. Maybe Neverland was simply too far away. Travel between worlds was a tall order. She sighed and closed the window, shuffling back to bed.
Behind her, the window flew open by itself. Y/N turned to see a silhouette standing in the frame. It offered her a hand and she took it. Before she even realized she was moving, she was high above the rooftops of Storybrooke.
She flew with the shadow, over the water and past the second star. She knew she should have been scared but she wasn't, just overwhelmingly relieved. She was on her way back to Neverland. She was going back home.

Y/N stumbled out of a hard landing and fell as the shadow dispersed. She tried to push herself up but her arm throbbed and buckled and she fell again.
Peter ran to her, at her side in seconds. He scooped her up and held her close. She was trembling both from exhaustion and cold, and she was crying freely with relief. She thought she felt Peter's body shake with a sob or two. She was so glad to see him again.
Once her mind stopped racing and she caught her breath she whispered, "Peter?"
"Yes."
"Peter you ran."
He gave a delirious chuckle. "Of course I did. I didn't think I would ever see you again."
"No Peter, why did you run when you can fly?"
He paused for a moment and almost seemed embarrassed. "I can't right now. There's a lot you've missed, Y/N."
She pulled away. "What do you mean? What've I missed?"
"Let's get you back to camp."
"Peter what happened?"
"Y/N it's not safe. We need to go now." He looked panicked.
She didn't struggle as he supported her weight with one arm and guided her back to camp. They picked their way cautiously through the trees. Peter was careful to steer her away from low growing thorns and grasping branches. When she lost her footing and slipped a little, Peter sprung into action, instinctively pulling her back and reaching for his dagger.
"Peter," she breathed, "I'm fine. You can let me down now."
The two were hovering just slightly over the ground, a fine mist of green falling around them.
They landed with a thud. He dug the palms of his hands into his eyes and let out a shaky breath. "We're almost there." He mumbled, mostly to himself.
He was right. Before long they reached camp on a path Y/N didn't recognize at all. They sat on a bed roll she could only assume was Peter's
Her voice was stern with the effort of not letting it shake. "Peter Pan, we're safe now. What is going on? Why won't you fly?"
He avoided her gaze. "The island is dying Y/N."
"Dying?" He was silent. "I don't understand. How can an island die?"
"The magic is running out. I'm running out of time. I can't just fly anymore. Belief, it isn't enough now, you need pixie dust and there's precious little left." He hung his head. "Y/N, so much has gone wrong since you left."
She cupped his face in her hand. She meant to say something encouraging about how she was here now and they would figure it out, but as she held his face he began to cry. A tear slipped down his cheek and as it hit the bed, that sharp, hot pain shot through her arm again. She sucked in a hissing breath and clapped a hand to it.
Peter looked up, his eyes sparkling with tears and widening with fear. "No," he whispered.
Y/N lifted her trembling hand to see thin lines of black snaking up her arm.
Peter closed his eyes hard. His brow furrowed in concentration as slowly, light began gathering in his hands. He held her arm gently and sent the little magic he had gathered into her. The spiderweb stopped growing but didn't get any smaller. When he opened his eyes, they weren't flashing green like they had done before, but there was a subtle shimmer there, not just from the tears.
"I couldn't stop it," he was out of breath, "but that should be enough to slow it down."
"What was on that blade exactly?"
"Dreamshade." His cheeks flushed red although she wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or anger. "The thorny vines you saw on the way here, deadly poisonous. It's always been here but they started growing everywhere when the island's magic started to weaken." She looked down at the cut, at the poison no longer spreading but still dark and ominous. Peter looked at her arm too and set his jaw. "There's not enough magic left to fix it. But this way, at least I have time to make a plan."
Y/N suddenly felt very small and cold. She didn't want to die. Tears began to well up and she focused on breathing them away, staring at her hands.
"Y/N," Peter whispered, "I will figure this out." Her breath caught on a sob. He gently lifted her chin, guiding her eyes to meet his. "Peter Pan never fails. I won't fail you."