Once Upon a Time in Storybrooke - OUAT DR

Chapter 8 - Skull Rock

We were all hiking through the jungle, following Tinker Bell to Peter Pan's compound.

It seemed like all we'd done since we'd been here was hike through this bloody awful place from one place to another. 

I missed the Jolly Roger, I missed my apartment. 

Emma and I talked to Snow about David; we had both noticed the two were finally talking to one another after the Echo Caves and they seemed to have buried whatever had been between them, at least for the time being. Snow confirmed that to be the case and Emma put together what that meant quicker than I had - if they had buried the hatchet that meant Snow White, our mom, would be staying in Neverland with David, leaving us again. I told her there had to be another way and we'd figure it out. Emma threw in a "That's what we do, we find one another and stay together, we're family, all of us," and we encouraged her to have hope. 

As we were walking we ran into Regina and Rumplestiltskin, the first time we'd seen him since we had arrived in Neverland. They revealed they had Pandora's Box and planned to use it to capture Pan. That was when Neal revealed Rumple wanted to kill Henry because of some prophecy that said Henry would be his undoing. Rumple tried to claim innocence but nobody could trust him, given his past, and after getting tired of listening to him try and defend himself I chimed in that trust has to be earned, not freely given. Neal jumped in with something similar and hearing the words from his son finally got Gold to forfeit Pandora's box to Neal. 

As we continued on I ran up to Killian, who was walking further ahead, to ask him about his brother and if he knew of a way for David to get off the island, Emma backing me up. Rumple chimed in that he could create an elixir for David once we returned to Storybrooke as long as David had enough water to take with him back to our land until he could make the elixir. Rumple tried to get us to agree to a deal but Neal told him he'd do it with no deals and he agreed, reluctantly. Emma ran off to tell our parents the good news but instead of running after her, I grabbed Hook's hook, stopping him from walking off, and told him I was sorry about whatever happened to his brother, genuinely, and he thanked me. We shared a moment on the trail then I realized I was still holding onto his hook and let go, stepping away a bit and continuing down the path ahead of him, wondering what had come over me. (Girl, you know you're down bad, just admit itttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt).

Once we located Pan's camp we could see all the Lost Boys surrounding the camp fire and Regina used a spell to make them all fall asleep. I watched as she did it and wondered if I could replicate it just by mimicking her moves and wondering if there would ever be an opportunity for me to try it out. 

With the Lost Boys fast asleep we rushed the camp. Unfortunately for us, Peter Pan wasn't among them, and neither was Henry. However, we did discover a young girl in a cage, Wendy Darling of all people, whom Neal seemed to recognize and know - and watched the two as they talked. 

Hook and I were standing close while everyone talked to Wendy and she revealed the truth about Peter Pan and his plan for Henry and where they were. Henry had the heart of the truest believer, and Peter Pan needed Henry's heart to continue living in Neverland young, forever, otherwise he'd die. Henry thought that he was saving magic and Neverland but that was just a lie Pan spun to get Henry to do what he wanted and give up his heart. Wendy told us they were going to Skull Rock and that was where we decided we would go, to save him.

David and Snow were going to head back to Dead Man's Peak, where the water that cured him of the Dreamshade poison was, to collect more so David would have enough to tide him over until Gold could make the cure for him back in Storybrooke. Hook and Tinker Bell elected to stay behind and guard the Lost Boys until they woke up and would meet us on the Jolly Roger. Neal, Regina, Emma, Rumpelstiltskin, and I would all go to Skull Rock to save Henry.

As we all walked away I cast a look behind me and saw Hook and Tinker Bell standing near one another, talking. He had been watching me leave, though, and saw me look back and flashed his devilish smirk at me as I quickly turned away and followed after everyone. Regina made a comment about me and the pirate casting eyes and needing to stay focused but I just rolled my eyes and ignored her, passing her on the trail.

Once down at the beach, we took a long boat to Skull Rock to save Henry. Skull Rock was a giant rocky island off the coast of Neverland (and yes it did in fact look like a giant skull). Neal rowed us into a cave where another boat was already tied up to a rock on the small sandy beach there. Neal pulled our boat up to the shore and tied it up and we all disembarked. Emma noticed Henry's footsteps in the sand once we got there right away and followed the trail up the stairs. Or, at least, she would have had she not been thrown back by an invisible magic barrier. Regina cast a fireball at it but it just ricocheted right back to us, nearly catching us all on fire. Rumplestiltskin told us Pan had cast a protection spell, which he then walked right through, meant to keep people who cast a shadow from entering. Rumple had his shadow removed when he first arrived in Neverland, which he had apparently told to Neal at some point.  He claimed Pan cast the spell to draw Gold in and finish what he came there to do; save Henry. Rumple pleaded with Neal to trust him and give him the box so he could defeat Pan and save his grandson. Regina snatched Pandora's Box from Neal's hands as he was about to hand it to his father and threatened him if he should fail before handing him the magical object. Rumple took Pandora's Box and disappeared from view.

As Emma, Regina, and Neal all discussed how to find a way through the protection spell I walked over to the stairs, examining the space where Emma had been thrown back. I reached out a hand and could feel the buzzing in my veins reacting to the invisible magic wall before me. I closed my eyes and focused on breaking down the wall, making it fall away so we could all pass. I could feel the buzzing in my fingertips and when I opened my eyes I saw the magic literally sparking off the ends of my fingers. 

Now, I'm not sure what compelled me, but I decided to reach out and touch the wall, imagining it falling away and connected with the magical barrier. Instead of being shot backward, the way my sister and Regina's fireball had a few minutes before, my magic zapped into the invisible wall, lighting the entire thing up like a wall of lightning before fizzling out. Everyone was standing behind me by that point and asked what I had done and I told them honestly I didn't know, I just did what felt right. Regina reached out her hand first and it passed through empty air, no barrier blocking the path.

I got a "Well done, dark Swan" from Regina and we all ran up the stairs. I ignored her nickname and followed after everyone, running up the stone stairs. As we climbed we could hear Peter Pan and Rumple arguing (Peter Pan was Rumplestiltskin's father and had traded a young Rumple for his youth, which made a lot of sense as to why he gave me the mega ick on sight, based on what I had been able to make out drifting down to us through the stair corridor). After the exchange, the two went quiet and we all ran faster up the stairs, trying to get to Henry in time, fearing something went wrong. 

Once we got to the top we saw Pan standing by Henry across the room by a giant hourglass that was filled with glowing sand. Henry had his heart in his hand - his beating heart. Henry saw his dad (who he had thought up until that moment was dead, I'm sure), both his mom's, and his aunt all working together to save him. Henry told us what he thought would happen to magic and we all tried to speak sense into him, telling him if he gave his heart to Pan he would die and that Pan was manipulating him. 

Pan started to talk to Henry, standing between us, and I spoke up and said "Henry, we all joined together, The Evil Queen, your mom, me, your dad, Rumplestiltskin, Snow and David, Hook -  Heroes, Villains, pirates,  the Savior - we all came to save you, putting our differences aside, and were all agreeing this was the wrong thing to do - it was wrong. Why would we all agree if it was a lie?" Henry hesitated, then Emma spoke up and told him that she knew what being a hero looked like and this wasn't it. Pan, seeming to be annoyed at Henry's hesitation and delay, grabbed Henry's heart from his hand, and shoved it inside his chest with a horrible smile on his face and Henry collapsed to the ground.