Pan Never Fails

Let's Play

The two grim girls hit the ground running. They ducked underground and slipped through the echo caves, taking the shortest path to the training grounds. Good, faster. The memory rang through Y/N's mind. She shook the phantom off and grabbed for a sword. She hadn't used the real weapons yet but the balance was the same as the wood and leather she learned with. Wendy pulled out her own sword, unwrapping the protective cover.
Y/N passed over the crossbows and wrinkled her nose at the dreamshade. Her arm throbbed at the thought of the poison and she winced.
Wendy saw. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah I'm fine." She glanced up and pointed at Wendy's long strip of fabric. "Pass me that." With Wendy's help she wrapped her injured arm tight to her chest. She sucked in a hissing breath as they pulled it tight.
    "Better?"
    Y/N nodded shakily, her eyes squeezed shut. "Better. Thank you."
Wendy gestured at the sword in Y/N's good hand. "You sure you'll be able to use that? Last you told me, sparing and shooting didn't work out too well."
"It's a long sharp stick," Y/N mumbled, testing the balance. "The pointy end goes in the other guy. It can't be that different." She shot a longing glance at her bow leaning against a cave wall, then remembered her arm and shook her head.
    Wendy passed Y/N her quiver. "Better than nothing?"
    Y/N smiled and slipped it over her head. The familiar weight on her back was comforting. She and Wendy shared a look, "thank you," Y/N whispered. Then, she spun on her heel and started down the next tunnel, calling over her shoulder, "find them!"
The two split up to cover more ground. The Island above their heads was constantly moving and changing. Only the Echo Caves stood still, so even if they had tried to stay close they might have come up on opposite sides of the island. Y/N knew just where she was when she stepped from the tunnel and before long she was back where it all started. She was standing in a clearing she recognized, staring at her tree.
"Y/N?"
She whipped around, forcing Pan against a tree trunk and raising her sword to his throat. "You lied to me," she snapped.
The look of surprise on his face didn't last long. "You've still got fire, but I was the one who taught you that," he smirked, "and there's one thing I didn't teach you."
"Yeah, and what's that?"
"Never make a cage you can't get out of." He twisted out of her grip, knocking the sword aside, and before she knew it, Y/N was the one pinned.
She struggled against him but he didn't move any more than the tree at her back. "You can't keep Henry and his mother separated. You have to stop this Pan." She spat the name like it was bitter on her tongue.
A look of hurt crossed his face. "Y/N all of this is for you. Soon enough you'll see that."
"Let them go." She was pleading now.
"I can't." He stepped back, releasing her. "I'm sorry, but I won't fail you."
Before Y/N had time to speak or go for the sword or even draw an arrow from her quiver, he waved his hands and the clearing was gone.
When the smoke cleared Y/N was back in the cave of Skull Rock. She rushed out to the shore, hoping for a way back to the main island but all around her was water and she knew she couldn't fly anymore.
"Peter Pan!" She screamed to the stars.
She paced the length of the small beach and scoured every wall of the cave for a way out before her vision swam and she was forced to sit. Sit and wait for Pan and Emma to come back so she could give him a piece of her mind. She was furious.
She forced herself to her feet when she finally heard footsteps. Y/N was ready to throw a punch but it wasn't Pan who walked in first. It was Henry.
"Henry! What are you doing here?" Her mood switched from anger to overwhelming concern. The change was dizzying. "Did you find your mother?"
His face fell a little. "Why would I be looking for my mother?"
"Because she's looking for you! Pan needs her. He took you for me but Henry, I promise I didn't know."
Henry still seemed confused. "Pan doesn't need Emma."
"Of course he does. She's the Savior. She's the Truest Believer." Henry just looked at her until realization set it. "No she isn't," she whispered. "It's you. Henry, you're the Truest Believer. You're here to save me?"
He nodded and looked somehow both tentative and determined.
"Thank you Henry" she sobbed, holding him tight with one arm. 
Peter materialized in the doorway. Even on a dying island, with his magic nearly gone, he still managed a flair for the dramatic. The anger that had just recently drained out of Y/N came back in full force.
"Peter! Why didn't you—" she cut herself off. "What are you doing?"
Peter was still in the doorway, drawing lines in the dirt. "Casting a protection spell," he called over his shoulder. "I'd rather not have to guard you both from flying arrows or sword fights just now."
Y/N shook her head but the anger didn't come back as strongly. "Why didn't you tell me it was Henry? He's my friend. He would have helped anyway."
"I needed him to find you Y/N. He needed to see what the island dying meant."
"Why?"
"I need his heart."
"He already believes Peter, you have his heart." Peter gave her a look that made her stomach drop. "Wait, you need his actual heart? To do what?"
Pan's voice was calm and calculating, every inch the mastermind. "I'll use it, in place of my own, to restore the island."
Henry blanched, "but, what will happen to me?"
"You'll become the greatest of all heros."
"He'll die!" Y/N screamed, colored spots popping and dancing in her vision.
"You can tell me the truth," Henry was fighting to keep his voice steady. "I know all magic comes with a price. Saving it must come with a price too."
"I would never lie to you Henry. And you're right. There is a price. I know it's a huge sacrifice but isn't it worth it?"
Henry took another step towards Pan. "Heros have to make sacrifices all the time. My family taught me that."
"They'd be proud if they could see you now, because you're about to save them all. Now, are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Then let me help you." Pan took Henry's hand and closed his eyes. A moment later Henry's hand was glowing, enchanted with the ability to pull out his own heart.
"No!" Y/N pleaded. "Peter, Henry please! There has to be another way!"
Pan rounded on her, gesturing frantically, "look at that hourglass Y/N. We're nearly out of time. There is no other way."
"It's you or me Y/N. And I'm going to choose you. I just want to be a hero too." Henry smiled so sweetly, it broke her heart.
"No Henry, that's not what I meant. That is not what makes you a hero." Henry looked down at his still glowing hand. "Henry, look at me. Please look at me! You know what your family taught me? It's that there's another way. There is always another way, do you understand me?" She forced her way in between him and Peter, holding his face in her hand. "Henry? You understand?"
He met her gaze, his eyes filling with tears and took a shuddering breath. Y/N helped him lower his still glowing hand.
"No! Henry, there's no time!" Peter's voice rang through the cave sharp and clear and far too loud. He shouldered past Y/N to grab Henry by the shoulders.
Y/N cringed at the sound and staggered at the pain in her head. The room was spinning, her head was pounding, and her whole body was thrumming with adrenaline.
Henry looked at her, tears now streaming down his cheeks. "I'm sorry Y/N," he whispered. Then he plunged his hand into his own chest.
"No!" Y/N sobbed and doubled over in pain. She collapsed to the ground, shaking and holding her burning arm.
Peter rushed to her side, kneeling and cradling her head. He waved his hand over her arm like he had so many times before but the black veins of poison didn't slow. "No," he whispered. "No, no, no. Y/N no, hold on!" He looked to Henry, who was still staring, wide eyed, at the heart in his hand. "Now Henry, please we have to —"
Loud footsteps and worried voices cut him off. Emma, Regina, and Neal burst into the cave swords drawn, magic flaring, and eyes flashing.
"Henry, whatever Pan is telling you to do, don't do it," Neal warned.
Henry looked up to see his father standing in the doorway. "Dad, you're alive?"
"I am buddy, and I need you to listen to me. Pan is lying to you."
"No I'm not!" Pan screamed from the floor. "I am not lying. I am desperate and out of time. Please! If you care for her at all please help me save her!"
"Dad," Henry's lip trembled, "we can't let her die."
Everyone turned to see Y/N, seemingly for the first time. She was pale and trembling, and covered in sweat. The black lines of poison were tracing their way up her neck and across her jaw. She looked so small, curled up on the floor. Dying, she was dying. They could all see it.
Emma held a threatening sword to Peter's throat. "If this is another game Pan —"
"It's not," he held his hands up. "No more games. Just... please," his voice broke over a sob.
Y/N looked up and saw Peter's panicked face, and Emma's sword tip, and then the firelight of a torch dancing on the cave wall. For a moment, Y/N felt very light, like a top spinning on its head, until Emma and the sword and the cave and Peter were swallowed up in darkness as she finally gave in to the poison.