Once A Lost Girl | Once Upon A Time Story | Peter Pan

03x11 - What do You Wish For? - Present

        "Hello, Papa." Gold said.

        "Thought you'd kill me in my sleep, laddie." Pan sat up and scanned us both. Eventually, his eyes grazed over the leather cuff on his wrist. "oh, wait, I see. You've taken away my magic. That's why it's so easy for you to strut around and and pose now, isn't it?"

        "I wanted to talk to you. I wanted you to see me and think about what you've done." 

        Pan smirked. "Of course. To look at my son here at the end and really see him and think about what might've been. Is that what you want? Because I do. I remember looking at  you... the littlest babe. Helpless and all mine. Those big, big eyes... full of tears..." Pan's face shifted. Slowly, the smirk that became a smile melted again into something sinister; something dark. "pulling at me... pulling away my name, my money, my time. Pulling away any hope of making my life into something better for myself." He clenched his jaw, eyes set and dark as he glared at Rumple. "This pink, naked, squirming little larva that wanted to eat my dreams alive and never stop! How old are you now? A couple hundred? Can't I be free of you?" He seethed.

       "Oh,  you will be." Gold drew a sword. I looked at him in confusion. "In death."

       "Wait a second--"

       "Then, one last lesson, son. Never make a cage you can't get out of." Pan ripped the cuff off of his wrist. I swallowed thickly, the heat of a fireball licking the tips of my fingers. "I made this cuff, you know. Doesn't work on me, but on you..." he snapped, the cuff appearing on Gold's wrist. I tossed the fireball. He caught and quenched it. "I'll deal with you in a second. Let's see how you do without magic, laddie."

        Gold reached for the blade. I tried to help, but Pan held me in place. He kicked Gold back into the shelf. "I've come too far for this. For them!"

         "For your son? No, it's too late. Soon, that fine green smoke will fill their lungs and fog their brains. Not like the rest of this town. I'm not just going to take their memories. No. Because of their special meaning to you, I'm going to take their lives and you won't do a thing to stop me. Do you know why? Because without magic, you are right back to where you started. The Village coward." 

         I blinked and we were in the alley by the shop. He released the hold on me. I stared him down. Pan rolled his neck and then his shoulders. The necklace's weight was heavy in my hand. I bit the inside of my cheek. If he's casting a curse, I'm burning time. I just have to ask regardless of the answer. 

          "What were you taking it for?" I forced out. "My magic. That's what this has all been about, right? Henry's heart... my magic... making you immortal and forever young."

         "He wouldn't tell you would he?" Pan smirked. "And now here you are, at the mercy of the information I choose to give you. I have to hand it to you, Elyssa. You've come a long way from believing the flowers." 

         "Cut the shit, Pan. I get it. I was a pawn. Now, tell me--"

         "Your power could change entire destinies. Regina wanted her revenge, Rumple wanted Baelfire back, and I wanted to be a boy forever. What do all three of us have in common?"

         I grit my teeth. "You're villains. No chance of a happy ending. Those are the rules."

         "Rules you could bend, if only you harnessed your power. Why do you think I spent so much time teaching you when I couldn't stomach hearing you speak everyday? Why I erased my... less becoming temper from your memory? You're fragile. Broken. Great for my purposes, terrible for your magic. Your magic only works if you have hope. Rumple practically served you to me on a silver platter when he gave you to the Queen. Why trust the provably evil ruler when there's a charming smile offering you a better life? I'd have been a fool to pass up the opportunity."