Set Your Sails...to Neverland || Peter Pan, OUAT

Chapter 18 - Disrupted Plans

~ Davina

I'm so ready to find my ship, to find something to get me back to Neverland and to finally get rid of Pan by completing this task once and for all, and to make a deal so that I won't have to see him again. I'll be free.

But this will have to wait. Thanks to Regina's lovely mother.

For the majority of the day, Regina and I have been discussing the recovering of what might be left of my ship, planning when to do find it, what we will need, and who will be there. I'm exhausted because there are so many complications, and I don't want to tell too many people and get their hopes up of finding a way to travel between worlds because that will give them the idea of going back to the Enchanted Forest -  if there is anything to go back to - and that possibility, might not even be that in itself.

I step outside, glad to be out of the stuffy library, zipping up my coat to protect me from the freezing evening temperature, and take a deep breath of fresh air, instantly clearing my head. I begin walking home, past Granny's diner where everyone is celebrating Emma and Snow returning to Storybrooke after an accidental trip to the Enchanted Forest - what an event that was - which I let them carry on with, not wanting to interrupt. Maybe they'll enlighten everyone on the state of their original land. But even if I go, I won't be much fun because I'm too preoccupied with saving the town from Pan. Regina's there, taking her homemade lasagna and welcoming the least likely people back. She's been doing well, changing for the better to be a good mother to Henry.

I look around at the empty street, reading the familiar shop signs when I notice that Doctor Hopper's light is still on. I think about giving him a visit, when I spot Regina, entering Doctor Hopper's workplace. 

How did she...? 

I wait, but she never comes out again. Instead, Cora comes out, looking far too smug. And then I hear Pongo barking, and because my natural curiosity and suspicion have to be satisfied, I go to investigate. She's locked the door, but nothing like a little bit of lock picking to find out what the dog is getting so upset about. Checking my surroundings, I use a couple of hairpins to trick the lock, opening the door just wide enough for me to slip inside. It's dark, and it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust.

"Doctor Hopper?" I call out, but there's no response.

I go up to his office, moving quietly and quickly in case someone else is waiting. I stand against the wall, peering over my shoulder into the room, listening for movement. The only light I have comes from the singular streetlight outside, casting eerie angles and shadows throughout the office. 

"Archie?" I ask again. Still nothing.

I step into the office, looking over the office. There are papers and a pen still left on his desk, seemingly unfinished. My eyes graze over the room, until my gaze lands on the floor. I see his feet poking out from his desk, too relaxed, too still. I step closer and see his body, unconscious and unmoving on the floor. I check his breathing, and then his pulse. 

He's dead. 

In this moment, I have no idea what to do. Usually, I can think of a solution quite quickly but, I have nothing. I only just notice Pongo's incessant barking, so I start by calming him down. 

Think, Davina, think.

Despite the guilt churning my stomach, I decide to leave him, and investigate on my own, to find out what Cora is really up to and what she wants with the town's psychiatrist. There must have been a reason for Cora to kill Doctor Hopper as Regina, and I have to find out why. I form a plan to let Emma discover him, then convince her that I can help with minor things and work with her on the investigation while I also work on my own. I need access to records on the townspeople. And I also have the extra evidence so that if Regina were to go back on everything she has changed for Henry, I can stop her, to help Henry but to also make sure that my plan isn't delayed any longer.