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

3x01 - Nevermind - Present

In the span of time where I'd taken a small reprieve the mermaid blew a conch shell and Regina turned her to wood. If it were possible, I felt even more frustrated with her than I was with myself. The sky had darkened and the waters steadily got rougher. Hook was still at the helm, trying to keep the ship from capsizing. Thunder clapped.

      "Regina, what did you do?" Emma shouted.

      "Dear god can we stop fighting for two seconds!" I was done by this point. Absolutely, positively done, "we need to survive to be able to save Henry! Or did you all forget that?" Regina scoffed, taking a step towards me.

      "Oh please! You're the only one who's forgotten Henry. Did you even come for him or just to keep up appearances?" as the Queen finished her sentence something set in my heart. It felt like a rope, squeezing and tearing it apart. Then, all at once, I got angry.

      "Me? Appearances? I'm the bad child, remember? The rebellious one! The one who only still lives with you because I can't be trusted to go it alone! You've never trusted me, not once! And maybe there's a good reason for it-- but that does not mean you get to accuse me of not caring about one of the few people in this world I actually love!" It was too late to turn back now. I went there, and I'm sure I couldn't come back from it even if I wanted to. This time she was going to listen to me. Whether she wanted to or not.

       "Love? I took care of you! I saved you!--" Regina was cut off by Snow standing to my side and ripping into her herself.

       "And then killed her by forcing her into the darkness," the royal seethed, "the same way you hunted me down because your mother killed Daniel."

       "Because you couldn't keep your mouth shut!" it didn't take much for that to devolve into a fist fight. I wanted to cry, if you could believe it. Not because I was sad or hurt, but because I was angry. I was bloody furious; and apparently have been around Hook too long. 

      David and Hook were fighting, Mary Margaret and Regina were fighting. Me and Emma just kind of sat there. She tried to break them up, but nothing was working. The ship jerked and threw me into the mast. I suddenly remembered getting nailed in the side by a railing. The next part was the scariest, stupidest thing I've ever seen someone do.

Emma jumped ship.

         Like, actually. She just dove off the starboard side like an Olympic swimmer. I ran to the railing. Snow and David came next, shouting her name. Hook and Regina weren't far behind. A rope snapped and hit her, knocking her out.

         "Regina, get her up here!" Snow said desperately.

        "I-I can't, not in this storm! I'll probably bring up water and," she motioned stutteringly, trying to find the right words, "half her leg."

        "So what do we do?" I asked, "she'll drown."

        "Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious," Regina said sarcastically.

        Hook took the opportunity to butt in and buffer, "oi, cap it at First Mate, Your Majesty. And look, this is exactly what got us into this in the first place. Let's focus on saving Emma," David started to climb over the railing, "Mate stop."

        "She'll drown!" he responded.

        "And so will you. Let me help," Hook tossed me one end of the rope. I nodded, wrapping it around David's torso and tying it off in a good knot. In hindsight, that might've given me away. In double hindsight I'd rather have gotten caught and Emma's alive then to have not and Henry be out two family members.

        David jumped in, and I'm glad I tied the knot twice. He swam to get her and the next few seconds felt like hours. Once he had hold of her we pulled him up. I'm more than sure everyone was relieved, and yet still tense. Emma wasn't breathing, her lungs having filled with water. She did, effectively, drown. 

         "Emma?" David said gently, fearing the worst.

         "No," Mary Margaret breathed, her voice soft and weak.

        The next few seconds felt like days. I was stood next to Hook and subconsciously backed into him, my shoulder just barely brushing his arm. He nearly reacted to pull me in, but thought better of it. 

         Emma suddenly jerked, coughing up water. I let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding. It was like my entire body had suddenly relaxed and all the stress I'd been holding on to dissipated. Emma was okay, David was okay. Henry has a chance. We have a shot. That's it, I've made my decision; I'm not going to throw this away. As long as I believe we can get Henry and get out, we will. 

I will not tell them that I know Pan, whatever the cost. Not until Henry is safe.

        When Emma had finally caught her breath enough she spoke, "I told you."

       Due to the damage dealt to the Jolly Roger we had to set anchor early and go ashore. My eyes traveled the length of the landmass before me, drinking in the familiar scent of the forest and seawater. I fingered one of the gems on my necklace, getting a sick, nervous feeling in my gut. It felt strange being back and almost nostalgic. I swallowed hard, trying to keep from hurling over the side of the row boat. We hit shore. 

       And they were already arguing again. Regina proposed fixing the Jolly Roger with magic. Because that went so well with the mermaid. Emma just shook her head, "the sneak attack plan? Let's not be naive. Save your magic. We'll need it later, because Pan already knows we're here. It's time we stop running. Gold was right. This land is run on belief. All of us have been too busy being at each other's throats to be believers. I was as wrong as anyone else. It's time for all of us to believe... not in magic, but in each other," as Emma finished her speech I moved slightly behind the line, placed between The Queen and Snow White. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to find some semblance of calm.

        "After all that's happened between us you want to be friends?" Regina said spitefully.

        "I don't want or expect that," Emma clarified, "I know there's a lot of history here, and a lot of hate." 

         My body took another step back before I could catch myself. The mother of the savior spared me a concerned glance. I smiled in return.

         Hook gestured with his hand, as he often does whenever he's doing his version of flirting or talking to a pretty lady, "actually, I quite fancy you from time to time when you're not yelling at me," I just silently shook my head in amusement. Emma connected eyes with me after rolling her eyes at Hook.

           "We don't need to be friends. What we need to know is the only way to get Henry back is cooperation."

            Prince Charming spoke this time, "With her?" he gestured to my caretaker, "with him?" he gestured to the pirate, "No, Emma, we need to do this the right way."

            I bit my tongue to keep from interjecting. Emma continued, "No, we don't. We just need to succeed. And the way we do that is by just being who we are... a hero, a villain," the blonde hesitated, deciding to skim over me, "a pirate. It doesn't matter which, because we're gonna need all those skills, whether we can stomach them or not." I had a few skills, but none of them were uplifting. I almost always end up doing the opposite.

           "And what's your skill, savior?" Regina challenged.

           "I'm a mother," Emma shot back without missing a beat, "and now I am also your leader. So, help me go save my son or get out of the way," she turned and started walking. Her parents followed first and I slipped in behind them. Eventually Hook and Regina followed and though I don't know in what order I have a pretty good guess. Off we went, deeper into the hell that was Neverland.

What could possibly go wrong?