Long Lost | Once Upon a Time (REWRITING)

Chapter Eighteen: Quite a Common Fairy

The six of them all trekked through the woods, none of them really knowing where they were headed. The familiar feeling of brush scraped across Grace's arms as they went deeper into the jungle, causing chills to run down her spine. Six years away from this place and she was already back. It was almost like she never left to begin with, and that thought alone only caused an even worse feeling to come over Grace.

She shrugged it off and continued forward with the rest when suddenly, a large branch that had been jutting out had managed to whack itself against her shoulder. Now, this normally wouldn't have been a problem, had it not been the same arm where she was shot. She gasped as her hand quickly shot up to hold her shoulder, pain erupting throughout her body. A burning sensation coursed through her shoulder and she felt as if she was about to pass out. Through this not so long but painful journey, she had almost forgotten entirely about her shoulder. She had to admit, it was slowing her down some, though she only tried to hide it. She didn't want anyone to take pity on her, mainly because of the fact that there's no way to heal it around here. She doesn't want her parents to think that she can't do something because of it.

The girl let out a shaky breath of air as she forced herself to keep going, biting her tongue in the process to keep in any sort of sign that she was in pain. The last thing she needed to do was give her parents something else to worry about. Soon enough, she noticed that Emma had slowed to a stop, them ending up in a fairly large clearing in the woods. The blonde made a full circle as she looked around at all the possible directions, her quickly turning her attention back towards the rest of them. "Where do we even begin to look for Pan's hideout?" She huffed, annoyance clearly getting the best of her.

Grace couldn't blame her. She was persistent on getting her son back and she knew she wouldn't stop fighting until she did. She almost felt bad for her because even after all they've been through, the odds of them winning were still very low. "There's a ridge that overlooks the entire island." Hook suddenly spoke. He then gestured towards the general direction of the ridge he had mentioned, "It's proved itself useful in the past. From there, we should be able to see everything, including where he's keeping your son."

Grace quickly shook her head before any of them would get their hopes up, "I don't think so." This earned a very confused look from the man, "The Dark Jungle's grown a bit since you were last here. We won't be able to see anything but trees." He sighed loudly as he realized that she was probably right--which she was.

"Then how will we find Pan's base?" Snow suddenly asked, a worried expression apparent on her features.

Grace paused as she looked down in thought when suddenly, she came up with one of her famous 'ingenious plans'. "I know someone." She said lowly, finally looking back up to face them all, "If anyone will know where Pan's base is, it'd be her."

"How do you know if she's still here on the island?" David asked suspiciously.

"I don't." She said simply, "But seeing how long it took me to leave this place, I wouldn't doubt her still being in Neverland. After all, it's only been, what, six years since I last saw her?" Grace asked aloud, though it was clear that she was just talking to herself at this point.

She could see the thoughtful expression on Hook's face. "Is it who I think you're talking about?"

"If you're thinking Tinker Bell, then yes." The teen nodded.

Emma's eyebrows shot up at that, an almost disbelieving look coming over her. "Wait, Tinker Bell? Like, the fairy?"

Grace nodded again, though she was confused as to how she would know who she was. Hook had a very similar reaction, "You know her?"

Emma scoffed, "Every kid in the world knows her."

Whilst they all seemed to take a liking to the lead Grace had given them, Regina seemed skeptical, "Well, how do you even know if this 'Tinker Bell' knows where Pan's compound is? How do you know she'll be able to get us inside?" She demanded angrily, though there was something in her voice that told Grace that she was feeling something else, possibly fear.