The Lost Children... - hannahhook7744 (2024)

Chapter 1: The kidnapped kids.

Chapter Text

Full name: Benjamin 'Ben'Florian Gold.

Age: 7 years old.

Parents: Belle French and Mr. Gold/ Rumplestiltskin.

Weapon of choice: A small, shiny dagger with a blue handle that he keeps on him at ALLtimes.

Additional information: He has a crush on Mal and has no magic (yet) other than the occasional odd vision.

Full name:Malvina 'Mal' Bertha Fay.

Age:7 years old.

Parents:Maleficent and Hades.

Weapon of choice: A wooden staff she made back home that she uses for hitting people.

Additional information:She has magic and is probably the most experienced magic user in the group.

She also has a crush on Ben but swears she will never tell him (little does she know).

Full name: Jakeem 'Jay' Magi.

Age:7 years old.

Parents:Jafar and Amara.

Weapon of choice: A dagger with a black, gold, and red snake handle that his dad gave him to channel his magic and make it easier to use.

Additional information:He has magic and a crush on Lonnie that he refuses to admit to.

Full name: Li 'Lonnie' Lan-Lei.

Age:7 years old.

Parents:Li Shang and Mulan.

Weapon of choice: A Dao (sword) with a dark-blue handle.

Additional information:She has no magic and a small crush on Jay.

Full name:Douglass 'Doug' Theodore Dwarfson.

Age:7 years old.

Parents:Dopey and Elena of Avalor.

Weapon of choice: Pickaxe.

Additional information:He hasn't got any magic and his mother died when he was young. He has a crush on Evie.

Full name:Evelyn 'Evie' Danielle Mills-Colter.

Age: 7 years old.

Parents:Daniel Colter and Regina Mills (The Evil Queen).

Weapon of choice:Bow and arrow.

Additional information:She has magic but she doesn't know much and has a crush on Doug (never had a crush on Chad in this dimension 'cause he's her step-nephew).

Full name: Carlos Oscar Nolan-de Vil.

Age:6 years old.

Parents:Cruella de Vil and James Nolan.

Weapon of choice:A small sword and a small screw driver.

Additional information:He has a small crush on Jane and loves the camp dog, Dude.

Full name: Jehanne 'Jane' Eleanor Dwarfson.

Age:6 years old.

Parents:Leroy (Grumpy) and Nova (Fairy godmother).

Weapon of choice: Pickaxe.

Additional information:She has magic as well but doesn't know how to control it. She has a crush on Carlos and Doug is her cousin.

Full name:Chadwick 'Chad' Robert Nolan.

Age:7 years old.

Parents:Snow White (Mary Margaret Blanchard) and Prince Charming (David Nolan).

Weapon of choice: A saber (type of fencing sword).

Additional information:He has a crush on Audrey.

Full name:Audra 'Audrey' Fae Rose.

Age: 7 years old.

Parents:Prince Philip and Princess Aurora.

Weapon of choice:Staff.

Additional information:

She doesn't have magic and she has a small crush on Ben.

Full name:Harrison 'Harry' Liam Jones.

Age:7 years old.

Parents:Killian Jones (Captain Hook) and Milah.

Weapon of choice:A cutlass and a hook.

Additional information:He doesn't have magic but he has a huge crush on Uma.

Full name:Uma Meredith Olympian.

Age:7 years old.

Parents:Ursula and an unknown pirate.

Weapon of choice:Broadsword.

Additional information:She has magic and uses it whenever it is needed.

She also may or may not have a crush on Harry. No one knows.

Full name:Gillian 'Gil' Joseph LeGume.

Age: 6 years old.

Parents:Gaston and the orange bimbette, Laurette.

Weapon of choice:His brute strength, his dad's dagger, and a vector (pirate sword).

Additional information:He doesn't have a crush on anyone but lives to tease Harry about his not-so-secret crush.

He and his siblings also share the same mother.

Full name:Castilla Jane 'CJ' Jones.

Age:5 years old.

Parents:Killian Jones (Captain Hook), Red Jessica, and Pip the pirate genie.

Weapon of choice:Cutlass.

Additional information: She has no crush or magic.

She is the leader of her small group of friends.

Full name: Zevon Sorcerer.

Age: 5 years old.

Parents:Cedric the Sorcerer and Yzma.

Weapon of choice:His mom's hidden weapon, a dagger.

Additional information:He is excellent at making potions.

He has a bit of a crush on Mal.

Full name: Harriet Alice Jones.

Age: 10 years old.

Parents:Killian Jones (Captain Hook) and Milah.

Weapon of choice:Short cutting sword.

Additional information:She and her friends also built chain shots to fire against the lost boys.

She is the captain of her crew and has no crush or magic.

Full name:Sterling William Smee (Squeaky) and Skipper Christopher Smee (Squirmy).

Age:3 years old.

Parents:First mate Mollie and William Smee.

Weapon of choice:A rapier (narrower sword than a cutlass).

Additional information:Neither boy have a crush on anyone.

Full name:Samson 'Sammy' Stockley Smee.

Age:9 years old.

Parents:First mate Mollie and William Smee.

Weapon of choice:Slingshot. He also a Bayonet (sword) for close rang fighting though he prefers to use his slingshot.

Additional information:He hasn't got any magic or crushes.

Full name:Gaston Stanley LeGume the 2nd (aka Junior) and Gaston Lefou LeGume the 3rd (Bronze).

Age: 10 years old.

Parents:Gaston and the orange bimbette, Laurette.

Weapon of choice:A blunderbuss (type of Gun) that their father taught them how to use but they both also have a machete each.

Additional information:They don't have magic or a crush on anyone.

Chapter 2: Before Neverland.

Chapter Text

A wise man once said "Everyone has a story to tell and every story starts somewhere" and that is especially true in Neverland.

Every Indian, every fairy, every mermaid, every lost boy has a story to tell—even Peter Pan has a story to tell, even though he'll never share it.

But we're here to talk about 20 kids specifically—20 lost kids who avoid Pan and his followers at all costs, and keep to themselves.

The first of these kids to appear in Neverland was Harriet Alice Jones, the eldest child of Killian Jones, also known as, Captain Hook.

She was ten years old when Pan's shadow came and took her away from The Jolly Roger.

Away from her father.

Away from her brother and sister.

Away from her best and only friend.

Away from her home.

His shadow came for Harriet after she became frustrated with her father for various reasons:

He was always busy with the ship and the crew, and with Harry and CJ.

He was always hiding himself away in his room to drink when he got sad and Harriet didn't like it one bit.

She just wanted her daddy to talk to her when he was sad instead of hiding away and drinking himself silly. Harriet just wanted her daddy to feel better—she didn't like it when he was sad and she knew her siblings didn't like it either.

So, Harriet tried to get him to let her in his room during one of his bad days but he just kept telling her to go away and that made her mad.

Harriet ended up snapping at him, saying that if he wanted to be alone so badly then he shouldn't have had kids and proceeded to tell him not to talk to her ever again, if he didn't want her around. She then ended up stomping back to her and CJ's shared room, and slammed the door—not knowing how badly her words had hurt her father.

She was furious with him—he was always going on about how she and her siblings could always go to him when they were sad or hurt, yet he never went to one of them when he was!

What a fricking hypocrite!

Harriet continued to fume about how infuriating her father was and snapped at any one who dared to enter her room for the rest of the day—including CJ, Harry, the twins, and Sammy.

She also refused to leave her room at dinner time and snapped at CJ and Harry when they told her she should apologize for hurting Daddy's feelings, which resulted in CJ sleeping in The boys' room that night.

Unbeknownst to Harriet, that was the last thing she would say to her father for a very long time because that night, Pan's shadow took advantage of Harriet's vulnerability and snatched her up in the dead of night—when everyone was already asleep.

She woke up a few miles away from Neverland in the shadow's grasp and immediately started to fight to free herself from the creature's grasp but to no avail.

Pan's shadow was too strong.

Harriet would never admit but she had wet herself out of fear when she realized that Pan's shadow had her—she remembered her father's warnings and stories about Pan and Neverland, and she really didn't want to be left alone and defenseless against Pan but it appeared that she didn't have a choice.

She didn't even try to scream for her father—knowing that even if he did hear her, there wasn't anything he could logically do to help her.

The shadow dropped Harriet in front of a boy who looked no more than thirteen—maybe fourteen, but even that was a stretch. This man—no, boy was the dreaded Peter Pan? The demon her father and his crew had talked about?

Harriet wouldn't have believed it if it wasn't for the fact that the air around the boy felt off.

Pan looked at her and frowned, he hadn't been expecting a lost girl .

Eventually he shrugged and told her to run, and hope that his lost boys didn't catch her because the game was on.

Harriet immediately started running remembering what her father told her and her siblings:

"Pan likes to play games. And his lost boys love to hunt. If you ever end up on Neverland—which will never happen as long as I'm alive—DO NOT LET THEM OR PAN CATCH YOU. They will hurt you. They will kill you."

Harriet was beyond grateful that her father had prepared her and her siblings for this situation, even though he thought that they'd never even step foot on the island—he had always wanted what was best for them. He had always wanted them to be safe and happy— Harriet winced as that thought came to mind, and as she remembered what she had said to her father earlier that day.

She had been beyond harsh when all her father had wanted was to be left alone for one day. She felt horrible—she had probably only made her father feel worse than he was already feeling.

Hindsight was a bitch.

Harriet began to play the day's events over again in her head and slowly began to feel worse and worse as she did so.

She had been so mean to everyone—to the crew, to the Smee brothers, to her father, to her little siblings all because she had been mad and frustrated for no good reason.

What would her father think when he went to wake her up in the morning and found her bed empty?

What would her siblings think?

What would her friends think?

What would the crew think?

What if they thought she had run away?

She had been in a rather foul mood earlier, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume so.

Would her friends and family really think that she'd abandon them that easily?

Would they even look for her at all?

Would they be sad or angry that she was gone?

And if they did look for her, would they even consider looking for her in Neverland of all places?

Harriet shook those thoughts out of her head and took a deep breath, effectively calming herself down before running left and then right.

She continued running in random directions as she heard the lost boys holler from far behind her.

Left, right, left, left, right, right, left, right... left, left, left, right, left, right ...

Harriet made damn well sure that the Lost Boys hunt for her was difficult and hid whenever she sensed that they were gaining on her.

This continued on until the lost boys got bored and gave up.

Then Harriet found a spot to rest and began looking for something that she could use as a weapon in case they came back.

Eventually she found a bloody sword that must've belonged to a previous lost boy or unfortunate soul that had stumbled upon the island, and didn't make it.

Then she began looking for food—luckily for Harriet she remembered the foods her father had told her about. Remembered which ones were edible and which ones weren't. So, surviving on Neverland for Harriet wouldn't be as hard as it would have been for any other kid or adult who was new to the island.

The second of the kids to appear in Neverland was nine year old Sammy Smee, Harriet's best and only friend.

Pan's shadow had come for little Sammy Smee not long after it had taken Harriet because he had become very sad and lonely since Harriet had disappeared.

Captain Hook and his crew had been searching nonstop for Harriet since she had disappeared a week ago, but hadn't found anything at all and were beginning to lose hope. Not to mention the fact that The Captain had been sadder and snappier than useful, and it was scary for everyone involved.

Sammy's dad had slowly begun to spend more time with The Captain, leaving Sammy in charge of not only his brothers but Harriet's siblings as well.

This only served to make Sammy feel lonelier despite the fact that he was literally surrounded by four kids at all times nowadays.

Life in general was lonelier and more stress-filled without his best friend.

So when the shadow came for him, he didn't really fight it—Sammy had always been a curious kid after all and he wanted to see where this shadow was planning on taking him. He just somehow knew that this shadow knew where his best friend was and he was right.

He reached forward and grabbed the shadow's hand—and let out a loud gasp when it suddenly squeezed his hand tightly and roughly yanked him up into the air before flying off.

Sammy whined and squirmed uncomfortably as The shadow flew them over the sea—his wrist really hurt and he was starting to feel scared. He kept his eyes squeezed shut in fear that he'd pass out or puke if he opened them.

Eventually the shadow flew over Neverland before dropping him for an unknown reason.

Luckily for Sammy, his shirt caught on a tree branch—saving him from a very painful and possibly fatal fall.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn't get down on his own.

Fortunately for him, Harriet had seen the shadow drop someone and went looking for the person to make sure they were alright, and was able to get him down before Pan, the shadow, or his lost boys found them.

Sammy was also lucky in regard to the fact that he and Harriet both knew how to survive on this damn island, otherwise they wouldn't have lasted very long.

He ended up making himself a slingshot and Harriet ended up making him a bayonet.

The third kid and the fourth kid to appear in Neverland came together—they were the Smee twins.

Sammy's three year old little brothers.

Sammy had no clue why the shadow took his little brothers away from their dad, and the twins didn't know why either. All they knew was that they wanted their big brother back and were happy to have him (and Harriet) back, even if they did miss their daddy.

They came two days after Sammy disappeared—causing the crew's frantic search for Harriet to grow to include the Smee children.

Smee was left heartbroken and Killian went a lot easier on Smee after that—knowing what it felt like to lose just one child, and not being able to imagine how it felt to lose three of your children.

By the time the twins had come to Neverland, Sammy had managed to make a very useful handmade slingshot that he used as a weapon against the other inhabitants of the island.

Sammy and Harriet went on to make the boys a couple of rapiers to defend themselves.

The next kids to appear in Neverland were Harriet's younger siblings—Harry (age 7) and CJ (age 5).

It seems that after Harriet disappeared, their father had started to spiral downward as he searched desperately for her and Smee's boys. He had become snappier and was more mean spirited to his crew and the men he captured, and was having more bad days than good.

It had apparently been over a month since the four of them disappeared and both their fathers were an absolute wreck.

Drinking more often and spending less time with his two remaining kids—which had hurt the both of them greatly. He wouldn't play with them or read them stories or eat dinner with them anymore, and he barely hugged or even looked at them anymore.

Both children were having trouble coping because they had never seen their father act like this before.

Harry slowly began to wonder if their father still loved them at all anymore and started to think that maybe it was his fault somehow. That he had done something wrong or that he wasn't good enough—after all, it wasn't like it was little Janey's (CJ) fault; she was too small to cause damage like this.

CJ had similar thoughts, wondering if everything would have been better if she wasn't here.

That's when that damned shadow showed up and snatched them before flying to Neverland—leaving their father all alone as it did.

CJ was screaming out 'weeeeeeeeeee' while Harry was holding onto both the shadow and CJ for dear life, not daring to open the eyes until his feet hit the ground.

The shadow ended up being ambushed by Harriet and the Smee three after it flew a little too close to a tree that Sammy was hiding in.

Sammy started shooting his slingshots at it—surprisingly hitting the shadow and angering it—causing Pan's shadow to drop both the kids.

Harriet quickly caught her terrified baby brother and the twins quickly broke CJ's fall.

Harriet and Sammy quickly fought off the shadow with their weapons, eventually scaring it off.

Then they grabbed the younger kids and ran—Pan was going to be pissed, and the older kids knew it; it was best to make themselves scarce for a while.

Who knows what Pan would do to them if they were caught?

When they finally got some downtime, Harriet and Sammy were quick to make the two newcomers' weapons; both were given cutlasses.

Not long after the younger Jones siblings were brought to Neverland by the shadow, Harry found a Hook along the beach and began using it as a secondary weapon—always holding it in his hand as if it was a part of him.

The next kid to appear in Neverland was named Uma Olympian and she was Harry's age.

She appeared in Neverland after getting tired of her mother not paying any attention to her.

It hadn't always been that way—there was a time her mother was happy and very attentive.

That was until Hook stole her voice on the orders of Poseidon—Uma's grandfather. Then her mother became distraught and distant, and oh so focused on getting revenge on everyone around her because of the betrayal she suffered from that she seemed to forget about her only daughter.

The daughter she had, had with a pirate long before Hook came along.

At first, Uma hated the other children because of who their fathers were—only sticking with them to ensure her own survival until her mother came to retrieve her.

Okay, she also stayed with them in the slight hope that she could avenge her mother and because she wasn't sure that they'd let her stay gone.

Uma stuck with them, but kept to herself for the longest time and ended up making her own broadsword after refusing to accept the pirates' help.

Her father had been a pirate who was hanged for his crimes long before she was born, which broke her mother's heart. Because of this and what Hook had done, Uma had grown to hate pirates—for a while at least. Eventually, Uma's hatred for them started to slowly dwindle before something happened that made her hatred for her fellow lost kids completely disappear.

She had gotten into an argument with Harriet, who had gotten tired of the way Uma was acting toward them and demanded that she tell them why she hated them so badly.

This led to Uma telling her to mind her own beeswax before storming off into the woods—hoping that this would be the last time she saw her fellow neverlanders.

After about an hour of walking, Uma got ambushed by three of Pan's lost boys who were determined to bring her to Pan.

She fought as hard as she could but her fighting style was messy—she hadn't been fighting with a sword for very long and she didn't have much practice.

Uma thought she was a goner for a few good minutes and started praying to every god and goddess out there that someone would save her. And Someone did.

Harry did.

He had come out of nowhere and went crazy—screeching as he swung his hook at one lost boy and his sword at another, who ducked. He left Uma the last boy to fight and went batsh*t insane on the two boys he was fighting—wounding them. Between the two of them, they were able to send the lost boys running back to Pan with their tails between their legs.

Uma had never been so happy to see Harry before and began looking at him in another light—this is when she decided that she was gonna give Harry and the others a chance.

When they were walking back to camp, Uma began to tell Harry why she had hated him and the others—figuring that he deserved an explanation.

To her surprise, Harry apologized for his father's actions before explaining why he was the way he was. Starting with the untimely death of Killian's mother, Alice Jones, and ending with their disappearance.

To say Uma was surprised and slightly horrified would be a very huge understatement, and because of what Harry had told her, she found herself not hating the pirate anymore.

His life had been horrible—how could she hate him for striking out at the world? It had been what her mother was doing—if she hated him, then she'd have to hate her mother too.

When they got back to Camp, Uma explained why she had acted the way she had so far and apologized for her unjust behavior towards them. Her and Harriet still didn't get along very well but they didn't hate each other anymore. And that was all that mattered.

There weren't any new arrivals for awhile—a decade or two maybe, though the seven weren't exactly sure on how much time had really passed before said new arrival arrived.

All they really know is that the next new arrival came on a stormy day which suited his attitude well.

His name was Zevon Sorcerer and he was five. The shadow came for him after him and his mother got into yet another fight.

It had all started earlier that day in his mother's laboratory, where she was trying to teach a very uninterested Zevon how to make one potion or another.

Normally, the five year old would be ecstatic and eager to learn more about potions which he found exhilarating but lately, it seemed that this time down in the lab was the only time his mother wanted to spend with him—which aggravated him to no end. So, there he was—sitting on a stool in front of a table, watching as his mother threw seemingly random potions ingredients in a cauldron and yelled for Kronk to bring her this and that when a sudden thought hit him.

'Wait a minute... mommy talks to me like that sometimes! Does... does that mean she just sees me as another one of her minions?' Zevon frowned as that thought and others began popping up in his head.

Eventually, his mom noticed that he was being quieter than usual and asked him what was wrong. Instead of answering her, he asked her why she only spent time with him and his siblings and cousins when they were in the lab, and told her that he, Lil Yaz, Zim, Zam, and Yzla weren't like Kronk. That they were her kids, not her minions and that she should start treating them like it. As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew that he had made a mistake.

And a really big one at that.

Kronk was staring at him, mouth wide open as a glass beaker slipped out of his hands—and for once his mom didn't yell at him for it.

His older sister, Yzla, had jumped behind the counter as soon as the words had left his mouth.

Their older brother, Lil Yaz, was looking at him bewildered and their older cousins (Zim and Zam) had seemingly vanished into thin air.

And finally, the last thing that had tipped him off to the fact that he had made a very bad mistake was the fact that his mom was turning purple. Yzma was mad—and for once, she was mad at someone other than Kronk and that brat Kuzco.

The next thing he knew, his mother was yelling at him and he was yelling back just as fiercely as Kronk and Lil Yaz signaled for him to shut up and as his sister hid.

Eventually Yzma told him (quite loudly) to go to his room and think about what he had done, and not to come out until he was ready to apologize.

All Zevon did was fold his arms across his chest and stomp his foot with a scowl on his face "NO!"

That only made his mother madder.

She repeated herself only to get the same response from her usually mature son—which caused her to snap.

"KRONK! " the sudden shout of his name caused Kronk to nearly jump out of his skin but he recovered quickly.

"Y-yes, Yzma?" He asked nervously, worried about what she could possibly want him to do.

Kronk logically knew that she wouldn't hurt any of her children but he still couldn't help but feel nervous and a little scared because Yzma wasn't a very reasonable woman when she was angry. And he didn't know what she would do now that her son had pissed her off—something none of her children and nephews had ever done before.

"TAKE ZEVON TO HIS ROOM AND MAKE SURE HE STAYS THERE! YZLA!"

Yzla jumped as her mother called her, not expecting her to bring her into this.

"Yes mama?" The six year old asked timidly, watching as Kronk sighed before walking over to her younger brother and gently throwing him over his shoulder.

Yzla hoped that she wasn't going to get punished too.

"Get up off the floor, it's filthy and we have work to do. Lil Yaz, go find your cousins and bring them back here." The duo nodded and did what they were told too, wincing as Zevon started kicking and hitting Kronk while screaming angrily at him to put him down as the man walked out of the room.

Kronk kept walking, no matter how hard the little boy hit or kicked him and didn't stop even when Zevon yelled in his ear "put me down!"

Kronk didn't even flinch.

"Sorry. No can do, little fella, your mom's really mad right now and it's best we just do as she says or we'll both get in a lot of trouble. "

Zevon eventually gave up and pouted when the large man walked into his room, and dropped him on his bed before walking back out and shutting the door.

Zevon continued to pout on his bed, silently fuming and didn't even leave his room when his sister came to get him for dinner.

He went to bed hungry and angry that night, and was awoken a few hours later by someone or something repeatedly tapping on his window.

Normally, if something like this happened, Zevon would have gotten up and gotten his mother, Kronk, or his cousins to check it out but tonight, he was too angry with them and siblings to get either of them.

So, he did the dumbest thing he possibly could've done—he grabbed his reading chair and put it under his window so he could check the sound out himself.

When he did so, Zevon was met with purplish glowing eyes that were so bright that they nearly blinded him. He had to blink a few times to clear his vision and when he did, he was surprised (and a little intrigued) to see that the eyes belonged to a seemingly living shadow.

The five year old was so intrigued with the glowing eyed shadow that he wanted to get a closer look at it and ask him/her/it some questions like 'how are you alive?'.

He stepped up on his little tippy toes and reached forward, opening the window—not knowing that he was making the biggest mistake of his life. As soon as the window was fully opened, the shadow grabbed him and pulled him out of it before flying off—ignoring his screams.

The last thing Zevon saw and heard before the shadow flew away from the only home he had ever known was all the lights in the house turning on and Kronk running out of his own house next door to see what was going on only to see him being taken away by the shadow.

Kronk still tried to save him—chasing after the shadow, and yelling & throwing things at it; which wasn't very helpful even though it did slow it down just enough for Zevon to see his family run outside.

Nothing Kronk or his family did was enough to save him from Pan's shadow though.

The shadow was eventually able to fly off with him tightly in his grasp as everyone (his family and Kronk) screamed and tried to stop him/it.

At some point while they were flying close to the ground in Neverland, Zevon was able to free himself from the creature's grasp and ran as fast as he could with the shadow close behind—not knowing where he was going.

After about ten more minutes of this, Zevon cut his foot on something causing him to fall forward and tumble down a steep hill—right into his savior's campsite. He pushed himself up only to see a group of kids around his age and managed to pant out "Help.. shadow.. tryin'.. to.. get... me" before he passed out from the pain.

When Zevon awoke, he found himself in a cave of sorts and was only able to see because of a faint glow that was coming off of a campfire a few feet away from him.

Next to him was a girl about his age with brown eyes and curly blonde hair, who was staring at him. It was CJ.

She told him that She and her siblings and friends had fought the shadow off before hiding from someone called Pan and his lost boys in this cave, and patching his feet up.

Eventually, when they had to start moving again to avoid Pan and his lost boys finding them, Harriet handed him a very familiar dagger—his mom's dagger—and told him they found it on him when they were patching him up and told him that when he had fallen, he had landed on it and was lucky to be alive. Zevon sure didn't feel like it—he missed his mama and papa, siblings and cousins and he even missed his Uncle Kronk who was the closest thing to a friend his mom had.

He even missed his mean old grandma Azma who was always mean to his parents.

The next kid to appear in Neverland was a seven year old girl with purple hair named Malvina.

She had been taken away by the shadow after she had messed up one of her mother's potions, which resulted in her getting yelled at by her mother and sent to her room where she proceeded to cry herself to sleep.

Her mother had been yelling at her alot lately and getting snappier and snappier recently, and hadn't been spending time with her—causing her to feel lonely.

She didn't put up a fight when the shadow came for her and went quietly, something she'd end up regretting later.

She ended up being taken directly to Pan and held captive for days.

A boy named Jakeem arrived in Pan's camp not too long after Malvina had and had been taken from his home for similar reasons to Malvina when his dad (who he'd been extremely close to) had started spending less time with him, and began to yell and ignore him more often.

This led to the shadow taking him to this dreaded island and him joining Pan's lost boys.

Not long after Jakeem arrived, a scared girl with blue hair was brought to Pan's camp.

She was the same age as them and her name was Evelyn—she got thrown in the cage with Malvina.

They were in the cage for two days before the shadow came back with a white and black haired little boy in tow who wouldn't stop crying.

Turns out his name was Carlos de Vil and he was six.

Pan ended up getting annoyed with the white haired boy and threw him in the cage with the girls.

During the month that Jakeem had been there, he had quickly grown in Pan's ranks and it was because of this that he was told of what Pan's plans for the three were before anyone else.

Pan told him and Felix that in two days time, they would be playing a game. Said that they would be cutting the three loose and they'd hunt them down, and end them.

Jakeem was horrified but didn't show it—that, that... was not a game! That was murder! And Jakeem would not stand for it—he was going to free them but he had to be sneaky about it or else Pan would have his head, literally.

He waited for the perfect opportunity, one where he knew he wouldn't get spotted and caught. And it came the next day when Pan announced that they were going to be tracking an opposing group of children and that he was leaving Jakeem in charge of defending the camp while they were gone.

As soon as Jakeem was sure Pan and his fellow lost boys were gone, he walked over to the cage and picked the lock—freeing them.

Malvina and Evelyn were both very surprised that Jakeem had freed them and were a little suspicious of him, Carlos on the other hand, was just very grateful and wouldn't stop thanking Jakeem who had started to loot the camp a bit.

He quickly grabbed a couple of knives and the things that Pan had confiscated from the three when his shadow brought them here, explaining the situation to the three of them.

The four of them quickly fled and became friends, all without the pirate kids even knowing of their existence and vice versa.

The four of them laid low for a while as Evelyn and Malvina made their weapons—a bow and arrow, and a wooden staff respectively. Both the boys already had their weapons—Jakeem had his dagger and Carlos had his screwdriver.

In this time, Jakeem started going by Jay and the girls started going by Mal and Evie. And the younger two members of the group ended up sharing their stories with Jay and Mal.

Apparently, Evie was the daughter of the Evil Queen and a stable boy who ended up getting murdered by her grandmother. Her mother, who was pregnant with her, then became cold hearted and wanted revenge against the child who had told her mother about her forbidden relationship.

Because of this, she had been left in the hands of her paternal grandparents.

Her mother visited her often but never took her back from them and Evie eventually became angry and sad—drawing the attention of Pan and his shadow. Pan's shadow then kidnapped Evie from her home while her guardians slept.

As for Carlos's story, he had been the son of the crazed Cruella de Vil and was one of the only things she cared about in the world—which made her very overprotective of him.

It didn't help that he had been born three months early or that he was a very sickly child who happened to have asthma. Or that his father had disappeared right before he was born with no explanation. Because of all these factors, his mother wouldn't let him go outside and he had started to grow sad, frustrated, annoyed, and lonely because of it.

The night Pan's shadow came for him, he and his mother had fought because Carlos was done with being kept inside and had told her so.

This resulted in a big fight between the two that scared the other occupants of the house:

seventeen-year-old Hunter de Vil (Cruella's great nephew), eleven-year-old Ivy de Vil (Cruella's niece), and ten-year-old Diego de Vil (Cruella's nephew).

The fight ended with Cruella telling Carlos that as long as she was alive, he'd be staying right where he was and him storming off after telling her he hated her (which was a lie).

Hunter, Ivy, and Diego gasped, the family dogs whined, his cat hissed, and Cruella started crying but Carlos didn't turn back—even though he really wanted to turn back and hug his mother, and tell her that he was sorry. He wanted to turn around and beg for forgiveness but he couldn't because he didn't want to see how badly he had hurt his mommy.

He felt so bad but he didn't show it as he stomped back to his room and slammed the door.

Carlos ended up staying in his room all day, as his cousins brought him food and tried to convince him to leave his room and apologize but the six year old didn't. He couldn't face his mother after what he had done and felt so guilty that he went to bed earlier than he usually did.

He woke up to his mother kissing his forehead and whispering that she loved him, but he didn't say or do anything—not wanting her to know that she had woken him. His mother tucked him in and turned his nightlight on, before leaving and gently closing his door.

He felt even guiltier than he did before at the fact that his mommy still did their nightly routine even after what he had said.

Even when she had thought he was still asleep.

The six year old made his mind up right then and there that he'd apologize to his mommy first thing in the morning but he never got to.

And it was all Pan's fault.

More children would come to both groups and eventually they would become aware of each other's existence but not for a long time.

The next kids to appear in Neverland were The LeGume Brothers—the three sons of Lord Gaston LeGume and a barmaid named Laurette.

They came a few years after Carlos had, though none of them would know this until years later when the different groups started interacting.

The shadow had come for the 2 ten year olds and their six year old brother about a year after their father had mysteriously disappeared.

No one knew what happened to him—he had simply disappeared into the night, leaving everyone to speculate on what happened. Many people simply thought that he had run off, tired of his wife and his three children—after all, who'd what to be stuck with a double, two unruly brats, and a changeling (a slur that many people use against Gil.. because of how... different he is). Though, if anyone voiced this speculation around Gaston Senior's six younger brothers, father, and two best friends (Stanley and LeFou) then they'd find themselves in a world of pain.

The boys' mother, grandfather, both of their aunts, and all eight of their uncles all assured them that their father hadn't abandoned them, and while they believed them at first... it kinda got hard to believe after awhile. Especially when their father hadn't come back or sent word that he was fine.

It didn't help that many of the people in the village would gossip about his mysterious disappearance whenever they (mistakenly) thought that the three brothers couldn't hear them. The other kids in the village started to distance themselves from the twins and a few of the ballsier ones even started (read; attempted) to pick on the older two, only to find themselves met with the furious pairs' fists.

They would've liked to pick on Gil, too, but seeing as the little six year old was always surrounded by adults— even before his father disappeared— it wasn't gonna happen.

Eventually, the twins opted to keep to themselves and started to only play games with each other and Gil. Which was fine with them, who needed a bunch of fake friends anyway?

One night, after their mother had gone out with their aunts for a long overdue ‘girls' night out’, the boys were playing tag in the children's corridor of the castle—ignoring their seventeen year old uncle's orders of "SHUT THE HELL UP AND GO TO f*ckING BED ALREADY!"

After about ten minutes of playing, the twins realized that Gil was gone and began to search for him—only to find him giggling at a shadow with freaky glowing eyes that was slowly reaching toward their innocent little brother. Seeing this, the twins panicked and ran in opposite directions—each pulling out the guns that their father had gotten them from their hiding place before firing at the shadow.

The shadow yanked its hand back and glared at the twins as Gil jumped, before grabbing him and fleeing out the window—only to be slowed down by the twins who had grabbed onto to their flailing little brother's legs and started pulling in a desperate attempt to free him.

"LAISSE-LE PARTIR, PUTAIN DE DÉMON!" Junior yelled, not caring that his mother would wear out his bottom if she heard him using that language.

Meanwhile, Bronze was screaming "AIDEZ-MOI! UN MONSTRE DE L'OMBRE A OBTENU MON FRÈRE DE BÉBÉ!" while keeping a desperate hold on Gil's leg, refusing to let him go.

Unfortunately, no one came to their rescue and the shadow managed to flee—carrying all three of them with it back to Neverland.

Fortunately, Harriet and Uma saw them dangling from the shadow who was flying close to the water and Uma used her powers to free them from its grasp while Harriet and the others fought it off. After this, the three of them were taken back to camp by the two girls and the others, and slowly started settling in.

Gil settled in rather quickly and got along well with the other children, but mostly with Harry and Uma who he started to follow around like a puppy.

The twins, on the other hand, took a bit longer to settle for numerous reasons even though they did trust everyone in the camp. The main reason it took them so long to settle in was because they didn't want to get hurt or abandoned again—especially since it meant that Gil would get hurt as well. Another reason that it took them so long to settle in was because of how well the others treated Gil.

They certainly weren't complaining about this but it did unnerve them just a little bit because no one had ever been nice to Gil without a reason before— and even then it was rare for people to be nice to him. So, seeing all these kids treat Gil like an actual, normal human being was strange and a bit off putting to them and made them rather suspicious that they wanted something. After all, who would be nice to a changeling when they weren't related to them?

So, they waited for the other shoe to drop until Harriet and Sammy pulled the pair aside and asked why they were acting so weird.

After this, Junior flat out asked them why they were being so nice to Gil because they didn't have or know anything—ignoring his twin's hissed cry of "Junior!" Bronze hadn't wanted to confront them—not when they were on a dangerous, strange, unfamiliar island. He also hadn't wanted to be so rude when ( read as if) they confronted them—they had saved them and Gil. They had fed them and taught them English, and had been patient and kind and understanding when they were teaching them—and here Junior was, being completely rude while they were still on the damn island. Had he lost his condamner mind?!

Instead of being angry, like Bronze had thought they would be, Harriet and Sammy were just confused and asked what Junior was going on about.

The two brothers explained how most people had treated their little brother—giving a long list of insults that had been thrown at the poor boy—and told them that they didn't understand why they were being so nice to Gil when they weren't related to him and told them that they didn't have anything of value to give them.

Harriet and Sammy just stared at them in disbelief before Harriet declared that they were both idiots and that the people who treated Gil like that were a bunch of luchd-ithe coileach gòrach who should do everyone a favor and go choke on cnap smùid de sh*t.

"HARRIET!" Sammy hissed loudly, sounding scandalized "there are little ears here!"

Junior and Bronze, on the other hand, were struggling not to burst out laughing. You see, since there were no parents or guardians on the island, the older kids had decided to teach each other all the swear words they knew from all the languages they spoke. And after all this time, Sammy was still trying to stop Harriet from swearing around the younger kids with little to no success.

Bronze was still debating on whether or not to tell him that the younger twins knew plenty of curse words but just didn't say them because they didn't want to upset him.

'Ehh, he'll figure it out eventually.’

The twins used guns as weapons and Gil used his dad's dagger as a weapon.

The "next" kid to appear in Neverland came about seven or eight years later.

His name was Benjamin "Ben" Florian Gold and he was the seven year old son of some lady named Belle and the dark one.

Ben was a sweet but lonely kid who didn't have any friends due to his father's horrid reputation that made the other kids fear him. The poor kid only got lonelier when his mother disappeared and his father started going out more and more often doing whatever horrid deeds a dark one did. And then his dad didn't come back home, and he was all alone—until Pan's shadow came and took him to Neverland... to Pan's Camp of lost boys.

Where Ben stayed for two weeks before he discovered that Pan wasn't as nice and friendly as he pretended to be and fled—only to run into another runaway lost boy named Chadwick "Chad" Leopold Nolan, who was the same age as him. He quickly (and hesitantly) pulled his dagger on him—only to be met with a saber to the neck.

Luckily for him, Chad didn't cut him yet and just interrogated him on who he was and asked if he was with Pan.

Ben quickly explained his situation and luckily for him, Chad believed him and decided that two heads were better than one, and that they should stick together so they could have each other's backs.

Ben agreed eagerly— he wanted to live after all and being all alone on this island when Pan was looking for him didn't seem like a very good idea.

Not long after, Chad explained his own situation to Ben—his parents (Prince Charming and Snow White) were expecting another baby and that their kingdom was in danger—which led to them spending less and less time with him until he rarely saw them anymore.

Chad admitted that he had begun to feel as if his parents didn't love him anymore and that in a moment of weakness brought on by being alone for longer than he was used to, he asked for someone to take him away—thinking that his parents didn't want nor need him anymore.

Pan's shadow, praying on his weakness, took him here about four weeks prior to it taking Ben.

Ben didn't judge him as Chad thought he would and the two quickly became best friends and partners in crime.

Around the time this was going on, Uma's group ran into Mal's group which resulted in a fight between the two groups that ended with Mal nearly drowning and dropping a rotting bucket of shrimp on Uma's head, and dubbing her "Shrimpy".

Which then resulted in a decades long feud between not only the two groups, but Harriet and CJ's as well since they didn't like the fact that Mal and her group had attacked their brother and his friends.

Audrey Fae Rose, daughter of Aurora and Prince Philip, came next as a lonely bitter child with nothing but the mental trauma of being raised by her magic-hating grandmother who hated everything that wasn't prim and proper.

She quickly ran into Ben (who she immediately fell smitten with) and Chad (who immediately fell smitten with her), who interrogated her and took her under their wing. They taught her how to fight and handmade her a staff so she could defend herself—if her granny Leah could see her now, she'd be pitching a fit at how filthy and savage-like she was now. But, for once, Audrey found that she didn't care because—for once—she was allowed to act like a child and to have friends.

Audrey never wanted to lose her newfound friends and vowed to never return home to her ailing grandmother who hated everything and would surely keep her from them.

The next kid in their little group to appear was a boy Chad was surprisingly familiar with—Douglass "Doug" Dwarfson, younger son of Dopey who was also their age.

He came with nothing but his glasses and a pickaxe, and when Chad saw him, he embraced him like a brother.

Ben and Audrey were surprised to find out that the two had been quite close before Chad had ever stepped foot in Neverland—Apparently Doug's dad and uncles had been friends with Chad's parents long before either of them were even born , thus ensuring that their children would be friends.

Upon being asked why the shadow had come for him, Doug revealed that he had been quite lonely long before Chad had even disappeared and that feeling had only strengthened when Chad— who was quite literally Doug and Jane's only friend— had disappeared. Of course, Chad welcomed him into the group with open arms and Ben—who liked nearly every one— followed closely behind.

It took Audrey a little longer to accept him, but only because she was afraid of being replaced by the only two friends she had ever had. When it became clear that she wasn't going to be replaced and that Doug only wanted to be her friend, she quickly accepted him and got over her jealousy.

Doug's smarts proved to come in handy when it came to evading Pan and his lost boys.

The second to last kid to appear in Neverland was Li Lonnie, the seven year old daughter of Mulan.

She came armed only with a Dao and spotted the quartet long before they spotted her, and decided to trail them from a far to see if they could be trusted. Once she saw that they could, indeed, be trusted she came up with a plan to approach them to ask if she could join their group and exactly seven back up plans in case she had made a mistake in approaching.

She then approached the quartet with caution, sword at her side and hands raised in the area where they could see them—showing them that she wasn't a threat (yet) and that she had no intention of starting a fight.

All four of the other children jumped into (horribly clumsy) fighting stances:

Doug raised his pickaxe in front of him—trying (and failing horribly) to look intimidating.

Chad raised his sword in front of him (his grip wasn't tight enough—She could easily knock it out of his hands without even trying to and steal it from him).

Audrey held her staff out in front of her—looking confident (she shouldn't be. She wasn't holding it the correct way and she could easily be overpowered by even the youngest and smallest of Pan's lost boys).

And Ben held out his dagger (he was holding it at an awkward angle and you can tell by just looking at him that he didn't want to hurt anybody—which was a sign of weakness on this island).

Lonnie bit her lip to stop herself from laughing in their faces and briefly wondered how they had even survived past day one in Neverland. She didn't voice her thoughts, however, and was quick to introduce herself, telling them that she meant no harm and just wanted to be a part of their group so she could have someone to watch her back.

Chad tried to deny her entry because he didn't trust her only to be overruled when Ben (who wouldn't turn anyone in need away), Audrey (who wanted another girl in the group), and Doug (who—1. was similar to Ben in the regard that he couldn't turn someone in need away. 2. Smart enough to realize that she could be useful to their group, which was embarrassingly small compared to Pan's. 3. Realized that she was quite strong to have survived on her own and stealthy since she was able to track them for so long without them noticing. And 4. Realized that if they turned her away, she could give their location to Pan or the lost boys) all voted that they let her join.

He was irritated and grumbled that they were probably going to regret it, only to be proven wrong when Lonnie taught them how to fight with and without their weapons, various fighting stances, and signals.

She also taught them how to be stealthy.

When asked why Pan's shadow had taken her to Neverland, she told them that it had prayed on her in a moment of weakness after her and her mother had gotten in a fight about her behavior that resulted in her getting grounded and left with her mom's ailing grandmother.

She had gotten upset and ran into her room, angrily slamming the door behind her as her great grandmother and older brother told her to calm down. She then told them of how she had been able to outrun Pan and his lost boys after the shadow dropped her in their camp, and about how she had beaten a couple of the older lost boys on her own.

The last kid to join their group was Doug's cousin and another one of Chad's friends, Jane Dwarfson. The six year old daughter of Grumpy and the fairy godmother known as Nova.

She came armed with a pickaxe and a bag of food, paper, pencils, and tools.

When asked why the shadow had come for her, Jane explained that she had said "I do believe in Peter Pan" thus summoning his shadow.

When Doug and Chad asked why she'd do something like that, she reminded them that:

1. her parents weren't together anymore and were miserable,
2. That she had no friends other than them and,
3. That the Evil queen had threatened the kingdom.

And then, much to their horror, she confirmed that the Evil Queen had gotten a special curse from the dark one and had used it to get her revenge. To make matters worse, Jane told them that she didn't know what the curse had done or what it was supposed to do because before she could see, Gordon (her brother) had told her to say those words and pushed her (with the bag) toward the shadow as a dark cloud engulfed their home.

When asked how she escaped the shadow, she told them that when they were flying over the water she got scared and started glowing—causing it to drop her.

Not long after that—a month, maybe?—they ran across Mal's group and Ben (Somehow) managed to convince Mal and her group that joining forces would be best for both of them—much to the displeasure of Audrey and Chad.

Six months later, Gil ran to Uma and told her that the Dark one's son was here and that he and his friends had joined Mal's group.

After this, Uma ordered Harry to go kidnap Ben and Bring him back to their "Ship", Also known as The Lost Revenge, which was really a large homemade raft with a few features of a ship on it that the three of them had spent years building.

Not long after, Harry came back with an unconscious Ben who had wandered off.

They tied him to the mast and waited for Mal to notice that he was gone.

They wanted revenge and maybe a few of their supplies. Harriet and CJ's "ships" were floating nearby—hidden by the large rocks.

When Mal and her & Ben's crew arrived, they started fighting and got jumped by all three crews.

Ben awoke sometime during the fight and yelled to get Uma's attention, which worked—he then proceeded to reason with the teal haired girl and by some miracle, managed to convince not only her but Mal, Harriet, and CJ that the best course of action was to join forces so that they could have a better chance at defending themselves against Pan. And that's how the lost kids colony formed.

Now they camp out near the beach, hidden by trees and rocks, and move ever so often to avoid Pan finding them.

None of them knew when or if they were ever going to get off the island but they never gave up hope of being able to escape. They never gave up hope of being found, even if they weren't even sure if their parents were still alive.

They never gave up hope.

At least that’s what they told themselves and eachother.

Chapter 3: Their Camp.

Chapter Text

The camp of the Anti-Pan lost kids was an odd one—set up on one, nearly deserted sandy part of the island that was surrounded by trees, large rocks, and a cave as well as ocean water that rarely anyone ever stumbled upon.

That was why the kids had picked it; it was diverse, secluded, and they were rarely bothered by anyone there.

They could also easily hide if the need to arose and find different types of food because of the diverse landscape, and seek shelter in the cave if it started storming. It was perfect—even if it didn't have everything they wanted or needed.

They did their best to fix it up and make it as home-y as possible with what little they had.

The pirates already had shelter in the form of their small, homemade, makeshift ships—The Lost Revenge, The Queen's Fury, and The Croc Killer.

Harry, Gil, and Uma all slept on The Lost Revenge, with "pillows" (bundles of leaves and moss stuffed into animal fur and fish skin that were sewn shut by Gil) and a large "blanket" (made of various animal furs, again, made by Gil) that the three shared.

Harriet, Sammy, and the LeGume twins, on the other hand, slept on The Queen's Fury—using pillows and blankets made by Gil and the twins. The twins shared one blanket while Harriet and Sammy shared the other.

On the Croc Killer slept CJ, Zevon, and the Smee twins, using Gil and The LeGume Twins' blankets and pillows. All four of them were small enough to be able to share one blanket and two large pillows.

The other kids, upon joining forces with the pirates, had to make their own shelters with what limited supplies they had so they didn't have to sleep out in the cold—unprotected from the elements.

The Core Four built a Wicki-up shelter out of fallen tree branches, tree sap, leaves, moss, and grass, and made a medium-sized bough bed out of leaves, grass, and evergreen boughs.

The boys (Jay and Carlos) shared a "blanket" made out of the fur of a large wolf that Jay had killed after it had attacked Carlos, while the girls shared yet another fur blanket made from the fur of an animal that Mal had killed. The boys slept with pillows made by Gil—the ones made of fish skin, moss, and leaves—while the girls slept with fur pillows.

The remaining kids, on the other hand, made a tipi like shelter that was made out of log-like sticks as well as a bough bed to sleep on.

Ben, Chad, and Doug all shared a large fur blanket made from the furs of various animals sewn together while the girls (Lonnie, Jane, and Audrey) all shared a similar blanket. All of them also shared two large pillows put together by The LeGume brothers—boys got fish skin pillows and the girls got fur pillows.

It wasn't much but it was as close to home as they were gonna get, seeing as even if they did manage to escape this death trap that there was a high possibility that all of their parents were dead.

At this point, all of the kids had given up on ever escaping the death trap known as Neverland on their own and seeing their families again.

It might seem a bit depressing from an outside point of view, but it was an entirely realistic outlook on their situation in the kids' minds.

They had been here for god knows how long and no one had ever shown up looking for them—as far as they knew, everyone outside of Neverland that they had ever loved was dead or cursed, and never coming back. They didn't let any of this deter them from living their best lives, however.

At this point in time, all they had was each other and their lives, and none of them were exactly willing to give up either of those. So, they just focused on surviving in this hell hole and survive they did.

They set up traps to protect them from dangerous animals, lost boys, and anyone else who meant them harm and slept with their weapons nearby. They also set up markings that only they or someone important to them would recognize so they wouldn't forget where camp was.

The kids also learned signals from Lonnie so they communicate with one another without giving up their positions to any attackers and assigned code words to each other to use as an S.O.S in case of capture or separation from the group.

The kids were very prepared and cautious—unwilling to lose each other to Pan or anyone else as they did with their families.

Life on Neverland was tough, but they managed like most children did—copying the way that their parents had done things to an extent.

They didn't take up the mostly negative traits that their parents had shown that had led to them being separated in fear of being separated from their new friends. Instead, they had chosen to take the positive traits of their respective parents/guardians' personalities and made a tiny, somewhat functional society with just them.

In this tiny society, that they referred to as Forsaken Falls, everyone had a role/job to do on certain days—or what they perceived as days anyway.

Neverland Schedule:

Mondays and Saturday:

Harriet watches the Smee twins and CJ while The Gaston twins hunt for food.

Harry and Chad take first shift guard duty, then pass it off to Lonnie and Jay who then pass it off to Audrey and Ben, who will then pass it off to Mal and Evie.

Each pair takes a two hour shift.

Uma cooks whatever the twins catch.

Tuesdays and Thursdays:

The Sea three fish while Lonnie,

Doug, and Harriet scavenge for food and Jay scavenges for supplies with the help of Carlos—who works as the look out from the trees.

Sammy looks after CJ and his brothers on this day.

Uma cooks whatever she and the boys catch.

Doug and Harriet take first shift, they then pass it to Carlos and Bronze, who will then pass it on to Jane and Junior, who will then pass it onto Gil and Uma.

Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays:

Evie, Harriet, Lonnie, and Doug scavenge for food (berries, dead animals, and even bugs) while The Gaston Twins watch CJ and Sammy's brothers.

Gil checks on the traps and patches up any tears in their clothes and sails, and fixes up the traps if need be.

Sammy works as look out during this time and cares for his and the others weapons as Chad, Ben, and Harry check up on the Markings.

Gil , Mal, and Evie then make a meal out of whatever was found by the others.

Uma is working as look out during all of this and makes sure that everything in camp is clean and up to inspection.

Harriet and Sammy take up first shift and then pass it off to Zevon and Audrey who will then pass it onto Evie and Ben who then pass it onto Doug and Lonnie.

The kids throw away any garbage they may have.

Everyone had a job to fulfill and they fulfilled them well, refusing to give up and let Pan win. Each and Every last one of them were stubborn, just like their respective parents/guardians, and most of the time, it served them well as did their schedule.

Unfortunately, things didn't always go their way— sometimes things went wrong. Sometimes they'd get ambushed by Pan's lost boys or mermaids, or they'd get attacked by a dangerous animal.

Other times, someone would get in an accident or get sick. That, or the weather would get bad and they'd all have to move as much of their things into the cave as fast as they could before it got worse.

All of these things could f*ck up their schedule and lead to problems— like The Core Four and the other six's shelters' falling apart during rather violent storms.

But they never gave up and eventually, their patience and resilience would pay off after a rather bad storm brought some familiar faces to the island. Faces that the kids thought that they'd never see, again. Their parents.

Chapter 4: A parent's grief.

Chapter Text

There is no greater pain than losing a child—whether they die or disappear, there is no greater pain than losing them.

The heroes and villains of a realm where every story starts with once upon a time know this very well—after all, each of them had lost a child and each of them had reacted in similar yet different manners.

After losing Harriet, Killian began to drink more and lost his temper more often leading him to distance himself from his remaining two children in fear of unintentionally scaring or harming them. He didn't want to be an abusive drunk— hell, he didn't want to be abusive, period. He downright refused to do anything that would put his remaining two children in danger—so he distanced himself from them.

Killian didn't plan on doing this forever—he just needed time to grieve and look for her.

Harrison and Calista understood that—at least, he was pretty sure they did.

Once the pain lessened, he'd get right back to taking care of both of them and make up for the lost time. He just couldn't be around them much after losing Harriet because he was drinking more and more, and knew how much it scared them; He didn't want to scare them.

Killian also found it hard to look at himself in the mirror and to look at Harrison & Calista because he would just be reminded of his eldest. He hated himself for the fact that he couldn't look at either of them, but there was nothing to do to fix it—all he felt when he looked at the two of them was pain. It wasn't like he blamed or hated them—he could never do either of those things where his children were concerned—he just couldn't look at or interact with them too much. But that didn't mean that he completely ignored or disregarded their presence—he was always checking up on them at night and asking for updates on what they did and their health from his crew. He still loved them, they were still precious to him and he would still do anything for them—he just couldn't look at them. Eventually, Killian would come to dearly regret these actions...

One day, he woke up and went to wake his children only to find them gone like Harriet and Smee's boys, and felt his heart completely shatter.

He woke up the entire crew and they spent weeks tearing apart the ship, other ships, and neighboring villages looking for the two only to find nothing. This is when he started to consume copious amounts of alcohol on a daily basis just to function. He ended up locking himself in his room and very nearly drank himself to death for a full week straight after Harry and CJ disappeared, and constantly berated himself for how poorly he dealt with Harriet's disappearance. He had been acting like a horrible father for months now and hadn't given them the love, affection, and attention they had deserved and desired.

One day, he had been a loving albeit slightly distant, functioning alcoholic of a father and the next he was a barely functioning, neglectful, distant father who couldn't even look or talk to his children.

Killian had always known that he didn't deserve his children—they were too wholesome and pure while he was simply the exact opposite in his mind. They were loving and affectionate, and he wasn't used to that even though he recuperated it. He had just been too selfish to give them up and hadn't wanted to abandon them like his father had done to him and Liam. Maybe this was God's way of punishing him for all the bad he had done—including underappreciating his children. They'd been the light of his life and now they were gone, and he had no one to blame other than himself for his own stupid negligence.

He was snappier and more short tempered with his crew—minus Smee—after this, and spent all of his free time planning his revenge, searching for them, and drinking to forget.

Killian had never hated himself more than he did the moment he lost his remaining two children.

When Smee lost Sammy, a piece of him died.

Sammy was his first born and a shining beacon of light in his darkness.

He had loved his son dearly and had known about his loneliness but hadn't been able to do much about it while searching for Harriet. He had hoped that once they found her, that his son would be happy again but that never happened and then Sammy had disappeared in the exact same way as the captain's daughter had.

Heartbroken, he did his best to continue on with his duties and raising the twins—Skipper and Sterling—only for them to disappear as well. He searched desperately for all three of them as well as Harriet and later Harry and CJ when they disappeared, but eventually they had to give up the search for them and he became numb.

After losing Uma, Ursula was distraught as she thought back on all the times she had ignored or yelled at her little girl.

She had wasted so much time chasing after her revenge against her father, Hook, and humanity that she had ignored and neglected her only child until she completely disappeared from her life. How could she have been so stupid?! Her sweet and innocent little girl had been the best thing that had ever happened to her, and all she had ever done since her run in with Hook was ignore her in favor of revenge. She was no better than her father was and it was too late to fix things with her little girl.

Oh God, her little Uma was gone and she had no one to blame other than herself.

In the months following Uma's disappearance, Ursula spent her days crying and tearing the land and Sea apart looking for her daughter. She even prayed to the gods and goddesses that she had forsaken years ago to keep her little girl safe and alive until she was able to do so herself—promising that when she found Uma that she'd put the past behind her and be the mother that her baby girl deserved if they did.

After losing Zevon, Yzma changed for the worst.

She lost her temper more and more often, and blew up at those around her —including her children, Lil Yaz and Ylza.

Yzma tried her best to control her temper around her only remaining children, but it hardly worked—which only led to her locking herself away in her bedroom and her lab.

She threw herself into her work and hardly talked to her daughter in fear of hurting her.

Yzma refused to become an abusive parent—she refused to hurt her only remaining children or her niece and nephews. She wouldn't dare lay her hands on any of the children before Zevon disappeared and she wasn't about to start doing so with the remaining ones. So she stayed away from her little angels, which seemed to be the only thing that would be good for her children and just hoped that she wasn't doing more harm than good.

She became the laughingstock of the village because no one believed her or her family when they told everyone what happened to Zevon.

No one even helped them look for her little mad scientist—which only made her resent them all even more. How dare they say that she was delusional and that her little Zevon had run away despite her husband, their children, their nephews, their niece, and Kronk all backing her?!

Her children meant the world to her and she would do anything just to have her little boy back.

People grieve in different ways—some healthy and some not so healthy. Most don't grieve the same way, so it's best not to judge the way some people grieve.

These villains know that better than anyone.

After losing their daughter (Malvina), Hades and Maleficent split.

Hades hadn't been around much before they had lost their daughter because he had to run the underworld most of the time and he felt horribly guilty because of it. He might not have loved Maleficent as much as he had when they first got together, but he absolutely adored their daughter and the fact that he wasn't there when she needed him most destroyed him. Especially since Hades had found his little girl's journals and some of her more... disturbing.. drawings and toys.

Have you ever seen a literal God cry?

No?

Well, Hades definitely did cry that day.

Who wouldn't cry after finding out that their seven year old daughter already hated herself ? Who wouldn't cry after finding out that their only daughter felt like a burden? Who wouldn't cry after finding out that their little girl thought that she was never going to have any friends? Who wouldn't cry after finding their seven year old's mutilated dolls and finding out that that was how she saw herself?

She drew herself as a monster several times and each drawing was more disturbing than the last, and would have a note on it like "why doesn't anybody like me?"

He had never felt that guilty before in his immortal life.

He had also felt furious with his kind-of-wife after reading about how she had been ignoring and blowing up at their daughter the past few months, and confronted her about it.

Maleficent just broke down in tears and told him that she hadn't meant to make their little Mal feel that way. That she had just been angry at his long and frequent absences, and stressed because taking care of a temperamental little girl in the middle of nowhere wasn't easy. She also revealed that she was pregnant again and that she hadn't known until a couple of months beforehand.

She said that she had been angry and disgusted with herself because she hadn't known why she was having these weird cravings and mood swings, and that she had gotten annoyed because Mal had kept interrupting and messing up her work.

Maleficent cried and cried about how the last few months had been rough and confusing and that she had lashed out at Malvina in her frustration. Cried about how she hadn't meant to drive their daughter away.

Hades tore into her verbally—still furious with her—and told her that he would never forgive her for what happened and that he would damn well make sure that their baby wouldn't either, which only made the dragoness cry harder.

Hades made good on his promise—filling their son, Hadie's, head up with semi-truths about what had happened to his sister.

Luckily for Maleficent, their son didn't quite believe his father and asked his mother for her side of the story and hadn't blamed her for what had happened to Malvina. That didn't mean that Maleficent didn't feel guilty about the events leading up to her daughter's disappearance and Hades didn't feel better about it either. Both felt extremely guilty but for different reasons and would never forgive one another for what happened.

Hadie grew up being shuffled back and forth between his parents who never got back on speaking terms with one another.

Little Hadie constantly prayed to his aunts and uncles to bring his sister back so his parents wouldn't be so miserable anymore—but his prayers were never answered. He never gave up though and neither did his parents who were still searching for his older sister.

After he lost Jakeem, all Jafar could do was think about how badly he had screwed up. He had put getting revenge against his father and half-brother over his only child and had lost his son in the process. He had ignored his little boy time and time again while planning his revenge and had yelled at Jakeem whenever the boy dared to interrupt him. He knew that he had completely ruined his relationship with his son and he began to despise himself for it.

Jafar and Jakeem had been very close before he had let his revenge consume him and he had ruined all of that in a last stitch effort to get back at his ex and to get power and revenge.

What the hell was wrong with him?

Not long after Jakeem's disappearance, Jafar started drinking and locked himself in his boy's room for awhile and didn't leave it until Nasira (his twin sister) showed up with her daughter and forcibly removed him herself. He ended up living with his sister and niece for a long while after that because Nasira was afraid he'd drink himself to death if she left him alone. They had searched for Jakeem for a while but after not being able to find him, Jafar began focusing on his revenge yet again but stirred clear of his niece in order to avoid treating her like he had treated Jakeem.

Jafar never forgave himself for how he treated Jakeem up until he lost him and didn't think he ever would.

Losing Carlos nearly destroyed Cruella—would have destroyed her if she didn't have custody of Hunter (17), Ivy (11), and Diego (10).

Her niece and nephews were the only things that stopped her son's disappearance from completely destroying her.

She knew that if she gave into the depression that those 3 would go right back to the orphanage she had tracked them down to all those years ago after her younger brothers’ deaths.

So, despite her heart shattering into pieces after her little Carlos disappeared just like his father had, she opted to stay strong just so her nieces and nephews didn't have to suffer anymore than they had. That didn't mean that she didn't grieve—she did and she did it hard.

Drinking and smoking more, crying in his (Carlos's) room at odd hours of the day, etc.

Losing her little boy hurt but she just had to carry on and pull on through for the other three kids in her care—they never stopped looking for him, though.

After losing Evie, Regina dropped off the map for a while.

No one knew where the evil queen went or why she wasn't hunting Snow down in the months that she disappeared.

All anyone knew was that her men were looking for information on a little girl who had recently vanished without a trace. Nobody knew anything and the search for the little girl was eventually dropped when Regina showed up again, and everyone sort of forgot about it. Everyone but Regina and her father, Henry, who had been the only one to know about Evie.

Regina had spent those months drinking, crying, and thinking about lost time while searching for answers as to where her daughter went but she never did find the answers she was looking for.

Regina never forgave herself for not spending enough time with her little Evelyn and found it very hard to move on with her life, and ended throwing herself into her plans of vengeance as a way to get over it. It didn't work and even during the curse, she felt the heartbreak of not knowing where her little girl was.

After losing the twins (Gaston Junior and Gaston the 3rd) and Gil, Laurette kind of lost it for a bit.

The 1st time she had left her children alone since her husband's disappearance and they disappear as well?

She spent days moping around in her room, bawling her eyes out like the rest of the family (her sisters, her in-laws, LeFou, and Stanley). The village didn't see much of the LeGume family after the three youngest members disappeared because they all sorta self isolated. Losing the eldest son (Gaston) had been hard enough on the large tight-knit family but losing 3 children—who also happened to be said missing eldest's kids as well?

It was a hard blow on the LeGume family.

None of them were taking it well and the remaining children (Claudette's daughter Claire—age 6—and LeFou, Paulette, and Stanley's many children) found themselves being somewhat forgotten in the aftermath.

All of the adults and their youngest uncle (who was 17) were always at each other's throats nowadays—when they were out of their rooms or not hunting, that is—and were usually drunk.

Most of their aunts and uncles—and even their grandfather —blamed their youngest Uncle for the disappearance of Gil and the twins since he was supposed to be keeping an eye on them when they disappeared. The remaining kids felt bad for their uncle—he got so much hate thrown at him for something that wasn't really his fault and most of their family seemed to hate him, and he was only 17. It wasn't fair—it was obvious that he felt guilty about their disappearances yet he was still treated awfully.

Their family was falling apart, and the kids didn't know how to fix it.

To make matters worse, the adults hardly let them outside anymore. They'd become paranoid that the rest of the kids would disappear if they allowed them out of their sights for even a second. And to make matters, the rumors that the village folks spread kept getting nastier and nastier. Which caused quite a few fights between the LeGume family and the villagers.

Life was so much simpler when Gaston and his kids were still around...

Gaston didn't find out that his sons were missing until one of his brothers accidentally resurrected him while in the town of Storybrooke.

The brother in question didn't go into too much detail about how he had known that he was dead or about how he had resurrected him in the first place. All his brother had really told him was that he had been gone for 29 years, that his kids were missing, their family was at odds with one another, and that a curse had been cast and then broken by this savior woman who had fallen through a portal not that long ago.

Of course, he was distraught when he found out. He and his boys were extremely close, and he had done his best to spend time with them and raise them to be good people.

Gaston had cried for a good hour after finding out that he missed a year in his boys' life and another after finding out that no one knew where they were.

It killed him to know that he might never be able to hold his little boys ever again.

That he might never be able to see or hear their laughter again.

That he might never receive a drawing or a flower crown that Gil had made, again.

That he might never see the twins shove each other as they raced down the path to the garden or be able to take them hunting again.

That knowledge hurt him beyond belief but he didn't let it destroy him—he had to fix his family and make things better for his nieces and nephews. He could at least do that—maybe it would relieve some of his pain.... (he drank a bit as well—not too much though, someone had to be an adult for these kids in the aftermath of the mass family tragedy).

Belle and Rumple didn't even know that they had lost their son until after the curse was broken. Belle had assumed after being captured by Regina that Rumple still had their son—which he did until the Cinderella incident where he got captured by the Charmings. And Rumple had assumed that his son was being well-taken care of back in his castle and that once the curse was cast/broken that he'd have his boy back. But both were proven wrong when the curse broke and they found each other— and found that neither of them had Ben.

Belle was overwhelmed, distraught, and disappointed in her boyfriend when she found out what had happened after she disappeared and they had ended up getting into a few fights afterwards.

Belle had never been so angry before—not when her mother died, not when Gaston tortured that ogre, not even when her father tried to force her into an arranged marriage.

Rumple had left their child alone—several times—and now their little boy was gone.

She yelled and yelled at him, and he just stood there and took it. In fact, he didn't show any emotion at all, and it just pissed Belle off even more. It wasn't fair—she hadn't done anything wrong and neither had Ben, and now he was out there all alone and probably scared.

Rumple didn't even flinch when she voiced these thoughts, which led her to asking if he even cared. This led to him snapping at her—of course he cared, he just wasn't going to fight with her about it.

He knew it was his fault as it was when he left Baelfire and when he found Baelfire in New York, he didn't mention Ben at all—afraid that Baelfire would be angry that he had moved on.

Unfortunately for him, Belle mentioned Ben to Baelfire and he just gave her a blank look and said "who?"

....let's just say that the next couple of days were not pretty at all.

Belle was f*cking furious at him for not telling Baelfire that he had a little brother and accused him of trying to erase Ben from their lives—which he immediately denied. And she wouldn't listen to a word he had to say afterward—she wouldn't even look or respond to him—and neither would Baelfire.

Neal/Baelfire, upon finding out that his dad had lost his little brother and hadn't told him that he had even one, lost it and got in a screaming match with him that A LOT of people heard. He chewed him out and swore at him, before storming off to the Rabbit Hole. After that, Rumple received nothing but Radio silence on both ends. Neither of them would even speak to him. He had screwed up—bad—and he didn't know if he could fix it.

Belle didn't talk to him until Baelfire "died" and only then did they start to rekindle their relationship—only for Henry to get kidnapped.

Now Rumple was off to Neverland and couldn't help but think of his lost sons.

There is no feeling worse than going to wake your child up only to find their window open and their room empty. That someone had snatched your child up in the night and that no one had noticed—that you hadn't noticed.

Snow knows this feeling better than most and wouldn't wish that feeling upon anyone—not even on her worst enemy.

She had gone to wake Chad up after having sent him to bed the night before with no dessert because of his bad behavior—only to find his bed empty and his window.

At first, she didn't panic—Chad had left his window open before and she had found him sleeping in places other than his bed before.

So, at first, she stayed calm and searched his room for him.

She only began to panic when she didn't find him in the closet, under his bed, in his toy chest, on his balcony, or behind his curtains.

She eventually woke the whole castle up, screaming hysterically about how she couldn't find Chad and would've had a miscarriage if Charming hadn't calmed her down.

They had the whole kingdom out searching for their little boy before the day was over. They didn't stop searching for him—even when the curse was approaching; they had half their kingdom looking for him and the other half looking for a way to protect their little girl.

Now they were on The Jolly Roger, going to save their grandson from Tamara and Greg's clutches in Neverland, and couldn't stop thinking of their missing son. Strangely enough, they both had an odd feeling in their chest—something akin to hope—and they couldn't figure out why.

Unbeknownst to them, Their son had the same feeling in his chest over in Neverland.

No one missed Audrey for years.

Her grandmother, Briar, didn't care that she was gone—just badmouthed her to the guards and told them not to bother looking because the ungrateful brat had probably run away. Unfortunately, the guards listened to her and there was never any search.

Little Audrey was only missed 28 years later—after her parents' curses were broken. They looked for her and her grandmother, and found nothing. They had no clue what happened to her and were desperate to find her—were still desperate to find her.

Same went for Mulan, who returned to her home with Philip and Aurora to find her grandmother dead, her son alone and older, and her daughter gone.

Her son, Shaiming, explained that Lonnie had disappeared and that their grandmother in a rush to find her had fallen down the stairs and died. Which had caused him to have to take care of himself until they had shown up.

Of course, she was distraught—her grandmother was dead and her daughter was missing, why wouldn't she be?

It startled Aurora and Philip, who had never seen her express such emotions before.

Poor Mulan felt terribly guilty, remembering that the last words she had said to her daughter were when they were fighting. Did her daughter even know that she loved her? Mulan hoped she did.

The 3 of them went on to search for their children and were still searching to this day—unaware that their children were far out of their reach, facing the horrors of Neverland.

Dopey ,his brothers, his elder son, and his nieces and nephews were all distraught when Doug disappeared. He missed his sweet and nerdy little boy, and so did the rest of his family.

Snow and Charming were as well and sent people out looking for Doug as soon as he disappeared. Things didn't get any better when they awoke in Storybrooke to find that little Jane was gone as well.

Grumpy got Grumpier and snappier toward everyone—even his 5 remaining children (Snappy, Maddie, Grouchy, Crabby, and Gordon—3 boys, 2 girls).

They were all hurting and the kids were all struggling (Bashful jr, Shy, sleepy jr, Nighty, Creeps—who changed his name to be edgy—, Joy, Smiley, Derek, Giggles, Jolly, Cheery, Sniffles, Snot, and the rest). Things weren't easy for any of them—they were all heartbroken.

Each and every one of the parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and cousins were.

Losing a child isn't easy. Especially if you don't know what happened to them—it's maddening. You want to hope that you'll get them back but deep down, you know that there's a chance you won't.

That you won't find them.

That you'll never know what happened or worse—that you'll find them dead.

Losing a child is completely maddening—it can drive you insane.

Is that really any surprise?

Chapter 5: Scars.

Chapter Text

To survive in Neverland, you gotta be fit and quick.

If you aren't, then you won't survive—it's that simple.

There are many dangers in Neverland that one has to be able to outrun—Pan, The Lost boys, the rabid animals, the mermaids, and more. But you can't go running around all willy-nilly because there are other dangers on the island in the form of various traps and poisonous plants straight out of hell that you have to look out for.

Tortuous and painful traps set up by the lost boys and the Indians (who wanted to keep the lost boys away from their camp as well as pirates)—traps that could kill you instantly, traps that could take hours or even days to kill you. Traps laced in posions from the various amounts of poisonous plants. Most of the traps weren't coated in poison because they also used them to catch and kill their food—the multiple rabid and wild animals that inhabited the island. But that didn't mean that the traps didn't hurt like hell if you managed to get caught in them—and it took forever to get out of them.

One had to learn how to dodge these things if they wanted to survive on the hellhole known as Neverland—and that's exactly what the kids (Known as Neverland's Rebels when all together) did.

They learned from pain and experience—each and every one of them—and let me tell you, there was a lot of pain and experience to go around over the years. Each one of the kids had gotten trapped in one of the traps and had gone toe to toe with the lost boys (and the mermaids and rabid animals) at some point—and each and everyone of them had the scars to prove it.

A lot of scars.

One would be forever horrified to learn just how many scars these young children had gotten during their time in Neverland. They had come in, unblemished, and now they lived there in terror—their skin a map of their journey and a symbol of their strength.

All of them refused to break under all the stress and terror—they were stronger than that. They were their parents' children and it showed in the way each of them held themselves. They were stubborn, brave, smart, creative, resourceful, crafty, and defiant—and Pan despised them for it. They made his job harder and refused to show their fear to him—which made messing with them a lot less fun.

He still did it of course—no one could defy him and get away with it. And seeing the flashes of terror in their eyes when his boys would cornered them always made up for it—it was satisfying to him.

Little brats needed to learn their place in his opinion—especially Jay, who betrayed him and his weak grandson who didn't know he was his grandson. Pan hated them all and the feeling was most certainly mutual.

They all had a road map of scars and trauma because of him, and it was all his fault that they were there—they had every right to hate him and nobody could tell them otherwise.

Speaking of scars, did I mention that all the kids had at least 3 and that they were horribly horrific?

Harriet had a scar on her side about 3 inches long from when a lost boy had shot her with an arrow not long after she arrived. She had, had to stitch herself up with no rum to numb the pain and the stitches hadn't been the best—sufficient enough to keep her alive, sure, but not neat at all. And you could tell just by looking at it that she hadn't stitched herself up properly. That had been before Sammy had come along and the wound had hurt for months afterward and she had nothing to relieve her pain and no one to lean on until he arrived.

Sammy had ten long and thin scars around his ankles—five on each ankle that stretched upwards. Each were about five inches in length. He had gotten them a month after he had arrived in Neverland after wandering too close to the waters where the mermaids lurked and had been yanked in by one that had long, sharp nails. He had tried to escape but her grip was too strong and eventually, he had been pulled under the icy waters. He would've drowned if Harriet hadn't of stabbed that mermaid—she didn't kill it unfortunately and it kept coming back for them but at that time it had saved his life.

Harriet had saved him time and time again, and he would forever be grateful that she had. She had earned unrelenting loyalty from him that day—she had his back, so of course he was going to have hers.

Squeaky and Squirmy, as they were called, had scars as well but nowhere near as many as the others did. That's mostly because they rarely left the camp and were watched very closely (along with CJ) by the others when they did. That didn't mean that none of them had any—they did; Squeaky had one that circled around his lower leg that was two 2 inches thick that he got after getting his leg trapped in one of the lost boys' traps. He had screamed bloody murder until Sammy managed to free his leg from the trap (about 10 minutes), had nearly bled out, and hadn't been able to walk for a good while afterwards. It had been a miserable time for everyone involved and they hadn't been able to move around as much as they should have because of his injury.

Not the best way to start off one's time in Neverland (it had only been his 2nd or 3rd day there).

His twin, Squirmy, had been slightly luckier than he was and didn't get his 1st scar until after Harry and CJ had arrived. His scar was arguably worse than Squeaky's though. It was long and thin, and stretched from his ankle all the way up to his knee. He had gotten it after a lost boy had shot him in his leg with an arrow that ended up getting caught in the tree Squirmy had climbed in an attempt to escape from said lost boy. He too, nearly bleed out and hadn't been able to walk after the adrenaline had worn off. He would have bleed out or been taken to Pan if Sammy hadn't saved him with his slingshot.

Calista Jane had little amounts of scars as well because, as previously stated, the older kids kept a good eye on her and she rarely ever left the camp. But she did have them.

She had a faint scar around her neck that was only really noticeable up close. She got it from a locket she used to own after climbing a tree to take "guard duty" only to end up falling and getting her locket caught on a branch—nearly hanging her. It was a miracle that her little neck didn't snap on impact—in fact, no one knew how she managed to escape without a broken neck. All anyone knew was that CJ had nearly hung herself by accident and if Harriet hadn't been awake, she would have. Everyone preferred not to talk about the "locket incident" as they called it, because it still haunted the ones who were present when it happened (the Smee Brothers, Harriet, Harry, Zevon, and Uma).

CJ stopped wearing her locket after that—scared that there would be a repeat of the incident that she wouldn't survive and opted to instead carry it around in her front pocket.

Speaking of Zevon, he had tons of little overlapping scars from his first day on Neverland and from the days leading up to when he finally got "shoes" (which were yet again crudely made by Evie and Gil).

Some were vertical, others horizontal—some thick, some thin.

Some short, some long.

Some started at his toes and went down to his heel and others started on one side of his foot, and ended at the other.

He even had some minor burns on his feet that hadn't healed properly. Luckily for Zevon, the scars on his feet didn't hurt as badly as they used to and didn't negatively affect his ability to walk. He could still outrun most of the lost boys and even Harry on a good day. At first, he had been rather self conscious and even ashamed of his scars—thinking they made him weaker and inferior to his fellow Neverland Rebels. However, he soon realized that he was being silly and stupid when the Smees, Jones, and Uma realized that they all had scars too.

That day he learned that scars were nothing to be ashamed of because everyone had them.

To Zevon's surprise, even Harry had them.

Strong, determined, buck wild, stubborn, and brave Harrison Liam Jones had scars just as he did. It really shouldn't have surprised him, considering how brash, reckless, and short-attentioned Harry was but it did. Maybe it was because Harry just seemed untouchable or maybe it was just because he didn't seem afraid of much—maybe that's why it surprised him.

Harrison Liam Jones, aka Harry Hook, did indeed have scars—and he had A LOT of them. More than Harriet, Uma, and Sammy did.

There was one scar that Harry had that was eye-catching and that had affected him a lot—both mentally and emotionally.

It was long, thick, and jagged, and stretched from his left hip to his right shoulder. He had gotten it not long after arriving in Neverland after a run in with the lost boys that had separated him from the Smees and his sisters. He had gotten captured and Pan had decided to have a little fun with him. It had affected Harry more than any of them would like to admit.

Before the incident, Harry had been happy, hyper, playful, hopeful, adventurous, sweet, and very talkative, and had rarely lost his temper and had wanted to be just like his dad. But then the incident happened—shaking Harry to his very core. Somehow, Harry managed to escape on his own—slowly stumbling back into their small camp covered in blood and uncharacteristically quiet.

CJ, Squeaky, and Squirmy had started bawling their eyes out almost immediately after they saw the state he was in, drawing the attention of Sammy and Harriet.

Harriet had nearly screamed when she had seen how bloody and bruised her little brother was—only stopping herself at the last minute, realizing that if she screamed she'd draw Pan's attention and get them even more hurt.

Harriet and Sammy fixed him up the best they could with what limited supplies they had but their medical skills were mediocre at best and he had barely been able to walk afterward. To make matters worse, Harry stopped talking for a bit after the incident and would barely eat anything. His night terrors grew worse and became more frequent. He became more hesitant, cautious, and paranoid after it too. He stayed closer to Harriet, and later Uma, the first few months after the incident and now he couldn't sleep without some kind of light nearby.

He also started fidgeting nonstop. It was around this time that Harry snapped and started losing his temper more and more often. Things got better when he found a hook that reminded him of their dad's and started carrying it around—he said it made him feel safer. No one was allowed to touch it unless he let them because he'd freak the f*ck out if he didn't have it and no one knew why. The only one he trusted with his hook was Uma, who made him feel nearly as safe as his hook did.

Uma had a scar on her palm that was thick and jagged, and in the shape of an "/". She had gotten it from an incident where a lost boy threw the equivalent of a bent up ninja star at her.

Uma ended up throwing up her hand in order to catch it—preventing it from taking out her eye like the offending lost boy had planned. The same lost boy had also managed to scar Gil, who had a similar scar just below his neck. That had gotten the offending lost boy jumped by Gil's very angry older brothers.

Gaston Junior ended up getting a scar from the altercation after that Lost boy sneakily pulled out a sharp shard of glass from seemingly out of Nowhere (Junior still had no f*cking clue when and where the tricherie trou du cul had gotten the shard from and he was still énervé about it) and stabbed him in the chest with it. Luckily for Junior, the glass somehow didn't break inside him and the wound didn't bleed too much. The resulting scar was three inches long, thin, and easy to cover up.

After Junior was stabbed, Bronze beat the absolute la merde out of the lost boy and busted his own hands up pretty badly in the process—resulting in his knuckles becoming scarred afterwards. Unlike the other Neverland rebels, the LeGume twins weren't ashamed of these scars—quite the opposite in fact; they were proud of them. Their dad had always told them that people's scars were a sign of their strength and that you could tell alot about a person from their scars, meaning that one shouldn't be ashamed of them. They took his words to heart and remembered them even now, after years of pure, unfiltered hell in Neverland and repeated them to the other kids.

Words of wisdom were often passed around between all of them.

Mal had finger shaped burn marks on her *right* arm from when Jay instinctively grabbed her and pulled her out of the way of an onslaught of arrows that had been shot at her by an unseen assailant back when it was just the four of them.

Jay ended up accidentally burning her with his magic because he was scared and still wasn't in complete control of it at the time.

Mal didn't even realize that it had happened until they had made it back to camp and the adrenaline wore off—she hadn't felt the pain before then. The moment Jay realized what he had done, he started crying which shocked his friends since they hadn't seen him cry before that point, and kept apologizing to a very uncomfortable Mal. Eventually, Mal got fed up and just said "what are you apologizing for? Saving my life? Cause if you hadn't of pulled me out of the way, I'd be a pin cushion right now " that shut Jay up real quick.

Mal (unintentionally) ended up returning the favor after she accidentally sent Jay flying back into a tree when he attempted to wake her from a nightmare. This earned Jay a large 1 shaped scar on his back that made it nearly impossible for him to get around in the days following and Mal still feels guilty about it to this day—even though Jay says that she shouldn't because it was an accident. The fact that Carlos and Evie both agreed with that sort of logic didn't make her feel any better in the slightest.

Evie's scars were so small and faint that one wouldn't notice them at first glance. It wouldn't even be a stretch to say that one wouldn't notice them at all unless someone pointed it out.

These scars, despite being faint and small ,came in plenty and were in varying stages of healing. They were all over her hands and she had gotten them from her various attempts at unsupervised sewing which gradually decreased as she got better and faster at it. None of them hurt for very long, which was a plus for the stubborn bluenette who refused to give up on learning how to properly sew and do stitches—which is how they ended up patching Jay and Carlos up when they got their most prominent scars.

The last of the core four—Carlos—had scars all over his legs and arms that he received from an animal attack involving a wolf, which led to him being terrified of wolves.

Surprisingly—or not, depending on who you ask—Ben nearly had the least amount of scars (behind only the Smee twins). His most prominent scar was long, thin, and pink, and in the shape of a wishbone on his (left) knee. He had gotten it after tripping and falling down a small hill while doing one of his morning runs, which resulted in him getting scratched up pretty bad. He had also gotten a scar shaped like a sideways anchor on his other knee and a couple of fainter ones on his hands from the same incident.

It had hurt but Ben hadn't complained—there were worse ways one could get a scar than falling. He knew that. He had learned that long before he had stepped foot on the island and the longer he was there, the more reinforced that idea had become. In Ben's mind, he had no right to complain because his friends had gotten worse in worse ways.

Chad had gotten his most prominent scars from falling as well, though his were most definitely worse in everyone's opinion. He had been racing with Ben and Lonnie when he had gotten his foot caught in a vine, which had resulted in him flying forward down a small slope (which in itself had caused him to dislocate his ankle). He ended up landing on a glass bottle, which shattered almost immediately from the force of his fall—underneath him. This resulted in Chad getting tons of deep gashes of various sizes in his chest and in his hands when he panicked and tried to take them out by himself.

At that time, they hadn't joined Mal's group—so it had only been Doug, Ben, Lonnie, Jane, and Audrey with him. None of them were quite sure how Chad had survived the incident. He had lost so much blood while on the way back to camp and when they were fixing him up with their— very limited medical knowledge and supplies. He had, had to be held down by Jane, Doug, Ben, and Audrey while Lonnie had fixed him up because he couldn't stop thrashing.

A pair of rusted tweezers, a pint of some smelly alcohol (rum) that they had found in an unopened bottle, a semi rusted needle, and some stolen thread later, and Chad was good as new (not really. The stitches hadn't been done very well and he had been in constant pain for a couple of days after, and none of them were 100% sure that they had gotten all of the glass out).

Audrey's scar was long, pink, and two inches wide—starting at the back of her wrist and ending at her elbow. She had gotten it her first time sparring with Chad, who had gotten a little too excited and into it .

Chad had stitched her up the best he could after it became apparent that tape wouldn't be enough to stop the bleeding. Chad still felt horrible about it, all these years later, even though Audrey hadn't held it over his head like most would. Hurting someone who hadn't deserved it— his friend nonetheless— just put a bad taste in his mouth.

Doug had an accidental self-inflicted scar that was two inches long and wide on his side. He had been collecting things that he and the others could use to build a shelter—like wood and rocks—and ended up swinging his pickaxe just a little too far back.

That's right.

He had stabbed himself in the side with his own pickaxe while using it to break down rocks. It hadn't been an easy task getting him to stay still while pulling the pickaxe out, but his friends had somehow managed it and had done a semi-decent job stitching him up. Unfortunately, there was no way for them to check if there was any internal damage, so they ended up spending the next 2 or 3 days worrying about whether or not he would die because of it.

He, fortunately, didn't die.

Lonnie had a faint scar on her head that she got while sparring. She had been sparring with Ben who had blocked her incoming strike with his dagger—unintentionally knocking her off balance and causing her to fall back. She spun around in an attempt to slow down her descent to the ground with her hands only to fall faster and knock herself out on a rock. Resulting in a faint, small, and jagged scar on her hairline.

And finally, there was Jane, who had arguably the worst scars even though she had been the last to arrive in Neverland. Remember how her mother is Nova—a fairy godmother, with wings and all right? Well... Jane had been born with wings too—she had been the one of the only one of her siblings to have been born with them.

The only other one of her siblings to have been born with wings was her brother, Snappy, who was 15.

Their siblings (Gordon, Maddison/Maddie, Crabbie, and Grouchy) had always been jealous of the fact that Jane and Snappy had wings and they didn't. But could anyone blame them?

Their wings were big and shiny, and sparkly and they could fly because of them. Nevermind the fact that Snappy wasn't too fond of his wings because they were pink and that Jane was far too clumsy the fly yet.

The last time Jane had tried to fly she had gotten stuck up high in a tree and nearly gave her dad (Grumpy) a heart attack. Because of this, Jane had been forbidden to try and fly again until her seventh birthday. But after what Pan's lost boys had done, Jane might not ever be able to fly again. They had mangled her wings. She had wandered off from the group not long after they had all joined forces and had gotten nabbed by a couple of Pan's boys who had taken back to her camp.

None of her friends had a clue where she had disappeared to and they had gone crazy looking for her but they didn't find her. The lost boys had, had her for 2 days and her wings were nearly unrecognizable by then. Torn, shredded, and stained in her own blood—they had only hurt her wings. They had broken them and she couldn't move them for ages afterwards. The only reason she had even been able to escape was Tinkerbell who had stopped by the camp when the lost boys were out and found her.

If it wasn't for Tinkerbell, Jane would either be dead or still in Pan's camp as his little plaything. He and his boys would still be tearing her wings apart while she was still alive, trying to figure out how she functioned. How she was able to fly.

Tinkerbell had risked her own neck in her disgust of Pan's actions by snatching her up and taking her back to where she was staying.

Jane was out of it for the next two or so days with a deadly fever as Tink nursed her back to health and fixed up her wings.

Tink had held her when she awoke and realized that she might never be able to fly again and dropped her off not far from her camp.

Scars are permanent.

They're a road map that tells the story of where and what a person has been through. They're a reminder of when life tried and failed to break someone. They helped make people who they are and change who they were. Their drawings on their person's skin and each scar tells a different story.

Everyone has scars and a story of how they got them—they make us stronger and are nothing to be ashamed of.

Chapter 6: Training.

Chapter Text

Every morning, Neverland's rebels trained so that they could stay in tip top shape.

They needed to be able to outrun the many inhabitants of the isle—Pan, his lost boys, the rabid animals, the Indians, all of them. They needed to be able to fight them off—to defend themselves because no one else was going to do it. So they trained and trained.

They'd wake with the sun and depending on what day it was, the ones not scavenging for breakfast would run until the ones who were scavenging were back. Then they'd all train.

First, the ones with the swords (Gil, Harry, Uma, Sammy, Harriet, Sterling, Skipper, C.J, Chad, Carlos, Jay, and Lonnie) would split off into pairs and fight. The usual beginning pairs were Sammy & Harriet, Lonnie & Uma, Harry & Gil, Carlos & Chad, Jay & CJ, and the twin little ones.

Then they'd switch and continue to fight while the Gaston twins would stand watch and practice with their blunderbusses, and their machetes. While they were doing that Zevon and Ben would practice dagger fighting, and Audrey and Mal would fight with their weapons (a spear and a staff).

Doug and Jane would practice fighting each other with their pick axes. And Evie would practice her firing.

Then, after all that, Zevon, Evie, and Mal would work on their potions for an hour while the others practiced different fighting styles. When the hour was up, those 3 would practice different fighting styles as well.

During this time, Sammy would practice with his slingshot.

Then all the children with magic would practice for a bit. After that, they'd work on their climbing, acrobatics, and parkour, and get on with their day.

Some might say that their training was a bit excessive or that they spent too much time on it, but the kids saw it as necessary.

It wasn't exactly fun and at times it could be daunting but at this point, it was just routine to them.

They felt like they just needed to do it. Whenever their routine got disrupted or interrupted, it distressed them greatly—made them anxious/nervous.

Made them feel sick.

Routine was everything and they needed it—it was the only semblance of normalcy they had. If they lost it, none of them were sure how they'd cope with that—they were all holding on by a forever thinning thread that was ready to snap.

They needed to be needed to protect themselves and one another from the horrors of Neverland, and get over their trust issues. They'd all been weak and helpless before and they had made the mistake of trusting those around them to love and protect them only to be ignored, yelled at, and pushed aside. They hated the way that made them feel. None of them ever wanted to feel that hate, anger, resentment, or pain ever again. So the kids kept training and never stopped.

They needed to get stronger after all if they were gonna continue fighting for their lives and a way out.

Chapter 7: Fear.

Chapter Text

A wise man once said "Everyone is scared of something, even if they refuse to acknowledge it."

Another wise man once said "Fear itself doesn't make you a coward. Inaction does."

Both men were very right.

All the Neverland Rebels feared something— whether it was a rational fear or not—and they all had a reason.

Uma was scared of being alone and never being loved by her mother. Her mother had yelled and ignored her, and left her alone for so long and she had already been kind of alone before that. She had never had friends and after her mother stopped spending time with her, she began to fear that her mother would never love her and that she'd be alone forever.

Harry was scared of the dark and not being good enough for his loved ones. He had always been scared of not being good enough, especially because he was sick in the head, and had never been fond of the dark. His fear of the dark only worsened when he got kidnapped by rival pirates when he was three years old while playing in a port that the Jolly Roger was docked at. The rival pirates had tied him up, gagged him, blindfolded him, and thrown him in the cold, pitch black brig. He couldn't see anything, say anything, or move at all, and the only time anyone came to the brig was to mock him. They'd say the meanest and nastiest things that terrified the small boy; they had him for a week before his dad finally caught up with them.

His dad untied and ungagged him but left the blindfold on, and told him to focus on the sound of his voice as he carried him back to their ship. Harry vaguely remembered the sound of screaming, swords clashing, and guns going off around them as he did.

Gil was scared of Lightning, thunder, storms, and losing his brothers. His fear of storms, thunder, and lightning all came from the same incident; when he was 4, he had a nightmare and went to his parents' room because he was scared and crying. He slept in their bed that night and it's a good thing he did because if he hadn't, he wouldn't be here today. Because that night, a horrible storm fell over their village and a tree flew through the window of his bedroom—crushing his tiny little bed.

The whole family woke up to one of his grandparent's servants screaming after she went to check on him while doing her daily rounds. He (and his family) had been scared of storms ever since. Meanwhile, his fear of losing his brothers came from losing literally everyone else in a short span of time in his short life. He didn't want to lose them or his friends.

Harriet was scared of being alone, unloved, and isolated. She was scared of being alone and isolated because for a while, she had been—when she first came to Neverland and she had, had to fend for herself. She had absolutely hated it and never wanted to relive it. And she was scared of being unloved because if her father really didn't love her anymore that meant that no one was looking for her.

Sammy was scared of flying, heights, and drowning. He was scared of flying and heights because of his near fatal flight to Neverland, and he was scared of drowning because of that time he nearly got drowned by a mermaid.

Junior and Bronze were both scared of storms, being left behind/abandoned, and being ridiculed. They were scared of storms because Gil nearly died because of one and everytime a storm rolled in, they were reminded of the near Loss of their dear little brother. They always had to be around Gil when a storm was happening or they'd start to panic. They were scared of being left behind/abandoned because of their father's disappearance which also played into their fear of being ridiculed because people started to ridicule them and their family after he did.

Calista Jane "C.J" Jones wasn't scared of much. In fact, the only thing she was really scared of was being choked/ strangled/ hanged because of the locket incident which had nearly cost her, her life and left her scarred.

Zevon was scared of losing control and losing his temper because the last time he lost his temper, the shadow came for him and he never saw his family again. The Smee twins were scared of monsters (I.e Pan) and sharp objects, or well, getting caught up in sharp objects because of The Lost boys' traps.

Mal was scared of losing people and of drowning. Drowning because she can't swim—never learned how. And she was scared of losing people because of how distant her parents had become with her in the months leading up to her disappearance. She felt as if she was losing them and then she was taken by the Shadow, and really lost them. She never wants to lose anyone ever again.

Jay is scared of being trapped. He's scared of being trapped because getting trapped or cornered by the lost boys has never ended well for him.

Evie is scared of being imperfect. Her real mom hadn't wanted her to live with her, so that must have meant that something was wrong with her right? Well, regardless of whether or not that's true, Evie came to that conclusion. And tried to become perfect, which never seemed to work.

Carlos is scared of wolves simply because he got attacked by them when he was littler and nearly died, and then got attacked by them again in Neverland only to get saved by Jay. Carlos has been scared of wolves ever since.

Ben is scared of being abandoned, replaced, forgotten, and ignored, and these fears all stem from the same source; his parents. He grew up in a big, scary place that he had never left because of his father and all he had ever known were his parents. Then his mom and dad slowly started fighting—his mom wanted for him to see the outside world and for his dad to see that he wasn't as bad as he thought it was. That he could change. His dad didn't want him to see the outside world because it was dangerous and he was scared of losing him, and he wanted to keep his power. So he remained dark and that caused more fighting between them, and made his dad really scary. The tensions between them were high and at times, they'd be so mad that they wouldn't talk to eachother, which led to his dad being out more and more often. He felt often felt scared and ignored when his parents fought, and that left a mental scar (something that happened often in Neverland with his friends , unfortunately). This went on until his parents had the biggest fight ever and his dad made his mom leave, and she never came back—not saying goodbye or leaving a note.

His dad thought that she had went back to her father and got angry whenever Ben asked when she was coming back. Ben eventually stopped asking after his dad yelled at him until he was in tears about how she wasn't coming back and he needed to accept that. His dad had apologized for it later, but that didn't erase the traumatic memory or the fear he had felt toward his dad afterwards. His dad was barely at home anymore after his mom's disappearance and his absences increased once he realized Ben was scared of him. Which is why it took a while for him to realize that his dad wasn't coming back. He had been ignored, forgotten, probably replaced, and abandoned, and now he feared history repeating itself.

Little Chadwick Leopold Nolan was claustrophobic because of hide 'n seek. Or rather, all the disasters that happened while he was playing hide n seek. One time, he'd accidentally got stuck in a toy chest he was hiding in. Another time, he had gotten locked in a closet because one of the kids (Happy) he was playing with thought it'd be funny. Another time, he fell down a well while playing the game in the dark and was trapped in there for over an hour while the other kids ran and got help. Another time, he got locked in an outhouse and another he got stuck in a cabinet that he was too big for. He'd even got his head stuck in a metal fence at one point and he had also gotten stuck in a window and the wall once. Yeah, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and eventually ended up becoming claustrophobic after a while.

Doug was scared of death and for a pretty simple reason—his mother and all of his aunts (minus Nova) had died at some point and he was terrified of it. All had died due to illness, funnily enough, and he had seen their health deteriorate over long periods of time—which only terrified Doug more because those images were forever ingrained in his head.

Jane was scared of failure , magic, and the lost boys. Jane was scared of failure because she was scared of getting yelled at, which happened a lot because she was clumsy and lost control of her magic alot—which annoyed her cousins and siblings a lot. Which led to her constantly getting yelled at. And she was scared of the lost boys because they kept giving her reasons to be—constantly attacking her and her friends, and she wasn't with her family anymore because of them. And her fear of them only worsened when they captured her and decimated/ mangled her wings.

Now she only associated the lost boys with pain and shook violently and froze up whenever one was near. Or she just lost control of her magic, and hurt anyone close to her. Which led to her being terrified of using her magic because she didn't want to hurt anyone.

Lonnie was scared of weakness because she hated feeling helpless and wanted to be like her mom—a warrior. If she appeared to be weak in any way, shape, or form, she'd be seen as nothing more than a silly girl or a damsel in distress. She didn't want to be either of those—she wanted to be a warrior, a hero, and she couldn't do either of those if she was weak..

And finally, Audrey was scared of returning 'home' because she didn't want to go back to being trapped in the castle with her grandmother again. Friendless and alone, with no one to help her. She didn't want to go back to being hit, imprisoned, and starved.

The events in our past shape us into the people we are and so do our fears, but we the people have the power to decide the types of people we want to be. So never allow your fears or your past to control you.

Chapter 8: I miss you (the parents).

Chapter Text

Killian steered the Jolly toward the island that was far off in the distance— eyes narrowed, a far off look in his eye.

He was running on autopilot, vaguely aware of what the others were doing. He could feel some glaring at him, hear hushed voices but he couldn't find it in himself to care. He didn't feel like any of this was real or that he was actually there.

Sure, his body was there on the deck, steering the ship, his ship—Liam's ship—toward the accursed island that took his brother from him, but his mind? No.

His mind wasn't there.

He wasn't there. He, His mind, and his thoughts were in the past—thinking about everything he had lost.

Thinking about where he went wrong, what could have gone better. Thinking of Milah, Baelfire, Liam, and his children.

Mainly his Children.

He couldn't stop thinking about Harriet or how much she looked and acted like Milah. Couldn't stop thinking about the last time they had spoken— about how they had argued.

Killian had never forgiven himself for that day—had never forgiven himself for not opening the door. For not letting her in. He regretted not checking on her and for how he had treated Harry and CJ in the aftermath.

Killian swallowed heavily as they got closer to Neverland—his grip tightening on the steering wheel as he was assaulted by the memories and Thoughts. He wished he could forget. Forgot how much Harry looked like a clone of him and Milah. How Harry had his smile and his laugh. Forget how his little boy used to crawl into his bed or curl up on the floor outside his door at night whenever he had a nightmare because "I'm always safer with you daddy!"

Killian's heart sank as he remembered those words. He could still hear Harry saying them and how little Calista used to nod along to them.

Killian bit his lip, trying to fight off the memories.

Trying to forget them. Trying to forget how Calista looked exactly like his mother despite sharing no DNA with him. Trying to forget the mini-heart attacks she gave him by climbing on everything. Trying to forget how she'd even climb on people when she couldn't get their attention the regular way. Trying to forget the pranks she somehow always managed to pull off.

Oh God, how he wished he could forget them. His and Milah's children, his whole life—his whole world. He saw so much of the people he loved most (Liam, Mama Jones, and Milah) in the world in them—as well as a little bit of himself. He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Hook?"

Killian opened his eyes, blinking the tears out of them to find a concerned looking Emma standing in front of them. When had she gotten there?

"Aye luv?" The blonde rolled her eyes slightly, still looking concerned. "Are you alright?"

Killian gave her a confused look, wondering why she cared and why she would ask such a thing.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" He lied.

"Because I've been trying to get your attention for the past ten minutes, you're crying, and I can tell when you're lying."

Killian scratched behind his ear nervously, looking rather sheepish "Sorry lass, I must've zoned out. What did you need?"

He prayed she'd drop it.

"Regina wants to know how much longer it'll be," Emma replied, hesitantly dropping it.

The pirate captain rolled his eyes "tell her majesty that we should be there by the hour."

Honestly, that woman was sooooo impatient. The savior just nodded at him before turning on heel and walking off.

"A thank you would have been nice" He muttered, a bit irritated. They could all say what they wanted about him, but at least his kids had manners. His eyes watered, causing him to groan. 'Great, now I'm sad again.’

Unbeknownst to Killian, he wasn't the only one who was thinking about the "what-ifs" in life. Pretty much everyone but Emma was thinking about the "what-ifs" in life, involving their missing kids.

The Charmings, Regina, all of them were thinking of who and what they had lost. It seems that going to the fabled Neverland—the island of lost children— has dug up the memories that they all tried so hard to forget. And it was painful.

Rumple couldn't stop thinking about his petit rat de bibliothèque (his little book worm). How he had screwed up and lost his second chance at being a father by snapping at Ben. Couldn't stop thinking about how much Ben was like Bae and Belle. Everytime he closed his eyes, he saw Ben—saw the hurt in his eyes, the fear and the confusion that the missing 7 year old must have been feeling when he had disappeared. And he actually felt guilty about it—guiltier than he had ever felt before. His memory haunted Rumple every day and made him want to be better. His little boy had, had so much faith and trust in him and he had screwed it all up in one night with just a few words. And he was never going to get the chance to make up for it, and it was his own fault this time.

He couldn't pin this on the pirate or on Milah, or even on Belle—He was at fault. And that would haunt him till the day he died.

Regina was beside herself with grief as she argued with the Charmings. She couldn't believe that yet another child had been ripped away from her and was taking her anger out on those around her. Mainly Snow and Emma.

It was Emma's fault that this was able to happen in the first place for breaking the damned curse and it was all Snow's fault that she hadn't gotten to raise Evie. If the little brat had just kept her damned mouth shut, her and Daniel would have been able to run away and raise their daughter together. But noooo she just had to tell her mother about her and Daniel!

It was a damned good thing that she hadn't told the brat she was pregnant or she would have lost her precious little girl even sooner than she had. Regina clenched her fist at the thought and verbally tore into Snow, berating her and then Charming when he tried to step in. It felt good even though it didn't make the memories go away.

The faded memory of her little girl's face kept popping up, making her angrier and guilter each time because Evie looked sadder and sadder every time her face popped up. She remembered the bluenette begging her to take her with her back to the castle. Begging her to let her know her stepsister, begging her to raise her because she wanted to be with her mom instead of her grandparents (Daniel's parents).

She remembered her devastated little face every time Regina had firmly told her no.

That that couldn't happen.

That it wasn't safe.

Remembered her own anger in her daughter's face every time she denied her. She remembered the few times she saw her daughter happy—remembered how similar Evie had looked to Daniel. It made her feel sick and angry, and so so devastated, and she was letting it all out on Snow without revealing what she had lost. She refused to reveal what she had lost to her sworn enemy— the reason she had missed so much of her only daughter's childhood. Not when that information could be used against her later.

Not when Henry's life was on the line.

Regina swallowed heavily, glaring darkly at the Charmings and shoved down all thoughts of her little bluenette.

Henry needed her. Evie was long gone and wasn't coming back. Nothing would bring her back. But she still had a chance with her son and she wasn't gonna screw it up any further. She was not gonna lose Henry.

As Snow and David argued with Regina about the whole situation with Henry, they couldn't help but think of their own lost son. They missed him so much and they were so angry that they had lost both chances they had been given as parents.

It wasn't fair.

They both still had so much to teach him and Emma, and they hadn't gotten to do it.

Chad didn't get to be a big brother.

Emma didn't get to have a family. And it was partially Regina's fault, though David had a sneaking suspicion that she was responsible for Chad's disappearance.

David missed the excited and proud smile that Chad would give him whenever he learned something new. He missed listening to Chad ramble about whatever book Doug had introduced to him. He missed the boy's laugh and pulling him off whatever he had been climbing. He had been the apple of his and Snow's eye, and it nearly killed them when they lost him.

It became a double blow when Doug, who was basically a nephew to them, disappeared not long after.

Snow missed the sparkle in Chad's eye and the sound of his laugh. She missed running after him and Doug whenever they pulled a prank. She missed catching him playing dress up with her and Charming's things. She missed watching David teach him things like sword-fighting and horseback riding. She missed seeing her little boy's joy when he learned or succeeded at something. His smile, his joy—all of it, all of him was precious and losing him was the worst thing to ever happen to her. Worse than losing her parents, worse than losing Emma and Charming for 28 years. She hadn't had a chance to know Emma and she had only known she and Charming were gone for a few minutes before the curse was cast. She hadn't remembered them at all, and the ache hadn't been as bad surprisingly.

But Chad? She had spent 7 years raising him, watching him grow into a person only to have him ripped away from her out of Nowhere. And she had to live with the knowledge that he was gone for months on end with no clue what had happened. Not knowing if he was alive or not. Had to live with the nightmares and the what ifs for half a year before the curse had happened.

It was pure hell for each and everyone of them—not knowing where their children were. Not knowing what had happened to their pride and joys, their whole worlds. Every day, they struggled to continue on and brush the Thoughts of their missing children away. Every day, they suffered. There wasn't a day that went by where they didn't miss their children.

And unbeknownst to them, the same was true for their children.

Chapter 9: Who, What, When, Where, Why?

Chapter Text

There is the med cave, the weapon wall/tree, the hook's ships, Ben's tipi near the watchtower, campfire, and bulid it center. Near the bulid it center is the medcave. Near the secret entrance rock is the core 4's tipi. I drew the map. Sorry if it's bad).

"I thought you were my friend?" Chad said annoyed as he and Evie trucked through the woods, looking for Jane.

The younger girl had disappeared earlier in the week and they, along with the rest of their camp mates, had taken turns looking for her while keeping the camp hidden and running.

The search was not going well.

"I am" Evie responded, eyes roaming their surroundings as she did so. "But it's my duty as your friend—and as your older aunt—to tell you that you suck at this" she smirked as she emphasized the older part to him, keeping her bow trained on their surroundings. She was just waiting for an ambush; they both were, to be honest.

Pan loved making them miserable as did the lost boys and,well.. the Indians.. no one was really sure where they stood since it seemed everyone and everything but the fairy lady on this island wanted them dead. Not to mention that the fairy lady didn't really help them out that much either and tended to avoid them, so you really couldn't be too safe in Neverland.

They had all learned that the hard way.

"Oh shut up, Evilette" the young prince snapped back without much heat, rolling his eyes as he sliced down another vine.

Evie gasped before glaring at the younger boy "I told you not to call me that!"

All Chad did was smile innocently. "Not to call you what?"

The bluenette whacked him with her bow over the head. "You know what, you feather brained blueberry!" She tried to whack him again, but he ducked and cheekily said "wouldn't you be the blueberry? You look like one."

Evie looked outraged by his return. "Why you little —"

Lonnie, who had been quiet up until now, cut her off. "Guys, can we not argue right now? We'll never find Jane if we keep this up" She pointed out annoyed, rolling her eyes as she scanned the area for any sign of their lost friend.

"Sorry Lonnie" the aunt and nephew duo echoed in sync, looking quite sheepish at being called out.

"Shh... did you hear that?" Lonnie asked, throwing her arm out to halt their movements as she reached for her sword that was clipped on her belt.

The two stayed quiet, straining their ears to see if they could hear what Lonnie did.

They heard nothing.

"No. What did you hear?" Chad asked, whispering in order to not draw attention to them.

"I don't know. It sounded like a wounded animal—"

Evie cut her off, pointing ahead of them "uh, guys...what's that?"

The prince and the warrior squinted, trying to get a closer look at the thing. Chad felt his heart drop "uh guys... that.. that looks like it came from one of Jane's wings.."

"What? Are you sure?" Evie whispered frantically, edging forward as she lowered her bow—trying to get a better look at it. Silently praying that Chad was just imagining things or pulling a joke of poor taste but sure enough, it did look like Jane's wing. It was a small, nearly transparent, pinkish-blue thing that was about the size of a toddler's hand. Her stomach dropped as the dark implications of this discovery hit her and she turned white as a ghost.

"Oh my Mushsu" Lonnie whispered, turning green as she moved forward—hand on her sword.

"Watch my back" She hissed warningly at her friends, going into defense mode.

They nodded, tightening their grips on their weapons—ready to follow her into battle. They all felt sick at the discovery and feared what it meant for their younger friend's safety.

They all edged forward, tense as all living hell as they moved through the trees and the vines. Finding more and more flakes of bloody wing as they did so—until they found her.

Chad dropped his sword and his jaw as all the color drained from his face—eyes widening in horror as tears began to well up in them.

Evie threw her hands over her mouth to muffle her scream, dropping her bow in the process as she went white.

And Lonnie.. Lonnie just poked her with a stick to make sure she was alive and jumped back, eyes full of tears when the bloody heap on the ground screamed in agony.

Jane laid on the ground, pale as a ghost. Bruises, scrapes, and burns marrying her pale, delicate skin. Her wings were shredded and bent at peculiar angles—twitching as vultures pecked at them. Or more specifically, at the bugs that were crawling on them.

It was hard to tell really.

Her dress was stained with blood from her injuries and she was curled up in a ball, barely breathing—barely alive. And her hair was cut in various places, making it choppy and uneven. It was a horrifying sight that stunned them for a few minutes until Jane screamed out in pain as a vulture bit her wing.

Chad charged forward, red with rage and swung his sword at the vultures—nearly hitting Jane and scaring the vile birds away.

"Get off her! Go! Get! Nobody likes you, you dumb old birds! You're ugly anyway!" He yelled, swatting at them with his sword as Evie and Lonnie peeled a barely alive Jane off the ground.

"Chad, that's enough. We have to get out of here before someone finds us" Lonnie said sternly.

"But but—" Evie cut him off softly "Jane needs us. We have to get back to the camp so we can save her and maybe her wings. She nearly lost them last time."

Chad winced at the reminder as guilt threatened to overwhelm him. If he hadn't been sick, if he had just sucked it up and went with Jane to the bathroom, she wouldn't have been taken.

This wouldn't have happened again.

This time was on him.

"Okay" he relented, returning to Evie's side. "What do you want me to do?" He asked them.

"You take Jane's side, I'll look out for danger and eliminate it, got it?" Evie instructed, maneuvering Jane's arm and wing over Chad.

"Yeah yeah. I got it. Let's get out of here" He muttered unhappily, thinking about all the things he wanted to do to Pan and his lost boys at the moment. Most of which weren't very princely.

Chapter 10: So smart and trouble.

Chapter Text

"HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID? YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN US ALL CAUGHT WITH THAT STUPID LITTLE STUNT OF YOURS!" Harriet's sharp voice cut through the air of the Forsaken Falls camp, causing everyone in camp to flinch.

While it was true that they all had 5 leaders (Mal, Harriet, Ben, Uma, and Cj), Harriet was the most senior of the group and could overrule the others when it came to certain things. And now, it was one of those things.

Jay had gone out alone to look for Chad, Lonnie, and Evie who were still gone—looking for Jane—and had run into a few lost boys. And instead of running away before they could notice him, he pranked them. And then tried to flee in the trees, which resulted in him falling and breaking his leg. If the Gaston twins hadn't been collecting fur and other fabrics they'd found, they wouldn't have heard him and he would have been a goner. And Harriet wasted no time in laying into him when they had informed her of what the 7 year old had done.

"It was just a joke.." Jay said quietly, looking properly chastised.

"JUST A JOKE? JUST A JOKE?! YOU COULD HAVE LED THEM TO CAMP! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED— " Harriet's furious rant was cut off by Sammy, who along with Doug, was trying to fix Jay's leg.

“HARRIET!"

"WHAT?!" She snapped at her first mate, furious that he had cut her off. To Sammy's credit, he didn't even flinch—just rolled his eyes "That's enough. One, I'm sure he's feeling bad enough as is and that he won't do it again. Two, we need to fix his leg. And three, we don't need you attracting anyone to our camp with your yelling."

Harriet turned red with embarrassment and threw her hands up in the air in frustration " fine. But he's on camp arrest!"

Jay made a move to protest, but Doug covered his mouth so he couldn't and hissed warningly "you're already in enough trouble. Don't tick her off and make it worse or you'll never be able to leave the camp."

The thief crossed his arms and slumped back in defeat, pouting as Harriet stormed off to her 'ship' .

The Gaston twins followed her, probably planning on trying to calm their captain down.

"Oooh, you're in trouble " Sammy commented somewhat teasingly after Harriet was out of ear shot, trying to lighten up the mood.

"And you're gonna get my fist in your throat if you don't shut up" Jay snapped, not in the mood.

"If I was you, I wouldn't be threatening the person who's gonna be resetting my leg" Sammy said, not really meaning it.

"Guys, can we not fight? This leg isn't gonna reset itself and we still have to move Jay to the med cave" Doug reminded timidly, a bit annoyed.

"Fine" the other two boys said in sync with the same annoyed voice and expression.

"Gil, Harry, Carlos! Come here. We need your help moving Jay to the medbay!" Sammy called out to them, knowing the Smee twins wouldn't be much help, and that Cj and Audrey were on the watchtower so they couldn't help.

As only 2 of the 3 boys ran over, Sammy realized that he hadn't seen Harry in awhile. "Gil, Where's Harry?" He asked nervously, afraid of the answer—knowing that Harriet wasn't going to be happy if the answer wasn't a good one.

"He went to the bathroom, " Gil said nonchalantly, not recognizing Sammy's tone.

"And how long ago was that?" Sammy pressed, causing Gil to furrow his eyebrows in thought.

"After training " Carlos chipped in, causing Sammy to go pale. That was hours ago.

Oh today was not gonna be a good day at all....

"Careful, careful!" Mal instructed, grabbing the waterskin Zevon was holding. "You have to be careful!"

Uma rolled her eyes, as did Zevon.

"You already said that. Relax, he knows what he's doing " the young Cecaelia said, annoyed. Mal did this every time they made a potion, just because Zevon was slightly younger than they were and because he was just a bit co*cky and it was just so annoying.

"Yeah, I'm not stupid, Malvina," Zevon said, emphasizing her name just to annoy her. It worked.

"Will you two be serious for once?! This potion needs to be perfect or else it will just end up hurting jay!" The demigod snapped angrily.

"We know that but we aren't new here Mal! We know how to make potions! We're just as experienced as you are!" Uma told her angrily, which caused Mal to get angrier.

Zevon groaned as they started to fight again, and placed his head in his hands. Because of this, neither of them noticed the camp mutt, Dude—as Ben had so eloquently named him—, run over.

They didn't even notice when he started drinking out of the potion they were making. But Ben did.

"Dude, no!" He called out frantically, causing the other three to notice what the puppy was doing.

"No! Bad dog!"

"No dude, that's not for you!"

"Carlos, Ben! Control your mutt!"

All 3 of them yelled, jumping up.

Dude got startled and ran back to Ben who picked him up, looking scared. "Oh my God, what potion is that? Is it gonna hurt him?"

Zevon rolled his eyes, trying to hide how nervous he was.

"Why would we be making something that would hurt hi—owe! Mal!" The ravenette whined as she slapped him over the head.

"There's something called tact. You should get some."

"It's a pain relief potion. It probably won't hurt him" Uma said, addressing Ben.

"What do you mean by probably?" The brunette asked, hugging the puppy tight.

"Well.. we don't actually know if it will or will not hurt him" Mal answered, wincing.

"WHAT?!" the Smee twins cried, causing them all to jump. They hadn't seen them approach.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice spoke up "ouch. Tone it down a bit, will ya? You're hurting my years."

All 6 of the children's jaws dropped as they realized where the voice was coming from. Ben looked down at the puppy in his hands in shock, who just stared up at him.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Are you gonna drop me? Please don't drop me. I'm not a cat. I can't land on all four legs" Dude rambled, not understanding why everyone was gobsmacked.

"Oh crap. Harriet is gonna kill us."

Chapter 11: Could it be.

Chapter Text

7 year old Harry was sneaking through the forest, trying not to get caught by any lost boys or Indians.

He had been lost for hours after a spider landed on his shoulder while he was taking a tinkle and scared him—causing him to run off. He was trying to get back to camp—unscathed and before Harriet noticed that he was gone. He winced at the thought of how Harriet would react if she realized he had wandered off on his own again. He just knew he'd be under camp arrest if she realized he was gone and that she'd insist on never letting him out of her sight again, which would NOT be pretty.

Crack.

Harry jumped as he heard a branch snap on the ground nearby and dove behind a tree.

Was it an Indian?

Or a fairy?

Or a mermaid?

Or a lost boy?

Was it Pan himself?

Who could it be?

He pressed himself against the tree and willed himself to stay still and quiet as he strained his ears. After a few minutes, he was finally able to pick up a conversation as a group of people walked near. Seemingly unaware that he or anyone else was there.

"How can we be sure we can trust you, Pirate?" An unfamiliar voice spat venomously, causing the tiny pirate to flinch. What did this guy have against pirates? Pirates were cool! His daddy was a pirate and had never done anything wrong in his life, so why did this man seem to hate pirates? Would this man hate him? Was this man dangerous?

"You can't be but you'll have to live with that since I'm one of the only people who knows how to navigate through this territory, mate."

Harry nearly gasped at the sound of the voice.

Could it be?

Taking a risk, Harry carefully turned around and peeked his head out from behind the tree. His eyes widened. It was! His father was here! He had come for him and his sisters and the Smees! They were gonna be saved!

"Can you two please cut it out? We need to find Henry before he gets hurt" an unfamiliar blonde woman said, cutting his father and the strange man off.

The small pirate furrowed his burrows in confusion, squinting his eyes at the group—trying to get a better look at them. There were 3 girls and 3 men, but he didn't recognize anyone other than his father. He also didn't recognize the name.

Who were these people? Were they holding his daddy hostage? Was his daddy in danger? Were they new crew members? And who was Henry?

Harry decided that the best course of action was to find his way back to the camp and tell the others before doing anything else. Then they could figure out a game plan together. So, he started to sneak off—only to step on a tig.

A loud snap rang through the air, causing the group to go quiet.

Harry stiffened.

"Who's there?!"

"Come out wherever you are!"

The ravenette swallowed heavily as his hands started to calm up. He started to sweat profusely and bolted, letting fear overcome him.

He heard footsteps running after him and his father telling them to stop because they didn't know where any bloody thing was, but they didn't stop and he didn't slow down. He ran and ran as fast as his little feet could carry him, only slowing down when he could no longer hear the footsteps from behind him. He looked behind him to see if they were gone, not noticing the branch in front of him—and this foot got caught in it. He tripped over it and felt two sharp pains as another loud snap—different from the snaps from before—rang through the air.

Harry's eyes watered as a yelp caught in his throat. His ankle really hurt all of a sudden and he was pretty sure it was broken. And his chest really, really hurt and it felt wet.

"Daddy!" Harry cried out, not caring if he got caught now. He was hurt and scared and in pain, and wanted his daddy. But his dad didn't come. He bit his lip and looked down at his chest to find his hook lodged in it and started to cry as panic overtook him.

"Daddy? Uma? Baelfire? Harriet?" He called out frantic as the pain worsened. Black dots started to cloud his visions.

"HELP! HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE!" The tiny pirate sobbed out, before his voice cracked. "Please. I don't wan- ta die!"

His dad didn't come.

Neither did his siblings.

But someone else did, right as he passed out. Right before he left the world of the woken, he was absolutely positive that he saw Uma and Gil's outline approaching him. He relaxed and finally allowed unconsciousness to overwhelm him, knowing that his crew would save and protect him. Even if his family couldn't or wouldn't.

Killian panted lightly as he caught up with David, Emma, and Regina.

"What part of 'don't run off' do you people not understand?" He asked, irritated, leaning against a tree.

"Oh shut up pirate /Guyliner" David and Regina said in unison, before a look of pure comical horror crossed both their faces as they realized what had just happened.

Snow rolled her eyes "honestly you two, you aren't so different you know—"

"Snow!"

"How dare you?!"

David and Regina exclaimed at the same time, both sounding extremely offended.

"While I'd love to sit here and watch all of you get offended by nothing" Rumple started, distain clear in his voice "this—" gestures to the scene in front of him "isn't gonna help us find my grandson. So stop being idiots and let's get to work."

"For once, I agree with Gold," Emma muttered, causing Killian to make a face. He was really starting to wonder if helping these people was really a good idea or worth it at all.

"As much as this pains me to say, I also agree with the crocodile " he sighed, clearly irritated and exhausted. "And I'd like to add that running after phantom sounds won't help either. "

They all looked at the pirate in shock, not believing that he just agreed with his archenemy.

"Oh don't give me that look, I don’t want to be on this blasted island for any longer than I have to. Which means we need to find the boy and get him back to the ship safely" he said, a bit snappish. Just being here was giving him goosebumps.

Him being exhausted and in pain from the last few weeks’ events probably wasn’t helping.

“What’s wrong? Afraid of the big bad island?” Regina snorted, causing Killian to shoot a glare her way. He was so not in the mood for this.

“Trust me your majesty, if you spent even 1/12 of the time I have here then you wouldn’t like to dwell here either.” He replied flatly,

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Killian was really starting to run out of patience.

“It means that this bloody island and Pan have taken nearly every one I ever cared about from me. I’ve seen horrors you couldn’t even imagine. Horrors done to people younger than your boy. So, I ask you, do you lot really wanna stick around here and find out exactly what I’ve experienced?”

Everyone was quiet.

“That’s what I bloody thought. Now come on.”

Chapter 12: It was just a dream.

Chapter Text

Harry yelped as the Gaston twins carried him back inside the camp, tears brimming within his eyes as the pain hit.

Harriet walked beside them, rubbing her temples and ranting at her younger brother—angry, stressed, and worried as the red splotch on his shirt grew bigger.

"Honestly, Harry, I swear you could trip over your own Shadow!"

"I-it's not my f-fault!" Harry hiccuped, holding on tight to his hook that was still lodged into his stomach. "M-my shadow is a t-tricky i-i-imp!"

Junior snorted in amusem*nt at that, along with his twin—earning them both an icy glare from Harriet. "This isn't funny! He could have gotten himself killed, wandering off alone like that! We have rules for a reason!"

The 7 year old winced slightly at her raised voice and once again as his wounds were jostled by the twins' movements.

"I had to potty!" He said defensively, pouting at her. "And I told Gilly that I was gonna go!"

"That doesn't matter! You should have told me or gotten someone to go with you!" His older sister said snappishly, rubbing her temples as she felt a headache coming on.

"I'm not a b-baby! I don't need anyone to go to the potty with me!" Harry snapped right back, sticking his nose up at her.

"Don't you stick your nose up at me, Harrison Liam Jones!" the 10 year old scolded, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "And if you don't wanna be treated like a baby, then act your age and stop being so clingy! And Stop making things up!"

"I didn't make it up! I really saw daddy this time, 'Ette! I didn't imagine it or make it up!" Harry insisted desperately "and I don't act like a baby."

The twins glanced at each other, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with what was going on.

"No you didn't. What you saw wasn't real. It was probably just another one of your stupid day dreams and you need to accept that!" Harriet said exasperated and fed up with her brother's constant denial.

"I didn't imagine it! I'm not crazy, I saw it" Harry argued back weakly, eyes watering. Feeling extremely embarrassed and desperate for his sister to believe him.

"Yes you did! You did imagine it! You have to understand that! You have to understand that dad isn't coming back! It's been years! He's gone and dead and never coming back! None of our parents are!" Harriet nearly screamed in frustration, on the verge of tears. "And the sooner you understand that the better off we will all be!"

Harry's vision blurred with tears as his sister stormed off to her ship.

"I'm not crazy " Harry hiccuped, "you guys believe me right?" The small boy asked his sister's friends hopefully. They didn't answer him—no one around the camp did; they all just gave him sad looks—leaving him devastated and distraught.

"I'm not crazy!" He repeated quietly, yanking the hook in his chest.

"Hey! No, don't touch that!" Sammy scolded, but it was too late.

Harry passed out from the pain.

Emma watched as Hook tossed and turned, wondering what the man was dreaming about. Her parents slept huddled together nearby, Gold sat far away from them along with Regina and she couldn't tell if either of them were asleep.

'They better be. I'm not standing watch for nothing ' The savior thought annoyed, leaning back against a tree. A whine caught her attention, causing her head to snap toward Hook—who was sleeping in that direction.

Her jaw dropped slightly in surprise when she found that it had come from him and that he was now curled up in near fetal position. Which couldn't be comfortable with the injuries he had, yet he didn't seem too bothered.

What the hell is dreaming about? Is that gonna hurt him in the morning and slow us down? Should I wake him?' Emma wondered, before brushing said thoughts off.

He wasn't crying or screaming, so he was probabl y fine, right? Yeah, it was probably best to leave the pirate captain alone. He most likely wouldn't be happy with being woken up any earlier than necessary anyway.

Little did Emma know, Killian was in pain.

Only, it wasn't just physical pain. It was mental and emotional pain as well. Pain that was being caused by his dream—which was really just a blur of memories from years long past... memories that very few people knew of....

"Shhh... it's okay, 'ette. Shhh" Killian whispered, gently rocking his baby daughter. Rocking his Harriet in a chair, a smile on his tired face.

"You're surprisingly good at this. Are you sure she's your first baby?" Milah asked, smiling slightly as she watched from the door, leaning in the door frame.

Killian laughed in response to the question.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Maybe I'm just be a natural ?" He suggested as Harriet's cries began to die down. The little ravenette reached forward and grabbed his nose, startling Killian and causing Milah to laugh.

"Ooo, she's a strong one."

"Just like her father."

Killian smiled down at the baby in Milah's arms.

"He's beautiful " he breathed, nearly gasping when the tiny black haired boy grabbed his finger.

Milah snorted "you're always so shocked when they do something. Some would think you are a first time parent."

"I can't help it. They keep surprising me" the pirate said defensively, blushing slightly—which only made Milah laugh harder.

Harry continues to play with Killian's hand, cooing and gurgling—making both his parents smile.

"Well, I already know this one is a daddy's boy. It makes sense, he's identical to you" the older woman laughed.

"Yep" Killian said, popping the 'p' "he's a total mini-me. Hopefully it stays that way" Harry cooed at him, almost as if he was in agreement with Killian.

"Oh my god, that's adorable, " Milah laughed. "hopefully the next one will be dependent on me and not you again".

Unfortunately, there wasn't a next baby for them both.

Only for Killian.

Killian stared down at the sleeping face of the little blonde lass in his arms, stunned before looking up at his friends. Captain Flynn and his girlfriend—Killian's ex—Red Jessica.

"Are you two sure about this? Won't you miss her?"

Before he agreed to this, he wanted to make sure that they were absolutely positive about their decision.

This wasn't something they could take back. Once he took on the responsibility, he wouldn't let them just take her back whenever they damn well pleased.

This child, this lass.. this baby was a person.

A human being.

And they needed love and stability, not deadbeat parents who would keep ditching them and using them. And he had to give her that if he agreed to this. They had to understand that. He would always choose this child's well being over their feelings and wants. Even if they were his friends.

"Yes. We can't take care of her, Killian. I need to kill the man who murdered my father and I know you'll do what's best for her" Jessica confirmed as Flynn wrapped his arm around her.

"Okay then. I'll do it. I'll take Calista in" And he did.

Raising her and treating her as if she was his own until the day she disappeared.

He missed all of them.

Chapter 13: I miss you (the kids).

Chapter Text

Harriet sat in Forsaken Falls's "watchtower"—which was really just a tree with a makeshift latter and a small hut house inside of it—watching over their camp with a slight frown on her face.

She was thinking about him again.

Him and his ship.

Her father and her home.

Harriet didn't understand why she still remembered him or why she still thought of him after all these years. God, how long had it been?

10 years? 20? 100? 1000?

She didn't know.

All she knew was that her father was on her mind once again and she couldn't seem to shake the memories or thoughts this time. She couldn't stop thinking about how lonely he must be without her or her siblings there. She couldn't stop thinking about how he used to hoist her up onto his shoulders when she was little so she could see the sunset or the sea better. She couldn't stop hearing his laugh and wondering if she'd ever hear the sound again.

And she hated it.

Hated thinking about her father who was probably dead.

Hated thinking about the brother they never got to meet or the ship they'd probably never see again.

Hated thinking about how much time had passed and how different their father must be now.

Hated how she could still hear his voice singing her to sleep some nights if she concentrated hard enough.

Hated how Cj and Harry were struggling to hold onto their memories of him, and how Harry was slowly losing his mind.

But most of all, she hated Pan.

Everything bad that was happening in her life was his fault.

He was the one who had taken her and her siblings from their father.

He was the one who tormented her group nonstop.

He was the one who kept torturing her brother for fun.

The one who was driving him insane like he had probably done with her father at one point.

Harriet wasn't for sure if he had hurt her father at one point but she wouldn't be very shocked if he had. Her dad wasn't scared or put off of many things but whenever the topic of Peter Pan or Neverland was broached, he kinda shut down. Kinda like he did whenever she asked about her grandfather or what his childhood was like.

Harriet was a smart girl.

She, unlike some children, was able to pick up on when people didn't want to talk about things. Could tell when it was because they were scared to, when it hurt them to talk about it. And she was able to put the pieces together rather quickly. She had realized at 7 that her grandfather was probably a bad man and that her father's childhood wasn't a happy one. She could tell the topics pained him and had stopped asking. Just like she had stopped talking to him about Pan unless he brought him up. She knew Pan had probably hurt him in some way—hell, Pan even taunted them about it sometimes though she wasn't sure if that was just to scare them or not.

Pan's taunting just made her hate him more; no one had a right to harm her father—absolutely no one—and the mere thought of someone hurting him made her blood boil.

Despite what many would think, Captain Hook had been a good father when he had had them.

He had been kind and nurturing, and a good teacher, and didn't tend to hide much from them except for the obvious. He had encouraged them to be their own people and to be a better person than him, and because of that Harriet would never stop missing him. Would never stop loving him with all her heart.

And you know what that all meant?

It meant that she would never stop trying to avenge him and get back to him. It meant that she would never stop trying to kill Pan if she got the chance for all the wrongs he had done against her father, against her family as a whole. You mess with one Jones, you mess with them all.

Harriet jumped slightly when she felt someone sit beside her. Her hand immediately went to her sword, heart racing—only for it to calm when the person spoke. "Hey 'Ette, whatcha thinking about?"

'Phew. It's only Sammy. Get it together, Harriet' the ravenette thought, looking at her loyal partner in crime.

His long, tangled blonde hair that had grown during their time in Neverland was now braided and flowers woven into the braids, and he had a slight smile on his face. He didn't smile often—none of the kids past 7 did because the 4 of them were very aware of how low their chances of being found by their families were.

"Oh, nothing really " she lied smoothly, eyes darting out to the ground below.

She was older and the leader of the older kids; she shouldn't be burdening them with her problems. Just like she shouldn't have tried to get her dad to burden her with his. Unfortunately for her, her first mate could always tell when she was lying.

"Come on, Captain. You know you can speak to me without judgment " Sammy badgered, nudging her slightly.

"Alright, alright. You caught me. I was thinking about me dad" Harriet sighed, leaning back slightly, scowling ever so slightly. She never liked admitting such things, they made her feel weak even though her friends would argue otherwise.

"Oh. Don't worry, I still think about my dad sometimes too" her first mate assured, a look of gentle understanding on his face. She wasn't sure whether she loved or hated that stupid look.

"But we shouldn't be" Harriet groaned, head in hands. "It's been years and no one has come for us, just like the lost ones. No one ever comes for anyone and the lost ones seem happy without their memories except for the crying at night. Wouldn't we be happier without ours as well?"

Sammy shook his head admittedly "no. The answer is no. We wouldn't be happier—Pan would. He wants us to forget so we can forget who we are and our humanity, and we can't give him that. We have to fight to remember so we don't lose ourselves and what makes us human, what gives us hope. Our memories may hurt us now but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?"

The older child smiled slightly.

"Aye. When did you get so smart?" She teased, only for Sammy to tease back with something she didn't expect.

"When I stopped listening to you, captain"

Meanwhile, Harry was helping Gil and Uma skin the fishes they had caught for lunch all the while secretly thinking about his father—who he missed dearly.

Harry knew that he shouldn't be thinking of his father.

It had been years and Harriet didn't like it when he thought about him but for some reason, Harry could never stop. He thought about his daddy at least twice a day and he always ended up with an ache in his chest when he did because he really, really missed his daddy and he wanted to go home. He wanted to see his daddy again—hear his voice and give him the biggest and tightest hug in the realms, and never let go. He wanted to sleep in his own bed or his dad's arms, and hug his teddy and cuddle his blankie but he couldn't because he was in hell. Or Neverland.

Harry personally preferred to call it hell because Harriet called it that when she thought she couldn't hear and it was cooler.

He was stuck here instead of at home because of Pan.

The creature he feared more than the dark one himself.

The 'boy' who loved to torment and torture him every chance he got.

The one who was slowly driving him insane and keeping him away from his daddy's comforting presence.

Harry wanted to kill the imp but he was too little and weak, and completely helpless to do so, and his last attempts hadn't gone very well... The ravenette's hand drifted down to his stomach where a long jagged scar rested—causing him to wince.

Not sure whether it was because of his scar or his new injury.

He ignored the concerned looks Gil and Uma threw his way and continued to think. He missed his daddy and wanted him to come save him from the imp. Wanted him to hold him and tell him that everything was okay.

Wanted him to make Pan pay for everything he had done to Harry and his friends.

He wanted his daddy to take him home so they could be a family again.

He wanted to be able to sleep without fear again and unlike his companions, Harry still had hope that that would one day happen.

His daddy was his hero and would never fail him, and his word was law. And the law was "I'll never let anyone get away with hurting you or taking you away from me" and "I will always protect you and find you". So with that information, the law, Harry was able to continue on and fight another day.

Nearby, Cj was attempting to play cards with the Smee twins and Zevon but failing miserably for once. Her heart wasn't in it and neither was her head.

The little blonde was once again homesick as her thoughts drifted to her father and the Jolly Roger. She missed her daddy and her home more than anything, and didn't know why she felt so homesick after so long. She tried to take her mind off her father and home, but it didn't work.

Cj missed her daddy and his accent.

She missed his smile and the warm, comforting feeling of his embrace. She missed the joy it brought her when her daddy would place her on his shoulders so she could see off into the distance. She missed his exclamations of "Bloody hell!" Whenever he got caught in one of her pranks or whenever she jumped out at him. She missed running to the safety of his bedroom during storms and she missed sword fighting with him (unaware that it was mostly play fighting).

She missed the smell of the cedar wood, canon fire, pine, rum, sea, ink, and fish that coated the ship and her father. She missed the soft touch of her covers and hugging her teddy. She missed climbing the mast and exploring the ship, and playing carefree. She missed the never ending voices of the crew and the laughing and singing and the clanging of swords clashing. She missed everything and couldn't help but think of how lonely her daddy must be without her and her siblings.

They had been his everything but now he had nothing but his revenge, his rum, and his ship. How lonely that must be...

Later that day;

"You're doing it wrong, Chad" Doug pointed out as Chad tried and failed to open the traps they had made so he could access the animals they had caught.

"Oh yeah? Well, if you're so smart then you do it!" The blonde said, fed up, throwing his hands in the air.

"Okay" the brunette said, taking Chad's place kneeling beside the traps. Chad watched with a smug smile, expecting Doug to fail as he had—only for Doug to press a button on one side of the trap and pull the trap on the other side. Doug then pressed a button on the other side and inserted the bone shaped key in it's slot—causing the trap to crack open like it was supposed to.

"There" Doug said, smiling back at Chad "that's how you do it."

Chad pouted irritatedly and got to work undoing the other traps as his mind drifted off to what he had lost.

He missed his mommy and his daddy, and wanted to know if they were alright. If the baby in his Mommy's tummy was alright. He wanted to go home to their castle and sleep in his bed, and play with his toys and hug not only his parents but all their friends and their horses as well. He wanted to ride his noble steed, Colonel, alongside his parents again.

Chad wanted to hold his little brother or sister for the first time. He wanted to wear his nice, comfy clothes again.

He missed his daddy's voice and Mommy's laugh, and their smiles. He missed sword fighting with his daddy and brushing Colonel's hair. He missed sitting in front of the mirror as his Mommy combed his hair out and sung to him before bed. He missed being babysat by his cool Auntie Ruby and he missed playing dress up with his parents' clothes. He missed trying and failing at learning archery whenever his mommy tried to teach him.

He hated being away from his family.

He hated that he didn't know if they were okay and he hated that he and his friends were suffering.

He hated Pan and his stupid lost boys and their stupid smirks and their stupid plants and their stupid rules. He wanted them all dead and he wanted to go home. Was that really too much to ask for?

"Chad, come on. We gotta get back before it gets dark" Doug said, tapping his older friend's shoulder and snapping him out of his Thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming " Chad muttered, collecting their catches and placing them in a bag that Mal had and Evie had enchanted to keep the meat cold. In total, they had caught 3 possums, 5 rats, 4 rabbits, and a bird—that should be enough to keep them fed for a day or two. Especially with the berries they had found. Hopefully Uma would be done removing the salt from the sea water when they got back so they could both have a nice cold drink of water.

At the same time, Ben was walking their guard dog, Dude, with Carlos, and thinking about his parents as he often did.

He missed his maman and his papa. He missed learning magic from his papa and reading with his maman. He missed his maman's bedtime stories and helping her clean, and he missed helping his papa rearrange his things. He missed the creepy castle he grew up in and his nice warm bed, and the softness of his covers. He missed his blankie and his stuffed animals. He missed his books.

He missed picking flowers with his mother and hearing the stories of her old life. He missed listening to his father's tales about his mysterious older brother, Baelfire. He missed hearing of prophecies and the going ons of the enchanted forest. He missed learning how to make deals and playing games. He missed his maman's food and her kisses, and his papa's hugs. He missed everything and would give anything to just be able to go home and hug his parents as tight as he could.

He wanted to go home forever and he swore he wouldn't complain about being stuck in the castle forever if he could.

And finally, back at camp, Evie was patching up Jane's wings in the med cave—thinking about her mother as her friend's blood stained her hands. It was hard to think about her at all, since she really couldn't remember much due to being primarily raised by her paternal grandparents and the time in Neverland certainly didn't make those few memories of her any clearer. No, in fact, they just made them fade quicker. She had very few memories of her mother left but she did know that she missed her dearly—despite the pain she had caused and her flaws.

Evie missed her mother's voice. She missed the faint scent of her mother's apple perfume. She missed the faint scent and taste of the apple pastries her mother used to bring with her whenever she visited. She missed the way her mother used to brush her hair and sing to her. She missed the gifts she would bring and the stories she would tell. She missed playing dress up with her and hearing stories of her father who she never got to meet.

She missed her nice clothes and her nice warm bed. She missed her soft sweets and her stuffed piggy and her blankie. She missed her books and her drawings and her room. She missed her grandparent's cabin and her mother's horse. She missed being happy and carefree. She missed her mother's hugs and kisses, and bantering with her grandfather. She missed the horses and the safety she felt.

She wanted to go home.

She wanted to grow up with her mother.

She wanted to be free again.

Evie took a deep breath and silently wished that she and her friends could be free as a silent tear fell down her face.

Chapter 14: The truth comes out.

Chapter Text

All Ben had heard Chad say was "I swear it will be funny AND besides we need to get back at them for what they did to Jane" and the next thing he knew, they were in a cage in the lost boys' camp.

He blamed Chad.

Why did he have to listen to Chad? He should know by now that one should never listen to Chad.

"This is all your fault" Chad declared, tearing Ben away from his thoughts.

It took a few seconds for Ben to register his words and when he did, he was ticked.

"What?! No it isn't!" He denied firmly, "in what world is this situation my fault?" The brunette threw his hands up, exasperated.

None of the lost boys paid the bickering boys any mind.

"This world " Chad insisted stubbornly, crossing his arms—irritating his friend even further.

"How? Explain to me how this is my fault when this whole thing was *your* idea!"

Chad's only response was "you didn't stop me" which only added fuel to the fire.

"Why you—" a throat cleared behind them beside the two, causing them (and the cage to an intent) to spin around to face it. In Front of them stood a boy they didn't recognize in funny looking clothes and he looked concerned. Which was strange for a lost boy.

"What?" The prince asked rudely as Ben went quiet—always the more tactless of the two.

"Are you two okay? Pan said you tried to steal from us."

"No, we didn't " Ben denied quietly, at the same time Chad snorted and said "oh is that what he told ya?"

Confusing the boy—Henry was his name; He had heard one of the lost boys call him it earlier.

They didn't seem as dangerous as Pan had claimed they were.

"Than what were you doing near our camp?" The older boy questioned, trying to set the record straight. He was tired of getting lied to and he still wasn't sure he could trust Pan. But he could tell that the little kid in front of him wasn't lying; this could be his chance to get the truth.

Ben didn't know how or what to tell him.

He wasn't sure if the boy was really as innocent and concerned as he seemed, and didn't even know if the boy would believe them if he was. None of the other lost boys ever did before they were fully converted.

"Getting back at him for what he did to our friend" Chad answered honestly and bluntly when it became apparent that Ben wasn't going to.

"What did he do?" Henry asked even more confused and concerned than before, glancing around the camp. No one was paying them any attention.

"He tore up her wings. Again" Ben answered looking disgusted and irritated, leaning against the bars.

"She's half fairy" Chad added, also leaning against the bars, trying to clear up any confusion about the situation Henry might have.

"He what?!" The older brunette exclaimed quietly, looking shocked and a bit sick at the idea.

"He tore up her wings for a second time and it's not the first time he's hurt one of our friends or us. He always does this" Chad scowled, thinking of all the horrible things Pan had done to their friends.

"W-why? Why does he hate you guys and your friends so much?" Henry had to know.

Not that any answer would truly justify such a thing.

These kids looked younger than most of the other lost boys and if their friend was the same age as them, then they most likely weren't much of a threat. So there would be no valid reason to hurt them—unless they hurt or killed one of the lost boys maybe? A sinking feeling in his stomach told Henry that that wasn't the case...

"Because we didn't play by his rules and become bloodthirsty savages. Because we wanted to get off this island and go home. And he didn't like that."

The two boys looked slightly familiar to him and their answers made him curious. So he asked them the question that would change everything: "where is home?"

Chad shrugged "it's different for all of us. My home is in Misthaven, or the enchanted forest as some people call it, with my parents. Snow White and Prince Charming." He looked at Ben, nudging him to tell the boy where his home and parents were.

"My home is in the enchanted forest as well but I live in dark one's castle with my dad" the little brunette answered hesitantly, fidgeting nervously. Most people didn't react well when they found out who his father was.

He hoped Henry wasn't one of those people.

"That's why you two looked so familiar" Henry breathed in realization; these two were his uncles.

Uncles he hadn't known about for some reason.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked in confusion, furrowing his burrows. He was a dead ringer for Belle and Rumplestiltskin—he looked like a tiny clone of them. Even in his rags that could barely be called clothes.

"I know them too. They're my grandparents. I wonder why you weren't in Storybook" the older boy wondered, looking around as he tried to come up with an escape plan. He had no doubts in his mind that they two were telling the truth with how similar they looked to his family and they needed to get them out of here.

"Really? Wait.. that means Bae is still alive after all" Ben realized giddily, grabbing onto the bars. Another check in the box making Henry certain they were telling the truth.

"And that means that your brother and my sister had a baby! But how? My sister is only a baby herself and what storybook?" Chad scrunched up his nose in disgust and confusion as he tried his hardest to figure out how that would work.

"How long have you two been here? Emma—my mom—isn't a baby anymore" Henry asked curiously, sitting down next to him.

Chad scratched behind his ear—a nervous habit he had picked up from Harry—as he tried his best to find an answer. In the end, all he could offer was "My sissy wasn't out of Mommy's tummy yet the last time I was still at home."

He looked to Ben, urging him to answer the other kid. He wanted to know this kid, even if the two of them were gonna die here.

"And I disappeared after my maman disappeared" Ben didn't look at Henry as he answered him.

"That was nearly 30 years ago! My whole family must be looking for you!" Their nephew nearly exclaimed in shock. Luckily, he managed to keep his voice down just enough that no one heard him or looked their way. "Why haven't I heard of you guys?"

He couldn't believe that his grandparents never mentioned having other kids or that they weren't mentioned in his book. How can that be? Where they written out? Why would anyone do that?

"Maybe they forgot about me after Emmy was born since they had a new baby" Chad suggested, trying to seem nonchalant about it but he wasn't fooling anybody. Henry and Ben could both see the sad, hopeless look in his eyes.

"And my papa was mad at me the last time I saw him. Maybe he's still mad?" Ben added, not even trying to hide how sad and hurt the idea made him feel.

"I'm sure that's not it. We can get answers when we escape and they come looking for me since they know I'm here" Henry told them calmly.

Chad and Ben's eyes lit up.

"You're gonna help us get out of here?" The prince whispered, shock and hope written all across his features.

"Of course, we're family. I can't just leave you two here" the older boy insisted, leaning closer towards the cage. He glanced behind him and then around him to make sure that they weren't being watched. When he was positive that they weren't, he bent forward and picked the lock.

He met their questioning eyes and whispered "when they're all sleeping, we can escape from here. You know anywhere we could go?"

His two younger uncles looked at eachother, uncertainty clear in their features as they seemingly had a conversation with their eyes.

'How long have they known each other? Are they telepaths? Do those exist too?' Henry wondered, watching the pair in silence for a few moments before Ben spoke up. He sounded rather confident this time. "We can go to our camp. It's hidden so well that not even Pan can find it."

Henry smiled at them and tapped the cage as he pulled himself up.

"Alright. Seems like we have a plan. Let's just hope it works. See you two later" he walked off, leaving the younger two boys wondering if and hoping that they hadn't made a mistake.

Luckily for the two boys, they hadn't.

When night fell and everyone with it, Henry had kept up his end of the deal and helped them out of the cages before following them blindly into the woods. So they kept up their end of the deal as well and led him through the secret entrance to their camp.

All three of them jumped when a voice boomed out "CHADWICK ROBERT NOLAN! BENJAMIN FLORIAN STILTSKIN! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

The two boys in question jumped and spun around (along with Henry) to find a VERY pissed off Harriet.

"Uh well.. you see.." Ben stammered, fidgeting nervously with his sleeves and shirt.

"It was all Ben's fault!" Chad claimed, pointing at his stunned and stammering friend. It took the other boy a few seconds to register what he said and when he did, he gawked at him.

"What? No it wasn't!" He denied frantically, not wanting to get in trouble with Harriet. Luckily for him, Harriet believed him and turned on Chad. "Chad, what did you do?!"

She didn't seem to notice Henry.

Chad sputtered "what?! Why does everyone always assume I'm the one who did something?!"

"Because you're YOU! Now, what the hell did you do and who is that?!" She pointed at Henry, who stayed behind Ben per his and Chad's suggestion. He did not want to get stabbed but judging by the fire in Harriet's eyes, he might just get stabbed anyway. Whether he likes it or not....

Chad shuffled nervously, making sure to stand in front of Henry with Ben. He wasn't scared of her. He just didn't like getting on her bad side, that was all…

"A friend we made" He answered vaguely, hoping in vain that she wouldn't bother to question them any further. The blonde knew instantly that that wasn't gonna happen when Harriet's eyes flashed dangerously.

"A friend?! Did you idiots bring a spy into our camp?!" The older girl yelled angrily, causing little heads to poke out of their stations to see what was going on as the boys winced.

Ben was suddenly very glad that they hadn't told Harriet yet that Dude could talk—he knew that she would be even more furious at them for wasting supplies and being so reckless. Like she definitely was now that they brought a stranger into camp.

"No," the little brunette said, speaking up hesitantly—he knew that one wrong word could get them grounded and put on garbage duty for a year, which was even longer in Neverland.

Harriet spun around on him, causing Ben to shrink down where he stood.

He swallowed heavily, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt before deciding to stand his ground—albeit hesitantly. He knew that Harriet didn't take risks to their safety lightly and wanted her to know that they were sure they wouldn't be in any danger—so he looked her straight in the eye and repeated himself. "No, we didn't. Henry's not a spy. He's our friend and he just wants to help us get off the island."

That didn't seem to calm Harriet's nerves at all.

"Of course he'd say that!" She hissed angrily, "he wanted to lead you into a false sense of security so that you'd think that you could trust him! And even if you could trust him—" she pointed at Henry, staring him down darkly causing him to squirm where he stood.

"There's no way off this bloody island unless Pan gives you permission like he gave daddy, which we will never get!" All the kids flinched as Harriet's voice got higher and higher, making them very thankful that they had soundproofed the place using magic. Otherwise, Harriet's scolding would have led Pan straight to them a long time ago.

Henry, in what could either be described as a moment of bravery or, more likely, a moment of stupidity, decided to take a risk by speaking up. "That's not necessarily true."

Harriet turned on him in an instant, "who asked you, Henry? If that is your real name."

Henry backed up slightly once more, wondering if this girl was out of her mind "no one, but I know another possible way off this island."

The other Neverland rebels started to whisper to one another, wondering if he was telling the truth.

"Oh, and what precisely is that?" Harriet asked in a condescending tone that caused an embarrassed Cj to hide her face in her hands from her ship. She hated when Harriet got like this—it made it harder for them to make allies and it was so embarrassing.

"My family is here on the island and they're looking for me. They have Captain Hook with them and he has a ship, when they find us we'll be able to escape!" Henry explained hesitantly, unsure if they'd believe him. To his surprise, Harriet went pure white and the whispering got worse and worse. He strained his ears, trying to determine what they were saying and whether or not they believed him.

"It can't be."

"He was telling the truth?"

"Oh my Mushu, we messed up."

"I thought it was just a hallucination…"

"I did too."

"Me too."

"Oh god, he's gonna hate us!"

"We are terrible friends!"

"It's not our fault. We didn't know.."

"What are we gonna do?"

"What if he doesn't forgive us?"

Henry looked to Chad and Ben for an explanation, only to see that they were deathly pale for some reason as well. What was going on? Why was everyone acting so weird and who was this "he" they were speaking of? And what did they mean by hallucinations? Suddenly, he wasn't so sure that staying here was a good idea.. but it was too late to turn back now. He didn't have anywhere else to go and if he left these kids here to fend for themselves and they were truly innocent he would never forgive himself... he just couldn't leave them behind, even if they were a little nuts..

Suddenly, a loud whistle rang through the air—ripping Henry away from his thoughts.

"Alright everyone, that's enough " Henry turned his head toward the voice and found that its owner was the scrawny blonde boy that had been observing them from up in the watchtower thing.

'Man, that thing looks so cool. How did they build that?' The modern boy wondered. If he couldn't do something like that with tools and instructions, then how did they do it without them? Before he could ponder it any further, the blonde continued on with his statement.

"It's clear that we all had a severe lapse in judgment here but at the moment, it's the least of our concerns. Yes, mending things with Harry is important but that can wait for the time being. Right now, we need to prepare for our guests and pack our things up—not all of it, of course, but what we can afford to put away—for when they show up. Jay, you need to get back to the med cave and rest like Harry and Jane are. Harriet, the twins, and I will deal with the dude situation as well as the planning. Sound good?"

Henry expected some out cry or argument from the other kids but surprisingly, none came. It seemed that the kids either all got along better than he thought they did or they were just too tired to argue about it. He really, really hoped it was the former because he wasn't sure that he could handle 3 sets of generations fighting all the time. It was tiring enough with only two...

"Yes Sammy."

"Good idea Smee!"

"Yeah, I'll do that.”

"Okay" various voices chimed back, once again breaking Henry out of his Thoughts.

"And you" the blonde—Sammy said—"come with us. You have some explaining to do."

Before the 11 year old could protest or argue, he was already walking away towards one of the makeshift boats with Harriet and a pair of twin boys. Just what had Henry gotten himself into?

Chapter 15: Secrets.

Chapter Text

The Neverland recuse party was now in the echo caves, staring down a cage they had to get to.

A cage that held Neal in it.

Everyone looked very reluctant to share anything, so Hook decided he had to step up—whether he liked it or not. There were many secrets he could tell that could be considered deep but he didn't think it was the time to profess his love for Emma and he really didn't feel like revealing anything more about his pre-pirate family or crimes. So, that only left one thing...

Killian stepped forward and ignored the feeling of the other's eyes on him. Every fiber in his being was screaming that this was a horrible idea and that his children didn't deserve to be used in this way. That he shouldn't be telling anyone—let alone their big brother— about them in this way but he knew that he had to. He had to convince the others to trust him in this one instance, no matter how many headaches and heart aches it would bring.

It was about time he finally talked about his children and his loss of them—even if it were to a group of near strangers.

"My secret is I am— was —a father" he couldn't help but wonder why it still hurt correcting himself like this after nearly 200 years of his kids being gone. God, had it really been that long?

200 years...

200 years since he last hugged or tucked in any of his children.

200 years since he could say he still had some humanity in him.

200 years since he had lost everything that could have made him worth saving.

200 years since he lost any motivation to be a somewhat, halfway decent person. God, what happened to him?

Hook winced when he heard David sputter indignantly "You're a what?!"

Thankfully, Snow cut in because if she hadn't, Killian wasn't sure he'd have the strength to continue.

"David, now is not the time" she said, scowling, elbowing him. She sounded like a true mother in that moment—briefly reminding Killian of his own, whose memory was starting to fade from his mind.

Another blast from the past...

Killian was being yelled at for breaking a vase and he was crying. Not because he was 3 and being yelled at but because his hands were bleeding and his dad wasn't doing anything about it.

He was too little to understand why his daddy always seemed to be angrier at him than at Liam for things.

His father got louder and louder, and the next thing Killian knew, he was being lifted up into the arms of his mother.

She was a beautiful blonde woman with pale skin and blue eyes—his eyes—who was always dressed in blue.

"Oh Brennan, now is not the time!" She scolded, sounding rather cross as Killian clung to her.

"But Alice—" his father protests, only to get cut off.

"No buts. He's bleeding and you just stood there and yelled at him. Now clean this mess up so no one else gets hurt" she walked off with him before Brennan could protest, whispering sweet nothings into his hair that he could no longer remember. She always had his back when his father was being too hard on him and his siblings, and it would be one of the things he would never forget about her.

"I had 3. Harriet, Harry, and Calista Jane. They were 10, 7, and 5 the last time I saw them. They just disappeared one day. It was awful and I still have no idea what happened to them but I miss them every single day and wish that I had spent more time with them.” He forced himself to stop, knowing that if he didn't, he'd start crying.

Killian didn't want to lose his bad reputation—it was the only thing he had left and if he cried then they'd know he was faking the whole heartless thing.

A small portion of bridge constructed itself on the empty path, showing that Killian's knowledge was correct and that sharing his secret did, indeed, help their cause.

Snow stepped up next and turned to David. "My secret is that I still blame myself for what Regina did and because our kids didn't grow up with us. And that I'm just waiting for you to wake up one day and realize that it's my fault, and leave me even though I know you won't. My secret is I want another chance. Another baby that we get to raise all the way to adulthood."

After that, all hell would break loose with Neal and Emma losing it—neither knowing that they had had siblings (or in Neal's case, more siblings) before this moment. It didn't help that David revealed immediately after that he couldn't leave Neverland because of the Dreamshade cure or that Emma revealed that she wished Neal had died (deserved or not).

This was just a sign of what was to come during their time on the island... But Killian was too shocked to realize it.

Chapter 16: We need to talk.

Chapter Text

Killian was leaning against a tree, on the verge of a panic attack.Slowly breathing in and out as he desperately tried to calm himself down.

He couldn't believe that he had just done that. That he had used his children in that way. That he had revealed their existence to people who were practically f*cking strangers to him.

What had he been thinking?!

They were gonna use this against him whenever they pleased now!

The pirate captain was so distracted that he didn't hear the footsteps approaching him until it was too late."Were you ever gonna tell me that I had siblings? Or was that another secret you planned to take to your grave?"

Killian spun around to find a livid looking Neal and instinctively took a step back after seeing the expression on the other man's face. If looks could kill, he'd have been 6 feet under in that moment.

Killian swallowed heavily; he hadn't expected Neal to confront him so soon after his rescue.

He had thought he'd be too focused on reuniting with Emma and looking for Henry to seek him out just yet. He had thought he'd have more time to come up with a good enough explanation to explain just why he hadn't told Neal about his siblings. But it looks like he'd been wrong.

Man, the universe was really not on his side today .

"Lad, I know you're angry—" Killian started, mind racing as he desperately tried to think of a way to calm Neal's temper. He knew the lad's could be worse than even his and his mother's sometimes. But Neal didn't give him that opportunity .

"No!" The brunette shouted angrily, cutting him off almost the very second the words had come out of his mouth. "Don't you f*cking 'lad', me! Don't you f*cking give me that sh*t. I want answers and I want them now!”

He stepped forward and jabbed Killian hard in the chest with his finger. Staring him down harshly. Looking exactly like his father in that moment. "So answer the goddamned question!"

Killian flinched back as if he had been slapped and decided to be honest with his kinda-sorta-step son since he really didn't have any other options. He was absolutely positive that he had never looked more remorseful and ashamed of himself and his actions than he probably did at that moment.

"Bae, they had already disappeared by the time you showed up and I didn't see any reason to—" apparently, being honest was the wrong thing to do—judging by how red Neal got when he said that. Or maybe it had been the way he had phrased it? He didn't have much time to dwell on it, because Neal once again cut him off before he could explain.

Which was getting very annoying.

Even if he did deserve it a tiny bit.

"Didn't see any reason? DIDN'T SEE ANY REASON?! " Neal repeated, voice steadily increasing in volume with every uttered word. " I HAD 3 YOUNGER SIBLINGS AND YOU DIDN'T SEE ANY REASON TO TELL ME JUST BECAUSE THEY DISAPPEARED?! ARE YOU f*ckING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?! WHAT KIND OF BULLsh*t REASONING IS THAT?!"

Killian suppressed another flinch as Neal ranted angrily at him. He knew he deserved every word of it—hell, he knew that he probably deserved way worse—but that didn't make the words hurt any less. And He couldn't help but worry that all the yelling would draw Pan's attention to them. The fact that the Charmings hadn't come to see what all the hub-bub was about didn't calm those worries in the slightest. But he knew that trying to bring them up now wouldn't end well for him.

Neal would probably just think that he was trying to change the subject to get out of this conversation. Would think that he wasn't remorseful at all for hiding his siblings' existence or for lying to him once again. So, he didn't voice his worries. Instead, he tried to apologize "Bae, I'm sorry—"

Only to be cut off by the other man AGAIN .

"I HAD A RIGHT TO KNOW, KILLIAN!" Neal was shaking, even as the heat in his stare faded. Shaking even as the hate and anger and resentment drained from his being, leaving nothing but a tired, hurt expression behind. "I had a right to know" he repeated one last time, shaking his head.

Killian was too stunned to speak after that and just stared at him. Stared at the man he had been planning to retrieve and raise at one point with Milah. At the man who he had failed so many times and continued to fail every moment that his son was left unattended with Pan on this dreaded island.

Neal stared back at him, waiting for him to reply but he couldn't bring himself to. Not while Neal was staring at him with that look in his eyes. The look of disappointment and hurt that he had seen so many times in both Neal's eyes and the eyes of his family and friends. It was a look that always caused him pain, whether or not he had earned it.

When it became apparent that Killian wasn't gonna say anything, the other man rolled his eyes and scoffed, muttering "typical!" As he glanced up at the sky before walking away. It was only then Killian found his voice.

"I know. And I'm sorry " He wasn't sure if Neal heard him or not because he didn't turn back around. Killian wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer or not. He didn't know that the Charmings were having an equally as rough conversation back at camp at that very moment.

"I can't believe this!" Emma's voice rang throughout the forest, making her displeasure known.

"Emma, I know that this is sudden—" Snow started cautiously, reaching out to comfort her—only for her daughter to spin around and glare at her. She halted her moments and jerked back as if she had been slapped. She felt David give her hand a gentle squeeze—no doubt trying to offer her some form of comfort even if he wasn't willing to speak up yet.

"Sudden?! You're telling me I have a missing older brother that you have not mentioned even once before we stepped foot on this damn island and you're describing it as 'sudden'?!" They had never seen Emma look more angry and disappointed than she did at that moment.

David, in a moment of poor judgment and complete dumbassery, decided that now was a good time to speak up. "Sweetheart, I know you're angry but—"

Emma didn't let him finish. She looked ready to commit murder. "DAMN RIGHT I'M ANGRY! I HAVE A BROTHER AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME! WERE YOU EVER GONNA TELL ME OR WERE YOU JUST GONNA HIDE THIS FROM ME FOREVER?!"

David and Snow both reared back at her words, looking shocked. That and the silence that followed only made Emma angrier.

"WELL?!"

They said nothing.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS? ARE YOU SERIOUSLY NOT GONNA ANSWER ME? ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GONNA SIT HERE AND STARE AT ME LIKE I'M THE CRAZY ONE WHEN YOU'RE THE ONES WHO TRIED TO ACT LIKE HE NEVER EVEN EXISTED !" Her voice carried for miles.

The island never seemed more silent.

It was unnerving.

David had no doubt that if she wanted to, Emma could have killed them in that moment and gotten away with it. "Emma, honey, that's not what we were trying to do—"

"Then what, prey tell , were you trying to do?" She asked, steam practically coming out of her ears. Hands on her hips and a sneer on her face.

Snow spoke up then, voice soft as she did so "we were trying to find a way to tell you. We just didn't know how. We weren't trying to erase him or act like he had never been born. We'd never do that. We just didn't know how—" her voice cracked, causing her to pause. She was staring at her fidgeting hands, which were laying in her lap. She didn't dare to look at her daughter.

She knew all she'd see was Emma's angry face. The same angry face that Chad had. She knew she wouldn't be able to take it.

David decided to pick up where she left off. "You were already reeling from the fact that we were your parents and that we want you, and that Henry was right about the curse. We didn't want to add anymore to it. We know how you feel about all of this. That you weren't planning on staying in Storybrooke to begin with. We didn't want you to feel obligated to stay or to stay because you felt bad for us. We didn't want to force you into anything. But we were gonna tell you. After you got more settled in and after everything calmed down a bit. You deserved to know about him. You deserve that much."

Emma's features softened before she let out a sigh and plopped herself down on a log across from them.

Allowing the anger, hurt, resentment, and disgust to drain out of her. Allowing her defenses to lower. After hearing that reasoning, she felt a little guilty for yelling at them, even if it was justified.

She'd just been so sure that she'd been wrong about them.

Sure that they were just like every foster parent she had ever had who would act like their other kids and previous foster kids hadn't existed. Sure that they had had her to replace her brother and that they were gonna erase his existence in their lives.

She felt like a fool for thinking like that, but she had seen it before. She had been the kid who had been replaced and had seen other kids get replaced.

Seen their reactions.

Their pain.

Felt their pain.

And the idea of her parents—God , that was never gonna get any less weird to say or think—doing the exact same thing to her brother had stung and had made her jump to his defense. Even if she didn't know him personally.

She didn't know why.

She couldn't explain it.

But she just felt the need to protect his memory—to protect him—when she had found out that her parents had hid it/him from her. She'd probably never understand it. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to. Because it wouldn't matter. She had already made an ass of herself, after all. There was no taking it or her words back.

Emma sighed again before finally looking back at her parents. They looked so defeated, no doubt thinking that she hated them.

That wouldn't do.

She rested her chin on her fist and said only one thing.... "What was his name?"

Chapter 17: Sneaking about.

Chapter Text

In the forest, the night sky vanishes almost completely, save for only a few small fragments of stars that remain visible—like scattered pieces of a puzzle.

The air is heavy and the tension is so thick that you can cut it with a knife.

And it's so silent that you can hear even the smallest of whispers. Perhaps that's what made the death trap that is Neverland so unnerving and what made its occupants so frustrated. Like now.

"I don't get why we have to be the ones to find Harriet's dad!" Chad whined loudly, breaking the deadly silence of the forest as he ducked under a tree branch.

Evie was a few feet ahead of him cutting away at the branches and vines in their way. He desperately tried to keep up with her, not wanting to make Harriet even more mad than she was already by getting lost. "He's not our dad! Why can't she do it if it's so important to her?"

The Bluenette just sighed, hacking down yet another swirl of vines.

Chad could just tell by the way she did it that she was annoyed with him for some unfathomable reason. He didn't get a chance to comment on it, however, because the older girl spoke just as he was about to inquire about it.

"Because, Chad, she has to do damage control with Harry and fix the situation we have back at camp. Now, will you please shut up so we can find him?"

The blonde scowled at the back of his aunt's head, unhappy at how quickly she dismissed him. But he didn't comment on it, knowing it wouldn't do him any good. Instead he just questioned her—as it would annoy her enough to satisfy his own annoyance.

"What situation? Are you talking about Dude? Because if you are, that's not a situation. That's a talking dog."

Evie groaned, clearly growing more frustrated with him the more he talked.

'Good. Serves her right for dismissing me so quickly.’

He did his best to hide a smile as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Recognizing that he'd be in big trouble if she realized that he was acting this way deliberately .

"Sometimes" Evie gritted out, tightening her hold on his sword—which he had lent her so she could clear their path—before continuing "I worry about you Chad. Most times actually, because I'm starting to think that you actually don't have a brain in there.”

Chad's smile slid right off his face as he sputtered indignantly "Excuse me?!—"

"You're excused" Evie said, cutting in, sounding a bit too smug for his liking. Which only made him angrier.

"I'll have you know that I do, in fact, have a brain! A very big one at that!"

Evie just moved forward, not even looking back at him. "Oh do you? Couldn't tell. I thought we were talking about Brains, not head size."

Chad halted his movements, staring at her retreating form in shock—absolutely floored by the comment. It took him a full ten seconds to realize what she was implying. And when he did realize it, he was outraged. "HEY WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

Evie didn't stop walking— didn't even spare him a glance as she kept moving forward. Chopping through branches and vines as she threw an 'innocent' remark back at him.

"I thought you had a brain? Why don't you figure it out?" She bit back a smile as he sputtered yet again, trying desperately not to laugh as she did so .

"EVIE?!? EVIE?!"

She ignored his calls and kept moving forward.

"COMMON, THAT'S NOT FAIR! SLOW DOWN!" Chad yelped loudly as he clumsily stumbled after her. She sped up instead. "Oh you SUCK!"

The older child allowed herself to giggle at the comment. Satisfied that she managed to beat him at his own game once again. Only to freeze when she heard a couple of voices from up ahead—just as Chad caught up to her, panting.

"You *huff* fricking *huff* suck— OW! " He yelped as she elbowed him in the side, shushing him. "What was that for— OW! "

She did it again, shushing him harsher this time .

"Just. Listen. " She hissed, gesturing towards where the sound was coming from as she crept closer.

She hid behind a bush—yanking Chad down with her as she peeked over.

There was a blonde woman who looked to be about 28 in strange clothing that wasn't very lady-like talking to a man in similar strange clothing. The woman strangely looked as if the conversation physically pained her. As if she'd rather be anywhere else than where she was. Though the man didn't seem to notice that at all and kept talking.

Evie could just barely make out what they were saying.

"Listen.... just.. say.. You're right.. Henry.. all... matters.. if.. all... came from us... did all right."

"Yea, now.. get... son back."

"What are they talking about?" Chad whispered, earning him an incredulous look from Evie—who took a moment to calm herself to prevent herself from exploding at him.

"They're talking about Henry, you dolt. They're probably the ones he was talking about back at ca—" a voice cleared from behind them, causing the two small children to freeze momentarily before hesitantly turning around to discover the source of the sound. Which just so happened to be the very man they were looking for. Something they had absolutely no doubts about considering that he looked almost identical to 2 of his 3 children. Plus the leather of course.

He had the same stern and scary look on his face that Harriet often wore. And he towered over them like she did—only confirming their suspicions even further. The fact he had a similar accent when he finally did speak only cemented their belief in the conclusion further "and just who might you two be?" The two children automatically backed up, swallowing heavily. Trying not to look or feel intimidated.

It didn't work.

Chapter 18: Busted.

Chapter Text

"Uh oh" Evie uttered quietly as she backed into the two people they had just been spying on—one of which grabbed her. Even then, she didn't take her eyes off of the infamous Captain Hook—recognizing that doing so would probably be a very bad idea.

That reasoning quickly went right out the window when her nephew suddenly spoke up "This is all YOUR FAULT, E!"

Her head snapped toward the blonde instantly. Face twisting into a scowl and eyes narrowing in a glare as she did so. "MY FAULT? Excuse me?! How can this possibly be MY FAULT?"

Chad didn't even flinch at her raised voice. Which was impressive considering that all of the present adults did in fact flinch at it.

He just stared at her—clearly wracking his small brain for an answer. She could tell almost the exact movement he found one because a small, wary smile appeared on his face before he even tried to speak.

"Because you're the one who was being loud!"

Evie felt her blood boil at the comment.

She was the one being loud?!

Her fury must have shown on her face because Hook cleared his throat yet again. He looked torn between annoyed, amused, and exasperated "I said, and just who might you two be?"

He might sound intimidating to some but Evie wasn't one of them. Not when she had seen just how intimidating Harriet could be.

Evie shot him a glare before turning back to Chad. "I knew you were stupid but I didn't know that you were oblivious as well, short stack!"

The blonde reared back, nearly bumping into the other blonde (a woman) who kept a tight grip on him. "What's that supposed to mean, Evilette?"

The older girl narrowed her eyes at him, grinding her teeth. Angry that not only had he insulted her but that he had tried to blame all of this on her! When he was the ONE to blame!

"It means that you were the one being loud, not ME!" She tried to wiggle out of the brunette man's hold but failed. So she just settled for glaring at her nephew before adding "and just for the record. If I wasn't restrained right now, I'd put mud in your hair!"

She smirked at him when he gasped in outrage.

"You wouldn't!"

"Oh I would!"

"You're a monster! I'm telling Harriet!"

It was Evie's turn to gasp.

She heard a sharp intake of breath come from Hook's direction and two more from behind them but ignored it. Giving Chad a desperate, panicked, slightly scathing look "you wouldn't!"

"Oh I would—"

Hook's voice boomed through the air, cutting their argument short with an " ENOUGH!"

Both of them fell silent immediately, instinctively backing up. Neither of them wanted to be particularly close to the angry pirate captain at that moment. They'd rather be close to his two companions than him at the moment.

"How do you two know my daughter? What did you do to her ?!"

Evie felt the man behind her tighten his grip on her shoulders and maybe wondered if backing up into him was a mistake.

"Hook, calm down—" the blonde behind Chad started.

"No, Swan! I will not calm down! They know my daughter's name! They know my daughter. I want answers!" The ravenette snapped harshly, glaring at them.

"We don't know that it's your daughter. It could just be another kid with the same name."

The man behind her loosened his grip on her slightly, taking a deep breath."She's right, Killian. We don't know for sure—"

Before anyone could react, a man with a sword and a woman with short hair and bow ran through a dense area of trees. Looking confused, concerned, and ready for a fight

"What's with all the yelling—" the man started, looking around, only to get cut off by his (wife? friend?) companion.

"is everyone alright—"

Chad broke free from the blonde woman's hold immediately and ran towards them before Evie or the adults could stop him. Literally throwing himself at their legs, clinging to them—much to everyone's confusion.

"MOMMY! DADDY! YOU'RE HERE LIKE HENRY SAID YOU WOULD BE!"

Oooooh. Well that answered the question of what the hell Chad was thinking and doing. And on what his parents (her step sister and brother-in-law) looked like.

Evie took a risk and glanced at Hook, who was grimacing—no doubt realizing that he and his companions hadn't been manhandling a couple of Pan's followers. And then glanced behind her at his companions.

The brunette let her go, looking dumbstruck and pale while the blonde stared intensely at her nephew. Looking regretful and... almost jealous?

Just what was going on here?

Chapter 19: Snow has a what now?!

Chapter Text

Evie sat a little ways away from Chad and the neverrangers' group campfire, unable to stop herself from feeling a bit envious.

She knew that envy was a ridiculous thing to be feeling right now. A selfish thing. And that she should be happy that her nephew had been reunited with his parents.

But as she sat there by that tree, watching as he laid curled up in-between his relieved parents and new found not so little sister, she couldn't help but feel bitter.

Bitter that he had a dad and she didn't.

Bitter that her mom wasn't there hugging her.

Bitter that her mom went and raised someone else's kid when she didn't even raise her.

Bitter that no one cared enough to realize she wasn't there with them.

It just wasn't fair.

She wanted to go over there and cause a scene.

She wanted to make him and the others realize that the so-called 'Neverrangers' weren't there for them. That they had moved on from them. Wanted to make them all feel the hurt she was feeling.

But Evie didn't do any of that.

No, instead she just sat there. Silently fuming and hating her mother just a tiny bit more, all the while wondering what was gonna happen to her when they left this dreaded place since her mother clearly didn't want her.

Unaware that at that very moment, Chad was broaching the subject with his parents.

"Hey mommy?"

"Yes, sweetheart?" Snow had slipped back into calling him endearing nicknames like no time had passed at all since they had last seen each other.

As if Emma wasn't 29 instead of just a baby in her tummy.

Chad loved it.

Loved how she was running her fingers through his hair.

Loved how his father just kept hugging him.

Loved how his now older sister gave him small waves whenever she noticed his eyes lingering on her curiously.

And he knew that Evie needed that too. Knew that she needed it more than anything in the world. Even if she was too prideful/scared to ask for it at the moment.

So, he made his move. Deciding that if she wouldn't stop sulking near Ben's brother and Harry's dad, who were 'keeping watch' (read: arguing about what to do with the information he and Evie had given them next) and do it herself, then he would.

"When we get off the island, can your sissy stay with us?"

The camp went dead quiet and Chad noticed even from afar how quick Hook's head snapped towards Evie. And how wide his eyes got, as if he was seeing her for the first time for some weird reason.

"My what?" Snow asked, baffled, looking at David, who looked just as confused as she was.

"Your sissy" the blonde repeated stubbornly, as if that explained anything.

"Baby, I don't have a sister, " his mom explained gently, as if it was the honest to God truth. Which just served to annoy Chad.

"Yes, you do. I know she's not your blood sister but step siblings still count!" Okay, maybe he could have been a bit nicer about correcting her but he was tired and wanted to go home, and just knew that the comment had hurt Evie without even having to look at her.

And that was just something he wouldn't stand for.

His dad decided to step in.

"Chad, buddy, while that may be true your mom still doesn't have any sisters because Regina doesn't have any daughters."

"But she does!" Chad argued furious, pointing over at Evie, who was fighting back tears. "And it's mean to pretend that she doesn't when Evie is right there!"

Emma's jaw dropped.

Hook groaned.

Snow stared.

David stared.

And Neal..

Neal just about lost it.

"Is there anyone in this group who doesn't have a secret kid?!"

Chapter 20: Sisters.

Chapter Text

"So…we're stepsisters?" Snow started awkwardly, causing Evie to snort.

"Yep."

"How… How long have you been here?" It was a question Snow didn't want to ask but knew she had to.

She needed to know when exactly Regina had had a kid.

She needed to know when she had become a stepsister.

She had to know when she had failed yet another child.

Evie shrugged, causing her hair to fall into her face slightly. "I dunno… I think you were about twenty or twenty one."

Snow quickly did some mental math, suppressing a wince as she realized just who her father must have been.

"Where… were you before that?"

She racked her brain, trying to find any sign or hints that she could have missed. Any closed doors she wasn't allowed in. Any off behaviors before her father's death but kept coming up blank.

Evie must have recognized her confusion.

"Oh. I didn't live with mama. I lived with Daddy's mama and papa until the shadow took me. Mama visited sometimes but she didn't raise me like she did Henry. "

This time Snow did wince at just how bitter the girl sounded. She hadn't known it was even possible for someone so young to sound like that.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh. " Evie replied, rolling her eyes— sounding and looking so much like her mother in that moment that it made Snow wonder ever so briefly if she was actually Regina's clone and not her daughter.

She quickly dismissed that thought as being silly.

After all, magic couldn't actually clone people as far as she was aware.

…

She'd have to ask Blue or Nova about that later.

Just in case.

"And don't worry. You don't have to make me your problem after we leave here."

Snow blinked, staring at the younger girl dumbfounded. "What?"

Evie rolled her eyes again.

"I heard you and Chad talking. You don't have to take me in after we get out of here. I'm not your problem. Hell—"

"Language" Snow chided instinctively—but Evie just continued on, ignoring her interruption.

"—I'm not even my mother's problem. She'll probably just send me back to my daddy's parents If they're even still alive."

Evie wondered if they were.

After all, she had been gone nine years before the curse even began.

There was a strong possibility that they wouldn't be.

They'd been older than usual when they had her dad after all and thirty-seven years was a long time.

Especially for two people who'd been pushing 50 when they raised her.

And even if they were alive, there was no guarantee that they'd stay that way for much longer or that they'd even want her anymore.

"And if they aren't?" Snow asked, nervously. Wondering what her stepsister was thinking and fighting the urge to argue that Regina probably wouldn't do that. She had done it once, afterall, and once was enough for a child to lose trust in someone.

She glanced over at Emma, who was talking with Chad now while David talked to Neal and Hook about something.

Once was more than enough for a child to lose trust in someone.

Evie shrugged "I dunno. I just know that she didn't want me enough to raise me but went and raised someone else's kid. Who this whole little search party thing is actually for. So she's not likely to take me in."

She tried not to sound too sad at the thought but it was hard.

Knowing that she had a brother that she hadn't grown up with. One who had never even heard of her.

It was hard to tell herself that she hadn't been replaced or unwanted.

Because sure, while Chad and Ben and the others' parents hadn't ever mentioned them either to their siblings before coming here, their parents had actually raised them.

Their parents had spent time with them and read them bedtime stories and played with them.

And all Evie had to remember her mother by were infrequent visits that were always rushed and promises to do better and 'no you can't come live with me, I'm sorry but–'s.

She had never even met her father or her grandma Cora.

And she'd only met her grandpa Henry twice before she disappeared.

She thought she had a right to be more than a little bitter.

"I'm sure if she had known you were here she would have tried to get you." Snow replied, quietly. Trying to comfort her.

Evie shrugged "maybe. Or maybe she wouldn't have. Who knows. I'm not Henry."

Snow could feel her heart break at that.

"Well… if when we leave her Regina doesn't take you home with her, you can come and stay with my family. "

"Oh, no. I couldn't do that. You don't know me and I don't want to intrude–" Evie protested weakly, fighting against the part of her that wanted that.

The part that yearned for someone to actually want her.

She knew despite her grandparents' best efforts that they hadn't wanted her. That they had only taken her in because she was their son's daughter and she was in danger.

But she also knew that Snow was probably only offering out of pity and Evie didn't want that.

She didn't want to make herself someone's problem.

Snow was having none of that. "Oh hush. You wouldn't be intruding. You're family."

"But—"

"No buts. You're my sister and you took care of my son when you didn't have to. That alone makes you family and I don't have to know you to know that I already love you. So if you want to, if Regina doesn't take you home with her—which I have no doubts that she will— you can come and stay with me. I won't have you out on the streets."

Evie fought back a smile, fiddling with her bag before finally giving in. "Okay…"

Snow smiled.

"Good. Now that that's over with, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself and what you and Chad have been up to while here."

Evie wondered in that moment why her mother had ever wanted to kill Snow at all.

"Is Henry really your baby?" Chad asked Emma out of the blue after their dad had gone over to talk to Hook and Neal. Taking her off guard.

"Uh… yeah?"

Chad looked at her doubtfully. "But you weren't born yet when I left and then the curse came. And you're not a baby now and neither is Henry. How does that work?"

Emma thought for a moment. Trying to come up with a way to answer his question without making him cry or confusing him more.

"Well… Dav–Dad and Mom sent me away. So I wasn't cursed and was able to grow up, and have Henry. And since I wasn't cursed, he wasn't either. "

Chad seemed to understand. "Even though he lived with Evie's mom after she a-dop-ted him?"

Emma bit her lip, trying not to laugh as he spelled out the unfamiliar word before answering. "Pretty much."

He was silent for a moment.

Then he scrunched up his nose.

"That's weird."

This time, Emma did laugh.

"Tell me about it. I didn't even grow up with magic. Imagine how weird all of this was for me!"

Chad's little eyes widened and suddenly, he looked concerned. "Did it give you a headache? Confusing-y and weird things always give me a headache."

"Yeah, it did. Sometimes it's still hard to wrap my head around."

He gave her a weird look.

"What?"

"Why would you wrap your head around something? That sounds like it hurts. "

David choked on a laugh, startling both her and Chad who hadn't even noticed his return.

"What? Why are you laughing? Dad–Emma not you too! I don't get it. What's so funny? Guys? Guys?! "

Chapter 21: Attention.

Chapter Text

I am sorry to anyone who is enjoying this story but it may take me awhile to update.

I have received some very rude comments lately (which I have deleted so that the user won't be attacked for making them) and that, like it did on another one of my stories (the damage you've done cannot be undone), has kind of killed my enjoyment for this story.

I'm sorry.

I am not cancelling this.

I still plan to try and update it soon but it may take longer than it originally was (which was happening due to a very bad year that is continuing to be bad on my end).

Again, I'm sorry.

I hope you can all understand.

Edit:

To clarify, I do not care if you have a question (like if you're confused by why Chad is not Cinderella's son in this. Or why Cj is adopted or where another character is). Like. If you have questions, I will answer them. But please, I plead for you to remember that people are human.

I am human.

Things you say can hurt and the way you phrase questions matter.

I am glad to answer questions about the story or why I made certain decisions.

But I am not glad to be told that I don't belong in fandom spaces if I, as a human being, get upset by the way someone talks to me.

I share these stories to bring fresh ideas that people might enjoy. It's okay if you don't enjoy them and it's okay if crossovers or certain characters aren't your cup of tea.

I understand that. But remember the writers are human.

This is the last I'll be saying on the matter but I'll try to update soon.

Again I'm sorry for any inconvenience or disappointment this might bring you.

Bye until next time everyone.

Have good day and remember to be kind and try your best at whatever you do.