Hooked

They moved quickly through the trees, working to meet back up with the rest of the group. Ariel and Killian were silent as they walked steadily with few breaks. After hours of walking, and as it began to get darker in the forest they came upon the rest of the group in what must have been Pan’s hideout, Lost Boy’s unconscious on the ground around them.

“Ariel!” Emma exclaimed when she spotted the pair. “You’re alright!”

Ariel smiled and nodded, looking around her with interest. There was no sign of Pan and Henry.

“Where’s Pan?” Killian questioned, also noticing the absences.

“Skull Rock,” Emma answered, fear evident on her face. “With Henry.”

“Do you know how you’re going to kill Pan?” he questioned. No one answered. “Ariel may I see your pack?”

Ariel looked at Killian in confusion before handing him her bag. He opened it up and carefully and reached a hand inside, rooting around at the bottom before pulling out a small box.

“I was hoping we wouldn’t need to use this, but I think it might do the trick,” he said, holding it out carefully in front of him.

“Pandora’s Box,” Rumpelstiltskin said quietly, stepping forward to get a better look.

“You know how it works?” Killian questioned and Rumpelstiltskin nodded his head, taking it from Killian when he offered it to him. “Use that to capture Pan and then we don’t have to worry about killing him. Besides, being trapped in there would be worse than death.”

“Thank you, Hook,” Emma said. Killian shrugged and moved to Ariel’s side, looking around at the Lost Boys.

“What’s the plan with this lot?” he questioned.

“We’re going to stay and make sure they don’t go anywhere if they wake up,” Snow spoke up, her hand wrapped around Charming’s.

“We’ll stay here then as well,” Killian said, hand coming up to protectively rest on Ariel’s shoulder.

The rest of the group continued to get ready to go to Skull Rock and Ariel hesitantly stepped toward Neil.

“I don’t know if you remember me…” she started and Neil looked up, eyes meeting hers.

“I do, Ariel,” he said, smiling at her. Ariel looked surprised for a moment.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You didn’t really look like you knew who I was,” he answered with a shrug.

“Sorry,” she said. “I don’t like thinking about Neverland or my time here… Memories usually come back to me in dreams though. Once I remembered who you were, the memories just start of trickled back.”

“Well I’m glad that you’re okay,” he said. He noticed the coconut shell clutched in her hands. “Is that…?”

“Yeah,” she said, holding it up a little. “Killian and I managed to capture Pan’s shadow, so we can get out of here when we have Henry.”

Neil grinned.

“Thank you, Ariel,” he said. He looked at the rest of his group, now ready to head to Skull Rock. “Wish us luck!”

---

When they returned, Henry was with them but not in the state they had imagined. Based on the distraught looks on the groups’ faces, it was evident that Henry was not alive.

“What happened?” Snow questioned, stepping toward her daughter.

“Pan needed Henry’s heart, not his soul, and he succeeded,” Emma answered, voice strained. “And Gold got trapped in Pandora’s Box. We don’t know where Pan went.”

“Maybe we can wake the Boy’s up and find out where Pan went?” Charming suggested.

“It’s worth a shot,” Regina said, waving her hand. Slowly the Lost Boy’s woke up, looking around at the unfamiliar faces.

Once they had gotten them to sit together on the logs in the area, Emma paced in front of them, attempting to convince them to tell them where Pan was. Ariel stood by Killian, only barely listening to what Emma was saying. Eventually, despite the protests of one of the Boy’s, Felix, they were told that Pan could be found at his thinking tree.

Emma walked up to Killian and Ariel, glancing back at the Lost Boys.

“They’re coming back with us,” she said. “Could you bring them to your ship? Mary Margaret, Regina, and I are going to go take care of Pan.”

“Aye,” Killian said. “We’ll prepare the ship for home.”

Snow, Regina, and Emma took off immediately as the rest of the group rounded up the Lost Boys and started toward the Jolly Roger, Neal following behind with Henry in his arms. Despite the large size of the group, they made it to the ship quickly, realizing that Pan’s camp had actually not been that far from where they had arrived.

As soon as they were on board, Killian started giving orders to get the ship prepared, the Lost Boy’s running around to help.

Relief swept over the group when Regina, Snow, and Emma returned, Regina immediately making her way to Henry’s body with heart in hand. Ariel watched from a distance with her breath held as Regina leaned over the boy’s body, pushing his heart back into his chest.

She couldn’t help the grin that overtook her face as she saw Henry sit up and look around him, arms wrapping around Regina and then Emma, his family surrounding him in welcome. She then saw Pandora’s Box again, and it was opened, Rumpelstiltskin reappearing on the deck before them, and Neal hugged him immediately. Ariel was overcome with emotion as she witnessed the reunions and she looked out at the water, longing for her own family. Killian came up beside her.

“Are you alright, sweetheart?”

“Yeah,” she answered. “I’m glad everyone is okay.”

Neal came over and took the coconut with Pan’s shadow from her as Regina brought Henry into the Captain’s quarters.

“Regina is going to attach this to the main sail soon so that we can go home,” he said as way of explanation. Ariel smiled and handed it to him.

“I’m glad that Henry is safe,” she said.

“Me too,” he said, also smiling. “Thank you both so much for helping. I don’t know if this would have been as successful if we didn’t have everyone’s help.”

They were suddenly interrupted by commotion coming from the Captain’s quarters and they all looked to see Regina rushing back inside. Rumpelstiltskin was close behind.

After several minutes, they returned back on deck, Pandora’s Box clutched in Rumpelstiltskin’s hands.

“Pan tried to rip out Henry’s shadow,” Regina said, as way of explanation. “Gold captured him in Pandora’s Box. Now let’s go home.”

Ariel watched as Neal opened up the coconut and Regina attached it to the main sail with her magic. Ariel stood by Killian’s side as they took off, rising into the air and flying towards the sky.

“Ready to be home?” he asked, and Ariel turned to smile at him with a nod.

As they flew towards home, Ariel noticed that Henry had come back out and that he was talking with Felix. She wasn’t sure why, but she suddenly had an uneasy feeling.