Enchanted

Chapter Twenty-Four
Goddess of magic
~Regina~

The ship grew closer to a set of mountains that seemed to emit some kind of light. Emma stood with Killian, she looked heart broken and shaken up. Killian kept his arm around her shoulders. Amanda was sitting next to Felix in tears, Even Henry looked devastated. I walked over to him placing my hand on his shoulder.
“Henry, your sister is stronger than she’s given credit for”.

He looked at me.
“Yeah, I know. Just feels like history repeating itself, only this time the pure hearted one was cursed by a god. We have no way of knowing if anything will bring her back from this mom”.
I nodded to him keeping my hand over his.
“I know it seems that way now, but with someone like Pan on your sister’s side, I believe things will be different this time”.

Henry sighed leaning on the railing as he stared down into the water.
“A mermaid saved me from drowning, when we were trapped on the Island she was all I could think about. Now I feel selfish for not trying to find a way to get to my little sister instead of looking for some mermaid I’ll never see again”.
I smiled at Henry.
“Everyone’s story is different, they may have similar elements Henry, but they are never exactly the same. Sometimes we have to sacrifice for the ones we love. And sometimes the ones we love have to sacrifice for us”.

I turned my gaze to fix on Pan, not even Felix was at his side. Henry looked at me.
“Mom, do you think Krissi will have her happy ending?”
I smiled at him.
“I think in time, she will have the happiest ending”.
Henry smiled at me.
“Yeah, I think so too”.
I took my leave of Henry and approached Pan. He kept his eyes fixed on the glowing distant mountains. His arms crossed as the wind moved through his hair.
“Impossible odds are stacked against you”.

I said keeping my eyes forwards as well, Pan didn’t look at me or move in the slightest.
“I was dead, a higher power brought me back to life and gave me an angel to love and protect. At this point nothings impossible”.
Pan responded as he got a look of determination in his eyes I had never seen before. I turned towards him.
“Krissi is very important to me, I love her like a daughter”.
Pan turned towards me narrowing his eyes slightly.
“Are you going to give me the big “If you hurt her I’ll kill you” speech again, cause I’ve gotten it from two others already”.

I shook my head lightly.
“No, I believe you are perfect for her. Krissi needs you the way I need Robin and Snow needs David. You are falling into a long line of strong true loves, knights in shining armor. If anyone needs one, it is Krissi. Maleficent is ruthless and determined to destroy her life and her. She is all that stands between Maleficent and world domination. She has always been power hungry and now she has found a world with helpless beings living in it. She won’t hesitate to crush them and make that world her own”.
Pan nodded to me.
“I know the road ahead is long, but as long as Krissi and I are together nothing else matters to me”.

I looked at him not needing to worry about trusting him. Krissi was for him what Robin was to me, a second chance to have a happy ending. I turned and made my way towards Robin as the mountains got closer.
“We should dock here and make our way in a smaller boat”.
Killian said as he lowered the Anker. Rumple scanned the group.
“Only so many of us can got up that mountain, Dwarfs stay with Henry, Amanda and Felix.”

He looked at Jack Sparrow who I was less than pleased to see had joined our little group. I had my own run in’s with Sparrow that I wasn’t anywhere near forgetting.
“Can we trust you enough to leave you with the ship? Or am I going to have to gut you?”
Rumple said not beating around the bush. Peter moved past me.
“I don’t give a damn who’s coming or staying, I’m going”.
Emma rushed behind him.
“Me too, make up your mind if you can trust him on your own time”.

I followed Emma, with Killian, Charming, Snow and Robin falling into step behind me. Rumple narrowed his eyes at Jack.
“If you try to steal this ship”.
“He won’t”.
Felix smirked getting to his feet drawing his sword.
“Oh? And who’s going to stop me? You?”
Jack smirked at him.
“Yes, all of us”.
I remembered how he had been teaching the dwarfs and Amanda how to fight with swords, Henry already knew how. They all drew their weapons and Jack held up his hands narrowing his eyes at them.

“He won’t be a problem”.
I smirked getting onto the smaller boat, Rumple following my lead. Robin was rowing the boat towards the mountain, I looked at Emma who still had tears in her eyes. I placed my hand over hers, Emma looked at me.
“Krissi needs you to be strong for her now Emma, now more than ever. I want to break down too believe me, if anything happened to her I’d be devastated. I’m going to miss the days when it was just the two of us because she didn’t blend in well with others, and everyone else was so busy with their own life. But I know she will always need me to be her god mother, but she will need you to be her mother even more”.

Emma nodded drying her eyes.
“She’s my baby, it’s hard when she’s gone through so much already. Being sick as a kid because her magic was repressed and unable to grow with her body. Learning about the prophecy, all I wanted was to shelter her and keep these things from happening to her. But all I’ve done is make things worse for her. I want to train her”.
Emma looked at me.
“I know you and Rumple can handle the magic, but I want to teach her how to protect herself without magic. It will be years before she’s at your level of magic or mine”.

I nodded to her.
“She’s stronger then I was. Maybe even stronger then Rumple”.
“We haven’t proven that yet”.
Rumple quipped without looking back at us. I noticed the tense look on Pan’s face he was inches from jumping out of the boat and swimming towards the mountain.
“We’ll be there soon, relax”.
I said looking at him, Pan didn’t respond. Once we finally reached the mountain, Pan was first out of the boat and started up the path. Killian and Charming tied the boat off. I rushed after Pan with Emma and Snow falling in step with me.
“He really loves her”.

Snow smiled as she linked arms with Emma.
“Yeah, he does. I never thought I’d see the day”.
Emma said and I saw the guilt in her eyes. She was most likely remembering her reaction to the news that Krissi and Pan had fallen in love. Pan moved fast climbing the rock face never looking back at us. We followed his lead up the rock race climbing after him. The magic here was unlike anything I had felt before. Rumple was right, it was stronger than any magic we had in the enchanted forest.

Robin helped me up as we reached to top of the mountain. Pan was standing over a massive hole in the mountain where the light was coming from. It was a blinding light that made it impossible to see inside the hole clearly.
“We have to jump!”
Pan said, Killian grabbed his arm.
“You could be killed!”
Pan pulled his arm free narrowing his eyes at Killian.
“Then I guess you’ll get your way won’t you”.

He turned without waiting and jumped disappearing into the light. Emma ran forwards. She held out her hand dimming the light before following Pan’s lead. Snow, Charming and Killian followed Emma. I looked at Rumple and Robin.
“We should follow them god knows what’s down there”.
Without hesitating any longer I jumped into the hole as well using magic to slow myself, Rumple and Robin followed my lead. I landed on my feet looking around the solid gold hallway. It was like I had fallen into a castle made of solid gold. Emma and the others weren’t far ahead of us.
“What is this place?”

Robin asked as he looked around taking an arrow from his quiver and loading it into his bow getting ready in case we came under attack. Rumple looked around.
“The magic here is off the charts you can sense it too right?”
He looked from me to Emma, we both nodded.
“Let’s go, we can’t just stand around”.
Pan said as he turned starting down the golden hallway. We rushed after him, before we could speak a word of warning the doors at the end of the hall slowly began to open and a smooth velvety voice spoke.

“Enter Peter Pan, Regina Mills, Robin Locksley, Rumplestiltskin, Emma Swan-Jones, Killian Jones, Snow White and Prince Charming. I have been waiting for you all”.
We looked at each other before slowly making our way into the room. A beautiful woman smiled at us as we entered the room, her hair was golden blond, and skin was pail as snow and her lips red as blood. She looked kind of like Krissi if she was a goddess.
“I am Isis the great Goddess and mother of magic, your heart has lead you here because you seek the power to save someone you love dearly”.

Pan moved forwards looking at Isis.
“I’ll do whatever it takes, I don’t care what it costs me just please help me save her”.
“You wish to save the daughter of the hope?”
Emma moved forwards looking at Isis.
“You know about that?”
Isis smiled at Emma.
“I know about all my children blessed with magic. You are the mother of the true Believer but you are also the mother of the light one”.
We all looked at each other.

“Light one? You mean”.
I looked at Rumple who moved forwards.
“Yes Rumplestiltskin she is your kin, your other half, there are two sides to every magic coin she is the other side of yours”.
I looked at Isis moving towards her.
“So, if Krissi is kin with Rumplestiltskin “
Isis smiled at me.
“She is also kin to you, the onetime evil queen. She has opened your hearts to something more than redemption that you were both seeking. She as ignited a light of your own within both of you. Some might say that you are her chosen protectors”.

Pan looked at Isis.
“What about me?”
Isis turned to Pan and gave a gentle smile as she took his hands in hers.
“Your heart was the most evil, when I gave your life again and sent you to the mirror realm I knew that she would find you. That you were fated to be together. The evil is gone from your body like a poison that is why you’ve changed so much in these past few months. You will become a great hero, her one and only hero and true love.”
“That’s all well and good, but how does this help me save her?”

Pan said looking worried. Isis turned to the group of us.
“The blood of Merlin, in order to attain the powers of all magic’s one must drink the blood of Merlin, however if you drink it with a dark heart it will be like drinking poison. If your heart is pure, you will be granted all the powers Merlin himself held and become responsible for all the powers in his place. Merlin was the only magic user to win a battle with a God, but he died soon after, someone close to him betrayed him and tried to take his powers. But he bound his magic in a vial of blood he hid in this realm that would only become active when a pure heart that seeks to do good with his powers came to possess them.”

“Where is it hidden?”
Pan asked looking egger to get his hands on the vial. Isis looked at him and smiled.
“The forest of lost souls, only someone of true strength could make their way through that forest. It is protection for the powers, Merlin hid the vial there to ensure that whoever came to carry on his magic would be deserving”.
Pan nodded to her.
“Thank you”.
“But!”
Isis said looking at us before we could leave. Pan looked back at her.
“You will need a blade of great power to sever the soul of Thanatos”.

She stepped aside and our eyes fixed on Excalibur driven into a golden stone. Snow gaped at the sword.
“Is that?”
Isis nodded.
“Another gift Merlin left behind in his time here”.
Peter looked at it then to Isis. She smiled at him.
“Go ahead”.
Pan moved forwards closing his hand around the handle of the sword. He didn’t have to work very hard to pull the sword from the stone. It gave off a light as if acknowledging Pan as its new owner.

Snow smiled at him.
“Amazing, you truly are changed”.
Pan looked back at us, I knew he was glad to prove himself but more than anything else he wanted to get to that vial and save Krissi form Thanatos.
“Good luck on your quest”.
She looked at Emma and smiled.
“Emma, Killian. As the parents of The Light one you too are charged with a great task”.
Killian looked at her.
“What’s that?”

Isis smiled.
“Raising her, teaching her, guiding her. She will face many hardships on her path. This is only the beginning and she will need you both to be her strength and support”.
Emma nodded to her.
“Thank you Isis, we’ll do everything in our power to guide her, but as her mother I will always protect her”.
Emma insisted, Isis nodded to Emma.
“I have no doubt you will”.

She held up her hands.
“Now, I will send you back to your ship and wish all of you good luck on your quest”.
As she raised her hands a blinding light came over all of us. We had our answers now all we needed to do was get to the forest of lost souls and get Krissi away from Thanatos. Then the hard part, getting out of this place.