juliet •peter pan•

SEVENTY-FIVE

Juliet opened her eyes to see she was in the woods. She quickly scrambled to her feet, looking around.

"Look who's awake." She heard a familiar voice behind her. Whipping her head, she saw Henry standing a few feet away from her.

"Henry?" She rubbed the back of her head, where she felt a slight pain from hitting the floor. "What did you do to me?" Henry sighed, pulling out the vial.

"This knocked you out for a while. I just needed to get you out here, away from Storybrooke." Juliet took a step back. This was unlike Henry.

"Why?" She asked cautiously. Henry put the vial back in his pocket.

"I needed to tell you before anyone else did." He took a step towards her. "I'm not Henry." Juliet scoffed. She was so confused.

"What?" Henry looked at her.

"Before Rumple was able to put me in the box, I swapped with Henry." Juliet's eyes widened. This was not happening.

"Pan?" He nodded. Juliet took a few steps back before turning on her heel and running, only to be faced with Felix. He said nothing, just shook his head. Juliet frowned.

"I just want to talk, Juliet." Juliet scoffed in annoyance.

"What is there to talk about? You tried to kill Henry, you lied to me, and now you've taken over his body, letting him stay inside a box sealed inside Gold's shop." She turned around to face him. "Why would I want to talk to you?" The boy sighed.

"Just please. Listen to me." Juliet folded her arms. It wasn't like she had any choice in the matter with Felix blocking her way out. "I shouldn't have lied to you. But I knew if I told you, you would have tried to stop me. And I couldn't do that." Juliet narrowed her eyes.

"Why not?" Pan sighed.

"Because I needed Henry's heart to live. There was no other way." Juliet gave a dry chuckle.

"There's always another way." Pan shook his head.

"No there wasn't. Not with this." He looked at her, regret in his eyes. Juliet still didn't believe him.

"There had to have been another way to fix this." Pan grew frustrated that Juliet wasn't listening to him.

"Not one that I could bring myself to do." This caught Juliet off guard. What was he saying.

"What?" He sighed. Juliet dropped her arms to her side.

"I told you the seer I went to said the only option was the heart of the truest believer. But that wasn't entirely true. She said there was something else." He looked at the ground, avoiding Juliet's gaze.

"She said that a girl would come to Neverland. A girl with an immense level of magic. If I took this girl's heart, it would keep me alive, just like the heart of the truest believer. So I figured whichever person came first, that was the option I would go with. I thought I had found my answer when Wendy came to the island, but she didn't have any magic. Then you landed on the island." Juliet gasped.

"So, you were planning on killing me?" She asked in disbelief, and Pan nodded.

"Of course I was, why do you think I was teaching you magic?" Tears started to form in Juliet's eyes. Was their whole relationship a lie. "That's how it started. But then I fell in love with you. And I realized that taking your heart was not an option I could live with. So I waited for the truest believer to show up." He looked up at Juliet, who was speechless. After a few minutes, she spoke.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Pan shook his head.

"If I told you, you would've offered your heart to protect Henry." Juliet folded her arms.

"Yes, I would! I would give up my life for Henry's in a heartbeat." She yelled.

"I know you would, and that's why I didn't tell you. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you, and if it was because of me..." He took a deep breath. "But that doesn't matter now." He pulled an object out of his pocket. "In a few hours, none of this will matter." He walked over to the well. "It just needs one final ingredient." Felix walked over to Pan. Without a warning, Pan plunged his heart into Felix's chest, taking out his heart. Juliet's eyes widened.

"What are you doing?" Pan turned to her.

"The curse will fix everything. I'll be returned to my body when the curse enacts, and we can start over. We can..." Before he could finish his thought, he collapsed on the ground, shaking. He shook for a minute before going completely still. Juliet ran over to him. After a moment, he opened his eyes, sitting up. He looked at Juliet.

"Juliet. It's me." Juliet tilted her head in confusion. "Gold put me back. I'm Henry." He stood up, looking back at Storybrooke. "And we have to get back."