All Magic Comes With a Price:

Page 5: Shadow on the Loose?

Despite the urgency, Dream stopped, looking at Hook and pulling him to the side. "Hey, we haven't talked since this morning..." Dream went to say, hoping Hook was not holding what happened against her. "Yeah, well, there wasn't much talking when you practically left my ship in a hurry." Hook said, rubbing his face and scruffy beard. 

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that..." Dream sighed, but Hook stopped her.

"Love, you don't have to apologize." Hook sighed when he knew that she was just building those walls around her heart since what he did to her in Neverland. 

"Hook..." Dream sighed when she tried to talk to him, but they were interrupted by screams, before rushing to catch up with the others.

The group was too late. Somehow Pan's shadow ripped out Mother Superior's, killing her as she fell to the ground. "Blue!" Tinker Bell yelled out when David rushed to check her pulse. 

"Come on..." David said in a soft whisper, before looking up at the others. "She's gone." He sighed, looking at the other four.

"Why would the Shadow kill her?" Tink asked, looking at the others.

"No idea, love... But I do know the Shadow only takes orders from one person." Hook sighed, glancing at Dream who covered her hand over her mouth.

"Pan..." Emma sighed, looking worried for Henry and everyone else in this town.

Dream stepped aside to call her mom while David called his wife. Mary Margaret and Neal got there before Regina and Henry. Emma and David covered the body with a blanket that Mary Margaret brought from Granny's extra ones from her bed and breakfast. Hook kept looking at Dream, who was standing with Tinker Bell since they were both upset.

"What happened?" Regina asked, rushing over to the group.

"The shadow. It killed her." David sighed, standing up with Emma. "Pan's shadow? Dream and I trapped it on the sail." Regina said when Dream moved away from Tinker Bell to hug her little brother.

"Dream!" Hook and Regina rushed to her side when she gasped as soon as she hugged Henry. The others looked at her worried when Dream's face went white as a ghost when Hook steadied her to stand up. The others looked worried since it was almost never a good sign when Dream got a vision. 

"Dream?" Mary Margaret asked when Dream shook her head when she did not see Henry's memories but Pan's. She was mortified when she looked at Henry or the body of her little brother. 

"Well, it got free," Emma said, speaking up when Dream did not say anything.

"Hook, let's go back to the ship and get the candle. If it strikes again, we need to be able to capture it." Neal said to Hook, who nodded, going to follow him along with Tink. 

"Pan's behind this." Dream spoke up, being vague about what she saw. "I agree." Emma sighed, nodding when she agreed with Dream.

"Well, he's trapped in a box under the floor of Gold's shop," Regina said, looking at the others. 

"Who else would be doing this?" Emma asked Regina when Dream kept looking at Henry.

"So, Pan can still hurt me?" Henry asked, sounding scared, while he looked at Regina and only Regina. "We don't know that..." Regina said, trying to comfort him when she did not know what to do.

"But we have to assume he's still a threat." Mary Margaret spoke up, adding to the conversation. "And that he's still after Henry." Emma sighed, looking at Dream because she knew that Dream knew something. 

"Then what am I doing here?" Henry asked Emma when all of the adults saw how he looked frightened. 

"He's right... He's not safe out in the open." David said when Henry looked at Regina and only Regina again.

"You'll protect me, right?" Henry asked her. "Well, yes, of course." Regina sighed when she hugged Henry.

"Go. We'll take care of the shadow." Emma said to Regina, but she stopped Regina before she could walk away with Henry. "Regina, wait..." Emma said, worried about her gut feeling. 

"What?" Regina asked her, confused about what Emma had to say to her. 

"Keep a close eye on him," Emma said in a low whisper voice. 

"I already said I would," Regina said with a slight scoff when Emma glanced at Dream, then back to Regina. "I know... He just doesn't seem quite himself." Emma sighed, making Regina scoff. 

"Really? You mean because he asked for me?" Regina asked, scoffing at Emma.

"No, I didn't... I didn't mean that--"

"That's exactly what you meant." Regina scoffed at her. "You can't face the fact that I'm his mother, too. And maybe, just maybe, he wants me when he's frightened. You forget I have 10 years of soothing his nightmares under my belt. He's fine." Regina scoffed at Emma, since she got annoyed by Emma trying to control her relationship with Henry. "Dream, are you coming?" Regina asked before looking at her daughter when Emma stopped her again. 

"It's not about you, Regina. I just have a gut feeling." Emma sighed, trying to explain to Regina what she was feeling, but she did not know how to explain it.

"Well, maybe you can use that gut feeling to find the shadow instead of obsessing over who's gonna comfort our son. Just keep an eye on my daughter because if anything happens--"

"She gets it, Mom." Dream said as Regina nodded, walking off with Henry. "We need to get that box. Pan has something over Henry's mind." Dream whispered to Emma, who nodded. 

~season 3, episode 10: "The New Neverland"~

~1554 words~