{ neverland }

01. { the heart of the truest believer }

They all cling to the ropes attached to the ship as Hook manages to sail them through the portal. The ship jumps into the air as it leaves the swirling whirlpool of water and lands onto the calm sea. They steady themselves, slowly daring to let go of the ropes a little.

Emma quickly notices an island in the distance. A tall mountain rises high with mist surrounding all of the land. It looks mysterious, exuding a sense of danger that she had not expected from the Neverland she knew from her childhood. But she also knows everything thus far is very different from how she remembered.

"Is that it?"

Captain Hook shows a grim look. He had been gone for years, a fact he didn't mind at all, yet it has not much changed at all. He would rather have never returned, but if they wanted to have even the smallest chance of saving the princess and the boy.. they had to.

"Aye. Neverland."

Hook steers them over the sea, but Regina rightfully remarks that they were going slow. "In case you didn't know, my son's life is in danger."

The captain rolls his eyes and retorts spitefully. "Oh, I know, my hotheaded Queen. But, in case you didn't know, your son's life is not the only one in danger. My plan is to bring us to the far side of the island, link up with the widest part of the river. Then we sail right through and take him by surprise."

The pirate scoffs as he thinks through the reality of their current situation. "The irony."

Regina asks him what the irony was, to which Hook responds that he spent more time than he cares to remember waiting to leave Neverland to kill Rumplestiltskin and that he was now coming back with the Dark One as a guest of honour. It was not quite the happy ending he had hoped for.

"Greg Mendell said something funny to me. He said I'm a villain, and that villains don't get happy endings. You believe that," Regina asks the captain. He stares at her. "I hope not. Or we've wasted our lives."

On the other side of the deck David and Mary Margaret try to comfort Emma. Mary Margaret tells her she can't blame herself, but their daughter responds that she doesn't: she blames them. She says that good doesn't always win, as the world has shown her too often.

Their argument blows up and Emma yells at them how infuriatingly optimistic they are and how their lives have sucked and still suck, even after the curse was broken. Snow promises that they will get Henry back, but Mr. Gold appears behind them to tell them they won't. Hook remarks sarcastically that the Dark One's wardrobe change was a great use of their time.

"I'm gonna get Henry and Winter," the Dark One states.

Regina argues that they agreed to do this together. "Actually, we made no such agreement," Gold says. Emma asks him why she's doing this, to which Gold responds that he wants to succeed.

"What makes you think I'm gonna fail?"

"Well, how could you not? You don't believe in your parents or in magic or even yourself."

Emma counters that she has slayed a dragon and believes, but Gold explains to her that she only believes what is shown to her. That she has never taken a real leap of faith or believed something with absolutely no proof. He tells her that her character of searching for evidence won't work in Neverland.

"I'll do whatever it takes," she counters.

"Well, you just need someone to tell you what that is. Sorry, dearie. Our foe is too fearsome for hand-holding. Neverland is a place where imagination runs wild. And sadly.. yours doesn't."

Rumplestiltskin spins his cane and when the wood hit the deck, the Dark One had disappeared.

●

After Gold left them on the Jolly Roger to work on his own Emma had disappeared below deck. She was training when Hook joins her. He gifts her Neal's former sword and they toast on the departed soul. As they start talking, the ship creaks and sways back and forth a little too heavily.