"What is this? Amateur hour? Did you really believe that was Belle?" Regina asked, scoffing at Gold.
"Why are you here? And where is our daughter?" Gold asked her, concerned because Regina and Dream always went hand-in-hand. Dream rarely left her mother's side.
"Well, for starters, it appears I'm saving your butt. You were about to be Pan's lunch." Regina scoffed at him, not believing that he was pathetic enough to believe that it was actually Belle. "Oh, what do you care? Then you'd have our daughter for yourself..." Gold asked her, making Regina scoff to herself. "I care because I've been camping with the Charmings for a week and getting nowhere. If we're gonna get Henry, I need you. I need Rumpelstiltskin." Regina continued, making Gold sigh.
"The problem, dearie, is that Rumpelstiltskin can only stop Pan by dying." Gold scoffed at her.
"You're not gonna die at anyone's hands but my own," Regina yelled at him. "We're the two most powerful practitioners of magic who have ever lived. Who gave life to the most powerful little girl, who is stronger than anyone else. The Evil Queen and The Dark One joining forces? I'd say we can find another way to handle one smug teenager." Regina explained to him, getting in his face.
"You've never faced him. I have. And I know what killing him requires. And that is my life." Gold scoffed at her when she did not know who Pan truly was or what the prophecy said.
"As much as I want to, maybe we don't have to kill him. If that's the case, then maybe we can find another way. Something to contain him, some other fate." Regina said, trying to suggest ideas.
"A fate worse than death?" Gold asked, making Regina smirk at him.
"Now we're talking. There's my malevolent imp. Is there a spell you know? Something we can enact?" Regina asked him, smirking to herself.
"No, but back in my shop, I might have just the thing." Gold said, looking around them when he had an idea in mind.
"Why didn't you bring it with you in the first place?" Regina scoffed, hitting his arm. "Because I came here to kill him and die in the process." Gold scoffed, making Regina laugh. "I could've told you that wasn't going to happen. You forget, dear, I've known you a long time, way before we had a child together. I know all about your survival instincts." Regina said as he continued to pace.
"Well, they just kicked in." Gold mumbled, loud enough for her to hear.
"Good. So, now we just need a change of plans. We need to get back to your shop and pick up this magical item, and then all of our problems are solved."
"Crossing realms? Is that all?" Gold asked her with a scoff, knowing that other than a bean, they could not travel between realms. "Yes. That's all." She said, smirking, knowing how her plan was going to work.
*Meanwhile*
Mary Margaret continued when the tracks led to a cave. "The tracks lead directly into that cave. This must be where Pan is keeping Neal." Mary Margaret said as they all stopped to look at the cave. "If the cave is some sort of prison, why aren't there any guards posted to stop us?" David asked, holding his hand on his sword.
"Because this prison doesn't require guards." Hook said, moving to the front of the group. "Echo Cave..." He sighed, looking at the cave.
"You know it?" Dream asked him, finally speaking to him.
"All too well. I lost half my crew inside those rock walls." Hook said, looking at Dream, who refused to look at him, which made him sigh to himself. "The only way to rescue someone from inside is to reveal a secret." Hook continued to explain.
"A secret? That's all?" Mary Margaret asked him.
"Your darkest secret. Echo Cave derives its name from an old saying. "The deeper the lie...""
"The more truth in its echo." Dream spoke up, making the group look at her in shock.
"You know the tale?" Hook asked her, raising his brow.
"Yeah, my mom used to read me the tale when I was younger." Dream shrugged, looking at the others. "Continue, please." Emma sighed, making Hook look at her.
"The cave demands that you reveal a truth about yourself. A secret you would never admit to anyone." Hook continued to explain.
"This is ridiculous." Emma scoffed at him.
"Don't kill the messenger, love." Hook said in defense, making Dream bite the inside of her bottom lip while she felt the pain in her chest. "Even if we spill our guts, how do we know Neal is still alive in there?" Emma asked him. "Because this is what Pan wants. He wants us to rescue him." Hook said the whole group, confusing them.
"Why?" David asked him.
"So that we reveal our secrets. He believes once we do, our secrets will destroy us." Hook sighed, looking at the cave as Dream grabbed the strap of her pack. "Funny how your story started because of a secret, and now..." Dream mumbled, looking at Mary Margaret and David.
"I was a kid." Mary Margaret defended.
"Just stating the obvious." Dream said, following Hook into the cave. "Sometimes... You can really tell that she's Regina's daughter." David said to his wife, chuckling a bit, before following them.
The group walked into the cold and dark cave, seeing a cage on a rock that was surrounded by a giant hole. "Neal!" Dream yelled out, seeing her brother when David stopped her from falling down to her doom. "Emma! Dream!" Neal yelled out as it echoed through the cave. "Neal." Emma sighed, feeling guilty to see Neal in the cage.
"It must be 100 feet across." Mary Margaret added as David looked around, holding Dream away from the edge.
"Even if we fashion some sort of rope, there's nothing to attach it to. No way to swing over." David explained, still looking around.
"So, what do we do?" Emma asked as the group looked at Hook. "I told you what needs to be done. Consider this the moment of truth. Literally. Now. Who wants to kick things off?" Hook asked, looking at the group. "So, what? Someone tells their secret, and they sprout wings?" Emma asked sarcastically.
"I don't know the particulars. Only what I've been told."
"Then how do you know it'll work?" Dream asked Hook, finally making eye contact with him when she looked hurt.
Hook sighed, turning to look at the big drop in front of them. "There's only one way to find out, I suppose." Hook sighed, looking over to Neal, who was locked in the cage. "I kissed Emma." He confessed, turning around to look at the group. David looked in shock, while Dream looked hurt and annoyed, glancing to the ground. Mary Margaret sighed with Emma since the three girls already knew about his "secret."
"You did what?" David asked, making Mary Margaret sigh.
"David... now is not the time." She said softly to her husband.
"I already told Mary Margaret, so technically it's not a secret. And it was just a kiss. How's that your darkest secret?" Emma asked him as Dream tried to act like it did not hurt her.
"And I already know, so unless you lied about more... It's not a secret." Dream spoke up, looking at Hook when he sighed to himself.
"It's what the kiss exposed. You see, I kissed Dream many times before... And there was always something I felt. Something I could never explain until I kissed Emma." Hook sighed, making Dream roll her eyes while Emma scoffed at his confession. "My secret is I never thought I'd be capable of letting go of my first love of my Milah, to believe that I could find someone else. That is until I met you." Hook said, looking at Dream. "The kiss with Emma only made me realize that more." He continued when the ground started rumbling, and a path from the rock that Neal was on started to form.
"Uh, Dream? You want to go next?" David asked her when Mary Margaret stopped him.
"No, no, no. Me next." She said, making her husband look at her. "Ever since the curse broke, since we found each other, since we found Emma, in all of that happiness, there's something I haven't wanted to admit. Our daughter is a beautiful, smart, amazing woman, who I love very much, and of whom I could not be more proud of. But she's all grown up. And as much as I want to pretend I'm okay with that, I'm not. We missed it, David. What we have with her is unique. But it's not what I wanted. We were cheated out of everything. Her first steps, her first word, her first smile, we missed it all. And having watched Dream grow up, experiencing all those things, just reminds me that I never got that with my own daughter." Mary Margaret confessed, holding back tears while she looked at her husband.
"What are you saying?" David asked his wife.
"When we get off this island and get back to Storybrooke, I want another go at it. I want to have another baby." Mary Margaret confessed, making the ground rumble again as more of the bridge was built. David looked at his wife with sadness in his eyes.
"Nothing in this world would make me happier. And I know, with all my heart, that you would make an amazing mother. But it can never happen. At least, not with me." David sighed, making Mary Margaret furrow her brows.
"What do you mean?" She asked him.
"When Hook and I went to search for the sextant, he was really taking me to find a cure," David confessed.
"A cure for what?"
"Dreamshade," David confessed, finally telling her the truth. "The Lost Boys, the arrow, you pushed me out of the way..." Mary Margaret said, starting to figure out what had happened. "I wasn't fast enough. I was hit. Hook was able to find a cure, but it comes at a price. I can't leave Neverland. If I do, I'll die." David confessed as the ground started rumbling, with only a bit left of the path to the finish.
Mary Margaret looked upset when Hook and Emma looked at Dream, who looked like she was holding back so much that she wanted to say. "Dream... It's your turn." Emma said as Dream looked at all of them.
"Funny... It's my turn. To reveal something that I've been hiding. Pan has such a hilarious sense of humor." Dream scoffed when she sounded angry in her tone while the others looked at her. "I thought I already revealed what I was hiding by admitting that I have never forgiven my father for abandoning me... deal or not... Or that my mother lied to me for so many years. But with everything... I realized what I was hiding. I've only had my mom and Henry. And now... I've realized that I have a much bigger family than I realized. Losing Graham and the father that I thought was mine made me realize that, as a little girl, that's all I wished for was my dad to come back and tell me he made a mistake leaving me..." Dream paused as she wiped the tears that she was holding back. "But I realized that all I wanted was to find someone who wouldn't leave me. My dad was never around. Graham died because of my mother's jealousy. I thought that I had lost Daniel, who was the person who I thought was my father for years. Henry left to find Emma. I thought Neal died. And my grandmother died. Everyone seems to leave me like I'm not good enough." Dream said as tears started to roll down her cheek. "I thought that when you gave me back my heart, Hook, I finally found someone who wouldn't leave me. Then you kissed Emma. And you were going to lie to me about it... And I realized that I do not want you to stay if I'm going to be second. I'm not fighting for someone who's in love with another. I'm not fighting for someone to stay when they're gonna leave anyway." Dream confessed, looking at Hook, when the ground rumbled again, finishing the bridge.
Emma looked at the others as Mary Margaret pulled Dream into a hug. Emma watched this before taking her sword out to walk over to Neal. "You okay?" Emma asked him, bending down to look at him. "Yeah. But Henry..." Neal went to say.
"It's okay. We're gonna take care of him. Just need to get you out of there first." Emma said, standing up to hit the cage with her sword.
"Emma. Emma! Emma!" Neal said, trying to stop her. "You know that's not how this works." Neal sighed when she stopped hitting the cage.
Emma scoffed to herself, bending back down to look at him. "It's okay. You can tell me anything." Neal smiled at her. "When I heard you might be here, that you might still be alive, I knew I should be happy, but I wasn't. I was terrified. And I didn't understand why until now." Emma paused as she looked at him. "From the moment I saw you in New York, the instant you stepped back into my life, I knew I never stopped loving you," Emma confessed, smiling at him. "And before I even had a chance to take a breath, I lost you once more. And all that pain that I had pushed down for all those years... it just came rushing back. And I didn't know if I could go through it again. I love you. I probably always will. But my secret...is that I was hoping this was a trick. I was hoping you were dead. Because it would be easier for me to put you behind me than to face all the pain that we went through all over again." Emma said, holding back tears when the door to the cage disappeared.
The group watched as Neal hugged Emma. They didn't hear what Emma said to him. Dream looked at the two as Hook glanced back at her. Emma and Neal walked over when Neal hugged his little sister. "Hey, kiddo." Neal smiled, hugging her as he placed his hand on the back of her head. "Hey, big brother." She smiled, resting her chin on his shoulder.
~season 3, episode 6: "Ariel"~
~2408 words~