Neal had just finished explaining to everyone what Rumple had just finished telling him. "Basically," he then looked toward his son, "the price of giving Pan Henry's heart will turn Henry dark." Terror translated at the boy's face.
"What?!" Emma panicked.
"That doesn't make sense," Regina protested, "why would he take Henry's heart when the only use it has is to rid the island of the curse--isn't that something he wouldn't want?!"
"That isn't it," Snow spoke up, "he wants to keep us from using it."
Charming then gave Snow a look.
"Why else would he take it??" She then asked him.
Hook then raised his voice, "he could control him, can't he?"
Emma's eyes widened. "Control him for what??"
"Or he could kill him," John suddenly interjected, cautiously examining the group as they all looked over.
"That's why if you'd just listen to us, we have a way," Isabelle almost pleaded, taking John's arm with a desperation overtaking her aged, in-distress face.
Regina's jaw tightened, almost snarling at the woman when Henry hurriedly moved in between the two.
"Then tell us!" He spoke before anyone else could.
"Henry," Regina tried, suppressing her anger for the woman as she protectively grabbed his shoulder.
"No!" He protested, tearing himself free, "they've known Pan longer than anyone, they have to know what to do," the Mills boy hoped, eyes welling with it as he looked back at his mothers.
"We do," Isabelle confessed, a newfound confidence pulsing through her. "He already has our daughter, sure, but not what he's been searching for since John and I escaped." A very own hope sparkled in her eyes, just then.
John nodded in agreement. "We have leverage, we just have to play our cards right and we can get everything back."
Regina's brow raised at the two, gradually becoming intrigued.
"Well, what is it?!" Emma almost panicked.
Isabelle then looked toward Rumple. "His doll," she replied, watching the knowing look begin to play on Rumple's face.
"Is that so?" Rumple nearly growled, bitter toward the old thing.
"Indeed," John told him, "that old corn doll he tried to give you as a gift, he kept it for centuries you know. He can't destroy it, either...otherwise he'd die." John then smirked.
A soft, wicked grin grew on Rumple's lips, a perilous light playing in his gaze. "And you've somehow managed withholding it since you left?"
"That's why he's been after us," Isabelle then cooled, "why he captured us." Her chin slightly raised, seemingly content. "He thought that by beating us and starving us he'd get it back." She then lifted a finger. "He thought."
~~~
Settling warily inside a small boat, Anne refused to look at Pan as he began rowing them toward Skull Rock. "Why Skull Rock?" Anne mumbled, staring passed his shoulder.
"That's where we usually meet," Peter replied, darkly smirking as he studied her.
Anne continued keeping her gaze off his own, as she played with her hands--that was until he mentioned meeting someone. Panic in her eyes, she finally looked up. Had he known about Ariel withholding her heart? Was Ariel even withholding it? "Who's 'we'?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," Peter commented, smirking further as Anne studied his forearms, watching as they pushed forwards and pulled back. Contemplating in distress to herself, Anne swallowed roughly. Was he trying to get her into something she knew nothing about? The troubled lost girl asked herself, fiddling anxiously with her hands some more. Could this have been dangerous?
"Get ready, my darling Anna, you're about to have someone else make your decisions for you," he then added, alerting panic to pulse through her.
"What're talking about??" She demanded, her eyes filled with worry that was delicious to Pan's hungry gaze.
"I'm about to claim what's mine," he replied lightly, beginning to row through the entrance of the rock.
Intimidated as she peered up and around, Anne watched the torches guttering then they went out. In that moment, she felt her brother's heart quicken in her chest. Becoming engulfed by blackness, Anne then glanced behind her and watched as the sparkling blue night grew smaller and smaller.
~~~
"So then what's the plan?" Regina then interjected. "We offer the doll in exchange for Henry's heart and Anne?"
"Exactly," Isabelle replied.
"Better yet, we destroy the doll and destroy Pan," Neal mentioned, "that way, we don't have to worry about Pan pulling any tricks to get the doll back before we can get Anne and Henry's heart back."