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INDIANA JONES
xxxvii. NO TAG-BACKS

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PRESENT
THE ENCHANTED FOREST

"ONCE WE CROSS THIS ridge, we'll be near the Woods of the Dead," Mulan revealed whilst swinging her sword around to cut the shrubbery that were in the way. "The last Poppies in this realm have taken seed here."

"Woods of the Dead? What is it with this place and the Walking Dead?" Indiana wondered as she walked ahead of Snow White and Emma Swan. "It's not even that good of a show. The special effects are completely unrealistic."

Mulan furrowed her eyebrows together. "Show? What is this show you speak of?" Mulan queried. "What's a Walking Dead?"

Indiana sighed. "You know, Zombies," Indiana attempted to explain, forgetting how different this realm and the real world truly were. "I'm pretty sure it's on Netflix. You know, the living dead... uh, I think there was a sex scandal, or something."

"Netflix?" Mulan repeated. "Your world truly does sound rather queer."

Shrugging, Indiana observed as Mulan found some of the Poppies and began to create the sleeping powder. She tried to not think about how Snow White was going to be in that horrible Netherworld again.

When Emma and Snow had caught up to the girls, who were much faster than them, Mulan was almost done. "How long will the effects last?" Snow asked while sitting down, obviously nervous. Or maybe it was only actually obvious to Indiana.

"It's difficult to say. Maybe an hour or much less," Mulan revealed.

"Well, I shouldn't need much time... as long as Henry's in there when I am," Snow continued as Indiana moved to sit beside her student. The black-haired woman immediately grabbed Indiana's hand tightly. "You won't leave, right?"

Indiana shook her head. "Don't worry, darling," Indiana assured her with a small grin. "I wouldn't even if I wanted to. We'll be here the whole time. Say hi to my little brother for me."

Snow White smiled at her until Mulan took a few steps forward and gently blew the Sleeping Powder off of her gloved hands and onto its victim. Twitching her nose, Snow leaned back and placed her head on Indiana Jones' shoulder, not once letting go of her hand.

Silence fell amongst them. Emma looked over at Indiana with a small smile. "That's the first time I've seen you go soft since the curse," Emma admitted.

Indiana chuckled lowly. "I guess my inner Anna James comes out when it comes to the people I care about," Indiana admitted. She hummed. "Hm... who knew someone like me could actually care about people other than myself...?"

➖➖➖

PAST
NEVERLAND

A chestnut brown-haired boy with emerald eyes noiselessly patrolled the earth paths of the island of childhood, his dirty boots leaving indentions in the soft soil. An expression of peace fell upon his young facial features as he aimlessly thought to himself.

He called himself Peter Pan.

It was one of those days where he was having a casual day. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Everything in his world—or rather, his island—was absolutely perfect. He had his Lost Boys, his youth, his power, and most importantly... the girl of his dreams.

Simply the thought of her was enough to make him giddy and grin like a madman. It was strange to see someone as terrifying as Peter Pan as happy as he was now. Although it was strange, he didn't seem to care one bit. He was one of the few people that had the talent of switching from happy to pure demon within a few milliseconds.

For example, now would be one of those times.

A shrill screech caught the boy's attention. His head whipped upward as his eyes searched for the source of the noise. It wasn't the scream of any Lost Boy—or boy—he'd even known. This was a cry from a girl. This made his eyebrows furrow together.

But the only girl in Neverland...

Peter's eyes widened. "No."

As another scream echoed throughout the island, Peter worriedly, yet rapidly used his magical instincts and his knowledge of the island to track the sound. A map of Neverland was memorized in his head, so this task was rather easy. It was like riding a bike.

Camp.

A frozen image of Peter Pan's Camp appeared in his head. In a flash of green mist, Peter Pan disappeared only to reappear in the camp within seconds.

By the time he had arrived, his most trustworthy Lost Boy, Felix and Indiana Jones were running into the camp together. From the looks of it, Felix was chasing Indiana, who had a wide grin on her face. She squealed as Felix ran after her. "Stop!" she exclaimed. "I said no tag-backs!"

She followed her own command when she noticed her ever-so-loving boyfriend standing there with his arms folded over her chest. Her smile only widened, even if his solemn face was the opposite of how she was feeling in that moment.

Making her way over to him, she looked up slightly and said, "Peter, Felix is cheating again!"

Felix snorted. "Was not!" he argued pathetically.

"Was too!" Indiana shot back while turning around to face him.

"Really?" Felix asked, unimpressed. "Gosh, how old are you?"

"Old enough to know that cheaters never win!" Indiana fired back, sticking her tongue out at her closest friend on the island, excluding Peter. "Seriously! It's bad form!"

Peter brought his hand up to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose in slight annoyance. "You two are ridiculous... screaming without reason," he breathed. Turning back to look at him, Indiana arched an eyebrow.

"What? Did we worry you, darling?" Indiana wondered childishly, giggling quietly. When he didn't smile back at her, Indiana pouted. "Are you mad at me?" She folded her arms over her chest as he emotionlessly stared back at her. "Stop it...!"

"Sorry, Pan," Felix unfeelingly apologized with a hint of a smirk on his face. "I know the only person that's allowed to make her scream is you."

His words made Indiana's eyes widen. Tucking a piece of loose hair behind her ear, she still smiled, nonetheless. She stared up at Peter, who couldn't help but let out a laugh.

She arched an eyebrow. "You both are so perverted," she pointed out.

He narrowed his eyes slightly before mocking her action. "Hey, that's my thing," he mentioned.

"What?" Indiana wondered, switching eyebrows with a playful smile on her face. "This?"

Peter scoffed before asking, "You know what else is mine?"

"Hm?"

With that small hum, Peter reached out and grabbed Indiana by the waist. Pressing a small kiss on her forehead, he smiled down at her and said, "You."

"I'm not an object," Indiana mumbled, attempting to ignore the butterflies that fluttered around her stomach. "But since it's you, I'll let it slide."

He laughed quietly once more. "Hm... who knew someone like me could actually care about people other than myself...?" Peter wondered to himself.

➖➖➖

PRESENT
THE ENCHANTED FOREST

When Snow White woke up, her thoughts were rather fuzzy. When everything clicked in her head once again, she flew upward and began to jump around in search of more Sleeping Powder.

"I'm pretty sure we're out of the powder. What happened?" Emma demanded.

"No!" Snow exclaimed desperately. "I have to go back in. He's all alone!"

"Henry?" Indiana asked with widened eyes. "Is he okay? What the bloody hell happened? Snow!"

"No... No! It's David!" Snow yelled, falling onto her knees. "He went under a Sleeping Spell so he could see me. He thought that my kiss would wake him, but it didn't, and now he's trapped."

"Okay, slow your roll, Snow," Indiana demanded while making her way toward the woman. "Charming is trapped in there? But Henry...?"

Snow stood back up breathlessly. "I have to get back. There's only one way to help him," Snow told them.

"True Love's Kiss," Emma realized.

"Yes, but it won't work in there," Snow continued before grabbing Indiana's hands. "We have to get back. If we don't—"

"We will," Emma interrupted. "We will."

Snow raised her eyebrows even higher. "Now you're so sure?" she asked.

"Yes!" Emma answered. "You told me to have faith, and now I'm telling you. We will make it back. Okay? Now, did you get the information?"

Calming herself down slowly, Snow nodded. "Rumplestiltskin... He said the key to stopping her is in his jail cell," she informatively said to the women.

"Okay," Indiana said. "Then let's go get it. Come on. Get your stuff. Come on."

Helping Snow over a log, she aided her in retrieving all of their things. As they did so, Emma began to feel around her pockets and spin around. "No..." Emma trailed off.

Indiana snapped her head up. "Oh, what now?" she asked, slightly annoyed. All Indiana wanted at this point was to go home.

"The Compass is gone..." Emma revealed. "And so is Mulan."

Within the next few milliseconds, the three girls exchanged glances of horror and anger before sprinting off in the supposed direction Mulan ran off to. It didn't take them too long, though, for Snow White was able to stop her with the simple shot of an arrow.

"That was a warning shot. Try to run, and I promise the next one won't be," Snow threatened as Indiana paced forward past her. Snow raised both of her eyebrows as Indiana furiously made her way over to Mulan. "Wait, India—"

Snow White was interrupted by Indiana cranking back her fist and punching Mulan square in the jaw, causing her to fall back onto the dirt ground.

"That was a warning punch," Indiana seethed wrathfully.

"How did you find me?" Mulan asked, holding her jaw with her hand. "And where did you learn to punch like that?"

"Well, when you have two angry mothers and one pissed off psychopath, you're going to get caught nonetheless," Indiana spat.

"Besides, we know a thing or two about tracking," Snow calmly told her with an arrow nocked in her bow.

"All we want is the Compass," Emma told her while Mulan slowly stood back up with her hands in the air, including the Compass.

"Very well," Mulan replied. Snow began to relax until Mulan grabbed her blade, causing it to make a zinging sound.

Snow instinctively jumped out at the woman with a grunt, holding the pointed part of the arrow up against Mulan's throat. "Give me the Compass!" Snow White screamed.

"Make that two psychopaths," Indiana mumbled.

"Now I'm beginning to believe Indiana Jones was Snow White's mentor," Emma muttered, causing Indiana to smirk.

"And seal Aurora's fate?" Mulan asked.

"We learned how to overpower Cora," Snow revealed with a wild look in her eyes. "Once we get what we need, we will defeat her, and Aurora will be free."

"Another journey—just as I predicted there would be," Mulan choked out. "Our best chance to save Aurora is to make that trade now."

Annoyed, Indiana sighed and walked over to Mulan. She grabbed her wrist and twisted it all the way back effortlessly. This caused Mulan to groan in pain "That's not going to happen," Indiana hissed. "Without that Compass, we can't get home, which means you'll be stuck with us, more importantly, me."

"Then I hope you're prepared to use that arrow," Mulan fired back.

Snow White looked back at Indiana, who nodded. Just as Snow was about to do the deed, a horrified voice shrieked out, "Stop!"

Mulan exhaled in relief as Aurora went running toward them. With widened eyes, Emma asked, "Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but how the hell did you get here?"

"Let Mulan go!" Aurora demanded fearfully. She walked back to Snow and Indiana. "I said, let her go."

Dropping Mulan's broken wrist, Indiana grinned wickedly at Aurora. "You'd better watch your tone, Princess," Indiana hissed before Snow got off of Mulan. Aurora took a step away from Indiana, immediately afraid again.

Helping her up, Mulan held her injured wrist. "Were you followed?" Mulan asked.

"I-I don't think so. Cora may know I'm gone, but she didn't see me escape," Aurora explained.

Raising an eyebrow, Indiana wondered, "How did you escape?"

Aurora spun her head around to look at Indiana. "It was Hook... Your brother. He let me go," Aurora revealed.

Unclenching her jaw, Indiana blinked a few times to let the surprising information settle in. "W-Why?" she asked, taken aback.

Aurora shrugged. "Because of you... and you," Aurora admitted, looking over at Emma. "He said he wanted to prove to you two that you should've trusted him, that if you had trusted him... you could've defeated Cora together... That the two of you could've gotten the remains of the wardrobe. Without him, you'll have to go up against her all by yourself. He only wants to help. I... I think he may truly care for the two of you."

Indiana couldn't help but smile at this. Maybe she could let her brother back in her life after all...

"Did you find a way to stop Cora?" Aurora wondered.

"Yes," Emma revealed, holding the Compass in her hands.

"Where are we going?" Aurora wondered again.

"Rumplestiltskin's cell," Emma answered.

"Great," Aurora breathed. "Then lead the way."

Nodding, the girls turned and walked off with Indiana leading them.

And maybe...

Just maybe... if Indiana wasn't so touched by the Princess's words, she would've realized that something about Aurora was off.