Welcome back. Let's recap everything, shall we? So basically after Henry and I found our real Mom and broke the curse, we found out that we had powers. We don't know exactly all that we can do, but I can attack you with some vines if I get mad, so there's that. We also found our Dad. His name is Neal and we were just getting to know him when his stupid girlfriend, Tamara, shot him before he fell into a magic bean portal that took him who knows where.

Then the icing on the cake was that Tamara and this dude Greg tried to destroy Storybrooke by using a magical diamond to blow it up. My moms, Henry and I were able to stop it, but in the process, Tamara and Greg kidnapped Henry and I before pushing us into some portal. Then they proceeded to tell us we were in Neverland which is how we are in this whole situation.

"Neverland?" I asked with a laugh. Henry gave me a look that told me to shut up and I just rolled my eyes before saying, "If this was really Neverland, then why are you two here? No adults on Neverland, remember?"

Tamara and Greg ignored me and I took the time to glance at Henry and slightly nod my head in the direction of the woods. Henry seemed to get what I was saying and I glanced at Tamara and Greg who were busy talking before turning to Henry and nodding.

Together we both elbowed the two in the gut making them let go of us in surprise. Taking that small distraction, we quickly began sprinting towards the woods in hopes of getting to escape these people. Just as we were about to make it, someone grabbed ahold of both of our coats and pulled us back.

"No, uh-uh uh-uh uh. Slow down, kids. You got nowhere to go," Greg told us with a smirk on his face. Tamara nodded and let out a small sigh of relief as she said, "We made it. Mission accomplished."

"Are you sure about that?" I asked, my head tilting and my eyes narrowing. "'Cuz our mom is coming to get us. Both of them," Henry told them.

Greg chuckled softly before looking around at the scenery. "You might wanna take a look around, kid. Do you see any clock towers? You're a long way from Storybrooke," Greg told us.

"It doesn't matter! My family's been to the Enchanted Forest before, and they can get here again," I said. "Well, we're not in the Enchanted Forest. This is Neverland, Ava," Tamara said.

I glared at her and as I did all I could think about was my dad and how Tamara has shot him. There was still no word from him so the chances weren't good. And if I found out that my father was killed by the hands of Tamara, my father's chances of being alive weren't the only thing not looking good.

"Why are we even in Neverland? You don't actually think you're going to be able to destroy it, do you?" I asked in disbelief. "It's the mother load of magic," Tamara said in annoyance. Greg let go of Henry and I before going to grab his backpack.

"You two won't be able to get far with your hands tied and those cuffs on, so don't even try anything," Greg said as he sat on the ground and began to take studs out of his backpack. I opened my mouth to respond, my anger starting to get the best of me, but Henry nudged me slightly and shook his head. My mouth clamped shut and I sighed in frustration.

Tamara smirked at my anger before looking over at Greg. "Where's the communicator? We need to signal the Home Office," Tamara told him. "Here you go, T," Greg said as he handed her a walkie talkie.

"An office in the jungle?" Henry asked while I just rolled my eyes. "Who works there? Peter Pan?" I asked with a laugh.

Greg frowned at the two of us and walked over to us. "Who we work for is not your concern, kid. Just know that they take care of us," Greg said. "Do they? Can they tell you how to get back home after you destroy magic?" Henry asked. Greg's face fell a little and I couldn't contain the laughter that escaped my lips at that.

Greg threw a glare in my direction before saying, "We don't ask questions. We just believe in our cause."

"Greg?" Tamara said interrupting the little argument we were having with said guy. "Yeah?" He asked. "I'm not getting a status light on this thing," she said before handing the communicator to him.

"Did you check the batteries?" He asked before opening up the battery compartment. A frown appeared on his face as a bunch of sand fell out from the area that should've been filled with batteries.

"What the hell is this? A toy?" Tamara asked in annoyance. I looked at Henry and the row of us smirked before looking at the two and saying in unison, "It's a good thing you guys don't ask any questions."

Greg and Tamara looked up at us and frowned. "Okay, that was kind of creepy how you both said that at the same time," Tamara admitted while Greg gave her a look. "Let's go," Greg told her. He then looked over and me and Henry and frowned before saying, "Walk!" He then proceeded to shove Henry and I glared at the man.

"Lay another finger on my brother and I'll-" I started to threaten, but Greg just laughed. "You'll what? Use your powers? Oh, right, you can't," he said. I clenched my teeth and if my powers were working I'm sure that my hands would have been red and smoking.

"Ava," Henry said and I turned to look at him, the anger still evident on my face but softening slightly when I met the face of my brother. "It's okay," he assured me. I stared at him for a minute before sighing and nodding. I then turned around of my feet and began walking again but not before throwing another glare in the adults' direction.

I was going to get this cuff off eventually, that I knew. And when I did they were going to pay.

- - -

It felt like hours before we finally came to a stop where Greg started a fire. Henry smiles before asking, "We making s'mores?" My eyes immediately lit up. "Oh, I love s'mores! How did you know?" I asked.

Greg sent a look in our direction to show us that he was already annoyed before saying, "No, we are not making s'mores. I'm building a signal. Help me gather some dry leaves. We need to let the home office know that we're here."

"And what if that's not enough? What if the empty communicator wasn't an accident?" Tamara asked and I looked over at her in surprise. Was she actually starting to believe me and Henry? "Don't let the kid get in your head," Greg said.

Some rustling in the forest behind us made everyone turn their heads to see a group of boys walking out into the opening. They were all dressed in capes and hoods and looked as if they had been living among the trees for quite some time now. My eyes widened and I judged Henry before whispering, "I think those are the lost boys."

"Who are you?" Greg asked and I had to refrain myself from giving the man an 'are you dumb' look.

"We're the home office," one of the boys with a scar on his face said. "Welcome to Neverland." "The "home office" is a bunch of teenagers?" Tamara asked. I didn't refrain from giving Tamara the look cause I was done with her by now. "They're not teenagers. They're the lost boys," I told her with a roll of my eyes.

"Look at that," the same boy said before smiling in my direction. "I like her." I rolled my eyes to mask the weird feeling I was getting in my stomach. Henry stood in front of me a little before asking, "Why do the lost boys want to destroy magic?"

"Who said we wanna destroy magic?" the boy asked confused. "That was our mission," Greg said. "So you were told. Yes," the boy said with a smirk. His eyes then flickered over to Henry and I before he said, "Now the twins. Hand him over."

I blinked in surprise before whispering to Henry, "Why do they want us?" "I don't know, but I have a bad feeling," Henry whispered back.

"Not until you tell us the plan... for magic, for getting home," Tamara said in response to the boy as she stood in front of us. The boy smirked and took a step closer before saying, "You're not getting home." "Then you're not getting the twins," Greg said.

The boy chuckled before saying, "Of course we are."

A roaring sound filled the air before a dark figure swooped down and proceeded to fly into Greg and pull what looked like a darker version of Greg out of him. Greg immediately fell to the ground dead and I grabbed onto Henry's arm in fright.

Tamara turned to look at us and quickly yelled, "Run!" She didn't have to tell me twice and I quickly shoved my brother in the direction of the forest before we began sprinting into the trees.

I wouldn't realize until later that I still had my hands tied and the cuff around my wrist.

- - -

"Run, Henry!" I yelled as we ran through the woods. We had been running for a while now and it felt as though the lost boys were getting closer and closer with every second. "I am!" He yelled but just as he yelled that, he tripped over a log and went falling into the ground causing me to stumble over him and trip as well.

Before I could even process what was happening, a hand had grabbed ahold of my jacket and pulled me out of the path and into the brush. "Come on," I heard a voice say as Henry and I were thrown back into a bush.

I went to say something but a hand quickly clamped over my mouth to keep me quiet. I looked back and my eyes locked on a young boy who was dressed like the other lost boys. He held a finger up to his mouth and shook his head. I nodded slightly and he took his hand off as we heard the rustling of branches getting nearer.

"Where'd they go?!"

"This way!"

The sound of footsteps grew nearer and eventually faded away. It was only when we knew they were gone that I let out a breath I had been holding. "Thanks," Henry muttered and I nodded my head in agreement.

The boy took his hood down and looked at us seriously before saying, "Pan and his forces are in tune with every grain of sand on the island. We must be careful." I glanced at the boy's attire before asking, "Are... are you a lost boy?"

The boy paused before saying, "I was." He then cut the ties off from our wrists. I thanked him quietly before asking, "You have anything to help get these cuffs off?" The boy attempted to get the cuff off with a knife before shaking his head, "The knife was all I had."

I sighed and rubbed my wrists. "What do you mean you were a lost boy?" Henry asked, voicing the same thoughts I had been thinking. "I escaped," the boy explained. "And now they're after me, too."

"How? What happened?" I asked in curiosity. "No time for questions," the boy said a little too quickly. My eyes narrowed slightly but the boy didn't seem to notice. "We must keep moving. Come on," he said. I was hesitant to get up, but Henry didn't seem to notice how the whole situation was a little odd and got up quickly. He glanced down at me before saying, "Ava, come on."

I looked back at the boy and his eyes met mine. "We need to go," he insisted. I hesitated for a moment before nodding and getting up. Something was fishy about this whole thing, but the thought of the lost boys getting ahold of us was the only thing on my mind.

Henry helped me stand up and looked me over once to make sure I was okay before giving me a small smile. I knew he was waiting for me to return it so that he knew I was okay, but I wasn't exactly sure. Something still felt off and this place was giving me weird vibes. But I couldn't let Henry know that. So I did what I needed to do.

I smiled.

- - -

We ran for a while before Henry finally asked if we could stop for a minute. The boy was hesitant at first but saw how tired we were and nodded is head, allowing us to sit down. Henry sat down on a rock and I sat down on the ground by his feet before leaning against his legs as we both struggled to catch our breath.

Running from a bunch of teenage boys trying to kidnap you was exhausting.

Henry must've felt how nervous I was because he brought his hand out and began to stroke my hair to calm me down and let me know he was here. It probably looked weird to the stranger, but I didn't care. Not only did it help calm me down to feel my brother's presence, but it helped calm him down as well.

"You're new," the boy finally spoke up after a minute. "Did the shadow take you guys, too?" I tensed slightly at the thought of the shadow, but Henry continued to stroke my hair and I felt myself calm down a little.

"No. We were kidnapped by some people who work for Pan," Henry explained. The boy exhaled sharply before saying, "I'm sorry. If he sent for you, he wants you. And if Pan wants you, he will get you."

A howling sound rang in the distance and I tensed up some more. Who knew Neverland could be so frightening?

"Why does Pan want you?" I asked the boy, not only hoping to learn more about the stranger who was giving off a secretive vibe, but also to help distract myself. "Pixie dust," the boy began as he showed us a small vial around his neck. "I stole it from him 'cause I thought I could use it to fly away and go home. But it doesn't work. It's useless."

I frowned slightly at his story. Maybe I was wrong about him. It seemed like all he wanted to do was get home just like us.

"Don't worry," Henry told him as he took his hand off of my hair and put it on my shoulder to give it a squeeze to signal he was talking to me as well. "Our family's coming to rescue us, and you could come with us."

"You really think you're the first boy to believe that his family's actually coming for them?" the boy asked causing me to frown. "Our family's different. We always find each other," I told him.

"You better hope they don't, or else Pan will rip their shadows into oblivion," the boy said. "It's gonna be okay. I promise. Don't lose hope. All we need is time. Is there a place where we can hide from the lost boys?" Henry asked.

The boy sighed before saying, "There's a place they can't track us. The echo caves. But it's far."

A rustling sound in some of the bushes near us had me jumping up from the ground with some new found energy. "Then what are we waiting for?" I asked causing the two boys to look at me. "Lead the way."

- - -

"Dang it. Dang it. Dang it!" I exclaimed as we ran through the woods, the lost boys hot on our trail. We had been walking for what felt like an hour when the lost boys had caught sight of us and started chasing us again. "I thought we had lost them!"

"Obviously not! They're close! I can see them!" Henry exclaimed as he glanced back. "We're almost to the caves. Come on. Follow me," the boy told us as he began to walk one way. My senses immediately started going off and I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye that had me reaching out for the boy and pulling him back.

An arrow flew by and immediately dug itself into a tree that had been right where the boy's head had been. The boy looked at me in surprise but I ignored it. "They cut us off," I muttered.

"They know about the caves. We have to go this way," Henry said and I nodded before we all began running in the other direction.

We ran a little ways before coming upon a clearing. I wasn't looking where I was going and I would've tumbled over the edge of a cliff if it weren't for Henry grabbing ahold of me and pulling me back as he yelled, "Watch out!"

"They're over here!" we heard a lost boy yell and my eyes widened as I turned to look at Henry and the boy.

"What do we do?" Henry asked. I looked over at the boy and said, "You don't happen to know another way to the echo caves, do you?"

"No," the boy said in panic. "We're done for. I'll give em the pixie dust. Maybe they'll let us live." "You wanna give up?" Henry asked in surprise. "We don't have a choice. They got us. This is the end," the boy muttered.

I shook my head. There's no way this was the end. "If only our powers were working we could use our vines to help us get down safely," I muttered. It was then that my eyes lit up and I turned to look at Henry who was giving me the same look.

I didn't even hesitate before reaching out and yanking the vial of pixie dust off of the boy's neck. I then proceeded to grab ahold of Henry and the boy before backing up.

"What... what are you doing?" the boy asked. "Getting a running start," Henry explained for me chasing the boy to look at us confused. "For what?" He asked. "Everyone knows pixie dust is for flying," Henry explained. "Don't you remember? The dust doesn't work," the boy explained.

"That's because you have to believe," I answer in an annoyed voice. "I definitely do not believe," the boy said. "That's okay," I said before grabbing ahold of the boy's arm and Henry's arm. I then smirked at the boy before saying, "Because we do."

And with that we ran to the edge of the cliff and jumped. We were free falling for a split second, but I tried not to panic. Instead, I closed my eyes and imagined the pixie dust working and us flying. When I opened my eyes, we had stopped falling and were now surrounded by a green mist that was helping us fly through the air.

My eyes widened and I couldn't stop the childish grin from growing on my face as I looked over at Henry. "We're flying!" I exclaimed causing Henry to laugh. I looked back over at the ledge and saw some of the lost boys coming out and looking at us in anger. "We're flying!" I yelled at them and they grumbled before turning and going back into the woods.

I couldn't help but smirk. I then turned forwards and we flew a little while longer before landing in a clearing. "See?" Henry asked as we landed on the ground. "If you believe, anything is possible."

"You couldn't be more right, Henry," the boy said with a smile, but I frowned and took a step in front of my brother. "How... how'd you know his name? We never told you," I said. The boy smirked, "Oh, don't think I don't know yours either, Ava."

I furrowed my eyebrows at the boy, the same bad feeling coming back from earlier. "Let's make it a game, a puzzle to solve," the boy said with a grin. "You lied to us," I said and the boy's grin grew.

"You are a lost boy. You work for Pan," Henry said. "Not exactly," the boy said and we looked at him confused. He smiled.

"I am Peter Pan."

"But you told Greg and Tamara that magic was bad and that you'd help them destroy it. Why?" I asked. "Because I needed their help. And it is so much easier to get people to hate something than to believe," Pan explained. "Why did you bring us here?" Henry asked.

For quite some time, I've sought something extremely important, something more elusive than the greatest of all mysteries," Pan said as he began to walk around them. "What?" I asked, my heartbeat increasing slightly.

This was all wrong. Something bad was about to happen. I could feel it. But I could also feel the cuff on my wrist that seemed to be a thousand times heavier than usual.

"The hearts of the truest believers. And when you two took that pixie dust and jumped off that cliff..." Pan began. He knocked on a tree and I tended up at the sight of all of the lost boys coming out of hiding.

"You two proved yourself. You guys are the lucky owners of those very special hearts. And now? You two. . .and your hearts. . .are mine," Pan said simply. I blinked before asking, "And why would I give you my heart?"

Pan smirked and pulled a knife out from under the cloak. "I think you'll find I can be quite persuasive," Pan told me. He then smiled and glanced at the Lost Boys before looking back at us.

"Come on, boys! Let's play!"

_______________________

The third book is finally up! Sorry for the long wait! I've kind of lost the whole obsession I had with OUAT when I was younger and it's been that way for a while now. I'm more into things like Marvel ( @cocastyle if you want to see what I've been up to🤷🏼‍♀️). I don't know how frequent these updates will be but I really do want to try and finish the series with a book for each season cause I still love Henry and Ava. Anyways, I hope you all like this chapter and stick with me. I swear you won't be disappointed.

This is from episode one of season three, The Heart of the Truest Believer.

-K