THE PLAN WAS to spot Pan's lair — which sounded just insane to Wilma, who still hadn't entirely grasped the reality where Peter Pan was the villain and Captain Hook was at least trying to be the hero — from a ridge, but instead of succeeding, they had come face to face with a letdown, as it was impossible to spot from within the outgrown Dark Jungle, which was, apparently, as lovely and pleasant as it sounded. Afterwards, the group had made camp and settled in for the night in the belief that it was already too dark to carry on, and attempts to find their way around would only end with someone getting lost — and with Wilhelmina being the clumsy type, she feared that someone would be her, which was the simple reason behind her enthusiasm when Killian suggested stopping.

  That, and the fact that she was thoroughly exhausted. Tired from not only the trekking around the island, but the constant venturing and facing trouble after trouble, Wilma had fallen asleep quickly, although it took her some time to get used to sleeping somewhere else than the rather uncomforable mattresses at Granny's inn. But this setting wasn't half-bad — her head rested on David's lap whilst he made sure she could sleep safely, and even bothered to hum a classic The Clash song to make it easier for Wilma to fall asleep, which she eventually did, with the taste of rum lingering on her tongue.

  Killian had insisted that it guaranteed a peaceful slumber and sweet dreams, and although Wilma had merely chuckled and doubted the amount of truth behind his words and that mischievous smirk, the woman had agreed to take a swig before closing her eyes and getting ready for those promised good dreams.

  But instead of finding herself in some wondrous dreamland, what she dreamed of was, in fact, quite unsettling, and almost too vivid.

  The feeling of hard ground, with the occasional stone or branch mixed within, was rough against Wilma's feet — so rough, the first look she directed anywhere in that dream was towards her chilly toes only to realize she was barefoot in the woods. The surroundings were unfamiliar, but the humid, hot air wasn't, and neither were the rare, but recognizable sounds that Wilma remembered hearing on their trek around Neverland, and once she considered the possibility, the world around her came to life and appeared exactly like it had been before falling asleep. She was in Neverland, for sure, she was even wearing the same clothes and her hair was in those same, tortured curls that had long ago lost their enthusiastic bounce, but one thing was different — she was alone. Looking around, she came to the conclusion that despite standing amidst their camp, her friends were nowhere to be seen, and an attempt to call out Killian, David, Snow, Regina or Emma were all useless and a waste of her echoing voice.

  Something was definitely off, and perhaps that was enough to make her somewhere in the deep nooks of her mind realize that she was dreaming, but it didn't stop her from taking a step further between the tall, green trees. The island seemed like some ghost town version of Neverland, with no signs of life to be seen, and instead of feeling her heart beat in her chest, all Wilma could feel was hollow space as if something was missing. It was downright chilling, terrifying, but confident in that it was only a dream, Wilma continued to wander into the jungle and looked around curiously to spot anything out of the ordinary.

  It was then that she first heard her name being called from deeper within the tricky jungle that seemed to be impossible to see into, impossible to solve or not get lost in.

  "Wilma, I'm here!", a somewhat familiar voice called out, echoing in all directions, but instead of being capable of recognizing the man speaking, Wilma became overwhelmed with confusion and fear. She had no time to even react, aside from stopping dead in her tracks and trying to locate the voice, when it had already spoken from behind her, repeating her name to hold her attention in a tight grasp — and so far, it was a complete success.

  One more time, Wilma's name was spoken, and once she twirled around again, she faced a sight way scarier than anything she could have imagined. It wasn't a monster, or a murderous villain, or anything weird, and that was just the problem — it was too ordinary, too simple, too vivid, too true even though she knew it couldn't be. But there Neal stood, with a warm smile on his lips, and his arms open in a welcoming manner, ready to close Wilma into a hug, but instead of running in with joy, it took the woman a mere second to return to reality and jolt awake with a gasp.

  Panting, Wilma stared ahead with wide eyes, but instead of finding an empty camp and a dark jungle ready to challenge her into an intense staring contest, her gaze met Killian's worried one. Once the pirate noticed the evident distress on her features, the beams of sweat shining on her pale forehead, and the immense, utter fear shining in her brown eyes, Killian scooted closer to her, kneeling before her and trying to catch her wandering, worried gaze whilst placing his only hand on the woman's knee.

  "You okay, love?", Killian questioned, concerned, but Wilma didn't blame him — after all, she did look like she just saw a ghost. And perhaps, she did. But still, despite being shaken to her very core and feeling the same kind of emptiness in her chest as she realized that Neal was still very much dead, Wilma gulped and nodded. It had only been a dream, and whilst it was somewhat disappointing, yet also an odd relief, that was the truth, which the brunette then passed onto Killian, who was still observing her with cautious, worried eyes.

  Swallowing thickly, Wilma nodded once more to boost her words as she sighed. "I think so. Just a... weird dream, nothing to worry about", she tried to smile, and although she could see the doubt and disbelief landing on Killian's face, he settled for a simple nod instead of pushing and insisting that clearly something had upset her beyond just a simple dream. For that, Wilma was grateful, because whilst the way Killian wanted to take care of her made her heart flutter, she also hated the idea of being a meek, vulnerable girl, and that was something she had decided to actively avoid. But at the same time, she really didn't feel like going over the dream and bringing back the pain of losing Neal, which she tried to distract herself from by looking around and realizing that she was no longer leaning onto David.

  "Pan appeared. He gave Emma a map that leads us to Henry, but to unlock it, she must stop denying who she is. Good ol' Dave went to check out the surroundings in case the bloody demon is still around", Killian explained before Wilma could even ask anything, but evidently, the confusion on her face was easy enough to read and translate into wondering her friend's whereabouts. He wasn't wrong though, and the answer earned a grateful look from Wilma, before her gaze wandered and then found David and Snow returning from the jungle, which made her sigh with relief.

  "You know", Wilma swallowed, turning back to Killian now, "I find it strange that he's the villain. I know I told you I don't see you as a villain, because I truly don't, but... I think I'm more used to the idea of Captain Hook being a villain than Peter Pan", she flashed a careful smile at the pirate, who returned it, before it faded away and transformed into a look of what almost seemed like fear. And in an instant, as an act of comfort and support, Wilma found herself taking Killian's hand, which sent sparks down her spine — and concluding from the wide-eyed, surprised look he glanced at her with, he felt a similar wave of electricity run through him — but instead of swooning, she just held his slender fingers and smiled at him.

  "He is, by far, the most treacherous villain I have ever faced", he then spoke up, clearing his throat, before shooting a glance to the ground beneath them. Eventually, the gaze rose, and his blue eyes locked with Wilma's again, in a manner that was so familiar, but never any less overwhelmingly heartwrenching in all of its fondness and beauty. "Now, are you sure you're okay, Wilhelmina?", he questioned one more time, and Wilma was forced to shake away the thoughts about Peter Pan, that had somehow managed to sneak their way into her mind. It was odd, that he was the villain, the one messing with their heads and trying to keep them away from Henry, but as she looked into Killian's affectionate eyes and noted the small, hopeful smile tugging on his lips, she was convinced that this man was definitely not the villain, either.

  "It was just a strange dream. Don't worry", Wilma smiled as convincingly as she only could, before adding a light chuckle, "I guess you were wrong about the rum, though", which made Killian laugh too.

  And Wilma genuinely believed that — that it was merely a dream, and whilst she wasn't all wrong, she wasn't right, either.

———

EMMA TRIED HER damnest to reveal the map, listing facts about herself, even finding the courage to call herself the Savior, but to no avail. The map refused to show even a small fraction of its contents to point them in the right direction or give them hope to carry on, and frankly, it was starting to take a toll on the group. Emma was evidently growing frustrated, with the useless piece of paper and herself, as she seemed to carry just as much importance, which encouraged Snow and Wilma try to maintain her hope and shed some optimism on the situation, no matter how dark and helpless it seemed right now. But Regina had a different approach, and kept on insisting that using magic would be quicker, although not much wiser, but eventually her frustration led into her grabbing the map whether the rest of the group agreed with her intentions or not.

  However, it seemed to work, and Regina's locator spell started to move the map through the air, leading them into the Dark Jungle — the one that Killian had warned them about, promising that nothing good would come out of ending up there, but despite his attempts to keep them out of there, they ended up trekking through nevertheless. And as they made their way into the jungle, not only Killian, but David too told Wilma to stay safe and be careful, which was starting to lose its cuteness. So far, she had appreciated the acts of concern, the constant worrying — it was adorable, what could she say? But now, she realized she was the only one that received these warnings comments. Snow White was one hell of a badass, whilst Emma was the freaking Savior and a natural when it came to kicking ass, and Regina, well — she had been the Evil Queen. And two of those three had magic.

  Whereas Wilma, she had nothing but the men looking after her and trying to keep her safe. And when Wilma had asked David to give her a gun or at least something to protect herself with, the prince had smiled at her as if she was some child trying to act older and bigger than she truly was, and insisted that if things were to escalate, he was going to do the shooting and sword-swinging for her.

  And it was slowly starting to get to Wilma, the belittling and acting as if she was some glass angel, who would break and die the second something even remotely threatening appeared.

  The map led them to what looked an awful lot like an abandoned camp, which instantly brought disappointed onto them, but just when their group thought that Pan had tricked Emma, or moved the camp elsewhere, the Savior noticed something awe-worthy. Not far from them, merely a few meters away, stood Henry, in his familiar clothes, and the sight of him made Wilma sigh with relief. However, before she, or anyone else could revel in the joy of successfully finding Henry, reality caught up and the boy turned around, revealing himself to be someone else entirely.

  Wilma didn't know what Peter Pan looked like, but she assumed this was him — if the wicked grin or the blaming tone directed at Emma wasn't enough to give it away, then Killian's instant hold on her wrist was as he reeled her behind him. Doing this caused Wilma's feelings to clash together, just when she had internally battled with being too weak and easy to damage and kill, but instead of squirming away and being straight up stupid by acting rebellious and smug, she trusted Killian to know a threat when he saw one, and therefore she remained behind him whilst observing Pan curiously.

  The more Wilma looked at him, the more she began to see the resemblance between this trickster and the boy she remembered watching on the TV screen with adoration — only this time, her look was more wary and cautious, especially when she noticed a bunch of people surrounding them. And with only a few glances at the armed teenagers, Wilma gathered that they were the infamous Lost Boys, only a lot more hostile and dark than she had expected them to be.

  "Cheaters never win", Pan then blamed Emma for cheating, for using magic, instead of doing what he had clearly instructed her with, and as he smirked smugly at the group, his own one surrounded them with evident malice in mind.

  And in unison, Hook and Wilma said the one thing that felt natural in such a situation, "Bloody hell."

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hmm hmmmm what could that dream be all about 🤔😇 ...