TWENTY YEARS AGO

  "Wilma, sweetie, time to go to sleep." Wilhelmina hated the idea of leaving her father's lap and taking off the huge headphones, from which the fairly new Metallica album was playing, but if there was one thing the young girl was, it was obedient. She never resisted her parents' orders, she was a good girl, a calm child, and that was simply why she nodded at her smiling mother, mirroring her expression, and placed a big kiss on her father's cheek to wish the man a good night. After giving Walter a tight hug, in the knowledge that she was going to miss her dear brother during the night — even if she was going to be soundly asleep and her room was next to Walter's — the young girl ran over to her mother, and took her hand carefully.

  Ellen led little Wilma to her bed, where she drew the covers over the girl's small body, tucking her in, as her daughter smiled up at her. Despite wishing that she could stay up all night, listening to music with her father, doing puzzles with her brother, Wilma couldn't deny the fact that going to sleep wasn't half-bad, when she had her mother, always there to make sure she fell asleep safely. Especially when Ellen had a habit of choosing a story she usually read for her as the girl fell into a peaceful slumber, the tales of legendary heroes and villains escorting her and painting her dreams.

  That one night, Ellen had decided to read about Peter Pan to Wilma, who was quite excited to hear the story, even if it was at least the fourth time by now. Ever since she had grown the ability to understand and remember those stories, Wilma had loved the fairytales she had heard since she was even yet to be born, and that was why the habit had stuck within their little family over the years. And frankly, Wilma could never have enough of hearing about Neverland, Captain Hook, Tinker Bell and all the other, equally mesmerizing people and places mentioned in the stories.

  "Mom?", Wilma spoke up bravely after the bedtime story, in the darkness of her room — excluding the lights surrounding the large window — with her fingers fiddling with the covers and her curious eyes seeking her mother from the doorway, where Ellen stopped and turned around once more to face the young girl. With a slight smile, the woman confirmed that Wilma held her attention, and that encouraged the child to quietly murmur from her bed again.

  "Is Peter Pan real? Is magic? Mermaids? Fairies?", Wilhelmina questioned, not even sure what she wanted the answer to be, but perhaps every child, at some point, wanted to believe in magic. They wanted to know that it was true, that it was real, and as Wilma stared at her wise mother, who had a warm smile on her pink lips, she knew Ellen was the right person to ask. After all, didn't mothers always know best?

  Chuckling, Ellen shook her head. "What I believe doesn't matter. If you choose to believe, that's enough — that's all that matters. And no one can take that away from you", she explained, sending a soft smile to her daughter, who slowly nodded in agreement, even though it was going to take her years to fully understand the meaning of her words. Nonetheless, Wilma was somewhat satisfied. "Sleep now, my princess", her mother spoke once more, before disappearing from the doorway and leaving the young girl to sleep in her room.

  And that she did — with a smile on her lips, Wilma closed her eyes and fell asleep thinking about magic, about Neverland, about all the heroes she had grown to admire. She just never, even with the imagination of a child, thought that one day, she'd actually travel to Neverland with those heroes she had read so much about.

———

  WITH A SIGH heavily slipping from between her lips, Wilma took out her earphones and pushed them in her pocket, as she sat on the surprisingly comfortable floorboards of The Jolly Roger, with its Captain sailing the ship right in front of her, and the rest of their little rescue group scattered around the ship. Whilst Emma was worrying over Henry and his well-being, and her parents were trying to relieve that stress, and Regina was having a conversation with Killian, Wilma had tried to listen to music, only to be disappointed by the lack of cooperation her phone was showing.

  "Well, just so everyone knows, the wi-fi here sucks", Wilma then informed her friends as she climbed up from the floor, running her fingers through her slowly straightening curls and sighing deeply whilst her gaze traveled around. It was kind of unbelievable — no, scratch that — very unbelievable that she was really in Neverland, on The Jolly Roger, with Captain Hook, the Evil Queen, Snow White, Prince Charming and their child — the Savior and the product of true love. But there she was, Wilma Barton, a fan of cake and rock music, just an ordinary girl, looking at the dark waves that were slowly rocking the ship towards a distant island, that no doubt withheld lots of dangers and threats. Still, despite everything, she was excited.

  "Ah, you could always sing?", Killian then suggested, lifting an eyebrow as he shot a teasing smile at the woman, who returned a glare to question if the man was being serious or not.

  Nonetheless, she made a joke out of it, and started to sing A Pirate's Life from the Peter Pan movie she remembered watching numerous time during her childhood, whilst dancing around the deck, and surprising Killian wonderfully in the process. However, once the lyrics registered in his head and he found that smug smile on Wilma's lips, his only gave the woman a thoroughly unimpressed look — mixed with very evident confusion, which Wilma didn't wonder, but it was still worth chuckling at as she stopped dancing and stood by the man as he peacefully sailed the ship.

  Suddenly, Gold showed up from the cabin, and as soon as he had arrived, Hook snorted at the sight of him — donned in what Wilma assumed was the good, old-fashioned Rumplestiltskin attire, but whereas she was impressed by the unexpected style, Hook was... not.

  "That's a great use of our time", he pointed out sarcastically, "a wardrobe change", which made Wilma chuckle but she ended up suffocating it with a pathetic attempt at a cough, although she failed miserably, but merely the fact that she was amused by his sassy comment made Killian smile as he glanced at her.

  Gold then proceeded to argue with Emma, insisting that the woman lacked imagination and belief and the ability to take risks, all of which were something that surviving in Neverland required, and for that reason, the man had decided to take on the island by himself. According to Gold, it was his task and his duty to save his grandson — which still made Wilma's head spin with confusion and disbelief — and with supreme confidence, he had set the plans in stone, not accepting any kind of disagreements or complaints about it.

  With that, Gold left behind the rest of them — Emma, shocked because of his direct sass, Snow and Charming in each other's arms, Regina staring with utter disbelief, and Wilma by Killian's side.

  And as he vanished, leaving behind only his cane which twirled on the floor, their mission officially began. The search for Henry, the fight against Neverland, it was on.

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THANK YOU FOR 6K!!

hope you're as excited as me (: part two is going to be a lot of fun (but also reaaally sad)