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INDIANA JONES
lix. TREE OF THOUGHTS

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PRESENT
NEVERLAND

BY THE TIME INDIANA Jones had arrived at the top of Skull Rock, Rumplestiltskin had disappeared. She was unsure of where he went, but something in her told her that it had something to do with Pandora's Box. How she knew? Peter was longingly staring at the box as he held it in his palm.

"Peter?" Indiana's voice delicately called out. The brunette slowly inched forward, appearing from the shadows as she made herself known to the boy. "W-Where's Rumplestiltskin? And-And Henry? You didn't—"

"Save magic? No, not yet," Peter solemnly said to her, making Indiana suddenly grow confused. This wasn't about magic. This was about Peter dying and how he was going to destroy magic.

Indiana continued to make her way toward him. "Peter, you don't have to do this," she told him, coming to a stop directly in front of him. "There has to be another way."

"I'm afraid not, love," Peter revealed, placing his hand on her cheek. He then turned around. Indiana was finally able to see what he had been hiding behind him.

"Henry?" Indiana called. She looked down slightly, spotting a golden object throbbing in the tween's hands. Her eyes widened upon realizing it was his heart.

"Anna!" Henry greeted with a wide smile on his face. "I knew you were coming to find me! I'm gonna save Neverland!"

Indiana's smile instantly fell. It was then when the others ran in. Indiana didn't even want to know how they managed to get through.

"Henry!" Emma's voice came. "Whatever Pan's telling you to do, don't do it."

"Dad?" Henry immediately asked. "You're alive?"

"I am," Neal confirmed. "And I need you to listen to me. Pan is lying to you."

"Oh, pleasure to see you, too, Baelfire," Peter sarcastically mentioned in greeting. He stared at each member of the team. "Not to mention the Savior, the Evil Queen, and Indiana Jones: Adventurer Extraordinaire."

"Alright, look, I was 14 when I made up that nickname," Indiana snapped, slightly agitated. "Let it go."

"Henry, you need to get away from him now," Emma weakly ordered. "He's trying to hurt you."

"No," Henry refused. Indiana raised her eyebrows at the sound of that. "The Heart of the Truest Believer. It's what's gonna save magic. It's gonna save all of you."

"No, it's not! This was never about magic, Henry," Regina stated. "You have to believe us. The only person Pan's interested in saving is himself."

"That's not true!" Henry exclaimed angrily.

Peter walked forward. "Of course it isn't," the boy agreed, lying easily.

"Yes it is!" Neal shouted. "Pan can't live without you dying. If you give him your heart, it's gonna kill you."

"They're trying to stem your belief, Henry," Peter whispered to the boy. "But don't let them. Remember, every hero gets tested."

"This isn't about heroism, Peter," Indiana stated, furious. The boy didn't glance back at her, but he took her words to heart. "This is about you being all mighty and powerful. This is about you being too weak to accept the inevitable. Henry, I might not know what being a hero looks like, and I'm sure as hell that this isn't it."

"Why would they lie?" Henry wondered.

"Because that's what adults do, Henry," Peter said, despite the fact that Indiana was nowhere near being an adult. She was just a child, a Lost Girl. "You know that better than anyone. Your parents don't care about Neverland, Henry. They know if you give your heart to save it, then you'll have to stay. They're being selfish because they don't wanna lose you."

Indiana noticed how the adults were frozen in fear. "Henry, you have to trust us."

"Trust?" Peter repeated. "I'm the only one who's ever been honest with you, Henry. The only one who ever believed in you! This is your choice. Not theirs." He glanced at the giant hourglass that had golden sand in it. It was close to running out. "You have to choose now. We're running out of time."

"We believe in you, Henry," Neal softly reminded him.

"Because we love you," Emma added.

"More than anything," Regina continued.

"More than comics," Indiana nostalgically finished.

"I love you guys, too," Henry said. He glanced at the heart in his hands. "But I have to save magic. I'm sorry."

As the four of them began to shout, Henry turned and slammed his heart into Peter Pan's body. A burst of magic came from this action, which caused everyone to be pushed back. Henry fell onto the ground as Peter soaked in the feeling of being powerful.

➖➖➖

Indiana Jones anxiously placed two of her fingers against Henry Mills's neck as she hoped to feel for a pulse. Emma Swan, Neal Cassidy, and Regina Mills sat around the unconscious boy who had given up his heart. Indiana let out a breath of relief when she felt a faint pulse, but she still frowned. She was fearful that Henry would die soon.

Floating in the air, Peter felt power surging throughout every vein in his body. He felt unstoppable, yet as soon as he saw the fearful look on Indiana's face, his smile dropped. He hated seeing her have that look on her face. It almost made him feel guilty. Peter lowered himself to the ground, as Emma demanded to know what the hell he did to the boy.

"Oh, I didn't do anything, Emma. It was Henry! He offered me his heart of his own free will," Peter innocently said. Emma stood up and pulled out her sword, stating that she was going to take it back from him. He arched an eyebrow, watching as the girl walked forward and attempted to stab him. He suddenly disappeared. He appeared behind Indiana, now holding Pandora's Box. "I don't think you have it in you. Rumplestiltskin didn't. Why should you?"

"Where is he? What did you do?" Neal nervously ordered.

"Why, he's right in this box," Peter happily answered. Indiana stood up from Henry's side. "Safe and sound and out of the way. Unfortunately for you, he can't hurt me anymore. And neither can you."

Emma reached out and cut his arm slightly. "Really? How did that feel?" Emma queried.

Peter glanced at his arm and smirked. "Like a tickle," he answered. He began to float into the air. He didn't leave before turning to see Indiana. "May we meet again, my love."

"Oh, suck a cock," Indiana snapped.

For the next few minutes, the heartbroken mothers continued to weakly argue with each other. Regina continued to say that Emma had no idea how losing her son felt like, but Emma seemed to disagree. They didn't know how much longer Henry had left. Indiana stared at the ground, furious.

"We have to get him back," Indiana declared.

"Now isn't the time for your little cavegirl speech about hope and sunshine," Regina spat with a cold glare, causing Indiana to roll her eyes.

"Maybe if you'd shut up and listen for one minute in your goddamn life, you'd realize that we can still save Henry!" Indiana exclaimed. That seemed to do the trick. "I just... um... don't know how yet."

Regina opened her mouth to argue, but Neal beat her to it. "Even if we can find Pan, he was powerful before," Neal said. "With Henry's heart, I-I don't know if we can even get to him."

"Yes we can," Regina spoke. She pointed at Emma's sword. It had some of Pan's blood on it. "You nicked him. If he can bleed, we can hurt him, as well as get Henry's heart back. And we will."

➖➖➖

Once the group retreated back to the main island, they were reunited with Killian Jones, the rest of the Lost Boys (who were now conscious), and Mr. and Mrs. Sunshine-and-Unicorn-Hugs. They had a handful of issues to deal with. Firstly, since Rumplestiltskin was trapped in Pandora's Box, then David could never leave the island. He seemed to have made peace with that, though. Secondly, the team only had an hour before the preservation spell that Regina cast wore off of Henry Mills. Finally, since Peter Pan was airborne, he could be anywhere on the island.

Regina turned on her heel and walked straight through the camp. She made her way toward Felix, who stood her with a smug look on his face. She glared at him and fisted his cloak. "Where the hell is he?" Regina shouted.

"Gone," Felix calmly answered. He looked away from the Evil Queen, making instant eye contact with Indiana. She knew that she could scare him. The anger that came from a heartbroken teenager who just lost someone who was a little brother to her was enough to scare anyone. "There's nothing you can do. He's already won. Pan never fails."

"You won't talk? Well, how about I make you talk?" Regina threatened. She held her hand out to rip his heart, but Indiana grabbed her and pulled her back.

"Try that again and I'll rip your body apart, join a boy band, and play the drums with your fucking bones," Indiana hissed.

"Alright, look. Torture isn't the best move here," Emma mentioned. "Look at them. They've been through Hell. And I don't even wanna think about what Pan's done to them. We need to try something else."

"Yeah, we tried the cute and cuddly," Regina responded, annoyed. "They don't respond to reason. What else do you have to offer?"

"What every kid wants," Emma answered. "A mother." Regina didn't understand what she meant, but Snow White had a feeling about what was going to happen next.

"This isn't gonna work," Indiana pessimistically mumbled before sitting on the ground and folding her arms over her chest.

➖➖➖

"I can't believe that worked," Indiana breathed as she guided Emma Swan, Regina Mills, and Snow White throughout the Pixie Woods in the direction to Peter Pan's Thinking Tree. It was just north of the camp, but it didn't take very long to get to. While they were out searching for Peter, the others made preparations to go home once and for all.

The Pixie Woods was where the Pixie Dust used to be generated, but there wasn't a lot of dust being created after Peter had begun to die. Now, the Pixie Woods were just an abandoned region of Neverland that only Peter and his love set foot in.

Sitting on a lone rock was a box—Pandora's Box. Regina seemed to be the first to notice it. Emma withdrew her sword while Snow placed her belongings on the ground. She eagerly walked toward it, but Regina stopped her, stating, "Pan wouldn't have just left it behind without reason. It has to be a trap."

"Way to be positive, Gina," Indiana sarcastically muttered as Snow still extended her arm out to grab the box. A pair of vines whipped out and grabbed her.

"Mary Margaret!" Emma shouted before the vines grabbed her, followed by Regina.

A mortified Indiana spun around. All three of the women were tied up against the Thinking Tree. Indiana tried to pull at the vines, but nothing was working. "Are you still at it?" Peter's voice called out.

Indiana instantly let out a loud, annoyed groan.

"Don't you know? P—"

"Peter Pan always wins!" Indiana interrupted, mimicking his voice.

"I don't sound like that," Peter teased with a playful smirk on his face. "But precisely. I didn't expect for you to find me, but then again, I shouldn't be surprised. You're mothers... quite tenacious about your offspring."

"Let them go, Peter," Indiana demanded.

"Say it nicely and maybe I'll think about it," Peter compromised.

"Pretty please?" Indiana forced through gritted teeth.

"Hm... no," Peter decided. "If you're looking to see Henry again, I have to tell you, there's only one place you'll be reunited—in death."

"You wouldn't let your true love die in your arms, would you?" Snow asked, surprised.

Indiana rolled her eyes, knowing Peter wouldn't actually let that happen. Regina attempted to create a fireball, but the restraints around her body wouldn't allow her to do so. "Having trouble moving? Not surprised, given where you are. You see, what's hastening your demise is your regret," Peter continued. "This tree is the site of a very important event for me. I was abandoned by my brother here."

"Well, if you have a heart, you must regret not going after him," Emma mentioned.

"But I don't. Quite the opposite, actually," Peter revealed. He walked over and picked up Pandora's Box. "See, I have him all boxed up, so I don't lose track of him again."

"The Alligator is your brother?" Indiana questioned. "Huh, so that's what he meant when he said you destroyed his brother."

"Well, half-brothers," Peter corrected. "Same father, different mothers. You see, Rumple was always cold to me. He never truly accepted me to be his brother. This only got worse when our father got drafted to the Giant Wars and got killed. Rumple blamed me, and I was, as you'd expect, very sad. The Shadow found me, and well, here we are."

Indiana frowned. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"You're a fraud," Regina accused. "Your magic is weakened. You can't even hurt us, let alone Rumplestiltskin."

"You're right, but that's why I'm here," Peter replied. "This tree holds many memories for me." This made a memory pop into Indiana's head.

"If I'm crazy, then what does that make you?"

"Hm... I don't know. What does that make me?"

"A psycho."

"You've got a mouth on you, don't you?"

Indiana could feel the tension between them. She wasn't sure where it had suddenly come from, but it was there. Their faces were literally inches apart, but Indiana was frozen in her place.

"I wonder..."

And then... he kissed her.

"I think I want you to do that again."

"But along with that, this tree will protect me until my power is restored and then... well, then I get to have some real fun. And I won't ever have to worry about my brother again," Peter continued.

"There has to be another way," Emma declared as the vines became tighter.

"No, you're not going to get to me," Peter revealed. "See, this tree attacks the regret inside anyone who comes here... unless they're Indiana. But you? You've got plenty."

"I regret not taking a better shot at you when I had the chance," Emma hissed.

"Well, that's not all, is it, Savior? No. I have your son's heart inside me," Peter reminded her. "I can feel just how much you let him down time and time again."

"Leave her alone," Snow demanded.

"Peter, maybe you shouldn't—" Indiana began.

"Perhaps I should. After all, what chance did she have at being a good mother?" Peter queried. He seemed to be having fun. "Look at the example you've set—abandoning her for 28 years."

"Are you finished?" Regina asked with her head leaning against the tree. Her eyes were shut.

"Last words from the Queen. Perhaps a deathbed confession from the one who has the most to regret of all," Peter suggested.

"Yeah, there's one problem with that. I did cast a curse that devastated an entire population. I have tortured and murdered," Regina listed, looking between Indiana and the boy. "I've done some terrible things. I should be overflowing with regret, but... I'm not." The vines suddenly released the women. Regina walked toward Peter Pan. "Because it got me my son."

Regina easily sunk her hand into Peter's chest and ripped out Henry's heart.

"Now..." Regina trailed off. "Let's go save my son."

If only they knew... Peter Pan wasn't finished just yet.

➖➖➖

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

so we finally discovered what peter and rumple's relationship is! kinda brutal, aren't you, rumple?

i thought about keeping the og storyline and making peter rumple's father. i mean, how funny would it be to see that indie is rumple's step mother? especially given their relationship lmao.

then i thought about it some more and realized how weird that would've been. thus, i came up with this. :)