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Ignorance is Bliss	By : Khaleesi-Of-Dragons Category: M through R > Once Upon A Time Views: 2313 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story. Any and all songs used belong to their respective owners.

Chapter List
- 1-Ignorance is Bliss
- 2-2
- 3-3
- 4-4
- 5-5
- 6-6
- 7-7
- 8-8
- 9-9
- 10-10
- 11-Season Two: Knowledge is Power
- 12-12
- 13-13
- 14-14
- 15-15
- 16-16
- 17-17
- 18-18
- 19-19
- 20-20
- 21-21
- 22-22
- 23-23
- 24-24
- 25-25
- 26-26
- 27-27
- 28-28
- 29-29
- 30-30
- 31-31
- 32-32
- 33-Season Three: All Good Things
- 34-34
- 35-35
- 36-36
- 37-37
- 38-38
- 39-39
- 40-40
- 41-41
- 42-42
- 43-43
- 44-44
- 45-45
- 46-46
- 47-47
- 48-48
- 49-49
- 50-50
- 51-51
- 52-52
- 53-53
- 54-54
- 55-55
- 56-56
- 57-57
- 58-Season Four: To Those who Wait
- 59-59
- 60-60
- 61-61
- 62-62
- 63-63
- 64-64
- 65-65
- 66-66
- 67-67
- 68-68
- 69-69
- 70-70
- 71-71
- 72-72
- 73-73
- 74-74
- 75-75
- 76-76
- 77-77
- 78-78
- 79-80
- 80-81
- 81-82
- 39
- 40
- 41
Enchanted Forest—Past
Rumple looks around him at the other children the orphanage held, some younger than him and others older, but only a select few were of an age with him. One of the older boys noticed his distressed expression and came over to him, bending down so Rumple wouldn't be forced to look up at him. "What's your name," the boy asks with a friendly smile.
"R-Rumpelstiltskin," he stutters nervously, shying away slightly. Most kids here didn't pay him any attention since he arrived here a few days past.
"I'm Thomas." The boy's smile made Rumple want to trust him, made Rumple want to tell the boy everything. "You don't have to be afraid, Rumpelstiltskin, this is a good place for children. I've been here since I was little like you." He smiles, holding up a straw doll with a blue coat made for it. "Here, this doll will keep you nice and safe."
"It will?"
"It kept me safe." Thomas shrugs a shoulder, standing and leading Rumple to his new room. "We'll be sharing a room from now on since the boy you were sharing with got adopted yesterday."
Neverland—Present
I follow behind Hook, Fidget in my arms and Pup running up beside Tink. We've been walking for what seems like hours and my feet feel like they're about to fall off if I take another step. Pan had popped up again last night when everyone else was sleeping to see if I wanted to join him back at the camp, but I declined again. It's getting harder to do that though, there is still something about him that continually draws me in. Is that what makes Belle love Papa, the darkness that's as compelling as it is frightening?
Well, my sex ed teacher did say girls are usually attracted to a guy that shares some qualities with the prominent male figure in their lives, and I've been surrounded in that darkness all my life. "What are you thinking about," Hook asks, holding my hand in one of his larger ones. It felt nice and not as forced as I had expected.
"Nothing much," I shrug," just how much I'll love it when I get real clothes and I won't have to walk around in this damn dress." It might have been appealing when all I did was sit around Pan's camp, but it wasn't made for walking around the jungle. From my waist down, the delicate white material is stained and ripped from where vines and thorns had caught it. "What about you?"
"Mostly about what to tell you about Milah." He smiles down at me, a genuine smile and not the sarcastic ones he gives the people in our group. "She was quite a woman, one hell of a pirate. She could be terrifying when she was angry, any man would fear for his life if her anger turned on him—you got that from her."
"What'd I get from you?"
"My looks, obviously." I smack him playfully with a laugh. "You did get my sarcasm and apparently you inherited my penchant for drinking and sword fighting." He lets go of my hand and wraps his arm around my shoulders, tugging until we were basically hugging while walking. "You have your mother's singing voice, but whenever you talk I hear myself more than I hear her."
"Not necessarily a good thing."
"No, it's not." Rustling leaves make all of us come to a standstill, Hook forcing me to get behind him as he and the others form a protective line in front of me with their weapons drawn. Instead of a terrible beasty like we were expecting, Regina and Papa step out of the tree line into our view, Regina giving us an unimpressed look.
"Well, if this is your version of a rescue party, we got here just in time," she says smugly.
"What are you two doing here," Snow asks as I push past them and run straight for Papa, nearly sending us both to the ground when I tackle-hug him. He hugs me back just as tightly, his head resting on top of mine.
"Same as you, except we actually have a chance. Pandora's box." I pull back, just now noticing the little metal box Papa has in his hands. "It could trap Pan for eternity simply by opening the lid." Yeah, or it could suck one of us in instead. Am I the only one on this godforsaken island that thinks things though?
"You didn't tell me my father was with her," Neal mutters to Emma loud enough for all of us to hear. Papa's expression changes from relief to sadness, the same sadness I always saw in his eyes when he looked at Neal's room. He really wanted to make things right, but my brother wasn't giving him the chance.
"We didn't know," Emma assures him.
"Wait," Tinker Bell says," your father's the Dark One?"
"Yeah," Neal nods," and he's not getting anywhere near Henry." I look at Neal in confusion, knowing my papa wouldn't do anything to hurt Henry no matter what. "Morgan, you need to get back over here and away from him."
"No, I just got back to him," I say resolutely. "Why would I move away now?"
"There's a prophecy that says Henry will be his undoing, and you're just another loose end in his eyes. He didn't come here to protect Henry, he came here to kill him." Regina takes a quick step away from Papa, but I stay where I am, having known the prophecy all my life but just now connecting the dots.
"That's why you didn't want to find Neal before you got Henry back," Regina says in understanding. "Because you knew he'd spill your secret." Regina shakes her head slowly, grabbing my arm and yanking me away from him and pushing me over to Hook. My father wraps an arm around me to keep me where I am, his grip not tight enough to hurt, but enough that it does me no good to struggle. "It also makes sense about why you wanted to close off the only way for them to get back from the Enchanted Forest. You had Belle and you didn't need a daughter getting in the way."
That tidbit of information gives me pause, looking at Papa in disbelief. He wouldn't have done that, would he? That could have killed us all and he would've been the cause for that, but could he really prioritize my death so easily? A guilty desperation is in his eyes as he stares at all of us imploringly. "Everything I did was to protect my daughter and grandson," he tells us," to rescue them from Pan."
"It all makes sense," Emma adds, raising her cutlass again. "You left before we even made shore." The weapons make a reappearance as they all came to the same conclusion.
"You wanted to get to them first," Mary Margaret starts.
"To be on their own," David adds.
"So no one could stop you," Hook continues, pushing me behind him again as he draws his sword.
"So you can kill them," Regina finishes.
"It's not gonna happen," Emma states," not unless you go through all of us first."
Enchanted Forest—Past
Thomas watches Rumple spin, the two owners of the orphanage—sisters—stand on either side of him and watch on as well. He was good, better than Thomas could ever hope to be, but he also had the burden of his father to bear. A drunk and a cheat, the man had gotten himself killed and left his son nothing but his bad reputation.
The only way the boy would find any honest work was to get away from this place, from this realm. Thomas had a good idea of where that could be, they could go to that place they always visited together in their dreams.
They could travel to Neverland and stay there forever with the help of the bean the sisters had just given Rumple.
Neverland—Present
"You're making a mistake," Papa tells us. "I don't care if the boy is destined to be my undoing or if my daughter takes some of my time away from Belle. I won't hurt them."
"Because that sounds just like you," Regina says sarcastically.
"Without me, youwillfail. I'm the most powerful amongst us."
"That's why we can't trust you," Neal points out.
"If I could give you my dagger, I would, but I can't."
"But you cangive me Pandora's Box. I don't have to trust you if I can stop you." I peak through the space between Hook and Tink at Papa, noticing the way he tightens his grip on the box. He wants to be the hero for once, he wants to be the one who sets things right, but Neal won't let him do that because he's as untrustworthy as they come.
"Son…." Resigned, he puts the small box in Neal's outstretched hand.
"Look at me, you so much as lift a finger to preform magic, you're gonna spend an eternity in this box." The weapons disappear again as Emma takes the lead, Hook holding tightly to my hand so that I am forced to walk with him and not Papa.
Neverland—Past
Rumple looks around him at the carnage Peter had caused, the people surrounding him either dead or dying. Moans fill the air in place of the usual cheerful laughs, the camp burned to the ground. Pan grins at his work, blood spattered across him face and clothing, making him look like the monster Rumple always imagined was hiding under his bed. "What have you done," he yells, cradling a child's body in his arms.
"I did what was needed," Pan answers indifferently. "I took back the island from these savages. We're in control now, laddie, we're the Kings of Neverland!" The moans die down, leaving an eerie silence in their stead.
"No, Neverland has no King! It's just you." Pan nods and the Shadow swoops down, picking Rumple up and making him drop the child.
"Take him back to the other realm, I don't need him interfering with my plans." The next thing Rumple knows, he's in the alley behind his old orphanage. He stares up at the familiar blue sky, his body aching from the fall he had suffered and the sudden shift between realms.
"Are you alright," a feminine voice asks. He turns his head slightly, finding the most beautiful woman he's even seen kneeling at his side. Her dark hair fell in soft waves down her back and her dress clung slightly to her skinny frame. Her kind blue eyes are what got his attention, the warmth held there enough to make him know that this woman would not willingly hurt another.
"I'm fine," he answers, letting her help him to sit up. "My name is Rumple."
"I'm Milah."
Neverland—Present
"We need to talk," Emma says, tugging on Hook's arm.
"I've found when a woman says that, I'm rarely in for a pleasant conversation," Hook replies tiredly. "Vee, go catch to one of the others." I nod, moving past the others until I near the front of the group where Pup was running around and Fidget was clinging tightly to the dog's back. I didn't notice anything strange was going on until I felt the familiar pull of Pan's magic and ran face first into David's back.
Everyone was frozen again with the only exceptions being Pan and me. "What now," I groan, exhausted and just wanting a break.
"I wanted to see if you've changed your mind since last we spoke."
"It's been four hours, dude."
"Four hours is a long time for you to think about what you want." He moves over to me, one of his hands resting on the small of my back. "I want you by my side, Aveena. I need you to rule this world at my side as my Queen." The words were sugar-coated poison, I knew that, but I still felt a slight pulling in my chest. I'm pretty sure I'm not having a heart attack, so could this be the beginnings of attraction?
Who am I kidding? This guy is gorgeous and if I didn't know who he was, I would probably jump at the chance to do anything with him. But I do know who he is, and at this particular moment in time, I just really want to punch him in the throat to get him away from me. "Sorry, I'm not Queen material. In case you haven't heard, I'm just a small town girl and we tend to stay under the radar."
"Oh, you're more than that, Aveena." He smiles down at me, a dark one that had butterflies cage fighting in my stomach. "You're beautiful and I'll win you over to my side."
"Do I look like a character in every young adult book ever? Sorry, but I'm not choosing some twisted jackass over my own family."
"What if you didn't have to choose?"
"What do you mean?"
"We can all stay on Neverland once Henry cures it. None of us never need leave and you can finally get time enough to get to know your biological father."
"Yeah," I scoff," if my adoptive papa doesn't gut him with his own hook."
"Come with me and at least see your nephew. He's been asking about you a lot here lately and while you're away from this group, you can have time to yourself to think."
"Maybe I wouldn't have to think if you didn't lock me in a cage!"
"You needed to hear Hook's secret, the one he kept silent about since you were taken from him. You needed to know that he didn't look for you until he was older so you could reach a new step in your relationship." I take a step away from him, crossing my arms with a pout on my face. "What is it?"
"I don't like it when you make sense, it's weird and unnatural." He laughs softly, giving me my space. The familiar magic of Neverland wraps around me like a blanket and the next thing I know my clothes have been changed yet again, this time into something comfortable. I wore a black tee shirt, jeans, a Stitch hoodie, and boots. My hair still hung loose down my back, but I can tell from the slight heaviness of my eyes and the slightly foreign feeling on my lips that I'm wearing makeup. "Thanks, I guess."
"You look much more at ease in these clothes, though I do prefer the gowns to jeans."
"Get over it; my body, my decisions."
"Will you come with me? Will you come put your nephew's mind at ease?"
"Might as well, I suppose. It'll get me away from the awkward love triangle for a little while." I shrug, taking his outstretched hand and letting him whisk me away to some other part of the island. The magic swirling around us during the transfer makes me close my eyes or risk smudging my eye liner. When we're still again, I take a moment to gather my wits before I open my eyes. "A boat?" I look around us in confusion at the body of water that surrounds us. "Why am I in a dingy, you dingbat?"
"Mo-Mo?" I have a few seconds to turn before my nephew's arm were wrapped tightly around me, his head resting just under my chin. I hug him back with all I have, never wanting to let go of him again if my life depended on it. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, what about you?" I pull back, taking his chin in my hand and turning his face this way and that to do some assessments. There were a few scrapes and bruises, but he's a boy and that's to be expected.
"I told you I would bring her back," Pan says confidently, rowing us towards a giant cave in the shape of a skull.
"Holy mother of pizza," I gasp, staring at it in slight fear. I can tell from here that it's brightly lit inside, the eyes of the skull giving off an orange glow that means fire and warmth, but also danger. I tighten my hold on Henry, a nervousness beginning to set in when I see Pan's superior grin and Henry's ready smile. Maybe leaving the group was a bad idea, but at least I'm with Henry and can keep Pan in my sight.
Pan rows us until we're close to a rock ledge, getting out first and helping Henry and me out before tying the little boat to the makeshift dock. "It's been a long time since I stepped foot on this shore." The nostalgia in his tone makes me snort, following Henry over to a set of stair carved into the rock. Pan grabs a long stick up off the ground, drawing a line in the sand.
"What's that," Henry asks as Pan waves a hand over the line and a wall of invisible magic is put up in front of the three of us.
"It's a protection spell," I answer, my brows knitting together in slight confusion. "Why do we need one of those?"
"Mermaids," Pan answers simply. "They're not a friendly lot at the best of times. Now let's go." He leads the way up the stairs, holding my hand tightly as though he was afraid that I would run if given the chance. I have to give it to him, though, I probably would run even if it meant having to knock Henry over the head with a rock and carrying him like a sack of potatoes back to the boat. The room he leads us into is humongous, with several smaller skulls carved into the rock of the walls. An hour glass sits in the middle of the room, reaching all the way to the ceiling above our heads, filled with golden sand. "This is it. This is the place where you're going to save magic."
"Why does it have to be here," Henry questions, looking around in amazement. I never expected something so darkly beautiful when I saw this place outside, it's almost enough to make me consider a new theme for my room back in Storybrooke if I ever make it back there.
"Well, because this is the location from which Neverland's magic emanates. Isn't that right, Aveena?"
"Well," I say halfheartedly," you're not wrong." Magic came off this place in waves, nearly enough to make me stagger backwards in dizziness. "What's with the hour glass? It looks kind of ominous." I gesture at it, making Pan smile.
"Marks how much time we have left before Neverland's magic runs out." Somehow I have trouble believing Neverland will run out of magic anytime soon with this thing here. I shiver, looking around us for anything interesting while Pan and Henry talk. The eyes of the cave get my attention, and I find myself wandering over to them and looking down at the relatively calm waters below. I wrap my arms around myself, all the magic trying to force itself in my system making me want to do nothing more than lie down for a bit.
Conceding marginally, I slide down the wall, my back resting against it and my knees drawn up to my chest with my arms wrapped around my legs. It's a struggle to keep my eyes open, but it's made easier when Papa waltzes in and takes some of the magical pressure off of me. He looks determined yet terrified and is gripping the little box with the strange symbols tightly in his hands. "Hello, Laddie," Pan says, his expression telling me that he's been expecting this. "Oh, I see you've come bearing gifts."
"Where's Henry," Papa asks, glancing between Pan and me every few seconds. I give him a thumbs up to show I'm okay even as the magic begins to rebound off of the two men and back at me.Is this what getting high feels like? When will the munchies kick in, I wonder?
"You mean you're grandson? You still haven't told the others who I really am." He scoffs, walking back towards the hour glass. "Not even your own children. Why?"
"Because you're nothing but a monster to me. You're a coward that wanted this island to yourself."
"We both know if that were true, I'd already be in that box."
"You don't think I can do it? You let me inside just to, uh, taunt me?"
"No. To see you again, to give my best friend one last chance. Stay with me. Let this go and let's start over." Did he practice that speech in front of a mirror?
"Do you think I want to be with you? That I could ever forgive you after you massacred the only family I ever knew?"
"I'm disappointed, Rumple." Am I missing something here? "After all these years, I thought you'd be more….Understanding." Pan looks at the hour glass, watching the golden sand sink through the tiny hole and fall towards the bottom. "Considering you did the same thing to your children. You didn't make it a secret that you killed innocent people, I bet you even had Aveena convinced that they deserved it until she was too old to fool with that. You traded your own son for the power of a dagger, your daughter for your petty revenge, and I sent you off so that I could rule here. We're a lot more alike than you care to admit."
"We are nothingalike!" Papa gonna open a can o' whoop ass, I think with a giggle, letting my legs spread out in front of me as I watch them verbally duke it out.
"Oh, of course we are. And it's nothing to be ashamed of. Neither one of us was cut out to look after others, m'boy."
"I regretted leaving my son the moment I let him go. I spent my life trying to find him, to get him back and keep my children safe. And what did you do? You forgot about the only person in your life that didn't look at you like you were scum, the only person that looked at you the way Aveena looked at me as a young child. You forgot about me." Wow, could our family be anymore fucked up than it is right now?
"I never forgot about you! Why do you think I call myself Peter Pan?" Because you play that stupid pan flute all the time…?
"Don't think for a moment I believe it's because you care for me."
"But I do. All you have to do is put down that box, and you'll see it's true. We can make a new fresh start like we tried to do here, together, just as we planned." Were they close friends or were they gay lovers because I'm getting some strange vibes over here and it ain't from the magic. He holds out his hand expectantly and Papa gives him a you're out of your mind, you damn fruit looplook.
"Oh, I'm gonna make a fresh start. Just not with you." He waves his hand over the box, but the only thing that happens is Pan beginning to laugh. I have a bad feeling that that's not what's supposed to be happening right now. "I don't understand."
"Cause you don't have it," Pan states triumphantly, pulling an exact replica of Papa's box out from behind his back. I wonder if he can pull a rabbit out of a hat too.
"You switched them?" Papa's voice is barley more than a defeated whisper.
"Follow the lady." What lady, where? I look around the cave, but the only lady in here is me and I ain't moving. "Still having trouble believing. In Neverland, all you have to do is think of something to have it." Curious, I hold out my hands and begin to think as hard as I can until a Hershey's bar lands in my upturned palms. I've got the power! I look up in time to see Papa get turned into a red vapor, disappearing into the box before the red gem on top clicks back into place.
Pan looks at me, taking in my dumbstruck expression. "Are you high right now?"
"I fucking guess," I grumble, taking a bite of my chocolate. "Seeing people gettin' sucked up in boxes and shit….Just ain't natural." I shake my head slowly back and forth before leaning it back to rest against the cool wall. As the magic grows stronger, I begin to slip in and out of consciousness, none of the world making any sense.
Sometimes I was in the cave with Pan and Henry and sometimes I was in the middle of a stone courtyard surrounded by a bunch of white rabbits with pocket watches that always shouted that they were simply one hell of a bunny. Things were getting crazy when the two places joined together and I saw Pan prancing around with bunny ears and a fluffy white tail. The next thing I know, someone's forcing my head out the eye socket of the rock and into the fresh air. I let out a pained moan, pushing the magic away from me with all my might as I fight the hallucinations.
"Henry, you need to get away from him now," I can faintly hear Emma saying. The hands holding onto the back of my jacket and my pants slowly move me back inside and I can see that it was my brother that forced me into waking. At least no one has bunny ears now. "He's trying to hurt you."
"No," Henry states fervently," the heart of the truest believer, it's what's gonna save magic. It's gonna save all of you." I look at him, having to blink a few times before there was only one of him instead of three. In his hand is a child's heart, glowing a faint gold like I've never seen before. What the fuck did I miss while I was out?
"No, it's not," Regina argues. "This was never about magic, Henry. You have to believe us. The only person Pan's interested in saving is himself."
"That's not true!"
"Of course it isn't," Pan concurs.
"Yes, it is," Neal fights back. "Pan can't live without you dying. If you give him you're heart, it's gonna kill you." My eyebrows shoot up in surprise, and I point at my nephew while looking up at my brother. He nods, understanding my unasked question.
"Henry," I say in my best stern aunt voice," you put that thing back where it came from or so help me!" Pan gets between Henry and the rest of us, making it impossible for my nephew to see anyone else.
"They're trying to stem your belief, but don't let them," Pan says soothingly, a tone anyone would want to believe. "Remember, every hero gets tested." I try to move forward and rip Pan's hand off when he rests it on Henry's shoulder, but Neal is quick to restrain me.
"Henry," Emma calls out to get his attention," I know what being a hero looks like, and this isn't it."
"Why would they lie," he asks Pan.
"Because that's what adults do, Henry," Pan responds without hesitation. "You know that better than anyone.
"Don't do this, squirt!"
"Your family doesn't care about Neverland, Henry. They know if you give your heart to save it, then you'll have to stay." He quickly moves to Henry's side so that he can face us all. "They're being selfish because they don't wanna lose you."
"Henry, you have to trust us," Emma tries.
"Trust? 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. You have to choose now, we're running out of time."
"We believe in you, Henry," Neal tells his son, letting me go when I cease my struggles.
"Because we love you," Emma fills in.
"More than anything," Regina adds.
"More than you'll ever know," I finish sadly. "If I didn't, I wouldn't have taught you how to ride a bike all those years ago."
"I love you too," he says with a smile and for a moment I think everything will be all right. "But I have to save magic."
"No," all four of us scream as Henry forces his heart into Pan's chest, a blast of magic sending everyone to the ground except for Pan. I struggle to my feet, legs weak and almost ready to give out when Pan grabs me around my waist, floating above the ground with a dark smile. Henry is unconscious with the other three surrounding him and I'm useless while dangling in Pan's grip. I've always wanted to go flying, but I always had a plane or a blue box in mind and not an evil teen intent on world domination.
"Henry!"
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Ignorance is Bliss