《Artemis || OUAT》26. Nasty Habits
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Emma gestured to the drawing of Pan's camp in the dirt in front of her as she began, "This is where they're keeping Henry and Astrid, Pan's compound, according to, uh..."
"Tinkerbell," The ex-fairy said as she looked up and over at the blonde who nodded and replied, "Yeah, I know. Still weird to say."
"Tink is fine," Tinkerbell pointed out as she moved over to where she placed firewood at.
Emma lightly sighed and commented, "Not sure if that's any better. Anyway, she says that there are some sentries positioned across the front, which is why we're going to come through the back entrance- here," She pointed the stick she was holding at the drawing in the dirt, "She's gonna talk her way in once she makes sure the coast is clear, then we are going to sneak in."
"You'll still have to deal with any Lost Boys once you're inside." Tinkerbell pointed out.
"I think we can handle a few children with pointy sticks." Regina remarked.
"It's not the sticks you need to worry about, it's the poison they're dipped in," The ex-fairy commented.
"Dreamshade. Hook and Astrid warned us-- and then Astrid healed David of the poison." Snow added.
"We're good. If we get nicked with the poison, Astrid will sense it and come to the rescue and heal whoever needs it." Emma shrugged.
Hook frowned and pointed out, "You do know that healing someone's pain hurts Astrid, and that pain doesn't just leave her once it does."
"Because you know so much about my daughter." David sighed in annoyance with a roll of his eyes.
While the rest of the group passed this off as just some retort made by a concerned father, Hook was offended by his comment and furrowed his brows before looking towards the man in also annoyance. "What's that supposed to mean?"
David stood up and looked over at the pirate and sharply said, "It means that I'm her father, Hook, not you."
Hook wasn't going to let it go and stepped up to David with a glare and replied, "While you were doing God knows what, I was actually there for her."
"And look where that got you." David commented, "Astrid may act like she has, but she hasn't forgiven you. She doesn't need you in her life."
"I was the one who took care of her when she was sick or not. I was the one who protected her against threats. I'm the one who she looks up to." Hook countered, "Where were you when she needed you?"
"Cursed!" David exclaimed in anger, "And you're one to talk. You left her!"
"And you sent her away!" Hook argued as David defended himself, "She was taken from us by Cora!"
"That's not a good enough excuse. You could've fought back and stopped her from taking her." Hook scoffed.
"Says the man who abandoned her on this hell of an island. What's your excuse for leaving?" David shot back.
"Guys!" Astrid shouted, announcing her presence as everyone looked over at her immediately, both David and Hook with small guilty looks on their faces. "What the bloody hell is going on?"
"Uh, we were just..." David started as the teenager stepped forward and moved over to them while stopping him short, "It looked like you two were fixing to kill each other."
Astrid stopped in between her father and her father figure while glancing over at the pirate and asked in concern, "Hook, you alright?"
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"Aye." Hook nodded as Astrid glanced over at David while Hook discreetly gave him a pointed look to which David rolled his eyes somewhat.
Astrid moved forward and looked down at the drawing of the camp in the dirt in front of her sister and mother, starting, "Your plan is... adequate, but..."
"But what?" Snow asked curiously.
"Where's the escape plan? You guys will need an escape plan, a way off of this island." Astrid pointed out, already thinking of a way.
"She's right. I'm ready to go, but not without an escape plan." Tinkerbell agreed.
"It was more of a last minute trip," Snow softly said.
"If you don't have a way off of this island, then none of this matters." Tinkerbell sighed.
Regina stood up and pointed out, "We'll figure it out."
"You'll figure it out? No one comes and goes from this place unless he allows it-" The ex-fairy started.
"Astrid did-" Emma reminded them.
"But my way will not work again. For one, the mermaids don't like you guys and they barely tolerate me-" Astrid cut her off, "And the only reason they tolerate me is because of Peter."
"When it comes to family, we always find a way," David pointed out towards the fairy as everyone ignored the teenager once again.
Astrid scowled and folded her arms across her chest. She did have some anger towards her parents still and was just realizing it, too.
"Yeah, about that? If our family always finds a way to be together, then how come you and Snow didn't find a way to find Emma and myself when we were still babies?" Astrid argued, unfolding her arms from her chest and clenched her fists before unclenching them.
"You know that we were cursed-" Snow started, hurt that their teenager stopped calling her 'Mom'.
"But you could've found a way around it-- because, according to you two, there's always a way." Astrid cut her mother off, "Right?"
"Astrid, we didn't even have our memory of you and Emma anymore. That was our curse." David tried.
Astrid scoffed, "You should've fought for us. We probably would've been cursed, but at least we would have been together." She pointed over at Hook, "At least when Hook left me here, he was still there. When I got off of Neverland, he found me and was there, even if I was angry and hurt at him."
David and Snow glanced down at the ground in slight sadness but mostly regret. Astrid continued, "You guys want a bloody escape plan? I've got one, one that is exactly like Hook's deal with Peter, and it will for sure work."
"AJ-" Hook started as Astrid cut him off and finished, "Use me. Trade me for Henry and a way off of the island."
"No, absolutely not." The group immediately shot the teenager's idea down with a shake of their heads as they carefully watched her.
"Don't you get it?" Astrid started with tears now in her eyes, "I don't want to leave. This is my home. And it'll be best if you do what you're bloody best at and leave, so use my love as an advantage to retrieve Henry and get safe passage off."
"I'm not leaving you behind, Kid, not again-" Hook started as Astrid sniffled and simply replied, "Well, you're gonna have to. Regina, I know you'll do whatever it takes to save Henry, do this."
Regina started but stopped, "I-" She slowly shook her head at the idea of abandoning the teenager behind. "No... Astrid, you're the one besides Henry who sees good in me and believes in me. We're all getting home."
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Astrid sighed and glanced down at the ground.
"What deal did you make to get off of Neverland, Hook?" David questioned him as Hook answered with a sigh, "In exchange for a safe passage off the island, I had to leave her behind... So, you can see why I don't want to repeat that deal."
"So, no one's left the island without Pan's permission?" Regina inquired.
"Two people. One was Astrid but her way is not accessible. And the other..." He looked over at Emma and finished, "Her partner in crime, Neal."
"How?" Emma asked.
Astrid lifted an amused eyebrow because she knows the truth on why Peter let him leave willingly. "He gave Baelfire permission, but Baelfire thinks that he left on his own, which is what makes it all amusing."
The teenager saluted them and then began to leave them to go back to her camp until they stopped her.
"You've been spending too much time with Pan and you're starting to have hatred towards us now because of that." Snow stopped her, "So, you'll be coming with us."
"Hilarious. I'm not going anywhere with you or David." Astrid challenged her mother and father.
"Astrid, okay, that's enough. We're your parents and you cannot talk to us like that." David scolded, placing his hands over his hips.
"Really? Alright then, I won't. You got me." Astrid smirked and shrugged. They didn't like the smirk on her face but decided to let it go.
"Maybe we can find out." Hook spoke up about how Baelfire escaped, "AJ, care to lead the way?"
"Sure." Astrid replied, her signature smirk then grew on her face as she threw glances towards Snow and David, "Follow me, Mother, Father." She said the last part in a kind of bitter-amused tone and then skipped into the forest as Hook followed her first.
Everyone else gathered their things and followed after the two of them. "What are we going to do about Astrid?" Snow asked her husband who admitted, "I don't know."
They trekked through the jungle until they arrived at a large rocky hill that was surrounded by different vines; Astrid looked at it in thought and sighed just as Hook stopped beside her and then the others.
David, Snow, Emma, and Regina looked confused on why the teenager and pirate led them to a huge rock as Regina asked the question, "What is this supposed to be?"
"So... What, Neal swung out of Neverland on a vine?" Emma also remarked.
"Well, if someone will be so kind in lending me a hand, I'll show you what this is." Astrid started while moving towards a rope. David stopped Hook from helping her and moved over to where she stood now and helped pull on the rope.
"Astrid, what's going on with you? Why are you suddenly angry at us?" David murmured towards his teenage daughter, "Are you still trying to get us to hate you to leave you? Because, if so, it still won't work."
Astrid's jaw flexed as she pulled the rope even harder just as the cave door opened upwards. "It was to start with, but now, I don't even care if you guys bloody hate me or not. What I'm feeling towards you guys right now, it's been bottled up inside of me for so bloody long, and now it's overflowing like a volcano. It'd be best if you just left me bloody alone."
Astrid marched inside of the hidden cave as her family followed her inside also.
Astrid glanced over at all of the scribbles on the walls and then noticed the initials A.J and Baelfire along with words below it: best friends until the end. But the words had been scratched out from Astrid who had been angry and hurt that he had just left her.
Snow held a lantern towards one wall beside Emma and both looked at the drawings. "Hook, Astrid! What is this place? What are we doing here?"
Hook moved over to the torch on the wall and attempted to light it, only making a few sparks. David stepped over to him with a liter and lit the torch as flames rose on it, lighting up the room; Hook sighed a little while David hid a smirk and stepped away.
"Neal. This is where he lived." Emma realized after a few seconds passed.
"Aye," Hook replied, "Baelfire spent some time in Neverland as a boy. This was his home."
Astrid noticed a small sketchbook that belonged to her on top of a boulder a few feet beside her; It was from Neal who had gave it to her. She picked it up and opened it, flipping the pages carefully and stopped on a page that had a small, carefully drawn portrait of Baefire.
"So you two think he may have left a clue as to how he escaped from here?" Snow questioned Hook curiously.
Astrid closed the book and spoke up, "I already know how he left. It's by that-" She nodded over at a coconut-shaped object but she was simply ignored for the billionth time. And they wonder why I'm angry and hurt at them. She found herself thinking.
Everyone spread out in the cave as Astrid threw the sketchbook in her hand across the room as it slammed into the wall and fell to the floor; She then turned on her heels and stormed out of the cave as Hook noticed and began to follow after her but was stopped by David who chased after her instead.
"Astrid?" David looked around the jungle once he had exited out of the cave. "Astrid!"
Back inside of the cave, Hook picked up the book the teenager had thrown and began flipping through the pages. He smiled some because he had almost forgot how amazing Astrid is at drawing and art stuff.
He stopped on a drawing of the Jolly Roger with himself steering the ship. Down below the drawing, in cursive letters, she had wrote, Hope isn't for suckers.
The pirate closed the small book and pocketed it in his coat.
Back outside of the cave, David continued to search for his teenager and then found her sitting underneath a tree with her knees against her chest and her arms wrapped around them.
"Astrid, talk to me," David started carefully, "please."
"Do you know I have never stopped bloody searching for you guys, for this family?" Astrid began with a sigh, "But, I almost did a few times; Twice when I met Hook because, the two of us, we were enough-- We could have just kept sailing the seas, a happy family... But this family ruined that..."
"And then when Peter came into my life... I didn't like him at first and I couldn't stand him, that goes both ways, I think. But then, I began to have feelings for him like he had and then it's love and... I almost let this family go to be with him, but I didn't, and I left him... Our family ruined it for me again. I have sacrificed so much for you guys, and you act like you don't even bloody appreciate me or respect me or whatever."
"Astrid-" David began as she stood up and started walking away.
Peter. Astrid thought as the said boy appeared and was now beside her. David immediately moved her behind him protectively. "Let me go." Astrid replied to the man who shook his head at him.
"Astrid, you alright, love?" Peter said but he knew she wasn't because he could feel her emotional hurt and distress. He disappeared and reappeared behind the girl, holding her now in his arms as he teleported the two of them back to his camp.
"Astrid! No." David sighed and headed back into the cave and told his wife.
***
Astrid was jumping and dancing around the campfire with the Lost Boys, just having fun; She glanced over at her nephew who sat on a log by himself and then gave Peter a small look as Peter stood up and moved over to the said eleven year old.
"You don't want to join the celebration, Henry?" Peter started as he sat down across from him.
"Nothing to celebrate," Henry shrugged as Peter repeated with a chuckle, "Nothing to celebrate? Henry, this whole party is to celebrate you."
"Me? Why?" Henry questioned.
"Because you've come to save magic, of course." Peter replied while pulling out his flute, "And I, for one, can't think of a reason more deserving of celebration than that. Just look at them."
Henry glanced over at the Lost Boys dancing and playing and then looked over at his aunt and back at Peter, saying, "I'm not like them. Or you. I do try to be like my aunt sometimes, though."
"Sure you are. You're still a boy. And I know Astrid wants you to go over there and have fun." Peter assured while placing his lips lightly over the pan flute in his hands, "Maybe a song will get you on your feet." He began to play the tune.
Henry shook his head slowly, not hearing the music, saying, "Sorry. I- I don't hear anything."
Pan furrowed his eyebrows and then lifted a brow before replying, "Interesting. You see, this pipe's enchanted, Henry. It can only be heard by certain children."
"Like who?" Henry started just as Peter noticed Astrid stepping over to Felix who had walked back into the camp with a troubled/annoyed look on his face.
Peter sighed and assured, "You'll find out soon enough, I promise." He stood up and walked over to Felix, stopping beside his girl. "What? I know that look. What happened?"
"Baelfire. I'm afraid he got away." Felix began after glancing over at Astrid who widened her eyes at the mention of the man and back at Peter.
"Well, then why didn't you get him back?" Peter demanded as Felix explained, "I tried. I followed his trail and found two of our sentries knocked out... by a sleeping spell."
"The Dark One." Peter started, a smirk starting to appear on his face, "So father and son have been reunited."
Felix nodded over at Henry a few feet from them and looked over at Astrid as he commented, "They'll be coming for Astrid and the boy. We should move them somewhere safe."
Astrid remarked, her smirk now on her face after glancing over at Peter to see a concerned look on his face and taking his hand in hers in reassurance, "Now, now, boys, where's your sense of adventure?"
"She's right. We can't end the party when the real fun is about to begin." Peter added.
Astrid then let go of his hand and stepped over to her nephew and sat down beside him, nudging him a little on his arm with hers, starting, "Buddy, you alright?"
"I miss my moms," Henry murmured as he glanced over at her curiously, "How- How did you get here on Neverland, A?"
"On a ship, through a portal." Astrid simply answered, not giving the boy too much information for Pan but also giving enough information for hers and Henry's family, "And I know that they miss you too."
Henry grinned a little and replied, "At least, I still have you."
"Yeah," Astrid muttered under her breath, guilty for not telling him the full truth as she stared into the flames of the fire.
Henry noticed his aunt's sudden quiet behavior, and stood up and now stood in front of her as he said once she slowly looked up at him, "It's you and me forever."
Astrid smiled some and replied, "You and me, buddy." Henry grinned and sat back down beside her and laid his head on her lap as she wrapped one arm around his back and her other hand on top of his temple lightly.
"I love you, A," Henry murmured, slowly falling asleep, as Astrid softly replied, "I love you, too, Henry."
Part of Astrid wanted her nephew to stay here on the island with her and Peter and the Lost Boys because she wanted him to have some freedom and actually have fun and be a kid.
Back in Storybrooke, she's noticed that he really doesn't have any say in anything except with her— and Henry doesn't get to do anything like fighting or whatever.
In a way, Astrid gets why her sister and Regina doesn't let him, being that he's their son who's still a kid, but she feels like he should have some say in things and have fun.
Astrid climbed through her nephew's window and sat down in his window seat beside him; Henry had been staying with Regina for a few days and Astrid had basically just arrived to Storybrooke with Emma and Snow.
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