"Being able to put someone else's happiness before yours... That speaks loudly. That's love; in the most pure, beautiful and painful way."

~ r.i

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Alice's P.O.V

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    "Are you sure, Alice?" Ray asks.
    "You don't have to do this alone," Lewis adds.
    "I'm sure, guys," I say. "And don't worry about me, Mr Gold will be with me the entire time."
    Will nods, knowing that there's no way he'll be able to change my mind now.
    "But so help me, if he lays a finger on your, I'll-"

    "I'll be fine, Ray," I assure him, placing his hands in mine. "Peter would never hurt me."
    "How can you be sure?" Lewis asks. "He abducted Cassie. For all we know, he could've used Cassie's heart as the final ingredient for the curse."
    "He'd never do that to me," I say.
    "But how can you be sure?" Will asks, speaking up for the first time in two hours.

    "I can't," I admit. "Peter knows all of my weakness, all I can do is to trust him not to use them against me."
    "You really love him, don't you?" Ray asks, sadly.
    "I do. I love him so much it hurts."
    "Let's go," Will whispers to Lewis, linking his arm with him. "We're intruding their moment."
    Lewis nods mutely, walking out the door to the front section of the shop.

    Ray removes his hands from mine, caressing my cheek. "If I could be anything I wanted; I would be the one that you love."
    "I didn't mean to lead you on, you know that right?" I ask him, forcing myself to meet his gaze.
    "It doesn't matter," he replies. "What matter is that you love him and that he makes you happy. He does make you happy, right?"

    I nod. "Very happy."
    "Then, I'm alright with that," Ray tells me. "Love is a condition where the happiness of another person is essential to your own. If he makes you happy, I'll find a way to live with it. I won't move on, but I'll be content with my life as long as you're happy."
    "I'm sorry for breaking your heart," I say, my voice faltering. "You trusted me with it... And I broke it."

    Ray leans down, gently kissing me on the forehead. "Ni ke yi da puo wo de xin. Xi huan de hua ke yi da sui yi qian ci. Wo de xin zhi shu yu ni de, zhi you ni neng da sui."
    "What does that mean?" I ask him.
    He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. "It means, "You can break my heart. Break it a thousand times if you like. It was only ever yours to break anyway"."

    "Wo ai ni," he whispers.
    I want to ask him what does that means but Emma, Gold and Mary Margaret walk into the room before I get the chance to.
    "I'd hate to interrupt this touching conversation but I have to get ready for the spell that will bring Henry and Pan back to their own bodies, so excuse me," Mr Gold says to us.

    Ray takes a step back, letting him pass. "Right. Well, I'm going to join Lewis and my brother outside. Is it too late to change your mind about you wanting to be alone with Pan when he gets back to his own body.?"
    I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him on the cheek. "Don't worry, he won't hurt me."
    "Stay safe," he says.
    I smile. "I always am."

    Ray glances back at me one last time before padding out the room as Belle, Henry and Regina walk in. The smile is wipped off Henry's face when he sees the look etched on my mine.
    "Alice, are you alright?" he asks, sitting down on the bed with his mothers.
    I force myself to smile. "I'm fine. I'm just... Anxious to talk to Peter again."

    I glance at Emma as she walks over to Henry.
    "You doing okay, kid?" she asks
    "Yeah," Henry replies. "Just ready to be me again.
   Emma nods, understandingly. My eyes dart to Mr Gold who's flipping through a spell book.
    "Not much longer now, Henry," he announces, turning a page." Not much longer."

    He then snaps the book shut, turning to face us. "Once we have the wand, all will be as ensured."

****

   I gather up my courage as I make my way to Rumpelstiltskin. He looks up as I approach him. "Mr Gold, I'm sorry for bothering you, but I was just wondering if I could-"
    "If you could talk to Pan before trap him in Pandora's Box for eternity?" he asks.
    "If- If it's not too much trouble, of course," I add, hastily.

    He raises his hand. "It's fine. I'll give you a few minutes alone with him."
    "Thank you."
    I lean against the wall, taking deep breaths to stop myself from having another panic attack. I can't believe how causal Mr Gold was when he said that he was going to trap his son inside Pandora's Box. I've always known that this would happen eventually. I just never thought that it'd affect me so much.

    Deep breaths, Alice. Deep breaths. You can't afford to break down now.
    I'm jolted back to the present at the sound of the front door being opened. The sound of footfalls follows almost immediately and David, Hook and Neal soon emerge from behind the curtain.
    "She's back, The Blue Fairy," David says. "She gave us the wand."
    "Do we need anything else?" Emma asks.

    "Only one more item," Gold says, opening a cabinet.
    He rummages through the cupboard and pulls out a leather cuff.
    "What is that?" Mary Margaret asks as he steps out from behind the counter, the bracelet in his hand.
    "This is one of the only useful things that I managed to pilfer from Greg and Tamara before they left for Neverland," Gold replies.

    He stops walking when he reaches Henry. "It renders anyone with magic utterly powerless."
    "I haven't forgotten about all that, by the way," Regina says, disdainfully.
    "Let me see your wrist, Henry," Mr Gold says.
    Henry obliges, extending his hand out to his grandfather. Gold takes his arm in his hand, cuffing the leather bracelet on Peter's arm.

    "I want to make sure that when Bae's older brother awakes he is weakened," Gold tells us. "This will block his powers."
    "So what happens now?" Henry asks.
    "I enact the spell, you fall into a deep sleep and when you awake, you're back in your own body," the older man explains.

    Regina turns to face her son. "Then you hang onto that scroll and come find us as fast as you can."
    I watch as Neal hands the Black Fairy's wand to his father.
    Henry sighs. "I gave my heart to Pan, I thought I was being a hero. I'm sorry."
    "You're not the one that needs to be sorry," David tells him. "Pan does."
    "It's time," Gold announces.

    Emma and Regina stand up, giving Henry space to lie down on the cot.
    "Keep your eye on the wand," Gold tells him, waving the wand over his face. Henry closes his eyes as Mr. Gold casts the spell. Not one second passes by when Peter's body begins convulsing like he's been electrocuted.
    "What's happening?" Emma asks, worriedly.

    We all look at Mr Gold for answers.
    "Henry's spirit is leaving Pan's body," he tells us.

    Peter's body continues shaking, but  gradually subsides as the seconds pass.
    "It worked," Regina states.
 

   "Let's go find our son," Emma says.
    Everyone immediately begins leaving the shop, Belle and Neal following in suit.

    The duo stops walking when they notice that Gold and I aren't leaving.
    "You guys aren't coming?" Belle asks.
    "No, no. I think not," he answers. "My son and I have, uh... some unfinished family business."
    "And I'd like to see Peter one last time before he's torn from my life. Again," I add.

    Belle leaves us to it but Neal lingers for a beat longer and staring silently at his father.
    "Why does he hate you so much?" Neal asks.
    "I killed his mother and banished him in Neverland with your grandfather," Gold replies his voice laced with regret.
    Neal and I gape at the older man.

    I can't bring myself to speak, but the same can't be said for Baelfire as he regains his composure before me.
    "Why?" Neal demands. "What'd he ever do to you?"
    That's a good question.
    "He existed," Gold replies. "His very existence was a threat."
    "To who? To you?"

    Gold shakes his head. "No, Bae. I did what I did because our family would never be safe as long as he was still around. I had to get rid of him."
    "You mean all this could've been avoided if you didn't banish him?" Neal asks.
    "No, Bae. You have to understand why I did it."
    Neal exhales, agitated.

    "I don't wanna hear it," Neal says. "Now I'm going with Emma and the others to help find Henry, Pan's nephew."
    And with that said Neal storms off, leaving his father speechless. Gold looks at me, then towards the door, then back at me. "If it's alright with you I'd like to be here when he wakes up, I'll leave afterwards."

https://youtu.be/ZE_VCideai0

    "I think that's a good idea- you leaving afterwards, not the staying around part," I say, gesturing towards him.
    A silence falls over as us we wait for Peter to regain his consciousness, which he does a couple seconds later.
    "Hello, son," Mr Gold greets as Peter's eyes flutter open.

    Peter exhales, not sitting up yet. "So you've finally acknowledged me as your child. I thought you'd kill me in my sleep, father." He sits up on the bed. "I guess you changed your—"
    Peter pauses, noticing the cuff on his wrist. "Oh, wait. I see." He scoffs. "'You've taken away my magic. That's why it's so easy for you to strut around and pose now, isn't it?"

    "No, I took away your magic because Alice and I wanted to talk to you," Gold tells him.
    Only then does Peter notice me standing in the room.
    "Alice," he breaths.
    Mr Gold goes on as if Peter didn't speak. "I wasn't originally going to take away your magic, I only did that because Alice's friends threatened to torture me if you hurt her."

    "I'd usually just ignore death threats but it's hard to do so when Belle's here."
    I give The Dark one a look and he raises his hands in surrender. "I'll leave you two alone now."
    He waving his hand as he walks out the room, causing the thick curtains to close behind him.

    Peter waits until he hears the sound of the front door opening and closing before standing up. "Alice, you came. I can't believe you're here. You-"
    The next few seconds are a blur as Peter has a hand over his cheek and my right hand hurts like a bitch.
    Holy motherf-
    "What the bloody hell was that for?" Peter demands, placing his hand over his cheek.

    "You're in no position to be mad at me, Peter Pan," I growl.
    "Why? What'd I do?" he asks, clueless.
    "What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?!" I exclaim, not believing my ears. "Shall I list the things that you did?! You tried to steal Henry's heart! Again! You switched bodies with Henry!"

    "You led me to believe that I was talking to Henry when you asked me all those things about us, you got Malcolm to take Cassie from me, you-"
    I could've gone on and on, but Peter interrupted me from doing so.
    "I did that so I knew that he'd be safe," he says.
    "Safe? You did it so he'd be safe?! He was perfectly safe with the twins-"

    "He'll never be safe as long as Emma and the others have access to him," Peter says.
    I raise my hand to slap him again but Peter sees it coming. He pushes me against the cot, pinning my wrists above my head.
    "Will you stop pinning me to things?!" I demand, angrily.
    "I will when you stop trying to slap me," he replies, leaning over me.

    I trash in his grip but stop when realization washes over me. "Wait- if you didn't use Cassie's heart to activate the curse, then who's heart did you use?"
    Peter takes a deep breath, loosening his iron grip on my wrists. "Felix's."
    "Felix's?" I gasp. "You killed you best friend for a curse? What kind of sadistic sociopath are you?"

    "I'm not a sadistic sociopath," he argues calmly. "I'm a boy in love, I-"        "You would never kill best friend, your parabatai, over something like love. You-"
    "Goddamnit, will you ever stop interrupting me?" Peter snaps, pushing his body harder against. "I did this for you, for us."

    "If you really loved Cassie and I, you'd stop carrying out plans that'll make things worse for you. Do you even think about what your actions will do to us?" I ask.
    "Of course I think about the outcome my actions bring," he growls. "Why else do you think I do the things I do?"
    "Because you're evil and you love to see people suffer," I say.

    Peter recoils back as if I had slapped him. "Is that what you think of me?"
    I force myself to answer him. "Yes."
    His forest green eyes turn into a shade ten time darker than its usual green hue. He leans in, placing his mouth next to my ear.
    "Liar," he snarls, his hot breath causing me to shiver and I mentally scold myself for showing weakness.

    Peter makes sure that he can keep my wrists secure in his right hand before moving his left hand away. He runs his forefinger down my jawline, stopping at my collarbone, his hand lingering just above my cleavage. My body cries out in pure bliss as he starts nipping at my neck, planting love bites down, only stopping when he reaches the top of my bust.

    His lips cause my skin to tingle and I almost let out a moan as Peter deliberately brushes his lips past my sweet spot just to receive a reaction from me.
    Stop it, Alice, I chid myself. You're not going to submit to this nonsense. You're going to fight back and demand that he stop his stupid plan to kill everyone.

    But I melt like butter when Peter's lips brush against mine. I immediately kiss him back, ignoring everything around us. I kiss him hard. I kiss him until I forget everything else around us. Until the only thing that occupies my mind is him—him and his stupidly sexy smirk and scathing quips and thick curls and his beautifully ethereal face.

    I'm missing something, but I can't put my finger on it.
    Peter answers my question by pulling back, gasping for air.
    Oh, so that's what I was missing. Oxygen.
    He rests his forehead against mine, our intakes of breath short and rapid. "Do you know why I sacrificed Felix for the curse?" he asks.
    I exhale. "No."

    "It's because I wanted to give us a better future," Peter says. "One where you and I rule as King and Queen, with Cassie and the twins as our princes."
    "Oh, Peter," I sigh, sadly. "If only we'd found out that all you needed was for us to fall in love in order for you to stay immortal, we could've had all of that."
    "We still can," he says.

    I shake my head. "No, not like this."
    "Do you know why I kept pestering you to tell me if you still love me?" Peter asks, tracing his forefinger on my hand.
    I shake my head.
    "Because it's easier for me to love myself when you love me too," he tells me. "I thought myself a monster when my father banished me on Neverland, so a monster I became."

    "Since then, I've tortured and killed many people," Peter tells me, ashamed. "I've ruined many lives and tore apart many families. I've been dealt so many blows that when someone gives me a kiss I can't make sense of it. It takes time. You gave me the time I needed within my numbered days, and for that I'm forever grateful. People as messed up as I am are hard to love, but you loved me anyway."

    "Please forgive me," Peter begs, crying. "I'm a monster. I don't deserve you, and I'm destined to be nothing without you. You know who I am and what terrible things I've done and will do, but you love me anyway. You deserve a someone who can give you the world. I hate the fact that I will never be able to tell you how I truly feel because I'm worried that I'll scare you away or that I'll hear something I don't want to hear."

    I wipe away his tears with my thumb, kissing him on the forehead. "I don't need a person like that. You may sin, Peter, but you're no devil. You may be dark, but the darkest paths often lead to the best endings. You needn't worry about scaring me away, I'm not so easily frightened -you can't get rid of me that easily- And I don't want the world, I just want you."
    And with that finally out in the open, I kiss him.

    And he kisses back.

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Sorry for the cliffhanger, I promised my little sister that I'd update today. Anyway, you guys shld be thankful 'cause I'd planned to leave a huge cliffhanger that would kill you guys but I'm feeling quite happy atm I was motivated to update another chapter and you have BlameItOnSpring to thank for that 😘💕

Shout out to my amazing friends for helping me translate Ray's part. I still can't believe it took three girls -all of which are fluent in Chinese btw- to translate that, but it's alright cause I love you guys anyway 💘💘💘

I hope you guys are ready for the next chapter, it's gonna kill all of you 😂 just a small reminder, there are only two more chapters until I end this book. The last one might be extra long.

Well, I'm gonna to go to sleep now *cough*  read TOA now bc I've been putting that off just to update this on time. Bye, guys 💕

~ Alice xx

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"Wo ai ni" means "I love you"

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I'm pretty sure I've asked this before but, Ralice or Palice?

(I'm assuming some ppl will change their minds due to Ray's character development- Oh, who am I kidding? I suck at character development)

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Vote, comment, rate, do whatever you want <3

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