Disclaimer:I do not own Once Upon a Time or its characters or plot ideas. The only things I own in this story are my own ideas and my own characters.

~ Chapter Twenty-Eight ~

I stare at my glowing heart with all the darkness inside it with complete disbelief. Peter glances down at it and smirks when he notices the flickering darkness right in the center of it.

"How could you do this to me?" I whisper quietly, my eyes wide.

"Because I love you. And because I need your heart in order to do something that needs to be done." Hearing Peter say those words in Henry's body causes my stomach to twist painfully.

"You don't have to do this at all! I told you that we can go back to Neverland and you can bind yourself to me. Neither of us will ever have to worry about anything again." I turn to Felix but immediately disregard gaining his help when I notice he's frozen in shock.

"But that way I don't win. Peter Pan never fails." Peter continues to give me that wretched smirk of his. I wish I could smack it off his face but the fact that he's currently holding my heart keeps me from doing anything stupid.

"You're doing this for your stupid pride? Really?" I shriek. "Because of that stupid mantra the lost boys assigned to you ages ago you're going to kill me?"

"No, I'm killing you so I can cast the curse. Haven't you been listening?" Peter huffs. "It's not like I want to kill you but I do want to win and unfortunately, that means you have to die." Before I can say anything else he moves my heart over the well and I realize that it's glowing. Then the most painful feeling I have ever felt takes control of my body.

I cry out and fall to the ground as I grip my chest. My cries seem to snap Felix out of whatever shocked state he had fallen into because suddenly he grips Peter's wrist and pushes him backwards. Because Peter wasn't expecting any interference from either of us, he almost falls from the force of Felix's shove.

"What do you think you're doing?" Peter seethes as he storms up to Felix.

"I can't let you kill her. Not when there's another way for all of us to live." Felix growls. "I know if you kill her now you will one day regret it. Because she's the only person in your life who doesn't see you as a monster."

Peter narrows his eyes and raises his hand that isn't currently holding my heart. Felix goes flying back and hits a tree before his body collapses to the earth with a loud thud. He must be out cold because he makes no effort to get up.

Peter walks back towards the well only this time I notice a falter in his step. "Alright, if you want to sacrifice me to get what you want. Fine. Do it. See if anyone else will stand beside you like Felix and I have once you're the king of this 'new Neverland'. I can guarantee you, Felix won't stand beside you when he wakes up and sees that you killed me."

Peter keeps his back to me but I can see his head turn ever so slightly as he looks over his shoulder at me. With a shake of his head he starts to squeeze my heart again and I collapse to the ground again. The pain is the worst I have ever felt. I can't even form coherent thoughts to describe what having your heart ripped out and squeezed feels like. It's like a million forms of torture rolled into one and then magnified by ten. As my screams continue to tear into the night I wonder if anyone will hear them and try to come to my rescue. Surely, they will die trying.

Just as my vision starts to go dark the pain stops and I begin to gasp for air. Tears wet my cheeks and I claw at the earth as I roll over and look up at Peter. He's staring at my heart with a tortured expression, as if he's the one who just went through the pain that I did.

With a gasp he looks at me and says, "I can't do it. I won't." I slowly manage to push myself up off the ground until I'm in a sitting position. I watch him cautiously as he walks over to me. "I'll put your heart back and then we'll find another way. But I can't kill you."

"No… You're lying." I mumble as I try to move away from him. "This is just a part of your sick game. Do you really hate me so much that you're willing to torture me first?"

"No, Karina. I'm not lying and I don't hate you." He reaches out to caress my cheek and I flinch away from him. He drops his hand and looks down at his feet. "I can't kill you because Felix was right. You're the only one who doesn't look at me like I'm a monster. I'm not willing to give that up just to rule this town. To be honest, this town isn't that great anyways. The Evil Queen really could've done a better job."

"We'll go back to Neverland?" I ask nervously. I still can't believe that he's being truthful. I've realized now that villains don't get happy endings. Even if Peter did have a change of heart and decided not to cast this curse I can't believe that he's so willing to go back to Neverland and let the heroes win.

"Yes. We'll go back to Neverland and I'll bind myself to you. We'll be together for an eternity; just like we were always meant to be." He grips my chin and I can tell he's about to lean in for a kiss when I put my hand up.

"Um… No. Not while you're in Henry's body. We have to get your own body back first." I eye Peter in Henry's body and grimace.

"Yea… That's definitely a good idea." Peter mutters as he looks down at his current body. "First, let's put your heart back." He's about to place my heart back where it belongs when suddenly his shadow swoops down from above and rips my heart out of his hand.

"Remember when I said I would kill you for binding me as your shadow?" It's the first time I've ever heard the shadow speak and I wish I hadn't. The voice is incredibly disconcerting. Even more so now that he holds my heart.

"Karina has nothing to do with this." Peter snarls as he jumps to his feet. The shadow is looming over the well with my heart and I know that if the shadow chooses to crush my heart it will activate the curse because he is Peter's shadow. Essentially, they are the same person.

"She has everything to do with this!" The shadow hisses. "You used to be a wicked villain. You would sacrifice me children and play games with your victims. But then you grew to love this wretched girl and you became soft. Now you can't even cast the curse that will bring about our victory!"

"How are you even doing this? You're supposed to be bound to me as my shadow! You can't disobey me even if you wanted to." Peter looks at his shadow in disbelief as it starts to cackle horrendously.

"You stupid boy… The more you weakened the more your magic over me weakened as well. Then when you made the stupid decision to switch bodies with this boy you finally set me free. It's hard for me to be your shadow when you're in a body that is barely magical." The shadow snorts and then as if to say that the conversation is over his fist tightens around my heart.

With a sharp cry I grab my chest and fall to my knees. "Peter!" I gasp.

"Let her go!" Peter shouts as he forms a fire ball in his hand. "You said you wanted to kill me. Well, I'm standing right here. Give it your best shot." The shadow continues to ignore him and crush my heart. "Oh, I get it. You're afraid of losing to a 'stupid boy'."

Clearly, the shadow's biggest problem is his ego. Because Peter's taunting works and with a mighty roar the shadow lunges at him. The pain in my chest subsides and I'm able to breathe again and watch as Peter throws the fire ball right in the shadow's face. The shadow veers back with a sharp cry. While it's distracted Peter throws another fireball and another until suddenly the shadow breaks free and throws Peter up against the tree and pins him there.

I know I have to do something to help Peter but with no weapon and no magic of my own I am extremely limited. I decide my only choice is to attack it with my own two hands. I rush forward and I'm a little surprised when I'm able to grab onto it. The shadow's form feels oily and thick in my hands as I grab it by the waist and pull with all my force.

The shadow drops Peter to the ground and turns on me. It backhands me and I go flying and hit my head against the well with a loud cry. Despite the throbbing pain at the back of my skull I jump to my feet, prepared to help Peter again.

The piercing cry of the shadow fills the night air as Peter continue to launch fire ball after fire ball at it. Slowly, he backs it towards me and the well. "Karina, duck!" Peter shouts. I dodge out of the way and soon Peter has the shadow cornered against the well. "Get your heart!" He yells at me. I jump in front of the shadow and grab my heart from it's hand as Peter continues to throw fireballs at it from the side.

As I rip my heart from it's hand I lift my foot and kick it with all my might. The shadow falls down into the well with a shrill scream. The moment it lands at the bottom of the well a dark green cloud starts to rise.

"Um… Peter?" I call out as I peer down into the well with wide eyes. "What's going on?" Peter walks over and leans over the edge of the well to see what I'm seeing.

"The curse… It's been activated." Peter turns to look at me as a smirk slowly starts to grow across his face.

"What? How? I'm holding my heart right here! And as you can see, I am clearly alive!" I gesture towards my body several times as I begin to hyperventilate. "Oh no… We just cast a curse… Oh man. My dad's going to kill me."

"We sacrificed my shadow… Which, I suppose was such an integral part of me it was essentially sacrificing myself. I guess since the spell worked I really loved myself more than I loved anyone…" Peter trail off, clearly perplexed by this newfound information.

"Oh, that's nice. I'm dating a narcissist." I mutter sarcastically.

"Don't you see what this means, Karina?" Peter grips my arms enthusiastically. When I slowly shake my head he continues, "It means that I can have everything! I can keep you and Felix and I can win! The curse is activated. Soon, I will be in control of this entire place and everyone else will be slaves to me and my new world."

"Peter…" I start to say but he interrupts me with a joyful laugh.

"I've won!" He turns to look at me and grins. "C'mon. Let's grab Felix and go someplace where we can watch the madness unfold." He grabs my hand and drags me towards Felix's unconscious body.

Behind us the dark green cloud of smoke starts to flow over the well walls and cover the ground. I watch with wide eyed horror as I realize what we have unleashed.

…..

"Let me get this straight… By sacrificing your shadow you were able cast the curse and Karina was able to survive it." Felix looks between the two of us as I lean against the wall next to the giant clock and Peter sits down on a crate in the middle of the room.

As I look out the window I can already see the destruction of the curse. My stomach twists painfully as I wonder where my father is. I thought I was going to die earlier and now all I want to do is apologize and make up with him. I don't want our last moments together to be filled with anger and hatred.

"That's right." Peter replies.

"But how is this going to affect Karina now? She was supposed to be what triggered the activation of the curse. You said that the two of us will be immune to it… What about her?" Felix asks curiously.

I look away from the window and focus my attention on Peter. I hadn't thought about what kind of impact the curse will have on me now. "I don't know. I suppose it's either one. She'll either be placed under the curse like the others or she'll be immune. If she does end up cursed I can easily find some way to break it." Peter shrugs his shoulders, clearly unconcerned by my unknown outcome.

I sigh heavily and turn back to face the window. "I thought we were going to go back to Neverland."

"That was before the curse was activated and before I found out you don't have to die to get what I want." I hear someone get up and when I turn around to look I see that it's Peter. He's walking towards me with my heart in my hands. "I guess we should've put this back already."

"Oh, you're not going to use it as leverage against me?" I say this only half-joking.

"No, of course not." Peter scoffs. In just a few seconds he has gripped my shoulder tightly and then shoved the glowing organ back into my body.

"Ow!" I cry. "You could have warned me."

Peter smirks and it looks like he's going to say something when suddenly his eyes roll back into his head and it appears as though he's having a seizure

"What's going on?" Felix shouts as he grabs Henry's body and gently lowers it to the floor.

"I don't know!" I shriek as I fall to my knees next to him and hold his hand. What feels like hours pass until Henry slowly opens his eyes. I lean forward and look into his eyes, "Peter?"

"Karina?" He looks around and when he sees Felix on the other side of him he jolts up and scrambles away from us.

"Henry?!" I cry this time as I jump to my feet. Felix and I exchange an astounded look as Henry stares at both of us. "Henry, is that really you?"

"Yea… Yea, it's me." He looks at Felix nervously. "Mr. Gold cast a spell to put Pan and I back in our own bodies."

"It's ok, Henry. Felix won't hurt you… Right?" I turn to give Felix a pointed look. He appears as though he's going to try and ignore me so I hit him as hard as I can on his arm.

"Ow!" He shouts and starts to rub his bruised limb. "No, I won't hurt you."

"Karina… Did you help Pan cast this curse?" Henry asks me, his expression hurt.

"Not intentionally. Believe me, kid. It's a very long story."

"We thought for sure that you'd be dead when we learnt that Pan successfully activated the curse. Doesn't he love you more than anyone?" Henry asks curiously.

"No, apparently he loves himself the most." I grumble as I cross my arms over my chest.

"Karina, we can stop this curse from happening. I just have to get this scroll to my moms." Henry fishes the scroll that Peter used to cast the curse out of his pocket and shows it to me.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, kid." Felix smirks dangerously. "Pan's finally getting what he wants and I can't let anyone try and stop him."

"Oh, for God's sake, Felix! If they don't stop this curse we'll never go back to Neverland. You love Neverland! And you hate Storybrooke. We'll let Henry go so that the heroes can stop the curse and then we'll deal with Peter's backlash later."

"You may be content constantly switching your loyalties, Karina, but I'm not." Felix growls. He starts to advance on Henry and the moment his back is to me I grab him by the back of his hair and bring his head down to hit the banister to the stairs, one, two, three times before finally he passes out.

"Ok, Henry. Go!" I shout and needing no further encouragement Henry races down the stairs of the tower with me following quickly on his heels.

As we run outside we see all the heroes including my father and Granny running towards us. "It's me! It's me! It worked." Henry shouts happily as his mothers embrace him.

I see my father stop suddenly when he sees me and I run to him. I throw myself into him and wrap my arms around his neck. He wraps his arms around my waist and hugs me tightly. "I'm sorry, Papa!" I cry into his neck.

He puts me down and cups my chin with his hand. "I thought you were dead… Pan cast the curse. How are you alive?"

I'm about to tell him that it's a long story when I see the others are also looking at me, clearly waiting for an explanation. "Apparently, Pan loves himself more than he loved me. He tried to sacrifice me first but he couldn't go through with it. His shadow came out of nowhere and tried to sacrifice me anyways so I kind of kicked it down the well and it activated the curse…"

"Idiot!" Regina growls.

"Hey, he was trying to crush my heart! I didn't have much of a choice." I grumble.

"None of that matters anymore! Henry, do you have the scroll?" Emma asks her son. He pulls it from his pocket and smiles. "It's up to you now."

Emma hands the scroll to Regina but the moment she touches it a ray of light shines out of it and Regina collapses. Emma constantly shouts her name until finally Regina awakens with a gasp. "Emma?" She whispers. Neal helps her get to her feet though she looks like she's too shocked to register anything.

"What happened? Are you ok?" Emma asks.

"Yes. I'm fine… I just saw what need to be done." Regina mumbles. She says it so quietly I can barely hear her.

"Mom… Are you going to be ok?" Henry wonders nervously.

She leans forward and cups his chin. "The important thing is… You'll be." She smiles at him and before Henry can smile back the scroll disappears from his mother's hand.

"No, he won't." I look up and Peter is walking towards us, a devilish grin on his face.

"He has the-," My father starts to yell when Peter waves his hand and all of us freeze.

"Curse? That I do. Look at you all, a captive audience!" Peter says gleefully. "I could play with you like a pack of dolls, couldn't I? But I think I'll start with these two." He walks towards Neal and Belle. "Hm, you both look so adorable. Hard to tell which one to kill first… Wait, no it isn't. You, I'll kill you first." He points at Neal. "Truthfully, I should've killed you a long time ago. Just like I killed Rufio. Both of you tried to steal my girl, take her away from Neverland. I was merciful then and let you live… But now, I'm not feeling so nice…"

"Stay away from them." Gold grabs Peter by the shoulder and turns him around to face him.

"How about this? The worm has teeth. What? Are you here to protect your loved ones?" By the end of it his voice has taken on a babyish tone as he smirks wickedly.

"I'm not going to let you touch either one of them." Gold replies cockily.

"Oh, I'd like to see that."

"Oh, you will. Because I have a job to finish and I have to do whatever it takes. No loopholes." Panic starts to set in as I realize that something is very, very wrong. "And what needs to be done requires a price… A price I am finally willing to pay." Gold turns to look at his son. "I used the curse to find you Bae, to tell you that I made a mistake… To make sure you were the chance at happiness. That happiness is possible. Just not with me… I love you, Bae."

"Pretty, pretty words." Peter snorts. Just then I hear the sound of a door open and close and I look up to see Felix walking towards us.

"And I love you, Belle. You made me stronger." Gold continues like nothing has happened even though I know he heard Felix.

"Stronger?" Peter laughs again. "Yes… But still, no magic." I notice the black band on Gold's wrist. The one that Peter spelled a very long time ago.

"Oh, but I don't need it!" Gold exclaims. "You see, you may have lost your shadow but there's one thing you seem to be forgetting."

"What's that?" Peter asks angrily.

"So have I. And I sent it away with something to hide." He lifts his arm in the air and a shadow comes swooping down from the sky. It drops the Dark One's dagger in Gold's hand. Without hesitation Gold grabs onto Peter. "You see, the only way for you to die is if we both die!"

Peter tries to fight him and Felix tries to hit Gold but some type of magic throws him back. "No!" Felix shouts.

"Now… I'm ready!" Gold ignores Felix and plunges the dagger into Peter's back.

"NO!" I scream and just like that the magic keeping me still breaks. I stumble forward and I look at the others to see they're still frozen. "PETER!" I scream and rush towards the two brothers. However, much like what happened to Felix, I get thrown back by some electrical shock of magic.

"Hello, Malcom." Gold says as Peter starts to age.

"Rumple, please… You can stop this. We can start over. We can have a happy ending!" Peter tries to reason in a haggard tone. He starts to wheeze as the dagger sucks more and more of his life away.

"Oh, but I'm a villain! And villains don't get happy endings." Gold jerks the dagger up some more and light magic starts to envelope the two men as the life fades from Peter's eyes.

"No, no, no! Peter!" I sob as I clench my fists to my chest. I watch as Gold kisses his brother on the cheek and in a bright blast of light the two men disappear leaving only the scroll behind.

With Gold and Peter gone the magic wears off on the others but I don't pay them any attention as I sob uncontrollably. The pain I feel is somehow worse than my heart being crushed. I think I would prefer that now, actually, if it meant I didn't have to witness the love of my life be killed.

As I continue to sob Felix slowly walks towards me and falls to his knees beside me. I feel him place his hand on my back but it offers no comfort. Then I see Regina walk around us and pick up the scroll.

Suddenly, an anger like I have never felt before courses through my veins and causes me to see red. Everything in me, from the tips of my fingers to the centre of my being feels like it's been filled with heat. I jump up and rush at Regina. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" Before I can get very far I feel arms wrap around my waist. I try to fight Felix but he refuses to let me go. "YOU DID THIS! I HAD IT ALL PLANNED OUT! WE WERE GOING TO GO BACK TO NEVERLAND AND YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE SEEN US AGAIN! I HATE YOU! I HATE ALL OF YOU!"

The others seem shocked by my explosive reaction. "Karina, it was for the best." Emma says quietly.

"It was for the best? How was any of this for the best? I have done everything for all of you! I have sacrificed my own loyalties to ensure that you were all kept safe! Now you had one chance to let us go and you couldn't take it? Do you all hate me that much?! Do you want to see me suffer?" I continue to cry and fight against Felix.

"He never would've gone back to Neverland and left us all alone! I don't care how much faith you had in him. He cast that curse and he was going to kill us all!" Emma looks like she's trying desperately to plead with me.

"I'm the one who ended up casting the curse! I kicked the shadow down that damn well! I thought of everything! I let Henry go rather than stop him so he could give you that stupid scroll so you could stop the curse. Then Peter, Felix and I were going to leave. You had to ruin it!"

"We didn't know that's what Gold was planning!" Emma shouts.

"Bullshit!" I start to sob again. "I loved him and now he's gone! Because of all of you! I… I don't k-know how to l-live without him."

"Karina, it was for the be-," My father starts.

"So help me, if you say 'it was for the best' one more time I will kill you myself!" I shriek as I claw at Felix's arms. Felix's grip is steady and unwavering as he continues to support most of my weight and suffers through my attacks.

"Karina…" My father whispers sadly.

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you… He's dead because of you." I start to chant as Felix and I fall to the ground. I don't know exactly who I'm speaking to as I say those words but by the look on my father's face he must have thought I was directing them towards him. I can hear Felix trying to his best to say comforting words but comforting a person isn't his strongest skill. "I've lost everything…" I say to myself and I notice the others look around at each other nervously.

"IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!" A new voice starts to shout and when I look up Leroy is running towards us. "The curse… It's coming! From all sides! There's no escape." He points over his shoulder and I can see the curse gaining on us.

"It's not too late." David exclaims hopefully. "We can still stop it, right? Regina?"

"Yes… Yes." Regina seems too shocked to say anything other than one word.

"Well what's our price? Gold said there is always a price. What's ours?" Emma asks.

"It's not our price, it's mine…" Regina explains. "It's what I felt when I first held it." She looks down at the scroll in her hands. "I have to say goodbye to the thing I love most."

"Henry?" Emma asks nervously.

"I can never see him again… I have no choice." Regina replies. "I have to undo what I did."

"The curse that brought us to Storybrooke?" Mary Margaret wonders.

"That created Storybrooke… It doesn't belong here. And neither does any of us!" Regina gestures towards all of us with a sad smile.

"Breaking the curse destroys the town…" David mutters.

"It will be taken out of existence as though it were never here." Regina clarifies. "And everyone will go back to where they are from… Prevented from ever returning."

"We'll go back to the Enchanted Forest?" Emma inquires.

"All of us… Except Henry and Karina." I lift my head in shock and Regina nods her head ever so slightly. "Henry will stay here because he was born here… And Karina will stay because even though Pan started the curse, she was the one to essentially cast it and that makes her immune… Just like Pan wanted himself to be immune from the magic of the curse so that he could obtain his memories while the rest of us were cursed."

"But… We'll be alone." Henry whispers. I don't bother to look up because I can't bring myself to look at the crestfallen look on his face. "Karina and I can't live on our own!"

"No… Because Emma will take you both… She's the saviour. She was created to break the curse and once again she'll be able to escape it."

"No, we'll all go back together." Emma exclaims.

"That's not an option… I can't see Henry again. That is the price I must pay. If I don't pay the price than none of this will work." Regina replies sadly as she cups her son's cheek.

"Emma, you have to go!" Mary Margaret urges her daughter.

"But I just found you…"

"And now it's time for you to leave us again. For your best chance, for theirs." Mary Margaret nods towards Henry and me.

"No, no, no! I'm not done. I'm the saviour, right? That's what Henry always said! I'm meant to bring back the happy endings." Emma looks to her son as if she needs some reassurance of her magical destiny.

"Happy endings aren't always what we think they will be." Mary Margaret shakes her head and smiles but I can tell she's trying very hard to hold back tears. "Look around, you've touched the lives of everyone here."

Emma's eyes drift around our group but when her gaze stops on me she immediately winces and looks away. "But we're a family." She says to her mother.

"Yes, and we always will be."

"You, Henry and Karina can be a family. You can get your wish… You can be like everyone else. You can be happy." David smiles but unlike his wife he has less success keeping the tears from falling.

"It's time for you to believe in yourself, Emma. It's time for you to find hope."

"I've known you for some time and all I've wanted was for you to get the hell out of my life so I can be with my son… But really, what I want is for Henry to be happy. We have no choice. You have to go." Regina looks Emma firmly in the eyes and her tone leaves no room for argument. With Henry's future happiness on the line Emma can't find any other reason to argue.

"Ok…" She whispers and with her agreement Regina sends the three of us off to pack our things.

Felix follows me back to my apartment though when we arrive instead of packing I walk over to my bed and curl up into a ball. "Karina, you have to pack." Felix urges as he grabs a suitcase out from my closet and starts throwing clothes into it.

"If I stayed here… And the town becomes overrun with the forest once again… Will it kill me?" I ask with no emotion behind my words whatsoever.

Felix stops his rushed packing and walks over to me. "Karina, sit up." When I refuse to do as he says he forces me into a sitting position and then cups my face in his hands. "Pan would not want you to die. He would want you to get off your ass and fight for your life. I know you're hurting a lot right now, but as your friend I am telling you to quit with your self-pity and pack and live!"

"You can be a real ass sometimes, you know that, right?" I grumble but I get up and start to pack my things as well. The moment we're finished throwing my few belongings into the suit case Felix slams it shut and we head towards the town line.

We're the last ones to arrive and I can see that the tearful goodbyes are already underway. Emma hugs her parents, and so does Henry. When my father sees me he walks hesitantly towards me. "I'll leave you two alone." Felix mutters awkwardly as he wanders over to Emma's car with my suitcase.

"Karina…" My father whispers. "I'm… So sorry. For everything. I stupidly thought that treating you like a child was the best way to keep you safe but I realize now that I couldn't have been more wrong. I spent so much time looking for the little girl I lost that I refused to believe that she had grown up into a wonderful, beautiful woman that didn't need her papa anymore. I'm sorry that Pan was killed and I'm sorry for my hand in his demise… If I could go back I would have let you make your own decisions and none of this would be happening."

"Don't blame yourself, papa…" I mumble as I look down at my feet.

"I do blame myself because I didn't realize just how much you loved him until I saw your heart break and mine broke along with yours. A father never wants to see his child in pain and to know that I'm the one who's caused you the most pain in your life upsets me more than you can ever know. I can't let you go until I tell you just how sorry I am. I don't expect you to forgive me. I just needed you to know that I am sorry… And that I love you." Hesitantly he reaches towards me for a hug. I allow him to wrap his arms around me but I know it's not lost on either of us that I barely return his hug.

"I love you too, papa." I reply as we pull away. "Goodbye." Tears fill his eyes as I squeeze his hand and walk towards Emma's car. I send a small wave in Tink's direction and I realize that she is also crying.

"Hey, Karina…" I turn around and I'm immediately enveloped in a hug by Neal. "Until we meet again… And we will, I promise."

"Bye Neal… Take care of yourself." I give him a watery grin and upon seeing my tears he pulls me in for another hug.

"You too…" When he pulls away I can tell he wants to say more, but we both know that saying anything else has the potential to ruin everything. Instead he smiles sadly and pats my shoulder.

I turn away and prepare to say goodbye to the person I was dreading saying goodbye to the most. I see him standing next to the car with his hands shoved in his pockets and his usual pessimistic scowl etched into his pale features. We stand in front of each other for a moment simply staring at one another. But then, after what seemed like an eternity, we reach out and hug. I bury my face in his neck and once again the tears start to flow. "I think I'm going to miss you to the most." Saying goodbye to Felix feels like saying goodbye to Peter. They're so much alike and I care so much for Felix, just like I cared for Peter. Once I leave with Emma and Henry I will no longer have any connection to my old life.

"Surprisingly, I think I'm going to miss you too." Felix attempts to sound nonchalant and I'm sure to the others he sounds that way. But I can hear the real pain in his voice that he's trying to mask because only I know him well enough.

"Promise me you won't do anything stupid." I order, my voice muffled because my face is still turned into his neck.

"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing to you…"

"I mean it, Felix. Don't try to go after Regina, or Mary Margaret and David, or my father or anyone for killing Peter. You'll just end up dead and I won't be able to live with myself if you die too."

"Technically, you won't know if I'm dead or alive once I go back to the Enchanted Forest." Felix replies.

"Felix." I say warningly and his answer is to hug me tighter.

"I promise I won't do anything to anyone. I'll try my best to stay alive… For you." He whispers in my ear and now that no one else can hear him he allows his emotions to creep slowly into his voice.

As we pull away I hear Regina telling Emma that the curse will take away our memories but she will give us new ones. As she says this an idea hits me. "Taking away my memories… They'll take away any memory of Peter, right? But it can't take away my emotions… I'll be sad and I won't know why."

"That's right… But what I can do is give you new memories, happier ones. They should cover the pain you felt over Pan's death. Consider it my way of thanking you for helping us get Henry back." I think this is the sincerest Regina has been with me since before everything happened in Neverland. "My gift to all of you will be a good life with happy memories… Emma, you will never have given Henry up. Karina, Emma will have adopted you and you'll be so happy and living a life with a good family like you were always meant to. When I stop Pan's curse and you three cross over that line… You'll have the life you've always wanted."

"But it won't be real…" Emma responds.

"Your past won't… But your future will be. Now go… There isn't much time left and the curse will be here any minute." Regina smiles sadly.

There is one more quick goodbye before the three of us walk over to Emma's car. Henry jumps in the back and I climb into the passenger's side as Emma gets behind the wheel. I look in the mirror and I can see the huge green cloud of the curse quickly approaching behind us. Just when I think we're about to get wrapped up in the curse Emma pulls away and Regina casts a spell of her own.

Everyone becomes enveloped in the different coloured cloud of smoke and slowly I take my eyes off the mirror and settle into the front seat. I try to hold onto my memories but I can feel them slipping away from me faster and faster. Then, almost like a switch has been flipped everything changes.

One Year Later…

I'm sitting on the roof of our building without a care in the world as I continuously look back and forth between the star map Emma got me for my birthday and the sky. I'm trying to spot as many constellations as I can but the sky isn't exactly bright in New York. However, there seems to be two stars in particular that constantly catch my attention. Stories I was told as a kid would link them to the story about Peter Pan and his lost boys… The second star to the right.

No matter how many times I try to ignore those two stars I find myself constantly being drawn back to them. I can't seem to look away for longer than a few seconds. There's nothing overtly special about the stars. Their placement match the story of how to get to Neverland and although they seem to shine brighter than most stars there are still a few brighter than them.

Suddenly a huge gust of wind knocks my star map out of my lap and sends it flying over the edge of the roof. I jump to my feet and rush to see where it lands. That's when I hear my name. "Karina…" It seems like it's a whisper carried across the wind and something about the way that it sounds stops me in my tracks. I feel a deep, heavy pang in my chest that stops my breathing and stills my heart. I look around as the wind starts to die down but I don't see anyone. Feeling unnerved I decide to forget my star map and I rush back into the building.

As the door slams shut behind me, pushed by the heavy wind, I hear my name again, only this time it's shouted inside my head. "KARINA!"

I push the deadbolt into place on the door and slowly back away, my heart pounding and my breathing short and heavy. The wind slams against the door, making it sound like someone is knocking rather forcefully. Feeling terrified I twirl around and rush back to the apartment I share with Emma and Henry.

I don't look back, even when I feel like there is a pair of eyes watching my every move.

A/N: I really hope killing off Peter didn't turn any of you off from the sequel! However, this ending does hold a mystery that needs to be solved, does it not? I just felt that all of this needed to happen because I couldn't justify Peter turning completely soft at the end. He and Karina are villains so I needed an ending that did their characters justice.

Now, I would like to take a moment to thank each and every person who read and supported this story. The overwhelming support I received while writing this story truly blew me away and I can't thank all of you enough. I am so happy that I will be able to do a sequel for you all and I hope you all enjoy it as much as you enjoyed this story.

The sequel should be posted by the time you have finished this chapter. It's called Say You Won't Let Go and I hope you all will go check it out!

Please take a moment to review!