Checkmate

Pan POV

I was back.

All of me, mixed with all of Thomas. I almost didn't know which memories were real. But the moment I pulled away from Bethany's lips, it felt like a switch flicked in my brain. I had planned everything, all the way up to leaving her. I had broken Bethany, tore her apart, just as I had planned, but then my stupid son had to push me over the town line.

I could have pulled the star from her the night I left. It would have been enough. I could have saved all of us... even Felix. She would have been free to have a life with him.

But now Felix had gone, and everyone Bethany loved once again found themselves in danger. I had a duty to them, to her. I had to save her. I owed her that much.

The night I had vanished from Bethany to appear before my son in his home, he had been waiting for me. This time, his back remained to me as he spun his gold threads. "When I gave you that necklace, it was not so you could pop in whenever you wished, dearie."

I gulped at the creature before me, but suppressed the fear and crossed my arms over my chest. "Can't a father come and visit his son?"

Rumplestiltskin made a high-pitched squeal of delight as he slowly turned from his spinning wheel to face me. Whereas his voice would have deepened at the sight of me, now it remained high, crazed, mad. "Papa! So you've come to save your family. How... pre-cious."

"I only want to save the boy."

Rumplestiltskin released a high-pitched giggle as he clapped his hands together. "All for your twoo wuv."

"Rumple, I don't have time for your games."

"Oh, but I do, Dearie." He waved his hand and the two of us appeared in the middle of town. The heroes stood around us, their weapons aimed at Bellamy as, in his arms, stood Bethany. Her eyes widened as Bellamy's sword pressed against her neck. "Save the boy, or save your twoo wuv."

"Pan?" Hook asked, causing me to turn. I furrowed my brows at him, unsure how he had recognised the difference, before I glanced down. Rumple had returned my attire to that of the one I had worn in Neverland. Before I could answer the pirate, a second voice piped up.

"Save Bethany!" Henry called as he struggled against the ropes magically binding him to the lamppost. The same lamppost Felix had died under.

"Now Now, Dearie," Rumple called to the boy. "It isn't your decision."

I inhaled a deep breath through my nose as my eyes flicked back to Bellamy. "So, you're the one who killed Felix?"

"I am."

"That is not what I told you to do."

The man's eyes narrowed. "Kroshka said you do not remember. She said Pan is gone."

Bethany laughed coldly as her eyes flicked to mine. I didn't have to ask; I knew her like I knew myself. "I lied," she said as she twisted in the man's grasp. I threw a fireball directly at Bellamy's face, hitting him directly as Bethany squirmed from his grip and towards me.

I held her behind me as I faced my son once more. He snarled and held up his hand towards Henry, but as his grip tightened, he turned to find the ropes and the boy gone. Regina had also vanished temporarily from the crowd.

"You're getting slow in your old age, Laddie," I sneered, my gaze darkening as it flicked between the pirate and the creature before me.

As Bellamy stood, his face untouched by the flames, I heard him mutter my name before he turned on his heels and bolted, only to be stopped by a wall of lost boys all aiming various weapons at him. Tootles even held a few pies.