Thing He Loves Most (Peter Pan/Ouat)

Prologue

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"Hey, you hungry?"

I tore my eyes away from the dark expanse of ocean we were soaring high above to see a bowl of soup with a piece of bread being held out to me. Attached to the hand was the Blonde girl, one of the grown ups who had rescued me just hours earlier-Emma, I think her name was.

As if on cue, my stomach growled deeply, reminding me of how hungry I was.

"Thank you," I said politely, and took the offered dish. I immediately dug in and almost moaned with delight, even though it was a bit cold.

The little food Pan had given me, which most of the time, were just scraps left over from what the lost boys had eaten, had only been enough to survive. It felt like forever since I've had any sort of food that wasn't berries or coconut juice. I've had enough of that to last a lifetime.

"What's your name?" She asked.

I swallowed the food in my mouth before answering, "Bailey."

She looked almost surprised, as if she didn't expect me to respond. She must have guessed that I wasn't a big talker. But it was gone the second it came and was replaced with a warm smile. "I'm Emma."

I nodded silently and returned back to staring out at the dark water as the wind blew through my dark brown hair. She joined me, resting her elbows against the railing.

"So, where are you from?"

I barely glanced at her. I knew she was only trying to strike up a conversation to lighten the heavy mood after what everyone had gone through back on Neverland, as she had previously done with some of the refugee lost boys scattered around the deck of the ship before she came over to me. However, I wasn't interested in socializing, but I also didn't want to be rude to my rescuer.

"England," I said simply.

She raised a brow, curious. And I knew she wanted to ask me why I didn't have a British accent. I wasn't born in England; I had only lived there a short time. But to my surprise and relief, she didn't mention it.

"How did you end up on Neverland?"

A heavy weight settled in my chest at the question, one of sadness. Instead of answering right away, I sent a subtle glance to the far corner of the deck where a familiar figure was.

Thomas.

He sat alone, his head hunched over his own bowl of soup. By the look of it, he hardly touched it, only pushing its contents back and forth with his spoon in a mindless manner. His dark hair, which had grown out a few inches from being on the island for so long, partly hid his face. Then, as if he could feel my stare, he looked up and his dull blue eyes met mine. There was sadness there that matched mine, if not more, but also what appeared to be guilt.

I immediately looked away, clenching my jaw as anger consumed the sadness.

"I was rescuing a friend," I muttered, not bothering to conceal the bitterness in my tone.

Emma must have sensed that I didn't want to delve into it because she didn't press me. Instead, she left me and wandered off to talk to the one-handed pirate-I didn't care to remember his name-who was captaining the ship.
Although I had only been on this ship for less than an hour, I could see there was something between the two of them.

However, I didn't think too much about it and turned away. Like me, much of the new passengers had claimed their own side of the deck, with some staying in close-knit groups while others kept to themselves. A few lost boys had even fallen asleep, which I couldn't comprehend how they could rest so easily. I was still on edge; every bone in my body was tensed as if expecting Pan to jump out of nowhere. I know it was silly, but I just couldn't shake the unsettling feeling in my stomach that somehow...we weren't out of the clear just yet.

I shook the thought away as soon as it came and tried to focus on something else. My eyes landed on Wendy, the other girl who was rescued. She stood on the opposite side of the ship, talking to the curly blonde dressed in green and looking surprisingly calm for someone who's been locked away for so long, a lot longer than I was.

I finished eating my food and carried the empty bowl over to the table.

Just as I was turning to leave back to my spot at the railing, I almost bumped into Henry, Emma's son, who was coming for food. He was another one of Pan's many victims--and the very reason the Heroes had come to the island. He was a lot younger than me, by about six years--if I only counted my real age.

I stepped to the side, allowing him access to the table. He grabbed a bowl and as he was passing by, we locked gazes and he smirked. But it wasn't one of those innocent, boyish smirks. No, this one had a certain evil mischief to it, like he knew something that I didn't. It sent a chill down my spine.

I watched him walk over to a familiar lost boy sitting in a corner, away from the other lost boys and offered food to him. 

The kind gesture both baffled and amazed me. Felix was Pan's faithful servant, who wouldn't even hesitate to kill Henry if Pan asked him to, and here he was offering him a bowl of soup.

Henry really had the heart of the truest believer.

I was pulled out of my thoughts at the Captain's voice announcing we've reached our destination. Storybrooke.

I overheard the lost boys whispering about it, saying that it was going to be their new home. The hope and excitement in their voices brought a dull ache to my chest. I was happy for them that they could have something to call home.

I was still trying to find that.

For a large part of my life, I've jumped from place to place, never staying long enough to even consider calling it home. Deep down, there was a part of me that longed to find a place of belonging, so I could stop running. But that feeling is forced down when I remind myself that I had a home a long time ago, but it was taken away from me.

I went back over to the railing and looked out at the sea. The sun had started to rise, lighting the sky just enough to see a land mass with buildings in the distance; a town.

Storybrooke was just another place to say goodbye to.

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*A/N:

Hey readers!

I thought it'd be cool to write a Peter Pan fanfic from OUAT so I decided to give it a try.

Let me know what you think in the comment section, and if the prologue gets at least 5 votes, I'll post the next part!

Also, any feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks :)

**PS. I posted 2 trailers of the story on YouTube, a short trailer and an extended trailer. Just type in 'The Heart of the Thing He Loves Most' or follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZBWZcqcO8