The Piper's Song ~OUAT Peter Pan fanfiction (Book 1)

Stripped

"Don't touch me!" Anne snapped at one of the lost boys pushing her. "And especially you, Benjamin--" More pushing. Anne yanked out her knife just then causing the couple of lost boys pushing her to halt, the rest of the lost boys behind them stopping seconds after. "Pan said you guys would be following me--not rushing nor hounding--"

"We're only having a little fun," teased one of the lost boys with a smirk. Anne glared at him but ignored his comment.

"Look, just DON'T touch me," the little lost girl demanded.

Momentarily, Anne was left alone. The lost boys still followed close behind her. Once they reached the caves, Anne made them back off for her to go inside then she did. Walking about the stony floor, old rain water dripped lightly from the black shiny walls echoing. The further the little Beastly girl crept, the more she could feel her nerves building. She knew how these caves worked. They required confessions. Anne had alot of things to confess.

Following the light that Anne assumed was the end of the cave, she came around a corner and spotted a big opening in the cave that contained this light. "Felix?" She called walking. Nothing and she was running. The entrance getting bigger then the little Beastly girl skidded to a stop overlooking a huge empty abyss. Looking straight ahead she saw a cage resting on a tiny, stony and flat land form, and although it was tiny, it seemed to dominate the entire opening of the cave and the abyss at which it held high above. "Felix!" she yelled. She knew he was in the cage. She wanted to get to him.

The only thing in her way was the huge gaping abyss. Again, she knew the ways of this cave then quickly thought up something to confess. "Uhm...." she started loudly. "I pretended the real reason I came to Neverland was to be a lost girl," she finished like she was unsure. She waited. No results. Of course...that didn't count. Pan already knew that first confession. Anne couldn't help but groan. "Damn you, Peter Pan," she mumbled under her breath. She then tried to think up another confession. "Uhm...." she spoke to herself, "Uhm--ok," she looked up, "When I was, say...fourteen, I was lured into kissing one of my brother's friends. Uhm--it was long-ish--no--really long. No tongue, almost tongue--but no tongue..." Anne giggled nervously and she almost sworn she heard a faint echo of Pan's laughter as well.

The Earth below her rumbled some. Anne watched with much hope. The rocky surface she stood on then grew towards Felix's cage. The Beastly sister's hopes raising their almost highest. At only one foot, the rocky surface stopped. Anne groaned again then gave up her hope. "Seriously," she mumbled to herself then rolled her eyes. "Okay. My parents...they...--I thought I hated them when they first left Felix and I. But...I understood later, I guess." Anne's confidence began dwindling because she was getting personal. The rocky path grew some more.

Three feet this time. More hope.

"When Felix and I first moved in with Lily, our foster parent, I was terribly bitter towards her."

Two more feet.

"I hate mornings." Nothing. Figures. "I hate the average kind of girl." Still nothing. Anne grew annoyed. "Okay...I hate--" The little lost girl stopped coming to some realization. She knew she had to get personal if she wanted results...if she wanted to get her brother. But what if her brother wasn't even in the cage she was confessing things for? What if she was just getting tricked into opening up? What if she was getting tricked into getting broken?

"I...have trust issues," she spoke. It didn't matter what worried Anne. She had to take a risk, despite knowing how terribly cunning Pan can be. Three more feet of rock grew towards the cage.

Anne was only so much feet away now. She had to keep trying. "I do like to feel wanted," she admitted.

Four feet.

"I don't hate my brother, I never have." Nothing. Another groan. The more and more Anne was forced to strip down, the more she wanted to protect and close herself off. But she had to keep going. Though she had to get deeper, more sensitive...more risky. "I..." she was hesitant. "I...am secretly plotting Henry's escape with his family, in my dreams." The words just spilled out with much desperation. The lost girl waited for results. Nothing yet. "Ariel's alive!" She shouted. And still she waited.

The aftermath was slow, but it happened finally. Three more feet of rock grew. The guilt then began rapidly and violently attacking Anne. She didn't just reveal a secret of her own, but a secret of Henry's family and just put Ariel's safety at risk. What would they think of her now? What would they think of her after she just soiled all of their plans?--that she just gave more game for Pan to play with...

It didn't matter really. It was too late to turn back now. Anne had done it. She ruined almost everything for Henry.

Some tears welled in her bright green eyes. "I think I hate myself a little," she admitted loudly. Only a foot grew. And there was so much more path that needed to grow. What would Anne do? She wasn't almost entirely stripped to the bone by this point. She then cried, "What do you want?!" And she was referring this question to Pan, for himself to answer. But he wasn't going to. Anne knew that.

Then she remembered that one thing she tried to deny the most...the one thing the little Beastly girl feared over everything. It was quite simple when Anne looked at it. She could lay out the rest of her path if she really wanted. All she had to do was admit it, not only to the echo caves--or to Pan--or to Felix, but to herself also. But the question was...did she want to? Did she want to finally believe?

Of course she didn't want to. But she had to.

Finally she breathed. Some tears slid from her eyes just then and for that moment her great resistance seemed to evanesce.

More tears, then she was an absolute goner. "I've fallen for Peter Pan."

The most violent rumble and the rocky path was complete. Anne Rosa Beastly was completely stripped.