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

The Power of Love

"See it all started just a little while after I came to Neverland...I was lonely, I only had the children that would visit in their dreams. So," he paused then pulled out his flute, "I retrieved this sort of thing," he told her. 
        "What do you mean retrieved? You had that flute before and someone took it?" Anne asked.
        "It's always been mine," Pan said with a smile. Anne's head then tilted in suspicion.
        "What makes you so sure?"
        "I used to play it in my dreams as a small child. When I came to Neverland, I had to search for it again. Then I found it, obviously," Pan told with an ending smirk.
        "And you caste a spell on it to get your lost boys?" 
        "Not before I found your mother and father." Anne's head tilted again but of interest.
        "I thought I--"
        "Was the first lost girl? No, of course not," Pan spoke with another smile. 
        "What happened?" Anne asked leaned in.
        "I took your mother and father to Neverland when they were only about your age. There were others with them, of course. Your mother was the only girl and everyone loved her...but it was your father that won her over. At first, I had no idea--"
        "Did you love her? And since she left, is that why you don't allow lost girls?" 
        "No," Pan laughed. "There are other reasons I don't allow lost girls. I actually didn't like her very much, to be honest. She was always occupying your father. He was my best lost boy and I needed him. She occupied everyone else as well but not like your father. She was a distraction."
        "Is that why you don't allow lost girls?" Anne asked. Pan was hesitant.
        "Perhaps," he spoke.
        "But--" she started but was cut off.
        "But wait, there's more." The little Beastly girl listened in. "Your mother and father began to quietly rebel against me...figured out a way to escape Neverland, together." Anne's eyes widened.
        "How?" she breathed.
        "The love they had for one another." Pan paused as if in thought. After moments, he gripped Anne's cage. Looking in her eyes, he spoke. "I could never understand how they managed to do it, but..." he let go of her cage. "Then I met you..."

Anne waited. "See...it's not literal magic with spells and things of that sort, it's the connection to the other person. Your mother and father were able to escape because of their faith in each other. They could've done anything together." Pan looked at Anne again then grabbed her cage once more. "Because they loved each other. We can do anything together if you wanted. We can do everything, be who ever we wish and live where ever we please, and be safe, as long as we have love."

Anne rolled her eyes. "There's just one problem, Pan. We don't," she told him.
        "You might not think so but I believe we do, and we have it in the most bizarre form. That's why you can't see it. But I can help you."
        "I don't think so," Anne replied.
        "I suppose that's why I don't allow lost girls because the lost boys can fall in love and overpower me," Pan told her simply.
        "But there's something else I don't understand. My parents left Felix and I like they were scared...why?"
        "They were scared...they should have been. But to leave you, they must've been really scared. And they should have been."
        "Why?" Anne asked once more.
        "They took something of mine that was very valuable to me," Pan admitted. Anne's mouth came open.
        "Lydia?" she questioned, eyes wide. Pan laughed.
        "No. Lydia was long dead before I came to Neverland."

Confused, Anne was hesitant to speak up again. "Then...what was it?"
        "Let's just say they thought it would kill me. It didn't work. But now...it's lost...or so they say."
        "I still don't understand why something they stole from you had scared them enough to leave their own children."
        "It was to protect you...they knew I'd come looking for them and that wherever they were, they knew that's where I'd be. So they left to make sure I never found you or your brother. But if you or your brother were ever found, your parents left you that box so you'd know how to protect yourself from me in case you'd ever end up in Neverland. And you did."
        "Clearly," Anne told him. "But...why'd you keep them in that cage?"
        "They still have to give back what they stole from me."
        "But you said it was lost--"
        "--and then I said or so they say."
        "But...don't you think they would've given it back by now, especially knowing we were here so then we could all just...leave...?"
        "I wouldn't have let you all leave so easily, especially you Anna knowing you looked like my precious Lydia. But as I've said, it isn't Lydia I want anymore but you. I suppose what they took from me doesn't matter as much now."
        "And so you let them go..."
        "I had let them go but then you had to break our deal and now...they're coming back," Pan said with a dark smile.
        "Why do you care if they're back? You already have me."
        "Indeed I do, dear one. But I'm going to make sure no one tries to take you away from me, no one. Felix will be back too...and Henry and his family."
        "What will you do with all of them?"
        "We'll have to see just how cooperative they are.."
        "But..." Anne grew cold with fear. "What if they aren't," she barely mumbled. Pan's eyes darkened and a grin dominated his lips.
        "Then I'll get rid of them," he told her. Anne's stomach clenched with fear and her eyes slowly widened, her lips having had parted in shock. "Plus, I still need the boy," Pan added.
        "But your hourglass stopped," Anne reminded him still in some shock.
        "And I don't know for how long it'll stay that way, so...I need the boy."

Anne then desperately grasped the cage, pulled out of her shock now. "Pan please! Let them all go, I'll stay with you, I promise! I'll be willing to let you show me this supposed love we have, I'll be willing to give you a chance and I'll tell everyone to never come back for me, please," she cried. "I'll--I'll do whatever you want me to do!" she added. And she was serious about everything she said, no acting. She could only fear Pan wouldn't except her deal and he'd kill her family and Henry's. She knew, if Henry's family cared enough, they wouldn't let Pan keep her. Her family already wouldn't...but if she just told them she wanted to stay and that she loved Pan, they might listen. "Please," she spoke once more staring Pan straight in his eyes.
        "As dreadfully tempting that deal might sound...I don't know if I can stay young without Henry's heart, Anne."
        "Yes you do!" She cried and nearly threw herself at the cage door. "If I stay and love you, that hourglass will stay frozen and you won't have to worry!"

Pan was hesitant, in his thoughts, debating. "Perhaps I won't..." Anne's hopes lifted, "but I can't be too sure," she instantly frowned. "I'm sorry," he told her.
        "Saying sorry doesn't go back and stop what you did," Anne spat, angry.
        "Oh, but I haven't done anything yet," he said smirking then stood up.
        "No! But you will, and I will never forgive you once you do."
        "Let me look more into this, Anne, okay? If your love can keep me young then I will let them go," Pan replied. Anne's heart sank a little with some relief.
        "Okay," Pan started walking, "--but," he stopped and looked at her. "I still don't understand something." He waited. "My parents left us...where'd they go? Have they been in Neverland this whole time?"
        "I don't know...it's sort of a mystery. I only recently found them. The instant Felix saw them, he recognized them. They recognized him. That's when I discovered you and Felix were their descendants. That's when Felix told me all about your box, the house, the notes and maps..." Pan paused. "Your parents refused to tell me why they came back to Neverland. I guessed it was because of you and Felix, but they also never told how long they've been in Neverland before I found them."
        "Where did you find them?"
        "Washed up on the shore. I could propose they came to Neverland through that way, so they must've came recent but then again it could've been a set up they winded up on the shore. Your parents were always so clever..."
        "But, wait," Anne thought some more.
        "I find the word 'but' comes with you often," Pan said, annoyed.
        "For a long while, we lived a normal life, my parents and Felix...but then one night that all changed. Why? Did you find them and send them a warning or something?" 

Pan thought of how to answer Anne. He then smiled. "I didn't have to," then he began walking off again like he was going to leave. Just seconds before he did, he suddenly came back. Anne could only see some things but he had taken something from something on him and Anne heard him mess with the lock on her cage. She waited then for a split second she saw something, a cloth of some sort, stained with purple goo and Pan threw it somewhere. "I'll be gone, to go fetch some water and food for dinner, but I won't be gone too long. I know exactly where to go, and I put some squid ink on the lock of your cage so don't think about escaping. The ink is actually spreading at the moment...and well, you know what can happen...or do I have to remind you?"

Anne shook her head looking at Pan through the widened crack in the door of her cage. "Alright then," he replied to her response then got up and left.

Moments after, while Anne was just waiting, she heard some twigs snapping then some bushes rustling and then something came out and ran to her cage. They came to their knees instantly. "Anne!?" whispered what sounded like Felix as he eagerly searched around her cage for a crack to peak inside. Anne had perked then panicked some.
        "Felix?!" she spoke quickly. "Whatever you do don't touch the cage!" she warned.
        "Anne, is that you?!" he asked then peered through the widened crack on her cage.
        "Yes! It's me!" she said meeting his eyes. "Don't touch the cage!" she warned again.
        "What--why?!"
        "Pan put squid ink on the lock--did you manage to get everyone together?"
        "Yeah, I did--where'd Pan go?"
        "To go get dinner--be careful--"
        "I am, I am," Felix crawled some way away from the cage. "Listen, I told Henry's family everything. Everyone is plotting a rescue plan for you. They sent me to assure you and to tell you that mom and dad are alright--and to give you this," Felix quickly pulled out a knife. He tried to shove it through the crack of Anne's cage but she stopped him.
        "Wait, the squid ink, Felix! Be careful--"
        "I am--" the knife was quickly slid into the widened crack, the ink not yet touching it or Felix's hand. Anne relaxed. "Rumple is getting Pandora's box to capture Pan in--
        "Wait--is that--
        "Yes--it'll trap Pan inside forever, then, we'll destroy it--"
        "And that'll destroy Pan too?" Felix nodded quickly.
        "Yes--also Rumple told us something--"
        "Look, Felix," Anne interrupted eagerly. "I talked out a possible deal with Pan--I might have to stay--"
        "What?!" Felix panicked. "No--Pan isn't who you think--"
        "He said if my love for him can keep him young, he'll let everyone go as long as you guys don't stop him from keeping me--"
        "No--Anne you can't please--Pan is Rumple's--"
        "But only if he can make sure my love can keep him young--" a sudden twig snapped causing both Felix and Anne to freeze.
        "Anne?" They heard Pan call. "Are you talking to someone--"
        "You gotta go," the little Beastly sister hissed. Felix nodded quickly.
        "Hide the knife!" he hissed back, whispering too, then he ran off.

Seconds after, Pan came inside the hideout once more carrying some dead fishes and a bucket. As he walked over to Anne's cage, he dropped the food inside his bucket. "Were you just talking to someone?" he asked.
        "No," Anne shot back almost giving away the nervousness in her voice.
        "Are you lieing?" he asked meeting her eyes.
        "No, I was only reminding myself of my notes I made," she thought up quickly.
        "What, to see if there was any antidotes to squid ink?" Pan smirked. "Not a chance, and even if there was you wouldn't be able to use it because you wouldn't have it with you. I checked you, unless there's a need I should check you again?" Pan lifted a brow.
        "No," Anne rushed nervously shaking her head. "I mean, no, there's no need," she said a little calmer. Hopefully Pan would forget about her sudden panicky response.
        "Good," Pan just said then got up to get to the center of the hideout. He then made a fire and started to cook their dinner.

As she watched, the little lost girl began debating in her mind whether she should try to escape later that night with the knife Felix gave her. And Pan, as Anne watched him, could not see that he too was beginning debate something in his mind. He had overheard Felix talking to Anne about what they were planning. 

And he needed to do something...take Anne somewhere he could protect her, take her where no one will know where to come and rescue her. Maybe her love could keep him young, and then if that were the case, that would be all he'd everneed.

So then it was official. He'd take her somewhere no one would find her. Tonight. And it was official for Anne too. She'd cut her way out of the cage. Tonight.