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

Hemlock

"We're leaving tonight," Pan spoke to Anne after cleaning up. Anne was resting in her cage when she heard Pan's voice. Instantly she jumped for the crack in her cage.
        "What?!" She panicked. For a moment, she was convinced her escape plans were soiled, but if nothing would change except that they'd be in a different part of Neverland, then she could still escape. "I mean--" she shook her head quickly, "where are we going?"
        "Some place to keep you safe," Pan replied picking up things and tossing things. Anne couldn't see specifically what he was tossing and throwing so she just assumed it was the scraps from their dinner. Anne was hesitant to ask because she didn't want to spark any ideas,
        "Are...we...." she started.
        "Leaving Neverland? Oh I thought about it--" Anne struggled to swallow the lump in her throat--"but I must finish my game--"
        "But you said--"
        "Ah ah," Pan interrupted, "I'm not talking about Henry..."
        "You arn't going to hurt him?!" Anne perked.
        "I told you. I'm going to look further into your little theory first before I chose to leave him and his family alone. But when you think about it, whose to say that once I finally leave them alone, they'll leave us alone?"
        "I'll tell them to. I'll tell them I want to stay because I..." Anne paused. She didn't want to have to say it, "I...love you," she finished.
        "And now, if only you meant it," Pan replied. Anne's heart frowned and remained quiet. She didn't know if she meant it but that was what she'd tell her family and Henry and his. 
        "I could still tell them and make it believable," she tried.
        "Possibly. But I must be certain."
        "Certain of what?" Anne cried hopelessly. 
        "Have I not made that clear enough," Pan said through clenched teeth. "Certain that your theory works," he finished.
        "How will you do it?" Anne asked, curious. 
        "Must you ask so much questions?" Pan asked, annoyed and crouched down to unlock her cage. 
        "Well I'm only curious," the little Beastly sister defended. 

The cage door flung open and Pan pulled her out instantly. "I've got my ways," he said.
        "Oh I see, you like to speak in riddles," Anne smirked.
        "You're just now seeing that?" Pan asked in response.
        "I guess not." 
        "Before we start walking, there's one thing I should inform you on..."
        "And that is?" Anne urged. Pan's grip on her arm tightened and he pulled her face close.
        "Try anything and I promise you, if anyone you care for should be reunited, the only place that'll happen is in death." Anne noticed how dark and ominous Pan tried to make himself look when he threatened her and it was working. The color must've drained from Anne's face because Pan then smiled. Then they were off. "I can already start to feel it, Anne..."
        "Feel what?" She asked hopelessly.
        "Their magic," Pan stopped to look at Anne. He held her close to him once more but this time with excitement shimmering in his eyes. "It's weakening," Pan started to walk again.
        "Uh...are you sure about that?" Anne asked, unsure and almost like Pan was only being slightly delusional.
        "Of course," Pan perked, "Didn't you see it? They didn't even have enough strength to break my ropes that bound them against that tree. Possibly, I might've not even needed to put that cuff on Rumple." Anne could hear the smile in Pan's voice.
        "You put that on him...? What exactly was that?" she asked remembering seeing a black cuff on Rumple's wrist.
        "It was to block him from using his magic."
        "But why put it specifically on him?"
        "He's the most powerful out of Henry's family."
        "But, that's silly..." Anne thought, "to only put ropes on them."
        "Well I cast a spell on those ropes of course," Pan defended.

Anne waited when she began to get irritated at Pan's hand gripping her wrist so hard as they walked then she was reminded of his transportation powers and she had the urge to halt them both. "Why are we walking anyway? Can't you just blink us to the place we're going?"
        "I've got some important business to attend to while we're out," he told her.
        "And that is?"
        "Again with the questions..." Anne was about to remind Pan that any of the people that were trying to save her could pop out any second but didn't want him to get more protective and finally forget his business and blink them away. "And if Emma and her friends happen to show up somewhere, I can always blink us away then," Pan suddenly mentioned almost like he had read Anne's mind. She was, indeed for a second, convinced he had. But even Pan doesn't have all the powers in the world. He could only do so many things. Anne knew that. Or did she even know half the things he could do?  
        "I guess so," Anne credited Pan.

Just then, they heard some rustling bushes. Pan gasped slightly then backed them behind a bush. "I think they're close," Pan whispered.
        "Who?" Anne asked. She was ignored.

There was some running coming up then legs past the bush Pan had them hiding behind. It was some of the lost boys legs. Pan's arm shot out then and he quickly snatched the ankle he was looking for. His forearm hardened and the lost boy he caught came falling to the ground.

*Flashback*

Pan waited in a clearing of the Neverland forest. A lost boy's head came shooting out from under a nearby underbrush. "Hemlock," Pan grinned at the lost boy.
        "Shouldn't you be with Anne?" asked the lost boy. 
        "She's sleeping," Pan assured him.
        "How?" the lost boy asked, surprised.
        "I devastated her, simple enough?" The dark-haired lost boy felt some sympathy.
        "Are you sure this is fair, Pan?" he asked, his blue eyes being empty like all of the lost boys' eyes, his brows frowning.
        "She's lost, Hemlock. She doesn't know what she wants...I can feel it. If you happen to run into Felix somehow, when it's that kind of moment where you can't catch him, I'd like you to tell him that."
        "Well...how do you know?" Hemlock couldn't help but wonder.
        "I tasted it, when we kissed. She was crying. She wanted me so much she couldn't hold herself together..."
        "And how do you know that..?" Hemlock suggested. Pan held off threatening him. He couldn't knowing his lost boys were off trying to find Emma and Henry's family, as well as Felix and his family. The lost boys were sure to become vulnerable since they wouldn't be in the hideout. Pan wouldn't see them every day to remind them how much of a liar an adult can be. So the lost boys could be manipulated by Emma, convinced by her that she'd take them back to Storybrooke and give them a home. Pan took a deep breath.
        "She couldn't hold herself together because of Felix. She's torn between wanting to be with him as a family again and wanting to stay on the island with me because she's in love with me."

Hemlock understood and nodded. "Anything else?"
        "Any progress?"
        "Not much," Hemlock told him honestly.
        "Very well then...stay in the back when you're on a run with the lost boys, I'll be looking after you from time to time...you'll be my messenger," Pan ordered. Hemlock nodded once more.
        "As you wish."
        "That's all for now. " Pan had his arms crossed and his chin lifted.

Before leaving his leader, Hemlock bowed his head, "Until next time," he looked up, "your majesty." Then he escaped the clearing.

Pan smiled then he went back to the hideout. Once getting there, he sat up against Anne's cage then let her gentle breathing calm him. After moments and moments of relaxing, Pan's eyes fell closed and his body met the forest floor. Then... he was taken into a dream.

*End of flashback*

The fallen lost boy's hood fell from his head as he got up, his dark messy hair being revealed along with his blue eyes. Anne saw his face as Pan helped stand them up from the bush. "Hemlock, lovely seeing you again," Pan then said with a proud smile.