The Shadow's Keeper ~OUAT Peter Panfiction (Book 2)

Vladimir

**FLASHBACK** 

     "It's time you know the truth," Pan began toward a dazed Anne. His thoughts were swirling. Pan was afraid, for the first time in a long while, he was afraid. But why? What truth?

     Pan had just kissed her memories home, but she wasn't the slightest bit concerned. That's right. She didn't care that he stole them all away so selfishly, she liked it. That was only because of a small spell of course.

     A spell Pan placed on his lips--one he was recently, so recently told about...one that would make Anne worship his decisions despite their severity, and oh-so-quietly she did. And so she would for a little bit. Pan managed to see the light of praise in her eyes as she gazed up at him so lovingly. He was confident in that moment.

     "The truth behind...well, all of it. What do you last remember?" He asked.

     Anne began contemplating. "Define last," she replied. 

     "The last time I looked like myself, surely you can't help but notice my hair." The appearance wasn't entirely fitting for Pan--he felt so--but that appearance came with a promise--power. 

     "It's black," Anne observed but she knew that already. She just wasn't concerned. Not at the moment. 

     Pan chuckled. "Very much so, and you're not...the least bit curious?" 

     Anne's brows pulled together. "Now that you mention it, I am a little," she realized. She was still not bothered. 

     "Vladimir, do you remember him?" Pan suddenly tossed in, remembering that he was one of the last people she saw before she blacked out.         

     Anne's brows furrowed harder. "I do."

     "Who was he?" The old Anne was speaking through a small crevice of her thoughts now. Pan had stirred her haze, hoping she'd ask. 

     "Certainly not who he told you he was," he spoke almost bitterly and hatefully. 

     "Then--"

     "He was Neverland's shadow...I had met him when I first came here. He was just a shadow, he has always been a shadow, however, one that could transform. He was going to take you from me, Anna, please--" he cupped her cheeks, pleading into her eyes. "You never kissed him, I would swear I was sure that I had gotten there in time, but..." his voice died. "I saved you, didn't I?" 

     So that had been his fear. He kept her memories away to keep the thought of Vladimir away. She couldn't love another, Pan wasn't going to allow it. 

     Pan's plan had been soothing for a while, until the question ate at him and he had to know if she had surrendered to the shadow. Besides, Anne's memories weren't just stolen, they were stolen by a spell that was meant to lure her away. And Pan feared possible, everlasting effects that might've taken a toll on her if she stayed under that memory spell for long. He had to bring her back to him.  So he did. 

     Anne's eyes widened in slight alarm. "I didn't kiss him," she ensured. Pan was washed in relief.

     Exhaling, he slipped his hands down her hair then hugged her tight. 

     Anne was still too restless to give in to the hug. "But, wait--" she moved him back, eyeing him in concern. "What did he want? Why did he try to kiss me??" 

     "He wanted you to be his queen, he loved your mother and he loved you too. He was going to try to take your soul," he replied, trembling at the thought. 

     "I don't understand," Anne confessed, her heart pounding from the building fear she was feeling. "How did he...how did he..." Her voice died. 

     "How did he what??" Pan was immediately nervous. 

     Anne lowered her eyes, trying to remember all that had happened. "He...he found me. He gave me some water, I couldn't think straight after that, I couldn't fathom--anything." Tears filled her eyes. "It was the water, it had to be--"

     "He put the spell in the water then?" Pan asked himself. Anne's eyes lifted when she heard him. 

     "Spell?"

     "The spell that took your memories away, the one that was going to allow the shadow to manipulate you to kiss him, to sell your soul," Peter explained through his anxiety, watching her hard. 

     Anne began trembling, frightened that she had come so close to falling into a trap. Her breathing shaky, she tried to gather herself. "He was going to steal me, Peter," she cried in realization, the tears flooding her eyes. "I almost lost myself, I almost lost--"

     Pan pulled her back into a tight, reassuring hug. This time, she held him back, and tightly like it was her life. 

     She had been a quivering tree leaf, one so close to falling from her tree and Pan had been the one to save her before she could. 

     The spell on Peter's lips would fade from her own soon enough, and she'd live in that state of mind she inhabited before her memories were taken. 

     But Peter's kiss had restored what Vladimir stole because Peter's kiss was true love. They belonged together, and when Anne would come back to her normal self, Peter would trust that'd make her stay. She had always known they had love, from the moment she confessed at the caves, it was all a matter of accepting that now. 

     "Shh, it's alright, you're safe now," Peter spoke, holding her shaken figure as she cried into him, clinging to him with everything she had.

"I promise." 

**END OF FLASHBACK**