Here He Comes (ouat)

Promises

Max's POV:

I began to slowly crouch down until I was seated on the log again.
"Did I die?" I worried aloud.
Pans lips twitched into a tiny smile, but if I had blinked, I would've missed it.
"Trust me, Max. Hell is a lot worse than this." He warned. I carefully watched him, prepared to detect any hint of a lie, when he began to speak.
"Then why did you bring me here?" I asked after a long minute of silence.

He reached to his side with the hand that wasn't still on my wrist. When his hand returned in front of us, it was no longer empty. He was now holding a row of hollow sticks that were tied together with a dirty brown piece of string.
"This is the pipe you heard me play the first day you met me." He clarified. I nodded my head to show that I understood, and waited for him to continue.
"This pipe used to be enchanted so that only boys who felt lost or unloved could hear it." He explained. "But more recently I'd tweaked it so that anyone who can or would be able to fight could hear it." He paused, and after a long, slow second, he sighed. "Max, you're here for the same reason all the other boys are here, I'm building an army." He admitted. He looked for my reaction, which was probably shocked, but I tried to keep a calm, unreadable face. I don't know which face he saw, but he kept looking at me, waiting for me to speak.

"All of the boys already know about this?" I asked while trying to keep my thought organized.
"Yes." He answered.
"Why?" I breathed.
"Why what?" He replied focusing on my facial expressions.
"Why do you want an army?" I questioned.
"To fight." He scoffed.
"Fight who? What for?" I managed to ask before he cut me off.
"It's a long story. You should get some rest and maybe I'll tell you the rest in the morning." He suggested.

"I'm not tired." I stated stubbornly.
"Max," He sighed and began to stand up, pulling my wrist with him.
"C'mon Pan, please just tell me the story, now." I whined. He cocked an eyebrow.
"What exactly will you do for me if I tell you?" He challenged.
"What do you want me to do for you?" I breathed. I was standing beside him now. He stepped closer to me, smirking down at me.
"If I tell you the story, you'll let me teach you how to use magic, and you'll use that magic in battle. To kill." He said while the hand that was holding my wrist was now gently sliding to my elbow, then moving back to my wrist repetitively.
"I'm not killing anyone." I said blankly. He raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sure that once I tell you the story, you'll change your mind. These people are evil. Plus if your not helping us, think of how many Lost Boys could die without your help. Mason, Jake..."

"I'll tell them not to fight." I shot back.
"If anyone decides they don't want to help me, I will kill them." He threatened.
I tried to think of a way around his threat, but I couldn't. Jake was my only friend here, I wouldn't want him, or any of the other boys here, to die because of me. Plus maybe these people were truly horrible, maybe they'd kill innocent people and they need to be stopped. I sighed in defeat.

My arms were crossed over my chest, and Pan was now tracing small circles on the muscle of my upper arm.
"Fine." I whispered, trying to believe that these people I've never met, somehow deserved to die.
He smiled, and stepped closer to me once again, and whispered in my ear
"We start tomorrow."

* * * * * *

Mason's POV:

Pan recited, what he considered to be an achievement, to me about how Max was willing to learn magic and use it to kill Pan's enemies. He wouldn't stop mentioning how 'surprisingly easy it was to convince her to join' or how he was 'slightly disappointed that she didn't put up a better argument'.
Apparently last nights conversation with Max deserved a celebration, with dancing and music, the usual. However he's planning to have a great feast tonight, so half the boys, myself included, are hunting for a giant beast to kill.
Honestly, I'm surprised Max hasn't decided to become a vegetarian like Bella. I thought all girls threw up at the sight of a dead animal.

"Mason, you're supposed to live while you're alive and sleep when you're dead!" A tall Lost Boy with dark, curly hair called out to me. That jolly giant, Oliver, was one of my best friends here. We came to this island from the same village in the Enchanted Forest. Ever since the Evil Queen cast a horrible curse in our lands, many years ago, almost every parent became over protective of their children. His house became the only place I could go to other than my home and school.
We became very close, and if I wasn't over at his place the night Pan played his pipe in our village, he never would have came with me to Neverland, because he claimed that he couldn't hear it.

I followed Oliver and the rest if the boys to a cave where a grumpy, gigantic grizzly bear lived. Pan had mentioned a few times that the grumpy bear in that cave would make one great feast. And tonight, when our belts break from the growth of our full and satisfied stomachs, we would all agree with him.