Set Your Sails...to Neverland || Peter Pan, OUAT

Chapter 9 - An Opportune Moment

I fall back onto the ground and place my sword in the scabbard. "So 'just a mermaid'...what's your name?" I ask.

She moves to the edge and rests her forearms on the dirt, "I'm Ariel."

"Nice to meet you, Ariel. I'm Davina...just a pirate," I reply.

"Oh...I've heard of you. You're uh...Captain Hook's...um..." she stutters, attempting to remember.

"Niece. I'm his niece," I answer. "Wait...you know him?"

"I've come across him a few times, why?"

"Do you know where he is at the moment?"

"No, I'm sorry. And anyway, what are you doing here? In Neverland?" She asks.

"It's not by choice. I had to jump ship when that monster devoured mine, taking my parents and the crew as well," I explain.

"Oh..." She says. "And that's why you want to know where your Uncle is, so he can come to get you?"

"That's right...anyway, how did you get here? I swear the ocean is far from here." I ask, looking around and navigating that the ocean was to the left of me, "Wait, is there a...link? A tunnel or passage underwater?"

"Yes - I was swimming and then I saw your feet, so I swam up to come and talk to you."

"How far?"

"Too far for you to swim, if that's what you're wondering. And I don't have anything that could help you, sorry."

"It's okay..." I sigh. "Anyway, how did you get here? Aren't you supposed to be...under the sea?"

"No, I don't have to be. Mermaids can travel through worlds."

My ears perk up, "You can...travel through worlds? Through realms?"

She nods. My hopes lift - there's another possibility of me being able to leave this place.

"Is there...any possible way that I could, for a short period of time, become a mermaid?"

She frowns while she thinks for a moment, "There is, but..."

"How? I don't care what I have to do...I have to get out of this place," I say, whispering in case Pan can hear me.

"You should ask for..." she starts and writes a name in the dirt...Rumplestiltskin. "You might know him as the Dark One. You have to make a deal, and he should give you whatever you need as long as you keep up the end of your promise," she explains.

I nod, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I need to go, I've got my own deal to keep up," she says.

We say our goodbyes and I watch her swim away, fascinated by her tail. I just found out that there is a possibility for me to get out of this place, and all I have to do is make a deal. The only problem I have is that no one can pass through Neverland without Pan's permission or his shadow. And even if this so-called Rumplestiltskin is so powerful, I doubt he could me hear me summon him, this island is too hidden. I need to get out of Neverland...this place is an inescapable hell. I pull my boots back on and make my way back to the camp, hoping Pan wasn't listening in on my little conversation.

"Have you calmed down now?" Pan asks like I'm a disobedient child, whilst he leans against a tree.

"More or less," I reply without looking at him, my lips pursed.

"Where have you been?"

"I went on a spiritual adventure."

"Very funny."