Pan watched her as she slept. He never felt more peaceful. He had watched Wendy a million times, but this moment felt more precious than than the rest.
Wendy had finally returned to him. He pressed their foreheads together. He felt so much ease in that moment. Pan had never experienced such grief in his life. When Wendy had been thrown off that cliff, Pan thought his emotions would kill him. The relief he felt seeing her on Skull Rock was extraordinary.
All he wanted was for her to feel the same way as he did.
Pan feared that would be impossible. What Syrena did to Wendy was irreversible. She turned her into a mermaid. A creature even Pan would call a monster. But Wendy wasn't a monster. Seeing her after what Syrena did to her, she was still herself. Somewhat.
She still looked like Wendy. She had the same wild golden hair. The same chocolate colored eyes. The differences in her seemed small, but Pan was left worried. Her eyes didn't seem to have the same glow that they used to. Her sentences were clipped. She looked down when she spoke like she used to when she first came to Neverland.
Pan used to believe that no one could take the light out of Wendy Darling. Pan couldn't help remembering when he and Felix had locked her in the bamboo cage. Even when she thought he was going to turn her brothers into Lost Boys, she still had some sort of hope. Her magic had spiraled out of control. Pan knew that Wendy didn't understand what she was doing when she lit the camp aflame, but deep down, Pan was sure her consciousness did. It was a defensive mechanism. She had hope she could still protect her brothers.
Pan tightened his arms around her. Did Syrena take her hope away?
He couldn't bare the wait. He had planned to ask her in the morning. To demand that she confess what was bothering her. For her to stop lying to him. But Pan had to know now. And this was the perfect opportunity to do so.
Pan concentrated his magic on her face. It took less than five seconds to get into her head. He planted the perfect dream. He continued the vision he gave her long ago when he had first convinced her to be his Lost Girl. Pan closed his eyes and let the dream sink into his mind.
He had busied himself in braiding her hair into a crown. In the dream, he could manipulate anything around them. He made the sun radiate heat, like it should. Made a perfect meadow with lovely wildflowers. He made the things he guessed she had dreamt about as a child. When Peter Pan was just a book. When Neverland was just an imaginary place.
He looked down occasionally from her hair to see her face. He knew it was just his magic. If he were to end the dream right now, her face would not wear such an expression.
Wendy's cheeks were a rosy color with her blush. Her hair bouncing with her golden curls that gleamed even brighter in the sunlight. Her dark eyelashes naturally curled upwards. And when she opened her eyes to glance at the meadow in wonder, her beautiful brown eyes pierced through his chest.
He had always known she was his greatest weakness.
"Pan?" Wendy looked up at him with a small smile.
"Yes?" He looked down at her with an answering smile. He enjoyed watching the blush spread across her cheeks.
"Do you see a future with me?" Pan looked at her with a blank expression. A future with him? That's when Pan knew. He realized that if he hadn't been making this dream so happy and sparkly, misery would surround her.
She knew. The Shadow had told her. Wendy knew that she had the Heart Of The Truest Believer.
Not wanting to ruin the perfect dream he planted in her head, he flashed another perfect smile down at her.
"Of course I do." Pan had told many lies. Some lies to people he never cared about. But even Pan has lied to the people he did care for. A flash of Rumple as a child passed through his mind before he could stop it. It nearly knocked the wind out of him.
"What's our future like?" She sighed and closed her eyes. Pan went back to braiding her hair.
"Well," he prepared himself for another lie. Something not totally impossible. He just had to find the other Truest Believer. "We live on Neverland together. We go on adventures together, fly." He took a deep breath before continuing.
"We do whatever we want. I will do whatever you want." He expected a smile. And when Wendy did not give him one, his heart sunk.
"What if I don't want to stay on Neverland?" Pan couldn't hide the shock in his face. He held the braid tighter in his hand so she could not look up at him.
She wanted to leave. Pan felt hurt. It was silly for him to think that even if she did have feelings for him, that she would grow to love the jungle. After all, Pan stole her from London. How could he expect her to stay?
"Then we can go wherever you want." The sentence was out before he could stop it. It would hurt her so much when she woke up. Pan wanted to go back in time and take it back, but it was too late. Her dazzling smile was already in place like the narcissistic Peter Pan knew it would.
"Really?" She asked. Her face was so full of hope, he wanted to go jump off a cliff. He didn't want to see the disappointment in the morning. He didn't want her dreams to shatter.
"Really."
Pan had never self-loathed himself since he let The Shadow take Rumple away from him. The only difference between the two was that with Rumple, he only saw his grief for a moment before he was transported back to the Enchanted Forest. With Wendy, he would see it for much, much longer than that.
Pan wanted the dream to last forever. He never wanted to go back to the cruel world in which he had to pay for his mistake. The amount of power Pan had used started to tire him out.
Pan clung to the dream and Wendy's perfect face before he fell asleep.
And then Wendy's nightmare took hold.
~~~~~~~~
Wendy couldn't see a thing in the jungle. She moved as soundlessly as she could, yet she felt like she was crashing through the trees. She knew she had to find it before it found her. Her only option was to take it surprise, or she would be lost forever.
"Will you really do anything to save him?" The Shadow's voice taunted her with it's chilling laugh.
"I love him." Wendy answered in a raw voice. Saying this just after declaring she hated him, it confused her.
"And why, may I ask, do you love Peter Pan? The one that stole you from your little home in London. The one that constantly destroyed all your hope on this island. Why would you love the monster chasing you?"
Wendy shivered at the memory. The Shadow had asked a good question that night. A normal person would never love someone who had hurt them. Wendy didn't even fully understand why, after hearing him talk about the new life he gave her family, she had let him kiss her. Why in that moment it was all set in stone.
Wendy remembered her answer to The Shadow. She clung to it while she walked deeper into the night. It was the only thing keeping her from returning to Pan.
"I love him because he's not a monster. I've seen the human in him. I used to think that Peter Pan could never change. That he would always remain this cold, cruel person. It wasn't until I opened my eyes and saw that the little notions he did for me were human ones. The little flash of kindness he showed me; it always had my head spinning. Your right, I shouldn't love him. He's a villain. But I do because I see the good in him."
Wendy sighed scanning the jungle. She didn't remember how she had became so courageous talking to The Shadow. She wished she could go back and steal that courage for a more pressing matter. Like right now, doing The Shadow's dirty work.
"Hmm, interesting." The Shadow mused.
"Now tell me what I need to do to save him." Wendy growled in frusteration.
Wendy heard the snap of twigs in the distance. She tightened her grip on the sword hilt and continued forward.
"I need you to find what Pan has stolen from me." The Shadow's voice became thick with ancient grief.
"What has he stolen from you?" Wendy had asked hesitantly.
"My human heart."
She heard it now. A warning growl had ripped through the air. The element of surprise was gone. Wendy looked around in the darkness for the creature. As Wendy's eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, she found it's glowing blood red eyes. Wendy placed her hand on the hilt of the sword never breaking eye contact with the beast.
"You're human?" Wendy asked in surprise.
"I was. Until I became his enemy."
"What did you do?"
"I tried to leave."
Slowly the creature stalked toward her. Wendy pulled the sword from its sheath. It barked out a warning. But Wendy was hungry for blood, and this time she wasn't scared of herself.
"Pan hid my heart in a place that's unknown to me."
"So you want me to find your heart?"
"I believe you know where it is."
"I have no idea where it-"
"Like you said, you know Pan. You love him, even. If you can't recall, think harder. You know him even better than Felix. Maybe even better than I. So think hard. I know you will find it."
And then Wendy was charging at the animal. Her sword swung as she raced towards it. Wielding the blade felt incredible. It was a feeling Wendy couldn't explain. She felt incomplete without it in her grasp.
Wendy had remembered the feeling The Shadow's voice had held when he had asked her to find the thing he needed most. The desperation had masked her own when Pan and Felix played their twisted hide and seek game with her. How close she had tasted freedom when she made it one night without being found by Pan or the Lost Boys. The shattering emotion when Felix had showed up out of nowhere on that cliff top. She had felt a thousand heart breaks at once.
She remembered everything Felix had told her then. When she had thought she had reached the flag that held her freedom, she remembered why her freedom was dismissed.
The wolf. The dark gray, huge, red eyed wolf that attacked her the last time she had crossed its path.
The same wolf she was facing now.
The wolf lunged at her, but Wendy side stepped it and swung the sword expertly at it's unguarded flank. It howled and turned slowly. Wendy's victory smile vanished. Its red eyes glowed brighter, almost blinding. It's teeth gleamed in the moonlight. The hair on its back stood up in harsh gray spikes. And just like the first time she saw it, the sword slipped from her sweaty palm. Wendy realized as soon as it slipped, the wolf was going to win.
As the wolf crouched to spring for the last time, Wendy felt it. It seemed like a reflex. Whenever she felt like hope was lost, somehow her magic turned itself on. Whenever she felt most threatened. Time seemed to slow as Wendy pushed her palms away from her body. The wolf was knocked back.
Wendy closed her eyes and let herself feel. She opened herself up to her senses. She channeled all the fear in the moment into her fingertips like Pan had tried to teach her. She lit each fingertip like a candle and laughed. Seeing that the wolf had gotten up from a few yards away, she descended the flames. A high ring of fire protected her from the wolf's attack and allowed her to pick up the sword.
"Come on." She yelled at the wolf. It growled in frustration circling the fire. It waited for the opening Wendy would never let it get.
"Is that all you got?" She laughed into the crisp cold night. The wolf trembled with rage. This time, Wendy was not afraid.
This must be what power Pan felt. Wendy experienced the thrill. She basked in it for a second more and then gripped the sword tighter.
And then she let go of the fire. She watched it awe for a moment as the orange flame trickled down to the green floor.
The wolf lunged and jumped on Wendy. She let it push her to the ground and then lurched the sword into its side. The gray monster yelped and then went still on top of her. Wendy struggled to push it off her and rose to her feet.
She looked at what she had done in horror. The excitement of her magic had left her body and all she could do was stare. She used to love wolves. She thought they were so beautiful. But this was not a wolf, she reminded herself. This was a mutt Pan created for someone who wronged him long ago. This beast held The Shadow's heart. Wendy remembered what Felix had told her.
"I won I made it to the top of the cliff. I have the flag!" Wendy had waved the flag in the air taunting Felix.
"You may have the flag, Princess, but you did not win the game." Felix sneered at her with a wide grin.
"What do you mean I didn't win?!" Wendy half screamed at him.
"The rules, if I remember correctly, was to get to the flag without being caught by us." He stated smartly and curtly back.
"I didn't get caught by you! I touched the flag before you showed up!" Wendy announced a bit unsure.
"Oh, so he didn't catch you?" Felix and the Lost Boys moved aside to reveal the large gray wolf with terrifying red eyes. "He even marked you."
"He's not a Lost Boy and he is not Pan. Pan said I was to be caught by one of you or himself." Wendy didn't let her gaze unlock from the wolf's in fear it would tear her to pieces if she made an attempt to look away.
"Well, he is a Lost Boy. He is a prime example of what disobeying Pan will do to you. So you see, you lost the game. You get to stay in your little bird cage forever and ever."
Those words were the truth Wendy clung onto. It made sense. The Shadow could never leave the hourglass on Skull Rock; therefore it could not look for it's heart here in the Dark Jungle. Wendy had enough respect for the deceased animal not to smile at her discovery. She, Wendy Darling, had figured out one of Peter Pan's hiding places.
And then Wendy did what The Shadow told her to do. She bent down next to the wolf and put her hand on its chest; just above the heart.
"Shadow." She summoned it like it said she could. With Pan unconscious at camp, The Shadow's actions would not have dire consequences.
The Shadow appeared behind her and nodded. It raised on shadowy hand and pressed in between her two shoulder blades.
Wendy felt its power flow into her and she pushed her hand into the wolf's chest. It's skin felt like butter. It almost felt like she didn't even need The Shadow's magic to rip it's heart out.
As if on cue, her dream came back to her. Pan's face when he pulled out her own heart. How triumphant it looked. Wendy shuddered and ripped the heart free from the wolf.
It glowed red and still pulsated in her hands. She looked at The Shadow questionably. Could this really be it? The Shadow nodded and Wendy pushed the heart into it.
As soon as the heart sunk into it, Wendy was thrown several feet into the air. She landed with a thump on one of the jungle tree's roots and gasped for air staring up at the leaf canopy.
"Are you alright?" A voice asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Wendy finally registered the extended hand out in front of her.
The boy was about Pan's age. He had dark brown curly hair that ended at his cheek bones. His eyes were a dark brown, almost black. His smile made her light headed.
"You're The Shadow?" She asked in awe. She couldn't get over how, well, human he looked.
The boy nodded. "My name is Baelfire, Bae. I've been trapped in this world for so long. Never aging. Never leaving. You have no idea how much gratitude I feel towards you." Baelfire looked at Wendy weird. Wendy wanted to take a step back from all the admiration in his eyes.
"Don't thank me yet, you're still stuck here. Even I can't help you with that." The boy smiled widely.
"Oh I have a plan for that. I just needed my human body to enact it." Bae smiled a little arrogantly.
"Now, I've helped you. Tell me how to save Pan." Wendy commanded through narrowed eyes.
"You're right. A deal's a deal. But let me warn you. Pan is the baddest there is. Are you sure you really love such a person?" Bae asked curiously like a little boy would.
"I love Pan." Wendy said in a hard voice.
"Okay, okay." Bae laughed and raised up his hands as a peace gesture. "The prophecy says that the hourglass will freeze if the demon's heart holds no greed."
"So all I have to do is cure him of his greed?" Wendy asked doubtfully. It sounded so easy and after everything she had went through, easy was starting to sound pretty crazy.
"Yep, but good luck with that. It's hard to break the habits of someone who has lived lifetimes using the same old tricks." Wendy wanted to smack the grin right off his face.
And then Baelfire took a step closer to Wendy. "Thank you again, miss Darling, for helping me. I will owe you a deal in another life." Wendy was about to nod and send him on his way when his hands quickly took her face and brought her to him.
Bae kissed Wendy with every human emotion he had held in for the past one hundred years he had been imprisoned in a soulless being.
Wendy stood there still not remembering how to make him stop.
Finally Bae pulled away to look at her red, flustered face. He laughed a short chuckle and ducked his head once more to quickly peck her frozen lips again.
"I can see why Pan lets you hang around." He half mumbled, but Wendy didn't remember how to retort back either.
"See ya, Wendy Bird."
Wendy watched him march through the jungle trees. She put a hand to her lips in shock at how they still tingled from Baelfire.
Did he really just kiss her?
Did she really not stop him?