Wendy couldn't put her grief into words.
As she looked into the golden eyes of the reptilian man, she felt like a tidal wave was knocking into her fragile being. She hated how vulnerable the powerful sorcerer made her feel.
The deal she was yet to make already felt like a defeat. As if she was the villain fit for a cruel punishment. In reality, if Wendy refused to take it, someone else would have to pay a greater price for her benefit.
Taking Rumplestilkskin's deal meant she would likely never feel true happiness ever again. She closed her eyes and vanquished any selfishness her darkest desires wished, and cleared her throat for the Crocodile.
"Yes," she said sadly. Regret coated every inch of her voice.
Rumple raised an eyebrow at her, "Yes what, my dear?"
"Yes, we have a deal."
~~~~~~~~ Three days earlier
Wendy couldn't stop her wild gasps.
"Wendy, Wendy you're alright." Tink rubbed her shoulder.
"No, no, no, no...." Wendy murmured looking at each one of their faces. Hook and Felix looked at her in concern. Tink's smile looked genuine.
But there was someone else among the sweet reunion.
Sensing her fear, the creature laughed a high choking sound. He seemed to glide towards her, or maybe her vision had still not returned to normal.
"Rumplestilkskin's the name, dearie." He held out his hand to shake, but Wendy glared.
"Where did you come from?" She asked icily. Felix and Hook exchanged a glance.
"I come from all realms, anytime someone needs me. And my dear, you clearly needed me." Another cackle.
Wendy grimaced, but then suddenly remembered her dread before the Dreamshade took over her body.
Pan.
"Pan....something's wrong," Everyone but Rumple looked down at her confused. Wendy closed her eyes and hunted the island through her new unlocked senses.
No matter how hard she tried to focus on him; his voice, his face, his eyes, something pushed her out.
"I can't find Pan."
"Find him?" Felix asked.
"Find him like the way I found all of you. Through magic. It's like he's not here. Like he's not on Neverland."
"You're powers came to you because you were being tortured, Wendy. What if you're wrong about Pan and we march ourselves into a death trap?" Hook asked.
"I found her, didn't I?!" Wendy pointed at Tink in frustration, "I wasn't trying to find her like I was with you and Felix. I thought Ursula killed her." The crack in her voice was unintentional. She instantly regretted it, seeing how Tinkerbell cringed and Rumple grinned.
"Ms. Darling is right, you know." All heads swiveled in his direction. Rumple carried on, "And I'm not new to magic by any means. I recognize Ursula's powers. I know her signature better than anyone, as her mentor.
"You mentored her?" Tink asked disgusted, "You willingly let her turn into a heartless monster? Let her ruin innocent lives?"
Suddenly, Rumple didn't seem so comfortable spouting little riddle-like sentences. He glowered at Tinkerbell so angrily, Wendy became a bit nervous. "I'm not in charge of her, Ms. Bell. I only taught her to use her magic. I don't tell her what to do with it. And as for innocent, her target is far from it."
"Wendy is innocent! Ursula targeted a vulnerable girl that had no idea how to use her powers, lucky possessing magic in the first place." Felix spat, his hand clenched around his sword's hilt.
"Oh, but Wendy Darling isn't her target..."
"Pan is." Hook finished. Wendy remembered coming to that conclusion herself before the poison took ahold of her.
"She made it sound like she was in love with Pan. Like she wanted to get rid of me...." Wendy squeezed her eyes shut. She felt like she was going to be sick.
"I remember Ursula," Hook said gently, "She was cast off by her father for siding with humans after her mother died. I let her on my ship to sing to the crew. But one day, she never came back aboard."
Felix nodded, "That's when she came to the island. She spoke of a deal she wanted to make with the all powerful Pan."
"Pan betrayed her trust," Rumple sounded bored, "He spoke with Black Beard, he wanted a scroll. One that would tell him what he desired most. The person who held his heart," Wendy sat up a bit straighter. She was sure it had been her face on that scroll. "Pan got the scroll, and Black Beard got the voice of the purest heart of the merfolk, Ursula."
"Who was on the scroll?" Wendy asked.
"It was blank." Felix muttered.
"So he double crossed Ursula for nothing?" Tink asked.
"The scroll was said to reveal itself in the right moment." Rumple said.
A minute or two of silence took over. Wendy and the others processed the new information.
"How do we stop her? Is it even possible?" Wendy finally asked. She looked at Rumple. He was already smiling.
"This won't be pretty," Rumple let out a high pitched laugh, "But I'm glad you asked."
~~~~~~~~
Pan hurt. His face throbbed from the beatings. His ankles were stiff from the shackles tightened around them. He felt like a caged animal. Somehow, Pan couldn't rebel against Ursula. Every time a blow from her magic struck him, his mind would stop racing.
He deserved this.
Pan loved her. He showed his affection to her. But the love he gave, it was given to the wrong person. Who knew what Wendy was going through because of him. Because of what he did to Ursula. Pan hoped she hadn't been going through a torture worse than this. He hoped all of Ursula's rage was still being taken out on only him. If something happened to his Wendy, Pan didn't know how he could live with himself.
The days slipped by him. Sometimes he would wake to the cave bathed in yellow morning light. But the loneliness would hit him harder when he awoke in the dark. It was one of those nights. The cave blocked out the any of the pure moonlight and sent the cold to suffocate him. He forgot how it felt to be cold. It only made him want to search for an invisible warmth.
It also made him remember that first night Wendy stayed with him. The night she practically burnt his old camp down. The night where he warned her about the cold. How strong the victory sang when she finally gave in and wrapped herself around him. It hurt to even think about it.
If he had know so long ago of the consequences of his actions, would he have still gone through with his horrible acts? Pan knew the answer. Of course he would. Anything to keep inching closer and closer to his immortal life. Back then, he wouldn't have believed in a million years a person like Wendy existed. If someone told him there would be someone that would defy him, someone that, no matter the odds of failure, would keep their head up, that made his wicked legacy pale in comparison to such a courage, Pan wouldn't have believed them.
But no matter his past or his future, Wendy was going to continue to get hurt. As long as someone stuck beside him, they would always get caught in the crossfire. And he had to let her go. This time for good. If by some miracle he was spared by Ursula, Pan would end it with Wendy.
But that scenario would only happen if she loved him. If she could even look at him after this was all over, if it ever ended.
And Pan hoped and prayed she didn't.
~~~~~~~~
Tink watched Wendy out in the ocean. With Felix and Hook packing up the weapons for the new plan, she needed a little time to herself. Especially since her part of the plan wasn't exactly easy.
She watched the light blue tail vanish under the deep ocean, and waited exactly thirty seconds until Wendy's head popped up near the shore.
Tink followed her to where she lay in the cream colored sand with only an oversized shirt. She sat down next to her, but could only let herself stare at the scales slowly peeling themselves off her legs.
"Hey," Wendy said, looking a little confused by Tink's presence.
Tink made the mistake of looking her in the eyes. There was a beat of silence and then Tinkerbell whispered what had to be said.
"I'm sorry, Wendy. I know what you thought happened to me with Ursula must have been very....hard. Felix still has nightmares.....I don't know how you're doing."
Wendy kept her gaze level with the rocky shore and didn't say anything for a long time. Just when Tink started to think she was unforgiven, Wendy laid her palm on top of hers.
"I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me right now. We need to focus on the plan." Wendy murmured, pulling on her clothes over her now human skin.
She let Wendy walk a few paces up the sandy hill before calling after her, "What if I fail?"
Wendy stopped and slowly turned towards her, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, what if something goes wrong. What if you can't-"
Tink didn't know what she was expecting. Maybe the old Wendy hugging her telling her everything would be alright. But that's not what happened.
"As long as you do your part, nothing will go wrong. If you can't do that, tell me now." Tink wasn't sure if Wendy was intentionally glaring, or if the thought of losing to Ursula was too much.
Either case, Tinkerbell stood a little straighter.
"I will do what I have to."
Tink trudged up ahead towards the jungle. She almost didn't catch it, but being the survivor she was, she learned to pick up something as quiet as a twig snapping in the distance.
"Thank you," Wendy breathed as quiet as a mouse.
It was hours later and Tink gripped Felix's hand in what must have felt like a death grip. Although being the good boyfriend he was, Felix didn't complain.
She took out her bow she hardly used and started the fake hunting trip. She felt ridiculous, never being able to hit a target with an arrow in her life. Felix set up traps for the muskrats on the jungle floor, but let the rope so loose it wouldn't catch a single animal.
Felix strode over to where she half-heartedly lodged a useless arrow into a tree a few hundred yards away.
"You okay?" He whispered pretending to scour the trees for birds.
"Yeah," Tink sent another arrow flying.
"Where's the dagger I gave you?"
"In a place the Lost Boys would lose all their limbs if they checked." She looked pointedly at her chest before reloading her bow.
"Oh....good." She had the satisfaction of watching his pale face tint with slight pink.
And then they heard it.
"Do you suppose it's an animal?" Tink asked feigning concern.
"Or not, stay here." And then Felix left. That was it. She could possibly never see him again.
She launched two more arrows, pretending to be happy with what she shot and called out, "Felix?"
The footsteps stopped in their tracks and angled toward her.
She let the smile twist into a frown, "Felix?"
Silence.
Tink ran. She made sure to step on a few twigs in the process. She heard them then, gaining on her.
She let them come.
She had gotten only about a mile before Rudolph sprung from the trees in front of her. She gasped and tumbled backward into Victor's waiting hold.
"FELIX RUN! RUN, GET OUT OF HERE!"
Rudolph hissed, his golden eyes burning. He grabbed her face securely in both hands and growled, "Where is he?"
"He's gone, he's not coming back!"
"Why would you both do this to us? Why?!" Tinkerbell never saw such a fierce face on a mere Lost Boy before. But she didn't have time to show fear. Not real fear, anyway. Tink used the only card that would get him to do what she needed him to do.
"Felix never loved you. He didn't think of you like a son. He only used you until he found me. He was tired of you hanging all over him. He hated you!"
It was like she hoped, Rudolph wasn't afraid to hit a girl. Tink blacked out.
~~~~~~~~
"I've got her." Wendy called to Rumple. She felt how deep Tinkerbell's consciousness had slipped from her being.
Tink was finished with step one of the plan.
"None of her magic is fighting you?" Rumple asked.
She shook her head, not wanting a single lapse in concentration lose Tink's signal. She knew it would soon. The whole point in having Tink volunteer to get knocked out was to be able to give her the information she needed in order to distract Ursula long enough for Hook and Felix to rescue Pan.
"Ok, your turn. The plan is in motion, tell us how to go about killing Ursula." Wendy urged trying to use a powerful voice.
She heard another one of Rumple's laughs, but this one held out a little longer.
"Oh, you think it's that simple? Quite the sense of humor you've got."
Wendy had the sinking feeling. The feeling that triggered a panic deep inside her.
"Do. Not. Tell. Me. You. Sent. All. Of. My. Friends. To. Their. Deaths." Wendy growled, barley able to hold her magic's focus on Tinkerbell.
Rumple batted his eye lashes. "Well of course not, dearie. What do you take me for?"
"If I told you that, you wouldn't be helping us." Wendy retorted, still glaring at Rumple waiting for his explanation.
"I came here for another reason besides saving your life. I believe you've seen, or at least heard of, my son." Rumple's playfulness immediately vanished into what looked like grief.
"And who is your son?"
"Baelfire......he goes by Bae."
And suddenly Wendy felt sick. Like everyone she knew was somehow intwined in this endless maze she called her life. Rumple saw her frozen blank stare and snapped. He was in front of Wendy in a mere second.
"What happened to my son?"
"He's not here anymore."
Rumple was about to say more, but Wendy was suddenly livid.
"This is why you are helping us? You want revenge! You want to hurt Pan! Your no better than Ursula." Rumple grabbed both her wrist before she could swing at him.
"Baelfire told you, didn't he? I remember when he was a boy he asked me why he couldn't use magic to live forever. I told him. I also told him the very difficult way to be freed from the dark magic."
"No greed." Wendy answered with a growl. She acted fierce, but in her head all she could picture were her friends: Tinkerbell, Hook, even Felix. She sent them marching towards a trap that Rumple had laid out for them. Wendy pretty much handed them over to Ursula herself.
"I didn't double cross you, Wendy. It just so happens that my revenge is exactly what can help save Pan."
"I don't understand." Wendy snatched her wrists out of the Crocodile's grasp.
"Pan's greed used to center on his heart and on his power. After he found you, there was hope that the sand would stop completely. That maybe he would just stay happy with you," Wendy grimaced at the turn of events.
"He doesn't love me."
Rumple chuckled, "Is that what you think? Actually, he loves you very much for a boy obsessed with power and victory. He believes that all of his enemies will take you from him. With that, a new stronger greed took ahold of him. A greed of searching for his eternal life for you."
"So I'm the reason he's dying?" Wendy's breathing wavered as she felt like there wasn't enough air in the jungle to comfort the blow of reality.
"And that's where my revenge comes in."
Wendy didn't look at him. She didn't want to listen. She couldn't.
But she did.
"I want to make Pan miserable for taking my son away from me. You want to erase his greed so he can live. Cutting you out of his life is the only possible way to save him from himself, and you know that. Perhaps you've always known that."
If Wendy could cry, she would've. It felt like her heart was ripping in two.
"Now if you take my deal, this is what you have to tell Tinkerbell when she wakes up~"
~~~~~~~~
Tinkerbell opened her eyes in terror. She looked around the cave for anything living to hang on to. Anything to grip her emotions. Anything to stop Wendy and her decision.
But then she saw Pan. His eyes were calm and watching her face. He was badly injured. Beaten, it looked like.
This would kill him.
Tink felt Wendy watching her inside her head. She remembered when she said to her. She saw her face in her dream. Full of pain like Tinkerbell had ever seen.
Tink never understood how they could love each other. How she could love the person she was running from. But even Tink wasn't heartless enough to say the words Wendy Darling wanted her to say to him.
"I can't be with him, Tink. I didn't realize that I was the one hurting him."
"Tink?" Pan asked with a rough, dehydrated voice. Tink flinched.
"I have to cut myself out of his life."
"Ursula has to die." Tink growled at Pan through tears in her eyes. Pan's face changed as he looked into her hate filled eyes.
"What did she do to Wendy?" Pan asked, his face so desperate. He needed to hear she was alright. That she was safe. That she was coming to his rescue.
But that wasn't what he was about to hear.
"No matter how much you feel this isn't right, don't tell him the truth. If you truly love me like a sister the way I love you, Tinkerbell, you will help me save him from himself."
"Ursula poisoned her with Dreamshade, Pan."
"And you took her to the spring. She's angry she can't leave Neverland right? She's ok?"
"Pan."
Tink let the tears spill.
"Wendy didn't make it."
Pan didn't speak.
"WENDY'S DEAD!!!!" Tink howled at Ursula. She screamed at everything that had ever hurt her in the one hundred years on the island.
And then Tinkerbell was watching the enemy she had hated for all those years cry.
And that's when she knew he really loved her.
~~~~~~~ 6 Chapter Left
My pal avavanmaren has posted her very first story on Wattpad!!!! So proud of her for taking the leap of faith and pressing publish! Take a look at Frost In The Summer and message her critics you would like to give to bump up those rad skills :)