Edited✔️✔️
Thank you everyone for voting, commenting, and adding this story to your reading lists! This story almost has 2k reads! I'm soooooo terribly sorry for the long wait! I was out sick for a while from school and I just got caught up in my school work.
Chapter 7
Hook's escape made the entire island go—for a lack of better words—chaotic.
Pan ordered all his best boys to search the island upside down and even went to the mermaids and he demanded they tell him anything if they saw any signs of Hook. They were stubborn to agree but somehow Pan persuaded them.
Thomas told Mia that Pan even went over to the Red Skin territory to try and form an alliance but instead nearly got shot by an arrow in a 'very bad place'. Mia couldn't help but giggle when she was told the story but ceased when Pan shot her a look and stuck his tongue out at her.
"Yes. It's all very funny," he had droned with sarcasm dripping from his voice, just making all the boys including herself begin cackling harder.
Mia had to stay back at camp and help cook the meals since she was still in bad shape with her bow and arrows. There were only two other boys helping her make the stew which didn't seem enough to make a meal for over twenty teenage boys with large appetites. The hardest parts were skinning and gutting the deer because the deer's open eyes always seemed to stare straight at her with the same fear-filled look they had moments before they were killed. She had done that for at least two hours straight while listening to gruesome stories from the boys about Hook until she gutted the last of the deer.
"Mia, you can go help tend the fire if you want," Adam, one of the boys who was helping her cook, said.
"No. It's fine," she responded, pouring the doe's guts in a large tin bucket and felt her stomach do a loop de loop.
Adam shook his head, smiling at her pale expression as she set aside the empty bucket. "I insist. We got the rest covered." The other boy beside him looked up from cutting vegetables to nod.
Mia was surprised at their kindness, feeling like the boys had really started warming up to her those past few days, and thanked them before running to the woods to clean her blood-stained hands off in the nearby lake. She scrubbed her hands and made sure to clean under her fingernails at least ten times before she ever stood to head back to camp.
Snap!
Mia's body tensed and she looked around for the source of the noise. Another twig snapped to her right and she started slowly backing up towards camp, reaching for the dagger in her boot, the same one she'd taken from the ship.
"Don't be frightened." The voice seemed to come from all around her and she slowly turned her head from left to right.
Taking her by surprise, a young man in all black stepped out from the woods with his hands grasped behind his back and an evil smile tugging at his lips. "Hello, Mia." He had jet black hair with the darkest eyes Mia had ever seen along with a chiseled chin. She noticed a faded scar near his left eyebrow that ran all the way down to the corner of his mouth. He was very, very handsome, but the ominous feeling he was giving her put a stop any potential attraction.
"H-How do you know my name?" she stuttered, finally wrapping her fingers around the familiar, slender handle.
"Don't even," the man told her monotonously as if he were bored, staring at the hand inside her boot that was currently clutching her hidden dagger. "You don't stand a chance against me and I'd hate to ruin such a stunning face as yours." He swiftly brought his left hand up to caress her cheek and she flinched back and in the processes released her grip on the only weapon with her.
"How do you know my name?" she repeated a bit louder with more confidence.
"Oh, did I forget to introduce myself?" the man asked, smiling while he scanned her over. He stopped in what looked like realization and frowned a bit at her attire but was quick to hide it with a low, mocking bow. "The name's Hook," he said. "James Hook."
The name made her shiver in fear, and it was then Mia noticed the hook for a replacement of his right hand glimmering in the sun. How did I not notice that before? she asked herself, but didn't dare stay on that topic for too long knowing that there were more important things.
"Now. I'm going to have to cut this short and get down to the point," Hook told her, adjusting the lapels on his long, black leather coat. "My partner and I have a job for you to do."
"No," Mia stated immediately. "I won't help you."
"I know you think me as the bad guy, Mia," Hook said slowly. "But I don't want to hurt anyone, I swear. I just need something and then I'll never set foot on this cursed island ever again and..." he trailed off.
"And?" she urged him to go on.
"And I can provide you a way off this island and take you home. All you have to do is do as I say."
She paused and cocked her head to the side with narrowed eyes. "You'll give me a way home if I do this task?" Mia asked.
Hook nodded, pulled out a flask, and took a large sip before tucking it back into the pocket inside his coat. "Aye," he replied and wiped his mouth. "So, do we have a deal?"
Mia looked down and back up at Hook, trying to muster the best Pan-look that she could. "No. I'm afraid we don't."
"But why, Mia? You can see your mother and Anna again. Don't you want that?"
"I do. But this is wrong. I shouldn't even be talking to you," Mia said, taking another step back. "All day I've heard stories about you and what you've done to people who've helped you. Besides, why should I trust a man who I've never met, who knows my name along with my best friend's, and who still hasn't answered my question?"
His face scrunched up to a menacing glare, but his eyes were lit with a fiery gleam. "Smart lass," he complimented and then shook his head towards the ground. "It's a shame then that the next time we meet, will be in much less friendly circumstances," he said darkly, staring at her.
"I guess so." Mia gulped, not trying to hide her fear anymore at the truthfulness to his words.
Hook slowly turned his back and started walking away and shortly stopped and spoke without turning his head. "Oh, one last thing. Tell Pan that Rufio sends his regards."
Mia watched as Hook's back slowly disappeared into the forest and she shakily walked back to camp.
⋆✶
Mia scurried straight to Pan's room as soon as she arrived inside camp to tell him all that had happened and pass on the message Hook had given her.
Pan's room was the farthest door on the left once inside Hangman's tree. Its door was usually closed and from the glimpses Mia had caught, the room was much larger than any of the other rooms. But it was even larger than she had suspected when she was finally inside it for the first time.
The walls were made of pure wood like all the other rooms and the room itself was highly decorated with modern day furniture (nightstand, mirror, dresser, etc) and was lit brightly by lanterns hanging off the walls. There were two paintings on opposite walls that brightened the room with color. One was a painting of Neverland and the other was a painting of London with Big Ben very visible in the center. His bed had animal skins for sheets and bear fur for a comforter and his pillows were made of soft, light brown rabbit fur.
"Who's Rufio?" Mia asked Pan as she watched him pace back and forth in his room from her spot sitting on his comfortable bed.
"Rufio," Pan spat out the name as if it were venom on his tongue, "is someone I've tried my best to forget. He can't be trusted and he's an absolute lunatic." He growled lowly to himself in what looked like to be both stress and anger.
"If I may ask," Mia said slowly, watching Pan closely for any signs of a mood swing, "what did he do?"
"He destroyed everything that meant even the slightest of thing to me," Pan answered bluntly, stopping his pacing to look at her. "And that's all you need to know."
There was a rap of knocks at the door before Thomas's head poked out. "Pan, dinner is ready." Even though his words were directed at his leader, his green eyes were fixated solely on Mia who returned his smile with one of her own, her cheeks flushed a beautiful pink.
Pan nodded stiffly and did a motion with his hand, signaling for him to leave.
After nodding at him out of respect, Thomas looked over at Mia once more, smiled even more goofily, and gave her a wink before finally removing his head from the room and closing the door.
"Are you sure there's nothing happening between you two?" Pan sneered and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Of course there isn't. And why would you care if there was?" Mia responded and mimicked Pan's actions by crossing her arms. She noticed his ears had turned red.
"I wouldn't!" he proclaimed, hands bawling up into fist.
"I'd just like to know what you have against Thomas, " Mia said a bit quieter, not looking him in the eye. "He's your third in command, after all, and you act like you hate him."
"You want to know what I have against him?" Pan started walking slowly forward. Mia nervously stood when she saw him approaching her, mimicking each step of his only backwards until her back hit the wall.
This is so cliche, Mia thought feeling her back pressed up against the wall with Pan trapping her with his arms and his breath fanning her face. He leaned in closer so that his lips were brushing against the shell of ear, making her traitorous body shudder.
"I'm upset that he's thinking about taking what's obviously mine," he whispered, sending chills down her spine that sparked a heat in her abdomen. Her face flushed.
"I'm not yours," Mia defended, putting shaking hands on his chest in a futile attempt to push him away. She cursed her body and her heart for reacting positively to him, wishing that he could just leave her alone.
"You're on my island. You follow my rules. I'd say that makes you mine, no?" he asked mockingly. He slightly pulled away so that he stared directly in her eyes, his pupils noticeably dilated. Even with Wendy, he had never experienced this sort of unexplainable rush that Mia was giving him at that very moment.
Mia quickly licked her chapped lips, making his hungry gaze focus there instead if her eyes. His head slightly leaned forward and she stopped breathing when she felt his lips brush against hers, light like a feather and not nearly enough to be considered a kiss at all. But that phantom touch was enough to make her forget everything—who she was, who he was, and where they were—everything slipped away around them. Everything.
While their lips were still barely touching, realizing what he was doing, Pan suddenly cringed back, making Mia jump in surprise, and he ground his teeth together. He knew these were no feelings that a boy should feel. No. These were the feelings of a man.
"Go," Pan whispered quietly with a blank look and strained to look back up at her eyes. "Go now, please, before I do something we'll regret."
Mia scrunched her eyebrows in confusion when seeing his solemn face, almost like he couldn't— "Pan I-"
"GO!" he bellowed with his face scrunching up in anger. Pan backed away from her and she noticed how his eyes seemed to turn a shade darker. "Go be with your precious Thomas," he said through clenched teeth, hating the name on his tongue even more than he hated hearing her say it. "It's for the best, anyway, right?"
Mia felt tears in her eyes threatening to spill. "Why are you doing this?" She would've let him kiss her. She would have let Peter Pan kiss her if that's what he wanted, and instead she was left standing there feeling and looking like a fool.
Silence was her only answer, and in that moment she realised just how stupid she had been.
Mia shook her head disbelievingly at him, feeling hurt and offended beyond what she thought was possible. She quickly ran over and slammed the door open and shut, running up the stairs and to the ground where the boys were eating their stew.
She had only taken a few steps when she ran into something and upon realising it was Thomas, she wrapped her arms around his waist and started silently crying in his chest.
Thomas was taken aback and hesitantly wrapped his arms around her shoulders for support.
"Mia, what happened? Are you ok?" he asked quickly with worry laced in his tone, checking for any signs of an injury. He sighed with relief when he found none, but immediately tensed again when he saw her red, sad eyes.
"P-Pan," Mia whimpered in between hiccups , "he st-startled me a little. I-I'll be fine." Not a complete lie, but it definitely wasn't the reason why she was crying.
"C'mon. You're shivering. Let's sit near the fire." He pulled her over to sit by him on a log and grabbed her a plate of food. When she was finished eating, exhaustion washed over her and she rested her head on his shoulder. Thomas was surprised by her movement but draped his arm over her shoulders nonetheless, content in doing so. That gave Mia the ability to snuggle even closer for warmth and she took that opportunity to breathe in his comforting scent.
It's for the best anyway.
"Thank you," Mia said drowsily, her voice muffled by his shoulder, "for being my friend."
"I should be thanking you. I haven't had a true, proper friend in nearly a century," Thomas told her with a chuckle but with a hidden sadness that made her wonder if there had ever been another person on the island he'd cared about as much as her.
That was a question for another time, she supposed, not wanting to ruin the moment.
Mia shuddered at the sudden chill and noticed a shadow was cast over them. They looked up and saw Pan glaring down at them.
"This is not snuggle time," he snarled through gritted teeth, making Mia's blood boil. "So unless you want to be locked up with the other prisoners, I suggest you stop. It's repulsive."
"Other prisoners?" Thomas asked, ignoring Pan's last comment, but removed his arm from Mia's shoulders nonetheless. Mia frowned. "What other prisoners?"
"None of your concern," Pan said with a smirk.
Thomas stood up so he was eye level with Pan and said, "As third in command, don't I have the privilege of knowing things like this?"
"Oh. I guess I forgot to tell you..." Pan trailed off with a devious smirk.
"Forgot to tell me what?" Thomas asked, his words clipped short out of annoyance.
"You're no longer third in command."
Thomas took a step back, appalled by his statement. "B-but I've always been—" he began to protest.
"Shut your mouth, boy," Pan growled, taking a step forward with his hand on his dagger. "Before you say something that will decrease your ranking further," he added warningly.
"Pan," Mia said angrily and stood, ready to defend her friend and fight for his position as third if she had to. "If this is about—"
"Shut up," Pan snapped. "Unless you want to go back in a cage."
Mia's mouth instantly closed and she looked down in submission while gritting her teeth in anger.
"As for the both of you," Pan continued, "if I ever—ever—find you two showing the least bit affection for each other again, I'll do you both a favor and make sure you two lovebirds are together forever in a cage. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Pan," they muttered in unison and shared upset glances.
Pan gave them each a look that could kill before stomping off to who-knows-where.
"I'm sorry," Mia told Thomas quietly, not being able to bring herself to look directly in his eyes. She knew, she just knew that her and Pan's interaction from earlier was what set him off and put him in such a bad mood and strip Thomas of his position.
"Don't be," Thomas said with a shrug. "It's not your fault Pan is a jerk. It's just who he is, I guess."
"But I still feel responsible," Mia replied in almost a whisper, her heart feeling like it was separated into three different parts.
Thomas put both his hands on her shoulders and she looked up shockingly to see him smiling.
"Mia, you did absolutely nothing wrong. If anyone is at fault, it's me and me only... Well, Pan too. But that's beside the point," Thomas said, still grinning.
"So... you're not upset?" Mia asked.
"Oh. I'm furious," Thomas answered, his grin widening while making Mia question his sanity. "But, I figured out a while ago, if I have so much time in the world to be angry, then why not spend it on being happy instead?"
Mia giggled. "It's so funny how different you are from the other lost boys."
Thomas puffed up his chest and said in a deep voice, "Why, thank you, young miss."
And this time when Thomas grinned, she grinned back and they both looked over their shoulders before they hugged.
⋆✶
Pan marched up angrily, kneeled next to the petite cage on the ground, and gripped the wooden bars tightly under his fingers.
"What did you do to me, fairy?" he snarled at the blond curled up in a corner.
Tinker Bell fluttered her eyes opened and coughed. Bags were noticeable under her usually bright and vibrant eyes and her bun was coming down, making loose strands fall in front of her face. Dirt covered her clothes and face and Pan spotted a few leaves tangled in her hair.
"I have no idea what you mean," she croaked and coughed again. Her throat felt like sand paper and talking was not something she wanted to do—especially with him.
"You told me—"
"Yes. I know what I told you. But I never said anything about me being apart of it," Tink answered and closed her heavy eyes, tired from their conversation already.
"You'll tell me how to fix this little problem, fairy," Pan demanded in a gravely voice. "You're lucky that you're still breathing as it is."
"Lucky?" Tink questioned with a scoff. "Would you call it being lucky being locked up in a cage, beaten, exhausted, and malnourished? If I were 'lucky', you would've killed me all ready, so no I will not tell you how to 'fix it'."
Pan, now standing straight, tore his hands from the cage bars and brought them to his sides, turning them into fists until red, angry crescent marks were left in his palms. "What's happening to me?" he asked again, this time more sternly but not as hateful.
"Maybe you should ask yourself," Tink responded, smiling slightly to herself. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to close my eyes, and take a nap. Goodbye, Peter Pan."
Tink's lids closed shut quickly and soon soft snores were emitting from her ajar mouth. Pan kicked the cage in rage but the fairy didn't budge. Fairies were notorious for their deep sleeps.
"Thanks for nothing," Pan said sarcastically and quickly added quietly under his breath: "Like always."
"Pan!"
He turned to see his new third in command, Andrew, running towards him nearly out of breath.
When Andrew came to a halt in front of him, he took a few deep breaths before regaining his composure. "Rufio... was... spotted... in... the... Neverwoods..." he gasped out in between short intakes of wheezy breaths that had Pan frowning in regret.
He realized giving an overweight boy with asthma the third in command position was a bad idea on his part. But Andrew was the closest boy around after he had stomped away angrily into the woods, and he was too prideful to fix his mistake.
Pan let out a string of curses. "How many men were with him?"
"Two, sir," Andrew said and finally caught his breath. "One was easily recognized as Hook but the other was wearing a cloak, covering his face."
"Hook and Rufio are now colleagues? Interesting," Pan said to himself mostly. "Anything else?"
"Yeah," Andrew said solemnly with a frown and looked at the grass. "Princess Tiger Lilly was attacked by Rufio and Hook-"
"Oh. Great. Now the Red Skins will come to my part of the island looking for her," Pan groaned, his mind reeling with ideas on how he could get back at them for shooting an arrow at him.
"No, sir. You didn't let me finish." Andrew gulped loudly and said in a quivering voice, "Princess Tiger Lilly is dead."
~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~
Finally done! Again, sorry for the long wait. As always, please let me know if they're any mistakes so that I may fix them. Ok so I just killed Tiger Lilly whom I haven't even mentioned yet. Haha. And I'm sure everyone knows who Tiger Lilly is, right? :P
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