Third Person POV
It was as if it had never happened. Eden knew exactly what Pan had done to her. It was eating away at her to tell someone what had happened, but she couldn't. He forbade her to. And since he had possession over her heart, she was helpless. He could give her an order from miles away, and she had to follow it. He could crush it and kill her at any point.
"Ready to go?" Killian asked Eden, the sudden loud voice over her shoulder making her jump. She was already on edge. Because of what happened last night, she was afraid that Pan was going to do something the hurt the group trying to rescue the boy.
"Ready." Eden agreed, sighing. She couldn't say a word. She tried to, but they just wouldn't come out. She couldn't tell them her heart was missing. Killian offered his hand to lift her up, but she ignored it and stood up on her own. She didn't forgive him, and she didn't think she ever would. A sigh fell from the pirates lips, but he did not try to argue with her. However, he did take note of her appearance. She looked like she hadn't slept a wink. Her eyes were wide. She was overly alert, even for Neverland.
"Feeling alright, Eden?" He asked. It was in that moment that she felt a sharp pang against her chest. She couldn't speak for herself anymore...
"I'm fine." She said and began gathering her things.
"We're close to the camp. If we keep moving, we should be there by midday. We'll never get there if you all can't get up and get going." Eden said. She was in an even worse mood than yesterday. Getting her heart broken would have been a step up compared to what Peter actually did to her. The secret of what Pan had done was eating away at her.
***
The sound of leaves and branches breaking shot through the jungle as Eden used her cutlass to clear their path. Despite Charming and Hook offering to do so themselves, she continued on. She had grown used to doing everything themselves.
"Wait. Stop." Emma said, looking down at the map. The group of them came to a pause, glancing down at the map in her hands.
"Great. You got us lost." Regina complained. Pan's compound was now behind them. Eden inwardly huffed. Of course. He liked games, but he never played fair.
"No she didn't. Pan is moving the camp." Hook said, looking at Eden. The two of them knew how Pan was. Of course, he would act like this. She was not surprised at all.
"We should rest for a while." Eden suggested. "I think there are some things Hook and I should go over with you guys. You don't know exactly what you're dealing with."
The group of them didn't bother making camp, but Regina used her magic to quickly put together a fire. Killian sat down on the ground and looked up at Eden. He pat the ground next to him, offering her a place to sit on the ground. He expected her to turn him down. She had been so furious with him since the day he handed her and Bae over to Pan. Eden couldn't say a word about what Pan did to her. She couldn't write it down or describe it. But if she acted differently to try to show signs that something was wrong, maybe someone would catch on. The girl, also seeking some sort of much needed comfort sat down next to Killian, staring down at the forest floor.
"Pan doesn't play fair. He is cruel. He manipulates words. He's... complicated." Eden said softly. She was trying to think of the best way to try to explain this to a group of people that had no idea what they were really dealing with. Even she didn't know of all of Pan's abilities.
"He wasn't always horrible. I don't know what his motivation is, but I can promise you, unless we come together as a united group, he will win. He 's too powerful to stop when some of you are too busy fighting with each other. Put aside your differences. Let's all put our pasts with each other aside. We fight, he wins. So let's...lets just all agree to take a break from our emotions right now. Pan is heartless. He doesn't care about emotions. He'll twist ours against us. So forget it for now. Deal?" The young girl said, looking up at the pirate sitting next to her. He was confused. First, she refused to acknowledge his apologies. Now she wanted to put the past behind them? There was something off. Her whole body hunched over in pain after making her comment about Pan's heartlessness. It was too much of a hint at what he'd done to her for his liking.
The group began to nod in agreement, but they stopped when they saw Eden. Regina and Emma shared a look before glancing back at the girl.
"Lass, are you alright?" Killian asked. He was sure something was wrong.
"Eden, love, please tell me. I want to help you. I do care about you." He insisted, setting his good hand on her back to try to comfort her in her ache.
"Always quite the charmer, Captain." Pan. All eyes turned to the direction the voice came from. Weapons were drawn as the adults rose to their feet. But Eden stayed on the ground as she felt she had to, bringing her knees up to her chest.
"Look out, Your Majesty. He's on his way to stealing your nickname." Pan snickered at Prince Charming.
"Awfully rude to discuss someone when they aren't present. So I decided to grace you with my presence. You're welcome." He grinned, looking straight at Eden. His eyes narrowed slightly. He'd seen her like that before. Scared, helpless, sad. It reminded him of the girl he first met when she arrived. He almost felt guilty for turning her back into that.
"Where is my son?" Regina hissed, forming a fire ball in her hand. He wasn't very threatened by her at all.
"Why give me the map if you're just going to keep moving the camp?" Emma asked, making him chuckle.
"So full of questions. Adorable." The imp grinned, rubbing his hands together. "None of which I feel like answering right now. In fact, I have a question of my own. For you, Eden." He said, appearing in the middle of the group right next to Killian. Eden didn't react to being addressed. She couldn't. He wouldn't let her.
"Feeling a bit sad, are we? You don't feel like perking up? You're not happy to see me?" He was taunting her. There was no reason to. He did it because he could. It was cruel.
"Leave her alone, demon. Whatever you did to her that made her this way was enough." The pirate standing over the girl said. Eden couldn't move. She couldn't say a word. She just sat there trembling with tears rolling down her cheeks. Pan looked up at Hook, taking it as a challenge. He grabbed Eden's arm, pulling her up off of the ground.
"Look at this. Look at all of this history you think you can forget just like that." He seethed in her ear, holding her against his chest. Not in the comforting manner he once did. Instead, violently tight.
"The Queen who caused Snow and her Charming Prince to send you here. The two heroes who have more blood on their hands than the lost boys. The savior they sent you here to protect. The lost boy who abandoned you. And the pirate who gave you up. Why help them?" He whispered. Most of them looked guilty. Regina didn't show any sort of emotion. Her one and only concern was Henry. But they rest of them felt sympathy for her.
"Let her go." Neil said, glaring at Pan. He did care about Eden still. But what happened was so long ago.
"I'm sorry, Peter. I'm so sorry." Eden cried. She just couldn't keep acting like she was okay. Even with her heart gone from her chest, her grief was strong.
"I tried to save you, but I created a monster. I didn't know what my mother did. I never meant to hurt you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please let me go. If you break my heart again, it'll kill me." Tears flooded her cheeks in little rivers, her heart aching. She felt his grip on her loosen slightly. It wasn't her fault what happened at all. She didn't do anything. It was something her mother did long before she ever knew Peter, but somehow, he blamed her. And she was starting to blame herself.
"Good. I hope it does." He hissed after a moment, pushing her back down onto the ground. She stumbled down, sobbing quietly to herself. Killian kneeled down next to her, ignoring her waving her hands at him to try to keep him away. He didn't know what happened to her, but it was so obvious how miserable he was. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her against his chest while she cried.
Pan reappeared leaning against a tree in front of the group.
"If you want to find Henry, you're going to have to do a little better. The game is no fun if you move so slowly. Do better. I expect more from you, savior." Pan said, grinning.
"You can act smug all you want. We are going to stop you. We are going to get Henry back. Give him up now, and you can live." Emma threatened. Pan blew out a breath, a snicker following shortly after.
"Why bother? You gave him up once before. Just make it easier for yourself and leave now." He smirked.
"Don't listen to him, Emma. He's trying to manipulate you. You know who you really are." Her all too heroic mother said, stepping closer to her. Pan moved in closer, putting his face level with Emma's.
"She does know exactly who she is. That's how she read the map. She's an orphan. You and your are killers. The Queen is a monster. Killian is a liar. Bae is selfish. And Eden is weak. That's who you all are. What have I to fear?" He smirked.
"I'll be seeing you soon, little one. You have a debt to pay. I plan to collect soon." And just like that, he was gone...
A/N:
helloooo. I've been gone for a while, but im back! I've been rewatching Once recently. They put it on Disney +, and I decided to watch it a bit because of my marvel/seb stan addiction. im falling in love with it all over again :) so im going to try to be updating again! hope you enjoyed this chapter! sorry im a little rusty!
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follow my editing ig @/wren.ve if you want :)