“What?”
“Wendy. The tree house is empty and – and it looks like there was a struggle. I found this,” he says and hands Peter a note but he does not take it. He stares up at Felix, confused gaze turning into something terrible. Felix has seen Peter kill others while laughing, giddy and exhilarated even if he detested his enemy. There is none of that cruel joy now, just pure loathing and Felix knows that they were about to head into a slaughter. The games were over. Finally Peter takes the parchment from him and reads it.
Pan,
We have the girl. Many would not believe it possible but I know she is important to you and that you have always guarded her fiercely. She is the closet thing you have to a heart and now she is ours. In exchange for Wendy Darling’s safe return we demand that you hand Henry over to us. You have it on good faith that if you do as we ask she will be left unharmed but if you endanger Henry we will not hesitate.
Meet at sundown, Marooner’s Rock.
Hook and Co~
Peter Pan has one weakness and they have taken it. Peter looks up from the note, his eyes now like two voids, and crumples the paper between his fingers. “No more games. I’m going to lash Killian to the wheel and burn his ship down around him. I’m going to pull them all apart and I know just who to start with,” Peter grins down wickedly at Henry, who is sleeping and unaware of torment that he is about to endure.
*
Wendy’s fingers curl through the bars of her cage as she stares desperately into the trees. She can hear the Lost Boys coming and her veins race with a mixture of relief and dread. The people who have kidnapped her shift on their feet and she can feel their tension. Blood is about to be spilt, though Wendy is no stranger to blood. She had cut the queen with her dagger as she tried to escape, that is why they had locked her in the cage on the ship.
I suppose they were expecting to find some other Wendy, she muses and moves onto her knees, grimacing at wooden edges dig into her skin but she ignores the discomfort when the boys finally appear. Wendy does not want anyone to die but she has no delusions that Rumpelstiltskin and Regina will kill her without hesitance if anything happens to Henry. They are not here to rescue her, she is a pawn.
They have no idea who I am…
Emma crouches down in front of her and gives a weak smile. Wendy knows that Emma is against keeping her imprisoned but she is also ruthless in her attempt to get her son back. Wendy likes her.
“Does he really care for you, enough to hand Henry over?”
“I – I hope so,” she stutters, shaking and a flash of pity enters Emma’s eyes. Wendy gazes at her fearfully and the older woman soaks it in. The woman has walls around her heart but there are cracks and inside is a bleeding sentimentality.
“I can take you back with us, if that’s what you want?” Emma asks and Wendy blinks.
Home? What is home now? The life that she once knew is gone and her brothers no more than strangers to her now. Once she had fought to get home, fought Peter with everything she had but something changed; he gave her his heart. It is small and dying but it is hers, he is hers. But none of them see this, not even her brothers. Tears spring into her eyes and she is about to answer when Peter appears. Emma springs up, pointing his sword at him but he only has eyes for the cage. He smiles at her and the relief is clear to see.
“Still flying bird?”
“Not presently,” Wendy responds, motioning around her wicker cage, and Peter squints at the blood that is drying on her dress. He bares his teeth, eyes flashing to the adults.
“You said she’d be unharmed!”
“That’s not her blood…” Regina remarks dryly and behind them Wendy nods, smiling unseen. Peter flashes a look of pride before he whistles suddenly and Felix brings Henry forward. The young boy strains towards his family but Felix keeps a grip on him. Emma and Regina dart forward, arms out stretched but Peter waves a hand and they slam back against a tree. He binds them with vines, both now powerless as the vines sap their magic away.
“Anyone else?” he asks, eyeing Hook who glares at him but stays still. Peter smirks. “You know better, don’t you Captain? How you thought this would work I have no idea. But I guess desperate measures and all that…”
“Enough of this,” Rumple grits out and before Peter can react he snaps his fingers and the cage disappears. Wendy is gone.
“What have you done?!” Peter demands, panic gnawing at his gut because he can’t sense her at all. She has simply winked out of his existence. The Dark One smiles.
“You shouldn’t be thinking where she is but rather how long she’s got. Give Henry back in the next five second or she dies,” Rumple demands quietly and holds up a hand and begins to count down on his fingers. Peter’s face contorts with hatred and he fiercely searches for her all over the island but she is nowhere. As the man holds up one finger Peter relents.
“Stop!”
“Come on, who’s more important to you? Wendy or yourself?” Rumple asks, something strange flashing in his gaze.
“Take him you bastard! Bring her back,” Peter demands as the last finger drops.
“You’re a liar but a deal is a deal,” he snaps his fingers and the cage appears covered with ice. Wendy lies very still at the bottom of the cage. Peter drops to his knees beside her, grabs the bars but snatches his hands back with a hiss. It was protected by the Dark One’s magic. He uses what he can to melt the ice, which soaks Wendy through.
“Wendy?” he breathes and everything around them stills. The waves stop rolling, the trees freeze and the very air grows thin. Her fingers twitch and she starts to breathe raggedly, strands of wet hair plastered against her pale cheek. Peter exhales and the world starts moving again. He continues to stare as she smiles weakly but her limbs shake and her gaze is unfocused. She could have died, died because of his attachment to her. He had felt furious that they had pinpointed his weakness, that they dared threaten him through Wendy but he felt assured that no harm would truly come to her. He has spent so long assured of his own power, of his perfect control, that he underestimated his enemies. Never again.
Peter wastes no time. He stands and moves over to Henry and making sure that his family is watching Peter rips the boy’s shadow from his body. His parents scream soul piercingly and Peter smiles giddily at them as Henry falls to the ground. Peter flings the shadow away carelessly as Emma sags against the tree, a vacant look in her eyes but the Evil Queen is apoplectic with insane rage, bellowing spells and curses at him.
Hook, Rumple and the Charmings come at him, screaming madly but Peter waves his hand, stopping them all. Using magic of any kind saps what little life he has left but he wants to ruin these people, he wants to rip them slowly to pieces. He stares down at Henry. The boy is gone, his eyes glassy but his heart still beats. Peter takes it, knowing that it will not work for him probably but even so he will be more powerful than he once was. He would have time left.
“Peter…?” Wendy groans and sits up. She feels terribly weak and she can’t stop shaking. As she focuses on Peter she wonders if there is something wrong with her eyes because he hovers in her field of vision. As she realises what has happened she begins to smile softly in wonder. “…You can fly?”
“I can do more than fly, I can do so much more. But first I think we should get you out of there,” he says and waves his hand, alighting before her. The bars around her wither and die and before she can move he engulfs her in his arms. Wendy presses her head against his chest, inhaling him and listening to the beat of his now shinning, strong heart. They are so consumed with each other that it takes some time for either of them to factor the noise around them. The adults are crying, their sadness taking the form of quiet sobs or outright wailing.
Wendy blinks at them before she sighs sadly, shaking her head. Weeping and sobs had once been the song that carried her to an awful sleep but she is now impervious to the sound. Sentimentality had been peeled from her, layer by layer. These people are their enemy but she does feel a pang of pity for them, especially Emma. She lifts her head and stares at them in consideration as she laces her fingers though Peter’s.
“Don’t kill them,” she says and Peter cocks an eyebrow, looking disappointed.
“I’ll show them no mercy, they took you from me. They would have killed you.”
“Not all of them and now I am back. I know that they’re our greatest threat and they will stop at nothing to destroy us and Neverland…but don’t kill them,” she repeats and tilts her head at Peter, who sulks a little.
“Then what do you propose?”
“Deliver them the same fate they were going to inflict on us…but leave some room for hope,” she says and lifts the cube that she has been hiding.
“Pandora’s Box?” he asks, amazed and Wendy nods.
“I found it on the ship, switched it for a make believe one,” she smiles in accomplishment and Peter gazes at her with such adoration that she feels her heart flare with love. Well, almost.
Peter pulls her against his side and stares at the frozen adults and laughs. “Idiots. I bet you thought you were kidnapping some poor, defenceless girl. As if I would be with anyone less capable than myself.”
Wendy hands over the box to Peter and he waves his hand over the mechanism that unlocks it. Red smoke pours out, enveloping the adults before sucking them all into the box. The hinges snap shut, sealing them all safely inside. Peter presents it to her, inclining his head and Wendy takes it as if it is a gift. She handles it gently, carefully and when they return to her tree house she places it on the mantelpiece, beside the box that contains her heart.