Chapter One: (Neverland) An Exchange
"I'll kill you!" His voice sounded strangled as he suppressed a cry of pain.
One of those fish-women must have had a knife, as if slowly drowning him wouldn't be enough. The scaly man giggled, crazy was practically dripping off this guy. I noticed a silver gleam in the sand, no more than a foot from the rim of the lagoon.
"Kill me? You couldn't even do it when you were alive how, do you suppose, you'll accomplish this task when you're dead?" He trilled malevolently.
The creature-man turned away and began to stroll towards the forest's edge. It was now or never. Happy thoughts, lagoon's edge. I reappeared on the shore of the Mermaid's Lagoon, water licking the toes of my soft leather boots. I kicked off the shoes as I ran in creating a swift dive into the deeper waters. My head rose just farther enough above the dark waters for me to breathe through my nose. I waded quietly to the right of the struggling pirate. One of the mermaids hissed at me as her cold, spindly fingers stroked the Captain's neck. I yanked the small curved blade out of its sheath on my hip and pointed it at her in warning. She hissed again but cringed back in fear before she bolted back underneath the surface of the water. Cad. I glanced around, at least twenty heads had risen above the water but only five were doing the attacking, make that four now. The rest were too cowardly to fight and would simply hang back and watch. I directed my attention to the other mermaids hanging onto the Captain. One made a move to grab his feet and keep him from treading water. I let out my own threatening hiss at her as I brought the small sword closer to her chest. She shrieked and ducked away leaving me with only three more. Hook noticed me now.
"Pan, go." He uttered in command.
I shook my head and swam closer. Two had their nails buried in Hook's shoulders and were trying to push him down under, while the third was whispering sensual but heinous things in his ear as one hand pulled at the back of his hair as the other, clutching a dagger made of sea glass, wrapped around his waist created a gash in his abdomen with tiny sea glass dagger. He caught a stifled groan of pain in his throat and jerked his head back, trying to keep it above the charcoal water's edge.
"I can see you like the dominant position, love, and I'll be happy to oblige on the sand." He slipped in smoothly, always the arrogant pirate.
The half-woman must have dragged the dagger through his flesh again because he clenched his jaw and shook his jaw a small grunt escaping through grinding teeth. "Bloody-fucking sea wench."
The three fish-women noticed me and simultaneously hissed. These three were not going to be as easy as the last two. I lunged forward to one of the two that had been pushing him down and stabbed her in the side. Her ear shattering screech echoed and I twisted the blade before removing it. She released her hold on Hook but he was growing tired and it didn't appear to make much more of a difference. I noticed his hands were bound behind him, with what I couldn't distinguish yet. I turned to the other half-fish on his shoulder. Obviously, she seemed less intimidated by me as she dug out one of her hands from the Captain's shoulder and swiped at me. I ducked to the side and her nails only met air. A frustrated snarl ripped from her throat and I took her moment of annoyance as an opportunity, sticking my sword in her shoulder and tearing halfway down. She let go of him and reached at her back, continuous shriek after shriek clawing its way out of her gullet as a ribbon of blood flowed down. She fell back under the waters and writhed away. Only one left. Her grey lips curled back revealing her pointed teeth.
She ran her tongue along their jagged edges. "Peter, come to save his pretty face? Are you the girl that wants to lie in his bed and twist under his grasp?"
"Eat your tongue, water harlot." Hook's admonishing whisper barely heard, he was losing strength and quickly.
She squealed and clasped her boney fingers around his throat and began to strangle him. He let out choked gasps. I looked for an opening as she used Hook as a human shield. Her hands were the only things not protected by his body. I couldn't stab the one around his neck. Glancing down I watched the part of her arm above water move slightly to cleave a new wound in his stomach. I estimated where her hand rested based off the opposite limb still above water. I lunged and my blade ran through her taut flesh and bone. Her head-splitting cry rang out as she wrenched her hand away, my blade still stuck through it. She darted underwater releasing Hook and sprung up behind me. Her wound free arm enclosed around my chest and shoulders, pinning me against her cold, slimy torso as her torn hand with my knife still stuck in it came to below my ear.
"What do you say we split you from the side." She trilled in sick excitement.
Hook began to drown, trying desperately to keep his nose above the lagoon's surface, but after his extended moments of fighting up against the hands that had been trying to drag him down he was exhausted and began to sputter. I narrowed my brows in focus my hands clawing at the mermaid behind me. She pressed her hand with the buried weapon into the side of my neck just below my ear and ran it down, effectively pushing the blade into my flesh and gouging a long slit down to where the back of my neck met my shoulders. I emitted a scream and bore my nails into her tail. Her pain-stricken shriek overlapped my yell and she removed the blade from my skin. I managed to twist around and grab her knife-implanted hand. I slid it across her windpipe. Her eyes glazed over and she sunk into the depths of the water. I turned back to Hook seeing his head slip under the black liquid. I delved under and seized his upper arms pulling him back up to the air. He coughed up water as I tried to untie the vines that had been made into a knot meant to swell in water and make it impossible to untangle. I searched around frantically and found the sea glass dagger from the mermaid floating nearby. I clutched it and sawed off the vines. Slinging his right arm over my shoulders I held his torso against my side to keep the grown man's head above water as best as a young girl could. I made our way to the shore and dragged him up out of the water onto dry sand. A movement in my peripheral caught my attention and I noted that the scaly man was still nearby, no more than a couple of yards away, I still had time to revive Hook. I leaned over him. He was drawing in ragged gasps. My nimble fingers unclasped his vest and pushed up his shirt so I could examine the damage. His abdomen held three large gashes across it as well as a few smaller cuts from when he still had enough strength to try and avoid the dagger. Blood slowly seeped out. I wasn't sure how much he had already lost the waters were too murky to tell. I pressed my small, thin hands onto them in attempt to slow the bleeding. His breath hitched at the contact in torment. His eyes were squeezed shut and he looked like he might lose consciousness.
"Killian." I used his real name to get his attention, keeping my voice calm so that he would focus.
His eyes opened, cerulean irises staring into my green ones in fear and desperation.
"I can heal it but you need to help me."
He swallowed and winced, trying to say something but opting for a nod instead. I looked down as I let the golden light of my magic shine from my palms still holding pressure to his wounds. I couldn't spread it any farther unless he assisted me.
"Killian," I looked back up at him. "- you need to think happy thoughts."
"I… have… none." He forced out.
"Yes you do, you old cod, remember the good memories! Think of when the sun shines here in the spring, when it becomes so bright and the water is so crystal-blue that it reflects itself. Think of panther orchids and how their black petals curl back and reveal the sunset colors."
My magic was beginning to spread farther the reptilian man was getting closer. I furrowed my brows in concentration.
"Think of… think of her, Killian, before the sad thoughts, before the tragedy, remember how her hair blew in the wind, how she smiled when she looked at you, and how her eyes sparkled. Remember all the great adventures you had together!"
My magic now filled each incision, it needed the last push and Killian was losing focus.
"Killian!" I urged. "Remember her laughter, especially when you caused it. Think of how she felt in your arms. Think of how it felt when you kissed her!"
His eyes were drooping but a calm smile was on his face as each wound healed and finally closed. His head fell back and his eyelids snapped shut. I released the pressure on his torso and pulled his shirt back down. I saw the man-reptile approach and sprang up quickly to block him from getting closer to Hook.
"You've got quite a gift, dearie."
I didn't respond, instead standing to full attention and holding my head high, ignoring the deep pain in my neck.
"Where are my manners, allow me to introduce myself." His foot kicked forward as his arms spread wide, he leaned into and elaborate bow. "Rumplestilskin." He trilled.
I could play this game. My right foot tucked behind the heel of my left in a point as I outstretched my left arm, my right arm bending at the elbow, I twirled my hand as I bowed at my waist. My head never tucked down, my eyes never left the reptile's face.
"Peter Pan." I stated clearly.
A short giggle slipped from him. "I've heard of you."
"Funny, I've never heard of you."
"Perhaps you may know me as the 'Dark One'."
Realization struck me, this was the one Hook wanted revenge on. "Oh, the crocodile." I cooed.
He snickered. "Is that what he refers to me as, how original."
"What do you want?" My question sounded more like a threat.
The crocodile giggled again. I sensed his thoughts were more maniacal and twisted than happy.
"Well, dearie, I came to find your Captain."
"He is not my Captain."
"Very well then, Hook. I heard he still had that oh, so, charming face of his and was putting it to use in order to find a means of ending me. And I couldn't that, so I planned on marring what was getting him along, seeing as how he still wasn't suffering enough. However, the mermaids got involved and wished to kill him and why waste the energy to get him out of the predicament? Granted, he wouldn't suffer as long but pain is pain and they were all too happy to help." His false cheery façade dropped completely then and a menacing darkness filled his expression. "That is, 'til you came along and spoiled it."
"Oops, my parents never taught me not to intervene in murder." His face only became fiercer at my insolent remark.
"I came here for his pretty face but I think what'll make this all sweeter would be for me to take yours instead."
I didn't have my knife, my magic was drained from healing, I couldn't do anything to stop the crocodile from encasing my neck in his claws. I yelped as one of his long, pointed nails dug into my gash. Hook stirred behind me but he didn't come into full consciousness yet. The Dark One's magic hit and surged over me. The heaviness of it weighed me down, suffocating me more than his hand was. He brought his face close to mine.
"The one who never wants to grow up, I have the perfect agony for you."
I felt the air whirl around us and the sand pull down.
"No!" I heard Hook's voice above the roar of the wind as I scratched at the hand squeezing my air way.
The crocodile's other hand flicked up at the wrist and I winced at the thud of Hook's head hitting a boulder. A portal formed around us, varying shades of violet and roaring wind.
"Afraid your magic won't work to cross realms anymore, I've put a lock on, and those paths have been cut from you and hidden away. Have an adventure in leaving adolescence, dearie." He sneered before letting me go. The portal tugged him in one direction while I was sucked into another. I blacked out.
Author's Note: I'd like to explain that yes, I know Neal/Baelfire is probably Peter Pan or something to that extent. This idea popped into my head and I thought it would be a fun twist to try out. This story will most likely be a little AU. (god, I hope I used that abbreviation correctly.) Enjoy.