His life hadn't been a fairytale even though he came from the realm of Cinderella and Snow White. His mother died when he was but a boy. He'd been abandoned by his father. After finding a family and a place to call home, Neal as Baelfire had had to leave – if the lad hadn't one of the Darling's would've been taken instead. When he had found a companion, the pirate had betrayed him and Neal had lived a horrific life in Neverland.
Through it all, he'd seen these numbers on his arm. They tick…tick…ticked away – slowly counting down the minutes until something happened. Would it be good or would it all blow up in smoke, Neal wasn't sure. Maybe those numbers represented how many hours and minutes he had left on this earth. That was a morbid thought that he quickly shook off.
He was sleeping in the back of an old yellow VW Bug. While it was too short for him to stretch out, the cushions were comfortable and surprisingly supportive. In fact, it was much better for sleeping than the hard ground or pallet bed he'd slept on in Neverland and the Enchanted Forest respectably. In his slumber, Neal dreamed of riding horseback as zombie tigers chased him. He shouldn't have been reading an old, discarded copy of 'On Stranger Tides' before his rest. There was a buzz in his dream and the earth rumbled below him and his horse. "Earthquake," Dream Neal cried out.
Neal bolted upright. His eyes flick to his wrist - 00:00:00. The numbers flashed and bleeped at him. Time's up. He wasn't dead. That was good, very good. The hoodie-wearing man watched the blonde in the front seat hotwire the starter with a screwdriver. She then just drove off.
"Impressive," Neal mumbled, still half-asleep. He figured it was high time the car thief knew she wasn't alone. As she turned to look at him with wide, frightened eyes he leaned forward and held up the keys. "But really, you could've just asked me for the keys. Just drive. It's fine."
He grinned at her. True, the situation was funny, at least to him – she was stealing a car he had stolen from another person who had stolen the car. It was no telling who originally owned this vehicle. But, he smiled for much more. This car thief was beautiful and he liked looking at her. She had long blonde hair pulled up into a pony-tail. Her black glasses framed her face and accented her soft, hazel eyes all the while allowing her red lips to be showcased vibrantly. And he liked that she mixed girly with biker chic. Neal was in love and he understood the numbers.