Title: Hush (I Never Lied)
Category: Once Upon a Time
Genre: Romance/Angst/Tragedy
Rating: T
Characters: Pan, Wendy, Tink, various other lost boys
Pairings: DarlingPan (Pan/Wendy)
Summary: Deep down, he knew this would happen. {No Malcolm; au}
Warnings: Romance, heaps of angst, etc.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the idea.
Author's Notes: This ship is dead and outdated, but I've had this sitting in my documents forever and I finished it. It's also more like the original Neverland, at least in the beginning but it runs through the end of 3A so Peter will be kind of a bastard eventually. ALSO, not my best work ever. It was really rushed but I was so incredibly exhausted while writing…and it's unbeta'd.

Peter met Wendy when his shadow dropped her into the ocean. She had been beaten by the mermaids before Tink finally rescued her, dragging her onto the shore and pulling the water out of her lungs.

Peter stumbled upon them on his way to the cliffs. Tinkerbell had her lips on those of another girl, which, in all honesty, created more of a hunger than it probably should, until he realized that the action was not romantic, nor lusting, but an attempt to save her life.

"Who is she?" Peter asked.

"I'm not sure," Tink answered. "Your shadow dropped her in the middle of the ocean."

Peter gazed down at the girl, with her tangled mess of hair and white nightgown. He wondered what color her eyes were. Brown, maybe green like the forest. Maybe gray like the clouds. "I'll take her to my treehouse."

He threw Wendy over his shoulder and stalked off, Tink following behind. Once there, he draped her over the hammock.

"What's that?" the Lost Boys asked.

"It's a girl," Peter answered.

The boys had not seen girls in such a long time that they just stood there, gaping at her before that became boring and they went to kill something.

Peter waited with her until morning, until she opened her marvelous eyes.

§§§§§

Her eyes were not gray like the clouds or green like the jungle, but blue like the sea. Wendy had blue eyes and bruises, she had pink cheeks and scratches.

Peter had been lying on the floor, staring up at the stars when there was a light coughing from the hammock.

"Where am I?" a soft voice asked. He stood and walked towards her, staring at her for a moment.

"You're in Neverland. I'm Peter. Peter Pan."

The girl smiled. "I'm Wendy. Wendy Darling."

§§§§§

Wendy was a fine hunter, though she refused to kill. Peter taught her how to shoot as soon as she was able, for the Indians, mermaids, or animals could attack at any time.

He stood closer than necessary, right behind her as he pulled the bowstring, his fingers ghosting over hers. He drew it back to her cheek, whispering calloused hands against her face before releasing, allowing it to fly across and embed itself into the bark of the tree, into the target.

He could feel the goosebumps that formed on her skin when he stood close. He could feel the way she shivered if he touched her lightly. He could feel everything, without ever looking into her mind. Without using magic.

Inhaling, Wendy drew the arrow back, eyes pinched with focus until…she released and it hit the tree, square in the center.

"I hit it!" she cried, excited. "I can't believe it!"

So Peter cooked hera great feast, of meat and berries and stew, and she danced with the other lost boys as memories of home slowly, ever so slowly, faded away.

§§§§§

The first time they kissed was on the beach. Wendy had long since forgotten of John and Peter and home. All she knew was the island. All she knew was him.

"Peter?" she had asked.

"Yes, my Wendy-Bird?"

"How many stars do you think there are?"

"Many. Too many to count, or even control."

And then he looked at her, and she looked at him, and slowly, softly, their lips pressed together in a kiss as innocent as they once were, before Neverland, before everything changed.

"Oh my," Wendy gasped as they pulled apart. She danced a finger across her lower lip, smiling. "Oh my."

But then, there was a great stir in the ocean as the mermaids shrieked with envy, and both were forced to flee up into the mountains.

Watching her, Peter realized, made him feel guilty. She saw a good, innocent child that could love her. She saw his good side, but not the side that hungered for the Truest Believer's heart. Not the side that wished for eternal youth and the saving of the island. Not even the part of him that wanted the island saved too. She saw the hope rather than the desperation, and that alone was scary enough.

§§§§§

When Wendy found out that the new boy, Henry, was being held there against his will, she was appalled. Peter was good. Peter cared for the boys that had no home. Peter…was a liar.

"It will all make sense in due time, Wendy-Bird," he had answered nonchalantly when she asked him.

But there was so much lying and cheating and avoiding on his part that Wendy began to shut him out. He wouldn't tell her his secrets, she wouldn't tell him his.

And that was fine.

But there's nothing Peter Pan despised more than not being in the know. There was nothing he loathed more than not being told what happened in his island, in his world, in his domain.

And then Peter was telling Wendy that she too must pretend. She too must lie to that helpless boy that missed his family.

"All in due time, Wendy-Bird."

She was really getting sick of him saying that.

So when she caught sight of him ripping out Henry's heart and trading it with his own, she broke. He was so afraid of growing up that he would kill a child.

And she left him, choosing to sail away on the Jolly Roger with the pirate, with Henry's family.

§§§§§

The worst part of her leaving was that he knew it would have happened.

He knew that she would eventually see him for what he really was and she would eventually realize how much of a monster he was, yet he carried on with his plans.

He had won. So why did it feel so much like loss? In the end, the power, the youth was his goal. And he had that, he had his lost boys, why did he need her too?

But he did. And she was growing up, into a strong woman that would marry another, love another, bear the children of another, and it was all his fault.

Peter almost left Neverland for her. Almost. But then Felix kindly reminded him that the endgame was always the power, so he sat back down on his log, playing a song on his flute as the lost boys danced around the fire.

They danced and danced and danced, and eventually Peter joined in, allowing himself to forget her.