*A/N: Takes place after Wendy leaves Neverland for the first time and comes back to attempt saving Baelfire. Also an AU where Peter is NOBODY'S FATHER*
Run, Darling, Run
He caught her. He always did.
She shouldn't have been surprised when she felt his lean arms wrap around her waist the way a child might hold on to his favorite toy – selfishly, possessively. This was his island, his kingdom – Neverland practically drew its power from him. Its trees bend at his very will, its skies and seas raged with him during his wrath. Wendy Moira Angela Darling should've known better than to think she'd go unnoticed by its king.
She struggled to free herself from his scorching, iron grip. She pounded at his arms, scratched them, and even resorted to biting them, but it seemed like she never even made an effort.
"Let go of me!" she yelled, finally using her voice for the first time. It was a futile attempt, instinctual, almost. She didn't think it would work – Pan listens to no one. But it did. He let go of her and she had to resist the strong urge to just make a dash for it. She had to gather her thoughts and think.
"See, bird, you don't have to be so rude. You need only ask."
She could hear the amusement in his tone even without facing him.
The silence was suffocating. He was waiting for her response, she could tell. But she won't give him that, no. This was all just another game to him. And she was tired of his games.
"Look at me, bird."
Silence.
"Don't be so stubborn Darling, you know what I do to those who are hardheaded."
Still no response.
"I said, Look. At. Me." His control snapped and he wrenched her arm then made her face him. A small gasp of pain escaped her lips at the rash action. But she would continue to defy him with her final breath if she has to. She casted her eyes on the ground. She would not look at him, would not give him what he wanted. Never again. The naïve, little girl that visited Neverland had long since gone and had been replaced by a hardened lady – one who has not only seen the real world, but was a part of it.
"Wendy, look at me."
Her breath caught in her throat. He had never called her Wendy before, not ever. At least not directly. He called her bird, Wendy-bird, and even Darling, sometimes. But not Wendy. Never just Wendy.
She felt compelled to look at him. There was something in his voice that made her want to give the fight up and just look at him, and it was not only because of his use of her given name. There was rage and desperation and something else she couldn't place and didn't dare decipher … Longing, perhaps? No. She was done with these thoughts. He was fooling her again, messing with her inner workings – making her believe that he was actually capable of vulnerability. Monsters were not capable of such human emotions. Whatever game he was playing at, she'd have no part in it.
"Fine. I was being kind, bird. But you're being too stubborn." He growled.
He gripped her chin with his other hand and forced it upward.
In a heartbeat, she was thrust into his forest green eyes and she was drowning again – drowning into its depths while wave after wave of buried memories and forgotten feelings rushed upon her, pulling her down, dragging her deeper and deeper, until her heart had seized up and she couldn't breathe anymore. Her limbs had all but turned into cotton and if it wasn't Pan's tight hold on her, she would've surely been knocked down to the ground by the crippling force of nostalgia.
"You've grown." He stated, and just like that, she was saved, pulled back to the present.
"And you haven't." She finally, finally replied.
He gave her a smile that played between amusement and actual sincerity. And suddenly, without warning, he chuckled. His hands dropped her chin and her arm and she was too stunned to realize that she was once again free. The whole terrain seemed to rumble in sync with his humorless mirth.
"Your appearance might've begged to differ, bird, but you haven't changed at all. Not one bit."
She felt anger stir within her. She was different now. He had no right to define her – he wasn't Wendy Darling. She was.
"I am different, Pan. You can't toy with me anymore."
It was the wrong thing to say, and she realized that a moment too late. A devilish glint sparked in his eyes, horribly, sickeningly familiar. The ghost of a shiver ran through her spine and she did her best not to quaver, not to prove him right. Hardening her resolve, she forced herself to meet his gaze, to stare him down, even as his frame towered over her, even as the malice in his orbs darkened.
"Oh, can't I?" he said, lowly, dangerously.
He took a step forward and she clenched her fists to keep herself from taking a step back. She would not back down from him. He took another step and she clenched her fists harder, until her nails dug through her skin. He was trying to intimidate her again and she was having none of it. He approached her slowly – a predator stalking its prey and feasting upon the fear it tries to conceal. Wendy stood her ground, but he's Peter Pan – he feeds on fear like it's his life source, savors it like it was ambrosia. He could practically feel the fear emanating from her and it drew him in like a moth to a flame.
Soon they were standing in such close proximity, that she could feel his hot breath against her face, and he could hear her rapid heartbeat beckoning to him like a siren's song.
She allowed herself to take a few steps back but still held his gaze.
"Don't come anymore closer, Pan."
He cocked his head to the side. "Finally grew a backbone, have you?" He ignored her words and slowly made his way to her.
For each step he took, she took another one back, and they continued this routine for quite a while, a twisted, animalistic dance between predator and prey. Until finally, Wendy snapped.
"Stop this game now, Pan. Don't come near me."
"I'm merely proving a point, Wendy-bird."
Faster than she could reply, Pan had crossed the remaining space between them and had grabbed her shoulders, leaning closer so that his lips touched her earlobe. "I know my possessions like the back of my hand, Darling, and don't fool yourself into thinking that I do not scare you, because you know I do. And you haven't changed. You're still mine, Wendy-bird. Everything in this island is mine. Every rock, every tree, every single being that sets foot in Neverland – all of them belong to me."
A chord in Wendy snapped. That was it. That was the final straw. She believed him with all her heart once. And he treated her like she was a possession. He manipulated her, bruised her in every aspect of her being, and made her question everything she ever believed in. Then when he had his fun, he discarded her like a broken toy and was expected to live normally again, after all she'd seen, after all she'd felt. And now, selfish, covetous boy that he was, wanted once more what he so carelessly threw away – her trust, her affections, her love – only to crush it beneath his foot like a bug again.
He was a demon in a boy's body.
"You know nothing, Peter Pan! You don't know who I am and what I feel, because you don't own me! You never did and you never will! You let me go. I believed in you, and you let me go. You didn't want me. So stick with your decision and –"
"I lied." He said it as if it was the most trivial thing.
"What?" She gasped.
"Need and want were always separated by a distinct line for me, Wendy-bird. I did what I did because I didn't need you. You were a nuisance, a hindrance to my plans and to everything I've worked for. But that doesn't mean that I don't want you." He replied, his eyes darkening.
A flame of hope flickered in her heart but she stamped it out as soon as it appeared. She would not be making the mistake of believing him again. Still, her heart thundered against her chest, a beast wanting to be freed from its cage, wanting to soar again, but she tamed it with the harsh reality. Pan was lying. He has to be.
"I don't believe you."
"Believe whatever you want, bird. This is Neverland after all. But that won't change the truth you're too afraid to accept."
The look on his face was almost gentle – coaxing. Almost.
For the first time in all her time with him, she actually sensed that he was telling the truth – the raw, unveiled truth. But she couldn't afford to believe him now. For all she knew this was another trap to reel her in. Because Peter Pan was a monster. And monsters didn't care for anyone but themselves.
She was torn – wounded and bleeding again by just his words. Exactly like before. He was winning this game. She cannot lose this time, not when there was someone else at stake. He was keeping her from Baelfire, she knew it now.
"I hate you." She hissed, summoning all the anger she had for Pan.
His response was a smirk – his infuriating, maddening, trademark smirk. The one sharp enough to cut through her heart and her soul like they were clay, until her very being was laid bare for him to read. The smirk that made her feel as if he knew her better than herself. And maybe he did.
"No you don't." he said, confident, always so irritatingly confident and sure of himself.
"I do." She insisted. "With every fiber of my being."
"Come now, Wendy-bird. We both know that that isn't true."
"Don't think I don't know what this is all about. You're trying to keep me from Baelfire. But I will save him, Pan. I will."
"I know why you're here. But it's all for naught, now. Time runs differently here in Neverland, remember? Baelfire's gone. Has been for quite some time now."
"You lie!" she hissed.
"Oh don't worry, he's not dead. He's just … gone. I let him go. I don't need him in Neverland."
The horror that washed over Wendy chilled her to the bone. No, no, no.
"No. That's – You're lying!"
His smirk just got wider. "Looks like you're stuck with me, then. And this time, I am not going to let you go."
She let instinct take over. Her feet flew across the ground, and she was running, running away from him, from the hellish nightmare that was about to become her life.
She heard his dark laugh and willed her legs to go faster, faster, ignoring the protests from her weary muscles.
"Run, Darling! Run." He called out.
And she did.
She 's losing. Again. He was the best player there ever was and she was just another unfortunate pawn in one of his twisted games. He has to be lying. Baelfire has to be in the island. Her belief that he's here is what kept her going. She has to find him before Pan decides to end the game and catch her.
Run, Darling, run. His voice laughed inside her head. She ran faster.
He will catch her. He always did.
*A/N: Didn't quite turn out the way I want it to but …I AM OBSSESED WITH THIS PAIRING. The happenings in "Think Lovely Thoughts" will never change that. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it . Please leave a review. A constructive criticism will be very much appreciated as well.*