The heart didn't work.
Peter's eyes watched the blackness of the well stay just as it had been. Blackness. Felix's dead body slummed on the ground, blood pooling around the space where Peter's own hand had just been. How was it possible that the one person he cared for hadn't been the one that would complete the spell?
Unless … there was somebody else.
Not a single soul on Earth had touched his the way that he needed for the spell. If loyalty wasn't the deciding factor than love must have been the one true magical ingredient that he needed.
Though Peter did not love.
He never had and he never would. Even his own son was nothing but a disposable object to him, how could there be any other living creature that had managed to sneak their way into his heart?
What was the closest thing to love that he knew? It wasn't disinterest, or loyalty or following.
Jealousy.
-o-
Peter reclaimed his own body when he awoke to his son standing beside him, taunting him because he'd placed a magical locking bracelet onto his wrist. With a laugh Peter removed the object and instead snapped it onto Rumpelstiltskin wrist.
He needed to find his heart, before the idiots of Storybrooke figured out a way to stop him. Though they could only do that if they knew where to look -which he assumed they didn't.
Never once on Neverland had Peter considered love, or anything attached to it. Jealousy was love -in the most obsessive and immature form.
But it would have to do.
-o-
Henry recounted the story of what he saw when he woke up to the surrounding adults. "And Felix was on the ground dead. But the spell didn't work."
Emma and Regina shared surprised looks, "Felix was the only person that actually liked Pan, who else could he use?"
"Ask the girl." Regina decided, pointing in the direction of an old white cottage that the Darlings where occupying until they could leave. "She knew all of his secrets she must know something."
Neal sighed, "Her name is Wendy, Regina."
"Same difference."
-o-
Peter approached the house quietly, allowing the shadows to mask his presence as he glanced into the cottage through the side window. There he could see her and her brothers. She looked happy, laughing at something the youngest boy had said.
Peter hadn't seen her expression so joyful in such a long time, the sight of it nearly make him stumble.
But he couldn't think about it for too long, or his task would become even harder than it was going to be. Having to watch her fragile smile dissipate into utter shock and fear.
He had never felt regret before, but would he make her?
Somebody rattled the building with a knock on the door. Peter glared at the face -or faces- on the other side of the door. His first thought was to kill them all and take what was rightfully his but he resisted, choosing to listen instead.
-o-
"I'll get it!" Wendy called, running towards the chipped white door hastily. She was surprised to find so many people on the other side, but one person in particular caught her eye. "Bae, what are you doing here?!"
Neal had his hands stuck in his pockets, looking down at her with a sad expression, "Wendy we need to talk to you."
She was confused, raising an eyebrow she asked, "has something happened? Have I done something wrong?"
Emma shook her head, appearing beside Wendy's adoptive brother. "No Wendy we just need to ask you a few things." She waited. "We have questions about Pan."
Her head shook vigorously, her hand moving to slam the door. "I can't help you I'm sorry."
Regina caught the door before it could close, "Listen here Little Girl, if you don't help us this whole town is going to be in trouble, so I suggest you make the right decision."
Michael and John joined her at the door, glaring at their visitors with daggers in their eyes. "She's not going to talk about that monster."
Neal grasped onto Wendy's hand, possibly the only person who could touch her without her brothers firing shots. "Wendy please, I know it's difficult to talk about."
Roughly she pulled away, turning her back on the group of heroes so that she could walk towards the couch. "It's not difficult to talk about I just don't have anything to say." She turned back to watch them crossing the threshold. "Peter isn't my problem anymore."
"Please Wendy," Emma pleaded, "Just one question. We just need to ask one question." Her eyes rimmed with tears, and Wendy folded like a house of cards.
She sighed, "Why me?"
"You're the only person he's trusted besides Felix." Killian offered from the doorway, pointing his hook in her direction. "Every time I traveled to Neverland, the Lost Boys would tell me that Wendy knew all the secrets of the great Peter Pan, but that I'd never get to her."
She crossed her arms, "He didn't have anybody else to listen. The Lost Boys were all foolishly immature." For a moment they all exchanged glances, waiting to see if Wendy wold comply with their demands. "Ask your question."
Neal smiled, "Is there anybody else that Pan could possibly care for besides Felix?" She gave him a disbelieving look. "He needs the heart of the thing he loves most to complete his spell."
Wendy snorted, "Peter loved himself more than anybody in the world. The spell will never work. He doesn't love." Her eyes turned downward, shielding herself from the prying eyes of those around her.
Michael raised his hands, "If that's all I'll have to ask you to leave."
-o-
Peter chuckled darkly as he watched the band of merry soldiers leave the cottage. They knew nothing -they were all fools.
Wendy sat down on the couch, arms crossed over her chest as she stared down at the floor. Peter was curious about her sudden change in mood since the news had been announced. Did she know that she was the one he was after?
Michael offered her a cup of tea, which she accepted hesitantly. "I think I'm going to my room." She announced, grasping the mug between her slender fingers. "Thank you."
She was making it so easy.
-o-
Wendy's exhaled a shaking breath as she set the cup down on her nightstand. Her body laid back against the bed, eyes roaming around the ceiling as she waited for the inevitable.
Peter Pan was coming to kill her, finally it was going to happen.
He came in through the unlatched window as she had expected, but he wasn't wearing his smug expression that she was so used to seeing. Peter's face was blank, taking her in with sober eyes. "Wendy." He greeted her.
"Why do you have to kill me?" She felt tears stinging the back of her eyes and she hated herself for it. The last thing she wanted to do was show weakness in a time when she needed strength.
His steps were small but menacing, his lack of familiar character was putting her on edge. "Because there's no other way."
She shook her head, standing to meet his gaze. "You can just stay here, just live here! This town possess magic you don't need Henry's heart!" She had to admit that it was hard to picture him grocery shopping and eating breakfasting down at the dinner, but she could try to make him see.
Peter chortled, "You really think these people would let me live past tomorrow? After what I had done to Henry?"
"You could talk to them!"
"It wouldn't work Wendy!"
Their eyes bore into each others, begging the other one to see their side of the story. Wendy knew that it was useless trying to win a battle with the forever boy but the stubborn parts of her she'd learned to bury over the years were resurfacing.
Finally a tear stained her cheek, "If you must do this, at least make me one promise." He raised an eyebrow but spoke nothing in regards to what it was. "When you tell stories, tell them about me." Peter's forehead crinkled. "Make them up if you have to but I don't want to be forgotten. Not all of us are going to live forever."
He watched her curiously for what felt like years before taking a quick stride towards her. Peter nodded, "I promise."
-o-
Regina kicked at a loose rock on the gravel road, "She was lying."
"Why would she lie?" Neal asked defensively, trusting Wendy more than he ever would the evil queen.
Regina glared down the son of the Dark One, "How am I supposed to know?!"
Emma sighed, looking at Neal apologetically, "I'm sorry Neal, but Regina's right. Something was off." Hook stood behind her, hands on hips watching the scene unfold. "Maybe she was protecting somebody?"
Snow leaned against her husband, terrified of the unknown future. "She wouldn't be protecting anybody but Peter."
"If you were kept on an Island for a hundred years who would you trust more?" Hook offered, "The King of the island or the group of strangers who are threatening him?"
Offended Neal turned on Hook, "You think she's working with Pan? Are you crazy? He kept her in a cage!"
"Not the whole time." Henry spoke up, "he built her a treehouse."
"That was just for how Henry." Neal said.
Shaking his head Hook pointed towards the boy, "Whenever the Lost Boys told me of the mysterious Wendy, they spoke of a tree house. One I'd never find."
"Oh my god!" Emma gasped, staring at her team mates with an open mouth, "He needs Wendy's heart!"
Regina's eyes widened, "She was protecting us." They all looked stunned, the puzzle pieces clicking together in their heads. "She knew Pan would kill us all to get to her heart, that's why she sent us away."
-o-
Wendy felt the pain of a thousand suns plunging into her chest to grip tightly around her heart. Her gasp of pain came out much louder than she had thought it would -and it hurt her much more than she had believed.
Peter's hand pulled away from her, holding a glowing pink heart in his hands, his glossy eyes watching her for a reaction.
Her hands felt at the place where a gaping whole had just been inside of her but there was nothing. "My heart." She murmured.
-o-
"We told you to leave." John insisted, trying to close the door once again in their faces.
Neal held it open, begging them to hear him out. "Wendy was lying! She'd the thing Pan loves most if he gets her heart we'll all be doomed."
Both brothers stopped struggling. "Impossible." Michael scoffed.
"Where is Wendy?" Emma questioned, searching over the room from her place on the porch.
Their eyes met, terror surging through one brother and into the other. "Wendy!" They called out in unison, racing towards the back of the cottage.
-o-
Water was tumbling from her eyes reaching down towards the floor with a vengeance. Peter watched her cry -not quite sure how to handle the situation. When Wendy used to cry he'd simply walk away and allow her to calm down but something was freezing him in place this time.
From the corner of his eye he spotted the glow of her heart in his hands and brought it towards his lips. "Stop crying." He whispered.
Abruptly her tears halted, her gasping breaths ending quickly.
"Wendy!"
They both heard her brothers screaming but neither one made any movements -to caught up in each other to realize that Peter's plan could be spoiled in a matter of mere seconds.
Jealousy.
Peter had always been jealous of the other boys that talked to Wendy, of the pirates that wanted to use her to capture his secrets. After so long of checking behind him to make sure she was okay he locked in inside of a cage for safe keeping.
Jealousy was the closest thing he knew to love.
The door busted open, revealing the horrified faces of the Storybrooke gang and the Darling boys. Still, the two of them remained frozen like statues.
"Put her heart back!" John bellowed, racing towards Peter with unrivaled menace. Wendy shot out her hand to plow into John's chest and stopping him from moving another muscle. "Wendy?"
"If you stop him, he'll only try again until all of you are dead."
Regina growled, "If we don't stop him we'll all loose our memories."
"Would it really be so bad?" Peter inquired, but his focus never left the Darling girl in front of him.
Wendy knew the only solution, the only way that nobody could get hurt. Her hand sprang out expeditiously, stealing the heart away from Peter's hold.
His expression turned into one of shock and betrayal but she couldn't find it in her to care. "This is the only way everybody will be okay." With careless disregard Wendy clapped her hands together brutally, smashing her own heart between her hands.
"NO!" Peter shouted, body jumping towards the girl as she plummeted towards the ground. "Wendy wake up!" He screamed at her, "Wake up!"
"Wendy!" The other called out, John and Michael both unable to believe what they had just seen, their own hearts in the process of shattering.
Peter stared down at Wendy, his mouth agape as he ran his thumb down her cheek. The chill of her skin was mortifying. "You need to wake up." His gnarled, his voice low. "Don't play games Wendy, wake up."
But she was never going to listen to him -not anymore.
"I'm so sorry." He admitted, watching the color drain from her eyes.
The worst day of loving somebody is the day you loose them -but Peter hadn't got to experience any of the more beautiful days. He hadn't known he was in love.
Regret, along with jealousy was another trait of love.