"Weiter! Weiter! Starr nicht so!"
John glanced at his brother as he slept in the passenger seat before returning his eyes to the road. That Michael spoke German was not strange, all of the Darlings could speak French, German and a spattering of Spanish, but the sound of it made John's knuckles go white on the steering wheel. Michael, like Peter, was often at the mercy of terrible nightmares, terrible memories and though his shorter brother could provide an affable, calm face he was haunted by his past.
"Michael, wake up," he urged as they drove towards the road sign proclaiming the next town. "We're here," he put his foot to the pedal and floored the exhaust and as Michael opened his eyes they sped past the Welcome to Storybrooke sign. Once over the town line John exhaled a pent up breath and looked at Michael, who was pale but smiling.
"We're here," he sat up, flexing his stiff neck and looked at the death grip John had around the steering wheel. "Easy Johnny, don't hurt my car."
"Sorry Mickey," John sneered and his brother smirked. Relaxing his tense muscles John eyed the houses that started to appear at the edges of the woods until they crested a hill and all of Storybrooke was laid out before them. Michael consulted a map, which was dotted with circles detailing the whereabouts of the inhabitants. The ones circled in red were people to be careful of but one spot on the map was a blot of deep red, like blood.
"The Blue Fairy," Michael sighed, tapping the area on the map that depicted the nun's convent. Pan had got word to the Home Office, which was growing smaller by the day, and the brothers had left for America. They were to observe and wait for further orders but they were to watch the Mother Superior most closely.
"From all reports she's been as quiet as a church mouse, even after the curse was broken. It's odd," John mused, starting the car again and driving into the town. They would rent some rooms out at the motel, keep their heads down and to any curious questions they would just say they were passing through. Though both were brave and resolute they looked upon the town with unease, a place that they had been watching for the last twenty eight years but always from the outskirts, never able to enter until now.
"These people are like us," Michael said suddenly as they drove slowly down the empty main road. John cocked an eyebrow, unimpressed.
"Yes, I feel especially connected to Old Mother Hubbard and the Seven dwarves," John deadpanned and Michael rolled his eyes.
"In this world we are nothing but stories, same as everyone else here," he flicked his fingers against the keychain teddy bear swinging from the rear-view mirror, a trinket Michael had been unable to resist buying on a trip to Disney Land. Pan had laughed himself breathless when he was told.
As a red headed man crossed the street with his dog John shook his head, mouth thinning. "You were muttering in your sleep again."
"Oh and what did I say this time?" his voice was level, eyes fixed on the crossing man and dog.
"Keep going and don't stare. German again."
Michael nodded and drove the car forward, saying nothing and John thought he was not going to respond but as they turned a corner he spoke up.
"The Red Cross stopped delivering to our camp, the soviet army was coming ever closer so we were told to get up one winter morning and start walking. It's 400 miles between Auschwitz and Moosburg."
"A death march…" John uttered softly, staring at his now older brother softly. Michael's time in a labour camp as a prisoner of war during the 40's was not something they talked about often but it was there, a constant weight behind them, like a shadow. John grew stern. "We might be stories in this world but we are not like these people Michael."
"If only we were. I think Wendy would — what the devil?!" he shouted suddenly as a woman moved purposefully into the road and stopped before the approaching car. The tires screeched against the asphalt as John broke sharply and the car screeched to a halt a foot away from the woman.
"Are you insane!?" John yelled, throwing the door open and moving around the front of the car. The young woman turned to face him and he stopped dead in his tracks. Long dark hair was plated and gathered into a bun and she was dressed in an over large jumper to deflect the cold of Maine but she was immediately recognisable.
"Hello John. Do you need your glasses?" Tiger Lily took a pair of old spectacles that were hanging from a chain around her neck and offered it to him, looking concerned. John could only gawp at her as Michael came to his side, amused at John's dazzled amazement and poked him forward. As he did he became aware that people were standing on the sidewalk and he turned.
"…Aunties?"
Edith and Agnes, now in jeans and t-shirts draped with sequined shawls, threw out their arms to the Darling brothers, tears in their eyes and Michael went to them, feeling as dazed as John looked. The taller brother they had to drag away from Tiger Lily and he put up a mild fight as they pecked him with kisses.
"We haven't seen you for such a long time! You went away to war and never come back!" Edith cried, giving a reddening John another hug before he was able to untangle himself from them. It was then that Michael became aware that another person was standing behind the sisters and he straightened.
"This is Lucy, our niece," they said in unison and pulled the younger woman forward. Her red hair glinted in the sun and Michael inclined his head to her polity but froze when she lifted her hand. Sightless blue eyes gazed at him and Michael blinked.
"Do you mind?"
"Not at all."
Her fingertips brushed lightly over his features and then she did the same to John, who kept casting furtive glances at Tiger Lily. Finally Lucy nodded and stepped back.
"This is who I saw. If you had drove past us someone would have killed you," she pointed at John, "and would have imprisoned you," she inclined her head to Michael. The brothers, their feelings of happiness fading, looked at the young seer grimly.
"Who?" they asked together and all three seers shrugged.
"No idea. Best you stay with us, just to be safe," Agnes ushered them into the shop, which Michael saw with bemusement was called A Stitch in Time, and they closed the door with a tinkle of a bell. Surrounded by the hush of the shop and the smell of soap powder the Darlings gazed on the women before them.
"What happens now?" John asked and Tiger Lily frowned, tilting her head.
"You don't know? What have you been doing for the last century?"
John and Michael looked at each other and saw the same guilt and shame reflected back.
"We thought it was to defeat Pan and get our sister back," Michael explained and John shook his head sadly.
"But we just messed everything up. Now we don't age and we do his bidding, that's why we're here."
The seers smiled in understanding before shaking their heads. "You're here because you're meant to be, doesn't matter who sent you. Peter might think he's got the future all set out in front of him like a map but that's tosh. You're not puppets and he does not pull your strings. What do you want?"
John and Michael gave each other a hard, long stare before nodding. The water that Pan supplied them with was keeping them forever young but it was also a sword hovering over their heads. He could withhold it, had subtly threatened to from time to time but they had continued to follow his orders for Wendy's sake and for a penance they believed they had to pay. Now, after half a century, that abasement seemed empty and false. While they deemed their servitude as a means of appeasement Pan only grew more power hungry and cruel, making a mockery of their sacrifice and their sister's involvement in Pan's life ever more insidious. The Darling family, once of Bloomsbury Square, London, was now a family bartering in the murder of a child.
Michael was the one to answer, exhaling in relief. "We want to save Henry Mills. We want to grow up."
"We want all of the Darlings to grow up," John added, back straight and eyes fixed on the sisters. They smiled and patted the men's faces maternally.
"Then we better get started."
a.n:
And here we go. Thank you for your patience and I hope you'll enjoy what is to come. I will be taking some plot elements from the show's Neverland arc but like the other two stories this is AU.
Back to the island next...(update tomorrow hopefully)