"Won't you come out
We could paint the town red
Kill a little time
You can sleep when you're dead
Cause it isn't over yet
Get it out of your head
Chase a couple hearts
We could leave 'em in shreds
Meet me in the gutter
Make the devil your friend
Just remember what I said
Cause it isn't over yet
Just remember what I said
Cause it isn't over yet"-digital daggers
I stare at where Pan exited only moments ago. I am frightened… more than I've ever been before. I am alone in a cave with the one person who could hurt me… I glance over my shoulder and sigh.
"Hurts doesn't it? Being abandoned by the person you care about."
I nod without speaking in response. The infamous dark one pities me and I can tell… he knows how I feel, because he's gone through it too. I turn to face him looking at the cold cave floor. I can hear him struggle to stand back up, but I am quick to take a few steps forward, lending a hand out to take his. I help him up and he studies me cautiously. He looks at me and I see a glimmer of familiarity flicker in his eyes. It's as if he knows me, but I know he doesn't. His eyes are brown like mine…
"Do I know you?"
He asks as I shake my head in protest.
"No sir, no you do not."
I whisper this back as I move my hand from him, folding my arms across my chest. I shiver as I look around the cave, suddenly feeling bad that he's spent the past few days here while pan and I played house in the warmth… He sighs looking at the goosebumps that form on my flesh, he walks around me and moves to where he'd made a fire before. Next to is untouched food there is firewood, using his magic, he starts the flames. The second the flames begin I feel a small wave of warmth, and I'm thankful for it.
"How do you know Pan?"
Rumpelstiltskin asks me this as I sit on the ground in front of the fire. I glance up at him and shrug my shoulders. I can't tell him the truth… even though I want to.
"It's complicated… We have history."
I whisper as he raises his eyebrows, he's interested in what I've said, but I know that I can't say much more. I look away and instead look at the embers.
"Be warned dearie… he's not to be trusted."
I nod. I knew this unfortunately… A person who kills their best friend all for revenge and power was not to be trusted…
"I know, and that's the problem… I love him anyway."
I whisper the last part of the sentence as he sits down next to me on the ground.
"Love him?"
He asks as I nod once more.
"Surely you've loved someone you shouldn't have."
I state lifelessly as I bring my pant covered legs to my chest, holding myself. Maybe telling him how I felt wasn't the best idea… perhaps is he knew too much he'd do something awful to Peter. Maybe try to use me as bait… which wouldn't work. Even though Peter told me he loved me, I still knew how much he cared for himself. He cared more about his own little kingdom and how much power he has… More than he's probably ever going to care for me. Rumple seems intrigued by my words, he sighs looking at the fire as I glance at him out of the corner of my eye.
"I have."
Is all he says in response. As silence descends upon us. The fire keeps me warm, but I shutter to think of what Pan will have in mind for me if he ever decides to let me out of this cave…
"I bet you think he actually cares for you…"
He states lifelessly from beside me. I sigh closing my eyes… He was speaking my worst fear. That I'm dumb enough to believe that Peter Pan could ever care for me. I can feel his gaze on me when I open my eyes.
"…You're not the only one who's made that mistake."
He whispers. I can tell by the tone he's using that he's referring to himself. I knew that Peter had a son, and I knew that he'd abandoned him here many years ago for his own selfish wishes. I felt for the man sitting next to me… the whole reason he was here was because I wanted a son. I wanted a son more than anything, and Peter only caved for my sake, not because he wanted a son too. I left this child in the hands of a man who never wanted one. It was my fault this man became the way he is… his fate is my doing…. I want to cry, but I know that my lack of a heart makes that impossible.
"I'm sorry…"
I murmur breaking the silence.
"… For what he's done to you."
The fire seems to get a bit higher when I apologize, it's as if his magic is tied to his emotions.
"How do you know of what he's done to me?"
He asks as I smile bitterly.
"He trusted me enough to tell me about you."
His gaze meets mine and he takes a hesitant breath. I knew that he was suspicious of me, but I didn't have much to hide from him. The only thing I was keeping from him was that I am his mum…
"Pan trusts no one."
I bite down on the bottom of my lip running my hand over my chest suddenly wishing I could feel my heartbeat… or feel anything.
"I know."
***Peter's Pov***
The island is silent. The absence of lost boys is apparent… My feet hit the dirt ground hard with every step I take. The forest is calming as I stand in the middle of the clearing, after everything that occurred in the cave I needed the space. Never land is warm. I push past the branches with my free hand as I walk. I sigh when I turn to see my tree… the tree where it all started… The place where I let go of my old life, and entered this new life of eternal youth. I look at the hand that is grasping something.. the small chest that held my entire world's most important feature… Every person has a weakness, and she was mine. My own little flower all for me to have, to keep, to use… My fingers brush over over the chest as I hold the box in my hands. I lay it down the ground as I it next my thinking tree. This chest holds the one thing I've ever truly loved… the one person who can break me if she knew her true strength. I glare at the chest as I grasp it once more. I can hear the heartbeat through the box as I hold it. I sigh laying my head back against the bark of the tree trunk as I think about today and everything that has occurred. I left her in the cave with my son… our son, and I would worry about her getting out of the cave, but I know she can't. She's spelled in with the son she so desperately wanted to see… I smirk to myself at the very thought of how flawless my plan was going… I knew she'd want to meet him once I told her about him and I knew that she'd take his side if I threatened him. The game was working out in my favor, and she was once again playing the role perfectly. While she had no idea of what I was up to, I knew she'd still be the essential piece in my game. I needed to figure out how to live forever, and now that the heart of the trues believer was out of the question I needed to find another way… I needed access to the kind of magic only the dark one possessed, and the only way I'd get that was through Tiger lily. I wave my hand over the chest and it opens, Rumple won't tell me anything… but if he thinks that I've betrayed her he'll lean on her for support. He'll think she hates me as much as he does. She'll get him to trust her, and I'll figure out all of the things he doesn't want me to know. I pull her heart out of the box smiling at the beating organ… her beautiful heart. I bring the heart to my ear and listen… I can hear her voice, and my son's.
"Pan trusts no one."
Rumpelstiltskin's voice rings in her ears and I can feel her heart beat faster as he speaks. She is connected to him… even with out her heart…. and I would be lying if I said I didn't feel threatened by her instant connection with our son. She's been the only one I've ever fully allowed myself to love, and it made my stomach turn knowing that I wasn't her one and only. She loved more than just me…
"I know."
She whispers back to him. I clench my jaw when I hear her respond with such words… I stare at the heart with rage. She agreed with him? How could she after everything I have done for her? After I kept her safe from the others, and made sure she had everything she desired. I loved her when I loved no one else, and here I was listening to her words…. her betrayal.
"Do you trust him?"
He asks coldly, a coldness that I thought only I could posses when speaking to anyone. She chuckles lightly, nerves evident in that hauntingly beautiful laugh of hers.
"I want to… I always want to."
There is hope in her voice, but any hope she has seems to flee the second he speaks. He chuckles in an almost condescending tone.
"You can never trust him tiger lily. He never does the right thing. He only does what helps him."
I glance down at her heart as he says this and see the light in it dim ever so slightly… She sighs.
"I know."
The second she says this I feel something flicker inside of me… a feeling I haven't had in years. I felt lonely… If I didn't have her believing in me then who did I have? I put the heart back in the chest, and close it. I feel my smirk falter at her doubt in me… she'd never doubted me before, so why did she now? I knew I wasn't the same man she once knew, but I would be damned if my little flower started to wilt at the mention of me. She is mine, and I will not my son take her from me… no one would. She is mine, and I will never let her go. Never.
