Sorry for taking an extra week to write this! It's a bit longer than usual, and I think this'll be the penultimate chapter.

Also, apologies if it's a bit confusing, with all of the changes of tenses and stuff.

Please review, even the smallest things can help or make me smile :-)

Anyway, I hope you like it!

Peter Pan sat with his trousers rolled up, as his legs dangled in the warm water. Wendy had said it was too cold, so he'd made it warmer for her.

Now she sat next to him, her legs splashing playfully a little bit. The sun had set and the moon and stars shone brightly in the Neverland sky.

Her mouth opened slightly, her head resting on Peter's arm. It took him a moment to realise that Wendy had fallen asleep.

He smiled slightly, she was exhausted and would be out for hours. Now would be a good time to get the shadow to take her back to her world, and he could attend to some business he'd been meaning to for a while.

Quietly, he stood and picked her up in his arms. She rolled her head so it lay on her chest.

At the beginning, Wendy had just been a pawn in Peter's game, but he had grown fond of her. A little too fond, some Lost Boys might think, but not Peter. He wasn't stupid enough as to disregard or ignore the growing affection he had for her.

Could it be love? No, it wasn't. Or perhaps not quite. But Peter knew, love was weakness. He would have to cut his visits with her vastly. Neverland was dangerous enough as it was, and Peter certainly didn't want Wendy in any more danger than she had to be.

Affectionately he brushed some hair from her face before calling the shadow. With instructions to take Wendy back to her own house without awakening her, the shadow gave a brisk nod and left.

Now, he had things to do.

Without the shadow to take him where he wanted, he would have to put in an enormous amount of effort to transport to a different realm. Of course, if everything went to plan, that would be fixed, and Peter would be able to transport with no problems at all. But that depended on a lot of things, a lot of variables. Peter didn't like variables.

And then he was there, standing below a tree that had a boat in it. The marsh sprung underfoot as he strode towards a ladder. He pulled himself up and looked around. There seemed to be no one there.

"Good thing you don't get any visitors," Peter chuckled and waved his hand to reveal an extremely old woman, standing frozen on the floor. Just where he had left her a week or so before.

With everything else frozen, only her eyes and ears were allowed to move and work in order.

Peter was disgusted by this woman, Mama Odie. She was the exact embodiment of what he didn't want to be. Old.

He shivered at the memory of impersonating her, and still laughs to himself at the blind trust Sapphire had had when she came to see him, or rather, Mama Odie.

After all, Mama Odie was the most powerful and magical person she'd ever come across before Peter Pan himself.

"I just came to say that I'm finished with you now," he smirked at her. Then his smile dropped and he moved up close to her. "But try and contact Sapphire in any way and I will kill you."

Something niggled at the back of his mind. It was her eyes. They weren't frightful, or even hateful. There was a look in her eyes that knew something he didn't, and he resented that.

Maybe he would have to wipe any look out of her eyes.

Peter cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "On second thought, how about I just get it over with? I can't run the risk that you might tell her something." There were those variables again.

He waved his hand, allowing her to speak. "Any last words?" He asked.

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket," Mama Odie said, before Peter Pan flicked his hand carelessly to the side, snapping her neck in one fluid movement.

When Peter arrived back on Neverland, he felt it. Another presence on the island. One of those pesky pirates must have found their way onto the island.

He zoned in on their being and teleported there, annoyed he couldn't bask in the glory of tonight's murder.

Felix and Sapphire stood close to each other, as Captain Hook stood there, dumbstruck, staring at them both. Pan grinned.

"Oh my," Pan chuckled. "You and daddy dearest do have some catching up to do."

Sapphire's gaze flicked to Pan, and then back to Hook.

And that's when she turned away and stormed into the forest.

Pan laughed loudly as the sound of her fighting through the undergrowth died down. Felix chuckled, and like a magnet, he drew towards his leader.

"Was that… Maria?" Hook glared at Pan, but quickly shoots daggers at Felix instead. "What were you doing with her?"

Immediately, the laughter faded on Felix's lips, and the joy was quickly replaced by his usual reserved look.

"Oh come on, captain, let's not refuse the boys some fun!" Pan laughed, purposely baiting the captain to believe that all of the Lost Boys had fooled around with Sapphire.

"What?" Hook growled and stepped closer to Pan. Felix remained still.

"Don't act fatherly now, Killian. If you'd actually had a hand in her childhood, she wouldn't be here in Neverland, now would she?" Pan's voice dropped a few tones menacingly. He smirked at the captain and Hook froze. "Come now Felix, we have things to attend to."

Peter turned away from Killian and Felix quickly followed, falling just one step behind him.

When they had gone, Killian Jones turned away, cursing. He smashed through the undergrowth, much like his daughter had minutes ago. Back to his ship. That's where he could relax, where he could think this through.

Maria – although she obviously didn't go by Maria – had somehow ended up on Neverland. Was it, like Pan had implied, that she was lost? Or was it for some other, bizarre reason?

His heart ripped itself into shreds again. All the memories of losing Milah came flooding back, and the fact that he missed out on raising his only child made it so much worse.

Had her upbringing been so terrible that she'd ended up in Neverland? Been accepted as the first Lost Girl, and had so little self-respect?

After walking for a few minutes later, he finally ended up on the shore. The ship rocked from side to side in the shallow waters. The ship where it had all happened, so many years ago.

Once he was aboard, he ignored his crew except for one command to Smee.

"Send the strongest rum you have to my quarters."

Peter had been sitting in the midst of the camp. The moon was high and most of the boys were asleep. This was when he liked to get most of his thinking done.

But Felix had disappeared early on, his expression seemed cloudier than usual.

Instead of following him, or asking where he was going, Pan just moved his gaze to the ground. He had other things to think about, other than Felix.

Although Felix could tie into things. Saffron was there just for convenience, and she as obviously trying to starve herself to death.

Peter thought that was stupid, she could've just asked him to die and he would have obliged.

The thing was, Saffron wasn't that necessary to Peter's plot. His time was running out and he needed the Heart of the Truest Believer, and Saffron could be a pawn to help his elaborate plan play out precisely. But if she weren't there, it still could work. After all, Peter Pan never put all his eggs in one basket.

After the first time she had been in Neverland, things hadn't gone quite as planned, although he still had things to thank her for. But he couldn't thank her for things she couldn't remember.

One of those things was, however ever much he hated her for it, dragging him out of the black hole that was falling in love.

If his relationship with Wendy had gone any further, he would've found himself in love with her. And if you had something you loved, you were weak. Peter Pan was never weak. So, he had Sapphire to thank for that, but no one disobeys Pan, so she had to pay. And she did.

Pan thought about killing Saffron now. She was a nonessential pawn in his game of chess, and in the state she was in, she wasn't going to be helping anybody.

But then he felt a terrible feeling. It was a sharp stabbing was felt all over his body and he gritted his teeth. He closed his eyes and once they were opened, he was in a different place in the island. He was at the edge of the jungle, concealed by shadows, and near a cliff top. Felix stood just a few meters away from Pan, and they both watched as Saffron jumped from the cliff.

Felix lunged from the jungle, as if suddenly realising that letting her kill herself wasn't ok, and Pan stepped forward and grabbed his arm before Felix himself fell off the cliff. Felix looked at him wildly, but the stabbing feeling in Pan was growing and his eyes were screwed closed.

"Pan, are you okay" Felix's voice shook.

And then the pain was gone. Pan opened his eyes, ashamed from that unknown moment of weakness.

"I'm fine," he replied curtly.

Fine. He was fine now, but he needed to find out what that was. Pan couldn't be weak.

If there was one other person who was fluent in magic, and had lived on this island enough to gain his trust and answer his questions, it was Tinkerbell. So Tinkerbell is who he would ask.

Felix was staring at the cliff edge, not daring to move since Pan still gripped his arm. His scar was painfully visible in the moonlight and Pan turned away, letting go. Felix still didn't move.

"I need to go visit our little ex-fairy. You coming?" Peter asked.

"Huh? Oh, yes." Felix trailed zombie-like behind Pan as they traipsed to Tinkerbell's home.

As Saffron fell through the air, she thought the sensation was quite like exhilarating. For a moment, she even wondered if she really wanted to die or not. The ground was rushing towards her, and for a second, it quite felt like she was flying.

Flying, Saffron thought as a terribly strong wave of déjà vu swept over her.

Flying. Where had she felt this sensation before? And then Saffron should've hit the ground, but she didn't. She was flying. No longer falling, actually, really flying! She flew up, but then felt like she was about to throw up, so she landed heavily on her feet, the green sparkling mist surrounding her fading away.

Something prickled in the corner of her mind, something that verged on the edge of pain. Saffron nodded to herself. It must be something to do with her oxygen intake, or maybe she was just passing out after being able to fly, at least for a few moments anyway.

"Running out of pixie dust fast," Saffron heard a woman with a strange accent mutter.

Saffron spun around and her head pounded. "Who are you?" Her eyes met a small blonde lady.

"I'm Tinkerbell,"

In a daze Sapphire soon found herself aboard Captain Hook's ship.

"Can I see the captain?" she asked a man in a red beanie.

"Uh," he said, his eyes flicking towards the steps leading below deck.

"I'm…" Sapphire swallowed. "I'm his daughter."

The man took a step back, surprised. "Maria?"

"I take it I was born as Maria? Well, I go by Sapphire now, thank you," She asserted herself.

"Um, okay, Sapphire, I'm sure I can take you down to the Captain," he muttered and turned away down the steps. Sapphire followed him warily.

A few moments later she stood with her back to the door in a room with desks and cabinets. His back was to her.

"Uh," Sapphire cleared her throat. Her heart pounded nervously as the chair slowly swung around and she saw her real father.

A canteen which he had been previously drinking from was placed onto the table. "Maria?"

"My name's Sapphire now,"

"Your mother so liked the name Maria," His dark eyebrows knitted together. "But I suppose Sapphire is ok. A bit pretentious, maybe."

"Pretentious?" Sapphire folded her arms.

"It means -"

"Yes, I know what it means," Sapphire frowned. And then it hit her. "You're drunk."

"I'm not drunk. A good captain is always on his best form."

"Well you're obviously not a good captain then, are you?"

"Who are you, challenging my honour?" He asked aggressively.

"I don't know, maybe your daughter that you abandoned!" Sapphire said heatedly. "Where's my mother, then. Did you leave her too?"

All traces of aggravation were gone from his face, replaced by ultimate sadness.

"She died."

"Oh," Sapphire said. "Oh."

"The day I lost you. Rumplestiltskin killed her, and took my hand," he waved his hook at her. "And you were safe below deck. But you weren't safe. Somehow, you got your hands on a magic bean, and it sent you to a different realm. I spent many years searching for you, but to no avail… I never thought I'd find you on Neverland, of all places."

Sapphire leant against the wooden wall. So many questions flooded her head, but only one thing escaped her lips. "I came here to look for you."

Her father looked at her in surprise. She realised she didn't even know his name. "In Neverland?"

"Well, I didn't know where the bean I took would take me, but it was supposed to take me to 'what I needed most', so I guess that's you," Sapphire smiled tentatively.

The rest of the night and part of the day, after he had sobered up a bit, was spent getting to know each other. And they got along great – Sapphire was definitely her father's daughter. But somehow, Killian (she had decided to call him by his first name), kept steering the conversation towards his lust for revenge on Rumplestiltskin, and it was getting quite tiresome.

"I should go…" Sapphire said.

Killian's eyes looked out of the porthole. It was dark now in Neverland.

"I suppose, but you could always stay aboard if you like,"

Sapphire smiled but shook her head, she was getting a little sick from the constant swaying of the boat.

"Ah, alright. Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" he smiled hopefully and Sapphire nodded.

"I'm so glad I found you," they said in unison, before Sapphire left the room and headed for the deck.

Soon, she felt the gritty sand below foot. From where she was, she had no idea how to get back to camp. Perhaps staying aboard hadn't been such a bad idea.

"Peter Pan!" She called, and no sooner had the words left her lips, the boy appeared in front of her. Sapphire stepped back, it was quite disconcerting.

"What?" He sighed, annoyed.

"Take me back to my tent. Please." She added on second thought.

"What, not staying aboard the Jolly Roger? Anyway, I have better things to do than escort you around Neverland,"

"Oh, I'm sorry I interrupted your evil scheming," Sapphire rolled her eyes and Pan shot her a look which quickly made her shut up. They started to walk.

"How's Wendy?" Sapphire randomly asked after a few moments.

"Why?" he replied sharply.

Sapphire shrugged so Pan made no answer.

"Do you like her?"

"No, I decide to spend my precious time with someone I despise," Pan replied, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"Well you could do. I don't know how your mastermind brain works."

"I'm starting to realise why Felix is so against spending time with you,"

"Yeah, and why is that?"

"You talk too much,"

"Hm, you think? Because from what I recall, Felix and I didn't actually seem to get much talking done," Sapphire chuckled, although they had only kissed twice.

"I don't want to know, thanks," Pan said, powering ahead quickly.

"You know what, Pan?"

"What?"

"I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

Tinkerbell led Saffron towards her tree house, all the while the pain in Saffron's head grew. She thought she was going to faint soon.

When Tinkerbell turned and saw Saffron white as a sheet, she quickly led her to her hammock and let Saffron lay down.

Weird things flashed through her vision. At first it was just things like Neverland, but places she was sure she'd never been to before. Her head pounded. Saffron gripped the covers, her teeth gritting together.

"Are you okay?" Tinkerbell asked. "Do you want anything?"

"It's – it's just a headache," Saffron said, trying to convince herself more than Tinkerbell. Saffron, in a way, hated Tinkerbell. She'd saved Saffron from death, and Saffron didn't want that to happen.

"Why did you jump? Was it Pan?"

Saffron shrugged. "I don't want to live. Mostly because of Pan and Neverland."

Also, Saffron was forgetting more and more about her past. She'd knew she had one, had parents, and a place to live, but no details would come to mind. She didn't know if this was one of Neverland's effects, or if she was just losing her mind.

"There's always more reasons to live,"

"Not when you're trapped here," Saffron smiled sadly, but the smile was soon replaced by a grimace.

"I'm sorry," Tinkerbell said and went to move towards Saffron, but was distracted by movement at the bottom of the tree.

There was some talking, and then Tinkerbell said. "You're not coming up."

Pan's voice floated up and Saffron tensed, praying Tinkerbell would stop him. If she was Tinkerbell, wasn't she supposed to be a fairy? Weren't her and Peter supposed to be friends?

"On the contrary, Tink. We have things I want to talk about."

"Can't it wait?"

"What do you have better to do? Are you keeping a pirate hostage up there?" He chuckled and Saffron shivered at the emptiness of his laugh.

"Come back at another time." She said icily. Tinkerbell knew this was only going to end badly for her, so she prayed Pan was in a good mood. Tinkerbell wanted to help this girl. She was hoping in vain that somehow, Blue was keeping tabs on her, so if she helped someone, or acted like a good fairy, Blue would believe in her again.

"What are you hiding?" And with a flick of his hand, Tinkerbell was unable to move.

By this point, Saffron had begun to not care. Hopefully, Pan would just kill her – finish the job. But, without it being on her own terms, she felt frightened. Saffron squirmed, remembering the pain he had inflicted the last time they were close.

More images flashed through her mind. A man, a woman, another man, a young girl, Pan, Felix – Felix? Strange visions of her being in close proximity to him, emotions that played along with the vision flooded her, along with stabbing pains in her head.

The pain was terrible, and what was worse was not knowing what was causing it.

Saffron cried out and fell off the hammock, making the floor shake.

She was too overcome to realise that Pan had already entered the tree house, along with Felix. Pan's eyebrows were raised, and Felix stood rigid. How was she alive?

Then he was angry. How could she do this to him? How could she still be alive? Was she trying to prolong his suffering?

Her fingers clawed at the wooden floor as things in her brain were slotted back into place. Since this was happening naturally, and with no magical help, her brain was being ripped apart to insert the memories and then jammed crudely back together.

Disturbing strangled noises fought their way up her throat and through her mouth as the pain escalated.

Felix stared for a moment, before turning slowly to Pan.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything," he said as he watched Saffron, his head tilted to the side in sadistic interest.

"Then what is it?" Felix turned back to Saffron and gripped his club. His teeth were clamped so tight he swore they would break.

"It seems that she's regaining all of her memories,"

Felix opened his mouth to say something, but his words her lost in a final scream. It was gut wrenching, ear piercing, and bone rattling. Felix dropped his club, bile rising in his throat and Tinkerbell broke out of the spell and fell to the floor, covering her ears.

Saffron shuddered and then fell limp.

"Is she dead?" Tinkerbell whispered. Felix moved forward slowly and fell to his knees. Half of him wished for her to wake, the other half wanted her to stay asleep or dead.

He glanced back at Pan, for reassurance, for anything. Was Felix supposed to feel sad? Ashamed? Sick? Angry?

There seemed to be a mixture of all of those in his stomach, but every time he tried to put his finger on one, it floated away.

But Pan just stood there, deep in thought. He murmured something to Tinkerbell and she replied. They had a quick hushed conversation that Felix couldn't hear. His ears were still ringing, the terrible scream reverberating in his head.

Felix's hand carefully touched her face. It wasn't a tender, or romantic gesture, but he wanted to know if she was cold or not.

Suddenly, Felix was pushed aside by Pan. Felix looked at him in surprise. Pan was on his knees, hovering over Saffron's body and murmuring charms, working magic.

Felix stood up and stood next to Tinkerbell. "What's he doing?"

"He mentioned of a pain he was feeling, before she jumped. Neverland runs on belief, and because..."

"Saffron."

"Because Saffron lacked any belief in anything at all, Pan was feeling the side effects. And if she dies, it could lower how much time Pan has."

His stomach leapt. Maybe, if he'd lied to Saffron and said that he loved her, or stopped her from jumping, Pan wouldn't be suffering due to his idiocy.

"Pan didn't know that that was a possibility," Tinkerbell said, interrupting his thoughts. That calmed Felix a little.

It was all silent for a few moments, bar Pan's incessant mutterings, before Pan fell back. Both Felix and Tinkerbell moved to stand beside Pan, crowding around Saffron's body.

Saffron opened her eyes.

Oh, crap.