Baelfire was back.
It was Tinkerbell who confirmed what Felix had told them in the dark, and it was Tinkerbell who shared her dread, the sinking feeling that accompanied the realisation that the boy that they had both once known had grown up, only to be returned to this place he had fought to get away from- had succeeded in getting away from.
"If Bae couldn't do it for good," Wendy muttered. "What chance do we have?"
Tinkerbell couldn't answer, so instead, she elaborated.
"Hook and the others went to the Echo Cave to save them. They had to reveal their darkest secrets to get to him, of course. Part of Pan's game."
"Of course it is. He means to break them," Wendy said colourlessly.
"And he's succeeding," Tinkerbell said, no less bitterly. "It seems that Emma- Henry's birth mother, the woman that Hook- well, anyway. It seems that Emma and Baelfire were involved once."
"My Baelfire," Wendy murmured. "Having relationships, history. At least he has that to show for his escape, however temporary it was."
"That's not all, Wendy," Tinkerbell said, chewing her lip. "There was more to it. Baelfire is Henry's father."
Wendy glanced at her sharply. "What?"
"I know," Tinkerbell said. "It's difficult to conceive, isn't it? I saw him, too. He's a man now. I know I should have gone to him. But I didn't. I knew Baelfire. Who knows who he is, now? I heard them call him 'Neal' like it was his name. Perhaps that was because it is, now. At least Hook is more or less the same."
"I remember Hook," Wendy smiled. "I wanted to be one of the pirates on his ship. I would've happily called him my Captain."
"How are you, Wendy?" Tinkerbell asked delicately. "It can't be easy- hearing about Baelfire, I mean. You came here for him, I remember that."
"Just as you were punished. For him." Wendy shrugged indifferently. "You said it, Tinkerbell. Who knows who Baelfire is anymore? He grew up in ways that I could not grow up here. I'm glad for that. But I am not the Wendy Darling that he knew, either. I would not think it wise for him to meet me now- to see who I've become."
"You say that as though you have become something terrible," Tinkerbell said gently.
Wendy didn't flinch. "Do I?"
"I'm a fairy, Wendy," Tinkerbell said. "A bit of a rubbish one, I'll admit. But I don't befriend terrible people."
"Oh, Tinkerbell," Wendy said, a little sadly this time. "I think you have befriended all the wrong people."
Tinkerbell glanced at her, uneasy, but for the life of her she could not think of anything useful to say, so she didn't.
"So, I take it the Believer's family don't want to delay," Wendy said briskly, and when the fairy inclined her head in confirmation, she folded her arms across her chest. "Well, neither do I. When the sun next falls. Tell them that's when they'll be free to storm the camp. Tell them to send my regards to Henry. And tell them that if they miss this opportunity- and do be sure to repeat this to them, Tinkerbell, quite clearly- they will suffer for it, and they will not receive another chance like this again, maybe forever."
"Not so optimistic," Tinkerbell mused.
"They think they know loss," Wendy said, a vacant look in her eye, "because their boy has been trapped here for all of three days and three nights. Because they have been manipulated by Pan. But you and I both know that they still have everything to lose. Make sure that they know it."
"Giving them hope, encouragement- that, of course, wouldn't be helpful at all," Tinkerbell said a little reproachfully.
"No, it wouldn't," Wendy said with upmost serenity. "We need them to do this right, too, Tinkerbell. We have everything to lose too. And we have been planning this- I have been planning this- for more years than many of Hook's friends have ever lived. So no, it wouldn't be helpful to tell them to think happy thoughts. One false move; that's all it takes."
"They know the stakes," Tinkerbell said, gently now. "But I'll tell them."
"It's too dangerous," Neal grumbled, kicking up dust as he paced the forest floor. "How does Wendy plan to trick Pan? He'll find out something's going on, and when he does, he'll blame her." Once he had been filled in on her a) survival and b) role in this rescue mission, he had been in a state one part anger three parts worry.
"She will be careful," Tinkerbell said, for the benefit of the motley crew that stood sporting agitated expressions and shifting feet around him.
"It's not a matter of merely being careful," Hook agreed, somewhat reluctantly. "Not with him. Wendy is brave, but she was brave before, and we both saw the cost. She nearly died the last time she went against him. She did die- surely she remembers that? The only reason that girl is alive is because for whatever miserable reason, Pan wants her to be."
"What are you saying, Hook?" Emma said testily. "That there's no hope?"
Despite everything she must be feeling, her voice did not waver as she met his eyes. Hook hesitated, then, regret clamping his mouth shut, as though he should've known better than to speak so frankly around her.
"You will have your son back, Swan," he said, a promise. "Neal just worries for the fate of an old friend- as do I."
"If you're worried too, why don't we go after her?" Neal appealed, turning to Hook in a whirlwind of thoughts that ran off the tongue. "We can keep her here with us, where he can't find her; we'll find another way to Henry, together. We still have that- that Lost Boy, don't we? Why can't he distract Pan while we rescue Wendy and Henry? Tinkerbell, you helped me get off this damned island last time, I know you can do it again."
"Enough of this. Every minute we waste arguing about this Wendy girl is another minute my son spends in the hands of a psychotic child elf," Regina said hotly.
"Regina, she's a kid," Mary Margaret put in before Tinkerbell had a chance to.
"Not uncommon on this island by the sounds of it," Regina said. "Besides, Pan's not planning on taking her heart. It's my son who's in danger here."
"Our son," Emma said mildly, but she did not object to the rest, and for this, she looked guilty.
"Wendy can do it," Tinkerbell pushed back her own feelings of unease. Neal opened his mouth again, no doubt ready to fight for the fate of the Wendy who Baelfire knew and loved, but Hook gave a grave nod.
"Tinkerbell is right, mate," he said. "Like I said, Wendy's brave. But more to the point, Pan once went to great lengths to keep her alive. If she's smart- and she is- she'll use that to her advantage."
"He loves her?" David guessed, hand tightening over Mary Margaret's.
"It seems so," Tinkerbell said helplessly.
"True Love, used as a weapon," Mary Margaret said. "I almost feel bad for him."
Emma, Regina, Neal- they all shot her a look. But Hook just met Tink's eyes over Emma's shoulder and remembered how ugly, how human, his nemesis had been that day on the deck of his ship, as Wendy lay without feeling, without pulse, without life.
"Almost."
Pan smiled when Wendy appeared in front of him, with naught but the trembling of leaves left to hint that it was magic that had got her there.
He smiled, and she wished that he wouldn't, even as a smile of her own stretched across her cheeks in response.
"Practicing again?"
"I do think I am almost done with practicing," she said. "Don't you?"
He folded his arms as he approached her, eyebrow raised as he appraised her.
"Hmm," he mused, "You've improved. Dramatically. Barely making a sound with your magic now. And you tracked me using magic too, I suppose?"
"Impressed yet?"
"Terribly," he grinned. "I must thank you again for what you did for me; with Henry. Quite the actress, Darling."
"It was my pleasure," she titled her head, pulled him closer. "I haven't seen you much since he got here."
"It's not been easy. I have to stay with Henry wherever possible. If he doesn't trust me, this won't work. But he's starting to, Wendy. Thanks in part to you, of course," he rolled his eyes. "I can feel him starting to believe in me- don't you? The magic grows stronger the longer he's here. It won't be long now. When it's next dark, I think-"
"I've missed you," she interrupted, firm but soft at the same time.
"Oh," he stopped short, eyes wide. "I didn't…" he looked at his feet, and then at her, before he smiled sheepishly.
"You didn't what?" she said, tracing over his smile with her fingertip without quite understanding why. It was the kind of smile she liked best on him. It was also the kind of smile that made her stomach lurch and her chest twist and tighten, like guilt becoming intimate with hope.
"It doesn't matter," he cleared his throat.
"Tell me."
"I…" he glanced at her again, just kept glancing at her. It was maddening. "Didn't think you did."
Well, she hadn't. That was just it. She hadn't. So why in heavens did hearing him say it feel like such a slap in the face?
"It was alright," he said hastily. "I didn't mind. I mean, I did- I didn't think that you seeing me like this was a good idea."
"Seeing you like this?" she repeated, a question.
"Dying," he said it with an air of gusto- or he tried to. It seemed he no longer troubled himself with trying to hard around her; to be cocky. To be loud. To be in control. "Trying to make this boy trust me so- well, as close to desperately as one such as I gets."
It was Wendy's turn to "oh", and Pan's turn to trace his fingertips over her arms, down to her fingers, brows furrowed like he was trying to solve a riddle, trying to understand cloud patterns or make sense of day and night.
And then it was Wendy's turn to remember herself, and to make her play.
Like old times.
"You shouldn't worry about that," she said. "What you should worry about is making it up to me."
"How forward of you, Darling," he said. "Go on, then. I assume you have something wonderfully fun in mind."
She nearly smiled.
"How long has it been since you and I played a game, Peter Pan?"
A/N: so there will be a maximum of 2 more chapters, but I'm thinking the next chapter may well be the last one. So to anyone who miraculously is reading this in spite of my awful updating habits, at this point I just want to say thank you so very much. You guys are lovely and your cute reviews give me life :). Also, on the topic of the final chapter, a few things:
a) this chapter WILL be updated soon; aka within the week, and that is a promise.
b) this will not have a happy ending
c) Another spoiler alert: basically everything that's been left unsaid, unnoticed or deliberately hidden from either Peter or Wendy respectively is going to be addressed
d) I really, really hope you enjoy it!
As always, I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on this one.