A/N: Well, long time no see everybody! Piecing these last few chapters of this story is getting pretty rough. That, and along with school is why I took a bit!

Did anyone laugh when Fin was freaking out over Tiger being impaled and then Pan said "It's nothing to break your neck over"? Because I laughed hella hard when I wrote it. Oh well, I have a strange sense of humor, I guess.

Thanks to everyone who favorited and followed this story! And to everyone who reviews, it's great to hear what you think about the story and your responses. Thanks again!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

To clear my thoughts I drill a hole into my skull
Clean up my brains and sweep them underneath the rug
I need them more than I needed any other drug
I'm fallin' down
Fallin' down
Fallin' down

~Atreyu "Falling Down"

Ch. 21: Inner Demons

(Present)

Tiger vanquished another hoard of birds in her path. Letting out a slow exhale, she shook out her hands, while reaching out her fingers in her right hand in the air, right as another bird appeared. The bird just so coincidentally appeared right in her grip. It opened its beak and was about to squawk out its repetitive dialogue that she had heard who knows how many times; she had become numb to its weightless words. However, it was prevented from speaking when Tiger squeezed its throat tightly, causing the rest of the birds that appeared to stay quiet.

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm getting tired of this…" She glanced over at one of the sides of the tent that had been scorched with her abundance of magic that she conjured. Her eyes were half lidded from mild exhaustion, but she started to walk over to one end of the tent. "Sick…and tired," she mused, throwing the bird perfectly in the middle of the tent lazily. It combusted into green smoke on impact, leaving nothing but small particles of dust to prove that it had existed to begin with.

Burn them all.

"Shut the fuck up, Lilith," Tiger hissed under her breath, not paying any attention to the demonic voice in her head. She could almost feel the ghost of her past-self grip her shoulders tightly – the sharp, phantom nails digging into her skin, even though there was no one there to begin with. Tiger could feel her lingering, overbearing presence. Only except she wasn't the innocent London girl from so many years ago – Neverland had evolved her to be someone, or something…that didn't think twice about killing.

Lilith only wanted to see blood being shed, she didn't care about who it belonged to.

Her past-self didn't seem to think about anything except chaos.

He'll break you again.

Tiger let out a dark chuckle under her breath. Shaking her head, she placed a hand out and could feel her eyes brighten. Her eyes ignited into a white color instantly. "Like hell he will." The entire tent was set with a powerful blaze, causing herself to get burned, but killing all the remaining birds in the process.

As the tent was crumbling to ashes, and blood was splattered all around the area from the birds, she took a step out from the smoke. Her clothes that she was wearing were ripped and torn in different areas. Her hair had taken some damage, one braid was comparatively smaller than the other in length due to the explosion.

Kill everyone.

Kill everything!

Kill them before they can kill you!

She glanced over to the side where she could faintly see the transparent image of the prim and proper teenager. Her clothes that she was wearing was the very same thing that Tiger Lily was wearing the day that she was taken in London. However, one thing was very different about this similar looking girl. Her green eyes had been painted a murderous, and crazed red. They were wide open, staring at her with a sadistic grin on her face. Her perfectly trimmed nails were still digging into Tiger's shoulder, and all Tiger could do was glare darkly over at the ghost in annoyance.

She had dealt with her inner demon before in the past, and by some small act of charity it hadn't reared its ugly head in the past twenty years. It wasn't as though she didn't know how to dispel its unwanted existence, it usually was a simplistic task – a mind over matter one.

"Crawl back in your hole where you came from. I don't need you," she said with such absolution in her tone that the image flickered out of existence immediately. The ever-convincing words to lose herself to the chaos that had grown inside of her had disappeared as well. Tiger rolled her eyes and took a few steps forward until she stopped walking. She had felt multiple gazes lingering on her.

She turned her head slowly, spotting how multiple Lost Boys flinched back, while some cringed underneath her gaze. A very small amount, possibly two or three, dared to pull out some weapons that were hidden at their sides.

Letting out a small huff while turning her body to face the small crowd that was located over by the fire pit, she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not going to tell you not to fight me." She paused. "But I'm not going to say no if you want to," she half-smirked while holding her hands up in mock defense. Soot had covered her face, along with her now exposed stomach. The explosion had ripped her clothing in quite a few places.

A small breeze came over the small area, and she blinked when she felt her mid-section being exposed to the air. Her half-smirk evolved to a playful one. "I'll even make it easy for you," she spoke, glancing to her left when she noticed that the moonlight had hit steel, reflecting a small amount of light from it. Walking over to the area, she pulled out a small dagger and laughed lifelessly as she turned to address the boys again.

"Make sure to hit me right here," she pointed with her free hand at the dark spot on her stomach that appeared to the boys like a dark bruise. They hadn't been close enough to see the mark begin to swirl since it was now exposed to the air. "That's the only way you'll win. Now," she looked at the boys, who seemed to become more on guard as she talked. She formed a battle stance, a dark promise of pain for whoever dared to combat her sparkled in the girl's eyes.

"Who's first?"

(Past)

Tiger walked past some red berries on the bush that a group of her and some others passed. She held a large wicker basket, and had only collected a few. To be honest, she never actively went on a search for berries, but her job in the village was one of the 'gatherers' to which her great uncle had assigned her. It was all too strange for her, but she was glad to be among family again.

Even if it was an incredibly distant family member.

She stopped at the berry bush that she has passed and pursed her lips in confusion. "Do…" She trailed out, not really understanding the language that the natives spoke. The rest of the women turned around to look at her, hearing her speak their native tongue. Tiger wanted to shrink away instantly – not liking the attention fully on her. She cleared her throat nervously. "Um…"

One of the women rose an eyebrow and walked over to her. "What is the problem?"

Tiger only grew more confused, not understanding what the woman said except for 'what' and 'problem'. That was good enough for her to try and focus on what she wanted to say, although she knew that it wouldn't come out as a complete sentence considering her vocabulary in their language was incredibly limited. "Not good?" She asked pointing over to the red berries. The woman glanced over to the berries and resisted the urge to frown.

"Not good," reaffirmed the woman with a shake of her head. She pointed to the front, where the rest of the women were waiting patiently. Tiger let out a small sigh, gripping the basket with her callused hands.

"I don't understand any of this," She complained in English. Tiger desperately wanted to pull out her own hair, which was now cascading down her back, instead of her high pony-tail. She trailed in the back, not watching where she was going until she was pulled back gently on the shoulder. Not used to such physical contact unless she was fighting, she was about to pull out a weapon she didn't happen to carry at the moment, and plunge it into the throat of her enemy.

Looking up, she noticed one of the adult woman placing a finger up to her lips. Tiger furrowed her eyebrows, and looked up to see the familiar, transparent barrier where she had entered from.

Pan was standing close to the barrier, but not in front of it. He was on his knees, with his hands on the ground while looking off in different directions. A determined glare was on his face, and he looked up at the trail heading up the mountain. The group of boys with him looked uneasy, and Tiger could see a few familiar faces within that crowd.

"We looked for tracks," Ryan spoke timidly. Pan didn't glance in his direction and instead slowly stood up from his position on the ground. Gav placed his hands on his waist, trying to remain strong in the presence of their merciless leader. Pan continued to look at the ground, trying to pin point where Tiger had disappeared to. Ryan cleared his throat before trying to alleviate some of the tension. "We…She vanished."

"Not on my island…" Pan scathingly growled out, glaring over at the teenager that wasn't too much older that Tiger. The teen girl took a step back, not wanting to go out there – she wouldn't let Pan ever have her again. She needed to go back to the village where it was safe – where she wouldn't – where Pan wouldn't - wouldn't be able to –

Her irrational thoughts were then interrupted by a familiar, yet dark voice inside of her mind.

Kill them.

Tiger's eyes widened when she could feel a presence from behind her. A dainty, gentle hand gripped her shoulder with a menacing hold. The girl's blood ran cold, and she could feel herself become influenced by her thoughts, and killer instinct. Her breath hitched in her throat, and a voice that sounded similar to hers was begging Tiger to be in control. The girl wasn't prepared to hear such an overpowering, strong voice when she was still mentally trying to recover her sanity after having her shadow ripped from her.

Kill them!

Let me kill them.

She couldn't believe the words that she was hearing. There wasn't any way that she could fight against Pan. She knew from past experience that even with a surprise attack on the older teen resulted in both of them getting injured in some way.

It will be so easy.

Let me be in control.

Tiger blinked, her hands shaking on the basket she was carrying, trying her best to remain grounded. The voice had become harsher and more demanding. Images started to appear in her head – and they all described a macabre scene of blood and dismembered limbs being thrown about on the ground. She knew that one of them was going to be Pan.

It'll be so nice.

It would be nice to be rid of Pan once and for all. Then, she wouldn't have to hide. She would be able to live freely on the island, and maybe even find a way off of Neverland. There was always the Enchanted Forest that she could go back to. It was such a nice place that she had almost forgotten it had existed – it almost seemed like a dream.

Let me in.

Let me in!

Let be in control!

Tiger instantly lost her control on her sanity.

Throwing the wicker basket on the ground, she took a large splinter of wicker that seemed to be sharper than the rest. A woman tried to pull her back, but was suddenly pushed roughly to the ground with minimal effort from the girl. The rest of the women let out a gasp from the teenager's inhuman strength, and when Tiger turned around to look at them, they all took a step back.

She had red eyes, and one woman even started to get down to the ground and began to pray in her native tongue. The girl stared at the women, taking in the strength and form of each one. Tiger didn't want to fight weaklings. She'd kill them later on when the bigger competition was already taken care of.

Not aware of her own thoughts, or even in control of her actions, she took a step out from the barrier. However, to Pan and the boys who were standing around, it looked as if she had just stepped out from the woods.

"There you are, Lil…" Pan spoke, smirking as if he had found the girl by himself. Ryan suddenly looked up at her, examining her eyes and swallowed nervously. He recognized those eyes from when she was about to kill him without any remorse a few months ago. Gav's breath hitched in his throat, and he found that he was frozen on the spot. Pan, who didn't seem to notice anything wrong with the girl, let out a chuckle as he put his arms out by his sides in a welcoming fashion. "I've found you."

Tiger let out a slow smile, not giving anything away to the multiple ways she would kill all of them. How their blood would look while being depleted into the ground. Her eyes spotted a sword that she could fully take advantage of on Ryan's hip. She walked over, walking past Pan and looking up at Ryan with her cold, emotionless red eyes. "I'll just need to borrow this…" She whispered to him, her eyes widening as her grip landed on the handle just as Ryan jumped back.

The motion had been too quick and nonchalant that Gav still hadn't found his will to move from the spot. Ryan couldn't tear his eyes away from the teenager – if he had thought he feared her before, he definitely was scared shitless of her now. She had finally lost it.

Pan was puzzled at what was happening, but decided to stay quiet. It was an interesting development in his Tiger Lily, and he wasn't quite sure what was going on in her head. He concluded that she finally snapped, and that this was a new side of her that he hadn't seen before.

She turned towards the teenagers, smile filled with crazed amusement that only she could see. Her eyes were still wide, completely lost in her own mental madness. Pan, for the first time, took a step back, taking out his own sword. He could tell a lot from the eyes of the people he held captive, and he knew lost when he saw it. Yet, this wasn't a lost that he was too keen on seeing. This wasn't from feeling hopeless and not having any faith…

This was pure chaos.

Tiger was unstable.

"For the record…" She let out a high pitched giddy chuckle. "I think it is I that has found you," she spoke, her voice brimming on an English accent that she had lost during her time staying at Neverland. She held the sword up, the sun shining on the cold steel, and she watched how the light reflected with a stern grin.

Biting her lips to prevent her smile from growing anymore, she turned to look at Pan. "En garde?" She asked rhetorically, as if she didn't know what she was doing, however, her expert battle stance proved that it was quite the opposite.

Pan narrowed his eyes, but a playful grin tugged at his lips. "What kind of game is this?"

Tiger didn't give anything away, the only thing that she did do was move at her top speed. It happened too quickly that Pan hadn't even see her move until she had slit the throat of Ryan. The teen was unprotected, and his knees buckled under the attack. Gav took that time to take his own sword out, and merely backed up a few steps to get closer to Pan.

She whipped the sword to the side, watching as the blood fell off the blade. With her finger, she placed it down her own blade, purposefully drawing some of her own blood. She brought up her bloodied finger; a mixture of Ryan's and hers, and licked it. "Tart…" She stated, making Gav shiver next to Pan. "And bitter," she concluded, turning around to look at the two remaining teenagers. "Why, I think I've had that combination before. Although, I can't seem to place it. Perhaps I should sample more to help me remember?"

Tiger let out a cackle, fully not having any sanity left in her brain. Her smile had returned, and she raised the sword up at her enemies. "What do you propose? An excellent idea…?" She stared at them with her wide eyes, licking the remaining blood off her lips with a quick flick of her tongue. Then, without warning, she teleported and dropped down on top of Gav. She impaled the teenager, and Pan flung her off of him with his own magic. Gav dropped to the ground, while holding the handle of the sword with trembling hands.

"S-S-She…!" Gav fumbled to say, but lost conscious due to the blood loss. She had managed to hit a vital organ, and Pan knew he was not savable, even with his own arsenal of magic. Tiger hit the ground harshly, hearing multiple cracks as her bones were snapped. She landed on her leg incorrectly, and part of her lower leg bone was protruding out of her flesh.

Pan expected to hear a sound of agonizing pain from the girl. When you break a bone it usually takes at least a few days to heal with magic. The person that broke it usually was out of commission during that time, not being able to take walking on the injury.

She merely looked at her bone sticking out of her skin and cracked her head to the side swiftly. "There is nothing to have your trousers in a twist for!" She stood up, and even Pan couldn't help but cringe when she took a step on the leg that was definitely not usable. He heard another sickening crack from the step that she took. It was as if she couldn't feel anything in the current state she was in. He narrowed his eyes – he would have to knock her out and then heal her mind and body when they returned to camp.

He needed to fix her – like all the other times he had fixed her. Pan had only assumed that she had went through too much emotional damage without a 'reset' that she had finally lost her sanity.

"Your turn is imminent…" She said, a wide sadistic grin on her face. "You are the one that I really want to kill!" Bending over, she curled her hand in a fist and then punched the bone back into place harshly. She did this all without flinching, or ever losing her sadistic smile. The bone righted itself and was no longer sticking out. The blood was still wet from where her bone had stuck out from her flesh, and Pan could see it glistening in the sunlight. Grabbing the sword by the ground, she started to chuckle lowly, until it evolved into a full out cackle. "Yes, that is correct!" She yelled suddenly, before losing all emotion on her face for a split second. Her next words were without any emotion attached to them at all. "I am going to annihilate every last one of you."

Pan glared at the girl, but smirked all the same. Truth be told, she was the only one that could actually prove to be a challenge to him. He snapped his fingers, and his Neverland birds appeared, surrounding her. She faltered, if only for a few seconds, as she looked at them.

No doubt somewhere in her subconscious she still feared them.

Blinking quickly, she then quickly swung her blade in the air, causing a red fire to materialize out of the air. It caught all of the birds in the vicinity on fire. They combusted instantly and ashes was the only thing that remained of the mammals. Pan let out a chuckle, taking in the remnants of the birds, and shook his head in disbelief.

"You aren't even in there anymore, are you?" He managed to block an incoming blow from the girl with his own raised sword, and a flash of lightning appeared when steel had hit steel. Struggling to hold her back for the first time, she was still pushing him back even while she was still in the air from her jump attack. Narrowing his eyes, Pan swung out at the girl, and she flew back. He ordered his shadow to hold her and knock her out, yet, when his shadow's hands wrapped around the girl, she simply set him ablaze as her eyes seemed to light up with fire.

The shadow disappeared, the only thing proving that it had been there at all was the black smoke floating in the air. Landing on the ground, her other non-injured leg bent at an odd degree, but she paid no mind to it. She merely straightened herself out, and pointed her weapon at Pan, who was now sweating a little from his own magical exhaustion.

"Honestly, treating a lady as roughly as you do, I'm beginning to suspect why no one likes you," she called out casually. She raised her free hand in the air and shrugged lightly. Pan let out a couple pants to catch his breath while he still had a few moments to do so. Sweat was starting to trickle down his face, and he knew that if he didn't end this soon then he would be in trouble.

"I am merely joshing with you, Peter!" She smirked widely, her hand not being able to cover it up as she brought it up to dauntingly do so. "I hadn't even suspected – I knew that."

She charged once again, bringing herself in the air with her sword raised, glowing a menacing, murderous red. When she was about to plunge it through him at her top speed, vines from the side of the forest wrapped around her arms, causing her to hang there. Pan looked up in confusion, not understanding what was happening. He hadn't been the one to do that, he was on the brink of collapsing after dealing with the fight that he wasn't prepared for.

Tiger struggled in its grip. "Unhand me!" She yelled, but at not being able to get loose, her eyes turned darker, as did her voice. She tried burning the plant life – knowing that it would instantly let her to. However, the flames hadn't even turned the vines black with smoke. It was untouched, and this only fueled her rage. "Unhand me! Chaos will be rained down – there will be no survivors!" Growling, and snarling, fire erupting this way and that. "This island will burn. Everything will burn and everything will die!"

Pan watched when she was suddenly dragged into the forest by the vines. Then, there was silence. There wasn't a single breath of hers being breathed – the madness that he had just come face to face with was gone.

Once he overcame his initial shock, he walked over at a slow pace to where she had gone. He peered his eyes through the thick forest, and then decided to walk through it. Yet, he hadn't taken many steps when he was met with a cliff side.

Then, he began to feel the sand start to fall inside of his heart.

Even with their short, brief encounter, he couldn't deny it was nice to see his Tiger Lily again – even if she had become unstable and filled with insanity. That only meant that next time he would be ready to combat her speed – she would never be able to get the jump on him again. He wouldn't allow her to even come close to winning against him.

"Till we meet again…" He spoke to the wind, as if somewhere inside of his mind he knew that she would be able to hear him.

(Present)

Tiger threw the last of the boys on the ground, with only minimal wounds inflicted to them. Rolling her eyes, she kept the dagger close to her and proceeded to walk through the forest. The need to have new clothes was strong, but she doubted that there was anything suitable left for her to wear. Her village had been wiped out, and clothes weren't exactly growing on trees.

She walked passed a tree, and saw a shirt that was a size too big for her hanging on a low branch.

Halting her stride she turned her head slowly to make sure that she wasn't seeing things. "What is this," she stated bluntly, half-expecting to be ambushed. She was never this lucky before in her life.

Not wanting to take the chance of any more fights, she snatched the shirt and quickly put it on her. She heard footsteps running behind her, and barely lifted a finger to deflect an oncoming sword with her magic. The sword ended up in the dirt, and she smirked while turning around to face the boy who clearly needed to be trained more. "Didn't Pan ever…?"

She stopped her words when she saw clearly who had tried to attack her.

Henry.

"I knew that lady luck is the biggest fake around," she was about to walk over to help the kid up, but was prevented when he brandished a dagger that was similar to hers. He aimed it, and she let out a loud sigh. "Henry, come on…" she said in an exasperated tone and then paused. "I don't have time for this."

He swung out at her, and snagged a piece of her new shirt. Tiger let out an unamused growl. "I just got this shirt…" She muttered under her breath darkly, but then blocked his next untrained attack easily with her own dagger. "I'm starting to get angry."

Suddenly, Henry started to come at her quicker and more skilled, his eyes weren't completely focused. She could only assume that he could hear the music at this point, and she wanted to kick herself for it.

She should have been there.

When the young child swung out, she had jumped out of the way. She didn't want to hurt him, and she knew that she definitely would if she engaged in an attack against him. Her eyes caught the sight of red on her body and raised an eyebrow. Henry had managed to draw some blood on one of her arms. She had dodged sloppily and she had paid for her inability to evade correctly. Her thoughts were scattered, and the blame and overbearing guilt that she was currently mentally debating was taking up most of her attention.

Shaking her head, she kicked the dagger away from the child, causing it to become lodged a few feet up in a nearby tree. "Really, Henry?" She walked forward, her sarcasm was clear in her tone. "Out of all the people here, you should know what I'm capable of."

Then, he charged at her once again. Tiger rolled her eyes, taking a quick side step before throwing a well-aimed punch in the back of his neck. He fell to the ground, not being able to get back up due to his lost consciousness. "First Demon Lilith…and now Lost Henry. I don't think I'll ever get a break from this place." She shook her head, taking a few steps away from the child. He was under one of Pan's music spells, and taking him along with her would only hinder her progress.

There was a small amount of scuffling from behind her that caused her to narrow her eyes. Turning around, she barely flipped out of the way of an incoming knife. Henry was back at his feet, and was now running past her, skidding his feet in the dirt. He turned around, panting a bit from his own body's exhaustion, and then looked over at her with a vacant expression. "What the actual hell is going on…?" She muttered to herself, looking up at the tree above her.

She noticed a low hanging branch, and jumped expertly up just as the child charged towards her again. Lifting herself up, she readjusted herself on the branch and sat down with her feet dangling in the air. It was just out of reach even when Henry jumped towards her with his knife. "Okay, kid, I know you can't hear me, but I'm just going to wait until you tire out a little."

Stretching on the sturdy tree limb she closed her eyes and laid down. She crossed her legs nonchalantly, getting used to the small noises that Henry was making as he attempted to attack her. "Because I'm tired, and I guess I'll take a little break…" Closing her eyes, she let out a small breath.

(Past)

The teenager opened up her eyes slowly, and just when she was fully awake, she let out a pained groan from her leg. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she looked down slowly to see a bandaged leg from where the pulsating pain was coming from. Clenching her eyes and biting her tongue, she looked around the area that she had just woken up in.

It was the chief's hut. She was back in the village – but she didn't even remember passing out. The last thing she recalled was that she was out gathering berries with the rest of the village girls. Rubbing her face roughly, she tried to block out the pain. Her nails dug into her flesh, and she let out another groan of pain, however this one was stifled and died somewhere in her throat.

"You are awake, my child," White Beard stated, walking into the hut by lifting up one of the cloths hanging from the ceiling by the entry way. Tiger glanced her eyes in his direction and tried to sit up. She did so slowly, as he walked over to the makeshift bed that she was laying on. "The chaos…" He said, making her dart her eyes up at him widely. "That's what happened to you."

"What is that?" Tiger asked, unable to keep her fear from her tone. "I-I…I…" Her face contorted to pain as her leg screamed out again. She lowered her head and rested it in her hand. "I don't remember anything!"

White Beard nodded. "It happens to even the bravest soldiers. There were a few in my tribe that suffered this illness." Tiger looked back up with a pained expression. "There is a way to overcome this evil inside of you."

"Please. Show me how."

The man stroked his beard with his hand. "This is no easy task. Some never recovered from it."

"I am not like other people!" Tiger spoke out in anger. Although it could have been the pain that was talking and not her actual emotions. White Beard looked down, examining the battered and beaten teenager. "I need to get stronger. I need to in order to survive!"

"She is strong," he stated. Tiger's anger instantly vanished as she looked at the old man who bent down to her eye level. "The trees have told me. The vines have experienced firsthand. Do you still wish to face this battle?"

Tiger nodded. "Yes."

"There might be a price to pay. The people who have done this have come out…different."

"I'll do it."

White Beard brought out a bowl from his large robes that he was wearing. Tiger glanced down into it to see a strange color that she had never seen before. Spices were popping up in the water here and there, and she refused the urge to vomit due to the smell coming from the bowl. He offered her the bowl, and she held it in her hands.

"Drink this. Face your demons."

Tiger took another look at the bowl and then glanced up at White Beard. Nodding, she downed the entire bowl with a single gulp while holding her breath. As she exhaled, she noticed the hut was beginning to swirl and shift. Her eyes felt heavy, and the pain in her leg finally went away. The colors grew brighter in intensity, and she could feel herself fall back onto the bed.

To be continued…