(Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable to OUAT! Including their lovely little quotes!) HOWEVER...

(Claimer: I do own Janessa/Jane Walker)


As a child locked up in my tower I had read about mermaids in my mother's books. They have great power. I had always been fascinated with them but, ever since coming to Neverland and having that...little encounter with the mermaids, I have become much more cautious.

The mermaids are beautiful. They all have different color eyes and hair, but their faces seemed identical, except for one. Her face is more defined than the rest and she swims right up to Peter with a beautiful, big smile on her face.

"It's been a while Peter," she coos, stroking away a strand of hair from her face. Peter smiles back at her and nods, "I've been busy. But you already knew that."

She smiles and nods back, then turns her attention to me. The smile is still plastered across her face, but her eyes darken at the sight of me, "Jane."

I nod my head, "How did you..."

"This is Telia. She was the first mermaid to ever journey to Neverland's waters. Her and I are very good friends," Peter interrupts. Telia bats her eyelashes at him and nods her head enthusiatically, her tailing bobbing in and out of the water.

"I'm sure you've read up on mermaids. They are extremely intelligent and extremely dangerous...if you're their enemy. They, like me, know about everything that happens on this island."

I gulp," Everything?" My mind flashes to the crocodile incident. I look out at the other mermaids, who shoot daggers at me through their eyes.

"Enough about us Peter. We haven't heard one of your stories in quite a while," Telia giggles. Peter smiles and shakes his head, "No stories today Telia. I'm here to introduce you to our newest islander. Jane."

Another mermaid with long black hair and piercing green eyes, swims up to the rock and smiles up at me, "Jane. What a lovely name. My name is Mardilee."

"Thank you. It's nice to meet you Mardilee. I'm not sure I will ever be able to learn all of your..." I start.

"Do you like to swim Jane?" The mermaid asks, twirling her hair between her fingers.

I glance at Peter, who is whispering with Telia. Peter frowns at something she says, but Telia has a large smile on her face. The two of them stare at each other, as if they are communicating in their minds. She nods her head, and leans in to whisper something to him. I feel a knot in my stomach turn.

"I...swimming is nice," I respond turning my attention back to Mardilee, who has been joined by several others.

"Look at her hair. It's very messy," one mermaid says loudly. The others giggle.

"Her eyes are rather dull, don't you agree Mardilee?" Another calls out.

"She looks very dirty."

"Perhaps a nice swim will wash off the dirt and give her hair a little, cleanse," Mardilee says, whipping her tail up, causing water to splash on my face. I rub the water off my face and steal another glance at Peter, who is still whispering with Telia.

Another mermaid whips water up into my face, stinging my eyes with the saltiness. Another girl playfully hits her hand across the water and sends water spraying at me. I lean back from the girls, attempting to scoot away but Mardilee grabs my wrist, "Oh, do come swim with us Jane."

"Yes Jane, come swim. You look better already," another calls, reaching for my other wrist.

Mardilee stares into my eyes, lightly pulling my arm into the water. My hand soon disappears into the ocean water. The water does feel rather refreshing actually. I tilt my head as one of them pulls my other wrist into the water. Mardilee's grip gets tighter

And then my body is being yanked backwards, the mermaid's nails scratching against my arms as I am ripped away.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Peter shouts, glaring at Mardilee. She smiles innocently at him, "Oh come on Peter. We were only trying to drown her." My eyes widen as I realize what had just happened. The mermaids had almost been successful in charming me into going into the water, only to be drowned.

"You will watch who you attempt to drown Mardilee," Peter says in a threatening voice, "I have given you everything you have here and I can easily take it away. Do not make me have Odrjo pay you a visit."

Mardilee hisses at Peter, a couple tears forming in her eyes, fear written all over her face. Telia swims up to her and slaps her with her fin, hissing, "You idiot."

Peter turns to me, "Are you alright?"

I stare at Mardilee, who sniffs sadly and sinks into the water. The other mermaids glare up at me before following after her.

"Jane?" Peter asks.

"I'm fine," I reply quickly. Peter turns back to Telia and nods his head before taking my hand and leading me back to the beach.

"Mardilee has always been stupid," he says with a frown as we walk away. I pull my hand out of his and self-consciously run my hands through my hair. He turns, "They like to mess around a lot."

"Charming," I say sarcastically. Peter doesn't respond, just looks off towards the jungle thoughtfully.

"Who's Odrjo?" I ask.

"Odrjo? Oh, no one of importance," Peter replies.

"Mhm," I reply raising an eyebrow, "Mardilee seemed a bit terrified at the thought of him coming. Is he a lost boy?"

"Yeah," Peter says, not looking at me. He surprises me by sitting down on the shore and picking up a nearby stick, and starting to draw with it. The boy who has such a powerful influence over everything that happens in Neverland is drawing in the sand with a stick.

I hesitate for a moment before deciding to sit next to him. He glances at me for a second before continuing to draw. I watch the image he creates. It starts out as a bunch of swirls and lines, but I slowly start to see it's supposed to be Neverland. He draws the trees and the mountains and creeks and rivers.

"Why are you afraid to fly?" He asks suddenly, breaking the silence. I raise my eyebrows at the question, but he doesn't make eye contact with me. His sudden change in his whole demeanor is rather odd to me. I wonder what Telia told him.

I wrap my arms around my legs and rest my chin on my knees exhaling slowly. Talking about my past is not something I take lightly. The last person I told about my fear of heights was Henry, and I didn't even go into great detail with him. I lick my lips nervously, "Well...my mother wasn't exactly the kindest or sympathetic woman. She always kept me hidden away from the world. I saw the outside from my window, and read books about the things that went on out there. The only times we really spent time together was when she was teaching me magic. Dark magic of course. She used to try to get me to do terrible things. I got tired of it, tired of that life, and tried to run away."

I glance over at Peter's drawing. He is jabbing at random spots on the sand map now. I notice that where the beach is, he drew two little figures.

"Did you get away?" He asks.

"No. I didn't. I made it outside, but not much farther than that. My mother wanted to teach me a lesson, and she did," I pause again, cringing at the memory of her dangling me in midair and letting me fall, "Unfortunately this lesson left me scarred, along with every other lesson she ever taught me."

Peter shook his head, "And after all that, is it really such a terrible thought of being stuck here? This is Neverland after all. A place where all your dreams can come true. This is the place people dream of. This is that one place every child is eager to visit in their dreams."

"Yeah, well Gold didn't really make it sound that way," I respond. Peter smirks, "Rumpelstiltskin? He doesn't understand anything about Neverland."

"Whatever happened here left him scarred, that's for sure," I say. Peter stares at me in response.

I gulp and turn towards him, "What happened between you and Gold?"

Peter immediately looks away, "That is a long story."

"Come on Peter. I told you something from my past, it's only fair you share yours."

Peter smirks, "You didn't have to tell me. I was just curious."

I let out an annoyed huff of breath, "Come on. You keep telling me to trust you. Why don't you trust me? You say this place is where dreams come true. That we can have our desires. Well it just so happens that my deepest desire is to know what happened between you and Gold. Are you going to deny me of my right to my desires?"

Peter glares at me, making me smirk back at him, "Alright. But if your friends wake up and freak out that your gone, it's not my fault."

"Technically it is your fault," I point out. He shoots me a look, "Do you want me to tell you or not?"

I push my lips together and nod. He rolls his eyes and leans back on his hands, "Alright, well...it all started many many years ago. Rumple and I were both just kids at the time..."

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(Flashback)

A young Rumpelstiltskin looked around the crowded square frantically, toy doll clutch tightly in his hand. Men and women bustled past him quickly, not even giving him a second glance. The noise of the square was so loud he could hardy hear himself think. And then, a familiar voice called somewhere within the crowd. It called for travellers and visitors and for one and all.

Rumple rushed through the crowd, bursting through some people to see his father, who had told him that he was going away on business, in the middle of the square, doing what he always did. Scamming the innocent bystanders. Tears formed in Rumple's eyes as he stared at his father, who hadn't even noticed him yet.

When his father finally did look towards him, shock spread across his face, but he quickly covered it up. He faced the big crowd with a smile so big that Rumple would have thought it to be real if he hadn't seen it before a thousand times.

"I'll be taking a short intermission, but fear not my faithful commoners, I will be back!" He called out and people laughed and nodded. Rumple's motioned Rumple over with a warm smile and Rumple ran to him and engulfed him in a hug.

"Father I thought you had left me!" Rumple murmured into his father's coat. His father patted his head, "Of course not Rumple. Never. I've been very busy though. You must go back to the nice ladies and wait for my return."

Rumple hugged his father tighter, "I can't! I don't want to stay with them, I want to stay with you!"

Rumple's father smiled out at the some of the crowd who were watching. He bent down to eye level with Rumple and whispered, "Go home. Now." Rumple sadly hugged his father one last time before disappearing into the crowd. He listened to his father call people back and they cheered at his return.

But Rumple did not go back as his father had asked, he hid and watched for hours as his father dealt with customers and scammed them out of money without them even knowing.

Hours later as the crowd died down a man in a dark brown cloak approached Rumple's father as he counted his earnings and packed up. He smiled at the man as he approached, "I thought you might have gone back on your word."

He man in the cloak shook his head and in a gruff voice said, "I have prepared you safe passage. You must go now or you will miss it."

Rumple raised his head up, confused. Passage? Where?

Rumple's father grinned from ear to ear and pulled out a bag of money, "This ought to be enough," he whispered.

The man counted the money and nodded, "It's more than enough. But what are you going to do about the boy?"

Rumple's ears perked up. His father laughed, "He will not know I've disappeared until I am long gone. He's been clinging to me since the day his mother left. I can't stand the boy any longer. He's those old ladies problem now." The two men laughed and Rumple sunk down behind the barrel, putting his face in his hands as he heard his father's cruel remarks.

He heard footsteps pass by him and then there was silence. His father and the cloaked man were gone. And this time Rumple knew it was for good. He cried into his hands then stumbled to his feet and ran, not knowing where he was running to. Definitely not back to those old women. He could not stand to be there, knowing that is where his father wanted him to be. He clung to his doll, the only thing his father had left for him, and ran and ran and ran.

Suddenly, he ran straight into something and flew backwards. He landed on his back, letting out an 'oof!' sound as he did so. He sat up, quickly and came face to face with a boy about his age. The boy was rubbing his chest where Rumple had probably ran into him.

The boy stared at him curiously. Rumple stared back. He was dressed in ratty clothes, had curly hair and green eyes. Dirt covered his face. He cocked his head to the side.

"Hello," the boy whispered. Rumple stared at the boy.

"Well aren't you going to say hello back?" the boy asked. Rumple again stared silently. The boy got to his feet and held out his hand. He laughed when Rumple stared at it, "Come on. I'm not going bite. I only want to help you up."

Rumple cautiously allowed the boy to help him up. The boy smiled mischeviously, "My name is Peter. Peter Pan. Well, Pan isn't my real last name but I like the sound of it. It's nice don't you think? What's yours?"

"Rumpelstiltskin," he mumbled. Peter cocked his head, "What?"

"My name is...Rumpelstiltskin," Rumple said a little clearer. Peter eyes lit up, "That's the strangest name I've ever heard." Rumple looked down sadly.

"Is it nice?" Peter asked. Rumple crinkled his nose, "Is what nice?"

"Having a name that no one else in the world has," the boy asked, perked with interest. Rumple gave him a confused look and shook his head, "No...it's a stupid name."

Peter shook his head, "No way! With a name like that, everyone will remember you!"

Rumple shook his head, "They make fun of me for it."

Peter pursed his lips together, "Well then, how about I call you something else? What if I call you...laddie." Peter burst out laughing and Rumple crinkled his nose, "Laddie?"

"I like it! It's funny. Laddie it is. You got a family laddie?"

Again, Rumple shook his head, tears welling up in his eyes, "No. No one wants me."

Peter looked at him and nodded, "We're the same, you and me. I'm an orphan and I'm running away," he paused and put his arm around Rumple, "Stick with me and we'll be just fine."

(TEN YEARS LATER)

Peter and Rumpelstiltskin became inseparable. They ran all over the country, just having fun, stealing bread from unsuspecting bakers and getting into trouble (Rumple being the worrier and Peter being the mischievous plan maker), then running off into the forest. They were the best of friends.

Rumple, now 17 years old, laughed loudly as he pulled the rope that led to Peter and his secret hide out, with a basket full of stolen goods. He slide down the wooden slide Peter had carved and spotted Peter sitting, with his back turned to him. Rumple grinned and pulled a basket out of the bag and chucking it at the boy. It bounced off his arm and onto the ground, but Peter didn't budge.

"Peter?" Rumple asked confused. Peter didn't move. "Peter, I stole this basket of great stuff today, and you'll be proud to hear that I did it on my own, and I wasn't even scared!"

Peter turned to face him, his face serious, "Laddie...aren't you tired of all this?"

Rumple gave him a confused look, "Tired of this? Never."

Peter sighed, "We do the same thing every day. We steal from a town, flirt with the girls, decide we want to be better and try to earn money, only to quit and run off to the next town and start over."

"Peter, you love doing that. You said so last week that..."

"I changed my mind. I realized I don't want to be stuck here anymore. We're growing up laddie. I'll have to start calling you Rumple if we keep aging like this. We're almost men. I don't want that to happen. I want to be young forever. Don't you?"

Rumple set down the basket, "Well...yeah but we knew that we'd have to grow up eventually right?"

Peter's eyes flickered mischievously, "But what if we didn't have to?"

"Peter I don't under..." Rumple started, feeling a little worried about his friend.

"Laddie look. Today I overheard a man talking outside a pub about a magic bean. A bean that could take him anywhere in the world, and even to other worlds," Peter said, starting to get excited. Rumple shook his head, "Peter, that can't be possible. There are no magic beans."

Peter reached into his cloak and pulled out a red satin bag. He opened it slowly and carefully pulled out a single bean. It didn't look like anything Rumple had ever seen before. It was clear, but then it also had a mixture of colors in the middle. Rumple could feel the magical presence of it. he stared in awe at Peter, "How did you get this?"

Peter grinned, "The man was so drunk I swiped it off him after pretending to bump into him."

Rumple stared back at the bean, uneasiness flooding over him, "But...how does it work? And where would we go?"

Peter's grin got even bigger, "All we have to do is toss it at the ground and a portal will open up. Then we can go to a place where we won't have to steal or run away from people or even grow up. We can have fun all the time. Don't you want that?"

Rumple stared at the bean in Peter's hand and gulped, "Are you sure that it will work? That it's not just any bean?" Peter nodded, "Positive."

Rumple licked his lips, "Let's do it."

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Falling through the portal was like feeling your body be flopped around, wind rushing against your face at every moment, and then suddenly, Rumple and Peter were in the sand. The two sat up in shock and looked around, realizing they were on a beach. A jungle of trees loomed behind them, daring them to enter in and learn its secrets. The sun shone brightly and birds chirped happily. The waves lapped against the shore. Rumple turned to Peter and watched the grin spread across his face.

"Neverland. I've only dreamed of being here. I never thought I would ever actually get to stay here," Peter laughed.

The two explored the island for hours, swinging from trees and jumping off rocks. Rumple had never seen Peter so happy before. Peter stood on a rock and waved Rumple over, "In Neverland you can fly. Watch!" Before Rumple even knew what was happening Peter leapt off the rock...and then came crashing down to the ground. Rumple ran over to him and helped him up, "Peter! Are you okay?"

Peter stood up with a grimance and shook his head, "I don't understand. It should've worked. I should have flown."

Rumple bit his lip, "Maybe we're too old to fly?"

Peter glanced over at him, "Hm...well I know another way. Come on!"

He led Rumple through the trees until they stood in front of a huge one, towering high in the sky. Peter pointed at the flowers way up, "Those flowers hold magic dust in them that can make us fly."

Rumple crinkled his nose, "I doubt it." Peter gave him a determined look and scrambled up the tree.

"Careful!" Rumple shouted.

"Don't be such a baby laddie!" Peter called down. Rumple rolled his eyes and waited as Peter climbed.

Peter felt excitement rush over him as he climbed higher and higher. He finally reached a flower and eagerly grabbed a handful of dust and thrust it upon himself. He waited for the tingle he remembered feeling in his dreams, but it didn't come. Confused, Peter grabbed another handful and tossed it on his head. Nothing. Angrily, Peter tried to turn his position to grab more, but slipped and began to fall.

He watched in shock as he fell and then suddenly, his shirt grabbed on to something catching him in place. But the branch didn't only catch his shirt. He felt as if his whole back had be ripped off and he cried out in agony. He felt something tear that sounded like his shirt but felt like it was coming from him. Something ripped and Peter fell again, landing on another branch. He looked up and stared in shock as a black figure floated in front of him.

"Who are you?" Peter asked, frozen in fear and suddenly unaware of the pain on his back. The black figure floated toward him. In a ghostly voice he moaned, "I am your shadow."

Peter gaped, "My...my shadow?"

The figure nodded, "This tree is a very special tree, as is this place. I was torn from your body when you got caught on the branch. I am here to do your bidding."

Peter stared, "...my bidding?"

The figure nodded, "Anything you ask."

Peter glanced up at the flower far up above, "Do you know why I can't fly?"

Again the shadow nodded, "This is a place for boys to have fun. You are not considered a boy."

"What do you mean I'm not considered a boy?!" Peter cried. The figure pointed down at the ground, "You have taken care of Rumple ever since you were children. You are like a guardian to him. A guardian is not a child."

"No, no, no. Rumpelstiltskin is a friend. He's a child too! We're both just boys," Peter argued but his shadow shook his head, "You are far too adult-like, no matter how much you disagree. There cannot be adult's on Neverland."

Peter looked down sadly, "But...what can I do to stay? What can I do to change that? I don't want to be an adult."

The shadow glanced down at where Rumple waited below, "You have to get rid of him."

Peter stared in shock at the shadow's words. Get rid of laddie? Peter imagined running around Neverland without him. It would be nice to not have someone nagging on him all the time, telling him to be careful, telling him what to do. Greed filled Peter's body and he glanced down, "Will I get to be in charge of the island once he's gone?"

The shadow nodded, "Oh yes."

Peter thought for a moment before nodding his head. He knew what he had to do.


A/N: Dun dun dun! The Rumple and Peter's past has finally been revealed! Let me know what you think!