A.N. Happy Holidays, everyone! Hope you enjoy this small gift from me to you.

It also very nearly killed a lost boy who was floating outside of the port hole, but only clipped him, and he was able to grab onto the side of the ship before he hit the water and gave his position away to the pirates on deck right above him.

The pirates were deaf to the cry, as it was a cry of a dying child, and they care not about such trivial things. The wave went right through them and everything that was theirs, merely breathing past them like a soft night breeze, raising nothing but gooseflesh on their skin.

Teaken tightened his hold on the side of the ship, and pulled himself up to the port hole again. He stuck his eyes up to it and looked around the cell as best he could. He could see Peter easily enough, and the state the boy was in nearly broke Teaken's heart, but he couldn't let himself be affected just yet.

Seeing no danger, as far as he could tell at his vantage point, Teaken placed his mouth at the port hole.

"Peter," He whispered urgently. "Pan, sir, it's-"

"Go away, Teaken." Peter said weakly. He didn't want his second in command and best friend to see him like this.

"Peter," Teaken said gently. "Let's just go home, yeah? You can deal with Hook another day, alright? When you're feeling up to it. Besides, you haven't even met Mary yet, and I think that this, being that you just saved her life and all, is a great time to introduce yourself."

Peter didn't respond, and Teaken sighed, frustrated. "You won, Pan! You got Mary out from right under Hook's nose. It was a well played game and you won. Now we have to go celebrate with the other-"

"There are no more games, Teaken." Pan's voice was low and sharp, making Teaken wince. "There are no more games, no more adventures, no more celebrations, nothing. There's nothing. I'm all alone and fading into nothing day after day."

Teaken let his forehead rest against the port hole as he shut his eyes and sighed. Depression. He'd wondered when that was going to set in. Great bloody timing, though.

"You don't believe that Peter. You can't. You know as soon as you start believing like the worlders, this all goes. We all go. This is real, Peter. You are real, and there are still thousands of worlders out there who believe. We just need a little more magic to prove it to the rest of them. And with Mary's help, we'll get it and everything will go back to normal. Better than normal, we'll have another...friend...to play with." Teaken grimaced, the jealous feeling jumping in his gut as he spoke of Mary and Peter's task.

"You don't know that," Peter whispered.

"Don't know what?" Teaken asked, raising his head.

"About the worlders. You don't know that. You can't."

"I do know that, Peter," Teaken insisted, grabbing onto the one thing he could prove to Peter. "We are still here, aren't we? Everything is still here. Yes, it's dying and fading away and, well, basically crap, but it is still here. That means something or someone out there still believes in us. In you. You have to live for them, Pan. You can't give up. Not yet."

It was silent, and Teaken peered into the porthole, looking for some kind of response from Peter. He pressed his face closed until he could see Pan's back, and he winced when he saw it begin to shake. He didn't know how to deal with Peter's tears. He could deal with Pan's anger, jealousy, frustration, and usually whatever else the boy could throw at him, but not his tears.

He sighed. "C'mon, Pete, you-" he stopped as Peter made a most unexpected noise. He wasn't crying, he was laughing.

"Where the hell did you come up with that crap, Teak? I mean-I-Christ!" Peter lay down on his back as he laughed, holding his stomach.

"I learned from the best." Teaken grinned, relieved at Peter's recovery.

Peter eventually calmed down, and turned to face Teaken. "What are you doing here? You should be taking care of Mary back at the tree house."

"The twins took her. I'm here to ask why the hell you found it necessary to lock yourself in the brig of Hook's ship?"

"You left her with the twins?! What are you, mad? Teak, go get her. They don't know a tourniquet from a teacup. They're likely to amputate if you don't-"

Peter cut himself off as he heard footsteps coming down the narrow hallway towards his cell. "Teaken, down!" he whispered harshly as he ducked down into the corner of the cell, covering himself with the dirty rags there. Teaken followed orders and ducked out of sight, but flew quickly around to a porthole behind the sightline of whoever was descending down into the brig.

Smee had grabbed a lit lantern and caught up with the angered Captain who was storming below decks towards the brig. The trembling first mate held the lantern up as he unlocked the door that led down into the belly of the ship. The loud creaking of the key in the lock awoke the drunken guard who immediately stood at attention, clobbering himself in the face with his thick, grimy fist as he tried to salute sharply. He rubbed his nose as Smee held open the door for the Captain to walk through. Hook narrowed his eyes at the guard.

"What the devil's the matter with you?" he sneered.

"Dothing, Cap'm," the guard assured Hook; hand still over his aching nose.

Hook rolled his eyes and turned back towards Smee, clipping him in the back of the head to get him to light the way to the cell. Smee rubbed the back of his head but did as ordered and held the lantern up towards the cell Mary had been locked in.

Hook saw the bundled shadow in the corner of the dank cell and walked towards it. "And how are we feeling this evening, my dear? A bit gangrene around the edges are you?" Smee chuckled at the Captain's sick humor.

The bundle of cloth in the cell shifted a bit, and moaned low. Smee tsked and moved closer to the cell, raising the lantern. "Chin up, lass. The Cap'n has come to call on ya. Quite an honor, if you ask me."

The bundle didn't move again, and Smee became agitated. He rapped hard on the bars. "Now there's no need to play dead, it's quite rude. Get up. Up, I say,"

The Captain sighed and glared at Smee, who swallowed thickly and glanced at Hook. "Now, now don't be angry, Cap'n. She's still alive, you saw her move yourself. She's just bein' stubborn, she is. I'll go in and get her up myself."

Smee walked to the guard and took the keys, handing the man his lantern. The man took it with the hand that wasn't still holding his sore nose. Clicking through the keys one by one, Smee found the one that opened the cell doors and placed it into the lock, twisting it to the side and popping the door open. He turned his back and tossed the keys back to the guard, and retrieved his lantern.

As his back was turned, the bundle in the corner of the cell raised its head. Hook caught the movement, and narrowed his eyes. He moved closer to the cell.

"Smee, give me that lantern," The Captain ordered. Smee did as he was asked, and placed the lantern on the Captain's upturned hook. The light swung, tossing shadows over the figure in the cell. Hook raised his eyebrow and glanced at Smee. He handed him the lantern, motioning for him to enter the cell.

Smee furrowed his brow at the Captain. "No need to worry, sir," he piped as he strode into the cell carelessly. "The girl is weak, don't think she can give us much troub-"

Smee was cut off as the figure in the corner suddenly sprang to life. The lantern was knocked out of the pirate's hands, and it shattered on the cell floor, the light hissed and died. Hook swore darkly and the guard in the corner yelped. Hook backed up from the cell slowly as he searched his pockets. He quickly found what he was after and struck the match against his belt, lighting it. He blinked quickly at the burst of light, then his eyes filled with loathing at what he saw.

His first mate stood stone still in front of the cell door, a knife held to his throat by none other than Peter Pan. Hook assumed, furiously, that the girl was long gone by now.

"Pan-" Hook began, growling, but he was cut off by a livid Pan.

"Shut up. Just shut up and listen, old man."

Hook blinked. He had never seen Pan as angry as this. Something was different about him. Something was…off. He narrowed his eyes and tried to discern what it was that had newly changed about the petulant youth.

"You and I have had lots of fights over time. I even thought I had killed you once and for all, when that croc swallowed you whole."

Hook scoffed. "How kind it was of you to provide me with this convenient hook to slash the beast's stomach open with."

Peter rolled his eyes. "I'm well aware of the irony, codfish. And I thought I told you to shut up."

Hook raised an eyebrow at Pan, and patronizingly signaled for him to continue.

"I'm sick of it, old man. Truly sick. I'm sure you've noticed that Neverland is sick as well."

"Of course. And that would be the reason for dear Mary-"

"SHUT. UP." Peter roared, causing Smee to flinch. "Don't you talk about her. This is between you and me. That's what I'm here to tell you. If I find you've even been thinking about her, I'll personally see to it that you die. I've got nothing to lose anymore, Hooky. I might as well have my fun before Neverland is gone for good, don't you think? And when I do, this time your hook won't save you."

The match that Hook had lit burned down to his fingers just as Peter leveled him with a threatening glare. Hook swore and dropped it, plunging them all into darkness. Hook heard Peter chuckle, and the sound chilled him. Chilled him.

"And just so you don't forget, I'll leave you a little reminder…"

Hook heard Smee cry out suddenly, and he searched in his pocket for another match. Suddenly, Smee grunted and Hook was forced over onto his back as his first mate was shoved into him, hard. The guard who had been fumbling along the wall for another lantern finally found one, and struck a match of his own to light it. The light immediately went out as a cold blast of air, signaling Pan's swift exit, blew the flame out. He struck another match and lit the lantern.

He waddled over to where Hook was pushing Smee off of him. The Captain stood and brushed his coat off. Smee lay on the floor whimpering. Both of his hands we covering the left side of his face, and blood could be seen running between his fingers and dripping to the floor.

"Smee, on your feet," ordered Hook. Smee whimpered in response, but rolled over and pushed himself up to his knees, keeping one hand over his bleeding cheek. The guard reached down and pulled him up the rest of the way. Hook took the lantern and held it up to Smee's face. "Move your hand."

Smee's hand shook as he took it away. He winced as some of the torn flesh came with it. Hook turned Smee's head to the side and froze at what he saw. A large 'P' had been roughly carved into his first mate's face.

Hook knew immediately what had changed. The petulant youth, was no longer petulant. He was vengeful, and dark. He was tainted. Hook smiled.

Another acre of Neverland crumbled into a rotten pile.

I inhaled rapidly, and brought my hand up to my chest to try and calm my pounding heart. I was immediately ambushed by pain that streaked from my hand. I bit my lip to stop another scream from tearing through my already sore throat. I blinked sweat out of my eyes even as my body shivered violently. Some distant part of my brain was alarmed as it realized I must be very sick. All I could think of, however, was the terrible sadness that I was feeling. I had no idea what was wrong or what had happened, but an overwhelming depression and feeling of hopelessness suddenly swamped into my chest. It choked me with its intensity, and tears immediately rolled down my cheeks, unwarranted.

The door to the room I was in suddenly exploded inward on its hinges as two identical and worried faces came at me. I barely was able to acknowledge their presence through my tears.

"Mary, what is it?"

"Does something hurt?"

"Is it your hand? Have we bound it too tightly?"

"Please, Mary, you have to tell us-"

"What's wrong! We can't help-"

"If we don't know!"

I knew the twins were panicking, and it was funny. It really was. There they were, freaking out next to me for no reason. I was fine, as far as I could tell, except for the hole in my hand, which was nothing new, and the fact that I simply couldn't stop crying. I wanted to laugh, and I tried to, through my tears. What I produced was a kind of wailing sob, which only threw the twins into more of a panic. I tried to get a hold of myself; I was only perpetuating the madness. As my eyes continued to leak uncontrollably, I thought back as far as I could into my memory. What could have happened to make me so distraught?

I remembered bathing, and blushed under my tears as I remembered ending up naked, in Teaken's lap.

'Moving on,' I admonished myself.

I remembered Teaken telling me why I was there. Why Neverland needed me. My stomach did a triple Lutz as I again thought of what I had agreed to do. I remembered the battle, Hook piercing my hand—I shuddered at that—Hook capturing me, being thrown in a cold cell…

Suddenly I opened my eyes and sat up straight, taking in my surroundings. I rubbed the tears from my eyes and got my breathing under control. I wasn't on Hook's ship at all.

"Are-are you all right, then, love?"

I smiled a bit. It was obvious they thought I was about to explode all over them again. "Yes. I'm…better. I think. What…what happened? How'd I get back here?"

"Well, Pan wasn't very happy with what he saw Hooky do to you—"

"Not too happy at all. You should'a seen his face—"

"Beyond pissed off, lass."

"We planned."

"We executed."

"We won,"

"And here you are, safe and snug!"

I was safe, in the tree house, with the Twins staring at me—

I flinched back as I realized how close they had gotten. I let out a wobbling sigh and wiped my hands down my face, causing me to yelp a bit as I once again aggravated my wounded hand.

"Careful, there, love,"

"I'm sure that's still a bit tender."

The Twins sounded relieved that I had stopped crying, and I offered them a shaky smile. "Yeah, it is. A bit." Understatement of the year. I suddenly thought of the battle that had erupted beneath me before I was kidnapped. I looked up at the Twins, worry creasing my face. "Is everyone here alright? I remember the fight, I remember…TEAKEN!" I suddenly shouted, sitting up straighter and knocking the twins back on their asses. I immediately floored them with my gaze. "Where is he? He was shot! Is he alright? What happened to him? Why the hell are you looking at me like that?! Answer me!"

The twins continued to grin slyly at me. Finally, as a vein began to pound threateningly on my forehead, one of them answered.

"He went after Pan—"

"To Hook's ship—"

"When Pan stayed aboard—"

"To avenge you." They finished, and looked at each other chuckling. I narrowed my eyes, sure there was a hidden meaning in their damned double talking.

"Well, is he ok, or isn't he? Why aren't they back yet?"

The twins shrugged. "Pan's got it in for the ol' Cap'n this time. Who's to say it won't be a fight to the death?"

"Cor, that would be excitin' wouldn't it? Shame we didn't stay and watch, now that I think on it," the other twin frowned and turned, leaving the room with his brother close behind.

"Do you think he'd use is dagger on 'im, or find a more inventive way?"

As the Twins left, discussed more and more gruesome ways that Pan may or may not be killing Hook as we speak, I gaped at the door. They had in no way shape or form answered my question! How dare they?! After all, I was the sick one, wasn't I to be automatically doted on? Who the hell wrote the rules to this damsel in distress thing? It certainly wasn't working out for me. If it were going at all along with the rules, then I would have been flown back to the tree in the arms of a handsome prince, lain gently on this feather stuffed mattress, and properly made out with.

…That reminded me. Where the hell was Teaken??

I sighed and lay back against the pillows, my eyes heavy, and tried to drift off to sleep without thinking about just why that little 'prince' tangent had lead me to remember Teaken. I just hoped he was safe…wherever the jerk was.

Teaken couldn't believe what he'd just seen. No, not even couldn't, but wouldn't, didn't want to. He shut his eyes hard and tried to force the image out of his mind.

It was worse than he thought. It was getting quickly out of hand.

Teaken sighed and pushed away from the porthole of the Jolly Roger and carefully floated to deck level, waiting for Peter to emerge. Then they could go home and never speak of what had happened again.

He knew it would come up, however. Peter wouldn't be able to just 'forget' this had happened. He'd made damn sure of that. And there would be a world of explaining to do when the other Boys saw it.

Teaken's eyes popped open. What if Mary saw it? Would she be too frightened of Pan to fulfill her promise? Would she think Pan would hurt her? Would Pan hurt her?

Teaken immediately stopped that train of thought. He couldn't think of his leader, his friend like this. It was just the curse, the sickness, whatever was happening to Neverland. That's all it was, it wasn't really Peter doing those things, saying those things, meaning those things. It wasn't Pan.

Peter flew out of the cabin of the Ship and straight up into the air. Teaken followed, hidden by the sails as he watched his leader warily…Pan was smiling eerily. Teaken watched in unabashed horror as Pan looked at his dagger, still stained with Smee's blood, and licked it clean. As the blood touched Pan's tongue, Teaken could see an immediate transformation. Pan had just aged another five years, at least. He grinned maniacally and crowed for all he was worth, his deepened voice echoing off the mountains and cliffs of Neverland and chilling Teaken to the bone.

Pan had to meet Mary now. This child had to come now, before Pan was lost to them, and Neverland, forever.

o.O

A.N. Hope you enjoyed,have a safe holiday season and new year! Please Review.