Disclaimer: I do not own the story of Peter Pan, which was written by J M Barrie. Nor do I own Once Upon A Time, which was created by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and is distributed by ABC. This story is the product of their characters and world and my imagination.
Warnings for some disturbing themes, an extremely unhealthy relationship, implications of Stockholm Syndrome, dark Peter Pan, allusions to carving out hearts and a brief reference to an attempted sexual assault (not by Peter).
Neverland is a place of freedom for the lost.
It is not entirely freedom, though. There is always a cost.
When it comes to the few rules the island has, most of them are related to ensuring that Peter Pan never, ever gets either too angry or too curious.
Nobody is safe when the boy king loses his temper, nor can they outrun him when something fascinating catches his eye.
The main rule is to stay under Pan's radar. Be talented but never try to outshine him. Be useful but never draw too much attention to yourself. Be interesting, but never too interesting.
Because Peter Pan is the sort of person who will rip you apart to discover your secrets.
Wendy Darling is too interesting.
A girl in Neverland is an oddity in itself. It's never happened before (fairies and mermaids do not count).
But she's not just a girl. She's a girl who likes adventures despite her strict upbringing. She's someone who stays kind despite the viciousness of Neverland and its ruler. She's the one who always tries to find the good in people, even Peter.
And she makes Peter feel things … things he's never experienced before. He feels elated and enraptured and totally entranced, but also pained at the same time.
He hates feelings.
So, he tries to hate Wendy.
Locks her in cages. Pushes her into mermaid-infested waters. Tosses her off cliffs to fall screaming until he catches her just in time.
None of it works. He still feels. He still can't hate her.
He wants to understand her. His curiosity is peaked and he needs to know what makes Wendy Darling tick.
What he does to her would be called abuse (mental and physical) by anyone who understood the term. However, in Neverland things are different. Conventions and taboos and societal expectations have no value or meaning in Peter Pan's kingdom.
And hurting Wendy isn't something Peter wants to do. He just wants to know her, every inch of her. He wants to have all of her – body, mind, soul, and secrets.
Peter makes a careful study of Wendy's reactions to everything – his gifts, the cage he locks her in, the treehouse, the games, how she winces when he grabs her too hard, and how she makes a delightful little moan if he touches her in just the right way. The good and the bad, he catalogues it all.
And Wendy allows it. Not that she'd be able to stop him, even if she wanted to.
But she gets it in a way few people do. The Lost Boys just think he likes to torment her for fun (although Felix, at least, seems to have an inkling of the truth). Tink and Hook believe Peter is a controlling, sadistic demon.
Wendy knows he's Peter. A unique mix of possessiveness and malice and fun and adventure and cleverness and an always unquenched desire to know things.
Some days Peter wants to rip Wendy apart.
It's on the days when he's so angry with her he thinks it could kill two birds with one stone – getting rid of the girl who causes all these infernal feelings within him, and hopefully finally working out, by examining the pieces of her, what makes Wendy … well Wendy.
He fantasises about slitting her skin and pulling apart her ribcage. Of finally getting a good, long look at that bright red heart of hers.
He never does it, though.
Even when his fury causes the whole island to shake, the skies to darken and the rain to pelt down for days until everyone has almost forgotten what it is like to be dry and warm.
Even then, he still hesitates.
Wendy Darling loves Neverland. The beauty, the freedom, the adventure – it's everything she ever dreamed of.
She loves Peter Pan too. Not blindly but still irrevocably, no matter what. She understands him, probably better than anyone else.
Peter Pan has a curiosity that can never be sated. He is always taking things apart to figure out how they work.
Things sometimes includes people.
It is nothing her life in London ever prepared her for and it is something she often tries to prevent.
Peter is not easily swayed, though, and Wendy only has so much influence.
Besides, he wouldn't be Peter without his desperately hungry inquisitiveness.
He shows her how Neverland works, helps her to tap into the magic and understand for brief moments just how beautifully alive the island is. Peter knows every inch of his kingdom, his whims shaping it and his moods affecting it, and he shares this with Wendy – she'll never control Neverland the way Peter does, but she knows its secrets better than anyone but the island's boy king.
Wendy is kind and gentle. If she can offer aid then she will. If she can make someone smile then she will do so with pleasure. She has sung Lost Boys and fairies and pirates to sleep, has put herself in harm's way to protect others and has given herself up to Peter Pan to save a friend and her brothers.
If she thought she could help Peter, could take away his gnawing hunger to tear things apart so he can understand them, then she would.
But Wendy knows what most others do not. She knows that Peter's hunger lives in his bones, that it can be soothed sometimes but will never leave him.
She accepts him, monstrous flaws included. Sometimes she thinks that makes her a fool, but she is too far gone now, she cannot live without Peter Pan, cannot imagine a life away from Neverland.
Henry Mills has the heart of the truest believer.
Peter wants that heart.
He doesn't need it. Whatever story he feeds to Henry, or to anyone else, is a lie. Neither Neverland nor Peter are dying – they are, in fact, thriving.
Still, it's just too good an opportunity to pass up.
Curiosity is an inherent part of Peter's nature, and the chance to see the heart of the truest believer is not to be missed.
Wendy protests, as he expects. She has such an inconvenient moral compass.
She is aware of what is coming, realises that Henry won't survive Peter's insatiable desire to know.
His Wendy Bird is the only exception, the only object of his interest that has ever managed to live. She's special.
Henry is special too, in his own way, but not like Wendy is, not enough for Peter to keep him.
Still, he doesn't want Wendy to ruin this new game, so he locks her away in a cage when Henry's motley family come to Neverland.
"Just for a while, Bird," he tells her, "you'll be able to play again soon enough."
She glares at him, spits out insults and pleads for Henry's life (for the life of a boy she's never even met) in turns.
He simply turns his back and leaves. Wendy can never stay angry with him for long, not when he's always got a new adventure for them. This is just a little thing, a brief detour – he and Wendy play a far more complex, never-ending game which will continue long after Henry Mills is gone.
When Henry's family (adults – she can hardly believe it, the only adults she's seen in over a century are Tink, and Hook and his crew) find her, Wendy doesn't know what to think.
She's been so very quiet. She wants to help Henry, she really does, but she doesn't expect them to come to this part of the island – surely, she thinks, Peter would only have left her here if it was out of the way.
The fact that they stumble across her makes her wonder if it is an uncommon piece of luck on their part, or just another facet of Peter's game, another test for Wendy.
She shies away from them, even Bae (oh Bae, the memories of him are fuzzy but she can still see the boy in the man's face). Hook and Tink look at her like she's delicate, about to break, and she hears them whispering to the others, telling them about everything Peter has done to her.
They don't understand him, not really, not the way Wendy does. Peter can be cruel for his own amusement sometimes, but usually it stems from a curiosity he can never sate. In a way she feels sorry for him – his brain never stops, always wanting to know how everything works.
She remembers trying to explain it to Tink once, but she'd only looked at Wendy with a sorrowful expression, like there was something wrong with her.
Peter can be awful, but he's always sorry afterwards, always makes it up to her. She loves Neverland, loves Peter, and she doesn't think she'll ever stop.
"We just want to find Henry," Bae tells her, "please, Wendy."
"You should leave," she tells them quietly, "get out of here while you still can."
"I won't go without my son," the blonde woman insists, the others nodding along.
"I wish I could help you," she says, "honestly, but there is nothing I can do. Peter will win, he always wins."
"Your brothers helped us," the older dark-haired woman says, "they trusted a woman named Belle and got us this box so we can defeat Pan."
Brothers. Yes, Wendy thinks she had brothers once. She tries hard to remember them, but she can't picture their faces, only remembers that John was the elder and Michael the younger. She wonders for a moment how they are still alive, all these years later, but the question doesn't remain long in her mind – she knows she will never see them, has long since accepted that Neverland is her home now and forever more.
"What box?" she asks.
She is curious to see what they produce. Though she has little knowledge of magic outside Neverland, she doesn't believe the group can possibly have anything that might be able to stop Peter, not on this island that is so entirely under his control.
"Pandora's Box," Bae tells her, despite the dark-haired woman's sharp look, "we can trap Pan, rescue Henry and help you leave."
Wendy does not know what kind of power Pandora's Box has, but she does know that anything is possible in Neverland for Peter, if he only imagines it, and that he is easily capable of preventing weapons being used against him.
She shakes her head at Bae, "you don't understand. This is Neverland, Peter's domain. You do nothing here without his knowledge, and if he does not wish you to use this Pandora's Box against him then you will not be able to do so."
The group in front of her start shouting at each other immediately, accusations flying between them.
Hook walks over to stand next to her. She fights the urge to step away from him – she has never had a problem with the pirate captain and he was always courteous to her, but she remembers how much Peter disliked it when she visited the Jolly Roger or tried to bring about some sort of peace between the Lost Boys and the pirates.
"Why didn't you explain it to them?" Wendy asks quietly.
Hook and Tink should both know better than to think they can beat Peter Pan, especially on his own turf. Surely they have realised that they are helping on a futile, dangerous mission?
"They won't listen to reason, lass," Hook tells her, though his gaze strays to the blonde woman and the warmth with which he looks at her makes Wendy understand why he has continued to try and help the group.
"I'm sorry," she tells him, softly, sincerely.
"So am I," he responds sadly.
Wendy wishes she could fade into the background, could run away and not have to look at the faces of Henry's family.
The boy doesn't deserve this. Nor do his family.
Wendy cannot act against Peter, though. It would be the height of foolishness, for one. And then, of course, she cannot bear the idea of leaving Neverland. The Storybrooke group would see it as a rescue, but to Wendy even the thought of it is painful.
Bae comes over now, once more pleads with her to help them.
"Surely there must be some way to stop Pan," he says, "or even just get Henry away from him."
She just shakes her head, not trusting herself to speak.
"Leave Wendy alone," Tink says, "she's suffered enough. Pan's a monster … the things he does to her are awful."
Wendy tries to protest this, "he can't help it," she tells them earnestly, "it's just the way he is."
They all look at her then the way Tink used to, like she is something to be pitied and protected. She hates it – Peter isn't always gentle but at least he knows she isn't weak. Wendy can outrun most of the Lost Boys and fight off mermaids. She can hold her own in games and adventures. They think she is a prisoner here and don't realise the cage is just Peter's way of trying to keep her safe.
She doesn't think they understand, but she attempts to explain it to them by recalling one particular memory.
"Two pirates found me once," she tells them, "not on Hook's orders, they'd deserted."
She pauses and looks at Hook, whose face has paled. He knows the story she is referring to.
"They'd gone a bit mad," she says, "they tried to touch me, attempted to rip off my gown."
A woman with short dark hair gasps, and the blonde woman – Emma – looks at her with sorrow.
"Wendy," Bae whispers painfully.
"They didn't manage anything," she insists, "Peter knows everything that happens on the island. He came and saved me."
"He ripped their Shadows away," Hook interjects with a shudder, "it was … horrific."
"He saved me," Wendy reiterates.
"Wendy," Tink says gently, "I know he helped you then, but that doesn't excuse everything else he's done."
She clenches her hands, frustrated by her inability to get them to listen to her.
The older woman pushes through the group and glares down at her, "look, I don't care if you want to stay here for the rest of your life, but I want my son back so tell us where he is."
Wendy shrinks back from her, "there's no point," she tells them, "he's been gone too long. Peter will already …"
She trails off there, not wanting to spell out the sad truth for them. She doesn't know exactly what Peter will do, but she can imagine. She remembers Rufio, the Lost Boy who had become too popular for Peter's liking. Wendy misses him sometimes, but she is sure Peter had been right that he had to go – he had threatened Peter's leadership of the boys, and a strong leader was vital to ensure things ran smoothly. Peter saves so many boys and Rufio didn't have the magic to go to other realms and bring back mistreated, abused and lonely boys the way Peter did.
The woman grabs Wendy and shakes her, despite protests from other members of the group. She sounds more desperate now, when she asks Wendy where her son is.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry, Wendy thinks, even as she stays silent.
"Regina, let her go," Bae says, before turning to Wendy to plead with her, "please, where's Henry?"
She thinks of speaking, though she knows they won't like the answers she has to give, but before she does she feels the air change, feels a familiar hum of magic.
"He's coming," she whispers.
-x-x-x-
"Well, well, what do we have here?"
Peter's voice cuts through the group's arguments like a knife, his sudden appearance in the middle of the clearing a shock to all but Wendy, Hook and Tink, who are familiar with the ease with which he can travel across Neverland.
The hands holding Wendy drop away and she steps backwards, wishing she could run away into the trees but knowing Peter will have already noticed her presence.
The blonde woman – Emma, she thinks – goes to grab the sword on her hip, "where is Henry?"
"I'm afraid dear Henry won't be joining us," Peter tells them.
He looks serious, almost sombre, but Wendy can sense his exhilarated excitement beneath the façade.
"His sacrifice was for a good cause," Peter adds, as if his words are of any comfort to the grieving family.
Emma goes white. Bae looks broken. Regina raises her hands, magic crackling at her fingertips as she looks at Peter with hate-filled eyes.
Peter disappears suddenly, reappearing in a different part of the clearing behind the Storybrooke group at the same as he tosses two knives with deadly accuracy at Regina and the older man Wendy thinks Bae had earlier called Gold.
Both targets fall to the ground with knives in their backs.
Neither of them gets back up.
Emma gasps. Tink goes very still. Hook looks resigned.
"I do hope you weren't particularly attached to these two," Peter says, "I wouldn't have bothered, but I'd rather like to see if their hearts are as black as I suspect. They'll make a nice contrast to Henry's – his was so very bright."
The woman with short dark hair lets out a scream, leaning into the cradle of her shocked husband's arms. Emma and Bae both lunge for Peter, though it does them no good, for vines creep up from the ground and hold them in place.
Once, Wendy would have wept for hours once she heard the news about Henry. She knows now that there is no point in it – it won't change what has happened, won't bring Henry back. Still, she sheds a few tears for the boy who has fallen victim to Peter's curiosity.
"Now," Peter muses as he watches those remaining of the Storybrooke group, "what to do with all of you."
Wendy steps forward then. Henry is gone now, and she can't do anything about the two bodies on the floor, but she can still try and save those who are left.
"Please, Peter, let them leave."
Peter turns to the group with a sharp smile, "my darling Wendy Bird is such a tender-hearted thing, always trying to save people."
His hand shoots out to tug Wendy to his side. He can feel her tremble with nerves, see her bite her lip in worry. He knows all his Bird's tells, can usually read her mood and her thoughts just by glancing at her.
"I'm feeling merciful at the moment," he tells them magnanimously, grinning as she relaxes next to him, "so I'll let you all leave. I've had my prize, after all, and none of you are as interesting as the truest believer, even the lost girl."
Wendy mouths apologies to Hook, cannot bear to meet Bae and Emma's eyes.
She wonders what they think of her. Do they hate her, or perhaps pity her?
In the end, though, she isn't sorry to see them leave. Adults do not belong in Neverland, cannot fathom its wonder the way Peter, Wendy and the Lost Boys can.
Peter squeezes her wrist tightly as the jungle grows and changes around them to force the Storybrooke group on a short path that will lead them away from Neverland.
She'll have bruises on her arm tomorrow, finger-shaped marks that Peter will examine carefully and brush his fingers over.
He takes her back to her tree house and presses cold lips against her cheek. He won't return until much later, she knows – he'll want to examine the hearts of Regina and Gold, to revel in his triumph.
She wishes she could cry, but she doesn't.
Instead, she goes to sleep and dreams of happier moments.
The next morning Peter Pan wakes in the treehouse to find an empty spot on the bed next to him.
Wendy does this sometimes, sneaks away while he is still sleeping. The magic of the island means he knows everything that goes on, but Neverland likes Wendy almost as much as it does Peter, and it allows his little Bird to escape his gaze on occasion.
He doesn't really mind. Wendy is the only person who can really surprise him and he rather likes that.
He finds her soon enough, standing on the edge of the island's tallest waterfall, barely an inch from the edge.
There is no need to worry about what might happen if she falls. Wendy has experienced the drop a number of times before, after all, usually by his own hand. Besides, death touches nothing in Neverland unless it is by his command.
"Time for an adventure, Bird," he tells her, energised and filled with boyish excitement.
He does not think of the previous day's events, or about Henry, Regina and Gold's hearts. He has examined them and they have already lost their mystery.
Peter moves on quickly, rarely dwelling.
Wendy is the only real exception, the only curiosity that continues to spark his interest.
She doesn't answer, seemingly lost in her thoughts.
A flash of irritation runs through him. Wendy has such a soft heart and she is clearly dwelling on Henry, and on the motley group from Storybrooke. Henry's heart was interesting, and it makes a good trophy, but that's in the past now and he wants to focus on the present.
"Shall we fly, Bird?"
Wendy looks up then, an answering smile on her face that fills him with warmth. His Bird does love to fly, after all.
He holds out his hand and she takes it without hesitation. A moment later they dive off the edge, plummeting towards the ground before he pulls them upwards at the last minute.
They soar over Neverland, hands clasped, watching the sun glint off the sea and the trees sway in the breeze on the island.
And, for these few brief seconds at least, Peter is content.
Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.