Hi! As always you guys are awesome and fabulous for reviewing. Everyone with user names should have gotten messages (p.s., Hildebrant, please keep supplying song lyrics, because I'm getting obsessed with them as future chapter titles); if not, I'm so sorry and shall fix it ASAP! For those without user names (the Guests and Lil), thank you for reading and reviewing as well; the Ninth and Tenth Doctors are my favorite, so it's great to be compared to them.

My apologies this is short, but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting for a long time, especially since I'm going into exam period. You will get something longer soon!

Thanks again for reading and reviewing! Hope you enjoy it!

~ladykikyo1792

Chapter 13: Wings & Shadows

Outside the nurse's office, Tinkerbell sat on a wooden bench. Felix took Pan's command to stand guard literally, and was currently blocking the door. His arms were crossed, and he glared at anyone who walked by, though he was absolutely silent. She kept sneaking glances at him, but he didn't notice- or at least pretended he didn't.

Still, the fairy felt compelled to talk, and said, "So, Pan's back."

Felix's gray gaze fixed on her, and he gave her a barely perceptible nod before turning to scan the hallway again. Although they were both more than aware there was zero threat to Wendy in the nurse's office, Peter had still ordered him to be alert, and so he would.

"What now?" Tink asked. She didn't really expect him to tell her. He was a quiet boy in general, and if he knew Pan's plan, he would never reveal it. As she thought he would, he replied:

"What do you think, Tinkerbell?" His voice was harsher, without his typical drawl.

"We go home?" Tink hazarded, trying not to incense him further. Pan was the deadliest killer out of the Lost Boys, but Felix was the most precise. If he wanted to kill her, he would decide to and do it immediately and without remorse. Tink didn't want to risk that- if there was anything being on Neverland had taught her, it was the value of her own life.

"'We?'" Felix repeated. His eyes bored into hers. Hurriedly, Tink looked away. She tucked an errant strand of hair behind in her ear, trying not to let her embarrassment show. Though he was right- why would she be included? Peter's aim was, most likely, to return to Neverland and resume his post as king. He would do everything in his power to take Wendy with him. Felix, of course, would go- the loyal knight always accompanied the king. And, if Pan had his way, a fresh crop of Lost Boys, both some of the old corps and new recruits, would go and fill out the members of his court.

But Tinkerbell? She'd been exiled from the court a long time ago. Why would she be brought back?

More importantly, she told herself, why had she even asked? The entire reason she'd betrayed Pan was to get away from Neverland. She should be happy to be in Storybrooke and fight to keep Wendy with her- and send Pan back where he came from, without either of them in his clutches.

"Never mind," Tink muttered. She shifted her position, fixing her stare on the lockers across the hall- so she didn't see the pensive look Felix gave her.

"You betrayed Pan," he pointed out the very thing that made her irredeemable. It was the highest crime in Neverland, and one for which there was no forgiveness. The land itself would despise her.

"Yes," Tink admitted. She couldn't deny it, nor would she.

"He wouldn't take you back. Not alive."

"I know," she swallowed, "Forget I mentioned it."

"What are you doing wandering around this part of the island?" a familiar voice drawled, "Don't the fairies have some sort of ball?"

"Felix, I really do not want to talk to anyone right now," Tinkerbell said. She sat behind a tree, the leaves obscuring her from his view. She hugged her knees close to her chest, though the Neverland night was hardly cold.

The Lost Boy stopped as he noticed Tink's voice was without it's normal haughty bite. She sounded incredibly vulnerable. In fact, she sounded as if she was holding back tears. Confused, he carefully stepped through the underbrush to her. As he rounded the tree, he realized that she was forcing herself not to sob. Worse, he realized why: her wings were gone. Jagged scars crisscrossed down the fairy's back, the lines covered in old blood. Her glowing, effervescent aura was gone, and her green dress was torn and covered in dirt. Her cheek bore a blue bruise.

Felix was no stranger to gore. He enjoyed it. He got a physical high from inflicting pain upon others. But the sight of Tink, wounded and without her wings, caused a feeling of intense revulsion in his gut. It was perhaps the first time he'd ever felt bad for anyone in Neverland- other than himself.

"Tink, who did this to you?" he crouched beside her, reaching towards one of the scars, but she slapped his hand away.

"Stop!" she hissed, "Just stop. It hurts enough without you rubbing it in." Despite her efforts, a tear did slip down her cheek then.

"I'm not rubbing it in," he said, quite seriously.

Taken aback by his reaction, Tink studied him, wary. He was utterly calm- then again, the only time she ever saw him show any sort of emotion was in the heat of battle. Still, she stared at him, her eyes wild as a frightened animal's.

Finally deciding he genuinely wasn't mocking her, Tink said, "I tried to help someone, but I had to steal pixie dust to do it."

"So?"

"Blue didn't like that I tried to help Re- this person. She said that the person was evil and didn't deserve help. That she was surrounded by darkness. To me...that's the kind of person who needs help. But Blue disagreed, and then- then, she said she didn't believe in me. When she said that...it ripped my wings off." Fiercely, she brushed tears off her cheeks. She couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze. How was Felix supposed to understand her situation? He didn't do helping people, unless one counted the twisted form of help Pan practiced by bringing boys to the island.

Felix frowned,"Oberon and Titania won't like this-" Though Tink was admittedly surprised Felix knew anything about fairy culture- only Peter deigned to associate with them -she replied, her tone despairing:

"Blue is Titania's sister. She's already heard, and they sent a messenger to tell me I will never be welcome at the fairy court- because I'm not a fairy anymore." The words were terribly final. Tink had lost everything that made her special- not just her identity, but her family. She had nothing, and there was nothing she could do to gain it back.

Felix didn't tell her he was sorry. He didn't give her words of comfort. Instead, he sat beside her for a while, then put an arm around her and tried to help her to her feet:

"We have to tell Pan."

"No!" Tink insisted, "I can't face him. I can't face any of them- not like this. Never like this." She was so ashamed- a fairy without wings! No, not even a fairy anymore-

"Tink, he'll know. He always does, but it's better if we tell him first."

"Why?"

Felix grit his teeth, "Because he needs to see it."

"Felix, I can't," Tinkerbell said, "Just...give me some time to heal. Or at least to clean up."

After a long minute, he said, "Two days."

"Two days," she agreed. As she walked off into the night, Felix watched her go, gray eyes inscrutable.

A few hours later, Felix told Pan the story, and asked if he approved of Felix's idea. Pan did.

By the sunrise of the second day, all the fairies of Neverland were dead.

When Wendy awoke, it was under bright fluorescent lights instead of thousands of stars. Instead of the breeze of her treehouse, there was only the crack of the radiator. She didn't wear her nightgown, but rather a khaki skirt and ripped black tights, and in place of the lacy blankets she'd had for hundreds of years, a cheap cotton blanket was laid over her.

No, she was definitely in school. She sighed.

The nurse heard her intake of breath, rushed over, and did a cursory check over her. Since Wendy was now conscious and otherwise fine, she merely gave her a juice-box and some crackers. Obediently, Wendy sipped until the box was empty. She only nibbled at the crackers, but there was no reason for her to eat them really- she'd fainted because of an eternal boy, not low blood sugar. Still, it made the nurse happy, and at last, she was cleared to go.

Cautiously, Wendy opened the door, fully expecting to see Peter. Instead, she was greeted by the sight of Felix's back.

At the sight, she let out a loud breath, "Really?" It wasn't the first time Felix had ever been sent to guard her, but she really saw no reason why he was to do so now. In Neverland, there had at least been a reason- there were pirates and all sorts of rogue wild creatures (and as Wendy herself was never proficient enough with a weapon to face a raging tiger or a furious pirate) -but in school? The only thing that could harm her was Peter himself.

Tink shoved Felix aside, "Yes, really. Apparently you get a shadow now." It should have been a joke, but from a Neverlander, it was simultaneously a warning and an insult. Felix rolled his eyes at Tink's antics, and while he could easily have stopped the fairy, he let her push him so Wendy and she could speak.

Tink, after all, wasn't going to harm Wendy.

Wendy said, "It wouldn't be the first time," she eyed Felix, "Am I imprisoned in the nurse's office, or can I go back to class?" Admittedly, she was embarrassed by what had happened, but she couldn't constantly collapse every time she saw Pan. She had to get on with her life- or get on with it as much as she could with him here.

At least until she could figure out what to do about it.

"That depends," Felix deadpanned, "Are you planning on fainting again?" Wendy glared at him, and Felix smirked. Deciding that he wouldn't stop her, Wendy walked into the hall. Tink slipped her arm into Wendy's. Without the girl noticing, the fairy surreptitiously looked back at Felix. He kept his gaze trained on them, and followed them as they passed the myriad of lockers. Classes had just changed, and while Wendy was undeniably late, she still intended on going to English.

As Wendy retrieved her books from her own locker, she asked, "Are you still going to follow me around all day?"

Felix drawled, "Tink does."

"We have the same classes!" Tink retorted, "You don't. You have no reason to be following her-"

"I'm not following her," Felix replied, "I'm guarding her. Pan commanded me to. I am loyal to him."

The rest of the words were unspoken: Unlike you.

Wendy paused, looking back and forth from Tink to Felix, unable to discern the source of tension between them. Felix's expression was uncharacteristically stern. While he rarely showed true emotion, he was usually smirking and making fun of something- or someone. Now, facing Tink, he had anger in his eyes. Not the fierce, violent rage that represented Peter's displeasure, but an anger that had been smoldering and simmering for centuries.

That was when Wendy understood.

"Oh my God," she whispered, "Him? Tink, him!?" She was utterly incredulous. Tink simply looked away and refused to answer.

Hi, so I know this was super short and lacked Peter and I promise you will get more later, but since I hadn't posted in a while I wanted to give you guys at least a short snippet! I promise, Peter will come back next chapter and be his usual self.

Thanks for reading!

~ladykikyo1792