Chapter 16

The Original Tale of Pan

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Peter stalked through the underground hideout until he was sure that there was a hollow in the floor where he paced. Leah occupied his thoughts since the moment he watched her leave the tree house and disappear into the trees. Everything about her puzzled him; from the way she acted so selfishly in order to help him and the lost boys, the way she reacted so oddly to what happened the night before, but most of all, the impact she had upon his heart.

Frustrated with pacing, he dropped to the floor and crossed his legs, resting his hands on his knees. When she was in his arms he was sure that his heart was beating loud enough for her to hear, and when she wasn't in his arms, he ached for her to be so. The confusion in his heart was betraying what he should be thinking about, revenge for what Hook had done.

Unable to sit still, Peter stood and continued to walk back and forth on the dirt floor. But the underground hideout could no longer contain his restless mind or body. He itched to do something. With a sigh, he made his way outside into the early afternoon sun.

---

"What do you mean?" Leah asked, staring curiously at Tiger Lily sitting cross-legged across from her, fidgeting with her hands. Lily took a deep breath and gazed at the sky that was beyond the smoke hole at the peak of the teepee.

What should she tell Leah? Should she tell her everything?

Lily tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but it wouldn't disappear.

"Tiger Lily? Is everything alright?" Her concern was making this harder, but she just had to tell her. Gathering her courage, she continued to stare at the blue sky as she spoke.

"Long before Neverland was created, there raged a great war between Celestial Beings that resided in the heavens and the Mortals of Earth. The Celestials had given the Mortals their means of existence, creating them in mirror image of themselves. They gave the Mortals everything they could - night and day, light and darkness, good and evil, life and death. But the Mortals were envious of the Celestial, and wanted to be more that just an imitation or reflection of them. They weren't satisfied with what they were given and were prepared to die for what they craved. Celestial and Mortal warriors fought endlessly, neither side willing to give in. Until one day. While battles were raging, a Celestial Maiden, tired to watching the bloodshed went down to Earth. Some say that she went there because she was fond of Earth's natural beauty, other's say she was a spy. Nobody knows the truth. But while she was lost deep in thought, a Mortal warrior happened upon her and...

Eidn was a maiden with a curiosity that could outshine any cat.

As her feet gently landed on the soft grass of a hill, over looking an ocean, she giggled as her feet squished into the ground and made a soft squelching noise. She stared out across the sea, inhaling the salt air deeply. Earth was so beautiful. She sighed, if only the Mortals could appreciate the beauty that surrounded them. Slowly stepping backwards, she didn't pay attention to how slippery the ground was until her foot stepped onto a patch of mud, causing her to fall and slide down the hill. Try as she might, she couldn't stop. Grasping at grass and twigs, they all gave way under the force of her tug. When she was certain she was going to fall into the ocean, she hit something warm and hard, and yet still soft, that ceased her tumbling.

"Are you alright?" A deep male voice rumbled next to her ear. Warm arms encircled her, and when she looked up, a gentle face with a pair of deep green eyes, smiled down upon her.

"I think so." With the aid of the man, she stood and began to laugh at how filthy she had become. "Oh look at me! Covered in mud." She continued to laugh, forgetting the man who had saved her and now stared. Turning to him, she opened her mouth to thank him for helping her when she noticed how he was dressed. Green tunic with a heavy blue robe about his shoulders, beige trousers tucked into calf length black boots with the hilt of a dagger poking out of he top, and an impressively gilded sword and sheath attached to his belt.

A Mortal Warrior.

By the look on his face, she knew that he could tell who she was. Eidn had to get out of there.

"Thank you for all your help, but I best be going." Spinning on her heal, she tried to make a hasty retreat, but she took no more than two steps before an iron grip wrapped around her upper arm.

"Wait." Eidn tried to shake him loose but he was too strong. She always prided herself on being strong and knowing how to handle herself if she should ever face a Mortal warrior – go for the dagger at her ankle and hit him where it hurt. But at that moment she froze.

"Please let me go," She said, trying to mask the fear in her voice. Looking at him square in the face she kept struggling to get her arm out of his grasp. "I have nothing to give you." Her voice firm.

"You are a Celestial. How do I know you weren't here to spy on us?" His expression was hard, his green eyes searching her face for some sign of treachery that would confirm his immediate suspicion of her.

Although fear gripped her and kept her feet rooted to the ground, Eidn was undeniably stubborn and loose of tongue, which gave her more trouble than good.

"What if I am? Are you planning to kill me?" Darn it, Eidn. She mentally scolded herself. The one time she needed to hold her tongue. But rather than cowering as she should against the anger from the man holding her in a death grip, she stubbornly set her chin and looked him straight in the eye. To her surprise, she was not met with the anger that she was expecting, but rather surprise that quickly shifted to amusement.

"If you are, then I would call you a liar." Eidn stared in disbelief as one corner of the man's mouth curved up into a lopsided grin. She should have been frightened at the fact that this man was joking at a time where he should be threatening to kill her, or at least capture her and bring her back to his base with him. But to her utter astonishment, she laughed. He seemed caught off guard by her reaction, but quickly recovered and joined in her humor.

That was the first time that Eidn met Pan.

--

Months passed since that fateful meeting on the hilltop. Eidn and Pan continued to meet in secrecy, realizing over time that they had more in common than they first recognized. They were both unwilling participates in this war and had lost loved ones in the process.

"My brother died because of this war." Eidn told Pan during a balmy summer evening atop the hill.

"How? Not by an unaltered Mortal weapon, we realized those were useless some time ago." Pan said, absentmindedly fingering the gilded hilt of his sword that lay almost forgotten on the grass next to him. He had told Eidn a short time after their first meeting that the Mortals were beginning to alter their weapons by coating them in a deadly mixture of poison that could pierce the tough armor and skin that shielded the Celestials.

"It was not by any weapon of yours," She sighed and brought her knees to her chest, enclosing them within the circle of her arms. "My brother was a kind hearted soul. When the war first began he wanted no part of it. But my mother, loyal follower and hater of Mortals, forced him into battle. Coren refused to spill any Mortal blood and dropped quickly in rank. Everything changed while he was patrolling a street of a recently defeated Mortal town. A man came out of the shadows and tried to attack my brother. The man was obviously crazed and feared that my brother was looking for more Mortals to kill. Without a second thought, Coren drew his dagger from his belt and purely on survival instinct plunger the dagger deep into the man's chest. It was the first time he had ever killed someone." Eidn paused in her story and looked out across the ocean, the moonlight caused the tears in her eyes to glisten, but she refused to let them fall. Pan admired her strength and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, encouraging her to continue.

"I was told that my brother immediately dropped his weapon, the guilt of taking a life overwhelming him. He was distraught when he was found, muttering to himself that the man probably had a family and it was not within his right to take life. Coren was found dead a few days later, his mind had gone to pieces, remorse so intense that it destroyed him." Eidn turned her head away from him, trying to conceal the tears that filled her eyes, threatening to spill over. After a few minutes, she turned back to him; her eyes now dry, and studied him. "Have you ever…"

"Killed someone?" He asked solemnly. She nodded. "No. And I don't want to have to. But with the way the war is going, it may end up that I have no choice." Pan dropped his hand from her shoulder and began plucking at the grass below him. With a sigh he fell back onto the ground and stared up at the stars above him. "I just wish there was a place where there wasn't any war. Where we could be carefree and enjoy the world like we were children again." He blew out a puff of air and closed his eyes. "I would give anything to be a child again and never grow up."

Eidn watched him lying peacefully on the grass, and imagined him as a young boy, running through the trees chasing after birds, pretending that he could fly with them. Slowly she lay down on the grass next to him and curled into his side. Without even so much as flicker of an eyelid, Pan wrapped one arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him.

"I would give anything to grant you that wish."

---

"So, does Pan's wish sound like anybody we know?" Tiger Lily asked, pausing in her story. Leah, who had remained still throughout the tale, stared at Lily wide-eyed.

"What happened to them?" Leah asked after a few moments of silence. Lily took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Pan was followed one night by one of his comrades in arms. When he was discovered with Eidn, Eidn thought that he had betrayed her and left him immediately to return to the Heavens. Pan was charged with treason, and sentenced to death. All the while, Eidn stayed away from Earth, she was hurt and refused to find out what punishment would befall upon Pan. But a part of her knew that Pan would never willingly betray her. So against her better judgment she returned to Earth on the day that Pan was to be killed. She was sure that she would find him safe and sound within the confines of his legion's camp, but to her dismay she found him atop the hill where they first met surrounded by other soldiers, kneeling solitary in the circle with his captain before him who held a sword to his heart…

"On this day Pan, you are to be sentenced to death for treason against all Mortals. Do you have anything to say before you die?" The Captain's voice boomed over the entire landscape, silencing any murmurs that passed through the circle of warriors around him. Pan stared into the Captain's unforgiving eyes and knew that there was nothing he could say that would save him now. He didn't even bother to struggle against the bonds that kept his arms securely behind his back. Defeated, he closed his eyes.

"No." He could almost hear the Captain smirk. But he saw nothing but Eidn's face burned into the back of his eyelids. Her expression clearly displaying the betrayal she felt when they were discovered together. That meeting was supposed to be special, he had finally gotten up the courage to tell her how he felt, but before the words could pass his lips, Leyton blew the sounding whistle. She was gone in a flash and he feared he would never see her again.

Now at the end, he knew his fear would become true.

"Very well then." The sound of the sword being sharpened on the rock beside his knee reminded Pan where he was. He took a deep breath and held onto the image of Eidn's smiling face before him.

The pain was instant, burning his chest where the sword had entered. His eyes shot open with the intensity that the pain over took him with. In front of him stood the Captain, sneer on his face and the bloody sword hanging beside him. Everything began to dissolve around him; the world was getting darker, quieter.

His face felt wet, and there was the smell of grass. He must have fallen over.

"No! Pan!"

Who?

"Pan!"

…Eidn

With everything he had left in him, Pan forced his eyes open. There she was, kneeling before him, her arms instantly around him, pulling the bonds away from his hands.

"Eidn…" It was hard to speak; the copper taste in his mouth overwhelmed him. Slowly he raised his hand to her cheek, brushing away the tears that he found. "Eidn…I'm…I'm sorry…"

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about. I'm the one…who should be apologizing." Eidn tried as hard as she could to keep her voice steady, but her throat and chest constricted so painfully that she could barely breathe. The man in her lap was dying, blood blossoming so rapidly on his shirt that she knew he didn't have long left. Inside her head she was screaming, she felt helpless, there was nothing that she could do but to sit there and hold him as he faded away.

"Eidn…I…" She shushed him with a finger on his lips, but he grasped her hand and pulled it away. He was given one last chance to tell her and if it had to be with his last breath than so be it. Pan studied her face, beautiful, even marred with tears that streamed down her cheeks and dripped from her chin. He couldn't help but smile.

"What's so funny? I…look like a wreck don't I?" Eidn joked, her voice hitching. She watched, as his smile grew wider. Then with one last breath…

"I love you."

Eidn's heart stopped and then with a gasp she clutched his lifeless form to her and sobbed.