The sound of chanting filled the night air as a tribe of Native Americans danced around a campfire in a clearing to celebrate the chief's daughter getting married. With everyone enjoying the festivities and the night a total pitch black, Peter had the perfect cover to sneak around the tribe's camp to a pond that was normally under heavy guard. He scanned his target from the safe camouflage of the tree branches where he had hidden himself, his faithful shadow hiding along beside him, to find that only one guard was keeping a careful eye on the pond's calm waters.

"That's the wishing well?" the shadow questioned in a whisper.

"Yes." Peter replied with a grin, unable to contain his growing excitement.

"Funny, looks more like a pond." The shadow pointed out smartly. Peter rolled his eyes, the shadow's literal sense of things beginning to annoy him.

"Pond. Well. It doesn't matter, what does matter is what it can do. That's why it's always under guard."

Staring down at the lone guard, the shadow nodded in understanding.

"I see."

Smirking once again, Peter turned his gaze from the shadow back to the pond where the guard stood vigilant, finally turning his back to them both. Seeing the perfect chance to take the guard out, the boy came out of his hiding spot and flew silently over to the pond where he stopped, hovering just a few feet above warrior. He then reached for the small leather pouch tied to his belt that contained some pixie dust that he had collected back in Neverland and sprinkled a pinch of it over the guard. The glittering green dust worked quickly as soon the warrior felt his eyes grow heavy and he drifted off to unconsciousness in a matter of seconds, his heavy body falling face first into the dirt.

"Sweet dreams, laddie." Peter chuckled as he landed on his feet and stepped over the snoring guard to the edge of the pond.

"What now?" The shadow asked as it flew up beside him from their previous hiding spot.

"Now, my dear shadow, we bring back something I had lost a long time ago." Peter explained as he reached under the collar of his shirt and pulled out a silver locket, yanking it free from around his neck before he held it up and examined it. The shadow gazed over at the necklace, tilting it's head curiously as Peter held tightly to the chain only to wind his arm back as he was about to chuck the locket into the pond. The boy's actions were halted however, when the shout of "Intruder!" sounded from behind them, drawing the attention of the tribe. Having been caught, the shadow quickly took off to the skies and left Peter to curse under his breath as he ran in the opposite direction through the woods with the warriors hot on his tail.

Weaving between trees and jumping over fallen logs that were rotting on the forest floor, he stopped to press his back up against a tree and reached once again for the pixie dust only to find it was gone. He must've dropped it somewhere and wouldn't be able to fly away without it. Suddenly, his easy snatch and go job just got all that harder. Peering out from behind the tree, he spotted the warriors searching the foliage, poking at the bushes with their sharpened spears and arrows. He began sprinting away from them again, only running a few more meters until he came across their campground.

Teepees towered high above his head and plumes of smoke wafted lazily against the night sky but it was empty, everyone had gone off to enjoy the festivities. Thinking quickly on his feet, Peter headed further into the camp and ducked behind one of the teepees, crouching down to remain hidden. When a twig snapped behind him however, he found himself face to face with a native American girl who appeared no older than he did, her long black hair in braided pigtails with a bright orange lily pinned to the side and her brown eyes gazing down at him curiously. Before she could open her mouth to say anything, he quickly stood up and placed a hand over it, pressing a finger to his own lips to signal for her to be silent. Only when she nodded in understanding did he finally drop his hand and wink at her in thanks.

The warriors arrived at the camp then and began poking their heads into their homes to try and spot the thief who dared to trespass. Peter pressed his back against the teepee he hid behind, his eyes flickering over to the girl who had caught him just in time to see her step out into the Warriors' line of vision.

"Tigerlily?" one of them called as he closed in the distance between them.

"Sorry to disturb you before your wedding, but there's a thief about. He hasn't come this way has he?"

Peter held his breath as he waited for Tigerlily to answer, hoping that by some miracle she would spare him and send the warriors in some other direction. Luckily, fate seemed to be on his side. Raising an arm, the Native American girl pointed in the distance, far away from where Peter was actually hiding and the warrior signaled to the others before he gave the girl a solemn nod and left. Once the coast was clear, Peter came out of his hiding spot and dusted himself off, relieved that he had finally manged to get the warriors off his trail.

"Thanks." he said gratefully as Tigerlily returned to him.

She merely smiled in response and flushed a bright red color when he kissed her cheek before running off, leaving her behind to a hold a hand up to the spot where his lips brushed against her skin in awe. Leaving the camp behind and cutting into the woods again, he was starting to pant and work up a sweat from all the running. It'd been years since he had so much endless energy. Had he appeared his actual age, he probably would've been caught a long time ago as age has made his limbs ache and his chest sting. Now, he felt like he could run on forever and the thought of almost being caught was exhilarating.

Those thoughts were quickly put a stop as well as his swift running when a warrior suddenly leapt down from a tree in front of him, several others falling in suit with their weapons all pointed at him. Still panting, Peter held up his hands in surrender and backed up slowly as they all began inching towards him. Despite having been cornered, he flashed them all his most charming smile.

"C'mon laddies, surely you can spare some of that water to give a thirsty boy just one sip."

Apparently not he thought to himself as the warriors continued to stalk toward him with their weapons still pointed at him. Without a single word, one of the warriors fired an arrow at the boy though it was narrowly dodged by Peter, revealing the shadow behind him who easily caught it in one hand. The warriors all gaped at the strange creature, never having seen anything like it before and kept their weapons raised in alarm. Tossing the arrow aside, the shadow held up the pouch of pixie dust that Peter had dropped and pulled out a handful of it's contents, tossing the powdery substance at the men after Peter had rolled safely out of the way. In a hazy green cloud of glitter, the warriors all fell asleep and began dropping one by one to the leaf strewn ground at Peter's feet. Crossing his arms over his chest, the boy nudged a toe at one of them and smirked when the man only responded with a loud grunt before shifting in his sleep.

"You were cuttin' it close there, laddie." he said as he faced the shadow and snatched the pixie dust back.

This time, he made sure to double knot the damned thing so that he wouldn't lose it again. The shadow said nothing, choosing to follow Peter in silence as they headed back for the pond, it's only guard still curled up on the ground, fast asleep. Swiftly taking out the silver locket as he didn't want to risk being shot at again or speared as spearing was bad, he dropped it into the pond and dumped half of the pixie dust into the water as well. The pond that was once calm began to bubble as a fog of green smoke gathered over it's surface. The shadow watched it all in silent awe as Peter began wading into the chilly waters, stopping in the middle where it came up to his waist.

When the pond began to glow a florescent green color, he sunk down into the water but kept his head and shoulders above the surface only to straighten back up again with a girl in his arms. She was drenched from head to toe, the silver locket Peter had dropped clasped securely around her neck and once she was out of the water, it stopped bubbling and the green haze on it's surface faded. As she awoke and began gasping for breath, Peter kept a secure grip on her, gently whispering to her that everything was fine and that she was safe.

"Where am I?" the girl questioned as she blinked the water out of her long lashes.

"What's going on?"

"It's alright, I'm here." Peter replied as he set her down on her feet. Looking up at him, she could hardly believe her eyes for a moment.

"Malcolm?"

But that couldn't be...he looked just as he did when they met, years ago.

"Yes, it's me." he reassured her as he pushed a strand of her long wet hair away from her lovely face. Suddenly as if she remembered something important, the girl began searching the woods frantically.

"Our son..." she started, shivering slightly from the cold water.

"Where's our son?"

Peter furrowed his brows at this, suddenly unable to look at her as he turned his head away, a pained expression clouding his face.

"Malcolm, where is our son?" she insisted as she grasped at his hand.

"He's gone." he finally replied after a few silent moments, turning his gaze back to her. Her delicate skin seemed to pale at the news, her other hand rising up to cover her mouth and the first of her tears began to fall, mingling with the water that surrounded her. Gone? How could he be gone? Her little boy...

"I'm sorry." Peter said sincerely as he pulled her close to his chest and stroked her hair, letting her cry painful chest heaving sobs into his shoulder while his shadow looked on in silence from the pond's edge...

Hovering in the distance, he watched as the last of the island was swallowed up by the cold murky water of the sea and took those who would ruin the life he had built in Neverland with it. The smugness Peter had felt earlier seemed to have sunk with Skull Island, his large smirk replaced with a frown as he pulled out the small jeweled box containing his child and looked down at it.

"I'm sorry Rumple." he then whispered to the box as if the soul trapped inside it could hear him.

"I'm so sorry."

With one last longing look at the spot where Skull Island had once been, Peter placed the box securely back into his pocket before he began flying to the other end of the island. After a few minutes of navigating his way through the mountains, he came across a large tower where a light came from the only window at the very top. Flying up to and through the window, he landed lightly on his feet inside the tower and glanced around at the bedroom that was cluttered with all the things he had collected over the many years of his travels from pocket watches he had swiped to an old telescope that had been placed off to one corner. Books were stacked as far as the eye could see, some of them even placed along the spiraling staircase that lead down to the rest of the tower, their pages filled with fairy tale romances and far off places. In the middle of the room and all the clutter was a bed, it's quilt laid out neatly and it's large fluffy pillows organized.

Looking over at the night stand by the bed, Peter smiled faintly down at one of the dusty picture frames containing a photograph of himself and his wife, gingerly running a finger along it's silver fixtures when he heard her coming up the stairs. Deciding that he wanted to surprise her, he took off into the air again, hiding himself up against the rafters just as she made it to the top of the stairs with several books in hand. Her blonde hair was tied back in a side ponytail and her blue eyes were bright as they glinted in the candle light. He watched with a faint smile as she went along all the stacks of books, organizing them and was unaware that she was being watched by the boy who slowly crept up behind her until he placed a hand over her eyes and nearly startled her.

"Guess who?" Peter asked in a playful tone as he landed on the ground once again.

"Malcolm." she answered with a smile, prying his hands away from her eyes. Setting down the last of her books, she then turned around to wrap her arms around his neck and he held her tight.

"Welcome home, Dearie."