A/N: This is the longest chapter I have ever written for a fanfic. I started, and then just kept writing and it ended up two pages more than what I normally write. =P. Thank you for your reviews and follows!
Also, I had to check the rating guidelines to set my mind at ease, and realised that the ones for this site actually differ from what I thought they were. Here I was thinking this was 13+, not 9+...
SO, I'm sorry guys, but I have to push it up to an M rating. There isn't going to be anything explicit, but I feel like this story isn't going in the direction that nine year olds would enjoy reading...not that i think there are many nine year olds on this site...(hello if you are!)
But here's the next chapter! xx

The Ones Who Remember Wendy

A thousand years ago…

The princess was covered by a hood that she struggled to keep around her face as her horse flew through the night. Wearing a dress and cloak she had borrowed from her lady's maid, she was nothing more than a princess in disguise in pursuit of the world's best magician.

She'd spent days upon days in the library. The King and Queen seemed glad that her mind was elsewhere but on that minstrel they had found in her room a few nights ago. After many a lecture, they had begun talks with a neighbouring kingdom to entwine the nations. The princess was no fool; in order to separate her and Peter, her parents were going to marry her off to a royal stranger.

She pushed the thoughts aside as she travelled into the night, the maps that she had memorised swirling around in her mind as she headed into the one place nobody wanted to go – Avalon.

In all the books she'd read, the princess had pieced together that Avalon was one of the only cross-realm places that still existed in the universe, accessible from Albion and the Enchanted Forest. There, in a shack built into the side of a cliff, she would find the master of magic.

Merlin.

It was after passing several dark and some abandoned farmlands that she came to a lake. Allowing her horse to rest, she swung onto the dark sand, watching the moonlight shine eerily over the lake. Walking slowly along the wet sand, she headed towards the cliff face looming menacingly in the distance. The princess knew that this trip was a long shot; Merlin had ceased to be of much help to anyone since the fall of Camelot. It was said that his love Nimue had banished him to this place and that was why he was bitter.

That view of him was all the Princess had to go by as she found a small rock door, carved into the rock face. Tying her horse to some of the jutting rocks, she called out to the darkness. Above the door, in the language of old magic, were the runes of his name. Beneath it, in a language more familiar to her, were the words, 'Danger. Keep Out unless you want to be a toad'.

Moments later the door slid sideways as though of its own accord. The princess was wary, but not scared, after all his magic was the reason she had come here. But the room beyond had been plunged into darkness. She called out, "Mage Merlin? I have come with a request. Please if you're here…I can pay you."

The lights flicked on with a small click. Mere metres away, a young man stood with a pan flute in his open palm. His old eyes shone with a spark at the mention of money

"Thank you very much Your Highness," he began with a smile. "Money is a language everyone understands."

"You…you are Merlin?" The young woman seemed put off by the youthful nature of the boy. He could be no older than twenty and five. Certainly not the all powerful mage she was looking for.

"If I was an all powerful mage," he replied, sinking into a soft chair, clearly having just read the thoughts passing through her mind, "don't you think I could just appear any way I want to?"

"I've heard of such magics," the princess answered. "I simply was not expecting – "

"That I would be so ruggedly handsome," Merlin replied jokingly.

"Well – I –" The princess was flustered. Nobody had ever spoken to her so openly about such things. Merlin however laughed it off.

"You've already got your man," he smiled, holding out the flute to her. "I believe this is what you came for. I prepared it earlier today; it should do what you need."

"It will play only for me?" the princess confirmed.

"It will play for those who have lost their hearts," he rectified. Joy lit up the princess' face. At that moment, Merlin's words meant all that she wanted them to mean. And now, only Peter and her would hear his music.

Present Day

Pan avoided her for the entirety of the next day.

Instead, she found herself meeting other lost boys, ones that she hadn't spoken to before. Felix of course, came in the morning with a plate of berries and some water. He seemed to be the only person who wasn't intent on letting her starve to death. He gave her a once over with observational eyes before seeming content with the fact that he didn't have to heal anything of Pan's doing today.

He held out his hands for her wrists which had begun to chaff in her sleep and healed them with a light glow of blue magic.

"How did you learn that?" Indigo asked softly.

"Pan taught me," he lied without thinking, standing up and walking out of the room suddenly. It didn't seem strange that he should walk out on her, but it did pique Indigo's interest. Felix was the one lost boy whose past remained a mystery. She had learnt of some of the others in preparation for this mission, but Felix was an enigma. No records existed of him beyond eye-witness accounts; and they weren't the pleasant side of him that Indigo had seen.

Over the course of the day, various lost boys entered the tent. At first it was an older boy, like Felix, who came to take away Indigo's empty plate. She thanked him but he ignored her, his brilliant blue eyes not making eye contact. He was newer than some of the others. She was told by two boys who came in later that his name was Andrew. These two were younger, talkative and certainly less malicious than the older boys. To them, being lost meant adventures across Neverland. Using weapons meant that they were soldiers.

These boys would be the easier ones. Their names were Hayden and Will. Their tongues weren't accustomed to the idea of keeping secrets because they weren't used to having restrictions. But unlike Andrew, these boys were lost in Neverland's wonder. Perhaps, once upon a time, they had felt that distance from their loved ones, but they had found Neverland. These were the boys who never thought to look back. Maybe they just needed a window.

Indigo joked with them, chatting about life on the island until a two note bird call came from outside. As though possessed, they suddenly fell into silence, their ears listening intently for something that Indigo couldn't hear. Their eyes flashed and they ran, without goodbyes, out into the camp. The sound of clattering metal alerted her to fact that this was a hunt, and those boys were called to the hunting party.

There were two others who came by whilst the hunting party trekked across the island. Felix assigned a boy named Lainor to watch Indigo carefully so that she could not escape. She tried explaining about Pan's enchanted chains, but Lainor held no interest in any words she spoke. Instead, he spent the entire hour carving into a piece of wood from outside her tent. By the end of it, she was sure that her study of his technique meant that she might be able to do something half decent one day. She was surprised though, that when his place was taken over by another, he left the piece of wood on the floor by the door. Crawling as far as the chains would allow, Indigo stared at it curiously. He hadn't carved her face exactly, but everything that surrounded her. The swirling mass of chains wrapped around a tall, tall tree. She was in awe of his workmanship, but thought that he was an interesting guy, wondering why he chose to not speak to her.

The feet that came in next pushed the plaque aside gently, placing two bowls, of water and of roots, in front of her. Her face was impossible to hide when she saw the plant roots, and the boy laughed when he saw it.

"Don't worry," he said. "I never liked them either."

"You are?" Indigo asked.

"Meron," he replied without qualms, sitting down in front of her easily. Indigo watched the boy, so at ease with her sitting there in chains and kept her wondering to herself.

"Meron means warrior," Indigo said without thinking.

The boy didn't fear to speak, "Really? I did not know that. That's pretty cool!"

"I'm sorry about Lainor," he continued as he jerked his head towards the entrance where Lainor had just left. "He's a little uncomfortable around people. He hasn't spoken since he came here. We're not too sure if he ever did."

"Not to seem rude or anything," Indigo started. "But you're the one who seems easiest around me, at least amongst the older boys."

"I don't know about that," Meron shrugged, "We're all pretty used to girls. It hasn't been that long since Wendy came."

Indigo bit her tongue that wanted to reveal it had been almost fifteen years since Wendy had been to Neverland.

"That's why Lainor did this for you, you know," he continued, pulling the plaque over to her. "We liked Wendy. It was a shame when the shadow took her home because she, well, wasn't a boy. She told the best stories. We all sat around the fire and there was no dancing that night, instead we were lost in the worlds that she described."

The wheels were turning in Indigo's mind. Perhaps Wendy was the key after all. She hadn't tried to make them found, but reduce the connection they had with Pan by losing them to something else – to imagination. That still held something over the lost boys; there was a reason why they were intrigued by her.

But as the boys returned from their hunt, victorious, Meron said farewell. Later that night, the party started earlier because of the early hunt. And because of that, five lost boys made their way from the party, to Indigo's tent. Her face lit up when she saw them. They sat around her in a circle. They knew that Pan hadn't explicitly ordered them not to be here, but it wasn't the safest of ideas. Still they were here. And she knew what they wanted.

She told them there, the story of a princess named Snow White, fleeing for her life from an Evil Queen.

Indigo was careful though. Every so often she would throw in allusion to the idea that only love would save Snow White when she found Prince Charming. She painted the Evil Queen with a heart so they would know she wasn't truly evil…

Not like the boy whose eyes were staring her down from the tent doorway. He eyed her with pure venom. He didn't remove her from his sight as he said to the five boys, "Meron, Will, Hayden, Lainor, Andrew – I will deal with you tomorrow."

They stood up sullenly. None ran – because to run was to show fear of Pan – and the boys were to be without fear. That wasn't Indigo's mantra, but she followed it anyway. Pan clicked his fingers and she felt her chains fall away. Thinking it was some trickery, she stayed exactly where she was, looking up at the boy questioningly.

"Get up," he ordered. She was surprised when she realised that a momentary delay caused Pan to use his magic, moving her body like he was a puppeteer. A second later, he was manoeuvring his hands with a magical glow and ropes flew around Indigo's wrists.

"Where are you taking me?" Indigo finally asked, adamant that her feet would not move until she told them to.

"You can't be trusted around the lost boys," Pan stated, beckoning her out of the tent. She followed, eager for a chance at freedom. But Pan merely took her around the side of the tent and offered her a ladder – to a treehouse.

"What makes you think I won't just jump," she suggested.

"Do you honestly believe I'd go to all this trouble if I wanted you dead just yet?" His hands glowed with the magic that told her he was prepared to save her life until he took it.

The climb was difficult with handcuffs, but the ladder was built almost like steps that led to a house overlooking the others around the campsite. It was a large room, built by many she assumed. There were bookshelves and a desk, a chest of weapons open at the foot of a bed, windows that gave a fantastic view of the sea – and the exact same chains from her tent were now attached to Pan's wall.

He was quick about putting her back in them. He gave away no expressions though, and Indigo gave a small smirk that he didn't see. She liked the idea that she'd made him angry.

So as he put up a shield around the room to stop her from escaping the tree house, she smiled. And when he pulled out his flute, to lull the lost boys to sleep, she fell into a deep slumber with them, knowing that tomorrow she would have to find herself a way out of these chains.