Finally getting back to this. I'm going to try to update more, but this fic will be a bit slower on the updates than others because I'm trying very hard to incorporate parts from the actual J.M. Barrie works. This chapter is short and only contains a little bit of reference to the original story, but I hope you enjoy it!
Henry quickly wiped the tears from his face with a brutal force as his soft hands swatted at his cheeks. "Who are you?" he said with suspicion echoing in his voice.
She offered him a sad smile. "I'm Wendy Darling," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. She dropped into a graceful curtsy. She gazed at the brown haired boy in front of her. "What your name?"
Henry shifted uncomfortably under the stare of her wide eyes. The blue depths expressed a hopeful kindness, but were worn down by the seriousness found there. When she curtseyed, he felt compelled to bow back to her, but instead he gathered himself and pushed up from his knees to his feet and stood straight. He backed away from her and cast his eyes down. "I'm Henry Mills," he murmured. "Why are all of them here?" he asked, nodding his head towards the rest of the children.
"Those are some of the lost boys. Or at least they were Pan's lost boys once. Now they are simply lost. They are what Pan considers to be his disappointments. They wanted to go home. They wanted to have families." She turned to look at the crowd of boys. "They wanted to grow up," her voice got even quieter. "Pan refuses to let any of us go. Not again."
"Again?" Henry asked curiously. He took a step closer to her, but when she turned back to him he stepped backwards hurriedly.
"Yes. He let us all go home to London once. But then I came back to help with the spring cleaning. He didn't want me to leave. The boys became so worried when I didn't return home, so they followed me back here, to Neverland. We've been trapped here ever since." Her eyes began to grow teary, "I would never admit this to the boys, but I fear the Mother and Father are long gone. As much as I wish not to be on this cursed island any longer, I often find myself wondering what the point of escaping is. Where would we go? What would we do? We no longer have our homes or families. I'll never stop my brothers from trying to leave though. Never."
"Is that why it's really called Neverland? Because you can never leave?" Henry whispered.
"Perhaps. But it wasn't always like this." She began to walk away from him and into the center of the room. She sat down beside a young blond boy sleeping. She ran her fingers gently along his soft hair. He was barely more than a baby. Henry watched her and slowly crept closer before sitting down beside the Darling child.
Once Upon a Time is back for Season 4B tonight! I'm counting on all of you being in front of your TVs. I will be! Please review! Follow and Favorite!