A/N: Hehe, so yeah, this seems to be happening alot.

Another past chapter.

But, excitement, Evie meets Pan again next chapter!

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Enjoy! xx

Prince Francis

xxx

Four Years Ago

"Gold, clothing, and Prince Francis has been disposed of."

"Francis?" Felix was looking at Pan, horrified, as the boy handed over a bag of gold and clothing. "You expect me to masquerade for two years with the name Francis?!"

"What's wrong with Francis?" Pan was staring him down.

"Nothing, nothing…" Felix trailed off.

"It's not going to be two years anyway. The point is to get her family to turn on her," Pan said. "Make her feel alone, so that she'll simply come running back to me."

"I honestly don't understand why this is necessary Pan. Isn't she already coming to you every night?"

"Not in the way that I'd like," Pan answered, raising his eyebrow at Felix. "Which reminds me. You will have to get close to her for this, make others think that you are actually courting her, but never make her believe it. You may need to touch her, kiss her, but I swear, if one word gets back to me that you are enjoying it, I will flay your skin from your flesh and carve your flesh from your bone. With a blunt knife."

"Understood, Pan," Felix said, the mental image sending a shiver of fear through him.

"So. I want monthly reports back to me. I've already told her that I might not see her for a while because I have to prepare the island for Winter or some stupid shit like that, and she was sad, but, she'll be okay. After all, absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Felix nodded before Pan pulled the necklace from around his neck, the star on the end of it glittering beautifully.

"You're trapping yourself if you give me this, Pan," Felix commented.

"Only for the time being," Pan answered Felix. "I expect to see you in a month with word of my…beloved."

"Of course," Felix said with a nod, before taking the star and disappearing from Pan's sight.

xxx

A week later, Emma and Snow were standing impatiently in Evie's room as they waited for her to come out from behind her dressing screen.

"Evie! You're going to have to come out sometime soon!"

"Not if I don't want to!"

"I will come in there and drag you out myself," Emma warned, her footsteps approaching Evie who finally cried out, "Fine!"

She stepped out from behind the screen, her face holding the utmost contempt for what she was doing, but both Emma and Snow's faces lit up when they saw her. Her hair was falling in brown curls past her shoulders, the dress she had chosen, a pale lavender that draped ethereally to the floor, gave the illusion of a mythical being standing in front of Snow and Emma.

"No Prince will be able to keep their eyes off you, Evie!" Snow commented with a wide smile before Evie turned around. And looking at herself, she couldn't help the tears that began to fall from her eyes. If only Pan had been here…to see her like this…

"Evie…"

"Let me, mother," Emma said to Snow, who reluctantly left the room. Approaching Evie gently, Emma asked softly, "Is this about, you know…him?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Emma." Evie said, walking away from Emma to go and find her shoes. "It was necessary for him to go and fix some things in Neverland for a few months. And I know I only knew him for a week but I still miss him. I don't even know when I'll see him again."

"Hey, Evie," Emma walked over to her in concern, pulling her into her arms in a warm hug. "You know that you've got us, right?"

"Of course. It's just," Evie sighed into Emma's shoulder, "He was different."

"Maybe you'll find someone just as different tonight."

Evie seriously doubted it.

But still, she made her entrance and watched every man between the ages of sixteen and twenty widen their eyes in awe. Glancing around, she recognised many of their faces, but some were still unknown to her. She knew her duty tonight. Dance. With every single one of them.

She grew more and more tired with each passing suitor. Each man had the same jokes, the same passing comments about her dress, her unwavering beauty. Until she came face to face with Prince Francis.

He was the least pompous man that she had spoken to all night. His hair was a little less tamed than many of those surrounding him and he had an air about him that said, whilst he respected himself, he wasn't trying to woo her.

It was refreshing.

He didn't try and shower her with fancy compliments or boasting, instead, he took her hand, placed his on her waist and brought them into the waltz with ease – silently.

Eventually, Evie grew tired of his silence and said, "May I ask with whom I'm dancing?"

"Francis, Your Grace," the Prince, who Evie didn't know was merely Felix in disguise, said politely. She'd never met Pan's right hand man before.

'This one,' Emma mouthed across the room at Killian. He cocked his head at her curiously, not fully understanding her. He beckoned her towards his corner and she excused herself from the men around her who were just as keen to court her as they were to court Evie, even if Emma had about ten more years until she would consider marriage.

"Master Jones!" Emma mocked offense as she reached him, "Pulling a Princess into the shadows. My my, good form just went out the window."

"You think Francis is the one?"

"Prince Francis," Emma corrected, glancing over at the conversation ongoing between the Prince and Evie. Whatever he was saying just made her laugh. "And yes. I mean, look at them, I saw her smile! I may not even have to teach him your charm."

She used to smile at me, Killian thought to himself, but he put it away in the back of his mind. This wasn't about him. This was all about Evie.

xxx

Prince Francis was offered to stay in the castle after that night, not that Evie minded. It was nice to have a friend around after Pan stopped seeing her. She was distracted and it was nice. He was nice. Weeks passed in which Evie grew to like Francis, and those weeks turned into months. Between the two of them, they were never more than friends.

Except when they were in public. Evie could swear she had seen Snow have a fit the first time he reached out and took her hand whilst they were walking through the garden.

The first time he had kissed her knuckles, the Queen nearly fainted.

But at night she still dreamt of Pan.

In the end, she knew she needed a break from both of them, from the aching for Pan that she felt in her being, and the growing fear of who Francis would inevitably be to her. And she went to go and visit Starry one evening at the end of the third month Francis had been living in the castle.

She wasn't expecting to find Killian there.

They weren't on the best of terms. He'd shown support for the courtship of Francis from day one, along with Emma, which seemed fairly co-conspiratorial to Evie. And as such, their friendship had been strained. That being said, Evie needed comfort in that moment, and she wasn't afraid to admit it.

"Why are you always here when I need you," she asked in astonishment as he rounded the corner, leading Sir Pellinore's horse into the stable and handing the reigns over the stable boy.

"You know how much I love having women needing me," Killian answered with that tone that seemed oh so common nowadays, "Who would I be to deny them my presence?"

"Cut the charm, Killian," she said, dropping her hand from Starry's neck and walking over to him. She meant to hug him, but the months that stood between them stopped her. And he noticed.

"I'm still me, Princess," he grinned, but there was something hiding behind his eyes that said he wasn't telling the whole truth. And without even touching him, Evie could tell he was bursting with news, and no matter what stood between them, that news wouldn't be anywhere near good.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing –"

"I'm still me, Killian Jones," Evie snarked back.

He seemed to ponder those words for a moment before sighing, looking down at his feet and murmuring.

"My papers came back from King David this morning. The fleet leaves tomorrow."

Evie's face turned from confusion to shock to horror in the space on a few seconds as she watched Killian stand there in anticipation. He knew she was going to rage, but he couldn't do anything else. He had to be more than what he was – he couldn't be a squire for the rest of his life…

"Why would you do that, Killian?" Her voice was barely audible as she whispered to him, tears beginning to shine in her eyes.

"Evie, I – "

"No!" Evie yelled, poking her finger into his chest as she pushed him backwards angrily. "My parents died upon the sea! And you think it's just okay to shove this in their faces like that? To taunt me like this?"

"Not everything's about you, Evie!"

Wasn't it though? Aren't you just trying to prove that you can further your status Killian, just so you can get the girl? He pushed the thoughts out of his head. No, he was doing it for himself…

"I can't lose you too!"

That shut Killian's thoughts up. And his mouth fell open in shock. He didn't even think she cared anymore. As long as she was safe, he'd told himself he didn't mind at all.

But without a second thought, Evie ran across the hay strewn ground before throwing her arms around his waist, and clinging to him as though that would keep him there. As though by mere force, she could keep him there. Glancing up at him, she saw that he was staring down at her, torn. His hands that rested on her shoulders began to move, one tracing a line down her side to her waist and the other, tilting her head upwards as he lowered his lips to hers.

And the minute they touched, it was like Killian had been waiting much too long. He hungered for her, for far more than a simple connection of their lips. And Evie felt it, pulling him in by his waist until their bodies were flush together, pulling and tugging at the warmth of his lips before tracing them with her tongue, slipping it into his mouth.

His hand gripped her waist tighter, fighting her tongue with a hint of passionate anger. And of course he was angry with her. She'd left him hanging that first time when they were supposed to do this. It was almost revenge.

His shirt was bunching in handfuls where Evie was grasping it. Her kiss was becoming more forceful, her neat tugs harsher and more fierce, almost biting at Killian's lip. And he was drifting, his lips following paths along the tanned contours of her face; along her jaw, down her neck. He groaned when her body arched into his instinctively and she moaned when he began to suck on the skin just above her collar.

And just like that, she seized up. Letting go of Killian, she disentangled their limbs and stepped back, both of them breathing heavily.

"Where'd you learn how to kiss like that?"

Killian half expected her to deny it. To say that she hadn't been kissed. But they both knew that after that intense make out session, he was far from her first kiss. Perhaps her and Francis…

"Killian…"

"It was Francis."

"No!" There was no lie in her eyes as they widened in shock, the thought so very far from her mind.

Killian thought for a moment before thinking back over the past few months. Her happiness wasn't entirely faked, but it wasn't the kind that she'd felt at the beginning of the year. Here she was, courted by a Prince but still pining after her first kiss.

With Pan.

"It was him wasn't it," he murmured, looking away from her. "That night before your birthday; you found Pan."

Evie breathed in deep before nodding slowly, "I did."

"And do you love him?"

"I don't know, I think I did...I might..."

But that was enough for Killian to nod in defeat, and turn from her room, walking away without a single word. And by the time he came back to apologise, he was much too late.