I am so sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been swamped with school work. It's not as long as my other chapters but I wanted to give you all an update.
Chapter 5: The Indian Dance
Mandy told Henry the story of how she and Snow met while they were walking towards the woods. As they went further into the woods, they heard kids yelling and fighting.
"Wait, did you hear that?" He paused listening to the noise coming from a distance. "It sounds like fighting." The sounds of metal hitting metal echoed through the woods.
"Oh it's nothing, just some of the Lost Boys fighting." She said casually.
"I wanna see." He said running to where the noise was coming from. Mandy followed after him. They hid behind a tree, not wanting to be seen by the boys and interrupt the fight.
"I wanna learn how to sword fight!" He said not looking away from the scene in front of him. They watched for a few more moments when a male voice was suddenly heard from behind them.
"It's about time you two showed up!" said the voice startling Mandy and Henry, making them jump.
"Ugh Peter! I hate when you do that!" said Mandy frustrated.
"I enjoy it. I get you every time." Peter smirked. "This must be Henry." Henry nodded. "You seemed pretty intrigued by the sword fighting…do you know how to fight?"
"No, but I would love to learn." Henry said hopefully.
"I could teach you." He offered. "I taught all of the Lost Boys and Mandy."
"Oh stop lying!" hissed Mandy. "We learned together and we both taught the boys."
"You are a worthy component, I'll give you that." Peter confessed.
"Oh, well thank you for acknowledging me." She said sarcastically before walking towards the Lost Boys to tell them that is was time to settle down and get ready for the performance. Henry noticed how they listened to her without complaining. His thoughts were interrupted when Mandy began speaking. "Are you two coming?" she asked Peter and Henry.
"We'll be there in a minute." Peter said wanting to talked to Henry alone for a minute. Mandy walked away joining the Lost Boys seated on the tree stumps.
"So when do you wanna learn?" Peter asked turning his attention back to Henry.
"The sooner the better. I also want to see you and Mandy sword fight!" He said eagerly.
"I think that can be arranged." Peter replied.
They were all seated around the campfire waiting for the ritual to begin. There was silence for few seconds when all of sudden the beat of drums filled the forest with sound. They watched as the Indians came out behind the trees, surrounding the entire group. Their faces were painted and wore feathers in their hair. There weren't many people in attendance, just Mandy, Peter, Henry and the six Lost Boys. The Indians began to make noises that were strange to Henry but seemed to normal to the rest of the group. Henry noticed a young girl with a feather in her hair. She couldn't be much older than him, he thought. He assumed that was Tiger Lily, the Indian Princess. She was cute, he thought. He watched her the entire time. Some Indians began to paint the attendees faces as the rest continued dancing. After their faces were painted, Peter and the Lost Boys began to join in on the dance. They just loved dancing with the Indians, even if they had no idea what they were doing. Mandy grabbed Henry's hand and pulled him up to join the dance.
"No, Mandy!" He said resisting her pull. "I don't know how to do this type of dance." He said.
She laughed. "None of us do, except for the Indians." She said as she pulled him harder.
They all began dancing in a circle to the beating drums echoing through the forest. The Lost Boys were doing such crazy moves that Henry couldn't help but laugh and join in on their ridiculous dance style. It was the first time in his life that he felt part of a group. He really liked his new friends. Mandy snuck away so Henry wouldn't notice her whispering something to Tiger Lily. Soon after, Tiger Lily began dancing with Henry, to his delight. They all danced for a little while longer until the drums had died down.
"You're a good dancer, Henry." whispered Tiger Lily.
"Thanks, you too! I was getting the hang of it." He whispered back.
"You were!" She said smiling. "I have to go join my father and the rest of the tribe but come back anytime, I mean it!" Henry nodded and she ran off. Mandy snuck up behind Henry startling him which caused him to jump.
"Looks like you and Tiger Lily really hit it off!" She said smiling because she basically set them up.
"Yea, you could say that." He said.
The Lost Boys began singing a little song that bothered Henry. "Henry and Tiger Lily sitting in a tree. K.I.S.S.I.N.G." They kept singing it over and over again.
"Looks like Henry has a little crush" yelled Mandy over the singing. She noticed Henry's face turning red and beginning to get angry. She knew she better stop the boys from instigating him any further before things got out of hand.
"Alright boys, that's enough!" She said firmly.
"Aw, but we were having fun!" whined Slightly.
"Yea, we were just playing." Added Nibs.
"Well you upset Henry, now say you're sorry." She commanded.
"We're sorry." They said in unison. Henry nodded and forgave them. Mandy then pulled Henry to the side.
"I'm sorry. You'll have to ignore them, they like to play games. They mean no harm." Before Henry could respond, a loud voice screamed behind them.
"Miranda!" Peter screamed. Mandy turned around to see why he was shouting.
"I challenge you to a duel." He shouted from a distance while holding a sword.
Mandy let out a frustrated sigh before answering. "Not now Peter, I have to get Henry home soon."
"We got time." Henry said nonchalantly, receiving a glare from Mandy.
"Stop making excuses Miranda! Unless you're scared I'll beat you?" He shouted with a smirk on his face.
She walked a few steps closer towards Peter. "Fine, someone hand me a sword." Nibs tossed her a sword, she caught it and pointed it straight at Peter. "Bring it on!" She shouted.
Henry was so excited to see an actual sword fight. The sound of metal against metal echoed through the forest once again. The Lost Boys began taking bets on who was going to win.
"I bet Peter will win, he's a great sword fighter!" Slightly said confidently.
I'm betting on Mandy, she can take Peter!" replied Cubby.
Mandy and Peter continued fighting, giving each other minor cuts and scrapes all over their bodies. Henry was watching intensely when he heard a girl's voice from behind him.
"Are those two fighting again?" the girl asked as she walked up to stand next to Henry. She was a pretty blonde girl, not much taller than Henry. She was wearing a light green dress with flats.
"Yea. Peter challenged her to a duel." He said looking up at this unfamiliar girl.
"They just love fighting with each other. They belong together!" She said watching the scene in front of them. "I'm Tinker bell by the way, but you can call me Tink. You must be Henry." He nodded.
"I thought you couldn't talk?" He asked confused.
"Well the curse changed a lot of things. I could always talk, it's just that not many humans understand what I'm saying." She said flatly.
"But we can understand the Blue Fairy just fine." He said still confused.
"There are different kinds of fairies. I'm a Pixie, it's like a sub-category under fairies." She said happily.
"I see. So do you have fairy dust then and can you do magic?" He asked eagerly.
"No, I have Pixie dust. They are two different forms of magic. Pixie dust is for flying purposes only. I don't have any at the moment." As soon as she finished talking, a loud noise made them turn to the commotion that was going on in front of them. Mandy had Peter pinned to the ground and the Lost Boys began cheering.
"Give up" Mandy asked Peter with a smirk on her face.
He smiled back. "Never!" He flipped Mandy so that he now had her pinned to the ground. Her sword slipped out of her hands and was now out of reach. "Looks like the tables have turned." He said grinning at her.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that." She said causing him to give her a confused look. She managed to get her hands free and push him off of her. She ran to get her sword giving Peter enough time to get to his feet, ready to continue the fight.
"That was a close one." Henry said finally breathing.
"It usually is with these two. You should've seen them in action when they had to fight Hook and his crew back in Neverland." She exclaimed.
"It sounds like they have a lot of adventures together." He mumbled.
"More than you know." She replied.
"Earlier, you said they belong together. I thought Peter was with Wendy?" He asked curiously. Tink turned to face Henry and gave him a very stern look.
"Do not mention Wendy ever again." She said seriously.
"Why, what happened?" He asked wanting know.
"It's not my place to tell you but if you know what's good for you, you won't bring up 'The Wendy Topic', especially around Mandy. Understood?" She replied.
"Yea, I guess." He said not really wanting to agree. "Just tell me if Mandy killed her." He pleaded.
"She came very close, but Wendy and her brothers were safely returned to their home in London." She said, not wanting give too much information to a boy she had only known for a few minutes.
"Thank goodness she didn't kill anyone." He said relieved. "This time…" Tink added.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked.
"I don't know all of the details. She left Neverland when she discovered her powers. She wanted to get a handle on them so she didn't hurt anyone. She went back to the Enchanted Forest and met a man by the name of Rumplestiltskin, who was supposed to help her. She didn't like his methods so she returned, but by that time Wendy and her brothers were here. A huge fight broke out and she went back to Rumplestiltskin." She said trying to sum up the story.
"Tell me she didn't learn magic from him!" He begged.
"I'm afraid she did. She was forever a changed person after that. I tried to convince her to come back to Neverland, to no avail." She said sadly.
Henry was too shocked to listen to what Tinker bell had to say anymore. He didn't know if Mandy could turn out to be like Regina. He needed to know more about this girl and fast. He knew she had magic but he didn't think it was dark. He wasn't scared of Mandy, he had a feeling she wouldn't hurt him but he was still very curious about her past.
Peter had Mandy pinned to a tree when her quick thinking came into play. She kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to land on his back and knocking the wind out of him.
"Any last words Pan?" She asked holding the tip of the sword to his throat.
"Okay, okay. You win!" He chocked out. "This time." Mandy softened her stern look and flashed him a victorious smile.
"That's what I thought!" She said as she reached out her hand to help him up.
"I told you Mandy would win!" Cubby said to the other Lost Boys.
"I'm just glad you're on my side." Peter said, giving Mandy a smile.
She smiled back. "Always!" They walked over to where Henry and Tink were standing.
"So what did you think?" He asked Henry.
"I thought it was really cool and I can't wait to learn. You're both really good." He replied.
Mandy checked her phone and realized what time it was. "Henry, it's already 10:20pm and it takes 20 minutes to get to Snow's apartment, but only if we run! We gotta go now!" Henry agreed and they both began running.
"Come back soon, Henry!" Peter shouted after them.
"I will, it was nice meeting the two of you!" He screamed over his shoulder before attempting to catch up to Mandy.
They ran all the way to Snow's apartment. Henry opened the door and walked in, followed by Mandy. Both of them were trying to catch their breaths when Snow came down the stairs.
"You're late, again!" Snow said disappointed. Before Henry could say anything, Mandy began speaking.
"I'm sorry Snow, it's my fault. I was sword fighting and lost track of time. Don't blame Henry." She pleaded, hoping Snow would understand.
"Who and why were you fighting? Are you okay?" She asked with a concerned look on her face.
"Oh, it's nothing. My friend challenged me to a duel and he knew I couldn't refuse. It was just for fun." She said shrugging off her injuries. "Again, I'm so sorry he's late." She repeated.
"We ran as fast as we could." Henry added.
"Okay, okay. You're forgiven, but let's not make a habit of this!" She said. Both kids nodded in agreement. "Great, would you like something to drink? You both looked parched." She asked.
"No thanks, I gotta get back. I'll c ya later Henry." She replied walking towards the door.
"I have to talk to you about something. Can we meet somewhere?" He asked.
"Sure! Our spot, same time?"
"I'll be there!" Mandy said before shutting the door behind her.
"You two have a spot now?" She asked with an amused look on her face.
"It's nothing like that…ugh never mind. I'm going to bed." He marched up the stairs mumbling under his breath. "Stupid-people-think-have-a-crush-on-her" Snow just laughed.
Again, I am so sorry I haven't updated in a while! Let me know what you think of this chapter! I'm going to Italy for a week so I won't be updating for a little while longer but I already know what the next chapter is about. Spoiler: A lot more of Emma and Gold's search, The Wendy Topic, and a few flashbacks!