AN: Tiny, tiny chapter but very plot heavy. And the return of Nealfire! Yayyy! Tell me what you think, any criticisms or comments you have! Happy reading!

~Luna

Ch 13: Baelfire

"How much longer?"

"Until Hook gives the signal."

"Can't we just kidnap him?"

"Peter said to wait."

"You sound like you're in love with him."

"Am- shut up!"

"Both of you shut up!"

I was about to hit Rufio on the arm when Felix interjected. Rufio was being annoying with all his questions and I did not like being on a boat. Especially when that boat was tied to another, bigger boat that could tear our tiny thing apart. They had insisted on using a boat instead of flying. And now they were arguing and practically tipping the boat, Felix trying to keep a hand over the other's mouth to prevent him from talking. I hated these two, but they were also some of my best friends.

I rolled my eyes at both of them. "Men."

"It's a girl day today?" Rufio asked, pulling Felix's fingers off his face.

"Shut it!" Felix hissed and the two of us burst into giggles.

Rufio laughed. "Hard-ass." As silly as the guy was, I genuinely liked him. He brought a lightness to the Lost Boys, something we all desperately needed.

We sat for a while longer in the darkness, the night air being even colder than it was when we set off. Peter hadn't changed the sky in a few days and it worried me. Usually a prolonged night meant that the shadow was plotting and using Peter to enact those plots. I worried for him, even though I knew he had unimaginable powers that could even defeat the shadow if he willed it.

"... Killing your father," I heard Hook snarl the signal, and immediately scrambled to scale the top of the boat.

Felix got up there first with the Rufio and I climbing up after. I assume we looked ominous and foreboding, which was kind of the point. Hoods up, faces down, no talking. Those were the rules for that little excursion. The two of us set to work on grabbing onto Baelfire and bringing him down to the boat. Felix stood on the railing, club resting on one shoulder. He was surveying the whole scene, and I sneaked a glance at his face. Complete composure. It scared me a little bit, that we could transition from regular teenagers to being cold and calculated, running as if we shared a brain. But it helped the mission and that's all that mattered.

Hook and Baelfire were having a little heart to heart. I personally couldn't see any resemblance between Hook and Rumple, or the Crocodile, as we now called him. But that was a family matter and I had better things to do like putting the kid into our boat. He put up a little bit of a fight, but nothing we couldn't handle.

Hook said something to Felix but I didn't catch what. After a while my brother joined us on the rowboat as Hook stared down at us. I threw a sack over the kid's head and checked the bindings on his hands once more. Being related to both Peter and Rumple, I didn't trust this kid not to try to escape. Surprisingly, he didn't. I untied the ropes connecting the two boats and we began to drift back to the island, the paddles making soft splashes in the water. As a second thought, I turned to look at the Jolly Roger, which was becoming smaller and smaller as the island grew larger.

• • •

The trio landed on the beach, Nibs hopping out first to pull the boat ashore. Felix saw them struggle, but only for a moment until the boat reached the fine sand. He unceremoniously dumped Baelfire next to the signal fire, which had been set up by Devin once they left. The same Lost Boy was now hiding behind some boulders, waiting to escort their newest special case to camp. Felix pulled the soon to he Lost Boy up, ripping off the bag. Scare the kid, toss him around a little had been Pan's orders. And Felix intended to follow those to the letter. But first, they had to check.

"Is it the boy? The one he wants?" Felix asked impatiently. He secretly hoped it was so that there wouldn't have to be anymore midnight excursions to the Jolly Roger.

Rufio checked the scroll. "No it's not."

Goddammit. As a second thought, he remembered the threatening bit. "It's your lucky day boy, you get to live." He pushed the boy towards the boulders, where he saw a flash of Devin's hands snap out to grab him. "Put him with the others."

Nibs threw off their hood as soon as the kid disappeared from sight. "That was... Interesting. Bang up job, Felix, you terrified the kid." They looked off towards the boulders. "I'm gonna make sure Devin hasn't slaughtered the kid yet." They ran off, smiling.

Rufio raised an eyebrow, but handed the scroll to Felix. "Do they know?"

"About Pan?" Felix asked. "They don't know anything about the plan. Won't, until Pan says it's alright for them to know."

Rufio just nodded. He had grown close to Nibs, all of them had. No one felt good about lying to them, but if Pan ordered it, that's what had to happen. They didn't even know about the appearance of Skull Rock.

Felix looked at the scroll again. "What they don't know can't hurt them."

• • •

I followed Devin to a trail in the jungle, grabbing Baelfire's arm Devin drew his knife on me, but instantly relaxed when he figured out that I was not here to steal the kid. After Devin was sure about my hold on the kid, he ran off towards camp. I yanked the hood off of Baelfire's head, which had been replaced after Felix's little tirade

He looked a little terrified, before staring at me. "What? Nibs? You helped Wendy escape, right?"

I nodded "Not exactly, but I'm here to help you. You're going to be just fine."