Peter slid in through his bedroom window, startling his man servant Tobias, who was tidying up the room.

"Goodness your highness you startled me!!" 

"Sorry." Peter tossed over his shoulder, walking towards Tobias.

"Where are you getting back from sir? If you don't mind my asking."

"Oh, I just went out to the village, to say hello to the peasants before the festival." Peter replied as Tobias folded his festive clothing, laying it on a prominent shelf.

"I see... alone sir?" Tobias smirked knowingly.
Peter ducked his head and studied his feet intently.

"Ah. You were with your princess~"

Peter's cheeks colored.
"You are a terrible gossip." he reprimanded.

Tobias arched a grey brow "Ah, But is it really gossip if it's true?"

Peter huffed snatching his fine clothes, before rushing into the bathroom.
The steaming water was already awaiting him. Green and fresh and bubbling.

Tobias sat down outside the door as Peter shut it.

"So did you have a nice time with the girl sir?"

There was a sloshing noise as Peter lowered himself into the warm water.
"Pleasant enough I suppose." Peter sighed, remembering how the wind played with Wendy's hair.

There was a pause.

"You really love her don't you?"

"Love is for children." Peter snapped.

There was a long silence before Tobias replied rather awkwardly.
"Right, Will that be all sir?"
"Yes, thank you. "
Tobias took his leave of the room, startled when he opened the door and saw who was in the way.

"Hello Toby." Peters shadow tilted its head at Gerald.
Tobias sneered flattening himself against one side of the door frame, as the shadow slipped by him.
"Sir." Tobias clipped. "your lesser half is here."
The shadow snapped his teeth at Tobias threateningly.
Tobias blanched and rushed out of the room slamming the door behind him.
"Are you descent peter?" Shadow asked with a glance at the bathroom door.
"Morally or physically ?"
The shadow snorted and flopped down on Peter's bed.

"Where were you? I've been searching for you all over the palace." He asked, studying his black hands intently.

"I was out." Peter replied shortly. 

"With the girl?" The shadow snarled.

Peter sighed, "She has a name you know."

"Wendy." Shadow spat. 

"I told her I love her." Peter's voice was hardly audible, muffled by the door.

Shadow sat up bolt upright.

"You WHAT?!"

"I know. It shocked me too."
Peter exited the bathroom clad in his outfit for Beltane. His loose white shirt complemented his tanned skin. And his pants were a dark earthy brown.
He toweled off his hair, and walked over to a vanity sitting down at its chair.

Shadow paused for a moment.
"What was her reply?" Shadow bit back his panic.
Peter paused and frowned, as he smeared ceremonial brown paint up his cheekbone.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Shadow let out a sigh of relief.
He stalked over to help Peter get his vest on.

"She doesn't feel the same way?"

Peter glared darkly at his reflection.
"It's that damned Finn boy."

"You should kill him." Shadow replied lightly, brushing invisible dust off Peter's vested shoulder.

"That's not a half bad idea." Peter replied, staring intently into the mirror.

"I mean. It'd certainly fix that problem... Right?! You can't love somebody who's not there!!" 

A relieved grin spread across Peters face, as he donned his ceremonial sword.

"You're brilliant!" Peter exclaimed, pulling his surprised shadow into a hug. 
"I have my moments." Shadow's voice was muffled by Peter's shoulder. 

"See you at the party then?" Peter smiled, bouncing on his heels.

"Yeah, I'll join you in a bit I just need to fix my hair."

Peter chuckled looking at the mess on shadows head. "Good luck!" 

Shadow shut the door behind Peter, and grinned an inky black smile.

With Peters innocence bordering on ignorance he was so easy to manipulate.

And by making such a big mistake as killing her love. Peter would not be on Wendy's love list.

And if Peter never experienced true love. His shadow could keep existing.

Because true love is the only thing able to fix something that broken.

As broken as a
splintered soul.

~-~

(Wendy's POV)

I was pulled out of the balcony and into my room, by many pairs of hands.

Her ladies maids had arrived.

"Hello my name is Allfie and this is Clove!!" The tiny brunette woman who spoke smiled up at me, her close cropped hair curled around her pointed ears.

The equally tiny blonde waved at me shyly.

"Hello." I smiled awkwardly.
"Oh, you are already so lovely, this should be easy." The brunette bubbled.
"I'm thinking orange." Allfie spoke to Clove.
Clove nodded rapidly, "Yes... pastel orange OH and Lilies!"
"Brilliant!" Allfie exclaimed.
"Neckline?" Clove asked, tapping her wand to her lower lip.

"Off the shoulders." Allfie directed.

Clove whirled her wand, and out of a swirl of green magic a large silken orange cloth materialized, and draped itself over me.

Allfie smiled, and then furrowed her brow in thought. "The skirt should be long, and with her hour glass shape she'd look lovely with a fitted bodice, perhaps a corset?"

"Yes to the corset, and how about an a-line skirt with a train?" Clove shot back.

"Perfect. How about her hair?"

"I picture it half up half down... but it needs some sort of decoration."

"Butterflies!!" Allfie exclaimed, gesturing to my head

"Aye good idea." Clove nodded.

Allfie looked over at Clove, brandishing her wand, "What color?"
"Orange of course. It must match the dress." Clove replied.
"So monarchs then?"
Clove nodded.
"How fitting." I interjected.

The ladies paused for a moment before breaking down into laughter.

As they spoke the dress started to materialize around me. The glowing green magic lacing fabric together.

I wiped tears from my eyes and went to stretch my arms.

"Do stand still dear. We don't want the fabric to fuse to your body." Allfie frowned. 

"What?!" I exclaimed. 
"Just kidding!!!" Allfie exclaimed.
The women tittered. And I felt obliged to let out a relieved chuckle.

"There that's perfect." Clove exclaimed.

Allfie nodded, "Now that we have the general shape of the dress, you're free to have your bath. We can add the finishing touches on the mannequin."

I sighed, as I took in the dirt under my nails.

"I suppose I do need it." I muttered.

The women gestured to the door that I had noticed before.

"Right through there ma'am." Allfie smiled.

The lavender scented steam hit me like a wall as I entered the bathroom.

"You know, you aren't what I expected for a human." Clove spoke softly leaning against the bathroom door frame.

"Thanks?"

"I mean that in a good way." She smiled, and opened her mouth to say more, but Allfie's voice cut her off.

"Come on Clove! We have other things to do today."

"Bye!" Clove exclaimed rushing off.

"Bye." I replied, closing and locking the door behind me.

The lavender scented water sloshed around my legs as I got into the tub.

Once you got over the eerie green color, the bath was quite relaxing, and as I slid under the water, drowning out the noise of the castle around me. I realized, that this was the first truly serene moment for three days. 

After a good scrub, I was feeling much more like myself. I had even noticed that the water had healed my raw feet!

I wrapped myself in a towel, and poked my head out the door.

The dress was on the mannequin, just as the maids said it would be. I quickly pulled the orange silk over my head, and after about ten minutes of struggling with the corset laces I decided to search out some help.

My bare feet made slapping noises on the marble floor, as I wandered aimlessly down the hallway.

Finally voices drew me to what looked like a Library.

"The boy deserves to know. He's going to be our king!" A familiar voice yelled, from the other side of a massive bookcase.

"Be quiet, somebody might hear you." The queen reprimanded gently.

Alimond let out a heavy sigh. "My love I'm dying, this is my only wish."

"We don't know how he would react... It could be catastrophic for our kingdom."

"...But he's our son."

"If he knew what we had done. That we had stolen him... Well, Peter's unstable as is."

I flattened myself against the bookcase.

"And who's fault is that?"

"Please, don't."

"That shadow, that failed playmate. The instigator of most of Peter's problems. The scorn of our kingdom. It was your fault."

"Alimond!"

"It's true. You know it's true."

The queen sighed heavily.

"And to top it all off he wants the throne."

"How can you possibly know that?" She exclaimed.

"I just do. Call it intuition. We should have taken care of it a long time ago."

"Why do you think I encouraged Peter to go find his true love?! You know as well as I that True love conquers all. I just wish she wasn't human. They're so breakable."

"I can only hope that she feels the same way our son does."

"Give it time." The queen replied.

The King sighed and shifted in his chair. "You should go prepare for the party."

"Aye."

I rushed out of the room, and down a hall, nearly colliding with Clover.

She grinned, "Oh, there you are! Need some help with the laces?"

I nodded as she led me back to my room.

"You did a beautiful job by the way. I adore this gown." I smiled.

~-~

Finn's eyes fluttered open as he regained consciousness.

The doctor was hovering over him with a concerned look on his face.

"He's coming around." The doctor announced.

It was then that Finn noticed the man with the Tricorn hat, he was standing near the edge of the ship. He wasn't sure why the man would be throwing such a large fish back into the ocean.

A shiver moved up Finn's spine, and he turned his eyes to the Doctor.

"Glad to see you open your eyes boy. What were you thinking going near the lagoon like that?"

The hatted man sighed. "Give the boy a break Doc, weaker men have been lured to their death by the Sirens."

Finn opened his mouth to talk but what came out was a waterlogged cough.

A warm hand touched his forehead and Finn struggled to find it's owner.

"He's cold." A female voice worried.

"I'm sure I can find a bottle of something to warm him." The pirate replied.

"No. We need to get him into some dry clothes, and around a fire."

"A fire sounds nice." Finn mumbled.

"A little help Phillip?" The Doctor grunted, hefting Finn up and pulling Finn's arm around his neck.

Hook joined him, and the two men carried Finn down into the belly of the ship.

Soon he was in warm dry clothes and safe in front of the fire.

"What are you doing in this neck of the woods Doc?" Hook asked.

"Unfortunately, our mutual friend Peter has taken our boy Finn here's girl, and now has seen fit to make her queen. It's a classic rescue mission." The Doctor replied.

"You say this girl belongs to him. Then why was he nearly fish food?" Hook frowned.

"Yes, Sirens cannot lure you if your heart is truly in love..." Rose pointed out.

The doc ran a hand down his face. "Damn... you're right."

"So what do we do now?"

"We need a plan."