xv. never again

━ ❝ don't leave me ❞

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warning! short chapter!

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NEAL SLIPPED RIGHT through Pan's fingers, at least that's what the adult thought. He had successfully found the StoryBrooke gang's camp. Henry was still asleep, his head laying on his shoulder as he was carried. Pan would find them soon enough, that much was obvious. But as long as he had Emma and the others by his side, he wouldn't lose his son without a fight. The camp was empty when he arrived though. Looking around, he sat Henry down before crouching next to the fire, feeling that it was still warm. With a smile, he whispered, "Emma."

"You were so close to finding her," a cocky voice called out. Neal quickly turned around and stood up, seeing Pan, Arabella, and the lost boys surrounding him. "You disappoint me. I thought I taught you better." He jabbed a finger towards the former lost boy. "Never break in somewhere unless you know the way out."

The sight of his grandmother made he internally frown. Wasn't she on Emma's side? Not Pan's? It turned out she was standing by her husband for this battle. Which meant that they lost a very valuable advantage in the game. "I'll remember that for next time."

"Well, there isn't going to be a 'next time'." He smirked, looking back at Arabella. She smiled at him and so he turned back to Neal. "But don't blame yourself. Your father could have protected you out here, sure." Then he pointed at Henry's unconscious body. "But then who would've protected Henry from him?" He pretended to think and then smirked more. Felix went and picked the boy up from the ground. "Talk about a rock and a hard place."

Neal took a step towards the boy, getting close and speaking to him threateningly. He wasn't afraid anymore. Because now he was older. He was no longer a child. "I will get my son back, no matter what it takes."

If Arabella would've seen Pan's face, she would've seen that he was offended. He made a face. She became worried for her grandson. Just because she was helping her husband did not mean that she didn't get concerned for her other family members. "You're not getting it," Pan scoffed. "That's not the problem." He pointed at Neal's chest. "You got them." He pointed at himself. "I got them back." He smirked. "It's the game." His face quickly became serious again. "No, my boy, the real problem for you is that there is no escaping Neverland. No one gets off this island without my permission."

Pan was even more determined to keep Henry now that Arabella had her memories back. He didn't bother hiding his true colors while talking to the former lost boy. There was no reason to. Lying his wife about who he was would only blow up in his face. What would she do when she found out his intentions with Henry?

"I've done it before," Neal reminded, smirking slightly.

"Did you?" He questioned. Looking the adult down and then up, he continued, "Look where you are now. It's like you never left." There was a hidden meaning behind his words. Because did Neal serious think that he escaped without getting caught? Pan knew about everything that happened on the island. Did he really think him escaping was by luck?

Neal's eyebrow raised once he processed the information. "You saying you let me go?"

Pan dodged the question. "I'm saying everyone's where I want them."

Henry groaned and Arabella looked at him from Felix's shoulder. Neal glanced over at Arabella who was still behind Pan. They made eye contact and she gave him a sad smile. She did feel guilty for helping but she couldn't bring herself to go back on her true love. It was almost like her mind was at war. One side told her to help the heroes, the other told her not to. "Something to chew on," the brunette boy said, making her come back to reality. "You know where to take him."

The lost boys came up from behind him and grabbed Neal. He began to yell for his son. Pan smirked. "Oh, don't worry. It won't be for very long. Just until I reset the board. See, the game is about to change." Pan turned around and went over to Arabella who was watching Neal got dragged away into the jungle. The guilt of not helping him destroyed her.

"Don't give up hope! I will come for you two! I promise!" Neal yelled. She frowned, looking past the immortal leader until the adult was completely out of sight. All of the boys were gone which left only Arabella and Pan.

He sighed, knowing that look on her face, and grabbed her hand. "It's alright, love. Come on, let's go home." She just nodded and they followed after Felix who was still carrying Henry through the jungle.

———

The lost boys danced around the fire while drums played. And this was the first thing that Henry heard when he woke up to see Pan crouching down in front of him, pan flute in hand. He forced a kind look. Arabella had excused herself from the celebration which made the younger boys sad. But they let her go. Henry sat up, blinking repeatedly to clear the haziness. "What happened?"

"Oh, you fell asleep," Pan told him, attempting to sound nice. It was truly annoying treating this boy as if he were a prince or something. He was going to die anyway. However, this was needed in order for the Mills to believe in him.

Henry finally was able to make out everything clearly. "I did?"

"No, don't worry. It was just a little catnap." Pan looked out towards the bonfire. "The night's still young." Felix sat on one of the many logs, flipping a dagger in his hands with an emotionless expression like he always did. All these years he had been the second-in-command. Over those years, he had learned to stay quiet, talking when needed. Most of the time he didn't though because he didn't find his opinions needed in some conversations unless he was addressed directly.

All of a sudden, Henry spoke up to Pan. "Wait. I... I remember something. My dad... When I was asleep, I... I could've sworn I heard him calling for me." The leader feigned a look of curiosity. "It must've been a dream."

"Well, how can you be sure?" Pan asked.

"Because... 'cause my dad's dead."

He put on a sympathetic look. After hearing so many stories of what the boys went through, it was easy for him to pretend to care. The tales were all the same and it ended with the boy being lost. Pan would train him, build him into a warrior, and would ignore every single lost boy that cried each night. Only then did he realize that he hadn't heard any boys cry last night. "I'm sorry, Henry. It makes sense for us to dream about the things we've lost and the things we hoped for, like your father being alive and your mother coming to find you and Aria. But eventually, you'll find new things to dream about. And when you do, they'll start to come true."

The Mills boy sighed. "How do you know?"

"Because that's what I did. And now you're here. Neverland used to be a place where new dreams were born. You can bring that magic back, Henry. And we can be your family." He smiled widely, almost wickedly. Pan dragged Henry to stand, facing the dancing lost boys. "I'd like to play a song, a song for our guest of honor... Henry."

Pan started playing the pipe, the musical sound reaching Henry's ears. He immediately began to dance, grinning at the feeling that ran through his veins. Pulling his lips away from the pipes, the notes still played due to his magic. He looked at Henry from where he stood next to Felix. "You can hear the music now, can't you, Henry?" When the boy told him he could, a smirk reached his face. Just maybe he would win.

———

After the celebration was finished and the boys headed off to bed, Pan left and went to the treehouse to check on Arabella. He walked in, seeing her wide awake, sitting crisscrossed on the bed. Setting down the pan flute, he went over and sat next to her. Neither of them spoke and the silence hung in the air.

"I love you," she told him. "And you know that. But doing this... playing all of these games." Tears reached her eyes as she thought back on the last time she was our son. "You abandoned your own son, our son, for this." She couldn't look over at him, not like this.

"And what if I didn't? You would be alone. I would've died from old age and so would Rumple," Pan pointed out. But it was just poor excuses for the real reason. He couldn't admit it out loud. Malcolm was heartbroken, that was the true explanation. And because he was lost without his wife, he got rid of his son because every time he saw Rumple, her face, her body, her touch, everything about her came back to his mind. It only reminded him that she was gone.

Arabella looked at him with her tear filled eyes. "Did you even look for me? Or were you so caught up in your leader status to care?" The words hurt him, cutting deep at his skin. How could she say that? How could she think that?

Pan became angry and stood up. "Of course I looked for you! I loved you and I still do! I searched for you every day in the Enchanted Forest. Then when I came to Neverland, I searched every realm. And I never found you!" His voice raised with every word because he could not believe that they were fighting. They hardly ever fought.

She didn't say anything. Pan's eyes softened and he crouched down in front of her. "I love you. And I will never stop. I have to do this, for us. We can be happy again. Please. I don't want to fight, baby." Running his knuckle, up and down her cheeks, his anger vanished.

The former princess laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I just..." She sighed and then shook her head. "It's been so long. I figured you'd forget about me." She couldn't even remember the centuries she spent away from her family. But little did she know, that when Pan kiss her and her memories were returned, the moments of her time with her captor were given back. Deep down, she didn't want to remember. So she didn't.

Pan rubbed her back with his hand. "I would never forget about you." Arabella smiled, bring him to sot by her again so she could wrap her arms around his neck. He held her close, pulling back so he could look into those green eyes. "Never leave me again."

Arabella nodded, pecking his lips before saying, "Never again."

———

Sorry about the short chapter! This one wasn't long to begin with, and so it was even shorter after I took out the scenes that weren't needed. But I still love it nonetheless. I find myself wishing that my ocs were actually on the show because imaging it is amazing. And it kinda makes me mad thinking about Pan's ending. He should've gotten a happy one even though what he did was evil. But he only did it because Fiona was taken from him and he assumed she was dead. Adam and Eddie should've given us at least a spinoff for Pan. That show would've cleared up so much like Pan and Killian's relationship, how Felix and Pan met, Rufio + his death by Hook, and so much more.

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