When we moved camp, I was in charge of moving Baelfire, or Neal, as he seemed to be calling himself now. What a terrible name. Neal. It sounds like some kind of animal meat.

Digressing. I led him along like a lamb to slaughter. At one point, he even had the nerve to try to make conversation with me, asking what had happened to Lily, how I'd been all these years. Small talk. When it was finally too much to handle, I spoke. "I remember when I first welcomed you to the island. It seems like just yesterday, doesn't it? And when we saw that corpse the mermaids had mangled, I think I knew it wasn't you. I hoped I'd never see you again."

"I'm gonna get Henry back," he snarled at me. "Pan shouldn't have taken him in the first place."

From what I'd managed to glean from Henry, Baelfire hadn't even met the boy yet; so how did he have this much faith that the "power of love" or whatever would help him defeat Peter Pan, of all people? "You of all people should know better, Baelfire. You have no chance. If you think I've changed, you'll be amazed at who Pan is now. He's not to be trifled with, and he never fails." He doesn't have to know that the change is so recent. Let him think that it's a long-standing issue.

The traitor snorted. "You know, Felix, I learned a lot when I got back into the world. But I think the thing that would blow your mind the most is that in most worlds, those thoughts that you have about Pan aren't repulsive anymore. You try so hard to conceal it, but looking back, it's so obvious. And you don't have the option to do a damn thing. It's pathetic."

I knew he was bluffing, trying to get a rise out of me, trying to find a piece of the old Felix so he could appeal to his better nature. It hurt because it was true (both for Felix and now for me), but not as bad as he was hoping it would. Lucky for me, I wasn't Felix. "I have my reasons, Baelfire. There's a lot of things you don't know because you left us. When Pan gets the heart of the Truest Believer, things are going to get a lot better for us. Who knows? Maybe he'll even--"

Something hit my head and then the world went black.

*~*~*

The sun was way too bright. It burned a red tint on the inside of my eyelids before I even woke up. Peter hadn't weather this good in a while.

"Felix, get up."

Speak of the devil. I almost groaned before realizing that the real Felix would never have done that. Instead, I stood obediently and didn't meet his eyes. He laughed good-naturedly. "Don't worry, you aren't in trouble this time. I fully expected him to escape."

I looked at him curiously, but said nothing; the fear I'd felt the other day was still fresh in my mind. Questioning Peter's motives was out of character, stupid, and, in most cases, unnecessary. He tended to explain things, given time. This time was no exception. "You've been out a couple hours, but the good part's just starting. Come on." He held out his hand and I took it without even thinking. Then we were in a bush near camp. Slightly and Curly patrolled boredly, looking for intruders that weren't there.

"Why are we hidi--"

Peter clapped a hand over my mouth. "Hush, Felix. You'll see."

There was a crunch behind us and the Dark One walked out of the trees, blowing sleeping powder on the boys. They collapsed in two heaps on the floor. I twitched, holding myself back from rushing to their side. Mean-Felix act or no, they were still my brothers; it was strange and horrible to see the man that ruined my life drop them like stones. Peter wrapped his arms around my torso to hold me back, whispering so quietly I barely heard him from an inch away. "They're alright, just watch. Just watch."

It was impossible to tell whether the pounding in my chest was from the shock of seeing Rumpelstiltskin being so pathetic or from the fear of such close proximity to this person who looked like Peter, sounded like Peter, even felt like Peter, that wasn't Peter. I prayed he wouldn't notice.

Of course he noticed. As soon as the traitor and the Dark One were gone, he laughed, puffing breath into my ear. "I can feel your heartbeat. Fast as a hummingbird," he teased, standing up. "But don't worry, Felix. I won't hold it against you... Much."

I stood as well, taking a step back. The glint in his eyes was bright but cold, like sunlight off the edge of a razorblade. Whatever had happened, he wasn't the Peter I knew. I had to find out what was wrong and fix it before he did something that would make the situation even more dangerous. Or worse, before I lost him forever.

I think you already have.

Go away Rosalie. You don't know anything.

Hey... Be nice... To Rosie...

Oh great, there's another one of you. Why do you sound so tired? Its not like you alter ego types sleep.

Shut up, Lily. He didn't exactly ask to be here. Was it just me, or was Rose being-- of all things --defensive? That didn't bode well.

What do you mean?

Peter... Locked away...

What?

God, Lily. You're dense. Ask the right questions. Yeah, definitely defensive. She'd never been like that toward anyone but--

No. No way.

Who are you?

Pietro...

Pan's POV

Felix was acting strangely, but these days that was his normal. I couldn't afford to worry about him; I had a party to run and games to play.

The boys seemed to be having fun... Who was I kidding? Of course they were having fun. They were my boys, after all, and if there's one thing they were ever good at (and let's be honest, the list of things they were remotely good at is pretty short), it was partying. Except, apparently, Henry. He sat on a log, refusing to make eye contact with anyone, especially me. I let it go; he would come around eventually. The heart of the truest believer. Useful and gullible-- Henry was like a blessing. If things kept up the way they were going, there was no way the hourglass would run out.

"I'm not going to die," I whispered. When the words didn't burn in my throat and refuse to be spoken, I smiled. That could only be the truth then.

Felix's lurking in the trees was getting annoying. He was trying desperately not to be seen, but he should know better. I cleared my throat a little, knowing that he would get the message. He walked up to me, stoic as usual. I met him in the middle, out of range of Henry's ears.

"Maybe we should move Henry someplace safer," he said cautiously. He seemed to be walking on eggshells around me lately; it didn't take a genius to figure out why. Maybe my little joke hadn't gone over so well. Either way, I had to get his sense of humor back. There were no buzzkills allowed in my camp.

I smirked at him. "Now why would I do that? We can't end the party when the real fun is about to begin."

Felix looked for all the world as though he had something he wanted to say, but thought the better of it. Ironically, I most likely would have allowed it; Felix never quite realized that he had so much sway with me, which is part of the reason he did. If he ever voiced his ideas, there might have been a problem, but I liked the process of figuring out what went on in his head.

A shift in magical energy alerted me to Rumple and Baelfire's presence mere seconds before the boys dropped to the ground, unconscious. "Do we have a visitor?" I called out playfully. "I love a good game of guess-who. I guess... The Dark One."

They were here for Henry, of course, and they would have him. I'd heard the plan for their little squid ink stunt. It was quite smart, and I never was one to let a good plan to go to waste. Baelfire really was forgetful if he didn't think I was smarter; altering a plan was no big issue, and altering it to rip apart barely-pieced-back-together relationships was fun.

I caught the arrow and played my part perfectly (if I do say so myself, which I do), letting a snide comment about the prophecy weasel its way into Baelfire's thoughts. The look of betrayal on his face was incredibly satisfying. I only wished Felix could have been there to see it. For whatever reason, he seemed to be incredibly angry at Bae; it was likely something to do with his idea that the boys were a family, rather than a ragtag group of brats that existed only to keep me company. As the first Lost Boy, I had a bit of a soft spot for Felix (anyone and everyone who'd ever seen the boys and I in action knew that) but even he was expendable. Whether or not it would be slightly more difficult for me to eliminate him was irrelevant. I knew I had the capability to do it and still get a good night's sleep afterwards.

As soon as Rumple and Bae were out of sight, I threw down the arrow and wiped my hand on my pants in disgust. Squid ink was gross enough on its own, but its counterpart, octopus slime, even smelled bad. Counteracting the effect of squid ink was barely worth it. Honestly, I was slightly disappointed that they hadn't noticed it. Not only should the scent have given away the slime, but if they had really used squid ink on me effectively, I wouldn't have looked like Peter Pan anymore: I would have turned back into Malcom.

I transported to the camp and woke the boys with a thought, then told them to ready for battle. The intruders, I said, had taken the boy who was going to save Neverland's magic and wanted to keep him for themselves.

It wasn't a lie, per say. It was a stretch of the truth, something that I'd always excelled at. In a sense, I was Neverland's magic. I was the reason these boys weren't rotting six feet in the dirt right now. Actually, that's not entirely true. Nibs used to be a viking, so he'd be burning in a boat before becoming ash that would further pollute the sea. The point still stands, however, that were it not for my own magic, all life on Neverland besides fairies would be gone. So was Henry there to save Neverland's magic? Absolutely. And when we got him back, he danced around the fire just like the rest.

It hadn't taken much to break the boy; just a little bit of brotherly love.