contains: angst, comfort, arguing, heavy tension, anxiety, detailed fighting (tw; blood), overprotective pan
for context: in this story henry was brought to neverland by pan's shadow, and doesn't have the heart of the truest believer. pan needs his family's help to make a potion, one that will make henry forget—and hate them, making him believe they are the evil ones so he can be a lost boy. pan and you threaten them with henry's life if they don't do what he says (in this story you are kind of evil too, henry or his family doesn't end up being dead, just pretend it's not all of his family coming to get him). during all this you and pan have some issues that need to be fixed when you think he's too protective.
// i know it might seem long before pan shows up but trust me, it's worth it
// some of the lines i took directly from the episode, i thought that would make it more realistic
wordcount: 4.6k
masterlist
·˚ you moved quickly trough the thick green plants surrounding all around you, passing various plants and seeing a few that looked an awfully lot like dream shade.
to continue, you had to cut them off harshly with the sword in your right hand; the one pan let you borrow only whenever he thought there was great danger on the island. after all, the sword was his.
you let out a grunt of frustration while piercing off the poisonous branches; why was this taking so long? sometimes you wished the island was a little smaller, but that was not something you should be thinking about at this moment.
pan clearly instructed you this morning you had to physically prepare for today. he knew how much of your energy this was gonna take, and you regretted not listening to him. you did in some sort of way execute his order by letting him teach you a bit of his magic, but you now understood that was not enough.
being in a good and strong condition was very required right now.
and it's not like you didn't have enough time to practice today, you had plenty of it. but you were too busy with everyone talking to you about the new kid henry, and since you've been pan's girl for a while you're in charge of a few things.
"shit." you cursed under your breath, struggling to hold the heavy weapon as you almost dropped it. the indistinct chatter you'd heard for a few minutes now became more intense, obvious arguing.
you turned around to get a quick glimpse trough the bushes, trying to get your messy hair out of your face despite the fact you put it in a bun. while hiding, you managed to perform the magic act pan taught you by moving your fingers around. the three grown women you saw were rapidly pushed against a tree; trying to strangle themselves out of the thick green strings tightening around them.
the blonde one in the middle caught your attention. that must be henry's mother.
obviously pan had told you hours before, he had seen them yesterday and told you everything when you came to his hut last night. you came walking towards them from behind all the plants, and their expressions changed from frustrated to terrified, especially when they saw the sword in your hand.
your steps were slow, only making them more scared as you played with the weapon you were holding.
"who are you...?" the woman with black hair up to her shoulders dared to ask you. her eyes were piercing trough yours, as if trying to find out who you are by looking into them. you ignored her question, taking a step closer to them.
"pan is giving you a choice—"
"you work for pan?" the same woman interrupted you, clearly judging you.
"not exactly." you stated. "—as i was saying, pan is giving you a choice. either you do cooperate with us or you won't see henry ever again."
their eyes flashed with anger towards you, wanting nothing more than to punch you in the face. you were quite aware of it, but even more reason to get nearer. if there was one thing pan taught you, it was to never show any fear.
"we will never work together with any of you." the blonde spoke up hastily, and you noticed that the others immediately agreed with her.
you let out a chuckle. "emma, i'm assuming you want to see your son again?" you tilted your head, stepping closer to her. she looked at you confused mixed with anger, she was probably wondering how you knew her name.
"i'm not stupid, you know." you exclaimed. "pan is not gonna tolerate this. you know how he gets when someone disobeys him."
the bitchy woman on the left tried getting her hands closer to you to nick your sword, but you quickly shifted it away from her, turning it around and pressing it against her throat.
she blinked fast a few times at your sudden movement. "there's no way you've never broken a rule of his." she scoffed, barely impressed by your skills.
"i haven't. considering there aren't that many." you said fierce, pressing the sword harder. "as i said, i'm not stupid enough like you to disobey him."
"but you said he was giving us a choice?" the woman on the right with short hair said irritated. you turned your head around to look at her, a grin planted on your face.
"how's that fair?" she stated loudly but you ignored her question.
you scoff, taking one small step back to look at the three women. "if you don't do as i say, i'm afraid he'll have to punish all of you. let's start with your favorite boy." they all looked at you petrified.
"who the hell are you." the woman you still had your sword pressed against gritted trough her teeth at you. you saw how desperate she was for answers, because you knew that when they got trapped against the tree, they expected pan to come out again and threaten them instead of a girl.
"i'm a lost girl, isn't that obvious?" you chuckled, looking right in her eyes to get some reaction out of her. yet, she didn't give any. it was beginning to scare you a bit, who isn't scared when they get a weapon pressed against their throat?
"you're lying. hook told us the lost boys don't have the power to do this, whatever it is you're doing. and he never mentioned any lost girl." emma exclaimed.
"then you can tell him that you know he's been lying to you, if you ever get off the island alive." you bragged. you arched your eyebrows at the blonde, feeling proud of your own words when the woman's foot in front of you touched your tibia harshly and you hissed in pain slightly. you quickly pressed the sword harder against her throat.
"he’s on the island with us, little girl." she proceeded to threaten you.
"i don’t give a shit where that man is, to hell with that pirate. i assume you do know i’m at least a 100 years older than all of you, right? don't underestimate me." you chuckled lowly at her so—called offensive comment. "and you can call me a liar, regina, but i know your past and so does pan. we know more than you all think."
she gasped out a breath at the mention of her own name, but when you pressed the sword harder she reached her hand out forward, and before you could block her magic you were sent flying backwards onto the hard ground.
you groaned as you sat up straight, a stinging and sharp pain rushing from your arm through your body. you looked down; hissing as you realized your sword had sliced the skin when her magic got ahold of you, blood running down your arm from the deep cut it had made. the sword was laying next to you, drops of fresh blood resting on the side.
you looked her dead in the eyes.
"you have no idea how much trouble you're in now, evil queen."
you brought your feet up again, not knowing what your next move would be when again, you got off-guard by regina moving her hand around in the air to aim a fireball directly at you. "regina stop." the short-haired woman demanded her.
little did she know you too had some strong magic in you.
"i told you—" you quickly held up your hand, blocking the fireball and it turning back rapidly towards her own body. "—don't underestimate me." her eyes widened at the sight of you turning her own magic back to her and a grin planted on your face; you already knew she was not expecting this.
"you're only making it worse regina!" emma warned aggressively, reaching her hands out towards her as regina moved her head away, and the fireball blasted with full-speed against the tree, making it vibrate slightly. she gritted trough her teeth, her eyes darkening as you kept that direct and fearless gaze, despite your hurting arm. "we will not let you take henry from us!"
you hastily mocked her with an sinister chuckle as a rustling sound behind the trees all caught your attention, and a low, fierce voice immediately started speaking.
"are you still at it?" you smiled at the sound of his voice. powerful, but soft—spoken whenever you were alone with him.
"don't you know? peter pan never fails." as soon as he looked at you, a smile planted on his face, walking towards you. he looked down, but he noticed his sword was laying on the ground. and that's when he saw the cut on your arm.
he immediately got closer with a raging expression and reached out his hand to heal the wound, swiping it in the air just above the skin. his tall form towered over you and for a moment it felt like it was only you and him standing there.
"you okay?" he asked with concern, looking deeply into your eyes.
"i'm fine, peter." you showed him a smile, a slight blush creeping on your face from the way he stared at you. he looked at your arm again, checking for any more injuries. "you sure?"
"yes." you quickly said back, slightly annoyed. slowly, he turned his body around, his gaze fixated upon the women tied to the tree. his eyes darkened at them, he did not tolerate it if anyone touched his girl.
"you've already disobeyed my rules.." he began explaining. "—but you managed to hurt her..." there was a short silence. "so i have to punish you."
pan picked up his sword from the dirty ground, the same one that sliced your skin and walked right up to them, his expression cold and furious. "she said you gave us a choice." regina snapped angrily. "we have a right to make one."
"oh but you already did." he let out a chuckle as he carefully brought the tip of the weapon under her chin, and she looked more frightened when he threatened her compared to you. "i knew you'd never want to cooperate. but it's not too late to change your mind, you know. if you want to see your boy again, i'm afraid you'll have listen to me." he explained with a noticeable smirk.
"there has to be another way..." emma spoke quietly, still trying to writhe herself out from the plants that strangled her tightly. pan took a few strong steps away from regina, coming to stand next you and face all three of them just like you were.
"yeah, you're not going to get to me. this is the only choice i'm offering you. you'll never see his face again if you disobey." he paced around, waiting for an answer.
"what exactly do you want with us?"
pan cut the short-haired woman's sentence off. "—well i'm glad you asked." he faked a smile. "we will need your help for very specific quest." he was always so mysterious, that's what you liked about him. but apparently they didn't, because regina let out a impatient sigh, rolling her eyes at pan.
"but why do you need ours?"
"because you're the only ones that can help us." pan explained quickly.
"they're tricking us, regina." the short-haired woman warned, wringing her hands to try and get herself out from the strong plants.
"it's our only chance!" regina snapped, turning her head around towards her direction, even though they could barely see each other because of the tree they were strangled against.
you took a small step forward with an amusing look. "pan may be evil, but he never breaks his promises." regina let out a disagreeing sigh, but you knew better. you've known him for so long, and never once has he broken a promise. "you will see henry again if you do as we say."
the next few minutes you and pan watched them thoroughly as they practically argued with each other. you enjoyed watching the scene unfold, when pan leaned into your side to whisper something to you. "i knew you could do it, i'm really proud of you." a smile planted on his face while he stared at you. "mhm?" you questioned, not quite understanding as you ignored him. you would be lying if you said you weren't a bit angry at him.
"the magic thing with the tree, that i taught you." he discreetly pointed at the still-arguing women facing both of you, as you turned your head around to look at him. "ohh right." you nodded, not really paying attention when you suddenly got flustered by his green eyes staring into you deeply.
he laughed nervously, immediately thinking he said something wrong because of your dry reaction towards him. "did i say something wrong...?" he asked you, his gaze towards you deepened and you got flustered again, not being able to think what to say back.
"no, i just— i didn't hear—" you looked away from him, trying to stop being so damn nervous around him.
you chuckled. "i mean— your eyes.." you didn't even know why you just said that. your hands started fidgeting and you had already forgotten what was happening at the tree next to you, but the women were still arguing about the situation. they probably didn't even notice what you and pan were doing, they were too busy talking to each other.
"yeah— they're so green..." you cringed at yourself, even after all these years, he still managed to make you so so nervous. you silently coughed away a nervous chuckle, as you let out a sigh from the heat you were feeling in your whole body.
"you're blushing." he said bluntly.
"i am?" you said awkwardly, when he suddenly lifted your chin and forced you to look into his eyes again.
"you don't have to be so nervous, love. it's just me."
you wanted to actually scream, moments like this made you even fall in love with him more. you couldn't think of a response, so again, you just laughed nervously. "i know." you shifted your face away from him, letting out a obvious sigh.
"you know that—" he began.
"just— let's finish this conversation later, okay? shouldn't you be focusing on them?" you nodded your head towards the three woman you had trapped, cutting his sentence off.
"right." he kept his gaze on you, that grin on his face faded when you basically told him to shut up. but whatever, he knew you were right. you couldn't just make-out or something while they were present right in front of you, even though he so badly wanted to kiss you until your lips were numb.
he turned around, and silence fell when he began speaking.
"having trouble communicating i see? i’d suggest you listen to what we have to say." he paced around, fixing his gaze on particularly regina, because he knew she had more magic than the others. "as you know, there is something i'd like you to do. there is someone i need to destroy, an enemy of mine. someone that could even affect your boy."
he always keeps his promises, but this doesn't mean he never lies.
"we don't—" emma tried to interrupt. she probably though they were gonna have to go after someone.
"will you just listen? or do i have to kill your boy on the spot?" he laughed at them, and their eyes widened.
their anger towards him was so great, and you knew that if they would be able to get out the tightening plants, it wouldn't end well and eventually attack the both of you. but that's not what you were worried about. no, you were worried they'd found out what you were really planning to do before they finish their job.
making henry forget who they are, so he can be a lost boy in peace.
"i just need you to get—" he swiftly put his hand in his vest, revealing a small, wrinkled paper. "these things, so i can start working on a specific drink."
"wait. this could be a trick." mary, the short—haired woman held up her hand.
"and why would i do that? we both benefit something from it." he grinned, stepping closer to show the paper to them. "i know about your superpower, savior. tell me when i'm lying." he looked at her, and she clearly try to focus to see if he's actually telling the truth, furrowing her eyebrows.
"why don't you do it yourself? you know the whole damn island." regina said quickly, her gaze shifted towards the paper that pan was holding up, as well as mary and emma. he laughed at them, and regina quickly snatched pan's list out his hand to look at it carefully.
"oh no, no. that wouldn't be fun now would it?" he continued, and didn't seem to mind that his paper got ripped out his hands. "i don't have time for everything, you see. i'd say you're all smart women, it wouldn’t be difficult for you to get these things. if you want to see henry again, you will have to work for it." he took a step closer to you, away from them to give them time to read the paper.
just as pan turned to you, regina's eyes widened when she saw what was written on the paper; you already knew what she was going to say. "why do you need hair locks from each of us..?" she looked up at pan suspiciously, trying to figure out if he really was telling the truth.
this time you decided to answer them, stepping forward to look them in the eye.
"you're all very brave..." you began. "two of you have strong magical powers, and that will make the tincture more efficient. we realize how much trouble you have gone trough to get to henry, that alone costs a lot of strength. we need your dna to defeat this enemy." you grabbed the sword from the ground, pointing it in their direction.
"but if you refuse, who knows what will happen to henry?" you explained, even though deep down you knew you'd never hurt a child like henry unless refusal.
"just let us out first." regina gritted through her teeth, angrily.
"i'm sorry, am i supposed to be scared of you?" you laughed, lowering the sword. you looked behind you at pan, as he walked towards you. he quickly whispered something that the others couldn't hear, and you nodded.
"alright, we'll let you out."
you gestured your head towards pan, letting him know to be prepared as he returned the same movement to you. the women in front of you looked confused and curious, wanting to know what you just discussed with him.
and just like before in the bushes, you focused your mind and moved your fingers around in the air, as the green vines encircling them very slowly started to disappear. they immediately stepped forward towards you, but you weren't surprised at that.
before emma or regina could use magic on you, pan did the same with his hands, only he waved his hands in some sort of arc through the air. this all went too quick for them, since confusion spread on their face when an entire transparent bubble wrapped around them, preventing them to leave or attack. "what—"
regina was, of course, the first to try using her own magic to break the enclosed space, but she didn't know that whatever she'd try, it will turn back to her, or the others that were standing beside.
pan laughed when she got ready to aim something at the edge. "i wouldn't do that if i were you. in there, all magic will turn itself back to where it comes from." pan explained, as regina's eyes darkened at his smirking face. "unless, you want to get yourself hurt."
"this isn’t fair. you said you’d let us out."
he chuckled. "we did. i'll remove it once you promise to get me what i want."
after a while, you and pan managed to get them to cut each a lock of their own hair, and with some serious threats ("if you try anything, you know who'll get hurt ;)"), he removed the bubble and none of them dared to attack, even though they so badly wanted too. all for the sake of their precious boy.
he put the locks somewhere safe under his vest, and stepped beside you again. he looked them in the eyes, making sure they still weren’t stupid enough to attack.
"i'll need all things from the list i gave you by tomorrow morning. meet us here at eight sharp." he told them, and just when they thought he was done, he continued. "but, only emma can come."
pan immediately tilted his head as a warning, they knew better than to disagree with him. "only. emma." he repeated slowly, to make sure they knew not to go against his statement. he folded his arms as a sign of dominance, a chuckle escaping his mouth, one that made your stomach flutter.
"good, don't be late." he said at last, waving his hand in the direction they needed to go before you and him watched the women carefully walk away farther into the island, scared that even their steps were a threat to him.
you let out a sigh, your head aching.
your head shot up. "wait— did you set the barrier spell? we don't want them getting near henry." you asked curiously, turning your head to look at him.
"already did it this morning.." he waited a few seconds. "while you were supposed to train." he gestured, raising his eyebrows and a grin appeared on his face when he looked at you.
you looked down at the ground, again being reminded of it. and you hated it, he was too pushy sometimes.
"it's getting late, let's head back to camp." you ignored his remark and started walking in the camp's direction, when he suddenly grabbed your wrist.
"i'm not gonna say it. you're not wrong, i am tired but that's not the point. it was not my fault." you annoyingly rolled your eyes at him, thinking he wanted you to apologise for not listening. you wrung yourself out of his grip, walking away as you heard his footsteps behind you.
"i can walk by myself pan!"
ugh i just love writing about powerful characters that are women
just halfway i realized i had too many ideas for this, so decided to make a series on it. for the people that prefer ao3, i will also post it there soon.
i'm already working on the second part, there's gonna be more tensionnn, and also i know this is kinda a cliffhanger but i promise I'll finish it. the last sentence is gonna make more sense the next part :)
