#escapingdreamsandnightmares

[itsallmydoing]

Come Away, O Human Child ~ Peter Pan & Baelfire & Emily Blake.

The sun glared bright over the high mountaintops, above the Dark Jungle’s greenery, and the mermaid lagoons were lovely, dark and deep, but Neverland itself existed in somewhere between, in an extraordinary twilight. Pan liked the dark. Tucked so far below the tree canopy, boys’ eyes grew used to the semi-darkness, and learned to love it. It perpetuated the mysticism of the isle, the implausibility of a timeless land, and encouraged them to stay painfully alert at all hours. Pan did not appreciate laxities; there were punishments for laxities.

He was sharpening arrows and pondering the next game he could play with his favourite pirate when the shudder trickled down his spine, stilling his hand mid-stroke. There was nothing else quite like that sensation: That was someone entering Neverland. Two someones, in this case – A someone and a something, a shadow clutching at the hand of a little girl, at Peter’s behest. He had skipped realms to seek her out himself, but any length of time away from Neverland took its toll on him. He had sent the Shadow in his stead, to bewitch a certain half-breed lost girl into his arms. It had worked.

Pan, who crossed worlds and slipped into another’s unconsciousness as easily as Hook crossed oceans, had met Emily Blake – Never ‘Harker’ – Before, in her dreams. She sought escapism and adventure and the love of her mother wholly and completely. The King of Neverland could help with two out of three, and spent night upon night persuading her that the third did not matter.

“Pan?” Noticing the shift in his leader’s posture, and the cruel twist just forming on his lips, Felix’s lazy syllable drifted to his ear, and he slowly turned to face the blond. “We’ve got company.” He elaborated only briefly, stashing his arrows and straightening his back. Felix stood, and made to follow, but Peter turned, and rest his hand on his chest, pressing him back. The club in the taller boy’s hand had never scared him. “No—” He shook his head, crinkling one eyebrow as though it were obvious. “—I don’t want you. I want Bae.”

Ignoring Felix’s growled protests, Peter practically shoved into his shoulder as he pushed past, whistling to Bae like he was calling a dog. “Baelfire!” He called, in a voice that did not expect to be ignored. “Come here – You’re my welcoming committee.” There hadn’t been a new boy since the Dark One’s son had been dumped off Hook’s sinking ship and dragged into their midst; forcing him to remember exactly what he had been through before Peter had taken him under his wing might well have been crippling, but Peter wanted to see how well he coped. Pan’s methods were harsh, and not exactly fair, but they were certainly character-building.

Impatiently waiting until Bae was at his side, Pan ducked his head to whisper in the boy’s ear, his breath hot and his lips just grazing his earlobe, pointedly ensuring Felix saw, but did not hear. “They’re on the beach. This one’s a girl.” Smirking triumphantly, he pulled away and strode off, the interwoven vines that cut off their compound from the world bowing before him. He held them off from snapping back in Felix’s face just long enough for Bae to skitter through after him, his laughter ringing through the trees.

[itsallmydoing]

[Neverland Flashback] When They Come For You ~ Peter & Baelfire.

Felix locked his jaw and crumpled the parchment in his fist, stuffing it back inside his cloak, keeping the younger boy’s upper arm gripped tightly in his fingers. There would be bruises there in the morning; the Lost Boys had not formed their reputation upon gentility. He had been so confident, so arrogant, that this boy they were chasing was the one Pan wanted, the one they had been hunting for so long. Peter trusted him to carry out his orders, and Felix knew what awaited him should he fail; he was only his leader’s second as long as he remained valuable.

Pan was a nightmare – Boy, master, immortal and, according to everyone’s favourite pirate captain, demon, all in one, and as perfectly difficult to fathom as he sounded. He did not like to be disappointed. He had taken his boys in and protected them from Neverland, taught them to fight and to crow; flying was a little more difficult, for that was Pan’s magic alone. It was darker than purple, green and grey and black. It sucked up souls and shadows and spat them back out with a snigger. They had fun, of course, but Peter’s idea of fun slipped between childish and psychopathic quicker than a dagger to the ribs.

At least this one – Baelfire, was it? – Who struggled in his hold as he was dragged through the jungle, with the other boys carving a path for them up ahead, was special, moreso than the other worthless wretches they’d dragged from their beds in the hope of successfully delivering to Peter. This one had a family, and a useful one at that. Even Felix had heard stories of the Dark One; surely his son was just as worthwhile as this ‘truest believer’ Peter appeared obsessed with?

The jungle’s paths grew narrower, and rockier – Their hide-out was secret, hidden from all prying eyes – Particularly that bloody pirate and his nosy little crew. They had come ashore once or twice, but the boys had ensured that they would not be so clumsy again – Twisting towards the caves above the ocean. Peter would be there, watching and waiting, expecting satisfaction after so long. Felix’s thin mouth twisted, and he tripped the kid into the dirt – The most he could satisfy himself with without grievous bodily injury – The rest of the boys howling with laughter as Bae was dragged back upright by his hair and shoved forwards, into the dark passage in the rock face that led to the Lost Ones’ fortress.

Torches lined the walls, casting flickering shadows onto the roof of the narrow cave. No longer with any room to drag him by the shoulder, Felix was forced to let Bae stumble ahead, and bring up the rear. He doubted the kid would be stupid enough to run, but he kept a close eye, just in case. The passage split into corridors, but it was to the half-lit open-roofed clearing ahead, speckled with moonlight through the tree canopy above, that Felix shoved Bae. Although a high-backed chair of leaves and branches sat underneath the wide trunk of the nearest tree, the voice came from above. “Did you find him, Felix? Did you?”