Pan's POV

I watched as she vanished, both appalled and relieved at my own actions. Now she would be out of the line of fire, even if she wasn't with me, but had that outburst at the end really been necessary? It hadn't, I knew, but Pietro decided that it would be a fantastic idea to get that little tidbit in. From the looks of it, she hadn't even understood what he/I was talking about in the first place; all he'd done was make me look like a lovesick bastard.

Granted, that was true, but that didn't mean she had to know.

It was time to do something about this situation with Pietro. At the very least, it would get my mind off of the decision I'd just had to make. I rummaged through the box of old scrolls I kept under my bed (because really, there was no other place to put them) until I found the spell I needed. It was ironic, using someone else's spell for something like this, but Maleficent's sleeping curse was exactly the potion for the job. A few tweaks and I'd be back in action, a true Peter Pan once more. A few minutes and a pinprick later, Pietro was nothing more than a sleeping presence in my mind, only to be awoken if and when Lily ever figured out her position on this whole "True Love magic" thing. I couldn't remember the last time my mind had been so clear-- so cold and calculating. It was amazing.

For days, I concentrated on Henry, trying to turn him over to the proverbial dark side while his team of "rescuers" tried in vain to use Tinkerbell against me. I showed him all the best aspects of being a Lost Boy. One day in particular, I taught him the joys of shooting an enemy.

"Wake up," I said, standing over his cot. When he did, I tossed him an apple. "I got you something."

He sat up groggily. "I don't like apples."

I looked at him, amused. It was strange how a feeling s familiar as amusement still felt fresh in the absence of sentiment. "Who doesn't like apples?"

He smiled at a not-very-inside joke. "It's a family thing."

Ironic that he's my great grandson, isn't it?

"Don't worry," I said, smiling. I knelt down to eye level with him. "They aren't for eating."

I had Felix rally the boys to the target practice area to watch the boy who was soon to be their newest brother, for however short a length of time. I dipped a crossbow shaft into a jar of dreamshade extract as Henry watched, too curious for his own good.

"What's that?"

I held in a smirk; of course, I'd forgotten Henry's ignorance to anything even remotely dangerous. "Dreamshade. A nasty poison. I've heard a story about a who once shot an apple off his son's head with an arrow. Let's find out if that's possible."

I notched the shaft into the crossbow before Henry asked his next question, seeming a little frightened. "If you're shooting the apple, what's the poison for?"

"A motivation not to miss." I aimed at the tree. "Felix! Get over here."

It wasn't that I didn't trust Henry not to miss... Okay, that's exactly what it was. Until he got a little practice, I was essentially giving him a loaded weapon and telling him to run wild. Felix's immunity to dreamshade would keep him from dying painfully if Henry missed.

"Is Felix good?" Henry asked anxiously. "Is his aim good?"

"Doesn't matter," I said, handing him the weapon as Felix took his place in front of the tree silently. "You're the one doing the shooting."

He looked mildly horrified. "I don't wanna shoot."

One look from Felix was enough of a cue for the boys. "Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot."

"You won't hit him. Trust yourself. Go on," I said over them. Felix balanced the apple on his head obediently. "It's exhilarating."

The boys kept chanting as Henry aimed the crossbow. Felix stood, unflinching. I knew what Henry was planning before he planned it, so when the arrow came flying at my chest rather than the apple, I was ready with a smirk.

"I told you it was exhilarating." Henry looked at me in shock, but didn't interrupt. "Come on, I have something to show you."

Showing Henry the scroll went about as well as I'd planned, but the thought was in his head now. It would be fun to watch it grow into an unavoidable urge. In the meantime, I grabbed Felix and pulled him aside.

"We're going to have another uninvited guest on the island in a few minutes. I need you to retrieve him for me."

"Alright."

He turned to go, but I grabbed his shoulder. He tensed, but looked at me obediently. "Later on, meet me in the treehouse. We need to have a discussion."

Something flashed in his grey eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. "Of course."

Then he was gone. To be completely honest, Felix was the only rain on my parade these days. He needed to relearn how to have fun with Lily gone, and I was going to make that happen.

I didn't want to deal with Peter right now. The look in his eyes... any trace of humanity had gone since last week. Somehow he'd managed to get over me, even after making me promise never to say goodbye. There was something going on.

All thoughts of Peter vanished, though, when I saw the person Shadow dropped on the beach. I'd know that face anywhere, even though he'd gone and grown up. Bae... He lied to us. It wasn't suicide by mermaid. He left Neverland. And Peter allowed it.

I took a shaky breath and steeled myself. I couldn't afford to let emotion cloud my judgement while I wore Felix's skin. That could wait until tonight, when I was alone. When my head was clear, I stepped out of the shadows and settled a cold smirk onto my face.

"Welcome home, Baelfire. Pan will be so happy to see you," I drawled.

Bae looked both put off and mildly horrified-- I assumed it was because of the expression on Felix's usually open, friendly face. It couldn't have been because he was back home; no, he'd clearly made that decision on his own.

"Felix. Where is my son?" he tried to growl threateningly, but the effect was lost in his trembling voice.

"Your s-- Oh, I see now," I chuckled darkly, letting even more bitter thoughts fill my mind. Now I had even more leverage against Emma. Now her suffering could be extended even further. "So you're Henry's daddy. Interesting that he never mentioned you."

I whistled and a few boys came running from the trees, restraining Baelfire. He didn't put up much of a fight, surprisingly. At least he'd retained one thing: on Neverland, there's no winning unless you're one of us.

Baelfire wasn't one of us anymore.

"What happened to him?" I heard him mutter to one of the boys on the way back to camp. "He used to be so..."

"He's been like this since Lily died. Keep moving," Devin snapped.

There was a crunch as Baelfire stumbled, either in shock or because he was pushed and tripped over his shackles. "Lily's dead?"

"She disappeared and never came back," Sammy muttered. "What do you think?"

It was strange, the amount of pain that came with Sammy's words. I knew the boys were sad I was gone, but dead? I wasn't dead. It made sense that they would think so, though: being a Lost One wasn't something to be taken lightly, and it wasn't a commitment you could just... uncommit. The only logical explanation to the boys would be that I was dead and that Pan didn't want them to see the body. So I responded the only way the "new Felix" would: anger.

"Yeah," I snapped, stopping in my tracks. I turned to face them all and they looked at me a little fearfully. "Lily's dead, boys. She's gone and she's been gone and there's not a single freaking thing we can do about it. So let me deal with it my way and maybe we can get on with our lives."

There was dead silence for a moment and I realized that was the most I'd said as Felix for... well, ever, actually. I turned and started walking back to camp as though nothing happened, and the boys followed with the traitor in tow.

That night after all the boys were "asleep" (crying in their beds again), I climbed up and knocked on the treehouse door. Peter was sitting on a blanket inside, waiting with a devilish grin on his face.

"What's going on?" I asked blandly.

"I know we already talked about this, but we need to discuss your behavior again," he said. "Sit with me."

I sat warily in front of him, trying to gauge the situation. Was he angry? Amused? Bored? No, no, and no. That covered all of the usual bases except annoyance, and that didn't seem to be it either. It was probably best to treat this as a dangerous situation and tread with caution. "What's the matter with my behavior?"

"It's boring," he said simply, raising an eyebrow. "I don't want you to be boring, Felix."

I didn't quite know how to respond to that, so I didn't. Luckily, Peter did it for me. "I want you to be more... you. Less like this depressed, not very nice version of you. Were it any other boy, I would be fine with not very nice. With you it's just strange."

He's gone completely mad, I thought.

Maybe it's just grief that you caused, Rosalie shot back.

Peter stared at me lazily and leaned closer to me. "I want you to act the way you're acting now."

"Wait, what?" I asked in shock. No, he's really crazy.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about, Felix. Wondering what's wrong, worrying about me..." Suddenly he was very, very close to my face and I forgot how to breathe for a second. Does he know? No, I've been too careful. What is this?

"I can hear your heartbeat," he teased. He was too close for me to see anything but his eyes, but I could hear the grin in his voice. "It's pretty fast for a boy who pretends not to care about anything, wouldn't you agree?"

I was trapped; I'd sat propped up against a wall and there was nowhere to go. Pushing him away would only arouse his suspicion. I had no other choice but to agree. "I-- I guess."

He sat back suddenly, laughing hard. "It's so easy to get a rise out of you. Just try not to act so angsty all the time, will you? You're so much more fun to play with when you're normal."

I assumed that was a dismissal and stood up. He's definitely gone mad. What could have happened to him to turn him into... whatever this is... in less than a week?

What did I do wrong?

Aaaaaaalright ladies and gentlemen. Pan is officially the world's worst decision-maker. I honestly have no idea where this chapter came from. It went to a dark place. Originally, Maleficent's curse was one of my taboo topics, simply because I already had freaking True Love magic and did I really need another cliche? Apparently, because this chapter was COMPLETELY unplanned and uncalled-for. But it works.

SO. That said, the awkward-not-Panlix in this chapter segways nicely into the fact that I'M DOING A PANLIX BOOK. Yes, you read that right. It's an AU set in Avalon but everyone stays very true to their characters so... forgivable? Maybe? So yeah. Shameless self-promoting here, but PLEASE GO READ IT. I think it's really good, possibly even better than RtR so.