Where Shadows Lie (Once Upon A Time)

"Peter, you can't just lock her up like an animal!", exclaimed Killian over the music.

"No, I'm not. Felix is.", said Peter, stubbornly. "Felix actually listens to me. Unlike you two."

"Killian's right, Peter.", said Tinkerbell, who was sitting on Peter's shoulder. "You're not usually this cruel. This isn't you. Let her out. She's just a girl."

Peter glowered at her. She was right, in a way. Peter was being overly cruel.  He really was not in the mood for partying. Or anything at all, come to think of it. His meeting with Rumplestilskin was troubling him. Truth was, Rumple was more powerful than him by far. Peter's powers were beginning to dwindle, little by little.
And now he was taking it out on his friends. And Wendy.

"You know, mate. I think you're just sleep deprived.", said Killian. "I mean, when was the last time you've slept? Fifty years, now?"

Peter raised an eyebrow.  "It's just. . .been a weird day."

"Is it anything to do with the new girl?", asked Killian. "Wendy, her name is?"

"No. I mean yes, Wendy's her name. I just don't know what to do with her. Why did the shadow bring her here? She's not the Heart Of The Truest Believer. Not part of the prophecy. Rumple. . ." Peter's mouth snapped shut.

"You have a secret, don't you Peter?", said Tinkerbell.

"Of course he does.", said Killian, channelling a glare from Peter. "You're not exactly subtle, Peter. Your "I have a secret" vibe, is literally visible from the bloody moon."

Peter laughed, and his face brightened for a moment, before turning serious once again.
"Maybe I do, but it shall remain mine."

Killian sighed. "Oh, you're im-"

Peter's hand shot out, catching an arrow out of the air, pointed directly over Killian's heart.
"Whoa.", said Killian. "I did not see that coming."

"Pirates.", said Peter, his face darkening, voice laced with malice. "They found us."

Peter and Killian were quick to react, both having their swords and daggers out and ready within a split second.

True enough, pirates charged into the camp. Their beady eyes were filled with fury. Their weathered faces scratched and scarred.
A shot rang out, followed by a wailing cry. A sound not from the throat but from the soul.
Everyone looked in the direction of the wounded boy--Thomas, his name was--who crumpled to the ground. A large, red stain soaked his shirt, and soon he lay in a pool of his own blood. Several boys cried out at the sight of their dead friend.
Killian's eyes were stormy. He and Peter shared a look, and charged into battle, weapons raised.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

"You don't have to do this!", cried Wendy, as Felix closed the cage door. "You don't have to do everything Peter tells you. He's. . .he's  brainwashing you all."

"Peter loves us. He's the one who brought us to Neverland. Who took us away from our miserable lives. He found us." Felix fastened the new lock. It had a mercurial shine, and looked far too complicated to pick the lock.
"You won't be doing that trick again.", said Felix. "This lock is enchanted. Now, only Peter himself can open it."

"But, if you're saying he's so good, then why is he locking me up?"

Felix paused. "Because he's scared of you."
He stood up, and walked away without another word, leaving Wendy to her thoughts.
A shot rang, near the Lost Boys' camp, followed by a heart-wrenching scream. Wendy's eyes widened. Battle cries sounded, and they weren't boys' voices.
Pirates stormed through the trees. They stopped in their tracks on seeing the cage, and peered in through the bars. Wendy froze. They had found her!

"What do we have here?", snarled a bearded pirate, face pressed against the bars.

"It's a girl!", rasped another, who had an eyepatch. "Pretty, too."

"Get out of the way!", the bearded one shoved the other aside. "Let's take her back to the ship."

"Afraid you can't do that.", said Wendy with as much defiance she could muster. "The lock is enchanted. No one can open it."

"We'll see about that.", rasped the one-eyed pirate.

Wendy was pressed herself against the back of the cage. The pirates unsheathed their weapons and hacked at the lock, then the cage, but to no avail.

"Oh well.", said the bearded pirate, with mock disappointment. "Guess we're going to have to just burn you alive."
They laughed--a horrible, quaking, rumbling sound, filled with an evil mirth.

One of them stopped mid-laugh. He looked down in confusion, at the sword tip potruding from his chest. Then it went back, out of him, and he toppled backwards, onto the ground, his blank, glassy eyes cast to heaven.

Peter was revealed, standing behind them. A bloody sword was held in his grasp. His green eyes flared. For a second, Wendy thought she saw that his incisors were extremely long, like fangs. Wendy blinked. Then, they were gone, as if they just winked out of existence.

"Scram.", he spat. "If you want to live to see the morn."

The terrified pirates turned and fled, running as fast as their pot-bellied bodies could carry them.

Peter put his toe under the body of the fallen pirate, and kicked him away. He cast his bloodied sword aside, and made to unlock the cage. The lock opened at Peter's touch, and the door swung open.

"Sorry I'm late.", he said, holding out his hand.

Wendy took it, and came out, flooded with relief.

"Are you ok?", asked Peter, his brow furrowed with a surprising amount of concern. "I thought for a minute there-"

Wendy threw her arms around him in a hug. She felt Peter tense under her touch. He was thrown entirely off-guard. Wendy thought he was going to push her away, when he hugged her back. Then they let go, Peter stepping away.

"I would thank you.", said Wendy. "But I won't, cause you're the one who locked me up in the first place."

Peter grinned. "I would apologise. But that's sort of banned around here."

"Be that make us even, then. What happened?", she asked, trying not to look at the dead pirate.

"The pirates. They found us somehow. Surprise attack. No one saw it coming.", said Peter gravely. "It cost us dearly."

How much?", asked Wendy quietly.

"Four boys. The camp." Peter looked away, towards the camp, now destroyed. He had a faraway look in his eyes.

"Oh, Peter. I'm sorry."
Four boys. All killed that night. It was hard to take in.
Did Peter really abandon the boys to save her?

"Why did you come back?", she asked. For me.
The word hung in the air before them. Unsaid but understood.

"One girl is worth more than twenty boys.", said Peter, the corners of his mouth curved upwards in a grin.

Just then, Killian came thrashing through the thick undergrowth.
"Peter! Slightly says he knows of another Tree for the new camp! Near The Marking Rock!" Then he stopped, seeing Peter and Wendy, the cage door ajar,  the blood on the ground, and what looked like a dead body behind a bush.

"Bloody hell! What happened here?!" Then, eyeing Peter and Wendy, stepping back from each other, Killian raised an eyebrow. "You know what, I don't want to know. But we need to get a-moving, before sun comes up. Rest of them are already gone."

"Killian's right.", Peter agreed, all business once again. "Find another place to make camp. After what the pirates did to us, they're going to pay."

"But how?", asked Wendy.

Peter's grin was flinty. "Oh, I'll find a way! After all, Peter Pan never fails."