Peter Pan Imagines (Once Upon a Time)

Icarus and the Demon

Based on this request: "Peter pan with a gender-neutral reader? In the enchanted forest, they were known as Icarus and when they fell they landed in Neverland and Peter helped them take off the wings that were melted on their back."

Your heels are light on the moss-packed earth, practically lighter than air. The trees flash by you as you run, but no matter how hard your feet pound against the soil, it still isn't fast enough. You know the rules; you have to be home in time before the sun sets. It's not just your father's wrath you have to face, it's that of the Evil Queen. You cannot risk your family just because you dared to stay out a few extra minutes.

At last, you arrive, gasping, at the front door of your family's cottage. It's tucked away within the Enchanted Forest, barely on the outskirts of town. Dusk is half an hour away from the horizon, so you've made it back with hardly enough time to spare. The door is unlocked, it always is. What would Daedalus have to fear, except for the Queen's guards? They wouldn't stop for a lock, anyway. They never do.

Your father looks up when you close the door behind him. You can smell the bite of oil and grease in the air, and metal parts and pieces litter the tables. So it's been another day of experimentation and engineering. And, judging by your father's bitter expression, it's been another day of failure. He'd never admit it aloud, but he's looking for the same thing you are on your neverending forest rambles- a way out.

He extends an arm to you, and you force a smile, walking to his side to embrace him. He nods once, glancing over you head to toe as if you're another one of his mechanical problems to solve instead of a child. "How was your day, Icarus?" You shrug, spinning away from him to prepare the evening meal. "Nothing much happened. It's all the same."

Daedalus sighs. "She'll have made sure of that, won't she?" Your father's tone is jaded, after years spent in this cottage against his will. All the same, he quickly glances to the windows and door, as if making sure that no ears or eyes linger by the boundaries of his forced cell. In the end, despite everything your brainstorming father can build or design, he'll always be hemmed in by the whims of Queen Regina, and he hates her for it.

You'd arrived with your father in the Enchanted Forest a long time ago. You're not entirely sure when- time passes differently here. Your father had come as an architect plying his crafts, anything to help him survive after leaving the rocky archipelagos where you'd been born. He'd spent enough time under the thumb of a past King Minos, and was eager for some form of freedom in the Enchanted Forest.

Unfortunately, he didn't find it here. Regina had been delighted that an architect of Daedalus' caliber had shown up in her reach, and quickly applied his skill to the various faults and flaws within her castle and the many other edifices crowding her sight. She swore that Daedalus could leave her side once he finished her project, but there was always one final aspect that she forgot to tack on or one last detail that he'd left out. Then, he'd have to start again, and the work was never over.

Your father had tried to leave, of course, many times before. However, the all-seeing eye of the Evil Queen had spotted his escape attempts before they even started, and you had never been able to leave the boundaries of the town. Eventually, your father was reduced to what was essentially house arrest, except for when Regina permitted him to visit her and finish his architectural projects. That's why you can never remember how long you've truly been here, in a way- Regina has a spell on you to keep you young, so you'll never be old enough to help your father escape.

You're a part of her bargain, after all. You can't leave the town either, although you search as hard as you can. No, you and your father will stay here until your bones finally rot away from you, or until someone kills Regina first. You can only hope that something will happen, something to let you finally leave this disenchanting cottage.