Once A Lost Girl | Once Upon A Time Story | Peter Pan

03x10 - The Deal - Past

"'Love'? You love me?" I pulled away. "No, Peter, whatever this is--it's not love." He opened his mouth to speak. I cut him off. "I will do this. Just not for you. I'm doing it for Wendy and her family. I'm doing it because Baelfire would."

        Pan scoffed ironically, "can't say that makes me feel any better."

        "Get over it."

        "You'll come around, Love. I won't give up on you--on us. I did that once before; this time will be different." Pan flitted his hand, a parchment appearing in his palm. Carefully, he handed it to me. "This is what you're looking for. It'll be in the informal dining hall with the rest of his little trinkets."

        I looked over the parchment. At first it looked like scribbles, just markings all over the page. The longer I looked the more and more it looked like a small potion bottle. The design on the bottle was ornate, swirling around every curve and edge. The cap was plain cork and it was half full.

        "Okay. You'll have it, then," I said.

        "Elyssa. Be careful."

        I contemplated snapping at him. Instead, I sighed. He was just worried... I think. "I will."

        The Shadow tossed me onto the ground in the middle of a clearing in the forest. I groaned, feeling the tree roots hit my back as I rolled. Standing, I looked around, trying to orient myself. This was definitely the Enchanted Forest, but the edge of it. I'd never been this way. The moon hung high in the sky. The trees were large and imposing. Overgrowth was everywhere, dead grass between the sprawling bushes from lack of sunlight.

        My eyes finally landed due north, according to the one bright star in the sky. The structure was large and mostly square, and sat atop a hill. From this distance, I could only make out grays and golden shades lining the castle. As I got closer, it became more spectacular. Between overgrown ivy and brush I caught the smallest glimpses of sparkling gold trim surrounding dirty, gray cinder block. A little bit of care and the castle would shine, but every bit of luster was gone.

        Every curtain was closed, the brick was muted and the gold tarnished in places. It was grim. The closer I got to the door, the sadder it seemed. All that power, but he doesn't care enough to make his own castle look nice? It almost made you wonder if The Dark One was really as put together as he seemed.

        I waved my hand, checking for any protection spells or booby traps. There... surprisingly wasn't much. With an abundance of caution, I flicked my hand to unlock the door and stepped through.

        The castle wasn't quite as large as I'd thought it would be. Carefully, I made my way through looking for the informal dining area. Every room felt dull and hollow. At least with the Evil Queen there were guards and servants rushing around. Here, everything just felt empty. I suppose that's what happens when you choose darkness. A good reminder not to fall into any trap Pan could set for me.

        I opened a set of pretty grand doors to find a dining table. The informal dining room. I walked in, pulling the parchment from my pocket. Lines swirled back into place on the page as my eyes scanned the shelves of the china cabinet.

        "Looking for this?" I heard that signature impish giggle behind me. I froze, turning to face the Dark One. "I must say: I thought you might be stupid when you agreed to go back to Neverland, dearie, but now? Now I know you're stupid."

        "Rumplestiltskin, just give me the vial and I'll go. You'll never have to see me again."

        "But that's the thing, dearie!" He clutched the vial, leaning toward me. "I know I will. And no one steals from Rumplestiltskin."

        I grit my teeth. Wendy's brother's were going to die, or worse. Think. "What if I make you a deal?"

        "A deal?" He circled me. "And what do you have to offer me?"

A child born with the potential for light and dark magic... neither hero nor villain.

        It's worth a shot. "You know what I am. What I can do," I said. The Dark One stopped walking. I turned to face him head on. "He told me everything."

        "And you believe him?"

        "No. But you do." My heart was pounding in my chest. I gripped my bag to keep from shaking. "Which means I'm valuable to you. Wouldn't making a deal with me now be so much easier than trying to force my hand later."

        Rumplestiltskin took a moment, peering at me from the side of his eye. His expression had shifted from cocky to thoughtful. I shifted. He looked at the vial in his hands.

        "Do you know what's in this vial?" The Dark One leered at me.

        "An ingredient, I assume?"

        "You assume! So ya don't know!" He held it out to me. I reached for it. He snatched it back. "Careful who you trust, dearie. Not everyone is as kind as me." He placed it in my hand.

        Kind. Right. I took the win, deciding to worry about the deal whenever payment came due. Not everyone walks out of Rumplestiltskin's castle alive. The only person I think ever to accomplish that was helped by his maid–and even then they both almost died. The Queen told me about it once. Frankly, it was hard to believe anyone could care about that beast. Who am I to talk? I just hope she's better off.

        The Shadow wasted no time coming to get me once night fell. I barely made it to the agreed part of the forest before it swept me up and dragged me across the sky; second star to the right and straight on till morning. One thing about Pan's shadow: gentle was not a word it knew. It tossed me onto the beach of Mermaid Lagoon, which just felt like a cruel joke. I rolled, huffing as I sat up and dusted the sand off of my face. Pan was waiting.

        "Wow, Love," he started. I glared. This time he didn't care to correct himself. "Well, I suppose if anyone was going to escape The Dark One it would be you. Hand it over." Pan held out his hand.

        I stood, dusting myself off first. If he was going to be rude after forcing me to walk into a lion's den I was going to make him wait. His eyebrow twitched–barely, but it did. I pulled the vial from my pouch. Pan took it, and then snatched a strand of hair out of my head.

        "Ow! What the hell?" I massaged the now painful part of my scalp, trying to calm it down.

        "Not anything you should be concerned about," he said. Intently focused, he dropped the hair strand into the liquid before capping the vial again. "You can go. I've no use for you right now."

        "Excuse me?" I chuckled, the sound dark and pain-filled. I should have expected this. Of course, the one guy who even kind of likes me throws me away after I do what I'm told. "I just risked my life to get you that. The least you could do is say thank you!"

        "Why? It's not like this will matter in a few hours." Pan smirked. "Did you honestly think after what you've done I would thank you? After you betrayed my trust?"

        "You were keeping Bae here against his will. What did you want me to do?"

        "I wanted you to keep quiet." Pan seethed. "I had my plans for Baelfire. He wouldn't have been here forever–just until I could let him go."

        "And when would that have been?" I folded my arms across my chest, glaring at the monster before me.

        "After another year had passed in the Land Without Magic. It's not a problem, though–" Pan scanned the vial in his hand. "--fate has a funny way of making sure things work out the way they're supposed to. And soon, you won't be a problem anymore either."

        My heart nearly stopped. What the hell did that mean? Did he send me on a fetch quest to get something to kill me with? I swallowed hard watching him walk away. I glanced at the mermaid-infested waters behind me. Maybe it would be better to just swim with the sirens for a while. Too much was swimming around in my head for anything to be considered a rational thought, but one thing was for sure: Pan decided I was on his bad side. This can't end well.