Metanoia - Peter Pan OUAT

Chapter Forty

WARNING: mildly mature content ahead. 🔥🌶
Also, idk how I feel knowing that there are approximately 10 chapters left or a little more until the book is over ... 🥹

Pan was a little startled by Metanoia's request. After they had pulled themselves away, both he and Metanoia panting breathlessly, Metanoia uttered, "I want you to help me find my father."

"Why the sudden change of heart?" He was curious. Metanoia had previously been persistent on wanting nothing to do with her father. She'd even spoken ill about him. So why now? Why, after Pan had secretly decided on something she would never appease to.

Metanoia pursed her lips, before stating, "I am no longer in possession of the Locket of Hidden Truths, and yet ... I've seen him again."

"Your father." It was more of a statement than a question. Peter was staring at her patiently, glancing briefly at her slightly swollen lips, and fighting the urge to grab her and kiss her once again.

"Yes." She breathed. "It was a vision, but it's not like the ones I've had. This was ... different."

Pan raised an eyebrow. "Different how?"

Metanoia licked her lips quickly, practically teasing Peter at this point as he refrained from groaning at the sight of her in such a glorious state. Her hair was tugged messily, courtesy of his hands roaming through them. Her cheeks were of a rosy colour, blushing at the intimate moment they shared, and her lips. Oh, how he was growing obsessed with her heart-shaped lips.

"It wasn't a memory, Pan. This was the present."

She took a tentative step forward while gazing at Peter with a hesitant look on her face. Pan was eyeing her with a hint of wariness.

"I saw him. He was somewhere underwater, trapped in a cage small enough to make him feel claustrophobic, with several planks of heavy metal pushed down onto his back. He was ... chained. Every limb was chained down tightly so he couldn't even move an inch, and forced to endure the weights for all eternity, and locking his limbs in place. Peter, he was screaming."

Peter gulped as he watched her, and the way her voice broke as she described what she'd seen. His hands ached to pull her close to him, to wrap his arms around her and keep her close.

"They humiliated him." She was shaking now, and the rage he'd once seen in her eyes was back once again. "They reduced him to this ... this pathetic state. And I won't stand for it. Whoever did this to him must face his wrath once again, and to do that ..."

She trailed off, but Peter already knew what she wanted to say, and so he finished it for her, "... you must rescue him."

Metanoia gazed at him mutely for a few moments, before correcting him, "We must rescue him."

Pan licked his lower lip swiftly, eyeing her vaguely, and hardly giving her a hint on what was going through his mind. Frankly, it was driving her insanely anxious as she shuffled her feet stressfully. But he spared her more moments of agonising silence, before he quipped, "Metanoia, as much as I am interested in rescuing the Ruler of War, I'm afraid I've got a lot on my plate at the moment."

Metanoia breathed harshly. "Tiger Lily?"

Pan gritted his teeth, his anger rising at the mention of her name. "This ... this stupid, foolish collusion of hers - attempting to suck up to the merfolk. Who does she think she is?"

Metanoia straightened her back, and she leaned against the tree again as she observed him, with her hands behind her back. "I think I might've taken care of that problem if the mermaid I met heeds my warning."