Innocence (OUAT/Peter Pan)

Chapter 1: An Escape

Chapter 1: An Escape

A servant boy unlocked the thick wooden door and stepped inside, his job to deliver a silver tray of dinner to the girl at the top of the East tower of the small castle. The girl heard the door open and turned, squaring her shoulders and looking straight into his face. She knew he wouldn't talk to her, he was ordered not to, and she knew he wouldn't even look at her, none of the staff would, because they all knew it was wrong. She was locked in this room, never to escape, and her only company were the servants who delivered her meals twice a day or bathwater once a week, or new clothes about every year. They never interacted with her in any way, because they knew it was cruel to keep a human in such a prison for no crime committed, and because they knew they were no better than the mistress of the castle for not trying to help her ever escape. This boy was no different. He set down the tray and hurried out the door.

The girl thought of what she might look like. She didn't know, she had no mirrors. The hair, the long, glimmering white hair of course caught anyone's eye, as it fell from her head to the floor and continued on a few feet after that. But he, like the other servants, didn't look at how pale her skin was due to the only source of light being one small window high above her. He didn't look into her face. She was a princess once, now she wore a plain dress made of black cotton that tied but left the her shoulders, chest, arms, and neck exposed. The dress was fitted enough and showed how thin she was, her meals sustaining her but being nothing to brag about. She was barefoot, as she had no use for shoes, and had no accessories.

Resigned to her fate long ago, she picked up the tray and went to the little table and chair against one wall to eat by herself. Her room was simple, just enough to keep her from going insane with boredom but, having been locked in it for so long, she had every inch memorized anyway. Her bed in the middle of one wall was decent, comfortable, the sheets clean and soft. She had a bookshelf, but the mistress was very particular about what books she was allowed to read, since she didn't want the girl getting too adventurous and having any escape ideas-or ideas on how to use her own magic other than what the mistress taught. There was a basket of knitting and sewing supplies, although the girl found that incredibly boring; an art stand and extensive art kit, for which she was intensely grateful since she loved to draw and paint; a piano she had no interest in ever playing; a bathtub for when it was time; and a closet of clothing.

An hour later, the same boy came back to take the plate away, this time nodding at her in acknowledgement, though his eyes still never met her face. Still, she gave a polite "thank you", even if it was just to make him uncomfortable and hopefully a bit guilty. She sat in the middle of the room where she only had to tilt her head slightly to look out the window and watched the stars come out. When they were all shining brightly, she found the brightest one and the few surrounding it. She liked to address a group of stars, since it would probably take a combined effort to ever acquiesce her pleas of escape. She had done everything she could think of to them: prayed, simply asked, demanded, begged, cried at, screamed at. Then she would simply talk to them. Tell them about her day, about what she could remember before the tower room, of the adventures she dreamed of and places she wanted to go to. Lately, she just thought out loud to them. She knew they weren't listening anymore, but she had no one else.

She knelt, wrapping her hair on the ground around her in a circle, its soft glow illuminating the stone floor beneath her and brushing her face in shadows and light. She closed her eyes and thought of the globe standing in front of her bookshelf, of the places it named and how beautiful and giant they looked. Then, she wished, willing the magic in her hair to transport her away even though she knew it wouldn't,-she'd tried.

"I'll believe in anything," she breathed, mostly to herself. "Anything that will get me out of here, I'll believe in it. I'll always believe in it." She wished over and over in her thoughts, still as a statue, as if she were meditating on the floor with her hair glowing a little bit brighter around her.

The Shadow was reaching out, about to grab the awestruck little boy, when his hand shock back of its own accord and out towards the window. An invisible fist wrapped around his wrist and tugged, surprisingly gently but still firmly, causing him to tumble out the window and fly off into the London night sky. A portal opened for him in the center of the London Eye, generated by his own natural magic, perhaps he was being called back for something important. The grip didn't relent, even through the portal, and it pulled him into...the Enchanted Forest. The Shadow rarely came here, Pan preferred his friends to be from the Land Without Magic, they adapted better to Neverland.

The Shadow tumbled through the forest, the invisible fingers urging him quickly along, until finally he came upon a tiny village and a small stone castle with an unevenly tall tower. The rest of the castle was small, only about ten homes wide and three tall. Then it had the one tower, which was at least seven homes high. The castle unsurprisingly had small traces of magic, average protection spells against thieves and the like. But the tower was absolutely saturated with magic, the Shadow himself could feel the tug of the spells. They were all repulsion and exclusion spells, ones that made anyone who came near forget what they were doing, make them remember of something else to do, burn their fingers if they touched the wall, and the like. Many of the spells combined to keep the tower invisible form the outside. The Shadow, every bit as mischievous and curious as his master, couldn't resist: either whoever lived in here really hated company, or someone was desperately hiding something of incredible value.

The Shadow slipped in through the one small window at the top, and was confused to find a plain bedroom. Then he looked down, and realized that his hand, now released from the invisible grip, was inches away from the bare top of a girl's shoulder. The first thing he noticed about the girl was the impossibly long, white hair surrounding her and appearing to be hers. It was dripping with magic; powerful, raw magic. She opened her eyes and took in the Shadow, excitement and disbelief warring in her eyes. The Shadow just hovered and stared. She stood slowly, pushing the Shadow's hand up against her shoulder before weaving her thin, pale fingers into it. She nodded, and the Shadow snapped back into reality and followed its impulse. It gripped her hand tighter, pulled her up and out through the window.

They flew even faster than the Shadow had before through the Enchanted Forest, keeping just underneath the tops of the trees to keep out of sight of villagers, he wasn't sure if one of the spells would sound some sort of alarm at his taking her. She was quiet, taking in everything on their journey through the worlds into those wide, blue-grey eyes, her long wide hair flowing behind them.

So Wattpad won't let me put up pictures, so you all can't see the wonderful Robbie Kay/Peter Pan! :( so here's the link, it does work, despite wattpad saying it's not valid. I don't know why wattpad is being mean to me. If anyone knows any tricks/ideas, let me know!

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fakumanobonnou.tumblr.com%2F&h=0&w=0&sz=1&tbnid=VzrgP8iSquXUcM&tbnh=168&tbnw=300&zoom=1&docid=ssl0goPvRgwCqM&ei=uKmRUtH3O6jTiwKs5oCoBw&ved=0CAEQsCU