The Old King ~OUAT Panfiction (Book 3)

Awake

            They had returned to the treehouse before Pan said a word, having been bombarded with immediate questions about what the Beastly girl just went through. He knew she was determined, perhaps even more determined than she used to be. He already included her in one big secret, the secret of their past, and now, perhaps he could include her in another.

"The curse didn't just... go away," Pan explained, timidly meeting her eyes. He had been by the window, peering down the fogged out path to the camp. Anne rested at the table, still, full lips unmoving and her dark brows wrinkling in a furrow. "Vladimir's curse," Pan clarified. "You might've killed its source, but the evil, itself, sought refuge in the dark jungle."

Anne fell at unease, stomach clenching when she thought about the intertwined roots that hissed her name and attempted to wrap around her ankles. She thought about what Sawyer said, anxiously recalling his words, a frantic tone in her voice when she spoke. "What about what Sawyer told me? Was it all true? The three h's, the jungle deceiving the naked eye— "

"I'm afraid so," he confessed.

"How do you know??" The apprehensive blond inquired, genuine curiosity twinkling in her gaze.

Presently, Pan left the window, crouching down in front of her. He regarded her fearfully, almost guiltily. This look sprouted concern with in Anne. "It wasn't easy, and I knew I could potentially risk everything, but I had to find out. At first, it appeared as an uncovered beauty of the island, but then I heard voices calling me in the midst of the night, beckoning me. Beautiful, ethereal voices that wanted me to follow them. I thought that perhaps, it was the sirens, but when I came to the lagoon, Lorelai, the head siren informed me it was coming from the abyss."

Anne's brows slanted downward in angst. Her olive gaze was swelling with anticipation.

"But I suppose, what puzzled me the most was that the sirens were afraid of it too," he went on. "I had no choice but to seek out the voices on my own. When I reached the abyss, the moon was eclipsed by the clouds and the jungle's true intentions for such beguiling beauty became revealed to me. Smoke, or gas, whatever it was, shot out from the fog below, forming branch-like arms that stretched far enough to form long, other-worldly fingers of black, and before I knew it, I was being choked out of consciousness. I thought I was going to die – again, but then, then something spontaneous happened."

The piper looked as if he was going to go on, but then a horrified glaze fell over his eyes and he palled. Anne took notice, shooting to a stand and approached his side. "What is it?" She grabbed his arm. He was frigid, unresponsive and Anne's fingers slid down his palm, then their palms meshed together as her fingers clutched his hand. The warmth of her hold sent a surge of electricity through Pan's arm and he snapped out of it, looking at her, almost placidly. The vacancy in his gaze took the Beastly girl aback.

"I saw him, I saw the darkness and he showed me all the pain and torment I've brought about in the three centuries I've been alive," he concluded.

"Who? Who is the darkness, Peter?" She had seen it too, but no physical being. She half expected it to be a person, but no mortal being such as a human should have the effect it did on the notorious Peter Pan.

"He doesn't possess any permanent physical form, he can change based on all who encounter him," Pan replied, the restraint in his demeanor evaporating the longer Anne held his hand.

"But still, that doesn't explain everything, what about the three H's?" She prodded.

The piper chuckled in amusement at her determination to seek out every bit of information. Then, a graveness fell over his countenance again. "It's true, my dearest Anne. Hopelessness, Helplessness, and the Hereafter. The darkness had me strung up by the throat until I was paralyzed. I could mentally panic, but I couldn't do anything about it – hence, when the gravity of my helplessness fell over me. The Hereafter was death, I could see it again, the blotches of white clouding my vision, the numbness in my body as though I were leaving it, and then... you."

Anne's gaze softened, fingers tenderly clutching his own.

"Well, the darkness must've found something in me that he liked, and so, he released me. I suppose, I was instinctively expecting I would live whatever the matter. I was never afraid," he then paused. "As you shouldn't have been. Sawyer knew his place well enough that I would have killed him if he let you fall. No doubt, he was dabbling for other answers, but most importantly, he was testing you to see if you would betray my trust. You almost did, you know. Never doubt me. I won't let anything -- and I do mean anything – happen to you, my love," he breathed over her lips, almost brushing them with his own, prodding her to kiss him. When, he stole away from her, fingers slipping from hers and left her breathless, struck in a heart palpitating realization.