The Piper Boy (A OUAT Fan Fiction)

Chapter 18

Amily woke with a pain in her head and her heart. She knew from the smell of cooking meat and smoke in the air that she was back in the last place she wanted to be.

But this time she wasn't in front of the fire or in a tent or treehouse. She sensed a closed-off feeling and when she opened her eyes, they met bars. Bars all around her. So Pan had put her in a cage, she wasn't surprised. Through the bars below her, Amily noticed that the cage that held her was tied off the ground by at least 8 feet.

She tried to remember anything from after she had been hit on the head. But there was nothing. Nothing except darkness. Must've been a bloody hard hit.

Amily wondered how long they'd keep her in here or whether Pan or his brothers would even interact with her at all let alone feed her. At the thought of food, her stomach rumbled and she tried to remember the last time she had eaten something. Probably before she and Peter had...

Amily let out a sob. She had let Pan go past all boundaries because she was convinced he loved her. Now the thought of being anywhere near him repulsed her. How could she have been so stupid? Amily knew the answer. Because she was in love. She tried to summon up all the hate she could muster in the hopes of forgetting how she felt about Peter Pan. But there was only the stinging feeling of betrayal followed by brutal embarrassment.

Enveloped by thought and the smell of charred meat she found herself getting drowsy once more and before she knew it, her head leant against the hard bamboo bars of the cage, she was asleep.

***

There were no dreams, only nightmares. All with Pan's cruel laughter and disturbing words. Her mind seemed to want to repeat the conversation that played out the day before over and over before the words had inked themselves to her memory. In the dreams Pan spoke to her in that cool condescending voice.

"Amily. Wake up, dear Amily. Silly, silly girl..." he crooned.

She woke with a start. She knew before she looked around that her cage was on the ground, twigs and sticks were sticking in through the bars. Amily also knew that she wasn't alone.

"Ah I was wondering how long it would be" said a voice as familiar to her as her own.

Pan and Felix were standing above her, leaning on the roof of her cage looking down with expressions so cheerful she was almost convinced that they cared whether or not she awoke.

"Felix, go fetch the lovely lady some food" Pan's voice was mocking and it made Amily mad.

"Flattery won't make me come back to you" she croaked.

"Oh I know that. Who said I wanted you out of that cage? The best creatures are satisfying to see locked up. Being trapped suits you" He laughed as though it were a running joke.

"I hate you" it was unneccesary and Amily was unsure if it was completely true but she felt like it needed to be said. She hoped it made her look tougher than she felt. Pan faked a hurt look.

"That hurts me Amily. It really does" The hurt look was gone now though, there was only wicked playfulness.

"But we'll see how you feel after I offer you my deal" Amily's head perked up at this and she looked into Pan's eyes.

"Whatever you're offering means nothing to me. I'm not interested"

"We'll see whether you're saying that after a few days in this cage" Was all Pan said. After drawing his gaze up and down Amily's body he stalked off.

Felix returned not long after with a wooden plate of burnt meat. She supposed he picked the worst bits for the prisoner. He slid the plate through a slot in the cage while whistling a cheery tune. Amily didn't bother pleading with him, Felix was Pan's right hand man. It'd be like pleading with Pan himself. Demeaning and useless.

"You tell Pan that he can keep me in this cage for as long as he wants. I'd rather die than be with him"

Felix just grinned at her before he left Amily alone in her cage.

***

Pan came every day after that. Mostly just to talk to her and feast his eyes on his caged pet. Everyday Amily felt more uncomfortable in his gaze. But there was no where she could hide in the small cage. She now knew what it felt like to be a fish in a bag.

Sometimes Pan sat down beside her just on the outside of the cage. Amily was afraid to be this close to him. He did most of the talking, just about silly things like which boys went on the hunting party and how he felt about that or the fight that happened between this person and that person.

Amily wasn't interested in anything except what he was going to offer her. She knew that whatever it was she'd never accept it but the suspense was knawing away at her sanity. She didn't even know why Pan stayed. She considered that it could just be some way to tame her and bend her to his will but Amily knew that that would never happen.

"And then George shot at the thing but-"

"Tell me" she said suddenly, interupting what Pan thought was an interesting story. Amily had no need to elaborate, Pan knew what she was talking about.

"You're interested all of a sudden?" Pan laughed and all Amily could do as scowl.

"Okay, here are the terms of our deal"

"Your deal. I haven't accepted yet" Amily pointed out.

"Right" He grinned.

"So, you have three choices. First, come back to me and be with me forever. Forever" He purred the last bit and stuck three fingers through the bars to stroke her cheek.

"Second, you can stay and rot in this cage" Pan said this so bluntly it shocked her to think that he was actually making it an option.

"And the third?" Amily was struggling to speak, she was so shocked.

"The third is that we throw you to the mermaids and let them have you" He just stared at her then. Amily wondered what he thought and whether he anticipated what she did next.

This time, there was no holding back. Amily leant forward in her cage, looking like she might whisper something. Then, without warning, she gathered saliva and spat in Peter Pan's face.

Of course, he didn't like that. His face turned an ugly shade of red and he stood up abruptly.

Peter Pan walked away from her cage taking her last chance of getting out with him. Before he was completely away though, he turned around to say one last thing to Amily.

"I'll say this to you once so you can get it into your thick, harlot's skull. You can stay as silent as you want or scream and beg and plead until you are blue in the face, you will never ever leave that cage or this island. I'll see to that"

And he never came back.