How is it you? (Henry Mills)

Part 1 Chapter 4

Anna took the long walk home deep in thought. Yes she could learn to control the power and never have to use it, but no, her parents would never look at he the same. She has a gift, a gift that she didn't get to agree with. She wants to be normal, but that will never happen. Everyone knows she's the odd one out but if word spreads about her she'll be the even blacker sheep. Anna wants to escape it all, she's no longer herself.

So on the long walk home, Anna's idea becomes clear to her that she can not stay in her village. She doesn't know how to control herself yet, if things get out of hand people will start to look at her with fear. She'll be humiliated if she stays, so she's gotta run away.

She'll go home and act like everything is okay. Then when her parents are asleep, Anna will run away and never look back. She's never looked back once in life, and she won't this time either.

"Anna, there you are! Where have you been sweetheart!" Lydia rushes over to Anna and forces her into a hug.

"I'm fine, mother, I just went out to clear my head."

"Next time you leave you have to let one of us know."

"Okay, I'm sorry. I'm going to go to bed."

"Goodnight sweetheart." Will and Lydia both say at the same time.

"Love you guys."

"Love you too, Darling." Lydia places a kiss on Anna's head and then Lydia goes to her room to pack a bag.

Putting aside her feelings of pain and guilt she acts quickly. Anna packs her backpack with clothes and an extra pair of boots with the sac of coins she's saved for years. Where she will go, she has no clue but she will not stay and bear being looked at like a freak. Just in case her parents walk in, she slides the bag under her bed until she's ready to go. One last thing would have to be writing her goodbye. Taking a quill and ink and sitting down at her desk to write on the parchment Anna lets a tear slip.

"Dear Mother and Father,
   I'm sorry. That's all I can really say. Rumplestiltskin paid me a visit and gave me some tips on how to control my power, but I need practice and I can't do that here. I made a deal with him but there's no need to worry nobody will get hurt if I keep my word, which I will. It's nothing bad, I promise. I'll come back one day, once I'm able to control the power and use it correctly that way when I do come back you won't have to look at me with pity the way I saw tonight. I'm a freak and I need time to make peace with it. I love you both more than anything, and thank you for being the best parents I could ever ask for...despite being the reason I have this power.

Yours truly,
Anna"

After she's puts the letter on her bed, she sits on her bed to think it over one more time. Nothing can change her mind, not even her fears. She just doesn't belong. She never has, never will. So she gets her things and goes over to her window to open it. But what she finds outside is unexpected. Above her is a floating black shadow with glowing eyes. She's startled at first but then cools herself and takes the hand the shadow is offering her. She's being lifted into the air, feeling weightless. Clinging tight to the shadow, it pulls her along as it glides though the trees, hitting a few branches along the way and scratching her. The shadow starts to go faster and higher, causing panic. Anna tries to let go but the shadow won't let her. Wherever the shadow is going she'll just have to go too.

At some point all she sees is water from below. Deep, dark water that could swallow her if the shadow lets go. Anna focuses more on where she is than what's going to happen to her. She knows her only chance of survival is to stay calm and go along with what's happening. They reach a large island and all of the sudden, the shadow let's go. Anna screams and tries to catch the shadow before it's to late but she falls. Down, down, down, almost like in slow motion. She falls into a tree and catches a branch before hitting the ground. Anna pulls herself to the branch then takes her time in catching some breath. Sitting there, she hears a tussle in the bushes below. As a reaction Anna takes her bow and steadies an arrow slowly to listen for more sounds. The rustles gets louder and closer to the tree, Anna points her weapon to the sound  waiting. "Who's there?" Anna shouts. A boy pops out of the bushes. He's short with blond hair.

"Don't even think about letting that arrow go." A thick accented voice says behind her. Anna keeps her aim to the blond boy, but turns his head to the voice. A much taller boy stands with a smirk on his face, and other boys surround behind him. Anna starts to notice she is completely surround by a pack of wild boys. "Now why don't you come down from there, and put the arrow down. Then we can talk."

"Not a chance." Anna starts to aim at the leader. Ready to fire, ready for anything.

"I'm serious now, put it down before you hurt yourself, girl."

Anna glares at the tall boy, if it wasn't so dark she'd be able to read his past. "Oh, okay." She looks around and fixes her focus on a boy eating something in his hand. Letting go of the arrow, it flys pinning the fruit to a tree. The boy Anna aimed at gives the leader a shocked look with his mouth wide open.

"Never mind then, your perfectly capable." The leader steps back to show some respect. "Boys, go back to camp. I'll handle it from here." Everyone hesitates but backs into the bushes and leaves. "Come on down, I won't hurt you." Anna thinks for a moment, then jumps out of the tree, landing on her feet perfectly.

"Where am I?"

"Your in Neverland, my name is Peter Pan, you are?"

"...Anna."

"Well Anna, welcome to Neverland. My shadow brought you here for a reason, the shadow only brings people here because they don't feel like they belong. It's odd though, my shadow mostly only brings boys. You must have really felt out of place to get here."

"Don't try to guess my life."

"Just wondering." Pan puts his hands up then turns is back to Anna, crossing his arms.

"I'm not like most girls." Anna says, Pan turns back and points to her bow.

"Clearly." His smile is charming, but Anna won't fall for it. She observes his face everything for his button nose, green eyes, pink lips and red cheeks. That's when she sees and older man with a younger boy. The man and the boy seem close in relation, the man must be the boys father. She hears the man say a certain name in particular. Rumplestiltskin. Anna views the name attached the the young boy, the man turns into Peter and the boy is dragged away by the shadow as he screams for his father. The feeling of joy and happiness rushes though her body. Anna stops reading Pan's past and steps back a little, but not much for him to notice. He's a bad person, inside and out. The feelings that he gave off was pure evil. Anna can't trust this boy, no matter what. "Let's go back to camp, eat something, then celebrate."

"Celebrate?"

"Yeah we sing and dance everytime somebody new is welcomed to the island. A lost girl is definitely something to party about." Anna assumes the boys are called 'lost boys'. Peter Pan leads her though the green leaves that surround them until she sees a bright fire in the center of a circle. "Lost boys, can I have your attention!" It goes silent after Peter shouts. "Tonight, we welcome a true lost girl, Anna."

The boys start to cheer loud sounds and make bangs with the things in their hands.

Anna can tell that her life just took a dramatic turn for the worst. She knows she must keep her power a secret, or else she will be a threat to Pan, and he won't like it. Anna makes a promise to herself to practice her power in secret on all the boys on the island. Nobody will ever know of her secret until she knows it's okay to speak about it. That is how she will have to live and survive for as long as possible, and she's very determined to do so.