My Darling Girl *Disney fanfic*

23. Deformed Insides

Many years ago...

"Pan, don't!" Wendy pleaded. Pan's arms were shaking. He scraped his blade roughly across the Tootles' skull, the tough skin protesting as he wrenched it apart - sending jarring pains up Pan's arm.

"Why, Wendy?" Pan's tone was taunting, though he was breathing heavily. "He's not going to die. I'm just going to peel him. Again, and again. So he never heals quite right." Pan's grin was manic and sweat was streaming down his narrow face. "That way, we'll never forget this lesson!"

Wendy grabbed Pan's arms and clung onto him. "Let me go!" He barked. Wendy didn't. She pressed her face into Pan's back, her nose between his shoulder blades. Pan released a trembling breath. He could feel Wendy's tears falling against his back. His wish, on every evening star, had been for Wendy to hold onto him. For her to voluntarily want to keep him close. But not like this, not when her hands were imprisoning his arms by his sides. Not when she was pleading on another's behalf.

"Who is in control?" Pan whispered- his gaze wild. "You or me? I thought it was me." He growled angrily. "But you've had me dancing on your puppet strings for months now."

"Don't do this!" Wendy begged- her voice rough from crying. "Not when we've come so far." She clenched onto his damp shirt. "Not when we were on the verge of making something good between us."

Pan shut his eyes. Her words were a knife twisting in his gut. But this is why what she'd done had hurt him so bad, because he had been changing. For the first time in his existence, he'd been trying to be a good man – but it hadn't been enough. Roughly, he pushed her away from him. 

Wendy gasped in shock. Never, never had Pan rejected her like this. Hit her, yes – plenty of times. But he'd never pushed her away. The air felt cold around her and Wendy's tears stopped. It was over.

Five months before...

                   Pan was in the backseat of a fancy automobile. Shukethen was a large island and a strong link in the Golden Chain. It's old roads were narrow, with skyscrapers looming over the shadowed alleys below. These poorly made towers, swayed in the breeze and were called 'The Wailers of Shukethen'. Pan's driver honked the cars horn, forcing pedestrians to press up against the walls out of there way.

"Stop," Pan instructed the driver suddenly. He peered out the window and cocked his head in surprise. He'd spotted Wendy. "Why aren't you where I left you?" Pan murmured curiously. He'd last seen her, six days previously, in a posh hotel room. But now she was stood on a street corner. As he watched, she slumped against the wall and put her head in her hands. Pan stepped out of the car, his leather shoes clacking against the cobblestones. His coat flapped out behind him and he adjusted the angle of his feather plumed cap.

Wendy wasn't alone. The reliable Nibs was at her side, cracking his knuckles – a sure sign that he was agitated.

"Father," Nibs greeted, spotting Pan first. But Pan's gaze was on Wendy. Her expression and posture changed immediately on seeing him. She rushed toward him with a look of intense relief.

"You're back, you're finally back."

Pan had never seen Wendy so happy to see him before (and the experience floored him). She looked so pretty and perfect, and – in that brief moment – he was the person that she wanted to see.