Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a time or any unoriginal characters
"Thank you again, ma'am, for your help." The young boy stuttered, avoiding my gaze. Maybe because he was shy, or maybe because I had just turned his mother's abusive boyfriend into an ant as he had instructed. Apparently the residents of the world without magic still had slight issues with belief, Shame.
"Any time kid," I responded with a curt nod. Objectives like these were small, easily lost in the centuries of memories I held. Centuries of memories that had desensitized me, I noticed as I watched him stomp on the asshole-turned-ant, feeling no remorse for the human it had once been. "But if there is ever a next time, remember, the cops are an easier access than I am, 'kay?"
He nodded, finally meeting my gaze. "Of course, thank you again… Mary, uh, Poppins?" He said my name with the type of awkwardness that comes from speaking a foreign language. But I was used to it. People in this world find it surprising that I'm frozen at seventeen years old and can't hold a tune for my life. Who knew they'd take a movie so seriously?
Smiling, I watched him walk back into his shack like home in the middle of nowhere Virginia, disappearing silently as the door shut behind him. I reappeared on a dock at the edge of a small town in Maine, where my colleague, and closest thing I had to a friend, would be found. Storybrooke, a cursed town from the Enchanted Forest with an ironic name, yawn. If it wasn't for my 2 year deal with the Captain of the Jolly Roger I would have avoided it completely. I considered myself lucky I had been away from the land during the casting of Regina's wicked curse and had been doing an excellent job over the last 30 years of not letting Regina take her anger over it out on my face.
But a deal is a deal, and my curse had a way of forcing me to stick to each and every one of them. This one I didn't mind though. Killian and I go way back, back to a time before I was cursed, a time when I was just Mary. A young, fifteen year old girl who had charmed a new pirate into allowing her to stole away on his ship. That had been the start of my apprenticeship with Rumpelstiltskin, aka, before I had any enemies. When I had ached to know how to control my magic; as it had seemed to destroy things in my life since birth.
I shivered as I walked across the dock, shaking back the memories as well as the cold. I rolled my eyes as I sidestepped a sleeping Smee at the entrance to the pirate skip. Hundreds of years and Hook still hadn't thought of investing in a better crew. I slid across the deck like a shadow, not wanting to wake any of the ships residents, most of which were passed out on the deck. I slowly turned the handle to Hook's quarters, wincing slightly as the door creaked open and echoed across the water. I peered in to find a snoozing Killian at his desk-feet up and an open bottle of rum sitting atop maps.
I scoffed at his position; as it seemed to be the same every time I came to visit. Giggling slightly I picked up the rum bottle and splashed the remaining liquid onto his face.
"Bah!" He yelled and flailed awake, wiping his face of rum frantically. I laughed softly into my hands at his bewildered expression. It was always fun to see him flustered. His eyes searched around the small room wildly and murderous, searching for the cause of his rude awakening. Eyes landing on me, his expression visibly softened as a tired grin spread across his face. "Damn it lass, you couldn't just kick the chair?"
"Eh," I responded. "No fun, captain. Besides, I need to leave soon, people to help and such." I rolled my eyes.
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his trusted flask and took a long swing and responded with a wide gesture, "But of course. No rest for the weary."
I rolled my eyes, "What's new, what do I need to know?"
"Savior and Regina have gotten better, but that's nothing big. What do you know about the truest believer?" He asked quickly.
"Something with Peter Pan, whom you know well. I drew the picture, Pan thought he was Balefire, hasn't succeeded in locating him since. Yada yada." I said, familiar with Pan's obsession. As news of him did more of frightening me than bring excitement.
"Oh he found him though. You remember my mentioning of Henry, yes?" He said, sitting up.
"Regina's son?"
"And Emma's, Regina adopted him after Emma gave him up. Coincidence, right? We just got back from Neverland. A hard fight, but Pan needed Henry's heart, and Regina or Emma wouldn't have that. Long story short, Pan is dead."
I stared at him, jaw dropped, "what?" I whispered, unable to even dream that someone as powerful as Peter could have been defeated.
He nodded, smiling slightly, "it's true, I saw it with my own eyes. A strange sensation but affective." He also explained how they returned back to the enchanted forest, but had no other memory. Strange, but it wasn't my business to help them solve this mystery. Savior territory was off limits, a handy loophole in my contract. I didn't quite concentrate on anything other than Pan, who was amongst the few people I truly feared.
"What of his Lost Boys? Last I heard he had dozens of them." I questioned further.
"All here and accounted for. Emma gave them a home," he smiled to himself and I rolled my eyes. Figures the big, bad tough pirate fell for the product of true love and goodness. "All except Felix, he came over with us but went missing quickly. He is thought to be dead." Hook eyed me thoughtfully, but I refused to let emotion slip onto my face as I nodded. Clutching the pain from that news and shoving it away for later.
I nodded jus as a strong feeling, heavy as a weight, set in my stomach, causing my words to die in my throat as I fell to my knees.
"Mary?!" I heard Hook get up from his chair abruptly and felt a hand on my shoulder but saw nothing as my eyes had blurred over.
"Is there anything else you need to tell me?" I choked out as I grasped my neck as it burned and my entire seemed to pull me somewhere else. It was happening again, someone needed my help. But not any someone, not some regular mortal who had a problem and enough hope to will me to them. No, this was a magical being who desired my assistance. Someone stronger than me, most likely, as the burning of delaying my duty to journey to them grew stronger than it ever seemed to be before.
"Lass, what's wrong?" Killian ignored my question as he shook me, panicked. My heart thumped as I realized that he cared for my safety, but after a second the pain took the thought away from as I began shaking violently.
"I must go," I stated bluntly as I unclenched my tremoring fist and enveloped myself in white smoke, following the pulling in my gut towards the next person who wanted my help.
The travel was short and strange, I couldn't see and at a point in the few seconds I felt as if my body was being squeezed into a small box and then stretched out unnaturally. I knew this feeling; it meant I had gone to another dimension.
Never good.
I felt myself sitting on solid ground, still in the same position as I had been on the floor of Hooks ship. I could hear my heavy breath level as my eye sight slowly returned and the pain in my chest faded.
Trees, so many trees'. They were all I saw, though I was sitting in a clearing about five feet around. I could hear a fire crackling somewhere near, yet saw or heard no one. I stretched out my magical reach across the land I was on and focused on the magical auras located across the large island. Neverland, I gasped as I recognized the only other aura on the island besides mine. It glowed brighter and its magic pulsed more rapidly.
I gulped as I turned my head to the right to see him leaning casually against a tree, twirling a dagger as he stared at me, slightly smirking in a way that had always gave me chills.
"What could you possibly want?" I bit out, anger, or fear, boiled in my chest.
"'Ello, love, glad you could join me." Peter Pan smiled a terrifyingly charming smile.
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