Pan Never Fails

The Dream

    In Story Brooke, Y/N lived in routine. She had as long as she could remember. Classes at school, shifts at Granny's Dinner, babysitting the mayor's son Henry, and doing it all again the next day.
    That is, until Henry brought his birth mother to town.
    The clock on the tower finally moved and Y/N began having dreams of Neverland. They were innocent enough at first: swimming in the lagoon, climbing trees, or counting stars.
Until someone found her.
    "Crawling back again I see?" She whipped around to see a gangly blond boy with a false smile. "What, you couldn't bear to leave your precious island behind? Your precious Peter?" He stalked closer to her. "He's moved on. He doesn't need you."
    "Who are you?"
    He chuckled but there was no humor in the sound.
    "What do you want?"
    "Sure Y/N, play dumb." He tossed the girl a dull practice sword and she caught it on instinct. He grabbed one of his own and swung at her without hesitation.
    She ducked and stumbled away. She couldn't remember ever having held a sword but she moved instinctively. The blade came up to shield her face but was easily knocked from her grip with a second swing.
    Felix tossed his sword next to hers and shoved her hard. She fell, landing flat on her back, the air was forced from her lungs. She looked up to see him advancing. Dead pine needles snapped like glass under his boots.
    She forced a painful bit of air into her lungs. "It's not real," she whispered.
    "I wish," the boy said in a sing-song voice. A real sword materialized in his hand as he continued his advance.
    Y/N stared at the sword glinting in his hand. She begged air from her lungs to scream for help but all she could manage was a terrified whimper.
    He smiled coldly down at her.
    She closed her eyes. Leave. Go. Please. Wake up!
    He swung.
    "Felix!"
    The lost boy turned to the voice behind him. His sword, still in motion, missed its target and fell on the girl's arm.
    "Let her go!"
    Felix was forced back and held immobile in the air in a cloud of green mist.
    Y/N scrambled away, forcing in one shuddering breath after another. She curled into herself, holding her arm and closing her eyes. Wake up. It's not real. She reopened her eyes to see Pan in a blind rage.
    "We were just sparing," Felix tried to justify.
    "What kind of sparring requires a real sword and a defenseless lost girl? That's cheating." Pan's eyes flashed green.
    Y/N gasped as a burning pain shot through her arm. Pan turned to see her lift a trembling hand from the cut. It revealed black streaks spreading rapidly from the wound. She looked up desperately and screamed.
     She jolted awake still screaming. Her breathing was fast and shallow and she was in a cold sweat but a panicked search revealed her arm was fine.
It was just a bad dream.

    Peter grabbed desperately at the place Y/N had been seconds ago, her eyes pleading, the black veins on her arm burning their memory into his vision. His eyes darted to the sword Felix had wished for, its tip was still coated in dreamshade.
    He crouched over the blade suddenly very still. His voice was quiet now and terrifyingly composed. "You used dreamshade on Y/N?"
    "It was only a dream to her and it barely nicked her arm, she's fine."
    Peter whipped around, dagger flashing. "You coward!" His blade cut across Felix's nose and down his cheek.
    The green mist dissipated and Felix fell to the floor clutching his face. Peter turned his back on the boy and shot into the sky blind with rage.
    There was no music in Neverland for days. Peter was furious at what Filix had done. He was lost and confused, now more than ever. All he could do was keep his enemies close. And just then he didn't know who he could trust: lost boy, pirate, even his own shadow, but Felix he kept closest of all. No one could leave. Just to be safe. Just to keep her safe in her own reality, no one was allowed to leave.

Life continued on for Y/N. A bad dream didn't mean anything. Even so, she wore a small gold locket in the shape of an acorn most days from then on. It offered a sense of safety and protection she didn't fully understand.
While watching Henry later that week, she was introduced to a book. He told her animatedly about the stories inside of it and his "Operation Cobra." At first she was humoring him, listening as long as it kept him entertained. She thumbed through the pages, past Snow White and Pinocchio and Cinderella until she landed on a character she didn't recognize.
"Who's this?" She asked Henry, matching his energy.
    "That's Captain Hook."
    "This is Captain Hook?" She pointed skeptically at the leather clad pirate. "I like him better without the feathered hat," she smiled.
He smiled back. She flipped another page and faultered at what she saw. On the page in front of her was a scene she recognized and green eyes she thought she knew. It was Neverland, exactly as she had dreamed it the night before.
    "And who's that Henry?" She asked cautiously, fiddling with the golden charm around her neck.
    "Peter Pan."
    "And in Story Brooke who is he?"
    "Nobody, I don't think he's here. Why?" He paused at the look on her face, "what is it?"
    "Henry, I've seen him before."
    That night was an eventful one for Henry. Emma finally got fed up and tried to leave Storybrooke with him. He was back and safe by the time Y/N saw him. Regina wanted someone watching him, a friend. A friend she was willing to pay of course but Y/N wouldn't have minded anyway. Henry was a good kid, easy to look after. 
    That day, she found him in his bedroom, nose buried in his book. "Are you alright in there?"
    He didn't look up. "August needs help."
    "What's wrong with him?"
    "He's turned back into a puppet," he said as if it was a matter of fact.
    "I see." She sat with him and watched while he searched in his book.
    The idea of alternate realities had always made sense to Y/N. Other lands weren't too far-fetched of an idea either. The book's illustrations had been right about Neverland, but she hadn't read it through yet. Still, August literally being Pinocchio was difficult to wrap her mind around. She studied the pages over Henry's shoulder while he flipped through. She was going to ask about the Blue Fairy he had just closed the page on when she heard a muffled voice coming from the head of the bed.
    Henry reached under his pillow and pulled out a walkie talkie, one of the ones Grant had left to Emma. He held it to his ear and she couldn't quite make out words but Emma sounded worried on the other side.
    "Yeah," he was saying back, "I'll be over as soon as I can." He buried the speaker again and turned to Y/N. "That was Emma, can I go?"
    "Of course. I'll walk you."
    She helped him find shoes and a jacket and walked him down to Mary Margret's apartment. Once he was safely inside she turned and started back for Granny's Dinner. Henry was with his mom now, Y/N wasn't needed just then.
    She was helping Granny with the dinner rush when her phone rang. It was the mayor. She picked it up and heard a very upset Regina say that Henry had been rushed to the hospital, they needed someone there with him. She asked why, already halfway out the door. All she could hear on the other end was the bell to Mr Gold's shop and upset voices debating something about true love, and maybe a dragon, she couldn't be sure. She hung up the phone and ran to the Hospital.
    She made it inside just in time to see Emma and Regina each have a moment with Henry, saying goodbye before they rushed out.
    She slipped quietly into the room after them. On the table, by Henry's head, sat his book. She held it gently but couldn't bring herself to open it. She looked back at Henry with monitors looming overhead, an oxygen mask on his face and tubes and wired criss-crossing his body. Y/N wasn't entirely sure what was going on but it broke her heart. He looked so helpless just then.
    She couldn't be sure how long she sat there before there was a warm hand on her shoulder. Mary Margret sat softly beside her and slipped the book from her hands. She opened it to a picture of Snow White and the seven dwarfs. Without any explanation, she began to read aloud the story of Snow White and her Prince Charming.
    Y/N studied Henry's face while she listened to the story. He was dreadfully still but he didn't look like he was in any pain. The story was long and much more complicated that Y/N remembered but the couple found each other in the end.
    Mary Margret closed the book and looked up. "Henry, when I gave you this book it was because I knew. I know life doesn't always have a happy ending. But I thought—"
    Whatever thought she was going to share was cut off by a sudden loud beeping. The monitors went off all at once.
    "Doctor Wale!" Y/N yelled.
    Both visitors were escorted out as the doctors as nurses tried to save a young life. It was very loud and Y/N was only vaguely aware of crying and holding Mary before it became all too quiet.
    The heart monitor had stopped its beeping.
Henry was dead.