Remember What We Had *Sequel to Remember the Rules*

A Painless Way of Life

Pan's POV

When I woke up, my face was wet. Were these... They couldn't be tears. Peter Pan doesn't cry, I thought. It's not in my skill set.

And yet here I was, with my face coated in streaks of saltwater the I'd had no control over. I wiped the blasphemous wetness on the blankets, shivering slightly. I'd taken off my vest to sleep and the undershirt did nothing to protect from the cold, as it was a thin tank top. Immediately, the temperature rose to a comfortable level. Hook knew about the island's connection to my emotions and losing control would be a very bad thing.

Speaking of... Someone wasn't playing by the rules. Emma's pain was the only game I was interested in, and nobody cheated me. I pulled on my vest (it was clean... ish...), realizing the redundancy as I did so. I would only be changing out of it later. When I looked like my normal self again, minus the tear tracks, I transported to the camp.

Felix was already awake. He was sitting on a log, looking blankly into the coals. A branch cracked when I shifted my weight and he jumped, like I'd startled him. Strange. Is he up this early every day? Wakeup wasn't for another forty minutes. Whatever, it was a good thing.

"Pan," he said in acknowledgement. "You're here early."

"So are you. We have a situation." I explained the plan and he nodded in understanding. "Alright, get the boys and be there in five minutes. I never thought I'd say this, but we have a time limit."

I went into Henry's tent myself. The boy slept on, oblivious to my presence. "Hello, Henry," I said quietly. "I need to borrow those for a bit."

With a thought, I was dressed in Henry's clothes and he in mine. After all, the "heroes" were looking for him, not me. There wasn't much risk, but to be safe I'd had Felix leave three boys behind to keep him here. He wouldn't try to escape, that much was sure. Henry was a smart boy, he always had been; he knew he had no chance of getting anywhere on my island. I transported to the old campsite to wait for the "heroes."

Well it's not as though I would resort to actually hurting the kid, I-- or rather, Pietro-- thought. Not only does he need to believe that I have his best interests at heart, but Rosalie cared about the kid more than she'd ever admitted, which meant that Lily did too. If she was with the boys and me now, she would most likely see him as a replacement for Michael, who she'd always doted on. She'd probably be angry with me for that whole thing with the Darlings, too, come to think of it. I'd have a lot of making up (not apologizing of course, just making it up to her) to do when I finally found her. No, not groveling or begging. I had standards.

But I would find her.

"No one's here," someone said. I relaxed, slipping almost effortlessly into the role of the villain. "Maybe your spell was wrong, Regina."

"Yes, blame me again," another woman snapped. The evil queen, I presumed. The group was quiet for a moment; I assumed they were looking around and an amused grin spread across my face. They hadn't even seen me yet, and they thought they would be able to beat me?

Right on cue, Emma gasped. "Guys, hold on. Is that... Henry!"

I turned toward her. "Hi Emma," I said sweetly. Innocence was a good look on me, or so I'd been told.

"Where the hell is Henry?" she demanded.

Okay, this woman was hilarious. She came to my island, took up my time, hurt my Rosalie, and had the gall to demand answers.