Lost and Found

Peter Pan Never Fails

"Fuck." Devin muttered, letting his head drop.

Y/N's eyes were wide with fear. "We- I..." She trailed off.

"Out. Now." Pan growled.

The mermaid and the lost boy scrambled out of the water, Devin still shirtless and Y/N desperately trying to tug her long shirt to cover her bare legs while covering her chest at the same time, the wet material clinging to her body.

Peter simply scoffed. "I leave for hardly two hours, and this is what I come back to?" He turned to Devin. "Well, you've seen her. You know what she is. A mermaid." He spat the last word out with the same tone one would use to describe a good-for-nothing drunk. "You do see what she's done, haven't you?" Pan laughed. "She's lured you in. She doesn't have any feelings for you; you're her prey."

Devin's eyes widened, and he turned towards Y/N. "Did you- Was I really..."

She shook her head rapidly, eyes widened with hurt at Pan's accusations.

"She's lying to you." Pan said in a matter-of-fact voice. "Because that's what mermaids do. They lie to you, lure you in, and then devour you whole. She's just like every other monster out in that ocean."

---

"I'm not, you know."

Devin risked looking up, and the moment he did, he regretted it. Between the woven branches of the cage, a pair of eyes sparkled sadly. He set the food he had brought for Y/N down. "No. You're trying to trick me."

"Devin, I swear I'm not. I'm not like them. I'm human too."

He shook his head. "But not human enough." With those words, he turned and left.

Devin's words were a direct blow to her heart. The devastating part was that he was right. So painfully right. Heartbroken, Y/N reached a slender hand through the woven slats of the cage towards the food. Carefully, she picked up an apple. She turned it in her hands, and to her surprise there was a message carved in the flesh. I believe you. I'll break you out tonight. Y/N  sighed in relief. He didn't hate her. But his words still echoed in her mind. Not human enough. He was right. Despite appearance, she stood out to much in other ways to ever fit in. Where there wasn't land, there was sea, right? Well that was just as dangerous, if not more, than land. The pure mermaids knew. They could tell in an instant that she was an outcast. Even in Neverland, a place for children who don't belong, she couldn't fit in. Pan could see it. He had taken and would take every chance possible to exploit her weakness. Her fear that no one wanted her. That no one loved her.

She had never once met anyone who got under her skin as much as Peter Pan. For the most part she ignored him, but on various occasions she was compelled to speak her mind. There were multiple things about him that she disliked, but quite near the top was that he expected to be worshipped like some sort of god. The older boys on the island, save for Devin (but even that was a rare occasion), admired him, murderous acts and all. The younger ones were simply easily influenced. Thankful to Pan for taking them away from their old lives, they followed him with a blind veneration. They believed that the horrible things he did were justified and morally right. It was more than a little sickening that he could force two boys to beat each other nearly to death for his amusement and crown the victor.

Then of course, there was the fact that Pan constantly pointed out the opposite gender's supposed "inferiority". He'd always make casual remarks about how much slower and weaker girls were compared to boys. On top of that, whenever there was a hunt he would make her stay behind and do housework. Housework! Because hunting was supposedly a man's job and considered much to gory for a "lady". Whenever Pan would make such remarks, the boys would often laugh. What they found so humorous, Y/N could not fathom, especially since she had bested the same group of boys in multiple competitions.

And so, in that moment as she sat curled in the cage, Y/N decided that more than anything she needed to leave Neverland. Because Neverland, though shining in appearance, was a horrid and gruesome place run by a twisted and sadistic boy.

---

"Someone's jealous." Felix remarked as he watched Pan return from locking Y/N in a cage.

"I am not jealous. I just don't want Devin ruining my game." Peter said with disdain towards the boy who had quite nearly kissed his mermaid.

Felix scoffed. "And what's the prize for winning this game of yours? The girl? Because after all, you said it yourself, she means nothing to you. So why so up-in-arms about Devin?" When Pan didn't respond, he went on. "Is it because you want her to be yours alone? Because you don't want anyone else to have her but you? Because-"

"Felix," Pan's voice was cold as liquid nitrogen. (Which is -320 degrees Fahrenheit, btw.) "What did I say about asking questions about why the girl is here?"

It wasn't so much a question as a command to stop talking; Felix got the hint and wisely shut up. The problem was, he wasn't wrong. Pan knew it. In his attempts to understand her, it seemed that he had picked up other smaller details about her that he found charming. How she bit her lip when she was concentrating, or when she- No. He hated her. She was frustrating, vexatious, and irksome. She plagued his thoughts and was poisoning his mind. But he had to beat her. He would break her. He had already discovered what made her tick, and now all he had to do was disassemble her and put her back together the way he wanted. Because Peter Pan never fails.

"Felix."

"Yes?"

"I- Nevermind."

Pan shook his head. The moment Y/N had stepped foot on Neverland soil, he had fallen in love with her. He knew it. Felix was right, he was playing the game to win her love. There was simply nothing else this feeling could be. But he refused to believe it. He refused to admit to himself that he liked her. Because he couldn't. Peter Pan couldn't love. Love was a weakness, and he was not weak. He was fearless and dominant. The king of Neverland.

---

After Devin had sprung Y/N from her cage, they trekked across the island, hoping to find a place of hiding from Pan for her. During their hike, they chatted about this thing and that. A slight tropical breeze danced around the island, swirling around them frequently. The darkness made it tricky to maneuver across the untrodden and unfamiliar landscape, which was ridden with roots of trees, branches, and poisonous plants.

"I want to leave." Y/N opined firmly, standing still under the boughs of a large tree.

"You what?" Devin whipped round.

"I-I can't stay here, Devin." Y/N couldn't meet his eyes. The boy who had rescued her from Pan's clutches at the risk of his own life. But then again, she had done the same for him. "This place... It's driving me insane. I can't stay here." She repeated, eyes full of desperation.

Devin backtracked to where she stood, both of them oblivious to the figure up in the shadows of the tree. Peter Pan stared down from the boughs of his thinking tree, leaning against the trunk. So the mermaid had escaped with the traitor. He listened silently to their conversation from his hiding place in the darkness.

"Oh Y/N..." Devin wrapped his arms around the girl's waist as she stared up at him. "I bet I can make you want to stay." He smirked.

"Oh can you now?" Y/N grinned back, letting her arms wrap loosely around his neck. She bit her lip, blinking innocently up at him.

"Pan was right." Devin chuckled. "You are a femme fatale." He kissed the tip of her nose.

Peter was furious. He nearly blasted Devin with a fireball right then and there, but decided that that may be a tad overdramatic. He hadn't known it, but he had been playing to win her affections ever since she washed up on the shore of Skull Rock. Only for her to fall for someone else? A voice in the back of his mind muttered that being an asshole to her probably hadn't been the best plan of action, but he waved it away. He hadn't understood his feelings then. He did now. He watched from his hiding place as a confession fell from her perfect lips. But not for him. No. For Devin. He turned away as his lost boy captured the mermaid, his mermaid, in a kiss. It took all of Pan's self control to keep from flying down and ripping Devin's heart out. But he resisted. He was cleverer than that. Pan, for the first time in centuries, had lost his game. Which made him a rather sore loser. But whether or not he liked it, the game was over. And now it was time to reset the board.