Lost and Found

A Perfect Distraction

Pan sat with his head in his hands, legs dangling from the branch he was perched on. Y/N had long since run off to help the lost boys as they went about their daily chores. He himself had easily slipped away to his thinking tree.

The dreamshade. Granted, the very first thing he should have done was warn Y/N about the dangers of the poisonous thorns, but he hadn't and she had nearly died. However, strangely enough, that wasn't how she had been poisoned. There was no blood, no tear in her skin where she might have brushed past a dreamshade tangle and snagged skin. Her clothes hadn't been torn, and there hadn't been a trace of the dark poison anywhere on her body. The tendrils of poison had snaked across her stomach, winding upwards towards her heart from inside her body. It had to be dreamshade, but how she had gotten poisoned without coming in direct contact with the plant was beyond him. Unless... No. Who would do such a thing? The only way she could have possibly become poisoned without being pricked by the briars was to have somehow ingested the poison itself. 

But why did he care? He shouldn't care. How dare she manipulate his emotions like this! Feelings such as this had been the ones to leave him weakly and frail in his past life. How foolish it would be to let these emotions control him again. He yearned for the days before he had found the mermaid washed up on Skull Rock. The days when he had been in control of every aspect of his life; when everything would fall into place at the wave of his hand. Now everything was so complex, and he absolutely loathed it. Now it was all unpredictable. He didn't have a plan. He couldn't love her. Love... Dwelling on (and acting on,) thoughts such as these had resulted in his downfall, and he refused to make the same error more than once. Perhaps there was an incantation or a spell or something that he could do to make his life go back to the way it was and the newfound emotions for Y/N disperse...

The Shadow suddenly appeared, startling Pan out of his thoughts.

"There appears to be an usurper amongst your kingdom." It spoke seriously, hovering in the air in front of Pan.

"Yes. And what do you suppose I do about it?" Pan snapped, annoyed with the interruption of his thoughts.

"The one who threatens you only does so because he believes he has power. Take away his leverage and he will be acquiescent once again."

Pan was silent for a while, mulling over the Shadow's words.

The Shadow turned to leave, but spoke one last riddle. "May the boy king find his revenge before he finds his queen. Make haste, lest you find the one you have been searching for asleep in a sea of green." And with that, the Shadow was gone.

Revenge. Yes, that's what he needed. He was angry, nearly uncontrollably so. His rulership of Neverland had been threatened, and he wouldn't stand for it. Y/N, all premonitions, ideology, and emotions for her out the window, was a lost boy. Girl. Putting aside her attempt to escape, someone had meant to murder her in cold blood. She had been clearly poisoned, and whoever had made the move was, without uncertainty, dangerous to the others on the island. He would make an example of whoever the murder was. Poison was a craven's weapon. Their cowardice and insubordination was punishable by death, which is exactly what they would receive. The only thing that could calm Pan's temper now was seeing the head of the murderer on a stick.

---

Pan returned to camp, and the first thing his eyes found was Y/N. She was dressed in her usual clothes; linen shirt, corset, pants, and lace-up boots. Her hair was wavy from the saltwater, and danced in the breeze.

The sound of wood clattering to the floor of the camp drew Pan's attention. Devin stood at the edge of camp, a pile of firewood at his feet. His face was as pale as the clouds as he looked at Y/N. Pan narrowed his eyes. Devin and James had been gone since before the sun rose off chopping firewood. He guessed that as far as they knew, Y/N had never been gone. If that was true, then why did Devin look like he had seen a ghost? Unless...

Pan watched Devin approach Y/N, and the two slipped away into the forest. He followed them silently, listening to their conversation.

"So you decided to stay after all?" Devin asked, bumping his hand against Y/N's.

She ignored his attempt to hold her hand, and instead studied the ground. "Well... Someone wanted me to stay."

Devin stopped in his tracks, picking up the underlying meaning in her tone. "Someone... Other than me?" He asked, voice low.

Y/N rolled her eyes. "Don't be so childish. It's not like that. You know I would have rather died than stay here."

"And so you stayed because someone else asked you to?" Devin's arms crossed. "Because that person was able to convince you to stay, and I wasn't? Was I not enough for you?"

Ah, thought Pan. So, if he can't have her, no one can.

Y/N was quiet. "I told you, it's not like that."

"Then what is it like?" Devin's tone was crude and demeaning. "Please, dear, explain it to me. Tell me all about this man that is so wonderful that you just couldn't help but stay in a place you claimed you would rather die than be."

"I can't leave, okay!" Y/N's voice echoed through the forest as she screamed, her eyes filled with tears. "I am here because Pan won't let me leave! I DIED, DEVIN. And when I woke up, Pan was there. I AM HERE, not because I want to be, but because he won't let me leave. He kept me alive, just so he could bat me around in his game of cat and mouse. SO YES, I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN BE HERE WITH YOU!" She leaned against a tree, sobbing at the end of her tirade.

Pan breathed sharply. She was desperate. If he wasn't careful, she was liable to throw herself off a cliff. She was suffering, and it was his fault.

Devin, on the other hand, looked terrified. White as a ghost. And for good reason. He summoned all his dignity and strength, glared at the girl, then turned and walked back to camp. He could never abide the wailing of women anyway.

Death, it seemed, could not hold her. Not as long as Pan was around. Devin was becoming increasingly tired of Pan's outright protection of her. Sure, she was beautiful. But she was valuable. Devin, and the others, could plainly see Pan's protectiveness over the girl. Perhaps he wanted to sell her off to the highest bidder back wherever she came from. Or perhaps he wanted to fuck her. Either way, she was valuable leverage. As long as Devin controlled her, he controlled Pan. And as long as he controlled Pan, he was the King of Neverland.

But none of it mattered as long as Pan was alive.

---

That night, around the campfire, Devin sat near Y/N as he always did.

"Do you still want to escape? To leave?" He asked in tones that matched the shadows cast by the fire.

Y/N avoided his gaze, but nodded.

Devin hooked his finger under her chin and tilted her head up so she would meet his eyes. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier, darling. I ain't all that smart-"

"Nonsense." She replied, narrowing her eyes. "What's your plan?"

Devin's eyes swept the circle of lost boys dancing and hollering till he saw Pan standing, watching on the outside of the madness. "Pan won't let you leave the island. Even if you could manage it, he wouldn't allow it. You saw what happened. He poisoned you. He knew you planned to escape, so he poisoned your food. That way he could bring you back, claiming to have saved you. He would rather have you dead than let you leave this island. So the only way for you to escape, is to kill him."