Once Upon a Time 1. Wicked Grin

**A/N: This is what I imagine Once Upon a Time in Neverland would be like if they ever choose to make it. I loved the Neverland arc and the evil Peter Pan, but there were some details that they just glossed over and I ended up thinking "What the F-?" I decided to use these details to fill in the gaps and make sense of questions like why pixie dust was running out and how the hell they got a picture of Henry in the first place. This is my take of how Peter evolves into the heartless and powerful being he is, and his journey to finding the Truest Believer.**

_**Follow the Lady**_

_Chapter 1: Wicked Grin_

I put my head against the tree and hang my legs off the branch. It has been three weeks since the shadow took Rumple away at the foot of this very tree. I close my eyes, listening to the ocean waves pull back and forth at the island. I promised him we would start over together with no burdens or restraints. _And I broke that promise_. There was no way I could live the life I wanted with him around. _A child can't have a child._

A rustling in the branches above snaps me out of my thoughts and I grab my dagger, ready to strike at whatever appears. But when I look up, the branches sway gently back and forth as though it was just the wind that disturbed them. "Huh," I let out, putting my dagger away and hopping down the tree. Recalling that the shadow was previously the sole inhabitant of Neverland, I tell myself it's my imagination.

I begin walking back towards the forest when I catch a sudden movement from the corner of my eye. Before I know it, the cold blade of a dagger is against my throat and a quiet breathing in my ear.

"Who are you?" An undeniably female voice breathes in my ear.

"I'm Peter… Peter Pan," I respond. I feel her free hand remove the dagger from my belt and toss it away, then pull the phial of pixie dust from around my neck. "I didn't know there were thieves on Neverland."

She comes out from behind me and narrows her blue eyes, pushing her dagger forward and forcing me back against the tree. Her black ponytail ruffles when an ocean breeze passes by, and for a second she looks beautiful… until her dagger cuts into my skin and I feel a small trickle of blood down my throat. "So you're the one who's been using all the Pixie Dust. Why are you here?"

"I live here."

"Impossible!" She scoffs, "No one can stay in Neverland."

I lean forward slightly and whisper to her, "I can." Before she can respond, the shadow appears suddenly and pulls her off me, knocking her dagger away and pinning her to the ground. I walk over to her and wrangle the pixie dust out of her hand.

"The shadow listens to you?" She stares at me, eyes wide with shock.

I smirk and circle around her. "Let's say that Neverland belongs to me now."

She stares at me for a moment, her unblinking eyes following me like a hawk's as she registers what I said. Then, she gives me a wicked smile as if she knows something that I don't. "For how long?"

"What?"

"I saw that skull island and the hour glass inside it," she reveals. "That wasn't there before, so it seems you have an expiration date." My confidence must be shaking because the shadow's hold on the girl weakened. With a push of her hand, an invisible wave pushes the shadow away from her. She has magic.

I back away from her and open the phial, preparing to fly away.

"Don't waste your pixie dust." She picks up her dagger and puts it away. "It seems we can use each other's help."

I glare at her skeptically, unsure of what her intentions are. "How so?"

"You have a time limit, which I'm guessing wasn't what you expected when you arrived here." She says, taking out her hair band and shaking the leaves out of hair. "I need pixie dust, but new pixie flowers aren't growing anymore now that you are tied to the island." She side-glanced at me with an annoyed expression, "Idiot thing to do, really."

I snort at her comment. "Why not just kill me and sever that tie then?"

"Because that's not how these things work," she approaches me and I step back, not yet trusting her. "If you die, so does the island and I can't have that happen."

She steps closer until she is only a foot away from me. I stop backing away, not wanting her to see that I am intimidated by her… and her magic. "All right then, but how can you help me with my problem? And what will we do when we run out of pixie dust?"

"It's all related," she responds, "with my magic and knowledge, we can solve your problem. When you become immortal, the pixie flowers will no longer be needed to fuel you and they will start growing again…"

"…and you can have as much of it as you want." I say, voicing the unspoken part of her thought.

"You make me sound greedy," she smirks and I chuckle dryly at her. "So, it's a deal then. I help you become immortal, and you allow me as much pixie dust as I need—"

"—afterwards." I cut her off. Now knowing that the amount of pixie flowers in Neverland is finite, I have to control the amount of dust used. "If the amount really is limited, then we can't waste it."

"I'm sure we will find time to discuss the details," she replies, waving away my observation with her hand. "In the meantime," she kneels, picking a fallen blossom from the ground and storing it in a pouch on her belt, "I'm sure you can spare one flower."

I nod as she heads towards the shore, taking a fluorescent object from a pocket.

"You will be seeing me again." She throws the bean into the waves, opening a portal sucking in water and sand.

"And when you return, what am I to call you?"

"When I was younger, they called me Mabel; Mab for short."

I raise an eyebrow. "And what do they call you now?"

She turns back to me, giving that wicked grin again before disappearing into the portal.

"The Black Fairy."

**A/N: I thought the Black Fairy would be a brilliant character to know more about and a great source for Peter's unexplained power and knowledge. I didn't want to keep reading fanfics with OCs or Alternate Universes, so this is what I stitched up to explain some of the gaps and loopholes without deviating from the show. I wanted to find a dark fairy in mythology, but the only one I could think of was Queen Mab. When I looked her up on Wikipedia, I found out that J.M. Barrie referenced her in one of his books, ****The Little White Bird****. Queen Mab granted Peter a wish after he lost his ability to fly, and he wishes he can fly again. I thought it was fitting to give the Black Fairy the same name. Hope you guys liked it! Otherwise I'm going to delete and discontinue the story and cry…**


	2. The Mystic Eye

**A/N: I probably won't be able to update very often since I'm starting grad school soon. I'm a little disappointed at the few number of reviews from the first chapter, but I understand that certain genres gain more attention and unfamiliar characters attract less. I actually fill in a lot more gaps in this chapter than I expected to. You get some insight of Peter's history before abandoning Rumple as well as an explanation for one of the major events to occur in the Enchanted Forest that was also glossed over. ****I updated this to be Wendy/Peter as well. I didn't intend to have any romance in my first draft, but I realized it was a good opportunity to give Pan more depth. It'll be a while before we get to meet her though.**

_**Follow the Lady**_

_Chapter 2: The Mystic Eye_

"Hurry up!" She pulls at me impatiently. I purposely lean back, making it more difficult for her to drag me through the streets.

It's been so many years since we've met that I've lost count. For some reason, Mab had relocated to Neverland soon after. She won't tell me the whole story, but it seems that her wand and wings were taken away by the Fairy Guild and Neverland is one of the few realms they have no oversight. I also learned how impatient and imperious she is. She's always admonishing me about my use of Pixie Dust, even though it's _my_ island. When I ask what she's using it for, she always dodges the question. She thinks I haven't noticed, but her consumption of the dust has increased over the past year.

I use my shadow to stay informed of the events of the Enchanted Forest, so I've never needed to return in person. I was surprised when Mab told me to go back with her.

"Stop it." She demands when I yank my arm away.

"Why are we here?"

She glares at me and sighs with irritation. "I found something that will help us—_you _more specifically."

I roll my eyes and allow her to continue dragging me through the crowded streets until a small curtained booth is before us. A sign hangs from the top, reading "The Mystic Eye" with a man in front calling out to passersby, "Come see your future with the Mystic Eye! In town today only! Love, fortune, and power! Anything you want to know for three shillings!"

"You're joking," I mutter under my breath. This is obviously a scam and judging from the fact that he has no customers, everyone else knows it too. I turn away, ready to move on to what we're _really_ here for when the trickster sees us.

"Ah, young sweethearts wanting to know their future? Step inside for a few shillings to see if your love is meant to be!" He calls to us, motioning towards the booth.

I snort, about to walk away when Mab grasps my hand and holds out several coins for him.

"What are you doing?" I exclaim, pulling her back and grabbing the coins away. "This is obviously a con!"

To my surprise, she presses her body against my arm and smiles coyly at me. In all our years together in Neverland, she's never shown interest towards me nor behaved so flirtatiously. Confused and somewhat disgusted, I pull away from her only to feel her grip tighten.

"Indulge me just this once, _Darling_," she says through clenched teeth. I purse my lips and toss the shillings to the scammer.

"What the lady wants, the lady always gets," he snickers as he ushers us through the curtains, "you have ten minutes."

Mab releases me immediately as soon as the curtain falls.

"Really?" I scoff, "What was that?"

"We don't want to look suspicious, do we? The only way to blend in is to pretend to be lovers or siblings," she retorts, "and we look _nothing_ alike."

"That's it?" I sneer sarcastically, "For a second I thought you were actually _attracted _to me."

She shoots me a condescending look. "A middle-aged man-child who plays make-believe all day? No thanks."

I grit my teeth and respond with a fake smile before looking around. The inside of the booth is larger than the exterior exhibits, perhaps enhanced by magic. Opposite the entrance is another section separated by a blue veil, a small human form sitting behind it. Mab pulls me towards the Mystic Eye and a young girl's voice reaches my ears. "I knew you would come, Peter Pan, or should I say _Malcolm?_"

I stop. _How does she know my name?_ I haven't even told Mab my real name. The fairy turns to me and frowns in confusion. "Malcolm?"

"I'll explain later," I respond hastily.

"Come closer beyond the veil so that I may see your future clearly," the child calls.

I step forward obediently, but Mab grabs my arm and pulls me back. "Let me make this clear," she says to the figure, "we only want our questions answered. No extra details or anything."

The girl's figure nods its head and I pull back the veil, expecting to see a crystal ball or tarot cards, but there are none. On a platform, the girl sits on a velvet armchair. She is eleven, maybe twelve years old and has long, combed hair and large blue eyes. She first looks at Mab, then turns towards me. A shiver runs down my spine under her gaze and I comprehend that she already knows everything about me: my secrets and ambitions.

Realizing I was holding my breath, I let out a long exhale when Mab speaks.

"We want to know how to save him," she motions towards me, "from his fate when the hourglass in Neverland runs out."

The girl smiles hauntingly, her eyes never leaving me. "Impossible."

My stomach lurches. _Impossible?_

Mab doesn't buy it and raises her hand and forms a claw, choking the girl with magic. The seer grabs at her throat, gasping for air and wheezing.

"Stop it!" I cry, grabbing Mab's shoulders and turning her away from the child. Her magic grip breaks and I hear the girl sharply inhale. "What are you doing?"

The fairy looks at me with wide eyes and shoves me away. "You'll need to learn to stomach these things if you want to change your fate." She turns back to the Mystic Eye. "I won't ask again." Her tone is dangerous and more a warning to me than the seer.

The girl looks up at Mab, then her eyes dart around the room as if something were lurking inside the walls. She takes an inhumanly deep breath and lets her vision pour from her mouth, "The only way to become immortal is to obtain the heart of the Truest Believer." Her eyes stop on me and she finishes, "If you can absorb his heart as your own, you will be saved from the laws of the hourglass."

I sigh with relief. "Great, how do we find him?"

"That, I do not know. I can only see his face."

Hearing this, Mab takes some blank parchment from her pocket. Before she pulls out her dagger, she sternly tells me with a reluctant, almost regretful look in her eyes, "Don't stop me."

Before I can ask for an explanation, she cuts through the seer's eyes with two slashes. The girl lets out a bloodcurdling scream, scratching at Mab's fingers digging into her eye sockets.

"Mab, don't!" I shout in horror as she pulls her fingers out of the child's eyes and drips the blood onto the parchment. The drops swirl into lines and form into a face, the Truest Believer's. This is the first time I've seen the infamous Black Fairy use dark magic, and I now understand why she is exiled.

The girl falls to the floor, sobbing and clutching at the sockets where she once could see. Mab breathes heavily and looks down at the pitiful creature, now curled in a fetal position. "I'm sorry," she whispers, but the apology isn't heard over the girl's whimpers. She takes out a white handkerchief and wipes the blood off her hands.

"Ay!" The Mystic Eye frontman lifts the entrance curtains and shouts, attracted by the seer's howl. "What's going on in there?"

"She's just… so heartbroken that our romance ends tragically," Mab responds in a broken voice, stuffing the crimson-stained handkerchief into her tunic. Even though she spoke a lie, I'm unsure if her remorse is genuine or not.

"Time's almost up," he grunts and lets the curtain fall again.

Mab wipes her nose and for a second I think she's crying, but she shakes her head and turns towards me as if it nothing happened, "Well, that's that. Let's go." Her ability to return to her normal self after such a violent event so quickly baffles me. _How does she do it? _

She heads towards the exit when I grab her arm. I open and close my mouth, wanting to scream at her, but the only sounds I hear are the sobs from the blind girl on the floor.

"Meet me by the town gates," Mab says before rushing out. She bursts through the curtains continuing our façade as lovers, crying, "_Oooohhhh, he doesn't loooooveee meeeeee_!"

I look down at the seer, wanting to help her but not knowing how. In the back of my mind, I know I'll get caught if I stay any longer and be accused of blinding her. As I'm about to run after Mab, the girl grabs my foot.

"Follow the lady!" She gasps.

"Wh—What?" I stutter, bewildered that she knows where my foot is and wondering how my card trick is important.

"She is the only one who can save you from your fate."

I swallow. _What does she mean?_ In the distance, I hear an announcement, "Our heroes from the Ogres War are here to seek the Mystic Eye!"

"Go!" The seer urges. Not needing to be told twice, I bolt out of the booth.

The soldiers approach leading a large wooden cage through the town gates to transport the soon-to-be urchin. I run in the opposite direction. _She'll be mad that I'm taking the long way, but at least I won't be captured when they find the girl. _As I add distance between the seer and myself, I hear the soldiers tell the frontman that the girl is to be recruited to the battlefield.

"I can't believe you just did that," I say. We arrived back in Neverland, not speaking a word since leaving the seer. Maybe I was too shocked or my efforts to keep from vomiting made it impossible for me to talk, but being back home seemed to return my voice.

Mab leans against a tree and allows her body to slide to the ground. Releasing a long sigh, she looks at me with tired eyes. "I've done a lot of things, Peter."

She squeezes her eyes shut and turns her face away from me, but I can see the glimmer of a tear escape. Though Mab appears young, she has more years weighing on her than most people have in a lifetime. I can't imagine what dark events have exiled her from the Fairy Guild and pushed her to hide in Neverland, but she has many regrets.

"Mab…" I sit next to her and put my arm around her shoulders. I rest my chin on her head, the sound of sniffles escaping while her body gently heaves and drops with each breath. It seems like hours pass by while we sit there in silence, listening to the wind rustle through the branches. As easy as it would be to scorn her for her cruelty, I know that Mab has a good heart. _I have no right to judge her._

I reflect on my own past and how I charmed an innocent girl into giving up her life by eloping with me. After my father sold me, I was forced to work long days maneuvering coal into burners and subject to frequent beatings. I fell in love with the blacksmith's daughter and convinced her to steal her father's money so we could run away together. Consumed by my promise of adventure and romance, she agreed and left with me. We intended to travel the world and live freely without burdens, but our recklessness left us penniless with a baby boy to raise. A few years later, my gambling and drinking habits drove her away and left Rumple in my care. He was always fed and clothed by his mother, so the responsibility of being a father was foreign to me. I tried to abandon him on several occasions but felt too ashamed to leave him for very long. Finally, I met the spinsters. They seemed like promising guardians, so when I left Rumple with them, I didn't intend to return.

A snore breaks the silence and I look down at the fairy next to me. _She fell asleep! _I loosen my embrace and shove her off me.

"Wh-What?" She pushes herself off the ground groggily. "What happened?"

"You fell asleep!" I stand up and point at her accusingly. "I thought you were crying!"

She rubs her eyes and furrows her brows in annoyance. "Ridiculous. I don't cry."

I snort in disbelief. Here I am, trying to be a good friend because she was upset, but she's too prideful to admit that she has any vulnerable moments. Giving her a moment to gather herself, I recall what the seer told me as I left. "She told me to 'Follow the lady' and that it's the only way to save me. What did she mean?"

Mab stands and faces me with a frown. "I told her no extra details. Maybe the Truest Believer loses his heart to you in a gamble with that old parlour trick," she snorts. "The gift of foreknowledge always comes in the form of puzzles. We can only know her meaning when the time draws near."

I nod and push the seer's advice to the back of my mind. Mab will be able to discern it in the future.

She looks up at the almost dark sky. "I need to go."

"Where?"

"Don't worry about it," she shrugs.

I grab her arm before she can leave and lean towards her. "We're in this together and you can't keep hiding everything from me," I say. "Whatever you did with that girl was frightening and I don't want to be involved in things I don't understand anymore! You need to tell me what's going on."

Her eyes scan my face with doubt for a moment. _She still doesn't trust me._

"I can't let you keep taking Pixie Dust without explanations." My tone is firm and she narrows her eyes.

"Fine," she tugs her arm free from my grasp, "It'll take a few months before anyone lets me near her, but I'm going to free the girl."

I rub my chin, wondering if they took her even with her clairvoyant vision gone. "She can't see anymore. She's no use to the army without her eyes."

"Clairvoyance is a very persistent gift," says the fairy, brushing the dirt off her pants, "Her eyes will grow back… just not on her head."

I bite my lip, trying to make sense of the information. Magic defies the logic that most people understand and I haven't seen enough to adequately process its possibilities. "So she can still see the future? Then they can use her to win the Ogres War!"

"Which is why I must free her."

_That makes no sense._ The ogres first attacked a year ago, being more organized than ever thought possible. Many kingdoms in the Enchanted Forest united to fight them off, but the results have been dismal. Each day, soldiers would fall and villages would burn. Even if the fate of the seer is to suffer in a cage, surely it's worth it to save everyone else. "I don't understand. She can end everyone's suffering."

"But I can't lose the war!" Mab exclaims with frustration. She pulls out the folded parchment with the portrait of the Truest Believer and hands it to me. "Here, you should keep this while I'm gone."

She disappears in a cloud of black smoke, a green sparkle falling towards the ground. I kneel down to pick up the phial as the cruel reality dawns on me. _Mab is behind the Ogres War._

_And she's been using Pixie Dust to win._

**A/N: This is ultimately an origins story, not just for Peter Pan but for several unexplained aspects of the show. OUAT uses the Ogres War to drive several important plots involving Rumplestiltskin and Baelfire, so I figured it'd be nice to know more about it. **

**Yes, this seer is the very same one that Rumple meets while at war. I'm sure she wasn't born with stitched up eyes and didn't escape by herself. It was the perfect opportunity to show the type of dark magic that got the Black Fairy exiled as well as explain the portrait of Henry in Pan's possession. I thought it was really cheap that OUAT didn't expand on Pan's knowledge of the Truest Believer.**

**I thought it would be funny for Mab to take a jab at Peter the same way he called Hook a "one-handed pirate with a drinking problem." You can assume that her sarcasm and smart mouth is based on the show's depiction of Peter to illustrate that she rubbed off on him over the time they've spent together.**

**Hope you enjoyed! Please review so I'll know if it's worth my time to update this.**


	3. The Human Heart

_**Follow the Lady**_

_Chapter 3: The Human Heart_

Just as when I was a boy, children still visit Neverland in their dreams. At first, I took them on adventures, exploring the island and make-believing we're characters in stories. Coming from different realms, their imaginations ran wild and clashed with each other, creating the most interesting results. If there is one thing I've learned from indulging them, it's that every child wants to be a hero. Time moves at different paces between the varying realms, allowing children to stay for a single night to as long as a few weeks, but they always leave. It's been six months since Mab left, so I sent the shadow to search for her a few days ago. I'll never admit it out loud, but she has become like family to me and Neverland our home. No amount of dreaming children can ever replace the steady presence she has become in my life.

I'm standing on Marooner's Rock, taunting the mermaids when the shadow appears. I fly away from the hands trying to pull me underwater to meet him at Skull Rock, eager for news about Mab.

"She is trapped in the Diamond Mines," the dark silhouette says. "It has been caved in and the army is trying to break through."

My supernatural bond with the shadow connects me to his knowledge, allowing me to visualize the army clearing away a rock slide. The image shifts to the side of the mountain, revealing an open cave in the middle of a steep cliff that can't be reached by soldiers. _This is my entrance._

I head back to the forest to fill up my phial with dust before taking off towards the Enchanted Forest.

Upon entering the cave, the light disappears after the first turn. I clutch the phial around my neck and open it, light bursting forth and illuminating the walls. I follow the glowing dust through turns and forks formed by the paths. As I walk deeper in the cave, I see unearthed gems start to appear on the cave walls and ceilings. To my dread, the sound of men screaming and monsters growling grows with the increasing amount of shining rocks on the walls. I draw nearer, these horrifying sounds building with each step I take. A sudden smash echoes through the cave and I back away, the dust glowing fainter as my resolve weakens. A scream follows... a women's scream. _It must be her!_ I run forward, pushing my fear to the back of my mind, and the dust once again glows brightly. I turn a fork and see light in the distance. The shadow of an abnormally large humanoid monster smashing a club flickers on the rocks.

"Don't! Grumpy!" The woman's voice cries. I slow down, realizing that isn't Mab's voice. I walk upon the scene of an ogre smashing its club at the five dwarves surrounding him. The dwarves have confused him, making distracting sounds so he cannot properly locate any of their whereabouts and effectively strike at them. Against the wall behind the ogre is a woman wearing a frilly pink dress, crying and cradling a bearded dwarf in her arms. The bearded dwarf is unconscious, blood running down the side his face. Behind the fight, I see two fallen ogres piled on top each other and Mab, cornered by two other dwarves armed with pickaxes. Behind the dwarves is a tipped cauldron, orange liquid spilled everywhere.

I hide behind a rock, watching as the ogre is struck down and two of the dwarves push a boulder from an above cliff, crushing the ogre's head. I slowly move forward as the other five dwarves join their fellows, ready to strike at Mab if she makes any sudden movements.

"Give it up! You're surrounded!" One wearing glasses threatens.

"We don't often rough up ladies, but you give us no choice," says another. I quietly rush to the boulder that had smashed the ogre's skull, careful to avoid stepping in the gray ooze coming from what used to be a brain. A putrid smell of rotten fish and dirty socks reaches my nose, and I fight the urge to vomit.

Mab pulls a face at them, "Like any lady would _want _to be touched by you."

The dwarf growls and jumps forward, pressing the sharp tip of his axe to her throat.

"You actually wanted to elope with one of these repulsive creatures?" She says in a disgusted tone to the pink fairy.

The woman in pink, gathering herself from her sobs replies, "It's not too late, Black. You can come home with us and start over." She gently lays the bearded dwarf's head on the ground and joins the others. "I know you still have good in you! I believe in you!"

"We have different definitions of what is good," Mab responds dryly. Her eyes dart to the now dead ogre and lands on me. Her eyes widen in surprise, but her expression is quickly replaced with a smile as I edge closer to the large cauldron and hide behind it.

The pink fairy puts a hand on the shoulder of the dwarf with his pickaxe against Mab's throat, allowing him to relax. "Your human heart has been blinded by hate!" _What? _I push any questions to the back of my mind for later and watch for Mab's signal. "If you come home, it can be purified and cleansed. You can _start over._"

Mab looks to me and I know that it's almost time for me to make my move. "That's the problem. Unlike a fairy's, a human's heart is always changing. Even if you purify it, it will be tainted again." Mab suddenly pushes the pickaxe near her throat with a burst of strength, the dwarf falling backwards. She quickly lifts her hand and blows poppy dust into the pink fairy's face, causing her to fall asleep before she can raise her wand. I fly out from my hiding spot and grab Mab by the hand, lifting her up seconds before the pickaxes crash down where she was standing. "My hero," Mab exclaims gratefully, a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

"You have some explaining to do," I respond dryly, my arms now wrapped securely around her as I follow the remaining Pixie Dust out the caves.

Once out of the darkness, we see the army break through the rockslide and flood into the mines. We fly away, the screeches of the ogres trapped in the mountain fading into the wind. Villages and fields passing by below us, I choose to stop on a small cliff overseeing a lake and release her once our feet are on the ground.

"Did you miss me?" she asks playfully as if we were reuniting after a leisure trip, but I can't get the pink fairy's words out of my mind.

"What did the Pink Fairy mean when she said you have a human heart?"

Mab frowned. "You heard that, did you?"

"Before you left, I told you that you can't keep hiding things from me," I take a seat on a nearby stump, "Now's the time to start talking."

"Fine," she grumbles and sits on the edge of the cliff, looking out at the water. "I wasn't always a fairy."

Expecting her to continue, I wait a few minutes in silence, but her eyes glaze over as her mind wanders elsewhere. "I was assuming there would be more to this."

"Oh, shut up and let me gather my thoughts!" She exclaims in irritation. Taking a deep breath, she begins her story. "I wasn't always a fairy. I was a human once, a long time ago..." She takes another breath. It must have been a long time ago since she last spoke or thought of her past, because her tone is uncertain. "My mama and papa were farmers, like everyone else in the village. I don't remember too much, almost like everything before was wiped away before the attack. I can't even remember their faces."

I swallow, an understanding guilt building up in my chest. I have trouble remembering my past as well. Having sold me as a child, I remember my father as if he were a villain from a storybook. He has no face in my memories.

"Bandits came and killed everyone. My parents hid me in a hole under the floor boards, and I saw him kill my parents through a crack. I saw his face." She looked towards the sky, clenching her fists. "I can't remember the faces of my parents, but I will never forget his."

A tear slips out of her eye, and I hand her a handkerchief from my pocket. "That couldn't have been easy."

"It wasn't," she laughs uncomfortably. "I managed to scrape by though."

"How did you survive?"

She pauses before responding. "The company of young girls is… highly demanded." I shift uneasily at this revelation of Mab's sufferings. "One day, I stole an expensive looking box from one of my… patrons. He was so drunk, he didn't even know it was missing when he left. I thought it was going to have something exotic that I could sell on the black market for a high price. It contained a magic lamp."

I furrow my brows in confusion. "What does it do?"

"It contains a genie, a person who can grant you three wishes," she explains. "My first two wishes must have been trivial, because I don't remember them. But for my third wish, I asked for magic. I wanted to protect and help others from suffering with my power."

"And that's how you became a fairy," I finish for her.

She nods in confirmation. "I did small tasks mostly, like making soil fertile for farmers or leading lost travelers onto the right path. That's how the Fairy Guild found me, though. They said that my heart was in the right place, but I can't get too involved and change the natural course of the earth just to help people, like changing the soil."

"Is that when they exiled you?"

"No, they actually took me in to guide me and become one of them. I found out all the other fairies are assigned colors when they are born, but my birth was unnatural. I am colorless, which is why I am the Black Fairy." She recalls bitterly. "I was so happy at first, like it was a dream come true to join the Fairy Guild. I didn't understand why we had to exercise restraint in our use of magic, but I followed the rules."

An angry expression passes through her face briefly. "What changed?" I ask.

She looks down at her lap and bites her lip. "One day, I heard a child crying. When fairies are meant to help others, they can hear their hearts cry for help, so I followed his sound. It led me to the middle of a village raid, and he was hiding in a blacksmith's shop. I found him just as his sister was struck down protecting him. I told their attacker to stop, but when I saw him…" Her eyes glare hard at the forest before us, as if trying to set it on fire. "It was him, the same bandit who killed my parents." She sucks in a deep breath through her teeth. "He was older, but it was him. I could never forget his face."

Surprised at this twist, I ask the obvious question. "Did you kill him?"

She shakes her head, "After everything the fairies taught me, I knew I shouldn't, but I still tried to. I grabbed a dagger and struck him, but he still got away." She starts plucking the grass from the ground angrily at the memory. "I went to the sea goddess, Ursula, and made her a deal. In exchange for some stolen Fairy Dust, she placed the most unbearable curse on him."

"What was it?"

"To bind his will to the dagger I used to draw his blood. She said he would become the most powerful being in all the realms, but that he would be a slave to whomever possesses the dagger." After staring into the distance for so long, Mab finally turns to me. "I don't have a fairy's heart because I wasn't born a fairy. They are pure from the beginning and impossible to be tainted, no matter what evil falls upon them. My heart was already touched by darkness when I became a fairy. I didn't want to be restrained from doing what was right anymore, so I used him, the bandit, to stop wars, save those who can't defend themselves, and purge the world of evil. During that time, true peace was achieved in the Enchanted Forest."

"I'm assuming the Guild wasn't fond of your methods," I comment.

Scoffing, she responds, "No, they weren't. They said that the people were living in fear and calling him _The Dark One_. I refused to stop, so they exiled me and took my wand and wings away."

I heard of the Dark One as a child. He was used to frighten naughty children as a warning of what would happen if they misbehaved. "What happened to him?"

"When they exiled me, my magic weakened. He managed to escape with the dagger."

I nod, finally understanding why this war was so important to her. "And now, you want to reform the Fairy Guild so you can achieve complete peace again."

She explains to me that she was feeding the ogres Pixie Dust to make them more resilient against Fairy magic, and she intended to take over the mines to eliminate the Guild's source of power.

"And now what? You lost the mines."

Her mood suddenly changed, becoming more lighthearted and cheery. "I lost _one _mine but now have three others under my control," she reveals, jumping to her feet happily. "Our attack on that one was primarily to distract the army while we took over the ones the Guild had yet to excavate. Now, I can use the diamonds in their purest form to empower the ogres instead of Pixie Dust and the fairies will soon suffer a shortage."

I take a moment to process all this information. Mab must have been plotting this war for years, every maneuver carefully planned out.

"Any more questions?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.

I shake my head, a mix of pity and terror swirling in my emotions. Mab is the one who had the Dark One created, making her the darkest of fairies. Fairies are known to be powerful but very restraining in their use of magic. Mab's willingness to exercise it so readily makes her more frightening and possibly more powerful than any other in the Enchanted Forest.

As if reading my thoughts, Mab attempts to put my mind at ease. "Don't worry, I'm nowhere near as powerful as when I had my wand. If I had it, I wouldn't even need Pixie Dust anymore."

I nod warily, then smile as an odd image forms in my mind. "Mab, did you used to wear one of those frilly dresses?"

I shield myself as she showers me with a flurry of slaps. After I collect myself from my laughter and Mab relents her smacking, she brings out a small bottle filled with an orange liquid, the same one that was spilled from the cauldron.

"What is that?"

"This," she holds the bottle up, "is the reason I was in the fairy mines. It required a lot of Fairy Dust and will lead us to the Truest Believer."

I nod in understanding.

"It only requires one more ingredient: hair from your head." She says, suddenly reaching up and plucking a few strands off my head.

"Ow!" I cry, bringing my hand up to the stinging on my scalp. "You could have warned me first!"

She shrugged, putting the strands into the bottle before giving it a shake. Pouring the contents of the bottle onto the handkerchief, she releases it and the cloth floats forward. "Let's go!"

We follow the handkerchief to a small house in a familiar village, but I can't quite place it in my memory. It falls at the front door, and we know that we have found the Truest Believer.

"Let's go around the back," Mab suggests. We creep around the house and look through the window.

"Milah, please," a man limping on a walking stick begs, "Bae needs you at home. I hardly see you anymore."

The brunette grabs her shawl and quickly strides across the room to the front door. "No, Bae needs a father. You should have fought instead of run away!" She sniffs indignantly. "You're a coward, Rumple."

We watch the woman disappear through the door. _Rumple…_ I look back at the man, limping towards the crying child curled up in a cot. A heaviness creeps into my chest and I find it difficult to breathe, realizing that this once was my village. The man limping on the walking stick is my son.

"Go to sleep, son. Your mama will be back in the morning." Rumple coos to the child, but I can tell he doesn't believe his own words. The child's crying subsides and Rumple crawls into the bed with him, holding his son tightly until his eyes shut.

"It must be the boy," Mab says beside me, "let's go get him."

Looking back at the broken man embracing his son on the cot, guilt and shame wells up in my stomach. The pitiful state my son is in is a result of his traumatized childhood; my abandonment. _I can't take the only person who loves him away, not after what I've done._ Mab gets up and begins to sneak towards the door, but I gently pull on her sleeve and hold her back. She looks at me with a questioning look, but all I can respond with is a shake of my head.

A silent moment passes while Mab grasps that I have a history here. "All right, we'll leave them for now."

I nod gratefully, and we head back home to the second star on the right.

**A/N: Ugh, this was so hard to write now that I'm starting school. I don't expect to have another chapter up anytime soon, sorry! **

**On another note, I'm kind of tired of waiting to get to the Peter/Wendy portion of this fic. I was going to do some magic or supernatural thing that attracts them to each other when they meet, but I kind of want Wendy to get Peter's attention through her own merits. That being said, there may or may not be a Peter/Wendy fic coming out in the future. Of course this means that I would have to work between these two and updates will be less. We'll see.**


	4. The Game

_**Follow the Lady**_

_Chapter 4: The Game_

For the past fourteen years, I improved my magic skills, explored new realms, and dodged Mab's inquisitive glances that asked when we would return for the boy. She never asked me why I didn't want to take Bae that night, even though I've pressed her to share her past with me countless number of times. I never realized how invasive I've been of her privacy until she exercised restraint in consideration of mine. Her patience has allowed me to avoid facing my greatest regret and accept the time remaining in the hourglass, but that would soon change.

Blowing into the pipes, I close my eyes and let the hollow notes soothe my mind. Mab gave them to me to ease my loneliness whenever she is away, telling me they are enchanted to allow the lost to forget their troubles. The sound of a whirling breeze interrupts my song and I open my eyes to see a dark cloud appear before me.

"Damn!" Mab curses after her signature black smoke fades away. "Damn, damn, damn!" She kicks a nearby tree stump, causing it to magically burst into flame.

Rarely have I ever seen her angry. Putting the pipes away, I tentatively ask, "What's wrong?"

"That bastard Rumplestiltskin became _The Dark One_ and ended my war!" She fumes. I swallow nervously at the sound of my son's name. "Fifteen years wasted all because that fool wanted to keep his son from being recruited!"

My palms sweat as the conversation I had avoided for so long begins. I nervously shift my weight, scrambling in my head for words to calm her down before I tell her that I didn't want the heart of the Truest Believer anymore.

"This is going to make it more difficult to get the boy too," she sighs with irritation. She leans back against a tree trunk watching the flames of the burning stump die down for a moment before she realizes that I have been silent since she shared her news. "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing," I respond defensively, "I just…" I trail off, unsure how to tell Mab that I want to break off the deal we made when we first met and effectively ruin any future opportunities she has to overthrow the Fairy Guild.

"Come on, spit it out."

It's going to come out sooner or later, so I might as well get it over with. I take a deep breath. "I don't want the Heart of the Truest Believer anymore. I just want to enjoy my remaining years and be done with it," I say as quickly as possible, hoping that by some miracle, she will accept my decision.

She stares at me for a few seconds as disbelief slowly creeps into her eyes. "Why not?"

I look down at the now burnt stump between us, doing my best to avoid the intensity of her gaze. "Rumple… He's my son." I finally confess, feeling a burden lift from my shoulders only to be replaced by a dread sinking into my chest. "I— I don't want to take away his only family."

I look back up to see Mab's eyes widen as the revelation sinks in. "He— You—" She sputters, unsure of what to say. Finally, she exclaims, "We had a deal!"

"I know," I run my hand through my hair nervously, "I'm sorry."

"We had a deal!" She says more angrily, stepping forwards and shoving me. "I came to Neverland because I thought you would help me!" She continues to shove me and hit at me with resentment like an angry child. Growing irritated with her tantrum, I grab her wrists and force her to stop.

"I've already abandoned him once; I can't take away the only person he loves as well!" I assert, holding tightly to the girl now struggling against my grip.

"I've been planning this for a hundred years, I won't give up now!" She shouts, stomping on my foot. I let out a yelp and release her, grabbing at my aching foot. I've never taken to abuse well, and her following insults elevate my irritation to anger. "You're a coward and a cheat! I should never have trusted you!"

"Then leave!" I yell back at her. "No one's going to miss you if you do!"

Mab is taken aback by my sudden outburst. Having no words to respond with and no further purpose to stay, she disappears in a cloud of smoke.

My anger subsides the next morning. I wake up, our fight forgotten with the calm of slumber. I look up, expecting to see her arms and legs hanging off a hammock in the tall branches like usual, but she isn't there. I spend the day manipulating the island and practicing my magic before going back to sleep. The next day, she still has not returned. For the following several weeks, I pass the time similarly, playing the pan-pipes whenever I feel lonely. Alarmingly, I find that its music makes me forget the things I care for. First, the guilt of abandoning Rumple abated, which I found comforting. Next, the desire to achieve immortality returned and I felt excited there was no longer an emotional distress holding me back. Finally, my memory of Mab started to fade, creating a void in my chest. I stopped playing the pan-pipes when I couldn't remember what we fought about anymore.

"You should go after her," says Tink, floating in the air before me. The strange green fairy first appeared a few days after Mab announced that the war was lost. Her mission was to capture the "fairy traitor" to be eliminated according to the Guild laws but realized it was impossible if her target cannot be found. Her visits became frequent over the last few weeks initially in hopes that Mab would return, but the objective was gradually forgotten as the pipes took their effect on her.

"Why does it have to be me?" I huff indignantly. "I'm always the one apologizing."

The miniature woman lands on a tree branch and shakes her head. "That's why she needs you. She's been alone for so long that she's forgotten what it's like to be part of a family. _You _are her family, Peter," she explains, motioning to the empty hammock hanging in the branches, "and that is why she made Neverland her home."

I grumble as the tiny woman flies into the skies and disappears. Knowing that I will give in eventually, I call the shadow with my will and tell him to bring Mab back.

"That is impossible," it replies, floating in the same spot Tink previously drifted.

I frown, not expecting such an unfavorable response. "Why not?"

"Ican only bring those to Neverland who come _willingly,_" the dark figure reveals, "if you want her to return, you will have to retrieve her yourself."

I furrow my brows at this revelation. I have never needed to bring anyone to Neverland before, so I assumed my shadow was capable of everything I am. "All right, where is she?"

It reveals that she has taken to a realm called Wonderland where everything is nonsensical, even without magic. I take off towards the realm, the image of Mab entering an odd looking room with a black and white checkered floor in my mind.

"_A very merry unbirthday to me_," her singing voice reaches my ears as I open the door leading to a mysterious room. To my shock, she is standing on the ceiling, casually pouring tea from an upside down teapot into a similarly oriented cup that doesn't spill. Sitting at the table, also in the incorrect orientation, is a disheveled gray hare wearing striped pants and a ragged overcoat.

"_A very merry unbirthday to you_," the hare joins in her bizarre song.

I shake my head, focusing on the reason I came and brushing aside the insanity around me. I step onto a white tile into the room. Suddenly, my head starts feeling heavy and my feet feel like they can't stay on the ground. Before I realize it, the twisted law of gravity causes me to fall upward and sprawl onto the ceiling, acclimating me to the ordinance of the room.

"No room! No room!" The hare starts crying loudly. I groan, pushing myself up, or down, I'm really not sure at this point, to standing position. The hare's shrieks ring in my ears and I'm sure I'll go deaf if he doesn't stop. He grabs a nearby teacup and throws it at me. I duck my head before hearing the porcelain smash to pieces behind me.

"What the hell?" I exclaim, continuing to dodge dishware aimed at my head.

"He's upset because you aren't invited to our tea party," Mab responds with a nonchalant tone.

"Make him stop!"

The hare hops on the table with his seat raised above his head, chanting, "_Tick tock! Tick tock! All you had to do was KNOCK!_" He hurls the wooden chair at me. I only have enough time to duck and cover my head before it crashes into me.

"That's enough, my dear March Hare," Mab says sweetly, "have a crumpet. It's your unbirthday too!" I vaguely hear the placing of a dish on the table in my doubled-over position, the legs of the chair having caught my right hip in the collision.

"You're right!" He proclaims excitedly and resumes singing. "_A very merry unbirthday to ME!_"

I clench my teeth, trying to focus my magic on my side to soothe the pain. The ache is too great for me to concentrate and my attempts fail without effect. Squeezing my eyes shut, I focus all my power into the hand covering my hip. I open my eyes in surprise when a gentle hand lays on top of mine, magic flowing through it and relieving the pang in my side. Mab doesn't look directly at me while she channels her energy, letting me know that she is still upset at me and her nonchalance is an act.

"Come home," I blurt out, sitting up when the pain disappears. She removes her hand from mine and begins to turn away from me, but I grab her wrist and make her face me. "I'm sorry about everything. I don't want to live in Neverland without you."

Her eyes finally meet mine and she roughly pulls her wrist out of my grip. Standing up and brushing the dust off her, she states dryly, "You told me to leave."

I stand with her and confess, "I was angry. I didn't mean it." I look down at her feet, watching them turn from me and walk away. "I need you."

She whirls around and scoffs, "Changed your mind, have you? Want the heart of the Truest Believer after all?"

I gulp, embarrassed that she is in fact correct. I have changed my mind, but it is not the primary reason I came. "Because you're the only family I have; the only family I need and will ever want."

A brief stillness fills the room after my confession. I wonder what Mab is thinking and finally dare to glance at her when the hare begins squealing again.

"Family? FAMILY!" He cries, bouncing from his seat to the ceiling. "_No one thinks to care about the mad March Hare!_" Now standing upside down, he pulls a handkerchief from an inside pocket and blows his nose.

"Shut up," I snap at him, annoyed at his outbursts.

"Play nice, Peter," Mab warns, "He may be mad, but he knows this realm and all its tricks better than I do." She approaches me with slow, uncertain steps. "Do you mean it? You want me to go home with you?"

I smile down at the fairy now before me, "It's not home without you."

Her eyes search mine briefly before smiling when she sees that I am telling the truth. It is a genuine smile that expresses true happiness that I have never seen on her face before, "All right." The joy in her grin reveals to me that she didn't leave because her war ended or because I decided not to pursue Baelfire. _She left because she thought I didn't want her anymore._ I take her hand, ready to fly home.

"No!" The shrill sound fills the room and we cover our ears. The hare jumps down from the ceiling and slams a deck of cards onto the table. "No! No! _You will never leave this land until you gain the upper hand!_"

"But we—"

A slamming of the door interrupts our protests. I look back at the upside down door to see it locked shut. The ragged animal insists, "A game! A game!"

"Fine," Mab replies, "but we choose the game."

"Yes!" The vermin hops up and down gleefully. "A game!"

Mab leans slightly forward towards me and whispers, "Follow the lady."

I nod, understanding her meaning. Removing the Queen of Spades from the deck along with two jesters, I secretly slip a third jester into my sleeve. I proceed with the game, explaining the objective and shuffling them, covertly replacing the queen with the jester.

"Which one is the lady?" I ask, leaning against the table smugly.

The hare ponders for a moment before picking the left-most card. I flip it over.

Perhaps Wonderland is the hare's version of Neverland, or maybe nonsense is truth here. Whatever the reason, the card I flip over is the Queen of Spades. The hare laughs hysterically as Mab and I scramble to flip over the remaining cards, all revealing Queens of Spades. The last card I look at is the one in my sleeve, exposing a jester.

"_Don't you know? Cheaters never win_." He chants, hopping around the room excitedly before stopping before me. "_Now, let the real fun begin!" _He plunges a shedding paw into my chest and pulls out a glowing red organ. I collapse in pain, the sudden removal of my heart paralyzing me to the ground.

"Give that back!" Mab exclaims, trying to snatch the organ from him. He throws it into the air out of her reach and it falls towards the table into a gold-rimmed, white porcelain cup.

The laughter escalates and the hare doubles over, "_And now he'll give affection _except_ in your direction!_"

I watch Mab pull the heart from the cup, now vaguely pulsing with short flashes of light, before my eyes squeeze tight as I try to suppress the pain in my chest.

"What do you mean? What did you do to it?" She demands. I hear shuffling on the ground grow fainter, probably her magic lifting him from the ground while she interrogates him.

I hear him struggle and grunt under her torture before voicing another rhyme, "_His greatest love that will be missed was stolen by the cup you kissed._"

Mab lets out a frustrated huff. _My greatest love?_ I slowly move into a crouching position, not comprehending what is happening. Besides the pain I'm in, I don't feel any different from usual. The ache has begins to subside, so I open my eyes to see the hare crashing into the wall. The March Hare shakes his head and hops up, pulling down a rolled-up banner with an invisible string. The banner shows a grassy maze with an archway at the exit. He impossibly jumps in, becoming part of the image and begins hopping over the hedges towards the opening.

"No! Get back here!" Mab feels the banner with her hands, trying to get into the image only to find it is a piece of fabric to her. She angrily slams a fist onto the hare's portrait, "You damn rodent!"

He continues hopping over the hedges until he reaches the archway, taunting Mab until he is out of sight. "_Love and war play the same game. You've lost both. Oh, what a shame!_"

The disappearance of his image prompts the door to unlock. The pain now gone, I stand and stare at the fairy before me. I don't feel any different. I still want to go home; I still want her to come with me. "He's gone. Let's just go home."

Still facing the maze, Mab lowers her head. A quiet, irrational laughter emerges and her body shakes with its sound, "How clever of him! I was playing the game all wrong!" She turns to me, a mad gleam in her eyes. "I thought I could have both, but here I am with neither. Here, catch!" She tosses my heart back to me.

"Careful!" I express anxiously, catching the organ with both my hands. I inspect it carefully, noting the glow has significantly dimmed and only shows in brief intervals every few seconds. I return it to my chest, not feeling any difference from before it was taken out. "That hare didn't do anything, I feel the same."

Mab walks over to the table and picks up the gold-rimmed cup. "Is that so?" She whispers, her eyes brimming with tears. She shrinks the cup into a tiny charm and produces kitchen twine from a cabinet on the wall. She strings the twine through the tiny handle and ties it around her neck.

"Yes, I'm fine," I say impatiently. I head towards the door and jump up to reach its opening. "Hurry, or I'll leave without you!"

She looks over at me now standing at the door upside down from her. Brushing away her tears, she flashes the mischievous smile I've become so familiar with, although it seems a bit more absurd than usual.

"It's time to start playing a new game."

**A/N: This is the beginning of the sinister Peter Pan we all love! Including the March Hare was honestly a spur of the moment idea while writing this chapter, but I saw an opportunity to make his appearance vital to this fanfic. I loosely base this character on the one in the Tim Burton "Alice in Wonderland" movie. His madness and the nonsensical nature of Wonderland is the perfect excuse for him to do reckless things with extreme consequences. So many of the ideas I have for the future chapters are now improved and take different directions because of his appearance in this chapter. And I'm sure you've noticed I make him speak in mostly rhymes. Since Lewis Carroll has written quite a number of nonsensical poems, I wanted to incorporate that element with Wonderland.**

**I started this story with the intention that Mab and Peter have a purely family/friend type of relationship, but as I continued brainstorm their attachment formed over the years, it really has become a fine line between family and romance since they are so emotionally reliant on each other. The definition of their relationship is entirely up to you, the reader.**

**I also really like some of the things Peter says in the show, like "Don't you know? Cheaters never win." It seemed like it was a lesson he learned the hard way, considering he never learned from his previous profession of cheating people out of their money. I'm going to try to incorporate origins for some of those notable sayings in future chapters too.**

**I really wanted to introduce Tinkerbell and show how she gained Peter's trust. It didn't make sense that she would willingly go to Neverland if she felt threatened by Peter's power from the beginning, so she must have befriended him when he was in a more pleasant state. I also recall she was familiar with Bae, who was there a hundred years before Henry was born, but Regina had met Tinkerbell ten, maybe fifteen years before the curse took place. In terms of time, it just didn't make sense unless Bae and Tink met while she still had her wings, so this is my explanation of that.**

**I wondered why the shadow had to hold out its hand when it took Bae away. I figured it's because they have to go with it willingly, but at the same time, Greg and Tamara were able to grab Henry and go. I just wanted to have that cleared up by stating the limits of the shadow's powers.**


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Once Upon a Time, Adventure, Friendship