Chapter Text
The dreams began in flashes, but they all reminded her of Neverland. Smells, temperature, flashes of the sea, forest, her little nook in the cave. Then images expanded to create clear landscapes where she found herself staring in shock. They were clear, so clear. The first time she took a step on the familiar ground it deteriorated and she woke panting. Then slowly, they became more, almost as if over time Neverland built within her. She told Neal. She wouldn't dare confide in her brothers. Neal reluctantly brought her to Rumplestiltskin.
He stood in front of her, hand out stretched, eyes closed. Moments passed and he opened them, staring at her with a furrowed brow.
"Well?" Neal asked anxiously.
"Nothing, I don't get anything from her," Rumple said and narrowed her eyes at the girl.
"That's good, right?" Wendy asked hopefully.
"It's like you aren't here. More specifically, as if something is blocking me from detecting you."
Wendy turned to Neal. "I don't know anything, I swear."
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Rumplestiltskin had stared suspiciously at her as Neal rushed her away and she found she had more questions then she started with.
And she continued to dream.
There were mermaids, fireflies, birds. All the things she would admire. She walked through familiar haunts, memories rushing to the surface. Some memories were unpleasant, but not all. The majority of her time there hadn't always been so bleak.
She smelled food one day, but there was no one in the camp.
Trees would rustle behind her and she'd turn, but there was no one there.
It rained and she stared down at her soaked pajamas, waking with a chill.
Then one day she heard pipes. A tune so familiar that she forgot how to breathe. So she stood in the middle of Neverland, unable to move, the soft notes floating around her. Part of her wanted to run in search of it, and another wanted to run away.
When she woke she fought sleep for two days and eventually she passed out.
When her eyes opened it wasn't her room she saw, it was Neverland, in it's full glory before her. Sun rising beyond the water, the forest floor full with tree growth. She could hear the birds, the waves. The smell of salt water invaded her nose and a warm breeze brushed against her skin and she shivered. She shook because her body knew something was coming. Something. A hand touched her arm, warm and firm. Wendy's eyes clamped shut as she found herself on the edge of panic. She wished herself away, wished herself awake, it had worked before, but the hand tightened on her wrist, somehow preventing her from leaving. "Let me go," she begged.
"Says the girl who can't let me go."
Wendy felt a tear escape her lids at the sound of his voice. "Please..." Don't take her away, don't make her stay.
"I think I should thank you. As my life snuffed out do you know what I thought of?"
He waited, perhaps wanting a response, but he didn't request one.
"You. I latched on to that little piece of your heart that still wanted to hate me, but couldn't."
She shook her head furiously. "No." There were tears in her voice. He stepped closer and his chest brushed against her back.
"Here," he whispered into her ear and brought a hand to rest over her chest, placed it over her heart, "a part of that is mine. Perhaps I should have been more careful with it."
There wasn't regret in his tone, it sounded more like an observation.
"Neverland," he began and slid his hand over her chest to grasp her other arm, "is made of imagination, of dreams. And every time you dream, I become whole again and Neverland grows."
"You're lying," she rasped. Because she couldn't be responsible for his return, she wouldn't.
"You don't believe that," he lowered his head, his lips brushed against her ear, "I'm inside of you, I know better."
She shuddered in response. "I'll tell someone, Rumple-." His hands tightened on her and she inhaled sharply, then just as quickly they relaxed again.
"I can not be torn from you," he mumbled against her neck.
Wendy gasped as he lips trailed over her bare skin.
"A side effect of this joining is that I've aged with you," he said against the crook of her neck.
Wendy swallowed and realized she could hear the deeper tones in his voice. She wasn't quiet sure what that meant, but she suspected it was his explanation for the current location of his lips on her skin. His touches had always been innocent, taking her hand, teasing a curl, tapping her nose, but not like this, never like this. He'd been a boy on the cusp of his teenage years. Now, he was a teenager turning into a man. The implication of his actions, of what he said, it was mind numbing. Suddenly he sighed though and straightened, his lips leaving her neck.
"Eventually, I'll be able to return."
At that she finally did spin to face him, half expecting him not to be there, but he was, older, taller, slightly broader. His clothes seemed different too, but she couldn't devote her attention to those trivial matters. "No," she gasped.
He lowered his head, bringing it close to her own. "You can't stop me, no one can." He brought a hand up to cradle her cheek and swiped this thumb over it, wiping a tear away. "Tell them if you want. It makes no difference to me."
She blinked up at him, unsure of how to react to his easy going manner. "Why?"
"I can't be stopped Wendy. And when they realize my life is connected to your own..."
He was calm as he implied the danger to her own life. "Let me go," she whispered, panicked by the things she was starting to realize.
"It's to late." He said with certainty.
"Let me go!" She screamed this time and pushed at him until he released her and she stumbled back. Her foot took a step backwards and it slipped on the edge of the cliff. Panic clung to her, making her forget it was a dream, but an arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her forward, plastering her against his chest.
"I can't," he growled down at her. "Even alive, stronger, I could never be free of you. My life is forever tied to your weaker one."
Her chin shook at the realization. She was weak. He would never want to be tied to that. Perhaps he'd use her to come back. If it was her dreams, her imagination bringing him back he would stay with her...then he'd leave, because leaving her was safer for him. But if he said he couldn't, she believed that. And after all, Peter Pan didn't lie. "No," she whispered, but didn't fight him this time.
He studied her curiously for a moment before speaking. "I can see that before I was prevented from realizing what you meant to my existence and survival. Our future's will always be intertwined Wendy."
Wendy wanted to be strong, she wanted to rant and rave that this wasn't fair, that she refused to believe him. She wanted to push him away again. Yet the fight had left her, and as much as she hated to believe him something in her heart told her he was right. So many times she'd wondered if perhaps her fate was to coexist with him and now she knew she knew the truth. So for the moment she gave up, she sagged and dropped her forehead against his chest.
"It isn't so terrible," he said into her hair. "I can protect you now, where not even old Rumple can harm you. He can't even detect you can he?"
She blinked against his chest as more pieces came together. The look on Rumplestiltskin's face. He'd known something was wrong, more then likely suspected it was connected to Peter. "He'll kill me." There was a chuckle against her ear.
"He may try, but in vain."
"And then?" She whispered in fear. "When you return. Will you lock me away for all eternity to protect yourself."
"A bird, is much safer in it's cage," he said gently into her ear.
Tears escaped her eyes as she squeezed them shut, her bleak future laid out in front of her.
"Your heart though, it's so much stronger when you're free."
Wendy released a shaky breath, scared to be relieved by his words. Fingers brushed over her cheek, gently pushing her hair away, and then she felt his breath tickle her ear, his lips caress it, a promise of something more. Something she feared and yearned for.
"I have no wish to cage you Wendy bird, but when I'm whole, you'll be coming with me, wherever I go."