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INDIANA JONES
lii. I AM PETER PAN

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PRESENT
NEVERLAND

BEADS OF SWEAT ROLLED down her face as her eyebrows furrowed together in concentration. Cautiously, her aching fingers delicately worked quickly while her medium-length brown hair continued to fall in front of her face. Her drying tongue swiped her upper lip. Everything appeared to be going swimmingly according to Indiana Jones' plan, except for one thing.

There was a buzzing noise.

No matter how much Indiana would swat her hands around her ears, no matter how much she would attempt to block out the sound, Indiana simply could not shake off the annoyance. Clenching her jaw, Indiana snapped her head back around to face Aunt Lucy, who seemed to be the source of the buzzing noise. In other words, she would not stop talking.

"That's the 3rd snare you've made," Aunt Lucy continued to blabber. "And it's hardly better than the previous ones!"

The brunette sighed. "I would've been able to do it the first time, but someone has been chewing my ear for the past hour!" Indiana barked irritably.

"Really? Who?" Lucy wondered whilst tilting her head to the side. When Indiana groaned in frustration, Lucy snickered. "Kidding! You know, you really are a dull-witted child."

"Yeah? And you really are—" Indiana began to mumble, only to be interrupted.

"What is that snare for anyway? Are you planning on catching any animals?" Lucy asked. "Isn't that cannibalism?" She smirked.

Indiana raised an eyebrow. "You're a lot ruder than I recall," Indiana mumbled, completely forgetting that the Shadow had been posing as her aunt this whole time. "Could you just... oh, I don't know... leave me alone or something?" Lucy stared at her, not saying a word or moving. Indiana sighed. "Or not..."

Indiana turned to give her attention to the snare before her as Lucy proceeded to speak once more. "So what exactly is your plan here? If you're trying to capture your petty, little boyfriend, I can tell you for a fact that this isn't how a lady would do it," Lucy ridiculed.

"Yes, because you know so much about having a love life," Indiana sarcastically mentioned, not bothering to glance back at her. "And I'm not trying to catch any animals, just a Lost Boy who can take me to him or bring him to me." She paused. "Besides, I don't know if you'd say he's my boyfriend at this point. It's been years."

"Was he really your boyfriend though?" Lucy asked. She leaned over and picked a small flower from the ground.

Indiana scoffed. "What's that supposed to mean? We were together for centuries!" the brunette argued, adjusting her legs so that she sat Indian style.

"But the only reason you two were ever together was because the Dark One sent you here," Lucy pointed out. "He sent you here because of Pandora's Box, remember? Do you even know what that thing is?"

"Does it matter?" Indiana wondered, pinching the bridge of her nose. She silently hoped that Lucy would stop speaking soon.

"My, you really are a dull-witted child," Lucy mumbled.

"Stop calling me that!"

"Of course it matters!" Lucy exclaimed informatively. "Considering it was created to contain the most powerful of beings. Like your lovable Pan."

"I don't see your point," Indiana replied.

"As a result, Pan wouldn't want you to leave the island with the box. The Dark One and Pan have a history, you know, a bad one. So it wouldn't be in his favor to allow you to leave with it," Lucy continued. "So he did everything he could to keep your mind off of the box, which included stealing your heart."

Indiana suddenly tensed up. She turned around slowly. "What exactly are you getting at, Aunt Lu?" Indiana slowly queried.

Aunt Lucy smiled tauntingly as she said, "Peter Pan never loved you."

➖➖➖

Meanwhile, a tall, dark-skinned woman released a long sigh of relief as she stared up at the jungle before her. It was a rainforest-like maze that held a strong sense of excitement and imagination to any child. "Neverland is the Mother lode of magic," Tamara told Henry Mills with an annoyed look on her face. She had just arrived in the realm with her fiancé and Henry Mills. "Oh, where's the communicator? We need to signal the home office."

As Greg Mendel handed it over to her, Henry trailed off in question by saying, "Home office, huh... Who works there?"

"Who we work for is not your concern," Greg spat. He stood, adjusting his backpack and walking forward. "Just know that they take care of us."

Henry hummed. "Do they? Can they tell you how to get back home after you destroy magic?" he wondered.

"We don't ask questions. We just believe in our cause," Greg said. He dodged the question, for he didn't even think about that. who was tinkering with the communication device, urgently called out for Greg. He turned around to face her. She walked forward while saying that she wasn't getting a status light on the object. Greg spun it around. "Did you check the batteries?"

Greg popped open the back to see if the batteries were in wrong or if they had been drained. A load of sand went pouring out of it. The batteries were gone.

"It's a good thing you guys don't ask any questions," Henry mentioned with a small snicker. He turned back to face the jungle ahead of him. "Please find me, Indie."

➖➖➖

PAST
NEVERLAND

"Wait... I don't understand," Indiana Jones said, standing on the inside of Skull Rock. "You're dying?"

Peter Pan sighed quietly, nodding after he had explained everything to his girlfriend. "Yes. This hourglass marks how much time I have left," Peter continued.

Indiana looked over at the gigantic hourglass. It had golden sand falling from the top half into the bottom. From the looks of it, Peter didn't have much time left. Indiana could feel her heart sink into her chest. "Is there anything I can do?" Indiana wondered. "Maybe the Alligator can help?"

Peter smiled softly at her. "No, this is bigger than that... even the Dark One can't help us," Peter revealed. "But there is a way to cure me."

Eyes widening, Indiana exclaimed, "Well, get on with it! What is it? And you better not say 'a kiss'."

Chuckling, he shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not, but I'll take it," Peter told her. Indiana smiled and took a few steps forward, standing on her toes slightly to peck his lips.

"Now, what is it?" Indiana asked upon pulling away, holding his hands in hers.

"It's called the Heart of the Truest Believer," Peter told her. "Whoever owns it can be sacrificed to save not just me, but Neverland, as well."

Pressing her lips together, Indiana nodded. "Well, whoever has it, I'll carve their heart out myself if it means you'll still be alive. I'll do whatever it takes."

He smiled softly and pressed a kiss on the top of her head, the only thing on Peter Pan's mind being how much time they had left together.

➖➖➖

PRESENT
NEVERLAND

Indiana Jones hid in a bush quietly, hoping and praying that her plan would work. She had planned on capturing a Lost Boy and demanding that her took her to Peter Pan. That was the best she could do, really... even if she was fearful of reuniting with the boy she loved more than anything, including herself.

What Lucy had said to the brunette had been bothering her, like an itch that she couldn't reach. Surely it was just the woman attempting to get into her head, but her theory wasn't exactly unbelievable. After all, they were on the island of believers. Besides, anyone who knew Indiana Jones knew that she absolutely loved hearing about conspiracy theories. The thing is... did Indiana believe in this one in particular?

Indiana didn't know.

After all, would Peter really–?

Her thoughts were brought to a sudden halt when she heard a rustling in the leaves before a loud, annoyed yelp. Whoever it was, the voice was far too deep to belong to any Lost Boy—at least, no one that Indiana knew. Quickly, the girl jumped out of her hiding place, gripping a thick tree branch in her delicate hands. However, she immediately lowered her "weapon" when she realized who the person was.

"Oh, put me in a skirt and call me Sally," Indiana said to herself with widened eyes, accentuating the bags under them. "Killian? What in the realms are you doing here?"

The eyeliner-wearing pirate wiggled his leg around with the snare on his foot. "Get this bloody thing off me!" Killian shouted in demand. The brunette rolled her eyes at her doofus of an older brother, doing as he requested. Then, the two sat together.

"Geez... Of all the people I could have gotten stuck with, I got stuck with the likes of someone who doesn't even know how to untie a knot that I learned from them," Indiana mentioned to herself. "Now, I want answers. What are you doing here and how did you get here? Did the others come with you? Is Henry safe?"

"Perhaps you could stop putting more water in my ear and allow me to speak," Killian sassed, causing Indiana to arch an eyebrow in response. "When I found out you had gone missing through the portal with Baelfire, I knew the one place you would think of was this retched island. So I took a magic bean and fashioned myself a trip here."

Indiana felt her lips twitch upward into a small smile. "You... You came here for me?" Indiana wondered, her heart warming.

"Aye," Killian confirmed. "You're my baby sister. I already lost you for a few hundred years. I'm not losing you again."

Maybe it was the fact that she was so exhausted that she could hardly comprehend emotions, but what Killian said to her hit her harder than it should have. Killian Jones was her best friend and her least favorite person at the same time. He was her brother, after all, and Indiana had done everything she could to push him away, including wiping her own memories. The thought actually made the cold-hearted girl... sad.

It was then when Indiana's ocean-colored eyes rolled to the back of her head as she fell backward onto the ground. Her eyes fluttered opened and closed before she ultimately passed out, the last thing she remembered seeing was a Shadow.

➖➖➖

"See, if you believe, anything is possible," Henry declared happily as he and a Lost Boy landed on the ground with a thud. He had just flown for the first time.

"You couldn't be more right, Henry," the Lost Boy responded. Henry Mills' smile instantly dropped.

"H-How did you know my name? I never... I never told you," Henry pointed out nervously.

The Lost Boy smirked. "Let's make it a game, a puzzle to solve," the boy continued to say.

"You lied to me!" exclaimed Henry, enraged and disgusted. "You are a Lost Boy. You work for Pan!"

"Not exactly," he responded before leaning in closely to see Henry's face. "I am Peter Pan."

Furrowing his eyebrows together in confusion, Henry stammered in question by saying, "B-But you told Greg and Tamara that magic was bad... that you'd help them destroy it. Why?"

"Because... I needed their help," Peter easily answered. "And it is so much easier to get people to hate something than to believe. For quite some time, I've sought something extremely important, something more elusive than the greatest of all mysteries. The Heart of the Truest Believer. And when you took that Pixie Dust, Henry, and jumped off that cliff, you proved yourself. You are the lucky owner of that very special heart. And now? You... and it... are mine."

Peter pulled out his dagger, holding it in the air as it made a muffled zinging noise.

"Come on, boys!"

From all around Henry Mills and Peter Pan, the Lost Boys crept out from various hiding places. They all circled around the son of the Savior, blocking off any exits.

Henry's eyes glanced around in search of an exit, but alas there was none. He looked back at Peter Pan. "Indie's gonna kick your ass when she finds out about this," Henry unsurely said.

Upon hearing this, Peter's jaw locked at the sore memory. He could feel his dying heart skip a beat at the thought of Indiana's smiling face. Truth be told, he knew Indiana was on the island. He knew his Shadow was distracting her while he dealt with the Heart of the Truest Believer because Peter knew Indiana would hate him if she knew what he was doing.

Therefore, instead of addressing Henry's statement, Peter darkly said, "Let's play."