"It's awful not to be loved. It's the worst thing in the world... It makes you mean, and violent, and cruel."

~ John Steinbeck, East Of Eden

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Malcolm's P.O.V

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    "How is he?"
    "He's fine."
    I flinch as the fire pit in the middle of the room roars, sending sparks flying everywhere.
    "Don't lie to your king, you useless coward!" Hades snaps, his hair flaring.
    Technically you aren't the king.
    "Answer my question!" he demands.
    "He's barely coping," I reply honestly.

    There's no point of lying to him. He'd torture the answer out of me if he even thinks that I'm lying. Perspiration drips down my back as the Lord of the Underworld glares at me.
    "When the two of you stepped into my kingdom I thought that I'd be welcoming the deadly duo. But no, instead I'm given an frail old man and a lovesick teenager," Hades mutters bitterly.

    He's better than you'll ever be.
    I bite my tongue, refraining myself from saying anything that would cause my grandson and I harm.
    Hades sighs, rubbing his temples as he does so. "I wish those blasted fates would stop ruining the best villains by introducing them to an impractical thing like love. It makes them soft, and weak."
    I actually pity you for not having anyone.

    "In all due respect, why do you care about Peter and I?"
    Hades leans forward in his throne. "Because, Malcolm, the two of you are quite well respected here. Word has gotten out that you two are the only known people who've survived the infamous Dark One's wrath. Not only that, you've somehow managed to remain in between the state of life and death for many centuries."

    "Your grandson is also equally as impressive. He had only started learning about the art of magic at such a late age and yet he's managed to strike fear in the hearts of grown men and he's only, what, twenty?"
    "He's turning twenty one," I answer.
    Hades waves his hand in a dismissive gesture. "That is still quite impressive for one so young. I can see why my subjects both respect and fear the two of you."

    "What's this about, if I might ask?"
    "The reason isn't important yet. I just need to know if the two of you are on my side," he says. "I need to know if the two of you will stand by my side when I need you or if the two of you'll just take off and run."
    "So you basically want us as your pawns?"
    "To put it bluntly, yes," Hades replies, nodding.

    "And what if we refuse?" I ask.
    "Well, then the two of you will find yourselves swimming in the river of lost souls," he replies.
    If the involvement of Peter didn't catch my attention, the mention of the river of lost souls definitely did. It was this river which would destroy your very existence if you just so much as touched it. There'd be no happy ending for you, just an eternity of painful suffering.

    Hades waves his hand in the air, causing a fountain pen and a contract to appear in front of me. "Feel free to decline my honest offer, but once you've made your decision, it cannot be undone."
    "I accept," I say, taking the pen and parchment. "but I can't speak for my grandson."
    Hades considers this for a second before nodding.

    "Well, then, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the infamous Peter Pan does when the time comes," he says. "In the mean time, make sure he gets his act together. It's disgusting to see him so... Depressed all the time."
    I take a deep breath, keeping my temper in check. "I'll do my best, but I can't fix his broken heart."

    "The fates are really getting on my nerves for giving him a soulmate," Hades growls. "I was told that he was the most ruthless person since, well, since The Dark One. But he's acting like a lovesick puppy."
    I grit my teeth, forcing myself to keep a straight face as I sign the contract. If Hades wasn't a God, I'd have killed him many times over for what he's been saying about Peter. Love isn't weakness, it's strength.

    "See to it that your grandson gets his act together," Hades orders. "Or I might just send someone up there to visit his beloved soulmate."
    You wouldn't dare, I want to say.
    But it'd be a fruitless act as he would most definitely do it. You'd think that after all my years of being a thief I'd be able to tell if someone's lying, but I can't bring myself to take this risk. Especially if Peter's life is on the line.

    "I'll see what I can do," I reply.
    The God of the Underworld gives me a curt nod. "Good. Now leave."
    He didn't have to say that twice as I'd teleported back to the pawn shop the second he uttered those words. I rest my hands on the table, gripping the edges.
    "What am I going to do?" I mutter to myself.
    "What happened?" Peter asks, startling me.

    I spin around, coming face to face with my grandson.
    "Nothing," I reply. "How long have you been awake?"
    "Long enough to hear that Hades had asked to speak to you earlier this morning. And the fact that you look so stressed tells me that you just came back from your meeting with the God of the Underworld. So, what did he want?"

    "Nothing of importance," I lie. "He was just curious as to how we managed to cheat death for such a long period of time."
    "And what did you tell him?" Peter asks.
    "I told him exactly what happened. Our very existence was tied to the island."
    Peter stares at me as if he know I'm lying, but he can't figure out what I'm lying about just yet.

   "Did he tell you what happened to Neverland after we left?" he asks, having given up on catching me in the lie.
    A image of the said island flashes in my mind. "He said that it's still there. Just as we left it."
    "Did he by any chance tell you what happened to my Bloodlust Trio?"
    I furrow my eyebrows at the question. "You don't know?"

    "Know what?"
    "The Bloodlust Trio have been living with Alice," I tell him.
    Peter's face pales. "What? How could have I missed that?"
    "It's probably because your only focus was on Alice," I say. "You've never checked on Will or Lewis before so it would make sense if you didn't see the trio there."

    "How is it I missed seeing them in the crystal ball for an entire year?"
    "It's probably nothing," I say. "Maybe your spell was faulty and only showed you glimpses of what happens."
    Peter shakes his head. "No. It can't be that, I casted the right spell. I'm sure of it."
    "Then maybe they weren't in the house at the times you checked on Alice?" I suggest.

    "For an entire year?" he asks.
    "That's still possible."
    "No. No, there's only one explanation," Peter says, shaking his head.
    "And what is that?" I ask, thankful that our conversion is no longer focused on my talk with Hades.
    Peter turns to face the empty stand where the crystal ball once rested on, his expression distant.

    I call out to him when he goes silent. "Peter? What's wrong?"
    "I think I might know why I didn't see the trio," he says.
    "And why's that?"
    Peter glares at the empty stand. "Someone's been tampering with my magic and there's only one person who's powerful enough to do so."
    My eyes widen when I realize who he's talking about.

    I shake my head. "No. No, no, no, no, no, no. You can't be serious."
    "Oh, I'm dead serious," he replies.
    "Peter, think this through-"
    "Hades tampered with my magic. No one does that and lives to see another day!" he seethes.
    "What are you going to do? Kill him? He's the god of death."
    Peter clenches his fists. "I don't know! But I have to do something!"

    "Why? What's so important about the trio's whereabouts?" I ask.
    Peter takes a deep breath as if preparing himself for a speech. "You said that Alice and her friends will eventually remember their old lives, right?"
    "Yes. And that's bad because...?" I trail off, not seeing where this is going.

    "If the trio lives with Alice that means that they have full access to their safe house, their money and every one of their friends."
    I shake my head. "I don't follow. What's that got to do with anything?"
     "You know how Jerome can be, right? You've seen how violent he gets when he's angry, right?"
    "Yes," I say, slowly nodding.

    "So what do you think Jerome will do when he gets his memories back?" Peter finally asks.
    "Wait. Why would he even do anything to the others?" I ask. "What would make him hate them?"
    "Even if Andrew and Jerome agreed to live with Alice and her friends, it wouldn't be because they'd changed. It would be because they were their best chance at survival."

    "So what are they gonna do when they get their memories back?" I ask.
    "The boys will realize that they no longer need Alice and her friends to guide them in their world because they would've already lived there for two years," Peter tells me. "And knowing Jerome, he'll hurt someone who Ray cares about. He'll want revenge for what Ray did to them."

    "Hunter might try to stop his brother, but Andrew'll find a way to convince Jerome that Ray deserves to be punished."
    "It's just a small thing, surely that wouldn't react that way," I say.
    "There's a chance that they might not do that, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Andrew and Jerome are too arrogant to accept that Ray and Will humiliated them."

    "But surely they wouldn't go so far as to kill them, right?"
    Peter shakes his head. "I can't be sure, they're unpredictable when they're mad. It just depends on wheather or not Andrew manages to seperate the brothers away from each other. If he manages to do that then there's no stopping them. They'll go after everyone who wronged them. No one will be safe."

    "What if they realize that the only way to hurt Ray is to hurt Alice?" I ask.
    Peter gives me a grave look. "Then she's as good as dead."

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Jerome's P.O.V

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    "How is she?"
   "She just woke up," I reply. "Don't worry, I reminded her to take her meds."
   Ray nods. "Good, she needed to rest."
   Hunter raises his arms over his head, stretching his tired limbs. "She's been asking for you."
   "What does she want?" Ray asks.

   "She didn't say. She just keeps asking when you'll be back," Andrew answers.
   "She probably just wants to leave the house."
    "Where's the others?" he asks, removing his jacket.
   "The twins are playing in the backyard with Cassie," I tell him.
   "Where's Lewis?"

   "Attempting to pick the safe's lock," we all reply at the same time.
   "I take it that he doesn't know that Alice took his phone out of the safe and kept it in the boys' room?"
   "Yup," I reply, popping the "P".
    "Should I ever bother asking where Will is?"
   "Nope," we all chorus again.
   "What do you think he's doing?" Ray asks.

   I grin. "Probably hanging out with his girlfriend."
   "I don't think she's his girlfriend yet, they've only gone on one date so far."
   "Then what could Will possibly be doing if not going out with Tia?" Andrew comments.
    "And did anyone notice the motorcycle on the front porch?" I ask. "Will's not the type that would buy a one or wear leather jackets."

   Ray sighs. "You're starting to sound a lot like Alice. I hope you don't start acting like her."
   "And God forbid that that happens," Andrew says.
   We all laugh.
   "Yeah, one Alice is difficult enough to handle," Hunter says, smirking at me.

    I pretend to shiver at the thought. "I give you guys my full permission to kill me if I start obsessing over fictional characters or read a lot of books."
   "And I'm sure Alice would agree with that," Ray adds, laughing.
   "So, what did you think about the whole "dragon incident"?" Hunter asks.

   "I don't know," Ray replies. "The doctor said that Alice hadn't touched alcohol recently and there was no sign of drugs in her system so we can't identify what the cause of her hallucination."
    "Ever wondered if she was telling the truth?" I ask.
   Hunter laughs. "Yeah, because there might be a fire-breathing dragon loose and it could kill us at any moment. Nice one, 'Rome."

   "No, I'm being serious," I say. "What if someone or something tried to kill Alice and her mind made a dragon up to protect her from the trauma?" I ask.
   "Woah, where's all of this coming from?" Andrew asks.
    "I'm just saying. She might be in danger."
   "And what's that theory based on?" Ray asks, crossing his arms.

   I shrug. "I don't know, Cassie and the twins backed her story up."
   "They're just kids," Hunter says. "They could've been playing around."    "Yeah," Andrew agrees.
   I shake my head. "I don't know, Cassie seemed pretty sure that  saw a dragon."
    "I think you've been playing one too many video games," Andrew says.

   Hunter nods. "Yeah. Let's go on a walk tomorrow, maybe our princes and princess will stop hallucinating about fire-breathing dragons."
   I shake my head. "I still don't think they were hallucinating."
   "Well, then what do you supposed attacked Alice?" Ray asks.
   I look out the window, watching as a mother bird returns to her nest. "I don't know, but she definitely saw something."

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Ooo the drama's about to start soon. Hope you guys are ready for it because I know I am. The next few chapters might confuse you guys so I'll just explain it now to avoid the huge amount of questions that you guys might ask me. I'll be skipping the part where the current Author, Isaac, changes the ending to everyone's story. I'm going to skip straight to the end of "Operation Mongoose" so comment below if you have any questions and I'll try to answer all of them.

You guys won't believe what Emily (my baby sis) dreamt of... She dreamt that I was kidnapped by Peter and she was on the Jolly Rodger (that least I think it was the Jolly Rodger) on her way to rescue me. Isn't that the cutest and randomest thing you've ever heard? 😂 she told me that she can't remember if she saved me or not, but between you and me, I'd prefer it if she left me in Neverland 😂😏

Today's the 1 year anniversary of Pan's Game 🎉🎉🎉 I can't believe that it's been exactly one year since thirteen year old me updated the first chapter of the Pan's Game trilogy. Thank you all so much to everyone who's supported me and my book. I love you guys 💖💖💖 (P.s I left a special gif for you guys at the end of this A/N)

Last week I made a promise to my close friend [-MLWZ-] that I'd publish a multifandom one shot/preference book if Pan's Game ever hits 200Kay, so you guys have that to look forward to. Well this has got to be the longest A/N in the history of A/Ns. Whelp, I'm gonna force Emily to re-read Pan's Game so maybe she'll have another crazy dream to tell me about 😂 bye guys

~ Alice xx

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What do you think'll happen when they get their memories back?

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Here's a little bit of Suicide Squad for y'all (sorry it's not my best edit)

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Vote, comment, rate, do whatever you want <3

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