Peter Pan

Before the Curse

Childhood
As a boy, he was sold by his father to a blacksmith. Made to work all day in front of the hot coals, his one solace was by telling himself to think lovely thoughts. By doing this in his sleep he would travel to the most wonderful place, Neverland. In Neverland anything was possible, he could swing on a vine through a waterfall, climb trees, imagine any number of scrumptious treats like cake to eat without getting sick, but best of all he could fly. With the wind whipping in his hair and the world below him, he felt free.

As a father and return to Neverland
As an adult, he preferred not to work. He rather stayed at the pub to drink or otherwise swindle people with his favourite card game, Follow the Lady. He neglected his one real adult responsibility, being a father to his young son, Rumplestiltskin. One day he would leave his son with a pair of spinsters promising to find a job so that they could be together while presenting him with a small doll, that would be at his side when he could not. His son would name the doll Peter Pan.

One day his son would find him still playing his beloved Follow the Lady rather then finding job and ran off upset. He chased after him and confronted him, admitting no-one in the town would hire him. Rumple provided a magic bean they could use to start over somewhere else. Rumple's father reminisced fondly of the place he visited in his dreams as a child, and the two of them decide to make their way to Neverland. Arriving in Neverland, he was shocked and delighted to discover it was infact a real place. He now craved to do the one thing he loved most of all from his youth, flying. So he and his son ran off to discover some at the Pixie Woods, unware they were being watched. At the Pixie Woods, he climbed towards the highest branches to retrieve some Pixie Dust but found to his disappointment found it didn't work. Realizing he was being watched, he was confronted by a magical Shadow, the sole resident of the island. The shadow told him the pixie dust didn't work for him because he didn't belong there. The shadow then offered him a deal.

Confronting Rumple he reveals there is a way he can stay in Neverland and fly once more... by giving up his one real adult responsibility...him... as having him around reminds him that he is an adult and stems his belief he can be young again. The shadow then takes Rumple away, leaving only the doll he gave him behind. Young once more, he takes the doll and is finally able to fly again thanks to the pixie dust. He flies all over the island and heads across the sea to a stone monolith in the shape of a skull. Puzzled he never remembers the monolith as a child, the shadow informs him that it didn't exist and was created when he decided to stay on the island.

Amazed, he asks what the large hour glass is, the shadow informs him it represents the magic fueling his youth and once it's gone he will again grow older... and die. Stunned as he thought would be young forever, as the shadow continues saying Neverland was intended to be a place for children to visit in their dreams, not live and that he broke the rules in doing so. He merely replies any rule can be broken and he will find a way to stay young forever, he believes that.

The shadow then becomes one with him and he starts life anew by taking the name of his son's doll, Peter Pan.