Elizabeth strutted proudly back into camp with the large carcass of a doe hauled over her shoulder. A few of the Lost Boys that had gone on the hunt with her trailed her heels, still in awe over the girl's profound accuracy with a bow. Pan and a few of the other boys were lounging by the fire, mindlessly listening to the ghost stories offered by the younger children when the hunting party returned. Pan looked up from over the fire and flashed an impressed smile over to Elizabeth with her kill. Felix was quick to stand to his feet and walk over.

"So, the Princess can hunt," he smiled menacingly at Elizabeth. "Let's hope she can cook too."

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed, "It's Felix, right?" After the vain Lost Boy chuckled, refusing to answer her in words, Elizabeth shoved the sack of herbs and collected vegetables into his arms. "Bite me." She dropped the doe on the ground by his feet and walked over to the fire. Pan laughed as Felix's cheeks reddened with rage. He dropped the sack of food and grabbed his club, which was leaning on a nearby tree.

Felix threateningly pressed the wooden club at the base of her neck. "If you have the nerve to talk to a Lost Boy like that, you best be ready for the consequences."

Elizabeth turned on her heels and sarcastically pouted. "What, did I hurt your feelings?"

He sucked in a deep breath and took an advancing step towards her. Even at the disadvantage of having no weapon, Elizabeth anticipated the swing of his club before he even pulled back. She agilely dodged the attack and went straight for his wrists. With a quick shift in her weight, she forced the club out from his grasp and threw him to the ground.

All of the Lost Boys, including Pan who didn't doubt her for a second, laughed at Felix's pitiful display. Elizabeth turned back around and began to walk back over to the fire. Crawling to her from behind, Felix took hold of her ankle and brutally pulled her to the ground. She rolled over to a nearby machete that was lying by the hunting tools and deflected Felix's lunging attack from his knife.

"That's enough," Pan spoke out over the loud cheers of the Lost Boys. Neither Elizabeth nor Felix heard Pan's exclamation. She sprung at him at full force and knocked him back on his side, following with a driving knee into his groin. Before he could get back up, she took a fistful of his hair and slammed his head down into the hard dirt floor. It took him a moment to recover, however in that time when she pulled away from him, he grabbed a hold of the machete and pulled her back down by the back collar of her shirt. Just as he prepared to strike with the sharp blade, Felix was thrown off of Elizabeth with brutal magical force. His body slammed into a nearby boulder, the sound of cracking bone sent all of the other Lost Boys into silent shock. Felix cried out and clutched his side before falling down onto the ground.

Turning her head to the side, Elizabeth saw that Peter was now protectively standing over her with a murderous cold glare over at Felix. "When I say something is over, you'd do well to listen the first time."

Felix winced back his tears and nodded, struggling to stand with a cracked rib. It took Elizabeth a moment to notice that Peter was offering his hand down to her. "You alright, Princess?"

Unlike the first time when Peter had staged a rescue, the concern wasn't so obvious. The look on his face now was different. He was primarily agitated with Felix, though beneath those cold unremorseful glaring eyes and flaring nostrils was the faint trace of anxiety.

"I had it settled," Elizabeth muttered while she brushed off her pants. Peter grinned silently and walked back to where he sat by the fire, inviting Elizabeth a spot beside him.

As soon as he slouched back down in his seat, Peter noticed all the admiring smiles Elizabeth was receiving from the younger Lost Boys sitting across from the campfire.

"What happened to keeping me out of harm?" She muttered bitterly while poking the fire with a narrow twig.

He looked at her with a one-sided twisted smirk, "Were you harmed, Princess?"

"No but that's cutting the line pretty close, don't you think?" Elizabeth looked up with confusion. "Are you going to tell me why you wanted me to duke it out with sunshine?"

Peter smirked with astonishment, "Are you ever going to let anything go?"

"No coincidences," she muttered with unwavering hard eyes.

The pigments of blue in her irises sparkled from the light of the campfire, giving Peter a strange churning feeling in his gut. She was still glowing with adrenaline from the fight; her breathing still had pace and her façade was lit with energy. He swallowed and turned away from her. "I don't have to explain myself to you."

"Course not," she mumbled coldly, "Peter Pan answers to no one, right?"

He bit his lip and continued to glare into the fire. An uncomfortable minute of silence passed between them before he broke the harvesting tension. "I wanted them to see what you were capable of."

"You're telling me that was all just meant to impress your gang of Lost Boys?"

"I told you I wanted to help you," he nodded and solemnly turned to her. "When was the last time you've been able to prove yourself without the charity of your title? You see, crowns don't mean anything out here. The ability to do that," he gestured over to Felix who was still leaning over his aching groin, "that's what earns you respect, Lizzie. And you earned it… all on your own."

Her mouth dropped open and she didn't even notice, nor did she know how to answer him. Peter inwardly caught himself smiling at her for too long and quickly looked back at the fire, "I just hope that was enough for you to work up an appetite."


Elizabeth raised her head up from her pillow confusedly at Emma, who was standing in the doorway to her room. "Huh?"

Emma leisurely leaned against the doorframe with crossed arms. "I said, are you hungry?"

"Oh," she blinked, "not right now. Maybe in a little bit?"

Emma nodded and turned to smile at whoever it was that was approaching her from down the hall. Elizabeth first noticed the hand that subtly brushed along her mother's waist before she saw Killian walk past her into her room.

"Don't forget that my parents are coming tonight," she spoke to Killian but then nervously looked over at Elizabeth, "so try and keep it civil, you two."

Killian grimly smiled and took a step back over to Emma, tenderly finding her lips for a quick reassuring kiss. "Not to worry, darling. The knives are stowed away," he smirked at Elizabeth who was grimacing at her parent's shameless display of affection.

"Keep that up and they won't be for too much longer," she grumbled. Emma chuckled and left Killian with another brushing peck before leaving.

Elizabeth looked back down to her open journal. Her smooth cursive lettering was a mess with crossed out scribbling. Killian smiled as he strolled over to the edge of her bed. "I didn't realize you've taken up writing again."

"My handwriting isn't what it used to be," she mumbled down at the open page. "I was just reading some of the older pages near the beginning. Some of these pages date back a few years."

"You used to carry that book with you everywhere," Killian grinned. "Every small detail you noticed would be recorded. You gave the crew a right good laugh whenever you sat out on deck to watch them take care of the masts and swab the deck during their morning duties. It's time for a new book by the looks of it."

Elizabeth nodded and slowly closed the journal. "What did you want to talk about?"

Swallowing back a moment of hesitance, Killian reached down into the deep outer pocket of his jacket. "I wanted to give you this," he pulled out a black leather cuff. "It's the best your mother and I can do for the time being."

"What do you mean?"

"While this business with Pan remains unsettled, I need to be sure that you are safe. The charm that Ruel Ghorm blessed on this old token of mine will ward off any offensive magic that might come your way. This charm was made specifically for you. You are the only one who can take this off. No amount of dark magic in the world can break its defense."

"This is your old cuff," she questioned the worn piece of leather in her father's hand.

"We might disagree on a great many things, Elizabeth, but please just appease my wishes this one time." She frowned while accepting the cuff, feeling a sickening twist of guilt when noticing lines of concern rifted under her father's blue eyes. "I just can't fathom the mere thought of anything happening to you."

Her wavering voice came out as a hushed whisper as she ran her finger over his scarred wrist. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't mean for things to go so far."

"I know, darling." He mumbled while helping to adjust bulky leather wristband over her fingers. "You won't need to wear this always, just for a few days until we get this all sorted."

Elizabeth weakly smiled up at him. "I didn't mean what I said earlier, you know." He cocked his head to the side with gentle intrigue. "Neverland could never be my home. I don't know what I would do if you weren't by my side giving me hell for every stupid decision I make."

Gently wrapping his arms around her, Killian pulled his daughter into a tight embrace. She gripped onto his shirt tightly and leaned her face into the crook of his shoulder, surprised to realize how much she missed being held by him. "You'll never have to know, sweetheart," his mumblings were lost as he leaned in to affectionately kiss the roots of her long blonde hair.