This is my second day of updates! I told ya'll I would make up for my lack of updates for the last week and a half!
I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks for the followers and reviews and the favorites I received since posting the last chapter! I appreciate it so much! If you haven't done any of it but are just reading to reading, I appreciate you too! :)
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Enjoy!
Five minutes later, Peter and I were walking through the forest towards the springs. Before we went, he had told Felix our plans:
"You two have fun." Felix responded and looked at me with a toothy grin.
He was clearly amused by this situation.
Peter pulled his canteen off a low branch of the tree Felix was leaning on. "Be cautious of the boys wanting to go through the forest. It's going to rain." Peter warned, seemingly oblivious of the look on Felix's face.
"Take your own warning?" Felix nodded. Peter always knew the weather on the island. He could predict it as well as change it if he wanted. There were no clouds in the sky, so I assume he'll change it to keep the lost boys contained. Although he wouldn't make it rain on the side of the island we were on. He didn't want to ruin our day but he had to still be in charge, even if he wasn't there.
Peter raised an eyebrow as he lifted the strap of his canteen over his head and arm so it hung diagonally across his chest. "We will."
Peter looked at me to tie the conversation up and walked towards the forest. When he was out of earshot, (which, by the way, he never was. He knew everything.) Felix grabbed my arm.
When I looked up at him, his features had gone dark. This was his protective mode. "Wendy." He said my name as a warning. I looked down at his hand on my arm. This warning wasn't the first, nor the last I would get from him.
"I know, Felix." I nodded and touched his hand on my arm reassuringly. "I won't let it happen."
He exhaled visibly and frowned. He knew I wouldn't listen to my own words. We've been down this path. Every path I have taken on this trip, I have been down before. Memory lane was becoming a reoccurring theme here. Following Peter into the woods was no exception.
"Be careful."
I gave him a smile. "I will."
"I'd like to make it to the springs before dark." I called behind me to the lagging lost boy. Peter was walking at a slow pace, exaggerating movements that could take him milliseconds rather than the minutes it was taking.
"Can't you just enjoy the island?" He asked me. I imagined him twisting a rock or a twig in his hand, admiring the beauty of the little things. Things that he saw all of the time.
My dwindling patience was beginning to hit a low. I blamed him and the lack of sleep he caused.
"You haven't been here for, what, thirty years? Don't you want to take it all in?"
His perkiness made me stop suddenly and spin around. I was going to tell him to shut up and keep walking but Peter was closer than I thought. His body slammed into mine and I stumbled back from the impact and my foot slipped on a rock behind me. Before I realized I was falling, his arm reached out and caught me. He grinned as I looked up at his proud face. "I knew I could have you falling for me again." His eyebrows arched suggestively and I pushed his chest to get him to let me go. Instead, it seemed that he pulled me closer, tighter to him as I steadied myself on my two feet.
"You're so clever, Peter." I gave him a tight smile but I took advantage of our closeness and lifted the vial of pixie dust at his chest. I hadn't stumbled upon any besides my own supply from Hook. Peter had the island's supply at only his will. No one knew where he hid it.
He picked up the chain it was attached to at the base of his neck to pull it away from me. "Don't." He warned.
I rolled the vial between my fingers. I watched the glittered dust gently fall from one side of the glass to the other. "I need some." I tried my luck. It couldn't hurt.
He shook his head. "No you don't."
"Then walk faster." I dropped the vial and moved away from his grasp. He didn't need to know that I really did need it. And I would find it. Eventually. It was the only way to save them.
"Can't you enjoy life?" He called after me as I walked farther into the forest.
Before we emerged into the small clearing where the spring was hidden, I heard the soft slapping of the falling water hitting the surface of the river. I smiled to myself as I pushed through thick brush and found myself next to the large waterfall. The large rocks were scattered throughout the area, in the water, and outlining it messily. The water was still crystal clear, I saw the dark grey lining at the bottom. The trees swayed gently, rustling its neighbors as the air from the waterfall disturbed them. I could see some of the jewels in the cave behind the falling water, casting rainbows onto the walls and even the wall of water. It was beautiful.
"Everything you remembered?" Peter's voice was hot in my ear as I looked out to the landscape. I nodded, smiling more brightly before turning to him. He was gone. I looked around from where the voice came from. No one.
"I'm over here."
I looked up to find him standing opposite of me, on the other side of the water, looking at me with a smile. I had forgotten he could do that with his voice. Make it seem like he was right next you when he was really nowhere near you.
"Yes, it's everything I remember." I said quietly, knowing he could hear me. I placed my bag next to me on the grass and pulled out a large cloth that I had found in my room. Neverland didn't have towels, but they did have lots of scraps. Enough to make a makeshift sheet for things like this.
He nodded. "Good. I kept it for you."
I laughed. He must have something up his sleeve because he was being too charming. I could even go as far as to say, flirty. "Of course you did."
He raised his eyebrow at my disbelief. "I did. I was going to destroy it but had a small hope you would return."
I rolled my eyes and touched the bottom of my shirt. I was going to lift it above my head but I grew self-conscious. I felt Peter's eyes on mine and the feeling was confirmed as I looked up and Peter's eyes darted away from my hand.
"Don't look!" I called to him and I watched him turn his body fully away from mine. I don't know where the shyness came from. It wasn't like he hasn't seen me in my bathing suit before.
Well, not since I was fifteen.
I pulled my shirt over my head anyway and folded it neatly and placed it on top of my bag. I then pulled off my jeans in the same manner, folding them and stacking them on top of the shirt.
Without telling him, I walked over to the edge of the water and placed my foot into it.
"Why is it so cold?" I asked and he turned around. He allowed his eyes to skim my body before meeting my blushing face. I didn't know what he was thinking, his face was blank, but he bent over and touched the water. He then straightened out again and motioned towards the water.
I touched it again with my foot and noticed it was warmer now.
He changed the temperature.
"Thank you." I lowered myself to sit on the edge. I dipped my feet into the warmer liquid and smiled. The water here felt different then in the enchanted forest and Storybrooke. It was smoother, cleaner.
"Aren't you going to get in?" He asked me and my attention fell on him as he pulled off his shirt.
I felt the need to look away, like he did to me, but my eyes stayed trained on his lean body. He was muscular, even more so then thirty years ago. He looked older but still young. He was gorgeous.
I needed to put my hormones in check.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer." He smirked at my gawking.
I blushed and tilted my head slightly. "I think you'll last longer." I winked and he raised his eyebrows in agreement. Even his cockiness had an eyebrow motion.
Suddenly, he jumped off the rock and fell gracefully into the water.
I should have listened to Felix.
"Gwendolyn." Peter called from twenty feet away near the waterfall. His hair glistened with water droplets. He waved me over. "Let's go!" He had his boyish smile plastered onto his face. He looked like a teenager that got to sneak out of the house for the time being.
I closed my eyes and gave a silent prayer to whomever was listening.
Please, oh please, do not let me do something I will regret.
Then I dived into the water after him.
We swam for a long time.
We just continued to go back and forth, back and forth down the river and into the waterfall and back again. We got lost in the time. We just enjoyed each other's company although words were barely exchanged besides the random good natured insult. It reminded me of our past until the sun began to set and I made the crucial mistake of thinking I could jump off the waterfall.
I stood above the water, maybe twenty five feet up and looked down at Peter, waiting on the edge of the water.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" He called up to me through his cupped hands.
I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn't back down now! He had pretty much dared me to do it without so many words. He said 'You won't do it. I remember what happened last time you tried.' That was a good enough reason to try it again.
I lifted my arms to either side of me as if I would fly away. Or I was being sacrificed.
I took a deep breath.
And I jumped.
Well, I would have liked to jump. Instead, I sort of tripped off the cliff and I tumbled down into the water.
My foot had slipped as I went to jump and I lost my footing. Falling had become somewhat of my thing since I had landed onto Neverland. I fell onto the island and no doubt I would continue to fall within it as well.
I fought the pounding of the waterfall as I tried to catch my breath. It was knocked out of me from the impact and I didn't seem to have enough energy to find my way to the surface.
Peter's arms circled me and pulled me to the surface and I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep my head above the water. I coughed away from his face, removing the water that snuck its way into my lungs. When I looked at him, concern was clearly written on his face as he held me so I stayed above the water.
"Don't even." I warned him because I knew the concern would leave his face and he would begin to laugh. Which he did.
Immediately, the concern cracked as he began biting his lip to keep from laughing and I put my hand over his mouth to get him to stop. I looked at him pointedly to stop him but he seemed determined to make me feel like an idiot. I waited patiently, the sun still setting slowly, as I waited for him to calm down. Eventually his face relaxed into a small smile. And I removed my hand and placed it on his chest to push him away but his hands tightened around my waist.
We stared at each other as my pulse began to quicken with each second. Like I said before, this was memory lane. We have been this close to our lips touching before. And I knew this time would be no different as he looked at my lips and I felt his heart beat begin to reflect my own.
"Peter." I whispered to him. Not as an invitation, but as a worry.
He began to lean into me. I thought of many different things in that moment. Should I kiss him? Should I just let him kiss me? Should I stop it? I didn't want to fall back into the same thing as my first time on the island. I had a mission now. That was my top priority. Not Peter.
I turned my head away from him. I couldn't allow myself to go down that road. I couldn't blame him either because I wanted it just as bad as him.
I could sense the hurt radiating out from him as his pulse steadied under my hand. I heard him swallow then silence.
As quick as this moment happened, it was over. His hands were no longer on me. His heart no longer beat against my palm. He was gone.
And I was alone.
Left with nothing but the water and the low setting sun around me.
Then I felt the raindrops.
