WOO! Shall we do this? I think it's gonna be interesting from now on as the changes I've made to the story really start to come into effect. We're drifting away from the original story and are finally getting to the point (or approaching the point) where I can make dialogue and reactions by myself.
Without scripting the show, like the first several chapters were. To everyone that's stuck with me so far, high fives all around! It's for that reason that we'll just assume that Emma and the others of the original cast can make it to their destinations without me narrating it. They're big kids now.
Besides we've got so much else going on!
Anyway it's late and I have relatives coming tomorrow so it's probably a good idea to get on with it yeah? I hope you enjoy this one and thank you so much for the support!
Auria's POV
"I think I hear something." Auria says, peering into the thick jungle a little ways from camp. Regina steps over to her and listens with Auria for a moment. Sure enough, a voice carries through the vegetation, causing Regina to widen her eyes. She nods and motions for us to go forward towards the sound.
"It's Trinity, I'm sure of it." Regina explains, pressing her lips together apprehensively. If what Lily said is true, the girl Trinity could be a potential threat, yet Regina doesn't appear to be considering whether or not to go to the girl, but it's more like she's plotting a strategy for when she does find her.
"Should we get Emma?" Auria asks, but Regina shakes her head almost instantly.
"We can't waste time. Trinity will surely know where Henry and Pan are. Besides, It's my fault she's here." The queen says the last part so quietly that Auria isn't even sure if she heard it right.
"Your fault?" Auria exclaims but is quickly shushed after the sound of her voice starts to carry into the jungle. "Sorry." She whispers and Regina nods.
"It's alright. The reason behind that being that she's not one of us, not cursed by all this. She was on a path that she could've made it the mortal world. I dragged her back into this when I met her. If I hadn't...who knows?" Regina pauses and Auria is just about to respond when they hear the girl's voice more clearly, along with something else.
What is that sound? It resembles the noise the shadow made when it escaped the shell, but what's that thing doing with the girl? They break into a clearing and see two figures. One is a girl with choppily cut brown hair, with clothes that resemble, but look nicer than, the ones the lost boys wear.
In front of her is definitely the Shadow, and the strange being is just close enough to the girl that with its arm stretched out, its figures barely brush her cheek. Auria pulls out the knife and Regina creates a ball of flame in her right hand. The Shadow looks to us and growls, but flies away from the girl.
"Trinity!" Regina exclaims, and Auria gasps when Trinity's knees give out. Regina shoots several balls of flame at the Shadow, and Auria moves over to the girl. She puts her hand on Trinity's shoulder, but the girl just shakes as if it wasn't twenty degrees too warm in the jungle.
"Are you alright?" Auria asks, shifting her gaze from the Shadow, to the locks of hair spread out, and back to the girl. Trinity shakes her head, holding her arms to her chest and breathing heavily. She's going to hyperventilate if she doesn't slow down. "Listen to me, you need to calm down."
Suddenly, Auria looks up as four boys run up to them. Regina turns, and the Shadow flies off with the distraction. The queen starts to wave her hand for a sleeping spell, but Auria holds up hers. "No, wait!" She says, recognizing Rufio as one of the four boys. A different boy runs past Regina and to Trinity.
"What happened to her?" Rufio asks and Auria shakes her head. Regina puts a hand on her shoulder to move her aside, and the queen looks at the girl with concern in her eyes.
Within the second that Regina kneels down to take Auria's place, Trinity grabs the woman's arm. Auria moves over to Rufio, but the boy's attention is all on Trinity. "It's okay, you're safe now." The queen begins to saying an awkward attempt to comfort the girl.
"No, Regina. Henry is in trouble. You have to go to Skull Rock, Peter might hurt him." Trinity says hastily and seems to temporarily regain herself. Regina thinks for a second, but then nods.
"Auria, I'm going to get the rest of us. Hopefully they've figured out a plan by now. Please, stay with Trinity. We'll find you once it's over." The queen says, obviously eager to rescue her son. Auria nods and watches as the woman leaves in a puff of smoke. Trinity stands up and glances over Auria.
"Unless you know a better place, we should probably stay here." At least she looks better now than she did before. Honestly Auria doesn't know what good it does leaving herself to protect these five. "You guys are far better off than me." Rufio sniffs, and Auria takes a deep breath before giving him a weak smile. Baby steps.
"You're probably right, but there's something we need to do." Trinity responds shakily, still holding her arms close to her chest. "Just...gimme a moment." Auria tilts her head, not having more than three seconds to wonder what Trinity means before the girl promptly hurls in the bushes.
Trinity's POV
My stomach twists as I meet the blue glow of the Shadow's eyes. Strange...sometimes it's red, sometimes it's blue. "He let you go for power." The Shadow taunts while I stand there staring at it intently. I should be angry. I feel like I should be furious but the only emotion that moves through me is unease.
Like I'm not where I should be. As if I'm doing something wrong just by being here. "Peter loves me." Lips barely moving, I speak with confidence, as if I finally found a foothold in a whirlpool. "If he let me go, he did it for me."
"Fine, then now that you're back you should know everything that's going on- if he loves you so much. What's happening with him right now?" It flies around me, and I turn to keep up with it.
"He and Henry are going to Skull Rock." My head throbs and I stop spinning. That island... There's something there that I'm missing. "Henry..."
"Henry, is that his name? I've been waiting for so long, I almost don't care about the details anymore. His heart is all I- we- want." The Shadow moves in front of me but I can't seem to physically react anymore. My thoughts rage with panic and frustration, and the overflow of negative emotions feels like ants crawling up the back of my throat.
Some mental war is waging itself on inside me and my current consciousness doesn't yet know which side I'm on. In one hand I know I should trust Peter to do what's best, I love him. On the other the images of him hurting Henry rip the word 'love' in my mind to shreds over and over again.
It's a color by number and the paint is in black and white, I don't know what's essential and the only way to move forward is to figure it out. Time is stopped once more, and my body freezes solid. "Henry will die tonight, but you can't do anything to stop it." The Shadow's hand starts moving slowly towards my face, and I swallow hard.
"Why are you telling me this!?" I manage to raise my voice to ask, the only thing I can force out of my mouth.
"Because." The cold, dark fingers touch my cheek and my stomach rolls. "I need Peter to have no weaknesses. The only thing left was you, now I'm just checking to see how tight his leash on you is." As soon as the words are out of its mouth, two people burst through the trees.
Regina calls my name, and the Shadow flies away. As soon as it's gone, my knees buckle and the world momentarily turns upside down. Henry...oh my god, Henry. My breathing escalates as the two combating forces inside me seem to counteract each other. I've known it all along, ever since Peter and I took my drawing of a boy to Skull Rock, and the Shadow explained it to us.
I just hoped...wished that Peter would find a different way. The girl with Regina asks me if I'm okay, and I shake my head.
Like a fuse snapping, I can't feel anything anymore.
Peter's POV
He leads Henry into the Skull caves, curious as he feels Trinity's heartbeat jump all over the place. She would be one able to resist the spell, but it will hold her until he's done with Henry. After that, he'll just have to convince her just like he did before. After telling Henry to go ahead, he creates a spell to delay the intruders.
It's time for the fun to begin, and Peter's been waiting such a long time.
Past~
Peter's feet touched the ground with a thump, and seconds later Trinity slid out of his arms. "This is definitely not the place I want to be while consulting the future of this little boy." She muttered under her breath and Peter rolled his eyes with a grin.
"Just be lucky, princess, that I'm letting you come here at all." He gloated, personally quite proud of his creation. He made this when he accepted Neverland's magic. Of course it wasn't really the friendliest of rocks, but he didn't exactly want anyone coming here to explore.
Trinity snapped her head to him with an irritated look. "Don't call me that, Peter Pan." She threatened and he held up his hands. Felix called her that all the time, and she never complained then. "I have a name, would anyone in this place like to learn it?" She grumbled and he snorted, giving her a sidelong glance.
"Fine, Trin." He said her name tauntingly and flew ahead of her, knowing that she was always provoked by him being able to glide so easily. She raced after him, on feet might he add, and he laughed as the game begun. They raced to the top, and obviously he made it first, even though there was a minor advantage.
"Woah." Trinity gaped at the huge hourglass, a little more than halfway full. He knew he was running out of time much quicker than he had hoped, but maybe this boy would be the key to changing that. "This is insanely ominous. Ever consider redecorating to not-skulls?"
"Nope, it just popped up this way. Besides I like it." He said, admiring the hourglass and she muttered something under her breath to the regards of 'you would'. Before Peter had the chance to mention that she was the one who unconsciously drew a boy's face while staring into the fire very cryptic-like, the Shadow flew in.
"Why did you bring someone, you were never supposed to show anyone this place." The Shadow said to him, and he nodded, feeling the familiar sense of darkness wash over him like it did every time he saw the Shadow.
"Excuse me, big bad shadow puppet? I drew the boy's face so I get to know what it means." Trinity sassed back after Peter didn't defend her presence to the Shadow. Truthfully he was just interested in seeing how she would tell it off. Peter leaned against the golden skulls surrounding the hourglass and Trinity shot him an annoyed look. "Either tell me what it is too or the paper goes up in flame."
The Shadow seemed to stare her down, but Peter already knew the Shadow wouldn't refused what he told it to do. Especially something like this. "As you wish." Trinity nodded and the Shadow jumped into an explanation about the heart of the truest believer and how the boy would have to die to keep Peter Pan immortal.
"Neverland will die unless this boy is sacrificed, it's how it must be." The Shadow concluded, and with that, the cryptic being flew off. Stars had already begun to illuminate the night sky and Peter yawned, intrigued by the new challenge but growing bored of seeing Trinity's face constantly apprehensive. Something had been wrong about her ever since she drew the boy's face.
"Relax, Trin. We can take one boy. What are you so worried about?" Peter asked, almost afraid of what she would say. He didn't want to fight with her, but he'd known this was the case all along. Now that they had the boy's face, however, the search could be completed much easier.
"You're seriously considering this Peter?" She exclaimed with an outraged expression on her face. He didn't understand, why was one boy's life so important, especially compared to the entire Island of Neverland. "What the hell?"
"You're thinking about it too much, people died all the time where Felix and I come from. It's called a deal. I'm sure the boy has done something that caused him to be tied to this, anyway." Peter walked over to her, but she glared at him with fire in her eyes. He knew he'd brought her from a life without much cause for death, but he thought she would understand at least something like this.
"And if the boy hasn't done anything wrong? If he has nothing to do with this? You can't take someone else's life because you want to stay young! If Neverland has to go...if you start to grow older...would it be that bad?" She asked, the fury in her eyes slowly abating and her tone becoming less harsh. Instead she almost pleaded with him, as if she'd been thinking about this before.
"Of course it would! This is our life! Me, Felix, the lost boys. It shouldn't all have to change because of one kid!" Peter said and the fire returned to her like a violent swing of a fist. They went on arguing about it until Trinity demanded that Peter take her back to the tree house. After that she slammed the door and locked it, as if it would keep him out, leaving Peter scratching his head as he flew back to the Lost Boys.
Several weeks later, Peter pulled her up from the unplanned dive Trinity had taken into the mermaid pool. Felix shooed away the mermaids while Peter tried used his magic to get the water out of her lungs. "Are you nuts!?" He demanded, furious as much at himself as he was at her. She had stormed away from him for the seventeenth time since their fight on Skull Rock, but this time she'd slipped and fallen straight into the mermaids.
No one else but Felix knew what they were fighting about, but the mermaids had their own sense of whacked up justice anyway. They would've drowned each other if Peter asked them to, and normally he figures he should be glad he has that way with ladies, but that afternoon he cursed at them.
"I'm fine...just a little water never hurt anyone. Don't." She groaned and tried to sit up, pushing Peter away and refusing his magic. He suddenly regretted how much they were fighting, and wanted nothing more than for her to let him heal her. She coughed up more water and shivered, feeling a cold breeze suddenly come through.
"I'm sorry Trin...just let me do this." He asked, knowing better not to heal her without her permission. Last time didn't end well, that's for sure. She glared up and him and he realized that she wouldn't be appeased unless he agreed with her on this. "Fine. If I don't hurt the boy, will you stop glaring daggers at my back and be reasonable for the first time in weeks?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and she nodded.
"You have to promise, Peter. Swear that you won't hurt him." Peter saw the Shadow watching them from a distance in the trees, but something about Peter figured she'd been right all along, and strangely didn't feel any regret by consenting.
"I promise. So long as you promise no more dips with the mermaids." He said and she grinned, the first she'd smiled in weeks, making his breath catch.
"Thank you." She whispered and reached her arms around his neck to hug him. He sat there confused for a minute, before she let go and Felix came over to help her stand up. Peter didn't quite understand what was happening yet between him and the strange new Lost Girl, but he'd never realized yet how much his focus started to gravitate towards her, more and more everyday.
Peter tries not to growl as the memory surfaces at such an inconvenient time. The boy promptly asks what's wrong, but Peter keeps leading him through the cave, promising that he'd simply bitten his tongue by accident. Still, raw guilt tries to poke at his stomach, making him narrow his eyes and truly bite his cheek to keep himself composed.
She has to understand. He'll make her understand, once she realizes that everything's for the better. Still Peter remembers the momentary regret he felt after going through with the spell he put on her, and wonders for a second the forbidden thoughts. What if this is all wrong, what if he'll regret this.
The unmistakable sense of darkness washed over him, and he shakes his head, throwing off his doubt. It's almost time.
Trinity's POV
"What happened to her?" I hear the girl with red hair ask Rufio in a hushed voice, meanwhile I'm hunched over emptying my stomach. They proceed to have a hushed argument, but stop when I wipe my mouth and stand up again. He promised, didn't he? So why am I not furious at him?
No, that's the thing. I am furious with him. He's going to kill Henry so he and Neverland can stay immortal. Even after he promised he wouldn't. Even if it means doing something so undeniably evil. I'd tried to ignore it for so long. Kidnapping kids from their homes, forcing me and Henry to keep away from our family, ripping the shadows from Greg and Tamara.
He's not the same, ever since I've known him he's been growing more and more evil.
Something cracks inside of me, and I finally feel like I'm thinking my own thoughts. "Boys, we need to get back to the treehouse. Something there will help us." I say and then make eye contact with the girl. I try to smile, but it probably comes out more like a grimace. "I'm Trinity."
"Auria." She responds and nods her head. "I want to help, however I can. I'm Rufio's sister." I open my mouth to make a comment about that, but decide it'll probably be better to wait until a less urgent moment. I nod to her, and take one step before every muscle in my legs scream at me to stop. To not do anything about this.
"Sorry...Thank you for the help." I say to Auria and ruffle Pazi and Al's hair as they help me stand up. My muscles calm down, but they still complain. I'll assume that whatever the hell Peter did to me is still in my system. "The treehouse isn't far but we don't have much time." We start walking in the direction, slowly so I can make my body move along with my head. "I don't think I can climb the latter, so can someone else grab what we need from up there?"
"What is it?" Ollie asks, and I twist my lips thinking about how far Peter deceived me, wondering if anything that's happened has been honest.
"A Pan flute."
Wow so the events in this one played out sooner than I expected them to, but hey it works none the less. I'm super excited for this! Eek I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing this, and please leave a review to tell me what you think! Thank you so much and have a lovely evening/morning/day! *Legit falling asleep at the moment* Must...post...chapter...