Dediated to Kris for making me sit down and work on thsi sucker every day until it's done! Girl you're a gem!!!!
Peter froze and his eyes widened in shock.
"Lia?" he whispered, not quite believing what he saw. Suddenly it seemed to click.
'WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DO-" he was silenced from his deafening shout as Aurlia slapped a bandaged hand over his mouth.
"shhhh!!! you don't want to wake everyone up do you?" she furiously whispered. His eyes hardened before he bent down, catching the girl at the knees and picking her up. Aurlia choked back a shriek, kicking her legs wildly.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" she hissed.
"You shouldn't be out of bed. You're still weak." he responded, his voice as hard as his eyes. She shot him a fierce glare at being called weak, which quickly turned to panic as he started back down the stairs.
"Wait." She pleaded, Peter paused.
"what?" he demanded. She gave him her best puppy dog eyes.
"I've been stuck in bed all day. Please let me go outside? I really need to talk with you." Peter gave her a long look before spinning on his heel and starting back outside.
"I can walk on my own." She muttered in exasperation.
"Yeah.. and pigs fly." was the response. She had a flashback to her earlier hallucination of Jax being a flying pig and stifled a giggle. Aurelia also resisted the urge to thwack the boy repeatedly, screaming out that she was not a delicate porcelain doll that had to be carried. Tactfully she kept her mouth shut, considering Peter wouldn't know what the word porcelain meant, Her thoughts stilled as they started outdoors. Something didn't feel quite right. Peter felt her stiffen as he walked into the forest. The eerily silent forest.
"what's wrong?" he asked quietly as if not wanting to break the thick silence.
"It's so quiet." She whispered back, in awe. It seemed like the land had died. Had she not been successful? If not.. why wasn't she informed? No.. she had saved Neverland.. she was sure of it. Peter sighed.
"It has been like this ever since you.." he trailed off, not being able to finish the sentence. By that time the duo had reached the cliff facing the East. Peter gently set the girl down on a rock before sitting next to her, hiding his face. Aurelia inwardly sighed, she figured Peter was going through an overly exaggerated guilt trip and she tried to come up with something to get him off of it. The best thing she could think of was to get him to argue with her. Aurelia put on a grin.
"So.. Why didn't you ever visit me?" she demanded. Silence was her answer.
"Well.. Fine!" she started playfully, "I go and save Neverland and you don't even come and visit-"
"How could I?!" he interrupted, leaping to his feet and staring at her through crazed eyes. Aurelia looked up at him, startled. This didn't look too good. He began to pacing at an insane speed.
"You.. I wake up hearing someone calling me, and not understanding why I'm hearing a voice, or why I'm back to my normal age.. Or why Neverland is sparkling.. But the voice sounds like it's dying.. And.. And then I fly into that cavern and see Hook climbing up the wall, murder in his eyes and.. You're there looking pale, fragile and weak and like you're dying even without Hook.. And I fight hook and he falls into the water and you.. I come back to see you collapse and.. " he choked, not being able to finish. Aurelia jumped to her feet, her eyes widened when she saw tears running down his pale cheeks. She immediately stumbled over towards him and threw her arms around the distraught boy. He buried his face into her hair and hugged her tightly. Aurelia kept a calm demure mask on her face but inwardly she was panicking.
What the bloody hell do I do?!? YAAGH Lord help me I can't deal with crying! I'm not good with this stuff!!!!
She decided just to go with the flow, and subconsciously patted his back in what she hoped was a comforting manner.
"It was my fault.. It was all my fault" Peter whimpered.
"NO!" Aurelia cried, as surprised as Peter was at her outburst. He leaned back and looked into her eyes, confused. She took a deep breath and started again.
"No," she said much more calmly, "you saved me Peter, you stopped Hook from getting up to me. This isn't my story, or your story. It's our story to tell together. We both got to be heroes." She said, slightly uncomfortable. Bloody hell she wasn't good at this! Peter suddenly seemed to notice he was holding onto the girl as if she were a lifeline, and leapt away as fast as he could. Aurelia was just relieved that he seemed to be over his crying spell, not having a mother or friends for a while really puts a dampener on learning how to comfort someone.
"Let's just forget the whole thing alright?" she suggested, "that's what I want. I want to go back to normal, teach the boys more games, run away from Indians, swim with mermaids, call Jax a chauvinistic pig when his hormones get the best of him.. maybe even start.. flying.." she added mischievously. Peter looked at her at that last bit she snuck in, his eyes wide.
"But you hate flying!" Peter exclaimed in shock. She grinned and sat back down cautiously.
"Hey, I had to fly in order to make Hook thing I was you." Peter eyed her curiously.
"I was wondering why you were wearing my clothes.." he murmured, more to himself than anyone else. Aurelia laughed at his puzzled expression.
"Sorry?" she offered, her eyes filled with mirth. Peter sat down next to her, his chin resting on his fist in thought as he looked at the slowly lightening horizon. Dawn was arriving.
"So you fly now.."
"Yup. Guess I do." she answered.
"Probably not as good as me." Peter bragged, grinning vainly. Aurelia rolled her eyes but she couldn't keep the smile from gracing her face. This Peter was a lot easier to deal with than the scared little boy Peter.
"Hey, just give me practice and I'll be up to par." She said, after thoughtful consideration of what to say, she really didn't want to go heads on with Peter's ego. The boy was so vain she knew she'd just get annoyed and loose in the end anyways.
"Want to go flying now? Oh but you're tire-"
"Yeah!" Aurelia exclaimed happily sitting up. She obviously wasn't thinking straight, but neither person noticed. Peter grinned at her and jumped off the cliff flying off gracefully, Aurelia thought of a happy thought before hopping off and immediately falling. Peter's eyes widened and he shot off after her, catching her in his arms. Yeesh how many times had he had to hold her now?
"I thought you said you could fly!!" Peter shouted at her. Aurelia looked at him sheepishly.
"I kinda forgot my pixie dust ran out?" Peter rolled his eyes.
"So do you want to me to carry you back on foot or .." He trailed off.
"If you just hold my hand and fly, I'd be happiest." She said after a pause, with that Peter dropped her, but kept a tight grip on her wrist, twisting his own hand and interlacing their fingers. She glared at him.
"Idiot! You could have warned me!" He grinned.
"Yeah, but where is the fun in that?" and with that Peter took off, Aurelia smiled at feeling weightless. She could get used to this. She looked down to notice they were passing Hangman's tree.
"Um.. Peter where are we going?" she asked, wondering if the boy had gotten temporary amnesia and forgot where they lived. He didn't answer.
"Peter?" she asked again, and was only rewarded with a little smirk. Aurelia huffed in annoyance, obviously he wasn't going to answer her. The jerk. She decided to just forget it and enjoy the reprieve from sitting in a bed all day. She noted they were landing somewhat by the lagoon.
"We're going to the lagoon?" she asked, trying to contain the excitement in her voice. Peter only smirked in that 'I know everything' manner. She didn't seem to care, she was hoping she would get the chance to see the mermaids again and soon! She had hoped they weren't too worried. Peter zoomed through the trees and landed in a clearing by the lagoon. Aurelia leapt out of his arms from excitement, and landed on her feet with a slight jar, steadied by the sure hand Peter had on her back. She tilted her face towards him, flashed him a million dollar smile before marching forward in determination. She looked up at the sky, the sun seemingly had risen quickly, and the mermaids by this time would be out on the rocks, enjoying the first rays of the crisp morn. Aurelia was taken back the grim faces upon her friend's faces. Frowning slightly at the lack of music or laughter or relaxed sunbathing. They seemed to be tense, forlorn and she wanted to get rid of those lost looking expressions on their faces. Aurelia looked back at Peter who was eying the mermaids sadly, and her mouth set in a grim line of determination as she waded into the water, going unnoticed by the mermaids. Peter watched curiously as the girl silently dove under the water, not making a splash. He lost track of the mischievous thief until he saw Pearl suddenly wave her arms around wildly, doing a rather good interpretation of a chicken with fins before landing in the lagoon with a loud splash. Her head bopped up seconds later, a glare marring her pretty face.
"Alright which one of you did it?" she scowled in annoyance. The other mermaids looked at her in confusion. Immediately the mermaids began to defend themselves.
"Now how could I possibly have gotten over there in time, and all the way back?"
"come on Pearl we have better things to do with our time!"
"You probably just slipped and fell in.." But soon the girls excuses fell silent as they all heard joyful laughter.
"Alright I confess. I pushed you in Pearl." Aurelia said, attempting to pull herself out of the water and onto a rock. She growled in frustration at how weak she felt before narrowing her eyes, glaring at the rock and ungracefully tumbling onto the boulder.
"LIA!!" Pearl shrieked, the mermaids and peter alike winced. No one should have that kind of high pitched squeal. Although the mermaids believed Pearl expressed their sentiments perfectly. Aurelia immediately felt herself being pushed back into the water as her finned friends tackled her into one giant hug, laughing and giggling, talking all at once. Aurelia laughed happily, brushing the tangled mats of hair out of her eyes.Each mermaid demanded to know what had happened, and wanted the story from her point of view, after offering her their highest condolences. Aurelia had assured them, as she had with everyone else, that it was understandable and she forgave them completely. Peter emerged from the trees and sat cross-legged on the rock that had been inhabited by Aurelia, and earlier than her it by Pearl. A small confused smile lit up his face, and he had a distinct warm content feeling bursting from his chest all the way down to his toes. For once not minding not being in the center of attention. Lia truly deserved this.
Much later, a certain exhausted thief lay snuggled up against a certain flying boy, who was currently flying back to hangman's tree where he was sure that he was about to get the lecture of a life time. It was midday, and by that time the boys probably would have woken up to find Aurelia's bed empty. He only hoped the boys hadn't had a panic attack. But if they did, he hoped they had started running around in circles instead of doing the practical thing like sending out a search party. Although in most occasions having them, on their own mind you, create a search party and organize something was appealing. But as it was Peter who would get the lecture, it would be a lot less tedious just to get it all at once instead of receiving the lecture at different times from different boys coming back from an unsuccessful search, discouraged and worried only to find the girl the boys adored curled up in bed sleeping soundly. The girl in his arms was nuzzled her face against his chest, murmuring in content. Peter felt a blush crawling up his neck, and tried to ignore the fact that his heart had started to beat wildly against his ribs, so loud he was surprised she wasn't waking up. It was thundering in his ears, his throat constricted making it difficult to swallow. What the heck was wrong with him? He eyed Aurelia in annoyance, knowing fully well she was the cause of why he was feeling so strange, and he didn't like it one bit!
Revieewwww!~~~~