Eventually, Robyn had lost count of her time in Neverland. Looking back, she couldn't distinguish one day from the next. She had abandoned her dress and settled on clothes more like those that the others wore. There had been no trouble from the pirates since the episode when Robyn had arrived yet there was still a tenseness between Benji and Slightly that nothing had been able to dissipate.
Each night, all of them except Robyn felt the burning, wracking pain, and each night, Robyn was at Peter's side to try and help. In the morning, they would all wake puffy eyed and pale, greeting each other and not speaking about the pain that they all knew meant the same thing: Their world was dying.
By mid-afternoon, most of them had recovered from their night of agony. Amara seemed to be having the hardest go of it and some days she couldn't manage to get up at all. On one of her better days she came racing up to Robyn and Rookz, a tall, lanky boy with bright brown eyes and hair tinted green.
"Have you heard? Pan's takin' us to see the Indians tonight! They're having a pow-wow and apparently Tigerlily wanted Pan there. The Chief decided it would be better if we all came! We haven't been for ages!" She squealed with excitement, clapping her hands. "I'm gonna go find Cazz, I haven't told him yet!" Amara ran off again, almost bouncing with joy.
"This is bound to be a gooder," Rookz said to Robyn in his flat, accentless voice. "The Indians always throw good bashes. 'Spect you'll wanna run off with Perdy and 'Mara; they always seem to take all day tryin' to look nice."
Robyn opened her mouth to reply when Slightly and another boy named that they called Krunk wandered over. Krunk rubbed his dark, braided hair and chewed his lip. Slightly touched Robyn's arm and she smiled at him. She then turned to his darker friend beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"You all right?" she asked.
Krunk just nodded, not talking, as was his norm. Robyn left then to find her girly companions and do what was needed before they all left to the Indian Camp site. Slightly sighed as he watched her leave, and then turned and started talking with Rookz.
* * *
The sky had darkened slowly until a bonfire was the only thing casting shadows. Indians were sitting and playing drums and singing. There were whoops and yells from the Lost Boys and Indians alike as they jumped and twirled around the fire.
Tigerlily was dancing with Pan and the moment Robyn had seen her, she had been shocked. The girl was strikingly beautiful. Her dark hair flowed half way down her back and her clothes were designed in a way that flattered her figure.
Turning away now so she didn't have to watch Peter and Tigerlily, Robyn watched Perdy fling her hair out of the way. They had braided it all into hundreds of tiny braids all afternoon then spent the rest of their time weaving feathers into hers. Amara had left hers free and it shimmered in the light being thrown from the fire.
The beat of the song got faster and faster until everyone was jumping and twirling. Robyn turned and stopped as she saw Tigerlily leaning closer to Peter. She clenched a hand but didn't move. As she watched the Indian Princess kiss Peter, her eyes narrowed. She hissed between her teeth and wove her way in between people until she was at the edge of the encampment. Then she turned and walked into the trees.
Behind her, a shadow crept. It followed her until she reached a clearing and paused to put a hand on her face. Then it came up behind her and reached out with a hand to grab her shoulder. Robyn screamed and turned to face her attacker. Peter stood in front of her, blinking.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi."
"Why'd ya leave? Wasn't it fun?"
"It was alright," she replied. "I just needed some time alone."
"Yeah? What for?"
"I don't know, to clear my head."
"Makes sense," he said. "Wanna talk?"
"About?"
"About why you need to clear your head."
Robyn looked at him plaintively. "No."
"I'm not as dumb as you think Robyn. I know something's up." He laughed.
"No. There isn't. Nothing. Nadda. Zip."
Peter took a step closer to her. She turned and started to move off in another direction. In a second, he was in front of her again and she made a frustrated noise and stopped moving. Floating in front of her, he slowly got a bit closer, just watching her.
"What?" she yelled finally.
"Tell me," he said simply.
"Yeah right."
"Robyn, I will pick you up and leave you on the highest cliff in Neverland if you don't tell me."
A disbelieving look crossed her face. "Yeah right," she said again. When she saw the look on his, she got increasingly worried until he started to reach out for her. Then she sat on the ground and folded her arms. "I'm not going anywhere!"
"Wanna bet?" he asked as he picked her up and pushed off of the ground.
"Peter! Peter, stop! Stop RIGHT NOW!"
He just laughed as she clutched him and tried not to notice how high off the ground they were. Peter held her and looked up as their altitude increased.
"Peter!" Robyn shrieked. "Stop right now or I'll let go!"
Peter stopped flying but kept laughing. "You don't have the guts," he said and loosened his grip on her.
She saw his disbelieving stare and then bit her lip and let go. Her hands covered her eyes as she fell and when she opened then Pan was beside her, zooming down at the same speed.
"Ready to tell me?" he questioned, looking at the ground that was getting increasingly closer.
Robyn saw this also and stifled a scream. "Mmm hmm!"
She had enough time to see a smile flash across his face before feeling his arms grab her and him push against gravity. Slowly they stopped and Pan flew up high enough that they could see all of Neverland.
"Okay, shoot," Peter said.
Robyn grasped him hard and muttered, "Nuh uh. There's nothing to tell," into his shoulder where her face was buried.
He grabbed her hands and started to pry them off while she shrieked and struggled to keep her grip on him. Suddenly he froze and looked at her hand. She had gotten used to the mark on her palm, yet he was staring at it like he had never seen it before.
"What?" she asked.
Peter swallowed. "Look," he pointed out. "What does this look like?"
"I don't know. A squiggly burn?"
"No. Look." He traced it with a finger then motioned to the island.
Robyn turned her head and looked down. Then she looked back to her hand. After looking back and forth a couple times, she looked at Peter. "They're - they're the same," she breathed.
"Yeah," he confirmed. "Except yours has a mark right there." He pointed to the middle of her palm where there was an extra mark burnt into the skin. When they looked at Never Island, there was nothing they saw that could be represented by the mark.
"What does it mean?" she asked.
"I'm not sure," he admitted as he slowly sunk back to the ground, their previous dispute forgotten.
When her feet hit the ground, Robyn released Pan from her death grip and stepped back a little. He nodded his head and they started to walk towards the water. His face was screwed up in concentration and he was chewing his lip. Robyn tried not to laugh as she watched him.
When they stopped on the beach, they took a bit of time just too look at the water. In the distance, the Jolly Roger was visible and drums and yells could still be heard from the Indian Campground. Peter turned to her and grinned almost half-heartedly.
"C'mon," he said. "Let's head back."
He put a hand on the small of her back, preparing to push off the ground. Robyn felt a lurch in her stomach as they were airborne. But not the familiar kind. As she thought a bit, she realized it could only mean one thing.
She was falling for Peter Pan. And hard.
(A/N: Lalala, nothing to write about.... I hope you enjoyed it and you should Review and possibly read all the other stories I've written! Sank ya!)
