Broken Memories // PETER PAN OUAT FANFIC

Chapter 9: Courage is Knowing What Not to Fear

The sound of glass shattering startled me out of my sleep. I groaned as I rolled over onto my back and stared up at the ceiling as I listened to the commotion downstairs. My heart seemed to be beating in my ears. "Oh for Christ's sake, would you STOP with this BLOODY BULLSHIT! There is NOTHING out there that can make you better! Absolutely nada! You're getting weaker every godforsaken day!" I thought I could hear a softer voice trying to protest against the man, but he wasn't listening. "You can't tell me that you don't see it. That you don't see yourself being unable to care for your own children, leaving the ungrateful pests in my hands. I don't want that! Never, ever did I want to be the sole person to have responsibility for them! I think I'd rather die than let that be the case. You get the easy way out. You don't have to worry about this kind of thing." I could hear the other person crying now, sobbing quietly as if not to anger the first man. He seemed to realise this, and he said in a softer voice, "You know I love you. But I hope you know that I would be lying if I said to you that I would make the kids my first priority for the rest of my life. We both know that I never wanted them. Only for you, only because I loved you, did I make that sacrifice. But now," he took a deep breath and sighed loudly, almost an exaggerated sound, "now, you get to be the one to leave first. And for that, I envy you." He let out a harsh noise, more a bark than a laugh. "If I knew that it would end this way, I would never have made that choice. It would've made everything that much easier. Now I have to stick around for at least the next few years, just so that I don't go to prison. I'm doing that much for them. I'm sure once one of them is old enough, they can leave and look after themselves. God, I look forward to that day." The man seemed to be talking mostly to himself now. The other person had stopped crying and was silent. I realised with a start that tears had made their way down my own cheeks without me realising. I raised my hand and wiped them away, not wanting to stain my pillow. I could hear the man continuing talking but I rolled back over onto my stomach, closed my eyes and held the pillow over my ears. I didn't want to hear anything more.

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I gasped as my eyes flew open, the dream - or had it been a memory? - already fading from my mind. I knew that within a couple of hours, it would be gone completely. I raised my head and my eyes finally adjusted to what I was seeing before me. Water. The sea. Stretching out towards the horizon as far as it could go. My brain couldn't comprehend the angle from which I was looking at, but as I looked around me I realised that I was standing on a cliff. A very tall cliff that seemed to loom over the ocean below like a skyscraper. I shuffled myself backwards and stood up, stumbling until my back hit a solid wall of dirt. I could hear my breath coming in gasps above the noise of waves breaking down below, the spray flinging into the air and splattering against the cliff face. I suddenly noticed the body of a person standing to my left, close to the edge of the cliff with their back to me. Peter. I could recognise his clothes anywhere. In a rush, I remembered the whirlwind of light and movement that had seemingly transported me from the training area to here. Was that something that Peter had done himself? I gulped at the thought. I pushed myself away from the wall and walked slowly over to where he was standing. I was about a foot from him when he spoke. "I hope you're not considering the idea of pushing me over this edge, Hazel. That would only end badly for you." I stopped in my tracks and watched as he turned around to face me. He wasn't smirking, much to my surprise. His face was entirely blank. "Why am I here? Why did you bring me here?" At that, he did smile a little. "This is where I come when I want to think. I don't usually bring other people here with me. But you intrigue me, Hazel. You don't seem to be afraid of me, or this island, or the fact that you are now living with a large group of boys that you must take care of. You can tell me that you're pretending, putting on an act of being calm, but I know better than that. I see through it. You genuinely do not feel any fear on this island. And it frustrates me. Why is that?" "What, did you expect me to wake up here and just start screaming my head off? Refuse to listen to you, or even try to swim away? From the minute I woke up here, Peter, I knew better than to make myself seem weak or vulnerable. I'm sure you've probably made that decision anyway, but I knew that I was brought here for a reason. You said it yourself, didn't you? Your shadow doesn't bring people here on its own accord." Deep down, in truth, I didn't actually know why I wasn't really afraid either. "Honestly, I guess I just, kind of knew that I couldn't go anywhere. Leave. I knew I couldn't leave the island. Not that I remember anything before being here anyway." Again, that weird feeling of something tugging in my mind, as though there was something that needed to be released, but then it was gone. Peter stared at me as he thought, his face showing traces of confusion, annoyance, and.. wonder? Something in me seemed to have caught his interest. I wasn't sure I liked that. "Well, whatever it is, you are rather an interesting person. But do make sure you stick to your duty with the boys, otherwise, I'll have to punish you. It's the way it works here, you see. And despite what you may think of me, I won't enjoy doing that very much." I stared at him as he watched me, seeming to take in my calm demeanour. Then he walked the couple steps it took to stand beside me and took my hand. I flinched, yet again, at his contact, but quickly recovered and tightened my hand in his, knowing what was about to happen. I thought I saw his eyes tighten slightly but before I could know for sure, the whirling mass of wind energy and strobing lights appeared all around us. I felt myself lifted off my feet and I let out a quiet whimper, not liking the feeling of not having control. I felt Peter squeeze my hand, and then the darkness took me as its victim once more.

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A/N

i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I know nothing too exzciting happened but I wanted to write a chapter like this to sort of, 'set things up' ;)

Anyways, please comment and vote, and thank you so much for 55 reads and 9 votes! I know that Peter pan ouat is probably losing the hype (at least, I think it had hype), but I'm still loving writing this story for you all, and for myself too. I also apologise for not writing for a while, but now I'm hopefully going to be updating regularly. I also have school starting in less than amonth which sucks but I will try to update :)