Second Star (Niall Horan)

Chapter Five

"We need to go back." Niall blurted out, trying to pull away from Peter who was pulling him over the open lagoon water.

"We can't." Peter stated simply, continuing on his path towards the island.

Niall began to feel his anxiety building, he could have sworn he heard her calling his name, and his regret immediately raised over any other emotion he had.

"We need to get her." He repeated quickly, and just as he reached to grab Peter's arm to release him, he suddenly felt the weight of his own body pulling him towards the Earth, sending him into another panic as gravity began to tug at him. "I'm falling--"

"Just think happy thoughts--"

"I'm going to fall!" Niall grabbed onto Peter's arm with his opposite hand, gripping tightly to him as Peter began to lower them closer to the ground, doing his best to keep Niall from falling by gripping to his shirt tightly.

When they were about eight feet or so above the sand, Peter let go and sent Niall falling on his feet onto the slick sand against where the waves crashed, losing his balance, he fell over and crashed his own face into the grains, letting out a huff. Peter landed gently on the sand, having much more control over the laws of gravity than Niall had.

"Why didn't you help me?" Niall asked, wiping his face off as he felt a surge of emotions course through his veins. The grit of the sand emphasizing the grit he felt towards the darkness in the captain, and how much suffering had taken place under his command.

"At least I didn't get you wet!" Peter retorted.

"Not with that, with her! Why didn't you help me?" Niall stood up, watching the young blond lad play with the sword on his waist.

"It wasn't my place--"

"Oh, it wasn't your place? None of this would have happened if it wasn't for you!" Niall began to shout at the young boy, his anger needing a place to escape onto. "If you hadn't pissed him off, she would be safe! We wouldn't be here!"

"If I had intervened, you both would probably be dead!" Peter yelled back at him, now directly in front of Niall's face and holding his ground. "I know Hook. He's too much of a performer to have killed you two. He wasn't going to kill her, not without putting on a show first."

"Oh and you know this how?"

"Hook knows he can make you angry, he feeds off the despair of others." Peter explained.

"He obviously got what he wanted!" Niall looked down at the satin scrunchie he still gripped in his hands tightly, he clasped his fingers around it and holding onto it, trying to think. "You were right there. You could have done something."

"No, not yet. Hook wants to make a spectacle of it. If I had jumped in at any point, you both would have been at a much greater risk. His pirates wouldn't kill you without his command. Trust me, Hook doesn't let others do the killing."

"I had her." Niall sighed out, tensing every muscle in his body. "I held her in my arms and I didn't know what to do."

"It's best that you have time now--"

"I just left her there." Niall felt his legs turn to jello as he dropped to the floor in despair, dropping the scrunchie and burying his hands in the warm sand in front of him. "I had her, and I left her there."

"Niall," Peter leaned down in front of him, his green eyes genuinely glowing to try and comfort the man twice his senior. "He won't hurt her, he swore to it, and he doesn't break his word. If you had gotten her out, Hook wouldn't have stopped until he found her again, and you, and Wendy. He would kill you all before he lets any of you think you have peace."