White Lily - A Peter Pan Fanfiction [2/3]

Chapter 15

I didn't know what to expect, but it sure as hell wasn't this.

Taking a deep breath, I held the rifle in my hand with Pan by my side, his arms folded and glaring at Jane. It looked like some sort of showdown at the pier and it was probably exactly what Hades wanted, despite his useless attempts to claim he knew nothing about Jane's motives.

Jane smirked back at us, fully aware of our surprise. But I didn't know what to think nor how to act. What I did know was that I had to end this – I had to end her. Once she was disposed of, we could finally work on getting out of this damned Underworld and in all honesty, I was still rather peeved off at how uneasy death was.

"Where's Felix?" Pan demanded and I added, "and Hercules?"

"Oh those toys are safe," Jane smirked, tugging on the boy's hair and jerking his head backwards. "But we have other issues to take care of right now." Toys? That little –

"If you think either one of us care for that wretched gut of a boy, you're wrong," Pan chuckled and I took a deep breath.

Jane was holding Ethan, aka the boy who had tried to kill me on a murderous, mermaid-inflicted rampage. And the boy Pan had killed.

"It's part of the game, Pan," she giggled and I rolled my eyes. Is she really this pathetic? But she didn't continue her sentence. In fact, she stopped herself to snarl instead. Leaning over, Pan whispered into my ear.

"End this," he said and I nodded once, looking back over to Jane who wore a rather large grin. Before we arrived, Pan had already loaded my rifle with the 'special' bullet and I only had one shot. And I didn't want this moment to drag on anymore.

Taking a deep breath, I wondered if it'd be so easy.

I guess it was, but what happened next... Everything seemed to fall into slow motion.

In a slick movement, I whipped up the rifle just as Pan waved his hand, magically paralysing Jane. Another surprise: Jane saw this coming, and let go of Ethan just as she froze up. I pulled the trigger and in the corner of my eye, watched as Hercules entered the scene, shouting "NO!"

But it was too late.

The bullet hit Jane, causing both her and Ethan to fall into the river behind them.

And that was our mistake, because...it wasn't Ethan.

It was Felix.

My hand dropped the gun as I went to stumble forward, my body falling forwards as the two went down. But Felix and Jane splashed into the water, dissolving instantly...and I fell to my knees, time snapping back into place.

My hand slapped itself onto my mouth and everything around me stopped. Jane had used a cloaking spell over Felix to make him appear as Ethan. She knew we'd do this, but both Pan and I acted too fast.

Before I could emotionally react, I heard clapping come from behind us, only to see Hades walk out.

"Bravo," he said and all I did was glare at where the two had fallen. I don't think my brain had processed what just happened, and maybe it was also the fact that I was dead...and couldn't feel a thing. "I've got to say, you three know how to put on a show."

I looked up to see Hercules, his face broken like mine. My guess was that he was being held hostage specifically for the purpose of warning us, warning us too late. Hades was right: Jane knew how to spice things up, but she was gone.

At the expense of Felix.

"No," I mumbled, shaking my head. I won't allow this, I won't lose him again, I won't – "YOU BRING HIM BACK!" I screamed, jumping to my feet only for Pan to grab me from behind. "BRING HIM BACK!" I repeated, tears stinging my eyes and feeling blood rush up through my throat; Hades chuckled and Pan tried to softly reassure me, but I could feel how tense he was.

"You and I both know I can't exactly do that," Hades smirked, shoving his hands into his suit.

"You're the god of this place!" I yelled and again, Pan said my name, trying to calm me down. But I couldn't. I kept fighting his grasp but Pan has always been stronger than me, so it was pointless.

"You have a point there, princess –"

"Don't you dare call me that," I sneered and Hades chuckled again, Pan's hold around me tightening as if to warn me; Hades chuckled again, clearly being entertained by all of this.

"Whatever you say," he smirked and I swallowed down on the lump in my throat, dropping my gaze. "I can bring back anyone from anywhere, but Felix was never of any use to me. You did this on your own, love." And don't you call me that either. "It was too crowded down here anyway." I went to pounce forward but Pan's hold on me was still too tight and he wasn't backing down anytime soon. And with that, Hades turned on his heel and left the scene.

+++

Pan and I sat in the couch of my house, his head in his hands and my eyes just blankly staring into the open nothingness. For most of my pathetic existence in the Underworld, I had felt empty and not even a person, and I guess that's expected.

But now, I just felt...sick. My mind flashed back to the time where I made a promise to myself, a promise to bring Felix back with us when we got out of here. And it was my fault that I broke that promise.

I was mostly surprised that neither Pan nor myself saw this coming: we never even considered it, and usually Pan's one step ahead of everyone.

But then I remember what she had said: she was going to kill Pan, if it wasn't for Felix. And now we had killed him again, because of her. She was the one person who could get beneath Pan's skin and trick him.

And she had.

The silence ached more than the pain residing in my body and I couldn't stand it anymore; I blurted out the obvious without thinking twice.

"It's my fault," I grumbled and Pan peeled his hands away from his face, looking tired as ever.

"Don't say that..."

"You know it's true."

"You didn't know it was him. I didn't either," he mumbled and then groaned audibly, getting to his feet. "That sly bi-"

"Peter," I cut him off, holding my hands between my legs like he'd usually do on the island; looking up at him, I shrugged. "She's gone now."

"And so is Felix," Pan snapped back and my throat tightened; he forced himself to look away and I could tell he was angry: not at me, but for not figuring out Jane's plan. "We just need to get out of here." Agreed, I thought, but I couldn't bring myself to reply out-loud, not after this, not after breaking my own promise to Felix. "And at least you're safe..."

"But still dead," I pointed out and he sighed, sitting back down. Just as he opened his mouth to reply, the front door slammed open, revealing a semi-breathless Hercules; both Pan and I jumped to our feet. Herc looked both frightened and shocked at the same time. Oh god, what's happened now?

"Someone new has arrived in the Underworld," he croaked out and I pursed my lips, looking cautiously over to Pan. "His name is Killian Jones."