The Dark Days

Twenty-Six.

"You can't stay mad at me all day..." Peter says for the umpteenth time, "...but you can stay in this room all day."

"Let me go out, Peter," I say through clenched teeth. "Open the door."

"No." Peter sits up from the bed, pulling his legs up to his chest and resting his elbows on his knees.

"What?"

"You heard me," he says, cocking an eyebrow. "I'm not going to let you go that easily." Peter levitated off of the bed and set down beside it, a smirk growing on his face. My fists clench at my sides. All of the nerves in my body tighten, my arms raise, my feet separate as I push my body into a fighting stance. Peter chuckles as he stands and comes closer, but when he's close enough he does the same. A pause, one so tense and full of emotion that it makes my brain reel. Luckily, my body knows what to do and we go at each other. Our movements are so fast they blur together. Like water flowing against rock, I push forward and he pushes right back.

"I'm not going to lose here," I snap. "You'll either let me out," I dodge a right hook, "or I walk away."

That catches him off guard for a moment, long enough that I slug him in the gut. I flex my right leg and bring it up to knee him in the face, but he catches my knee. I jump with my remaining leg and kick him in the chest, making him release my leg. I flip through the air and land on one knee, flinging my hair out of my face. Peter lands heavily on his back and I pounce on him, pinning him down. We turn and struggle, rip and tear, and I even snap my teeth. I wasn't about to go down without some blood in the mix. I dig my nails into his skin and tear as he tries to throw me off.

"All right - Okay, damn it -" Peter grabs my wrists and holds tight. "Kasey, calm down. I give."

I relax and he releases me. I stand and stomp over to the door, throwing it open and slamming it behind me as I leave that brain-cramping room.

I get outside and fight the urge to scream. How dare he trap me in that room?! My heart is pounding in my chest, threatening to break my ribs. I stumble as I keep walking and nearly fall, but I straighten again and keep walking. Tears burn the back of my throat, threatening to slip out. I force them back, not wanting my anger to overpower me completely. One rebels and slides down, but I wipe it away before it can get to far.

Peter thinks he can control me? Ha! He sure has a curve ball coming if he truly believes that!

I stomp my way into town and down to the beach. I watch the waves flow and recede, letting peace wash over my body and mind. I feel myself relax with each salty breath, and allow myself to let go of my anger.

"Fancy seeing you here."

I turn slowly, recognizing the voice from the first and second of my three encounters with the lovely townspeople. The man in black leather walks up to me and crosses his wrists across his stomach, looking down. "How you been holding up, love?"

"This place would be pleasant during literally any other time of the year," I reply cynically. "I suppose there's reasons. Still quite annoying, though."

He hums. "I suppose so, yes."

"So what do you need now?"

He winces. "Look, I don't want to have to ask you this, seeing how we treated you before. But on behalf of the fairy-tail counsel they have going on here, I was asked to ask you if you could help us -"

"No," I cut him off.

"You don't even know what I was going to say," he said, spreading his arms in a pleading manor. "Just listen."

"No, you listen," I snap. "If anyone stops my boyfriend from enacting the curse, it'll be me. No one else can do it. No one knows how to hurt him as much as I can. I can stop him, while no one else can even get three feet away from him without being killed. I love him, so, naturally, I would never betray him; But believe what I'm telling you: I won't betray him. Nothing on this earth would force me to ally with his enemies. He trusts me, and I wouldn't break that for anything. Some people say that love is a curse, and it is. But it is also built into our very genetic code. The only thing that can save a person is their true love. Never in my life have I felt this before - love. Now that I have it, I'm never going to let it go."

The man stared at me for a moment before extending his hand. "My name is Killian Jones."

"I know who you are," I say, not taking his hand. "And I know why you're here."

I dropped and grabbed a handful of sand, throwing it into Hook's eyes. He let out a surprised grunt and stumbled as I took off down the beach. Seeing as how I haven't trained in weeks, my body is a lot slower than I expected it to be. I don't care; I'm too busy forming a plan. I run to the cliff face and climb up to the wooded area above it, pausing shortly to catch my breath. I run into the woods in the direction opposite the cemetery holding the crypt, and stick close to the edge of the cliff. I can hear movement around me, but I ignore it. I pull my hair up into a bun quickly, then dive behind a tree and wait for all sound to cease. When I hear nothing, I creep to the edge of the cliff and climb down, going slow so I don't make any noise. When I reach the bottom, I find a small alcove that is only noticeable if you're looking for it. I squeeze inside and sit down in the small, dark space, hoping the darkness helps to widen the cave.

****

Two and a half days later, a storm churns the sky, making it look like a giant angel riot. The townspeople have had no luck finding the girl, but they don't plan on letting up any time soon. To come to an agreement, they nominate six people to continue the search: Hook, Rumple, David, Mary-Margaret, Regina, and Emma. They split off into pairs and go back to the wood she got lost in.

"Maybe she climbed down the cliff," David suggests to Mary-Margaret as she studies the foot prints in the growing darkness.

"That's possible," she says, "but there's no where she could run off too. The beach ends, not to mention it's cut off. She wouldn't go into the water, it's way too cold...." She straightened and walked to the edge of the cliff, looking down.

There was nothing there. But, just as she was about to turn away, she heard something, and saw a figure stumble onto the beach, and then collapse.