Neverland - Peter Pan - OUAT Fanfiction

Chapter 18 - Survive

Violent Content Warning: Just a quick heads up before you proceed, this chapter contains a small portion of semi-graphic violence, nothing too nasty but also nothing like my previous chapters. It starts near the end of the chapter, and I will provide a warning just before and give you an okay after. I ask that victims of assault who are easily triggered please proceed with caution. I will give a quick synopsis at the end of the chapter of the necessary points to the story for those who would rather skip it.

I didn't move, hoping he wouldn't see me. The blade in his right hand glistened in the moonlight, he held no torch. The carpet of mist rolled over me in teasingly unhurried waves and I eased backwards, into the shadows with painfully slow movements laying as flat as I could, hoping the mist would cover me. Nate's eyes raked over the area and paused on my figure. He was staring right at me. He knew. He started slowly making his way towards me then stopped.

"Byron, bring me the bloody torch, will you?" the unexpected and impatient demand broke through the tension in my body and I involuntarily jerked, panic swelling in my mind. This is it, he had to have seen me jump. A torch flickered in the distance and grew closer.

"Did you find her?" Byron shouted from a distance.

"If I did you would have scared her off with that yelling you idiot. Now bring over the torch, I think I found one of the cages." Nate responded gruffly.

The flames soon illuminated Byron's face, as he held out a torch to Nate. The fire highlighted certain parts of their face and accentuated the dimensions, producing a frightening sight as their faces twisted in morbid expectancy.

"Can't wait to teach that brat a lesson." Byron commented, apparently too loudly for Nate, because he immediately received a not so reserved cuff on the head.

"I plan to leave her with more than just a lesson." Nate spat. The hairs on my arms rose.

I realized they hadn't spotted me yet, Nate must have just seen the cage, but that would all change as soon as they brought the torch any closer.

I inched away as they talked, trying to move with the flow of the fog and I slipped under the hanging cage just as they walked over. There was just enough room to cast a shadow, and I shuddered with relief that the cage was made from closely laid bamboo poles that was hard to see through. They must have wedged the torch into the tree nearest the cage, as the flame became steady, and the area the cage occupied became bathed in a low light.

"Won't she steer clear of the lights?" Byron asked. I watched his feet shift uncomfortably from only three feet away and tried to smother my uneven breathing.

"It will make her think someone is here, and she will be watching it carefully when it doesn't move. Then, I will catch her by surprise without a light when she won't be expecting it." Nate responded boastfully.

"You also want to know how to find your way back to the cage if you catch her, right?" Byron added carelessly.

I heard a guttural gasping. And my eyes widened considerably. I couldn't see past their knees but suddenly realized what was happening as Byron's legs began to twitch and his heels rose an inch above the ground. Nate was choking Byron.

"Did you just say if I catch her." Nate's tone was beyond menacing and I suddenly realized just how much danger I was in if caught. If this was what he did to his closes companion, what horrors did he have in store for me?

A protesting choke from Byron and Nate released him. Byron stumbled backwards coughing.

"Didn't think so." Nate said, not waiting for Byron to speak.