In which a young girl who doesn't believe in magic ends up on the most magical place in the world; an island called Neverland. After spending a few months on the island, she wants to go home. However, two years later, Annie Wood makes her return to...
Annie had no idea where she and the Lost boys were going, but she trusted Peter to lead them in the right direction. The only one missing from the group was Felix, but Annie just assumed he was with Grayson.
"How much longer?" Nathan whined, his legs growing tired from walking for so long. Annie didn't even notice the pain that rattled throughout her body. She was too worried about Grayson to care about her own health right now.
"We're almost there, just keep going." Peter replied, glancing over his shoulder. Annie managed to catch a glimpse of his face, noticing for the first time how red and puffy his eyes were, and how disheveled his dark brown, nearly black, hair was. Neverland's leader used to be so full of life, his green eyes bright, his hair a soft brown with a strip of green dye in the front, and a smile almost always etched onto his face. Now, all that showed on him was annoyance and exhaustion.
Annie wasn't even sure how long they'd been walking for, but eventually came to a steep hill that was filled with tall trees and overgrown roots. There was a dirt path that Annie and the boys walked up in a single file, with Peter still leading. Annie reached out to grab tree roots, using them to help herself walk up the hill. She felt the grit of dirt on her palms as she grabbed each root.
A few of the boys were ahead of Annie, and reached the top of the hill. Their faces fell as they all saw what was waiting for them. Annie took a deep breath before pulling herself up the rest of the way, exhaling as she saw Grayson laying still on the ground, a pillow made of leaves under his head.
"Gray." Annie walked over, falling to her knees beside the sick boy. All the Lost boys kept their distance, knowing Grayson's condition was affecting Annie the most. His eyes had dark circles under them, and his skin was a ghostly pale. All the life looked drained from his face, and he slowly shifted his hazel eyes to look at Annie.
"Hey, Annie." Grayson managed to say to the girl through his dry and cracked lips.
Annie's green eyes shifted to Grayson's arm, noticing the spot where the Dreamshade coated arrow had struck him. His arm looked like it had been injected with poison, the area dark with veins of black snaking up his pale skin. Annie had no doubt that the poison was dangerously close to his heart, and could only imagine how deathly and harmed his chest looked as the poison took his life away in the most painful manner.
"I'm okay." Grayson turned his head slightly, and lifted his arm up to rest his hand on Annie's cheek in a reassuring way. He seemed to struggle with even that simple movement, but concealed his pain. "Don't cry. Please."
Annie's eyes had watered, the green of her irises now surrounded by a painful red as tears leaked down her cheeks. Grayson used the pad of his thumb to wipe a tear away as Annie brought her hand up to rest on top of Grayson's.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Grayson." Miles was weighed down with guilt because of what he did to Grayson. It had been his arrow that skimmed the older boy's skin, and now he was inches away from death because of it.
Grayson slowly dropped his hand from Annie's face and turned to look at Miles. "It's okay, Miles. It's not your fault." Grayson offered a small smile to the boy, only to get a loud sob in return as Miles began crying. He couldn't hold his emotions in anymore, now that he was faced with the reality of what he did to Grayson.
"No one blames you, Miles." Troye walked over to the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him. Miles wanted a lot more than just a reassuring touch, and engulfed Troye in an unexpected hug as he sobbed. Troye hesitated for a moment before putting his hands on Miles' back, allowing him to cry into his shirt.
The two boys pulled apart as Grayson started coughing, sitting over and rolling slightly so he was no longer laying down, but coughing downwards towards the dirt ground. Even though Annie couldn't see his face, she saw the blood he spat up once he was done coughing. Grayson's back rose and fell violently as he tried to catch his breath, before laying back down.
"This sucks." Grayson mumbled as he looked up at Annie, a tear rolling out of the corner of his eye and down towards his hair. Annie reached down to grab his hand, just wanting him to be fully aware that she was here and he was alive. Grayson's skin was cold, and he tightly squeezed Annie's hand.
"Grayson, stay awake." Annie mumbled as the boy's eyes started fluttering shut, his body giving up and shutting down. "Grayson." Annie repeated, her voice louder.
"I love you, Annie." Grayson mumbled. He was barely audible, but Annie still heard her best friend.
"Grayson!" Annie felt the boy's grip on her hand slowly become looser as his eyes closed. "Gray! No, no. Wake up. Grayson!" The girl exclaimed, her voice breaking as her heart shattered.
Peter crouched down beside his brother on the opposite side of Annie, resting a hand on his shoulder. Grayson was still, his eyes closed and his head turned to the side slightly. Annie let go of his hand, not noticing the way his palm turned upwards and his finger lay still slightly bent.
"No." Annie mumbled, putting her head down on Grayson's chest as she bawled loudly. The girl gripped at his shirt, pain raking over her as she screamed out, the traumatic noise muffled by cotton.
"No pulse." Peter stated monotonously after checking his brother's neck for any sort of life. With Annie's head on his chest, she couldn't feel any sort of breathing rhythm or hear his heart beating.
"He's gone." Annie mumbled, looking up at Neverland's leader. Her eyes stung from the salty tears that still rolled down her cheeks. The Lost boys let out their own quiet sobs, Jakob the only one that wasn't crying. Instead, he stood with a clenched jaw and squinted eyes as he stared down at Grayson's lifeless body.
The inevitable had happened, and the harshest wave of pain and emotion rocked Annie like a ship in a thunderstorm. Everything on the island has been different since Grayson was vandalized by a Dreamshade coated arrow, and it was only going to get worse.
Grayson Dolan was dead, and no amount of magic would be able to bring him back.
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I'm so sorry I sobbed writing this.
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