Once A Lost Girl | Once Upon A Time Story | Peter Pan

03x04 - Eight Words - Present

Hey! Author here.

Quick little warning:

        From here on out the present chapters are gonna be a bit... rough. Like I said in the summary of this book: Peter Pan isn't a great guy. He's very manipulative. Just be warned that Elyssa is about to go through some of that.

On a lighter note: I hope you enjoy this chapter~!

Baelfire and I walked in total silence. I followed close enough behind him to not get lost but far enough that we didn't have to face each other. I know he's upset, but leaving Rumple was a really bad decision. We're completely vulnerable. Pan would never admit it, but I think Rumple at the very least worries him. I doubt he's afraid--Pan isn't afraid of anything. Even hurting me.

          All we could do for the moment was look for Emma. So that's what we did. The trees around us sat undisturbed as we trekked. I could feel my legs get sluggish. My stomach felt like it was eating itself. I kept quiet. I might pass out, but I can't slow us down. If we pause to try and find food, that's more time for Pan to catch up.

          "I'm sorry, by the way," Neal said, cutting through the quiet, "I'm the only one who knows about your time here and about what happened. I shouldn't have used that knowledge to hurt you."

         "It's fine," I managed, "you were upset. We all say things we don't mean when we're upset."

         "You don't," he said plainly, "aside from anything having to do with Neverland, you're brutally honest most of the time. Especially when you're angry."

        "You know, Pan said something similar so I'd rather do without the compliment." We paused so Bae could readjust how he was holding Henry, "you and Rumple have the worst timing."

        "Why do you say that?"

        "I was trying to convince Henry not to trust Pan. I don't know what I'd do if I let him make the mistake I did." I leaned against a tree.

        "The right thing," Neal answered, "when it comes down to it, I know I can trust you."

        I chuckled solemnly, "How? I can't even trust myself. This entire time Snow and David and Emma and Regina have been doing all they can--finding Tinkerbell, asking if there's even a grain of pixie dust left and I did nothing. I watched, I waited. I had an opportunity to tell the truth on so many occasions and I blew it! I even almost killed Felix just to keep it from them."

          "You don't abandon people you care about. That makes all the difference."

          "I abandoned you. I left on Hook's ship without you. I could have gotten you to come with me and I didn't." my heart rate kicked up. I really felt sick now.

          "Elyssa you didn't abandon me. We both know Pan wasn't going to let me go. You saved Hook's life--"

          "And what about your life, Bae?" I nearly shouted. "All I could think while I was in Regina's stupid castle in her stolen kingdom was that I'd let you down. For all I knew Pan could've hurt you, or worse."

         Neal set Henry down gently before pulling me into a hug, "You can't keep blaming yourself for that, Lys. Besides, I got out. But we just weren't destined to leave together."

         "Why?" I pulled away, tears falling.

         "I'd never have loved Emma."

         "You don't know that."

         "I do." he knew I wouldn't just take the answer, but I don't think he was willing to tell me the reason at the moment. "Come on, we need to keep going." Neal picked Henry back up and we kept walking.