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• Echo Cave • Word Count ~ 1178
"The only way to rescue someone from inside is to reveal a secret." Hook continued.
"A secret?" I repeated.
"That's all?" Mary Margaret added.
"Your darkest secret." Hook elaborated.
'Well that's just great' I thought to myself sarcastically.
"Echo cave derives it's name from an old saying, 'The deeper the lie, the more truth in its echo.' The cave demands that you reveal a truth about yourself, a secret you would never admit to anyone."
"This is ridiculous." Emma scoffs.
"Don't kill the messenger, love." Hook reply's.
"Even if we spill our guts, how do we know Neals still alive in there?"
"Because this is what Pan wants. He wants us to rescue him." Hook replies, gesturing to the cave entrance.
"Why?" David asks.
"So that we reveal our secrets. He believes once we do, our secrets will destroy us."
"There's no way that I'm going then." I say sharply, walking away.
"Where the hell are you going?" Emma asks.
"I'm going to wait for you to come out." I shrug, sitting down next to a tree in front of the cave entrance.
"We can't just leave you out here Maze, you have to come with us." Mary Margaret insists, but I just frown and look to the ground.
"I'll be fine. You guys go and I'll be out here to greet you when you bring Neal back." I smile up at her.
"You sure you'll be okay?" Emma asked, making sure. I nodded with a smile and just like that, they were gone.
***
They'd been gone for a few minutes by now and I'd been standing up and leaning back against the tree with my eyes closed, enjoying the peace and quiet until I heard a stick snap from behind me. I smirked slightly, knowing exactly who it was.
"You know, I'm beginning to think that I might have a stalker." I spoke out loud, not bothering to open my eyes.
"Oh really? It better be me otherwise I might just have to kill someone today." I heard him whisper, his breathe hitting my face making my eyes snap open only to see that our faces were inches apart.
I sucked in a sharp breathe automatically, and it didn't go unnoticed by Pan, who raised an eyebrows at me, his eyes flickering down to my lips for a split second before returning to my gaze. My eyes looked down so that I wouldn't have to make eye contact with him.
"You'd do that for me?" I whispered so quietly I wasn't sure if he had heard, but he answered that by speaking up.
"I'd do anything for you." He replied. I looked back up at him, trying to find any hint of a lie of his face but he looked to be genuine and sincere. I felt my heart race as my face started to heat up.
"I-I shouldn't be fraternising with the enemy." I said, trying to come off as confident but only only ended up being the opposite of what I was going for. Pan leaned in even closer, his right arm to the side of my head as he used it to keep his balance, almost trapping me in as his left hand goes to lay on my hip.
"You were never one to follow the rules, now were you love?"
"I thought I told you to stop calling me that." I glared up at him.
"Oh you did." Pan chuckled.
"But I just chose to ignore you."
"Your infuriating."
"You know you love it."
"I don't."
"You don't know you love it?"
"No I know that I don't love it. I don't love the stupid name and I don't love you." I snap. I saw a flash of pain in his eye, but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared making me think I was just seeing things.
"And I don't love you." Pan replied coldly, removing his hand from my waist and creating some space between us, allowing me to get up from my leaning position against the tree.
"Good, then we both finally agree on something."
***
Pan had left me about an hour ago and they still weren't out.
Even though I was concerned for Mary Margaret, Emma, David, Neal and even Hook, I couldn't get my conversation with pan out of my head.
"No I know that I don't love it. I don't love the stupid name and I don't love you."
"And I don't love you."
No matter how hard I tried, his words kept playing on repeat like a broken disk. But why? Why did they effect me so much? Why did those words feel like a kick to my stomach? Why did I feel like all the life and happiness just disappeared?
'You don't love him, you don't love him, you don't love him.' I repeated in my head in an effort to forget Pan. I wish that I could just forget all of it, forget all this pain, forget coming to this island, foreget meeting him, forget each moment that we'd spent together, because I knew for a fact that every waking moment that I'd spent with him, I'd spent falling deeper and deeper in love with him. I just wanted to forget him.
"Fuck." I muttered to myself. I was starting to get a headache with all of this mental conflict.
Luckily for me, right in that moment I looked up only to see Emma walk out from echo cave.
"Your back." I smiled, standing up from my spot on the ground.
My smile widening as I saw Neal walk out from behind her.
"Neal!" I exclaim excitedly and in relief. I quickly ran over to him and threw my arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug.
"Hey Maze." Neal chuckled.
"I'm glad that your okay."
"I could say the same for you." I replied pulling away from the hug. I looked around only to see that everyone was quiet.
'Oh god, now what's happened?'
"Thank you." Neal spoke up, thanking Hook, David, Mary Margaret and Emma.
"Well, don't thank us yet. We still have to save Henry." David said.
"We found your star map, so the real question is do you know how to get off this island?" Hook interrupted.
"If we can find Henry, I can get us home." Neal assured them. I don't know why but the thought of going back to Storybrooke - a place that I had been happy in, that I had friends that cared about me and a new happy life - and leaving Neverland made me feel sick to my stomach.
"Well, lets go get Tinker Belle and.... retrieve the boy." Hook said, before turning away and walking off. The rest of the group following his lead.
Something definitely happened in that cave that I'm not quite sure I want to find out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Heyy guys, I hope you liked the chapter, I'm going to be posting chapter 31 next Sunday so I'll see you guys then. Bye for now xxx ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
