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

03x06 - Betrayer - Past

        I was out gathering some sticks. A majority of the boys went out on a hunt, excluding Felix and Connor. The latter was sharpening extra weapons, and Felix wasn't letting me out of his sight. He never spoke. He just watched. It was starting to make my skin crawl.

        Shoving the uncomfortable feeling from my chest, I started scaling the tree in front of me. There was a spell I wanted to try. Supposedly, according to one of the books I found in The Queen's collection, I can break a fresh branch off of a tree and make it into a bow. Something told me I would need it.

        I caught Felix taking a few steps toward me, watching curiously as I shimmied onto a wide branch. I tapped the one coming off it. It snapped and fell to the ground. Next step: getting my moronic self out of the tree. Somehow, I managed. Felix stepped back into the trees. I shot him a look. He only smirked.

         "What?" I asked. He shrugged. "Felix."

         "That's my name."

         I rolled my eyes. "You're watching me. Why?"

        "Oh, come on, Princess, you're smarter than that. Take a wild guess," he drolled. I sat, instead turning my attention to the branch I was going to transmute into a bow. "No?"

        "I'm not interested in playing games with you."

        "Yet you play so many with Baelfire." He sat across from me. "If you must know, I'm just supposed to protect you."

         "You don't even like me." I hovered my hands over the branch. My arms started to feel warm as I casted.

        "Pan's orders. I just do what he says," Felix's voice was suddenly void of all amusement.

        The branch started to twist and change. The bark peeled away and the core of the branch fashioned into the curved shape of a bow. Swirls seared themselves along it, making it seem much more ornate than it probably should have been.

        "You know, life will be much easier for you if you listen to him."

        "I do listen to him. He told me to stay, I stayed." I carefully lifted the bow, trying to ignore the defiant tone in my own voice. A flick of my wrist and the bow was strung.

        Felix grabbed my forearm. "That's not what I'm talking about. Pan doesn't like liars, Princess." I jerked my arm to shake him off. He didn't budge.

        "That's almost funny coming from you." I was starting to lose feeling in my hand. Heat collected in my chest. I started to panic. "Let me go."

        He didn't. Instead, he let that stupid smirk creep back onto his smug face. I hated the glint in his eyes. Felix was mocking me--every chance he got. This was the perfect opportunity for him to intimidate me once again, and he was taking it. I maintained eye contact, refusing to back down. Unfortunately, that egged him on. He yanked me off the ground.

        I dropped my new bow in favor of punching him in the chest. Felix chuckled. My breathing started to quicken. I tried telling him to let me go again. I pulled away. Instead of unhanding me, he used his hold to shove my back into the tree. I yelped and desperately pushed at him again. He caught my other hand and held it over my head.

        "What are you doing?" I shouted.

        "I'm only going to tell you this once, Princess, so listen well." The Lost Boy leaned in. "No one cares what happens to you--no one except precious little Baelfire. You want to live? You'd better start doing what Pan tells you to."

        "You're a liar," I growled. It was getting harder to breathe.

        "I have never once told you anything that wasn't true."

        "Peter does care." I steeled my nerves. "So let. Me. Go."

        "Felix." Peter was leaning against a tree. His tone was dark once again. "You heard her. Let her go." His most loyal Lost Boy connected eyes with me one last time, before pulling away. I started massaging my wrist. "Are you alright?" Peter's tone had gone soft. I watched warily as Felix walked back into camp. "I'm sorry, Love. I'll have a chat with him."

        "Is it true?" I started, "You don't care?"

        He cupped my cheek, his hazel eyes seemingly glossing over in regret. "Of course not. Felix just wanted to scare you. You can always trust my love for you." Peter touched his forehead with mine. "I shouldn't have been as cold with you earlier. I was just scared."

        "Of what?" My heart started to flutter as he gently interlaced our fingers.

        "Of you being hurt coming back here. I was trying to let you go, because I realized it was better if you didn't come back. Even the Evil Queen's castle is safer than by my side."

        My heart sank. I felt bad for even questioning him now and even worse for coming back strictly to get Baelfire. How much am I hurting him by standing in his presence? How much am I hurting him by lying? He's going to find out when I leave.

        I shoved my thoughts aside and pressed my lips onto his. This one didn't feel the same. In fact, it almost made me worse. The kiss felt... disingenuous. I just couldn't push my worry about Baelfire out of my head. My heart ached knowing that even now I was hurting him. He didn't seem to notice, seeing as he pulled me ever-so-slightly closer. I allowed myself to melt into him before pulling away. Peter didn't say anything, yet he didn't have to. His eyes said it all. He missed me.

        The next few days I basically spent all of my time trying to make up for what he didn't even know I was doing. Unfortunately in doing that, I nearly never left his side. I had to find time to break away, but if I wasn't with Peter he had a lost boy watching me. The catch would be coming up with an excuse as to why I ran off.

        Still, I had to. I'm sure Baelfire is already wondering why I've taken so long. So I went out for "target practice" with my freshly made bow and arrows. Connor was off to the side watching. Peter and Felix were off handling some nondescript problem Peter was avoiding my questions about. Now was my chance.

        I notched an arrow and drew the bow. Somehow, it came back a decent amount, but I wasn't near strong enough. I used a little bit of magic to fix that. I focused on the tree in front of me, a makeshift target hanging from it. One deep breath in. I let the arrow fly. As soon as it hit the target, magic bounced back from it. Connor fell. I genuinely can't believe infusing the tip with a sleeping spell worked, but I wasn't going to question it. I grabbed the arrow and headed out to Bae's cave.