Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
━━━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━━━
THE ASCENT WAS QUIET, no one wanting to talk after all that had just been said. Once again, Kaelyn led the way, refusing to break face as she felt her skin crawl under everyone's eyes, including Peter's. She had lost control, given into anger, and in turn had made herself vulnerable and appeared weak.
She didn't much care for everyone else's secrets, but her own weighed heavy on her, to the point she couldn't even enjoy the fact that Neal was back. In reality, they had all just played into Peter's game. He had the control and the power, he knew their every move and their presence. It made her sick and it made her angry.
All she wanted was to get the fuck off the island. She was tired of Peter winning and getting his way. They were making no progress and Henry was slipping further and further away as Peter's goal got closer and closer.
As the rest of them regrouped outside the cave, Kaelyn could only get lost in her thoughts, trying to ignore the looks she was now receiving. She wasn't sure what she had expected- her secrets hardly made her look any better to them.
I'm still in love with Peter Pan.
It hadn't worked. Of course it hadn't. Why should it? Hadn't she been the one to swear by hating him just days ago? But she had considered it an option; a truth that no one would know.
Or someone else just knows it already.
Was David right?
It had been so long since Kaelyn had left, that she had forgotten what was love and what was familiarity. Even now, thinking back on however long she had been back in Neverland, did she love him? She knew she couldn't hurt him, that had been proven, and she knew he wouldn't hurt her.
But was that love or familiarity?
How could she so easily hold a grudge against Rumple when he had done nothing close to the scale of Peter? How could she so openly hate him but still, against all her better judgement, accept that she would never be able to treat Peter as an enemy, not really? She could yell at him and mock him and go against him as much as she wanted, but she could not see him as an enemy. And she hated herself the most for it.
"Kaelyn." She perked up as Neal approached her, the others starting to head off as she had zoned out.
"Hm?" she hummed.
"Go back to the compound," Neal told her. "Make sure he doesn't touch Henry. We'll meet you there."
Kaelyn furrowed her brows. "You have a plan?"
"Yes, yes I do."
Kaelyn didn't reply immediately, giving him time, before she realised with a sinking feeling in her stomach. "And you don't trust me with it."
