Perdita (A Peter Pan OUAT Fanfic)

CHAPTER NINE: Fruit

A/N - We got to a hundred reads!! Yayyyy!!! I feel so special. :) Anyway, this chapter is just a filler really, so it's probably going to be pretty boring. And also very short, so if you read the author's note at the end of the last chapter, tell me which length of chapter you prefer.

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When I woke up the following morning, I almost rolled over and went back to sleep. Fishing had been more of a strain on my body than I'd expected and it just seemed like a little too much effort to get out of bed and do it all again. I'd almost drifted off when, just like the previous day, two subtle taps sounded on the door.

Oh, right. I had to earn my keep. I forgot I had actually do stuff to be allowed to stay. I groaned. Normally, I wouldn't mind work, but I was just so tired and it couldn't have been past seven in the morning anyway. I don't know how all those teenage boys got up everyday at the crack of dawn. It's just not natural.

But regardless of the temptation to stay in bed, I answered the knock, knowing laziness would never get me anywhere. Plus, not helping out might aggravate the boys enough to finally actually hurt me, and that wasn't a risk I wasn't willing to take.

"Felix?" I was almost certain it would be him, but there was always a possibility that one of the other Lost Boys was playing a knock-and-run practical joke.

"Uh. Yeah. It's me," Felix answered and I huffed an internal sigh of relief.

"Give me a second and I'll be out," I called back in acknowledgement. There was no reply but I knew he would be waiting for me.

I quickly threw on a set of clothes very similar to the ones from yesterday and laced my trainers into place, before heading out the door to meets Felix. He was stood in exactly the same spot as before, though this time, he wore the same outfit as when I first met him in the forest; a heavy black cloak which exposed nothing but the skin of his neck and face. But he didn't have his hood up, so his hair and feather braid were still visible.

"Fishing again?" I asked.

"No. It's fruit picking today." He didn't look directly at me but his posture and tone were far less awkward than the day before. He didn't even stutter over his words.

I nodded. Fruit picking sounded much less strenuous than fishing, not that I'd predicted the physical taxation of yesterday's activities. But really, how hard could today be?

The answer was surprising. It was even worse than fishing. After just a half hour, my back was aching unavoidably from reaching up to the night branches to pull down the fruit and my fingers shook with the strain.

Just like yesterday, Felix had taken off in front and I had trailed behind, him leading me towards our destination. Though, this time, all though we left the camp from the same place, we took a very different route that meandered through the more dense patches of forest. We'd battled through - or I'd battled through; Felix didn't seem to have any trouble with the low hanging branches and irritating nettles - until the wood spat us out in a little clearing.

It was like a natural orchard, where groves of trees stood about in clusters of their same species. The sun managed to creep in just enough for the plants to be able to grow, but it was still dark enough that I had to pay careful attention to where I put my feet to make sure I didn't trip. None of the fruits on the trees looked familiar to me but then again, this island had mermaids and magic, so was it so surprising that it had its own specific fruit species?

"Pick the red ones over there," Felix had instructed me moments after we'd entered the clearing, and produced a wicker basket which he'd handed over for me to fill with the crops. I set off towards the trees he'd gestured at whilst he disappeared around the other side of them.