Innocence (OUAT/Peter Pan)

Chapter 15: Back To You

            “How do you know how to do it?” She asked, tilting her head to look at him with a raised eyebrow. He gave her a tiny smile and reached forward, pushing a few strands of her hair back from her face.

            “He just told me to tell you that,” he shrugged, chuckling, “good luck.” She tried to relax, and soon felt the magic that surrounded Pan like a thick blanket. Actually, she felt a lot of magic the farther she stretched her senses. She recognized that overwhelming sadness from Dark Hollow, and then one that looked like shining diamonds behind her eyelids and felt like both strength and calmness at the same time. Dead Man’s Peak, the water. She focused back on Pan, assuming it was him because of how concentrated it was. Her hair suddenly felt as though someone was yanking it, but Felix was standing a few feet from her side. The last thing she saw was his nod of encouragement, then her vision filled with blackness.

            And a second later, she was staring into the face of Peter Pan. He grinned, brown eyes light. “Well done, little princess, I’m very impressed,” he said smoothly, scanning her up and down. She looked around, noticing they were in the middle of the woods. “Wanted to make sure you were focusing on me, not other magic,” he explained.

            After a moment, he spoke again. “I’m going back to camp, you are to spend the day practicing this. It’s easiest to focus on places with magic, as you and Felix visited. I want you to be able to go to normal places in the forest or beach as well, understood?” his tone was still businesslike, his eyes focused on her. She nodded, nervous under his intensity. His eyes narrowed and his voice went lower. “But whatever you do, don’t go to Skull Rock. You’ll know it when you feel it. It’s in the ocean, not connected to the island, and full of very dark, very powerful, and very off-limits magic. Do not go there, or I will make sure it’s the last place you ever go,” he said deliberately.

            “Yes,” she breathed, taking a step back from him and not doubting him for a second. He nodded, his expression lighter but his eyes still holding her trapped.

            “Good, enjoy,” he smirked, waving and disappearing.

            That was easier said than done. She tried, she really did, and it should’ve been easy. The aura surrounding the water at Dead Man’s Peak was so beautiful, and so powerful she could feel herself latching onto it. Even Dark Hollow consumed her and swept her in like the under toe of waves. Fairy territory was too weak to magically pull her, but it felt comforting and warm enough that she wouldn’t have minded going. And then, at the last second each time, she would be yanked in some other direction, and the blackness would clear to reveal Pan standing about a foot in front of her.

            The first time, he’d smirked in amusement. “Now, princess, I know I’m irresistible but really, focus on a different place.” Then, he’d disappeared. And she’d meant to go to the beach.

            After about five times of her appearing at Pan’s side, Pan disappearing, and her following, he was annoyed but she was giggling. She couldn’t help it, she’d start thinking of somewhere else and feel the magical auras all calling to her, but his was one of the strongest, and the most alluring. Maybe because it was the most interesting. It felt like all the auras combined. Once her thoughts even mentioned him, he was all she could focus on. His face, those incredible brown eyes, his smirks, his chuckles, his taunts and the rare genuine smiles he’d given her.

            Finally, he disappeared and she thought of Felix instead. The scar across his face, his smirks, his sharp eyes, his messy blonde hair with the beads tied in, him smiling at her and teasing with her, and of him slinging his arm around her whenever she wanted it. The blackness cleared and she saw Felix’s grin in front of her, still in the small clearing where she’d left him that morning.