VICIOUS (II) : peter pan ouat

How to Speak of War

"We haven't had new people in a while, other than the girls."

"Where are they anyway?" He asks, getting up.

I sigh, following him up. "That's why I came to you. I may or may not have lost them."

His eyes widen, and I part my lips to explain the story, but decide against it. There's no way I can properly convey exactly what it is that's going on without making myself sound like an idiot.

"You know, I thought you'd be better at handling them." He teases.

I scoff. "Please, they're girls. Could you keep a handle on me when I first got here? And I was pretending to be a boy."

I wrap my hands around my waist, biting my lip as I look up at him. He smirks down at me, cocking his head slightly.

"No one could keep a handle on you if they tried." He teases.

That much is true. He leans down to kiss me, and I kiss him back. He wraps his hands deep in my hair, and I pull back at him until we are completely pressed together.

Letting go of me, he pulls back. "We are looking for those runaways, aren't we?"

I scoff. "Since when do you care about the boys on this island? Why would the girls be any different?"

"Please Charlotte," he begins. "I care about the boys."

"And if I say Felix doesn't count..."

He rolls his eyes, before looking down at me. "I guess that's fair."

I wonder if he cares about me. Not that it's pertinent to my life in anyway, but all the same. I feel obligated to actually care, or even know if he does.

I lean up to kiss him, but instead choose to back away. I can't kiss him. Not here, not after a thought like that has begun to root in my head. His head teeters back and forth as he looks at me.

"Well, aren't we looking for those runaways?" I ask, lifting up the hatch down to the ground.

He tips forward, before grabbing hold of my side, and we disappear off into the night.

When I land on the ground, Peter has completely disappeared, because of course he has. We're never together for longer than a few minutes at a time.

I'm standing in a clearing in the forest, looking around. There are no bodies on the ground, but I know where we stand. The smell of smoke still lingers in the charred trees, hanging down over top of me. As I step on the ground, ashes seem to pillow up into the air from beneath my feet. Thankfully there are no bodies on the ground, for if there were I'd lose my mind.

"What is this place?" Blaize asks, peeking out from inside a tent.

She's not asking me the question, her back is turned to me. Instead, I watch Frank jump down from a tree, shrugging her shoulders.

"There was a war here." I tell them.

Blaize's head spins around to see me, but Frank only stands there and nods.

"How did you get here?" She asks, shocked.

I shrug. Either to be mysterious or because I'm not entirely sure has this little magic trick works. The shrug seems to satisfy her, even though Frank's eyes linger on my skin.

"A war?" She presses on. "There isn't anyone else on the island."

"Exactly." I chuckle. "There were Natives. We went from thirty to a dozen, but they weren't so lucky."