Peter's P.O.V.
"Nosh!" I yell for him as soon as the camp comes into view. "Nosh, help!" I tilt myself down and glue my eyes onto his tent. I keep shouting as loud as I can, and within seconds all the women and children are scurrying out of their tents and looking in my direction. But so far I haven't seen Nosh. "NOSH!"
His head pokes out of his tent just as I fly through the entrance of the camp. His eyes grow wide when he notices I'm carrying someone and quickly rushes aside, allowing me to fly straight into his tent. I try to land as smoothly as I can and hold my breath as I gently lay Addie down on the pile of furs that serves as a bed in Nosh's tent.
"Peter? Who is it boy? Is it ja... Oh!" I've never seen Nosh scared, not once in my entire life. He's always managed to appear calm as he treated people. But now, he's completely white. His eye look ready to pop out of his head as they travel over Addie's body, and he doesn't appear to be breathing.
"Oh..." Nosh snaps out of his shocked state and runs to his supply box, mumbling a prayer I've never heard before. He trips over his own feet as he rushes back over to us, and shoos me back with a shaking hand. I reluctantly let go of Addie and take a few steps back, locking my eyes onto Nosh's face.
He starts at her feet, which are probably the only part of her body that are unharmed. He, realizing this, doesn't spend more than a few seconds looking at them before he moves to her legs. He knees are scratched up and bloody, my guess from kneeling so much while trying to break free of the chains. His eyes travel up and freeze at her stomach. Slowly lifting a small knife, he slices the shirt open and carefully peels it away, but I can see it tugging at her skin. There was so much blood that it was practically a part of her skin. I shift my gaze to Addie's face as he does this. It scrunches up slightly, but then relaxes again.
"What?" Nosh whispers to himself. I look down at Addie's stomach and voice my confusion as well. Addie's stomach was caved in and her ribs were exposed, making it clear that she hadn't eaten in a long time, but there were no wounds. Nosh and I share a look.
"All that blood.... I don't understand." I mutter walking over and standing next to him. I tilt my head slightly and notice there's more blood near her back than there is on her stomach. "Nosh. look." I say pointing it out to him.
"Good eye boy." He says softly. "Help me turn her." I float over Addie and stand on the other side of her. I place my fingertips under her and look up at Nosh. "On three, you turn her towards me... One.. two.. " Addie's scream cuts me off before I can say three.
Addie's P.O.V.
The pain in my back suddenly intensifies, pulling me back into consciousness. I shock myself yet again by screaming bloody murder and I feel my body being turned over. For a moment I forget that Peter and the Indians had found me, and I can't stop the tears. "Please stop!" I beg against my better judgment. "Please Hook you've done enough!" my voice is raspy, and the most pathetic thing I've ever heard.
"Addie! Addie it's me! It's Peter! You're ok, Hook isn't here! You're safe." I open my eyes and see Peter kneeling beside me through me through my tears. It all came back to me then.
"Peter? Where are we?" I ask, still sobbing. He immediately inches closer to me and gently brushes his fingertips under my eyes, wiping my tears away.
"Shhh, Ads stop crying." He whispers soothingly. "We're in Nosh's tent."
"Oh.. How long have we..AHH!" I cry out in pain again as something touches my back. When I open my eyes again, I see Peter staring at my back in horror.
"Addie.... what happened?" He asks, barely above a whisper.
"Someone stabbed me. The knife got stuck as Hook dragged me below deck. And after it fell out he hit me there a few times..."
"I've never seen.." Nosh stops abruptly and he must've motioned for Peter to follow him, because Peter leaps over me and crosses the room with Nosh. I struggle to turn my head in their direction, but it might as well have been filled with lead. I give up and let myself go limp as I try to focus on their hushed voices.
Peter's P.O.V.
I try to keep my cool, for Addie's sake, as Nosh's words fill my ears.
"I've never seen an infection as bad as this.... I don't know what, if it's done anything at all, to her internally. Her cheeks are infected as well..."
"Nosh, Addie died." I don't know what made me say it, but something told me it was important for him to know.
He blinks at me in confusion. "What?"
"Addie wasn't alive when we found her... but she... she came back." my stomach twists when I say this.
Nosh thinks for a few seconds before sighing. "Then maybe it hasn't done anything internally. Nonetheless I need to clean her up." Then as if reading my thoughts, he places his hands on my shoulders. "I can't promise anything, Peter. I may be a healer.... but I'm no miracle worker."
I nod, but the tears fall anyways. "I can't lose her Nosh." my voice breaks.
He doesn't say anything, which is worse than anything he could've possibly said. He just turns around and walks back over to Addie.
"Aashi? Addie I need to clean you up. This is going to hurt sweetie but you need to keep fighting, ok? Don't give up on me now."
"Ok." Her small voice pipes up, sounding scared to death.
For whatever reason, I can't move. I watch in horror as Nosh wets down a rag and places it on her back. As soon as contact is made Addie screams. I cringe. I know I should go to her, but my feet won't listen. Nosh slowly moves his hand and she screams again, and my feet respond by rushing out of the tent. I crash to my knees, gasping for breath.
"Peter?" I look up, not even bothering to hide my tears as one of the elder ladies walks over to me. "Darling who is in there?" She asks quietly.
I sniff and wipe my face with my bare arm. "Addie. She never got home." I don't have to explain any further. What happened to Addie automatically registers for her, the look on her face proves it. Another scream rips through the air and I realize then that a crowd had gathered. Everyone with ears had made a circle around the tent once Addie started screaming.
"Peter! Peter I need you to hold her down! Come in here!" Nosh voice follows the scream.
Feeling like a boy again, I look up at the woman with desperate eyes.
"Go on honey, she needs you." Is all she says as she places her hands under my armpits, guiding me to my feet.
I nod and take a deep breath, walking back into the tent. Addie was crying again, softly this time, and she was moaning something over and over again. my eyes go wide as I realize she's calling out for me and I fly the rest of the way.
"Addie I'm right here." I say as I take her hand in mine. I squeeze it, and wonder if it had been this cold earlier. She squirms again as Nosh applies a little more pressure, trying to get the dried blood off and he shoots me a look. I place my other hand on her shoulder, and reluctantly hold her down as firmly as I can. She struggles against me some, but she's too weak to even make me budge.
"It's almost over Addie... you're doing great." Nosh says leaning down to whisper in her ear.
Three hours later
Jaz, Aanadi and I pace around their tent in complete silence. About an hour after we arrived, the others had returned with a still unconscious Zee. Nosh then kicked us all out and tied his door shut, a sigh we were all taught as children that meant don't even go near his tent. my mind raced with worry over Addie, Zee, and now Tink. She had taken off and nobody knew where. She could be anywhere!
I knew exactly why she did it too. She knew that the Hollow would be healed, and so would everyone in it. She wanted to have a clean, quiet break from Neverland, rather then having the queen make a huge announcement about her banishment. But I never got to say goodbye. I never got to explain why I had faked my death.
"Aanadi!" Almas's high pitched wail breaks our silence as our heads snap in the direction of the door. She comes crashing through and collapses into her sister's arms, sobbing. She and a few other tribe girls had gone to the Hollow after we left, to try and save whatever animals or plants were left, and hadn't heard anything about what happened until now.
"He's dead isn't he? Zee's dead!" She wails, clutching to Aanadi.
"No! Almas no!" Aanadi wraps her arms protectively around her younger sister, holding her close. "The bullet hit him in the shoulder. Zee will be fine."
This clearly calms her down. The story of what really happened must've been twisted in so many ways, who knows what she heard.
After a few deep breaths, she speaks again. "What happened, Aanadi?"
Aanadi looks up at me, unsure of what to tell her. I take a deep breath myself and look at Almas. "He jumped in front of Addie and me. He saved our lives."
She looks up at me, clearly confused. "But Addie..."
I shake my head slowly and crouch down beside her. "She never got home. Hook somehow captured her."
"Is she alright?"
my heart sinks and I close my eyes. "I'm not sure..." Is all I can say. And it was true. After Nosh had cleaned her up, he still wasn't sure if she was going to make it or not. We also haven't heard anything...
"You may see them now." We all gasp in unison at hearing Nosh's voice. Jaz, Aanadi, Almas and I quickly stand as we all stare at Nosh. He looked exhausted, and if I didn't know better, I'd say he'd been crying. We all started to rush toward the door when he held up his hands.
"Zeeshan is awake, but heavily sedated. Aashi is asleep and she won't be up anytime soon." He looks at me apologetically when he says this. "But..." I hold my breath. "Both will be alright." Through my own tears, I see that everyone else also has tears of relief filling their eyes.
"Quietly now. I'm not afraid to kick the lot of you out again." Nosh says stepping aside.
We walk slowly past him, but as soon as we're outside we sprint to his tent.
Zee's P.O.V.
After Nosh leaves to get the others, I turn my head in Addie's direction. Her entire midsection was covered in thick bandages, and so was most of her face, but she still somehow looked peaceful as she slept.
I laugh softly. "Look at us, Addie." I say quietly. I let my mind drift a little to how we both got to Neverland. "Wonder what our parent's are thinking right about now." I sigh when she doesn't respond. I knew she wouldn't, but I wished with all my heart she would. "Don't you dare wake up and blame yourself for ANY of this Addie, do you hear me?" But even as I say this, I knew that's exactly what she was going to do. "You're going to make it through this... everything will be alright."
Peter's P.O.V.
Jaz gets there first and stumbles through the door. "Zee!" Zee's head turns in our direction and he gives us a weak smile. "Hey guys."
"You! You...you!" Almas rushes over to him and leans her head on his chest. "Don't you 'hey' me." She says, trying to sound upset.
"Alms..." He whispers, running his fingers through her hair with his good arm. "I'm not going anywhere."
She sighs and sinks further into him, and with one arm he pulls her into the bed with him. As she settles next to him Aanadi walks over to him next. She bend down and kisses his cheek before he wraps his arm around her.
"I'm glad you're ok." She whispers before standing back and walking over to Addie. I keep my eyes glued on Zee, wanting to talk to him. I know if I even glance at Addie I'll be over there in a second, and I won't leave her side once I'm there.
Jaz goes next. He leans over the two of them and hugs Zee as tight as he can without hurting him. He pulls back, and they both chuckle. "I'm not even going to say anything you crazy idiot." Jaz says before walking over to Addie.
Zee's eyes lock with mine as I kneel next to him.
"Before you say anything, Pan," Zee says right away. "I have no regrets, and I'm alright, so don't you apologize to me." He says firmly but with a smile.
I look at my friend, who has never failed to be there when I needed him most, and smile back. "Thank you, Zee. I owe you.."
"You owe me nothing Pan." He says cutting me off.
I know there's no point in arguing, so I just nod.
"Go to her, Peter. I'm not going anywhere." He says gently, pulling Almas closer to him. "Leave me and my girl alone." He winks and we all chuckle. I lay a hand on his good shoulder as I stand and I finally look at Addie.
She looked almost like herself in a way, now that she wasn't caked in blood. Some color had returned to her, but not much. I walk over and Aanadi and Jaz move over so I can kneel next to her face. Everything from the bottom of her eyes down to her neck was covered in bandages, leaving only her forehead exposed. I gently move the hair out of her face with my fingertips and lean over, placing my lips to her head.
"I'm so sorry." I whisper near her ear.
I lay my head beside hers and silently allow the few tears I have left to fall. Although she was going to live, I had failed. It's been my mission in life to protect those I love, no matter what. Never once have I lost one of the Boys or any of the Indians, but I seem to be unable to protect the girls I love. I had failed with Wendy, but she had only been poisoned. And I had been there for her before anything more could happen. But not this time. Not with Addie.
I had let my stubbornness get in the way of my judgment and I had left her alone. Hell, I didn't even know she was still here. I had let Hook kill her. She died because of me. I'll never be able to forgive myself for that.
"This is not your fault Peter." The Chief's voice rings in my ears. The hairs at the back of my neck stand up and I sneak a glance at the others. Nothing had changed, so they clearly didn't hear it.
"You don't have to speak, just think." He instructed me.
"Chief, it IS my fault. I wasn't there when she needed me." I think as loud as I can. "I let him kill her!"
"NO! You didn't. Peter, Hook would've gotten to her anyways. Even if you had stayed with her, Hook was a merciless man, he wanted her. We both know Hook got what he wanted eventually."
"I know... but.."
"But nothing. There's no point wallowing in what you didn't do. Focus on what you DID do, Peter. You saved her. No matter what you think about how she got there, she's here now, safe because of you. And I'm proud of you, Peter."
Before I could think anything else, he was gone.
"Peter?" Jaz's hand rests on my shoulder. "We all know the first thing Addie will be worried about is you when she wakes up. You need to get some rest, for her sake."
I look up at him and sigh. "Just give me a minute alone with her, then I promise you can knock me out yourself."
He smiles softly before saying goodbye to Zee, and leading the girls out of the room.
I look down at Addie again, and a feeling of calm washes over me. Nosh said she'd be alright, and the Chief would've given me some sort of sign if she wasn't going to pull through.
I lean over and kiss her forehead again. "I'll see you soon, Addie. I love you." I whisper before standing up.
"Aww, now isn't that cute?" Zee's drowsy voice rings in my ears.
"Shut up." I chuckle flicking him on the head. He responds by groaning and flipping me off, which only makes me laugh more.
"If she.."
"I'll let you know right away, Peter." he cuts me off.
"Thanks." I glance at her sleeping form one last time before ducking out of the tent, only to be surrounded by the Boys, who were all in hysterics.
"Shhh! Boys!" I try to calm them down, but they won't listen.
"Is she dead?"
"Why can't we see her?"
"Is Zee dead too?"
They're all crying at once, and thankfully Nosh runs over.
"BOYS! QUIET RIGHT NOW!" His voice booms.
They all go silent, but continue to cry.
Nosh explains that they're both fine, and they can't go in until Addie wakes up. Once he's done talking, they all look to me, searching for confirmation to the truth of his words.
I nod and smile softly. "Boys Addie wants to see you as much as you want to see her. As soon as she is well enough, you can come see her I promise."
This seems to satisfy them, and a few of the elder women come to take them. I smile at them gratefully, happy that I won't have to worry about them along with everything else.
I let Aanadi lead me to the tent they have set up Just for me and the events of the past few weeks finally hit me. I obey her every command in a daze, I change my clothes, giving her the bloodied ones, eat a decent sized meal, drink two pouches of water, and finally, lay down. She didn't even have to tell me to sleep, because as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out.