The Shadow's Keeper ~OUAT Peter Panfiction (Book 2)

"To come so close..."

                  

Having tied their cloaks together, Hemlock spun them into a long rope. "Is it ready?" Benjamin asked.

            Hemlock gave the boy a nod, then gestured him to be quiet with a finger. "Go," he mouthed, pointing up a few jutted out rocks that led to the top of the cave.

            Benjamin stealthily climbed up from behind the rock they had obscured themselves with. Peering down into the large cave, the boy was mesmerized by the scenery. In fact, it was more so a wide open camp--though, preserved. There was a dusty campfire pit where emptied rum bottles were scattered around, a stream of water trailing across the cave floor from a profusive cataract, occasional groupings of trees. Then there was a desperately climbing Felix just below Benjamin's feet. Startled away, the lost boy bellowed out as he crashed over the jutted out rocks.

            Cursing, Hemlock came up from the ground and rushed to his aid. "Ahhh..." the boy groaned as Hemlock helped him up. Breathlessly, Benjamin weakly pointed to the ledge of the cave entrance. "It's...it's him, it's Fel--"

            Gasping, Hemlock abandoned Benjamin's side and glanced down inside. As the Beastly boy was climbing, he met Hemlock's eyes and panicked. Losing his feet, he fell from off the cave wall and fell back down to the ground.

            "Shit!!" Hemlock cursed again. "Felix!!" He shot Benjamin a desperate glance. "Get me the rope!!" The brown-eyed lost boy hurriedly obeyed, stumbling down and snatching up the tied cloaks. Throwing them to Hemlock, he caught it and anxiously pulled on it to make sure it was secure. He then tossed it over the cave ledge and began to painstakingly climb his way down in to the cave.

            Frequently glancing down at a seemingly unconscious Felix, Hemlock just barely reached halfway from the ground. "I..I think I'll have to jump!" He called up to a towering Benjamin. The lost boy wanted to shrivel away.

            "The drop looks pretty far!" He called back down to him.

            "I have to, I have no choice!"

            Benjamin hesitated, staring down at Hemlock with sheer worry on his face.

            The pale blue-eyed lost boy stared up at him, content with the possibility of this being his last glance before death, the way his fellow brother worried for him again. He roughly swallowed. "I'm going to do it!"

            Benjamin held his breath, though just before Hemlock was about to jump, a loud and familiar voice cut in like a knife. "No he isn't."

            Throttled into panic, Benjamin whirled around to find Peter standing there with a pallid grief-stricken Anne guarded behind his back. "Anna!" The lost boy panicked further.

            "He's back?!" Hemlock shrieked as the cloak he was holding onto, tore, and he bellowed out as he went falling. 

            At the sound of the boy's panic, Benjamin gasped as he tore his eyes away from Pan's. Having fallen onto the ledge, he watched Hemlock crashed atop the ground next to Felix in a cloud of dust. Right then, Benjamin realized how much he would prefer being down there with them--despite the possibility of them being dead.

            Anne had violently darted over to Benjamin's side. "Felix!" She cried, sinking down with her old, dark-eyed foe. Her eyes bulged at the sight of the two bodies, motionless in the dirt. "No!!" She cried some more, tears welling in her eyes. Benjamin gave her shoulder a firm, comforting squeeze, his own worried eyes never leaving his seemingly long, lost friends.