From Your Tower ➛ OUAT

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Fascination.

A state of intoxication where Rapunzel was interested in everything Peter did, the way he walked, the way he talked... The word had become her word to explain what she felt for Peter Pan.

Darkness soon came to Neverland quicker then she hoped for. She wanted more time to be with Peter Pan alone, just him giving her a tour of the island. She loved everything about this land, yet he still told her there are places she doesn't even know of yet. Bigger places, different people then the lost boys and himself. She couldn't wait to meet them.

Rapunzel's bravery boosted as she sit down on a small hill, one that was beautifully not over layered by trees, where she could actually see straight up to the marvelous stars. Trees were everywhere on Neverland, she noticed.

"What are you doing?" Peter Pan asked her amused.

"Aren't they beautiful?" Rapunzel stares up at the sky in utter awe. "The stars, I mean." She was aware of Peter looking at her from the corner of her eye. "When I was stuck in my tower all of those years, I used to sit on my windowsill and watch the stars for long nights. Every single one of them are different- they are all their own."

Peter doesn't answer her, but sits next to her on the grass floor. She feels the slight interaction their shoulders are having, but has no clue why it is making her stomach tickle.

"Do you not believe they are beautiful?" She asks, using his silence as a way to protest to her statement.

With that, he quickly shakes his head. "Stars are beautiful," He agrees, but goes on. "But it is quite depressing- the punishment they must face for something they so long ago did, not any of them even knowing any longer what it was. The stars cannot take a active part in anything but look on at others."

Suddenly the look of the stars in the sky bring tears to the corner of her eyes. She imagined that life, the life of always being stuck in one place. The problem was: she knew how that felt. She felt pity for the beautiful stars in the night. She never realized that in all the years they were just like her as she had stared up at them, alone for all of those years. Just like she never realized until the age of 14 that her herself has been and always will be stuck in one place for her whole life. She wiped away a traveling tear and looked away. "You always manage to say the things I have never thought of, Peter Pan."

"You are not any different to me, Rapunzel." He says quietly. "You never cease to amaze me."

Rapunzel bits down on her lip, holding inside a smile unsuccessfully. She can't help but lay back and look back up at the stars. Something about them reminded her of herself. Though depressing, she felt obliged to give them attention. They had to stay up there for so long; she thought it was her duty to show that they are not up there in vain.

"Every soul a star." Rapunzel whispers, remembering one of her characters in her book saying it. She never realized what it meant until now.

"They are bright, but nobody is really aware of their purpose. They always look at the wonderful moon, how it brings light to the sky. But if the moon would cease to exist, all of the stars would mix together to make it bright as usual. People look past the stars as if they are nothing, because they are smaller." Peter says, now lying back next to her. He put his hands under his head, his eyes looking straight up. Rapunzel can't help but watch him as he watches the sky. He probably notices her, why wouldn't he? He is most likely creeped out with her constant need to study everything about him.

"I sense that a double meaning." She smiles at him, and the corner of his mouth tilts up for a second.

"Everything I say does." His green eyes flutter closed, his forehead creasing in thought. "May I ask you something, Rapunzel?"

"Of course." She says, looking away from him and back up to the sky so he will not coward out of the question. The darkness used to be so eerie to her. The way it cloaked the people who should need it, the ones running in fear. She never found the night so beautiful before.

"What makes you so interested in my thoughts?" From the corner of her eye she watches him turn his head over to look at her. She doesn't look back over though, for she knows that once she looks over, he will look away.

She licks her lips, trying to think of a right answer to this. "I don't know." She answers finally. "Ever since you saved me last night, I saw the power enigma on you. You contain so much power, so much darkness, yet you use none of it. You are such a good person, Peter, and it interests me. I want to know the way your mind works."

Peter turns his head away again. Even though they were silent, it was not awkward whatsoever. She enjoyed the silence between them, not quite as much as she loved when they were talking their thoughts, but the silence gave her relief. They knew they were both thinking of the words both of them said, running them over, waiting until one of them would figure out what to say next.

This time, it was Peter who spoke. "I don't want it."

"Don't want what?"

"The power, the darkness. The darkness engulfs me sometimes, hides me from reality. I don't know what it is and how it happens. I'm scared of my own shadow."

It was sad, really, that he was so scared of everything. To the point where his shadow, a part of him, scared him.

"This is good." Peter whispers, closing his eyes. "To talk to someone about this. I never thought it actually would help."

He's beginning to trust her. Trust, something that is such a tricky thing to harness, something that one cannot buy, but simply win. Trust is the first thing she needed. Once he trust her, he would begin to talk to her, in where she would help him with everything. Peter Pan had things that even himself did not understand, darkness that engulfs him. He is at a constant fight between his good nature and the darkness that has registered within him.

"I never exactly got to thank you." Rapunzel realizes. "For saving me both of those times from my own faults."

"Nothing about you is a fault," He tells her. "Everything together- all of your thoughts, feelings- they are you. They might seem as faults to other people, but you are you, and you are wonderful."

Heat floods on her cheeks, and she is suddenly glad for the darkness that engulfs them, for he cannot see the affect he has on her. She wondered why she would care- she should be happy that he affects her as he does. She wanted a love, a fairy tale that the people in the stories had. This could be something- Peter Pan and Rapunzel. They are both lost- together they are found.

But it gave her nothing but sadness. She had no clue why she should fear it as she did- love- but she couldn't stop thinking of a quote that she had read once.

"Love is one's fault."

She knew not where it came from, yet it played over and over in her head, mocking her. Love is not something she wanted with Peter Pan. She wanted to help him- be through him through everything she could with him. The pain, the hurt, she wanted herself to be the person that he could go through when he was flooded with these feelings.

"Take your own advice, Mr. Pan." She manages, trying not to look over at his entrancing face as he looks over to her and smiles at her.

"I should of known you were to say that." Peter Pan laughs. There it is again- the wonderful sound his laugh he made,

"You said it yourself." Rapunzel says. "We manage to think of the things that the other did not."