Emerald

Chapter 21: Peter

Lea's Perspective:

For the first minute or two, Pan just sat staring down at his hands with a blank look on his face. His eyes however, looked glassy and pure like I've never seen them before. And dare I say it, he had quite astonishing eyes. They were a vibrant green with hidden yellow tones. For the first time, I was seeing Pan without a scowl or a smirk on his face, just a blank stare. At first I was a little freaked out just sitting there. From what I'm getting from this, he led me deep into the woods so I could just stare at him? I wanted to move along the "conversation", but I didn't quite know how. Suddenly, I saw Pan deeply exhale. I felt slightly tense, not really sure what the hell was going on.

"I was wrong..." he choked not even moving a muscle.

What he said made me flinch on the inside. What the hell was he talking about? Is this some kind of trick?

"What?" I asked bluntly. Unsure of his motives, I stood guard.

"...I was wrong about you..." he spoke.

"...What do you mean 'wrong about me? Remember, you made it quite clear, I'm that weak unloved orphan..."

Pan flinched at my comment. I gotta give it to him, he's a good actor.

"Listen, whatever you're trying to do, it's not gonna-"

"Lea" Pan sighed as he cut me off.

Pan turned his head to look at me. His eyes were red and looked watery.

"There's a lot you don't know...A lot I can't tell you...for your safety..."

At this point I was so confused I became full of rage. My "safety"? That "safety" consists of nearly knocking me unconscious in the middle of a forrest?

"Why the hell would you care? All you care about is getting rid of me and bossing around those boys like they're your slaves. The stories I've heard about the trouble and dangers you've put them through makes my blood boil. Felix is physically and emotionally scarred, Jake is being hunted by Hook and his drunk excuses for pirates, and Gail has been banished somewhere all alone. And what are you doing about all of this? Nothing. You think I'm going to sit here listening to you feed me lies to make you seem like a good guy, as if you had some kind of good reason to explain everything that's happened to me? Admit it, you want me dead. All these secrets, all this sneaking around, I don't expect to know everything that's going on but I damn well expect and deserve some answers."

I was so amped up at this point that I wasn't paying attention to Pan for a few moments while I had ranted. I sat there staring at the ground below me trying to blow off steam as I waited to hear some sort of snarky response from Pan, except, there wasn't one. As I turned my head to shoot Pan a death glare, a salty, translucent tear had streamed down his face from his left eye.

"...It's not what you think-" he choked.

Pan sniffled as he wiped the tear from his cheek. Did I just make Pan cry? His breathing was unsteady as he started to speak.

"-I didn't w-want t-to hurt y-you..." he stuttered.

I noticed Pan had frozen for a moment, he looked zoned out in a way.

Pan's Perspective:

*Pan's Flashback To The Race*

"Oh come on, we all know nobody can beat me, especially a girl".

Lea didn't say anything.

"A girl that's alone...forgotten...unloved"

"Tell me, why didn't anyone want you? Was it because you were too much trouble to handle? I mean really, who could love someone who's so weak?"