Innocence (OUAT/Peter Pan)

Chapter 17: The Traitor and the Grown-Ups

Elle woke up before the sun was even up, and crept out of the tent quietly. The rest of the camp was still, all the Lost Boys completely asleep. She just smiled slightly, Felix used to wake up with her or set guard shifts at first to make sure she didn’t try running off. Now no one did. Either because they finally realized she really wouldn’t try to leave or figured she could transport herself now anyway.

            She looked back at the tent over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow. The entire week, she’d been sleeping in Pan’s tent. He knew just as well as Felix did about the nightmares, she figured Felix wanted a few nights of uninterrupted sleep.

            Trying not to think about the few things she hadn’t been able to let go of by now, Elle wandered into the forest as the sky slowly turned from purple to a dusty blue. She stifled a giggle as she passed Michael, supposed to be on watch but slumped against the tree asleep. The rest of the boys wouldn’t wake up for at least another hour, so Elle decided to leisurely make her way through the forest and down to the beach. She pulled out the dagger from her sash and tossed it at a tree up ahead, grinning as it stuck deep in the trunk. Stepping past it, Elle tugged it out and threw it again, the motion gradually relaxing and even entertaining. She spread one hand in front of her, pushing aside plants and making rocks transport places as she walked, just randomly playing with her magic. Small things, so poor Pan wasn’t yanked awake by any sudden changes. Elle thought that, sometimes, she could feel it too: the actions and fluctuations of Neverland’s magic, the life on it. Then it would fade into the steady pulse she’d always felt, and she wasn’t in tune anymore.

            “Oi, watch it,” a boy sneered in front of her, catching the dagger from midair. “Stupid girl,” he threw it back at her. Badly. She let it fall to the ground before picking it up.

            “Sorry, I thought you’d all be asleep,” Elle said gently, smirking slightly. This was Colin, the new boy who’d proved himself to the Lost Boys the same night she’d fought Pan. “I’m guessing you maybe haven’t quite adjusted yet?” she nodded at how he was awake so early.

            “What you doing out here, girl?” he kept his scowl, and Elle grit her teeth.

            “I just woke up, nothing wrong with a walk. What are you doing?” she countered. He smirked.

            “Won’t Pan be angry at his little pet wandering around unsupervised?” he asked, voice dripping with mocking. She narrowed her eyes.

            “Won’t Pan be angry at a new, untrained, little boy wandering around outside his orders?” she bit out. His scowl deepened, and he stumbled back a few steps before turning and heading into the forest. Elle raised her eyebrows at his back, but kept walking down to the beach, throwing her dagger a bit harder at the trees.

            When she broke out of the forest and onto the sand, she grinned at the sight. The sun was just under halfway up, lighting the sky on fire directly above her. Keeping her eyes up on the sky, she remembered a few basic dance steps she’d read a few years ago and did them—badly—until she stood knee-deep in the waves. Elle threw her arms out, it just felt so good. The morning sun was just enough to warm her pale skin, and it made the ocean cool and fresh against her legs. The water had magic in it, a gentle kind that was natural to Neverland and probably fueled in part by mermaids. Elle could feel it flowing around and through her. Her hair glowed brightly and she flipped her palms up, smirking when several tall columns of water spiraled up around her, spraying water everywhere. She kept playing, making the water spiral up into shapes around her before it would collapse back into the massive ocean.

            When the sun was completely up, and she was sure the boys would’ve woken by now, she slowly climbed back up the beach to the forest. She grimaced slightly, feeling a twinge of guilt at having most likely woken Pan with her games. Of course, what would he have to be upset about? She was practicing her magic that he would probably use soon. She was kind of surprised he hadn’t already, there had been newcomers in the ocean for the past week.

            Just as her eyes widened and she realized she hadn’t even looked at the sea, a fist knocked her head back. The punch was weak though, so she recovered quickly and stepped into a fighting stance immediately. Colin stood in front of her, pulling out a dagger, his face determined but his eyes terrified.

            “Colin? What’s going on?” Elle felt her magic rush to her hands, ready to attack him with it. She didn’t want to really hurt him, but this was not normal.

            “Orders,” Colin spat, but his voice shook. She narrowed her eyes, Pan would never order this. He lunged clumsily at her with the dagger and she sidestepped. His back exposed, she shoved him down, using her magic to put way more force into it. She knelt with one knee in the middle of his back, one hand holding his head up by his hair and the other holding her own dagger against his neck.

            “Colin, what’s really going on?” she murmured in his ear, hair glowing and voice low with increasing anger.

            The boy opened his mouth to reply when both their heads jerked up at the sound of running steps. A lot of steps. About six of the Lost Boys, Michael in the front, burst out in front of them. They looked slightly winded, and went still in confusion. Elle cursed mentally, all these boys saw was their girl pinning down and threatening their new boy. Both opened their mouths at the same time, when Elle was pulled off of Colin and into dirty clothing-clad arms of a full-grown man.

            Colin clumsily got to his feet and stumbled back towards the boys, Elle sneered at him as she tried to kick at the man holding her. He wasn’t extremely huge, but he was strong and she could feel his arm cutting off her air supply. He held her so that her feet couldn’t touch the ground, leaving her with no leverage to use. The boys let Colin into their group and then started charging, but more men emerged and fought them. The one holding Elle started walking backwards, but she couldn’t draw enough air to get attention. As she was about to use her magic, something heavy and hard smacked the side of her head and everything went quiet and black.