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━━━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━━━
AFTER THE SUN DIPPED into the ocean and was replaced by the moon, Peter returned the pair to camp. Kaelyn remained silent, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her chest after days of being crushed. Truthfully, she didn't know if it was days. She could've been in Neverland for months and she wouldn't have been able to tell. She supposed that wasn't entirely Peter's fault, but his clouded magic that messed with the perception definitely was.
Peter set her down on the balcony of the tree house, releasing her hand as she elegantly stepped down. The blonde boy followed her, just as quietly, as she came to stand in the centre of the treehouse again. She glanced at the trinkets on the windowsill, and for the first time since her arrival, acknowledged them as memories that had come and gone.
But most in particular, Kaelyn stared longingly at the precious stone, gleaming as magnificently as the day Peter had first given it to her as kids.
"Funny how all three tokens stayed with you in the end," Kaelyn finally said, breaking the silence. Peter merely glanced at her. "A cruel full circle since you got them for us." She looked at him, and though her words were harsh, her tone was neutral.
"The meaning still stands," Peter said, solemnly.
Kaelyn didn't believe him, but she was done wasting her breath on arguing with him. They'd had their talk, now she could focus. Peter's face was unreadable as she passed him, brushing past his shoulder to stand above the opening to the ladder.
"I'm getting off this island," she told him without looking at him.
In a blink, Peter was in front of her. "You can try."
Kaelyn raised her eyes to meet his, indigo on green, in a way that she never could have foreseen. They had come so far, and not in the good way she had expected when they were young. She no longer saw a stranger she had once loved, he was now simply a piece of her past she had to leave behind and accept as unattainable.
She had to keep moving forward, forget about trying to fight or fix what she had with him. It was long since done, the damage aged and sore. She had to forget about him, and focus on why she was there in the first place. Avenging Neal and saving Henry.
Kaelyn tore her gaze from his as she headed down the ladder, Peter watching her go. No one stopped her as she made her way through camp, though she received some wary eyes. She paused, briefly, to see Henry dancing and chanting. He was too far gone, Kaelyn had to seek help and purpose somewhere else.
She half-expected him to stop her as she broke the treeline of the camp, looking over her shoulder to see Peter still watching her from the balcony of the treehouse. Behind him was the tree they had just been at, and Kaelyn hardened her face in resolve. That was in the past, she had to accept it.
