Potential for Darkness (Peter Pan)//(Robbie Kay)

55 ~ Wolves and sheep

I got my exam results back, and am officially passing into my second year of med school!! This year has been beyond exhausting, but I'm so so glad and relieved that my hard work paid off :) Sadly, I'm starting my semester tomorrow, which means I barely had any vacation or time to write :/

Finally, a quick shout out to (formerly known as JaimeElizabeth14) for giving me the idea for the first scene ;)

Also sorry cause I forgot to say it before but there's a very short but gory scene near the middle.

<<<Day 229>>

It was in a quietly somber mood that Adelina trudged down the hanging pathway, all the way towards the end. How long had it been since her feet had paced over those very wooden planks? Since she'd even gone near his treehouse? Her fingers, buried under the thick folds of her cloak, quivered with saddened anticipation. A heavy weight settled over her chest, restricting her breathing, as she recalled she had twice seen the red moon shine down onto a world without him. Those two months had felt like an eternity to her aching soul, yet looking back, they had also flown by in a heartbeat; days blurring together so that the last memory of him still felt painfully recent. How had she survived so long without him?

Her heart squeezed in profound ache at the thought. The pain was as fresh as if the wound had been carved out yesterday, yet she knew it was time. Felix's room had been left completely untouched, neither her nor Pan having had the heart to enter it since the three of them had been at the Grove. Still, newer recruits were pouring in and it didn't make sense to waste an entire room for the simple pretext of memories. Neverland always favored practicality over emotions anyways.

With slow dread, Adelina opened the door, revealing her friend's room. She'd almost expected to find it empty; Felix's belongings disappearing when his life had. A light film of dust coated the wooden surfaces, yet the rest remained as it had been before, unchanged, as if the space itself was still clinging on to the hope of its owner's return. She lamented that her heart couldn't bear doing the same. False hope was far deadlier than any dagger, she had learned.

Softly, she closed the door behind her, shutting herself in to have some privacy with the memories lingering in the air and hovering over the furniture. She couldn't let herself be run over by emotion, she reminded herself. She could not allow herself the luxury of breaking down again, for putting herself back together the first time had already been the hardest thing she had ever done. Already though, she could feel the emotional toll closing in, heavy walls that would inevitably crush her.

Looking around, she pressed her lips together; she had to remain practical. She focused on the task at hand, looking past the hurt wallowing in her heart. Everything in that room would be sorted into three categories. Impersonal items like furniture, candles, rugs and others of the sort wouldn't even be moved out of the room, so as to better accommodate the next residents. Items like clothes, books, weapons could be redistributed to those interested; Adelina knew of more than one lost boy who would love to get their hands on Felix's perfectly crafted arrows. Then, would come the hardest group; his personal effects. There wouldn't be much, since a lot was being recycled and given away, yet she knew that she would come across a few items that she would not be able to bear anyone else having. She did not yet know what she intended to do with them, all she knew was that she could not let them be lost or destroyed.

As it turned out, Adelina practically had her work cut out for her. She had expected the cleaning out of his room to take her at least all morning, yet she was done before training had even begun. Felix had a surprisingly small amount of possessions, considering he'd had centuries to amass them, and none of them had fit into her third category. But then, it was, shoved in the back of a drawer and hidden behind a neatly folded pile of clothes, that she found it. A small wooden case. Curiously, she tugged it out and settled herself at the foot of the bed before opening it.