"Don't destroy someone because someone once destroyed you..."

~ Unknown

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Peter's P.O.V

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    I can hear Andrew shouting as we get closer to Mermaid Lagoon.
    "They escaped?!" Andrew exclaims. "How could they've possibly escaped?"
    The anger in his voice tells me that I'd better intervene before he kills someone. I quickly step out from behind the waterfall.

    "Andrew!" I shout, my voice loud and dangerous enough to scare any grown man.
    "P-Pan," Andrew greets.
    I walk past Jerome and Hunter and head towards Andrew.
    "Were you going to break one of my rules?" I ask as calmly as possible.
    Andrew takes a second to regain his composure. "I wasn't going to do anything to them."

    "Really?" I say. "Because Ray and Will say otherwise."
    He gulps, acting unfazed by my statement.
    I notice the brothers slowly inching away from me in my peripheral vision.
    "Not so fast, boys," I order, not taking my eyes off Andrew.
    The boys stop in their tracks and I hear Jerome curse under his breath.

    "Say that again."
    "I wasn't going to do anything to them," he repeats.
    I give him a humorless laugh. "You're daft if you think you can lie to me."
    "What are you talking about, Pan?" he asks, feigning innocence.
    "My favoritism towards you has made you arrogant, Andrew," I say, circling him.

    His confidence falters at that sentence.
    "I'm going to ask you one more time," I say, gritting my teeth. "Were you going to break one of my rules?"
    Andrew doesn't miss a beat. "No."
    "Wrong answer," I say, teleporting myself in front of him. I stick my hand into his chest and take his heart out.

    The colour of his heart catches my attention, it's darker than most.
    "Look, Andrew," I say, chuckling as I bring his heart up so he can see it. "Your heart is almost as jet black as mine."
    He stares at his heart, his mouth agape.
    I glare at him. "Tell me the truth, were you about to break one of my rules?"

    He doesn't respond.
    "Answer me!" I snarl, squeezing his heart in my hand.
    Andrew cries out in pain. "Y-Yes, Pan. I was going to b-break one of y-your rules."
    I growl, tightening my grip on his heart. I can feel it beating rapidly in my hand as I do so. "I detest liars almost as much as I detest rule breakers."

    Just when I'm close to squeezing Andrew's heart until it's nothing but black ash, I hear a feminine voice shout my name.
    "Peter, stop it!"
    I release the pressure on the heart, placing it back in Andrew's chest. The boy falls to the ground, panting.
    "Why are you helping him, Alice?" I ask, turning to face her. "He tried to kill your friends."

    "That doesn't give you the right to kill him for it," she says.
    I point at the boy on the ground and raise my voice. "He broke my rules," I state. "He deserves to be punished for it."
    "Ray and Will are still alive," Alice points out. "Therefore he didn't break any rules."
    "She's right," Lewis and Will chorus, standing next to her.
    Ray stands next to his brother, remaining silent.

    I clench my fists so hard I can feel a trickle of blood running down my hand. If it were any other Lost Boy, I'd kill him on the spot. But not Alice. No, I'd never be able to kill her.

    "If I don't punish my lost boys anymore, people will think that I've gone soft."
    "Let them think that. Your boys and I all know you haven't gone soft. Quite the opposite actually."
    I shake my head in defeat, turning to face Andrew. "Get up."
    He stumbles to his feat, keeping his eyes on the ground.
    "Look at me," I order.

    He weakly lifts his head up as I take a step towards him.
    "If you even try to break any one of my rules, I send you back where you came from. Do you understand?" I threaten.
    His face pales at the mention of the orphanage. "Yes, P-Pan. I understand."
    "Good," I say. "Now, make yourself scarce."

    Alice sighs in relief. "Now that this problem is settled, can we please go back to camp?"
    "Felix'll take you guys back to camp. I still have to deal with these two," I say, gesturing to Hunter and Jerome.
    I give Felix a look that says, "don't let Alice out of your sight". He nods, acknowledging my order.
    Felix swings his mace over his shoulder and looks at Alice. "Ladies first."

    She rolls her eyes and turns to face me. "Don't hurt them."
    "No promises."
    She glares at me.
    I raise my hands in surrender. "I'm jesting."
    Satisfied with my answer, she turns around and follows Felix and her friends back to camp.

    I pinch the bridge of my nose, sighing as I turn to face the two brothers. I begin to say something but Hunter beats me to it.
    "It wasn't Andrew's idea."
    I raise my eyebrows in surprise. "Really? Then who's brilliant idea was it?"
    "It was mine," Hunter replies.
    Jerome looks at his brother in alarm.

    I shake my head knowingly. I should've know this would happen. Hunter's always the one who takes the blame if his brother is involved in it.
    "I admire your loyalty, Hunter, but we both know that it's never your idea to do these things," I say.
    What am I going to do with these boys?

    "Boys, when I allowed the two of you to join Andrew in helping me maintain discipline, I expected the two of you to watch out for each other," I say. "Not help each other in breaking my rules."
    The two brothers hang their heads in shame. Although Jerome has dedicated his whole life to please Andrew, his loyalties still lie with me.

    "This is your first and final warning, boys," I say. "You are dismissed."
    They both turn to leave.
    "Not you, Hunter," I say, stopping him in his tracks. "I'd like to talk to you for awhile."
    Hunter and Jerome both exchange looks. Then Hunter breaks the silence. "Go ahead, I'll meet you back at camp."

    Jerome nods, then leaves Hunter and I alone. I wait a few seconds, until. I know that Jerome's out of earshot.
    "Why'd you help Ray and Will?" I ask, crossing my arms.
    Hunter looks like a deer caught in headlights. "Please, Pan, you can't tell the others, Andrew'll kill me."
    "That doesn't answer my question," I say, shaking my head. "Why did you do it?"

    "My brother has done many terrible things in his life, I will not, I can not afford murder to be one of those things," he says. "Who knows how far he'll go to please Andrew?"
    I sigh. "You really love your brother, don't you?"
    Hunter nods. "More than I love myself."

    "To love is to destroy and to be loved is to be the one destroyed," I quote. "I know you mean well, Hunter, but do you really think suppressing Jerome's true nature to save him from himself will work?"
    "Yes," he replies. "I know Jerome too well. Pride and anger are his fatal flaws, and they will destroy him."

    "I-I just..." Hunter pauses, shaking his head. "I just don't want Jerome to turn evil during his search for power."
    "I understand your concern, Hunter, but there are just somethings you can't change."
    Silence falls between us.
    "May I go now?" he asks nervously.

    I nod my head. "Go join your brother."
    "Oh, and Hunter?"
    "Yes, Pan?" he asks, turning around to face me.
    "There is no good or evil, there is only power and those who are too weak to seek it."

****

    "Alright, boys, it's almost sundown=. Go back to your tents, you have five minutes!" I announce.
    My eyes land on Andrew as he makes his way to the cluster of tents. Hunter and Jerome are nowhere to be seen, I reckon they're still in their tent. What if they break out in a fight? I shake my head. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have assigned all three of them to the same tent.

    Five minutes later, everyone's back in their tent, save Alice and I. I don't bother approaching her as it's obvious that she doesn't plan on sleeping anytime soon. Alice sits on the opposite side of the bonfire, strumming her guitar. I can hear her singing from where I am and I can't help but stare at her.

"Wait a minute
Everytime you're near
My body's getting reckless
Hope I don't regret this
Wait a minute
The way you make me feel
I can't keep my focus
It's too much to resist

I'm over being under your spell
It keeps blinding me
Was too blind to see, yeah
I'm not the only one you tell
That I'm the only one

But my heart keeps telling me
The perfect lie
You rip me up with every
last goodbye
I don't wanna say forever
It's just another now or never

So, heart, don't let me trust
These butterflies
Don't trust these butterflies
'Cause they fool me everytime..."

    I shake my head, I can't take my eyes off her. What's wrong with me? I make my way towards the bonfire and wave my hand over the dying embers, fire shoots out of my hand and engulfs the dry firewood. It only takes a few seconds for the wood to catch fire again, sending menacing shadows on the trees. I sit down on a tree stump, watching as Alice picks up her guitar.

    She walks around the blazing pile of firewood, making her way towards me. The light from the fire casting her shadow across the grassy floor. Alice sits down next to me, placing her guitar beside her. The sound of the logs burning is the only noise.

    "So, what did you do to Hunter and Jerome?" Alice asks, breaking the silence between us.
    "I just talked to them."
    She looks at me in disbelief. "You just talked to them?"
    "Yes."
    "I find that hard to believe."

    "Ouch," I say, placing my hand over my heart with a mock hurt look. "I felt that in my soul."
    "You have don't have one."
    I raise an eyebrow. Alice mimicks me. I shake my head, sighing. "You've been spending way too much time with me."
    "I like to think that my eyebrows are more on fleek than yours," she replies, grinning.

    I scoff. "My eyebrow game is stronger than yours will ever be."
    Alice pretends to wipe away a tear. "Well, there gos all my hopes, dreams and expectations."
    I laugh. "You're weird."
    "You like weird," she says. "Just admit it."
    Okay, time to change the subject.

    "Do you want to play a game?" I ask.
    "Sure," she says. "What's it called?"
    "It's called Two Truths And A Lie."

    She ponders about it for a second. "What do I get if I win?"

    Clever girl.

    "We'll skip the training tomorrow and spend the entire day playing Hide And Seek," I reply.

    She grins. "Challenge accepted."

****

    "I don't believe you."

    "What?" I ask. "It's true."

    "You actually set the treehouse on fire?"

    "It was an accident," I sigh, recalling how Felix kept laughing at me. "Felix wouldn't shut up about it."

    "Well I wouldn't either."

    I give her a mock glare. "I'd better not hear the boys talking about it tomorrow."

    "Cross my heart and hope to die," Alice promises, making an "X" over her heart.

    "Well, we're tied," I tell her. "So the last game will be the tie breaker."

    "Hmm, let me think... Okay, I've got one."

    I gesture for her to continue.

    "I once told a boy who was flirting with me that I was lesbian so he'd leave me alone. I was sent to the A&E for falling off a skateboard. And... I was rugby-style tackled by a classmate when we were playing soccer."

    "Hmm. The last second one's the lie," I guess. "You don't seem like the type to own a skateboard."

    "Wrong," Alice sings.

    "What?" I exclaim. "Then which one's the lie?"

    "The last one," She replies. "I don't participate during PE."

    "Tell me about the first one."

    Alice chuckles. "It's a very funny story actually. After I told the boy I was lesbian he apologized and said that he thought I was a boy."

    "I used to have extremely short hair when I was younger," she explains, seeing the confusion etched on my face. "Anyway, he wasn't the first one to make that mistake."

    "Wait, hold on," I shake my head. "So you're saying that you've been approached by homosexual boys all these years because they think that you're gay? I guess that explains why you think you can spot a  homosexual boy from a mile away."

    "Hey, I didn't say that I get asked out by gay boys often," she frowns. "I just said that people have assumed my gender based on the clothes I wear."

    "Why would people assume someone's gender or sexuality based on their clothing style?"

    Alice frowns at the question. "I don't know. It's just something that people do."

    "Mortals are so strange," I muse.

    "Hey, guess what?" Alice asks.

    "What?"

    "I won, so that means we can skip the training tomorrow."

    I chuckle. "I suppose so."

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Thank you all so much for 8.9K reads! To be honest, I never thought that I'd get that many reads in like four/five months. I'll try to update a special chapter at 10K reads.

I'm so sorry that I took so long to update this chapter, I'm not as free as I used to be because I'm having my exams atm ☹ I hate school.

What did you guys think of this chapter? Did you like it? I apologize for all the spelling/grammar mistakes this chapter, I didn't have enough time to edit it

Well, Imma read some fanfics now. Bye. 👋

~ Alice xx

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Who's your favorite Lost Boy? (Other than Peter ofc)

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Vote, comment, rate, do whatever you want <3

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Edited: 27.11.2017