Guys, I apologize for keeping you waiting so long! I actually had most of this finished over my break but then family stuff happened so I didn't get a chance to finish it up until now. Hopefully the next chapter won't be such a long wait! Enjoy the chapter (:

Tessa swallowed past the lump in her throat, straining to keep her eyes on the boy in front of her instead of his weapon—don't let him see you afraid, Tess, she told herself.

"Hey," she said weakly, her heart beating a mile a second. He narrowed his eyes at her. "What's your name?" she continued when he didn't answer her. The Lost Boy took a step toward her, bow and arrow still poised to fire at her if she made any sudden movements. She let her eyes dart down quickly to the tip of the arrow before she was looking back into the young boy's eyes.

"Where are you going?" the boy repeated.

Tessa tried to smile unthreateningly at him. "Oh, I just had to pee," she told him. He narrowed his eyes at her. The boy took a few more steps toward her until Tessa had to tip her chin up when the arrowhead was nearly pressed against her throat. "I'm a girl, you know," she continued. "I can't exactly just go wherever I please like you boys. I need privacy." When she received more silence, she put her hands up in surrender. "Look, kid," she said, slumping her shoulders forward. "You can take me back to Pan yourself. I'll go willingly considering the only reason I left was to relieve my bladder."

A few beats of uncomfortable silence and tension passed between them. The boy eventually lowered his weapon, stringing the boy across his shoulder and putting the arrow away. She lowered her arms to her sides as he cautiously approached her, waiting until he almost had his hand on her arm. As fast as she could, she gripped the hilt of the dagger she'd hidden, ripping it out of the belt and twisting her body away from his frantic grabbing, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind him as she placed herself behind the boy, pressing the side of the weapon against his neck.

"You have two options," she whispered into the boy's ear. When he tensed up, she pressed the dagger a little harder on his skin. "Either you let me go willingly or I slit your neck."

He scoffed. "Yeah right," he strained, trying not to slit his own neck on her weapon. "Girls don't have the guts to do something like killing."

Ignoring the irritation that flared up inside of her at being spoken to like that, Tessa quietly moved her foot back to a branch she'd seen lying on the ground. She put the tip of her sneaker behind it and dragged it slowly closer to herself.

"Tick tock," she said as she bought herself a little more time. "Which option are you going to choose?" she asked him. She could hear the smile in his voice when he answered her.

"Neither," he whispered, grabbing her arm and pushing it away from his neck. She ducked down, grabbing the branch in her hands and dropping the dagger. As he turned around to face her, Tessa brought the branch up, connecting it with the side of his head as she had with the Lost Boy who'd tried to catch her before Peter had. A crunch sounded and Tessa winced as he dropped to the hard ground like a rag doll. She bent down and made sure he was breathing, feeling nothing more than a small bump forming on the side of his head. She set the branch down beside him and grabbed Peter's dagger, sheathing it back in his belt as she started to jog away from the Lost Boy—obviously deciding to not take her chances on if he'd stay down or get up soon.

For the next half hour, all she'd seen was forest. Sure that she was just running in circles around the camp, she groaned in frustration. Her head was throbbing—no doubt from blood loss—and the rest of her body ached. She desperately needed a drink. Deciding to walk for a bit, she slowed her pace and nearly collapsed next to a large tree. Panting, she dropped to her knees onto the ground. She laid down on the ground while she tried to catch her breath. She could tell that her left palm was still bleeding, she must have scraped it pretty deep. Her head was woozy and she was starting to see dots at the edges of her vision. She held back a cry as she shakily unwrapped the makeshift bandage on her left hand, gagging at the sight of her palm caked in blood. It looked almost black with the amount that was dripping out of it.

Then she heard it.

Footsteps.

Tessa jumped to her feet, blood rushing in her ears as she tried to steady herself. She pulled out her dagger, holding it up toward the sound.

Then a girl came walking out, freezing when she saw her. The girl looked a lot older than her or anyone else she'd seen on Neverland. Her blonde hair was pulled up messily into a bun atop her head, the rest of her dirty and looking not so great.

She could only imagine how terrible she looked.

The girl gave her a once over quickly before looking at her warily. "Who are you?" she asked her. Tessa swayed on her feet, trying to keep the dagger pointed at the woman. She mumbled something incoherent and fell forward, dropping her dagger as she went. She would have planted face-first into the ground if the blonde lady hadn't rushed forward and caught her. "Alright," she said, letting out a grunt as she pulled Tessa to her shaking feet. "Let's get you fixed up." The woman slung one of her arms around her shoulders and wrapped her own arm around her waist, half-dragging and half-carrying her the way she had been walking before they'd seen each other.

About halfway through their walk, Tessa gave in to the darkness pulling at her mind.

Tessa woke up with a start, pushing at the hands pressing against her arm.

"Easy there," a soothing voice said beside her. She blinked the sleep away from her eyes and let them adjust to her environment. She saw the blonde woman who'd grabbed her and led her away from the forest. After looking around herself, she realized they must be in some type of hut or cabin. "Your left palm was bleeding pretty bad, but I cleaned and wrapped up your wounds so they wouldn't get infected," she continued. "They should heal properly now."

"Who are you?" Tessa asked groggily, pushing herself into a sitting position and wincing at the sting in her palms.

"I'm Tinkerbell," she replied. "What's your name?"

"I'm Tessa," she said, looking around the hut. "Are you friends with Peter Pan?" she asked her warily, unsure if Disney had gotten this part correct. Tinkerbell's face hardened and she looked back at Tessa as if she was ready to bolt or stab her.

"No," she said carefully. "Are you?"

"No," Tessa breathed, relief flooding through her. Tinkerbell nodded and a silence fell over them. "Oh, thanks for, um, binding my wounds," she told her. Tinkerbell smiled at her, helping her stand.

"It was no problem," the woman told her. "You had quite the cuts. How did that happen?"

"I was getting away from Pan," Tessa replied, fixing her belt—well, Peter's belt. She didn't notice the way Tinkerbell's body stiffened up. She looked around and then grabbed at her ruined shirt. "Hey, do you by chance have a spare shir—" she cut herself off when she raised her eyes to Tinkerbell's seeing her tense form and closed off expression.

"You need to leave," she told her. Tessa blinked and furrowed her brows at her.

"What?" she asked incredulously. "I can't go back there, Tinkerbell, not after all that work to get away from him—"

"I'm sorry, truly I am, but if Pan wants you then I can't help you any more than I already have." Tinkerbell grabbed her arm, pulling her to the entrance of the home. "I'm sorry," she said as she pushed Tessa out of the hut. Tessa stumbled out, tears of frustration building in her eyes. She glanced back at the closed door, forcing her tired legs to move forward. She walked back into the forest, swallowing and holding back her tears. Once she'd made it far enough that she couldn't tell which way was which anymore, she dropped down onto the ground and brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and placing her forehead on her knees. She took a few deep breaths, trying to relax herself until she could actually think of a way off the island.

"Oh, don't cry," a voice said mockingly from behind her. All of Tessa's frustration turned to anger, boiling under her skin. She snapped her head up, turning to look at Peter as he smirked at her, leaning on a tree. Despite his smirk, his eyes were glaring holes into her with his barely contained rage. Tessa got onto her feet, very nearly growling at him.

"You," she spat. "This is all your fault! Why am I on this goddamn island?" she screeched at him. Peter's smirk disappeared and in a mere blink he was merely inches from her face. Tessa held back her gasp and looked up into his eyes. She saw his hand move and hers went to the belt around her hips. Her face must have shown her surprise at not finding the dagger she'd had earlier. Peter leaned forward another few inches, voice quiet and deadly.

"Lost something?" he asked, his smirk growing. Not seeing any other options, Tessa turned on her heel and bolted.

Or, at least, she tried to.

Peter's hand was around her upper arm, dragging her back to him. His face betrayed how enraged he felt, a snarl on his lips as his fingers dug into her skin. Tessa opened her mouth and started screaming, forming a few phrases as she screeched—"Let me go! Let go of me!"

When Peter's grip remained on her arm, not budging even a little, she let her knees buckle and tried to drag herself onto the ground and away from him. Peter let out a sharp laugh, crouching a few inches and wrapping his free arm around her to grip her waist.

"You aren't getting away that easily," he said, pressing his face against her hair as she struggled in his grip.

"Let go of me!" she screeched, trying to yank herself away. He gripped her tighter, pulling her back flush against him. She could feel them begin to slowly float off of the ground. She screamed, grabbing onto the arm holding her up against him.

"Never," he growled angrily, flying higher.