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    KAELYN HAD had a home once before, a long time ago when she had been younger and weaker, unmarred by the world with soft hands and a softer heart. Sometimes the memories of that time felt like she was in someone else's body watching from above, unable to look away as she knew what would unfold, wishing she could scream at her body from the past to look behind her, to run. Could she have changed the way everything had happened? Would she have been different for it?

    This place she now found herself in was no longer her home. It felt like a masquerade for it, dark and twisted, a reflection she had long ago torn herself from. Kaelyn sat feet away from the bonfire next to Henry, whose grip on her bicep was lethal, but she let it happen. The immortal teenager had been staring into the bonfire for what felt like hours, Henry staying silent and alert as Kaelyn thought over how alien Neverland now felt, how they could escape, how much everything had changed.

    None of the Lost Boys bothered them, despite the looks they got, but whenever Kaelyn glanced away from the dancing flames with a warning look, they'd swiftly leave. At some point, Felix emerged from the jungle, limping and being supported by his club like a walking stick. He made eye contact with Kaelyn, who smirked and looked away first, making sure Henry was still close.

    She tried not to think about how isolated they were, how impossibly far away they were from Storybrooke or even the Enchanted Forest. Henry's words did ring true, both his mothers and probably everyone in Storybrooke would be racing to find a way to get him back, but Kaelyn couldn't rely on them to escape. She had been alone on this island before.

    The way she had escaped last time wouldn't work, she didn't have the connection with Neverland she had had last time in order to let herself get away. And Neal had never told her how he'd escaped, as if he didn't trust her not to eventually let Peter know or something. The bitterness of Neal's distrust was just as quickly replaced with the small pang of grief she now associated with the thought of him, and everytime she looked at his son and how similar they looked at that age.

    A figure fell across them, and Kaelyn glanced up to the unfortunate sight of Peter Pan looking down at her and Henry. She felt the boy coil up beside her. "Why don't you join in?" Peter asked her.

    "I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a fork," Kaelyn responded, dryly.

    Peter, for a brief second, looked like he wanted to laugh. "You're both welcome here," he told them, gaze drifting to Henry. The boy watched the exchange curiously, likely remembering how their relationship had been in his book of stories.

    "Then why'd you have to kidnap us?" Kaelyn asked, innocently.

    Peter shrugged. "Well, sometimes we don't know what's best for us."

    She got to her feet, standing over Henry as she snapped, "You have some fucking nerve." Peter blinked at her, unphased. "What do you really want?" she demanded. Peter lazily glanced at Henry, and Kaelyn clenched her jaw.

    Peter hardly batted an eye, and softly touched her bicep. "Did you want something to eat?"

    Kaelyn slapped his hand away at the unrelated response. "I want to get off this island."

    Peter looked at her evenly. "I can't let you do that," he told her firmly.

    "Oh, because you missed me so much?" Kaelyn sneered.

    "Because this island needs a saviour," Peter said, suddenly.

    Kaelyn furrowed her brows at the cryptic sentence. "What does that mean?" she asked. Peter shook his head and turned his back to her. Kaelyn felt frustration flood her system as she stormed after him. "Hey! What does that mean?" she called, not caring that she had gained the attention of the whole campsite. Peter continued to ignore her. "Why Henry?" she snapped.

    She was stopped in her tracks when Henry himself gripped her hand. She grit her teeth, not wanting to separate from him as the whole campsite watched them, eyes baring down on her, Lost Boys completely at his command. Peter watched her warily over his shoulder, as she stepped back, moving back to Henry's side, a comforting hand on his back.

    "If you need anything let me know," Peter told her after a moment.

    A million different things came to mind that she could say but Kaelyn stuck with a simple, "Whatever." She moved Henry away, desperately wanting as much space between him and Peter as possible.

    "What was that?" Henry asked as she sat him back down on their log.

    Kaelyn blinked at him. "Told you it's not like your book, kid," sighed, sitting across from him so she could watch the camp over his shoulder.

    Henry seemed to know better than to question further and instead asked, "What's going to happen?"

    She frowned at his meek voice. "Nothing if you stick close," she reassured.

    "Promise?" the boy said.

    "I promise."

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    KAELYN MANAGED an uneasy sleep under the stars next to Henry, the bonfire fizzling out at some point and leaving tired ambers glowing in the centre of the camp. Henry struggled to sleep on the ground, but eventually got so tired he couldn't keep his eyes open, while Kaelyn maintained a state of half-sleep in case anyone tried anything. She highly doubted they would, as Henry was clearly important.

    She had decided that Peter had gone to so much damned trouble to get the kid in particular, and if what he wanted was within reach, he would've done it by now. That much at least Kaelyn could be sure of, as she wasn't sure about many things anymore.

    Neverland was not a home anymore. It was a twisted, dark and poisonous version of a place she'd called home for so many years so long ago. As the night cycled over, the darkness hardly changed, and the sounds of crying children chanted, quietly, under the stars. She remembered the first time she'd heard the crying before she'd left, when things had begun to feel different, and she knew exactly what hearing the crying meant.

    Under her arm, Henry shuffled, and Kaelyn delicately moved pieces of hair out of his eyes. He didn't hear the crying. That was good. He wasn't lost yet.

    Feeling watched, Kaelyn looked up and saw Peter standing in the doorway of his treehouse, watching. He hadn't been there before; he'd only just gotten back from somewhere. She carefully moved away from Henry, tucking his jacket over him for warmth before she strolled over to Peter's treehouse. In a blink, he appeared at the base of the ladder.

    "You didn't sleep," he said immediately. It wasn't a question.

    Kaelyn shrugged. "Like you care."

    Peter sighed, before he gestured upwards with his head. "Come inside. I have something to show you."

    Kaelyn looked up the ladder and at what she could see of the treehouse from where she was angled, remembering the countless times she had gone up and down it in the past. But she had to look past that and forward.

    Kaelyn frowned, before looking back to Peter. "You go first," she relented.

    Peter obliged and headed up, nimbly. Kaelyn gripped a wrung and began to climb, ignoring how the very action brought back the most nostalgic memories so far. Maybe it was because it hadn't changed like everything else she'd seen so far.

    She ignored Peter's offered hand as she clambered up the top, standing on the balcony. Instead of dwelling, she followed Peter through the cloth in the doorway and into the treehouse. It felt like she had physically stepped into a memory, standing in front of a place that had once been hers, too.

    The double bed was still there by the window, green bedsheets, canopy and all. The small bookshelf in the corner hadn't changed, except for more additions to the shelves. Kaelyn looked wistfully at the other window, whose sill was lined with stones and crystals of all colours. A small, rough piece of marble was what caught her eye, the very sight of it causing her heart to constrict. Multiple candles burned in the single-room tree house, illuminating it in flickering orange light as Kaelyn took it all in.

    She looked to Peter, who was simply watching her, looking way too pleased. It was an immediate reminder that this was not before, this was not Kaelyn returning to their room after a day out and coming home to rest. Things were different now, they were different. And Peter was stood there trying to appeal to her humanity to keep her passive by showing her remnants of a past that was no longer important.

    Just as quickly as she had softened, Kaelyn steeled her face, and Peter walked over to a small side table. "You never took these with you," he said, softly. Kaelyn stepped forward and looked down at the jewellery on the table, laid out on green cloth, the indigo gems on some pieces contrasting it greatly and catching the light of the candles. Rings for each of her fingers, chains and pendants she'd rarely taken off, the pieces of herself she'd left behind.

    Kaelyn swallowed thickly. "You never got rid of them."

    "Never had the heart to," Peter admitted.

    "If only you had a heart to begin with," she snapped, abruptly. Peter's pleasure disappeared as he looked down at her, their faces once again close. Kaelyn tilted her head mischievously, letting Peter know he was foolish for believing she'd be so easily buttered up to him again. Ignoring her jewellery, however tempting it was, Kaelyn stepped out of the room and back onto the balcony.

    From there, she could see a decent view of Neverland; the fading stars in the morning, the faint sunlight beginning to come up, the camp below, Henry cosy next to the fire, seemingly endless stretches of twisted, bare trees with crooked branches and dark, cracked bark.

    "You have an awful amount of confidence leaving that boy alone," Peter remarked, coming up to her as she leaned against the wooden rail.

    "If you wanted him dead or hurt, he would be by now," Kaelyn said, shooting him a smug look. "It's just a matter of when."

    Peter arched an eyebrow. "Clever."

    "I am."

    "I like clever."

    "I know you do," Kaelyn snorted. "Used to tell me that was the first thing you liked about me." She watched, carefully, to see what his reaction was to the nod from their past, and was met with nothing. She shouldn't have been so disappointed. The immortal teenager looked away from him and back to the view of the trees. "You ruined this place," she murmured.

    "You weren't here," Peter insisted, after a beat. Like that excused anything.

    "You ruined it before I left," she said, bitterly, finally looking at him. He didn't look nearly as sorry as he should have. "You're keeping an eye on me," Kaelyn declared after a moment.

    "I could say the same about you," Peter fired back. "Is that not why you agreed to come up with me?" His tone suggested there was a sentimental note in her following him, which made her blood boil and her face turn sour.

    "I'm a threat," Kaelyn told him. "Even you can lose control if Neverland decides to bend to its rightful owner."

    Peter inclined his head. "It's hardly a threat. You've been gone for so long, Neverland has forgotten all about you."

    "I hope that's a big comfort for you," Kaelyn cooed. She was bluffing and she knew it well. There was no guarantee Neverland even recognised her anymore, but it was the only leverage she had, and boy was she going to milk it if it kept him wary of her. "Between you and me, we both felt the way this place swelled when I landed. It's only a matter of time... and you're scared, cause this wasn't part of your plan."

    "Not a plan," Peter scoffed, unphased. "The game. And you've been a part of it since the moment you arrived here."

    Kaelyn glared at him, their moment before completely forgotten. "You'll regret underestimating me."

    "You're different," Peter told her. Kaelyn looked at him, unsure where he was going with this. "I could do a whole speech about how I truly know you and how far you'll go, but that would be a lie. The stories were true. You're not the same person who left here."

    "You're not above lies," was all she said, all she collected from his words.

    "Deception. The word I prefer," Peter said, indignantly.

    Kaelyn didn't play along. "I know you."

    Peter angled his body so he was directly facing her. "Maybe you do." The playfulness had disappeared too, replaced by the person she had fought to escape. The stranger masquerading as someone who had once been sweet and compassionate. "Maybe you really could overpower me and take Neverland's heart away. Maybe I've underestimated you," he continued, voice dangerously low as he pushed himself further, until he was chest to chest with her, dark eyes looking down at her.

    She didn't move, feeling frozen, as his presence pushed against her, dark and stronger than she had ever felt it. Her magic was crackling under her skin, fingers itching to strike, eyes on his face which was shadowed and threatening. Kaelyn inhaled sharply, before he moved forward, snapping his face closer.

    "Do something," he hissed.

    Kaelyn jerked away, taking two steps back, tearing her gaze from his, unable to look at him and the person he had become. The magic under her skin was buzzing, but she didn't want to release it. Starting a fight with him was hopeless right now.

    "I'm not stupid," she whispered. She wasn't– she needed more time to figure out what to do.

    As Peter stared Kaelyn down, countless years of love and compassion wasted away from distrust and betrayal passed between them, a history that couldn't simply be undone or forgotten but it could easily be amounted to nothing but tension after what had happened, nothing but a collection of memories that belonged to different people.

    She rarely saw Peter break his composure; he'd stopped showing any sort of emotion shortly before she'd left the first time and Neverland turned twisted. But now, at her words, her moving away from him, she saw the darkness melt away, as he looked at her like a stranger viewing someone for the first time, a far cry from what they were supposed to be.

    Once, they had been friends, partners-in-crime, lovers of the truest form. They had lived together, shared countless memories from before Neverland even existed, held each other up and stayed through the darkest days. This was not what they were supposed to be, Kaelyn told herself, but it was what Peter had made of them.

    It was his fault. No matter what lies he, Felix or anyone else spewed.

    Peter blinked, his enviably long lashes dusting his cheeks as he quietly said, "You're still covered in blood."

    She stood before him, covered in blood both hers and others, a violent and hostile shell of herself since the last time she was on the island, the inability to die and with the one person she cared for being Peter's current goal and therefore untouchable. She vaguely recalled when they had first met, the day her path changed. It wasn't so different.

    Kaelyn tore her gaze from him, before heading back into the treehouse. Peter did nothing to stop her as she began to rummage through the closet and shelves, until she found it and her shoulders slumped. Clothes she had once owned were folded neatly, creased and unused, but still there. She ignored the look she knew Peter was giving her, and took them, swallowing against the lump in her throat as she descended the ladder without another word.

    The brunette padded over and kneeled down beside Henry, who was still fast asleep. She knew his family would stop at nothing to get to him, and with the help of Hook, the Saviour, and Regina, she knew it was entirely possible they could get here. Getting off was the hard part. And if they did set foot on the island, Peter would know in an instant.

    She removed the jacket tied around her waist and suspended it with magic, shielding her from view as she quickly undressed and redressed. Blood still lightly crusted her skin but at some point she'd take Henry to a place with water, clean them both down. She discarded the bloody clothes in the fading bonfire, never letting Henry stray from view as she rubbed at her face to remove the blood as best she could, leaving her skin raw and stinging.

    Kaelyn had never felt more pathetic than that moment; stranded in a place she had once commanded, unable to challenge her main enemy, stuck at the hip protecting someone and unable to risk anything she normally would. And Peter knew that. If it had just been her, she would have tried to tear Neverland apart by now, but she couldn't risk anything happening to Henry, and a toe in the wrong direction could wound up with Henry being punished to punish her. She knew Peter's style well enough.

    Her hands were tied. She had to learn what she could before she could do anything, but she didn't know how much time Henry had until Peter enacted his plan. A day? A week? A few hours? Not knowing was driving Kaelyn crazy. She stared into the dying bonfire, quiet rage simmering just below the surface, her magic angry for her at being held back, for Peter trying to keep her under his thumb after everything.

    And then she felt it. Like a song only she could hear, she felt Neverland reach for her, like roots reaching for a tree. A warmth filled her, something familiar but long lost, and she drank in the replenishing strength. Kaelyn's eyes lit up as her rage dispersed, replaced only by a feeling of home, and knowing she wasn't completely helpless.

    Peter was wrong, and her bluff was not incorrect, Neverland still felt her.

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i lowkey forgot how slow and dragged out season 3/neverland was so it's just a lot of kaeter tension and angst but not really any conflict?? it's kinda annoying but hey hopefully this was enjoyable enough, even though this one was also short and such

also the next chapter will be another flashback, which will be pretty routine every 1 or 2 present day chapters, except the next flashback chapter is actually entertaining and links to stuff mentioned in this one

thank you to everyone still reading this fic and who commented on the last chapter! see y'all in the next one!