Checkmate

16. If I can't have you...

His anger swelled again, giving him extra speed behind his attacks. I kept up with him easily, swatting away his sword with my own as easily as swatting a fly. Suddenly our blunt swords developed into real ones, the shine and sharpness clear, and I knew without looking exactly who had joined the party. Felix knew it too.

"It can never just be you and me," he growled, his voice on the verge of breaking.

"We are on an island, there isn't many places for everyone else to go."

"You will always choose him," he grumbled as he passed near my ear, catching me off guard.

I stumbled away slightly, unsure of what to say next. "Felix," I urged, sensing yet another wave of anger wash over him. "I wanted both of you and you sent me away. I made my choice."

"You chose wrong."

"No, I chose what I wanted."

"You wanted me."

"Yes, I did. I wanted both of you. But you are making it increasingly more difficult to have you."

Felix froze at my words before his rage visibly built once again. "You..."

"Face the truth, Felix," Pan called from his spot in the tree. "Why would she want you when she could have me?"

I turned to the boy and gave him an exasperated look. "No, that's not-"

"Shut up," Felix spat, silencing my words. I turned back to face him as he bowed slightly. "Or should I say shut up, your majesty?"

Pan chuckled deeply, the sound unnerving considering the circumstance. "Such spite behind those words."

"You aren't making this any better," I hissed, keeping my gaze firmly on the blond boy before me.

"You lied to me," the blond boy said before he lunged, every strike fiercer than the last. I dodged as best I could, but with the circumstances leaving me vulnerable, my defences were nowhere near as strong as they had been. "You said you would always love me."

"Felix."

"If I can't have you..." Felix tripped me with ease, causing me to fall into the tree. My sword dropping out of my grasp.

"Felix," I gasped as he lunged, his sword aimed at my heart.

"...then no one can."

I closed my eyes and heard the squelch of the sword hitting its target, and I braced myself for the pain. But it never came. Slowly I opened my eyes to see the emerald green eyes of Pan. His face scrunched in pain as he dropped to his knees, the sword glinting as it protruded from his back.

"Peter," I gasped as he dropped from my sight, revealing Felix with his face frozen in terror. For only a moment, he moved to inch nearer, his hand outstretched to help the one he had once called a friend. "Stop," I warned, my hand halting him. "You have done enough." With a single wave of my hand, I sent the lost boy to a safe location and did my best to heal the king of Neverland, turning the sword to nothing as it fell to the ground. "Peter."

He responded with a groan as I took him carefully into my arms. I surprised myself as I felt the start of tears fall down my cheeks, the emotion of everything that had just happened hitting me all at once. Focusing on the camp, I took us back there and without hesitating carried the boy to his tent. Carefully, I lay him on his side before gently brushing his hair from his face.

Slowly I peeled his shirt off the wound and pushed everything I had into it healing, but very little was happening. The sword hadn't gone too deep and had luckily missed everything important. Suppressing my panic, I took a deep breath and tried to remember his lessons. My eyes snapped open at the memory of his hand stitching my wound back together. My mind also sent me back to the captain's cabin, where Felix had told me he had held my hand as my father stitched me back together.