| “I missed you so bad.” | ||
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viridisalae |
“Me too, Tink. You don’t know the half of it.”
He gave a half-hearted smile, but the remark rang nothing but truth; with all that had happened as of late, he had longed for nothing better than a friendly face, perhaps even a shoulder to lean on if he felt all the stress was finally making him come loose at the hinges. And then there was Tinkerbell.
In the flurry of events, Neal had hardly had time to rekindle his friendship with her, but now that everything had been said and done, his father was gone and the curse had swept Emma and Henry away from him, he was left all but empty-handed. Yet once again, her presence reminded him that he was not without the presence of friends.
His smile grew fonder at the notion, and he inhaled calmly, as deep as he could, to clear any and all negative thought he may have had before that moment. Despite his current state of being, he was not alone. Patting the spot beside where he was seated by the campfire they had set up for the night, he offered her a seat, and essentially, an opportunity for conversation. Long overdue conversation.
“Looks like it’s gonna be a while ‘fore we get to settle down again, huh?”
Not that he was planning to settle down in the Enchanted Forest without resolving a few pressing issues—-he needed peace of mind. And it was probably audible in his tone of voice as well.
“So, what’s the first thing you’ve got planned? Any wild dreams that you’re lookin’ to fulfill now that things’re looking up for you?”
“It must have been so hard for you living in their realm alone.” The island was bad too but at least they had each other there. She sat down beside him.
“We help other people fulfill their dreams, Neal. We rarely get the chance to have any of our own.” She stared into the fire. “I was without my wings for so long, I’m not sure if I know how to be a fairy any more.”
Tink gave him a wary smile. “I think Blue wants me to go and see if I can find the other fairies, there used to be a lot more of us but now we are only a handful.”
And while it was something that they should be doing, at the moment Tink felt more comfortable traveling with the others than she was going out by herself.
“Yeah, yeah—rules.”
Neal pressed his lips together; he wasn’t ignoring her assumption that being alone must have been hard on him. He simply neglected to give a response to it, as it wasn’t exactly something he felt like going into. In stead, he placed the topic of conversation with the fairy herself, urging her into a more positive state of mind, if he could manage to do so. Good grief, had he tried that when he was just a boy, lost among the wilds and dangers of Neverland.
“I get it—you’re a fairy, people have expectations of you. I’m sure they had expectations of me, too.”
He paused for a moment, swallowing harshly at the fact that he had just indirectly hinted at the fact that he was the Dark One’s son, a legacy he did not want to continue, even if he did miss his father dearly. Without any further dancing around the point, however, he decided to go back to his initial purpose of trying to lift her spirits and mindset.
“Let’s say you could live for you for a while. Only for you. What’d be the first thing you do out of anything you could pick ‘n’ choose from?”
Needless to say, it was obvious from his tone of voice that, while he appreciated the work fairies did for the people of their realm, he also thought it was a ridiculous idea to be living your life just to please others. And he especially did not wish such a fate upon his dear friend. However, when she mentioned the task of looking for the other fairies, Neal presented her with a knowing nod. He, too, had things to look for now that everyone and everything had been transported back to the Enchanted Forest. He could hardly deny her the same.
“Well, if it makes any difference, I’m more than happy to help you out there. Pretty sure the Charmings’ll wanna go to their castle before long, but that’s not what I’m after. It’ll be a while still before I settle in one place. Y'know—too much stuff left to deal with, right?”
