Chapter Text
"Then the prince slipped the glass slipper onto her foot, and gazed up lovingly at Cinderella, as the shoe fit perfectly. He stood to her level, before placing a gentle kiss upon her lips. And they lived," she paused, drawing in a breath and then continuing slowly, "happily ever after." I watched as the young dark haired girl finished the story, a sigh falling from my lips.
Cinderella. The dark haired girl told the story often. I'd heard the story many times, but it never grew old. The two neighbor boys from the house on the left were always coming over and demanding that she tell them stories, and lucky for me, Cinderella was their favorite too. Immediately after she had finished the story, their dog Nanna ran into the room. She sniffed the air before running towards the window, and she began barking wildly at me. This of course got the attention of the dark haired girl and the two boys, and so I quickly flew behind the tree outside the window, observing as they scanned the ground and up above for any signs of life.
They didn't search long, probably assuming that it was a bird on the window seal, or a squirrel in the tree, not a boy. They left the room, to eat dinner and take baths I'm sure, before returning a considerable amount of time later.
In that time I had simply observed the stars and towards the one that I called home. Neverland. Neverland was magnificent, its beauty could never be defined. Beautiful mermaids, fearsome pirates, and fearless Indians, Neverland was considerably almost perfect. Time doesn't exist there, allowing its inhabitants everlasting life. So why would I ever come back here, one might ask, a desolate planet, consistently being ruined and devastated by reckless humans?
War is an unpleasant thing, no matter where you go. Neverland is far from the exception. Until recently, the closest thing to war in Neverland was the constant rivalry between the lost boys and the pirates. I should mention that some of us hold permanent places in Neverland, like a story that never ends.
For example, it doesn't matter how many lost boys there are, as long as there are lost boys. Most of the lost boys do not have a specific purpose, other than to be a lost boy. That is their role in life. I too am a lost boy, but I am a necessary entity in the world of Neverland. I am what is known as the Pan. Based off the very first Pan supposedly, named Peter Pan, I have the role of the young hero of Neverland. If I were to be killed, for that is the only way in which I can die, then a new Pan that was born on the Mainland, also known as Earth would quickly take my place. This boy would grow to some age, and at that age he would escape Earth to Neverland whenever the previous Pan dies. How and why he gets to Neverland is different for each Pan, but it is certain that he will never be an adult.
According to the elder chief, Princess Tiger Lily's great grandmother, I am the oldest Pan to have ever existed. I found Neverland at the age of 17, almost an adult. I am the seventh Pan, and I have only been Pan for about a year.
Captain Hook is another permanent figure in Neverland, the title stemming from the first Pirate Captain, Captain James Hook. Each Captain Hook is also born on Earth, leaving to Neverland for a bigger adventure. I have yet to meet the current Hook, though he's been Hook for several years is what I've been told.
Princess Tiger Lily is one of the few exceptions to the "immortality" of Neverland. Or rather, she is immortal, but can still age. Because she is also a permanent piece to Neverland, a new Princess is born when she becomes too old, rather than when she dies. "Too old" being the age of 18. The role of Princess is not randomly assigned, because she is required to have the blood heritage of the Indian ancestry. Therefore, the current Princess' great grandmother who I mentioned earlier is the very first Princess Tiger Lily, the actual Princess Tiger Lily. It's an interesting process, because the Princess will age until she is 17, and then she stops aging. She won't continue to grow older until she has given birth to the next Princess, and then after that she becomes 18 and continues to age once again.
Krista, the current and fourth Princess, turned 17 about a year ago, shortly after I arrived to Neverland. It's doubtful that she will give birth to the next heir due to her sexuality as the first lesbian Princess. One of the other female tribe members, Ymir, is her lover. In Krista's case, she will remain 17 until she is killed. No one knows how the next Princess will be born if Krista is killed, because none of the previous Princesses have died yet.
Back to the important thing at hand, the war. The way to Neverland from the Mainland is to head towards the Milky Way, go to the second star to the right, and straight on until morning. The first star, the left star, is Nightland. None of the inhabitants of Neverland have ever been to Nightland, and none of the inhabitants of Nightland had ever been to Neverland, until the start of the war. A few months ago, Nightland was struck by a meteor, destroying half the star and leaving the other half of it a place difficult to survive on. Thus, the inhabitants of Nightland, now known to us as the Knights, have begun to come to Neverland to inhabit our star.
The issue is that there are far too many Knights for both them and we the previous inhabitants of Neverland to live on Neverland, so they have been trying to kill us off. So far they've only sent small battalions of Knights, but I'm certain that they will send larger numbers to try to us soon. The fighting has been nonstop, and no progress has been made for either side. One might think that what does it matter, when new versions of ourselves will be born again?
It is possible to stop the cycle. It'd be fairly easy actually. There are five key figures to Neverland, and if all five were killed within a short amount of time, the cycle would stop. I've mentioned three so far. The leader of the Pirates, Captain Hook. The leader of the Indians, Princess Tiger Lily. The leader of the Lost Boys, myself, Pan. The leader of the fairies, and the Pan's trusty sidekick, Tinker. Lastly is the leader of the Mermaids, Princess Maroon. If all of us were to die within the time span of a few days, there would be no future for Neverland.
Amongst the Piccaninny tribe is a skilled witch and fortune teller, Sinistra. In an attempt to find a way to defeat the Knights, she has looked into the future through her dreams, and found that there is a warrior amongst the humans on the Mainland who will come to Neverland to defeat the Knights. I was sent here from Neverland to find this warrior, a girl about my age. I found her about a month ago, and it has been my nightly tradition to listen to her tell stories. I am unsure of how to go about asking for her help in saving our home, which is why I have been hesitant in approaching her.
There you have it, my reason for coming here from Neverland. Well, that and there is no WiFi on Neverland yet, we’re working on it, and so if I want to check Tumblr or something, I have to come here. What? It’s the 21st Century, technology is important to me. Neverland provides a sense of adventure that one could never find on Earth, adventure that is more fun than anything that Earth could offer. But there are no memes, and I cannot live with that. Thank god for being Pan, I’m the only one other than fairies that can fly.
I heard the door open and close as the young girl entered the room again. She sighed heavily and turned off the light, crawling into bed. I had decided that tonight was the night that I asked for her help. She didn’t seem like a warrior to me, but we needed all of the help that we could get. I slid the window open slowly, and ducked through the square opening. My bare feet landed softly on the carpet as I stepped down, and I began tiptoeing towards her. Until that motherfucking dog, like when the fuck did it even get in here, started barking up a storm and charged at me like it wanted to kill me.
Now as Pan, I’ve faced fearsome beasts, and fought hard against the Knights, and I’m one of the strongest inhabitants of Neverland, but I ran. I hopped out the window to escape, right as the damn dog rammed its head against it, making the window slam downwards. Unbeknownst to me, apparently my shadow is a solid thing that can get caught in a window seal. Just my luck, the girl woke up to the loud noises and ran towards the window. Before she could see me, I tugged hard, and managed to fly away, leaving my shadow trapped in the house. Now I had no choice but to return. As cool as it would be to be all stealthy without a shadow, shadow puppets and llama hands were too great of a thing to lose.