𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘

𝑑𝑒𝑢𝑥

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𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋 the warmth surrounding my body before I even knew I was awake, brightness blinding me under my eyelids. Letting out a cough, water bubbled in the back of my throat, which made me shoot my eyes open and turn myself onto my side, spewing a gulp of the sea out of my mouth and onto the sand beneath me.

Suddenly a hand landed itself on my back, rubbing circles into my skin, which made me jump around and shift myself away from the person, smacking their hand off my skin.

It was a boy, he seemed to be around my age with the mature look of his face, but his aura screamed he was still a kid. Blonde hair covered his forehead but was cut short on the sides, his eyes were a dark brown, pleading with me to calm down while he stuck out his hand to reassure me.

"Qui es-tu?" I spoke, my first language slipping because of my nervous heart, which was racing in my chest.

"You're french," He looked at me with a funny look, tilting his head to the side.

"You didn't answer my question. Who are you?" I asked again, gazing at him with fearful eyes, which raked him up and down.

"My name is Noah, I pulled you out of the water," It was only then that I realized he was drenched from the waist down. The boy gave me a gentle smile and a shake of his head, but slowly the innocence of the action turned when his smile turned into a smirk, "But... I'm not the one you should be worried about."

Slowly my stomach started to make me nauseous and the urge to vomit was coming over me. Putting my hand over my torso, I could feel myself become pale, "I don't feel good."

"Okay, uh..." Noah looked around for a quick second before he grabbed my waist, hauling me up and keeping most of my body weight on him until we made it to a tree at the edge of the beach.

Falling to my knees, I poured the contents of my lungs and stomach out onto a bush, most of it seawater. Letting out a small distressed sob, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and brushed a sneaky tear away.

"Water in your lungs?" A voice came from my right, one that I did not recognize as Noah's. It had a dark edge to it, one that I could tell he tried to mask with confidence.

Turning around, I stood up as best I could and faced the boy. He had curly brown hair and piercing green eyes that shone in the sunlight. He was quite a bit taller than me from what I could tell where I was standing, which made him more intimidating. He reminded me of the man I was arranged to marry back in France, the one I tried to get away from.

"Well aren't you a sight," He smirked in a mocking way, stepping forward a bit to observe me. Looking down at myself, I noticed I was still wearing the expensive dress from yesterday, red wine stains covering it like I had killed someone, "What's your name?"

"Coralie," I stated, staring back at him just as intensely as he was staring at me, almost like he wanted to see my soul.

He breathed in through his nose and took a couple more steps until he was staring down at me, our bodies a foot apart, "Well Coralie, would you mind telling me what you're doing on my island?"

"A shadow kidnapped me from my home, dropped me in the ocean." I tried to stare at him in the eyes, his unmoving from mine, but his face was so unnerving. I didn't know if the situation I was in now is better than the one back home and muttered, "Not that I didn't want to leave..."

The boy gave me a look, almost like he didn't believe me, but Noah stepped in before anything could be said, "It's true, I heard her scream last night and came to the shore this morning. The tide brought her in."

"Noah, go back to camp and grab a dress and smaller shoes. Bring them to the cages," The boy demanded without even looking in his direction, he just stared at me with angry eyes. Noah gave me an unsure look and hesitated for a second before moving his feet and making his way into the forest.

"Who are you to demand such things?" I questioned, watching the spot Noah disappeared into the dense trees.

"Did I forget to introduce myself?" He gave a devious smirk and chuckled for a second, "I'm Peter Pan. And love, you're the first girl in Neverland."

"Vous plaisantez j'espère?" I deadpanned as I watched him walk away, not believing a word he said, but I couldn't help the inkling feeling that it was true.

☆

After our meeting at the beach, the green-eyed boy briskly walked through the dense forest, only looking back once to make sure I was following in the beginning. My feet continuously tripped over each other, trying to keep up with his speed and dodge every tree root and thick bush.

"So what do I call you? Is Peter Pan two first names?" I called out to the boy ahead of me, my voice wavering with the huff of heavy breaths, mostly from the extensive fast walking.

Peter Pan stopped his steps and turned to face me, his one eyebrow raised in amusement, "Call me Pan."

"Well why not Peter, it suits you better," I questioned, taking a second to lean against a rather large tree trunk with my hand.

Peter, or Pan, crossed his arms and glared at me with annoyance, which I could see clouding his thoughts, that was until I blinked and he was gone from where he was standing. Hearing an inhale of breath behind me, I spun around to see the tall boy towering over me, his lips pulled into a menacing smirk, "You don't get privileges here, love. I would keep my mouth shut if I were you, my lost boys don't take kindly to newbies. Especially pretty girls."

Walking past me without looking back, I stayed where I was standing, my eyebrows furrowed in both confusions and disagreement, "What do you have against girls?"

Pausing his step again, his smirk returned and he glanced at me from over his shoulder, "There is a lot you don't know about me or my island Coralie. Best you keep up, wouldn't want to be out here at night."

☆

After another while of trekking through the underbrush, we came to a trail, which was much easier to walk on and not long after that, the sun was slowly setting under the horizon. The forest grew eery and creepy the more the darkness grew. My body shivered under the stained dress, wrapping my arms around my body for warmth.

"We're here," Pan spoke, the crickets drowning out his voice slightly. Coming to stand beside him, I noticed he was staring at two cages strung above the ground with a thick line of rope, "You will sleep here until I have made arrangements for you. I will return in the morning to let you change."

Pulling on one of the ropes, a cage lowered to the ground and Pan opened the bamboo door, stepping back to gesture for me to get in. Refusing to move until I got an answer to the nagging question in my brain, I asked, "You're going to make me leave, aren't you?"

He was quiet for a moment as I stared at him, awaiting his answer. Looking away from the cage, to my wondering expression, his lips turned upward, "Yes."

"Well, there are a lot of things you don't know about me and my life, the same as I don't know a lot about you. But, I'll leave you to make the decision without knowing the whole story," I muttered quietly, hoping that the simple idea would make him rethink.

"Who says I care to know the whole story?" Pan stated with an underlying hint of defiance, his mind obviously already turning.

Sighing in defeat, I crawled into the cage, shuffling to the back and pulling my knees to my chest. The space on the inside was small and cramped, about the size of a large chest.

I could hear the rope being pulled again, the swing of the cage giving away that I was being lifted off the ground. Soon, Pan's footsteps slowly faded away and it was just me and the millions of crickets alone for the night.

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A little bit of Pan and Coralie action happening ;)