Mara wondered if she'll ever fight Thomas again, she had come to realization that all those fights had been actually quite fun, it was awful at first, she got used to it then it turned to fun.
What was also amazing was that before they all left the training grounds, Thomas approached her, he reach his hand out for her which she reluctantly took and he just shook. She had realized that she got his respect. Thomas, the fiercest Lost Boy in Neverland had given her his respect and she had never felt so good about anything.
After all the fights, she had lost count how many times it's been, all the bruises the young boy gave her and all the blood she shed. It had taken her over a month to beat him. Thanks to Pan for all the training he had given her, especially Curly, Slightly, Tootles and James. Mara saw James smiling for her like he was proud of her, she was glad for that.
At the caves, nothing much was going on, they had supper, "If it wasn't raining and we're back the camp—" said Curly, "we'd be celebrating for your accomplishment by now and have that juice"
"I could have one right now" Mara chuckled. Last time she had that strange juice was little over week ago, before the storm season began.
"Hey, Turner!" One of the boys called from in back of the cave and it was Ace. She saw the Twins, Rufio, Tootles and other couple more boys. "Come here for a minute"
"Bet he'll give you a smooch as congratulations" Curly scoffed, Mara stood up. "You know, it'll be the last thing he'll ever do"
Mara laughed softly then approached Ace and the boys. They were all standing few feet from the wall where the markings and names were carved on. Ace had a knife in his hand. "Alright, Turner, I think it's time that you should put your name up there" he held out a knife toward her. "You've finally became a true Lost Boy"
"Girl" Rufio cleared his through.
She always had been, and even long before she found Neverland. Or Neverland found her. She took the knife and stood in front of the wall, glanced up at the names and wonder where she should put her's. There were two bigger words that stood above every names and those bigger words were "LOST BOYS". She wanted to put her name beside James's, but she put it just under his name with big space between them.
Instead of carving in her name Mara, she put TURNER instead because Turner sounded it fit in with all of those boys' names. She carved and carved for a long time until her name was clear as the rest of the boys' names.
"It looks complete now" said Rufio.
"Yeah but... why Turner, and not Arsling?" Curly sounded disappointed but she knew he was joking.
"Piss off" Mara frowned at him.
When night fell, the caves grew silent when the boys settled and prepare to sleep for the night. Some boys were already snoring and the rest were talking to one another in low voices. The bonfire in the cave was slowly burning out. She was sitting with Tootles, both leaning back against the wall as they were waiting to get tired out meanwhile Curly was already snoring near them. Slightly and James were in the other cave with the other half of the Lost Boys.
"So, are you going to decide to stay in Neverland?" Tootles asked in a low voice.
Mara forgot that she'll have to choose whether she'll stay or not. Neverland had grown on her, she grown fond to the place, even the boys, she had friends here too. She had no one else out there but here in Neverland. She grown to admire the Lost Boys, grown that they have all become brothers to her despite some of them still don't like her. She even grown to love and care Tootles and Curly and Slightly. Even James. If she were to leave, it would hurt to leave them.
"I... I guess so" she shrugged, "but where else am I to go when I choose to leave?"
"You wanted an adventure" Tootles reminded, "You always wanted to go an adventure and see the world"
Mara had thought of that, but everything she had went through the past month here in Neverland had been the closest she had to a major adventure. "I think all the adventure I wanted is all here in Neverland" she said softly, "I've seen the world from up there—" she pointed at the ceiling with her finger, meaning as the sky, "—and it's a big big world, too big to see it all"
She remembered what James said from day one, first time she was training, how he said that the world was too big to see. He was right.
When night grew late, the fire had been burned out, the boys were sleeping. Mara still hated sleeping in the cave because of how hard the ground was. She was too uncomfortable to sleep, she'd have to wait until her eyes get heavier.
She noticed how bright the night was, she was looking toward the exit and it was quite bright out which means that the moon must be peeking through the clouds or it was just cloudless.
She got up slowly and quietly went outside. She stepped out the cave and looked at the sky. There was no moon but the trees were in the way to see. The sky looked clear, as if the storm season had passed and gone for the entire year. But it's only been over a week since the season started and it usually lasts for a few weeks before the autumn from outside Neverland starts. In Neverland, it's always summer, there's never winter, fall and spring. It has been summer for a very long time and probably since the start of Neverland.
"It's a nice night" said a soft voice behind her. She turned and see Pan standing by the entrance of another cave. "But doesn't mean that the storm had passed"
"Wouldn't want to wait for weeks for another calm night like this"
"Congratulations for beating Thomas" he said, "I thought it'd take you longer to do so"
"I'm a quick learner, I guess" she shrugged a shoulder. "Now who do I have to fight next?"
"Who said you're gonna fight again?"
"Well, I thought Thomas was merely a first" she muttered.
"He's the best of you all" He stated, "You barely even beat him, the fights with him were only just you to compare closely to his fighting skills"
It is true, she barely beat Thomas, beating him once doesn't mean she was better than him, he was still the best. "Okay... can I fight you until I beat you?"
Pan chuckled, "Not once you even laid a hand on me during training, these trainings I offered you were meant for the fight with Thomas"
Mara didn't give up that easy, so she said, "So you're done training me? That's it?" She half laughed, "Or you're just scared to be beaten by a girl?" She teased.
He scoffed in response. He was quiet for a moment, as if taking a moment to think about it. Mara just didn't want these trainings with Pan to be done because she liked training with him. "Well, you've got a long way ahead on the road to try, but you can give up any time you want"
"Pshh" Mara scoffed.
She was delighted about it. Even more better that instead of training in the cave, he took her the to beach where they always go to. Moonsea. She liked it here better than in the cave because the ground was soft.
The beach was calm like the weather, the waves were also calm and there was barely any wind from the sea. The moon was up high from the horizon and the stars were visible and shining and twinkling. There were dark cloud ahead, those were from hours ago and were rolling away.
Mara choose her own sword to fight with and Pan had his own. Pan had a fire going so they can see each other enough while they fight. Once she was ready, that's when they began.
The first attempt, Pan had his sword on her neck within few minutes. The second attempt, he had her on the ground in another few minutes. The third attempt, longer than few minutes until Pan had her on her back and his sword on her neck. The forth attempt, little longer minutes that went around the fire few times before Pan had Mara pinned down on the ground. Each attempts, the fights got longer and longer.
Another attempt, they lost count, the sounds of swords clashing was greater than the waves crashing. Around and around they went in circles around the fire before Pan disarmed her and her sword went flying away and landed couple feet from her. Before Pan could have his sword on her, she was quick enough to grab his arm and had it pinned under her arm, she attempted to hit him but blocked it with his free arm and he sent them both on the ground. He had dropped his sword when they both fell. Mara would try pin him down but he'd push himself up and he was on her then try to pin her down.
When he had her pinned down, he had her wrists against the ground while he was on her. Mara could feel her chest thumping from all that fight, she breathed heavily and she even felt his chest thumping against her's.
"You done?" Pan questioned. He lift himself up from her body but still had her wrists pinned against the ground.
She wasn't done yet, the way they were so close together, she couldn't resist and attempted to try something without even thinking. She lift herself up and reached for his lips with her's.
Mara didn't even planned this at all, she never once thought of kissing Pan. He was stunned for a moment that he softened his grip from her wrists, he moved back but she moved forward as she kept her lips on his lips and they were now sitting and he had kissed back.
His hands were on her cheeks while her one hand was on his chest. His lips were soft and warm while her's were less soft and dry. She kissed him like she wanted him, like everything about him was she desired. It felt like it was magical and like they just fit together perfectly.
She pulled away slowly when her hand found something near her, grabbed it and lift it up to Pan's neck. She was looking at Pan, the way he looked at her, she wanted to kiss him again, instead, she softly said "I beat you"
Pan took a second to realize that she had his own sword on his neck. She did, she did beat him and she won. But he didn't care, he just kissed her again.
***
Ahhhh!!! Finally!!!! ^_^