A Neverland Tale - HOOKED (eng)

Chapter 1.3 - Luke

Lukes POV

"That's easy!" she still heard Nib's resonant voice in her ears. The prodigal was one of Peter's closest confidants and, in his absence, usually the voice the prodigals listened to-though he possessed her sympathy less. "The others distract the pirates... and you and I, we'll steal Hook's coat!" he had said enthusiastically, putting his arm around her shoulders in a friendly, conspiratorial way. As if they were the thickest of friends and he didn't keep throwing stones in her way. Maybe that was what planted a stone in her stomach at his wonderful idea, not necessarily wanting to roll towards him with blind faith.
"Peter will be completely thrilled when we bring him the coat! There is nothing more important to the vain stockfish! Well, except himself!" Laughter, conspiratorial looks, and bawling were the result. It was that moment when you felt the expectations of others on your shoulders, like a dagger on your back.

Everyone seemed to take this robbery as particularly significant, accordingly. She, her brother - and three other aspirants, that is, newcomers to the Lost - were to earn their new names today. For each of the Lost was given a name to suit them on admission: Slightly, Curly, Crow, Hawk, Trinket, Buttons, Frog, or Braid, to name but a few.

Prove yourself... but more importantly: to truly belong to the Lost.
Being no Pip anymore was certainly reason enough for the newcomers to join this adventure. The raid, or rather, the goal of this enterprise, obviously drove all the boys to such enormous enthusiasm that they could almost have overlooked the fact that it was undoubtedly far more about playing a trick on the pirates than integrating the newcomers. Unlike the other boys, however, SHE had not been proudly beating her chest this morning and making big noises about what she was going to take from the pirates and how many of them she was going to slay. It wasn't her way to sell a hide before you'd killed the prey.

"When we have the coat Luke, you'll be one of us!" Slightly and Crow had promised her with that twinkle in their eyes.

And that's what she wanted, after all. To belong to the others. To the Lost. A new Family... and a new home, away from the stinking, dirty streets of London in their dreary greyness and full of hapless souls who slaved every day for a pittance. Everything was different here. And so, in the end, it had not taken more to convince her to buckle the gun belt with the saber around her hips after all - even though she had told Peter, even before she took his hand, that she... she had no intention of killing. At the time, she hadn't even known what that meant or what to expect. But the streets of London were full of shady characters with even bloodier jobs who could always use a poor rat to do their dirty work for them. Luke, however, wasn't about to put a dagger between the ribs of any rich snobs in a crowd, nor was she about to break into any shops to steal people's silverware.

Here too, however, her attitude had not changed, even after all she had experienced so far: She didn't want to kill. Not even pirates. That the Lost Boys 'annoyed' and robbed the pirates more often seemed normal. Peter referred to it as a game between him and Hook, the old 'stockfish'. Most of the Lost always looked forward to the raids like.... well, little kids rushing into the garden with wooden swords. Except... that here it wasn't wooden swords and it wasn't a garden full of imagination. It was... A test for the newcomers, a fun, an adventure...

The plan had sounded simple and her brother had puffed himself up proud as a mule when he was allowed to lead the diversion on the Jolly Roger. Much had been said, even more, thrown about. And even then, this plan had seemed a little.... unstable. A wobbly construct swaying from strong winds, while her brow furrowed and she wondered if it could really work that way...