Neverland's Shadow

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Shadow:

Humans littered the land and gawked at me as Hook carried me in his arms back to his home. It felt strange, the amount of tugging on my magic as I met everyone's eyes. They all had such different appearances in their thoughts. Most of them were of other people that stood among the crowd. A child had thoughts of the woman holding his hand, most likely his mother. A man and woman standing next to each other had thoughts of each other. One man even had thoughts of the human carrying me. It would have made me smile if the negativity directed towards me wasn't so strong that I could taste it.

Hook kept me nestled safely against his chest, allowing me the choice to either hide or look. I kept the stares of everyone watching, knowing I was stronger and could break their minds if I so wished. However, in the arms of their leader, I knew nothing would befall me just yet. This man held sway over the other humans, a unique surprise on an island ruled by a male fairy. It was a good choice to stick with him and learn.

--

Hook's home was a wooden cabin of some kind on the edge of the beach. It had a dock leading out the back to a small rowboat and a large ship loomed a little farther off in the distance. Pirate. The word surged through my mind and the Captain title made more sense now. No wonder the humans looked up to him, he was their leader that brought them to a new home. A home that was full of magic and wonder.

The interior of the cabin was surprisingly neat and clean for a male, although the decorations were certainly masculine and minimalistic. It didn't look very lived in as I was set on a bed in a room close to the door. The pirate's smell infiltrated my senses; oak wood and salt from the ocean. It was very calming to be around such an earthy scent compared to Pan's intense smell.

I looked up, my form changing into the more familiar version of Hook's Wendy as I met his dark brown eyes. I could hear his heart rate spike when I changed and averted my eyes, knowing the stark white was most likely too much.

"You don't have to do that, Pan is the judgmental asshole who doesn't like your eyes. They are...unique, but they are not bad."

His voice was gruff and he had a blunt way of speaking but it was nice, in a way. The deep bass was soothing and sounded like a worn man home from a war. It felt familiar somehow.

"I wish I could change them, but it's the one way to identify me. Whatever I am, I can change into people, but it's to keep me from being completely indecipherable from someone."

"Don't be ashamed of them. I don't want you to look like Wendy either. What do you look like when you aren't mimicking people we know?"

I hesitated for a second but let the image of Wendy fade away. My body was not real or physical unless I had someone to copy. It was harder to be physical when I didn't have an appearance created to suit me, so I imitated instead. The true form I had was like a shadow, it was a faint outline of a female body that was blurry and there were no clear features. When I moved my hand and reached out towards the hook, it was like a cloud vaguely staying together. Pieces of the shadow dispersed and scattered with the movement. When I touched him, my hand passed through and I watched him shiver. I knew my shadow form was cold, and even my eyes changed from human to just pure, white slits. I reversed it as soon as I thought he had a good enough look, letting the form of Wendy take its place again.

"I don't like that body. I don't have a custom physical body yet. I haven't been around people long enough yet to pick my features."

His face remained neutral but there was the scent of all of his emotions gathering around him.

"Then that's what we'll work on, you and I. Let's find you a body."

I smiled softly and nodded, excitement filling my chest.