Somewhere In Neverland || FIRST DRAFT

I see the light (18)

it had been a few weeks since Riley had first started practising with using her magic, she was practically a natural when it came to using her magic, she had mastered healing other people, and now she could heal her friends without touching them. She was so pleased with herself, with how she was mastering her magic, and how she was getting better at combat, she had made sure to ask Peter to show her some more techniques, and she had now moved on to weapons; the dagger to be exact. Riley always enjoyed the heavy weight of the dagger in her palm, as she weighed it there, as Peter taught her to, leaving the weapon open and exposed, taunting her enemy with it, but then the heaviness disappeared as it soared through the air, as light as a feather and as fast as a bullet, and struck home, in the make shift target that the lost boys had made. (which just happened to be in the shape of a certain one handed pirate) Riley's body always hummed with adrenaline as the dagger weighed her palm down, in those mere minutes of silence where Riley would grin smugly at the target, as if Captain Hook were really standing there, and in those minutes of silence she could almost imagine the satisfaction of harming him, of her dagger striking home, drawing that scarlet liquid that Riley was all to familiar with. After those few silent minutes, Peter would walk silently up to Riley and whisper in her ear "strike" and Riley's palm would close around the dagger, and in a lightning flash of movement she would be in position, her feet spread apart, body held high, arm raised above her head, and the dagger would be soaring like a free bird through the air and towards the target.

It had taken Riley a little while to get the timing right, and her balance was usually off, meaning when Peter called strike she would move to fast, due to excitement, always making her lose her balance and topple over, before she could even square her feet. She soon got the hang of it, and now she was seeing how fast she could fling the dagger, and how far she could get it. Peter strode over lazily towards the target, and he never usually strode, he usually walked or flew, and Riley knew what he wanted her to do. Peter was giving her a test, waiting to see if she would cease the moment, and if so, her reaction time, Riley palmed the piece of cold metal from her back pocket before taking a deep breath and letting the metal hum through the air. Faster than a lighting bolt, Peter had dodged the flying metal and had flown towards Riley, shocking her into falling backwards, but before she could fall, Peter was there, he had caught her, and she now lay, staring up at him, resting in his arms. "good job. Just not as good as me" Peter grinned down smugly at Riley "your reflexes aren't as good as mine, but hell, nobody's is. We should probably work on that" Peter noted, still grinning smugly. Riley rolled her eyes, and Peter noticing that picked up her legs, carrying her bridal style, and lifted them up, off into the air.

The cold air seethed through her thin shirt and her cherry curls flew around her face in a wild mess as the wind soared around her and Peter. "Peter. Put me down" Riley whined playfully, she didn't mind flying, but she'd rather fly on her own terms, and when she wasn't wearing thin clothes that were meant for training and definitely NOT flying. Peter just grinned mischievously at her "Not until you say the magic words" Riley looked at Peter confused, but then realised that by his smug grin, it was obviously something to boost his ego, which definitely didn't need any more boosting. As they soared higher and higher through the clouds Riley had crossed her arms over her chest and had finally decided to give up... but on her own terms. "Fine," Riley looked squarely at Peter "you smug bastard" Riley sounded as smug as Peter always looked, and felt like it too, for those short seconds before Peter grinned and dropped his arms out from under her. Riley let out an ear piercing scream as she plummeted to the earth, her curls flying rampantly around her face as her limbs flailed wildly around her, and all she could think was 'not again.'

Riley had closed her eyes, bracing for the sweet embrace of death, met by a harsh impact, but opened her eyes once there was none and was met by the laughter of a smug Peter holding her closely to his chest. "I could've died" her complaint wasn't quite heartfelt which made Peter smile down at her, his blue eyes alight with playfulness, "but you didn't" He added in as an after note, which made Riley chuckle, she loved it when he was a smart ass. They were still quite high up in the air, just scraping over the tallest trees in the tree top. "I'm soooooo glad that my knight in shining armour saved me" Riley said sarcastically, placing her hand over her forehead and pretending to swoon, just for a laugh, Peter let go of her for a fraction of a second, and Riley clutched onto him for dear life, which made Peter chuckle even more, as Riley slumped back into Peter's embrace as he slowly lowered them back down to the soft green grass. "So, when is this attack going to take place?" Riley asked as soon as Peter's feet touched the ground and he sadly let go of Riley's slender frame. "Well, the last time Grace, the lost boys and I discussed battle plans, we discussed staging our attack on Hook's ship in about a week. That may change though, we're waiting for Grace's confirmation today" Riley nodded in approval before stepping back and looking shyly down at her beloved denim converse. Peter was fascinated at how they were worn in certain places and yet perfect in others, and he loved how there were black and greyish marks on the white rubber, there were probably a thousand stories to tell behind all of those scuff marks and stains, and Peter would love to hear them. Everything that normal teenagers living normal mundane lives, took for granted, Peter always picked up on, and that was the iron thing, that all of those mortal mundanes only have one life to live, and they miss out on majority of the beauty in their lives, only choosing to see what they want to see. Whilst Peter, an immortal boy, who has lived for god knows how many years, and he has so much time in the future to pay attention to the smaller details in life, and yet he always makes sure to stop and make sure that he doesn't miss any detail, no matter how small, or beautiful.

"So. The attack will go as planned" Grace, who was pacing back and forth in front of the lost boys, now picked up a long gnarled stick and placed it in the dirt below her. "In exactly a week, all of the lost boys, led by Riley," Grace tipped her feathered hat at Riley, silently indicating their secret plan involving her magic "and you will wait on both sides of the ship, Riley takes the right, Jax takes the left." Riley and Jax nod at each other, before looking back at Grace as she carved out the game plan in the dirt below her, sending dust particles floating into the air around her. "Jax. You'll be taking Brayden and Aiden with you, and Riley will be taking Nolan, Xander and Benjamin." Grace took care to carve out little figures on either side of the Jolly Roger. "Peter, you'll fly over the ship, and you know what do do from then on, and when Peter crows that's when you guys leap over the side of the ship. But if for some reason Peter doesn't crow, I'll shout..." Grace trailed off, not knowing what their code word should be "Yaaaarrrrrgggg" little Benjamin did his best impression of a pirate "Hook's crew will just think you're being a pirate" this remark sent the rest of the lost boys into fits of giggles, and Riley even started giggling, she looked up, expecting to meet the dazzling eyes of Peter, but was surprised when he was no longer leaning lazily against a tree, across from where she was sitting.

"Yaaarrrrrgggg!!! I spy some fair booty" Peter jumped up from behind Riley, holding his hand in the shape of a hook and he clutched her close to him. "What do ye say girly? Will ye walk the plank?" Peter laid the pirate accent on extremely thick, unlike the real Captain Hook's accent, it sounded nothing like a stereotypical pirate, more like an ordinary British man. Which sent everyone (including Riley) into a fit of giggles as Peter continued to talk like a pirate, holding his curved hand up as he spoke, just how her father used to when he told her the story of Peter Pan and his adventures on Neverland. This felt so surreal to Riley, her father always loved the tale Peter Pan, and to be standing so close to what she thought was just a work of fiction, is just so puzzling to Riley, but she, like she always is, was afraid that if she asked too many questions, then it'd become all to real, and that there would be a logical explanation behind why she was running amok around Neverland, and then she'd be tucked away, hidden back in her horrible mundane life. When the realisation hit her that this wonderful new life that she had been magically whisked into could easily dissipate around her, just like a fading dream, really scared her, she didn't want to loose Neverland, or her friends, the lost boys, or her king. And this only made her treasure these little moments even more