Neverland Crumbling: The Arrival

Chapter Two (Xander)

"Ellie look at London!" I pointed down at the beautiful lights that radiated off of the big city I called home. I had known London to be a very dreary place, full of loud pubs, scummy alleyways, and rubbish bins filled with food I ate to survive. I never knew it to be so grand, so magnificent from this perspective; no wonder why birds came quite a bit, it just looked so magical.
"Yes, isn't it beautiful?" She laughed, her eyes twinkling. It was already enough that I was in the air, flying high like a bird, but I was with a nice girl who cared enough to save me. "I take it you haven't seen all of London." I shook my head at that.
"No, I haven't. Oh, it's so big! Look at all the buildings!" I pointed to the massive skyscrapers, giggling as I did so. "How many people live in London, Ellie?"
She shrugged, "A lot." Her blonde braids flew back in the wind, her blue eyes reflected the golden city below us. "Too much, if you ask me. The city has changed quite a lot since I lived here."
"When did you live here, Ellie?" She had to be at least a year older than me. How could a city change so much in a year?
"I've lived in Neverland for nearly one hundred and fifty-two years, Xander..." A small smile crept across her face. "I left London for Neverland in the year 1864.."
I looked at her incredulously, my eyes widening. "W-what..? 1864..? How are you..?"
"Not dead?" She laughed, and it made something inside me flutter. "In Neverland, time stands still. You don't age. I've been fourteen years old for one hundred and fifty-two years!" She continued to laugh, and I couldn't believe this. Never aging for centuries! I would stay thirteen for so long! I didn't know how I felt about that, to be honest, but it all seemed so exciting!
"Oh I wish I could see it now!" I giggled, and Ellie looked at me with a mischievous smile.
"Okay, imagine an island in the middle of crystal blue waters. The island itself is not big--in fact it's quite small--small enough where the adventures are all nicely crammed together so it's just one after another. All of the seasons happen at the same time, but it's on different parts of the island. There's giant mountains, lush jungles, vast beaches! Oh Xander, it's a paradise for children like you and I."
"No worries?" I asked, and she shook her head with a massive grin.
"None at all," the glee in her voice was evident, and it made my tummy explode with nervous and excited butterflies. "All we need to care about are the pirates."
"Pirates?!" I cried. "There's pirates!"
"Uh huh, dozens of them! Don't worry, they're not scary like you think. In fact they're really kind of dumb." I laughed a little at that, and I pushed my hair back. "You're going to have the time of your life, Xander. I promise."
Within seconds after her last sentence, we were flying through fluffy clouds, until I could see something below. An island! Green everywhere. There was something stationed at the edge, but I couldn't tell what. We were too far away to see it. Ellie took my hand, and we flew even farther toward the island. "Is that it, Ellie?!"
"Yep! That's Neverland, Xander! There's Captain Hook's pirate ship at the edge. Trust me, he's nothing but a smelly old man. I've been his prisoner loads of times."
"Oh, you have?! You must have been so scared!" Ellie, taken by pirates? I couldn't even imagine that. She seemed so delicate and sweet...
"The first time I was, definitely. But now it's a normal occurrence. I've gotten myself out sometimes. But most of the time Peter saves me like the gentleman he is!" She giggled once again, and to me it sounded so sweet and perfect.
I didn't say anything after that, for I was much too enthralled by the beauty of it all. We flew for a few minutes in awed silence, and we eventually began to make our descent, flying through the green trees of the island. I began to hear excited voices from below, and I could see boys jumping up and down on the ground, waving their arms at us. "Ellie! Ellie she's back! Someone get Peter!" Ellie landed perfectly on her feet, but I ended up tumbling over myself, dirt flying into my mouth and laughter filling my ears.
"Hello, boys! I have returned! Oh, Xander!" I felt her hand close around my arm, and she lifted me up to my feet once again, and my cheek reddened in embarrassment. Their first impression of me was a stumbling idiot. "Boys, this is Xander, our new recruit! Where's Peter?"
I suddenly heard a massive crow, and I immediately looked up. The boys, all around my age and dressed in furs and armed with bows and arrows, began cheering and jumping up and down. Why were they getting so excited over a bird?
I suddenly saw a human shadow casting over us, and all the boys were pointing up into the trees. "Did somebody say Peter?" The voice was of a boy, with a British accent just like Ellie and myself, and it was dripping with proper cockiness.
"Oh Peter you're back!" Ellie squealed. I couldn't see anything because I was shoved to the floor as the boys came pushing their way to the front of the crowd to see him. I stood up and rubbed my arms, staying quietly towards the back. "Xander? Xander!" She turned around and jumped upon seeing me, but she quickly smiled.
"Xander?" The mysterious boy asked, and Ellie propelled me toward the front.
"This is Xander! He's our newest recruit, Peter!" I got my first proper glimpse of the boy, and I felt both excited and intimidated all at the same time; he was the oldest boy--at least seventeen--and he was at least four heads taller than me, clad in a shade of green that matched his almond-shaped eyes, his sandy hair wavy and tousled like he spent a lot of time near the ocean. Peter Pan stared at me for a few moments, taking in my smallish frame and dirty clothes, and soon his face broke out into a wide grin.
"Well, Mother, I say you made an excellent choice!" Peter held out his hand, his wrist covered up with a leather cuff, and I gently took it. His hand was calloused, like he spent a lot of days working, but they were so warm I almost didn't want to let go. "Welcome to Neverland, Xander!"
The boys cheered and pulled me into their little group, inspecting me. Comments were made about how small I was, questions if I was in any way related to Ellie, what it was like to fly for the first time in my whole life.
"Now boys, leave him alone!" Ellie clapped her hands. "He's our new recruit, not a plaything! Slightly and Stripes I am talking to you two!"
"We need to give him a nickname, Mother!" One of the boys cried, and they all began shouting in agreement. The noise scared me, and I curled into myself a little out of habit.
"Boys, boys quiet down please!" Ellie clapped her hands again, and when that didn't work Peter whistled. "Thank you, Father."
"You're welcome, Mother." Peter took me by the shoulder and pulled me out of the group, and he crouched down to get a better look at me. "What pretty eyes you have..." His comment made my cheeks go pink, and I found myself giggling. "Almost like yours, Ellie." Peter looked up at her with a lazy smile, and she giggled right along with me.
"We're not relat--"
"That's it!" Peter clapped his hands twice, standing back up. "Xander, I doth thee Little Blue!" Cheers broke out, and I began laughing as the boys took off running.
"Come on, Xander!" Ellie grabbed my hand, and we began to run through the jungles with Peter following close behind.
"Little Blue! Little Blue! Ellie I have a nickname!" I was so thrilled I felt like I could do a dozen cartwheels.
"You're a real lost boy now, Xander!" Ellie's smile was the prettiest thing I'd seen all day, and it made my tummy knot and my heart skip a beat. "I told you that you would belong here!"
"Ellie, do you have a nickname? Besides Mother?"
A soft laugh came from her. "Of course! I'm Wildcat!" Wildcat. I liked that. I liked that a lot.

Hello!! There you go, RAKers, it's Panny boy! Pay close attention to the Lost Boys, maybe Slightly and Stripes... As I said, this first book will give you the Disney Neverland feels!! Do you see Ellie's crush on Peter blossoming? Do you see a rising crush of Xander on Ellie perhaps? And yes, as Wendy was deemed the mother in Disney, that is Ellie!! How sweet. c: Enjoy this chapter and tell us all the feels!! Love you laddies!
~ Sammie <3

HEY GUYS LET'S PLAY A GAME CALLED SPOT THE FINDING NEMO REFERENCE. This chapter was so much fun to write omg. I hope that y'all like my take on Peter. In the RP, I wrote for him and I take great pride in my rendition of this beloved (and sexy) boy. Do you guys think Xander will adapt well to this new life? Do you think he'll like being a Lost Boy? Do you guys like Ellie as the mother figure? Let us know in the doobleedoo! And oh, Slightly and Stripes? Might wanna pay attention to those two, they're kind of important. :)
~ Sami (paper-sami)