Pan's Never-Neverland

Memories, Past and Present

Chapter Fifteen – Memories, Past and Present

"I got dibs on the red one!" Partly called, running after the yelping fairy.

"I got purple!" Mouse squeaked.

Len looked over and checked the boy's hands. "…you caught a stink bug." Grimacing, he walked away.

Mouse looked into his hands at the little creepy-crawler and sniffed the insect. "…not that stinky!" he insisted indignantly.

"I caught the green one!" Mikey gasped, clutching the struggling creature in awe.

"I got it! I got it!" Jon cried, running after a wildly darting orange fairy.

"I got it!" Lump declared, reaching for a panicking silver fairy.

WHAM! The two ran directly into one another, smacking their foreheads together and collapsing into a puddle of mud. The other boys pointed at laughed, some clutching their sides as the fairies stuck out their tongues at them and dashed away.

"Owie," Lump whimpered, rubbing his face.

"Ow!" Jon growled, shaking his head, aware of someone standing before him. "Ruff, give me a hand, would you?"

Reaching without seeing, he gripped the person's arm, surprised at the feel of a soft, smooth hand that helped him to his feet. Blinking his eyes open, struggling to see past his mud-stained lenses, he squinted, paled, then stammered, "L-L-Lily?!"

The Indian Princess stood face-to-face with the mud-coated boy, biting back giggles as she observed him. "Not very good at hunting, are we?" she asked, raising both brows at him.

"W-What?! Hunting? Well, technically, I'm not hunting, I'm just, ah…we were…" Attempting to wipe his face clean, he caused another smear of dirt to cover his forehead as he sheepishly asked, "So…what brings you here?" He winced as he heard the boys snicker behind him, blush flaring on his face when Tiger Lily used her sleeve to wipe his face.

"I heard Peter brought his friends back…I was hoping to see you again," she admitted, blushing slightly as she cast her eyes to their feet.

"Oh…" Jon swallowed, hearing the crickets chirp off in the distance.

All was silent until Mouse screamed, "GOT ONE!" and tripped flat on his face.

Ruff shook his head at them, chuckling as he and Violet watched from a nearby tree, sharing berries. "I tell them to quit harassing the fairies. Do they listen? Nope. Is the result funny nevertheless? Hell yeah."

Violet laughed at this, watching the awkwardness between Jon and Lily as well as the boys' shenanigans. "This life must never get boring," she commented, allowing a pink fairy to sit upon her shoulder.

"Nope," he grinned, handing her more fruit. As they continued to watch and eat their snack, Ruff pursed his lips in contemplation. "Hey, Vi…?" When she turned to face him, he looked her in the eye and asked, "You hang out a lot with Wendy…and you said you live with your aunt…you don't have to answer, but…what happened to your parents?" Seeing her eyes dim, he quickly tumbled over his words. "Sorry! Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine," she said softly. It was the first time he'd ever seen here so unsure and upset. "My parents were driving home one night during a storm and the car skidded out of control…I moved in with my aunt a while back. I love her, and I know she tries her best, but…I miss them a lot." She hugged her knees to her chin, closing her eyes tightly as if to block out the memory of losing them.

"It's nice that you all loved each other so much, though," Ruff said, his own eyes darkening at the memory of his past. "I didn't have that with mine."