Set Your Sails...to Neverland || Peter Pan, OUAT

Chapter 3 - The Ocean is a Pirate's Home

~ Davina

I'd fallen asleep in the tree I'd decided to observe things in, somehow managing a few hours of decent rest. I stretch and jump down. I have no idea what to do now, there's no point in running or trying to leave because I'd get caught anyway, and there's no one around. I walk over to the fire and kick a burnt piece of wood into the pile of ash. I feel at my side and find no sword; I look around and see it leaning against the tree house. I walk over, re-attaching it to my belt. I take the blade out of the scabbard to check it - my father had gifted it to me for my birthday, expensive to buy but priceless to me. The gold hilt, specially crafted for my hand with sapphires along one edge because, according to him, it matches my eyes. The blade itself is so polished, you can see your face as clear as any cloudless sky, with an engraving along the edge by the hilt which reads 'keep a weather eye on the horizon,' something he always told me when I was the lookout.

"Beautiful sword."

I whip around with my sword ready, but it's just Pan. I slip it back into the leather scabbard and compose myself.

"Thank you," I reply.

"I sensed sentimentality, so decided not to keep it from you." he says.

I repeat my thanks, wary of his sudden compliments. "My father gave it to me. He said a pirate's greatest companion will always be his sword."

He nods and there are a few moments of silence, he's staring at me and I avert his gaze. "What else can you do? Clearly you can climb, escape, and you're smart. No point in modesty here."

I squint my eyes. It would be stupid to tell him all, but what else have I got to lose? Besides, he doesn't need to know everything.

"Oh you flatter me with an opportunity to gloat, Pipe Boy! Well, it may come as no surprise due to my lifestyle, but I'm a very good swimmer. I decided to take up archery and seem to have a natural knack for it, surprisingly. What else?" I begin, "Ah well, as you have experience, I can be very persuasive. I have annoyingly high patience and tolerance to pain and confinement. Occupational hazard. But most of all, when it comes to it, I'm the life of the party. What I want to know is, what can you do?" I reply, smirking with an eyebrow raised.

"You're definitely not what I was expecting Davina. There is something which I am slightly confused about..." he says, disregarding her question "...Neverland is a place where children come because they feel disconnected or unloved by their family and here they can have a family. They can also hear the music I play. The Lost Boys - they're called that because, well, they feel lost and strayed from family."

"I don't understand why you're confused. I don't feel disconnected or unloved by my family. My parents may have died but that doesn't mean they stopped loving me as soon as their existence vanished. I know they loved me, and always did even in their last moments."

"Then why are you here, Davina?" He asks, suddenly inches away from my face.

"They told me to go towards this island. They sacrificed themselves for me, so I could live-"

"Ah, but you could have drowned and you still ended up here, didn't you? To me, that says something."

I suddenly realise what he's implying, "I am not a Lost Girl."

"Oh, but I think you are," he counters, stepping away, his hands folded behind his back.

"If I am a Lost Girl, I would have been here a long time ago, Pan, but I wasn't and, I would have been able to hear your stupid music, but I didn't, and I can't, so I am not a Lost Girl, far from it. You just want me to say it so badly in the hope I realise something that's so delusional...just so I'm under your control. It will never happen!" I answer through gritted teeth. I whip back around and head down a path, my heart racing and blood boiling in anger. I don't look back, I keep walking.

I find the beach by the time I can't walk anymore. I sit by the water, unclip my cape, letting it fall behind me and I push off my boots. I close my eyes and tilt my head up to the sun. I let it warm my shoulders, arms and face, feeling the water wash over my feet. I listen to the soft swishing of the waves on the sand and calm down. Something an old pirate friend once told me pops into my head.

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

Right now, I wish I was still out there. No limits, no rules, no troubles. Just the ship, the sun, sea, and family. My heart aches, and I let the tears drop. I look out at the expanse of water, of freedom. The varying hues of blue, the clear sky, and the sun creating a path of glittering light on the waves, and just endless possibility. God, what I would give to be back out there, with my family once again. Anything is better than being stuck on this damned island where a child thinks he can decide the fate of the others inhabiting it.

"You're Davina, aren't you?" I hear a quiet voice say.

I turn around to see who appeared to be the youngest Lost Boy. "Yes, I am, and who might you be?" I ask, releasing my grip on the clumps of sand I clenched in my fists.

He wanders over and sits down next to me, "Bobby," he replies with a big grin.

Another tear falls as I smile at him, and I wipe away the trail with the back of my hand. His kindness reminds me of my parents, which makes my heart ache more.

"You miss your family, don't you?" He says.

I nod, wiping away another tear, "Very much so."

"Were they good?"

"The best."

He nods, looking down at his hands in his lap, fiddling with a shell.  "It's okay to miss people Davina. I don't know who my family are, but sometimes I miss them," he says quietly.

I frown, "What do you mean you don't know them?"

He shrugs, "I was too little to really know them. Pan came to get me a while ago, he's letting me grow up a bit so I can be more useful."

I look at him, his big brown eyes wide and filled with wonder. "How old are you Bobby?"

"Eight now, I think."

"You're very clever for an eight year old."

"Thank you."

We sit in silence for a bit, listening to the sea.

"Davina, what's it like out there? The ocean? Why do you love it so much?" He asks.

"Well, it's...amazing. There's nothing like it. You know, all of us in our veins have the same amount of salt in our blood as there is in the ocean, and therefore, the salt we have - in our blood, sweat, tears...it ties us to it. And when we go back - whether it is to sail or to just be near it - we are going back from whence we came. The ocean is home. It lives with me, with you, with everyone. I guess pirates know their home as soon as they explore it."

"That's cool. I hope I can see more someday."

"I'm sure you will," I reassure, placing my hand on his back. "Come on, let's go back."

I pull on my boots and cape, and he takes my hand, leading us back to the camp. He gives me food and water and tells me about the island. It's amazing, but nothing like where I belong. Pan's nowhere to be seen, not that I care, I'm too busy enjoying the innocent boy's company. He talks excitedly, telling me about the adventures he and the Boys go on around the island. But a thought niggles at the back of my brain...

Will Neverland have to be my new home?