A/N: This is a oneshot that I have written for an-artist-at-work from my main story Second Star to the Right, and the prompt for this was to see how the Warblers arrived in Neverland - I hope I have done it justice!
Also, if you have not read my other story, it doesn't really matter, just keep in mind that it's a Peter Pan AU :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.
It has been a long time since Neverland awaited the arrival of Jeff Sterling to its shores. In fact, it has been such a long time that those who were present for it have either passed away or simply forgotten over time; even Jeff himself does not remember when he arrived.
However, Jeff is not one to admit this and whenever someone asks how he came to be on the island, he will come up with some tale to tell them. For if you were to ask him right now, he would tell you that one day he wished to fly, and discovered that he had the power to will himself airborne, and then he proceeded to fly to Neverland. At other times, he has told people that he was kidnapped by pirates and forcefully deposited on the island when he refused to join their crew; or that the island is his own private property, and his parents gave it to him for his home many years ago.
Jeff's real arrival was much less spectacular, but began a tradition that would last for many years to come.
It all began in Kensington Gardens, when a young Jeff got separated from his nurse; whether he ran away or just became lost is unknown, but he found himself among some of the plants there, and he could not find his way out. He might have spent forever among the flowers there, had he not heard a small voice calling to him.
The voice belonged to a fairy, a female one with delicate wings, and a graceful blue dress on. Like any child, Jeff did not question the existence of the fairy, as an adult might have done, he just took it that there was a fairy talking to him, and he replied the best he could, being too young for proper speech. The fairy understood, however, for she was a kindly creature, who helped many a child in need, and could communicate with them without any words being used.
The fairy knew that Jeff was lost in Kensington Gardens by himself, and she invited him to come and play with her and the other fairies. Jeff could not resist her offer, and he followed her further and further into the flowers.
Jeff stayed and played with the fairies for a very long time, although, as it always is with magical creatures, none of them could have told anybody how long they'd been there. Eventually, the fairies found out where Jeff's parents lived, and they flew with him to his nursery window, so that they could return him safely to his family.
However, when they arrived at the house, they peered in curiously, only to discover another blonde haired baby lying in Jeff's old cot, and Jeff's parents standing over it; they did not even see their son at the window.
Hurt by the rejection of his family, Jeff had returned with the fairies to Kensington Gardens, but, by now, he was becoming too big to play unnoticed among the flowers, yet the fairies were unwilling to give up their friend. And so, they came up with a plan to keep Jeff with them forever.
One day, they told Jeff to follow them, which he did obligingly, and they led him all the way up to the clouds.
"We're taking you to Neverland," one of the fairies had said excitably, "Where we can have adventures forever."
Jeff had liked the idea of that, and he'd clapped his hands together happily.
"How do we get to Neverland?" he'd asked eagerly.
"Second star to the right and straight on till morning." That was the reply that he'd got, and so Jeff would always use that as the directions to Neverland, no matter if they did not appear to make much sense, or if the fairies had actually just made them up on the spot in order to give him an answer.
For the only way to really get to Neverland is just to fly until the island decides to reveal itself to you, and that is what the island has always done for Jeff; it knew of his coming, and it welcomed him with open arms.
When Jeff arrived in Neverland, it was a much different place to what it is nowadays; Hunter Clarington and his men did not arrive until much later, and the Red Indian chief of today was only a small boy when Jeff first landed.
To begin with, Jeff lived with the fairies among the trees of the forest, but, before too long, he became too big to curl up in the tree branches as he had done previously, and he had to make do with sleeping underneath them on mossy banks.
This was when Jeff decided that he never wanted to grow up. He did not like that he had to sleep far away from his friends, and he did not like that he could not easily join in with all of their games anymore, and so he asked one of the fairies why he had to grow up. The fairy had smiled mysteriously and told him that the island had its own rules about growing up, and that he'd know when he'd stopped.
Jeff hadn't been satisfied by that answer, and he'd left the woods in somewhat of a bad mood. He'd sat by the nearby brook for what seemed like hours on end, until a small figure had alighted on the rock next to him.
He'd seen at once that the newcomer was a pixie; and Jeff knew the differences between fairies and pixies, but he was so fed up, that he'd deliberately antagonised the magical creature in front of him.
"What do you want, fairy?" he'd asked, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them, before glaring at the pixie.
"I'm not a fairy," the pixie had cried indignantly, "I'm a pixie, and you know that."
"What do you want?" Jeff had demanded, hoping that if he was rude, then the little creature might leave him alone.
"My name's Sebastian," the pixie had continued regardless, "And you must be Jeffrey Sterling, everyone knows who you are."
"It's Jeff," the blonde boy had mumbled, looking down at the ground now; Sebastian clearly wasn't going to leave him in peace.
"So, you're worried that you're not going to stop growing up, aren't you?" Sebastian asked, flying over from the rock he was sitting on, and actually perching himself on top of Jeff's knees instead.
Jeff nodded mutely.
"Well, think about it like this," Sebastian said, "When was the last time that you thought you'd got taller?"
Jeff frowned and thought for a moment; the fairies had always made a point of measuring him regularly, and then they'd make a mark on a tree to show how tall he was.
"The last few times they said that they didn't need to make a new mark," Jeff said slowly, "What does that mean?"
"It means you've stopped growing, Jeff," Sebastian explained, "And it sounds like you stopped a while ago. Jeff, you have nothing to worry about, because I think you've stopped growing up."
Jeff had never been so happy, and he grinned widely at the pixie in front of him.
"Thank you, Sebastian!" he'd cried, picking the pixie up and jumping happily around the clearing with him, "Oh, Sebastian, you can be my best friend now!"
The pixie had originally been mildly taken aback, for he had always been the sort of creature to keep himself to himself, but he eventually agreed to be Jeff's friend.
For many years, it was just Jeff and Sebastian, who went and had adventures on the island, and who began to build the underground hideout, until one day, the fairies announced that they'd brought Jeff a friend to keep him company.
Wes' arrival had an aura of complete calm and collectiveness, unlike Jeff's, which had heralded a number of great changes to many aspects of island life.
Wes was older than Jeff had been when he'd first arrived in Neverland, and would also stop growing up later than Jeff had. So although Jeff was technically the elder of the two, many people were of the opinion that the island had let Wes age for longer, just so that he could have the authority to keep the blonde boy in line.
If you asked whether Wes and Jeff became friends straight away, Jeff would nod enthusiastically and say that he and Wes were inseparable from the moment that they met; however, Wes would calmly shake his head and say that, at first, Jeff really did not like him. Jeff, although he is reluctant to admit it, did not particularly warm to Wes at first.
It was, I suppose, understandable; Jeff had been the only boy on the island for a number of years, and was used to having all of the fairies' attention for himself, and now he was being forced to share everything with someone else. Wes, being Wes, did not begrudge Jeff anything, and just waited patiently until the blonde boy had finally accepted him.
When Jeff had finally opened the door to his hideout to Wes, the first thing that Jeff taught him was how to swordfight, because, as Jeff said, if they had a disagreement, they would need to a way to settle it. Wes, though not entirely convinced that attacking each other with swords would solve all of their issues fairly, had agreed to let Jeff teach him, which the other boy had proceeded to do with a fair amount of gusto.
"Here, Wes," Jeff would say, calling the other boy out into the centre of the clearing and handing him a wooden sword, "I want you to practise on this dummy for half an hour."
Wes would always dutifully take the sword, and please Jeff by fulfilling his request for him to practise. Of course, neither of them could properly measure time, and Wes would either end up practising for ten minutes or a few hours, depending on what sort of mood Jeff was in that particular day.
However, although Wes quickly picked up the basics of combat from Jeff, his true calling was with words, and he could have spent days on end just sitting in his room and reading all of the books that the fairies managed to scavenge for him. Even though they were never story books, and more often than not, random scraps of paper that the fairies found in the mainland; Wes had once received a mother's shopping list to read.
Jeff, on the other hand, until Wes arrived, had never even considered the possibility of reading, having been too young for it when he'd first left with the fairies. Therefore, Wes made it his personal mission to give Jeff a basic understanding of the concept of reading.
It wasn't going to be an easy mission, of course, for if it was, it wouldn't be worth mentioning; no, for Jeff believed that the very act of reading was beneath him.
"Why would I ever need to read?" he would demand of Wes, who would sigh and try to think of something to persuade him. "I have got this far without reading, so why should I start now?"
It was not until Wes and Jeff found themselves in more than one adventure requiring Wes to perform some sort of survival task, that Jeff asked where the other boy had learnt some of his tricks.
"I read about them once," Wes had replied, and had then watched rather smugly as Jeff's face had lit up at the thought of being able to also learn these skills.
After that, needless to say, Jeff had practically begged Wes to teach him how to read.
The other boy had done so, with successful results at first, for Jeff was a fast learner and easily picked up the technique. However, when he was actually given something to read by himself, he could not find anything on the survival skills that Wes had spoken about, and so he condoned any more reading, and, despite encouragement from Wes, would not pick up another piece of writing.
In the end, it had not mattered very much, for whenever talking was required, Wes could charm anyone with just a few sentences; so great was his way with words.
Now, it was a matter of great mystery for Jeff, as to why Wes had suddenly been brought to the island in the first place, for, of course, Jeff could not understand why the fairies should do the same for another boy as they had for him. Eventually, Wes gave into Jeff's questions, and gave him the answer, even though the older boy knew that it would not please the blonde very much.
"They asked me to."
"They just asked you to?" Jeff repeated in confusion, "Why would they ask you?"
"I was lost, you see," Wes said simply, "Just as you were, Jeff. My mother left me in Kensington Gardens and she never returned for me, at least, she did not look hard enough to find me."
"And so you found the fairies?"
"In fact, they found me," Wes replied, "And took me away to stay with them among the flowers there."
Jeff actually pouted then, for he'd assumed that he was the only one to have befriended the fairies in Kensington Gardens, and now he was discovering that he was not the only one.
Wes, sensing that Jeff's ego was being sorely dented, reached out and put a comforting hand on the other boy's arm.
"Jeff, you do realise that you are the reason that they take children in now, don't you?"
"I am?" Jeff looked at Wes with a confused expression on his face. "Why?"
"Because they helped you, Jeff," Wes explained, "And fairies are caring creatures when given the chance to prove themselves, and now they spend their time helping lost children or children who have been abandoned. And, Jeff, they always tell the children about you."
Jeff smiled proudly, and then frowned quickly in confusion.
"But if they always help other children, why is it only you here?" he asked.
Now, it was Wes' turn to smile.
"Because the other children found their parents, or their parents found them, or they just didn't want to leave with the fairies," he answered, "I was the only one who wanted to go with them, and that's why it's just me here."
"Good," Jeff said finally, "I'm glad you came here." He paused. "I don't exactly want more strangers taking up my home."
Wes had laughed at him then and told him not to be worried about that; well, not to be worried until David arrived anyway, but, of course, neither of them knew that would be happening soon.
Strangely, despite Jeff's dislike of strangers and his original unfriendliness towards Wes, he warmed to David almost immediately.
David had arrived on the island with the fairies, who had found him wandering by himself on one of the most unfrequented paths in Kensington Gardens, and a particularly bold one had asked him where he was going and whether he was lost. David had replied that he wasn't, and that his parents had abandoned him in favour of paying for a passage to the New World. He had also not seemed particularly surprised by this act of his parents, and had very readily accepted the fairies' offers to take him with them back to Neverland, loudly declaring:
"Well, that shall be my own New World."
David had stopped growing up a little after Jeff had but before Wes had; he'd always found the idea of not growing up a strange one, and at first he'd fought against it, until the other two had convinced him that it wasn't such a bad phenomenon at all. Now, David couldn't understand why he'd ever wanted to grow up in the first place.
From the moment that he'd arrived on the island, David had set himself up as a troublemaker, or at least, he caused trouble for Jeff and Wes; Sebastian had vehemently announced that he would not be getting involved with anything like that.
David could spend hours on end exploring the island, but he'd never really grasped the concept of learning directions; one time he'd managed to get himself so lost that it had taken him over a day to find his way back again. Jeff was never obviously concerned by the other boy's escapades, since he had no understanding of actual limitations as to danger and worry when having adventures; unlike Wes, who would worry for the first few occurrences, and then just roll his eyes and shake his head every other time that David failed to make it home.
As he grew older, and became more familiar with the island, David began devising his own practical jokes to play on Wes and Jeff; well, until Jeff became too interested in the jokes, and decided to help David set them up, so that it was only Wes who got tricked.
In fact, it was with David that Jeff discovered the mermaids' lagoon; the fairies having warned him away from that place as soon as he'd been old enough to wander off by himself.
They'd been running from Wes, who had failed to find the fact that they'd filled both his hat and shoes with sand very funny, and had managed to reach the edge of the forest. They'd never been so far before. They'd been down to the beach at the other end of the forest; where else would they have found sand? But they'd never been to this boundary of the trees.
"He's still chasing us," David had panted, throwing a backwards glance over his shoulder, and although they could not hear their friend, his footsteps echoed around the forest.
"We'd better keep going," Jeff had replied quickly, setting off at a fast pace down the open hillside, pulling David with him, while Sebastian flew overhead.
They had lost Wes rather easily after that, at least, that's what they accredited it too; in truth, Wes had just got tired of chasing them in sand filled shoes and had decided to return back to their hideout.
"We oughtn't to go much further than here," Sebastian had warned, casting a worried glance around the undergrowth that they were standing in, but Jeff paid him no heed.
"What's the harm in exploring?" he'd asked, pulling David out into the open with him.
Before them stood the lagoon. Jeff had gasped in delight at its beauty, and immediately forgotten about all the times that the fairies had forbade him from entering the area; he couldn't see the harm in just visiting it.
"We should go back," Sebastian had spoken louder now, tugging as forcefully as possible on Jeff's jacket to get the blonde boy's attention.
Jeff shook his head defiantly.
"Why should we?" he had demanded to know, rounding on Sebastian.
"Mermaids are funny creatures," the pixie had replied, dropping his voice into a whisper, "You shouldn't just enter their home like this."
Jeff shrugged.
"They don't scare me," he'd said, looking mildly offended that Sebastian had even suggested otherwise.
The pixie rolled his eyes.
"Of course they don't," he had scoffed, "Have you actually met a mermaid, Jeffrey?"
Jeff's confident façade had faltered a little then, but he refused to let Sebastian keep him from a possible adventure.
"No, so I shan't know until I have met one!" he'd cried, sticking his tongue out childishly at the pixie, before running from the secluded spot that they were in, and almost down to the very shoreline. David, who was naturally intrigued, and appeared to trust Jeff's judgement, followed the blonde boy.
Now, Jeff had been mightily disappointed that when he reached the shore the mermaids didn't suddenly appear in front of him and reveal themselves. He hadn't let it show, of course, and so he just stood there for a while, completely motionless as he surveyed the gentle waves in front of him.
But the mermaids were there, and they were watching him instead. They're funny creatures, mermaids; they are very possessive of their own things, and they will claim possession over people of their choosing as well.
Jeff, I suppose, was rather lucky. Despite originally angering the mermaids when he became impatient and dived into the water regardless, showing utterly no respect for their home at all, they did warm up to him. In fact, once Jeff had returned to the lagoon repeatedly, even after the mermaids tried to drown him the first few times, they claimed him for their own and became increasingly jealous whenever someone else came too close to him.
They'd been jealous of Wes and David in the beginning, and had once managed to tie David to a rock with seaweed in an attempt to keep him away from their favourite person; Wes had saved David, and told him not to antagonise them, much to David's annoyance. They visibly avoided Sebastian, the pixie was rather vicious when angered, and none of the mermaids wanted to deal with him when he was like that. Also, Sebastian had made it rather clear that he preferred boys, and so the mermaids quickly learnt that flirting with him got them nowhere.
On the other hand, Jeff was completely oblivious to the possibly malicious intentions the mermaids had towards his friends, and he would often just assume that they were all playing around. He was also unaware of the mermaids flirting with him, and since he didn't understand the concept, he would just smile at them all, which just encouraged them all the more.
After a while, Jeff fell into a routine of always visiting the mermaids at least once every few days, often much more often. The first time he would break this tradition would be because of the island's next arrival.
Thad came next. He was a fighter, and that became clear as soon as he touched down in Neverland.
It turned out that he'd been in Kensington Gardens like the rest of them, but instead had been playing with another child when he'd found the fairies. The other child was older and bigger than him and had been constantly bullying him, while their parents forced them to visit the park together.
The fairies, sensing Thad's discomfort at his current situation, had suggested that he come with them to Neverland. Thad had immediately wanted to disagree, since he was not of the opinion that he should just run away whenever he was threatened, and therefore, he wanted to remain where he was to show the bully how he wasn't going to be pushed around.
However, just as he was about to decline the fairies' offer, he was suddenly reminded of every way in which the older boy had made his life a misery, and he'd said yes instead, much to his own surprise.
The fairies, not wanting him to change his mind, had immediately whisked him away to Neverland to play with them instead.
Unfortunately for Thad, playing with the fairies lost its appeal before too long, and he began to miss his parents and his home. He asked the fairies about going home, but they would just smile brightly at him and suggest another game for them to play together.
It was frustrating, to say the least.
In the end, Thad found Jeff and his friends, and decided that he would have better luck with them than the magical creatures he had previously been associating himself with.
With the coming of Thad, Jeff decided that they should find a name to represent them as a group; since saying Jeff, Wes, David, Thad and Sebastian, just took too much time. All of them pondered this suggestion for a while, until David finally settled on a suitable one.
"The Warblers."
It was possibly a rather unusual name for a group of four young boys and a pixie, but Jeff immediately took a particular liking to it, and none of them wanted to disagree with him. After that, they would always be known as the Warblers by everyone else who encountered them in Neverland.
The arrival of Thad also heralded the first time that Jeff would leave the island for the mainland.
The two boys were similar, not in looks, for Jeff was tall and blonde yet Thad was small and dark-haired, but in personality and temperament they were not very different. Sure, Jeff was much more excitable and naïve, whereas Thad was a lot more level-headed and worldly wise; but they both shared a passion for life, as well as a desire to be loved and accepted by others. They'd also stopped growing up around the same age, so even the island must have felt that they were alike.
It was this desire to be loved that prompted Thad to first start wondering about his parents. What were they doing now? Did they still think about him? His mother had loved him, and he assumed that his father had done as well, even though he was mostly occupied by his work. And so, naturally, Thad missed them terribly, and he confided this in Jeff.
Now, Jeff held a rather disillusioned image of parents, and so he disbelieved Thad at first when he claimed that he missed his parents. In Jeff's opinion, all parents were the same as his parents, and if he didn't miss them, then nobody should. But Thad was persistent, and he eventually presented such a convincing argument to the blonde, that he began to wish that he could meet Thad's parents. Jeff even secretly hoped that they might love him as their own.
It was Wes who suggested that if they'd flown to the island, then they must be able to fly off the island, and it was Sebastian who had finally revealed that he'd known how to leave all along. Jeff had claimed that he would be ignoring the pixie forever after that, but it didn't take much for Sebastian to pacify him.
In the end, Sebastian was convinced to help Thad and Jeff leave the island; Wes, having a strange inkling that it would not be long before they returned, decided that he and David would remain behind to look after their hideout.
Thad and Jeff received a mix of reactions to their departure; the mermaids were glad to see Thad leave, but were extremely angry to see Jeff try and leave them, while none of the fairies wanted the two boys that they'd personally brought to the island to return to the mainland.
The two boys flew to London in almost complete silence; Jeff was too busy imagining a life where he'd have a mother to care for him, while Thad was thinking about how pleased his parents would be to see him again.
Unfortunately for the two of them, time passes differently in Neverland compared to the mainland, and so it could have been years since they'd left or mere days, yet they'd grown up considerably and neither of them were young children anymore.
It was doubtful if Thad's parents would even recognise their own son any longer.
"Here it is," Thad said excitedly, pointing out a tall house below them to Jeff.
"It's just how I imagined it!" Jeff cried happily, though, in reality, he hadn't been imagining any house at all, but it made Thad smile and so Jeff decided not to correct himself.
They flew down to Thad's old bedroom window, each boy's heart beat faster in both excitement and nervousness, as they waited for the imminent reaction of Thad's parents.
The curtains were drawn when they first arrived, and after landing on a nearby tree, they sat and waited for someone to open them.
Eventually, someone did; a young woman pulled back the curtains, opened the windows and leant out into the cold London night.
"Who's she?" Jeff hissed, "Your mother?"
He turned to look at his friend, only to find Thad's forehead creased into a frown.
"I don't recognise her," he said, sounding completely puzzled.
"Maybe she's just visiting your parents?" Jeff suggested. It wasn't an entirely convincing suggestion, but Thad seemed to consider it.
"Maybe," he mused, "Maybe."
They waited in the tree for a glimpse of Thad's parents for a long time. Jeff was all for going straight down to the window and going in that way, even if there was possibly a strange girl in the room; while Thad wanted to wait and see.
At long last, they caught sight of a man crossing to their side of the pavement from the top of the street.
"I'm going to ask that man about my parents," Thad decided, and he'd climbed down the tree before Jeff could stop him.
The man looked mildly startled to see a young boy dressed in what appeared to be a mixture of green cloth and leaves, descend from a tree and land gracefully on the pavement in front of him.
"Young people these days," he muttered, shaking his head slightly.
"Excuse me, sir," Thad spoke up politely, catching the man's attention, and putting all of his manners, as Wes had taught him, into practice at this moment.
"Yes, young man?" the other man said, nodding at Thad to continue.
"Do the Harwoods still live in the house over there?" Thad asked, pointing in the direction of his former home.
The man's eyes widened and he looked rather surprised at Thad's question.
"Dear me, no," he said, once he'd recovered himself, "The Harwoods haven't lived in that house for years now, it's probably been longer than you've been alive, young man." He paused for thought. "They moved north, if I remember correctly, something about needing to get away from London."
"Oh," Thad's face fell as he spoke and his voice dropped to a disappointed whisper.
"I'm sorry that wasn't the answer that you were looking for," the man said, he frowned a little and looked down at the ground, "It's a strange thing that you should mention the Harwoods though, for I would have thought that someone as young as you would have never heard of them, since they lived here years ago."
He looked up to gauge Thad's reaction, but the boy had already gone.
"Strange," the man murmured to himself, and then he carried on his way home.
"So?" Jeff asked excitably, once Thad had scaled the tree again, "Can we go and see your parents?"
Thad had just shaken his head sadly and Jeff had immediately understood; of course, his parents had done something similar before as well. At that moment, if Jeff had not hated parents before then, he did after, and he would hold that belief for as long as he possibly could.
He and Thad had flown home in silence, but it was not to be the last time that Jeff would visit the mainland. Oh no, Jeff would visit other children in the future, especially to hear bedtime stories told by a particular brunette boy at a certain orphanage near Kensington Gardens.
But before this boy was even born, many others would be arriving in Neverland and having a profound effect on Jeff's life.
Trent was the last Warbler to arrive on the island, and as soon as he landed, it became apparent that Sebastian would take delight in causing havoc for him.
Trent was one of the most trusting and trustworthy people that the rest of the Warblers had ever met, and from a young age, he proved himself capable of solving almost everyone's problems; except for Sebastian, who would usually cause some of the problems.
The pixie was never deliberately evil, but he found it fun to sometimes toy with the other boys. Unfortunately, before Trent arrived, he'd never had that much luck, since he'd never mess with Jeff, as he was his best friend and Sebastian protected him fiercely; he was mildly scared of Wes and the fact that he knew everything; he could have played a trick on David, but then David would have just retaliated, and Sebastian couldn't have that; and Thad was much too fierce, and since Jeff had taught him how to fight extremely well, Sebastian was worried that he might respond with violence.
That left Trent.
At first, it was only small occurrences, such as Jeff would ask Sebastian to fetch something or someone for him, and the pixie would be too tired to move, so he'd persuade Trent instead. Therefore, Trent would spend his time running around doing errands that Sebastian could have very well done himself.
It eventually progressed to the point where Sebastian started giving Trent completely fake orders from Jeff. One time, he sent the other boy down to the shore to find him five large shells to use as bowls, when, in fact, he just wanted to watch the other boy stumble around in the sand hunting for shells that might not be there, and then see Jeff's reaction when they were presented to him.
However, not even Sebastian could have predicted what would happen when Trent returned from the beach.
Seashells forgotten, the Warbler entered the hideout completely breathless, as though he'd run for the entire journey home.
"Trent, what is it?" Jeff had immediately demanded, upon seeing the other boy's frantic gesturing in the general direction of the sea.
"Give him time to breathe," Wes had quickly advised, as he made Trent sit down and catch his breath.
"I went down to the shore, and…"
"What were you doing down there?" Jeff interrupted suddenly.
"Not now," Thad had hissed, "Trent's telling us something important."
"I went down to the shore," Trent began again, "And while I was down there, I saw a pirate ship!"
"A pirate ship?" Jeff exclaimed immediately, jumping up from his chair and looking as though he was all for heading straight down there as soon as he could.
"How do you know it was a pirate ship?" David asked curiously.
The subject of pirates had always been very interesting to the Warblers, ever since the fairies had told them all about them. They'd debated whether they'd ever want to meet a pirate, but now it appeared that they would have the chance to.
"They had the flag, the one the fairies told us about," Trent replied, "And I heard one of them say something about pirates."
There was a silence around the room as they took this news in. On one hand, it was very exciting to have pirates on the island and also the chance for new adventures; but on the other, if what the fairies said was true, then pirates were dangerous men.
"I say that we go down and challenge them out in the open," Jeff decided, starting towards the door before anyone else had actually agreed.
"Maybe we should take some more precautions before we just confront them?" Wes suggested, ever being the careful one.
Although, in other situations, Jeff might have taken his friend's advice, he was too enthused by the idea of a new adventure with some pirates, that he took no heed. The others followed, partly because they did not want to be left behind, and partly because they did not think that it was safe to leave Jeff on his own.
The Warblers headed to the shore, and Wes was pleased to see that Jeff was satisfied just to wait in the trees bordering the sand.
"Say, tell me who captains this ship?" Jeff called out suddenly, his voice reverberating around the trees and disguising the exact point that it had originated from.
A figure approached the side of the ship and leaned over.
"I do," the figure called out, he looked around for wherever Jeff was but failed to locate him. "Captain Hunter Clarington."
The Warblers all shivered instinctively at the name; they'd all heard the stories from the fairies about Hunter Clarington.
Clarington was the only man that Barbecue feared, and even Flint feared Barbecue.
Hunter leaned over the side of his ship and tried to pinpoint the voice that had called to him. If he didn't think the idea strange, he would have assumed that the person to have challenged him sounded like a young boy, not even an adult.
"Who's there?" he called out, leaving a warning tone in his voice, so that whoever was there would know that he did not like to be tricked.
"An islander," Jeff called back, surprising the Warblers by not proudly announcing himself by name at the first instance. "Why have you landed on this island?"
"Fresh ground," Hunter replied, his lips curling into a smirk when there was silence and then a question.
"Fresh ground for what?"
"Fresh ground for plundering and pirating, that's what."
Jeff frowned deeply, and cast an angry glance at the rest of the Warblers; he did not like his island to be messed with.
"Then I shall have to declare you my enemy, and an enemy of Neverland," Jeff shouted defiantly, "I challenge you to face us in combat if ever we meet in the open."
Hunter laughed cruelly.
"If you wish to face my men, then I wish you luck," he said, sounding highly amused by Jeff's announcement, "So, spirit or man, whatever you are, what is your name?"
Jeff let his pride get the better of him at that moment, and he crowed joyfully.
"My name is Jeff Sterling," he cried, "And to fight a pirate will be an awfully big adventure!"
And to fight a pirate was an adventure, at least, for Jeff, it was; the other Warblers had only managed to get in a few slashes with their swords, before the duel between Jeff and Hunter had completely overpowered the other fights.
They fought for what seemed like eternity, until, with one quick blow of his knife, Jeff cut off one of Hunter's fingers and let it fall into the jaws of the waiting crocodile below.
The crocodile had never tasted anything so good and followed Hunter back to his ship in the hope of tasting more of the pirate captain.
Fortunately for Hunter, he had the good luck to accidentally throw a clock through one of the ship's windows in an angry rage, and the crocodile had swallowed that too.
From then on, Hunter always knew when the crocodile was nearby, due to the conspicuous ticking that emitted from the clock.
And there also suddenly became an unwritten rule on the island, if the Warblers and the pirates were to meet in open battle, Hunter would be left to Jeff, and Jeff would be left to the pirate captain.
The inhabitants of Neverland settled into a way of life after this, with the Warblers and the pirates, the mermaids and Red Indians, the fairies and the island animals, all sharing the land, although not always peacefully.
Until, that is, one day, Jeff started flying to the mainland regularly, with only Sebastian for company.
"Where do you go?" Wes inquired one time, having puzzled over what could possibly entice Jeff to visit there, when he could have adventures in Neverland whenever he wanted; and that was all he'd ever seemed to want.
Jeff smiled secretively.
"I go to London," he said, "To a house near Kensington Gardens, and I listen to the stories that a boy tells some other children."
But that, my friends, is another story.
FIN
A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed that, especially an-artist-at-work :) And if you haven't already, please do go and give Second Star to the Right a go :)
Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought!