Sarann awoke to candlelight and at first assumed she was in her cabin. The sound of scuffling feet , however, those not of man or rodent, soon brought her to her senses and she sat up hastily to assess her surroundings only to have her head collide with a very low, very solid, roof. Cursing as well as any pirate she held her hand to her temple until the pain receded to a dull throb before opening her eyes again to take a look around.
She found herself in some kind of wooden bunk bed. A thin but comfy mattress lay beneath her, rolled up at her head for a makeshift pillow. The walls and roof of the bunk were solid wood, the planes rough, almost as though it had been carved out of a tree. It would have to be an enormous tree though, Sarann mused. Even though she couldn't stretch out her legs, the bed had to be five feet long. Turning her head Sarann gazed out of the bed and took in her surroundings.
In a second she was out of bed, on her feet in a fighting stance and searching for the sword that was no longer attached to her belt. Sarann was facing ten lost boys, all armed which probably accounted for them not reacting to her defensive stance. A quick glance told her the boys ranged between ten and fourteen and they were all watching her with more than a little interest, all wondering what she would do next, yet none truly afraid of the unarmed pirate.
For her part Sarann was confused and disorientated. Jumping from the bed had caused a lot of the cuts she'd sustained in the fight to reopen and the loss of blood from earlier had left her light-headed. Trying to keep focus, never letting her guard down from the enemy in front of her, Sarann took a better look around the room and was stunned to find herself underground. The walls and roof of the chamber were completely made of earth, the roof showing a network of root systems that clearly helped keep the soil above their heads stable. Looking around at the walls she saw a few enormous trees, no doubt the same as the one currently behind her, all with beds carved out of them. There were twelve beds in the room and Sarann couldn't help but wonder how many lost boys there were left.
The rest of the room was sparsely decorated. A tree stump in the centre acted as a table, strewn with various cups and plates. Around it odd items such as boxes, a piano stool and a beer barrel served as chairs. The lost boys were all lined up along the bare wall opposite Sarann where they'd run at the first sounds of her awakening. Even unarmed they knew she was dangerous. For a while they all stood there staring at each other, neither side sure of how to react. After a few seconds Sarann dropped her defensive stance and took a seat on the lower bunk behind her. In her current state she was having trouble standing up, let alone doing any kind of fighting, right now it was best to conserve her strength. Seeing her obvious weakness the lost boys put away their swords and after some hurried whispering between them, one of them left the room.
The silence deepened as the boys continued to watch their prisoner and Sarann sat with her head between her knees trying to clear her mind enough to come up with some plan for escape. A noise outside the room caught her attention and she raised her head in time to see Peter Pan come flying in the door. For a while she stared in shock. She'd lived in Neverland for months but never once had she seriously thought about meeting Peter Pan face to face.
As he flew to hover in front of her, hands on hips, head held high, mouth stretched into an arrogant grin, Sarann simply gazed at him, unable to figure out what she should do with the situation she'd been presented with. Peter Pan stared back with a look that clearly indicated he expected her to make the first move but after a few seconds of dumb silence Sarann realised there was nothing she could do. She was outnumbered, injured and exhausted. She could barely even stand at that moment, what could she possibly do against Peter Pan and his entire crew of lost boys?
With a barely audible sigh Sarann lowered her head, breaking their eye contact and, unbeknownst to her, wiping Pan's grin off his face. He floated lower to the floor, keeping his hands on hips stance, and studied her for a few more seconds before speaking.
"Why do you not fight?" Pan asked, curiosity plastered across his face.
"If you were going to kill me, you would have done already." Sarann replied, not even bothering to raise her head to look at him, she was too weary.
"See boys, I told you she had brains!" Pan crowed.
"Not enough to figure out why you haven't killed me." Sarann said, lifting her head this time, curiosity getting the better or her. "Somehow I get the feeling you haven't let the other pirates live."
There was anger in her voice now and it gave her energy. Peter, for his part, kept up his grin, hovering about but never still. His hyper activeness was doing nothing for Sarann's exhaustion.
"Of course not, wouldn't be much of a game if we just let them go at the end. Death's the greatest adventure of all and we're proud to start them on their way." Peter answered.
"You play games but not by the rules." Was Sarann's retort.
Peter's smile faded and anger replaced it, only helping to rile up Sarann's own emotions. Those pirates were her companions, their loss and her own sense of failure were coming to the fore as rage.
"Attacking while we were sleeping, taking pirates out of the fight by tying them up, outnumbering us to impossible odds... bad form Peter."
The words had their desired effect; within seconds Peter and all the assembled lost boys had drawn their swords and were facing her with murderous rage in their eyes. Sarann's face remained hostile but inside she was smiling. To lose in combat to the lost boys was shameful and it was a disgrace she was not about to bear for much longer. Death was truly the greatest adventure and, to her twisted pirate heart, it was better than living with defeat.
But there was one face in that room that held only sorrow, not hatred. One pair of hands that held only air, his sword remaining firmly in its holster. It was the same boy whose face had turned Sarann's attack aside. As Jake watched his sister antagonise his new family he was fighting back the tears. He knew who she was, he'd known since the instant she'd turned to face him last night, but whereas his entire memory had returned at that moment, Sarann's had not.
For Jake, life in Neverland had been very different. He too had been taught to fight, but his lessons had been games, childish pass times. Along with chores and play, his whole time on the island had been one big adventure. Dancing with the Indians, swimming with the mermaids, following the leader on long treks into the hills... For the lost boys the island was one big adventure playground, the violence of their lives was just another game. Sword training was no different to hide and seek and Jake had loved his new home and his new family. Like Sarann, his memories had faded, but for a child it is different. Their innocence makes all life an adventure, everything is possible. The move to Neverland is not as much as a shock to them as it is to adults, so although faded, they do retain those memories much closer to the surface and a reminder of their old life can bring everything to the fore, as seeing his sister had the night before.
At first he had been confused as he remembered his life and family back in London. Quickly though, confusion turned to joy as his love for the sister shone through, but the joy was erased almost instantly as he watched Sarann faint away. He'd waited patiently by her side as Stix had washed and dressed her wounds and then waited less patiently for her to awaken. He'd expected joy upon seeing her eyes flutter but the person he'd watched over for hours just didn't seem to be the sister he'd remembered. When he'd realised she was finally awakening he reacted the same way the other boys had; with fear at having a pirate inside their den, and he'd drawn his sword and backed away while Sarann had fully awakened.
He'd waited with fear and misery for Peter to come but things weren't any better now. Here was his older sister inviting his new friends to kill her. Being the innocent he was, the death of the other pirates last night had washed over him like a bad dream, another adventure, the power of Neverland making those deaths less than reality and allowing the lost boys to continue their games in peace. This was different, this was his sister and he barely recognised her. It wasn't just the clothes, there was a fierceness in her eyes that scared him, a pirate-ness about her whole character that made her less his sister and more an enemy. And what scared him most of all, was that she had yet to notice that he was even in the room. When the other boys had re-drawn their swords, angry at her words, Jake's sorrow had kept him immobile and now he just watched.
"And what do you know about bad form?" Peter asked Sarann angrily.
"Enough to know that attacking a sleeping enemy is a coward's move."
Her venomous words tipped Pan over the edge and his sword was in his hand and raised before he'd even begun to think about the consequences of what he was about to do. As for Sarann, she simply closed her eyes. Her time had come, the next big adventure was here and she welcomed it as an alternative to her shameful defeat. She waited for the sword to fall with peace in her heart. A few seconds later she was forced to open her eyes a when the stroke never came. With surprise she saw another boy stood in front of her next to Pan, his arms holding on to the hand in which Peter held his sword, stopping him from killing Sarann.
Sarann stared in confusion at this new boy, remembering him as the one who'd stopped her in the fight, recognising something in his face, feeling a strange pain in her heart but ultimately having no idea who he was. The boy's face showed its own pain as Jake realised his sister did not know him and Pan simply looked between the two of them before laughing and sheathing his sword.
"Well Sockz, you're right, the game would be over if I killed her now."
"Sockz?" Sarann asked, wondering where she knew this boy from.
"We call him Sockz because he lost one sock, so it's a reminder to not lose the other one." Pan said, obviously proud of his strange wit.
"How old are you?" Sarann asked disdainfully, annoyed by his immaturity.
"Physically, mentally or chronologically?" Pan asked laughing.
Sarann couldn't even think of a way to answer that, she was still too dazed by everything that had happened. Pan, seeing her confusion, laughed once more and flew to the table, knocking everything off it and sitting down cross legged before answering her question.
"Well chronologically, I was born in 1902, so that makes me 108 years old. Physically, I was nine when I came here and stopped ageing, but with all the time I've spent in your world I've now reached the bodily age of seventeen."
There was a pride in his voice as he said these words, and by the way he crossed his arms and puffed his chest out he clearly expected Sarann to be impressed by this. The looks on the other lost boys' faces at these words though showed how they felt about his ageing. They spent very little time in her old world, if any at all, consequently they had barely aged in all the years they'd been here. They loved Peter and they respected him as their leader, but it was clear to see that they were less than happy at him being so old now.
"And mentally?" Sarann asked, struggling to keep up in her weakened state.
"Mentally I'm whatever age the situation requires." Pan answered with a childish laugh that had the other boys giggling along but sent some uncomfortable shivers down Sarann's spine. There was of course one boy who wasn't laughing.
"My real name's Jake." He said quietly, bringing Sarann's attention back to himself.
The name sent a jolt through Sarann but no memories stirred.
"Forget it Sockz, she's gone. When you become a pirate, there's no turning back." Pan said.
The comment only served to anger the already upset little boy.
"Why did you bring her if there's no coming back?"
His words stopped Peter short and after failing to come back with a witty retort he leaned his chin on his hand and set to thinking the problem over. Sarann continued to stare at Jake, oblivious to who he was, desperately searching her head for some clue. Jake stared back in desperate hope, but he could see no recognition in her eyes. Eventually Peter jumped to his feet in the air and snapped his fingers with his revelation.
"She's a girl!"
"It took you that long to figure that out?" Sarann asked with derision.
"No." Pan shot back with childish anger. "But you're a girl and there's never been any girl pirates before so maybe if you stay here then we can bring you back."
Hope flared out once more within Jake and his face lit up with a grin. Sarann remained unconvinced, but more importantly, confused.
"Bring me back from where?"
"From bring a pirate." Pan answered, proudly, already congratulating himself on the feat he had yet to accomplish.
"But I'm a pirate, that's who I am."
"You weren't always a pirate though."
"Well of course I've always been a p..." Saran began, before stopping dead.
As she'd said the words a vague memory had entered her head and she'd realised what she was saying wasn't true. The memory was distorted, faded, barely there, but she remembered a room. It was not a room on Neverland, nor was it a room she'd been in on the raid to that other world, yet suddenly she knew that this room did exist on that other world. For a time that was all her mind would give her but she kept at it, kept straining to remember more. She thought back on her time in Neverland, thought back as long as she could remember and was shocked and scared by how little memory she had. Months, that was all. She remembered the raids and her work on the ship. She remembered the training and knew that this must mean she hadn't always been a pirate, but what came before that training? Nothing, just that room she could hardly see.
Peter Pan and the lost boys watched her in silence as they saw her struggling to recall her old life. Peter with that same arrogant grin as he knew the process of remembering had begun, the others still a little unsure about having a pirate in their home, female or not. And Jake. Jake stood holding his breath, praying for his big sister to remember who he was. He had no way of knowing that the room Sarann was struggling to remember was his bedroom. That her happiest and therefore strongest memories from her old life were the times she'd spent telling him stories before bedtime. Try as she might though, Sarann could not access those memories by herself, and it was only by chance that she managed to unlock them at all. Unable to remain still anymore, desperate for his sister back, Jake had slowly reached out his hand and placed it gently on Sarann's arm. Shocked by the unexpected touch, Sarann's head had shot up to look at the boy and the combination of seeing his loving face while she tried so hard to remember was exactly what she needed.
The vague memory suddenly came into exquisite detail. She saw herself sat on Jake's bed, telling him a story, as he bounced up and down with excitement. Looking at the boy in front of her, she remembered him as her brother and although that one memory was all she regained, all her love for her little brother came rushing back in the same instant and tears filled her eyes as she pulled Jake into a hug.
Pan crowed in triumph at this development and the other lost boys visibly relaxed as the pirate in front of them became no more than a loving big sister. All swords were put away and although no boys rushed to join in the hug, they did all move closer and happiness reigned triumphant over fear.
Jake and Sarann were both lost to tears by this point. Both had missed their sibling without even being aware of it and the reunion was one of both joy and regret. For Jake he had his sister back, but she was very much changed and the knowledge made him uneasy. As for Sarann, she was so happy being able to hug her brother, but she worried that so little of her memory had returned. There were other sources of grief for her though, just as that one memory had broken through the barrier Neverland had put up, so too had some of her old feelings. The horror of the crimes she had committed was only just beginning to come through, but her tears still held more sorrow than joy.
By the time their tears were exhausted, so was Sarann. The fight and injuries had taken a lot out of her and, after such an emotional reunion, she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Pan saw this and ordered the lost boys out of the room, even Jake, ignoring the boy's vehement protests against such an order. Pan was the leader of the lost boys and in the end they would always obey. Besides, even Jake knew there was work to be done. The pirates had been slain and disposed of, but the fallen lost boys required more care and attention. It was time to dig the graves.
