Where oh where have my lovely reviewers disappeared to? Well, I decided to update anyway...this chapter is a bit more eventful so hopefully it will spark more reviews? Please? Just to let everyone know, if it seems to drag a little right now, there is LOTS coming up!! I have many ideas and plans, and reviews will spark my fingers upon my keyboard!!!

Disclaimer: I think you know it by now.

Chapter 14: What Past?

Her left fist was to her forehead while her right hand rested upon her knee, clawing it like a cat claws fabric, digging the nails in and out repeatedly. I stared as small tears tossed and spun their way down her hot cheeks. I stared wide-eyed. Braith? Crying? Even in the short time in which I'd known her, she did not seem the type to cry. I was frozen to the spot watching as this tough-skinned and spirited girl cried.

"She's been like that since she ran off into the jungle," someone behind me said, scaring me half to death. My gasp wasn't stifled as I jumped and spun around, noisily crunching foliage, to see Lasher crouched behind me. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said immediately upon seeing my popping eyes.

"Uh…'s okay…" I hardly bothered to accept the apology as I turned back around to find that the bushes were no longer parted and the sniffling sounds were gone. I squinted through the leaves and saw Braith looking suspiciously in my direction, her hand on her knife, ready to jump into action. I quickly turned back to Lasher, hoping that she hadn't seen me. The boy was looking at me, waiting for a response, I suppose. "Lasher, you know I didn't mean anything earlier, don't you?" When he did not answer right away, I pushed on, "I didn't! I swear all I wanted to do was have some fun. I love swords and fencing and when Peter challenged me to a duel with him last night, how could I refuse? But then Braith took it all wrong, and I don't know why-" Lasher finally clapped a soiled hand over my mouth.

"Reb…Beck, I hadn't thought you meant any offense, so I never blamed you. I don't really know you yet, but I'm not judging you, and it looked like you were really nervous and stuff. I wasn't mad at you, but Braith…" he trailed off into a sigh. "I think she just feels like Peter might put you in the second-in-command position or something. I'm not positive on that, but I know that she likes being the only girl around here, especially because of her position in the pack."

"Really? I would think she'd like having another girl around," I whispered.

"Yeah, you might think so, but not Braith. She's funny that way, like she wants all the attention of being the only Lost Girl or something. I don't know. I do think that she feels like her stance is threatened by you, though."

"But why? I'm not interested in being of high rank in the group. I just want to have fun," I said.

"Uh huh. Well, I believe you, but good luck convincing Braith of that. Especially after getting Peter all angry like that…" he paused, and I could have sworn I saw him shudder. I knew that the Lost Boys adored Peter, because who didn't! But they also obviously feared him, perhaps even more than any pirate or nemesis. I pondered this for a second. If that was true, maybe it was because Peter Pan had the authority to banish them from Neverland, the only place that would let them just be children forever. "Beck, if you knew," Lasher started again, pulling me back from my thoughts, "if you had any idea of what Braith went through with Peter to get that rank in the band." Lasher looked upwards and then hung his head and shook it. Now I was really curious.

"Lasher, tell me. What happened to her?" He took a breath.

"See, Braith has been in Neverland a long time…longer than me," Lasher began.

"How is that possible? You're twins, aren't you?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah, we're twins, but she came to Neverland first. She believed in Peter Pan so hard that…it's a long story. Let's just say that I wasn't as much of a believer until…well, she came here first, and then I followed suit later." He stopped talking then and looked at the ground again. That's when I noticed something I hadn't before. As obvious as it was that they were twins, Lasher did look…older than Braith. Not by very much, but his features were somehow more mature than hers, making him out to look like an older brother and a twin at the same time. And it must have been because he had grown older and come here later than Braith. What was the secret here?

"Lasher, what aren't you telling me? I want the whole story!" I said. He took another breath, stopped, and breathed again.

"Look, it's not really my place to tell you. If you really want to know, you need to ask Braith."

"Braith! She hates me!"

"Well, like I said, it's just not my place to tell you. I can tell you-"

"LASHER!" a voice called. "LASHER! WHERE ARE YOU?" One of the younger boys. "LASHER! I NEED YOUR HELP! HOW DO YOU SET THESE THINGS OFF? LASHER!" We had turned to look behind me in the direction of the Jolly Roger, whence the voice came from. Lasher turned back to me and gave me an apologetic look before rising and taking off at a sprint into the forest. I watched his back melt into the leaves, a piece of disappointment hanging on a string in my chest. I was glad we had talked. What a nice boy! After sitting for a minute, I twisted back to look through the bushes again. I hadn't noticed before, but the sniffling sounds had returned. However, the rock was now unoccupied and I had to look around for a minute before I spotted her up in a tree. The crying was much softer now, which explained why I hadn't noticed it. She was wiping her eyes frustratedly, trying to calm herself down and keeping an eye out for…something…

I looked around above me to try to spot what she was looking for, but I saw nothing. Shrugging that off, I got up and on an impulse I walked through the brush, bringing myself into her view and stood at the base of her tree, looking up at her.

"Braith," I said softly.

The girl's tears were decreasing, and she gasped and hurriedly rubbed her face with her hands, cleaning up the rest of the tears. Her teeth and fist clenched in harmony as her eyes met mine. Dirt streaked her pink face. Who knew how long that dirt had been there, because it was a completely different sight to see cleaner flesh hidden beneath. I took a breath to speak, but she beat me to it.

"Get lost!" she barked at me. "I mean it! I'll fight you again and this time Peter isn't here to save you!" she threatened, her hand yanking out her knife. I only wanted to talk, and I didn't need to ask her to climb down. She practically sprang from the thick branch she squatted on to a few branches underneath, her feet hitting the ground within seconds, causing me to jump back a few steps.

"Braith, wait-"

"Amazing that you're dumb enough to come near me without Peter," she said in a low voice, continuing toward me.

"Braith, hold it! I just want…"

"Oh I'll hold it all right, inside your gut!" she snapped, holding the knife out and pointed at my gut.

"Can we please talk?" I tried, watching the point of the knife and backing up in haste.

"Ain't nothin' to talk about." Braith picked up her step.

"Braith, please!" I cried nervously, starting to run backwards. I wanted to get through to this girl, but couldn't she just refused to step down from her protective platform.

"Please what?" she asked mockingly. "Please kill you quickly so you won't feel the pain?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and I knew she was serious. She wanted me gone.

"No! I want to be friends," I blurted out as I suddenly backed into another tree. The fire-eyed girl actually stopped in her tracks for a moment, just a moment, and looked at me blankly. Then snorted.

"F-friends?" she stuttered in shock. With the added moment, I side-stepped away from the tree.

"Yes. I want to be frie-" I started, thinking about racing away into the brush.

"Me?! Friends with you?!" Braith cut me off, grabbed my arm roughly, and slammed me up against the tree, knocking my head into the bark. I clenched my face against the sharp pain. Her knife was at my throat. "How can I be friends with someone who's intruding on my territory, huh?" she whispered in a growl.

"Your territory? So all of Neverland belongs to you now?" I demanded, and then felt the tip of her blade press into my Adam's apple. I panicked and suddenly that fight-and-flight mode they talk about in psychology kicked in and I acted on instinct. My left arm swung up and knocked her arm away, cutting my throat but not deeply. I threw my right fist at her face and punched her across the nose. It was the first time I'd punched anyone on my life. My knuckles burned. Braith spun with the force of the punch but did not fall. She steadied herself quickly and was ready to come at me again, but I was on the other side of the bushes by then. I glared at her in that moment, hyperventilating. Some blood dribbled down Braith's top lip from her nose and she touched it. When she saw the red liquid upon her fingers, she wiped it away with the back of her hand, which she rubbed against her black ripped pants. The blood kept flowing.

"I hate you," she said, her face turning red. I wondered if it was out of humiliation from being punched or from anger. Or a mix of both. But never had I seen someone look at me with such honest contempt before.

"Way to state the obvious," I replied. It's a scary thing when someone's eyes hold nothing but hate for you. Her intense blue eyes were unmoving, unfaltering, unblinking. "Why do you hate me, Braith?" She didn't answer the question directly.

"Just know this: Neverland is not your home and it never will be."

"Doesn't that depend on Peter?" I said. Her face tightened at his name even more (if that was possible).

"I will never be your friend," she said with finality.

"Fine. But you've got to accept me into the Lost Boys. You just know that."

"Over my dead body," she whispered. I shook my head. I didn't know what to do. What was there left to do at that point? Except to just walk away. So into the jungle I went, glancing over my shoulder to make sure that Braith wasn't following me with her knife out-stretched to kill me. But she was gone. I worried for a moment that she might hide and wait to spring on me, and that's when I decided I needed my own knife. I cautiously made my way through the jungle, very aware of my surroundings and trying my best to find my way back to the hide out. I touched my Adam's apple, acknowledging the pain there for the first time. Thank goodness the knife had only broken my skin and nothing beneath it. My fingers were stained with blood, which I wiped on my pajama pants.

"Where's Peter?" I wondered out loud.

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