Pan And Windy

Nicholas; All Time Low; Somewhere in Neverland

Rose; Kelsea Ballerini; Lost Boy

Nicholas rolled over and clutched his head as the light poured through the window. He stumbled to the counter in the little building he stayed in and blindly grabbed for the coffee pot, flinching as the door opened when the knob hit the back wall. He turned bleary eyed and groaned as Adam closed the door laughing at him.

"I told you not to be dancing with the devil when you were hanging out in that place outside of Zootopia, boy." The silver fox curled his brow under as he listened to the coffee pot and swayed before he rushed to the bathroom, retching as Adam kept laughing. When he came back out the older tod handed him a cup he gratefully accepted as he took a seat rubbing his temples.

"Yeah, well you didn't tell me there was a different kind of alcohol foxes could drink and they had a lot of it."

Adam nodded as Nicholas curled his paws around the cup and seemed to inhale it before he shook his head. "Fox alcohol is made of fruit. It's the stuff that's made with grain that gets us. Get dressed, boy. Her mother is coming to get you in an hour."

The silver fox shook his head as he poured another cup and groaned as he leaned over in his seat. "Not today. I don't know what she wants, but it's going to have to wait."

Adam narrowed his eyes as Nicholas chugged another cup and sat it on the table. "Boy, it's her mother. Don't be disrespectful if she's asking you to spend time with their family."

"I did that last night, Adam. My head is killing me and I'm- He turned looking at the older fox and find a pronounced scowl on his face, sighing as he nodded. "I'm getting dressed. I'll be out front in about forty-five minutes. I need to get cleaned up and brush my teeth first."

"Good, she's introducing you to council members."

Nicholas' head shot up as he blinked. Adam smirked as he stepped to the door. "You already knew it was a big part of their world. Just because there isn't one in Zootopia doesn't mean there isn't here. If they're taking you to meet them, keep your stature and remember it's just one step closer to what you really want…her."

Nicholas nodded as Adam closed the door, and made his way to the shower. After getting himself cleaned up he looked over the little building he'd almost finished trying to make into a den for her. He rolled his shoulders as he threw back another cup of coffee before heading to the gates. Cassie stood there smiling as he dipped his head to her and she motioned to the car before he took a seat in the passenger side. He looked around wondering where everyone was as she started the engine. "They're waiting for us, John."

He nodded and fought not to let his ears flip back when she pulled into a parking lot where a small coffee shop sat. The tod followed her into the kitchen and tilted his head as she opened a cupboard against the back wall that was covered in canned goods. He kept his curiosity to himself as they walked into another area where there seemed to be a branch of corridors that she pointed out as he followed her. It was dark and the sound of voices caught his ears before they emerged in a large area where a couple of hundred foxes all seemed to stop and stare at him. Tranquility walked to him extending a paw and he took it trying to keep his ears tipped forward, smiling at her as he felt every eye in the place watching them walk out to an open section. He looked around wondering how they'd gotten into the large building from the small corridor they'd traveled through, because this was an area he'd seen before and looked like another building. Tranquility had brought him several times, but this was a section he'd never seen through an entrance he'd never used. His eyes snapped to Cassie as she took a seat with nine other vixens who all seemed to be glaring at him.

Cassie looked around and smiled as she stood again. "This is John Doe, the tod my daughter wants you all to meet and accept into the Den."

The silence in the room had his ears flicking as Tranquility pulled his attention to her smiling, and he could feel the sweat rolling down his back as he managed a weak smile in return.

"John Doe?" One of the vixens asked and he nodded as he turned his eyes back to the vixens sitting at the table.

"Yes Ma'am."

She narrowed her eyes as they all kept staring at him. "You don't have a name?" she asked, curling her lip up as Cassie folded her arms over the table. "Matron, he has no name, no Den, no knowledge of how this works? He's the silver fox who started that park isn't he?"

Cassie tipped her head nodding. "He just told you his name, Azria. His name is John."

The other vixen shook her head as she looked at the white furred vixen standing beside him. "Windy, is there some reason you've brought him here, when you're aware of how we feel about that park?"

Nicholas' ears dipped back as the vixen stood, watching Tranquility signing angrily as she stepped around the table and stopped in front of them. "Windy?" He asked as she tipped a brow frowning.

"Windy is her Den name. Something I can't believe you don't understand at your age. But it isn't surprising considering you're ranting about how foxes and predators are just like everyone else and that we're all the same, making a public spectacle out of things we try to keep hidden about ourselves. You've even managed to get the younger foxes in the Den coming to that place on a regular basis and caused all kinds of problems here." The silver tod flattened his ears to his head and frowned at her as she looked him over. "A fox who's moved around aimlessly, never a home to call his own, with no name. It's obvious you're never going to be a real tod if you cannot follow the simplest of our rules. We do not belong in the light."

"We don't belong hiding in the shadows either, as long as we're not in a bad light." He growled as many of the foxes in the room all set their ears on him. "There's nothing wrong with who and what we're born as."

"A Panhandler, who tinkers in a lot of fields and has no real way to care for a family." She stated as she squared her shoulders. Nicholas ticked his eyes around the table as several of the vixens covered their mouths. "You'll never grow up and are completely lost in our world. A lost boy who has no business here. You'll draw far too much attention to the Den if you continue with what you're doing, and you need to shut that park down."

"No." He spat as he shook his head and let his lips curl up slightly. "I've been here half a dozen times and I've never seen you before, so I don't get why you think you have the right to tell me how to live, or anyone else for that matter. Not you, or anyone else is going to tell me what I can and can't do. I'm not hurting anyone and I'm making people happy with my park. Everything that I've learned from Tranquility so far says I'm not breaking any of the rules here, and there's no reason for me to change what I'm doing. As far as money goes, that's none of your damn business. I don't have to be part of this Den to be a fox or a predator. I was born both even without a damn name, and I'm sure as hell not going to let some overdressed vixen who thinks she's better than me because of her standing here tell me any different."

Cassie sat up grinning as the other vixen's ears tipped back. Azria looked back to the table frowning as she squared her shoulders. "Then let's see if the rest of the foxes here agree with that and put it to a vote. You can't be part of any Den without a name and I don't believe you could keep any secrets the way we're known to with what you're doing." The room exploded into scattered arguments and Nicholas was growling as Tranquility stood there waving her paws around angrily, until she was lost in the crowd. He hung his head scowling as her brothers stood with her, screaming at them. He backed away and found the corridor he'd come with Cassie in, taking one last glance into the room and sighed before he left. The silver fox kept his head low as he made his way back to the park and slumped through the gates as Adam picked up his head. He looked around making sure there weren't any ears as Nicholas growled in frustration. "Piberius?"

Nicholas looked back at him shaking his head. "No, I don't want to talk about it. Seems I'm not good enough to keep secrets or be a fox without a name."

Adam shook his head. "Boy, don't buy into that. I'm sure they have their reasons for whatever they're talking about. I'm sure it'll all work out the way it's supposed to."

"Yeah." He growled as he grabbed a set of keys.

Adam watched him walk away before he picked up the phone. "Manny, leave a message with the council. I'm not sure what happened but I have some questions." He hung up watching the silver tod open a shed and pull out a box filled with paint before he walked off in another direction….

The albino vixen at the center of attention was growling in fury as her paws slammed out each word. "He's not a bad fox just because he has that place! It's not his fault how he grew up!"

Azria stood growling as her tail lashed around behind her. "WINDY! He does not belong in a den! He's too busy chasing stars and will never be able to fit in here!" Tranquility slammed her fists to the table and bore her teeth as the other foxes in the room all gaped at her.

"I disagree." Cassie snarled as she stood and glared at the other vixen. Azria tipped her ears back, frowning as all the vixens around the table ticked their eyes between them.

"Then let's just skip this and get to voting on it."

"No." Cassie growled as she stood taller and Azria blinked as her ears tipped back. "There's no need for a vote. He's right. He's not breaking any of our rules. My daughter's been trying to tell him how things work here, he's never told anyone about this place, he's never lied and has proven to our family he's willing to listen and learn."

All the vixens at the table looked back at the albino vixen as she set her paws in motion. Each of them tipped their heads or raised their brows as she spelled out each word. "You can all go to hell if you think I'm going to let you tell me he's not the one for me! I'll leave this Den with him if that's what you all think!"

"You can't run away from who you are!" Azria mumbled.

Tranquility lowered her head and brow growling. "Neither. Will. He." She sighed as she stood straight and looked around the room as everyone glanced between her and the vixens on the council.

Cassie smirked as she folded her arms over her chest. "I guess Pan and Windy are here to stay, unless, you want both of them to leave?" Azria looked at all the other vixens and sighed as she nodded. Tranquility beamed as she turned. Her face fell as she looked around and all the foxes were searching as a lonely thought broke through her mind. She turned back to her mother with a trembling lip and Cassie stood, taking her back to the corridor where she smiled. "I'll take you to him. I don't think he left because he changed his mind. I think he was frustrated and angry. Right now, he's a little lost, you can find him again."

Azria watched Cassie talking to her daughter and turned in her seat to the other vixens, keeping her voice low. "She can't leave with him. You know what it says."

Another vixen shot her eyes to them whispering as she shook her head. "It's just an old legend, Azria."

"A legend that is eerily similar to this isn't it?! Time has a way of making fiction fact! " she asked, biting back her growl as the other vixens all tried to keep themselves out of everyone's view. "If he leaves with her and the shadow is lost you know what happens next."

The other vixens rolled their eyes as they shook their heads and watched as Cassie stepped back to the table, folding her paws in front of herself. "Is there a problem?" she asked with a stern brow as they all shook their heads.

"If the shadow is lost from the Den, the path is lost and everything ends." Azria said as she dipped her head.

Cassie lowered her brow and narrowed her eyes on Azria. "We've talked about this. I don't want her hearing those silly stories that are just old superstitions. She doesn't know who we descended from and it's not going to change as long as I'm here, not even when I'm gone. She'll never know about our family and if she decides to take the seat you will keep it that way. I never want her to know she'll be the last vixen of Robin Hoods descendants on this council. There is no reason to cause problems wen that's all your doing." Cassie lifted her head and her voice. "DOES ANYONE HERE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH GIVING THIS TOD THE CHANCE TO PROVE HIMSELF? ISN'T IT OUR WAY TO GIVE SOMEONE A CHANCE?" All the foxes in the room nodded as her daughter grabbed a book from a shelf next to the wall. Cassie looked back at Azria frowning. "Are you going to be the one who goes against our ways?"

Azria flipped her ears back and shook her head as Cassie growled at her. "No, Matron. As always you're right." The other vixens turned their heads as Cassie walked away. She stepped back to her daughter and smiled as she looked over the book Tranquility had picked up, before motioning to the corridor….

Adam lifted a brow as Cassie and her daughter walked to the gates. He motioned for them to enter and handed them both a bracelet as the older vixen shook her head watching her daughter take off. "Adam, you seem to be the one that talks to him more than anyone else. Why doesn't he know about fox names and well, certain things he should already know?"

The older tod looked to the side grinding his teeth and she narrowed her eyes on him as he shook his head. "I don't belong in a den anymore. I've kept myself at a distance from most things because it's too painful to remember why I left it behind. He didn't grow up anywhere near one and I…."

Cassie held a paw out and shook her head. "It's enough. Whatever it is seems to eat you so it's yours to keep. I was just curious." Adam tipped his head as she turned, and watched her get back in her car. The vixen sat there for a few minutes before starting the car and driving away...

Tranquility rushed in the direction Adam had pointed to and stopped in her tracks. She caught sight of Nicholas sitting on a bench as he shoved a brush in the paint. With the last stroke, he stood looking over what he'd finished painting before dropping it in the water and sighing as he ran his paws over his ears, flattening them to his head. He turned and let his paws drop as she stood there with her mouth hanging open, watery eyes met him before his fled to the ground. "It was supposed to be a surprise but I …"

The silver tod jerked as she shot forward, wrapping her arms around his neck before she pulled him down and pressed her head to his sniffling. "You like it?" She nodded as she pulled away and he sighed as he stuck his paws on his hips. "Tranquility, I know they think I'm not good enough, that I've just been wandering around and I've been lost all my life. That I'll stay lost and never be able to fit in there, but I'll find a way to make them believe if that's what you want. I'll find a way." The vixen looked back at him teary eyed as she pulled her paws back from around his neck and held a book out in front of him. He ticked his head to the side as he took it and looked it over, then shot her a sneaky smirk as he shook his head. "You still haven't let me give you back a nickel and now you're giving me a book?"

She giggled as she pointed behind him and his ears flicked as he looked to the sky and shrugged. On the side of the building that housed a large ride that was made of little red airplanes, he'd painted a mural of her with bright red letters under it that read Beauty. She folded her arms over her chest narrowing her eyes as he looked back at her curiously. He missed what she was thinking as she laughed it off and grabbed the paper out of her pocket, scribbling a note before handing it to him.

You aren't lost. I found you.

Nicholas smirked as he rolled his eyes. "No but…I did overhear enough before I left to know that I'm no one there, and I never had a land to call my own without a name."

The vixen curled her brow as he looked off and she could see the hurt in his eyes. He looked back at her when she started scribbling again. She handed it to him and he looked it over as his jaw dropped.

You don't understand, Nicholas. Never-land isn't real, if you make a home somewhere you'll belong, everything you left behind will be what's lost. I know who you are. You can live happily ever after if you never believe that. Never is only a place if you believe it's real. Never is a land where no one dies, but no one learns, nothing grows, where nothing changes. Neverland is a place where you forget everything. Never is no land for a fox who keeps learning, a fox who never quits. Someday you'll know what you lost. They named you Pan. You're part of the Den now.

"Pan? They're calling me Peter Pan?" he asked, shaking his head and she shook hers giggling as she pointed to the single word. "Just Pan, because I'm a lost boy?" He fought not to pull his lips over his teeth as she covered her mouth. "They think I'm a lost cause and don't believe in anything I do. I don't like it." He said through pursed lips as she shoved another piece of paper in his paw.

I know better than that. I'm Windy because of my fur being white. It means fair and beautiful, wanderer. I believe in you. I wandered here to find you so you can't be a lost cause.

Nicholas snickered as he looked back to the little airplanes. "I guess I should teach you how to fly then? Want to run away with me? What do you say, Windy? Want to ride the Beauty?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth he caught it and she cupped both paws over her muzzle, laughing as she folded in half, looking back up at the horror on his face. His paws folded to his chest just as quickly as his ears pinned to his head and his ears turned a bright red. He clutched the book in his paw and made a few faux faces of disgruntled amusement as she kept laughing. "You know you're vicious right?" The vixen was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes as he shook his head and looked back at the painting, "Yeah, I gotta change that."

She bit her lip as she stood again and was still giggling as she shoved another note in his paw. I like it. You should leave it alone. Don't ever grow up, Nicholas. I love the way you make me laugh.

Nicholas shook his head as he narrowed his eyes. "No, I have to change that. The first time I hear someone say it and they put two and two together with your face on there, I'll kill somebody. Yep, definitely gotta change that."

She laughed again as he smirked at her and rolled his eyes before he returned his attention to the book she'd given him. "Names and their meanings. Uck, like I need any more homework." The fox cringed as she slapped a paw to his shoulder and looked back at her grinning as he shrugged. "OK, I promise I'll learn it all." He tipped his head as she sighed and scribbled another note.

Don't ever promise anyone anything, Nicholas.

As he looked back to ask why, and she was scribbling another note he waited for until she was finished. He sighed as he read it with a curled brow.

Foxes don't make promises. It's just a word and our word is all we need. The word promise is just a hollow reflection of what your actions speak. If you say something then that's your word and we stick to it, not a hollow promise. I need to get home. Can you come see me tonight at the Gardens?

He gave her an incredulous glare before he tipped a brow as she stuck her paws behind her back and batted her lashes at him. "I'll come see you again just like I've been every morning and every night. Any reason you want to meet at the Gardens?" She shrugged as he narrowed his eyes. "Ooh I suppose." He teased and snickered as she flicked his shoulder again. She motioned back to the entrance and he walked her to the gates, rumbling lightly as she curled around him. The vixen leaned up and his ears perked when Adam yelled at him. Nicholas chuckled as her head thumped to his chest, failing to secure another kiss. "Foiled again, weren't you? What time?" he asked as she huffed and rolled her eyes. She stuck her fingers in the air and he nodded as he caught the time before he watched her tail swinging in a frustrated sway as Cassie pulled back into the parking lot. He missed her chewing on her lip and cupping her paws to her chest as she watched him leaving. Cassie watched her daughter get in the car and giggled as she melted into the seat…