"What the hell is that?!" Jake asked, horrified and trying to catch his breath. They were running away from some kind of… dog?
It had the structure of a dog, but was very different from the fluffy, cute animals they saw in Neverland. It was a black creature, with only it's eyes white. A sleek figure could be seen, and if it had any fur, it wasn't visible. Its tail was slick and ended in somewhat of a point, almost like a sword. Blending into its surroundings, it was waiting for the perfect time to pounce. And it was fast. Very fast. They knew they wouldn't be able to outrun it, but they still tried.
"A run-along!" Izzy shouted, her legs now starting to give up.
They all ran in different ways, hoping that it may get confused. It's worked with dragons, so why not this? Ah, how wrong they were. When the run-along realized they were splitting up, it stopped in its tracks and let out a howl-like scream, the same sound they heard earlier.
It was quiet for a moment. But only for a moment, as they soon saw what it had done. It had friends, and they didn't look happy. A dozen or so of the same species came speeding over, craving for blood.
A feeling of panic came over Cubby's face, and his mind starting blanking.
"Cubby! Come on!" Jake shouted, pulling him away just in time to get away.
They all started running as fast as their legs would take them, but the run alongs just kept getting closer and closer.
"Hey Izzy! This certainly looks like an emergency, doesn't it?!" Jake shouted, reminding Izzy.
"Right!" she said, as she quickly got out the pouch of pixie dust that was gifted to her by the faeries. She took some out and sprinkled it onto everyone, allowing them to fly.
They didn't seem quite enthusiastic as they had just gotten away from grave, grave danger. It took a while to catch their breath, but soon they were okay. They had been flying for a while now, and no one had noticed. Until Skully pointed it out.
"So… Any idea where we're going?" he asked.
"Eheh" laughed Jake. It was a nervous laugh, when meant that he did not know what he was doing.
"Say… How long does this pixie dust magic last?" Cubby asked.
It was only a moment after that when they all stopped flying. And started falling.
"I shouldn't have asked!" Cubby cried, regretting everything.
They kept falling, and falling, and falling. Until they didn't. They all thought that they would hit the ground at some point soon, but they didn't stop until about 10 minutes after. Cubby had shut his eyes tight, fear stopping him from screaming. He'd been falling for some time, until there was a loud sound of him hitting something.
It felt like water, so he slowly opened his eyes. But it wasn't water. It seemed that he was floating in water, but he wasn't wet at all. He was completely dry. And just when he was starting to move his arms, the scene changed again.
He was standing in a forest now. A forest that brought back memories. And not the good kind of memories.
"Oh no…" he thought, as he realized where he was. It's the same place. Before he could start walking, he heard some voices. For a good while, he couldn't make out what they were saying.
"Sissy! Wait up!" a young boy's voice came.
A female voice gasped.
Cubby was filled with terror now. Why is he back? He didn't want to be here. He tried to move. But he couldn't.
A bear came up to the brother and sister.
"Run! Run and don't look back!" the girl pleaded to the boy. And the boy fled.
Cubby's eyes were starting to fill up now. Regret slowly crept up his body, threatening to break him.
He saw the bear lifting its paws. It started opening mouth to let out a horrible, terrible roar. Cubby shut his eyes. He couldn't bear to watch. It all came flooding back to him. The sleepless nights. The nightmares.
But before the scene played out, everything changed. It was like a whirlwind that came and took everything away. Now they were at Pirate Island. He could hear voices. But he wasn't scared, because it was his friend's voices which he heard.
"Oh! Jake! Izzy! Scully! Thank goodness!" he said, relieved. He didn't even question the fact that he was back at Pirate Island. He was just so glad to see his friends.
When he got nearer, he could hear what they were saying. They were all speaking in a low whisper. Almost as if they didn't want him to hear.
"… Yeah, I know… He's so annoying" came a voice, which was clearly Izzy's.
His body stiffened. Was she talking about him? He couldn't believe it.
"He's always so scared of everything. He's dragging us down" Skully said.
"No…" Cubby shook his head violently, trying to convince himself otherwise. His friends would never…
"I feel like the team would be better without him, actually" Jake stated. And everyone agreed.
He was breathing heavily now. He lowered his head and shut his eyes tightly, to stop himself from crying. When he looked back up, he was now at Head Quarters, where the Council of the Lost Boys lived.
"You know… I feel like the blond boy is not up for it" said Curly.
"Yeah… He's the weakest out of the bunch" Nibs agreed.
"How will he benefit the Council then? He'll just be a drawback" said one of the twins (Cubby could never tell which was which)
"Agreed" said the other twin.
Why is everyone saying things like this? Is this what they thought of him? A weak, scared, pathetic little waste?
The scene changed again, and now he was back in the water-like dark place. It was pitch black, but at the same time it looked like the whole place was illuminated by a glorious light. It was beautiful, but Cubby hated it. It isn't supposed to look beautiful. Not after what he just heard.
"Everyone hates me…" he said, tearing up. He was thinking of all the things he heard when a voice spoke up.
"Hello, little one," said the voice. It was the same voice they had heard before, when they first came to this wretched world.
"Huh?" Cubby said in between soft sniffles.
"Don't cry, little one" the voice said. "You will have to face even harder things in the future. You will become brave and strong. Do not shed tears, little one"
"But… They all said I'm weak…" Cubby said. You know that feeling when your nose and chest hurts because you're that sad? Or when you want to just scream and cry out loud, but for some reason, you can't? That probably explains best what Cubby was feeling.
"But it is your choice whether to believe them or not" the voice reasoned.
Cubby stayed silent, not knowing what to reply with.
"But, little one… Let me remind you of one small detail that you are forgetting. This is the land of nightmares" the voice said, and after that, it was so quiet that Cubby could hear his heart beating and his blood flowing in his body.
"The land of nightmares…" he thought.
"It was just a nightmare!"
"Guys!" Cubby shouted happily at the direction in which his friends were standing.
Hearing his voice, they turned to look at him.
"Cubby! Thank goodness!" They sighed, seeing Cubby.
"We're all back, good," said Jake.
"You okay Cubby?" Izzy asked, seeing the weird look on his face. He was relieved, and at the same time kind of disgusted of himself for thinking that these amazing people would ever abandon him. They were his family.
"I'm fine, just kinda shaken up from all that running" Cubby lied.
"Well, I'm glad I had wings, then" Skully joked.
"So… Where to next?" Cubby asked.
"I seriously don't know! He didn't tell us anything at all other than to find some stupid map!" Izzy said, a but frustrated.
"A map that's hard to understand but easy to read
It leads you to places you truly need
A map that is easy to hold but hard to find
Takes you to places that are oh so divine"
Jake repeated the rhyme.
They were thinking of any other way to find something out, at least they were trying. But they couldn't. They were stuck in a world with no way of getting any help. It was stuck somewhere in the back of everyone's head that there was a possibility that they may be stuck here forever. Great, isn't it?
"Shiver me timbers! Oh God! Please tell me you're all real!" a voice came out of nowhere. It had a strong accent, and the voice was deep and rough.
"Uh… Sir, we can assure you, we're real," said Jake. He motioned to his crew to stay on guard.
"This is too good to be true…" the voice said again. Hearing the voice again, they realized some things. One, that it was coming from behind them, and so they did a quick turn. Two, that the voice sounded older than them. Maybe in their 40s?
"Um sir? We can't see you" Skully pointed out.
"Oh right! It's been so long since I've spoken to someone that I've forgotten the formalities" the voice said, while a light flashed in the direction the voice came from. It revealed a man who looked tired and worn out.
"Ahoy there! I'm Archer!" said the man, holding out his hand to greet the others.
"No way…" Cubby gasped.
"The heck…?" Jake muttered.
Seeing their reactions, Izzy and Skully started asking what was wrong. I think you readers can understand who this man was, from hearing his first name itself.
"Archer Yarbrough…" Cubby whispered is disbelief, confirming Jake's suspicions.
"Oh! That's me! Guess I don't need to introduce myself anymore!" the man said merrily.
"I… Everyone thinks you're dead…" Jake informed, still very shocked to see one of the most famous people in Neverland behave like a… mad man.
"Well… It'll sure be a shock for them once I get back!" he said, with the same happy tone. It was getting kind of annoying now.
"Have you been stuck here for this long?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah…" he said, zoning out for a moment. But then he snapped back to his joyful self. "Well! I'm gonna get out now!"
"How…?" Skully asked.
"I don't know! Don't you know?" he asked.
"Well… Not really" Jake replied.
"Oh…" Archer started, his eyebrows furrowing, "Well! We can find out together!" he shouted. It almost seemed as if he were reassuring himself.
"But we have a mission we need to complete first" Cubby reminded.
"And what might that be?" Archer asked.
"We have to find one of the maps you made" Izzy stated.
"And which one is that?" he asked.
"The Yarbrough Map" Skully replied.
"…Well, most of my maps are named after myself, so you'll have to explain it to me" he replied (still in the happy tone of his)
After impatiently explaining about what they were searching for, Archer said this:
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you guys, but that map doesn't exist"
Author's Note:
I honestly thought of not writing an author's note for this chapter because I was ashamed after not posting for so long, but I know that one day when future me is looking through these, I'll be reminded of all this!
These days, I barely get time to write. Maybe it's school work, maybe it's my family, but one thing or another, I never got time. And whenever I did get time, I'd be demotivated. I'd sit in front of my screen staring at the blank word document for minutes and then get frustrated that I haven't gotten anything down and just give up. But! I want to continue as a writer and get all my ideas on here! Which is why now I'm determined to do whatever it takes to get back into writing!
I hope you liked this chapter, and feel free to leave a review criticizing my works, telling me where I'm lacking and what I could do better! Or, you could also tell me which parts you liked, so that I can build up on those parts and do even better!
Also, 3 parts for this thing? Wow… Well, I guess you'll just have to stay tuned! With that being said, I hope you have a nice day! See you next time!