Rampant Id:

One of my readers had asked me whether Maggie is now a teenager. Since people cannot age in Neverland, Maggie is still nine years old in this chapter, while her brother continues to be twelve. She will begin to age once she returns back home (in about 1-2 chapters).

Chapter 7

"Can't Stay Here"

"Stop laughing!" I yelled at the five lost boys who were cracking up in front of me.

Pockets pointed at me as he leaned against Thud's shoulder in an attempt to keep standing upright. "Your face, it-it's lobster-red!" Wiping tears from his eyes he let out another giggle.

"It's a sunburn. I spent all day outside without sunscreen, how else am I supposed to look?" I demanded glaring at the merry bunch. I could feel my heated face burning, but I knew that nothing I did at this point would actually be able to help my painful state. From their reactions it was clear to see that the lost boys did not really sunburn much, which was unsurprising since they spent nearly every day entirely in the sun. As for me, in our modern society we tended to spend most of the days indoors. My skin had always been incredibly sensitive, which was why my mother always made sure to apply 60 SPF sunscreen when I went to summer day camps.

"Thud, you're up."

Thud's smiling face turned serious the instant that he heard Rufio's voice ring out.

"Coming!" Remembering to grab his sword, the large boy rushed off to the dueling pit much faster than one would expect from one of his stature.

I stood where I was and watched the two of them as they "sparred" in the ring. It was quite obvious from the very beginning of the fight that Rufio was without parallel. Although Thud was pretty strong, he lacked the reflexes and speed to move out of the way nimbly and to counter the swift attacks that were delivered to his elbow, back, and knees. All of this was done in quick succession. It was a bit disheartening to watch Thud land on the ground in less than ten seconds after the match had begun. The remaining twenty-five minutes were spent on Rufio going over the bigger issues that Thud had with his fighting form, such as his fighting stance. As the two boys finished up, the lost boys began heading back to main camp where dinner always took place at around this time.

I slowly made my way toward Rufio, waving up at Thud as he passed me by and receiving a happy grin in return.

Rufio looked up from where he sat on a bench, oiling his sword. I swallowed, gathered up my courage and stopped just in front of him. With Rufio sitting down I was now able to look him straight in the eyes without the height difference making it difficult.

"I know I didn't finish the training course like we agreed on, but if you give me one more chance I think I can do it." I clenched my small fists behind my back so as not to give away my nervousness.

"No." And with that curt answer he turned back to wiping down his sword with an oily rag.

"You need to give me one more chance - I will do anything if it will get you to teach me sword fighting!" I cried out feeling pretty desperate, as I tried to hold my tears from falling. My brother always laughed and called me a crybaby, but I was only nine years old while he was twelve - of course I cried more.

Rufio glanced up at me and sighed when he saw my teary face. Then he stood up, set his sword down on the bench and walked over to me, crouching down as he met my gaze with a serious one of his own.

"The instant that you hold a sword, you become a target. You need to be ready to use your weapon to take a life, otherwise they'll take yours. Can you do that Maggie? Can you kill?"

I shook my head at that, tears spilling out of my eyes and down my cheeks. Of course I could not kill people. I hated hurting others - killing was so much worse.

"Hey, lobster-face look at me for a moment." My eyes snapped open, not even realizing that they had shut in the first place. Rufio smirked a bit. I guess I must have looked absolutely ridiculous with my miserable, wet, and bright red face.

"Moreover, a sword is much too heavy for you to wield, as you found out yesterday when confronting me. If I was to train you in a weapon it would need to be one that is light and can be easily concealed." So saying Rufio reached into his boot and pulled out a knife.

"If you want, I can teach you the basics of knife-fighting. That way you'd be able to defend yourself if in danger, but you'd also have the element of surprise on your side. Knowing how to cut where, at just the right moment, can give you an opportunity to escape. What do you say?" He cocked his head to the side and gave a crooked smile.

While quickly wiping my face with my sleeve I nodded my head enthusiastically. My relief and gratitude had made it impossible for me to choke out any words, but Rufio could easily see the wobbly grin on my face. Laughing he stood up and leaning down he ruffled my hair.

"Good, we'll start practice tomorrow morning. Join the rest of us back here and I'll slot you in for twenty-five minutes of one-on-one practice as well." He called over his shoulder as he headed back to main camp where dinner was most likely in full swing by now. I shoved my now messy hair out of my eyes and happily skipped behind Rufio. Starting tomorrow I would be learning how to protect myself - I felt safer already.

The next day came quickly, and the training was largely based on the mechanics of several moves and the reasoning behind them. As much as I may have wanted to have absorb all the knowledge required to become a master knife fighter, that was not how things happened in reality.

"For a sideways swipe you should have the knife flipped, with the blade partially tucked up beneath your forearm - like this. Not only is it harder to see the blade before you slash at your enemy, but it is also harder for them to disarm you." Rufio then demonstrated the move he was talking about, so that I could see it in one fluid move. It looked amazing when he did it.

"Now you do it," he said passing the knife back to me.

I tried to repeat the move that I had just seen him do, putting all of my energy into it. Grinning slightly, Rufio shifted out of the way so that he was no longer in front of me, but more off to the side of my attacking arm. His arm then whipped out, grabbed onto my elbow, and gave me a sharp tug forward. I stumbled and nearly fell.

"You're overextending. Make sure to keep yourself balanced, even when you are striking out at your target." He pulled back on my shoulders and showed me how to arrange my feet, so that I was better centered.

Suddenly the sound of tinkling bells filled the air as a small glow approached us. Tinkerbell flew up to Rufio's face, and gesturing at him in an exaggerated manner she managed to get him to pay attention to her. Looking at her with a resigned expression as she spoke to him in the pixie language of what sounded like small bells, his expression quickly morphed into a look of irritation. Glancing in my direction with a troubled look Rufio lifted one hand to stop Tinkerbell mid-sentence.

"We'll discuss this later Tinkerbell, I'm busy right now," so saying Rufio turned away from the Pixie and raised a brow at me.

"What are you resting for? Keep practicing those moves I showed you."

We trained for another 15 minutes before my training session came to an end. The strange interaction between Rufio and Tinkerbell was forgotten, that is until evening came around.

The full moon was out this evening, which made the party that the lost boys were throwing all the more exciting. The reason for the party remained unclear, however, even the pixies had decided to join the festivities this night. Tinkerbell took it a bit further and appeared in her full adult form. The glittering silver dress that she wore made her look like a princess at a royal ball. Her glittering appearance did not really blend in well with the rest of us plain-clothed humans, but she really did look quite beautiful. I thought back to all those times when my mom had dressed me in fancy princess dresses for Halloween. I choked back a few tears, telling myself that I was not homesick. Swiping my arm quickly over my eyes so that none of the lost boys noticed how wussy I was being, I headed toward an old tree stump and watched the bonfire that the lost boys had started up in the middle of the camp about an hour ago.

Sparks shot off the wood and bits of burning flakes floated up into the dark sky before turning to ash. I stared at the fire feeling it partly sooth my agitation. After a few minutes of sitting there something shiny caught my eye. Tinkerbell in her glittering dress was leading Rufio into the forest. The strangeness of this behaviour sparked my curiosity, and without even realizing it I followed them a short while later. Maybe Tinkerbell was showing Rufio another beautiful place, like the garden grove she had shown me before. This was a very welcome distraction from my dark thoughts.

I came upon them much sooner than I had expected. Tinkerbell stood before Rufio with hands on her hips and a very determined expression on her face. Rufio looked a bit defensive, and gave off the impression of wishing he were anywhere else.

"What is it Tink?" Rufio asked impatiently.

"She needs to go home."

"I know that, so does her brother. I'm trying to track down where Hook took him to, but I've been getting nowhere with that. It's like he's disappeared." His frustrated sigh spoke volumes.

"No, she needs to go home now Rufio. She's not one of the lost boys, she can't stay here with us. She needs to go home to her family, to her mother." Tinkerbell's voice held an unexpected weight of authority as she spoke to him. "You can continue searching for her brother, and then bring him over to their world once you find him. However, she can't stay here with us any longer."

Rufio looked up at her with an unusually serious expression. "Why the sudden hurry, Tink?"

"I see you getting attached to the human child, and I worry what it will do to you. I've seen this happen before, where a young girl was brought to Neverland and then our protector was unable to give her up. In the end he gave up Neverland, and all of us, to stay in the human world."

"You mean Peter Pan," Rufio stated flatly.

"She belongs in the human world Rufio. She has no future here, and as long as she stays she will continue being a little girl. Are you willing to steal her future away from her? Is that what Peter would have wanted?" Tinkerbell's voice wavered and she wiped tears from her face with a clenched fist.

Not wanting to hear anymore, I rushed out of the woods and back to the campfire. I was unsure whether the sudden tears trailing down my cheeks were due to me feeling like I was being abandoned once again, or for my two remaining family members - my mother, who had no idea what had happened to any of us, and my missing brother, whom I might never be able to see again.

Rampant Id

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