"Up and in line everyone!" Mercy ordered and her girls stood in the usual order within seconds, dropping everything they were doing. In a single swift motion, she threw a thick wooden stick to one of the younger girls who fumbled a bit before catching it, out of surprise.
"You can't hesitate, if someone else than me throws something else at you, you need to catch it," she said and paced in front of the girls. When she reached the same girl again, Mercy threw her elbow at her, aiming for the face but this time she caught it before it hit her. "Better," Mercy congratulated her with a smirk.
It was still raining, they had just eaten a good meal, it was the exact opposite of what you called good fighting conditions. Perfect.
"These are the worst conditions you can find yourself in during a fight," Mercy continued. "Pair up!"
In a common movement, all the Lost Girls moved to face up their partner. They paired up with girls of the same strength – Mercy shook her head.
"No, not like that. Mingle with the stronger ones, challenge yourself because there is no honor in winning against someone you know you can defeat."
They changed partners and shared confused looks as they did so.
"Fight, and I want to see you use the elements to your advantage. It's raining, it's muddy, the sounds of nature cover anything else, use it."
As soon as the words crossed her lips, the girls executed her orders. The smaller, weaker ones attacked first because that's what mercy taught them to do – to strike before their adversary gets a chance to hit them. If you're smaller, it means you're faster. If you're bigger then you can knock your enemy out faster. Sybil and her cunning ways was the first to dive to the ground and swing her leg around to sweep the other girl off her feet and make her slip in the mud.
"Good Sybil! Everyone look at that! That's what I'm talking about. Don't be afraid to play dirty literally and figuratively, Neverland isn't a playground and next time a bunch of Lost Boys come here, I want you to make them eat the ground."
She made the girls fight and fight and fight again, keeping up the rhythm until they were wetter from sweat than rain. They panted, covered in mud and blood, pointlessly trying to rub away the dirt with the back of their equally dirty hands while dodging blow after blow.
"What the hell is wrong with her?!" Sybil groaned in between a couple punches.
She ducked forward when Dorothy leaped toward her and tried to hit her shoulder. Sybil hurt her shoulder last month, everyone knew that. But it was fair game, she didn't hold grudge against her sister. It was a weakness and she exploited it, like Mercy had instructed.
"Shut up or you'll be on watch duty for the next two centuries," Dorothy replied and attacked again. Her hair kept flying in her eyes and the rain made it stick to her forehead and momentarily blinded her.
"What is it with her today?! Why is she such a pain in the-"
"Sybil?" Mercy interrupted the girls' fight and grabbed the poor Sybil's arm. "Got something to say?"
"Yes!" She snapped, letting her emotions take precedence over her head and stepping closer to her leader instead of backing down like a wise person would have. "What's going on? Why are you venting on us? What's the deal with you today?!"
"My deal-" Mercy began, talking between her teeth and tightening her grip on Sybil who winced in pain. "-is my business. You stay quiet and do as I say, or you can run off into the jungle and throw your little pity party there. If you interrupt training once more, I'll personally see to your punishment."
Sybil turned a few shades whiter and her pupils lost in size. Fear sizzled in the air as rain showered them.
"No dinner for you tonight. You're on first watch. Dorothy-" Mercy said and the girl's eyes moved from her friend to her leader. "-You pair up with Tina and teach her the basics again, she still can't throw a proper kick."
She didn't say a word but moved over to where the young blond girl called Tina stood, with her arm hanging each side of her body, trembling in fear. The partner was already walking towards Sybil to face her new adversary.
"Congratulations everyone, you get two more hours of training and you can thank Sybil for that. I'm leaving but don't think for a second that I won't know it if you stop before I say it's over." Mercy clapped her hands – the signal for the Lost Girls to resume their fighting. "If you're not too sore to move tomorrow, it means you did it wrong."
000
"If every muscle in your body doesn't scream for you to stop then you haven't given it all yet," Pan philosophized while circling around the heavy breathing girl at his feet. "Do better or die out there."
"What's out there?" Mercy asked before rubbing the blood away from her split lip.
It didn't stop the bleeding though, and bruises were already forming here and there all over her body. She simply couldn't do it – what he asked of her was too much.
"Why, the world of course!" Pan said with a smirk. "If you're not tougher than the world, it'll kill you, don't you know?" He knelt down to be at eye level with Mercy and she had to refrain from spitting in his face. "Get on your feet little lamb, or the big bad wolf will get you."
"Who's the big bad wolf in this dumb metaphor?" Mercy scoffed in disdain, blood dripping from her nose as she slowly stood up, along with Peter. "You?!" There was so much scorn in her voice that she couldn't even blame Pan for the following blow.
Her feet left the ground and Mercy immediately raised her hands before her face to protect herself and closed her eyes, ready to take the blow, get the air knocked out of her and to receive another bruise in some painful place. But it never came. Mercy's jaw was still clenched in fear and anticipation when she dared open one eye to see what was happening and the only thing she saw was that Pan wasn't there anymore. Or rather, she wasn't with Pan anymore.
Not a second ago she was surrounded by trees and now she stood on the edge of a cliff by the sea. Neversea was a forbidden place – no Lost Boy was allowed to get in the dark waters. Most of the island was surrounded by sharp rocks anyway, there was only one sand beach, the rest of Neverland was as hostile as one would expect.
A series of sharp edged rocks led the way to the water several meters below. Despite the seemingly deadly territory she was in, the call of the void was strong. Tempting. It was mesmerizing, it sang to her and Mercy stepped forward against her best judgment.
"Hello?!" Mercy screamed out. Her voice echoed against the rocks but no one answered. "Where the hell am I now?" She wondered out loud.
There was still no answer but this time around she heard voices. She couldn't make out what they were saying but she wanted, needed to know and it somehow made her take another step towards the edge. The sound of the waves hitting the bottom the the cliff was loud and regular, it lulled her and covered the voices she tried to hard to decipher. Her feet moved as though thy had a will of their own. It felt a little wrong, Mercy wanted to fight against this invisible force that compelled her to move but this urge didn't take precedence over the need to find the source of the chants.
Where did it come from? Who was singing so beautifully? Whose void pierced through the mist of the sea? It was pure madness but her raised foot hovered over the void – there was no more ground to put her foot on but she couldn't stop moving forward, the wind pushed her from the back and the voices pulled her toward the sea.
"What are you doing, you foolish girl?!" A voice exclaimed from behind her, snapping Mercy out of her reverie.
She felt a tight grip on her upper arm and was abruptly pulled back on the land, away from an imminent death. It was like being ripped out of a stupidly vivid dream too fast and waking up feeling dizzy and lost.
"Pan?" Mercy asked confusedly. "Did you hear this?"
"Of course I did, everyone does. Don't listen to them, they'll lure you to a certain and painful death."
This at least made her come back to her senses.
"What the hell was that? Get your hands off of me!"
"I just saved your life, I would advise you show a little gratefulness," Peter scoffed and released her once he had dragged her far enough from the sea and its mysterious call. "It's not my touch that you should fear but the sirens. If they got their hands on you, you'd be a goner."
"I'd rather throw myself off this cliff and get eaten by magical creatures than have your filthy hands touch me – and I already told you multiple times that I'm not scared of you."
Peter dropped his hand and looked at her more intently, making her feel as though he was seeing right through her instead of at her. Mercy shivered of disgust and repressed the urge to rub away the feeling of his touch on her skin. He didn't believe her, that much was obvious, but she wouldn't contradict him again. If he wanted to underestimate her then so be it.
"You disappeared, well done," he eventually congratulated her as though she accomplished some extraordinary deed.
It must have been pretty fantastic since he barely acknowledged her perseverance - if not skill - during their training sessions but suddenly complimented her.
"I didn't do it on purpose," she said, chin still raised high. There was no point in trying to pass it as talent, she did it on accident and wouldn't be able to do it again if he asked her. "Where are we?"
"The mermaid lagoon," he scoffed in a way that suggested that he hated this place. "Don't let the pretty name fool you, it's the most hellish part of this entire island. Mermaids will lure you to a certain death if you let your guard down for so much as a second."
"While you're all rainbows and butterflies and do not threaten my life at all," Mercy snickered sarcastically, earning a stern glare.
She expected Peter to physically punish her for this bold comment, to suspend her in the air, tackle her to the ground, or magically strangle her but he did none of it and simply turned around - trusting she would follow him and not be stupid enough to take a chance on the lagoon. It was a tough choice for her nonetheless and Mercy seriously considered running in any other direction than the one Peter was. Thoughts ran wild in her head for a second, but she just literally vanished in thin air before his eyes and he still managed to find her, so how could she even hope to escape by foot?
"Move!" He barked at her form a fair distance. "Training's far from being over, I see you still have some fight in you so you go back at it until you're too tired to insult me."
Mercy thought that she'd have to be dead for that to happen, but she still obliged and silently followed his steps through the thick greenery of Neverland.
000
At the end of the day, Peter couldn't simply isolate himself from his Lost Boys endlessly and he had to return to camp after a few more hours of sulking at his thinking tree. Even he couldn't call it anything but sulking. Denying this to himself was pointless and he was in his damn right to act like a child if he wanted to – he was the ultimate forever child, who could blame him for acting like one?
"Shadow," Peter called from the top branch of his tree, high enough to give him a view of the creek and Skull Rock.
It appeared almost right away, as though it constantly lurked in the dark, waiting for its master to whistle. For this alone Peter despised it but he couldn't deny how useful it was. It complete missions like no Lost Boy ever did. The only person who ever came close to this was Mercy – that is, until she turned against Peter. Felix could rot in his tree for all Peter cared, he was a poor second in command most of the time, but still the most capable of the Boys. It really spoke volumes about the state of Pan's little army. Pitiful.
The Shadow floats in the air before Peter, blocking his view and waiting orders like the perfect silent soldier. Peter often thought that if the Shadow could talk it would quickly go from his favorite to least favorite minion.
"What's she doing?" He asked in a flat voice – he didn't know why he felt so compelled to fake detachment when he spoke to the Shadow, but he did it. All the time. There was no other way he knew of to deal with the jumble of emotions he felt.
The Shadow shook its faceless head in defeat. Peter had grown to learn how to interpret the Shadow's body language. The Lost Girls' camp was sizzling with tension today, probably like his own camp. Mercy was a mess of wild emotions she refused to deal with, and she let out the steam by giving the rough side of the hand to her girls. He sighed deeply. As soon as he raised a hand toward the sky and flicked his wrist, the rain stopped. Peter rarely changed the weather the way he just did, but he knew that Mercy's mood wouldn't improve as long as the storm went on.
"You won't be giving her the usual flower, today I need you to do something else for me..."