Chapter 8: Unplanned For

Hannah's Perspective:

Sticks and branches crunched underneath our feet as we walked. There was still plenty of light for us to see as Julian and Sam led me through the forest.

"What do you mean 'training'?" I asked in a confused tone.

Julian chuckled;

"You don't actually expect us to just let you roam freely around Neverland without knowing how to defend yourself, do you?"

I scoffed and looked at him like he was delusional.

"I know how to fight" I countered in a snobby tone.

Julian rolled his eyes;

"If you're such a good fighter then why did you lose against Pan in the challenge that nearly led to your death?"

At first, I didn't quite know how to reply. But as my fuse began to shorten I spoke;

"Maybe because he's a spoiled dipwad that cheated."

Both of the boys scoffed.

"He played by his rules Hannah" Sam said.

Ding ding ding!

"Exactly. Any rules created by him are automatically BS" I countered.

The boys both laughed and smirked at each other.

"Boy, Pan's really gonna love having you around" Julian spoke, his voice drowned in sarcasm.

I rolled my eyes;

"How could he not? I'm adorable…"

At this point, I recognized the area around us. Before I knew it we stood before the large wall that guarded the camp.

"It's just us Connor!" Julian yelled to the tower above.

I watched the boy holding a hand-made crossbow ready to fire as he examined the three of us. He skimmed over Julian and Sam when his eyes fell upon me. Looking down at me he spoke quietly;

"I take it this must be somewhat…unplanned for…"

Julian scoffed;

"Tell me about it…"

I shot him a look as sharp as a dagger and elbowed him in the side. Julian laughed it off.

"You're free to go…" Connor declared as he just looked at me in shock.

Why can't people here just keep their eyes to themselves?

Julian began walking through the entrance to the camp, expecting us to follow. As I followed behind him I instantly felt sick to my stomach. I'm the dead girl. Nobody knows I'm alive and expect me to have already been decapitated or something. At first, nobody looked at us when we walked through camp. But one by one, boys began to notice. None of them spoke aloud, just whispered in awe and confusion. My heart rate began to increase. There were so many eyes on me. But a few moments later everyone's eyes fell back to whatever they were doing.

"Come on cupcake, we gotta show you where you're staying…" Sam said.

Cupcake?!

I shot Sam a nasty look of hatred.

"Don't call me cupcake. No nicknames. Just Hannah."

My stern expression must've scared him because he put his hands up in defense.

Yeah, that's what I thought…

I didn't even think about where I was gonna stay. I had the whole 'get the hell out of here' mindset going for me for a while. We passed by the campfire and Pan's hut before approaching some other huts. As I observed the camp around me my eyes fell upon something I hadn't noticed before. There grew a large ash tree with deep carvings in its bark. I squinted my eyes in an attempt to read what was carved, but it was difficult due to it being so far away. As I neared closer I was finally able to recognize the writing.

They were names.

I stopped in my tracks while Julian and Sam were a few feet ahead of me.

"What are these names for?" I asked aloud as I stood before the tree.

Both Julian and Sam stopped and looked in my direction.

Julian cleared his throat;

"They're the Lost Boys that have gone missing…"

For a moment I stood perplexed, but as I read the name 'Slightly' on the tree I had flashed back to the boy who chased me in the forest. But this tree had to have had more than two dozen names on it…There couldn't possibly be that many that…

My mind wandered until I glanced over to a tree right next to the tree in front of me. This one had only two names on it; Gail and Jake.

"Why are those ones by themselves?" I questioned, my tone trailing in curiosity.

This time the boys seemed more hesitant to answer. I turned my head and looked to them. Sam's gaze was looking toward the ground while Julian's was locked with the tree. Their expressions seemed quite…painful…

"They've left us…" he mustered out.

I examined the names even closer.

"Well, when are they coming back?" I asked innocently, turning my head to look at them.

Sam's eyes looked somber as they fell back to the ground. Julian just lightly shook his head.

"Not soon enough…" he spoke quietly.

I had suddenly realized what Julian meant by 'left us' and felt like a complete idiot.

"Oh…I'm…sorry…"

Julian shook his head and insisted;

"Come on, we gotta keep moving."

I quickly caught up to the boys as we walked closer to the huts. Julian was very quick to point to a specific hut and spoke;

"That one…That one's yours" he concluded quite quickly.

I examined it and took notice of how nice it appeared on the outside. It was the second from the end and appeared to have not been used for a while.

"Why don't you go check it out?" Julian suggested.

I shrugged my shoulders and started walking towards the hut. I soon stood outside the door to the hut and felt a shiver creep up my spine. Something just felt…odd…I grasped the knob and turned it clockwise, opening the door. The door made a noticeable creaking sound as it swung open. The curtains has been pulled on the windows, making the whole hut dark and damp. Slowly strolling over to the windows I opened the curtains to let in some light. As I pulled the curtain back instantly light poured into the room, illuminating everything within it. I then walked across the room to the other window and pulled the curtains back, revealing even more light. This allowed me to see the hut at its potential. It was small and cozy with a bed, a vanity with a mirror, and a small bedside table. When I walked over to the bed I had noticed that surprisingly, it had been neatly made. This was mostly surprising due to the fact that it was a camp full of teenage boys. I do have to say however that it was definitely noticeable that a boy used to live in this hut. The hut kinda just smelled like boy. Not in a bad way, but it was just a distinct guy smell mixed with forest for some reason. I looked over to the bedside table and noticed an unlit candle that had seemingly been used a lot. It would probably last another twelve hours before it would run out of wax. Besides the candle on the nightstand something else peculiar stuck out to me. Sitting on the nightstand was a dry washcloth that was left bunched up.

That's just…odd…I guess…

"You making yourself at home?"

I turned toward the entrance of the hut where Julian stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

I scoffed;

"About as homey as it's gonna get."

Julian spoke;

"Oh come on, cheer up! You don't stick out that much!" Julian laughed.

I raised a brow and stared Julian down.

I responded;

"Mhmm."

I began to turn away from him until he started;

"Guess what time it is?"

Time for you to leave?

"Time for you to find a hobby?" I replied.

Julian chuckled;

"Yes. And…it's time to train!"

What? Now?

I looked at him confused.

"What, we're doing this now?"

Julian quickly ran over to me and started to push me along as I fought.

"We have no time to lose! You gotta learn not to be a lazy sack of potatoes and get yourself out there fighting!"

I fought back as he continued to push me toward the door.

"Um I enjoy being a lazy sack of potatoes, thank you very much" I replied as I struggled to fight against him.

Julian stopped pushing me and stood before me.

"Look—" he began.

"You gotta be able to stay on your toes when it comes to Pan. Wouldn't you much rather be prepared the next time he challenges you?" he tried.

I rolled my eyes because I knew he was right. If anything I want to be able to kick Pan's ass the next time he tries to push me around…or drown me…

"Yeah…I know…" I accepted defeat.

Julian smirked;

"Then let's get a move on! We've got a lot of work to do."

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Is this gonna hurt—"

"No more questions!" Julian cut me off.

He began to run out of the hut, expecting me to follow his lead.

My gosh Hannah…

What have you gotten yourself into?

Hook's Perspective:

I stormed into my office and immediately threw open the door to my potion cabinet. As I searched for the vial I was looking for I pulled it out, come to find it was practically empty. There was just a sprinkle of purple powder left; not nearly enough to take care of the boy on deck.

"Cecil!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Not a few moments later I heard the stomping of footsteps coming from the deck above. The door to my office flew open and Cecil came running down the steps. The yelling of the boy was loud and disruptive, forcing Cecil to shut the door behind him.

"What seems to be the problem captain?" Cecil questioned as he nervously fumbled with his hands.

I shot him a distasteful glare and snarled;

"What is the meaning of this?"

I held up the near empty vial as Cecil examined it closely.

"Well, it seems that—"

"For the love of God shut up!" I hissed.

"How can you expect me to—"

It was then that I was interrupted by the shouts and screams from the captive boy outside.

"Is there any way they could shut him up?!" I groused, stomping over to the potion cabinet.

I searched through the bottles in the hope to find something else that would work.

Cecil began;

"There's nothing quite as effective as whatcha got there in yer hand, Cap'n."

My blood boiled at his stupidity.

"I need more you twit!" I shouted, throwing the bottle at him.

He caught it in his hands and examined it as I spoke.

"I need enough to put all of those boys under my influence!"

Cecil stuttered at first but began;

"But sir, it takes time to make something as intricate as this. I would need more ingredients from the island—"

"Then we will get them. But there's no time to spare. I need this done tonight! And I need enough to capture them all during the ambush" I ordered.

Cecil complied;

"In three weeks I should be able to have them all under your control—"

"I don't have three weeks you fool!" I screamed.

I pulled my flask from underneath my jacket and took a swig of whiskey.

"What ingredients do you need?" I interrogated.

Cecil thought for a moment before reaching for quill and parchment paper on my desk. He began to write a detailed list of all of the needed ingredients. Finishing it off he dropped the quill on my desk and handed me the parchment. As I glanced over it I nodded my head.

"Now what about the boy? How am I supposed to contain him?" I questioned harshly.

Cecil glanced down at the bottle in his hand. He outstretched his hand and gave me the vial as I watched him skeptically.

"There should be enough left in the vial to take care of the boy aboard. But after that, I'm gonna need to whip up some more."

I rolled my eyes and groaned. I made my way up the stairs where the shouts of the boy grew even louder. Before opening the door I turned to Cecil.

"When you take the boy back to land gather your ingredients. I want a new bottle of that elixir tonight."

As I turned back to the door Cecil interrupted me once more.

"Captain?" He questioned.

I grimaced;

"Yes?"

Cecil cleared his throat and spoke;

"What about the girl?"

The girl…

I paused for a moment and smirked;

"Oh, …she'll make the perfect servant aboard the ship…"

I turned back to the door and opened it, allowing myself to see the commotion before me. The boy squirmed and shouted as a few crew members held him down. He had been bound by rope to the main mast of the ship but stilled offered up a fight. A rag had been placed in his mouth to keep him from screaming loud enough to be heard on land. As I approached the boy his shouts began to grow even louder. Taking the vial with just a dash of elixir dust within it, I uncapped it and dumped its contents into the palm of my hand. The boy watched as I did so and struggled even more.

I spoke aloud;

"Don't worry, you won't remember a thing…"

Hannah's Perspective:

I stared intently into Julian's bright eyes.

"Focus on me" he instructed. Our swords crossed each other, our faces inches apart.

"I am focused" I responded sarcastically, at this point just getting annoyed.

"No you're not, if you were focused, you wouldn't be giving me sass" Julian commented.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed;

"I just have a wonderful personality."

I straightened my back, trying to improve my posture.

Julian smirked;

"Not the point. See with you sassing me, I could've already taken you down by now."

Within seconds I found myself on the ground. Julian had tripped my foot with his sword.

I cursed;

"What the hell? That's just child's play!"

Julian raised a brow and held his hand out to help me up.

"Do you want to play fair or do you want to win?" he questioned.

Groaning, I reluctantly grabbed Julian's hand and stood up.

"Just try to block me" Julian suggested.

He took a few swings at me until his blade started to get too close for comfort. Instinctively I held the blade of my sword in front of me, which in hand blocked his sword.

"Nice one!" Julian laughed.

"See? Now do it again" he continued.

He kept throwing swings at me until I blocked another.

"You're catching on!" he exclaimed.

I chuckled with a small smile;

"See. I'm not that bad."

He shook his head and laughed.

"No, you're definitely still bad" Julian joked.

I scowled before swinging my sword at him without warning. He swerved out of the way and cocked a brow.

"Hmm…so insulting you helps you make progress…I'll make sure to take note of that…" Julian smirked.

I rolled my eyes;

"Haha, very funny."

Julian began;

"With that attitude, it wouldn't take long for you to actually become a decent fighter."

I raised a brow and questioned;

"Why do you sound so surprised?"

Julian shrugged his shoulders.

"Honestly, I thought you wouldn't be willing to put in the work. But I guess you're just full of surprises" Julian grinned.

For once I let a natural smile creep onto my face.

"Thanks…"

For some reason, it felt so strange to smile. It was like I had faked smiles all my life, but the boys here in Neverland made me feel more comfortable and free.

"Okay come on, back to work" Julian insisted.

From then he continued to work with me on my form and various other techniques with sword dueling. The longer we worked the more prepared I felt with kicking Pan's ass when given the chance. I don't know how, but I'm going to survive here. And once I'm strong enough, I'm going to find my own way home. Screw Peter Pan. I don't need him. I'm independent and will stop at nothing to prove him wrong.

—

A.N:

New chapter! Yay! Sorry for the long wait, but I'm finally out of school so I'll have a lot more time to write. Hooray! So what do you guys think? What are Hook's plans? Where are the Lost Boys? Can Hannah actually find a way home herself? Feel free to comment your thoughts and predictions. Don't forget to comment if you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you in the next update!

-Agm3