Disclaimer: Alas, I shall never own the rights to Newsies....... but I guess weaving them into complex story lines is almost as good. The forest belongs to me. Everyone else belongs to their creators respectively.

A/N1: Sorry for the delay. No time to write. But never fear, this story is still alive and kicking.

Chapter 4

Being lost in an environment you are unfamiliar with has its disadvantages. For instance, if you were lost in the middle of a forest, after spending your entire life in the city, you would probably be rather distracted.

Which is why it was a good five minutes before Snoddy realized his hat was missing.

"Swifty?" He asked, looking at the boy walking along slightly ahead of him.

"Yeah?" Swifty replied, turning back, and nearly decapitating himself on a branch in the process.

"Did you take my hat?" Snoddy asked, confused. Swifty looked at him incredulously.

"Why would I take your hat Snoody?"

Okay, I scratched my head when we passed the rock with orange moss growing on it, and my hat was there. Snoddy thought to himself. He looked back at Swifty.

"Are you sure you didn't take it?" He asked.

"I'm positive Snoody. I. Did. Not. Take. Your. Hat. You must have lost it."

Was that a giggle? Snoody looked up into the trees, but saw nothing. What would be giggling in a tree you idiot. He admonished himself. Swifty turned to ask which way they should go next, and stopped entirely giving Snoddy a weird look.

"What?" Snoody snapped irritably.

"Your hat is on your head." Swifty informed him.

I think I would know if my hat was on my head. Snoody thought reaching up.

"It's back!" He exclaimed, pulling it off his head and staring at it in amazement.

"Snoddy are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Swifty asked with general concern.

"It was really gone, I swear!" Snoddy insisted.

"Okay." Swifty agreed uncertainly.

When Snoddy finally tore his eyes away from his hat some minutes later, he looked up at Swifty and took a step back in surprise. There, hanging upside down off of a branch, was a girl.

Well, sort of. Snoddy amended to himself. Under the bright red cloth covering her, her skin was so pale it was an ivory color. Her hair, which was currently hanging strait down, was dark but was streaked with fuchsia and seemed to sparkle as it swayed back and forth. Her bright blue eyes, which were currently sparkling with mischief, were fixed on her new target.

Swifty's hat.

"Swifty DUCK!" Snoody shouted, the first thing that came to mind.

Swifty, ignoring the command, whipped around to ask Snoody what on earth, or where ever they were, he was talking about. What resulted was a dull crack and two corresponding thuds.

"Ow." Swifty said, as he sat up rubbing his head. Snoody rushed over and offered the girl his hand.

"Are you alright miss?" He asked. Swifty glared at his back, feeling very ignored. The girl took Snoddy's proffered hand, her own slender fingers looking ghostly against his own tanned skin, and he helped her to her feet.

"My name is Trolley." She said, pouting ever so slightly at having her game ruined.

"I'm Snoddy, and that's Swifty." Snoddy told her as Swifty got to his feet.

"Now that we know who you are," Swifty said. "What are you? If you don't mind my asking."

"You mean to tell me you've not seen a nymph before?" She asked.

"Uh.... we're not from around here." Snoddy supplied.

"In fact, we're rather lost." Swifty added.

"To roam parts of the forest you are unfamiliar with is very dangerous, especially after nightfall." She said, then she paused as though making a difficult decision. "Come." She said finally. "De may not be happy about this, but I will not leave you to your deaths."

Swifty and Snoddy looked at each other, unsure of what they should do.

"Where exactly are we going?" Swifty queried.

"And who is De?" Snoddy questioned.

"We are going to my home, it is not far from this place. And as for De, he is... our prince." She replied, rolling her eyes and heading off without waiting to see if the boys would follow. Swifty looked at Snoddy who shrugged.

Both boys quickly darted off into the woods after her.

Itey, having little else to do after waking in a place, which was unlike anything he was familiar with, was doing what was, to him at least, the only logical thing to do in such a situation. He was wandering around aimlessly and muttering to himself.

"Stupid trees, stupid grass, stupid dirt, stupid vine, stupid two headed periwinkle snake, stupid leaves, stupid pine cone, stupid.... LES!!!" He shouted, running up to the younger boy and latching onto him in a death grip.

"Itey... need..... air!.... Can't.... breath...." Les finally managed to gasp.

Itey lessened his grip enough to allow the minimum lung expansion necessary to keep his young friend alive.

"Where were you? How did you get here? Where is everyone else? How did you find me? Why are you so short?" Itey questioned rapid fire.

Les, being overwhelmed by so many questions, and still not having quite enough air as he was still confined within the depths of Itey's death grip, just shrugged.

Suddenly Itey let go an looked back the way he had come. Les fell to the ground panting for breath.

"Was that snake periwinkle?" He asked the forest in general. Les stared at him, now completely perplexed. Itey turned back around and looked at the spot Les had been occupying only moments before, then he looked down.

"What are you doing on the ground?" He asked. Les chose to ignore that question as he stood up again, this time safely out of death grip range.

"Did you hear that?" Les asked, looking sharply to the right.

"Hear what?" Itey asked.

"Come on." Les said, leading the way. In the distance Itey thought he saw a brief flash of light, then another.

"We're not chasing fireflies are we?" He prodded Les in the back.

"They're too big to be fireflies." Les whispered.

"They don't look that big." Itey whispered back.

"They're sill far away." Les said quietly as they moved through the underbrush.

Ten minutes later the boys came to a curtain of Ivy, what they saw when they pushed through, took they're breath away. Hundreds of butterflies, of every color, were flying at once. Dodging and ducking over and around one another, creating a rainbow of moving color.

"Wow!" Les exclaimed after a moment of stunned silence. He cupped his hands together and reached out to catch one. Itey stood glued to the spot, he had seen something flying which certainly wasn't a butterfly.

"I caught one!" Les called excitedly as he rushed back to Itey's side. Slowly he opened his hands a crack, and peeked in. "Itey." He said in a voice laced with awe. "I think I caught Tinkerbell." This caught Itey's attention.

"WHAT!?!?"

Les opened his hands. There, standing on his palm, and glowing pinkish red, was a slightly altered replica of the fictional pixie. Standing a mere one and a half inches tall, the creature had soft pink hair cut into a bob, and crimson eyes. She was dressed in a white rose petal skirt with a beautiful lilac tube top made of caterpillar silk. Her most interesting features however, were the iridescent wings adorning her back, they flashed hints of blue, purple, and pink as they fluttered in annoyance. She was tapping one bare foot on Les' palm.

"I'm sorry Ma'am." Les said contritely. "I didn't hurt you did I?"

"Berry! Are you all right?" A small voice called as a second girl landed in Les' hands. Berry nodded, the red glow fading slowly. "You ought to be more careful, you could kill someone being so reckless." The girl said, turning her attention to Les.

"I didn't mean to." He said pitifully. "I just wanted to catch a butterfly."

Itey bent down a little, taking a closer look at the tiny figure. She was about half an inch taller than Berry, with blond hair, sky blue eyes, and magenta wings folded neatly onto her back. Her dress was a wispy, beautiful, light blue outfit which suited her perfectly. Suddenly, two more figures came to rest on Les, who by now was becoming rather crowded.

"What's going on?" Asked a girl with dark purple hair, ice blue eyes, and a sky blue dress. She was the shortest at one inch even, and her wings were a fantastic lime green.

"Is everyone all right?" Asked the second girl whose violet eyes flashed silver as she surveyed the scene. Her violet hair was complimented by her dress which was a deep plum color. She was a little more than a quarter inch taller than Berry, and her iridescent wings were flashing lavender and fluttering nervously.

"Everyone's fine." The first girl informed the new comers. "The child simply mistook Berry for a butterfly."

"My name is Les." Les told her, not appreciating being called a child.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Said the violet haired girl, who was currently taking up residence on his shoulder. The blond spoke up once again.

"I'm Lullaby, on your shoulder is Glitz, over there is Aqua." She pointed to the girl with lime green wings. "And you know Berry."

"I'm Itey." Itey supplied when she looked at him inquiringly. "Are you really pixies?"

"Yes." Aqua answered, "But what are you?"

"I'm a newsie." Itey said proudly.

"I've never heard of a newsie before." Glitz mused. "Are you anything like elves?"

"Um... I don't think so." Itey said.

"How did you find this place?" Lullaby asked.

"We didn't know where we were." Itey answered, "So when we saw the lights, and Les heard a noise, we followed them. We were hoping to find someone who could help us find our way home."

"We'd love to help!" Aqua piped up.

"But first we must fulfill the vow we made to Emotions." Lullaby reminded her.

"If we help you do that, will you help us?" Les asked, anxious to help these creatures to make up for his mistake.

"You would help us?" Glitz asked.

"Sure," Itey said, "We'll do whatever we can."

A/N2: Peter Pan was actually published in 1911, but please pretend that it was sooner for the sake of that one line in the story. Sorry it's not longer, this chapter took forever to write.

Shoutouts!

(short today, sorry)

Dimonah Tralon

C.M. Higgins

LegallyRed

CiCi

Lady of Tir Na Nog

Written Sparks

Lyra

Dreamer Conlon

Sita-chan

uninvisible

SpecsGlasses Whoo! I get flowers, llamas, and a shrine! Your the best!

Checkmate

Buttons14

Coin

Madison Square

geometrygal

Cassies-Grandma