"No Luke!" Peter smacks the child's hand away from the small structure he was building "You'll knock it down!" Luke simply juts out his lip and whimpers in protest. Back on Earth one may think he's about four or five years of age. Here in Neverland nobody really has an age. They just look how they feel.
From across the aisle of the wigwam Tigerlily narrows her eyes disapprovingly at Peter, but he pretends not to notice, taking pieces from Luke to add to the house he was creating for Tinkerbell to play in. He wouldn't let the uncoordinated toddler touch the structure himself, though, for fear he'd destroy it.
"You don't suppose he'll really insist I go in that thing, do you?" Tinkerbell questions nervously to Tigerlily, who needed help to think of a new name for her village. Captain Hook had stolen their name- Roger- for his ship. They were forced out of the position they needed to maintain peace in their community. Without a name for their home it's people were growing in age. See, in Neverland no two things can have the same name, it is a literal impossibility, however much sense it lacks.
"I suppose he will," Tigerlily answers halfheartedly. Tinkerbell looks up at the young lady, obviously lost in thought about something entirely different. To obtain his prize Jas Hook had to kidnap one of the villages people. A young boy named TukTuk was out hunting with a group of boys one night when he wandered too far from the rest, and directly into the path of a crouching pirate.
The ruthless leader had never been able to gain access to their home. He knew where it was located but he wasn't able to find the entrance, per say. It was completely surrounded by a thick density of trees and vines. To anyone who hadn't grown up in this very forest it was completely un-navigable. Not only because everything looked the same, but because the forest creatures were kind, and gentle. They protected the native people with their skills of imitation and camouflage to distract any unwelcome wanderer who came near. Many of the islands fairies took this job very seriously, and over time they'd come to live in every part of Neverland, protecting its innocent and tricking it's cruel. They protected the island, and since Peter was the islands heart he was priority, no matter who he taunted with his childlike antics during some of his naughtier years.
But they could not save TukTuk that fateful afternoon, and when he was brought aboard The Jolly he knew he'd cease to live any longer. .
Just as Peter is the heart of Neverland, TukTuk was the heart of Roger, son of the chief and twin brother to Tigerlily. By killing him Jas Hook obtained the name of his land, and his death was felt in the heart of every villager.
Tigerlily had mourned, and mourned, but to current day she will always know a part of her died with him. The time had come for the new heart to pick a name, for her people could only grow so much before things would get complicated. Their elders were not ready to pass.
She took comfort in the new child, Luke. She could feel the pureness of his soul before he entered her village for the first time as an infant.
Suddenly she sets her script down and turns to the boys playing behind her.
"Peter?" Tigerlily calls for him. Peter doesn't answer to just anyone immediately, but answered to her. He flew strikingly quickly into the air and crossed the space to land floating next to Tinkerbell who sat on the script.
"What's that?" he asks curiously, forgetting why he flew over here already.
"A list of names the people have suggest," Tinkerbell answers, showing him.
"Where did you say Luke was from, where on Earth?" Tigerlily asks him eagerly.
"Scotland." Peter doesn't look up from the scroll, arms crossed intent on his reading.
Tigerlily looked at the child, kneeling by the fort, adding things to it while Peters attention was otherwise preoccupied. She grinned to herself and swore to say nothing.
She felt the boy just as the fairies did. She felt his kindness, his nature. His natural nature. She frowned at this, because she knew he'd be a man one day, leaving Peter. She felt it in her bones.
Scotland, hmmm... As she thinks about the place of his birth she begins to think about the events surrounding it and what brought him to her.
Peter had come to seek her out, humble enough to ask for help for the very first time. He came with a crying baby, hugging the poor thing tightly to his chest as he wandered down the familiar path he'd come to know. Stunned at what they saw, the fairies were quiet as they watched Peter enter the village, wondering where on Earth the baby had come from. Hadn't he simply gone to hear stories?
Tigerlily taught him everything she knew about caring for children, and Peter soaked it up like a sponge. He'll never care to admit he knows so much about caring for someone else, but he really does. His memory is not that of a normal humans, but some things do stay with him, and raising boys became the backbone of his character. It was when the Lost Boys became a part of his life that he stopped playing such bothersome games.
But before them all Luke was first, he was Peter's favorite. He was Peter's brother. It wasn't until Luke would be about seven that the second Lost Boy would join them in Neverland. At this point the boys were about the same age, Peter no longer his elder. This bothered something deep inside of him, and as soon as he realized that the boys started to grow together. At nine a third Lost boy joined them; Nibs, after Slightly.
The more boys who lived with them at the hideout the more their ages seemed to spread. They would not all grow together but taper off at some point. Peter was twelve, and Luke was nearing fourteen, the rest of the boys only eleven or younger. No one wanted to be a man. They avoided responsibility at all costs, and since Peter was naturally their leader he had the obligation to coordinate them. That involved responsibility, but he didn't like that at all. However he would never be willing to give up his position of power, so he played the role, and he grew for it. But as soon as he realized Luke as such a knack for it, he leaned on him heavily. Luke loved not bossing everyone around, but learning. Above anything he loved to learn. He wanted to learn anything and everything, and he was thrilled when something new came across his path.
Peter turned thirteen when he first had his heart broken. He cried in pain and rage, running from the boys in shame deep into the woods, not to return for days. Luke had confessed; he wanted to be a man. When Peter returned to the hideout Luke had gone. It took an immeasurable amount of time for Peter to forgive Tinkerbell for giving him the dust he needed for the journey.
On earth forty years passed. But not forward.
Luke Jonathan Connelly was born the year of their Lord 1941 in Clydebank, Scotland. Peter had come to Scotland for the first time in 1930, to hear the girl Lily Darling tell her young sister stories of a magical place called Neverland. Her brave and daring father had before visited its vast lands and slain vicious pirates. He out-swam an enormous beast and kissed a princess. Lily Darling loved her fathers stories more than anything books could sell her. She named her son after him in memorial after his disappearance earlier that year.
Wendy Darling was born 1889, the year Luke would return to Earth to start his journey into manhood.
Peter would travel to England to hear stories by the girl Wendy Darling twelve Earth years after Luke had returned. Such pain and such loss had caused his time to stop for a time. His memory swayed as his routine changed, he cut Luke out from his life and then forgot after such time, forcing the pain from his heart every night in his dreams. The routine hardened and his memory did as well. He knew to take care of boys as he knew to go hear stories. Luke was no longer a part, and he no longer had to be reminded.
He nearly returned to Earth several times just to search for his best friend, to beg him to return and play in Neverland forever. But the Lost Boys would not have been able to get along without him for so long. They needed him too much. So he was to stay a boy, until the day he realized he was in love with Wendy. He was Seventeen then and that was that.
He had no idea what Luke had been up to these past years. He forgot he existed.