AN: This turned out so much longer than I meant it to! O.O I don't mean to beg for comments, but if you have an opinion on pacing and whatnot let me know...I'm not used to dealing with chapters, and I just sort of divided my rough plot outline into what I thought made sense as chunks without much regard to relative length.

Chapter 2: Treasure.

Neverland was a tropical island paradise. Pan and his Lost Boys lived happily in the jungle, surviving easily off of the fish they caught in a stream that formed the backbone of their various hidey-holes and camps, and fruit that could simply be picked off the trees. The sweet exotic air, flavored by a light breeze off the sea, was unlike anything they had ever breathed in England. The island was an explosion of green, with huge vine-drizzled trees that were perfect for climbing, broad lacy ferns to hide amongst, and a riot of fanciful flowers in every shape and color imaginable.

Matt was pretty sure he was allergic to every single one of them.

Resisting the urge to pull off his goggles and rub at his itching eyes, he sniffed miserably and tried to smile in what could be construed as a friendly way as Pan introduced them to his friends. The strange flying boy was eating a piece of mango that he had seemingly pulled from thin air as he spoke.

"These are the Lost Boys," Pan said. "This here's Brown—" a large, round-faced boy with dark curls, "Turtle—" a sandy-haired, wiry boy, "and this is Cinder." The last was a skinny girl with long black braids and crossed arms.

"How can you be a Lost Boy? You're a girl," Mello pointed out. He still hadn't quite made up his mind whether this were a dream or not, but if it was (he hoped so) it sure was a stupid one. Cherry seemed to have taken a liking to him, and was sitting on his shoulder. Mello had considered shrugging her off so that the unnervingly solid weight of the fairy would no longer be evidence of the reality of Neverland, but was irrationally comforted by the fact that at least he was getting along with someone in this bizarre place.

"So? Tougher than you," the Lost Girl said with a scowl.

"And these are Mello, Matt, and Near," Pan went on, pointing them out in turn with the mango piece. "They're going to be joining us!" He grinned mischievously. "Welcome to our little family."

"Hiya!" said Turtle enthusiastically, bouncing on the balls of his bare feet, and Brown gave them a lazy smile.

"Whoa, hang on now," started Mello, "we have no intention of staying—"

Cherry buzzed agitatedly.

"Mello!" Near muttered. "You said you wanted to come, you can't just back out."

"Well, I didn't know then how stupid—"

"They'll be joining us for a little while," Pan interrupted smoothly, flashing a grin at Near, who looked away uncomfortably as Mello glared at him.

Cinder was obviously offended and resentful and Turtle was beginning to look a little scornful. Matt, noting their calloused hands and obvious ease out here in the jungle, didn't think that alienating them right off the bat seemed to be a very good survival strategy. "Thanks for having us," he said, rubbing at his nose (it was beginning to feel a little raw). "So, you live out here by yourselves?" Matt hoped rather emptily that there was actually some nice little beach house or condo with air conditioning and a computer that they actually lived in, and that they were just really into playing outside.

Turtle laughed, a high-pitched whoop that grated on Mello's ears. "Sure we do," said Pan easily, taking a bite of mango. "We do whatever we like, wherever we like."

Reflecting on the pile of macroeconomics homework he had left on his desk at Wammy's, Matt had to admit that didn't sound so bad, although he would have preferred doing whatever he liked in front of a computer screen.

"Wait, so, what you're saying is," Mello said disbelievingly, "you just sit out here and play all day?" That was fine for some little kid like Near (who, he noticed angrily, didn't look at all ruffled by the situation—he looked intrigued, the little twerp!) He never seemed to do much but sit around and play elaborate games of pretend with his Legos all the time and still managed to beat Mello on every test. But Mello had more serious things to worry about. Things such as becoming the best detective in history, for instance.

"We don't 'just play'," retorted Cinder, eyes flashing. "We fight pirates!"

"And go swimming," Brown volunteered cheerfully.

"And—" practically wriggling with excitement, Turtle whipped a folded bit of tattered parchment from inside his ragged shirt, "We hunt for treasure!"

Pan crowed with delight. "You got it!"

"Sure did," Cinder said smugly. "They never saw us coming. Or leaving."

"What is it?" asked Near.

"Look," said Pan, snatching the parchment from Turtle's hands, crouching and spreading it out on the mossy ground. The boys (and girl) all squatted around it to see except Mello, who stayed standing, peering with an expression of disdain over Matt's shoulder with his arms folded. To his annoyance, Cherry fluttered down to Pan's shoulder so that she could see too. It was a wrinkled, yellowing map of a vaguely S-shaped island, with a long thin curve of land embracing a large lagoon, and a fat hook around a smaller grotto forming the bottom curve. Fanciful illustrations and labels in curly script filled in the wavy-lined oceans around the isle.

"A map of Neverland?" Near settled into his familiar position, curling a lock of hair around one finger as he examined it curiously.

"Not just any map," Turtle corrected gleefully. "A treasure map!"

"And not just any treasure map. Captain Kira's own treasure map," said Pan, his eyes glittering through his hair.

"Captain of the pirates," Brown clarified, seeing Near and Matt's blank stares.

"See here," Pan said, "we're right here." He licked the mango juice off his fingers and pointed to the broad southern hook, with was garlanded with the label 'Lost Boys'. "Captain Kira docks his ship here—" he moved his sticky finger to a spot on the shore halfway up the lagoon, "—and the treasure should be—"

"Where that big black X is?" said Mello, cocking a brow. Cinder shot him a dirty look.

"Yes," Pan said with an intense light in his eyes, ignoring Mello's snide tone. His finger came to rest on a spot at the southern edge of the lagoon, about halfway between the Lost Boys and the pirate ship, where a bold X slashed the shoreline.

Near was only half listening, intently examining the rest of the map. "What's that?" he asked, placing a slender finger on a humped figure that twined through the waves in the middle of the lagoon.

"Oh, that's just Ryuk," Cinder said dismissively.

"Sea monster," Pan said, grinning at Near's startled expression and ripping a large bite from his fruit.

Matt leaned in, interested despite his physical misery. "Monsters?" Maybe this would be interesting after all….

"Hasn't been sighted recently," Brown remarked.

"Ah, he won't ever be away long," said Pan slyly. "Wouldn't want to be too far from his dear friend Captain Kira."

The Lost Boys smirked, and Turtle laughed loudly. Mello winced. Near looked from one to another. "Why's that?"

Turtle fidgeted restlessly. "All this talking is boring," he moaned, "Come on, let's go have some fun!"

"Yeah, let's go find us some treasure!" said Cinder, jumping up excitedly. Folding the map and sticking it in his shirt, Pan got to his feet, chucking the clean mango pit over his shoulder.

"Yes! If we get going now we can get there and back before dark," he said, grinning. Cherry leapt into the air and flew dizzily around their heads, just as impatient as the Lost Boys.

Matt and Near joined them, Near pulling off his socks, folding them up, and sticking them in one pocket. He didn't want to get them too dirty if they were going to be walking through the jungle all day. "This way!" cried Pan, and they started off in the direction he indicated.

"Wait a minute!" Mello said, grabbing Matt's arm.

"What?" The redhead looked at his friend quizzically.

"You aren't seriously going along with this crap, are you?" he asked incredulously, waving after the Lost Boys disappearing into the trees, Near's white form bobbing along behind them. He was easily a head shorter even than Turtle. "It's bad enough that Near's gone off his block with all this fairy tale shit, but you too?"

"I—" Matt ruffled his hair awkwardly, then sneezed. "Ugh. Doing something's better than just sitting here inhaling pollen. Besides, we might see a sea monster…that'd be pretty sweet."

"You hate the outdoors. You won't even go in the yard at home. How can you be having fun with this stupid kid stuff?"

Matt sighed and swiped at his nose again. "Look, Mel, if we don't hurry up we'll lose them. And I don't know about you, but I don't know how to just fly back to Wammy's. So I'm going with Pan." He pulled out of Mello's grasp and hurried after the other kids.

Speechless, Mello gaped after him for a moment. "Shit, I'm the only sane one around here," he snapped to Cherry, who hovered, waiting for him. Hopping and pulling his own socks off, he shoved them angrily into his pocket so they wouldn't hinder him and walked with deliberate slowness after them—Cherry wouldn't let him get lost.

He really needed some chocolate.

.oOo.

"So," panted Near, trying to keep up with the enthusiastic pace of the Lost Boys, "what kind of treasure is this, exactly?"

"Buried treasure," said Turtle excitedly, scrambling over a large fallen log.

"Right, but—" Near paused to heave his tiny body up onto the log, turn around on it sitting, and slide down the other side and stumbling after the sandy-haired boy, "But what does it consist of?"

"Well how should I know, we haven't found it yet!"

"But—if you don't know what it is, why do you want to find it?"

"How else are we supposed to find out what the treasure is?" Turtle asked, looking at Near as though he were an idiot.

Near was pretty sure there was some kind of logical inconsistency here, but it was much more difficult to figure out what that was exactly when he was jogging breathless and barefoot through the jungle than sitting calmly stacking cards. Maybe he should just concentrate on staying on his feet, he thought as he tripped over a twisted tree root and nearly went sprawling. Somehow this didn't seem as fun yet as a fairy tale ought to, but he ignored that thought and decided it would get better.

Matt had hoped that the activity would distract him from his allergies, but the quick pace seemed to only be compounding his suffering. As the afternoon grew hotter, his goggles rubbed uncomfortably on his sweaty skin, but he wasn't about to take them off and expose his eyes to the glare of the sun. He was beginning to really remember why he almost never went outside. The trees became more scattered as they approached the coast, and he could literally feel his skin (naturally fair anyway, and unnaturally white due to his troglodytish lifestyle) toasting under the blazing tropical sun.

Near was obviously struggling, his cheeks flushed from the unaccustomed exertion and baggy sleeves ripped from catching on branches, but he slogged on determinedly. If Near could keep up, Matt told himself, he could too. He refused to admit to himself that in actuality he was just as unused to exercise as the younger boy. If he believed that the pale prodigy was somehow weaker in this situation it was easier for himself to go on.

He heard Cinder laughing about something Pan had said, and his frustrated sigh was interrupted by an explosive sneeze. Where the heck were these kids getting all this energy? There must be something in the fruit on this island. Or caffeine trees that he had yet to be introduced to.

Ahead of him, Near yelped as he stumbled in a rabbit hole or something and fell to his hands and knees. Turtle turned back and helped him back to his feet, looking impatient.

Sea monsters, Matt told himself firmly, making sure to step around the hole. He wasn't going to let Near see sea monsters and miss out himself.

Around midafternoon they finally reached the beach. Near's breath caught—whether from the stunning beauty of the aquamarine expanse of the lagoon, embraced by the emerald arms of the island, or simply from the brisk pace of their hike, he couldn't say. He stopped, wiggling his bare toes in the pristine sand, and spread his arms into the sea breeze. If they ever got back to Wammy's, he thought, his Gundam army would definitely have to go to the beach. Imagining them sailing up onto the sand in mechanized pirate ships and sparring on the sand with oversized beach umbrellas, he suddenly laughed.

"You're such a kid," Matt panted, coming up behind him. He didn't sound like he was trying to be mean, but Near dropped his arms and flushed, embarrassed. Matt's shoulders, nose, and cheeks were already a flaming red, he noticed.

That was going to hurt later.

"Come on!" Turtle yelled at them. Pan, Brown, and Cinder were already clumped around a spot near the grassline of the beach, examining the map.

Matt and Near strolled slowly over the hot sand toward the group, Near still looking around. "Look," he said suddenly, pointing. "You can see the pirate ship from here!"

"Oh, wow!"

They stared, still walking, at the sight. The gleaming ship nestled against the coast a few miles up the shoreline. Its sails were tied up, but gold and scarlet banners fluttered gaily in the wind from all three masts, and a large black flag with a red-eyed skull emblazoned across it claimed the sky as Captain Kira's.

"Won't the pirates see us?" Near asked Pan as they came up to the other children.

"We'll see them coming far before it'll be a problem. Never mind them! We dig here," Pan said, brandishing the map triumphantly and stamping a spot on the sand. Eagerly the Lost Boys fell to, and Matt and Near joined them, scooping away at the sand with their hands.

Many enthusiastic hands made for quick work. At first the dry white sand kept sliding into the hole, but a few feet down it became damper and firmer and held its shape. Despite the seeming pointlessness of all this effort, Near found himself becoming more and more curious. What would they find in the chest? Gold? Humongous jewels? Something completely outside of his imagination? Perhaps he had been listening to too many stories from the dorm mother, but he couldn't help but be excited. Perhaps the sun was getting to him. Even Turtle's annoyed orders to shovel faster ceased to frustrate him.

Matt could feel the blazing sun beating down on the back of his neck, but all the same he was vaguely intrigued. The pirate ship lurking across the lagoon somehow made the whole venture a lot more exciting, more dangerous, as if they were actually doing something adventurous and ran the risk of getting caught. The proud banners and the flickering red eyes of the flag also made the idea of pirate treasure seem much more exotic, and he started glancing up at the ship whenever he began to feel tired.

"Hey! They're opening up the sails!" he observed, just as Cinder cried, "I felt something hard!"

Near, Pan, and Brown looked up at the ship as Turtle and Cinder scraped away excitedly at something smooth at the bottom of the hole. Pan stood abruptly, pulling a tarnished brass telescope out of his shirt and putting it to his eye. "Where on earth is he going?" he wondered out loud, and Turtle and Cinder looked up too.

They all sat on the sand, watching the pirates sail out into the lagoon. "They're not coming this way," said Matt, frowning and shading his goggled eyes as he peered across the sun-streaked water.

"No," Pan agreed. "It almost looks like he's heading for the shallower water at the north end—oh!" Scanning the lagoon, he suddenly pointed, grinning fiendishly. "Ahh…I see now! Look!"

There, at the mouth of the lagoon, something dark and serpentine wove through the shining water.

"He's back!" Pan's eyes glittered.

"What are you all gaping at?" Mello asked crabbily, catching them unawares as he shambled up behind them. Everyone but Pan whipped around; the black-haired boy ignored him, keeping his telescope trained on the lagoon. The blonde's black sleeves were rolled up, his sweaty face pink both from the walk and from a developing sunburn. Cherry rode lazily on his shoulder, looking just as cheerful and relaxed as he looked annoyed.

"You sure took your time," commented Cinder, matching his scowl.

"Oh right, I forgot we were in such a hurry to play games," Mello retorted, flicking his damp hair off his forehead. Matt felt a little sorry for his friend despite his crankiness; those black pajamas were probably soaking up the sun and roasting him alive.

"Check it out, Mel, there really is a sea monster!" Matt said, hoping to cheer him up a little. The blonde looked cynically out at the rippling form. "Oh goodie," he said, his voice dripping sarcasm. "A giant water snake."

"What do you think?" Pan was asking Brown.

"Well," he said in a slow, thoughtful voice. "We might do better to watch from a better distance. I still say Ryuk can't be trusted."

Pan lowered the telescope and bit his thumb. "Can he get up to the shore?" Near asked him, squinting at the black form wriggling closer to their side of the lagoon.

"If he was so inclined, yeah, I reckon maybe he could," said Pan. "He has no real reason to attack us, but he's…fickle. You never really know what he's gonna do." He chewed on his thumbnail for a moment, looking annoyed. "Cover the treasure back up," he said finally, closing the telescope and sticking it back in his shirt.

"What?" wailed Turtle. "But we're so close to getting the treasure!"

"We can come back for it whenever we want, now that we know for sure it's here," Brown said soothingly.

"What! You mean we walked all the way here for nothing?" Mello demanded. "You're going back now?"

"Ok, Pan," Cinder said, smirking deliberately at Mello. Mello wondered if rules about not hitting girls applied if the girl claimed to be a lost boy.

.oOo.

It was somewhat cooler by the time they got back, and the sun was hanging low and honey-gold in the sky. Pan and the fairy had vanished off to somewhere or other, which Brown had assured them was pretty typical. "Probably off spying on Captain Kira again," he had said in his calm, slow way. Now he was sprawled on the ground in the little clearing where they were hanging out, playing some sort of games involving rocks, sticks, and a ring drawn in the dirt with Turtle. Matt was lounging and Mello was pacing on a log at the edge of the clearing watching Cinder and Near. The aggressive little girl had decided to teach Near to shoot arrows. Mello was finding some comfort and Matt amusement in the utter hopelessness of the task she had taken on.

"Not like that," Cinder snapped, looking like she wanted to snatch the bow away from Near just so that it would be used properly. "Pull it like you mean business!"

Near was already pulling as hard as he could, but he wasn't about to say so. Muscles in his arms, chest, and shoulders that he hadn't even realized he had were aching. Breathing controlledly, he sighted along the arrow's shaft and braced his sore feet, trying to imagine that he had the strong metal arms of one of his robots. The bowstring moved a hair's width back before he lost his grip on it. The shaft drew a lazy arch that went about six feet before landing to the ground with a squelch, the dye in the padded end splattering over a tree root.

At least there was one good thing about this Neverland, Mello thought, and that was that for once, his perfect rival was out of his element.

Never mind that Mello was, too. That was beside the point.

"Why even go in the first place?" Mello muttered, as Near patiently chose another dye arrow to try again. "What's the point of buried treasure? If it's worth that much why bury it and then leave a map with a great bloody X showing where it is lying around? If it's anything worth having it should be locked up in a vault on his ship!"

Matt shrugged, wincing as he poked experimentally at his sunburn. Now that they were in the shade again he was almost cheerful. "Why collect coins on Mario?"

"You are not comparing this stupid place to a video game."

"Ok then, why write essays about inertia and stay up all night graphing derivatives?"

"That's completely different!" Mello snapped, gesturing irritably. "That's actually learning and accomplishing something useful! Anyhow, it might not be fun all the time, but if we didn't do it we'd slip in the rankings."

Matt rolled his eyes and stifled a chuckle when Near dropped an arrow, splashing bright green dye on the hem of his pajamas. "Come on, Mel. We're the top three. What's going to happen? Near can't beat you more—he's already got you pretty beat at Wammy's, and he's here all wrapped up in swinging around the jungle anyhow. Obviously I'm not going to get ahead in physics while we're here and knock you down the ladder. What, is Linda or someone going to sneak up and beat all your scores if you're gone for a couple days? It won't hurt to take a short vacation. So Roger'll freak a bit. So what? It's probably good for him to flip his wig once in a while. Keeps him on his toes."

Mello scowled but didn't answer. He could really use some chocolate right about now. Watching Near, he noticed that the younger boy was perversely growing more and more calm and determined-looking the more critical Cinder became with his pitiful attempts.

"Hey, nice shot there, Cottonball," he called spitefully as another arrow fell short.

"Shut up, Mello," Cinder tossed carelessly over her shoulder, but Near looked up at them suddenly as though he hadn't really realized they were watching. His cheeks turned rather pink, and Mello noticed with irritation that somehow the pale boy didn't seem to have gotten much of a sunburn, but instead was faintly tanned.

"How is that even possible?" he grumbled. "He's practically an albino and he's hasn't burned at all." He rubbed at his nose, which had begun to peel painfully.

"Albinos have pink eyes," Matt pointed out. "And besides, I doubt that white is his natural hair color. He's eight, for heaven's sake. People don't go grey as toddlers." The redhead sneezed again and plucked up some blades of grass, braiding them together lazily. "Think I'm about ready for a nap."

"Ugh." Mello flung himself down on the ground. "This is so boring." Broodingly, he watched Near send another arrow plopping pathetically to the ground. "Oh come on, you wuss. A five-year-old could shoot better than you," he groaned. Seeing Near fail was nice and all but this was getting ridiculous.

Near lowered the loaded bow to aim at the ground and narrowed his eyes at Mello. "I don't see you trying to do better," he said a little defensively.

"Will you shut up?" Cinder snapped at Mello. "He sucks bad enough without you distracting him. How the heck am I supposed to teach him anything at this rate?"

Near looked embarrassed.

"Here, let me try," Mello said, ignoring Cinder and taking up Near's challenge. He strode into the center of the clearing and Near reluctantly handed him the bow and arrow, his hand moving to twirl his hair as soon as he relinquished them.

Taking aim at a tree, Mello sighted and let the arrow fly. It didn't hit dead on, but it left a large purple stain on the side of the trunk. He shoved the bow back at Near, smirking. The younger boy was expressionless. Mello felt a stab of frustration. Somehow beating Near wasn't as satisfying as he always hoped it would be when it was a stupid competition anyway, and Near didn't even care that he had lost.

"Heh," said Cinder, eyeing the dye mark critically, "Not too bad for a beginner."

"Nice shot," Near murmured. He looked down at the bow in his hands.

"You bet it was," Mello said, returning to his log.

"Maybe we can work more on it later...it's getting kind of dark anyway," he heard Near telling Cinder behind him.

"Pan!" Turtle cried.

The wild-haired boy strode into the clearing with Cherry riding in his tufty hair, inexplicably carrying a cake heaped with fruit.

Matt lifted his goggles briefly and stared. "Where on earth did you get that?"

"Don't got a cake fairy for nothing," Pan said breezily. "How's about a bonfire tonight, boys? Captain Kira's gonna have a sleepless night, playing tag with Ryuk—let's celebrate!" He grinned wickedly.

.oOo.

"So tell us about yourselves," Pan said lazily. Stuffed with cake and strawberries, the children sprawled on the ground or on logs, poking at the fire or holding fern leaves in it to watch the delicate fronds turn to blazing lace. "Your house was so huge—your parents really rich or something?"

Matt glanced up at him uncomfortably, then looked sidelong at Mello. "It's not our house, it's an orphanage," said Near, twirling his hair.

"Oh, sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "Still though, that was pretty nice for an orphanage. You had so many toys, I thought I would die tripping on them all."

"Wammy's isn't just any orphanage," Mello said proudly. "It's an institute for the brightest orphans from around the world, so that they can compete to succeed the world's best detective."

"Right, what, so you're really smart then?" Cinder muttered. Mello ignored her, wondering if the cake fairy ever made chocolate cake.

"Wow," said Turtle, looking impressed. "So you all wanna grow up to be detectives, then? What do you do at the school? Do you get to investigate murderers and look for clues and stuff?"

"Well, we don't yet," said Near, "we're studying to do that."

"So like, what do you actually do then?" asked Cinder.

"Study important stuff," said Mello with a hint of arrogance. "Calculus…computer programming…forensic analysis…."

The Lost Boys looked revolted. "You mean they make you do math and stuff all the time?" said Pan. "Do they ever let you play?"

"Well, yeah," said Matt. "A lot of time we're left to our own devices."

"So you get to do fun stuff then?"

"Well…" Matt fumbled. "We play games and stuff…but mostly it's for competition and to sharpen our skills, not really just for fun like treasure hunting…."

"It sounds like it sucks," Cinder commented.

"Who's this so-famous detective you want to succeed so badly?" Pan asked languidly.

"He goes by L," said Mello, eyes shining. "He's the best there is."

"What's he like?" Pan wondered.

"Well…." Mello paused. "We haven't actually met him, per se…."

"He's very secretive about his identity," Near interjected.

"Aha…I see…so then," said Pan, his eyes glinting in the firelight, "that must mean you three are all competing against each other to succeed this person you don't know. You are rivals, in other words."

"Yes, that's right," Mello said, and Near frowned, gazing into the dancing fire.

"Heh." For some reason Pan seemed amused by this. "No wonder you guys fight so much. Haha."

"Why is that funny?" Mello snapped.

Pan shrugged, and began to unpeel an orange he had mysteriously produced. "I dunno, I just assumed at first you were brothers or something. It makes sense though, you don't look anything alike."

Mello looked revolted. "I am in no way related to that fluffball," he asserted, pointing at Near. The younger boy glanced up at him through his bangs, then returned his gaze to the fire.

"You guys get in some bad fight or something?" Cinder asked, looking amused.

"Well—" Mello didn't really want to say that Near was always beating him and that he was resentful, and that Near's blithe disdain for and complete ignorance of his efforts to compete with him stung him even more. These kids just couldn't understand the competition at Wammy's, he though angrily to himself. He looked to Matt for help, but the redhead looked half asleep, his goggles pushed into his hair (he had an interesting burn line around his eyes) and his eyes nearly closed, narrow slits gleaming in the light of the fire. Near didn't seem about to volunteer either.

"I'm tired," the blonde said finally after a moment of awkward silence.

"Yeah, me too," Brown said sleepily.

"Going to bed isn't such a bad idea—we've got a big day tomorrow, after all," said Pan brightly.

"What's going on tomorrow?" Matt asked.

"Why, we have to go back and get that treasure, of course."

Mello groaned.

Everyone roused, kicking dirt over the glowing embers and following Brown into the dark at the edge of the clearing. The Lost Boys, as it turned out, had permanent bases in addition to their makeshift camps. Not far from the clearing, by the bank of the stream, a large treehouse sprawled through three adjacent trees, barely visible in the darkness. Pan flew up and let the ladder down for them, Cherry lighting their way.

As he was climbing, Matt almost ran into Near, who had suddenly frozen on the ladder. "What's wrong? Keep going, Near!"

"Maybe I'll just sleep on the ground," Near said tightly. Matt looked up. The younger boy was staring down at the ground, eyes wide.

"Can't sleep on the ground, tigers or something will eat you," said Turtle.

Near swallowed. "Has-has that happened before?"

"Of course not, stupid. We always sleep in the treehouse so we're always safe from tigers."

Near was getting very tired of being called stupid. It was not a label he was used to, and his pride was starting to smart from the battering it had been taking all day. This whole fairy tale thing was turning out to be a lot less fun than he thought it would be, and Mello certainly wasn't helping matters.

"What's wrong, Near?" the blonde sneered, poking his head out of the trap door as though the thought had summoned him. "Scared of heights?"

"No," snapped Near, forcing himself to move his hand up another rung, and then clinging there. The ground was so far away…what if he rolled right out the door in the middle of the night?

"Don't look down. You'll be just fine," came Brown's slow, soothing voice.

Near looked up. Somehow Mello's smirking face was just as unwelcome a sight as the distant jumble of tree roots and rocks, but instead of freezing him it galvanized him to prove he could do this. Clenching his jaw, he slowly climbed the rest of the ladder, one step at a time.

"Nice job, Near," Mello said seriously he got to the top. "We almost thought you would fall right off for a minute there. Better luck next time, huh?"

"You're not a very nice person," Brown observed.

Mello scowled. Why did everyone see him as the bad guy? Man, he needed chocolate.

Near levered himself up through the trapdoor, ignoring Mello and looking around. The sprawling, asymmetrical room was hung all around the edges with hammocks, with odds and ends such as hollow melon rinds, feathers, colored string, marbles, and other things less identifiable in the flickering light scattered about in piles.

Pan climbed in last, then pulled up the rope ladder behind him. Near noted with relief that he closed the trapdoor as well. He could almost pretend that this was just a normal room in a ground-level house.

There were a lot more hammocks than Lost Boys (the thought immediately popped into Matt's head that their owners must have been eaten by tigers; he chuckled and Mello gave him a dirty look), and the Wammy boys chose one each for themselves—Matt and Mello next to each other, and Near as far away from Mello as possible. Near climbed awkwardly into the hammock, a little unnerved by its swinging, but once he was on his back the fabric cocooned around him in a way that was actually rather comforting. If he just didn't move at all, perhaps he would be alright. It made him feel slightly sick to think of how he had frozen up, first flying, then on the ladder. This inexplicable fear of heights was irrational and rather unexpected, and he felt almost angry with himself for not being able to reason through it.

Tomorrow, he told himself, would be better. Building up strength took time, after all. He hadn't stacked a perfect pyramid the first time he had sat down with a deck of cards. Moving through the jungle and arrows would come to him too…he hoped. At the very least hopefully he wouldn't make as much of a fool of himself in front of Mello as he evidently had today. He wished he had a clean pair of pajamas to sleep in and tried not to think about it.

Matt had no trouble whatsoever with the hammock, except that his arms and neck felt like they were radiating back all the heat the sun had burned into them. He threw off his T-shirt to cool down, trying to move as little as possible so as not to rub his sunburn. Tomorrow he would definitely have to look into finding some way to avoid burning this much again, or he'd be blistering. Ugh.

Mello had rather less luck with his hammock. He overbalanced on his first attempt and fell sprawling on his face. The second attempt was just as successful. The Lost Boys were laughing at his antics, which only made him madder.

"Shut up," he snarled at them, on the floor for the third time.

"Here, try doing it like this," Brown said placidly, starting to demonstrate.

"I don't need your help," Mello said, pushing him roughly away. "This is stupid. Why the hell would you put hammocks in a treehouse anyway?"

"Why not?" said Turtle, curled cozily in his own hammock.

"Because it's stupid. This whole place is stupid. It makes no sense."

"If you hate it so much, why did you come?" said Cinder snappishly.

"It's his fault, him and his stupid obsession with pretending and games!" Mello blazed, pointing an accusatory finger at Near. For a split second a trick of the flickery light in the treehouse made it look to him almost as though the younger boy looked hurt, but then he turned his face away and closed his eyes to sleep. "I never wanted to come in the first place!"

There was a ringing silence as Matt stared at Mello, and the Lost Boys all looked disgusted and annoyed.

"All right then," Pan said smoothly. "Tell you what. Tomorrow morning, I'll teach you to fly by yourself, without my help. Then you can go back whenever you want."

"Why can't you just take us back yourself?" Mello demanded.

"Are you kidding? If Ryuk's back, I don't want to go wandering off—something exciting might happen while I'm gone and I don't want to miss out." The uncertain light made his now-familiar grin look even more fiendish.

"Fine then," grumbled Mello.

He finally managed to get into the hammock, and decided he hated it—stretched out with his arms and legs practically bound together, he felt like he was in a straightjacket. His forearms, face, and neck stung and itched from the sunburn, rubbing uncomfortably against the fabric of the hammock and his shirt. Listening to the snoring around him as the night wore on, he desperately wished for the hundredth time that day that he had some chocolate.