Squinting his eyes, the boy suppressed a giggle as his identical brother strained to keep a hold of the vine. Both sets of eyes were locked on the target, their cheeks a rosy color from the suppressed humor of their expedition.

"Unguard you unworthy opponent!" A cackle came, followed by splintering noises erupting from the opposite side of the room. Slightly threw his long curly blonde hair out of his face with a sudden jerking movement, handling the stick with the grace of a trained knight as he taunted his friend.

Curly frowned at his small defeat, but his mood was quickly brightened as his gaze was drawn over to Peter's bed. Slightly too followed the stare, instantly bringing up a hand to conceal the laugh threatening to erupt from his throat.

The twins were stationed directly above Peter's bed, a large tropical bird clamped in the first one's hands, his fingers barely able to keep his beak closed. Peter happened to be asleep in that very bed, a large pool of water surrounding his gaping mouth as he rested peacefully. The first twin slowly brought the bird closer to Peter's open mouth, a glint of maliciousness dawning on his face as he prepared to let it go.

The room pulsed with a silence that would never usually be found around such rowdy boys as they all waited in anticipation.

BANG

Four things then happened, seemingly simultaneous, but most likely in this order:

Nibs burst in happily yelling about their attack,
The first twin was startled by Nibs and accidentally let the bird go on Peter's face,
Peter woke up screaming in fear of the three headed monster directly above his bed,
And the poor bird was scarred with a string of words erupting from the disgruntled boy that no creature should ever be forced to fall victim to.

"SWEET MOTHER OF- what are you two doing?! What the hell is- WHY WERE YOU HOLDING A BIRD OVER MY HEAD?!" Peter stood up, his chest still rising heavily from shock. He pointed a condemning finger at the twins, before glancing around the room.

"That was amazing! Truly… Bravo Nibs on that grand entrance!" Slightly said with a salute and a laugh, as Curly clung to the nearest object for support, his face mimicking the portrayal of a fish out of water. "Eh," Slightly glanced at his friend, hitting him on the back with a sincere look of concern. "You alright there, bud?"

"That… was…" Curly gasped for breath, his odd unexplainable expression finally warping to what seemed like an oxygen lacking laugh of some sort, "PETER DID YOU PEE YOURSELF?" Curly finally burst out, his grip on the object failing and his body falling to the floor with trembling unexpressed giggles.

The remaining Lost Boys burst into laughter at the sight of Peter's stained tights and instantly blushed face.

"What?! No! When I jumped up the cup of juice spilled-"

Peter's explanation was cut short by Tootles bursting into the hideout, blissfully unaware of the previous situation. "I hung back a little, Nips!" He said rather proudly, puffing out his chest and grinning, "The pirates have stopped to gather food… A few seemed like they were roaming way past the agreed boundaries!"

"Pirates! Nibs, you didn't tell us there were pirates!" Slightly yelled, outraged, as Curly stood in sudden seriousness, and the twins both hopped down from their positions with a nod.

"I was distracted," Nibs defended, yet urgently staring at Peter with the rest of the crew.

"We'll break up into groups to evenly spread our defense across their boundaries. Twins, Tootles, you take the woods surrounding their food source. Slightly and Curly will guard the mountains that the pirates sometimes try and use for sneak attacks. Nibs, you and I will split up around the coast, hopefully to only intimidate them. But if they step out of line, don't you hesitate on attacking." Peter stood, taking up his role as leader with quick ease. Each Lost Boy shared a grin at their part in the stake out. Every task was crucial, and the Lost Boys rarely felt like they weren't strong or fast enough to help with their nonstop war against the pirates.

Yet, there always was the standing exception of 'the duo'.

Peter Pan, the obvious leader, had taken on their ultimate enemy and won. Peter had brought the only female many of the Lost Boys had even known, and had brought each and every one of them to Neverland from their own home. No one could ever even imagine living up to the boy who could fly without fairy dust.

But, there was also Nibs. Nibs was Peter's secondhand man. He was the oldest out of the group, and could outrun all of the animals in Neverland; let alone an overweight pirate. Nibs had taken down more pirates than any of the other Lost Boys put together, and always seemed to do any task with ease and grace. Jealousy rose high as Peter shared an excited look with Nibs after he'd assigned positions. It was rare that Peter would share the glory of taking on the pirates with anyone else, but if he did, it was always with Nibs.

"Ready boys?" Peter chimed, pulling six metal swords out from under his bed and tossing them to the Lost Boys in the circle as he ranted, "Today, like any other day, we must prove that we are greater than any adult! Growing up slows you down and clouds your reflexes. Are we going to let those old nasty pirates get the best of us today?!" He finished with a triumphant roar, raising his sword in the middle. Six swords clinked into Peter's instantly, as everyone's face lit up with a thunderous response, "NEVER!"

- - - - - - - - - - -

Melody scanned her room quickly, wondering how long it would be before she decided to return to the ship. It wasn't possible to just get off and on with the crew.. Starkey would notice and be furious with her. If Melody was going to steam Starkey off by merely setting foot off of the boat, the journey needed to be long enough to be worth it.

She pulled out a silk cloth from her regal dresser, setting a loaf of bread, patoon of water, bobby pins, a shotgun, and a few spare shirts for her to change into. Neverland was filled with fruits and streams, so other provisions would be unnecessary. Melody tied the cloth shut tightly and picked up a large metal sword propped up against her door. It was icy to the fingers and made her feel rebellious by the mere touch of it. The sword sent an excited chill down Melody's back, giving her all of the inspiration she needed to walk up to her cavern window without a second thought.

The crisp salty wind blew Melody's thin white shirt around as she carefully jumped out of her window when the ship was docked, her boots thudding against a large barge of sand. She'd set her large sword into her belt's sheath, and her silk pouch was gripped firmly in Melody's small hand. The sand sank into slight footprints as Melody quickly sprinted from the boat and into the nearest opening of the forest, praying to God that the pirates didn't choose this moment to finally become aware of their surroundings.

Her breath pounding in her ears from the thrill of the chase, Melody leaned up against a tree and grinned. This was just the start of a whole new life for the pirate. A life in which SHE made up her own rules. No exceptions, no complaints.

Daring, finally, to peak around the tree and check to see if she'd had any tagalongs or had caused and suspicions yet, Melody noted that not a single man was halted in his hunt for food. She'd actually gotten away so far! Of course, it wouldn't be too long before Starkey would decide to check-up on her and find her missing…

She needed to act fast! But where to go? It'd been poor planning to jump out and do this without a map or any allies. Melody would just have to wing it and hope for the best. She slowly made her way as far as one could possibly go from the pirates and their gathering grounds.

- - - - - -

Nibs clasped his tanned hands around the tree branch, swinging himself around into a sitting position. He caught sight of Curly and Slightly frowning at him before setting off to the mountains… It wasn't like this occurrence was something that Nibs wasn't used to, honestly, but each time it made him rethink his position.

Nibs was good, that fact was obvious. In fact, Nibs was amazing. He was the most attractive, by far, out of all the Lost Boys. He was stronger, faster, and reasonably older than any Lost Boy Peter had ever taken in. He'd won over Tiger Lily's heart countless times, had mermaids swooning over his looks almost as much as Peter did, and even Tink had warmed up to his infamous smile. Why, if Nibs could fly without dust, he'd probably beat even Peter Pan himself.

The other Lost Boys envied Nips greatly for this fact…

But honestly, winning for your entire life had gotten boring as hell.

There were no goals, no purposes…

Of course, this was exactly what Neverland was built upon: children afraid of responsibilities and just wanting to have fun for the rest of eternity. Nibs would certainly be banned if he were to ever voice his frustrations with any of his pears. But the lingering boredom never truly vanished from his mind…

"Alright! It's time for war!" Peter's merry voice rang out from the hideout, as he appeared in the entrance with his sword pointed skyward wearing a toothy grin.

"Had to change your tights, eh?" Nibs laughed, jumping nimbly from the tree.

Peter glared at Nibs for a moment, before setting gear back into the mission. "We're going to have to cover the twin's slack on the left.. They get distracted too easily," Peter mumbled to himself, drawing symbols into the sand with the edge of his sword. "Nibs," he indicated with a head nod towards a large N Peter had sketched out, "You cover this area," Peter commanded as he dragged his sword across a few triangles, "and the left half of the beach. Of course, I'll take the sky, beach, and tops of the trees. Fair enough?"

Ah, of course he'd one up Nibs with the flying deal, "'Course Peter."

"And remember... don't attack unless they're hostile."

"Aren't they always hostile?"

"That's what I'm counting on. Don't let me down, Nibs," Peter grinned with enthusiasm as his feet hovered over the rocky trail.

"Never do," Nibs said with a salute and a grin, as Peter quickly took off over the forest, leaving a dust trail behind.

- - - -

Melody took in a single shuddering breath, her eyes locked upon the hunter before her. The tiger stalked slowly towards its frightened prey, his lean body arching easily over the wood's natural debris.

Melody's knuckles were now white from her steadfast grip on the sword, trying desperately to remember Starkey's words on defense against animals. "Never linger if it approaches, make the first move." Making a silent prayer, Melody took a shaky step towards the beast.

The Tiger snarled at her, bearing his large menacing teeth as a warning. Melody held her sword high, prepared to make a deadly blow towards it's neck-

-when suddenly, a swirl of color surrounded Melody, causing her to stumble backwards.

Once her brain finally rationalized what was happening, Melody realized that a muscular boy had jumped from the tree and tackled her Tiger, and for some odd reason, the tiger had ran away without bothering the boy at all.

A fleeting fear of being discovered rushed through her, and Melody quickly pushed her pirate hat down, gathering her bags and starting to run off. She'd barely gone two feet when a tanned hand grabbed her arm and swung her around. Melody now found herself face to face with an extremely angry, yet admittingly handsome, boy. It wasn't Peter Pan, though… Melody had seen him once before. Perhaps he was part of the Indian tribe that inhabited Neverland? He had the same color of skin as some of the mixed Indians did. Most likely, Melody decided, he was an Indian. Melody's train of thought was cut off, however, by a snarl erupting from the boy's throat.

"You filthy vermin," he spat, not looking at her face as he seemed to be checking out the area for any other dangers, "Not only do you break your boundary rules, but you try and murder one of our animals! And then run away. You pirates disgust me."

"I'm pretty sure that Tiger started it, sir." Melody said, in the most masculine voice she could muster.

"Right," the boy's voice was filled with sarcasm as he pushed her into a tree away from him and drew his sword, "I suppose it's time for me to finish it." At this, he finally looked at her, an eerie grin filling his face as he spoke the words.

"You mean fight me?" Melody said with a soft fear. His nod to this sent an even stronger wave of terror through her. Of course she'd fought and won before, but the pirates on the ship were all old and uncoordinated. By the way he'd merely jumped from that tree, Melody knew that it was extremely unlikely she'd come out of this alive.

"Look," she started, looking at the ground, "If you'd like, I'll go back to my ship and never come back to the forest. I didn't mean to upset you."

After a long moment of silence where the boy seemed to be watching her, he finally spoke. "What the hell?" The boy surrendered, taking a step back from her, his face filled with disgust and confusion. "Pirates never back down and apologize," the last bit more to himself than her. A sudden wave of anger flashed over him, though, and he brought his sword near to her, "Who are you and why are you here?"

Melody silently cursed herself, biting her lip. She only had a few options left, now. Either she tell him the truth, and hope to God that he didn't attempt to take advantage of her like many women fell victim to in Neverland, or fight the boy and die.

She slowly removed her hat, letting her hair fall around her shoulders before stating firmly, "I'm Melody Hook, and I've come to kill Peter Pan."

I had one review. : It made me happy, honestly.
Review please.