Edited ✔️✔️

~As always, feel free to tell me if there are any errors~

Chapter 14

Thomas marched into camp, his footsteps like thunder against the earth, with maps and scrolls secured tightly under his arms.

As Pan's newly second in command he had a lot more weight on his shoulders. As second in command, he got the opportunities to go with Pan on some of his business trips outside of the island, recruit new lost boys, be the head trainer, and basically make sure no boys died while Pan wasn't around. But the biggest benefactor was that it also gave him a better access and resources to help find Mia.

He gained access to private maps Pan usually kept hidden in his secret tent located outside of camp and got to find out about new places he never even heard about before even with all his years on the island. All night every night he stayed up, studying old battle techniques and marking any possible places of Mia's whereabouts. After long nights of studying maps and reading ancient scrolls, Thomas felt like he'd found something.

Hopefully Pan would agree or else his hard work would be for nothing and—

Thomas skidded to a stop and his mouth opened when he saw camp.

"P-Pan?" he stuttered out, both terrified and shocked at the sight that stood before him.

Peter Pan, in all his mighty glory stood smugly in the front of a large, crescent shaped crowd of Red Skinned Indians and Lost Boys who stood at the front and looked just as uncomfortable and confused as he was. Some had their hands ready at their weapons, and other seemed too terrified by the massive men behind them to move at a all.

Pan stopped speaking in the middle of his sentence and turned to give Thomas one of his signature lopsided smiles that showed just how cocky he truly was.

"Big Chief, this is my new second in command that I told you about. Thomas, come. We were just starting," Pan said while smiling with his nose in the air, confidence sleeping through every one of his pores. But there was hidden authority—a warning—in his voice so that only people who knew him well would be able to hear it. A sign to tell the boys that he was just as on guard as they were and ready to attack if anyone went against him.

Thomas listened to Pan's continued speech, still with papers under his arms, and joined the rest of the boys at the front, taking note of Pan's weird behavior.

He seemed giddy. Girlishly giddy, but in a cocky and arrogant way that wasn't funny or cute at all. In fact, it was disturbing and Thomas held back a cringe.

Getting the mighty Red Skins on their side was feeding Pan's head to a point where Thomas knew he'd have a hard time getting through doorways soon. Something in his stomach told him that Pan's good mood act was going to come crashing to an end at any moment now.

"As we all know, there is a threat here on the island–"

Maybe if he hadn't have heard this a thousand times Thomas would've been paying attention. But in all honestly all he wanted to do was throw the papers in Pan's face and yell at him what he had found. Mia could've been hurt and Thomas knew that at any moment, if they weren't fast enough, she could be dead. He held back a scream.

"–The Red Skins will–"

Thomas had already heard it all. Him and Pan talked it over the evening before (minus the part about the Red Skins being present) and all of this was old to him. He wondered if that was how James felt: bored and uncaring. Maybe that's why he was the way he was? Thomas thought. But then he shook his head and laughed at himself internally. James was heartless. Being second in command had nothing to do with that.

"–Hook and Rufio–"

–are apart of this so called 'Master's' plan, Thomas finished Pan's sentence in unison in his head, while internally begging for Pan to stop his habit of rehearsing everything he's going to say in his speech a hundred times beforehand.

The massive boulder a few steps away was starting to tempt him into banging his head against it.

"Thomas!"

He physically jumped as the familiar voice yelled loudly in his ear and he let out a small noise of surprise, snapping out of his sea of thoughts.

"Why you are carrying around confidential equipment from my hut, through my camp without my permission?" Pan snapped, his attitude changing from bad to worse. His hands were crossed like usual and his eyebrows were furrowed into a frown. Typical Pan.

"I think I found something on Mia! I think I know where he's hiding her," Thomas explained as enthusiastically as he could in a whisper, his eyes darting between the dispersing Lost Boys and Red Skins who retreated back into the forest. "If you could just look at them–"

Pan held up his hand, interrupting him. He sighed, sounding very annoyed. "Thomas, what is this?"

"What do you mean?"

"What is this? What are you trying to achieve from all this?" Pan asked, quirking a brow while motioning between him and the scrolls.

"Stop the master and–"

"–save Mia," Pan growled, cutting Thomas off. His hands turned into fists and his grey eyes turned a shade darker like an angering storm. "Thomas, as my second in command and oldest Lost Boy I am going to be generous by giving you this warning: stop focusing on Mia like she is the only one at risk here!" Pan yelled, earning a few head turns. "Because she's not," he hissed, getting in Thomas's face.

"You don't think I know that?" Thomas fought back. "I'm not that naive child you saved from the streets! And yeah maybe I am worried about her. But it's because I love her and she loves me—something you'll never know!" Thomas yelled, his sleep deprivation not helping his current situation. He was stressed, tired, and sick of Pan's obvious stalling.

Pan was quick, and in seconds he had his long fingers enclosed around Thomas's throat, lifting him off the ground like he was a mere feather. The papers that were in his hands fell from his grasp and into the mud as he gasped for air and clawed at Pan's hands, horror-filled eyes wide with desperation and pleading.

"Don't act like you somehow know what I don't, boy!" Pan barked. His face was red and his eyes were glassy. Thomas couldn't tell if he was about to snap his neck or burst out into tears. Fortunately he never had to find out because, as if on cue, a zooming light zigzagged it's way into camp between the crowds.

The light stopped beside them and expanded into a silhouette of a person, growing clearer every second. In a blink, the silhouette of light became an actual person—a short, blonde woman with green eyes, button nose, and pointed ears to be exact.

Tink.

Pan's grip loosened into nothing and Thomas fell to the ground straight onto his bum, his tailbone aching from the impact as he gasped for air while also caressing his sore, bruising neck. He slowly looked up between the two people, sending a death glare in Pan's direction while being surprised to see the familiar fairy in their camp.

Through her look of pain, the female fairy seemed to instantly recognize him as well as one of Pan's oldest Lost Boys, and she continued to breathe heavily on Pan's shoulder as if she'd finished running a marathon.

"What? What is it Tink?" Pan asked, grabbing the ends of her shoulders and shaking her slightly more out of worry than anything else. Worry for what—nobody knew.

The small woman with a sigh then collapsed and Pan caught her swiftly before she even hit the ground. He picked her up with such ease as if she weighed nothing, which she probably did, and looked down at her with a frown of confusion.

Pan looked at Thomas, his glower suddenly returning. "I'll deal with you later," he sneered and walked off with Tink in his arms, her bobbing up and down slightly with each of his harsh steps.

Thomas huffed, groaning as he stood and and began to pick up the papers that were now stained with mud. But he soon stopped as his mind began working on his own plan—one that didn't involve Pan.

If Pan won't listen, Thomas said to himself, picking up one particular parchment and unrolled it, then I'll have to rescue Mia on my own.

He took a glance at the place he had circled on the map and smiled, feeling confident he knew right where to go.

With quick side glances to make sure no one would follow, Thomas quickly began to trek his way through the thick jungle using the map as a guide. The other papers he had left in the mud for Pan to deal with and clean on his own.

The location on the map was a long ways away and would take a few days to get to. But Thomas knew the jungle and its inhabitants, where to go, and where not to go. He was safe. And soon, hopefully, Mia would be too.

Hopefully.

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