It is strange to wake up in the night, to play and hunt at night, darkness was endless in Neverland for the past week, the darkness made everything difficult for everyone, to unable to see what they hunt.

Mara still awaits for the sunrise every morning, hoping to awake to daylight when she opens her eyes, to see the shadows of trees and leafs dancing on the sheets of the tent. Every morning, she is still tired, the Lost Boys are too tired to wake up as well, they all find themselves awake an hour or two late. The night confuses them all too, they don't know if it's whether night, morning, or noon. They don't know when they should have lunch or supper. But it is Peter Pan who tells them the time.

The torches and the bonfires keep going every night and day, the night somehow changes every mood of single person. Mara finds herself sullen and frustrated all the time. The Lost Boys were a lot moody nowadays. The Natives across the island seem doing well, they weren't heard from the camp, the Lost Boys and Mara would hear them sometimes, the faint drumming, the singing cries and shouts. They seem to be doing well than the Lost children.

Everyone missed the sun.

When the noon arrived, Mara was in the camp with her tentmates and another group while the rest were still hunting or collecting ingredients from all over the island.

"I'm bloody cold" Curly grunted as he pulled out a fresh cloak from the basket. "It feels like winter is near. It would be gnarly if it does come. Freeze our arses off, we'd probably be dead before spring even comes"

"Winter never comes" Slightly said, "We're quite far from where winter is. Maybe it's winter season already but it's high unlikely it'll come here"

"Well if we have Lost Girls in Neverland, or nightmares or the sun gone, why not snow?"

"You think too much" Slightly rolled his eyes.

"And whine too much" James muttered under his breath, sitting near Mara and only she heard what he said.

She and her tentmates had just walked from Tinker Bell's camp to get more dust then left with Ace's group to the Native's camp to exchange. While they were in the camp, Mara wondered about the children there, if they grow up, but of course no one grows up in Neverland so her question is if those children have been like that since the beginning.

Pan once told her that he knows nothing about the Native's history, all he knew is that they've been here longer than anyone else. It almost surprised Mara that Pan barely knows Native's history. He should know everything, should he?

Mara grabbed some water from one of the tables then sat down by the tree trunk. She pour some on her hands that were blistered from carrying the heavy baskets all the way from the Native's camp. She could tell the Natives were getting peevish for being too early, their old garments were getting dirty from playing the games and that's why they needed fresh garments.

"It's better to wet a cloth then put it on your hands" James told Mara, "keeps cooling your blisters"

"Right" Mara murmured. She did what James told her.

With Pan being absent again, the Lost Boys had nothing to do throughout the day besides taking strolls and do whatever they like. Pan has been different lately as well, he has been quite sullen and unusual. He doesn't smile much and mostly had a stern look on his face.

The Lost Boys lost track of time if evening had passed or night has arrived. It seems that time didn't truly matter, it was constantly night, it's not morning or noon or evening anymore and they could just pick any time to call it a day and rest. When Felix said he was going to sleep, the Lost Boys followed.

Mara couldn't sleep at all for an unknown reason, the boys in her tent were snoring and asleep. She had laid on her hammock for a long time and staring above. When she heard footsteps coming into the camp, she knew it was Pan, she needed to see him and talk to him. So she got on her feet, put her shoes on then quietly left the tent.

It was chilly as fall season outside, Mara had to wear her cloak to keep warm and sit by the fire. Pan was sitting on his usual spot by the fire and she went to join him. "I think the boys missed you today" she wrapped her cloak around herself and sat down beside him. "Where've you been?"

Pan merely shrugged, "My place, resting"

"You've been taking a lot of rests these days" she noticed, it is unusual to know that Pan has been sleeping a lot, like every two days like a normal person, "does it have to do with the sun?"

He shrugged again. "I'm still a person, you know? I sleep a lot like you"

Mara shook her head, not believing him, "Not since the nightmares began or the sun stopped rising" she gave a despondent sigh, "whatever it is you have, that makes you all powerful, that makes you not sleep every day, it's all slipping away, isn't it? If you're dying, then your magic is too"

"Can't say you're wrong" Pan murmured.

Things in Neverland are slowly falling apart, everyone is beginning to lose faith and hope. Mara seems to be the only person who's been keeping her hopes up.

Mara noticed his hand, a white cloth wrapped around his hand and red smears. It looked recent, "What happened there?" She motioned at his hand.

"Just a little cut"

She knew it wasn't just a little cut, so she grabbed his wrist and pulled to get a close look. Pan let out a peevish sigh as Mara slowly unwrapped the cloth. His hand twitched when she pulled the rag off and revealed a gash. Mara scoffed, "Yeah, just a little cut for sure" She got up and went back into her tent to get her med kit.

"I'm sure it'll be fine" Pan said when Mara came back with her pouch.

"Can you heal it?" She looked at him and he looked at her in the eyes. She gave a stern look as she awaited his answer. If he's dying, so is his magic, his magic is growing weak perhaps, he can't heal himself and doesn't have enough magic to do so. Mara pulled out of the necklace from under her collar and showing him the vial of pixie dust. "Is this not enough?"

"I'm not going to use that, it's yours, you have to save it for something else" he insisted.

"Well, stitches it is" Mara grabbed her pouch and pulled out a needle and a thread. "Ever had em'"

"Been a long time"

She cleaned the wound first, Pan's hand kept twitching time to time while she was stitching the gash closed. "How much time do we have left until Blackbeard comes?"

Pan didn't respond for a moment. "He could come any time... any moment. Won't know until he's arrived like how I knew you and Hook came before you reached Neverland's sea"

"So all we have to do is defeat him or get the heart and bring it back to it's home then everything's back to normal"

"You can say that"

Mara was curious about something, about the prophecies, about her, about how she was the first sign. "You all said that I was the first sign, the first Lost Girl, then the nightmares and the sun. How did you all figure out the prophecies? Was there some sort of a witch or a wizard who told you?"

Pan softly chuckled, "No... it was the Natives. I don't know how they did it but after Bishop left. They figured it out, I assumed they used a bit of Dreamgiver to see the future and that's how they knew about you, the nightmares and the sun"

Mara finally finished stitching the gash, she grabbed a rag and wrapped it around his hand. She thought of what he said the other night about the others that came by the island. "You said there were other girls, either of them could've been the Lost Girl, how come it wasn't either of them? And how'd you know it'd be me?"

Pan said nothing for a moment, he looked at his hand that Mara tended, he got up then reached his other hand out at her. "Come. I'd go and get it but I don't feel like to make a double trip"

Mara raised her brows, she glanced back at her tent, as if worrying about her friends, she wasn't sure what she was worried about them for. She turn her gaze back at him then reluctantly grabbed his hand and got on her feet.

She felt them both disappearing out of the camp then appeared somewhere else. It was dark where they were, she spot a bit of light on the ground, the ground felt odd and straight. The ground creaked as Pan went around her and let go of her hand.

She stood still and waited for him. Then there was light behind her. She turned around and see Pan lighting up a lamp. She realized they were in his treehouse. She only been here once, that was the night everyone had nightmares. This was the second time she's been here. Pan grabbed a parchment under the maps of Neverland on the table. He looked at it before giving it to Mara.

"They gave me this" he told her.

She grabbed the parchment, an olive, rusted, wrinkled old paper. On the paper was a drawing of a girl and the girl looked a lot like Mara. But of course, it is Mara.

She wasn't sure how to react. It made her realize that Pan had known about her for a very long time, way long before she was even born. She found that a bit odd.

Mara sat down on the bed as she kept her eyes on the parchment. "So... you've had this... for a very long time"

Pan was standing in front of her, glancing down at her, "Yes"

She said nothing, she had no words and she wasn't sure what to say about it or to feel. She folded the parchment slowly and slight awkwardly. She'd like to think that Neverland was waiting for her a long time, like the place had reserved it for her, like a home waiting for her and all this time, way long before, she was meant to be in this place. To be a Lost Girl. She wouldn't call that a destiny at all, it was all just meant to be.

"So that's it, huh?" She broke the silence, "All this time this place was waiting for me and make the prophecy come true" somehow she wasn't proud of it and there was a part of her that felt it was all her fault for the ending to happen.

The boy didn't reply right away, it was either he had nothing to say or there was something else he hasn't told her. Pan surprised her when he let out a soft chuckle, "It's not all exactly... something else that only I and the Natives know about" he stepped back, leaned back on the table with hands on it. "...they also had mentioned that you..." He was looking away, half smiled as he laughed softly until he looked at her, "... they also claimed that you're the one who could save me"

Mara was stunned. "Me? Save you?" She wasn't sure if she should be relieved or be worried. "How'm I supposed to that?"

Pan was quiet, his eyes were on the wall behind her until he pushed himself off the table and went to sit down beside her. He looked at her and answered, "I don't know... I guess this is where you're going to decide if you ever want to save me and figure out how"

Mara had no idea, she had no clue how to save Peter Pan.

"You don't have to, you know? You don't have to try and figure out, I don't want you to feel distracted or anything"

Of course she wants to save him. "I do want you to live" she murmured. She just needs to figure out how. She looked at him in the eyes and said, "I want to save you. I believe I'll eventually figure out the way how"

Pan stared at her for the longest time before smiling. The smile was different, it wasn't a smirk, that smile made him look different and it was very honest. "I believe you can" he said softly.

She smiled back and said nothing. Instead, she leaned forward and kissed him.

***

Damn, how long since I last updated?
XD so sorry for the wait
Kinda needed a timeout from this story.

For those who are still here and if you're reading this
Thank you for sticking around and not giving up on this story! You're amazing and very loyal ❤️ ^_^

Stay weird everyone!