One moment you had been admiring the magnificent scenery Neverland held and the next you were being dragged down through an earthy hole, under the tree roots and beyond into stifling dark. Both Minhyun and you had been captured, but by whom? Perhaps it was Captain Hook, if he did indeed exist…although if Peter Pan existed, then it only made sense that Captain Hook did too…that thought did little to comfort you. Reeling your wandering thoughts back in, you desperately tried to fight against whoever it was who had hold of you. They had one hand clasped tightly around your mouth and the other around your waist, pulling you deeper and deeper down below. Despite your greatest efforts, your struggling did very little to help you escape.
                Suddenly, you heard voices, audible and growing in frequency. Shortly thereafter, you emerged in a hollowed out room, candles scattered in various corners providing it with little light. Hastily, you were dropped upon a pile of autumn leaves and your hands tied tightly behind your back. Breathing heavily, your eyes darted around the room. You saw shadows dancing across the walls which were made from the roots of trees entwined within one another. There was little furniture, all of it wooden and made from stumps and logs. What was this place?
                “Minhyun?” you called softly.
                “I’m here,” he told you reassuringly as you felt his fingers grab a hold of your own. Knowing he was sat behind you comforted you.
                “Where are we?” But before he could answer that question, figures began to emerge from the shadows. You held your breath, waiting in anticipation and dread. When the forms took shape fully, your eyes widened. Why, they were children! All of them young boys, adorned in tattered clothes, leaves and feathers in their hair, dirt upon their faces, blunt weapons held tightly in their hands, waving them in victory.
                “We’ve caught you now!” One of them said triumphantly.
                “Don’t think you’ll leave here alive!” Another announced.
                “After all, we can’t have Captain Hook knowing about our hide out!” They all turned to one another, mumbling in agreement.
                “We don’t work for Captain Hook,” Minhyun told them. “And how many times has Peter told you to not pounce on people before seeing who they are, Tums?” There was a moments silence before the one supposedly called Tums stepped forward, his curly hazel hair matching the colour of his eyes. He furrowed his brows in confusion, before holding out the club in his hand in a threatening manner.
                “Who are you and how do you know my name?”
                “Ahh, if you would just untie me then you’ll know,” Minhyun replied.
                “It’s a trick,” one of the other boys told Tums. “The minute you untie him he’ll go for your throat!”
                “Lofty’s right,” another one of them nodded in agreement. “You can’t trust ‘im.” There was more mumbling between the five boys and you sighed, wondering if they would ever reach a decision. Eventually, Tum’s pushed them all aside and stepped forward tentatively, completely bypassing you and walked around to where Minhyun was. You turned your head and watched as Tums crouched down and peered into Minhyun’s face.
                “It’s me Tums. It’s Min.” Tums eyes widened and he fell back in astonishment.
                “Min? Is that really you? But-you’re grown up!”
                “Min?” The other boys ran around and stared at Minhyun with the same astonished look upon their face, each mumbling incomprehensibly before quickly untying Minhyun’s hands.
                “How did you manage to get back here?” Lofty asked Minhyun, scratching his disheveled blonde hair in confusion.
                “I flew.”
                “You flew?” they all gasped. “But how?”
                “Trilby came and found me. She told me about Peter being missing so I had to come back and help find him.” The boys all lowered their heads sadly, some glancing at each other guiltily.
                “It was all our fault,” one of them began. “We were playing a game and he got mad at us and…and…” before you knew it, they had all broken down into tears.
                Still sat there with your hands tied behind your back, you attempted to reassure them by saying, “I’m sure it wasn’t any of your fault. Peter will be back soon.”
                Immediately, they all stopped crying and looked up towards you, with flushed, tear-stricken faces. Blinking feverously, Tums stood up and walked over to you, peering into your face the same way he had done to Minhyun.
                “You don’t look familiar…” then he gasped. “Why, she’s a lady! We have captured a lady!” They all jumped to their feet, frantically running around, some trying to tidy the room whilst two others instantly set about untying your hands whilst apologising profusely.
                “We’re awfully sorry about this.”
                “Our manners are terrible.”
                “Peter would discipline us greatly if he came to know.”
                “He always tells us to treat ladies with good manners and kindness.”
                “Would you like some tea?”
                “S’all pretend, of course.”
                “Children don’t drink real tea.”
                “Not sure how you even make tea…”
                “A teapot! We need a teapot!”
                They all continued running around the room, bumping into one another frequently whilst trying to prepare and make it more presentable for you. You had gone from being their prisoner to being their guest in an instant. Thinking it over, the entire situation was quite entertaining to witness. Brushing crumbs off of the table to the floor, blowing dust off of any plates and cutlery whilst climbing the walls and shaking off any cobwebs in the corners, all the boys were working very hard indeed to make sure their home was to a satisfactory standard.
                Once their task was complete, you were offered a seat in the guise of a tree stump at the table, Minhyun sitting on the stump beside you. The boys followed suite thereafter, pushing one another off of stumps which were clearly more preferable than others until they had all settled. All of you sat there awkwardly for some time, the boys all staring at you whilst fiddling with the ends of their torn sleeves or shuffling upon their seats restlessly. One offered to pour you some tea from a leaking pot but you declined, not convinced that there really was any tea in there to begin with.
                “We should introduce ourselves!” Minhyun offered, grinning at you happily.
                The boy with the curly hazel hair was Tums, as you had deduced. It appeared that he was second in command when Peter was away; from what you could tell, he was perhaps a year or two older than the other boys, however they were all so young it was difficult to discern. The boy with the messy blond hair was Lofty; he had a thick cockney accent, clearly hailing from London’s east ends. Then there was Crabs, a bubbly boy with chubby cheeks and a cheerful disposition; he was the shortest Lost Boy present but he had the loudest voice of them all. The last two were Munt and Fenn; Munt had a head of thick ginger hair and freckles scattered across his face whereas Fenn had almond shaped eyes with deep olive skin; both were quieter than the others and were perhaps the youngest of them all.
                After the introductions, Minhyun asked the Lost Boys to shed more light on Peter Pan’s disappearance from Neverland.
                “We were only playing a game,” Crabs began explaining. “It was a game that Fenn had wanted to play and Peter thought it sounded like fun.”
                “What was the game?” Minhyun asked.
                “It wasn’t really a game…” Fenn trailed off, twisted the ends of his shirt whilst avoiding eye contact. “I just…thought it would be fun to make up stories and act them out.”
                “Like a play?” You asked.
                “Yes, like a play!” Fenn nodded in agreement.
                “’Cept when Fenn ‘ad ‘is ‘and at tellin’ a tale, Peter was-outta sorts,” Lofty explained.
                “What was the play about?” Minhyun asked.
                “It was just a fairytale,” Tums explained. “Something about a lady losing her glass slipper and a prince trying to find her again to give it back.”
                “Cinderella?” you raised an eyebrow, surprised to hear the Lost Boys retelling such a fairytale.
                “Yeah, that’s the one!” Crabs clapped his hands together. “There was just something about that story which really upset Peter.”
                “We tried asking him what it was,” Munt mumbled, “But he wouldn’t tell us-”
                “So he flew away,” Crabs finished.
                “And you don’t remember anything else?” Minhyun asked.
                “Cross our hearts, that’s the whole truth,” Tums nodded. “No one’s heard or seen him since that day Min.”
                “And strange things ‘ave started happenin’ in Neverland since tha’day.”
                “What kind of strange things?” You asked.
                “The weather hasn’t been right…”
                “The Indians say it’s the beginning of a storm…”
                “A storm tha’ll ‘ave us killed.”
                “That is unless Captain Hook kills them all first.” They all went silence at the mention of Captain Hook.
                “What has Captain Hook been doing?” Minhyun asked, his tone stern.
                “He’s gone mad,” Tums stated.
                “If ‘e weren’t mad before, ‘e is now.”
                “He’s taken the Indians captive. Stormed their village,” Crabs revealed.
                “Keeps hurting them,” Munt timidly said.
                “He thinks if he keeps toying with them, Peter will come save them,” Fenn finished.
                “We have to stop him,” Minhyun rose to his feet, his mind made up. “If Peter isn’t here to stop Captain Hook then we have to do something. We can’t let them suffer any longer.”
                You looked up towards Minhyun, admiring his determination in that moment. No matter what, he was always thinking of others before himself. After all, that was why he was here in Neverland right now. It was not simply a matter of finding Peter Pan, it was about saving Neverland and everyone who resided in it. The task was far greater than you had realised but Minhyun seemed least bothered by the magnitude of it. He was not a reckless person, but his consideration towards others did sometimes make him oblivious to future consequences…
                As your thoughts wandered off, you noticed a blue hue appearing from the entrance of the hole you had been dragged through earlier. Then something flew thick and fast from it, circling the room before landing on the table in front of you all.
                “Why, it’s Trilby!”
                “What is it Trilby?” She trilled rapidly, her movements desperate and her expression filled with anxiety. Once she was done, she collapsed on the table top dramatically, her hand resting upon her forehead.
                “What did she say?” You asked.
                “Captain Hook has gone too far now,” Minhyun began searching through the room, looking for something in particular. “He’s got Tiger Lily,” he paused and plunged his hand into an empty space. “And he’s dangling her from a cliff top.” Pulling his arm out, from the space appeared a sword, it’s hilt tilt tightly grasped within Minhyun’s hand. “He’s threatening to drop her to the crocodile unless Peter returns and faces him.”
                “Poor Tiger Lily!” you responded in shock.
                “You should stay here,” Minhyun told you, “You’ll be safe.”
                “No way,” you told Minhyun as you climbed off of the tree stump and found a smaller sword nearby. “I’m helping too.”
                “But-you could get hurt…” Minhyun trailed off. He looked helplessly towards you and your heart sank. Was he really this worried about your wellbeing?
                “I’ll be okay, I promise,” you told him, placing a hand gently upon his arm. “Besides, if you’ve brought me all the way here, there’s no way I can return without having an adventure!” Minhyun smiled half-heartedly, still not convinced but there was nothing he could do. You had made up your mind and you were helping.
                “Please, stay close to me,” he told you.
                “I will.”
                Minhyun looked across to all the Lost Boys and nodded.
                “Right lads,” Tums rose to his feet too. “Let’s do Peter proud.” He raised his club to the air and the other Lost Boys followed suite with their weapons of choice. “Let’s save Tiger Lily!”