~*Chapter Ten*~

You gasped and looked around to find one of the members of EXO-M smiling menacingly at you. You were sure he was the one that Kris had called Chen earlier on and you gulped. He put his hand over your mouth and spun you back around, dragging you out in to the clearing so you couldn’t scream out or protest.

“Look what I found!” he cried pulling you roughly out in to the open, your arms were flailing around to keep yourself from falling over and you tried to bite down on his hand but you couldn’t quite do it.

“What is it, Chen you can see that I’m-” Kris said, the anger in his tone suddenly vacating, however when his eyes fell upon you.

“And who do we have here?” he asked, his lips, cocking his head. Chen pushed you and you fell forward but Kris grabbed your arm and straightened you up. You looked up at him with big eyes and a shiver travelled down your spine when he returned your gaze with an intense stare of his own.

“Uh, she… uh, she’s with us,” Kyungsoo spoke up, the smile had been wiped off his face and he looked slightly worried when he saw your small figure being thrown around like a rag doll. You were frozen in your place but you stole a glance over at Kyungsoo and saw that Baekhyun was standing next to him with a smug smirk on his face.

“She’s with you, is she?” Kris chuckled, squeezing your arm. You let out a small yelp and jumped in fright, all the things Jin had told you about Kris now suddenly seemed more real and he was ten times more terrifying.

“Yeah, I think so, although, I don’t really care,” Baekhyun shrugged, mumbling the last part like he was talking to himself.

“You don’t care? Oh, well then… maybe we should play a little game?” Kris raised his eyebrows and smiled, EXO-M began to chuckle from behind you, knowing what was coming next.

“What kind of game?” Baekhyun asked, crossing his legs under himself so he was sitting in mid air. He rested his chin in his palm and puffed his cheeks out in to a pout.

“How about, we have a little duel and whoever wins, keeps the girl?”

“Absolutely no-”

“Deal,” Baekhyun cut Kyungsoo off with a wide smile, flew over to Kris and floated down so he was the same height, offering his hand out. Kris laughed and shook it before pushing you over to EXO-M as he took off his black, leather jacket and threw it so it landed next to your feet.  He spun his twin blades around and you could hear the loud swoosh as they cut through the air.

Baekhyun cracked his knuckles and smirked over at the Lost Boys. Everyone but Kyungsoo and Chanyeol returned the smile, instead they scowled at him but he shrugged it off and turned to face Kris again.

You gulped, scared that Baekhyun was going to lose. You didn’t want to stay with him, but then again, you didn’t want to be taken by Kris and his crew either having learnt how bloodthirsty and void of feelings they were.  You felt one of the hands of EXO-M grip your shoulder and push you out of the way as one of Kris’ blades went flying past your head, just in time, and lodged itself in a nearby tree. You gasped as it whizzed past you and jumped behind your saviour, the chocolate haired man with the dimple in his barely visible smile as you whispered thanks.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Kris growled, getting back up of the floor. Both of his weapons were now lodged in different trees and Baekhyun stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a conceited smile spread across his face. He dodged another wild punch that was thrown by Kris and then flew around his head before proceeding to kick him in the back sending him crashing to the floor once again.

You watched intensely on the sidelines, hoping that Kris would give up and concede defeat, but he didn’t; he got back up and continued again, this time landing a punch right in Baekhyun’s gut.

“Oh no!” Baekhyun cried, placing the back of his hand to his forehead before falling gracefully to the ground. “How will I go on? I can’t possibly fight anymore, I must concede!”

“Get up you ,” Kris spat, kicking his thigh.

“I can’t, my dear Hook. I am afraid you have injured me beyond continuation. I have no other option but to admit defeat, you’re going to have to take the girl,” he cried overdramatically, looking away like he couldn’t bear to make eye contact.

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol hissed, “What the heck are you doing?”

“Quick, go! Is the shame of me losing not enough? Do you wish to see me wallow in my defeat too? You heartless man,” he gasped, putting a hand to his heart. You narrowed your eyes and the anger that had built up in you the moment he told you he didn’t remember returned. He was letting Kris win on purpose.

“Very well,” Kris rolled his eyes, fed up of Baekhyun just as much as you were. “Come on,” he beckoned for his crew to follow him as he picked up his jacket and dislodged his weapons from the trees.  

***

Baekhyun watched you get dragged away through the trees before standing back up again, as right as rain. He rubbed his hands together and dusted off the dirt from his trousers as he turned around to face the Lost Boys. He had expected them to cheer and grin at him, but instead they all looked pretty disappointed in him. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were even scowling as they looked him up and down like disapproving parents.

“What?” he asked innocently, shrugging .Tinkerbell flew over and perched herself on his shoulder, her laughter ringing like a tiny bell in his ear.

“Tink finds it funny,” he grinned, proudly lifting up the shoulder she was sitting on, doubled over in laughter.

“She won’t last a day with them and you know it,” Kyungsoo growled through gritted teeth, “Why did you do that?”

“Why do you care so much?” Baekhyun’s eyebrows knitted together as he studied his friends. Kai rubbed the nape of his neck and looked around awkwardly, trying not to get involved.

“You brought her here and now you’ve left her all alone in a place she has no knowledge about whatsoever. This isn’t funny Baek, she could get seriously injured because of what you did.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and threw his head back, “Well if you care so much why don’t you go and get her back? She’s not my responsibility! If she hadn’t have gone storming off, it wouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

“You can be a real sometimes, you know that?” Kyungsoo spat before turning on his heel and climbing back up the ladder. Chanyeol went after him, avoiding Baekhyun’s eyes.

“Is anyone else going to go then?” Baekhyun snapped at the Lost Boys who were left. They shook their heads in unison, still looking disappointed and uncomfortable.

***

You struggled to keep up with EXO-M’s pace, they were, of course, accustomed to the jungle terrain; equipped with the appropriate attire and weapons to cut branches out of their way. You, however, were still in your socks and as the evening began to creep in it started to get chilly and the shirt you were wearing suddenly felt very thin. You hugged yourself, rubbing your hands up and down your arms to try and combat the cold and warm yourself up but it didn’t work.

“Come on,” Chen groaned, pushing your back forward to try and make you pick up your pace. They had forced Chen to walk at the back to make sure that you didn’t go running off. You had thought about it quite a few times, but you knew that you wouldn’t get far and if they found you again it would probably be a lot worse for you. You stumbled forward and tried to walk faster, you had been walking for a long time now and your legs were already dying from the amount of aimless travelling you had done earlier on.

After a while, the smell of sea salt wafted up your nose and you could hear the sound of small waves crashing against the sand, signalling that a beach was nearby. On cue, Kris who was leading the group much further ahead than everyone else, pulled back a bush and stepped out on to the sand. Everyone followed and you were led on to a huge wooden boat with black sails. You noticed that one had been badly sewn back together and thought back to when Chen had said that Baekhyun cut obscene shapes in their sails, you had to bite your lip to stop yourself from laughing. It was hard to think of Baekhyun as a bad person now, he was so sweet in the asylum, you kept forgetting that he was a little childish brat here. 

Kris kept on walking, leading you towards the boat, across the wooden boards of the dock and on to the deck. Your feet shuffled across the clean, polished wood and you realised that Kris must be a tough leader for this ship to be so spotless. The tree house you’d stayed in with the Lost Boys was a tip compared to this majestic vessel.

You were taken inside, which was even more beautiful, if that was possible. The carpets were a wine red and the walls were painted black, the furniture was made out of mahogany and a dim light from multiple candles around the room kept it alight creating a cosy yet eerie atmosphere. It was like something out of one of the fairytales in your book; your book. Your chest tightened when you remembered it, you missed it dearly. You missed the smell of the fragile pages that held your mother’s memories within and you missed the feeling of excitement and anticipation as you read each and every page; the magic never losing its touch.

“Sit down,” Kris ordered, pointing to one of the deep red sofas next to the coffee table. You obeyed straight away, not wanting to test his patience.  He took his own seat; an armchair in the same colour. He picked up a bottle of blood-red liquid from the table next to him and a crystal glass, pouring it in until it was half full. He then extended his arm and passed you the glass, “Drink?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Normally, you would have declined, but giving the crappy situation you were in right now, you thought, why the heck not. You took the glass from him, looking in to it as you swirled it around, inhaling the rich scent. You’d never tried wine but you put the glass to your lips and had a sip anyway. The taste was strong and bitter, you didn’t like it at all, but you continued to drink anyway, not wanting to give off the image that you were weak, childish or venerable in this crew’s eyes. Kris nodded and poured a glass of his own as EXO-M all seated themselves too.

“How did you get to Neverland?” he asked, taking a long sip from his glass before setting it down on his lap, holding the stem of the glass with one hand and tracing the circular top of it with his other, making a quiet, high pitched noise.

You stared in to his dark eyes pondering your answer. Were you to tell him the truth or make something up? You couldn’t possibly make up such an elaborate lie in such a short space of time, especially since you didn’t know much about Neverland.

“Baekhyun brought me with him,” you said simply, taking another sip from your glass. You blinked to stop your face from scrunching up as the bitter liquid slithered down your throat.

Kris chuckled sending a shiver down your spine. “He’s only there for a couple of weeks and he brings back another girl,” he scoffed.

You narrowed your eyes in to a scowl, “He was there for four years, what are you talking about? And what do you mean by another girl?”

“Time in Neverland is slower than on Earth,” the one who had saved you from the blade earlier jumped in, “What may seem like four years there is only a couple of weeks in here. You can last about five years without magic before you forget completely and start to age.”

“Start to age?” you asked, your eyes wide, “You don’t age?”

“Nobody ages in Neverland, that’s why it’s called ‘Neverland’, you don’t grow up, didn’t Baekhyun tell you that?” he chuckled softly.

No, you thought, balling your free fist, no he didn’t.

“Obviously not,” Kris laughed, refilling his glass before motioning to yours. You hadn’t even noticed that it was empty. You held it out and he filled it up, almost to the top this time. “As for the ‘another girl’ issue, he’s done this before. He brought back a girl once when he went to Earth to chase his shadow, her name was Wendy.  She wanted to go home though after a while, she couldn’t bear the fact that she would never age.”

You sat back in your seat, not wanting to comprehend what Kris had just said, you didn’t want to believe him, but then, hadn’t two of the Lost Boys thought you were Wendy? You took a big gulp of your drink, this time ignoring the taste completely.

“He obviously hasn’t been very truthful.”

“He doesn’t even remember me,” you said quietly. “He told me all of these wonderful things about Neverland. He told me about all of the places he was going to take me and the things we were going to do and when we arrived, he didn’t even know my name. Yet, I remember everything.”

“He’s a bastard, I know,” Kris shrugged, “He’s been tormenting me for years,” he sat back and smiled. “Him and his little band of brats.”

You chuckled as you drank more; you could feel yourself getting lightheaded and slightly dizzy, but you ignored it. You couldn’t help but think that maybe Kris and his crew weren’t actually as bad as they were thought out to be. You sat drinking with them for a while longer until the room started spinning.

Before you knew it, you were all out on the deck shouting loudly. They were singing songs you had never heard before, but you shouted along, picking up words here and there. You laughed and almost fell down a couple of times, but you held on to the wooden masts around you and steadied yourself.

You watched as the one who you had learnt was called Xiumin and the doe-eyed boy, Luhan had a drinking competition to see who could drink a pint of ale the fastest. Everyone stood around cheering and shouting for who they wanted to win and in the end; Xiumin stood victorious pumping his fist in the air while Luhan collapsed to the floor, holding his stomach as he laughed.

You didn’t know how, but you ended up stumbling around the ship as you laughed, still holding on to your half full cup of liquor. Laughing as you went; you found the plank of the ship and stupidly, in your drunken state, decided  it was a good idea to shuffle yourself on to it and swing your legs back and forth over the side.

“I don’t think that’s-” the one names Tao hiccupped, “a good idea!”

“Nonsense!” you waved him off, throwing your hands in the air. It wasn’t nonsense, however, you sent yourself backwards in your unbalanced state and went flying off the edge, hurtling towards the cold, black sea beneath you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

kekeke, another cliffhanger? kekke sorry.

have you guys seen EXO's weekly idol and Happy Camp? huhuhu, i almost wet myself watching them both><