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    KAELYN WAS WOKEN by the wagon hitting a ditch, shifting her against the broad shoulders of the men she'd come to call her new family over the years. Just how she'd met them, they travelled in the back of a wagon, pulled along the road, flitting between towns on and off the map. It had been five years since the brunette had departed from her home and found her place with them, and she had never once looked back.

    The girl could hear the chatter from outside as the wagon rattled into their most recent endeavour, and she immediately grew giddy, desperate to stand up and move after being cooped up with the men for so many hours. As Ajax – their leader – had said all those years ago, they had become her new family, as much as that were possible for a group of bandits and young girl.

    The wagon cloth was finally pulled back, and light beamed in. They had stopped in the courtyard of the town, the cobbled stone paths crisscrossing every which way. Kaelyn stood up first, and was helped down by one of the men who'd been manning the wagon for the journey. To the side, Ajax was talking to a local. Kaelyn stood steadily, eyes raking the town. She wondered what the plan was for this place.

    As the rest of the men piled out, Ajax approached, clapping a hand on Kaelyn's small shoulder. "Men!" he shouted, and they all stood to attention, their leader and their greatest weapon in the centre. "We start tomorrow. Until then, get your bearings of this place and be back at this motel no later than midnight."

    Some of the bandits gave scattered cheers, and the motel sign behind the wagon blinked in the sunlight. As Kaelyn made to move, Ajax's grip tightened, holding her back so he could stand in front of her. "Buy yourself something nice," he told her quietly, and Kaelyn tried not to flinch too heavily at his hand placement.

    "I will," she said, unable to look him in the eyes and instead staring blankly just past the side of his face.

    "And remember to be back in time for our meeting," he added, lowly.

    She swallowed thickly. "I will."

    "Atta girl," he said, grinning and pulling away. Kaelyn gave him a weak smile as he left, her whole body relaxing at the absence of his presence.

    The rest of the men had scattered from the motel, going in all their own directions and in and out of shops and stalls. This village, to Kaelyn's knowledge, was on the map, and had some wealthy residents they were likely going to attempt to swindle. As she wandered off from the wagon and the motel that would serve as their base for however long they stayed here, she was unaware of curious eyes watching her.

    Kaelyn was not an idiot, she knew the only reason she had not been killed by the men upon discovery all those years ago was her abilities, the magic flowing under her skin she had so often been told was bad and forced to hide. But now it suddenly made her desirable, and kept her alive and gave her a family to fall back on. She was valued amongst the group because of what had driven her from her last home, and she loved it.

    Other things, she didn't love as much. Such as Ajax himself, or the fact the group were not good people, and employed her abilities for their unjust cause and actions. But she went along with it, she submitted, because she wasn't sure where she'd be if she didn't, and because she was far worse off as a child alone in the world than serving as a valued tool for criminals.

    The town itself was quaint, and bustling with people of all ages. Kaelyn looked fondly at a flower stall, and bought a bouquet of sweet-smelling lavender for herself, and strolled the cobble-stone paths holding the flowers to her nose. She paused as the air changed as she got closer to the outskirts of the town, with more people hurrying along, and stalls looking more frantic and on edge.

    Kaelyn blinked as she watched a boy swipe an expensive-looking ring from a stall full of glistening jewellery, and the man owning the stall shouted after him. The boy glanced back, winked at Kaelyn, then disappeared. Confused, the brunette boldly gave chase, now holding her flowers with one hand.

    She now recognised the feeling of being watched from before, and realised it was due to the boy, who she caught out of the corner of her eye trailing her. Somehow, he'd ended up behind her as she was pursuing him, and she now found herself on the less-than-favourable side of town, many of the buildings around her being destroyed or simply unfinished.

    Thinking quickly, the girl turned around, and crashed into the boy as she turned a corner, dropping her bouquet of flowers into the dust. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, and the boy bent down to grab them for her. Predictable. "Thank you," she said, softly, accepting the dusty flowers back.

    "No problem," the boy told her. The brunette just gave him a nod before passing him, and Kaelyn didn't give him time to realise before she was sprinting. She heard him chasing after her, the weight of the ring he'd taken banging against her side in her pocket as she moved.

    She finally ditched the flowers, as much as it pained her, and scaled a half-finished building, still full of exposed beams and planks of wood. Kaelyn saw the shadow of the boy nimbly following her as she ascended to the second story. The girl bolted along a straight area of exposed wood, before thinking better of it.

    Kaelyn swung herself up onto a higher beam that would've once been intended to be built into a roof, and as the boy turned the corner, he saw only empty space. He paused, clearly having expected to see her in view as the stretch was flat and exposed, and unless she'd thrown herself off the side there wasn't anywhere she could've gone at her speed.

    He proceeded cautiously, slowly passing underneath Kaelyn, whose indigo eyes watched him intently, before he whipped around and looked directly up at her, their eyes meeting. The boy was about the same age as her she realised, lithe and nimble, with a head of blonde hair and lush green eyes; now that she had a closer look at him. They stared at each other a moment longer, indigo on green, unsure of what to make of each other's theft.

    "That was clever," he finally remarked. "You're clever."

    "I am?" she asked, innocently, fingering the flower ring as she regarded the boy below her. His green eyes locked onto it as she swung around so she was seated casually on the beam playing with the object of their game of chase.

    "I like clever," he mused, eyes moving to her face.

    "I was trying to steal from you," she told him at his compliment, dangling her legs over the beam.

    "Well, I was trying to steal from you," the boy snorted.

    "Well, guess who won." And she slid the ring onto her middle finger triumphantly.

    The boy looked at her fondly, before pulling himself up onto the beam as well, placing his legs either side so he faced her, as Kaelyn simply turned her head to look at him. "I'm Malcolm," he introduced.

    "Kaelyn," she replied.

    "Where you from around these parts?" he asked, giving her a scrutinising look. She supposed it was a small town, he probably recognised her as a visitor.

    She shrugged. "Just passing through. You?"

    "Live with some spinsters just outta town," he told her, tilting his head back as if to gesture which direction they were.

    Kaelyn furrowed her brows. "Spinsters?"

    "Yeah. Pa sold me off when I was just a boy," he said, so casually it was as if he were telling her the weather. Kaelyn regarded him, in shabby clothes, stealing around the rough side of town, living with those he was not initially with, forced out by those who were supposed to love him endlessly.

    "You are still a boy," she chose to say, pointedly.

    "No," he pouted. "I'm twelve. I know what I'm doing."

    "Well, I'm twelve and have no idea what I'm doing," she admitted with a small laugh.

    She turned away, gazing at the visible point of the horizon from where they were sitting high up. The sun was starting to set, turning the sky orange and warm, pink streaking the clouds occasionally. Malcolm sat and watched it with her, too, green eyes blazing in such lighting.

    "What time do you have to be home?" he asked without looking at her.

    Kaelyn bit the inside of her cheek, thinking briefly of Ajax. "I don't," she lied, also without looking at him.

    "You wanna tour of this place?" he asked, playfully.

    And so, Kaelyn ran across roofs and alleyways in the setting sun with a boy she barely knew, who made her feel like the child she was and not the monster or weapon she'd always otherwise been seen as. Malcolm stole a jacket for himself, and also nabbed another bunch of lavender flowers for her, which she refused to release her grip on this time.

    Malcolm took her to every part of town, giving rich commentary every step of the way. From the street of the wealthy, to the community of the less, to where swans gathered around a mystical pond, to the best shops, and a pub they couldn't get within feet of before being chased off for being children, the pair giggling the whole way.

    It was fast approaching midnight as the pair began to wind down, ending back up high, this time on a roof, lying on their backs and staring intently up at the clear night sky. The stars watched them from above, two individuals blinded by innocence from the future that awaited them.

    "A guy from my old home used to say the stars were people who'd died," Kaelyn said, thoughtfully, thinking of one of the many magicians who she'd encountered overtime. "And the glow is from the last pieces of their souls."

    "Souls?" Malcolm asked, quizzically, looking to Kaelyn.

    "Yeah," she said, softly, Malcolm looking at her in fascination. "It's the energy of a person. Everyone has one, and it's the one thing of ours that stays after death. It's the most raw and powerful form of a person. It's beautiful."

    Malcolm moved to look back at the night sky. "I was always told the stars were other far away worlds," he told Kaelyn. "I always wished I could just leave my dad and disappear up there."

    "Where would you have gone?" Kaelyn asked.

    Malcolm raised a hand, pointing randomly at the sky, Kaelyn following the tip of his finger intently. "Second star to the right– there." Kaelyn gazed at the bright star, whose blinking almost seemed to stand out amongst the others. "I imagined a place called Neverland. It's full of trees, and waterfalls, and you never grow up and everyone plays games all day. There're no bedtimes, no parents, no rules. It's fun, and it's safe."

    "Sounds like a nice place," Kaelyn said, wistfully.

    Malcolm smiled, genuinely, for the first time, and Kaelyn decided she liked his smile. "It is."

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    KAELYN DID NOT return to the motel that night, not by midnight, not at all. Instead, she followed Malcolm out of town down the dirt road till they reached a quaint cottage nestled in the trees surrounded by garden beds and a vegetable patch. There, she was greeted by three plump, colourfully-dressed women with loud voices and wide smiles, who had insisted on feeding Kaelyn more food than she had ever received.

    Flustered by their kindness, Kaelyn had eaten till she was sore, before Malcolm had taken her for a tour of the cottage, which was mainly just his room and then the 'spinning room.' It seemed, however kind the spinster ladies were, Malcolm only stayed with them if he spun thread for them for work, though he really didn't seem to mind.

    In fact, they'd allowed the brunette girl to stay with them for the night, sleeping on the floor in Malcolm's room, feeling safer than she had in years, until the sun began to filter through the small window. Kaelyn's indigo eyes flickered open, and Ajax and his group felt a lifetime away.

    The spinsters sent Malcolm into town to run errands before he'd return in the afternoon to spin, and Kaelyn accompanied him, with many well wishes and hopes of returning. Feeling warmer than she could remember, the girl fluttered into town alongside her newfound friend, who automatically went wherever he was needed, Kaelyn simply trailing him.

    She tried to ignore the thoughts of Ajax and his group, the inevitability she'd have to return, that she'd have to go back to a reality she had ignored for the last twenty-four hours. The reality that her life wasn't talking about stars, running around town, living her age, and receiving kindness in exchange for a small service that had nothing to do with her abnormality.

    "Are you okay?" Malcolm asked her abruptly as they crossed into the nicer side of town.

    Kaelyn glanced at him, as their heights were the same. "I'm fine," she lied.

    "Hm." He didn't believe her. "Wonder what they want?" he said, his eyes drifting to something up ahead. Kaelyn followed his gaze to see Ajax and a couple of the group members frantically talking to locals, a picture of the young brunette scrunched up in his fist.

    Kaelyn immediately stopped walking, body flooded with disgust and refusal to go back after the slice of life she'd experienced so fleetingly. Malcolm turned to see she'd frozen, but before he could say anything, Ajax had turned around, and his eyes locked onto Kaelyn.

    "Run," she said.

    Malcolm furrowed his brows. "What?"

    "Run!" she cried as Ajax pointed at her and whistled loudly. Kaelyn grabbed Malcolm's wrist and turned and sprinted, dragging him along as Ajax and his men gave chase, whistles of the other group members echoing around them as they broke into the outskirts of town again, ducking in and out of alleyways.

    Malcolm had caught on and was running on his own now, the two easily keeping pace with each other. Shadows blinked above them, and Kaelyn saw some on the roofs, and heard others behind her. She glanced at Malcolm, panting.

    "Split up."

    "No–"

    "We have to!"

    And they did, breaking up at the next turn, Malcolm pushing himself into the crowds. Kaelyn watched as no one pursued him, as all the attention was to her, and breathed a sigh of relief. She turned into a new alley, then left, then right, before reaching a dead end.

    Her breath caught in her throat as the men filled in, some standing on the roofs above her, as Ajax and the others skidded to the halt in front of her. Kaelyn wheeled around to look at him, hands shaking.

    "Oh, Kaelyn," he tsked. "Why'd you have to run?" Kaelyn didn't answer, just swallowed thickly as he stepped closer, and she took a step back in turn. "You missed our meeting last night," he added.

    "I know," she hissed through her gritted teeth.

    "It was rude," Ajax told her. "We're your family, remember? You come back to us."

    "You're not my family," she got out, hating how her voice shook.

    Ajax gave her a smug look. "Then, what are we?"

    "Bad men," she spat out.

    They laughed, howling like hyenas surrounding her. "You wanna see bad?" Ajax cackled, and Kaelyn couldn't stop her bottom lip from trembling. "Come here!" he shouted, holding out a hand.

    "No!" Kaelyn's fingers crackled with indigo energy instinctively at the threat, and the men's eyes widened.

    "Boss, maybe we should just go," one of them said, cautiously.

    "He's right, A. It's not worth it," another shuddered. "I still remember how she broke my wrist that fir–"

    "Relax, ya cowards. What's she going to do?" Ajax scoffed, shutting them up. He turned back to the brunette girl with glowing hands. "Now, Kaelyn, put your hands down and come here," he instructed her.

    For the first time, Kaelyn acknowledged the power under her skin, flowing through her veins, and saw it as something to help her. "No," she said. Her voice had stopped shaking.

    Ajax looked a bit surprised, but continued to push. "Can that attitude and get back here."

    "No."

    "Guess we're doing this the hard way," he grunted.

    He stormed towards her, and Kaelyn scrambled backwards, raising her hands in front of her, despite his massive frame compared to her. "Please stay back," she said. Ajax kept advancing. "Just leave me alone," she begged, now.

    "Not happening," the man said. His hand reached for her, and had barely touched her wrist when the girl reacted.

    "NO!"

    It happened so quickly no one quite knew what had happened, just that those within any radius of Ajax were sprayed with sticky, red liquid. But none more than Kaelyn, whose eyes had gone wide as saucers as the leader's headless body fell away from her and to the ground with a thud. Her breathing had gone very rapid as she stared down at the body, realising that she had done this.

    Around her, the men began to yell and whistle and retreat, casting terrified looks at the young girl, and soon she was alone at the dead-end with nothing but her handiwork and the blood on her skin and clothes. She still had not moved except for her heaving chest, and she was surprised she hadn't thrown up yet as she carefully stepped around the body, eyes refusing to leave the horrific sight.

    Kaelyn looked at her hands. She had done this. She could do things like this.

    She was running before she fully processed that she was moving, ducking in and out of the alleyways, till she reached the spot from yesterday, and frantically clambered up to the roof. As expected, Malcolm was sitting atop, and when he heard her scrambling he turned to her with a smile.

    A smile that quickly fell as he saw the blood covering her and the terrified look on her face. "What happened?" he asked, moving towards her.

    "They're not coming back for me," she told him. "They're gone."

    Malcolm looked at her oddly. "So, you can stay?" he asked, nonchalantly.

    Kaelyn, surprised, finally met his eyes. "Can I?"

    "As long as you want."

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malcolm is young peter.

have had some confusion over this so yeah, that's just his name before neverland.

apologies for the late update school's been kicking my ass and taking up way more time than i'd like it to

i know these chapters are no one's favourite which is why this is a double update with a present day chapter thrown in and being published tomorrow. i do hope some do read these flashbacks however as they start to build up and become quite important to kaelyn as a character.

especially cause this one was kaelyn and peter meeting as kids and it's soft and also has call backs mentioned in the last chapter