Chapter two: New World

“It’s great to be home, don’t you agree Tink?” Peter shouted with joy as he flew around the ship.

“Pan, go and look around for anything strange!” Jack shouted to him and the boy disappeared into the clouds.

Roxanne looked before her the land which was spreading into the clouds; there was a huge continent, surrounded by the ocean and the ocean was surrounded by the clouds. On the land, in the center of it was a black volcano, which was looking inactive, but around it Roxanne could see all the different types of climates. On the south there was a savannah, on the east there was a deep wide forest, but on the north and the west a deep jungle was spreading while a shining coral reef could be spotted at the west.

“It’s beautiful Jack!” Roxanne said to the pirate but his expression seemed to be really sad.

Roxanne noticed that his face features had changed a little; there were a bit more shining than before and the same had happened with Peter who landed near her saying that it was safe until the port, his hair was redder than before and so were his green clothes.

“Good but how do we land a flying ship?” Jack asked him and Peter took the wheel from the pirate, ready to lead the way.

“Let this to me! You two hold tightly until we land on the water!” Peter said and he gave a great turn to the ship making it literally dive into the sea.

Roxanne and Jack screamed from fear, holding from the ropes and the sails, while Peter was laughing. His loud laugh made the winds stronger, blowing into the sails making the ship land softly on the sea’s surface.

When they had finally landed Tinkerbell whispered something on Peter’s ear and he looked at Roxanne and Jack who were still trying to breathe normally.

“The land before us is clear! We can settle down there.” and he pointed at the horizon.

Roxanne saw the opening; it looked from afar like a port and turned to Jack asking him what they had to do.

“Roxanne, help me with the anchor and Peter try to stay as close to the land as you can.”

“I am giving orders here!”

Roxanne signed; she couldn’t do anything about those two. But how did she end up like this? For a necklace? Her hand touched the diamond’s surface of the blue rose and a warm feeling consumed her, as if someone was hugging her.

“Hey, Jack this is a port, right? Why is it so deserted?” she said showing the empty houses, stores and the rusted pillars in the bridges.

“This is a replica of Tortuga but, since the Shadows attacked us in here three months ago, it was left to perish.”

They placed the ladder and quickly they stepped into the ruined port. Jack took the ropes on hand, while Roxanne was looking around her with a sinister expression.

“I’ve noticed that this land hasn’t any stable climate. Why is that happening?”

“Because everything in here were made from pieces of the worlds, which survived from the destruction. He himself took care of us when we arrived here.” Jack answered her question, while he was tying the ropes on the port.

When they finally got on land safely, both Peter and Jack started to walk towards the woods still cautious, having both their guns and swords ready to attack. Roxanne was following them from behind, curious to know more about this new world.

“Who is he? Is he the one who took care of you when you came here?”

“Everything on their time Missy; but first we must reach the Camp.” Jack gave her his final answer and turned to Peter and Tink.

“I don’t see anyone around Jack. We should hurry to the forest.” Peter said and the pirate nodded.

They walked quickly to the edge of the forest until they reached the first wide and tall trees.

The bushes suddenly moved and both Jack and Peter, jumped in front of Roxanne, drawing their weapons. But they were falsely alarmed.

From the bushes a small hand appeared and the boy fell on the ground. He tried to get up again, fixing his hat and casting away the leaves from his black hair. From behind he was followed by another young boy who was dressed with a fox’s fur and had blonde hair.

“Slightly!” Peter almost shouted from joy when he saw one of his Lost Boys.

“Oh great we have those to greet us?” Jack commented with annoyance as he put his sword back to his sheath.

“We saw you coming! And we came to welcome you back Chief!” Slightly said while ignoring Jack with obvious disgust (he was a pirate after all).

Roxanne saw Slightly running happily around Peter, making the sounds of the Indians, and she turned to the other boy, who was standing near Slightly; Pinocchio was looking at her with question and she smiled to the wooden boy.

“Wow, it’s becoming more and more interesting.” And she leaned towards him. “Hello, my name is Roxanne.”

“Hello Roxanne…” Pinocchio replied shyly.

“Hmm, I think someone is missing. Oh yes! Jimini Cricket!”

“He has been caught by the Shadows…” Pinocchio replied sadly and Roxanne took him in her arms, lifting the wooden doll.

“So, where is the Camp, right now? Did you change the location again?”

“Yes Peter, they have been attacking a lot lately.”

“No need to worry, boy. We have her now.” And Jack pulled Roxanne from her elbow close to him.

“A girl! She is a girl!” Slightly shouted with surprise but when he noticed the necklace on her neck, he calmed down.

“If you are here, then where are the rest of the Lost Boys?” Roxanne asked and Peter flew above her, followed by Tinkerbell.

“They’ve been caught too.” Pinocchio answered to her question.

“What?”

“And they are not the only ones. Let’s get first to the Camp, and then we will discuss everything.” Jack commented and he started to walk into the forest, followed by the rest.

Peter continued to fly above the party, checking from the air the whole area. The forest was deep and full of trees, which branches were spreading to the sky, covering the sun and providing a cool shadow to those who were walking below.

“So, what is this Camp you spoke about?” Roxanne asked after a while.

“It’s the Camp of the Fallen Star. We are all gathered there and at the same time we try to escape from the Shadows.” Slightly answered and the pirate pulled the fox ear from the boy’s cloth.

“At least there is rum! I can’t complain for anything else, except that the Shadows have taken the “Black Pearl”.”

Roxanne remembered the ship from the story, with its black sails rushing through the waves. Pinocchio grinned with the words of Jack and continued walking close to Roxanne. She was looking around her amazed; not only the forest was rich in trees but the colors of the flowers were making the ground look like a never ending blanket of nature, spreading in every direction of the earth.

  After a while, Peter shouted that they had arrived. Roxanne put Pinocchio down, since he had fallen many times earlier, and looked from the edge of the forest, as they were coming out from it.

The meadow was spreading after the edge of the forest and it became even brighter as the sun rays were falling from above. Roxanne looked at it enchanted; there were everywhere flowers but in the middle small houses were close to each other. A small hill was located just a little higher from the rest of the houses and on the top there was a tent; in the right side of the meadow a small river was passing and the trees with the pink and green petals moved their branches to their direction, when they sensed their presence.

Suddenly, a deep sound was heard and Roxanne almost shouted from the shock.

“Don’t be alarmed, it’s just the conch. They know we came back.” Jack comforted her.

“They?”

Peter flew to the direction of the tent, followed by a running Slightly and Pinocchio. Roxanne walked together with Jack into the meadow and slowly they were surrounded by many familiar faces which looked on Roxanne’s eyes more like refugees than heroes on the stories she knew.

The princes, but with no sign of the princesses, Hercules together with Phil, Bambi were only some of the ones Roxanne saw as she was walking close to Jack’s side.

“Finally you are back!” the rough voice sounded behind them.

His tall figure, the red cape and the hook on his left hand left Roxanne speechless, as Captain Hook was standing in front of them.

“Hooky!” Jack greeted happily by lifting his right hand.

“Don’t call me like that! You are a disgrace for all pirates!”

“And then what are you? You are always afraid of the ticking crocodile!” Roxanne shouted to him, without thinking.

Hook looked at her puzzled but he soon became angry with her words. Instead of being afraid, she started to laugh and both Jack and Hook became more puzzled.

“What’s so funny?”

“You never change Hook! Especially in your battles!”

“That’s right!” Peter’s teasing voice was heard from above and grabbed Hook’s red hat, tearing it in pieces with his knife.

Everyone then started to laugh, following her lead; even the trees and the flowers were finding this rare sight worth to be seen.

“It’s been a while since I heard that sound.” The voice was heard and everyone made way for the small mouse to stand.

Mickey Mouse looked at Roxanne and his round ears moved happily as he welcomed her, followed by Donald and Goofy.

“Wow…” was the only thing Roxanne could say.

“I am sure that you have many questions.” Mickey said and looked at her blue eyes.

“That’s for sure.”

“Then come with us. We will be delighted to answer them.” And turning around, he started to walk back to the direction of the tent.

Goofy and Donald welcomed Peter and Jack, who waved their hands at Roxanne as she smiled at them.

They entered the tent and Donald offered to her a small chair. Mickey sat across her and Donald did the same. The tent had not many things in, aside from the table and the chairs they were sitting, as also a map, which was hanging on a wooden board, giving a detailed description of this new world.

“So…I suppose that I could begin with the question of where am I.” Roxanne nervously began.

“That’s an easy one; you are in the world called “The Lost Star”. At least that’s the name we could come up with.” Donald said and Roxanne looked at him puzzled.

“Ok…and where is that exactly?”

“Before we answer tell us please; what are we in your world?” Mickey asked her calmly.

“You are characters of stories which are told among my people. You can inspire and at the same time we laugh and enjoy your adventures.” Roxanne smiled with her words and turned at them.

“Laugh?” Donald asked suspiciously lifting his eyebrow.

“Think about it the other way around Roxanne. Every time a story is being told amazing amounts of magic is released from the hearts of humans. From this very same power all the worlds are created. Lost Star is one of them.”

“So, Mickey, you mean that each one of all of them comes from a different world? Then, why are everyone gathered in here? As far as I know Lost Star is not being reffered in any stories.”

“It’s Dragen’s fault…” Mickey answered with a sad expression, rare for Roxanne, and the atmosphere became colder for a moment.

“Who is Dragen?” Roxanne asked, curious about that strange name.

“He is the one who destroyed our worlds; the King of all Shadows.”

“But why? What can he win by destroying your worlds? You didn’t do anything wrong, right?”

Donald looked at her and continued for Mickey.

“His power originates from the darkness all the people have in their hearts. He destroyed our worlds in order for the light that “inspires” you, as you say, to disappear. When he is over with this world he will aim for the next one, the source of his powers. And guess who the next one is.”

“Earth…and the darkness of the humans' hearts...” Roxanne whispered horrified from their words.

“That’s why the Guardian, the one who protects the light in all worlds, gathered us here and tried to protect us.”

“Guardian? So, the different climates I saw…”

“Are derived from all the different kinds of stories you know. That's why Lost Star isn't known to you.”

“What happened to the Guardian?” Roxanne asked scared of learning the truth, looking at the mouse and the duck with high attention.

“On the last battle with Dragen, he was injured really bad; he bought us some time in order to escape, but before being caught he released a great amount of his powers in the form of this necklace.” And Mickey pointed at the rose on Roxanne’s neck.

“No way…” she murmured startled.

“We tried to use the necklace, at first, in order to see if we could protect ourselves from the Shadows and Dragen. But we failed." Mickey said and Donald got up from his seat, pouring more tea in Roxanne's cup.

"But then, Merlin had a dream, a dream from the Guardian. He pointed that the one who could use the Rose's powers, would be someone from Earth. Since then we’ve been looking at the human world for someone, anyone who has the potential to wield those powers and free the Guardian and us from the King of Shadows.” 

“And now we found her!” Donald completed happily but Roxanne got up, throwing the chair back.

She was angry; angry with herself because she didn’t have the power to help them. She looked at both of the angrily and almost shouted:

“HOW could I help you? How can I save worlds when I can’t save my own self? I am not strong like Hercules nor am I smart like Peter or Jack! How do expect me to fight this Dragen?”

“The necklace chose you; I am sure that the Guardian trusts you enough, that’s why he gave you his powers.” Mickey said with confident voice, trying to calm her.

“Then he was wrong! He gave his powers to a girl who might be dead next week and has no potential on becoming a hero!”

And taking off the necklace she placed it on the table and ran outside from the tent. She headed down on the hill with speed, until she fell on Pegasus’s back. The flying horse looked at her happily and neighed.

Roxanne ignored it and continued to run until she reached the small bank of the river, where the trees moved softly their branches, when they sensed her. She sat on the ground and putting her head on her knees, she started to cry.

Bambi and Pinocchio saw her from afar and looked at each other puzzled.

“It didn’t go well.” Bambi said and lowered his small head.

“I am sure it did!” Pinocchio tried to cheer him up but his nose became bigger.

“Yeah right; she needs someone to make her feel better!” Slightly said standing behind them and pinched Pinocchio’s long nose.

The three of them laughed and turned back at the camp.

Roxanne was looking at the flowers with eyes empty of tears. She had already stopped crying and now the petals from the flowers of the nearby trees had taken the forms of young women who were dancing around her, in an effort to make her feel better.

“Thank you…you are beautiful. I am sure your world was beautiful too.” She said and smiled sadly.

“Each world has its own beauty.” The soft voice filled the air and Roxanne felt the soft breeze rushing through her body.

She turned around; the woman was looking at her with her dark eyes while the wind was making her long black hair swing like the waves of the sea. Her red skin reflected on her white teeth as she smiled on Roxanne.

“Pocahontas…” the girl said with awe.

“The pale face knows a lot. I am pleased to meet you.” She said and sat close to her.

“Call me Roxanne.” And she looked at her again. “This is becoming more interesting.”

Pocahontas looked at the trees and her eyes became sad.

“Please understand Roxanne; if you don’t help us, everything will end. Even the hostages will suffer.”

“Hostages? I do remember Jack and Peter say something about that.” Roxanne replied looking at the Indian.

“There are so many of them. Even my pale face is held captive.”

Roxanne stared at her; she was not the only one, all of them had lost something precious to them.

“What can I do Pocahontas?” and she touched her chest, “back home I am really sick. I don’t know if I can help you at all. I don't even know how to use these powers. How could this so-called Guardian entrust me his powers?”

“We will also help you.” And she wore the necklace of the blue Rose on Roxanne’s neck. “Besides Grandma Willow always said “listen to your heart and you will understand.”

Roxanne touched the rose and it glimmered under her fingers. She got up and, with tears on her eyes, she smiled on Pocahontas.

“This is going to be the craziest choice on my life. But I will not have the same choice for a second time, will I?” and she headed together with Pocahontas back to the Camp, while Bambi and Slightly were dancing around them.

 Dragen looked at the group of the pirates furious. Not only they had failed to acquire the Blue Rose from the two idiots who were guarding it but also the One, who could wield its powers, had finally appeared. He got up from his throne and waved his hand, making the pirates disappeared inside the shadows in an instant.

His hazel eyes glimmered under the darkness of his Throne room and his voice, deep and demanding echoed in the room.

“Servus!” his calling was heard deep into the palace, making the black walls shake.

“Yes my Lord.” The figure of the man appeared from the darkness.

“The One who controls the power is here. Take your best men and search for the Camp. Make sure to bring that person and the necklace in front of me alive! I will not tolerate any failure!”

“Yes my Lord! As you command!” and Servus disappeared in an instant.

Suddenly a loud groan was heard from the bottom of the castle and Dragen smiled with satisfaction.

“This is becoming interesting.” He said with a sardonic smile and the groan became louder with his words.