Welcome to Neverland

Taemin blinked at his dirty reflection in the store window. It had caught his attention. His eyes were dark and sunken from lack of sleep. His skin was dark from sun exposure and not having washed in days. Even his clothes were raggedy, torn from stray branches and thorns, and they were simply worn down over time.

I look so handsome today, he complimented himself with a smile. He touched up on his matted hair then quickly flew off into the darkness.

~~~

As Minhee walked along the road, she did a mental checklist of her schedule for the next day. She needed to study for the entrance exams in the morning, then go by the bank and deposit her check. She also had to work tomorrow and had planned to exercise.

She was broken out of her thoughts when her bag of food was suddenly yanked from her hand. She swung around to find the culprit, but no one was there. Only the cold wind blew steadily behind her. She turned around angrily. A shadow slipped, barely noticeable, into an alley, and without thinking, she made a dash for it.

According to her paycheck, she would be getting no other dinner that night.

The alley was empty. It was dark but Minhee could make out a few things. There were only a few trash cans laying around and a few bricks from old construction. Minhee cracked her knuckles angrily. She wanted her dinner back.

"Looking for me?"

Minhee spun around. A shadow passed over her face, but it was gone just as soon as it appeared. There was no one out on the street that late at night either.

"Over here."

The voice was behind her now. Minhee turned around again. The alley was still empty, but her food was sitting on the ground right in front of her. She hurried and reached for it.

Swoop.

With that, it vanished again.

"This is really delicious. Where can I get some?"

Minhee turned around.

A tall boy seemed to be floating in the air, eating her food. He blocked the light from the streetlamps so she was cast in a shadow. Minhee strained her eyes to try and see if his feet was touching the ground, but she couldn't see.

He slurpped up her noodles in front of her.

That's it. Without thinking, Minhee dove at him.

~~~(^-^)~~~

"Do you think she's dead?"

"Stop poking her, Luhan," Taemin said, flying from tree hole to tree hole.

Luhan pointed his stick away from her face, scowling. He looked at her and scrunched his face. For some reason (Taemin wouldn't explain), there was a big ugly bump on the side of her head.

Lay peeked out from behind Leo. His eyes were bright and curious. "Taemin-hyung, is she going to be okay?"

Taemin reached his arm deep into a tree hole, feeling around until his fingers wrapped around something sticky. "A-ha!" He shouted triumphantly.

He pulled his arm away. In his hand was some old rotty flowers he had found in the box of food he had stolen last week from the indians. Not only did they stink naturally, the box had contained fish.

"Of course she's going to be okay," he assure the little one. He held the lump of flowers away from his nose and landed softly on the ground. His footsteps were light and soft as he approached her sleeping form.

Taemin stared with wonder at her face. The other boys followed suit, staring at her face.

"She's ugly," Luhan finally spoke, breaking the silence. He poked her again, this time in the side.

Taemin laughed loudly at the younger one's words. "I know," he said. He waved his hand over her head for a second, then dropped the soggy flowers onto her face.

The boys leaned closer. Taemin flew low, close to her face. The wet flowers slowly slid down her cheeks and the brown juice spilled slowly under her eyes. A bit of it went into the corner of her mouth.

Minhee's nose twitched as the smell hit her. Then her eyes flew open. The boys backed off immediatly as she sat up and clawed at her face with a yelp. She stood and spit out the remaining taste.

Lay disappeared behind Leo, but the other boys just stared.

"Eww!!! GROSS!!! What was that?!"

Minhee looked down in disgust. The flowers were a brown lump on the grass. She wiped at her face with her sleeve.

"Uggghh," she groaned again. She looked around.

Trees. Trees everywhere.

"Where am I?!" she asked Leo.

Leo only stared at her, not speaking. His face was stoic.

Minhee turned around. Luhan gave her a serious glare, and Taemin gave her a wide grin. "Hello!"

She stared at his shadow on the ground, then back to him. "You're flying!"

Taemin flew closer, looking at her strangely. "And you're standing."

The air smelled sweet. The sky was bluer than usual, and the grass under her shoes was soft green. It was all too good. Minhee closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I'm dreaming. She took another deep breath, slower this time.

"She seems kind of stupid."

Minhee's eyes flew open. "Who said that?!" she asked.

Taemin pointed at Luhan immediately.

She glared at the little kid. Luhan only stared defiantly back. She scoffed. He was such a disrespectful kid!

He was really small and had big beautiful eyes. His hair was long, though, and messy. He was also dirty. Now that Minhee took a closer look, she could see they all were.

Dirty and skinny.

"What's your name?" she asked him.

Luhan's eyes softened at her gentle tone. He looked at Taemin curiously, letting his hyung take this question.

Taemin looked at the kids for help. Luhan didn't want to answer. Leo, of course, wasn't speaking, and little Lay was barely peeking out from behind Leo.

"Wh-what's yours?" he finally asked. "You can't just ask us questions and expect answers!"

Minhee took a deep breath. There was no point aruging with children. She thought that, but she could obviously tell that Taemin was a lot older. Still, he didn't act much older than these kids.

"I'm Lay."

Minhee turned to the little boy and smiled. His bangs had been cut crookedly. It was probably the work of one of these boys. "Lay?" she asked. "That's a beautiful name."

Lay stepped out from behind Leo and nodded slowly. It hurt Minhee to see how thin and dirty he was.

"Thank you," Lay answered formally. Minhee grinned. He was so cute.

At least this kid has manners, she thought, glancing over at Luhan who had no manners to show. She didn't know where Lay learned to be kind, but it surely wasn't from these boys.

"Lay, what did I tell you?" Taemin asked, pulling him away from the girl. "Don't talk to strangers."

Lay obeyed silently. His head disappeared behind Leo again.

Luhan pointed his stick at her. "Yeah, Lay. Her face smells bad!"

Minhee's jaw dropped in disbelief. "And who's fault is that?!" She scrunched up her face at the smell.

Taemin swooped in front of her proudly. "Mine." He lowered near the ground in front of her. The grass tickled his toes.

She swung at him, but he ducked under her arm. "That was disgusting!!"

Taemin laughed and flew Luhan. He ruffled the younger one's dark hair.

Minhee shook her head, choosing to ignore him. Instead, she knelt down and spoke softly to Lay. "Lay, where can I find some water to wash myself?"

Lay glanced at Leo then answered nervously. "I'll take you."

Lay held out his tiny hand nervously. With a smile, Minhee grabbed his hand, and they started walking off in the direction Lay led them.

"Lay!" Luhan yelled at his dongsaeng's back. Lay stopped walking to listen to his hyung. Luhan pointed at them with his stick. "She could be a bad guy!"

Minhee smiled at him. "I'm not bad, and I'm not a guy. Now, you can come too and watch over this little one if you don't believe me." She motioned to Lay.

Luhan shifted on his feet a bit, considering his options. He didn't like her, but he couldn't abandon Lay like that. "Fine," he grumbled.

Minhee's face lit up as the other boys followed behind.

They all walked together as Lay led her to a nice pool. It was wide and deep. The water was clear and there were a few fish in it. The pool was fed with freshwater from a small waterfall and flowed slowly to a small stream that flowed somewhere far away.

Minhee touched the water with her hand. It was nice and cool. She had started sweat under her jacket. It had been cold in Seoul. Here, it was must have been 27 degrees (about 80 degrees farenheit). She didn't know where she was now, but that wasn't important right now. These boys needed to be cleaned and fed. And she needed to get this rotten-fishy-sock smell off her face.

Minhee spashed at her face a few times and scrubbed. Then she turned to the boys who were staring curiously.

"What?" she asked. "Never seen a girl before?" She flicked her wrists to get the remaining water off her hands, and then wiped them on her pants.

Taemin looked away, clearing his throat. "I shall be on my way now," he announced. "Luhan, make sure she doesn't make a run for it. Keep her in the cage until I get back!"

Taemin jumped from a ledge down towards the pool, then angled up at the last minute and disappeared into the thick trees.

He has a habit of diappearing, huh? Minhee sighed. All traces of Taemin were gone. It was like he was never there. Minhee turned to the boys. They were just left alone. But they seemed used to it. Luhan was making circles in the water with his stick while Leo and Lay attempted to skip rocks across the surface.

"So I guess you're in charge?" she asked Luhan with her arms crossed. She smiled. This kid had an air of authority. She hadn't really meant the question, but Luhan nodded seriously.

"You boys want to swim?" she asked.

Leo stiffened and peeked over at his hyung who looked taken aback. The rock fell from Lay's hand. They were both watching Luhan. Luhan scoffed and sat down. All at once, they shook their heads.

She frowned, looking from one boy to the next. "Come on," she urged. "It's no fun if I swim by myself."

The boys weren't changing their minds. Leo and Lay walked over and sat next to Luhan. She felt bad for ruining the mood, but they were dirty. Minhee sighed, hoping Lay would at least get in the water.

"Lay?" she pleaded, trying her best puppy face. She knew she must have looked like an idiot.

Lay looked at his hyungs. Then took a deep breath and made a move to stand. His toes made an impression in the sand, but Luhan shook his head at Lay.

Lay sighed and sat back down. "No... I can't."

"Come on," she urged, ignoring Luhan. "Lay, you're dirty. You need to clean yourself. Look at your hands."

He looked at his hands. They were stained brown with dirt and dried blood from the various cuts he had. They were now covered in sand and small rocks too.

Luhan and Leo looked at Lay's hands too, but the older one turned away. Leo raised his own hands and examined them. They were muddy from looking for good rocks to skip. His skin was buried under a layer of dirt and grime.

"Yeah," Lay said carefully. "Leo-hyung, let's clean."

He stood up, and Leo followed his lead. They wore only old shorts, but at least they had something. They were also very dark from long exposure to the sun. Lay looked at Luhan, wondering if he should say anything. Finally he said, "Luhan-hyung should clean up too." Lay nervously scratched the back of his head. Flakes of dirt broke off from his hair and went flying with the wind.

One after the other, they walked to the water. With a smile, Lay dived in. Leo walked up next.

"Luhan-hyung can't swim," Leo said, barely above a whisper. Then he dived in after his dongsaeng.

"What?" Minhee asked, turning to look at him.

Luhan looked away darkly, feeling bitter with his secret out. He pulled up his knees and crossed his arms over them. She laughed lightly. So that was why he didn't want to clean up.

"Come on, Luhan," she ordered. "Let's get you boys cleaned up."

Luhan didn't answer, suddenly taking interest in the bit of grass by his feet. He played with the grass blades between his toes.

Minhee playfully went into the water and turned to him. "Luhan-boss..." she said jokingly.

Scowling, Luhan looked up. Then she scooped up handfuls of water and splashed at him. Luhan yelled out gibberish as he tried to scramble away.

It was too late. Lay and Leo had already come to join her, and they splashed at their hyung.

"Lay!! Leo!! I'm going to kill you guys!!!" Luhan turned around and jumped into the shallow water, splashing them back.

~~~~~(^-^)~~~~~

Meanwhile...

"Come on, boys!!" Baekhyun barked, walking down the middle of the large ship. "Lift the anchor!! We're going back!"

The crewmen acted immediately, working together to tug ropes and drop the sails. The bowed to their captain as they passed, rolling various barrels and dragging more rope.

Jihyun ran to her brother. "Oppa, where are we going?!"

She tugged on his sleeve, but Baekhyun was still busy giving orders. "Bring me my telescope," he told a short, one-eyed pirate.

Finally, he looked at Jihyun. Baekhyun growled, "we're going home."

~~~~~(^-^)~~~~~