x. 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫

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Marinette felt lost. So, so lost.

Her eyes stung with tears as she slammed the door to the bakery shut, seething with anger at the injustice of it all. God, why couldn't they all just see Lila for the liar she was?

The cold Parisian air bit at her skin as she stumbled through the silent streets, tears blurring her vision.

Why couldn't they just believe her? Have some faith in her?

Hurt rose in Marinette's heart again, tears leaking from her eyes, seemingly no end in sight. Sobbing, Marinette leaned onto a dirty alley's wall, sliding down until she pulled her knees to her chest.

Tipping up her head a little, Marinette allowed herself a few more minutes to cry before she began to put herself back together again, piece by piece. It wasn't too long before Marinette's tears dried up, leaving her eyes raw and emotionally exhausted.

She didn't really feel like going back home—not now, not ever—but she had no choice. Wiping a few stray tears, Marinette sighed as she looked up to the night sky, dotted with bright stars.

An old story her mother used to tell her—before things went to hell—rang in Marinette's head.

In the second star to the right, her mother would say, they say there is a land where time does not exist.

Neverland. That was it. That was the name.

Marinette's eyes automatically searched for the star before she shook herself, laughing slightly at her stupidity. It was a fairytale which meant it wasn't real. Why was she looking for it then?

But what if it did exist? After all, in every fairytale there was a grain of truth—otherwise, it wouldn't exist at all.

Scoffing at her thoughts, Marinette turned around, back the way she came, resignedly making her way back to the bakery. Her fists clenched at the thought of its inhabitants and returning to their toxic influence, but she had no choice.

Without them, Marinette was utterly lost, with nowhere to live and no support system.

Although, if her parents had actually done their job properly, Marinette wouldn't find herself in need of one. She laughed bitterly at the thought, wandering in the depths of her mind whether it was her fault they no longer loved her.

Objectively, she knew Lila was the source of her misery, estranging her from everyone she had ever loved. But parts of Marinette couldn't help but torment her mind, whispering possibilities that the reason Marinette's parents no longer loved her was because of her.

Marinette was so lost in thought, that she didn't notice the shadow until it had her wrapped in its arms, covering her mouth tightly to avoid any noise of her scream.

As soon as she felt arms wrapping themselves around her waist, Marinette's heartbeat spiked, her self-defence training kicking into action at once.

Her first instinct was to scream, to call out help as loud as she could, but her assailant quickly took care of that, covering her mouth. Marinette elbowed them in the guts, but they just kept on moving as if it didn't even hurt them.

That didn't deter Marinette. She continued to struggle, kicking and punching whatever she could, hoping that it would slow her assailant down.

She was fighting so hard, that it took Marinette more than a few seconds to realise they weren't running anymore. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the sight below her.

The twinkling lights from the city of Paris seemed so insignificant from the height she was currently at. If she squinted hard enough, Marinette could see lone individuals roaming the streets and couples kissing near the Seine.

The blowing of the chilly wind on Marinette's shoulders was a sharp reminder that she was being abducted, and once again, Marinette resumed her struggle.

This time, she caught her captor by surprise which was a good and bad thing. The good news was that she was released from their grip, but the bad news was that she was free-falling through the sky, probably falling to her death.

As the cold wind pinched her skin, Marinette steeled herself for the crushing impact of the Seine, but it never came.

Arms wrapped themselves around her waist—once again—and Marinette was being lifted into the sky again.

Finally deeming her attacker worthy of seeing her face, Marinette screamed loudly and ear-piercingly when she saw his—no, its—face. Pearly, luminescent eyes from a pitch-black face stared into her soul.

A hand rested itself on her head, and Marinette suddenly felt drowsy. The energy escaped from her limbs and she fell limp into the Shadow's arms, sleep and drowsiness taking over her senses.

The last thing Marinette saw was a star advancing closer and closer.

What the hell was going on, Jason thought irritably as the Lost Boys parted obediently for their leader. As soon as they had begun to wake up one by one, they had begun to crowd around a certain location in camp, whispers erupting from all of them.

The only reason Jason was taking an interest in it was because Tim had come to him running, saying something about someone new before taking off again.

Reaching the middle of the circle, Jasons schooled his expression into his best poker face before turning to what had caught the Boys' attention.

As soon as he laid eyes on her, Jason's eyes widened marginally. It was a girl. For the first time since Neverland was created, the Shadow had brought back a bloody girl.

Walking up to her, Jason nudged her hand with his toe, wondering if she was conscious.

Two seconds later, he found himself pinned to the grassy floor, his own trustworthy dagger pinned against his throat.

Blue eyes with a raging fire glared at him, and Jason felt the tip of his dagger on his throat, the smallest droplet of blood dripping out.

"Where am I?" The girl hissed, and Jason berated himself for being so foolish. But, if he was being honest, he couldn't help but enjoy the situation a little.

The dagger poked harder into his throat, and the girl looked like she was going to murder everyone on the island. "I said, where. Am. I."

Jason smirked at her, manipulating his magic to steal the dagger from her. Switching the positions, this time it was Jason pinning her to the ground.

"Welcome to Neverland," he said, looking at his newest game.

𝐉𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄 𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐘 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐, jasonetteWhere stories live. Discover now