Chapter Text
Till cursed. Loudly. Then, in pure anger, he kicked the glass wall. The pain shot up from his foot all the way up to his thigh. He lost balance, and promptly fell to the ground.
This was great. Fabulous. Fantastic even.
Till curled up, and sniffed. He could already feel the familiar feeling of tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. His foot still hurt.
This was all his fault.
He really didn’t want to end up like this. This was so unfair. Why was this even happening?
This wouldn’t have happened, if Mizi were here. They were supposed to be friends. Best friends. At least, that’s what Till thought.
Pixie Hollow was never particularly kind to Till. Incomplete fairies were often shunned, only truly loved by Mother Dove herself. So, it’s not like he was popular. Maybe if he had been born with a more useful Talent, one that no one could ignore him for, he would be more welcomed. Something like a tinker-talent fairy or a dust-keeper fairy. But no, he was a Music Fairy. Other fairies could ignore him and no one really batted an eye. They saw him as nothing more than a problem child, who greeted with ‘hello’ instead of ‘fly with you’, who didn’t stick to his talent like he was supposed to, and had a strange affinity for humans.
That’s why he had run away. He left in the dead of night, taking just a handful of pixie dust and as many instruments as he could fit in his bag, and he never went back. He doubted anyone noticed, no one came looking anyways.
And then, he met Mizi. The wandering girl had found him crying and lost, and proclaimed they were to be Best Friends. She claimed she was the leader of the ‘Lost Children’ and quickly recruited Till into her gang. At the time, Mizi didn’t have anyone else in her group. It was just them, together, exploring the world of Neverland. They would go hang out with the Mermaids, then hunt in the forest for food. They would go swim and fish, having fun without a care in the world.
Until, that is, the day Mizi lost her shadow.
She’d freaked out, desperate and scared. Till helped her look for it, high and low, all through the island until eventually they found it. In the Human World, where they met Sua.
Till knew very well Mizi’s fascination with girls. She loved hanging out with the Mermaids, staring at them even though the Mermaids, in Till’s opinion, were very mean and very vain. They always laughed when Till flew away, scared, because they’d started singing without warning. On more than one occasion they also tried to drown him. Mizi always made excuses for them, and she always went back. There was a very clear reason as to why. After all, if Luka was the one taking a sun bath, instead of the cute girls, she would huff out and leave.
She also hung out with Hyuna, the daughter of the leader of a village native to Neverland. Always ‘Hyuna please!’, and ‘Hyuna look!’. Till had seen Mizi give out flowers to the girl on plenty of occasions, blushing just at the chance of getting the girl to look at her.
It always made him feel a bit lonely. Mizi would leave very quickly and forget about him, as soon as another girl showed up. His only solace was that he was her best friend. Despite it all, he was the one who stuck around whenever the sun set. After all their adventures, and after all the mischief - it was him and Mizi who went back to sleep in that crooked tree stump that was their home.
But it all changed when Sua came.
Mizi loved Sua. She loved her more than she loved any other girl, any other human, any other species in the Neverland.
They met in the human world. Mizi with a lost shadow, stumbling into the room. Sua laughed as she saw Mizi stumbling and fumbling trying to get her shadow back. It was Sua who offered to sew her shadow back to her, and sang a beautiful melody to calm Mizi down.
Mizi was stricken at that moment. Till could tell. Years of being near her, of being by her side, he could recognize the way Mizi’s eyes shimmered with interest. He had tried to tug Mizi away from Sua - he could feel the adults coming and they would be in huge trouble if they got found out.
But instead of leaving, Mizi lingered. She saw from the window how Sua was pushed and pulled by her sisters, told to do chores by them, and mocked for her looks. She saw the way one of the adults, a woman, lingered too much. There was a strange air whenever she spoke. She ordered Sua around, and she did so with a strangely firm and uncomfortable air hanging around them.
“What do you think that creature is, Till?” Mizi asked, curious as she leaned closer into the window.
‘A caregiver,’ Till replied. He knew humans could hear nothing but the chime of a bell when he spoke. Mizi, however, was different from other humans. She was raised in Neverland. ‘I think that’s what they call them’.
Later on, Sua explained it was something called a ‘mother’. Till knew only of Mother Dove, but Mizi had no clue. Mizi never met Mother Dove, the fairy dust she obtained was different. She had no concept of a mother, not even close to a clue. Till had a closer idea, but he still didn’t understand.
Mother Dove was the caregiver of all fairies, and since she couldn’t fly, she was to be taken care of by all fairies in return. She was kind and sweet, loving even to failures like Till. Sua’s ’mother’ was strange. Scary, even. Like a monster that lurked in the forest.
“Don’t you want to come with me?” Mizi asked Sua.
Till wanted to intervene, almost immediately. But he had no power to do so. Mizi ignored him, and when Sua readily agreed to come with them, Till knew it was a losing battle.
Suddenly, and quickly, he was forgotten.
Mizi no longer took him with her for adventures. She always brought Sua along. To the mermaid’s pond, to Hyuna’s home, they visited the caves and the forest, and went out to explore the cove for seashells. Till was often left behind. He wasn’t told they were leaving, and when he managed to tag along, he would be forgotten in the middle of the forest if he didn’t stick close enough.
It wasn’t fair! Him and Mizi were supposed to be friends! Best friends! That’s what she promised!
He knew it was wrong. He knew that technically, it was petty. But he couldn’t help it! He was angry. Sua could only fly, and therefore join Mizi, if Till gave her some fairy dust. It could last a day and a bit more, depending on how much he gave. He was usually generous, if anything to impress Mizi with it. But that day, he was truly angry. They had forgotten about him, and when he found them, they were in the mermaid’s pond laughing and singing.
Singing mermaids! He had told Mizi many times that singing mermaids could turn him to stone! That was so rude.
So, with only anger filling his little body, he flew away.
He figured, if he went missing, surely the girls would find out. They would notice he’s missing, when Sua ran out of pixie dust, and come rushing to find him. Once they did, they would have to beg for Till to come back if they wanted more pixie dust.
Yet, one, two, three days went by and no one came searching for him.
Well, that was technically a lie.
“Captain! Look what we found!”
Someone had found him.
He was sulking in the forest. Till was sure that no one ever came near it. Hyuna’s village was still far away, the mermaids were on the other side of the island, and no one ever ventured this far from Pixie Hollow. If it wasn’t Mizi, no one would bother finding him.
But he was wrong. Just as he sulked, a glass wall came and imprisoned him. Startled, Till tried to fly back, just to find his back against another glass wall. In a flurry of panic, he shot up and started flying as high up as he could - just to be met with another glass wall on top. As soon as Till hit the top, he felt it all move. The entire structure went up, causing a small gap in the bottom. Till rushed to it - but whatever monster was moving the cage was faster. They sealed Till’s last escape. And before he could even understand what was happening, the entire cage turned on itself. Till crashed upside down, into the bottom glass wall. His head hurt, he was disoriented and nauseous. But more than that, he was scared. He needed to escape. He looked up, and noticed the metal wall. Surely, it would be weak, right?
Till shot up flying, hit the metal top with as much force as his fists could gather, then tried smashing his whole body against. Once, twice, thrice. He could feel his shoulder bruising, but he couldn’t stop. He was scared. He didn’t know what was happening. The giant monster wasn't stopping. Everything kept moving, and he didn’t know where.
“Look, Isaac! It’s a firefly!” One of the voices said. “Isn’t it cool?! It shines like it’s made of gold!”
“Stop playing around with it, Dewey,” another one said. “Let it go, we have to head back”.
“No way, I’m keeping it!”
“You’re gonna get in trouble with Hyun Woo, you keep bringing dangerous things into the ship,” the other one said.
“He said it’s fine as long as I talk to him first”.
“Whatever, hurry up. We found what we’re looking for, ” the shorter one said. “I don’t want to deal with more of these nonsense creatures”.
Till continued to try and smash his way across the glass walls, hoping to break free. These people were weird, and completely unknown! He had to warn Mizi, he had to escape!
But the person holding his prison kept shuffling and moving it around. At some point, it felt less like Till was smashing the wall, and more like the walls were smashing him.
The scenery kept changing too. He knew where they were heading. Farther and farther away from the mermaid’s cove, and infinitely farther from Mii’s hideout. They were heading to the opposite side of the island, closer to Hyuna’s village. But while her village was at the top of the hills, they were going down. Towards the ocean.
Till’s heart sank when he realized there was a ship on the shore. All strength left him, as he dropped to the glass floor.
Pirates.
There wasn’t much the islanders knew about pirates. The mermaids seemed the most knowledgeable and they were mean. Never sharing stories for free, and rarely finding them particularly interesting. Fairies knew of them, but mostly forgotten legends. Once, Neverland had been swarmed by pirates, who seemed to destroy the land and kidnapped every sentient thing in the islands. From fairies, to mermaids, dragons, and even the children in Hyuna’s village.
That’s where Till knew most of the recent pirates’ stories. Hyuna had been young when it happened, but apparently a group of pirates kidnapped her younger brother, when she’d gone out to play with the mermaids. They set the forest on fire, and even spread disease in her small village.
Hyuna’s brother never came back. It made Hyuna fiercely protective of her village, and friends with Mizi - who at the time had helped chase the pirates out to never return.
In short - pirates were dangerous.
They weren’t something fairies had to be worried about. Their tree remained in the center of Neverland, with the eternal protection of the island and every creature inside of it - for it housed Mother Dove’s egg, which was the source of all Neverland’s magic. If fairies didn’t leave Pixie Hollow - and honestly, why would they? - they were safe. The safest place in all of Neverland, in fact. So, stories of pirates were more folk tales. Almost no fairy had seen them, and the few that did were story-telling-fairies who came to warn the rest not to follow their reckless steps.
But here he was.
Going straight into the shark’s mouth. He was going to be kidnapped. He was going to get captured and never be brought back to Neverland.
Till could feel his breath quicken, as he hyperventilated. Slowly, he curled into himself, cursing for ever being so dumb. He shouldn’t have been so petty, it was so dumb of him to try and make Mizi worry. Now, he was going to be forgotten. He would die.
He couldn’t stop the tears, as he sniffed once more.
“Captain! Look what I found!”
“What is that, Dewey?”
“Ah, Hyun Woo! Look, I just caught something! It’s safe to keep, right?”
“‘Something’? I sure hope you didn’t rip it from its family-”
“This one was alone! So it didn’t have a family”
“What did you-? Huh!? You caught a fairy!?”
“Ouch! What was that for?!”
“Are you an idiot?! This is almost as bad as kidnapping a human!”
“What!? Isn’t it basically a firefly?!”
“You are really stupid”.
Till felt the cage move around. He flinched away, as a giant eye looked inside his prison.
“Hey there, little one,” the human said.
Till panicked. He didn’t trust anything that was happening. Momentarily forgetting he was trapped, he flew away on instinct. He flew up, just to hit a side of the glass wall. He changed course, just to knock on another. He kept trying to fly away, scared, but only managing to keep hitting everything in his path.
“Woah, woah, calm down, we’re not going to hurt you!” The human said. “Calm down, little one…”
“Don’t call me that!” Till yelled. He wasn’t small, the damn humans were just too tall.
“Alright, alright, I won’t call you that,” the human said.
That made Till stop in his tracks.
“You can understand me?” Till asked.
“Uhm? Yeah?” The human said, confused.
“You’re from Neverland? You don’t look like you’re from the village…” Till asked. The human flinched, eyes wide. “Why are you even with the pirates, traitor!?”
“Wait, wait, wait, you actually know where I’m from!?” The boy exclaimed. “I’m Hyun Woo! I’m from the island, you know where my home is, right?!”
Till backed away, pressing his wing to the glass. What was going on? The human, Hyun Woo, understood him. That meant he had to be from the Island. But he didn’t seem to know anything from it. He couldn't shake off the feeling this whole thing was strange.
“What’s with all this commotion?” A new voice popped from the shadows. Till swallowed hard, feeling like things were just getting more dangerous.
“Captain, we have a lead!” Hyun Woo yelled, excited.
Till wanted to back away even further, but was stopped by the glass wall once more. The closer the so-called Captain came, the more Till had the feeling he was in danger.
He was big. Bigger than the other humans, and he carried himself with an air of darkness that reminded Till of the stories about Krakens he’d heard back in Pixie Hollow. Red pupils that looked like they glowed even in the haze of the twilight. His frame looked closer to a boulder or mountain than anything. If Till had to describe the human in front of him - it would be ‘monster’.
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Ivan watched Hyun Woo wave around the jar like a little kid. It had been a while since Ivan had seen him so happy. He had guessed that finally getting him to the nonsense island he’d been talking about since they were kids would make him happy. However, ever since they arrived, all he’d find was Hyun Woo anxious about not finding his way back to his sister.
It was starting to become troublesome, especially since it was taking them longer than anticipated. Ivan just wanted all this to be over with, pretend this whole excursion was a big dream, and never touch port again.
This entire place was a giant incomprehensible old wife’s tale come to life. Ivan didn’t even want to step out of the ship. He’d seen mermaids on the way there, and that was enough to give him a headache. When he’d heard Dewey brought back yet another creature, Ivan was ready to send it back out. They were not taking anything back which they couldn’t immediately sell. The less things reminded Ivan of the whole affair, the better.
Yet, here was Hyun Woo, saying that the creature inside the jar was their best lead towards his old home.
“What do you have there, Hyun Woo?” Ivan asked, opening his hand. Hyun Woo handed it over immediately.
“It’s a fairy, Captain,” the boy explained. “They’re native to the island. I heard my Noona talk about them as kids, but I had never seen them before. They’re extremely precious, so do not harm them”.
“Precious?” Ivan asked, holding the jar. He couldn’t see much. It shone very brightly, so it was hard to discern anything more than a vague silhouette. In any other case, Ivan would dismiss it as a particularly bright firefly. “How so?”
“They protect the magic in the island,” Hyun Woo explained. “They usually don’t stray far from the island’s heart. They’re rare to see, usually a sign of good luck. But messing with them is seen as incredibly offensive”.
“WHAT!?” Dewey cried from the side. “I didn’t mean to! I thought it was a bug at first!”
“It looks like one,” Ivan said, dismissively. He looked closer. Finally, he managed to take a look.
A tiny fairy was glaring at him through the haze of gold. Its face all scrunched up, clearly upset, curled up and plastered against the jar, as far from Ivan’s eyes as it possibly could. Even with its short, messy hair, Ivan couldn’t really tell if it was a girl or a boy - maybe gender was not a thing in the fairy realm. It looked like it was wearing a dress but it was hard to tell. Maybe it was just an unusually long shirt and boots. Slinged across his chest was a small bag.
Ivan noticed how the wings were fluttering. He was sure that if the thing was free, he would rush to attack him. He didn’t know if fairies were weak or strong and he had no curiosity to find out.
He shook the jar up and down.
The fairy went tumbling around the jar, making jingling sounds that reminded Ivan of Christmas bells. He heard Hyun Woo take in a sharp breath, and a horrified ‘Captain!’ followed.
Then a muffled voice came from the jar. Ivan could barely make it out. Something like ‘I hate humans’ and vaguely ‘stop it, jerk’.
“What did you say?” Ivan asked, intensely watching the jar.
“Stop it, Captain!” Hyun Woo finally intervened, snatching the jar from Ivan’s hands.
It was a bold move, but it proved how freaked out Hyun Woo was about the whole ‘fairies are sacred’ speech he was giving.
“It said something,” Ivan insisted.
“Humans can’t speak with them,” Hyun Woo explained, looking at the fairy with worry. “I think. Dewey said he could only hear chiming bells. I think only people who’re born on the island can understand them.”
“Is that so?” Ivan hummed, feeling particularly irked. His eyes continued to follow the jar. “How do you know that?”
“That’s what he said,” Hyun Woo said, pointing at the jar.
“‘He’?” Ivan asked, narrowing his eyes. “You can understand ‘him’?”
“I told ya, Captain, I’m from the island,” Hyun Woo said.
Ivan had heard the same spiel thousands of times already, but it seemed to be the first time it didn’t sound like the lies of a traumatized child. He’d always assumed Hyun Woo had gone crazy when he was captured. He kept talking Ivan’s ear off about how his home was this made-up island where mermaids, fairies and dragons existed. How he was born in a village at the top of a cliff. Ivan could only remember it because of how many times he’d heard it. He’d ignored him the few dozen times he’d told that story, but now he knew it almost by heart: How he was tricked by one of the mermaids his sister used to hang out with, into going to a skull cavern and subsequently got captured by pirates.
Ivan was certain it was the ramblings of a child who’d gone mad after being trafficked into the slave trade. Perhaps his real life was terrible, he’d been sold by his parents or something similar, and he was deluding himself. Clinging to the fantasy that he had a perfect life before this hell. Or maybe his life truly had been perfect before being kidnapped, and he was just overly romanticizing something because his current situation was miserable.
But now, as he watched him chat up with the jar - a jar that still was bothering Ivan - he finally had to face the truth. The uncomfortable, strange truth, that Hyun Woo wasn’t lying. This place, this island, was real.
“Can it tell you where your ‘sister’ is?” Ivan asked, crossing his arms, watching with intensity the glowing jar. “I would rather not be stuck here for weeks”.
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Hyun Woo knew his boss hated the island.
Of course he knew, when they were growing up, there wasn’t a time when Ivan didn’t tell him to shut up. He always looked away when he was telling the stories of his childhood. While the other kids would huddle up close to listen to the stories. They were eager to escape the reality of their situation, asking questions after questions. Hyun Woo always answered. He didn’t want to forget. He felt like if he started to forget it all, he would soon end up not being able to go back. He always held hope he’d meet his Noona again.
They would meet once more, of that he was sure.
But unlike the rest of the kids, Ivan never listened to Hyun Woo. He saw them as nothing more than childish dreams. He rarely said it, but Hyun Woo knew Ivan saw his rambling as a waste of time, things like booze or women. A way to distract themselves from the hell they were living in. Surely, Ivan saw him as a kid who never fully grew up.
Hyun Woo, in all honesty, preferred that. Everyone always saw his memories as fantastic tales. They used his memories as free entertainment. Others laughed at him, but Ivan never did.
Yes, he also believed Hyun Woo was lying. But he never treated Hyun Woo like a circus. Just another crew member, one with a strange coping mechanism. Like the way Isaac some days drowned in alcohol, or how Dewey would destroy things a bit too roughly when they were hijacking another pirate ship.
That was one of the reasons he respected him so much.
“Let me go!” The fairy inside the jar continued to scream.
“Captain, we really should release him,” Hyun Woo tried to reason. “It’s very bad luck to kidnap a fairy…”
“This,” Ivan said, promptly taking the jar from Hyun Woo’s hand, “is your closest clue to your sister”.
“Yeah, but he won’t say anything,” Hyun Woo said. And honestly, he couldn’t blame the poor creature. He was trapped inside a jar, being moved from one side to another.
“He’ll talk eventually, surely,” Ivan said dismissively, watching the jar closer.
He was likely inspecting the fairy inside it. Even from far, Hyun Woo could hear the fairy yelling profanities. It was really angry. Hyun Woo just hoped he was misremembering the stories his Noona used to tell him, and that messing with fairies wasn’t going to cause the collapse of the island.
Still, he couldn’t understand it. It was very unlike his captain to cling to things that were proving to be useless. If talking to a fairy was just running in circles, Ivan would usually be quick to find another way to get what he wanted.
Surely, he must really hate being stuck in the islands, huh.
“What is wrong with him!?” The fairy yelled, this time flying around the jar. He was looking more distressed by the second. “Tell him to leave me alone!”
“He’s just watching you, he won’t eat you,” Hyun Woo said. However, as he looked at his Captain, he couldn’t help but feel like that was not really a promise he was certain could be kept. “Captain, you’re scaring him…”
“Why would a fairy be scared of a human?” Ivan asked, with a chuckle. “Didn’t you say they were very powerful and could control the heart of the island? Surely, a mere human like me wouldn’t pose a threat to it, right?”
Eh, was Ivan trying to tease the fairy?
“I’m a Music Fairy! I’m not in charge of Mother Dove!” The fairy screamed back. “I just want to go back to Mizi!”
That name.
“Mizi?” Hyun Woo asked. “That’s…Is that the pink haired girl who lives in the forest…?”
The fairy stopped flying. He turned to Hyun Woo, and his light flickered.
“Wah, I think you scared him way more, Hyun Woo,” Ivan commented.
He had never seen the bastard more entertained. And he’d heard tales from around the seven seas. What an asshole.
“Y-you know Mizi…?”
“I told you, I’m searching for my sister!” Hyun Woo said once more. “I’ve been here before, you can trust me!”
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Till did not trust the humans. Not the littlest bit, not the slightest. He was shoved in a glass prison, jostled around from one side to the other, mocked and stared at like an attraction. The whole situation was humiliating and scary.
And now the pirates were telling him they were searching for Mizi? No way! He was ready to die for Mizi. She was his only friend, there was no way he was telling on her.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he moved away. He didn’t realize that, in an attempt to get away from the human in front of him, he was inching closer to the red-eyed captain.
“You’ll scare it even more,” the red-eyed human said. “Forget it, go back to getting something to eat. We’ll starve if this goes on. You can chat with your new friend at dinner. If you manage to forage anything, Mr-I’m-From-This-Island”.
Till was grateful to finally be out of the observing eyes of the rest of the humans. But as the human with red eyes continued to move, he realized he was bringing talent to the human’s room. Till worried. This was going to be way harder to escape than he had anticipated.
Till was placed on a table. Right next to him, the pirate started moving things and placing odd-looking objects around. He was still on guard, but unfortunately, his curiosity was getting the best out of him.
There were maps and compasses scattered around the table. Those often landed on the shores of Neverland. Mizi and him used to pick them up from the beaches and play with them. Sometimes they pretended to be pirates, making up the purposes of all the knickknacks they stumbled upon. It was the first time he was seeing someone using them for their intended purposes.
He watched the pirate pick up one of his tools, place it on the map, and with extreme ease, draw a perfect circle.
Till’s wings fluttered in excitement, lifting him up almost unconsciously as he tried to look closer.
“What’s that?! How did you do that!?”
The pirate turned, eyes narrowed. Till’s wings went rigid, and he slowly went down.
“Don’t talk,” the pirate said. “The bells are annoying”.
Till’s face went red, pure pure red in embarrassment, and then quickly anger. How could a human tell him to shut up!? He didn’t even know what he was saying!? Not even the other fairies said something like that. He might have been called strange and a problem child, but his voice was considered pleasant enough! He was a Music Fairy, after all!
Till felt so insulted, he promptly turned around, sat down and sulked as far away from the pirate as he could.
He heard a sigh.
“Now, now, don’t be angry. I didn’t say you couldn’t look,” the pirate said.
The entire cage moved, and Till had to grab at the walls of glass to avoid falling. He let out a little yelp when he was set down. His balance went off, and he fell forward face first to the glass floor. Till yelped, feeling the curse words on the tip of his tongue.
A laugh. Till startled, looking up. The pirate looked amused at it. Till guessed the entire ‘sounds like chip in bells’ was making the whole situation even more comical in the human’s eyes. He was about to turn around and keep silent but the pirate spoke sooner.
“There, you can see better now, can’t you?”
Till blinked. He saw the map closer in front of him, and he realized he did, in fact, have a clearer view of the entire thing.
It was unlike anything Till had seen before. It looked exactly like the ones from the tales he’d heard from the story-telling fairies. He couldn’t recognize names, or routes. Not that he knew much of how to read maps from Neverland. He may know the island like the palm of his hand, but he was utterly lost in how to interpret a map.
But he could recognize the pictures. The maps usually used them as a reference point. Most of the maps he’d seen with Mizi had very crude drawings. Yet, the ones on the table were realistic. He could see exactly what they were, he could recognize the ships and the trees and the islands.
“It’s good you seem to like these things,” the pirate commented with a chuckle. “It saves me quite a bit of oil”.
Till stared up, confused. Then, he realized what the pirate meant. He was using Till as a lamp! The pixie dust was known for its golden color. Many wanted to capture fairies for the properties it carried, or so he’d been told. But he’d never heard of people using fairies as a source of light! Till was so mad, he immediately got up and turned red in the face, stomping his feet on the ground.
“I cannot believe you!” Till complained. “I’m not a lamp!”
The pirate only laughed.
“Well, you certainly look like one now,” the pirate continued to say. “You’re useful, that much I’ll say”.
“I hate pirates,” Till said, feeling the rage continue up his face. “Set me free, you damn pirate!”
“That’s hurtful,” the pirate had the nerve to say, wearing a fake pout. “I’m not a pirate, I’m a captain”.
“It’s the same thing,” Till complained, huffing out, and crossing his arms. “Let me go, pirate!”
“Captain Ivan,” the pirate said. “If you get my title right, I might set you free, little one”.
“Yeah, right”. Till said. “I don’t trust you, pirate Ivan”.
“You’re an interesting one, little fairy,” the pirate said, with a laugh. “I’ll give you that”.
“I am not little!” Till yelled as soon as he heard that. He was not! Even by fairy standards, sure he wasn’t big, but the pirate didn’t have to know that.
“From up here, everyone looks little,” Ivan said with a cocky smile. Till could feel his wing buzzing from how annoying it all was. “And you, my dear fae, are even littler.”
Till let out a huge gasp. He heard Ivan snicker. Till had enough and finally turned around, refusing to look at the man. This was the worst. Humiliating. He hated it here. All he wanted was to go home. Mizi was probably searching for him…! Probably…Right…?
He wasn’t sure. He’d left the two girls behind a few days ago already. And they hadn’t come searching for him. They probably didn’t even notice he was gone. No. They probably did. Sua must have run out of pixie dust two days ago. Without Till to give her a fill, she was probably stuck on the ground more often than not.
They must have noticed he was gone. They. They probably just didn’t care. Mizi didn’t care. He was trapped, unable to go home, and Mizi didn’t care-
“You’re quiet”.
“I thought you said the bells were annoying,” Till said, feeling like a lump was caught in his throat.
There was a pause.
‘He’s upset,’
Ivan thought, as he watched the silent frame of the fairy. ‘Was he really upset about being called annoying?’
“Bells are annoying,” Ivan said, dipping his pen in the ink, and drawing a line from one side of the map to the other. “Your voice isn’t”.
“My voice is the bells, idiot,” Till said, voice still hoarse from holding back the tears. “That’s all you can hear”.
“I can listen to your voice just fine,” Ivan continued. “I wonder where the bells even come from, though”.
Plucked right out of his spiral, Till perked up.
“Wait,” he said. “You can hear me”.
“That’s what I just said, little one,” Ivan insisted, still analyzing the map. He couldn’t figure out how sailing with Hyun Woo’s nonsense explanation even managed to get them here.
“No! You understand me!” Till said once more, this time even louder. “You’re a human, but you understand me!”
Ivan stopped his fountain pen in the middle of the tracks. Hyun Woo’s words echoed inside of his mind ‘Humans can’t speak with them. Only people who’re born on the island can understand them’. Fuck.
Ivan really didn’t want to get wrapped up in this island more than he already was.
“I thought humans couldn’t understand your kind,” Ivan said.
The fairy shrugged.
“They can’t,” the fairy said. “Any human I’ve met in the human world couldn’t. And Sua…well, she can understand me a bit. Maybe humans understand the more they stay here. But she’s been here for months, and she can barely understand me. You’ve been here…what?”
“Can’t tell, your island’s time is strange,” Ivan said, looking down at his pocket watch with a frown. “Clocks don't exactly work here. The sun has set a few times, maybe three. But it feels like we’ve been here for more than days”.
The fairy shook his head.
“That’s human time. It’s weird. I don’t get it”.
Ivan sighed. It seemed like they were both at a loss of what ‘time’ even meant.
“So I’ve been here for a couple of days and I can understand little fairies like you,” Ivan said, letting out a loud sigh. “That doesn’t sound right…”
“It does not,” the fairy agreed. “The weird one says he’s from Neverland, but…it doesn’t seem like knows what he’s talking about. Can speak to me, though. So, who knows, you tho…?”.
‘Neverland,’
Ivan thought. ‘Is that the name of the island?’
This was the first time he ever heard of such a name. No records of such an island in any of the maps he’d looked through. The more he tried to make sense of the situation, the more reason seemed to slip from his fingers.
“Hyun Woo says he’s from the island,” Ivan continued. “You said you can understand him. Isn’t that proof enough he’s not lying?”
The fairy’s wings started to vibrate, fluttering extremely quickly. Ivan was starting to notice a pattern. It seemed like whenever he felt threatened, that was his instinct. Maybe like a cat who got into a pouncing stance when it felt threatened. Either ready to attack, or ready to leave.
Not that the fairy could do either trapped in a glass jar.
“You guys are pirates,” the fairy said. “All you do is steal and kidnap. I’m not trusting you. Ever”.
“Would you look at that, you’re actually capable of thinking,” Ivan said, highly amused. The wings in the fairy’s back just buzzed, even more irked. “You’ll do right, not trusting pirates, little fairy”.
Ivan himself didn’t trust many people. His crew had earned his trust, but he still often slept with one eye open. All the things the fairy said were true. He had not only seen them, he’d lived them. From both sides. The one being kidnapped, and the one pillaging. It was foolish to think pirates could be trusted.
“My name isn’t ‘little fairy’!” The fairy said once more. This time, he stomped heavily against the jar floor of his prison. “It’s ‘Till’! Say it right!”
Till. What a sweet name.
“Alright, Till,” Ivan said with a small laugh. Even though the fairy swore he would not trust pirates, here he was giving away his name so freely. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish drawing this map”.
“That thing?” Till asked, leaning closer. “That’s a map?”
Ivan was amazed by how quickly and completely his emotions changed. It was interesting to watch, but it left him wondering if the tiny creature didn’t get exhausted by having so many explosive emotions crammed inside.
“Yeah, I’m compiling my crew’s reports, we don’t want to get lost on this island,” Ivan said, showing his calculations. “Trust me, neither of us wants that”.
“Yeah, the sooner you’re gone, the better,” Till agreed with a very firm nod. Ivan couldn’t help smiling, the way Till nodded, with his bottom lip touted out was fairly cute. “But why does it look so…bad?”
Ivan froze up. His maps had never been considered bad before.
“Bad?” Ivan asked, blinking rapidly at the thought. “My calculations are correct, I can assure you”.
“Calculations?” Till asked, tilting his head to the side. “What are those?”
Oh.
“What’s wrong with my map, then?” Ivan asked, inching the piece of parchment closer to the jar.
“Well, it’s not pretty like that one!” Till said, pointing at the other map in the table.
Ivan looked closer to that one. His maps were usually made with convenience in mind. They were correct in their coordinates, directions and proportions. But he never considered the artistic aspect of it. Why would he? He was a pirate. As long as he could find his way across the ocean, very little else mattered.
Yet, here was a fairy complaining about how his maps didn’t have pretty drawings in it. Ivan couldn’t help finding it amusing.
“A map it’s there to guide you,” Ivan explained. “It’s not meant to be pretty”.
“Well, I don’t know how to read a map,” Till said with a huff. “But I know that’s a tree! So I just have to find the tree and I won’t be lost. That one guides me more than yours!”
“Hmm, is that so?” Ivan continued using his ruler to draw the straight lines needed to chart what little he knew of the island. “I’m afraid I don’t know how to draw though. My tree would be very ugly, and you wouldn’t be able to find your way back home, Till”.
“What if I draw it?” Till said. He floated up. The fairy was really excited. Ivan couldn’t help but think that he was a fairly easy to read fairy. Where they all like him, or was Till just special. “I know how to draw!”
Till had the brightest smile he’d seen the fairy wear since they’d met. Eyes wide, rosy cheeks, and a crooked smile that stretched only on one side of his mouth. He didn’t even seem to be looking at Ivan, much more focused on the map in front of him.
Before he could catch himself, Ivan’s body moved on its own. He poked at the jar, making it tilt as far back as it could, before letting go and making it sway violently. Till was quick to yell, as he smacked his head against the jar for being too close to its wall.
“Hey!”
”Nice trick,” Ivan said, smirking. “But I’m not letting you go, little one”.
Till’s face went bright red. Ivan could feel the anger burning off his skin. There was a small delight deep into his heart.
“That’s not-! I wasn’t-,” Till stuttered out. “Ugh! Fine! Keep your ugly maps, you jerk!”
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“Captain!”
Till wasn’t thrilled about being carried around in someone’s hand like a doll. Much less if that ‘someone’ carrying him was Ivan. But here he was, walking to the deck, full of people having a jolly good time eating and drinking.
He’d much rather go back to Ivan’s room. They’d spent a long while just talking about maps and drawings. Till liked watching Ivan do the so-called-calculations. They were strange, completely alien. It made him so curious he asked a bunch of questions without thinking. Ivan had answered them. Although always teasing Till while doing so.
Usually, Till found those kinds of interactions unbearable. Ivan was different though. There was something about him. Maybe it was the fact that, even when Till exploded and yelled, Ivan didn’t flinch away or scoff - the way so many others had done - but instead leaned closer. It made Till’s cheeks warm. He often regretted his bouts of anger, but Ivan never made him feel ashamed of them.
He wanted to go back and keep talking about maps with him.
“Managed to find something to eat, Hyun Woo?”
“Yeah, we found some fruit deep in the forest, and we caught some fish!”
Till looked at the catch these people had. He pulled a face when he saw one of the fish that was caught.
“That thing is poisonous,” Till said as he looked at the bubble-fish people were trying to gut.
“Poisonous!?” Hyun Woo asked. “No! I’m pretty sure the mermaids said we could eat them!”
“You trusted the mermaids?” Till asked, incredulous. “Only idiots trust mermaids! They’re vain, and rude, and they always sing, making trouble for me!”
Till couldn’t help getting angry at the memory of the mermaids. He was never friendly with them, and only ever remained cordial because Mizi really liked them. But she wasn’t here, and these people were clearly too naive to distrust them.
“Calm down, Till, there’s no need to get upset about that,” Ivan said. Till huffed, sitting crossed legged in the ‘jar’. That’s what he heard Ivan call the prison. “And Hyun Woo, I remember very clearly that you were tricked by a mermaid into being kidnapped. Why would you trust them?”
“Sounds like them,” Till couldn’t help but say.
“The mermaid who tricked me was a boy!” Hyun Woo exclaimed. “I thought he hated me because I was a boy too!”
A boy mermaid? Till thought, he didn’t know any boy mermaid that came out to sun bathe other than Luka. And Luka only did so, because he was still hoping Hyuna would pop up and greet him. Obviously, however, Hyuna avoided the mermaid’s cove like the plague.
That said, this person really didn’t know much about Neverland, did he? Till was starting to think he wasn’t actually born here. Maybe he truly was a liar. At this rate, these pirates would end up dying, and leaving Till trapped in this ‘jar’ forever. With a loud sigh, Till got up.
“Rule number one, don’t mess with the mermaids,” Till said, pointing firmly at Hyun Woo. “They have tunnel vision for what they like, so unless you have something they want, they’re not doing anything to help you!”.
Hyun Woo grimaced.
“Yeah…that checks out”.
“Rule number two,” Till said, finger pointing at the crew. “Avoid animals and berries until you know for sure that it’s edible! Most fruit is safe, but I don’t trust any of you to know what fish is safe or not”.
“Aye, aye,” Hyun Woo said, dejected.
“Hmmm,” Ivan hummed, still holding Till’s jar. “For a second there I thought you were the captain, Till”.
“I wouldn’t need to, if you were keeping your pirates from poisoning themselves!” Till yelled, irked by the response. “Who taught you how to survive?! A baby squirrel?!”
“Uhm, Captain?” Dewey asked. “You can understand the fairy?”
“Apparently some people can understand them, if they’ve stayed on the island for long enough,” Ivan said dismissively.
“I still think there’s something wrong with you,” Till deadpanned.
“Now, that’s rude, Till,” Ivan chided. Till just huffed out an annoyed sigh and continued to look around. “Hyun Woo, share what Till just said, and make sure none of our idiots get sick tonight”.
“Aye, aye, Captain!”
Ivan walked towards the table and sat down at the very end of it. He set down Till’s jar right next to him. Ivan didn’t seem particularly interested in the food, which was a shame. Till could see mulberries at the edge of his plate and he really liked those.
The sun had already set. There were lamps hanging around. They gave off a very low glow, making it hard to look around. The food was being passed around, it all looked like a blur. Chatter coming from one side of the table to another, as the drinks splashed around. There was food falling from the sky, and laughter. Quite a bit of it.
It reminded him of the festivals in Pixie Hollow. Minus the music. He hated those more than anything. Every time he tried to show off his music, there was a weird air around them. The other fairies didn’t like it, calling it ‘too different’, insisting he play the same songs as everyone else.
“There’s no music?” Till asked.
Ivan laughed.
“Do we look like rich folk to you? We can’t afford a musician here”.
“Afford?” Till asked. “You don’t have enough food for another member?"
Ivan raised an eyebrow, he picked a mulberry from his plate and started playing with it .
“You pay your musicians in food?” Ivan said with an amused tone. “Must be pretty bad musicians, this lot can also sing for food. Not good, mind you”.
“Pay? Music fairies just play because they like to,” Till explained. “Like baker fairies just bake because they like to, and tinkering fairies tinker with things just because they like to”.
“Huh, must be nice,” Ivan said, flicking the mulberry away. “Doing things ‘just because you want to’”.
“Every fairy is born knowing their place, knowing what they’re supposed to do,” Till continued, feeling a pit in the bottom of his stomach. “We all work to keep Mother Dove safe and the Home Tree healthy…We’re not really supposed to leave Pixie Hollow anymore”.
“Yet here you are,” Ivan said, with a grin, picking up another mulberry.
“Yeah, here I am,” Till said, curling up in himself. He looked up, far away he could see his island. If he squinted he could see the faint glow of Pixie Hollow. Maybe. Or maybe it was just a trick of his eyes.
Ivan’s grin fell.
“Why are you here?” Ivan asked. “Dewey said you were alone in the woods”.
“I don’t belong in Pixie Hollow,” Till said. “I’m an Incomplete”.
“Incomplete…?”
“We’re born wrong,” Till said with a shrug. Ivan stiffened. “Missing this, missing that, some with an extra here, or a too much there. Mother Dove said my human probably laughed too hard and a piece of them stayed with me. That’s why I’m so…different. My music’s supposed to make fairies happy, but it just makes them uncomfortable”.
“…So you also don’t have a home to go back to?”
Till noticed the ‘also’ that hung in Ivan’s words. He wondered if the pirate was as lonely as Till sometimes felt.
“I thought I had one,” Till said. A flash of pink flashed in his memory. He tried not to think too much about it. He felt sadness would swallow him whole if he did. He gripped his arms as hard as he could, trying to keep the tears from falling. “But I got abandoned. Mizi won’t come”.
Mizi.
Ivan recognized the name. He’d heard it before. Hyun Woo had said something about it. A pink haired demi-goddess, or so he understood. Not that he understood much. It seemed like Till was friends with her. Or had been. Ivan wasn’t too keen on knowing. The thought of the girl was itching his heart into uncomfortableness.
“You said you’re a Music Fairy?” Ivan asked. “Can you sing?”
“Of course I can sing, jerk,” Till said with a sniffle. “What kind of Music Fairy can’t sing?”
“How about a trade?” Ivan asked.
“You‘ll set me free if I sing?” Till asked, perking up.
Ivan laughed.
“I still need you,” Ivan said, pushing the jar far back, then letting go. This time, Till knew what to expect and didn’t get jostled around by the motion. Too much. At least he didn’t fall face-first. “You said Music Fairies like to play music, no? I’ll let you sing, isn’t that a fair trade?”
“I don’t have an instrument, genius,” Till said with a huff. He’d forgotten his instruments in his fit to leave Mizi’s house as fast as he could. “I’ll play music, if you get me an instrument”.
“Hmm, can’t say I have tiny instruments lying around,” Ivan said with a small frown. Till kept staring at the mulberry in Ivan’s hand. Ivan finally seemed to notice. “I’ll trade you some berries for a song, how’s that sound?”
“Deal!” Till said, enthusiastically. He sprung up from his curled up form. He looked around, trying to find something to work with.
It had been a while since Till actually indulged in his own talent. Ever since he’d fled Pixie Hollow, he’d been too distracted with Mizi’s adventures to really do much. He would scribble songs here and there and hum the melodies when he could. But it was often late at night, and he didn’t like doing it in fear he might wake her up. He always had the feeling his music was just bothering Mizi.
That was a useless fear now. He could sing. He could do whatever he wanted.
A sudden buzz of life bloomed in his chest. A type he’d never felt before. Music had always been something he knew he liked, a pull that came from deep within him. An intrinsic knowledge that was impossible to wipe.
Yet it always came with this expectation from everyone else. Sing this, sing that. Follow what the others say, and don't stray from the path. It made him not want to sing.
It was the first time he’d ever been offered the option: Sing whatever you want.
The excitement that came from the depths of his heart was something he’d never thought was possible. He wished he had his harp, his music sheets, his flute, or at least a tambourine. Gosh! That would be so much fun!
All he had was his own voice and…Til’s eyes glinted as he looked up. He raised his fist and gave the glass wall a light hit. A ‘ clink’ was heard. It was subtle, forgotten in the sea of screams and yells from the rest of the crew. Till licked his lips, feeling like he’d struck gold.
Quickly, Till took out his sword. It was a small thing that Sua had given her. ‘A broken pinhead needle’ she called it. But, to Till, it was his gallant sword. Not that it had served him of any use. He was trapped in the damn jar anyways. He flipped it over, grabbing it by the sharp point. ‘Sharp’ point, that is. He used the round part to hit the glass, and it created a much more pleasant noise.
“What exactly are you doing?”
“You said you wanted music,” Till just answered with a mischievous smirk. “Don’t regret it, Captain”.
Ivan watched as Till started hitting the glass with practiced precision. He was right to assume Till would have tried to injure him (probably even succeeded) had he been less careful. He was moving that needle with effortless ease, as if it were merely an extension of his body.
The echo kept going. It quickly caught the attention of the rest of his crew. Ivan, for a second, wondered if all they were going to be able to hear was the twinkling of bells to the sound of a ‘clink’, ‘clink’. But when Till finally found the rhythm he was looking for, and began singing - Ivan could guess such a stupid thing wasn’t what they heard.
Till was extremely gifted when using even such a rudimentary excuse of an instrument. The round head hit first, with much more force, causing a revibrating echo inside the jar. Meanwhile, with the thin part of the needle, he managed to hit the glass rapidly. It gave the illusion there were two instruments. Ivan wondered just what Till could create if he could use real instruments.
Then, Till started singing.
Ivan was taken aback. Till’s voice wasn’t bad, which was higher praise than Ivan had ever given anyone. Generally speaking, he usually grew irritated when people talked for too long, some aspect of timber would start grating him eventually. But Till had the strange quirk that he could talk for as long as he wanted, and it never became annoying. In fact, Ivan always wished Till could keep talking, forever.
This was the closest that wish had to coming true.
With this cheeky, wide smirk, Till began to sing.
“What will we do with a drunken sailor? What will we do with a drunken sailor? Early in the morning”.
Till had a magnetic voice. He started out with this calm voice, as if explaining to a child the concept. But as soon as the chorus hit, his mischievousness took centerfold.
“Way hay and up she rises! Way hay and up she rises! Shave his belly with a rusty razor!
Ivan was amazed by the pull Till had with his audience. Even through the glass jar, even though he was so small, he could see that his entire crew was captivated. The energy it created slowly grew. The infectious impish energy that Till carried himself with quickly spread through his crew.
They were all laughing, amused by the lyrics. Enraptured by the sound. Thoroughly charmed by the beautiful fae that kept controlling his audience - perhaps unaware of how charismatic he came across.
“Put him in a long boat till he's sober. Put him in a long boat till he's sober! Early in the morning!”
Everyone was quick to join in. They began clapping, boots stomping to the rhythm. His crew was anything but musically gifted - that was a thing only for the rich folk - so they were not following along that well. Yet, Till had the ability to keep the pace, the rhythm, even with such a lousy audience. In fact…
“Stick him in a scupper with a hosepipe bottom! Stick him in a scupper with a hosepipe bottom! Early in the morning!”
…it seemed like the fairy thrived in such a rowdy, chaotic, downright dirty space. Ivan couldn’t stop staring. He realized he could spend his entire life looking at the fairy, and he wouldn’t be bored. The way he talked, the way he sang, the way he moved, from the tips of his pinkish noise, to the end of his fluttering wings.
Till turned to him, just as he sang the last verses. Ivan would give everything in his power to keep Till looking his way.
“Give him a dose of salt and water. Give him a dose of salt and water! Early in the morning!”
Could he keep Till in this little jar forever?
“How ya’ like that, Captain?” Till asked, grinning from side to side.
“Duck”.
Ivan grabbed a hook from the side of his belt. With a quick and swift flick of the wrist, he stabbed it right on top of the metal lid.
Till yelped out, dropping to the floor, absolutely terrified.
“You could have hurt me!”
“I told you to duck”.
“Too late!”
The metal lid already had small breathing holes, but they were far too small. Ivan simply made them a tad bit bigger. With no warning, Ivan grabbed one of the mulberries in his plate and dropped it inside of Till’s jar.
The fairy lit up, almost immediately. Ivan found himself smiling.
“You’re pretty good, little fae,” Ivan said, watching Till grab the mulberry and snatching a fairy-sized bite. “If I could hire you permanently, I would”.
“You…liked my song?” Till asked, blinking slowly. “Like, actually, liked it?”
Ivan was amazed by the little fairy's inability to realize the impact he had on others. Everyone was clearly excited and impressed by his performance. Why would he assume anyone didn’t?
Instead of answering, Ivan plopped another mulberry in Till’s jar. Till yelped, feeling squished by the two berries inside the jar.
“I don’t pay for things I don’t like,” he answered.
Just as Ivan was watching Till eat another bite of the mulberry, Hyun Woo and Dewey came rushing close.
“Little fairy!” Dewey yelled first. “That was amazing! I couldn’t believe that was your voice! Is that how you talk?”
“Eh? They could hear my voice too?” Till asked, turning his head to Ivan, as if asking for an explanation.
“Seems like it,” Ivan said.
“Eh? Can I only hear him when he’s singing?” Dewey exclaimed, utterly disappointed, likely still hearing nothing but twinkling bells. “That’s not fair!”
“I don’t think humans are meant to hear my music,” Till said tilting his head to the side. “Isn’t that strange?”
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“Captain,” Hyun Woo said in a whisper, taking Ivan’s attention away from the fairy. “Over here, uhm…”
Hyun Woo looked nervous, Ivan could already guess what he was going to say.
“For someone who wants to free a captive prisoner, you don’t seem so sure of your own judgment,” Ivan said, casually, not bothering to look Hyun Woo in the eyes.
“‘Prisoner’? Ain’t that rude to the lil’ fae, captain?” Hyun Woo asked. Then sighed. “He’s not meant to be with us. Even back when I lived here with my Nona, fairies were an extremely rare sight. I can’t stop thinking it’s a bad omen to keep him here trapped”.
Ivan didn’t look back towards Hyun Woo, he kept staring at Till, who played around with Dewey. They were talking in rudimentary sign language, pulling faces to communicate. It was highly amusing.
“You don’t seem to remember much, yourself,” Ivan said, dismissing his second-in-command's comment. “You were tricked by mermaids today, weren’t you? You can’t hope to find your way on the island without help”.
Isaac joined, likely trying to chastise Dewey for bothering the fairy. Till didn’t seem to mind, interested in watching the two interact. It seemed like the fairy had quite a mild personality with everyone else. Ivan had seen him throw tantrums all day, yet here he was, acting all buddy with his crew. There was nothing he wanted more than to push the jar once more and force Till to get angry at him once more.
“In my defense, I knew some mermaids weren’t trust worthy, I just assumed I had bad luck as a kid,” Hyun Woo said, trying to defend himself. “Lil’ fairy is helpful, but we can survive just fine without him, Captain”.
Ivan raised his hand, ready to tip the jar over.
“Ivan,” Hyun Woo’s voice startled Ivan.
He stopped before he could do anything, turning to see Hyun Woo. The boy rarely used his name. It had been so long, usually simply referring to him as ‘Captain’. It reminded him of the times when they were kids, still trapped on the bowels of a wretched ship, covered in grime, escorted straight to hell. Ivan couldn’t help narrowing his eyes, yet, Hyun Woo didn’t break their contact. He remained sharp.
“We were trapped in a ship too,” he said. Ivan could feel every muscle in his body tense up. “Pirates stole me from my home, they stole you from yours. Don’t become like those bastards, man. If you do, I’ll really have to kill you”.
‘They stole you from yours’.
Those words rang again and again inside his mind.
“I’ll free him when we find you sister,” Ivan said. He tried to act as dismissive of his words as he could. “We just need his intel. I won’t take him out of the island. I promise”.
Unlike the rest, he didn’t have a home to go back to. Most pirates found their home in the crew, but they still recalled a village or a port where they longed to go back to. Places where ‘if we find treasure, I’ll go back and marry in Lannisport’, or a family member that still lived, a guardian they left behind, or a friend they still wrote letters to. The only ones who didn’t have that, were always Ivan and Hyun Woo.
But now, it seemed, Hyun Woo had a home. Ivan was the only one still drifting in the sea like a ghost ship. Most days it seemed he was captain of the ‘Flying Dutchman’ and not the ‘Black Sorrow’. It was as if he had no port to dock home to. He was probably born in the sea, and he would die in the sea. Alone.
“You’re quiet,” Till said.
Ivan realized, amidst his thoughts, most of the crew members were heading back to their quarters. He had assumed they were going to keep drinking and dining all night long, but it seemed like they still had a working brain. They were running low on food, and tomorrow they would head out and find more. It was a long day ahead, one that would be terrible to deal with, with a hangover.
“It’s been a long day,” Ivan said, letting out a sigh. He leaned back on his chair, looking up to the stars. Every time he saw them, he remembered Hyun Woo’s bullshit directions. “This island is driving me insane”.
“You don’t like Neverland?” Till asked.
He had eaten all the mulberries, and he was laying there, slumped against the jar’s walls.
“It’s a nonsense island,” Ivan said. “Nothing here makes sense. Compasses don’t work, clocks don’t work, sometimes it’s like this ship doesn’t even want to work”. He sighed, taking a good look at the night sky above him. “Stars don’t even look like they’re supposed to”.
“The stars?” Till asked, looking up. “They’re where they’ve always been”.
“Hardly,” Ivan said, feeling sick in his stomach. “I know them. If anything I know, it’s stars”.
Ivan used to watch them. From his cage in that ship. His first memory was him sitting with his aching body, covered in dirt, listening to nothing but children’s cries all around him. The only light that came through was from a broken floorboard that let him look up.
Till looked at him. For some reason, Ivan felt like his voice was getting further away. But he knew the jar was right next to him.
“How are you so sure?” Till asked.
“I was stolen from my home by pirates,” Ivan said, a sardonic smile on his lips. “Every night I would watch them, and every night I knew where we were. I could find my place in the middle of the ocean, only using the stars. But now they’re…different. It’s like we’re in. A fake sky”.
“It’s not fake,” Till said. Ivan startled. Not so much the sentence. Much more, the way.
Ivan was getting used to Till’s vivid answer. Full of life. Now, however, Till looked…sluggish.
“Hey,” Ivan tried to say, poking the jar.
He thought he’d done it just enough to make the jar sway. But just as he did, a wave rocked the ship ever so slightly. Enough that, when Ivan poked it, the jar tipped over.
Ivan felt his heart drop. He reached for it, just before it touched the table.
“Hey! Watch it!” Till yelled. But the sudden movement seemed to take way more from him than Ivan though it would. Till laid on the bottom of the jar, curled up.
“What’s wrong?”
“Hm? N‘thing,” Till slurred a bit. He moved a bit, but seemed like he couldn’t keep himself upright. The fairy groaned. “Wing cramps”.
“A little thing like you can get cramps?” Ivan couldn’t help asking with a small smile. He tried to make his comment as light hearted as he could. Till just got more irked.
“Of course I do,” Till huffed out. “Imagine being in a small cage, you can’t move your huge Clumsy human legs, and you keep getting moved up and down! You’d get dizzy, nauseous and cramped all over.”
In his mind, Ivan’s memories flashed. The dark, the dampness, locked in a cage, unable to move, the movements of the ship making him throw up over and over.
Hyun Woo’s words echoed.
Don’t become like those bastards, man.
He held the little jar closer to him. His eyes lingered closer on the fairy inside of it. He didn’t want to let it go. Didn’t want to let Till go.
Pirates were known for their deep intense love for treasure. Ivan never had such an affinity. He liked to make and follow maps, treasure was only secondary. He usually let his crew keep most of it.
But this one?
He refused to hand it out, even to Hyun Woo.
Till just looked up, confused.
“Can’t believe you’re this upset about stars, Captain,” Till said, laughing ever so slightly.
Despite what Ivan knew was a lot of pain, Till propped himself up and reached to touch the glass. It was almost as if he were reaching towards Ivan's face. Ivan suddenly loathed the glass.
“They’re different,” Ivan said, pouting. “They’re nonsense and fake”.
“They’re not fake,” Till said with a laugh. “They all have a meaning. A scouting-talent fairy taught me how to read them to make my way around the island”.
Ivan’s eyes went wide open. The action amused Till. He was used to thinking of Ivan as a scary huge monster. But, in moments like this, he could be quite cute.
“Wait, they’re real!?” Ivan suddenly asked, looking up to the stars.
“I told you they’re real,” Till answered, making a fuss about not being believed. “They might be different from the ones in the human world, but they’re not fake…it’s more like, these are stars only some humans can see”.
“Sounds made up,” Ivan couldn’t help saying, as he chuckled.
“You just need to make sense of them,” Till said, leaning on the glass so he could see Ivan’s face more clearly. The stars made him look less like a mean scary pirate, and more like…a child. “I’m sure there’ll be good maps coming out from them too”.
Ivan’s grip tightened on the jar he was holding, staring at the starry sky. Hues of blues, white and purple stretched as far as his eyes could see. It was a sky so similar to the one he’d grown up with, yet every time he read the stars it felt like they were off. The thought of them being real didn’t even cross his mind. How could they?
A single star caught his eye. The brightest one of them all, Polaris. If he followed up, he should be finding the Ursa Major. Yet, it wasn’t there. He blinked.
Although…
“They do look a bit familiar,” Ivan said, noticing the way they were connecting. “Almost like a mirror”.
“Hmm”
He wanted to write it down. Connect them, draw them in a map, so he could study them once more. His excitement began to boil over. He could show Till how to use the compass, and-
“Till! Let’s go-” Ivan said.
However, he stopped dead in his tracks. Till wasn’t answering. The soft golden glow he’d worn before was dimming. Ivan could feel his anxiety growing, unsure of what to do.
“Hm?”
“What’s going on?” Ivan asked, he wanted to move the jar. Bring it closer and look at Till properly. But he was scared moving the jar too much was going to make everything worse.
“Tired,” Till said, letting his body drop to the floor. “Lemme sleep…I’ll be okay t’morrow”.
Ivan couldn’t calm down. There was a suspicion, too deep to ignore, that if he left Till alone, then-
Ivan placed his hand on top of the jar. The mere idea was making his stomach churn uncomfortably. This was the first anything he’d ever wanted to keep. If he opened the jar, Till would start flying away. He would leave him, just like everything else. Things, especially beautiful golden ones, were always stolen away. That was the life of the pirate.
But Till wasn’t a thing. As much as Ivan wanted for it, he was no treasure he could keep locked away from prying eyes.
Feeling as if he were burnt just by the touch, Ivan twisted the metal lid off. He’d half-expected the fairy to immediately fly away, leaving nothing but golden dust behind. But Till didn’t even move. He remained at the bottom of the jar.
As carefully as he could, Ivan reached inside the jar. Rather than waking up, Till with groggy eyes, climbed on top of his hand. Ivan drew back his hand, carrying Till with him.
He brought the fairy close to his face, watching him curl up in his palm. It didn’t seem like he was waking up, and the golden glow grew dimmer. With his free hand, Ivan nuzzled Till’s cheeks.
“Till? You really seem sick, are you okay?”
“Told ya’, ” Till said through grumbles. “My wings’re crampin’, n’ running low on pixie du…”
“Pixie what?” Ivan asked, shocked. “How do I get that-?”
“Doesn’t matter, can’t reach it,” Till said. “Need m’ wings…”
“Try stretching them out,” Ivan said.
“Told ya’, it’s-”
Till’s wings fluttered. Ivan let out a relieved sigh.
Till opened his eyes wide. Every time he’d tried to flutter his wings before, the uncomfortable feeling of hitting glass had rubbed them. It had started subtle, but the longer it went on, the more the rubbing ached. It finally became too much, to the point that every time he moved, he could feel a sharp pain going from the tip of his wings to the root of his back. It was excruciating, so he eventually just stopped moving them, all together.
If he had more energy, perhaps he would have started yelling and making a fuss. But so far from the Home Tree, he could feel himself run low on pixie dust. It was as if the energy was sapped out of him. He also wondered if being so close to a human that very much hated magic was affecting him, but it was hard to say.
All he knew was that he was growing weaker, and he wanted to sleep.
But his wings. He could move them and there was no pain. The cramps from being forced into a position so long were finally easing. Till couldn’t help but feel life come back to him, as he continued to stretch and move his wings.
He got up, still stumbling, but feeling so refreshed. He started flying, using what little pixie dust he had left to float up.
“Yes!” Till cheered. Without issuing a beat, he started racing around Ivan, as quick as he could. “I’m free! I can fly!”
He couldn’t help the laughter that broke out of him. He flew faster and faster, feeling like a fast-flying fairy that raced against the wind. It burnt so familiar. He began trailing along the ship, covering his wake with golden dust. He dipped by the ocean, touching the cold water, uncaring of how dangerous it was for a fairy if their wings got wet. Till couldn’t stop laughing. The water was cold but the smell of salt was so nice.
All air felt fresh, it filled his lungs, and even though he hadn’t spent long trapped in the jar - he was so glad to have his freedom back.
He flew back up into the ship, so excited he started circling up the mast, reaching as tall as he could. Only when he reached the very top, did he take a moment to rest. He could see the shore of the island from up there.
The stars shone brighter all the sudden, and he had the itching need to draw it all.
He flew back down, standing a few meters away from Ivan. Till’s breathing was still labored, his cheeks felt red, red and hot as they could be. No doubt his hair was a mess, but he couldn’t stop smiling. The bubbles of laughter still echoed deep inside him. He looked back to Ivan, searching for words.
Ivan, in turn, was staring up. His eyes remained fixed on the fairy, taken aback by the speckles of gold that still shimmered in his trail. They could be confused by stars, to the undiscerning eye. For a few, heavy seconds, Ivan couldn’t find his voice, his words. Then.
“You’re beautiful”.
An uncomfortable pause followed
Ivan regretted it almost immediately. He watched as Till’s smile froze. The red covered him, top to bottom. Ivan reached up, trying to catch the fairy, but in the next second - he was gone.
Till dashed away, leaving Ivan alone in the middle of an empty ship’s deck.
The oil in the lamps had long since burned to its end. Nothing but darkness remained, and Ivan sat in the thick of it. The sparkles of golden dust that Till had left on his wake began dispersing. It didn’t take long for any sense of magic that had brimmed in the air, was gone.
It was cold outside.
Ivan turned around. He walked back into his cabin, with the creek of the wooden floors as a mocking echo. His eyes lingered on the maps he’d been crafting, still in his deck. The ink was already dry.
He had no energy, nor want to continue.
His hands traced the map, wondering if he should rip it apart. It was useless, anyways.
“Do humans not sleep?”
Ivan jerked away, startled by the sudden voice. For a second, he thought his mind was playing him tricks. Perhaps going mad, after spending too much time on this island.
But the longer he stared, the clearer the image became.
‘If this is a dream, let me never wake up’.
“I thought you left”.
“I mean, I did,” Till said, looking away. Ivan noticed the faint red in his cheeks. “But then I thought you might follow me home. And I don’t want you anywhere near there”.
“So you came back?” Ivan asked, incredulous.
“You…don’t want me here…?” Till asked. His wings lowered their fluttering speed. Ivan could tell he was upset.
Ivan smiled. He extended open his hand.
“I never said that,” he said. Till landed on his hand, sitting down comfortably. “I mean, you’re still my prisoner”.
“Please,” Till laughed. “You wouldn’t survive a day in Neverland without me!”
“Well, we managed just fine before you, little one”.
“You almost ate a poisonous fish!” Till yelled. “You’d be dead without me”.
‘Well,’ Ivan thought to himself. ‘That might just be true’.