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It was late spring. The tall green trees of the Neverwood were beginning to grow back their thick leaves, the swift sparrows who flew about the island were returning from the south, and the deep waters of Mermaids' Lagoon, as well as its connecting rivers, were starting to fill back up with fish. The beautiful, vibrant, and mysterious place known as the famous Neverland would soon revert from its cold wintery white season to the warm and bright summer time in which it was usually depicted.

But even though it was only another week or two before summer would start, that day had been the opposite of what most Neverland inhabitants were expecting; a day occupied by nothing but dark gray clouds, brisk winds, and heavy rain. Simply put, it would be a very wet one.

A few miles into the forest at the Sky Eaters village in the Neverwood, one of the rare huntresses from the village sprinted off from the entrance gate. She was a teenager, with rather intimidating dark amber eyes, tan calloused skin, and a long black braid of thick hair that whipped about in the air as she ran. She wore about her a dress made of deerskin, the hem of its skirt lingering above her knees, with a thick belt of string that was decorated with animal teeth and some beads, and suede brown moccasins on her feet. A pretty pearl pendant was strung around her neck, a gift from her old father which she kept dear to her. But most recognizably, a black crow feather was placed near her temple in her hair.

As the fierce huntress ran further into the woods, Tiger Lily's sharp ears heard the sounds of scampering going on in the bushes far ahead; and as she glanced at the muddy ground, she could see different paw prints, although they resembled that of a rabbit's, perhaps more than one. Tiger Lily simultaneously reached for the twin tomahawks worn by her hips on her belt as she continued to dash through the trees; these served as her weapons, and as her main tools for hunting.

Right when she spotted a few balls of white fur in the distance hiding near some shrubs, Tiger Lily silently stopped abruptly and stepped quietly behind a tree. She spied in the direction of the rabbits, where the paw prints she had started following led up to; there was more than one rabbit or two rabbits, but three, all the color of snow with bloodshot red eyes: albinos. The three sat underneath a large tree, sheltering from the rain. But it was obvious that they had heard her, and their ears were perked up while two of them stood up on their hind legs to look about, each one standing still and ready to take off if necessary. But Tiger Lily wouldn't let them get away that easily.

Tiger Lily pulled up her right hand, which held a deadly tomahawk, raising it in the air and revealing a long, tightly braided cord attached to its hilt. She analyzed the positioning of the trees surrounding her and the rabbits, quickly strategized a method of killing them, and readied her aim for the right angle as precisely as she could, ready to put her plan into motion.

After three seconds, Tiger Lily tossed the tomahawk to her right like a frisbee, swinging it smoothly. It's movement was so quick that it made almost no sound as it cut through the air. The cord trailing behind it wrapped slightly around the nearest tree diagonal to Tiger Lily's right, and then swung back around to the tree standing right in front of the rabbits, and with a slicing hit, the tomahawk's blade stuck into the tree while making a loud noise.

Just as she had planned, the rabbits panicked, sensing danger, and were now running to Tiger Lily's direction.

Tiger Lily threw her other tomahawk at one rabbit, her aim exact as it cut into the rabbit's side, while pulling her other tomahawk stuck in the tree and swinging it back to her. With her other arm, she pulled a sharp stone knife from her belt and threw it with its sharp point leading, stabbing into another rabbit. And even though the third rabbit was starting to get away, Tiger Lily's other tomahawk was already flying back to her and with a swift throw of the cord, it launched out blade-forward and cut down right on top of the rabbit's back. All three were dead.

Tiger Lily grinned at her victory, showing a rare triumphant smile that not many people saw. It was only when she was hunting that her passion began to show. As the rain pattered down, she gathered the three bodies of the rabbits, tied them into a big bundle and latched it onto a sling on her back, and decided that once she would clean the blood off of her hands by the nearby river, she'd return back to the village with her catch.

With her tomahawks and knife strung back onto her belt, Tiger Lily headed through the rain and over to the closest river; it was a bit of a ways a way, flanked by bushy shrubbery. It was one of the many rivers that she used to clean her hands whenever out hunting, whether it be an animal's blood, her own blood, or just dirt or mud. She was about to find a way through the thick shrubs when she looked over them to the river and stopped herself immediately.

Another person was already at the river. It was not someone from her tribe, that was for sure, but someone whom she had seen before. It was a boy, about fifteen or sixteen years of age, same as her, with reddish brown hair and blueish green eyes. He wore a loose-fitting ripped green shirt, torn brown pants, and black shoes with holes all about. He appeared rather tall and slim, and was crouching on the opposite side of the river with bent knees, rubbing his hands in the cold water. And to Tiger Lily's interest, scarlet liquid washed off of his fingers and palms and drifted into the currents of the river. It was the infamous Peter Pan.

Tiger Lily had seen Peter Pan occasionally when spotting him randomly about in the Neverwood, climbing trees and running about through the woods. He was usually alone, which was odd, because she had heard that he was the leader of the Lost Boys, a group of young boys who lived in the Neverwood and caused trouble for the nearby pirates. Tiger Lily had been instructed many times, along with the other boys and girls her age and younger of the tribe, to stay away from Peter Pan and never go near or interact with him, as he only brought problems wherever he went.

And yet the careless and fleet-footed young man himself was also busy washing blood off of his hands. But interestingly enough, the blood seemed to continue flowing off of his hands for a while; a deep-routed cut looked to have formed into his left hand.

Tiger Lily decided it wouldn't be best to approach him, aware of the orders given to her by the tribe chieftain, and made up her mind that she would go find another river to wash her hands in; as even if she decided she could use another part of the same river, the only direction she could go to would be upstream, due to downstream leading directly to the dangerous Mermaids' Lagoon, and if she would go upstream, chances were likely that the blood would be seen coming down the river by him and she'd most likely be discovered. Quietly stepping away from the shrubs, she turned her back on the oblivious Peter Pan and walked in another direction to the next nearest river that she knew of.

Despite it being only mid-afternoon, the clouds seemed to get even darker as she walked further, and the rain falling down felt heavier than before. The next river was still a while away, so she continued passing through the tall trees, thinking it would be best to just walk rather than run, with the thicker mud forming on the ground. With every step digging in and out of the mud, Tiger Lily swore that she could hear low thunder in the distance. Storms weren't often in spring.

Finally, Tiger Lily reached the next river and sat on her knees beside its running currents, dipping her hands into the chilly water. The blood had practically begun to cake on her hands, even in the little wrinkles and crinkles in her skin, so she had predicted it would take slightly longer to clean her hands; but thankfully, the cold water washed it off quicker than expected. Once they were completely cleansed of rabbit blood, Tiger Lily stood back up and attempted to wring her hands dry on the edge of her dress, but with the fabric being soaked, it was a pointless attempt. She returned temporarily underneath a thicker tree with dryer shelter and briskly squeezed the water out of her braid. Now, she was ready to head back.

Remembering where the village was located, Tiger Lily walked back into the trees and towards the direction of the village entrance. It was raining even harder now; each heavy drop struck hard on her body as it fell from the dark gray clouds above. The thunder sounded as if it was getting even closer now, rumbling louder and louder, even a lightning strike exploding near the mountains far away. At this point, Tiger Lily was starting to get concerned. The weather hadn't been too horrible that year, and today certainly broke a record.

Little did she realize that someone was following her.

Unexpectedly with a blink of an eye, a mysterious person leaped from behind a tree and tackled Tiger Lily to the ground, causing her to nearly land face-first into the mud. Before she could react, however, her attacker caught both of her wrists and held them tightly in one hand as Tiger Lily struggled; whoever this person was, he or she was stronger than she was.

The attacker held Tiger Lily down on her side and sat crouched on top of her, and reached their free hand out for her collar and turning her to face them. The clouds were so dark at this point, combined with the shadows of the trees casting on the ground, that Tiger Lily couldn't even recognize their face, but judging from their strength and their hold on her, she could assume that the person was a boy.

And it was just then that a blue bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, and light streaked over the two. Tiger Lily looked up into the person's face and realized to her shock who it was; it was none other than Peter Pan himself.

His clothes were wet and soaked completely through, his hair drenched, and his face beaded with a layer of rainwater and what appeared to be sweat. Judging from his current condition, it seemed as though he had been out in the rain just as long as she had. As the two locked eyes, his expression striked her as being both solemn yet serious, and an intimidating look pierced from his eyes into Tiger Lily's. But that wouldn't stop her from struggling.

Peter Pan had an iron grip on her wrists and collar, and his legs held down the rest of her body and prevented her from moving too much, yet she continued to kick her legs furiously. Just as she was eye to eye with him, the trouble-making teen briefly let go of her collar and pulled a long, sharp knife from his belt, glinting brightly as another crackle of lightning appeared in the sky ahead.

With the blade pointing at her neck, he took hold of the pearl pendant necklace around Tiger Lily's neck and cut the string, quickly removing it and putting it around his own with the knife still in hand. He held the ends together by placing them in between his teeth, pressing them down and keeping the strings in place.

Confused by his actions, Tiger Lily growled and attempted to throw Peter Pan off of her with by heaving her lower torso to the side, which somewhat succeeded, as it appeared that the boy had done what he had wanted to do, and while he was almost flung sideways into a mud puddle, he pushed himself back up with his left arm, refusing to let his guard down.

Now thinking defensively, he held the knife at Tiger Lily and touched the tip of it to her neck, as if silently threatening that he would kill her if she made another move.

Tiger Lily lay still with the blade pointing directly at her, but fury still burned in her eyes and she glared at Peter Pan as if her gaze would scorch a hole straight through him.

Peter Pan, his expression unchanged since first pinning her down, got off of her and pulled her wrists up while firmly grabbing her shoulder to make her stand up. Just as she started struggling again, he put his foot in front of her foot and pulled back, keeping her held aback. He held her in so close, his chest touching the back of her ribs. Now with her back faced to him, he dug the knife a little ways more into her back, still holding onto her wrists. Tiger Lily growled under her breath in frustration, although a voice in the back of her head wondered if she would be killed in a moment or so.

But instead, Peter Pan briefly retracted the knife and forcefully shoved Tiger Lily into the large bush in front of them. Just when she pulled herself out of the bush's tendrils and turned around, he was already gone.

Her hand instantly went to her neck and she touched the place where the necklace had once been. Why Peter Pan had wanted a pearl necklace like that confused her, but it angered her even more that the only reason he had only decided to follow her just to cut it off and take it for himself. Not only that, but it had been a gift from her father, and that didn't please Tiger Lily one bit.

She briefly glanced at her wrists, and noticed the imprint left on them from the hard grasp of Peter Pan's hands. They even hurt and felt sore; he was a lot stronger than he looked.

Tiger Lily then cast her gaze upon the muddy ground, where only a few of his foot prints were visible until they led right up to the trunk of a tree, which appeared to have been scaled by someone. But even if she had the ambition to go hunt him down and get her necklace back, she knew she was in no condition to do so, and the weather certainly was not on her side for the day.

In contrast to her initial triumph at catching the three rabbits, Tiger Lily walked back to the village feeling defeated and ashamed that she had lost her father's precious gift, while still building up the rage she would need to get it back as well.