WARNING: This chapter includes violence.

For what felt like hours, Metanoia had been urging her strained legs to keep running. Her gasps and pants were barely audible over the deafening roars of the beast that relentlessly chased after her. She'd been scratched, bruised and pummeled, but Metanoia kept managing to escape the clutches of the Never Beast. Up above them on a massive cliff were Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, watching her every move.

She knew Pan thought he was doing something by assigning her with killing the Never Beast, because it was a deadly, massive predator that preyed on anything smaller than it. Hundreds of Red Indians on Neverland were brutally slaughtered trying to slay the beast. No one ever succeeded.

No one but Pan, who had murdered the Never Beast's only other family member - its child.

"Screw you, Pan!" She screeched as she jumped over a log after the Never Beast smashed it, its warm breath hitting her and she held her own breath to not gag.

Up ahead, Pan heard her vividly, and he smirked satisfactorily. He was anticipating her gruesome death at the hands of the Beast, and watched with eager eyes. Nate and Theodore were peering down at her with the utmost concern, while the others constantly cheered her on, knowing very well that she couldn't even hear them. Metanoia latched onto the opposing cliff and swiftly commenced her climb, hoping to be way ahead of the beast so it wouldn't reach her. She secured her chosen weapon, a sharp sword, into the sheath wrapped around her waist, and jumped.

Metanoia was determined, and not as bothered or concerned about her next move, because she knew exactly how to kill the Never Beast. Contrary to anyone's perception of her incompetence, Metanoia had a craving for learning, and not a single soul was aware of her frequent visits to Pan's treehouse to inspect his books. She was only as far ahead with one book, titled "Neverland's Wonders & Creatures", written by Peter himself, so Metanoia knew it would be useful. Pan set her up for failure, but he was in for a nasty surprise when she rises up victorious.

Her adrenaline and taste of victory was short-lived when the Never Beast's large claws snatched Metanoia and yanked her off the cliff. She screamed as she was flung into the air, her limbs flailing around.

Everyone gasped at the sight before them, all but Pan, who quietly watched with the most sinister smile known to man. Nate noticed his spiteful smile and his frown deepened.

Metanoia was swiveling back down to the ground, and when she focused her gaze back on the Never Beast, she realised she was directly above it in the air, and it had opened its mouth in anticipation to devour her. Metanoia growled angrily, before she swiftly grabbed her sword and immediately flung it straight at one of the beast's eyes.

Now was her chance.

She watched as it whizzed beneath her, and surely enough, the sword fell straight into the beast's eye and stabbed it mercilessly. The Never Beast howled in excruciating pain and it writhed and staggered back. Metanoia braced herself for impact onto the ground, wanting to make sure she doesn't get entirely harmed when she collided with the ground, but she was tremendously lucky when she fell on the beast itself, softening her fall before she plummeted to the ground.

The Lost Boys screamed in victory for her and passionately cheered her on, but Pan, for once, was taken aback. His alarmed face couldn't be masked, and he furiously clenched his fists.

How did she know to go for the eyes? How could she have known that this was the only way to kill a Never Beast?

Metanoia lunged at the opportunity of the Never Beast being distracted with its own pain, that she clutched onto its fur and climbed her way up to the top of its head. Her body kept tossing side to side aggressively as it writhed, but she held onto it for dear life. Reaching her arm out, she yanked her sword out of its eyeball, causing the creature to scream once again in agony. Refusing to waste any more time, she went for the other eye, and stabbed it with all her strength.

At this, the Never Beast jolted forward, and Metanoia was swung to the trees with force, causing her shirt to catch onto a branch and leave her hanging from it. She grunted as the trees scratched her face, but she was busy being occupied with observing the beast as it swayed with sounds of sheer pain, before it rested onto the ground, and its breath ceased.

Finally, everything was quiet, and she could hear the Lost Boys cheering. She slowly lifted her head up to see the cliffs, and everyone was staring down at her while clapping and whistling. Metanoia squinted her eyes when the sun shone through them, and she grinned toothily.

She passed her first trial.

Up ahead, Pan could not share the positive emotions with everyone else. He was absolutely livid, and felt cheated. She was not meant to know how the beast could be brought to its demise.

She should have died.

~•~

"CHUG, CHUG, CHUG, CHUG!" The Lost Boys hollered around Metanoia as she quickly gulped down the strong alcoholic drink made by James later this evening.

They cheered ecstatically as soon as she had emptied the bottle and threw it on the ground, raising her arms up in victory and emitting a loud burp. She was then hoisted up in the air by Elijah and Charlie, and she laughed.

"Put me down, boys!" She slurred on her words, feeling impossibly drunk.

"A winner stays up there, doesn't she, Charlie?" Elijah asked his friend cheekily and Charlie nodded vigorously.

"Indeed she does, mate."

In the speed of light, Metanoia was snatched from their grip and spun in the air by Theodore. Metanoia laughed loudly, her hair flying around with her as she gripped onto him.

"I'm so proud of you." He murmured against her head, and she smiled shyly.

"Put her down, man - I'd like to talk to our soon to be the first ever Lost Girl." Nate's voice piped up, causing Metanoia to lift her head off Theodore's shoulder and gaze at the boy with a tenderness of a rare quality.

Theodore obliged, gently setting down the girl, before she turned to face Nate with the brightest grin on her face. Nate smiled at her, his eyes twinkling.

"I can't believe you did it. No one's ever killed a Never Beast before except Pan." Nate breathed in disbelief, utterly fascinated by her massive achievement.

The Lost Boys circled around her, as Sam yelled, "Tell us how you knew to go for the eyes!"

There was instantly a chorus of agreement with Sam's request, and Metanoia bit her lower lip. She didn't want to give herself away, so she quickly thought of a swift lie.

"I thought if I blinded the beast, it'd be easier to kill it - but I truly had no idea that it would die as soon as it lost its eyesight!"

"It made the job that much easier." Gabriel laughed, as the others agreed.

"Well, only two trials left - Em! Are you excited?" Nate wiggled his eyebrows.

Metanoia laughed anxiously. "Oh no, I'm more nervous because I can only imagine that the next trials will be even more difficult."

"There's no doubt about that." Liam nodded, and Metanoia frowned.

"Where's Pan?" She questioned.

"Probably preparing your next trial." Micah reckoned.

~•~

Peter Pan furiously trudged his way through Neverland's forest, a horrifying scowl permanently etched onto his face as the leaves and branches moved out of the way without him going near them. All the creatures on this island were terrified of his impending wrath, all of them feeling the brewing storm that will befall them at any moment. He was absolutely fuming with rage, for he hadn't expected Metanoia to survive the animalistic brutality of the Never Beast. How could she have known? He clenched his fists, and in that precise moment, a rabbit had hopped in front of him and Pan only glanced at it before it erupted in flames and turned to ash. He huffed as a result of the stench of burnt flesh and the small screams of pain, before he stepped on the ashes and carried on walking, wreaking havoc wherever he went.

He finally reached his destination, and he stood quietly for a few seconds, gazing at the enormous opening of the Echo Caves, tranquilly inviting him in, and in he went. He would make sure that Metanoia doesn't succeed in her second trial. As he rounded the corner of the cave, he soon found what he was looking for. There, sprawled out on the floor, was The Priestess's rotting corpse, half-decayed with flies swarming around it. Peter scrunched up his face in repugnance by the atrocious smell that reeked off the body, and he waved his hand at it, silencing the stench and keeping it within the corpse. He then lifted his arms, causing the body to rise up in its place, limp but standing nonetheless. He then clenched his fists, and as a result, nine more bodies were multiplied around the corpse, all identical to one another. Pan then waved his hand, melting off all the remaining flesh and leaving them all in their skeletons.

Pan smirked deviously, before he hissed, "Awaken."

In a split second, the skeletons writhed and twitched, and began to move slowly at their own accord, and Pan laughed gleefully. He stepped back, before building a shield to trap them in their place for now. Turning his back on the small army he had created, Pan walked back out of the Echo Caves, his mood a lot better than it had been only a short while ago.

He set foot back into camp when night fell, and his eyes immediately landed on Metanoia, who hadn't noticed his presence just yet. His lower lip curled in contempt, and his nostrils flared. In that precise moment, Metanoia's vision locked with Pan's, resulting in him sending her a message to her mind, sneering, "I suppose congratulations are in order?"

Metanoia's brows dipped to suggest a frown of irritation, before she responded drily in his mind, "I don't seek your validation anymore, Pan."

Pan rolled back his shoulders with pride, before replying hotly, "don't get too comfortable. Your next trial will be far more challenging."

He then stormed off to his treehouse, but Metanoia quickly left her friends and hurried after him, climbing the ladder to his treehouse, and boldly placing her palm on his doorknob before he could. Pan stared down at her hand blankly, before slowly raising his head and setting his beautiful pair of angry, green eyes onto her irritated sea-storms of blue eyes.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked her calmly, though the vein jutting out of the side of his neck hinted his underlying tirade in the making.

"You never got to congratulate me after all." She crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her chin out and staring him down.

Pan raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought you weren't seeking my validation, Metanoia."

Metanoia pursed her lips defiantly. "A person's basic manners are nothing to do with validation."

Pan laughed derisively. "Manners? You idiot, look around you!"

Metanoia winced and took a step back, but Peter took a step forward, deeming her movement redundant.

"We're a group of young boys, unsupervised." He spat. "And you're out here talking about manners?"

Metanoia glared at him. "Well you certainly need it if you wish to be a civilised group of people."

Pan scoffed. "Civilised?! Believe me, you blithering airhead," he stepped forward and shoved her back, causing her to stumble. "I don't want a civilised army. I need my boys to be animalistic predators."

When Metanoia didn't speak, he shoved her again so she was pressed against his treehouse's wall. "And don't think for a second that I fell for your suspicious victory. You knew how to kill the Never Beast, and there's only one way you could have known."

He brought himself closer to her, his breath fanning her face and she held her breath.

"You went snooping around my treehouse."

Metanoia straightened her back, causing her chest to bump against his, but Pan made no move to step back.

"Where is your proof of this? I got lucky." She breathed calmly, and Pan growled, placing his large hands on her upper arms and shoving her back again against the wall.

"I'm going to catch you red handed if the trials miraculously don't end up killing you. I'll wait for your next mistake, Metanoia, and I will destroy you." He hissed lividly.

Metanoia smirked, before she raised her hand up and traced her fingers across his chest tantalisingly, causing his face to scrunch up in disgust, and so he gripped her wrist tightly.

"And I can't wait to see the disappointed look on your face every time I come out victorious." She spoke sweetly, masking her evident pain emanating from her trapped wrist in his grasp.

He let go of it and stormed into his treehouse, slamming his door shut with profound force, the tree itself rattled. Metanoia glanced down at her bruised wrist, and bit back her tears, before she hurried back down and far away from Pan's presence.

A/N: I'M SO HAPPY WITH THIS CHAPTER OH MY GOD!! How do you guys feel? What do you think? Please comment your thoughts and vote!! ❤️❤️