Wendy sat at her dresser looking at herself in the mirror, her long dark hair fell down her back, curling slight at the tips. Upon her head sat a small tiara inlaid with gold and rubies. She sighed shifting ever so slightly causing her dark red gown to wrinkle, today was her debut, the day she would meet the man she was to marry, a prince from a kingdom halfway across the country. Her mother had been nagging her about it, teaching her how to act, how to speak and how to be proper. She was soon to become a queen, where she would have to live a certain way, her childish mind would not be welcome in this part of her life despite the fact she was only sixteen. She slowly pushed herself up off the chair moving towards the door, her escort waited on the other side. She could hear the musicians and people talking, as she was escorted down the grand stairs. The room before her was donned in gold and emeralds, candles emitting soft light that illuminated the faces of the many guests attending the ball. She saw him standing near her mother and father, his black hair stuck out among the browns and blonds. He faced her, a smile crawling across his face as they were introduced. "Introducing Ivan Lord of Westchester, Prince and future King" The page announced him, before scurrying off in some unknown direction. Wendy gave him a small polite smile as he took her hand to dance. They danced for hours and she could only gain from him that she much dislike him, he wasn't charming or kind, he was rude and arrogant and only thought of her as just a future possession, not a Princess nor Queen.
As the night progressed on Wendy decided to sneak away, she ran to the gardens due to her knowledge that no one would be there, she would be able to have a moment to herself. The air was chilled as it was late November, winter was just around the corner and if her family had their way her wedding would be the following spring. She huffed to herself as she ventured further into the night, in her mind she was scream obscenities. She hated the fact that because she was the oldest she could just be shipped off to some prince and marry for convenience and not love. She was a child at heart and she always dreamed she would fall in love and live happily ever after, but those only happened in the books she read. Wendy stopped near the rose bushes, and sat on the marble bench beside them, she stared out into the cold night, the candles that lite the pathways look like tiny fireflies on the horizon. Everything felt magically, but reality of where her life was going destroyed any magic that might have been there.
"Oh I hate this" She yelled out stomping her foot on the ground. "Oh I wish I could just run away and leave and never have to grow up." Her voice had dropped to a whisper, even if there was no one there to hear her, she would rather not feed those who like to gossip around the castle. The maids had ears everywhere so you never knew who was going to hear you at any given time.
"Why don't you leave then?" A young masculine voice questioned her. She bolted up straight looking around for the figure of which the voice belonged to, but she couldn't see anyone there.
"Who's there? Who are you and what are you doing in my garden?" She called out to the voice. She heard a noise behind her and whipped around to face a boy about her age. He was slightly taller than her, with lush brown hair the colour of tree bark; sharp striking green eyes the colour of the thickest forests. His clothing was quite peculiar he wore a dark green tunic with dark grey and green pants, high leather boots and brown leather belt with what appeared to be a dagger of some sort attached to it. Her breath caught in her throat when she laid eyes on him, he was beautiful and wild in every way and it intrigued her. He seemed to have her under a spell with his eyes, she felt like she was in a trance when she stared at him. He gave her a smirk, before closing the distance some.
"I'm Peter, Peter Pan. I just happened to be flying by when I heard you." He spoke with every bit of charm in his voice, something Ivan lacked greatly. His eyes sparkled in the distant candle light; he had magical airy way about himself as he lean up against the wall near her. "Who might you be?" He asked innocently. She flushed and looked away quickly.
"I- I am Wendy Moira Angela Darling, Princess of Lancaster." She spoke up shyly, trying to hide blush covering her face. She heard him chuckle as he moved closer to her, she glance up at him to see him watching her with interest.
"So why does the little princess want to run away for?" He asked in mocking tone, hissing on the princess part like he detested the word but she ignored the tone he was giving her and answered.
"I am to be married off to some person who I despise; he's rude and arrogant and only wishes to keep me as a possession not as the princess or Queen that I am to become." She let out a sigh. "But the truth is I'm not ready to grow up and become a queen. My parents are trying to force me and this marriage is their idea of making me grow up." Her tone dropped sadness lace into the words. Peter's face fell, shaking his head he uttered.
"No that's no good growing up is not right." He looked like he was thinking on it, trying to figure out some sort of puzzle. His face lite up and he jumped into the air. "I know come with me! Run away to Neverland it's where I'm from. You will never have to grow up and you can be free of the chains that are keeping you here." She stared at him with bewilderment, her face lighting up as well.
"Oh that sounds wonderful. How do we get there?" He turned to face her once more with a wide smile on his face.
"We fly!" He took several steps towards her holding out his hand; she placed hers in his and allowed him to pull her close as he pulled a small bottle from around his neck. He sprinkled the powdery substance on both of them, they began to glow green. He wrapped his arms around her waist as he pushed off from the ground. The higher they got, the more excited Wendy became, she saw the castle and the gardens become smaller and looking up the stars got closer. The wind whipped through her hair as the flew through the sky, she felt them hit a barrier of some sort, it felt like an odd magic, making her feel weightless and light. Soon she could see mountains and jungles below her, slowly they began to descend, and her eyes darted around taking in every site and sound as they touched down.
"Welcome to Neverland Wendy." Peter spoke up as soon as he let her go; she turned to him giving him a smile. "So Princess what would you like to see first? Mermaids? Fairies? Pirates?" He asked listing off the options, with each one her smile grew.
"Oh my there are pirates here? Oh how I would love to see them, meet them." She exclaimed. He merely gave her a smirk. Reaching out his hand he grasped hers pulled her along towards the lagoon.
"I happened to be acquatinted with the captain of the Jolly Roger, Killian Jones." As they neared the water Wendy could see the ship docked by the mainland, Peter gently rose up still holding her hand and flew over to the ship. Landing on the deck, she could see the pirates turn, tensing up which she found rather odd if they were friendly with Peter.
"What do I owe the pleasure of your presence?" Asked a silky masculine voice from the upper deck, her eyes fell upon the figure a tall man, an adult dare she say, with a handsome face, she would have blushed had she not seen the hook he had for a hand. Peter stepped away from her to face the man.
"I have a guest on my island and she wanted to see pirates." He gesturing to Wendy as she quickly moved up to stand beside him. The man walked down the steps towards them and stopped just shy of them.
"I- I am Wendy Darling." She offered giving a curtsy to the man she assumed must be the captain. The man smirked before returning the bow when he rose back up he reached out for her hand.
"Aye, I am Captain Killian Jones." He added before kissing her hand, which she found rather charming. She gave him a smile, as he quickly dropped her hand sending a glance towards Peter. "Well Wendy you are most welcome aboard my ship if you should ever need to." He gave her a quick smile before backing away and turning his attention back to Peter. "Pan." He gave him a nodded. She wanted to thank him and say more, but the feel of Peter hand grasping her wrist, stopped her.
"Well we should take our leave. You need to meet the Lost Boys still." She heard him speak, had she been looking she would have notice the clenched jaw, and the glare he gave Killian. But when she turned to face him, he masked his expression with a warm smile and kind eyes. As they took to the sky, Killian watched them his face was indifferent. Turning away he looked at his second in command Smee.
"She has no idea what she had gotten herself into, the poor lass." Killian started to walk towards his quarters.
"Do you think he's going to harm her?" Smee asked in a timid voice. Killian scoffed.
"Oh I wouldn't put it past him to do something, whether it's harmful to her that has yet to be seen. But know this; she isn't going to be free he will keep her I can tell that much." If there was something that Killian did not like was the miss treatment of any lady. He knew that Pan did not care; he would assume that she would be just like his Lost Boys and thus meant to be treated roughly as all children tend to do.