FORGOTTEN ARCHITECTURE
Trails of shadow still clung to the air as the last remains of the phantom dissipated, small islands of darkness fading slowly in the bright lights of the city far below them. From that myriad sea of artificial beacons, rose the old clock-tower. Pan thought for a moment, distracted by the old light that dispelled the fading shadows, that he had once known what the tower had been named but all too quickly the thought was lost to him and he turned his famously erratic attention towards the sight of the boy with the key in his hands.
A trail of faerie dust marked the boy's movements, the key at his side trailing through shadow and cloud as he descended down towards the ledge of the tower. With practised skill, he alit upon the ledge beneath the ancient clock-face, turning and looking up with a broad smile at his two companions.
Pan held back for a moment, unwilling to show the hesitation and doubt that crowded his face as he hung in the shadow of that old, almost forgotten memory.
The other boy's two colleagues, a peculiar pairing of mage and knight, residents of a star far further than the one around which Neverland orbited, landed alongside him and for a moment Pan felt an overwhelming sense of jealousy at their camaraderie. His expression darkened by degrees, his lips curling in a pout and his eyes flickering with childish anger and hurt...and then it faded, the black mood disappearing from him as swiftly as it had settled upon him.
He laughed and pirouetted in the sky, magic streaming from his clothes as he danced in the cold winter air. With grace he landed on the outside of the thin ledge, leaning backwards into the empty air and folding his arms across his chest.
The other boy turned and smiled.
"I guess you'll be going home now?" Pan said abruptly.
"Not just yet." The boy with the key answered, the smile fading from his lips and his eyes acquiring a troubled distance. "What will you do now?"
Pan looked troubled for a moment. The idea of home haunted him, a shadow as dark as that which the phantom had cast over the clock-tower, looming in his past and clawing at his memory. There had been a note of resonance upon his first meeting with the other boy; like Pan, the boy had embarked on an adventure of his own volition only to have the waves of the universe rise up and carry him so far downstream that now he was lost in the myriad stars beyond his home.
The difference, Pan realised with regret, was the nature of the other boy's goal. Never once had he tried to return home, never once had he given a thought for the family that had tried so desperately to cling to him despite his ill temper and poor habits.
Standing amongst the cold winds above the half-remembered city Pan felt the bitter chill of regret. His expression changed dramatically and he threw his head back, crowing in defiance of both the wind and of his loss.
"I'll go on adventures of course!" He cried triumphantly as he dropped off the ledge and danced in the air.
The boy with the key smiled inanely.
"Just make sure you don't forget your old adventures." He smiled, slinging the key over his shoulder and thrusting his thumb up.
"You can count on me, I don't forget anyone!" Pan remarked proudly and swiftly, dancing up in the air so they couldn't see the conflicted expression on his face.