((A/N: Hey
I wanted to include a small explanation here. Basically I watched the 2003 film, and decided that neither ending was enough, as most people on this website probably understand. I got the urge to write and roughly 25,000 words later I find myself posting this first chapter.
They're quite short, but I post often so stay tuned.
Regular= Wendy's p.o.v. Bold = Peter's p.o.v. Bold Italic = 3rd character p.o.v.
Enjoy! Author Out.))

CHAPTER 1

The sound of her 06:30am alarm woke Wendy Darling from her dreaming. The images began to fade, but she knew where she had been. It was the same place she was every night. The place that got harder to leave every morning…

Wendy would have most people believe that she was a perfectly ordinary young woman. Yes, she did live in relative comfort, they even had electric lights in the hall, but she wasn't rich. She had a good education, and hoped one day to attend a university, but was hardly top of her class. She was also in love, as most young women her age with tender hearts were wont to be. However, Wendy's love was what made her different. Most girls she knew were in love with young men from across the road, perhaps their good friend's older brother… one had even told her she was hopelessly in love with her mathematics tutor… But Wendy's heart belonged to someone of an entirely different sort. Someone she'd met in a make-believe world, far away from houses and jobs, education and responsibility.

She often supposed that was why she hadn't ever been able to get over him. His world was entirely his own, there was simply nothing and no one to compare him to. He had shown her things she could scarcely believe the wonder of, in spite of them being before her very eyes, and his mere existence had left a whole in her life almost as big as the adventure they had shared. She also wondered what people would think, if they knew she was still had feelings for him after all this time. In the end she knew well that her affections surpassed those of admiration and friendship, and given his life in a world where he never aged, she had outgrown him by a full 5 years already. She had grown taller, and somewhat wiser given her new responsibilities with her education and job prospects. Her hair had also grown thicker after she had had it cut to shoulder length for the sake of looking more 'professional' as Aunt Millicent had put it. That said, she had altogether given up on her Aunt's idea of finding a suitor. She couldn't bare the thought of something as mundane as a husband. She had rebuffed her Aunt at every opportunity on that point. Wendy's 12 year old heart simply would not allow it. She had reasoned and argued with herself, but no matter how hard she fought not to, she still longed to see him.

When she arrived downstairs for breakfast, Michael and John were already eating, Michael scribbling wrong answer after wrong answer on a scrappy homework sheet, determined to make progress. She worried that somewhere in the back of his mind he was struggling too: putting all of his time into his work so as to fill some void she couldn't see. She left them to their work and locked the door behind her but stopped for a moment as the lock clicked shut. Her hand touched the corner of her mouth, remembering.

When she and her brothers had first returned home, through the air into their shared bedroom, their mother and Father had come at once waiting with baited breath to hear of where on earth they'd been. As it had happened they hadn't been on earth at all… Or, at least that's what she had assumed. Their parents had taken their explanation without question, just glad to have them home, even if they were accompanied by a ragtag group of muddy young strangers. However, times changed. As the years passed the number of people they tried to tell dwindled due to receiving strange comments from neighbours about the well-being of their family and the decision to adopt such a large group of orphans. Before long Mother and Father had started to brush off the story, piece by piece. Each time it came up less and less seemed to be heard.

"These 'pirates' you saw, they sound like some kind of gang…"

"Yes, but I'm sure you weren't actually 'flying',"

"If you thought about it hard enough you'd recognise the place now… Perhaps one of those exotic foreign coffee houses in Soho…"

"How many times must I say it, 'Nibs' was a name given to him by the orphanage,"

And so the trend continued until vicious rumours about everyone involved began to surface. As if to make matter worse, it soon became clear that the Darling family wouldn't be able to take on the boys after all. Despite the magic and even the memory of how they had arrived having faded, the connection between their family and the boys was tangible. All adoptive families were carefully selected under scrutiny of both parents, and only allowed to move with all three Darling children's approval.

After that it had almost become a house rule not to bring anything of Neverland or their journey into conversation. Even so, Wendy had gotten into a fight with an 11 year old Michael the following year, leading to a comment about how he should have stayed in Neverland indefinitely. At that point Mother had heard, but seemed to miss the reference completely. What was more worrying though was John, who acted as if she'd said something completely ridiculous. "You're going to insult him with children's stories? Grow up, Wendy." Coming from brothers 5 and 3 years her junior she would have found that comment amusing at the time. If it hadn't been for the heart breaking reality behind it, of course. Truth be told they had grown up since then, but whether that was due to natural factors or gradually losing the most notable part of their childhood Wendy couldn't say. She had been through so much pain losing Peter, and all of Neverland with him. But having her family forget that she had even been in the first place: That was like losing it all over again.

When she realised that she herself might forget, she began frantically writing diaries, some progressing into journals from the sheer volume of their contents. It wasn't quite the three-part novel she had planned as a child but that was one dream she didn't have room for anymore, and as Aunt Millicent said, there was nothing so difficult to marry as a novelist. She would sit with her journals almost every night, occasionally she would fill a blank space with a doodle or drawing, the shape of Hook's ship, fairy wings. Once or twice she had simply written something Peter had said to her, a few words that made her heart skip. She remembered their last conversation as clearly as the day it had been spoken:

'Peter… You won't forget me… will you?' She remembered asking desperately.

'Me? Forget?... Never.'… And yet… He was gone. His sad face lingered in her head. She had seen it then and thought certainly that he would return. It was part of the reason she was able to let him fly away that night.

She took the steps down to the road and turned the corner, when she heard a familiar voice.

"Oh, hello there. I didn't see you."

"Hello Solomon," She replied politely, keeping up appearances. For whose sake she didn't know anymore. "How are things?"

"Oh you know, studying hard." He replied in his usual chipper voice. "I got that book seller to take me on, I don't know if I-" His face fell slightly, as if he had just remembered something important. "Sorry I don't suppose you're interested in those kinds of things…"
Seeing the lost boys around her home was a painful souvenir each time they remembered her name but seemingly forgot how they met. Thankfully most had been moved away with their new families: all but Slightly, re-christened 'Solomon' by Aunt Millicent and her new partner. As was her Aunt's nature, the scruffy Neverland boy had been transformed into a neat young apprentice, nails sparkling clean and hair slicked back as he went about his daily duties. That said, his etiquette was as flawless as it had ever been.

"Anyway, must be off. Lovely seeing you again- err" he trailed off looking puzzled. Wendy couldn't bare to watch him forget her name entirely, so she cut him off.

"Yes it was lovely Solomon, let's catch up again soon" she suggested, as she always did, bustling past.

She had thought she was having more luck with him, as despite all else being lost he had related to her as his adoptive cousin. But now that didn't seem to be enough either. He was drifting away just like the others. On one encounter she even tried calling out his old name from across the street, but got no response, and so gave up hope entirely.