A/N: This is my first Once Upon A Time story, and to be honest, my first story on Fanfiction in a long time. I did not like the Wendy Darling they showed in Second Star to the Right, so I'm making a new one. Just pretend her name is something different from Wendy Darling. This starts off directly after where Nasty Habits ended. I do not own anything here except my version of Wendy and this idea for the story. I hope you enjoy! Also, as for the rating, it could very well go up. I decided to do K+ for now, but it may be T quickly in the future. And for the genre, that is the hardest part. Adventure is definitely one, but there will be others like romance, mystery, suspense, and angst.
.: Chapter One :.
She could not remember how long she had waited for the boy with the heart of the truest believer to finally come to Neverland. Jumping deftly from one slick rock to the next, she made her way from the caves. She could do it all with her eyes closed jumping with muscle memory, but she wouldn't dare attempt that risk today for what she planned to do she could not be wet. Landing lightly on the sand, she dashed her way across the open expanse of the beach to jungle. Once she was under the canopy she pulled the brown hooded cloak that had been tied around her waist on. Pulling the hood over her head and making sure it was completely fastened to her so it would not shift and show the clothes she wore underneath, she began to make her way through the jungle. Despite seeing the face on the parchment Peter Pan kept so close to him once, the image was still burned into her mind flickering in and out of her thoughts throughout the numerous years. As much as Peter Pan wanted him, Wendy Darling wanted him even more.
There was no concrete proof that he could help her but Wendy had to try. She had run out of every other option that she could even think of and she was known to be clever. In all honesty, he was her last shot at a chance of hope. She had to do it, she needed to do it; if she never tried she would always regret it until her last breath passed her lips. Well, if that was even possible at that point, she wasn't entirely too sure. Neverland was the place that no one ever grew up. She had been stuck at this age for such a long time now that she practically considered herself to be immortal. She knew it was a rubbish thought and she definitely knew that she was not, in fact, immortal, but still after so many years it was a simple idea to think about.
If this plan did not work out, she wasn't sure what would happen. Would she help the boy escape Peter? Yes, of course, that was a given. If he couldn't be any use of her, she would make sure that he did not get his hands on the boy. She could do that much. What she would do afterwards was what Wendy worried about the most. Though the thought of moving on seemed so easy, not to mention rewarding, she could not bear to even think that she would ever go down that route. This was all her fault after all. She had to fix this or she would die trying. Death seemed as good as a punishment for this. She had thought about it all before when she hid in the Echo caves. However, death also seemed like a relief from this nightmare and she was almost sure he would not let her have that satisfaction. It would not, to be more correct. Could he watch her die again? That was an even bigger risk, one she was too afraid to take without trying every option. She was afraid for the answer not being the one she would have wanted.
Wendy had overheard the mermaids talking about the arrival of a ship full of adults and the audacity they had to take one of their own. Living on Neverland so long, Wendy knew that all mermaids were liars and their words were sketchy at best, but all the best lies had certain truths and she had been able to gauge when they were lying and when they were only exaggerating the truth after so long. She could only assume that the reason a group of adults came here stemmed from a boy being here. She had also heard that it was a pirate ship that brought them here, but the fact the mermaids brought up magic made her except that it wasn't the entire crew of the Jolly Rodger back in Neverland. It brought a bitter taste to her mouth when she thought of even the word of that stupid ship, but she had bigger concerns on her mind than a certain pirate. If anything she was more concerned that the talk was old and she had no idea how long the boy had been on the island. She was upset as well that her shadow had not reported anything other than the item it had snagged a few days ago, and that she didn't realize what it really meant sooner.
She skirted easily around the dreamshade thorns and found herself easily coming up on the Lost Boys' camp. As she stopped, peering through the foliage and seeing the blazing fire, there was a sharp pang in the bottom of her gut. The fact that he had kept the camp here hurt her more than she could say and often at times she found herself drawn back here, watching them in hidden silence when she felt truly alone. Moving silently, she climbed up a tree, hanging back as far as she could without compromising her vision on the camp. The first thing she always did once she found a spot to look from was that she always searched for Peter. His position was crucial in her vantage point for if he saw her, she had to disappear quickly. The Lost Boys were never a problem for Wendy. It was always Peter. Her stupid problem. He was across the clearing and so with an inaudible sigh, she moved back down the tree and kept going around the outskirts of the clearing.
Though try as she might, her fingers had a mind of their own and she found them tapping against her hip lightly to the beat of the drum that accompanied the Lost Boys' dancing around the fire. Oh how she would give up anything to be able to dance again, when her only concerns had been dancing out of beat and not falling into the fire while dancing. Her breath hitched in her throat when she heard the tune of the pipe, and the dancing increased into a happy fury. Holding her breath, she climbed the nearest tree again, satisfied with Peter being more off-center to her. It was easy to spot the boy amongst them all only because he was dressed differently than the others. Seeing the opportune moment for her, she got herself down from the tree and stepped in to the clearing, jumping into the dance with such a fluid motion than no one seemed to be the wiser. She knew how invigorating the dance was regardless of the amount of people in the circle around the fire. The fact that he had continued this was something that she still thought of this day. Perhaps, after all this time, he was still there. And suddenly, as she danced with them, she was taken back to where this had started.
The fire had started off weak, but over a short amount of time it burned with an intensity that Wendy had not ever known possible. Collecting wood for it was a necessity, and Wendy was fearful that they would burn out of the wood quicker than they could gather it or even enjoy the fire. She had insisted on the fire, after all. It was dark, so very dark, even though the moonlight was considerably brighter than it was back home. He had said no in the beginning, but after awhile Peter consented and together they had worked on it. They did not go far apart from each other so they wouldn't get lost. Once the wood had been collected, which was hard in a jungle where one had to look out for dreamshade, the fire was made.
She had been the first to notice that the Shadow did not near the flames. As if any source of light frightened it, and a tiny part of her felt happy that the Shadow kept its distance. Even after many interactions with the Shadow, Wendy never felt like it was an extremely friendly presence. Yes, it had shown her Neverland on it's own accord, but it seemed to prefer Peter more than her, and she was not sure why. In an effort not to get jealous, she made herself stick close to the fire. Perhaps her wanting of a fire and hoping that it would not go out made the fire burn fiercely and over time it seemed that the wood burn more slowly than it would have normally. It would take her awhile to get use to the fact that Neverland ran on imagination and if she concentrated hard enough, things would happen. She wasn't sure if just her hoping for the fire made it the size it was and she hoped that Peter was silently hoping it would not go out as well.
He sat behind her away from the fire, his eyes fixated on the flames. Turning away from him, she continued to look at the flames, the warmth of the fire washing over her in the most delightful of ways. It should not have been, however, she knew that normally it should have been almost too hot at this proximity to the flames. Watching the flames dance, she found herself slowly swaying a bit before she felt a laugh escape her lips when she began to dance around the fire. Dancing might not have been the exact term for what she had suddenly decided to do, but it felt right. She was jumping and hopping and skipping, and turning in a circle as she moved around the fire, throwing her hands up.
"What are you doing?" She could tell by his tone he was bemused.
"You tell me." She supplied as she passed him once going around the fire again.
"Why are you jumping around the fire? I know you're not burned. You'd be crying." He answered, standing when Wendy rounded the fire again closer than he was sitting before.
With a hop, she landed in the spot directly front of him, breathing a little heavily. His eyes were aglow from the fire behind her, his eyebrow raised up in his curiosity, and the tiniest of smiles tugging on the corner of his lips. "I'm not sure why I am. It just… try it, Peter." She said and without waiting for his answer, she grabbed his hands, tugging him along as she began another round around the fire. His eyes widened but he moved along with her, and she stretched her arms around, moving to spin them around and Peter followed suit as she knew he would. Just like that, Peter was as entranced as she was with the dancing around the fire, eventually letting go of her hands and dancing next to her. They made loud animal cries and hooted and shouted for no apparent reason, Wendy giggling all the while and Peter grinning like mad.
They danced for quite some time until Wendy's legs felt like they could no longer hold her weight and she practically threw herself down unladylike on the ground, lying on her back breathless. A moment later there was a similar thud next to her and Peter was lying next to her, their shoulders touching him equally breathless as her. They laid there for a few moments in silence, listening to each other catch their breath. "Aren't you glad you came, Wendy?" He finally said. "We can do this all the time. It'll be me and you forever, Wendy. We'll never be alone."
Though she had always thought it would have been much more enjoyable dancing with a lot more people, she did not find any enjoyment dancing around the fire this time. The only time it would be was if her Peter was back. Her eyes dared to look over in his direction, where he was playing his pipe. That stupid pipe. She should have stomped on the thing when she had the chance, but she hadn't known back then. Keeping her head down and matching to the tune was simple and therefore none of the Lost Boys suspected her at all so it was easy when she slipped next to the boy in the strange clothes.
It looked like he was enjoying himself, a bit too much for Wendy, though she almost could not blame him. Peter was quite manipulative, even more so than normal, and he could play a lot of people like they were a fiddle. He must have somehow at least gotten the boy to listened to him, to feel like proper Lost Boy, to have him dance the way he was dancing. The only thing she could do was hope that she was not too late. Around and around the fire they went, her eyes close on the boy and Peter, the only two who mattered in this situation. Peter never let his eyes off of the boy for too long so her chance would come only in a slim window, exactly like she was used to. She waited until the boy's, Peter had shouted an encouraging word to him and called him Henry, cheeks turned red from exertion and he seemed a little breathless, his dancing slowing down considerably as the other Lost Boys closed in with their dancing unaware. As soon as Peter's eyes had moved from Henry, she grabbed Henry's arm tightly and pulled him off to the side and then pushed him out of the clearing entirely.
As soon as he landed in the dirt, she covered his mouth with one hand and yanked him up with another, pulling him along. He seemed a bit dazed at first, and breathless. He did not reach up to pull her hand off his mouth but instead reached out to grab her. She shoved him instead, wanting to get distance from the clearing before Peter looked for Henry. Her shove, however, broke the contact from his mouth and she saw that he was about to do something. Not being able to take the chance of him shouting for help or even the off-chance he'd ask what was happening, she reached out and slapped him. If anything would break the hold of the pipe, the hold of Peter's charm, the hold of even that stupid dancing with the Lost Boys, it would be that.
He looked rather shocked when she slapped him, his eyes widening and a soft "Ouch!" escaped his lips. She grabbed his hand and pulled him along hard, turning her head and yanking the hood down on her jacket. It took him a moment to draw out of the fact that he had been slapped to realize that she had done something. "You're a girl?" He asked incredulously, his voice louder than the word before but they were further away. A witty retort was about to make its way out of her mouth when the music behind them stopped playing. She could hear shouting and her heart lurched in her chest. She had hoped for at least a few more moments, but there was no use wishing now. She moved her hand down his arm and grabbed his hand tightly.
"I know you don't have any reason to trust me, but please, run!" She told him quickly, darting forward. She hoped he would not be still, and he proved her hope right. He ran with her.
Any constructive criticism is welcome, and reviews are great.
