AN: It's my first fanfic, so please don't judge me too harshly! This is the unedited version. This chapter is kind of a short preview, the second one will be much longer. It takes place five years after Wendy and Peter's adventures in Neverland. At this point I don't have a concrete plotline; I'm just making it up as I go along. For the purposes of this story, the Lost Boys have not left Neverland. Bit of a warning: it might get angsty later. Remember to review! Concrit is much appreciated, while flames are not. Thanks for reading :D
Chapter 1: A King without His Queen
Peter turned the small, grey thimble over in his hands. Even sitting at his once-favorite spot, a sun-dried rock beside the Mermaid's Lagoon, failed to bring him comfort when his mind was consumed with the thought of Wendy. His fingers glided across the smooth, cold surface of the thimble, pressing so hard against the metal that it almost burned him. Wendy's kiss. It did burn him. The memory of her sparked such anger, such bitterness in him that at times like this, he felt he could not contain it. How could she leave like that? Just the thought sent him in a rage, and suddenly he was throwing the thimble into the murky waters of the Lagoon, watching as it was enveloped by the darkness of the ripples. He held his head in his hands, sighed deeply and sat for a long time. Though it had been quite a while since Wendy had left Neverland, Peter believed he could still feel her presence lingering, humming, breathing. Sometimes, when he'd visit the Mermaid's Lagoon or Fairy Haven, he would glimpse her figure out of the corner of his eye just before she vanished, dissolving into the sweet Neverland air. Sea-blue eyes, honey-colored hair, rosy lips, then nothing.
Peter lifted his head suddenly, realizing what he had done. Her kiss was the only thing he had left of her. And he had just thrown it into the waters of the Lagoon. Without thinking, he removed his shirt (if one believed a badly arranged assortment of leaves and twigs counted as a shirt), and leapt into the freezing water. The effect was immediate. With a vengeance, the unforgiving cold sliced at his skin and stung his bones. He soon realized if he didn't get to land quickly enough, he would surely become a Never-popsicle. Panic consumed him as he searched wildly through the black water, his arms and legs thrashing about. The kiss was nowhere to be found. The search went on for quite some time, but soon his small lungs could no longer fight against the water and he floated slowly, dejectedly, to the surface, as if to say, here, you win. So easily, he surrendered. Where was the boy who refused to grow up? The boy who had battled six pirates all at once, never even stopping to catch his breath? The boy who had defeated the greatest pirate ever to sail the seven seas, Captain James Hook, and lived to tell the tale? Truth be told, that boy was long gone. That boy had grown up. There comes a time, when a child sees or experiences something so terrible, even their innocence can no longer protect their eyes from the cruelty of the world. Peter Pan stopped being a boy the second he began loving Wendy. There is nothing so terrible as heartbreak in this world.
Every day, every minute was spent trying to forget, waiting to feel okay again. Fighting pirates, visiting Tiger-Lily, playing with mermaids…these activities that once made up his existence no longer interested him. Most of his time was spent sitting by the Lagoon or near the salty shores of Neverland. Thinking was all he seemed to do. Sleep was not a frequent visitor, but when it did drop by, Peter would wake up drenched in sweat, screaming her name. Wendy. Come back, Wendy. Please. Wendy…Wendy. His screams would echo and dance through the twisting hallways of the Underground Home, awakening Tinkerbell and the Lost Boys. Overcome with worry, they would rush to his side in an attempt to console him but nothing they said or did could help. What could they do when he was not waking up from a nightmare, but rather, into one? Their efforts were futile. Their king had fallen long ago and Neverland was in shambles.