Peter Pan has certainly picked an interesting trio this time, to run away with him: a dying girl, a girl both bookish and brash, both twins and fifteen and full of life; and an innocent—a girl just ten. After centuries, Peter and his Lost Boys are starting to age. And why is that? Something more sinister than menstrual bleeding is at work here. Re-invented from what little I remember of the movie. If my brain doesn't lie, this promises to be an awfully big adventure.
Disclaimer: I do not own Peter Pan, the story, or any of its characters. I also do not own any of the songs I quote, they are all by Allison Weiss, and while she is a goddess/personal heroine of mine, I am, regrettably, not her.
Song is From You To Me.
I do believe in fairies, I do, I do, hummed Julia, clutching her blanket tighter around herself. It was just past midnight, and her sisters Vera and Sophie were both asleep. Her cough wouldn't go away, not that she expected it to, and she was sweating profusely. These were some of the symptoms of her illness.
I do believe in fairies. I do, I do. I do believe in fairies. I do, I—
There. There, at the window, a speck of light. A firefly, Julia supposed. A lone one. Not common, but not too strange. Julia didn't bother to move. She didn't want to open the window; she had a fever, her sisters were light sleepers, and besides, her parents would scold her in the morning if she'd gotten up. These were the excuses Julia made to herself. They lived on the thirteenth floor, her parents being quite wealthy bankers.
Thirteen, thought Julia gloomily. A mortician's dozen. They were so high off the ground that she didn't even bother locking her balcony window. After all, who could fly but fairies and superheroes? Neither of which Julia wanted to admit she still believed in. At fifteen, one was supposed to be mature. Serious. You were supposed to drop your childlike notions and strive to be more like your mum and dad, in Julia's household. Not that she'd ever get the chance to pursue banking, Julia thought bitterly. But miracles could happen. Not likely.
A sharp rap on Julia's balcony door knocked her out of her slightly depressing train of thought. Oh, who was she kidding? Her sisters slept like logs. It took nothing short of a foghorn blast directly into their ears to wake them up. The knock came again.
Dear Santa, Julia prayed. Please, please, please, please, please, I promise to be good for the remainder of my life if you'll only help me out of this bind. Love, Julia. PS- The elves still treating you well?
Knock knock-knock-knock-knock, knock knock! Went the door. Julia stopped breathing. All was silent in the room…
…Until Julia coughed again, a loud, wet, painful-sounding cough that would have made you wince, had you been three. Julia pulled her hand back from her mouth and quietly despaired at what she saw there, terror forgotten.
The balcony door swung open.
"…Wendy? You all right?" came the unknown voice. Sounds like a teenage boy's voice, Julia thought giddily, her hands clenching and unclenching around her blanket's edge. Oh Gallifrey, Julia thought. If I'm going to die here, let my last thoughts be filled with Kurt Vonnegut. Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt. Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt. Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt. Everything was—
"Wendy?" came the voice again. Julia couldn't help but to let out a small, terrified squeak, and dove under the covers. "Oh, Wendy, there you are!" The voice said, sounding bemused. "Stop trembling and talk to me!" Julia trembled even harder.
She felt a hand on her blanket, searching for the edge. All of a sudden, without warning, her covers were yanked from her. She screamed, covering herself. Wouldn't you, if some strange male had seen you in your Power Rangers footies? She looked up just in time to catch her twin, Vera, stumbling from where she had apparently fallen from her bed with a confused look on her face, one that quickly turned to surprise and anger upon discovering some guy standing over her sister. She leaped over blankets to land near them, and took on a fighting stance.
"Who the hell are you?" She shouted, taking a swing at the stranger. Vera was apparently ignoring the fact that her midriff was entirely visible because the camisole part of her sleepwear had become stuck in the bottom of her bra. The stranger easily dodged, now becoming flustered and similarly confused.
"It's Peter!" he shouted. Vera and Julia exchanged looks. Vera's Look said, This some loser you lead on? While Julia's Look said, I've never seen him before in my life! "Peter!" he yelled again. "Peter Pan! Don't you remember me, Wendy?"
"Wendy?" Vera and Julia uttered the same exact incredulous query. "Who's that?" Vera asked, a beat later.
"Wait a second. You're not Wendy? Wendy Moira Angela Darling…?" Peter asked, bewildered.
"Your girlfriend or whatever isn't here, bub," Vera hissed. "Now if you would so kindly please evacuate the premises before my fist becomes lodged in your jaw, that would be very pleasant for my sister here, you know, the one you apparently decided to molest?"
"And what kind of name is Peter Pan," Julia muttered. She knew exactly what kind of name 'Peter Pan' was, but it couldn't be the same person. No way in hell. Impossible.
"Hey! It's a name," Peter retorted lamely, "Whatever. I'm out of here." And he floated a few inches off of the ground, hesitating. Vera and Julia's eyes widened, if not for the same reasons. Vera was astounded some kid was floating, and Julia was shocked that it might actually be the same Peter Pan.
"Wait!" the word blurted from Julia's lips before she could stop herself. Peter spun around to face her, and she found herself blushing. "Take me...take me with you!" She managed. Vera was outraged; Peter intrigued, but slightly panicked.
"Well, there'll be adventure," he said suspiciously.
Julia nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way," she said solemnly.
"You'll be confronted with danger constantly, not to mention boys," he threw the word at her like she'd flinch and take it back.
"It's not like I have a lot of danger here," Julia said flippantly.
"A-hem!" Vera interrupted. "I beg to differ!" She'd been looking back and forth between the two, looking mildly disgusted, but mostly scared.
Julia ignored her. "What do you say?" She asked Peter.
"Well…" he said. "We'd have to take your brothers along, too. No fun in leaving them out," he said, grinning at Julia in a way that nearly made her sigh, until she got a hold on her wits. What am I doing? She thought. He's not a possible love interest. There isn't time for that. There will never be time for that. I'm running out of TIME!
Meanwhile, Vera was rapidly turning purple with rage. "Brothers?" she shrieked. "I am a girl, I thank you kindly! As are my sisters!"
Peter Pan looked sheepish. "Sorry," he said. "This other girl I knew…"
"Wendy?" Vera interrupted.
"Yeah, her…" Peter said. "She had two brothers."
"That's all very well and good, but can we wake Sophie up now?" Julia said impatiently, referring to their youngest sister. "We'll have to scream," she addressed Vera.
"Scream?" Peter looked bewildered. "Won't that wake your parents?"
"No, no," Vera giggled. "It takes a foghorn in the morning to get Sophie and I up, more her than I, so our parents had this room soundproofed. Let's do this!"
She and Julia raced over to Sophie, each kneeling on different sides of her bed, leaning in. "On the count of three…" Vera said softly, exchanging a conspiratorial glance with Julia. "One," Peter plugged his ears with his fingers. "Two," he floated up to the ceiling farthest away from them. "THREE!" Julia and Vera screamed a bloodcurdling scream. Granted, Julia's voice was much weaker than Vera's. She coughed again afterwards.
Sophie jumped straight in the air, yelling nonsense. Julia and Vera quietly shushed her. "We're going to go somewhere," Julia smiled. "Somewhere nice."
Sophie, half asleep, murmured sleepily, "Do we have any clothes?" Julia and Vera slapped their palms to their foreheads, jumping up and tripping over one another in their haste to pack. Julia threw jeans, skirts, dresses, t-shirts, shoes and socks into her luggage, a worn, bumper-sticker-covered, much-loved thing. Vera stuffed much of the same into her knapsack, minus the dresses and skirts. Julia packed for Sophie, putting her clothes into her Adventure Time backpack. Peter watched all this, amused.
Vera slung all three of the packs onto her shoulder while Julia took sleepy Sophie's hand. Sophie was ten, but was constantly babied by her elder sisters. Peter opened their balcony door and called out, "Tink! All clear! We've got some new passengers!" Sophie was immediately woken up by the sight of a fairy zooming into her room. She smiled in delight and reached out to grab her, but Tink evaded capture and sneezed on all three of them. "Jeez, Tink, could you have transferred the dust a bit more elegantly than that?" Peter complained. "Now. All you have to do is thank happy thoughts and you'll fly!" he said, addressing the girls sternly.
"Fairies," Sophie beamed as she began to rise.
"Free tickets to a wrestling match," Vera crowed as she lifted into the air.
"I…I can't do it," Julia stuttered, suddenly afraid. Her arm was raised upwards, as she was still holding onto Sophie. "I can't think of anything."
Peter, Sophie and Vera frowned with concern. "Remember the day we went to the Doctor Who convention?" Vera called out. "And you yelled 'wanker' at Steven Moffat? And we touched the TARDIS?" "Remember when I drew you that picture of us for your fifteenth birthday?" said Sophie in a singsong voice. "And you were standing next to Marceline the Vampire Queen!"
Julia smiled. And slowly, ever-so-slowly, she began to rise. They cheered, and Peter instructed Vera to hold onto his foot. "Then," he said, "Sophie dear, you hold onto, er, your sister, erm…" he and Vera had never been properly introduced. He only knew Sophie's name because Vera and Julia had said it. Vera told him her name impatiently, and Peter continued with his directions. "Sophie, hold onto Vera's ankle, and Julia, hold onto Sophie's." Making sure everyone was properly secured, he called back, "Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning!" Everyone repeated it, with various degrees of happiness on their faces, and they sped away.
"Let's go again!" Vera gasped upon landing. Sophie cried out "YES!" in agreement, and Julia shook her head, hands on knees, coughing.
Recovering from her burst of coughing and short breath, Julia sang quietly, "I don't know why / I'm afraid to fly," shook her head again, and laughed. She looked up to see Vera and Sophie staring at her. "What?" she asked.
Vera shook her finger at her. "You know perfectly well "what", sister of mine. You haven't sung in forever!" Julia shrugged, not saying anything.
"Come on, girls! Time to meet the Lost Boys!" Peter Pan called from somewhere up ahead. They were on a beach, and the nearest land around was forest, so he must've gone in there, the girls figured.
Julia sang them a song, to keep them company while they marched up to Peter.
I don't know why
I'm afraid to fly
Back to my home
Where I know I'll be alright
I never could quite say
How you made me feel
The way you always did
But kid, I'd never treat you right
And I don't know where you are
And although I've come so far
I can't say that life without you isn't hard
And I don't know where to go
Please don't say "I told you so"
When I tell you I still miss you in the dark
I guess I'll always miss you in the dark.
I'll say goodbye
To the memories
And the lies I always told
I'm getting older every day
If I could, I'd take it back
But the past is just the past
With you and me,
It doesn't matter what I say
And I don't know where you are
And although I've come so far
I can't say that life without you isn't hard
And I don't know where to go
Please don't say "I told you so"
When I tell you I still miss you in the dark
I guess I'll always miss you...
In the dark
We were all we'd ever be
I was you and you were me
Crashing deeper to the bottom of the sea
Where we still lie
And if I fall out of the sky
I won't dare to wonder why
'Cause baby, I deserve to die.