Once Upon the Lights
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Summary: One carnival night — under the stars, the moon and the carnival lights — years before Wendy met Peter Pan, she met a boy. A boy with blue sparkling eyes and a promise to never grow up. 2003Movieverse. Peter and Wendy. PxW.
Inspiration: I've always wondered if Peter & Wendy have met before Neverland. Well, if they did, this would be how I'd see it happening :)
A/N: Erm, there's not much to say really except, this is based on the movie Peter Pan 2003. & erm, if you've read 'Hello Again' or 'Of Gambling, Hooks & Growing Up', you'd know I'm the author of it. It's been awhile since I've updated both & I'm really sorry about that! It's just, I've been super busy & I have moved on to other fandoms. & I know I always say I hate it when authors make fics & never update ever again & it makes me a hypocrite 'coz I do it too & I hate it but, that's just the way it goes. I'm trying to power-through writing 'Hello Again' so I'll hopefully have a chapter up before 2012 ends :) Well, unless the world ends. Jkjk. But, as for 'Of Gambling, Hooks & Growing Up', I see no hope for it. I just simply lost interest. & it wasn't one of my better works anyway. I may/may not delete it, I don't know yet. But, erm, I hope you like this one-shot! I'm not completely back into this fandom yet but, I'm getting there! & I worked an entire year on this so I hope it's good enough :)
Disclaimer: Peter Pan is done by a genius like J.M. Barrie. I am nowhere near his ingeniousness.
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Seven years old little girl, Wendy Moira Angela Darling, stared up at the brilliant carnival lights and the bright stars that shone down on her. The moon was full and hauntingly clear, while the noises of people having fun filled the entire Kensington Gardens. The air was scented with food being cooked everywhere; from grilled mushrooms to fish and chips, from home made hot chocolate milk to fresh tap water. The annual 'Fairy Carnival' had come just in time this year to welcome the coming of the winter season.
Wendy held her mother's hand tight, fearing of getting lost in the crowd. Mary Darling smiled at her daughter's shining eyes as it gazed up at the wonderful lights surrounding them. Her left hand holding Wendy's little one as the right carried a two years old sleeping Michael.
George and the five years old John followed closely behind them, eyes also wandering around the impressive decorations and lights. The fairy statues made of glass and handmade paper maché fairy lanterns blended well with the atmosphere. The stage was covered with flowers of all kinds and sparkling glitter as well as paper-cut snowflakes. It truly was magnificent.
Wendy grinned at her mother as she pointed at a particular stand where they sold fairy lamps. Mary smiled and let her daughter drag her towards it.
"Mother!" Wendy says eagerly. "I'd love to have a fairy night light!"
"Oh dear, we should ask your father." Mary says as she let go of her daughter's hand that now started to delicately touch the beautiful lamps.
"Would you please ask him for me?" Wendy begged making Mary roll her eyes but chuckle nonetheless.
"Very well. You just stay here while I go find him and John, okay?" Mary ordered as Wendy nodded obediently.
"Yes mother." She says before turning her head back to face the lamps.
There were all kinds of lamps; small lamps, tall lamps, fat lamps, thin lamps, candle-lit lamps, oil-lit lamps and some very few with light bulbs. But out of all them lamps, only one caught her eye. It was plain and simple yet, amazingly beautiful. It was a thin and tall purple lamp with a beautiful fairy sleeping on the round base. The fairy's purple hair fell naturally over her face as her purple dress draped across the whole base. She had on a mischievous smile with closed eyes. It was candle-lit, with crystal clear glass that surrounded the golden candle.
One can tell that it was very carefully made.
She moved closer to it and tried to reach for it but, she was so small she only managed to touch the base. She stood back and growled, wishing she'd somehow grow up so that she'd be able to reach it.
"You need some help?" Someone whispered to her ear and she turned around to meet a strange lad's blue eyes, sparkling with mischief under the carnival lights.
"What is your name?" She had asked said boy.
"What is YOUR name?" He countered as he rose an eyebrow at her.
"Wendy. Wendy Moira Angela Darling." She says as she curtsied gracefully in front of him.
"Boy." He grinned and she blushed, seeing how handsome he was when he does so.
"How old are you Boy?" She asks him and he stopped grinning and just stared at her.
"Quite young." He muttered under his breath as he turned his gaze back onto the lamp she's been trying to reach. "You want that?"
"Yes." Wendy looked up at the lamp once again, turning her gaze from the boy's beautiful blue eyes back to the magical sight of the purple lamp.
"Why?" The boy questioned as he turned back to look at the girl, his eyebrow raised in a questioning manner.
"'Coz it's beautiful." She simply says, her eyes filled with a child's admiration.
"It's just like all the other lamps." The boy tilted his head in curiosity as the girl lifted her gaze from the lamp back at the curious blue eyes.
"Just like all the other lamps?!" Wendy wanted to scream at him, being the type of child who easily lost her temper. But she must not forget that this boy, may be a stranger, still seems older than her and that she must always respect her elders. "I'm sorry sir but, 'tis not just like all the other lamps."
"Oh? Is it not?" Amusement sparked through his blue orbs as interest crept into him. This girl was — for the lack of a better word — different. "How so?"
"Because this lamp caught my eye and all the others didn't." Wendy said in a stern tone and the boy's eyes widened at her clever response.
This lass was smart. Probably smarter and more clever than he was.
"That is a very good point." The boy said, nodding his head as a small smirk made it's way to his lips.
"I know." She grinned as she turned back again to try and reach for the lamp one more time.
But before her fingertips could even touch the circular edge of the base, the lamp was snatched away from her reach. And she looked up, only to see the boy with blue eyes holding it away from her with his ol' smirk still formed by his lips.
"What are you doing?!" She shouted in frustration, forgetting that he was still — indeed — older than her.
"It'd be a waste though." He says as he shook his head at her, folding his arms as he still held the lamp.
"What would be a waste?" She asked him, her turn to raise her eyebrow.
"I mean, sure you'll like it now but, who's to say you'll still like it when you grow up?" The boy questioned as he looked seriously into her own blue eyes. A gasp escaped her lips as she realized how accurate he had been. "This lamp would be wasted. As you grow older, as you grow up, your interests will change and you'll someday neglect this beautiful lamp. 'Coz for what it now is to you, isn't what it would be to you later on."
"But I—" He cut her off, not giving her the chance to speak at all.
"You're gonna grow up and forget about this lamp. You'll hide it away; away in your attic, away inside a drawer you'll never open. And when you're a grown up, looking into the place you hid it in, you'll look at it and wonder, why you have it and what were you thinking. And then you'll say to yourself that this lamp is just another piece of your childhood sentiments, and that you'll not need it now that you're an adult." He said, his voice strong and stern. His grip on the lamp tightened and his stare at her became cold and hard. "Am I wrong?"
Wendy was speechless. She looked into his eyes and she saw he was not joking. His deep blue eyes were covered in all seriousness and she couldn't deny the fact that what he said, may be true. She will grow up and she won't see things the same way she does now than later on. But, he was also — in a way — pre-judging her. And she wanted to prove him wrong.
"Then I shall give it to my child!" She shouts at him as the boy just laughed scornfully at the comment.
"You'll have a child? Who's to say that you'll even be married?" He said as he raised his eyebrow higher at her, taking one step forward. Wendy glared at him, hating how right he is. "And anyway, even if you do end up getting married and have a child, that won't guarantee the fact that your child will like it and will love and take care of this lamp the same way you do now."
Wendy looked down onto the ground, her whole body refusing to move. He was right and she knew it. A lot of possibilities were against her and she hated it. So she did and said the most unthinkable thing ever.
"Then I will not grow up!" She shouted as the boy backed away from her, surprised. "I will forever remain a child and forever keep that lamp. I'll love it for all infinity 'coz I will never grow up! You cannot make me! No one can!"
Instead of the reaction she expected, she saw something else. The boy's eyes turned soft and the bitter smirk of his lips turned into a charming grin that easily made Wendy blush.
"Then never grow up you shall." He said as he handed her the lamp which she carefully took. "And never grow so shall I."
"What?" Wendy asked, her eyes grew wide in surprise at what the boy had just said.
"This night, this time, under these lights, I shall promise you and you shall promise me that we both should never grow up." He grinned as he offered her his hand for her to shake.
She stared at the hand for a few seconds before turning her gaze back at his waiting blue eyes. After thinking and dwelling over it for a moment, she grinned back at him as she took it and shook it well.
"I, Wendy Moira Angela Darling, promise." She said so softly, her other hand carefully holding her new-found fairy lamp.
"Very well." He let go unexpectedly and turned back to leave. "I must be going now."
"Boy, wait!" Wendy shouted over to him as he turned around to look at her for one last time. "Boy, what is your name?"
He grinned wide before turning back around to continue walking.
"Peter." He said as Wendy smiled, liking the name. "Pan."
"Goodbye Peter Pan." She smiled sadly as his back completely disappeared through the crowded carnival. She looked down on the lamp and smiled brightly once again as she went off to look for her mother to show her the new lamp she chose.
.
.
.
Peter Pan kept his promise for he forever remained a child, becoming the boy who lived in Neverland that never grew up. Wendy Moira Angela Darling, however, did not. She grew up.