I would like to note that this story will be in 3 parts, so yes, one more chapter will follow to conclude the tale!

-.-.-.-

I never thought I'd change my opinion again

But you moved me in a way that I've never known
You moved me in a way that I've never known

But straight away you just moved into position again

.

—Break Me, Shake Me

by Savage Garden

-.-.-.-

Eventually Wendy had fallen into this habit of sleeping the mornings away and then stirring for the first time during the afternoons.

Peter tossed at night and unbeknownst to him, this kept her awake for hours, leaving her eyes stressed and weary. She could hear him muttering all sort of nonsense under his breath as nightmares racked his system. Her cage remained just feet away from Hook's—Peter's—bed after all. And because of the bars, going to his side and soothing his nerves was obviously was never an option for her. Calling out to him and telling him he was having night terrors wouldn't be the best idea either. Pointing out his flaws was not that wise. Peter Pan, happy or angry, never took self-criticism very well. God forbid if his childlike pride would be wounded.

On the other hand, Peter didn't seem to mind that she had her own sleeping schedule. He never tried to wake her up on purpose, anyhow. He'd simply leave at dawn to do whatever he wished until he returned to check in on her. If she happened to be awake, then he'd unlock the cage door and allow her to move freely about the Jolly Roger.

Wendy hardly (never) left the ship on her own though, considering how high it was from the shores below.

She...did try jumping from the plank once. Well, it was a twice actually.

She wasn't exactly suicidal; not really, nothing quite like that. But on those days—the boredom from being left behind had made her mind so hazy and bubbling with cabin fever, so desperate for a change of pace and live contact besides Smee—that she just did it to see what would happen. How far could her own dare take her?

She hadn't perished from a romantically tragic fall yet. And of course Peter'd seen to that. As reckless and senseless as it was for a proper young lady to leap of the plank so plainly, Wendy didn't expect to die. She knew it wasn't going to happen on his watch.

During both jumps, she had free-fallen from the ship for a mere few long seconds before Peter suddenly glided into sight to catch her, maneuvering himself flat beneath her so that she landed straight on his back, making her wrap her arms around his tunic for support.

"If you wanted to fly," Peter chuckled against the winds, soaring them in loops around the Island, "...all you had to do was say so!"

Thus, in spite of Peter being naïve in his growing madness...or whether, he simply refused to acknowledge it, Wendy supposed overall that she had been well taken care of so far. Peter had never physically harmed her deliberately like a real pirate probably would have done. He made sure that (ironically) she was handled in the highest regards! She was treated like the official Girl Queen of Neverland.

The whole birdcage complex was still a bit extreme, aye, and Peter's usual fondness for her currently boarder-lined possessiveness and a strong desire for ownership.

But—

Every day Wendy reminded herself that the circumstances could always be worse…since the cage, also according to Peter, was supposed to be a bird's safe haven. It was used to keep her sheltered from other greedy hands, not to punish her. Her nest inside it as well was so large and so lovely at the touch that it looked like something a Sultana would lounge across in a desert palace. The feathers weaved around its round edges had apparently come from the Never Bird itself.

And honestly Wendy wasn't that frightened anymore. Time had traded in her fears for acceptance and a newfound level of determination. She still had her sanity, which meant she was not as blinded as Peter had become. She did notice how strong of an impact her presence had on Peter: almost like the pull between the sun and the moon, they tugged each other back and froth, but at the same time they stayed in place maintaining the fragile balance.

Why wouldn't she fix him at his request...why wouldn't she be the one sure thing he could cling to in this absurdity? Why not enable him, if enabling him was what could cure him? If just being near him kept the shadows creeping across his heart at bay, then why not prevent him from falling farther down into the abyss? She had forever to try; for abandoning Peter now would do more damage for both of them than good.

Besides, if Neverland's timeline was to consume her life again anyway and the Outside World was moving on without her, what would be left there to return to?

Perhaps her home wasn't the best place to yearn for the any longer. What if death and old age claimed her entire family by the time she managed a way to escape the Island? If so, then she'd be helpless and alone in London City most likely, with no mother to teach her, no father to instruct her, and no brothers to support her. Would a cold-hearted gentlemen take pity on her? Force her to marry him, order her to bear his children when she would request falling in love first?

Wendy was certain that if she couldn't become a wife and mother properly…then she wanted nothing more to do with that sort of life.

Oddly enough, Peter had saved her from pains such as that.

I'd be trapped within my own regret and old brittle bones sooner or later there. Either way, there's a cage waiting for me.

From thereon...she made her capture her actual choice. It was the most comfortable of two unstable futures.

Neverland is where she would stay.

PLUS, IF ANY OF THE READERS WHO FAVORED THIS STORY WANT MORE, I DO NOW HAVE ANOTHER "TWISTED DISNEY" COLLECTION STARTED ON MY PAGE. It's called Other Twisted Tales.

The first chapter is for Beauty and the Beast. I've got a whole list of Disney movies I chose to work with each chapter, ranging from additional classics like The Little Mermaid and Mulan to more modern-ish ones like Monsters Inc. and Frozen.