Continuation. I hope it's still interesting. The plot line will pick up from here on.

Chapter 3 : A Promise

"Pan, what do you mean the island is dying?" Lydia stared wide-eyed at her captor, feeling a tinge of fear. "Grandma said that the island would never die, that it was so beautiful and alive."

Peter grimaced at the mention of Wendy, making him remember her laugh. "I've noticed that over time, everyone began to lose their power. One by one, something stole their magic and stripped them of their immortality. Even poor Tink—."

"Wait..You mean Tinkerbell doesn't have magic anymore?"

"She lost her magic a few days ago. The boys and I searched everywhere for her. When we did, she was lying under a willow tree, crying and in the form of a human. No wings. No magic. Just normal, like my lost boys. I searched the island. I wanted to see if it was happening to just the fairies. And it wasn't. The mermaids were slowly losing their powers as well. Some of them had already disappeared. Others were found dead in the cove, no fins, but legs. They didn't know how to survive on land. There are still some alive. The boys are taking care of them. Even the remaining fairies are in hiding. I felt powerless. I didn't know what could have caused Neverland to be this way. That's when I realized that this was becoming more than something I could handle alone. I needed the most powerful magic of all: belief."

"But you might have a slight problem with that one," Lydia glanced to the island below them, noticing that they were descending. "I don't exactly believe, remember?"

"That can be changed." Pan tightened his hold on her body and dropped from the air. The tree line rushed towards them, causing Lydia to scream and silently pray that this boy wouldn't be the death of her. Then they stopped abruptly, and hovered a few moments before the air ceased to swirl around them and landed on the ground.

"I'm sorry, but are you trying to kill me? And what do you mean 'That can be changed'? I haven't exactly been very cooperative thus far, you know." She released her arms from his neck and brushed the hair from her face. "Can you put me down now?"

She was proving to be more than he had bargained for. "Well, if you insist," he said and released her on the forest floor. He stepped over her and started walking. "Now, come on. My boys are waiting for me. I can't keep babysitting when I have an island to save."

Lydia glared up at him, as she slowly stood up, brushing the dried leaves from her dress. "Pardon me for being such a nuisance, but I wasn't the one who wanted to be whisked away in the middle of the night to come to this desolate place. I believe the blame is all on you, Pan."

The boy stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to face her. The look on his face was one of sadness and disappointment. "You know, I thought that as Wendy's granddaughter you'd at least have the same sense of justice and duty and maybe even pleasantry, but I was wrong. You are nothing but a girl stuck in her own vanity."

With that he turned back around and continued his trek through the forest, not glancing back once to see if she was following.

"But I am not vain…," Lydia whined as she lightly jogged to catch up with him. I didn't ask for this. I didn't want to be responsible for someone else, let alone an entire island. That's when she noticed it. Wendy had told her Pan was a boy of fifteen years, young and immature. But he was far from that. He didn't have the demeanor of a child, and the closer she inspected him, she realized he didn't look like a boy either. He was aging. Peter was getting older, and his mind was growing up.

That's when the gravity of the situation hit her hard in the chest. The magic really is fading, and because the magic is fading, everything is starting to age. There is no more immortality. "So much for never growing up."

She heard a rustling in the bushes near her and jumped away from them. Lydia started walking faster, trying to catch up with Peter, when a vine wrapped itself around her wrist and tugged her. She tried to loosen its grip and another vine caught her ankle, lifting her off the ground. "Peter!"

Pan kept walking, shaking his head. "Let me guess, I might have hurt your feelings, Princess?"

"Peter, please?!" She shrilled, struggling with the large vines as they tightened their grip. "Help me!"

He finally glanced back at her realizing that she was no longer on the path, but in the clutches of a Venus fly trap. Of course. At least she finally has something in common with her grandmother. Getting into trouble. "Charming."

Pan jetted to her and brought his knife from his belt, slashing at the vines while dodging the other surrounding ones trying to clasp them to him. "It's funny how even when the magic is fading, these creatures seem to thrive very well, I might add."

"I don't care about how interesting they are, I just want to get down!" Lydia finally released one arm and started working on the other vines latched to her body. Pan reached the girl, swiftly slicing through her bondage and catching her over his shoulder. He took off farther into the forest, ditching the fly trap.

There was still a vine connected to her ankle, so Lydia started kicking her legs and threw Pan off balance, causing them to narrowly dodge a pine tree. Her leg was finally freed, but they were yanked to the forest floor in a painful thud. "Ouch!"

She carefully raised her head, noticing that she had landed on top of Peter, inches away from her face. His chest was broad, his lips looked soft. She wanted to touch his lips when she noticed that he seemed to be knocked out, his eyes were closed and a faint line of blood seeped from his temple. Oh, no. I've killed him! What am I going to do?

"Pan? Are you alright?" She warily lifted her body off his, and touched his neck to check for a pulse. I don't know how to do this. This is how they show it on television right? There was no answer. She placed her head on his chest to listen for his heart, but with her fast heartbeat in her ears, she couldn't pick up his own. Lydia sat up and watched him. His face, his shoulders. He is no boy, he's a man. She moved her face closer to inspect him, when he breathed in sharply and his eyes opened, sitting up and slamming his forehead against Lydia's.

"Ow! Dear god, woman! You just keep making things worse!" He pressed his fingers against his temple and felt the liquid oozing from his head. Pan looked up at Lydia, who was clutching her face, rubbing her forehead. She had tears trickling down her cheeks. She looked pitiful, which made him feel his heart wrench a little. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

Lydia curled her legs up to her chest. "I just want to go home, Peter." She laid her forehead on her knees and continued to cry.

"I'm sorry, Lydia. But I can't do that." Pan walked to her and kneeled beside her. He embraced her, placing her head on his shoulder and held her tight. Then he said something that he would soon learn to regret. "I promise, once the magic has returned, I'll take you back home and never return."