It had not occurred to Peter that Jax had been gone for a while until he had managed to close up all the trees except his and Slightly's (he would fit Jax into her own tree when she got back) and clean up all evidence that people had been living in the underground hideout over the past few days. He had never been so productive before. It worried him a little, but what worried him more was that had had had time to do all of this and still Jax had not returned.
So Peter set about pacing and thinking about what may have happened. Suppose Jax had found a fairy. She should be back soon, and then all would be well. Of course, suppose the redskins did not take kindly to her. Then she might never be back. He should go and find her. But she had told him not to leave until she got back. And there was always the chance she would escape, anyway. She had escaped from pirates and crocodiles, right?
Peter brushed his uncertain thoughts away and took on a new task, namely thinking up all manner of happy thoughts that might make him fly. He thought of the look on Jax's face when they had been playing dress-ups before, but although it made him smile it just didn't seem like enough. Not nearly enough. His thoughts reluctantly wandered to Wendy and the others, but his stomach twisted horribly at the thought of them and he left it quickly, but once he had thought of them they kept creeping back into his train of thought. He had not thought of them since he had met Jax. Curious, he thought. He had spent rather a long while thinking only of them. Or perhaps he had just spent a lot of time thinking about Wendy. He missed them all so much, but if Jax was right it didn't matter. They would not come back to Neverland. They never would.
There's no 'if', Peter told himself. Jax is always right. She knows everything. They're all… gone. They're never coming back.
But even so, hopeful, unlikely scenarios played themselves out in Peter's head in which Jax taught him how to fly and he returned her to London and Wendy was there waiting for him like she always promised she would and they went away with Tinker Bell who had been hiding somewhere on the island all this time…
Peter fell asleep with his playful dream wandering around in his head. He smiled occasionally in his sleep, but then he would cry for a few seconds. The pattern repeated itself endlessly until he was awakened by the sound of bells.
"Tink!" He exclaimed joyfully, leaping to his feet and hitting his head on a root in the ceiling. His head throbbed, but as he looked around he saw nothing. His smile slipped away and his shoulders slumped and he shook his head, mumbling 'just a dream' to himself as he sank back down into his pillows once more.
Peter sat bolt upright again, positive he had heard it this time. Bells, he was certain of it. "Tink?" He called out softly, almost afraid of the answer. He scrambled over to Tink's old little bedroom, but it was as empty as always. His hope began to fade again until he felt a sharp tug in his hair. He winced and brought a hand up to slap and his hair, but an outburst of bells stopped him just in time.
Carefully probing his untamed hair, he poked around until he found something that moved. His hand jerked back in surprise at first, but then he brought it forward and gently untangled the little struggling thing from his knots. He slowly brought whatever it was down to his viewpoint in his cupped hand, and couldn't believe his eyes.
It was a fairy, just like Jax had promised. It was not Tinker Bell, for this one was a boy. He was gesturing wildly and his wings were fluttering madly and his mouth moved but only bells sounds came out, but try as he might Peter could not understand what they said.
"I can't understand you!" He exclaimed in frustration. "What is it?"
The fairy rolled his little eyes before quickly miming for Peter to follow him. With that, he bolted out of the hideout again, leaving a clueless Peter to stumble along behind. Smee was, thankfully, still on watch, and he was also asleep. Peter raced past him, keeping his eyes locked on the golden orb that raced ahead of him through the air, shooting off down a track that the pirates must have cut down. Already it was slightly overgrown, but they managed. Peter opened his mouth once or twice to tell the fairy to give him the golden dust he needed to fly, but then he would be promptly whacked in the face by a branch and he would be left spitting leaves out for a few minutes as he ran along.
Peter hardly noticed it when the fairy stopped and almost stumbled out of the jungle onto the grey beach, but he was stopped when the fairy grabbed a lock of his hair and yanked back as hard as he could, bringing Peter to attention. Crouching down behind the leaves instinctively, Peter surveyed the scene.
Not that there was too much to survey. The beach was empty. The water grew steadily wilder and the waves washed higher and higher up the beach. The rain and wind that had not been able to reach them through the thick canopy now howled and lashed at Peter's face as he squinted out through the storm, but still he saw nothing.
"You're a real nutjob, you are," He muttered to the fairy, who replied with an offended string of bells. "And I still can't understand you, so you can say whatever you like but it won't hurt me."
The fairy rolled his eyes again before flying out in front of Peter's face and kicking off a game of charades. It took a while for Peter to get it, but eventually by some miracle he caught on: girl, mermaids, water, now.
"Jax?" He demanded in disbelief. "What's she doing in there? I told her it's dangerous…"
The fairy pulled at the roots of his hair in exasperation before waving three fingers behind his head and dancing around in the air, clapping his hand to his mouth silently. "The redskins!" Peter exclaimed, and the fairy clapped sarcastically in reward. Still, Peter was sceptical. "Are you sure she's in there? I can't see anything."
At that moment, as if on cue, there was a splash and a gasp. Peter's head turned and he saw Jax's head and torso bobbing in the furious water. She spluttered helplessly for air and Peter leapt from the jungle, prepared to run into the dangerous waters if only to save her but no sooner had he crossed the jungle boundaries did Jax disappear under the rolling waters again.
She did not come up again.
"I've got to go!" Peter shouted over the roars of the wind, ignoring the fairy's warning bells. Without further ado, he ran out onto the sand and into the icy cold water. The water came up and splashed his legs and arms and torso as he pushed through the savage waves before finally diving under a wave and swimming as hard as he could against the tide.
Curious mermaids dared to swim closer, but he stopped just long enough to show them his dagger before continuing on. They left him alone, but he could sense them following behind. His open eyes stung as he pushed through the salty water, but as limited as the light was down here it was better than total blindness.
Even better, perhaps, was a fairy. There was a quiet plip in front of him as his tiny body punched through the water, but once Peter's bleary eyes had made out who it was he accepted gratefully and they pressed on. Eventually he had to resurface for air, and when he did he could see how far out he had already swum. He hoped he hadn't gone past Jax. She could be dead by now because of his carelessness.
With the light the fairy gave off, though, Jax was pretty hard to miss. Or, at least, the crocodile was, and Peter knew that if the crocodile was in the water Jax would certainly be nearby. He swam up and sucked in a quick breath before pushing himself as hard as he could through the water, dagger held out. The crocodile roared in rage when the dagger pierced its scaly hide, and out of the corner of his eye Peter saw Jax's pale face in the sand, illuminated by the fairy's light.
He spared a moment for relief before getting back to the task at hand, i.e surviving. He lunged again at the furious crocodile and scarred it down the snout. With another roar, it propelled itself towards Peter but was smart enough to know a dagger when it saw it. With a reluctant grumble, it swam off, but Peter could almost imagine it making silent crocodile-oaths to kill both Peter and Jax next time it had the opportunity.
When Peter looked down again, both Jax and the fairy were gone. Panicked, he resurfaced again and hollered out Jax's name before remembering that she was unconscious. Fighting to keep his head above the waves, he looked around wildly, desperately. His face split into a relieved and impressed grin when he saw a black, sopping wet shape drifting through the air a little over his head and the golden globe that guided it. Half-laughing in relief, he swam back to shore. The waves dunked him more than once and he was spluttering by the time he got to shore. Dragging himself up next to Jax, the smile quickly wiped itself off his face.
She was still embraced in a cocoon of golden light from the fairy, but her face was still and her body stiller. Water frothed and bubbled, dribbling out from the corners of her mouth. Peter nervously rolled her onto her side and opened her mouth experimentally and what had to be half the ocean poured out.
"She's not breathing," He murmured to the fairy when he fluttered up next to him. Peter ignored the urgent tugging at his ear in favour of fretting over what he was going to do. "How do we-"
He was interrupted by a low, warning chime. He brushed the fairy away in annoyance and focused entirely on Jax desperately wondering how he was supposed to save her, if at all. His flailing train of thought, however, was interrupted when a flat, cold surface touched his chin and tipped his head up.
Tiger Lily sneered down at him, spear pressed threateningly to his throat. "Gotcha," She snarled triumphantly.
When Jax's eyes flickered open at last, her first assumption was that she had rolled out of her bed and onto the floor, which was strangely crumbly beneath her body. Then she realized she was not breathing and sat up abruptly, coughing and spluttering madly as she tried to remember where she was.
It all came back in a rush: the fairy, the redskins, the mermaids, the crocodile, Peter… Peter! She had to find him before he got worried. She stumbled to her feet but had barely stood when her heavy coat and water-filled boats dragged her back down onto her behind again.
Don't move, a voice said in her head. You need to rest.
"Who said that?" Jax demanded, dragging her sodden dagger from her belt with some difficulty and brandishing it as she looked around wildly for the speaker.
Me.
"Who's me?" Jax said suspiciously, whacking her head experimentally to see if she was just going crazy.
Turn around.
Jax obeyed and slowly swivelled her body until she was facing the sea again. For a moments, all she saw was the stormy sea. Then what looked like a lump of stringy seaweed rose, followed by what could be the ugliest face Jax had ever seen.
Her skin was green and mottled and patches of scales appeared at random. Her eyes were huge and lidless, plastered on either side of her face. Her lips were thick and fleshy and it Jax's life-threatening encounter with the mermaids had taught her anything it was that that mouth was host to an impossible number of teeth. Her hair was thin, light green and wet, framing her wide face. Her ears protruded from beneath her hair but were flattened against the sides of her head. At least, Jax thought they were ears. They looked more like extra fins than anything.
That's really very offensive, the mermaid said to Jax, but her lips never moved aside from a brief smile.
Jax blanched. "You can hear my thoughts?"
The mermaid smiled again, baring her grey gums and sharp teeth. Jax shuddered and her legs and arms tingled. Just as much as you can hear mine.
"Why don't you just talk normally?" Jax wondered.
After the island died, the mermaid explained somewhat sadly. We lost our humanity until the fish part took over almost completely. We've all forgotten how to talk, but when we saw Peter-
"You saw Peter?" Jax repeated excitedly. "When, where was he?"
He saved you, the mermaid replied, sounding startled. He attacked the crocodile and his golden friend made you fly back to shore.
"The fairy," Jax breathed. "He came back!"
Perhaps, the mermaid replied slowly, unsure what this human was talking about. But when he got back to shore he was taken by the redskins.
Jax's face fell. "Oh."
After he left I came ashore to see if you were alright, the mermaid explained. I'm terribly sorry about my sisters and I, we were only acting on instinct…
"It's alright," Jax brushed it off carelessly. "How come I can hear your thoughts anyway?"
My breath became yours.
"Wha-? Oh." Jax's fingers flew to her lips subconsciously, and she heard the mermaid giggle in her head. "Do you know where they took Peter?"
To their camp, I'd say, the mermaid replied, shrugging her long, bony shoulders. She had swum closer now, and Jax could vaguely see the outline of a long, sleek shark tail in the water. There's no way to know if he's dead or not yet.
Jax swallowed. "Let's hope for the best, shall we," She muttered, more to herself than anyone.
The mermaid lifted a hand from the water and extended a long, bony finger out behind Jax's head. She saw that her hands were webbed with thin layers of green, slimy skin. They had no nails. I think someone's here to see you.
Jax whirled excitedly, hoping to see Peter, but instead saw a golden light shooting through the air towards her. The fairy came to an expert halt in front of her and babbled a long, stressed string of bells that Jax could barely understand. "Slow down," She said soothingly. "You're not making any sense."
The fairy took as deep a breath as he could and forced himself to speak slowly. The redskins took your buddy, he explained. And now they're preparing this huge bonfire party thing. They're going to roast him alive!
What did he say? The mermaid asked politely, peering around Jax's shoulder to look at the little fairy.
That's ugly, the fairy said, making a face when he saw the mermaid.
"They're going to roast Peter alive," Jax explained hurriedly. "Do you know how much time we have?"
The fairy shook his head. No way of telling. There aren't any guards but the gates are shut, so the only way you could get in-
"Would be if I was able to fly," Jax finished breathlessly. "You made me fly before, didn't you?"
The fairy made a face. You were asleep. Anyone can fly when they're asleep.
"What, you don't think I'd be able to fly now?" Jax demanded, trying to sound offended.
I can try, the fairy sighed before showering Jax heavily with his magical pixie dust. Her heart thumped with excitement and she conjured up as many happy thoughts as she could, but when she looked down she was still firmly planted to the ground.
It won't work, the fairy explained. Because you think this is a dream.
"Do not!" Jax argued, but she knew it was true. No matter how realistic this all seemed, her brain just couldn't process it all and believe that this was all true. Her shoulders sagged. Peter was going to die, all because of her carelessness.
I know something else that flies, the mermaid piped in politely, obviously catching on that Jax needed to fly but couldn't.
"What is it?" She demanded, whirling around to stare at her fishy face again.
The mermaid turned too, extending a finger out to the horizon where the dark silhouette of the Jolly Roger bobbed in the distance.
"You've got to be kidding," Jax moaned, shoulders sagging with hopelessness. "We'll never get on board that."
Actually, the fairy said slowly. I've got an idea. It just might work…
