Chapter 12

Hello guys! Thank you again, you continue to amaze me with such kind reviews. I'm quite excited for you to read this chapter- Peter's starting to act strange/not-as-horrible-as-usual! (Well, to Wendy, anyway.)


I wanna take you somewhere so you know I care
But it's so cold and I don't know where
I brought you daffodils in a pretty string
But they won't flower like they did last spring

-Another Love, Tom Odell.


Peter shouted, wrenching the bow from Benjamin's hands seconds too late, and he had nothing to do but watch with the worst mixture of emotions as the arrow hurtled towards her-

And then Wendy took a step forward. It was a minuscule step, but it was enough. The arrow buried itself into the wood of a tree trunk just to her left by the smallest of margins. Startled, Wendy looked up, whirling around and quickly taking note of the arrow- and of Peter, who now stood holding the bow. She shook her head at him.

"Nice try," she mouthed across the distance. Realising that she must think he had fired the arrow at her in attempt to frighten her, Peter hesitated, suddenly overcome with the rather unreasonable urge to reassure her that it wasn't him- that he had tried to save her. But Rufio laid a hand on her shoulder and she walked away, helping the others to carry the deer's corpse away, and Peter made no move to follow her. He was good at prioritizing, and there was something that he needed to do, quite urgently, that surpassed any desire to talk to Wendy.

Deliberately turning to face Benjamin, Peter held the bow out horizontally in front of him. Then he barreled his knee forward, splitting the curve of the bow in two. Benjamin flinched at the sound, suddenly very alert and wide-eyed.

"Pan?" He said, and Felix frowned, taking half a step forward, almost as if he meant to defend Benjamin- but with one look from Peter, he stayed rooted to the spot.

"What," he said calmly, "was that, Benjamin?"

"I…" Benjamin was quite speechless. "Erm… I thought ye'd be happy. Ye keep telling me not to talk to 'er. That she's just a silly girl. I thought ye'd think it funny."

"You thought I would think it funny," Peter repeated plainly. Benjamin stepped backwards, his hands up in surrender.

"Look, I'm sorry, aight?" he said. He looked at Felix for support, but he got none. "I won't do it again."

"Won't do it again?" Peter said, voice rising. "If you weren't a terrible shot you would have killed her just now."

"I didn't want to kill 'er!" Benjamin said hotly. "I told ya before, didn't I? I think she's a pretty girl. And she's nice to me. But ye won't let me talk to her. You always talk about her like she's so much rubbish. I thought, why not?"

"Why not?" Peter repeated again, absolutely venomous. Then Benjamin did something that would have been brave, were it not so foolish.

"Yeah, 'why not'," he said, rounding on Peter. "Are ye actually going to answer? Because I'd like to know. You act like you hate her- you say that we can do anything here, us Lost Boys. You said yourself you might try shootin' him," he gestured at Felix, "so what's the bloody difference? Why do you care so much about her?"

"I don't," Peter tightened his jaw. His hands were shaking, quietly controlled rage curling them into fists. "And I don't have to answer to you. I don't answer to anyone."

"Because you're Peter Pan?" Benjamin was unimpressed. "I knew ya from my dreams. I knew ya to be more fun than this."

"Oh, I'm plenty fun," Peter chuckled. "Wouldn't you agree, Felix?"

"Indeed," Felix said on cue, eyes flickering between Benjamin and Peter.

"You see, my Lost Boys and I do have rather a lot of fun here. Your problem, Benjamin, is that you are not a Lost Boy." He snarled. "And you won't be one. Not ever."


Benjamin cried out, but the Shadow was there, at Pan's demand, before he could say another word. It was grabbing at him, catching his arm in its mist, dragging him upwards.

"Hey! No, don't do this!" he shouted as he rose higher, kicking his legs about in the air as though the Shadow was a creature that could be swayed off balance. "I don't want to go home! I don't want to grow up! Peter!"

"Pan," Felix said, eyes wide as he watched from afar. Lost Boys had been dismissed before. Exiled to remote corners of the island. Delivered like trash to the deck of the Jolly Roger. But Peter Pan was not one to return children to the real world- to grow up. Not when they so desperately did not want to. But one look at Peter's face told Felix enough to silence him. The resolve in his eyes- the bitter happiness at hearing the boy's pleas and ignoring them entirely- it was something that could not be reasoned with.

"It's Pan to you, Benjamin," Peter muttered under his breathe, and he raised a single hand in the air, a harsh wave that the boy, as he flew away, could not have missed. The raw cry that left the floating Benjamin's lips then made even Felix look at his feet wishing that ears could close as eyes could.

Peter, of course, kept both his eyes and ears wide open, a twisted smile affirming that he heard every last cry for help, drinking it all in, thriving off it the way that parents thrived off their children's laughter.

It was not a pleasant sight to behold: the screaming boy, the steel-handed Shadow taking him away; the loyal one standing with his hood up and his head down, and the leader, waving and smiling like a proper King. It was probably for the best that there was only one soul on Neverland who beheld it at all: a fairy in green hidden in the treetops, looking down and wondering whether this act made Peter Pan more of a monster than ever before- or more of a human.


Rufio was chasing Tootles around with a handful of deer guts when Peter and Felix returned from the forest. The rest of the boys were crowded around, shouting out support to either one of them. Some held various organs of their own, awaiting an opportunity to strike. Their usual charming behaviour.

"Peter! Peter, he's chasing me!" Tootles called out. Peter grinned at that, giving Rufio an encouraging wink before he spun on his heel, scanning near the fire, the carcus, the trees-

"Wendy's over there," Felix murmured to him. Peter glanced at him, surprised that he even knew who he was searching for, but sure enough, he followed the direction of Felix's gesture straight to her. She was watching the chase from something of a distance, washing her own hands clean of blood in a bucket with a small smile on her face.

"Don't like to get your hands dirty?" Peter suggested as he approached her. She looked up, not at all startled by his sudden appearance. It seemed she had come to expect it now.

"Who do you think started the food fight?" she retaliated somewhat smugly. "I'm bored of it now, and I thought I'd leave the rest of them to it." She rose to her feet, shaking her hands free of water. "I suppose I'll see you later."

"And where exactly are you going?" he asked.

"You know, I don't see how it's your business," she said sweetly. He scoffed, but, instead of standing in her way, he began to walk beside her.

"It's my business because I'm coming with you," he said. "I don't much fancy a food fight either. Besides, it's not wise for you to be wandering around the island on your own."

"Translation: if I see something scary on the island, you want to be around to witness my state of terror," she raised her eyebrows at him, daring him to contradict her. When he said nothing, she just sighed, glancing to his right. "And Felix too, I see. Fantastic. I get the two of you for company. Lucky me."

Peter glanced across at the Lost Boy, not having really taken note of his continuing presence until Wendy mentioned it. "You needn't accompany us, Felix," he said. "Go, join the others."

"That's quite alright," Felix said blandly. "I don't want to get blood on my clothes."

"We all know how important fashion is to you," Wendy teased.

Felix just huffed under his breath. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"I expect you'll both know it when you see it." She picked up the pace, half-running between the vines and trees that paved the way ahead. "Come on!"

Felix shot Peter a weary look, but Peter was not there to meet it. Looking after Wendy with an entertained look about him, he began to run after her. Felix sighed, grumbling to himself as he followed suit.


Running, it only took them a short time to reach it. At the mouth of a deep cave by the ocean's side, Wendy stopped, grinning in satisfaction at the sight of it as she turned to the two boys just behind her.

"Here it is," she said breathlessly, still smiling. Peter straightened up, taking in their location, and he raised his eyebrows at her.

"When did you come here?"

"When I was exploring," she said easily, refraining from mentioning that Tinkerbelle had been exploring with her at the time. She slipped off her boots and dropped the pair of them carelessly on the ground. "Let's go."

Wendy turned around, starting to clamber to the mouth of the cave. It was dark at the entrance- so very dark- but she climbed further in eagerly, knowing what lay ahead. Knowing how perfectly beautiful it was. Peter was at her side now- Felix trailing a little behind them as he slipped over rocks, scowling at Wendy's back as he did. The ocean splashing on stones made it all quite slippery, harsh on bare feet. Wendy's own feet were bleeding too, shards of rock scraping her skin as she jumped from one to another blindly in the dark. She didn't care for the pain, but nor did she mind it.

"You saw a dark cave and you thought you'd like to wander around inside it?" Peter said.

"Naturally," was her reply. She looked at the roof of the cave- high above them, not far from where they now climbed. The stone roof was glowing- patterns of gold, blue and green tracing the ceiling, casting the most appealing of patterns all around them. Her smile grew impossibly wide. "Here." She stepped over the last slippery stone, and there it was, hidden away like the best kept secret in the world.

It was a cove, of sorts- deep in the cave, water from the ocean had pooled up, forming a kind of lake as clear as the sky in the day and surrounded by great structures of dry stone. In the water itself, at the very bottom of the pool, was the most magical part of all, for lining the base of it were scores and scores of coins- of jewels, necklaces, rings, vintage laces, old parchment and polished stones- every treasure you could imagine. It reflected everywhere, over the surfaces of the rocks surrounding it, on the cave's ceiling- lighting it up like a thousand stars all in different colours, twinkling just like the night's sky did. It was the most beautiful piece of Neverland that Wendy had ever seen. She had hardly believed her eyes when she had first saw it with Tinkerbelle, and she could hardly believe it now.

Peter caught up behind her, taking in the sight as well. Even Felix caught his breathe at the sight of it.

"What is this place?" Felix said.

"You haven't been here?" Wendy said, surprised. "It's beautiful."

"Of course it's beautiful," Peter said, staring at the roof of the cave at the golden patterns that moved with the water. "It's called the Treasure Cave."

A fitting name. Of course, Wendy did not know the story of it- how it had come to be. Peter thought it best not to tell it. Let her imagine that the cave had been born like this- shining and bright and wonderful, a secret of the island made for her to find. Let her imagine that it was magic. It would do her no good to know that this was pirate's treasure- stolen from Captain Hook a very long time ago and dumped in the depths of this cave, where he could never find it. It was a victory site, rich with spoils. But that was not to say that it could not also be breath-taking.


He glanced back down from the ceiling at the sound of a disturbance in the water. Sure enough, the surface of it was rippling, making way for Wendy as she slid into the pool.

"Are you just going to stand there?" she asked, a challenge in her tone, splashing water up at him before darting under it completely, submerging her entire body in the cool sea water. Even with her eyes closed under the water, she could feel the light reflected across her.

Half shaking his head in exasperation, Peter jumped down to the lower rocks, stepping into the water after her. It was deep, but not so deep that he could not touch the floor of it with his feet. Wendy was still under the water, eyes closed, jewels casting lines of light and unusual shapes over her- circles, hearts, squiggles and boxes- like her body was their empty canvas to paint on. The water turned scarlet where her bleeding feet passed through. Eyes softening, Peter made his way towards her, leaving a trail behind him as he came to face her when she emerged from the water, her hair soaking wet, water dribbling down her cheeks like tears. She blinked, registering his presence, and smiled.

"Hello," she said quietly.

"Hello yourself." He didn't think he had seen her like this before. Happy. Vulnerable- but not in such a way that she seemed weak. "You didn't tell me that you'd come here. I could have shown it to you."

"Well, you didn't tell me that your island had a pool of jewelry," she smirked.

"Treasure," he corrected her.

"Otherwise known as jewelry," she laughed. He snorted, shaking his head.

"Why do you always have to be so stubborn?"

"You like it." It was a statement, not a question. He paused for a moment, not knowing quite what to say to that. However, it didn't seem as though Wendy was awaiting a response. Very suddenly, he felt both her hands on his shoulders, pushing down, and in his surprise, he fell off balance, head falling under the water. He took his time resurfacing, listening to the strange sound of her laughter underwater for a while. When he burst through the surface of the lake, fixing her with an appalled scowl, Wendy was laughing still- but now she held something in her hands. A smooth black stone, tied to leather cord.

"Surprise," she said. She held it out to him, grinning.

"What's this?"

"Jewelry," she said. "For you." Her tone was patronising- but not quite patronising enough.

"A kiss," he said, and she just looked at him for a moment- first puzzled, and then pleasantly surprised.

An acorn, small and new, in the palm of her hand.

A kiss. At least, that is what she had told him it was called-

The memory came back to her in a hazy rush, making her cheeks flush. She was glad for the relative darkness in the cave.

"A kiss," she agreed, and he caught her eye, a small smile tugging at his lips as he took it from her- and then a loud splash made them both look away. Felix cursed, growling something about having water in his nose, and he dragged his weight through the water to reach them. Wendy started; if she was being entirely honest, she had almost forgotten that Felix was there at all. Her cheeks had been flushed before- now, they were flaming.


"Jewelry or not, this is all most unpleasant to walk on," Felix said.

"Cry me a river," Wendy said. "You didn't have to come, you know. Either of you."

"Please," Felix said darkly. "After running around after that boy all day, even walking on rocks sounds fun."

At mention of Benjamin, Wendy frowned, that smile that had been carved into her face since they reached the cave vanishing for a moment.

"Benjamin," she said, "where is he? He didn't come back with you."

"Benjamin will not be bothering any of us again," Peter said smoothly. "That's all you need concern yourself with."

"What?" Wendy said sharply. "What does that mean?"

When Peter didn't seem inclined to answer, she turned to Felix.

"The boy is gone," was all he said, but it was enough. Knowing fully well that Felix had had nothing to do with it really, she glared at Peter.

"What did you do? Scratch that, what did he do? He only wanted to be a Lost Boy, for god's sake!"

"He wasn't fit to be one of us," he said, angry at her for questioning him- and angry at Felix for mentioning Benjamin. "I suppose it's too much to ask you to leave well enough alone?"

"Far too much, I'm afraid," Wendy said. "What, is he- is he dead?"

"Why do you care?" he hissed. "He was an oaf."

"Sure he was!" she cried. "But that doesn't mean he deserved to die, Pan!"

"Don't call me that." His eyes flashed.

"Why not?" Frustrated, Wendy slammed her fist in the water, splashing his face. "And why don't you kill me then? It seems that's what you do when you dislike something someone does."

"I didn't kill him," Peter blurted out, catching her fists, willing her to listen to him.

"What did you say?" she said, eyes narrowed.

"I didn't kill Benjamin, Wendy."

Wendy hesitated, almost convinced, he had sounded so genuine. She glanced back at Felix for confirmation. Almost as though he wished it wasn't the case, Felix nodded.

"Benjamin is alive and well," he said. "Back at his home in your world."

Wendy let out a sigh of relief, unaware that she had been holding her breath. Her heart was racing, and she gazed down at the floor of old coins and pearl bracelets, not wanting to look at Felix or Peter.

"Oh."

Peter let go of her hands then, instead leaning in to brush a persistent drop of water from her cheek.

"You're still angry," he said calmly. "You think he should have stayed."

"I want to know what he did," she said. "Because as far as I can tell, you banished him for being a clumsy fool."

"Is there any better reason?" Peter said. Felix was staring at him; fixing him with a hardened look. Peter just shot him a look of his own, warning him not to tell Wendy anything else. He'd done enough damage.

"For you?" she said bitterly. "I think not."

"How scornful of you," Peter said. "Here." His hands were on her arms, and the water around them made it almost effortless to spin her so that she faced away from him.

"What?" she said, irritated. Of course she was irritated, he thought. Whenever was she not?

"Just close your eyes," he said gently. Slowly, he let his hands slide down her arms, into the water. He sunk to his knees then, squinting through the clear liquid, searching. He knew exactly what he was looking for.


Wendy didn't. She stood still, uncertain whether of or not to bolt- unsure of what on earth Peter was doing. She glanced across at Felix, but he had his back turned to the two of them and was examining piles of gold gathered on the rocks around them. Soon enough, she heard Peter stand up again behind her- felt his hand brush her hair over her shoulder so that it hung across her chest rather than her back, and she shivered compulsively at the warmth of his fingertips. She could almost feel his smirk.

"Can I open my eyes yet?" she asked, although she hadn't really kept them closed the whole time anyway.

"If you like," his voice was rough. Wendy blinked, taking in the bright colours reflected on the wall of stone before her. The stone was so wet that she could almost see her own reflection in it as well- and Peter's, behind her. She watched the wall, fascinated as she saw in it Peter lifting his hands around her, holding something in his hands. Glancing at her neck, she took in the thin silver chain of a necklace being slipped around her. Confounded, she turned around to face him, a questioning look on her face.

"What are you doing?" She was too stunned to take a commanding tone. She was standing very close to him, she realised. Sure, the pool wasn't the biggest body of water she'd ever seen- but it was big enough that it definitely wasn't necessary for her to be able to feel the heat of his skin; for her toes to touch his under the water as they stood. His eyelashes were very long, stuck together in the water, and his hands were still at the clasp of the necklace at the back of her neck.

"I'm not finished," he said, more softly than Peter Pan would normally say anything. More softly than Wendy knew what to do with. She heard a click, and he drew his hands back, satisfied. "There."

She glanced down at her chest, mouth half-open as she regarded the stone that sat there, hanging off the centre of the chain. It was blue- so many different colours of blue, all chasing each other around in circles to make a pattern- white at the top, almost green in the centre, and the darkest of blues at the bottom- the ocean and the sky condensed into a spherical crystal the size of an arrow head. "It's…"

"Beautiful? How original of you to say so," Peter's voice was snarky- but there was something about his eyes that wasn't. Green and blue and dark and light. For a moment, however short, Wendy didn't know whether it was his eyes or her crystal that she wanted to get lost in. "I thought I ought to give you a kiss back." At that, she peered down at his own chest. He still wore his usual green tunic- although, wet it looked more dark brown than anything. And, while the stone pendant wasn't visible under it, she didn't miss the leather cord of her own kiss hanging around his neck.

How bizarre, she thought. How really, truly astounding this all was. Unless, of course, the necklace was poisoned in some way. That had to be it. There had to be some explanation. And then it was obvious to her.

"You're trying to distract me," she accused him. "Tell me about Benjamin. Tell me what he did."

Peter sighed, looking away from her at once. When he spoke again, his voice was not nearly as gentle as it had been.

"So stubborn, as always." He groaned. "Why do you have to make everything so difficult?"

" 'Everything' meaning 'the bet'?" she suggested. "Am I making our game too difficult for you, Peter?"

"No game is too difficult for me." He lifted one hand up, lightly tracing over the crystal with his smallest finger. "Do..." he swallowed, and if Wendy didn't know better, she might have said that he looked nervous. "Do you like it?" He had avoided her eyes when he asked, but as soon as the words left his mouth, his gaze was on her, studying her reaction.

Bizarre. It really was. So bizarre that she had no idea what to say.

"You're asking me for my opinion on a necklace?"

"It seems I am, Wendy. Will you hurry up and give it?" He persisted.

"I…" suddenly feeling profoundly exposed, she glimpsed at Felix, building a miniature tower of gold. He didn't seem to be paying any attention to the pair of them. "It's pretty," she wound up saying; because, in all honesty, it was. But she would say nothing else, despite the sudden list of adjectives and emotions that instantly came to mind.

"I believe it's called an agate," Peter said, eyes never leaving her. "The crystal, that is."

"Well, if we ever have a Neverland-Useless-Trivia-Night, I want in on your team," she said uncomfortably. It was this cave, she decided. Making everything bright; numbing her skin in the cold; making everything in here look beautiful, even him. Making her feel ever so odd.

She needed to get out.

"I don't mean to interrupt," came Felix's surprisingly welcome drawl. "But if we don't get back to camp soon, there won't be any of that deer left."

"Not the deer! I helped find that thing," Wendy said with gusto, wading through the water and pulling herself onto a rock as quickly as she could. She didn't look at Peter as he waited until both she and Felix had already started making their way towards the Cave's exit before he followed.

Apart from the occasional curse in pain over slipping on sharp rocks, the three of them left Treasure Cave in silence.


Soo, what did you think of this chapter/the change in Peter's behaviour? As I said, I'm pretty eager to hear what you think of this one, so please do review! :)