A/N: Hello my loves! My wedding was indeed beautiful. So, my plot has unraveled and is ready to be uploaded for you all. This story might get a little longer than planned, but no matter. I hope you all enjoy my new ideas. Definitely not exactly how I planned, but close to. Enjoy and thank you for your patience.

Of Hooks and Pans

Chapter 25: Old Friend

A few measly hours pass. Listening to Kale and Hook interact is more entertaining than expected. I almost forget about the whispering hovering around my ears like a group of mosquitos. Whenever there is complete silence, I begin hearing the voice come to me like a rocket. Before I can understand, someone actually talks and the noise is gone, lingering like an alcoholic buzz. I am failing to keep a completely calm face. Luckily, Hook and Kale are joined by Bax. Their conversation of old times escalates to the point where I feel ignored.

Until Hook comes to me as I lean on the railing, and sweeps me into his embrace.

"If you were here then, you would have had an amazing time." Hook says, as if I followed his body language and inside jokes as a whole story. "So much bloodshed, but it was well-deserved."

"I bet."

"Darling, you are bothered by something. What is it?"

I reply, "This thimble. I was going to take it off, but I like that it represents our triumph. However, I've been hearing strange things all day. Like . . . voices."

Hook stares blankly at me. He says, "Alright, wear it only today and you must take it off. It is a great symbol, but it's clearly shrouded in black magic remnants from Carmen's death. I had that hidden on this ship for a reason. She didn't touch it, did she?"

"No, just me. Why did you hide it, though?"

My question threw Hook off. He stares at the water and then turns his head towards the sky.

"Hello? Major Tom, this is ground control." I wave my hands in the air. "James, why was this thimble hidden."

I glance at the sky, too, wondering why Hook wouldn't speak. Dark clouds started to swarm over the sea, signifying a storm was not far.

"The kiss you wear around your neck was of great importance to Carmen. It is a family heirloom." James focused on me again and smiled. "Nothing more. It was my brilliant idea to hide it from her. She left it behind when we banned her from this ship. We knew she wanted vengeance. By keeping it here, she could aim at us and forget the rest of Neverland. It only took a little while before she became angry enough to harm everything in her path. We at least stalled her this way."

"Now that she's gone," I say, "I can keep it, so long as the weird stuff stops happening."

"Yes. I think because it hasn't seen the light of day for some time, it needs some air. Perhaps the voices in your head are just from all the commotion of war and death. You did kill your mother, Petunia. You can talk about it if need be. Don't be like me and my men and hold in your anguish."

"I'm fine." I lie. "Besides, we should pay attention to this sky right now. It's getting very dark."

"I realize that, my love. Smee!" Hook stands tall and shouts, "prepare the ship for a storm. These clouds are not very friendly."

From atop the crow's nest, Smee yells back, "Got it Cap'n."

I stay where I am and watch Hook and his men scurry around the ship. The thimble around my neck is glowing again. I stand very still and pretend not to notice. I head towards the cabin but stop just under the doorframe. I have about a foot of clearance as rain trickles from above. I stare at the horizon, then the sky. There are a few spots where one can see the once blue day turn navy and gray. Hook passes me and tips his hat. He says he will be with me in a moment and disappears towards the upper deck. I stay under the clearance against the door and study the odd rain patterns; it started as a trickle, picked up, then slowed down again. My skirt began flowing sideways from a wind change. The thimble still glows bright green, but wouldn't Hook have noticed?

"I don't know if this rain will pick up anymore," Kale approaches me. "Captain is helping Bax straighten out our directions. He asked me to make sure you are alright, my lady."

"Yes, I'm great."

"I will go see if he is almost done." Kale walked away.

The rain tapers off and stops completely. I watch as clouds toss lightning back and forth as if they were playing catch. My thimble begins to vibrate, and is still glowing bright green.

You have to choose now, Petunia. Destiny awaits you.

"Ow!" I feel a sharp pain in my heart as though a bee stung it. I run to the upper deck.

"I just can't understand the weather today," Bax says. "Either way, Captain, we shall head towards – Petunia!"

Bax almost lets go of the helm, but Hook runs towards me.

"Holy Hell!" I finally notice what they are shouting about. Something dark is emerging from the thimble. I take it off and throw it on the deck, stepping a good distance away from it. "What the hell? Shit. What is that?"

Before anyone can speak, thunder interrupts trains of thought. More crew run up to see the commotion. The dark matter is almost transparent. It released from the thimble and hovers in its blob-form.

"Black magic, Cap'n?" Smee asks as he descends the crow's nest. "How do we dispose of it?"

"Vacuum the sucker up?" I suggest. No one knows what I mean.

Hook says, "I don't know. Smee, what are your thoughts?"

"Silence," The blob speaks in the same voice I have been hearing all day.

No one moves a muscle.

The blob looks like the terror-powder creature from before, but not quite the same. It forms into many odd shapes before hitting the ground with a bang. From there, it grows up in a spiral, like wisps of black smoke. As James' face starts to clench with concern, it soon drops in shock. The shadowy figure becomes clearer, more detailed. It is a man. No, it is a ghost, a faded memory of a man.

The ghost-man stretches towards the sky. I cautiously walk around him to be near James. I can see this ghost-man's face is child-like. Or at least it is morphing that way.

"Old friend," The ghost-man says. "I didn't think I would ever see you again. Do you not recognize me?" He spins on his heel and suddenly loses thirty years of aging.

Still semi-transparent, the ghost-man-now-boy smiles from ear to ear. His messy hair comes in clearer, more vibrant. It is dirty blond, almost light brown. Next, his face solidifies more and I can see his cheeks are littered with freckles. With hands on his hips and elbows out in a Superman Pose, I nearly faint. I know who this is. This boy . . . This boy with green leaves sewn together to make a shirt and shorts . . . This boy with a carefree gleam in his eyes . . .

"No." Hook shakes his head. "Not possible."

Smee takes his spectacles off and rubs the lenses with his ragged shirt. He puts them back on and exclaims, "Pan."

"That's me, Smee."

"Blimey," Bax says. He is struggling to hold on to the helm. "That's Peter Pan."

"Peter?" Smee speaks again. "Peter Pan? You're a dead man. You're a flippin' long-gone dead man."

"Hahaha. How little you know of games! Adventure, Life, Love, Death." Pan, still somewhat see-through, proclaims. "You have released me at last, Old Man. Or was it this one? This one," He points at me. "This girl is the one to release me. She is not tainted like the rest of those horrible Pan women. Our children, our children's children: they were all horrible people. No, this one is good. She is not yet destroyed by a greedy and black heart. She was the one to set me free and give me back my Neverland."

"What?" I ask. "What the hell is happening? Peter Pan? Seriously, this is mildly creepy and I'm not standing for it. I've had enough with killing and fighting. Now a ghost comes out of a friggin' thimble? How is no one freaked out by this?"

Peter begins to float a few inches from the deck. His smile is replaced by a stern, angry glare. He says, "Do you think it was fun being stuck in that thing? Stupid Wendy thinking she could keep me forever. I loved her, but boy was she wrong. One lovely day along the shore, she decided to tell me she knew how we could still live forever although we were on her world, not here. Who listens to an old gypsy? Wendy, that's who. Greedy to live on forever, to bring pieces of Neverland to her. It is all her fault I got stuck in that thimble. Every woman with our blood has ended up wanting more and more. I am tired of patiently waiting for my freedom. Now, now is the time I get back what's rightfully mine. Wendy stole me from my perfect world."

"Didn't you have a nice life on Earth, though? Why bother being angry?" I asked.

Peter yelled, "Are you listening? She stuck me in that thimble. My soul was transferred to it. I watched as she sobbed and mourned over my empty shell of a body. That stupid gypsy had given her a curse, not a spell. And because of that, I have watched my entire family, decade after decade, ruin everything that Neverland has represented. Petunia, the last of the line. Oh, I have plans for you. Carmen was an easy target. I invaded her dreams, told her everything. Right when she left you, I left her alone. She went mad without my help. And then, I knew it was time to get you."

I threw my hands up in rage, "Good Lord, can we all stop listening to a ghost now? Peter, go away. Pass on. You're a ghost. It's time to let go. Please, save yourself the emberassment and get over yourself. All I hear is blah, blah, blah. No one ever told me how overdramatic my great, great, great grandfather was."

Hook squeezed my arm as if to tell me to shut my mouth.