Author's Note: Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, super-duper, double-wouble sorry for the enormously late update! And on such a major cliff-hanger too! :O I honestly did not expect the amount of workload I got from 3 AP classes would be that big and cause me to be near all-nighters on some nights trying to get it done in time... Plus, this chapter was so long, it had to be split into two parts, which I really didn't want to do but it had to be done and I am still working on the second part, but hopefully that wouldn't take a near entire month to update like this one has! :O I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry! :O But, anyways, here's a nice long chapter for ya and I'll included the disclaimer at the end of the chapter so I don't spoil anything right now, 'cause you waited long enough to find out who the boy was, so; here he is! Enjoy! (Oh, and I apologize for any grammar/spelling oppsies... I normally proofread quickly before I upload but I wanted to get this up because of the need to split the chapter in two, so yeah. Be prepared for that.)
Starting Over
37-Never Say Never in Neverland (Part I)
"It's time," he said, the voice of a young boy filled with the sincerity only a child could produce.
"T—time?" you stuttered, standing up from your position beside Jack to face the boy entirely. "For what?"
"To leave," he replied, holding a hand out for you to hold while floating a few inches off the ground. "Your body is about to go through some very drastic changes and Manny has told me specifically himself that you must not be near it when the change occurs."
You cocked a transparent eyebrow, tentatively taking the boy's hand. "Alright. What's the destination?"
"NeverLand," the boy responded with a smirk, a small fairy suddenly peeking out from behind his shoulder.
NeverLand? you thought, shocked. "You mean, you mean you're Pe—Peter Pan?"
"The one and only!" Peter replied, the tone of his cheery voice sounding oddly similar to Jack's.
You almost let go of his hand when he confirmed his identity. "Why? Why… So you are really real?"
Peter laughed heartily, floating so high he almost hit his head on the doorframe. "Of course I'm real! I even took Harry Potter on a visit to NeverLand before! For completely different reasons however, but still."
You screeched in excitement. "Harry Potter is real too?"
Peter rolled his eyes, still laughing. "No, duh! Just because a grown-up writes about someone's life in a 'fantasy' book doesn't mean we aren't real! Look at Jack Frost over there! He was actually my first mission for bringing people to NeverLand after they die to be reborn."
"H-he was?" you stuttered, not knowing why you were stuttering.
Oh wait, you're a ghost about to have your dream of flying to NeverLand with Peter come true, that's why.
Peter nodded, flying and dragging you along to a window just beyond the bathroom door. "And you're my second."
"I am?"
"Yeah, there aren't many people who Manny wants to be immortal for a special deed who end up dying. In fact, you weren't supposed to die. Manny had not seen your death coming any time soon and besides, he had to make a mistake some time soon! He doesn't exactly have a record of making fatal mistakes." Peter had not lost his cheery smile throughtout his explanation and he waved to the tiny fairy to come forward. "This is Tink. She's my fairy, or at least; that's what she says."
You held your hand out to Tink, not sure what you were supposed to do. She flew up to you and bit your nose in some sort of a warning. Peter scolded her, grabbing her wings and pulling her back.
He had no need to do that though, because you hadn't felt any pain from her bite to begin with.
"Sorry 'bout that, she tends to get jealous when I bring girls over. It was the worse with Wendy. She was friendlier with Ariel, for a reason I don't know of. Girls are complicated."
You frowned at that and crossed your arms. "Girls ain't that complicated."
Peter shrugged, letting go of Tink's wings and taking your hand again. "Anyways, we've got to go before Jack sees me."
He jumped out of the open window, quickly shutting it behind him—through you in the process.
The shock of the window being shut on you was somehow even more intense than when the table ended up in the middle of you.
Guess you wouldn't be getting used to that anytime soon.
"Why can't Jack see you?" you asked, flying past Mars and slowly going in the direction you thought could have been up but was hard to tell because space had no direction.
"He doesn't remember me and probably shouldn't remember me," Peter responded, taking on some speed. "He only knows me for what I am, which is the boy who'll never grow up and loves to pull pranks on Captain Hook. Speaking of which, I have an idea we can put in action once we get there."
You couldn't help but feel a bit excited. You were actually going to NeverLand! "Oo! What is it?"
"You'll see," he said with a coy smirk, gripping your hand tighter. That's when you noticed that Peter was actually able to grip your hand, while Jack was not. "Now hold on tight."
"Second star to the right, straight on 'till morning!" you shouted with excitement, soon disregarding the strange conclusion of how a solid being like Peter can hold on to a nearly non-existent being like you so tightly.
He laughed in agreement, picking up so much speed that the stars and planets around you began to look like thin, colorful lines drawn against a charcoal black background. You screamed involuntarily with the thrill and speed of it, and way too soon it was over; and you were glad you couldn't feel that much sensation because otherwise you would've puked up whatever you recently ate after going from the speed of light to the pace of a snail in a millisecond.
"Welcome to NeverLand," he stated, flying up to a high-elevated cloud and sitting on it.
Apparently clouds in NeverLand are solid and able to be sat upon unlike the clouds back on Earth. You sat down beside him, and you noticed that you were no longer transparent.
"Any being becomes something like a human on NeverLand," Peter explained, like he read your mind. "Since you were a ghost, the sky here turns your ectoplasm on full power. Your trip here ends when you use up all of it."
You nodded with a slight "Oh" escaping your lips. Interesting. You looked down at the island below, admiring the lush green beauty of it and the sparkling blue ocean water below.
And considering before you thought all of this a land from a fairytale book.
You noticed a large ship anchored in the middle of a bay near the island, and with an excited cry, "Is that the Jolly Roger? With Hook, Smee, and everything?"
Peter laughed, taking your hand and leading you down a few clouds lower. "Yep. The evil, grown-up bastard of a pirate Captain James Hook is on that very ship. Ready for an adventure, (F/N)?"
You laughed and nodded, not caring that he somehow knew your name without asking you for it.
"Okay, here's that idea I just had a few moments ago that I haven't forgotten yet. You are going to fly down to the ship and haunt them. You can lower your ectoplasm a bit if you like to make it seem more awesome."
"How do I do that?"
"I don't know, I never was a ghost," he replied, not helping a tiny bit. You rolled your eyes and sighed, thinking about being invisible just for a random thought.
Peter gasped, then fell into an obnoxious fit of laughter. "There! Just like that!"
"Just like what?" you say, looking down at your feet.
Well, if you had feet.
Oh.
"Just, um, higher it up a bit, Hook can't really imagine you being there because he's a grown-up."
So you decided to think about being transparent and you watched your feet come back, even though you could see the cloud beneath them. You laughed, amazed at what you could do.
"So, what are you waiting for?" Peter asked impatiently, pushing you off the cloud which didn't do much since you could float anyways without pixie dust or happy thoughts. "There's a ship to haunt!"
You giggled, unnaturally happy for being half-dead. You went along with his plan and floated down to the ship right next to a pirate who was so tattooed you couldn't see the skin underneath.
"Boo," you whispered in his ears, a small smirk on your face. The pirate turned around slowly, gun in hand and ready to fire. When he saw you he screamed and jumped overboard, creating a huge splash that aroused the ship's attention. You laughed obnoxiously, floating around hauntingly (for lack of a better word) and teasing the other pirates.
"I'm gonna get your body!" you taunted, quickly flying up to one of the extremely terrfied pirates and pretending to reach for him. He screamed and fired his gun, killing one of his shipmates with his whizzing bullet. You laughed between the scary hums and oo's you made as you danced up around the main mast into the Crow's Nest.
"I neeeeeeddddd a booodyyyyy to liiiiiiiivvvvvveeeee innnnnnn," you stretched scarily, remembering Halloween a few years ago when you put a sheet over your head and said that to your best friend. She just laughed and soon did the same to you, rampaging around your house trying to get the other; while knocking several things to the floor with the sheets along the way.
"WHAT IN BLAZIN' HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" a loud, booming voice echoed through the island, causing you to stand stock still and go invisible. You floated down carefully so you could see who made the yell, and almost flew back up in fright.
It was Captain James Hook, alive and in person before you; blue eyes blazing and dangerous, hook glinting with a killing sparkle in the sun.
You could've died again right there.
You never realized how scary he could actually be.
Disney really does soften things up, doesn't it?
"I WAS TRYIN' TO SLEEP!" he continued to shout, black boots clicking against the wooden shipboard; a normally quiet sound turned too many decibels high as the tension rose. "Now, would someone kindly explain to me, why… you were screaming and running around the ship like a cast of bloomin' idiots?" Hook said that so slowly, so dramatically; that even a grown man would've fell to his knees and weeped before him.
"Starkey, perhaps?" he asked the most noteably well-dressed pirate, who took his sixteenth century hat off before him.
"It—it was a ghost, capt'n," Starkey sputtered out, closing his eyes in fear of a hook slicing through his belly.
"Hm? A ghost, you say?" Hook whispered tauntingly, waving his hook up to his face and curling his moustache dramatically. "Jukes? Is this… true?"
Bill Jukes nods his head fervently, actually falling onto his bended knees before the Captain.
"She was transparent and laughing and everyth'n, capt'n!" a random pirate spoke up, who ended up mercilessly shot by Hook's gun.
You honestly felt bad for the poor guy.
"She, you say? Was it Wendy, perhaps? Or even… Jane?" Hook continued, the pirates shaking more and more in fear as he paced back and forth.
"No, capt'n," Starkey added, hat still off his head and in his hands. "She… she had pants on, sir."
"Pants? On a girl?" Hook guffawed loudly, wiping a fake tear from his cheek in his laughter. "You guys got to be bluffin', no lady ever wears pants!" His obnoxious fit of fake laughter caused the pirates around him (those that were still alive) to join him in nervous fits of giggles.
Okay, that angered you a bit. Sexist much, Hook?
"Well, where I come from; ladies do wear pants," you spoke up, advising yourself to remain invisible. The look on Hook's face had you trying your best not to giggle as to not give yourself away. "They wear sneakers and sweatshirts and baseball caps and everything a boy can dutifully wear," you continued, finally giving in to your giggles for a quick second as the pirates trembled and ducked, Hook not too far off from doing what they were doing.
You had spoken too soon, however; since Hook began to form that sly smirk you recognized from the movies and knew that he was on to something.
"So, girl, what else do ladies do where you come from?" he said, stressing the word "girl".
Oh gosh, you knew where he was heading with this after watching those movies so many times.
Captain James Hook actually thought you were Peter Pan playing a prank on him.
Ha!
So, like Peter would've done; you went along with Hook's almost so clever plan. "Well, some of them like to play sports, a few of them becoming extreme muscle-builders and beating the boys on their team. Others can still be the traditional lady, with the exception of not wearing fancy dresses everyday. They would prefer to have mini-skirts or even leggins on."
"Leggins? What are those?" Hook inquired, looking up to the skies; searching for the laughing Peter who you prayed didn't get caught watching the game unfolding before him from the cloud several miles up.
"Well, they're like the tights you wear, except with a hole for the feet to go through; that way your feet would still be bare," you explained, laughing in your head about what you were going to tell him next.
"Now, why would they want that?" Hook asked, actually impressed with this information, if not also curious; for he had not heard of such things before.
"Fashion statement," you responded, still invisble to the pirate's eye. With a large laugh, you added, "My, ain't you dressed like the most beautiful lady in town today; Hook!"
Hook's cheeks went red, though he had no idea why. He almost exploded with anger, in reality. "SHOW YERSELF PAN!" he screamed, firing his gun into the sky.
"It isn't him, Captain," you added with a devious smirk. "It's the lil' ghostie girl that you brutally laughed at, sir."
"STOP YER GAME THIS INSTANT PAN OR I'LL SHOOT RIGHT THROUGH YOUR GIDDY HEART!" he continued to scream, not noticing the fact that if it was Peter his voice wouldn't have been sounding as close to him as your voice did.
"Shoot through me, Captain, and you'll end up shooting your best mate," you said, and slowly you began to materialize; going through the stages from sparkled dots, transparent human, to full turn-on ectoplasm.
Hook dropped his gun at the sight of you suddenly before you, the same smirk Jack and Peter always wore after a prank on your own face. "Evenin', Captain," you curtsied, pretending you had on a skirt. "Glad to meet thy acquaintance."
The deathly silence that followed left such on eerie tension in the air that it even surpassed the moment when Hook walked out of his quarters.
That silence was broken by the familiar crow of a victorious boy, who had landed on the lowest bar of the main mast and gave his most devious smirk to the captain. "Looking for me, Captain?" Peter teased, flying off the mast and landing gracefully behind you; placing a hand on your shoulder.
Hook could have fainted right on the spot if he wasn't the tough, courageous pirate everyone thought him to be. "H-how?" he finally stuttered out, truly stumped by the situation before him.
"Only something the Man in Moon can explain to you, dear friend," Peter replied with another smirk, floating a few inches off the ship deck.
"Oh, stop it with yer foolish fairytales, Pan!" Hook shouted, pulling out another gun and shooting it at Peter.
Though precise as Hook's aim may be, Peter was more amble and quick to flight than him.
By the time the bullet left the gun Peter was up in the air behind Hook, and the bullet went through you as if you weren't there at all.
Of course, you still placed a hand over its "entrance point" as if it did go through you; but that was just leftover human instinct.
"What'cha tryin' to do, Captain?" Peter asked, faking hurt. "Murder her?" Hook swirled around with his finger on the trigger and gun ready to fire, but Peter was already back by your side. "You can't possibly be thinking about murdering an innocent little lady, now; would you, Captain?"
"If it involves getting you, then yes!" Hook roared, trading his gun for his favorite sword. "It may be bad form, but the end justifies the means, my friend!"
Oh, the guy knows his history well; now, doesn't he?
"That was in Machiavelli's time, Hook," you added, having no weapon to pull out at that would've been awesome moment to do so. "It's the twenty-first century, now; Hook. I'm afraid you are bit behind the times."
Hook paled when you spoke again, still not used to someone who looked to be solid appear out of nowhere and have a bullet fly through them harmlessly.
"Well, I think I have had my fill, (F/N)," Peter said to you, putting the dagger he had pulled out just moments ago back in its sheath. "Let's go pull some pranks on someone more fun."
You smirked with him, floating up to meet his height. "That sounds like an excellent idea, Peter."
"Coward!" Hook shouted, pointing his sword threateningly at Peter flying just out of Hook's range. "Coward! Come down here and fight like a man!"
Peter stuck his tongue out playfully at the captain. "I am not a man, Hook. I will forever be a boy and have fun. But do not fear, Hook; for I will be back. We just happen to be on a timed visit, someone's ectoplasm is running out and there is still so much adventure to be had."
If possible, Hook paled even more, white knuckles gripping onto the edge of the ship's port side. "Is this… is she… one of them?" he whispered, sword clanging against the wooden ship deck. "Like the Overland boy?"
You looked at Peter expectedly, wanting to know more about Jack's visit here now.
"That's up to you to decide, Hook. Only grown-ups worry about such things like this."
"When the lights, are on a blink, you better think, of worrying. What's the use of worrying?" you sang without a conscious thought.
You mentally smacked yourself as both Peter and Hook gave you a strange look. Not the time for Paul McCartney right now, (F/N), you scolded yourself.
"It's a, it's a song," you said aloud, gripping onto Peter's hand subconsciously.
Hm, Peter's hand felt a lot like Jack's for some reason.
"Um, let's go now, Peter," you continued, floating higher. "I've had enough fun in this location."
Peter, albeit reluctantly, obeyed; and flew away from the ship with you in tow; not giving a second thought to the stunned pirate captain left on the ship.
"So, where to next?" you asked Peter, not sounding as tired as you should've been for all the adventures you had in NeverLand already.
It was nightfall, and you were floating around the main island with Peter; already having visited the Red-Man Tribe and the mermaids at Mermaid Cove (you actually got to meet Ariel!), along with flying through rainbows and waterfalls and other adventure stuff on the island.
"We meet the Lost Boys," Peter said simply, starting to fly faster and fancier in one direction.
You kept up with him, noticing how you appeared to be slightly less solid and slightly more transparent than normal; and you had your ectoplasm on full power. "Really? As in the Lost Boys Nibs, and Slightly, and Cubby?"
"Curly," Peter corrected, taking your hand and positioning you above a hollow tree. "That one movie is slightly wrong."
"Oh," you replied before screaming as Peter let you go, falling down, down, down into the unknown.
Well, actually just the inside of Hangman's Tree, but at that moment it felt like the unknown.
You fall into an open room, never really hitting the floor since you just floated back up anyways. Hammocks stood up one on top of the other against one side of the wall, a cut down tree stump made to look like a table sat in the middle of the room, and if you turned the corner, you would find the entrance to Peter's own room. You were amazed both by the simplicity of it and how it felt like a real home even though children took care of it.
"Wow," you whispered before a group of boys toppled themselves on top of you.
"Mother!" they shouted simultaneously, each of them wearing a variety of animal skins and leaves.
A loud crow echoed through the tree home, the boys stopping their rough-housing to listen to their leader as he flew into the room. "Now, now, boys," Peter said with discipline. "Is that how you treat a lady?"
"No, Peter," they all said at once, still sitting on your lap.
"That means you must get off her, give her some breathing room," he continued, a playful smirk etched on his face.
"Yes, Peter," they all said, and they hopped off of you, but they stayed directly by your side.
"You're our mother now, right?" one of them spoke, taking his hat off and kneeling besides you.
"I… I—" you stalled, not sure how to respond.
Do you tell them about Jack? The fact that you are no longer pure-blood human?
"Boys, this is (F/N)," Peter introduced, flying to your side. "She's here on a short visit, Manny's orders."
"Manny?" another boy spoke, giving Peter incredibly adorable wide eyes.
You figured that one must have been Tootles.
"Like Jackson? Does she know Jack? Do you know Jack?" another boy asked in a rush.
"I—well, yes," you stuttered out before the boys began bouncing up and down in sheer glee.
"How is Jack?"
"What happened to him?"
"Does he still like having fun?"
The questions just came pouring into your ears, too fast for you to respond to any of them. One of the smaller boys slowly climbed onto your lap and whispered in your ear—
"Did he grow up?"
The tension that followed that question was so thick that you could have taken a spoon and scooped up a chunk of it from the air.
Peter froze where he stood, slowly turning around to face the Lost Boys. The other boys ducked for cover, preparing for Peter to blow up or something along those lines.
"I—I'm sorry, Peter," the little boy whispered, eyes wide and innocent as any child would have to prevent getting into trouble. "I didn't mean to—"
Peter interrupted the boy with a large and cheery laugh, throwing the boys off and causing them to wonder what struck Peter so funny. Some even joined in nervous laughter themselves. "Grow up? Don't speak such nonsense… Why, (F/N) even knows him in some way; he is in no way grown up, pfft…"
"She knows him?" one of the boys asked in shock. "But Jack was here many, many moons ago!"
"300 years," you spoke up, looking each boy in the eye.
Even Peter's jaw dropped at that. He quickly shut it, however; for children never remain in one emotion for long.
"300… years?" one boy with curly hair spoke; and you took to the assumption that he was the Curly/Cubby boy.
"Exactly how long is that?" the one you thought was Tootles questioned, crawling up into your lap again even as you noticed it growing more transparent by the minute.
Oh no… does that mean?
"Uh, about 12 moons give or take in a year, times that by 300 is…" you trailed off, trying to figure the equation out in your head. You gave up, shaking your head and giving Tootles a big smile. "That's a long, long time."
"Wow…" the boys whispered simultaneously, looking up to you in awe.
Peter, already having grown bored of your science conversation; interrupted with a happy shout. "So, who wants to have a treasure hunt?!"
The Lost Boys—who had re-gathered on your lap—hopped off and stood up, jumping up and down in excitement; each shouting "Me! Me! Me!"
"Alright," you added, smirking and standing (more like floating) up as well.
Peter smirked back, straightening his hat and throwing his dagger up in the air to catch it again on its way down. "Remember," he said, pointing his dagger at you dramatically. "I've hid the treasure really good this time." He swung his dagger back and forth in front of the Lost Boys as if he was a speaker trying to point at each listener at the same time. "I even forgot where I hid it, which means its hidden good."
"Well," you corrected Peter, even though you knew he wouldn't have cared. He rolled his eyes at your devious smirk before floating up into the air to match your height.
"That'll just mean that I get to dunk you into the lagoon again with the mermaids if I find it first," he wagered, a playful smirk that painfully reminded you of Jack wide and mischievous on his child-like face.
You returned the expression, floating even higher so you could practically be on top of him. "And if I win?"
Peter cocked an eyebrow, his devious smirk widening as he slowly floated up to your face. "You could dunk me into the lagoon."
"Erm," you laughed, pretending to think about it. "Nah, we need something more exciting, like…" you glanced over to Tinker Bell's little hideout, and then it hit you. "Medicine," you whispered mischievously, smirk growing ever wider until you thought it couldn't possibly get any wider as Peter's eyes enlarged, his smirk falling for a quick millisecond.
It was only for a second, however; and his brave smirk reappeared as he crossed his arms courageously. "Alright, I accept this as an honorary challenge," he replied, holding his hand out for you to shake—but not before he spit on it, of course.
You inhaled sharply, not too entirely pleased by his slobbery hand. You still spit on your own hand though and shook his hand hard in one solid shake. "I as well accept," you responded, nodding your head as you did so.
A large ooohh from the gawking onlookers returned your attention to the scene around you. You laughed at the boys, taking Tootles hand in yours. "You're my partner," you said to him, leaning down to whisper something extra in his ear. "Let's get Daddy to drink his medicine, 'cause Momma doesn't feel like getting dunked today."
Tootles giggled, squeezing your hand lovingly.
These poor boys really do need a mother, you realized quietly, noticing how each boy—even behind all their cheery happiness—seemed like something—someone—was missing in their lives.
"Hey, no fair! How can she end up with a partner and we can't?" another of the boys complained, looking up at Peter for defense.
"'Cause she is a lady," Peter responded, surprisingly in your defense.
The other boys groaned and crossed their arms, dragging their feet as they headed to each of their tree entrances specially designed for each of them.
You laughed at them, leading Tootles over to the entrance you came down in. "Let's go find that treasure," you told him.
He smiled up at you with a large grin on his face, still holding onto your hand. "I know the perfect place to start," he said, quickly grabbing his bow and arrow before crawling up the tree trunk in front of you.
You followed suit, but not before a flash of green and red crossed your vision, nearly knocking you back to the floor. In a burst of adrenaline, you growled at the boy that flew up and over your head to the outside. "Oh, it's on," you whispered to yourself, a small laugh escaping your lips before you took Tootles arm and flew out of Hangman's Tree with him in tow.
Author's Note: Tada! There's the long-awaited chapter! Phew, kays; I need to continue writing the second part while I have the time but first things first, I obviously don't own you, nor Peter Pan and the other Disney characters/J.M Barrie characters if that is what you prefer, nor Jack, and I also don't own that one line from Paul McCartney's solo song "Mrs. Vanderbult" if I spelled that right... So, here's a little sneak peek into the future, for I have nothing else to say now. :) Good bye-bye!
Next time on Starting Over-"Never Say Never in Neverland": "Thanks Peter," you whispered into his ear as you pulled away. "I had a great time. And because of this, I won't make you take your medicine even though I found the treasure first." Peter laughed, his previous troubles now forgotten. "Ah, no prob—wait, that wasn't the treasure chest I hid!" The Doctor, taking hint to the alarm in Peter's voice, turned around sharply just in time to avoid being clobbered with a flying stone. "What the—?"