Chapter 37: War Games (Wendy)

"Wendy!"

"Jim?!"

"Don't touch – "

"Look ou-!"

"Shit!"

Jim jolted, missing Wendy's outstretched hand by a hair. Arms thrown back, the two fell backwards onto the forest floor.

"I'm sorry!" Wendy clutched her wrist. Twigs matted her loose curls. "I didn't know it was you! I thought Peter – Jim! Jim you're bleeding!"

"Don't!" Jim jerked as Wendy reached a concerned hand. "Tag, remember?!" He mopped the back of his skull. Blood. Fingering the thick, warm gash, Jim mutilated Peter Pan inside his mind. "Damn it."

Wendy stared at Jim's red fingers. She felt sick. "These horrid war games! Nothing helpful is coming of it. People just keep getting hurt!"

Wendy climbed upright. The thimble and needle glared against her hoodie. "Jim we have to find the finish."

Jim pushed to his feet. "Fuck the finish. I need to get to the headmaster. Wen – I saw monsters!"

"Monsters? Wha – "

"I mean monsters. Monsters! Two, just came out of – "

"Jim! Behind you!"

Jim spun. Wendy screamed as a rock pelted him in the stomach.

"Nothing personal!"

Doubled over, Jim looked up. He ducked just as Tinkerbell hurled another rock.

"Nothing personal, Looser!" Tinkerbell sneered as the rock struck Jim's shoulder. Wings humming, she aimed a third shot. "But no one messes with Pan except me."

"Stop!"

Unable to touch, Wendy hovered over Jim. Her heart bled as he rocked back and forth, clutching his stomach. "Stop! The game is to tag! Only to tag! Are you – "

"Insane?" Tinkerbell giggled hysterically. She hefted the rock. "Psycho? Yeah, little miss goody prude."

Wendy's eyes widened as Tinkerbell drew back. "I'm totally out of my mind!"

Wendy screamed. The rock sliced through the air. Like a knife, it hit her forehead. Pain radiated behind her eyes and across her skull. Blood smeared into her vision.

Tinkerbell screeched with laughter as Jim wrenched upright.

"RUN!"

"You better run!" Tinkerbell shrieked. "Because you sure as Hell can't fly! Here I come!"

Blindly, Wendy ran. Crashing through the forest, rubbing blood form her eyes, she quickly lost sight of Jim.

"Ready!" Tinkerbell maneuvered behind her.

Wendy fumbled for her spool of thread. The forest was thinning.

"Aim!" Tinkerbell screamed, reaching for her head.

Wendy squeezed the spool of thread. Please do something!

"FIRE!" Tinkerbell screamed.

Suddenly the forest stopped. The trees were sliced away, and the earth emptied into a ravine.

Wendy buckled. And as Tinkerbell blazed over her head, Wendy grabbed the pixie's outstretched hand.

"NO!"

Writhing, Tinkerbell clawed at Wendy as she clung to a mess of roots curled over the ravine.

"NO! NO! NO! YOU – "

Horrified, Wendy could only watch as magic glittered over Tinkerbell's contorted face. Closing her eyes, Wendy looked away as the pixie's wings froze and Tinkerbell dropped through the air.

"Dreadful."

"WENDY! TAG HIM! BEHIND YOU!"

Wendy turned. Expecting Peter, she lifted her arms and slammed into…

"John?"

"Wend – ?"

"You got him. Kid was freaking chasing me. " Bruised in the sunlight, Jim emerged from the forest. Unperturbed, he watched John freeze. John's Ziploc bag of pixie dust swung wildly as he fought the magic. "Good job."

"Good job? Good job? John!" Wendy lunged forward as John, nearly frozen, stumbled off the edge.

"John!" Slack jawed, Wendy watched as John's frozen body crashed down the ravine. He flopped grotesquely like a broken puppet. "John!"

Clouds muscled over the sun as Jim joined Wendy at the edge.

"I froze my brother." Wendy repeated numbly as Jim scanned the ravine. "I froze my little brother. What would…my mother say? Oh what must she be thinking?"

Jim glanced sideways. He didn't believe in Heaven. And he didn't believe in Hell. But Wendy was too distraught to care.

"She's probably serving cocktails to all the angels." Jim finally said, pointing down the ravine at Tinkerbell's frozen wings. "Needed that tag. Bitch."

Wendy shook her head. Still, she wiped her bleeding forehead with a little pride. "Jim, please. Don't – "

"I know, I know. 'F'n' language. But look – "

Wendy followed Jim's finger. He was pointing down the ravine. There, across a white river…

"Is that?" Hope practically lifted Wendy from the ground. "Is that –?"

"The finish line." Jim nodded, pushing branches aside. Watery sunlight squeezed through the clouds, lighting the faces of the professors, parents, police authorities, and a negligible number of safe students. "Damn it. They made an actual line."

Wendy looked. A thick, blue line glittered in the sunlight. Mr. Silver was waiting just behind the finish line, his metal joints gleaming.

"It seems so far away." she said. "Down the ravine. Across the river. Then to the finish line. And without getting tagged?"

Tiredly, Wendy shook her head. "So far. However can we make it?"

Jim's eyes snapped up. Sensing sudden tension, Wendy looked.

Peter Pan. Peter did not fly to the finish line. He did not fly for safety.

He waited. Circling against the blue sky, he waited like a scavenger, ready to tag students out as they fled to the finish.

"We don't have to make it." Jim said. Darkly, he turned to Wendy. "You have to make it."

Wendy frowned, confused. "What? But – but I know we can get there, Jim. Togeth – "

" – I made a deal with Pan. I had to get the orb back. Forcing him to be my partner didn't work. So…we made a deal."

Wendy's insides writhed as Jim looked at her. His face was chiseled, expressionless. "Wen, if you can get to the finish…Pan will give me the orb."

Someone screamed. Jim and Wendy jumped. They turned.

Peter dove. Ruthlessly, he chased Giselle and Eric into the river. Suddenly, Giselle disappeared underwater. Shouting for Giselle, Eric hefted his steering wheel. But as he started to turn, five hands shot out the water and snaked through the wheel's wooden spurs.

Mermaids. Cohering with Peter, the mermaids attacked. Eric, responding to the inevitable, jumped at the mermaids. He froze three before Peter tagged him out.

Wendy stepped back.

"Jim…" she began.

"Wen, you've got to get to the finish." Jim said as Peter thundered into the air. Wendy tried to swallow. Her throat felt coarse.

"I'm telling you, there are real monsters in Fantasia." Jim continued. "They're involved with all this shit, I'd bet my life. You have to cross the finish line. You have to tell the headmaster what I saw in Petrified Forest. Wen…you have to help me get that orb back."

Wendy wavered at the edge of the ravine. She watched Peter apprehensively.

"Well…" she fingered the silver thimble. "Well. I… can do that."

Jim grinned. Wendy leaned into him as he put his arm around her. Magic hummed in his fingers. Jim clenched his fist, to prevent tagging her out.

"Talking braver than you feel?"

Wendy nodded. She squeezed the spool of thread.

"No sweat."

Jim took the spool of thread. With astonishing adroitness, he unwound the spool and threaded Wendy's needle.

"Just remember." Jim said, handing Wendy the needle and thread. The ebony and gold fibers glinted in the sunlight. "I've got your back."

Wendy nodded. She gazed over the ravine. Peter Pan cut through the passage, smiling and waiting. Waiting for her.

"I have your back too."

Jim stood at the edge. He looked into her eyes.

"On three?"

Wendy nodded. Trembling, she held the needle and thread.

"On three."

"One…" Jim said.

"Two…" Wendy breathed.

The wind rustled. The clouds broke.

"THREE!"

And surrendering unto the sunlight, the two best friends jumped into the ravine.

sultal's note: SO to anyone that read this before I revised it SORRY that I had Jim and Wendy hold hands BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN TAGGED! Arms are ok, its just hands that are the magic touch :P I literally thought about it halfway through my run and yelled "SHIT!" and then turned around and sprinted 3 miles to my computer!

hope you liked it anyway...even though (grumble grumble) it's not as good as the first version.