The Hunt (part 7 of 'My Brave Wendy')
by Isabelle
Disclaimers: The rights to the film and book "Peter Pan/Peter Pan and Wendy" do not belong to me; this is just done for entertainment. Chapter Disclaimers: Lyrics used in this chapter are "Dante's Prayer" by Loreena McKennitt
Rating: PG-15 (for adult themes and mild sexual references)
Feedback: isabelle@komodo-skin.com
Archiving: It's a requirement that I have that you ask me before posting any of my written work. Thank you.
Summary: This is a work of fiction based on the 2003 film "Peter Pan"; it is centered, like the film around Peter & Wendy's relationship, just so you know. Basically the whole "never saw each other again" is out the window and for the purposes of the fiction they did.
Setting: This happens 1 year after Peter last saw Wendy, she's now been sent to a boarding school in Switzerland with her parent's new found fortune, but it's nothing like the place they thought it to be, as WWI is in it's starting stages there's fear all around and she's left without adult supervision along with some of her boarding school girls to find a way home and hoping that a certain first love will find her.
Spoilers: The film, it'll spoil you if you have not seen the film!!
Appreciation: My beta, who rocks my world at this moment, Rogue!!
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I did not believe because I could not see
Though you came to me in the night
When the dawn seemed forever lost
You showed me your love in the light of the stars
"So that makes everything, no?"
Peter looked up at the horse then down at his saddle that was filled to the brim.
"It does," Peter replied.
Mr. Van Hurst cleared his throat and smiled at the young man.
"I've never had such kindness from strangers before," Peter told him, looking up to the man who was just slightly taller than him--just slightly.
Mr. Van Hurst, as jovial as ever, simply continued smiling and extended hi hand out to him. "You have family here now, young Pan, make sure you cultivate it... bring your Wendy along once you've found her."
Peter's ears perked up and a smile crossed his features. "Can I? She's love it here and you'd love her too!"
Mr. Van Hurst chuckled and grasped Peter's hand, tightly in his own. "Do send us word when you've found her, I know Marie will simply be distraught if we never hear from you again."
Peter nodded, looking curiously at their clasped hands. "You will... you will hear from me once more. I promise and I'm not forgetting."
"This from the young man who forgot he ate breakfast this morning?"
Peter laughed at this yet internally he was swearing on both life and death he would never forget the kindness of these strangers.
"I will see you again, Mr. Van Hurst."
"Daniel, Peter. I've told you over and over to call me Daniel."
Peter smiled, almost shyly. "Daniel."
"That's right, lad. And you know in case this entire situation with Wendy doesn't work out I'm sure my own Julianne would love to ... see you back," Mr. Van Hurst chuckled in an almost wistful manner. The truth was that he indeed had hoped that his own fair daughter, which all the young men in town seemed to be highly interested in, would win Peter's heart.
As Marie had explained. One cannot win what is not for the giving. He had agreed. He didn't want his angel to be second choice to any man.
...unless Peter wanted to return for her.
Peter frowned at his words and turned to looks at the lovely and always gentle Julianne. Her shoulders were sagged as she stood by the garden gate, dressed in the palest pink, her eyes sad and watery as she looked on to Peter.
Peter swallowed, being around her had become more and more uncomfortable, she would smile at him the same way Wendy had smiled at him and that would only get him started talking of Wendy; something he had learned from the rather nasty incident that Julianne didn't appreciate.
"You know what is the first thing I'll do when I see her?" Peter asked her.
Julianne's smile faded as Wendy was once more brought to the subject. She turned from Peter, her white dress hitting his ankles as she walked away.
"I'll kiss her! A real kiss! Like she gave to me--"
"Peter!" she had cried. "This is really not a proper topic of conversation!" her face was flushed when Per had turned to look on to her.
"Why not?" Peter asked, confused. "Wendy always wanted to kiss me... since the moment we first started talking!"
If it was possible he watched her face turn redder. "Well I think she's just horrible!"
She stormed off towards the house, it took Peter a moment to realize the girl was upset with him and he quickly took after her. He grabbed her elbow, stopping her and turning her to face him.
"Are you angry at me, Julianne?" he asked, almost scared.
She sniffled a bit and then Peter was shocked to see the tear tracks on her face. She was crying! Girls were so peculiar.
"No, Peter... I'm angry at myself, that's all." she told him, her voice nearly a whisper.
"And this anger... it makes you cry?" he peered at her, her eyes were red and her bottom lip was trembling.
"It makes..." she fell silent for a moment and Peter accepted that she was trying to gain her wording. "How can you be so cruel?"
The words stunned him but even more were her eyes, once soft and gentle were now filled with rage.
"You know how I feel about you and yet you continue to speak of her. Everything is her. Well, I hate her!" she exploded, her head shook so much that strands from her usually perfect hair were coming out in wisps over her eyes.
"Feel?" Peter asked confused, bewildered and above all scared. "You have feelings? ... for me?"
She let out an un-humorous laugh. "Yes, Peter! Since the moment we found you... I knew. I knew you were special."
"I'm Peter Pan," he told her matter-of-factly.
"No! I knew you were special... to me. Like you fell from the sky only feet away from me. Like God sent you to me, Peter." she told him quietly.
"No, Julianne!" Peter told her, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her harder than he had intended to.
"He does, Peter! You must love me, I know you do!" she cried, more tears running down her cheeks. "You look at me in a way... you melt me inside and I'm left with nothing, Peter!"
"I do not mean to!" Peter shouted back at her, his heart thumping in his chest.
"But you do! If this is the way you looked at Wendy then no wonder she loved you!" she sobbed. "How can we not love you Peter? Tell me?"
She buried her face in her hands, her small shoulders shaking with the grief of first love but Peter dared not touch her. If she had been Wendy he would've placed his arms around her... but with Julianne? He dared not touch her.
"I'm sorry, Julianne. I'm sorry I make you cry and I make you hurt," his voice was painfully hoarse. Even he knew, in his own simplicity of mind that boys were not to make girls cry.
She slowly lifted her head and looked at him with all the misery in the world swimming in her light brown eyes. "Why wont you let yourself love me, Peter?"
His jaw clenched slightly then he placed one hand on either of her shoulders and peered into her. He hoped he would let her see, he hoped she would understand.
"I love her, Julianne. I love Wendy... since the first moment I saw her sleeping, since before I had ever seen her eyes. I ... I loved her."
And so Julianne had nodded, turned, and went into the house.
Peter took a deep breath and walked towards the girl, she shifted in her spot as he came nearer. He looked at her for a moment for he took a bow.
Always the gentleman.
"Goodbye, Julianne," he told her softly, his eyes sad. Sadness for her own misery.
She blinked back tears and smiled back at him. "Oh, Peter...." she took a deep breath. "Do find happiness... happiness with her, because I think people spend too much time centering their lives around what is in their hears; what makes them happy that they wont realize they pushed those that would mean the most out of their lives."
Peter listened to her words and nodded.
"I will, Julianne... even if I have to become a man. I will."
He said his goodbyes to Mrs. Van Hurst who sobbed and almost fainted as they watched him take off. He had yet to find Tinkerbell, yet he knew she must be there somewhere and would follow his scent when she felt like showing up. He had a feeling she had not liked him staying with the Van Hurst as long as he did.
As for he, himself. He wouldn't have changed the experience for the world.
When the night came and the wind began howling he gave his strong horse to a poor farmer and leapt out of the ground, thoughts of his love for Wendy dancing in his head.
When the alps were only a few miles away he saw many soldiers on horseback, apparently searching for something. He flew down, hiding ion the shadows of the night like he'd done so many times and listened to what they said.
"The girls shouldn't be too far from here!" one of them cried, and Peter's stomach dropped.
"You! Take five men and search the east side, hurry! There's a storm coming. A nasty one!"
Peter took off in the direction the soldiers were dispatched to, flying against time and above the cloud, searching for his Wendy.
Soon. Soon he'd find her.
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Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me
The night had just set when the girls once more bundled up, wrapping themselves with all they had and braced themselves for the coming night. They needed to find better shelter, they needed to lay low until the snow cleared enough for Wendy to hunt once more.
The deer Wendy had hunted was small and the meat was almost gone no matter how much they rationed it. Joanna had told them that they needed to eat a lot that night so they would have energy for the coming climb.
There was sadness in Wendy, Joanna could tell. Ever since that night she had woken up screaming Peter's name.. her soul seemed to be damaged somehow and Wendy was no longer the peppy girl Joanna had seen when help was needed.
She had asked her, if anything was the matter-- at first Wendy has passed it off as a night mare... the next time she had told her it was just she, as a woman, letting go of a childhood dream.
The words had seemed so heartbreaking to Joanna she had nearly cried for her, as if it had taken Wendy's lasting breath of life to admit that.
"Let's leave now," Joanna told the group, watching as they hefted the heavy bag on their frail shoulders. It had been now almost a week since they had started their journey and it was becoming more and more dangerous to cross streets, they got many stares even by the locals... word seemed to have gotten out that five girls were wanted by the army.
For that reason they had stopped entering barns during the day, it was too dangerous--they had to go to abandoned wrecks, caves or simply find warm pasture which was becoming harder and harder to find as they moved upwards to the top of the mountain. The snow was coming down earlier in the day.
"But it's starting to snow already!" Rosalind had cried, her eyes weary of the flakes coming from heaven.
"Good, they'll be less people about," Wendy answered her.
Rosalind pouted but Helen reached out and grabbed her hand. "We'll help each other... wont we, Wendy?"
Wendy turned to look up at the mountain before them. "We will."
The climb upward went easier than Wendy had expected, the rocks were not so slippery and the snow was not deep, the elevation had popped her ears so she kept chewing on a piece of wax, telling the girls about the trick. Soon they were a bit more cheerful, despite the cold night air and the more rapidly coming snow.
"Just above this cliff there should be caves," Joanna shouted to them, they nodded following her lead.
"What happens after we climb this mountain?" Anna asked, she had seldom talked glaring at the girls; when she spoke it had been to complain or to snap at Wendy. Her hatred was beginning to reach it's peak, Wendy could see it in the girls' eyes.
"Then we'll be able to see what is behind it," Wendy answered simply. "Until then... we climb this mountain."
Anna glared at her but followed suit.
It was not until the snow was past their ankles that Joanna stopped. "We need to find--"
There was a loud scream.
Helen screamed. She was looking behind them, and they all quickly turned to see what it was about.
Almost at their heels were five soldiers on horse and leading some ferocious looking dogs that began barking when Helen screamed.
"There they are! We've found them captain!" one soldier shouted.
Wendy's heart leapt to her throat, adrenaline pumping into her veins. "Split up! Joanna, take Rosalind and run west! Helen, Anna, come this way!"
Without questioning her they nodded and started running as best as their feet could in the snow and against the rocky plain. Wendy took them through some rocky points, willing them to find shelter there but soon they heard the dogs barking and soldiers running, shouting.
"They're running scared, the brats!" they shouted.
Wendy looked on wildly.
"There's a small farm there!" Helen cried and started for it.
"No!" Wendy told her, and held her back. "They'll expect us to go there!"
Helen nodded, her teeth clattering against the cold air.
"Here, a small cave," Wendy pointed at the small opening in the ground less than three feet wide. "Get in there, don't move until I come to find you." She told them.
"What about you?" Anna asked, her own eyes wide and frightful.
"I'll be a diversion," she explained. "Pet-- I learned it a long time ago--" She pushed Helen into the opening. "Don't leave until I come or Joanna and Rosalind!"
Anna and Helen squeezed themselves into the small cave as Wendy covered it with snow to prevent them from being seen. When she was sure they were safe she turned to look at the farm, fear was swimming in her stomach but she grabbed on to her backbone and made a run for it.
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Then the mountain rose before me
By the deep well of desire
From the fountain of forgiveness
Beyond the ice and fire
The Darling household was quiet that night, though there was tension hanging in shreds over them all. The entire neighborhood knew of Wendy's disappearance and Mrs. Darling was truly tired of their meaningless sympathies and their curses towards foreigners. She had yet to receive a full night's rest, the wind seemed to cry out Wendy's name in the night and it tapped at their bedroom window.
Many times had she ran up from bed to open the window only to have chilled air hit her face and chest. But there was no Wendy there. None.
It was on the night where she had gotten to finally rest some that her dreams came to her. In her dreams there was so much fighting, blood, and screams. Screams of someone too familiar.
"Wendy!"
George sat up next to her, his hair all on it's ends and his eyes wide and frightful.
"Mary?" he asked her, turning to her. "Mary, what is it?"
But Mrs. Darling simply sobbed. "She's hurting, George, she's hurting!"
He did hold her against him, trying his best to comfort her... but there was no console when his own heart was breaking.
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Though we share this humble path, alone
How fragile is the heart
Oh give these clay feet wings to fly
To touch the face of the stars
"There she is!"
She continued to run.
"Risco, fetch the lass!"
It was almost there, she was almost there. She slipped against the snow floor, banging her knee with a thud and she let out a scream of a pain. Looking behind her she saw the large soldier jogging up to her and it quickly made her stand and run the last few feet to the barn door.
She shut the door behind her, quickly grabbing a broom stick and looping it through the handles. It wouldn't keep him out but it would give her a few seconds to formulize a plan.
She looked around and groaned when she realized it was simply a hay storage. No horse or tools... she needed something sharp or something heavy. Something heavy....
Wendy searched wildly especially when the door began to pound, and the man started screaming at her.
"Brat bitch, I'll teach you!"
Her hands were sweaty though her body was frozen with fear. She could hide in the hay... but that would simply buy her a few minutes before they would capture her.
Frantically she realized there was nothing there, nothing at all to defend herself with. Horror settled over her but she still pulled her bag from her shoulders, searching for the large knife she carried... she'd have to get close to the man but it was her only defense.
The blade was behind her, her shoulders were square and in her eyes danced defiance.
The door was thrown opened, splitting the broomstick in half and in walked the man.
The soldier was about six feet tall, dark and looming. An ugly smile on his lips as she breathed in harshly.
"That was more work than I ever thought to spend on you, sweetheart." he told her, massaging his red knuckles were he'd obviously banged on the door with.
"I'm more trouble than what is worth," she told him, her voice steady. "If I were you I would walk away... and never look back."
The soldier chuckled. "I hate children."
"I'm no child."
"If I were you, I'd be a child," her voice was so cold that it made Wendy's flesh prickle. "Don't you know what happens to lost young ladies when they're found by soldiers?"
He started walking towards her, her hands started to shake and the need to run out the door was clawing at her throat.
"Yeah... you know you do... especially when they're as pretty as you..."
"They die."
Before Wendy could run, scream or be stunned a voice said those words and the soldier looked down to his chest.
A large sword's tip was coming out of his chest. Wendy's blade had not moved from behind her so she stared at the protruding blade in shock.
A moment later the man fell forward, missing Wendy's body by a few inches, his body unmoving with a large sword rammed through his back.
She looked at the body, shaken and dropped her own knife from behind her, looking up.
A man... a man floated a few inches from the ground, hidden in the shadows of the barn. Slowly he floated to her, letting his face be lit by the moonlight.
Wendy was sure that nothing else that happened in this life would shock her. She was wrong.
"Peter? Peter Pan?"
Though we share this humble path, alone
How fragile is the heart
Oh give these clay feet wings to fly
To touch the face of the stars
Breathe life into this feeble heart
Lift this mortal veil of fear
Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears
We'll rise above these earthly cares
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TBC....
A/N: As you wish it.