Author's Note: Hey…I hope you enjoy this chapter. I know I enjoyed writing it.

Only In Your Wildest Neverdreams

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Chapter Seven

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Tinkerbell was confused. She glowered at her mirror in her apartment, head in her hands. Giving herself one last glance, she looked away in disgust and began to pace.

Peter Pan did the same outside her apartment. Inks looked on anxiously, sitting on Peter's hammock. Finally, he said, "Stop, stop, Peter. You're making me nervous."

Peter did not cease. Peter did not hear. His brow was knitted deep in thought.

Peter's apprehensive nature was not helping Tinnkerbell's guilt-stricken mood. Yes, that's right. She felt guilty. Peter had sent her to look for Ellie and she had—but he had never said that she had to tell him where the girl was. And he had never said that she had to bring the girl back either. So she hadn't.

When she had seen Ellie on the ship, her first instinct was to rescue her because it was what Peter would have done. But why should she? She did not like this girl and the girl did not like her. Why should she risk being captured and placed in a jar for this girl?

Tinkerbell smiled to herself. She knew that was absurd; no pirate would catch her. Could catch. Hook had once, but that was just pure luck. It would never happen again. Just like how she wished that Peter bringing a girl to Never Neverland with the intentions of something other than making her a Lost Girl would never happen again. But it had.

And now, he was sad, worrying himself into a frenzy, and worst of all, feeling guilty. That was silly, for it was not his fault. It was hers. Not directly, but she had a chance to save Ellie, and she had ignored it. Tinkerbell had thought that that was what she wanted, joy in every inch of air that she flew when she circled the ship, but it was not. If it meant that Peter was sad, then it was not.

So, she prepared herself to confess to Peter what she had done.

"I don't know what to do, Inky," said Peter. He had finally stopped pacing. "She just would not take my hand and then…"

"It isn't your fault," Inks tried to comfort. "We…we can search for her again," he suggested.

"Peter," Tinkerbell silently called from her open apartment door.

"Tinkerbell said that she has already searched the entire island," said Peter.

"Peter," the fairy tried again.

"What I'm worried about is this: if we didn't find her, who did?" He frowned at the thought.

Inks could not think of what to say. This was difficult for him. He had not even met this girl.

"Peter!"

Startled, the two boys turned to look at Tinkerbell.

Timidly, she said, "I know where she is." She bit her lip as if to brace herself for the anger that was about to be unleashed onto her.

But it didn't come. Not right away, at least. "What?" said Peter. "You what?" His voice was not filled with anger, but disbelief.

"Y-yes," she stuttered. "I know where she is."

Seeing that Peter was at a loss for words, Inks said, "Well, where is she then?"

Tinkerbell hung her head. "The pirates have her."

"What?" came Peter's unbelieving voice again.

"I-I saw her on the p-pirates' ship," said the fairy uneasily.

"And you didn't help her?"

No answer.

Peter just shook his head. He knew that Tinkerbell could be jealous at times, but he did not think the extent of her jealousy stretched so far that she would leave her to…to…he didn't want to think the thought, but he did.

Ellie could be dead.

"Inky, get some of the Children. Bring them here. No girls," said Peter, trying to suppress the rising anger.

As Inks went off to do what Peter requested, a small voice arose. "Peter—"

"No, Tinkerbell," interrupted Peter, putting his hand up. He would not look at her.

"But—"

"No."

Bottom lip trembling, Tinkerbell flew out of the room as quickly as she could. She would not cry, no matter how terrible she felt.

Meanwhile, Inks came back with a few Lost Boys. They stood waiting for Peter to talk. His back was to them; he was thinking of what to do.

"What's this about?" whispered one of the boys to Inks.

"Quiet, Arthur," he whispered back.

Peter turned around to survey the boys. He already knew who had spoken. Arthur. He would come in handy if an extravagant plan needed to be carried out. Arthur was extremely intelligent and rather curious. Although he was the smallest out of the boys before him, he would be very helpful.

Then there was Nix. He too stood out from the boys; his hair was a fiery red color, like the phoenix, and his eyes were bright blue. Quite crafty in his nature, he could pull pranks like no other.

The rest of the boys blended in on sight. Each of them had their own little talents, but out of the bunch, Arthur and Nix were the most outstanding.

"Listen," started Peter. "We're raiding the pirate ship." He received a few grins. "No. Not that kind of raid."

Suddenly, a girl burst into the room. After the boys turned to see who it was, some shook their heads while others rolled their eyes.

It was Clear.

"What are you doing here, Clear?" asked Inks. "I already told you. No girls."

"I'm not here for you, I'm here for Peter," she answered back, sharply.

Inks cringed. This would be tough.

"Look, Clear," started Peter. He approached her and rested a hand on her shoulder, looking into her eyes. "I know you want to come, but this is dangerous. We're raiding the pirate ship."

He saw her eyes flash with anger. Peter knew now that he had mentioned the pirates, she would want to come even more. A pirate had killed her twin brother. Ever since then, she had hated them. Despised them.

"And?" Clear asked smartly. She crossed her arms across her chest.

"Don't argue, Clear," said an irritated Inks. It was his turn to cross his arms across his chest. She was so stubborn; it bothered him.

She glared at Inks. "Shut up, Inks. I didn't ask you!"

"Hey, look at me," said Peter. Clear looked at him. "Listen to me. I really don't have time for this. It's not the kind of raid you're thinking of. We're going to save someone."

"Who?"

"None of your business," replied Inks for Peter.

Before she could say anything, Peter went on to say, "You'll see when we get back. Now, excuse us." All eyes were on her, waiting for her to leave. She looked around and then made a sound of disgust, making sure to bump Inks as she passed by him. Peter shook his head. "Now, boys. I was bringing someone back from the Other World but now, the pirates have her."

"Let's go!" cried one of the boys as he took his small blade from its hilt. Bit. Always eager to fight.

Peter almost smiled at Bit's enthusiasm. But there would not be a fight, he hoped. It would be a quick retrieval. "First of all, I'm bringing you boys to back me up. I'm going in alone. On my whistle," he demonstrated, "you come onto the ship. Got it?"

They nodded.

"Dust, boys?" he asked. He started to retrieve his pouch of fairy dust.

"No, not at the moment," came Inks's answer. One by one, they began to rise into the air to demonstrate.

"Good. We wait till nightfall."

~later~

Peter had decided to wait until past nightfall. It was a better idea. There were virtually no pirates out. Most of them were in Bucaneer Banor celebrating for no reason and the ones still on the main deck were busy singing their drunken songs. They would not be a problem.

Just as he had ordered, the boys were floating on the seaside of the ship. He had told them that he and Ellie would meet them there. Once he had seen that the main deck was clear, besides a few drunken pirates, he thought that his task was going to be relatively easy. The one thing that he dreaded was seeing Oliver. There was not a single fiber in his body that would not be angry if he saw him. Pushing Oliver out of his mind, he emerged from the seaside of the ship and landed lightly on the deck.

Stepping carefully, he praised himself for being so smart as to come at night when he did not have to worry about anything. As of now, he walked carefully, just in case. Finding the familiar stairwell down to the lower deck, he descended it slowly, hand on the hilt of his sword.

I forgot how many cells there are down here, Peter thought to himself. He would just have to look through each of their small, barred windows. Cautiously, of course. And he did so. It was not until he could hear snoring ahead and see a sleeping pirate that he drew a sigh of relief. That had to be Ellie's cell. Why else would there be a guard outside of it?

Quietly, he tiptoed to the door. Trying to open it, he swore to himself when he found that it was locked. A key. Peter looked around in search of one. Perhaps there would be one on the pirate's belt. There was. Carefully, his shaky hands unhooked it from his belt loop and he held his breath at the same time.

Finally, Peter could open the door. It was even darker inside than in the hallway, but that was to be expected. From what he could see, there was no sign of Ellie. But, he did hear what sounded like coughing coming from the darkness.

"Peter?" he heard a mouse of a voice call from the other side of the room.

"Ellie Rose? Where are you?"

Without hesitation, she came out of the darkness, arms wrapped around herself. Ellie thought that she would never be so happy to see him. She wanted to hug him out of thanks for saving her, but decided against it, for it would be too awkward. "What the hell—" she began to cough, "took you so long?"

"Shh," Peter silenced. "We're not safe yet." He took her hand and peered out the door. Seeing that the pirate just outside the door was still fast asleep, he tugged Ellie with one hand while the other rested on the hilt of his sword and they made their way down the corridor.

Ellie looked at their interlocked hands in wonder. How could he do that? How could he just ignore her ungrateful attitude? How could he just pretend that she had not let go of his hand? It was her own fault that she had gotten into this mess. Peter did not seem to see that though. Ellie squeezed his hand, truly grateful.

They reached the top of the stairwell that connected the main deck to the lower deck. The sounds of drunken pirates no longer filled the air. Peter scanned their surroundings, keeping his ears open just in case.

Where are we going, Ellie wondered. "Peter—"

"Quiet," Peter harshly commanded. His grip on her hand tightened. He was not sure if he heard correctly, but it sounded like—

"Peter—"

"Ellie Rose, be quiet."

Ellie did not say another word. What was going on? Why was he so apprehensive?

"Someone," she heard him mumble, "is following us."

"What? How do you know? I don't hear anything."

"We've got to go, Ellie Rose. Here," he said, unlatching the pouch from his belt. It was filled with fairy dust. Normally, he did not bother with it, but he did not have Tinkerbell for assistance. "Do you remember what to do?"

"It hasn't been that long since—"

"Good." He did not hesitate in sprinkling the loose fairy dust over her. Then, he inserted two fingers between his lips, producing a high-pitched whistle. Moments later, Ellie saw a band of boys fly from the seaside of the ship. "Lost Boys," said Peter. "Take Ellie Rose home."

"But Peter, what about you?" asked Ellie.

"Don't worry about me," he replied. He gripped the hilt of his sword. "Just go. Do as they say and don't stray." Peter watched as his boys took Ellie to their home. Then, he walked to the middle of his ship, the grip on his sword hilt tightening.

He decided that he would have a little fun before he left. He could still hear someone behind him; the creaking plank boards gave them away.

Peter walked a bit. Maybe he would go and find Hook. It had been a while since he had last seen the captain. The man needed a little excitement every once in a while. It was healthy for him.

Hearing footsteps closer behind him, he turned and unleashed his sword, using it to shield his face from an oncoming blow. Peter only smiled, trying to disguise his disgust at what he saw. "It had to be you."

"Yes, it is me," replied Oliver. He applied pressure onto the sword, but seeing that this did not faze Peter, he moved his sword in order to produce another blow. Peter blocked this one also. "Your dear old friend."

"Oh," said Peter, blocking another blow. "Well, hello. It has been a while."

"I rather liked it that way," Oliver answered nastily.

The boy smiled. "I know something else you will like." He backed up and lunged with his sword. He and Oliver began to fight.

"And what would that be?" Oliver would never admit it, but the boy was good. No bother. He was not winded. Yet.

"I've rescued her."

"You what?" The anger was rising in Oliver's veins and he showed it by attacking Peter more viciously. It was not fair. Tomorrow, he had planned on presenting the girl to the captain. He would have been so proud that Oliver had found something that could possibly lure Peter to the ship. Why did Peter have to spoil his plans?

"That's right, Oliver. She's at the hideout right now," he said cockily.

"You bring her back, boy!"

Peter rose into the air. "Come now! You act as if you weren't a boy yourself at one time. And, I would suggest you come and get her yourself, but you don't know the way to the hideout anymore. Isn't it a shame that you turned traitor?" And with that, he flew away into the night sky, leaving Oliver seething in anger.

Hmm, I wonder what Peter means by Oliver "turning traitor?" That's something for you to store in your memory bank.

December 22, 2002

Copyright, theMuse