Thanks: Thanks again to my husband and Mara Trinity Scully for their beta-reading. And thanks again, also, to those who have taken the time to review.
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me. This fic, however, is mine. Please don't take it without my permission.
Chapter 13
Rather Lonely
~
During all of this same period of time, of course, while Wendy had been preparing for Christmas and growing increasingly ill, Peter Pan had returned to Neverland with Tinker Bell and had resumed his usual enjoyable pastimes, though he had at first been momentarily surprised to find the place entirely restored, as if nothing had ever gone wrong, as if he had never seen all its wonders vanish so tragically.
"Tink!" he had cried joyfully as they flew over the island in great spiraling circles. "There is the waterfall! And the volcano! And the mermaids! And the fairies! And the Indians!"
Tinkerbell had seemed to think he was behaving most strangely and making rather a big fuss over nothing. Peter would later learn that Neverland's other denizens, too, had no memory that anything untoward had happened to Neverland in the recent past. All was as it had always been.
Peter found that at the foot of his tree house he was joined by a loyal wolf who had been forsaken by its parents. "Who are you?" asked Peter. But the wolf had no name, only choosing to stay close to Peter and guard him against danger whenever the boy walked upon the ground, whenever he was not flying. For everyone knows that wolves cannot fly. Peter simply patted the wolf's fur and accepted him as a friend.
Peter quite happily settled back into the rhythm of Neverland, having many interesting adventures. Soon after his arrival, he explored the depths of a dark cave through which flowed a dark and mysterious river. Tinker Bell's light allowed Peter to see that beneath the surface the river was filled with pale blind fish which had never been touched by the light of the sun, and that the bottom of the river was carpeted with clean white bones. The cavern was an especially wonderful hiding place, and quite exciting to explore, particularly because of the constant danger of falling into the river and being devoured within three minutes by the voraciously carnivorous blind fish.
On his first day back, Peter excitedly went to call the mermaids, who came to him with much splashing and writhing in the water. They told him of the pirates' new leader, who was called "Red Maggie." And so Peter eagerly flew to the Jolly Roger, curious about this new pirate whom he intended to run through with his sword before she had even realized he was there.
And there were the pirates, just as Wendy had always described them, with the addition of a flame-haired woman whom they apparently called "Red Maggie." She was tall for a woman, and fine-boned, her skirts tied up with various cords to keep her legs free for fighting. She wore a sword at her waist, and her red hair hung down her back like a curtain of fire.
"Red Maggie?" Peter called with a laugh, as he soared in and out of the rigging, and all 'round the pirate ship.
"Who calls?" asked the woman in a growling purr. She turned her face toward him, and Peter saw that she wore a black patch over one eye, and that her cheek beneath the patch was marked with a wide white scar in a straight line almost to her chin. Aside from the scarring, she was quite beautiful.
The pirate queen drew her sword and followed Peter's flight with her eyes. "Would you be Peter Pan?"
"You've heard of me!" Peter crowed, quite pleased with this development.
"Aye. Ye are the lad who killed Captain James Hook, are ye not?"
"Aye, Red Maggie, that I am. I defeated him and he was swallowed whole by a crocodile. And I shall defeat you, as well!"
"Nay, lad, I think ye shall not. For ye have denied me my revenge against James Hook!"
"Revenge?" asked Peter. This was an interesting development.
"Many years ago, Captain James Hook and I battled fierce, and in that battle he did pluck out me eye," at which mention, the lady fingered the patch she wore. "He also scarred me face most terrible. And for this I must have my revenge!"
"Sorry. He's already dead. Too bad for you!" Peter gloated, laughing and swooping in arrogant circles, sometimes coming quite close to the lady pirate as he flew, sometimes tweaking a lock of her hair, sometimes walking his bare feet across the top of her head quite rudely.
"Insolent lad! Ye have taken me revenge from me! And for this I shall hunt ye and kill ye dead!"
"Good luck!" cried Peter, laughing merrily. "You can't even catch me!"
"One day I shall, Peter Pan!" Red Maggie shouted. "One day I shall!" At which point, Peter soared away, bored with the taunting, certain to return another day to gleefully clash swords.
If changes had occurred to Neverland since last he had seen it, and indeed they had, Peter did not notice, but blithely lived as if the Neverland had always been so, for indeed he did not remember that it had ever been different.
He did not notice that the stories Wendy had told him in London had somehow affected Neverland, for such an idea would never have made the slightest amount of sense to him. How could Wendy affect the Neverland? Of course she could not! And yet she had, and the proof was right before him -- in his wolf companion, in the pale blind carnivorous fish, and in Red Maggie -- though he did not choose to see it.
If he had cared to think about such things, Peter might have wondered how it was that Wendy's stories had healed him, and now also seemed to have changed the Neverland. Had she healed the Neverland just as she had healed him? How? And if so, why had Neverland died in the first place? Had that also to do with Wendy's stories? Had her stories somehow died, and taken Neverland with them? And then somehow returned it all?
Perhaps in fact it is best that Peter did not care to think about such things, for if he had he would most likely only have found himself in a dreadful muddle that would make him very cross. And Peter hated to be cross.
And so Peter did not think great thoughts, but instead went about his daily adventures, talking to mermaids, dancing with Indians, climbing trees, swimming down waterfalls, flying with fairies, and battling the pirates. All was quite as it should be. Peter had even found that the new pirate leader was a most enjoyable adversary, and he quite enjoyed their battles.
This Red Maggie was a brave and excellent swordsman, and her hair fanned out about her when she fought, making it look as if she were on fire. She was a worthy opponent, and her sword was quick and nimble. Though she could not, of course, compare to Peter Pan.
How could she? He was the best there ever was!
And yet, no matter how many adventures he had, Peter did not feel truly happy. It seemed that something was missing.
He told himself that it was Hook. Hook indeed was missing, and of course he should be, since he had been swallowed by the crocodile. Hook had been a fearsome foe, and so of course his absence would be noticed.
But Hook had been replaced by Red Maggie, who was great fun as well. And yet, no matter how many thrilling battles Peter fought against the new pirate queen, he still did not feel truly happy. It seemed that something far more important than Hook was missing.
"I miss Wendy," he whispered to himself one night as he stared up at Neverland's sky thick with stars. And as he said it, he suddenly knew it to be true.
But he did not want it to be true, and so for a long time he tried to deny it. She had refused to come with him, and he did not need her at all. She could stay in her stupid house in stupid London forever and he didn't care a single bit.
Now, Peter was exceedingly talented at lying to himself, which can be a rather useful talent, but even he could not deny the truth forever.
"I miss Wendy," he whispered sadly to the waves that crashed upon the rocks at the Mermaids' Lagoon. "I miss her."
It was true. He missed Wendy. And he wanted her back.
And so, when he at last ceased denying his feelings on the matter, Peter made a decision.
"I am going to go back and make Wendy come with me," he stated to no one in particular, with an emphatic nod. Remembering what the older lady had told him about Christmas, Peter took the shiniest acorn from the nearby ground, considering that a perfectly appropriate gift for Wendy, for he felt somehow that he should not arrive empty-handed.
And so, right that very moment, Peter lifted off the ground with a determined expression on his face as he flew away from Neverland and toward Wendy.
And as he flew, Peter said grimly, "I shall not return alone!"
To Be Continued ...