Chapter 2 - Falling

Peter had pulled Elaine and guided her all the way to Neverland, where the two sat, floating on a cloud in complete silence. Elaine watched the golden-skinned boy as his face flickered with multiple emotions. He went from delighted to sad to confused.

"Elaine?" he asked at the same time that she said his name.

She blushed and smiled at him. "You go first."

"Well," he gulped, "what happened? Why did you become lost? I know that Wendy wouldn't leave you. Not my Wendy," he stated matter-of-factly.

Her grin widened. "Well she's not your Wendy, Peter. Your Wendy is very very old: she's my great-grandmother. Whenever she would visit, she would always tell me stories. And when she wasn't there, I would make my mother tell the stories. She didn't really enjoy them, but I would make her. Well anyway, to make a long story quite short, my mother (named of course after my great-grandmother) decided last week to go to America, leaving me with my aunt." Elaine paused. "That's when I decided to get lost. I hate my aunt, she's horrible and she makes me do things that I really don't want to."

"What do you mean my Wendy's old? She told me that she didn't want to grow up!" Peter's anger grew and grew. "Are the Lost Boys old, too? Have they families and wives?"

Elaine was suddenly confused. "Of course they do. They grew up, too. If you would just visit them you'd know that their windows have always been open for you. They haven't forgotten."

"They betrayed me," he screamed at her, eyes flashing dangerously. "Why would I visit them if they left me to grow up?"

She hugged the angry Peter in front of her. "Look on the bright side, Peter. If they hadn't left, you wouldn't have met me."

Peter pulled out of her grasp and turned his back to her, shoulders hunched. "But I've been alone while she grew up. She took away everything that I've ever had."

A frown settled itself on Elaine's face. "Then I guess I shoudl have never gotten lost. At least at my aunt's I would look forward to going home, rather than arguing with a child like you." Slowly disappearing through the cloud, Elaine realized that she had lost her happy thoughts and was having trouble keeping afloat.

The golden-skinned boy continued to stare in the opposite direction, not noticing that Elaine was sinking.

She let a wave of anguish flow through her body, giving in to the feelings that she harbored deep within her. As the speed of her descent increased, so did her fear as the forest below her grew at an alarming rate.

Darkness enveloped her as she landed deep within the throes of a cushiony pile of undergrowth, striking her forehead against a sharp, hidden rock.


After a few minutes of silence, Peter turned around to discover that Elaine was no longer floating on the cloud with him. "Well I guess she decided to go hom to her aunt. and people that are going to forget her," he snorted, angry at losing yet another comrade.

His green eyes flickered with sadness as he looked up at the sky. "She took everything from me," he mumbled to himself, trying to rid himself of this horrible feeling.

Tinkerbell flashed in front of his eyes, violently swinging her arms around in order to catch his attention.

"What do you want, Tink?" Peter sighed.

She curled her one hand to show him what she was talking about. Swinging the curled one around viciously, she pointed down with the other one.

"Hook," said Peter with a mischievous grin, suddenly forgetting all his woes (and Elaine). "Come on, Tink!"

With a quick, darting glance about him, Peter flew away from the could, heading towards his secret hideout, thinking of a way to taunt and terrorize Captain Hook.


It just so happened that in Neverland forest, Captain Hook searched fruitlessly for Peter Pan's new hideout. The crocodile had made a big mistake by swallowing him whole, because Hook still had his sword with him. In a frightened attempt to save his own life, Hook had loosened the sword from its scabbard and jammed it into the crocodile's throat. Needless to say, the lifeless crocodile floated to the shore where the Captin, shaken and battered, but alive, proceeded to gut the offending creature in an attempt to free himself. Once the feeling of the wet sand beneath his feet registered in his mind, Hook swore on everything that he would find and kill Peter Pan.

Today, he took his crew into the forest to search for clues of his nemesis. Just as they were about to head back to the ship for the evening, a soft thud in the forst caused him to put up his guard and search for whatever made the noise, hoping that Peter Pan had somehow collapsed and was very vulnerable.

Stalking cautiously, he watched a Neverland moss slowly fill out the body-sized hole. Using his sword to clear out the moss, Hook jumped back in surprise at the girl's body. Her head was badly cut and the blood was slowly seeping out, onto the moss.

Hook was very curious about this girl. There hasn't been any other children here since Wendy, he thought with a smirk. Peter must have brought this one here!

"Smee!" he yelled while tearing off a part of his shirt. "Build a stretcher to carry this girl. Now!" he ordered, using the cloth from his shirt as a bandage in an attempte to staunch the bloodflow.

Pressing it gently against her temple, Hook waited impatiently for the stretcher. "What the hell is taking so long?" he bellowed.

"S-sorry, Cap'n," Smee stuttered, "we were having problems finding some big enough leaves..."

"Enough!" he raged. "Just finish the damn stretcher now!"

Smee scurried off, returning shortly with a poorly-made, disformed... stick in his arms. the Captain raised an eyebrow and muttered dark curses under his breath. Gently supporting her head, Hook carefully moved her to the thing that Smee placed on the ground in front of him.

Ordering two of the pirates to carry the stretcher, Hook led them back to the ship, hoping that this girl could help him.