Everything Changes
Rating: Pg - Pg-13
Disclaimer: I luv Anna, therefor I own her! lol
Chapter 6

Anna's eyes felt sore and swollen as she slowly blinked them open. She could hear the
birds singing close by and the sounds of little children going about their daily lives
right outside the windows. Sitting up, she took a moment to rub her eyes clear before taking
in the room. It was a modestly set up room with four beds, one chest of drawers and a few
lanterns. There was a large entrance way that lead out into the open sky. She assumed it to be
the entrance that Peter used mostly, as he was the one that flew. There was a doorway to the
left of it, however, with a case of spiraling stairs that led downward as well as up. Anna
walked over to the doorway and looked first up, then down, examining the exit. Sighing
and looking back once more, Anna took the first step lightly before making her way
down the stairs. Each level she passed was almost identical to the last, save a few
boys here and there.
Finally, she reached the end of the staircase and the exit to the treehouse. There
were many other doorways that lead into the base, which she assumed to be the kitchen
and other living rooms as well. Looking around the small city, Anna took a moment to
stare in wonder at all she saw. Boys were scattered all over the place, doing chores and
playing around with one another. Vines swung freely from nearly a hundred or so feet up
in the canopy of the woods, boys hanging off of some of them and others being used for
towing lines. Sunlight filtered through the tops of the trees, illuminating the area
brightly. Here and there were scattered buckets or brooms or other such utensils on
the forest floor. Leaves crunched beneath the feet of running boys, signaling the
beginnings of fall.
Turning in circles, Anna's eyes darted across the scenes before her, slight
admiration creeping into her thoughts. It must have taken an army of children, which
there was apparently no lack of, to build this safe haven. So many children living
together as a community. So many children without rules or regulations. Nothing was
keeping these kids from taking over the entire island and ruling. Yet, they seemed to
co-exist quite fondly with the natives of the lands as well as survive her fathers
reign of the sea.
Anna's eyes went wide. Her father! He would have her hide for this stunt. She
was already on thin ice as it was, being only discovered to be his daughter
naught a few days ago. Yet here she was, defying his authority. He would surely send her
to the brigs for a week for this. Or worse yet...send her back. Let them have her and
shove her into some obscure prison somewhere.
Shaking her head, she banned the thoughts from her head. Her father would never
do such a thing. He'd given her a chance and he wouldn't just throw her out
now...would he? Especially since he'd looked at her that way, when they had stood
on the deck together that morning. As if he...
"I see your finally awake." a voice startled her, causing her to spin, eyes
wide on the speaker. Peter Pan. She should have known. She took the moment to let
her gaze wander over him, burning his image in her head. He wasn't as she had
expected. He was...taller for one. Different. His face wasn't as boyish as the
children that surrounded him. Nor was his figure. His physique was one of a person
who trained and worked hard each day. His lean arms were pulled tightly against
the beginnings of nicely formed muscles, his stomach and chest shaped well. But
his legs, well, it went without saying that he ran and jumped quite a lot. That
must have been why she almost lost him in the woods, he had the skill to escape
her and outrun her. But his wit was at a bit of a lacking stature. Yet here he
was, testing her again by floating in her face. Maybe it was guts...
"The boys and I were wondering if you had died or something. You sure sleep
quiet." he said, stretching his arms above his head. "You must not have slept
good for a long time."
Anna paused for a moment, deciding whether to answer him or let him guess it
out. "No," she said finally, "I haven't. It's been a very long time since i've been
able to sleep for more than an hour at a time."
Peter paused, his brows furrowing before he dropped his arms, tilting his
head at her. "Well, why?"
Anna looked him in the eyes, her gaze piercing. "Because I don't fancy
being shot, stabbed or worse in my sleep." she turned, crossing her arms and making
her way back to the treehouse.
"You prefer it when you're awake?" he asked, scratching the back of his
head in innocence, though the shadow of a smirk told Anna different as she scowled
at him.
"No, I prefer being able to see the attacker before I kill them." she
grinned evilly.
Peter shuddered, following her at a cautious length. "Don't do that, it
reminds me of Hook. You look just like him when you grin like that."
Anna spun on her heels and glared at him. "I am his daughter in case
you lack noticing so." she growled, her arms crunching tighter against her chest.
She watched as his eyes went wide and his feet landed on the ground. So he
hadn't known...
"You're..." his mouth moved open and closed in a spectacular rendition of
a fish in water. He watched as her eyebrow went up and a small smirk reappeared.
"You honestly hadn't noticed? Besides the lack of mustache and manly
stature I would have thought you'd realized who I was. Why else would I have
come after you?"
"I always had pirates come after me. Sure, it was never any girls before,
but still...wait a minute!" he shouted, crossing his own arms and looking smug.
"Hook doesn't HAVE any kids! He hates them! So why would he have one now?!"
he huffed, obviously happy with his intelligent argument.
Anna almost blanched. "Because he didn't know I existed until now!" she
growled at him, moving to stand at the entrance to the treehouse once more,
gaining the sideways glances and nervous peeks from a few of the lost boys.
"But that doesn't make sense, why would you only be here now? Why not
sooner? And how come you're so much older? If he had a kid, it would be young
still because everyone knows you don't age in Neverland!" Peter said,
uncrossing his arms, his confusion taking over.
"Because I didn't LIVE here until now! I've been on the other side of Neverworld. People DO age there. People age and grow old and grow ugly and stupid there. And I'm
never going back." she ended on a whisper.

Peter took a moment to study her face before his reply. "I know. I
heard last night."
Anna's eyes went wide and she turned to keep from losing her emotions
once more. "You heard all of that?" she whispered, her hand coming up to cover
her mouth silently. She paused a moment before turning back to him. "Look, you
may think you understand everything now that you know about some of my past,
but you don't. You don't know anything about me. All I want is a life. Somewhere
where im not running all the time, afraid of being caught or dying or worse.
Things that I can't even mention, not around these children. But until my
father can accept me as his daughter, I will never have anything close to
that. So please...just...not now. I don't wish to talk to you anymore on this.
I'm tired and im hungry. Can we please just get along for one evening?" she
sighed, looking back up into his eyes, her own weary. His eyes had changed
again. They weren't young anymore like they were. They were older, wiser...
most understanding, as they had been the night before.
Peter nodded, swallowing the hard lump that had formed in his
throat. He lifted his hand cautiously, bringing it to touch her back.
"There's food inside the kitchen. We can get you some fruit to eat. We don't
have to talk now, but I can't promise that we wont have to talk at all."
he said quietly.
Nodding, Anna let him lead her down to the galley for some nurishment.

The meal went quickly and quietly for both Anna and Peter, the
silence a welcome reassurance of their momentary truce. He lead her out
of the galley and down through the work being done around the treehouse.
Anna quickly learned that these children did indeed know how to take care
of themselves. There were areas set up for just about everything. A 'laundry'
room of sorts for clothes that had just gotten too dirty to wear. The
clothes were washed in a nearby stream and set out to dry. Across the way
was set up a small armory of sorts. Bows, arrows, spears; all sorts
of weapons being made assumably for war against either the natives or her
father. Anna took it all in with a sense of awe and amazment at the
resourcefulness of these small boys.
A nudge at her side caught her attention. Looking down, Anna
stopped to look down at the small boy, who could have been no more than
five staring up at her. She tried to keep her straightest face as
she watched him clasp his hands together, wringing a piece of his shirt
between them and rub his dirt-covered toes into the dirt.
"Um..." he began, obviously nervous. It took him a moment of stuttering
before she could see him steel himself and look up at her with determination.
"Them boys over there says your a pirate!" he gasped, then covered his mouth
as if he'd done something horrible. She looked past him at the boys, all
of them older than 7 snickering at the younger boy. It was obviously a dare.
"I'm not scareda' no pirates!" The small child's voice brought
her back to look at him.
Grinning evilly over his shoulder at the older boys, all of whom
gasped, she knelt down in front of the little one, his tousled brown hair
blowing over his widened green eyes. "Aye, and ye shouldn't be either."
she snickered in her most 'pirate' voice she could manage. "I be a pirate,
that I be and ye are brave ta be talkin to me. I respect dat in ya,
kid." she chuckled and reverted back to her normal voice, ruffling the
child's hair. She heard the kids in the background laugh and saw the
frustrated look on the smaller child's face. Leaning in close to him, she
whispered for only his ears instructions.
A small grin came to his face and he pushed her backward down
onto the ground. Anna opened her mouth in a fake gasp.
"I ain't afraid a' no pirates I says! I take you on if your brave
enough!" the kid yelled loudly, catching the attention of others around him.
The boys that had obviously been teasing him watched, their jaws dropped
as this small boy threatened the pirate.
Anna stood and spoke loudly, brushing off her pants. "Ye are brave,
boy! I wouldn't fight ye, lest I fear loosing my head!" she said and
turned to walk away with a stunned Peter on her tail, who for the life of
him couldn't figure out what just happened.
Anna looked back and smiled as she saw lots of older boys gathering
appraisingly around the smaller child. He had a huge 'cat-that-ate-
the-canary' grin on his face, smudge with dirt, but obviously proud of himself.
"What did you do that for?" Peter gaped at her as he resumed his
floating stature beside her.
Anna turned and made her way towards some stairs to see where
they lead. "It was stupid of the older boys to tease him like that, so I
helped him out. They won't tease him anymore." she grinned over her
shoulder at him.
Peter laughed, his hand running through his hair. "That was clever!
Almost as clever of something I would have done!"
Anna rolled her eyes and continued on the tour with Peter now eagerly
showing her the treehouse and surrounding areas. He told her all about
the Natives and the Pirates and all of their adventures. He
meantioned how at one point a girl named Wendy had come and sometimes
her children, but he'd lost touch with them. She could hear the sadness
in his voice, but didnt' push it any further.

He couldn't figure her out.
Peter watched over the long drawn out dinner table at their guest.
Her face was now open with them, smiling and laughing with the boys and
himself. She was paying no attention to him, but helping one of the
smaller children in pealing an orange while laughing and talking with the
older children noisily gathering around her. Everyone had insisted on
sitting by the 'pirate'. Only a few had brought up that she was a girl,
until she regailed that she was Hook's daughter. Then it became a matter
of awe and slight fear. But once she had settled into the table, talking
with them, they had warmed up to her unusually quick. Now they all sat here
chattering away with her, asking her questions about pirates and herself.
Peter's hazely grey-green eyes darted across her face, studying
her, one of his clenched knuckles supporting his chin, his elbow held by
the chair arm. His other hand toyed with his cup of water, tipping it
side to side, not truely interested in the drink itself, but needing
to be kept busy. He was busy watching her, her smile, the way her eyes
lit up when she talked to the children, the way her rough hands could
so gently help the small ones around her. She reminded him of someone, someone
he'd once know a very very long time ago.
And then those dark eyes settled on him, her smile still in place,
her face still glowing with excitement, and something within him fluttered,
his breathing hitched for but an instant before going back to normal. But
their eyes stayed locked, unwavering and Peter felt something between them
connecting, a new beginning between them starting in that very moment. He
watched as her conciousness came to her, aware that they were in the
middle of loud, noisy children, yet the silence between them was far
louder. She felt it too. Her eyes softened for a moment before she
was pulled away from their gaze by the small one nearest her tugging
her sleeve, demanding her attention.
Peter stood quietly, bidding some of the boys good-night before
exiting the room. He stopped for only a moment, his gaze falling once more
on Anna's face before leaving the room for the night.

From the window, Tinkerbell watched in silence at the transgretion
that took place between Anna and Peter. He'd only told her a little about
this pirate girl that he'd come apon. Already she could tell Peter
was beginning to be taken with her. Her strength and power were alluring
to him, almost as much as the hint of kindness and softness in her
that hinted at the truth of her being. She was still a female, despite whether
or not she'd been raised as one. And Peter, Tinkerbell thought with a slight
tinge of anxiety, was beginning to recognize the difference between a
girl...and a woman.

TBC...

Ok, next chappie is going to be sappy, so im warning you now! See the
softer side of Anna! lol And now...Thanx!!

lamepunknbored: I AM SO SORRY I DIDNT UPDATE SOONER! cries Ya'll have
no idea how much your support means to me.

Taz:Ok, hopefully this fixed all the problems. thanks again for the notice!

Emily: lmao, your so cute! I love pirates! Here is more for you.

To everyone else: PLEASE PLEASE read some more. My muse has finally
returned after a tornado, a fractured kneecap and a broken finger
(which im trying to type with). I LOVE reviews, nay, i LIVE on reviews!
Look for more chappies soon and for my new Myst story! Actually its old,
now revised,but hey, you get it. lol

LUV YA ALL!!!