Author's Note: First of all, I'd like to thank all those who have reviewed so far. Secondly, I'd like to just say that after getting through with writing this chapter, I've come to realize that this chapter and the last chapter merely serve as sort of "transition chapters." You know, sort of a gateway into the more important chapters. Basically, this chapter and last chapter I feel aren't as well done. I don't know. I'm doubting myself. Thirdly, I ask that after reading this, in the future if you're looking for the story, please check the rated R stories as well. I'm not saying that this will necessarily be rated R, but it's just a precaution. Fourthly, it's late and I'm in a lot of physical pain right now and I'm not feeling too well (death in the family), so please, forgive me for my grammar mistakes. I feel like there's a ton that my tired eyes aren't catching. Thank you and enjoy the chapter.

Important!!!!: This is NOT based on the movie. I repeat, this is NOT based on the movie. It's not even necessarily based on the book either, or anything for that matter. People, have you forgotten what fanfiction is for? It's for molding things into your own creations. With that said, before my ass gets chewed off by someone, I don't own Peter Pan or Neverland or anything that goes along with it. J.M. Barrie does. I highly recommend, for all you people who just watched the movie and that's it, that you read the book, by the way.

Nothing Gold Can Stay: chapter five

The Mermaid Lagoon

The mermaids always seemed more threatening at night than during the day. At night, they could hide their ugliness in the moonlit sky. At night, they were eerie and mysterious, but in an elegant manner. At night, it was easier to be taken in, entranced, by their darkness. At night, they were beautiful. They were creatures that would captivate you enough so that you would be questioning the beauty and malice that you had seen in their eyes, even as they drowned you. Drowning was an art form that they took to be both beautiful and malicious.

Now, seeing as it was not quite dark yet, the mermaids did not have much to offer for enticement and Wendy was not as enamored with them as she had been on previous occasions. But, there was one thing that they had: their song. However, this did not prove to be a dilemma to Wendy, for the knowledge of the power of their song went unbeknownst to her.

She was at the Mermaid Lagoon for one reason. Whatever was happening on the Jolly Roger, the mermaids would know about. She had learned that from Peter. Peter, who the mermaids respected and adored. Wendy's only dilemma was that the mermaids did not adore her, or even respect her at that. However, whatever predicament that Wendy thought that she possessed was not as extreme as she thought it to be. You see, the mermaids did not remember her. It had been too long since they had seen her with the boy they loved, too long since they had felt the burning jealousy. They would not show her any respect, but they would treat her no more poorly than they treated any other girl.

Wendy landed on the rocky shore of the Lagoon, making sure to stay a safe distance. She quickly bunched her nightgown up above her knees and tied it into a knot to prevent any unsuspecting hands from pulling her into the water. Then, slowly, she edged as close as she dared, beckoning to them with a shaky "Hello."

They did not cease their playing and grooming. Wendy tried again with even less confidence than before. Still, it was to no avail. In a bit of frustration, she kicked a stone into the water. The stone sent a small pattern of ripples towards one mermaid who was lounging quietly by herself. She noticed the rippling and soon noticed Wendy as well.

Just as quietly as she had been lounging on her own, she submerged herself in the water and did not reappear until she could touch the rocky shore that Wendy had made her retreat. She smiled at Wendy sweetly, silently inviting her to come closer.

Although Wendy's gut feeling warned her away, she did the opposite, approaching the mermaid and even crouching down when the mermaid waved her closer. Then, she opened her mouth and Wendy, not expecting anything dangerous to come from this action, did nothing to stop herself from listening. The mermaid began to sing.

And she began to feel something. A connection of some sort. Wendy was certain that the mermaid was not using words, at least not words that she understood, but she indeed did understand. It was as if the mermaid was singing with feelings rather than words. Good feelings. Feelings of warmth that began to overwhelm Wendy. Thoughts of love and happiness attached themselves to the feelings. Images.

Love. Her family.

Happiness. Peter. She saw him. She saw him happy. She saw her younger self and with Peter. And they were both happy. She could not help but laugh out loud.

Stop.

Something had snapped. This was not right at all. These feelings, these thoughts, these images, where were they coming from? Something had snapped and the serene moment was over. The images stopped as well as the feelings. Wendy looked down to see that the mermaid had taken hold of her wrist and that her hand was half way immersed in the water. She gasped and the mermaid, seeing the fear and realization in Wendy's widened eyes, hissed and took a firmer hold of her, using her other hand to grab Wendy's arm and tug.

"No!" screamed Wendy. This was exactly what she wanted not to happen. She had told herself not to get too close in remembrance of other times when she had gotten too close. Except, this time differed from other times. This time, Peter was not there to pull her back. Her free hand went to work in an attempt to pry the mermaid's hands from her arm. It was to no avail. Wendy felt that soon she would not be able to withstand the mermaid's strength.

While Wendy was undergoing her struggle, the other mermaids had stopped their activity. They came close, but just close enough to watch their fellow mermaid and the girl fighting to overcome one another. Their silence was noisy with excited anticipation.

Wendy looked into the mermaid's eyes and saw the malice taking over. She was losing. No. There had to be some way…Wendy's eyes, searching in a mad fashion, fell upon a jagged rock that she found to fit into her hand, a bit uncomfortably, but fit nonetheless.

The mermaid saw the rock and hissed, extending her claws so that they fit into Wendy's flesh. She cried out and used the rock as the claws that she did not possess, her adrenaline giving her strength. Continuously, she beat the rock into the mermaid's arm. Finding that this was not effective, Wendy moved onto something else. Using what seemed to be all her strength, she let out an enormous yell and swung the rock into the mermaid's temple.

Letting out a cry of her own, the mermaid immediately let go of Wendy's arm and swam backwards, a trail of blood flowing from her temple. As the water around her began to turn a murky reddish hue, another mermaid wrapped her arms around her as the one who attacked Wendy began to lose consciousness. The mermaids began to assemble together, staring at Wendy.

Meanwhile, Wendy was lying on the rocky shore, panting hard and nursing her arm. There was a mixture of her blood and the mermaid's, which she would have been quick to wash off in the water if the mermaids had not been occupying it. The weight of their stares frightened her greatly.

And then, it happened once more. The one who held her fallen companion began to sing. One by one, the others followed suite until they were singing in unison. And once again, the feelings came. They were sad. And angry…

Wendy stood and covered her ears, tears slipping down her face. She could not stand it. The mermaid's sorrow was too much for her. She could feel the sadness of each and every one of them. The tears would not stop and they soon turned into sobs. Wendy tried to stop herself, but she couldn't. They were doing it to her. They wanted her to feel their pain. And anger.

Closing her eyes and with her hands still pressed firmly on her ears, she ran away, not caring that she could not see where she was going. She needed to get as far away as possible, at least far enough so that she could not hear them.

------

They saw it. They saw it and remembered. They saw it and let the sorrow slip away from them. They respected it. They respected it and they respected him. And they stopped singing.

Peter.

It rippled amongst them. The name. The name of the face that they had not seen in so long. But it was not the same face. However, the face did have the sword. They all knew that sword. They'd memorized it from the countless times in which he had come to see them and tell them stories, using his sword to illustrate scenes. They'd watched him use it on board the Jolly Roger. They watched him cut off Hook's hand and feed it to Mother Crocodile.

Peter.

He was fine-looking to them now, more striking than he had ever been. Even more stunning than they had ever imagined. He was desirable, and rare was the man that aroused the mermaids' desire.

Peter.

They adored him.

As they stared up at him in awe, he looked down at them, forgetting for the moment why he was there in the first place when he saw the injured mermaid. "What happened here?" he asked, gesturing to her. Tinkerbell stood on his shoulder, attentive.

"A girl!" cried the one who held her fallen sister. "A girl did this!" Tears welled up in her eyes as sadness began to fill her once again.

Peter thought for a moment. A girl…an Indian girl?

"No!" cried another mermaid, when he asked. "This girl was pale—"

"With a white dress—"

The more the mermaids went on to describe the girl, the more Tinkerbell realized who she was. The girl was certainly not an Indian. She was Wendy.

"—and then she ran off, leaving poor Sirena—"

"Which way did she go?" cried Tinkerbell, urgently and flew off in that direction once told.

On the other hand, Peter did not notice, for he had no knowledge of Wendy being in Neverland. There was nothing to stir his recognition. Soon, thoughts of the girl left him and he remembered why he was at the Lagoon in the first place.

"My friend, Tootles, is on board the Jolly Roger," he said, pointing to the ship. "You must tell me what you know."

At once, their eyes darkened with the knowledge of what was in store for the unfortunate Tootles.

"Come, dear Peter, for what we know is delicate," said one, signaling for him to come closer. He knelt so that he could read her darkened eyes. "Your friend Tootles will fight the one they call Slim at sundown," she said.

Gasping, Peter looked up towards the Jolly Roger to find that the sun was preparing itself for its journey beneath the water. Dread filled him.

"In a duel," she continued, "to the death."

Upon hearing these last words, he unsheathed his sword and leapt into the air. But sadly, it was of no use. He still could not fly. The laws of the earth pulled him into the Lagoon, causing an outcry from the mermaids as they quickly parted to make room for his landing.

His hopeless thoughts weighed him down as he let himself sink toward the bottom.

------

She felt as if she belonged in that hole. She would claim it as her own and not come out for anything. And the best part was that she could hide. From everything and everyone. From all the mermaids and all the Tootleses. From all the Slightlys and the Nibses. Away from burden and away from sadness and away from Never Neverland.

It was funny. Who would ever put Neverland and sadness in the same sentence? Not Wendy. Not at one time, before…all this. And she still did not even know why all this had happened. She had discovered nothing upon her arrival. If anything, she had made things worse. Most of all, she wanted to go home.

And now that she had fallen into a trap—most likely a forgotten lost boy trap—and was sitting at the bottom of a hole, she was allowed to put everything into a certain perspective. Wendy felt like she did not care anymore. She felt like she wanted to go home, her home, and leave all this Neverland nonsense behind. She felt like waking up in her own bed and finding that this had all been a horrible nightmare.

But that was impossible, of course. Her heart would not stand for it. So, she stood and dusted herself off. Looking up, Wendy found that the hole was quite deep; the top was a few feet above her head. And by this point, she was not feeling the least bit happy. She already knew that getting out of this hole was going to be a bit difficult and that added to her gloom. Sighing heavily, she did not even attempt to fly out of the hole and tried to find somewhere to plant her foot so that she could climb out.

"Need some help?"

Startled, Wendy fell backwards and found herself unpleasantly in the dirt once again, watching as Tinkerbell flew down towards her.

Tinkerbell laughed her little bell laugh and asked, "Why didn't you just fly out?" Without waiting for an explanation, she produced fairy dust and slowly, Wendy rose into the air, still in a sitting position. "You silly girl. Where would you be without me?"

"How did you find me?" asked Wendy, once she had landed. "Where on earth have you been?"

"I should be the one asking questions," said Tinkerbell. "Why did you disturb the mermaids? They were singing and Peter couldn't even think anymore—"

"Peter?"

"Yes, Peter! You should have seen him; the tears would not stop. The mermaids had no intention to stop singing, so I had to stop them. You stupid girl, can't you keep yourself out of trouble for? I leave you alone and you end up by the Mermaid Lagoon, and it's practically in shambles. What did you do to them?"

What did she do? What did she do? Wendy was suddenly angry. She had honestly had the worst experience of her life, and now, Tinkerbell was upset because Wendy had caused the Lagoon to be "practically in shambles?" Bloody hell. She simply would not allow for it. She couldn't. It wasn't fair. Wendy had almost drowned, among other things, and now this. "Do you know what I've been through? Look at this—" she displayed the arm that had survived the mermaid, the large amount of dried blood telling the story on its own, "—just look at what those—monsters did to me!"

Tinkerbell made a sound that she was about to speak, but Wendy interrupted her.

"And that isn't all!" she exclaimed, advancing on the fairy. "I saw Nibs die!" Tears welled at the memory. "On top of that, it's my fault that Tootles is on board that dreadful ship." She could not help but begin to cry and felt disgusted with herself for doing so. She needed to be strong. "And I still haven't seen Peter. I hardly know why I'm here, Tinkerbell, but I'm here. You said that Peter needed me, so I'm here. But you still haven't explained to me what happened in Neverland since I left. And where is Peter?"

"Behind you," said another voice.

Behind you. The simple sentence stood out boldly in her mind and the voice sent a chill up her spine. He was there, behind her. After all these years of yearning to see him again, she finally would. And all she needed to do was turn around…why was it so difficult?

Slowly, Wendy managed to do it and watched as Tinkerbell flew and took her place on his shoulder. Like Tootles, Peter too had grown quite a bit. He was tall, not as tall as Tootles, but more muscular than he. His blonde hair had darkened to a sort of light auburn color and had grown so that if she wanted to, she could tug on the very small ponytail that Peter had bound his uncontrollable hair in. As for the skeleton leaves, they were no longer there, for he was too mature for them. Wendy blushed at this thought, looking at the loincloth type thing that he wore around his midsection. In all, Peter looked like the American Indians that Wendy saw in her history books. He even had beads and feathers in his hair and had adorned himself with tattoos here and there.

He was beautiful. At once, Wendy knew that she loved him. His mere presence stirred feelings inside of her that she had never felt before, not with anyone. She felt connected to him in a way that she did not know she could feel. Memories of her childhood feelings for Peter resurfaced. They were nothing compared to what she felt now. It was as if they had been magnified, amplified, however you wanted to say it. This was why she was in Neverland. And as she walked towards him, she felt something else. As quickly as she had felt "the feeling" as she would call it for the time being, she felt another feeling. Fear.

It was Peter's eyes that were the source of this fear. They were just as beautiful as the rest of him, but something was wrong. She had seen eyes like that before. They were quite familiar. In fact, they played in her darkest dreams from time to time. The only other time she had seen eyes like Peter's were on that of his very arch nemesis: Captain James Hook.

How was it that they could share the same eyes? They were two different men. They had two different eye colors, even. However, it did not matter. They both exuberated what seemed to be a limitless amount of all things bad, such as loneliness and anger. But most of all, they were eyes that had forgotten how to love.

It was one thing to never have loved at all, but forgetting how to love was something else. Captain Hook had loved in his past but his time in Neverland had transformed him into something that, in his childhood, he had sworn to never become. And, no matter how many times Peter had claimed to be ignorant of love and all the things that went along with it, he had loved at least once in his life. There was his mother, who even though he had forgotten about, he had still loved her. There was Tinkerbell, who he loved so much that he brought her back to life. And there was Wendy, who he tried so hard not to love because it was so alien to him.

And now Wendy, who so badly wanted to throw her arms about him and forget everything that had happened to her, just stared at his Captain Hook eyes. She had always envisioned what their reunion would be like, but had never imagined it to be anything like it actually was. "Hello, Peter," she said, wary of his eyes.

He stared back at her, hard, before saying, "Why are you here?"

"T-to help you," answered Wendy, quite frightened.

"I don't need your help. Go home." And with that, he turned on his heel and walked back towards the Mermaid Lagoon.

"But—but—!" Wendy charged after him, grabbing his arm. "Peter—"

"I said go home," he spat, coldly. "I don't need you. Or your silly stories."

Wendy's eyes glistened with dejection. The dejection soon transformed itself into fury. How could he—who was he—how dare he—

It happened. Before either of them were quick enough to realize what was happening, it happened. Wendy punched Peter square in the face.

End Note: So…how was it? Pardon me, again, for all the mistakes. Also, I'm sure that ff.net changed my formatting in some way. I don't know…also, be sure that when looking out for the next chapter, you include rated R stories in your search, just in case. Thank you for reading. Please review with comments, questions, critiques, you know the deal.