Disclaimer: Peter, Neverland, Hook, and Tinkerbell do not belong to me...yet. All credit for now goes to J.M Barrie, who made this wonderful cocky little boy named Peter Pan who we can all worship and adore. Rhysenn and Rhiannon, however, are mine. So no stealing. Okay?
Author's Note: At least 10 reviews per NOVEL LENGTH(!!!) Chapter or I don't update. An y'all want to see what happens right?
Chapter One: At the Mercy of Memories
As Peter Pan gazed at the stars as he passed them, thoughts of his love Wendy flew through his head as fast as he flew through the air. The normal feeling of euphoria had long since vanished, and Wendy went with it. The wind whipped his dirty blond hair back out of his face for once, and the sounds of the ocean below him almost had a calming effect. Almost.
His thoughts were uneasy, and an uncomfortable weight settled deep in his stomach. For although he was flying, he felt weighed down more now than ever before.
A cold sweat broke upon his brow, and his insides felt as if they might slither out his mouth and fall into the waves below. Why he was nervous, however, he didn't know. Maybe it was the prospect of leaving Neverland, his home for as long as he could remember. Maybe it was his familiar racing thoughts screaming at him that Wendy had left. She had not chosen him. She had chosen her world, not his. Once again, he had been left behind. He was always left behind... She had given him her kiss, then abandoned him to the memories of it, and abandoned him to the memories of her, of their adventures.
Tall mountains loomed in the distance, the early night moon rising up behind them, framing them hideously with an eerie aura. To most it would look beautiful, serene even. But to Peter, nothing looked beautiful anymore. Nothing was beautiful save Wendy. Wendy with her chestnut hair and sea blue eyes. Wendy with her sweet soft kisses...
She's gone now, Peter thought, as the image of Wendy staring up at him from her bedroom window played in his mind again, the night she had not chosen him. And she's never coming back.
Never is an awfully long time...she had once told him. Now more than ever her words were ringing true, and it was killing Peter like a poisonous thorn in his heart, slowly seeping throughout his body as the memories of Wendy slipped farther and farther away.
Peter knew just how long 'never' was. It felt even longer, however, as the days went by. The long days alone, with no Lost Boys, no Tinkerbell, no Wendy.
The reoccurring thought that everyone had left him, including Tink, his beloved fairy, began to creep its way into his mind like smoke through a keyhole. Scarily enough as well was the fact that he was even beginning to miss Captain Hook. At least he could torment him.
Now...he had no one. Even Tink had decided to return to Kensington Gardens for awhile. He should've been happy, for he had no one to try and force him to grow up, but he wasn't.
As Peter began his ever-quickening descent onto the moonlit Italian countryside, a new lingering wave of sadness washed over him, crashing like the breaking waves on the shore.
"It's not like the world is caving in! Per l'amore di Dio!" Thirteen year old Rhysenn Montesano yelled across the hall to her twin sister, Rhiannon.
"At least I care what other people think of me!" she yelled back, to which Rhysenn replied by slamming her bedroom door.
"At least I don't look like a painted up doll!"
"At least I don't look dead."
Rhysenn groaned and threw herself down on her bed, burying her head in her pillow and screaming as loud as she could.
Both of the girls heard their mother quickly coming up the creaking wood steps.
"Rhysenn, open the door. Rhiannon, apologize to your sister."
Rhysenn groaned again and put her pillow over her head. She and her sister both yelled a "NO!" back at their mother, who promptly gave up, sure that there would be no violence between the two. No matter how bad they seemed to fight, deep down, Maria Montesano knew that her daughters loved each other.
Rhysenn and Rhiannon had always been different. Exact opposites would be more correct. Rhiannon was known as Rhi, while her twin chose to use her full name. Rhi was the girly one, while Rhysenn could be described as darker. Rhi usually had her ebony black hair up in an elegant bun, compared to Rhysenn's long flowing locks.
They were as different as night and day.
Rhi sat in her room, full of pink and flowers and lace, sitting in front of her vanity and brushing out her hair. Olive green eyes just like her sister's stared back at her, full of masked pain and hurt. She was still hurting, even after all these years.
It wasn't as if she made it obvious, however. Her mock concern about her appearance covered up for the hole in her heart, the hole that was supposed to be filled by a father.
She remembered the day as if it had just passed her by. Rain had pounded on the tavern's roof hard, and lightning had struck very near to the house, frightening their herd of horses.
Rhi and Rhysenn were curled up in their father Seamus' strong arms, both firm and comforting at the same time. They were whimpering at exactly the same as well. When they were little, they relished in the fact that they were twins, dressing alike and finishing each other's sentences. But now, 10 years after their father's death, they both strove to become as different from the other as humanly possible.
As the lightning had gotten ever closer, Seamus had argued with his wife, telling her that the horses needed to be put in the barn right away.
"Seamus," she had replied, "don't be silly. The horses will be fine. They've survived worse than this."
Despite his wife's disapproval, however, Seamus had ventured out into the storm. The last image of their father alive the twins had was him winking at them both separately. He had always thought them two individuals, which had contrasted their mother thinking of them as a unit, built to be alike in every way.
"When I get back," he had told them, "I'll tell you a story. Rapunzel if you're good." That was the last time Rhi and Rhysenn had ever saw their father alive. Even now, the mention of Rapunzel brought tears to Rhi's eyes. She was sure Rhysenn felt the same, but the older twin didn't show it.
And here is where the memory fades, leaving large white gaps filled by tears and fear, bitter hearts and secrets. Empty spaces and white noise...
Rhysenn and Rhiannon were standing outside. The sun was just peeking over the mountains far off into the distance. They were staring down and their father's lifeless body, broken and battered from hundreds of horses' hooves.
He was staring up, his blue eyes blank and knowing nothing, as if he never had lived at all. His were the same eyes that one sees in a baby stillborn. Innocent and painless, not learning anything of the harsh realities of life. His eyes were of a twenty eight year old who had been snatched when those around him needed him most...
A knock at the door jolted Rhiannon from her memory. She dropped her hairbrush on the floor in surprise.
"Yes?" she called, picking it back up. "Come in."
Maria stepped into her daughter's room, her curly blond hair falling messily out of its bun and into her eyes. She hastily pushed it back out of her face, and to her dismay, it fell right back out again.
"Rhi," she sighed as she said this, as if saying it produced a load on her shoulders that she could not bear. "it's time to go to bed. You've a big day tomorrow."
With a roll of her eyes, Rhi remembered exactly what made it a big day. She was going to meet a painter and his son, family friends. This meant dressing up, something Rhi secretly hated but did anyway just to be contrary, corsets that made her faint, bothersome manners and furtive looks from the painter's son.
She groaned and sent a pleading look towards her mother, who looked about as happy with the situation as Rhiannon did.
"Mama, do I have to?" she begged, and Maria nodded, feeling as if she had just condemned Rhi to a death sentence. In a way, it was.
Maria Montesano knew how hard it was for her daughter to have to endure all that she was making her. She had once done the exact same thing, the only difference being she actually like her prospective husband.
The painter, Mr. Lucci, had expressed extreme dislike when he had saw Rhysenn, with her lacy black dresses and equally black makeup. The dislike was mirrored, however, by intrigue when he met Rhiannon, in a frilly white dress with powder on her face. Rhysenn had told her that she looked like piccoli pastorella, the English equivalent being something like "Little Bo Peep".
"Fine," Rhi replied, not at all pleased, "good night mama."
Maria kissed her daughter on both cheeks and left her to prepare for bed. It was only moments later that she was asleep in her own.
Almost asleep, Rhysenn was interrupted by a flaming ball of light hurling towards her head. At the last moment, however, it turned sharply and moved towards the door.
Sitting bolt upright, and gasping for breath, she decided to follow the light as it made its way into her sister's room. It was making a rather annoying tinkling sound, as if comprised of tiny bells. At first it's lovely, but after about two minutes, it starts to get on one's nerves.
The little ball of light hovered for a moment over Rhiannon's bed, then promptly flew out the window. Rhi was still asleep, and Rhysenn tiptoed around her sister and got close enough to the window to see the ball of light floating a few yards away, making that strange tinkling sound again. She thought she saw another shape there, but as soon as the thought entered her head, the shape disappeared, and she blamed it on a trick of the shadows.
"Two?" she heard a voice say, and she quickly suppressed a gasp. "Are you sure?"
It was a young boy's voice, Rhysenn was sure of that. When he asked the question, the tinkling started up again. Apparently, he was talking to the ball of light, and having an incredibly entertaining conversation it seemed as well, because the boy let out a impish laugh.
Through the starless sky, she thought she saw the boy move closer to the window, and Rhysenn quickly ran over and climbed into her sister's armoire, which was large enough to hold her.
Rhiannon stirred from across the room, but didn't wake up.
Suddenly, a cold breeze came in through the open window, despite the fact that it was June, and the boy's feet touched the hardwood floor. At the sudden weight placed upon it, the floor creaked a little. Hearing the sound, he hovered a few inches from it. Rhysenn's eyes grew large, partly because she saw that they boy was hovering off the floor, and partly because the little ball of light had come to rest for a moment on a shelf, and she saw exactly what it was.
It, she rather, was dressed in what looked to be a few leaves sewn together that barely passed for a dress, and she had blond hair that was pulled up on top of her head and held there. By what Rhysenn, didn't know.
Pulling memories from stories she'd heard as a child, Rhysenn knew clearly that what was sitting on her sister's shelf, was a fairy. And a rather beautiful one, at that.
"I thought you said there was two," the boy whispered to the fairy, rather irritated. The fairy, in reply, perched herself on the boy's shoulder, and seemingly told him something important, because he grinned slyly.
From the cramped space Rhysenn was sitting in, she could see the boy grin and start walking slowly towards the exact place she was hiding.
She covered her mouth with her hands to keep from gasping.
He's going to find me! Rhysenn thought, shaking, Who knows what he'll do to me?
"One..." the boy whispered to the now very excited fairy. Rhysenn closed her eyes, knowing full well she was caught. "Two..." the boy extended his hand, "Three!"
He pulled on the doors as hard as he could. They flew open, sending the boy sprawling. Rhysenn squeaked and Rhi turned over in her bed, muttering something about paint and lack of air.
The boy landed with a groan, and hastily stood up and placed his hands on his hips, surveying the sight of the open armoire.
Inside it, he saw a girl that looked exactly like the one in the bed, with her knees drawn up about her and her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
"Bounanotte ..." the boy whispered in perfect Italian, and Rhysenn opened one eye. Seeing the boy advance upon her again, however, she closed them quickly.
Rhiannon had apparently woken up some time before, and was now sitting up in her bed.
"Bounanotte," she replied. The boy, startled, turned around quickly and placed his hand on the hilt of his dagger, which he wore on a cord around his waist. It would seem he'd forgotten that there was more than one girl in the room.
Regaining his dignified posture and removing his hand, he bowed low. Rhiannon, being more trained in manners and etiquette, got out of bed and curtsied politely.
The boy stole a glance at Rhysenn, his blue eyes glinting mischievously, but she just stared at the two of them, looking almost disgusted.
"What's your name?" he asked Rhysenn. She didn't speak, still distrusting him. Why shouldn't I distrust him? she thought, he's half-naked, and he flew through my window in the middle of the night.
"That's Rhysenn, my twin sister." Rhiannon said sweetly, batting her eyelashes at the boy. He grinned in reply. Rhysenn saw her sister actually shiver with giddiness.
The boy busied himself with exploring the room. He approached the armoire, and upon seeing the amount of clothes stored within, stepped back in astonishment.
"Those are mine. Do you like the frilly things, um..." she giggled.
"Peter," the boy said, and grinned cockily. "Pan."
Just a bit of shameless flirting, Rhysenn thought as she rolled her eyes. Realizing she was still sitting in the armoire, and thought herself stupid, she stood up and sat on the edge of Rhiannon's bed.
"I'm Rhiannon," Her voice had the quality of honey. Rhysenn became nauseous.
"Just lay it on a bit thicker..." she muttered. The boy turned to face her. He held out his hand.
"Hello," he said, and bowed again, never taking his eyes off of her. For a moment, Rhysenn thought herself to be overcome with giddiness as well. But as soon as the fluffy and cute feeling started, she killed it mercilessly with the spiked mace of logic.
"What do you want?" she asked, thinking this to be a highly reasonable question, owing to the fact it was almost midnight and they were all in their bedclothes.
"Why," Peter replied, looking at he as if this was the stupidest question he'd ever heard. Rhysenn felt a blush creep up her cheeks. "to take you on an adventure, of course."
Rhiannon giggled and batted her eyes at Peter again, while Rhysenn glared at him incredulously.
"That's not much of a reason, if you ask me." She said quietly. Peter glared just as cockily back at her. He smirked as he made his reply.
"I didn't ask you."
Ouch, Rhysenn thought as she realized that he was right. He hadn't. She stiffened, attempting to regain back some of her pride.
"Well," she said, turning up her nose at him, "I don't want to." To prove her point, she got up off the bed and started towards the door, with every intention of continuing her boring and, in her opinion, pointless, life.
Peter stepped in front of her, effectively blocking the doorway. He was so close that Rhysenn could see the faint dusting of freckles on the bridge of his nose, and the slight curve of his lower lip.
"I could make it worth your while..." he said slyly, his warm breath tickling her cheek. For a moment, he caught Rhysenn off guard, and she felt herself give in to his boyish good looks and sweet remarks.
"Peter?" Rhiannon, always the spoiler of erotic tension-filled moments, called out. Peter gave a knowing look at Rhysenn, half-smiled at her, then turned to answer Rhi.
"Yes, Princess?" he replied, his chin raised proudly, as if he thought himself a genius for coming up with such a name.
Actually, Rhysenn had come up with it long earlier, but she had added the word "Brat".
"Which dress should I wear when I go with you?" Rhiannon swelled with pride at being called 'princess'.
Rhysenn groaned. Now, of all times, her sister was thinking of what to wear. Shuddering with disgust, she turned to look at the inevitably hideous dresses her sister would be holding.
Hideous, my friend, is a drastic understatement.
It looked as if Rhi was holding a mass of pink ribbons, lace, and satin. That's all it consisted of: pink.
For the second time that night, Rhysenn had to suppress the urge to vomit.
"Well, actually," Peter started, but Rhi cut him off.
"Ooh," she squealed, "I knew you'd agree with me! This one is so much prettier!"
She had apparently chosen the frillier of the two, if that was even possible. Giggling madly, she left to change, leaving Peter and Rhysenn alone, if just for a few minutes.
"What are you going to wear?" Peter asked quietly, praying with everything he had that she wouldn't choose what she was wearing. It wasn't that it was ugly, it just reminded him far too much of Wendy. It was the same plain white nightgown.
"I dunno," Rhysenn replied, pulling up her guard again, just to be safe. "You choose."
Peter grinned half-heartedly, obviously not too intrigued at the prospect that he might be seeing yet another armoire full of frilly pink dresses. "Don't worry," Rhysenn continued, as if reading his mind, "they're nothing like my sisters."
At this his face brightened, and he scrunched up his nose playfully. The two headed into Rhysenn's room, much different than her sister's. It was large, clean, dark, and more Victorian in style.
Rhysenn pulled open her own armoire, revealing a large assortment of clothes. Thankfully, there were no frilly pink clothes of any sort. What the armoire did contain, however, were boyish looking work pants, ladylike black dresses, corsets, and many black skirts.
"Here," Peter said, taking almost no time to even assess the clothes in front of him. "Wear this."
He was holding a simple cotton work shirt and brown pants. "These should be comfortable."
Rhysenn grinned, letting down her guard for a moment. Motioning for Peter to turn around, she started to pull her nightgown over her head. As it was halfway off, however, Rhiannon burst into the room with false grandeur.
"La piccoli pastorella..." Rhysenn commented with a smirk, to which Rhiannon replied by throwing herself at a very horrified Peter.
The sight of seeing Rhysenn with her nightgown half off, coupled with the sight of a drugged up Little Bo Peep, had effectively rendered him speechless for the second time in his life. The first was when Wendy had given him her kiss, and that was far more enjoyable than seeing Rhiannon dressed up. Rhysenn half naked, not so bad...
"Shall we go?" Rhiannon asked bubbly and smiling, holding her hand out to Peter. He didn't take it.
"Actually," Rhysenn cut in, "I have to change first. Then we'll go."
Rhiannon's smile faded.
"Oh." She replied curtly, and flounced over to her sister's bed and sat down, pouting.
Within a few minutes, Rhysenn emerged from her twin's room dressed and ready to go.
"So," she said, smiling softly at Peter, "where are we going?"
Peter grinned proudly and placed his hands on his hips once again. Tinkerbell hovered next to his ear, every once and awhile tugging on a strand of his hair impatiently.
"Well," Peter said, "Neverland."
Rhiannon and Rhysenn both furrowed their eyebrows, equally confused and beautiful at the same. Yes, they were beautiful, but in different ways. Rhysenn was more like Wendy, beautiful in the simple sense. Rhiannon was more like Tinkerbell, girly and frilly and elegant. Also, equally as vain, it seemed.
Tink once again pulled on a lock of Peter's hair, and he swatted her away impatiently. She flew backwards by the sheer force of it, and landed with a squeak in one of Rhiannon's white powder puffs.
She proceeded to scream angry obscenities in the fairy language, which was the tinkling of bells that Rhysenn had so come to hate.
"How pretty!" Rhiannon squealed, clasping her hands over her heart and giggling.
Peter gave her a skeptical look.
"You are," he said, his eyebrows furrowed, "talking about Tink, right?"
Rhiannon nodded, and Peter snorted in an attempt to hold in laughter, for fear of offending the girl.
Peter gave Rhysenn a piteous look, very sorry that she had to live with Rhiannon and put up with her, and approached the angry fairy slowly. "Tink," he whispered gently, trying to calm her down, "we're gonna need you in order to get back home. You know that, right?"
Tink screamed something most likely very offensive, because Peter's eyes grew wide in horror. He grabbed the struggling fairy and shook her as hard as he could, coating the twins with a fine shimmering dust.
Several things happened at once. Rhiannon and Rhysenn began to float up into the air, Tink grew very dazed and fell back down into the snow white powder, effectively covering herself in it, and, worst of all, a furious Maria burst into the room.
