"Teaken,"

"…"

"Teaken,"

*angry sigh*

"Teaken, either listen to me or lose me because my arms are about to fall off. I can't keep this up anymore." I couldn't help the small whine that entered my voice.

Teaken rolled his eyes. "Mary, we're almost there, I promise."

"You said that hours ago," I pointed out, trying hard not to let my eyes fall shut.

"I said that ten minutes ago, when you asked me. And ten minutes before that, and five minutes before that…" Teaken grumbled.

"See? Ha! You lied then. If we were almost there, we'd have been there by now. Are you sure we aren't lost? I wouldn't blame you if we were, everything looks the same from up here…"

Teaken didn't answer me, but I swear I could hear his teeth grinding as he changed his angle and flew higher. All right, so he was frustrated with me. I could take a hint. And maybe I was being just a tiny bit annoying, but what else could I do but ask questions? After all, how many times had I flown to Neverland? I had no idea what was going on, and being me, which I am, I like to be in control of things, and when I'm not in control I tend to get nervous, and when I'm nervous sometimes I start to…ramble. damn it. What could I do about it? I'm a nervous rambler and he happened to be the only one around to-

"Teaken?"

I glanced above me and below , then turned on my back to see behind me. He wasn't anywhere in my view. I listened, and heard nothing but the whistle of the wind past my ears.

"Teaken, you bastard. Is this your idea of a joke? How old are you, ten?" I scowled as I waited for him to emerge and laugh at me for being afraid of being left alone.

And yet, nothing.

Well fine. If he didn't want to take the bait of a perfect chance to mock me, I'd just have to serve it to him on a silver platter.

"Teaken! Please come out! I'm really scared…" I made sure to add a little hitch in my voice, so he'd think I was crying. Boys always stop playing around when the girl cries, gets 'em every time.

Only the wind answered me. I looked around again, my heart fluttering a little with nervousness now. As I looked around a bit frantically, I wasn't watching where I was going, and flew straight into the middle of a dense cloud.

This wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't been panicking already, but the adrenaline was already rushing through my system. I was quickly blinded, and the thick wetness of the cloud made it difficult for me to catch my breath. Memories of being in a similar situation immediately poured unbidden into my head.

"Look out, LOOK OUT!!"

Glass breaking, iron groaning, people screaming…

Smoke, too much smoke, I can't breathe…

Tires shrieking, wetness on my face, blood, but it's not mine.

"Mommy!"

Tears now, tears and blood on my face, my arm aches, why won't mommy answer me? My throat burns, I can't call to mommy anymore, can't breathe, too much smoke, I can't see, where are you mommy?

*TEAKEN'S PERSPECTIVE* (just til Mary wakes up…^_~)

"Mary!"

Teaken went into an all out dive as he saw Mary's sudden pitch from the sky. He'd been keeping an eye on her, even though he had purposely flown into a cloud so that she wouldn't be able to see him. Maybe if she didn't see anyone to talk to, she'd shut her sodding mouth.

He'd lost sight of her for a moment, though, and thought she too must have flown into a cloud. Not exactly up for a game of hide and seek, he'd flown out of the cloud he'd been nestled in just in time to hear Mary's horrific shriek and see her limp body fall out of the sky like a stone.

He let himself go into a free fall, it was the only way he'd catch her. His eyes teared up as he shot head first towards her, never taking his eyes off of her. He stretched out his arms when he nearer her, and grasped onto one of her arms. He quickly put his pixie dust back into action as the ground began to rush up to meet them. It wasn't enough, however, and he knew they were going to hit the ground. He focused all of his energy on flying in order to slow them down as much as possible. He gathered Mary close to his body, ready to try and shield he as much as he could from the fall. Looking below him, he blinked in a bit of relief. At least it wasn't land. He prayed that the water was deep, warm, and rock-free as they fell out of the sky to meet it.

My head hurts, my arm hurts, where's Mommy?

"Mommy?" My voice hurts too, where am I?

"Don't move, sweety, you hurt your arm pretty badly. Would you like some water?"

"Where's my mommy?"

"My name is Joan, and I'll be taking care of you until you feel better. Ok, Mary?"

"Ok."

"Are you hungry at all?"

"No."

"Ok. I'll be right outside, push this little button, look this way dear, push this button if you need me, alright?"

"Where's my mommy?"

"Try to get some sleep."

Teaken spat out the bitter salt water as he swam with one arm wrapped around Mary, the other pulling them both a little closer with each powerful stroke towards the shores of Neverland (*_* that sentence could be kinda sexy in another situation…^_~).

His dragged them both up onto the beach and collapsed, rolling Mary onto her side in case she decided to choke up sea water. He then laid on his back and tried to slow his racing heart. His body was sore from the impact, which thankfully, hadn't been too bad, although he certainly could have lived without it.

Mary hadn't regained consciousness yet, and that worried Teaken a bit. He grunted as he sat up and carefully dislodged his arm from under her. He pushed her wet hair away from her face and leaned over her. His eyebrows drew together as he took in her pale face. What had happened? Had she lost her happy thought? Then why was she unconscious? If she'd merely fainted because of the fall, surely the dip in Neverland's harbor would have roused her.

Suddenly, her body gave a lurch, and a bit of sea water dribbled out between her lips. Teaken rubbed her back and held her face away from the sand as her body automatically rid its lungs of the water. He kept hold of her as her body continued to heave after all the water was brought up. Never once through this entire ordeal did her eyes open, or even stir. Now Teaken was really worried. After all, this girl was to create the future for Neverland, and if she died…

She's breathing, Teaken told himself sternly as he picked her up once her retching stopped, she's alive and she's going to stay that way, damn it.

Night was falling over Neverland, and Teaken had lost his supply of pixie dust to Neverland's harbor. There was no way they'd make it to the Tree House tonight. He had to find some shelter.

Mary gave a violent shiver in his arms, and Teaken sighed. He added 'make a fire' to his immediate list of things to do, and quickened his pace. He pushed through the jungle undergrowth and walked towards an outcropping of rock that he knew would house some nice sized caves. Wonderful thing about Neverland, it was perfect. When you needed shelter, shelter you'd have.

He shifted Mary over his shoulder and picked a few big fan palm leaves. He lay them on the floor of the cave, and then lay Mary down on them. He ran out again, and searched the surrounding area for kindling materials and flint. Eventually finding what her was looking for, he jogged back to the cave and set down his supplies. He noted that Mary hadn't moved still, and began arranging the fire pit. He stacked the kindling, and began to strike the flint above it, creating spark after spark, and waiting for one to catch. His brow began to sweat as he worked, and he turned to glance at Mary as he continued to strike the flint.

He missed the flint and struck his finger when he saw her wide dark eyes staring back at him. He swore and brought the offended finger to his mouth. He removed it and turned carefully towards Mary.

"M-Mary? You all right? How do you feel?" he asked as he scooted towards her. She gave no response, nothing to show that she'd even heard him. But her eyes remained open, and trained on…something Teaken couldn't see. He moved closer and placed his hand gently on hers, trying for any kind of reaction. She didn't even blink.

Teaken shivered, her eyes looked so empty, lost, young even. "Mary, talk to me, please," Teaken whispered, grasping her hand in his.

She continued to stare for a moment, then a tear slipped down her cheek, and he mouth worked open.

"She's dead?"

The whispered question was so filled with pain and sadness and disbelief, that Teaken would have believed one of the young boys had asked him about a pet of theirs that had died.

"Who-who's dead, Mary? What are you talking about?" Teaken leaned closer to hear her whispered words.

"Bring her back," Mary whispered. "Bring her BACK!"

Mary lost it then, sobbing and kicking, rolling around and clawing at her face and at anything she could reach. Teaken immediately moved to hold her down. He jumped behind her and pulled her into his lap, holding her arms to her sides with one of his arms around her waist, and the other held her head to his chest so she would stop whipping her neck back and forth in anguish.

"Whoa, whoa, Mary. Stop it, relax! Nothing is going to hurt you! I've got you, I've got you, relax, that's it, calm down, relax, that's a girl…"

Mary went slack in his arms, having exhausted herself again. She slowly blinked open her eyes again, and Teaken was relieved to see that they didn't hold the empty stare that had haunted them earlier. They were bright and alive as they darted around the cave, and then to Teaken, then to his arms around her, and back to Teaken.

"Teaken?" Mary choked weakly.

"You're alright, Mary, I've got you." Teaken said, trying to reassure the disoriented girl.

"I see that. And just what the HELL am I doing in your lap?!"

*****

A.N. Hello all! Wow, over a hundred reviews already, I didn't even think that many people lurked in the Peter Pan area of ff.net. Well you proved me wrong, keep it up! ^_^

Yeah…er, sorry about that cliffhanger, but that was the best place to split the chunk I wrote today. Bwahahha. That's right, there's already MORE coming! *collective gasps* I know! Craziness, right?! It is absoLUTE craziness! But the musical (Footloose!! ^_^) is over now and I want to write as much as possible before the One Act festival starts and rehearsals start up again for those. I won't promise a date, because I can never seem to keep those kind of promises, and I don't want anyone hunting me down and calling me a liar. Well, on that note, I don't want anyone hunting me down at all…O_o

Hope you enjoyed, and yes, Peter is coming soon! I hope….^_~ Review, you're SO good at it!!