Tinkerbell was worried.

This was the only conclusion the pixie could come up with. The heavy feeling in the pit of her tiny stomach, the constant pull in the back of her mind, the way her heart would flutter every morning when she woke with the sun. The way her mind would wander, and her eyes would flitter around until they rested on that head of wild, garnet hair, and then her tiny tummy would drop out and the feelings would start all over.

Tinkerbell was worried, worried about Peter.

He didn't laugh anymore, it'd been weeks since she had heard him crow last. He didn't play games with the lost boys, and frankly Tink was getting a little fed up with the boys using her in all their games just because Peter was neglecting them. If they woke her in the middle of the night one more time to play 'night-badminton' with her as the glowing birdie, she'd strangle the lot of them in their sleep.

Tinkerbell sighed and stretched her wings. She pulled back the moss hangings over the entrance to her small cubby-hole-room, and fluttered out towards the only light left burning in hangman's tree.

She peeked through the long bear-skin rug that hung over the doorway to Peter's room, and saw his empty hammock swaying in the breeze from the open window. Tinkerbell's shoulders drooped a bit, and she glided gently into the room. There was no change then; Peter was still at his nightly post. Tinkerbell perched on the windowsill and sat down, her arms around her knees as her luminescent face tipped up to watch the face of the boy she loved, and would always love.

It pained her to see him like this, and know that there was nothing she could do. If only she were his size, she could hold him, comfort him the way she ached to. But reality was a cruel fellow, so all she could do was watch as the light in his eyes fell farther and farther away. He was giving up, she could tell. His hope was rapidly fading away, just like his world was.

Tink turned her head away to look out at Neverland, lit by the stars and two large moons. The Island was beautiful still, but there was a stillness in the air that made all the inhabitants tense and a bit nervous.

Neverland was dying.

A little more of the magic would fade every night, and the Island would look less lush, not quite so tropical, and the music that always seemed to hum through the air from nowhere had faded into a pained moan that whispered through the tired trees, and the dried up petals of once brilliant blooms.

Tink closed her sapphire eyes and turned her face away. It seemed that it hurt her to look anywhere lately.

A heavy sigh caused her to look up at the boy standing next to the window. He too had closed his eyes, not able to watch his home fade away right in front of him. His face looked tired as he raised his hands to his face and sank into a crouch against the wall. Tink immediately flew down and perched on his shoulder, walking towards his ear so that she could reach out and place a tiny hand on his cheek. She nearly broke down herself when her hand was immediately wet with his tears.

Tink tried everything she knew to try and calm him, to stop his heart from hurting him so. She brushed the hair away from his forehead and began to sing in her own way, a tiny chorus of chimes and bells that delicately rose over the sound of Peter's sniffles and hitched breathing.

Tink knew he would never admit it in a lifetime, but he was scared. She couldn't' blame him. After all, it was the reason he had come to Neverland with her in the first place, he'd feared it, and nearly it alone all his life.

Neverland was dying, and so was Peter Pan.

***

Teaken moved quickly, shoving me off of him and into the sand. Looking back, I suppose I should be proud that he had learned his lesson that fast, and that he knew he'd better just get away far and fast before I kick the crap out of him and his unborn children, but at the time all I thought about was my sore body hitting the incredibly hard ground, and my headache increasing exponentially.

"What the FUCK, Teaken?!" I shrieked, making my own headache worse. "Is this how you people treat invalids?!" I winced and dropped my head into my hands, groaning.

"Only invalids who react to pain with violence, ergo you." I heard Teaken stand and step towards me, crouching by my side. "How are you feeling?"

"How do I look like I'm feeling you insensitive ass?" I moaned without much conviction. My head was spinning, I wasn't quite certain my legs were attached correctly to my body, and for some reason, my eyes burned with tears that were threatening to spill down my cheeks at any quick movement.

"Can you walk?"

Maybe it was the fact that I didn't know if I could walk, or maybe it was the undertone of actual concern I heard in Teaken's voice. Well, whatever it was, it destroyed the dam behind my eyes, and I immediately slumped to the ground sobbing.

"Mary, what..?" Teaken was panicking. Not that I could blame him. I wouldn't know what to do with a sobbing me either. Especially when he knows I tend to become violent in emotional situations. And believe me, I was very emotional just then…

"Are you hurt? Are you bleeding?" Teaken tried to peer closer to my face, but I just howled louder. Teaken became frustrated with me. "Mary, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong! Let me see, Mary. Move your arms…"

My body was suddenly so completely exhausted that I could barely force air into my lungs, let alone stop Teaken when he pulled my arms away from my face. He looked into my face with badly veiled concern, but I couldn't even find the energy to raise my eyes to give him a dirty look. Silent tears continued to course down my cheeks, worsening my pounding headache and deepening the confusion that clouded all my senses. Why was I crying? I was filled with such sorrow, and I had no idea what was causing it. It was like waking from an incredibly sad dream and not being able to remember it, and yet you are left with the emotions of it. Like a nightmare leaves you breathless and in a cold sweat, something had left me hollow and cold.

Teaken was talking to me, I could hear him as if he were far away, or talking to me through thick glass. I couldn't focus on what he said, my mind was too clouded. And the exhaustion I mentioned earlier was damn insistent that I sleep as soon as possible.

"Teaken…" I croaked weakly.

He stopped in his tirade of health questions and looked down at me. "Mary?"

"I'm tired, I think…maybe I should…sleep soon." My eyes were closing even as I said it.

"I think that's a good idea. Give me your hand Mary, that's a girl," Teaken pulled me up against him and slung my arm around his shoulders. "It's not too far from here, can you walk for a bit? I'll help you, c'mon."

"Alright," I smiled weakly and leaned on Teaken heavily as we walked.

I don't remember the trip, I'm pretty sure Teaken dragged me halfway there. But I do remember waking up. I don't think I could ever forget it.

"Mary, we're here." Teaken touched my face to try and rouse me from my exhaustion induced stupor.

"Good…bed," was all I could muster just then.

Teaken chuckled. "I can't get you there without your help, I promise, just a bit farther. Open your eyes for me."

My eyes fought valiantly, but eventually I won the war. My eyes adjusted to the light, and I focused on a tree that was in front of us. The biggest tree I've ever seen. The strangest tree I've ever seen. In fact, now that I was conscience enough to think about it, I wasn't fully convinced that it even truly was a tree anymore.

My vocal chords, however, were still half asleep I think, because all I could manage to articulate was a weak:

"Wow."

Teaken grinned. "Wait 'til we get inside."

That woke up the rest of me. "And just how do we do that?" I asked, not finding any semblance of a door, or of a hole of any kind.

Teaken stepped up to the side of the great tree and grabbed onto one of the thick vines that hid most of the trunk from view. He then held out his hand and motioned me towards him.

I only laughed incredulously at him. "If you think I'm in any condition to climb, you are out of your Neverland-lovin' mind."

"Just come here." Teaken persisted.

Alright, I wasn't against proving him wrong.

"Grab a vine,"

I did so, still shaking my head.

"Now, hold on."

The amused tone in his voice got my attention back, and luckily, out of my fortunate distrust of him, I gripped the vine in an instant death grip.

Thank God for my trust issues.

My arm was suddenly yanked violently upwards while the lower half of the vine curled around one of my legs. I didn't have time to scream, so I just squeezed my eyes shut and hung on with both arms. I felt myself being pulled up into the branches of the gigantic tree, felt the leaves brushing over my head and body as we continued to steadily rise. Then, just as suddenly as the vine had pulled me up, it stopped, causing me to gasp in surprise as well as bounce up and down on the vine a bit because of the sudden stop of motion. I finally let out the breath I didn't realize I'd been holding, and opened my eyes.

I don't even know if I can describe what I saw. I know I can never give it justice, but bare with me as I try. Just picture what I tell you, and then think of the most beautiful things you've ever seen. The mixture of the two should be somewhere close.

My eyes weren't wide enough. I couldn't see enough at one time. It was amazing. The tree itself was ancient and gorgeous, with leaves of every imaginable color, and flowers of unimaginable hews. The vines hung everywhere, sometimes creating beautiful blossomed curtains, and other times just a single curly-cue adorned the area. The branches were wide enough for two people to walk side by side, well, most of them were, at least, and each of them lead to an opening in the trunk of the giant tree. Some of the openings had doors, others had curtains of blossoming vines, and still others were void of any covering.

Before I could look anymore, the vine I was on gently shook up and down once, as if politely asking me to get off. That boggled me for a moment, which Teaken must have noticed, because he smiled and nodded as he offered me his hand to help me onto the nearest branch.

Even though he'd already answered my unspoken question, I had to ask anyway. "Is…is this tree…alive?" I whispered.

"Yep. Living and breathing just like the trees in your world, but with its own personality as well. You'll find everything in Neverland is a bit more alive here than in you're used to. Luckily, our tree is a bit more patient than others. There's an apple tree down by the coast that will shake you out if it thinks you're being too picky in choosing an apple." Teaken smiled as he said this, and gave the vine that had carried me up a loving pat.

I swear I heard the tree hum its approval as it lowered the vines back to the ground.

"This is unbelievable, Teaken. I mean, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." I'm sure I looked like a goldfish the way I was gaping around, but it couldn't be helped.

"You haven't seen anything yet, come with me." Teaken pulled me behind him as he walked to the end of the branch we were on and through a curtain of blossoming vines. There was one large vine behind that curtain that seemed to be made out of many vines that had been braided and twisted together. Teaken grabbed hold of it, and pulled me towards him. I wrapped both of my arms around the vine, and Teaken wrapped his free arm around me and pulled gently on the vine. It immediately curled around each of our legs and began to left us, although not quite as violently as the first vines had.

It deposited us on a higher branch, and after helping me off, Teaken pulled back another curtain of flowery vines and motioned me through. Walking carefully, I moved past him, and up the small incline in the branch I was on. It occurred to me that we were walking up to the very top of the tree because the leaves were getting sparser as we went along. I got excited, anticipating the view of the entire island, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.

"Oh my God…" I breathed and had to reach back for Teaken to steady me.

It was sunset in Neverland, and that meant two different suns spilling their purple and red evening light onto the most perfect piece of land I'd ever beheld. That I ever will behold. There were green mountains packed with lush, tropical plants, crystal clear lagoons that gently reflected the deep colors of dusk. Flowers absolutely everywhere, and yet, in the midst of all of this beauty, I couldn't help but feel as if I'd seen it all somewhere before. But surely that was impossible, I'd never even been close to this kind of beauty before. I'd wished for it, hoped for it, dreamed and imagined it, but to see it come to life, to exist…

It became too much. I placed a hand on my beating heart and leaned back into Teaken, depending on him to explain it all. "How…?" I breathed, not daring to blink, afraid to miss a color, a breeze, a ray of weaning sun.

"Neverland is made up of the dreams of millions of people, the hopes of every living soul, the imaginations of hundreds of creative innocent children, the prayers of desperate adults. It is what all of you hope for, what all of you need. At least, it was…" Teaken sadly trailed off.

I sniffed, and wiped discretely at a tear that had somehow found its way onto my cheek. "Wh-what do you mean it 'was'?"

Teaken sighed, and pointed to the left of me. I followed his hand and gasped. There was a patch of land that started at the coast, and drifted inward, that was completely devoid of color, of life, of the beauty that was so blatant everywhere else on the island. It was brown, it was sad…and it was spreading.

"Teaken, what-?" I turned my head towards him, but couldn't take my eyes away from the devastated bit of the island.

"Neverland is dying, Mary. Because it is made up of dreams, hopes, imagination, it needs those things to exist. We need those things to exist. Your world…your world is becoming so cold, so lifeless, so automatic that it's taking the life out of Neverland. It's draining the magic," Teaken turned my face to his and locked his eyes onto mine. "That's why we need you. You're here to create something that will sustain that magic forever, something that has hopes and dreams that will never fade."

"But…how? I mean, what the hell can I do? I'm just a kid," I sniffed, overcome by it all.

"Maybe you are. But look out there, Mary. 'Kids' did all that. Children in the literal sense as well as children at heart. Children created us, and now they are destroying us. They don't have enough to believe in anymore, not enough to hope for, or to imagine, because they feel that they have it all there, at their fingertips. They've mistaken their precious technology for magic, and Neverland is paying for it. It'll all disappear, all of it, and all of us, unless you help us."

"Enough with the guilt trip!" I cried, wiping my tears on the backs or my hands. "I'm here, aren't I? You don't have to sell me anything, you've already got me. Now I just have to know what the hell to do."

Teaken smiled weakly. "You need some rest. Things will all be clearer later. For now, let's get you set up with a bed, shall we?"

I sighed and took one last look out at the beautiful view, forcing myself not to look at the bit that was dying because it gave me a sick feeling in my stomach, and turned to follow Teaken back through the flowered curtain.

I was quiet as we traveled back down the vine, and as we walked down the branch to the draping of vines across the opening there. I didn't make a sound as Teaken showed me to a small room with a delightful looking cot in the corner. I simply smiled and nodded when he explained how to get to the facilities, should I need them. There was so much going on in my head, I didn't even respond to whatever he said after that.

He frowned and knelt in front of me as I sat on the bed, hands clasped tightly in my lap. "Are you going to be alright?" he asked, his eyes searching my face.

I smiled and nodded, even as a tear slipped down my cheek.

Teaken smiled sadly at me and wiped the tear away with his hand. "I know this is a lot to handle right now, no one will blame you for crying. Just get some rest, and don't think about it until the morning, alright?"

I nodded obediently, and then Teaken tucked me in. He kissed my forehead before he left, and then left the small room quickly, pulling a curtain shut behind him. I still didn't make a sound as both of the suns set over the island of Neverland and the darkness enveloped the small hollow I was sleeping in. My silence continued through-out my dreams and into the morning as I slowly rose out of my deep sleep and took a deep breath of air, coming awake in layers. I stretched my body and slowly opened my eyes to see four strange male faces staring at me from beneath the curtain that hung over the doorway to the room I was currently occupying.

It was then that finally I broke my silence, in the form of a phrase that I'm quite certain my aunt would not approve of.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

****

A.N. : Heh. Quite a potty mouth, that Mary. Hope you liked it! I'm not entirely happy with my description of Neverland, but in my mind, it is simply the most beautiful place I could ever imagine, so imagine your own favorite beautiful places, and you're there! It was my birthday yesterday…I'm 20!! *gasp* It's really kind of depressing. But I stick to my slogan no matter what…: Grow older, but NEVER grow up! It makes sense, just ponder it for a moment…^_~ Please review!!