Hey guys, I'm back after doing all of the year 12 exams and schoolies.
Now bring on christmas! For a Christmas special I'm writing just a one shot on Peter Pan which is no way related to this story. It will be up on either Christmas day, Boxing day or the day after, depending what time I get up to put it on before family arrives (Australian days). It is just a merry one shot for christmas. Because I can :)
(and as a slight little I-hope-you-forgive-me-for-being-so-late! :) )
But on with the chapter, you've waited long enough! Enjoy :)
Chapter Fifteen- Aftermath.
Captain James Hook marched through the forest, a wounded Tigerlily in his arms. He grinned at the moon before turning to his rallied men behind him.
"Do what you will tonight men. This is what it feels like to win."
The men cheered as they dragged their prizes for the night to the boat.
A broken Peter flew back to Hangmans tree, without his lost boys, without John and Michael.
He placed Wendy down on his bed while wondering what to do. He needed help.
He needed Pixie Hollow.
A surprised John and Michael ran onto the ravaged Indian-tribe camp, having gotten lost from the smoke on the way. They found the camp in ruins, children crying and many others in despair.
The Indian Chief walked up behind them and placed his hands on a shoulder each.
They hung their heads in defeat.
Peter ran his hands through his hair. He was sitting in a twig leaf chair on the opposite side of the room after having flown to Pixie Hollow faster than he had ever flown before. The fairies had agreed to help and gave him their magic honey syrup entwined with pixie dust they use to cure the injured.
Peter had used the ointment as directed, applied a healthy dose on the back of Wendy's head where she had been hit after patching the wound, then tilting her head back to drink the rest of the ointment.
Peter stood up and gazed at his bed where Wendy lay. Her hands were at rest across her stomach, and her eyes remained closed, oblivious to the world around her. Peter noticed how peaceful she looked as his eyes began to grow moist. Peter turned his head away, too overcome with emotion to face her.
It had been his fault. He didn't protect her. But what if Hook had gotten to her first?
Peter bantered around thoughts in his head before becoming so incredibly angry with himself, he broke the silence of his internal conflict.
"I had to send her away! Hook would have captured her for sure!" He hissed under his breath. "I wasn't there to save her. She should not suffer for my cause! I should have taught her how to fight! I should have tried harder to be everywhere with her! I should have told her…
I should have told her…
I should have saved her…"
Tigerlily struggled against her bonds, she was thrown into the belly of the ship, below deck. The floorboards were rotten and a dripping noise echoed from a hole in the wall. The wooden door that was the only entry and exit had one grate at head height of an average person, so sitting down, Tigerlily had to crane her neck to see what lay through the other side of the door. Tigerlily surveyed her area, not impressed with what she saw. It seemed obvious that she was in the ships prison. With its dark and dank atmosphere. She tried to ignore the fact she was alone.
Now one might have thought that in this predicament they would have given up hope, but Tigerlily held strong, struggling against her ropes in the night that never seemed to end.
After what felt like hours upon hours of struggling, she eventually gave up. It seemed impossible to loosen the bonds. The pirates had grown smarter.
This was something to fear.
As she wallowed in the darkness a voice seeped out from the other side of the door. There was no mistake to who the chilling voice belonged to.
"My dear Tigerlily, it seems once again you have had a slight, misfortune." Hook smirked. "As I predict you are struggling against your rope, but fear not, as you will be disembarking from this ship very soon. I do believe you are familiar with a certain place called, 'Crocodile Creek'?"
Tigerlily looked through the grate of the wooden door with as much hate as she could muster.
James Hook was not quite ready to celebrate the night's events, after his report back from Smee. They had the one task of capturing Wendy, and they had failed. He himself could not have made the situation anymore easier. He decided to make that point to a cowering Smee.
"You had one task!" He yelled, pointing his gleaming hook which had been robbed of a life, at Smee.
"Y…y…yes sir..." Smee stammered.
"And yet you tell me you lost the girl? How can you lose a twelve year old girl Smee!"
"She's not twelve sir, she's…" Smee trailed
"I do not care what blasted age she is, I want her here!" Hook lowered his voice significantly after his outburst. "All that had to be done Smee, was to knock her out, or tie her up, or lead her into a trap. There were numerous possibilities. And yet you return to me with nothing." Hooks beady eye's rested upon the retreating pirate who was beginning to sweat.
"Yes sir, sorry sir." Smee knew it was best to agree. The captains cabin could not have shrunk any smaller in his opinion. The red backdrop seemed too close and the golden rugs seemed too bright.
Hook walked over to his piano and started pounding the keys into an aggressive beat. Smee understood that it was his dismissal.
As Smee walked out of the cabin he motioned for Briggs and Starkey to talk. They abandoned their punishment of mopping the deck and rushed over to Smee.
"I told you she be cuttin' me!" Starkey whimpered to Smee clutching his bandaged stomach.
"Yeah, because you couldn't handle one little girl." Briggs taunted back.
"There be two…" Starkey whispered.
Briggs looked at the two pirates like they were idiots, which in his opinion, they were. They didn't realise as much as he had that they had gotten off lightly.
This time.
John and Michael had helped the Indians as much as they could and begun their hunt to find the lost boys. Great Big Little Panther thanked them for their help as they went on their way. If they didn't find the lost boys tonight, they vowed to return to Hangmans tree in the morning, which was fast approaching.
The forest was dark with no moon to guide the boys way. They had taken a torch from the Indian tribe to guide them whilst they waited for the moon to appear in front of all the smoke that clogged the night air.
Michael grasped onto Johns hand, never speaking a word. They both knew each other's thoughts.
After a solid trek through shrubs and stepping on leaves that were swept onto the forest floor, they started to call out for the lost boys.
"Nibs! Curley! Where are you? Tootles?!"
They repeated their call until nearing the end of a path, John moved a branch away to find the lost boys sobbing in a circle, tied up to a thick tree in the middle of a small clearing. John signalled to Michael and they scanned the forest line in case any more pirates appeared.
"A gentleman always assesses every vantage." John whispered to himself to sound brave.
After being satisfied there were no more lurking pirates, John and Michael burst out of the tree line to save the lost boys.
The lost boys cried in fright which in turn made the darling children scream. The boys looked at one another for a moment as John turned a shade of pink for screaming, followed by a rapturous course of laughter. John and Michael hurried to untie the ropes, with each boy saying his 'thank you' (a manner learnt from Wendy) upon their release.
As all the lost boys became free, they delved into their tales of what had happened. John and Michael listened until a twig snapped somewhere in the near vicinity of the tree line they had just appeared from. The boys stood up apprehensively and grabbed their discarded weapons which were lying in a pile opposite the tree, just out of reach. Each boy grabbed his respective weapon while John adjusted his hat, and they formed a line behind him to march back to Hangmans tree where safety and Peter would surely be.
Peter sat on his throne wondering how the nights events had changed so suddenly. He was just having fun with his men and Wendy.
He held his head in his hands as the unfamiliar feeling of sorrow coursed through his body. He longed for Wendy to be awake, for her to tell her stories, the greatest gift anyone could give to boys without mothers.
But most of all he wished for her to be by his side.
He never felt quite as brave with his men as he did Wendy, as he could show off his rooster crowing talent and his fighting, as he had often done. It had become boring with his men as they were starting to pick up on his crow and his stances, which Peter had to firmly remind them amidst a good fight that he was the only one allowed to crow like a rooster and for them to pick up their own technique.
He became drowsy in his throne, but pinched himself to stay awake, hoping that Wendy would wake up any moment now.
His head snapped to attention when he heard some voices coming through the underground tunnels.
Peter jumped out of his throne, dagger at the ready. No one would have mercy tonight. Not as long as Wendy was asleep. He waited in the middle of the room for the voices to show their bodies.
His lost boys with John and Michael came running down the hall.
The boys had swapped their stories and collaborated on what had actually happened. John and Michael waited by their sisters bed, mumbling numerous apologies for anything they could think of that they had done wrong. Peter walked over to the boys and told them to get some rest. Morning was fast approaching and they needed their strength for what the day might bring. He needed his men ready to fight, and Wendy wasn't awake to enforce the curfew.
After all the boys were cosy in their hammocks and leaf nests, Peter walked over to Wendy once more to see if she was okay. He lifted her head gently to see if the fairy magic had done its work, to which it had. Her skull had completely healed, with no trace of an injury ever having been there.
He placed her head back on the pillow and watched her sleep, her chest moving up and down with every breath she took.
"Wake up Wendy." He pleaded.
He watched her a moment longer, as her eyes fluttered open.
To a person, the return of a lost love, especially when you don't know it, is a gift beyond what words could express. That is exactly how Peter felt. The return of his Wendy made him the happiest boy alive and he knew from that moment on that he would never need pixie dust to fly again.
Just as a reminder, I have a slight little update section on my profile which I update monthly, or if something comes up, which gives you the details on the progress of my story.
And as always, review please! I really do like to hear your thoughts on this and help it mould and create into something wonderful for everyone to read!
Until next time my darlings! :)