I watch the sparkling night sky as a new Peter Pan arrives. A young boy with long purple hair. The Blonde Pirate is driven by a righteous, but ruthless fury instead of a solemn rage like the Blue Pirate was. I can only stare in sad silence at the mess that I've made….
I was an innocent little girl back then. My parents had both died when I was six years old. I was raised in an orphanage with children who were strangers to me.
None of them befriended me. I was too quiet and strange for them. I was in my own little world dreaming of happiness.
I created three imaginary friends. A Fairy, a Mermaid, and an Indian. I would always sneak outside to the lake at night and play with them.
The Indian had a huge, friendly tiger that I'd pet and ride on. I sang with the Mermaid. I'd tell jokes with the Fairy. They were the only escape from my horrible reality.
Months passed and I was wondering when my living nightmare would end. I wanted to create a world where I can live forever in happiness. A place with music, beauty, and adventure. A place that could never exist in the real world. Neverland. I'd call my dream world, Neverland!
The Fairy came up with an idea. "I'll take us there! We'll be forever happy in Neverland!"
I asked her how that was possible when it was a place that I imagined. It couldn't possibly be real.
"Did you forget that you also imagined us and we're right in front of you!"
It sounded logical to me, so I agreed. The Fairy grabbed my finger and we all began to be transported into another world. The world that I invented.
It was beautiful. An enormous teal ocean, a crystal blue sky, forests, islands, lagoons, waterfalls, and mountains. A bright, cheerful sun greeted me. If the sun was this beautiful, I couldn't wait to see the moon. I wish it was always a full moon too! There were even little houses where I could live in!
No dark, damp orphanages with cruel, impatient headmasters. The trees were so pretty. Delicious food, no worries about money here, I could hear music playing, and it's all just for me and my friends! I can also fly like the Fairy too!
Neverland is simply amazing!
The four of us lived in perfect peace. I couldn't be happier.
However, I couldn't control my thoughts and memories. I dreamed of my parents. My father would always tell me pirate stories for fun. He'd imitate their speech patterns and pretend to sword fight with me.
My mother would sing songs with me. One of my aunts would joke around. Another aunt had a chubby cat named "Tiger".
I realized that my imaginary friends were derived from my beloved family.
I went to sleep that night dreaming of the pirate stories my father told.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The next morning I awoke to explosions and utter chaos. What could've happened?! Neverland is peaceful!
I look towards the sound of the commotion. A pirate ship firing cannonballs at a village!
It took a short while, but I remembered what the Fairy told me. "Did you forget that you imagined us?"
My dream! I created the pirate ship!
No one in my paradise knows how to battle. If this pirate is allowed to continue with his wrath, my dream will become a nightmare.
We need some hero to come to our rescue.
My friends come to my aid and we hide from the destruction inside a cave.
"There are no heroes here, Wendy!" the Fairy alerted me to a grave error in this supposed world of perfection.
"What can we do?" the Mermaid cried lamenting her beloved ocean waters being ruined with ash and her fellow sea-folk being poisoned with the soot.
The Indian worried dearly for her burning forests and the animals that fled and hid in terror.
I remembered my father's story once again. The hero was named Peter Pan. I always played Peter Pan. It seemed like it was up to me to defeat the Pirate to protect my fantasy. I brought him into this world and I can take him back out.
The Indian fashioned a bow and arrow for me. The Fairy provided me with the proper battle attire. Unfortunately, the Mermaid couldn't use her water magic with the oceans being so soiled as it were.
I made my way to the battlefield shaking in my boots. I've never fought anyone in my life. But I had to grow up and stand up to this madness.
I confronted the Pirate King at last. This was it. I had my bow and arrow, he had his sword. We charged.
I apparently wasn't as inept in battle as I thought. I had felled the evil beast. Neverland was safe again.
Like the magical place that Neverland was, all of the damage caused by the Pirate King began to heal itself.
I couldn't believe my eyes, but I wasn't complaining.
My friends and I hugged each other for we were all safe again.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Many years passed in Neverland and as those years passed, I began changing mentally. I began to wonder how much the real world has changed if at all. My imaginary world and friends didn't seem so magical anymore. I didn't hate them, but I wanted other things to do for entertainment. I figured that dreaming of pirates and other dangerous scenes would not bode well for Neverland.
I was also growing up physically.
I went to see my imaginary friends to see if they knew what to do, but something disconcerting awaited me.
They wouldn't acknowledge me! It was like I didn't exist anymore!
"Wendy has outgrown the Dream." the Fairy cryptically intoned to the Mermaid and the Indian.
"She is no longer here with us." the Mermaid said sadly.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was standing in front of them! How can they not see or hear me?!
I ran back to my cottage and found that I can no longer interact with anything there. My hands phased through everything I tried to touch.
I didn't understand it. I wanted out.
I ran to the cliff where I first landed here. I took a leap towards the eternal full moon. Instead of flying, I fell. There was no one to catch me.
Miraculously, I wasn't injured due to the ghostly state that I was in and landed on the ground and not through it.
I can't escape Neverland! It's impossible! I created it. Why won't it obey me?
I again remembered what the Fairy said: "Wendy has outgrown the Dream."
I grew up.
I returned to my former friends to observe their scheming.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
I was horrified.
With no one to interact with, Neverland began to slowly disintegrate. Dark clouds began to form, the trees wilted, oceans got lower, the animal life began to fade away.
It's all because I grew up!
The Fairy, Mermaid, and Indian concocted a plan. They would invite another child here to keep Neverland alive.
I want to scream that they're not real to begin with. Dreams are supposed to end! No matter how good they may be, dreams end eventually.
It's no use.
I realize a harsh truth: Neverland should've never existed.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Neverland began to heal itself again.
They invited a blue-haired boy to Neverland. They named him "Peter Pan" even though there was no Pirate to combat this time around.
From my perspective, he was a sweet child. He was afraid because his father had fallen ill and his mother uncharacteristically yelled at him for something frivolous.
Even though I hadn't known this poor boy, I could tell that his parents loved him dearly and hadn't meant to frighten him so. But he was a young boy of six years old. He didn't understand that.
I probably would've done the same if my mom yelled at me like that. I found myself shedding a little tear at the thought of them.
I realized how cruel I made the Fairy. Tearing a child away from his family over something that he'll develop out of naturally with time.
I watched his progress in Neverland. He seemed to truly enjoy himself. With no pirate or monster attacks, it seemed as if he'd do well. I just wish that he'd get over his fear and go home where he belonged while he still could.
Alas, my dread was proven right. He aged. When you age here, the magic fades away.
I began to notice something odd. Why did we grow up so fast here? It was only a few months and the boy was already eleven years old. Once he reached age sixteen, he'd be trapped here.
'Please return home, Kaito.'
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
I noted that Kaito began to look longingly at the full moon. I also began to wonder why he never spoke of his previous life like he did when he was younger.
I walked back to the lagoon where the Fairy, Mermaid, and Indian typically conversed. Maybe they'd let the reason slip out.
It was almost as if they read my mind.
"We couldn't risk him disappearing too like Wendy did. She disappeared because she wasn't happy here anymore."
"It's because of the real world. Wendy thought of the real world. Reality will destroy this world."
"Let's erase his memories of his home-world."
"But that's not going to stop him from growing up."
"I know that. We'll just bring another child here when that happens."
My eyes widened. They couldn't do that! That's kidnapping! I never even thought of harming people intentionally like that! Where are they getting these callous ideas from?
….It's because they believe that they're real…
I rush back to Kaito and monitor him. I can't interact with him like I want to so badly. The Fairy has never left his side. She guides him almost as if he's a dog. Telling him what to do and what not to do.
She's trying her best to keep him interested in Neverland. But it's not working. He's losing interest like I did. I expected him to fade away like I did, but since he didn't create Neverland, that won't happen.
How did my dream become such a horrid place as this?
Kaito becomes more and more despondent. He knows there's something wrong, but he can't place it.
He makes his way to the pirate ship that once terrorized Neverland during my first days here.
I follow him to see what he has in mind.
The Pirate that I defeated was a generic character. He had no history that I know of.
Kaito rustles through the black-haired Pirate's belongings.
I hear him utter terrible words. "There's something wrong here. Why can't I remember my past?"
He spent several more days in the pirate ship lounging and thinking. He could never discover any answers to his questions.
"I'll make a new life. Since I have no memories, I'll make new ones."
He dons a navy blue pirate get-up.
The revival of the Pirate King respawns his pirate subjects.
"This world is a farce. But I cannot return to that distant, forgotten world where I know I belong. Perhaps if I mess it up enough, it will end."
The Fairy and I look at Kaito in horror. The Fairy never expected their new Master to turn on them like this. I never expected things to take this kind of route.
I can do nothing to stop the events.
I return to watch the Fairy, Mermaid, and the Indian converse.
"We need a hero to stop the Pirate!"
"I'll bring someone new here. They'll stop him! Surely they'll be the one to save Neverland!"
I cry knowing that I can do nothing to stop this.
The sky sparkles as the Fairy brings in a young blonde boy of eight years old. His real world name is Len.
He's a bratty thing. Arrogant, rebellious, and spoiled. He hates responsibility and wants to play all day.
Soon, I'm seeing a pattern.
The boy, who the three also named "Peter Pan", enjoyed himself just as Kaito did. Perhaps they realized that erasing the kid's memory wouldn't work, so renaming him entirely was another tactic.
Things were fine until Kaito confronted Len.
Len attacked Kaito with such ruthlessness that it was shocking. This boy has a problem with authority figures. Kaito likely represented adulthood, the thing that Len came here to avoid.
I watch the battle from the shore.
Len was victorious, but I wasn't cheering for him. I was crying because dear, sweet Kaito is now dead. This world corrupted him.
I couldn't watch anymore. I retreat back into my now useless cottage.
I lose track of Len and the three that I created.
It wasn't until I heard a scuffle outside of my cottage that I paid any attention to the events at hand.
Len is now an adult and the Pirate King.
I catch his brief, sad frown and I raised an eyebrow. What was that about?
I don't have time to contemplate it as I see the Fairy fly once again into the moon.
I fall to my knees. No, not again. Please no, not again…
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The long purple-haired boy loved Neverland like all of the others. But something happened that I never expected to see.
He began getting bored early. More importantly, he began getting bored while he could still fly!
I pray to whoever and whatever will listen.
Gakupo looked up at the eternal full moon. He leaped up into the air and flew into the moon.
I can't tell what happened next. But his maturity broke the cycle.
There is no story without a hero.
The Pirate King Len had no "enemy" to fight, but strangely enough, he never focused his efforts on Peter Pan. He hunted for the Fairy whom he believed to be the true enemy. That was not how the story usually went.
If only I can figure out what caused this change.
Pirate King Len held a book in his hands as he sat atop his pirate ship deck. It was blue and made of leather.
He held it open and I was able to read some of it.
Kaito's journal!
Len was adding his own entries into it!
He spoke of how the fallen blue Pirate inspired him.
Kaito's forlorn feelings are what tore the proverbial seams apart.
It was now a waiting game.
And just like before, Neverland began to fall apart.
The destruction that I once lamented over brought me such joy!
The Fairy, the Mermaid, and the Indian fretted. The Fairy could no longer enter the moon.
Pirate King Len stood on the edge of the deck and smiled a genuine smile clutching Kaito's journal to his chest.
"You've done it, my friend!" I heard him cheer.
Neverland begins to fade into white.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
A/N: The end…..of the fourth chapter. I'm trying to figure out how to end this and tie things up. I can't promise anything, so this might be the final chapter if I can't come up with anything.
Thanks for reading!