Chapter 16
"End of the Adventure"
With the Queen of Hearts and her court captured and Hook and his pirates once again on the run, Peter felt it was time for Alice to return to England. At long last, he felt that keeping her in Neverland was not the best option after all. After all that Alice had been through, he felt that it just didn't feel right having her here. Even the lost boys were shocked to hear Peter say such a thing.
"Why are you doing this, Pan?" asked Slightly as the commandeered ship rose up into the air. "I thought you wanted her to stay forever."
Peter was silent for a minute, before looking over towards the eldest lost boy.
"She just doesn't belong here," he replied. "I've come to accept the fact that whoever we bring to Neverland is going to go back home to their world eventually and Alice is definitely one of them."
He then looked to Alice who was standing on the main deck of the boat with Cubby and several of the other lost boys. A small tear came into Peter's eye, but he pretended not to have it. Soon, the ship left Neverland behind and soon returned to the nighttime skies over London. Alice could see that she was looking forward to be returning home to her family, but at the same time, she knew that it was time to grow up.
"Peter looks sad that I am leaving him," she said to Cubby. "Do you think I am making the right choice?"
"I think you are," he replied, looking up to Peter. "There will be others who will come to us as long as they believe in Pan and Neverland."
"Do you think that you could maybe return one day and visit?" asked Alice. "If I ever have children, I can tell them the stories of what Neverland really is?"
"That's for Pan to decide," Cubby replied as the ship came to a stop at Alice's bedroom window.
Taking a long and heavy sigh, Peter helped Alice off of the ship and led her into the bedroom. Her family was still gone, but they would soon be returning. Alice knew that this was the time that she had to say goodbye.
"I guess this is goodbye, Peter," Alice sighed. "I wish that everything that happened, didn't happen and…"
"It's all right, Alice," replied Peter, tenderly. "I guess that I was wrong when I decided to keep you in Neverland forever. I learned that I can't force anyone to stay with me, no matter how much I like them. This is your home and I can't take that away from you."
"Will I ever see you again?" asked Alice, unsure of whether she would see Peter again. "I mean, if I ever have children…"
But, Peter silenced Alice for a moment upon sensing that she was about to lose herself to her emotions.
"As long as you get them to believe," he said. "Then I will return to you and that we shall be together again. As long as you continue to believe in me, then I will see you again. Until then, this isn't goodbye, just until next time."
With that, the two young people embraced and gave each other a passionate kiss on the lips, as a sign that Peter and Alice seemingly loved each other. However, the night was waning fast and Peter knew that it was time to go. So, Alice watched as the ship took off into the night sky and returned to Neverland.
Now, Alice was once again left alone as she heard the sounds of footfalls coming up towards her bedroom. Knowing that her parents were coming, she prepared to face the music in the form of her father, who had bluntly told her that she must grow up.
"Alice?" asked her mother, who was knocking on the door. "May we come in?"
"Yes, you may," said Alice, hesitantly and the door of her bedroom opened to reveal her parents and older sister walk into the bedroom. "How was the party?"
"It was great," said Alice's mother. "It was too bad that you weren't there, although it wasn't really your kind of party for someone your age."
"How come you are still in your dress?" remarked Alice's sister. "It's late, you know."
Alice had to come up with a way to hide the fact that she had been in Neverland, but her family understood why.
"Well, I…" Alice began, but her father interrupted, feeling much more remorseful than he did earlier that night.
"If you are saying it is because of what I had said to you, then I understand," replied her father, talking in a calm voice. "It was wrong of what I said to you earlier and I know that growing up takes time. If you could ever forgive me…"
But, Alice's father was interrupted when he felt Alice embrace him tightly. He could see that Alice was still going to love him despite the fact that she had been scolded at by him.
"I already have, father," she said, hugging him tightly. Suddenly, Alice's father looked up and saw what appeared to be a ship flying through the air in the form of a cloud. To him, it seemed sort of familiar, almost as if he knew it what it was.
"George, what is it?" asked Alice's mother as he walked over to Alice's window, completely spellbound by what he was seeing in front of him.
"You know," he replied, still in a trance by what he was seeing before him. "I've had the strangest feeling that I have seen that ship before: a long time ago, when I was very young."
Alice didn't ask what her father was doing, but she could see that even her own father knew what Peter Pan was like and as she and her mother and sister joined him sitting at the window, looking up at the cloud ship, she could see that as long as she believed in Peter Pan, she would continue to see him whenever she could.