Disclaimer: None of the characters in the story belong to me! They belong to J.M Barrie. Enjoy! Just found a spelling error in the other story, I meant thank you all for the amazing reviews you left me when I woke up. Just to make that clear, I wasn't being sarcastic! :) ~Nightingalelynx
Summary: In which Tinkerbell makes a decision, and Captain Hook saves the day.
Of Tigerlilys and Wendys (Part 4)
Neverland was a depressing, dark, and gloomy island. Never had the inhabitants of this usually happy land suffered such hardship. But Peter took the brunt of it.
The pirates were very bored. They knew Peter Pan was going through some hardship, so they never bothered to look out for him anymore. They didn't even bother looking for him, as they knew they would never find the grieving, but evasive prince. They spent their days drinking rum and singing pirate songs, which would have been what Hook wanted, once upon a time. But now, he just wanted someone worthy of him to fight with, to exchange hurtful comments. He needed a purpose. But Peter was much worse off.
The Indians were suffering, too, even more so than the Pirates. Why, with this horrid weather, the harvesting was less than rewarding, and the hunting was an absolute disaster. They were starving. But so was Peter. He was starving himself, refusing to eat anything that wasn't made by Wendy.
None of the Lost Boys wanted to play anymore, now. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't play on an empty, angry stomach that kept making scary, growling noises at them. They were very unhappy, missing their gentle Mother more than ever. But Peter took the brunt of that, too.
The fairies, the loyal subjects and friends of the prince of Neverland, were out of their minds as the essence of Neverland began fading. Without Neverland, the fairies were nothing. But Peter was even worse than that. Without Wendy, Peter was nothing. And Wendy was already gone.
Tinkerbell suffered with the guilt that this was all her fault. Things in Neverland were looking very, very bad indeed. The girl fairy was currently pacing in her hollow, repeating the question over and over again. To fix it, or not to fix this disaster? Yes or no. It should've been simple. But it wasn't, even though Tinkerbell loved both Peter Pan and Neverland very much (in that order), she also was desperately, stubbornly jealous of Wendy Darling, the gentle, kind girl that had brought Neverland into a state of Great Depression by simply leaving. The mermaids hardly ever surfaced anymore, as they hated the dreadful weather. Their singing was actually to be missed. Then the pirates started killing off fairies in their boredom, chanting "Fairies don't exist!" once every day.
That was the last straw for poor fairy. She came up with a desperate, cunning plan to save Neverland. After all, Tinkerbell wasn't all bad. Sometimes she was all good. Like now.
A fluttering of wings, a whiff of pixie dust, and Tinkerbell landed on the deck of the Jolly Roger.
"Tinkerbell," Hook said carefully, not wanting to chase her off as this was the most interesting thing that had happened to him the last few weeks.
"I want you to stop killing innocent fairies!" Tinkerbell exclaimed, pretending to be outraged by it. She was, actually, but she had more pressing problems. "We fairies never did anything to you, what you should be doing is ruining Peter Pan. That's your goal, isn't it, Hook? Making him sad beyond repair? Well, you've succeeded. So stop killing fairies!" Tinkerbell ranted, sounding very much like a hundred various pots, pans, bells, and chimes were crashing against each other to human ears, creating a clanging orchestra. Her argument didn't really make sense, but it was alright. Captain Hook fell for it.
"I'm not done with my revenge yet, Tinkerbell." The Captain said menacingly. "That Wendy… if that Wendy was under my control, oh, Peter Pan will be even worse off than now. He'll come onto my deck, begging for me to kill him. Oh, if Wendy Darling loved me… that would be the greatest plan of all!" Captain Hook cried, laughing at his idea. "Why, that's perfect! Poor Peter Pan will be destroyed forever! His very essence! Oh, yes, that would be—"
"Wendy is in London. " Tinkerbell told him, walking deliberately all over the ship, and flying all around Captain Hook, leaving a lot of pixie dust in her wake. "You're plan is going to fail, Captain Hook." The girl probed, actually urging Captain Hook to go on with his plan. "You can't get to London unless you can fly. Which you can't! There's no way!" She completed her final circle around Captain Hook, ensuring that he could take Wendy back to Neverland when he got there, even with all those unhappy thoughts dragging him down.
She flew away, pretending not to hear the smug murmur from Hook. "Fairy, dear, you just gave me a way."
I think we really should congratulate this cunning little fairy. After all, even though the very reason Neverland was in a sad, sad state was because of her, this tiny fairy took it upon herself to set it right. And that is very brave of her indeed. Why, even Peter Pan would be proud of her, once he got over his rage … if he knew.
If is good.
Captain Hook wasted no time in carrying out his 'plan', which was basically to make the ship unanchored to Neverland and simply let it fly through the London streets to Wendy Darling's house. Before Tinkerbell could reach the main island, the Jolly Roger was already sailing through the air, towards the second star to the right, and straight on until morning.
Wendy Darling was at home, determined to forget Neverland. Her parents were overjoyed to see her, but their mood plummeted the moment they realized that John and Michael weren't with her.
"We went to Neverland, and they decided to stay there," Wendy explained again and again to her hysterical parents. "Don't worry, they're very happy there. No, they won't starve, not with the Indians and their great big feasts! No, Peter Pan will protect them against anything bad. There's really not much bad in Neverland, just Captain Hook and his crew of pirates. It's Captain Hook, Father, not Captain Cook. And the mermaids would drown you if you get too close, but they look so sweet and everything, you might get fooled into getting too close. Yes, Mother, I said mermaids. Who's Peter Pan? Why, everyone in Neverland knows Peter Pan! He's absolutely amazing, and he can fly, can you believe that?"
The problem was that no, her parents couldn't believe it. They were downstairs right now, discussing what had really happened to Wendy and her brothers. Snippets of the conversation drifted towards Wendy's ears.
"—kidnapped, most likely, and plucked right out of the nursery window, like Wendy said. Her 'Peter Pan' is probably a street urchin who saved her—"
"—the 'pirates' are most definitely the kidnappers. One with a hook, she says? We'll tell the police now—"
"—fairies! My poor daughter, must have seen stars and thought they were fairies—"
"—must have been hurt really badly—"
"—in shock—not really sure what was going on—"
"—mermaids! Well! We both know that Wendy would have loved to see a real mermaid—"
"—figment of her imagination, the poor dear—"
Wendy rested her face in her arms and rested her arms on the windowsill, facing the beautiful, looming night sky that meant so much more to her now. She squinted against the bright lights of London, searching out the second star to the right.
She found it, a bright, playful, winking star far away.
It seemed as if it were only yesterday that Peter Pan's bright green eyes were gazing upon her blue ones with something that looked like hurt. She had hurt him, with what Wendy did not know. All she knew was that she wished she could go back to Neverland, to talk it over with Peter.
Forget his petty ignoring me, Wendy thought. If I ever get to go back to Neverland, I'll march right up to him and demand what was going on.
The brown-haired girl with the pale face and the dreamy blue eyes fell asleep, planning what she was going to say to the green eyed boy thousands of miles away if she ever saw him again.
A large, looming shadow fell over her sleeping form at the window. The girl never woke even as a loud clang (the anchor brutally hitting the concrete below) reverberated throughout Bloom spring.
Large black boots stepped onto the windowsill precariously. It didn't matter to Captain Hook, though, because he could fly, and he was absolutely bursting with happy thoughts of how well his plan was working. Wendy was stuffed inside a bag, and that was when she woke up. When she was finally released, she was released onto a familiar ship.
Wendy's eyes brightened and her heart leapt into her throat. It couldn't be—her wish was answered! She was in Neverland! And somehow, Captain Hook had gotten his ship to fly to London to get her! It was absolutely fantastic!
Before the girl could really rejoice, however, she was sent into Captain Hook's cabin, if 'sent' was the right word. She was roughly pushed into a door that she didn't even see in front of her in her shock.
"Wendy… Darling…" Hook murmured, his forget-me-not blue eyes fixed upon the bewildered girl. Hook was only a hand width away, causing Wendy to suck in a huge gasp of air in surprise. "It's been so long… the weather's been quite beautiful since you've left, by the way," the Captain of the Jolly Roger added smugly, casually. "I daresay Peter's been in quite a good mood since you've left."
Wendy drew in a sharp breath. "No." She said firmly, getting over her shock.
"Yes." Hook replied, just as firmly. "You're not implying that I'm lying, now are you…?" The fearsome Captain drawled darkly, trailing his hook along Wendy's lips, not touching, just hovering. It stopped right above her kiss, at the right hand corner of her mouth.
Wendy Darling shivered.
He stood up, so suddenly and so swiftly, that Wendy couldn't help but let out a squeak. Her eyes darted around, frantically searching for an escape route.
"By the way," Captain Hook said with his back to her at the doorframe, "I'm keeping you here until you learn…"
"Learn to what?" Wendy forced her voice to become steady and brave-sounding.
"Learn to love me." The Captain stalked out of the cabin, slamming the door shut behind him.
All of Wendy's braveness melted away, and the true meaning of his words sank in. She began crying, wishing Peter was here to save her. But no, she thought, remembering Cinderella, and how the princess had fought gallantly, therefore saving herself. She would not be a damsel in distress, helpless and useless. She looked around for a weapon. Nothing.
But wait. There. She crawled over soundlessly and reached for Hook's bedside dagger.
Aforementioned Peter Pan was flying over Neverland, looking for—well, he wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he was looking for something, and that was good enough. The Lost Boys were with him, tired of this random circling.
Suddenly, Peter dove down in a vicious dive. The Boys followed after a moment, beyond surprised. What Peter had spotted were the Mermaids, out in the sun again, singing his name.
"You called?" Peter was suddenly standing in front of the Mermaids on a rock in his usual pose with his hands on his hips. But instead of smiling a knowing, prideful smile, Peter's face just reflected annoyance.
"Wendy Darling… is back in Neverland…"
"Where?" Peter Pan practically hollered, his boyish face lighting up along with the entire Neverland at those simple six words.
"On the Jolly Roger…"
Peter's old self gradually returned, along with his proud, boyish smile. There was a twinkle in his green eyes that no one had seen for a long time.
"Come on, Boys! Let's go make Captain Hook regret taking our Wendy-lady!"
The entire crew heard his crow before they saw him, a leaf-clad boy and his band of adventurous children flying through the air, wielding swords, arrows, and daggers.
"Captain Hook! I have come for Wendy-lady!"
"Finally." Peter could swear that he heard one of the pirates mutter that annoyed, impatient word.
"Wendy-lady? Why, Peter Pan, Wendy-lady is mine to keep. No, she wouldn't want a ruffian like you!" Captain Hook said slyly, eager to get some bickering done first.
But Peter had no interest in bickering.
"Hand her over now, and I'll let you go! Or are you so eager to lose your other hand, Hook?" With that, Peter dove in, catching Hook off guard. And so the fight began, with the slashing, clashing, and brutality that came with fights.
Meanwhile, Wendy was hacking a hole in Captain Hook's room, not daring to exit through the front door. She had a few splinters in her hand that she had to stop and pick out before she would keep going. When a particularly large splinter stuck into her hand, she cut a neat rectangle from the bottom of her white night-gown to wrap it up, but not before she washed it.
"Hygiene," Wendy explained to herself. "English ladies don't leave their cuts open."
Finally, the hole was just big enough for a slim, small girl like Wendy to slip through. One pale foot stepped through, then the other. Wendy was out. There was no-one around behind the Captain's cabin, as it was at the very end of the ship. The wind played with Wendy's brown hair as she walked over to the railing and put her hand on it. She could hear the wind, crying in her ears. She looked below, at the churning, rolling grey water as the ship rocked back and forth.
Peter shoved Captain Hook aside and barged rudely into the Captain's cabin. The other boys quickly barred the entrance from Captain Hook, preventing him from following Peter.
He stepped lightly into the cabin, as if mistrustful of the floor. "Wendy?" He called, softly. There was no answer. "Wendy, it's me, Peter. I've come to save you." The ship creaked in answer.
Boyish eyebrows narrowed in worry.
Peter's hair escaped into his face, blown by the wind. But wait. Wind?
He stopped to listen. The scream of the wind was easy to hear, and Peter flew towards the sound. It was a small hole in the wood that allowed that wind in. Too big for Captain Hook, but small enough for… "Wendy." Peter breathed, his green eyes widening in realization.
"Wendy!" Peter cried, yelled, bellowed in horror as he dived through the hole.
He could have sworn he saw a ripple of a dirtied white nightgown flapping in the wind, just below the railing, but by the time Peter got there, there was no trace of Wendy. Wendy-lady was gone, faster than she had re-appeared.
"Wendy!" Peter yelled in the wind. "Wendy! Wendy!" Liquid rolled down his cheeks, and, wiping it away, Peter told himself that the wind had blown the water from below into his face.
Wendy hit the water hard. She surfaced, kicking and paddling as hard as she could against the waves, gulping in huge gulps of air whenever she had the chance, but getting more salty water than air. Her thin nightgown gained so much weight, it started dragging her down.
"Pet—ugh," Wendy cried feebly, cut off by a gulp of salty Neverland sea water.
Suddenly she couldn't breathe. The hull of the huge ship—what was its name again?—was drifting closer and closer. A particularly huge wave washed her against the ship.
Thump.
Her head hit the ship.
"Peter…" Wendy mumbled, just before blacking out.
The waves swallowed her.
Pulled her limp form under the water and then up again.
They then gently washed her onto a shore.
The tattered, drenched, bruised body of Wendy Moira Angela Darling.
Poor, poor Peter.
Don't hate me! I was so stuck on this chapter, and I had no clue what to write! But anyways, this chapter made it here in one big chunk, so… forgive me? :D
I'm probably going to write one more final chapter and then voila! My first story on fanfiction that was finished! As always, review please! Motivates me to write… and it also reminds me that I have a story to finish. Until next time, thanks people.
~Nightingalelynx