Ch. 4: Year Sixteen
Wendy Darling is sixteen the last time she sees him.
He has visited her as often as he can after her trip to Neverland, taking her out and showing her more wonders than she knew existed.
She knows he's trying to keep her interested in her own world, so that if Peter Pan comes back, she won't be tempted to go with him. She doesn't mind; she enjoys spending time with the man she's come to love, though she knows she'll never tell him.
She is waiting patiently on a bench in the small park where she usually meets him, when the bushes off to the side start to rustle.
"Hello?" she calls, and for a moment nothing happens. Then, suddenly, a black blur comes hurdling out of the underbrush. Wendy's frightened shriek is almost immediately silenced by a hand over her mouth, and a familiar voice whispering in her ear, "Be silent or they will find us!"
"Ciar?" she asks when he pulls his hand away. "What's going on?"
"I slipped, my light. I slipped badly. They know who you are, where we meet. I barely escaped."
"'They'? 'They' who?"
"The Sidhe," Ciar hisses, pulling her along with him as he moves through the trees.
It is then that Wendy notices the silvery-blue liquid flowing from a gash in his upper arm.
"Ciar! You're hurt!"
He barely glances at the wound. "I am fine. We must not stop."
"But—"
Wendy's words are cut off as a bright light suddenly shines through the trees. Ciar hisses a harsh word in a language she's never heard before, and the next thing Wendy knows, she is in his arms and airborne.
Whimpering in fear, Wendy buries her face into Ciar's shoulder as balls of light whip around them, detonating at random intervals. Ciar performs corkscrews, barrel rolls, and other aerial maneuvers she doesn't know the names of, desperately trying to keep ahead of the attacks, to keep away from the Sidhe after their heads.
There is a brief lull, and the Unsidhe takes the opportunity to dive for a relatively hidden spot near the park entrance. Landing hard, he places Wendy on her feet and says, "Run, Sorcha! Run straight home, and no matter what happens–no matter what you see or hear–do not stop until you get there!"
"But–!"
"No! I'll not have you suffer for my foolishness! It is me they search for." He extends a hand, a darkly glowing sword appearing in it. "So it is me they will find. I lo–you are too important to me to risk you safety."
Wendy opens and closes her mouth, trying to find something to say. Then she lunges forward, wrapping her arms around him and pressing a fierce kiss–her first kiss–to his lips. He kisses her back just as fiercely, then pulls back.
For one brief eternity, everything that might have been is laid out before them. The Ciar turns away.
"Go."
Choking back a sob, Wendy turns and runs. She doesn't look back when the explosions start up again. She doesn't look back when she hears the sounds of steel clashing with steel. And she doesn't look back when she hears Ciar scream.
She just runs, tears streaming.