Dark, it was always so dark in the places that the stars light could not reach. He was close, he knew he was, he had been here the previous week. Or had it been a month, or a year? He would find it, the way. The one thing that might earn a small amount of forgiveness for the pain he had brought upon her. This time for sure, he was confident. Just a little bit further into the darkness.

Wendy flew into a place that seemed to have never know warmth. The waves of arctic air washed over her slight frame as she flew further and further inland. Nothing moved. It seemed as if life itself had been eradicated from this once vital place. She dashed tears from her eyes that threatened to freeze to her cheeks. Whether they were from her parting from James, the wasteland that was once her home, or the inevitability of what lay ahead she was no longer sure. Without really meaning to she changed her course toward the Nevertree. She still needed some time. Time where she was not ripping herself away from something that helped thaw her frozen heart. She also needed to change. She was far from the morality and dignity that came with a life in London but the idea of running into the arms of the man wearing the clothing from a man who had been her lover these last few months reeked of boorishness.

The tree was as devoid of life as everything else she had seen. This startled her more than anything else she had seen. This had been a place of sanctuary, her home. She landed on the branch to her door, the ice cracking under her feet. She had to lean hard on her door to get it to begrudgingly groan open. Everything was exactly as she had left it but the air was dank with nonuse.

"Glow please." She whispered to the walls.

Tears threatened again when she saw her lovely pool was frozen solid. It was as cold indoors as it was out she shivered as she moved to her closet. Her fingers moved over the delicate fabric of her gowns. So many had offered her things most women would die for and it felt to her as if she had brought this place only heartbreak. She chose a white dress, it felt appropriate given the current situation. She dressed quickly and efficiently, willing her skin to be exposed to the air as little time as possible. Over this went her cloak, it would be cold no matter what she wore but the white fur was familiar and comforting against her skin. She sighed as she surveyed her home. She loved this place, she would make all of this right again. She had to. Having nothing else to distract or occupy her time she began her journey to the mountain.

Failure. He clawed at the sides of this head. Damn his mind, he couldn't concentrate for long periods again. He had lost the way again. Just when he had reached the inkiest depths of the heavens it had spat him out again as if he were a foul mouthful. He had been so sure that was the way. Hitting the side of this scull he willed the answer to come to him. It didn't help, it never did. He rocketed through the frozen trees purposely letting the icy knives that were the branches of these long dead trees scour his skin. The pain made him smile. It was good that he could make his body feel like his soul.

He crashed into the frozen ground. Staggering to his feet he went to add this most recent frustration to his project.

There were no words for the cold that Wendy was now surrounded in. It moved through her clothing like tissue paper and froze her bones. The wind tore at her face as she flew closer and closer to her destination. Her mind wandered in fear to things she had banished from her mind these past months. How were her other friends? How were the Piccaninny? The mermaids? From what she had seen of Slightly none of those questions had answers that gave her any hope. Had her selfishness caused all of this? What would have happened had she had the strength of character to forgive Peter? She had wrapped herself in a life of egotistic martyrdom. What Peter had done was reprehensible, but was it unforgivable? She had thought it was. Now as she looked around she wasn't so sure. He was punishing himself in a way that so outstripped his crimes it would have been almost comical if it had not been so agonizing.

She was no fool. She had known what Peter wanted and needed from her. She had held him at arm's length for so long was it really so shocking to her that he would be susceptible to the charms of Tiger Lily. She was no fool on that account either. It did not take much deduction to understand who had pursued whom in that situation. Looking at what had happened in the time since she grew more and more ashamed of her deep self-pity that had wrought such destruction. She had not even let him explain himself.

She finally spotted the path that would lead her to the lake. She landed and began the walk, confidence grew inside her with each step. Her flight of self-reflection had made her see that this was not so impossible. She could forgive this man that she knew she would love forever. Her only regret was the pain she would leave behind. She would always love James, and she would always be grateful to him. But this was her choice. The one that seemed to be destined for her. The path gave way to the clearing and the sight before her made her gasp.

Huddled on the ground, carving patterns into the ice with his knife where the smooth water of the lake had been was Peter. At least what was left of Peter? She had never seen a living human being be so thin and pale. She wasn't so sure that if she tried to touch him her hand would find nothing as substantial as the white vapor her breath made.

"Peter?"

His head whipped around at her voice. His eyes were wild and wary. For a long moment it was obvious that he did not recognize her. She moved cautiously toward him, her hands twisting the fabric of her coat. Peter stood haltingly and began to close his half of the distance with a pronounced limp. They stopped a few feet from each other. This close she could now see the extent of his condition. His clothing was ragged and dirty, nearly every inch of skin that was showing was covered with bruises or cuts. Fresh blood pooling on top of dried showed that this was not a recent occurrence. Under his eyes was the darkest skin on his body. The lack of swelling was the only thing that confirmed that he had not been struck multiple times. But the most frightening thing of all was not his battered body, it was the haunted lost look in his eyes. The striking green of his eyes had been weathered to a mossy grey, it was like looking into the eyes of a corpse. This was not the Peter that she had so loved. He squinted and examined her guardedly never looking her in the eye.

"Dreams again." He muttered turning stumbling back the way he had come from.

So stunned she was by the interaction it took her a moment before she began to follow him. "Peter, wait." She tripped through the piles of snow to get to him. She tried blocking his path to get him to slow but he only moved around her.

"Peter, this is not a dream, I am here, it's Wendy." She pleaded.

"You can't be Wendy." He said clearly irritated. "Wendy is gone. She isn't coming back. And I have to find her a way home. It's the only thing I can give her."

She watched him helplessly as he began to etch into the ice again. She stared at the lines and dots in confusion, unable to comprehend the images she chanced floating into the air for a better look. The breath was stolen from her lungs once she was level with the tops of the trees. It was the universe. She knew enough about the stars to recognize a few constellations but what was mapped here in the ice was beyond understanding. Hundreds of thousands of mapped stars gleamed from the ice. Even if he had spent every waking hour flying through the galaxies since she had been gone this would amaze her. She went to stand back at his side as he sat on his knees hacking at the ice with his long dulled blade.

"Peter this is incredible."

He scoffed. "This is defeat, dream. This is the worst type of failure. What you see are the efforts of an inadequate, worthless person. I wanted to give her all the stars and now I can't even give her one." He threw the dagger where it imbedded into a large hunk of ice. Peter fell to all fours and dug his finger into the rough snow, staining the ice red.

This was all that Wendy could stand. Trembling she fell into the snow in front of him. "Peter, Peter please. I'm here, you don't have to do this anymore." She reached out a shaking hand to lay on his shoulder.

"NO!" He shrieked scrambling backwards as though he had been burned. "No, no, no dreams can't touch. Dreams aren't real."

But Wendy was determined, she would be the strong one this time. She crawled after him catching his wrist even as he fought her, trying to pry her grip from him. In this single moment Wendy realized just how weak he had become, she was his match for strength.

"Peter, stop this. I'm Wendy."

"No!" He spat violently. "Wendy never wants to see me again. Wendy wants to leave me. Why would Wendy ever want to see me?"

He swung all his weight backwards sending them both sprawling to the ground. He clawed across the snow looking for purchase to stand. But Wendy was too fast. She tackled him to the ground once more and wrestled him to his back straddling him.

"Peter, it's Wendy, I'm here. I don't want to leave."

"No." He groaned the fight quickly taxing his broken body, his eyes rolled uncontrollably looking for an escape that was not there.

"Peter, please. I'm not going anywhere, I belong with you." Then she did the only thing she could think of. She kissed him.

The effect was instantaneous, he found a renewed source of energy. He bucked and growled doing everything he could to get away from her. But Wendy's determination was a match and she hung onto him pressing her lips into his, willing him well. She felt him still and relax and only then did she chance parting their faces. Her eyes settled on his revealing the deepest truest green she had even recalled seeing. The fog vanished before her eyes.

"Wendy?"

She let out a sob she had not realized she had been holding onto.

"Yes, it's me Peter."

"You came back?"

"Yes." She cried.

He gingerly raised himself up on his elbow never breaking his stare. "Why?"

Color bloomed in Wendy's cheeks, surly he knew why. Didn't he? "I couldn't stay away with everything that was happening here." She muttered sliding off his chest onto the ground. She averted her eyes, his proximity suddenly very close after so much time apart.

His fingers tenderly raised her chin to look into her eyes once more. "Yes you could have. Why Wendy, why did you come back?"

Embarrassment and anger surged through her. "Because despite it all, with everything that happened I still love you. I came back because regardless of what you did I want to be with you." She moved to fly away but before she could she found herself in his arms his mouth once again against hers. Later when residences of Neverland would talk about this day they would say it was as if an explosion happened. In a great rush of change the island healed itself. Where ice and snow had been there was now lush green vegetation. Starving frozen beings were once again healthy and whole. The drawn out suffering of all of the past months were gone in a moment. A great cry of happiness went out across the land. The birds sang, the animals roared. The Piccaninny tribe sang of thanks and the mermaids leapt in and out of the water. The ice melted from the lake erasing any notion that Wendy had ever wanted to leave this place that was now her home. There were only two that would curse the day.

But above it all, unnoticing floated Peter and Wendy still caught in their embrace. Healthy, whole and reunited. All was as it should be in Neverland.