Adventures of John: Journey to Neverland

Epilogue

Years later I returned to Neverland armed with experience and knowledge. I found Pan alone on the beach, drawing in the sand with a stick. He failed to notice me until I was directly in front of him.

"Ah, hello there John," he said, not looking up. "I've been hearing tales of your exploits. Taking on the Queen of Hearts, revealing the truth about the Wizard of Oz, even traveling around with that Doctor fellow. You've certainly been a busy little bee, haven't you?"

"Unlike you," I responded. "You still haven't left this island. You do look different though."

"That's just you," he told me. "Neverland is a realm of imagination. You think differently now, so you see me differently. At least you still believe though. Neverland is dying, you see. No one believes anymore. I tried to leave the island, not long after you came. No one can see me, hear me, or even touch me. I might as well be a ghost."

"That's how it is for most magical creatures these days," I told him. "Especially the ones with too strong of a connection to a specific realm."

"But you could fix it!" He cried, suddenly having an idea. "You can travel the realms. You could be the recruiter for my new Lost Boys. You talk to them, convince them to come, and then my shadow can being them here. You could save Neverland! What do you say, do you want to join the Lost Boys?"

I burst out laughing, unable to contain my mirth. "That's the best you've got?" I asked him, echoing his words from all those years ago. "That is the best you could come up with?" I crouched down and looked him in the eye. "I am not the same naïve child who you first met. Yes, I still believe in magic. It's kind of hard not to when you've seen the things I have. But I have learned a lot of things these past few years. About magic, about Neverland, and about you. For one thing, Neverland isn't dying, you are. From boredom."

He looked at me, shocked.

"Oh, don't give me that that look," I told him. "The mermaids that came just when you needed them, the animals that appeared out of nowhere, the Indians, the pirates, even Tinkerbelle. None of them were real. I had read that you could create whatever you wanted while you were here, but I never imagined the scale at which you were doing it. You did all this for your own entertainment!"

"You made yourself into the hero of the story, but for that you needed a villain, so you created Captain Hook, an enemy smart enough that he could challenge you but just stupid enough that you could always win. You couldn't make him too good. Of course, to be a hero you also needed someone to save, so you created the Indians, with Tigerlily as your damsel in distress. And every hero needs a good sidekick, so you created Tinkerbelle. But after a while your creations began to bore you. They were too predictable! And so you started bringing young boys over to the island, boys who would idolize you and still bring some variety to your little game, while the children that came to Neverland in their dreams every night make the perfect guest stars."

"And this worked for hundreds of years. But eventually the children stopped coming, and you got bored. I don't know what happened next, whether one of your games was just too dangerous or you simply killed them yourself because you thought it would be fun, but however it happened to Lost Boys died, and you were left to entertain yourself once more. And when you finally left the island to find more victims to entertain you, you could do nothing. So now you ask for my help, not to keep Neverland alive, but to keep you entertained."

"So, is that it then?" he asked dismally. "You've figured me out, so now you've come to gloat?"

"No, not at all," I laughed. "I came here to end this once and for all." I took a small golden sphere out of my pocket and laid it on the beach. A mechanism triggered in the device, and a burst of energy shot out, covering the entire island in a dome of golden light. "From now on, neither you nor your shadow will be able to leave Neverland. Ever. You will never be able to steal children from their homes again, no matter how much time passes." I turned away, readying myself to leave. "Enjoy your solitude."

"No, please don't!" he shrieked, grabbing me. "Don't leave me alone here!"

I shook him off with a blast of force, launching him back into the sand. "It's less than you deserve, I assure you. At least now you can still entertain yourself with your imaginary friends. Be glad I didn't take that away from you as well."

And so with that I said goodbye to Neverland forever.