Edit (12/29/2011): Changed the summary.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the Peter Pan and Tinkerbell franchises. And again, I don't own the songs The Second Star to the Right (by Jonatha Brooke and covered by Jesse McCartney) and Color Blind (by Matt White). Also, I don't own the iPod Nano and Nintendo DS.
It feels like I haven't touched this fic in ages… but it's probably been, like, three weeks since I contributed anything to this. Not that long, I guess.
The story so far: After waking up in the Piccaninny Tribe, Peter and Alice stumbled upon a sparrow-man (male fairy) named Terence. Terence was Tink's friend and was on his way to deliver something for the pixie to fix. While his injuries caused him to stay at the treehouse under Tink's care, Terence befriended Alice.
Redrum
Summary: Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.
Chapter 7
Hook, Line and Sinker
"Please, Terence," the brunette pleaded while gently stroking Slightly's messy blonde hair on her lap. "C'mon, while the others are asleep. Or would you rather rap in front of everybody?" she added with a knowing smirk.
The sparrow-man shot her an incredulous look. She couldn't possibly be serious with this rapping thing, could she? He sounded downright ridiculous. 'I don't see why I have to do this…' he muttered in exasperation.
"Because I'm your friend and I begged you to do it," she mused.
Terence let out another sigh—probably his fiftieth since he entered her room earlier that night. This girl was not going to give up. She was more stubborn than Tinkerbell herself. He took a deep breath and Alice suddenly started beatboxing. He looked at her again but quickly shrugged it off (with another sigh).
'Ready, here we go
Dream your way to the stars in the sky
You and me, me and you on our way to the top
Spread your wings, we can fly to the stars in the sky
To the left to the moon is the star on the right
And I can meet you, I can meet you, I can meet you…'
The beatboxing suddenly stopped and Alice began squealing excitedly. Terence couldn't help but give another odd look when the girl flailed her arms in a vague attempt at calming herself.
'What?' he finally asked.
"Sorry, can't contain my excitement," she giggled. "You sound just like Jesse McCartney." (A/N: Kill me. Just kill me now.)
Terence, having never met this Jesse McCartney, didn't know how to respond. Instead he made an awkward sound accompanied by an equally awkward grin. 'I'll take that as a compliment, I guess.'
"Yeah, you'd better," she laughed. "Anyway, I was hoping I could talk to you about something…" She cleared her throat. "It's—I've been looking for someone to talk to about it, but…"
'Is it about Peter Pan?' he asked.
Her cheeks almost immediately reddened in response. "Wh—what? No, of—of course not," she stammered. "Wha—why would need to ta—talk about Peter? I mean, we're—yeah, we're friends and all, but—" Terence stared at her and her head sunk in acceptance. "—yeah."
'I've heard a lot about him from Tink,' he said. 'I mean, I can kind of see why you can't find anyone to talk to about him. I must be the first person you've met here who doesn't know him personally.' He offered her a smile.
Alice let out a sigh. "It's not just about Peter…" She glanced at him with a hopeless glimmer in her eyes. "I have—I had a boyfriend back home in America…"
It took a few moments for the statement to sink in, but when it did Terence's eyes widened in surprise. He shifted in his seat and sat up to listen to her more intently. 'What happened? What's wrong?' His tone showed that he truly was concerned for his new friend.
"Well, before all this happened," she began, "I was on vacation with my mom at my grandma's house in London. And I was on the phone with my best friend, April, and she told me she saw my boyfriend Matt with another girl." She cleared her throat. "Matt's a bit older than me, so I guess I thought he'd be more mature than this…"
The blonde sparrow-man suddenly grabbed the blanket and held it out to her as high as he could without flying. It was only then that Alice noticed the tears rolling down her cheeks. She couldn't help but cry—that was probably the first time she had her heart broken.
Terence was about to open his mouth to comfort her, but she went on. "That same evening, Peter showed up in the nursery and took me here. I thought he was just some kid at first…." She stopped to hiccup and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "But y'know, after a few days with him, he's… a sweet guy."
'Do you like him, then?'
"Is it really that obvious?" she mumbled.
He shook his head. 'I just know myself too well,' he chuckled. 'We're kind of in the same situation.'
"I dunno. Maybe I just think it's refreshing to see someone so young and vibrant. I mean, it's different from a lot of people my age back home." She groaned. "Wow. Talking about Peter makes me feel so old."
The two spent the rest of the evening talking about their problems—particularly, problems of the heart: Alice with Peter and Terence with Tinkerbell. It wasn't until past midnight when they noticed how late it was and decided to call it a day.
'Well, it's getting really late now,' the sparrow-man yawned. He stood up. 'I'd better get back to Tink's room. Gotta rest for the long flight back to Pixie Hollow tomorrow.'
"Okay," she replied. "Goodnight, Terence, and thanks for tonight."
'Yeah, thank you, Alice. Goodnight.'
With those last words, he disappeared into the night. Alice, on the other hand, carried Slightly who had been sleeping on her lap to the spot wherein she normally slept. She scooted over beside the boy and lay down herself. When she heard the Lost Boy murmur in his sleep, Alice gently tapped him on the shoulder until he quieted down. She was nearly asleep when he started humming. Then she began to dream.
The next morning was like a horrible hangover for Alice. She barely had enough sleep, though this was nothing in comparison to when she stayed up late on weeknights at home. The only difference was that she woke up to the sound of birds chirping instead of to an alarm clock. When she glanced beside her, she saw Slightly still sound asleep.
"Mornin'," a familiar voice suddenly said.
She jolted up and turned to the source of the voice. Then she saw Peter Pan in his usual green clothing, grinning at her as charmingly as he did the morning before. It was becoming a habit for him—and Alice didn't know whether she should dread it or love it.
"What are you doing here so early?" she coughed, trying to recover from the shock.
"A Lost Boy was missing when I called for them a while ago," he answered. "Nibs said Slightly wasn't in bed when he woke up."
"Maybe he got lost?" Alice tried with an awkward grin.
Peter raised a red eyebrow at her. "Wandered into your room?"
"He said he couldn't sleep last night," she mumbled. "Don't stare at me in my sleep. It's creepy."
"Aww, how'd you know I was looking at you?" he whined, pouting his lips.
"You did the same thing yesterday," she replied.
She was about to say something else when the boy beside her began to stir. Both Alice and Peter turned to Slightly who served as a wall between them. The Lost Boy rubbed his eyes with his fists and looked around the room.
"Where am I?" he mumbled groggily. When he caught sight of Peter, he sprung from the bed and saluted at the older boy. "Sir! Peter! I overslept!"
Peter saluted back and dismissed the Boy. As Slightly exited the room, Peter winked at Alice and flew out after him. The girl, remaining on the bed, blinked in confusion and slapped herself as though trying to camouflage the tint of pink on her cheeks.
It took her a few moments before she was able to recover. She grabbed her bag and rummaged through its contents. Surprisingly, she discovered her fifth generation iPod Nano and her Nintendo DS. Both were clearly out of juice, to her disappointment, so she stuffed them back into her bag and exited the room.
In her drowsiness, she nearly stepped on Terence in the hallway as he was still walking around. Her blue eyes widened and she jumped back, startled.
"Terence, what the hell?" she squealed in surprise. "Why are you still walking around? I thought you still had some pixie dust."
'I do,' the blonde sparrow-man explained, 'but I figured I want to get used to walking around here so I can drop by more often.'
The human girl suddenly lit up. "That reminds me… you get around a lot, right? Because of your deliveries and stuff."
He nodded.
"Well, do you know of some sort of power source here? For electronic gadgets and appliances and stuff? I mean, like batteries?"
He looked up at her in confusion and shook his head. 'Sorry, Alice, I don't really know what you're talking about. But if it's power you need—' He grabbed his little pouch of pixie dust. '—pixie dust can light up light bulbs from London.'
"Oh, but I can't," she told him with an assuring smile. "You need that to get home."
He paused and looked around suspiciously. Then he walked closer to the girl and motioned for her to lean down. Alice followed suit and leaned closer to him so they were face-to-face.
'Well, if I don't have any pixie dust to go home,' he whispered into her ear, 'then I can stay here longer, with Tinkerbell.'
She laughed out loud (A/N: As in, literally lol-ing. XD) and stood up again. "You sneaky little sparrow-man! But that's good, I guess. It's nice to see Tink lighten up, now that you're around."
Terence, who had been laughing along with her, stopped and stared up at the brunette. 'Really?' he asked in disbelief.
"She seems happier when you're around," Alice answered with a knowing smile. "Though she might not notice it herself," she added. "Anyway, so can I have just a teensy bit of pixie dust for my iPod and my DS?"
He nodded and held out his pouch to her. 'You can have all of it if you'd like. I have an emergency stash here in case Tink needs more and I run out. Don't tell her that though.'
"Of course I won't," she chuckled, reaching for the small pouch.
When she got the pouch, she took out her iPod and DS from her bag. Then she opened the leather pouch and sprinkled a bit of golden pixie dust on both gadgets. They quickly lit up, but she turned them off as soon as she could.
"Gotta save the power for later," she said with a wink before heading down the hallway to the main room.
There the Lost Boys were playing, save for Nibs who was apparently on kitchen duty. The Twins going in circles around Cubby, as though trying to stall and keep him away from the kitchen which must have been a daily challenge for them. Slightly, on the other hand, was sitting on the couch with his guitar. He was teaching Tootles how to play like how Alice had been teaching him the past few days. And their leader, Peter Pan, was floating around the room and playing his bamboo flute. When he caught sight of Alice, he crowed like a rooster and flew toward her.
"What have you got there, Alice?" the redhead asked with dark, curious eyes.
"These are my iPod and my DS," she explained. "I can't live without them," she added with a chuckle. "The iPod plays music and the DS has games I can play. I thought I'd share them with the Boys."
A mischievous grin formed on the boy's handsome face. "Show us how it works."
The girl walked over to the couch and sat beside Tootles. She picked the small boy up and sat him on her lap so she could sit beside Slightly.
"I know Slightly'll like this one." She took her iPod and began searching for songs. "Do you Boys know any popular songs?"
All of the children around her shook their heads. She sighed and turned back to her iPod.
"I guess I'll just pick a song at random."
She dragged her finger around the click wheel in one swift motion. As soon as she pressed the middle button of the iPod, it began playing a familiar song.
"Ready, here we go
Dream your way to the stars in the sky
You and me, me and you on our way to the top
Spread your wings, we can fly to the stars in the sky
To the left to the moon is the star on the right
And I can meet you, I can meet you, I can meet you…"
In the midst of the introductory rap, Alice began squealing and flailing her arms around, trying desperately to contain her excitement. She bit her lip and buried her face into Slightly's shoulder to hide her reddened cheeks.
The commotion caught the pixies' attention and Terence and Tinkerbell emerged from the latter's room. Terence recognized the song, having been "persuaded " the evening before to sing it to Alice, and his face fell.
"Uhh… Alice?" Slightly murmured under his breath. He was getting rather uncomfortable with her on his shoulder, though he would have preferred that she stayed there. A more accurate reason to call her attention was the fact that the only Lost Boy older than him was now fuming and floating away from the couch.
The girl sat up and, clearing her throat, paused the song. "I—I really like Jesse McCartney, okay?" she mumbled in a high-pitched squeak, her ears and cheeks still burning from embarrassment. She glanced at Terence who stood at the end of the hallway. "Right, Terence?" she added with a sheepish grin.
The sparrow-man, standing in front of Tinkerbell, mouthed an entire argument to Alice that she never mention the events of the previous evening—especially not in front of Tinkerbell. The girl caught on almost immediately and gave him an assuring smile. Upon seeing that, Terence turned to Tinkerbell and managed to convince her to return to the room.
"I—I'll just choose a different song," she said as she pressed the forward button.
It began with a drumbeat, followed by other instruments and the mellow voice of Matt White. The song that began playing was definitely not a Jesse McCartney song, but it incited similar thoughts in Alice's mind. Thankfully, this time she was able to contain herself.
"Come to me,
Dry your eyes,
I know you're feeling lonely;
It's the perfect time."
Peter, who had turned away from Alice, perked up and glanced at the brunette sitting on the couch. Due to her fangirling over the previous song, Tootles moved over to Slightly who had set down his guitar earlier. Alice was now isolated from the Lost Boys on the couch.
"Try to stay grounded,
You're never in line.
I'm leaving you tomorrow in the early light."
As the song continued, Alice's gaze shifted across the room. When she caught sight of Peter, she instinctively looked away, though she soon found herself looking at him again.
"I don't wanna lose this way again,
A second chance to make a stand.
We just failed too far behind,
I've always known you're colorblind."
Whenever Peter glanced back at her—which was quite frequent—Alice would look down and clear her throat or fiddle with her thumbs. Peter, on the other hand, would take the split-second of their gazes meeting as an invitation to come closer, and so he did. He landed on his two feet and walked toward the couch.
"Let me try and change your mind,
I am colorblind.
Say goodbye, I would die,
I won't compromise.
Let me try and change your mind,
Are you colorblind?"
Slightly took notice of the situation and scooted farther from Alice, dragging Tootles with him. When the young Lost Boy looked at him in confusion, he mumbled something about the acoustics being better if they were farther away from the iPod. Thankfully, he was right.
"When you look at me that way,
Behind those eyes is what I crave."
Alice cleared her throat shifted in her seat when Peter sat beside her. She looked up, down, across the room—any direction that would let her avoid his gaze. He didn't seem to think anything of it and gently placed his hand on hers. The gesture caught her attention and she finally turned to him. He heard a sharp breath soften as she glanced at his dark eyes.
"I feel no weakness, hear no lie.
I see your reflection in a stranger's eyes."
When she made no movement to remove her hand from under his, he grinned at her. Alice's cerulean eyes shifted across the room and, upon seeing that everybody else was preoccupied, she leaned her head against his shoulder. Though he was still a boy, his shoulders were surprisingly broad. Puberty had definitely kicked in.
Just as the song's chorus was about to repeat, Nibs entered coming from the dining room with a huge excited grin. He wore a stained apron that probably hadn't seen any soap since the last "mother" Peter brought to Neverland. The young Boy proudly declared that the table was set and breakfast was about to be served.
Alice sighed inwardly in relief as she pulled away from the green-clad boy and followed Cubby and the Twins to the dining room.
After breakfast, Alice decided to separate herself from the other inhabitants of the treehouse. She followed a robin to a clearing near the river and sat by the riverbank. She watched as the clear water flowed through the smooth rocks, as the wind blew through the trees and weeds by the river, and as the clouds rolled by in the perfect blue sky.
As she took in the scenery, she heard faint footsteps approaching her area. Had it not been for the lush grass all around her, she wouldn't have noticed the person walking toward her.
"Well, if it isn't my new friend," Hook mused.
Alice stood up and faced him. "Hook," she hissed.
"Such a hostile tone," he taunted. "Little girls shouldn't speak like that to their elders."
"You shot at us!"
"I was letting Pan escape unscathed," he explained bluntly, rolling his hook for effect. "If I were really aiming for the both of you, I wouldn't have ordered my men to shoot in a straight line."
"O—oh? Uhh, well, I'm sorry then… I guess."
The pirate shook his head and took his flamboyant feather hat off. "Don't be, child," he said. "I've always been misunderstood by young Peter and his friends. And though you're quite a bright young thing, we can't all be perfect."
"Okay," she blinked. "So, are you here to talk about something?"
"I sense that Peter Pan seems to fancy someone." Hook was clearly just testing the waters, given the sly side-glance he gave Alice. When he noticed the girl intently listening, he continued with a grin. "You, perhaps, Alice."
"Do you think so?" she murmured unsurely.
"Has the boy been acting strange lately?" he asked.
Alice thought for a moment and seemed to find her feet suddenly very interesting as she stared at them. "Well, he seems to watch me in my sleep, which I admit is kinda creepy but still sweet. But, well, I don't exactly know him well enough to be sure…" When she remembered the boy's behavior that morning, she nearly choked on her own breath. "He—this—this morning, Peter… he winked at me. And the song was playing—and he was looking at me again, and don't get me wrong, he was really sweet and stuff to take it all slow like that, but still. He even held my hand. And honestly, it felt like such a perfect moment, I—I just… I mean, well, I leaned my head on his shoulder. I mean, God, whaddufuckwazzat?"
When the girl glanced at Hook, expecting a reaction, he only blinked at her in confusion but quickly regained composure and shrugged it off. "My dear child, I've no clue what you're saying."
She rolled her eyes. "The ramblings of a confused teenager, to sum it up in one sentence."
There was a long pause before the pirate decided to venture further. "I take it you fancy young Peter?"
Then he heard an odd choking sound from the girl beside him. Hook raised an eyebrow as he watched her break out into another long ramble, this one specifically about not liking Peter Pan. It was quite clear to him that she meant the opposite.
"… besides, if he were a lot more like Terence, I'd probably like him!" she huffed.
"Terence?"
"He's a friend I met recently," she explained. "He's sweet, and shy, and just so adorable! I almost feel jealous of the girl he likes."
"Then I suppose it's a good thing that you've not taken a fancy to Peter Pan," the mustached Captain Hook replied in a singsong manner. When she looked up at him in confusion, he knew she was caught in his trap. "Haven't you heard the rumors about him, my dear child?"
Alice shook her head.
"Alright then, I'll tell you." Hook looked around with shifty eyes, as though making sure that nobody would hear him. "Now I've only heard these from my crew—they say the mermaids talk about Peter sometimes, especially right after he visits them."
"What do they say about him?" she asked.
"Most of the time, they talk of how dreamy he is." His tone was mocking and sarcastic, though what he said was true. "Sometimes, however, they end up fighting over him. Can't get enough of the lad's attention. After all, his attention is always split between the women of Neverland."
He waited for a response—a clarification, a correction or perhaps a sign of disagreement—from Alice, but she gave him none. So he continued.
"Even from before Wendy arrived in Neverland—when he brought her mother Mary here, Peter Pan had already captured the hearts of many. It doesn't matter if they were natives of Neverland. Why, look at Tinkerbell, for example. She left her own home and all of her friends to be with Peter Pan. All this time, she was under the impression that his first kiss or falling in love would make the boy grow up."
"Doesn't it?" she murmured in disbelief.
"Of course not; that's hogwash. Peter's already fallen in love with Wendy, has he not? And Jane as well. If your mother had ever gone to Neverland, she might have captured the boy's heart as well. I assume she looks very much like Jane, Wendy and Mary."
"Hold on, you mean—"
"Cap'n!" a familiar voice called from the bushes. Smee was searching for Hook, presumably to return to the ship. "Cap'n, we have to set sail before the Lost Boys find us!"
"I apologize, Alice, for I must cut our little conversation short," the Captain said. "And frankly, I am rarely one to gossip. Let's keep this between the two of us, shall we?"
When Alice nodded, Hook made a low bow and headed off. But after a moment's hesitation, she followed the pirate, asking to continue their conversation about Peter.
"I don't know much about Peter," she murmured. "And, well, I heard someone mention his first kiss. That—that isn't the reason why he's growing up?"
"Peter Pan's first kiss?" Smee repeated, emerging from the woods. "Pardon the intrusion, little miss." The first mate bowed curtly to the brunette and adjusted his tiny glasses. "I heard it was when he took Miss Wendy to Neverland."
Alice's blue eyes widened. "So his first kiss was with Wendy?"
"Au contraire," he chuckled. "The mermaids were talking about this very subject the other day. It seems he received his first kiss for saving Princess Tiger Lily after we captured her."
"So it's with Tiger Lily…" the girl murmured.
"He's quite the ladies' man, you know," Smee said with an airy laugh. "Every young girl in Neverland is head-over-heels over him, even those who managed to leave Neverland. Even fairies, in fact."
"I see… well, that's—that's—"
"What's the matter, Alice?" Hook asked, cleverly feigning cluelessness and concern.
A few moments of silence passed as the two men looked at Alice expectantly. "It's nothing, I just… thought better of him." She let out a deep sigh. "Boys are all the same. They see a girl they think is pretty and they get their charm on. And it's the same with every pretty girl they see."
"In my youth, that simply wouldn't do," Hook stated. "Young men had to court only one girl—and this was to marry."
"In my day, a man couldn't have just any woman," his first mate added. "He had to work for her—earn his happy ending."
"Well…" Alice mumbled, "I guess I'd better go. Y'know, gotta make lunch for the boys…"
"Nonsense," Smee grinned. "Why don't you have lunch with us? We don't get much company apart from each other, and it would do the crew good to show some manners to a lady. Those pirates are so rough sometimes…"
She looked at him reluctantly and smiled back, though unsurely. However, she felt that the plump old man was sincere and that even Hook wouldn't do anything to put her in harm's way, so she agreed to join them for lunch.
Peter can go screw himself over with his harem of mermaids and pixies…
"I tell you, Smee," Hook shouted at the dining table in his quarters. He had been telling stories of how Peter Pan and his Lost Boys would steal his treasure and hide it all over Neverland. "The boy has no use for gold and jewels, so why in blazes would he steal it day in and day out?"
"To troll you, of course," Alice replied bluntly. Her use of a meme caught the attention—and confusion—of the two men beside her. "To troll—to piss you off for shits and giggles. Pardon the language. But yeah, basically, it's to get you in a horrible mood because, well, it's funny."
Smee put a fist under his chin in a pensive gesture. "That does make sense, Cap'n. Peter Pan's a young boy, so perhaps other people's misery makes him happy."
"Well, I've neither the time nor the patience to humor him in his schadenfreude," Captain Hook snapped in a casual tone, dabbing his lips with a napkin. He then stood and fixed his flamboyant pirate hat on his curly mop of hair. "I'm afraid I must pardon myself once more, dear Alice. Smee and I've some business to attend to."
The first mate stood as well and bowed to Alice before following his superior out onto the deck. The captain raised his eyebrows at Smee, as though signaling him for something, and the stout little pirate nodded and scurried off to another room on the ship.
Alice, on the other hand, occupied herself with the remaining droplets of water in her glass as she sat alone in the captain's quarters. She twirled the glass cup around and watched as the water followed the cups movements. Little did she know there was a dark shadow that loomed over her as her mind wandered to the mysterious Peter Pan and what women he might already have then.
Oh dear God, what's this "dark shadow" business all about? Who knows? /shrugs
Sorry for keeping you guys waiting! Been busy with school and all. I'm actually supposed to be busy right now (sleeping because it's currently 2 AM, or drawing because I have "homework").
I did say there'd be some fluff about here (well, I think I said that), so here it is. Unfortunately, it was ruined by some juicy gossip about our wonderful little Peter Pan. And naturally, this gossip is actually true.
Though I think it's odd for Hook to "gossip" about Peter, I can imagine him "stating facts and opinions" to manipulate a person's views about another. And that's pretty much what gossip is in all its naked glory.
I know I haven't used Alice's NDS yet. I will. Soon. If I remember.
I hope you enjoyed chapter 7 because I actually enjoyed writing this, even more than I thought I would. R&R!
~ froggy