Chapter 2

Wendy awoke, slowly this time, having had no nightmare or even a prominent dream to alert her otherwise. She could hear birds chirping outside her window long before she opened her eyes, and even basked in the beauty of their music for a while. It soon dawned on her that she should have awoken many hours ago, for the sun was hot on her face, suggesting it to be almost midday. She rolled over, burying her face in her soft pillow with a sigh, for a moment basking in her impromptu lie in. However the enjoyment didn't last long. Questions began to fill her mind: Why hadn't Mother woken her, or even Aunt Millicent? Surely her brothers would have even noticed her absence from breakfast and swayed themselves to wake her in not so polite a manner. But no, Wendy had not been awoken, and she could not hear anything to suggest that she may be soon.

Suddenly knowing that something wasn't quite right, Wendy blinked herself awake, gasping as her eyes adjusted to the vision before her. She was no longer in her bedroom, or indeed the Darling household. Instead she was somewhere she had only been a small number of times before, somewhere she had certainly never thought she would find herself again. It was a moment before she could bring herself to get out of the bed. She couldn't quite comprehend the vision before her, but after all these years everything was exactly as before, the large Royal Oak bedframe, the red satin covers, and across the room, the gilded writing desk and equally extravagant piano, where she had first met him up close. Not only was she aboard The Jolly Roger, but she was also inside Hook's cabin.

Her feet swept across the cold wooden floor as she stood and made her way over to the cabin door. She didn't dare try to leave, just in case he was waiting outside for her, ready to enact whatever terrible thing he had in his mind. Stopping in her tracks, a thought suddenly crossed Wendy's mind: Captain Hook was no more. She had seen his demise with her own eyes, indeed she had even chanted along with the others until he had given up hope and allowed himself to be swallowed by the crocodile. So how had she ended up here?

A surprised gasp escaped her lips as the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into shape. It was Peter! He had taken possession of The Jolly Roger and brought Wendy back to Neverland to hear more of her stories! Forgetting her worries, Wendy pulled open the cabin door, racing out onto the deck to scold Peter for worrying her before regaling him with new and exciting stories. Unfortunately, she had been entirely wrong in her assumption, and as she came to a halt, face to face with fifteen of the fiercest pirates in the known world, she could only wonder whether she would ever see London again. Her gaze lifted, and she caught sight of James Hook, his lips curled into a snarl as his eyes bore into hers: her chances were very slim indeed.

"Ah, I see our guest has awoken!"

Wendy watched petrified as Hook, a man she had believed to be dead and gone, began to descend the steps that led to the upper deck. The pirates, who up until her appearance had been performing their duties, also started to inch towards her, creating an impenetrable line of defence against any escape she might attempt. She still tried, however. Vaulting from her stunned position, Wendy ran at the edge of the pirate wall. Stunned by her sudden movement, one even foolishly moved out of her way, creating a gap for her to duck under. She screamed as she heard a gunshot, followed by the collapsing of a body, knowing instantly who had shot, and, unfortunately for the foolish pirate, who had been shot. However, the action had given her a few more seconds, and taking the chance, Wendy pulled herself onto the ship's railings, clinging onto the rigging as she gaged the distance she would have to swim to reach the main land.

"If you so desperately wanted to go for a swim, you could have just asked."

The pirates chuckled cruelly as Wendy, teetering ever so slightly, turned around to face Hook. He hadn't moved from his position, not an inch, for why should he, the greatest pirate Captain of all, chase a silly little girl? There was nowhere for her to run to either, so any chasing would merely result in wasted efforts. No, she would come to him of her own accord, and that is what would satisfy his demonic mind the most.

"What do you want with me? I will not let you entrap me as you did before!"

Hook's lips lifted into a sly curve, his eyes twinkling with revenge.

"Oh, Wendy, I see you are too old to fall for any cunning plans my men or I may devise."

Hate boiling up inside her, Wendy had to clear her mind before answering. After all, she didn't want to anger him, not on purpose anyway.

"I am not old Hook. I have just grown up enough to be able to read the mind of an adult."

She watched horrified as Hook's smirk grew, his moustache twitching as he raised his hand to it, feigning contemplation.

"If you are so adept at understanding us, my dear, then why do you believe I have bought you here?"

Wendy thought for a moment, her young mind briefly flitting over the darker stories she had become acquainted with whilst she was growing up: stories of danger and violence, and even slavery and kidnapping. With haste she dismissed them, knowing truly that she was here because of Peter, and any damage that may occur to her during her time in Neverland would merely be an added bonus for the heinous men surrounding her.

Making no sound, Wendy carefully lowered herself from the rigging, walking back to the centre of the deck until she was just out of Hook's reach.

"You brought me here to act as bait for Peter."

"My, you are a clever one! However…"

Interrupting him in a manner most unbefitting a woman, Wendy continued. "But your plans will not come to fruition. For you see, it has been four years since my adventures in Neverland and after such a time, Peter will certainly not remember me, especially as I have changed so much since we last met."

It was now that Hook gazed upon the girl standing before him. True, she was no child, her shape had moulded into that of a young woman and her features had also sharpened, turning her once innocent gaze into one most delicately feminine. However, as he prowled through her mind, Hook could see that Wendy yearned for the pleasure of her childhood and, in doing so, her innocence and naivety had remained, as had her excitement of adventure and, as Hook most gleefully discovered, danger.

Grinning wildly, Hook took a step towards Wendy, who tactfully returned the gesture by stepping backwards.

"Four years, Wendy! My, my, such a long time, you have missed so much! And yet, I see that you have been adventuring of your own accord too. Your beloved Peter is but an arrogant child, and now you, his one memory in all of this fantasy land, has grown up."

Unravelling his words, Wendy's heart lifted. Did Peter remember her? Hook watched as her eyes widened and she shortened the gap between them.

"He remembers?"

"In a manner of speaking: yes. However, you are more an idle dream to him, a dream in which he managed to defeat me once and for all," Wendy flinched as he brought his hook to her chin, the cold metal gracing her throat, "with a little help from you of course."

Questions suddenly began to burn in Wendy's mind, spilling into her thoughts as if Hook had unlocked the door that was keeping them at bay. Up until now, Wendy had just assumed that Hook had somehow survived the crocodile, but in her sudden shock she realised her theory was impossible. She had, after all, witnessed Hook's demise, as well as that of many of the pirate's surrounding her. It was as if, as unlikely as it sounds, Neverland had reset itself to a period before Wendy's arrival, and was now ready to begin the action all over again.

"It was not a dream, Peter won and you lost." Her voice quietened to a scared whisper, "How are you here?"

"Perhaps a story would satisfy that question, my dear."

With no more than the sound of their bodies hitting the deck, each pirate had instantaneously sat down, eager to hear their Captain's words. Hook rolled his eyes but continued anyway.

"Once upon a time there was an arrogant little boy named Peter Pan..."

Wendy smirked as the memory of her last rendezvous with Hook filled her mind, the reminiscence prompting her to suddenly take on a boldness that her Mother would certainly be ashamed of. "Skip the prologue."

Hook laughed one short, sharp cackle before suddenly taking a hold of the back of Wendy's head and pulling her towards him, his hook now threatening to pierce her throat as his voice lowered into a growl.

"He found himself a Wendy and together they threw the poor Captain Hook to his death. Then, much to Peter's dismay, the selfish Wendy decided to go home, and leave the lonely boy to rot all by himself. Within time, he forgot Wendy and his adventures with her. His hate for Hook slowly rekindled, as one can never truly forget their rival, and as such, so did I. Of course, I have you to thank for the time I suffered in Limbo."

Looking up into the glimmers of red that had laced Hook's eyes, Wendy could only whimper as she was forcefully thrown against the mast. Her strength leaving her, she collapsed in a heap, looking up only as a pair of black leather boots approached her.

"I don't understand."

Crouching low, Hook began to slowly survey his hostage, his eyes tracing her neckline and catching sight of a silver chain which he had not noticed before.

"You see, my dear Wendy. Pan and I, we are like a two sided puzzle. There may seem to be some material similarities between us, but it is our differences that make us such fine enemies. We rely on each other for our own existence, for without one of us to rival the other, the other has no reason for living. If you take one of us apart, the other will break too, we are either alive together, or dead together, there are no other ways."

"But you were defeated. The crocodile swallowed you whole!"

"And Pan couldn't live without a rival, without me, so Neverland, this beautiful world that lives only for him, it brought me back to life."

"That's impossible!"

He laughed, raising his brow. "And flying is not?"

Wendy stuttered, unable to respond. In essence he was right, but even flying seemed less impossible than returning someone from the dead! Sharply tugging her out of her subconscious, Hook pulled at the necklace he had been eyeing, ripping it sharply from Wendy's throat. She screamed, both at the sudden movement, and at the sting the hook had made as it had cut her skin. Hook smirked, lifting Peter's kiss to his face so he could study it further.

"What is this?"

"Nothing of importance."

"Then you won't mind if I dispose of it."

Standing and marching over to the ship's rail, Hook turned back to Wendy, expecting her to give in, but she didn't. In a sudden burst of anger, the necklace flew from Hook's grasp and landed, with a soft splash, in the water below. Still no response came from Wendy and so Hook dismissed the object, returning his attention to its owner.

"Tie her up and lock her in the brig."

The men jumped to their feet to follow their Captain's orders, Wendy lifting her head in panic.

"But…"

Hook smirked at her protest.

"But, what, my dear? Why should I offer you hospitality when I shall gain nothing from it? You are, after all, aware of my true reason to bring you here, so I shan't waste my time spoiling you with luxury. Good day."

With that, Hook disappeared into his cabin, listening joyfully to Wendy's protests as she was hurled down into the brig. Her knees scraped the staircase as she was dragged under the deck and into a dark, damp cell laced with rot, splinters spearing her feet as she struggled to stand, her arms tied firmly behind her. She gazed up at the three pirates that had apprehended her, suddenly fearing them in a whole new manner as they looked down at her greedily. No longer being under the Captain's protection, Wendy realised that Neverland had become a lot darker as she had grown up. Things which she had innocently ignored all those years ago were now threatening to tear her apart. Neverland may have been Heaven for children, but for grown-ups, it was beyond Hell.

At around the same time on a small stretch of beach that Neverland had come to regard as 'Pirate Bay', due to its frequent visits by pirates in order to bury their stolen treasure, three young boys were engaged in an adventure. They dug joyfully in the sand with their hands, gasping and shouting as they discovered ornate shells and the occasional piece of eight. Their leader watched carefully as his new charges explored, looking as if they had always belonged to Neverland in the makeshift clothes they had adapted from their orphan-wear. The leader himself was wearing green, so many shades of it that it was as if he had just taken a pile of leaves and thrown them on. Of course, that was exactly what Peter had done all those many years ago, with Tinker Bell having added some faerie magic to the mix to make sure it held in place.

Peter studied the orphans as they played, glad that he had rescued them from the other world. Although he did not travel back to London regularly, a strange force had pulled him there last night and, much to Tinker Bell's detest, he had obeyed. It was then that he had found the boys and claimed them as his own. He would have stayed longer to explore London, but he didn't like Winter with its cold weather and strong winds that sounded as if they were calling out to you, so instead he returned to Neverland, ready to begin another adventure.

As he was contemplating what his next adventure might be, a small necklace washed up onto the sands of Pirate Bay. The littlest boy found it first, shouting excitedly as he picked it up and began to run towards Peter. The other boys too had noticed their comrade's discovery and stopped their foraging in order to see what he had discovered. They all reached Peter at about the same time, gasping for breath but desperate to view the treasure up close. Peter took the necklace and held it up to the light, carefully examining it.

"What is it?"

Silence greeted the oldest boy's question as Peter continued to study the object in his hands. He fingered the silver chain first and then took the pendant in his hand, stroking the arrowhead sized dent that had sparked his curiosity. Unconsciously, his spare hand reached to his chest, where the acorn had once lived upon his clothing. It was another moment before he spoke.

"It's a kiss."