A/N: New Chapter! Again, I can only apologize for how long this has taken to write and release. I can promise you however that there will ALWAYS be another chapter on the way (until the story finishes, of course) and I will try to be a little more organised and get them out to you sooner. Please rate and review, each one inspires me to write more so the more you do it, the quicker the chapters'll come out! Thanks again to CaptainHooksGirl and AvengersGirl-LokisSpy for your reviews. Hope you enjoy this one!

Chapter 7

"Wendy? Wendy?"

Her eyes slowly fluttered open at the calling of her name, revealing Smee's stout figure to be leaning cautiously over Wendy's as she uncurled herself from her sleeping position.

"You had quite the fright yesterday, didn't you Miss?"

Casting her mind back to the previous day's events for a second, because any longer may have resulted in her bursting into tears, Wendy nodded, slowly looking around her in order to absorb her surroundings. She was positioned rather delicately on Hook's bed, exactly where he had placed her the previous night, but the Captain himself was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Hoo... Where's the Captain?"

Stepping back as she sat up, Smee gestured to the cabin door.

"The Cap'n's up on the deck, Miss. He'll be glad to know you're awake."

Smee began to make his exit as Wendy contemplated his words. It was only as he reached the door that Wendy returned from her subconscious.

"Smee?"

"Yes Miss?"

"Give the Captain my thanks for looking after me last night."

"Of course I shall Miss. Enjoy your breakfast."

Wendy slowly stood as Smee made his exit, casting her eyes over to Hook's exquisite gilded desk, which had laid upon it a beautiful breakfast of lightly fried bread and a delicious looking poached egg. Realising she was hungrier that she had originally contemplated, Wendy hurried over to the desk, taking a seat in the beautiful velvet lined chair that waited patiently for her presence, and began to eat, savouring each and every mouthful just in case she was to never experience this type of food again. However, something inside her told her otherwise: the beauty of living upon a pirate ship had only just begun, even if, at the furthest extent, she was just a prisoner of the Captain's, something had changed within their acquaintanceship and now nothing was to be the same ever again.

It was another ten minutes before Wendy was ready to exit the cabin. Only just remembering that she was looking rather indecent, for her nightdress was ripped rather high up her thigh, on her exit she picked up Hook's brocade coat, which either he or Smee had draped neatly over the end of the bed, and slipped into it, hugging the material around her as it far too large to wear normally.

As she stepped out onto the deck, Wendy surveyed the darkened sky above her. Ever since her unfortunate rendezvous with Peter, the skies over Neverland had descended into a depressing grey mulch of thick dark clouds and the occasional but abrupt onslaught of heavy rain. It seemed that as long as Peter was in turmoil, Neverland was too. The mere thought of it send a cold shiver down Wendy's spine, and to comfort herself, she pulled the coat tighter around her waist.

"Good morning, Miss Darling, or should I say, good afternoon. You're not cold are you?"

Hook's presence startled Wendy, for until that moment she had assumed she was alone on deck. Blushing slightly at his words, she carefully made her way over to the Captain.

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you Captain. I hope you don't mind, but my nightdress was damaged last night when…"

Wendy's words came to a halt as her mind drifted back to the previous night's events. Hook watched as they lingered between them before collapsing onto the deck with a crush, a shiver coursing through Wendy as the memories infiltrated her.

"Did you enjoy your breakfast?"

The distraction technique worked, for Wendy broke the connection with her subconscious at Hook's question, looking up at him inquisitively. Resisting the urge to giggle, for she had only ever witnessed one man attempt small talk (her father, and we all know how that adventure ended!), she instead smiled softly, replying that the meal had been most delicious.

"Good."

For the second time in only a few minutes, an uneasy silence broke out between the two of them. Wendy's gaze flittered downwards and Hook cleared his throat awkwardly. Thankfully, Smee chose this moment to make his presence known, much to their relief.

"Cap'n, the men are all ready. We're just awaiting your order and then we shall head for the mainland."

Hook merely nodded in response, eventually tearing his vision from Wendy in order to command Smee.

"Thank you Smee. Set a course for the Black Castle, but first we need to visit the Black Widow."

"Yes, Cap'n."

With that, Smee was gone, leaving Hook and Wendy to return to their awkward silence. It didn't remain for long though, for now Wendy was plagued with questions of their destination.

"Why are we going to the Black Castle?" A memory flashed into Wendy's mind of the last time she had encountered this terrifying place: a deserted, rotting castle situated somewhere in the middle of the Death Sea, where Hook often tortured his hostages into revealing their secrets before diminishing their hope and leaving them to drown. With a deep breath, she pushed the thought from her mind, believing that if that was to be her fate, she would already be aware of it. "And who is the Black Widow?"

Turning away from her, Hook began to busy himself with the map and compass resting on the railing before him.

"The Black Widow is an old witch who lives in the darkest corner of Neverland's deepest forest. She will provide you with some new garments to wear."

"Thank you."

Hook seemed to freeze at Wendy's gratitude, which she politely ignored, another question instead filling her mind. He had neglected to give the reason for their journey to the Black Castle. Instead of following up the thought, Wendy moved on, turning to watch Smee as he bustled about the deck, making sure the men were at their correct stations. Another burst of wind brushed past her legs, reminding Wendy just how indecent she must have looked. Unconsciously she took a step away from the railing, fearing that the pirates below her may glance up and get more of a sight than they were expecting to witness. In her haste, she bumped directly into Hook, biting her lip as she muttered an apology and turned away, once again looking out across the deck.

Wendy sighed, her stomach scrunching up almost painfully as a new feeling came over her. True, she still didn't feel safe within her current predicament, but something had changed: the hostility between Hook and her had faded, leaving something else, something the young, innocent Wendy could have never contemplated. Something Wendy knew all too well that Peter could never achieve, and the thought of it both sickened and excited her.

"Peter! Peter look!"

"What is it?" the boy in question cried, jumping off of the tree he had been perching ever so precariously on and landing on the ground as lightly as an autumn leaf would upon detaching itself from its mother-tree. Turning his head in the direction the other boys were facing, Peter began to search for the mysterious occurrence.

"I don't see anything… this is a boring game."

"No, Peter! Look over there, towards the edge of the woods. It's coming over the hill, look!"

Peter furrowed his brow and squinted as hard as he possibly could. It was then that he finally saw the unusual shape approaching them, whatever it was casting a formidable shadow over the trees in the early morning sunlight. The youngest boy gasped.

"Is it a monster, Peter?"

Peter laughed, his tone slightly arrogant in that childish manner, as he ridiculed the boy's worry.

"No! It's Tink, and she's brought someone with her."

At that moment the sun lifted and flashed into the children's eyes. When the brightness had cleared they could all make out a joyous Tinker Bell dancing through the sky as she made her way towards them. Following her closely was not in face one person, but seven, each looking around in wonder at the beauty that encased Neverland. Suddenly, one of the boys spotted something, pointing excitedly in the direction of Peter. At once, all of them started to run towards him, laughing and cheering as they called his name. Tinker Bell reached Peter first.

"Tink! What's going on?"

The fairy danced jubilantly and gestured towards the group of approaching boys.

"I don't understand Tink. Who are these boys? They're too old to be lost."

"Peter, don't you remember us?" John spoke, having somehow, for we know John not to have such a high tolerance for running, reached Peter first of all the boys. He held his hand out to shake Peter's, at which point the boy flinched, staring blankly down at the unusual greeting lingering before him. They stood in silence for a moment, frozen in awkwardness. By this point the other boys had too reached Peter, and were catching their breath as they admired the boy before them, looking every inch as young and childlike as he had when they had left Neverland.

"But Peter, it's us: Curly, Tootles, Nibs and the Twins." Tootles cried.

"And John and Michael, from the nursery." John added.

Peter frowned. "Who?"

"The Lost Boys!" They all cried simultaneously.

Peter's hands rose to his hips, anger lacing his voice.

"You are not the Lost Boys," he declared, "These are the Lost Boys."

Peter's new companions stood tall, until this moment having only a little interest in the unravelling argument before them. Curly began to protest, "But we are the Lost Boys… well, we were the Lost Boys at least. We returned to London not four years ago with Wendy but…"

His words were cut short by Peter who, in a flash, had withdrawn his dagger at the utterance of Wendy's name.

"The grown-up!"

Michael gasped, "You've seen her?"

For a split second Peter thought of simply not answering. His mind exploded with the image of chasing the seven intruders as far away from Neverland as possible, and then banishing them so that they could never disturb and confuse him again. Then, however, the questions started to fill his mind.

"Who are you all and what do you want?"

Tootles stepped forward, scrutinising Peter with his gaze as he attempted to explain.

"We used to be your friends Peter. You rescued us many, many years ago, when we fell out of our prams when the nurses weren't looking! We used to live with you in the 'home under the ground' with Tinker Bell too, and we fought the pirates and the Indians every day until we got bored of playing. Then you found Wendy…" Peter jabbed his dagger slightly towards Tootles at the repetition of Wendy's name, to which the boy merely raised his hands in defence. After a moment Peter nodded for him to continue, withdrawing his weapon only ever so slightly.

Tootles cleared his throat. "Then you found … and Michael and John too, and you brought them here. Then we defeated Hook once and for all!"

The seven boys cheered triumphantly, their excitement only receding at the look on Peter's face. He gestured once more for Tootles to finish.

"And then… then we decided to leave Neverland."

"Why?" Peter questioned, his voice no more than a harsh croak. Silence ensued.

Finally Curly replied. "We wanted another adventure, one you can't get here."

"And what would that be, Neverland is full of adventures!"

"We wanted the adventure of growing up."

Like an animal, Peter had pounced on Curly, his teeth bared menacingly.

"Growing up is not an adventure," he screamed, "it's a curse!"

Before any harm could come to either of the boys, or indeed any of them, for the rest of the Lost Boys, old and new, had taken a fighting stance, Tinker Bell flew in between Curly and Peter, miming frantically towards both of them in order to regain peace. The two boys stared intently into each other eyes, as if trying to outwit each other through telepathy, despite neither of them being able to read minds. After a moment they gave up, Curly relenting first in order, as I'm sure he would have protested, to allow Peter to retain his ego.

"So why are you here?"

Curly looked around, deciding that he should answer to avoid the others falling under Peter's scrutiny. However, just as he was about to, another voice piped up from the back of the group, causing everyone to turn around to its owner in surprise. Nibs, the most battle hardened of all of them, including Peter, stepped into the empty space between the old Lost Boys and their new counterparts. Scratching his nose nonchalantly, he cast his gaze up to Peter, locking eyes with the boy he had once thought of as his mentor.

"Tinker Bell brought us here, to help you and," he glanced up towards Tink momentarily, "to help rescue Wendy too."

Tink jingled in agreement, although it was clear that she had no intention of Wendy being 'rescued', just 'removed' from Neverland for good, whatever that entailed.

Standing proud, Peter crossed his arms, refusing to relent. "What are you talking about? I don't need help."

The silence that followed was enough to simulate the idea that none of the visitors agreed with Peter's words. At the realisation of this, Peter flew, quite literally, into a terrible rage, kicking off from the ground and darting above everyone's heads.

"You're lying to me, all of you!" He screamed. "Go away and never come back again!"

Tootles looked up, begging him for forgiveness, though what his crime was he wasn't quite sure. "We're not lying, Peter! Trust us. We used to be your friends."

"Please believe us, Peter!" The twins cried.

"We'll help you defeat Hook and get rid of the grown up," Nibs whispered, the breeze carrying his words directly into Peter's ears.

Peter scowled, landing with a thud and began to pace in front of the boys, wondering how much these mysterious figures knew about him and his time in Neverland. For the first time well… ever, he allowed himself to be distracted by a thorn as it pierced into the bare skin of his sole. With a slight wince, he removed the offending cause of his pain and then glared back at the boys before him. Another feeling of similarity washed through his body and he grimaced. How was it possible that Neverland had been completely his, with no hidden secrets, until only a few days ago, and then two mysteries had appeared almost simultaneously? He didn't like it, not one bit. However, there was also nothing he could do about it and the mysteries were just that, mysterious. And what young boy doesn't like to play detective and solve a mystery?

"Fine!" He muttered angrily, before an idea suddenly sprung into his not so innocent mind. "But first you need to be tested to prove your loyalty to me. Boys, prepare the row boat, we're going to the Black Castle!"

As the new Lost Boys made their exit followed hesitantly by their new 'guests', Peter fell behind them, summoning Nibs to his side.

"Do you have a plan, Nibs?"

"Aye, Peter, and it's already working."

Peter's brow furrowed. "How do you know?"

Nibs smiled, the first smile he had truly meant in many years. "You remembered my name." Then he was gone, running to catch up with the other boys.

Peter stopped in his tracks, trying to recall when Nibs had directly told him his name. He had been referenced, of course, but not once had he been directly pointed out amongst the group of strangers. The sky darkened as Peter tried to banish the pursuing thought from his mind.

If he knew Nibs' name, and had therefore forgotten it and Nibs himself too, what else had he forgotten?

The thought alone was enough to send his mind into overdrive.