Rampant Id

Yes, it's been a long while since I last updated this story. Sorry about that, but unfortunately life happened.

I'm excited to get back into continuing this story, but I am feeling a bit rusty so please bare with me. Also, sorry for the exposition at the beginning here. A lot happened in the time skip and everyone needs to be filled in on certain events for this story to progress. Enjoy!

This chapter is dedicated to my most recent reviewers: theatreweeb741, and Transformers 0.

Thanks for your review Transformers0 - Could you please let me know in which of the previous chapters I mentioned Maggie's age? According to sources on the internet the actress that played Maggie was 7/8 years old at the time of the filming (born in 1984 and the filming began in 1991), so the age that I will be going with will be 7 just for simplicity's sake.

Chapter 9:
Shadows on the Walls

Eight years later...

It's been eight years since the day I returned from Neverland. The loss of my father and the absence of my brother has weighed heavily on me. Rufio's inability to rescue Jack has resulted in guilt eating away at me for my safe return. This feeling has been further exacerbated by my mother's inability to look at me without crying. My very presence is a constant reminder of all that she has lost. A husband, a son... a family. In its place now stands a broken girl. One too crazy to explain what had happened after the kidnapping without it turning into a fantastical story of pirates, mermaids, fairies and flying.

At least that's how it appeared to the outside world. I know what really happened, but that didn't stop the school from referring my mother and I to a psychologist. The teachers thought I was deeply disturbed, while the children all called me a liar.

My mother caved under the pressure, and before I knew it efforts were made into pumping me full of drugs and brainwashing me into believing the "most likely" series of events partnered with a list of "realistic" terminology. The pirates became gangsters, and the expert consensus on the reason for the kidnapping was either a grudge against my father due to his job, or a desire to ransom us for money. It was believed that my father died while trying to save his children on his own for fear of police involvement. The only thing that managed to stump the experts was the reason for why I had been returned home unharmed.

Unfortunately, two years ago the sorrow that consumed my mother made her fall very ill. My grandmother came over much more frequently to help me look after my ailing mother. Less than a year later my poor mother left us behind, dying of what I knew to be a broken heart.

I fell apart. If not for grandma Wendy I don't know what I would have done. She took me in and became my sole confidant. No matter what anyone said she always believed in me - like an unwavering light she stood by my side in the darkest of times.

.* * *.

I stood quietly in the bathroom stall and watched the water swirling around with the pills until it disappeared entirely, taking the pills with it. There went this week's batch of mind numbing medication. I sighed and walked out of the stall and toward the sinks. After washing my face with cool water I glanced into the mirror and saw Vera's smirking face right next to me. Not this again.

"So Megan, what's it like living back in the as same place that you were kidnapped from as a kid?"

I kept my face as blank as I could. I knew that if I showed any of the anger or pain that I was feeling it would only encourage her further.

"It's fantastic," I deadpanned. Questions like these are a-dime-a-dozen now that the entire student body knows about my mother's house being sold.

"Aren't you afraid that an evil pirate will come and take you away again?" Vera laughed, turning to one of her friends for inspiration.

Pushing past her I called over my shoulder just as I left the girls' bathroom: "Actually, I worry that the gangsters will track down my school and take you hostage by mistake."

.* * *.

The remainder of the day went by just as uneventfully. I arrived at grandma Wendy's house and went upstairs to my old room. It might seem strange that I requested the same room that I had been kidnapped from as a child, but I wanted Rufio to be able to easily track me down if he had any news to share about my brother. I still held a small bit of hope in my heart about getting my brother back, even all these years later.

Before going to bed I made sure to leave the latch to the window unlocked and waited in bed with a book. Nothing happened on that first night, or the second. A week passed by and I resigned myself to the fact that Rufio was not coming. I tried comforting myself with the fact that time flowed differently in Neverland and that it might simply take a while before Rufio would venture back into my world.

One night near the end of the first month of my my move I woke up to the feeling of a presence looming over me. It unnerved me to the point where I couldn't take the suspense anymore. Through slitted eyes I looked up. Above me stood a teenager that I had not seen in a long time. Rufio actually seemed a bit older and taller than I remembered - how had he aged in Neverland?

"Rufio?" I asked, opening my eyes and looking up at him in surprise.

His reaction was immediate. He shot up partially into the air and flew swiftly toward the window.

"Wait! Have you found my brother? Is he safe?" I called after him as I scrambled out of my bed and promptly stumbled over my slippers in my haste to get to him before he flew away.

Rufio froze in place, one hand already gripping the side of the open window pane, and then glanced back toward me. Guilt was written all over his face and his remaining hand clenched into a fist at his side.

"Yeah, I found him," Rufio replied, sounding resigned. "Jack is back in Neverland again, but he's different now."

"Different how?" I asked in confusion, then grabbed the tassels on his sleeve and with surprise colouring my voice I added "what do you mean he's 'back in Neverland'? Where did he go?"

Glancing down at my hand which attempted to keep him from leaving, Rufio answered, "He and Hook disappeared somewhere into your world for a while - I don't know how they managed to do it. Hook must have a way to travel between the two worlds that is not dependent on flying."

He met my eyes as he revealed the last bit of news, "Jack is older now and he's filled with a great deal of hate - he blames me for everything." The pain in his voice made it clear that he agreed with Jack.

On the spur of the moment I blurted out a sudden idea that popped into my mind as I tugged on his shirt's tassels. "Take me with you! I'll talk some sense into my brother. Maybe he'll listen to me."

Rufio pried my fingers from his tassel-sleeve with one hand, and then ruffled my hair with his other. "That would be the opposite of keeping you safe. The last thing I plan to do is to put you in danger." He then shot me a sharp look.

"Do you still have the dagger that I gave you?" After seeing my quick nod he added, "keep it close to you. You never know when you might need it."

One year later...

It was late at night when a strange sound woke me up. At first I was excited because I thought that it was Rufio returning with some news on my brother. It had been over a year since I last saw him, and I was getting worried that something had gone terribly wrong.

Tonight I was temporarily sleeping in the room next door to mine, because Grandma Wendy had decided that a room with old, peeling paint was not fit for a young lady. As a result my bedroom had been repainted just yesterday, and the fumes from the new paint needed to be aired out before it could be used again.

The sounds that I was hearing were coming from my bedroom. Yes, sounds plural. There were several people prowling around my bedroom in the middle of the night. Thankful for the locked door that stood between me and them, I got out of the bed as swiftly and silently as possible. Grabbing my bathrobe off the chair I threw it over my nightgown, thrust my arms through the sleeves and tied it around my waist. Not wasting a second I turned back to my bed and reached under my pillow. As I pulled out the dagger that Rufio had given me all those years ago, its blade gleamed in the moonlight that shone down through my window.

I had no way to attach the dagger to me, and running around with a bare blade was out of the question. The last thing I needed was to trip and impale myself on my own weapon. I started sliding the dagger into my large bathrobe pocket. When it was met with the resistance of fabric I forced it through with fear-induced strength. Wincing at the sound of ripping cloth, sure that the trespassers had heard it, I rushed over to the second door - the one that lead out into the hallway. As I ran, the cool blade of the dagger tapped against my bare leg. I wished that I had had the foresight to have worn pajamas instead.

Just as I grabbed the doorknob to the hallway and was about to turn it, the other door - the one connecting to my bedroom - burst open and in flooded several shapes, casting eerie shadows on the walls.

Choking back a gasp I desperately turned the doorknob, pushed open the door, and ran directly into a bare chest of the meanest looking pirate I had ever seen. He had several missing teeth, a mean scowl and a scar across his eye. The startled scream that escaped my lips was swiftly cut off as he yanked me toward him, spun me around and his beefy hand slapped down over my mouth.

"Got you." Hissed a cruel-sounding voice into my ear.

Rampant Id:

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