Never Never

Peter woke suddenly that night, his eyes snapping open in the semi darkness of the room. He was a bit surprised to find Rei curled up against him, but he ignored that for the moment, trying to grasp the remaining images of the dream he’d had. But it was like trying to grab smoke and it quickly slipped away until he couldn’t even remember if the dream had been bad or not.

He let out a sigh and shook his head, a bit disappointed, but then his eyes found Rei again and he smiled. She was curled up against his chest, probably for warmth, and he tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear as she sighed through her nose. He had something he needed to do, and knew it would be much easier to do it if no one else was awake.

As slowly as possible he slipped away from the sleeping girl, tugging part of the furs he had been laying on over her so she wouldn’t miss his heat. She whimpered briefly and wiggled herself down into the bed more before settling again. He let out a sigh of relief and slipped away completely and flying out.

Once again, and for perhaps the last time, Peter visited Rei’s home. The balcony doors were wide open, just as they had been when he had taken the girl away, and he could see who he assumed was Rei’s mother standing in the middle of the room speaking with two more adults. He pressed his back against the wall near the open doors and listened in.

“How long has your daughter been missing, miss?” One of the other adults asked.

“A few days now I think. We got into an argument and she stormed out of the house.” Rei’s mother answered, making him frown. She hadn’t stormed out. She had run out to escape.

“She might have just run off to a friend’s house, have you contacted any of her friends to check?” A different voice asked.

“Yes of course I have! She wasn’t there.” He was surprised at how angry the woman sounded, and wondered if it was because she was actually concerned, or because Rei had managed to escape from her for good.

“Settle down miss, we’ll do everything we can to find your daughter.” Peter smirked at this and suppressed a laugh. They wouldn’t find Rei, and he would do his best to make sure she didn’t return to this world until she had forgotten her mother and everyone else, and they in turn, had forgotten her.

He heard three different sets of footsteps exit the room and the soft click of the door closing before he felt it was safe to enter. The room looked just as it had when they left it, and he smiled a bit before backing out onto the balcony and closing the doors. He left then, back home to Never Land, wanting to get there before anyone woke up.

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Rei woke up a bit confused to find herself alone in the bed and sat up to look around the room. The furs that had been draped over her fell away and she frowned a bit. She didn’t know what time it was, but according to the 6 sets of snores drifting about the room it must still be night time, or at least very early morning.

She slipped out of bed, stretching for a moment and thinking briefly about going outside. She remembered that she had agreed not to go out without Peter or the boys and grimaced a bit, wondering why she had agreed to it in the first place. That’s right; she had been swooning at the time and might have agreed to anything Peter asked of her. So she walked about the room, wishing she was still asleep and wondering where Peter had gone off too when he suddenly landed not two feet from where she was.

“Rei! You’re awake!” He said, surprised.

“Where did you fly off to so late?” She asked, smiling a little.

“Oh, no where important.” He answered with a shrug, closing the distance between them. “How come you’re awake?”

“No reason, just woke up.” She couldn’t really concentrate on what she was thinking with him so close, so she took a step backwards. “Think we could go outside?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not.” He said, smiling at her still. Without even having to think about it she scooped up her sword and slung the belt around her waist, fastening it as tightly as it would go. Goosebumps rushed up the skin of her arm as Peter took her hand in his and she could feel heat rush into her face as she joined him in flight. It was the kind of dark outside that you get around 3am, accompanied by a silence so profound that any sound you made in it was almost deafening. They didn’t fly far before Peter decided to land again and she was glad to have fresh air in her lungs.

“Would you sing for me Rei?” Peter asked suddenly, catching her a bit off guard.

“Right now?”

“Well of course now.” He laughed, sitting down and tugging her along to do the same.

“Oh, I guess I could.” She said, thankful it was dark enough to hide the blush that was once again tinting her cheeks. She racked her brain for a moment and settled on one of the sadder songs she knew, taking a deep breath of the cool air before starting. She closed her eyes as she sang, getting lost in the melody and words, shutting out her surroundings completely as she often did when she sang.

Her voice came out soft and lilting, and she couldn’t help but smile. Singing had always been her favorite thing in the world to do, and even though she would never be famous, as long as there were still people willing to listen she was happy. When the song came to an end she opened her eyes slowly, now aware of how close Peter was to her. Before she could say anything he planted a sweet kiss to her lips.

“Thank you.” He said and she could feel herself smiling like an idiot.

“I should be thanking you.” She replied, her smile gentler now.

“What for?”

“For saving me. My life was a mess before you brought me here.” Was her answer, and she looked away from him now, staring up at the star smattered sky through the tree tops. “I don’t know what I would have done if I had to deal with my mother any longer.” She continued, pulling up a few fuzzy memories of the fights she had had with her mom. Rei let out a gasp when Peter pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her.

“So you’ll stay with me?” He whispered against her ear, causing her to shudder as his warm breath ghosted across her ear.

“Of course.” Her voice came out as a whisper to match his, and she closed her eyes again.

“Forever?” She nodded. She couldn’t even think about leaving Never Land now. “Good, because even if you wanted to leave I wouldn’t let you.” He said, chuckling a little bit. She smiled at this and leaned her body against Peter’s, nestling herself into the circle of his arms. Enveloped by the warmth of the boy who had given her a new life and knowing she was safe with him she felt herself surrendering to sleep once again.

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Rei’s body felt limp in his hold now and he moved her carefully so that she was laid out across his lap. He slid a hand through her dark hair slowly and tipped his head back to look out at the stars. He felt content like this, with Rei in his lap and the stars twinkling over head, he just wasn’t sure why. Flying and fighting was really all he had ever known until Rei had come back to Never Land with him.

Now he felt protective and a bit possessive of the girl, wanting to keep her safe and close by him at all times. He trusted the lost boys to keep her safe if he wasn’t around, but he couldn’t help but want to be the one to do it. He wondered now, is this what love felt like? This need to have one person around you, to want to hold them and protect them with every fiber of your being?

He thought long and hard about it, long enough that the sun started to rise and his head hurt and was full of unanswered questions. Rei was still sleeping peacefully in his lap, unaware of the inner struggle he was dealing with. Peter refused to think about it anymore, what happened would happen. He sat up straight now, carefully slipping his arms under the sleeping girl so that when he stood she would be cradled in his arms.

The girl was so light that he was able to fly easily with her in his arms, and he was thankful that she was such a heavy sleeper. When he landed for the second time that day in the house underground it was to the lost boys setting food out on the table.

“What happened to mother?” Tootles asked, spotting him just as he was laying her down on his bed.

“She fell asleep while we were out. We’ll wake her up in a few minutes once all the food is on the table.” He answered, undoing the belt from Rei’s waist and setting her weapon aside. Peter was true to his word, for once the food was all laid out he returned to Rei’s side and shook her gently to wake her.

“No practice yet…” She muttered, batting tiredly at his hand, causing him to laugh.

“It’s time for food, not practice.” He said through his laughter and she opened one eye a crack to look at him.

“I suppose I can get up for food.” She said before he was met with the sight of both green eyes. She sat up and stretched before smiling at him sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“What are you saying sorry for?” He asked, puzzled.

“For falling asleep on you.” She answered, her cheeks flushing a pretty pink color.

“No worries.” He said, putting that impish smirk into play only to see the blush deepen. Breakfast was a loud affair, as it usually was, and Peter found his eyes straying towards Rei more then once as she laughed and talked with the boys. Once the food was gone and the table cleared Peter once again took Rei out for practice, this time leading her to a small clearing deep in the jungle.

“We’ll practice here from now on.” He said to her as they both landed and pulled out their swords. She nodded and, instead of waiting for him to make the first move, came at him. This was what life was, battles and flying, simplistic. He parried her attack easily, but was proud to see how much she had improved. She kept up with him better now, and didn’t get winded so quickly.

By the time he called for them to stop the sun had risen high into the sky and was beating down on them harshly. They were both sweating and smeared with dirt and Rei had long ago cut her pants into shorts to accommodate the hot weather. He watched the girl collapse willingly onto the ground as she sucked in as much air as her lungs could take.

“You’re getting better.” He rasped out. He hadn’t even been winded the first time they had sparred together, and the fact that he was now was proof enough of just how far she’d come in her sword fighting abilities.

“Glad to know this torture is paying off.” She said with a short laugh. He set his blade aside now and sprawled out on the ground next to her. “Peter?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s go for a swim.” She said and he thought about it for a moment before nodding. They returned then to the beautiful blue-green water of the pond from the day before and when they landed Rei stripped belt and sword from her waist and tossed it down before diving into the water. He couldn’t help but laugh at how eager she was to be in the water and figured that a trip to see the mermaids might be in order soon.

Peter followed suit, jumping into the cool water after he laid his blade by hers. The water felt great against his heated skin and when he surfaced he looked around and found Rei floating on her back in the middle of the pond. He swam towards her, not even bothering to try and be quiet in the water, and when she heard him coming she righted herself in the water, slicking her hair back from her face.

As with the previous day he felt compelled to kiss her, but he resisted and for a while they splashed around, dunking or pulling one another under the water until they were ready to leave.

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When they pulled themselves out of the water they both sprawled out in the sun to dry a bit before heading back through the jungle. Rei found that she wasn’t as tired as she thought she would be after the hours of practice they had put in on top of the long swim they had. Peter was being oddly silent, so, about halfway back to the hideout she reached out and took his hand, pulling him to a stop.

“Something on your mind?” She asked when he turned to face her.

“Why do you ask?” He returned with and a puzzled look crossed her face.

“You’ve been quiet since we left from swimming.” She answered. She bit back a gasp when he yanked her against his body for the second time in as many hours and she couldn’t keep the startled look from her face.

“You fog things up for me. I want to keep you close by, but when I do I can hardly think straight. I don’t understand it at all.” Peter said, his voice almost a growl. She didn’t know how to respond to his words, so she just stayed silent, staring up into his eyes. “I won’t be able to concentrate right until you can defend yourself properly.” His voice was softer now, obviously seeing something he didn’t like cross her face.

“I’ll be fine Peter. I have the best teacher in Never Land.” She said firmly, finally seeing a hint of a smile on his face again.

“The best there ever was!” He said smugly and she laughed as the serious conversation disappeared. The laughed and joked around the whole way back to the hideout, playfully shoving one another as they went.

That night, after the lost boys were sound and both her and Peter were laying comfortably side by side she kept herself wake staring at the roots of the tree that worked so well in hiding their location. She waited patiently for the sound of Peter’s breathing to even out, and when it did she slipped away from him, quietly gathering her sword up before flying out of the hideout.

Rei knew that if Peter woke at all while she was out that she would be in for it for breaking her word, but a little time to herself would be nice. Once she was clear of the hideout she flew quickly over the treetops, heading, once again, back to the pond. She pulled herself to a stop just over the water and tied the belt around her waist quickly. She didn’t think she would need her sword here, but just to be safe she had brought it with her.

She brought herself down so that her feet were mere inches away from the glossy surface of the water and pulled her blade free. Rei would work on her coordination with it here, on her own, because just as Peter’s mind fogged up while he was around her the same applied in her case.

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Hook was on his own this night, searching, as always, for Peter Pan’s hideout. He ventured deep into the jungle, lantern held high to light his way through the dense darkness. It was then he stumbled upon a vast clearing, bathed in moonlight and almost completely taken over by a large pond. But it was what was flying just above the waters surface that caught and held his attention. He could see her clearly in the moon lit clearing and he watched as she seemed to dance through the air.

The fact that the girl had a sword in her hands escaped him completely, for he now knew why Pan had been quiet as of late. It was this girl; this girl had captured Pan’s attention. This small girl with her graceful movements and long braided hair. A sinister grin flashed across his face as he thought of how many ways he could remove this girl from Pan’s life.

It sent his blood to boiling to know that his enemy seemed to have found someone, but he wouldn’t know for sure just how important this girl was to him until he captured her. And capture her he would, but for now he drew back, returning to the Jolly Rodger to inform his crew of the plan forming in his head. He would have that girl, the sooner the better.

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Peter woke abruptly, just as he had the night before, but this time, instead of finding Rei curled up against him he found the spot she normally laid to be cold and void of her presence. He jolted up, almost smacking his head against the overhanging roots and looking around the room. She wasn’t there. He pulled himself out of bed and shot out of the top entrance. Anger flared through him as he flew through the air. He knew where she must have gone, and it was there he found her. But what he hadn’t expected to see was her flying through the air herself, sword in hand, just above the water. She was practicing.

“Rei!” He shouted, not allowing him to be sucked in to the graceful dance she was weaving through the air. Obviously startled she spun about, her eyes going wider then he’d ever seen them before.

“Peter! What are you doing here?” Her question came out rushed as she just watched him fly over to her.

“What am I doing here? The question is, what are you doing here?” He asked, taking the sword from her hand and slipping it into its sheath at her hip. She stuttered for a moment, fidgeting and avoiding his gaze.

“I…I just wanted to get better at handling my sword while flying…” She finally mumbled, “So I thought I’d get a little practice in and surprise you tomorrow. I don’t want you to worry about me so much.” At those words he slowly felt the fight leaving him, his anger draining out of him. “I’m sorry, Peter.” He let out a long sigh and took her hand, pulling her in close to him. The action made her look up at him and watched her bite down on her lower lip.

“It’s okay, I understand. I was just worried when I woke up and you were gone,” He started, “How about this, just wake me up and let me know when you’re going to come out here and practice. I trust you.” Seeing her eyes light up was worth his worry and she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

“Thank you, I can definitely live with that.” She spoke into his neck and he had to keep himself from shuddering.

“Let’s go back and get some sleep already.” He said, not willing to take no for an answer. When they got back and Rei was curled up against him like she should have been before he let himself think. She was a lot better with the blade now, he knew he could trust her to defend herself, but he couldn’t help the bad feeling that rose up inside of him.