Don't Try to Stop Me

Once the stars had faded back into the blue of the morning, the couple had reached their destination of Never Land. The island formed itself below the clouds and it was a land that would never change. It was the land Peter Pan would never change in, and it was his home.

Peter set Wendy down on the closest cloud, hoping she would wake up with the sun warming her.

“Wendy?”

She moved slightly, responding to the sound of his voice calling her name. He was beckoning her back into life. Her eyes opened, but she couldn’t see anything yet. The only thing she could distinguish was a little butterfly floating around a figure in front of her. As her vision developed, she could see a red haired boy, around the same age as her, kneeling in front of her with a worried look in his eyes.

“Wendy?” His voice was deeper now than the voice that had called her name a moment ago. “Are you okay now?”

She blinked at him as she sat up. The pain in her stomach had disappeared and now only a painful pulse in her wrist caused her to cry out. He flew up to catch her as she fell back and lowered her to rest in the comfort of the cloud.

“Wendy, don’t move yet. Please…” He whispered the words, looking down at himself. He could see how he appeared to her. He had aged in the same way she had, but it was only an illusion. It was just a dream she had created to explain why she couldn’t remember him, because in reality Peter would never change. The only thing that had really changed was the way she saw him.

He appeared to be sixteen years old and noticed his hands seemed stronger. All of him appeared stronger, he guessed, because that was what she needed of him, to be strong enough for her.

Wendy kept her eyes closed, but spoke to him anyway. “Who are you?”

He turned away at the question, his hair blowing out of his eyes so that he could see Never Land below them. The pirate ships were all docked and he could picture Hook giving orders to the others. All of the pirates were adults, mean and bossy adults. Adults that owned sin, forgot their childhood dreams, and eventually forgot their childhood itself…

She was becoming one, he knew that. Because of that, she had forgotten him. She had lost the memory of their adventures together the way the lost boys had lost their mothers and had been forgotten.

He bit his lip, giving him a boyish look again.

“I’m a friend, Wendy. You’ll just have to trust me on that. Okay?” He paused and stroked her hair away from her face. “Are you okay?”

She opened her eyes and looked at him with wondering eyes. “I’m okay, I guess. They still hurt…” He looked down at her wrists, the stitches were fading as they healed.

“You were sad.”

She sighed back into the cloud. “I was.”

He hummed softly and waved his hand over the cloud, swishing the white puffs back and forth. “Why?”

“Everything hurt.”

He continued humming. Then suddenly stopped, but still didn’t look at her. “You lost all your happy thoughts.”

“Maybe there’s no reason for a happy thought.”

He lifted his head and swiftly turned himself to look her in the eyes, to see if she really meant it. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

He smiled at her then, hoping it would reassure her and let her know he knew better than to believe her. As soon as he did that, her glow returned slightly and a blush fell over her cheeks. “I didn’t think so…”

He crossed his legs, Indian style, and hovered in front of her. For the first time, she realized he was flying. “How did you do that?”

Just then, he fell through the cloud. He had lost his happy thought when she asked that question. It was another forced realization that she still didn’t remember him. He held onto the thought of when he saved her from walking the plank and soared back up to his Wendy.

“You once knew…” He sighed and then looked her in the eye, a smile appearing on his face. “I’ll just teach you again, but you need a happy thought first.”

She hesitated at a response and looked away from him. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “Just try.”

He moved away and smiled at her again. Wendy looked down at herself. Her night gown was completely stained and her wrists were still sore.

“If you try to think of a happy thought, your wrist won’t hurt at all. Trust me… Here, let me try something. Tink, a little pixie dust, please.”

Wendy watched the butterfly flutter above her, sprinkling gold glitter over her. Then, the boy fell into the cloud again, but this time he flew up behind Wendy and picked her up, carrying her again so that she would have to trust him.

She clung to his shirt, but felt her worries fade away in his arms. Then, she looked around at the world in front of her and turned towards the boy that held her.

“You don’t exist, do you?”

Peter looked at Wendy, the same sad look in his eyes.

“I exist to you, don’t I?”

She clung to him tighter, pressing herself closer to him. She’d never been that close to a boy before. Besides that, she awed at him and his soft, straight hair. Wendy tucked her head into his neck. As his hair brushed over her forehead, he slowed down and held her closer. “Well, I told you your wrist would stop hurting. Do you trust me now?”

“I do.”

At that moment, he switched from carrying her to holding her by her waist. As soon as he did, a black object whooshed past them. She spun around in his arms, startled. “What was that?"

"Hook." Peter Pan moved one hand from Wendy's waist to his dagger, his face darkening. “He must have seen us.”

“Who’s-” Another cannonball nearly hit them, yet again missed.

He looked at her with protective eyes. “Hold on.” She moved around him so that she stood behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and securing herself. As soon as she was safe, he dove town toward the pirate ships, down toward her greatest fears, and down toward her worst nightmare.