Don't Try to Stop Me

The ticking grew louder as she felt herself lose every worry she ever had. Wendy knew Hook could never hurt her again this way.

As she felt herself near the water and near the end, everything stopped. The ticking ceased, the falling ended, everything at that moment stood completely still. She held her breath and opened her eyes, meeting his as she did this. The boy who had saved her for the second time, held her close and smiled at her with that boyish charm. "I told you to trust me."

Then, without thinking a single thought she wrapped both her arms around him and leaned up into him, allowing their lips to touch. His eyes shut at the feeling of her so close to him and kissed her back, feeling his heart begin to shake before pulling away.

A blush had fallen over his cheeks, he knew because he could feel the heat on them. When he opened his eyes, there was Wendy in his arms, but she was different. She looked the same as the very first time he had set a foot through her window, when his shadow had led him to her. Then, he looked down at himself and saw that he was his normal twelve year old self again.

Wendy laughed quietly before reaching out to run her fingers through his hair, leaning in close to his ear, "I remember you, Peter Pan."

He laughed out loud then and soared up into the clouds, Wendy still in his arms, before darting back down toward the ship. As they descended, he felt something warm seep through his shirt and looked to see where her hand was placed. The stitches he had made were bleeding; she had been hurt again.

That same darkness took over as when the pirates had first shot at them. He looked down to see that the pirate ship was still there, the same as always, with Captain Hook inside it. The same man who had hurt her.

He picked up speed and raced toward the ship. Wendy looked at him with uncertainty. "Peter, what are you doing?"

He ignored her and kept going so he could set her down where no one would see. He told her to stay and went in to look for the pirate who tried to destroy his Wendy.

If only he had known that Wendy had taken his dagger when he set her down. It wasn't his place to take care of that man, it was hers. It was her body his hand had touched, her innocence that he had stolen. It was her job to finish off the excuse for life he was.

At the thought, Captain Hook appeared out his quarters once he realized the ticking had faded. There he was, waiting for her. The crew his gone below deck, no longer concerned with anything since the girl was supposedly dead. The only ones on the main deck were Hook and Wendy. She advanced on him as he neared the plank to look over the edge of the ship and down at the water.

She ran at him and stopped behind him, forcing the dagger into his shirt. The man in front of her chuckled, "I never thought you were the type to sneak up on a man from behind, Pan."

Wendy jabbed him deeper. "I am not Peter Pan."

The captain stiffened. Wendy pushed the blade in deeper, watching the red begin to run through his shirt. "You made me bleed, now it's your turn. You thought I was kidding when I said you'd get what you deserved, didn't you? You thought I'd just given up?"

Hook laughed. "You had given up, child. You can't lie to me-"

"Walk!" She screamed at him, angered tears stinging her eyes.

To her surprise he obeyed, as if he had no other choice. He took his steps to the edge of the plank and turned around, facing her the way she had faced him. Only now, she had taken his place.

The same ticking sound filled the air and the sound of splashing water came from below the ship. The Captain shook at the sound, but held his composure to make sure she could see him hold out. He held her captive again with his eyes alone. "You won't ever forget me, Miss Wendy. Don't try to lie to yourself that you will."

"Wendy, no! Don't become him! You can't become him!" Peter swooped down when he saw what was happening. He flew past Wendy and into Hook so that he couldn't take the final step off the plank himself.

Peter Pan tried to fly away, but Hook held him down by his ankle. The captain's dark thoughts were pulling Peter down with him.

Wendy screamed as she saw him being dragged down, both her dreams and her nightmares colliding in front of her. The sound of the ticking clock suddenly grew so loud that she had no choice but to cover her ears as the sound of a loud splash came, followed by a single painful scream, and at last a final splash.

The silence that came after deafened her as she collapsed on the deck. She had faced her fears, but it was all for nothing. Her only hope had been torn away from her at the same time as she was finally freed from her chains. She looked down at her wrists and saw something she had never seen before.

Through her tears, she could barely make out the glow of a word on each wrist. Her left wrist had the word hope, while he right wrist had the word love. The stitches had finally faded and this was the only reminder he had left her. Just as she sat there reading her wrists, the glowing butterfly returned to her and rested on her left wrist. Hope.

Only this time when Wendy looked at the flying creature, she remembered and smiled. "Hello, Tinkerbell."

The fairy tilted her head and looked up at Wendy before she began flying again, disappearing over the side of the ship, and leaving the lost girl by herself.

The sound of a pan flute filled the sullen air around her. She swayed to the sound and felt a pain in her heart at the memories of her and her brothers in Peter's hideout as she told them fairy tales and played to be their mother. Tears stung her eyes again as she remembered him playing the pan flute before she left the hideout to return home, for what she had thought would be the last time before he had saved her and the lost boys from Hook the first time.

Wendy shook with sobs because she could remember it all now, and every memory of him hurt more than she could have imagined possible. She pressed her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, and buried her head in her arms.

The sound of the pan flute stopped and she lifted her head. Standing in front of her was no one other than Peter Pan. She jumped up and hugged him as tightly as she could.

"I thought he'd taken you down with him, Peter! I thought you were gone the way he was..."

Peter laughed and picked her up by the waist again, flying around the sails of the ship. "Hook could never take me down! You should know better. That old codfish could never get me! The crocodile finally got everything but the hand that was gripping my ankle. It's only right that he lost both his hands, but you'll never have to worry about him again, Wendy. He's done for."

Wendy held onto him, feeling herself finally fully healing. Then she remembered her wrists, "Did you make the stitches in my wrists?"

He blushed at the question, shying away from remembering the way she looked that night. "I did."

"Why?"

Tinkerbell fluttered over them, letting her pixie dust fall like a curtain over the two. Peter moved from holding her waist to simply holding her hand so that she would be flying with her own happy thoughts.

He looked at the sky they were heading toward, the day of Never Land fading into the stars. He gestured around him before looking at her. "I wanted you to remember this forever. I just wanted to make sure you already knew you could face your fears. You even chose to fall to face them. I wanted you to remember that I'll still always be here.... I'll still be there to catch you, Wendy, as long as you remember me... And it'll always hurt, remembering will, but you just have to remember that is your heart's way of hoping you'll get to feel the way you felt in the memory again. It's just loving a moment so much that you want to relive it, but you know what? We're living a memory right now, Wendy, and that's why I had to do what I did. I had to be sure you'd never forget your reason again."

She looked back at him and squeezed his hand, knowing she would never be able to say goodbye to him. Wendy smiled then, turning her head to look at the stars around her, and realized that saying goodbye to Peter Pan was something she would never have to do.