The Voice Inside my Head (Peter Pan OUAT Fanfic.) UNDER EDITING

#17 Home Coming

I opened my eyelids, peering at the trees through my eyelashes.

Peter.

I looked around, trying to spot him. He turned out to be next to me, sprawled on the sand. He sat up and shook his head, flinging sand everywhere.

I tackled him in a hug. "WE DID IT! WE'RE HERE!" I got up and sat back on my haunches. "Oh, Neverland, I missed you!" I grabbed the sand in my hands and let it run through my fingers. It was a warm, scratchy sensation that sent shivers up my spine. I flopped into the sand and the sand legit hugged me.

Before I left, since I was connected to Peter, and he was the Island and Shadow (in a weird magical way),  so the shadow and Neverland seemed to love me, too. Their magic came to my aid when I needed it and always tried to help me. Not that I could control it, I have no magic. Shadow and Neverland are free spirits: they just care about me. I'm not sure how that works, but it does.

Peter smiled. "Abby?"

I turned, the sand still grasping at me like it was saying "Welcome! Abby, we missed you!"

"What?" I answered.

"How are you planning to," he paused, "tell the lost boys? I mean, they may be happy you're home, sad you were gone, or even angry that you left."

I nodded. "If they're happy, great. If they're sad, then they need to toughen up, and if they're angry, I can take them."

He grinned. "I like your thinking!"

He stood and offered me his hand. I stood. "Wait!" I cried. "Uh... are we going to camp?"

He looked at me long and hard, as if to determine whether I was trying to say not to go, or I was just stupid. He decided on the first one. Smart boy.

"Yes. You don't want to go? I thought we just-"

"I have something to take care of. Just... tell my family that I'm finally coming home."

He smiled, and I could faintly see moisture in his eyes, happy tears. He nodded and ran camp. I knew what he was thinking. He was crazy happy to have me back, and was glad that Neverland was my home and he and the lost ones were my family.

After he sprinted off, I turned to the woods. "Shadow?"

As I said before, Peter's shadow and I are tight now. Right on time, Shadow swoops down and hugs me. "You're back!"

I nodded. "That I am."

He studied my expression. "Why?"

I rolled my eyes. "Why? That's all you got? Well, I met Peter in the human world, and I realized he was alive and that we needed to get back to Neverland because he was alive so I came back. It was very hard getting here..." I thought about our journey.

Shadow read my thoughts and laughed. "Hard is an understatement. I mean, kidnapped by Pan's s- Rumpelstiltskin. And the way you tricked Belle was pretty good, she's clever. Nice job."

I smirked. "Did you ever have a doubt?"

He shook his head. "No. So, darling, shouldn't you be at camp? The lost boys want to see you! Especially Felix. Pan's been stressed and so Felix wanted you back."

I smiled. "Yeah, I do need to get back. Catch you later, Pop Tart!"

We laughed as I jogged into the woods. Yes, Shadow and I have nicknames for eachother. He's a sliver of Peter, so it's not weird.

I heard whoops and hoots and hollers from camp as I approached, they were celebrating. Probably my arrival. The lost boys hated me, since I was just like Peter. They probably had a lot of false enthusiasm. I entered and immediately, Felix came up to me. "What were you thinking? Do you know how impossible Pan was for the 5 months you were gone!"

I laughed. The party continued on, and no one heard us. "So I've heard, dork."

"What? Who?"

"Shadow."

He nodded, then returned to his angry state. "Do you know how many boys were killed in those 5 months. When you left we had 118 boys. We have 72, now."

I raised my eyebrows. "Wow. Pan's been busy." I always call him Pan when around the lost boys, only Peter when we're alone.

Felix sighed, deflating. "Well, at least you had the sense to come back."

I growled and made sure to subtly swipe my leg underneath his, tripping him as I walked back to Peter.

Peter halts the celebration for my return and announces that I'm back. They cheer and go back to dancing and yelling.

Peter gets out his Pan Pipes. I listen to him play and dance around with the boys. Yeah, I thought of them as family, (ish), but make no mistake, I was not going to turn all mushy and love them. Punishment will still continue, even death. And I will not hesitate to restore order to my third of the boys that Peter, Felix, and I train.

After dancing around the fire, I return to Peter's side and hum along to the pipes. The night wears on and we celebrate until we see the first kiss of sunlight cast it's light on our faces.

Then we went to start the day. We ate breakfast and went to training. I was sad to see that they had really slacked off while I was gone. I worked them until they all passed out. Then they took the rest of the day off. I planned to keep doing this until they are back to where I had them.

I, on the other hand, came back five months older than I was before and in better quality. I had to fight my way out a lot in that school. I never ceased training.

Now, I had troops to deal with.

When the day concluded, I went back to Peter's tent and he played his pipes for me.

I drifted off to sleep and slept like a rock, then woke up and made my third work until they passed out again.

This cycle repeated for about a month and I had primed my lost boys. At this point I talked to Peter about a subject I knew I should tread lightly upon.

"Hey Peter? I was wondering about Rumpletilskin. He called you papa. Why?"

Peter turned rigid and dragged me into the tent. I angrily lashed out and he released me. I plopped down on the bed.

And he told me.

And I died inside.