Peter stared at the two of them and slowly took a few steps back. He supported himself by the side of the wigwam, out of view. He slowly raised his eyebrows. Never, never would he have thought Slightly was thinking about him this way. And deep down he knew his lad was right. He sighed deeply and pressed two of his fingers against the side of his neck. There it was. There was that beating again. He just couldn't get the imagine of his lad kissing his mother. He felt a stab in his chest. He slowly peeked through the opening of the tent again. His eyes found the lady and stared at her with his green eyes.
He looked through the opening ones again, staring at the lady with his blue eyes. He couldn't help himself, she was pretty. Peter closed his eyes, For once, he wished he could remember. He was the only one in Neverland that seemed to struggle to remember something every now and then. It weas part of the riddle of his being. A permanent youth came with its prize. The truth was: he was the only one not growing older. His boys sometimes did, and when they got too old for his liking, he either banished them or killed them. But since the time moved very slow on the island, that wouldn't be a concern for now. Maybe after ten moon cycles. Peter wondered how his joys with Wendy were, since just like Wendy, he couldn't remember them. He had forgotten about Wendy's brothers already, while he had met them a few hours ago. Though, he never forgot about Wendy, but just his memories with her, he can't remember them, neither his feelings.
His eyes widened when he saw Wendy getting up. She told Slightly she was going for a walk. She couldn't know Peter had been peeking at her and he quickly flew back to the campfire, to sit down next to Nimueh, who was awfully quiet. She was poring a wooden stick in the sand and stared absently in the fire. "What's wrong Nimueh?'' he asked. It had been awhile since he had brought her into the hideout, and she had regained her strength by now. "I want to go back to my sisters'', she whispered and slowly looked up at him. Peter swallowed. He did not want her to go, but he wouldn't let keep her here unwanted. He could understand that her real passion was swimming, not walking. If he could choose, he preferred to fly rather than walk as well. "I understand.. when will you go back?'' he asked quietly. Nimueh shrugged a shoulder. "Soon."
Peter nodded. "Wendy lost her memories'' he blurred out. He could see in Nimueh's eyes she didn't liked the fact he started about her, but he didn't care. He just couldn't help but feel worried. He was wondering what effect it had on Neverland, now she didn't remember. Was it good or bad? He didn't know. He knew almost everything about Neverland, and just the fact this was a mystery to him, frustrated him. From out the corner of his eyes he could see how Wendy left the tipi and walk into the dark jungle.
Outside of the camp, there was not a thing as a light. The camp was lighted but by a campfire, outside of it, it was dark. Except for a few little fairies with their sparkling little lights. The fairies flew in different directions and it was such a lovely sight. Wendy was amazed by the beauty of it, since she never had seen any of it before.
She didn't know where she was going, but she didn't really mind. At least walking calmed herself down a little. The boy with the knife was called Peter. She used to like him, but she couldn't figure out why. What was masking him special? He probably never heard of such a thing as a pants, or a shower. Why would she fall for a glider?
Suddenly she heard the sound of rustling leafs. She immediately bit her lip and looked behind her. Was someone following her? ''Slightly?'' She tried.
No answer.
Wendy tried not to make any sound, as to hear what of who it was in the bushes. ''Who are you?!'' She lightly panicked. If it wasn't Slightly, then who was it?
Suddenly something flew up. It was a dark human-shaped.. What could it be?
Wendy looked at it. Never in her life she had seen such a thing like that. She looked confused at it. "Hello?"
The dark human-shaped turned to her, if it had eyes, it would probably stare at her now. "Hello Wendy" it whispered.
It could speak?
Wendy backed away and stood against the tree. "What are you and how do you know my name?!" Her voice was shaking. "Why I am Pan's Shadow" it whispered and did a somersault in the air. His voice sounded like it came out a cartoon movie. "I have heard you lost your memories?"
Wendy stared at it with fear in her eyes. It was beyond strange to see a shadow without a person or animal attached to it. And it wasn't like her mother warned about her not to talk to strange shadows. She slowly nodded her head, as to respond to its question. Meanwhile, her mind was going crazy. She saw herself sitting on her bed, in the familiar nursery. There, just behind her bed, there was this boy sitting on the floor as he rubbed a bar or soap across the heel of his foot. She recognized the boy as he was the same boy as she met in the camp earlier. The tall one without a t-shirt. She blinked her eyes and stared at the shadow. She recalled that she had sewed the shadow back on, but now, looking at it, she noticed the frayed wire on both of his feet. "What is a mother like you doing in dark woods on her own?" the shadow taunted her.
She shrugged, still confused about her memory. It was impossible to lose your shadow, and she was pretty sure there was no such a thing as 'sewing a shadow' "I just wanted to take a walk. " She replied. "Why?'' the shadow grinned at her. He was clearly mocking her. She rolled her eyes. "Peter Pan is a jerk.'' She figured the tall guy was messing with her. It seemed like something a jerk like him would do. She expected him to jump out from the bushes every second now, but surprisingly, that didn't happen. Instead the shadow jumped up. "Am Not!'' The shadow laughed. "Are!'' Wendy crossed her arms and walked pass the shadow now. She moved her feet faster and faster, until she started to run. She wanted to get away from the shadow as fast as possible. The sooner she got away from this weird island, the better.
Back at the camp Peter stared at the fire. Both Nimueh and Wendy left, and it was bothering him. Yet, he did not go after either of them. Slightly came to him after a while. "Peter, I'm worried about her. She doesn't know the way through the jungle." Peter looked at him and nod his head slowly, that was it. That was thing what was bothering him. Wendy lost her mind and with it, she forgot about the evil residents. Peter jumped up and grabbed his knife. "Let's go."
Both of the boys wandered through the jungle for quite a while. Peter was looking around, while cutting the plants out of his way. He was looking at the ground, as he could trace her footsteps in the sand. Peter bended down to see Wendy's footsteps. They were little. Cute.
He quick forgot about her little cute feet. She liked his lad.. "She started running here, in a different direction" Peter told Slightly. It worried the boy. "What if Hook got her?'' Slightly asked. But Peter shook his head. He was confident about the fact that that was not the case. "Nay, there is only one set of tracks. She was alone. We'll find her." Peter said.
Slightly stopped with walking to look at him. "There was a time you couldn't live without her." He didn't know why he said that, but he just wanted to know what Peter felt for her.
Peter stopped too. He shrugged "Not anymore. She was never more than a mother to me, you know that, right?" He asked and turned himself to Slightly now and raised one eyebrow.
Slightly sighed. ''Yeah that's why you turned pink after she gave you her hidden kiss.''
Peter thought about it. That word sounded familiar. He remembered himself in her bedroom when she gave him a kiss. But he didn't turned pink, did he? Peter raised his eyebrows. "What?" he honestly did not remember.
Slightly nod his head. ''It's true. Hook almost killed you and you were close to the death. Wendy kissed you on your lips what gave you an extremely happy boost. You turned pink and won the fight from Hook.'' Peter smirked proudly. Him winning from Hook sounded like a true story, though he didn't remember. "Well, I don't recall" He said and turned around and starts following the tracks again. He could tell that they were getting closer.
''Peter?'' Slightly asked. "Slightly, mate, what do you want?" Peter had grown tired of not knowing what was up. He hated it when he didn't know something. Slightly was up to something and he wanted to know what it was. "I want her to know that she's wrong about the way she thinks about you." Slightly answered.
Peter's eyes changed a bit. He remembered how she had talked about him in the wigwam.
He couldn't let Slightly know he had been listening in. ''How does she think about me?"
"She thinks that you're a hypocrite jerk and didn't understand why you took her to Neverland.." Slightly sighed. ''You loved her Peter, but forgot about her when Nimueh came...'' ''...I wish you never took her here at the first place.'' He continued.
At those words Peter flung himself at Slightly and pushed him against a tree. Before he realized what he was doing, he was holding the blade of his knife to Slightly's throat. "Don't you EVER say something like that again!"
Slightly gasped and tried the move his neck away from Peter's grib. Peter didn't move a bit. "Why would you say such a thing?!" It sounded angrier than ever and his eyes were flaming with rage. He slowly let go of the struggling Slightly, dragging the tip of the knife softly across Slightly's throat.
He didn't take his eyes of the scared lad as he slowly said "The tracks stop here, where the ground turns to stone".
Peter sighed. He decided to focus on finding her first, and then he will see how his feelings are working out. "Where is she?" Slightly asked. "Not sure, it's stone. I don't know about you, but I can't see tracks in stone." Peter spat. He still had his hand on his knife, but he had put it in his belt. He closed his hand around his knife so tightly his knuckles turned white and he clenched his jaw. Peter couldn't explain his sudden anger, but it was towards Slightly, that was for sure. That. And he missed Nimueh. They reached the waterfall. Peter walked around the edge of the rocky ground to see if Wendy had walked over it. Neverland had many hide place and Peter almost knew all of them. Every day he found more, if Wendy wasn't near them now, she literally could be everywhere. Secretly, he was a little worried about it, but didn't let Slightly notice.
He glanced up to the water. He thought he saw something moving . And indeed, there was something moving. "Wendy? " Peter asked slowly. Slightly immediately looked at him. Peter had his hopes up for it to be Nimueh, but he recognized the white dress and sighed deeply. He would never admit it: but he was actually disappointed for it to be Wendy. She ran away from them as quick as she could. Peter turned around but realized there was no way he could catch up on her, and didn't bother to run after her, however, his boy, Slightly did.
Wendy didn't know where to go and stopped with running, tripping over a root. She looked behind her and saw the boy running up to her. "Wendy!" Slightly ran towards her. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" "L-leave me alone p-please." Wendy cried. She had seen the knife of Peter and was scared. "Not until you tell me what is wrong", he said, kneeling besides her. Wendy shook her head and crawled away
Neither of them noticed Peter, who had flown over the trees to look for them and who had hidden in the top of a tree near to where Wendy had fallen.
Slightly grabbed Wendy's wrist and pulled her towards him. "Wendy!"
"Let go of me!" The girl screamed.
He pulled her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her. "Wendy, what is going on?" he whispered in her ear. "Tell me what the matter is", there was desperation in his voice.
"I just want my mom." She cried soon after she said that, Slightly's grip on her weakened. "You want to go home..?"
"Y-yes." She cried.
He inhaled sharply and let her go. Yes it hurt him. He didn't want her to leave.
Slightly let out a sigh. A good ear could hear the hurt in his sigh. He squeezed and pulled away lightly. "Come back to the camp and we'll ask Peter to let you go home."
She looked at him, apparently she hadn't noticed..
Slightly helped her up. Gently and slowly, he pulled her with him to the rocks where he had left Peter. He didn't know the way back to the Indians from this part of the woods, so he would need Peter's help. Peter chuckled and quickly flew back to where they had last seen him. He couldn't help but feel upset by the statement of the girl. He didn't want her to leave.
He skillfully landed with his feet on the ground and watched the two together walking towards him, he didn't know why, but he didn't like it to see them together. "H-he flies!" Wendy gasped. She must have seen how Peter landed on the ground. Peter looked at her with raised eyebrows. He already forgot about her memory lost.
He sighed and send her a slight smirk. "Yes I fly. So do you."
''How?'' Wendy asked. She frowned and looked down Peter's physique. Sure he looked strong, smart, clever, but there was no such a thing as wings. "Why, pixie dust of course." Peter said. "Faith, trust and pixie dust."
"What is this for a freaking place?!" Wendy asked in disgust. "Knifes, jungles, ugly guys, Indians.. Fairies and now he's flying.. Besides, I don't believe in fai-'' Peter's eyes widened. As quick he possible could, he flew up to her and covered her mouth with his dirty hand. ''Don't say that. Every time someone says that, a fairy somewhere falls down dead.'' He looked and her like he waited for her reaction.
Wendy looked into his sparkling eyes and slowly nod her head. Peter lowered his hand. "This is Neverland. The place you visit in your dreams. You are one of the few to see it while awake."
He explained.
Wendy let out a sign. ''I don't want to be one of few. I wanna go home.'' The more she thought about 'home' the more she couldn't remember.
Peter bite his button lip. He thought for a moment. "I could let you.." He glanced over to Slightly.
"But you can tell the boys yourself." He said, still sounding angry.
It wasn't clear where his anger came from, but it obviously was meant for Slightly. Wendy frowned and moved a little closer to Slightly. ''What's wrong with him?'' She asked in a whisper.
Slightly shrugged. He had a slight feeling what was up, but yet, he wasn't sure. "I pissed him off. Let's go back to camp." He started walking into the woods, to the direction he and Wendy came from. "Camp's not THAT way, mate!" Peter shouted and he pointed into a different direction. Slightly came back to change his direction and pulled Wendy with him while he followed Peter. Point proved. Peter knew the way better than anyone else.
He jumped up a little and he flew low, almost touching to the ground. He pushed branches away with his hands to clear a pad. It didn't take him long before he saw the smoke for the campfire above some trees. "I can see the smoke, we are close.'' He looked behind him to see if Wendy and Slightly were still following him, but instead, he saw Wendy sitting on her knees. Her eyes focused on the ground.
Slightly turned to her. "Wendy lady? What is the matter?'' He asked frightened
Peter slowly walked back to them. ''What's wrong with her?'' He asked Slightly, his eyes pointed at Wendy, who grabbed some leafs on the ground with her hands. ''I have no idea, but it can't be good.'' Slightly replied. At one moment, he thought it was the curse and quickly took a step back.
Her view started to fade. All she saw was a unfamiliar home. It looked like it was under the ground, since it was made of sand and part of trees. The tall boy pointed the tip of his sword close to her neck, ready to cut her every second.
She gasped for air and tighten her grip around the couple leafs on the ground. She could hear muffed voices, but couldn't understand what they said. ''Wendy, can you stand?'' A gentle voice asked. "We should get her to the healer again. Slightly, will you carry her?" Slightly shook his head. Peter mumbled something that very well could have been cuss words and picked her up carefully.
Soon after he had her in his arms, she started to struggle. "Wendy?" Peter was confused.
He didn't understand, the first minute she seemed pretty fine, and now she was acting strange. ''Please let it stop!'' Wendy whispered out of nowhere. "Let what stop?" Peter asked as he stood still, making sure she wasn't talking about him walking.
Wendy's view changed. She was no longer in the unknown house, but now she stood on a pirate ship, even so unfamiliar. There was a door. From the distance she was, she could read the description. She narrowed her eyes a little when she read: 'Captain James Hook. Do not disturb.'
For a moment, it looked like she was getting a few memories back but they weren't very happy, sad to be exact. "Please don't kill me. P-please!" She yelled. "why would we kill you?" Peter asked. His eyebrows had reached new heights. Slightly looked from Peter and back to Wendy.
"Please p-peter!"
Peter looked at Slightly with a frown but quick he looked back at Wendy. ''What?'' He asked. ''I won't kill.. you?'' He felt his grip around her loosened and he quick looked at Slightly. ''I think you SHOULD carry her.'' He never had seen so confused like he was now. Why would Wendy think, he would kill her?
''Wendy, what's wrong with you?'' He tried one last time.
This time she answered. ''I don't know. I guess it becomes clear when you grow up.'' it did not occur to him that she might was talking to her thoughts. He chuckled. ''Well then, we have a problem..'' Slightly took Wendy over from Peter's arms and looked down at her, ''Peter,'' he started. ''I think she's getting her memories back.''
Which would mean, she would know that Slightly lied to her. ''Is that good or bad?'' Peter wasn't sure about it. Neither was Slightly. But they both agreed they had to bring her back to the healer. She would know what to do.