Hey,
Thanks for reading my story, it's really encouraging that so many people are reading it and enjoying it.
I'm very sorry about the wait because I always like to update as much as I can. However, I have written most of the next chapter on the journey to the funeral too, so I can update that shortly.
As requested, I have written the story of Tiger Lily and Malcolm/ Peter Pan.
Please vote and comment.
Enjoy,
Annabelle_the_reader
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'Hello?' A voice called and I felt like I almost jumped out of my skin. I spun around in circles three times, suspecting that it was just a fairy trying to annoy me. I hated to admit it, but it was working.
'Hello?' I asked, looking around me until I peered upwards. A girl was sat in a cage, the bamboo obscuring her mostly from my view. I smiled up at her, surprised that there was another girl in Neverland. After just been innocently walking back to camp after my swim, I was particularly shocked because I wasn't expecting it at all.
'Are you a Lost Girl?' The girl asked, frowning down at me in confusion, probably because she had never encountered a Lost Girl. This confusion paralleled with the other Lost Boys, who were also shocked to see another girl in the camp.
'Not intentionally.' Trying not to look to confused and put off by her gender, I forced a large, cheerful smile in an attempt to make friends with seemingly the only other girl in Neverland, I greeted, 'I'm Tiger Lily, who are you?'
'Wendy, Wendy Darling,' She smiled back at me as brightly as she possibly could, bobbing her head slightly as a traditional greeting from the realm she came from. I felt like Wendy was beginning to trust me because it was obvious I didn't care about Pan. 'Why are you here?'
'I was tricked by Peter,' I shrugged angrily, then my smile widened slightly as I added curiosity, trying to subtle find out as much about this girl as possible, 'What about you?'
'I was silly enough to go with Pan's shadow to Neverland,' She sighed, twirling her fingers through her skirt and dress, like she was feeling a little self conscious about the fact that she was a little dirty in that cage. 'I like your dress, it's very natural.'
'I like your dress too, it's very pretty.' I complimented, tugging on the tassels of my dress and smiling back up at her simple, but pretty white night dress.
'How did Pan trick you into coming here?' Wendy asked softly, eyeing me suspiciously, like she trusted me, but wasn't sure as to how much she trusted me and whether I was with the Lost Boys or not.
'It's a long story.' I sighed eventually, braiding my hair again now that it had dried properly and looking back up at her through the bars of the cages.
'I like stories,' she said shyly and I got the impression that she had been in Neverland quite a long time and was growing a little bored and lonely of it. 'I used to tell them to my brothers.'
'In that case, you tell me your story first to show me how story telling is done,' I suggested, sending her a small smile as I ambled towards the tree she was hanging from.
I took hold of the branches and as she described to me her two brothers (John and Michael) and the stories she used to tell them of Neverland, I had made it to a branch so that I could look at her straight on, rather than from underneath her.
Her story fascinated me and I tucked my head under my chin, listening to her intently. Wendy's story was not long, so I decided that maybe it wasn't finished yet. Without telling her, I decided I would try to help her off Neverland and back to her brothers and new friend.
'So you want to return to your family?' I asked her eventually, fascinated by her love for story telling and enthusiasm for sharing her tale with someone willing enough to listen.
'Of course.' She smiled gleefully. 'My family loves me and I miss them.'
'I don't think that love isn't real, Wendy. Believing that it is has only cause me the greatest amount of pain I have ever felt.' I mumbled angrily, glaring into the forest. Wendy looked at me sympathetically.
'You lost someone?' She asked, frowning at me and I smiled sadly, proud for her that she was so insightful and intelligent.
'Not someone... pretty much everyone. The Lost Boys are the closest thing I have to family left now and I suppose you know what they're like,' I grinned at Wendy and she grinned back, just as happily. It was like she had forgotten that she was locked in a cage in a different realm from the people she loved.
'Will you tell me your story?' She asked eagerly, then silenced herself as if she was worried that I would be offended or upset by the memory of my dead loved ones.
'I'd love to,' I said with a smile and she got comfortable once again, looking at me in awe and excitement, crossing her legs and widening her eyes.
'Don't skip any details,' She winked and I laughed with the undivided attention I received from my new friend.
'Before Peter came here, I used to live in Neverland with the natives,' I began and inhaled sharply, feeling the pain of the memory. 'I didn't much like it because I was a princess here, but I was expected to marry very young and I didn't want to.'
'Marry?' She repeated softly, intrigued by the different cultures of the natives and the Londoners. 'But you are so young.'
'I was younger then,' I shrugged, looking back fondly of the memory when I used to play with Malcolm all day long without a care in the world. 'People used to visit Neverland on their dreams, but not as often as Malcolm did. We were friends and he would come every night, which was very rare.'
'Sounds lovely,' Wendy beamed.
'It was,' I smiled, so engrossed in the memory that I barely forgot it was Wendy listening to me at all. 'Until he grew up and I never saw him again. Once he came back to visit but when you live on an island that never let's you grow old, people grow up without you and I was left behind. Malcolm was very upset that I was forced to marry. He thought I wanted to...'
'Oh no! What did you do?' Wendy asked in confusion.
'I agreed with the Shadow to leave the island. I explained to Malcolm, in your realm, what had happened and we grew up together, falling in love,' I smiled excitedly, looking down at how pleased I was with the memory.
'How romantic!' Wendy squealed.
I laughed, then continued as Wendy absent-mindedly shifted closer to the edges of her cage, 'I married him a couple of years later and had a son named Rumplestiltskin.'
'You have a son?' She gasped, raising an eyebrow at me. 'But you are so young!'
'Yes, well I was older then.' When she frowned at this once again, I continued quickly, 'I'll get to that bit later.'
'I see.' She smiled encouragingly, tilting her head to gesture for me to continue and prompting me by saying, 'And then what?'
'Then the Shadow visited me at home. He told me that my family want me dead and I was terrified. The Shadow said that Rumple and Malcolm weren't safe so long as the natives wanted me dead, so, not knowing how else I could protect them, I panicked and left. I wanted to lose the natives and keep my family safe, but in order to do that I had to abandon them.'
'How awful.' Wendy breathed, her eyebrows knitting together in sympathy. 'I'm so sorry...'
'It's alright, except that about two or three years later, I found out from the Shadow that the natives were dead. They were killed by a boy named Peter Pan.' I spat the words venomously, finally remembering what he did to not only the ones who wanted me dead, but also my innocent family and friends.
Wendy gasped for theatrical effect, 'Peter Pan killed them...?'
I nodded gravely, looking morosely at the ground. 'I immediately became terrified that Peter Pan was terrorising Neverland. I may not have liked the native tribes, but I cared for the fairies, the Shadow, the mermaids and all of the other creatures in Neverland, so decided to return to Neverland.'
'How?' Wendy asked eagerly.
'This is where it gets complicated. You see, in order to fly and believe and have the magic in Neverland, you have to be a child. So I had to give up part my magic in order to be young again. That is why I do not look old enough to have such a son.' I explained.
'Why did you want to be young again? Is it not exciting to be grown up?' She asked a little eagerly and I realised that perhaps Wendy had never wanted to grow up and just hoped that I would tell her how great it was and persuade her otherwise.
'I used to rather like it when I first lived in your world and I wasn't so clever about their polite, queer ways- everything always surprised me more,' I sighed and Wendy laughed because she was still rather childlike and, similarly to me, had found herself somewhere negatively exciting.
'But how did you get to Neverland? Did you use a portal or did the Shadow take you back?' Wendy questioned frowning.
'No, I took a ride with Captain Liam and Lieutenant Killian Jones on the Jewel of the Realm.' I smiled more gladly than I had before, because this was one of the few memories that hadn't been ruined by Pan. 'I made lots of friends, including Oliver, and really enjoyed my time with them.'
'Why did you want to return to Neverland?' Wendy asked and this question made a lot more sense to her than to me because she was locked in a cage.
I shrugged, because there was a lot of reasons. But instead I merely said, 'Neverland was calling. I had to go.'
'I wish I had that devotion to some place like that. But what happened when you arrived? Did the sailors leave you in Neverland?' Wendy asked, getting swept away by my story.
'Not exactly. Some Dreamshade poisoned me and I stayed there forever. When I awoke, Pan told me everything. You see, Malcolm wanted to return to me and thought I went back to Neverland when I left him. One day Malcolm and Rumple used some magic beans to transport them to Neverland. Rumple died and Malcolm became Peter Pan.'
'You were married to Peter Pan?' She gasped and I nodded once, biting my lip embarrassed by the memory and how foolish, young and naive I had been. 'What did you do when you found out?'
'I ran.' I replied simply. 'Oliver hadn't returned to the ship yet because he wanted to say goodbye. We fought against Pan and Felix, but Oliver and I lost. Oliver was sent back to Killian and Liam and I stayed in Neverland with Pan until now.'
'Wow...' Wendy whispered, in awe of the complexity of my tale. But to be honest, I am centuries years old so this would be inevitable that I had such a lot of history. 'Do you miss him?'
'Miss him? Of course I miss Rumple the most.' I ranted, but I knew she didn't mean that when she asked the question. 'But I miss the old Malcolm too... not the new one.'
'I'm sorry, your life sounds pretty tough,' she shrugged, looking at me sympathetically.
'I wish I never....' My words couldn't form as I snuffled again. 'I wish I never met Malcolm, I wish I never married him, I wish I stayed in Neverland with the natives and I wish I never took that risk that lost me my son and made Peter go bad and trap and kill all these people here!'
'You wish you never married Malcolm and had your son?' Wendy questioned startled, confused because my love for Rumple and Malcolm was so obvious whenever I spoke of them.
'I could have waited, I could have left it later when the natives didn't want to kill me and endanger my child's life.' I whined again, irritated more with myself than with Wendy, finally allowing myself the time to think upon my history and disastrous life.
'We all wish we didn't do things, Tiger Lily.' The same still didn't come naturally to Wendy. 'We just have to put them behind us, because we can't keep chasing things that will never happen, that would be like catching rainbows.' Wendy said and sighed.
'I suppose so, I just can't imagine life as it was without my son, he was so important to me I just haven't been able to accept it. I feel like a coward.' I admitted, so angry with myself that my knuckles turned white and tightened around the branch I was seated on.
'Maybe your son is alive and out there, still living a happy life...' Wendy smiled and I laughed at how silly she sounded saying naive things like that. Wendy was such a nice, innocent girl that I hated myself for telling her my horrible story.
'Perhaps,' I smiled weakly, blinking back tears.
'But if he was, he'd come back and he'd save you from Peter Pan and the Lost Boys so you could be a family again, just like I will be with my family again too,' Wendy smiled, her arm stretching out through the cage bars to squeeze my shoulder gently.
'Maybe,' I said, tears forming in my eyes as I smiled sweetly at her. 'But maybe some people just aren't meant to be saved.'
'Why not?' Wendy asked simply, still not quite getting the point.
'Because I'm a Lost Girl now. ' I said finally exasperated by her slightly. She had a lot to learn about the ways of the world, she was far too naive to be completely lost. When you are lost, you suddenly seem so much older than when you are found again because you see the world as it truly is.
'So?' Wendy prompted.
'Being a Lost Girl isn't just like being lost.' I tugged on the ends of my braids through my fingers, feeling suddenly much more self-conscious. 'Once you are lost, you can be un-lost; you can be found. But once you are a Lost Girl, you can never be found again.When you are a Lost Girl, unlike when you are just lost, you stay lost forever.'