It was bright and moonlit the night Piper Pan came to the window. She snuck in, as quiet as a shadow, then announced her presence by letting Tinker Bell wake the boy in the bed.
William jumped when he saw the girl in the corner, and the first thing he noticed was her hair, a literal mane of brunette hair that reached to her knees. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"I'm Piper Pan," she said confidently. "I'm here to take you to Neverland, if you'd like to go."
"Neverland?" William asked.
"It's a land where you'll never grow up," Piper explained. "A place you can stay young forever."
It was then that William noticed something else. "Why are you wearing that?"
Piper looked down at her clothes (a green tunic, green leggings, and boots), then back up. "Wearing what?"
"You're a girl," William said uselessly.
Piper rolled her eyes. "Nice observation."
"You're not wearing a dress," William tried to explain.
"You're right," Piper said. "Congratulations, you've successfully proven to me that your eyes work."
William closed his eyes, then opened them again slowly. "Could you talk a little quieter? My sisters are trying to sleep next door."
Piper laughed, a clear, ringing laugh. "Your sisters should be up already," she said, tossing her long brown hair back. "Tink will be getting them."
Sure enough, two little girls walked through the door not a moment later, one about three, the other about eight. The older of the two immediately froze when she saw Piper, while the younger one ran over to her brother and raised her arms, clearly asking to be picked up, and as soon as he did, she buried her head of golden curls in his shoulder, hiding her face.
"Who's that?" the older girl asked, staring.
"I'm Piper," Piper told her, seeing William wasn't about to answer. She bent over a little to talk to the girl. "What's your name?"
"I'm Joanna, and I don't think you're supposed to be here," the girl told her firmly, moving over to the bed to sit next to her brother and flicking her brunette curls over her shoulder.
Piper chuckled. "You're right, I don't belong here," she replied. "I came to bring you to Neverland, if you want to go."
William shook his head and stood up, still holding his youngest sister, who had fallen back asleep in his arms. "We're not going," he told Piper firmly.
"What's Neverland?" Joanna asked curiously.
"It's made up, Jo" William said, before Piper could say a word. "It doesn't exist."
"Doesn't exist?" Piper interjected, a little peeved. "That would be like saying I don't exist or you don't exist. It's as real as this..." she picked up an acorn that the boy had on his bedside table. "Acorn."
"What's it like?" Joanna asked, tilting her head to one side.
"It's beautiful," Piper told her. "There are lots of trees, and I live in a tree fort with my Lost Boys."
Joanna looked confused. "Lost Boys?"
"My band of brothers, my best friends," Piper clarified. "The girls don't seem to like adventuring as much as the boys do. They all went back to the Mainland when they got the chance. It's all boys now. Boys who have been there a long time, just like me. Neverland is where you never grow up."
"That's impossible," Joanna immediately said.
Piper bent down so she was eye to eye with Joanna. "It's as possible as I am real."
"What are you doing here?" William asked Piper. "Are you just here to try to convince us to come someplace that isn't real and never will be, or do you have a real reason?"
"Well, if you're going to take that attitude, there's no use staying here," Piper said, heading for the window."
"You said there were adventures." Joanna's voice stopped Piper.
Piper turned around to face Joanna again. "Lots."
"What sort of adventures?" Joanna asked slowly, as if she was unsure she should even ask.
"Any kind of adventures you want," Piper assured her.
"Well we don't-" William started, but he was cut off by Joanna.
"I want to go," Joanna said suddenly.
The girl sleeping in William's arms stirred. "Go where?" she asked in a sweet toddler voice.
"Neverland," Joanna told her, getting excited. "Neverland, Mia!"
Piper grinned. "Great! Let's go!" She stepped towards the window again.
"Where are you going?" Joanna asked her, scrambling off the bed, ignoring her brother's attempts to grab her arm while still holding on to their younger sister.
"Well, we have to fly," Piper said, as if it was obvious. "Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning."
"How do we fly?" Joanna asked, sounding uncertain.
"Oh," Piper said. "Right. Tink!"
The little pixie flew back to Piper from where she had been exploring the toy box.
"All you need," Piper said, extending her hand for Tink to land on, "is a little faith, trust, and pixie dust." She lifted Tink over the heads of the two girls and tapped gently, so that a little sparkling golden dust landed on each of their heads. They lifted ever so slightly off the floor.
She turned to William. "Are you coming?"
"No, I'm not!" William retorted. "And they're not either!"
"You can't choose for them," Piper told him, a bit of a sharp edge to her voice. "Are you going with us or not?"
"Please come, Will!" Mia begged.
William hesitated. "Fine."
"Great!" Piper said, sprinkling a little pixie dust on his head, and he began to rise off the floor too. "Let's go! Now, remember, second star to the right and straight on 'til morning!"
*+*+*+*
They flew for a long time, finally getting the hang of flying. They spotted Neverland as the sun came up. It turned golden as the sun's rays hit it, and they flew over the lagoon into the forest, Tink and Piper leading the way.
As they landed on the top level of the tree fort, six boys surrounded them, all of them carrying daggers and bows. "Password?" one of them asked.
William pulled his sisters close to him.
"Pixie dust," Piper said, and as the sun hit her hair, William saw that there were bright red feathers woven into her mane of hair. "Put the weapons down, you're scaring them!"
All six lowered their weapons with muttered apologies.
"Curly, be careful to guard your left side," Piper told a slight boy with curly red hair. "You left it wide open. Tootles, your arrow was coming off the string! What use is that? Nibs, your stance was unstable. Make sure that-"
"Wait," William said. "You're a girl."
Piper turned slowly to face him. "And?"
"Girls can't fight," William stated.
"Spar with me then," Piper countered.
"Wha- I don't hit girls!" William spluttered.
"Who said you would manage to hit her?" muttered Nibs.
Piper turned to fully face him. "Let me rephrase that: You will spar with me as soon as we get you some..." She paused, glancing down at his pyjamas. "...practical clothes."
She headed down the ladder, all six of the Lost Boys staring at William.
One by one, the boys left, shaking their heads. William looked down when he felt Joanna pulling away from him and saw she was looking at him with a hurt expression on her face. "What?" he asked her.
"Did you mean it?" Joanna asked him reproachfully.
"Mean what?" William asked her, trying to understand.
"Girls can't fight? Did you mean it?"
William found himself floundering for an answer. "Girls... are supposed to be good. Girls wear dresses and keep their hair up, and girls aren't supposed to fight. Nobody's supposed to."
"Girls aren't supposed to," Joanna told him. "It doesn't mean girls can't."
William watched as Joanna headed for the ladder, climbing down it, and after a moment, Mia pushed herself out of his arms, too, and followed her sister.
*+*+*+*
The Lost Boys led William out to an open clearing not too far away from the tree fort where Piper was already standing. She had tied her hair back in a hasty bun, but other than that, was dressed the same as before.
Joanna and Mia were standing next to her, and Piper was telling them stories. Or was she teaching them? She was showing them something on the ground, outlining it with her finger.
William felt uncomfortable in these new clothes. Only one of the Lost Boys was close to his size, so the clothes didn't fit quite right.
One of the Lost Boys - was it Sprightly? - walked over to Piper. She turned around and looked William up and down. "That'll do," she said. "Rules: No weapons, no cheap shots. First one to put the other in a position they can't get out of is the winner. Use the terrain, don't use the rocks - that's a cheap shot. Of course, in a real battle, you use whatever you've got, but this is just sparring."
William nodded. "I don't like doing this. I don't want to hit a girl."
The Lost Boys laughed. Piper cracked a smile. "Trust me," she said. "You won't."
Piper signalled the Lost Boys, and they all backed up, the twins gently taking Joanna and Mia aside with them.
Curly came to stand in the middle of the clearing between them. He held up a red handkerchief. "On your marks."
William put himself into a fighting stance, while Piper barely moved, only bending her knees slightly.
"Get set," Curly told them.
William put his fists up, ready to fight. He saw Piper put her palms up flat.
"Go!"
*+*+*+*
The fight was over in less than a minute. In ten seconds, Piper had him fighting to keep his balance, in twenty seconds, he was scrambling to keep from falling over. Ten more and she had him pinned.
She held him there for a second, then released him. "Girls can't fight, eh?" she chuckled.
William stood up, unable to look her in the face. He glanced over at his sisters instead and immediately wished he hadn't. They were looking at Piper with expressions of awe.
Piper came over in front of him and stuck out a hand for him to shake. "Are we good?" she asked.
William looked at her hand and reluctantly took it. No, he wanted to say, it's not okay. I was beat by a girl. But he didn't.
Piper smiled, a tender smile, much different from the mischievous smiles that he'd seen so far.
"I'm going to the fort," William muttered, and he left quickly, picking his way back through the trees to the fort.
He climbed the ladder, finding a secluded corner and sitting down.
He didn't know quite how to process this. He was beat by a girl. He tried to hit a girl. True, she was the one who suggested it, but he still did it.
After only a few minutes, he heard voices, but most of them seemed uninterested in this particular corner. Then he heard a couple, much more familiar voices.
"Where's Will?" came Mia's voice.
"I'll find him," came Piper's voice. "I know this place best. Stay here, I'll be back."
He heard footsteps, then saw brown boots climbing the ladder. The boots stopped, then approached the corner he was in.
"You okay?"
William sighed. "Sure."
Piper sat next to him. Her hair was loose again, and the red feathers caught the light. "You're not. What is it?"
"Nothing, really," William insisted. They sat in silence for a moment, then a thought crossed his mind. "Piper, can I ask you a question?" he said hesitantly, still not looking at her face.
"Sure," Piper replied.
"Why do you fight?" William finally glanced at her face. She was wearing a puzzled expression.
"Because I like to."
"No, I mean, yes, but why did you start?" William stuttered, trying to clarify.
Piper was silent for a minute. She shifted slightly, shrugging. "I suppose I was always told what to do, how to do it... who to be. I wanted to do something my way, so when Tink found me, floating on a piece of driftwood after a shipwreck, I could finally do things my way. It took a little while to get used to, but now I make it my mission to let every girl know she can do whatever she wants, if she chooses." She paused. "I succeeded with a few. Emily. Harriet. Annie. Marie. Helen was blind and deaf, but that didn't make it any less real for her. I visit boys, too, like you. Most go back. The Lost Boys stayed because they don't have anywhere to go, just like me."
There was silence as William contemplated this. "I suppose it makes more sense now. How did you get so good at fighting?"
Another shrug. "Practice. I learned a little from Captain Hook before she decided I was a threat."
William screwed up his courage, swallowing his pride. "Can you teach me?" he said, finally looking her in the eyes.
Piper smiled. "Of course."
*+*+*+*
A/N: My idea for this story was basically the realization that if Peter Pan was a girl (Piper Pan), a lot of the boys that she picked up or visited would be skeptical about her ability to fight, or find the idea laughable. I made all of the characters a little older than they were in the original book. The book implies that Peter Pan was about six, but that never quite made sense to me, so William and Piper are twelve or thirteen. The Lost Boys vary in age, but are all between six and twelve. Joanna is eight, and Mia is three.
I modelled the Lost Boys after my own cousins, who have never doubted that girls can do just as much as boys can, and find it laughable that anyone would ever think otherwise.
I hope you enjoyed this, and thanks for reading!