No one ever gets over the first unfairness; except Peter

Ten years ago

As Peter flew back to Neverland that night, his body was feeling heavy. Which never happened usually. Something wet was falling down his cheeks. It could not have been tears. It simply was the wind blowing in his eyes.

And so he went back to Neverland. With the promise she gave him tucked deep in his heart. Eventually a new exciting adventure would conquer his heart, a new villain would appear and ask for his demise. It was the way of things for him and had been that way for so long. Remaining eternally joyful and ever forgetful, he never felt the passing of time. Or that there was a time…
At first every little thing he looked upon seemed exactly as it was. New lost boys arrived on Neverland’s shore. Rumors of Hook’s return were spreading through the jungle. Tiger Lily was getting ready to fight the pirates. He was himself, the ever lasting boy and so he put aside any memories related to his last adventure. And he applied himself so well to it, that she just slipped his mind.

Yet, as he was flying over the forest, something caught his attention. It was a worrisome thing, for rarely his attention was completely and utterly swayed. He flew closer to it. It looked like something he had known…
A little house of fern and leaves, on a lonely clearing. Wendy’s house !
The painful name, came quite abruptly to him and very much against his will. A rush of a strange feeling was coming over him. And it had nothing to do with joy, or laughter. Shaking his head, he landed in front of the house. It was as he had left it, untouched, unmovable.
It felt weird to have this monument remain here when she was not, and would never be here to enjoy it as she did. Better destroy it and with it, uproot her completely from his world. As she had wanted it. So he reaches for the handle to try and dismantle it. But as he tries to grasp it, his hand is pushed aside by some strange magic. Now, that is very unusual.
Peter knows magic, he has it. He is the sole master of it on Neverland, yes he could’ve acquired more or learned more about it. He just never cared. Or never had to care. He tried dropping rocks on the house, sent his boys on it. Without any success.
This was aggravating him, making him snap at his boys, even at Tink. Loyal Tink had suggested he’d just forget about it, as he did so many things.

In truth, it bothered him to no end. One night, as sleep would not find him, he flew to the house. Something was calling to him, to that tiny house. He gazed inside through the unique little window.
Long after this moment Peter would say, it had been his biggest mistake and most marvelous idea yet, to look inside. Because laying on a bed of fresh leaves, basked in soft moonlight, was a Wendy. A sleeping Wendy, curls spread around her head like a crown, and there it was. Right in the corner… her hidden thimble. He could still taste her lips on his, the smoothness of it. She looked a bit different, hair longer. His instinct was to wake her, of course. They could play again together ! She would play mother, and he father, the new lost boys would be so happy ! He would be so happy !

« Wendy ! Wake up ! I’ll teach you how to jump on the wind’s back once more ! » he erupted, feeling lighter that he had ever been since her departure.
But it was short lived for his Wendy-bird was not waking. He had the intimate conviction that, if only she’d awake, then he could enter the house and play. She stayed asleep.
To Peter’s dismay, every night he would feel the pull, come to the house and watch her sleep. Never awake, always shut outside.

Peter began to feel frustrated, restless. A slimy old voice was whispering « The window is shut ».
No window, no bars could resist him ! He flew to the other world, as fast as he could. At first he struggled to remember what house was hers. It took a bit of time but he found it. The window was lit with a faint glow. Carefully he peered inside. Here she was, his Wendy. Yet she looked very different. No radiant smile on her mysterious lips. No bounce on her step. Her attire was frightening, an aggravating amount of drapes and skirts. She looked exhausted.

« …Stop being a child, I taught you better than this ! Back straight ! A lady does not slouch. » an old woman was berating her. Peter did not like all that talk.

He waited for the wrinkled woman to leave the room. When finally - after an infinite amount of orders and comments - she left, Wendy slumped down on the floor. It was simple, he would give her happy thoughts and be lifted of the floor. He tapped on the window, trying to get her attention. Maybe he was not tapping hard enough. Maybe she was so tired her hearing was going bad.

Yet no amount of beating worked. Wendy remained deaf to his pleading. And when she prepared to sleep, he thought he’d just sneak inside and then play with her. The window was locked. Shut from the inside.

Something was tearing in him, that weird feeling again was tugging at his chest. Constricting his throat. He can’t stay, he rushes back to Neverland, his mood worse, the air is thick with his despair, thunders crash on the beach.

Rain is coating his skin, wind is blurring his vision. He screams at the stars. The boy who swore on growing, who fought pirates and built houses for Wendy, is afraid. His mind is full of bad thoughts and making him nauseous is the voice that keeps saying
« The window is shut ! She can’t hear you ! She can’t see you ! »
His desperate cries are echoing in the storm.
« She’s forgotten about you »

Peter falls. He crashes painfully on the wet soil. A painful exhale comes out of him. In the distance he hears people screaming. But he is numb to it all. So it’s true, Hook was right from the beginning… The boy stares at the starry night, long ago he had done the same, wishing with all his might to be something else. It had been a bargain well made. Now the stars seem to laugh at his pain. Their brightness is menacing, eternal and freezing. That’s when a thought crosses his mind.

The mermaids that lurk in Neverland’s dark waters. They know all mysterious things. And they had wanted Wendy. He gets up, the storm is more tamed, even though the down pour is not slowing.
And he runs to the lagoon.

« Mermaids of Neverland ! Peter Pan summons you ! » his voice tearing through the rain and waves.
And in the boiling waters they appear. Their strange eyes black as night. He puts a hand in the water, flesh had always been a good way to bait them. Their leader grabs his hand.
« Answer me, why won’t she leave Neverland for good ? Why can’t she remember me ? »
The squishy hand pulls harder, and then she is drowning him.

He doesn’t struggle he lets her take him down. His eyes open in the tenebrous waters. The mermaids float around him. They open their hideous mouths and for the first time he hears their voices. Their real voices.
« Is the boy king in pain? » one of them asks in his head.
« How delightful » another snarls.
He can’t answer without drowning for good. He just gives them an angry snarl of his own. They hiss in unison.
« Boy has grown feelings, he smells of despair and… love » she concludes with a certain disgust.
« Boy wants. Yet without knowing how to want. The girl is no more one, she has grown. »
The leader twirls around him, teasing him.
« She left something here » her hands reach for his face, she’s too close and Peter feels her slimy gaze deciphering the mystery of him.
« Right here, on your lips » she finishes with an ironic smile showing her pointy teeth.
« It’s a powerful thing, she had it and when we saw her, we wanted her to join us. She would have made a formidable sister… hum but no, she had to waste it on you. Oh don’t look confused, you single minded boy ! Her kiss, the one she bestowed on you, she tied it to you for eternity. She’s put a spell on you. How ironic, the flying boy tied down by a simple vow. »
In his mind, the soft voice voice of Wendy is replaying.
« This belongs to you and always will ».
He feels his lungs burning, he should head to the surface now.
« Boy king is forgetting his own power, this state is of your own spell, it’s one you’re already breaking »
He puts his last efforts in puling towards the surface. He breaks free and takes a mouthful of air in his lungs. Coughing the water out of him, he rests on the beach. He lifts a finger to his mouth and thinks…

« Oh the cleverness of me ! »