Forever In Neverland
Chapter Seven
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A moment frozen in time...
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The feeling of a gentle kiss pressed against my cheek quickly became a passing memory upon the return of the cloaked man. I no longer trembled with nervous fear upon his arrival for he had come to me every night this week to offer me release from my misery. My answer was always the same, telling him that I was unsure and would need to consider it. At least, it always had been before this night. I simply could not bear this cold emptiness that had filled my heart any longer. The way mother and father looked at me with those sad eyes as though I were broken. The way Michael and John were drifting further and further away from me as the months passed and I showed no signs of moving on. The way the people at school pitied me face to face and mocked me from the back.
They didn't understand. They simply couldn't because they could not see that a piece of me had gone missing at the sight of her broken body. The knowledge that she had not only lost everything... but suffered so cruelly in doing so because of my foolishness was too much to bear. The monster that had grown to fill that missing part of my heart was slowly hollowing out what remained and I was not willing to witness the final result of its feeding. I knew with all that was left of me that I no longer had the will to live in this world. At least this way, the way that the cloaked man offered, it would be clean...
–
“I cannot bear this heartache any longer... please... take away my pain...” I whispered to the cloaked man who nodded.
“Very well,” the man said, his normally smooth and even voice raising slightly in pitch. The cloak shifted slightly as the blade of a sword slid free from the sleeve. My breath caught somewhat at the sight of it, revealing that my resolve had not been as firm as I'd imagined. I closed my eyes and shook the thoughts away.
“You say it will appear is if I had passed on naturally, right?” I asked, swallowing hard as he stepped closer.
“That's right, now hold still,” he said, voice becoming even more excited, almost sounding anxious.
“W-Will it hurt?” I stammered, using every last ounce of willpower I had to not attempt to flee. He tilted his head back and laughed. It was a cold, cruel, laughter devoid of any humor.
“Immensely!” he shouted, voice reaching a feverish pitch as he readied the blade and lunged at me. I shut my eyes tight and braced myself.
“Wendy!” an airy voice called to me, sounding as if it were coming from somewhere very far away. I heard a loud clang followed by a grunt and opened my eyes to see the cloaked man being pushed back by Petra's knife which appeared to be floating in the air under it's own power.
“Who the hell are you?!” the cloaked man snarled, pacing sideways as if to size up his invisible opponent. There was a disturbance in the air surrounding the hovering knife for a moment before the man threw his head back and laughed. “Protect her? From me? You're as foolish as you look!” he shouted, leaping forward to clash his much heavier blade against the knife. Three hard hard blows knocked the knife aside, allowing him to step forward with a mid-height horizontal slash. I felt something warm and wet splash across my face as I watched the knife fall to the ground. Barely feeling the motion of my own limb, I raised a hand to dab at my cheeks before holding it out to see it covered in blood. A warmth I hadn't noticed in my fear began to fade and the air surrounding the area by the knife seemed to harden into the outline of a crouching person clutching at their stomach. Slowly, the outline began to fill in revealing the green color of their clothing followed by the hazy indication of skin.
“I'll kill you if you touch her!” the voice sounded again, although much stronger this time. The cloaked man laughed once more and lowered the tip of his blade to the hazy figure's throat.
“My dear girl, threats are better left unspoken when you're on your knees and about to die.” The figure was slowly becoming clearer and clearer, in proportion to the amount of blood lost it would seem, until a young girl wearing a green tunic with matching skirt and boots was plainly visible. The girl turned her head slightly as she panted for breath and at the sight of her face I too fell to my knees, my entire body feeling as if I would tremble to pieces. Everything was happening too fast, my mind couldn't keep up with all. But even then, this one glimmer of hope was able to penetrate the swirling maelstrom of fear, shock, and doubt.
“Petra?”
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The demon's throat...
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I had arrived without a second to spare, taking up my old knife to parry the stroke that would have stolen Wendy from me forever. At first I had been relieved to find that the shadowy figure I had come to despise so much in my dreams was really a man in a cloak, something I could fight against. The relief soon vanished as it was made painfully clear he was stronger, more skilled, and had the advantage of a longer weapon, one which he used to slash me clear across the waist. The wound wasn't instantly fatal but it burned like the fires of hell were imbued in his blade. The world around me was becoming dark and cold, it almost felt as though the overwhelming feeling of warmth and elation I'd experienced as I'd flown over the city was being drained from me with my lifeblood...–
“I'll kill you if you touch her!” I growled, even as the voice in the back of my mind told me that I was probably going to die. I ignored his retort, letting my desperation light a fire in my belly, one infinitely more powerful than the burning caused by his slash. She was right here, not ten steps away from me, and frightened for her life. Wendy had already felt that fear once at the hands of those thugs and I simply wasn't going to allow her to suffer like that again. I gritted my teeth and readied myself to attack.
“Petra?” My heart skipped a beat at the sound of her voice. I turned slowly to see her staring at me, mouth slightly agape. “Is it... really you?” she asked, tears filling her unbelieving eyes. The pain from the sword slash melted away at her words. I nodded. “How?” Every nerve in my body tightened simultaneously, causing me to snatch up the knife and leap backward on pure instinct, just narrowly avoided having my head cleaved in half and coming to the quick conclusion that I needed to flee.
“No time!” I shouted, sticking the knife in my boot and running at Wendy, hauling her over one shoulder before lining myself up with the window. I took one breath to steel myself and took off at a dead sprint to leap into the open air, hearing the whistle of the man's blade as it missed me by mere inches. The flight was obscure, constantly alternating between rising and falling as I struggled to keep any semblance of my happy thought in the back of my mind. A task made even harder when Wendy began to thrash and scream. “Hold still or we'll fall!” I shouted.
“He's coming!” she shrieked, the fear in her voice giving me enough cause to risk turning around. My eyes went wide at the sight of the cloaked pirate weaving through the air towards us at an incredible speed. The unmistakable sound of Big Ben ringing in the midnight hour sounded off to my left causing my heart to skip several beats. I turned to see the pirate ship angling towards us over the water and realized I didn't have enough time to evade, the best I could do was direct us towards the sail to lesson the impact. I just barely managed to keep my grip on Wendy as we smashed against the hard sheet of cloth and were hurled down to the deck. With all my willpower I struggled to my knees only to cough up a large spray of blood and collapse once more.
“Set the pace lads, we're approaching the mouth!” the man's voice sounded as the hem of a heavy black cloak appeared before my eyes.
“A valiant effort, my dear, but all in vain I'm afraid,” the robe shifted forward to nudge me over onto my back. “From the looks of you I'd say you've only got about a minute at best. A pity, I'd hoped to learn how you came about your ability to fly. But,” he said, stepping around me to stand over Wendy, “one mustn't complain when they've still got the prize!” My rapidly blurring vision caught sight of the blade descending from his sleeve. I wanted so badly to stand and throw myself at him but could only manage extending one arm out enough to rest my hand on top of hers.
“I'm sorry...” I whispered to her, taking small comfort in the fact that she wouldn't have to be conscious for what was about to happen. The man lifted his blade into the air but paused, flicking his eyes somewhere in front of the ship. I managed to swing my blurry vision in the same direction just in time to catch sight of the sky splitting apart as I'd seen at the hot springs with Tinker Bell. The shrieking sound, I realized, was much worse when you were in the direct path of the blast and not rendered half unconscious. As the ship crossed over the plane and into the swirling black tunnel, something I could only describe as a slow ripple in the air washed across the deck of the ship.
I looked around myself in wide eyed wonder as the black robes of every pirate the ripple passed through seemed to explode into a million pieces, leaving behind a man or woman in ordinary pirate garb in it's place. When it was nearing our position I locked my eyes on the robed man as his robes were destroyed, leaving a tall man with thick, bushy black hair and a thin curled mustache. Everything about the man, from his gaudy billowing clothing to the seething hatred and disgust in his black eyes made me sick to my stomach. I didn't have time for loathing, however, as it was my turn to be taken by the mysterious ripple. It was like the first breath of air after a deep dive underwater as the warmth that had left me from the man's sword slash returned to my body.
“Damn,” he muttered, lowering his sword which had taken the form of a jewel pommeled rapier. The man turned his eyes on me, burning with barely contained hatred and a glint of madness. “You cost me my meal, girl!” he shouted, stomping over to me to grind his heavy booted heel into my wound. The energy the ripple had restored was begging to be released but I held myself in check to wait for a better opportunity. I feigned losing consciousness, causing him to remove his heel, instead leaning down to pick me up by the throat. “Oh no no, I have a much more fitting end in mind for you!” he shouted, hurling me against the railing of the ship before stomping over and wrenching my head up by my hair. “We call it the Demon's Throat,” he whispered, forcing my head to pan back and forth across the walls of the tunnel. “You see, where we come from there's a beast that has developed a taste for us pirates, a dragon from the depths of the sea. Once caught in it's jaws there is no avoiding being devoured, much like the walls of this passage.” To demonstrate, he knocked the lid off of a nearby barrel with his free hand and hurled it into the wall, the instant it touched the edge of the swirling darkness it disintegrated into a fine black dust.
My thoughts flickered to Tinker Bell's warning that passing between the worlds was dangerous even for the fairies, an idea that couldn't be more clear to me now. I shook my head, cursing myself for drifting at a time where focus could mean life and death for both me and Wendy. The man must have mistaken my head shaking for some type of refusal and growled as he wrenched back harder on my hair.
“Oh yes, girl, the demon will have it's taste of you...” He paused then, I didn't even have to see his face to know the wicked grin it held. “But... not before I put my steel into the belly of you're friend!” I had to grit my teeth against the surge of anger that burned in me, knowing that if I attacked him now he'd simply hurl me over the edge and I didn't quite trust myself to fly in this place. The man spun me around and forced me to my knees before making his way to Wendy's side, giving me time to free my knife while his back was turned. Grinning like a madman he drew his blade and raised it over his head. “You wished me to take away your heartache... how about I simply carve out the whole thing?!” The words ignited the burning embers in the pit of my resolve and I exploded into the air, shattering the wood planks beneath me from the backlash of force. He noticed my charge much too late to counter it and with one swing, fueled by all my hatred and powered by the force of my acceleration, I loped his sword hand clean off at the wrist. The hand, still clutching his blade, spiraled lazily over the railing behind him to be reduced to ashes against the walls of the passage.
“Captain!” came a chorus of stunned voices from the nearest crew members. For a moment everything went silent as the man lowered his severed arm to gaze, almost unbelievingly at the stump of his wrist. In a calm, almost dignified, manner he turned and walked to the edge of the ship to peer into the swirling darkness. The closest man to him cautiously approached and nudged him on the shoulder. “Cap'n... you alright?” I used the distraction to scoop Wendy up into my arms and brace myself against the opposite railing.
“Am I alright? Is that what you just asked me after seeing my hand fed to the demon?” The Captain asked in a deceptively calm voice, the man swallowed hard and nodded. “I see...” He then grabbed the man by the throat with his good hand and hurled him off the side of the ship. The man's scream carried up and over the railing for a few seconds before cutting off suddenly. The Captain then spun around to face me and pointed with the stump of his wrist, groaned, and switched to his good hand to point correctly. “I want them cut into as small a pieces as possible... and do remember to start from the feet!” he snarled. A quick glance at the two dozen blades being drawn told me I had only one option. I leaped up onto the railing behind me and cradled Wendy tight to my chest, feeling her stir against me.
“Petra... I don't want... to die anymore..” she whimpered, I looked down to see tears streaming down her cheeks as she reached up to caress my face. “I think... I think I love you Petra...”
“We're going to be okay, Wendy... I'm going to take us far away from here... and we'll be together no matter what because... I think I love you too, Wendy,” I whispered to her, fighting back my own tears only for the sake of keeping my vision clear. “Hold on tight,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady to ease her fears as well as mine. I took one final breath and leaped backwards off the railing.
'Fly...' I whispered in my mind as we continued to fall. 'Fly!' I repeated with much more force yet still we plummeted. I could feel the swirling darkness creeping on me, fear and desperation consuming me as Wendy gripped tight around my neck. 'FLY!' I shrieked within my horror stricken mind but my body simply wouldn't listen. The warmth the ripple had restored was ebbing away and with that fact came the painful realization that I simply wasn't strong enough to keep going. 'Wendy... Tinker Bell... I'm sorry...' The last thing I would remember was a steady thumping sound from somewhere above us, almost sounding in my delirious state, like the distant heartbeat of a giant beast...
–
“Oh! I know it was around here somewhere!” Tinker Bell shouted, frantically flying in circles through the sky. “They had to have taken the main Gateway, it's the only one around here big enough for their ugly old ship to fit through!” She paused to clutch at her chest as another wave of heartache struck her. “When you come back to me I'm never letting you out of my sight again!” After a few more passes around the immediate area she came to a stop and braced herself as a familiar tension tugged at her wings. A second later she was blown backwards as the sky split apart with a shriek all too familiar with her. Clenching her fists at her sides, the fairy girl darted into the massive black passage at full speed, every instinct in her body telling her that she needed to hurry. She gritted her teeth at the sound of approaching drum beats as she pressed forward, darting low along the floor of the passage to avoid being spotted. As the ship came into full view her heart fell at the sight of Petra standing on one of the railings with a young girl in her arms.
“Petra! You'll die if you fall!” she shouted, pushing forward with everything she had in her as the girl that had come to mean so much to her leaped backwards off the the side of the ship and began to plummet. “Even if I reach them, I won't be able to support them both! No way around it, I'll just have to deal with the Elders later,” she said as she steeled herself for what she was about to do. “If only you weren't so perfect...” she whispered, smiling in spite of the situation as she reached behind her back and tore off her wings...
–
“Miss pixie, she's stirring!” a sweet and familiar voice called out from somewhere nearby as the cobwebs of sleep began to clear. I cracked open one eye to see a streak of golden light shooting towards me.
“You dummy! Dummy, dummy, stupid dummy!” Tinker Bell shouted, beating her fists against my chest with her usual surprising force. It hurt like hell, every tiny blow sending a wave of pain across my stomach which, although clearly wrapped securely and having healed somewhat, still burned with every hint of motion. I couldn't have been more relieved, it meant I... I tilted my opened eye to the side to take in Wendy, still in the nightclothes she'd been wearing and clutching her hands to her chest, eyes shining with tears... we were alive.
“Miss pixie... I think you may be hurting her...” Wendy said shyly. Tink ceased her buffeting to glare at the girl.
“I'm a fairy you stupid cow! Fairy! You seem to understand everything else I say but you can't even get that one little thing right! This girl's no good for you, Petra! She's got more boobs than brains! I swear if I...”
“Tink...” she paused instantly at the sound of my voice, mouth still open in mid rant. I gave her a smile and stroked her cheek with a fingertip. “You saved us, didn't you?” The fairy girl blushed beat red.
“I did... but I almost didn't make it and... well I don't want to go into it right now but let's just say you owe me big time!”
“How's about a massage every night before we go to bed? You practically melted that time I gave you one,” I said, giggling a little despite the pain. She seemed to consider it a moment.
“Deal,” she said with a grin which, after a moment, began to falter. “I was so scared, Petra... you're the best thing that's ever happened to me... I... I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you,” she whimpered, stepping forward to press herself against my cheek.
“I'm so sorry, Tink... the last thing I would ever want to do is make you worry any more than you already do. I really didn't do it on purpose either, it was...” She raised her hand to stop me.
“We'll talk about that later. Right now... I think there's something a little more important that you should be doing,” she said, nodding her head towards Wendy.
“You're the best Tink.”
“I am, aren't I?” she asked with a wink before leaning in and kissing my cheek. “You call me right away if you need anything, okay?”
“I promise.” Tinker Bell nodded and lifted off my chest in the direction of her basket but paused and hovered near Wendy to point at her.
“And tell her to stop calling me 'Miss pixie' or I'll cut off all her hair while she sleeps!” I waited till she'd landed in her basket to respond.
“Sure thing, Tink! Wendy, she asked me to tell you not to be so formal, you can drop the Miss part and just call her pixie.”
“You suck!” came Tink's shout from her basket, followed the musical sound of her giggling. I noticed Wendy staring at me with sad eyes.
“What's wrong, Wendy?” She shook her head and was quiet for a long while.
“It's just... it's all so much to take in. I feel as if I may wake up at any moment to find that meeting you again was all just a dream.” I lowered my eyes a moment before reaching out and placing my hand atop hers to give it a gentle squeeze.
“I'm sorry I just up and left without telling you, I'm not even sure myself how I got here but...” A single tear rolled down her cheek.
“It's my fault...” she said quietly.
“What do you mean, Wendy? Tink said she heard me calling out to her and came...” She was shaking her head.
“I don't know about any of that but... that night when you rescued me... that very same night...” Tink's basket nearly rattled off it's hook as the fairy girl scrambled out of it to fly towards Wendy, shouting for her to stop. “...you died...”