As Winter came back into consciousness, she had trouble opening her eyes, leaving her only seeing black. She felt a subtle breeze against her face. This must have all been a dream and now she was passed out in the field at the cemetery. She must have slipped and fell causing this insane dream. Now she was passed out and there was a light breeze of wind touching her face. Her mind was completely at ease convincing herself of the story she just created until she heard Peter’s voice. “Why do we keep this thing Tink?”
“It reminds you of where you came from,” Tink said. Winter slowly opened her eyes, still hoping to be in the graveyard, but knowing at this point, that was a fever dream. She found Peter crouching over her fanning her with a pointed green cap with a red feather in it. Tink, still a tiny yellow light, was over her as well.
“But I never wore it!” With their arguing they had yet to realize she was awake. “I swear one little cartoon comes out forever ago and I’m tainted! Who would wear this? It’s extremely unconventional. It wouldn’t block out the sun, properly cover my hair or cover my identity! Completely worthless!” Peter finally turned to see a petrified Winter staring at them without a single blink. “Hey! You’re awake!” Winter immediately punched Peter. He scooted back as Winter scurried to her feet. Peter yelped, but quickly braced himself as if Winter was some type of wild animal. Winter brought her fists up, ready for fisticuffs at any moment.
“Who are you?” Winter demanded. “What type of prank show is this?” Peter held out his hands bracing for another attack. She noticed that he had now ditched the blanket he was wearing as he was now in a dark forest green multi-plated armor that hugged his torso. It seemingly covered his entire body right down to his wrists. A small amount of plates rose on the back of his neck, but stopped right as it got to his hair.
“I’m Peter,” he said as slowly as possible. “Peeeeetttttteerrr.”
“Peter? Right? Like the poster you just so happened to talk to me in front of.” Peter’s eyes went wide.
“I knew you looked familiar,” Peter said as if this was great for both of them.
“Shut it! I’ve had enough of this. As if I’m going to believe you are actually Peter Pan.” Peter lifted his arms out as if he was about to shout a giant revelation.
“So you do know me!” Winter punched Peter again, causing him to recoil back.
“Oh my god! Jeezus!” Peter rubbed his jaw in pain as Tink laughed. “Uh huh very funny Tink,” Peter mocked.
“How is this light talking!”
“Cause she’s a robot, duh!” Another fist went towards Peter’s head, but this time he dodged it with ease. “Stop with the punches, alright! You know what? I’m done!” Peter turned and walked away from Winter. “Go look outside or something.” Peter motioned toward the window to her right. “Jeez, you’re the worst I’ve ever had on here. Give someone medical attention and they just punch you in the face! Twice!”
“I like her!” Tink said. Winter’s eyes gazed at the window. From her view, there was nothing but darkness. Memories started coming back to Winter before the blackout. Images of a rush of small white dots and the sun came to her.
“You would!”
“The window?” Winter said, still refusing to break her focus off them.
“Look outside. We’re literally getting nowhere with this ‘punch first, ask questions later, but refuse every answer’, method you’re pulling on me.” Winter felt this could be a trap, but slowly side stepped over to it, with her fists still raised.
“Just walk like a normal human being.” Peter was clearly fed up with this. Winter slowly dropped her fists and turned toward the window. Her jaw dropped as her eyes widened.
She saw multiple ships of all different colors and sizes pass by. Some were industrial, clearly owned by a company or were transporting large cargo or a large amount of people. Others were much smaller. So small it was clear that they could only hold one person. This was something straight out of a sci-fi film.
Alien beings would fly by utilizing jetpacks, the same kind that Winter saw earlier when she first came aboard. Some had giant glass bowl helmets on. Others had stylized helmets that hid all features from them. Others had no helmet at all!
“Welcome to Neverland,” Peter said behind her. Peter braced for her to attack him again, but she remained awestruck, not losing sight of what was in front of her. “You alright?” Winter nodded without looking at him.
“But all the stories…”
“Eh, a little different than what you know.” Peter cautiously placed his hand on her shoulder. Thankfully for Peter, she let it stay. Peter lead her to what looked like a massive wall of metal where the windshield used to be. “Here.” Winter was awfully confused why he was leading her over there. “Tink, bring up the shield please.”
“Yes, sir,” Tink said as she flew beside Winter. The wall transformed itself into shutters and opened, revealing a night sky. The shutters shimmied up the massive windshield she first saw. Winter could not believe what she was seeing. She had thought what she saw in the window was impressive, but nothing could have prepared her for this.
Winter gazed upon an entire galaxy of planets she didn’t know. There were even more aliens and ships passing by than what she saw in the tiny window. Everywhere she looked, there was something unknown to discover.
“Forget everything you’ve ever known about me.” Peter’s tone was filled with wonder, as if he’s told this story before, but it still excited him. “It all starts with the second star to the right.” Peter pointed toward a nearby wormhole. “Not really a star though. A wormhole, that serves as the bridge between your galaxy and the great galaxy of Neverland.”
“I still don’t understand. There’s all these stories and yet, none of them are like this.” Peter hesitated on clarifying the story for her as an old painful memory popped into his head. He quickly blocked it out of his mind.
“All up to interpretation. In 1912, if you said someone arrived on a ship, they would naturally assume it meant a boat, not a star ship.”
“Wait, so how exactly do I know the story? Someone had to tell it.” An embarrassed smile came over Peter, that quickly turned into sorrow. He corrected his face back into a happy one.
“You know everyone just wants their story told and-”.
“Well he technically didn’t-,” Tink interrupted.
“And I found an author who wrote it,” he said drowning out Tink. “That’s exactly what happened,” he said with a slight glare aimed at Tink. “I was a bit cocky back then. Thought it would be cool to have my own story.”
“Still is cocky,” Tink taunted at Peter. If she had a face, it would be returning Peter’s glare.
“Tink, we really gotta work on what insults you can fling at me in front of company,” he joked trying to lighten up the room.
“I’m sorry,” Winter turned toward the flying yellow light. “What are you?”
“My name is Tink. I am a self-aware robot who captains the ship. I use this tiny vessel to follow Peter on his adventures, but usually upload my consciousness into the ship’s mainframe.”
“She helps me captain the ship.” Peter interjected.
“You would be so lost without me Peter.”
“Can’t argue with you there.” Peter admitted. Winter turned back toward the windshield and looked for anything she might have missed.
“So, it’s all real?”
“In a sense, yeah.” A bright grin flashed over Winter’s face. She excitedly turned back toward them. So, Hook! Smee! They’re all real?” Winter could hardly contain her excitement.
“Yep, all real.” Peter stated as he watched Winter’s face fill with glee. This was his favorite part about showing off Neverland. But he knew it couldn’t last. Dark thoughts returned to Peter, but he ignored them. It won’t be like last time, he thought.
“Wendy too! Oh my god!” Winter turned back and leaned against the windshield.
“All real…” Peter whispered. His facial expression dropped to a grim frown. Peter glanced at Winter, as wondrous as ever, just like how Wendy used to be.
He saw history repeating itself. He knew he couldn’t let her end up like Wendy, but just wanted to enjoy this moment just for a little while. It felt as if he was his younger self again, someone he hadn’t been able to do in a while. Winter turned back toward him. Peter quickly changed his grim look to one of happiness. Something that he was so used to it became second nature to him.
“So, you really never grow up?”
“All children grow up. Including me.”
“Then why is that a part of the story?”
“I age, at the same rate as you do. I’m obviously human. But in this universe, gravity is a tad different. One day here is about a month on Earth. A year may pass for you, but it’s only 12 days here. Makes it seem like I don’t age. Don’t let the skin care professionals know.” Peter winked. Winter laughed as she looked all around the ship, still not totally believing where she was. A feeling crept over her and she couldn’t help but skip across the ship.
“This is amazing! Ugh!” Peter watched Winter skip with glee, and a smile grew across his face. He hadn’t noticed that tears were welling in his eyes.
“That’s a smile I haven’t seen in a while.” Tink whispered to him. His smile dropped, snapping back to reality. At the same moment, Winter stopped skipping and just continued to take it all in.
“Mum would not believe this. Or Dad.” As angry as she was with him, she knew she couldn’t abandon him. She still knew he cared, even if he never showed it. This would have been a great escape. Here, she wouldn’t have to worry about the future or art school. None of it. But she knew it wasn’t right. If one day in Neverland was a month on Earth and she had already spent at least a half hour in Neverland…then that would mean…her head hurt from thinking about it. She couldn’t process the math, but knew it didn’t end well for her. “Peter?” She walked back up to him. “This pains me to say, but you have to take me back. I have school. And a father.”
“Oh, I know, we’re going straight back.” Peter headed toward his captain’s chair. Winter could not believe he was so on board with taking her back. All the stories led her to believe he was some weird guy who took random humans on adventures. The more she thought about it, the weirder it would be if he was like that. Despite this, she still had a feeling of being cheated.
“What? Aren’t you supposed to take me on an adventure or something crazy?”
“You think I just scoop up random Earth girls and we fight pirates?” As crazy it sounded, she couldn’t argue with his logic.
“I mean, kind of. The stories you know?”
“That’s so creepy,” Peter said as he collapsed into his chair. “Some dude just picking up girls? Sorry, but why would I? Like, I don’t even know your name.”
“It’s Winter.”
“Well, Winter,” Peter began as he input data into the ship’s console, right next to his steering mechanism, which resembled a joystick from a helicopter. “I can’t be mixing up the universes. You got a life to live down there, kid.”
Winter shut her jaw. She knew that she should go home, but now that there was no possibility of staying, it hurt her in a weird way. Classic scenario of wanting what you can’t have. “You’re right. Mind if I walk around? Take it all in?”
“Might as well. Not going to be seeing it much longer.” Peter said without breaking his focus on entering in coordinates.
Winter found herself back in the loading bay where she first entered the ship. She was mentally taking in as many details as she could, not wanting to forget any bit of it. She touched every jet pack along the wall and imagined herself putting one on and flying around space. But that wouldn’t happen. This was it, and she had to be alright with that. She was about to turn back toward the captain’s cabin when she noticed the sword hilts hanging by the jet packs. Why would there be a hilt, without the actual sword part? She picked one up and noticed it was much heavier than it looked. While examining it, she discovered a button on the handle. Her curiosity got the best of her and she pressed it. Once she did, a laser grew out of the hilt, in the shape of a sword. “Whoa!”
Winter couldn’t believe her eyes. There was an actual laser sword in her possession! She was living her own Star Wars story. The sword hummed with each wave as she flung it around throughout the cargo bay. She giggled as she pretended to sword fight. Did she really have to go back, she thought? This was much better than any school or job she could ever have back home. No, she thought, keep those ideas away. This isn’t your life.
Without her knowing, Tink hovered in between the doorway. Tink flew back into the captain’s cabin where Peter was still preparing for takeoff. “Peter?”
“She’s not staying Tink.” Peter said without losing focus.
“It’s just, I have not seen you this happy since, well you know.” Peter stopped what he was doing and took a deep breath. He turned toward Tink.
“Tink. She’s not coming.” A few moments of silence passed between them. It wasn’t often they fought. They used to never fight. But then something happened ages ago that changed everything. Tink wished she could remember what moment it was. She had tried to remember it, but every time she searched her data for the memory, it was gone; wiped away. After the unknown event happened, Peter was never the same. Tink was almost positive Peter was the one who deleted the memory, but could never be sure. Tink was about to fly off when she noticed something in the ship’s radar that required Peter’s immediate attention.
“Peter?” Tink said calmly.
“I told you I’m not having this conversation,” Peter said without looking up from his console.
“Peter, Hook’s ship is approaching.” Peter immediately looked up and saw several warning signs projected onto his windshield. Multiple symbols in different alien languages were all stating ‘Hook Approaching!’ and ‘Sea Devil Incoming!’ What should have caused panic, caused more confusion to Peter than anything. It had been ages since Hook attacked him head on. It all added to the mystery of Hook returning to Earth in what had been ages.
“What are you doing old man?” Peter extended his hands in front of him and ,using his fingers, he created a box that isolated Hook’s ship in his eyesight. He pulled a part his hands, causing a magnified image of Hook’s ship to appear. Peter could see Hook’s henchmen flying away from the ship, and heading right in his direction!
Peter leaped from his chair. He jumped toward the main hallway and clicked his heels together. This triggered small rockets come out from each boot and produced a propelling flame, allowing him to soar to the cargo bay where Winter was still playing with the laser swords. Tink followed as fast as her robotic body would allow.
He flew right by Winter, bringing a gust of wind that blew hair in her face. “Whoa! Are those rocket boots?” Winter could hardly contain her excitement, but also wondered why he was showing them. Peter clicked his heels again and the rockets retracted back into the boots. He immediately grabbed a sword hilt and blaster. He dropped the blaster and in a magnetized motion, it attached to the side of Peter’s leg.
“Tink, man the ship, implement any necessary maneuvers.”
“What’s going on?”
“Hook’s sending all his goons toward us. Tink, find Winter a safe place to hide. I’m sure I can fight them all.” Even with his brash confidence, Winter could tell there was a hint of uneasiness to his voice. She held up the laser sword in her hand.
“I can help,” Winter said bravely.
“You?” Peter laughed obnoxiously.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Winter glared. Even in space there seemed to be misogyny. Peter laughed again. It took a moment, but it finally dawned on Peter that she wasn’t joking.
“You can’t be serious?”
“Is this because I’m a girl?” Winter accused. The idea she spouted baffled Peter.
“What? No! It’s because you don’t have any training! And! Oh yeah! You could die!” Peter headed toward the end of the hallway to a red button that Winter just now noticed.
“C’mon! I’m a fencer! It’s this combat sport where two people-”
“I know what fencing is!”
“Well then you should know how skilled you have to be with a blade then. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid.” Winter was very confident that she could hold her own. Peter looked down and began thinking.
“There are a lot of them Peter.” Tink said.
Peter sighed knowing Tink was right, but could he really risk this innocent girl’s life? He looked toward Winter.
“She could be a lot of help,” Tink continued. Peter continued to study Winter. Even in her relaxed pose, something told him she would be ready for anything. Might as well test that theory.
Peter clicked on his laser sword and swung at Winter. She quickly held up her sword with a successful block. “Nice,” he complimented. Peter clicked on his boots and using the projected lift, he successfully flipped over her and landed. He tried striking her again, but she already turned around and was ready for the strike. Their swords clashed as Winter flashed a grin. He turned his sword off, slightly impressed at her skill.
“Not bad.” Peter was still unsure, but even an intermediate trained in this galaxy might have missed that move.
“Oh come on!” Winter yelped.
“Fine!” Peter headed over to the jetpacks on the wall and threw it to Winter. She braced herself for the catch, but found it extremely light. “Put it on.” Winter grinned as she threw the tiny silver pack over her back and tightened the straps. “You’re pretty good with that sword and hopefully you can fly alright.”
“What about a blaster?” Winter asked.
“Well, you’re not American so I’m sure you didn’t grow up with a blaster while you were a child so I’m sure you can’t aim properly.” As much as Winter wanted to protest, he had a point. She couldn’t even excel at Duck Hunt!
Peter retraced his steps back toward the red button at the end of the hall. “You shouldn’t be the target though. Use that to your advantage. Just press the button on the right of the strap to activate the jetpack. Your mind will make it work.” Peter couldn’t believe he was allowing this, but hoped he gave her enough information to be safe out there. Moderately safe anyways.
“Wait, what do you mean my mind will make it work?” Peter ignored this knowing it was one of those situations where it was easier to practice by doing. “And how do I breathe?” Peter let out a slight laugh and then pressed the red button, revealing a hatch opening above them.
“Just think happy thoughts, right?” he said with a wink. Lifting off the ground, Peter flew out of the hatch leaving a panicked Winter all alone.
“Wait! Stop!” Winter quickly filled her lungs with air, grabbing as huge of a breath as she could to hopefully survive in space. In an obscenely short amount of time she was already struggling. How could Peter just let her die like this?
“You can breathe!” Winter heard above her. She looked up to see Peter hovering above the opened hatch looking down on her. “There’s O2 here! Now come on!” Peter shouted as he flew off. She could hear various sounds of pirates grunting and laser guns going off. Winter decided to believe him and filled her lungs with air. There was oxygen here in this space somehow. Winter took a few breaths on her own to mentally prepare for the battle ahead. To think she was just advocating for herself to join.
You got this, she thought, and then pressed the button on her strap. Unbeknownst to her, a small metallic strand, unseen to the naked eye, lifted from the back of the jetpack and inserted itself into Winter’s skin, piercing into her spine. She felt a quick prick and then braced for lift off…but nothing happened. She knew it was on as the pack was clearly making noises.
All of a sudden, the ship immediately rocked to the right. It seemed to have been hit. Winter looked up to the hatch and saw multiple laser beams fly past. Why couldn’t she fly? “Peter!” she screamed, “How do I blast off?” Peter flew past the hatch.
“Really?” he yelped as he flew past. More lasers flew by the hatch, followed by a few screams of pain that weren’t Peter’s. Peter returned to the opening, now holding his blaster, still gliding effortlessly. He kept his eyes on the combat, but managed to look down at Winter. “I had a cool tagline and everything!”
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Winter thought back to his last words. Just think happy thoughts. It wasn’t just a smug tagline to his own story. Or maybe it was, but it also meant something else! Winter’s eyes widened. All she had to do was think! Peter smiled seeing it dawn upon her. “There ya go!” Peter flew off, returning to battle.
Winter braced herself. Just think about going upwards, she told herself. Miraculously, the jetpack activated and she leapt her from the ground, flying through the hatch. Once she cleared it, she thought about remaining stable, and just like that, Winter stabilized in a flying hovering state.
She looked around for Peter. There were so many pirates flying around just ahead of her. His flying was impeccable. Compared to Peter, every other pirate was so clunky with their jetpacks or rocket boots. He was flying through space as if he was a professional ice skater carving into a freshly paved ice rink. He would take his sword and effortlessly cut down pirates by carving into them or slicing into their jetpack, causing them to fly uncontrollably into the unknown space.
She gazed where the pirates were coming from and found Hook’s ship, the gigantic Sea Devil! It was a combination of space ship and sea ship. It had rounded bow, with an upper deck available, where you could walk about and gaze into the stars. Doubtful that any of the crew of the Sea Devil would do that though. Instead, the deck was mounted with gigantic laser canons intended to be operated from outside of the ship. The ship was a deep maroon with the words ‘Sea Devil’ written in a bright purple. Even with her limited knowledge of spaceship paint jobs, she could tell it was done terribly. Patches of the paint were slightly different colors and it seemed uneven. It seemed more like a loaner car than a personal possession. Winter remembered the classic tale of Peter and Wendy and how it ended with Peter taking Hook’s ship. Could the ship she just exited possibly be that ship?
Winter looked down as she flew higher into space and discovered the ship she had been riding in the entire time, had been the infamous Jolly Roger! The ship seemed to be straight out of a 1950s sci-fi comic book. It had a narrow nose, massive oval engines on the back, and fins on either side of the tail. It was a bright crimson red color, with the words ‘Jolly Roger’ written on both sides in a bright yellow. Winter was in the world of an old school sci fi novel! She laughed at the odd situation she was in. While she was soaking it all in, laser blasts flew right past her head! Winter screamed and tried to fly away, but the jet pack didn’t seem to work. Her head was filled with too many thoughts that she may die!
She felt a hand grab her jean jacket and took her away. Looking up, she saw that Peter snatched her and was flying her through the blasts. Peter could see how terrified she was. She needed to go back to where it was safe, but Tink was right. There were too many of them to deal with alone, he needed her. Their previous conversations flashed through Peter’s mind and he thought of a brilliant idea to get her head back in the game. “Maybe you should stay back!” he yelled as he continued his focus on dodging laser blasts. Winter tried to catch her breath, but couldn’t stop thinking about a blast going right to her head. Peter could see she was close to hyperventilating, but knew he could bring her back to reality. “Don’t take it personally! You’re not bad for a girl.” As the words left Peter’s mouth, he produced a sly grin, knowing the affect of his words.
Winter couldn’t believe the taunt that flew out of his mouth. She saw the grin and knew he was purposely toying with her, but the slight anger she felt brought her back to the fight. She broke out of Peter’s grip and flew on her own. Peter cheered as she flew away from him. He stayed gliding, watching her fly toward a pirate who was approaching her. Once he learned that she would be okay in a fight, he could return to the task at hand.
Winter came face to face with a pirate. As she got closer, she noticed it had purple skin and yellow flesh spikes on top of its head where hair should be. The pirate gave a nasty snarl, then swung its sword toward Winter. Winter brought up her blade just before it could cut her. The pirate’s power was so immense Winter was struggling to keep her sword up. Slowly, her sword was heading toward her own shoulder, still clashed and locked with the pirate’s. This is nothing more than fencing, she thought. She gained as much courage as she could and successfully flung the pirate off her. Winter lunged fast enough to cut the pirate’s sword wielding hand. The pain caused the pirate to accidentally throw the sword out of reach. He looked back toward Winter. Winter gave a devilish laugh and lunged with her sword threateningly. The pirate flew away, like the coward he was.
Peter prouder than ever of himself, even though he did next to nothing to help her. “Not bad kid!” From out of his view, a pirate flew toward him with its sword at the ready to attack him. Without blinking, Peter dodged this and cut the pirate’s jetpack, all without breaking eye contact with Winter’s situation. Winter looked to Peter and gave him a thumbs up, hoping he knew what a thumbs up was. Winter quickly got her head back in the game. After all, there were more pirates to deal with! She still could not believe this was happening!
Peter watched her fly off toward more combat. Peter turned to the Sea Devil, knowing he didn’t need to babysit Winter anymore. Though Winter was good with a sword and they could fight the pirates off for now, it wouldn’t last forever. They would get tired or Hook’s men would find a way to defeat them. He had to find a way to stop this quickly. Peter looked back and saw Winter. He couldn’t let her get hurt. Not like last time.
He flew over, slicing a few pirates along the way, and landed on the deck of the Sea Devil. A robotic type pirate clunked over to him. He took his blaster and shot it in the head, killing it instantly. Pirates aboard the Devil gathered in groups, drawing their swords as they surrounded Peter.
Peter drew his sword and spun around in circles slowly, just in case anyone attacked. “I thought you were training your men better old man! I have a girl beating all your little urchins!”
“Cease fire!” They all heard from a top the deck. The voice rattled behind Peter, causing memories of his old foe to flood his head. All the pirates across space immediately ceased fighting and headed back to the Sea Devil. Winter didn’t hear the call to cease fire and was struck with immediate confusion. The pirates were already largely ignoring her and were going for Peter instead. But now all of them had deactivated their swords and flew off.
Winter followed the pirates to the Sea Devil, where she found Peter at the deck. Right as she was about to fly down to Peter’s side, they made eye contact and he promptly put up a finger, signaling for her to stop.
Winter and Peter heard stomping coming from the upper deck, with one stomp louder than the other. The sound got louder and louder as it was closing in on Peter. Even with her heightened position, Winter couldn’t see who was coming as all of the pirates were surrounding him, just in case an attack happened upon their dear captain.
As Peter heard the footsteps getting louder, he continued to think about all the times they had together. Memories of forever fighting, of racing through the cosmos, and of a bittersweet friendship that could never last. Peter quickly blocked that out of his mind, but still allowed a nostalgic smile creep upon his face. “Been awhile old man,” Peter said as he turned around, ready to face his old nemesis again.
The pirates surrounding him dispersed revealing their standing tall captain with a cunning smile, none other than Captain Hook. He was different than what Winter had expected, but not too much. His entire right arm was completely cybernetic, ending with a giant metallic hook. Winter made a mental note to ask Peter the true story behind his hook. He had wavy slicked back black hair, that curled a tad toward the end. He had a robotic right eye, with the pupil being a deep red. His beard covered up the multiple scars across his face from the multiple battles throughout the years. The mustache portion of his beard was a tad pointed. If he had shaved the beard and kept the stache, the cartoons and plays wouldn’t be too far off from what he really looked like. She kept examining his body, wearing a red leather duster and black pants leading Winter to gaze at his legs. Even though he was wearing pants, she could see his right leg was probably cybernetic, as it bulged slightly more in the pant leg than his other. He was much younger than she expected. His eyes were that of an old man, but his face and body couldn’t have been older than 38, perhaps in his early forties. He actually looked pretty cool. Winter had to give it to him.
“Peter Pan,” Hook greeted him. “Ages it has been,” he snarled.
“What were you doing on Earth old man? Nostalgia creeping in, or dementia?” Peter loved teasing Hook about his age. It was a great long running joke between them, ever since they found each other. Hook tried to contain his laugh. He missed this just about as much as Peter did. But he had business to take care of. He looked up and saw Winter floating nearby, watching their coveted reunion. He thought back to the message his old friend sent him. She would be very helpful indeed.
“I’m surprised you brought another girl with you Pan!” Peter’s childlike smile quickly dropped. “Have you already forgotten what happened to the last one?” Peter bit his tongue in anger.
“How do you know about that?” Peter demanded.
“Has he told you how much danger you are in lass?” Hook shouted to Winter ignoring Peter. What was he talking about, Winter thought. “No, Pan could never forget,” Hook continued. “But perhaps, the young space cadet just doesn’t care?” Hook stared right into Peter’s eyes. Peter had the look of a vengeful bitter old man. Hook knew he had him. Just like old times, he still knew what buttons he had to push to get Peter at his most reckless behavior. Peter twirled his sword in his hand. From up above, Winter wasn’t sure if he was threatening or being playful.
“C’mon old man.” Peter said in a hushed voice just loud enough for Hook to hear. Hook’s cybernetic hook turned into a laser sword.
“Like old times, Pan.” They immediately flew at each other! Peter aggressively slashed his sword at Hook. Winter wasn’t sure if Peter was trying to fight him, or kill him. Hook’s sword clashed with Peter’s. “Ruining one life wasn’t good enough, eh boy?” Hook taunted at him as he brought his head between their swords. Peter broke their clashed swords and went in for a stab. Hook slashed it away effortlessly. Just as Hook planned, Peter always got a tad too reckless and unfocused when he went blind with rage. “Will this one run out of happy thoughts too?” Hook goaded.
Peter slashed toward him. Hook slashed back with an overpowering blow that caused Peter to lose his balance and focus, causing him to fall to the deck. All the pirates cheered as his body hit the ground with a thud. Winter grew restless wanting to join, but knew Peter wouldn’t want her to. Her logic could hardly contain her need to help, and wouldn’t last too much longer.
Hook slashed again toward Peter’s neck, but luckily Peter brought his blade up just in time. Hook leaned in between the swords so he was face to face with Peter. “You should probably just take her back. You know? Before it’s too late?” Hook produced a nefarious grin, as he believed Peter would do exactly what he wanted. Peter eyed Hook with malice, but then replayed the words Hook just spoke to him and his face shifted from anger to glee. Hook was clever, but not clever enough to best Peter Pan. Hook’s face turned to confusion as he saw the shift in Peter’s emotions. He thought he had Pan exactly where he wanted him, but now he was unsure. Right when Hook was about to utter something else, Peter kicked Hook off him and flew off the deck.
“Let’s take this to the sky, Hook!” Peter yelled as he flew to the open space, taking Hook to Peter’s best territory. Hook was quick to get up from the deck. Not so he could quickly challenge Pan, but to not embarrass himself in front of his entire crew. Somehow Peter was always able to embarrass him, as if it was his nature.
Winter was extremely relived to see Peter flying around with such glee. He really was just like the stories she grew up with. Hook jumped from his ship and flew toward Peter. Peter caught up to him and engaged. Using both his blaster and sword, Peter playfully fought with Hook. Not to kill however, just a fun game of sparing. Winter could tell Hook was not the best at flying. His rocket boot technique was quite sub-par to Peter’s. He would take turns too late, or skid too much to one side. It was awesome to see such a decorated pirate having issues, boosting Winter’s confidence in her own flying skill.
Hook continued to slash away the laser blasts, but was barely able to block Peter’s sword slashes. Knowing he couldn’t keep up too much longer, he tapped the side of his head, activating a communication link installed in his head that allowed him to communicate with his crew. “Starkey! Prep the accelerator!”
Winter saw the Sea Devil drift away from the fight. She couldn’t hold it any longer and flew toward it. She had to help Peter in some way, and fighting these pirates would be the best option. “Don’t worry Pete! I got it!”
Peter was too preoccupied having fun taunting Hook to notice Winter heading toward the ship. “You could never best me in the sky, old man!” Peter slashed again, this time hard enough to swing Hook around. Hook lost control of his boots and spun around in circles!
“Blast ye!” Hook stabilized himself and noticed the girl was heading toward the ship. An awful thought popped into his head. “Starkey! Is it ready?”
“Ready to go Captain!” Hook heard through Starkey say through his com link. A devilish grin grew on his face.
“What’s wrong Hook? Tired of being beaten by a kid?” Peter teased from above. Hook looked to Peter, and then back to Winter. Using his mechanical eye, he zoomed in on Winter, still oblivious that Hook was watching her. He placed a target on her.
“She could not be any more perfect for you Pan,” Hook yelled as he transformed his sword into a blaster! Peter saw Hook raise his gun at his new target; Winter!
“No!” he shouted as Hook fired! The laser traveled and whizzed into Winter’s side! She yelped in a screech of pain as her jetpack failed, causing Winter to fall into the abyss of space. Peter dashed over as quickly as possible, leaving his nemesis enough time to make it back to his ship. “Tink!” Peter screamed over his com link. “Prepare the med bay!” Peter snatched Winter out of the sky, who was now holding onto her wound. Blood trickled out from her fingers as they flew away.
“So long Pan!” Peter heard Hook taunt. Without losing focus of getting back to the Jolly Roger, he turned his head to see Hook standing on the deck of the Sea Devil. The Sea Devil’s engines were glowing, getting ready for a light speed take off. “We’ll meet again very soon!” Peter cursed under his breath and continued to the Jolly Roger.
Once he got inside, he sprinted toward the Jolly Roger’s med bay. Winter found herself inside a small contained room with various medical supplies lining the walls. She was placed on the only chair in the room that resembled a dentist’s chair, though instead of a magnifying glass hanging next to it, it was a giant robotic arm with a square base. “Tink, prepare to run diagnostic.” Maybe it was the adrenaline, but Winter was feeling fine despite being shot at.
“Peter, it’s okay I’m fine! I think it just whizzed past me. I don’t think there’s a hole in my body.”
Peter ignored her and pulled a hanging cable from the ceiling with a three-pronged tip and stabbed it into her arm. Winter yelped in pain as she felt the metal pierce through. “Run it Tink.” Winter could tell Peter was truly worried about her as he couldn’t keep control of his breathing. It was as if he had just run a marathon. “Stop holding your wound,” he commanded. Once she let her arms drop, the robot arm scanned her side wound. Just as Winter believed, the laser seemed to have only grazed her skin. After the scan, the arm produced a cauterizing flame. “Stay still,” Peter said as the flame got closer to the wound.
“Stay still for what?” Winter spouted out right before she felt an immense pain as the flame began closing her wound. She grabbed onto Peter’s arm for support and squeezed tightly. Peter was initially taken aback by this, but eased up allowing her death grip to remain. The robotic arm finished sealing her wound. Winter let out a huge breath, thankful for it to be over.
“Peter?” Tink said. Winter noticed Tink’s yellow body was not with them. She must have been running the ship and uploaded her conscious into the ship’s mainframe.
“What are the results Tink?” Peter looked as if he was about to learn if someone had cancer.
“It’s just a flesh wound,” she stated. Peter exhaled in relief. Winter couldn’t believe he was this stressed over a mere flesh wound. She didn’t need a diagnostic test from an advanced robot to know it was nothing serious. She started wondering if Peter had actually seen as many battles as the book perceived or if it was more fiction than reality.
“You alright?” Winter asked as she furred her brow.
“Yes sorry. It’s just, nothing can happen to you. Are you okay?”
“I think you should be asking yourself if you’re okay first,” Winter joked. “And after all of that, it seems the healing process hurt way more than the actual blast.” Peter let out a slight chuckle.
“First battle wound’s not so bad eh?”
“Not so bad?” Winter fired back. “That was awesome!” Winter leapt from the chair. “You do this every day? Did you see me flying through space like all that?” Even though he didn’t want to, Peter allowed himself to let out a slight smile. It’d been a while since he’d seen someone experience flight for the first time.
“Pretty great right?” he agreed.
“And then I had this sword! And this pirate came up to me!” Winter’s story drowned out as Peter’s smile faded from his face. She sounded just like Wendy had when she first came to Neverland. Winter continued to reenact her fight with the pirates as Peter’s mind dazed off, thinking of how history might be repeating itself. “I fought all those pirates! I can’t believe I got shot!” Winter touched her wound. “Ouch!” Even though it hurt, a gigantic smile came across her face. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt this much excitement. It must have been back when her mother was still alive.
As she rambled on with her story, she noticed that Peter was staring at nothing. It seemed like not a single thought or emotion was in his head. “Peter?” Winter said as she approached him. “Peter?” Peter snapped out of it and blinked several times, bringing him back to reality.
“Yeah?” he answered.
“I guess I have to go back now, yeah?” Winter said looking down, feeling a tad defeated.
“Not yet.” Peter said as he headed back to the captain’s deck.
“Wait! What?!” Winter exclaimed as she caught up to him.
Peter sat down in his captain’s chair and plugged coordinates into his control panel. “Tink, prepare to take off.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” Winter said as she hurried beside him. “I want to stay. But, why?”
“Hook suggested I take you back. Why would he care that you were here with me? Not to mention, how does he even know who you are? He didn’t talk about you like that just to torture me.”
“Torture you?”
“He wants me away from Neverland,” Peter said disregarding Winter. “Not just away though. He wants me to go back to Earth for some reason. He kept telling me to take you back and I still don’t know why, he visited Earth. Just to draw me there? He’s working on something far worse.”
“What do you think he’s planning?”
“That’s what we’re gonna find out. Tink, get a location on the Lost Boys.”
“Lost Boys?” Winter wondered how they would be slightly different than the stories she knew. Gosh, her mother would love this. With the thought of her mother, visions of her old life clouded her mind. How would she explain this disappearance? She was just putting off her problems, not solving them. But as she saw Peter use the ship’s console, her eyes took in the glorious setting she was in. She would be mad to give it all up and throw away this once in a lifetime opportunity. Her father would have to wait. This was better than Uni applications anyways. And for what he said, he deserved to be without her for a few days. Not to mention they would play right into Hook’s hand, or hook.
“Locating Lost Boys,” Tink stated.
“If he’s up to something, I’m sure they’ve heard about it.”
“I can’t believe I get to meet the Lost Boys!” Winter twirled with excitement.
“It’s probably best if you don’t.”
“What? No!”
“You don’t belong here Winter,” Peter explained standing up from his captain’s chair. “The less you can fall in love with this place, the better. You have to get back home.”
“If only you knew how terrible it is over there for me.”
“I’ve heard those words before,” Peter uttered breaking away his eye contact. Winter was about to ask who he was talking about when Tink butted in.
“Located. They are located on the planet Corinthia. The ship needs to repair itself so we can take off once they’re done.”
“Great. I’ll be in my quarters. Don’t get into trouble Winter. And Tink, don’t allow anything to happen.” Peter exited leaving Winter all alone. Winter collapsed into the captain’s chair, distraught and upset that she was in this amazing space ship but had nothing to do. Her eyes wandered over to the control panel, just being there, by itself. If she wasn’t able to join in any adventures, she might as well explore the only thing she was able to. She was about to hit a random button when she was interrupted.
“Not that one,” Tink stated through the ship’s communication system.
“Okay…” Winter went over to another and hovered her finger over it. “This one?”
“Go three to the right,” Tink offered. Winter obeyed and pressed the button on the console which immediately caused a holographic screen to pop in front of her that projected a massive map of the Neverland galaxy.
“Whoa.” Winter had no idea where to begin.
“It’s like a touch screen, move to anywhere on the map. Touch it, and it will get you any information you need.”
“Way cool,” Winter said as she started to explore the galaxy. Any planet she touched gave her a complete history of the planet. The species that lived on it, the wars they waged, the discoveries they made. Winter probably passed an hour by reading the Wikipedia styled history of Neverland. “He has this whole world full of space, planets, aliens. And he’s not even excited about it.” Tink flew next to her, now in her yellow ship.
“Peter…has had it rough.”
“Hard to imagine. Every day he gets to have amazing space adventures and have fun. I’ve read the stories.”
“Stories tend to exaggerate,” Tink added her rebuttal.
“What’s that mean?”
“You know him as the boy that won’t grow up, as the stories say.”
“Am I really that wrong? Sure, time is different here, but he’s still been alive for, I don’t know how many Earth years.”
“Growing old does not always mean growing up. The two can simultaneously happen, but not always.” Winter reflected on Tink’s words. Was a robot really teaching her about human emotions? “He used to live up to that story. He never grew up. Always the happy-go-lucky person. Yes, his age suggests he is a man, but he used to have the imagination and optimism of a child. Always exuding childlike wonder.”
“Are you serious? Sure, he’s kind of a dick sometimes, but did you see how much fun he was having against Hook? The way he smiled when I was talking about the battle we just had? He’s beaming with childlike energy, even if it’s a tad immature.”
“Winter, I am a robot and even I can sense his emotions are not true.” Maybe she was right, Winter thought. She thought about all the times when she put on a fake smile at her mother’s funeral. All the times her father asked her if she was alright and she would just smile, not wanting to let anyone know she was hurting.
“He was so happy in the stories.” I also used to be happy, she thought. “Something must have happened to him. Right?” Winter aske, turning to Tink.
“Something did. He deleted the instance from my memory. Based on his behavior, that was not the most shameful thing he did that day.”
“And you’re okay with that? What else has he possibly deleted?”
“I know if there are any gaps, and I know this is the only gap. Even though he did it once, I’m positive he would not operate this way without reason.”
Just because he has a reason gives him no right to erase her memory! Winter was about to argue with Tink when she heard a loud TICK, TOCK, TICK, TOCK.
“What’s that?” Winter exclaimed as the whole ship shook slightly. Winter felt as if she was in the car in that Jurassic Park scene.
“Tock!” She heard Peter yell from the outside. Winter got out of the chair and approached the windshield, cautiously, but curious. She looked around but couldn’t see anything but the void of space. Her head went side to side to try and see what caused the ticking sound or where Peter was. Just as she thought it was safe to return to the chair, a massive cosmetic blob passed upwards over the windshield.
“Whoa!” Winter said as she fell over. She got up and saw the massive blob creature was now flying away with Peter following it.
“Tock! Hold on!” He continued to fly up until he was out of Winter’s sight.
Winter headed down to the ship’s cargo bay and flew up through the hatch. She could see Peter and whatever space monster that was with him off in the distance. Winter glided over to them and as she got closer, the space blob got clearer. The blob had reptilian like skin with 8 tentacles. It was much bigger than the ship. Peter flew underneath the creature and gave it belly scratches.
The creature started producing sounds. TICK TICK TICK TICK!
“You like that Tock?” Peter laughed. Peter noticed Winter in his peripherals and he could see that she was terrified staring at the massive being, but also curious. “Winter! Come meet my oldest friend!”
Friend? Winter thought.
“You’ve gotten so much bigger girl!” Peter said to draw excitement, but only made Tock groan. “Oh no like that! You know what I mean! How’ve you been?”
TICK TOCK TOCK TICK TICK TOCK, the creature spouted.
“What? That’s so rude!” Peter saw that Winter was close enough to formally introduce her. “Winter, this is Tock! Say hello!”
Winter put on a shy smile. As she got closer, she noticed more and more details about Tock. Her skin was constantly changing to different neon colors. But what was most captivating about her, was her deep electric blue eyes that you could lose yourself in. She had the kind of eyes that an old soul would have. It reminded her of making eye contact with a whale. She was a massive beast that could easily kill you if she wanted, but Winter could tell she was a gentle giant.
“Um, hi.” TICK TOCK TICK TOCK, the massive beast responded. Winter wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.
“Ah, you’ll warm up to her, girl.” She guessed it was a bad thing. “When I was a kid and came here, I couldn’t afford these rocket boots, so I lived on Tock’s back. She showed me all this galaxy had to offer.”
“I just read almost everything your computer has on Neverland, but never read anything like this.”
“They’re old creatures that mostly keep to themselves. Most beings go their entire lifetime without seeing one.”
“How old are they?”
“Older than me! They’re very ancient so no one really knows anything about them. They tend to travel through wormholes. Some wormholes that not even our technology can’t survive. Back in the day, stories were passed down that they were the keepers of time. Mainly for how they speak.”
“Tick tock.” Winter grinned.
“Not even our modern communication devices can translate their speech. You have to just pick it up yourself.
“I can’t believe that even in Neverland there are unexplained beings.”
“You’d be surprised. Just like Earth, we have our own legends. Ancient tales say that they were worshiped back in the old days. Some legends say they could reverse aspects of time.”
“Like time travel?”
“Not exactly.” Peter brought out his blaster. “Say I throw this away.” Peter threw the blaster to Winter for her to catch. “They could supposedly manipulate it so the blaster would go back to my hand, but time would be the same. I still threw it to you, it’s just now back in my hand.”
“Say I broke something, she could put it back together?” Winter asked as she threw him back the blaster.
“So the stories go!” Peter flew around Tock and landed on her back.
“Amazing! Never thought I would meet a being that could control time,” she said as her eyes traveled all over Tock’s dazzling appearance.
“Eh, they’re just bedtime stories,” Peter shrugged.
“Well, up until today, I thought you were just a bedtime story.” Her words brought a warm smile to Peter’s face. Winter felt like it was a different kind of smile than he usually gave her. It was as if he was younger. Not face wise, but spirit wise. He looked as if he never dealt with any troubles of the real world. This was the Peter she had imagined. He was still inside there, somewhere. Peter flew over to Tock’s eye level.
“You wanna play Tock? Let’s go find an asteroid!” Peter and Tock flew off with not a care in the world. Peter would barrel roll playfully as he flew and Tock followed. It was as if Winter was watching a choreographed dance. He would spin through her tentacles and they would switch directions as if they were on the same brain wave. Winter stood behind and just watched them fly throughout the stars.
“In moments like these, I get glimpses of him.” Winter turned to find that Tink was flying right next to her.
“This how he always used to be?” Tink flew up and down, signaling a nod.
“Moments like these make me theorize that he isn’t really gone. He isn’t just a façade of his older self.”
“It’s about Wendy isn’t it? The memory he deleted. When he changed.” Tink remained silent. Winter gazed back toward the lovable Peter and Tock. She remembered the graveyard, but for the life of her couldn’t remember what he said. “Something happened with her, and that changed him?”
“All my theories lead back to her.”