Peter’s lifeless body floated through the deepest, darkest, area of space. The wormhole spat him out into a system that hardly had a single star. Blood still trickled out of the crevice that the sword left. His whole body had gone pale and his skin was cold to the touch. What once was a warm brown color in his eyes, was now fading into a soft gray.

Off in the distance from his body, Tock flew by with a flock of her own kind, their bright reptilian skin illuminating the darkness of space. Their tentacles all flew as one, as if they were swimming through the ocean. The sound of TICK TOCK TICK TOCK erupted from them. Tock looked over and saw Peter. She gave an excited TICK TICK TICK as she flew over to him.

She slowed down as she approached him, wondering why he was not responding to her. It dawned on her that Peter wasn’t moving. Her excitement turned into a panic as she increased her speed over to him. TICK TOCK TICK TOCK TICK TOCK, she belted out as horror began to fill her mind.

Tock nudged Peter with her tentacle, hoping for a response. Nothing happened except his body being pushed further away from her. TICK, TICK TOCK, she clicked out in a hush voice. She nudged him more and more, each nudge became heavier and heavier. TICK TOCK! TICK TOCK! Her clicks came out as her panic turned into a tantrum. TICKTOCK! TICKTOCKTICKTOCKTICKTOCKTICKTOCK!

She was practically screaming now, mourning the death of one of her closest friends. Nothing could have prepared her for this. Tears flew out of her eyes as she wept, whimpering.

Tock stopped herself from crying and swallowed. She closed her eyes and concentrated. The silence of the galaxy grew around them as Tock’s mind prepared her for what was about to come.

TICK…TOCK…TICK…TOCK, she continued her concentration. Tock opened her electric blue eyes, TICK TICK TICK TICK, she uttered quietly.

A colorful aura that matched Tock’s ever-changing cosmic skin tone emitted from Tock’s body. The aura grew and surrounded Peter’s body. His body lifted upwards as if he was being pulled by it. TICK TOCK TICK TOCK TICK TOCK, she continued.

On the backside of Tock, the color on her skin started to fade into a dark grey as the aura around Peter grew. TICK TOCK TICK TOCK TICK TOCK, she belted out louder. Her eyes looked toward the battle wound in Peter’s chest, focusing on it intently. More tears continued to fall from Tock’s eyes. Her cry wasn’t a sorrowful cry, however. It was more of a bittersweet one. She was not mourning Peter, rather mourning something else. TICK TOCK TICKTOCKTICK TOCK, she continued to cry out as she focused on Peter’s wound.

TICKTOCKTICKTOCKTICKTOCKTICKTICKTICKTICKTICK.

The sounds continued as Peter awakened! Gasping for air he felt the cold oxygen hit his lungs. He looked around bewildered at where he was at. He first noticed the colorful aura still surrounding him. Then his hearing came back. TICK TOCK TICK TOCK TICK TOCK. He looked ahead and saw Tock. “Tock!” he said with excitement. She stared at him crying, still continuing, TICK TOCK TICK TOCK.

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Peter wasn’t sure what was happening. “Tock?” He looked past the aura and found her whole body turning gray by the second. He looked down at his chest and found his wound was slowly closing up. “Tock! No!” he screamed as he flew toward her eyes. TICK TOCK TICK TOCK! Peter made it to her eyes, “Tock! Please stop!” The wound was inches away from being closed up.

Tears heavily flowed out of Peter’s eyes as he looked at Tock. There was nothing he could do to stop her. TICK TOCK TICK TOCK! The cool blue color of her eyes slowly faded to a matching grey. “Tock…please,” he said out of one last act of desperation. The blue faded away completely, leaving Peter now looking at his reflection in her faded eyes.

TICK…

TOCK…

….TICK……..

TOCK………

….TICK………………

………

Peter saw the tears flow from his eyes in her reflection. Suddenly, her body began to emit a golden light. Inch by inch of her body slowly turned into a gold dust like substance. Her body broke apart into a million specks of dust that slowly faded away, erasing any clue that Tock was even there.

Peter let go of everything. His breathing was hard and he cried harder than he ever had in his life. “Tock,” he muttered out, grieving.

He floated in space alone. Thoughts of Tock flew through his mind. The first friend he ever had, allowing him to explore every aspect of the universe. He remembered being a small boy when he met Tock for the first time. Never having seen a space monster so vast and colorful before, but also, being the sweetest being he had ever met. It set the stage for how valuable each life could be in Neverland.

His thoughts of happiness and sorrow soon turned into anger and revenge. What once was thinking of the great memories with Tock, turned into vengeful ones with Hook. Peter’s face went blind with rage as he began devising a new plan. One that would end everything once and for all. For years he had refused to kill Hook. He made a promise to himself that he would never intentionally set out to kill anybody. He wanted to be seen as a protector, a hero that would inspire. But times changed and the little boy that made that promise was dead. Hook would pay and Neverland would be forever changed, just like Peter was.

Peter hit his com link, “Tink?”

After a few moments of silence, Tink chimed in, “Peter! Peter! You’re alive!” Peter looked over to where Tock’s body used to be.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright,” he said in a raspy voice that was still damaged from crying and screaming.

“How?”

“It doesn’t matter. We’re going to kill Hook.”

“Sir, what happened?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Peter reiterated.

“Peter, Hook took Winter, but he plans on taking all of Earth for his own.” What should have made Peter even more furious, escaped him. Peter was practically hollow inside with only one motive, to kill Hook.

“Contact the Lost Boys and the Grottowians. I’m bringing Hook home. One last time.”

“Yes, sir,” Tink said with a slight uncertainty in her voice. She had dealt with Peter’s moods before, but this was far different.

“And Tink? I’m sorry for what I did. Erasing your memory. I had no right.”

“Let’s destroy Hook.”

“Aye aye,” Peter nodded and turned off his com link.

Before blasting off to the Milky Way he had one last thing to do. Peter tapped the back of his suit, his plated armor came to life and expanded all over his body. The forest green metal plates started to cover his entire body in an impenetrable armor. The plates continued through his body and over his entire head, leaving two rectangles for his eyes. He was now a faceless being with two bright purple lights emitting where his eyes should be. The suit contained a breathing apparatus of oxygen that allowed him to freely fly in Earth’s space, which is exactly what he needed. It was time to return to Earth and end Captain Hook. He clenched his fists, feeling the armor all around him. Turning toward the wormhole, he launched forward, hell bent on revenge.