Chapter 1

Do you know what you got into

Can you handle what I'm about to do

Cause it's about to get rough for you

I'm here for your entertainment

-Adam Lambert, For Your Entertainment

Wendy could recall the feeling of flying. It was rather peculiar- just like falling, only without the impending thud of flesh on earth. It was long and fast at the same time- buildings with lights marking the way to the stars, getting higher and higher until Wendy knew for a fact that by all logic she should not still be breathing. But the air had never been more breathable.

Neverland, Neverland, Neverland.

She was returning. Indeed, as the landscape around her changed- as buildings became trees and people became creatures and dirty rivers became a glossy ocean- it seemed that the whole place was calling it out, acknowledging her return, welcoming her back.

Baelfire must still be here, she thought, and she smiled as she did.

They had flown over the sea now, the Shadow weaving her between trees non-too-gently. Wendy squinted ahead, trying to see where it was taking her. Sure enough, there was a figure there- a boy who must have been her own age. Bae? She tried to get a closer look, but the Shadow had discarded her like a bad book on the forest ground before she had the chance. Crying out in surprise rather than pain, she pushed her palms against the leaves on the ground, pulling herself up to her knees.

As she did, she noticed the boy walking towards her- his boots pointed in her direction as he walked.

"Baelfire?" She said, incredulous, hardly daring to believe it. She looked up at his face.

"Guess again."

Her heart began to race. Because, as he said, this was not Baelfire. Not her Bae. Yet she had seen this boy before. He had seemed so much older than her last time- so superior. Now he reminded her of Dan and the other boys- and he was her equal. He had not changed one bit. The blond-brown hair, the raised eyebrows, the belt with daggers caught in every loop.

"Peter Pan."

"Are you deaf? I told you to bring a boy. This," he gestured at Wendy, directing his complaints to the Shadow, "is not a boy. Don't you know we have a schedule to keep to?"

Silence met him in return. The Shadow merely hovered for a moment, level with Peter Pan.

"Um, I don't think your Shadow speaks English. Shocker."

Pan rounded on her. "Look, girl, I don't expect you to understand-"

"Girl? Really?" Wendy raised her own eyebrows, pulling herself to her feet.

"Well, you are a girl," Peter said.

"Well-spotted. Would you like a gold star?" she said sarcastically, brushing the dirt off her skirts. "I must say, you haven't changed at all." No, he was exactly the same- his arrogance, his lack of tact, and his eyes.

"But what is a thimble?" he had asked her, and she had hidden her smile behind her hand as she closed the space between them, tripping over tree roots and her own feet on her way to get to the tall boy who had brought her here by accident- the boy who had magic and could fly and said the most wonderful things-

She forced the memory away before her cheeks started burning.

"I'm sorry." He had turned completely on her, now. "You say that as though you actually have any idea who I am."

"Are you deaf?" she repeated his own question. "I already said I know who you are, Peter Pan. I know that because your Shadow brought me here before- also against your will, apparently. Not very good at following instructions, is it?"

"There are no girls in Neverland," Peter said cautiously, stepping closer to her. He surveyed her face, looking for something recognisable- or some proof that this girl was merely lying to him.

"Yeah, I got the misogyny the first time around, thanks," she said dryly.

"Misogyny?" he asked before he could help himself.

"The belief that boys are inherently better than girls. Quite rude, you know. Also, wrong," she said conversationally.

Peter just looked at her blankly. "I don't think boys are better than girls."

"Then why didn't you want girls here? You never said last time."

"You speak about a 'last time' as though there was one. There have never been any girls in Neverland, and nothing happens here that I don't know about," he said, ignoring her question and staring at her in puzzlement instead.

"Why, Peter, you wound me," she said. "It's me- Wendy. Remember?"

"Wendy…" he trailed off, brow crinkled as he thought. He disliked not knowing things, that much was clear, and so he disliked not knowing Wendy when she knew him. Still, he had no recollection of a girl like her in Neverland. There had only been one other, and that had been for but a short time a long time ago. Besides, this girl was nothing like the last one. This girl was wearing an oddly tight, oddly dirty dress, with boots and very long, very dark hair. The last girl had been small and thin, and wearing what Peter thought looked like a giant white bag over her body, without any shoes.

"There has only been one girl in Neverland before," he said, shaking his head at her and shifting his hand to the dagger he stored in a side-pocket. "A young one."

"Well, it was three years ago," Wendy said. "What did you expect- that I wouldn't get any older? That's just you and your friends."

"You-" Peter squinted, a look of realisation dawning on his face as he recognised her. Light eyes, that peculiar smile. "You… have grown older."

"You are just on fire today, aren't you?" she said, sarcasm colouring her tone. She grimaced at the dirt that coated her hands, brushing them off on her jeans. "Yeah. I have."

"You aren't very polite today," he mused. "If I were you, I would be. You know the power I have here- if you truly have returned."

"Oh, I truly have returned, alright. I'm just not the most patient person." She shrugged, her eyes falling to the knife which he still held, half-raised towards her. "Are you planning on stabbing me now, or is there a plan B?"

For a moment, Peter was silent, still staring at her with the purest sense of curiosity. In Neverland, he had not witnessed many changes- least of all changes of appearance, of age. This girl- Wendy- had changed a lot.

Wendy sighed, not waiting for his answer. After all, if he was planning on killing her, he would have done so already- or so she reasoned. "Never-mind. I don't really care what your plan for me is, to be honest. What I do want to know is where my friend is. Baelfire."

Something flickered in his eyes then- a kind of recognition- but not the kind that Wendy wanted to see. Peter looked…angry? But that was not quite the right word. Perhaps 'betrayed' was more like it.

"Baelfire is not in Neverland any longer. If you wish to find him, here is not the place for you."

Wendy froze, not processing what she was being told for a moment.

"What do you mean 'Baelfire is not in Neverland any longer?' Where is he?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Such an accusatory look. Baelfire's whereabouts are none of your business, Wendy," he drawled. "Nor are they my own. He left Neverland of his own free will. Gone to another land."

"Back to my land?" she found herself asking, her head spinning. Bae could be back- he could have been looking for her, at the house. But he would have found it empty. He would have thought-

"I daresay not. He spoke nothing of it. Just as he spoke nothing of you," he said, tilting his head to the side. "How is it that you know Baelfire? I'm afraid he never said a word."

"Didn't he?" Wendy said, masking her hurt with a dramatic expression- a skill she had mastered thanks to Ty. So he hadn't spoken of her at all. Then again, how could she have supposed he would? Bae hadn't been with them for very long. Probably, he had forgotten all about her. But then, why would he have sacrificed himself like that if not for her?

"Indeed. So, you see, this is not the place for you. It was nice meeting you for a second time…Wendy." He gestured for the Shadow to return to them, beckoning it closer.

Wendy's smirk was gone, then- the confidence she had before gone as the Shadow took her wrist again. No, she thought. No, she had only just arrived. And it was beautiful, Neverland.

Besides, what did she have to go back to but an empty and soon-to-be-sold house?

"Just like that?" she said, trying hard not to let him hear the panic in her voice. "We've barely gotten to know each other."

He stepped towards her, amusement touching his grin. "Oh, I know you enough. The girl who cried and screamed because she was afraid of the dark. Afraid of Neverland." He gave a short laugh, shaking his head. "I have no use for fools who are afraid of anything and everything."

That hit home. Wendy drew herself up, tugging her arm out of the Shadow's grip hard and fast.

"I am not afraid of anything," she told him, with no sarcasm or game or joke in her voice. "So do me a favour, and don't insult me. Don't you ever call me afraid."

His smile got bigger- pleased that he seemed to have touched a nerve. "Oh? What will you do to me if I do? Don't lie, Wendy. No one has ever screamed so loudly as you did when you saw the Mermaids at night. The screams of a little girl- afraid."

Wendy snarled, folding her arms across her chest. "I am not a little girl. Just because you're incapable of change, doesn't mean the rest of the world isn't. I have changed, Peter Pan- I am not the child that you tormented once before, and you couldn't scare me if you tried." The moment she said it, she realised the gravity of what she had just done, and she remembered. She remembered every story she'd ever read about Peter Pan. She remembered the last time, the brief moments that she had seen him. She remembered the games. And she remembered that Peter Pan took everything as a challenge- and he would not stop until he had won it.

"Couldn't scare you if I tried? I bet I could scare you without trying at all." He said, eyes gleaming.

Cautiously, and very conscious of the Shadow perched near her shoulder, Wendy decided to encourage him.

"I bet you couldn't," she said, daring him to contradict her. "I bet I'd sooner scare you, Peter Pan."

"Well, that simply won't do, now, will it?" his voice was low, every word playing its own game with her mind.

"How about," she said, the thrill of the possibility of a new game- a bet- egging her on, "we make a real bet? To prove who's right."

"The girl wants to play," he mused, completely invested now. He leaned forward. "Shall we define the stakes?"

"Sure," Wendy said, confident. This- bets, deals, challenges, was what she was good at, and Peter Pan was going to know it. "If you are able to properly scare me, I'm bound to tell you at once. If that happens, then you win- and I will leave with the Shadow and never come back."

"Interesting," he murmured, pacing around her.

"And if I win," she said,

"Oh, that won't be happening," he said, but she went on anyway, ignoring him,

"If I win, I get to stay in Neverland as one of the Lost Ones," she looked at him sharply, holding out her hand. "Do we have a deal?"

Peter sucked in his breath, eyes wide. "You think you'll be accepted into our ranks? We are the Lost Boys."

"I thought you were certain that you would not lose," she said coolly.

"I am."

"Then you have nothing to worry about," she smiled, a quietness to her that she knew would make him nervous. Her hand was still there, outstretched towards him.

Peter hesitated for only the shortest of moments. Then his hand met her own. It was surprisingly warm, but covered in dust, and when he let go, her own hand had a dash of Neverland-dirt spread across it.

"Let it not be said that I ever turned away from a bet," he remarked, giving her a grin that might have been friendly if he was not in favour of returning her to a world she no longer belonged in. "You will be gone by the end of the night, Wendy Darling."

Darling.

So he remembered her after all. He must have noticed her staring at him, because he snapped a 'what is it' at her presently afterwards.

She smiled. "You called me Wendy Darling."

"And?" he said, impatient as he had ever been.

Her smile turned cold then, and she shook her head. "Nothing. It's just 'Wendy' now."

Neither of them said anything further on the bet. There was no taking it back. No demands for Wendy to leave immediately anyway, deal be damned. Which was both a wonderful and a horrid thing. Because this bet was something that the two of them would come to regret more than anything else in the world. Yet it was also the best thing that could have happened to either of them.

Peter watched the girl- Wendy, he reminded himself- as she walked along the rocks surrounded by dark water, still trying to understand what had happened here- why she was back- but most of all, why she was different. He knew why she was brought here- the Shadow must have returned to her. It did that, sometimes- it was taught to go back for stubborn boys, to bring them to Neverland. It was a reasonable mistake for it to return to Wendy. No, the mystery here was her.

She was terribly rude to him, he noted, and terribly confident that nothing bad would befall her because of it. Her hair was a whole other colour- dark, where it was once light. She was not tripping over a long dress this time- but treading in boots much like his own as they made their way to the camp of the Lost Boys- or so he had told her.

Wendy. Wendy Moriya Darling, she had said politely the first time she had met him. But it was 'just Wendy' now.

Well, whether it was Wendy Darling or simply Wendy, she was mistaken if she thought that she could beat him in a game.

There was another, far more direct way for them to return to the camp, of course- but Peter thought it would be far more beneficial to be rid of her before that. In fact, he was sure that he could win before that, for Wendy was about to become very frightened.

He walked beside her, waiting for it to begin- for he knew it would scare her. It scared everyone. Besides, it was dark enough. Any moment now…

"Wendy." Wendy started, looking out into the sea. "Wendy, come. Swim with me." It was Ty's voice, calling out to her. She squinted hard, just making out the figure of a tall girl, laying against a rock not a hundred metres out. A rock she could reach if she really wanted to. All she had to do was get in the water. Swimming in the dark was nothing new, and she surely had to find out what Ty was doing in Neverland. "Wendy." It was John now, and Michael, both calling out, both desperate for her to listen to them. "Wendy, save us. We'll drown if you don't. Wendy."

She spun around, searching for them, and then she turned back to Peter, hair wild.

"Is something the matter, Wendy?" he asked, pretending to be very concerned indeed.

"Yes," she breathed, shaking her head, holding her face in her hands. She gestured out to the sea, to the figures on the rocks. "See, I hear this…this…this voice, calling." Peter felt the usual sense of achievement then, knowing that he had scared her- although he could not deny that he was a little disappointed. It had not been a long game at all. But then, he shouldn't have expected to find a worthy opponent in this girl. Or so he was thinking. And then,

"it's ever-so loud. I could swear it sounds just like... a desperate attempt to scare me." Suddenly, her face transformed from frightened to amused, and she grinned at him as he frowned, registering what she was really saying- what she had done. "Really, Peter? Mermaids mimicking the sounds of my loved ones, calling me out to sea… did you really think that was all it would take?" She started laughing then, patting him on the arm in a way that could only be described as patronising. He cringed away from her touch, confused, and very much angry about it.

"It was enough to make you cry your eyes out and beg to go home to your parents last time," he spat.

Wendy snorted and took a step closer, standing on a rock so that she was level with him. She spoke very slowly, accentuating every word.

"I told you I am not afraid of anything, Peter. I can assure you right now, that includes mermaids."

They were still calling out to her- her mother's voice, now, and she turned to look at them. They were far away, but not enough that she missed the webbed black tail flickering in and out of the water off the rocks, beckoning her closer.

It had worked, once. A sticky hand, webs between fingers, gripping tightly to her wrist, dragging her down, into the water even as she cried out for help, and another hand, the hand of the boy, raking down across the mermaid, hissing at her until she left Wendy alone-

Wendy laughed again, because oh, how things had changed. Oh, how it had once haunted her.

It was the laughter that disconcerted Peter Pan- that really struck him. She had said she had changed, and he had not believed her- perhaps, as she said, because he had not witnessed much change here.

This was going to be harder than he had first thought- something which in part irritated him, and in part pleased him. A short game is hardly a fun one to win, anyway.

"Come along. My camp is not far from here, and, seeing as you want to be one of the Lost Ones so much, you should meet them yourself." He nodded for her to keep walking ahead of him, but she just curled her lip, gesturing for him to lead the way.

"Ladies first," she teased, and he bit back his retort, settling for an impatient sigh as he pushed past her, heading towards the fire in the distance- the laughter, the shouts, the boys.

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