Title: Gwendolyn

Chapter: Prologue

Rating: PG [for now]

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters you recognize – They belong to J.M. Barrie, bless his heart. This story uses information from both the book and the movie. In the book, Wendy sees Peter once more two years after her adventures, and then the last time she sees him is when he comes back to visit and she's grown up, then he takes her daughter, Jane, with him instead. For this story, I use the movie's version.

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            I never saw Peter Pan again. That delightful boy with his golden hair and cocky grin, who never wanted to grow up but, rather, remain free from obligation and responsibility. And I, his mother, sister, lover, wanted to grow up. I left Neverland and took Peter's friends with me, the Lost Boys. They grew up, too.

            I hated to watch them grow up. They forgot about Neverland. John and Michael, of course, forgot first. They forgot so quickly, almost the moment Mother took them in her arms and kissed their foreheads. The Twins forgot when they had to go to school, and were forced leave their shyness behind. Tootles forgot when he brought home his best grades yet, and bragged about them in a most un-Tootles-like manner. Slightly forgot with his first girl, when he told himself he'd give her a thimble and she laughed and kissed him instead. He hated to be laughed at. Curly forgot when he fought with another boy at school. While he was very naughty and mischievous, Curly never fought in Neverland. Even Nibs forgot. Nibs, who Peter described as "gay and debonair", forgot last of all. He grew into a charming young man, and recalled all of Neverland until the day he was hired in an office and sat down to his typewriter to do work.

            He used to come to me after that, darling Nibs. He would tell me of dreams he had about a place where nobody grew old, and a boy who had no cares in the world. I smiled at him, and told him,

            "It is a lovely dream, Nibs."

            "Gwendolyn," he would say, for he loved to call me Gwendolyn, not Wendy as the others did. "Gwendolyn, it is the queerest thing, but I have this feeling I did not just dream it. I remember it. As if I were actually in this lush land, flying and playing and never growing older." The youth would shake his head sadly before he went on, "But here I am, grown up, working in an office, following the rules I hated to follow as a boy." A funny look would always come over his face then, as if he couldn't remember being a boy anywhere but in his dreamland. But I suppose that's the magic of Neverland. It doesn't forgive those who disappear from it and grow up.

            I wondered, sometimes, why I never forgot. After all, did I not grow up? But Mother was there. Mother went to Neverland, and she always remembered Peter Pan. It has to do with being a girl, I suppose. Or, rather, a woman. Not to mention, I was nearly grown up when I went. I was the eldest of all of them, besides the pirates and Peter. He was as old as the stars compared to I. As old as the stars, but as young as a babe inside. He wasn't human anymore, I don't think. Too much faerie dust, I suppose. And sometimes I could remember him with pointed ears and tiny wings, though I know he looked decidedly boyish in actuality.

            I never saw Peter Pan again.

            But I did see Captain James Hook.

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