It was with mixed feelings that Sarann first caught sight of her house. Joy began to stir in her heart when she thought of her comforting home and yet at the start of one feeling all the others began to emerge as well, along with trepidation at what was to come. They'd been gone for months, what would they come to back to?

Jake, however, had no such misgivings. As soon as he spotted the house he let out a cry of joy and attempted to speed up to get home quicker but Sarann held him back from doing so. It was the middle of the night now, she could see the house was in complete darkness and the sight worried her already uneasy mind. Leaving Jake floating above the house with the fairy, Sarann flew down to peer in at her parents' bedroom window. The window was closed as it always was but a crack in the curtain showed her parents curled up in bed together, fast asleep. The sight eased her heart slightly, at least they were okay and they were still there, they hadn't fled the house where their children had disappeared.

Sarann flew back to the roof to collect her brother and the fairy and then led them both to Jake's bedroom window. It was closed but not locked thankfully and the three were soon inside, being as quiet as possible under Sarann's advice. It would not do to wake their parents just yet, she was not ready for that confrontation. Jake agreed soon enough, he was tired after a long night's fighting and longed for his bed. Sarann wasn't sure how it was night time here considering they'd left Neverland at dawn, but Neverland's days ran on its own schedule and so she shouldn't have been surprised. Whatever the explanation, she was exhausted and needed more than a few hours sleep before she faced the endless questions her parents would ask her.

Quickly she tucked Jake into bed, kissing her brother on the forehead and wishing him pleasant dreams. He was asleep instantly and as Sarann turned she caught sight of the fairy stood on the windowsill and walked over to her.

"How can I ever thank you?" She said, her voice choked with feeling.

There was no verbal reply but the fairy's magic conveyed her message better than words ever could. Her plea was just as heartfelt as Sarann's thanks and even though she had no idea how she was going to do it, Sarann knew she must fulfil the fairy's request.

"I will, I promise."

The words were short but honest and the fairy nodded her head with a smile before flying back to Neverland, safely assured that her appeal would be carried out. Suddenly Sarann was alone with her sleeping little brother. No more distractions, no more tasks to complete. Until the morning came, the rest of the night was hers.

As silently as possible she made her way to her own bedroom and then stood there staring around her at the relics of her old life. The bed, the desk, the chair, her bookshelf and wardrobe... all so essential to the person she had been only months before and now completely alien to her. She stood there, dressed in full pirate regalia, a sword on one hip, a pistol on the other, covered in blood both her own and from others and found herself lost in her own home. Knowing she could not allow her parents to see her like that, she stripped off her clothes and put them in an empty carrier bag, tying it tightly and hiding it in the back of her wardrobe under a pile of bedsheets. Next she used some facial wipes to get off as much of the blood as possible before putting on some pyjamas. She moved as a robot, not truly registering what she was doing, not noticing the wounds she re-opened, her mind was too pre-occupied with unanswerable questions. How could she return to this life? After she'd seen people killed? After she'd killed people herself? Not people, children. She'd killed children...

As the thought ran through her brain, all the emotions she'd been struggling to contain during the flight home, all the emotions Neverland had kept her shielded from, converged on her at that moment. Her barriers broke down and so too did she. Heaving sobs wracked her body but she fought to remain silent. She couldn't let her parents see her, not now, not like that. She wore herself out with crying that night, tired from all the horrific emotions coursing through her. She cried herself into unconsciousness and only her utter exhaustion allowed her to sleep the undisturbed sleep of a child, a sleep she felt she had no right to, but welcomed wholeheartedly that night.

A scream of mingled joy and horror awoke Sarann the next morning. Her first instinct was that the battle was not over but upon opening her eyes she was greeted with the sight of her old bedroom and only seconds later her door slammed open and she saw her father for the first time in months. He stood in the doorway in shock for a few seconds before calling out to his wife that Sarann was home too. They had awakened to find Jake's door open and moments later had discovered him there in his bed. His mother's scream of joy had turned to horror as she saw the blood. Sarann had forgotten all about the fact the Jake had been injured slightly, but she knew all the blood was his, he hadn't killed anyone. Unlike her own clothes, slick with the blood of Tiger Lily, Hook and Pan combined with her own. It wouldn't do for the police to find that and she knew the police would be involved. That would come later though.

Hearing her father's voice, tears sprang into Sarann's eyes but for once they were tears of happiness. Happiness at being home and reunited with her family. Jumping out of bed she rushed into her father's arms and clung onto him, feeling the strength and safety of his arms and savouring it. Her father clung to her too, kissing the top of her head before leading her into Jake's bedroom where her mother sat hugging her brother. Soon all four were hugging and crying, simply happy to be together, yet all too soon the questions began. "Where were you? Why are you both injured? How did you get back in the house without waking us? What have you been doing?" Endless questions and Sarann couldn't answer them, not one. She tried to keep Jake quiet but he couldn't help but boast of his adventures. He was excited to relate his tales and so didn't notice the looks of horror on his parents' faces. Eventually Sarann managed to cut him off, but what could she say? Of course no one would believe their tale and for that she was extremely thankful; she didn't want anyone knowing what they had been through. Yet she had to say something.

"We were kidnapped..." She began haltingly, beginning with the first lie that came into her head. "Drugged, I don't... I don't know. I don't remember..."

That soon became her mantra, her automatic answer: I don't remember. The police came eventually and she gave them the same answer. They tested them both but could find no trace of drugs in them, yet they believed them, after all, what other explanation could there be? How they were taken, how they were returned, the nature of their injuries; these were all mysteries destined to be unsolved. Their parents were simply relieved to have their children back home, safe and almost sound. To their minds, neither child had any memory of their ordeal and that was the best they could hope for. Jake was confused at first, but he listened to Sarann's explanation that adults couldn't know about Neverland, it was their own little adventure to be kept secret. He adjusted well to life back home. He was as energetic as ever, still disliked going to bed but he was less happy with his mundane life. Many a time he'd find himself bored playing in his room; he was used to multiple companions, constant adventures. Often he'd seek out Sarann's company, but Sarann was greatly changed.

Now she was completely out of the influence of Neverland's magic the full weight of her actions had hit her. She'd turned pirate, turned thief, turned murderer. She'd killed children and she'd slept with a man she had no feelings for. The memories and the guilt tore her up inside. Her family couldn't help but notice the permanent melancholy air that surrounded her, her parents suspected that she had retained memories of her time while missing, but they couldn't begin to guess what they were. They didn't push her for answers, they assumed she would come to them in her own time. Sarann saw their silent questions though and she knew she would never speak of her time in Neverland, she would never even give them a hint of it. Those memories were her own personal hell and she would bear them alone. For the well-being and easy minds of her family, she had to bear them alone.

Her family tried to bring her back from her thoughts, immerse her in her old life, but Sarann was not the person she had been before she'd been taken and she could not go back to being so. Instead she spent more and more time alone, worrying everyone around her as she tried to deal with things she had no way of possibly dealing with. The only time she ever seemed like her old self was at Jake's bedtime when she would tell him stories as she used to. Stories of Robin Hood, of animals in the jungle, of princes and far off lands. But never Neverland, never Peter Pan. She never mentioned their time away and for a while Jake respected that although he couldn't understand it. Eventually though, almost a month after their return, the time came when he forgot himself.

"Tell me about Peter Pan again."

The quiet request sent waves of grief through Sarann who was trying her hardest to forgot that place. It was too soon, far too soon.

"No Jake, no stories about Pan."

Seeing the sorrow on his sister's face Jake didn't argue with her, instead thinking over all his adventures, still not truly understanding why Sarann was so sad.

"Will we ever go back there Sarann?" Jake asked hopefully.

"Neverland's not a good place Jake." Sarann sighed, looking out of the window. "It makes you forget who you are, forget everything you ever believed. I lost myself on that island. Every day I'm home, more and more memories from my life here return, but I can't ever go back to who I was. Neverland changed me, in ways I'd rather forget, but I never shall. For all its adventure, it's a dark, dangerous place, and I would not go back there if Pan himself came to collect me."

Jake's childish mind still saw the events of the island as the adventures they had appeared to him whilst there, but part of him understood that to Sarann the memories weren't pleasant. This was the first time he'd tried to talk to her about it, but he could see she didn't want to talk back. That didn't mean she couldn't tell stories though.

"Okay then, tell me about Robin Hood and the evil sheriff!"

Sarann smiled at his enthusiasm and hugged him close, thankful of his tact, young as he was. Instantly she plunged into a tale of Robin Hood and his merry men, losing herself in fantasy just as she used to, glad for the reprieve from her thoughts. Jake was asleep by the time her story was done and she kissed him gently on the forehead before going back to her own room.

As Sarann sat down at her desk, she looked at the mirror in front of her and forced herself to think back on the horror she had endured during her time on the island. Running from her memories was only making things worse. She knew she had to face them, more than that, she had something left that she still had to do, a promise she had to keep.

With tears blurring her vision Sarann reached inside the drawer of her desk and pulled out an unused notebook. For a while that was a far as she got, tears began to streak her cheeks as she thought over her time on the island and looked for a place to start. Once she began though, she couldn't stop. The words flowed from her pen with a power she couldn't control. With her heart wrenching at her the whole time, Sarann wrote down the events she had witnessed in Neverland, modified and tamed down for the young readers she was aiming the story at. Belief in Neverland was dying and so too were the fairies. It was their deaths that allowed Hook to steal fairy dust and travel to her world, to raid, to steal, to kill. Sarann not only had her and Jake's memories of the island, she had a mind full of stories she'd made up before ever going there. By writing them down, by publishing them, she could bring the belief in Neverland back, nourish the fairies with that belief and so stop Hook from leaving the island. The magic of Neverland was a terrible thing and those under its influence had no place in Sarann's world. Pan wouldn't protect the fairies from the pirates, but maybe Sarann could give them the power to protect themselves. That was her promise to the fairy who had brought her home and by keeping Hook trapped on Neverland she was keeping a promise to herself: to protect her own world, to protect her family.

A/N – Thank you so much to all my readers and especially to those who have left reviews! I really hoped you liked it and would love to hear your thoughts on it. All feedback is welcome, even negative as long as it is constructive. I'm currently working on a sequel to this and I'll start posting as soon as I'm at a place where I feel confident to do so. Thank you once again for taking the time to read and for the detailed reviews I've been getting, they are truly appreciated.