It was black. Everything. A strange sensation of being stuck in a sloshy thick cloud of numbness. There was also a peacefullness that enveloped Peter; the lack of color, the lack of sound, the numbness that crept over every part of his body. It was like he was finally sleeping after a long, long time of insomnia. He would like to stay there, he thought. He couldn't remember why, but he thought this was alright.

Glitters of light, like the twinkling of stardust entered his vision, blurring in and out as if fading in and out of reality. The shimmering sparkles warmed his body as they gently floated by, granting sensation and feeling back little by little. Fear at first followed; he didn't want his safe haven of darkness to be taken away. Here in the nothing he was safe, with no pain. But little by little the sparkles fluttered around, and the warmth overtook the cold numbness. As he felt this, the fear subsided. Sensation doesn't necessarily mean pain; a lesson Peter would need to re-learn now.

But what was this? where exactly? He could feel himself floating in the thick cloud, but he no longer felt as though he would drift away. Where would he go then? He wanted to stay here.

Suddenly there was green; green everywhere. Everything was suddenly there, as if there was never any nothingness. He lay atop soft green, as the glittering stardust floated around him.

A sadness. A familiar sadness as if it were anew ached within him. A loss. Of who? Why?

Suddenly things started to fall into position; as if puzzle pieces once forgotten. Glittering stardust took shape. Green turned to leaves, to earth, moss, the pressure of the earth on his back materialized.

Tears, dripping down his face. Why? Glitter whipped them away, gently, warmth taking their place. This was his chance to focus on this floating star.

A face; a beautiful little face, with longing, loving eyes. Shrouded in glittering gold, the star gave form to a small little person.

"Why?" The words echoed out of his lips. That wasn't the question he wanted to ask, but he asked it, as if he was supposed to.

A jingle of a voice responded. A whisper, that sounded like glitter itself. It didn't register as anything.

This green place looked like something now. Something familiar. A forest. A beautiful forest out of dreams; and peter was safe in its cove, with a glowing star guarding him.

Several other glittering stars floated around as well, but no figures could be made out. It was like a night sky; a sky of green and stars of gold.

"Why did she forget me?" The question brought aching pain with it. This time the jingle voice came back. The face of the glowing star smiled.

There was an answer. An answer that warmed Peter, and took some of his ache away. He could feel love in the sparkles that dusted his face, and he realized he was safe here. Safe away from the pain and cold. safe with this pretty star, in this pretty place.

"Who-"

A swoosh of painful cold suddenly assaulted him. It was as though he had been in a floating calm lake, now splashing into a bright, cold, turbulent pool.

His lungs were the first to feel, and it was pain. Guttural, sloshy, forced pain. There was pressure on his lungs, and on his chest, but he couldn't do anything about it. Numbness he didn't know he felt receded from his limbs with painful sudden-ness, and another gust of cold pain sloshed its way into his lungs. This time his recently un-numbed body reacted, violently tossing itself over and heaving out the painful cold gurgling through his lungs.

Sounds came back to him now, along with light in his eyes. His vision was blurry, and the sounds were garbled. All he could really hear was his chocked coughing and heaving; and it took a moment for him to realize it was him making those terrible noises. He didn't even know what he was doing. Gasping and choking suddenly lessoned as a sensation of air finally reached inside his lungs, and he realized he was trying to breath. More coughing followed, expelling liquid from his lungs. So thats what he was doing.

Every breath brought pain and relief. He found himself face down on a hard surface, and for a moment he was able to lay there without gagging and choking. He didn't move; he couldn't in fact. He could barely feel his limbs; and what he could feel of them were weak and of jello. He could hear voices; muffled voices. high pitched, panicked voices, but too hazy to make out what was being said.

He felt limbs slide around his waist and shoulders, and he saw the ground fall away from him as he was lifted upright. The boy's head slumped, and another round of coughing began again. More liquid made is way out of his lungs now, giving him more and more air. He could feel that he was slumped on someone holding him up, but he didn't know who. They held him firmly upright; he would certainly slump back down to the hard rock if they let go of him. Where had his strength gone?

"-an you hear me, Peter?" A voice suddenly echoed close to his ear with shocking clarity. It startled him out of his half dead state, suddenly realizing that there was more to life then coughing and pain. He tried using his eyes to focus around him, and was able to make out blurry figures. Burning of his eyes suddenly materialized the more he focused. Slowly, his surroundings began to come together. Slowly…

"Peter try to breath slowly" The voice came again in his ear, this time he shoved his head towards the direction it came from. A face stared back. At first it was blurry, but then it was a bit scary; pale skin, big black eyes, wet strands of hair covering most of it. He realized it was talking, as it opened its mouth again to speak. "Listen to me boy, breath air slowly now" it was said in a somewhat alien tone; as if it were a strange thing for this person to suggest in the first place. The voice itself was feminine, but had this bizarre echoey tone as if it weren't human.

The face was stressing him now; it kept looking at him with wide black eyes, and Peter couldn't quite register the clear words being told to him. The arms holding him suddenly felt threatening, and he tried to panic and pull away, but his body was still terribly weak. He attempted to vocalize a protest, but was quickly stopped by violent coughing.

The exhaustion of coughing was making his vision get dark again. The arms holding him suddenly shifted around him fluidly, one resting around his chest, the other gently stoking his back now.

A slight shake of the figure he was being held up by was then followed by what sounded like a giggle and then a voice. "Quit making breathing so difficult for yourself, stupid boy." The voice was light and gentle, high pitched and slightly strange. It took another minute of coughing before he could stop to a ragged breathing.

Once he stopped coughing, however, he forced his jello body to turn and face the person holding him. Another scary pale figure, much like the other, but with an odd smile across her lips. He studied this person for a moment, before understanding who and what exactly they were.

The panic he felt didn't necessarily leave, however, as it was these same creatures who he had just watched drown him.

"-et…go…" Peter gargled out, however his struggles were half hearted now. Mermaids. He remembered now, they were drowning him. Why are they cradling him now? His confusion grew to irritation, although that was largely due to the constant burning pain in his lungs and eyes. His response was another shake and giggle noise from the one holding him up.

"PETERR!" A perching scream suddenly assaulted his ears. He cringed as it caused an immediate throb to his temples, but the familiarity of the tone also brought him anxiousness for its source. That sounded like a lost boy.

He frantically searched around himself, but in doing so saw only mermaids surrounding him. More than he realized; about 4 or 5, not counting the one cradling him. It shocked him how he was just now noticing them all; all of them looked at him with curious gazes, before quickly turning in a particular direction from where the scream came. Behind them, in the direction of a large waterfall, he could see the small figures of 3 boys, all hovering a few rocks away. The didn't come closer however; their presence was greeted by a loud hissing noise from a few of the mermaids around him. One mermaid crouched low to the rock they were all perched on, as if ready to pounce if one of the boys came near.

Peter wanted to leap up and run to the lost boys as a rush of relief hit him as seeing them all alive and alright, but his body simply lay limp against the mermaid now gripping him tightly as if he might be ripped away at any second. At least for the moment the lost boys seemed alright, but that was entirely depending on the protective mermaids guarding Peter and threatening the boys.

A shrill screech of a mermaid suddenly bellowed, followed by threatening words. "Come near and we'll rip your eyes out before we drown you!" She practically screamed. This certainly explains the boys all hovering together on a rock a little ways away, anxiously looking towards Peter and the mermaids.

"YOU tried to drown him!" One of the boys lashed back, though not daring come closer.

Another shrill screech. "We were practically swimming in his blood, he would have died if not for being in our waters!" Came from another mermaid, this one closer to Peter, causing the loudness of her voice to practically deafen the boy.

That reminded Peter, wasn't he like, bleeding to death or something? Before drowning to death? His heavy blonde head slumped down in attempts to look at the wound he once had in his stomach. It was hard to make out anything from his water-logged rags, but he could see the pirate shirt he had Liam tie around his waist was loosely wrapped around his hips now, his stomach and chest exposed. He didn't see a wound there. Instead (along with many other scars he had gathered throughout his stay aboard the Jolly Roger) he saw a big crudely healed scar where a gaping bloody hole used to be. How…. interesting. Peter had forgotten about mermaids and their weird healing techniques. They had patched up Peter once or twice before with this weird algae stuff. They said it was a natural thing, but Peter was convinced it was magic.

So he's not shot anymore. Suppose thats a good thing, right?

"We didn't do that! The pirates did! You saw them!" The boys practically screamed all at once. The mermaids come-back was more ferocious hissing and screeching.

The pirates… thats right! The pirates! They were chasing them! They were about to discover Peter when he was dragged into the lagoon! Where are they now?!

Peter began to struggle out of the mermaids grip, frantic to get away and locate where exactly the pirates are. This resulted in the slick arms of the mermaid rapping around him tighter, and her head resting on his soggy blond head in a cradling fashion.

"Don't worry Peter, we won't let those bastards touch you." She said. This didn't necessarily comfort Peter, but it made it practically impossible to wriggle away.

Wait, Peter…. She called him Peter. These mermaids remembered him. That explains why he isn't dead then! He took a second to eye more closely the mermaids surrounding him. One was eyeing Peter intensely, the same gaze that scared Peter moments earlier. He recognized this face, and that expression. She was the one who had held him under the water, her beautiful, scary mermaid face lined with cold rage. Now, it was different; what Peter took for a threatening, wide-eyed gaze he now recognized as desperate concern. Mermaids have a way of always seeming aggressive when they aren't blatantly smiling. Peter once surmised that it was due to their eyes being so different; dark black and accustomed to water, that they often looked wide-eyed and startled, when actually they were just trying to see properly in a water-free environment. He didn't know for sure though, such curious creatures…

This curious creature had a name as well. He eyed her, trying to remember. He could hear the bickering and hissing of the mermaids around him, but for some reason found remembering this mermaids name to be much more interesting.

"S…shell..y.." Peter choked out, his voice raspy. It sounded like a pirate who smoked too much pipe. Immediately at hearing the raspy word, the mermaid lit up, her overly focused and pained face shifted to a delighted one. Her face looked almost just like a beautiful human woman now. Some of the other mermaids turned to note Peter's word.

Yes, Shelly. A name Peter came up with that he thought was terribly clever, as she often was chewing on a clam shell, and adorned herself with other types beautiful shells in her hair and on her pale mermaid body. Mermaids didn't have names you see, so Peter took the liberty of naming all the mermaids himself at one point; to which they all found delightful. What a silly name, now that he thinks back on it…

"Thats right Peter!" She gleamed, reaching over to the blond boy, still being embraced by the other mermaid. Her webbed, slick hands made there way around his cheeks, lining his face in adoration. Peter would hate this sudden overwhelming reaction if he weren't practically clinging to consciousness as it were. She came close to his face, ever so pleased. Peter couldn't help but notice her wet skin glitter in the sunlight, her jet black, wet hair reflecting light almost blindingly. "You remember me!"

The other mermaids suddenly shifted their attention away from the lost boys to Peter, expressions of jealous displeasure on their pretty, mermaid faces now. A shock difference from the threatening, animal-like expressions they held just a moment ago.

"You remember me too, don't you?" One asked who was directly in front of Peter. She had amber tinted hair, which was slowly drying to a bright golden color. She had high cheekbones and her scales on her lower half also had a reddish tint to them as they glistened in the sunlight. This one… Fire?

"Y…you're… Fire." He managed before falling into a mild coughing fit again. He didn't need to see her face to realize he had guessed right, as she let out a delighted squeal. Oh Fire. He really hoped her name wasn't Fire. Its amazing how Peter actually thought that was a good name to give a mermaid, or to anyone. Good thing she had no idea what a fire was.

Wait. This doesn't matter. The pirates! Where are the pirates?! Peter violently shook his head, realizing his half-conscious state was impairing his ability to concentrate. The mermaids were all gazing longingly at him now, ever so pleased at his remembering. The others were demanding their names now, as if they had forgotten them themselves, while the one clinging to Peter tightened her grip even more, as if to claim Peter away from the other mermaids. Breathing was difficult enough without her squeezing him so tightly.

This all felt ever so familiar to Peter; their wildly interesting behavior. Despite the fear of pirates tugging at the back of his mind, he couldn't help but feel a bit of enjoyment at reliving these mermaid's antics.

"St-stop.. where are.. the pirates…" Peter asked. For a moment he looked passed the adoring mermaids surrounding him to his lost boys still watching in the distance, making sure they really weren't dead. They looked a bit confused now, but much less stressed, seemingly reassured the mermaids weren't planning on drowning their leader again. It was difficult to focus on them though, his vision still fuzzy.

"Those hideous pirates!" A mermaid screeched, tossing her wet hair in disgust. "They came bellowing in our lagoon, looking for you." She said. "Once we realized you were you, we kept you under so they wouldn't find you!" She practically beamed with pride.

"Especially with those wounds, Peter" The one holding him said, gently caressing where his wound used to be with her webbed fingers, now a sensitive scar. It tickled, and Peter tried to shove her slick hand away with limp arms. "We had to keep you under to fix you up!" Her voice was too loud. Peter tried again to pull away from her, but she cuddled him closer. Her long, wet hair was draping all over peter now, he could see she was blonde.

"Lying fish!" Terry screamed in retort. "You were drowning him!" He was about to rage forward until the mermaids all stopped him by turning back to them with their scary, aggressive posture and hissing.

"Yeah..! Did you see the amount of water he choked up?!" Another lost boy hollered, sounding more desperate than enraged. He clung to Terry, however, far too scared of the mermaids to make a move.

"And what would you have done?! Kept dragging him along until he bled to death?! Stupid human boys!"

Peter couldn't take much more of the yelling. His head was throbbing, with pretty much every other part of his body, and he simply didn't have the energy or mental capacity to deal with them fighting.

"Stop it..!" Peter tried to yell, but it was a sad attempt at best. It was raspy and weak, but it managed to get most of their attention. "The pirates! They are… are they gone then…?" This was the most important problem, how did they not understand that?

The red mermaid…Fire…. turned around again, her face quickly shifting back to beaming joy. "We managed to catch 2 of them, but the others got away. 'Back to the ship! Back to the ship!'" She quoted in her best attempt at a pirate voice, ending in a crackly, high pitched laugh. Her razor pointed teeth showing as she laughed. The others also giggled in their triumph.

Peter had to take a second to register that. 'Caught' meant drowned. He had to resist the urge to scan the glittery blue lagoon waters for where their floating bodies may be.

But wait. There gone? they left? Back to the ship?

They really got away? Peter's head felt full of cotton balls all of a sudden considering that possibility. Luckily the clingy blonde mermaid was still cuddling him, or he might fall back over and pass out. Its true, pirates don't mess with mermaids. They had their run in with them once upon a time, drawn in by their pretty looks and mysterious behavior, but mermaids have a certain talent for killing people. Plus, Hook was simply much more focused on killing Peter rather than a bunch of fish-women, as he liked to call them.

"Now you are safe, back with us, Peter!" another mermaid squealed. "We saved you, just like you saved us before! Oh how we missed you! Who was there to tell us stories while you were gone?" Had Peter saved them before? Well of course he had he supposed, Peter saved everyone once before. He couldn't remember very well though. He couldn't really think of anything right now. His mind was hazy in disbelief.

The lost boys were getting more and more agitated, entirely jealous at having their glorious leader stolen away from them, but they waited patiently, closely eyeing to make sure they weren't actually going to eat Peter or something. They did manage to heal him with their weird mermaid water-magic-crap, despite almost drowning him in the process.

"OH Peter! You have been away so long~! And you come back dressed like one of those monsters!" Another mermaid said dramatically, although Peter hardly felt like he was dressed like anything, being that he was practically half naked at the moment. "You simply MUST have a wonderful story to tell us!"

This caused a chirping of all the mermaids in excitement at the idea of a new, exciting story.

A story… the last 2 years… could it really be a story? A memory? Something in the past? A story that could be forgotten, like many others before had been?

For the first time sense getting off the Jolly Roger, Peter felt something he hadn't quite felt in a long time. Something he could hardly even recognize. A warm, relief of a feeling he thought was entirely and utterly ripped away from him long ago. A sense of hope. Of freedom. Of escape.

Oh how dangerous hope could be.

—

HAHAHAHA y'all thought it'd be tinker bell eh?! TROLLD HAH….

I'm sorry. I just re-read that and realized how entirely misleading the beginning of that was CX. I just figured a near death experience needed a dramatic, impactful dream/memory of his life! C'mon, it would have to involve fairies.

Just so you know, one of my most fav aspects of the entire peter pan concept is how cute he and tinker bell are together. like seriously. I can't even. So no, I am not ignoring her or anything like that, it just has to be a big freaking deal when they meet. I'm not emotionally ready to handle that rn :o

Ok so on another note, I seriously have ABSOLUTELY no idea where I'm going with this now. This is legit the furthest my brain ever daydreamed this story up to, and i am completely clueless as to where to go from here. honestly. I certainly don't want to end it here cause that would just be stupid. But I could def use some ideas if you guys would be so willing to give some. Last time I did a story (it was a comic) i was only able to continue due to people's suggestions on the story lols. keep in mind tho that i like a lot of.. well. angst. and abuse. and messed up peter. none of that happy herpy-derp stuff that… you would probably expect from a peter pan story…. hahhh….

I dreamed this story up years ago, so yeah, even if i did have a plot continuing this, i long sense forgot it. I just new peter is kidnapped, tortured on ship, lost boys rescue him, they run away, peter gets shot, mermaids rescue him. Sorry if i ruined the magic of story telling but just keeping it real… -A-

I AM NOT ENDING IT HERE. just making that clear. c: