The Land Beyond | Peter Pan 2003

Prologue

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Peter Pan - none of the movies, books, plays, games, or shows. However, this fanfic does have a character that belongs to me and will be in one of my future novels. This character is also in another fanfic but these fanfics are not connected. This Peter Pan fanfic is inspired by the movie Peter Pan 2003. Hope you enjoy, please like and leave a comment.

Peter

I hover down to the ledge of an old brick building, hiding next to the window of an open nursery. Above, beyond the smoggy sky are stars littering the cloudline with the full moon casting its light across the clouds tops. Most people in the city are asleep, dreaming of their futures, pasts, and make-believe lands. This is no different from the people who sleep within this building. There is a faint glow of candlelight shining from around the room, brightening the space just enough to allow me to see that the three beds that ordinarily decorate the room are no longer there. Only one bed sits across the nursery, cradling a small child. This bed once belonged to a girl named Wendy. A girl who stole my heart. But the sight of her beneath the covers no longer meets my gaze; there is another. My heart aches in my chest, pounding so loudly that it echoes in my head. All I can see in my mind is her. Wendy is aged now, with another man at her side, a man called a husband. A man that took my place.

For years I have come to this window to listen to the stories about me and watch as Wendy and the Lost Boys grew up. The longer I stayed in this world, watching them, the more I aged - something I always told Wendy I refused to do. But going back home to Neverland is painful even though I know it is where I belong.

The door to the nursery opens and I move out of sight, hiding beside the window and peering around the corner. A much older Wendy tucks in her daughter and kisses her on the forehead. A man stands in the doorway, watching them both with a smile on his smug face. I press my lips tight, crossing my arms against my chest and trying not to clench my teeth. The act of violence against this man plays fondly in my mind. I don't realize it, until my hand touches the pommel of my sword, that I've reached down to grab it from its sheath. I stop just as Wendy glances at the window. I throw my back against the wall, eyes wide, and my heart pounding fast in my chest.

I close my eyes and breathe deeply, with each breath my heart slows just the littlest. No one approaches the window, so I turn back and glance through the thin white curtains. Wendy is sitting on the side of her daughter's bed, no longer looking in my direction.

I want to take Wendy away, even with her age, but our adventures will never be the same. It's too different now.

Sadness fills me like a thousand pounds weighing on my body. I feel my feet touch the ledge that runs along the bottom of the window. I am losing my touch. I am losing my ability to fly. This has to be the last time I come to this window. It has to be for good. A flash of gold flutters around my head, there is a tug on my hair on my left. I half-heartedly smile up at Tinker Bell and nod.

"Bye, Wendy," I whisper.

With the last bit of strength and happy thoughts I have, remembrance of our time together, takes over my being - I push off the window and lift off into the sky to the second star on the right.