For a few moments, nothing happened. There was only her own sobbing, which swelled more and more, and the melody of her broken heart, of what she had not even known that it could break at all.
Then the little star in her hands began to pulse, almost as if it needed to catch its breath and gather strength for what was about to happen. Sitara looked down at her little brother between wet tears, whose bright glow suddenly grew bright. It felt like the star in her fingers evaporated instead of solidifying into cold stone. The glowing thing in her hands lit up, spraying sparks that leaped away in all directions. As if the light had become liquid, it streamed through the small earthen cavern, billowing in reflections on the earthy walls and penetrating between the roots into the darkness of the night.
A feeling of irrepressible warmth flooded her chest, and she felt as if many soft voices were whispering to her to comfort her. She should please stop crying, murmured a voice far away that she knew too well: Athtar, her twin brother. Although she could not see anyone of her court, and they were far, far away, she felt close to them at that moment.
The dim darkness descended over the shelter as the light slowly faded. Gone was the glow of the little star, and no rough, cold stone remained in the delicate hands. Instead, shimmering silver stardust trickled down Peter's chest, scattering into the blood on his body that looked black in the dark. Only the delicate glow of Sitara herself still gave a hint of light to her hiding place, but her grief dimmed it.
Then her eyes fell on Peter's chest ... and the star paused. Was she mistaken - or had he just moved?
With her heart pounding and breath held, she stared through the twilight toward Peter and ... indeed!
His chest was rising and falling in heavy breaths! The star's eyes snapped open as Peter's eyelids blinked and lifted, fluttering.
"Star?"
The whisper was so soft she almost didn't hear it. Even the sound of her heart or a breath would have wiped it away, but she didn't need to listen to it! Her heart knew - he was alive!
"Peter!"
Overcome with relief and pure joy, she fell around his neck and wrapped her arms over his shoulders. Immediately Peter grunted but wrapped an arm around his star, not letting her escape when she tried to flinch.
"You're alive ..." the bundle of light sobbed out, laughing simultaneously, so Peter couldn't help but grin wryly, as he often did when he couldn't think of anything better to say.
"Yes, of course, I'm alive ... I must wish you back to heaven, don't I?" put in Peter, and his fingers instinctively slid to his chest - to where the blood had flowed along with his life from the bullet wound of Hook's pistol. He could breathe and think ... and the cold blackness of death was gone. But ... "Why is it so dark?"
Peter's gaze dropped and immediately slid to Sitara. The terrible foreboding crept up inside him like nausea, and he reached for her hand as if he couldn't believe the star was no longer there.
"Sitara ..." he pronounced her name as if they had been closely acquainted for many years - they WERE, after all! - "WHERE is the star?!"
YOU ARE READING
When Stars Fall
Fanfiction** When a wish brings devastating consequences, Pan must join forces with a fallen star to stop the walking dead before Neverland sinks into eternal darkness. ** "We can sail away tonight on a sea of pure moonlight We can navigate the stars to b...
