Second Date

Chapter 29: At Last I See The Light

Chapter 29: At Last I See The Light

"Pan! CALM DOWN! You scared her! You just scared her! It's not her fault, she doesn't remember -"

"YES SHE DOES!"

Peter attacked. Half-flying he propelled Jim into the pavement. Jim's hands snapped apart as he hit, freeing Peter to fly at Wendy's nursery window.

"Don'!" Jim reached, "Don't let him - "

"Peter!" Merida slung an arrow, but Rapunzel reacted first. Swinging her hair, she lassoed Peter before he left the ground.

"Hey!" Flynn yelled as Peter rolled over Rapunzel's hair. "Hey! People! We got a tape!"

No one listened, especially Peter. Ankles tangled in hair, he charged for the Darling's door.

"She gave me a kiss! She remembers!"

"Pan!" Jim hugged Peter's middle. "Wendy doesn't remember!"

"Yes she does!"

"No she doesn't!"

"SHE DOES!" Peter punched. The acorn necklace trailed from his fist. "She does remember! She has to remember! She gave me a kiss! I REMEMBER!"

"It wasn't true love!"

Peter stopped dead. He bobbed in midair, arm-locked with Jim.

"What?"

"True love's kiss - it's magical." Gripping Peter's collar, Jim gave a slight shake. "True love's kiss is why you remember. It's why I remember too. Peter I do. But..."

Jim stiffened. "Ariel doesn't. We kissed. But in Ariel's story, Eric is her true love. Not me. That's why she doesn't remember. And Wendy - "

Helplessly, Jim shook his head. "Peter I'm sorry - but Wendy left Neverland. She left. On her own. It's in your story. That's the only explanation why you can remember and she can't. Peter. Wendy - is not - "

"Jim." Ariel warned. "Don't."

But Jim had already spoken.

"-your true love. That's why Wendy can't remember. For her...it wasn't magical. It was just a kiss."

Jim meant well. He did. In the instant he had to protect Wendy from a harrowing misunderstanding, Jim did what he could with the information he had. Wendy was scared, Peter was outraged, and both were confused - the situation was volatile. So Jim ended it the only way he knew how: a brutal, calculated explanation.

But, Jim also understood he would cause pain.

Gently, Jim released. "Peter. I'm...I'm sorry."

Peter withdrew. And in one motion, fluid as running water, Peter touched his chest and sunk to the earth. For a moment he merely knelt, squeezing his chest to make the ache go away.

Finally, he gasped.

"This - This - is how - she feels - all the time."

Jim stared. Then, painfully, he looked away.

"...not anymore."

So it was. The tides had turned on the great Peter Pan. Before, despite all his fondness for Wendy, Peter had been unable to understand her love. So Wendy ached alone, longing for a boy that could not love her back.

But now, through the smallest, simplest adventure, Peter understood love. He recognized its power, he accepted it within himself, and he desired to share it. But in a cruel twist of fate, the girl Peter ached for, did not love him back. She did not remember, and she was so scared.