Captain's Quarters (Sequel to The Piper Boy)

Chapter 13

Amily didn't now how long she screamed for or when she decided to give up fighting. Pan said nothing on the journey to wherever he was taking her. Neither of them spoke. Once the screaming had ceased, the sky and it's occupants were eerily quiet.

Amily couldn't figure out whether Pan was trying to be ironic or romantic by taking her to the place where they had shared their first moment together, their first kiss. Her heart throbbed at her past self's naivete. She truly had loved him. Back then there was no one else she adored more.

Pan set Amily down surprisingly gently and she immediately walked to the edge of the cliff. It was too high to jump off. There was no way she was escaping this moment. Amily sat down with her legs dangling off the edge. If she tried hard enough she could see the ghosts of her and Pan from long ago, still sitting there telling each other their secrets. The faith in her eyes was sickening.

"You remember, don't you?" said Pan. He was standing behind Amily, staring at her intently. She could feel his gaze piercing her from behind.

"Remember what?" Amily was angry and her voice empty.

"Don't lie. You remember how you felt"

"Oh I remember how I felt. When you broke my heart" She still refused to look at him, fearing that her face would give her away,

Amily knew that she had never really let go of those feelings of heartbreak. Sure the pain of being thrown away like garbage had made her feel like hate was the only thing that was there but in truth it wasn't. Amily had never let go of the fact that her first love wasn't just a failure, but a fake as well. Pan had never truly loved her. He couldn't love. There was only lust.

But she couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen another side of the troubled boy that Peter Pan so desperately tried to hide. Maybe there was a person underneath the demon.

"Was any of it real?' asked Amily shakily. With the question she turned to face him and leant on her knees, to see his face for the real answer.

Something strange flickered across Pan's eyes for a moment but it was so quick that Amily couldn't place it. But she knew the answer opposed the ghost expression.

"You know the answer to that" said Pan flatly.

Amily was angered at that. She had had enough.

"Do you hear yourself? Honestly, I know now. At first I was too angry to let myself see deeper. But now I know. You lie to me, to the pirates, even to the Lost Boys! But what's worse, you lie to yourself. You are so afraid to let yourself crumble, to let people see who you really are. Let go Pan. Let someone in for a change!"

And then, that's exactly what Pan did.

At first Amily expected a trick, a rouse. But when she saw that cocky, arrogant expression fall from his face she could see the vulnerable boy he was inside. Finally.

Pan staggered over, almost drunkenly, to where she knelt. He let his legs dangle over the edge and Amily followed. This time she was the one staring at him while he looked away.

They could've sat there for hours, no one bothered to start speaking. Amily's thoughts trailed back to her family down on the beach. They were so frightened when she was taken and she hoped that they at least had the sense to return Byron to the Jolly Roger before they started searching for her.

Byron

Her heart shuddered. Even now with this side of Pan revealing itself, she was still further away from Byron than she would've liked. How long would it be until she could see him again?

"Talk to me, Pan" Amily said gently.

"If you're expecting an apology, you won't get one. I hate apologies" Pan said bluntly.

"I know, I remember you telling me. Back when I first came here and you were telling me about your past. Was that all true?" Amily looked away from Pan and into the distance. Neverland was so still and as beautiful as always.

"No, no it wasn't" she wasn't surprised.

"What is the truth, Peter Pan?"

He said nothing for a moment. It could've been a trick of the light but Amily thought she saw Pan's eyes shiny, perhaps with tears.

"I'm not who you think I am, Amily. It's time you knew the real truth"