Tinkerbell

Home Again

"Wooo!" The boys scream as they slide into the oak through their small doors.

I laugh and shoot in after Peter, laughing the entire time. It had been too long. Being back in the Hideout brought back wonderful happy memories - of me and Peter, the Darlings, Wendy's girl, then ... Terrance. Oh god! What was I going to tell him when I went back? I made a promise never to return alone, and yet ... here I was.

"Not changed much, has it," I comment, looking around the hideout. I turn back to Peter who was rubbing the back of his neck.

"No ... err ... not - not really."

"I know, Peter. You miss her. I get it, but maybe it's time you moved on?"

Peter shakes his head. "You were there, Tink! You saw her, it's her Tink, and -"

"NO!" I interrupt. "Peter, no! It isn't her, it isn't Wendy Darling! She's not alive Peets, there's been a war, and about a hundred years from then and now! That girl-"

"What girl?" The twins ask, hanging upside down above me and Peter.

"Yeah who?" The others chide in.

"When we went and retrieved Peter's shadow, it was on the Darling street. The room the shadow chose to take was a girl's, who was the same age as Wendy, and looked just like her. He thinks it's her, but doesn't seem able to grasp the fact that she's gone. Dead for years!"

"Let her go, Peter. Otherwise it's going to drive a wedge between you and Tinkerbell!" Tootles exclaimed in an exasperated tone.

"Peter, you have to come to grips with the truth! That girl was more likely to be related to the queen than Wendy!"

Peter growls and throws a pillow at me, causing me to freeze in shock. The pillow hits me and pushes me back. Right to the other side of the hideout. It traps me between the wall and it for a moment, before crashing to the ground. I pull myself free and straitened out my wings, flinching as I hit the spot where it tore earlier. Last time wasn't this bad - there was no tenderness in the wing. Mind you, today's tear was rather threatening. I glare at Peter as I flick my wings and sore into the air, right towards the entrance to the hideout.

"Oh, and don't expect me back for dinner." That said, I sore out of the tree at top speed, my mind set on one thing - to get to the Pixie Dust tree.

As I fly, I hear the sound of voices and the sound of slicing. Pirates.

"Smee!" Hook yells.

I push myself harder until the tree comes into sight. So far to go, and yet ... it was relaxing to know I was nearly there.

"Coming Captain!" The voice of Smee calls. There was a small light heading straight for me, from the direction of the Dust tree.

"Tink!" A relieved voice calls out as I near the light. An all too familiar voice at that.

"Shut up!" I hiss, my ears signalling that the Pirates had stopped what they were doing.

"Shut up?! Shut up? Tink, everyone's worried sick about you!" Terrance yells.

"That way boys!" Hook yells.

Terrance looks at me. "Oh."

Oh? That's all he can say? After he called them to us?

All right, so he didn't know they were there, but this is Neverland! Where Pirates roam both land and sea.

"Lead them East, back to the sea!" I hiss, speeding off towards the coastline. Terrance was hot on my heals. Once we were sure the Pirates couldn't see us anymore, we head back home. Neither one of us speak until we here the sound of a canon from the sea.

"Tink-"

"Don't, Terrance," I sigh, closing my eyes as a sharp pain pricks in my wing. The place where I found it tender. Then, I drop onto the nearest branch, moving my wings slowly.

Terrance comes over and immediately runs his hands over my wings, one at a time. He was more careful with my left than my right because of the issue with the wing being torn earlier. He passes over the tender spot and my whole body tenses and a gasp escapes me. One of pain.

Terrance must've noticed for he stopped and prodded the spot delicately. Even then it was enough to make me want to cry out in pain. I bite my bottom lip to keep from crying out. Terrance's hands vanish but reappear and he rubs something onto the area of my wing where the pain was worst.

"Ouch!" I breathe.

"Sorry," Terrance answers, coming to face me, his hands glittering with Pixie Dust. "So, from the beginning." He left no space for a no.

"We went to the mainland to find Peter's shadow, but it was in the Darlings street - I told you about them, didn't I? - in a girls room. The girl looked just like her. Like Wendy. So much that I wanted to throttle her. Anyway, I got Peter out before he could grab her, but she tried to follow and Peter saw her. I locked the window and snapped the curtains shut, but not soon enough. Peter thinks it's Wendy and we had a massive row. The girl was the same age as her, too."

"So, why did you leave?"

I gulp and the memory surfaces. Peters face, the pillow flying, pinning me and then me leaving.

"He got angry and threw a pillow."

"He threw a pillow?" Terrance raises an eyebrow.

"At me."

"He didn't hit, did he? I mean, you did doge, right?"

"I was too shocked. It was the least of what I expected, Peter's never tried to hit me before. It hit me with too much force, pinning me to it. It pinned me between it and the wall before falling, trapping me again. I got free and as I straightened out my wings, I noticed it was tender. So I left. I mean, once one lashes out - at a fairy - all ties are broken." A tear slides down my cheek as Peter's face pops up in my head. "He was murderous." The mad glint in his eye, his angry face... It was too much and I break down, tears flowing rapidly down my cheeks.

"Not when it's as old as the one between you and Peter, Tink." Terrance pulls me into his arms and I let him, needing the comforting embrace. "He'll calm down Tink, and he'll realise what he did. Trust me, it sounds like the boy needs some time."

I nod into his shoulder. After some time, I sit up and wipe my eyes.

"How's that wing?" Terrance asks as I move it slowly before flicking both wings and rising of the branch.

"Better, thanks." Glancing over his shoulder, Terrance flicks his wings, and we make our way back to Pixie Hollow, where the queen was sat waiting, surrounded by the ministers, Fairy Mary and Fairy Gary, and one unexpected person. Lord Milory.

"There you are! We've been worried sick!" Fairy Mary exclaims, pulling me into a hug. "When Terrance went after you, we knew he'd be quick. But after two hours, we knew something wasn't right. We thought the Pirates got you!"

"They nearly got all of us." Terrance explains how we lead them away from the Hollow, but stops after that.

"Oh, you poor things!" Fairy Mary tightens her grip and I struggle to find breath.

"Can't-"

Then, she releases me.

"Tinkerbell," this was the one voice I dreaded. The queen's. "What happened?"

I look at Terrance who immediately tells them everything I told him, and what happened afterwards.

"Clarion," Milory says to the queen, laying a hand on her shoulder. "The child has had a rough ordeal, it might be best if she is taken somewhere she can rest and be watched for any signs of injuries or-"

"Your highness, we - TINK!" Fawn screams, flying over to me and looking me over.

"Fawn, would you take Tinkerbell to your house, and stay with her, and do not let her have any visitors until she is well rested."

Fawn smiles at Terrance then takes my upper arm, pulling me to the Animal fairies Village and into her house.