<div style="text-align: center"><b>Wendy Moira Angela Darling</b><br/>
<i>On the edge of the veil</i>​</div><br/>Why would he taunt a pirate?  Why would he taunt<i>Hook</i>?  He could not fly.  Running would only be a temporary fix.  Hook would never stop, not until he’d gotten what he wanted and what he wanted was<b>her</b>.<br/><br/>James pushed, James shoved, James turned and twisted in a dance to which Wendy did not know the steps.  He kept her steady, kept her upright, kept her safe.<br/><br/><i>Everything will be okay…</i><br/><br/>A single shot cracked through the air, punctuated by sharp shrapnel flying in all directions as the impact shattered a brick in the wall penning them in.  Wendy sucked in a sharp hiss as bits of brick hit her face and her hands, brought up for protection.  The stings were sharp, angry red lines marking where the bits of masonry marred the pristine porcelain of her skin.  A hand rose to her cheek as she turned, still hidden behind Mr. Dameron, eyes sliding from Tiger Lily to Hook.<br/><br/><hr class="bbc-hr bbc-hr--3"/><br/><div style="text-align: center"><b>Tiger Lily</b><br/>
<i>Watching, always watching</i>​</div><br/><br/>She knew James was here, she knew George was here too, and she’d known where to find Wendy yet that wasn’t enough for Hook.  He was singularly focused on revenge, on claiming what he felt was rightfully his.  He assumed she was trying to trick him when he simply had not asked her the right questions as he tore through the city, chasing Wendy and now James.<br/><br/>Tiger Lily tolerated the threat of the cold metal on her cheek, only drawing herself up taller and staring at him coldly.<i>Him</i>gut<i>her</i>? Never.<br/><br/>Still, she followed Hook through the tunnel and out into the streets.<br/><br/>James, the man she remembered from all those years ago when he was ever-present at Peter’s side, placed himself between Hook and Wendy.  Such a foolish thing to do but then again, he had always been drawn to her.<br/><br/>Hook, apoplectic and armed with his pistol, laughed as he stalked toward the pair.  His laughter cracked and faded as James taunted him.  This was not the plan.  He could not fire that gun.  Lily started to step forward, the shift of her weight signaling her intention, when the shot rang out.<br/><br/>He roared in anger at her.<br/><br/>She<i>was</i>helping.  Wasn’t she the one who had brought him to Wendy?  His rage blinded him to all but the man and woman before him.   His path through his life was his and hers was hers.  They might intersect but they were not one and the same.  “I am doing what I need to do on this journey.”  Her words were quiet and silenced by the noise of the pistol scraping across the ground.<br/><br/><hr class="bbc-hr bbc-hr--3"/><br/><div style="text-align: center"><b>Wendy</b><br/>
<i>Through the veil</i>​</div><br/>Hook stalked toward James, his gaze sharp and predatory.  The man had been hired to protect her but now it was time for her to step up, to take back what had been stolen from her by Dr. Grimshaw and his associates.<br/><br/>But how?<br/><br/>How could she stand up to Hook with his golden gleaming weapon in the place where his hand should be?  Wide blue eyes, the color of the stormy seas the Jolly Roger sailed, darted here and there, searching for something to defend her defender.<br/><br/>The gun.  Discarded and forgotten.  Hook’s own weapon turned against him.  The delicious irony twitched the corner of her mouth.<br/><br/>Her eyes slid to the men circling each other, sizing each other up.  They were not paying attention to her.  It would be easy enough to wrap her fingers around the gun and use it to put an end to the pirate.  Wendy crouched lower, ducking down and sidestepping toward the fighters and the gun near their shuffling feet.<br/><br/>A swing, a swipe, a snatch.<br/><br/>Wendy swallowed a joyous cry as she straightened, turning with gun in hand.<br/><br/>Gold gleamed and flashed, the wind whistling in the wake of Hook’s swing.<br/><br/>Something tore, the jerking and ripping followed by a flash of pain.<br/><br/>The intake of breath was a sharp hiss.  Her hands, one of them clutching Hook’s pistol, flew to her stomach, pressing tightly just below her navel.  There was barely time to register the tear in the veil between the realms and the illuminated path that revealed the way to freedom before Mr. Dameron grabbed her and shoved her through the hole.<br/><br/><hr class="bbc-hr bbc-hr--3"/><br/><div style="text-align: center"><b>Tinkerbell</b><br/>
<i>Rage</i>​</div><br/>Ramrod straight, her shoulders up high near her ears, her fists clenched tightly, so tight her knuckles were white even through the hot red that colored her entire body to the very roots of her hair, Tinkerbell stared down at Michael’s dead body.  Crimson eyes darted from the corpse of her old friend to his father, her breathing coming faster and faster, quick shallow inhales and low fast exhales through her nose.  Her stare shifted to Fable’s body, stupid dead Fable still clutching that stupid book all about Wendy.  Her fists drew tighter, her fingernails biting into her palms.<br/><br/>Rage built and built the longer she stared, filling her lungs with fire until she wanted to<b>roar</b>.<br/><br/>A hand touched her shoulder.  Her upper lip curled up in a snarl that only lasted a heartbeat as that same hand wound its way down her arm and to her waist, tugging her into strong arms.  Only one person would ever touch her like this and it wasn’t a pirate.<br/><br/>The vibrant red that made her entire body seem as if it was on fire dimmed, just a touch, just a shade.  Flames of anger still burned in her blood.<br/><br/>“Neverland,” she repeated darkly.  Yes…they would go to Neverland.  Right now.  They would find<b>her</b>.  They would find<b>Wendy</b>.<br/><br/>Tinkerbell bent her knees then sprung into the air, her wings a furious scarlet blur in the air.  She snatched at Peter’s wrist as she zipped by, a furious strength vibrating in her muscles as she ripped him into the air with her.<br/><br/>Second star…straight on ’til morning.<br/><br/><hr class="bbc-hr bbc-hr--3"/><br/><div style="text-align: center"><b>Wendy</b><br/>
<i>Falling</i>​</div><br/>Falling wasn’t the same as flying.<br/><br/>Flying felt freeing, a shedding of what weighed her down, zipping here and there through the air, twisting and turning as the wind sent her where it must.<br/><br/>Falling was loud painful chaos, an enormous weight pulling her down faster and faster toward the churning seas below them. The wind was loud in her ears but behind its roars, she heard Neverland whispering for her, welcoming her home.<br/><br/>Up above, growing smaller and smaller as they plummeted toward the water, she spied Hook’s astonished face staring down at them.  Evil twisted the corner of her mouth into a malevolent smirk as she brought up the hand holding his pistol and took careful aim.  Wendy squeezed the trigger.<br/><br/>Nothing.<br/><br/>It did nothing more than click dryly.  There was no bullet to be fired, nothing to rid the world of the nightmare staring down at her from above.  Wendy cried out in anguish.  She would never be free of him.<br/><br/>Tossing the gun into the wind, she spread her arms just like she used to when she was flying with Peter, when she felt young and free and not falling through the air on her back.  Below her, the waves roiled and churned, growing taller and taller, yearning for her.<br/><br/>Wendy surrendered to the water and did not fight when the waves reached up and wrapped themselves first around her ankles and then her wrists to drag her into their depths.  It was quiet and peaceful under the water, a respite from the chaos of the evening.  The sunlight barely broke the surface, filtering only a few feet before dissipating into the darkness.<br/><br/>Under the sea was calm.  No one poked and prodded.  No one yelled and called her a liar.  No fingers crept like spiders up the bare skin of her legs as she lay strapped to the bed.  Perhaps she could stay here, far away from Hook.  Maybe she could become a mermaid.  If she gave herself willingly to the water.<br/><br/>Down she sank, weighed down by the boots she had put on only a few hours before, the last of her air leaving her lungs in a stream of bubbles that rushed toward the surface.  Just one deep breath would put an end to all her pain.  Her Mr. Dameron would be safe.  Peter would make sure he made it back home, she knew it.<br/><br/>The saltwater stung her eyes and flashed like fire along the back of her neck and around to her throat but it wouldn’t matter soon, not once she took a deep breath.  Before that, though, she needed to see James again, just once, to know he was okay.  Wendy forced her eyes open, forced them to try to<i>focus</i>in the growing darkness of the deepening water.<br/><br/>Up...down...right...left...something large flashed by, darting around and behind her.  Something brushed across the back of her neck.  Before she could brush it away, strong fingers grabbed her upper arms.  A beautiful face appeared suddenly from the murkiness and leaned in to press its lips to hers.  Wendy struggled against the iron grip but the mermaid forced air into her lungs as its powerful tail drove them toward the surface.<br/><br/><hr class="bbc-hr bbc-hr--3"/><br/><div style="text-align: center"><b>Tiger Lily</b><br/>
<i>A shift in priorities</i>​</div><br/>James and Wendy were gone, through that rip in the veil between the realms, leaping into Neverland and assuming it would be safer there than here.  Hook had been careless, tearing holes in the veil here and there.  The thinness of the barrier worried Lily.  If it grew any thinner, the worlds could start to melt together.<br/><br/>Tiger Lily stepped forward, resting her hand on the pirate’s shoulder.  “This way is closed to us now.  We cannot go through this opening and we cannot go back the way we came.  She is in Neverland now and there is where she shall stay until we find her.”<br/><br/>A short pause before her fingers tightened, pulling his attention to what she said next.<br/><br/>“There is something else now.  Something else that draws us forward on our path.  We must find it.”