<div style="text-align: center"><b><u>Wendy Darling</u></b><br/>
<i>Darling Estate</i>​</div><br/>Wendy’s eyes widened as James’s narrowed. “Neverland was involved in<i>all</i>of it.”  He didn’t understand, they never did.  Her eyes narrowed, just a tightening at the corners really, as his hand slid across her journal.  He shouldn’t be touching it.  She shouldn’t have shown it to him.  Her fingers tightened on the cover of the book but he managed to take control enough to slam the book shut with a<i>thump</i>that made her jump inside her skin.<br/><br/>Creeping fingers tiptoed and slid across the leather to ease the precious journal away from her.  Wendy made no move to stop them as it was taken from her.  So many things had been taken from her - her brothers, her mother, her story - what was one more?  She’d just hide it later, hide it away where it would be safe.<br/><br/>Nevertheless, his smile<i>was</i>contagious, bringing a slight curl to the corner of her mouth as he lowered to a crouch in front of her.  Her head tipped to one side as he laid out what had happened to her from greedy father to dead mother to missing brothers.  It sounded so simple coming from his mouth but deep down inside, Wendy knew it was so much more than that.  No one would ever know the sheer exhilaration of being with Peter, of soaring through the clouds and dive-bombing the Jolly Roger to stage daring rescues of captured Lost Boys, of spying on the mermaids in the Lagoon, and sleeping in a hammock inside the biggest tree she’d ever seen.<br/><br/>Something kind was in the way his eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled up at her.  She would explain to him all the wondrous things in Neverland and he would believe her.  Her lips parted, the excited tumble of words right on the tip of her tongue.<br/><br/><i>It’s time to move on Wendy, it’s time to <b>grow up</b>.</i><br/><br/>Wendy froze like she’d been slapped, her mouth open like a fish gasping for water.  Not for long though.  Her lips curled into a coquettish smirk as she slipped her hand into his, taking care to circle one fingernail in the center of his palm before squeezing his hand ever so slightly as she got to her feet.  “Some fresh air would be nice, I think, but we should be careful to stay close together.  Funny things happen in a fog like this.”  Her eyes, bluer than storm now that the dream had faded some, flicked toward the window.  The thick mist was no longer pouring in through the open window but it was still there, pressing against the glass as if it was watching her.<br/><br/>Stepping away from her new bodyguard, she let her hand slide gently from his warm grasp, her fingers once again dragging across his palm.  As she turned toward the large walk-in closet tucked in the corner of her rather large bedroom and once her back was to him, Wendy tugged the long white nightgown she adamantly refused to sleep without over her head and let it drop unceremoniously to the floor as she disappeared into the closet.<br/><br/>Father had seen it best to hire someone to protect her but protect her from what?  Did he finally believe what she was saying to be true? George Darling acquiesce to his daughter’s crazy ramblings? Unlikely.  Only the most sanitized of thoughts were to ever be shared with the public, only the ones that would grow the family’s bank accounts.  She flipped idly through the hangers, avoiding the clothes her father deemed ladylike and appropriate for a woman of her station. A small frown turned down the corners of her mouth as she pulled on the clothing she preferred to wear - jeans with ripped knees, back combat boots, a lightweight zip-up hoodie with the hood up over her dark hair, and a leather motorcycle jacket over top that.<br/><br/>“Mr. Dameron,” she called as she returned to the bedroom proper, “are you ready to escort me on my walk around the grounds?”  There was a teasing lightness in the question as if she had forgotten the two most horrible words ever he had said no more than a few short minutes ago.<br/><br/>“We must take care to stay together.  Funny things happen in a fog like this.”  Her eyes, wide and serious, found his across the room and met them without flinching.  Long thin fingers toyed with the zipper of her hoodie, drawing it down just a fraction, before touching the center of her chest where there was a circular scar -  small one, about the size of a medium button, imprinted in her pale skin, one side deeper than the other.<br/><br/>“So, Mr. Dameron, what exactly must I do to be considered a grown-up?” she queried conversationally as they left her room to wander the twists and turns that would eventually lead them outside.<br/><br/><hr class="bbc-hr"/><br/><div style="text-align: center"><b><u>Tink</u></b><br/>
<i>Somewhere in the City</i>​</div><br/>Peter was happy and so Tink was happy.  She laughed as he hovered above the ground, the sound highlighted with the harmony of tinkling bells.  Her hands came together in a delighted clapping as his feet touched the ground soft as a feather.  “We<i>are</i>here, Peter!  We’re here because of you!” Happy little bells emphasized the excitement in her voice as she rose to her toes and leaned closer to her bestest friend in the whole wide world.  “Your magic did this!  Your magic is what brought us here!”<br/><br/>His arm was around her neck then and, for that, she was glad.  Some of the other Boys were not so gentle and had, on more than one occasion, crushed her delicate wings with their rough embraces.  Tink’s eyes lit up as Peter smiled, smiled just for her.  His face looked so<i>different</i>with the way they had so carefully blackened around his eyes and made his cheeks look hollow and turned his mouth into a leering skull’s grin.  It scared the pirates but she thought it just made him look so very handsome.<br/><br/>“More Boys?  How many more Boys? We have so many that need replaced. Maybe they can come with us on our adventures here?” Her eyes were so bright and so golden and shining under the streetlights dotting the dark street here and there.  She laughed again and turned into him, pressing her face briefly into his chest, before draping her own arm around his waist so they could head out into the City and see what sorts of adventures they could find in this new place that was so different than their home in Neverland.<br/><br/>Arm-in-arm, the pair made their way down the sidewalk, their journey down the street herky-jerky as they headed through the dim circles of light cast by the streetlamps overhead.  “Peter?” Tink chimed up, her attention dedicated to her favorite person in the whole wide world.  “Where do we find Boys in this place?”  She had not been here since the time Peter lost his shadow and she was sent to retrieve it.<br/><br/>From Wendy.<br/><br/>A tinge of red flashed in the golden glow of her eyes and in the delicate shimmer of her bare skin.