Neverland: The Most Wonderful Adventure

Chapter Thirdteen

Cassandra awoke the next morning to find herself back in her bed. She sat, completely baffled, since she was​ pretty darn sure that she fallen back asleep with Peter holding her like a nightmare fighting Teddy Bear. She got dressed and sure enough found Peter sitting on a branch that served as a watch post. "A nickel for your thoughts, Peter?" Peter snapped out of his thoughts when he felt her settle down in his lap. When he didn't respond, she spoke again. "Peter, are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm fine. Just... Thinking," The two sat in silence for a few minutes. " You dreamed about them, didn't you? Wendy, Jane and Moria?" Peter glanced at her, how could she have known? Peter sighed, realizing he was going to have to talk. " I was twelve when I first saw Wendy, telling her brothers stories about me. She and I got properly introduced when she  helped me get my shadow back on. I brought her here to be a mother to the Lost Boys. Eventually, I had to take them home. But she yelled to me she would always believe in me." Cassandra listened with mesmerized interest as Peter told his story of  a her great grandparents, laughing at the mental image of Jane slugging Peter in the jaw and him getting his butt kicked by Moria in a  sparing match. Peter chuckled along with her, realizing from her point of view, him getting beaten by a girl was kinda funny. " Every summer, Moria came back to Neverland to spend it with us. I went to get one summer night. The night everything changed..."... Peter landed in the nursery. His feet barely made a sound on the carpeted floor and he looked around. The room looked the same as it did the night he chased his shadow and met Wendy, except there were a few new additions to the walls. New photos of people, and paintings of Neverland that made him smile. Then there was the rocking chair that he'd never seen before, and he noticed that it was occupied by a seventeen year old Moria, asleep with a book of Wendy's stories about him in her lap, perched in front of a dwindling fire. While an old woman lay in the bed. He did not fly as he normally would, but instead walked the short distance to the woman's bedside and knelt before her. Her breathing was labored, her weathered eyes shut as she slept, but almost as if she could sense him she stirred from sleep and opened her eyes to gaze at him with the same blue eyes that he knew so well from his dreams. "Wendy?" He asked, already knowing it was her even as he tucked a stray white curl behind her ear. Wendy smiled at him and replied, "Hello Peter." He sat on the carpet beside her bed, taking Wendy's cold hand in his own and squeezing it slightly. Wendy smiled and gave a small squeeze of his hand, then sighed and returned to gaze at Peter. "I'm happy you came, Peter." Peter didn't dare respond, his whole body was trembling with the very emotions that he declared he did not have when Wendy had asked him all those years ago. "My, I am so lucky to have such good friends." Wendy breathed and closed her eyes. Peter stayed where he was the entire night. Over the hours Wendy's breathing slowed and became shallower and shallower, then just as the sun was beginning to rise and the fire was merely embers Wendy's chest moved no more and she was gone.Peter's shaking hand let go of hers upon feeling her pulse flicker and stop. He saw his heart literally break infront of his eyes. He started staggering backwards , tears starting​ to trickle down his horrified face, his head shaking in disbelief as he flew out the window and hid in the shadows. It wasn't long before he heard Jane and Moria's heartbroken cries and he joined them in their pain as his sorrow flooded through him... He floated down to cemetery, having hidden and stayed during the funeral service, amazed to see how many people had come to remember her, after everyone left and approached the grave under a willow tree. He slid the hood of the raven black cloak he wore over his clothes off and knelt down in front of the tombstone. An angel was carved on top and Wendy's picture from when she was a little girl was in the center along with the date she was born and the date she died. Peter placed a little bundle of pink roses on the ground in front of it. Suddenly he threw his arms around the grave marker, hugging the slab of stone tightly as sobs ripped out of his throat, his forehead rested against the stone before he threw his head back and screamed Wendy's name... Cassandra could only stare at Peter.  " After Wendy died, I couldn't handle it. I just laid in my bed listlessly all day and the boys literally had to drag me outside to get some air. They removed anything I could possibly hurt myself with in my messed up state. I was so wrapped up in my grief that I hadn't noticed I had gotten older until I saw how much smaller Tinkerbell had gotten..." When his hand started shaking and sobs escaped him, she found herself pressed tightly but also gently against his chest. Then, wanting to comfort him, she started to sing. " Je t'aime, je t'aime toujour
I am forever yours

Sweet dreams, sweet dreams mon cher
You're always in my prayer

Softly, sweetly
Wrapped up in heaven's arms
Sailing, soaring over the moon
Gathering star dust

Be still, be safe, be sure
Je t'aime, je t'aime toujour

Wishing, praying
All of your dreams come true
Please remember
Where'er you are my heart is with you

Sweet dreams, sweet dreams mon cher
Always in my prayer

I am forever yours
Je t'aime, je t'aime toujour " Peter cries slowly quieted as her voice reached his ears. When she finished the song, he held her to his cheek. She nuzzled against him, feeling like she not only lifted a burden of his shoulders, she also saved him... Cassandra glanced around the moonlit clearing, grasping the hem of the knee length maroon colored dress she was wearing, sitting comfortably on Peter's shoulder.That's when they heard it. Music. Beautiful, flowing music, coming from a tree on the opposite end of the clearing. Crouching down, the two teens saw fairies dancing, laughing and pretty much just enjoying themselves. Peter chuckled at Cassandra's dreamy face, suddenly collecting her off his shoulder. Cassandra gazed up at him smiling down at her curiously, " May I have this dance?" Cassandra blushed and smiled, nodding her head. Cradling her safely against him, Peter danced around in the clearing, spinning and dancing to the music, both in total bliss. Peter didn't think he'd seen a more beautiful sight. Cassandra looked so pretty in the light of the fairies and she looked like goddess when she smiled, but more importantly, she was dancing with him! Well, sort of. He was sure he'd felt something like this before, only not as strong, for Moria. What did she call it? Being "in love"? Then he looked into Cassandra's eyes and he saw something that made him forget everything going on in the back of his mind. Because he was sure that what it was he saw in her eyes was what he was pretty sure he'd shown her in his own. Love. True love. He was sure he'd died and gone to heaven. All Cassandra could do was look into his perfect eyes. Those gorgeous dark brown eyes that seemed to look directly into her soul. She stood on her tiptoes, reaching for his perfect face. Peter obliged, lifting her up to his face. Then Peter responded to what signal was going off in his head by bending down to lay a feather soft kiss on her lips before whispering in her ear, "I love you." Cassandra lifted her head up until her lips briefly met the center of his, as she whispered back, "I love you too Peter." It wasn't long before Cassandra fell asleep against him and he flew back to the hideout, unaware of the shadowy figure disappearing in to the forest.