Work Text:
The Coming of Age of Wendy Darling
How could she go back to Neverland?
She was no longer a child, she had just celebrated her 18th birthday party, she was preparing to come out in society and get married. Still her heart sang for Neverland, where she had so many adventures. She yearned for her childhood, she did not wish to be presented to royalty, she was not sure she was ready to truly grow up.
She took her gaze from the window where it all began and sighed. There was no return to Neverland. John had grown up, he had brushed aside stories of Neverland for logical pursuits. His forte lay in maths and the sciences. He was at Eton, learning how to be a man in a rational world.
Michael was still a child, but he was too young to recall tales of Red Indians, Pirates, fairies and mermaids. It was all that she could do to keep Michael young as she did not wish him to become as cold a fish as John.
Tenderly she raised a hand to her throat. “Peter,” she sighed. Suddenly she heard the bells ring. “Tinkerbell?” she questioned. Small, light feet rested on her shoulder, a happy volley of bells pealed in her ear. Soon after the windows burst open and Peter flew in laughing insouciantly. “PETER!” she exclaimed.
Peter flew close to her face, and grimaced, his nose wrinkling: “You don’t look the same.”
“It has been four years since you last came, Peter,” she said gently laughing, her smile reaching her eyes. “I can still fly as I still have faith, trust and…” Tinkerbell knew her cue, and she flew over Wendy’s head and shook herself, “pixie dust.”
“Do not forget the happy thought,” Peter chuckled.
Wendy laughed, “No one can forget the happy thought,” as her body went higher and higher, her fingertips touched the ceiling.
“Second star to the right, and straight on till morning!”
They flew towards the star and got closer until Neverland burst into view. Wendy sighed as her eyes settled on the emerald green island set amongst the sapphire seas.
They flew to the shore and looked at the pirate ship, “Want to have some fun with Hook?” Peter whispered in her ears, his eyes alight with mischief.
Wendy frowned a little. She did not want to be grown up but she suddenly felt grown up. All Peter thought about was fun and games - she sighed and followed him, as she did when she was younger. They leapt into the air and flew to the ship. Peter hid behind the mainsail and pressed a finger to his lips. Then he managed to pull a clock from his tunic, Wendy wondered what that bulge was. Silly, she thought it was muscle. She watched as he wound the clock and it started ticking,
“Peter, is this wise?”
“Of course it is! I am doing it!”
Oh the self assurance of childhood. Why did she feel like she was looking after a younger brother? Even Michael was not this reckless.
“If you are sure,” she said, uncertainty riddled her tone.
The ticking of the clock was a siren call to the crocodile who began ticking in unison with the clock bringing Hook out of his cabin in all his piratical swagger. “Oddsfish, this is Pan's work!”
Wendy held her breath. She did not recall feeling any sympathy for him before. Now, though, now her heart lurched in her chest. Was this kind?
She still loved Neverland, it was a wonderful place. Tinkerbell flew by her ear and settled on her shoulder, her laughter ringing with clock driving the point home. Wendy watched as she saw Hook’s countenance pale considerably.
No, this was not kind, This was not fun. She never thought she would sympathise with a pirate but when he glanced up at their silhouettes eyes widened with panic waving his hook - the replacement for the hand Peter had chopped off and fed to the crocodile now lurking around the body of the ship, hiding underneath the plank.
“Show yourself PAN!”
Peter’s laugh echoed through the ship as he used his dagger to tear a hole in the fabric of the mainsail and flew through laughing uproariously at the sight of Hook quivering in fear. He flew low enough to cut the gunbelt off Hook’s body, Wendy was appalled.
At the age of 12 Hook seemed huge and forbidding. Now she was 18 she saw that he was a man of the same stature as her father. She imagined a child terrorising her own papa and all the joy of seeing Peter drained from her soul.
Why did she wish to see Peter again?
She was agonising over her curtsey before the Queen and the Ball after in her honour, Her debut in society terrified her. The rigmarole of finding a marriage partner seemed exhausting and becoming a mother herself meant the end. Instead of wishing for Peter she should have talked to her own mama.
She flew down and landed sedately in front of Hook. “Well, well, if it is not our little storyteller all grown up!”
She arched an eyebrow. Peter flew around them, “Come on Wendy, why are you not playing?”
That was when she knew, that was when she realised, she did not want to play anymore. At 12 she declared she was ready to grow up but not quite ready to give up being a little girl. At 18 she was done with games, done with being a little girl.
She was, indeed, ready to grow up properly. She no longer laughed at the thought of a man losing a hand, of being tormented by a crocodile. She would never be a Pirate herself but she could understand Hook more.
That was when everything faded. The glittering sea, the sapphire skies, the emerald green land, Tinkerbell on her shoulder, Peter’s laugh and even Captain Hook.
Peter may have been the boy who urged her to use her imagination but it was Hook that inspired her to reality.
Neverland faded from her mind, She stood in her bedchamber. Somehow the look in Hook’s eyes was the last thing to fade, the intensity in them made her heart beat fast. A look of appreciation. Admiration. She realised she wanted to inspire a man to that glance again.
Yes, at heart she would never let go of her youth, but keep her head in reality.
As it turned out Wendy Darling married and used her childlike joy to write stories for children. Stories she once told to the lost boys and grown pirates.
Stories of a boy who never grew up and of the girl who did!