Older Peter Pan X Older Reader: Part 6

You made your way through the thick trees and wild vegetation with a sad, yet fierce determination. Your gaze was set stubbornly on the dirt path in front of you. Your only thought was to follow it until you reached the hidden tree house. You must not break down until then. With each quick stride your heart seemed to shatter just a little more than before, but you kept telling yourself just a little further now…hold it together for just a little bit longer…

Your feet carried you into the darkness of the night and you walked so long that your feet and shins began to burn. Still you carried on. No matter how tired you were, both physically and mentally, you couldn’t stop and break down. Not yet, keep it together just a little while longer… Your vision stirred and smeared from the hot tears that were suddenly stinging your eyes and clouding your vision. You wiped them away furiously with shaking hands. Now that you had wondered away from the warmth of the bonfire you felt the cutting chill of the wind that seemed to rattle through your bones. You took a few deep breaths and tried to pull yourself together. You couldn’t give in to your misery just yet. The cruel ache in your heart was too real, too personal to just release out in the openness of the forest. You needed to be alone in a closed off room before you were able to express the extent of your pain.

As you blinked away your tears you finally pulled your gaze off of the dirt path beneath you and swept a glance around you. You instantly knew you were lost. The dirt path from before had been pretty open and clear with the forest only just creeping up on both sides. The path you were standing on now however had overgrown weeds and exotic plants bursting out at the sides. The tropical looking trees loomed above you with their large leaves creating a canopy that completely blocked out the night sky that was above it. Panicking now you spun yourself around towards the direction you had come from. You saw that there too, for as far as your eyes could see, the path you had been on was overtaken by the ruthless forest floor. There was no way of knowing how far you had walked before you turned on the wrong path. You were just about to start re-tracing your steps when the cold night wind carried a faint, but hauntingly beautiful melody to your ears. Though it was hard to make out it sounded like a choir of angels singing. You closed your eyes and cocked your head to the side to try and hear better; sure that it was probably just your imagination, but then you heard it again softly calling in the distance. Despite all logic you suddenly found yourself following the phantom music. You trampled through knee high weeds and angrily swatted away any other forbidding vegetation that got in your way. You felt the familiar stings of pain from your bandaged arms as more stray tree branches cut into your flesh as you stubbornly pushed them aside; despite the pain though the entrancing serenade beckoned you on further. With each step the wondrous melody grew louder and all the more majestic.      

You pushed past some large leafy bush and finally came to a shoreline on a beach that was oval shaped with huge rocks in the middle of the reservoir. Off to the side was an impossibly high cliff that had a small waterfall that steadily spit forth gushing water into the small enclosed ocean pool below. But what was most astonishing of all was what was in that pool. Mermaids! Real live mermaids where singing and splashing about under the night sky right in front of you!      

Some reclined effortlessly on the flat white-washed rocks, their pale skin gleaming beneath the moonlight while their shining tails flicked the water playfully. Others admired their own radiant reflections on the dark water’s surface while they continued with their enchanting melody. One mermaid sat on a rock directly underneath the small waterfall and she bathed her fiery red locks that reached all the way to her mid-back in the pouring water. Tiger Lily was beautiful, but these mermaids were breathtaking. All of the mermaids were different in appearance, yet they all seemed to have the same stunning ethereal quality about them. Though they all had different colored hair, and eyes, and faces, they all had the same rainbow colored tails that caught the moonlight and cast dozens of tiny rainbows all over the surfaces of the surrounding rocks and water. However there was one mermaid who stood out above all the rest. She sat upright on a rock in the dead center of the lagoon and while the other’s voices rose up in song, hers however did not. She sat silently admiring her own reflection and brushing her long graceful fingers deftly through her thick wavy locks of pure golden hair that went all the way past her smooth curvy waist and pooled onto the rock at her side. The moon above shone directly down onto her porcelain skin, turning it almost luminescent. She was petite for a woman, but she had soft curves in all of the right places and you were pretty sure she did not have a top on, but couldn’t tell because her hair covered her perky breasts completely. Her heart shaped face was delicate without a single blemish or flaw. She had big slanted eyes that were as dark blue as the ocean depths below. Her lips were full and plump and a perfect shade of rose that matched her lightly flushed cheeks. She was the most beautiful creature you had ever seen.  

You stood there in the middle of the bushes watching them, completely bewitched by the ethereal sight of them and their enchanting rhapsody. Your eyes darted back and forth in wonder as you tried to take in exactly what you were seeing. Mermaid Lagoon. Peter had mentioned it before when you first got here, but you hadn’t actually stopped to think about what that meant. All your life you had seen thousands of artist renditions of supposed mermaids, all of them different from the last, but none of those could have came close to the sheer beauty of the real things in front of you. They were like perfect physical creations of what all women wish they could look like.

You have no idea how long you stood their just taking in the unbelievable sight before you when your eyes came to fall back on the leader of the mermaids still admiring her reflection on the middle rock. As if she could feel your gaze her golden head looked up and those gorgeous ocean blue eyes met yours evenly. A streak of fear at having been caught staring struck through you, but like a rabbit in danger your body just froze. The mermaid’s full lips slowly pulled into a resplendent smile that showed straight teeth of pearl and that made your heart rate speed up. Her slanted eyes grew wider with amusement as she said with a breathy voice Marilyn Monroe would envy “A girl…Come closer now child let’s have a look at you.”

You hesitated for a few seconds, but saw that there were still several feet of shoreline between you and the water’s edge. So you took a few steps onto the uneven sand before you. You stopped directly in the middle between the bushes and the edge of the water. That way you could beat a hasty retreat if necessary. All around you the mermaid song had ended in an abrupt crescendo as all the mermaids stopped to watch you. You felt their curious gazes all land on you with close scrutiny. Not wanting to look at them look at you, you turned your focus back to the head mermaid who spoke to you. Her smile was bemused as she noticed exactly where you had stopped and quickly came to understand why. You steadied your shoulders and showed her with your eyes that you weren’t going to take a step further. Instead of remarking on it the lead mermaid said, “What’s your name darling?” You weren’t sure you wanted to tell this mysterious creature your name or not, but considering you were going to go home as soon as you met up with Peter again you didn’t see the harm. After you had told her your name she nodded her head regally with understanding. She flicked her rainbow scaled tail playfully in the water surrounding the rock she was perched on. “Welcome to Mermaid Lagoon (Your Name), I am Titania; mistress of the sea and queen of the mermaids. My people and I welcome you little sister.” At that all of the other mermaids who had gone silent and still started to wave and happily cry out in their breathy voices, “Welcome sister!” as they splashed back and forth in the water. After several moments of this Titania raised a delicate hand that silenced them all. “We mermaids make it a point to know everyone on this island and yet this is our first time seeing you. Tell me little sister, how is it that you came to Neverland?” All the mermaids set their curious gazes on you that felt like a weight that compelled you to answer. “Peter brought me here earlier today.” She raised her perfectly arched eyebrows and said, “Really? You must be very special indeed to have been brought here by Peter. Did you know he’s never brought anyone to Neverland before?”    

You nodded your head in acknowledgement of her statement. The radiant smile on her lush lips never faded as her deep blue eyes began to sparkle and she let out a bubbling laugh. “You are a most fascinating creature. I can see why Peter would be so besotted with you.” You didn’t know how to answer that so you didn’t respond. All the other mermaids were still staring at you, but they too had secret smiles that would probably make any man fall to his feet in awe. “Since you are so special to Peter that makes you special to me; for any friend of Peter’s is a friend of mine. For all of us mermaids absolutely adore him.” You didn’t like the way her melodious voice had caressed the word adore. It sounded much too much like a purr. You sized up the ethereal being of womanly perfection in front of you and couldn’t help the surge of jealousy and rage that suddenly coursed through you. It didn’t matter, whatever Peter’s relationship with these creatures was, it was nothing to you. In a matter of time you would be back home and it would be as if none of this had ever happened. You crossed your arms over your chest and toned down the glare you were shooting at Titania. If she noticed you glaring daggers of envy at her she didn’t show it. She just continued to sit there staring at you with that benevolent little smile.    

“Come on now deary, join us for a swim?” Her singsong voice beckoned as she held out a smooth pale hand towards you. For a second you had an uncontrollable urge to go to her, but you caught hold of your better senses. You didn’t have time to play with the mermaids no matter how beautiful they were. You had to get back to the hideout, back to reality. “Thank you, but I have to be going now,” you said as politely as you could. Titania’s luscious lips pulled down into a heartbreaking pout. “Surely you can spare a few moments. The funeral will last well into the night.”  

“How did you know about the funeral?” you asked her suddenly alarmed. As far as you knew Mermaids couldn’t walk on land so how would they know that the funeral was going on right now when it was so deep into the forest? You couldn’t even see the smoke from the funeral pyre from here. Titania gave another sweet bubbling laugh and answered, “We are mermaids child, we know of all things secret and mysterious.” You gave her a skeptical look before turning your back on her and preparing to march back through the bushes the way you came, but she stopped you in your tracks when her lovely voice called, “We also know what that dreadful Captain Hook did to poor Chief Great Big Little Panther. We watched that horrid man slit his throat from ear to ear. We would have helped, but we are just mere mermaids, and Captain Hook has no tolerance for any of us. We tend to keep our distance. But we just so happen to know exactly what he has planned for Peter and his boys. You probably didn’t even know that the little pixie girl has turned against you all and is working for Hook now. Terrible thing jealousy is you know.”  

You whipped around to stare at the beautiful smiling mermaid. Titania flicked her rainbow tail in the water nonchalantly, not even bothering to stare at you anymore. Something about these women made you not want to trust them at all. They seemed to give you a bad feeling, but if there was even a chance that they were telling the truth you had to find out what they knew. If something ever happened to Peter or the rest of The Lost Boys you would never forgive yourself if there was even a possibility that you could have stopped it. “What do you mean?” you demanded as your tone took on a harsher edge and you directed the full-weight of your gaze squarely on the mermaid queen. The enchanting creature looked up at you with heart-rending sorrowful eyes as she let out a defeated sigh. “It is such a complicated story I should hardly know how or where to begin…but I think I should make you aware of the dangers you will be going up against very soon,” Then she then patted the spot on the rock directly beside her. “Come and sit beside me little sister. For the things I have to say cannot be uttered out in the open like this.”  

Titania looked at you with her piercing deep blue eyes and she looked so sincere, so trustworthy…yet you still didn’t want to sit beside her, in fact you didn’t want to go near the water at all, but if there was a chance to help Peter you had to take it no matter what. He was more important than any fears you might have of these mythical creatures. Whatever they knew you had to find out for his sake. And so after a few tense heartbeats you made your way over to the edge of the beach where the dark ocean water met and lapped gently upon the sand. You gathered your courage and slowly eased yourself in to the freezing waters. The cold was unlike any you had ever felt before. As you slowly submerged your body into the water it felt like thousands of tiny needless were pricking your skin all over. Your body instantly began to shake and your teeth chattered loudly, but still you had to press on for Peter. This could be the one last thing you could do for him before you left Neverland forever. The rock wasn’t that far away now and as you tried to force your stinging limbs to move, the rest of the mermaids seemed to act as a kind of escort. They followed you nimbly on both of your sides, giving you enough room to swim, but still keeping close. They glided through the icy sea waters as graceful as dolphins, but they never swam ahead of you and your slow and steady pace. Finally you made it to the white washed rock and a fierce surge of joy overcame you at the thought of finally getting out of the freezing cold ocean. As soon as you reached the rock you began to throw your hands upon it’s smooth surface to pull yourself up, but you stopped as you looked up to see Titania glancing down at you with a wicked smile on her devastatingly radiant face. Before you could even register this she elegantly dove into the water behind you and seemingly disappeared into the depths of the murky black ocean. You had a horrible flashback of those Jaws movies where the predator was wading just below the victim’s feet, waiting to strike. Panicked now you turned your attention to your legs; just waiting for Titania to reach out and grab them. But the attack didn’t come from below like you had thought, instead without warning or sound cold slim hands clutched your shoulders and with unbelievable strength pushed your head under the water. You had only had enough time to take one desperate gulp of air before you were completely submerged into the biting ocean waves.  

You immediately threw open your eyes that began to sting from the sea salt. It didn’t help though because your vision was blurry and all you could see was moving blackness. You kicked furiously to try and keep yourself afloat as you began to thrash and twist your body in an attempt to throw off your attacker. You clawed mercilessly at the hands that were holding you down and you felt a fierce bolt of satisfaction as you heard a muffled cry of pain and outrage. You had managed to hurt her! With your determination renewed at your little victory you began scraping your nails even harder down the once flawless skin of the mermaid’s hands. With an outraged shriek that made your eardrums want to split she finally released her grasp to cradle her injured hands. You kicked your legs with all of your might to finally reach the surface.  

Your face broke the surface and you hungrily gulped for fresh air. It filled your screaming lungs in a glorious rush, but no sooner than you had time to feel relief, a hard grasping hand snaked up your ankle and pulled you below with a fierce yank. You struggled even more than before, lashing out blindly with every inch of your body and every last ounce of your strength, but it wasn’t just Titania you were up against now. Shining scaled tails darted past your blurred underwater vision and pale arms came out of the darkness of the ocean depths to scratch, punch, and pull you all over. Your lungs began to burn and scream for the need of oxygen, but no matter how hard you struggled, you couldn’t seem to shake the evil creatures off of you. They kept holding you down, just enough to where you could see the light of the surface not too far away. Yet it might as well have been miles away. Your strength began to fade, and your lungs now felt as if they were beginning to burst. And all the while the mermaids swam past you in circles while lashing out randomly like a demented game of water tag. A numb peaceful feeling started spreading throughout your entire body and when your limbs stopped moving the mermaids all began to sing their haunting melody again. They stopped attacking you and were content to just swim around you and sing. Your body began to float downwards and you watched above you as the light on the surface slowly began to fade away into blackness. I’m dying… A small part of you recognized this truth, but there was no panic to it. You had already digressed into a calm blissful state of peacefulness. You could no longer see anything but darkness, nor could you feel anything but numbness. The only sense you had left was the sound of the mermaid’s song, happily singing your final requiem.
 
Too be continued…

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Authors Note: Well I hope you liked this chapter and I know I said this was going to be the chapter that finally turned this story into a lemon, but I’m so sorry I lied. I really didn’t think I was going to focus so much on the mermaids, but before I knew it I had written an entire chapter again and there was no way to fit the lemon in this part. But I PROMISE you that the next chapter will be filled with lemony goodness! Please believe me this chapter just sort of sets up the story for the real lemon. (It will all make sense to you later.) In a weird way it all kind of works out because this way I can post (hopefully as long as nothing happens) the lemon chapter on Christmas Eve. So you will get what you’ve all been waiting for as a kind of Christmas present from me. I mean what better gift could I give you guys right? Btw I like listening to certain songs to get me in the mood to write. For the mermaids I listened to “Sirens” off of the animated movie Sinbad: Legend of the Seas soundtrack. To me it just fit so perfectly with the slow melodious beginning and then it diving into something frantic and darker like they were trying to drown you. So perfect I can’t even…However I leave what they are singing up to your own imaginations. Anyways I hope you aren’t too mad that there was no lemon in this, but I really hope you guys stick with me till the next chapter!
Until next time guys,
          Fox