And James remembered that time worked differently in other worlds. He had been in Never Land so long now that his mother was dead.

“Then I am truly alone,” said James.

“You’re not alone; you have Mr. Smee, and your band of pirates.”

But that was of no consolation to James. It made him feel worse knowing he had doomed his friend Smee to being stuck in Never Land.

“Why didn’t you want me to be a Lost Boy, Peter? Why wasn’t I good enough?” asked James.

“Because what we needed was a pirate. Someone to make our adventures more exciting, raise the stakes, and now we have that,” said Peter, and he rose into the air as if floating on his own laughter.

“How could you have known back then I would become a pirate if you turned me away?” But James was sure he already knew the answer.

“I met the Odd Sisters a very long time ago on one of my adventures beyond the worlds. I gave them some of Tink’s pixie dust in exchange for my shadow, and that is when I learned about you, and how everything that is meant to be is already written, and who am I to go against fairy stories?”

James wanted to scream out. He wanted to rage, maim, and murder. He wanted to be everything a pirate was supposed to be. He wanted revenge, on the Odd Sisters and on Peter Pan, for the ruin of his life.

“Don’t be sad, James. We have so many adventures ahead of us. Soon I will be bringing three siblings here, the Darlings from London. I’ve had my eye on them for some time. Between them and your band of pirates, things will be really exciting around here, just you wait and see,” said Peter, laughing, doing flips in the air. “And of course there is the crocodile.” Peter smirked.

“Where? Is he here?” said James, looking around frantically, making Peter laugh even harder. James didn’t recognize himself. He was full of fear and rage, and with every word Peter spoke he felt it growing larger within him, pushing everything he valued in himself away, because there was no more room for James.

“Oh yes, this is going to be great fun. Welcome to Never Land, Captain Hook.” And with that, Peter flew up and away from the labyrinth, out of sight.

Captain Hook realized that everyone had been right. You can’t change fairy stories, no matter how hard you try. He was never supposed to be a Lost Boy. His destiny was always to be a pirate. The bad guy.

If Peter wanted an adversary, that’s exactly what he would get, and he knew what he had to do.

Kill Peter Pan.

Epilogue