Chapter Text
The small creature was hurt, badly so. So much so that she'd lost her memory.
She didn't remember anything, not even her name.
She crashed near a lake, the same one which she'd apparently saved a demigod, the child of Neverland from a few moments before, though she was not aware of that.
Peter, on the other hand, remembered everything.
He remembered the little fairy creating a small — or perhaps gigantic, in comparison to her size — catapult from the trees nearby to throw rocks at the lake and scare the shark out of it for long enough to douse it in sparkly golden dust, which caused it to float above the water, before launching at its nose with such speed and force that it was forced to open its mouth and let Pan free.
He also remembered the shark coming back to its senses as the fairy was checking on him in the air.
The beast had tried to eat him once more but the fairy pushed him out of the way, using her dust to make him weigh like a feather, before she punched the shark again.
Unfortunately, Peter was still disoriented and didn't react well on time, causing the fairy's fight with the beast to escalate until her body got caught between its teeth, her wings barely escaping definite destruction.
It wasn't until the fairy's tiny voice was screaming that Peter gained his senses once more.
He sprung to action, lodging his knife between the shark's teeth before twisting it vertically; forcing it to open its mouth enough to free the fairy.
The tiny light fell and Peter soon dived down after it, sinking into the water as the tiny blonde lady was slowly drowning.
He managed to find her, of course, and brought her back to shore fast enough that she didn't need CPR — which was very good for him, since he didn't know how to perform that on a fairy the size of his pinky — before waking up.
The little creature woke up disoriented and scared, wondering where the hell she was and what was going on.
Peter has explained the situation to her, asking for her name soon after offering his.
The fairy looked around for a second before confused and tired eyes turned to him "I don't know" she admitted "I don't know what my name is"
Peter was surprised and worried "That's okay" he reassured, not wanting his savior to feel scared "We'll figure it out together"
The fairy squinted her eyes at him in suspicion, her hands holding tightly onto the leaf that Peter set atop her almost naked form after the shark tore apart her dress "And why should I trust you?" She asked "For all I know, you could be a creep planning to use me for my nature or something"
"Your nature?" Peter asked, a little amused "Do you know what you are?"
The little fairy was taken aback, concentration appeared on her face along with determination as she searched her brain for an answer
"No" she eventually admitted "But something is telling me that I shouldn't trust you too easily"
Peter huffed, trying to hold back a laugh "Fair enough" he said "Though I do believe that you should get some clothes on you before you go back into the forest. I'll stay here to protect you until we find a solution, it's the least I could do"
The fairy turned her head to the side "Fine" she said with a huff of her own, though Peter didn't miss that curious glance she sent his way.
"Great, now let's see" he looked around "What are we going to do"
The fairy joined him, looking around the small beach and forest combination, before her eyes landed on a particularly sharp rock and vines.
The fairy wasted no time, quickly flying to the rock with such speed, she actually scared Peter.
The boy was alarmed when he was unable to stop her, his hands automatically going to snatch her in the air but her flight was far too quick and size way too small for him to catch up to. But thankfully, his panic was quickly pacified once he realized that she hadn't gotten far.
He quickly caught up to her and was about to ask what the hell was that for when he saw what she was doing; the fairy was using the sharp rock to cut the leaves of the vines in the shape of a short dress.
It was quite impressive, how she managed to do that with a rock acting like a knife, but "How are you going to hold it together?" He asked, causing the fairy to slightly jump, as though she'd forgotten his existence "The pieces aren't going to hold themselves, you know" he said, ignoring the little light's reaction.
The fairy quickly turned back to the leaves "That's what the vines are for" bells jiggled as she spoke "They're going to act as a sewing thread"
Peter raised a brow "You don't know what you are, but you know what a sewing thread is" it was more a statement than it was a question.
The fairy blushed "I guess" she said in an embarrassed tone.
Peter let out a chuckle "And how are you going to get the vine into the dress? It needs a hole for that"
The fairy rolled her eyes before grabbing the lower edge of the top part of her dress and carefully using her nails to create small holes.
Peter was impressed "That's so cool" he said with a smile, the thought of using her nails hadn't even occurred to him "But aren't the vines too-"
Before he could finish, the little fairy flew towards the vines and carefully tore at their layers, again and again, until all that was left was a pile of thin strings, ones thin enough to fit in the hole, but still strong enough to hold together the leaves.
The fairy even told Peter to 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘵 so that she could see how durable it is.
Peter did as he was told, stretching and bouncing the threads again and again until one of them eventually broke.
It took until the fairy finished creating all the holes for the one thread to finally snap, and even then that was because Peter began using some force — out of frustration more than anything else —; the fairy has truly chosen good vines and cut them apart meticulously well.
Peter was about to pick up another thread to play with when the fairy slapped his hand, telling him to wait until she was finished and to not just play with her materials.
Peter grumbled but still complied diligently, not wanting to be the reason as to why the fairy's outfit is falling apart like the leaf currently wrapped with a vine around her waist.
It wasn't until the sun was starting to set that the fairy had finally finished her dress project and instructed Peter to turn around so that she could change.
The boy did as he was told, staring at the beautiful sky as the sun was slowly being engulfed by the waters of the lake which caused this entire mess in the first place.
A realization suddenly came to Peter's mind as the sun was starting to turn the sky red in its last attempt to delay the night "By the way" he started, his hand fidgeting with the sand beneath his feet "I forgot to tell you; You're a fairy. You're the first fairy I've ever met, and you saved my life from the shark before all of this happened, so thank you"
He could hear the faintest jingle of a bell behind his back as the fairy quietly thanked him and apologized for treating him the way she did when they first came out of the water.
"It's no problem" he replied "I would be scared too if I just woke up in the middle of nowhere and couldn't remember anything"
Finally, she let him turn back around, and Peter couldn't help but admit to how pretty she is, wearing the dress of her own making.
The leaves for the dress were different shades of green, some even changing colours as it was the beginning of fall and the dark green leaves began to turn bright and yellow before falling off the trees.
She even added a flower petal to her hair and a leaf choker necklace with a cotton ball in the front to compliment her dress.
She still didn't have any shoes, but he could see the extra tiny leaves and cotton balls in her hand ready to be used to create some comfortable footwear.
He hadn't even realized that he had remained quiet this whole time until the fairy nervously asked "Is it too much? Is it the necklace? I just really liked the cotton so I thought maybe I could add it to my outfit, but-"
"You're beautiful" he said impulsively, unwilling to hear another negative word from the fairy girl.
The tiny girl blushed before shyly thanking him.
Before they could continue talking, though, thunderclouds appeared in the sky.
"We need to go" Peter said, quickly lifting his hand so that the fairy could be perched atop of it "Fairies can't fly in the rain"
It was common knowledge in Neverland, even to those who have never seen a fairy before — and most of them haven't, not when the little creatures stayed hidden from the rest of the island —, but he wasn't sure whether or not this little one remembered that.
The fairy didn't fight him when he brought his hand up, and instead grabbed onto his thumb to steady herself while scanning their surroundings in order to find a place to hide from the rain.
They couldn't find one, so Peter started running — not flying, because that would risk the wind landing rain on the fairy — around the forest with the fairy in one hand while the other covered her from above.
Finally, they reached a small cave at the edge of the forest, one deep enough for them to not get wet, but unfortunately too small for Peter to be able to move around in comfortably.
The fairy frowned, trying to get Peter up and out of the cave so that they could find another one better suited for his size. But the rain was already pouring heavily and the boy didn't want to risk the fairy getting wet and losing her flight.
Instead, the boy simply curled around himself and waved the fairy off, trying to catch some sleep.
The fairy gave him a sad look, searching around the cave before finding some dry leaves and wood from an old bird's nests.
She brought over the small twigs and leaves, arranging them in a way that'll create the longest potential flames, and used two small rocks to create a spark to set it all ablaze.
Peter smiled at the fairy in thanks and the little creature mirrored it with her own smile of triumph and satisfaction.
The two of them slept together, huddled in front of the flames; Peter on the side of the fire, with a safe distance from the ring of stone created by the fairy prior to the ignition, and the small winged girl cuddled up within the pocket of his shirt.
The next day, Peter woke up to the fairy pulling at his hair and jingling in his ears, telling him that there's something he's gonna want to see.
Peter arose with a grumble "What is it, Bell?" He asked, a little annoyed.
The fairy tilted her head, momentarily forgetting what she had woken him for.
"Bell?" She asked.
Peter rubbed sleep away from his eyes as he answered sleepily "Yeah" not understanding the issue.
"Why are you calling me Bell?" She clarified.
"Because you make jingle sounds whenever you talk" he answered flatly, more awake now that he was talking with the fairy "Isn't that like a bell?"
The fairy frowned "Yeah, I guess it is"
Peter raised a brow at the small girl, a slightly worried and confused expression taking over his face "Is there something wrong?"
The fairy shook her head "No, no, it's just, 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘭. It feels so familiar, for some reason, like it's my actual name. But it also doesn't feel complete. Like there's something missing from the word"
"Hmm" Peter grabbed his chin in thought "Maybe it's a part of your name" he said "Like mine is Peter Pan. Maybe yours is two words, too"
The fairy nodded slowly "Maybe" before lifting her gaze to meet Peter's once more "But that's not what I came to talk about" she said with a determined gaze; the same one she had when she made her dress, the same one she had when igniting the fire; Peter was starting to recognize a pattern there; every time a new project came about, the little fairy seemed to be both excited and determined to get to it.
Peter tilted his head "What did you want to talk about?" Already guessing that she's found another project to work on and show him.
"I found a hidden path behind the cave" she said excitedly.
"Huh? Where?" Peter asked, dumbfounded — that's not what he had in mind when he thought about a project —.
The fairy led him to the edge of the cave, where a tower of rocks acted as a blockade for whatever was on its other side.
Peter turned to look at his newfound friend "Bell" he started "I don't think you understand what a path is"
The fairy tilted her head at him in confusion.
"I need to be able to go through it too if you want it to be a path for me" he continued "I'm not big enough to fit though these rocks"
"Well, no" Bell admitted "But the path behind it is big enough for the both of us. If we could just get the rocks out of the way" her voice turned lower and more concentrated as she kept on talking, putting a hand on her chin and examining the blockade like she was trying to figure out a difficult puzzle.
Peter watched as she was eyeing the wall and wondered if his knife could be used to move the rocks.
Without thinking, he took out his blade and lodged it between the two gaping rocks — which he'd assumed the fairy had passed through — the same way he did the shark's teeth, only this time, instead of twisting his wrist to the side, he used the entire force of his arm to lift the handle up, causing the rocks to shake and come loose as the lower ones moved.
"Bell" he said shakily as the action was eating at his strength "Fly back. I'm going to bring this entire wall down"
"But what about you?" She asked in a panic.
"I'll be fine. I'll fly away as soon as the rock comes out. Now go!" He ordered.
The fairy reluctantly listened, flying away to perch on the small rock in the middle of the cave; not close enough to get hit, yet not far enough for her to be unable to keep an eye on Pan; she needed to save her pixie dust after all — at least, that's what Peter told her; she couldn't keep flying without it, so she needed to be frugal until they could find another source —.
Once Peter knew that his little fairy friend was a safe distance away, he gave the final push; kicking the rock underneath the one which he was pushing out of the wall before quickly flying away once he heard the rocks rumbling again.
The tumbling pile has only missed him by a hair as he quickly made his way to Bell; one second of hesitation, of making sure, and he would have been squished to death by the rocks; he didn't like that thought — of death and mortality —, not one bit.
Soon, the dust has settled down and beyond it was revealed a ruined slope of stone and gravel that was barely walkable, with a mute, dimly blue light as its only source of sight.
Peter took the fairy in his hand, telling her to let him carry her so that she won't have to waste any pixie dust.
The fairy agreed easily and the two of them soon floated down the slope of rocks, which slowly became less sharp and more walkable as they kept on going — though, of course, Peter wasn't going to walk; he never has when he had a choice between that and flying —.
After a minute of navigating the small slope with nothing but a dim light to guide them, the boy and fairy have finally reached an underground cave with a piece of the Neverland ocean as its ceiling.
Fish curiously watched over them as they made their way towards the deepest part of the cave.
Eventually, they reached a spot where the stone was slowly turning into wood, the cave walls slowly turning into the hollow insides of an elder tree.
The fairy looked around the log with starry eyes, her brain already coming up with all sorts of ideas on how to improve the place.
Peter, on the other hand, wasn't as excited, and wasn't afraid to voice his opinion "Why do you look so excited?" He asked, gesturing towards the piles of fallen wood and cobwebs "This is a dump"
The fairy frowned, flying up from his palm and over to his side "It's not a dump" she said before going to examine the dusty space "It just needs a little bit of improving, that's all" she rubbed her hands together like a crazy little project manager, already thinking of all the things she could build.
"Wow. You really love tinkering, don't you?" Peter asked in amazement and amusement "Maybe we should call you Tinker instead of Bell"
He laughed, but Bell wasn't laughing, instead, she froze.
"Bell?" Peter asked "Are you okay"
The fairy turned to him "What did you just call me?" She asked. Her voice didn't sound hurt, or even offended for that matter; she sounded curious, 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦, more than anything else.
A worried expression took over Peter's face "Tinker?"
She nodded slowly "I think that the missing piece, the other part of my name"
"What, your name is Bell Tinker?" He asked jokingly, because that really did sound like a bad name.
The fairy frowned "No, idiot. The other way around" she made a switching motion with her hands as she rolled her eyes.
"Tinkerbell?"
"Yeah" she answered, slight annoyance clear in her voice before it was replaced with a hopeful expression.
"Huh, well it does have quite the nice ring to it" Peter mused "Tinker Bell. Tinkerbell. I like it. Tinkerbell it is" he put his hands on his hips as he announced his approval, as though he was the judge on the matter.
Tinkerbell giggled "That's good to know, Peter Pan. I like it too"
"Good" he said sincerely "We wouldn't want you to have a name that you don't like, now do we?"
Tinkerbell shook her head, playing her part in the playful banter "No, we don't"