I press my mouth shut, swallowing past the pain. I almost feel like laughing but I think that must be a strange mixture of adrenaline and shock making me feel that way.
In spite of all my efforts, I became a pin cushion after all. And I willingly accepted it in the end in order to save the producer I thought I didn’t like.
It’s truly been quite a day. If the version of me who was having a panic attack over having fins could see me now she would be just horrified. She would fight even harder against her fate, and she would end up in this situation all the same.
Because it really wasn’t about her at all. It was about James. That darling high-strung man who wants a vacation and keeps all his messy thoughts in boxes.
I turn to look at the man in question. James’s face reflects the horror I should feel, but I just feel resignation. All this work and I’ll share Moira’s fate all the same.
I start to fall to the side, but James seems to have regained control of himself. He drops his hold of the sword and instead wraps his arm around me, catching me by my shoulders.
He pulls me into his lap. “Oh no, Vera, oh no, no, no. What do I do? What can I—"
So, the plot won anyway…
I reach up, but I can’t quite get my hand to make it to James’s face. He reaches out, snagging my hand before it drops back down to the ground. He holds it up near his face, as his thumb moves back and forth caressing my hand. “Why would you do it?” he asks, the tears dripping down his cheek. “Why wouldn’t you get rid of that accursed song earlier?”
I tighten my fingers around the song, making sure that it is still going out, sending the mind-bending waves of control. I hear Peter scream as the shadow croc attacks him. I smirk. “You were way too pretty to be some crocodile’s lunch,” I rasp out.
He leans forward, sniffing as he pulls me closer. His hook digs into my shoulder, but I don’t complain. I don’t want him to put me down. When I’m here in his arms, dying doesn’t seem quite as bad as I made it to be in my imagination.
As it is, I hardly feel any pain. Just a strange warmth from my middle and a lack of sensation below that.
Tears land on my chin and slide down my neck. “Guess, you’re going to have to find another partner in crime,” I say. My voice is weak, barely more than a whisper, but I don’t have the strength to make it stronger.
“Don’t talk like that,” James says sniffing loudly. “You’ll be fine.”
I’m quite certain that I won’t be fine, but now that I’m finally here, my real regret is that I’m leaving James to face this world alone. In such a short amount of time, I’ve come to care about him and worry about him more than my own self. And maybe that’s where Moira’s story went wrong, she died because of obsession, not love, but I get to die protecting someone I love.
I just wish I’d admitted it earlier. It would have been nice to have at least exchanged a kiss before I had to die for him. But I haven’t the strength to say anything that I’m thinking. So instead, I gaze into his teary eyes and try to convey my feelings that way.
I wish we could have gotten that cup of coffee.
Seeing James cry just makes me sad so I allow my gaze to drift past him to the velvety dark sky overhead and the silvery gleaming stars.
I wish to get the chance to live happily with the man I’ve grown to love. I think as I stare up at the star.
Is that truly too much to ask?
I feel a tear slip down the corner of my eye as the darkness closes in around me, only unlike the shadows of Neverland, this darkness is deeper and thicker.
My eyes drift shut.
