Peter Pan
Bill peeked through the window, spying on who he thought was the most interesting person ever. A boy about his age, which was twelve or so, read to his little sister, who was about ten. He listened to the story of a young maiden in a far off kingdom, forced to work for her horrible step-family. In the story she made it to the ball, but the boy looked toward the window causing Bill to startle and fly to the roof.
He watched from above as the boy opened the windows, looking about for the other. "Dipper, what was that?" He heard the little girl ask. Dipper, that was the boy's name. 'What a strange and beautiful name,' he thought to himself.
"It was nothing Mabel, probably just a bird." The boy said as he shut the window. And the girl's name was Mabel.
"That must be a big bird, it was size of you!" she said. They began giggling a bit as Dipper helped his sister up. Bill slowly approached the window again, seeing Dipper taking Mabel to her bed and tucking her in. Just as he was visible through the window again he heard a ringing in his ear.
"What is it Gideon?" He asked the little fairy man. Gideon sounded like a little bell whenever he talked, but Bill had grown to understand fairies. "Yes, I am planning on taking them to Neverland. And no, you can't change my mind. The Lost Boys need parents." The fairy spoke again. "No, I don't love the boy!" He saw Dipper walk around the room, lighting little candles everywhere and then dimming the light at the center of the room. He walked to the window once again, this time sitting on the little nook beneath it.
Bill stayed on the roof, watching Dipper from an angle so the boy couldn't see him. He slowly watched as the boy went from awake, to drowsy, to that final state of blissful sleep. 'Maybe I'll just take him instead,' Bill thought this time. He called upon the winds to open the window doors and blow out the candles in the room. Without the light sources the room became very dark, like a scene from a scary movie. The light from the moon played tricks on shadows making them look more menacing than usual. It was Bill's perfect scene.
He flew into the room, Gideon resting on his shoulder. He watched the boy, sitting on the floor next to him and just staring at the beauty. He felt an odd impulse and brushed the boy's hair back, seeing what looked to be the Big Dipper. 'This boy is special, I made the right choice.' He put his bangs back down and just as he was about to slip his arms under the boy, he heard the girl behind them scream.
Dipper awoke with a start, jumping away from Bill and nearly falling out the window. "Mabel!" Dipper said as he ran to his sister and hugged the girl. "Who are you? What are you doing?" he said turning to Bill.
"He was trying to take you, Dipper! That's why I screamed," Mabel said innocently.
'Well that girl is going to be a nuisance, I can already tell,' Bill thought. "Hi, I'm Bill Cipher and I'm from Neverland. I'm the boy that never grows up." He looked over to the girl who still seemed unsure. "I was just lifting him up to put him back in bed, little girl." Mabel had a look of understanding on her face and Bill put on a smile.
Dipper stopped then, analyzing the boy. His hair was a dark black but his skin was pale. He wore golden leaves on his body and had a black dagger on his leg. There was a fairy on his shoulder, one who seemed to be very annoyed. "I've heard of you," Dipper said as a smile spread across his face. Bill was pleased, loving to see the boy this excited about meeting him. "My uncles have told me stories about you. Do you really live forever? What's Neverland like? What are the-" but he was cut off.
"Woh, woh, slow your role. I can answer all those questions for you. If you come with me," Bill said, a childish grin on his face as he outstretched his hand.
"Well, I don't know what my uncles would say-" this time he was interrupted by the other person in the room.
"Dipper, please!!! Can we go to Neverland, please???" Mabel begged.
'Maybe the girl won't be so useless after all,' Bill thought to himself. The fairy on his shoulder stood, then flew over to the girl. He made little bell sounds and Mabel giggled.
"I'm sorry little one, I don't speak fairy," she joked.
"Well, he says you're very beautiful. And he wants you to meet all the other fairies on the island," Bill said. He figured this would definitely work now.
"Please Dipper? I want to meet fairies!" Mabel begged.
Dipper looked to Mabel, face softening as he saw her. "Okay, I guess we can go for a day..."
"Yay!" Mabel cheered.
"Great, I'll show you how to fly. And then we'll head to Neverland. Come look," Bill walked to the window, trying to find the star. "You see that star up there?" He asked Dipper, putting his arm around the boy's shoulder. "We'll follow that second star till morning, and then we'll be in Neverland."
"Is it beautiful?" Dipper asked.
"Very," Bill replied. 'But it doesn't compare to you.'
---
And the island was beautiful. Crystal clear waters and exotic plants and animals were everywhere. There were different people like pirates and Indians and the Lost Boys. Dipper thought it was funny how Bill gave all of them crazy names like Eight-Ball, Hectorgon, Keyhole, and Teeth. Dipper would get to tell them stories each night and Bill even got them to call him father. They had so many books Dipper thought he was in heaven.
Mabel would go off and play in the fairy gardens with Gideon and his friends and she'd returned every night before story time. When Dipper went with her one day he noticed how much the fairies seemed to like her. She had even grown to understand their language. When Dipper noticed this he wondered how long they had been on the island, then realized he couldn't remember. His train of thought was soon interrupted by Bill.
"Hey Pine Tree!" he greeted him. That was Bill's nickname for Dipper and he called Mabel Shooting Star. Bill had just come down after a fly around the island. "How do you like the fairy gardens?"
"Oh, hi Bill," Dipper said, looking down a bit and slightly blushing for Bill's messed up hair and winded expression. "They're beautiful. Mabel seems to be getting along great with the fairies."
Bill looked over to the girl, seeing her play with the little things. "Yeah, she has a real way with them. I was wondering, would you two want to go to an Indian bonfire tonight? They think of me like their prince and they like to do little things for me," he said quite smugly.
Dipper rolled his eyes a bit. "Sure, I think we'd like that. Hey Bill, do you know how long we've been on the island?" Dipper asked. An innocent question really, but Bill had hoped that Dipper would have forgotten about his old home by now.
"Does it matter really?" Bill asked, shrugging his shoulders.
"Yes, it does. If it's been a long time I don't want our uncles to worry about us."
"A few days, maybe," Bill lied. It had probably been a few months by now. Dipper paled at the idea of even a day. "Don't worry, I'm sure they're just checking the city a bit. Let's go get ready," he said as he took Dipper's hand in his.
"Wait, what about Mabel?" Dipper asked, now panicking about his sister.
"Don't worry, the fairies can help her get ready and drop her off there. Can you guys do that?" Bill called. It was answered by a symphony of hundreds of little bell sounds. "See? Now let's go!" He said as he flew into the air. Dipper yelped a bit at the take-off and then got closer to Bill. He held on to Bill's shoulders and once he got a bit more comfortable he laughed. He laughed because of how much fun he was having and how beautiful everything around them was. Then Bill laughed because of how much he loved Dipper.
---
They arrived at the bonfire, Indians everywhere. As Bill flew down all the Indians stopped and then ran up to him. They bowed and one of them bestowed a feather headdress on him. "Thank you all, but now let's party!" And so they started up again, dancing and hollering. Bill took Dipper's hand and he introduced him to Chief Northwest and his family.
As Bill talked in the strange language to the chief Dipper made eye contact with Princess Pacifica. She saw him and they shared a small smile. Dipper then made a face to which the girl giggled at. Bill watched the whole thing out of the corner of his eye, unhappy with his Pine Tree.
He finished speaking to the chief and he took Dipper's hand again, walking to the circle to sit. Dipper was clapping along to the drums, a smile on his face. Bill enjoyed seeing the boy so happy. But then he saw Dipper wave to the princess, who sent him back a large smile. "Pine Tree, I need to talk to you later," Bill said.
"Well, can't you just tell me know?" Dipper asked being brought out of his joyful state.
"I don't think I should-" but Bill cut himself off.
"Bill, what is it?" Dipper questioned. Bill pointed to the side and Dipper followed his finger and gasped. It was Mabel, she had a beautiful dress on and a whole group of little fairies were with her. Dipper got up faster than a bullet and ran to Mabel. "Mabel, you look beautiful!"
"Thanks Dip! And guess what? Go on, guess!" she said, barely able to contain her excitement.
"What?" Dipper asked.
"The fairies want me to be their queen for forever!" She said as she hugged her brother.
"That's great Mabes, but we're going to go home soon, okay? We've been away from Stan and Ford for a long time." Mabel pulled back, looking Dipper straight in the eyes.
"Dipper..." She began. But then she threw herself against her brother and began sobbing. "I miss them, we haven't seen them for so long." The fairies tried to comfort her but she just shooed them away.
Many of the Indians stopped dancing and looked over. Bill stood and spoke, "Don't look over there. Do whatever you were doing." They began dancing again and Bill made his way to Dipper and Mabel, taking them out of the camp and into the forest. "What's wrong guys?"
"Bill, we want to go home," Dipper said, pleading in his tone.
"But why? Neverland has everything you could want!" He needed the boy to stay here, he didn't know why but he just did.
"We miss our family..." Mabel said, pulling away from Dipper slightly.
"But don't you love the fairies? Aren't they amazing?" Bill asked. He took some pixie dust from a pouch and sprinkled it right into Mabel's hand.
"No, I don't want to be with them!" She said, throwing it on the ground. "I want my grunkles!"
"Bill, please," Dipper begged. "Can you take us home?"
At this point, Bill was about ready to scream. He couldn't believe these kids would want to leave a place like Neverland. But, he put on a good show and he acted like he was thinking long and hard about his decision. "Okay, I promise you guys will be at home by tomorrow night. How does that sound?"
"Oh, thank you Bill!" Mabel cried as she hugged the boy.
"Bill, thank you so much," Dipper said as he also hugged him.
"No problem Pine Tree." Dipper pulled away, but not before placing an innocent kiss on Bill's cheek. "You guys should get home now, get some sleep before tomorrow."
"Thanks, Bill. Come on Mabel," Dipper said as he took her hand and walked back to their little tree house in the woods. Dipper turned back and waved, Bill giving a little wave back. After they were out of sight, Bill placed a hand to the spot where Dipper kissed him, and a tear fell out of his eye. He didn't know what to do right now. 'Maybe I could tie him up and make sure he can never leave, but that would never work...' Bill thought to himself.
"Dipper, you're never going to leave, no matter how hard you try." He walked back to the bonfire, calling his Lost Boys and the fairies that Mabel left there. They made their way to the fairy gardens to think of a plan.
---
The next morning when Dipper awoke, Mabel was not next to him. He got up, calling her name. "Mabel! Where are you?" Then he realized he wasn't in his tree home underground anymore. Technically, he was still in a tree but he was above the ground. Very high above the ground actually, probably even higher than he and Bill had ever flown.
He looked back at his bed, seeing how it had a beautiful canopy on the top and how the bed posts had intricate little designs. He walked around and realized everything he needed seemed to be in this big room. There was two walls completely missing from the tree-house which gave him a perfect view of the whole island.
"Hello Pine Tree!" Bill cheered. He hopped down from the roof of the little house. "Enjoying the view?" he asked as he did a silly pose.
Dipper giggled. "Yeah. Um, Bill, why are we so high up? And where's Mabel? And why-"
"Pine Tree, so many questions. Let's just sit down and relax," he said as he hopped onto the bed.
"But Bill, I need to-" he was interrupted again.
"There's nothing to do," he said waving the boy off.
“Can you just listen for-”
"Pine Tree, how about you come and-" this time Bill was the one being cut-off.
"No Bill!" Dipper screamed. Bill had a shocked expression on, he never thought Dipper could do anything like that. "No. Now where's Mabel." Dipper was panting from his little outburst.
Bill composed himself, putting the usual grin on his face. "Come sit here and I'll tell you." Dipper slowly approached him, then sat next to Bill on the bed. "Here, this may be a bit more comfy." Bill positioned Dipper so the boy's head was laying in his lap and looking up towards him. "Mabel is safe."
"But where is she?" Dipper was not up for games right now, not when he was suppose to be home.
"She told you last night that the fairies wanted her to be their queen, right?" Dipper nodded, not understanding quite yet. "Well, now she is their queen. She is deep in fairy territory, guarded by magic and such so nothing can hurt her or get to her. Like a little magic bubble." Bill smiled, looking down to Dipper.
But Dipper was less than happy. "Bill, me and Mabel were suppose to go home today! You promised!"
"Hey, I did promise and I kept it. Mabel is in her new home, the fairy garden. And you are in your new home, a place only I can reach."
"Bill!" Dipper sat up and then got off the bed. "You can't keep us here! We don't want to stay." Dipper walked to the edge of the room, looking down. He looked to the side and saw some branches, they were too far to just grab but he could jump to them if he tried.
"Pine Tree," Bill said, tone dark. "Don't you dare try it." Dipper looked back to Bill, then readied himself and jumped. "No!" Bill flew faster than he had ever before and grabbed Dipper before he could grab the branch.
"No, Bill! Let me go!" Dipper screamed.
Bill held onto the thrashing boy. "No, I'll never let you go! You weren't even going to make that branch!"
"Maybe I didn't want to! I don't want to be here anymore! I want to go home with Mabel!" Dipper stopped his struggling and began to let tears flow from his eyes.
Bill brought them back up to the edge of the room and walked Dipper over to the bed. Once they got onto the bed Dipper threw himself onto Bill, hugging him tight. "Hey, hey, it's okay," Bill said trying to comfort the boy. He felt horrible that Dipper was feeling like this, he loved this boy and wanted to make him happy. "You have me here, isn't that good?" Dipper continued crying. "And we can visit Mabel if you want. How does that sound?"
Dipper pulled back, wiping his eyes a bit. "Really?" He would give anything to see his sister right now, to make sure she was okay and also because he just needed to see her smiling face.
"Yeah, and we can go play with the fairies and stuff. And we can visit the Lost Boys and the Indians. We can go fight pirates and find treasure. Wanna do that?" Bill was persistent, he didn't want Dipper to leave and right now he would do anything to get the boy to stay.
Dipper nodded, then looked back to Bill. "Can we visit my grunkles?"
Bill hesitated then answered with, "Sure, why not? But a different day." Bill didn't mean it. He would make sure Dipper had so much fun he would forget about everything before Neverland.
"Okay... But why are we up so high?" Dipper had an innocent spark in his eyes, one of the things Bill loved about him.
"I heard some pirates wanted to kidnap you, and this was the safest place for you." Again, another lie. He wanted the first thing for Dipper to see in the morning to be him, and the last thing at night, too. He wanted to make sure nothing could hurt Dipper and he wanted to be the only one to help him. He wanted Dipper to need him, just like he needed Dipper.
"Thanks, Bill." Dipper looked out to the sky and the ocean and the jungle. "Can we go out now? I want to go on an adventure."
"Sure, let's go!" Bill jumped up and Dipper followed suit. "Hold on." Dipper moved to the back of Bill, wrapping his arms around the boy's torso. It was exactly what Bill wanted and it felt so good. "Are you ready?"
"Ready." Dipper held on, all worries leaving him as Bill took off into the air. He laughed, forgetting all about his problems. And Bill laughed because Dipper was forgetting everything but him.