Seeya Later, Alligator

[Louis]

It's a quiet night in the backwater bayous just a short walk away from the bustling town of New Orleans. While in the Crescent City lights still shine brilliantly and citygoers continue to have their fun, the swamps are as lazy as ever. The wild jazz of the city makes way for the chorus of frogs, crickets and waterfowl.

Seated on the banks of the waterways was a huge alligator, not menacing or vicious in appearance at all, but appearing rather gentle, and just a little forlorn. His beloved yellow trumpet clutched in his claws as he gazed up at the clear night sky, Louis made a sentimental sigh. Tonight, he was going to pay his respects to a departed friend.

The gator's eyes were fixed on two almost overwhelmingly bright stars, floating side-by-side almost as if they were destined lovers. To Louis, they were not stars at all; he knew them by the names of Raymond and Evangeline.

The emotional reptile managed to restrain his tears, but couldn't hold back a sniffle. "... This is for you, Ray, ol' pal." With those words, he lifted his trumpet to his lips and began to blow. As if by magic, a beautiful yet melancholy melody echoed out from the horn and all throughout the bayou. Louis played with his heart, trumpet raised high up to the two stars in the sky.

[tink]

The bayou was silent as the strains of the dirge floated over the waters. A few flutters of lights the only signs of movement. Even the trees were still while the gator sang into the night. The flutters seemed to have a light of their own, one in particular buzzing about curiously. A closer look would show that the small bead of light was more then just an echo of the moon.

It was a tiny pixie who had never heard this sort of sound before.

The yellow light wove it's way through the air, under willow branches until she was close by Louis, resting on an old stump. A small jingle of bells lost in the trumpets tone. The song was sad, and the small fae wondered just what the gator was doing. She'd at least wait for him to finish before fluttering up between his eyes.

[Louis]

With one long, soulful blow into his trumpet, Louis finished his tribute to the firefly in the sky, and slowly lowered his trumpet from his lips. However, his attention quickly shifted from his deceased friend to another firefly that suddenly darted out in front of him - an unusually bright firefly.

Louis blinked a few times, a little surprised by its sudden appearance, but tried being sociable by opening up a friendly grin and a rather limp wave of his paw. "Hey there, lil' firefly... guess you, uh, heard all that noise, huh?" he said, a little sheepish; knowing somebody heard his music was always embarrassing whenever he played in what he thought was solitude.

[tink]

The small light the floated in front of his eyes seemed to nod, fluttering up in down with a rather positive jingle. The little light however, was no firefly and as Tinkerbell drew closer it was easy to see this very important fact. With a swirl of yellow dust she flew close to the trumpet, pointing at it in question. She jingled a bit more in excitement, clearly wanting to hear more of it!

[Louis]

Louis blinked, again; he realized this was definitely no firefly he was seeing. It looked a lot more like... a tiny glowing human with wings? An expression of perplexion and curiosity appeared on the alligator's face. The little thing didn't seem to be able to talk, either...

Nonetheless, he smiled heartily, happy that the fairy so enjoyed his music. "Oho, haha, you like ol' Louis' music, don'tcha?" he laughed, a bit of pride swelling up from within him from the fairy's 'compliments'. His mind seemed to have been taken off of Ray, for the moment; a very emotional creature, he could easily hop from one end of the mood spectrum to the next. "Well, there's more where that came from, lil' missy!"

With that, he raised up his trumpet and began to blow again. A much more upbeat tune came from the horn this time, bouncy and jazzy; Louis' favorite sort of music to play.

[tink]

She nodded vehemently, flying around the gator as he pepped up the tune. It was much more enjoyable then the mournful piece she'd heard earlier. Though she was curious as to why he played that instead of the bouncy piece he was showing her now. With a quick mid-flight twist she landed delicately on his nose, walking closer to his eyes so that he could see her clearly.

She jingled as she pantomimed, tugging the corners of her mouth down in an exaggerated frown. Landing lightly on the trumpet she pointed at it and shrugged before looking towards where Louis had been looking at.

Though nothing seemed to stand out to her.

[Louis]

The alligator played fervently, the music smoothly sliding out of the horn and not missing a beat at all. His eyes were shut, but every now and then he opened them to get a look at the little fairy's reactions to his music; he found it charming how much she enjoyed it.

He soon felt the pixie softly land atop his snout, upon which he opened his eyes to watch her pantomime her thoughts. Confused at first, Louis slowly stopped blowing into the horn and the music slowly died out as he watched her.

For a few seconds the gator just stared, dumbfounded, until a look of realization grew on his eyes. "... Ohh, hehe, you're wonderin' about that star up there, huh?"

Although a bittersweet subject, Louis tried to keep a smile on for the little pixie as he explained things. "Well, that star... he's a friend o' mine, y'all could say," he said, looking up at the bright star to the left of the other, heartfelt sincerity evident in his voice. "But... he ain't around no more." Louis' cheerful facade faded a little.

[tink]

Tink had seated herself on the top of Louis head, watching the star with squinted eyes. It...was just a star, not a person. How could anyone confuse a star with a friend unless...unless his friend now lived in Neverland, among all the stars people wished on! She brightened and fluttered up, she pointed at the bright star. They could go! Yes!

Really, she had listened to what the gator had been saying, but her mind was still filled with the lovely music he had been playing and well...a pixies heart has only room for one emotion at a time.

Tinkerbell wanted Neverland to hear this strange music too, and if Louis had a friend in the stars then perhaps his friend could hear the song better from Neverland. The little tinker fae tugged at his nose, still pointing at that far off star and jingling merrily at the reptile.

[Louis]

Louis snapped out of his sadness and blinked in surprise as the little fairy tugged at his snout. He wondered just what she was trying to say, as she then pointed up at the star again. She looked... happy, though. And Louis just looked perplexed.

"... Y'all ain't suggestin' you could go take me to see 'im or anythin', are ya?" he blankly asked with a wild guess, having absolutely no idea that this was just what she wanted.

[tink]

Tinkerbell nodded! Yes! Animals were not like children, they never forgot- so they could return to Neverland forever! Which the little pixie was very glad of.

She flew around his head, pushing him forward as more of an emphasis that yes she wanted him to go.

[Louis]

"W-wait a minute, y'all serious??" Louis questioned, suddenly sounding very surprised. He found himself taking a few clumsy steps forward as the fairy gave him a shove, even if she had barely budged him herself.

He took the time to think about this, for a few seconds. And after those few seconds, an enormous grin grew on his scaly snout. "Y'mean I can see Ray again?! Oh, boy, I gotta go tell Tiana! And Naveen!"

[tink]

The small fae gave a small shrug, there were many strange things in wonderland after all. it would not be very odd to see an old friend there. There was little time though, to find his friends. For a fae can only leave Neverland for so long, otherwise all the small things in her mind would vanish and she wuold forget all about the Neverland.

With another quick twist in flight she was in front of the gator again, he couldn't swim or walk or hop to Neverland. There was only one way to arrive there. With that she flew about him in a circle, Pixie dust settling on the scaled head. Once Louis had enough to make the journey she slowed down and gave a nod.

Now...how to tell him how it worked...

[Louis]

The alligator was already prepared to run off and fetch his friends, but before he could take a step the little fairy fluttered out in front of him again. He just watched in confusion as she zipped all around him, a bright and sparkling powder raining down from her wings.

Before he knew it, Louis had a thin coating of the shimmering dust atop his scales. Bewildered, he glanced over himself, lifting his arms up to examine the pixie dust all over them. "... Wha's all this?" He blankly asked, probably forgetting that the fairy was mute.

[tink]

She stood on his nose again, making a flying motion with her hand before pointing at him excitedly. She tapped her head and traced her smile. It was the only way to fly- happy thoughts were the most powerful thing in Neverland! If he wanted to arrive, he'd have to think of a wonderful thought.

[Louis]

Louis watched the tiny fairy with wide, attentive eyes as she acted something out with a game of charades, again. Something about flying... wait...

The alligator gasped with astonishment. "I-I can fly now? Really?!" Louis almost squealed in his speech, quickly deciphering the sprite's pantomine and overwhelmingly excited by this news. He might have not thought about it too much - he was more than happy with being an earthbound reptile - but to be able to fly is one of those things almost every landlubber would love to do, and Louis was no exception. Not only was he going to see his beloved friend, he was going to fly there.

Not even waiting a moment, Louis decided to take to the skies. The ponderous reptile crouched down and, with all his might, made as much of a leap as he could into the air, arms outstretched... but he immediately fell on his belly with an immense thud in the swampy earth. The confused alligator opened his eyes, knowing that he did something wrong. "Hmm... oh! Right! I gotta smile, don't I?" He exclaimed, no less enthusiastic, as he remembered the fairy emphasizing her smile as she 'explained' things to him.

Heaving himself back up onto his hind legs, Louis clenched his fists and made the biggest, toothiest grin he could muster, displaying almost every one of his razor-sharp fangs. Stretching his lips as far as he could, he waited and waited for himself to magically rise off of the ground (which is exactly what he expected, after meeting a pixie and having magical dust sprinkled all over him).

The alligator hadn't moved an inch in a total of ten seconds. It was clear to Louis that this wasn't working. His massive grin deflated into a frown and he sighed in annoyance; he was still missing something. The alligator thought as deeply as he could for a few seconds, before muttering with realization. "... Maybe I really gotta mean it? Maybe I just gotta think about the happiest thought I can ever think about!" Louis' excitement returned and his smile rapidly reformed as he swelled up with confidence from within. That had to be it!

Alternatively lifting his feet to put himself neatly in place, Louis clenched his fists and shut his eyes tight once again, and, instead of focusing on smiling like he's never smiled before, he thought about his trumpet. His beloved, shimmering trumpet that he had played every single day since he had found it as just a hatchling. He thought about Tiana and Naveen, his greatest friends, and how they brought him to New Orleans to fulfill his dream of playing with the big boys in a band of his own. As his mind went to his band, imagining the feel of blowing into his trumpet to smiling and cheering crowds as his band mates played along with him, he suddenly began to feel just a little light on his feet.

Louis shifted his feet around to make sure... and to his surprise, he felt only thin air. Opening his eyes and looking under him, he gasped with ecstasy and smiled widely to see that he was at least ten feet off of the ground, by now. The joyous alligator burst into boisterous laughter as he spun around in mid-air, and his spinning soon turned to twisting and twirling and practically swimming through the swampy air. "I'm flyin', I'm flyin'!!" he shouted out loud, breaking the silence of the bayou with gusto.

[tink]

She flew around him, excitement making her small body glow brighter and brighter. This would be wonderful, absolutely wonderful! That beautiful sound would echo through out the Neverland, and it would be all because of her.

Tinkerbell carefully followed him, pushing the tip of his tail. Oh! She flew forward, pointing to the red star in the sky. That was the way he had to go! She flew forward, swirling pixie dust behind her so he could follow behind her better.

[Louis]

Louis was having so much fun floating and swirling around in the air that he had almost forgotten that the little fairy had wanted to take him some place, to see Ray again. He momentarily stopped backstroking in mid-air to look up at her as she pointed at an odd-looking reddish star way up in the sky. Before he could respond, she darted over to it, and Louis hurriedly began to follow, moving as if he were swimming through swamp water.

"Hey, wait up, lil' firefly!" he shouted from afar to her, soaring higher and higher after her.

[tink]

The tiny light seemed to hover for a moment, bouncing along the stars. She stopped for a moment, only long enough for the alligator to catch up before going forward once again. The farther along they went, the less familiar everything would become. The stars began to multiply, until it seemed there were millions of tiny fireflies sleeping around them.

The clouds gathered for a few moments and Tink slowed down, she didn't want to loose that trumpet or the one that could make it sound! She jingled a few times, to make sure Louis could keep her in sight.

[Louis]

Louis would have been dog-tired from traveling such a long distance, but flying in this way took practically no effort for the alligator, amazingly; Tink's pixie dust could work wonders. As the golden fairy slowed down, Louis finally caught up with her; but immediately, his attention went from her to the hundreds of thousands of stars surrounding them in a beautiful nighttime tableau.

Louis looked around him in awe, a slight smile on his face, at the dazzling sight. So many stars... so many fireflies, thought Louis. He wondered if this is where they would find Ray.

[tink]

The little fae flew on, dipping down towards some of the stars- but as she drew nearer her reflection appeared amongst the stars. She hopped along the waters surface, distorting the stars below them into a continuous ripple. She stretched and floated along before shaking off the water and flying back towards the sky.

Soon enough the blanket of stars gave way to a twilight, a single, brighter star shinning above what seemed to be an island cast in the sea of twinkling lights.

They'd nearly reached Neverland.

[Louis]

Getting distracted once again, Louis whipped his head up to see the fairy flying even farther and farther ahead. If Louis didn't know any better, he'd think they were flying all the way to heaven! The alligator kept on flying and following the fae, who looked like a glowing ball of light at this distance.

To his amazement, however, the stars began to make way for something even more spectacular; it looked like an entire island floating in the sky. It began to dawn on the astounded alligator that this is where they were headed to. Why would Ray be here, though?

[tink]

It was not very often, or rather not quite often, that Tink brought with her someone from the Everlands. It was hard, then, to remember that she really did have someone with her now. So hard in fact that she had really nearly forgotten about the crocodile following her. But that does happen when one crosses from the Ever to the Never. One forgets small things like where a sock feel behind a dresser or the name of the dog in the next yard.

Fortunately she could not forget that sound, so remembering it now she flew slower. Letting the reptile catch up enough to see the glimmer of her wings. Another motion with her hands for him to hurry and again she was flying back and forth before him. They were so close now, the sea of stars completely banished by the shores and sun of Never Neverland.

A few soft jingles and rough but still rather small push from the pixie to the crocodile's tail brought them all the closer. Here it was! Neverland! Where Redskins, beasts and pirates roamed and Lost Boys dwelt and homed. With an eager delight Tinkerbell began to dive, straight for the swamps and the entrance to the Pixie's Hollow.