"Well, of course fairies never REALLY die," Peter explained as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.
"They don't?" asked Wendy.
"Of course not. They're pure magic, so they just... change shapes. They do it all time. I thought everyone knew that!"
Clearly not, Wendy thought, as she stared in grim fascination at Tinkerbell's new form. Wendy, along with her brothers, had been horrified when the Crocodile had swallowed the little fairy along with the late Captain James T. Hook at the end of the duel. Wendy, John, and Michael thought that no amount of clapping could rescue her from such a fate, but... clearly, they were wrong.
When Tinkerbell emerged from the Crocodile's snoring jaws the next morning, she felt entirely refreshed. As it turns out, a crocodile's belly is a good place to take a nap, if no other place will do. But her night inside the beast had certainly rubbed off upon her, and she was more than half a reptile herself now!
Even without wings, she could still fly with her fairy magic, but the tail was going to take some getting used to.
The newly-changed reptilian fairy spotted Wendy gawking at her and bared her sharp little teeth in her direction. Good lord, thought Wendy -- the little troublemaker already had something of a vicious streak before this, and by all indications, she was going to be even more of a bother like this.