Disclaimer: I don't own Peter Pan, nor any other character or setting related to it unless otherwise stated.
Notes, Acknowledgements, Dedications and Apologies: First of all, I would like to say kudos to all those who have managed to write Hook fics/ficlets. This is my first try at it, so be gentle. I would like to acknowledge Isis33, whose Hook ficlet "I Dream" was the first Hook fic/ficlet I'd ever read, and which therefore gave me the one final push I needed to start writing Hook stuff too. I would like to dedicate this one to all my Jason's Angels out thurr, especially Taylor and Sarah. Sarah, by the way, gets a big thanks from me for giving me the first push to write a Hook fic. Onya, girl! I luv ya! I would like to apologize to Mr Isaacs, if he ever, ever reads this. I'm not trying to butcher Hook in any way, I just wanted to see if I could paint the good (??) old (???) captain in my own light. Sir Barrie also deserves an apology from me…I write shit, he writes treasure…When you review, please, please, be kind…
Drowning In DarknessA Hook Fic
By Tav
The stars were bright out, and the sea quite calm. The Jolly Roger's passengers were in high spirits, drinking and singing their terrible pirate hymns, and telling made-up stories of brave and courageous journeys and quests that were most likely non-existent. There was merry making all over the ship, and not a frown was seen on any face.
Almost none. There was one.
James Hook sat at his harpsichord, his distinctive iron claw rolling on the keys oh-so-softly as he played a melancholic tune, a stark contrast to the happenings outside his door. The dim light in his blue eyes gave the same sad expression. Even the way he sat seemed to give away just how lonely the man was. Indeed, it seemed there was no other person this side of the earth who was lonelier than he.
A noise from outside made him stir. He stopped his playing for just a moment, and turned to the window. He could hardly see what his crew was doing, but the sounds were clear enough for him to deduce.
"Come on, then, lass, what're you afraid of?" Hook heard Starkey say. Other pirates joined in. "There's no one else on this bloody ship but us, you know!" said another pirate, and again the rest followed in their rather crude encouragement.
"That's exactly the point, you know," came a female voice, one not so unfamiliar to the Captain. "There's no one else here, why waste my voice if you've already heard it about a million times?"
Hook had to snort. True, the girl's voice rang out every morning from the ship's deck even before he or the rest of his bullies were awake. She was always singing, and it was always the same song. Some of the crew already had most of the words memorized, while Smee hardly resisted the urge to hum the tune as he cleaned the ship. There was no doubt at all in Hook's mind that the whole ship was entranced by this simple girl.
Hook got to thinking then at that point. Who was this girl that she had each person on the Jolly Roger, himself included, at her fingertips? How was it that, in a little less than a fortnight, she had captivated every pirate on the ship? No one even knew where she came from. How she ended up in Neverland was anyone's guess, (much less how she found and boarded the ship) for she refused to reveal how she did it without Pan's help. In a singular word, the girl was…fascinating. Fascinating without really meaning to be, Hook feared.
A crash outside brought the Captain out of his musings quite roughly. Something chaotic was happening outside. Hook had a quick thought that he would not be surprised if Cecco had started it. He stood from his harpsichord and proceeded outside, not minding how irritated he knew he would be by the ruckus going on behind his door.
No one seemed to realize that Hook had stepped out of his cabin and onto the deck. They continued on with their raucous calls and jeering. In the midst of it all was her. Her with her yellower-than-the-sun hair. Her with her greener-than-the-sea eyes. Her with her skin the color of milk. Her with her bell-like laugh. Her with her mile-wide smile.
There was no smile on that pretty face at the moment, no laugh from her slender throat. Just a frustrated grin and an exasperated giggle. Around her, a few pirates, including the Italian Cecco, were gathered, offering her a drink and demanding that she sang for them. She strongly refused their advances, and tried with all her might to be polite about it. But the bullies wouldn't have it. Bill Jukes took her by the waist and sat him on his lap, forcing a tankard into her hand.
Hook was not going to stand for it. Ruthless and feared as he was, he still knew had in him the need for politeness, courtesy and proper etiquette.
"JUKES!" he hollered. It was only then that the crew saw that their Captain had joined them on the deck. The pirates fell quiet. "Unhand her, fiend, unless you want my hook stuck up where the sun doth not shine!" Bill Jukes did as he was told. The girl quickly got to her feet, and forcibly gave the tankard back to Jukes. "I unfortunately must decline your…kind offer, Mr Jukes," she said. It was obvious to Hook that she said this with some effort. He watched quietly as the girl turned to him, face stoic as it could ever be. He offered an arm to her, and she, without any form of reluctance or hesitation, gladly took it, thankful to get away from the bawdy crew.
"Smee," Hook called. His first mate came scurrying to him, his face red as a cherry. "Make sure these dogs keep the noise down to a tolerable level, or I'll cast anchor in you." Smee mumbled an incoherent affirmative, and Hook drove his quarry back to his cabin. He let her in first, before stepping inside himself and shutting the door. "And we are not to be disturbed," he ordered to Smee just before the door closed behind him.
The girl stood stock still at the foot of Hook's bed, an arrogant expression on her face. Hook knew not the reason for such open hostility from her, but he decided to ignore it. "It may seem unbecoming of me," he started, taking a seat once more at the harpsichord and continuing his playing, "but I must apologize for the behaviour of my crew. They are uneducated in the proper ways of treating a lady."
The girl snorted. "You can say that again," she said wryly. "Otherwise, though, they are quite a polite bunch."
"Which only happens with you, I can assure you," Hook answered. "I, frankly, have never seen them in such demeanors around anyone else."
There was a pregnant pause where Hook slowed down the tempo of his tune. "Really?" the girl asked, but in a quietly curious tone. "Why is that? I mean, there must be an explanation for their behaviour…"
Hook stopped playing and turned to face the girl. She truly was an enchanting sight. It was therefore a wonder to Hook why she was asking such a question, but he, out of strict politeness, answered it anyway. "The crew is entranced by you, my dear," he said quietly, "The entire crew. You've done something to them that even I cannot explain. It's quite strange, I must admit."
"The entire crew…" the girl repeated quietly. Hook went on, standing up and walking to her as he continued. "You're different, Ms Bellatrix, different from anyone else who has ever stepped foot in Neverland. There's something about you…something…intoxicating." By now he stood but half a foot from her. He was just a little taller than he, only about half a head taller. Her green eyes met with his blue orbs without her lifting her head too high. She could see the sincerity of his words in his eyes. "What do you think that might be?" she asked in a voice barely above a whisper. "It's hard to tell," the Captain replied, "It could be anything about you."
It was there that the conversation stopped short, and the two remained quiet, gazing at each other as if seeing each other for the first time. What happened next happened in both a very slow pace and a very fast pace that both persons were unaware that it had happened.
Bellatrix reached up and, in less than a second, had her lips locked against the captain's in a passionate kiss. Hook made no effort whatsoever to stop her. He didn't care to. She had a delicious kiss, and he was going to relish it. For once in his life, he would have something pure.* He was not going to let anything ruin this.
The kiss grew deeper as Bellatrix's hand crept up Hook's neck, pulling him closer to her. Hook's left hand climbed slowly up her back, eliciting a sweet little sigh from the girl. His hook began to pull at the fastenings on the back of her green dress. Bellatrix held him tighter against her, effectively locking him in the kiss.
All of a sudden, however, she pulled away, just a little away, breathless. "Something is poking against my thigh," she said quietly. "It's not my hook," Hook replied, and they disappeared into the recesses of his bed for the night.
~*~
Bellatrix awoke in the middle of the night to find an empty bedside. She looked around her quickly, an unreadable expression on her face. She was neither lonely, nor happy. Neither mad, nor sated. She was just…there.
She got up off the bed, and picked up her green dress. She examined it for a while, taking a while to check the buttons at the back. To a normal person, they were irreparable. But not for Bellatrix. Bellatrix was special. Bellatrix could fix it. With a wave of her finger, a golden glow appeared around the dress. It wrapped itself around her until she was wearing it the way she was before Hook had pulled it off of her. The fastenings on the back fixed themselves and closed the dress. She looked at herself in the mirror, and waved a finger at her hair. It fixed itself from the frizzy mess it had become into a neat bun on to the back of her head. She was about to turn away when she saw the reflection of the window of Hook's cabin in the mirror.
The window was open, and it showed a solitary figure with long black curls and a red robe wrapped around him. He was leaning over the railing, looking up at the sky. He raised his hook and put it up onto the railing, just as his left hand was also resting on the railing.
For a while, Bellatrix stood, watching the reflection. A tinge of feeling coursed through her, but she wasn't sure what it was. It felt strange to her, it felt alien. What kind of feeling was it? Was it a good feeling? A bad feeling? She could hardly tell.
In the distance, a star twinkled brightly at her, as if in warning. It was as if the star was talking to her. Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "You silly ass!" she said, "I know the time! I don't need to be reminded!" She turned to the window one more time, her gaze resting upon the captain whose bed she had shared only a few hours ago. Then, she walked to the other window, beside the mirror. She sighed as the star continued to warn her. She waved a finger at herself, and immediately a golden glow surrounded her. From the back of her dress sprouted wings, and her the cloth on her dress began to change until it resembled leaves. She grew shorter and smaller, until she was no bigger than the handle on Hook's sword.
The star continued its relentless beckoning to her. Bellatrix cursed at it, her voice unrecognizable except as a ringing of silverbells. Then she flew out the open window and into the dark night.
Hook, in the meantime, had seen the glow coming from his cabin, and had begun to approach his room, his hook at the ready for any intruder. But as he opened his cabin door, he saw nothing but the open window and a tiny glow flying out of it.
Hook looked to his bed. Bellatrix was gone. He had not heard the cabin door open, so how did she leave? How did she escape?
He walked around the room, his blue eyes gazing as if in investigation. When he found nothing, he looked towards the open window, a look of affronted sadness on his face. It was not until he looked down at the floor that he understood what exactly had happened.
A leaf had fallen from somewhere, a green one. It was the same color of her dress, the same hue of green. He picked up, and twirled it in his hand slowly, realizations flooding into his calculating mind, and instantly putting 2 and 2 to make 4. Hook sighed. "The pixie," he said to himself quietly, throwing the leaf away from him without a care of where it should land.
The stars began to disappear behind the clouds, and so did the moon. All other lights on the Jolly Roger went out. James Hook, loneliness marring his otherwise handsome features, lay on his bed, wide awake, drowning in darkness.
THE END.
*~This is a modification of a line from the movie "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" as delivered by the legendary Alan Rickman as the Sheriff Of Nottingham.