Chapter 1: Summer Evenings
*I do not own the characters*
It was a warm summer's night. The crickets sang loudly outside the tavern, while inside it was rather subdued. Only a small, lazy crowd lingered. She sighed and placed her empty glass down on the bar top. Signaling to the barkeep she left a few gold coins before walking out into the pleasantly warm air.
Despite the pleasantness of the evening, she felt melancholy. She'd been hiding in this boring town for nearly two months now. She missed the forests, her friends. She missed home.
Not wanting to go back to the small loft where she'd been staying, she sat down outside, against the back wall of the bar, and pulled out the guitar she'd carried on her back. She strummed a few chords, not playing any song in particular- but the music was beautiful just the same. Even the crickets stopped to listen. From the corner of her eye, she saw a group of loud men enter the bar. From the sound of it, they were already drunk. Well, seemed like she left the building just in time. Not recognizing any of them, she figured they were sailors, after all, this was a port town. Despite their loud voices now coming from inside, she continued to play where she sat, humming a tune. Engrossed in her musical meditation, she didn't notice one sailor had lagged behind the others and stood a few feet from her, listening.
She suddenly felt his eyes upon her, pulling her out of her reverie.
"No lass, please, keep playing".
She shook her short blonde hair out of her face. "I was nearly finished anyway", she half grumbled, the mood broken.
He frowned. "why is your music so sad?"
She shrugged. "It's not. It was just music."
"Ah".
She looked at him more closely, slightly taken aback by the handsomeness of the man. Especially by those light blue eyes coupled with his dark features. Then she noticed his hand. Or rather, the place where his hand should be. Her blood went cold.
"Why do you have a hook for a hand?"
"I lost it to a crocodile. And the hook, Well, they couldn't exactly call me Captain Hook without it, could they".
"No, I suppose not", she said darkly.
"And now tell me lass," he said, stepping close to her. "Why is it you look so familiar?"
She'd been found. After all these months of moving from town to town, she'd been found. And by Captain Hook no less. The most ruthless pirate of them all.