to die would be an awfully big adventure
NOTES: This is what happens when you rewatch OUAT and have feels about Tinker Bell and Captain Hook. This is an AU of seasons 3 and 5. With Killian being the Dark One but doing it differently.
Don't own Once Upon a Time or JM Barries, Peter Pan. Enjoy!
Peter was not quite like other boys; but he was afraid at last. A tremour ran through him, like a shudder passing over the sea; but on the sea one shudder follows another till there are hundreds of them, and Peter felt just the one. Next moment he was standing erect on the rock again, with that smile on his face and a drum beating within him. It was saying, "To die will be an awfully big adventure."
― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
Hook is a codfish, a codfish, a codfish!
Hook is a codfish, a codfish, a codfish!
Walking in the jungle of Neverland brought back memories for Killian. The singing of children made its way through his ears drowning out the jungle around him. It felt real, like a dream, except he knew it wasn't.
"Captain Hook is a codfish." The high pitch voice of Rumplestiltskin was the loudest of all above the children's singing. He stepped closer, seeing the green skin that reminded Killian, of well, a crocodile. "Lady Bell was right, you are a codfish and now you're the new Dark One. Congratulations dearie!"
Killian Jones eyes snapped open. He wasn't in Neverland-he was back in Storybrooke as the other dormant Dark One. He remembered now, that he had asked Emma to kill him and instead she made him the Dark One, just to keep him alive. He'd rather have chosen death than be the devil incarnate. But there was possibly no available option to change things.
The whisper of voices, different Dark Ones before him all whispered to kill, to destroy everything and everyone. All these things that he didn't want to do.
Hook is a codfish, a codfish, a codfish!
He could hear Peter, his Peter-their Peter, singing the nickname that Tink gave to him years ago when they were on Neverland. He could hear Rufio's tortured screams as Malcolm took over Neverland and destroyed his family. He could hear Tink's laughter, bubbly and bell-like sound.
"Killian?" Emma started to reach out towards him and all he wanted to do was unleash a wave of magic at her. Anger boiled through his body because he told her. He told her to let him go and instead, Emma made him the Dark One. Her hand was there, waiting for him to grab it, to forgive her but he didn't. Killian shook his head, still whispering in his mind from each Dark One.
Hook is a codfish, a codfish, a codfish!
He had to go and that's just what he did. Killian Jones, the new unwilling Dark One disappeared in a puff of red smoke.
Peter Pan wasn't this entity of evil. Far from it, he was just a boy who did not want to grow up.
He was the same boy that could fly, beat Captain Hook at a sword fight and went on adventures with Tinkerbell and the Lost Boys. He was curious and always tried his best at helping Neverland. He just didn't see what would happen next.
A new boy in the midst, taking the boys one by one until it was too late. Hook, left to go pick up some stuff on the mainland while Tinkerbell went to go visit the Mermaid. They would return to burned home, the Hangman's tree stump on fire and Rufio, dead on the floor with a sword in his stomach. Malcolm had control over the lost boys and now had Peter captured.
They tried getting him back but Malcolm threatened them that Peter would end up just like Rufio. They made bargains with him, ones that both did not like but if it meant Peter would live it was a sacrifice they were willing to make.
During the time Peter spent locked away on skull rock, the Lost Boys now under the rule of Malcolm or 'Pan' as they called him. That shouldn't be his name, Peter thought to himself. That's my name! He wanted Hook and Tinker Bell, missing them both dearly. He wanted to go home but when he heard the twins talk about the tree stump being burned, he knew he had no home anymore.
Peter never did find out what had happened to Rufio. He remembered the older boy yelling for him to run to the Lagoon. "Don't look back. Just run Peter, run!" He yelled behind him as boys he once called friends swarmed them.
Now, he was dying. Peter was slowly dying at the hand of the Dreamshade Malcolm punctured in his wrist. He was tired of having the young boy around, so it was time to discard him. He had all the boys swarm him, practically hold him down as Peter cried out for anyone that could hear him but it was no use.
"To die, would be an awfully big adventure." He whispered to the stars.
Peter Pan died alone with just the stars as his witness.
Nobody would find his body, having dumped it in the oceans with the mermaids. Tinker Bell and Hook would have gone on, thinking the worst of what had happened to Peter, that he escaped the island and forgot about them. That he was wiped away of his memories and sent to another land at the orders of Malcolm.
They couldn't have known that the little boy they practically raised was dead at the bottom of the ocean.
"He's was just a boy. He was a little boy and you killed him!" Tinkerbell yelled at Malcolm. He had a smile on his face, the same one that Tinkerbell and Hook knew far too well. That smile was just one that he had when he was playing a game. Because for Malcolm, everything-life or death was just a silly game to him. One that Peter lost decades ago.
"Say something!" Tinkerbell screamed at him in the middle of the town, everyone watching as she tried to lunge at him, only to be held back by Hook. He wrapped both arms around her waist, not letting go as she kicked at him. "Let me go, Killian! Let me go! He killed him. He killed Peter! You monster, he was just a boy, they both were just boys and you murdered them!" She was screaming and sobbing she mustered every fiber in her body to have Killian let her go and rip Malcolm limb from limb.
Killian would not let go. He wanted to very much, he wanted to go and shoot the man across from him. But he did not want Tinkerbell to go down this path, that was one thing Peter wouldn't have wanted for the ex-fairy.
Malcolm just smiled. "I did," He spoke calmly. "Peter did say that death was an adventure. Well, it was done because on Neverland there could only be one Peter Pan, one immortal boy and that was me."
Tink let out another scream of anger as Malcolm just smiled at the ex-fairy.
An irony that he spoke when Rumple went for the kill.
They had no idea what he meant by "one Peter Pan". Did it mean there was another Peter Pan, one that Hook and Tinker Bell knew? The latter part should have been obvious and it was but there was no time for explanations as Malcolm's curse rolled through the town.
The last thing Killian remembered was Tinker Bell's petite form against his as she cried. Everything went dark after that.
He was dead. Killian Jones was dead and he felt at peace for the first time. Probably since being with Peter and Tink on Neverland. The underworld was a desolated Storybrooke, Hades told him. He was giving him a tour when one of the Lord of the Underworld's furies whispered something in his ear. He did not know what it was but Hades continued with the tour. They walked more when footsteps came, with shouts of his name.
Emma had dragged everyone to hell. He had told her to let him go, something he hoped she did, apparently not. Hades, cut the reunion, deciding that if Killian finished the tour he could decide to go back up or stay. Killian already made up his mind but decided not to piss off a god, especially one that ruled over the Underworld.
Hades brought him to a place where Killian might like to spend the rest of eternity. The final stop was a pretty red house. There sitting on the couch watching tv was a boy with jet black hair, tan skin and red feathers protruding from his hair. If Killian didn't know any better, he'd thought it was all a dream. "Hook?" A boy's voice, one that Killian thought he would never hear looked confused. Rufio stood up, eyes wide with shock before he rushed to give the old pirate a hug. "You're actually here? Did you die? Is Tink okay?"
Killian answered the boy's questions when another figure entered the room. The first one he recognized as Persephone, Lord Hades wife and the other made Killian's heartbreak. Standing there was Peter Pan, still youthful as ever. He looked exactly the same age as the last time Killian saw him. Brown hair swept up as if he's been flying for hours, a green t-shirt and jeans fit his child-like frame. The blue eyes bore into Killian's eyes as Peter spotted Hook.
"Codfish!" Peter cried out before running up to Killian. He knelt down, grabbing Peter and lifted him up in his arms. The six-year-old boy nuzzled into his neck, whispered: "I missed you, you old pirate."
Killian let out a chuckle. "I missed you too lad. Both of you."
He was staying.
When Tinker Bell died, she knew why.
Nobody would understand why she would always go to the Jolly for a long time. She would sit on his bed, cry for the loss of everyone she cared for because she had cared for Rufio, Peter, and Killian. No matter how much he got on her nerves, she cared for him-hell, she loved him. It was forbidden for fairies to fall for dwarves, let alone humans. But Tinker Bell has always broken the rules before, and she was punished a long time ago for breaking a rule. So breaking another one didn't seem that horrible, it seemed more a hobby.
And now they were all dead.
They found her asleep on Killian's bed, dead. It wasn't a suicide, that's what Dr. Whale told them. "She just died like that. As if her life was draining from her."
Blue told them that fairies lived off from beliefs and Tinker Bell, well she must have not believed anymore. Magic was weak with her, remembering the wings that were taken from her, that added up to the low magic she had left. She was dying very slowly for a long time and nobody knew, except Killian. He was the only person that knew.
Death was coming for Tinker Bell for a long time and no amount of clapping could save her.
They meet on the shore where the land meets the sea. There she sees Peter, singing that pirate song Killian taught them long ago.
Yo-Ho, yo-ho, a pirate's life for me
She wanted to make sure she was dreaming but she wasn't. They were here, Rufio still young along with Peter.
The boys were the first to greet her, crushing her into a hug. Killian walked behind them giving Tink sometime to hug her boys. It was almost the same reaction that he had when he saw them.
"So," He drawled at her. "Finally here Lady Bell?" The tears that glistened in her eyes made it very clear that Tink was in no pain anymore. She was just at peace, like Killian. She still held Peter on her hip, she always used to do that on Neverland.
"I missed you. All of you." Tink walked over and as quickly as it left, kissed him on the lips. Killian grinned. "I've missed you too Tink."
The boys started to run up ahead, Peter wiggling out of Tink's grasp to beat Rufio to the house. The two adults walked behind the children, Tink holding Killian's arm.
"You know, Peter was right." He spoke, making Tink crane her neck to look at him. "To die would be an awfully big adventure. He's right, it is an adventure."