The Pirate and the Princess
Author's Note: I got this idea and inspiration from The Princess Bride. I love the idea of Hook and Aurora together and I love how OUAT makes characters other characters (Ex: Rumpelstiltskin is also the Beast and the Crocodile). I know that The Princess Bride isn't technically a fairytale but OUAT just did an episode on Dr. Frankenstein so I figure I could get away with it. This is basically Hook and Aurora's back-story. I had to change some of the history of both the characters and the story of TPB just to make this story flow better. Also a lot of chapter one is repeated lines from TPB but it's only to set up where the story will go. Anyway I hope you really like it!
Aurora ran into the forest crying her eyes out. She almost tripped over the skirt of her newly made lavender colored dress that her guardians made early for her birthday. It was the nicest and prettiest thing she had ever owned, and there was a reason why. It had hit her like a ton of bricks when she learned that she was really a princess and that her hand was soon to be for some prince in a kingdom she didn't even know of.
Early that day she had been the happiest she had ever been. Whilst collecting berries when she had met him. Phillip. His brown hair reminded her of an autumn's day, faded from the brightness of summer. Those eyes, deep blue like sapphire jewels. Aurora had always thought there was such thing as love at first sight and she felt as if she truly did love him.
It wasn't the first time she had experienced such strong sentiments though. There was one other time before but she knew that she confused love with plain adoration. Usually her guardians kept her locked up to the best of their abilities. She was never to go as far as the forest when picking her berries. But Aurora couldn't help herself. She loved being around people. There was a nearby village a few miles south that she'd go to. A farmer there took notice of her admiration for the horses he owned and took pity on her. He let her ride any one of the horses she'd like whenever she was around. Aurora would go to that village as often as she could and would ride the horses because it made her feel free. Free of any rules and restrictions given to her.
During her visits she would see a boy helping out the old farmer with various chores. From the looks of things it appeared as if he was an orphan and the farmer took him in. At the time Aurora was ten so it was easy for her to immediately fancy this boy who was older than her by six years, despite knowing he didn't notice her a bit. She never knew his name though so she only referred to him as farm boy.
The last time she saw farm boy was when she was twelve. He had just turned eighteen and was eligible to be drafted to sea to fight in a war regarding the several kingdoms. All she knew was that he died in battle after word came to his surrogate father, the farmer. Apparently the ship he was on was attacked by the famous Dread Pirate Roberts, who left no prisoners alive.
She ran all the way to the special spot she met Phillip at, completely out of breath. She rested against the tree with tears rolling down her cheek. It still felt like a dream. Only a few hours prior they were dancing having the most wonderful time ever. Aurora thought she had it better when she was just a simple peasant girl than becoming a princess all of a sudden and being promised to a prince, whom she had never met in her life. How was that anyway to live?
Lost in her own thoughts about how the day before her could possibly get more dreadful she gasped in shock when she saw three men standing far off to her right. The one at the left was a giant. She had never seen a man so tall. His black hair was curly and he wore a blank stare. The one in the middle was the shortest of the three. He was bald and entwined his fingers together looking the most trusting of them all. The last one was of normal height and had longer black hair. He carried a sword that was put a way; this alarmed Aurora. At first she was scared and startled until the small one began to speak easing her mind momentarily.
"A word, my lady. We are but poor, lost circus performers. Is there a village nearby?"
"There is nothing nearby," Aurora began. "Not for miles."
Without looking towards the shorter man, the giant began to head towards her raising his arm. Aurora's fear returned to her surface. The last thing she heard was the bald man speak as the giant touched the side of her neck.
"Then there will be nobody around to hear you scream."
In an instant Aurora passed out as the giant pinched her neck. She began to let out a scream but fell short of it becoming louder. Her body collapsed making the giant steady her and hold her up in his arms. He picked her up and carried her over to the two other men.
"I did it Vizzini," the giant said as if he was seeking approval.
"I can see that you oaf," Vizzini remarked. The way he spoke was a cross between a yell and a whine. "Now get the princess to the boat." He stared at the sleeping beauty for a moment before saying, "I hear that they call her Briar Rose… I don't see it. She looks more like a Buttercup if you ask me."
The only thing that was closer to the forest other than the nearby village was a lone dock that fisherman used from time to time. It was currently deserted of any people, the perfect opportunity to kidnap a princess.
Vizzini ripped off a piece of fabric. It was from an old uniform used to serve a king from one of the several kingdoms in all the land. When his other companion, Inigo asked what he was doing Vizzini explained the course of action he was taking.
"King George is still bitter about this one's parents giving her hand to Prince Phillip. He wanted his son James to be betrothed to her, gaining more land and making his family's power stronger. That's why he hired us. We're going to start a war."
"Why?" The giant asked.
"Haven't you been listening Fezzik?" Vizzini shrieked. "We're going to pin the murder on Phillip's family making the king and queen of Princess Aurora seek vengeance. Throughout all the war and bloodshed, King George will take from these families when they are too busy to notice."
"You never said anything about killing anyone," Fezzik said.
The two began to argue, mostly just Vizzini babbling about and commanding orders. When he was done screaming he ordered that they should set sail at once. He threw the ripped garment and the necklace that Aurora once wore to the docks before the boat parted ways. He knew that her fairy guardians would go looking for her since they were hiding her away from the evil Maleficent. Vizzini had figured what was going on with the fairies after King George hired him to go searching for the princess. Plus it was common knowledge the Maleficent had planned a curse to fall upon Aurora on her sixteenth birthday, which was days away. He felt pride knowing he'd accomplish something more sinister than Maleficent's sleeping curse and get to do it before she'd ever find the princess.
Night fell fast and Aurora was awake just before twilight faded. She was terrified of what had happened and did not make any attempts to look at her captors in the eyes. Ever since she became a princess her life honestly turned into such a nightmare. Once again she was lost in her thoughts but often listened to the captors speak trying to see if there was some way she could get out of the situation she found herself in. If she could just send a message for help or something, she might be able to.
"You are sure nobody is following us?" Inigo asked for the second time.
Vizzini swore up and down that there was nobody there and that they were all in the clear. It wasn't until the Spaniard mentioned and pointed out a boat that could just be seen behind them. As Vizzini began to make excuses as to why there would be a ship besides theirs out at night Aurora began to see her way out of this mess. If she jumped out into the water and swam to the other boat she could get help. She would take her chances with whoever was aboard that ship than with the lot she was with now.
Without thinking she dove into the water uncaring that it was cold. She extended her arms and began to swim in the direction of the ship following them, hearing Vizzini shout in the background. Her heart raced a mile a minute despite knowing that it would take them a bit to turn the boat around. If she could keep going she'd make it to the other boat before they caught up.
But there was something Aurora hadn't realized. Swimming along the current, something moved beside her. She was horrified when it began to snarl and moan. Her mind was blank as to what it could be but Vizzini's annoying shouts clued her in.
"Do you know what that sound is, Highness? Those are the shrieking eels. If you don't believe me, just wait! They always grow louder when they're about to feed on human flesh. If you swim back now, I promise, no harm will come to you. I doubt you'll get such an offer from the eels."
It was enough for Aurora to swim back in the direction she came. She put a lot of force in her body making her feel exhausted with each stroke she took. Behind her she could feel the eel charge. She was sure that she was done for until she felt Fezzik's giant hand pick her up and bring her back aboard the ship. She was so tired that she fell back to sleep unable to keep her eyes open.
When they finally did pen back up she found that morning was upon them and that the ship was now at dock aside of the cliffs of insanity. Aurora had only heard stories about them and was amazed to see it in person. She was less amazed when learning that Fezzik would carry the four of them up the cliff to escape from the sailor that had been following them.
Aurora had been scared many times during the past twenty four hours but this was the most terrified she had been. These men were insane. There was no way that they wouldn't die. When she was hooked up to the odd belt that Fezzik wore she began to say her final prayers because she expected nothing but death. Her heart thumped loudly, sure that it would explode from all the anxiety pressed upon her. The whole way up she closed her eyes not wanting to look at what was happening. However she couldn't help but open them when Inigo announced that the mysterious sailor was gaining on him. Her head rushed when looking down seeing how high up they truly were. Her eyes got hold of a fully dressed black figure climbing effortlessly up the cliffs.
"Inconceivable," Vizzini breathed. Her sentiments exactly.
To her surprise and astonishment they actually made it up to the top. When she was safely brought to the summit she rested along the ground, almost hugging it as if it would comfort her. It had all happened so fast that she couldn't quite recognize that Vizzini cut the rope they used to make the man in black fall. But when the bald man began to shout again she knew that the man in black had managed to stay on. Part of her wanted to look, hoping that he'd rescue her from these people but she was quickly taken away with both Vizzini and Fezzik before she could get close enough to the edge.
The man in black struggled as he brought one hand up to a sturdy rock within the cliff. He tried to quickly decipher which one to grab next. As he climbed up he thought that this was awfully a lot of trouble to nick some precious jewels held by these sailors. But whatever it was they were trying to keep from him must have been very valuable if they were willing to go up this cliff as well. Also curiosity got the best of him.
One of the three men began to make small chat with him letting him know of their impending duel. As he climbed he tried to urge him into letting him help reach the top. The man in black didn't trust him and preferred to do it on his own knowing he'd be killed. He changed his mind however when his opponent swore on the life of his father that he'd make it to the top alive. The man in black thought of his own father and a small morsel of him softened enough for him to get the rope lowered to him.
The sword fight didn't happen right away, his opponent was kind enough to let him take a small breather. He learned that his name was Inigo Montoya and how a six-fingered man had killed his father. Inigo had first asked the man in black if by some chance he had six fingers.
"Do you always begin conversations this way?" The man in black raised the hand that supposedly had six fingers on it, only showing five. "Sorry, I think I'll only have ten fingers in total," he said of both his hands.
After listening to Inigo talk about his plan of vengeance the man in black couldn't bring himself to kill him. He knew that he'd win this duel but he would only knock out Inigo so he wouldn't follow them. The sword fight was one of the best ones he had had in a while and Inigo really knew how to properly fight. It was wonderful to fight someone who wasn't either left or right handed like him.
Just as he suspected, he won and proceeded to clunking him on the head. The man in black found that it wasn't as easy as he would have liked it to have been though since he had to fight a giant shortly after. To no avail he then found the last of the three sitting idly on a rock with a blindfolded girl. Whoever she was, must have been the treasure they were hiding away. The man in black gathered quickly she must have been a royal or something.
Vizzini was going on and on about how he couldn't steal what was already stolen, which amused him to no end. He stole already stolen objects on a daily basis and would do the same. The bald man challenged him to a battle of wits, which was even more laughable.
This supposed battle of wits involved so much stupidity in his eyes. The man in black put poisoned powder into both goblets of wine resting on the rock that was between both of them. The man in black claimed to have only put it in one and that Vizzini had to guess the correct one. What he didn't know was that the powder wouldn't affect him since he had built up an immunity towards it. While the annoying man began to babble about which goblet to choose, the man in black looked at the blindfolded princess. She shook every so often scared of what was to happen to her. Part of him pitied her. He imagined what she'd look like when he could see her eyes. Even when they were covered she looked very beautiful. Vizzini then pulled the oldest trick in the book and claimed that something was happening behind the man in black. Humoring him, the man in black turned as the bald one switched goblets.
No longer delaying the inevitable both men took a drink from their cups and Vizzini fell victim to the poison. When he dropped dead, the man in black rose from his seat on the rock and went towards the princess. He pulled the blind away from her and was answered to what he suspected. She was truly beautiful.
Aurora looked at who had been following her this whole time, her rescuer. He had dark brown hair and eyes that looked like a sea after a storm. In a way he looked like Phillip but at the same time he didn't at all. There was something more ruggedly handsome about him. Somehow Aurora was also reminded of her farm boy. Someone who she hadn't thought about in a while.
She was at a loss for words until she uttered, "Who are you?"
"I go by many names Princess."
"Please tell me," she asked.
"As you wish," the man in black said as he began to make a showy bow. "May I introduce myself to you, your Highness as the Dread Pirate Roberts."