Chapter 1
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Had this on my mind for quite a long time now. Another Captain Beauty, hope you like the idea!
Enjoy! :)
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Killian Jones, better known and feared as the infamous pirate Captain Hook, was standing slightly away from the dance floor, watching the royal couples dance. Smee had been right, many royals from far and wide had travelled to the small kingdom of Avonlea, apparently only to eager to follow King Maurice's invitation.
The pirate smirked to himself. It was an invitation that not only had attracted the leaders from other kingdoms, but that also had gained the interest of adventure-starved and gold-hungry pirates.
Smee had informed him not long ago about this particular event – his first mate that was hardly made of the yarn a real pirate would be woven, but who had proven himself rather helpful from time to time.
Just like in this case.
His crew had grown hungry over the past years – hungry for gold, for adventures, for women.
Hungry for a pirate's life – something a realm such as Neverland hadn't been able to provide thoroughly.
So King Maurice's great event seemed to be just in time.
And so fitting, Hook acknowledged with a cruel smile on his lips, as Avonlea seemed to celebrate the return of their beloved princess. It seemed rather appropriate that he and his crew would join this kind of celebrating, as they, too, had only returned few weeks ago from Neverland.
Hook continued to watch the royals laugh and dance, and a hint of content excitement was starting to spread through his entire body.
Those fools, he thought. Carelessly showing off their most precious jewelry, desperately trying to impress other royals with their dull life and haughty affectedness. Apparently not thinking for a second that an occasion like that would be the perfect opportunity for a pirate attack.
His crew was waiting outside the castle, waiting for his signal to attack. Hook had wanted to check the safety measurements first, unwilling to believe that a king would leave an event like that barely protected.
But King Maurice appeared to be a greater fool than Hook had ever believed a royal to be. It had been a child's play to get into the castle undetected – even without invitation. And as for the guards, well they rather seemed to be too eager to celebrate as well than to protect the castle.
The pirate shook his head slowly.
Well, the king would learn his lesson later that evening, so much was certain.
The captain had already sent message to his first mate, informing him to start the attack when the clock stroke 12.
Midnight – which meant only half an hour left.
Hook was just about to leave the ball in order to join his crew outside and to bark one or two orders at them, when his eyes suddenly fell on a young woman standing across the ball room.
A breathtaking beauty with long, dark curls and pale flesh, dressed in a long, golden gown and with a cut low enough to offer a generous glimpse at her rather tempting cleavage. A tall, young man was standing next to her, talking heatedly to her. But she didn't seem to be too interested in what the young noble man had to say. She didn't even look at him. Her eyes were firmly glued to the ground and she clearly didn't appear to be too pleased by the man's presence.
Hook smiled to himself.
He was at a ball after all, and hadn't danced even once. And pirate or not – but his heart always longed for saving a damsel in distress – especially a damsel as beautiful as the young stranger.
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"We need to talk about this." Gaston hissed, his voice sounding heavy with a great amount of jealousy.
Belle let out another, exasperated sigh.
"Not now, Gaston." she whispered. "I'm not in the right mood for a conversation like that."
Her fiancé let out a contemptuous snort.
"You never are." he growled. "Look at you, Belle. We've both escaped from the monster's captivity and you don't even seem to be happy about it!"
"He's not a monster." she retorted quietly, and lifted her eyes to look at her fiancé with sad eyes.
Gaston just stared at her, the skin beneath his right eye twitching slightly. Belle could see how his pale face started to turn red from suppressed anger, as he flashed his eyes darkly at the young beauty.
"He turned me into a rose and held you captive!" he hissed, his voice quivering a little.
"But he turned you back into a human-being and released me from the deal I've made with him." Belle said as calmly as possible – inwardly hoping that Gaston would just leave the topic. She had no intention to longer think or talk about Rumpelstiltskin – let alone with Gaston.
From the look on his face, Belle knew that he was fuming inside.
He bent down and grabbed her arm forcefully.
"I saw you two." he hissed into her ear, making her shudder in response. "I know about your kiss, I know that you have fallen for that beast, Belle."
Belle let out a sharp, pained gasp, but the grip around her arm only tightened.
She turned her head, her eyes wide open, and her heart stopped beating for a second when she saw the hurt and anger that greeted her through Gaston's dark gaze.
"Let me go" she whispered and tried to free her arm from her fiancés grip, but without success.
In response, Gaston just pulled her even closer, his enraged face only inches before hers.
"This will end." he growled dangerously. "You will stop thinking about this monster and will become my wife in body and soul. Do you understand?"
Belle just stared at him and the fear was gripping her heart tighter than the brute's hand around her arm. She was just about to retort something, anything, when an unfamiliar male voice came to her rescue.
"I suggest you let the young lady go." the stranger said with a determination in his voice that made Gaston loosen his violent grasp around the beauty's arm at least to some extent.
Both, the beauty and the noble-man stared at the unfamiliar face with a hint of confusion in their expressions.
"I don't take orders from strangers." Gaston challenged with a dark voice, and straightened his body, making himself even taller than he already was. "This is something between my fiancée and me."
But the young stranger seemed pretty unimpressed as he just smiled at the noble-man, his stunningly blue eyes firmly fixed on the other man.
He then let out a low chuckle that sent waves of shivers down Belle's spine and shook his head slightly.
"Ah, you see… " he said in a clearly amused voice and moved closer until he was standing right in front of Gaston. "… a stranger I might be, and yet, I feel obliged to rescue a beauty such as your companion from a brute such as you."
Gaston finally let go of Belle's arm and turned his full attention towards the other man.
"She doesn't need saving." he growled in return, his eyes sparkling vividly with pure fury.
"I beg to differ." the stranger retorted and moved his left arm.
Suddenly, Gaston jumped slightly and his expression turned from fury to surprised fright. The grin across the stranger's face broadened as he looked knowingly at Gaston, leaning in even closer
"Get the lady something to drink, will you?" the young man suggested with a sweet voice, his eyes still holding the taller man's gaze.
Gaston hesitated for a moment, but nodded eventually. He shot one last evil glare at Belle and the young man, before he finally stepped away from them, leaving the stranger and a visibly confused Belle standing alone.
It was only then that Belle saw what exactly made Gaston so quickly take a flight. Her eyes widened when she saw the hook that was apparently replacing the stranger's left hand.
"Don't worry about that, love." The stranger addressed the beauty as he had followed her gaze. "Quite a useful weapon indeed, but never had it been more useful than in this very moment."
Belle finally tore her eyes away from the rather strange hand-substitute and met the man's amused gaze.
A slight blush illuminated her pale cheeks as she looked into those bright blue eyes that were staring back at her.
"Thank you" she whispered in a strained voice and offered the man in front of her a shy smile.
The man stared at her for some moments longer, before his lips curled up into a genuine smile. He extended both arms and bowed his head slightly, his eyes never leaving hers.
"It was a pleasure." he almost purred, and the blush that was lingering on Belle's cheeks only increased.
He then offered her his good hand.
"Care to grant your rescuer at least one dance, Mylady?" he asked, the seductive smile on his face capturing her only a second longer than Belle would have wanted to.
But she eventually returned his smile and took his hand, nodding.
"It would be a pleasure." she said, flashing one of her most charming smiles at the stranger in front of her.
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Gods she was beautiful. From the distance, he had not been able to see her startling blue eyes that had made even a skilled womanizer such as Hook lose his mind for the heartbeat of a second. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her beautiful face as they started to move to the sound of the music. His hooked arm was firmly encircled around her small waist, his hand holding hers, and they were dancing more closely than a formal event such a royal ball might have seen fit. But it didn't matter. Hook clearly intended to enjoy this moment with the unknown beauty, and according to her body language, she didn't really seem to mind.
"So are you enjoying yourself?" he finally asked after some moments of silence, a mischievous smirk curved into his features.
Despite his expectations, the beauty let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head.
"Not really." she admitted with a shy smile.
Hook raised his brows in surprise.
"You don't?"
Once again, the beauty just shook her head.
"I'm just doing my father a favor." she further explained with a low voice. "He wanted me to be here."
Hook cocked his head and searched the young woman's face for some moments. He noticed the hint of sadness that was darting of her face, and he was internally wondering why a young royal such as her wouldn't enjoy an event like this.
"So you're not happy that the princess is back?" he teased lightly, remembering the original purpose of the king's celebrating.
The young woman lifted her head in surprise and eyed him with a clearly confused expression on her face.
"What do you mean?" she asked with furrowed brows.
Hook let out a low chuckle and shrugged his shoulders as he spun her back into his strong arms.
"I was just wondering…" he laughed. "The event's purpose is to celebrate the return of Avonlea's princess, isn't it?"
The young woman stared at him, but gave him a short, silent nod as response.
"Well, and given the fact that you are not too happy to be here…" he explained. "… I was assuming that you are not too happy about her return."
The confusion in the beauty's eyes vanished and she gave him a strange smile, Hook wasn't quite able to place.
"I'm not." she agreed, and now it was Hook's turn to look a little puzzled.
"You don't like her?" he asked with raised brows.
The young beauty let out a cheerful giggle and shook her head.
"Oh no…" she disagreed at once. "I think she's really nice."
She let out a heavy sigh before she continued.
"I guess I'm just not in the mood of celebrating."
Hook gave her a sympathetic smile and nodded. They continued to float gracefully across the dance floor when the pirate noticed the angry look the beauty's fiancé was shooting at him from across the ball room.
"And I guess that has also something to do with that charming fiancé of yours?" he wondered out loud, as he returned the brute's glare with a triumphant smile.
"Gaston is not really helping the situation." the petite brunette sighed, and the pirate felt the slight shiver that was floating through her body.
His blood started to boil when his thoughts went back to the tall brute that had dared to treat the beauty like that. He made a mental note to ask Hawk, one of his most skilled and certainly most deadly crew members, to deal with that particular problem during their attack.
"Don't worry about that one, love." he assured her with a mischievous smile on his face. "I'm pretty sure that he won't touch that delicate skin of yours once again."
The beauty narrowed her eyes.
"What do you mean?" she asked warily, but earned just a low chuckle from Hook.
"Would you believe me if I told you that I were able to predict the future?"
The young woman let out a melodic giggle that went straight to Hook's heart and shook her head.
"I highly doubt that." she retorted with a smirk.
Hook just shrugged his shoulders in response.
"Oh believe me, dear" he said with a meaningful look. "some things are indeed quite predictable."
All too soon, the song ended and Hook bowed his head. It was nearly midnight. The attack was just about to start. Rather quickly, the pirate led her back to a small entrance aside the dance floor.
He then bent down and placed a gentle kiss on the beauty's soft hand.
"It was a pleasure, mylady." he purred as he looked the woman deep into her sparkling eyes.
A sad smile appeared on the beauty's face, and Hook wondered if she was really that sad that their ways already had to part. But before he could follow this thought any longer, she bobbed a curtsey in a polite manner and said: "Indeed it was, good Sir."
Without another word, she turned to leave, when a thought crossed the pirate's mind.
Suddenly, he grabbed her hand and whirled her around, back into his arms.
Visibly shocked, the beauty stared at him with those big blue eyes he was already sure would become the material of many dreams for him to come.
"What are you doing?" she gasped as he held her tightly against his own form. He noticed as people began to stare at them, shocked muttering starting to reach his ear. But it didn't matter. Not now. He was a pirate, but a small part of him was still a gentleman. And that part demanded of him to give her a warning. He didn't want that beauty to get hurt during the attack.
"I'm saving you for the second time in one night, mylady." he whispered, his lips softly caressing the shell of her ear.
He heard the woman's sharp intake of breath, his sudden closeness and his lips against her ear obviously highly inappropriate when dealing with a lady like her.
"I must go now, but I want you to leave the castle immediately."
"Leave the castle?" she repeated and shook her head vehemently.
"Do as I say." he growled impatiently, his arm still firmly tightened around her delicate body. "We don't want a lovely lass such as you get hurt, now, do we?"
She started to wiggle free from his grasp, finally getting over her temporal paralysation.
Reluctantly, he let her go, even though he wouldn't have minded being close to the beauty only some moments longer.
When he met her blue gaze, her eyes were narrowed and her expression full of suspicion.
"Who are you?" she said in a hoarse voice, her eyes sparkling with a hint of darkness that caused a tingling sensation run through his body.
Before he could stop himself, the pirate grabbed the back of her neck with his good hand and pulled her into a harsh kiss that evoke a surprised, squeaking sound from the young woman.
When their lips parted, the beauty looked at him with wide open, shocked eyes that bore a hint of anger within them.
"A friend." he whispered with a seductive sound in his voice.
Before Belle was able to retort anything, Hook turned on his heels and vanished into the crowd of people, leaving the beauty at the small entrance that was supposed to be her escape from the attack.
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Belle was standing in her chambers, fanatically searching for the dagger she had hidden in one of her cupboards. All had happened so fast. When the clock had stricken 12, the ballroom had suddenly been filled with a deafening sound of bawling and screams, making her heart freeze in her chest.
"We're under attack!" one of the castle's soldiers had screamed, and "Pirates!" another.
And then, the room had been filled with tattooed, threatening looking men with swords and cruel smiles across their scarred features. Her father had screamed at her to leave, and she had followed his order immediately – but not to flee, but rather to get her something to fight, to defend herself. She had made her way through the masses of screaming royals and fighting soldiers and pirates, desperate to get as quickly as possible to her chambers.
Now she was kneeling in front of her cupboard, throwing her dresses and books carelessly to the floor.
Searching.
A hint of relief washed over her as her hands touched the cool metal of her dagger.
And not a moment too soon.
Suddenly, the double door to her private room was forcefully kicked open, and in the blink of a second, Belle stood face to face with two pirates.
One of them was muscular and very tall, even taller than Gaston, and his body was cluttered with scars and tattoos. The other, however, was pretty small, maybe only one head taller than Belle.
"Lookie lookie what I've found!" the taller one announced with a rough voice, as his lecherous eyes fell on Belle.
"You stay away from me!" Belle screamed with a shaking voice, as she pointed the dagger with trembling hands at the two intruders.
The taller let out a roaring laughter and moved closer.
"Oh little bird, look at you!" he purred in a tone that made Belle's stomach turn. "What a fine little thing you are!"
"Leave her, Smith." the other pirate ordered with an exhausted sigh. "The captain told us explicitly only to take the castle's treasures."
The taller rolled his eyes and moved further closer towards Belle.
"Oh I intend to!" he promised darkly.
Belle's hands were shaking from fright, her will to survive the only reason why she was still able to stand on both feet.
"It would be a shame to leave such a beauty behind!" he chuckled and reached out to touch Belle's cheek, but she backed away just in time, the dagger still shakily in her hands.
"Don't you dare and touch me!" she hissed, her blue eyes sparkling dangerously at the tall pirate.
"Oh!" the pirate exclaimed tauntingly. "The cat has claws! I like that!"
"Smith!" the other man sighed. "We don't have time for this!"
The tall pirate briefly turned around, ready to give his companion a piece of his filthy mind, when Belle made her move.
She had to try.
She jumped forward, exploiting the pirate's state of inattention, and waved her dagger right into his face.
"BITCH!" The pirate screamed out in pain and pure rage as the cool metal made contact with his skin.
Belle started to run, trying desperately to make her way through the door. She was pretty sure that the smaller pirate wouldn't hold her back. She had nearly reached the door, when two big paws clasped around her ankles, making her crash down to the floor.
"Oh no you don't!" she heard the dark voice growl angrily, but a sharp pain in her head was it making almost impossible for her perceive more of her surroundings.
"Hook is calling!" she heard one of the pirates say. "She's the princess, bloody hell! Let her just be, Smith!"
"Princess you say?" the other said with a dark chuckle and Belle felt how a rough finger touched her cheek. "Oh then I think I know exactly what treasure to take from this castle!"
Belle was about to scream, to fight, to do anything to prevent this horrible situation.
But she was losing her desperate fight against the impending darkness.
And after some more moments of muffled cries and growls, her whole world went dark.
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Hook was standing at the wheel of his ship, watching as his crew carried the chests full of gold and diamonds onboard the Jolly Roger. A satisfied smile was toying around his lips as he remembered the quite successful night. It had been a child's play to break through the barriers, his crew eager and starved to finally live the pirate's life once again.
But the fighting had not been as bloody as suspected – the guards and soldiers not really prepared and above all half-drunken to represent a serious threat to his plans. After a rather quick fight, King Maurice had been quite ready to compromise. The chubby leader begged Hook to take what they wanted, if he and his crew just let his daughter and his guests unharmed. The captain had agreed to those conditions, he himself not a man of shedding too much innocent blood just in the process of looting. During the fighting, Hook had also looked out for the beauty he had danced and kissed only minutes ago. But he hadn't seen her, and a strange feeling of both relief and regret had washed through his body. Unconsciously, he traced his lips with one finger, smiling at the memory of her sparkling blue eyes when he had crashed his lips onto hers. But it was better that way. The girl seemed to have followed his orders and had made her way out of the castle just in time.
And the crew was content as well – the captain could feel their excitement floating through the chilly night air.
He barked some more orders at his crew members, ready to set sail and leave the port as soon as possible. He heard the roaring laughter of his men, all filled with pure satisfaction and pride.
All changed, however, when the lights of Avonlea slowly started to melt with the heavy night sky. Hook was still standing at his wheel, staring up to the glistering stars that would help him navigate their way to the next destination. The buzzing sound of voices started to fill his ear, his crew apparently fighting over something.
"Captain!" he heard Smee call out for him.
Hook let out an angry growl and looked at the man's direction. His first mate was standing in front of him, his eyes wide open and a great amount of concern written across his face.
"We have a problem!" he gasped and pointed his hand nervously towards the ship's deck where the voices were coming from.
Hook rolled his eyes.
"Bloody hell." he muttered angrily. "Can't this herd of bloody bastards simply stop the fighting for at least one bloody moment?!"
"It's Smith!" Smee babbled, clearly out of breath.
"Of course he is!" Hook growled, knowing full well that trouble was usually connected to the hulk of a pirate.
When he reached the ship's deck, a group of pirates was already shouting and threatening each other, all gathered around something Hook was not able to look at properly.
"What is this bloody shouting about?!" he roared, and the crew went silent in an instance.
The captain fixed his gaze darkly at Smith.
"Mr. Smith" he addressed the tall pirate. "Is there a problem?"
Hook noticed as the pirate tensed in response, his eyes briefly flickering towards the place the other pirates were cloaking from the captain's view.
"What are you hiding from me?!" Hook demanded to know when he didn't receive a response, and slowly, the group of pirates moved.
The captain's eyes widened.
"He's taken the princess, Captain!" Woodsworth, a rather small, but witty pirate explained heatedly. "I told him not to, but he did nonetheless!"
"She's my price!" Smith roared in response. "A pirate takes what he wants! And I wanted her!"
Hook barely heard a word of what they were saying. His heart almost stopped when his gaze fell on the unconscious woman who was lying right in front of him on the ship's deck.
A beauty with chestnut curls and pale skin that was shimmering silvery due to the soft streams of moonlight, clothed in a long, golden gown.