Captain Jones
"What do you know of any of this?" Killian's tone was the familiar petulance of a child, stubborn and skeptical and Liam bit his lip to hide the smile. Years of naval training and a crisp new uniform but sometimes Killian was still so very much the stubborn child Liam had always known. But Liam had faith in his king and his orders, and he meant to show Killian that both could be trusted.
"I'm your brother and your captain. You will listen to me."
It was only a moment. A moment of rashness that truly was more Killian's style than his own. But when Liam moved the thorny branch towards his skin Killian was faster. He snatched the branch from his brother's hand, tossing it aside before it could draw Liam's blood.
"That's insubordination, brother," Liam commented with a hint of a smile on his face. Killian's face fell and he raised his hand, a point of blood welling up on his palm where the thorn had grazed him.
"You see? Perfectly fine," Liam said, pulling out a handkerchief to wrap the cut gently. "Your intentions are noble, Killian, but as I told you, our King would never lie to us." He tied a quick knot in the makeshift bandage and gave his brother's hand an affectionate squeeze. "Now, let's collect our specimens and get off this…"
His words trailed off when he glanced up at Killian's face. There was naked fear in his brother's eyes, like he'd not seen since he was very young and the lamp had flickered out in the dead of night. Then he wavered. Liam moved forward instantly to catch him as Killian's legs crumpled beneath him.
"Killian?" That's when he noticed the dark stains creeping their way from beneath the bandage up his arm. "No- No. Let's get you back to the ship. Come on, up you get-"
"Can't-" Killian whispered breathlessly, " 'm sorry."
"Shh, don't be sorry. I should have listened to you, Killian. I'm- I'm so sorry- I'm going to- I'm going to fix this. Have to fix this-" The black tendrils had spread up past Killian's forearm now and Liam took out a dagger, splitting his brother's shirt from wrist to shoulder. The inky tendrils were well up his arm now reaching towards his shoulder, and his heart. Killian's face was tight with pain and with a growing horror Liam realized there was nothing that he could do.
"I tried to warn you," a cold voice spoke and Liam raised his head slightly, the boy, from before. "He'll die as soon as the poison reaches his heart."
"Please. He's my little brother. He's all all I have."
"Well, maybe you shouldn't have goaded him into it."
"He's so stubborn. I didn't mean to. You knew the nature of the plant, can you help me to fix this?"
"Well, it might not feel like it, but today's your lucky day. This spring… these waters are rich with the power of Neverland. It's what keeps this land and all on it so… young. If one was to drink directly from it, its power could cure any ill. But… I must warn you. All magic comes with a price, and that spring is no exception. Don't leave the island unless you're willing to pay it."
"Of course. Whatever you want, it's yours."
Getting Killian to drink from the stream was far from easy, but finally he choked and coughed and it was all Liam could do to let him get a few free breaths in before smothering him with an embrace.
"Liam-"
"That's captain to you, sailor. And I did not give you leave to die, you hear me?"
"Aye, captain," Killian replied hoarsely.
"Now let's pay the boy and get off this damned island. Boy?"
Liam felt himself floating near as high as the Jewel throughout their return voyage, never letting Killian out of his sight for so much as a moment.
"How are you feeling," he asked again.
"As fit as the last three dozen times you've asked, Captain," Killian retorted with an exasperated smile. "What now?"
"We reveal our King's cowardice."
"Well, let's hope the realm sides with us."
"Oh, they will. To fight battles using unholy weapons is, as you say, bad form."
The pitch of the ship shifted as they began to descend and a voice from above called the warning to brace for impact. When the familiar sights and sounds of the sea resumed, Liam couldn't help but smile broadly. "Killian, what would you say if I asked you to come with me when I report to the admiralty-"
There was the sound of a thud from behind him and Liam turned, his bright smile turning to terror as Killian stumbled back against the table in the middle of the room. He was at his brother's side in an instant, sinking to the floor with Killian in his arms.
"Help!" he cried desperately, "bring the doctor!" He turned back to Killian and reached for his brother's hand, turning it over and seeing that the dreamshade's dark vines traced Killian's skin once more. "I should- I should get help. The doctor-"
Killian stiffened in his arms, "Don't leave me, please?" he whispered.
Tears slipped down Liam's face and dampened Killian's skin, causing him to open his eyes again.
"Liam, please don't l-"
"I'm right here, little brother" he whispered, holding Killian tighter in his arms. "I'm not going anywhere, alright?"
Killian nodded, the tension slowly leaving his body until finally he went limp.
"Killian?" There was no reply and Liam felt his heart stutter in his chest as though the poison had reached his heart with his brother's. "Killian? No-" His head dropped heavily onto Killian's shoulder, his sobs making them both shake violently.
When the doctor came into the room moments later Liam spat at him to get out and no one dared enter the cabin for hours. When someone finally worked up the nerve to enter again they found Killian had been laid carefully on the cot and Liam was sitting calmly on the edge of the table in the middle of the room facing him, eyes distant.
"Captain? 'm sorry, captain."
"We have work to do."
Liam Jones never reported to the admiralty.
Instead he took to the open sea again, using the time to carefully stitch his little brother into a fresh sail in the privacy of his cabin, which no one dared enter anymore. When Killian Jones slipped below the surface of the waves Liam's heart went with him. And so did three members of the crew.
First, the man who dared to interrupt proceedings with the question of when they'd be getting new orders.
Second, the ship's doctor, who had not been fast enough.
And third, a young sailor who had once blackened Killian's eye in a dispute over rations.
It took Liam two months to find the squid ink and when he did he set a course second star to the right and straight on 'till morning.
Pan greeted him when he arrived, a taunting smile on his face prepared for another round of their game. What he wasn't expecting was for Liam Jones to not hesitate a moment. No taunts, threats or accusations. He simply threw squid ink at the demon and smiled as he dragged Pan by the collar of his shirt onto his ship. He watched the horror in the boy's eyes as he drew a cutlass with a curious black sheen. The demon of Neverland knew dreamshade when he saw it. Liam laid the tip at the base of his throat pressing ever so gently until a single drop of blood rolled down the edge of the blade. By the time the squid ink wore off they were too far from the power of Neverland for the boy to do more than beg for his life, which he did, in the end.
"You knew what would happen when we left Neverland." It wasn't a question and before Pan could speak Liam continued. "You know what will happen now, when I order the landing."
"You've made your point, captain, but surely we can come to some kind of arrangement."
"What could you possibly offer me?"
"Youth,"
"I do not want it.'
"Magic, power-"
"I do not need it."
"Riches, whatever you desire, I can get it-"
Liam smiled and for a moment Pan felt relief. Then the captain turned, and called to the crew, "prepare for landing." He stood watching as the ship crashed into the water and the fear in Pan's eyes grew. Then he gasped, choked and collapsed, the magic of Neverland fading. He died on the floor of Liam's cabin, an old withered husk. What was left was tossed overboard with the kitchen refuse.
No one was quite certain how it happened.
The King himself grew ill first. Weakening and dying over the course of only a few days from an illness that no healer could identify. His heir soon followed, then the rest of the royal family. One by one, the illness systematically moved through the lines of succession until there was no one left.
Civil war broke out; old families fought over the throne, took power and then fell in turn from the same mystery illness.
The throne was cursed, they said.
It might as well have been.
Ships began to vanish, lost with all hands. Passengers and cargo alike went to the depths. The waterways were not safe.
The rumors started small. A rogue captain. A pirate. But what kind of pirate left gold and gemstones on the ocean floor along with his victims?
When they came across a vessel the crew attacked ruthlessly, mercy would be met with the captain's strict judgement. No one survived once he'd decided they were not worthy. His crew lived in fear. Some tried to run. Those that escaped never lasted long.
Today it was slavers.
Liam Jones had a particular distaste for slavers. They didn't even get a hearing. His crew knew to dispatch them without need for judgement. But today something was different.
"Captain, there's a woman-"
"A slaver is a slaver." he retorted, "do your duty."
"Aye, captain, of course captain. Only… I don't think she's a sailor, or a slaver."
"A slave?"
"Don't know, captain."
"Bring her to me."
The woman had wild dark hair and ratty dress but a spark in her eyes nonetheless.
"Were you taken against your will?"
"No-" the woman retorted, a flicker of pride in her eyes.
"Then why do you sail with such as them?"
"I had to get away."
"From whom-"
The woman hesitated- and Liam raised his eyebrows. "What's your name?"
"Milah."
He nodded, "I asked you a question, Milah, and you will answer it." There was a crash from the nearby ship and Milah's eyes flickered towards it as it began to take on water and list. Men screamed in the distance and she closed her eyes as the vessel began to sink.
"From my husband," she admitted.
"Did he harm you?"
"Not exactly … We… harm each other." He watched her carefully, not speaking. Waiting for her to continue. "Please, captain, I have a son. I hope to go back to him someday and-" Her words died out. What had begun as a plea for mercy had the opposite effect on Captain Jones.
"You have a son?"
"Yes… his name is Baelfire."
"And you abandoned him?"
"He was too young for the trip, too young for-"
In an instant there was a flash of metal and the woman fell, her hands clutching desperately at the wound he'd dealt. Her blood stained the deck of the ship where so many others had fallen and he turned his back on her.
"Clean it up-" he called to the crew-
Liam woke with a start, tears streaming down his face freely in the chilly red toned room above the bar. He slipped out of the bed and threw a t-shirt on against the chill before moving down the stairs, his hands still shaking from the aftershocks of his dreams.
They were more vivid here, the nightmares. They all got them, though some were worse than others… these games Hades used to play with his captives and they'd yet to discover how to make them stop.
He'd give anything to make them stop.
He poured himself a glass of water that he didn't drink, just clinging to the glass like a lifeline. There was the sound of a key turning in the lock and Milah slipped into the bar, carrying an armful of papers that she'd brought home. She locked the door behind her and turned, starting a little when she saw him.
"Liam… I told you I'd be late. I thought you'd be aslee-" she stopped speaking as she got closer and saw the way he clutched at the glass. She dropped the papers on the bar and went to him, his arms opening unthinkingly to receive her.
"Was it Killian again?" she asked quietly.
"And you, this time."
"I'm sorry, love. We'll find a way to stop them. Hades is gone now, there has to be a way to stop them-"
"We could just leave." Liam said quietly. "Killian's safe topside again, Hades is vanquished. We could just move on."
"We could-" Milah said carefully, "Is that what you want?"
Liam shrugged and kissed the top of her hair. "We've done so much here, helped so many. I feel a coward to even suggest yielding before the battle's won."
"You're not a coward, Liam." She was quiet for a moment and then she looked up. "I have a surprise for you."
"Do you?" he asked.
"No one else knows yet, so for tonight it can just be our secret."
Liam's eyebrows went up and she took his hand, pulling him towards the door. "Milah, sweetheart, in this state of undress?"
"Consider it a public service," she teased, not yielding her grip. They walked down the street hand in hand, Liam looked slightly abashed and Milah poked him in the side, "Liam, you're wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt. You're hardly going to scandalize anyone."
His discomfort abated, she led him down the main street. He froze when they turned a corner and the telephone booth was back on the street corner, shiny as new. She led him to it and his eyes widened.
"Milah- does it work?"
She nodded, "but… as a public service… I think we should test it."
She pushed open the door and handed him the receiver. He took it as she made the connection.
"Hello, little brother-"
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