The Verge of Everything
Chapter 7
The water was cold.
Odd, how that was the first thought on the girls mind before blinding panic inevitably sank in. It wasn't the fact that a slippery, malicious mermaid was dragging her into the depths which made her panic, nor that she'd never get to see her brothers and her parents or Peter and the lost boys, or even Captain Hook again; rather, it was the damn inconvenience of freezing.
She quite wanted to be warm during her final moments.
Somewhere, in the back of her mind (the part that wasn't thrashing about and screeching) she thought that it must be a very grown-up thought for her to have. In the Neverland such thoughts like that were usually forgotten. They slip away from memory, like dreams when the morning sun washes them away from the backs of the eyes.
Wendy Darling was not a young woman who would have easily given up, especially not on something so pressing and precious as her life. The waters, dark and growing ever fainter, seemed to be everywhere and its omnipresence was lulling her into a sort of black despair and acceptance that even she, who was so fond of living, could only bend humbly to its will.
A hand shot down into the cold depths. Wendy barely felt it touch her outstretched hand (the freezing temperature had made her so insensible) but the feeling of hope that accompanied that slight pressure was enough to force her body to give one last desperate lunge.
The hand grabbed onto her wrist and yanked. The girl felt herself slipping away into the barbarous darkness, and knew no more.
It was Peter Pan, boy wonder, who reached down and pulled her up. He gathered her still petite body into his arms, giving the mermaid who reached up to once again grab the girl a dirty look. He couldn't be mad at the creature, however. It was their nature to covet beautiful things. Whenever they saw something they fancied they would drag it down into the depths with them so that they might lock it away in their pearl halls and worship it daily. More than once a mermaid of stunning beauty had tried to lure the boy himself from the skies, but as he had no unhappy thoughts he simply wouldn't stay under the water.
Now, however, the thought of mortality was petrifying (his first and not his first; he had experienced such things before with Hook who was always just one hairs breath away from slicing the young boy from the sky. However, Peter would always forget such things, as was the mystery of his person. Thus, this mortality was new). He did not know what to do with the limp girl in his arms and was afraid when she did not draw breath.
To his credit he did the first thing that popped into his head. We are lucky, readers, that Peter Pan was not a fairy and thus could carry more than one thought in his head at a time. For, certainly, had he only been able to think of the despair that invaded his entirety at that moment he would have certainly sunk right down to the bottom of the sea and made certain mermaids very, very happy.
As it was, Peter Pan was able to fly up to the pirate ship where the fighting had, more or less, tapered down. A few of the lost boys were making ineffectual and half-hearted attempts at the pirates, but the older, sea-faring men had stopped altogether. Captain Hook bade them lower their weapons when Pan had flown off only minutes before, seemingly at utter random. Hook had not heard Wendy's supplicant wail.
Silence reigned impassively as the boy laid her almost still, prone form onto the wooden planks of the ship. His eyes were wet and wild and positively frightened, almost to the point of blind panic. He turned his head from side to side in some sort of vague disbelief.
"Do something!" he wailed, for healing was not his art. He was intelligent enough to know that clapping, while a perfect remedy for a fairy, would not work with a human. That is, if he recalled that rather painful incident with Tinkerbell at all.
Immediately the boy was cast aside by Hook as the older man knelt down before the girls prone form. He called for Smee in a hoarse breath who, familiar with this sort of affliction, went immediately to grab blankets and towels.
Hook placed his hands upon the girls torso and pushed, careful not to damage any of her delicate ribs. Though he feared the worse, for he was a cynical man, he was decidedly, if quietly, pleased when a jet of water rose from the girls lips, followed by a shaky, heavy cough.
It was pure relief, of course. Had the girl died he might never have forgiven himself. Certainly, in his career as a pirate there were many actions he had personally taken part in that were, put delicately, less than moral and mostly unforgivable. He had murdered, cheated, lied, stolen among a plethora of other sins which were each more unscrupulous than the last. All these things he had simply brushed off and forgotten. Not because the Neverland forced him to forget as it did with Pan, but because he himself allowed his brain to fizz out the superfluous moments of his life.
Though had Wendy Darling died while under his care he doubted he would ever forget.
He felt his chest constrict as he gazed at the girl who was still struggling with shaky, though steady, breaths. It would not do to wrap his arms around her in front of that boy and his crew, even though that was the single action he most wanted to perform. He wanted to engulf her in his embrace just to remind himself that she was alive.
That moment, when he saw her unmoving form in the boys grasp, had been ridiculously painful for him in a number of ways.
The first thought that flickered through his mind had been an irrational jealousy. Even while a logical part of his mind whispered that something was terribly wrong a louder part of him, the part that he believed dyed his eyes red, shouted that the girl was so deliriously content in Peter's arms that she didn't have to perform such mundane acts as breathing.
He might be a tyrant, but he was no fool and Hook did not listen arbitrarily to voices that screamed in his head. He recognized a near drowning when he saw one (it was yearly that a man or two of his would fall into the sea) and guilt swept across his spine like willow leaves. He thought a little prayer (which was odd as he full-heartedly believed in no deity other than a half-cocked idea about fate) that if she lived he would let her go, no troubles, just so that she could be happy again.
Captain Hook stood and backed away to allow Smee to wrap the girl in a blanket to try to restore some warmth. He dully registered that the blanket his first mate had grabbed was his own, a red and gold lavish, woven piece from his bed. Amidst the decadence of such interlocking thread the girl looked mighty pale and fragile.
He knew, in that moment, that he couldn't give her up.
Even if it meant he was the most despicable man alive.
"Take her to my cabin," he told Smee, who gathered the girl in his pudgy arms. "And make sure she gets something warm down her throat when she regains consciousness."
"Wait!" screeched Pan. He made an attempt to move towards Smee, seemingly to snatch Wendy away but Hook was faster. He placed himself between them, earning himself a hard glare and the threat of a poised dagger.
"Now, now, Pan. Wouldn't want to get carried away, would we? The girl is sick and needs quiet so that she can rest. Having a duel with me will do nothing for her health," his eyes briefly flicked over the boys agitated frame, mocking the child with his glance. "Nor yours, for that matter."
"Let her go!" Peter commanded in his best father-authority voice.
"And give her into your dubious care? I think not, Pan," Hook sneered.
"You're the one who made her sick in the first place," the boy hissed.
"I assure you," said Hook, "the girl was being properly cared for. I doubt she would have landed herself in the sea had it not been for the commotion that you caused on my deck," he finished smoothly and was pleased to see a flush on the Peter's cheeks.
"I want her back," Pan said stubbornly, and now a few of the lost boys joined in, many of them requesting their mother.
"She does not belong to you, Pan," Hook scoffed.
Peter balled his fists at his side, the one holding his dagger went almost white. "She doesn't belong to you! She's mine."
That voice, the green, jealous voice was snickering now, mocking the Captain. He did not know what enraged him more, the laughter that echoed faintly in his ears or the boy for believing that he was capable or even worthy of being in her presence.
"You may have seen her first," allowed Hook quietly, dangerously. His eyes were filtering red into the blue, and for a few seconds his eyes gleamed an otherworldly purple. "But she is mine now. You will do well to keep away from what is mine."
"No!" The boy screamed, and would have flown right towards the Captain but his own lost boys were holding him back, presumably the ones who were bright enough to know that going after an armed, calculating man with one's emotions In turmoil inevitably led to disaster. "Let her go! You let her go right now!"
"Quiet," Hook hissed, his eyes narrowing in slits. "Miss Darling requires rest if she is to recover. She will have no rest so long as you are on this ship," he said solemnly, though his eyes gleamed. "Do you wish to delay her recovery?"
"No, but. . ."
"-then you will kindly leave the Jolly Roger," said Hook firmly. "And not return. I give you my word that the girl will come to no harm so long as you are not on my ship."
Pan was breathing heavily, but he calmed down enough so that the boys on either side of him let him go. He stood straight up in a very adult pose though he was still but a wee thing. "What good is the word of a pirate? You're all liars and cheats, the lot of you," he said, rather petulant.
Hook smirked, for the description was apt. "I give you my word as a man."
"Man!" the word was horrid to Peter, who only believed in boys and girls and was deathly afraid of maturity. "Give me your word as a Captain of this vessel that she will come to no harm, and if you break it that the sea will swallow you and your ship and everyone on it whole!" he cried.
The men who served the Jolly Roger looked a bit restless at this sort of oath, perhaps because what their captain might swear to was a real and very distinct fear of theirs.
"I swear it," said Hook, his lips thin but smirking. "On my honor as a Captain."
"Swear the whole thing!"
Captain Hook's eyes narrowed, but he repeated every word of the oath even though a part of him was sick at the thought of giving in to any demands of the boy, even if it meant he would be rid of his troublesome presence. Not that Captain Hook held any delusions that it would keep the boy off of his ship indefinitely (though he sincerely wished it). The boy would forget the oath, recall the girl, and be back again.
If it bought Hook time, however, it was well worth giving a little to gain a lot more.
Though what Hook was going to do in that time, and what he expected to gain, was not clear even to him.
He pondered such thoughts as he watched with minor triumph as the boy and his ragtag bunch made their way back to the island. The musings followed him, every footstep, as he made his way to his cabin. With every step, however, he recalled more and more of the foolishness that the girl has committed in trying to escape and the fear that she might have died. The fear and anxiety twisted in him to become anger so great that by the time he reached his ornate door he was in a right fury.
A/N: I know, I know. Had this been a real event poor Wendy would have drowned by the time I got to her. Anyway, I'm back to updating. I'm very sorry for the wait. College and holidays and a rediscovered love of video games (hugs FFXII) has kept me from updating more often than I would like.
Before anyone seriously yells at me - I don't know the first thing about drowning or how to save someone from it. I'm sure there's something more complicated beyond putting pressure on ones abdomen, but let's say for simplicity's sake that it worked.
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed thus far. The reminding to update it what made me do it.
LeSinner: I only like forbidden pairings. It's very rare that I like the actual love interests in many stories as I usually am intrigued by the villain. I'm glad we think alike.
And to the reviewer who asked if I knew the definition of lewd - well, of course I do! Silly
Please leave a review and tell me what you like and what you didn't like. I'm curious!
