After much discussion, the Dear Captain and I decided to leave a little gift under the Christmas Mast on the Jolly Roger. I still - much to my continual disappointment- have no claims on our handsome rogue Captain, but I do to Maddie. Enjoy! Happy Holidays all! :^)

The pirate captain stalked across the cove, carefully keeping to the shadows, while the moon measured his progress. She shone on the water and bathed the small beach in a soft white light, but Hook preferred the darkness. If she were here then he would take her by surprise. He doubted he would find Maddie, but he would not give up, he had eternity to search for her. He had bared his soul to her and in the end she deceived him. The woman would learn what it meant to betray her pirate lover. The endless mental lists of tortures kept the horrible alternatives at bay, distracting him from the unwanted possibilities and driving his anxiety away, as deep in his heart he knew that he could never actually hurt her. He padded towards the edge of the beach, moving over the smooth, rounded pebbles, hearing their familiar and comforting click. Finally he stood in the shallows, the water calmly lapping at his boots. Closing his eyes and leaning his head back, he inhaled the familiar scents of the water and the earth. The rage that had ridden him since that moment at the Black Castle was now always just beneath the surface, like the slow moving lava that crept across land in the Pacific isles. Now, in their sacred place, it erupted towards the surface.

He turned, bellowing her name, "Maddie! Maddie! Damn your hide! Maddie, get here now, woman! Stop hiding, you coward! We've unfinished business, you and I!"

Silence quickly descended upon him after the dying echo of his harsh cries. The water still lapped at his feet and the moon witnessed yet again his actions in the cove. She seemed to chastise him, but for what he did not know. True bewilderment, and then bitterness and despair, two of his constant long-term companions, swept over him. They were rapidly followed by desolation and grief, which flared through his consciousness. He did not know what he had done to cause his mermaid to abandon him. Even his brave lover would have backed up a step from him upon seeing his terrible expression and the deep red eyes burning in his pale face, itself the color of the moon.

He stalked back around the cove as a predator does around its territory. First, he checked the hole in the tree where they kept messages for one another, something they had started after the night of her tears. It was empty, but the pencil was gone. He felt something hard under his boot and heard something snap. He moved his foot and, looking down, saw the broken writing implement. He grunted to himself, thinking that a bird or small animal must have moved it. He thought nothing more of it.

He climbed to the outcrop of rock and, again, at first glance, there was nothing. Then he saw something flutter in the wind. He looked more carefully and found that it was a part of her cut chemise. It had caught in the rock. As he leaned down to grasp it, memories flitted through his mind. He remembered her face when she would throw back her head in ecstasy. She would clutch him to her and keen his name, not Hook, but James. The pirate was always James during their loving. She made him feel like a whole man, not a broken one. He sniffed the piece of lavender cloth, desperate to find her faded scent, and closed his eyes for a moment. If he held still he could almost feel the whisper of her touch against his bare skin, the ghost of her lips against his ear, her nails dragging along his back as she gasped in pleasure, writhing beneath him. He could smell her perfume on the cloth. The combination of her smell and the sea gave him the realization of what she would have smelt like as his pirate queen.

His anger spiked at that thought, but then slowly receded as he continued to inhale her scent, and then rapidly turned to confusion and grief. He gasped in a great inhale of air to steady himself. He continued on his path and paced down to the beach, his strides reminiscent of big game cats stalking their prey. He strode to their sheltered soft spot on the beach, a grotto with soft, clean sand, surrounded by herbs, brush and trees. He absently swung his hook, like a scythe, towards the plants and the fresh bruising unleashed scents he always associated with her: wild oregano, rosemary, and flowers.

Suddenly, a sharp memory overwhelmed him. The night of a storm, she had run out to the beach, wearing nothing. His lips twitched, remembering their play when she coaxed him out with her. They ran in the rain, as dolphins do in the sea, and when he had caught her, her shrieks of laughter had rung through the night. They had tumbled to the sand and made urgent love in the rain.

Stunned by the memory, the pirate captain stopped still, and, at a loss at what he should do next, he bellowed her name again. This time the sound had a plaintive note, one of longing and hurt. The only sound that greeted him, however, was the eternal sound of the sea lapping against the shoreline and the slight breeze ruffling the leaves.

His proud, strong shoulders slumped, and he whispered, "Maddie, my mermaid, why?" A slow black-red tear tracked down his face, glistening in the moonlight. He moved his hand to brush it away, and hissed when it hit his skin. Looking down, he swore sharply. And then he saw it, almost buried completely in the sand, an envelope. His breath caught, and then he carefully leaned down to pluck it from the grasp of the beach. On the outside it simply said, "My Beloved Pirate." The paper shook in his hand as he debated about opening it.

Then he gently and carefully opened the stationary, and pulled out the folded letter. He felt something hit his boot, and then heard its heavy weight plop into the sand, but he ignored it for the moment.

His hand shook some more and he tried to still it. He looked up at the moon for a moment, petitioning her for strength, and it seemed the moonlight strengthened her beams, as if in a comforting caress, for a fleeting second. He looked down and read.

"My Beloved Pirate,

I came, but you were not here. I've been coming for many days and each time it's more difficult. I'm tired and weak. I'm not sure why. I feel strange and lost. My memories are fuzzy. I can't remember why I couldn't find the fairy. I cannot find you and I feel myself getting weaker. You will never be alone - know that. I love you. Please don't hate me.

My heart is yours,

Maddie

PS. I hope that you'll find this soon. I found this on my wrist, but I don't know why it was there...help me...I'm afraid..."

The last words slid towards the bottom of the page. Hook's breath caught. Her writing was a loose scrawl and practically illegible. It was not her normal writing, which was always firm, smooth, and elegant like her. And it looked as if there was a smudge of blood staining the bottom of the page.

He felt something akin to panic rise up in him. The realization that she had not abandoned him hit him hard. Questions moved through his mind. What could she possibly mean that she was lost? An accident? Something had happened to her, but what? Her note was practically incomprehensible. She'd been searching for him, but she did not sound like herself. Granted he had been lost himself while trapped in the belly of the beast, and they knew that time was not the same in their worlds, but for him it had been merely a matter of a week or two. Lucifer only knew how long it had been in her world. Confused, he reread the letter and then read it again. There was no address on the letter. How was he to find her?

And then, as the full possible meaning of the letter dawned on him, a broken sound emerged from his lips as the cold fingertips of fear crawled up his spine. Guilt rolled over him as he remembered the insulting things he had called her and vowed to do to her when he found her, his lady. She had been hurt and tired, but yet still looked for him, meanwhile, he had abandoned her love and trust like a wounded animal. What had she felt while searching for him while getting weaker and more confused? He groaned.

He crumpled the papers up and threw them down to the sand. Then his legs simply refused to hold him any longer and the great man fell. Hook vomited the contents of his stomach onto the sand. The pirate captain knelt, shuddering, while great heaving breaths came from his body. The solitude and privacy of the cove, with the protection of the moon, allowed his emotions to unfurl and billow around him. He wept black-red tears that hissed as they hit the earth, causing the sand to sizzle and fuse together into black-red glassy blobs. Anger and grief flowed out of him as he pounded and clawed the sand with his hand and hook. Exhausted, he collapsed, and as the anger faded, he dully realized that he felt something poking him in his back.

Sitting up, he turned, and saw a glint in the sand. It was a silver locket, a heart shaped locket. He pulled it from the beach's greedy grasp and held the heavy silver object in his hand. There was a strange orange bracelet wrapped around the chain. He peered at it closely in the moonlight, and it seemed the moon was curious too, as she brightened her gaze on the bereaved man. There was an address. It seemed to be a hospital in his mermaid's city. There was blood on it too.

He stared stupidly at it for a moment. Then it clicked. He could find her. She was not dead. She was simply missing. X always marked the spot, and here was the X. He would rescue his Maddie and this would be done. They would speak no more about it.

He awkwardly put the chain over his head, and grabbed her letter. He shoved the wadded paper into his pocket and then kissed the locket. He grimly whispered, "I am coming, my mermaid."

The pirate captain hunted the forest. He had one goal and one goal only - his mermaid. If the insolent flying youth barred his way, he would bat him away like a fly. Hook would not be deterred from his path. He slowed his pace and then stood still. The wind whispered through the forest. Hook was close and knew it. Small lights darted in the distance. He had to find a way to complete this part of his plan in stealth. He thought for a moment. Then he circled the encampment. His luck turned and he found two of the guards. Believing themselves safe, they were distracted and playing dice.

The pirate reached out and grabbed the two fairies and, before they knew it, they were wedged rather uncomfortably into a small jar. Hook carefully screwed the cap onto the container. He lifted the jar, watching them as they helplessly banged on the wall of the jar. He arched his brow.

Then tapping the glass with his hook, he softly said to them, "Ah, yes. Excellent. One pirate-made fairy-dust shaker. Have no fear, my small friends; I have deigned to provide holes through which you may breathe. Make yourselves at home, for we are going a-hunting in the Otherworld."

The pirate strung the jar around his neck, and said, rather cheerfully, "We have a damsel to rescue. 'Tis like a true fairy-tale, pun intended, my miniature travelling companions." Hook smiled and chuckled softly at his joke. "And, remember, my friends, if you refuse to cooperate, the alternative shall not be pleasant. Just five small words...I believe you know them well." He smirked callously at them and then tapped the lid of the jar with his hook, the fairies cowering in fear.

Re: the reference to "...the night of her tears...", for those of you who have forgotten Chapter 2, this sentence refers back to the second paragraph. ;^)