Lieutenant Hawkins and the Angel of Death

Chapter Eleven

Back in Longbourn, two hundred years ago…

After a two day journey across the ocean, the ship carrying Princess Angelica and her husband Lieutenant Jim Hawkins back from their honeymoon finally arrived again within their Kingdom. Upon entering the harbor within the port just beyond her father's castle, the newlyweds, as well as the soldiers within the Royal Navy who traveled with them for their protection, and their ship's crew, all stared in horror at the destruction before them. Longbourn was in ruin, as their people's homes were on fire and most of the castle's stone walls were now in rubble. Very little of the structure remained standing, but as soon as the ship docked and the gangplank was lowered down, Angelica ran towards the ruins crying out for her father while Jim immediately followed after her, as did the other soldiers all with their swords raised should the invaders still be among the destruction.

Naval officers and soldiers of the King's Guard laid dead all around them as they continued to run across the grounds and through the halls, until at last the Princess rushed into her father's bedchamber still intact, as did the Lieutenant. And in the moment she found her father's body lying upon the floor with a hole deep through the center of his chest created by his killer's sword, Angelica fell to her knees and laid her own body on top of his out of grief while she screamed out in raw anger, then began to wail.

Her husband knelt above her and tenderly wrapped his arms around his love so he could pull her off her father's body to hold her against him in order to comfort her despite his own despair, like he had also felt upon learning of Captain Silver's death. When Jim looked throughout the room, he then discovered Captain Humphrey's body lying at the foot of the King's bed, also with a sword wound through his stomach and he knew that whoever had murdered their King, had also murdered the Captain of the King's Guard as well.

At last, Hawkins quietly called out to the leader of the soldiers still standing among them saying, "Captain… leave us please. Look for any survivors among the dead. Salvage whatever supplies you and your men can find and inform our people that our King is dead. Assure them we will mourn him properly, but then that we will seek the men who murdered him and destroyed our Kingdom. We will seek justice for those who have died here."

Angelica then pushed away from Jim, and glared at him as she darkly replied, "I don't want justice, Jim. Someone murdered my father and they destroyed our Kingdom! I want revenge! I want to see whoever did this suffer. And the only person who can help us get what I want is…"

"No, Angelica," the man who loved her quickly responded upon realizing exactly who she meant. "We can't take that God of the Underworld up on his deal. We cannot become like the villains who did this to our King. To your father. You are a good woman and right now, our Kingdom needs you to stand up so you can take up your father's reigns just like he would want for you to. Our people need you to lead them so we can rebuild. Not to seek out a killer we don't know the identity of. I promise you… I will do that myself with help from those who remain of our army. We will bring these killers to justice, I swear."

"We did like you wanted before!" the Princess retorted angrily, as she shoved her husband back, then stood again on her feet while she drew her husband's sword from his scabbard. "We refused Hades' offer that could have gotten us home in time to save my father because we were too afraid of becoming a villain. But I'm not afraid anymore. You keep telling me I'm good. However, it's time you see that even those who are good are capable of committing a little evil in order to seek revenge against those who have wronged them. Captain Silver was a vile man, Jim. And yet you loved him like he was your own father. You mourned for him when you learned he too had been killed in that tempest seeking the Eye of the Storm for my father in hope of earning himself a pardon for his crimes. Just because people don't always stay on the straight and narrow, it doesn't mean we aren't still good too."

The Lieutenant bowed his head out of worry while he thought about her words and then he answered, "I know what you're saying is true, Angel. And I want to help you find peace by bringing your father's killer down. I loved him too. He was my father in law and he treated me like I was worthy of being his son. But my mother… I'm not so sure she would approve. I worked hard to become a man she could be proud of. Instead of someone she was always disappointed in."

His wife reached up to his face and tenderly caressed his cheek, then she replied, "She was proud of you. And she loved you. She would understand. The men who you've seen as your fathers have all been taken from you, Jim. And the woman who loves you needs you by her side so she can make the monsters who murdered her own father pay. Please… will you help me by accepting what we must do?"

"Of course," Jim Hawkins finally agreed, despite still feeling reluctant to accept help from the God of the Dead.

"I love you," Angelica responded and leaned in to kiss him.

A few moments later, she then turned away from him and stared down sadly at her father's body again, until she at last shouted out, "Hades! If you can hear me… We accept your deal!"

The God of the Underworld soon appeared in front of them again like he had come to them before upon hearing the Princess' call and then he answered, "I knew you would accept my deal eventually. Sooner than I expected, but then you're angry. And that's good."

"What do we have to do?" the Lieutenant asked him sternly, while he glared at the God when Hades then knelt down above the Captain of the Guard as he observed the wound that killed him. "How is this supposed to work?"

"Do you have the sapphire that you're father gave to you as a wedding gift?" Hades questioned them when he raised his head to look up between Jim and the Princess. "I can enchant it so that it will curse each of the pirates with the black spot that will allow you to track them down no matter where they try to flee or hide, so long as you find them first and get them to lay their hands on it. They won't be able to hide from you again and you will be able to kill them."

Angelica looked at the all-powerful being in confusion as she asked, "That's it? It could take us years to find each and every one of these pirates you claimed murdered my father and destroyed our Kingdom. If we have to make the efforts to find them in order to curse them with this… black spot as you call it? Years that we might not have. I was expecting more."

The God of the Underworld smiled coolly as she pulled out the sapphire from within her bodice where she kept it in order to keep the precious jewel safe and handed it over to him, then he replied, "Luckily for you, Your Highness… I do happen to have more to offer you."

"A treasure map?" Jim uttered in frustration, after Hades finished enchanting the stone and handed it back over to Princess, then magicked an old parchment into his hands.

"I assure you, it's more than a treasure map," Hades curtly retorted, as he glared at the man married to the Angel of Death once again. "To some who follow it in search of what this map leads to, they might see it as a treasure. However, what you will find should you accept it and follow it carefully… is a weapon. A weapon that will give you the power to live for as long as you need to in order to complete your revenge, and the power to take each and every one of these pirates' lives. I told you I could give you the means you need. Oh… and one final gift to prove to you I only wish to help you. I'm afraid the man more so responsible for killing Captain Silver has been killed and already lives within my domain. I assure you, he will pay for his cruelty. However, the man who also was a part of the Captain's death and who murdered your King here… his name is Captain Jones. Formerly, Lieutenant Jones under his brother's command, and before that a good for nothing slave like his brother, under Silver's control until their mutiny took that control away from him. Killian Jones has become a pirate in order to make your father pay for his brother's death. And something tells me that killing him is going to be far from easy. He's a survivor. But with this weapon my map will lead you to, you'll have a fighting chance. Good luck, Your Highness. And Lieutenant too of course."

The Princess smiled, then she responded in gratitude, "Thank you, Hades. But like you called me before… It's the Angel of Death now. And Jim is my knight. I'm no Princess any longer."

The cruel God of the Underworld answered, "I know you're not."

And with that said, he vanished from before them within a pillar of blue flames just like he appeared. Then, once he was gone, Angelica knelt down over her father's body again and tenderly kissed his forehead before she finally whispered her vow to him that she would make Killian Jones pay for taking him from her.

Over the next several days, they and their soldiers buried their King and Captain Humphreys as well as the rest of the dead, then salvaged all the supplies they could for their long journey ahead of them that would lead them to this weapon that would help them gain their vengeance, no matter how long it took.

Back in the present, in Storybrooke…

"Why did you have to chicken out?!" the Angel cried out angrily once she and her husband were far enough away from the villain they've sought for two hundred years and the pirate's own wife, then swiftly continued to make their way back to Jefferson's now vacant house upon learning from the hatter where they could hide from the heroes for as long as they remained in Storybrooke. "We were so close to having our revenge… after centuries!"

"Hades is dead, Angelica!" Jim called back with just as much anger. "And worse than that… he didn't tell us the truth about what happened to Captain Silver. He didn't tell us he was the reason why Jones and his brother managed to survive the storm when no one else did, or that Silver's soul became his like all of the rest of the souls we've delivered for Hades."

Angelica shook her head in frustration as she curtly replied, "None of this matters right now, Jim. What does, is killing Jones. He's why we're here. Our revenge for my father and yours is finally within our grasp after all these years! I don't care if the souls we continue to collect go to Hades, or someplace entirely different if he really is dead like Jones and that woman claimed him to be. I will kill this slave and pirate. Not even you can stop me again."

Lieutenant Hawkins sighed wearily, then he responded, "I want him dead as badly as you do, Angel. And I promise we will see him so. But we need to take time to come up with a plan that won't get us killed in trying to succeed. Jones can't run and he can't hide from us, but we are outnumbered, especially now that these so called heroes who protect him know we're here."

"You're right," she stated in understanding, then tightened her grip on his hand she was holding lovingly while they walked up to the beautiful home the Mad Hatter from Wonderland offered to them, and made their way inside. "I'm sorry. I've just waited so long for this, Jim. We both have. How are we going to make Jones pay?"

"I have an idea, but it's going to take a little more patience," he finally answered. "I'm going to need you to continue to trust in me."