Hi everybody! Sorry about the year-long break! In my defense, it was a very strange year.
Last year at this time I was working a bunch of extra hours and I wanted to write a Fallout story and I didn't have time and it was eating me up inside. And then along came covid, granting my wish for time with a side order of "and also everything is horrible." And I dived into the wasteland and didn't come up for air for about eight months. It saved me through the chaos.
The chaos isn't actually over but I've surfaced back to the Winx fandom and finished the Nextgen story with a month to spare before whatever it is I'm going to do with Fate. Whether that'll be a noveliztion, loose rewrite, or just snarky reactions there will be some kind of Fate content somewhere. It depends on just how bad Fate turns out to be. I'm trying to stay positive but every new Fate fact makes that harder… u_u; Come on, Fate, be better than you look!
But we'll see about that 21 days hence! In the meantime enjoy the long delayed finale to Twig and Vera's adventure!
149 Hook
One stormy night Captain Hook was swept from the deck of his ship by a great wave and drowned.
He'd expected nothing to come after that but to sink to the bottom of the Never-sea and become food for crabs and fishes and perhaps a hungry mermaid.
But there was a next thing, and it was coming to with lungs immediately trying to expel what felt like gallons of seawater. Hook fell to hands and knees coughing and retching, unable to do anything but struggle for air.
Something was different.
He wheezed in a breath and pushed dripping hair out of his eyes. This wasn't his ship. Hook looked down, and the world tilted.
He had two hands. In place of the metal hook that had been there for years was a pale, ordinary left hand.
A rough voice said, "My Queen, I think he's lost his mind."
Hook had enough breath to snap back, "Or just been half drowned! If you had to bring me here why not-" Another fit of coughing interrupted then, but Hook found anger at the insult had revived him somewhat, enough to get his head up and look around at least.
He was kneeling dripping saltwater in one of the chambers in the Great Tree. Two other people were there. The man with the gruff voice, dressed in leather and with feathers for hair, was a warrior of the tribes called Shaman. The other person was a stranger. A woman, but adults never appeared in the World of Dreams.
Then she opened her mouth and instead of words a high-pitched buzz came out. Hook realized she was just a fairy. An overgrown giant fairy, but a fairy. How in the World of Dreams had she gotten so big?
Shaman translated, "The queen did not restore your form so you could gawp at her. Show respect!"
Respect? Hardly. "Well you're... bigger. Not that I'm not grateful, but I doubt she did it out of the goodness of her heart."
The Queen buzzed and Shaman translated, "The Queen needs a voice, and other abilities to help her reach her goal. She'll take them from people on Earth—and you'll help. The code says a pirate must repay a favor, and it's hardly the first time you've stolen something."
The pirates' code said a lot of things, and Hook ignored them when it suited him, but just now he found himself inclined to listen. He had his hand back and he felt different. Stronger. Younger. His waterlogged and ruined clothes no longer fit the shape of a man of twenty years. No fairy had the power to change a person that much, or Hook would've caught a fairy years ago and made them do it. This fairy had found something new.
And anything a fairy had, a pirate might steal. "Of course... a pirate must repay a favor. How does the Queen plan to steal this voice from someone on Earth?"
Tinkerbell looked different, not just her size. Neverland's fairies were universally fair and this most annoying of fairies had been blonde. Now her hair was black and her eyes had gone sullen red. She wore a bizarre crown with a red stone in it. There was a legend about red stones, a dark treasure no one had ever found.
"My mistress found some of the spells of shadow magic. She used one to grant me powers, and another to restore your sorry carcass."
Tinkerbell buzzed and her shadow moved behind her. Hook managed not to jump. But not because he was afraid. He wanted this power! The spells of shadow magic really existed and Hook would help Tinkerbell as long as it took to find a chance to steal them. If Tinkerbell could make herself queen, Hook could make himself a king.
Some time later.
Hook fell from a maelstrom of green light back into the world. He landed in mud and bushes halfway down a crumbling cliffside. It was a terrible shock, falling out of a wonderful dream of revenge back to the world where becoming a king had failed. And now he had no ship, no crew, not even his knife. He got up, clawing at the muddy cliffside for balance. Something soft came loose in his hand and he threw it down in disgust before realizing it wasn't garbage or something dead. A glint of red in the mud brought him back for a second look.
What he'd pulled from the ground turned out to be a leather pouch with strings rotted away by time. Spilling out of it was a handful of red gems. Hook scooped them up, felt around to make sure he'd got them all. The stones were slimed with mud and Hook carried them down to the edge of the ocean to rinse them off. Clean, the stones glowed like drops of blood.
Hook had been so long in the World of Nightmares, and so confused by his sudden return to the world, that he wasn't sure that what he was seeing was real.
The stones were a legend, barely even that. A rumor, a story. 'The fairies brought a book of spells in the form of red gems. Spells so dangerous the fairies buried them so they'd never be found.' And they never had been, and the fairies had said it wasn't true so Hook hadn't believed the story. Until Tinkerbell had found a few. She'd used the spells to steal talents and trap people in the Great Tree, and create a Nemesis of each of her enemies.
Holding us a gem to the light Hook saw words within it. Spell to Cut Away a Shadow.
Another: Spell to Freeze a Human Heart.
Another: Spell to Reclaim a Lost Treasure. That he could use now. The spell was simple, one that could be done with almost no magic. And Hook had lost something he treasured. He envisioned the spell and his knife dropped into his hand. It had been cleansed of its magic and was again just the metal knife he'd had made from the hook he'd worn for years.
Looking around he could see that the ocean was sparkling and blue, and the top of the cliff was green with grass and flowers. Tinkerbell's spell on the land was broken. How much time had passed? Hook had no clue. He didn't feel any older—if anything the World of Nightmares had rejuvenated him. He felt strong, inspired. He would go around the coast to the dead ships and find a place to study this magic the fairies had been so afraid of that they buried it. Then it would be time for revenge on everyone who'd ruined his plan to become king. His faithless crew. Smee, who'd betrayed him. Tinkerbell and that obnoxious Matt. And the Winx.
He already had a few ideas.
