Author's Note: Hello there! :]
This story is based loosely on the 1953 and 2002 Disney films, the 2003 film, and the book by J.M. Barrie.
However, the likeliness and mannerisms of Hook and most characters are based on the 2003 version and the book.
I hope you enjoy my story! Any reviews/feedback are very much appreciated~
Disclaimer: The characters, Emily and Misty, belong to me. All other characters belong to their rightful owners.
Between the Lines
Chapter I:
Hymn of the Sea
"And then what happened, Mama?" the small blonde asked in anticipation.
Her mother let out a heartfelt chuckle as she pulled the blanket over the child and tucked her into bed.
"Then the mermaid, Ava, and the Navy Captain managed to sneak onto the evil pirate's ship that night with the help of the boy who never grew up–"
The child gasped, "Peter Pan!"
"Yes – Peter Pan!" She laughed, "So then Peter Pan and the Lost Boys helped the mermaid and the Navy Captain steal a rowboat from the pirates. Once they were settled in, they thanked the boys and Neverland for all of their adventures and set sail out on the great sea for new ones."
"And then what, Mama?"
"Well, my little Tadpole, they then lived happily ever after with their baby, Cove."
1950
London, England
She had fallen asleep in front of the fireplace again.
Her father let out a chuckle as he tenderly placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle shake.
"Wake up, little Tadpole," he cooed, watching as her eyes fluttered open to the sound of his voice.
The girl let out a yawn as she moved upright and adjusted herself on the emerald velvet sofa; the book that had been lying on her chest fell to the floor. Her father reached for it and looked at the cover as he took a seat beside her.
"Father, I am a grown woman. When will you stop calling me that?" she moaned, rubbing her eyes to help wake herself up.
"You will forever be my little girl, Emily," he smirked at her. He then drew his attention back to the cover. "'The Lady of Shalott' again?"
She gave him a nod. "Yes, it is one of my favourites," she answered.
Her eye caught a glimpse through the window and noticed that it was pitch-black out. She averted her gaze to the clock that was perched on top of the fireplace mantle.
1:26 a.m.
She furrowed her brows at him, "Did you just get home? How was the party?"
He nodded, handing the book back to her. "It was alright. They're not the same without your mother, I fear. I do wish you would accompany me to them, though... You would be able to find a pretty good husband at one."
Emily rolled her eyes at this statement; he was always pressuring her about getting married and having children. He knew she hated having this discussion, especially if it was at 1:30 in the morning.
"Father, I have been to those parties. All those men are just shallow and…how do I put this delicately? Let's say…dense." She replied coldly.
"But Tadpole, who will take care of you when I'm gone?" He frowned at her, taking her chin in his hand.
Emily was a beautiful, intelligent, sophisticated woman, and the daughter of a wealthy businessman in all of London. Thus, because of this reputation, she had received many marriage proposals from suitors, all of which she turned down. Her father would start to throw a fit as to why she wouldn't get married to even the most respectable of bachelors, and she would always huff at him in response. He just couldn't understand why she found the whole situation odd.
It wasn't that she didn't want to get married, it was mainly because she was annoyed with the fact that all of the men who would propose to her couldn't bother to get to know her. She suspected that it was because they wanted to use her to get better acquainted with her father and that her beauty was really just a bonus. In times she wanted to humor the situation, she would ask them why they wanted to marry her. To which they all responded with the same answer: "You're beautiful." And then nothing more.
For a lack of better words, it drove her nuts. She was more than just a 'wife'.
"I'm a big girl, Father. I'll be okay." She said as she gave him a reassuring smile.
Except, her hand found its way to the necklace that laid around her neck. It was a gift from her mother on her eighth birthday; the necklace was a tiny pearl that shimmered with colours of blue, teal, and turquoise that hung from a dainty gold chain. When she received the gift, her mother explained to her that it was a present from the mermaids of Neverland – a fictional island from the tales she would tell her as a child to lull her to sleep. Whenever she was nervous and uncertain, she would find comfort when she toyed with it between her fingers.
"Besides, I don't want to get married for the sake of having a husband, Father… I want to find a love like yours and Mama."
He let out a long sigh and pondered for a minute before returning her smile.
He knew she would be just fine.
"I know, Tadpole…" He kissed her forehead and stood up from the couch, "Come on, it's time for bed."
As Emily strode into the dining room this morning, she took her place beside her father at the table. A plate of eggs, toast, and fruit sat waiting for her with her morning cup of tea. She picked up a piece of toast and took a bite of it.
"Good morning," her father greeted as his eyes peered up over his newspaper.
"Morning Father," she replied as she swallowed the piece. "Anything new today?"
"Got a letter from your cousin in America," he began, sliding an envelope over to her, "She and her husband finally got all settled into their new home. They have invited us to stay with them for a week."
"Cousin Isabelle?" she whined, looking at the letter; she wasn't really fond of her cousin.
"Yes," her father confirmed, and then gave her a teasing smirk, "And you're going."
He knew his daughter too well.
Isabelle was only three years older than her. Before Emily, however, Isabelle was the youngest of the grandchildren. When Emily was born, she grew jealous and since then, she was always in competition with her about, well…everything. From fashion to suitors, to music, to even school. Emily could never bother with it though, as her mother taught her that a "proper lady" does not 'compete' with others. But whenever she was fed up with her cousin, Emily would upstage her with her singing.
One of the many things she inherited from her mother was her voice. Her mother's songs could make a crowded room go silent; putting people in an almost hypnotic trance. Emily's voice wasn't as powerful, but she often tried to train her voice to be more like her's. At every family gathering, her family would often request Emily to sing, and Isabelle would loathe it since it was a trait that she lacked.
As they grew older, her cousin's favourite thing to do was taunt her with how she was a married woman. Her aunt and cousin always stated that something must be wrong with her to not have a husband yet and that her "clock was ticking" – as if being a wife and producing children was the only thing she had to offer the world.
Emily wondered why were women lowered to this expectation?
She sat in agony. She didn't want to go.
She let out a groan, "But Father–"
"No but's," he scolded. "It will be good for you, anyway."
Emily scowled at her father as she took another bite of her breakfast.
As she laid in the bath, Emily's humming began to cease as she stared at the ceiling, contemplating.
They were to leave for America tomorrow, and her stomach twisted in knots as she angst over visiting her cousin.
As much as she tried to keep her head high around her cousin and not regret any of her life choices, it was always so hard not to compare herself to Isabelle, especially when her father would become influenced by her aunt and cousin. He would begin to grow more troublesome for her and try to urge her even harder to marry and settle down.
Why couldn't she just be "normal" and live the traditional lifestyle that was expected of her?
The thing was, she knew it just wasn't for her.
She closed her eyes and sank lower into the tub.
"Rose Rose Rose Red,
Will I ever see thee wed?
Only if you discover me…"
Her voice trailed off and she opened her eyes, letting out a heavy sigh.
Oh, Mama… What would you think of me now?
She placed her hands over her face as her eyes began to swell up with tears.
The blonde wanted to live a life with no boundaries; to have fun with no consequences; to do things unexpectedly; to adventure the great sea; but most of all, to love passionately.
She yearned for something more than this life.
Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean
"It should be smooth sailing from here on out," the Captain addressed to his crew. He looked to Emily's father, "We should arrive in America in about six to seven days, Mr. Thompson."
"Perfect," he replied. He turned his head to see his daughter standing by the railings.
Emily looked over the edge at the sea below and watched as the cerulean waves brushed against the ship. Before she knew it, her hand had found its way to her necklace.
"Are you alright, Tadpole?" her father asked, moving beside her. He too knew that when she was uneasy, she would fidget with the pearl.
"Hm?" she broke out of her gaze and dropped her hand. "O-Oh, yes, of course I am, Father."
She tried to pass off a smile.
As he went to open his mouth, a voice called over to him.
"Henry? Henry is that you?!"
Emily looked up to see a sailor roughly the same age as her father's headed towards them.
"Noah?" he laughed, "My God man, it's been so long!"
Her father and the man embraced. Once they let go, he wrapped his arm around the lad's shoulders and gestured a hand to his chest.
"Emily, this is Noah. He and I served in the Navy together years ago. Noah, this is my daughter, Emily."
She gave him a warm smile, and held her hand out, "A pleasure to meet you, Noah."
He took hold of her hand and planted a kiss on it.
"The pleasure is all mine," He stated, and then grinned at Henry. "Aye Henry, she's beautiful. She looks just like Elizabeth."
Henry smiled and nodded, "She's practically a spitting image."
"Want to grab a drink at the bar and catch up?" Noah asked.
Henry turned to his daughter who gave him a playful smirk and a wave with her hand.
"Go, I'll be fine." She answered.
He placed a kiss on her forehead and followed Noah to the deck below.
As she watched them disappear from her sight, she turned her attention back to the water. Once again, her hand fiddled with the pearl around her neck.
There was something uneasy about the sea she couldn't quite figure out.
She spent the night tossing and turning in her cot. Emily figured it was because she was sleeping in a new place; the first night in a different bed was always the hardest since it wasn't the comfort one would be used to. But the longer she lied awake in her bed, the more something urged her to get up.
And then, she heard a faint humming echo across the ship.
She listened to it quietly. It was beautiful but very eerie.
Emily got up from her bed and opened the door of her cabin to listen to it more clearly. Her eyes glanced down the hallway to the stairs that lead to the upper deck.
Curious as to who was humming, the blonde followed the sound. However, as she reached the deck, all that was to be seen was the co-captain and two crewmates on night duty, and they were all sitting in the bridge playing cards.
She furrowed her brows in confusion until the humming seemed to have echoed louder. Where was it coming from?
The next thing she knew, she was standing by the banister looking down into the blue void.
It felt like it was taunting her – telling her to jump in.
When she couldn't take it anymore, she backed away quickly and ran back to her quarters. She figured she was just becoming delirious from the lack of sleep.
A couple of days passed, and they were just a little over halfway to America.
Emily hadn't slept a wink. She spent her days sitting at the bow of the ship staring below.
At first, her father thought that perhaps she was nervous about visiting her cousin, or the motion of the ship making her ill. But when she hadn't slept in over three days, he grew concerned for her. When he tried to speak to her about it, Emily would dismiss him and just explain that she was just 'too excited' to sleep – like a child on Christmas.
But that wasn't the case at all.
The echo kept calling out to her. It hadn't stopped since the first night on the ship.
She stared tiresome at the sea beneath. It felt as if it kept calling to her to dive below the surface. She kept fighting the temptation; as it was insane to jump overboard in the middle of the ocean. Has she gone mad?
However, each time she denied the temptation, the echoes grew louder.
Until…
It was as if the sea grew impatient with her.
She watched fearfully as the waves began to crash grievously against the ship hastily, causing it to rock side to side violently.
The sky flashed above, and rain started to pour down heavily all around. She held onto the railings for her dear life as she gasped in astonishment as the storm seemed to have appeared as if out of nowhere.
Panic and terror began to spread amongst the crew like wildfire and they urgently dispersed to stable the sails as the boat.
"Take cover!" cried a sailor. Large bodies of water began to flood the ship's deck.
"Emily!"
The woman turned her head around to see her father screaming out her name. He was trying to make his way to her briskly. Emily kept one arm wrapped tightly around the banister as she extended her other one out to him, stretching as long as she could. Then suddenly, a dark shadow crept up behind her.
Emily looked up to see a large wave hang over her and then crashed down hard; her grip had slipped from the railing as she was swallowed whole.
The next thing she knew, she was fully submerged in water.
She felt incredibly cold.
Emily's eyes snapped open as she felt her chest beginning to tighten and burn. She had found herself consumed in a blanket of blue-black nothing, and her lungs screamed at her for oxygen. In a panic, she darted upwards to break through the ocean's surface and opened her mouth to take in a breath of air only to have water spill out, causing her to cough harshly in between inhales.
She turned her attention up to see the sky crystal clear with not a single cloud, and a faint gust of wind brushing past her. Confused by the drastic change in weather, she whipped her head around for the ship she had fallen off from...but nothing was to be found.
What the hell…
Fear started to settle in as Emily realized she was lost at sea. Just how long was she underwater? It only felt like seconds...
But then, the gentle hum echoed out to her again.
From the corner of her eye, a little glimpse of green caught her attention. Taking in her surroundings, she saw that it was an island just a few miles away from her.
How did I not see that before…?
She began to swim towards the shore; the tide assisting in pushing her forwards – like it was drawing her in.
Upon reaching the beach, Emily crawled as much as she could away from the water before she collapsed from exhaustion. Her joints were sore, and her lungs felt as if they were on fire; all the while the world spun around her. She closed her eyes in an attempt to still herself, but she soon fell into a slumber…
Song: Rose Red by Emilie Autumn