Chapter 1: Descent into Darkness
Killian Jones...a man betrayed by his king, his brother slain by his own faith, he relinquished all ties to the Royal Navy, he renamed his brother's ship and he became a pirate and seeker of fortune. He was known as The Terror of the Deep and the only rules he followed were his own...though he was not without a code of honor, slightly skewed as it were by his broken faith and the loss of his kin.
His life was a whirlwind of adventures, of the finest vintages, of glorious bloodshed and his rather active libido..so many women charmed into his bed or captured during his travels, becoming his lovers either willingly or by force.
He had a particularly bad habit of stealing wives away from their husbands, making them crave his touch and quite commonly murdering their husbands, using the women before either selling them or killing them. There were times when he was particularly cruel and sadistic, oftentimes making the women choose, him or their husband.
If they chose their husband, they were granted a swift death as a sign of rather warped respect, but should they choose him, he simply tossed them to the crew and never touched them again, their husbands forced to watch their traitorous wives be raped over and over again before both are ultimately killed.
Honestly...people were so damn predictable. It was annoying and nauseating. Time and again he went to the tavern to drown himself in booze, a vain attempt to block out the past and alleviate the constant boredom of life itself. His life held very little in the way of meaning, drifting through time without a purpose or a reason for existing.
He had let himself fall into the darkness, so much so that he often felt like he was two different people trying to exist at the same time yet not, both yet neither. Even though there was a constant struggle within him, the darkness could never fully claim him.
Try as it might...the darkness was always dispelled by the moon's light, a reflection of the sun, and the numerous dots of light called stars, hinting at the mystery of life beyond this realm. As a child, he had been captivated by the seemingly endless sea of stars. Then as a sailor, he used those very same stars to guide him, to keep his course true and steady.
During his youth, he had been told that every celestial body had an avatar, a human like form. This fanciful tale ignited his obsession in exploring, sailing his beloved sea in search of these celestial avatars. He yearned to find a star, but not just any star. He wanted to find his own personal star, one that shined only for him.
So many years and he never found the avatars, but he found a woman whose soul shined like a star or so he thought. The woman's name was Milah, wife of Rumplestiltskin and mother of Baelfire. He didn't understand why he had been so attached to her...he wasn't even sure if he had loved her, but he must have since he reacted so harshly to her death.
The problem was there was nothing truly spectacular about this woman; average height, average looks, below average breasts and hips, her hair was always oily or unkempt, and her eyes...ugh, they were so bland, dull, ordinary. There was no depth, no layers, no intrigue...nothing but a shallow, naive country girl.
In fact, he shouldn't have loved her at all. Appearances not withstanding, she had a son, Baelfire, a young boy no older than six maybe seven, and she left him. She abandoned her son, begging him to take her away. He should have slapped the woman. He knew what it was like to be abandoned by a parent and she abandoned her son without hesitation, without a shred of guilt or remorse...she was nothing like his mother.
His mother died when he was young, but she loved him and his brother, Liam. Her love for them gave her the strength to fight the disease plaguing her body for years. She tried so hard to stay for them, to stay as long as she could and Killian loved her for that. He loved her so much that should he ever have a daughter, he would name her after his mother...Alice.
His father, however, was an entirely different story. He hated his sons, was drunk all the time, commonly smacking them around and blaming them for the death of his wife. He despised them so much that he sold him and his brother off like cattle, forcing them to use extreme measures in order to be free...a contract.
His brother had taught him to live each day to the fullest, to cherish every moment, and asked only one thing of him...to find his guiding star. His brother wanted him to be happy, to be loved, to find that which could never be defined...true love. Liam was always a bit of a romantic which was why he encouraged his brother's search for the celestial avatars.
He was too kind, too optimistic and compassionate...too much hope for a better tomorrow and a faith that was far too pure. His older brother had been his light in the darkness, his hope in the midst of despair. So many times Killian wanted to let go, just let everything fade away, but he had promised Liam that he would find his true love.
This woman...she wasn't his true love nor was she a star. She should have repulsed him, disgusted him...enraged him yet none of that occurred and for the life of him, he didn't understand why. People would say that they were in love and you can't help who you fall for, but his entire relationship with the vapid girl did not make any bloody sense.
Thinking back to those early days of their so called romance...it just didn't fit. To this day, he still wondered why they had been together at all because there was nothing that truly bound them together. His feelings were strong yet it felt so wrong to be with Milah. Which begged the question of why he reacted so harshly to her death when at the time, he had actually felt such a powerful surge of relief…like he was finally free?
All these years of wasted effort...trying to slay the bloody crocodile, to avenge a woman he honestly believed that he should have never cared for...and for what? To become the little bitch of a heartless witch, to be tugged about in her endless game of chess with her daughter, The Evil Queen?
Honestly...he wanted to just disappear but his blasted hatred for the Dark One kept him bound in invisible chains. He became one of the most notorious pirates to ever sail the ocean...The Scourge of the Sea...the infamous captain of the Jolly Roger...James Hook, so named for the hook that acted as his left hand, a constant reminder of his wayward foe.
The Dark Captain was a creature of darkness known throughout countless realms. No man has ever been able to stand against him. No woman has been able to resist his charm. Even the God of Neverland had a rather difficult campaign against him and yet never won.
He was the tyrant of the waves, the lord of the ocean, a man that the sea claimed as its own whose spirit was fiercer than any storm and as free as the wind...yet...there was something he still yearned for...even now when so deep in the darkness, his search continued on as his brother wished for.
To find that which was his...the star that shined only for him...the light that guides him through his endless night...and the story of Starsea will begin again.