"I have both hands again, Peter." Captain Hook said with a mocking smirk and Ana saw Jack wince at his words as though they hurt but she didn't know why.

"You will die today Peter Pan!" The child scrambled back frantically managing at just the last moment to twist his body and fly up into the air.

Something had changed. The last few days had been brutal, with the Captain actively searching for him every minute of every day, so ready to fight, so ready to kill. It had always been akin to a game which Peter always won. He felt the rules of the Island as keenly as any child would feel the rules of surroundings made especially for him. But he wasn't winning anymore.

Running away now would be futile. He could fly, could evade the Captain for as long as possible but the avid animosity in the Pirate would always drive him on. Sooner or later they would have to fight. For the first time Peter felt a flash of fear. He knew that he hadn't been mistakes in his understanding and even though he wasn't afraid to die, he wanted to live. It was very important that he lived.

"Come back down here right now Peter." The Captain called. "Come down here and fight me like a man!"

"I'm not a man, Codfish, remember?" Peter Pan smirked. "I'll come down when I feel like it." His cocky smirk betrayed nothing of his fear. He didn't know what was driving the Captain but he wished that it could have given him more time. More time to be more prepared for this inevitable fight.

The Captain growled and launched for him and Peter flew to the other side of the ship to land in safety and wait till the Captain caught up with him. Perhaps if he tired him enough, maybe the pirate would get careless and bored with this dangerous game.

What seemed like hours later, Peter was ready to rethink his strategies of action. The Captain wasn't tiring; in fact he looked like he was getting more and more energy with every passing minute that they fought.

"I will kill you Peter Pan. Today is the day that everybody who cares to will remember as the day of your demise!" Peter shook his head mid-flight, amused. He had told the Captain something similar days ago. It just figured that the unoriginal pirate would simply parrot it back to him.

He could hear the ticking of the crocodile in the distance coming closer towards them. He looked away, distracted for a moment, trying to judge how far away she was. When he looked back it was only to see the Captain bring his hand down swinging his arm, his sword coming strait at him and there was no time to move.

Without a thought Peter raised his own sword and swung. It only took a second but to the child each of the next moments in his life seemed to last a lifetime. He felt the vibrations of his sword as it hit flesh, the hungry smack of the alligator down below the ship, the heavy splash of the sword hitting the murky turbulent waters.

He felt the Captain's enraged cry of pain but still did not dare to look. Instead, his eyes focused on a tiny speck of dirt on the deck in front of him as though his life depended on never looking away.

For all his words and bold fighting technique, his parents had strictly and in a young boy's mind, completely unfairly, banned him from all duels and other public fights. Sure there were the usual brawls between friends turned enemies and neighbors in the alleys but that had been different. There had been never been any real maiming, no large amounts of blood spilled. He had never seen the brutality, the real ugliness of far. It far such a harsh lesson to learn.

"No… no…" The child whispered helplessly, trying to futilely deny the last few moment. He huddled down on the deck in a crouch, hugging his knees closer to himself for warmth that just wouldn't come.

In a split second everything had changed, the last vestiges of his childhood innocence stripped rudely away. He could actually feel the Island in his mind this time, desperately trying to repair the damage. This was the first time he welcomed the presence.

"Help me." He whispered, wanting something, anything to take this pain, this horror, this guilt away. The Captain had escaped to his cabin to tend to his injury and no one of the crew on deck dared to touch the boy crouching and still in his place.

The rain began to fall then, cold slushy rain with the undercurrents of snow and winter on its heels. It covered the child and the ship layering the pirate ship in a blanket of pure white snow. The world had frozen. They were all just silhouettes, marionettes floating in a sea of nothingness. The island was still, respectful of its young master while the snow fell cleansingly on the world and when it was finally over and the snow melted away, Peter Pan flew.

"I'm glad." Jack said softly and for a minute Captain Hook looked startled and Jack wondered if he had ever asked his crew about what had happened out on his own deck after he had gone inside to clean his wound. If he had ever cared enough to find out how his enemy had reacted to delivering such a harsh wound.

"Why are you here?" Captain Sparrow asked. The question had so many double meaning. Why was he here on the island, why here on this beach? The Captain took the first option.

"The best I can figure, I am here to provide diversion and entertainment." He told the Captain of the Black Pearl. "We need to keep you interested and in balance and I have always provided that." He paused looking as though he was not sure about weather to go on or not. "Neverland wants your power Peter."

Captain Barbossa hadn't felt fully human in a long long while. The magical island had stripped him of so much, of his basic will when she had placed him under the spell that had stayed with him all of his life. He had learned to live with the burning irrational hatred that he felt for the young man in front of him. Fortunately, the spell didn't prevent him from making allies. The enemy of your enemy is your friend. Regardless weather you hated you enemy or not, if working together would be beneficial then that was what he would do and Captain Barbossa was glad that the hatred inside him hadn't prevented that option yet.

Jack nodded. He had felt her in his mind, trying to take away his control, to take over his mind. It was an explanation that he could readily believe.

"What do you want?" He asked Captain Barbossa. Barbossa shrugged.

"The enemy of my enemy is me friend, Captain Jack Sparrow. If you are gone, I will no longer be needed and I've grown somewhat… attached to this form of existence whatever it is. I want to help you fight her." The Captain said. He had come up with this sitting alone in his cavern bidding unwanted time. He had been too eager, he decided, too rash to see what had been right in front of him all this time. His one reason, his one purpose in life.

Jack Sparrow considered the options. Even trying to listen very hard in between the lines, Jack could hear nothing in the other pirate's voice that would tell him that he was no sincere. As though engraved on their DNA, Peter Pan and Captain Hook had to fight each other. It said nowhere that they couldn't cooperate and work together every once in a while.

"How?" That question came from Anamaria.

"I am not yet sure myself." The Captain confessed. "She offered me a deal, to get rid of Peter Pan and I accepted. She thinks that I am on her side. We can use that against her, I could strike when she least expects it. Mostly, I just wanted to warn you of her plans."

"What plans? What do you know?" Captain Jack wanted to know.

"Not much, not yet. I know that she has been working on her plans for years, for centuries. Long before you came into the picture Peter. She plans to fight mind to mind. Do you think you can beat her Peter Pan?" He asked. The question the answer to which everyone wanted to know.

"Yes." Captain Jack Sparrow said simply, unhesitatingly with his typical mad Jack Sparrow grin. It was all anyone needed to know.

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meowbooks- hey! I'm so glad ur enjoying it. as usual, i absolutely love your summeries. they are just wounderful! thank you - don't stopwriting them.

windwraith- Thank you, I'm so glad u liked that. I really liked the idea, I'm happy it came across as i wanted it to.

Happy reading everyone!