Stand forth the one who did this thing
Wendy awoke the next morning to an empty bed, but she did not feel the slightest inclination towards sadness. Instead, she felt full with the emotions still surrounding her from last night. She was smiling softly, looking to the ceiling above.
It had been wrong to sleep in his arms the night before. It had been so inherently unladylike, and so utterly lacking in decorum that Wendy could scarcely believe that it had occurred willingly on her part. What of her propriety? What of her good name? Oh, to have her reputation sullied so easily by a pirate.
Wendy couldn't help but smile.
As she did, a sudden thought entered into her mind. It was a strange one surely, for she had never happily pictured the subject...Marriage. Yes, she had imagined being a mother in her youth, and of Peter as her husband. But...true, real marriage? Before she could stop such grown up thoughts, Wendy's mind had catapulted her into such a state of dreamy elation, she could scarcely stop herself.
In her vast imagination, Wendy could imagine herself in a gown of flowing ivory, with a bouquet filled with the most beautiful and exotic of flowers found only in a place like Neverland. She imagined her dark hair dramatically done up, held in place by mermaid's combs with baby's breath entangled at the corners. She could envision the way her gown would shimmer and have an almost ethereal look to it, with a veil that held her vibrant face, and the train sailing down behind her dramatically as she rushed into the open arms of...
...Hook.
Yes. She could see him now. His long curls shorn into a respectable style, his embroidered Captain's uniform turned in for a suit that made him look ever so dashing, but was unlike any suit she had ever seen upon a man. And he would take her into his arms, and kiss her passionately.
Wendy held a pillow tightly to her then, sighing in pure longing. A longing to have someone to love and hold and create new life with. Someone to share a name and an eternity with. Someone to-
"Awake at last," came the sudden, husky rasp from the end of the room. Wendy sat up suddenly, drowsily looking towards the hearth, and suppressing a deep shudder.
Hook stood, clad in only his trousers before the morning fire, his form quite breathtaking. He turned slightly at her sudden movement, smiling in a calm sort of fashion before making his way towards the bed. There was something positively feral in his eyes and movements, like a stealthy animal, waiting to attack its prey.
"Good morning Captain," Wendy managed, struggling to sit up, for fear that she would not again rise if she were to submit now.
Even now as she watched him, she wanted to feel the roughness of the stubble upon his cheeks, feel the taut muscles of his chest underneath her naive fingertips. Kiss that full mouth that taunted her, tortured her. She wanted to have him hold her. She wanted to tell him stories and watch him sleep.
Was this love?
Wendy could not be sure. She was an educated girl, and was prone to being rational at times. Was this love? Or was it something far baser? Something...more primal? The feel of his taut body against her own, so unabashedly desiring? The kisses that seem to intoxicate? That desire to not be forced to leave his company. Did she wish to leave this ship? Not without the Captain. She felt so young and foolish. What was love besides a feeling?
Was this love?
She had no time further to ponder these thoughts, for the Captain was now at the side of the bed. Wendy felt her heart racing, the bloody pulsating, and the uncomfortable flush to her cheeks. She closed her eyes fully as his mouth pressed her own, tilting her neck back in abandon...but her thoughts clouded the moment, causing her to tremble. Hook felt her shivers and pulled back slightly, looking into her flushed face.
"I have several tasks to complete this morning," he breathed against her mouth. "But I shall return for luncheon."
"Yes," Wendy whispered back, her eyes still closed. Hook thought she was replying to his question. Inside Wendy however, something was saying yes it is love! It is love! I feel it within my heart and body. I love Captain James Hook.
Hook smirked gently, looking at her naivety. Her sweetness. Her purity. He allowed one more lingering kiss before standing tall, and pulling on his clothes.
"I think I would like to do some sewing," Wendy remarked absently, looking to the floor as the Captain got ready for the day. "If you don't mind."
Hook looked down at the daydreaming girl, finding it harder and harder to resist her requests. He used to concoct ways of avoiding such things as walking out the door, or flatly refusing for fear that she would harm herself or others. But, looking down at her smiling face, and remembering young kisses, he found his resistance melting.
"Yes," he breathed gently, "of course."
Within the hour, Wendy had her own darling little sewing basket, most ideal for darning and such, just like her mother had taught her. She almost laughed at the sight of herself...sitting in a chair by the window, darning clothes like a real mother! Oh how times did change!
"Would you like me to sew that for you, Captain?" Wendy inquired benevolently, nodding towards his jacket upon the chair. It had a small tear in the shoulder. She felt in such high spirits that she wanted to share it with others.
"If you feel so inclined," Hook said kindly, grasping the jacket with his newly attached claw and bringing it to her. He was more than pleased to note that she did not flinch, nor even seem to notice the claw the rest so close to her face.
She took the jacket from him, and pulling it onto her lap. Then reaching down into her sewing basket, Wendy retrieved a small, silver item that had her smiling fondly, with just a touch of melancholy.
A thimble.
In a matter of moments, she had slipped it onto her index finger and begun to thread a crimson colored thread from its loop, and within a minute, she was already stitching the Captain's torn jacket.
Wendy hummed a small tune slightly to herself, not even aware that the Captain was still standing behind her, watching her as she sewed. Hook recognized the tune as the one he had dedicated to her, and he felt a small smile tug at the corner of his mouth.
She was oblivious to everything around her, and Hook watched her fingers nimbly dance around the needle, the soft plink of the thimble periodically heard as it tapped against one of the jacket buttons.
And the Captain was lost in thought, wondering what it was about Wendy that captured him. It was mere moments before the Captain jerked into reality, finding that several minutes had passed during his reverie, and he was compelled to understand why. Why was he so lost in this slip of a girl?
Suddenly, the Captain had kneeled beside Wendy in her chair, and catching her off guard, he touched his fingers to her face, drawing her widening eyes to his own. Wendy could not move nor speak, for the Captain's gaze felt most intense.
"Wendy...my dear Wendy." The Captain lowered his hand from her soft cheek, but his gaze was still unwaveringly upon her own. "What is it that draws me to you so, like a moth to a flame? What is this?..."
He stopped shortly, standing at once as he realized. Of course, the captain knew exactly what it was. Those hundreds of butterflies within his abdomen, that flush, that feeling as if he were about to take ill-
But he would not admit it.
"I'm off," he said briskly, "Good morning."
And with a soft kiss upon her knuckles, the Captain had hurried from the room, locking it behind him soundly with Wendy staring after him in earnest. It was several moments later before another figure entered the room.
"Oh, hullo," Wendy said cheerily to the figure, and noting that Smee trailed in after Hook and carried a large tray with a large assortment of food, her grin grew wider still.
"Thank you," she said happily taking the tray from Smee, who offered her a small smile before locking the door behind him and finding the Captain.
When he finally did, he was concerned to see the feared pirate standing despondently at the helm of the ship, looking into the churning waters below with a look of utter sorrow and dejection etched upon his face.
"Captain?"
"What is it Smee?" The Captain's voice was harsh.
"I worry sir," Smee continued nervously. "I worry about another battle. One we couldn't possible win. A battle to end all battles sir. You and Pan."
"Don't be daft," Hook replied without conviction. He knew it as well as Smee. He'd felt it all morning. He'd woken up with Wendy in his arms and known. The air was lighter somehow...there was a bounce in the world around. It unsettled.
"Either way," Hook continued breezily, "I suggest you warn the men to be especially careful. Man their stations and do what we can with the supplies left over."
"Shouldn't we go for more provisions-?"
"We cannot in weather such as this," Hook said pointing to the frothy waves. "We'd be obstructed by a wild storm before we'd even left port."
"Very good sir," Smee nodded as he spoke rushing from the Captain's side hurriedly. Hook watched the tossing sea, oblivious to all crude on deck sounds as he did so. His mind was wrapped completely around the young creature in his rooms at this very moment. The young girl who'd embraced him so fervently he almost wanted to believe her words when she said she would return if freed.
Foolish of him.
He decided then and there, it was her purity that was maddening. Her naivety of all things adult, her innocent eyes and unknowingly cruel smiles at him. Take away her purity, he realized to himself, and it would take away the problem.
Yes. Hook's heart beat at the realization. Take away the one thing the girl has left of her childish world, and she would be meaningless to him. Another victim and prisoner to forget about as he made plans for the capture and demise of Pan.
Perfection.
Happily content with this realization, Hook immediately spun on his heels, barking at his crew that he wasn't to be disturbed and rushed to the cabins below deck. He heard the catcalls to one another mate from above, and ignored them for now.
Would she be submissive, he wondered darkly. He stood outside the door a moment, pondering how exactly he would steal her virtue unfettered. Surely there would be a struggle, for anything of value is worth fighting for. But, the question of the level of submission was still in the air.
Hook smiled in a truly feral manner, looking to the cabin door inches from his fingertips. Why was he waiting? Any inner conscience had left him, for a man that is as villainous as Hook can be, can only control such impulses of brilliant thought for so long.
With a valiant move of his fist, he burst the cabin door open. Wendy turned suddenly, her sewing upon her lap and her needle in hand. Her dark eyes were wide until she realized who it was.
"Is there a problem, Captain?"
Hook shut the door soundly behind him, his light eyes trained on hers alone. Wendy's eyebrows furrowed, and she stood shaking before the fire, looking to Hook worriedly.
"Is there a problem?" she repeated once more, although shakily.
Wendy viewed as the Captain slid his ornate jacket from his shoulders, dropping it wordless onto the nearby chair. Wendy's eyes followed the fabric's almost delicate tumble onto the rocker before her eyes went back to the Hook's face.
He was undoing the buttons of his white shirt, his eyes still staring into her own. She observed the girl wasn't moving at all. More, she was like those animals that are prone to stilling at the first signs of danger, hoping to go undetected. Foolish little girl.
She was wearing a pale white dress, rather plain and flowing to the floor. It offered little barrier, or hopes for protection for the girl from him. Wendy was still standing at her chair, looking to him so confused.
"I finished sewing your jacket, Captain," Wendy was saying, looking shaken. Hook felt a sudden pang in his chest at her words. He forced himself to look past her innocence. Past her kindness. This had to be done.
There was a crash above deck, and Wendy's eyes darted to the ceiling of the room at the sound. As if her defense were completely down, Hook sprang and grasped her roughly around the shoulders. Since she was taken by such surprise, there was a moment of weakness, in which the Captain managed to push her from the fire and towards the bed.
Seeing what was happening, Wendy attempted to push the Captain away, but was unable due to her angling, and fact that the Captain was a seasoned expert of taking victims.
"Oh please, no," Wendy protested her eyes wide and her voice so small. Knowing if she was to continue moving with him they would end up by the bed, and she knew what was to happen there. And so, Wendy's legs collapsed, and she fell to the ground immediately, not expecting the Captain to follow down with her.
"What has happened to you?"
Wendy could only look up in horror at the man she thought she had trusted and perhaps even loved, finding her breath to be completely lost. His knees were on ground on either side of her hips, and he was breathing heavily, looking down at her rather angrily until his head dipped down beside her own.
"I need to do this," Hook ground out against her ear, pinning her to the cold floor now with his body. "It is the only way to free us both."
Wendy felt the panic starting to build all over her at his cryptic words, making her feel as if her stomach had been struck so many times it had lost all feeling. This was so wrong, it sickened her.
"Do not fight it."
"I will!" Wendy shouted, flinching as Hook's hand came to clamp over her mouth in an instant. She struggled, stilling only as she felt the fabric of her dress being sheared by his infamous claw. Her shouts of protest and begging were muffled, and small tears sprouted at the corners of both her eyes.
Hook's hand was taken from her mouth, only to be savagely replaced with his mouth, hungrily taking all of her in. His hips were roughly against her own, and his frame so heavily upon her she could barely breathe. Wendy felt his hand slowly making its way down her collar and she could hold back her sobs no longer.
She felt the mouth of Hook stilling as her tears spilled down her cheeks, and then pulling away. Her eyes were clenched tightly together, and she could feel his hot breath against her cheek. She cried out as she heard him growl angrily, slamming his curled fist upon the floor angrily beside her.
It was several moments until her sobs lessened, and her shaking stilled after a moments time. A long moment of the Captain staring down at her in quiet, numbed shock.
She felt his body being lifted away from her, and she instantly went to cover the parts of her body exposed as a result of his sharp claw against her dress. Her modesty was preserved, for not a moment later her body was covered with the bed's large blanket. She lay there upon the floor, not moving, and her eyes shut tightly.
"Wendy." His voice was low, soothing. "Open your eyes."
She resisted, horrified at what may await her when she did.
"Open your eyes Wendy."
The insistency in his voice allowed her to tentatively open her eyes, slowly drinking in the blurred view of the Captain.
"Forgive me."
He was kneeling next to her, his eyes looking imploringly into her own. And in a sudden rage, Wendy had sat up, pulling the blanket around her body, and with a sudden fluidity of motion, Wendy had pulled back her hand and slapped Hook soundly across the cheek.
She heard him hiss as the palm cracked against his cheek, saw as his head jerked to one side unnaturally. It all happened so fast, Wendy was breathing heavily at the adrenaline coursing through her. Her teeth clenched angrily together as she stared at his unnaturally red cheekbone.
"How dare you."
"You drive me mad!" Hook barked angrily in her face, the pain of his pride and his cheek fresh. He gripped her tightly on the back of her neck, forcing her to face him as he spoke. "I cannot think, I cannot eat or drink, I cannot function because my thoughts are of you. Near me, away from me, it doesn't matter."
"This is all your doing!" Wendy shouted back, pushing his chest angrily. "You captured me; you forced me to live here. All I have done is attempt to be civil. I have done nothing to deserve such treatment."
"Don't you think I know that?" Hook sneered. "Don't you think I realized that this is all my doing? And while I wish nothing more than for you to be gone from me forever, so that I may finally be able to breathe again, I know that to drive you from me would result in my own miserable death. Do you understand?"
Wendy's breath was shallow, and her eyes unblinking, and imploringly looking to the Captain. What had overtaken him with such dark passion? What was this unnaturally possessive monstrosity that overtook the kindest of men?
"And so now I am torn Wendy Darling," Hook continued with fervor, "do I take from you the one thing I know would have you loathe me forever, and drive you from my thoughts and arms? Or do I continue masquerading my thoughts and needs in hopes of keeping you here as my chaste little housemaid, knowing that every moment you are kept near me, I shall go more and more mad?"
His hands loosened their grip around the back of her neck, and he sighed morosely, bringing himself to a standing position. He looked down at her, his eyes once more with their unearthly blue vibrancy.
"I wish only for your forgiveness," he whispered. "I cannot..."
He fell silent, buttoning his shirt clumsily, his one hand working shakily. He didn't dare look at the girl who was so grave. And so in suffocating silence they were, neither moving.
"Captain," Wendy abruptly called, using all the courage she had left, looking to his tall frame.
All of a sudden, there was a mighty boom that sent Wendy and Captain toppling to the floor. Wendy cried out in the sudden darkness than engulfed them both, save for a lone candle by the door.
"Calm yourself," Hook hissed, listening on board as canons cracked and yells of youth and maturity were slung back and forth at a wild pace. Realization dawned upon poor James Hook, and looking darkly to a pale faced Wendy, he whispered the one name that had haunted his dreams and brought Wendy's to life.
"Pan."