At the Beginning With You

Chapter Nine

Once the pirates returned to their camp with Hook, the two men that carried him laid him down on the ground beside the fire, then Smee knelt down beside him and pulled back his leather jacket, as well as his vest and shirt beneath, in order to get a better look at musket ball wound in his stomach. While he began to work by using a cloth to try to soak up the blood flowing out from the wound so he could see how bad it was, the rat noticed her former Captain staring at him weakly from the corner of his eyes, the look being that of pain and betrayal.

The man in the red knit cap kept glancing at the wounded man and when he couldn't take the staring any longer, he finally spoke up saying, "I swear, it's nothing personal, Cap… Hook. I had to do what was best for me. Surely you of all people can understand that."

Killian turned his head so that he was staring up at the skies as he responded faintly, "I suppose… suppose I can. I always figured our friendship would come to this one day, but… I was hoping I would be wrong. Aah!"

"Sorry," the first mate replied quickly and nervously when Hook cried out, his back arching up off the ground as the pain he was feeling flared hotter when Smee pushed too hard against the wound. "You're lucky, the musket ball went right through thanks to it striking you so far to the left."

"So, no chance of me dying… sooner than you or Blackbeard want then," Hook retorted disdainfully. "That is a shame."

Smee looked up at his new Captain as the man came to stand over them while he ignored Hook's contempt and continued, "But if we're going to stop this bleeding and help you to remain alive long enough for us to get you to our employer, then we're going to have to cauterize it. It's going to hurt like hell."

Hook glared at his old friend as he answered coldly, "You have no… idea what Hell… feels like."

"That's one thing Hook is right about," Blackbeard stated as he took a seat on a fallen log lying beside them while he pulled out his enemy's hook once again and handed it to Smee. "You can use this to do what you have to do. Be sure to use the brace so that you can hold it without getting yourself burnt. And Smee, make sure that it's really, really hot."

"How does it feel… being bested again?" Killian asked with as much strength as he could muster while he glared over at the pirate captain still sitting over him. "The Savior stole your power. Now you're back to… being as you've always been, a joke… of a captain."

Blackbeard angrily reached out and pushed down against the wound to hurt him as he responded cruelly, "That woman may have stolen the pendant from me, but she paid the price for thinking she could get away with trying to stop me. She's undoubtedly dead from that fall she took over the cliff's edge and into the rushing water below."

When the pirate let up and Hook could breathe through the pain again, he struggled to reply, "You still… underestimate her. She's not dead. I know it. You… will meet your demise, Captain. The Savior will see… to that."

"That may be so one day, Hook, but not before you return to Hell where you belong," the man holding him captive answered angrily as he swiftly grabbed the searing hot piece of metal away from the bumbling first mate, grabbing it by the brace attached to it, then swiftly pushed it against his enemy's wound with cruelty, gaining a great sense of pleasure and satisfaction upon hearing Hook scream out in agony as the scalding hook scorched his skin, burning the hole in his flesh closed.

"Smee, take care of him," Blackbeard said again when he finally finished with the cauterization, then watched as Hook slowly became unconscious once more. "I want you and some other men to build a travois that you lot will use to carry him on for when we get traveling again come morning."

The rat nodded and responded nervously, "Yes, Sir… Captain, Sir."

Deep within the Enchanted Forest…

A young woman ran within the ruins of what used to be a stone palace that had long since burned down in a great battle, having cut down her Sovereign's great power, making the woman half as powerful as she once was, and when the servant arrived within what remained of the great hall, she cried out, "Milady, Blackbeard has sent a few of his men in one of their ships with a message. The Captain has returned to Arendelle, with the man you need to open up the portal to the Underworld."

"So, the oaf actually succeeded?" the Enchantress replied in disbelief and with contempt for the foul man she was forced to align herself with in order to move forward with her plans. "I am surprise to say the least, but glad to know that my power wasn't fully wasted."

"If you would like… Shall I bring the pirates before you so that we might prepare to depart for Arendelle?" the young woman asked as the Sovereign stepped down from the throne upon which she sat, then walked with her over to the long mirror hanging on the wall a few feet away.

The Enchantress slowly waved her hand over her face as she transformed herself from a beautiful woman, into an old hag that was her disguise for whenever she left her home within the forest so as to not reveal her true form before those unworthy of seeing her true power. When finished, she did the same for her servant, making her appearance just as ugly.

The woman of great power turned to the younger woman and answered, "No, there is no need for you to bring them before me. We will not make our journey to Arendelle by the pirates' ship. I have enough magic to transport us there, as well as to sustain our appearances. If Blackbeard has truly fulfilled his half of our bargain by bringing me the right sacrifice and does not try to negotiate the deal between us, only then will I reveal myself to him and his men. Go and order the pirates to leave my land and if they refuse, tell them I will turn them into the worms that they are."

Her servant spoke again saying in compliance, "Yes, Milady."