NEVER

"Dia, I will not have this, this codfish villain in my home! And especially not with you!"

Her father had shouted at her while her face heated in anger.

"Daddy, Harry isn't his father! Just like I am not you!"

The king of Neverland had risen off the ground. "No. You aren't. And you have never known Hook, Dia. He was a coward, a conniving rat, a heartless murderer, a raving lunatic!" Each word drove a spike deeper and deeper into Harry's heart as his father was insulted. "I don't care that you're friends, Dia! That's fine if this pirate-spawn wants to be good. But," and he turned and glared at Harry then. "Nothing good can come from that vile snake. Especially not a son who idolizes him," he held up the hook as emphasis. "You will never be good enough for my daughter, Son of Hook. And I swear right here and now, if you ever harm a hair on her head or lay a grimy finger - or hook! - on her heart, I will tear you to shreds and feed you to the crocodiles."

Harry had growled. "Ye don't think I know who my own father is? I know he ain't a saint, but that doesn't give you the right to insult him like that! Especially, not infront'a me," he had snarled. "And don'tcha think I've told myself enough that I don't deserve Dia? It's her choice, Pan, not yers."

Her father had stared at him. His face was blank, but there was a horrible fire in the brown of his eyes. "Out," he had said simply. Angrily. With authority. Yet it was spoken barely louder than a calm conversation. "You're banished from this part of my island, Hook. And I don't ever want to see you again."

"Dad! You can't do that!" she'd screamed.

"Dia, you are grounded. You're to stay in your room until I say."

"No! Dad, you're too late! I love Harry Davies. And he didn't touch my heart, I gave it to him. You have no right to-"

"Dia," Harry had interrupted her. "He's right."

"No, he's not," and there were tears in her eyes. "It's me who doesn't deserve you, Harry. You're my everything and I need you."

"Placidia," Harry had beat her father to it. "You need someone good. I'm just bad fer you, luv. I love you. And that means I want what's best fer ye. And as much as I want ye, I'm not good."

"You're right, Harry Davies," she had growled at him and her father. "You aren't good. No, not good, because to me, you're perfect. And neither of you get to decide what's best for me. I get to make my own mistakes. But, Dad, Harry has never ever ever been one of them."

And then she had run.

"Dia," Harry tapped on the wooden sill to her bedroom. Good riddance to whatever Peter Pan had to say. That not-quite-adult child was just that - a child. He hadn't really intended on listening to him in the first place about boundaries. But he did have a point.

Harry Hook was a villain.

Placidia threw a rock at him from inside her room. He easily flew to the left and dodged it. "Dia, we need to talk," he told her.

"Oh, I think you've talked," her bell-voice was scratched and clogged with tears. She threw another rock out the window with just slightly more accuracy than before. "Harry, he doesn't get to decide who I get to love. That's my decision. I love you."

She ran to the window suddenly at that point. "So help me, Harry, if you pull the 'but I don't love you after all' crap for my safety or whatever, I will not miss again," she hefted another rock in her palm. Her pixie features were twisted in pain and anger. Red from emotion and streaked with streams of tears.

"Lass-"

"Don't you 'lass' me," she interrupted. "Unless you're here to apologize, you're out, you rascal."

Harry risked an eyebrow raise at her. "That's hard if ye don't let me speak, luv."

Placidia did her best you-can-die-now expression that she could manage as upset as she was. "Out," she mimicked her father, without any real conviction.

Harry pulled himself into the window and after a moment making sure she wasn't going to bash him with her rock, he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry, Placidia, okay? But luv, I'm a villain. A crook."

"No," and she pulled away from him. "You. Are. Not. All the stars above, Harry!" And she immediately buried her face back in his chest. "We've been through this, you're not!"

Harry didn't reply this time and simply held her while she exhausted more tears. When she had finally stopped shaking, she sighed and took his hands - her father still had possession of his father's hook.

"Have I taken you to see a Lilterloo?" she asked in a scratchy whisper.

"Aye," he replied just as quiet.

"They sing," she reminded him. "They sometimes sing prophecies. Sometimes just false stories."

"Aye, ye told me this, luv," he whispered to her.

She nodded into his chest. "Dad's afraid. Because of one of their songs."

He didn't say anything for a moment, but then prompted, "What song?"

Placidia looked up at him and sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Do you really want to know?"

Harry tucked her bangs away from her still red eyes. "Luv, if it's about you, I wanna know everything."

Placidia rolled her eyes and looked past his arm and through the window. She bit her lip before taking a breath.

"There was a girl and a boy on Neverland
Where all dreams are said to come true
But in secret demanded the boy and girl meet
Under silence of wild Lilterloo

This girl and this boy on Neverland
Played day by day by day
Meeting in whispers and hushed laughing cries
Long had they been this way

Was fate that in this Neverland
Should enemies fall in love
And a girl and a boy meeting secretly
Defied all demands from above

But this boy and this girl in Neverland
Could not hide forever on
Was not long 'till enemies fought and warred
And fought their war to be won

By mistake in this war in Neverland
One girl and a boy tried to run
And a boy and a girl were found out
Their secret was out and was done

The boy by the point of a dagger
The girl by the gleam of a hook
Held hostage by the love of the other
A girl and a boy share a look

There was a girl and a boy on Neverland
Whose dreams were supposed to be true
By fate of the land where never
Under scream of wild Lilterloo

The gleam of a hook plunged deep
The hurt was aloud and made known
The point of a shiny slim dagger
Made a deep plunge of its own

No boys and no girls in Neverland
The land where never was
The never this land was named after
And never no never because."

"Long song," Harry said after a silent minute passed by.

Placidia met his eyes in a weak glare.

Harry shrugged and smirked slightly. "Well, it is."

"That's not the point, Harry," Placidia sighed frustratedly. "Dad's afraid us loving each other

will get us both dead. He doesn't want to lose me, Harry. But, he also doesn't want to make your father lose you. And he does like you, Harry. He doesn't want you to die."

Harry blinked at that. "He doesn't?"

"Of course not," Placidia huffed. "He thinks the best way to protect us both is to keep us from being together."

Harry stared at the seriousness in her eyes. He kept a straight face for the count of ten. Then he burst out laughing.

Placidia hit his chest angrily. "Harry James Hook, what in the name of the Second Star is so funny!"

Harry caught her second and third attempts to hit him and he laughed into her clenched fists, rendered still in his hands. When he could speak he peeked up at her through her fingers and she glared impatiently at him.

"You really don't find that funny?" he asked her.

"What?"

"Dia," he rested his chin on top of her hands. "Luv, I die without'cha. Not bein' with ye would kill me. No offence to yer daddy, but that is, as ye so elegantly put it, poppycock."

Placidia raised an eyebrow at him. "That's what's so funny?"

Harry smiled at her. "'Course," he told her. "And I think that bird's song is crap. In fact, let's go steal back my hook an' go kill it."

"They're endangered, you can't kill one," Placidia informed him, tugging against his grasp pointlessly.

"Surely a beautiful princess like you and devilishly handsome pirate like meself can get away with it?"

"Harry-"

"Ah, ah, ah," Harry scolded and shook his head at her. "Luv, ain't no stupid bird telln' Placidia Pan and Harry Davies what they're gonna do. I do everythn' I do on my own terms. That includes dyin'. An' I'm not lettn' my father kill you, and I'm certainly not dyin' by yer father's butter knife."

"Are you serious, right now?" Placidia groaned. "Harry, this isn't a joke."

"I'm serious as the plague," Harry grinned. "And now, we should go tell that to yer father."

"What?"

"I need to ask him somethin' important."

Placidia gave him a dubious look. "What would that be?"

"Oh, I need his permission," he told her and let go of her wrists. "And he's goin' to ground us for a century."


Author's Note: So, the song in this story is actually mine! And if for some reason any of you wanted to use this poem yourself, feel free to ask and I'd be more than happy to give you permission for it! Placidia is mine, put nothin' else is...

Thanks for reading, guys! Please review, follow, or favorite if you enjoy the story so far. I'd love to hear from you!