Sorry this chapter took so long to get out! Finals kind of took over my life. Anyways big shout out to Silivia (Margo Alaska) for helping me with this chapter! Hope you guys enjoy it!
The next morning Ariel sat in Regina's bedroom, the two having breakfast. Keeping her composure was easy for Ariel- she had done it for years back home. But this was different. If she ever got caught back at home, she would be sentenced to her room and not be able to go outside the castle for a period of time (usually a week at the most). Regina was different; she could punish Ariel if she found out she was lying. Ariel knew what she was capable of and the possibilities of what she might to do to her scared her out of her mind.
"I have to say, I am surprise to hear this from you," Regina said as she stirred her tea.
"Well, I think it would be a suitable punishment for your...prisoner. Plus, I feel like killing him would be, well, rash," Ariel explained.
"Oh? How so?" She asked, walking towards her. She knew that tone; she had said something to suggest that she knew better than her, and now she had to prove it.
"I just think he could be of some value. You could always send him back if you ever want to obtain information on the Queen of Hearts," She explained, "Plus, I know that with a pirate, the worse punishment, worse than death, is spending the rest of your life landlocked. No ocean in sight for miles." She knew of those who would kill themselves if they were ever separated from the ocean. She didn't quite understand at first, but after being away from the sea for so long, she now could sense what they felt. At times she found herself aching for the sea, missing how it felt to freely swim in the ocean for as long as she desired, without having to worry about coming up for air. But she was thankful for her legs and was more than happy to keep them.
"I just hope you know that you must have full control of him at all times. You can't let your guard down, that's how you get taken advantaged of," Regina told her, looking into her eyes.
"I understand," She said, looking away, the attention making her uncomfortable, "But I was hoping...that you could do it. Instead of me."
Regina raised an eyebrow, "I think it would be best if you showed him what he was dealing with."
"Well, you know me, I like to be full of surprises. He'll know when the time is right." Regina nodded her head, agreeing with her. A huge relief came over her; the first part of her plan was a success- she prayed that the rest would have the same result.
She stared into the mirror as she brushed her hair. She had rehearsed in her head for what felt like a thousand times what was going to happened. Even though Regina didn't share much with her now, she had a good idea of what would happen. She just wanted to get it over with. She looked over her shoulder to see her bag was peaking out from her bed. She waved her hand, moving it out of sight.
Just then, the door to her bedroom swung open and Regina walked in, holding a small box in her hands. Two guards followed her, gripping his arms and pushing him forward. They pushed him down so he was on his knees, looking up to Ariel.
"What the hell is going on?" He whispered, angered. There was such rage in his eyes that it scared her. But she remained calm and simply smiled.
Regina walked over to her and handed her the box. Ariel opened it and couldn't help but gasp when she saw it. She had never seen a human heart before- only ones belonging to animals. It was beating rapidly and glowing bright red. She picked it up, the beating almost like a vibration in her hand. She looked back at Killian and grinned.
"Your mine now," She said and brought him to her, pushing his hair out of his face. He was snarling now, looking as if he was ready to attack her. But he couldn't move- she wouldn't let him. Ariel put the heart back into the box and set it down on her vanity. She looked at Regina, who nodded, proud of her.
"I see my work here is done. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to visit an old friend," And with that Regina walked out of the room, the guards quickly following her. It wasn't until the door closed that Ariel let out a deep sigh of relief. The hardest part was over now.
"You tricked me," He spat. She didn't respond; instead she walked over and opened the box. She picked up his heart and looked back at him, smiling.
"No I didn't," She said, walking over to him, "I tricked her."
Before he could say anything, she put his heart back into his chest. He stared her, surprise and confused. She simply smiled and then began to inspect the chains that were tying his hands together.
"Look here, I'm not doing anything until you tell me what the hell is going on," He demanded.
"The only way I could get you out of the dungeon and alone, was if I told her I wanted to make you my slave," She said, wondering how she was going to break the lock. She could use magic, but she didn't want to. Not in front of him.
"Your slave?"
"She refers to it as 'pet', but...you're not a dog. I know slave isn't much better, but you know what I mean," She walked over to her bed and pulled out her bag.
"So you had her rip my heart out?" He responded.
"I always planned on giving it back to you," She paused, "Can your hook also act as a pick lock?"
"Well yes, but the Queen," He stopped when she pulled it out of her bag, "...Has it. How did you get that?"
"I know where she keeps things. I also know when the guards are on duty and when they're off duty," She said as she started to pick the lock on the chains.
As much as he didn't want to, he had to admit that he was impressed by her. Perhaps she would be of more value than he thought. She finally got the chains unlock and helped him it getting them off. She then held out the hook for him, waiting for him to take it. He grabbed it and placed it back where it belonged.
"So, how do you plan on getting out of here without getting caught?" He asked.
"Well, I know of a passageway we can take. There are a few guards, but we can get past-" She saw him shaking his head, "I'm sorry, do you have a better idea?"
"Actually, I do," She rolled her eyes, waiting for him to explain. Instead, he pulled out a small vile that looked like it had yellow sparkling dust.
"Yellow dust. Of course, how could I forget?" She said. He couldn't help but smile at her sarcasm. The girl could certainly hold her own and he didn't come across that very often.
"Fairy dust," He corrected and smiled from her curious reaction. She walked over to get a closer look at the vile.
"How did you obtain this? Fairies don't just hand out their dust," She said.
"Some of the fairies of Neverland have a soft spot for me, can't blame 'em," He said and she couldn't help but roll her eyes at him.
"So what can it do for us?" She asked.
"Well, as scenic as it would be to go through the enchanted forest to get to the nearest port where my ship is currently docked, that an awful lot of time and frankly I don't have very much of that," He explained.
"So the fairy dust is going to help us get to the port?"
"Good, you're catching on. That's going to be very helpful later," He said, looking at the vile. Before she could say anything, there was a knock on her door. She immediately froze and Killian looked to her for guidance; this was her world, not his.
"Get on my bed!" She whispered.
"It's not that I object but I don't think now's the best time to-"
"Not that," She hissed, "Get on my bed so that way whoever is at the door won't be suspicious."
"Oh," He said, sounding almost disappointed. The knock became louder and she walked towards the door. She opened it enough so she could poke her head out and only her head could be seen.
"Graham!" She exclaimed and walked into the hallway, closing the door behind her.
"What brings you here?" She asked, happy to be able to see him before she left. She was going to miss him so much.
"I'm here to give you something," He said, pulling something out of his pocket. He placed it in her hand. Upon closer look, she realized it was a necklace. It was a simple gold chain with a piece of sapphire. The dark blue gemstone reminded her of the sea.
"I don't understand-I mean it's beautiful, but why are you giving this to me?" She asked as she put on the necklace.
"It's an enchanted necklace. Whoever wears this is given the power to breathe underwater." She looked up from the necklace, her eyes wide.
"I can...I could...Thank you!" She threw her arms around him, "But why are you giving this to me now?"
"I'd figured you would need it for your journey," He said and she stepped back.
"How did you-"
"I was right outside of the room. You also still need to work on your whispering," He teased and she laughed, realizing how obvious it was and how lucky she was it was him standing outside that door.
"Come with us!" She exclaimed. He smiled, but shook his head.
"I'm afraid I can't," He started.
"Yes you can! She won't be able to find us, she can't hurt us-"
"She'll kill me."
"Not if she can't find you." He shook his head.
"Ariel, trust me, if I could escape, I would have done so a long time ago," He told her.
"So why can't you?" She asked, concerned.
"Ariel...she has my heart." The words sunk her heart. She hated to think that he was constantly at the mercy of Regina, not being able to make his own decisions, his life ending at any moment.
"Let me help you," She said. He shook his head. After being with the Queen for a year, her edges had roughen. But she had not lost her kindness.
"There has to be something I can do," She begged.
"There is," He looked right into her green eyes, "Leave this place. Don't get involved with her and what she's doing. Get as far away as you can from this kingdom, don't ever come back."
She opened her mouth, ready to list off what she could to help. But then she thought about his words. Don't get involved with her and what she's doing. She didn't agree with Regina's desire for revenge. There had been many moments where Ariel had tried to subtly talk Regina out of it, tried to get her to focus on something else- something that didn't involve destroying another person. Instead, her desire only grew stronger. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that perhaps Graham was right. Getting involved could be dangerous, and what could she do to stop it? But the kingdom...
"So we should just let her destroy this whole kingdom and everyone in it?" She replied.
"Ariel, it's not your kingdom, it's not your home. Don't worry about it. If someone decides to be the hero and stop her, they will," He told her.
I could be that hero, she thought-even though she knew that was a lie. Regina's powers were far greater than hers. Plus what did she know about being a hero? Heroes were brave, they were fearless, they were leaders. Ariel wasn't any of those things. Maybe it was best if she just stayed in the background.
"Fine, I'll leave," She told him. If you looked into his eyes you could see he was sad to see her go. But nevertheless there was a small smile on his face.
"Be safe," He told her. She nodded her head, clutching at the necklace. She threw her arms around him, blinking back tears. He was like the brother she never had- only unlike her actual family he actually supported her.
"Be safe," He repeated as he hugged her back.
"I will," She promised and stepped back. She then remembered that Killian was still in her bedroom. What if he had left without her? Would he do that? He was a pirate. But they had made a deal.
"You should get going," He said and before she could say anything else he turned and began to walk away. She took a deep breath to compose herself and put the necklace in her pocket. She would return to her bedroom to find him leaning against her bed, his arms and an eyebrow raised.
"Do you normally leave the room and disappear for about ten minutes because these are the king of things I need to know before I let you on my ship," He told her, clearly impatient.
"Only when I'm trying to not raise suspicion so our plan won't be thwarted," She said, crossing her arms, "Now where were we? Oh right! The yellow dust!"
"First of all, it's pixie dust," He corrected and she shrugged.
"How does it work?" She asked, extremely curious. Fairies made very rare appearances in this land- she had only heard of them, never had seen one in person. She knew their magic was a bit different- but she didn't know how.
"Simple thing really," He explained, "You dust yourself with this and it'll take you to where you want to go."
"The port?" She asked and he nodded his head. He open his arms out, as if waiting for a hug.
"Hold onto me."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, if you really don't want to come to Neverland you don't have. The dust will take you to wherever you truly want to go," He said. She grabbed his good hand. The truth was, she didn't know where she wanted to go. Who knows where it could take her.
He rolled his eyes and broke free from her grip. Before she could say anything, he pushed her to his chest and wrapped his left arm around her-carefully as she could have easily gotten hurt by the hook.
"In case you've forgotten, I don't exactly have two hands," He muttered before taking off the cap of the vile with his teeth.
"Sorry," She muttered and he just rolled his eyes. She noticed that he did that a lot.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, silently noticing that he smelled like sea salt. It had been so long since she had been around that scent. She closed her eyes and tighten her grip as she felt what must have been the pixie dust. The touch was light and it was warm. She opened her eyes just in time to see the gold dust floating around. It looked like she was surrounded by stars. Then everything turned black and it felt like she was being pulled apart. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound could come out. She closed her eyes immediately and hoped this would end soon.
In reality it only lasted a minute, but it felt much longer than that for her. When they stopped moving, Ariel let go and grabbed on to her knees, heaving.
"It's no big deal if you have to throw up. Natural reaction for a first timer," Killian said, dusting off the remaining pixie dust, appearing unaffected.
"I take it you've done this before?" She said, catching her breath.
"Comes in handy when you need to escape," He told her, looking around.
"And you get use to the whole feeling like your body is being split in half?" She asked, standing up as the feeling of nausea went away.
He was about to respond when something caught his eye and he smiled. She walked over to where he was standing and smiled. The ship was just as magnificent as she remembered years ago.
He looked to her to find she had that look of amazement he had seen when he first met her. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly open. She was looking at all angles of the ship, as if she was trying to remember every single detail.
A very loud "Captain!" broke their thoughts and on the ship appeared a man who had on a red hat.
"Smee!" Killian yelled back, happy to see who had quickly become his right-hand man. As they climbed aboard the ship, he was greeted by who Ariel assumed was his crew.
"You're back!" Smee said, and noticed Ariel for the first time, "...And brought back a girl."
"It's not like that," Killian muttered.
"Then what it is?" Smee asked. There hadn't been a women on the ship in a long, long time. And Killian had made sure of that.
"Lads, this is Ariel. She'll be helping me with getting my revenge on a certain crocodile," He announced to his crew, "And she'll be helping us with that only."
Ariel found herself uncomfortable with being the center of attention. She focused on Killian, who was now walking to the wheel of the ship.
"Do you know why it's so hard to catch Captain Hook?" He asked her, grinning.
"No, but I have a feeling you're about to tell me," She said, a small smile appearing on her face. He only smiled as he spun the wheel all the way to the left. The ship began to move, but they weren't on water. It was only until she looked out to realize what was happening.
It was flying.
"Pixie dust?" She asked as he steered the ship. He smiled.
"You better get use to it fish."
Neverland. She was excited to be going to such a place. A place with fairies and pirates. A place with freedom and adventure. At first she didn't know where to go, she just knew she needed to get out. But now, she knew. Neverland was where she needed to go.